The NFL did a good one on AZ. The Super Bowl was slated to be played in Tempe but AZ wasn't going to recognize MLK Day, so the NFL said, see ya, we'll take the SB somewhere else. Having the SB in your city means $hundreds of millions, so AZ caved. Quick. Haha
True. Most pro sports franchise owners are old rich white guys, a demographic not known to be especially progressive. There usually is a financial aspect to their decision making, even when it appears to be altruistic.
Susan, This is what a Kakistocracy looks like. Juneteenth happens to also be my mother's birthday. She turned 91 yesterday. She is pleased that her birthday is celebrating freeing of the slaves in Texas, white German woman that she is. My father's grandmother was born in slavery (1860) and died 109 years later getting to see the Voting Rights Act made into law in 1965. I am glad that neither of them is around to see how things have slid back to the Dark Ages in just a few months.
Linda, I’ve been watching Kevin Costner’s show, “The West,” on the History channel. It is an unflinching look at the forces that have long divided our country. The mind bending racism that besmirched our country then, still exists today. It is such a destructive force that we have been unable to eradicate in almost 250 years. “All men are created equal,” is in our Declaration of Independence. Safe to say that phrase has had very little impact on the realities of yesterday and today.
It sure is unending Walt! My Democrats Abroad book club read "Freedom's Dominion" by historian Jefferson Cowie and then heard him give a talk. It made very clear that the only thing allowing Blacks to vote was the Federal Government, in the face of people who do not want to give up their dominion over everything including other humans. I wrote this piece after that first talk, where he said a winning candidate needs to be a populist.
We were confused by Cowie's definition of Populism, so we invited him to come talk to us about it and he graciously accepted. There he told us that the 2/3 of Americans who do not have college degrees need to see a message that includes them in it, and he also made clearer to me why looking back to the days after WW2 would represent the good life that seems no longer attainable for someone working class. Promising to get them there gave them hope. I wonder how long it will take for that hope to be gone, sans the covid monies that people were given during Trump's first administration and which ended under Biden. He ended by telling us that Dems are not doing enough to protect voting rights and if they win again they will not prioritize that. Big mistake in his mind. I wrote another piece after that talk as well.
I'm trying to learn more about how "populism" got a bad rap. Maybe it reminded the upper echelons of Marxism, which has workers on one side and capital on the other? Over the decades I've heard it associated with the likes of Huey Long and George Wallace -- but also with both Robert LaFollettes, Sr. and Jr., who were Progressives.
You should hear what Cowie has to say on the matter. From his first talk we thought he was supportive of populism because he talked about populists on the left and on the right, but later on he pointed out to us that populists do not have convicted believes of their own. They are doing what is popular. We see this clearly with Trump. He was for abortion, he was a Democrat, now he is against abortion and is a Republican. Actually he is a MAGA, and that is his party. According to Cowie, populists tend to reference the past as a goalpost, and they are not really good at governing.
The whole situation is maddening. We live in a Kakistocracy, but unlike when we live under Reagan we know this is not good.
I don't think "enough" is currently understood. We are in a trial and error phase of let's see what works. People are trying things and seeing what works. Right now I would say the courts and the attorneys like Marc Elias of democracy docket, and Blue State AGs have been very effective.
Look Kilmar was disappeared to a concentration camp in El Salvador and is now home. It reminds me of when under Hitler a group of German wives of Jewish men protested in front of the Reichstag and their husbands, who had been taken off and one was even in Auschwitz, were returned to them. For Hitler it was not worth it the stink they were making.
We should be taking note on each thing we try and see how effective it is.
Right now we should be writing our politicians against going to war with Iran. There should be anti-war protests. That alone might sway Trump. We shall see.
Dubious Trump and his coterie have the appetite to enter another war for Israel. Financial, intelligence and weaponry have to be the red line. Of course the empty threats are marks of desired regime change. However, this emperor has no clothes wand the world is watching!!
And thanks, Walt, for your comments on racism. I am so sick and tired of seeing people in the national government make racist comments. Maybe they'd like to go back to Europe, but Europe wouldn't take them
Thanks Maria. She did tell me it was going to be one worth remembering, but ironically, I know she already doesn't remember it. My mom is teaching me to be in the moment and enjoy it when you can.
My great-grandmother was amazing in many ways. I have heard some stories, but no longer have anyone around to tell me those stories. More is the pity. I love first hand historical accounts. I brought some interesting family papers back to Germany with me, where I have a picture of a great-grandmother in 1910 and family tree back to the 1600s on my maternal grandfather's side. I was able to ask my mom about some of the people in these pictures and she remembered them.
Yes. My mother's mother also lived to be 99.5. In fact, we were all planning on visiting her on her 100th birthday in Germany, but she did not make it. I had seen her half a year earlier with my husband and daughter. She was at that point living in a senior home for about a year. We would enjoy signing with her group of people that she sang with a couple of times a week, and just hanging out. She had last visited us in the US at the age of 93 even though she was completely blind. My mom at 91 would not be able to travel by herself, even if she had some assistance from the airline. I got some stories out of her and my mom. I treasure them and should perhaps write them down.
For any Republican politician, the realization that a large share of their potential voters are virulently, openly racist - while the balance of those voters just don’t give a shit - has transformed that politician’s own racism from an ugly liability to be hidden, to a big marketing opportunity to be exploited.
And BTW New Year’s Day has been improperly competing with Christmas since 1860, so all flips of the calendar since then are to be rescinded
They are both in months that start with the letter J, just like July. OMG, they are BOTH trying to usurp the specialness of Real Americans Independence Day.
It is crazy and I am hoping that cooler heads prevail. Who has those cooler heads I am not sure. But you know you are in a Kakistocracy when even Trump who appointed Gabbard and Hegseth is ignoring them and not including them in on the planning of whether or not to drop the Big One. Even Trump now knows that Hegseth is likely to spill the beans on a Signal call to his wife with top secret info. Israel must have put the Kabosh on that. Russia is not happy because now Iran is not sending weapons their way. Instead they import more North Koreans. How bad a shape is Russia in that they need to do that! Another two Kakistocracies. Oh how how we are aiming.
To quote the diplomat Dryden in _Lawrence of Arabia_: "A man who tells lies, like me, merely hides the truth. But a man who tells half-lies has forgotten where he put it." IOW, Trump isn't capable of telling either lies or half-lies. So I'm reluctant to call him a liar. He certainly isn't in either Dryden's league or Lawrence's.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat says that while people are spending a lot of time looking for the hidden subtext with Trump, he is very open about what he is doing and we should recognize it. However, he openly lies to us too. When he said he did not know about Project 2025, that was a lie. He is following it step by step. Most of his lies seem outright to me, but his truths are also awful.
And what happened to her giant crosses? I’m sure she took them off because she was getting laughed at about the size vs her hypocrisy but isn’t that basically the same as denouncing her cult, uh, I mean religion?
Bolt-ons. Like the soon to be Mrs. Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez, the.blow-up doll. She couldn't even put them away for the Manchurian Cantaloupe's inauguration. Look for the picture of Mark Zuckerburg looking down her chest 😂 And his wife DR. Priscilla Chan standing next to him looking non too pleased. Would have loved to have been a fly on the wall of that limo ride home. He probably had to spend the night in the Metaverse after that.
Susan, you are absolutely correct.Racism IS the main problem in this country and has been since it’s inception.ALL people were not created equal in the minds of our forefathers but also in the minds of today’s racist.Just ask women, people of color, LGTBQ folks,Native Americans, really anyone who is not white and male and a lot of the time, wealthy.Boom
Racism is stopping our society from advancing as a civilization. Right now, it is dragging it back into post-Civil War barbarism. Vance knows and enjoys this.
Watch it. My eighth great-grandmother Mary Baldwin Linville Griest is a great (X# of times?) grandmother of him. He's descended from her first husband and I'm descended from her second husband. The Griests never left PA, but one (at least) of the Linville boys went to NC. (All this was before the Revolution. He'd probably die to find out that the Linvilles and Griests emigrated to Philadelphia as Quakers in 1690.)
The racist dumbshit president in name only who probably has a white sheet somewhere in his clusterfuck closet, has nothing as usual to bitch about. This lazy, demented bastard spends more time on the golf course at our expense than he does supposedly working, which we know just consists of evading, stalling, lying grifting and destroying our country. It be nice if one of his handlers would suggest he go shark fishing in the Bermuda Triangle instead.
I spent 10 years of my career working for one of the largest privately family owned companies in my field with employees of all races, religions, ethnicities, LGBTQ, owned by very Ultra-Orthodox Observant religious Jews, and the offices (two locations and a huge warehouse in another state) closed for everybody for every single Jewish holiday, a couple I had never heard of, if they fell during the week (the holidays are according to the Jewish calendar, not our standard calendar) which on a good year could be an extra 8 days off, and every Friday we got out early because of the Sabbath, PLUS every legal holiday and of course two weeks vacation. Our hours were 9-5:30--a small price to pay. It was the greatest perk working there...almost unheard of. I haven't been there in 20 years so I don't know about Juneteenth. It wasn't a Federal holiday until 2021' but I have zero doubt the OWNERS voted for the Orange Menace, and they are now KILLING themselves because of the tariffs and their supply chains and shipping to our ports. Elections have consequences!
My house too and with a mother who supported Bobby Kennedy and walked and marched for racial equality there were quite a few shouting matches that got ugly enough for me to choose my Mother’s side for eternity!
Same, I hated my father, but my mother was kind generous, loving . She was DEFINITELY not racist. I miss her terribly. My father was one of those old fashioned misogynists, who hated his 4 daughters for not being boys.
I must admit, the home I was raised in was not free of racism. My mother was known to slip little racist words and adages into the daily conversations. The vanilla suburbs we lived in were void of opportunities to meet people of color.
It wasn’t until I moved out for college that I began to see the world through my own eyes.
Yup. That was such a gift. She wept with such relief and sense of justice when Obama became president, saying “I worked so hard for this.” I’ll never forget that.
My exasperated brother, in reference years ago to when a stunning slacker of a procrastinating contractor might actually show up at his house and finish the reno job: "He'll be here on the 34th of Nurzzday."
Jeff, our real president went to Texas to celebrate the holiday, flying commercial, greeting fellow passengers… generally acting like a man of the people, a former president beloved by most of the public. Think back 6 months, think about our country’s position in the world when we had our traditional allies and friends… Now? It’s all burned toast thanks to grandpa sundowning, butchering the English language and turning the federal government against the people.. Best to All
And let’s not forget the absolute mess that Joe Biden inherited from Shitler’s first term in office. He did amazing work pulling our country and its’ allies back together.
Yeah and now they laud TRUMP for making everything "all beddah" from >Biden's< "disaster". I can't even begin to process the unfuckingbelievable effrontery saying such a thing even requires. Doesn't ANY single one of those effing idiots even have a working brain cell??? Any memory function at all??? Judas H. Priest AND JFC. I have to go beat my head on a wall, now.
I'm right there with you, T L. There was an editorial in the local paper yesterday, quite long, that I didn't bother to read past the first sentence about what a disaster Biden's presidency was. They truly believe it. I honestly think it's hopeless. This country is over. America is no more.
This was an excellent post Jeff! The dumb Libertarian Party, ignorant jdv, mr. daily golfer in a cemetery, racist idiots…..BUT THANKS to Joe Biden and Kaitlin Collins for being REAL! Happy Friday everyone…stay safe and have a nice weekend!
I just LOVED that photo of Joe having folks take selfies with him and laughing up with people. He looks as though he's truly enjoying himself. And what a good speech--complete sentences, a beginning, a middle and an end--with no rants and whines about how UNFAIR everything is.
Trump would be as stiff as wood with his thumbs up and his fake smile....although, it's doubtful--due to Trump's effluvial aroma--that people would want to get that close.
Drumpf will leave no legacy once he’s out. We will all wash our hands of him, throw out all his golden tchotkies , and start repairing all the damage he’s done.
He did not benefit anything in this land- he left it depleted and worn out.
Yes. A good man with stage 4 cancer and spending the rest of his life doing good for others. He truly cared about us as people. I have never agreed with any politician on all of their policies, but as a person, Joe is a MENSCH. A humble person who never forgot where he came from. Could anyone imagine him turning the Oval Office into Versailles, or taking and flying on a vulgar disgusting Qatari-owned plane? I don't think I've ever seen Joe's house in Delaware, or a picture of the Biden's private quarters in the WH, nor do I care about his money. I do know he has a beautiful 1967 Corvette that his father gave to him and his first wife as a wedding gift that he is never allowed to drive again. I read the story about it.. Brought tears to my eyes.
And that Orange Scumbag when he heard Joe was sick said "No, I don't feel sorry for him. He's a terrible person". He should have been struck by lightening bolts, self-combusted and swallowed up by the earth straight down to hell at that very moment. I don't wish the cruelty and pain of cancer on anyone, but boy, if there really is karma? I vote for Gadaffi colonoscopy for Donnie and the rest of them...the video that even shook and terrified Putin to his core, and that says it all!
"You don't know what you've got till it's gone" (they paved Paradise and put up a parking lot). "Big Yellow Taxi" Joni Mitchell 1970. The lyrics...every word is true.
Whenever libertarians are mentioned I flash back to Michael Sandel's phenomenal course "Justice" (Harvard, on EdX) and the book of the same title, relating the tale of Jeremy Bentham and the panopticon. An emerging reality, BTW, thanks to the work of folks like Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg, coupled with the incredible naivete of the public.
Yeah, because Shitler does not like brown and non white people. Which is funny, because Trump sure does love Israel, and does he realize they are predominately NOT white people? or does he like most Christians think that Jesus was totally white with blonde hair and blue eyes? Things I wonder.
We took a tour of the LDS buildings and museum etc in Salt Lake. What I remember most vividly — aside from the architecture and the unflappable courtesy of the blond youth who served as guides —- was the mural depiction of Jesus as being fair skinned, with blond hair and blue eyes.
Yes. People DO THINK that a Jew from the Palestine/Israel/Sinai zone was miraculously blond and blue eyed. My bet is that they also think he spoke American English
Yes, people working two jobs in a gig economy absolutely agree they have too many stat holidays. 🤦♀️
And the dipshit in chief is conflating Federal "Bank" holidays that are mostly an inconvenience for the average Joe who still has to work, with actual stat holidays, during which most businesses are open anyway.
Let's not forget that he also accused people working from home of skipping out to play tennis.
The man has zero, ZERO connection with working peoples' reality.
I work in a hospital. We have NO holidays. Just time and a half and sad mashed potatoes, lumpy gravy and dried up meat. And those meals are only at Thanksgiving and Xmas. Easter is not a holiday in hospital. I asked someone why not and their reply "Easter is a religious holiday". Well, that's nice to know because WTH is XMAS????? Guess it's not a religious holiday. I work with morons. They're not only walking our streets, they're in the workplace too.
Same thing in retail--and I worked at a sports outfitting store that was open 24/7, 365 days a year. Not even locks on the doors (back then). If I said it was in Freeport Maine you could likely guess who the outfitter was.
Of course, retail is not as urgently life and death as a hospital or a fire department...but management acted as though it was during the holiday season.
I'll take working every holiday rather than work in retail during Xmas season. And don't put me in the complaint department lol. Doesn't matter what your job description is, most people would rather be home with their family/friends on holidays than at work. But for me, it's only one day. If you're in retail, it's weeks and if people are rude in hospitals, I hate to think what they're like when they go shopping.
I have total sympathy and respect for healthcare workers in hospitals who never get a break. I do want to point out that, despite the current name of the Winter Solstice celebrations and the continued co-opting and claiming that it is a religious holiday by Xtians (along with the same for the Spring Equinox festival named after Eostre), both festivals pre-date Xtianity by centuries, if not millennia. Both ancient holidays transcend the claims of belonging to any one religion, and will continue to do so.
Easter and Mother’s Day have some of the worst attendance we have. If you do work that day, it’s not a happy one because we are always short staffed. If you make them holidays and pay time and a half, you’d have enough nurses. Super Bowl Sunday is another attendance problem. But when you go into this profession, you should be aware that it’s not an 8-5 job unless you are in an office.
Actually, I don’t care. I’m not into holiday meals. I’d rather have a cheeseburger anytime. We have restaurants all around the hospital we can get take out from. Not all the meals are terrible - it’s just been years of eating out of styrofoam containers. I don’t know how to act with a china plate and metal silverware lol.
I used to work in hospitals and nursing homes, and had the same exact experience. NEVER a holiday off. Time and a half was nice tho. Yes, I was the one in the kitchen sometimes, serving those sad mashed potato lumpy gravy dried meat dinners. Others I was scrubbing toilets and making beds, or cleaning up copious amounts of blood after baby deliveries. But never opening gifts or eating TG dinner with the fam.
People that did your job are the backbone of a hospital. We couldn’t do what we do without you. I didn’t have to work every holiday, but what good is one day off if you’re the one cleaning your house for company, cooking and cleaning up after the meal? That’s hardly a holiday. I figure I won’t have a real Xmas holiday until I retire. Then I will have plenty of time to get ready for Xmas and enjoy the day.
My mother was an RN for over 40 years. I spent my summers home from college working at her hospital (grounds crew). There is a lot of work that goes into a functional hospital. Thanks to you and others in that service industry for making it all work these many years.
A lot of my family is or was involved in hospital work, from doctors and nurses, nurse's aides, administration, and me in everything from the dishroom to the delivery room. I grew up with no fear of hospitals, and am glad for that.
It's almost like he's not human, he's a different species. I don't think he has a connection with anyone, rich or poor. I can't think of anyone like him.
Two weeks is like my dad’s “we’ll see”, which was usually a no. In trump brain it’s a “I’ll have forgotten by then.”
As for Juneteenth, I work in the claims department of a well known insurer. We in claims don’t get the company holiday on Juneteenth automatically, unless we take it as paid time off (then it gets converted to the holiday) or as a deferred day off.
You know WHY we don’t get it automatically like the rest of the company does? Because our customers expect that we will be OPEN and available. Hell. Most places don’t even get July 4 off.
Trump is a racist dickhead. So are the rest of the GOP
OR, it's a: I hope everybody will have forgotten by then...or a: hopefully something more interesting to the media will happen by then (or perhaps I can point at something else by then)
I did read this morning that the next "No Kings/No Tyranny" protests will be on July 4th, which seems entirely appropriate. So glad the real Americans are taking back the flag.
As soon as I heard about the drive to make Juneteenth a holiday, I thought--how perfect! It makes a perfect complement to July 4th. As Frederick Gay Douglass observed: what was July 4th to a Black person? Meaning that celebrating freedom and independence was pretty insulting to a group of human beings who were enslaved....and were enslaved by the architects of the Revolution. So, when Juneteenth was finally given its rightful place, it seemed to me that it would be good if Frederick (I didn't know then he was GAY!) Douglass could know that America as a whole could now celebrate the freedom of all of its people......
And then along come the Rethuglican Nazi weenies, to be utter weenies as usual......
Jeff, the truth is, people like Trump and many of his supporters hate Juneteenth because it represents something they can’t stand: the idea that people they view as “lesser”—namely Black and Brown folks—should enjoy the same freedoms they do. Full stop.
They resent being reminded that we were enslaved, that we were freed, and that we dared to celebrate it. Juneteenth should be a source of American pride—it marks a promise of equality finally reaching those it was long denied. But instead, it unsettles them, because it forces a confrontation with the lie at the heart of their worldview: that freedom and dignity are only for some. And if we're all truly created equal, well... they can’t have that now, can they?
Right on. Along with hating a holiday celebrating black liberation, racists have to eat the shame of Texas as a state officially hiding the outcome of the Civil War. Like the 2020 election "Big Lie."
As a worker and egalitarian, just want to point out that most workers WANT their employers to observe EVERY holiday so we can take a day off form the daily grind. And the Slacker-in-Chief telling us we don't work enough is the last straw.
This bitching and moaning is reminiscent of the pushback against MLK Day. What do these holidays have in common...
The NFL did a good one on AZ. The Super Bowl was slated to be played in Tempe but AZ wasn't going to recognize MLK Day, so the NFL said, see ya, we'll take the SB somewhere else. Having the SB in your city means $hundreds of millions, so AZ caved. Quick. Haha
Thx for this news. Glad the NFL did the right thing…
This happened way back in the early '90s but it started a trend. Subsequently the NBA, NCAA, and MLB all moved events because of bigoted laws.
Thanks again for this reminder of when big money organizations change things for egalitarian purposes.
They have to be forced
Didn’t know that one Doc, thanks!!
I remember. Arizona's Governor was horrible
It helps that most of the players that the owners make their money off of, are black. The players forced the issue. owners had to give in.
True. Most pro sports franchise owners are old rich white guys, a demographic not known to be especially progressive. There usually is a financial aspect to their decision making, even when it appears to be altruistic.
Y E S
Susan, This is what a Kakistocracy looks like. Juneteenth happens to also be my mother's birthday. She turned 91 yesterday. She is pleased that her birthday is celebrating freeing of the slaves in Texas, white German woman that she is. My father's grandmother was born in slavery (1860) and died 109 years later getting to see the Voting Rights Act made into law in 1965. I am glad that neither of them is around to see how things have slid back to the Dark Ages in just a few months.
Linda, I’ve been watching Kevin Costner’s show, “The West,” on the History channel. It is an unflinching look at the forces that have long divided our country. The mind bending racism that besmirched our country then, still exists today. It is such a destructive force that we have been unable to eradicate in almost 250 years. “All men are created equal,” is in our Declaration of Independence. Safe to say that phrase has had very little impact on the realities of yesterday and today.
It sure is unending Walt! My Democrats Abroad book club read "Freedom's Dominion" by historian Jefferson Cowie and then heard him give a talk. It made very clear that the only thing allowing Blacks to vote was the Federal Government, in the face of people who do not want to give up their dominion over everything including other humans. I wrote this piece after that first talk, where he said a winning candidate needs to be a populist.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/is-populism-the-way-to-go?r=f0qfn
We were confused by Cowie's definition of Populism, so we invited him to come talk to us about it and he graciously accepted. There he told us that the 2/3 of Americans who do not have college degrees need to see a message that includes them in it, and he also made clearer to me why looking back to the days after WW2 would represent the good life that seems no longer attainable for someone working class. Promising to get them there gave them hope. I wonder how long it will take for that hope to be gone, sans the covid monies that people were given during Trump's first administration and which ended under Biden. He ended by telling us that Dems are not doing enough to protect voting rights and if they win again they will not prioritize that. Big mistake in his mind. I wrote another piece after that talk as well.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/voting-rights-come-before-all-others?r=f0qfn
I think all we can do is plan for the country we want to have, and have our plans ready when our opportunity comes.
I'm trying to learn more about how "populism" got a bad rap. Maybe it reminded the upper echelons of Marxism, which has workers on one side and capital on the other? Over the decades I've heard it associated with the likes of Huey Long and George Wallace -- but also with both Robert LaFollettes, Sr. and Jr., who were Progressives.
You should hear what Cowie has to say on the matter. From his first talk we thought he was supportive of populism because he talked about populists on the left and on the right, but later on he pointed out to us that populists do not have convicted believes of their own. They are doing what is popular. We see this clearly with Trump. He was for abortion, he was a Democrat, now he is against abortion and is a Republican. Actually he is a MAGA, and that is his party. According to Cowie, populists tend to reference the past as a goalpost, and they are not really good at governing.
WHY aren’t they doing enough??? It’s maddening.
The whole situation is maddening. We live in a Kakistocracy, but unlike when we live under Reagan we know this is not good.
I don't think "enough" is currently understood. We are in a trial and error phase of let's see what works. People are trying things and seeing what works. Right now I would say the courts and the attorneys like Marc Elias of democracy docket, and Blue State AGs have been very effective.
Look Kilmar was disappeared to a concentration camp in El Salvador and is now home. It reminds me of when under Hitler a group of German wives of Jewish men protested in front of the Reichstag and their husbands, who had been taken off and one was even in Auschwitz, were returned to them. For Hitler it was not worth it the stink they were making.
We should be taking note on each thing we try and see how effective it is.
Right now we should be writing our politicians against going to war with Iran. There should be anti-war protests. That alone might sway Trump. We shall see.
Dubious Trump and his coterie have the appetite to enter another war for Israel. Financial, intelligence and weaponry have to be the red line. Of course the empty threats are marks of desired regime change. However, this emperor has no clothes wand the world is watching!!
Thanks, Linda. I enjoyed your posts on the subject.
And thanks, Walt, for your comments on racism. I am so sick and tired of seeing people in the national government make racist comments. Maybe they'd like to go back to Europe, but Europe wouldn't take them
Thanks Walt.
Wow Linda. Happy Birthday to your Mum91,is a Great age.(My Step-mum is93)
Imagine your Great Grandmother living until 109,after being born into Slavery! How Amazing!
I love History; It’s (Almost) hard to believe we’ve lost Almost Any momentum in the last few months…🙈💔
Thanks Maria. She did tell me it was going to be one worth remembering, but ironically, I know she already doesn't remember it. My mom is teaching me to be in the moment and enjoy it when you can.
My great-grandmother was amazing in many ways. I have heard some stories, but no longer have anyone around to tell me those stories. More is the pity. I love first hand historical accounts. I brought some interesting family papers back to Germany with me, where I have a picture of a great-grandmother in 1910 and family tree back to the 1600s on my maternal grandfather's side. I was able to ask my mom about some of the people in these pictures and she remembered them.
Truer words Linda, happy belated birthday to your mum!!
Thanks Patrick! She did have a happy birthday. I am glad.
Nice response, but I am amazed at your great grandmother living 109 years! And your mom is 91. Healthy women.
Yes. My mother's mother also lived to be 99.5. In fact, we were all planning on visiting her on her 100th birthday in Germany, but she did not make it. I had seen her half a year earlier with my husband and daughter. She was at that point living in a senior home for about a year. We would enjoy signing with her group of people that she sang with a couple of times a week, and just hanging out. She had last visited us in the US at the age of 93 even though she was completely blind. My mom at 91 would not be able to travel by herself, even if she had some assistance from the airline. I got some stories out of her and my mom. I treasure them and should perhaps write them down.
Mine both passed a few years ago at 91, a couple years apart. I miss them. Write stuff down. Ther's a lot of little things I'd like to ask them about.
Thanks Michael. I will write things down.
For any Republican politician, the realization that a large share of their potential voters are virulently, openly racist - while the balance of those voters just don’t give a shit - has transformed that politician’s own racism from an ugly liability to be hidden, to a big marketing opportunity to be exploited.
And BTW New Year’s Day has been improperly competing with Christmas since 1860, so all flips of the calendar since then are to be rescinded
Nicely played Bob!!
Excellent point Susan, I’ll get back to you in say, two weeks with my answer!!
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Love that wit Kristi, with 5000 marines heading for LA, along with JD ffuckface you’re going to need all of it!!
Hmmmm…
🤔
“this bitchin and moanin” is reminiscent of the Eagles once again…. Get Over It 🎵
Magats just can’t Get Over It
🎼 Wishin' and hopin' and plannin' and dreamin' . . .
Right? What COULD it be?
They are both in months that start with the letter J, just like July. OMG, they are BOTH trying to usurp the specialness of Real Americans Independence Day.
Wish I could laugh react.
TRump is such an asshole. Period.
Two weeks huh? Well Lucian Truscott says that Trump is a liar, only not in so many words.
I hope Lucian is wrong here. He talks about us attacking Iran from sources, and calls his piece, A World of Hurt.
https://open.substack.com/pub/luciantruscott/p/a-world-of-hurt?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
It is crazy and I am hoping that cooler heads prevail. Who has those cooler heads I am not sure. But you know you are in a Kakistocracy when even Trump who appointed Gabbard and Hegseth is ignoring them and not including them in on the planning of whether or not to drop the Big One. Even Trump now knows that Hegseth is likely to spill the beans on a Signal call to his wife with top secret info. Israel must have put the Kabosh on that. Russia is not happy because now Iran is not sending weapons their way. Instead they import more North Koreans. How bad a shape is Russia in that they need to do that! Another two Kakistocracies. Oh how how we are aiming.
My money is on Lucian Truscott being correct. He is a fount of reliable information.
In that post Lucian is speaking from the point of view of reliable sources, informing him.
Fran Lebowitz says he's the stupidest person she's ever met
I love Fran Lebowitz!
She said a 6 year old could tell you about about MAGAs: "They're mean and they're stupid."
You never met anyone as stupid as Donald Trump.
Who is “he”?
Trump
Yes, importing the North Koreans says it all about the strength of the Russian army.
I have read or heard from several people like Martin Belderson and Ruth Ben-Ghiat come to mind that Russia is doing terribly economically.
https://underreported.substack.com/archive
To quote the diplomat Dryden in _Lawrence of Arabia_: "A man who tells lies, like me, merely hides the truth. But a man who tells half-lies has forgotten where he put it." IOW, Trump isn't capable of telling either lies or half-lies. So I'm reluctant to call him a liar. He certainly isn't in either Dryden's league or Lawrence's.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat says that while people are spending a lot of time looking for the hidden subtext with Trump, he is very open about what he is doing and we should recognize it. However, he openly lies to us too. When he said he did not know about Project 2025, that was a lie. He is following it step by step. Most of his lies seem outright to me, but his truths are also awful.
Trou du cul, connard indeed Megan
The expression is Trou DE Cul, Patrick
Sweet. Short, concise to the point I concur. 😂
"President Golfcart McChucklefuck" Another superb moniker. 😂😂😂
The racism in this country is sickening. It's the cause of virtually every problem we face.
I hate these assholes. They are dangerous and destroying our society.
The 2 R’s, Susan. Racism & Religion.
The Rethuglican Moral Compass consists of Racism, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Bribery.
Greed
Nailed it. Except for extreme plastic surgery for the women.
Make women into plastic objects with boobs and wombs. Oh… and long curled blond hair
Speaking of which….Does Karoline Leavitt have a “Barbie” name like ICE Barbie does? If not, let’s give her one. Maybe “Liar Barbie”?
I thought of a better name: Bobble Head Barbie.
And what happened to her giant crosses? I’m sure she took them off because she was getting laughed at about the size vs her hypocrisy but isn’t that basically the same as denouncing her cult, uh, I mean religion?
They probably burned her skin, as most religious symbols will do on demons.
Good question. Maybe she’s not as religious as she first appeared to be.
Bolshevik Barbie is my moniker for her.
Why don’t they just buy some of those realistic, life size sex dolls? They would eliminate the hassle of having to feed them for one.
Don't forget Corruption too.
Rubber ball boobs.
Bolt-ons. Like the soon to be Mrs. Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez, the.blow-up doll. She couldn't even put them away for the Manchurian Cantaloupe's inauguration. Look for the picture of Mark Zuckerburg looking down her chest 😂 And his wife DR. Priscilla Chan standing next to him looking non too pleased. Would have loved to have been a fly on the wall of that limo ride home. He probably had to spend the night in the Metaverse after that.
I like it ! Bolted on rubber ball boobs. 😂
Ignorance.
You are sadly correct. They have brought out the ugly underbelly of people.
45/47 IS the underbelly of people....
And OMG, what a belly!
You forgot the M word - misogyny.
Right on Walt!
Never was a truer sentence uttered, Mr. Svirsky!
I'm going to go out on a limb and put religion above racism. Religion turns people into idiots. Sorry, believers.
amen.
Susan, you are absolutely correct.Racism IS the main problem in this country and has been since it’s inception.ALL people were not created equal in the minds of our forefathers but also in the minds of today’s racist.Just ask women, people of color, LGTBQ folks,Native Americans, really anyone who is not white and male and a lot of the time, wealthy.Boom
Humans are so primitive. 😭
Tribal.
Humans went rogue from mother nature. They thought they knew better but they were seriously mistaken.
Don't forget Orwell's "Some ( ) are more equal than others."
Racism is stopping our society from advancing as a civilization. Right now, it is dragging it back into post-Civil War barbarism. Vance knows and enjoys this.
Vance manifests his genetics and upbringing almost every time he opens his fat furry maw. Can’t take him out of hillbilly thinking
Fat furry maw----priceless!
His wife is brown. How does he deal with that?
Watch it. My eighth great-grandmother Mary Baldwin Linville Griest is a great (X# of times?) grandmother of him. He's descended from her first husband and I'm descended from her second husband. The Griests never left PA, but one (at least) of the Linville boys went to NC. (All this was before the Revolution. He'd probably die to find out that the Linvilles and Griests emigrated to Philadelphia as Quakers in 1690.)
Personally still waiting to meet those workers who are complaining they get too many holidays off.
Who are these people? Are they eating the cats and dogs?
They just don't have the right recipes.
Always use BUTTER .
Bacon. Bacon makes everything better. Bacon and butter.
😂😂😂😂
😆😆😆😆
🥳😂
🤔😏
The racist dumbshit president in name only who probably has a white sheet somewhere in his clusterfuck closet, has nothing as usual to bitch about. This lazy, demented bastard spends more time on the golf course at our expense than he does supposedly working, which we know just consists of evading, stalling, lying grifting and destroying our country. It be nice if one of his handlers would suggest he go shark fishing in the Bermuda Triangle instead.
With Shark Week only one month away. I’m sure we’ll be hearing stories of batteries and sharks. It starts 8 pm July 20th
We can pretty much count on it.
Remember Stormy saying he was scared of sharks. They were in some room and Shark Week was on TV and he was too scared to watch.
It's in Stormy's book but I read that awhile ago.
In a boat with an electric motor and many heavy batteries.
Preferably in an electric boat
“…probably has a white sheet somewhere…”
Inherited from his father.
On the maiden voyage to Mars on Eloon Musk’s spaceship.
It's essentially another "Sir" story.
I spent 10 years of my career working for one of the largest privately family owned companies in my field with employees of all races, religions, ethnicities, LGBTQ, owned by very Ultra-Orthodox Observant religious Jews, and the offices (two locations and a huge warehouse in another state) closed for everybody for every single Jewish holiday, a couple I had never heard of, if they fell during the week (the holidays are according to the Jewish calendar, not our standard calendar) which on a good year could be an extra 8 days off, and every Friday we got out early because of the Sabbath, PLUS every legal holiday and of course two weeks vacation. Our hours were 9-5:30--a small price to pay. It was the greatest perk working there...almost unheard of. I haven't been there in 20 years so I don't know about Juneteenth. It wasn't a Federal holiday until 2021' but I have zero doubt the OWNERS voted for the Orange Menace, and they are now KILLING themselves because of the tariffs and their supply chains and shipping to our ports. Elections have consequences!
I was raised as an anti-racist. I cannot fucking stand these racists. Fuck.Them. All. Straight. To. Fucking. Hell.
And I means it.
I wasn't raised that way. I observed my dad's racism, and by the grace of something or other, I found it revolting.
My house too and with a mother who supported Bobby Kennedy and walked and marched for racial equality there were quite a few shouting matches that got ugly enough for me to choose my Mother’s side for eternity!
same.
Same, I hated my father, but my mother was kind generous, loving . She was DEFINITELY not racist. I miss her terribly. My father was one of those old fashioned misogynists, who hated his 4 daughters for not being boys.
Congratulations on your humanity, Ann.
If you feel pain, you're alive, if you feel other people's pain you're HUMAN.
Well stated, Kristy
Well, thanks. You'd think humanity would be sort of a baseline deal, but apparently not.
me, too!
Me too. My mother took me to civil rights marches when I was 5 years old. She raised me right!
I must admit, the home I was raised in was not free of racism. My mother was known to slip little racist words and adages into the daily conversations. The vanilla suburbs we lived in were void of opportunities to meet people of color.
It wasn’t until I moved out for college that I began to see the world through my own eyes.
Yup. That was such a gift. She wept with such relief and sense of justice when Obama became president, saying “I worked so hard for this.” I’ll never forget that.
Right there with you, Neal.
Me too.
“In two weeks” is Trump’s equivalent to my mother’s oft-voiced unit of time, “When we all lose weight.”
I like how your mother phrased that.
That was how my mother said “never” without using the word.
Yes, clearly the words of a perpetual dieter.
My exasperated brother, in reference years ago to when a stunning slacker of a procrastinating contractor might actually show up at his house and finish the reno job: "He'll be here on the 34th of Nurzzday."
Is that like the “Starting on Monday” diet?
Jeff, our real president went to Texas to celebrate the holiday, flying commercial, greeting fellow passengers… generally acting like a man of the people, a former president beloved by most of the public. Think back 6 months, think about our country’s position in the world when we had our traditional allies and friends… Now? It’s all burned toast thanks to grandpa sundowning, butchering the English language and turning the federal government against the people.. Best to All
And let’s not forget the absolute mess that Joe Biden inherited from Shitler’s first term in office. He did amazing work pulling our country and its’ allies back together.
Democrats have been cleaning up Rethuglican messes since 1933.
Ain’t that the truth! They bring no forward thinking to the people, just a bunch of conservative assholes!
Yeah and now they laud TRUMP for making everything "all beddah" from >Biden's< "disaster". I can't even begin to process the unfuckingbelievable effrontery saying such a thing even requires. Doesn't ANY single one of those effing idiots even have a working brain cell??? Any memory function at all??? Judas H. Priest AND JFC. I have to go beat my head on a wall, now.
I'm right there with you, T L. There was an editorial in the local paper yesterday, quite long, that I didn't bother to read past the first sentence about what a disaster Biden's presidency was. They truly believe it. I honestly think it's hopeless. This country is over. America is no more.
I trying to keep my hope alive and not agree, but hooboiz, the MAGAt idiots are sure as hell making it harder and harder.
Where do you live?
Fastball here…I live outside of Phoenix in the NW valley.
That's right! China's #1! We're #2!
This was an excellent post Jeff! The dumb Libertarian Party, ignorant jdv, mr. daily golfer in a cemetery, racist idiots…..BUT THANKS to Joe Biden and Kaitlin Collins for being REAL! Happy Friday everyone…stay safe and have a nice weekend!
I just LOVED that photo of Joe having folks take selfies with him and laughing up with people. He looks as though he's truly enjoying himself. And what a good speech--complete sentences, a beginning, a middle and an end--with no rants and whines about how UNFAIR everything is.
Trump would be as stiff as wood with his thumbs up and his fake smile....although, it's doubtful--due to Trump's effluvial aroma--that people would want to get that close.
Drumpf will leave no legacy once he’s out. We will all wash our hands of him, throw out all his golden tchotkies , and start repairing all the damage he’s done.
He did not benefit anything in this land- he left it depleted and worn out.
There will be a lot of detritus to clean up after Donny Two Weeks finishes trashing our Constitution.
Yes. A good man with stage 4 cancer and spending the rest of his life doing good for others. He truly cared about us as people. I have never agreed with any politician on all of their policies, but as a person, Joe is a MENSCH. A humble person who never forgot where he came from. Could anyone imagine him turning the Oval Office into Versailles, or taking and flying on a vulgar disgusting Qatari-owned plane? I don't think I've ever seen Joe's house in Delaware, or a picture of the Biden's private quarters in the WH, nor do I care about his money. I do know he has a beautiful 1967 Corvette that his father gave to him and his first wife as a wedding gift that he is never allowed to drive again. I read the story about it.. Brought tears to my eyes.
And that Orange Scumbag when he heard Joe was sick said "No, I don't feel sorry for him. He's a terrible person". He should have been struck by lightening bolts, self-combusted and swallowed up by the earth straight down to hell at that very moment. I don't wish the cruelty and pain of cancer on anyone, but boy, if there really is karma? I vote for Gadaffi colonoscopy for Donnie and the rest of them...the video that even shook and terrified Putin to his core, and that says it all!
"You don't know what you've got till it's gone" (they paved Paradise and put up a parking lot). "Big Yellow Taxi" Joni Mitchell 1970. The lyrics...every word is true.
Libertarians 😂😂😂
Too embarrassed to be REPUBLIKKKANS.
Whenever libertarians are mentioned I flash back to Michael Sandel's phenomenal course "Justice" (Harvard, on EdX) and the book of the same title, relating the tale of Jeremy Bentham and the panopticon. An emerging reality, BTW, thanks to the work of folks like Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg, coupled with the incredible naivete of the public.
“Panopticon.” Use it twice and it’s yours for life.
Thx for the tip about Sandel’s book
Yeah, because Shitler does not like brown and non white people. Which is funny, because Trump sure does love Israel, and does he realize they are predominately NOT white people? or does he like most Christians think that Jesus was totally white with blonde hair and blue eyes? Things I wonder.
So Ill up you with this shit, jeff. https://thistleandmoss.com/p/donny-shitchewer-i-can-spend-whatever
Trump can spend whatever the fuck he wants (in his own mind of course).
As always Uncle Jeff, liked, restacked, quoted, and cross-posted to our readers.
Keep up the good fight.
Bibi is a racist, just like trump. Jews who are not white are discriminated against in Israel, & I think he’s stopped immigration of African Jews.
Askenazi, or in Bibi's case, Ash Can Nazi.
We took a tour of the LDS buildings and museum etc in Salt Lake. What I remember most vividly — aside from the architecture and the unflappable courtesy of the blond youth who served as guides —- was the mural depiction of Jesus as being fair skinned, with blond hair and blue eyes.
Yes. People DO THINK that a Jew from the Palestine/Israel/Sinai zone was miraculously blond and blue eyed. My bet is that they also think he spoke American English
Jeebus was blond and blue…I saw him on a picture in our family home.
😆
Is that picture also on the cover of the Trump Bible?
Yes, people working two jobs in a gig economy absolutely agree they have too many stat holidays. 🤦♀️
And the dipshit in chief is conflating Federal "Bank" holidays that are mostly an inconvenience for the average Joe who still has to work, with actual stat holidays, during which most businesses are open anyway.
Let's not forget that he also accused people working from home of skipping out to play tennis.
The man has zero, ZERO connection with working peoples' reality.
I work in a hospital. We have NO holidays. Just time and a half and sad mashed potatoes, lumpy gravy and dried up meat. And those meals are only at Thanksgiving and Xmas. Easter is not a holiday in hospital. I asked someone why not and their reply "Easter is a religious holiday". Well, that's nice to know because WTH is XMAS????? Guess it's not a religious holiday. I work with morons. They're not only walking our streets, they're in the workplace too.
Same thing in retail--and I worked at a sports outfitting store that was open 24/7, 365 days a year. Not even locks on the doors (back then). If I said it was in Freeport Maine you could likely guess who the outfitter was.
Of course, retail is not as urgently life and death as a hospital or a fire department...but management acted as though it was during the holiday season.
And those management clowns certainly took off Xmas Tday 4thJuly etc…
I'll take working every holiday rather than work in retail during Xmas season. And don't put me in the complaint department lol. Doesn't matter what your job description is, most people would rather be home with their family/friends on holidays than at work. But for me, it's only one day. If you're in retail, it's weeks and if people are rude in hospitals, I hate to think what they're like when they go shopping.
I have total sympathy and respect for healthcare workers in hospitals who never get a break. I do want to point out that, despite the current name of the Winter Solstice celebrations and the continued co-opting and claiming that it is a religious holiday by Xtians (along with the same for the Spring Equinox festival named after Eostre), both festivals pre-date Xtianity by centuries, if not millennia. Both ancient holidays transcend the claims of belonging to any one religion, and will continue to do so.
Easter and Mother’s Day have some of the worst attendance we have. If you do work that day, it’s not a happy one because we are always short staffed. If you make them holidays and pay time and a half, you’d have enough nurses. Super Bowl Sunday is another attendance problem. But when you go into this profession, you should be aware that it’s not an 8-5 job unless you are in an office.
Deborah, that sounds HORRIBLE. Can you go to a different hospital, or are you stuck there? I mean, sad mash, lumpy gravy AND dried up meat!
Hey, we dietary staff did our best with what we were made to work with. 😇😋
Actually, I don’t care. I’m not into holiday meals. I’d rather have a cheeseburger anytime. We have restaurants all around the hospital we can get take out from. Not all the meals are terrible - it’s just been years of eating out of styrofoam containers. I don’t know how to act with a china plate and metal silverware lol.
I used to work in hospitals and nursing homes, and had the same exact experience. NEVER a holiday off. Time and a half was nice tho. Yes, I was the one in the kitchen sometimes, serving those sad mashed potato lumpy gravy dried meat dinners. Others I was scrubbing toilets and making beds, or cleaning up copious amounts of blood after baby deliveries. But never opening gifts or eating TG dinner with the fam.
People that did your job are the backbone of a hospital. We couldn’t do what we do without you. I didn’t have to work every holiday, but what good is one day off if you’re the one cleaning your house for company, cooking and cleaning up after the meal? That’s hardly a holiday. I figure I won’t have a real Xmas holiday until I retire. Then I will have plenty of time to get ready for Xmas and enjoy the day.
Thank you. My favorite days were the busiest ones, when it felt like I knew I made a difference.
My mother was an RN for over 40 years. I spent my summers home from college working at her hospital (grounds crew). There is a lot of work that goes into a functional hospital. Thanks to you and others in that service industry for making it all work these many years.
A lot of my family is or was involved in hospital work, from doctors and nurses, nurse's aides, administration, and me in everything from the dishroom to the delivery room. I grew up with no fear of hospitals, and am glad for that.
It's almost like he's not human, he's a different species. I don't think he has a connection with anyone, rich or poor. I can't think of anyone like him.
I really do miss having a human being for a President. And for a senile person he seems pretty with it.
BIDEN IS NOT SENILE.
I think she was being ironic.
Easy there! Please engage sarcasm detector and read again. Thanks!
Two weeks is like my dad’s “we’ll see”, which was usually a no. In trump brain it’s a “I’ll have forgotten by then.”
As for Juneteenth, I work in the claims department of a well known insurer. We in claims don’t get the company holiday on Juneteenth automatically, unless we take it as paid time off (then it gets converted to the holiday) or as a deferred day off.
You know WHY we don’t get it automatically like the rest of the company does? Because our customers expect that we will be OPEN and available. Hell. Most places don’t even get July 4 off.
Trump is a racist dickhead. So are the rest of the GOP
OR, it's a: I hope everybody will have forgotten by then...or a: hopefully something more interesting to the media will happen by then (or perhaps I can point at something else by then)
💯
Juneteenth has nothing to do with July 4th. Charlie is as bad at history as he is at making lame ass comparisons.
Libertarians apparently equate equal rights as communism because it’s not prefaced by bootstraps.
I did read this morning that the next "No Kings/No Tyranny" protests will be on July 4th, which seems entirely appropriate. So glad the real Americans are taking back the flag.
I have been advised that 50501 is targeting John Lewis anniversary on July 17. At least in my community.
Yes, I saw that too. Protesting is going to be my new hobby.
As soon as I heard about the drive to make Juneteenth a holiday, I thought--how perfect! It makes a perfect complement to July 4th. As Frederick Gay Douglass observed: what was July 4th to a Black person? Meaning that celebrating freedom and independence was pretty insulting to a group of human beings who were enslaved....and were enslaved by the architects of the Revolution. So, when Juneteenth was finally given its rightful place, it seemed to me that it would be good if Frederick (I didn't know then he was GAY!) Douglass could know that America as a whole could now celebrate the freedom of all of its people......
And then along come the Rethuglican Nazi weenies, to be utter weenies as usual......
New Hampshire Libertarians are notable for their total ignorance, just like the New Hampshire Republicans...only somehow worse.
Charlie is just an ignorant ass who figured out how to appeal to the unfortunately large amount of other ignorant asses. He is vile.
Libertarians are where all the moronic stoners end up (as opposed to the more intelligent and intellectual “heads”).
Jeff, the truth is, people like Trump and many of his supporters hate Juneteenth because it represents something they can’t stand: the idea that people they view as “lesser”—namely Black and Brown folks—should enjoy the same freedoms they do. Full stop.
They resent being reminded that we were enslaved, that we were freed, and that we dared to celebrate it. Juneteenth should be a source of American pride—it marks a promise of equality finally reaching those it was long denied. But instead, it unsettles them, because it forces a confrontation with the lie at the heart of their worldview: that freedom and dignity are only for some. And if we're all truly created equal, well... they can’t have that now, can they?
Right on. Along with hating a holiday celebrating black liberation, racists have to eat the shame of Texas as a state officially hiding the outcome of the Civil War. Like the 2020 election "Big Lie."
Totally on point!
As a worker and egalitarian, just want to point out that most workers WANT their employers to observe EVERY holiday so we can take a day off form the daily grind. And the Slacker-in-Chief telling us we don't work enough is the last straw.
And it is a PLASTIC straw
Cuz they don't EXPLODE ! 😉
😂
I'm still waiting for drumpf's super better than obamacare healthcare plan, which is coming out in two weeks 8 years ago
It's now called Trump's "Eat Shit and Die" plan.
He has a title but only concepts of a plan
Nailed it!