11/21/2024

the immensely unqualified linda mcmahon

President-elect Donald Trump announced Linda McMahon, his transition co-chair and former small business administrator, as his nomination for the next secretary of education.

"As Secretary of Education, Linda will fight tirelessly to expand "Choice" to every State in America, and empower parents to make the best Education decisions for their families." Trump wrote on social media.

he's putting a 76 y.o. in charge of a department?

no 1 sees that as strange?

that's before you get to the fact that she's not just unqualified, she's also a public liar.

beth reinhard, aaron schaffer and laura meckler ('washington post') explain:

Linda McMahon, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice as education secretary, incorrectly claimed in 2009 that she had a bachelor’s degree in education on a questionnaire for a Connecticut Board of Education post, according to news reports at the time.

McMahon received a bachelor’s degree in French and a teaching certificate from East Carolina University, according to her alma mater’s announcement that she would deliver the 2018 commencement speech.

The error on the questionnaire was reported by the Hartford Courant during her unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2010. She said at the time that she mistakenly thought her degree was in education because she did a semester of student teaching, and that she had written to the governor’s office the previous year to correct the error after another newspaper noticed the mistake.

McMahon resigned from the state education board one day after the Courant told her it intended to write about the error, the paper reported, but McMahon said the timing was unrelated. The state education board could not immediately fulfill a request to provide a copy of the questionnaire and other correspondence Wednesday morning, but the Trump transition team did not dispute that the error occurred.

“The clarification was addressed many, many years ago,” said Brian Hughes, a spokesman for the Trump transition. “These types of politically motivated attacks are the new normal for nominees ready to enact President Trump’s mandate for common sense that an overwhelming majority of Americans supported two weeks ago.”

so she lied. and it was a lie. you know whether or not you have a degree in education. she's a liar. she's too old for the job and she's a liar. this has nothing to do with 'political motivated attacks.'

it does have to do with her husband being a sex trafickker. sorry, roseane barr, looks like you kidded yourself into crazy with the pretense that donald was ending sex trafficking.

linda's unqualified, too old, a liar and married to a sex trafickker.

let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'

Wednesday, November 20, 2024. Mika and Joe soil themselves while nut jobs like Francis Boyle harm the left.

Did Mika and Joe destroy MSNBC this week?

I heard what they'd done Monday afternoon and immediately removed their video from the snapshot -- they were talking about Pete Hegseth. When the shock faded, the anger remained. And I wasn't a big fan of MORNING JOE. Two cowards went and sucked up to save their own asses and their viewers b e damned.

There was no excuse for it. It tars them as traitors -- they betrayed the audience -- and as liars because how could you say all that they have said about the great Satan and then turn around and make nice with him?

They now make clear that, at least their section of MSNBC, is nothing but posing and acting -- and that's really not something a so-called news network wants to be known for.

Rachel Maddow, Joy Reid, Ari, Chris Hayes, all of them are now suspect.

I'm not saying they should be -- I can't imagine a time when I won't applaud and defend Chris -- someone who actually keeps their word and has a record for doing so -- but I am saying that two on airs embarrassed the network and put a question mark over the network and the other on air personalities.

Ron Filipkowski (MEIDASTOUCH MEDIA) notes:

After social media across multiple platforms erupted over Joe and Mika’s trip to MAL to kiss the ring, or, as Joe put it, “restarting my communications with Trump,” the response this morning was to insult the critics. Scarborough opened the show with this:

“Yesterday, I saw for the first time what a massive disconnect there was between social media and the real world because we were flooded from phone calls from people all day, literally around the world, very positive, very supportive.”

So, the millions of people who expressed outrage that J&M went to the home of the man they have called a serial sexual abuser of women and the second coming of Hitler are disconnected from the real world, but J&M’s friends calling them from around the world have their finger on the pulse? I guess we will find out when the ratings from this week come out whether this is just cranks on social media or real people who used to watch their show. (The show’s ratings had already tanked since the election even before this).

Sure, the consensus of the opinions on social media don’t always reflect society as a whole or the views of the entire country. I get that. But that’s not really the issue here. Morning Joe’s audience is largely the very same people who are complaining on social media - educated, sophisticated people who follow the news very closely and are on social media. So, with this dismissive statement, Joe insults his own audience yet again.

I guess I’m just not sophisticated enough to understand why a TV host would go to someone’s house to kiss and make up who accused him of murdering a staffer to cover up an extramarital affair (with no evidence). Or who viciously insulted his wife over her intellect, looks, and plastic surgery. I guess those of us in the imaginary social media world don’t get the nuance of how it is necessary to kiss the ring of that person in order to provide TV commentary to a largely progressive audience.

People around the world? Joe is such a damn liar. No one gives a damn about MORNING JOE in Japan or France or any country that has their own media. There is no excuse for what took place.

While Joe lied and invented world wide fans, MEIDASTOUCH actually polled:

After we reported that Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski admitted to bending the knee to Trump at Mar-a-Lago this past weekend, we decided to conduct a survey to see if it impacted viewers of Morning Joe. We were Morning Joe fans, and it made us not want to watch them again. We wanted to see if MeidasTouch viewers felt as we did.

We surveyed 9,686 people, and the results were shocking: 90.3 percent of those surveyed say they will not watch Morning Joe ever again. It’s sad that Morning Joe screwed over its audience like this and lost the credibility and trust it had gained from us and others

Mika and Joe are exposed as actors, not as journalists. They will say and do anything for a check.

They are not alone.

Remember that as you read over Lynda Williams (COMMON DREAMS):

As a physicist and concerned citizen, I find myself outraged every time I scroll through social media and encounter tweets from the Department of Energy, or DOE, and the Office of Nuclear Energy, or ONE, touting nuclear power as “clean, safe, and carbon-free.”

This narrative not only misrepresents the dirty reality of nuclear power but also obscures the significant environmental and health risks associated with its production and waste. It’s infuriating to see government agencies knowingly lie and promote such misleading information, while ignoring the pressing issues faced by communities affected by the toxic reality of the nuclear power industry—propaganda paid for by U.S. taxpayers!

Oh, Canada! Leading the Charge Against Nuclear Greenwashing

Finally, someone is doing something about it—but not in the U.S., where you’d expect it. In Canada, a coalition of seven environmental organizations recently filed a formal complaint with the Competition Bureau against the Canadian Nuclear Association (CNA), accusing it of misleading the public by marketing nuclear power as “clean” and “emissions-free.” Based on Canada’s Competition Act, the complaint challenges the CNA for violating provisions related to false or misleading advertising, similar to greenwashing regulations in other countries, where deceptive environmental claims distort market competition and misinform consumers.

The complaint argues that the CNA omits critical information about the environmental damage and health risks associated with the nuclear fuel cycle, including uranium mining, radioactive waste management, and the impacts on communities near nuclear facilities. By selectively framing nuclear power as a climate solution, the CNA diverts attention and resources away from truly sustainable alternatives like solar and wind energy.

In confronting the extremism of a potential Trump administration, it’s more vital than ever to collaborate with Canada and other nations committed to challenging nuclear misinformation.

In the U.S., similar deceptive practices could be challenged under the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act, which includes the FTC’s Green Guides. These guidelines require that any environmental claims be substantiated, transparent, and not misleading about the overall environmental impact. Yet, organizations like the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) and the American Nuclear Society (ANS) continue to promote nuclear power as a “clean” energy solution while conveniently ignoring the lifecycle emissions, radioactive waste, and long-term environmental costs.

Leading the charge in Canada are groups such as the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA), Environmental Defence Canada, and the Sierra Club Canada Foundation. Here in the U.S., organizations like the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and the Sierra Club could take similar action against the NEI and ANS by leveraging the FTC’s guidelines to expose deceptive marketing practices in the nuclear sector.

Let’s Be Real: Nuclear Power is Not Clean or Green

Sure, nuclear fission may not produce direct carbon emissions, but the nuclear fuel cycle—including uranium mining, reactor construction, radioactive waste management, and decommissioning—creates significant greenhouse gas emissions. In places like the Navajo Nation, uranium mining has already caused immeasurable harm. Over 523 abandoned uranium mines and mills continue to contaminate the land and water with radioactive waste, leading to severe health problems that affect multiple generations. The DOE’s failure to address these ongoing harms while simultaneously promoting the narrative of “clean, safe, carbon-free” nuclear power is not just unethical—it’s a dangerous distraction from real solutions for our energy needs and the fight against climate change.

Nuclear energy is not safe. The byproduct of it is not safe and is deadly for millions of years. A nuclear plant makes a much better target for terrorism than a world sky scraper. It is a danger to all of us.

Some people got taken in by Oliver Stone. He's a pig and he lies. But some on the left treated him like a god.

Words? Pretty words trick a lot of people. Equally true, there are a lot of sell outs.

And there is just the grotesque. That would be people like John Stauber who made their money and name on the left but turned out to be psycho nut jobs who now platform and embrace Laura Loomer and other hate merchants.

I'm not in the mood to play. What John Stauber puts on his social media is disgusting but the left -- even those who promoted him -- looks the other way and refuses to call out what he's become -- a racist troll.

I'm not playing that game.

Francis A. Boyle is a legal professor who once had a working brain. He's repeatedly sent stuff to this site over the years and I've tried to include it where possible. Didn't mean I agreed, didn't mean I disagreed.

But we're done.

I knew of him through members of Congress -- including John Conyers.

He keeps sending garbage and doesn't seem to realize that it's not being missed in the inbox. That can happen. That's not what's happening with him.

I don't care that he wants to impeach Joe Biden.

That is his 'new' and 'productive' effort.

Joe Biden steps down in January, it's almost Thanksgiving, buy a damn clue, read the room. Francis is a damn loser. Maybe he always was, maybe he just became it.

But not only do I not have time for that garbage nonsense, I also don't have time for Alex Jones. Is this the first time his name has appeared here in our two decades? Ava and I covered his nonsense for a media piece at THIRD.

But Francis has sat down with Alex Jones and done a great interview on impeaching Joe Biden and . . .

And shut the hell up.

Seriously, you embarrass yourself. You shame yourself.

I am appalled that no one calls out John Stauber. But when I saw all the e-mails of Francis trying to promote himself and Alex Jones, my first response was to just ignore it. So maybe that's why some on the left who were so cozy with John Stauber have refused to call him out for the hate merchant he's become? I don't know but I'm not playing that game.

Francis A. Boyle is nuts and has no place on the left. He can join the other grifters like Glynneth Greenwald and Fatt Taibbi in promoting and defending Alex Jones.

We won't miss him. If you're looking what's going on in this country right now and your 'answer' is to impeach Joe Biden? You're beyond insane.

People are living in fear of what's coming.

And your answer is to defocus with a bunch of nonsense while you play footise with Alex Jones?

You're a disgrace and a good reason why our country is at the point it is right now and why so many Americans rightfully are worried about what's coming after the January inauguration.

Senator Elizabeth Warren issued the following:

Washington, D.C. – Today, in response to the news that President-elect Donald Trump has named Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to serve as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released the following statement:

“Donald Trump’s appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. poses a danger to public health, scientific research, medicine, and health care coverage for millions of Americans. RFK Jr. wants to stop parents from protecting their babies from measles and his ideas would welcome the return of polio. He has spread conspiracy theories on everything from COVID to mass shootings. I will have a lot of questions about Mr. Kennedy’s fitness to serve as health secretary when he appears before the Finance Committee.”

###

Senator Ron Wyden issued the following:

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued the following statement on Donald Trump picking Chris Wright to be nominated for Department of Energy secretary and Doug Burgum to be nominated for Department of Interior secretary.

“It’s sadly not the least bit surprising that Trump’s picks to do his bidding at the Department of Energy and the Department of the Interior have long track records cheerleading for Big Oil, corporate America, and the ultra-wealthy gas executives plotting to fill their already over-stuffed pocketbooks,” Wyden said. “These nominees were selected with the goal of taking our country back in time and rolling back climate progress. American workers and families will pay a steep price as Trump's agenda destroys jobs and shuts down renewable energy projects all over the country that Americans overwhelmingly support.

“But make no mistake: as a senior member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, I will watchdog the Trump administration’s every move. Oregonians voted for elected officials who will stand up to Trump’s climate denying policies and keep fighting to protect our state’s beloved public lands from being pillaged for profit. That’s exactly what I’ll do–all while keeping a spotlight on the urgent need for climate action so all Oregonians have a bright and better future.”

###

Senator Richard Blumenthal issued the following:

[HARTFORD, CT] – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) joined Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and all Senate Judiciary Democrats in a letter to the House Ethics Committee urging the House Ethics Committee to preserve and transmit to the Senate Judiciary Committee all relevant documentation on former Congressman Matt Gaetz, including the report that the House Ethics Committee was reportedly prepared to vote to release tomorrow. The letter follows Mr. Gaetz’s resignation from Congress yesterday after President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Mr. Gaetz to serve as Attorney General.

The Senators wrote, “The sequence and timing of Mr. Gaetz’s resignation from the House raises serious questions about the contents of the House Ethics Committee report and findings. We cannot allow this critical information from a bipartisan investigation into longstanding public allegations to be hidden from the American people, given that it is directly relevant to the question of whether Mr. Gaetz is qualified and fit to be the next Attorney General of the United States.”

The Senators continued, “The Senate has a constitutional duty to provide advice and consent on presidential nominees, and it is crucial that we review all of the information necessary to fulfill this duty as we consider Mr. Gaetz’s nomination. We thus request that you immediately provide to the Senate Judiciary Committee your Committee’s report and all documentation related to your investigation into Mr. Gaetz’s alleged misconduct. The Senate Judiciary Committee will accept this information in any format that accords with your Committee’s rules, but please include all underlying source materials on which you relied, including interviews and contact information for any of these sources.”

In April 2021, the House Ethics Committee announced that the Committee was “aware of public allegations that Representative Matt Gaetz may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct,” and as a result, the Committee had “begun an investigation and will gather additional information regarding the allegations.”

In June 2024, the House Ethics Committee issued a statement noting that the Committee had “determined that certain of the allegations merit continued review” and that “the Committee has also identified additional allegations that merit review,” including allegations pursuant to Committee Rules 14(a)(3) and 18(a) that Representative Gaetz may have: engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.”

There is substantial precedent for the release of such materials in both chambers of Congress. In 1987, the House Ethics Committee released a preliminary report about former Rep. Bill Boner after he left Congress, stating: “In the Committee’s view, the general policy against issuing reports in cases such as here involved is outweighed by the responsibility of the Committee to fully inform the public regarding the status and results of its efforts up to the date of Representative Boner’s departure from Congress.” Similarly, in 2011, the Senate Select Committee on Ethics released its preliminary report on former Senator John Ensign after he resigned from Congress. The House Ethics Committee has also continued investigations after Members have left Congress, such as in 2010 when it twice reauthorized its investigation into former Rep. Eric Massa after his departure.

Along with Blumenthal, the letter was signed by U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Chris Coons (D-DE), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Laphonza Butler (D-CA).

Full text of today’s letter is available here and below:

November 14, 2024

Dear Chairman Guest and Ranking Member Wild:

In light of President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement of his intent to nominate former Congressman Matt Gaetz to be Attorney General, we request that the House Committee on Ethics immediately preserve and transmit to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary all relevant documentation on Mr. Gaetz, including the report that your Committee was reportedly prepared to vote to release tomorrow.

In April 2021, you announced that the Committee was “aware of public allegations that Representative Matt Gaetz may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct,” and as a result, the Committee had “begun an investigation and will gather additional information regarding the allegations.”

In June 2024, the Committee issued a statement noting that the Committee had “determined that certain of the allegations merit continued review” and that “the Committee has also identified additional allegations that merit review,” including “allegations pursuant to Committee Rules 14(a)(3) and 18(a) that Representative Gaetz may have: engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.”

The sequence and timing of Mr. Gaetz’s resignation from the House raises serious questions about the contents of the House Ethics Committee report and findings. We cannot allow this critical information from a bipartisan investigation into longstanding public allegations to be hidden from the American people, given that it is directly relevant to the question of whether Mr. Gaetz is qualified and fit to be the next Attorney General of the United States.

The Senate has a constitutional duty to provide advice and consent on presidential nominees, and it is crucial that we review all of the information necessary to fulfill this duty as we consider Mr. Gaetz’s nomination. We thus request that you immediately provide to the Senate Judiciary Committee your Committee’s report and all documentation related to your investigation into Mr. Gaetz’s alleged misconduct. The Senate Judiciary Committee will accept this information in any format that accords with your Committee’s rules, but please include all underlying source materials on which you relied, including interviews and contact information for any of these sources.

Thank you for your time and prompt consideration of this important request.

Sincerely,

US House Rep Joaquin Castro's released this:

WASHINGTON — Today, Rep. Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (NY-05), Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Sen. Majority Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, led the release of a new report from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) that examines the role of U.S. firearms in Caribbean arms trafficking. The report found that nearly three-quarters of firearms recovered from the Caribbean and traced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) could be sourced back to the United States, with many originating from U.S. retail sales.

A bicameral group of top Foreign Affairs, Homeland Security, and Judiciary Democrats joined Castro, Meeks, and Durbin in releasing this report, including Reps. Bennie Thompson (MS-02), Ranking Member of the House Homeland Security Committee, Lou Correa (CA-46), Ranking Member of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement, Dan Goldman (NY-10), Seth Magaziner (RI-02), Ranking Member of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement and Intelligence, and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), Co-Chair of the House Haiti Caucus.

Key findings in today’s report include:

73% of firearms recovered from 25 Caribbean countries and tracked by ATF’s eTrace system between 2018 - 2022 could be sourced to the United States. Among these firearms, 45 percent could be sourced back to an initial retail purchase in the United States, with most sales originating in Florida, Texas, and Georgia.

Handguns represented the majority (88 percent) of firearms recovered and traced from the Caribbean. During the study period from 2018 to 2022, the number of long guns submitted for tracing across the Caribbean nearly tripled from five percent to fifteen percent of all weapons examined.

A full copy of the report can be found here.

“The most effective way to address violence and instability in the Caribbean is to prevent U.S. guns from falling into the hands of criminals,” said Congressman Joaquin Castro, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. “During my time on the Foreign Affairs Committee, I’ve met with dozens of leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean who plead with the United States to stop the gun trafficking that is wreaking havoc on their countries. Today’s report from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office demonstrates how criminal organizations across the Caribbean source their weapons from the United States in a deadly trade that has contributed to the collapse of Haitian society and devastating loss of life across the region. The Biden-Harris administration has taken important steps to curb gun trafficking, including through strict enforcement of penalties in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and the subsequent establishment of a Coordinator for Caribbean Firearms Prosecutions at the Department of Justice. To continue this progress, Congress must pass my Americas Regional Monitoring of Arms Sales (ARMAS) Act, which mobilizes resources across the federal government to disrupt firearms trafficking from the United States. No approach to the challenges facing our hemisphere can be complete without a comprehensive strategy to end gun trafficking. I hope the next administration will treat this issue with the gravity it deserves.”

“Leaders across the Caribbean have long called on the United States to address the pernicious effects of arms trafficking from our shores to their countries. These weapons destabilize communities and compound the challenges faced by our Caribbean neighbors, enabling gangs and transnational criminal networks to perpetrate crime that undermines U.S. national security and regional stability. We must invest in efforts to stem the flow of illicit weapons from our shores to the Caribbean. Doing so will protect communities in the United States, Caribbean and wider Western Hemisphere,” said Ranking Member Gregory W. Meeks.

“Enabled by the NRA and Republican extremists, our country’s lax gun laws have created a vicious cycle of firearms trafficking to international drug cartels and criminal organizations, recklessly destabilizing countries throughout the region. Today’s report demonstrates the severity of this phenomenon, which unleashes violence, drug trading, and chaos in its wake. We need to stem the ‘iron river’ of firearms trafficking and pass additional commonsense gun safety legislation. I stand ready to do so with any of my colleagues ready to fight this fight,” said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“As this report shows, the overwhelming majority of guns recovered in the Caribbean were trafficked from the United States. We need to ensure that guns from the U.S. are not getting in the hands of the cartels and criminal organizations. Our homeland security depends on it,” said Congressman Bennie Thompson, Ranking Member of the House Homeland Security Committee.

“As this nonpartisan report highlights, nearly three-quarters of firearms recovered in the Caribbean can be traced back to the United States, underscoring the urgent need for stronger action to combat arms trafficking. We must strengthen screening and enforcement at our ports and hold bad actors accountable for smuggling firearms into the region. That’s why I introduced the Caribbean Arms Trafficking Causing Harm (CATCH) Act — to build on the progress we made with the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act by specifically targeting illegal gun exports to the Caribbean. Together, these efforts will help curb the flow of deadly weapons, reduce violence, and enhance security for our neighbors and ourselves,” said Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Co-Chair of the House Haiti Caucus.

“Illicit firearms trafficking from the U.S. is fueling violence in Caribbean countries including Haiti, destabilizing the region and causing a growing number of people to flee their home countries for their safety,” said Congressman Seth Magaziner, Ranking Member of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement and Intelligence. “We need double down on efforts that will crack down on illicit firearms trafficking and stop cartels from spreading violence using U.S. weapons.”

"American firearms traffickers aren’t just fueling a gun violence epidemic here at home, they’re also arming cartels abroad and contributing to the drug and human trafficking operations at the border, including the fentanyl crisis,” said Congressman Dan Goldman. “The GAO's startling report drives home the urgent need to crack down on the trafficking of American firearms abroad. Congress must pass legislation like Congressman Castro's ARMAS Act and my Disarming Cartels Act – to keep these American manufacturers from fueling the crisis at the border.”

Background

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Caribbean countries accounted for six of the world’s 10 highest national murder rates in 2021, with the majority of homicides stemming from gun violence. Data from the Small Arms Survey indicates that legal civilian firearm ownership rates in the Caribbean are relatively low, with gun laws and regulations that are restrictive by global standards. Nevertheless, the Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has reported a significant increase in the quantity, caliber, and type of firearms illegally trafficked from the U.S. to the Caribbean. Particularly in Haiti, the flow of illicit firearms from the United States has facilitated the growth of violent gangs and contributed to increasing displacement and U.S.-bound emigration.

In 2022, Congress passed, and President Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which created new federal criminal offenses for firearms trafficking. More than 500 defendants have been charged to date under these new provisions. In 2023, the Department of Justice appointed a Coordinator for Caribbean Firearms Prosecutions to elevate regional firearms trafficking investigations and prosecutions. In today’s report, GAO recommended that the State Department additionally establish indicators specific to firearms trafficking in the Results Framework for the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI), a longstanding security cooperation partnership between the United States and thirteen Caribbean countries. The State Department has concurred with GAO’s recommendation.

But we've got nut jobs like Boyle taking up oxygen with nonsense about impeaching Joe?

The left is never wrong to promote the expansion of civil rights and liberties and that battle does not hurt election results. What does hurt is nut jobs and not calling them out to make clear that we do not stand with them.

The following sites updated:

11/19/2024

the abandon harris 'movement' gave the palestinians a death sentence

'the times of israel' reports:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that “the only thing that Hamas wants is a deal that ends the war and for the IDF to leave the Strip in order to return to power,” according to Israel National News. “I am not ready to allow that under any circumstance.”

get it? dearborn and hamtramck, do you get it now?

you played politics with human lives. you just knew your little protest was going to help some 1. it only helped the government of israel.

you are idiots. you voted for death to the palestinians.

there is no excuse for your actions and you damn well better not expect any help.

no. you took a bad situation and made it 100 times worse. so you live with that and you work to fix that.

don't expect help from the rest of us. you know what you did. you risked our very democracy because you just knew you knew best.

you didn't know a damn thing and you've condemned palestinians to death. live with it. live with the blood on your hands. nobody forced you to trash kamala day after day. nobody forced you to anything. you chose what to do and it was the wrong thing. now you want to whine and pretend like you didn't make things a lot worse. you're as stupid as anthony zenkus and jill stein combined. and people are damn tired of you.

less than a day ago, the idiot behind 'abandon harris' posted:

Winning elections is important, but not at the cost of compromising core values. True progress comes from maintaining integrity while advocating for change. Winning without principles breeds disillusionment and erodes trust, making real, lasting change impossible. Victory should align with values, not override them.

blah blah blah. translation? 'i killed palestinians by creating this abandon harris movement but watch me try to justify the dead by lying to myself.'

let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'

Monday, November 18, 2024. While Free Press, THE GUARDIAN, Jamie Lee Curtis, Danielle Moodie and others leave the vile TWITTER, notice the racists unable to take a similar brave stand.

The lesson? They'll always make room for a White man. Talking about the left. Talking about the nonsense Brett Wilkins wrote for COMMON DREAMS about how "progressives" are "rip"ing apart US President Joe Biden.

But you read on and "progressives" becomes one person on TWITTER and that one person is conspiracy nut and antix-vaxer Lee Camp

Journalism standards are out the window before we even get to the Camps of Hell and Brimstone whose biggest 'action' was taking place and signing off on the faux nonsense Rage Against the War Machine and Jacob Crosse (WSWS) noted of that racist action:

On February 19, in Washington D.C., the Libertarian Party and “People’s Party,” along with disoriented middle class elements and outright fascistic individuals, organized what was marketed as the “Rage Against the War Machine” rally.

The event, billed by organizers Angela McArdle of the Libertarian Party and Nick Brana of the People’s Party as an attempt to bring the “left and right” together in opposition to the war in Ukraine was, the World Socialist Web Site noted, a “reactionary political freak show.”

The World Socialist Web Site will be further analyzing the main organizers and speakers at the event, confirming its thoroughly reactionary character. This article focuses on the Libertarian Party and its overt orientation to the fascistic right.

The central political perspective behind the rally was provided by the Libertarian Party, which was listed as the main organizer—above the People’s Party on the official “Rage” website.

Libertarian Party Chair Angela McArdle moderated the “Rage” rally along with Brana. Of the 19 speakers, three were or are currently members of the Libertarian Party: Ron Paul, Scott Horton and Daniel McAdams.

Commenting on the leading role of the Libertarian Party in organizing the event, Max Blumenthal of the Grayzone, in a February 16 podcast promoting the rally with fellow speaker Scott Horton, noted that the event was “substantially planned by the Libertarian Party.”

Besides providing the political perspective, the Libertarians also financed much of the rally. The Mises Caucus donated at least $1,000 to be one of five “Silver Sponsors” for the rally.

While Libertarians have always advanced a far-right hyper-capitalist economic program, following the election of Donald Trump in 2016 and a further shift to the right by the American ruling class as a whole, members of the party, chiefly represented in the Mises Caucus, have made a marked turn toward fascist militias and anti-Semitic forces.

The Mises Caucus is the largest faction within the Libertarian Party and took control of the national apparatus in 2022 following the national convention in Reno, Nevada. McArdle was the California organizer for the caucus and a former board member.

As part of her campaign to seize the chair of the party last year, McArdle, with the backing of the caucus, spearheaded efforts to overturn limited vaccine mandates in Los Angeles County.

After earning the support of the anti-vaccine contingent of the party, McArdle shored up her candidacy when she refused to condemn vicious anti-Semite Bryan Sharpe, also known as “Hotep Jesus,” at the Libertarian Party’s Alabama State Convention in March 2021.

Sharpe had previously been invited to the Conservative Political Action Conference and been interviewed positively on Fox News.

On his blog, Sharpe previously praised the far right for not being “afraid to call out the Jews.” He also defended the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, writing that the “Blacks are so removed from reality... this is not a demonstration against blacks. This is a dispute between right and left—Liberal versus Conservative. Maybe even White vs. Jew.”

At the 2021 Alabama convention, a Libertarian Party member asked McArdle how she could have invited Sharpe to the national convention given his history of “anti-Semitic views.”

McArdle responded, “I reject the premise of your question. I don’t actually think that someone who’s trying to be a truth-seeker and understand what’s going on—and asked the question about whether or not Jews run Hollywood is an anti-Semite.” (Emphasis added)

The Mises Caucus, the Mises Institute and Jeff Deist

An early indication of this shift to fascistic politics within the Libertarian Party was expressed in the takeover of the party by the Mises Caucus.

The Mises Caucus, named after the Mises Institute, which is currently led by Jeff Deist, was founded by Michael Heise on August 20, 2017. Several leading Libertarian Party members, including current chair McArdle, have been board members of the Mises Caucus, and many are “trained” by the Institute, located in Auburn, Alabama.

The Ludwig von Mises Institute, named after the reactionary Austrian economist, was founded by Llewellyn Rockwell Jr. in 1982, with financial backing from Ron Paul. A 2000 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) categorized the Mises Institute as “Neo-Confederate.”

In a January 11, 2023 interview on Reason.com, Heise pointed to the “Rage” rally as an example of the new type of “outreach” the Libertarian Party was undertaking under the leadership of the Mises Caucus in an attempt to grow the party.

Heise explained that the “anti-war rally” would be an example of the “first harvest” reaped of the new “fruits” cultivated under the far-right Mises Caucus leadership.

Jeff Deist, the president of the Mises Institute, is close to both Heise and McArdle, appearing on podcasts and right-wing events with both of them.

Deist has been at the Mises Institute since at least 2014. Before he was the president of the Institute, Deist, as he explained in a recent interview with fascist Patrick Casey, a co-organizer of the Unite the Right rally, “worked on Capitol Hill with Ron Paul.”

Casey was one of the leaders of the neo-Nazi group Identity Evropa and assumed leadership of the organization following the Unite the Right rally, which Identity Evropa played a main role in organizing. After Casey took control of the organization, in an attempt to distance the group from Charlottesville, he tried to rebrand the group as the “American Identity Movement.” However, this was not successful, and Casey stopped actively organizing within the group in 2020.

In 2019, Casey teamed up with Hitler-lover Nick Fuentes to promote the “groyper” army and launch the “America First Political Action Conference.” Leading up to January 6, the pair backed Trump’s “Stop the Steal” campaign by mobilizing their followers in support of the coup. Both Fuentes and Casey were at the Capitol on January 6, though neither have been charged.

Someone like that, you might assume COMMON DREAMS would be holding accountable but apparently COMMON DREAMS sees its role today as promoting those tight with neo-Nazis. Do you remember how many articles COMMON DREAMS printed daily attacking Kamala Harris while she was running for president but it's only rah-rahs for Lee Camp.

Again, there's always room -- at least at COMMON DREAMS -- to pimp and promote a White man. All Lee had to offer this election cycle was Jill Stein promoting. Since then, the loser has jumped on Adam McKay's ship that it's time to destroy the Democratic Party.

Hope that works out for him better than that failed Academy Award bid. As the person who ensured that he and David Sirota lost that category, I don't see that happening. I don't see much happening to his tired career.

But that's the state of COMMON DREAMS today: Praise and recognize Lee Camp despite his prancing around stage with Neo Nazis.

And we wonder why COMMON DREAMS took months to get on board with Kamala. It's really only the last three weeks of her campaign that they stopped attacking her in every article.

But again, the lesson, they will always make time for a White man and that -- not his nut job conspiracies, not his prancing around the stage with Neo Nazis and not his attacks on Kamala Harris to promote grifter Jill Stein -- prevents him from being covered and embraced by COMMON DREAMS.

When the left can't stand up to racism, it's not much of a left. While COMMON DREAMS works to make us all a little more stupid, The Free Press issued this:

For years, Free Press has sought to hold social-media companies accountable for amplifying hate and lies that undermine public health, safety and democracy. We have pushed for meaningful reforms that would protect users and have extensively documented the platforms’ failures. None of these companies has fallen so low as X under Elon Musk’s ownership.

Free Press will no longer be posting on X, effective immediately, and we invite you to join us in ceasing activity on Musk’s platform. We refuse to give X any legitimacy.

Free Press is committed to ensuring that people have a voice in the decisions that shape our media system. Musk, quite simply, is not. X is now the premier platform for white supremacists and conspiracy theorists. It is designed to amplify the ideas of racists, misogynists, xenophobes, antisemites and transphobes. Musk’s reckless oversight of the platform has endangered people on the receiving end of his abuse and threatened our democracy.

Musk has reinstated the accounts of white supremacists and conspiracy theorists who’ve repeatedly violated X’s own inadequate standards. He has personally amplified bigotry and normalized violent extremism. He has harassed those who seek to shine a light on his misdeeds, filing lawsuit after lawsuit to silence researchers and activists who have worked to hold him accountable. He has even bullied advertisers who elect to spend their ad dollars elsewhere.

Two years ago, in response to Musk’s dangerous behavior, Free Press helped organize the #StopToxicTwitter campaign. This organizing contributed to the mass exodus of advertisers from the platform. The company subsequently lost $35 billion in value.

We have fought to reform X, because we remember the community that it once had, which gave ordinary people the means to speak directly to the powerful in our society. But it’s clear that X will not correct course under Musk’s leadership, and it’s time for Free Press to exit.

To prevent malicious actors from impersonating Free Press, we will not delete our account. But we will no longer post on the platform.

We hope to stay connected with people who believe in Free Press’ vision of a more just and democratic media system. You all have contributed so much to this essential work. Please find us on our website or follow us on other social-media platforms.

Free Press Email List

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Good for them. Good for Jamie Lee Curtis and Danielle Moodie and the others leaving TWITTER. Good to all the people leaving the hate speech site.

In the days since the election, many Black women have made clear that a number of groups are now on their own. Couldn't be bothered to vote for the first Black woman president of the United States but did vote for Donald Trump? You made your racism clear and many Black women are now on vacation. They're not showing up for your Gaza protests or your other actions. Black women will work on Black women's healthcare but your marches in DC that depended so much on the work and presence of Black women? Good look to you and maybe a few years we'll see you again.

In reply to that, some people -- mainly White women -- have foolishly asked what they could do now?

As we noted last night in "Media: White supremacy won the 2024 election (Ava and C.I.):"

Some of the racists are asking what they can do now? In the face of Black women saying no to free labor, no to showing up at your protests, no to all you nonsense, some have asked: What can we do -- with the "now" implied.

Golly gee, what could you do?

Isn't it kind of obvious?

Get the hell off of TWITTER.

And why do you have to be told that.

TWITTER is the home of racism, sexism and homophobia.

It is owned by Elon Musk who used all three and the money you help him make to destroy Democratic Party chances in the election.

Why is it that, except for Jamie Lee Curtis, this is a conversation taking place only among Black Americans?

White Americans, you shouldn't have to ask others what you can do. You should just be getting off TWITTER. Do THREADS, do BLUESKY, do whatever, but get the hl off of TWITTER.

Can Bernie do that? Can racist Katrina vanden Heuvel? In fact, how dare you purchase a magazine started by abolitionists and then take to a racist platform like TWITTER.

The best thing the Democratic Party can immediately do to save itself is to get off TWITTER. And it doesn't cost them a damn cent to do this and stand against racism, sexism and homophobia.

[. . .]

I-I-I-I-I-I ain't gonna Tweet on TWITTER? Until you can say that, just accept that we all see you as the racist that you truly are.

TWITTER going under isn't going to hurt Elon Musk's pocket book. But he didn't buy the successful social media tool to make money, he bought it to have influence. And after what he pulled in this election -- this non-American (I don't recognize triple citizenship and don't believe America's founders would have either) who grew up a racist in South Africa and never cared until apartheid was falling and that's when he elected to flee South Africa -- his toy needs to be severely damaged, it's reach limited.

And yet, Katrina vanden Heuvel -- the racist who owns THE NATION and can only see Black women as maids or mammies -- can't take a principled stand and announce she's leaving the platform. Were it not for people being able to take stands against racism, THE NATION magazine never would have existed in the first place. But Katrina doesn't care about that or, apparently, much of anything. That's why THE GUARDIAN can leave TWITTER but THE NATION refuses to do.

What are you missing leaving TWITTER? Glynneth Greenwald's latest hissy fit. He's attacking right-wing feminist Bari Weiss for not cheerleading Tulsi Gabbard for the post of Director of National Intelligence. Staying on disasters nominated by Satanic Donald Trump, let's note this from Tom Boggioni (RAW STORY):

A late Saturday report from the Washington Post that Donald Trump's choice to be secretary of defense paid off a woman who accused him of sexual assault and that he was admittedly "visibly intoxicated” at the time may have created more problems for his confirmation.

According to the Post, Fox News personality Pete Hegseth "paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault as part of a nondisclosure agreement, though he maintained that their encounter was consensual."

On CNN, Sunday morning, reporter Daniel Strauss claimed the latest revelation won't help with an already embattled nomination.

Today on MSNBC's MORNING JOE, the Hegseth nomination was addressed.

REMOVED. Click here. Didn't stream the video below, have no idea if it talks about more than the DoD nominee. But I'm in agreement with this take. No more videos from that program. I get it that it's scary -- for all of us -- that Trump is going back into the White House.

Video is removed. As soon as Joe and Mika had the chance, they ran to Trump to kiss the ring.

And ABC NEWS reported on Trump's disaster nominee for Attorney General.

Evan Blake (WSWS) focuses on another disaster nominee, Robert Kennedy Junior:

No other individual could be less qualified or more inadvisable for this position. It is akin to placing Al Capone at the head of the Department of Justice, or climate change denier and Chevron CEO Mike Wirth to oversee the Environmental Protection Agency.

After ending his own presidential campaign and endorsing Trump in August, Kennedy played a central role in Trump’s campaign, especially at its final events. Speaking at his fascist Madison Square Garden campaign rally last month, Trump pledged to let Kennedy “go wild on health.” Trump added, “I’m going to let him go wild on the food. I’m going to let him go wild on medicines.”

The implications are far-reaching, as Kennedy has openly opposed vaccines, pasteurization, water fluoridation, and other long-established scientific practices, while promoting every quack medicine under the sun. On October 25, Kennedy tweeted:

FDA’s war on public health is about to end. This includes its aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can’t be patented by Pharma. If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags.

Under conditions in which H5N1 bird flu is spreading widely among dairy cattle across the US and scientists have explicitly warned that the consumption of raw milk could facilitate human infections and the danger of another pandemic, Kennedy has continued to advocate this dangerous practice. Historically, bird flu has a 50 percent fatality rate.

Under the banner “Make America Healthy Again,” Kennedy and Trump will facilitate the emergence of the next pandemic and the revival of long-eliminated diseases like measles and polio. In fact, the same day that Trump announced his pick of Kennedy, news reports noted that measles cases in America are now four-fold higher than last year, primarily due to declining vaccination rates.

Speaking at an anti-vaccine conference last November, while still a candidate for US president, Kennedy pledged to fire 600 workers at the NIH if elected, adding, “We’re going to give infectious disease a break for about eight years.”

In other words, the man ostensibly in charge of preventing pandemics and infectious disease outbreaks has explicitly stated that he will work on behalf of the pathogens instead of the public.

The following sites updated:

11/16/2024

a wave of great british singers

adele's 'rolling in the deep.' she's part of a british wave of singers in the last 2 and a 1/2 decades. she's had staying power. both on the charts and in life.

i wasn't really shocked by amy winehouse's death. there was such my pain and rawness in her vocals that it pretty much seemed a foregone conclusion that we'd lose her early. she was amazing. in the studio, she threw every thing onto the mike and in concert it was everything onto the stage.

her 'black to black' album remains 1 of the classic albums of this century.

adele, amy, raye, jess glynne, joss stone and duff were probably the 6 most talented of the british artists.

i don't think any of those women got their due but i think - and hope - that when people look back 30 or so years from now, all 6 of them will be seen for what they accomplished solo and how there was a thread running through the work of all 6.

i think you have to go back to the british sixties to find a similar class and crop of greats.

let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'

Friday, November 15, 2024. Donald Trump wants to make America a s**thole country, as many do the right thing and leave Twitter note that racist Katrina vanden Heuvel feels perfectly at home there, Tulsi Gabbard is a threat to national security, and much more.

Trashy Garbage aka Tulsi Gabbard. Donald Trump wants to make her the Director of National Intelligence. Let's note this:

Catholics Against Cults

As Catholics in THE COMMON ILLS community, we lodge a strong objection to the notion that two term Congress woman Tulsi Gabbard is qualified to be the next Director of National Intelligence.

We are troubled by her reported appearance on a governmental watch list and that this resulted from members of the National Guard complaining about her priorities being something other than the United States.

We are troubled by her conspiracy theories that can be found all over her Twitter feed.

We are troubled by her cozying up to Bashar al-Assad, the butcher of Syria. She met face-to-face with him when he was designated as an enemy of the United States. That would concern us less if she were an individual member of Congress currently. But someone who wants to be the Director of National Intelligence is not someone who should be making her own self-determined 'diplomatic' missions with someone the US is at war with.

Chad Blair and Nick Grube (HONOLULU CITY BEAT) note:

The former congresswoman has also been dogged by her long-standing ties to the Science of Identity Foundation and its founder, Chris Butler. The Science of Identity Foundation is an offshoot of Hare Krishna that former members have described as a cult.

Within minutes of the announcement of Gabbard’s nomination, national media outlets like CNN predicted that her selection and the choice of Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz to be U.S. attorney general would set up major confirmation fights.

The position Trump nominated her for, director of national intelligence, requires Senate confirmation. The director leads the U.S. intelligence community, which oversees and directs implementation of the National Intelligence Program.

There are more than enough problems with Tulsi Gabbard. But when Donald I'm A Christian Trump thinks he can get away with installing a member of a cult as our Director of National Intelligence, we object. And we think many Christians would join us in that objection. We realize, as well, that the cult objects to Islam and would argue that if the Jill Stein Freaks could buy a clue, even people in Hamtramck and Deerfield would object to the nomination as well (though we are aware that this is a group of people who struggle to ever call Donald Trump out).

Of the man who 'guides' Tulsi, WIKIPEDIA notes:

Chris Butler, son of a communist anti-war activist, had entered the spiritual counterculture in 1960s, while enrolled at University of Hawaiʻi.^[1]^[2] Soon, he joined the burgeoning Hare-Krishna movement as a guru, taking the name Sai Young, and amassed a group of disciples.^[1]

However, after being publicly denounced by Swami Prabhupada, the leading exponent of the movement in U.S.A, Butler initiated under Prabhupada himself, joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), and received the name Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa.^[3]^[2]^[4] But in a few years, their relationship turned sour as he deviated from ISKCON's ways, choosing to marry and allowing his disciples to keep their heads unshaved.^[3]^[2] After the death of Prabhupada in 1977, Butler broke away from ISKCON and founded SIF, then known as the Hari Nama (lit. Holy Name) Society.^[5] Simultaneously, he began to deemphasize ISKCON's rigid adherence to Vaishnava texts and promoted a range of eclectic views.^[1]^[3]

In 1976, SIF's disciples launched a new political party — called the Independents for Godly Government — presenting themselves as a "multifaith coalition of conservative-minded reformers", and ran for the House of Representatives and Mayoral elections; the candidates did not disclose their links with SIF and explicitly claimed to have no affiliation with any religious organization including the Hare Krishna faith.^[1] The party was funded by a variety of businesses, including two local newspapers and a health-food store chain, run by the disciples themselves.^[6]

In the 1980s, he ran a late-night television show called "Chris Butler Speaks" on Channel 13.^[7] Since the 90s, Butler has kept a low profile, rarely speaking in public; in 2017, The New Yorker reported that Butler presents himself less as a Hare Krishna dissident and more as a member of a worldwide Vaishnava movement.^[1] Butler's wife Wai Lana has received acclaim for popularizing yoga through the Wai Lana Yoga show; in 2016, she was conferred with the Padma Shri award by the Government of India.^[8]

THE DAILY MIRROR notes:

But scratch beneath the surface and another mysterious backstory emerges — Gabbard and hubby Williams' ties to a shady Hindu offshoot cult that's for decades sought a back door into mainstream politics.

Critics have branded the secretive group, called the Science of Identity Foundation (SIF), as intolerant of women, gays, and Muslims, while treating its reclusive leader Chris Butler as some kind of all-powerful deity.

Murky ties to Butler's group, which straddles Hawaii and New Zealand, could well complicate Gabbard's bid to secure congressional backing for a senior cabinet-level post as Trump's top advisor for his key decisions on national security.

Williams, a part-Māori, part-Samoan filmmaker and surfer from Auckland, New Zealand, reportedly met Gabbard, a former Army officer, during her first run for Congress in 2012, when he volunteered to shoot her campaign ads.

That year, Gabbard made history by becoming the first American Samoan and practicing Hindu in Congress.

The pair bonded over their shared love of watersports and started dating about 18 months later.

But most importantly:

In a damning tell-all interview with The Independent in 2022, Gabbard's aunt, Dr Caroline Sinavaiana Gabbard, lifted the lid on what insiders call a homophobic, often anti-Islamic and misogynist cult.

She told the publication that her niece's career is all about the pursuit of power, and her bid for the presidency in 2020 was the culmination of four decades of Butler's efforts to seek political influence.

'Once again I find my niece's apparent penchant for parroting extremist toadies such as Tucker Carlson and vile strongmen such as Vladimir Putin, to be problematic and deeply troubling,' said the retired University of Hawaii professor.

'It gives me no pleasure to note that Tulsi's single governing principle seems to be expedience, which is in effect no principle at all.'

Tulsi Gabbard is free to belong in a cult. But her international cult membership should disqualify her from serving as the Director of National Intelligence. And when you add everything up, she does not belong anywhere near US government intelligence.

-- Kat, Trina and Mike

That's "Catholics Against Cults," "Catholics Against Cults" and "Catholics Against Cults." Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) notes:

Paul Eaton, a retired U.S. Army major general and a senior adviser to VoteVets, said in a statement that "putting Tulsi Gabbard in charge of our intelligence, which keeps Americans safe here and abroad, is dangerous and reckless. In Gabbard, Trump has a complete and total loyalist who will use and wield our intelligence to Trump's benefit, not to protect America and our Constitution."

"In combination with many of Trump's other appointments and nominations, we see a picture coming together of an administration made up of unqualified, marginal zealots who will constantly be trying to please their leader rather than fulfill their oath to put the Constitution and the safety of the American people above the president's ego," he added. "Many warned that Trump would dispense of all guardrails in a second term, so every whim of his would be carried out without question or protest. We are now seeing exactly what that looks like."

All of Trump's choices are lousy but there's no one lousier than Tulsi.

And if you don't grasp that, you may be to young to remember 9/11.

Donald Trump wants this raging incompetent who is also a security risk to be the DNI. That post was created after the US government determined intelligence failures led to 9/11.

Most of us pray never again to a terrorist attack on US soil like 9/11; however, a number of Americans who are terrorist experts maintain such an attack is highly likely.

If you think the outrage over Tulsi's mere nomination is big and wide -- and it is -- and for good reason -- imagine another 9/11 under her watch. And it won't just be her that the American people will be out for, it will be Trump as well, the idiot so stupid to nominate her in the first place.

Donald Trump, with his nominations, is demonstrating that the last thing he is interested in is making American anything but a s**thole country. For Health and Human Services, for example, he wants to install the non-medical nut job Robert Kennedy Junior who will wreck healthcare because he's a nut job.

He wants a man the House Ethics Committee believes assaulted a 17-year-old woman to be Attorney General (Matt Gaetz).

As for the awful Secretary of Defense nominee, let's just include ZETEO.

Watch now

6 Things About Trump’s Hawkish New Defense Secretary That Should Scare the Hell Out Of You

Meet Pete Hegseth: Fox host, Iran hawk, Christian Zionist, and more.

Team Zeteo and Mehdi Hasan

Nov 14

READ IN APP

President-elect Donald J. Trump sent shockwaves through the Pentagon this week, after announcing his pick for secretary of defense: Fox weekend host Pete Hegseth, who has zero experience in government.

But frankly, it’s not the lack of experience or his association with right-wing media that should worry people the most – it’s his clear love for war, war crimes, and war criminals.

With apologies to Donald Rumsfeld, he may be about to become the most extreme defense secretary in American history.

Watch the short video above to see Mehdi unpack six of Hegseth’s insanely war-mongering views and ideas, all of which are bound to break Trump’s ridiculous promise to bringing lasting peace – to the Middle East, or anywhere else!

They're all so awful that Kristi Noem -- the Michael Vick of politics -- might pass for the normal one.

Tulsi's a cult member and she's a security risk see Betty's "Cult member Tulsi Gabbard cannot be trusted with national intelligence."

Here are some discussions taking place.

If Trump installs the unqualified Tulsi as DNI and there's a terrorist attack that she fails to protect the country from, that's on him. She is not qualified and there are too many issues that go to the fact that the American people can't trust her. We don't need members of any cult serving in our government.

An e-mail to the public account states that I am trying to rush people into action. I'm not trying to do any such thing. With one exception and I'll get to that.

The writers is Black and a lesbian so she's targeted by Donald on three levels (race, sexuality and gender). I'm not telling anyone to "suck it up" as the writer states and "You don't feel you have anything to lose."

Let's start with that last part. Friday was not a good day last week but I made it through. At the end of the day, I was headed home with a friend and realized I needed to stop and grab some artificial tears. I'd had shots in one eye and the other got cauterize -- I've never had that before, it hurt like hell and it seemed to never end -- it was like a strobe light that repeatedly went off, then I'd have a blink a few times, hold my eye open again and the process repeated over and over. So I go in and I always try to be nice to people. And people coming up on one side of me, got nice. Yeah, I'd do selfie, yeah, I'd sign something for them. On the other side? I had no peripheral vision on that side. And I was spooked over and over and about the seventh time, I just wanted to get out.

So, yeah, I know what it's like to be scared and were it not for Satan being voted back into the White House, I don't think I would have been as bothered. But there, in my city that went for Kamala by a huge margin, with impaired vision, I was bothered and scared.

So I think we all know what it's like to be scared.

I was kidnapped and raped as a child. The only way I survived that was by focusing on getting out. And that's what I do in life. If it gets too dramatic, I go cold and go into planning mode. Don't deny it, never have.

Another tale, I didn't deal with my mother's death until seven years after. I wanted to initially but then everyone else was falling apart and I had to hold it together to make sure every funeral request came off and that warring family members didn't act out. And I was successful on the latter except for one family member who showed up stoned and then began to sob loudly throughout the ceremony and then, of course, skipped out. "It's so hard on _____," I had to hear from one relative after another. And, yes, I was pissed. It was my mother and I loved her and the drama queen who didn't even make it to the burial? If she was crying for any reason, it was guilt. She'd stabbed my mother in the back and they hadn't spoken in seven years. But I just had to nod along with these idiots and get through the day because my mother loathed a scene (which is probably the main reason _____ put on such drama).

So my natural mode is to move forward. For me. I didn't expect that from anyone else in the family and, to those I was close to, I encouraged them to grieve and feel what they were feeling.

We were stabbed in the back by racists. Some of those racists are on the left.

We're always asked -- excuse me, we're always expected to turn out and we do in election after election and then one of us has the presidential nomination and she's attacked over and over and over -- on the left. By Gaza Freaks and Jill Stein nuts. And by DEMOCRACY NOW!, THE NATION, IN THESE TIMES, THE PROGRESSIVE, and many, many more.

Their actions depressed turnout -- bad enough. It also trashed those of us excited to see someone like us with a chance of becoming president.

We were spat and we were stomped on.

I don't expect anyone to ever get over that.

And those who need to check out, do so. Take care of you. THE NATION, DEMOCRACY NOW!, Jill Stein, Gaza Freaks, IN THESE TIMES and THE PROGRESSIVE sure didn't worry about taking care of us.

So you take all the time you need. If that's a month, if that's four years, if that's longer, you take it. In fact, you don't ever have to come back to giving your free labor to the Democratic Party. Whatever you want, I am fine with.

I get it, in the 21st century we saw racism win and it didn't win just because of the right wing, the left helped it a lot.

And that's why --

Let me get to the one thing I'm asking.

What I'm asking is that we leave Twitter. (See Marcia's "Death to Twitter.") Jamie Lee Curtis is. Applause to her. I mean that sincerely. But I'm saying that those of us hit the hardest leave Twitter. Danielle's transferring to BLUESKY and others are going to THREADS or elsewhere. Musk is a racist who was born under apartheid and only left South Africa as apartheid was crumbling and he'd have to deal with Black people as free people. That scared him.

Jamie Lee's leaving and, again, applause for her. But notice who isn't leaving? Racist Katrina vanden Heuvel who used her magazine to rip apart Kamala every day. She's upset that people are calling her a a racist and noted her grandfather's long history of racism that enriched the family. That bothers her.

Supporting Elon Musk by using Twitter doesn't bother racist Katrina. She, in fact, embraces racism and the only thing that bothers her about racism is when people notice how racist 'left' Katrina really is.

All I'm asking is for you please leave Twitter. I'm asking you to reject racism. Black women can and are doing that. They're not the only ones. Again, Jamie Lee Curtis, thank you. Her decision is based on her child Ruby who is now a target in a Trump administration but she's doing it to show her support for equality across the board. I thank her for that.

But Katrina vanden Heuvel, a 'leftist' who owns THE NATION and presents herself as the last word in NYC lefties? She isn't leaving Twitter. She's a racist. She doesn't care about Black people. That's why she lives on the money her grandfather stole from Black artists and it's why her White ass lives in a Harlem mansion. She is no friend to Black people.

Trump is on a drive to destroy our country and, watch closely, we see what happened in the election as White 'leftists' are too concerned about their social media stature to do the right thing and leave Twitter.

I was shocked Saturday night to learn that Alyssa Milano had not left Twitter. I was doing that post and typed hold on while I went to check. She loathes Elon. She made such a big deal about getting rid of her Tesla. But she didn't get off Twitter. Under Elon, it is the home of racism, misogyny and homophobia.

But that doesn't bother her. She self-presents as a social justice warrior but the reality is that she won't stand with Black people. Or LGBTQ+ people. Or women. It's more important to her that she be on Twitter than that she take a real stand.

Let's wind down with Roland.