The speaker has shut down the house over constraint and denial of health care relief to those in need among the nation's people, and now he's dumping a load on Mamdani, who has a more Christian attitude toward those in need than the speaker.
James 2:14-26 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. …
It is noted that Crabgrass is not posing as a Christian, but has some understanding of things like the golden rule, without a tattoo of a Jerusalam Cross for show, in whatever sense such a body mark is taken.
The wealth of the nation is great enough to not weaponize healthcare as a control device against any of us.
Consider, as a hypothetical, Ghislaine Maxwell was running the operation, after dad was snuffed off his yacht, ("Lady Ghislaine" being the yacht's name); with Epstein a part, in the honey pot dimension, but with broader goals and operations. Robert Maxwell had several offspring, none others getting the yacht name.
FURTHER: With Glenn Beck. Eugenics mentioned, which brings to mind, who installed the Georgia Guidestones, and who blew up a part at night, escaping into the night, with the remainder quickly torn down and scrapped too, similar to scrapping after 9/11 being a behind-scenes thing. Or not? What we're given to see, War Department, and Wikipedia here and here. The Guidestones debris seems to have been all scrapped with no fanfare or relics.
FURTHER: If there is an ongoing Epstein operation, with Epstein absent via death, or faked death and having moved to something like witness protection program while death was faked, and if Maxwell was running Epstein as the senior operator, where would be a safe site for Maxwell to continue, once having been checked out as on record per Todd Blanch, not a boat rocker but a diligent ongoing team member.
A country club prison is safer than a pizza parlor, given the pizza parlor story involving Ms. Clinton, subsequently had a gunman show up. You want a safe operation, put it inside a prison, and Todd Blanch comes to you, you are not chained up and brought to Todd Blanch. It's all a hypothetical so allow the goal posts to be moved somewhat, in speculative mode.
This is Charlie Kirk's last Sept 9 America First broadcast, guest Ben Shapiro. This is a nutshell summary of the thing filmed and broadcast, which could have been written by an AI summarization LLM tool thing. If you do not watch (recommended), at least read the nutshell.
The date on this short YouTube item is unclear, but it is thought by Crabgrass to have been shortly after the Oct 6 events with Israeli deaths and hostage taking. Edite[Ud from a larger item, and posted to YouTube much more recently. That could be wrong and it might have been recorded more recently.
Days after that last show linked to above, Kirk was gunned down on the Utah campus.
There is a lot of stuff on the web about his persona, and his death. This is a quite short item to read and think over. This is a fairly presented non-conclusory post-death item published by a Jewish outlet. It mentions ideas - speculation - that Israel may have turned on Kirk, at sensitive times, and too big to be an independent loose cannon kind of influencer.
This YouTube ietm now is the clincher - what grabbed my attention. It is by a sensationalist presenter, one I trust generally however, to raise interesting things to dwell over. Ambiguous and painfully repetitious, but chilling and posing something not normal as a reaction, where others showed the normal situation. Put aside the tone of the thing, and just consider the video of the Kirk senior staffer's actions. It is hard to explain.
Make sense of it if you can, and otherwise keep it well in mind over time as the FBI's perp gets processed by the Trump DOJ/FBI and things could pinch a bit as being contrived, too nailed down/put together, or strange. Tucker Carlson has speculative items online, but, no link posted here, so find what you will by your own search as much as you care to. Track down Carlson's wierd short speech at the post-shooting love-in thing that JD hosted. It is separately online, so the whole insipid thing can be avoided.
The Charlie Kirk/Israel Oct 7 speculation clip showing up on the web in several undated clips, is fleshed out a bit in this Facebook clip, and - most importantly - is part of the complete Oct 12, 2023, podcast in which Kirk questioned Israel's October 7 narrative (during an appearance on the Patrick Bet-Davide (PDB) podcast). The
Kirk/Oct. 7 deliberative part starts at the 25 min or 25-1/2 min point
in that podcast, with a preliminary topic intro by another speaker, so it's not new content.
(Readers
might enjoy the full podcast, for what it is and how it moves between
topics and shows thought different from those of Crabgrass. It is there
in full, for what it is.)
For provocative online content closer to
before Kirk was shot dead in Utah, try search = bill ackman giving
charlie kirk an offer he couldn't refuse but did --- one of several
interesting returned links:
left.mn specific link having this opening paragraph quoted from a posted full item that earned the award -
As a lifelong Second Amendment advocate residing in the great state of Minnesota [really, deep in the febrile crescent],
I feel compelled to write in defense of a right that forms the bedrock
of our freedoms, a right that too often is diluted in public discourse
to mere hobbies or traditions. In Minnesota, where our vast landscapes
and rural communities rely on self-reliance, the Second Amendment stands
as an unyielding guardian against overreach, ensuring that citizens
remain sovereign in the face of potential tyranny.
The second amendment, not the first, is "the bedrock of our freedoms"?
Chairman Mao has said, "Political power comes from the muzzle of a gun." This fatuous bastard is then a Maoist? Wisdom has it, "If you go carrying a picture of Chairman Mao. You ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow."
Who would I be to go against established creed? Who is this fatuous bastard to go against Beattle wisdom? Give Timmer a "Got One" award for the insight and display. Exposing a possible Maoist 'mongst us.
Or do I connect two disparate authority sources wrongly, presuming too much?
Jeffries’
endorsement of Mamdani signals a significant shift in New York’s
Democratic power structure, bridging a months-long divide between
establishment leaders and the party’s progressive wing. As the House
minority leader and a national figure, Jeffries’ support lends
institutional legitimacy to Mamdani’s candidacy and may influence
undecided voters ahead of early voting.
The
move also highlights the Democratic Party’s internal reckoning over its
ideological future, especially in urban strongholds like New York City.
With key figures like Governor KathyHochul and
Speaker of the New York State Assembly Carl Heastie already on board,
Jeffries’ endorsement isolates remaining holdouts and underscores the
growing influence of Democratic socialists in mainstream politics. It
sets the stage for contentious debates over policy, party unity, and
electoral strategy heading into the 2026 midterms.
Mamdani has shaken the political field in New York City, winning the Democratic nomination over former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo,
who's now running as an independent. He has consistently been leading
in the polls. The state assemblymember has been celebrated by many young
progressives as well as endorsed by top Democrats, while criticized by
conservatives and some moderates concerned about what the city would
look like under his leadership.
What To Know
Jeffries'
endorsement of Mamdani for New York City mayor comes months of internal
party pressure and strategic hesitation. Jeffries acknowledged the two
Democrats differences, telling the Times, they have "areas of
principled disagreement," but also noted that Mamdani won "a free and
fair election" in the primary, and the importance of a united party
against the "existential" threat of President Donald Trump.
The
House minority leader also said in his statement, "Assemblyman Mamdani
has promised to focus on keeping every New Yorker safe, including the
Jewish community that has confronted a startling rise in antisemitic
incidents as well as Black and Latino neighborhoods that have battled
deadly gun violence for years."
Jeffries’
backing aligns him with top Democrats who have recently rallied behind
Mamdani, with Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, and
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, set to
rally alongside Mamdani in Queens on Sunday. Other prominent local
Democrats, including Heastie and Representatives Jerry Nadler and Yvette
Clarke have already endorsed Mamdani.
The
move leaves Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as the last major
holdout among state Democratic leadership. Jeffries, who previously
deflected questions about Mamdani, has expressed admiration for the
candidate’s affordability agenda and concern over his rhetoric and
policy execution. On Thursday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who ended
his reelection campaign last month, endorsed Cuomo in the race.
Schumer's position is awaited. Will he balk, or join?
UPDATE: To say Jeffries is now bending to pressures from others is to deny that one can grow in scope and outlook, and reach new and possibly altered conclusions. Earlier Business Insider reporting noted and quoted in concluding paragraphs:
The congressman has also made statements declaring pro-Israel beliefs and has supported legislation that would penalize companies and Americans that support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement.
"There's a difference between progressive Democrats and hard-left democratic socialists," Jeffries told
the Atlantic in 2021. "I'm a Black progressive Democrat concerned with
addressing racial and social and economic injustice with the fierce
urgency of now. That's been my career, that's been my journey, and it
will continue to be as I move forward for however long I have an
opportunity to serve. There will never be a moment where I bend the knee
to hard-left democratic socialism."
The man has grown. Not that a House leader better equipped and attuned cannot be proposed or found, just that he's grown. He needs to grow more, but there is time and opportunity aplenty for him, as he may choose or not. Junking Gottheimer cleanly and with finality would certainly be a show of good faith.
Don't bet on it, but is there a better litmus test?
First, the Crabgrass evaluation is that crypto is nothing but selling a piece of the big blue sky. No nation's promise is backing the "currency," only the market price mechanism, which kept Bankman Fried afloat until it didn't, and he's still in the slammer for years while Zhao only got months, already served, since Binance stayed solvent and operative while paying out a fine of $4 billion - solvent for reasons Crabgrass cannot really comprehend other than market trust still holds, and presumably Binancet tighened its just-say-no to money laundering sloth - with solvency vs investor pain and loss mattering. That's the preamble, so now the story -
The Trump family has allegedly been
discussing a possible investment in the crypto exchange Binance—a deal
that, especially in light of Binance’s multi-billion-dollar valuation,
would raise a host of conflict-of-interest questions. The discussions
were first revealed by the Wall Street Journal
on Thursday, which also reported that Binance’s founder, Changpeng
Zhao, is simultaneously seeking a presidential pardon after pleading
guilty in 2023 to violating anti-money-laundering laws.
Zhao disputed the Journal’s reporting, posting on X Thursday that the paper “got the facts wrong” and that he’d “had no discussions of a Binance US deal with … well, anyone.”
On top of the ethical issues raised by the possible entanglement of
executive clemency powers with a lucrative financial transaction, such
an investment deal could also turn the Trump family into business
partners with a Middle Eastern royal family.
News of the alleged Binance talks comes one day after an Abu Dhabi-based investment firm, MGX Fund Management, announced
it is making a $2 billion investment in Binance, securing a minority
stake in the exchange. MGX’s chairman is Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan—who
is the national security adviser for the United Arab Emirates and
brother of the UAE’s current ruler, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Tahnoun bin Zayed is also the chairman of a separate investment firm
called G42 Just last year, the Republican-led House Select Committee on
China raised concerns
over that firm’s close connections with the Chinese government and its
possible involvement in the transfer of sensitive American technology to
China through a deal it proposed with Microsoft. (Microsoft later added safeguards to the deal in response to congressional concerns.)
Zhao founded Binance in 2017, and it quickly grew to be one of the
most important crypto exchanges in the business, alongside Sam
Bankman-Fried’s FTX. In fact, it was a failed merger and personal
acrimony between the two companies and their founders that seemed to
trigger the collapse of FTX. But Binance ran into its own troubles when,
following years of criticism over its security and privacy practices,
the company in 2023 was charged
with money laundering and sanctions evasion. Among other accusations,
the US government charged that the company had helped users evade
sanctions against Russia, Iran, and Cuba. A Reuters report found that Korean hacking groups, investment frauds, and drug networks all had used the exchange to move money.
Eventually, the company agreed to a $4 billion fine, and Zhao agreed
to resign and personally pay a $50 million fine. He also served four
months in prison.
MJ references a WSJ (paywalled) thread -
According to the Journal’s report Thursday, the possibility
of bringing on the Trump family as investors was first raised by
Binance, and Steve Witkoff, a Trump family friend who was recently named
as the US special envoy to the Middle East, has been involved in the
discussions. Witkoff has known Trump for decades, and last year his son,
Zach Witkoff, founded the Trump-backed World Liberty Financial crypto
company. The Journal reported that an administration official denied involvement by Steve Witkoff in any Binance talks.
The Journal reported that one source indicated that Binance
may be seeking to follow the path blazed by crypto investor Justin Sun,
who was facing a civil fraud investigation by the SEC under the Biden
administration. Last fall, Sun invested $75 million into the World
Liberty Financial platform—triggering an $18 million payday for Trump. Last month, the SEC announced it was halting its investigation into Sun.
After the Zhao pardon, it seems Trump favors Chinese folks with money routing to him and family, given that the "$18 million payday" link at the end of the last paragraph above fleshes out as -
The banana is not Sun's most notable recent purchase.
On November 25, Sun purchased $30 million in crypto tokens
from World Liberty Financial, a new crypto venture backed by
President-elect Donald Trump. Sun said his company, TRON, was committed
to "making America great again."
World Liberty Financial planned to sell $300 million worth of crypto tokens,
known as WLF, which would value the new company at $1.5 billion. But,
before Sun's $30 million purchase, it appeared to be a bust, with only
$22 million in tokens sold. Sun now owns more than 55% of purchased
tokens.
Sun's decision to buy $30 million in WLF tokens has direct and immediate financial benefits for Trump. [...]
Feed the trough, get the pardon seems a repeat story, one drolling slime all over the place. The item continues:
A filing
by the company in October revealed that "$30 million of initial net
protocol revenues" will be "held in a reserve… to cover operating
expenses, indemnities, and obligations." After the reserve is met, a
company owned by Donald Trump, DT Marks DEFI LLC, will receive "75% of
the net protocol revenues."
So before Sun's purchase,
Trump was entitled to nothing because the reserve had not been met. But
Sun's purchase covered the entire reserve, so now Trump is entitled to
75% of the revenues from all other tokens purchased. As of December 1,
there have been $24 million WLF tokens sold, netting Trump $18 million.
Sun is also joining World Liberty Financial as an advisor, making Sun and the incoming president business partners.
While
Trump has the cash, Sun's tokens are effectively worthless. To comply
with U.S. securities law, WLF tokens are "non-transferable and locked
indefinitely in a wallet or smart contract until such time, if ever,
[WLF tokens] are unlocked through protocol governance procedures in a
fashion that does not contravene applicable law." The only thing that
Sun can do with his tokens is participate in the "governance" of World
Liberty Financial. Right now, the only thing World Liberty Financial
does is sell tokens.
Any foreign national paying an incoming
president $18 million weeks before entering the White House should raise
red flags. Sun's purchase is even more alarming because the Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC) is currently prosecuting him for fraud.
[...] Major media outlets obsessed with banana, ignore Sun's payment to Trump
A
foreign national under federal fraud prosecution making a purchase that
results in $18 million cash payment to the president-elect has all the
makings of a major scandal. But it has been virtually ignored by several
major media outlets.
The New York Times, for example, has published five articles
about Sun's purchase of the banana but none about Sun's $30 million
purchase of WLF tokens and his business partnership with Trump. The
Washington Post has published three articles about the banana, but its coverage of Sun's purchase of WLF tokens was limited to one short paragraph in a larger editorial about the crypto industry.
So, Trump gets a benefit, while MSM goes bananas.
You decide, what's the more telling story, especially after Zhou got his, Trump-family adventures got theirs, and people voted for the creep, that being the most unfortunate part of any Trump saga. He'd gone casino bust, but propagandized those little red caps.
While having noted US MSM was more enthralled by Mr. Sun and his expensive banana meal we move on to better reporting coverage choosing. The opening image is from BBC coverage =
Trump and sons' stake in crypto firm worth $5bn
Natalie Sherman - BBC News
The
crypto token backed by the Trump family has started publicly trading,
giving the holdings owned by the US president and his sons a value of
roughly $5bn (£3.7bn).
The Trumps
launched crypto firm World Liberty Financial in the middle of the
presidential campaign last year, drawing questions about potential
conflicts of interest as he became entangled in an industry he would be
poised to regulate.
The company raised moneyby selling its eponymous digital tokens to investors, who were initially barred from selling.
But
investors voted in July to allow early purchasers, not including
founders like Trump family, to sell up to 20% of their holdings of the
coin, which trades as WLFI.
As
of Tuesday, WLFI was trading at around $0.22 on exchanges such as
Binance and Coinbase, after sinking roughly 50% since the start of
trading on Monday.
While the fall
indicates tepid demand, the coin is still trading at a higher price than
what many early buyers would have paid initially, putting them in line
for profit.
"We're setting a new
standard for financial freedom; built on trust, speed, and U.S. values,"
Eric Trump wrote on social media. "This is a huge moment for the future
of money!",
Those fuckers have no shame. First, "trust" may have a lesser role than Eric Trump says, other factors just might be at play, ahd "huge moment for the future of money" is ambiguous whose future money is being sung to the world by the Trump son.
Digital
tokens tied to World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency launched by
former President Donald Trump alongside his family during his 2024
campaign, began open trading Monday, quickly generating more than $1
billion in transactions in the first hour, according to CoinMarketCap.
The
project has ballooned in value over the past year, buoyed by Trump’s
own deregulatory push from the White House and his public championing of
the industry’s potential to bolster the U.S. economy. While the token
fell rather quickly in the first day of trading, the Wall Street Journal reported
the family’s holdings could now be worth as much as $5 billion,
rivaling the value of their real estate portfolio. The growth of the
cryptocurrency raises questions about whether the Trump family’s growing
crypto fortune creates conflicts of interest.
Les
Borsai, a government consultant and co-founder of Wave Digital Assets,
told Scripps News the dynamic isn’t entirely without precedent. He
pointed to previous presidents who carried private business ties into
the Oval Office: Jimmy Carter’s peanut farm, and the Kennedy family’s
real estate and finance holdings – though blind trusts were ultimately
enacted in both cases.
“When
you're a business person, or you have business interests coming into
the White House, you're always going to have controversy around it,”
Borsai told Scripps News. “I would rather have an administration that
understands the underlying technologies than someone that doesn't. It
could change what the future of finance looks like.”
I don't know wtf Les Borsai is, other than a Trump syncophant, of which Trump seems to find an unending supply, while, ostensibly, draining some swamp or other that he'd preelection he'd drain, and it seems one swamp-tromper after another gets an admin thing or other, or says something about Trump greatness.
The above is a sampling of returned items from a web search = trump family crypto money making conflict interest
Readers can try such a search, or feed it into somebody's LLM hot item, and see what turns up.
The above sampling is in support and explanation of the Zhou pardon, see following post.
The pardon of Zhao, widely known as CZ, came two months after The Wall Street Journal
reported that the Trump family's own crypto venture, which has
generated about $4.5 billion since the 2024 election, has been helped by
"a partnership with an under-the-radar trading platform quietly
administered by Binance."
[...] Trump's pardon of Zhao came nearly a week after he commuted the 87-month prison sentence of former New York Rep. George Santos, who had pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
[...] Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., blasted the pardon, calling it an example of "corruption."
"First,
Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to a criminal money laundering charge,"
said Warren, who is the ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing
and Urban Affairs Committee.
"Then he boosted one of Donald Trump's crypto ventures and lobbied for a pardon," she said.
"Today,
Donald Trump did his part and pardoned him. If Congress does not stop
this kind of corruption in pending market structure legislation, it owns
this lawlessness."
Zhao, in November 2023, pleaded guilty in
Seattle federal court and agreed to step down as Binance CEO as part of a
$4.3 billion settlement by the company with the Department of Justice.
Zhao
had been charged with violating the Bank Secrecy Act for failing to
"implement an effective anti-money-laundering program and for willfully
violating U.S. economic sanctions "in a deliberate and calculated effort
to profit from the U.S. market without implementing controls required
by U.S. law," the DOJ said.
Binance had been charged with
conducting an unlicensed money-transmitting business, violating the
International Emergency Powers Act and conspiracy.
[... Zhao] has deep ties to World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture that the Republican president and his sons Eric and Donald Jr. launched in September.
Trump’s most recent financial disclosure report reveals he made more than $57 million last year from World Liberty Financial, which has launched USD1, a stablecoin pegged at a 1-to-1 ratio to the U.S. dollar.
World Liberty Financial also recently announced that an investment fund in the United Arab Emirates would be using $2 billion worth of USD1 to purchase a stake in Binance. Zhao also has publicly said that he had asked Trump for a pardon that could nullify his conviction.
Zhao out of the jug, Emirates pony up big-time cash into Trump family's crypto adventure, using the purchased crypto to buy into Binance. Interbreeding causes gene damage.
The pardon caps a monthslong effort by Zhao, a billionaire commonly known as CZ in the crypto world and one of the biggest names in the industry. He and Binance have been key supporters of some of the Trump family’s crypto enterprises.
“Deeply grateful for today’s pardon and to President Trump for upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice,” Zhao said on social media Thursday.
If there's no smell from all that apparent to you, have a Covid test. The Trumps launched their crypto thing in September, now, the following month, Zhao gets sprung from all effects of conviction via the pardon, after helping the Trump-family adventure, and the Emirates buy into Binance with Trump-family coin, after buying it from the Trump-family venture, so - Don't Worry, Be Happy? All that big-money stuff put together in one month! Things move fast if motivation to complete something exists. And Stephen Miller got no cut of anything. Maybe that's why deportations move more slowly. Less Motivation.
Fuck 'em. All of 'em. Each and every one of 'em. MAGA chumps too, for making it all possible. Chumps for Trump.
Heyer told OSV News he has seen "there are groups that have taken over
this symbol … or rather are using the symbol in a way that is evocative
of what they consider a Christian crusade to be."
Angie Craig or Peggy Flanagan and Minnesota knows both? Who's best, i.e., more promising of representing all of us, with the more progressive agenda of the two?
Both are presently seeking to place into a position of not alienating any, or few, Minnesota voters.
Either would suffice, i.e., neither has strikes against her to be repugnant, if winning. Start there.
Peggy Flanagan endorsees: Liz Warren, Ed Markey, Keith Ellison, Deb Haaland, Al Franken, i.e., quality people as visibly more progressive than stiff. Others: https://peggyflanagan.com/endorsements/
No contest! To send donations by mail, as I will do:
Peggy Flanagan for Minnesota PO Box 26023 St. Louis Park, MN 55426
BOTTOM LINE - That's where my check today is going. Angie is not a bad person. She seems fine enough - as a person. A good person. But I go with who I would expect to best represent my outlook, fiscal beliefs, Gestalt, and economic class, as well as personally being a good individual too. If Craig does win the primary, I'd support her on those grounds since she'd them be running against some actual Republican retrogressive.
But Peggy offers me the better perspective as I see it, and she's where I feel best when primary voting between the two.
--- This means the Republicans have no "winner" and are looking for a chance. Traditional Republicans such as Tim Pawlenty note that MAGA is in power -- so that the closest thing to a viable traditional Republican candidate is Angie Craig, who has support of Jeffries and Pelosi, each of whom looks like a traditional Republican, in comparison to those with anything resembling a populist-progressive orientation, an orientation most closely embodied by Flanagan's campiagn.
She's not there as I'd like, but the gulf between her and Craig is great and in her favor.
I mailed that check, and while again Craig is competent, competence being something the Republicans lack, she has Pelosi and Jeffries to show how far she is from the mark. Her career is being staked on this run, and as MinnReformer reports she's gathered more big donor love than Flanagan, but really, Peggy's the one. That report began:
Rep. Angie Craig raised $2.2 million
in the third quarter for her Senate primary campaign against Lt. Gov.
Peggy Flanagan, who brought in around $914,000 over the same period.
Ten months out from the primary,
campaign finance reports released Wednesday show Craig has nearly $3
million in cash on hand to Flanagan’s $836,000.
To date, Craig has been her own
biggest donor, transferring more than $650,000 from her House campaign
to her Senate campaign. She’s also received more than $100,000 from
Majority Fund, a political action committee affiliated with Majority Democrats, a group of centrists aiming to remake the party’s image in the wake of Donald Trump’s election.
No other individual donor or PAC has
contributed more than $14,000 to Craig’s Senate primary; 92% of
donations were less than $100, according to the campaign.
Flanagan, who has said she will not
accept donations from corporate PACs, is relying heavily on small-dollar
donors. The average contribution to her campaign was $29, and 98% of
donations were under $100, according to her campaign.
Craig aligning with that "Majority Democrats" unprepossessing group seems a deal killer. For Christsakes, look at the names at https://majoritydemocrats.com/
Not one fucking progressive!! Representative of the Republican-lite nature of the thing - Elissa Slotkin,
They highlight themselves as the party for pablam - "The New Center:" Their breaking news there -
Defining a new center requires drawing from the disparate ideologies
of American life. The old mapping of those ideologies onto parties no
longer holds. Younger voters, in particular, are keen to hear about new
combinations. For example:
from conservatives, the respect for faith, family & the flag and the centering of personal responsibility
from liberals, the commitment to individual freedom, rule of law, and equal opportunity
from progressives, the conviction that equal opportunity requires a
level playing field for everyone, not just one set of rules for everyone
from libertarians, the uplifting of free minds & free enterprise
and the healthy skepticism of centralized & personalized power
from populists, the prosecution of corruption and the status quo
In other words, same old Bill and Hillary shit, where taxing the rich fairly and Medicare for All are beyond comprehension of the bunch in their bullet list.
And who needs Republican - lite? Who wants it?
They dodge the economic nitty-gritty of the ongoing class war the wealthy have always for over a centurt fought against regular people. They imply acceptance of it as the norm. So, yes, if Angie Craig somehow wins the Minnesota Dem Primary, no question, she gets every Dem general election vote, or should get them.
But the primary is the thing. There is a choice. Peggy Flanagan is not an AOC or Bernie, unfortunately, but Peggy is miles ahead of Craig in understanding the mood of the American people wanting economic justice first and foremost, and freedom from the healthcare Angst imposed by present practice.
Decency is what Flanagan stands for, and it's good to see.
Craig - not going to rock any boat, (especially the yachts, while admittedly not at all near to MAGA in gratuitous cruelty and ignorance).
_____________FURTHER UPDATE____________
HotAir, with its Republican slant, does a number on the "Majority Democrats" supersized wafle:
Gee ... I thought they already had transformed the Democrat Party? And that's precisely the problem that the 'Majority Democrats" want to avoid.
This
New York Times analysis of yet another small faction emerging after the
disastrous (for Dems) 2024 election skips over that to some extent. It
also manages to remain ambiguous about what the Majority Democrats
represent, other than a lot of butt-hurt over losing.
Are these moderates seeking to seize back the reins from the Left?
Progressives trying to seize full control from the moderates? Or just
people who think that maybe, just maybe, politicians should consider popular consensus rather than attempt to beat ideological agendas onto electorates?
And what's so extraordinary about the NYT coverage is that they never actually do
lay out a case for what Democrats should stand, other than winning some
elections. After all, the progressives in their coalition have spent
the last two-plus decades challenging the Clinton-era moderation
approach, where abortions were supposed to be "safe, legal, and rare,"
and when able-bodied Americans were expected to work while receiving
welfare benefits. The progressives led by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez see themselves still as outsiders tilting against the
Democrat establishment, as does their new poster boy Zohran Mamdani.
In
fact, Mamdani is a pretty good test case for this incoherence on
principles. Mamdani won an election, or at least the Democrat mayoral
primary. If he does win the mayoral general election -- and right now
he's the favorite, with Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo haggling for the
independents -- doesn't that match up with the only clear goal of
Majority Democrats in this NYT piece? To win elections?
[...]
So will Majority Democrats emulate the DLC and pull back to the center? Apparently not:
[... NYT quote again] organizers insist there is no ideological litmus test to
join (nor, despite the new-generation focus, is there an age limit;
Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, 60, is on board).
What
does it mean to have "no ideological litmus test to join" when the
point of the initiative is to "remake" the party based on "lay[ing] out
the case for what we’re for as a party"? Reading just a bit further, the
intent seems clear -- to appease the progressives and keep them from
conducting purity purges:
Expanding the Democratic
coalition, Mr. Talarico said, takes “some patience and some tolerance.”
He added: “[...] We’ve got to be open-minded. We’ve got to be
willing to join with people in a coalition that we may not share 100
percent of our policy views.”
Well, it certainly
helps to avoid committing to any principles. However, what this means in
practice is that Democrats don't want to "remake" the party at all from
its current radical-progressive course. They just want to beg the
ascendant radical-progressives for room to pretend that they can still
offer some nuances, when those nuances will mean absolutely nothing when
Democrats become the governing party again.
That says a lot, even while adding fantasy and mention of Marx since they are GOP propagandizing.
What the Hot Air item explicitly does is expose one giant stupendous sized waffle, tarted up as substance, and while GOP in mood, the characterization seems correct. Angie Craig went that way, and Minnesotans in the primary can decide, waffle or not.
Ahead of thousands of anti-authoritarian “No Kings” protests
planned for Saturday across the United States, Republicans are trying to
brand the demonstrations as “hate America” rallies, ramping up their
rhetoric about the millions of people expected to peacefully protest
President Donald Trump and his administration’s policies as they did in
June.
For more than a week, House Speaker Mike Johnson
(R-Louisiana) and other GOP leaders have cast the “No Kings” rallies as
un-American, using increasingly hyperbolic language. Johnson and other
members of House GOP leadership, including Majority Leader Steve Scalise
(Louisiana), Majority Whip Tom Emmer (Minnesota), and Republican
Conference Chair Lisa C. McClain (Michigan), have all described the
protests as events for people who “hate America,” with Johnson and Emmer
going as far as to suggest they are meant to appease a “terrorist wing”
of the Democratic Party.
“We call it the ‘hate America’ rally
that will happen Saturday. Let’s see who shows up for that,” Johnson
said Wednesday at a news conference with other House GOP leaders. “I bet
you you’ll see Hamas supporters, I bet you’ll see antifa types, I bet
you’ll see the Marxists on full display, the people who don’t want to
stand and defend the foundational truths of this republic.”
What a pile! The item continues -
Democrats and organizers of the more than 2,600 events
scheduled for Saturday have strongly rebuffed this characterization,
defending the protests as peaceful and pointing out there were
relatively few disruptions at the rallies in June, while also warning of
the attempts to stifle First Amendment rights.
“Speaker Johnson
said this is a ‘hate America’ rally because people are coming out
expressing their concerns about massive cuts to health care and the
movement toward authoritarianism. It’s not a hate America rally, it’s a
love America rally,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) said Wednesday at a
town hall on CNN with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York).
There follows a paragraph quoting Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut); Murphy -
accused Republicans of amping up their
rhetoric and trying to brand protesters as “terrorists” to suppress
rally turnout. Murphy, who is scheduled to speak at the D.C. “No Kings”
rally on Saturday,urged people to show up in big numbers anyway to demonstrate “peacefully but forcefully.”
I cut Murphy out separately as more showman than statesman, Bernie expressing things better. That is a personal view of the two, as if Murphy is running already for the 2028 nomination, him with his divorce and very quick glomming onto his Dem wealthy consultant squeeze and the two being opportunistic.
Opinions can differ. I could be wrong. He could be ideal for the candidacy, certainly a challenge to the CA gov, for ambition. What do I know? I like the Kentucky second-generation Gov Beshear, so pick a Gov, any Gov you'd favor.
AG Rayfield is good at explaining things cogently and truthfully, unlike Trump who bloviates and lies, while Kentucky Gov Beshear comes across as level headed and not as illuminated by the brilliance of himself, as Murphy or Newsom seem. Better having any of the three running and elected for having a likelihood of leading a nonhateful, nonheated, sane and progressive sequel to Trump, than, say JD or worse Republican/MAGA, offers. Sanity has benefits. Although JD is a better option than some. faint praise is what it is. Certainly worth fear and loathing, a JD and Stephen Miller ticket, {but expecting JD to have better judgment than that). (Would a JD/Ted Cruz ticket be any better?)
AOC, of course, would be great on either spot of a Dem ticket, but even better, purging Schumer would be tailored to AOC and her favoring the people over donors, as well as her progressive credentials, and her energy, wisdom, forthrightness, skill, youth, and charisma.
Hit Schumer where he's most lacking. AOC has no hint of the graveyard about her.
Back in the eighteenth century our nation rebelled against England, with its King.
We wanted something different. We continue to this day to be without a King. We are that way.
We are Americans. This is us => NO THRONES. NO CROWNS. NO KINGS.
THIS IS NOT US. THIS IS A TYRANT MENTALITY AT PLAY. NOT US.
We do not try to silence anybody's speech. It is not in our DNA, nor in our Constitution, to do that.
We do not try to silence anyone. Only a real creep would play that card.
But that is not the point, alone, we also treasure our right to say and think and believe things.
That's why this Saturday the nation will hold a nationwide peaceful rally to say NO to rogue power.
It's not unAmerican. It's not terrorism. It's our celebrating a right we cherish.
It is not something free speeech lovers should disrespect, or attempt to intimidate.
Who'd be against free speech? No Thrones. No Crowns. No Kings. - Simple. True. Our heritage.
Peaceful. Emphatic.
** INSIGHTFUL **
___________________UPDATE________________
It appears there is now a copyrighted logo, and a yard sign. Here (includes info how to fine the location in your community for Oct 18) and here. In Mexico the flag is the eagle holding the serpent, for NO KINGS, it is the eagle holding a broken crown. Either way the eagle flies free. It's screech is not silent.
This was a premature inadvertent disclosure of the crap Trump and team will be spewing when they put regular military forces in our streets to shoot demonstrators dead. Or show the new crowd control hardware goodies Palintir and other death merchants have cooked up - stuff short of lethality, (but not by much). We do now want nor need our soldiers doing war against our citizens. America is not that.
And if you think soldier warring with a civilian brother or cousin in our streets is hot stuff, then you have a very warped idea of what Great Again might entail. You'd be sick to even envision that, had Miller not spilled the beans. He and crowd are sick in their planning.
Something that severe is coming, or else they'd have not had to drop a shut-the-fuck-up-idiot on Miller as they did. You do not see an earpiece, but how else get the cut it off and after the break do damage control as if the two words were never mentioned.
Readers can do their own search = plenary authority Put up with all you can take, since it is telling.
Searchin that way will give more links than needed to get the story. Getting it is less important than having an understanding of the full impact of planning - of the opportune moment of SM talking too much by disclosing the phony stuff Trump and JD, (it looks more like JD but that's a guess), things those cruel people plan to deprive a nation's people of liberty.
It sucks. Do all you can to forestall it. Including attending with friends and a cardboard sign at the Oct 18 NO KINGS demonstration, as the blockheads failed to get the message of millions in the street last time.
Make this time bigger and better, now that we know about plenary authority. What a crock. What a Trump.
https://www.nokings.org/
UPDATE: Time covers it. Using a pic of Miller looking as if delivering an unrefusable offer from the Godfather. What a bunch. Over-ripe, moving on to spoiled throw-outs. Rotting in place.
The remark came only a few hours after the U.S. Embassy in the
capital Ouagadougou suspended most visa services for Burkina Faso
residents, redirecting applications to its embassy in neighboring Togo.
The embassy did not give a reason for the move.
The U.S. Embassy in Ouagadougou and Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
More than 40 deportees have been sent to Africa since July after the
Trump administration struck largely secretive agreements with at least
five African nations to take migrants under a new third-country
deportation program. Rights groups and others have protested the
program.
The U.S. has sent deportees to the small African nation of Eswatini,
South Sudan, Rwanda and Ghana. It also has an agreement with Uganda,
though no deportations there have been announced.
Six deportees are still detained in an unspecified facility in South
Sudan, while Rwanda hasn’t said where it is holding seven deportees.
Eleven of the 14 deportees sent to Ghana last month sued the government there for holding them in what they described as terrible conditions at a military camp on the outskirts of the capital, Accra.
Bless the spirit of sayng NO to evil. Tne Nobel people did the same. Telling Trump, indirectly, NO.
What has come out of Trump's war against the peaceful people of Portland that is good, is national TV face time for the Oregon AG who has attained a temporary restraining order against deployment to Oregon, from a Trump-appointed federal District Court Judge.
The man would be ideal on a Presidential ticket, as a sleaze-free and wholly rational man, far less creepy than JD Vance. He is precisely the type of new face and speaking point clarity that the Dems need on their next ticket. Not a Harris nor a Walz. Not a caricature. A cogent human who explains thing in a well articulated and rational manner, no bluster, no bullshit, no Trump, no JD. Just somebody trustworthy.
Consider these two example national news clips, here and here.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Trump has given the man a stage to show what a good politician looks like, and the Democratic Party should show the good sense to take it from there.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I had not known before who Dan Rayfield was, much less how sincere and trustworthy and rational he is.
It is impressive how he can present something in an interesting and clear manner in a way not many can, and Trump put the guy on center stage so that the Democratic Party could see the gem they have who previously was an unknown.
Good job, Donald. Helping out the folks who need to look at new faces and new ideas where they have them, the Democrats, and you, Donald, unintentionally showed how good sense trumps your blustering bullshit, and JD is your man, you picked him from among others. And Rayfield is better.
So, Thanks. All we need now is for the Democratic Party to recognize what they have. And, boy, those folks, that's a worry. They are fully capable of fucking things up because the guy is not a donor milker, but instead a useful person for needs that are clear to people outside of the Dem Inner Party.
KEN MARTIN SHOULD LOOK AT THE GUY. MARTIN WILL NOT PUT A THUMB ON THE SCALE, BUT WHOEVER HE NOTICES WILL BE NOTICED MORE BROADLY. THAT'S HOW IT WORKS.
Israel came into being as a recognized state by some primarily European people taking land not theirs.
Truman did not listen to Marsall, listening instead to Clark Clifford, and it's history now.
Currently Israel exists. By virtue of military might and historical fact. It is a nation, a collection of people, not all of whom support its current extermism. Disproportionately many killed, those still alive in Gaza suffering under a brutal intentionally cruel siege. AJ wrote -
The sense of dislocation from the slaughter in Gaza is echoed in
Israel’s parliament, where resistance to the war from the official
opposition has focused only on the details of its prosecution while
opposition to the war itself has been relegated to its fringes.
Meanwhile,
with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister
Bezalel Smotrich now key to sustaining Netanyahu’s coalition, the far
right has essentially gained a veto over policy.
Far-right
Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir, left, and Bezalel Smotrich are
accused of taking advantage of the war to force through their hard-right
agenda [File: Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP]
“Israeli
politics is in a fight for its soul,” Mekelberg said. “This didn’t start
with the war, though the war’s accelerated it. It began with the last
election and the legitimisation of far-right messianic forces by an
opportunistic and cynical prime minister.”
From his re-election in
2022 to the onset of the war, Netanyahu has struggled to build and
maintain a coalition to govern Israel.
In part, this has been due
to the clash of his own right-wing policies, intended to appeal to the
hard right and pro-settler groups. In part, analysts also attributed it
to his ongoing trial on multiple corruption charges going back to 2019.
“Netanyahu is lucky in that his opposition is incompetent,” Pinkas said.
“They
joined him for limited periods before leaving, which gave him
legitimacy,” he said of how figures like opposition leader and
Netanyahu’s former rival for prime minister Benny Gantz joined him in
the security cabinet after the October 7 attacks.
“All the while, they’re captive to this outdated idea that when the military are fighting, we must all support the government.
Those two clasping hands each have untold amounts of blood on their hands. Nobody should touch them. Not even each other. Each is a pariah to the world and to history. Each better having never been born.
Israel is not as bad as those running Israel. It could not be. The country is a war criminal only through the war criminals and land thieves running the country. Many of the people of that nation have clean hands.
Shock and awe? Against residential Americans asleep at night in their homes, collectively, and say you've an excuse? You have none. The conduct is reprehensible. It shocks the conscience. It is what Israelis are doing to Gazans, (absent airplanes bombing only}, then you are doing war crimes against your citizens and are animals, not humans. It is inexcusable.
At
around 1 a.m. on Tuesday morning, armed federal agents rappelled from
helicopters onto the roof of a five-storey residential apartment in the
South Shore of Chicago, according to witnesses and local reporting.
As they worked their way through the building, they kicked down doors,
threw flash bang grenades, and rounded up adults and screaming children
alike, detaining them in zip-ties and arresting dozens, they said.
The
military-style raid was part of a widespread immigration crackdown in
the country’s third-largest city as part of the Trump Administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz,” which has brought a dramatic increase in federal raids and arrests.
The
raid has drawn outrage throughout Chicago and the state, with rights
groups and lawmakers claiming it represents a dramatic escalation in
tactics used by federal authorities in the pursuit of Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown.
Illinois
Gov. J.B. Pritzker accused the federal agents of separating children
from their parents, zip-tying their hands, and detaining them in “dark
vans” for hours. Videos show flashbangs erupting on the street, followed by residents of the apartment building—children among them—being led from the building.
Photos of the aftermath show toys and shoes littering the apartment
hallways, evidence of those pulled from their beds by the operation that
included FBI and Homeland Security agents.
'Military-style tactics'
Pritzker
said that he would work with local law enforcement to hold the agents
accountable in a statement condemning the raid. “Military-style tactics
should never be used on children in a functioning democracy,” he said.
“This didn’t happen in a country with an authoritarian regime – it
happened here in Chicago. It happened in the United States of America – a
country that should be a bastion of freedom, hope, and the rights of
our people as guaranteed by the Constitution,” he added.
The
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has touted some 900 arrests in
its Chicago operation since it began in early September, as well as the
37 arrests made in the nighttime raid on Tuesday, all of whom it said
were “involved in drug trafficking and distribution, weapons crimes and
immigration violators.” The DHS said the building was targeted because
it was “known to be frequented by Tren de Aragua members and their
associates.” The DHS posted video of the raid
on social media, overlaid with dramatic music, showing helicopters
shining bright lights onto the apartment building while people were
being led out in cuffs.
A DHS spokesperson told CNN
following the raid that children were taken into custody “for their own
safety and to ensure these children were not being trafficked, abused
or otherwise exploited.” The DHS also said that four children who are
U.S. citizens with undocumented parents were taken into custody.
Zip-ties and guns
In the aftermath of the sweeping raid, residents and city lawmakers have been demanding answers from the federal government.
Ed
Yohnka, from the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois (ACLU),
told MSNBC on Saturday that the raid represented “an escalation of force
and violence” from the federal government in Chicago.
“What
we saw was a full-fledged military operation conducted on the south
side of Chicago against an apartment building,” he added.
“They just treated us like we were nothing,” Pertissue Fisher, a U.S. citizen who lives in the apartment building, told ABC7 Chicago
in an interview soon after the raid. She said she was then handcuffed,
held for hours, and released around 3 a.m. This was the first time she
said a gun was ever put in her face.
Neighbor
Eboni Watson, who witnessed the raid, also told the ABC station that
the children were zip-tied—some of them were without clothes—when they
were taken out of the residential building by federal agents. “Where’s
the morality?” Watson said she kept asking during the raid.
“As
a father, I cannot help but think about what it means for a child to be
torn from their bed in the middle of the night, detained for no reason
other than a show of force,” National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) president Derrick Johnson said in a statement. “The trauma inflicted on these young people and their families is unconscionable."
ICE and DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TIME.
ICE’s tactics were denounced again on Friday, when Chicago Alderperson Jessie Fuentes was handcuffed by
federal immigration agents at a Chicago medical center after
questioning agents about their warrant to arrest at the medical center.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson called Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s tactics “abusive.”
The
raids come just days after President Donald Trump signaled a desire to
make greater use of the U.S. military in American cities during a speech
to top military leaders, as he assailed a “war from within” the nation.
“We
are under invasion from within,” he said, “no different than a foreign
enemy, but more difficult in many ways, because they don't wear
uniforms.”
He called for U.S. cities to be “training grounds” for the military, as he continues to threaten Chicago with his newly named “Department of War,” and has said that he plans to deploy the National Guard to the city to crack down on crime and immigration enforcement.
People
were jolted out of their beds in the early hours of Tuesday morning by
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and other federal
agents, armed and in full military uniform.
Cell phone video
captured by a neighbor shows agents leading people in zip ties to a
school parking lot near 75th and South Shore around 1 a.m. Tuesday.
Women and children were among those detained, at least briefly.
The
FBI confirmed they were assisting in a "targeted immigration
enforcement operation" at the apartment building, and DHS now says the
targets included members of the infamous Tren De Aragua gang. But
information about who was actually picked up and why is sparse, nor do
we know how many of the arrests made actually involved gang members.
DHS
also said it was targeting people with drug trafficking offenses,
weapons charges and immigrations violations, but again officials have
declined to say who was actually arrested and why.
Community activists said many of the undocumented immigrants who came
to South Shore left their countries for a chance at a safer life.
"Hundreds
of masked agents knocking down doors and dragging families out in the
middle of the night. holding babies that were unclothed. that's not
right. Folks that were just trying to live their lives in this
community. Does that look like safety to you? No!" said Veronica Castro
of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
CBS
News Chicago has continued to reach out to DHS for more information
about the South Shore raid, though answers may be further delayed. A
post to the agency's website says its press page is not being managed at
the moment due to the government shutdown.
A conspiracy of silence, by our Government, timed shortly after the shutdown took effect. Or just depopulate the 5-story of "da po' people" while Wells Fargo is foreclosng - see here and here?
Trump's a real estate guy, is that a factor?
CNN covered the invasion of the residents - ending
In its statement addressing the raid, DHS noted it was still
gathering information about those arrested “due to the size” of the
operation and will provide more information.
“Federal law enforcement officers will not stand by and
allow criminal activity flourish in our American neighborhoods,” DHS
said.
No, the fuckers do it, rather than allow it, and "still gathering information?" WTF don't know what you've done but know you did it with a fucking hellicoptor with rappelling down from it to the rooftop? Christ! Nazis were better on top of Krystal Nacht. They knoe what they were doing, but they'd had more months of exercising their tactics, give Krisi Noem that, she's just beginning. Homan, won't get any better.
I don't know how this rings with you, but I am heart-broken and astounded, taxpayers getting this in return:
The
protesters were charged with aggravated battery to a peace officer and
resisting and obstruction, the Cook County Sheriff's Office told the
outlet.
The protesters were part of a larger crowd that had gathered to
demonstrate against ICE raids in Illinois, as Noem visited the
facility.
As the arrests were unfolding below, Noem was seen on the roof of the
Broadview facility surrounded by armed agents and a camera crew.
The arrests come days after ICE agents in military gear raided a
Chicago apartment building, frightening residents and arresting 37
people. Law enforcement officials acknowledged shortly after the raid that some U.S. citizens were "briefly" detained.
Kristi sight-seeing? Damned the extra expense, this gets the lady off like shooting a puppy.