#MAGA world

[alwaysbewoke]

[whatareyoureallyafraidof]

Couple this with a recent report that 54 percent of Americans read at a sixth grade level, or lower, and you can more easily understand how Mango Mussolini won. For decades, Republicans have fought to cut spending on education, because people who have never been taught to think for themselves are easier to control. People who simply lap up whatever swill MAGA world churns out, without checking into things themselves, are easier to lie to.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

* * * * *

“Blatantly unconstitutional.”

January 24, 2025

Robert B. Hubbell

Trump's imaginary dictatorial powers ran into a judicial wall on Thursday. Judge John Coughenour temporarily blocked implementation of Trump's birthright citizenship executive order, and took the opportunity to excoriate the DOJ lawyer defending the order. In unusually blunt language, the judge said:

I’ve been on the bench for over four decades, I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one is. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order. There are other times in world history where we look back and people of goodwill can say where were the judges, where were the lawyers?“

The judge continued with sharp questioning the DOJ attorney, :

Judge Coughenour: “In your opinion Is this executive order constitutional?” [DOJ Attorney] Brett Shumate: “[I]t absolutely is.” Judge Coughenour: “Frankly, I have difficulty understanding how a member of the Bar could state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order. It just boggles my mind.”

As Ian Millhhiser noted in Vox,

Coughenour is correct. There isn’t even a plausible argument that Trump’s order is constitutional. The Constitution is absolutely clear that all people born in the United States and subject to its laws are citizens, regardless of their parents’ immigration status. The Supreme Court recognized this principle more than 125 years ago.

But Secretary of State Marco Rubio wasted no time in ordering the State Department to cease accepting passport applications marked with a “X” in the “Gender” box. See The Intercept, Rubio Orders State Department to Stop Issuing Accurate Passports to Trans People

Although predicting the behavior of the reactionary majority on the Supreme Court is a tricky business, the Republican justices should have no trouble applying the plain words of the Constitution to strike down Trump's unconstitutional order. After all, they claim to be “textualists” and “originalists.”

Judge Coughenour’s action was unremarkable because it was a straightforward application of the law, but his comments from the bench should provide us with a sense of relief. We are not caught in a “Through the Looking Glass” world in which “up is down” and “right is wrong.”

True, Trump has assaulted and weakened judicial guardrails, but some remain in effect. Judge Coughenour’s ruling illustrates why we must continue to resist. Do not surrender to the cynical viewpoint that says that resistance is futile.

Trump was undoubtedly told by aides that the Supreme Court would strike down the birthright executive order, but he issued it nonetheless for its in terrorem in effect. The point of the order was to confuse and frighten Americans citizens and undocumented immigrants alike.

So, take heart! The spirit of democracy has seeped into to the bones of America and its people. It will outlast Trump—as long as we keep the faith!

Trump's decision to grant a mass pardon for J6 was an impetuous, last-minute decision

Trump's apologists claimed that he would grant pardons to January 6 insurrectionists on a “case-by-case” basis. We were told so by AG Pam Bondi, Vice President JD Vance, Senator Ted Cruz, and Fox personality Sean Hannity. Despite those assurances, Trump granted mass pardons to every January 6 insurrectionist without regard to the severity of their crimes.

Trump is famously impatient, unfocused, undisciplined, and lazy. Wading through 1,600 pardon cases is far beyond his short attention span and his feeble powers of concentration. So, it is no surprise that Trump granted the mass pardons out of sense of exasperation and laziness. See Axios, "F--k it: Release 'em all": Why Trump embraced broad Jan. 6 pardons.

A key point in the Axios article is that JD Vance always favored a blanket pardon, consistent with the Trump team’s view that “all prosecutions were tainted.” (The article does not explain why prosecuting violent criminals suggests “taint.”)

The Axios article also makes the point that Trump and his advisers did not believe that a mass pardon would hurt Trump politically. They were wrong—and undoubtedly regret their miscalculation (though they will never admit that fact).

Here’s the point: While other presidents make decisions by careful weighing of the alternatives based on a risk-benefit analysis, Trump is flying by the seat of his pants. We knew that already, but the mass pardons remind once again that Trump makes decisions in an impetuous, mercurial, unguided, and reckless manner.

Musk doubles down on Nazi-themed symbolism

Earlier this week, when Elon Musk used a hand gesture that mimicked the Nazi salute, many commentators and politicians went out of their way to claim that Musk made an involuntary, “awkward” gesture that should not be interpreted as a Nazi salute.

But Musk never denied that the gesture was a Nazi salute—something he could have and should have done if his gesture was innocent. He did no such thing.

Instead, on Thursday, Musk posted a series of Nazi-themed jokes on Twitter that mocked the critics who claimed he gave a Nazi salute. For example, Musk wrote, “Bet you did Nazi see that coming.” Other jokes referenced Himmler, Goebbels and Hess—each an infamous senior member of the Nazi party and advisor to Hitler.

The Anti-Defamation League initially defended Musk after he gave his salute, but the ADL switched positions to condemn Musk after the tasteless and offensive Nazi-themed jokes. See Axios, ADL condemns Musk's Nazi "jokes" after salute controversy

Let’s hope that everyone who criticized Musk’s critics for “being too quick to judge” has learned their lesson. There is nothing innocent or unintentional about Trump and Musk’s race-baiting and white supremacist flirtations. They know exactly what they are doing, what dog-whistles to blow, and which code words to say. We are long past “giving them the benefit of the doubt.”

Is DOGE faltering before it achieves lift off?

Vivek Ramaswamy apparently left the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) because of conflicts with Musk over the objectives of DOGE. See WSJ, Inside the Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy DOGE Divorce. Ramaswamy wanted to cut regulations, while Musk was interested only in cutting spending.

Another point of tension was the nature of DOGE itself. Ramaswamy wanted it to be an outside think tank. But Trump signed an executive order that renamed an existing executive branch office as the United States DOGE Service. The executive order requires every government agency to appoint a “DOGE” sleeper cell within the agency, consisting of an attorney, engineer, and HR specialist.

But there are rumors that Musk will not be long for DOGE. Musk is now becoming a headache for the Trump administration. As noted by Robert Reich, Musk has disagreed with Trump on investments in artificial intelligence and is drawing unwanted attention over Nazi salutes. Robert Reich is predicting that Musk will be gone in a week. See Robert Reich on Substack, The Muskrat Strikes Back.

We can only hope!

Trump blathers at Davos, Putin yawns at Trump's threat of sanctions, and a timid press corps fails us (again)

We are already 48-hours past the deadline Trump set for settling Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and there is no settlement in sight. Yesterday, Trump came up with the unoriginal idea of imposing sanctions on Russia if Putin does not agree to a cease-fire. Putin’s spokesperson responded by saying that Trump's threats introduced “no new elements” and that Russia was accustomed to threats of sanctions from Trump. See CNN, Video: The Kremlin responds to Trump calling on Putin to make a ‘deal’ with Ukraine.

Trump renewed his calls for peace in Ukraine at the Davos conference. In a speech that screamed “cognitive decline,” Trump repeatedly said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had resulted in “millions and millions” of soldiers being killed on both sides.

While the war is tragic and hundreds of thousands have died (combined), the exaggeration is symptomatic of cognitive decline. Per the NYTimes, best estimates suggest that 62,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed, and 150,000 Russian soldiers have died. See NYTimes, Ukraine Is Losing Fewer Soldiers Than Russia — but It’s Still Losing the War

At the very least, an attentive press corps should have called out Trump for the wild exaggeration of “millions and millions” of death. Instead, there is only the sound of crickets from the pathetic, obedient, cowed Washington press pool reporters.

At least Business Insider made an effort at noting the bewilderment that Trump's speech caused among the Davos attendees. See Business Insider, I was in the packed hall at Davos to hear Trump speak. The audience went from laughter to silence in seconds. After describing Trump’s desultory responses to questions from panelists and the puzzled reaction of the audience, the Business Insider article concludes with a cup of lukewarm milk. The author of the article writes:

Trump's speech reminded me how different his style is from the measured, diplomatic tone that usually defines Davos. Whether his message landed the way he intended, however, is another question.

Oh, come on! Just say that Trump's speech was a train wreck—which is precisely what everyone was thinking.

Raw Story summarized the reaction on social media in its article entitled, 'Blathering in Davos': Trump mocked for 'lies and moronic claims' in big economic speech.

Trump is a laughingstock on the international stage. No surprise there. He was last term, as well.

The hypocrisy of the “party of family values”

It appears that the Senate will confirm the nomination of Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense. Hegseth’s nomination has so many red flags it should have been withdrawn. Particularly troubling are allegations of repeated instances of abuse and assaults against women. The latest revelations—by Hegeseth’s former sister-in-law- were enough to give two Republican Senators grounds to vote against Hegseth—Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins. See The Hill, Senate advances Pete Hegseth nomination, two GOP senators vote no.

But Hegseth’s nomination will likely pass on a 51-49 vote, or a 50-50 vote with JD Vance as tiebreaker. It is truly shocking to see Republican men and women in the Senate ignore serious allegations of domestic abuse and sexual assault. But, having excused and ignored those same traits in their president, it is unsurprising that the GOP caucus in the Senate will confirm Hegseth.

In a disturbing report that contextualizes the GOP’s acceptance of sexual abuse and assault, Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan to jump start an investigation of the January 6 insurrection hit a bump in the road. Eager investigators planned to subpoena Cassidy Hutchinson’s text messages.

And then Republicans in the House begged Mike Johnson not to issue the subpoena because—wait for it—of the sexually explicit text messages that Republicans in the House had sent to Cassidy Hutchinson. See Anchorage Daily News, Aide to House Speaker Johnson advised against subpoena of Jan. 6 witness over concerns about ‘sexual texts’ from lawmakers.

Per the Alaska Daily News story (sourced to WaPo),

[An aide to Speaker] Johnson told [Rep.] Loudermilk’s staff that multiple colleagues had raised concerns with the speaker’s office about the potential for public disclosure of “sexual texts from members who were trying to engage in sexual favors” with Hutchinson

There is no suggestion that Hutchinson did anything inappropriate. Rather, the strong implication is that she was sexually harassed by Republican representatives in the House who sent sexually explicit requests to Hutchinson. To avoid revealing those texts, GOP Rep. Loudermilk has concluded that the J6 Revenge Committee does not need Hutchinson’s texts after all.

The behavior of the GOP representatives in the House is disgusting—both because it occurred and because it is being covered up with the cooperation of Speaker Mike Johnson. The obvious response of a Speaker with any sense of decency and ethics would be to commence an investigation to see which members of the House were harassing a young White House staffer. But no, as with the Matt Gaetz investigation files, Johnson wants to pretend that the conduct did not happen.

Here's the point: It is a consistent pattern with Republican members of Congress that they accept, excuse, and commit sexual harassment, abuse, and assault. The GOP congressional caucus is like a middle school locker room.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

[bloghrexach]

[truth4ourfreedom]

WAKE UP! DON'T BE AN IDIOT!

This passionate lady tells how it's going to be under a Harris regime!

[aestariiwilderness]

[nando161mando]

Did you know the world was protesting against Trump or was that news hidden from you?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/gallery/2025/jan/20/anti-trump-protests-photos

[republicansaredomesticterrorists]

Yes that, Linda McMahon.

[rejectingrepublicans]

[spacenoirdetective]

I don't have a shred of respect for this absolute pile of failure. Biden has never EVER EVER taken responsibility FOR LITERALLY ANYTHING HE HAS EVER DONE IN HIS ENTIRE LIFE THAT HAS RESULTED IN FINANCIAL DEVASTATION, SKYROCKETING CRIME, AN INCIPIENT COMMUNIST REVOLUTION, A TOTALITARIAN GOVERNMENT THAT HAS TRIED TO DESTROY ITS OPPONENTS THROUGH MASS PSYCHOSIS AND BRAINWASHING AND ABSOLUTE SOCIAL MADNESS. If you don't see this ruthless, bitter, sabotaging, incompetent supremely entitled dullard for the asinine fraud and sociopathic compulsive liar he is, you are FUCKING BLIND!! SERIOUSLY, WAKE THE FUCK UP!!!

If a perianal abscess had a face, it would be this motherfucker.

He's also a decrepit, mentally deficient, obviously mentally impaired, dementia addled pustule spawned from Satan's asshole protected by the same elites who want to enslave you that he vows to punish as your false savior figure through nonsensical policies whose only goal is the total control over your body, your speech, your actions and your thoughts.

Fuck. You. You dumb, worthless sack of bat shit with your laughing prostitute of a vice president who is literally just a whore in a pantsuit. Fuck your worthless degenerate drug addled son with his Russian human trafficking ring and endless obscenities against God. Fuck your whole family and their criminal influence peddling, embezzlement, pyramid schemes, money laundering and THE ENDLESS NONSTOP HYPOCRISY. FUCK YOUR COWARDICE AS YOU BOW TO THE MOST INSIDIOUS COLLECTION OF AUTHORITARIANS WHO HAVE CONSPIRED TO DESTROY WESTERN CIVILIZATION AND FUCK YOUR ENDLESS FAKE OUTRAGE AGAINST THE ONE PERSON WHO HAS MANAGED TO STOP YOU FROM YOUR PLANS OF A NEW WORLD ORDER.

And fuck you if you keep supporting these people. They hate you. They hate America. Every fucking thing they have ever said is a constructed lie, a designed control mechanism. They hate freedom and democracy. They hate God. They hate Jesus. They hate everything pure and good. They hate everything but power and money. They want to replace worship of God with state worship. They have zero morals. They deluge you with propaganda and if you support them your head is just stuck so far up your asshole you refuse to see it because your ego won't allow it.

I want to shit on his grave.

[socialjusticeinamerica]

Millions around the world will suffer from his cruelty. Wars will break out everywhere and Americans and their interests will become targets for violence in nearly every country. This could likely spark a worldwide depression or perhaps even a World War. These clowns have no idea what they are doing.

He thinks he’s still playing in the NYC real estate market. He has no idea of the violence that will be unleashed against us once suffering starts to set in. This maniac thinks he can bully the entire world into worshipping him as a king. Once US and then US trade dries up, due to his proposed tariffs, nations around the world will make trade deals that don’t include us and our economy will suffer greatly. We’re basically exporting mainly food and weapons. Other countries will turn to South America for food and the EU/Russia/China for cheaper weapons.

Most of the people around Trump have a bachelor’s degree at most and their understanding of the world comes from dumbed down and highly partisan Fox News and Fox Business. At most they have the qualifications to be an assist manager at a retail franchise. The people who conduct strategic planning and long term diplomacy are PhD’s with decades of experience in their fields and they work with teams of colleagues to research the long term effects of every word or phrase in delicate negotiations. Nothing is left to chance and every policy matter is planned out years in advance. Making snap judgements based on the whims of a drug addicted dumb ass with dementia, who is advised by inexperienced and incompetent novices is a recipe for disaster. They think because they are rich they are smarter than everyone else. The hubris of drug addicted Musk, Trump, Bannon, Steven Miller, etc to think they can match wits with international diplomats and economists is staggering. They will be eaten alive and bring this country to ruin.

AGAIN FOR THOSE IN BACK, THESE MAGAT IDIOTS HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY’RE DOING. THEY HAVE NO IDEA HOW A GLOBAL MARKET PLACE WORKS OR HOW TO CONDUCT INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY. THEY WILL RUIN THIS COUNTRY AND TURN THE WHOLE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN.

[alwaysbewoke]

racist bitch

[godisarepublican]

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Tom Tomorrow, This Modern World

[kick-a-long]

Leftists and tankies talk about Israel like maga and republicans talk about trans people. They hyperventilate about shit that doesn’t affect them that they do not understand and only want more harm to fall on not just Israelis and Israel but also Jews and anyone that doesn’t exactly participate in their hierarchical bullshit. Just like bigotry against trans people spills over to hurt all gender identities, sexual orientations, women generally as well as men who don’t perfectly perform gender no matter how cishet they are, the far left’s antisemitism has fucked over any goyim who doesn’t want to live under christofascism or throw themselves or their community into the fire (literally, anti Israel ppl ask ppl to light themselves on fire) for the sake of a complex subject that the far left actively avoids learning about themselves. Oh! And let’s not forget the terrorism. Both domestic, foreign, and hate crimes that trans ppl and Jews have been facing for just doing community service/outreach or living their lives.

On top of that, the hate has a hugely negative impact on the groups the hate is meant to be “defending.” Hating Jews and Israelis makes life worse for Palestinians and hating trans folks makes live worse for kids. Gender has become MUCH more controlled since I grew up and more kids kill themselves because with trump in office they don’t see a future where they can live truthfully, not just trans kids. Palestinians are now glued to Hamas in the minds of their “advocates” as terrorist raping and suicide bombing asses. Trump is in office. He wants to erase trans people or jail them, wants to nuke the whole Arab world, with max civilian casualties, and deport any left in the us. And there’s less chance than ever of authoritarianism in America or the Arab world being replaced with human rights, stability and self governance.

I only see a lot of harm and bigotry and messing with minorities for the power trip of it. I’m sick of coddling these presumptuous deluded power tripping assholes. That’s my “both sides” take.

[truth4ourfreedom]

BLACK VOTERS WANT OFF THE DEMOCRAT PLANTATION!

Black American Explains This Movement Isn’t Just About Donald Trump. He Says Black Americans “We off the Dems forever”