MAKE IT MAKE SENSE.

 

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON:

Calling Chicago, Illinois, a “a disaster” and “a killing field,” Trump referred to Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker as “a slob.” Trump complained that Pritzker had said Trump was infringing on American freedom and called Trump a dictator. Trump went on: “A lot of people are saying maybe we like a dictator. I don't like a dictator. I'm not a dictator. I'm a man with great common sense and a smart person. And when I see what's happening to our cities, and then you send in troops instead of being praised, they're saying you're trying to take over the Republic. These people are sick.”

This afternoon, standing flanked by leaders from business, law enforcement, faith communities, education, local communities, and politics at the Chicago waterfront near the Trump Tower there, Governor Pritzker responded to the news that Trump is planning to send troops to Chicago.

He began by saying: “I want to speak plainly about the moment that we are in and the actual crisis, not the manufactured one, that we are facing in the city and as a state and as a country. If it sounds to you like I am alarmist, that is because I am ringing an alarm, one that I hope every person listening will heed, both here in Illinois and across the country.”

He acknowledged that “[o]ver the weekend, we learned from the media that Donald Trump has been planning for quite a while now to deploy armed military personnel to the streets of Chicago. This is exactly the type of overreach that our country's founders warned against. And it’s the reason that they established a federal system with a separation of powers built on checks and balances. What President Trump is doing is unprecedented and unwarranted. It is illegal, it is unconstitutional. It is un-American.”

Pritzker noted that neither his office nor that of Chicago’s mayor had received any communications from the White House. “We found out what Donald Trump was planning the same way that all of you did. We read a story in the Washington Post. If this was really about fighting crime and making the streets safe, what possible justification could the White House have for planning such an exceptional action without any conversations or consultations with the governor, the mayor or the police?”

“Let me answer that question,” he said. "This is not about fighting crime. This is about Donald Trump searching for any justification to deploy the military in a blue city in a blue state to try and intimidate his political rivals. This is about the president of the United States and his complicit lackey Stephen Miller searching for ways to lay the groundwork to circumvent our democracy, militarize our cities, and end elections. There is no emergency in Chicago that calls for armed military intervention. There is no insurrection.”

Pritzker noted that every major American city deals with crime, but that the rate of violent crime is actually higher in Republican-dominated states and cities than in those run by Democrats. Illinois, he said, had “hired more police and given them more funding. We banned assault weapons, ghost guns, bump stocks, and high-capacity magazines” and “invested historic amounts into community violence intervention programs.” Those actions have cut violent crime down dramatically. Pritzker pointed out that “thirteen of the top twenty cities in homicide rates have Republican governors. None of these cities is Chicago. Eight of the top ten states with the highest homicide rates are led by Republicans. None of those states is Illinois.”

If Trump were serious about combatting crime, Pritzker asked, why did he, along with congressional Republicans, cut more than $800 million in public safety and crime prevention grants? “Trump,” Pritzker said, “is defunding the police.”

WORDS FAIL ME

 

Are we supposed to just ignore these blatant unAmerican authoritarian dreams Trump engages in?

He's actually telling us that he wants to take the broadcasting licenses away from entities that criticize him.  What else can he tell us to our faces about his dreams of becoming a dictator?

Are the libertarians and MAGAs who read my blog okay with this? Have they lost their sense of what it means to be an American? Where is their outrage against this swollen, rotting hunk of orange stupidity that is now running the country?

Oh, wait...He actually tells America that maybe being a dictator is what we need.

YOUR SUNDAY MOMENT OF ZEN

 

George Orwell: 

 “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture repainted… 

History has stopped. 

Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”

SATURDAY NIGHT MUSIC

 

WHAT A SURPRISE!

 

Donald & Melania Trump, partied with convicted child sex traffickers and rapists, Epstein & Maxwell.

The FBI Redacted Trump’s Name in the Epstein Files 

The bureau’s FOIA team tasked with conducting a final review of the records blacked out the names before higher-ups said last month that releasing the documents ‘would not be appropriate or warranted.’

Go to the link and read it.

Here's the concluding part of the report:

"That brings us up to today. After the FBI redacted the Epstein files, they were sent to Bondi. (Media reports said Bondi briefed Trump at the White House in May and told him he was named in the files.)

 Then, on July 8, the Justice Department and FBI released an unsigned joint statement that said the FBI collected more than 300 gigabytes of data and physical evidence related to the Epstein investigation. However, the promises of “transparency” made earlier by Bondi and Patel didn’t materialize.

 “While we have labored to provide the public with maximum information regarding Epstein,” the statement read, “it is the determination of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation that no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.” The officials added that “much of the information is subject to court-ordered sealing.”

 The statement ignited a firestorm on social media. Trump's most ardent supporters were furious with Bondi and the president. They said it was a cover-up. The influential podcaster Joe Rogan recently accused the administration of “trying to gaslight” his supporters over Epstein.

 Trump, meanwhile, has tried to contain the fallout. He lashed out at his base in a series of posts on his social media platform, Truth Social, and blamed Democrats for the “fake” Epstein scandal.

 Here’s the bottom line: The FBI's behind-the-scenes decision-making suggests that the chances of aliens resurrecting JFK are greater than Trump’s name ever being unredacted from the Epstein files."

***********************

Trump and Melania were close friends with Epstein and Maxwell for 0ver 15 years, during which time they partied together.

Trump even acknowledged that Epstein was a good friend and liked beautiful women (just like Trump did) "and many were on the younger side."

How many of you believe that Trump and Melania partied with Epstein and Maxwell for all those years and didn't know what Epstein and Maxwell were doing with those girls who "were on the younger side." 

Trump's name is all over the Epstein files, and his name is there for a reason.

Trump's corrupt DoJ and its leader, Pam Bondi, know this and have done all within their power to protect the convicted felon and adjudicated sexual assaulter from facing justice.

This is how countries run by dictators operate.

THIS IS HOW MOB BOSSES AND DICTATORS BEHAVE:

 

Trump campaigned on retribution, and he's making good on his promise to MAGA to punish anyone who criticized him.

These are the tactics of criminal authoritarian regimes, and Trump has brought those tactics to America:

NYTimes:

At dawn, the F.B.I. conducted a search of Mr. Bolton’s house in Bethesda, Md., and his office in Washington. Agents carried out boxes of papers and put them into vehicles with flashing blue lights in front of the amassed cameras. The Times reported that officials were investigating whether Mr. Bolton had improperly leaked national security information to the news media and other parties to damage the Trump administration. Mr. Bolton, notably, has not held government office in six years. It is too early to know what the F.B.I. will claim to find in all of those boxes but not too early to surmise that the search for incriminating documents was not the real goal of Friday’s search. Even if it turns up documents that should not be there, the administration has damaged any presumption of good faith by flinging weightless accusations of criminality at those who challenge it. 

That approach was evident in the snide social media posts that accompanied the search. “NO ONE is above the law,” wrote Kash Patel, the bureau’s director. “@FBI agents on mission.” Mr. Patel’s deputy Dan Bongino jumped to an accusation of guilt with his response: “Public corruption will not be tolerated.” And Attorney General Pam Bondi declared: “America’s safety isn’t negotiable. Justice will be pursued. Always.” 

[skip]

"The search is a new chapter in Mr. Trump’s campaign of retribution against his critics. The White House and its loyalists in the Justice Department and the F.B.I. are sending a clear message: Keep quiet, or we will use the extraordinary power of federal law enforcement to threaten your job or your liberty and put you under a lasting cloud of suspicion. And they are using the fearsome punitive authority of the government to conduct this campaign."

More on the Trump Regime's retribution:

Trump has accused former President Obama of "treason," without evidence, and has opened an investigation into Russia and the 2016 election.“He’s guilty,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Obama in July, acting as both judge and jury. 

Trump has sent his personal law firm, the Department of Justice, headed by his personal lawyers, Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche to go after former prosecutor Jack Smith.

The F.B.I., headed by Kash Patel who is a raging conspiracy dupe, is going after Letitia James; and Trump has instigated a federal investigation against Senator Adam Schiff of California, another outspoken critic of Trump who headed up the first of Trump's two impeachments. 

And finally, Lisa Cook, a member of the board of the Federal Reserve (appointed by President Joe Biden), whom Mr. Trump threatened to fire on Friday, claiming the grounds of mortgage deception.

Read what Aaron from New York has to say about this insult to America and its justice system:

"Trump should have been out of office in 2017, the moment he ordered Comey to swear loyalty to him. That showed exactly the bedrock of his ethos. 

 There is no America to this person, there is no Constitution — there are only people who will enable him to smash and grab and duck accountability for his crimes, and enemies. 

 The current director of the FBI falls into the first category. And they’re sending message after message to GOP public officials that if you don’t click your heels loud enough for Dear Leader, if you dare to think of the United States and its citizens before him, you will suffer for it. 

And who doubts that the same man who pushed the Governor of Georgia to “find” him some votes isn’t also telling Patel to “find” him some incriminating evidence against his critics? 

And who doubts that the same man firing economists and military intelligence officials for contradicting his lies with evidence won’t also fire agents who say there is no real evidence to be found? 

This isn’t about liberals or conservatives or political parties. This is about civic decency, and ultimately our freedom which is very much at risk."

********************************

Dear MAGA, 

You did this -- you put Trump, a low-intelligence, Liar, Cheat, Fraudster, Convicted Felon, Adjudicated Sexual Assaulter, and Serial Adulterer, who spent 15+ years partying with two notorious child sex traffickers and rapists, Epstein and Maxwell, -- you voted for this deceitful, dishonorable, mentally deteriorating wreckage AGAIN! to America's eternal degradation and shame.

You put a mob boss/authoritarian in charge of my country!

TRUMP'S TARIFFS ARE TAXES.

 

Tariffs Begin Taking a Bite out of the Economy 

Tariffs are taxes, and we pay the price.

"Even as some Republicans mocked economists for predicting prices would rise as a result of tariffs, there was a whistling-past-the-graveyard quality to the snickering. Yes, tariffs that had been threatened, delayed, and only partially implemented hadn't yet much increased costs for consumers, but there were clear signs that importers were rushing to beat high customs duties, and that trouble was on the way. Now we've had a weak jobs report and a higher-than-expected producer price index (PPI), and it's clear that tariffs perform just as we were warned: They raise prices for domestic businesses and consumers."

Have you been to the grocery store lately? 

A month or so ago I was able to find coffee at a reasonable price -- $6.99 - $8.99 for 12 ounces. Not anymore. The prices at the supermarket I shop in have all been raised, and I wasn't able to find anything less than $11.99 for the same brands that I bought a month ago!

Have you checked out the prices of meat? (Not a big deal for me, since I've just about cut out eating it months ago.) Even chicken is no longer a bargain.

Fish is just as expensive as meat. But at least it's supposed to be better for your health. (That is if plastics and mercury are considered "healthy.")

Eggs prices have NOT come down, despite the lies that Trump keeps pushing about that. (I buy my eggs at a farm near the goat farm. Their eggs are $5.40 a dozen.)

Gas is NOT $1.98 where I live -- more like $2.99/gal. and up.

Trump's tariffs are tax increases on all of us. 

He taxed the middle and lower income Americans and gave permanently HUGE tax cuts to his billionaire pals.

Trump is MASA! Making Americans Struggle Again!

It is no wonder the American people have turned against him and his policies. 

Jerome Powell: "GDP growth has slowed notably in the first half of this year, to a pace of 1.2%, roughly half the 2.5% pace in 2024. The declining growth has largely reflected a slowdown in consumer spending ... higher tariffs have begun to push up prices in some categories of goods."