Only the beginning of a Righteous MOVEMENT!

Pictures can sometimes speak louder than words. 

 From Mike Kelly, NorthJersey.com

Donald Trump began his second presidential term this week with a promise of a “golden age” for America.

“Our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world,” Trump declared moments after taking the presidential oath of office at the U.S. Capitol. “We will be the envy of every nation.”

OK, back to reality.

Here, in my New Jersey town, we don’t need gold or respect or even the belief that people from “every nation” will be envious of us.

We need two bridges fixed — just two.

Also from NorthJersey.com 

"Call your congressman" is an old saw that's been used for generations — but it has rarely been a widely used practice.

With the start of the second Trump administration, though, that seems to have changed.

In the wake of the slew of executive orders signed by President Donald Trump and actions taken on his behalf by people like Elon Musk, New Jersey residents have become increasingly vocal about their concerns about the direction in which the country is headed.

The state’s senior senator, Cory Booker, said his office has “fielded thousands of calls in response to the administration’s actions.”

“New Jerseyans are concerned,” Booker said. “They’re worried about Elon Musk’s role in government and the slew of cuts to essential services he is directing, and the administration’s lack of action to lower costs.”

Booker went on to say he has heard from all sorts of industries and groups that could be affected by Trump’s executive orders and the actions Musk has taken, such as nonprofit groups unsure if they will have to reduce services to people in need, small businesses and industry leaders unsure of the scale of the impacts of Trump’s tariffs, and municipalities that have had to indefinitely pause critical infrastructure projects or wait to purchase essential equipment –– like new fire trucks and body armor –– because they can’t count on federal funding for those purchases and projects.

Call... or better yet, also VISIT your elected officials whether they fulfill a calling as LEADERS or not. They cannot legitimately govern without the consent of the governed.

What now?! Btw, the Resistance is HERE!

https://www.gregpalast.com/trump-lost-vote-suppression-won/

Trump lost. That is, if all legal voters were allowed to vote, if all legal ballots were counted, Trump would have lost the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia. Vice-President Kamala Harris would have won the Presidency with 286 electoral votes.

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/the-resistance-is-here

If you're under the impression that there's no resistance to Trump, it's because corporate media aren't showing you pictures like this.

https://www.borowitzreport.com/i/156603228/dear-friends

Dear Friends,

Yesterday, Americans from coast to coast took to the streets to protest Elon Musk’s presidency—despite the corporate media’s claims that there’s been “no resistance.”

Meanwhile, around the world, allies and foes of the U.S. alike agreed that our senile leader’s proposal to turn Gaza into the Trump Riviera was moronic.

Today, the judicial branch fulfilled its constitutional duty and slammed the brakes on Project 2025.

And in our little corner of the world, the response to Van Jones’s call to action on TBR podcast has been overwhelming.

At the end of the podcast, I asked readers to share what they’ve been doing to take part in the resistance. Here are just a few of their comments. I hope you’ll find them as inspiring as I do.

As Van Jones said, “This will not stand.”

            Love,

            Andy

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/this-will-not-stand-a-call-to-action

Andy Borowitz interviewed Van Jones. The interview is emphatically encouraging.

Please check it out.

I realize the last three months have been "times that try men's (and women's) souls."

I also believe the election was in fact and indeed stolen. Not by tampering with voting machines. Instead by a widespread effort by GOP activists challenging the registrations of more than enough (mainly Black) voters to have made the difference in November 2024.

Andy Borowitz is a righteous hero! Please subscribe to his substack.

 ****

 The Arizona Eagletarian last week moved to upstate New York.

Jen Rubin interviews Ruth Ben-Ghiat

Jen Rubin Interviews Ruth Ben-Ghiat by The Contrarian

Read on Substack

Ruth Ben Ghiat a Professor of History and Italian Studies at New York University, Advisor to Protect Democracy, and the recipient of Guggenheim and other fellowships. She has been a consultant on historical feature and documentary films and advises governments and corporations (including the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol) on autocrats and authoritarian parties and the threats to democracy they pose.

Please be sure to support Ruth on her own page, Lucid, where each week, subscribers receive essays and posts about the most pressing issues of the day.

Professor Ben Ghiat gives us insight on what to expect from Trump now that he has been inaugurated.

AND what we can and should do in spite of him.

Five Questions: Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance; this week Jen Rubin and Norm Eisen, co-founders of The CONTRARIAN

 

The Contrarian

From Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

Eisen and Rubin join us as tonight’s guests for Five Questions. I’ll let them tell you the story of how they hatched a plan to create a new media company called The Contrarian and what they hope to achieve. It’s a compelling story of how, through community and support for fellow pro-democratic voices, we’re going to make it through Trump 2.0 and come out strong on the other side. You can subscribe to The Contrarian here.

“Five Questions” is a feature for paid subscribers, my way of thanking people who are able to support this work so that I can devote the necessary time and resources to it. I appreciate everyone who reads the newsletter and works to stay informed, so free subscriptions, with access to all of the other posts, will always be available.

Joyce: So, tell us how you came up with the idea for The Contrarian? How did you get from Jen wanting to step away from her job at The Post to, “Hey, let’s start a whole new media company?”

Jen and Norm: It was all one big leap of faith. Jen had grown disgusted with The Post’s capitulation to Trump and was convinced we needed an alternative to the billionaire and corporate owned media. Norm had a vision for an unabashed, pro-democracy outlet that would not only feature politics and law but also culture. [...]

Joyce: What has the early response been like? And what about The Contrarian do you think people are responding to?

Jen and Norm: We are blown away! It has been one of the biggest launches in Substack history. Not only have we passed 275,000 subscribers in just a few days but we have been flooded with writers wanting to contribute and other outlets who want to collaborate. Our early success completely confirms our thesis that people are hungry for something like this.

Joyce: I’m incredibly excited that my project, The Democracy Index, will be part of the Contrarian.

Jen and Norm: Yours is at the top of the list. Helping people process the daily barrage of authoritarian maneuvers is critical. In the short run we are very excited about our Inauguration Day coverage. Can’t bear to watch those who will normalize and even venerate Trump? We are going to have satire, mockery, and gleeful derision.

Get the rest of this week's Five Questions (and answers) and subscribe to Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance and to The Contrarian. I am a paying subscriber to both.

 

President Biden's Farewell address to America; AND overwhelming evidence of Trump's guilt

Biden's address this evening was at least as poignant and salient as Eisenhower's just before JFK was inaugurated in 1961. Ike warned of the dangers of power concentrated in the Military Industrial Complex. Biden warns of unprecedented concentration of power and wealth in the hands so few.

At the 23:50 minute mark of the video (btw, President Biden doesn't begin until 16 minutes or so into the vid), Biden warns of the dangerous concentration of power into the hands of a small number of ULTRA wealthy people. Today, an extreme oligarchy is forming in America that literally threatens our basic rights and freedoms.   

*****

Today I also received this from Democracy Docket reflecting on Jack Smith's January 6, 2021 report (released just a day or so ago):

Were it not for President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory, an investigation found that there was enough evidence to convict him in a trial for his crimes. [...]

[T]he full report nonetheless offers the most comprehensive view yet into the overwhelming evidence of Trump’s alleged election subversion crimes.

Trump was charged in August 2023 with four counts for his [TREASONOUS] efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election: Conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against the right to vote and have one’s vote counted.

“[F]or more than two months following election day on November 3, 2020, the Defendant [Donald Trump] spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won,” the indictment read. “These claims were false, and the Defendant knew that they were false.”

One disappointment I have at this time in history is that broadcast/print and many on social media NOW write as if Trump has already retaken the Oval Office. He has not. He may do so next Monday at noon Eastern Time. Remember Yale historian Professor Timothy Snyder's guidance to refuse to obey in advance.

It may be short, but there IS still time for Congress to bar Trump, for good and proper cause, from ever taking office again. They should enact legislation declaring him ineligible for office pursuant to the United States Constitution, 14th amendment, Section 3.

In the meantime, I refuse to express in MY WORDS that Trump has retaken office.

The Time has COME. DOJ released Jack Smith's report (volume 1)

Released roughly an hour ago by Attorney General Garland, the only place I have found Special Counsel Jack Smith's report on Trump's interference with the January 6, 2021 case thus far is on MSNBC.com

The report is 174 pages and so far, one has to read it without downloading it.

I suspect several journalists will be staying up to read it. Look for more insight on what it contains after YOU get a good night's sleep unless you have plenty of coffee already brewing.

Okay, Washington Post (yes, I still subscribe) now has it posted and available for download.

If Donald Trump wasn’t elected president in November, the Justice Department had ample evidence to convict him of trying to obstruct the 2020 election results, special counsel Jack Smith said in a report released early Tuesday morning.