Comments by "KGS" (@kgs2280) on "Thom Hartmann Program" channel.

  1. And he’s obviously getting worse, rapidly.
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  2. I’m sitting here on my patio as I’m watching this, and I’m hearing the shrieks of joy of the children next door enjoying a lovely day out in the sunshine, and I’m weeping because of imagining the future they’re going to have to grow up in.
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  3. We also need to find a way to permanently end the Electoral College. ASAP.
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  4. Hospitals, when delivering a miscarriage, throw them in the incinerator because they ARE biological waste, so are they going to be required to set them up for a funeral that the mother has to pay for? And, what will the state’s requirement be for a funeral for, say a 16- week fetus, which is what this woman’s was? Or a two-week (which she would probably not even be aware of)? Can they bury it in a cardboard box in their back yard, or at a local park or wooded area? Or are they going to require the mother to provide a coffin, which is expensive, as “punishment for the woman? That was the problem here: nobody tells women what to do with the dead fetus when she miscarriages. How can you be punishing a woman for breaking a law that, hitherto, wasn’t a law at all? Insanity now rules this country.
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  5. I worked in a similar situation. I asked my boss, who had said he’s a Democrat, why he listened to him (Rush - and this was in his Sandra Fluke diatribe days), and he said he always wanted to know what the enemy was thinking. I said that five minutes of listening to that crap was enough to know where he was coming from, and after that it was just nauseating and stress-inducing. I did finally get him to agree to not play it when I was in that particular workroom.
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  6. This makes Ken Paxton a murderer to my thinking.
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  7. As a senior living on Social Security, this could actually be GREAT news. It will hit all the airwaves (maybe, maybe not) and social media, and this will very likely lose the Republicans the vote. They’ve already lost a huge portion of the women’s vote, the LGBTQ+ vote, probably a lot of the Black vote, the verteran’s vote, and I would think also the Jewish vote. Who else ? We need to make sure this news goes far and wide because if enough people know about it, it will be the death knell for the Republican Party. They’re just to stupid to realize it. WE have to get the word out!
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  8. Putin saying trump is a good person reminds me of Ben Shapiro recently defending Russel Brand over rape allegations.
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  9. They’re delusional.
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  10. I absolutely agree that he is going to start sending his own “militia”, or even just the police, into crowds of protesters. And the protests are becoming more frequent and larger. He’s going to fill a lot of prisons with people who are simply exercising their constitutional right to peacefully assemble and protest.
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  11. They learned how to lie non-stop from trump. They saw that it worked so well for him, so they think it will work for them. We have to make this end.
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  12. Many of us feel the same way. It was very fishy.
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  13. Bernie was the best President we were never allowed to have.
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  14. And they certainly don’t care about the women or the “sanctity” of her life, or the baby, once born. Yes, you are 100% correct.
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  15. A lot of us Americans are too. It just all got glossed over in the news because there was a different story almost every day. Mental overload.
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  16. I curse Ronald Reagan’s name and memory.
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  17. I’m waiting to hear how the Military generals of the country are going to react to Trump’s commands.
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  18. I don’t know how or why it would be easy for anyone to preach against it when every girl and woman deserves the healthcare she needs. And, just because it’s against SOME person’s religious beliefs, our government is not supposed to bow to anyone religious tenets, or make laws concerning them. That’s why it’s called Separation of Church and State. Some religions, like Judaism, actually believe that the living woman’s life takes precedence over an unborn baby (or fetus), because there is never any guarantee the baby will be born alive or healthy, wheareas she (the woman) already has a life. I believe abortion should be legal, safe, and as often as necessary.
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  19. Thank you, Thom, for standing firm and shining a light on truth.
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  20. Jim Jordan doesn’t have any business being anywhere near Congress.
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  21. It seems to me that if the Pentagon is worried about trump’s plan, they should start putting a counter-plan in place immediately. If they can’t do it, I don’t know who could.
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  22. The American people really need to get beyond their glorification of celebrities. As well as billionaires.
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  23. Thank you, Thom. So much more investigation, and dissemination to the public needs to be done on this. I’ve always said that January 6 was just a test run, and they’ll be even more prepared next time. We can’t allow that, period.
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  24. The Koch brothers helped to put Reagan in office, and he was their puppet because he had nearly zero understanding of how government works. I ultimately blame the Koch brothers for most of what is wrong in America today. One has finally died, although he has a son to carry in his legacy, and the other is still running things as always. They started out in the John Birch Society, then became mega-wealthy and have founded numerous organizations that we hear about that are pushing policies that negatively affect nearly every American: well, positively for the wealthy but negatively for the rest of us.
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  25. It’s all about control.
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  26. I’ve been saying I’d rather be woke than a sheep…I mean asleep. Proud to let my woke flag fly!
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  27. For another good example of a man being emotional, see Brett Kavanaugh.
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  28. And yet, a group of women who took a case to put the Equal Rights Amendment in the Constitution to the Supreme Court was turned down for “lack of standing”. Can someone please explain to me how a woman, any woman, or a group of women, lack standing on a case about equal rights? Not having equal rights affects, or harms, every woman in the country. Just when I was starting to think I was understanding something about law!
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  29. One of my favorite quotes: “Men are afraid women will laugh at them. Women are afraid men will kill them.” by Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale
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  30. I should think the prison staff could be charged with Practicing Medicine Without a License. Get the AMA on this!
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  31. This is exactly why Ron DeSantis wants to have his own, private militia.
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  32. These guys essentially want to be The Commanders from The Handmaid’s Tale. This would be the end of democracy in the U.S.
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  33. I also remember when a number of red state governors and politicians were saying that since (in the beginning of the pandemic) mostly elderly people were dying of Covid that elderly people should be doing some of the service jobs, because, basically old people don’t contribute anything and are just a drag on the economy, so they should be sent to the “front line” jobs. They were willing to “contribute” their own grandparents to go get sick and die, even though they’ve worked and supported the economy and the labor force their entire adult lives. That was the lowest, most disturbing, most disgusting, and inhuman thing I had ever heard up to that point.
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  34. What kind of insanity is it when someone says they’re MORE likely to vote for someone BECAUSE they were convicted of 34 crimes??
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  35. And the Supreme Court wonders why it has lost so much confidence by The People? The last part of this is just one more reason.
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  36. They already are.
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  37. If I don’t get my check on Wednesday, sh*t’s gonna hit the fan!
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  38. I read that the issue of abortions was left to midwives in the earlier days in the U.S. (and nobody really had any problem with it because it was a “private” issue and pretty common), but when men decided to join together to create medical schools, which women weren’t allowed to attend, of course, and become doctors, they decided that they wanted the money a midwives would have earned for their services, and that’s when laws started being passed. Even then, it was only illegal for anyone other than a doctor to perform them. The other laws came even later than that.
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  39.  @TheMoonlightMage  Margaret Atwood, the author of The Handmaid’s Tale, said that there was nothing (against women’s rights) described in the book that has not already happened somewhere in the world. It’s all been done before.
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  40. Reminds me of my only bumper sticker: “Feminism is the radical notion that women are people”. Yes, it’s as simple as that.
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  41.  @masond7573  Same. As a Boomer, I grew up in an era that was very, very aware of what went on just before us, and how and why. Many of us could see exactly what he is from the get-go. Sadly, the later generations, seemingly, were taught NOTHING of that. Very frightening to me. That’s why education is so important, and why their side want to destroy it.
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  42. The Republicans see the Handmaid’s Tale as a blueprint instead of a warning.
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  43.  @thomhartmann  100%! You nailed it!
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  44. So, when “the cruelty’s the point” (like w/ Stephen Miller), that’s psychopathic.(?)
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  45. It’s amazing that such a small group can wield that kind of power over so many millions of Americans. Something has to be done about Moms for Liberty. That’s not Liberty, ladies.
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  46. Absolutely. He wouldn’t have ever been seen or heard from again, and, somehow, he knew that.
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  47. I can still see in my memory when he pushed the leader of Montenegro out of the way to get out in front for a photo op. The look on his face was supreme smugness. (Was that his first G7?) What an embarrassment!
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  48. Works for me. I’ve been calling them the Regressive Party.
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  49. Here’s something else to consider: I’ve seen at least two reports that said both maternal mortality and infant mortality rates are going up in red states since Roe v. Wade was overturned. That means that women ARE dying because they can’t get the healthcare they need. But we’ll probably never see the names or photos of the women who have died unless a husband or family member of one or, preferably, several of these women release them to the public. If you want to know why, Google the name of Savita Halappanaver (in Ireland) to see what the reaction of the Irish people was, and what the government did because of it. I think they don’t want that to happen here. (You’ll have to read between the lines in my comment because every time I write out what happened, my comment gets removed). So, if you know of a woman who died this way, talk to her husband or family member. I will promise to carry posters, and talk to everyone I know.
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  50. Right there with you, Sister. And now some (evangelicals, of course) want to take away women’s right to vote.
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  51.  @frankrizzo5710  You must be Anita’s ex.
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  52. It seems to me that if Thomas doesn’t believe we should have any laws now that didn’t exist in 1789, wouldn’t that preclude, and eliminate, his own marriage? After all, the races couldn’t intermarry back then. And, no, I don’t support anti-miscegenation laws, I’m just saying Thomas should be very careful about what he’s asking for as it could very well backfire on him, personally. It also appears that he and Roberts really hate women.
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  53. If an ectopic pregnancy ruptures women rarely have hours or days before they die. It can happen within minutes.
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  54. Nobody is mentioning the women who have ectopic pregnancies or other medical complications (often with very wanted pregnancies) where, if they don’t have an abortion, they will die. There are also situations where the fetus dies in utero but do not pass from her body through a miscarriage. If doctors aren’t permitted to remove the dead fetus, the pregnant woman stands a very good chance of developing an internal infection that will very likely kill her. Not all women with these awful situations are able to fly to another state for an abortion. Are they to be allowed to die? The anti-abortion people are always going on about “protecting the unborn”, but does no one care about or want to protect the women who are alive, breathing and often already have other children to raise? Apparently not. That’s because it’s not really about “protecting life”, it’s about controlling women.
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  55. Good for Louise! A party to “Smash the Patriarchy” sounds like something that should sweep the nation! I originally had no desire to see the movie Barbie, but now I will. If this improves Women’s rights in the country, I’m here for it!
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  56. And Social Security.
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  57. Very good list, Thom! And, ironically, they will complain about the lowering birth rate in the country because they will soon need more workers than will be available, yet they are so busy trying to kill off all the poor people and disallowing (or killing off) immigrants, who are the foundation of the working class. Not to mention that the lowering of food standards and the increasing usage of chemicals in our food (that they approve) has been linked to lower fertility rates in the country. Another thing I don’t understand about the abortion issue is that the GOP has generally been highly racist, yet more Black and Hispanic women have abortions than White women. So, why are they trying to save all those babies that they will later want to kill off? The things they (the Republicans) do almost never show any thought to the outcome of their policies. They can only see the money and the votes they can gain NOW, but nothing about the future of the fallout, not to mention the immorality of those policies.
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  58. 74 here, and I remember growing up seeing newsreels about WWII including some of Hitler’s speeches, as well as scenes from the concentration camps, and I remember so many of us were asking “How did the Germans allow that to happen?” And, here we are, just one or two generations later and we’re seeing it happen right in our own country. This is not what our fathers fought and died for. And this is definitely not what we were taught that democracy means. It’s terribly sad, as well as frightening.
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  59.  @jackiehathaway793 No, but trump will tell his MAGA base it’s Biden’s fault and they’ll believe him and vote for him based on that.
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  60. And, to the Ladies, PLEASE don’t EVER use a menstrual tracking app on your phone or other electronic device. Those companies are already agreeing to sell your information to law enforcement agencies. Use an old-fashioned paper calendar, and even then, use a totally innocuous code or symbol to represent your time.
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  61. A great conversation.
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  62. Ladies, don’t EVER tell a professor or boss or anyone who must give you permission for time off for any healthcare what that healthcare is. If they ask (which they shouldn’t in the first place) tell them that it’s private, and between you and your doctor, and don’t give in to any pressure from them. (If they continue to pressure you, tell them you’ll have to confer with your lawyer or the administration whether or not they’re allowed to ask you that - NOT whether or not you have to answer). They have no right to even ask you, and much less to punish you in any way for taking the time off, whether that’s by firing you or dropping you from a class. When I was young and “dumb” (and, frankly, I don’t know what the law was at that time and in that state), I made that mistake when I asked my boss for one day off. It was for a tubal ligation for which I already had an appointment. He told me he would fire me if I took the day off for that. Fortunately, I was working for a concession company inside another company run by women and we all got along well together. I went to the head of that company and told her what was going on, and would she be interested in hiring me at that company. I said bye to my previous boss on Thursday, had my surgery on Friday, and was at work on Monday morning at the bigger company, and at the same location. My old boss saw me there and asked what I was doing there and I smiled and said “I work here now. See? I told you I only needed one day off”. I was very lucky I was able to get that job, but the moral of the story is just don’t tell anyone what kind of healthcare you need.its none of their business.
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  63. Actually, he can because the Founding Fathers never even imagined that something like this could happen, and so they didn’t put any rule against it in the Constitution. Apparently, he can even “serve” as President from prison. And, you are correct, America IS in deep trouble. Hopefully, someone will bring (and win) a challenge to this problem and correct it.
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  64. While, as a feminist I would love to agree with you wholeheartedly, please tell me exactly where and how ladies have “rights and freedoms of their own”, because the Equal Rights Amendment has never been put into the U.S. Constitution. It has passed through Congress a couple of times, and in 2020 it was ratified by the 38th state required for inclusion in the Constitution (Virginia) but each and every time, it has been shut down and tossed aside because of some little legal detail by Congress. And in 2020, after Virginia became the 38th state to ratify it, Congress (particularly Mitt Romney) shot it down even though the Constitution itself says that after the 38th state ratifies an Amendment, Congress’ job is done and it must go directly into the Constitution. That’s how much they hate women and don’t want us to have rights and freedoms.
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  65. Exactly. And an interesting thing I just learned is that The Heritage Foundation (the authors of Project 2025) wrote a Mandate for Leadership for 1981 (Mandate for Leadership is also the primary name of Project 2025), which Reagan gladly adopted. I never knew it went back that far, but, as the old saying goes, “now it all makes sense”. It also had the calls for overturning Roe and outlawing contraception, just like Project 2025.
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  66. I hope he gets to have a face-to-face meeting with the “real” Grim Reaper.
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  67. Our freedom, and the future of our country and Democracy DO depend on it.
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  68. Headed up by Dr. Ronnie Jackson, better known in the White House as “the Candyman”.
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  69. Some in our country have descended into absolute insanity.
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  70. Thank you Thom and Greg for all you’re doing to save our democracy, and for how you help educate us on what’s going on. Also, Greg, I watched your “Vigilante” video, and it is excellent. Thank you.
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  71. I always say that WE read The Handmaid’s Tale as a warning, the Republicans read it as a blueprint, and the Republican men all envision themselves as Commanders.
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  72. Perhaps we should pass a law that men cannot get vasectomies because they aren’t allowed “bodily autonomy”, at least where reproduction is concerned. And they better never think about getting penis enhancement surgery. At the same time, rape convictions for men should start getting a minimum mandatory sentence of twenty years. And any man convicted of rape that causes a pregnancy should be required not only to pay eighteen years of child support, but also all pre-natal care for the woman and all medical bills related to the pregnancy and birth of the baby, as well as pay for the time the mother has to take off from work for all doctor’s visits and all hospitalization, and twelve months maternity leave for the mother, in top of the child support. Any decision for whether or not the child gets to meet the father should be left up to the child after the father is released from prison, and the mother should not have to be involved in the meeting.
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  73. Yes to Bernie! Bernie, the United States is also the only developed country in the world that doesn’t have Equal Rights for women, either. All these abortion bans couldn’t have happened if we had the Equal Rights Amendment in the Constitution. (Which, I’m sure, was their plan all along, and the #1 reason they won’t include it in the Constitution).
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  74. Regarding the U.S. part of this: also, when the richest corporations/owners have all that money, they actually write legislation (bills) and hand them to their GOP lackeys, and say, “here, pass this”, so it’s affecting all of us. And, of course, those bills ALWAYS benefit themselves (with a kickback to the lackeys).
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  75.  @helendropinski3754 Reagan wasn’t. Neither was Schwarzenegger.
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  76. These reactionaries are going to have a lot of blood on their hands; very soon. I wonder if they will re-think their stance when some of their sisters, wives and daughters die in back-alley abortions. Probably not; they really don’t care about women’s lives or they wouldn’t do this in the first place. It’s heartbreaking, and it’s maddening. They’d best start planning ahead for losing in November.
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  77.  @dakotadak100  That’s highly misleading. Millions of elderly in the U.S. would be living on the streets if not for Social Security. I would be one of them if anything happened to my husband. And if the GOP destroys it like they want, that’s exactly what will happen. And you’re commenting to a person who actually lives better with government healthcare, as if you know more about his system than he does?
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  78. And make the Separation of Church and State very strong, even putting it into the Constitution. As well as the Equal Rights Amendment.
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  79.  @harrietharlow9929  And then trump said, “Elon went to Pennsylvania to check out the voting machines, and now I’m your President.” Way too suspicious for me.
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  80.  @mariarooney6262  That is absolutely untrue, and based soley on YOUR religious beliefs (because some other religions do not have such beliefs. For example, in Judaism, they believe that the already living woman’s life takes precedent in the case of a problem pregnancy. So, why does YOUR personal religious belief take precedent over other religious beliefs? Plus, medical doctors have not come to a consensus as to when human life actually “begins”. So, how is it you know more than the entire medical community? Besides, in Genesis, the first book of YOUR Bible, says that Adam was not “alive” until he took his first breath. So don’t cherry-pick YOUR religious text to make laws regarding the rest of OUR citizens. Also, if you think murder is wrong (which, of course, it, actual murder, is) do you think the death penalty is appropriate for a woman who has an abortion? Is murdering someone for theoretically murdering someone else an appropriate thing to do? How is that not murder? Do you support that?
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  81. This is pure gold. Thom, I have heard a few times that the Republicans (I believe it was under Reagan, of course) “borrowed” close to a billion dollars from Social Security, with the plan to never pay it back in order to be able to claim that Social Security was “going broke” so they could try to end it or privatize it. Would you please do a video telling us if that is true and explaining how that was played, and why nobody is calling on them to pay it back? Thank you for all your great work.
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  82. Sounds a lot like the John Birch Society.
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  83. Thom, that was excellent, and chilling. I think you’re very correct on that account, and think you ought to expand that thinking into a full-length book, á la 1984 or The Handmaid’s Tale. If you did that, I know it would be a best-seller (I’m sure that at least all your fans would buy it), and it would be a very stark warning to many still thinking “everything will work out”, if it gets published in time. People really need to wake up and realize the truth of what’s already in front of our eyes. I have been saying for the last couple of years that if trump gets elected again, he will immediately set himself up as President-For- Life, as in, a dictator, and we’ll never have free and fair elections again. Now, he and the GOP are actually telegraphing their plans for this country, and you nailed a lot of what they’re now saying they would do. Please write that book! (I’d do it myself, but I’m no writer). People need to have it laid out for them. Who knows, maybe I’ll see you in prison in the future anyway, as I’ve been very vocal about my feelings about trump and his shills. Yeah, I know, I’m a woman, and we’ll probably be be in separate prisons, but I also imagine they’ll be bussing women to men’s prisons to see to the men’s physical “needs” to keep the men from rioting too often. Then again, I’m also an “old” woman (within just a couple of years from your age), and as such, they’ll probably be “eliminating” older women because, by their lights, we simply are of no more use to society as we can no longer reproduce.
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  84. The youth in this country are giving me much hope for our future. And as they come of age to vote, they generally vote Democrat.
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  85. Abbot needs to be put before the International Court at The Hague for his cruelty, along with the agents who follow his orders. This is one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever heard.
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  86. LOCK HIM UP!
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  87. What a disgusting, disgraceful theatrical performance that was. I’m embarrassed by that portion of this country.
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  88.  @Mike2244eSam  Unbelievable. From trailer trash to multi-millionaire. (Of course, that doesn’t stop her from still being trailer trash). Only in America!
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  89. It’s time to stop offering nothing but “thoughts & prayers”, but to get serious about passing laws to put an end to this travesty.
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  90. This is another reason trump must be held accountable (preferably prison time): he has set an example for the right wing in countries around the world, and now they are emulating him. Now WE must set the example for them that these tactics will not work and that Democracy must be supported because it’s a delicate system that requires constant attention.
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  91. I will always blame Ronald Reagan and the media.
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  92. Good recommendation. If you like that book, you might enjoy Caliban and the Witch, by Silvia Federici (not sure of that spelling). It’s a much more recent book, and it follows how the fall of the feudal society led to witch-burning and Capitalism, and how that all affected the role of women. It’s very enlightening and scholarly.
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  93. I think the same thing happened with one of his hotels in Panama.
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  94. I’m guessing yes. Very much.
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  95. Thom, as if on command, the misogynists have come out of the woodwork in the comments. So predictable.
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  96. That image gave me some serious chills. I grew up in the South (and hated it), and seeing that photo made me almost vomit. The person who did that should have five years added to whatever jail time he gets.
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  97. Thank you, Thom, once again for keeping us up to date on the dark and dirty plans these people have for our country. It’s pretty frightening. Actually, it’s very, very frightening. Keep up the good work, Brother. I love your show.
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  98. My only concern with this tactic (although I believe both Thomases are guilty as sin, and should be brought down) is that it upholds the patriarchal concept that it is always OK to go after a woman even if a male is involved as well. Besides, I don’t think Clarence Thomas would really care, and it would not affect him much, personally. Plus, they both would find ways to continue their grift, only with more secretive methods.
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  99. Does anyone remember when the punishment for treason (and possibly sedition) was death?
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  100. Thom, while I agree that forced sterilization has an abhorrent history in the U.S., it’s still no more draconian for a man to be forced to have a vasectomy than for a woman to be forced to have a baby. (And probably 99% of forced sterilizations in our country have been performed on women, not men. I’d like to see an accurate account of those percentages). And with a vasectomy, there’s no ruining of a man’s future, incl. future earnings and forced poverty, and there’s no child created (or millions of children) for whom our tax dollars will be used to support until maturity, and the man won’t have to be on governmental support, either, as will possibly millions of mothers. And a vasectomy is more easily reversed than a woman’s sterilization (although it’s not 100% guaranteed).
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  101. One of my favorite authors, Mona Eltahawy, refers to them as “the footsoldiers of the patriarchy”. That works for me, and I’ve never forgotten it. They are the “Aunts” (think of Aunt Lydia from The Handmaid’s Tale) of the world, except they aren’t forced to do it on pain of torture or death.
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  102.  @AuntieMamies Ignore her. She’s a troll, or a pick-me. I’ve seen her doing the same here before.
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  103. That would certainly make me happier.
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  104. I couldn’t agree more with everything said here. Hunter’s “crimes” aren’t even in the same universe as the trump’s, for so many reasons. Seems like we never hear anything about Eric’s doings, but maybe that should be looked into as well. Surely one member of the immediate family never profited off daddy’s dealings.
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  105. We need to reverse this trend right away. We need to go to Sweden, Finland, Denmark, etc. and study what their Progressive programs have been doing to help the people and bring those ideas here. But then, we know what American politicians would do with that, just like how they kneecapped Bernie. I always say he was the best President we were never allowed to have. This ultra Right trend(brought by the wealthiest people and corporations in the world, I’m sure) in the world will not turn out well.
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  106. It’s certainly a mental health problem.
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  107. This is why we need the Equal Rights Amendment put into the Constitution.
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  108. I’m so glad you covered how the Democrats and the Republicans “switched places”, and you used the term “Dixiecrats”. It is all very true, and I don’t think enough people realize it. The Vietnam War was the first time I got at all political as I was a hippie at the time, so, of course, I was anti-war, especially anti-stupid wars in which we shouldn’t have gotten involved in the first place, and Vietnam was one of those situations. I learned that there’s almost no war, in any country in the world that the U.S. won’t happily jump into as war is extremely lucrative, and it also increases our appearance of power. And there’s almost no war in any country in the world that the U.S. wouldn’t happily create, for the same reasons, though they’ll make up some humanitarian-sounding reason even when there’s absolutely nothing humanitarian about it. I also have the Kent State shooting by the National Guard etched into my consciousness as I was in college in Florida at the same time those students were getting gunned down in Ohio. (That was also Nixon, well before Reagan). Then, as I am a woman, I got very involved in the feminist movement, and it’s still my primary socio-political interest. This past few years has really brought that topic, along with their motivations for sublimating women even more egregiously than they have in the last fifty years. They really want to go back to living in the past when it comes to controlling and punishing, and even damaging and/or killing women and girls. You know, real “pro-life” stuff (*sarcasm). I’m definitely a Democratic Socialist, á la Bernie Sanders, and possibly going a bit to the left of that ideal as well. The things that the “other side” is doing now are so regressive and harmful, especially with its adoption of far-right Christianity that it’s actually frightening, and we must stay very aware of everything they’re up to and crush it with our votes and our voices. We need to get into the streets of every city in the country by multiples of thousands every day that we are able to. This political takeover HAS to be stopped or we will definitely descend into fascism, which can happen very quickly, and that’s something I NEVER want to see in this magnificent country. I hope I didn’t rant too long, but you got me fired up! Thank you for all your great informative programs.
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  109.  @yeahreally9185 We need to get a bill passed that says men are no longer able to access Viagra. That ought to upset a few.
    13
  110. Thom, would you please speak about Biden’s last day commutation for Leonard Peltier? It was a real emotional boost to our Native Americans.
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  111. I remember that, too. I remember that our teacher brought a television into the classroom and let it play for about 20 minutes or so. I remember the images of people watching TVs through store windows and crying. At that age (just a few years older than you) it was hard to process the information, but it seemed the whole world was crying. I think Eisenhower was perhaps the only other President who was that respected in our lifetime until Obama, although he certainly had his detractors. We have lived in one of the most amazing periods in history, both good and bad.
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  112. The death rate will certainly go up because these laws will kill women, like ones with ectopic pregnancies and ones whose fetus has died, but if it can’t be removed, the woman will get sepsis (infection) and die, as well as because of other health reasons.
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  113. And a lot of women also use contraceptive medications to control their periods, a number of skin conditions like acne, as well for a whole host of other medical reasons, so those people will also be screwed
    12
  114.  @jamesparson Because they think Jesus cares about their petty little ideas about controlling people.
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  115. + The Handmaid’s Tale
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  116. This is exactly why I wouldn’t have a Biden/Harris bumper sticker on my car or have a Biden sign on my lawn in my working-class neighborhood (even though I really preferred Bernie, but they weren’t going to allow him to win even in the primaries). I knew something would get smashed.
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  117.  @yvonneplant9434  I didn’t feel like he was gloating at all. I felt like he’s (and others in other countries with universal healthcare) are letting us know what we in the U.S. COULD have IF our government would ever actually give enough of a sh*t about its citizens to give us that and treat us like real human beings instead of subservient worker dogs. Perhaps you don’t care now that our government takes so much of our earned income and gives it to wealthy people who will buy another home, plane or yacht with it, but if you ever face a real health emergency, or you get old, you will definitely find out. Are you aware that the #1 cause of homelessness in the U.S. is the inability to pay for exorbitant medical bills? They lose their homes because the insurance companies will take your last dime to pay for usually unplanned medical emergencies.
    12
  118.  @darrellmay4502  Thankfully, a lot of men agree with you.
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  119. That’s why trump said, “I love the poorly educated”. Sure, because they’re so easy to manipulate.
    12
  120. Absolutely.
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  121. Absolutely disgusting.
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  122. If it’s not lighted at night, I would still be more than happy to relieve myself on his grave. Trump’s too, someday (and the sooner, the better).
    11
  123. Or at least toward justice.
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  124. Maybe the future working class Americans. I, as a working class American (now retired) will never forget, nor forgive, him, most especially for that Supreme Court Justice block. I certainly won’t miss him.
    11
  125. Great discussion. I just wish more people would understand how close to fascism our country has come. I’m terrified that we’re only a hair’s breadth away.
    11
  126.  @jonathankkennedy I think Guantanamo should be our FIRST choice as it’s for international terrorists, and criminals, and what he did (as in cozying up to Putin and Kim) and sharing State Secrets with foreign leaders certainly rises to that definition.
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  127. It’s strange how sad so many of us are having always known it was just a matter of time. R.I.P. Alexei. Thank you for all your efforts for freedom in your country.
    11
  128. How do critical thinking, logic and basic good education ever become obsolete?
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  129. Not to mention the color of their skin.
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  130. Thanks, Thom, for another exciting and uplifting interview. Dr. Greyson is a treasure. He’s scientifically trained, and he was originally skeptical, but has had his mind opened to different possibilities by collecting thousands of stories, and after sharing stories with other trained doctors, and seeing that many of the patients’ stories matched in certain regards, it’s hard not to become a believer, at least on some level. I have also read a number of books on the subject, and find them to be some of the most incredible stories. I find this subject, and field of study to be absolutely fascinating, and I find myself hoping to have an NDE, or for that to be my experience whenever I die. I love that many of the stories are not religious experiences per se, but more spiritual in a non-religious manner, which I would prefer, as I find the ones where people say they spoke to Jesus to be outside my comfort zone, particularly because they often mimic the patient’s personal religious beliefs. I tend to think, as one person once stated in another book I read that perhaps the image of Jesus or another religious figure appearing could just be the “being’s” way of presenting themselves as a way to make the patient more comfortable. Who knows? Perhaps we’ll all find out someday.
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  131. I agree. I’ve probably seen as many mentions in the news about Kamala Harris in the last two to three years as I have about Melania Trump, which hasn’t been much at all. I had no idea that she had been doing any of the things you talked about - none whatsoever. Please do get her on your program. She needs a lot more PR. Have you considered getting Marianne Williamson on your program? Most people only think of her through her “woo woo” lens, but she has a lot of good (and progressive) ideas.
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  132. You remember when people treated one another as equals?? When was that? I’m 73, and don’t remember any period in that time when people treated each other as equals.
    11
  133. Damn, they’re totally evil. Now at 72, my future isn’t looking too great.
    11
  134.  @justmenotyou3151 Yes; and then TFG (DJT) took it (racism, xenophobia and sexism) to an all new level, and it wasn’t even a dirty little secret anymore, but right out in the open.
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  135. So glad to be living in a Blue state.
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  136. History does repeat.
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  137.  @jeffreycone7504  Good for you! I would love to Mexico, but I can’t do it right now.
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  138.  @Luxcanum I think it was the comedian Lewis Black who said that if men could get pregnant, there’d be an abortion clinic on every street corner, like Starbucks. I think he’s right.
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  139. What part of a STATE’S governor having a right to control the FEDERAL border makes sense to these Justices?
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  140. And what about disabled voters and seniors and sick people who can’t travel? I say do both mail-in ballots AND making voting day a federal holiday.
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  141.  @sammcturk8898 That’s a dictator, and that’s exactly what he wants to be.
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  142. This is why Democratic Socialism would be a great thing for the U.S.
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  143. I’m older, and I don’t even recognize my country anymore, and I’m not so sure it’s going to get turned back around anytime soon. While it seems impossible, there is a small chance trump will win the next election (we got fooled before), and, if he does, I will definitely move somewhere else. Just have to figure out where. I’m even thinking of Mexico.
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  144. I’m very concerned when he and many of his people in the highest ranks talk about “bloodshed”. That’s a really dangerous phrase. Someone (trump himself?) said about the roundup of migrants “ it will be bloody”.
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  145. I also find that the Republicans describing the “White House’s project to tear this country apart” ironic when they have their own published Project 2025 designed to do exactly that.
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  146. Bingo! We need more laws safeguarding Separation of Church and State. ASAP.
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  147. Gilead. I’ve always said that we (logical, clear-headed, compassionate people) saw The Handmaid’s Tale as a warning; the GOP sees it as a blueprint.
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  148. And this is exactly why we need the Equal Rights Amendment in the Constitution. And it’s also exactly why Republicans in Congress (right now the particular group is headed by Mitt Romney and Ron Johnson, and another Senator from Ohio, I think, but I can’t remember his name) are constantly fighting against putting the ERA into the Constitution every time it comes up for a vote in Congress, especially after Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the ERA in 2020. Also remember how Republicans started whining about a study coming out a few years ago about how the U.S. population was starting to decline because it would negatively impact the amount of workers corporations would have in the future. (And which is also undoubtedly why some Red states like Arkansas have voted to overturn their child labor laws!). Remember, too, that Justice Alito, in his decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, cited for reference some judge in England who lived in the 1500s or 1600s who also sentenced witches to be burned at the stake! Maybe it’s just me (sarcasm), but I somehow don’t think we should be basing our American 21st Century laws on the laws of a 14th or 15th Century “legal scholar” from England, besides the fact that the United States was created and broke away from England and wrote a new Constitution to get away from those old religious-based laws.
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  149. Good stuff, Thom. I hope your writing for the months of March or April include the “Handmaid’s Laws”, making women of reproductive age prisoners kept for breeding purposes, because you know they’ll do it.
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  150.  @jennifertarin4707 Yes! That is the most terrifying plan I’ve ever heard of. We’re in deep kimchi if they’re ever able to institute that.
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  151. Jane Elliot is a national treasure.
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  152.  @user-zu5do6ri6r  Maybe you should look up the word insurrection in the dictionary.
    9
  153.  @yvonneplant9434 Me too, sister, but we’ve got other sisters, aunts and cousins, and other women’s daughters to fight for too! We HAVE to be together on this one or we might never get another chance.
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  154. @catherinewheel4851 And overturning it was about them (men) wanting control over women. Clarence Thomas said privacy doesn’t count anymore.
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  155. Yup. Some call it “Christofascism”. That sounds about right to me.
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  156. How can he even be allowed to run for President again? Isn’t it all concerning to our government that he could actually be elected again? Personally, it terrifies me.
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  157. Maybe they aren’t fearing God enough.
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  158. Thank you for providing those excellent quotes and dates.
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  159. This is so disappointing. I remember being so excited to see a woman appointed to the Supreme Court, and then she did that. That was the first major turn to the Dark Side for SCOTUS, at least in my life (or that I can remember).
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  160.  @davidlafleche1142 No, we need to retain and re-affirm Separation of Church and State in the U.S.. why don’t you move to Jerusalem and try to establish a Christian Monarchy there, in line with your beliefs?
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  161. I’m thinking since Ronald Reagan was elected.
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  162. Welcome back, Thom. Good episode. I think your caller is spot on. Dark days ahead, but we must keep our wits about us, not sink let fear overtake us, and be damned sure we win…on every front, lest we lose our democracy. This will be the Grand Test. We probably won’t get a second chance,
    8
  163. Count on it.
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  164. You’re talking about the Senator from Louisiana? He’s on the other side of the fence, and he’s a racist, bigoted AH. I don’t think he’s related, is he?
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  165. I heard about a case filed after Roe fell about a Jewish woman who is or was suing because she needs (probably now “needed”, past tense) an abortion because of medical problems because the Jewish faith not only approves of abortion when needed for a medical reason, but basically demands it in order to save the already-living person’s life. I haven’t heard any more about that case. I’d like to know whatever became of it, or the woman.
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  166. I can’t believe that in my one life we’ve seen contraceptives and abortion both become legalized to seeing one go away entirely, and the other on the line, and likely to also be thrown out.
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  167.  @lisamarie9159  And Sheldon Whitehouse.
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  168.  @normaowens7569  Agreed. I did the same thing, and reading it a second time after you become an adult, especially now, is a much harder gut punch than the first time, especially when government policies affect us personally. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is another good one. Also, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. Even if you’ve watched the series, reading the book is a different perspective. Plus, Atwood has said a couple of times, publicly, that everything in the book that was done to the women in the book has actually happened in some society at some time. I’ve always said that we read, or saw, The Handmaid’s Tale as a warning, but the Republicans read or saw it as a blueprint, and they all the men fantasize about being Commanders. I also saw a great comment recently that was perfect: “1984 and The Handmaid’s Tale had a baby and named it Project 2025”.
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  169. Thank you, Thom! Yes, we have to act, NOW. I’m tired of, and sad for, these people saying that we’ll have elections soon, and we can vote a lot of Republicans out of office, when I don’t think we have that long. We cannot wait. By the time our next elections are held, the coup will likely be complete. We have maye a couple of weeks, if that. If that. This is a rapidly rolling steamroller going downhill, and if we don’t take action to stop it RIGHT NOW, we, and our democracy, are going to be crushed before we can think twice.
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  170. Thank you, Thom, and Timothy Snyder, for always being here and giving us truth and wisdom.
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  171. @catherine wheel All emotions embodied by the former President, in spades.
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  172. And yet, here you are.
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  173. Good conversation, Thom. You nailed it. Our whole system needs a massive overhaul, back to the traditions of FDR. Bernie needs to be involved in it.
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  174. The definition you read about Crisis Pregnancy Centers is absolutely accurate. They are absolutely abhorrent. There is no way they should be receiving taxpayer money or any government funding. Someone should sue state governments for using taxpayer and government money for that.
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  175. I wouldn’t put anything, absolutely anything, past the MAGA crowd in D.C., including, or especially, Congress.
    8
  176.  @bowlburners  They tried, but he’s still there. I guess the whole of the board he sits on would all have to vote him out, and they won’t do it; you know….bro code.
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  177. Thank you, ladies, for standing up for your, and our, rights. You’re brave women. I’m sorry for the treatment you got, but more people, and especially women, need to do this; regularly.
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  178.  @lesliecurran1704  Same, and I’m a senior, so I have seen a lot of elections.
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  179. There’s no integrity in that Party.
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  180.  @jamesparson They will come after ANYONE trying to get any woman or girl that kind of healthcare.
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  181. Exactly.
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  182.  @kaybee46  Yes, but in all fairness, hindsight is 20/20, and very few people could have seen it as a dumb thing to do even 20 or 30 years ago (fortunately, I did 60 years ago, for myself, anyway). Plus, there has always been so much pressure on women to have babies, even now, though, thankfully, that’s starting to change now.
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  183. And they even say he did nothing wrong. That’s a long list for doing “nothing wrong”!
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  184.  @elizabethcsicsery-ronay1633  Just like Margaret Atwood said that everything done to women in The Handmaid’s Tale has happened in the real world at some time in some place. She didn’t make them up.
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  185. They can call me a Socialist anytime- at least I’m a Democratic Socialist.
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  186. Yeah, we don’t even have the Equal Rights Amendment in the Constitution yet, but then it was ONLY first put before Congress ONE HUNDRED years ago! And presented to every single Congressional session (season) since then. Which means that the ONLY right women have per the Constitution is the right to vote. Yup, that’s it. And the ERA is really basic and simple as it says “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” That’s it. Not so hard, is it? But, apparently, it’s a bridge too far for many Congressmen, and, unfortunately, some congresswomen as well. Some states have an Equal Rights Amendment in their state constitutions, but not nearly all of them, and they’re all a mishmash of rights, and different from each other.
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  187. I haven’t seen photos, but I certainly read what the coroner in Uvalde, Texas said what one does, especially in the body of a school child, as he had seen many, many of them. That will never leave my mind. And these gun nuts say in defense of them, “Well I might want to go hunting with mine”. There wouldn’t be much deer or boar or turkey, or whatever he shoots left with one, certainly not enough for a dinner for the family. That’s not a hunter, that’s just a guy who wants to completely destroy something living.
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  188. And that really broke my heart. I always loved her, but she should have known that she should have stepped down. I was a devastating mistake.
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  189. Front Page!
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  190. These women who don’t have an ID with their married name need to go to the courthouse and get a copy of their marriage licenses. It could make a huge difference.
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  191. But women do not OWE men sex. That’s the part many men don’t understand.
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  192. Is it just my device, or is the sound in this video doubled? Not the volume, but one voiced monologue is overlayed, but delayed by about 1/2 a second over the main monologue. Actually, not sure of the amount of time, but it’s all distorted and hard to understand. Oh, it just cleared up at 2 min. Hope it stays that way. I just want to know if I need my device checked out.
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  193.  @JohnP-nm7lp  We may deny its existence, but that doesn’t mean we can’t (almost) wish it were real for certain people.
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  194.  @olivertoeknuckleiii2093  We’re talking about Democratic Socialism here. Look it up; there’s a big difference between that and full-on Socialism. In fact, a number of European countries have been practicing it for a number of years, and it works well. A lot better than greedy capitalism, that leaves the people prey to the richest people.
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  195.  @ryanforresterrenaissancesa4204  It’s just an expression. I’m an atheist, but I use it on occasion, too. I haven’t found anything else that flows as smoothly in a sentence. Every replacement just seems to stop the flow. Most people don’t take it literally.
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  196.  @sue3745  Yes, and, unfortunately, “the corrupt” was our own DNC. I’ll always blame Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Donna Brazile for that because they had “decided” that Hillary WOULD win, no matter what. How’d that work out - for the whole country? That’s not how Democracy is supposed to work.
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  197.  @DjangoMarine-Esq  Maybe because a large portion of our population isn’t trying to punish all men for having sex unless it’s strictly within marriage and only for procreation. And because nobody is taking away men’s rights to the choices they make regarding their own bodies, especially medical rights and decisions. And, maybe because those people who are having their rights taken away are our fellow citizens. If you really are or were a Marine, did you pledge an oath to protect only half of your country, the male half, or did you pledge to protect ALL the citizens of this country, including your mother, wife, sister, aunt and daughter?
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  198. This sort of thing has happened all too often (whether by priests, coaches, fathers, uncles (I once had a friend who was raped by both her father and her grandfather), boyfriends or strangers, and it is going to happen again. Besides legalizing abortions, we must also get serious about prosecuting rapes. We also need to quit blaming victims of rape.
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  199. Another hearty slap on the back for another notch in their belt. That’s what you call a double standard. As typical, the girl or woman is always the one punished, even for what a guy has caused.
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  200. Count me in on that!
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  201.  @k0mm4nd3r_k3n  That’s an interesting thought. As a white woman, mostly raised in the South (although I got out of there!), I very much understand why Black men would have that fear. That comes from a very deep and old racist sentiment, although I’m not totally sure it was created or used as much by white women as it was by white men, using the “protection” of “their” women against the Black male “threat”, although I know racist women have also used it. That would be a very interesting case study and book as to the origins of that particular racist trope.
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  202. I think a lot of restaurants are adding more sugar to their meals, probably to get people “hooked”. My favorite food when eating out is Thai, and I found that, apparently some restaurant supply person has been going around to Thai restaurants telling them that they should add sugar to their meals because “Americans love sugar”. I figured out that every time I eat at a new Thai restaurant I have to ask them if they add sugar. And they usually add it to sauces and things that are made ahead, so you can’t just ask them to leave it out. It’s crazy because the beauty of Thai food is their incredible way of combining various flavors so that you can still taste all the separate flavors, and adding sugar pretty much ruins it that. I think even American restaurants are doing the same as well, because almost every time I eat in a restaurant, by the time I get home, I’m in such a deep mental fog that I have to go lie down for a couple of hours just to feel like I’m connected to the earth plane again. It is not at all pleasant. I’m going to start checking my blood sugar as soon as I get home now as I am diabetic, although I always take both kinds of pills (Metformin and Glipizide) before I eat. I think the “Sugar Council”, or whatever organization is behind restaurant foods is probably literally profiting off our impaired health (like they always have). If I start finding that my sugar levels are going way up after every restaurant meal, I’m going to just have to start learning how to make Thai food at home, although I’ve tried it before and it’s very labor intensive, and I enjoy going out. I really wish our food companies would quit dicking around with our food.
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  203.  @Mike2244eSam  Thanks for that. It is sickening indeed. I came pretty close to having a trauma response because, although I’m white, I grew up in Florida in the 60s and 70s, and heard all those sentiments throughout the years and watched many of those events of the 60s on TV. I had a few prior childhood years in Kansas, and because my dad was military (Air Force), racism was a taboo subject, and my classmates were white, black, Japanese, German, and a few others, so it was quite peaceful and pleasant, at least for a kid. Moving to Florida at age 9, I was in shock when I saw the “Whites Only” and “Coloreds Only” signs in some locations, especially bus stations. I could not even begin to understand the concept, and had to hear a number of comments like those in the video through the years, and it still makes my stomach knot up, and it hurts my heart. But then, in 1972 I became a “hippie”, and got some similar comments thrown MY way. Of course, I generally did not have to literally fear for my life at those times like the Black people there constantly did, although I was literally run out of a tiny north Florida town “at the end of a shotgun” once, although I didn’t really think the gun would be fired. I left quickly, though, just to not take that chance! I was so glad to leave Florida, and the south, when I was finally able to do so.
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  204. You’re so right about the current media lack of real reporting on what Biden has done, and I’m also including “mainstream” or “centrist” media outlets. If we only read those, we’d never hear about the good things he’s done. I wasn’t even sure I’d vote for him again, but I certainly will now. That, surprisingly, was the closest thing to a Progressive State of the Union speech I’ve ever heard, and I loved it. I’m thinking Bernie and the Progressive Caucus have finally gotten him to realize they have good ideas for the American people.
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  205. Do you ever wonder why?
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  206. I’m so glad you’re bringing up this subject and examining it from all the different angles because it does affect so many people in so many ways. People have to become aware of all the ramifications. Thank you.
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  207.  @timradde4328  This reminds me of a quote I saw: “I look forward to the day when I wake up and Donald Trump doesn’t.”
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  208. It’s not just a tragedy, it’s a huge embarrassment and humiliation for our country. This is why Americans HAVE to open their eyes and STOP idealizing “celebrities” as if, just because they look good (to them) in movies or on TV, they’d be terrific as governors or Presidents. This is how we got Ronald Reagan (who really got our country to pick up speed going downhill), Arnold Schwarzenegger (who almost completely ruined California’s economy as Governor) and trump (who almost killed our democracy, along with all the other things he did). I may really enjoy someone’s acting ability, but that doesn’t qualify them to be a Governor or President. Granted, most politicians are actors to some extent, but the converse is not true, and we need politicians who understand how our government works, what the Constitution says and what it means, and what has happened in history, not to mention have some serious care for the American people who pay their salaries.
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  209. So it’s pretty much synonymous with narcissism?
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  210. Exactly.
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  211. I finally got out of Florida 42 years ago after growing up there, and I’ve never regretted it for a single minute. It was bad enough then, but it was nice compared to now. Some of my family still live there, and I can’t understand why.
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  212. I had a tubal ligation when I turned 30, the very year I got married. It was the best decision I ever made.
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  213. Umm, did Scott Perry actually say, “We’re replacing national/‘NATIVE’ born Americans to permanently transform the political landscape of this nation”?? If he said “NATIVE” born Americans”; ummm, didn’t White Europeans already do that starting in the 1500 and 1600s? Do these people ever really hear what they themselves are saying? And how are we going to go about that…asking immigrants if they’re Republican or Democrat when they get to the border, then only allowing the Democrats in? How many immigrants really know enough about our political system to make that choice? They’re so busy escaping the horrible conditions in their own countries that, somehow, I seriously doubt they have studied our political systems. All they know is that they can be “free” in the U.S., or at least away from their own wars and poverty and hunger and lack of a decent future for themselves and their own children. And it’s going to take a whole lot of immigrants to “replace” the 300+ million “natural” born Americans already here. How about some very simple math: even if we let in 1 million a year it would take 300 years (+ however many “natural born American” babies are born to “natural born Americans” each year for 300 years to replace us. And THIS is why they don’t want (white) women to have abortions. But these politicians know that fear and racism work well on their base, and why Republicans (through Koch policies) have lowered the educational standards for Americans since Reagan, just so they would be susceptible to far-right scare tactics like this.
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  214.  @omicron2018 I wouldn’t be “reluctant”, I’d be adamantly refusing to do it.
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  215. Jesus doesn’t do politics. Use your own mind to learn and to fix things. That’s why Jeses’ daddy created our good brains so that we can figure out things ourselves.
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  216. Yup, a book he’s obviously never read.
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  217. I’m tired of everyone running away from the term “pro-abortion”, as in people saying “nobody is saying they’re pro-abortion”. Abortion is a healthcare service that saves pregnant women’s lives, just like chemotherapy is a healthcare service that saves cancer patients’ lives. Therefore, I would say that I am pro-abortion in the same way that I am pro-chemotherapy. I would say that no one would say that they would tell all pregnant women to get an abortion, just as no one would tell all healthy people to get chemotherapy. I just think we need to take that stigma off a healthcare service/procedure that saves many women’s lives. I have no problem saying I’m pro-abortion for that reason.
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  218.  @ultimate6243  Are YOU a coal miner or truck driver? There are a lot of women truck drivers and electricticians and carpenters and other construction workers and fishermen…because they like the work…now that they’re ALLOWED to do those jobs. Also, do you think raising children (while still doing all the housework and grocery shopping and cooking) is not a dirty, hard and risky job? So much so that many, many fathers don’t want anything to do with that part of being fathers. They just want a kid to show that they’re “real men” (their seed works), or a boy to toss a ball around with, but you’ll never find them changing a diaper or giving them a bottle, or vacuuming the carpet.
    6
  219. They always tell on themselves.
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  220. There’s a terrifying thought.
    6
  221. Because trump was promised the evangelical vote (a HUGE bloc) if he would promise to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe. And that’s how he got elected (and with the help of Mitch McConnell and the Electoral College and with [this part is just my opinion/suspician] that the last Supreme Court justice to retire [wasn’t that Kennedy?] decided to retire at that most “convenient” time). It’s the same as how Nixon won with the Southern Strategy. I hope that sentence wasn’t too rambling or run-on, but I was trying to get all my thoughts down at once in some kind of understandable way.
    6
  222. Amen!
    6
  223.  @thesoundsmith  There’s a new guy, Jared Moskowitz from Florida, who is sounding good, too. It’s still early days for him, but I like what I see so far. He’s already called out Lauren Boebert on the floor. Good start.
    6
  224. If you’re thinking of the right to vote for women, yes it is. It is the 19th Amendment, and it was put in the Constitution in 1920. But if you’re thinking of the Equal Rights Amendment, no, it has never been put into the Constitution, even though it was first written and put forward to Congress for a vote in 1923 (yes, 101 years ago), and it has been put forward to Congress at the beginning of EVERY legislative session since then, but they keep voting it down. It’s funny (not funny at all, actually), but it was voted down again in 2022, just a few months before Roe was overturned. And if the Equal Rights Amendment had been put into the Constitution, Roe v. Wade could NOT have been shot down. And this is why we ALL have to fight for the ERA. Also, SCOTUS is showing us now that they’re willing to change things in the Constitution just by saying “But they really meant this, not that, when they wrote a law.” Just like Alito said about killing Roe v. Wade, that it wasn’t “rooted in the Nation’s” history and tradition”, (although I have to disagree with that, as American women have always found ways to end pregnancies, just as women all over the world have since the beginning of recorded history. There’s even mention of it in the Bible), and that it should be a state’s decision, not Federal. So, they can change anything.
    6
  225.  @hlnbee  I was born shortly afterward, and grew up under Eisenhower, and the difference between that period of time, with that type of government and today’s, is incredibly different and enlightening. We were at our peak then, and, hopefully, we’re at our bottom now (unless, somehow, trump gets back in office) and we might be able to start climbing back into the light. But it’s going to take all of us, and it’s going to be a rocky path, and a whole lot of work.
    6
  226. I’m so glad you brought this up, Thom. I’m also very careful to not buy into conspiracy theories, but this looked extremely suspicious to me. Besides what you said (especially the part about no hospital doctor’s report), I would also add that I saw a photo of what looked to be a white Turkish-style washcloth (very coarse) with blood on it that someone supposedly put on his ear, but it didn’t look like real blood to me. I’ve seen a fair amount of blood in my time, and it wasn’t the right color, too blue, like lipstick, even “streaky”, like someone rubbed lipstick on it. (Sorry I can’t remember the source, so I can’t say it’s reliable). Also, he had Bibi Netanyahu and his wife over to Mar-a-Lago just about three days(!) after the shooting, and he no longer had his “bandage” (pantyliner) on it, showing off his ear to Bibi, and it was completely “healed”. He said to Bibi, “I’m a fast healer”, and I thought, right, three days after what Ronnie Jackson described as a “gouge” across the top of his ear. It was literally unbelievable. The truly tragic part of it is that one man died, and two other people were critically injured in the event (funny, but we haven’t ever gotten an update on their condition that I’m aware of). And why would his security team allow him to stand up and pump his fist a few times while it was an active shooter event?? I just can’t believe it wasn’t staged, and for sympathy votes.
    6
  227.  @sps000111  Since Reagan.
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  228. The sad, and scary, part is those of us who used to be middle class and now have been forced below that threshold, and who voted for Kamala Harris, will also have to “bend over”, and while we won’t be smiling, we’ll still be suffering the consequences. And there are an awful lot of us.
    6
  229. And, of course, Ayn Rand was happy to collect Social Security when she became the age to start collecting it. Hypocrisy.
    6
  230. At the very least, it’s “practicing medicine without a license”.
    6
  231. Yup, the cruelty is the point. They’re all about control and punishment.
    6
  232. LOCK HIM UP!
    6
  233. Blue, for every single office on your ballot, including Justices, school board members, even dog catcher! Because part of their plan is to take over every elected office in the country.
    6
  234. And who’s going to take care of that baby while mama’s in jail?
    6
  235. The cruelty is the point.
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  236. That’s why so many widowers re-marry as quickly as they can. They need a woman to take care of them. Funny, but many, many more widows don’t opt to marry again.
    6
  237. I’d be happy with either Raskin or Newsom, or Sheldon Whitehouse.
    6
  238. I think the church left Jesus instead of the other way around. I’m not religious (nor a serious believer, although I used to be) but I think if he does exist, he would be there ready and willing, and happy to enter, but they don’t allow his teachings in.
    6
  239. 100%!
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  240. Just like he met with Putin in, I think, Helsinki, and trump wouldn’t allow any notes be taken from that meeting to go outside the room. Nobody in our government has ever said anything about that publicly. Sounds like it could be a very big deal, yet, here we are, kept in the dark.
    6
  241.  @ZPositive  Why are we all better off with the states making decisions for themselves? What is the point in having a Federal government then? And aren’t women, then, better off with them making decisions for themselves? Just curious what your thoughts are about this.
    6
  242. Yup, we can think Reagan for starting that. Of course, he never paid it back.
    6
  243.  @jamestomkin8784  It’s because The Heritage Foundation had their Mandate for Leadership (the lead title of today’s Project 2025) in 1981, which they gave to Reagan, and of which he adopted 80%. That was when “the dumbing down of America” began, and we are now suffering the consequences of it.
    6
  244. Some states, like California, have even voted to have Equal Rights Amendments, as opposed to the U.S Federal government.
    5
  245. Same here. (But I was born in ‘50). My generation started out very well, then it all went to hell with Reagan, but it started with Nixon to an extent.
    5
  246.  @bobbafett1849  And Hunter was never in any elected political position, nor was he trying to be elected to one.
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  247.  @jimji5116  No, it was Sinclair Lewis originally. Chris Hedges undoubtedly used as well as it’s very popular, and correct.
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  248. Yes! It just didn’t make sense.
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  249. Very often children have a “6th sense” about people, and have an inner recognition of phoniness. Unfortunately, we are essentially taught not to listen to our inner voice/understanding, and to trust the adults, especially adults in positions of authority, and we end up losing that ability.
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  250.  @dominicfucinari1942  I’m not familiar with Randall Terry (who is he?), but Mitt Romney and a congressman from, I believe, Ohio formed a two-man “smashing campaign” against adding the ERA because of a 10-year deadline, which had been added regarding the state’s ratifications, but it was not part of the main text of the amendment, just an add-on to pull out and use against it later if they could, just like in a case like this. And, as I stated, it’s clearly written in the Constitution that once the 38th state has ratified, Congress has NOTHING to do with it anymore, and the Amendment is supposed to go directly into the Constitution, end of story. Before that, trump called Bill Barr to tell him he didn’t want it put in (of course!), and it seems Bill Barr called Mitt Romney, and he and the other Congressman killed it. If I remember correctly, Joe Biden was also there, and I think it was also to help kill it. After that, a women’s group (Equal Means Equal) took it to the Supreme Court, and, of course they also shot it down, on the basis that the group didn’t have “standing”, which I don’t understand. I know how standing works because I looked it up, and it’s when someone brings a suit that really isn’t in the personal interest of the person or persons bringing the suit. But I’ve never had anybody explain to me how a group of women which exists solely to try to get the ERA put into the Constitution are not personally affected by getting it in there! As individual women they will be personally affected by that action, and as a group for that purpose they will be personally affected. Can you explain that to me? But this just shows how much they do not want women to have equal rights. Period.
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  251.  @frankmalinaro9700 It’s a national tragedy.
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  252. The Constitution already is readable. Yes, the language is from a previous century, but I think it’s very understandable. The problem is that the “legal minds” want to twist its meaning to mean something totally different to suit their purposes, sometimes into something that you or I would not understand it to mean. As in the Colorado case arguing that they would not allow Trump in the ballot because he engaged in insurrection. To most of us, when reading Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, it would be perfectly understandable and support Colorado’s case, but, of course, the Supreme Court had to twist it around to mean something else in order to allow Trump on the ballot there. And that’s exactly why the Supreme Court has lost favor, or trust, with so many people. I highly recommend that everyone read the Constitution. It’s not some massive tome in a totally archaic language. It’s small enough that you can get a pocket-sized (very legible) copy (from Amazon) for just a few bucks. And anyone who has made it through middle school “should” be able to read and understand the basics of it. (I put “should” in quotation marks because so many middle and high school kids these days have not even learned how to read at better than a fourth-grade level. It’s pitiful.)
    5
  253.  @PS-zw8mq  Have you heard what Thom Hartmann has said about Medicare Advantage! It’s just a privatized form of Medicare.
    5
  254. If I remember correctly, there was a lawsuit in the U.S., in the Supreme Court (another reason I stopped trusting them) where it was ruled that they could continue their lies because they classified it as “entertainment”. I had thought it was ruled that they had to quit using the word News in their name, but I guess they found a way to skirt that one, too. As an American, I certainly don’t understand how they get away with it all, considering our laws, other than the one rule I always follow: “Follow The Money”. (Same as “Who Benefits?”, or “Qui Bono?”, if I spelled that right). That answers just about every question I have in politics or our judicial system or business nowadays.
    5
  255. The height of Patriarchy on display. Except, I’m afraid it isn’t the pinnacle yet, that there’s actually worse to come.
    5
  256.  @davidlafleche1142  No we do NOT need a monarchy in the United States. Our Founding Fathers made that very clear, as many of them came here to get away from the capricious laws set by the monarchy in England. They made our Democratic Republic from a desire to NOT have a monarchy, and make it so that every one (primarily men) would be able to make laws in order to rule their own country and their own lives, and they made very specific laws to keep any one man from becoming a king. Please read the Constitution, on which our country was based, and it still works very well something like 250 years later. I will serve no king, nor will I serve a dictator.
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  257. Thank you, Thom. This was one of your best history lessons. Excellent work. The two things it brought up in my mind were: 1) Regarding the Southern desire to take over the whole country in the 1800s, I frequently notice how powerfully the Southern state’s politicians still hold sway over so much of Congress. It’s a long tradition. And, 2) that these swings between regressive and progressive values are generally around 50 or so years, perhaps the shock of the trump administration’s current policies will cause us to make a huge shift to the left, and “WE” policies soon. It does seem that there’s movement in the air going that direction. (Hey, a lady can dream, right?)
    5
  258.  @kargocult  Woke is, at its most basic, having respect for people who don’t look like you, and treating them as human beings as much as yourself, and allowing them the rights you yourself have.
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  259.  @fantym-1  Yeah, sounds like it’s working out real well for the women of Texas. /Sarcasm
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  260. @tradde11Other than hurt the citizens. That seems to be their main priority.
    5
  261. Because we are. I have a bumper sticker that says, “Feminism is the radical notion that women are people”. It’s as simple as that.
    5
  262.  @madmaximilian5783  Agreed. Mainly with Elon and Putin’s help.
    5
  263. She was truly a despicable character. So much of the time she just made her arguments up on the spot and out of thin air. She said, “But we’ll have to send our daughters to war”, but we see how many women are now voluntarily joining the military, where before they weren’t allowed to, or were only allowed secretarial jobs or nursing (and I’m not criticizing those professions, just that a lot of women wanted to be up there on the front lines, and now they are, and women in the military are being raped at unprecedented levels by everyone from their fellow soldiers up to their captains. Not to mention the fact that the guys in Congress still propose drafting women, even though we still don’t have the draft in effect). She also said, “But we’ll have to use the same public restrooms as men”. Well, we now have non-gender public restrooms everywhere, but it doesn’t mean we use them at the same time as men. But, because of her, we still don’t have equality. Her arguments were entirely specious. We pretty much had the ERA in line to pass in 1973, but she ruined it all.
    5
  264. If only they were willing to work with us. And that is the problem.
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  265. But pregnancy can be, so just reverse the ban on abortion.
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  266. Apparently they lied, huh?
    5
  267.  @spaceballs44 And about 13 other states.
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  268. We ALL have to wake up and put an end to this!
    5
  269. Exactly.
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  270. I have a question for Ms. Farrell regarding the ERA: why do so many people say putting it into the Constitution is now in the hands of Congress? Virginia became the 38th state to ratify it in 2020. I know the deadline has passed, but many people, including Laurence Tribe, a Constitutional scholar and professor, say that since the deadline was not in the text of the Amendment it does not carry any weight. When Virginia ratified it, Donald Trump told Bill Barr to direct the Chief Archivist NOT to put it into the Constitution, which tells me that he (Trump) was aware that that was the final step. Also, the Constitution clearly states that once 38 states have ratified an Amendment, it should go directly into the Constitution, period, that Congress has done its job by passing it, and doesn’t have to do anything else with it, nor does the President. So, what is all the dithering about? I know the Chief Archivist under Trump, David Ferriero, either has just retired or is about to, so we should have a new Archivist now or in a few days, but shouldn’t President Biden, or someone in charge of that action (Merrick Garland?), just call the Archivist and tell them to just put it in? If we had the ERA, these new/old laws (like abortion and all the others on the chopping block) undoubtedly could not take effect. I would love to hear an answer to that.
    5
  271. Good for her! I hope she wins.
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  272. I see what you did there. Which is exactly why they banned those books. They don’t want people to realize what’s going on.
    5
  273. Which of the six thousand or so Gods throughout history wins here? Ra or Ishtar of the ancient Egyptians? Thor of the Vikings belief system? That blue God of the Hindus? (Sorry, I can’t think of his name at the moment). The cows that some of the Indians worship as gods? Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec God! Or Kulkulkan, the My Ayan Ghief God, or maybe one of the Nature Gods like Tlaloc, the Mayan rain God (and Chac, the Aztec rain God). What about Cthulhu? Of course I know you mean YOUR God, but why does YOUR God win and none of the others? Keep in mind that a whole host of prayers will go toward getting abortion rights reinstated, because the MAJORITY of Americans want it. And religion has been deemed to NOT be inserted into the political process from the earliest times of our country. That’s what Separation of Church and State means. God knows he’s not invited to this show of your Christian belief (qit is just that, a show, a performance), so why would you immorally force him into a discussion where he’s not invited when he’s not needed for these decisions being made by human beings for human beings. It’s simply not in his purview. He’s already said that human life begins when the baby takes its first breath. So he doesn’t have any problems with abortion before that moment. Read your Bible. He starts in Genesis saying this And he continues on in following chapters, so I don’t think he’s going to suddenly change his mind at this point.
    5
  274. I came here to say exactly this. Every time Thom wants to talk about trump selling us out to Putin, he immediately goes back to trump cutting Medicare and food stamps.
    5
  275. So then you confess to being an inhuman monster because you would rather have an infant (or many infants) die a painful death, and/or the mother if the fetus has already died and causes sepsis, than say no to your “team”, because that’s all the parties really are. Way to stand on your “values”.
    5
  276. Exactly! It’s frightening, especially because of so many instances in the past where this was carried out.
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  277. Throw in the fact that Congress keeps deciding to take more of our money to give it to the richest people.
    5
  278. And many of the comments include plenty more.
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  279. And a whole lot of young women died that way. That was one of the reasons Roe v. Wade was passed in the first place, to end all those horrific deaths.
    5
  280. He also said, in the same speech, “We fixed it”.
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  281. It’s also in the streets in the form of MAGA, and that will be harder to rid ourselves of.
    5
  282. Fascinating subject and discussion. Thank you.
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  283. We should do the same with the entire agricultural and health and pharmaceutical industries as well.
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  284.  @andrewzcolvin  Yup; we’re in what I call “END-stage Capitalism”.
    5
  285. You and me both, Sister!
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  286. I did and I love it. It’s expensive, though, but so, so incredibly beautiful. And you will NEVER miss the snow! It’s getting really hot in the summer, but, overall, the weather is the best in the country. (I’m in Southern CA, which is much warmer than most of Northern CA).
    5
  287.  @allenlovell1604  We are there now.
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  288. Will New Zealand or Australia alter any of their residency or citizenship requirements to allow in American refugees? I’m a senior, disabled, and if they take away my Social Security, I won’t even be able to afford to move to Mexico! And I don’t even know if Mexico will allow Americans in now considering Trump’s “border plans”!
    5
  289. I, personally, can’t say for sure, but when several people say they saw transformers blowing up right before the fire started, I’d guess it’s a pretty good sign it was the power company. Just my personal opinion.
    5
  290. I’m already planning to move out of country if trump should, somehow, win the White House again. Mexico is starting to look very good to me. My only fear is that a trump government would cancel Social Security payments to anyone leaving the country, or the pensions of federal employees. If that happened, there might be only one alternative available, and I don’t want to think about that.
    5
  291. Wow. I love to buy banned books when I can just to be sure there is at least one copy in existence, but there’s no way I can afford to buy 10,000 of them! These people aren’t just crazy, they’re malevolent.
    5
  292. Well, he’ll be happy to let you lose it for him, so I guess it means nothing to you. Because that’s what it means to him.
    5
  293.  @Carol-fx4uk Well then, let’s give them something to really fear. We might need to get some international help as well (since they seem to have Russia and Hungary on their team) if we’ve still got friends in other countries.
    5
  294.  @laurahobbie4971 It certainly is, and it carries huge fines and possibly jail time. Someone definitely needs to bring a lawsuit for this to every Congress critter, Governor and State Attorney General who votes for these regressive laws.
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  295.  @Tully241  We can hope.
    5
  296. I did!
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  297.  @adolphromero7493 Been there, done that. Don’t ever want to go there again.
    5
  298. Nailed it.
    5
  299. Thank you, Thom, for your great service in educating the American public on really important issues. ❤
    5
  300. Absolutely!
    5
  301. Regarding the Rhythm Method, a doctor once told me he calls it “Vatican Roulette” because it doesn’t often work.
    4
  302. And it’s only going to get worse from here on unless we stop it NOW.
    4
  303. Thank you, Thom. An excellent video. BTW, these people saying that whenever a country has a growing Middle Class, they always end up having a revolt, like in the French Revolution. The thing is, it wasn’t the Middle Class that revolted, because France didn’t have a Middle Class, it was the poor people who revolted…and that’s the problem with what I call “end-stage Capitalism”, or the far right-wing rich guys today. They want everything ruled by the wealthy, and for everyone else to be working class poor and uneducated people. Seems to me that’s much more likely to cause a revolution than the Middle Class. I’m old enough to remember the Middle Class of the 1960s, and people then were pretty proud to be Middle Class, because it was a big step up from being poor in the earlier years. People had something to work for, something they could actually achieve, and they were much happier people overall. I’m not saying it was perfect, and some people, obviously, got left out, but it was a better life than what we’re headed for. Plus, in the 50s and 60s, education was held up, nationwide, as the best and most important thing to get because that would help you achieve a solid Middle Class life, or better. And we had some of the highest quality education in our country that was available anywhere in the world. We had hope for a better future, and the opposite is the problem today. We’ve lost most of our hope because the wealthy are taking all of that progress away from us, and continually talking about taking away even more. That sounds like a recipe for revolution to me. BTW, it was a woman, Frances Perkins, who created many of FDR’s New Deal policies. He appointed her as Secretary of Labor as she was a worker’s rights advocate. “She was heavily involved with many issues associated with the social safety net including, the creation of Social Security, unemployment insurance in the United States, the federal minimum wage, and federal laws regulating child labor.” (Wiki)
    4
  304. It will keep getting faster with each passing year, if not month. The question now is how far they will go.
    4
  305.  @corgigirluser  Thankfully, we do have groups and organizations that take on those tasks, because we can’t handle them all on our own. Like Thom says, find one of those groups or organizations (example: ACLU) whose work speaks to your interests, and support them. However you can, even if it’s only $10. Every bit helps.
    4
  306.  @captainfanta8641  I would love that, but trump would NEVER publicly plead guilty.
    4
  307.  @nealiecruz2532  Exactly! And in that same speech didn’t he also say something to the effect of “We’ve fixed it” or “It’s been fixed”? I keep thinking about that speech. People always remember the part where he said “You’ll never have to vote again”, but this is the first time I’ve seen people commenting about the other two statements. I found those statements to be very, very suspicious, especially when the results came in so suddenly. And that was just days before Elon suddenly seemed to be his best friend, and Elon, apparently, even placed a phone call to Putin just before the election. Who does that?
    4
  308. And the “Corporations are People” ruling, along with “Total Immunity for Presidents ruling”. While we’re at it, we need to bring back Roe v. Wade. John Roberts (and Alito and Thomas) have done so much damage to the people of this country with those rulings.
    4
  309.  @RudyDoody-z3q Yes, we can always hope. Or his dementia will soon become so evident that even his MAGA followers can’t deny it (well, some always will, but any who have lived with a parent or relative with it won’t be able to).
    4
  310. @ That’s a very thoughtful service.
    4
  311. Change always happens. It’s just a matter of working together to be sure it doesn’t hurt the People.
    4
  312. 💯%. I especially like the last two quotes by Jefferson and Paine. So very true, and part of why I gave up on religion, any religion.
    4
  313. The projection is stunning.
    4
  314.  @bevtaylor5466 Yes, it’s already that way in quite a few states now.
    4
  315. 💯
    4
  316. Same here, but older.
    4
  317. Exactly.
    4
  318.  @doepicshizzle6465  They only want freedom for men, particularly white men, but not for any women of any color.
    4
  319. I can’t wait to watch the video!
    4
  320. Wow. I’m still amazed how we often screw up our own tactics. I’m very sorry if you lost your brother that way.
    4
  321. This man says trump doesn’t have a Goering, but he has Steven Miller, who I think has the role in the bag.
    4
  322.  @bluelotus3750  Yes! I don’t imagine he would be very willing to re-establish slavery in our country. But, then again, who knows with him! He appears the type to pull the ladder up after himself after he’s climbed up to a high level.
    4
  323.  @intuitionz1198  Exactly.
    4
  324. This is exactly why Roe v. Wade was passed in the first place. There was a group of women in Chicago who called themselves “Jane” who did illegal, but good, abortions back before Roe was passed. I highly recommend a video, I think it’s called The Janes. Perhaps we need groups like this all across the country, in every red state. But, of course, we should vote for Kamala first so that she can fix it.
    4
  325.  @Kosher_Slider  Count on it.
    4
  326.  @roboman3737  Always…”Follow the money”. Works every time.
    4
  327.  @d.e.b.b5788  We would more likely to fix ignorance by re-vamping our educational system so that we, once again, teach critical thinking, logic, debate, and especially The Constitution. It will be too late for the current batch of the ill-educated Maga group, but perhaps a few of their kids will be able to teach their parents some new things (which wouldn’t be much, but anything would be an improvement, but it will be a massive improvement over what’s not being taught now. One generation is all it would take to make a massive shift, as it did in the U.S. after WWII.
    4
  328. It seems trickery has always been the Catholic way. And women are dying because of these ridiculous and harmful laws. I consider myself extremely fortunate that the first doctor I called about a tubal ligation was fine with it even though I had just gotten married, I was 30, and had not had any children. I have read many women’s sad stories of doctors refusing tubal ligations for every reason you can imagine, even “but what if ‘the right man comes along and he wants children’?” People even asked me after mine, “but did you think about it first?” And because I tend to give very sarcastic answers to stupid questions, I would answer, “No. I was just walking down the street one day and saw a hospital and thought, hey, I think I’ll just stop in there on my way home to have a major life-altering surgery”. I mean, how stupid can you get??
    4
  329. When Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment in January of 2020, when it should have immediately gone into the Constitution, trump called up Bill Barr, and told him to call the Chief archivist and tell him NOT to put it into the Constitution, which he obeyed. So, it went back to Congress, which the Constitution expressly forbids when an Amendment reaches ratification by 38 state, and Congress voted it down on “details” (Thanks, Mitt Romney).
    4
  330.  @thomhartmann  They’re actually proud of it.
    4
  331. Author Nancy McLean. Yes, she’s brilliant, and that episode of Democracy Now should be mandatory viewing. And it should be a wake-up call.
    4
  332. Welcome to Gilead!
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  333.  @paulrprichard  You’re starting to sound like a broken record.
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  334.  @arthurr7866  That is true. It saddens me to see how enamored people in this country are with celebrity. For example, Ronald Reagan (arguably a terrible president) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (a governor who nearly ruined the economy of California), and now trump (I won’t even give him the “honor of capitalizing his name. Demonstrably the worst president in U.S. history). They seem to think because someone played a role in movies or TV that they enjoyed, that makes him (haven’t seen them take the same stance a woman yet. Maybe Meryl Streep needs to run for president) really smart and that he would naturally be a great political leader, even after he’s been shown not to be. I just don’t understand how they cannot separate a role from the reality.
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  335. Bernie Sanders wanted to, but they (particularly the DNC) wouldn’t allow him to.
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  336. Here comes the Right Wing whataboutism.
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  337.  @Plethorality  Always.
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  338.  @MarvinThiessen  I would add Milton Friedman, the man who gave Reagan his economic policies.
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  339. Yes, Dobbs (reproductive rights) was struck down because (as Thomas said) it’s based on an individual’s privacy. They said that privacy-based laws were not valid, but both Obergefell (gay marriage) and Loving (mixed-race marriage) are based on privacy. But you can bet that Thomas will find a way to ignore that detail for the Loving case, unless, of course, he has decided that his wife has become too much of an embarrassment for him, and it would give him an easy way out. Then again, he could, for once, see it as an excuse to recuse himself.
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  340. Nobody has ever needed to ask trump if he’s willing to lie to the American people; he has done that his entire life.
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  341. You must have also seen the Mark Thompson show where he had in the guy, Nathan Taylor, from Election Truth Alliance. That was very well put together, and I just left a comment to Thom here to get the same guy on, as that would be the perfect bookend for Greg Palast’s revelations, who Thom has already interviewed. There can’t be any doubt about it now. Now the Democratic Party has to DO something about it.
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  342. Don’t even ask, or as soon as you do they’ll show you something even lower.
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  343. For the rest of his life!
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  344.  @lyndamedley543  For one time in his life.
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  345.  @davidlafleche1142 This has nothing whatsoever to do with socialism. If anything, it would be related to fascism.
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  346. So, if the right to vote is taken away from women, will any of these women on the Supreme Court still be able to sit on the Court? They are voting on cases, are they not? And what about female governors and politicians (esp. in Congress where they vote on issues)? Are all the courts and legislatures in the country going to go back to male-only? And, if they do, what happens to the Black men in these bodies? Are the legislatures going to go back to all white as well as male? And why do we not call these people “regressive” since the name “progressive” has become something of a bad word in some circles? Just something to think about.
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  347. Between racism and sexism, it’s a miracle we have any nice things at all. And for Black women, oh my! That’s a double whammy. Check out the history of J. Marion Sims, (1800s) the “father of gynecology”. A white man (of course) did experimental gynecological surgery on black female slaves - without anesthesia, because he thought that Black women were such an inferior class of human beings, that they really didn’t feel pain, even while they were screaming in agony.
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  348. Yes, even in something as “recent” as YouTube, I’ve seen a steady decline in the quality of comments, both in comprehension of the subject and literacy skills, not to mention, as you say, empathy. I’m quite a bit older than you, and I can remember when education was one of our most valued social benefits, and something to aspire to. Now I see people actually defending not getting an education, not because of economic status but because they don’t really see any benefit of it to their lives. Now it’s a badge of honor to use against “liberals” (I wanted to say “libruls”, but just couldn’t do it) and “elites”. When I was in junior high (middle school) all I wanted in order to start my life was a driver’s license and a college education.
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  349. Great show, Thom.
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  350. Yeah, real “pro-choice” of them, isn’t it?
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  351. Well, that’s the problem in a nutshell. As Thom Hartmann said, wealthy women have always been able to (and always will be able to) obtain an abortion, even if it’s legal. However, the majority of women who need abortions are lower income and can’t afford to take the time off work (some states require the woman to have two visits to the clinic several days apart), and many can’t afford the travel. Depending on the state in which she resides, it can take a woman ten to twelve hours to drive or take a bus to the closest state that allows it, and few can afford the plane fare. Plus, because of the two or three-visit delay, the often will have to pay for a hotel room and meals. For some, they can’t leave their jobs or children that long, or will also have to obtain childcare for the duration. It all adds up to a costly situation a majority of women simply can’t afford.
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  352.  @yveeriksson7437  Absolutely.
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  353. I agree 100%. I asked my husband tonight if he would promise me we could move out of the country if trump wins again. He said he couldn’t make that promise. I sure will miss him. (If the worst happens). And I would add sexism to your list.
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  354. As Abigail Adams wrote to her husband John when he was helping draft our Constitution said, “Don’t forget the ladies” (although he just laughed, unfortunately for our country’s future). This has also been very hard for women as well. This whole thing with E. Jean Carroll has also left women more vulnerable for more hatred, condemnation and bodily threats by trump’s adoring supporters. I’m certainly not casting aspersions at E. Jean Carroll, as she’s a hero for taking him to court to expose what a monster he really is when it comes to women. And it was quite remarkable that she actually won on the sexual assault verdict. But it has also had the sad effect of riling up the anti-woman sentiment of the MAGA Republicans, except for the Stockholm Syndrome-possessed women on “their” men’s side (They’re what Mona Eltahawy, a feminist author, calls “the foot soldiers of the Patriarchy, which is a very appropriate title IMO). The way the audience laughed at his comments/rants at his Town Hall the other day really underscored their low opinion of women in general. And I don’t think it was any coincidence that every Republican in Congress except two (Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins) two weeks ago, once again, voted down putting the Equal Rights Amendment into the Constitution. In fact, this time, many of the Republicans voted this time with a physical thumbs down gesture (like Kirsten Synema did with the vote to raise the minimum wage). I have certainly seen more anti-woman, misogynistic rhetoric in the comments sections of YouTube videos since the E. Jean Carroll court finding.
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  355. Look up Project 2025 if you want to understand the scope of their plans. It’s absolutely terrifying.
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  356. So glad I will be gone well before that, but I really feel sorry for the young kids. I have grand-nieces who are both under 12, and I can’t imagine what their future will be like. I’m also very glad I didn’t have children. I don’t know if I could handle that level of worrying.
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  357.  @lpquagmire3621  That’s one obituary I’m looking forward to seeing on the front page.
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  358.  @admiralfrancis8424  Truth.
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  359. We’d damn well better be!
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  360. I long for the day when we never again have to hear from trump, or even about him, and especially see his hideous, angry face on the news.
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  361. Well said, Thom!
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  362. It’s all based on greed, which is ultimately based on fear. Fear is the great evil.
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  363. But FIRST, this Monday, February 17th.
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  364. They know they can’t win if they don’t cheat. And they want to win so badly they’ll cheat any way they can.
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  365. “We have a mainstream media problem in America”. There it is. That’s the entire problem in a nutshell. Thank you Thom.
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  366. “Christian” autocratic fascism. Or, I prefer the word Christofascism. “Wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross”.
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  367. I would say remember what Germany was like in 1939-1942 at a minimum. Except that trump would not improve our economy (except for the wealthy).
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  368. Great job, Thom! I’m going to type this out , and add some extras in the comments, and send them to all my friends. And maybe a few newspapers, and a few national TV stations, especially to ones like Faux “News”.
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  369. Also with Star Trek in general, showing women in important positions along with men. And I’ll never forget Star Trek: The Next Generation when they changed the intro from “where no man has ever gone before” to “where no one has ever gone before”. I started watching it for that reason alone at first.
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  370.  @rodneywilliams3762  It’s even happening in some cities in California, like San Diego.
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  371.  @captainfanta8641  But his ego just would not allow him to plead guilty or confess. I would bet on that. He is a true narcissist. He thinks he is 100% right in everything he does, all the time. And we don’t want him to remain out of jail or prison. But, of course, his lawyers want him free, but the country will be far better off with him locked up.
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  372.  @hopefulskeptic42  Yup. It’s sad that, psychologically, it seems that no one is immune to the siren call of big money. That’s why we need laws against lobbying in Congress or for any political entity up to and including President and Supreme Court Justices.
    3
  373.  @Thomas-pq4ys  Yes. They’ll have no use for us, so why keep us around to have to house and feed?
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  374.  @OblateSpheroid  China already has a huge problem now from their previous yearslong one-child-only policy. Under that policy, most people wanted only boys, so they aborted many of the female babies, and some killed the baby girls soon enough after birth so they would be allowed to have another baby and try to have a boy (in some cultures they use herbs and potions, vinegar or baking soda, etc. that can potentially affect the sex of the child). So now China has about 90% boys to girls going into adulthood and the boy’s chances of finding a wife and having a family are seriously endangered. That is also not helpful to the country’s economy. It will be one or two “lost” generations, and it will take a couple more generations to get back to “normal”.
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  375. Yes. I recently saw that, and he expressed it very well.
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  376. I subscribed to his channel after watching that one. It was very good.
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  377.  @ErichSemmelweisEffectFromm  Thank you! I knew I recognized the name. I actually think about Dr. Semmelweis as a classic example of simple, but powerfully beneficial discoveries, but had not remembered the effect part of it, though I do know I’ve heard about that response by other doctors. Originally, I had thought it was your last name, so I asked my German friend what it means, and semmel means a roll, like a dinner roll, and, of course, weiss means white. And of course, I somehow got stuck on the name and didn’t even see the word “Effect” afterward, so I’m thrilled to learn something new today. That’s one of my goals in life: to learn - at least - one new thing every day, which I usually, if not always, do. And, at the time of the good doctor, the doctors were often going straight from the autopsy room to the maternity ward and birthing babies. They were trying to figure out why so many newborns, and women, were getting so sick so quickly and dying. Of course, they never would have consulted a midwife who probably would have had an idea of what was going on because they had been practicing midwifery for centuries, but when men decided to create and attend medical schools, they did so with the express notion that they would be sure that midwives would no longer be able to continue their craft (by law, I believe) because, as everyone knew/knows that women are not nearly as intelligent as men (yes, I’m still laughing), and that only men would be allowed to become doctors. And, of course, they wanted all that sweet sweet money the midwives were receiving for their services, which often consisted of a nice hen for their dinner. But the doctors only wanted cash, unsurprisingly. So, just making a leap here, is your name Erich Fromm? (There is a Dr. of Psychology named Erich (or Eric Fromm), is there not? At least one of the great thinkers, and authors, yes? Great convo, thank you very much.
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  378. “He always seemed nice, but quiet, as a neighbor”.
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  379. Good for him! Will he vote to put the Equal Rights Amendment into the Constitution? Is he Pro-Choice?
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  380. I had the same thing happen to me - twice. I had finally found a wonderful job in a medical lab, and I really loved it there. I had paid vacations, a 401k plan, and everyone there was really nice. After several years, they got bought up by one of these firms, and I got laid off. I was just crushed. Then I got another job that I didn’t enjoy nearly as much, and the same thing happened. One day they made the announcement of the buyout and said “don’t worry, none of you are going to lose your job”. The very next day I got laid off. That doesn’t only hurt your purse and upend your life, but it really does a number on your morale and self-esteem. Two in a row! So I am no fan of Mitt Romney. Plus the fact that he was the Senator who led the charge against putting the Equal Rights Amendment in the Constitution after Virginia became the 38th state to ratify it in 2020. I have a pretty good idea that he knew ahead of time that SCOTUS was going to overturn Roe v. Wade and knew they couldn’t do it if the ERA was in the Constitution (besides the fact that he doesn’t believe that women should have equal rights).
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  381.  @DjangoMarine-Esq  That’s interesting, because women sometimes talk trash about guys when we’re alone with other women, but, somehow, we figured out long, long ago how to “code switch” (and, yes, I do understand that phrase, especially when speaking in other languages) when we’re around guys. Perhaps it’s because we’re very aware of the very real threat of actual physical violence that can, and has, come from men if we say anything (anything at all!) that might, even unintentionally, be considered critical of them, particularly when it’s in regards to their looks, body or sexuality (or their hair, their clothing, their voice, the way they walk…). I don’t quite understand how this can be a new concept for men to learn. After all, would you talk that way around your mother, or your sister, your daughter or your aunt? I certainly hope not! You said “how you should act when in a professional business environment”. What part of a ‘PROFESSIONAL’ business environment do they not understand? So, then why is it so hard for some men to figure it out in the workplace? I’d venture to guess that a number of women have been in the average workplace since before most working men today have been alive. Apparently many men just feel the need to defend the indefensible. To borrow a phrase from toxic masculinity, they need to “grow up”.
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  382. Yes, and the concept of Amendments is to add new laws that reflect the times. Nobody in the earliest years of the the Colonies (after 1619) would dare to suggest that slavery should be outlawed, yet here we are, thank heavens.
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  383.  @tosmijocarlo1082  They probably will be, depending on what kind of country they’ll be living in then. I’m very afraid for our country’s future.
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  384.  @GARYDefilipps  No, I’m not suggesting that. I think the popular vote is the only kind we should have.
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  385.  @nesxya  In all fairness, most miscarriages just get flushed, usually because the majority are too small for the woman to notice she had one. Most just think they’ve gotten their period or had clots, which, if it’s early enough, that’s what it is.
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  386. It is a big problem, but, as a woman, I’m not so sure it’s the greatest problem. We have a whole lot of problems that, if trump is elected, will become three-alarm fires.
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  387. Ooh, that sounds good.
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  388. I have never understood how we euthanize our beloved pets when they’re at the end of their lives, so they will be out of pain and not have to suffer - BECAUSE we LOVE them. But our ailing, beloved family member is practically mandated to suffer in excruciating pain and, often, horrible indignities for as long as it takes, (at whatever exhorbitant costs the hospital wants to charge us) because we “can’t play God”. I just don’t understand that thinking. There again the government legislator’s religious ideas dictating the laws which is in direct opposition to the First Amendment of the Constitution.
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  389. Slava Ukraine! 🇺🇦
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  390. The American Dream is dead.
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  391. Oh, no, they were always around. I think it was Plato (ir one of the old “great thinkers”) who was a big misogynist, and I also understand that Saint Augustine was as well.
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  392. I did not. (LOL)
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  393.  @admiralfrancis8424  That’s an excellent question, and something I’ve been wondering about forever. I only guessing, but I’m thinking it’s the fear that women will not give them all the sex they want, anytime they want it. Or, it’s, more likely a fear that women might become as powerful, or more so, than men and knock them out of their positions of power over others. Or perhaps that, when and if women do get that power they will treat men like they have been treated by men for, well, the last 10,000 or so years (7,000 at least). A lot of people speculate that men hate women because women can have babies, therefore, “create life”, and men can’t (which is a fear of being “lesser than”). I’m not buying that because, as the old feminist saying (which I think is true) goes, “if men could have babies, there’d be an abortion clinic on every corner, like Starbucks”. I can say, with near certainty, that the vast majority of men would not enjoy that experience. Then there’s the fact that people often say that women are “naturally” more nurturing and caring, but I think that’s only because they do have babies and that’s what has been expected of them by society. Can you imagine that if men could have babies that they’d all be naturally nurturing and caring? I simply can’t imagine that happening, at least for a few hundred years until it’s been totally assimilated by them. Plus, a lot of men still think it’s great that their wives have the babies, but they themselves don’t want to be involved with the actual caring for a baby’s physical needs, especially when it comes to changing diapers. (trump was one of the men who voiced that opinion publicly…but then, that’s trump). Yes, there are men who do take on those tasks, and do so happily (as happily as one can when changing nasty diapers), but many will pitch in in the beginning, but then his “availability” for the task will somehow fade into nothingness, like dust in the wind. If you have any ideas on why men might be afraid of women, please share, as I’d also like to know, and especially from a man’s perspective, ‘cause that’s all I’ve got.
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  394. This is insanity. I simply don’t, and can’t, understand why a number of people want to take various societies back to the standards of earlier times, times that were not very good for the majority of the population, but were, of course, beneficial to only people like themselves. Why do these people feel so very threatened by the advancement of “other” people and society as a whole? It’s not a threat, it’s progress. I was raised to believe that progress is a good thing for society, that it improves the lives of everyone in a society. The leaders of Afghanistan, Iran and other countries want to relive the goat-herding, poverty-ridden societies of the 1st Century, and the U.S. Supreme Court conservatives want to take us back to our pre-Civil War status. Samuel Alito even stated in his decision to overturn Roe v. Wade that he was basing some of his decision on a top legal mind (LOL) from the 1700s, who, by the way, also approved the hanging and burning of witches! WTAF?! I will not at all be surprised to hear that they (first from the evangelical churches then the Republicans in Congress, then the Leonard Leo-approved Supreme Court conservative Justices) are going to start approving witch hunts and killings again. For crying out loud, they can’t even, still, in the 21st Century, to this day, give women Equal Rights in the U.S. Constitution, so wouldn’t that make it that much easier to institute witch hunting?
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  395.  @user-kl5jn4ew4p I read that he just laughed when he read those words…the b*st*rd.
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  396. And forcing someone to give birth to that child, especially when she knows she can’t afford to provide for it, is even more cruel and irresponsible.
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  397.  @riffgroove  Thank you. That’s another good one. I collect good quotes, and I’ll add that one.
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  398.  @freyathewanderer6359  Amen!
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  399. OMG. What a monster!
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  400. So true!
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  401. Yup, and they’re so good at it.
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  402. At least we don’t have to worry about Rush Limbaugh anymore.
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  403. The Handmaid’s Tail plus 1984 (the book by George Orwell)
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  404.  @ItsAYouThingy  Soylent Green
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  405. @jackonda598 Apparently!
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  406. Phil Ittner, thank you, as always for explaining the situation over there so clearly and succinctly. I feel so much more educated and up to date on the situation there after listening to you.
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  407.  @CraigMcfly1985  And goodbye Ukraine, goodbye Palestine/Gaza, goodbye to the thousands of women who will die in childbirth or from miscarriages, and all the gay people who will have to go back in the closet, and so many others.
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  408. That’s why I won’t have any more pets after my cat is gone. I simply can’t afford it.
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  409. Bernie is right!
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  410. That means, here, if the Republicans could do it in the past, the Democrats can do it now. The basic phrase means what’s good or acceptable for one person or group is also good for the other person or group. It has frequently been used in arguments for women’s (or men’s) rights as a goose is a female of that species (as well as the name of the entire species) and a gander is the male of that species.
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  411.  @Langkowski  We’re Americans; we do NOT give up!
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  412. Where is sex not allowed outside of marriage? That may be part of your religious beliefs, but it is certainly not included in U.S. laws. Even if it were law, when has that ever prevented pregnancy outside of marriage? It’s not like people always abstain from sex outside of marriage. Even in countries that have the most punitive laws against it, it still happens regularly.
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  413. That was back when we still had hope for our future. Lots of hope. Boy, didn’t that all change!
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  414. I certainly wouldn’t. But I guess that’s what martyrs do. He will always be remembered for his courage.
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  415. Tell that to ALL the preachers!
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  416. But slavery DID take place in the U.S., so, what is your point?
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  417. Yes, when right now EVERYTHING that’s happening is insane.
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  418. Yup. That’s some scary shite.
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  419.  @jessmunguia5283  That is cult mentality in a nutshell.
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  420. How about we go even further back when they paid 75-95%. Wasn’t that under Eisenhower or FDR? Didn’t the govt also charge the wealthiest Americans that, not just the corporations, as well?
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  421.  @perryroberts4353  If the parent goes into the restroom with the child, stands outside the door to give the child some privacy, the child is protected.
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  422.  @thesoundsmith Yup, even Exxon knew.
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  423. Indeed.
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  424.  @chrisbrennan8900 Exactly.
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  425. We have to get out in the streets. Soon.
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  426.  @What_do_I_Think  That and “celebrity”. Americans have a special kind of fascination for celebrity where they think if someone gets famous, especially in acting, they must be smart enough to be a great politician. That’s how we got Reagan, first as governor of California then as President, and Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor of California, and both were NOT good at what they did in politics, and they were easily led by big money groups (especially Reagan), but because they were celebrities, so many people thought they were great, even while they were wrecking things, again, especially Reagan, and now we’ve got trump for the same reason. I simply don’t understand the thought process that because you like someone’s acting, they’d be a great politician. It just does not compute. And, of course, at least currently, that only extends to male actors or popular TV shows hosts, as most people would probably say that Meryl Streep is the greatest female actor of our generation, but I don’t think anyone would translate that into meaning she’d be a great President. The only celebrity I can think of who would be a good President would be Stephen Colbert because he definitely has the brains for it, but, of course, he probably wouldn’t want to do it. We have to, somehow, get people to see past the glitz and glamour of celebrity status, because that sh*t is going to destroy us.
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  427.  @thomaswikstrand8397  That’s what keep me making comments, too. Just one person will be compelled to question their beliefs. That’s one reason why I like to save up some Bible verses for the religious that disagree with one they quoted. I’m not religious, but I used to be, and I always manage to find good and contradictory verses for them. Usually they disappear, so I’m hoping they’re checking in their Bible because I give them chapter and verse. If it could only change just one mind, I would be overjoyed. I’ll probably never know if it worked, but I will continue to try.
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  428. Everything he said here is true.
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  429. Perhaps we should address the question of why there’s a “Putin Caucus” in Congres, and get rid of them. They’re traitors.
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  430. Excellent interview. I so very much look forward to seeing trump locked up, either in a federal penitentiary (personally, I’d like to see him in Guantanamo, but that’s for foreign terrorists. He’s not foreign, but I think he could, plausibly be considered a terrorist because of these documents as well as his past behaviors/relationships with the likes of Putin, Kim Jong Ill, Erdogan, MBS, (have I got the initials right for the head of Saudi Arabia?), and several others, including Sergei Kysliak and Lavrov who he had in the White House and only the Russians were allowed to take photos, American photographers were noy allowed, echoing his first private meeting with Putin in Moscow, where no American translator was allowed, only a Russian one. (I’m not sure, but I thought that he had an American woman translator at first, but he got spooked about having something translated into English, so he sent her out of the room and ATE the notes she had made. Do I have that right?). One can make wild speculations about things possibly said during both those meetings. I would also be happy to have him locked up in a high-security psychiatric institution (for the criminally insane, possibly), and no possible release except to a maximum security prison with NO white collar perks. I keep thinking about how our country used to deal much more thoroughly with people deemed traitors, and I would say it’s highly likely he belongs in that category. I know they used firing squads and hangings, like they did with the Rosenbergs. (Did I get their name correc?) I don’t want to get in trouble with the FBI for voicing a threat like the trumpers do, when it’s really just an opinion, but for a President to sell out his own country seems to me to fit the definition of treason, so, I would be very happy to see him AND ALL the Congresspersons who were voting not to certify the election results on January 6 (also treason in my opinion) receive the same treatment right in front of the Capitol Building. That is only my personal opinion, and I’m not planning or intending to carry it out myself, and I’m not encouraging anyone to do it, only that I would like to see the DOJ consider the viability of that option to be done legally. While I know doing that would drive wild paroxysms of hatred and anger from the Right, I think it would set a real precedent showing that the U.S. does not, and never will tolerate treason in this country, especially when done by a clique of our top leaders.
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  431.  @yvonneplant9434 They used to have rules based on how much non-white blood a person had in their genealogical background. Even a person who only had one-quarter African blood (called a “quadroon”) could still not marry a white person. I think they had to be one-eighth or one-sixteenth or less to be able to marry a white person. And there were similar laws regarding marriage between whites and Native Americans, yet that also happened with some frequency, especially in the Appalachian states. Nowadays it would affect millions of people.
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  432. We won’t, which is why we need to act NOW.
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  433. Trump is exactly the kind of president the founding fathers warned us about and tried to create laws protecting us from. I’ve always said that trump is the kind of guy who, if he hadn’t gotten millions of dollars from his daddy, would probably own a small string of “Gentleman’s Clubs” (strip joints) and rub elbows with low-level mob guys.
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  434. Women are going to die because of these laws. How is that “pro life”?
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  435. Well…yeah. That IS the way it works.
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  436. Absolutely.
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  437. I am looking forward to what the actual punishment will be, if they’re found guilty, which, hopefully, they will be.
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  438.  @ABetterDay-fz3br Which, for him, means, “you’ll never be able to vote again.”
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  439.  @TNuss  No, they don’t allow a driver’s license as proof.
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  440.  @cliffwheeler7357  Yes, please!
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  441.  @Mike2244eSam  Thanks for saying so. I was going to go back and remove the last couple of sentences because I felt I interjected myself into a subject that wasn’t about me, but then I got called to dinner, and then I couldn’t find it. I hope I didn’t sound like my ego decided to take center stage. Are you not in the U.S.?
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  442. Yeah, they want to destroy everything good.
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  443. Well, WE damned well better GET concerned about them right NOW, because if we don’t, we are (and it’s not speculation, we ARE) going to lose our democracy either next month or in two years. So we’d better STAND UP and SPEAK OUT, and, most importantly, VOTE. Apparently no one in our government is going to do anything to help us or fix the situation (in fact, there are those in government who are working - hard - against us), so, it’s on us, now, to set things right.
    3
  444. As a 75-year old whose only income is Social Security (into which I paid with every paycheck I earned in my 30+ years of working), I’m terrified. I’m mad as well, of course, but, I feel pretty helpless, because what can I really do on a personal level other than make phone calls and marching in the streets? But I will do that!
    3
  445. I think we’re already pretty deeply embedded into the oligarchy part, and are on the razor’s edge with the ability, very soon, to slide into the full-on fascist side. It’s going to take some extraordinary heroic actions (although there aren’t too many heroes in Washington, but, hopefully, there are enough), and it needs to be done very quickly, or we’ll be totally screwed (if I can say that here). Voting alone will help, but we need serious action by the democrats, hopefully with the association of some of the more rational and clear-sighted in the GOP. They will need to work in concert to put forth great ideas, and work very quickly to implement those actions. They will have to run roughshod over Mitch McConnell (as he has always done to Democrats, and with glee in his eyes) as well as the other delusional, conspiracy-addled trump suck-ups. It will need to be a pitched battle with a scorched earth policy. ASAP. I can’t see anything less working, and we’ve been doing much less for far too long.
    3
  446. Just like I kept thinking that every time trump said or did something truly horrible (which he did on an almost daily basis) that THIS would be the time the GOP base would be shocked out of their “orange haze” of loving their Dear Leader, but, no, it just kept riling them up for more of the same as they cheered and applauded. It boggles the mind.
    3
  447. @ Exactly. The news is complicit.
    3
  448. Because Margaret Atwood said that everything she wrote in her book is based on something that has happened in history, or was happening when she wrote the book (the 1980/1986?)? Note, too, that the women are first divested of their rights. That’s not just in Gilead, although it’s the main premise of the book, it happens in other fascist takeovers as well, and I think the demise of Roe v. Wade (whatever your stance on it is), along with the other various state laws taking away women’s rights, is simply the first iteration of our own march toward fascism. Watch out for them trying to take away women’s right to vote, or work outside the home.
    3
  449. When Kevin Roberts, head of The Heritage Foundation, said that this election will “be bloodless IF the Left allows it” chilled me to the bone. Yes, Thom’s guest did say that Roberts said that in reference to the “Second American Revolution”, but I also heard him say it when asked by a reporter if there will be a peaceful transition of power after this upcoming election. That should put ANY American on high alert. And, with trump talking about “bloodbaths” at his rallys, it’s way more than a little concerning.
    3
  450. Because FDR created so many new laws that really helped The People (essentially socialist-style laws) that he became so popular the people kept voting for him over and over. Then they changed the law a maximum of two terms.
    3
  451.  @hitchensghost  He stiffs everybody he hires.
    2
  452. Best of luck to you.
    2
  453. And The People love them!
    2
  454. Republicans know they can’t win if they don’t cheat.
    2
  455. Yes! There’s even a photo.
    2
  456.  @troib9003  The quote, which was “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”  was originally said by George Santayana in The Life of Reason.
    2
  457.  @omniframe8612 . Because WE have no power, and those who get the power are quickly bought off and seem to “forget” those truths.
    2
  458. Birds do it; bees do it…
    2
  459. I think this SCOTUS already sent the message that they intend to put religion over civil society last year when they overturned Roe v. Wade, as it’s pretty obvious the people who wanted it overturned did so based on their “Christian” beliefs. That belief is also ludicrous as the Bible mentioned many times the killing, or the calling for the killing of multiple children by “God himself”, or even some other leader, as well as the approval of certain methods of abortion by a priest. Funny, but those same “Christians” have nothing to say when you mention those particular verses. Not to mention that, in his ruling to overturn Roe, Alito quoted some “legal scholar” (?) from the 17th Century (again, ? as I’m not sure if it was the 16th or 17th) who also sent young women who were condemned as witches to be burned at the stake! Yes, good “Christians” all. (I hope you can tell that last sentence is sarcasm).
    2
  460. I think that’s the point, unfortunately.
    2
  461. They’re mixed up because the corporations and their politician lackeys want them to be mixed up and confused so they can be fooled. Everything is worded to purposely confuse them. These people are vultures and conmen, not to mention pure evil.
    2
  462. That is exactly right.
    2
  463.  @intuitionz1198  Great!
    2
  464.  @maggieobrien7280  ♥️
    2
  465.  @ThunderTheBlackShadowKitty  I don’t remember W. as a kid, but I remember Reagan as an actor. And I remember JFK’s assassination, and I even remember seeing Eisenhower driving by my neighborhood when I was a kid.
    2
  466. Let them. They’ll fall on their faces spectacularly and everyone will be laughing at them.
    2
  467. We CANNOT allow that to happen! 💙
    2
  468. I so support the Satanic Temple’s efforts to maintain the separation of church and state, and their efforts to support a woman’s right to choose. I’m also wondering whatever happened with the lawsuit filed by a Jewish woman who was denied an abortion (I believe it was because of a no viable fetus), whose religion supports abortion because it’s protecting the living woman’s health. I’d like to know more about that.
    2
  469. Mitch be decent?? Surely you jest! (LOL)
    2
  470. This is why trump said “I love the poorly educated”. Similar to what P.T. Barnum (the founder of Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus p) said about rubes (suckers, “There’s one born every minute”, and he was there to take advantage of them.
    2
  471. Thom, I think you’ll find a big clue in the comments here. You might notice that the vast majority of the comments are critical of your speaker. I’ve found that almost all videos, at least on YouTube, that have any mention of male supremacy, feminism, abortion, birth rates and gender issues all get a whole lot of anti-women comments. I think the MRAs, incels, etc. all have some kind of search program on their computers that are triggered by those and similar keywords so they can jump into the comment sections to insult and offer “advice” (control) to women. It’s an interesting trend I’ve been seeing. I recently even had a guy on another video practically beg me to go look up MRA, MGTOW (Men Going Their Own Way) and “Red Pill” sites, I’m guessing so that maybe I’ll understand and sympathize with their “terrible plight”. I took a pass on that one as I’ve already seen some of those sites, and they’re pretty rabid. Oh, if only we women would understand that men are, by nature (!) “supposed” to be dominant in society, and women are here to support them and have their babies, maybe we wouldn’t be so mean to them, and would be happy to jump into their beds and pass along their oh, so special DNA!
    2
  472. I guess Obama’s presidency didn’t count. So who was President during that time? And I can’t wait to hear what Clarence Thomas has to say when he finds out he’s not a citizen, or even a full person.
    2
  473.  @jimpaddy79  Interesting. But that’s why we have the Amendment process. We have 27 Amendments so far (we’re still having a “bit” of trouble including the Equal Rights Amendment which gives women equality with men, but we’re always working on it. Yeah, I’m not going to get into that here because I’d be here typing for another hour!) They’re expressly for updating the Constitution based on historical changes and new circumstances. We revere our Constitution because it lays out what our Founding Fathers envisioned for this country as a new and different kind of democratic system which made us different from previous monarchy- and church-ruled countries. It’s held up under the passage of a couple of centuries (although it’s being severely tested right now), and it’s often looked up to by other nations as an example. Let’s hope it survives this year and next.
    2
  474. Thanks for this, Thom. It spells it out so clearly. I’m hoping I read another MAGA comment about Bernie and his wife Jane going to Moscow for their honeymoon, as if that proves some kind of anti-American effort. I will be so happy to mention that trump and Ivana went to Russia in 1987! And that the Russians groomed him as an asset. I love to shoot FACTS back at them. I’ll have to find the article and save it so that I can prove it’s true to them. Hopefully it will blow or change a few minds, but I’m too rational to believe those impenetrable craniums of theirs would allow that kind of information to enter.
    2
  475. Things would be so much better in this country if he were.
    2
  476.  @koolaidgadfly5132  I’m not disagreeing at all on that point, except that quite a few white girls and women (usually poorer women) also have abortions. They just don’t want any women to have abortions exactly for the reasons you mentioned. They also want to punish single women for having sex. Actually, they just want to control all women.
    2
  477. ⁠ @dw3403 They didn’t do anything about it because the men didn’t want to pay anything into it. “Free labor” seems like a good idea to them, as long as it isn’t them doing it.
    2
  478. ⁠ @tonywilson4713  Perhaps Americans should be watching/listening to Four Corners. I know I’m going to look it up now.
    2
  479. I don’t only think trump would use something like this, but I think he would have one of his own people, like Steve Bannon (or maybe Stephen Miller) plan and orchestrate it in order for trump to declare Martial Law. I certainly wouldn’t put it past him, or them, to do just that.
    2
  480. And yet a legitimate bank would still ask for proof if he were to request a loan against its value.
    2
  481. The problem with, especially, a politician who is this deeply misogynistic and racist is that there’s no doubt about what kinds of laws he would sign on to that would literally hurt women and Blacks. He is never, ever to be trusted. I was going to say that I hope this stuff ends his political career, but the the way Republicans are these days, he’ll just fight right in with them.
    2
  482. And The Deer Hunter with the Vietnam war (along with several others).
    2
  483. It’s sinking into the pits of hell.
    2
  484.  @bartrobertson8444  And don’t even stand near them because they spray.
    2
  485. Exactly.
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  486. Brought to you by the party of “family values”.
    2
  487.  @intuitionz1198  “We” haven’t been dumbing “ourselves” down. That started, quite on purpose, by the Koch brothers whispering in Ronald Reagan’s ear. They were part of the group that determines which books would be used in K-12 schools.
    2
  488.  @ErichSemmelweisEffectFromm  I’ve also been watching him when he’s on Thom Hartmann’s show. Hartmann is another good one.
    2
  489.  @ErichSemmelweisEffectFromm  I have to ask you: your last name sounds so familiar to me (not as a last name, but as a word). My parents & brothers lived in Germany after the war, and just before I was born, so I’ve always heard German words around the home. Do you mind telling me what that means? I’m sure I have heard it in the past. Thx
    2
  490. I heard that! I think I left a couple of them permanently back in the 70s!
    2
  491. Exactly. If not only Putin, probably also Kim Jung Un and Victor Orbán.
    2
  492. I can’t wait for the day we don’t have to hear about him, see his face or hear his voice ever again.
    2
  493. @barryhahn6419 Yet, in Genesis, the very FIRST book in the Bible, it says that Adam was not alive until God breathed life into him, then even reiterates that he wasn’t alive until Adam took his first breath. But isn’t it interesting how people only pick the verses that support their particular beliefs and ignore anything else that is contradictory, even when it is also in the Bible?
    2
  494.  @opossumlvr1023  Those are Biden’s statistics.
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  495. Please, expand this into a whole book!
    2
  496.  @jamesborn-s6w  That reminds me of the quote by Groucho Marx: “I Don’t Want to Belong to Any Club That Will Accept Me as a Member”.
    2
  497. You are NOT alone.
    2
  498. 😂 So true.
    2
  499. Because we are.
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  500.  @rdean150  Good point.
    2
  501. They’re already trying to lower the age of marriage so the religious old men can marry 12 and 13 year olds.
    2
  502. But that’s the whole point or ”modus operendi” (pardon my spelling if it’s wrong) of the Catholic Church, isn’t it? Besides bringing in money, of course. (Yes, I’m being sarcastic, but honest).
    2
  503. And they still haven’t put the Equal Rights Amendment into the Constitution, which is why we now have all these anti-women laws springing up all over the country.
    2
  504. I just subscribed to her channel. Looking forward to learning more. I also recommend Leeja Miller, a lawyer who discusses these things in her YT channel. She has a video about Project 2025 that will scare the socks of you. Do not underestimate these people in government. They have serious and far-reaching plans, and are set to implement them at a moment’s notice. I’m really fearing the upcoming election, even if Biden gets the most votes. They are prepared for that.
    2
  505. So don’t allow Abbot to vote…on anything. Texas WILL become Blue, or at least a swing state if Abbot and his cohorts keep doing stuff like this. He’s going to find out what very angry Texans look like.
    2
  506. Thom, thank you so much for having Norma on your show. She’s fantastic! Very knowledgeable and outspoken. It’s great to hear smart people in the public, especially women, speaking out on these subjects. Start talking and spreading the word, people. It’s imperative before this election. A lot of people don’t know these things because they don’t listen to real, honest news.
    2
  507. They don’t care about women getting abused or unalived, they just want women to be men’s prisoners again.
    2
  508. And that is a true story.
    2
  509. They always tell in themselves.
    2
  510. And had Evangelicals “laying hands” on him, and praying over him while he was sitting at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson would be livid! I know I was.
    2
  511. No.
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  512. Axel Daxel, I agree completely, but I don’t understand why it is hard to talk about I’m not saying that it isn’t, I’m just saying I don’t understand WHY it is. I’ve been studying feminism and women’s issues for years, and, of course, I read articles every day about race relations and problems, and see how our histories as so incredibly similar. Yes, it’s disheartening to hear how some of the early feminists were racist, and unfortunately, I hear that Black women still face the same problem, yet the movement began with white women being anti-slavery and seeing, as I do, that our histories are so similar, I think it’s something that MUST be talked about and overcome. I personally don’t know how a woman can call herself a feminist yet not include Black women in that struggle. Black women and Indigenous women, and Hispanic women, if anything, have had more difficulties in that struggle than White women (and that’s speaking as a White woman). We in the feminist movement all say that we’re happy to have male allies, so how can we turn away another woman simply because of the color of her skin, or for any other reason? As the old saying goes, “We’re all in this together”, yet, apparently, that isn’t so as a fact, so we have to make it that way. Any movement or struggle, especially for social justice, will always be stronger with greater numbers working together. I would love to see a large group of feminists get together with a large group of African-Americans (even small groups for a start) and discuss the similarities in our histories and discuss how we can work together to solve these problems. I know it will be difficult, and I realize that any coalition-forming group will have its own challenges, but, as an American, I’ve been taught that challenges make us stronger and better because we have to figure out ways to overcome them. BTW, I did notice this video, along with your comment, are from a year ago, so I can only hope you see my comment.
    2
  513. Sad but true.
    2
  514. Soulless, dead eyes.
    2
  515. Wow, what a joy to listen to this smart and very direct woman.
    2
  516. And that’s exactly why education is SO important. And why Reagan, under the advisement of The Heritage Foundation (yes, in 1981) cut education so drastically. They knew that the poorly educated are much easier to manipulate, and Trump certainly worked that for all it was worth, and that’s how we got MAGA.
    2
  517. That’s the whole point of Capitalism it seems, or what I call “end-stage capitalism”. That’s exactly where we’re at because a country can’t keep doing this and survive.
    2
  518. I would say that nothing fails like prayer…anywhere, period.
    2
  519. They’re trying to make us too afraid to protest. Continue to protest! Everybody who can needs to get out in the streets in every city in every state, all day, every day, until he is forced out of office.
    2
  520. Phil Ittner always makes for an interesting interview.
    2
  521. $$$$$
    2
  522. My working theory is that ALL the evils in the world are based on fear, especially the fear that someone else has something you don’t or can’t have.
    2
  523.  @larryanderson1440  Exactly. Did he not understand the saying, “the house always wins”?
    2
  524. I remember driving from Florida to Southern California around 2003 and I couldn’t get anything but religious RW radio stations from Georgia to at least New Mexico, if not Arizona, constantly yammering about the evils of abortion. Couldn’t find a Classic Rock station the entire time! 😅 That might when I learned the joy of silence.
    2
  525.  @beaverc2884 Thank you for your support of women’s rights, but I’d like to point out that the commenter did NOT say that most men do not support abortion; she said that most men don’t know that 1 in 4 women have (possibly - my edit) had some kind of abortion. Many of us realize that many, many men support the rights of women, and we appreciate it.
    2
  526. This is why I always get concerned when people say, “it’ll be alright. We’ve been through worse, and we’ll get through this, so we just have to accept it and carry on with our lives”. They apparently don’t know history. While I’ve lost a lot of faith in the DOJ, I still have (some) hope in the FBI, the CIA and most (?) of the country’s top generals. And I hope they can figure out what really happened in this election, because there’s something not right.
    2
  527. Here’s hoping.
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  528.  @eh3477  Good point. Those laws are certainly messed up and need to be changed.
    2
  529. Exactly. It was a test run so they could work out the kinks for the next one. That thought terrifies me.
    2
  530.  @jimweb3230  Fine by me.
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  531. I think terrifying might be a more appropriate word.
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  532. Eisenhower also continued many of those programs. He’s the one who built our highways, and improved education.
    2
  533. Yes, but too bad about that vocal fry, though. It’s very annoying.
    2
  534.  @joansparky4439 Cuneiform was most commonly used for writing up receipts for goods purchased, like grains and livestock, or, at least that is what has been primarily found. Some of the earliest found cuneiform was of love poems that a woman (sorry, I can’t remember her name) wrote to her lover.
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  535. Well, W. (George Bush Jr.) “won” that way.
    2
  536. I think trump was flying on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane because JD Vance was flying Trump’s plane around, “stalking” Kamala Harris in her plane (AF2?) to a couple of airports where she had just landed, where he got out of Trump’s plane (along with his body guards and coterie, to walk over, on the tarmac, to address and question the reporters who were there to greet Harris. That is some seriously weird behavior. Not to mention, expensive. And why did the airport administration allow a handful of non-airport employees to be walking on the tarmac right outside the Vice President’s plane? That sounds like a serious lapse in security, and should be investigated.
    2
  537. And it’s not like we also have thousands of examples of men treating their female dates the same way (using your line of sarcasm).
    2
  538.  @ronbarton7799  Yup. That one, in particular.
    2
  539. Thom, you might enjoy Leeja Miller’s videos on YouTube. She’s a very astute lawyer, and she has done videos about Reagan. She even sells a shirt that says, “Reagan Ruined Everything”. Your discussion on this video made me think of her. It always amazes me how so many people lionize Reagan, when, in reality, he did a lot of damage to this country. And, of course, he had “help” from The Heritage Foundation with their Mandate for Leadership in 1981. Yes, Mandate for Leadership is the same lead title as Project 2025.
    2
  540. Great discussion. Thanks, Thom & Rev. Barber.
    2
  541. Along with every one of the billionaires. He is welcome to take along his entire Cabinet, and just about all the Republicans in Congress. Bernie said it best when he said “America shouldn’t have billionaires”.
    2
  542. That’s what fascists do.
    2
  543. And a whole host of others.
    2
  544. Well said, Thom.
    2
  545. I hope you’re right.
    2
  546. And it has a great retirement package, and an almost assured job as a lobbyist afterward.
    2
  547. Thank thank you, Greg Palast and Thom, for getting this information out to us, and confirming it so it will be acted upon. Oh, and don’t forget the women who got married and changed their last names during the year. Ladies, just quit changing your last name. It’s more trouble than it’s worth. Plus, why should you? “Tradition”? BFD.
    2
  548.  @opossumlvr1023 No, because Bald Eagles are an endangered species. Humans are not.
    2
  549.  @Anastaecia  Exactly. Not until first breath. And the religious folks seem to forget (or choose to ignore) that their own Bible states that very clearly in Genesis when describing Adam’s birth. It made it very clear that Adam was not alive until he took his first breath.
    2
  550. And even actual rape is rarely prosecuted.
    2
  551.  @rickappling5470 That’s exactly right. They have posted Project 2025, and Trump’s own words are public.
    2
  552. There are so many in Congress alone.
    2
  553. This is just the beginning of them trying to take away women’s right to vote.
    2
  554. This is so scary. Pretty soon we’ll be like Bolivia, where abortion is completely illegal, and women who have miscarriages or stillbirths are often prosecuted for having or giving themselves an abortion when they did not, and get sent to jail for many, many years. One woman there was just recently released from prison after 15 years. A woman’s right to abortion, for any reason, in this country must be fully protected by law. That’s just one more reason Roe vs. Wade must not be overturned, and must be fully ensconced in the Constitution. The Equal Rights Amendment must also be fully ensconced in the Constitution as well. Joe Biden, on the campaign trail, promised to do everything in his power to see that it happened, and has still done NOTHING. Actually, that isn’t entirely accurate; he’s actually fighting it in court through Merrick Garland, for god knows what reason. As the ERA has now been ratified by the requisite 38 states (when Virginia became the 38th state to ratify it in January of 2020), all he would have to do is to call the Chief Archivist, David Ferreiro, and tell him to put it in there (as Donald Trump had called him and told him NOT to after Virginia ratified it), or just do an Executive Order, as a number of “new” Presidents do when coming into office to clean up or clean out some of the ridiculousness from the previous Administration, but he is not doing that. Why not? I suspect money is involved (from donors) as it always is. If Biden had done that, Texas would never have gotten away with SB-8 (and a number of other states are jumping on that bandwagon), and they would not ever be able to overturn Roe once women were considered “people” and full citizens, with all rights thereof, per the Constitution. I’ve already written to him once about it (which had no effect whatsoever, of course), so I’m preparing a very “special” 2nd letter, with copies sent to the editors of WaPo, NYT, The Atlantic, and other media outlets like MSNBC and CNN, as well as to a number of women in Congress, most particularly Carolyn Maloney who is working in the effort to get it ratified. A copy will also go to Kamala Harris, of course, as well as AOC and other congressional women who want it to happen. Perhaps I’ll send one to you as well, if you’re interested. I’d be thrilled to hear it read on your YouTube channel here, Of course there’s great irony that the states want to give the “unborn” (as they call that constantly changing clump of cells that might not ever turn into a living breathing child) fetus full Constitutional rights from the “moment of conception” while the women having those babies have none. Here’s another thought I just had in my musings: if those children have full Constitutional rights from conception, and 50% of them will be female, will they concede that would mean when there are more of them of that 50% than women from before that law, essentially all women will have Equal Rights in the Constitution? Or, will they try to remove all those Constitutional rights once they reach 18 years, or perhaps even at birth, since they’ve proven they don’t want to do anything for the babies after they’re born.
    2
  555.  @gandydancer823  I have the book, but haven’t read it yet. I’ve seen her talk.
    2
  556.  @richardrubin1763  OK, Nick Fuentes.
    2
  557.  @roberthanks1636  Wow, you are obtuse, aren’t you? You don’t seem to understand analogy. You must have missed that class in the seventh grade.
    2
  558.  @Gretabpooh Yup, the Republicans see that as a blueprint.
    2
  559.  @Bo-hb3eo  Can you find copies of that? That would be a good thing to have.
    2
  560. It sickens me every time I see one of these Congresspeople wearing these AR-15 pins on their lapels ON THE FLOOR OF CONGRESS. This should not be allowed.
    2
  561. That is a very thought-provoking point. I definitely see your point, and I’m going to think about that for a while.
    2
  562. Yes, and we’ve got plenty in California as well. I think most people back East would be surprised to hear it about both our “liberal bastion” states.
    2
  563. Next, they’ll be wanting to burn them all at the stake. This shows how badly they want to control the lives of women.
    2
  564. Yes, as a little girl, Bambi tore my heart out, and I think I cried through the rest of the movie. After that, I couldn’t even go to see Ol’ Yeller.
    2
  565. Nice to see someone spelling that word right. Faith in education somewhat restored. And I agree with your comment.
    2
  566. Yet we keep hearing “We have every right to call for recounts”, so why weren’t they doing that? Also, please watch a video by Election Truth Alliance (detailed on the Mark Thompson show)about how they are studying the statistical results of the election machines (see the videos about Clark County for starters). So far they have examined the machines from the counties that contain Las Vegas and Reno, which show clear evidence of Russian-style rigging (in statistical terms, it’s known as “the Russian Tail” because of how the charts line up). Now, mind you, I don’t understand much about statistics, but the guy speaking made it very clear and understandable. They are, apparently, a pretty new group, so they still need funding and time to get to all the other swing states. I’m guessing the results are going to also be irrefutable. Something needs to be done about this. Nobody’s talking about this. Our election was clearly stolen, and this current administration needs to end…now!
    2
  567. Yup, never did and never will!
    2
  568. And yet no one is talking about indicting Jared Kushner for getting 3 BILLION dollars from the Saudi government, or Ivanka for getting all her clothing lines approved for manufacture in China by the Chinese government, and while they were both working for the White House under trump’s administration. The GOP are just doing a childish tit-for-tat against Biden and the Democrats for indicting trump. They have the maturity of three-year-olds, just like their “dear leader”.
    2
  569.  @BabyBird691  Now you’re talking!
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  570.  @carsengrave2999  Thanks for your comment. I’m sorry I didn’t see earlier that I had a comment here. That sometimes happens. I really like the quote you put here. It’s more confirmation, I believe, to my previous thought. I also wanted to recommend another book on the subject that, to me, completely blows a lot of the things naysayers say against NDEs right out of the water. It’s name is Proof of Heaven and it was written by Dr. Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon (yes, it really is brain surgery!)He, himself, had an infection in his brain and provably died from it, had an NDE, and was brought back. For me, his best case was that he knows, because he’s so experienced in the science, that he was literally brain-dead because of the damage the infection did to his brain. So many people say that NDEs aren’t real because there “must be some kind of brain activity left intact for people with the NDE to understand they’re having one, and to remember what happened in their “mind” while they were experiencing the NDE, which, to them, proves there was still mental activity and the patient was therefore not really dead. According to Dr. Alexander, his brain was essentially turned to mush through which NO mental stimulus could send any kind of stimulus of recognition of anything. I don’t know if I’m describing it very coherently, but that’s the gist. The other outstanding point he made is that while he was on “the Other Side” he met a relative, a young girl he had never heard of, and I’m not sure if she was his sister who was stillborn before he was born, or one who had died very young before he was born, so he was never told about about her. When he got back and questioned his family about who she could be, and he thoroughly described her, I believe his mother broke down in tears because he had described her previous baby girl perfectly. Again, I’m not 100% I’ve got the familial facts correct (it’s been a few years since I read it, but it’s close, if not correct. Why would you be met by a family member who had passed before you were born, never knew about, and even knew her name, which had never been mentioned in the family? For me, it was the most compelling description of something that had to be the truth. I, myself, have never had an NDE as I have never died during my life, but I, once strangely had a spontaneous “good old-fashioned” vision of myself living in the U.S. (as I do now), but in a different city in the Victorian Era, and I was crying because I had a baby who had just died in infancy. It was very quick, and disappeared almost immediately. I have no idea what that was, but it shook me to my core. Even though I didn’t have an NDE, I feel like I was given a vision of a previous life I had lived, and they might be related in some way. There are so many things we don’t know about our lives yet, but I believe we’re sometimes given glimpses of those things. Oh, and I was not on drugs or alcohol or anything else that could have altered my perceptions in that way. Well, I didn’t mean to turn this into a dissertation, but I mainly wanted to recommend that book to you. It was pretty darn wonderful. I hope you’ll check it out. Nice chatting with you.
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  571.  @carsengrave2999  Thanks for your reply. Yes, I had heard about verídical verifications. It’s fascinating. As for my “vision”, yes, it was extremely real to me. What was so strange about it was that I was living in Orlando, Florida at the time (I was about 19 years old), and I had gone with my parents to the newly-opened Disney World (yes, it was a long, long time ago). Everything was wonderful and we were very happy to be there. The theme park, in case you haven’t been there, is set up so that when you first go in, you get on a monorail that takes you to the main area of the attractions. The first one you come to is Main Street, which is a a perfectly created (American) Victorian street, and Disney does not miss ANY details in creating these atmospheres, it’s like you’re going from one world to the next, and you’re completely surrounded by and inundated by the atmosphere of the place and time depicted, which is why I think that was the particular “past life” scenario I found myself in. As soon as we walked through the gates into Main Street, I was hit with a overwhelming blast of sadness and grief, and I saw myself in that situation described in my previous comment. I was standing in the living room of my home and I was grieving my lost baby. And it was over almost instantly. I had started crying uncontrollably and had to run behind a column or wall where nobody could see me, and collect myself quickly to be able to return to my parents. After all, I was at Disney World, “The Happiest Place on Earth”, so why the heck would I be standing there crying? I succeeded in collecting myself and continued on having a great time, but that experience haunted me for a long time. And there haven’t been too many people I’ve shared it with, as you might imagine.
    2
  572. My mother was a lucky one. She had a situation where her blood pressure just instantly dropped , a LOT, and she just dropped dead on the spot. I wouldn’t mind at all going like that.
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  573. It’s real.
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  574. Thom, I’m glad you brought up the Mandate for Leadership being part of Reagan’s policy. I think that was 1981, not to split hairs. I would love to hear you do a conversation about which Republican Presidents adopted all or part of it, and which ones might have refused it. That would be very educational.
    2
  575. And yet the pro-lifers will say, “well, the law states that there are exceptions for these cases.” Not if the hospitals won’t even follow HIPAA laws.
    2
  576.  @chrispenman2314  Yup. Reagan was really the start. And do you know who was guiding Reagan? The Heritage Foundation, the same group that wrote Project 2025. They had a “program” for Reagan in 1981 (they were founded in 1973), of which he adopted about 80% (hence the start of the “dumbing down of America”). I got this information right here, from Thom Hartmann. I guess they’re trying to finish the job now, but what they’re doing is “finishing” America itself.
    2
  577.  @michaelmackey754  Yes! Exactly.
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  578. @ Thank your lucky stars! Just don’t let you country allow Elon into your political process.
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  579. Unfortunately, it wasn’t forgetfulness; it was a plan put into action by the Koch brothers who whispered it into Ronald Reagan’s ear. It has been called “the dumbing down of America”, and it was done in purpose because, as touched on in the video, the less educated people are, the easier easier they are to manipulate, not only for advertising purposes but also for political purposes, as evidenced by the Republican Party, especially in the Red states.
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  580.  @weareall41  And in some states like California, you have to show your ID when you first register, then you don’t have to show it again every time you vote. It’s only necessary to do that one time.
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  581. Thank you for keeping us informed, Thom. This is why I watch videos by you and others like Leigh McGowan, because I’ve realized that even so-called “left-wing” news on TV has been keeping certain subjects off the air. We need full and truthful reporting to keep us informed on what’s really going on in our country, especially now. You’re doing us a great service.
    2
  582. Thank you Thom! It had to be said, and you’re just the one to say it.
    2
  583.  @bruceneu8588  Incorrect: In 2020 Virginia became the 38th state to ratify it, but the menfolks (thanks, Mitt Romney /*sarcasm) in Congress voted it down because of a stupid deadline that doesn’t go into other amendments, nor is it in the text of the ERA itself. Besides, the Constitution clearly states that once an amendment is ratified by 38 states it is no longer in the hands of Congress, so they shouldn’t have even had the right to vote against it. I don’t know if it would or would not restore abortion rights after the fact, but they could not have overturned abortion rights if the ERA had been put into the Constitution after Virginia ratified it. Also, it’s interesting that there is a 2-year delay after ratification (at least in the ERA, but not in other amendments), so it should have at least been made law by 2022 at the latest, but, isn’t it funny that abortion rights were overturned just a few months after that 2-year mark, as if they (SCOTUS) were still deciding on it.
    2
  584. Exactly.
    2
  585.  @alexisdominey6487  Or they can have their own choice to change or not change it, and in whatever manner they choose. What a concept! How American!
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  586. Only through his projection. Everything he says as a negative about someone else is something he either is or has done.
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  587. And what is being done about it? <<Crickets>>. I suppose in another six or eight years, someone will start speaking up about how trump stole this most recent election, too, and, again, there will probably be crickets from Washington. And by then trump will undoubtedly be totally non compos mentis (no longer of sound mind -at all), and unable to stand trial or already dead and buried. Yes, Garland is to blame for the 2020-2021 unanswered criminality, but I don’t really have hope that anything will be done now either because these spineless politicians, lawyers and judges just don’t have the stomach to actually go after someone who has reached the pinnacle of our government offices, no matter how much he does to destroy the country. I’m just sick of the deference, even in the face of irrefutable evidence of misconduct and criminality. Have they forgotten that the Constitution was written because the Founding Fathers did NOT want a king, yet so many of our “modern” politicians treat him as if he were one.
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  588. And when Eisenhower was getting ready to leave office, he gave a speech in which he actually warned us about the Military/Industrial Complex. It’s available on YouTube, although I don’t have the link to it at the moment. Considering that he had been a well-known and well-respected high-ranking military officer (general) during WWII made that warning all the more powerful.
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  589. Orange County = Orlando and environs. I grew up there and I’m so glad I moved away 40 years ago.
    2
  590.  @sumiland6445  Amen to that!
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  591. Neither will I. Women who do that should immediately have their “woman card” taken away.
    2
  592. They’ve already made up far too many. But the current group doing this is the evangelicals and their particular version of Christianity.
    2
  593. “The cruelty is the point”. If you’re not familiar with that quote, it was an article in, I believe, The Atlantic two or three (or four?) years ago, and I highly recommend looking it up and reading it. It’s excellent.
    2
  594. How ironic it was when you said that about Mitt Romney dissing public healthcare that he was the one leading the charge in 2020 against putting the Equal Rights Amendment into the Constitution after Virginia became the 38th state to ratify it, on the grounds of the ridiculous deadline having passed. Although we, the public, didn’t know it yet, Congress must have heard that SCOTUS was about to overturn Roe v. Wade, which they did just a few months later. I came to the realization that the Conservatives didn’t want to put the ERA into the Constitution because they could not then have overturned Roe if they had done so, and they were hellbent on killing abortion access (along with women). Thom, I have an idea: we have heard that maternal and infant mortality rates have gone up since the Dobbs decision, which means that women HAVE died because they couldn’t access life-saving abortions, yet we have never heard the names of ANY woman who has died that way, although we have read stories about living women who went public about being denied one (like Kate Cox and others). In Ireland, the woman you mentioned was named Savita Halappanaver, and the point is that we know her name, and her photo is out there. We don’t know the names of any American women who have died. Even though Ireland is an almost exclusively Catholic country, millions of people marched and demonstrated in the streets, carrying posters with her name and photos of her face on them. The demonstrations were large enough and long enough that Ireland finally caved and made abortions legal there. It was huge! If we could get the names and photos of American women who have died because they were denied abortion care, perhaps we could do the same here. Would you know how we could go about getting those names and photos? I think it is only by showing a number of real American women who have literally died here, we could change things. I’m going to ask Jessica Valenti , too. I’m one of her subscribers, and she’s also great!
    2
  595. They don’t. That’s why so many “promising” (read: white and rich) young men get nothing more than a slap on the wrist even for rape. It’s only women (and in the past, homosexual men) who get punished for anything sexual). That may have to change real soon.
    2
  596. When you said they offered her “a bucket and some towels”, my blood pressure just shot through the roof!”
    2
  597. And the Supreme Court (or at least the right-wing faction) just passed a law allowing states to pick their own electors to quash the popular vote. This will not turn out well. This also explains why Roberts killed the Voting Rights Law a few years ago. They’ve been working up to this for years.
    2
  598.  @thomaswikstrand8397  Well, Number 3 sure got you distracted from the subject, huh? I guess he served his purpose.
    2
  599. Incredible. Not to mention the fact that Zuckerberg probably wouldn’t be connected to anything that is not for profit.
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  600. Well then, I guess I’ll be in trouble soon enough. As will be millions of Americans. They don’t even want to see your papers because they don’t care if you have papers. They just bundle you into a black van, and you’re gone.
    2
  601.  @davidlafleche1142 Says who?
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  602.  @marlinkojak9882  I’m 74, and I also remember it well. Those were some of my prime working years, and his policies essentially made my life a serious struggle.
    2
  603.  @lindagarland5223  I really wish Americans would wake up and get over their adoration of “celebrity”. That has given us Reagan, trump, and, in California, Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor. (While Arnold seems like a nice guy personally, he nearly drove California into the ground economically). I just don’t understand it. While I love Meryl Streep as an actress, but I wouldn’t vote for her for Governor or President. Political qualifications and experience have much more importance than fame or “star quality” when it comes to leading a country.
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  604.  @dr.zoidberg8666  I could definitely go with Katie Porter! Sheldon Whitehouse is similar in that he brings in the posters (instead of a whiteboard) to take people down. There are a couple of excellent YT videos, if you want to check him out. I’d really love to have both, one for prez and one for VP, and in any order. Although I would dearly love to have a woman President, and she would be great.
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  605.  @dr.zoidberg8666  Tell me about Raskin. He seems like a good guy, but I know nothing about him other than what I’ve seen of him in various hearings.
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  606.  @pietpiekstra-sl1vr  Who are “they”, and when and where did “they” announce it? I really want to know.
    2
  607. This is why we have to find a way to get big money out of politics.
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  608. Excellent discussion.
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  609.  @DrunkenUFOPilot  Have you felt any of the effects I described after eating in a restaurant? I’m probably a generation older than you from your description of the foods you grew up on. We weren’t allowed much sugar at all. A lot of “plain” food, as in seasoned with some salt and pepper and a few herbs, and we only had dessert once a week. For sweet treats, we’d eat a handful of raisins or maybe an apple. (And, no, I wasn’t raised on a farm, though I realize it kind of sounds like it. My mom was pretty much into “clean-living” food wise). Very much unlike the following generations. Thanks for the recommendation of Thom’s book (yeah, I’m old enough that I don’t often use last names anymore). I’ve been looking at his books on Amazon, and trying to decide which one to start with. That’s one prolific author! He and Stephen King must be in a race.
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  610. I really think we really do deserve Bernie because there are a lot more of us than them.
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  611. Wow, I didn’t know that about Sandra Day O’Connor. I’m very disappointed.
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  612. WE have to do something about it. NOW.
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  613. Thanks, Thom, for mentioning that the abortion bans also fit into their “replacement theory”. I find it ironic that in striving to get more White babies, they’re also going to be getting more Black and Brown babies because they can’t come right out and say only White women are restricted from abortions (yet). I imagine they’re thinking that nobody (White) will adopt Black or Brown babies. Maybe they’re counting on the fact that more Black and Brown women receive less healthcare in general, and also have higher maternal death rates than White women. Horrible to think someone would be happy about that, but, I I’ve seen that sort of thing before. But, of course, they’re more than happy to shame, condemn and punish ALL women (except, of course, wealthy White women) for having sex, and, well, for being females.
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  614. Thank you. You always give me new facts and concepts to ponder.
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  615. I think that’s why there was so much forward momentum in “thinking” in the early ‘70s. Acid definitely did that to people, and so many “thought concepts, or experiments” came out of that time.
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  616.  @GordonDomney What are we talking about?? Do you ever wonder why some women hate men?
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  617. Yes, I remember that too. I was in twelve at the time, and it made a very big (and positive) impact on my psyche and my understanding of what our country is about. We need to get back to what our country is about instead of this “Christian (which is no longer at all about what Christ taught) nationalist domination”. We are a nation of many races, ethnicities and religions, and we need to make space for ALL of them, equally.
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  618.  @ossra100  But that is part of the history of our country. A judge sentenced the Rosenbergs to, I believe, the electric chair, or hanging, for treason. Treason has always been understood to be the highest level of non-homicide crime in the country. But, if it came to it, I would be satisfied with life in a federal penitentiary with no chance of parole. Unfortunately, I don’t believe our country would ever give the maximum penalty, even life in prison, for a former President. The problem with that, and the seriousness of his crimes, is that the next evil dictator wannabe, who just might be a little smarter and a little smoother, not to mention quieter, more circumspect than trump will know that he could get away with what trump did, as well as much worse. We, as a country, might not be able to so easily extricate ourselves from that, then our democracy really would be over. Something has to be done to act as a very powerful deterrent to future politicians.
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  619. I think a lot of us are. If we keep going the way we are, our country, and everything we believed, or hoped it is, will be destroyed. We will become another Third-World country of many millions of poverty-stricken people grubbing for food with a group of super wealthy partying Gatsby-style.
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  620. Unfortunately, it seems to be very good, as in profitable, for the greedy rich. Certainly not good for the rest of us.
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  621.  @TheMisterGriswold For me it’s Classic Rock or Classical.
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  622.  @jeanb8643  However, we do have the numbers. Imagine millions upon millions of gray-haired, bald elders in the streets every day in every city of every state, many with canes, walkers and wheelchairs, for prolonged periods. It won’t be a good look for the administration. I know I’ll be there.
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  623.  @shirleylewis1366  You can bet on it.
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  624.  @TNT.4Me  Oh, honey, “upset” is only minor amount of what we’ll be feeling. That’s like saying the North was “upset” about the South having slaves.
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  625. He’s good trouble!
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  626. And they wonder why our lifespans are getting shorter? Between this and the insecticides and herbicides in our agricultural practices, toxic chemicals from various plants being offloaded into our rivers, trains derailing and poisoning the air and water, and fracking that poisons the groundwater, along with a whole host of other environment-poisoning practices, we’re pretty well screwed. But, hey, the wealthy CEOs are getting rich, rich, rich NOW, so who cares if they’re killing all of humanity and wildlife, right?
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  627.  @Zomby_Woof  Yes; I vote for this!
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  628.  @catshepherd3102 Exactly. I’m a few years older (Boomer here), and growing up after WWII, we heard about it all the time. Plus, many of our fathers fought in that war. I remember everyone saying, “ what we’re the Germans thinking, letting Hitler and the Nazis take over their country like that?” I know that the political landscape was different when Hitler came to power, but I think many of us now seeing trump come into power and the growing spread of misinformation, and especially conspiracy theories, as well as the seemingly complete takeover of the minds of the MAGA faction, I think we’re very much seeing what was going on in the minds of the German people at that time. Times were tough, especially financially, and they wanted someone strong to lead the country out of that. It’s a shame that the power of discernment isn’t very strong in a lot of people when they’re feeling desperate, and thank heavens there are, hopefully, enough people who have that power of discernment. If not, we’ll have a repeat of history.
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  629. And in many other cities as well. I’ll be there!
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  630.  @michah321  I meant that you, in PA, having a lot of rain doesn’t “even out” the lack of rain in other places that are having drought conditions. If you only look at total rainfall in the world, it might, but it sure doesn’t help Arizonans any.
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  631. Absolutely! 💯%.
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  632.  @markfarrington5183  Purely a warning. No sarcasm or humor involved. Just truth.
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  633. Tucker Carlson has zero charisma though.
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  634. SEMI fascist MAGA Republicans?? They’re full-on fascists.
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  635. Unfortunately, not legally in many states.
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  636. Done! 💙
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  637. Sadly, an all-too-common story.
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  638. Don’t forget that women will also soon be an oppressed minority, as soon as enough of them die because of the abortion bans.
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  639. Me too.
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  640. Would you consider doing a video about state’s rights; the history, actual meaning, etc.? I must have missed that day in Civics because I don’t seem to understand what the big deal is about them, other than it was originally to protect slavery in the Southern states. And how do they decide which laws should be Federal and which should be state’s? And what’s the point of Federal laws if everything should be left up to the states? Now, because of the overturn of Roe v. Wade, people (on the right) keep raving about how important state’s rights are, which I can’t understand because the Supreme Court , the day BEFORE dismantling Roe to “return the decision to the states”, took AWAY New York’s state right to control a single issue on guns? What am I missing? Thanks.
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  641. I’ve got Kaiser, and I really loved it at first because deductibles were low, even on prescriptions, (it was from my husband’s work, and I found that the plan rates were very expensive. But they they were very good at fixing my broken toe. Anything beyond that they were not so good, and they are TERRIBLE at diagnosing. They fumble around trying to find what is wrong with you, but when it doesn’t work, they try something else, and if that doesn’t work they just throw up their hands and walk away. Or if you have pain that they can’t figure out, and especially if you’re a woman, they tell you’re probably just depressed and they write you a referral for psychiatry. I once had cancer and the doctor gave me what he called a “very aggressive” chemotherapy treatment. Yeah, it was that! It made me diabetic for life - DURING the first treatment! I was supposed to have sixteen treatments (!!!), but by the third treatment I knew I would be dead from the chemo long before the 16th treatment, so I quit after three. Just told him I didn’t want to die like that, and he was so mad at ME! I asked him what my chances were if I continued the full treatment and told me I had a 60/40 chance of still being alive after 5 years with the full treatment, and get this, he said I had a 50/50 chance of same without treatment. (And I had already had surgery to remove the tumor). I’m no mathematician, but it didn’t seem worth continuing treatment that might kill me for a measly 10% gain. I never went back, and here I am, fine after fifteen years. I started getting degenerative disk disease in my back, which I think the chemo also contributed to, so I ended up having three back surgeries, none of which did me a bit of good, just left me in constant pain. I don’t want to sound histrionic, but I feel they’ve ruined me. So, I’m not very amused with Kaiser anymore, and will only go there fore something relative minor like stitches or a broken foot. It’s so frustrating!
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  642. Never did. I lived there for 20 years and hated it.
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  643. Thank you for this list. She is certainly more qualified to be President than trump ever has been.
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  644.  @JanWyman-dv1qh And our bosses also paid into it when we worked for them, so they’re stealing the business owner’s money as well.
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  645. That is a reason, in theory, but it’s really, fundamentally, all about controlling women and girls.
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  646.  @emmettsullivan690  Yes! And don’t forget that those were also the states with slavery. Many men in those states see women (at least white women) as only a hair’s breadth above slaves. They consider their wives as property, and, often, chattel. I think the legislators in those states are punishing women and girls with all the anti-abortion laws because 1) they’re still mad that they didn’t get to keep their slaves, but they can control their women, often treating them as slaves, and 2) they feel the need to control the women and girls because we’ve had the “nerve” to speak up for our rights, and they’re not about to let that happen if they can help it.
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  647. As the old Jewish saying goes: “From your mouth to God’s ears”
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  648. But the Equal Rights Amendment is not, even though it was first written and put before Congress for a vote in 1923, and has been put before Congress for a vote in every new session of Congress since then. So women are still not considered equal citizens in the United States. Many people don’t know that. And women were considered property of their fathers or their husbands at the time the Constitution was written. And that’s why we need to change the Constitution to include women specifically.
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  649. Good for you! We have to demand change or it won’t happen. That reminds me of how, when I got married in 1980, I told the officiant (he was not a minister) to NOT use the word “obey” in the wedding vows, or I would walk out. He didn’t. My husband was, thankfully, fine with it, too. Of course, if he hadn’t been, I simply wouldn’t have married him.
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  650.  @robertl.fallin7062  Yes, I do understand that. Sadly. And not just the Republicans, but mainly the corporations who have bought them. The corporations get the idea and, nowadays, write the laws to permit those takeovers, and the Republicans in Congress put the laws into effect. I’ve also been reading The People’s History of the United States by Howard Zunn (highly, highly recommended), and I also learned that the U.S. never signed a treaty that it wasn’t willing to break, in one instance the very next day. Similarly attitude to the Central and South American takeovers. We have a truly ugly history in many ways, but, somehow most of us think (because that’s what we have been taught and propagandized to always believe) that we still have the best system, which is debatable, but I believe we still have to set an example, particularly in this instance, and that Democracy is fragile and requires constant attention. Ironic, but it’s Peru and Germany that have set that example this week.
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  651. Every one of these congresspeople involved in the Jan. 6 coup plans should be tossed out of Congress forever, as well as Mark Meadows being held accountable.
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  652. Lock him up! He has already been impeached twice, and it hasn’t stopped him yet. He MUST be locked up!
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  653. On one hand I understand the nostalgia of “wishing we could go back to the 50s”, and while I agree that life seemed sweeter back then (esp. as a child), in many ways it was not. Certainly not for black people and women, but also for the many people who died or were crippled from polio, and died from the measles and other diseases we can now control or eradicate. When we think about going back to a, seemingly, idyllic time in our past, we have to remember how we viewed it as a much younger person and acknowledge all the bad things that were really happening in those times. I, personally, loved the ‘60s and ‘70s (or, at least the very early ‘70s), but I wouldn’t want to go back and re-experience the assassinations (JFK, RFK and MLK), the Vietnam War and the race riots, and many other things that were happening back then. Good times were not had by all.
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  654.  @DeeHansen-kh9pw  We, The People, have to fight this by marching in the streets and calling our Senators and Representatives. There will be protests in every major city in the country this Monday, February 17. Join yours for a start.
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  655. It’s time for The Satanic Temple to head to Oklahoma schools to raise a stink about this. BTW, they do not believe in Satan, and they do not worship Satan. They’ve received church status from the government, so that they can go around to places like this and legally demand that if they can allow Christian teachings, they must, by law, also allow “Satanic” teachings as well. That is their shtick, and it has been very effective in shutting down these Christian-based teachings. They are in Florida right now about the Trans and LBGTQ+ issues. Surprisingly, they are on the right (not the political right, but the right side of the law), and they have been doing very well. I applaud them. They will probably go down in histhistory as the tool that broke Christofascism.
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  656. Yup. The bottom line IS the bottom line. $$$$$
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  657. Possibly much sooner if things go badly for us in the midterms. Mexico has already greatly increased its requirements for Americans moving there, and I imagine Canada is also already planning for a mass migration of Americans. They both are aware of what’s going on here, and are watching closely.
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  658. Absolutely! If they don’t, the next evil guy with some actual smarts, unlike trump in that last part, will know he can get away with absolutely anything. And there we’ll be, living in a fascist country with a dictator.
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  659. Re: my comment below, I will recheck that number because Thom just said the last four digits are 3121.
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  660. They know they can’t win if they don’t cheat.
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  661. No, the great majority of them are in on it. They think they’ll be the leaders of the “new world order”.
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  662.  @rakeshmalik5385  And one of the problems with society is that those who are watching those games and, especially movies become enamored of the “stars” and end up worshipping “celebrity” itself, not realizing that the roles they play are not the real person inside. Ronald Reagan and Donald trump (oops, almost forgot there was Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor of California) are our most recent examples. They weren’t even really good “actors”, but, somehow, people thought they were. I imagine the Romans might have even put one or two of their favorite gladiators into political positions (but I don’t know that for a fact).
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  663.  @villevanttinen908  So said Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale.
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  664. @Nevertrump923 Exactly!
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  665.  @Zymandis  And televised for the masses.
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  666.  @terrencemarble5582  That was said by Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale, and she certainly knows her history, at least the history of women.
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  667.  @RenzoTx  Yes. Plus, he’s a crazy MFer.
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  668.  @isaacs.4421  No, trump is Caligula. He thinks everything is about, and for him and only him.
    1
  669.  @haruhisuzumiya6650  Certainly the a**holes.
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  670. Our Supreme Court is now invalid.
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  671. As a Boomer who came along right after WWII, with a military father, and growing up hearing about Hitler and the Nazis, trump’s plans scare the beejebus out of me. How on earth did we come to this? Also, growing up in the South, I am very aware that racism has been continuing to fester under the surface, but I never thought it would come out to the surface, and so in-your-face again, and that it would cause or co-mingle with all these other ills of society, and cause this burning desire by a frighteningly large segment of our society for rule by authoritarianism. Seriously, I blame the farthest-right wing of the evangelicals, because, as the saying goes, “there’s no hate like Christian love”. One really has to feel like the ultimate victim to be able to want to control and avenge themselves on anyone and everyone who doesn’t agree with their singular beliefs.
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  672.  @Thursdayschildfar2go  I’ve got that one. Will read it soon.
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  673. Thanks for adding the comment about the “war on men”. Now that women constitute 51% of the U.S. population, a lot of the men in Congress (like Mitt Romney) are fighting the Equal Rights Amendment in court as hard as they can, especially after Virginia became the 38th state to ratify it in 2020.
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  674. Of course the GOP want to destroy education in the U.S. because uneducated people are so much easier to manipulate, and religion does the same, so combining the two is even more effective. Which explains why when education was considered so important there were more Democrats elected, but once Reagan started ruining education, more people started voting for Republicans, and that’s how we got to the current situation in the U.S. today. We have to turn things around. Thankfully, quite a few people are waking up to what they’re doing, and the tables are starting to turn. Today’s elections are giving me hope.
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  675. I look forward to them extraditing Steve Bannon!
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  676. I think you may be right. It’s what trump wants, and what most Republican politicians want, to rule the country forever. Trouble is, it never works forever. But it could definitely be for quite a few decades.
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  677. Thom, I know this doesn’t have anything to do with this post (and, yes I will stand for America’s freedom), but would you please do a post regarding Mexico electing it’s first woman President? It’s going to happen tomorrow, and it’s a HUGE (and wonderful) thing! After all, OUR President will be dealing with her. (I can only imagine how trump would treat her on the unlikely occasion that he wins).
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  678. Did anyone see that last week the Republicans in the U.S. Congress once again voted to NOT put the Equal Rights Amendment into the Constitution? Actually, you probably didn’t see it, because the “mainstream media” did not report it. Funny about that, huh? I only knew about it because I follow anything happening with the ERA. And how many of you know that the Equal Rights Amendment is NOT in the Constitution? The ONLY right women have in the Constitution is the right to vote, and that was passed just over a hundred years ago.
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  679.  @GenerationX1984 I would guess you are correct. I thought rape was a felony, yet almost no one (if anyone) has gone to jail for it. Wait, I take that back. There was the very high profile case of Brock Turner (a college student) who raped an unconscious female college student behind some dumpsters but was caught by a couple of guys riding by on their bicycle. But, of course, the judge felt sorry for ol’ Brock because he was a rich white boy, an athlete, and had such a “bright future” so he only gave him six months, which he later reduced to three. Of course, Brock returned to college none the worse so far as I can tell, but the young woman was, sadly, never able to because of her shame and the ridicule and scorn (and, probably, threats)heaped on her. The only good thing to come out of the whole situation was that the judge was forced to resign because of the public’s ridicule and condemnation. That was a horrific and tragic story, and, to my knowledge, the only one that made news because the guy went to jail. Oh, and I think the rapist of the 10-year old girl who got pregnant who Thom talks about in this story also got sent up, but, it is a very few and far-between result in our “fair and balanced” country.
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  680. ⁠ @elizabethcsicsery-ronay1633 He was always a puppet for the rich and corporations, but his Alzheimer’s didn’t really show up until his last year or so of his presidency, when they had to mostly hide him away and have other people speak for him. We were never “allowed” to know. I just wish more people would recognize the same thing happening to trump.
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  681.  @randyellis9460  He was a TERRIBLE president. Have you ever heard of Reaganomics, or “trickle down economics”? Did you get “trickled on” by the wealthy? And, since you’re a guy (I’m guessing from your name), I’m not even going to go into the ways his programs were specifically terrible for women, because, being a guy, you undoubtedly wouldn’t have noticed (and I not saying it’s because men are stupid, or bad, at all, but men really don’t tend to notice things that affect other people, especially women). I’m betting you are aware of Project 2025, right? Do you know that the Heritage Foundation also had a Mandate for Leadership (the lead title for Project 2025) in 1981 (I just learned that a couple of days ago myself), and it included things like overturning Roe v. Wade and outlawing contraception, but, fortunately, Reagan didn’t get that far, but he did start some of the lowering of standards and benefits to women, and caused the loss of government jobs for women in Washington D.C., including the percentage of women in both houses of Congress in the following election for Congressional seats. And he also brought in the cuts to education, which is why he have the expression “the dumbing down of America” now. He/they did that. They intentionally lowered the standards of education because they know that the “poorly educated”, (as trump called them, to their faces, and they effing cheered), are much easier to manipulate. Trump is both the outgrowth of those policies as well as a racist reaction to us having had a Black President.
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  682.  @randyellis9460  He was a terrible president! He also gutted education. That’s where the phrase “the dumbing down of America” came from. He did that. And he also implemented ‘Reganomics” that wrecked the middle class with his “trickle down theory”, that if you give more tax cuts to big corporations, saying they would use their extra money to uplift their workers, which would improve the economy. How did that work out? Of course, in their greed, they just bought more yachts and jets and stock buybacks, and put the rest in offshore accounts. Just as Trump’s tax cuts did, because they were only for the wealthy and corporations. And it’s because they both were pushed by The Heritage Foundation, the ones who recently created Project 2025 (A Mandate for Leadership). Funny thing, they also had a Mandate for Leadership in 1981, which had some of the same ideas, the only difference being that Project 2025 goes even further, and trump is all for it even though he won’t openly admit it. But the Republicans in Congress are almost all are on board.
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  683. Yup, that’s the “American Plan”. Work us into a mind-numbing stupor while robbing us blind, then let us die, preferably on the streets, so they can take ownership of our houses and sell them at a profit. I so wish I had moved to New Zealand when I was young. Too late now.
    1
  684.  @dominicfucinari1942  Nope. He only wants to hang onto whatever power he has eked out in his life, and to gain more, if possible.
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  685. This mirrors what I’ve been telling people: whenever I see a comment to vote Harris/Walz, I always add, “and vote Democratic in every single race in your state, city, county and city race, as well as school boards, justices, even dog catcher, whatever is on your ballot, all the way down, VOTE”. Because the Republicans want to take over every single office in the entire country in order to have complete control by Project 2025 people, and we have to stop it now in this year’s elections.
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  686. We’ve been trying for over 100 years to get the Equal Rights Amendment put into the Constitution, but they shoot it down EVERY YEAR. Every time they do that, it needs to be widely publicized, but even that doesn’t happen. We almost never hear about it. The Supreme Court, in 2020, shot it down, so that just makes it harder. Of course, they did that because I think they already knew that Roe v. Wade was going to be on the docket soon, and they wanted to kill that. Roe v. Wade could never have been killed if we had the Equal Rights Amendment in the Constitution. BTW, the text of the Equal Rights Amendment says “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” Short, sweet and succinct, right? Yet it was first written AND put before Congress for a vote in 1923 (yes, 1923!), and it has been put before Congress for a vote every single term (year) since then. That should give you an idea of where we stand.
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  687. trump also said in one of those speeches that in a certain situation Biden could have gotten us into World War TWO. Um, been there, done that. If he flees to another country, I’d be OK with that. I look forward to the day when we never hear from or about him again.
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  688. I would also like to see a discussion about the opposite viewpoint, the macro level. If trump wins and the Project 2025 people take over, what effect is that going to have on the world stage and our place in it? We always talk about being “the greatest country in the world”, but if the Christofascists take over, how is that going effect how we are seen by other countries? Are we going to become a pariah state? Are other countries’ leaders (especially those in Europe), going to even be willing to talk to us, or seek our judgement or help? Of course we already know what will happen to Ukraine and Palestine as trump has already stated that he doesn’t care what Russia and Israel want to do with them. Will we still send military aid to any other country? And trump has also said that he will pull us out of NATO, so that’s going to have a huge effect on the other countries in that organization, and what will their response be to us? This doesn’t affect just us, but most of the rest of the world as well.
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  689. It’s because they know that most people will not have the backbone to fight them. Stay strong! Fight!
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  690. It also depends greatly on what they will and will not allow in school curricula. For example, many states think that any form of sex education is “pornography”, and some think that teaching any kind of options of birth control other than complete abstinence (especially in high school) is “pornography”. Then, of course, that extends to the books the school libraries are allowed to have on hand for kids to learn from.
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  691.  @thesoundsmith Just ask Stormy Daniels. I never thought, as a woman, a porn star could be one of my heroes, yet she is, and not for her films but for her way of standing up to trump and exposing him for the fraudster he is.
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  692.  @mattgeiger8247  Our “natural” gas prices in Southern California (home heating and stove/oven) just DOUBLED, almost without warning. Last summer, air conditioning prices DOUBLED between the hours of noon and 6 pm, and this year I fully expect that will extend to all day. A lot of the elderly will be dying due to either the cold or the heat. I know that SoCal doesn’t have nearly the extremes (at least in the winter) of say, Minnesota, but it’s still pretty chilly (I know, we’ll get by), and in the summer, it’s regularly getting to be over 100° in the daytime, lasting for a number of weeks. Plus, I expect the states hardest hit by winter cold will adopt the same policies soon enough. Hey, as long as a few fat cats get even richer, who gives a damn about old “useless” people dying, right? Or, even working people having to spend that kind of money out of an already beleaguered paycheck.
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  693.  @eh3477  I would also add Independent Ethics Committees to oversee both wings of Congress as well as the Supreme Court.
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  694.  @aliiljah8224  Well, tell that to Ronald Reagan.
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  695.  @Nickysmom  Thise are the “they” we’re referring to.
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  696.  @howardfriedman7077  Reagan “borrowed” billions from SS when he was in office.
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  697.  @tom-c1j2p  No, it wasn’t Biden, it was trump.
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  698.  @carlalatuda6574  It was the Reagan administration.
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  699.  @dianemitchell1717  Yup, I’m one of those people. I’m a senior, and it’s my only income.
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  700. Yes, I’m pretty sure the Republicans were involved in this attempt to screw over the Democrats. They know they can’t win if they don’t cheat, and they’re more than willing to cheat or corrupt in every way they can. The Republicans in Ohio are really scared now that The People spoke out and voted to uphold women’s reproductive rights there.
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  701.  @GarlicClove-k3t Who’s god? Only yours?
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  702.  @Tom-pd1rb  Well, maybe for tomorrow, but today I’m going to swim in despair.
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  703.    Yes, but it has been going in far longer than that. Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain drove every last Jew and Muslim and anyone of any other faith, or anyone not having any religion at all, anyone who was not Catholic, out of the country (many, many of them they just killed outright) to create the first wholly Christian nation (as Catholicism was the only “true” Christian religion at the time).
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  704. We also need a new amendment making it illegal for any politician to knowingly spread lies and disinformation while in office or when running for office. I’m not sure if the word “knowingly” should be put in there because then they’d just say they didn’t know it wasn’t true. I hope some legal expert will come up with a solution to that.
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  705.  @maryboyle5515  LOTS of evidence.
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  706. Thom, you have also talked about how rich people only pay into SS for a certain number of weeks in a year, and I got information from a friend who was an accountant for a rich man, and even though he only paid into SS for those weeks, he kept receiving his monthly SS payments every month of the year. How is that fair! Oh, I know, it’s not!
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  707. Sara is a whack job!
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  708. I agree. First he needs to be convicted (not have it covered up), then public execution in front of the Capitol, either hanging or firing squad. Set an example for The People. Also, the same for the members of Congress who swore to uphold the Constitution, yet played along with him and acted on the plan to invalidate the counting of the votes. They are just as guilty of treason.
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  709.  @kammonkam4905  100%!
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  710. Probably an offshoot of Phyllis Schlafly’s anti-Equal Rights group, Eagle Forum.
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  711. I did! All the way down the ballot!
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  712.  @23buzzchopper  He did say that back in the 90s, or around that time, but now that he’s a politician and his party’s platform has changed so drastically, if he doesn’t say it publicly we can’t assume he still stands on that, because doing so would mean he’s not standing with the party, and he’s not going to take the chance of alienating his party, or, especially, his donors. He once said he was pro-choice, but now he takes great pride in letting his base know that it was because of him that Roe v. Wade was overturned. He publicly said, “I did that”. So, no, don’t trust what you “think” he means, or “know” what he means, he has to come out and say it, and take action on that, but that isn’t going to happen. And contraceptives are next on the chopping block.
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  713. ⁠ @gregorylumpkin2128 What has Biden done that would put him in jail? There is zero evidence proving anything that right-wingers have accused him of. Just like you folks always said “trump has done nothing wrong”; the only difference being that trump is facing many, many charges now for things he has, provably, done that are against the law. Perhaps you should look twice at your guy before throwing aspersions at our current President.
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  714.  @johnwright9372  Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are sweating bullets, too, and I imagine Finland is a bit nervous, too, since they’ve only had their freedom from Russia for about 100 years. Putin wants to restore the entire Soviet empire pm and expand it as well.
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  715.  @AuntieMamies  There’s a LOT of SA, other violence and killings in it. It’s pretty brutal, so I could see why some schools ban it for children. However, for us adult women, I HIGHLY recommend it because there are a lot of male politicians in this country who seem to want to make a lot of the situations in the book national policy. They very much want to control women, and force women to have babies. Also, although it’s technically fiction, the author, Margaret Atwood, has stated (in interviews) that every single one of the things that were done to women in the book has actually happened to women in various places and times throughout history. It’s very eye-opening, terrifying, and serves as a warning to us women. I often say that while we see it as a warning, the Republicans (mostly men, of course) see it as a blueprint. Watch it or read it and you’ll see what I mean.
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  716. OK, America, what are we going to do about this?
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  717.  @admiralfrancis8424  Spot on!
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  718. And Orban.
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  719.  @brett_rose  The problem is with what they decide IS pornography. For example, they want to pass a law saying contraceptives are pornographic, therefore contraceptives won’t be able to be shipped or mailed to women anywhere. And, if they ban abortion nationwide, and some states still have it, they’ll call any medical instruments used for that purpose to be pornographic, so hospitals in blue states that still have abortion won’t be able to get those medical instruments shipped from the manufacturers. Theyll also ban the shipment of other medical instruments that are used for other, regular gynecological exams, like speculums, because they might also be used during abortions. They’ll shut down a lot of publishers because they think books for school age kids that even mention a kid having two fathers or two mothers is considered pornographic. There are so many other things that they will decide are pornographic that really aren’t related to what we normally consider “porn”. Think back to the Victorian Era or even the Puritan Era, and that’s what they’re going for. It won’t just be for books, movies or videos of people performing s*xual acts.
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  720. I like your idea!
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  721.  @davidlafleche1142 It’s been going on ever since somebody said that Eve ate the apple that created Original Sin. Eve, and hence, all women since have been unjustly condemned simply for being born women. That’s why they think they have to control every aspect of the lives of all women. Otherwise we’d just be running around being wanton, undisciplined and immoral, and corrupting all the following generations of women, dontcha know.
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  722. Not for them. They don’t care about the girl, just like they don’t care about the life of a woman who’s fetus has died and, if not removed will cause bodywide infection and kill her. You have to get to the point where you realize THEY DON’T CARE. All they care about is making and enforcing the rules. Nothing else matters to them. They are heartless despots.
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  723. Nailed it.
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  724. 👋 🤚
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  725.  @davidlafleche1142  So, does your explicitly Christian monarchy have any room for Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, or any other religions, or even atheists? Will they even be allowed? If so, will they even be accepted, or treated differently? Not to mention that the U.S. Constitution explicitly calls for a separation of church and state in the First Amendment, where it says there will be no laws establishing a religion, nor any laws prohibiting a religion. And why use only YOUR religion? Besides, in your quote from the Bible, the Kingdom is already established in Jerusalem, so why wouldn’t you just move there and leave our country out of it?
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  726. Apparently you absolutely can’t when there’s big money to be made. For example, using Thom’s mention of arctic sea ice going away, to the Republicans, hence their big corporate donors in the fossil fuel industry, no ice in the arctic means a longer shipping season. Yay…profit! They don’t care if it’s going to kill thousands, maybe millions, of people in the future. I guess they don’t think some other big donor’s profit is going kill their own grandchildren.
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  727. Wouldn’t audio suffice?
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  728. Sad commentary on our level of civilization. I think it was the “adventure” thing, plus they were all rich, pretty much white, whereas the refugees were not likely to be white, and the media thinks of refugees as “the rabble” rather than human beings trying to escape terrible or unlivable living situations. Plus, there are way “to many” of them to get worked up about. It’s terrible.
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  729.  @Lumi_Lumi13  Because that’s exactly how women were viewed when the Framers wrote the Constitution. The legislators later made a concession for male slaves in the South that they would be considered to be 3/5 a “person” just so the South would have enough voters to have any chance at passing laws, because slaves well outnumbered white men in the South in those days. Women didn’t get the right to vote until 1920 (when my own mother was 5 years old! That makes it seem pretty recent to me, as it certainly is in the history of the U.S.), and that is STILL the ONLY right women have in the Constitution today. But they want to take that away, too. They are evil!
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  730. They just cherry pick the appropriate verses to suit their wacko narrative. Just like with abortion, and most everything else.
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  731. Thank you for bringing this up! You are so right. Even as I watch our rights getting chipped away, I check out the turnout to various women’s marches and I see a handful of women in each of various cities around the country, or maybe a hundred or two hundred in Washington, D.C. I think one of the problems is that they’re not highly advertised in a city, and they’re usually mentioned in the news at about 11:30 at night the night before, if they’re even mentioned at all. The only reason I find out about the annual Women’s March in January in my city is because I signed up to be on the list of people to notify, and about 98% of the emails I get from that organization are requests for donations. And the only reason I found out about the recent women’s “strike” was because I remembered to look it up. There is just not nearly enough talk about them (could it be because most news networks are owned by men??). We need to organize loudly like they did for the big national Women’s March right after trump was elected, and we need to get thousands and thousands of women in every city to come out, and millions in the very large cities, maybe, every month (and, now maybe daily, as you say) to begin to wake people up. I’m so thrilled to see that you want to get your daughters involved. It would be so great to see them together with so many women who are in this Sisterhood together, and to be able to show them that we can change this country, for them as well as ourselves, because we absolutely have to!
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  732. But do we have the intestinal fortitude to do the same this time? I would like to think so, but I really doubt it.
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  733. Yes! Yes! Yes!
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  734.  @kammonkam4905  What do you mean?
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  735.  @ErichSemmelweisEffectFromm  I know exactly what you mean. I have had many of my comments deleted for the last couple of months, sometimes for seemingly unobtrusive reasons. Apparently, they often don’t like words da*n and he*l, while it seems they don’t have a problem with other people using them. I do tend to “sprinkle” my conversations with these words on occasion, but I’m now trying to “be good” like my mother tried to make me (a serious failure on her part). I’ve already been bumped from the comment section a couple of times, and I guess I’m just going to have to control myself in this “oh, so polite space” (sarcasm). I looked up Erich Fromm books on Amazon, and I’m going to have to get a couple. I’m sure I’ve read at least one. Good choices. And, it’s ironic that we see the Semmelweiss Effect/Reflex in everyday politics these days. And, yes, I can see how that in itself could easily relate to that Ger*an political party and it’s followers. It’s mind-boggling in the 21st Century, but many people can’t seem to free themselves from the past. But then, there are many human tendencies that I simply can’t understand.
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  736. I’m worried there’s going to be a LOT of trouble. They’re going to fight back even harder this time. I always thought January was just a trial run, even though the rubes who did it weren’t aware of that, and they’re (the planners) going to put what they’ve learned from it into a newer plan. Same with the fake elector scheme and the “fake votes” lawsuits. And, of course, I think there’s going to be a lot more violence. I dread it all, but it’s still better than trump getting back in the White House. This is going to be a fight for our Democracy.
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  737.  @seanhraba747  Where and when?
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  738. Speaking of the corruption on the Supreme Court, let’s have another discussion about how religious entities have bribed the Republican Justices (especially Alito and Thomas) to pass “pro-religious” laws, like the removal of Roe v. Wade, and possible laws against contraception, how they go into their offices and “pray” with the Justices, and set up donors to their cause through the Supreme Court Historical Society. There is no longer any Separation of Church and State in the U.S.; we are becoming some kind of weird combination of corporatocracy and theocracy. This can’t end well, at least not for The People.
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  739. I’m looking forward to the Satanic Temple putting up their list of beliefs in every classroom in Louisiana. It has worked out well for them as a statement of religious freedom in the past.
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  740.  @3mountains307  Good times, though.
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  741. Thom, I just watched a podcast/video on The Mark Thompson Show where he had a guest on named Nathan Taylor from the Election Truth Alliance where he showed, through graphs, just how rigged the election machines were, especially in Nevada and the swing states, in the 2025 election. I think it would be a wonderful follow-up after your Greg Palast interviews to have Nathan Taylor on showing those same graphs and telling his story of how this happened. I think between Greg Palast’s information and Nathan Taylor’s, we (Democrats) would have enough information to launch a full scale investigation into the election rigging. We can’t just lie down and allow them to roll over us, and our democracy. Please check out this video because it’s really stunning information, and I think many, many more people need to see it. Especially Democrats in Congress. Thank you.
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  742. And guns.
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  743. 💯
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  744. ⁠ @Skedawg88  That’s because the Heritage Foundation (the people who wrote Project 2025) also wrote a similar project for Reagan in 1981, and Reagan adopted about 80% of it. (This information was learned right here on a Thom Hartmann video not too long ago). It was less radical then, because those were different times, but now they’re feeling emboldened to go all the way with their plans. They also wanted, under Reagan, to make big cuts to the Department of Education, which Reagan did, and which started what we now call “the dumbing down of America”, because they have always known that the less educated people are, the more easily the can be manipulated, and that has worked perfectly for them as trump has been elected twice (although it’s starting to come out how this election was rigged), and why trump said, “I love the poorly educated”. And now they want to eliminate the Department of Education entirely.
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  745.  @pixie1602  I’ve started calling it “end-stage Capitalism”, because it will ruin our entire democracy.
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  746.  @barbarascott5794  I don’t think they’ll “hire” the working class for that; I think they’ll force the working class to do it. It might look like they’re paying them because they’re likely to say you don’t have to do it, but you won’t get any paycheck if you don’t. Same thing. Just like I’ve been saying all along: these people would bring back slavery if they thought they could get away with it. They’re already trying to make women essentially slaves to their husbands by saying they want to take away no-fault marriage, and they want to make contraceptives illegal again. Some are even wanting to take away women’s right to vote. (See Joel Webbon, a pastor, of course, on a YT video).
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  747. Thom, pease have this guest in again soon, when she might have a little more time to explain her ideas.
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  748.  @davidlafleche1142  Do you know why the U.S. government doesn’t allow you to deduct a fetus on your taxes? It’s because the government doesn’t recognize a fetus as a baby.
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  749.  @ArisaemaTriphyllum  That’s so hard to get one’s mind around, isn’t it? To go from supporting Bernie to supporting trump. It just does not compute. I’m also a Bernie supporter, and I just can’t imagine even considering supporting a single thing trump says or does. I guess it just shows how powerful and effective the brainwashing systems used by the cultists are. I think we need to study those systems as well as the de-programming systems in order to counter them. I don’t know what else would work, because rationality doesn’t seem to do it.
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  750. The whole country is still suffering, and a third of the idiots want him back!
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  751. Executive Orders usually end when the next president is sworn into office.
    1
  752. I can’t even imagine that our own government is even saying to people, “You aren’t real. You don’t exist, and we don’t want you to exist, and we might make sure you don’t exist”. Terrible times ahead for many, many people. “Love your neighbor” does NOT mean ONLY love your straight, cis, white, male “Christian” or evangelical neighbor.
    1
  753. As would all Democrats.
    1
  754. I remember when this disinformation program started when Rush Limbaugh was on the air. Then it went on TV with “Faux News”. This has ruined our country by dividing it so seriously.
    1
  755. Yeah, they do. They really do.
    1
  756. Trump needs to be removed from office!
    1
  757. Same here, too.
    1
  758. It’s definitely not right. And in their effort to shame or punish unmarried women who have sex, they are also badly hurting married women who want to have a baby but it turns out to be an ectopic pregnancy (deadly) or the fetus dies in the womb and won’t leave until at nine months or so, so the woman can contract sepsis, a body-wide infection that can also kill her. Because the medical term for removing these extremely dangerous conditions is also abortion, the state will not allow it, even when the woman’s life is in grave danger, and even when it may leave her unable to ever become pregnant again. I’m so sick of anti-abortion people saying “she should just keep her legs together”. It’s not only insulting to young women who don’t get pregnant without someone else (male) involved (which is why I also hate the old saying “she got herself pregnant”. Umm, no she didn’t do that by herself), it’s also very dangerous for married women, and women WILL die, it’s just a matter of time.
    1
  759.  @johnnyb7628  Bear in mind that this comment may have included all the women who did NOT vote for Hillary “just because she was a woman”. No matter how much I would love to see a woman President, not just any woman will do. Not even just any smart woman. I would still want all the qualifications in a woman president that I would want in a male president.
    1
  760.  @gurluseyourvoice  Many of us agree.
    1
  761. This is a classic example of what will happen if trump gets re-elected and Project 2025 gets implemented. With all the major departments, like the Department of Education, being shut down and trump loyalists put in, this is exactly the sort of thing that will happen all over the country. And if you put in similar results with the EPA and all the other protection agencies, it should be stunningly obvious what will happen to our country and our democracy - and our people.
    1
  762. It never fails to amaze me that when trumpers are interviewed in “on-the-street” style at trump rallies, they’ll talk about QAnon and how you have to really do a “deep dive” for information about the “truth” (meaning conspiracy theories) on the internet, yet they can’t take two minutes to Google or look up on Wikipedia what Socialism, Communism, Democratic Socialism, Democracy or Republic means. They seem so proud to be stupid while thinking they’re so smart.
    1
  763.  @Quintessential7  Yet they still allow him to vote, as he did in the last election (by mail-in ballot, by the way, which he condemns publicly). Did they count his vote, as he is a felon?
    1
  764. I think you are right, Thom. Which is why I definitely plan to be at one of the protests on Saturday. This is MY country, too.
    1
  765. They’ve already taken too many rights from women, and this woman WILL fight back with her old, crippled Second Wave body.
    1
  766.  @listening-to-birdsong  Yup, good ol’ Phyllis Schlafly, the beyotch who killed it. And now they won’t pass it because that would mean women would have the right to abortion, and it’s all about abortion these days. Roe v. Wade could not have been overturned if we had the ERA.
    1
  767. Nothing good, that’s for sure.
    1
  768.  @sherkinbrain  Yes. What happened to him? He sure has gone off the rails.
    1
  769.  @jalapeno6847 One more word: Money.
    1
  770. We need EVERY generation to vote for him.
    1
  771. Hmmm, Ukraine has Lithium….like for batteries for Teslas? Oh, the irony! And the fact that the mines are in the Donetsk/Donbas region that Putin says is “Russian”, therefore, his. And Putin is advancing his soldiers closer and closer to the mines everyday, as the Ukrainian military is continually pushing them back. And no matter how much trump and Putin are, supposedly, “friends”, Putin would go in and dig up as much as possible before trump could lay his hands on an ounce of it. I amuse myself thinking how trump would react to Putin stealing it all before he could get any. He’d find out real fast what Putin thinks of their “friendship”. Guys like Putin don’t have “friends”. Not real ones, only people he can manipulate and use. Hmmm, kind of like trump, huh? Both are narcissists and megalomaniacs, so that stands to reason. The chutzpah of Trump to demand fully HALF of Ukraine’s minerals!
    1
  772. It scares me to think of what Elon will be like when he’s trump’s age (or even 20 years younger). Now there’s a tyrant in the making.
    1
  773.  @willowvons Amen, Sister!
    1
  774. Ah, different one. Joe is from Massachusetts and related to the JFK Kennedys. I don’t really know anything about him.
    1
  775. Thanks, John Roberts. Screwing over Americans for years. And Al Gore did win that election, but SCOTUS screwed Americans on that, too. And Republicans know that if they don’t cheat they can’t win. We’re in deep trouble. It’s the rise of fascism, and it will destroy our democracy. The GOP doesn’t care as long as they can control everything. Vote them out in numbers too big to ignore!
    1
  776. That’s why the GOP has been demonizing anyone left of center. The rubes are totally brainwashed to think we are the evil ones, and they will vote against us every chance they get, which means they think we’ll be the only ones to suffer when it will be everyone making less than half a mil a year who will be suffering if they get back in power.
    1
  777. What a great idea! Kamala Harris, I hope you’re listening.
    1
  778. @YeTism You didn’t watch the video, did you? Don’t speak if you don’t have any information.
    1
  779.  @Laura-bi5dc  Our CONGRESS needs to fight this tooth and nail, and ALL of our government officials. Our country is not going to survive this presidency.
    1
  780.  @janel.8921  If they keep trying to ruin us, we might well become dangerous, whatever that might mean.
    1
  781. Well said.
    1
  782. I honestly don’t understand how they get away with public funding for Christian schools, not to mention government funding for the anti-choice “clinics” where they’re allowed to lie to women about abortion, but do nothing to actually help them, but just trick them into having the baby, especially by delaying them until they’re too many weeks along to get an abortion. If I were a taxpayer in one of the states that did that, I’d sue the state government immediately, because it’s unconstitutional.
    1
  783. And yet, news is coming out in these red states that women are literally dying because they aren’t allowed to get the reproductive healthcare they need in time to save their lives. How many women need to die to get these laws changed?
    1
  784. ⁠ @dominicfucinari1942  Because of them, we’ve learned that we can never, ever, underestimate a Republican’s, or a conservative Supreme Court Justice’s ability to sink to the lowest standard of ethics imaginable.
    1
  785.  @Vector_Ze  Definitely. They both have to go ASAP. They’re both destroying our country.
    1
  786.  @tanyanguyen3704  Usually stillborns are taken to the hospital incinerator. I used to have a nurse friend whose job it was to take them there.
    1
  787. What’s next, Thom? I have a feeling they (esp. the religious fanatics) will be bringing back Witch Hunts, Trials and Burnings (or at least some form of execution). Remember that a lot of Witch Trials in the 16th and 17th Centuries involved women who were midwives and herbalists who could give a woman a remedy for pregnancy. Even Benjamin Franklin wrote a guide for remedies, including a couple of herbs that could “restore menses”, which means, of course, abortion. I just read a wonderful book on the history of the Witch Trials called Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici, and I highly recommend it. The way we seem to be going back in time socially, I don’t think I would be too surprised to see that happen. Did you know that the Witch Trials lasted nearly 200 years (!),and they hanged and burned (along with tortured and killed in other ways) around 200,000 women? I know if I were a woman of reproductive age, married or not, and I lived in a Red state, I would definitely move to a Blue state (in fact, I did, in my 20s, even though this insanity was years in the future at that time, and Roe v. Wade was still law).
    1
  788. There were so many things he said and did that should have finished him, yet he is still walking free (for now). I have long wondered just what it would take to finally put him away, not to mention turn his voters against him. But they’re a lost bunch. If the women of his base didn’t turn away from him after he said he grabs women by the pu**y, along with all the assault and rape charges, there’s no hope for them, and that was before he was elected. . It makes me think a massive heart attack will be the only thing that will get rid of him. I hate to be “that kind” of person, but I look forward fondly to that day.
    1
  789.  @t2k777  Whatever made you think women want to take everything you worked your whole lives for? Women just want equal pay and respect at the same jobs you have. If they had equal pay, they’d feel no need for financial assistance from men (ah, maybe that’s what you’re really afraid of, women needing you?). Men with attitudes like yours are what women find not worth the hassle. I suppose you think that if you invite a woman out for dinner you’re not expecting something from her in return? I imagine you expect her to not only pay for her own meal (and when you invite someone out for dinner, you’re expected to pay. It has always been that way), but you also expect her to give you her body in return. Does that sound like a fair deal to you? So, what’s in it for her? A steak in return for everything you want?
    1
  790. And without allegiance to any President or other politician.
    1
  791. There are lots of good videos on YouTube about it. I especially like Leeja Miller’s version of it along with Thom Hartmann’s. You can also Google it, but I have to warn you, it’s about 900 pages long. It’s very, very frightening.
    1
  792. Dean is great!
    1
  793. Putin was definitely one of the puppet masters.
    1
  794. Trump also said that Biden will get us into World War TWO! Yet he has the unmitigated gall to say Biden is suffering a diminished mental capacity.
    1
  795. Run for office. Any office.
    1
  796. No.
    1
  797.  @71suns But he’d have to climb up out of the basement to ask her, and she might be busy making him a sammich.
    1
  798.  @respectamerica2382  No, because Biden’s going to beat him again.
    1
  799.  @bobbafett1849 Exactly. They ushered in “The dumbing down of America” as policy in order to make it easier to manipulate the public. It, sadly, has been pretty successful.
    1
  800.  @elainethomas2765  Yes, “Advantage” is a lie.
    1
  801.  @LLewis-vu9qf  Stockholm Syndrome as created by the Patriarchy.
    1
  802.  @LiRoSo123 And it’s punishment for breaking “rules” that they, themselves, make up based on their own concept of “Christian morality” (ignoring that Separation of Church and State thing). They want to punish young women and girls for not being “pure” when the majority of abortions are done because of fetal unviability or maternal health complications. Or at least that’s their “stated” reason, when in actuality, they’re so afraid that People of Color will outnumber white people in the U.S. in a few years, and they want to also make sure they have enough workers in the future now that population growth has stopped and is going down.
    1
  803.  @dalemihocik4732  They’re so indoctrinated that they’ll think everything is better for them even as it’s worse.
    1
  804.  @hmao4466 No it’s not. There are many White women who, because of their “Christian” beliefs, accept that status, which is ignorance, not intelligence.
    1
  805.  @ellasmommy9278 Yes, but good little Christian girls also give into their boyfriends, or get raped and become pregnant from it, and they also get abortions. But no one talks about that, except for occasional statistics in the news.
    1
  806. We absolutely MUST keep our eyes and ears open for the subtle changes, and start figuring out what each of us is going to do, and how to organize, to combat the advancement when it becomes obvious to a tipping point of Americans. Talk to your friends and relatives (those who will listen). I’m hoping the Jan. 6 Commission findings will wake up a sufficient number of people, but I’m not holding my breath. Some people are already too enmeshed in the Fox “News”/trump rhetoric to wake up until everything they’ve ever held dear vanishes. Even then, I’m sure many of them will still believe everything is just fine, as do many Russian citizens. Just vote and stay aware.
    1
  807.  @belladonna5012 It’s much more like Democratic Socialism in Europe, which is more balanced.
    1
  808.  @ross.venner  True, but that’s primarily because they killed and aborted all the girl babies for a generation or two with their “one-child” policy. Yes, they needed to slow down the huge population growth rate, but they didn’t see the consequences for the men with that particular policy (how could they not have seen that??). A lot of men still seem to think they’d be happier in a male-only society, but that’s not how the animal world works, and we humans are just a species of animal.
    1
  809. Yes, the GOP, or actually, the christofascists, DO want to punish women for enjoying sex! They always have, but now they’ve sold the idea to the GOP in exchange for votes.
    1
  810.  @fleurettemvangulden7883  Funny, but apparently there were plenty of funds for all the recounts in 2020.
    1
  811. Oh, I hope you don’t do that. I have decided that I will leave the U.S. if, for some insane reason (like the first time) trump wins the presidency again, in which case he’ll turn this country into a dictatorship. New Zealand is definitely my first choice even if I have to ask for asylum. I’ll keep track of how your election goes. Good luck!
    1
  812. And never mind that he was one of the top dogs in Congress involved in the insurrection on January 6. How is it that the Congressional TRAITOR is still sitting in Congress, and even after he skipped out on a subpoena? Why hasn’t Jordan been arrested for that? You or I would be.
    1
  813.  @kaceykelly7222  I’m with you there. I’m looking into a nice place in Switzerland where they’ll send you on your way whenever you’re ready. And I am so very close to being ready!
    1
  814. I’m reminded of when the Supreme Court threw out the Voting Rights Act, saying “they (the southern states) don’t do that stuff anymore”, and those states ramped up the cheating the next day.
    1
  815. I think I saw the same video. He wants us to be a “Christian nation”, and with women subservient to their husbands. Ugh! I’m done with these guys, too. They see The Handmaid’s Tale as a blueprint, not as a warning. They fantasize about themselves all being Commanders, in charge of everything. Those days are gone, boys, and we’re NOT going to allow you to bring them back.
    1
  816.  @sarahdawn7075 Better.
    1
  817. How interesting; I just started reading that book earlier today. (I hadn’t watched the video yet)
    1
  818. I think Rupert Murdoch should be stripped of his American citizenship and exiled on the basis of promoting treason.
    1
  819. Yup, the party of “family values”. Riiiiight.
    1
  820. And Mitch McConnell can go at the top of that list, then Bill Barr.
    1
  821. The good ol’ originator of fascism. And I’d like to see him end up the same way. (And I am Not suggesting or calling for that. Just stating my opinion.).
    1
  822. But many in our government are, and that includes Leon Skum. (Just rearrange those letters). And the 🍊💩 is happy to go along for the ride because he is also one at heart. Shitler is his ideological hero.
    1
  823. Insanity!
    1
  824.  @normaowens7569  Well, a lot of women need what is medically termed “abortion” when it is not to get rid of an unwanted pregnancy, like removing remaining fetal tissue after a miscarriage when the fetus has already died, and has already been mostly expelled, and women are literally dying because of it. Also, the removal of an ectopic pregnancy (a fetus growing in a different part of the body than the uterus *the womb), usually in the fallopian tube, which connects the uterus to the ovary. That will always kill the mother if not removed, and the fetus as well, but it is still called “abortion”, and therefore illegal. We need to get the medical industry to change the terminology of those procedures that are not to end unwanted pregnancies but to save the woman’s life.
    1
  825.  @charlottewenzel2005 That will get you jailed now.
    1
  826. Ladies, it’s time to get out in the streets and get your opinions known.
    1
  827. I know what I will be doing if trump loses….I will be dancing in the streets!
    1
  828. That’s the sad truth!
    1
  829.  @gdavidelliott  These guys found a couple of Bible verses to cherry-pick to support their claims, like “I shall not allow a woman to teach me” (or something like that) to support their self-serving claims, just like they do with the abortion issue. Funny, I had a little bit of a Christian background (in my teens), so I have just enough knowledge to cherry-pick for myself to counter some of their claims, at least on abortion.
    1
  830. Sounds like they work from the same playbook as the religious nut cults, except through video games. Making you feel like you belong is an age-old, sure fire trick.
    1
  831. Minimum 5-year sentence sounds wonderful, but does ANYBODY here really think trump will ever see the inside of a prison, or even jail? These DAs or lawyers have already told trump, several days ago, that if he doesn’t quit threatening or saying nasty things about, or doxxing the judges, lawyers or jurors, he’ll be arrested and held until the trial, yet he’s still out there doing just those things. Everyone is enraged about it, but he’s still out in the sun. I know it’s unprecedented to jail a former President, but, if they don’t, it just proves there’s a two-tier justice system and the law is toothless, at least for “important” people. Which will only give him or the next guy to do even worse in the future.
    1
  832.  @damonwashington  I’m just getting old and it has changed.
    1
  833.  @8arrows  But even just four years is long enough for them (him) to destroy our country, and, especially, our democracy.
    1
  834.  @eddybrevet6816  Well, my point was that fear is at the root of, or forms the basis of other human negative behaviors. And, yes, I’m very aware of the fear of sex and the negative consequences of that. Fortunately, there is a way of getting past that and enjoying life more. 😊
    1
  835.  @admiralfrancis8424  I don’t understand it either, except that women might be considered competition, although we’re not because we usually aren’t vying for the attention of the same kind of man. I used to be a hairdresser and worked with quite a few gay men (and women). Some of the gay men were completely antagonistic toward me, but the majority were really great friends, and lots of fun.
    1
  836. Didn’t Congress also make the decision to use and invoke Section 3 of the 14th Amendment when they first put it into the Constitution after the Civil War? And didn’t they also, at that time, use and invoke it by not allowing Confederate generals and others to run for, or be sworn into Congress? I can’t understand this argument that Congress hasn’t “legalized” it by using it. And Section 3 does NOT say that it stands ONLY for that period of time in our history or ONLY for Southern Confederates. There is NO time limit in it, and it seems to me to be one of the most clear and unambiguous portions of the whole Constitution.
    1
  837. Because they’re the real snowflakes ❄️ Republican men are also the passive ones, which is why they have to strut their toxic masculinity in order to look tough. It’s amazing how many people they’re willing to hurt in order to look like “real men”. Sorry for your loss.
    1
  838. The Koch brothers started “the dumbing down of America” by speaking in Ronald Reagan’s ear. They, along with Phyllis Schafley (for a different reason: the stopping of the passage of the ERA), will always have a special place in he** as far as I’m concerned. At least, two out of three are gone now, but they have always had “pop-ups” to take their places. So the attempted destruction of our country continues. We have got to stop people like these. Kudos to this woman and her group for giving books to children. There is no better gift for them and for our country’s future.
    1
  839. Or…thought.
    1
  840. Adam Kinzinger is asking the exact questions I’d be asking…”Where are the Democrats? Why aren’t they fighting back against these unconstitutional, illegal rules?”
    1
  841.  @GladiusOstentis  I think that was Ronald Reagan. And you know what? Thom Hartmann here even told us that The Heritage Foundation, yes, the same ones who wrote Project 2025, had a similar plan for Reagan in 1981, and I think he (Thom) said that Reagan implemented 80% of it, and that’s how and why the “dumbing down of America” began. These guys know that the less educated a person is, the easier it is to manipulate them, as was really borne out in this past election (and in many of the comments).
    1
  842.  @williamking3301  And that is why they’re so big on the Zionists (and why trump moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, at their behest), because they actually want Armageddon to happen soon (and they’ll be happy if they can help bring it about) because they want to be raptured up to heaven. I’m not looking for any Armageddon, but I’d be happy to see them all raptured, or “disappeared” so we don’t have to deal with them anymore.
    1
  843. Just like all those Tradwives on YouTube. As well as Phyllis Schlafley in the 70s. That one monster woman shut down the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment in 1973 telling women they should stay home and cook for their husbands, while she took herself through law school and became a lawyer then left her husband to take care of himself (with, of course, plenty of help from the maid), while she flew all around the country telling all these women to contact their representatives to kill the ERA, and even had them bake cookies and loaves of bread for the congressmen! If we came out in force For women’s rights, we could do even more!
    1
  844. Just like Phyllis Schlafly did in 1973 when she managed to shoot down the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.
    1
  845.  @robinantonio8870  I use the motto: “Follow the Money” whenever I have a question about something going on in politics, and at least 99% of the time I find the answer there.
    1
  846. We need to show up in overwhelming numbers in EVERY election! From Presidential to Midterms right down to school boards, because that’s how much the Republicans are infiltrating every level of office. We have to turn this ship around NOW, before it’s too late. We must remember what happened in Germany in the 1930s, and NOT let that happen here, because it can, and will, if we do not stop it - now, and in every election going forward.
    1
  847. The Church (Catholic, evangelical, or any other) should NOT have lobbyists or give politicians money to pass various laws that conform to their religious beliefs. I thought that’s what the First Amendment was all about. Separation of Church and State. Did we not have an agreement that we would not tax them if they, as an organization, stayed out of politics? Tax the hell out of them (pun intended) to remind them they have a choice to stop messing with our politics, or pay. Actually, they should not have that choice. Just pass laws keeping them out of politics. We have too many people here who subscribe to so many different beliefs that one religion, the Christian religion, should not be the one making the rules for everyone.
    1
  848.  @dominicfucinari1942 They think they can have their cake and eat it, too. THEY are malicious, and do not see women as actual people, humans.
    1
  849. Same.
    1
  850.  @Kyle-g5u  Which won’t work for those of us who are disabled.
    1
  851.  @joca6282  Like most of us could even manage to work the jobs that most immigrants do. Pictures an elderly disabled woman out in the fields, in the sun and heat, picking your produce, or cutting up sides of beef in a meat processing plant. Not going to work.
    1
  852.  @pidgenki  It’s killing PEOPLE. And there will be more dying, especially with all his cuts to USAID, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, etc.m not to mention how some of those “criminals” in El Salvador will probably get unalived in their prison, as well as Gaza, etc., etc., etc. Just like with COVID, people start dying every time he gets into office, so, this time absolutely has to be the last, for him, and for us.
    1
  853.  @michah7214 What is? Are you talking about the Equal Rights Amendment? It is not, and never has been entered into the Constitution. It was first written and presented to Congress in 1923, yes, 101 years ago, and it has been brought again before Congress EVERY year since then, but it has always been shot down by Congress. Also, the ONLY right women have in the Constitution is the right to vote, but, apparently, they think they can remove it because there was one other Amendment in the Constitution that got removed, and that was the Prohibition Act, so that gives them their “precedent” requirement.
    1
  854. It really started speeding up and getting crazy with the rise of the Tea Party. Umm, thanks, Ted Cruz? Let’s not forget the role he played in this.
    1
  855.  @opossumlvr1023 Yeah, that really worked out great for the Germans and Germany in the late 30s and early 40s, huh? Think about that.
    1
  856.  @billw5189 I agree, but, unfortunately, I can’t go into a bank and ask them nicely, using my language, to give me a few thousand dollars cash without some form of trading unit.
    1
  857. And a lot of the small number who commit voter fraud on purpose are most often Republicans.
    1
  858. They want austerity for us, yet billions of dollars disappear every year in the Pentagon budget.
    1
  859. Are they going to have all girls over 12 and young women pee on a pregnancy test (and be doing it while some cop watches her??) at a traffic stop upon entry or exit at the state line? This is going beyond barbaric. Never doubt that Patriarchy still rules, and punishes, in our country, and now it’s getting worse than ever.
    1
  860. I think she is but she’s just not talking about it. I’m hoping for a “surprise”.
    1
  861. And workers.
    1
  862. I absolutely agree with you. We’re never “gone”, we cannot cease to exist at our base conscious, or energy level, only our physical bodies “die”. I recommend a book called The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot. I never understood anything about physics before reading that, but I was always interested in “things we can’t see or touch” (as in the spiritual realm) because I’ve, throughout my lifetime, had a number of “unexplainable” experiences, but he (Michael Talbot) explains how it all makes sense when you understand even a little bit about quantum physics. It was first published in 1991, so it’s a few decades old, but I found it fascinating, and it explained a lot about those “unexplainable” things. And I agree our loved ones do come to visit us (and so do our pets), and, if we’re paying attention at all, we somehow “feel” them. I know we can communicate with them. I’m sorry for your loss of his physical presence, but he’s still there and checking in on you (in a good way, of course).
    1
  863. May God turn him into a pillar of salt!
    1
  864. Most atheists know more about the Bible and the teachings of Jesus because most were raised and indoctrinated by the church. They are the ones who actually read the Bible and know what a load of mythology and hypocrisy it is, whereas the self-professed “Christians” only know what their pastor tells them, which is his own twisted cherry-picked idea of what it says to keep his “flock” in line and donating.
    1
  865. On top of this, I just watched a video last night about how trump was laundering untold millions of dollars for Russian oligarchs through his properties all through the 90s, and likely beyond. He has always been such a lousy businessman that the only way he could dig himself out of his financial losses has been money laundering and huge donations by foreign entities and, of course, his blinded-by-love (and extreme ignorance) base of fans. He has always been essentially a mob boss, completely without scruples or concern for anyone other than himself. To save our country, we must make absolutely sure that he, and any of his supporters, especially those in Congress, can never, ever hold office again.
    1
  866. It was also reported quite a few years ago that pet birds will die pretty quickly in households that use Teflon.
    1
  867.  @cyrilabraham1776  Not to mention he’s also hurting other countries all around the world, and mostly our allies and friends.
    1
  868.  @dominicfucinari1942  I like the nickname “Talibangelicals”.
    1
  869. They’re trying to find an “alternate route” for their reasoning since Biden never tried to overthrow the government.
    1
  870. And how many more women, who make up 51% of the U.S. population, are going to have to die? I’m guessing “they” don’t want them to be 51% anymore, so they want to reduce them to about 30% to keep them under control. Well, as in China, there are going to be a lot more lonely men in this country. But then, they really don’t care about that either.
    1
  871. We’ve watched it in real history.
    1
  872. It is already happening, and was reported on (by NBC) just a few days ago.
    1
  873. Isn’t it interesting how both times trump “got elected” (I still think he cheated, at least in 2024, and now evidence is coming out) many people started dying. In his first term, it was because he ignored Covid for too long, and now he is ramping it up with cutting the vaccines as well as allowing many people to starve because of cutting Medicare and Medicaid, and, if he cuts Social Security, many, many more, esp, elderly, people will end up dying from starvation in the streets. I’ve heard that his father always told him, that to succeed you had to be a “killer”, and I think trump took it to heart, literally, not just metaphorically. I think he derives a feeling of power knowing that people actually die (even children!) because of his actions.
    1
  874. Unfortunately, the majority of the Supreme Court now consists of far-right Christian/Catholic religious conservatives, and they’re passing laws consistent with their religious values. We have to rectify this somehow.
    1
  875.  @JV-sl9uy  I meant they are really good at being “ballzy”. They have taken on state houses that display the 10 Commandments on the building by suing to place a statue of Baphomet in front of the building, and they WON! They legally, and very publicly, challenge separation of church and state violations while most people who believe in that separation simply make comments. I totally love their methods, especially as they have done everything legally.
    1
  876. My greatest fear. That will be the end of our democracy, and we will have “President trump” for the rest of his unnatural life, just like Putin and Erdogan did. (May it be very, very short, please). I cringe when I think who he’ll appoint as his successors, Don, Jr.? Gaachk! Ivanka? Pleeeze no! Iwill leave this country I have loved so. Hubby has no desire to move anywhere, but if that happens, I will go by myself if I have to. I would prefer to move to New Zealand, but they have very strict immigration rules now, plus I’m elderly and disabled, so my only chance would be to apply as a refugee or ask for asylum. Otherwise, it would be off to Mexico, which I absolutely adore anyway. Maybe I could get a job as an intern archaeologist assistant on some of their incredible archaeological sites, like Teotihuacán. And the immersion in the language and culture would help my language skills greatly. That would give me great joy, whereas staying here under a fascistic regime would probably make me start thinking about offing myself. I would have to go somewhere else, almost anywhere else.
    1
  877. While I’m not a big believer of the Bible, but, if I were, I’d have to say that, yes, Donald Trump was in the Bible…as the Antichrist. I’d say he fairly neatly fits that description.
    1
  878.  @wuffy68  And it’s not just the number of people who didn’t vote: it’s starting to come to light how trump, with the help of Elon, actually cheated and rigged the election. I recommend a video (in YouTube) by Marc Thompson where he has a guest, Nathan Taylor from Election Truth Alliance on. This is a new group who are studying the tabulators of the election machines, and they’re showing some incredible numbers in statistics, with really understandable graphs and charts (and, believe me, I know very little about statistics, but even I could understand it easily). Also, a documentary (free on YouTube) called Vigilantes, Inc. by Greg Palast, showing how millions of voters were disenfranchised just before the election without their knowledge, until they went to vote. Both show tha Kamala actually won, or would have win without the rigging.
    1
  879.  @rosamorrissette7936  The wealthy always have access to abortion and the funds to send their girlfriends/mistresses to another state or country. They’ve always done that. One law for The People, other “rules” for them. How I wish a bunch of women would came out to say, provably, that trump has paid for their abortions. Since he’s their “god”, I wonder if that would change their minds. Nah, probably not as they’ll just continue with their excuse to “save babies” because it’s really about controlling women, and nothing to do with their religion or the babies.
    1
  880. Exactly. They have even said out loud that they need to keep the birth rate up so that they’ll have more workers in the future. (Because immigrants don’t count, right? They only want white workers.)
    1
  881.  @donaldwalstead9977  You’re kidding, right? How do you think trump was convicted of 34 felonies, as well as adjudicated for sexual assault, by JURIES OF HIS PEERS, selected by both the lawyers for the prosecution as well as his OWN lawyers and NOT by the judge? So, yes, it was for things he has done.
    1
  882.  @ruoazquara6070  Please tell that to the 10-year old girl who is raped by her father, uncle or family friend. When she says “no”, do you think her daddy just says, “Okay, I won’t”? Grow TF up.
    1
  883.  @ruoazquara6070  And yet it happens regularly.
    1
  884. If they think there was an uproar by women over them killing Roe v. Wade along with women turning out in droves to vote against Republicans in the elections since then, they won’t be ready to even take in the number of women who are going to get out in the streets over their inability to vote! Start planning for it, Ladies. We will make the first Women’s March when trump got elected look like a handful of women hanging out in the park. Remember the quote “In Numbers Too Big To Ignore”! There will be MILLIONS of women marching in just about every state, and larger cities, and very many in smaller cities.
    1
  885. Some men have always hit their wives, and girlfriends, in every state and country throughout history.
    1
  886. Very good analogy! The battered wives also often say, “But I LOVE him”, (and that’s exactly what one battered wife said to me when she confided in me), like that makes it worth all the damage he inflicts on them, and that’s exactly what the MAGAts are saying, because they somehow think that he loves them, too. And they will continue to “love” him even when he starts destroying their own lives. My only hope is that enough of them will have finally had enough one of these days,and turn on him. It only takes a relatively small percentage of them to turn on him before he will come crashing down. But, of course, he will have done so much damage to all of us, including our country and our democracy before that happens.
    1
  887.  @lifeofdan9938  The system is NOT “broken”. In fact, it is well-known in the government as the single most effective, efficient and well-run governmental organization. All those negative things you’ve heard are lies by the Republican Party to make you think it’s in trouble and only they can fix it, when they really just want to steal all the money that we working (and formerly working) people paid into all our lives. Sure, it takes a little out of each paycheck (and your employer also has to match that payment for each and every employee), so it is an insurance program for your old age. I’m a 75-year old disabled senior, and it is now my only income, but you wanna take that away from me and leave me destitute? How will I pay for my medications? How will I pay for my food? Since I paid into it for over 30+ years of working, I should just starve? The plan has been working very well for many years, and since what I get is MY money, I am absolutely entitled to it, because it was a promise made to me by my government. You can take it away from me over my cold dead body, but not before that.
    1
  888. Exactly.
    1
  889. Ironic, isn’t it, that the same people who defend the shooter saying it’s a good thing to curb overpopulation are the same people who want to force women to have babies?
    1
  890.  @latentconcert5626  And get them the hell out of our political system!
    1
  891. @GH-kt5fe Oh, please. Thom is very smart, well-read and has compassion for people. And he spreads truths instead of lies, and care instead of hate.
    1
  892.  @AudraRamos  Exactly. Those like me.
    1
  893. Also, restore the votes of all those who were unjustly and illegally disenfranchised, especially in states like Georgia. Someone estimated that there were 2-4 million people around the country who were knocked off the voter list, and some who never even knew it.
    1
  894. And the gays and the gypsies.
    1
  895. This is the foundation of a fascist government. Or a mob boss. Same thing.
    1
  896. I agree, and they should start with this most recent shooting for two reasons: 1) these were very young children, about 9 years old, and 2) they were white kids in a church school. Only in this way will these people be able to imagine their own children getting shot instead of “othering” different kinds of kids, like older teenagers, Latino or public school kids. Bring it home to them. Make it personal. Make it stop. Please.
    1
  897.  @thomasschafer7268  Yes, you could. It was patently obvious.
    1
  898.  @stephenmccagg  We’re only terrified of laws that are literally killing women. trump is too much of a joke to be terrified of, but only his policies that hurt Americans.
    1
  899.  @yvonneplant9434  Yes, Bread and Circuses.
    1
  900. Just like Kavanaugh and Coney-Barrett both said “Roe v. Wade is settled law”. Guess they figured they had room to “unsettle” it. The Republicans won’t care; they traffic in lies. It’s their go to standard. In fact, in private, they’ll probably give him an award. But, if he ever gets recommended for a seat on the Supreme Court, he can kiss that vote goodbye, at least by whatever number of Democrats are in the committee at that time.
    1
  901.  @Theomite  I love your term “heroically opportunistic”. That is how libertarians see themselves.
    1
  902. “It was an all-male panel”. Of course it was. I can’t believe this is the 21st Century.
    1
  903. Did he really? What day was that? Please tell me he said it on Christmas! That might have tipped off some of his evangelical followers that he really doesn’t know much about Christianity!
    1
  904. Republicans have done this because they know they can’t win unless they cheat., and they certainly don’t want The People to have ANY power.
    1
  905. That’s on purpose. They don’t want the voters to actually understand it, so it makes them easier to manipulate.
    1
  906.  @gandydancer823  And one of the top leaders was the father of Charles and David Koch, super right wing rich guys who greatly influenced Ronald Reagan, and were responsible for the “dumbing down of America” philosophy (gotta make the masses dumb so they’re easy to control), and have been involved with many right wing politicians ever since (one of them died a couple of years ago, but his son follows in his footsteps). They really pushed our country backward.
    1
  907. But Michelle has no interest in being President.
    1
  908. Yes! The next big nationwide march will be on Saturday, April 19. Be there!
    1
  909.  @aylbdrmadison1051  Yup. He’s awesome.
    1
  910. With NONE of them being funded by super rich people or corporations with political motives.
    1
  911. Sadly, we thought that after they overturned Roe, but it just wasn’t what I had hoped for. But, when they try to take our right to vote away, as some are already talking about, I think we’ll see huge protests.
    1
  912. Is there a point you’re trying to make with that comment?
    1
  913. ⁠ @carlyar5281 Well said!
    1
  914.  @rjung_ch  That’s a different subject entirely, and has nothing to do with the right to die with dignity.
    1
  915.  @heliosphere9789  Can you tell us about that law? What is the wording, and under what circumstances is it allowed? Thank you for bringing that up.
    1
  916. I have a feeling she’s not going to put up with him too much longer. She’s already not looking “amused” by what he says when she’s on stage with him. Kind of a Melania vibe, but JD’s not ever going to be that rich.
    1
  917. And that’s pretty much what the 🍊 💩 has in mind to do.
    1
  918. Probably, at least partly, it’s because rich, powerful, “war-horny” (great term, by the way!) [white] men own and control almost all the media in the country.
    1
  919. Yeah, I’m still pretty pis**d about that, too. Always will be.
    1
  920. Yes. Absolute BS.
    1
  921.  @sccxvelo  Yup, Reagan really got it going downhill fast. Nixon got a start on it with his “Southern Strategy” to give “deals” to the Southern Baptists and the evangelicals in exchange for their vote (which is exact what trump did for the evangelicals: he promised them he would do whatever he could to overturn Roe in exchange for their vote, and that’s how he won), but Reagan had the Koch brothers and the Heritage Foundation whispering in his ear, advising him on policy. Yes, that’s the same Heritage Foundation that wrote Project 2025. They had a Mandate for Leadership (which is the name for Project 2025) playbook, and they had a version for 1981, which Reagan was happy to adopt. That’s when he began serious cuts to Education, which became what we colloquially call “the dumbing down of America”. They wanted to do that because they knew that people with lower education levels are more easily manipulated. It was spectacularly successful, and that’s how we got trump and MAGA. And now Heritage wants to completely do away with the Department of Education. They are, of course, mostly Christian Nationalists. And The Federalist Society is a separate, Catholic, Uber-conservative, and equally scary group which I consider the “judicial version” of The Heritage Foundation, as they are the group (headed by Leonard Leo) that picks a list of the most conservative judges in the country to hand to whichever conservative President is in office when there is an opening on the Supreme Court, which is where trump got the names of the three he picked. Both organizations have had a well-oiled machine in place for quite a few years, and I find their machinations terrifying. And that is why we absolutely cannot allow trump to get back in the White House.
    1
  922. This is insanity.
    1
  923. It will be the ONLY ideology in the U.S. if they win - or overthrow- the election. Look up Project 2025 to see their plans. Leeja Miller, a lawyer, has a very good YT video about it.
    1
  924. Just saying, “Republicans want the menstrual records of women” gives me such chills, along with Handmaid’s Tale vibes. Yeuccch. 🤮 That kind of control is a serious no-go for me. Women would be afraid of talking about any menstruation symptoms with their doctors. I’m so worried about the future for young women these days, which is why we have to elect ALL Republicans OUT of office in November (along with all the other reasons, of course). They and their ideas are unacceptable for this country.
    1
  925. And we are on the razor’s edge of losing our democracy RIGHT NOW. Next month’s elections could very well irrevocably change our nation’s history. And even if we hold off the destruction of our democracy for this year, 2024 could finish it off. THIS is the time for action; we cannot be complacent, or even “hopeful”. It’s on us now because it’s now abundantly clear that our government and elected officials are not going to step in, or up, to save us.
    1
  926. And we also have to put a lot of blame on the media that just parrots what the President says instead of telling the facts.
    1
  927. They need to get a group of really good psychologists who specialize in cult deprogramming as advisors for content in their radio stations and other media because the MAGA crowd is so deeply programmed in the right wing, fascist messaging that anything that sounds even remotely “woke” to them is going to immediately trigger backlash. They need someone who can say some specific words and phrases that will make them at least consider another point of view. If you just go in with things like, “you’ve been lied to” or “Democrats are really on your side” that’s going to immediately cause them to shut down and potentially provoke violence, and that’s one thing we simply can’t afford more of. They’re going to have to use some really subtle and sophisticated messaging, at least in the beginning.
    1
  928. But Congress won’t pass “the Boyfriend Law’’ (I think that’s the name of it) where a domestic partner who has made threats or has committed actual violence to either his partner or former partner can’t own a gun. Nor will they renew VAWA, the Violence Against Women Act, nor even put the Equal Rights Amendment in the Constitution. Looks like men’s rights will trump women’s rights every time, probably at least for the next fifty years. I can only imagine that men are so insecure that they’re scared to death of women, and absolutely terrified of giving them ANY rights. (At least we still have the right to vote, so we’d better use it as often as we can).
    1
  929.  @kellydalstok8900  He probably doesn’t care because he probably also thinks women always lie about rape. He’s a complete misogynist.
    1
  930. Yes, the Democrats are definitely fighting each other, just like how they kept Bernie out. He should have won in 2016, and now we’re paying the price. I sometimes imagine how much of a better place our country would be right now if he had won in 2016 and 2020. It, would be, hopefully “trumpless”! We’ll be paying for that mistake for a long time.
    1
  931. What a shame he didn’t succumb to his own case of Covid during his first term in office. Damn that “best healthcare in the country.” Too bad all those people who had Covid didn’t have access to the same. It sure would have saved this country a whole lot of grief and pain. And we could have handled Mike Pence. At least he still believes in the Constitution.
    1
  932. The GOP knows they can’t win if they don’t cheat, and they will do ANYTHING to win.
    1
  933. I believe The Federalist Society is the group theoretically connected to Opus Dei. And especially Leonard Leo, head of the Federalist Society. And, of course, the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation are working together to bring off the big conservative takeover of the country.
    1
  934.  @keirfarnum6811  And because of Thom Hartmann, now we know. Thank you, Thom!
    1
  935. I did!
    1
  936.  @redfishhead1  Of course you do, yet you still have women literally dying because of your government’s policies.
    1
  937. Which is why they have never added the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution (even though 38 states have ratified it - thanks, Mitt Romney). Mainly, they knew that if they added the ERA they couldn’t have overturned Roe v. Wade. And if they could do that, what other meager rights we have could they take away? Voting? I have even heard that one or two members of Congress have expressed the idea of taking women’s right to vote away. I always say that we saw The Handmaid’s Tale as a warning; Republicans saw it as a blueprint.
    1
  938. Is JD Vance the new Anthony Comstock?
    1
  939. Not in my city! While I’m liberal, I’ve always found our newspaper to be conservative. In fact, I quit reading our newspaper many years ago. But then, my particular city, in California, no less, used to be quite conservative, but it has been moving leftward in recent years. (BTW, it’s San Diego)
    1
  940. I’m sorry, Thom, but calling DeSantis “eccentric” is a huge insult to eccentricity. Some eccentrics are quite brilliant, interesting and creative. DeSantis is just an evil dictator-wannabe and weak whiner trying to look tough and failing miserably.
    1
  941.  @unifiedvision999  Me too, but I’ve made it abundantly clear to my “spirit guides” that I’m not coming back here! Maybe another place that makes more sense, or to a time when humans have become rational, caring and intelligent, but not a moment before.
    1
  942.  @emsleywyatt3400  Same! I’m exactly in the same position, and while it’s been a wild ride, I’m ready to go at any moment. I’ve seen enough. I’m so glad I didn’t have children because I don’t think I could stand the worry I would have for them or their children. It’s bad enough that I have nephews and great-nieces and a great-nephew. I could see some of this coming from even back in the very late 60s, and certainly early 70s. Humans simply aren’t smart enough, overall, or caring enough, and far, far too greedy and selfish to avoid massive disaster.
    1
  943.  @AlfredLoomis-r2z  Well, for some, maybe, but not for all of us.
    1
  944.  @ey67  Nooooooooo! Not that! I can’t do this again.
    1
  945.  @RR-iq8ze  I dunno which it will be, China or Russia.
    1
  946.  @Mendaz Yes, the propaganda is, but the actual “American Dream” is DEAD, at least in America.
    1
  947.  @MartinJ-t7y  Seems to me he (trump) fits all the descriptions of the Antichrist, if you want to get biblical.
    1
  948.  @acknickulus  Having grown up in the South in the 60s and 70s, I understand your point only too well. However, at the same time, that was a period of great change and improvement, including Civil Rights, the attempt at Equal Rights for women (which still has not passed), and others. And people stopped hanging other people from trees. Unfortunately, there are many people who want to go back to the social practices of and before the Civil War, which is incomprehensible to me, I’ll take the 60s and 70s over that and our current situation any day (except for the issue you raised, of course). We were at, in some areas, on the trajectory for improvement, and now much of our society and government seems to have put us in reverse, and is putting their foot on the pedal, and I feel we are completely doomed.
    1
  949.  @unifiedvision999  It could be.
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  950.  @unifiedvision999  Nope, I’ve refused to come back here unless and until we’ve worked out those problems.
    1
  951.  @josebro352  Just think about how much fun it was to be in your 20s in the 70s. THAT, my friend, was fun, at least until the last third.
    1
  952.  @jamesvoller167  Why not? I’m actually curious why you say that. Do you think we’re going to destroy the planet? I can see that happening, but I keep hoping the extraterrestrials will show up and stop us from doing that. But I also know the likelihood of that happening.
    1
  953.  @GrandSolarEclipse  Where have you been?? Do you really not know?
    1
  954.  @caroljo420  Same.
    1
  955.  @stephenescamilla2129  Yup. I’m ready to go, anytime now.
    1
  956.  @Ichabods_Shadow  Oh, please!This mess isn’t all because of the Boomers. Even Reagan was pre-Boomer, and he started most of this. Look at how many millennials and Gen-whatevers who are MAGAts. Look at all the Republicans in Congress who are NOT Boomers, like Mike Johnson. He’s certainly no a Boomer. Leon Skum is not a Boomer. Quit trying to put everything bad on the Boomers. Do you have any idea how many of the Boomers marched regularly for the end of the Vietnam War, Civil Rights, Women’s Rights, and other rights?
    1
  957.  @donnastark906  I agree with the first part of what you said, but, sorry to tell you, Jesus is not coming back.
    1
  958.  @WorldConstruct So what have YOU done?
    1
  959. But they’re going to face it one day anyway (if that’s how things really happen on the “Other Side”).
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  960. Go, Granny, Go!
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  961. You’re absolutely right. I would also include women in that (not meaning to take anything away from Black people in the country. I just think we need to find a way to work together to right these wrongs). This has been (along with trump’s first term) the most racist, misogynistic, anti- woman (and, of course, anti-immigrant) administration I’ve ever seen, and I’m 75. I would also recommend Greg Palast’s documentary Vigilantes, Inc. (free on YouTube) discussing exactly what you brought up about the disenfranchisement of possibly 2 million voters using the old Jim Crow tactics.
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  962. I’m just amazed that these people are shocked at this allegation. Haven’t we always known this about trump? Or they just playing dumb? It’s about as well known as what Matt Gaetz was doing with teenage girls. I’m sure the Republicans will play dumb when it all comes out (if it “all” ever comes out). I can hear them now: “I had no idea our President did these things”, or “was capable of such vile things”. Give me a break! I remember hearing about what Trump was like since the early- to mid 1970s, and I was living in Florida! 🍿 And of course they won’t do anything about it. They’ll all be yukking it up with each other in their private offices, laughing with jealousy about what a “dog” Trump used to be, but, in their minds, that’ll be a compliment.
    1
  963. Revenge is starting to look good.
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  964.  @bruceneu8588  Exactly. But try to tell that to Congress. There were a couple of states that tried to rescind their ratification, but, as with any other vote, once it’s done it’s done. It even describes that in the Constitution. They find all sorts of niggly little excuses to keep women from being equal citizens. I believe they (Mitt Romney, et al) even conferred with SCOTUS about it, so we’re not likely to win with them, either, an least not the current SCOTUS. Even the noted brilliant mind and law professor Laurence Tribe even says it should be in the Constitution. There is a group of women saying that because it should have gone immediately into the Constitution that it IS constitutional law, but they’re not going to win that one. Someone even had a new Constitution printed up with it in there. The Twenty-eighth Amendment! I’m thinking about getting one, but it’s just too expensive for being a novelty.
    1
  965. See Project 2025. Thom has a good video on it.
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  966. I’ve always said they’ll make all the women pee on a pregnancy test stick to prove they’re not pregnant before they’ll allow them to cross the border. Folks, this is exactly what “dystopian” means.
    1
  967.  @SierraM973  What’s so scary is that so many of them are in Congress and in nearly every elected office in the country. We’re going to have to weed them ALL out (Vote!). Learn about Project 2025 (there are a number of YouTube videos about it. I especially like the ones by Leeja Miller and Thom Hartmann. It should wake you up and scare the socks off you at the same time. You can also download it on Google, but be warned, it’s about 900 pages long, which gives you an idea how deep and wide their plan goes, and they’re ready to implement it as soon as trump gets back into office, so we can’t EVER allow that to happen.
    1
  968. Exactly! They control everything.
    1
  969.  @brendaedwards8132  After hearing about Project 2025, it wouldn’t even matter if trump died tomorrow; they have all their next moves figured out. And it’s not just the rich people, either, it’s also all the GOP politicians.
    1
  970. I agree. They’re going to be out in force all over the country this election cycle, especially in red states. They have every intention of stealing this election. We have to stop them. Period.
    1
  971. Or “mental”, as in mental evolution.
    1
  972.  @3mountains307  That is great news! Congratulations!
    1
  973.  @wisecoconut5  That’s one of the reasons they’re outlawing abortion and lowering the marriage age.
    1
  974. They’re cockatoos.
    1
  975. The bottom line is that trump can NEVER be allowed to be President again, or hold any public office. He is a dictator wannabe, so we can’t ever give him the chance.
    1
  976. Thom, I just saw a news report that said Republican legislators in Tennessee are wanting to pass a bill that says any legislator in TN who votes against a trump policy can be arrested on a Class 3 felony. Could this be the start of locking up political opponents you were talking about? That’s just ridiculous, but, in this current political climate, it’s also, sadly, believable.
    1
  977. He’s already been impeached two or three times, and what came of that?! What they have to do after impeaching him is to get the U.S. Marshals to go into the White House and arrest him, drag him physically out of the building, if needed, and throw him in jail! Until that’s done, nothing will happen to him. I realize John Roberts screwed the pooch when he granted the 🍊💩 immunity, but he has been ignoring the laws when he has ICE agents arrest innocent people without Due Process and send then to gulags in a foreign country, so the least the Marshalls can do is grow a spine and follow the law by doing their job doing the same thing to him even before SCOTUS weighs in on it. Although, I think enough of the Justices currently on SCOTUS might be willing to uphold the Marshalls if they do an impeachment. They’re getting sick of his BS, too. And the impeachment is his due process!
    1
  978.  @SolidSiren  But are you happy to just roll over and allow the Republicans to always win by committing fraud, becoming dictators and dishonest scum? I get your point, but we need solutions! Ethics alone don’t seem to be working because they have none of those.
    1
  979. Yup. I’m imagining the Department of Defense, CIA and every other related organization is working overtime changing passwords, codes, code names and everything else that could have any connection whatsoever to the documents trump stole…and possibly, shared. They undoubtedly have to change out every one of their spies or informants here and in other countries. They also can’t have any real idea of which documents he shared and with whom, so they’ll have to change everything! We should bill trump for all the man hours involved in fixing what he’s done. The implications are enormous.
    1
  980. You can bet they’ll all vote no. Because that’s what they do. They don’t give a damn about anybody once they’re born. But, oh, that fetus is so very precious and must be saved even it it kills other people, esp. the mother. They often talk (especially on Mother’s Day) about how sacred and special and wonderful mothers are, but when it comes to actual childbirth, “let ‘em die”.
    1
  981. I love listening to Thom and Dean. Great knowledge and ideas here.
    1
  982.  @jamesbosworth4191  And like Ted Cruz when trump called his wife ugly. What was it…”dog face” or “horse face”? Something like that. I don’t understand how those women can continue to stay with a husband who won’t even defend her from public ridicule by another man, and a particularly nasty man at that.
    1
  983. The good news is that Rumeysa Ozturk, the Turkish woman who was imprisoned a few months ago in Louisiana after being “detained” by ICE agents was finally released yesterday or the day before! BTW, she has asthma, and she was only carrying one inhaler when she was detained, and they never allowed her to have more. She suffered a number of attacks while in prison, so we don’t know if she will have any long-term health effects because of that. These people are monsters! I’m not being a Pollyanna here, but I’m so worn down by ALL his actions that I need to take the “wins”, or good news wherever I can. It doesn’t mean I will ever stop fighting against him and his entire administration.
    1
  984.  @Carol-fx4uk He’d still be happy to take the Presidency.
    1
  985. After the opioid crisis made lots of news, the FDA made a judgement in around 2016 to make it more difficult to get pain meds so that, hopefully, people wouldn’t accidentally die from an overdose in their prescribed pain medication, which their patients weren’t doing anyway. It also didn’t occur to them that when people are in that much pain and can’t get their medicines, they’re much more likely to go to the “wrong” side of the street to buy anything that will relieve their pain, from any ol’ guy on the street. It has hurt millions of people in pain, and what they don’t understand is that prescribed pain pills are not the sameme thing as Fentanyl, which is much easier to overdose on because a doctor wasn’t there to tell the person how to use it safely. However, in about 2020, the FDA finally realized their mistake and issued a new statement, a correction, saying that it’s OK to give their patients their pain medication as prescribed as long as their doctor monitors their condition. Unfortunately, it seems the doctors did not read the report, and are not aware of the new recommendations, so they’re still freaking out over how dangerous opioids are. I enjoy taking a copy of the newer report (I just print it out after I Google it) to my doctors and explaining the update. They are usually pretty surprised when they find out that their “ordinary” patient actually knows about it, has the wherewithal to look it up and print it, and, finally, to be able to explain it to the doctor. I have gotten a couple of my medications reinstated that way, and I’ve got one more to go, at my next appointment next week.
    1
  986. Well, that IS the question. Just like who is he to just “take over Gaza” in order to build the “Riviera of the Middle East”?
    1
  987. “Democracy Dies In Darkness”. Jeff Bezos should remember the slogan of the Washington Post, or else take it off the masthead.
    1
  988. Says who? Or is that your Affirmation of the Day?
    1
  989.  @wendynine-sc2sv  Indeed.
    1
  990.  @sixtynine2856  Interesting that you, as an American citizen, will be happy to see another American citizen killed just because they don’t agree with you. That’s as un-American as you can get.
    1
  991.  @ped200014  That’s the reasoning behind why some men (and I’m talking about pastor Joel Webbon here) are talking about doing away with the 19th Amendment, which is the women’s right to vote, and if you are a woman, as it appears in your picture, don’t forget that it will include you as well. It won’t matter how non-emotional, non-infantile nor ridiculous you, personally seem to think you are, you’ll also lose your right to vote. We may get to see how emotional you might actually get if that happens.
    1
  992. We didn’t “allow” it the second time. He had “special electronic help” from Elon. Remember his quote right after the election was called? “Elon really knows those vote counting machines. And Elon “journeyed” to Pennsylvania, and now I’m your President.” He always thinks he’s so clever when he tells on himself. And, he has literally said, “It was rigged,” and “We rigged it”, more than once. Why would he say that if it weren’t true, and he was proud of it, and knew nobody would think he actually meant it, so he’d get away with it, which he has…so far. (But information is coming out. Be prepared!) He was actually telling the truth right there. It will all come out soon. Yeah, Kamala would have won by close to 4 million, (or even more) votes. Think about that! I know he’s been there a few months, but I hope we can still convince Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to take their rightful places in the White House! They will deserve a literal Triumphant March (Verdict style) to the White House. I will even fly to D.C. for that!
    1
  993. After they get rid of contraceptives, they’ll be taking away women’s right to vote (some are already pushing for it), then they’ll make women property of their husbands, just like our Founding Fathers allowed. After that, I suppose, they’ll be demanding that women wear hijabs or some other kind of face covering. They view The Handmaid’s Tale as a blueprint instead of a warning.
    1
  994. Could be Luigi?
    1
  995. Alex, I have a question for you. I remember very clearly receiving my first Social Security card in class when I was about 12 or 13 years old, and I also remember very clearly being told to sign my card on the back. So, I consider that a signed contract with my government, as well as a promise by my government to take a certain amount out of each paycheck so that when I got old (which I am now), I would get that money in monthly payments to support me in my non-working years. So, my question is: is that really a legal contract, and, if they (Republicans) shut it down, can I sue the government for breach of contract?
    1
  996.  @temperances320  Fortunately, there are still a number of states you can still go to (like here in California). But, you are very right in that it is a harbinger of bad things to come. This Supreme Court is not looking good for our future. There are a few of them who seem to be motivated by tearing down our wall between Church and State, as abortion is still thought of as a religious or moral matter by the “religious arm” of SCOTUS. And now some people (ultra religious men, of course) are talking about taking away women’s right to vote! (Because “men are the head of the household, so his vote alone should be the only important thing”). Over my dead body! The right to vote is the ONLY right women have in the Constitution now.
    1
  997. ⁠ @Merriwether-w8k A whole lot of us remember that. I remember the actual day they allowed women to get a credit card in her name, even if she were single. I was in my early to mid-twenties, and the day I read the news, I went straight to a bank to get a credit card, simply because I could, and also to develop a credit rating. I’m also old enough to remember the day when “The Pill” was legalized, even for unmarried wome, because, even though I was not sexually active at that time, it rocked my world. Before that, we knew that our (women’s) lifepath was pretty strictly as you will get married and you will have children (and bake apple pies), because there was really no other choice. On that day, for the first time in my life I realized that I now had a CHOICE of whether I wanted the "biologically dictated” life, or if I wanted to go to college and develop a career. And tben when Roe v. Wade was passed, I also realized that even if the Pill failed (as we were constantly reminded that it could) I would still be able to continue on the school and career path. it was a major life shift for women. and the Women's Rights Movement was born, and (tied with the Vietnam War), the Hippie Movement was also born). Those were heady, and exciting times!
    1
  998.  @kennixox262 Right. So women can, once again, become prisoners of their husbands, even if he’s abusive. Gotta keep the womenfolk barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen, serving their masters. Eff that. But they’re already talking about it, so if things keep going the way they are, it’ll probably happen. One guy, a pastor (of course) is also already talking about taking away women’s right to vote, which is the ONLY right women have in the Constitution. They definitely want to go back to the Father Knows Best days.
    1
  999.  @MoiraWillenov ALL of us, including almost every plant and animal on earth.
    1
  1000. Wow, Thom, your mother sounds like a pioneer among women for her time! You should write a book about her life. I’d buy it.
    1
  1001. Yes! And any other place she wants to be.
    1
  1002. And in the White House!
    1
  1003. And add the ones that are listed in the comments here.
    1
  1004. We have to impeach these bought Supreme Court Justices, AND shut down the Federalist Society.
    1
  1005.  @brucejones8749  I call it more like “pi$$ on economics”.
    1
  1006.  @RetireesHelpingRetirees  At the country’s expense.
    1
  1007.  @DavidStill-k8x  Yes, both Reagan and Schwarzenegger.
    1
  1008.  @tropics8407  And now they don’t want to allow ANY unions, so that they can underpay workers and demand too much from them.
    1
  1009. Absolutely! I don’t understand why he doesn’t have more subscribers.
    1
  1010.  @opossumlvr1023  And 51% of the U.S.
    1
  1011. Common sense isn’t common, just like the Moral Majority is neither.
    1
  1012. I’m ready for trump to go to Venezuela, or anywhere else, right now, and for good.
    1
  1013. Funny thing about the corporate media; almost none of them mentioned the fact that ALL the Republicans (but two) voted against putting the Equal Rights Amendment in the Constitution last week, either.
    1
  1014. Bravo to your caller! She is absolutely right, and I applaud her for having to courage to call into your program to talk about a subject that so many people don’t even want to think about, much less discuss.
    1
  1015. This is why they fought so hard against Bernie. He wanted to knock the mega-wealthy and the corporations down a bit to give more wealth and power to The People. Of course, they weren’t going to allow that to happen, so they dubbed him a “Socialist”, making sure people didn’t understand that Democratic Socialism is different than pure Socialism, and that a number of countries in Europe currently use this system, particularly in the Scandinavian countries, and it’s working very well for them, especially The People. I often think of how much better off we, as a country, would be now if he had been elected. He would have been like another FDR in many ways. We might even have avoided trump that way. If only.
    1
  1016. Because we are sending them most of their weapons which they are using to fight a Russian takeover, because that’s what friends and allies do, and trump thinks he has a right to control world events (he doesn’t) and he wants to suck up to Putin to gain more power and money, which is always the reason for everything he does. And Ukraine isn’t strong enough to fight off Russia without us.
    1
  1017. There is something very wrong with that boy. (And I use the term “boy”, as in “good ol’ boy” in the Southern manner). People who do things like this have a far too strong obsession with other people’s genitalia, and it tells us far too much about how damaged their personality and thinking process are. They really should be mandated by the stateto go through extensive therapy in order to be re-instated into any political (or religious) working position, and only when they’ve been deemed to be “healed” and appropriate to be working with any person who is transgender, or gay, or a woman who has need of reproductive health care. This is a deep sickness that I would venture to guess was obviously brought on by rigid and extreme religious dogma in their lives from, usually, early life. In the meantime, he should lose his current position as he has absolutely no standing to demand patient medical records from other states.
    1
  1018. Thank you! I feel her passion, and I absolutely agree. Also, why isn’t the fact that the Equal Rights Amendment has not been put into the Constitution in the news EVERY DAY? It was fully ratified by the 38th state in January of 2020, and yet Senators in Congress are still fighting against it. Why??? If it had been put into the Constitution, Roe v. Wade could NOT have been overturned. But we NEVER hear about that on the news. Why not? Do they think the ladies are too dumb to understand it, or are they afraid the women WILL understand it and do something about it? Ladies, if you think women have equal rights in this country, sorry to tell you, but we do not. Not if it’s not in the Constitution. Also, ladies, please don’t forget that women are 51% of the U.S. population, which means that we are the MAJORITY, not a minority. We need to act on that and use that power. I’ve been posting this information almost every day in various locations, and, for whatever reason, nobody ever says anything about it. So, Thom, maybe I’ll have to give you a call and do what Sonia did, but about the ERA.
    1
  1019. How is there no “inherent” gender equality? As a species, of course we are equal. Can’t have one without the other. All gender inequality is a social (and often religious) contstruct, and based soley on the physically stronger sex overpowering and dominating the weaker, when stronger doesn’t “inherently” equal better, only ease of dominance. Both genders are equally needed for the species to survive, and an animal’s (and humans are animals) primary instinct is for survival of the species.
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  1020. One thing the gas and oil companies, and their supporters, do really, really well in order to stay in power, and profitable, is lie. They’ll make up the most ridiculous lies, and loads of people believe them. It never fails to amaze me.
    1
  1021.  @huizhechen3779  You’re absolutely right!
    1
  1022. They’re cowards, and money and threats work.
    1
  1023.  @freeflyer1 And, unfortunately, Progressives in our government haven’t been allowed to do much at all. The bills they present are almost always shot down by the GOP immediately.
    1
  1024.  @runnergo1398  And idiots.
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  1025. When are we going to start passing laws that codify and strongly preserve Separation of Church and State? This “Christian” takeover of our country and laws has gone way too far, and must be stopped. Funny how they’re only supporting one religion. This new gang of “good Christians” is neither good nor Christian. Just like the old saying: “The Moral Manority is Neither”, yet they’re winning, and destroying people’s lives.
    1
  1026.  @lindastimer8667  Exactly. When I hear a man like him say “Oh, but I LOVE women” I know exactly what he means, and I run far away. They only see women as s*x toys and arm candy to show off.
    1
  1027. Prison. It has already happened here, and it’s a regular thing in Bolivia.
    1
  1028.  @davidlafleche1142  I disagree: Socialism and Fascism are not at all the same thing. And your Jesus would today be considered a Socialist, and Caesar would more likely be considered a Fascist. It’s easy to look them up: Google “Fascism vs. Socialism”.
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  1029.  @bowlburners  But they didn’t succeed. He’s still there. I’m sure he’ll be up to something for the mail-in ballots. BTW, DO NOT put your mail-in ballots in the blue post office mailboxes outside (anywhere), as there are people planning to reach in to pull them out and throw out Dem votes, or just all of them. Take them inside the post office to mail them.
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  1030. This is really scary. They want to make it so that no Democratic candidate will ever win again in those states, which means that no Democratic candidate will ever win again in Congress or the Presidency. That would be the end of democracy.
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  1031.  @greeneyedlady5580 ❤❤❤
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  1032. Thom, please do a show on a woman named Savita Halappanaver in Ireland who died because she was refused healthcare to remove her dead fetus because the medical term for removing a dead fetus is still “abortion”, and Ireland is a Catholic country. Someone released her name and photo (her husband, I think), and immediately thousands of people in Ireland started marching in the streets carrying posters with her photo and name on them. Ireland very quickly made abortion legal in the country. Also, please mention there there have been news reports that maternal mortality rates have been going up in red states since Roe was overturned, which means that more women literally are dying because of that ruling. We desperately need to get some names and photos of women who have died because of these medieval practices so that we, too, can put them on posters and get out in the streets. I know hospitals would never release that information, and I think media is afraid of putting them in the news, but if these women’s husbands and families would release them, we could take it from there.
    1
  1033. They really hate women don’t they?
    1
  1034. Why would I want or need one of those? Better to hang on to what savings I’ve got.
    1
  1035.  @Don.M.  I agree 100%, but the DNC won’t let anyone but a neoliberal centrist win. Remember the last Bernie campaign?
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  1036. He won’t have to goose step. Only his MAGA “soldiers” will be expected to. And the will. The leaders don’t do the work, they only have to rile up their base, which will do anything for him.
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  1037.  @nutzablaze3339  I hear you! I had cancer treatment (chemo) once, and it nearly ruined my life, and if it ever comes back, I won’t ever do it again. (I’m 75). Best of luck to you, and to our country.
    1
  1038.  @paulnijsten8390  It’s going to take something much more permanent than that.
    1
  1039.  @seanm7539  Yes! I saw a cute comment recently: “The Handmaid’s Tale and 1984 had a baby and called it Project 2025.”
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  1040. Brilliant idea.
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  1041. That happens with, probably, the majority of the members of Congress, and it’s because of the bribery (especially by lobbyists) Thom talks about here, and because of insider trading where they get advance notice of when to buy certain stocks, which is not “supposed to” happen, but, of course, it does. There have been a number of complaints in recent years about Nancy Pelosi and her husband, and Dianne Feinstein doing the same, but, of course, many others, including the Republicans do the same. In fact, I would venture to guess that many of them decided to run for Congress just because of the money they can make there, rather than what they can actually do for the American people.
    1
  1042. Yes, sick with greed. They get their financing from the NRA, and they won’t do a single thing to stop the gravy train, no matter who or how many die.
    1
  1043. Unfortunately, he’s already been impeached a couple of times, and what good did that do us? And that was because all the Republicans let him off the hook, and, right now, we have more Republicans in Congress than when trump was in office the first time. So it’s up to US now. We have to get in the streets by the thousands and thousands everyday and in every city in the country (and there will be a protest happening in YOUR nearest, biggest city on Monday, the 17th (yes, THIS coming Monday, which is President’s Day [or what some are calling “Not My President’s Day]) in front of either your Capitol, or City Hall, or possibly the Courthouse (you’ll have to look it up). Don’t forget to take your signs. We also need to call our Senators and Representatives every day and remind them that they work for US, not trump, because WE are the ones who vote. The Capitol Switchboard number is 202-224-3121, and there’s a very cool app called 5 Calls that tell you who your Senator or Representatives are (if you don’t know), and they have a list of issues to talk about, and they even provide a script to read if you’re not comfortable or don’t know what to say. You won’t be talking directly to your Senator or Reps, but to their office, and your Senators and Reps will be getting the message. If enough of us do this every day, they will see these messages mounting up, and, if they want to get re-elected (and that is definitely what they want), they will realize they have to start acting - for us.its time to activate NOW if we want to take our country back from the traitors and foreign entities/enemies.
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  1044. That’s why I call her Marjorie Trailer Trash Greene.
    1
  1045. Yup; the bootstraps I pulled myself up by many times finally broke.
    1
  1046. I had a tubal ligation before I ever had kids, and I had it done the year I got married at 30.
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  1047.  @ragauerk9310  😢
    1
  1048. I’d like to know if and how the Heritage Foundation (the group that authored Project 2025) figures into all this. They worked with Ronald Reagan, who adopted many of their policies, and now they’re working with trump (or should I say, controlling trump). Are they somehow also connected to the Russians? Other than the MAGATs in Congress, there doesn’t appear to be much of an overlap with the ones named here from the Russian mis- and disinformation side. It would be interesting to learn if one is helping, or using the other.
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  1049. I think we’re on the very wire of losing our democracy. We’ll know for certain, and without a single doubt, if trump wins the next election.
    1
  1050. I spent my years growing up thinking I was middle class, and I WAS, and all my family was (Boomer here), but at almost the exact time that I got old enough to work (in the 70s), I was suddenly firmly in the working- to poor class. I always had to work two jobs just to have an apartment and pay my bills (including my student loan, of course, even though I had to leave college after only two years because the government aid program changed), and then along came Reagan, and things only got worse. Now I’m on Social Security, and if trump cuts it, like he says he will, I’ll be royally screwed. Well, at least the early to mid 70s were fun (as a hippie).
    1
  1051. Or hanging. Either way, public execution and in front of the Capitol.
    1
  1052. I think it was the comedian Lewis Black who said that if men could get pregnant, there’d be an abortion clinic on every corner. I think he was 100% right about that!
    1
  1053. It’s almost as if they were punishing women for wanting equal rights (which they still don’t have) and wanting to work outside the home and earn their own money, then a bunch of them decided, hey, we can make a lot more money by taxing everyone even more since more people were working. The punishment led to greater grift.
    1
  1054. And be sure to add the extra ones that are here in the comments.
    1
  1055.  @grantb8840  Very true.
    1
  1056.  @jamestomkin8784  Mitt Romney is/was not the “great guy” or even “reasonable Republican” so many see him as. He was also the guy who decided to shoot down the Equal Rights Amendment after Virginia became the 38th state to ratify it in 2020. Funny how the overturning of Roe v. Wade happened just two years after that. Gee, could that have been the plan, even then? Because Roe could not have been overturned if the ERA had been put into the Constitution, and Romney would have known that.
    1
  1057. I agree, and would call myself spiritual, although mushrooms, for some strange reason didn’t do anything for me but make me feel bad. However, Acid did the trick! Beautifully, and every time! (Meaning a good-sized number of times, lol). I had already been having experiences naturally before that, but those “enhanced” experiences really put the topping on it, in a big way. And now that I know I am God (but so is everybody else) I don’t sweat the religion stuff anymore.
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  1058. Is judge-shopping still legal? I thought they ruled against that.
    1
  1059.  @sherryobar5750  Personally, I like the “Mussolini solution”. There are a bunch of photos of that in google.
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  1060.  @charlottesmom  Yeah, and I think we old people will, literally, “loose” something on the administration, our anger and our voices. Were from the generation that held marches against the Vietnam War, for Civil Rights and for Women’s Rights, after all.
    1
  1061.  @s0ld4u  As for controlled tests, a doctor can’t kill someone and bring them back after a number of minutes to see what happened. That would be highly unethical, if not legally criminal. And I know you truly believe that when you die there’s nothing after that. Why do you believe that? There aren’t even thousands of anecdotal cases where people have had that experience, like there are for these, so how can you “know” it to be true? What kind of proof do YOU have? Even a good scientist won’t posit that his or her theory is absolute truth without corroborating evidence. So, prove it.
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  1062. Bernie had the right idea, but they (the neoliberals) had to stop him cold when he proved to be immensely popular with the younger generation. They couldn’t allow him to seriously challenge the good thing they had going. Funny, too, is how they used sexism against him by claiming that all the attacks against Hillary were sexism and misogyny. No, Hillary was/is a neoliberal, so she had the whole system behind her, and the claims of sexism worked in her favor. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a die-hard feminist, but Hillary’s neoliberalism was the wrong direction, which turned off a lot of voters, but it allowed 45 to be slipped in by the right-wingers as well as his own overbearing ego.
    1
  1063.  @carycunningham9510  Sadly, I think you’re right. Nobody in government seems to want to work that hard or be that strong.
    1
  1064. Lock him up!
    1
  1065. And no low too low.
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  1066. Sarah Hopkins, most Jews have already been doing that for thousands of years.
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  1067.  @michaelRay2576  Nor a malignant narcissist. And that’s what he is.
    1
  1068.  @laurahobbie4971 Good thinking! And maybe the AMA, although they’re already at loggerheads with them.
    1
  1069. ⁠ @5353Jumper That sounds like the perfect recipe for religious extremists to use to control and hurt other people. Bigotry + lack of logic + religion. It’s been working for them for thousands of years.
    1
  1070. The monkeys are definitely running that particular branch of the zoo.
    1
  1071. That has been my theory for many years. I think that we are pieces of god, like water droplets are part of the ocean, and like photons are “pieces” of light. And I think of god as the sum total of all energy in the universe. Just one opinion.
    1
  1072. ⁠ @loric4887  That is exactly right. Plus they want to “Christianize” the country so that they can continue to punish women in every way they can. So, racism + religion/misogyny.
    1
  1073. Yup, it’s a pretty low bar.
    1
  1074.  @barrelrole  Do you mean the “Brandon” who told the other guy to shut up on national TV, then took his job, then took his house, then took his twitter account?
    1
  1075.  @noheroespublishing1907  As I did with another commenter, I have to recommend the book, The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot. It was first published in 1991, so it’s a few decades old, but he made a good argument that quantum physics can explain esoteric, or “spiritual” phenomena. I don’t know what has changed in quantum physics since then, or if it has discredited that view (because people do love to discredit anything spiritual, or “unseeable”, not that we’ve ever seen a quantum particle (unless that has changed), but we can see its results, just like we can’t actually see wind or electricity, but we can definitely observe their effects, and often control them for our benefit. Just a thought.
    1
  1076. Not at all. I think it was Albert Camus who said “Hell is other people”, and to some extent that’s true. It’s our energetic field interacting with other people’s energetic fields, controlled to a large extent, while in a physical body, by our thoughts, emotions, opinions, and other subconscious thought processes, that cause each other discomfort and distress. When our physical bodies die, that “eternal” aspect of us goes somewhere else, and possibly have positive interactions with that of other’s. I’m looking forward to finding out someday soon-ish.
    1
  1077.  @noheroespublishing1907  I recommend the book The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot (1991).
    1
  1078. Some of them are already talking about taking away women’s right to vote! Of course it was a male pastor who started that one. I think Thom even has a video of him talking about it.
    1
  1079.  @michah321 Too bad it doesn’t work that way, huh?
    1
  1080. I have to wonder why, on January 5, Chuck Grassley said he didn’t expect Mike Pence to be in the Senate to count the votes? Was there an assassination plot already planned? That seemed an odd, and possibly prescient thing for him to say that the day ahead of time.
    1
  1081. As a good homicide detective will tell you, there are no coincidences.
    1
  1082. Amen. Now if only the third or so of the country that lost the Civil War and were forced to give up their slave-owning status, or at a minimum, their perceived and socially ingrained idea of superiority over black people (and women in general) would learn that lesson, or even accept it. They’ve held that grudge for far too long, and it has cost far too many lives. How I envy you; I wish I had moved to New Zealand many years ago. You folks are a lot kinder.
    1
  1083. I guess di*ld*s (fill in with l [“ell” then o) will also be considered illegal as well.
    1
  1084. They don’t just blunt the facts, they stand them on their heads and create egregious lies about every one of them.
    1
  1085. Virginia Fox is such a nasty piece of work.
    1
  1086.  @yurei8  Same with calling them “vermin” and “the parasite class”.
    1
  1087. Yet, in Genesis, the Bible says that Adam was not alive until God breathed life into him, and even reiterates that he wasn’t alive until Adam took his first breath. But isn’t it interesting how people only pick the verses that support their particular beliefs and ignore anything else that is contradictory?
    1
  1088. Inability to pay medical bills is the #1 cause of homelessness in America today…they WILL, and DO, take your house if you can’t pay those bills. It’s a crime. Also, a number of drugs, including cancer and pain medications are now in short supply, and are very often out of stock. These are not medications that people can do without. There is a whole scandal going on about that now, as the companies aren’t seeing “enough profit” in these medications, so they aren’t making enough of them.
    1
  1089.  @JamesSimmons-d1t  We’re here adding to the list comment by comment.
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  1090.  @ronbarton7799  Clinton won the popular vote and trump won the Electoral College vote, which is how he won the presidency. I don’t know for certain that trump paid some of them off, but it is exactly the kind of thing he would do, and I would not be at all surprised to learn that he did. The Electoral College vote wins over The People’s vote, which is why we need to get rid of it.
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  1091. And just what what the government and the insurance companies say when you ask to get your 1 week-old fetus a Social Security number, or apply for food stamps that will cover that fetus, or buy life insurance for the fetus.
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  1092. And Greg Abbot. And all “pro-lifers” who support this. Ironic, isn’t it, the term “pro-life” when they’re happy to let women die as punishment for being women and having the nerve to have s*x even if married?
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  1093. IF we make it until the midterms. I’m more than a little uncertain that our government will still be existing in an, even vaguely, recognizable form by then. I’m pretty certain we need to do something about it NOW. ASAP.
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  1094. Absolutely! Also, about the disenfranchisement of millions of voters in the South, primarily in Georgia, see the documentary “Vigilantes, Inc.” by Greg Palast (Thom had him on here talking about it too, but the whole documentary is very much worth watching). It is very evident that trump and the MAGAts literally stole the election, and Kamala should be sitting in the White House as we speak. But have we heard a single Democrat in Congress speak about it? Nope, not a peep.
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  1095. Wasn’t it Ronald Reagan who started taxing SS? Or, I could be wrong; it might have been W (George W. Bush).
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  1096. Then again, conservatives wouldn’t listen to someone trying to explain “-isms” to them, and most wouldn’t be able (or want) to understand any such explanation. The only “-ism” they understand or care about is trumpism.
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  1097. I felt the same, but then, Trump never has and look what it’s done to our country.
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  1098. Right on, Norma! I don’t get out much, but I’m continually making comments on YouTube about Project 2025, women’s rights and the Equal Rights Amendment. Strangely, most of my comments about the ERA, especially when connected to SCOTUS overturning Dobbs (reproductive rights), get deleted. I think someone doesn’t like that I make a clear connection between the two, but there is one. Like Norma, I’ve started to hear more people talking about Project 2025, so I hope it’s at least partly because I keep talking it up so much. Unfortunately, because of my other comments about the ERA getting deleted, I’m not hearing anything back about that, but I wish somebody would start making videos about it (Thom, are you listening??).
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  1099. Today I read a comment that said, “Libtards are spreading monkeypox.” LOL. I guess that’s going to be their new ridiculous and overused “gotcha” comment for the next month or so. Gotta say, they keep coming up with new ones.
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  1100.  @erinj9642  Yes. As Bernie Sanders said, “America doesn’t need billionaires”. We need to raise the tax rates to what it was under Eisenhower. Imagine how many Americans that money could help! We could have Universal Healthcare and free university education to everyone who wants it, just like in a number of European countries, and it might even wipe out all or, at least most poverty in the country.
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  1101. How long before they start burning women at the stake as witches again? Why do Republican men (and many Republican women) hate women so much? How weak and fragile does one’s ego have to be to treat 51% of the population so badly?
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  1102. Thank you to both!
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  1103. Yes, it includes “religious tyranny”.
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  1104. Unfortunately, the Patriarchy isn’t relegated to “the bad ol’ days”. Just like racism, it has gotten only more open and rampant since, especially, trump coming to the forefront of the news in the last seven or eight years (just think about Roe v. Wade being overturned and all the anti-abortion laws put into place, primarily being passed by rich, white men, as well as, possibly, anti-contraception laws coming up). I’m just very glad that it’s being newly exposed and explained, and that people are ‘getting it”. Maybe, just maybe, this Barbie movie will make a real difference, and that it can be sustained. Who’da thunk, eh? (From another woman very, very close in age to you).
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  1105.  @inesflores4948  Yes! It’s obvious this election was stolen and rigged. After all, trump has been saying that about the 2020 election all these years, and everything he says is projection, and I think that includes this election.
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  1106. trump is going to destroy America, even for MAGAts.
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  1107.  @MarvinThiessen Yup, their idea of “trickle down” is “pi** on Americans”.
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  1108.  @chriswolff3893  Don’t discount boomer’s notice so quickly. We grew up in a country that was at it’s peak, shortly after WWII, and were frequently seeing news about the war and Hitler and his fascism. Then we witnessed the gradual decline of that peak from the mid-70s onward. Then it took a serious nosedive after Reagan, and through the Tea Party, and now the “Age of Trump”. I realized the minute he announced his first run that he was a dictator wannabe. The signs were all there. Granted, many didn’t see it, and I suppose it was partly because I grew up in a military family, saw many of my classmates get sent to Vietnam, so many of whom never returned, and I was also a hippie, as many of us were. Lots of us have had exposure to information about what was “really” going on. Sadly, many didn’t, but you can’t throw all Boomers into one box of people who were unaware, plus, the majority of trumpers are the following generation and younger. So, don’t try to pin this on Boomers.
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  1109. I can’t help but wonder if they’ve actually ever paid off the $10,000 to some “rat” who tells the cops or the state. I want to see a news article on each and every person and court case that gets paid off, including the name of every person who turns in these women or helpers. I have a funny feeling it’s just a ruse, and the state is never really going to turn over that kind of money to the “rats”. They’ll probably use an excuse like it’s “tied up in the courts” for years so they won’t have to pay. I wonder what these bounty hunters are going to think -and say publicly - when they find out they’ve been screwed over.
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  1110. Thanks, Thom. I just ordered that book you’re talking about here. Great info.
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  1111. I think that’s fairly obvious. He would sell out his own family if he could get some extra bucks, which was fairly proven with is brother’s inheritance (see his brother’s daughter’s, Mary Trump’s book). Our country, and Democracy, mean nothing to him except as a platform for his own profit. What really stuns me is how many followers and toadies he has in Congress who will help him do it, supposedly for not much more than a “good job” and a handshake from him.
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  1112. They’re doing it, they say, for religious reasons; the old “thou shall not kill” thing in the Bible, but, in actuality, it is primarily to punish and control young unmarried women who get pregnant, but, of course it also causes great danger, not only to the young unmarried women, but also to married women (but they really hate all women, so it serves their purpose). Plus, they’re worried about the population rate in America going down, and they’re scared to death they won’t have enough (poor) cheap labor in the future, so forcing women to have babies will help fill that gap. And that’s not mentioning that they’re racist and xenophobic, and they’re pushing a lie called “The Great Replacement Theory” wherein they’re also afraid that, since brown and black people generally have more babies than white people , and they’re so afraid there will be a higher population of brown and black people than white people in the country in the future, which is why they’re ALSO so opposed to people crossing the Southern border, because a majority of them are brow-skinned. Oh, and there was also a “secret” program implemented by Ronald Reagan back in the 80s we call “The Dumbing Down of America” wherein they lowered the educational standards in the country (it was pretty darned exceptional before that) because they (and when I say “they” I’m generally referring to Republicans as well as the wealthy donors to politicians who suck up to them by passing the laws they want), because they knew that poorly educated people fall for their lies if they push them enough, which means they can convince them to vote them into office; and also poor people can be swayed by promises to improve the economy, yet the economy has been on an almost 40 year decline. Doesn’t it all make sense now? I know, it’s convoluted. We had pretty good abortion guidelines to follow laid out in our Roe v. Wade law which was put into law FIFTY years ago, but the radical Christians (evangelicals) on the Supreme Court had to go and throw it out last year. And we also have the First Amendment which basically calls for Separation of Church and State (as well as a couple of other things), but these radical Christians in the Supreme Court are simply ignoring that. So, there’s all the brutal, ugly truth.
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