Impeach. Convict. Remove.
Recap of this week in the revolution: Trump renews threats to take over Greenland and missing Mitch McConnell. Trump regime agents kill 2 in Memphis and 1 in Houston and Trump threatens to withhold federal funding from states that do not comply with his demands.
The bad...
Drawing of a hat made popular in Greenland earlier this year. The red hat features the slogan "Make America Go Away" and shows the flag of Greenland.
Donny 2-Dolls is once again stating that the United States should control Greenland, which is the legal territory of our NATO ally, Denmark. He also denounced other NATO allies for not joining the United States in its unjustified war in Iran. He threatened to cut off trade with our allies and is continuing to withdraw U.S. troops stationed in European countries.
He said these things at a NATO meeting held in Türkiye. While not surprising, Trump's utter contempt for all other nations, and his willingness to publicly and unapologetically berate them at every opportunity—even when he is attending official NATO meetings as a representative of both the organization and the United States—is an embarrassment and a disgrace to our country and our people.
"Mitch McConnell is the best metaphor of American politics..." from BlueSky post by Charles Keener.
Senator Mitch McConnell has not been seen in public since paramedics were sent to his house to respond to a cardiac emergency on June 14. His office has been very secretive about his condition, offering only minimal updates without disclosing what's wrong with him or why he's been in the hospital for the past month.
The silence from the senator's office has led many people to believe that Mitch McConnell is dead or incapable of performing his duties, and the Republican Party is covering it up to avoid triggering a special election to replace the senator. The health of the 84-year-old senator has been visibly declining in recent years. He has been injured several times in the past few years from falls and sometimes freezes for several minutes when speaking to reporters. If McConnell is alive but unable to return to office, the Republicans are down one vote until next January when his newly-elected replacement is sworn in. If McConnell is dead or resigns from office, Kentucky would have to hold a special election to fill the vacancy through January.
The ugly...
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay.
The Trump regime has been sending agents into Democratic-leaning cities around the country to escalate violence and create chaos. Just like they've done in other cities, such as Minneapolis, these agents have been using hyper-aggressive tactics to instill fear in the local population in hopes of triggering violence that can then be used to justify their presence and pave the way for the use of deadly force by federal goon squads.
Since December, five people have been shot in Memphis, and four of them were killed. The one survivor was shot for not pulling over in a traffic stop, an offense which does not justify the use of lethal force. In each of the four fatal shootings, agents claim that the victims were threatening the agents with firearms at the time of the shooting, but have not provided any evidence to support those claims in any of the cases.
In Houston, federal agents shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo because he was driving a white van. The agents said they had seen two white vans at a residence they were surveilling on an earlier date. On the day of the shooting, they saw a man driving a white van some distance away from the property being monitored and decided to pull the vehicle over. Araujo did not stop, possibly because the agents were driving an unmarked car and he didn't recognize their authority to stop him, and possibly because he was scared. Either way, just like the agents in Memphis, these Texas goons shot and killed a man because he didn't stop his car for them, an offense which does not justify the use of lethal force.
Modified from images by Amber from Pixabay and Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay.
As the midterms approach, Donny 2-Dolls finds himself unable to extricate himself from the war he started with Iran or public demands to release the Epstein files he promised to release in December. The chances of Republicans holding on to their majority in Congress is growing smaller day by day, and the president is panicking. He's increasing his demands for Congress to pass the SAVE act to restrict voting access, but that's not likely to happen. Now he's threatening (again) to withhold federal funding from states that do not comply with his demands to restrict voting access.
The president has no authority to control state election processes, but he is attempting to influence them through political pressure and threats. The courts, so far, have mostly rejected similar threats made in the past, and will likely uphold these new threats. But threats like these are not made to stand up in a court of law. They are meant to intimidate people into complying in advance, even without the legal basis.
Trump has re-iterated his lies about the 2020 and 2024 elections being stolen, despite the fact that there is no evidence to support his wild claims. He has continued to raise concern about the dangers of ineligible voters casting ballots, despite the fact that every credible organization in the country has found that such voter fraud is extremely rare.
I predict that the president is trying to create chaos and then use that chaos to take drastic measures in states that oppose his policies or to refuse to recognize the results of the elections in those states.
Robert Weiner, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Keeping you informed...
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay.
Last week, parents were able to start opening Trump Accounts for their children. The idea behind these accounts is simple: For every newborn child, the federal government will deposit $1,000 into a Trump Account, which will be invested into U.S. stock market index funds and exchange-traded funds, which will earn interest over the years. In addition to the seed money from the government, families will be able to contribute up to $5,000 per year to each account. When the child turns 18, they will be able to withdraw those funds to pay for college or other expenses. On the surface, this seems like a beneficial program to help students pay for the ever-increasing costs of higher education, in particular.
In reality, these accounts are just one more way to widen the gap between the ultra-wealthy and the rest of the population. Consider a typical family living paycheck to paycheck, and without money left over at the end of the month to invest in their children's education. Using a generous estimate of 10.3% average annual return, after 18 years, the account could be worth $5,839. That's nothing to sneeze at. In fact, that's $5,839 of free money for that child. But it wouldn't even pay for a single semester of college. But compare that to a child whose parents are able to contribute the full $5,000 annually ($416.67/month). After 18 years, that account would be worth $264,952.13 at the same rate of return. If the family contributed $5,000/year, that would be a total contribution of $90,000 over the 18-year period. But the account would be worth $264,952.13, meaning that this child would receive $174,952,13 of free money for college or whatever. The total value of the account would be enough to completely cover the cost of a 4-year degree program at most colleges.
While there's nothing inherently wrong with opening one of these accounts, the reality is that they were explicitly designed to benefit the wealthy while pretending to benefit everyone. These accounts are a bastardization of Senator Cory Booker's proposed "Baby Bonds," which would also start with a $1,000 deposit from the government for all newborns, but would also contribute up to $2,000 per year in federal funds with larger deposits going to families with the lowest incomes and the contributions gradually being reduced for wealthier families. It was estimated that these accounts could grow to as much as $46,215 for even the poorest 18-year olds, which still wouldn't pay for a 4-year college education, but would go a lot further than the Trump Accounts ever will.
Sounds of the revolution...
The Resistance [Link]
The Resistance [Link]
On the lighter side...
