Loss of democracy not our only problem-Just follow the money to Donald Trump

How long have we talked about how money is the answer to' all political needs. SCOTUS made it easier for Republicans to draw on the business community...

"The 2010 Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission established that corporations and unions have the same free speech rights as individuals and can spend unlimited amounts on independent political communications."

Bernie Sanders has been progressively stalwart on GOP spending habits, but the big issue today is the disagreement between parties on spending factions that could have already shut down the U.S. government. One of the major points of contention is healthcare spending, which, naturally, the Republicans want less of, but Democrats want at least to hold the line on current spending; the former to enrich the wealthy and the corporate community, the latter to continue to help those in need. But, suffice it to say the biggest financial wrecking ball is Donald Trump and his family. 

Here is an AI opinion on the Trump family grifting...

Recent financial activities of Donald Trump and his family have been described as "grifting" by critics and watchdog groups, citing their extensive monetization of public office through cryptocurrency ventures, real estate deals with foreign governments, and other enterprises. A civil fraud case in New York found that Trump and his sons inflated their assets to secure favorable loans, reinforcing accusations of deceptive business practices.

These government parasites pull no punches...'We did it and we're glad...And we'll do it again.' As former Friends actor, Chandler, would have said, 'Could it be more blatant?' Robt. Reich says...

"That tsunami [of legal bribes] has grown dramatically over the last forty years. It underlies the crisis of democracy. It is fueling polarization. Democracy and social cohesion are impossible to sustain when big money is dictating political outcomes.

There's more...

"Over the last four decades, corporate political spending has more than quadrupled, adjusted for inflation."

Reich comes to an interesting conclusion: union political contributions no longer offset those of the

corporate world. I have been talking about this for several years in the sense that this kind of evolution has reduced the strength of the individual voter. Some of the financial experts contend that there is a cycle in who controls the marketplace. But contrary to this concept, unions reached their peak around 1954 when 35% of the total workforce belonged to a union. In 2024, this changed to 10% with a total of only 14.3 million members. Dems were in control then but that too has changed substantially.

I use the union examples for two reasons. One, To show how the individual has lost most of its power in the workplace. Two, To show how the corporations have not only taken up that slack, but how they have forged a tremendous position in the control of employee benefits and wages, plus holding the dominant spot in political donations at a three to one ratio. And, you can only blame the last ten years on Donald Trump. However, look what he has recently done to federal employee unions, including ending collective bargaining rights for over one million federal workers in March 2025.

Here's a shocker...

"According to a landmark study published in 2014 by Princeton professor Martin Gilens and Northwestern professor Benjamin Page, the preferences of the typical American have no influence at all on legislation emerging from Congress."

And the conclusion...

“The preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.”

In other words, Congress doesn't give a damn what the American public wants. We'll get what these dunderheads--and yes, there are some Democrats--think that we need, and, currently, what is best for the Republican Party. This won't change, folks, until we divorce politics from the big money and return to the system where donations are reasonable and regulated. And there is no way this will happen until the left is in control from state governments to the White House. The GOP has been flying high with t-Rump's steam-rolling administration. But now there is gloom on the horizon...

"The share of Republicans who see the country headed in the right direction has fallen sharply in recent months, according to the September survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Today, only about half in the GOP see the nation on the right course, down from 70% in June. The shift is even more glaring among Republican women and the party’s under-45 crowd."

With only 25% of Americans agreeing that the country is headed in the right direction, a massive shift to the left could be coming...just around the corner. And I do agree, big-spending Democrats will have to be managed.

If this doesn't wake up Republicans, America goes down the authoritarian drain

America down the drain

Donald Trump finally pushed the bumbling Bondi to do his dirty work in the indictment of James Comey. Just for the sake of revenge, with skimpy evidence...

"On September 25, 2025, former FBI Director James Comey was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of making false statements to Congress and obstruction. Some legal experts and internal Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors have expressed skepticism about the strength of the case, raising the possibility that it could be perceived as "dud"."

Democrats are coming out of the woodwork, finally, with massive criticism of a dilemma they are calling a "constitutional crisis." Not that we haven't been there several times before with t-Rump, but it does look like the Dems are putting their foot down this time with the vigor of the party they used to be. Since we are nearing the shut down of the U.S. government, also due to Republican nonsense, tying the two together might just be the strategy to bring Trump to his knees. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy from Connecticut said...

"We aren't on a slippery slope to a constitutional crisis. We are IN the crisis. Time for leaders - political leaders, business leaders, civic leaders - to pick a side: democracy or autocracy?"

But to illustrate the incompetence of Trump's Dept. of Justice under the control of the inept Pam Bondi, here's the headline from The New Republic, "Genius Trump Attorney Submitted Wrong Comey Indictment Docs to Judge," followed by...

"Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan got a grand jury to indict former FBI Director James Comey on two counts. But Halligan showed her inexperience Thursday as the jurors rejected a third charge, and she submitted the wrong documents to the judge."

You might remember Halligan as one of Trump's former personal lawyers who orchestrated the

Trump in his natural mode

president’s efforts to de-emphasize slavery at the Smithsonian museums. She was only on this new job for four day, which clearly shows t-Rump hasn't the slightest idea of what he is doing, while he goes on his insane way of wreaking revenge on enemies and ruining people's lives. Without a doubt, this is autocratic, tyrannical, totalitarian and dictatorial, to emphasize the crisis we are in, and to depict where the Oval Office lunatic is taking the United States.

Get this...Halligan got the job only because her predecessor would not attack Trump's enemies with enough force. Former prosecutor, Erik Siebert, working on yet another of t-Rump's cases, resigned on September 19 under pressure from the Trump administration after he failed to bring charges against Letitia James, NY AG. for mortgage fraud. Halligan stepped in and right away was accused by the judge hearing the case of submitting a confusing brief. Her solo performance had a reason...

MSNBC’s Ken Dilanian reports that Halligan “presented the Comey indictment all by herself to the grand jury,” a sign that she “may have a problem finding a prosecutor in office to work on the case.” The indictment was also signed only by Halligan, according to The New York Times, while “typically such filings are also endorsed by career prosecutors who have gathered the evidence in the case.”

In other words, there are still people around the DOJ who have realized their boss, the inept Pam Bondi, and their over-boss, the White House maniac, have no idea what the hell they are doing. I want to remind my readers right here, incompetence like this is mitigated by a Republican congress whose only goal is to remain in office and keep the party in power. It is this faction that must wake up and realize the horrors they are endorsing and bring Donald Trump to his knees. If not, we can most certainly expect the dictator in Trump to emerge full-bore before the end of the year.

Is that what you want?

Even Republicans don't like what Trump is doing

Republican support for Trump's flagrant slate of authoritative miscues has dropped 20 points since just June; from 70% to 50%. It's almost as bad for Republican women, who have lowered their backing to 25% from 40%. This from a "new AP-NORC poll  conducted shortly after the Sept. 10, assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk." Apparently the Kirk incident didn't change the minds of Republican voters. The question, of course, is whether those now dissatisfied in the GOP will switch their votes to Democrats. We've had some big ones but the 2026 election looks to be mind-boggling.

If you like statistics, stay with me, since the AP-NORC poll has come up with some extraordinary numbers. To continue, only one-quarter of Americans say the country is headed in the right direction; it was 40% in June. This should be shattering to the Trump administration, its lackeys and supporters. Especially the MAGA maggots. Only 24% of U.S. adults think t-Rump is focusing on the right priorities; 44% say he emphasizes the wrong ones. Since Donald Trump's main priority is himself, these figures are easy to understand.

It would make sense that only 7% of Democrats think he's on the right track; 75% don't. Somewhat surprisingly, only 9% of Independents think Trump is heading in the right direction; 42% think not. The Independent Center thinks independent voters, economic anxiety, and the evolving definition of the American Dream will be big factors in deciding 2026 and 2028. The Center says Independent voters are...

"...now the fastest-growing segment in many states—are not just political spectators. They are shaping the future of American democracy. In battleground states like North Carolina and Maine, unaffiliated voters now outnumber both Democrats and Republicans. These voters are not beholden to party loyalty. They vote based on issues, character, and authenticity."

There's more...

"This shift reflects a broader trend: independents are tired of partisan gridlock and empty promises. They want leaders who address real concerns—like affordability, housing, and economic opportunity."

Politico's headline, "Independents are increasingly souring on Trump," a new Gallup poll from July finds

independents gave t-Rump only a 29 percent job approval rating. Sixty-four percent of independents said they have an unfavorable opinion of the job he is doing. Here's more...

"Though Trump made fortifying the economy a central pillar of his campaign, 68 percent of independents said they disapprove of how he is handling the issue.

"Independent voters also remain largely displeased with his handling of immigration... only 30 percent approve..."

From another perspective, Gallup says 89% of Republicans approve of what the Oval Office lunatic is doing, a number that conflicts slightly with AP-NORC, above. The difference could be AP's poll was conducted shortly after the Kirk assassination, Gallup was in July. But here's the clincher and most disturbing part, "Republicans are largely standing behind the president, but are ambivalent about what he has chosen to emphasize." Here's the definition of ambivalence...

"Uncertainty or fluctuation, especially when caused by inability to make a choice or by a simultaneous desire to say or do two opposite or conflicting things."

The Republican Congress is not only stupid, they don't even know what the hell they want from Trump. 

Don't you love good news animal stories?

Approximately 607,000 animals were euthanized in U.S. shelters in 2024, with the ASPCA reporting 334,000 dogs and 273,000 cats. From the shelters point of view, it was a total of 920,000. Any animal lover will agree this is way too many. The pandemic caused a lot of the recent increase in animal euthanasia, and there are always families that move and either cannot take their pets with them, or simply leave them when vacating. The latter I cannot understand; a pet is like your child, would you leave them behind? Of course not, but you wouldn't believe the number of animals abandoned and left in yards.

Today, shelters are at or over capacity and are desperate for volunteers and foster homes for their animals. Some of these facilities are kill-shelters, therefore, the lost pet has only so long to convince someone to adopt him or her. The people who run these places do their best to make it easy to adopt an animal, using whatever means available, with social media being one of the top vehicles. If you are ready to adopt, I urge you to search the local organizations for animal control. If you think you could be ready to adopt soon, visit your local rescue or shelter and learn just how much a pet can enrich your family.

Believe me you won't be sorry and you just could end up with a situation like I promised, above. Although the post is anonymous, the picture from the piece confirms the two animals the piece is written about. Here is their story...

I had adopted her but she refused to come away with me. It was weird because dogs can't wait to leave the kennel. She was crying and stubbing her paws. I should have dragged her. But when I looked down I understood the reason and I had to make a CHOICE "When the time came to take her home she was just out of that cage, from that moment a new world awaited her, a wonderful life and a lot of love. Any another dog would have run into the embers of her rescuers. But she did not. She stood still, sticking to all fours and refused to come out of the cage. In a corner a small Chihuahua Taco looked at her in fear. She understood that she was about to lose her best friend. And in that moment a small miracle happened. The couple saw the whole scene and decided to adopt them both. They did the documents also for the chihuahua and all 4 went out the door of the shelter. was taken in the car, before leaving. Personally I would like to wish these two dogs a happy life full of love !. But above all so much happiness also to these two wonderful people ❤️

Author unknown

My wife and I started adopting from rescues some 35 to 40 years ago and during this time we had the pleasure of givin.g a home to eleven animals, at one point we had four at one time. Yes, there were expenses, like with any child, but never anything that we couldn't easily handle. If this post sounds like I am trying to talk you into adopting an animal, that's because it is. There are so many available in rescues and shelters across the country, just waiting for you to give them a forever home. Like I said before, you won't be sorry. 

Here's the site from Quora, and be sure to check out the picture of the two buddies.

 

Charlie Kirk...In his own words...REVISITED

Charlie Kirk - Donald Trump

Charlie Kirk is not someone I have paid much attention to, plodding the political sites daily. Guess I just wasn't interested. I knew who he was, but had no idea he was a close associate of Donald Trump. So when I heard about his assassination, there was complete surprise over all the hoopla from the right. The execution also seems curious, coming from such a conservative state. There has been, however, a recent slightly larger increase in Democratic votes compared to the national trend. The shooter, Tyler Robinson, was thought to be a liberal but Robinson was known to be a follower of Nick Fuentes.

On AlterNet, a witness reported a Group of students 'stood up and cheered' after Charlie Kirk was shot. Here's the scenario...

"An eyewitness at Utah Valley University described a chaotic scene during a campus event when conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot, saying that a group of students celebrated the shooting.

"The witness recounted hearing a gunshot and then seeing Kirk collapse, prompting panic among the audience.

"'I did see a select group of students who stood up and cheered after that fact,' the witness told ABC4."

Since the shooting CNN reports, "People are getting fired for allegedly celebrating Charlie Kirk’s murder. It looks like a coordinated effort"...

"Prominent far-right influencer Laura Loomer, a US senator, and a site called 'Expose Charlie’s Murderers' have all drawn attention to people who have posted messages about Kirk’s Wednesday assassination."

There's more...

"Most people whose messages have been posted on the site [The Charlie’s Murderers] do not seem to refer to themselves as activists, nor did it seem many were calling for violence. Administrators for the site did not respond to a request for comment. The site also opened an X account on Friday."

Do we have a Luigi Mangione copycat?

Luigi Mangione

 The best way to define Charlie Kirk comes from the title of this post, taken from an article on The Guardian...

Here’s Kirk, in his own words. Many of his comments were documented by Media Matters for America, a progressive non-profit that tracks conservative media.

Trump blamed ‘radical left’ for Charlie Kirk’s death – even as shooter’s identity remains unknown (later identified and captured)...

On race

If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, boy, I hope he’s qualified.

– The Charlie Kirk Show, 23 January 2024

If you’re a WNBA, pot-smoking, Black lesbian, do you get treated better than a United States marine?

– The Charlie Kirk Show, 8 December 2022

Happening all the time in urban America, prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people, that’s a fact. It’s happening more and more.

– The Charlie Kirk Show, 19 May 2023

If I’m dealing with somebody in customer service who’s a moronic Black woman, I wonder is she there because of her excellence, or is she there because affirmative action?

– The Charlie Kirk Show, 3 January 2024

On debate

We record all of it so that we put [it] on the internet so people can see these ideas collide. When people stop talking, that’s when you get violence. That’s when civil war happens, because you start to think the other side is so evil, and they lose their humanity.

– Kirk discussing his work in an undated clip that circulated on X after his killing.

Prove me wrong.

– Kirk’s challenge to students to publicly debate him during the tour of colleges he was on when he was assassinated.

On gender, feminism and reproductive rights

Reject feminism. Submit to your husband, Taylor. You’re not in charge.

– Discussing news of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s engagement on The Charlie Kirk Show, 26 August 2025

The answer is yes, the baby would be delivered.

– Responding to a question about whether he would support his 10-year-old daughter aborting a pregnancy conceived because of rape on the debate show Surrounded, published on 8 September 2024

We need to have a Nuremberg-style trial for every gender-affirming clinic doctor. We need it immediately.

– The Charlie Kirk Show, 1 April 2024

On gun violence

I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single

year so that we can have the second amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational.

– Event organized by TPUSA Faith, the religious arm of Kirk’s conservative group Turning Point USA, on 5 April 2023

On immigration

America was at its peak when we halted immigration for 40 years and we dropped our foreign-born percentage to its lowest level ever. We should be unafraid to do that.– The Charlie Kirk Show, 22 August 2025

The American Democrat party hates this country. They wanna see it collapse. They love it when America becomes less white.

– The Charlie Kirk Show, 20 March 2024

The great replacement strategy, which is well under way every single day in our southern border, is a strategy to replace white rural America with something different.

– The Charlie Kirk Show, 1 March 2024

On Islam

America has freedom of religion, of course, but we should be frank: large dedicated Islamic areas are a threat to America.

– The Charlie Kirk Show, 30 April 2025

We’ve been warning about the rise of Islam on the show, to great amount of backlash. We don’t care, that’s what we do here. And we said that Islam is not compatible with western civilization.

– The Charlie Kirk Show, 24 June 2025

On religion

There is no separation of church and state. It’s a fabrication, it’s a fiction, it’s not in the constitution. It’s made up by secular humanists.

– The Charlie Kirk Show, 6 July 2022...

There is one statement, above, that totally rankles me and it is the fact that Charlie Kirk condones gun violence deaths, each year, to protect his Second Amendment right. First of all, these deaths he excuses include innocent children and adults, which is unconscionable. But, on the other hand, was Kirk plotting his own death? 

Robt. Reich sees "groundswell of revulsion against Trump"

You know Robt. Reich; have quoted him often because he is one of the most credible sources of information on the left. Sept. 12, I did a post where Reich said, "...let the government shut down, force Republicans to turn against Trump." Just yesterday, both the Senate and House turned down Mike Johnson's short fix bill. The  deadline is Sept. 30, and maybe Reich will get his wish, especially with the above title to support his concept. I have witnessed multiple media posts recently proclaiming Donald Trump as the source of all this country's problems.

Trump is not well, perhaps, the under-statement of the year. Another one of my posts last Friday asked, "Are you prepared for armageddon...Donald Trump's death?"  There are those who aren't, the apathetics, who have their heads in the sand, don't want to hear about what's going on. It is dunderheads like this who go to the polls and pull the lever most convenient. Not the slightest idea who they voted for, nor any of the important issues to be decided. Probably one of the reasons we have t-Rump in the White House and his collection of imbeciles running the government. It's scary, to say the least.

Here are some of Reich's reasons for Trump's downfall...

"His economy is a disaster. He promised to bring down prices, yet the prices of most goods are rising. Food prices are soaring. Job growth has stalled. American manufacturing has contracted for six straight months.

"Trump’s poll numbers are dropping like stones.

"The ghost of Jeffrey Epstein continues to haunt him.

"He’s now trying to deflect attention from his failures by renaming the Defense Department the War Department and threatening to occupy if not go to war with Chicago."

Let's face it. The Oval Office lunatic's bullshit is beginning to look like just what it is...bullshit. More people are realizing this...the reason political focus is turning left. The former Labor Secretary under Bill Clinton added...

"...most Americans don’t want federal troops in our cities and don’t want a war-mongering America. His immigration dragnet is deeply unpopular."

There's more...

"He surrounds himself with sycophants and lapdogs who tell him only how wonderfully

 

he’s doing — he fires anyone who tells him the truth — which means he’s flying blind and doesn’t know how badly he’s doing."

Reich says things we have always taken for granted, but under Trump we are now re-thinking are...

"democracy, the rule of law, due process, federalism, checks and balances. As well as the value of several programs we took for granted, such as Medicaid, food assistance, and child vaccines."

It is sad that this country has been drawn and quartered by the maniac in the White House. What is worse, however, is the fact that the Republican Party is supporting every sick move Trump makes, carrying it even farther by praising their dictator. Donald Trump cleanses himself in adoration on a daily, almost hourly basis. His bootlickers ready at the moment to carry out any act, no matter how bizarre, for their leader. These morons would follow t-Rump to the edge of the cliff, and then jump if he told them to. In my 93 years, I have never experienced America's plight so desperate.

All because of one man, Donald Trump. In The Hill, Reich is concerned over the loss between a clear demarcation between the right and the left with authoritarian rule controlling the country...

“Instead we have something no one has ever seen in America — a personal takeover of nearly all the institutions of government and, increasingly, the private sector, by a would-be dictator.”

Reich points out a very disturbing fact, by comparing Trump with Xi Jinping...

"As opposed to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s approach in his country, Reich wrote, 'The new order being imposed on American industry doesn’t come from a vast authoritarian bureaucracy. It’s personal and arbitrary. A single so-called ‘strongman’ is seeking to control everything.'”

In other words, Donald Trump, when he went to England to visit King Charles, he was so impressed with royal protocol that he decided, 'Hell yes, I was meant to be king," and that is all he thought about on Airforce 1 on the way back to the U.S.

As I was composing this post, the Charlie Kirk memorial was scheduled to be held Sunday in Phoenix, where the Cardinals play football,  Both Trump and Vance planned to attend and the crowd expected is around 100,000. But the Cardinals have a history of many losses and are not considered a top-tier NFL team. Will anyone else concede the possibility that some might actually see an analogy between Charlie Kirk and this team?  

Are you prepared for armageddon...Donald Trump's death?...REVISITED

For example, what side of the street do you live on, Democrat or Republican? It will be divisive, you know. Some even believe it could be another Civil War with neighborhoods divided by political ideology. Neighbor against neighbor. Block against block. City against city. State against state. Firearm laws will be moot since everyone will carry a gun. The question is, who will shoot first? Once the fracas begins, all law and order will be confined to the streets. My guess is the Trumpsters will be the strongest, at least initially, because they have been preparing for this for some time. 

The war, and it will be considered a domestic war, will pit families against families, friends against friends, workers against workers; in fact, it will involve any group or order of people. There will be deaths but there won't be arrests. That is because law enforcement has also divided between the left and the right. The Trump administration, although focused on the dictator's pre-death wishes, spirals into complete chaos because there is no one to tell them what to do. Yes, the leader is gone and suddenly we begin to see the startling incompetence of Trump's minions.

Do you know your next door neighbor, acquainted with others in the neighborhood? Remember that recent block party where everyone brought a food dish to the get together? Well, the next time they'll bring their AR-15, loaded with backup ammunition. The conversation quickly digresses into politics and what happens next is anyone's guess. You go to the super market and everyone is carrying assault rifles, and the look you get is pure surly making friendliness a fond memory of the past. Disagree with your butcher and you have a semi-automatic weapon staring you in the face.

And what about relationships? Like when your girlfriend reveals one day that she is a Trumpster, and you have to worship at his altar. You find out your doctor loves Trump and wants to talk about him more than he wants to find out what's wrong with you. Your lawyer is a follower and his interpretation of the law goes off the right side of his desk. You discover the minister of your church is married to an extreme rightist Evangelical who pressures him to worship you know who. But the epitome of it all is when you return home from work one day and your wife tells you she is on the way to a MAGA rally.

This one won't be like the war between the North and the South. Now, the dividing line will be the street

in front of your house; depending who lives across from you, what action you take. The bulletproof glass industry will boom with any window facing the critical demarcation receiving immediate attention. My guess is life and business will go on as usual with violence erupting only when someone makes a derogatory statement about Donald Trump, when the shit will hit the fan. There will be deaths and, where the neighborhood watch used to report intruders, in this case they will remove the dead. 

Silencers for guns, although illegal in this country, will be a necessary part of every arsenal. Let's say you are a Trumpster and go to the movies, see an anti-Trump person you hate. You quietly sit down behind them, and in a blaringly loud scene from the movie, you blow your enemies head off. Or you're trying on clothes and see an adversary; under the cover of a garment, you drop him or her. Whichever side you are on, the reaction of onlookers will be a combination of both shock and curiosity. In either case, there is little or no reaction, allowing enough time for an escape.

And this whole boondoggle won't come to an end until Trump's Cabinet and other doormat bootlickers start their own infighting, which will bring down the government. J.D. Vance has become president, Mike Johnson V.P. Both are borderline smart and think they can control Trump's gang. But this inept crew of morons erupts into dissention, with Stephen Miller ending up as their leader. Miller, who is a white nationalist, decides to round up all Blacks, Hispanics, Orientals, anyone non-white, and put them in a concentration camp. Then Kristi Noem calls and says, 'Let's move them to Alligator Alcatraz.'