2026 Political Thread

[bjdeming]

It is such a weird time that there might be hesitancy to look at another year. Somebody has to take the jump...

"Shut up," they explained, "we have your issue right here. Now quit shouting and pay attention."

...Heading into the November midterm election, which Democrats believe will hinge on issues such as affordability and health care, national outcry over ICE’s conduct has pressured lawmakers to speak out...

The rest of that article is an attempt to take the issue away from Bluesky, I think. Citizens For Impeachment mounted an impressive effort there over the weekend to get Congress people to sign on to a call for Noem's impeachment.


Not that that would solve anything, but they felt they had to do something. And apparently the mainstream press pays attention to Bluesky.

In the America I grew up in, her resignation would have been on the President's desk, and accepted, by Saturday afternoon. And the combat LARPers would have been reined in nationwide..

Sigh.


As for the rest of us, well, there is that saying I noticed on X: "Left wing, right wing; they belong to the same bird."

A big fat old comfortable turkey.

But the eagle has woken up and nobody, least of all the eagle, knows what it will do next. Fortunately, it has a healthy constitution and therefore will fly strongly and in the appropriately freedom-oriented direction.

I thought of that Monty Python segment of "Ooo killed ooo" after Sir Lancelot goes amok on the wedding party, but liked this video better, though our turkey is transformed into a cat:

 

[bjdeming]

The last sentence is the kicker.

 

[bjdeming]

One more tweet.

Kasparov has an interesting feed, but he usually isn't so passionate. He knows what he is talking about, while some of us Americans had to learn the hard way last year: Listen to them, and believe what they say.



Be sure to read his follow-up tweet, too.

This is the real threat to the Free World, not whatever Distraction Du Jour is going on at the moment -- in the Middle East, etc.

We, the former leader of the Free World, are undergoing a soft-start, progressively hardening coup by people who, for their own purposes, are trying to erect a Golden Curtain around the US as effective and isolating as Putin's Iron Curtain is for Russians (most of whom are decent people, I think).

And they're trying to sell it to Middle Americans who would be useful to them in enforcing regime dictates -- just as such a class has developed nationwide in Russia, and in the USSR before it, to keep a foot on their neighbor's neck and inspire fear and meanness.

I'd hate to see that happen here, but it is a human failing and we are humans all.

And the coup-mongers' selling point, basically the USA as a whites-only wealthy gated world community with a large slave service population, is tremendously attractive to a lot of people.

I never thought I would be writing like this, and I don't believe that it will do one bit of good.

But the day is coming, if things keep on like this, when the inevitable ruin of America that must follow such sick fantasies will be obvious to everyone; at least my conscience will be clear then because I did speak up. Now.

 

[bjdeming]

Fortunately, this is America, the eagle is awake, and it did manage to get articles of impeachment against Noem to the House floor. Per Kelly, 70 reps support them currently.

It is unlikely to go anywhere farther without Republican support, which is proper. To be meaningful, impeachment SHOULD be bipartisan -- it's a blot on the Dems and Republicans that it hasn't been over the last three decades.

I just can't help wondering when those Republicans today are going to wake up to the fact that this is a shortcut to avoiding the long hot summer that now seems to be looming this year.

Maybe they think that riots and a crackdown -- even if it means delaying or canceling the fall elections -- will ultimately be for America's good, i.e., good as they see it.

(I personally know how hard it is to see other views, and how hard it is -- especially in old age -- to accept the validity of those views. But I try because now the absolute necessity of giving up your prejudices for America's sake and working together is obvious.)

Maybe the more inhuman among them even see the longer-term plan: to turn those elections this year into a RED wave by outraging and scaring Trump's base now -- many of whom are already reeling from the abusive relationship their leader is putting them through and the isolating abuse thrown at them from the "Blues," and who also just cannot believe that the sort of absolute power that's possible at this moment in human history because of vast accumulation of money and technology in the hands of a few can -- and has -- corrupted completely.

The coup-mongers have come far in one year but they can't yet normalize plutocracy and white-supremacist fascism in this country. Soon, but not yet.

They still need to keep the illusion of freedom going for a while and still can only signal their real intentions with such things as the imagery in that tweet above.

We the People, on the other hand, still have so much going for us now. We need to let go of mutual suspicion and hate to use the mechanisms of civil society now. Let's impeach Noem. Now.

It's a start on the road back to normalcy.

 

[bjdeming]

Meanwhile, outside my window just now...



Sorry about the shouting (mine -- theirs was glorious!). It surprised me (though it shouldn't have) and then I lost it briefly upon seeing the Iranian Lion and Sun flag -- right after reading that POTUS had blinked when the mullahs stood their ground.

Those young adults and their families could be killed -- right here in the USA by regime hitmen -- for doing that.

What a great thing to see, and the honking from passing cars was terrific, too.

Not so catchy to chant, but worth mention. America is still that Colossus. (from Wikipedia):

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Bronze plaque inside the Statue of Liberty with the text of the poem

 

[andyhb]

Kidnapping a person because of their accent.

 

[andyhb]

‘Are they going to bring their violence here?’: Fear – but little preparation – as threat of invasion looms over Greenland

Ahead of high-stakes talks, people tell of alarm, thoughts of fleeing and lack of information on what to do if US invades

www.theguardian.com

The United States has become a pariah state to some of its closest allies. What are everyday Americans, including on this board, going to do about it? Tick tock.

Read this quote from a Greenlander and just think a little bit.

“I hope to God that we won’t be Americans. Trump can just make bases here instead of making threats. It is people’s lives he is talking about and we are not violent here. I’m so afraid if they take over are they going to bring their violence here?”

 

[andyhb]

I guess tear-gassing infants is what people voted for. If that makes you upset, good, it's supposed to.

 

[bjdeming]

CNN is back on my "watch" list now because they had the guts to show that Noem/thugs side-by-side video.

Meanwhile I'm pretty sure that, in the America I grew up in, this would not have been pointed out by a foreigner but instead blared from headlines throughout the media -- especially in an election year that they wanted to culminate in a populist wave:



But left and right wing are on that big fat old turkey...I think Ron Wyden is on this financial dirt, though.

At least he is after the Epstein victims spoke out in public and put a human face on that -- it is a serious matter for a Democrat to go up against "Clinton and the Hedge Fund guys," as well as POTUS, without widespread public support.

PS: It is important to note that Chainsaw DOGE Man does not appear to be censoring X on these things -- it's even more interesting than bsky and covers more matters.

 

[bjdeming]

Meanwhile, in Iran...



Presumably that could include some family and friends of the brave people who marched past my window yesterday -- and they themselves, if and when they go home.

I can't get this "black tears" video out of my mind, though it's a lion on the flag they were carrying, not a cheetah. Don't think there are any more wild lions in the Middle East, though there are a few in India.

Found the video while doing a post last year about Iran's endangered cheetah and endangered biologists (the nuts in charge thought camera traps were foreign spy tech and imprisoned some of the scientists).



What the US should do in Iran is militarily assist and help the endangered Iranian people to get the government they want via free elections, but more importantly, provide practical broad-based and IMMEDIATE assistance to help Tehran (and probably other parts) permanently solve its water crisis. That will earn us forever friends, and not just in Iran, either.

 

[bjdeming]

Sorry, but American "greatness" apparently means thing after another.'"

The Federal Aviation Administration warned pilots of U.S. airlines about flying over the eastern Pacific Ocean near Mexico, Central America and parts of South America, citing possible "military activities" and satellite navigation interference. ...

-- Source

I only follow Mexico news (sometimes), and their airspace reportedly (Spanish) is open

 

[andyhb]

Remember when Kamala and anyone else on the Democratic side were called hysteric for suggesting this might happen? The Trump admin wants to use the military against its own civilians! It doesn't matter who you are or if you are a citizen or not.

 

[TH2002]

View attachment 49946

Remember when Kamala and anyone else on the Democratic side were called hysteric for suggesting this might happen? The Trump admin wants to use the military against its own civilians! It doesn't matter who you are or if you are a citizen or not.

Yep... the US using the military against its own citizens is a GREAT look for our country... and given the current situation, should DEFINITELY reassure Greenlanders that Trump has the island's best interests at heart!

 

[bjdeming]

I think there are bills in both Senate and House, with at least some Republican backing, to block that move, and Don Bacon (not a hothead) says that if Trump were to move against Greenland, and therefore NATO, it could mean the end of his presidency.

Still, sigh, the first three posts that came up when I logged onto X just now -- from two prominent Republicans and a cat that has lived at 10 Downing Street much longer than any human official resident:







What on Earth is POTUS going to tell us in his state-of-the-Union speech?

 

[bjdeming]

Pretty interesting feed today; the Senate Foreign Relations people just posted a link to this -- on the weekend!

COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Today, U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), Co-Chairs of the bipartisan Senate NATO Observer Group, issued the following statement regarding the recent threat of tariffs on the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway:

“The United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway are America’s closest allies. They are our NATO Allies who have fought beside us, died alongside us and have made America safer and more prosperous.

"Over the course of our bi-partisan meetings with Danish and Greenlandic officials in Copenhagen, the message was resoundingly clear that Denmark and Greenland want to partner with the United States and advance our shared security goals, just as we have done for decades. There is no need, or desire, for a costly acquisition or hostile military takeover of Greenland when our Danish and Greenlandic allies are eager to work with us on Arctic security, critical minerals and other priorities under the framework of long-standing treaties. When we reconvene with our Senate colleagues, we will convey the perspectives shared by Danish and Greenlandic officials, as well as from the indigenous people who live the realities of Greenland every day.

"Continuing down this path is bad for America, bad for American businesses and bad for America’s allies. This kind of rhetoric also further helps adversaries like Putin and Xi who want to see NATO divided. Our allies deserve better, and so do the American people who have made their opposition to this flawed policy resoundingly clear. At a time when many Americans are already concerned about the cost of living, these tariffs would raise prices for both families and businesses. We urge the administration to turn off the threats and turn on diplomacy.”

###

Also, on other matters, I think this American is not alone in thanking Canada once again for taking BIG risks to help us in the Iran hostage crisis back in the day (even if Argo glossed it over) and more recently by standing up to China in that Huawei CEO affair.

And it's possible that more of us now are starting to conclude that with Trump and impeachment, third time's a charm. That. Needs. Republicans.

Or they will own this national disgrace forever.

 

[bjdeming]

And it's important to be bipartisan here.

Democrats, you're on the hook, too. You have been a cult far longer that the intransigent Trumpeteers who now so successfully copy your tactics.

We have a crisis now that is both national and international. And right now -- follow me closely here, Dems -- I don't believe that my fellow Americans want or need "affordability," "healthcare," other focus-group-tested slogans, or the plutocratic socialism that your wing of the Turkey Party actually aims to establish after the supercapitalists have cleared the way for you.

We. Want. Accountability. Action. If not Courage, although some of you are courageous indeed!, then at least Representation.

Representation of ALL points of view and especially those points of view that you and your fellow "smurfs" have ridiculed and suppressed so long that Trump & Co. 2.0 were able to successfully and very cruelly exploit to take power in the first place.

• There is nothing wrong with wanting America to be great.
• Red hats are cool. My TW hat is red.
• The current mess is not the fault of conservative men and women who have patiently endured the trampling of much that they hold dear, including what they consider to be the prenatal murder of millions of babies, and who have worked so hard within the system to bring America back to the central values that we all more or less share, whether we're willing to admit it or not.
• Those who have been horribly betrayed by the current regime of Internet Trolls in Meatspace With Teeth (and Guns) need and deserve a place on the platform, not isolation and even more ridicule. Direct that at the bullies who deserve it and help make America great for ALL of us.
• Occasions of hatred are never settled by hate. Occasions of hatred are settled by non-hatred (which is also a thing that exists as a life force, not a platitude, just as white is a color, not the absence of color; I have plagiarized both the Dhammapada and G.K. Chesterton for those two ideas).

We Americans of many colors and persuasions want accountability, action, and representation.

Now. Not after you Dems run it by Legal, get your cult masters' approval, and test it out with a few more focus groups.

Right now. They are beating us, killing us, using Nazi imagery (see Kasparov's tweet earlier in this thread), disappearing people, and seriously suggesting that all Americans need ID papers and, oh, BTW, destroying NATO.

Work together and act, Congress. That's what you're there for in crises like this.

This is still all that matters, to ALL of us, and to our allies (including the NATO allies who helped us when we invoked Article 5 after 9/11), 24 years on...and counting:

 

[andyhb]

For the sake, invoke the 25th Amendment now.

 

[bjdeming]

YES!!!!

This is Vance's "Harris" moment, and the stakes are so much higher.

Unfortunately, that crew, I fear, really does have a coup underway -- prove me wrong...please! -- and they didn't plan for this; they also cannot admit what they are doing because, if I am correct, it is treason.

It's not good when the people who have painted themselves into such a corner also have the nuclear football.

I think right now we'd all look the other way on the coup possibility if Vance manned up and went in there with medicos -- he might need muscle, too, sadly -- and took this dementia case out of the Oval Office and put him into a nice, comfy, medical suite at some military hospital.

Meanwhile, since congressional bills take some time to become law, there is this:



And if Hegseth doesn't like it, impeach him (unless the mental case with whom he addressed senior US military personnel a while back hasn't already had his car keys taken away, so to speak; that would probably make all of Trump's present cabinet think things over).

 

[bjdeming]

It's going on noon in DC and I don't see any sign of Vance acting -- as he needs to -- today.

Two things come to mind:

1. Young people, our NATO allies have never shown more support for us, the American people, than they are doing right now, not even when they fought and died with us in Iraq.

They didn't have to share that letter publicly. They did so to shake us out of Dreamland and into action.

This isn't about Red and Blue any more. It is about original sin...and redemption.

I don't see any sign of concern about Trump in the mainstream media here -- an AP headline right now actually reports the letter with the headline qualifier "Allies say."

Stay in Dreamland...the media says soothingly...it's just another news story.

Fellow Americans, the next step, if US military leaders go along with this, is war. With Europe. That's not being dramatic. That's how life works. And that is just for starters.

We probably invade Mexico, too, given that recent FAA advisory. Which brings me to the next point...

2. What if Trump isn't all that demented? What if this is part of the plan, albeit an unwritten part for obvious reasons?

I have noticed, and perhaps mentioned in the other thread, that this Internet Trolls In Meatspace With Teeth (and Guns) faction really doesn't act as if they care about the next elections.

And I have wondered why. What things might they know about that decent ordinary Americans would not be capable of imagining?

Things like provoking WWIII and then quelling the resulting unrest with a crackdown? Shutting down those pesky courts with military rule?

Of course they would do it in cold weather, which is not conducive to mass demonstrations.

But can we even demonstrate against it and effectively demand action?

We Americans have experienced almost nonstop brutal news blasts from the Trump administration since Inauguration Day.

What if that is psyops to break our will or at least paralyze us with cognitive dissonance ('it can't happen here,' as it happens all around us, day after day after day).

Thank you, NATO allies. I'm with you 100%, but I'm just an old lady who would much rather be writing about volcanoes, felids (past and present), and canids.

It remains to be seen how many of my fellow Americans are willing to redeem and act upon the promises of freedom that past generations struggled for, earned, and passed on to us.

 

[bjdeming]

No news might be good news: Harris immediately said she wouldn't invoke Section 4 of the 25th. I can't find any current news on Vance, though he did call for it, when the shoe was on the other foot, while campaigning last year.

Learned that he has to get a majority of the Cabinet on board with it.

Hope my fears are wrong; that decent people with the power to act are having serious discussions right now, and that they do it, as painful and ugly as it would be for them.