Love the pump you up shout out at the beginning Ben๐! And itโs funny that you wonder if sheโs a trump supporter because I find myself asking that same question when Iโm out and about ๐๐
Hmm. I've been thinking that the people who *don't* look crabby and unhappy are in denial, but then again I'm in a blue area of Massachusetts so this may not be true elsewhere.
I have seen Trump bumper stickers and Trump flags around here, but I don't think I've seen a MAGA hat. OTOH, maybe I have and my subconscious screened it out.
Ben, your "vibes" are often towards kindness and empathy for people.
It wouldn't hurt to ask respectfully and hopefully, hear what regular people have to say. It is a good way to help those in power who DO have our best interests at heart understand what Americans are thinking and what they are worried about.
(For instance, before the election Polish radio in Chicago was leaning far right. Many Polish immigrants voted for the Orange face because they were told the left leaning democrats were Communists, something the older people left Poland to get away from in the early 80's)
It would help democracy if we also had some well-spoken advocates getting the message out to those who do not speak English as their first language.
We have a community of Vietnamese immigrants who were brought here after the "peace with honor" thing. They also voted for ๐๐คก because they heard that Kamala was a "communist."
Why? If the person is nice, what difference does it make? If they've supported the Felon President-elect because of something he's promised that is important to them, they'll learn, just like the NYC first responders have and, if not, they're still nice and there is the chance that further engagement may lead to enlightenment.
Ben, I really like walking around in your head with you. Lots of deep thoughts likeโฆ who voted for that Psycho? are you one of those MAGA nut jobs? Does โfreeโ really mean free? I find it a refreshing way to start the morning. Thx
Another โrefreshingโ bit of news: flags flew at half-staff at Nixonโs second inauguration out of respect for Harry Truman, who had died a few weeks earlier. Hey, Orangeman, look it up, and issue a correction immediately. Thank you.
Ben...please explain why President Biden can't do something as the current President to block Trump from the presidency when he is a convicted felon and a proven threat to our democracy? I thought that is one of his powers is to protect the United States from threats foreign and domestic. Help me understand how he can allow this domestic threat to take over our country and our democracy and ignor our constitution?
I heard there is a path for Congress not to certify as it would be unconstitutional for an adjudicated insurrectionist to serve (both Colorado case and his own impeachment). Not being talked about very much--why not?
Mmmmm....don't think so. I haven't heard a deep dive into the actual process until quite recently. Lack of will? There's a constitutional duty to affirm the election; also a personal and moral duty in part of congressional members to uphold oaths they took to protect & defend the Constitution. A sad day for America.
I have thought this exact thing every day myself! I hear about the 14th Amendment over and over but nothing is done. How can we all plead with Biden to act on this? I think it's too late now....
Please note what Joe "Old School" Biden and his administration have managed to achieve in the last four years with slim or non-existent majorities in Congress and despite a dysfunctional, often obstructionist Republican Party. Oratory alone, no matter how eloquent, couldn't have achieved a fraction of it.
Not disagreeing with any of that... I am making the point, Joe is " old school" politics, in reference to the previous post and that Joe will uphold the certification of the next unAmerican pathetic excuse for a President.
In that case, "old school" is a virtue worth hanging on to. Thanks for clarifying. In the "unAmerican pathetic" category, Trump is probably unique, but in some ways he looks like a caricature of Ronald Reagan, whose presidency I lived through as an adult.
Why do so many people who consider themselves liberal want President Biden to act like a dictator and overturn an election that was "free and fair" (as long as the power of $$$ is left out of the calculation)?
What are you even talking about? The increasing power of the presidency has been a matter of widespread concern since at least the Nixon administration -- and plenty of conservatives were freaked out by FDR. OTOH, the ever-increasing dysfunction of Congress has encouraged the executive to take up the slack, which Biden has done pretty damn well.
I know it feels like Trump slithered out of accountability yet again...but in a way, Judge Merchan is making it very hard for Trump to prove, on appeal--and he will certainly try to appeal the judgement, and provided, of course, that they get a reasonable Appellate Judge--that he deserves relief from the conviction.
Judge Merchan plans to give Trump an unconditional release--so no further jeopardy or burden will be placed or expected. Trump doesn't even have to show up in person--he can appear at the sentencing via zoom, which makes it hard for him to protest that he has no time for the sentencing, since he evidently still has time to golf during an important House vote. But with that, the judgement and sentencing does make the badge of convicted felon permanent. Trump gets to wear it forever after, even when he dies. If Trump should die before he is sentenced the designation of "convicted felon" disappears. So at the very least we shall have that much, provided the sentencing goes off as planned.
I think Judge Merchan has done the very best he could in upholding Trump's guilty verdict rendered by a jury of peers, under the circumstances. Yeah Trump will walk away with no punishment, but he's still a convicted felon.
It's not the greatest democracy or the greatest anything. It's a highly diverse country, struggling under the weight of its openness and failure to anticipate and prepare for those who would take it over and destroy it by using democracy against itself.
I also wonder who people voted for when I am on the elevator or shopping or standing in line. I used to know because I wore tee shirts with Kamala's face or name on them until she lost the election. People reacted to them and that was how I knew. Now I wear DEMOCRACY: YOU DON'T ฦNOW WHAT YOU'VE GOT UNTIL IT'S GONE or
WE WON'T GO BACK or
WE THE PEOPLE MEANS EVERYONE or PRODUCT OF IMMIGRANTS or IF IT'S NOT YOUR BODY, IT'S NOT YOUR DECISION or...
Thank you Ben.. people ask if I view legacy news, I say no havenโt done that in 5 years. However, I reply, have you viewed Meidas network? Itโs the best news reporting aroundโฆ As was said a few weeks ago, in this political environmentโฆ. Create Frictionโฆ. Best to All
Happy New Year Ben, and to all the Meidas Mighty out there. I think of Joe Friday when I listen to or read Meidastouch. Just the facts Mam, nothing but the facts. Dragnet was the show for all the younger ones out there.
Good morning medias mighty family and good morning to you Ben. Well of course Mike Johnson had to buy votes to keep his power so to speak. We all know that Hakeem Jeffries should have been speaker of the house or better yet run for President one day. Scary to think in 15 days the criminal will be sworn into office. Unthinkable, how is he not charged with violating the 14th amendment and still can run for the highest power office. Hopefully, there will be light shining in 2025
Ben, It is hard to subscribe when on Social Security & Food Stamps at 73, with diminishing savings & little prospect for income, & hearing sounds about the discontinuation of the two while facing the diminution of the last. Arrrgh
I am in similar circumstances, one of those "life is what happens after you make other plans" kind of things. But have you noticed that even non-paying subscribers get to post (unlike most other substacks). And we get the MTN news. Despite the campaign rhetoriic and promises (worth less than the energy it took to poke the buttons to text them), I, like you, know that T&Co never had any intent to preserve SS, medicare, and ACA. They will look for ways to undercut us all. But look at the pushback already! We must make noise. And we must not stop. We must ensure ALL Americans' access to these most basic of human needs. I think we can. Britain introduced universal health care in the aftermath of WW2, when they realized that making health care available to all saved money and ensured a healthier population. By joining with people with maga inclinations to save programs we all agree we need, we might be able to move the needle toward a truly comprehensive health care system that will work for us all. We won't know until we try. I'm in.
Love the Chit-Chat style you work with Ben. I subscribe monetarily to three Substack accounts currently and Sam proud to claim that I no longer partake in ANY mainstream cable news outlets.
Very proud of your Meidas News Network and if the 2025 tariff inflation doesnโt deplete my bank account, youโll be my next SubStack $$ recipient
Love the pump you up shout out at the beginning Ben๐! And itโs funny that you wonder if sheโs a trump supporter because I find myself asking that same question when Iโm out and about ๐๐
I find myself wondering the same about nearly everyone I pass by, especially the people who look crabby or unhappy.
Hmm. I've been thinking that the people who *don't* look crabby and unhappy are in denial, but then again I'm in a blue area of Massachusetts so this may not be true elsewhere.
I wish! In California it is such a mixed bag... I do know one neighbor who has been hiding out since the election and avoiding my eyes...oh well ๐
I was at the Farmer's Market in a pretty liberal area a few weeks back. A man was wearing a Yellow and Gold MAGA hat - head held high. It was gross.
I have seen Trump bumper stickers and Trump flags around here, but I don't think I've seen a MAGA hat. OTOH, maybe I have and my subconscious screened it out.
I wish my subconscious would screen the MAGAs out for me.
Sorry what is this link for? I went to it and it had several different links.
So do I.
Ben, your "vibes" are often towards kindness and empathy for people.
It wouldn't hurt to ask respectfully and hopefully, hear what regular people have to say. It is a good way to help those in power who DO have our best interests at heart understand what Americans are thinking and what they are worried about.
(For instance, before the election Polish radio in Chicago was leaning far right. Many Polish immigrants voted for the Orange face because they were told the left leaning democrats were Communists, something the older people left Poland to get away from in the early 80's)
It would help democracy if we also had some well-spoken advocates getting the message out to those who do not speak English as their first language.
We have a community of Vietnamese immigrants who were brought here after the "peace with honor" thing. They also voted for ๐๐คก because they heard that Kamala was a "communist."
i do too, but i am in Flori-duh so they usually are. ๐
Unfortunately I am also in Flori Duh. ๐ฅน
๐ข
๐ข
Why? If the person is nice, what difference does it make? If they've supported the Felon President-elect because of something he's promised that is important to them, they'll learn, just like the NYC first responders have and, if not, they're still nice and there is the chance that further engagement may lead to enlightenment.
Same here, always wondering. Bottom line? I try to be kind to everyone.....until they aren't kind to me.
Itโs so hard for us to admit that many MAGA people are really nice otherwise. I donโt get it.
Thank you Ben! I'm really struggling with everything right now and I turn to this community to reassure myself that I'm not alone.
I get it Crystal ๐ค
Ben, I really like walking around in your head with you. Lots of deep thoughts likeโฆ who voted for that Psycho? are you one of those MAGA nut jobs? Does โfreeโ really mean free? I find it a refreshing way to start the morning. Thx
Another โrefreshingโ bit of news: flags flew at half-staff at Nixonโs second inauguration out of respect for Harry Truman, who had died a few weeks earlier. Hey, Orangeman, look it up, and issue a correction immediately. Thank you.
He was too busy buying and lying his way out of Vietnam! Cadet Bone Spurs gets the ๐๐ salute!
Ben...please explain why President Biden can't do something as the current President to block Trump from the presidency when he is a convicted felon and a proven threat to our democracy? I thought that is one of his powers is to protect the United States from threats foreign and domestic. Help me understand how he can allow this domestic threat to take over our country and our democracy and ignor our constitution?
Thank you, Anice! Bravo question! I hope we can get some sort of answer as to why Trump can't be stopped dead in his felonious tracks!
I heard there is a path for Congress not to certify as it would be unconstitutional for an adjudicated insurrectionist to serve (both Colorado case and his own impeachment). Not being talked about very much--why not?
Probably because it's been talked to death for four years and there's not much more to say at this point.
Mmmmm....don't think so. I haven't heard a deep dive into the actual process until quite recently. Lack of will? There's a constitutional duty to affirm the election; also a personal and moral duty in part of congressional members to uphold oaths they took to protect & defend the Constitution. A sad day for America.
I have thought this exact thing every day myself! I hear about the 14th Amendment over and over but nothing is done. How can we all plead with Biden to act on this? I think it's too late now....
Joe Biden is Joe "OLD SCHOOL". don't hold your breath.
Please note what Joe "Old School" Biden and his administration have managed to achieve in the last four years with slim or non-existent majorities in Congress and despite a dysfunctional, often obstructionist Republican Party. Oratory alone, no matter how eloquent, couldn't have achieved a fraction of it.
Not disagreeing with any of that... I am making the point, Joe is " old school" politics, in reference to the previous post and that Joe will uphold the certification of the next unAmerican pathetic excuse for a President.
In that case, "old school" is a virtue worth hanging on to. Thanks for clarifying. In the "unAmerican pathetic" category, Trump is probably unique, but in some ways he looks like a caricature of Ronald Reagan, whose presidency I lived through as an adult.
Why do so many people who consider themselves liberal want President Biden to act like a dictator and overturn an election that was "free and fair" (as long as the power of $$$ is left out of the calculation)?
Thank you, Susanna, for pointing out the obvious.
I wish it were obvious to more people!
There are obvious limits to everything. Removing those limits from the POTUS, is democratic suicide.
What are you even talking about? The increasing power of the presidency has been a matter of widespread concern since at least the Nixon administration -- and plenty of conservatives were freaked out by FDR. OTOH, the ever-increasing dysfunction of Congress has encouraged the executive to take up the slack, which Biden has done pretty damn well.
14th Amendment! I don't get it either! Weakness by those who have the power, I suppose!
I know it feels like Trump slithered out of accountability yet again...but in a way, Judge Merchan is making it very hard for Trump to prove, on appeal--and he will certainly try to appeal the judgement, and provided, of course, that they get a reasonable Appellate Judge--that he deserves relief from the conviction.
Judge Merchan plans to give Trump an unconditional release--so no further jeopardy or burden will be placed or expected. Trump doesn't even have to show up in person--he can appear at the sentencing via zoom, which makes it hard for him to protest that he has no time for the sentencing, since he evidently still has time to golf during an important House vote. But with that, the judgement and sentencing does make the badge of convicted felon permanent. Trump gets to wear it forever after, even when he dies. If Trump should die before he is sentenced the designation of "convicted felon" disappears. So at the very least we shall have that much, provided the sentencing goes off as planned.
I think Judge Merchan has done the very best he could in upholding Trump's guilty verdict rendered by a jury of peers, under the circumstances. Yeah Trump will walk away with no punishment, but he's still a convicted felon.
I agree. I hate that the greatest democracy is showing the world its sheer stupidity.
It's not the greatest democracy or the greatest anything. It's a highly diverse country, struggling under the weight of its openness and failure to anticipate and prepare for those who would take it over and destroy it by using democracy against itself.
MAGA is tired of all the losing. Government workers will be undermining Trump from day one! We have been preparing while he has been golfing and squabbling. Resist project 2025! https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/resisting-project-2025-from-within-government
Be careful....I'm sure there are just as many on his side.
I like this Sunday morning
stream of consciousness
writing and I don't even drink (gasp!) coffee.
I also wonder who people voted for when I am on the elevator or shopping or standing in line. I used to know because I wore tee shirts with Kamala's face or name on them until she lost the election. People reacted to them and that was how I knew. Now I wear DEMOCRACY: YOU DON'T ฦNOW WHAT YOU'VE GOT UNTIL IT'S GONE or
WE WON'T GO BACK or
WE THE PEOPLE MEANS EVERYONE or PRODUCT OF IMMIGRANTS or IF IT'S NOT YOUR BODY, IT'S NOT YOUR DECISION or...
Please keep up your Sunday morning SOC. :)
I still wear my Kamala shirts! I am not ashamed that I did what I coukd to avoid this up coming shit show!
Glad you wear them. I'm just wearing my protest
trump shirts. We need to wear it, whatever it is. ๐
๐ช๐๐๐โฃ๏ธ
Hey, thanks for those!๐
Thank you Ben.. people ask if I view legacy news, I say no havenโt done that in 5 years. However, I reply, have you viewed Meidas network? Itโs the best news reporting aroundโฆ As was said a few weeks ago, in this political environmentโฆ. Create Frictionโฆ. Best to All
This made me laugh out loud. Your stream of thought writing is hysterical. Thanks for a good start to the day!
I like that you feel a twinge of guilt about the expired pojnts. Youโre one of the good guys, Ben. Thank you.
Happy New Year Ben, and to all the Meidas Mighty out there. I think of Joe Friday when I listen to or read Meidastouch. Just the facts Mam, nothing but the facts. Dragnet was the show for all the younger ones out there.
Perfect analogy, Keith! Love it
I am ready for today and what will Trump do next? I canโt stand him and when he is on tv I change the channel
Good morning medias mighty family and good morning to you Ben. Well of course Mike Johnson had to buy votes to keep his power so to speak. We all know that Hakeem Jeffries should have been speaker of the house or better yet run for President one day. Scary to think in 15 days the criminal will be sworn into office. Unthinkable, how is he not charged with violating the 14th amendment and still can run for the highest power office. Hopefully, there will be light shining in 2025
Cool read. Great info updates. Inspiring. Funny. All the things We needed.๐๐ช
Ben, It is hard to subscribe when on Social Security & Food Stamps at 73, with diminishing savings & little prospect for income, & hearing sounds about the discontinuation of the two while facing the diminution of the last. Arrrgh
I am in similar circumstances, one of those "life is what happens after you make other plans" kind of things. But have you noticed that even non-paying subscribers get to post (unlike most other substacks). And we get the MTN news. Despite the campaign rhetoriic and promises (worth less than the energy it took to poke the buttons to text them), I, like you, know that T&Co never had any intent to preserve SS, medicare, and ACA. They will look for ways to undercut us all. But look at the pushback already! We must make noise. And we must not stop. We must ensure ALL Americans' access to these most basic of human needs. I think we can. Britain introduced universal health care in the aftermath of WW2, when they realized that making health care available to all saved money and ensured a healthier population. By joining with people with maga inclinations to save programs we all agree we need, we might be able to move the needle toward a truly comprehensive health care system that will work for us all. We won't know until we try. I'm in.
Annie, agreed. Thank you.
Love the Chit-Chat style you work with Ben. I subscribe monetarily to three Substack accounts currently and Sam proud to claim that I no longer partake in ANY mainstream cable news outlets.
Very proud of your Meidas News Network and if the 2025 tariff inflation doesnโt deplete my bank account, youโll be my next SubStack $$ recipient
Well done. Proudly Resisting the MAGA Oligarchy