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Daniel Solomon's avatar

Today the Miami Herald refused to let me post:

If you like Putin, you love Trump. If you shorted the market, you love Trump. If you want to lose all our friends like our number 1 trading partner, Canada, you love Trump.

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The Coke Brothers's avatar

Time to cancel your subscription?

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john A ferguson's avatar

Daniel, I wond if the Herald could reduce their rationale to a single sentence, and if they could, do they apply it indifferently. What you wrote is provocative but not outside the bounds of polite discourse as far as I cansee.

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Daniel Solomon's avatar

You must not live aqui mismo.

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Daniel Solomon's avatar

After numerous tries, they took it....nevermind.

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Kathryn Ruud's avatar

Good you kept trying. Your comment is well worth reading.

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Daniel Solomon's avatar

Here's an example of today's Herald.

"Dugan’s actions were those of a judge gone rogue"

https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/article305320096.html.

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Kathy Sowers's avatar

I have to keep telling myself "it's only an opinion" when headlines like this make my blood boil. So - it's a blah blah blah lie, and often misinformed (or in this case cultish right wing extremist maga), thank God it's only an opinion and not the actual news.

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john A ferguson's avatar

November 6, 2024 WAPO headline (briefly) on at 6:30AM and off by 10:00AM

something like "Trump Triumphs"

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Patric Martin's avatar

I canceled The Herald a few years ago. I read the Sun Sentinel. Good Miami sports coverage! 😉

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Daniel Solomon's avatar

I subscribe to them, too, but they don't permit comments.

In fact, most papers don't anymore.

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JMcLV's avatar

WAPO sold its soul, but I miss the comments. I get my fix at Bluesky.

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john A ferguson's avatar

I had hoped that the comments gang at WAPO's Jennifer column would relocate here and we could go on as before with dailogs and arguments over the fuss du jour. Maybe it will take time, or maybe those folks have moved on to some other opportunity. I found the commments then often revealed better ways to look at something than Jennifer's - no slam of Jennifer intended here.

And WAPO royally screwed up its comment format. It used to be so simple and comfortable, and now, we have to choose among clumsy descriptors to characterize our comments. I hate it.

And this is not a complaint about the posters here, all excellent, but still....

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Tim Matchette's avatar

Thank the toady Bezos. Marty Baron wrote that Bezos sold out. Absolutely correct. I cancelled my WAPO subscription long ago.

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CC's avatar

I left them and the NYT too. The Contrarian is worth paying for, so I signed up for $7/month. I'd press rubies in their ears if I had them

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Janice Ingram's avatar

At first I read your comment as pressing "rubles" in their ears. My reaction was HUH??!!

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Anne-Louise Luccarini's avatar

If I can't comment, I don't subscribe.

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Tim Matchette's avatar

The NYT still does.

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SLMontgo's avatar

I get posts similar to this deleted from YouTube. Which is why I am here. No threats, no profanity, just hard truth.

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Lesly Harder's avatar

Post it in other states!

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Yodagirl's avatar

Too close to home DS. Another pandering news outlet.

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It's Come To This's avatar

A true hero always brings out the best in others. But a genuine scumbag always brings out the worst. There's a special place in hell for Bullshit Barbie Bondi, doing her best to fill her mouth with Trump scum before spewing it all over the rest of us. Stephen Miller, the Nazi now salivating with joy because he gets to separate another breast-feeding, terrified mother from her 2-year-old. Pete Hegseth -- the drunken white supremacist lout bobbing and weaving his pathetic hour on the stage like Shakespeare's proverbial imbecile. All the foulest birds of the ugliest feather indeed.

I will go my grave not understanding the how such a cruel, stupid, dangerous, obtuse, morally ugly, vicious, pussygrabbing, sociopathic felon managed to get so many greedy dumb-asses to do his bidding, to smear themselves with his stench, all while imagining they're going to heaven because of it. Nor how his brain-dead cult so loves their Rev. Jim Jones that if he asked them to down cyanide-laced purple kool-aid in a mass suicide, they'd bring their own Dixie cups to the event.

Terrifying beyond words.

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Kathleen Pirquet's avatar

But not, I hope, incapacitating, Corbin. Trump is hoping that we all collapse in a case of "the vapors" before his power. We need to kick him and his peeps to the curb and ensure they and their ilk never, ever, get a grip on our government again.

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patricia's avatar

that's what the 2024 election was for.......

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Anne-Louise Luccarini's avatar

Well, that's what we had thought, but we didn't know what else was going on.

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Doug G's avatar

Corbin, he'd first sell them trump-branded Dixie cups, and then the kool-aid.

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RE Garrett's avatar

What this country needs is a better class of citizen. People who, if they call themselves Christians, will at least try to follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. People who don’t call themselves the Party of ‘Law and Order’ and then vote quite happily for the first convicted felon President. People who don’t giggle with glee whenever a sick child gets sent out of the country without due process of law. People who don’t think that tariffs are all going to be paid, not by them, but by somebody else. People who believe in the Constitution and the Rule of Law. People who don’t believe that all the nation’s wealth belongs to a thin layer of scum on the surface of the body politic.

I could go on like this for quite a while….but it’s lunchtime….

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patricia's avatar

RE, AMEN...our citizens are third rate, with minimal (if any) knowledge of history and frankly of the world. Perhaps caused by our size and our isolation.

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Stanley Krute's avatar

More probably caused by utter intellectual and spiritual lassitude.

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patricia's avatar

that also

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Catherine Blanche King's avatar

. . . and I think most Americans have little or no memory of actually being in or sending members of their family to war that had existential implications.

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patricia's avatar

This is true, a problem of not being at least aware of history. Also,because we have an all volunteer army, our modern wars only effect a small percentage of our population. Making it easier to prolong them.

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patricia's avatar

many american idiots don't know the difference between an insurrectionist and a patriot.

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Catherine Blanche King's avatar

Patricia: . . . not to mention the difference between the rule of law and the Presidents racist/biased/ignorant/shallow opinions.

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It's Come To This's avatar

I hear you...

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Cheryl D Kwater's avatar

I wish he WOULD ask all of them to drink the cyanide-laced purple kool-aid, then we would all be rid of the whole nasty lot in one fell swoop however, knowing Trump, he would never drink it himself so we would then have to deal with him separately.

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Joe's avatar

I second the motion and the Dixie cups should only have plastic straws .

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Daniel Solomon's avatar

Answer: Psy ops.

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Susan Stone's avatar

I imagine there are a few people out there who would be happy to pour that kool-aid down his throat. His secret service agents could hold him down.

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Howard Berg's avatar

You express my feelings completely

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Robert's avatar

I'm hoping dixie cups will be provided in quantity

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Cheryl D Kwater's avatar

cyanide-laced purple kool-aid

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patricia's avatar

make it red...and put it in a MAGA cup....collectors edition...

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patricia's avatar

and charge them $50 for it...

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Bobbette Strauss's avatar

Faux News. Ever watch it? Millions do; it’s for the aggrieved…

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Joe Zahner's avatar

Excellent read first thing in the morning. I wish only horrible plagues to descend on Trump and his cronies.

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Susan Stone's avatar

Ooh, golden locusts (so trump would think they were valuable), turn the Potomac river into blood (I wish I could remember the other plagues sent upon Egypt).

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Rachel C's avatar

Think about what Passover is. 👹

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Jean Ross's avatar

Tillis and Collins aren't forced to vote for the confirmation of idiots or anything else. It's their choice. Apparently they consider it worse to lose their souls than to lose their upcoming elections.

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Susan Stone's avatar

It was a way to avoid whatever it was Pharaoh was doing, to protect the Jews who followed God's instructions. It's been years since I read about it so details are vague in my brain. I'm sure nobody will give 57 instructions to get a passover.

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Rachel C's avatar

Umm- the Jews put blood on their doorframes so the angel of the lord wouldn’t kill their firstborn sons. The next day, they left Egypt.

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Susan Stone's avatar

Thank you for reminding me.

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Anne-Louise Luccarini's avatar

There were some really nasty ones I won't name.

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Susan Stone's avatar

I will then wish all of them on him…😇

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Emily S's avatar

After such a busy day yesterday, Jen, you come right back today with this great summary of all the ways that the Trump administration is a sad and dangerous joke on the American people.

Thank you for all you do every day.

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Daniel Solomon's avatar

Still waiting for coverage of Feathers of Hope. https://jerryweiss.substack.com/

Flash: Don Bacon Sets $500 Billion Red Line on Medicaid

What Happened: Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told the White House he won’t support more than $500 billion in Medicaid cuts as Republicans negotiate a sweeping megabill that includes Trump’s 2017 tax cut extensions, work requirements, and benefit cuts.

Why It Matters: With GOP leaders aiming to slash Medicaid to fund tax cuts for the wealthy, even moderates like Bacon setting a $500 billion cap shows how deep the proposed cuts are.

Source: Politico

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Steve 218's avatar

Why should there be any cuts at all to a program that the poorest of us rely upon to keep healthy and alive? Why should those who already have the least be deprived to the point that they have even less? This is inhumane.

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Daniel Solomon's avatar

He's a Republican -- the point is that he is taking MAGA Mike on. He is also the chair of House committees and has taken Trump on on Ukraine and national security. https://www.axios.com/2025/04/21/don-bacon-pete-hegseth-signal

His bio includes retired Air Force general, ranked #1 Most Effective Republican Legislator in the House by the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University's Center for Effective Lawmaking (2022); Ranked #2 for Highest Number of Bills Signed into Law in the House by Govtrack.us (2022); the Defender of Children Award by the First Focus Campaign for Children (2022 & 2023); Top 10 Most Bi-Partisan Member of the House by The Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy Georgetown University (2022 & 2023); the Outstanding Workplace Environment Award by the Congressional Management Foundation (2024); and the Top Elected Official in America for Bipartisan Cooperation by the Common Ground Committee (2021, 2022, 2023 & 2024).

As my 'ol pappy used to say, got to start somewhere.

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Doug G's avatar

True, Daniel. But Bacon says 500, the rest say 880, and they settle around 700. These cuts aren't aimed at "waste, fraud and abuse": they're aimed at the neediest so that the greediest are sated.

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Susan Stone's avatar

The greediest will never be sated. Greed is an addiction.

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Daniel Solomon's avatar

Not the point. We LOVE inter Republican dissention.

Bacon's real issue is national security. We need to ask all Congressional Republicans whether they are on board with the axis of evil? With overlooking breaches of national security, i.e . Hegasth and SIGNAL?

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Daniel Solomon's avatar

On point: suirely there are at least a few Congressional Republicans who have relatives on SSI and need Medicaid to survive.

If I were Jeffries, I'd identify every one of them and make it public.....

Same for invesigative reporters. Jen is a columnist but maybe she knows some.

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Doug G's avatar

Oh, I get that. But it seems that, though I will credit Repubs for surely being deeply concerned with national security (after all, what sane person wouldn't?) their cowardly silence is discrediting. And I will not credit them for appearing to draw a line regarding cuts to social services, until they actually take action to protect them.

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William Moore's avatar

Pam Bondi, a blonde airhead with the instincts of the pathetic idiot who nominated her, is an embarrassment to all blonde airheads.

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The Coke Brothers's avatar

Nazi Sow. Like Leavitt

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Stan Wakefield's avatar

I think Bondi & Leavitt might also be substitutes for Melanoma since she no longer shares a bed with Felon47. What other reason could there be to appoint two blonde airheads to these government jobs?

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The Coke Brothers's avatar

They emerged as front runners when looking for the most incompetent nazi candidates

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Kathleen Pirquet's avatar

They are serving their purposes. All part of the show.

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Daniel Solomon's avatar

Actually, stars in Trump's theater of the absurd.

Every time they misspeak on TV, it's preserved and can be used in court, and in Bondi's case, disciplinary proceedings.

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The Coke Brothers's avatar

Be sure that the record is being kept.

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KatVersc's avatar

Yes, two women including Noem who all have daddy issues. Noem wants to please Daddy Trump so badly she kills innocent animals and then sluts out and gets herself photographed looking like a sexy pinup cosplaying with military men.

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Stan Wakefield's avatar

Great description of ICE Barbie!!😂

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D. Tubb's avatar

Please indulge me with some more of your misogyny.

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The Coke Brothers's avatar

I'm sorry, I should have called them nazi swine. My apologies

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D. Tubb's avatar

Good on you for the apology. A hatred of women is never a good look. I dislike her politics not her gender.

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patricia's avatar

Why are women off limits when they do stupid shit ? We certainly rag on men a plenty....

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Ann Johnson's avatar

It's not off limits to castigate women for their words/actions. It's repugnant when your insults are about their looks rather than their words/actions. (That should go for anyone - the orangeness and tiny hands are not the defining features of T.....)

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Catherine Blanche King's avatar

a little more off limits because they fit the stereotype oh-so-well.

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patricia's avatar

the 2 Evas

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Jenny's avatar

This administration has given me a pavlovian aversion to blondes.

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pts's avatar

She doesn't seem like an airhead at all to me. She gives every indication of being a vicious, soulless, corrupt white supremacist Nazi well enough versed in the law to know how to maximally abuse it and the enforcement of it. She is an extremely dangerous person.

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KatVersc's avatar

You are right, Blondi is a female version of Trump. She exudes his exact qualities, DJT’s Blondi-me.

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Carol Nachman's avatar

And an embarrassment to all attorneys.

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Cheryl D Kwater's avatar

Is anybody reporting her to the bar association? What is it going to take to get her disbarred? She is as corrupt as they come and it became very evident when she as the Florida AG she dropped the lawsuit against Trumps university when he payed her $25,000 dollars to drop the case. Even her brother Brad Bondi also an attorney, wrote an op-ed saying that his sister had lost the meaning of what it meant to be an ethical attorney and has tarnished her father’s name (Joseph C. Bondi) and his legacy.

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D. Tubb's avatar

Well she can't be that much of an airhead she's making 250k a year in her salary as Attorney General, she has a 5 million dollar waterfront mansion in Miami, a 2.5 million dollars Tampa penthouse, a 1.5 million dollars home in Aspen, she drives a Rolls Royce Phantom, a Lamborghini Urus, a Bentley Continental GT and has a bank account worth 18 million.

What are you pulling in genius?

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SCS - Michigan's avatar

Sorry, but you are missing the point here. Bondi and Karoline epitomize GOP misogyny through their very slavish incompetence. Don’t you see that? Only blonde bimbos who parrot obvious lies and demonstrate blind loyalty to their white male king are useful to the throne. Because Bondi apparently has profited handsomely from her obeisance only proves the concept of “we know what she is, it’s just a matter of price.”

— posted by a white female executive (ret.)

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Patric Martin's avatar

Corruption has its perks

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D. Tubb's avatar

I think you've missed the point. She is quite accomplished and even if she were not accomplished, it is never necessary to degrade any person on the basis of their race or gender or age, these are things no person has control over. What Pam Bondie has control over is her conduct and her politics.

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SCS - Michigan's avatar

Actually, we agree. Bondi is playing her pitbull blonde role perfectly. I’m not degrading her; she is doing that to herself and, ipso facto, to all women. I find her and Karoline embarrassing in the extreme. Intentional suck-ups. Falling right into their below-water assigned gender position.

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Michelle's avatar

What she is doing is unethical, unconstitutional, and evil. That’s what matters. Even if she was the most brilliant person on the planet it wouldn’t change the fact that what she is doing, has done, and will likely keep doing is wrong across the board.

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Susan Iwanisziw's avatar

She is rich from the get-go. A Trump DEI hire.

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D. Tubb's avatar

No, she wasn't. Both parents were public servants, her mother was an elementary school teacher and her father was an educational consultant to the University of Florida ok? He also served as a city council member at Temple Terrace Fla, no one else has heard of it either. So neither was rich.

I am always surprised when people say this about the accomplishments of people they don't like. She made her money, all of it. In 2018 she had $4k in her checking account and a house in Florida and personal effects valued at almost 1 million, as the states Atty General of Fla. you have to report these things, it's the law. When she left her job as Atty General, she became a lobbyist for Ballard Partners, her clients were General Motors, Geo group (private prisons,) Carnival, Amazon , Fidelity, Uber and The Nation of Qatar.

She also worked for Pfizer and the law firm Panza, Maurer, & Maynard, she also helped defend this president in his Impeachment hearings and after he prevailed, she joined the America First Policy Institute, that's a MAGA think tank headed up by Linda McMahon (educ sec) and Brook Rollins (agg sec.) She also received paid appearances on Fox and Newsmax. And remember Pam Bondi never attended an Ivy League school , she went to school in Florida and spent 18 years at the state prosecutors office, so she's not slow and she's not stupid and she's got some grit ok? There is no benefit in asserting things that are not true about an adversary, better to know who your enemy than not.

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Robin Rule's avatar

But she's still an evil person, like all the maga's.

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D. Tubb's avatar

Evil? That's a judgement isn't it? I'm not looking at whether Pam Bondi's is virtuous or not. My original point was that she was not an "air head as someone stated in making a misogynist remark about her earlier.( Follow the thread) That's bigotry and it's not ok. What I find interesting is the vile reaction to me stating facts about her qualifications and accomplishments in disproving that misogynistic statement. It's very telling.

It's easy and convenient to believe all MAGAs are bad as you stated. But I ask you, when has "all" of anything ever been true? To reference, as some do, that all MAGA's are uneducated fools, well if only, but they're just not OK and that's just reality. Some are actually educated and accomplished.

I understand that some MAGA's can be offensive and abrasive, but calling a woman a sow is not ok either, someone used that terminology right here on this very thread, that's a pretty derogatory reference to a woman wouldn't you agree?

I don't subscribe to "black and white thinking." "Them bad, us good." because those are the reasonings of a child, simplistic solutions for a brain not yet fully developed. Are we little children so stuck in our comfort zone that the mere mention of a MAGA person's accomplishments is somehow viewed as a threat to our very existence? Think it's not true? Count the responses I've received from the frightened.

Look, when you start hating people you stop thinking clearly. Why would anyone give any MAGA that kind of power over them? If we are going to win the next election we better get smart quick, because hate and name calling is what stupid people do who don't know their facts, and it does not win elections, knowing your adversary does.

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Ellie Alive In 25's avatar

Ah, well, then, she must be worthy of praise, because she has all that money.

I guess that's also why the vulgarian is a Stable Genius - after all, he's rich.

I don't think he head is full of air, it's full of greed. Bribable Bondi has been bought and paid for, more than once, and she will do whatever her owner tells her, unless a better offer comes along.

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The Coke Brothers's avatar

Pam, is this you?

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D. Tubb's avatar

No, Now tell me what you think of minorities.

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The Coke Brothers's avatar

Troll much?

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Kathleen Pirquet's avatar

Livin' the life of lies, Pam. You should have been disbarred years ago. Corrupt as they come. Good looks can't cover that up.

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JMcLV's avatar

Why do you keep score by material wealth rather than intelligence, sound policy, and common sense?

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D. Tubb's avatar

Why do I keep score by material wealth rather than intelligence sound policy and common sense? I don't, that's your assertion not mine.

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JMcLV's avatar

"- she's making 250k a year in her salary as Attorney General,

- she has a 5 million dollar waterfront mansion in Miami,

- a 2.5 million dollars Tampa penthouse,

- a 1.5 million dollars home in Aspen,

- she drives a Rolls Royce Phantom, a Lamborghini Urus, a Bentley Continental GT

- and has a bank account worth 18 million"

If you aren't going to engage in good faith, why are you here?

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D. Tubb's avatar

"If you aren't going to engage in good faith why are you here?"

I don't think I've engaged in bad faith.Cite and example of my "bad faith?"

You edited my remark, you read it in full and you know exactly why I made the remarks I made. A misogynist remark was made about her and I corrected the person who made it. He made a derogatory remark about her lack of intelligence and I stated the facts.

Would you agree that passing the bar requires intelligence? I would.

Jennifer Rubin and Norm Eisen have both passed the bar and you consider both of them intelligent right, but when Pam Bondi does it, she's not? Explain how that works? I know a lot of backgrounds of politicians, that's how I make ends meet. Think Pam Bondi is rich? Our side's richer.

When people become angry about their adversaries accomplishments all I can conclude is that they are low value voters.They would rather call people names than learn about the people they are voting into office or voting against. Every voter should want to know about the background and policies of the people they support and those they don't. Or

Where can you, the average voter find that information without having to subscribe to 10 newspapers? I'm going to tell you where you can find out all those things. It won't tell you who's having an affair and neither will I but you will be able to look up any politician, their accomplishments, background, voting record, policies they support and every speech they have ever made and it's free, it's called "Vote smart."

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Janice Ingram's avatar

You sure spend a lot of time praising Bondi for being smart enough to amass great wealth. It *sounds like* keeping score by material wealth.

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D. Tubb's avatar

Is that what it sounds like? And you sound like you are on virtue seeking expedition. Good luck.

.

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Janice Ingram's avatar

Well, thank you very much.

The same to you.

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Catherine Blanche King's avatar

D. Tubb: From a transactional predator-capitalist self-absorbed point of view . . . .

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D. Tubb's avatar

Sticks and stones baby.

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Rachel C's avatar

And you think money makes her smart?? People make that mistake all the time 😾👹

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D. Tubb's avatar

I don't think money made her intelligent, I think she has always been very intelligent and I think she got that way through hard work and managing her instincts.

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Alan Roth's avatar

And embracing Satan, if your description is correct.

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Susan Iwanisziw's avatar

She gouged her way into a position of gouging every American household of its income and rights. She should be thoroughly ashamed of herself.

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Alan Roth's avatar

How'd she do that as a public servant? Bribes like the one she took from Trump?

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D. Tubb's avatar

I wondered the same thing. Actually as State Atty General of Fla her salary remained the same for the entire eight years, at about 128k. It was after she finished her last term in 2018 that she went to work for a lobbying firm in Fla that had major clients Gen motors Amazon and the Nation of Qatar etc while simultaneously working for a private law firm and also did legal work for a MAGA think tank. That's when she made the big money, during those 6 years according to Forbes and as far as I have been able to find, she just bought a lot of real estate, it increased in value and she sold some. She was also appearing on Fox and Newsmax regularly too and being paid for that.

The "bribe" as I recall was a 25k donation. The donation was strange and had two problems, the first being the obvious and the second being it wasn't from Trump it was from the Trump Foundation.You can't take money from a charity not even if it's through a political group, it's illegal. They returned the check to the Foundation when they found out the Foundation was a charity, the Foundation refused to take it back saying Trump had written a check to cover it. It was sent back again and it was rejected again. Dems ask that she be investigated by the ethics commission, not sure if that happened or if we'd even know. Trump later listed the 25k donation on his taxes as going to a non-profit, he got caught and had to pay the IRS $1,500 penalty. Since Campaign contributions are not tax deductible, my guess is Trump did it that way to avoid paying taxes.

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Alan Roth's avatar

You seem to do your homework. So, she wanted to take a bribe but was lawyer enough to realize the issues raise by Trump's fraud. Interesting. Of course, she delivered for him anyway and it is paying off for her, so far.

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D. Tubb's avatar

Bingo! Yes so far it's paying off.

Actually my personal opinion is Pam Bondi is a sort of a bell weather for us. Remember after the first Trump failed election and Rudy Giuliani was standing on a makeshift stage at the Four Seasons Total Landscaping yard up in Pa? He was spinning a yarn about dead people voting? Well standing behind Rudy was Cory L. and Pam Bondi. When Sydney Powell started speaking about the voting machines being rigged, Pam Bondi looked like a deer in the headlights. When it was over she couldn't get out of there fast enough, she knew it was a lie but more importantly, she knew it was liable.That told me she was not risking her law license for anyone, I still believe that's true.Trump has no aversion to risk just like mislabeling a donation on his taxes to a non profit, because he never had to make any sacrifices for what he has, all of his wealth was given or inherited, but not Bondi's. So when we see Bondi booking it out the DOJ, we'll know things are about to get real.

Remember when Sydney Powell was trying to help overthrow the election and would command Q-anon to release the Kraken? Good times huh?

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KatVersc's avatar

Why are you so obsessed with Pam Blondi? Why do you know so much detail about her? Why have you sifted through public records and have created a biography about her? You sound a little creepy.

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patricia's avatar

graft corruption money stupid ...they pay well

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patricia's avatar

she married some old guy with money genius

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Alan Greenstein's avatar

Of all the stupidity the Trump administration has propagated, the one that bothers me the most is his intentionally trashing of the economy. Voters KNEW what he was planning to do and voted for him anyway. I will never forgive those who voted for Trump, and also those who sat out the election all together because they could not get themselves to vote for a woman.

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Carole Langston's avatar

I have been saying that all along. They wouldn't vote for a woman especially a black woman. Sadly, some men of color never will vote for a woman. There are women who will never vote for a woman. My mother was one.

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Barbara .Siek's avatar

Exactly: they wouldn’t “vote for a woman.” Other countries have had women heads but not the U.S. with its revered Marlboro Man image riding into the distance.

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Liz V's avatar

Also the ones who claimed that they just couldn't see the difference between the Democratic candidate and the Republican candidate (or see any difference between the Republican party and the Democratic party). "Why vote? They are all the same." So, now we have an administration, backed by the GOP, that is trying to eliminate voting all together.

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Light Warder's avatar

As long as their vote sticks a metal spike in the eye of "The Libs", they'll vote for anybody and that's the sharp point of tribalism. It's the stuff of lower brainstem functions like urinary and bowel reflexes, etc.

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Susan Stone's avatar

Alan, if you never forgive, you will always be beholden to those you won't forgive. True forgiveness is letting go of wrongs. It does NOT say that the one(s) you forgive did no wrong. The point of forgiveness is to set yourself free. When you do that you can still be not happy about how the person/people acted. I learned all this when working to overcome extensive child abuse. I still know that my parents, relatives, and friends did wrong, but forgiveness allowed those things to recede into the past where they belong, where they no longer run my world and cause me problems. Forgiveness is, unfortunately, widely misunderstood. And, for what it's worth, I learned all this from a Christian (a real one).

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Rich Stockton's avatar

Perhaps someone should inform Ms. Bondi that Attorneys General can go to Prison too and ask her if she ever heard of John Mitchell.

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Alan Greenstein's avatar

All of Trump's toadies seem to be unaware of this fact: Trump may be immune but they are not. They WILL take the fall for Trump, whether they like it or not.

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Julie Zupfer Anderson's avatar

While I love the idea of all of them going to prison, what's to stop tRump from just pardoning them? It seems like that's what they're planning--"I can do all the crimin' I want to & daddy will save me...."

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Steve 218's avatar

In his last administration, former Attorney General William Barr saw the writing on the wall (in ketchup?) and skedaddled from the office to avoid probable prosecution.

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The Coke Brothers's avatar

They will all end up in a Rudy Ghouliani/MIke Pillow Guy situation. ETTD.

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Merrill's avatar

Let's just do what Gov. Pritzker recommends:

“fight—EVERYWHERE AND ALL AT ONCE.” “Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption. But I am now,”

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The Coke Brothers's avatar

"It’s becoming increasingly easy to understand how he bankrupted all those casinos."

Becoming???

It was glaringly obvious to anyone paying an iota of attention a decade ago. Those who 'missed' the signs (billionaire crooks, racists, deep state evangelical saboteurs, and just plain morons) will also double down and/ or never catch up. We're fucked

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Stephen Brady's avatar

tRump is nothing but an orange imbecile. However he has one superpower - he can always convince greedy people to bankroll him and he has fixers by the dozens cleaning up most of his messes.

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Patric Martin's avatar

Agreed.

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Thomas Moore's avatar

Unfortunately we can't over-publicize the fact that Trump's deportation strategy is failing versus Biden in the numbers game, because that would incentivize him to go even harder for the numbers, to the detriment of many immigrants, visa holders, and even American citizens.

And his strategy is probably winning in terms of deterring migrants. I don't know if there are any reliable numbers on that, but that would make sense.

His hard line approach is also damaging leading US industries that depend on foreign visitors: higher education, tourism, and scientific research.

I'm also wondering how the new State Department consular rules re: gender on foreign passports and visa forms is going to impact hosting major world sporting events. The upcoming Olympics in Los Angeles comes to mind.

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Rachel Brown's avatar

The entire world should boycott the Olympics in LA. We are complete pieces of shit and the Olympics is a model for greatness. That is something the USA no longer exemplifies

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Liz V's avatar

Don't forget construction work, work in slaughter houses, farm work (tourism also depends upon the cheap labor provided by immigrants, documented and undocumented).

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JMcLV's avatar

Does he even care about numbers? This regime appears to care more about optics.

Trumpist ideals:

Immigrants are the criminals

Immigrants are antisemitic

Immigrants deserve to be dehumanized

No immigrants have any rights.

The cruelty is the point.

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Polly Parrish's avatar

Thank you for the thorough recap. You are one of my main sources for morning news.

I am so thankful I learned about Substack and the independent journalists (like you) who report the news with integrity and dedication to the truth, despite intimidation from this administration and your previous news organizations.

I lift my coffee mug in a toast to you and all independent journalists.

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Kathleen Pirquet's avatar

AMEN!!!

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Hopeful's avatar

I loved reading this. Truth amid all the distortions and lies set forth by this most incompetent administration ever. They’re so awful, they’re bound to fall—-because we’re gonna’ topple them over and out!

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Steven Veedle's avatar

You may be right about Trump doubling down on a pair of twos and I fervently hope you are.

I however am feeling pretty pessimistic right now. Maybe it is just the early morning blues. MAN am I feeling pessimistic. Don't go further unless you are ready to be down in the dumps or want to get much worse case scenario to curb your enthusiasm. I might (hope I do) look back on this comment later today and wonder where I pulled this shit from.

Here goes:

Do not forget that Trump holds at least a two Aces.

The military is one. He can declare an emergency and put the country under martial law. Empty shelves, skyrocketing prices and protests in the street are an excellent reason to declare martial law. Note that I am NOT saying to stay home. I say take to the streets right fucking now. It is the only chance we have.

There is a reason he has not fired Pete Hegseth. I know that even with my 8 guns, I stand zero chance against the military or the cops. If the military starts shooting protesters, they will flee. No two ways about it.

The police force is another one. The police are pretty solidly maga, at least in my area. I think most cities are the same way but I am not sure about that. The police have more guns than we do. If shooting protesters becomes a thing, that also signals game over.

I give it another month and there will be martial law. In the meantime, I am going to every protest within 50 miles. What choice do we have? The only chance we have of saving our government by the rule of law is through protest.

We have a rule by the absolute financial elites. We may yet win this one but until we get a new set of elites in power, we are pretty much fucked.

Once Trump got elected, there never was going to be midterm elections. I agree that Trump is much too stupid to be thinking any of this stuff up. He is not the one in power though. Elon is also not the one in power. There is probably a group of people who are in power, guys like the tech bros.

We have been sliding to this point ever since America started dumbing down and that was long ago, like maybe the end of WWII, maybe since Regan. I don't know. I am going to go have my morning tea and watch the sun rise. Knowing that the sun is always going to rise helps a lot.

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Stephen Brady's avatar

You may well be right, but I will still hobble out there and face down his SS and Gestapo and dare them to shoot me while looking in my eyes. My time on this Earth is largely past, but I owe it to the younger generations to stand up to this ogre and his Nazis.

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Steve 218's avatar

At 76 I'm right with you. All of my responsibilities have been satisfied except for preserving democracy and the Constitution. This I owe to future generations.

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Cheryl D Kwater's avatar

I hate to say this but Trump signed an executive order on April 28, 2025 named “Strengthening and Unleashing Americas Law Enforcement to Pursue Criminals and Protect Innocent Citizens”, which in essence is an authoritarian control of our nation without explicitly declaring Martial Law. The order militarily arms local police, removes federal oversight of any abuse that police departments may be accused of and provides legal immunity to officers that violate people’s civil rights. It also threatens to punish governors and mayors who resist federal orders. It authorizes federal intervention in all cities enforced jointly by DOJ and DHS under the newly named Homeland Security Task Forces. What this does is federalize local law enforcement. In addition Trumps executive order instructs the Department of Defense to funnel excess military assets, training and personnel into local policing.

Martial Law was not declared but it has been enacted. I urge you to read Tony Pentimalli’s Substack. He goes into more detail as to what this executive order means. He has been a trusted independent journalist and political activist for decades.

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Cheryl D Kwater's avatar

You can find Tony Pentimalli @tonywriteshere.bsky.social

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Irena's avatar

What exactly has been achieved with the legislative pushback on this horrendous Administration? Has even one ruling been followed or enforced? We can comment ad infinitum but we are still missing resulting actions. It is Congress that is the real accessory to these crimes.

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Irena's avatar

There was something today: A protester was released from jail in Vermont and is awaiting court date.

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Justin Sayne's avatar

“Refusal to fold a losing hand….” What a clear-eyed and exact way to describe Trump’s behavior. And, as you so well point out: why he’s such a failure as a negotiator…..and….just a failure, period. Thank you, Ms. Rubin!

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Cynthia Cromwell's avatar

Remember “you don’t hold the cards”?

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Anne-Louise Luccarini's avatar

To which Zelenskyy gave him a quick and accurate response about gamesmanship.

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Lark Leonard's avatar

His hubris will take him down.

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patricia's avatar

hasn't so far......

protected by the devil and underforces...

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