#seeing-things — Public Fediverse posts

Trump’s Frightening, Illegal Attack. And Words To Match

Trump’s Frightening, Illegal Attack. And Words To Match

The warmongering moves of a US president

By Liza Donnelly, Jan 03, 2026

“We know that Mr. Trump’s warmongering violates the law.”
—NY Times Editorial Board.

Last night, Trump ordered an invasion of Venezuela. In an operation that was apparently planned for months, the U.S. military stormed Venezuela and kidnapped President Maduro and his wife. They’re being taken to New York. Casualities of Venezuelans is not know, apparently no Americans were harmed.

My head hurts. My heart hurts.

The bottom line is, Trump plans to “run” Venezuela, he said so in the press conference just now. Haven’t we learned our lesson? How can this be justified as legal? What will Congress do, can this be grounds for impeachment? How do MAGA supporters feel about this?

I just watched Trump’s press conference so you don’t have to. Here are some key things that I heard and was able to write down. It went on for an hour, so I did not catch a lot, but had my ears were tuned for what I thought to be significant statements.

Trump:

“So we are going to run the country until a transition takes place. We can’t take a chance of anyone else taking over. We’re there now. We’re going to run it until a proper transition can take place. We want to mke Venuzeual rich, independant and safe.”

“The Monroe docrine is a big deal, but we’ve superceded it.”

Pete Hegseth spoke with bravado, swagger and his ususl dramatic tv voice. About Maduro, he said,

“He f-around and he found out.”

“This is America first, this is peace through strength. America is back.”

Gen Dan Caine, Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke in incredible detail about the operation, naming all the planes and systems and machines and technical stuff, as if trying to show how great this country is with such things. In fact it was said by Trump and Hegseth, bragging about our military prowess. Caine said we are claiming “the power of American force.”

Marco Rubio: “This president is a president of action.”

When asked if Congress was notified, he said, “It’s not the kind of mission you can pre-notify. This is a Congress that leaks.”

Trump:

“With me you’ve only had victories. No losses.”

“We’re in the oil business now.”

“What Joe Biden did to this country should never be forgotten. If they had won, we would now be Venezuela on steroids.”

“We will run it properly and will bring in the biggest oil companies in there.”

Asked about running the country could be for a long time: “Its not going to cost us anything. Theres a lot of money in the ground.”

“The money is going to the Venezuelans. And we will be reimbursed.”

“The people behind me will be running the country.” i.e.Rubio, Hegseth, Steven Miller (who said nothing. Why was he there?)

“We are not afraid of boots on the ground.”

It’s all about money.

Listening to all these white men speak, it’s all about men being tough.

When a reporter asked Trump about China and Russia, his response was “we are in the oil business now.” This means that Trump will try to leverage power as he controls all the oil in Venezuela.

I didn’t plan to write about politics today, and I don’t usually write much about international issues. But this is about Trump, it is too important.

Of course I feel for the Venezuelan people, they were ruled by a horrible person, Maduro. A friend of mine had to leave her country of Venezuela a couple of years ago. Rayma Suprani is a political cartoonist and was very critical of the government, plus she’s gay. She was harassed and her life threatened incessantly, so she had to leave for her own safety. She now lives in Florida.

But I strongly believe that we should not get involved with regime change–I know we have in the past. We don’t take over countries and decide to “run them” without their permission. With the kind of actions as Trump ordered last night, it then is justifiable for Putin to go in and arrest Zelenskyy, for Xi JinPing to take over Taiwan.

This is not about human rights, it’s about power and money.

So, happy Saturday. I hope you are able to enjoy your weekend. We’re going out to a movie for a change!

I am grateful that you are here. See you tomorrow!

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133 Likes∙22 Restacks

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Trump’s Frightening, Illegal Attack. And Words To Match

Trump’s Continued Degradation – Seeing Things -Liza Donnelly

Trump’s Continued Degradation

It should be front and center

By Liza Donnelly, Dec 16, 2025

Yesterday we learned that the wonderful movie director and actor Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer were murdered in their home. Authorities believe their son is responsible. It’s so incredibly sad. Nick Reiner spoke about how he had been in and out of rehab over a dozen times, and was helped by his parents through it all over the years. Apparently, Nick had argued with his father the night before their murders. It’s just heartbreaking, and hard to know what happened and why. I suppose we’ll find out eventually.

It’s been a difficult week. So much hate. And then this: after the news broke about the Reiners’ murders, Trump wrote on social media:

It’s actually crazy talk.

And then later, he doubled down. [See embedded YouTube video.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo9DhU_AYsY

We all have unfortunately become accustomed to horrible things from Trump, but this hits a new low for me. They are the comments of a narcissistic, cruel human being. In the hours after he said these things, many condemned them, including members of the Republican Party. It was good to read that some members of the GOP have a sense of decency. But I just checked the various mainstream outlets that I read daily, and I see no mention of Trump’s horrific words anymore. Why can’t there be a way to keep pushing back on this horrible behavior? And keep calling him out loudly on how he treats female reporters? Has mainstream media lost its decency?

Rob Reiner was a political activist, very vocal in his opinion against Trump. He was angry and not afraid to show it. This morning I thought, wouldn’t it be sweet if Trump’s comments about the Reiners’ murder are the thing that really bring him down? That the crudeness of what Trump said, how mean it was, how really crazy the comments were, will be what push people away from him. Trump’s support is eroding, and this certainly added to it. That would have made Reiner happy, I bet.

In other news: Hegseth witholds video of boat survivors’ deaths. “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refused to share video of a heavily scrutinized Sept. 2 military strike on a suspected drug boat during briefings with Congress on Tuesday. Mr. Hegseth faced calls to share unedited video of the attack, in which a follow-up strike killed two survivors, but said he would play it only for the House and Senate Armed Services committees. Mr. Hegseth added that it would not be made public. The U.S. military attacks have killed at least 95 people.”

Unemployment numbers rose today to a four year high, causing worry for the economy. Trump shrugged it off.

And the Epstein files have still not been released.

I don’t want to draw a cartoon about Trump again today, it’s too hard. So I leave you with a couple of snow people!

I hope you’re holding up okay, it’s been a rough week. Thank you for being here, I’m very grateful for your company. Have a good Tuesday.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Trump’s Continued Degradation – by Liza Donnelly

#95PeopleKilled #BashesReiner #ContinuedDegradation #Crazy #Dangerous #Degradation #EpsteinFiles #GOP #Insane #LizaDonnelly #LowPointForTrump #MichelleReiner #MurderVideoFromAir #Republicans #RobReiner #SeeingThings #Substack #Trump #TrumpSHate

Scout episode 38

#comicstrip #cartoon #comic #humour #noai #scout #cats #penguin #chess #seeingthings

Seeing Things – Trump: Gold In The Capitol? – Liza Donnelly

And the Epstein Files are still not released…

By Liza Donnelly, November 3, 2025

Trump really would rather not have a legislative branch of any kind. Plus, the building that houses that branch of democracy is not gaudy enough for him.

And this just in: Trump says he’s only going to make partial SNAP payments this month.

CBS News did an interview with Trump on 60 Minutes, and surprise surprise, it was a nothing burger. Nora O’Donnell did not push back, although at times early on, she appeared to try a little. The less than half hour interview (which I fell asleep for part of) was heavily edited. A full transcript of the interview was later published, along with a 73-minute-long extended version online. Trump got what he wanted from a network now run by sympathizers.

Good news: Heather K. Gerken, the new head of the Ford Foundation, said Friday that the foundation, which has a long history of supporting social justice and civil rights initiatives, was undeterred. Her priority, she said, was “defending the rule of law and protecting our election system.” She sees protecting democracy as a non-partisan issue. The Ford Foundation has been the repeated target of JD Vance since he became Vice President. Gerken is undetered, saying,

“When the Ford Foundation funded the civil rights movement, it was a source of controversy,” she said. “It was incredibly important that we were protected in doing that work. When the Ford Foundation stood up to protect free speech and dissent during the McCarthy era, it was incredibly important that we had the right to do that.”

We are in the second month of the government shutdown. It’s hard to know how it will end, and, as Jamelle Bouie suggests in this video, Trump would like it never to end. He may think he has more power without a legislative branch.

@nytopinion “I don’t know how this ends,” says @nytopinion columnist Jamelle Bouie on the ongoing government shutdown. In this round table for “The Opinions,” Jamelle, David French and Michelle Cottle break down how Trump is using a “forever shutdown” to expand his executive power. “It seems to me that the president thinks you can have a forever shutdown, and that in the president’s conception of things, the shutdown gives him more power through some magical, convoluted, transmogrifying mechanism that no one understands,”@jamellebouie argues. #theopinions #nytopinion ♬ original sound – New York Times Opinion

https://www.tiktok.com/@nytopinion/video/7568581913699470622 – Link to above…

I will write it every day: The Epstein Files are still not released.

And here’s another version of the same idea as the drawing at the top of this letter.

That’s it for me today, hope you guys are all well. Enjoy your Monday, what’s left of it. Thanks for being here!

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Trump: Gold In The Capitol? – by Liza Donnelly

#2025 #America #Capitol #DonaldTrump #Education #EpsteinFiles #Gold #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #LizaDonnelly #nytopinion #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #Science #SeeingThings #Shutdown #Substack #theopinions #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates

Seeing Things – My Drawings Marched! -Liza Donnelly

My Drawings Marched!

No Kings Protest photos

By Liza Donnelly, Oct 19, 2025

When asked if the president had a comment on the demonstrations yesterday for No Kings Day nationwide, Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, gave a brief response in an email.

“Who cares?” she said.

Millions came out to protest. Apparently red states had significantly more protesters this time than on the last No Kings Day. Altogether, protesters numbered almost half again as many as previous protests.

Resistance is gaining ground.

A friend (and also Executive Producer on my documentary, WOMEN LAUGHING), Lauren Lexton, took me up on the offer to use a few of my drawings against Trump in a protest yesterday. I’m honored, and so happy to be represented at a protest by my drawings! Thank you, Lauren!

And after our world premiere of the film yesterday, we walked in Woodstock and I took some photos of the passionate protestors. Woodstock, of course, is the town near where the famous music festival Woodstock happened, and it still carries a very liberal, peace vibe throughout the town.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: My Drawings Marched! – by Liza Donnelly – Seeing Things

#2025 #America #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #Libraries #LibraryOfCongress #LizaDonnelly #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #Science #SeeingThings #Substack #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates

It’s Our Country – by Liza Donnelly – Seeing Things

It’s Our Country

We are not all beholden to Trump’s desires

By Liza Donnelly, Oct 08, 2025

The lack of respect from Attorney General Pam Bondi towards Senators during a hearing yesterday was astounding. It was horrible, it was hostile. She had scripted notes for each Senator in order to attack them. The Senators did their best to grill her and not let her get away with anything, Adam Schiff was notably powerful. But still, at times they seem too nice. Which is horrible to say—Trump is forcing us to be mean. Trump’s people, like Bondi showed us yesterday, are not hiding it anymore: they work solely for the good of TRUMP, not the good of the American people. And the Congressional MAGA /GOP is enabling him for partisan gain. They are spineless. When will they stand up to Trump?

Nobody welcomes military on the street. National Guard troops from Texas are expected to arrive in Chicago today, and Trump has called for the arrest of Illinois Gov Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Johnson, saying they failed to protect ICE agents, which of course is a falsehood. This after a Trump appointed judge ruled that he could not deploy troops from another state, which Steven Miller calls “legal insurrection” against the administration.

Trump and company have repeatedly portrayed protesters in Portland and Chicago as a threat to the United States on par with foreign gangs, drug cartels and terrorists. Officers in Portland referred to protesters as “low energy” before Trump ordered in the National Guard.

Gov Pritzker believes that the militarization on the street is in preparation for the 2026 midterm elections which he knows he will lose if he doesn’t use the military at the polls in some way. A new Times/Siena Poll finds that 53% of Americans think Trump has gone to far, particularly in not treating immigrants fairly.

Steven Miller is frightening, and he is lying through his teeth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLxq0JGmpjA

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: It’s Our Country – by Liza Donnelly – Seeing Things

#2025 #America #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #Hearing #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #PamBondi #Politics #Resistance #Science #SeeingThings #Senators #Substack #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates #YouTube

Scout episode 37

#comicstrip #cartoon #comic #humour #noai #scout #cats #penguin #seeingthings

Seeing Things – Trump: Delay, Lie, Fake Stuff – Liza Donnelly

Trump: Delay, Lie, Fake Stuff

And I saw this person today

By Liza Donnelly, Sep 29, 2025

The above is a live drawing I did on my iPhone with my finger. I was waiting for the commuter train in Yonkers, NY and this elderly man on his phone walked by.

Adelita Grijalva was voted into the Arizona House in a special election last week, and it is significant because she is the first Latina American to be elected to Congress. But her election is also important because her promised vote on the resolution to release the Epstein files will be the 218th vote, and that will be enough House votes to force Speaker Johnson to release the files. But he is delaying her certification, claiming he is waiting until her election is official, despite her 40 points victory. From Meidas Touch: “Johnson’s new standard of waiting for all the votes to be counted was not in place two weeks ago when he swore in Democrat James Walkinshaw of Virginia with unofficial results immediately after his victory. Johnson has also routinely sworn in Republicans the day after their race is called.”

Delay is Trump’s magic wand, all his life he has gotten away with so much by delaying.

Oregon is suing Trump to stop him from deploying National Guard to the city, which he announce he would do over the weekend. On Saturday, Trump stated he would use “full force, if necessary,” to combat protests that he said were interfering with immigration enforcement.

“I think this is a sad day for our country, a sad day for Oregon that the president of the United States does not listen to local leaders about what they need,” Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, a Democrat, told reporters.

“When the president and I spoke yesterday, I told him in very plain language there is no insurrection or threat to public safety that necessitates military intervention in Portland or any other city in our state,” Kotek said. “Putting our own military on our streets is an abuse of power … Local law enforcement has this under control.”

As of today, it appears Trump is backing away from this plan.

Good news: California doctors can now prescribe abortion pills anonymously. It is meant to shield doctors from out-of-state lawsuits.

Last night at 10:18, Trump posted a fake video, an AI generated Fox report. It was about how Trump will be making healthcare “available to everyone,” except just a few offers will be available to start.

“Every American will soon receive their own MedBed card.” As the video shows what looks like a futuristic hospital, complete with what appear to be podlike beds, he continues: “With it, you’ll have guaranteed access to our new hospitals led by the top doctors in the nation, equipped with the most advanced technology in the world. This is the beginning of a new era in American healthcare.”

@jaketapperTrump shares apparent AI video promoting ‘medbed’ conspiracy theory

I learned that MedBeds are a conspiracey theory promoted by QAnon people in which there is a world where there exists these magic beds that can cure anything, from aging to whatever that befalls the human body. But, according to QAnon, these beds are only available to the rich and elite. The post has since been deleted.

I am sure that in the few hours this was live on social media, it created a major stir in the QAnon community, let alone regular followers. It is a very cynical, manipulative use of AI to trick his followers. Heather Cox Richardson writes, “If MedBeds were real and “every citizen” could use them, as the deep fake video suggests, no one would need to worry about losing their healthcare insurance.”

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Trump: Delay, Lie, Fake Stuff – by Liza Donnelly

#2025 #America #DonaldTrump #FakeStuff #Health #History #Libraries #LibraryOfCongress #Lie #LizaDonnelly #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #Science #SeeingThings #Substack #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates

Civil Discourse – “Show me the man and I’ll find the crime” – Joyce Vance

Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

“Show me the man and I’ll find the crime”

By Joyce Vance, Sep 20, 2025

With apologies, this is a long post for any night, let alone a Saturday, but Trump’s abuse of the power of the prosecutor and efforts to directly control the work of the Justice Department make it essential. In a world that has become a constant barrage of horribles from this president, know that what I’m writing to you about tonight is exceptionally serious and dangerous.

If you’ve been following the news since Friday afternoon, you know that Trump insisted that his own pick to be U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik Seibert, be fired. Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office: “I want him out.” His crime? He declined to manufacture evidence to bring charges against Letitia James, the New York Attorney General who successfully went after Trump’s company for fraud and is leading the charge on much of the litigation states’ attorneys general are bringing against the second Trump administration. The office was also reportedly handling an investigation into former FBI Director Jim Comey and declined to prosecute that case as well. By the end of the week, Seibert had resigned, although Trump claimed he’d fired him.

What does “decline to prosecute” mean? It means that for one of a number of reasons, prosecutors who’ve looked at the case don’t think there is sufficient admissible evidence to obtain and sustain a conviction. That’s the standard the Federal Principles of Prosecution require a case to meet before prosecutors can seek an indictment.

Prosecutors can decline to prosecute for reasons such as key evidence being inadmissible (for instance, because it was obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on illegal searches and seizure), because a state prosecutor is in a better position to prosecute, or because evidence of a key element of the crime—frequently the required “mens rea” or state of mind (intent, knowledge, etc.) a defendant must have acted with when they committed it—isn’t there. Sometimes declination happens because no crime was committed. We don’t know what the reason(s) were here, but we do know that a team of investigators and prosecutors in an outstanding U.S. Attorney’s Office looked at the evidence and came up empty-handed. It was about the law and the facts, not politics, regardless of what a president who views everything through the lens of his personal popularity claims.

In investigations like these, agents with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies gather evidence and bring it to prosecutors, who evaluate it to determine what, if any, charges might be available. Sometimes they ask agents to go back and look for specific, additional evidence if there’s a weakness. Federal law creates crimes and sets out specific “elements” of the crime prosecutors must be able to establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, in the minds of jurors in order to convict. If there’s a problem with one or more elements, but serious indications that a crime was committed, the team works together to try to acquire additional evidence.

“Show me the man and I’ll find the crime” by Joyce Vance

Read on Substack

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: “Show me the man and I’ll find the crime”

#2025 #America #Authoritarianism #DonaldTrump #Education #Health #History #JoyceVance #Libraries #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #RightWingAgenda #Science #SeeingThings #Substack #Technology #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates

Seeing Things – Department of Hate, Etc. -Liza Donnelly

Trump’s ideas keep coming at us, it’s exhausting

By Liza Donnelly, Sep 05, 2025

Renaming the Department of Defense to be the Departent of War is such a toxic masulinity move. It’s typical. Trump is all about getting rid of Education, Health— and into making “leadership” all about aggression, hate, and dominance. But today Trump signed an executive order to make the change.

Why doesn’t he just create a Department of Hate? How about a Department of Meanness? Department of Arrogance? Department of Stupidity? Department of Sexism? I could go on but probably should stop.

NY Times opinion journalist Jamelle Bouie writes for the paper, but he also records daily—sometimes twice daily—videos (on Instagram and TikTok) with sharp intelligence and often humor. I always appreciate his take, and this time he is railing against the leadership in Florida for removing any vaccine mandates in schools or for children. It’s outrageous, and scary. Editor’s Note: I added the link for readers.

https://instagram.com/p/DOJvhE_Cc_G

A post shared by @jbouie

At least 475 South Korean workers were detained in a major ICE raid at the Hyundai Factory in Georgia. According to the Guardian, “Trump has said he wants to deport “the worst of the worst” criminals, but Ice figures have shown a rise in non-criminals being picked up. Rights advocates have denounced such raids.”

Another weak jobs report hit today, the second in a row for Trump. After the bad report in August, Trump fired the official in charge of the numbers. This month’s data was just as disappointing. Who will he fire this time?

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Department of Hate, Etc. – by Liza Donnelly – Seeing Things

#2025 #America #DepartmentOfWar #DonaldTrump #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #LizaDonnelly #Politics #Resistance #Science #SeeingThings #Substack #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates

Seeing Things – Getting Angry With A Pencil – Liza Donnelly

Getting Angry With A Pencil

We are in our darkest hour

Last night, I started watching the Darkest Hour, a great film about WInston Churchill during WW II, starring Gary Oldman. Nothing new here, but it is so clear to me that we are right now in our darkest hour. I know many, many people are doing heroic things to try to stop Trump, stop his autocrat architects, the evil masterminds of Project 2025; but at times it seem so piecemeal. Where is our Churchill? He saw the danger of Hitler clearly. As he made clear right after he became Prime Minister, there is no negotiating with Hitler.

We have to fight.

This came up on my social media today:

Our lives are so scattered, and our media is fractured. This makes it difficult for one person to lead like Churchill did. All he had was a radio broadcast —which was a huge tool during the war— and he had news media as well. And his genius, his compassion. Powerhouses like Pritzker, Newsom and others are trying. We need to amplify their words. But I want to hear more from others, like Obama, Clinton, Hochul, Booker, Buttigieg, Whitmer, Klobuchar, Shapiro….to name a few.

One person in the alternative media whom I respect is Kara Swisher. She has a great podcast, On With Kara Swisher, which I highly recommend. She posted this on Bluesky this morning:

This grouping of men must infuriate Trump that he’s not with them. He probably thinks they are laughing at him; and they probably are.

Another good source of information is Meidas Touch News. Politico is good, too. If you don’t subscribe to Heather Cox Richardson’s Letter from An American, you won’t regret it.

Good news: Judge Charles R. Breyer of the Federal District Court in San Francisco found that Trump’s deployment had exceeded the limits of federal laws that generally prohibit the use of the military for domestic law enforcement. Will this stop him from sending National Guard to Chicago? Unclear.

Read MORE….

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Getting Angry With A Pencil – by Liza Donnelly

#2025 #America #DonaldTrump #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #LizaDonnelly #Politics #Resistance #Science #SeeingThings #Substack #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates

Epstein Victims To Speak – by Liza Donnelly

Epstein Victims To Speak

And thoughts on work…

By Liza Donnelly, Sep 01, 2025

On September 3rd, ten of Epstein’s victims will hold a press conference on the steps of the Capitol. (The press conference will be streamed live on the MeidasTouch YouTube channel. I have not seen any notice of this in the Mainstream media, except Fox News). Congressman Ro Khanna (D-California) called it “explosive.” He and Congressman Thomas Massie—a Republican—are co-leading a bill to force the release of Epstein’s files. They need 218 votes. Every Democrat is already in, so six Republicans have to step up. Fox News reported that Khanna arranged this press conference and hopes that when the American public hear the victims (most of whom have not spoken up, nor been asked to), they will be outraged.

“These victims haven’t spoken for decades. When Epstein got that lenient plea deal, no one talked to the victims or their lawyers. My belief is, when the American people actually hear the victims for the first time, they are going to sympathize, their hearts are going to be broken, and all the victims are saying is for closure.”

“We’ve got 212 Democrats and 12 Republicans, including Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert. Look, this is not about Donald Trump, and it’s not partisan. This is about justice for the victims of rich and powerful men who abused underage girls.”

Khanna emphasized that “in this country, people want transparency. They want accountability. I’m confident we’re going to get the 218 votes for the discharge petition.”

I know I’ve posted this drawing before, but here it is again.

Although it’s better than it was, we still live in a culture that does not believe women.

Hundreds of marches took place today across the country today to mark Labor Day. Called “Workers Over Billionaires,” there were demonstrations in cities including New York, Houston, Washington DC, and Los Angeles, Cleveland, Ohio and Greensboro, North Carolina.

Trump is not sympathetic to workers, as much as he has touted that he is. He could care less about the common person, the working person. According to a report in the NY times: “the attack on labor unions is part of a broader effort by Trump to assert more control of the federal work force and make it easier to fire civil servants. The president has also crippled several independent boards that adjudicate employment disputes, interfering with a critical resource employees have to challenge their terminations.”

Continue/Read Original Article: https://lizadonnelly.substack.com/p/epstein-victims-to-speak-tomorrow

#2025 #America #DonaldTrump #Epstein #EpsteinVictims #Health #History #Libraries #LibraryOfCongress #LizaDonnelly #Politics #Resistance #Science #SeeingThings #Substack #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates #VictimsOfSexTrafficing

Seeing Things – Voting Is Voice – Liza Donnelly

Voting Is Voice

Today is the anniverary of the Nineteenth Amendment

Heather Cox Richardson created a short video explaining the history of the Amendment. Thanks, Heather, for reminding me of this anniverary!

It took decades of struggle for women— and male advocates— to gain suffrage. Our rights are again under seige from members of the Trump administration, it’s frightening.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Voting Is Voice – by Liza Donnelly – Seeing Things

#2025 #America #DonaldTrump #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #LizaDonnelly #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #Science #SeeingThings #Substack #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates #Voice #Voting #YouTube

The Urgency Of Trump’s Destruction – by Liza Donnelly

The Urgency Of Trump’s Destruction

We need to feel it

By Liza Donnelly, Aug 25, 2025

When you slightly remove yourself from the news for a few days, as I just did, it feels odd. I stayed in touch with the headlines, but didn’t go deep during my time away. It was restorative, for sure, but also made me unsure of how to jump back in. Things right now seem to be a case of more-of-the-same, which is not good. Trump is continuing to be destructive, and the opposition is continuting to try to find a way to stop him.

I find California Govenmor Newsom’s loud, mocking tweets to be very effective in bringing attention to the fact we have a deranged, dangerous president. He recently posted a hysterical tweet that advertised a shop that included a bible for sale for $100 (“SOLD OUT” —but I imagine it never was for sale). The link included more items, and it was unclear to me if you could actually order these things and where the money would go. The site is administered by a group called Campaign for Democracy.

There are tons of Newsom memes, too.

Chicago and New York are next up in Trump’s sights for sending National Guard troops. The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon has spent weeks preparing for an operation in Chicago that would include National Guard troops and potentially active-duty forces. WEEKS.

Civil Rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton spoke in Washington yesterday, and said it is clearly about targeting Black and Brown communities.

“This is laced with bigotry and racism. Not one white mayor has been designated. And I think this is a civil rights issue, a race issue, and an issue of D.C. statehood.”

The liberal cities’ leadership is pushing back hard, “An authoritarian power grab of major cities,” Gov. JB Pritzker called the move in a Friday post on X, placing it as the sole item on a list of “things People are NOT begging for” and needling Trump for his administration’s handling of the Epstein files. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said on X that deploying the national guard could “inflame tensions between residents and law enforcement” and “threaten to undermine the historic progress we have made” in fighting crime.

There are tons of Newsom memes, too.

Chicago and New York are next up in Trump’s sights for sending National Guard troops. The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon has spent weeks preparing for an operation in Chicago that would include National Guard troops and potentially active-duty forces. WEEKS.

Civil Rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton spoke in Washington yesterday, and said it is clearly about targeting Black and Brown communities.

“This is laced with bigotry and racism. Not one white mayor has been designated. And I think this is a civil rights issue, a race issue, and an issue of D.C. statehood.”

The liberal cities’ leadership is pushing back hard, “An authoritarian power grab of major cities,” Gov. JB Pritzker called the move in a Friday post on X, placing it as the sole item on a list of “things People are NOT begging for” and needling Trump for his administration’s handling of the Epstein files. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said on X that deploying the national guard could “inflame tensions between residents and law enforcement” and “threaten to undermine the historic progress we have made” in fighting crime.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: The Urgency Of Trump’s Destruction – by Liza Donnelly

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Seeing Things – Trump’s Adoration Of Putin – by Liza Donnelly

The above drawing was bought by The New Yorker during the Iraq war, I think, but they never ran it.

Trump said after the meeting with Putin in Alaska last week that Ukraine would have to make concessions because Russia was a more “powerful” country. He obviously does not understand the importance, and power, of a free, fairly elected democracy.

He is obsessed with what he preceives as power, and he wants it.

Today, following the disastrous “summit” in Alaska last Friday, Ukrainian President Zelensky came to the White House to meet with Trump, and he was accompanied by many European leaders: French President Macron; Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz; Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain; Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister; President Alexander Stubb of Finland; NATO’s secretary general, Mark Rutte; and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Union’s executive arm. Solidarity in support of Ukraine.

Russia attacked Ukraine hours before Zelinsky’s meeting with Trump. Ten people killed, including a child.

Trump and Zelinsky had a press conference in the Oval Office before their meeting. Because Trump has stacked the WH press pool with pro-Trump reporters, the whole thing was a sham. Trump answered softball, flattering questions and talked about whatever he wanted to. He meandered around a lot of topics from “crime” in DC and how “even Democrats are calling me to thank me,” supposedly they had dinner out in the city and it felt safe. One reported asked about voting in the US and how Trump wants to get rid of mail-in ballots and machine voting; Trump said, “a little off-topic, but…” and then continued to rant about his plan to change how we vote in the US (he can’t do that). What he did say about the war was vague. He blamed the war on Biden, whom he said was stupid even 20 years ago. Trump said he’s ended six wars. It was nauseating to listen to.

I really hope something comes of this, but I’m not holding my breath. Putin will not agree to give back all the territory he has stolen. Zelinsky should not have to give anything to Russia, they are a sovereign nation. They were invaded. Trump will only do what Putin wants.

It’s rather amazing how we are seeing Trump’s complete adoration with Putin. The “summit” last week, which I did not write about, was full of clear body language from Trump as to his worship of Putin, beginning with clapping on a red carpet (!) as Putin arrived. His social media posts today about “leading a movement” to get rid of mail in voting came after he met with Putin. From the NY Times:

“Trump’s latest comments came after he said that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had discussed the issue during their summit on Friday in Alaska. Mr. Trump said in an interview with Fox News that the Russian leader had agreed with him that the 2020 election had been rigged in favor of Mr. Biden. “He said, ‘Your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting,’” Trump quoted Mr. Putin as saying.”

The Constitution vests the power to set the “times, places and manner” of elections with states, and it gives only Congress the ability to override state laws on voting.

Anyway, my guess is that this is another distraction to stop the press from talking about Epstein. However, I am happy to see the NY Times has an article today:

Republican’s Bid To Help Trump Move Past Epstein Falls Flat.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Trump’s Adoration Of Putin – by Liza Donnelly

Original article: View source

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Seeing Things – Sunday Morning Wrap Up – Joyce Vance

Sunday Morning Wrap Up, By Joyce Vance, Aug 10, 2025

This week, as I noted last night when I wrote to you, a lot was going on. Really, too much, which seems to be a definite feature and not a bug of this second Trump administration. They don’t want us to be able to take in everything that’s going on. So I’m starting a Sunday morning wrap-up feature to help you keep up with anything you may have missed during the week.

• I’m going to cheat by a day and start with the column from Saturday, August 2nd, It’s 1984, which is the perfect lead in for starting the conversation about our Book Club book, George Orwell’s 1984, now that we’ve had some time to start reading. If you haven’t started, we’ll have a Substack Live discussion about it later this week, so now is a great time to get started. In the column, following Trump’s firing of Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner Ericka McEntarfer because he didn’t like the jobs numbers, I wrote, “In the novel 1984, facts are not a barrier. Rewriting history is a central tenet of the totalitarian regime, carried out by the Ministry of Truth.” We need to take note as this becomes a feature of the Trump administration. We live in a post-truth society now.

In The Week Ahead last Sunday, we kicked off a conversation about the Voting Rights Act, which had its 60th anniversary last week. The irony of the Supreme Court’s announcement late on the Friday night ahead of that anniversary, that it would hear a case with an issue designed to gut much of what remains of it, was far too measured to be coincidence. Here’s your essential refresher on the Act, and the way the Supreme Court has eroded it. Most importantly, this is not hopeless! Electing majorities in the Senate and the House at the midterms would almost certainly make restoring the Act, which the Supreme Court invited Congress to do, a top priority. We took that issue up in conversations later in the week, which you’ll want to see if you missed them during the week.

On Monday, Marc Elias and I discussed the Voting Rights Act. There is no sugar coating here, but realism about where we are, and also what the path forward could look like if we don’t give up.

There’s no nice way to put it. I’m heartsick about what’s happening at DOJ and the FBI. Discussed in this post, Desecrating DOJ. Pam Bondi is proving to be exactly the Attorney General we expected—someone with loyalty to Donald Trump instead of to the Constitution. But even here, there are guardrails—even if DOJ tries to indict its revenge cases, grand juries may refuse to go along. If they indict, trial judges and juries must be persuaded of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Make sure you read this piece to the end, because part of Trump’s shtick is persuading people to give up because he’s already won, already taken the system apart, and he has not. There is still some play in the joints, and every reason for us to persist.

Sunday Morning Wrap Up by Joyce Vance

Read on Substack

Continue/Read Original Article: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-9-2025

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Seeing Things – Trump’s Autocrat Check List – Liza Donnelly

 Trump’s Autocrat Check List

It’s long

By Liza Donnelly, Aug 06, 2025

I realise the above drawing only touches on what he is doing. Voting rights, immigration abuses and Esptein nonsense are the main stories in my reading today.

Texas Democrats who left the state to block a vote on redistricting voter maps say they received bomb threats at their hotel in Illinois where they are sequestering. “This is what happens when Republican state leaders publicly call for us to be ‘hunted down’. Texas Democrats won’t be intimidated,” John Bucy III, who represents Austin district, said. Govenor Abbott filed an emergency petition asking the state supreme court to remove Wu, the top Democrat in the state house of representatives, and declare his seat vacant. Legal experts say this tactic is a long shot. I am so proud of the Texas Dems.

Other states appear to be following Texas’s lead and considering mid-cycle redistricting . Ohio, Indiana and Missouri Republicans are exploring their options to try to gain more GOP seats by redrawing their voting maps. Democratic govenors are also exploring options, but it appears they don’t have the power to draw as many seats as the Republicans do. California, with 52 seats in congress, may be the best bet. Governor Gavin Newsom is “reportedly moving ahead with a referendum this fall to ask to adopt a new map that would add Democratic seats and override an independent redistricting commission.”

Senator John Osssof’s office reported hundreds of reported cases of human rights abuses in US immigration detention centers. Here is the report. The alleged reports include: deaths in custody, physical and sexual abuse of detainees, mistreatment of pregnant women and children, inadequate medical care, overcrowding and unsanitary living conditions, inadequate food and water, exposure to extreme temperatures, denial of access to attorneys, and child separation. This is not who we are.

in news of the Epstein files, apparently, JD Vance is holding a meeting at his home with senior officials to strategize on how to handle the Epstein Scandal. At the top of their list is whether or not to release the transcripts of justice department representative (and former Trump personal attorney) Blanche’s recent interviews with Ghislaine Maxwell. After the interview, Maxwell, who is serving time for trafficing girls, was transferred to a lower security, a nicer prison. Outrageous. The justice department subpoenaed a number of high profile people to interview them for more information about Epstein, among them Bill and Hillary Clinton. While it is public knowledge that they knew Epstein, so did Trump. Yet Trump was not subpoenaed. This is a tactic to stall and to try to show Trump’s MAGA base that he is doing something about the scandal. Everything but releasing the files, which he can do, but won’t.

At least 60% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the Epstein case.

That’s all today for me. Hope you have a good Wednesday, what’s left of it. See you tomorrow, thank you so much for being here!

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Trump’s Autocrat Check List – by Liza Donnelly

Original article: View source

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Seeing Things – Texas Democrats’ Moral Clarity – by Liza Donnelly

What’s happening in Texas and the redistricting fight is meaningful; I believe this is a moment. It is a fight for the House of Representives coming up in the next midterm election. The Republicans are not playing by the rules; Democrats intend to meet them head-to-head in this battle.

Yesterday, Texas Democratic legislators left Texas in order to stop the state Republicans from passing legislation that would redraw the voter registration map of Texas to add five GOP seats to the Texas house. Without a quorum, the legislation could not vote on this. Texas state representative James Talarico said in a video posted to social media,

“My Democratic colleagues and I have just left our beloved state to break quorum and stop Trump’s redistricting power grab. Trump told our Republican colleagues to redraw the political maps here in Texas in the middle of the decade to get him five more seats and protect his majority in Congress. They’re turning our districts into crazy shapes to guarantee the outcome they want in the 2026 elections. If this power grab succeeds, they will hang on to power without any accountability from the voters. But Texas Democrats are fighting back. We’re leaving the state, breaking quorum and preventing Republicans from silencing our voices and rigging the next election. We are not fighting for the Democratic Party. We are fighting for the democratic process, and the stakes could not be higher. We have to take a stand.”

Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu said, “If Donald Trump is allowed to do this, if he is allowed to once again cheat and get away with it, there’s no stopping this. This will spread across the country, and…will occur everywhere. Because if one person’s going to cheat and no one’s going to stop it, why doesn’t everyone just do it then? And that is not a society, that is not an America that works. Everyone is already tired of the hyperpartisan bickering and all the fighting because we never get anything done. And they are creating a system that will reinforce that and make it even worse. And we’re telling people, please come out, stand up against it, rise up and say no more. Enough.”

Wu said the Texas Democratic representatives “did not make the decision to come here today…lightly, but we come here today with absolute moral clarity.”

The Democratic legislators bravely left their home state on principle, and traveled to Illionois, New York and California where they were welcomed with open arms by the govenors of each state. Illinoir govenor Pritzker said,

“To be in public office right now is to constantly ask yourself, how do I make sure that we’re standing on the right side of history? There’s a simple answer. The wrong side of history will always tell you to be afraid. The right side of history will always expect you to be courageous. Expect courage from people around you, and it will show up. Expect fear, and fear will rule the day. Let the courage of these leaders be an example to the rest of the country. I’m proud to stand side by side with our friends from Texas today.”

Governor Kathy Hochul of New York hosted some of the Democratic lawymakers at a luncheon in Albany, and called them “profiles in courage.”

Texas Govenor Abbott immideately shot back when the Democrats left, saying he has the power to replace them, that they forfeited their seats.

What happens next is unclear. Blue states are working to ammend their state’s constitutions so that they can redraw their electoral maps just as Texas is trying to. What Abbott will do, where the Democratic legislators will go, will Abbott try to arrest them: this is all still unknown.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Texas Democrats’ Moral Clarity – by Liza Donnelly

Original article: View source

#2025 #America #BlockTrumpSRedistricting #DonaldTrump #GOPRedistricting #Health #History #LeftState #Libraries #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Republicans #Resistance #SeeingThings #Texas #TexasDemocrats #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates

Seeing Things – Trump: “It’s Time To Go After People” – by Liza Donnelly

Trump: “It’s Time To Go After People”

The Epstein files are making him even more unhinged

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson cut short the House session today to avoid an Epstein vote. The House will reconvene in September; this is clearly a stall tactic. Most members of Congress—Republican and Democrat— want the files to be released. This is outrageous and screams that Trump clearly does not want the files released; he is guilty of something, but we don’t know what.

There are so many pieces to this story, it’s mind boggling what is happening.

Today while speaking to reporters, Trump attacking President Obama. The NY Times writes: “President Trump deflected questions about the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein by lashing out at his perceived enemies.” In the Oval Office, Trump went on a tirade and said,

“It’s time to go after people.”

He sounds more unhinged than ever.

Trump condemned questions about Epstein as “sort of a witch hunt,” and then launched into a rant against a now-familiar string of rivals and the media.

“The witch hunt that you should be talking about is they caught President Obama,” Trump said, referring to a report from Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, that tried to undermine the eight-year-old assessment that Russia favored his election in 2016.

“Obama was trying to lead a coup. And it was with Hillary Clinton.”

This makes no sense. Calling Obama and Clinton treasonous is dangerous. People could get killed.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Trump: “It’s Time To Go After People” – by Liza Donnelly

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Trump Will Not Silence Humor – Seeing Things – by Liza Donnelly

Trump Will Not Silence Humor

Colbert will continue, I know it

Last week claiming “budgetary concerns,” CBS fired Colbert and ended The Late Show, although his show will remain on air until May 2026. It is the top-rated late night show on television.

If you weren’t following the CBS saga recently, CBS just settled a lawsuit with Trump for $16 million; Trump claimed CBS wrongly edited a 60 Minutes segement with Kamala Harris during the election; many lawyers believe the suit was un-winable, Trump had no real case. But CBS hopes for a merger with Paramount— which Trump has approval over. When the suit was settled, Colbert- in his initmitable sarcastic style— criticized CBS on-air for not taking a stand against Trump. So…. you can make all the deductions as to why Colbert was let go.

From 2016-2020, I was resident cartoonist at CBS News. One afteroon, my boss sent me to the taping of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and to live-draw it. It was SO FUN, a dream assignment.

I adore Stephen Colbert. Not only is he hilarious, and his political humor always are spot on— he’s such a thoughtful man. He is not afraid to show his emotions on air, and I love that about him. When a tragedy happens in our world, he doesn’t avoid it, he always knows what to say to make us feel better. And then help us laugh again, if appropriate. He is the kind of humorist I aspire to be in my work.

This is scary stuff, and we should take notice of these kind of pressure tactics towards the press, and now humor. Stand up against it, make noise about it.

In any case, Colbert’s show in the next year will certainly be interesting; I assume he won’t hold back. And when his time is up at CBS, I am sure Colbert will now show up on another network next year. This firing will give him more of a megaphone than he already had.

Stephen Colbert is far from done.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Trump Will Not Silence Humor – by Liza Donnelly

#2025 #America #Comedy #DonaldTrump #History #Humor #Lawsuit #LibraryOfCongress #LizaDonnelly #Paramount #PoliticalSatire #Politics #Resistance #SeeingThings #StephenColbert #Substack #TheLateShow #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates

Trump’s Big Ugly Hateful Bill Should Not Pass – Seeing Things -Liza Donnelly Jun 29, 2025

Trump’s Big Ugly Hateful Bill
Should Not Pass – Liza Donnelly – Jun 29, 2025

Trump’s self titled Big Beautiful Bill is being debated now in the Senate. It’s a huge document, not beautiful at all. In fact it would be devastating if it passes. Among the major features are:

-tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, making them perminent

-add $3.3 trillion to the national debt.

-add $45 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain migrants, on top of the current annual budget of $3.4 billion.

-add $8 billion for new ICE hires and retention.

-cut $930 billion out of Medicaid, the measure will cause 11.8 million Americans to become uninsured.

According to the NY Times:

“As of 10 a.m. Sunday, Senate clerks had read aloud 630 pages of the 940-page bill (something Democrats demanded be done) and estimates were that they would finish the task by midafternoon. That would start the clock on 20 hours of debate on the legislation, evenly split between the two parties, though Republicans were not anticipating using all of their time. At the end of the debate, members of both parties would have the opportunity to offer more changes and force floor votes on those amendments in an hourslong process known as a vote-a-rama.”

If I understand what’s going on, this bill was passed by the House and now is in front of the Senate. But Senate Republicans are changing much of it in real time to try to persuade members of the GOP who might vote the bill down, but also to adjust to those measures that were struck down by the Senate Parlimentarian as not going by the rules of the chamber. One provision I was worried about appears to have been taken out, one that would have limited the ability of federal courts from issuing preliminary injunctions.

I pray this bill does not pass. Republican Senator Tom Tillis of North Carolina said he will not sign the bill and Trump immediately threated to primary him in the next election. Tillis said he will not seek re-election for a third term.

“In Washington over the last few years, it’s become increasingly evident that leaders who are willing to embrace bipartisanship, compromise, and demonstrate independent thinking are becoming an endangered species,” Mr. Tillis said in a lengthy statement on his decision.

Trump is wielding all kinds of pressure on Senate Republicans to fall in line, I hope it doesn’t work.

Read more: Trump’s Big Ugly Hateful Bill Should Not Pass – Seeing Things -Liza Donnelly Jun 29, 2025Source Links: Trump’s Big Ugly Hateful Bill – by Liza Donnelly

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Five Fictional Investigators With Special Abilities

These sleuths bring a little something extra to the table... The post Five Fictional Investigators With Special Abilities appeared first on Reactor .
https://reactormag.com/five-fictional-investigators-with-special-abilities/

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That's Gruffalo on my plate, right?
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