Conservative columnist George Will tore into President Donald Trump's second inaugural address for The Washington Post — but also had some words of advice for those who saw the end of America as they know it in his words.
"Donald Trump does not deal in felicities. His second inaugural will be remembered for being worse than 59 others, including his first (about
'stealing,' 'ravages' and 'carnage'). It was memorable for its
staggering inappropriateness," wrote Will. "Inaugurations should be
solemn yet celebratory components of America’s civic liturgy. Instead,
we heard on Monday that
because of 'corrupt' and 'horrible' 'betrayals' by others, 'the pillars
of our society' are 'in complete disrepair.' The challenges will be
'annihilated,' not because God blesses America, but because God chose him."
This
kind of spectacle, he wrote, "replicated what have become the tawdriest
events on our governmental calendar: State of the Union addresses.
Wherein presidents leaven self-praise with wondrous promises, as their
partisans repeatedly leap onto their hind legs to bray approval. There
was much such leaping in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday."
However,
Will continued, America will ultimately move past Trump's baser
instincts — in part because they are not nearly so unique as either his
supporters or detractors presume them to be.
The
Anti-Defamation League, the storied antisemitism watchdog and civil
rights organization, is facing backlash after it defended billionaire
Trump adviser Elon Musk shortly after a video of him gesturing in a manner similar to a Nazi salute circulated across social media.
And
they should be called out. They work for the government of Israel.
They do not speak for me. As a Jewish woman, they have never, ever
spoken for me. When they began their verbal attacks on Palestinians
following October 7, 2023, I noted here that they did not speak for me.
When they began attacking U.S. student protesters, I noted that again.
I
am thrilled that they defended Mr. Musk. That is not sarcasm. I am
thrilled and I am thrilled because that backs up everything I have said
and written about them. They do not care about the Jewish people. They
do care about the government of Israel which is why they are defending
Mr. Musk since War Criminal Benjamin Netanyahu is in bed with Convicted
Felon Donald Chump. They have demonstrated that I was right by
defending Mr. Musk for his Nazi salute and, yes, that is what he did, he
gave a Nazi salute.
If you need more proof that ADL does not work for the Jewish people, here is WIKIPEDIA:
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith,[a] is a New York-based international non-governmental organization that was founded to combat antisemitism, as well as other forms of bigotry and discrimination.[4] ADL is also known for its pro-Israel advocacy.[5][6][4][7] Its current CEO is Jonathan Greenblatt. ADL headquarters are located in Murray Hill, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The ADL has 25 regional offices in the United States[8] including a Government Relations Office in Washington, D.C., as well as an office in Israel and staff in Europe.[9] In
its 2019 annual information Form 990, ADL reported total revenues of
$92 million, the vast majority from contributions and grants.[10] Its total operating revenue is reported at $80.9 million.[11]
[. . .]
In June 2024, the community of the English Wikipedia reached a consensus that the ADL was "generally unreliable" on the topic of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict,[238][239] including
"the intersection of antisemitism and the [Israeli-Palestinian]
conflict, such as labeling pro-Palestinian activists as antisemitic".[108] The
ADL condemned the initial decision, alleging it was part of a "campaign
to delegitimize" the organization. The decision was also criticized by
over 40 Jewish organizations, including Jewish Federations of North America, B'nai B'rith International and HIAS.[240][238]
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
sees dark symbolism in how President Donald Trump's inauguration was
conducted — and what it means for the next four years of how the federal
government will be run.
Trump's
inauguration was supposed to be a grand affair, but it had to be scaled
back due to severe and hazardous weather in Washington, D.C. The
conditions were so cold that it made hoisting the half-staff flags to full height difficult.
"I
was hoping for a unifying message — a speech seeking to bring us
together & heal our differences. Instead, it was replete with
grievance & grandiosity — playing to cultural & political
divisions," wrote Blumenthal
in a thread on X. But additionally, he continued, "I was struck by the
panorama of Big Tech billionaires on a platform raised above Supreme
Court Justices, placed ahead of Cabinet members. Governors were
relegated to a separate room, including Republican Governors. It was a
picture of a government for sale."
It
was tacky and it was disgusting. It suggested that our country was for
sale. Mr. Chump is an international disgrace and clearly he is okay
with that. Four years of besmirchment -- at best, that is what we have
to look forward to.
Tuesday, January 21,2025. Day two of the Chump regime, the only
thing more stupid than Zell Miller clone Rashida Tlaib are her lying
sycophants on BLUESKY, we have to fact check them because they can't
stop lying and we have to fact check them because we can't allow another
election like 2024 to ever take place again.
ABC NEWS reported
yesterday, "President Donald Trump did not place his hand on the Bible
as he took the oath of office during his inauguration on Monday. First
lady Melania Trump stood next to the president holding two Bibles, but
the 47th president of the United States didn't place his hand on either
as he raised his right hand to take the presidential oath, which Chief
Justice John Roberts issued." Why? I have no idea. It might be
because he's not a Christian. That might be why he didn't do. The
"might" does not apply to the Christian label. He is not a Christian. Even the Pope agrees
with me on that. As I noted years ago, and years ago, here and at
THIRD, I have encountered Chump many times over the last decades and I
avoided him and walked away from him for the bulk of those encounters
because I don't like him. But, yes, I know for a fact that he's not a
Christian. He doesn't believe in God. He always reminded me of one
those EST freaks. That 70s fad, remember? Like the late Joel
Schumacher -- an EST freak (and Mildred Newman groupie) -- Chump
honestly believes he is the ruler of his destiny and everything he has
is his possession because he manifested it to be so.
But
maybe he didn't put his hand on he Bible this go round so he could
later argue that he wasn't bound by the oath of office? I wasn't aware
until yesterday that his attorneys actually tried to argue in court that
his insurrection couldn't be held against him because the law only
applied to those who took an oath to follow the Constitution and that he
had never done that.
They're just liars. Not unlike Rashida Tlaib supporters, we'll get to them in a bit.
CNN noted some of the lies that Chump told in his inauguration address:
Tariffs:
Trump said, “Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries,
we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.” But
this description of tariffs is false. Tariffs imposed by the US
government are paid by US importers, not foreign countries, and it’s
easy to find specific examples of companies that passed along the cost
of the tariffs to US consumers. Study after study, including one from
the federal government’s bipartisan US International Trade Commission,
found that Americans bore almost the entire cost of Trump’s tariffs on
Chinese products in his first term.
Additionally,
Trump mentioned creating a new “External Revenue Service” to collect
revenue from tariffs on imports, a plan he has mentioned before. Again,
it is US importers, not foreign exporters, who pay tariffs on imported
goods – and often pass some or all those costs to US consumers.
Continuing, Trump
claimed that he’d be ordering the creation of an “external revenue
service” to “tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens,”
seemingly ignorant of the fact that foreign countries do not pay tariffs
because they are paid by American companies that import foreign goods.
Additionally,
the task of collecting tariffs is carried out by the Department of
Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection agency, the successor
to the U.S. Customs Service that was created during the presidency of
George Washington.
Keith Edwards noted the dreadful day in this video.
And Rachel Maddow addressed it -- and Chump's pardoning of the insurrections.
ABC NEWS reported
yesterday afternoon, "Incoming President Donald Trump is expected to
issue an executive order that would systematically dismantle all
diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within the federal
government, an incoming Trump White House official told reporters during
a press call on Monday." Thanks, Rashida. AFP reported
yesterday, "President Donald Trump's administration on Monday announced
the United States' intention to withdraw from the Paris climate accord
for a second time, a defiant rejection of global efforts to combat
planetary warming as catastrophic weather events intensify worldwide."
Thanks, Rashida. Catherine Boudreau and Dominick Reuter (BUSINESS INSIDER) add,
"On
Monday, flanked by CEOs of the largest tech companies, Trump said he
would end the Green New Deal and cancel the electric vehicles mandate."
Again, thank you, Rashida. And thank your sister too. Were it not for
you, we might be working towards a better world.
Rashia Tlaib cost Kamala Harris the election and she and
her sister (and Norman Solomon and the other freaks behind
'uncommitted') intended for that to be the case.
There is no excusal or pass for that despite what idiots like Eion Higgins write and say. There's no excuse.
The choice was between Kamala and Chump.
You
either supported Kamala or you supported Chump. Yes, voting for
grifter Jill Stein was supporting Chump. Yes, sitting out the vote was
supporting Chump.
That's what you wanted to do. That was your stated goal. To deny your votes from Kamala. To punish her.
So I'm really not in the mood to hear you whine or your supporters whine.
Yes,
it's fair to blame Rashida Tlaib. She set out to deny Kamala the
presidency and she succeeded in doing that. So, yeah, Rashida's
responsible.
Her lying
supporters are whores. You can't rewrite history Eion Higgins. You
can't pretend that she didn't set out to do this. That 'movement' was
very public about their intent.
Elaine
is exactly right. But now Rashida stans want to act like it's just not
so. And so they lie and attack. And they're so damn stupid. We'll
get to it.
And to add something else, we
weren't stupid enough before 2024 to ever think that you elect someone
and the day after the election or the day after they're sworn in, a war
stops. Barack Obama ran on ending the Iraq War. But his promise --
which Samantha Power insisted to the BBC wasn't a promise and that's why
she had to leave the campaign -- was, if elected, he'd end the Iraq War
ten months after he was sworn in. But it was cute to watch the
political liars try to tell the adults in the room that something never
done before could suddenly be done now . . . because they said so.
Rashida Tlaib freaks really are the worst.
MisterIan
@MisterianZajac
If that were true the highest approval ratings in congress wouldn’t belong to Bernie Sanders and Rashida Tlaib.
Rashida outperformed kamala even in the notoriously conservative suburbs of Wayne county where all the cops live.
Voters are fed up with the ESTABLISHMENT not the left.
I don't understand liars. Do they lie to themselves?
In
what world does Rashida Tlaib or Bernie have the highest approval
ratings in Congress? Better question: What poll? There is none.
Sorry, you stupid idiot, there's no People's Choice Awards for
politicians.
See I don't
just dictate these snapshots on a whim. Someone makes a claim (LIE)
that Bernie and Rashida are the ones with the "highest approval ratings
in Congress"? I realize that first off all that's a false claim and
that, most likely, the way things go someone as vile as Marjorie Taylor
Greene probably has a higher score just because fate loves to mock us.
But I get on the phone and speak to a friend at PEW and then a GALLUP
because I don't put stuff up here on whim. The attack on Latinos in
Texas for the 'crime' of registering people to vote? That story was two
days old in the corporate media. I kept waiting for DEMOCRACY NOW! to
do something on it so we could highlight that. They didn't. So I spoke
to TCI members in Texas, I spoke to three of the women whose homes were
invaded by the police, I spoke to a member of the US Congress and read
everything corporate media had published on it. Only then, did I write
about it.
I always do more research than I need to -- a pattern since college.
So,
no, there's no national survey being done on whose most popular in
Congress or which member of Congress could pull off a mid-riff crop
top?
But, hey, lie. Just lie. That's what the Gaza Freaks do and they lie for Rashida as well.
So they lie and know most people will just read along and never question.
Got into an exchange on BLUESKY last night with two such liars. Bimbo we'll come back to, Blowhard was a waste of time.
I
was the idiot. I honestly thought someone could be educated but it's
not just the MAGA nuts that lie it's also some of the fake asses on
BLUESKY. When I saw that Blowhard was attacking multiple Democrats on
BLUESKY, I realized he wasn't sincere. He was just a liar -- and, yes,
he knows he's lying -- and he was bound and determined to shout his lies
as loudly as he could to silence everyone else.
I
never want a repeat of 2024 so the days of 'live and let live' are
over. From now on, I'll call your crazies out and not pretend that your
nutty conspiracy theories deserve a hearing.
The Blowhard didn't want to admit that Rashida's is in a highly gerrymandered district that any Democrat would win.
There
are 13 districts in Michigan. She didn't get the most votes. She
didn't get the second most votes. She's number seven. She received
253,188 votes.
Above her?
Republican Lisa McClain District 9 received 311,163 votes
Republican Jack Bergman District 1 received 279,370 votes
Democrat Debbie Dingell District 6 received 280,889 votes
Republican John Moolenaar received 278,533 votes
Republican Tim Walberg received 268,777 votes
Democrat Haley Stevens District 11 received 260,489 votes
Below her?
Republican Bill Huizenga District 4 received 236,200 votes
Republican Tom Barrett District 7 received 226,694 votes
Democrat Hillary Scholten District 3 received 225,400 votes
Democrat Shri Thanedar District 13 received 220,586 votes
Republican John James District 10 received 217,440 votes
Democrat Kristen McDonald Rivet District 8 received 217,390 votes
Get it? She's in the middle with six winners above her who got more votes and six below her who got less.
And
in terms of donors? She got the most money from New York, then
Detroit, then San Jose, then DC and then Los Angeles. And some of her
biggest donations -- based on zip codes -- came from Houston (zip 77024
was her second biggest donation area by zip code) and Frisco, TX was her
tenth biggest donation zip code (75034). Though not a poll, that
really doesn't scream: She's the most popular politician in the House --
or even one of them.
Again, she represents a highly gerrymandered
district. Don't believe me? Don't have to. Princeton does the
Gerrymandering Project ranking all the states. Rashida's district? 74%
are registered Democrats. 24% are registered Republicans. For the
record, she didn't get 74% of the vote. Some of the Democratic voters
in her district -- about 7% -- elected not to vote for her. It's a
small district population wise and it's heavily packed (74% -- 74.05% if
we want to be precise) with Democrats.
Any Democrat would win in that district if running for the House.
Let's bring Bimbo into the conversation because I believe that's where she jumped in.
She
is from Michigan, she wants me to know, and they don't have a
gerrymandering problem! They addressed that with a law! And with a
Committee!
Elaine
always says -- and has for years going back to college -- that my
biggest flaw is I don't trust myself. You come up to me and tell me I
called you fat and I instantly apologize, I'm so sorry. When did I do
that? When I asked you if you were pregnant! And, in that case with
Melissa, I hadn't asked that. Another friend had. But I'm so doubtful
of myself that I will immediately assume I'm in the wrong or I'm wrong.
Now in a rational moment, I would think, "Well redistricting's based on laws and it too is by a committee."
But I was convinced I was wrong and called my friend at Princeton to ask how I could've misunderstood the data.
"You didn't," he told me.
Yeah, they passed a law but it didn't really fix the issue.
Which is why, he said, I should link to this page.
That's the letter grades The Princeton Gerrymandering Project gave
'sainted' Michigan for the 2024 elections. There are three categories.
The first is geography. That's how the districts are drawn -- GOOGLE
that for bad examples in the past, I not here to spoonfeed you a week's
worth of meals. On that, Michigan got an A.
So, yea, Michigan!
But that was kind of like attendance.
Partisan Fairness?
No A for them there. No. A B. "And that was a generous grade," my friend with the project told me.
So
that's an A and B. And maybe, like Bimbo does, you can spin that as a
success. Woo hoo Michigan! Let's all follow your lead!
The third category?
Competitiveness.
Their grade there?
A C.
A C.
So their average is B.
Bimbo
from Michigan, it's not enough to pass new laws, you also have to look
at how well they created change. There wasn't a great deal of change
after your state law and your commission began work and that's why you
didn't get three As from The Gerrymandering Project.
But
keep repeating your lies becuase otherwise you're going to have face
the truth about Rashida Tlaib and none of you liars want to do that.
Her
'success' has been vastly inflated. And that's due to liars like
Misterlan who are no better than the goons at FOX "NEWS." There are no
national polls that rank individual members of Congress but don't let
reality interfere with Misterlan's lying.
Misterlan
is an idiot. He reTweets Sami Hussein -- the longterm conspiracy nut.
Let's make 2025 all about calling things what they are. Faucci -- I
never can get his name right.
Dr Anthony Faucci was an idiot. Joe Biden should have replaced him immediately. He refused to admit when he got things wrong.
His only reason for being was to calm the American public.
That's it.
We were in a pandemic. And it's one we hadn't seen in about 100 years. Nothing like it for that long.
We were all learning as we went.
And
had Faucci acknowledged that, public trust wouldn't have plummeted the
way it did. Oh, there'd still be the conspiracy nuts like Sami Hussein
and Robert Kennedy Junior. But they wouldn't have gotten as much
traction.
Faucci reversed
on many details. And that is understandable. If you admit that you had
something wrong before. But he never did admit it and he confused the
American people and he created too much doubt in the results. That's
why he should have been fired when Joe took over.
If you're confused, read the above again slowly. I say he was not effective in his role.
I don't say he acted criminally. Because he didn't. I don't say he's a crook.
I
say his vanity got in the way of giving updates that included, "Early
on, we thought this but with more research we now know this."
I don't create some vast conspiracy and accuse of him of being a criminal.
Yesterday,
Sami -- who Misterlad follows and reTweets -- Tweeted nonsense about
"the criminality of Fauci and connections to Jan 6 -- as I've said
before, Jail Fauci, Free Palestine."
And that wasn't his only nut job conspiracy. He's trying to implicate
Antony Blinken in the Epstein scandal. Via Blinken's step-father. This
is the garbage that passes for 'news' on the faux left. It's no better
than QAnon and we need to call it out.
Another troubling person
Misterlan follows is grifter David Sirota. I don't recommend Twitter
but isn't it telling that the bulk of people agreeing with grifter
Sirota are . . . Republicans? Check any of his threads. And they're
comfortable enough with Sirota that they agree with him and trash trans
people in the same Twitter reply. And Sirota's on board because he's
human filth.
Late to the party?
Sirota attacked the mother of a
veteran because she 'dared' to hold a member of Congress accountable for
the Iraq War. He failed to mention in his attack that he had worked
for that member of Congress. That's a basic disclosure that journalists
are required to make. But he's not a real journalist. We defended
Tina and noted David's journalistic malpractice. David not only
threatened to sue, he sent abusive and harassing e-mails. Didn't end my
life. Did end his chances at an Academy Award when, years later, he
was undeservedly nominated and I attended as many business parties as I
could manage to distribute copies of his correspondence so people could
know what he really was and not vote his trashy ass.
But
grifter David is at it always. I guess with a head that looks like it
got squashed by forceps during birth, there's not a lot of joy in
Sirota's life. That would explain this Tweet:
Not
a single Democratic operative, powerbroker, media elite or party
insider responsible for decisions that led to Trump’s two victories have
faced any professional or social status consequences, and almost all of
them have gotten rich.
Well,
David, your non-stop attacks on Kamala Harris? That was a decision you
made that helped Chump get sworn in yesterday. You haven't faced "any
professional or social status consequences" -- but then again, you have
no social standing and you've lost one job after another year after year
so you really don't have any professional consequences that could be
doled out.
Also, if you're upset about Bernie and his dwindling
presence, maybe hold him accountable for his vastly unqualified campaign
staff when he ran for president in 2016 and 2020 -- oops, we're back to
you on that, aren't we?
I'd suggest he change his name to David Failure but I believe history already has taken care of that.
Liars
and tricksters and whores who are not Democrats worked really hard to
tank Kamala in 2024. I'm not in the mood to humor those liars,
tricksters and whores ever again. If we have an election in 2028, a
fair one (Chump's has all these plans to remove citizens -- especially
Black ones -- from voting), we can't afford to let the liars, tricksters
and whores pose as Democrats again. They need to be outed.
Nothing
wrong with a Socialist being in opposition to a Democrat. They're
Socialists for a reason. But for them to write and go on programs and
present themselves as Democrats while offering these ideological
attacks? No. Your not going to trick voters again.
You
know if you came out of your closets that voters would be like, "Oh,
well that's not a Democrat." So you stay hidden to play the FOX "NEWS"
game of Look Even Democrats Don't Think Kamala's Qualified.
I'm not in the mood for you screwing over this country again.
We'll wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office.
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray
(D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the
following statement in response to Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald
Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD),
cancelling a Wednesday meeting with her for January 15 and refusing to
reschedule the meeting until the week of January 26 after his
confirmation vote:
“I expect every nominee to be willing to meet with Senators,
regardless of their party, to answer basic questions about how they
would approach their role if confirmed. Conducting these meetings is the
absolute bare minimum given the role of each Senator and the
constituents they represent. And should Pete Hegseth be confirmed, we
have to be able to meet and communicate.
“Even beyond the deep
concerns I have regarding his character and fitness for the job, I, like
all other Senators, need to be able to discuss with Mr. Hegseth his
thinking and approach to the many threats and challenges we face around
the globe—whether it’s competition with China or aggression from Russia.
“If
Pete Hegseth is determined to make the role of Secretary and Department
of Defense partisan by refusing to meet with Senators as part of his
confirmation process—then he shouldn’t be confirmed as Secretary of
Defense. I think most Americans would agree that you shouldn’t get the
job if you decide you can just skip the job interview. Mr. Hegseth’s
refusal thus far to commit to meet with me before a confirmation vote is
unacceptable and I hope all of my colleagues will condemn this
unprecedented effort to ignore the Senate’s role to advise and consent.”
As the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator
Murray helps author and negotiate defense spending each year. In Fiscal
Year 2024, Murray prioritized investments in our servicemembers and military families,
including by delivering on a 5.2% pay raise for servicemembers,
expanding child care services, increasing funding for sexual assault
prevention services, and boosting mental health and suicide prevention
resources. Senator Murray also played a leading role in negotiating and delivering
on a comprehensive national security supplemental in April of 2024 to
extend aid to Ukraine, provide badly needed humanitarian relief, and
support key partners in the Indo Pacific while deterring aggression by
the Chinese government.
