The Third Estate Sunday Review focuses on politics and culture. We're an online magazine. We don't play nice and we don't kiss butt. In the words of Tuesday Weld: "I do not ever want to be a huge star. Do you think I want a success? I refused "Bonnie and Clyde" because I was nursing at the time but also because deep down I knew that it was going to be a huge success. The same was true of "Bob and Carol and Fred and Sue" or whatever it was called. It reeked of success."
So I was as surprised as others when I heard David announce he is going
to use his PAC, ‘Leaders We Deserve,’ which he began in 2023, to run
primaries against incumbent Democrats in 2026 who he thinks aren’t doing
what he wants. What was shocking about this was he was doing it as an
officer, a vice president, of the Democratic National Committee. This
was the office he just won. There are two reasons this is so wrong.
First is the DNC should not be involved in primaries. Second is the
officers of the DNC should be raising money for the DNC, not for
themselves, and their own interests.
Dan Balz, Scott Clement, and Emily Guskin (WASHINGTON POST) note, "As he nears the end of his first 100 days in office, President Donald
Trump is facing growing opposition to his ambitious and controversial
agenda, with his approval rating in decline, majority opposition to
major initiatives, and perceptions that his administration is seeking to
avoid complying with federal court orders, according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll."
Yes, we're almost at the end of the 100 days. America's pulse is still
beating but let's not pretend we aren't all bruised and bloodied as a
result of the Convicted Felon's return to the White House.
Sen.
Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) said that President Trump’s recent executive actions
“should chill us to the bone” and claimed that his “authoritarian
impulses” are a danger to American democracy.
“I
think it’s clear. We have never seen a president try to wield the
federal government to crush his critics and political adversaries.
That’s something new in American history, and it is, in my view,
un-American. And it’s something that should chill us to the bone, no
matter our politics, no matter our policy preferences,” Ossoff said in
an interview with The Associated Press (AP) that was published Saturday.
Ossoff
is dead on correct. Take comfort in the fact that Tuesday will be the
end of the 100 days and then we'll 'only' have to suffer through 1360
more days.
Fortunately, there are only 556 more days
until the 2026 mid-terms. After that election, Chump will be in the
lame duck position.
With a little luck, a lot of hope, prayer and activism, America might yet survive him.
Should
we be so fortunate, we need to remember that many weren't. As he
attacks this program and that program for medical funding, for medical
research, a lot of people will die that shouldn't have. As he tries to
deregulate safety standards, people will die from that as well. And
don't forget all the people -- including many Americans -- that he's
deporting.
As part of Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, three U.S. citizen
children were deported with their mothers by the New Orleans Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Friday morning. One of the children
was undergoing cancer treatment and one of the mothers is pregnant.
Both families had lived in the country for years and had ties to their
communities, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of
Louisiana, which warns that the circumstances of their sudden
deportations raises grave due process concerns. The civil rights
organization says that the first family was detained on Tuesday and the
second family on Thursday, and that one of the mothers was given less
than one minute on the phone before the call was abruptly dropped, after
her spouse attempted to provide a phone number to legal counsel.
He's destroying our country.
And
disgracing us on the world stage. Today was Pope Francis' funeral.
The dress code for men? Black suits. Leave it to the trashy
rich-for-TV Donald Chump to violate the dress code by wearing a blue
suit. Leave it to trashy Chump to not only wear the wrong color but to
wear one of his Sears Roebuck suits that looked like it was wadded up at
the bottom of back pack before he put it on. Apparently, the only
thing Musk and DOGE cut in the White House was access to irons.
There
he was in the wrong color suit, the suit all wrinkled and not fitted,
in need of a bra and foundation garments to try to pull all that jiggly
fat in, face smeared with orange foundation and that awful, awful hair
that either needs to a real cut or else a pink barrette to hold that
long lock back off his forehead.
Many prominent figures attended the Vatican's St Peter's Square on Saturday morning alongside Trump, who was branded "disgusting" for his behavior at the service, including Prince William, Joe Biden, Britain's Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.
[. . .]
As he approached the coffin, with his wife Melania by his side, people
spotted what they thought looked like a major blunder. Attendees were
able to approach the late Pope's coffin for a moment of prayer and
reflection.
One
person wrote on X: "Trump and Melania - the only two stepping over the
rug where Pope Francis coffin sits when paying respect, jeeeezzz!"
Another
added: "OK, so I'm not the only person who noticed Trump and Melania
stepping on the rug. I'm sure they were given instructions to stay off
the rug. But, nooooo!"
Other
attendees, such as Prince William and Prime Minister Keir Starmer were
seen remaining a distance away from the rug. According to The Art Newspaper, attendees should not step on the carpet beneath the coffin.
This
is because the carpet symbolizes holy ground, and marks a sanctified
space. It is used to separate the pontiff from other people, and the
tradition is said to also be shown in paintings of the period where
carpets are used to symbolize a sacred space.
The survey also found that about four in 10 Americans say Trump has
been a "terrible" president during his second term, with about one in 10
describing his performance as "poor," and two in 10 saying he has been
"average." Only three in 10 Americans rated Trump's performance as
"great" or "good."
Connor McCrory (IRISH STAR) reports,
"The U.S. economy is showing signs of major strain as a result of
President Donald Trump’s tariffs, according to Fox Business senior
correspondent Charlie Gasparino." FAFO. Tony Owusu (THE STREET) notes,
"Despite Trump making it no secret that tariffs are a key part of his
administration's economic policy, many in the business community
endorsed him over his opponent, Kamala Harris, in last November's
presidential election. " And he's destroyed the economy. His tariff
notions were never based in sound economic theory; however, what was
worse was the constant stop-start and lack of message discipline. In
"Dirty Day," U2 sang, "Throw a rock in the air, you'll hit someone
guilty." These days, throw a rock in the air and you're bound to hit an
American business struggling to stay afloat due to Chump's actions. Adam Lynch informs,
"The New York Times reports American businesses like Ramper
Innovations, a
manufacturer of airplane equipment, are paralyzed under President
Donald Trump’s self-inflicted economic disruptions." His erratic nature
has impacted the markets. Americans stand a very real chance of
encountering empty shelves in stores shortly after his 100 first day
period ends. After tearing everything up, he's negotiated nothing. And
trade treaties don't appear on the window panes overnight like frost.
Instead of delivering on trade treaties, Chump elected to lie repeatedly
this week that he was in negotiations with the leader of China. Pablo R. Suanzes (EL MUNDO) reports:
The president claims Xi called him, and Beijing demands that he "stop creating confusion" with "baseless rumors".
Donald
Trump likes to boast and exaggerate. Every day he claims to have broken
all kinds of historical records, surpassed unprecedented marks,
achieved feats more than successes. This not only involves inflating
macroeconomic figures or saying things that are obviously false, such as
having already reached 200 trade agreements in recent
days, but also putting leaders of other countries in a more than
uncomfortable position, torn between correcting inaccuracies or blatant
lies, unleashing the wrath of the White House, or avoiding problems by
ignoring or dodging questions.
I wonder if even MAGA can get all their required nutrients in a breakfast, lunch and dinner diet of lies?
Americans, including some Republicans, are losing faith in Donald Trump
across a range of key issues, according to polling released this week.
One survey found a majority describing the president’s second stint in
the White House so far as “scary”.
Along with
poor ratings on the economy and Trump’s immigration policy, a survey
released on Saturday found that only 24% of Americans believe Trump has
focussed on the right priorities as president.
That
poll comes as Trump’s popularity is historically low for a leader this
early in a term. More than half of voters disapprove of Trump’s
performance as president, and majorities oppose his tariff policies and slashing of the federal workforce.
He's
wrecked the economy, he's attacking citizens and non-citizens and then
there's 'works well others' section of the report card. He doesn't work
well with others and, when he selects playmates, he chooses so
poorly.
If I were Tulsi Gabbard or Robert Kennedy Junior or,
honestly, any of the inept members of his Cabinet, I would wake up each
day thrilled that Chump hadn't yet fired Secretary of Defense Pete
Hegseth because he takes the heat off the rest of them with his never
ending screw ups. Simon Druker (UPI) reminds,
"Last month, Hegseth made headlines after accidentally leaking
confidential military plans related to a then-pending military strike by
accidentally including The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg in
a Signal group chat." And then we all learned of another nonsecure
group chat -- this one also on Signal but on his personal phone -- not
his government issued phone -- where he shared details of impending
strikes with his wife, his brother, his attorney and, who knows,
possibly his butcher. Tom Bowman and Quil Lawrence (NPR) reported Friday:
Normally
the names of senior staff at the Pentagon don't make the news, but the
precarious position of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth means that every
move is drawing scrutiny. NPR reported this week that the White House is
looking for possible replacements with Hegseth under fire for putting sensitive military attack plans into at least two insecure group chats.
In-fighting
over alleged leaks from the secretary's office have now resulted in
five senior advisers resigning or being fired. On Friday the Pentagon
announced four new senior advisers had been promoted; they include Col.
Ricky Buria, a former junior military assistant; Justin Fulcher, a
member of the DOGE team embedded at the Pentagon, and Patrick Weaver,
formerly a Department of Defense "special assistant."
He
has betrayed the country and he risked national security. Not once.
And Chump deserves to be impeached for not removing Hegseth from
office. John Stoehr notes:
Last weekend, in an opinion piece for Politico, a former Pentagon spokesman warned that “there are very likely more shoes to drop in short order, with even bigger bombshell stories coming this week.”
Unfortunately, we are where we were at the beginning of the week. Hegseth isn’t going anywhere. Yes, he is “embattled,” as we say in the news, but every story about him says that Donald Trump has his back.
Tom Vanden Brook and Michael Loria (USA TODAY) remind, "Hegseth has denied releasing sensitive information. But several current
and former military officials have told USA TODAY that the information
Hegseth disclosed, the timing of attacks, is among the most closely
guarded national security information." And former National Secuirty Advisor (2013 to 2017) Susan Rice explained to Brian Tyler Cohen, "Military
operation details are by definition classified. Deliberations about
whether to conduct a military strike on an adversary are inherently
classified. So here they are engaging recklessly in classified
discussions over unsecure commercial applications."
Instead
of owning his mistake, Hegseth blames others which is par for the
course in the Chump administration. Héctor Ríos Morales' report for THE
LATIN TIMES captures this attitude in its headline, "DHS Says It's Not To Be Legally Accountable For Court-Barred Deportations Because They Were Carried Out By DoD."
When he was president, Harry S. Truman said, "The buck stops here."
Chump not only chooses bitcoin over dollars, he also chooses dishonesty
over accountability which is why his report card for his first 100 days
is a solid F.
Pot of Gold won't stop calling. And leaving messages that really don't make sense. But it really doesn't make a lot of sense, in AMAZON's THE BONDSMAN, why Hub Halloran's dealing with a landline and an answering machine in this day and age. Is that the best a dead bondsman can do?
Because Kevin Bacon's Hub is dead. Dead and he went to hell. He's back on earth now. Pot of Gold's Midge explains this to him, "So you get the gist. Demons can possess people and pass as human in our world. Since you came back from hell, you'll be able to see demons and they'll know you're a threat. Watch yourself."
The demons are all around, in the bodies of high schoolers, police officers, everyone, even Pastor Ron.
And it can be hard, in real life, knowing who you can trust.
25-year-old David Hogg wants you to follow him. In February, he was elected as one of five DNC vice presidents. DNC? Democratic National Committee. That's the leadership board of the Democratic Party. You can check out this DNC webpage but what they do is work to elect Democrats.
David, and his Leaders We Deserve grift/pac, doesn't want to elect Democrats, it wants to primary them. He plans to spend $20 million primarying Dems. No, those two goals are not compatible.
Who is Hogg?
David's fame, such as it is, stems from being the victim of a school shooting. In 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, he was a high school senior who was among the many students caught on campus as the school was terrorized by an active shooter. Seventeen people were killed and another eighteen were left physically injured. Whether David's actions are motivated by or influenced by survivor's guilt, we have no idea.
What the world does know is that the 18 year old hid in a closet and texted and made videos while the carnage took place. While he was hiding, others were being shot at. Peter Wang, for example, was a student who was shot dead while helping others flee the school. Peter Wang's a hero.
But we've got David Hogg today who wants us to listen to and follow him.
He's never done anything that demonstrates maturity or leadership, but he wants us to fall in line behind him.
Because he's suffered, apparently. He's suffered and he wants more than our sympathy, he wants us to pretend he's a leader.
Wang gave his own life to help others and David hid in a closet, texted and made videos on his phone.
In the seven years since the shooting, David's gone where ever the cameras are. Possibly haunted by hiding in the closet, he now needs to be seen. Constantly.
He doesn't do anything with his media time.
Originally, he was a gun control advocate.
He made no real impact there.
He did get on Dr. Phil's TV show. Maybe that's all he wanted?
February 10, 2021, March For Our Lives eased him out the door with a statement about him being put on a leave of absence so that he could, in the words of the announcement, "reflect and recommit to the mission."
So he could cash in on his fame? Not a good look
The announcement did not garner a great deal of sympathy. Sample responses:
So he could cash in on his fame? Not a good look
lmao he threw you away for pillow money, damn how does that even feel
So sad to see y'all not support David as a leader... The pillow thing
seems silly to some... But it is not. It is yet another issue he has
taken on as a LEADER of our youth... What is WRONG with y'all?
What were they talking about?
David was asked to
leave that month because he was now attempting to turn himself into Mike
Linell with his own pillow -- Good Pillow was the name of the company.
Cameron Kasky, 20, a fellow Parkland survivor,
gun reform activist and MFOL founder, used Twitter to appear to attack
Hogg’s actions, without mentioning him by name. “To those of you who
marched, donated, lobbied, and called for change... I’m so sorry this is
what it turned into. This is embarrassing,” he wrote in the first of a lengthy series of critical messages.
"But welcome to America, everything ends up a grift.”
In
another thread, he wrote: “Hm, I see a lot of support for my pillow
grift tweets from people in the Parkland community and people in the gun
violence prevention community nationwide.”
He also made time to be part of his sister's 'action' -- 2018's #armbandsforchange. Miss that one? Well the photos are still there but the project died the minute the publicity started. That's due to the fact that most who saw David's modeling photos sporting the armband rightly compared it to a Gestapo look. It was offensive and called out as it appeared to glorify Nazis.
Didn't speak well for David then and it doesn't now.
He went on to finish college (2019 to 2023). So he's got some education. If not any lived experience as an adult.
David doesn't punch a time clock, you understand. He rakes in his money on the grift. That's how he ended up sitting pretty. First clue to the uninformed, real activists don't end up sitting on two million dollars four or so years after they started their activism.
Oh, are we not supposed to mention money?
We've certainly noted that the glowing coverage of David Hogg in the last weeks has not included any financials.
The 20 million that he plans to spend? It's going to need to be raised. Most of it. Media reports say David's still got $6 million left over from 2024 fundraising.
Six million.
Why wasn't that spent trying to elect Kamala or Dems to the House and Senate in 2024?
Can David answer that? Or do his handlers plan on continuing to shield him from serious questions?
As Breitbart reports, it appears the quest to elect “young, fearless
progressives” is second to underwriting Hogg’s travel itinerary and
fattening Elias’ wallet. The PAC spent just $263,000 on Generation
Z campaigns “combined with donations to other Democrat Party committees
and groups — and instead spent more than $1.4 million on disbursements
to themselves for payroll and to political consulting firms and legal
fees, in addition to travel and entertainment expenses like hotels,
flights, and meals,” according to its filings with the Federal Election
Commission.
There are other reports of his DOORDASH bills and him paying himself $90,000 a year other media reports say he paid himself a six-figure yearly sum from his pac. This isn't an activist. This is a grifter.
And he's a grifter who won't even get honest about what he's planning for 2026.
Other liars and grifters like noted racist Keith Edwards have had him on their YOUTUBE shows and have not only ignored financials but have also refused to ask him to explain who would face a primary. He has made generic statements (and specifically stated he wouldn't primary Nancy Pelosi).
On November 17, 2024, Hogg lambasted outgoing Congresswoman Mary Peltola (D-AK) on X, describing her as "awful on gun control" and bidding her "good riddance" following her electoral defeat.[56][57]
So that's the kind of Democrat he would primary? From WIKIPEDIA:
Scroll down that page. She was for reproductive rights, she was for LGBTQ+ rights, she called out transphobia, etc, etc.
David didn't like her position on gun rights -- a position in keeping with many in Alaska.
He celebrated her loss. Nick Begich III replaced her. The Republican is anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ+, he's anti . . .
But David's thrilled that Mary's out of Congress?
His judgment is questionable, to put it nicely, questionable.
PEW Research Center from July of last year is something he might need to study before he thinks he speaks for Democrats -- or even the majority of Democrats -- on gun issues.
The 2026 mid-terms are very important.
We -- Democrats -- need to win at least one house of Congress. We want to see both houses won.
Forcing incumbent Democrats to face a primary is beyond stupid.
It can lead to so many problems. Such as? The incumbent can survive the primary but be wounded enough that they lose the primary at which point a Republican gets elected. An incumbent can be ticked off and decide, after the election, to switch parties. We're not joking. Ralph Hall was a Democrat in Congress for years out of Texas. Why did he suddenly flip? Because he found out the local Democratic Party campaign office didn't support him and was tearing down his yard signs to take the stakes out to use them for campaign signs for other Democratic Party candidates.
The DNC is not supposed to choose sides. David's ethics are questionable, everything about him is questionable.
We are fighting each day to stop Chump and David wants to hit pause that to target Dems he doesn't like. Dems like Mary. A progressive by any measure. A person of color.
People of color? They're under threat right now. Serious threat. LGBTQ+ people? The same. Immigrants? 100% under threat.
The least threatened group? The White group David Hogg belongs to.
He wants to gamble at this historic time when so much is at stake.
He has no lived experience, he has no real work experience. But we're supposed to follow him?
Where?
Into a closet while others die?
That is where this could lead.
If he were in THE BOUNDSMAN, he'd surely be one of the demons. Kevin's show has an interesting look and an interesting cast. David Hogg's 'vision' only sees one person: Himself.
President
Donald Trump's support among Latinos has plummeted as he nears his
first 100 days in office, with many saying they feel betrayed by the
scope of his policies, particularly immigration enforcement.
Concretely,
almost three in four Latinos (72%) now disapprove of the way Trump is
handling his job as president, with 54% who do so strongly, according to
a new poll by the Pew Research Center. Only Black people surveyed have a
higher disapproval rate of Trump, with 82%.
The
scenario contrasts with the gains made by Trump with the demographic in
the last election, swinging 19 points to favor Trump nationally
compared with 2020, according to preliminary exit polls. Harris still
won a slight majority of the electorate, 52% to 46%, but it was a
dramatic decrease over Joe Biden's 33-point margin in 2020.
Overall,
59% of respondents disapprove of Trump, compared to 40% who agree. Only
Whites are close to having a net approval of the Republican, with 49%
approving of him, including 39% who strongly do so. Asians, the other
Demographic surveyed, shows a 69% disapproval rate, compared to a 29%
approval one.
Supports cratering because people are seeing the effects of Chump's hatred. American kids being kicked out of the country. They're not being deported. They're American citizens. Chump may not like birth-right citizenship but it has always been the law of the land and it remains the law of the land.
So when American kids are tossed out of the country, it tends to underscore what a hateful asshole Chump truly is. Even more so when one of the kids has cancer. Madeline Halpert (BBC NEWS) reports, "Three young children who are US citizens -- including on e with cancer -- were deported to Honduras alongside their mothers last week, according to advocacy groups and the families' lawyers. One of the children is a four-year-old with Stage 4 cancer who was sent without medication, a lawyer for the child's family said."
This is not what Chump voters were expecting. This degree of evil was not at all what they were expecting.
Viewers of APPLE TV+'s new show THE STUDIO were expecting something different as well. A strong cast can only do so much. Each episode plays like the best pitch scenes in Robert Altman's THE PLAYER where screenwriters pitch films to studio exec Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) like where two writers pitch a story about a TV star (played by a film actress) goes to another country.
Griffin: You know what, I like Goldie [Hawn].
Writer 1: Goldie's great because we have a relationship and that would be great.
Writer 2: GOLDIE GOES TO AFRICA.
Writer 1: GOLDIE GOES TO AFRICA.
Griffin: GOLDIE GOES TO AFRICA.
Writer 1: And she becomes worshipped.
Griffin: Worshipped?
Writer 1: Well she's found by this tribe.
Write 2: Of small -- of small people.
Writer 1: She’s found and they worship her.
Griffin: Oh, I see. It's a kind of like The Gods Must Be Crazy except the coke bottle is now a television actress.
Writer 1: Yeah, that's exactly right. It’s OUT OF AFRICA meets PRETTY WOMAN.
Though not as fresh or humorous, we get scenes like that in THE STUDIO.
Michael Tolkin's screenplay for THE PLAYER (based on his book of the same name) was not just a series of amusing scenes. It had an actual storyline. Griffin's receiving threats, he confronts the person he thinks is threatening him and kills the man. Now he's trying to get away with the murder.
There's a narrative. There's much more than amusing scenes.
THE STUDIO carries little weight because there are no real stakes. It's illusion built upon illusion and it adds up to nothing but a diversion.
An
Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Miami plans to move up
to 400 immigrant detainees into a large tent that was erected in recent
weeks to accommodate a surging population of migrants, said Rep.
Frederica S. Wilson (D-Florida), who toured the facility Thursday.
The
soft-sided structure at Miami’s Krome North Service Processing Center
contained cots, televisions, ventilation pipes and tile flooring, Wilson
and her communications director said in interviews with The Washington
Post. An ICE representative told her the facility could house 200 people
on an upstairs level and 200 people on a downstairs level, and that the
agency planned to begin moving people into the structure on Friday, she
said.
A spokesman for ICE did not immediately
respond to questions from The Post, including how long people may be
held in the tent and whether the facility has increased its staff to
meet their needs.
There is little precedent for
ICE housing detainees in temporary structures in the United States,
said Eunice Cho, an attorney who advocates for immigrant detainees at
the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project. U.S.
Customs and Border Protection and the Office for Refugee Resettlement
have used soft-sided facilities, but those have typically been used for
very short-term detention, she said.
The
tent at Krome is the latest evidence of the government’s struggle to
accommodate the nearly 50,000 immigrants currently detained by ICE. A
nationwide uptick in arrests amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on
illegal immigration has led to many detention facilities reaching or
exceeding capacity, with reports of people sleeping on floors and going
days without proper medical attention, The Post’s reporting has shown.
To
meet border czar Tom Homan’s goal of 100,000 detention beds, ICE is
contracting with county jails and paying millions of dollars to reopen
shuttered private prisons. This month, it requested permission to bypass
contracting rules to fast-track new agreements for private facilities
in California, Michigan and other states, citing the southern border
“emergency” and the urgent need to detain “aliens at-large that pose
threats to national security and public safety.”
They're being held like animals in cages with the exception that we'd demand much better conditions for animals. This is repelling people, this reality of what Chump is actually doing.
Again, nothing really happens in THE STUDIO but, in THE PLAYER, someone gets murdered.
Is that what's going to finally bury Chump's immigration plans?
The Trump
administration has secretly allowed immigration agents to invade homes
without a warrant for over a month, according to a leaked internal memo.
The memo, obtained by USA Today and issued by Attorney General Pam Bondi March 14, orders Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to break into the homes of suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua without a warrant.
It
stated that ICE can curb the “proactive procedures” put in place to
obtain a warrant, since they “will not always be realistic or effective
in swiftly identifying and removing alien enemies.”
Is someone going to have to die to stop this policy? If so, is it an ICE official that's going to get popped?
Grasp that this is the United States and guns are nearly as common as cell phones. Also remember that 46 of the country's fifty states have open carry laws. How many more warrantless kidnappings are going to take place? And at what point is some concerned citizen seeing some woman like Rumeysa Ozturk being accosted on the street by people with no badges, no uniforms but maybe wearing masks -- at what point is some concerned citizen going to think these are mobsters trying to kidnap a woman off the street?
And if they shoot and kill an ICE agent, exactly what defense does the government think they can mount then?
Or maybe the ICE agent doesn't get killed. Maybe they unload on the concerned citizen and kill that person on the street?
There are reasons that apprehension policies are in place. There are reasons that require the police to identify themselves.
Chump has tossed aside all legal requirements and those requirements exist not only to protect citizens, they also exist to protect law enforcement. He's endangering everyone with his recklessness. All Seth Rogen's doing is boring us to tears with his attempt to rip-off THE PLAYER.
Rachel Maddow hosts THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW on MSNBC. Awhile back, the show went from five nights a week to just Mondays.
Then Chump returned to the White House.
For his first 100 days -- ending Wednesday -- Rachel returned to the Monday through Friday schedule. That ends this week.
I don't watch a lot of TV. I'll catch sports and I'll watch programs with my daughter that she's interested in. That's really about it.
Prior to Rachel's return to five days a week, I hadn't watched MSNBC. Ever.
But I have caught all of her 100 days coverage. Caught it and enjoyed it.
She did some great interviews, some strong commentary and she highlighted so many topics -- including the protests -- that other public affairs programs ignore.
At the end of her program, I've never felt robbed of time. Instead, I've felt informed and, maybe most importantly, inspired.
She provided a real service and I'm sure I'm only one of many Americans who appreciates what she did.
Here at THIRD, there are weeks when we can't get it together enough to post a full edition and just rely on a media piece by Ava and C.I. (In fact, two this edition.) So I'm the last person to say, "Rachel, don't go back to Mondays only!" But I will miss the five days a week.
Repeating, she provided a real service and she provided information and inspiration at this very difficult time for our country.
This post has been updated throughout. An earlier version said Pete
Hegseth couldn’t blame “Tim Waltz” for the second group chat leak. It
should have said (national security advisor) Mike Waltz — though Tim
Walz, the governor of Minnesota, remains equally blameless in this case.
Tara Reade who was an extra in the film La Bamba before defecting
(her term) to Russia remains in that country where she preaches 9/11
conspiracy theories and joins Mother Tucker Carlson in blaming a
Secretary of State for the death of Gaddafi. But a recent upset has
left her reeling.
In the midst of what she's calling "a
mega dump," her anus exploded showering s**t over a five mile
territory. Soaked in pooh, Reade was said to look like a large mountain
or Jabba the Hut but with a stench few have ever smelt and that mere
words cannot describe.
Though Mother Tucker was said to be
concerned over his fat hag Reade, he was unavailable for comment due to
the fact that he was being anally violated by his demon -- an event he pencils in for every Tuesday night.
Senator Ron Johnson is a nutcase. Not a little nutty. A
big fat nutcase. We're talking Robert Kennedy Junior level of
nutcase. Steven Benen (MSNBC) explains:
With this in mind, The New York Times described
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson as Trump's successor as the Republican
Party’s “foremost amplifier of conspiracy theories and disinformation.”
It’s apparently time to add the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to the list. Mediaite noted:
Though
it seemed difficult to believe, after the far-right host asked the
Wisconsin Republican what he wants to know about 9/11, Johnson said,
"Well, start with Building 7,” adding that he believes there was “a
controlled demolition” at the World Trade Center.
He
went on to say, “Who ordered the removal and the destruction of all
that evidence, totally contrary to any other firefighting investigation
procedures? I mean, who ordered that? Who was in charge? I think there’s
some basic information. Where’s all the documentation from this
investigation? There are a host of questions that I want — and I will be
asking, quite honestly, now that my eyes have been opened up.”
He did not appear to be kidding.
Johnson claimed he’s been in touch with former Rep. Curt Weldon about this (the Pennsylvania Republican talked to Tucker Carlson
last week about his theories), and when the host asked whether the
public might see hearings on the subject, Johnson replied, “I think so,”
adding, “Hopefully, now with this administration, we can find out what
is being covered up.”
At
this point, it’s probably worth reminding readers that, in the recent
past, Senate Republicans thought it’d be a good idea to put Johnson in
charge of the Senate Homeland Security Committee for six years.
Nutcase.
How do the crazies like that get into Congress?
If
David Hogg were serious about reforming Congress, he'd be focusing on
getting the crazies out -- Johnson, Marjorie Taylor Greene (who should
rot in hell for celebrating the death of the Pope), Lauren Boebert, Josh
Hawley and Nancy Mace, among others.
Instead
of going after sitting Dems, Hogg should be going after the crazies.
I'd support that. As it is, I feel like Hogg's lying about what he
intends. And I personally do not believe he should serve as DNC officer
if he's electing to choose sides in Democratic primaries -- let alone
if he's giving money for challenges. How is that different from what we
complained about Donna Brazile doing or Debbie Wasserman Schultz? It's
not at all different.
People of color are not stupid. And that was especially driven home in this YOUTUBE video to David Hogg.
Who is David Hogg talking about
replacing? People of color especially are concerned when a White man
starts talking about replacing members of Congress -- and for good
reason.
David needs to be
having a conversation but it's been days since his announcement and
he's still not eager for a conversation that reaches beyond the White
world. DSAers want AOC to be the next president but they've yet to make
any efforts to atone for what they did to the country and the Black
community in 2024. The sitcom's just fine and not going anywhere. But
maybe the media should hit hard on their other beloved trope: The Death
Of The Democratic Party? If certain self-proclaimed players are unable
to listen to minority populations, the party's going to do even worse in
2028.
Elements of DSA
want to take over the Democratic Party. The reality is that, if they
want AOC as the presidential nominee in 2028, they need to be talking to
the Black community which is not as stupid as the White community.
DSA
and MAGA share The Politics of Destruction -- which is why so many
people can flip from one group to the other -- Tulsi Gabbard, Jimmy
Dore, Jackson Hinkle, etc etc.
They want to destroy the system.
It's easy for White people to feel that way -- and White-identifying pocs.
They've been spoiled all their life.
Spoiled for centuries basically.
Not true for Black Americans.
We've
had to fight to end slavery, we've had to fight for basic rights after
slavery, as late as the 1960s the Civil Rights Movement was still
ongoing and though that movement did so much, it did not bring about
equality.
While spoiled White DSAers sat on
their asses and plotted to take down the system, Black Americans had to
fight daily for the system to open even a little for us.
So
when you start your nonsense about tearing everything down -- again, no
difference between DSA and MAGA -- we are going to stop and say,
"Woah." Because the system you are spoiled on is one we're still
fighting for our rights in. And when you talk about your idea of the
future, you don't talk about anything concrete or anything that assures
us that we will be part of such a system.
David
Hogg is just another vain White person. Vain? White men with that
awful hairdo -- think Gavin Newsom -- are narcissistic and that's why
they continue to believe it's a cool and sexy hairdo when it's ugly and
repulsive and should remain with Carrot Top.
David
Hogg has taken to slamming James Carville. Slam away. I do. It's the
only way you'll ever get his attention. He's a bean counter who has
been overpraised for years (Betsy Wright, as we've noted her for
decades, never got her due and she's much more responsible for Bill
Clinton getting elected President than James). But if you're going to
slam James be prepared for the return slam.
He
hasn't given it yet to David, so I will. David keeps going around
repeating a line about how James' last successful election came before
he was born.
Yes, it did.
And that's still one more success than David's had.
Davis
is 25. I supported his run and celebrated it. I thought he would work
with the DNC, take a moment to learn some things and improve the
party. Instead, months after being elected, he's now alarmed many with
his plan to primary Democrats in Congress.
That's really not a DNC job. And it is alarming many. The video Ava and I highlighted resulted in more words from David.
More words.
But no response.
In "The David Divide" above, they play David's reply -- again, not an actual response.
It's
appalling. A White man -- of 25, no less -- thinks he's going to
educate the Black community? He thinks we need him to tell us how we
could be participating at the local level? As though we don't know
this, as though we aren't already? White Messiah, thank you, for your
tone deaf reply that is racist and insulting.
This
is why David should have kept his mouth shut and listened. He thinks
he has all the answers but he can even respond to basic questions.
He tries to bury us with words that never address anything.
He preaches slogan and we're not idiots.
After
they play David's words, the first onscreen response is from Hooks who
types, "all I hear are Justice Democrats, DSA talking points."
Hooks is exactly right.
And
this week, Ava and I again noted that the DSA did not have the Black
community and does not speak for the Black community. Their inability
to communicate with the Black community is one of the biggest reasons
that they are a failure. For those late to the party, Justice Democrats
is a Socialist front created by Kyle and Cenk, it's better termed
Justice Socialists because that's what they are. But they knew Justice
Socialists wouldn't get enough support so they tried to trick the people
instead by dubbing it "Democrats."
We're not
idiots. We hear what you're saying and we're not taken in by the
sloganeering. We're fully aware that you're trying to put one over on
us and we're not buying it.
David started this
and has some time now to clear up what his aim is. He's insisting it's
not about replacing older members with younger members. Then why, in
all the time since he went public on this in April (this month), have
they not updated their website:
Leaders
We Deserve invests in candidates who reflect our generation and its
values matching them with the resources they need to run strong
campaigns, win, and change the face of power. Think EMILYs List for
young, progressive courageous candidates.
You're
failing on every level, David. And we're not giving our hard earned
gains to back you as a leader when you can't even be honest and you
can't even reply to actual questions with real examples.
Clearly,
I was wrong to have backed you for your current positions and as you
continue to create more of a mess and especially as you continue to
alienate Black Democrats, I really think you need to step down from your
DNC position because nothing you are doing at present is actually
helping the party. We need control of both houses. You've offered
nothing to demonstrate how your goals are going to help us with that.
As
one member of the House Black Caucus said to me over the phone last
night, "It really would be a White man, wouldn't it, who at the age of
25 would think he knew better than the whole damn party?"
Yes, it would.
Yes, it would.
David,
maybe you'll be of value in other ways or later in life. But at
present, you're a recent college graduate and that's basically it.
Maybe gets some life under your belt and work on communicating? At
present, we can't afford you and you're not offering much of value. I
don't say that with glee. I was rooting for you. But this was your
mission that you announced and you've yet to find a way to communicate
your goals in a way that isn't racist or insulting.
I'm seeing the same crowd of bad actors who trashed Kamala and helped put Chump in office backing Hogg on BLUESKY.
BLUESKY is not the world.
TWITTER was not the world.
Hogg
wants to primary a long list of Democrats in office and we're hearing
801 reasons why. Supposedly it's not about age. But according to
David's website it is and according to many of his supporters on BLUESKY
it is.
And these idiots on BLUESKY -- as usual -- don't know a damn thing.
I'm
actually for a retirement age for members of Congress and that's
nothing new. I've written of it here for two decades and we've covered
it at THIRD for two decades. At THIRD, we started hitting on it hard
with Robert Byrd, who was over 90 years ole and removed as Chair of the
Senate Appropriations Committee. We've noted that the deaths of some
members in office result in anew campaigns ahead of the normal election
cycle and that if they're dying from age that cost should be probably be
billed to their estate. We've focused on the Senate the most because
that's a six year term. The House is a two year term. If voters want
to send someone at death's door into Congress, that's their vote and
their gamble.
Six years is a lot more to
gamble on. We supported Dianne Feinstein's Democratic challenger
because we knew she was too old and would likely die in office, which
she did.
This is not a new issue for us.
But it seems like a new one for his BLUESKY fans who really don't know what they're talking about.
And none of whom wants to note that Sainted Bernie Sanders should have retired long ago.
As
long as he breathes, he is their excuse and their hero. When he stops
breathing, that'll probably still be the case. But for those not
working on the Bernie farm, the reality is that he speechifies and
accomplishes nothing. He's someone to be amused by, yes, but the
Democrats have repeatedly said no to him on a national run.
But the Davids attacking Schumer and other Democrats on BLUESKY don't say a word about Bernie.
We're getting to a place similar to the summer of 2024.
We
knew Chump would destroy this country. And smoe of us worked our asses
off to campaign for Kamala Harris. Others worked to defeat her --
others on the left -- DSA and its fake ass 'Uncommitted' 'movement.'
Maybe it's time for you to sit your ass down and shut your damn mouth if you weren't campaigning for Kamala?
Maybe you've enough damn damage for one century?
This country matters to a lot of us, democracy matters to a lot of us.
We've got to win at least one house of Congress in the mid-terms (November 2026).. I want both. I think both are achievable.
David Hogg is not heping with that.
He's
risking that and you have to wonder with the state of the nation right
now, with so many lives at risk, White boy can't get his s**t together
and wants to risk everything.
He's a blond girl, we get that right?
David's done nothing with his life to garner any attention. But he's a blond girl.
Many other students were at the same school that got shot up. Many of them were students of color.
In
the '00s, when a child went missing, people began to notice the media
coverage or the lack of. If the missing child was a blond girl, it was
wall-to-wall Matt Lauer clucking non-stop. A child of color?
Crickets.
And that same racism has benefitted David Hogg.
But he doesn't want to cop to it.
He's accomplished nothing with his life.
I
thought he'd get involved in the DNC, learn a lot, come back in a year
or so with some solid ideas. Instead, his only idea is the one he's
been pimping for years -- kick out the old guys in Congress!!!!
That
would apparently make him feel better about himself. And considering
that he looks like Lena Dunham, I can understand his struggle to find
some way to feel good about himself.
But, White man, you're putting a lot of lives at risk with your bulls**t.
And Uncommitted and David need to sit this out.
First off, if you've got 20 million to spend on races, you should be using that money for the general election.
Second,
you are creating division as we speak within the party -- that's why
you need to resign immediately from your DNC office. That is not what
DNC officials are supposed to do.
Third, you're distracting from the very real dangers of Donald Chump.
You want to do your pet cause, go do it in a better election cycle, White boy.
You haven't suffered under Chump.
You're
not at risk of deportation, you're not a senior on a fixed income,
you're not a Black person or an LGBTQ+ person at risk of being erased
and having your rights taken away.
You're not a woman at risk of losing reproductive freedom.
No one is less impacted by Chump's destruction of this country than you are.
Stop gambling with our lives and our rights.
He wants heated, contested primaries with candidates he's going to fund who will rip into the incumbent.
He's stupid and ignorant.
And history does apply here.
We've seen this Tom Hayden style bulls**t before.
Would
Jimmy Carter have been a one-term candidate if John Anderson hadn't
run? Gore in 2000. We've seen this over and over and we're aware of
history.
David has no idea and he's putting us all at risk.
US
House Rep Jay Smith is running for re-election and David's Joe Blond is
running against him. To win, Joe Blond destroys him with one charge
after another. Smith wins the primary but is left weakened. And then
the GOP candidate for Congress in that district goes up against a
weakened Smith -- probably using many of the attacks that Blond used on
Smith (like how the Willie Horton attack on Michael Dukakis actually
started in the Dem primary long before Poppy Bush got ahold of it)..
That's how we can lose.
We need to be united.
If this isn't a one-of-a-kind moment in our history, then sure, let's
all be David Hogg -- I'll get the knives so we can chop off our noses.
And
if this isn't a one-of-a-kind moment in our history, let me know. I'm
doing everything I can online and off to fight back against Chump to the
point that I am waking up to run to the bathroom and throw up. I've
got better things to do with my time if this isn't a serious moment in
our country's history.
David Hogg needs to
immediately step away from the DNC. If he wants to pursue his idiotic
plan on primaries, he can do so, but not as DNC official. And, no, he
can't step 'away' from his group and remain in the DNC. He has to
resign.
Jim, Dona, Jess, Ty, "Ava" started out this site as five students enrolled in journalism in NY. Now? We're still students. We're in CA. Journalism? The majority scoffs at the notion.
From the start, at the very start, C.I. of The Common Ills has helped with the writing here. C.I.'s part of our core six/gang. (C.I. and Ava write the TV commentaries by themselves.) So that's the six of us. We also credit Dallas as our link locator, soundboard and much more. We try to remember to thank him each week (don't always remember to note it here) but we'll note him in this. So this is a site by the gang/core six: Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I. (of The Common Ills).
