Why aren't Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders paid well, despite their success in selling the team? Let me think. They're woman? They work for a living rather than clip coupons and check the price of sweet crude every hour? Or, is it just because they're employees?
If Athing Mu were a CEO, falling in a single qualifying race, despite her being a world champion, would earn her a raise, a hefty bonus, and a renewed, long-term contract.
The American Constitution's explicit aspiration, extraordinary for its time, is that govt should neither favor nor disfavor one religion, all religions, or no religion.
Insurrectionist American fundamentalists, however, whom Trump has drafted as his army, want to reinvent that law and history. They want to impose their religion on all others. They want the state subject to their religion so they can use its physical and legal powers to make that a reality. All else is commentary.
Donald Trump tried to steal the election in 2020 and, by all accounts, he and his MAGA minions are going to try again in 2024. But how likely is it that they'll succeed? The good news is that since 2020 we have some new guardrails in place to make it even harder for them to overturn another Biden win. Learn more over at The Big Picture. https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/trump-overturn-biden-election-2024
The resources Trump had to steal the election in 2020 pale in comparison to the orchestrated GOP and billionaire led resources he has to steal it in 2024.
Will the GOP try to steal the 2024 election? After the events of January 6, 2021, it's only natural to question the lengths Trump and his MAGA movement will go to secure a victory, regardless of the vote count. However, there's hope. Today on The Big Picture, writer Jay Kuo discusses the guardrails now in place to protect our democracy. But a threat still looms. Stay informed and prepared. https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/trump-overturn-biden-election-2024
The answer to whether the GOP, meaning Trump, will try to steal the 2024 election seems obvious.
They will bury the system with hundreds of lawsuits. They will work hard not to count the vote in districts Trump will lose. They will try not to certify election results.
They will try anything to throw the decision to the House, where they have an arithmetic advantage, because it votes by state and the GOP controls more states, though they represent far fewer voters.
Milton Friedman's lie that "shareholders are the only stakeholders" - a view untethered to law, economics, or reality - has destroyed countless lives around the world. It's a foundation of today's gross inequality.
Friedman has a lot to answer for, as do his patrons. If he's lucky, his long days in hell, described by Toby as "damnation without relief," will be hearing the names of all those people, over and over again, even as the list grows longer every day..
Boeing shareholders approved a $33M pay package for CEO Dave Calhoun, despite the company's major safety problems — which Calhoun is testifying about before the Senate today.
Calhoun is resigning by year's end. Guess what he gets then?
The outgoing Boeing CEO, in charge of a company failing, owing to having put financial performance ahead of passenger and aircraft safety, is getting a combined $78 million to say goodbye this year. And, presumably, to keep shtum.
I can see why he wants it. But WTF would Boeing's board be so happy to give it to him? Unregulated Capitalism, like fish left on the picnic table on a hot July day, rots from the head.
Kim Kardashian thinks spending a birthday with her kids is "torture." They probably think so too. I guess Donald Trump is not the only global narcissist in America.
The NYT accuses Joe Biden of "painting" Donny Trump a felon? It's leading every news organization to the position that there is no objective reality, and no facts unless someone calls them that.
I think the NYT's owners really want Trump back in office. They agree with him. And everything he does makes publishing a newspaper a license to print money: from his McDonald's diet to his promised violent retribution against those who've done nothing but oppose him. Democracy? Meh.
"Serving sizes" aren't suggested as much as they are designed to suggest you're taking in far fewer empty calories of ultra-processed foods than you are. Otherwise, they're cute. :-)
Donny Trump seems a lot like Mr. Todd from Waugh's, A Handful of Dust. Not just the part where he's illiterate and commits heinous crimes to have someone read to him in the jungle. It includes how he makes his "extended family."
Ironically, the NYT's lavishly compensated David Brooks (Philadelphia Main Line, Chicago '83) is from the same conservative elites, whom he imagines are losing ground on American college campuses.
That will surprise the members of the elite, who comprise their boards of governors. But victimhood is an old shtick with Brooks, as it is for Trump. He deploys it as sheep's clothing, to hide his prickly ears and sharp teeth.
"Americans love a strong leader. Donald Trump scores high with many voters precisely because he acts like a despotic strongman, seemingly unrestrained by rules, laws, international agreements, or even social conventions. By contrast, Joe Biden is a competent and cool executive, leading an administration that adheres to established norms, operates by consultation, and follows the data-driven advice of experts." But what does it mean that Biden is now showing a tougher side? Jay Kuo digs into this question in last week's piece from The Big Picture. https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/biden-tough-israel-russia-border
Those who want a fantasy "strong man" - exactly what Trump is, a fantasy tough guy - define it as bullying, NOT following the rules, and getting what you want at any price. They've been worn down by a system that doesn't promote their interests and regard the rules as rigged. His followers just assume their tough guy won't make them pay the price.
LOL. Economically, Trump's followers will be the first people he throws under the bus. But his real enemy is the rule of law.
Rich donors are paying as much as $300,000 per person to attend a Trump fundraiser in San Francisco today. What do they expect in return for their money?
Whatever the donors in SFO, paying $300,000 each to support Trump, are expecting in return for their pocket change, odds are they'll get more than they expect, even after Donny diverts a chunk of that to his lawyers. Donny is such a good negotiator.
Trump knows he's lying. His supporters know he's lying - they cheered him on when he led the lock her up chants at his Nuremberg-style rallies.
His followers accept as an act of faith the world as Trump describes it, and accept that he changes it on a whim. They will not challenge him on it.
They feed on his lies, which make the world seem simpler, easier, fixable, if only their Leader had enough power to make it so. They're determined to give it to him.
Ignoring facts and the truth become acts of followership and loyalty to one's cult leader. The process manufactures followers who will believe, and, therefore, do anything. What every dictator wants in his pocket. They need it to stay a dictator.
I am deeply humbled and honored to be named the Icon Grand Marshal for the 2024 LA Pride Parade. To be recognized in this way by the LGBTQ+ community, an extraordinary group of individuals who have fought tirelessly for equality, is truly overwhelming. As someone who has witnessed the struggles and triumphs of our community over the years, I am filled with gratitude for the progress we have made and inspired to continue the fight for full acceptance and equality for all.
Trump has ensnared the whole GOP in support of his lies. He always finds a cudgel with which to beat his enemies. But who are the monied interests supporting and advocating for them both? Your article suggests a few answers.
Franklin Graham must be listening to an AI version of "God's Will."
She may want Trump to be forgiven, like all sinners, but She could hardly want him to prosper and succeed in furthering his crimes, and to show others how to crime without consequence, at the expense of those who follow Her rules, and not those who desecrate them.
So, WTF is Graham doing with this highly political message?
“Mother Teresa could not beat these charges.” Yes, that's a real quote from Donald Trump, who is now awaiting a verdict in his Manhattan criminal trial. As the jury deliberates, Jay Kuo breaks down what happens next in the trial, including what a likely conviction would look like. https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/trump-trial-jury-preparing-verdict
Donald Trump wouldn't know Mother Theresa if she blessed him in the middle of St. Patrick's Cathedral. Nor would he give her the time of day. He would deport her.
If Trump is convicted, it won't be because he has the slightest thing in common with Mother Theresa. It will be because the evidence led the jury there, beyond a reasonable doubt.
Hope Larry Connor has a better game console than the last guy who tried to pilot a submersible down over 12,000 feet. A new, tested pressure hull might be good, too, not a more affordable one rejected for overuse. Dedicated, purpose-built comms that don't rely on standard cellphones might be useful, too.
It's not clear anyone has successfully held Donald Trump to account since he left his crib (already a millionaire). This would be about time.
Personally, if Trump's found guilty of a felony, I favor house arrest in his 30,000 sq. foot [sic] Manhattan condo. Limited freedom 24/7, publicly embarrassing, easier for the USSS to do their job. Followed by supervised release and community service - with an elections office.
