Birthday Wish From “No Kings”

Sunday is Flag Day…..it’s Donny’s birthday….it’s time to protest.

The anti-Donny movement, No Kings, has had several successful protests and they have another planned for Donny’s birthday, 14 June…..

It’s been more than two months since “No Kings” protests again drew crowds across the U.S. Another event is set to take place in just over a week, but the call to action by organizers is a little different than others before it.

Back in March, millions attended more than 3,000 “No Kings” events held nationwide, marking the third round of rallies since President Trump took office. Rallies last year attracted more than 5 million in June and 7 million in October, according to U.S. organizers.

The next event is scheduled for June 14. The same day, Trump’s birthday, UFC match-ups are set to be held on the White House’s South Lawn as part of a series of celebrations marking America’s 250th anniversary.

Meanwhile, the Committee for the First Amendment, relaunched last year, will be hosting “Rise Up, Sing Out: A Concert for the First Amendment.

Being held at The Town Hall in New York City, the 90-minute event is set to be headlined by Bette Midler, Patti Smith, and Jane Fonda. It will “celebrate the freedoms guaranteed by our First Amendment … and the people power that both fuels these rights and is essential to guarantee them.”

The No Kings Coalition, which is partnering with the Committee on the First Amendment, says watch parties are being scheduled across the country to stream the event, giving communities space “to sing along, make art, share food, connect with neighbors, and take meaningful action together.”

While previous No Kings events have resulted in rallies, June 14’s event “will serve as a critical opportunity for No Kings supporters to strategize, connect with local organizers, and prepare for the ongoing fights ahead of the midterm elections.”

“… while the President attempts to distract the country with his UFC cage fight spectacle, the No Kings movement will be gathering in living rooms, community centers, and local businesses for public and private watch parties in key cities and rural communities alike,” a press release reads.

Several watch parties have already been scheduled, including events in and around Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, and San Francisco.

(thehill.com)

Let’s wish this fool a happy birthday by protesting his stranglehold on the country and his killer policies…..time for this clown to go away….one way or another.

https://www.nokings.org/ can help make this happen but it will take much more work for a success.

There is an op-ed about this protest….and I agree with it for the most part…..

Americans across the country are banding together to fight the Trump administration. Sort of. Maybe. Well, not really. But many will spend a few hours on June 14 standing in a park, yelling into the air, and then go home wondering why nothing has changed. On the president’s birthday, there will be yet another “No Kings” protest – and it will accomplish next to nothing.

We keep getting calls to protest for a day, boycott for a day, stay silent for a day, wear a color for a day, post on social media one time. There’s a phrase for this kind of action: Doing the bare minimum.

The 1950s Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted 13 months. To desegregate a single public transit system in a single city, residents sacrificed for more than a year. They carpooled, walked, watched each other’s kids, left home earlier and got back later. They didn’t ride the bus for a day and pat themselves on the back. The same goes for the lunch counter sit-ins across the South. Those college students didn’t get food dumped on them, get punched and kicked, get spit on and called racial slurs for an afternoon and call it a victory. They went back again and again.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2026/06/11/no-kings-protest-june-2026-trump-resistance/90422193007/

These protests are a good idea but they are short-term…..for a Saturday protest will be forgotten by the following Thursday.  If you want these protests to have lasting effect then they must be continuous and relentless.

So on one hand the op-ed is correct and should be a long-term strategy.

You thoughts will be appreciated.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Damn Great Idea

A couple of Congress people have decided to try and take on Donny and his money making machine….

Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Rep. Ro Khanna are introducing a bill Thursday to establish a federal review board for direct foreign investment in the U.S., as President Donald Trump courts global ventures as part of trade deals he makes with nations around the globe.

The bill, shared exclusively with CNBC before it is introduced, would create the “Foreign Investment Review Authority” as an independent executive branch authority. The panel would be responsible for reviewing direct foreign investments and determining whether they are permissible.

It would function as a board, with a chair appointed by the president, subject to Senate confirmation; designees of the secretaries of Commerce and Labor and the attorney general; along with four presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed board members from a political party that is not the same as the president’s. It would also create an Office of the Chief Ethics Officer and a Public Oversight Board to receive complaints.

Baldwin, D-Wis., and Khanna, D-Calif., say the board is necessary to ensure foreign direct investments aren’t undercutting U.S. workers. They also say it would potentially stop corrupt deals, with the lawmakers pointing to investments Trump has secured in his negotiations of trade deals around the globe.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/11/baldwin-khanna-propose-direct-foreign-investment-board-to-probe-trump.html

Like I said a damn good idea….expose Donny’s manipulations and using his office to make money….

This will probably go nowhere but at least some Dems are trying to fight Donny and spotlight his abuses of office.

A shame that he will not be held responsible or forced to pay back all the cash he and his family have made office the office of president.

The ‘stable genius’ needs to be cut off at the knees….and soon.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Iran–The Usual Rhetoric

Since the US and Iran have started exchanging fire once again…the rhetoric coming from the Lazy Boy recliner in the Oval Office (does it still exist?) is the same as always from the mouth of Donny….

Early Thursday morning Donny starts thumping his chest (but not too hard)….

The renewed attacks between the US and Iran are on track to worsen in a significant way. President Trump on Thursday said the US planned to hit Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT,” before further raising the stakes: “At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela,” he wrote on Truth Social. The threat came after the two sides exchanged strikes for the second straight day, reports the AP.

Kharg Island is major oil terminal off the nation’s coast, seen as the “country’s economic lifeline,” notes the BBC. Its seizure would not only damage Iran economically but could give the US a base from which to carry out military attacks on the mainland. However, seizing the island would likely require ground troops, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Tough talk….(watch the markets)

Then after his lunch of Big Macs and Diet Coke the tune has changed (as if right on schedule)

Hours after threatening a major escalation in the Iran war, President Trump said the bombs are back on pause—and that Iran is on board with talks, reports the Wall Street Journal. In a new Truth Social post, Trump said he called off plans to unleash a new wave of strikes and to seize the Kharg Island oil hub because peace negotiations “have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved.”

Trump said the “final points have been, in both concept and great detail, approved by all parties involved, including the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, and others.” Iran has not yet publicly commented. Trump added that the US naval blockade of Iranian ports will stay in place until a deal is signed, with time and place to be announced “shortly,” per the BBC. The president has previously announced imminent deals that have fallen through.

This event is all too familiar   (watch the markets)  This is for those too damn lazy to check the markets….

US stocks rallied to their best day in two months, and oil prices fell Thursday, after President Trump called off his threat to bomb Iran in the evening. That raised hopes for a deal that could get the global flow of oil going again.

  • The Dow rose 929.97 to 50,848.75.
  • The S&P 500 jumped 127.31 points to 7,394.30.
  • The Nasdaq rallied 640.16 to 25,809.66.

Apparently Donny is working from an old script….this is the same bullshit he gave about a month ago.

He should hire new writers his present ones are getting tiresome.

BTW the war has made the US the world’s number one oil importer and that means dollars for oil companies….so how long will we play this stupid game?

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Just What DC Needs

There are approximately 15oo lobbyists on K Street and now the DoD is trying to make it easier for more corrupting money to be available….

As it pushes for a record breaking $1.5 trillion defense budget, the Department of Defense wants lawmakers to water down restrictions on the infamous revolving door between the Pentagon and industry, inviting more undue influence from the defense sector.

The DoD’s legislative proposal, submitted to Congress for consideration in the FY 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), tosses out key lobbying restrictions introduced by the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in 2017. It remains unclear whether the proposal will be included in the base text of the Senate version of the NDAA, which has not been released.

The McCain restrictions prevented recently departed officials from lobbying the Defense Department or Armed Forces for two years following retirement. But the new DoD provision would only impose this two year “cooling off” period on former defense officials who want to lobby in the specific military agency or Pentagon office where they used to work.

The DoD claims it needs to do this because the limits now in place “may restrict the Department’s access to the knowledge and expertise of its former personnel” and thus could have an “adverse effect on [the department’s] recruitment and retention.”

As such the bill also eliminates McCain’s two-year cooling off requirement for “behind-the-scenes” activities, which include the “preparation and planning activities, research and other background work” that can support a company’s lobbying activities. The DoD asserts that measures restricting these behind the scenes lobbying efforts are difficult to enforce.

Ben Freeman, the director of the Quincy Institute’s Democratizing Foreign Policy Program, calls the Pentagon’s rationale a “cop-out.”

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/revolving-door-pentagon/

This admin will do anything to make the corruption more intense….

Personally I think the cooling off period should be at least 5 years with 10 being the best idea.

We have enough criminals with buckets of money for Congress and the admin….it is time to close that corrupting appendage of government down for all time.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

That ‘Secret’ Autopsy

The DNC has seen to the exposure of the public in the reasons why they were so beaten in 2024….my thought it is decaying corpse of a political party.

The 2024 election “was a punch to the gut, and people were pissed off,” Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Ken Martin wrote Thursday in a statement accompanying the report’s release. “How, we all asked, could Democrats have lost to Donald Trump again? How did we blow through billions of dollars? And where do we go from here?”

The resulting report paints a bleak picture for Democrats. “We must admit and accept some hard truths about our Party,” it cautions. “Since the high point of the 2008 Obama landslide…the Democratic Party has vacillated between stagnation and retrogression. In doing so, we have lost the confidence we once received from everyday Americans—and election results show it. In the sixteen tumultuous years since that historic election, Democrats have lost ground at every level of government.”

This is actually the first time in more than a decade that Democrats have publicly taken any such introspection.

https://reason.com/2026/05/22/democrats-tried-to-bury-2024-election-autopsy/

The party did not need this ‘autopsy’….The party had the wrong candidates, the wrong issues, and were controlled by special interests….see how hard was that?

Come on let’s be honest…..the Dems were and still are….pathetic….

Well, the much-ballyhooed autopsy on the 2024 election has arrived from Democratic National Committee’s headquarters, and it is a shame it didn’t stay buried in a trashcan in one of their offices deep inside the Beltway, and as far away from real people as possible.

Before moving on just as quickly as I can, from this unmitigated mess of typos, redactions, double-talking and sniping — and better yet, the leadership who allowed it — I want to underline some finer points, and hard-earned lessons we can take from it, and the disastrous 2024 campaign season.

First, given all the unprofessionalism, money-wasting, bickering, and out and out dysfunction in the party, it’s a wonder Kamala Harris didn’t lose by 25 points. It is clear that because of a series of self-inflicted wounds, the Democrats were not ready to do battle during the most important election in U.S. history.

https://www.alternet.org/dem-autopsy/

Now the DNC is scrambling….but it matters not for they will continue to lose….the DNC purged any and all members that had good sound ideas that conflicted with the special interest agents that now dwell within the DNC.

A new election is on the horizon….does anyone see anything that will lead us to believe that the Dems are capable of winning a national election?  So far most of the Dems have done nothing but complain….that will not fly in the next election.

I do not see it….do you?

Time to find a political party that will actually treat you and the rest of us with some sort of respect.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“I Love Inflation”

Words uttered by our dear clueless leader when he heard the new report that inflation is at a 3 year high……

… data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Wednesday showed overall prices in May posted a yearly increase of 4.2%, marking the highest rate of inflation since 2023. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy costs, posted a yearly increase of 2.9%, the highest rate since September 2023.

Why would any president say such bullshit when most of the country is struggling under the pressure of this number?

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said, “I love the inflation” after being asked if he was concerned about new consumer price index data that showed the annual inflation rate at 4.2%, a three-year high.

Trump, speaking with reporters in the Oval Office, also predicted that inflation is “going to come down like a rock” after the United States’ war against Iran is over.

The president linked that prediction to a confusing statement about the U.S. “taking” oil and ships.

“No, I love it, the numbers were great,” Trump said when a reporter asked him about the CPI number issued earlier in the morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“You know what I really love? I love the inflation. You know why?” Trump said. “Because as soon as this war is over, you know I can say it now … you know we’ve been taking out millions of barrels of oil.”

“Nobody knows it. You know who doesn’t know about it? Iran, until right now,” Trump said.

(cnbc.com)

Donny thinks the numbers will come down once he figures out how to end the war with Iran.  (Don’t hold your breath that could take awhile)

Trump predicted that inflation would “come down like a rock” when the war was over, CBS News reports. Trump claimed the US had reached “the best economy we’ve ever hit” before the conflict, citing record stock market highs.

So much manure spread and the worse part about it is there are those the believe this stink.

Just a reminder….“Trump promised repeatedly that he would ‘end inflation’ starting on day one but by almost every measure, he’s failed to achieve those goals,” Beyer said. “And far from lowering costs, his tariffs have only made the affordability crisis worse for the American people.”

Is his plan working?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

City Owned Grocery Stores

Last Friday I posted the plan from NYC mayor to open city owned grocery stores to try and help struggling people get the food they need.

This is the post to which I refer….

Those City-Owned Grocery Stores

Of course there are those among us that think this is a good idea (I am one of those people) and there are those that want to crap on the idea by saying big box stores will kill the idea or they just do not want cities trying to solve a problem that the national government helped create.

I say good for those that will try to find a solution or part of one….

First thoughts from a magazine that caters to the food industry….although it is not as condemning as I had thought it would be….

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani took to Instagram to reaffirm his commitment to opening five city-owned grocery stores, one in each borough. Intended to “take on the affordability crisis” as grocery prices soar, this campaign promise is moving closer to reality: La Marqueta in East Harlem was announced as the first site for the municipal grocery store model and is expected to open in 2029. (Other to-be-announced sites will open before La Marqueta, as soon as next year.)

What does it mean for the local government to own a grocery store, and what’s it actually like to shop at a municipal supermarket? This isn’t the first time a city has opened its own grocery store, and similar models — along with Mamdani’s proposed plans — offer a clearer sense of what to expect.

https://www.foodandwine.com/how-government-run-grocery-stores-work-11975917

Those that criticize this plan do not understand how this concept works….they are shooting from the hip because some MORON has called in socialism.

Contrary to the public outcry from critics, city-owned grocery stores are not a novel or radical idea in the United States. The United States military already operates a network of publicly owned grocery stores; rural communities in Kansas have successfully experimented with municipally owned supermarkets; and big cities are exploring their potential and charting plans.

City-owned grocery stores are a promising solution for communities who suffer from the hunger and food insecurity that comes from living in food deserts, urban or rural neighborhoods with limited access to healthy and affordable groceries.

Food deserts exist in part because of misaligned profit motives for private sector grocery companies. Large corporate retailers like Kroger and Whole Foods do not bother to invest in certain communities because, despite demand, low-income neighborhoods lack the infrastructure and purchasing power to sustain their for-profit business. Instead, retailers concentrate or relocate their grocery stores to areas where they can expect a higher rate of return, like wealthier suburban neighborhoods.

That profit incentive creates a harmful cycle that perpetuates a phenomenon known as “supermarket redlining” that leaves thousands of communities underserved.

New York City is home to more than two dozen neighborhoods that are classified as food deserts. These localities are predominantly Black and Hispanic and rely on both bodegas and dollar stores for their grocery needs, creating “food swamps” where unhealthy food options vastly outnumber nutritious ones.

How City-Owned Grocery Stores Can Tackle Food Insecurity

Personal opinion….this idea should be in place already….with the idiots in DC passing judgement on the poor and corporation slobbering over the profits being made on screwing the public….it is time for some real programs to come to the light.

I Read, I Write, You KNow

“lego ergo scribo”

A Personal TomDispatch Farewell (of Sorts)

There are many of us that are critics of the Donny bunch that read TomDispatch….op-eds written for those of us that still think for ourselves….

There is some sad news….Tom Englehardt is stepping down as editor-in-chief….

 

https://original.antiwar.com/engelhardt/2026/06/07/a-personal-tomdispatch-farewell-of-sorts/

 

I for one will miss his insights….these are big shoes to fill and I wish Nick Turse good luck with the new gig.

I Read, I Write, You KNow

“lego ergo scribo”

NYC Does It Again

I recently wrote about a policy that the new mayor of NYC will pursue…..city owned grocery store….personally I think it is a great idea and more cities should be so concerned.

The mayor has yet another plan for the city….this time it will help city employees with child care….

Tucked in New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s sprawling universal childcare plan is a little-talked-about milestone: In September, the city will open what appears to be the first free daycare for municipal workers in the country.

The center, called The Little Apple, is a pilot program that could prove to be a model for cities across the country that are childcare curious, but not ready to take the big universal swing.

Housed in a renovated space on the first floor of the David N. Dinkins Municipal Building in Manhattan, home base for more than 2,000 city workers, the Little Apple will offer free care to the kids of full-time staff. All workers in the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), a city government support agency, can also take advantage of it regardless of their work location.

The center will be small — just 40 seats for children ages six weeks to 3 years old. To pay for it, the city budgeted about $1.5 million, or $35,000 per child.

“This is what Wall Street could call a good investment,” Mamdani said in a press conference announcing the new center. “We know that after housing, the cost of childcare is what is pushing working families out of this city.”

DCAS Commissioner Yume Kitasei told The 19th said the solution came about as a retention strategy, responding to the needs workers shared. In surveys, workers enthusiastically embraced the idea. One worker described access to free childcare as “life-changing.”

https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/under-mamdani-new-york-will-be-first-to-open-free-childcare-center-for-city-workers/

So far this man has done just about everything he said he wanted to do….he has my vote of mayor of the year.

Right after the first of the year the mayor first major proposal was a tax plan….

A number of new taxes have been proposed this winter and spring to address the City’s structural budget gap. They range from a surcharge on high-income Personal Income Tax filers, to a partial recapture of the federal tax benefits accruing to Pass-Through Entity Tax filers, to higher rates for the City’s business income taxes, to higher real property transaction taxes on luxury properties at time of sale. One of the most likely, and possibly only, new tax revenue to be included in the FY 2027 State budget is a tax on pied-à-terre properties in New York City.

To date, details on the proposed tax have been hard to find, but Governor Hochul announced a revenue estimate of $500 million from 13,000 “second homes” with market value of at least $5 million.  The lack of further information has spurred wide-ranging conjectures regarding which properties might be subject to the tax and how much they might pay.

In this Fiscal Note we use previous pied-à-terre tax proposals to estimate potential revenues and highlight areas of uncertainty. Based on the parameters chosen for the analysis, tax revenues are critically dependent on the share of targeted properties that are rented and on the behavioral responses to the tax. We find that, before adjusting for these factors, our choice of tax rates and brackets could raise almost exactly $500 million from a little over 11,200 properties. However, revenues could be reduced to between roughly $340 million and $380 million based on assumptions on exclusions for rented units and behavioral changes following the imposition of the tax.

The Pied-à-Terre Tax and Its Potential Revenues

Another policy that meets with my acceptance….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Real Political Power

This is a look at the real political power in American elections…..AIPAC.

A PAC that has buckets of cash to influence our elected officials in favor of everything Israel.

 

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/defending-aipac

 

This PAC should be broken down for what it is…..foreign money in our system for the influence of corrupt politicians.

I believe that AIPAC is too influential and has its tentacles in all aspects of our government…..this can no longer be acceptable.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”