Donald Trump intends to create martial law in American cities just to prevent 2026 voters who oppose his policies from going to the polls

We tape Rachel Maddow to replay when Morning Joe turns to soft news. Rachel Maddow was on fire in this program, as is well reported in the Boston Globe❗  #RachelMaddowStrong❗

Rachel Maddow slams Trump’s National Guard deployment in D.C. as an ‘authoritarian takeover’

Echo report by Alyssa Vega in the Boston Globe

Augut 11, 2025:  MSNBC network host Rachel Maddow slammed Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., as an “authoritarian takeover” that she says has little to do with combating crime in the nation’s capital.

Trump announced Monday (August 11) that he was putting the D.C. police department under federal control and deploying about 800 National Guard troops after asserting the district has been overtaken by “bloodthirsty criminals” and “drugged-out maniacs.”

Maddow, who lives in Western Massachusetts, opened Monday night’s episode of “The Rachel Maddow Show” by citing data that show D.C.’s crime rates have dropped in recent years.

“You think it’s really about crime? You think it’s really about being tough on crime?” Maddow said of the deployment.

“Let’s be generous here. Maybe it’s not really just a generic tough-on-crime thing. Maybe it’s specifically because it’s D.C., which is the seat of the U.S. federal government,” Maddow said. “Maybe [Trump’s] just really sensitive about protecting the federal government.”

“Jan. 6❓ (Insurrection❓) No, forget about that. He’s just sensitive about it now. Maybe that’s it,” Maddow said, referencing the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.  At the White House Monday, Trump did refer to recent incidents of violence in D.C., including the June 30, fatal shooting of a 21-year-old UMass Amherst student who was interning for a Kansas congressman. 

(Maine Writer- do you suppose "guns" had anything to do with this murder of an innocent student❓ Ya' think❓

The president has also taken to social media about the assault of a former DOGE employee in the district earlier this month.

But Maddow noted how Trump has yet to comment on the shooting that took place outside the headquarters of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta on Friday, killing a police officer. No one at the CDC was injured.
The suspect, Patrick Joseph White, who died during the incident, had blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal.
On her show, Maddow also cited Trump’s deployment of roughly 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines in Los Angeles in June following protests over his immigration crackdown.
“When Donald Trump sent troops to Los Angeles this summer on the absurd pretext that some kind of war was on, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and other L.A. officials didn’t just protest against it and try to stop it. They also warned the country that, ‘Yeah, he’s doing this to us first, but it’s going to be you next,’” Maddow said.
She continued by calling Trump’s deployment of the National Guard as an “attempted authoritarian takeover where our authoritarian leader just starts trying to turn our own military to face us, the people of this country.”
“The questions that are equally important in response to that right now are, number one: What will the troops do about that❓ And number two: What will we do❓” Maddow said.
On Tuesday, Maddow posted on Instagram from an episode from last week saying that after six months of Trump’s second term Americans now “live in a country that has an authoritarian leader in charge.”
“We have a consolidating dictatorship in our country,” Maddow added.  (Maine Writer: In my opinion, Donald Trump wants to order martial law in all American cities where he knows 2026, mid term voters will vote against him and his right wing maga authorian policies.)

#DemocratsMustDOSomething❗

Nominee Pete Hegseth for defense secretary is dangerous and evidence of his drinking problem is disqualifying

The Sound of Fear on Air:  It is an ominous sign that Morning Joe felt it had to apologize for something I said. By David Frum

David Frum Says MSNBC’s ‘Efforts to Appease’ Trump by Apologizing for His Joke About Pete Hegsesth’s Drinking Are ‘Very Ominous’

I had an unsettling experience with the hosts of Morning Joe.

I was invited onto MSNBC’s Morning Joe to talk from a studio in Washington, D.C., about an article I’d written on Trump’s approach to foreign policy. Before getting to the article, I was asked about the nomination of Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense—specifically about an NBC News report that his heavy drinking worried colleagues at Fox News and at the veterans organizations he’d headed. (A spokesman for the Trump transition told NBC, “These disgusting allegations are completely unfounded and false, and anyone peddling these defamatory lies to score political cheap shots is sickening.”)

Political commentator David Frum joined MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Wednesday to discuss allegations of heavy drinking against Donald Trump’s defense secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth. Frum introduced the story with a joke about Fox News, which then prompted MSNBC to issue an apology. In a written response in the Atlantic, Frum warned such an act is “a very ominous thing” ahead of Trump’s return to the White House.

NBC published a report Tuesday that revealed former colleagues of Hegseth’s at Fox News were deeply concerned about his drinking habits. Two people interviewed said they smelled alcohol on Hegseth before he went on the air, with one person noting that they noticed the smell as recently as November.

The report was a follow-up to a New Yorker magazine piece published Sunday that revealed there were similar concerns about Hegseth when he was head of Concerned Veterans for America from 2013-2016.

When Frum began the segment Wednesday, he joked, “If you’re too drunk for Fox News, you’re very, very drunk indeed.” During the commercial break that followed, he wrote in the Atlantic, a producer “objected to my comments about Fox and warned me not to repeat them.” The topic didn’t come back up and Frum departed the set.

“Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski then read an apology for Frum’s comments. Brzezinski and her husband co-host Joe Scarborough came under fire in November after a visit the pair paid to Trump at Mar-a-Lago was made public.

“A little bit earlier in this block there was a comment made about Fox News, in our coverage about Pete Hegseth and the growing number of allegations about his behavior over the years and possible addiction to alcohol or issues with alcohol,” Brzezinski said on “Morning Joe.”

“The comment was a little too flippant for this moment that we’re in. We just want to make that comment as well. We want to make that clear. We have differences in coverage with Fox News, and that’s a good debate that we should have often, but right now I just want to say there’s a lot of good people who work at Fox News who care about Pete Hegseth, and we will want to leave it at that.”

In his follow-up piece, Frum agreed “there are good people at Fox News” but added that if the report from NBC is to be believed, “many of those same good people have failed to report publicly that their former colleague, appointed to lead the armed forces of the United States, was notorious in their own building for his drinking.”

Frum also expressed empathy for the fact that the popularity of “Morning Joe” has in turn “exposed the hosts and producers to extraordinary pressures and threats in the Trump era,” especially due to the President-elect’s own claims that he will retaliate against those in the media he feels have spoken badly about him.

He took responsibility for the comment (“my face was on the screen, my name was on the chyron, and anyone who took offense knows whom to blame,” Frum writes) but added a chill warning: “It is a very ominous thing if our leading forums for discussion of public affairs are already feeling the chill of intimidation and responding with efforts to appease.”

“I do not write to scold anyone; I write because fear is infectious. Let it spread, and it will paralyze us all,” Frum continued. “The only antidote is courage. And that’s infectious, too.”

Joe Scarborouogh and Mika have consistently expressed their strong reservations and perspectives regarding Pete Hegseth’s nomination from the very beginning, and that stance remains unchanged.

We would have responded in the same manner regardless of when these comments were made or what news…

— Richard Hudock (@richardhudock) December 4, 2024

Frum was invited back to “Morning Joe” Thursday morning by NBC’s VP of communications, Richard Hudock. He wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “We would have responded in the same manner regardless of when these comments were made or what news organization was referenced.”  (Hmmmmm❓.....Maine Writer is not convinced about Hudock's point of view....too defensive.)

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's incompetent pick for defense secretary, drank in ways that concerned his Fox News colleagues while he was a host at the network, according to an NBC News report.

Vice President Kamala Harris closing debate statement transcript

Kansas Reflector: In Harris-Trump debate, one candidate executed her agenda nearly flawlessly. The other (aka DonOLD) failed: "Of those who planned to watch the debate, three out of 10 said it would help them decide their vote, indicating soft supporters for both candidates along with the undecideds. Polls showed a race that was virtually tied. Thus, the debate was important to each candidate," Diana B. Carlin.

Closing statement in the presidential debate on September 10, 2024

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: So I think you've heard tonight two very different visions for our country. One that is focused on the future and the other that is focused on the past. And an attempt to take us backward. But we're not going back. And I do believe that the American people know we all have so much more in common than what separates us and we can chart a new way forward. And a vision of that includes having a plan, understanding the aspirations, the dreams, the hopes, the ambition of the American people, which is why I intend to create an opportunity economy, investing in small businesses, in new families, in what we can do around protecting seniors, what we can do that is about giving hard-working folks a break in bringing down the cost of living. I believe in what we can do together that is about sustaining America's standing in the world and ensuring we have the respect that we so rightly deserve including respecting our military and ensuring we have the most lethal fighting force in the world. I will be a president that will protect our fundamental rights and freedoms including the right of a woman to make decisions about her own body and not have her government tell her what to do. I'll tell you, I started my career as a prosecutor. I was a D.A. I was an attorney general. A United States senator. And now vice president. I've only had one client. The people. And I'll tell you, as a prosecutor I never asked a victim or a witness are you a Republican or a Democrat. The only thing I ever asked them, are you okay? And that's the kind of president we need right now. Someone who cares about you and is not putting themselves first. I intend to be a president for all Americans and focus on what we can do over the next 10 and 20 years to build back up our country by investing right now in you the American people.

MSNBC Transcript of the entire debate at this site here.

Senior military officers sign letter of support for Vice-President Kamala Harris because felon Trump is not qualified to be elected

Today Show, Samantha Guthrie, NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, Lester Holt, must report how senior military officers support Vice-President Kamala Harris:

Vote Kamala Harris and Tim Walz 2024!

Disturbing and detailed interview with the retired Brigadier Army General Steve Anderson, by Nicolle Wallace on MSNBC "Dateline White House" on why Trump returning to power as Commander-in-Chief presents an existential and exceptional danger ⚠ to both democracy and US national security. 

DonOLD Trump is a dangerously ridiculous bafoon 🤖🤡💀

General Andreson supports Vice-President Kamala Harris for President. A few of the General's observations based on his personal experience with Trump and in the military: 

1) He never cared about anyone's party affiliation or politics til Trump assumed power. His colleagues are similarly agnostic by training. 

2) We can't wait to act publically until Trump Youth (aka "Nazi youth") form and jackbooted thugs march down our streets. 

3) His experience and observations on the danger of Trump are shared by many of his colleagues who served with him.

4) He served in Afghanistan under Trump, Trump must never set foot again in the Oval Office. 

5) Trump will weaponize both the civil service, the legal system, and the military to illegally consolidate and retain his power. Trump has demonstrated this and stated it. 

6) Trump will adopt Hitler's practice of requiring senior military officers to swear loyalty to him rather than to the Constitution. 

7) Trump and his allies are encouraging festering - unadressed - extremism in the military to accomplish Trump's takeover and weaken the military. 

8) US allies view Trump as a cacauphonous 🐵buffoon. 

9) Trump and confederates have had 4 years to plan for the next January 6th evil insurrection.

Recognized how Arlington National Veterans Cemetery became hallowed ground: Donald Trump History lesson 101

Opinion | Trump’s Arlington stunt was even more offensive than we first thought published in MSNBC and Yahoo.com by 
James Downie

I visited Arlington National Cemetery on Aug. 23, 2022, for the interment of my grandfather. Eighty years earlier, he’d gotten his first taste of combat as a line officer at the Battle of Midway. 

We were there to bury him in Section 31, alongside my grandmother. The sun was shining, and a bagpiper played “Going Home.” There were no thumbs up from anyone.

When I read the accounts of Donald Trump’s outrageous photo-op at Arlington, and his campaign staff’s altercation with a cemetery employee, I thought of my grandparents and the anger they’d have for a political candidate trampling on their graves for a campaign ad. I also thought of the cemetery employee, who according to The New York Times declined to press charges out of fear of “retaliation from Trump supporters.” (Politico likewise reported that the decision was “due to concern over retaliation.”) That employee’s fear is even more chilling if you consider Arlington’s history.

What would become a national shrine to our country’s military heroes began as the estate of George Washington Parkes Custi, the adopted son of the nation’s first president. 

When he died in 1857, the property passed to his daughter Mary, whose husband was a U.S. Army officer named Robert E. Lee. Four years later, in the early weeks of the Civil War, the Union Army seized the Arlington estate for use as an artillery outpost. By then, Lee was already a Confederate general, stationed well south of Washington, and his wife ordered the people enslaved on the property to pack up the family’s silver and papers before she abandoned the property ahead of Union troops.

By 1864, according to Smithsonian magazine’s Robert M. Poole, Washington’s cemeteries were running out of room for the war dead. Quartermaster General Montgomery Meigs — who had served under Lee before the war but now believed he should be “executed if caught” — suggested Arlington. He oversaw the burial of thousands of soldiers at the estate and continued doing so after the guns fell silent. He did so not just to ease the burden on other cemeteries, but also to make Arlington uninhabitable for the rebels’ most prominent general at war’s end.

Yet, even as Meigs did his part to make sure the Confederacy never rose again, the freedoms and rights Arlington’s dead had fought for were being undermined. 

Key to this effort was the use of intimidation. Within a year of Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House, a group of Tennesseeans founded the Ku Klux Klan. They and other armed whites embarked on a reign of terror throughout the South against Black people and their white allies. “We are intimidated by the whites,” Black residents of Vicksburg, Mississippi, told the state’s governor in 1875, “We will not vote at all, unless there are troops to protect us.”

The troops did not come. After the disputed 1876, presidential election and the subsequent Compromise of 1877, federal troops withdrew from the South entirely. Reconstruction was over, replaced by Jim Crow segregation. Intimidation and retaliation were this toxic stew’s most important ingredients.

Which brings me back to Trump’s visit to Arlington and the subsequent fallout. The Army told NBC News on Thursday that a Trump aide “abruptly pushed aside” a cemetery employee who was trying to enforce the cemetery’s restrictions on photos and videos. But the employee refused to press charges. 

Military officials told The New York Times, “she feared Trump’s supporters pursuing retaliation.” If this isn’t intimidation, what is?

The employee wasn’t acting arbitrarily: As the cemetery noted in a statement, “Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending.” And Trump’s campaign dispelled any doubts about the purpose of the visit when its TikTok account used footage from Arlington in a post.

The woman’s fear is entirely reasonable, and not just because an aide to a former president felt emboldened to push her in the first place. Even without her identity being public, Trump campaign's press secretary Steven Cheung accused her of “suffering from a mental health episode.” Trump senior adviser (evil 👿😡) Chris LaCivita, best known for leading the smear of 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry’s military service, called her a “despicable individual.” 

And at a subsequent rally, Trump irreverently linked the cemetery staff ❗with the prosecutors of the multiple indictments against him — that is, he linked her to people he says have it out for him.

More broadly, intimidation has been an essential feature of Trump’s campaigns. In his first run, he excused and even applauded when his supporters roughed up protesters. His second run culminated in his incitement of the January 6 insurrection. 

And in his third run, with staffers like LaCivita and Cheung in key positions, he has done nothing but double down. Now he and his (cult 💢) campaign are bullying a woman who merely followed the law protecting the country’s war dead from being exploited as campaign props. It’s a campaign of thugs, led by a thug.

The events at Arlington and the way Trump maligned the character of the woman doing her job epitomize one of the key stakes of this election: whether a man who embraces intimidation over law returns to power. Recent decades have seen America tilt away from the idea that “might makes right.” But that principle reigned during much of our country’s history, and defeating Trump is a way to help keep this dangerous ⚠️idea from roaring back❗

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com

Rachel Maddow scores record numbers of viewers during her Liz Cheney interview

Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC cable interview with Liz Cheney leads Cable News With 3.2 Million Viewers - an echo report in Forbes by Mark Joyella:

It was one of the most unusual interviews in Rachel Maddow’s long tenure at MSNBC: former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, who joined Maddow on set Monday night. As Maddow told viewers, “I disagree with Liz Cheney about everything. My whole adult life on everything in politics, I would not just say that Liz Cheney and I were on different proverbial teams, I would say we are from different proverbial planets. And they are planets that are mostly at war with each other.” 

Rachel Maddow

Maddow's Cheney interview drew a big audience: 3.15 million viewers, which made The Rachel Maddow Show the most-watched show in all of cable news Monday night, well ahead of Fox (fake❗) News Channel’s Hannity, which had a total audience of 1.936 million viewers, and CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, which drew a total audience of just 375,000 viewers.

Maddow's interview on MSNBC also won among viewers 25-54, the key demographic most valued by advertisers, drawing a total audience of 249,000 viewers, ahead of FNC’s Hannity (221,000 viewers) and CNN’s The Source (70,000 viewers). The Rachel Maddow Show pushed MSNBC to an overall win in prime time, with 2.293 million viewers, ahead of Fox News (1.996 million viewers) and CNN (402,000 viewers). Fox News won in prime in the key demo, with a total audience of 230,000 viewers to MSNBC’s 179,000 viewers and CNN’s 79,000 viewers.

Cheney, who has been fiercely critical of former President Donald Trump, made the trip to MSNBC to talk about her new memoir and her concerns about what might happen should Donald Trump win in 2024.

The military is not political! Republican Tommy Tuberville is "traitorous" wrong-minded about making the military political

Echo reported by Occupy Democrats on Twitter:

BREAKING: In a devastating rant on national television, MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace declares that today’s traitorous Republican Party “can no longer lay any claim to being the party that stands with the U.S. Military.”

Senator Tommy Tuberville is wrong-minded by leveraging the U.S. Military to take a political position.

It all started when Trumper Senator Tommy Tuberville* announced that he would single-handedly block a whopping 184 military promotions just to spite President Biden. 

Today, for the first time in 164 years, the U.S. Marine Corps of as left without a leader.

But it gets even worse…

Nicole Wallace declared today, “Here is where it gets alarming: Over the next two months, the staff of the Army, Navy, Air Force, along with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs will see their terms come to the same end. It is a Republican-made problem that figures to get much, much worse. But today marked the fall of the first domino."

Assistant Commandant Of The Marine Corps General Eric M. Smith

Nicolle Wallace blasted Tuberville, declaring that his “hissy fit” is endangering our national security.

She then set her sights on the entire Republican Party, declaring that, The reality is that today's Republican Party, whose front-runner has been indicted for leaving classified documents around his party like candy in a candy dish, can no longer lay any claim to being the party that stands with the U.S. military. Remember the wisdom of Maya Angelou: ‘When someone tells you who they are over and over and over again, believe them.’”

Please ❤️ thank Nicole Wallace for exposing the sad truth about Trumper Senator Tuberville and the entire Republican Party,

*Right wing Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville, once again balked and refused to allow the Marine General Eric Smith to be confirmed. The far-right Alabama Republican gained nothing by doing this. His anti-abortion tantrum could’ve continued, and he could’ve continued to stand in the way of several dozen other military promotions.

Support for Afghan refugees must be a priority

By Hayes Brown, MSNBC Opinion Columnist

My family lived in Subic Bay, Philippines on April 30, 1975, when Saigon fell. We are definitely in a classic déjà vu state of mind!

Essay published in the History News Network and MSNBC news by Hayes Brown, opinion columnist.  

The fall of Saigon was followed by Congress approving over $450 million for refugee resettlement. Yes, it was the right think to do.

We should focus on what happened next, after the fall of Saigon in 1975 — Congress’ nearly immediate approval of a program to take in and provide for Vietnamese refugees.

Check this site here for information about how to help.

Urgent evacuations are underway in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover. 

The rapid fall of Kabul to the Taliban drew immediate comparisons to the scene over 40 years ago, when Saigon was captured in the last days of the Vietnam War. The comparison was only amplified as images of Afghans desperately clinging to U.S. planes Monday went viral.

Afghan children

For now, let’s set aside President Joe Biden’s promise that we wouldn’t see these wrenching scenes, that this time things would be different. Instead, we should focus on what happened next after the fall of Saigon in 1975 — Congress’ nearly immediate approval of a program to take in and provide for Vietnamese refugees.

By April 1975, it was becoming clear to the U.S. that the South Vietnamese government wouldn’t last long against a North Vietnamese assault. 

By then, President Gerald Ford’s administration was lobbying Congress for assistance to get remaining Americans out of the country, as well as Vietnamese allies whose lives would be at risk should the communists capture them. In a preview of the Biden administration’s rhetoric over the last few months, the Ford White House was hesitant to sound the alarm too loudly for fear of demoralizing the South Vietnamese in the fight ahead.

In a meeting with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the White House on April 14, Ford’s request was met with skepticism. Most were concerned with Ford’s plan linking the evacuation plans with a request for over $700 million in military aid to the South Vietnamese government. The administration argued that the money would help stabilize the country enough to safely retrieve the evacuees.

Others, though, were more concerned with the idea of bringing the Vietnamese to America — one senator in attendance even suggested shipping them off to Borneo. Ford, to his credit, responded to that suggestion with an insistence that the U.S. needed to take them in:

“Let me comment on where they would go: We opened our door to the Hungarians. I am not saying the situation is identical, but our tradition is to welcome the oppressed. I don't think these people should be treated any differently from any other people — the Hungarians, Cubans, Jews from the Soviet Union.“

But Congress wasn’t having it — at least not with the possibility of U.S. forces’ fighting the North Vietnamese again. The day after the fall of Saigon, the House voted to reject the final version of the Vietnam Humanitarian Assistance and Evacuation Act, a bill that would have provided $150 million for evacuation plans and given Ford the green light to use military force to protect American evacuees. The Vietnam Contingency Act, which had passed the Senate weeks earlier, never made it to the House floor for a vote.

Less than a month later, though, Congress did pass the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act. The law provided over $450 million to support the assimilation of eventually 130,000 South Vietnamese refugees who had been evacuated. (That works out to over $2.3 billion in 2021 dollars.) These refugees were originally taken to Guam before being granted “parole” by the attorney general to enter the U.S. mainland legally. (The process for refugee immigration shifted to the system we know today under the Refugee Act of 1980.)

As America debates whether to accept the Afghans wanting to flee the Taliban’s renewed rule, it’s worth noting that the 1975, refugee law wasn’t popular. The images of Vietnamese people swarming helicopters did little to soften the hearts of Americans. The New York Times was blunt in explaining most Americans’ reluctance to accept Vietnamese refugees:

Some of those hostile to the newcomers seem to be just weary of the whole long American involvement in things Vietnamese and eager to shut the door on the unhappy past. Others voice fears of epidemics of Asian diseases.

A few, however irrationally, see those fleeing Communism as a Communist threat. Some see the refugees as just the opposite — a possible nucleus of right‐wing strength. But the vast majority of those opposed to the resettlement express concern about the economic impact at a time when the country already has an unemployment rate of 8.7 percent.

That apathy was clearly seen in a Gallup poll released in May 1975, which found that a majority of Americans — 54 percent — opposed South Vietnamese refugees’ coming to the States. In contrast, only 36 percent supported the idea. Four years later, in 1979, 62 percent of Americans disapproved of Carter’s plan to increase the number of refugees coming from Indochina.

The bill still passed, though, and America kept accepting Vietnamese refugees — not because it was popular or because it would win votes, but because it was the right thing to do. The Senate, a few weeks before the Vietnam Migration and Refugee Assistance Act went into effect, had shown its willingness to go against public sentiment when it overwhelmingly passed a resolution that reaffirmed “that the Statue of Liberty is, as Emma Lazarus called her, the Mother of Exiles” and welcomed the refugees from Cambodia and Vietnam.

Today, millions of Afghans have been spread out across Central Asia for decades now. In recent years, Afghans have been encouraged to repatriate back to their home country under the promise of a brighter tomorrow. That time seems to be at an end, and the scenes from the Kabul airport show that the exodus from the country is likely only beginning.

Many political allies and foes alike are painting Biden’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan as a betrayal of Afghans who have worked so hard to build their country up and now face retribution from the Taliban. In that light, it’s imperative that Congress take the next step and move forward in accepting more Afghan refugees into this country. 

Indeed, doing so, is the most honorable way to protect yet another group of people whose lives have been inextricably tied to the whims of the U.S.

Maine's good riddance to Paul LePage

Kick the LePage administration out and don't bother to return!

Maine's now "former" Governor Paul LePage has left Maine with a message about his ghostly return if he sees the state's fresh and new administration going too far astray for his draconian policies.

Ex-Governor Paul LePage: "Slip out the back Jack"*

Thank you Rachel Maddow for reminding us just how horrible the LePage leaership was as the state edured his cruel policies. She neglected to mention that Maine lost population and job growth stagnated while he was in charge of government. This echo of a 2016 Portland Press Herald editorial is the proverbial kick in the pants, as Maine slams the door behind the failed LePage administration.

Like the ghost of Marley, the LePage legacy will bear the burden of the chains and yokes that rattled Ebeneezer Scrooge to his core when the macabre spirit visited to warn him of his errant ways.

A link to this video is here

To re-echo the underlying message about the political agony felt by tens of thousands of Maine citizens over the past 8 years, I'm posting the Portland Press Herald editorial apology to the world as reported in Maddow's video segment aired on January 5, 2019, MSNBC. This editorial apology is a classic example of ending the old and predicting the new, in 2019. Seldom do editorials get to create prophesy and be so correct:

Our View- Message to America: Sorry we gave you LePage published in the Portland Press Herald  in Maine on August 26, 2016

Dear America: 

Maine here. Please forgive us – we made a terrible mistake. We managed to elect and re-elect a governor who is unfit for high office.

He has a gruff exterior and blunt way of talking that some of us find refreshing, but he has shown again and again that he governs by grudge, and uses his power to beat up on people who cannot fight back.

You probably heard about the latest episode. He was asked about the toxic racial environment that he created in the state with insensitive statements about people of color. The questioner, an entrepreneur from New York, wondered how he could ever bring a business here.

This should have been an easy one for the governor: Maine is a state where more people hit retirement age than graduate from high school, and our traditional industries are shedding jobs. 

Maine desperately needs new businesses and young people – of all races – who would be willing to move here to work.

The question was an opportunity for the governor to undo some of the damage that he has caused by giving members of minority groups around the country the impression that Maine is a white state where no one else is welcome.

Instead, the governor repeated one of his worst libels: That Maine’s drug crisis is the fault of black and brown transient thugs who come here not only to sell their poison but also to take advantage of “white Maine women.” It’s a matter of fact that heroin comes to Maine from other states – they don’t produce it here – but the governor is adamant about identifying the drug runners by race, leaving it to his audience to fill in the blanks of why that might matter.

This was not a slip of the tongue. He has said the same thing before, denied saying it, and then said it again before the latest incident. This time, he offered it as proof that the racial divide in Maine was not his fault – that it was the fault of black and Hispanic criminals that he keeps track of in a three-ring binder on his desk.

LePage knows that his words are widely understood to mean that he thinks that the color of their skin makes some people more likely to commit crimes. Rather than clarify or withdraw those statements, he repeats them.

We wish we could say that he is the only one in the state who feels that way. When LePage makes these comments, some of our fellow Mainers applaud him for defying what they consider to be oppressive political correctness.

But as a famous Mainer once said: “Rejecting the conventions of political correctness is different from showing complete disregard for common decency.”

Those words were written by Sen. Susan Collins in her denouncement of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Like Trump, LePage is a repeat offender.
It would be nice to think that Le-Page would reflect on what he says and learn from these incidents, but he appears to be completely incapable of change. He will probably blame the media again for any embarrassment he suffers, but everyone has heard the tape and knows what the governor said.

On the bright side, America, Le- Page isn’t going to be governor forever, and when his successor takes office in 2019, Mainers of all political parties will have to work together to fix the damage he has done to our reputation. 

We hope that this person will be a leader who will welcome people of all races to live in Maine, and invest in our wonderful state.

Until then, please accept our apology. We’ll try not to do it again.

*You just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don't need to be coy, Roy
Just get yourself free
Hop on the bus, Gus
You don't need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
And get yourself free

Maine is "Free at last, free at last.  Thank God Almighty, we are Free At Last!"

Senator Susan Collins a pivotal voice and powerful health care vote

MAINE VOICES
Sen. Susan Collins is again poised to be a crucial vote on health care: Rejecting the latest Senate bill would protect our health and our communities- Dr. Sam Zager opinion represents Maine health care providers and Maine Providers Standing Up for Health Care.

MaineWriter preface:

Senator Susan Collins is a strong advocate for the most poor and frail in our nation and in Maine. Her family has experienced the impact of having loved ones who care for their relatives when they need expert long term care. Now, with her knowledge about how insurance coverage is managed, coupled with an in depth understanding of Medicaid and Medicare regulatory oversight, she has the capacity to apply her experience to protect those who cannot speak for themselves. Please opposed the Graham-Cassidy bill, it's a bad idea (as reported in the September 20, Washington Post).

In fact, all 50 state Medicaid directors have opposed the Graham-Cassidy Republican repeal bill to destroy the Affordable Care Act, a cruel piece of legislation now being considered by the Republicans. It's a very, very sad time in America, when politics has completely taken over the risk management of our national health care policies. In the Republican's resurrected attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the cruel GOP bill will cut Medicaid by imposing a per-enrollee caps on services. 

This is health care rationing.  Moreover, somebody will have to decide when to cut care for very ill people, if this terrible bill passes. Pro-life advocates are hiding in the rafters, but they should be shaking the Congress to protect Medicaid.

It's outrageous to cap Medicaid beneficiaries' health care costs, because, for those who need the coverage, the medical caps will cause them mortal harm. We're talking about neo-natal premature babies, children born with heart anomalies, disabled people, patients with neurological diseases, the mentally ill and frail elderly. You might as well cut the oxygen to the people with chronic and acute care needs, as to put a cap on their medical care costs, by capping Medicaid. 

Obviously, the purpose of these disastrous cuts are so that states will have some change left on the table after they receive their Medicaid money for them to use for subsidies to put towards those who will need premium subsidies to cover pre-existing conditions.

Here is an opinon "echo" from Dr. Sam Zager, who represents Maine Providers Standing Up for Health Care, published in "Maine Voices":

PORTLAND, Me- The U.S. Senate is planning to vote next week on the health bill sponsored by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Bill Cassidy, R-La. Many observers consider it the Republicans’ last chance to repeal the Affordable Care Act before a Sept. 30 deadline. Although Sen. Susan Collins has yet to take a firm public stand, she is again poised to be a crucial opposing vote. Rejecting this bill would protect our health, our communities and the normal order of the Senate.

One similarity between Graham-Cassidy and its predecessors is the shoddy legislative process. Without any hearings or opportunities for public comment, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is bringing a hastily concocted bill to an unfortunate partisan vote.

“Bipartisan support – that’s what we really need when we’re tackling an issue as difficult as health care,” Sen. Collins told MSNBC’s Chuck Todd on June 22. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said this week that it would need several weeks to fully “score” the bill. This rushed vote, therefore, means that senators will likely not know how many of their constituents might lose their health insurance as a result of Graham-Cassidy.

In addition to process problems, Graham-Cassidy has grave flaws in substance. A core feature of the bill is a reduction in federal funds allocated to health care, especially for low-income Americans and other vulnerable groups.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Kaiser Family Foundation each independently estimate about 6 to 8 percent less federal spending for health coverage nationally in the first seven years under Graham-Cassidy (2020-2026). When combined with the proposed Medicaid caps per enrollee, $160 billion less would flow from Congress to the states.

Even with the bill’s block grant, Maine would lose $54 million under Graham-Cassidy. After 2026, Graham-Cassidy’s block funding would plummet to zero, so our state would lose $745 million annually starting in 2027.

What do these numbers mean in real terms, for real Mainers? 

The Graham-Cassidy cuts would ripple through our health infrastructure and cascade through our communities.

More hospitals and federally qualified health clinics would cut back staffing and services, or close completely. Fewer employers or workers would be inclined to relocate to Maine or stay here. Workforce sizes would then diminish, and the tax base would suffer. Education investment would decrease, with a subsequent decrease in workforce readiness.

The overall perception that Maine communities are declining would further deter investment in our state, and the cycle would repeat.

This health bill would, ironically, be terrible for health. It would significantly weaken the ACA’s guarantees regarding pre-existing conditions. It would cut treatment for opioid and other substance dependence. It would defund Planned Parenthood, thereby restricting access to contraception and cancer screening (federal law already prohibits Medicaid from funding abortions). It would eliminate the employer and individual mandate, further destabilizing insurance marketplaces in Maine and other states.

In addition to these rule changes, cuts to Medicaid would greatly harm the 34 million children, 27 million low-income non-senior adults, 10 million disabled Americans, 6 million seniors, 2 million expectant mothers and 1.75 million veterans who depend on it for health insurance.

Health insurance matters, and lack of it confers significant health risks. Last month, the New England Journal of Medicine published a review of many high-quality studies from the previous decade. 

Having insurance enhances financial security and reduces bankruptcies; improves access to primary care; improves medication adherence for chronic conditions; improves self-reported health, a validated measure of the risk of death, and improves mental health outcomes, such as depression.

Moreover, several studies over the past 25 years show lower death rates among people with insurance. One study found that states that expanded Medicaid had 6 percent lower mortality rates over five years, compared to neighboring non-expansion states. Two other studiesconcluded that providing health insurance to 1 million people would save around 2,000 American lives annually. This is consistent with international data, which show that countries with universal health coverage tend to far outperform the United States in health outcomes, at a fraction of the cost per person.

Susan Collins demonstrated incredible leadership this summer during the prior attempts to repeal the ACA. 

In June’s MSNBC interview, she said, “I cannot support a bill that is going to result in tens of millions of people losing their health insurance.” She withstood withering criticism from the president and others in her party, but held her ground. For the sake of our communities, our health and our lives, we hope Sen. Collins will do the same next week.

Sam Zager, M.D., of Portland is a family physician and a member of Maine Providers Standing Up for Healthcare.

Senator Corey Booker - only 7 days in office Trump is a repeated liar and propagandist

This Twitter exchange with Senator Corey Booker might entice those thinking about subscribing to become more involved in the exciting and fast paced 120 bite exchanges.

For the benefit of the timid social media users or those who abhor this method of communication altogether, perhaps this cut and paste exchange will ease your transition.

To be honest, not all comments on the exchange were suitable for family reading. Therefore, I did some serious triage, but included those that gave flavor to this particular Twitter conversation's trend. (Twitter is not for the timid.)

Senator Corey Booker  Democrat from New Jersey on All in with Chris Hayes

Senator Corey Booker, the Democratic Senator of New Jersey, on "All in with Chris Hayes" in a Twitter conversation, some of which is pasted here for the benefit of those who are "Twitter averse":
Headline:

Sen. Cory Booker: Trump "in only 7 days in office has proved himself to be a repeated liar and a propagandist."

(I removed the senders's handles to protect their identity but they are in the Twitter feed at this url:
https://twitter.com/allinwithchris/status/824790003439972356

"All In" with Chris Hayes on MSNBC

Some of the responses to this story below: 

@allinwithchris @CoryBooker @MSNBC Remember: Booker stood against Sessions & has bravery to call Trump liar. Support him #resist
@allinwithchris @CoryBooker @MSNBC I could not possibly agree more with everything Senator Booker is saying at this time. DJT is a liar.

@ArgentinaPatito @allinwithchris @CoryBooker @MSNBC As is Spicer. Hard to say who lies more Conway or Trump.

@allinwithchris @Northquahog48 @CoryBooker / I applaud Senator Booker for calling #Trump what he is. A liar.

@allinwithchris @chrislhayes @CoryBooker @MSNBC - the only reason Dems should reach across the aisle is to put repubs in a straightjacket.

@soultraveler Maybe U want 2 Make these CEOS Richer,But I want 2 send them 2 the Unemployment line!#Healthcare Is a Right,NOT a Privilege!


allinwithchris @chrislhayes @CoryBooker @MSNBC start impeachment proceedings now

@allinwithchris @LarryWilson Good for you, Senator @CoryBooker, for your honesty! @MSNBC

@allinwithchris @chrislhayes @CoryBooker @MSNBC Please move for impeachment

"Maine Writer" purpose in posting this blog is to reinforce the transcending euphamisms for the word "lie".  Regardless of how a reader feels about Senator Booker, he as addressed at least one issue that the right wing is furious about, being the use of PC language. In the past, it was not "political correct" language to say "liar"; but thanks to the Trump cult's new world order, the word "liar" is now a popular way of saying "we support Donald Trump".  In other words, "liar" is now the euphemism for Trumpist right wing #alternative_facts #fake_news and of course #Spicerfacts

"PC" or not, the four letter word "liar" is a cozy fit in the 120 word Twitter allowable bites per post. Whew!  It's the right word for the Twitter universe plus! (wait! there's more!) most people understand what the word "liar" means, even if they can hardly even read.  

Nuclear weapons codes cannot be trusted with erratic Donald Trump

"The ability to take life with nuclear weapons is unbelievable", said John Noonan on MSNBC. "To see Donald Trump play so loose and so callously with access to such a responsibility is difficult to watch." Noonan says the thought of Donald Trump being close to the use of America's nuclear code keeps him awake at night.

Former Nuke Weapons Officer Goes Off: "Trump Is 'So Damn Dangerous'". Conservative national security hawk and former Jeb Bush adviser John Noonan used a Wednesday tweetstorm to sound off on his concerns about a report that Donald Trump had repeatedly asked an unnamed adviser why the United States could not use nuclear weapons.

John Noonan is a conservative national security commentator and analyst. He was the national security policy advisor to Jeb Bush during his presidential campaign, and foreign policy advisor and speechwriter for Mitt Romney in 2012.  With Donald Trump, America no longer has a rational Republican who could have access to the nuclear codes.

In my opinion, Donald Trump and North Korea's dangerous Kim Jong-un are two peas in a terror pod. Even the evil Russian President Vladimir Putin seems sane, when compared with those terror twins.

Unfortunately, Donald Trump continues to raise money from small donations given by his right wing obsessed followers.  Money is like oxygen to Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee (RNC). But, the Trump contributors don't have deep pockets so it's higly unlikely they can raise the amounts of money needed to meet the Democrats agressive fund raising.  Moreover, the Donald Trump campaign isn't using the money raised very efficiently because there has been little in the way of organization evident in key battleground states.

Nevertheless, the election polls are entirely too close between Donald Trump and Secretary Hillary Clinton.  The narror Clinton lead is troublesome, especially given Donald Trump is an obviously flawed candidate, with evidence of erratic behavior and weirdly unfocused messaging.  Frankly, Donald Trump is an unstable person who is unqualified to be the leader of the free world. Moreover, Donald Trump has driven our nation's political discourse to a darkly negative place.

It's starkly evident that the world must keep Donald Trump away from the nuclear codes and prevent him from ever being anywhere near becoming leader of the free world.

Marco Rubio always comes up short on leadership

The Atlantic reports: Let's say you're 42 years old—a spring chicken, and yet already a high-profile member of Congress. You've got a seat in the Senate that seems fairly secure. Meanwhile, the Republican presidential field is jam-packed, one of the strongest groups in recent memory, and running for president would mean surrendering your Senate seat. Your whole career is ahead of you. Why run for president?

Well, as a matter of fact, Senator Marco Rubio has the grand idea that he can do just that. Yet, Rubio lost another leadership moment following the February 25th GOP primary debate. An inability to seize the spotlight and keep it is the only consistency in the Rubio communication campaign.

Senator Marco Rubio is an attractive politician with a Hispanic heritage rooted in Cuba. As a result, he fits in Florida's political system, where he rose through the Republian political ranks. Nevertheless, Rubio consistently comes up short when he's been given the nationnal spotlight and opportunity to seize leadership. Now, Rubio wants to be president of the United States, but he comes up short at moments when he's given undivided attention to close the political deal.  

For example, when Republicans gave Rubio a debutante party following President Obama's February 12, 2013, State of the Union speech, the result was his visual dependence on a ridiculous water battle. Now, Rubio is describing his political adversary Donald Trump as being insecure during breaks in Republican debate arguments. Honestly, I think Rubio's "blinky bottle" incident was a sign of insecurity, more visual than anything I've seen in Donald Trump's response to intense criticism

In another incident, today on the MSNBC "Morning Joe", Senator Rubio was given a leadership chance. He should've been highlighting the success he had attacking Donald Trump in the GOP political debate, prior to Tuesday's primary elections. Unfortunately, instead of showing leadership in this interview, Rubio went on a rant about how the media picked on his juvenile offense, when he was apparantly arrested for underage drinking a beer in a Florida park. Oh paaaaleeeze! What Rubio should've said was something statesman like, "I want the American people to know how Donald Trump is a con artist, as a matter of fact, he's telling us he's a Republican, but we don't know what he represents. Certainly, Donald Trump isn't a conservative, like me." Instead, Senator Rubio talked about being arrested as a juvenile and he asked why the media isn't picking on Trump the way he was vetted?  

Time after time, Rubio comes up short when he should sieze the leaderhsip spotlight. He doesn't even routinely show up to vote in the US Senate, where he was elected to serve his Florida constituents.

In fact, the Florida newspaper "Sun Sentinel" reports that after five years in the U.S. Senate, Marco Rubio does not like his job. A long-time friend told The Washington Post "he hates it." Rubio says hate might be too strong a word, but he sure acts like he hates his job.

Rubio has missed more votes than any other senator this year. His seat is regularly empty for floor votes, committee meetings and intelligence briefings. He says he's MIA from his J-O-B because he finds it frustrating and wants to be president, instead. (Well, if really Rubio wants to be president, the first rule is to show leadership.) "Your job is to represent Floridians in the Senate.

Senator  Marco Rubio misses the political leadership he needs to be president.  He knows how to criticize but he has no politcal positions I can articulate.

Either do your job, Sen. Rubio, or resign it," write the Sun Sentinel editorial board.

As matter of fact, Senator Rubio should resign from the Republican presidential campain because, frankly, he simply doesn't have the leadership skills American needs. As Governor Christie said, "We're not electing a student council president."