Maddie's Musings

17/01/2025

Trump and his billionaire buddies threaten our democracy:

"Let’s talk money — big money. You may have noticed that the incoming president is not exactly surrounding himself with average Americans, seeking their input on how to make his version of America “great.” Instead, it’s a lot of guys who can write multimillion-dollar checks without thinking twice.

For a candidate who cozied up to everyday hardworking Americans looking for an economic savior, get ready for a reality check. Donald Trump doesn’t give two hoots about the price of eggs, but he loves the golden goose. The president-elect, you may have noticed, hangs with only the haves, not the have-nots.

Increasingly, those haves are rich beyond comprehension. Take Elon Musk. His net worth is said to be north of $400 billion. How much money is that? If Musk spent a million dollars every day, an incomprehensible amount, it would take him more than a thousand years to blow through his billions.

Increasing numbers of Americans are convinced that we have too few people with too much money. And under Donald Trump, too much power. In this there is plenty to worry about for the future of American democracy."

- Dan Rather, former CBS news anchor

16/01/2025

"Now it's your turn to stand guard. May you all be the keeper of the flame. May you keep the faith. I love America. You love it, too. God bless you all. May God protect our troops. Thank you for this great honor." - President Joe Biden

16/01/2025

Biden noted their is a “short distance between peril and possibility” but promised that “what I believe is the America of our dreams is always closer than we think. It’s up to us to make our dreams come true.”

16/01/2025

My hats off to Van Jones there to make sense of the misinformation...

You are being lied to. Here are the facts on the ground.

15/01/2025

"Greedy insurer interrupts cancer surgery with shocking mid-procedure call...

Dr. Elisabeth Potter was in the middle of surgery on a breast cancer patient when a nurse ran into the operating theater to say that UnitedHealthcare was on the phone demanding to speak with her. She interrupted the surgery, leaving the unconscious patient whose chest was cut open on the table, to take the call. Here’s her story in her own words, as she told it on Instagram and later confirmed with Newsweek:

“So, I scrubbed out of my case and I called UnitedHealthcare, and the gentleman said he needed some information about her. Wanted to know her diagnosis and whether her inpatient stay should be justified. And I was like, ‘Do you understand this? She's asleep right now and she has breast cancer?’ And the gentleman said, ‘Actually, I don’t — that’s a different department that would know that information.’ And I was like, ‘Well, she does need to stay overnight tonight, and you have all the information with you because I got approval for this surgery, and I need to go back and be with my patient now.’ But, yeah, it’s out of control. Insurance is out of control. I have no other words.”

I can think of a few words: Parasitic, thief, malefic, heinous, flagitious, depraved, monstrous, mephistophelean, godless, loathsome, psychopathic, cruel, sadistic, maleficient, and vile for a start…"

- The Hartmann Report on Substack

15/01/2025

"In his just-released report, Special Counsel Jack Smith states that if Donald Trump had not won the presidency, he would have been prosecuted—and likely convicted—of four federal felonies related to the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol by members of his political cult. With Trump’s election, Smith was barred from bringing a soon-to-be-sitting president to trial. Let’s recall what this was all about:

After the election, Trump launched a relentless campaign to push the fraudulent claim that Joe Biden had stolen the 2020 presidency due to corruption in the election system.

Trump persisted with this narrative despite losing 60 court challenges and being informed by his own administration that he had lost fair and square.

He rallied his enraged followers to come to the Capitol on January 6, 2021, the day Congress was set to certify the election, promising the event "will be wild."

On that day, he incited the crowd, urging them to march to the Capitol and "fight like hell." They responded by attacking the Capitol, clashing with police, and forcing members of Congress into hiding.

He sat and watched TV for 187 minutes while this all occured.

As Smith’s report concludes, Trump’s actions were part of a conspiracy to disrupt a government proceeding and impede the rights of citizens who had voted in the election. Trump was indicted on four charges, but progress stalled as his attorneys filed delay after delay. Judge Tanya Chutkan, adhering to the long-standing tradition of safeguarding defendants’ rights, allowed the clock to run out."

- Rep. Adam Kinzinger

15/01/2025

California Governor Gavin Newsom responds to recent misinformation by Elon Musk and President-elect Trump about the California wildfires.

15/01/2025

“These are not ordinary times.”

- Eleanor Roosevelt

14/01/2025

He’s still a s*xist.

He’s still a predator.

He’s still an angry drunk.

He’s still a dangerous pick for Secretary of Defense.

Even though MAGA has been tossing him softballs in his confirmation hearing all morning, remember that he’s nothing more than what his accusers say he is.

This is not somebody who should be trusted with the world’s most powerful military. He’s not even somebody who should be trusted around sharp objects. Especially when he’s been drinking.

Why do you think the FBI didn’t really even try on his background check? Why do you think Hegseth refused to meet with Democrats? And why do you think MAGA is barely allowing any debate?

Add it up and it’s not a pretty picture.

No matter how his confirmation vote goes, we’re not going to let America forget who Trump’s first choice was. And if he gets through, we’re not going to let America forget who voted him in.

- The Lincoln Project

14/01/2025

Carrie Underwood…

How disappointing! Really? A s*x offender and felon?

13/01/2025

Okay I’ll say it…

Donald Trump Jr. is just a privileged prick

13/01/2025

MUST SEE VIDEO

Officers Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone, on what the election meant and the way forward

10/01/2025

Notice how a victim mentally always blames everybody else and never takes accountability for their own actions? Here’s a Masterclass on that phenomenon.

Listen as President-elect Trump speaks at the sentencing hearing for the New York hush money case. Trump called the case "an embarrassment for New York" and voiced his criticisms for the proceedings and prosecutors.

09/01/2025

Isn't it interesting that many conspiracy theories involve the concept of a small group of individuals who are pulling the "world domination" strings and we are simply pawns in their plans? Well, what if Putin (leadership), Musk (communications), Bezos (shipping), Thiel (currency), are part of that group pulling the strings and using Trump as their puppet and the face of their plans...?

Something to chew on, yes?

09/01/2025

"Amid a humanitarian crisis, President-elect Donald Trump posted a statement that insulted California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, by claiming the governor was to blame for the wildfires for refusing to sign a fictional “water restoration agreement.” Trump wrote:

Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California.

Turning a tragedy into a callous, crass political attack is reprehensible. Moreover, Trump’s post demonstrates that he does not understand the nature of the crisis facing Los Angeles. “Lack of water” did not cause the conflagration; climate change did. Although climate change is not entirely responsible for the fires, which are a seasonal feature in Los Angeles, it is responsible for magnifying the intensity and scale of the fires to unprecedented levels." - Robert Hubbell via Substack

08/01/2025

OH JOY...not!!

"Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg (wearing a $900,000 watch) announced yesterday morning that across their over-7-billion-user-strong social media empire — Facebook, Instagram, Threads, WhatsApp — they’ll be dialing back on fact-checking. They’re also preparing to promote more “political” content (among other changes that support those two moves, like no longer filtering out trash-talking q***r people or immigrants, and moving what’s left of their Trust & Safety team from liberal California to conservative Texas)." - the Hartmann Report on Substack