From Pulitzer Prize–winning Washington Post reporters Leonnig and Davis, a shocking investigation of unparalleled depth into the subversion of the Justice Department over the last decade, culminating in Pres. Trump upending this cornerstone of democracy and threatening America’s rule of law as we have long known it.
Throughout his first administration, Trump did more than any other president to politicize the nation’s top law enforcement agency, pressuring appointees
to shield him,
to target his enemies, and even
to help him cling to power after his 2020 election defeat.
I told ya Swamp's corrupt. Who's got power?
The department, pressed into a defensive crouch, has never fully recovered.
Injustice exposes not only the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the department at every turn but also how delays in investigating Trump’s effort to overturn the will of voters under Attorney General Merrick Garland helped prevent the country from holding Trump accountable and enabled his return to power.
I do what Israel tells me to do. Ask Bibi why.
With never-before-told accounts, Leonnig and Davis take readers inside as prosecutors convulsed over Trump’s disdain for the rule of law. FBI agents, the department’s storied investigators, at times retreated in fear.
They take readers to the rooms where Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team set off on an all-but-impossible race to investigate Trump for absconding with classified documents and waging an assault on democracy—and inside his prosecution’s heroic and fateful choices that ultimately backfired.
Neutral toward injustice? - Desmond Tutu
With a plethora of sources deeply embedded in the ranks of three presidencies, Leonnig and Davis reveal the daily war secretly waged for the soul of the department, how it has been shredded by propaganda and partisanship, and how—if the United States hopes to live on with its same form of government—Trump’s war with the Justice Department will mark a turning point from which it will be hard to recover.
Injustice is the jaw-dropping account of partisans and enablers undoing democracy, heroes still battling to preserve a nation governed by laws, and a call to action for those who believe in liberty and justice for all. More
I ain't got no regrets. But, and this is a big butt, I do have one ragret. But so what? I look cool.
.
The pain inside is now on the outside
(VICE) Why in the Hades would anyone get a tattoo on his, her, or their face? VICE speaks to tattoo artist Roblake to explore the trend of inking/disfiguring the human face: Subscribe to VICE.
Once you feel the stab of the needle as you get inked, you either wince and regret it or feel the rush of endorphins like you're being original while jumping on the bandwagon of the Basic, so basic. But the Straights just don't understand: It's cool, Man, so cool. Right? Isn't it? The drinkers at the bar think so. Other tatted folks think so. It's an arms race for blank space until nothing is left but the face.
Travis Barker-Kardashian is king of the dip...
Yeah, sure, Judaism and Christianity say it's a sin condemned by the Bible, but other religions are cool with it -- Buddhists, Tribal Islanders, Shamans, probably not Islam, um, Native Americans, the Maori and probably the Rosicrucians and Masons and Satanists, Luciferians/Illuminati, and Rap groupie chicks and gutter punks. Joe Ro' gets it:
"O meditators, an untaught ordinary worldling experiences pleasant feelings, experiences painful feelings, and experiences neutral feelings.
"Likewise, a well-taught noble [enlightened] disciple experiences pleasant, painful, and neutral feelings. What is the difference, the division, the distinction that exists herein [within this Doctrine/Dharma] between a well-taught noble disciple and an untaught worldling?
"When an untaught worldling is touched by a painful (bodily) feeling, that person worries and grieves, laments, beats his/her breast, weeps, and is distraught. One thus experiences two kinds of feelings, a bodily feeling and a mental feeling.
Post brand baloney is hard to knock if rappers/rockstars keep getting attention like Malone.
.
I tatted myself tatting myself - double pain.
"It is as if a person were pierced by a dart and, following the first piercing, one were hit by a second dart. So that person will experience feelings caused by two darts.
"In just this way, an untaught worldling when touched by a painful (bodily) feeling worries and grieves, laments and beats her/his breast, weeps and is distraught.
The Dead in the Realm of Hungry Ghosts call me "premature." What was my rush to rot?
"So one experiences two kinds of [unpleasant] feeling, a bodily and a mental feeling.
"Having been touched by that painful feeling, one resists (and resents) it. Then in one who so resists (and resents) that painful feeling, an underlying tendency of resistance (dosa, aversion) against that painful feeling comes to underlie (one's mind/heart).
Jelly Roll: I look hella good, and everybody likes it. I've felt alotta pain in life, y'know?
.
What do I need to do to get noticed around here?
"Under the impact of that painful feeling, one then proceeds to [seek and] enjoy sensual pleasure/happiness.
"And why does one do so? An untaught worldling, O meditators, does not know of any OTHER escape from painful feelingsexcept the [endless pursuit of happiness through the unfulfilling and disappointing] enjoyment of sensual pleasure/happiness.
"Then in one who enjoys sensual pleasure/happiness, an underlying tendency to lust [lobha, greediness, grasping, clinginess] for pleasant feelings comes to underlie (one's mind/heart). One does not know, according to how it actually is, the:
arising and ending of these feelings,
nor the gratification, the
danger, nor the
escape connected with these feelings.
Jelly Roll's next tattoo is going to be so meta.
"In one who lacks this knowledge, an underlying tendency to ignorance (moha, delusion, confusion, wrong view) as to neutral feelings comes to underlie (one's mind/heart).
"When one experiences a pleasant feeling, a painful feeling, or a neutral feeling, one feels it as one fettered [put in bondage] by it.
"Such a one, O meditators, is called an untaught ordinary worldling who is fettered by rebirth, by old age, by death, by sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair.
"One is fettered by suffering (dukkha, pain, disappointment, dissatisfaction, frustration, a feeling of never being fulfilled), I declare.
The difference
I get it! All that arises impersonally passes away.
"But in the case of a well-taught noble disciple, O meditators, when touched by a painful feeling, s/he will not worry nor grieve and lament. One will not beat his/her breast nor weep nor be distraught.
"One experiences one kind of feeling, a bodily one, but not a mental feeling.
"It is as if a person were pierced by a dart but were not hit by a second dart following after the first one.
"So this person experiences feelings caused only by a single dart. In just this way, a well-taught noble disciple when touched by a painful feeling will neither worry nor grieve, will not lament nor beat one's breast, not weep nor be distraught. One experiences a single feeling, a bodily one.
"Having been touched by that painful feeling, one does not resist (nor resent) it. Hence, in such a person no underlying tendency of resistance (dosa) against that painful feeling comes to underlie (one's mind/heart).
The result
Then there was no more pain at all.
"Under the impact of that painful feeling, one does not seek to enjoy sensual happiness [to escape or compensate for it]. Why not?
"As a well-taught noble disciple, one knows of an actual ESCAPE from painful feelings other than by [the futile and disappointing distraction and diversion of] enjoying sensual pleasure/happiness.
"Then in one who does not seek to enjoy sensual pleasure/happiness, no underlying tendency to lust (lobha) for pleasant feelings comes to underlie (one's mind/heart).
"One knows, according to how it actually is,
the arising and ending of those feelings, and
the gratification,
the danger, and
the escape connected with these feelings.
Ha, ya laugh at me, but ya notice, and I gets $$$
"In one who knows thus, no underlying tendency to ignorance (moha) as to neutral feelings comes to underlie (one's mind/heart).
"When one experiences a pleasant feeling, a painful feeling, or a neutral feeling, one feels it as one who is not fettered by it.
"Such a person, O meditators, is called a well-taught noble disciple who is [no longer] fettered by rebirth, by old age, by death, by sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, or despair. One is not fettered [not in bondage] to suffering, I declare.
"This, O meditators, is the difference, the division, the distinction that exists between a well-taught noble disciple and an untaught ordinary worldling."
If too tattooed, there's nothing to do but try to be in a band: Transplants
We are Americans. We have the right to "life, liberty, and the PURSUIT of happiness." Never was our arrival at happiness promised. We have no "right" to be happy. That was never promised! We just thought it was. The founding document says, we have the right to endlessly pursue it, sucker.
We can have sex, have a spouse, even have kids, or stay single and chase wine, women, and song. There's a very funny Benny Hill quip that's hard to forget.
The Benny Hill Show is filth, funny, but filth.
A guy is in a bar boozing it up when an older man looks at him with disgust and says, "Wine, women, and song -- that's what killed your father!"
And the guy boozing it up quips, "Yeah, he couldn't get any, so he shot himself." Everyone laughs. Why? We imagine we would kill ourselves from all the pain, misery, and tedious drudgery of human life [at least in the West, where we have so much material surplus compared to everyone else on the planet] IF we couldn't enjoy our Hedonism and sensual pursuits, which we think make it all worthwhile or at least sufferable. Alcohol alone makes the medicine go down, and does anyone but the alcoholic realize how much harm is being done in the tradeoff? We can endure as long as we imagine there's more coming down the line, here or hereafter, by winning the lottery or getting into heaven. Maybe I should get a face tattoo, or a sexy one.
VICE, Aug. 12, 2018; Kid Cudi; Transplants (Rancid with Travis Kardashian); I. Rony, Ashley Wells, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
5 Reasons Trump Will Fail (and it’s already happening)
(Brendan Miller) Feb. 7, 2025: Disruptor Trump is f'ing S up like radicals and liberals and revolutionaries always dreamed of doing to Washington, DC. But he's the wrong individual for the job. He and Pres. Musk are likely to take things in a worse direction rather than actually routing out any corruption, government waste, and political bias. (First, he's an unindicted co-conspirator in a treasonous insurrection, e.g., Jan. 6th, and now he's there to finish the job from the inside out -- pretty impressive for a total outsider with no common sense, no brains in evidence, and nothing but contempt, rabblerousing, and revenge on his mind. He always said his backers would get sick of winning, and now it actually seems to be coming true with winners: Tulsi Gabbard, JFK Jr., a blackout drunk in Hegseth, Tom "Project 2025" Homan,
Get emails when Brendan Miller publishes: brendanmiller.substack.com Talking about politics on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/brenkjm.bsky... and Twitter: brenkjm. Articles on making explainers https://brendanmiller.co.uk/learn-fil... How Dune Explains Political Power • How Dune explains political power
Beaver and @ss-Hat Beavis and Butt-Head, Common Sense News; Brendan Miller, Feb. 7, 2025; Pfc. Sandoval, Seth Auberon, Shauna Schwartz, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Trump’s despicable disaster relief conditions and Republicans hard at work re-investigating January 6th
(Jimmy Kimmel Live) Jan. 23, 2025: The nominations came out today for the 97th Academy Awards, Los Angeles had some new wildfires pop up overnight, Guillermo said he needs to evacuate even though he lives 30 minutes from the fire, Trump is visiting L.A. to blame Angelenos for their fires in person, he is threatening to not help Californians if he doesn’t get what he wants, he went on right wing Sean Hannity to rant about transgender surgeries for kids, he is planning to declassify the [illegal and covert CIA assassination] files on murdered JFK, RFK, MLK, the Republican-led Congress is hard at work finding out what happened on January 6th, the Bidens are in California now, drunkard and cheater Pete Hegseth will very likely be the next secretary of war defense, and Fox News has now lost so many people to Trump’s administration that there is a major shortage of on-air talent.
Trump's 20th wedding anniversary, kiss-@ss Mike Johnson, and QAnon Shaman celebrates pardon for J6
(Jimmy Kimmel Live) Jan. 22, 2025: There is yet another Los Angeles fire spreading north of the city at Castaic Lake, Republican Mike Johnson is playing politics with federal aid to California, Florida got nine inches of snow today and people were having snowball fights on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, the mayor of Philadelphia misspelled the name of their hometown football team, Trump is headed to LA on Friday to survey the damage from the LA Fires and share his deep understanding of how we could easily get out of this mess, he has reportedly made ten [or is it six] billion dollars from the new crypto coin he launched right before his secnd inauguration, the mass deportations Trump promised are underway, he signed an order to lift all government DEI requirements (putting many out of work), blackout drinker Pete Hegseth is facing some disqualifying allegations in his bid to be secretary of war defense, one of the J6ers that Trump pardoned was the self-proclaimed QAnon Shaman, Jacob Chansley, today we celebrate free Donald and captive Melania’s 20th wedding anniversary, and Pres. Donny introduces a new set of 20th Anniversary Commemorative Plates. #Kimmel
(Mony Tatsch) Premiered Nov. 12, 2024: Somewhere in the bowels of the Swamp there's an investigation or hearing about Trump's treason on January 6th with a violent insurrection. The Capitol's police chief reveals Pelosi's secret role as Rep. Jim Jordan (Republican, Ohio) is combative for the Republicans trying to cover up, excuse, or uncover what really happened on that fateful day. (Maybe Pelosi was crying at Kamala's loss and Trump's win because now she is in big trouble with no way to pull strings to stay out of the spotlight during this investigation?
Compassion Consortium film night and talk: Celebrate Veganuary's 10TH anniversary
Join Compassion Consortium (compassionconsortium.org) on Jan. 24 at 7:30 pm (ET) for a special film night and talk: “Veganuary’s Celebration of its 10th Anniversary.
We look back at the past decade and reflect on the challenges and triumphs over the past decade. We will view Veganuary’s 22-minute documentary as our guests from Veganuary explore their impact and expansion around the world since launching in 2013. There will be a Q&A following the film.
Veganuary is a non-profit organization that encourages people worldwide to go vegan for January and beyond.
Millions have signed up to the one-month vegan pledge since 2014. In 2023, more than 1,610 new vegan products and menu options were launched in key campaign countries.
Throughout the year, Veganuary encourages and supports people and businesses alike to move to a plant-based diet as a way of protecting the environment, preventing animal suffering, and improving the health of millions of humans.
Over the next five years, Veganuary aims to make powerful strides toward a world where vegan is the norm rather than the exception.
What can we with our health?
Wendy Matthews is the international head of partnerships and expansion at Veganuary, leading the globalization of the Veganuary campaign.
She previously oversaw the nonprofit’s campaign in the US from its launch in January 2020. She has been actively involved in the vegan/animal-protection movement for over a decade, previously having worked with Farm Sanctuary as senior manager of engagement and social impact.
Wendy is passionate about creating resources that help people live in alignment with their values and supporting businesses in shifting towards plant-based to meet the rise in consumer consciousness.
For more information, see: veganuary.com
Don't pee in my mouth and call it lemonade. I will poop in your mouth and call it a milkshake.
Never-before-seen January 6th footage from Los Angeles Times photographer
I was cheated. I wanted to overthrow DC
(Los Angeles Times) Jan. 4, 2022: On January 6th, Los Angeles Times photographer Kent Nishimura was assigned to cover a pro-Trump rally at The Ellipse, just south of the White House.
Former Pres. Trump [now accused of insurrection, a rebellion, which disqualifies him from appearing on ballots across the country and hinders his re-election chances] railed at the rally over what he falsely claimed was a stolen election and urged his supporters to march on the Capitol.
Let'em go to jail. They're adults, they knew what they were doing, tho they got set up by FBI.
I run this party, Mitch McCuckold. So, giddyup
[He made it seem that's where he was heading, but in fact he went back to his lair to watch the mayhem unfold on TV with his advisor/daughter prompting him to step in and stop the madness, which he ignored because he wanted VP Pence killed and hanged on the hallowed grounds of the capital of what Dr. Rev. MLK Jr. called “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.”]
They were prompted to march on the Capitol where the election results were being certified. Nishimura followed them, documenting the attack on the Capitol in real time. As he sent in photos and video of the event, he let his GoPro camera, attached to his helmet, run as long as the battery could last. That footage had never been shown until now.
Rush: I know everything, so I'm rich. RIP
“You know why there’s aSecond Amendment?”asked Rush Limbaugh before answering: “In case the government fails to followthe first one.” Something to think about even for those who know Limbaugh to have been a blowhard and a harmful arch conservative who swayed many to the right by fearmongering and fast-talking tautologies.
The Jan 6 Tapes: Exclusive Capitol Hill security footage
(The Epoch Times/The Thinking Conservative) Aug. 10, 2023: The Epoch Times was given access to tens of thousands of hours of U.S. Capitol Police security video of Jan. 6, 2021. Join Epoch TV Host Joshua Philipp and senior investigative reporter Joe Hanneman for a special Aug. 11th report that will lay out their findings.
The dramatic footage helps answer some of the many questions that remain two-and-a-half years after the events of Jan. 6.
Use links here to watch The Capitol Hill Tapes on August 11, 2023:
thethinkingconservative.com.
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