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'He feels aggrieved': Mary Trump warns her uncle will play the grievance card to the hilt if indicted One of former President Donald Trump's many outspoken critics is a member of his own family: niece Mary L. Trump, a clinical psychologist/author who is the daughter of the late Fred Trump, Jr. (a brother of the ex-president) and a cousin of Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., Eric Trump and Tiffany Trump. But when Mary Trump criticizes her uncle during frequent appearances on CNN and MSNBC, her tone isn't one of total contempt. Even when she is describing the former president as dangerous, corrupt and anti-democracy, Mary Trump sounds like a part of her feels badly for her uncle — who, she believes, has serious mental health issues. That tone was evident when she made a late March appearance on MSNBC and discussed his legal problems with one of his scathing critics: liberal host Lawrence O'Donnell. O'Donnell asked Donald Trump's niece to weigh in on what the ex-president is "feeling" about a possible criminal indictment from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jr. over alleged hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. And she predicted that he will, true to form, use it to play the "grievance" card. Mary Trump told O'Donnell, "The emotion of sadness is not in Donald's arsenal. What he's feeling, to the extent that he's feeling anything, is self-pity. And that makes sense. He's also feeling grievance, but he feels aggrieved every time he walks into the Mar-a-Lago dining room and his paid patrons don't pay him sufficient homage, right? So, none of this is new." https://www.alternet.org/trump/mary-trump-2659650835/

I would love to see Trump brought in wearing an orange jumpsuit like every others felon. I know its not gonna happen, but it is a delightful image,

Trump Executive Privilege Claim Shattered As Judge Orders Mark Meadows And Others To Testify Special Counsel Jack Smith scored a big win as a federal judge rejected Trump's claim of executive privilege and ordered Mark Meadows and others to testify about the plot to overturn the 2020 election.

Every week when its on, but some of it is, well, unenlightening and boring.

I heard of someone who obsessed over Pickachu to the point where he wound up in the ICU.

Agreed about the dubiousness of the entirety of the report. That the Chinese embassy chose to "leak" it to the least trustworthy news network in Canada with the most right-wing bias sets off alarm bells.

Idaho Republicans want to keep doctors from treating ectopic pregnancies “We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!” exclaims a disgruntled philosopher in Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The philosophers had banded together to protest the advancement of computer science, which they believed was imposing entirely too much clarity on the existential mysteries that gave them job security. The Idaho GOP and a coalition of antichoice groups in the state are taking a similar tack regarding the state’s murky and punitive abortion law. This session, two Republican state legislators introduced a bill that would clarify key concepts in the state’s felony abortion ban. These include defining when an abortion is necessary to save the life of the pregnant person, and confirming once and for all that it’s not a felony to treat ectopic and nonviable pregnancies and to remove fetuses that have died. It would also stop doctors who perform life-saving abortions from automatically being dragged before a judge to plead medical necessity as an affirmative defense. Whatever happens with the felony abortion ban, Idaho doctors risk devastating lawsuits for treating one of the most common and dangerous gynecological emergencies: ectopic pregnancy. Ectopic pregnancies are fertilized eggs that implant outside the uterus. These rogue ova will never become babies and they can kill the patient if they’re allowed to swell like a tumor on a speedrun. It’s all about the uncertainty. A doctor doesn’t know if she’s going to get sued by a vengeful ex for treating an ectopic pregnancy, but it could happen. Uncertainty can be even more paralyzing than a clear-cut but draconian rule. https://www.alternet.org/idaho-republicans-2659652264/

Report Signals Humiliating End for Russia’s Shadow Army in Ukraine Yevgeny Prigozhin is preparing to pull his Wagner Group mercenaries’ attention away from the war in Ukraine, according to a Bloomberg report that cites sources familiar with the matter. His current plan is to focus the private mercenaries’ focus back to countries in Africa, such as Sudan, Mali, and the Central African Republic, where Wagner has deployed forces. On Monday, Wagner posted a recruitment notice offering deployments to African countries that would last between nine to 14 months, Bloomberg reported. The apparent decision to recalibrate Wagner operations in Ukraine comes after a series of setbacks Wagner has faced in trying to work with the Russian government to wage war in Ukraine. Prigozhin, who enlisted private mercenaries from prison, was blocked in recent weeks from recruiting from prisons. His colleague was also recently barred from accessing Russia’s military command in Ukraine. Tensions have spilled over into the public eye as well. Wagner Group has also had to resort to pleading with Russia in various videos posted to social media to provide more ammunition they said was desperately needed to try to fight in Ukraine, to no avail. It’s not clear how quickly the changes will go into effect. Evidence has emerged this week that suggests Wagner Group is still fighting in southern Bakhmut as well as Orikhovo-Vasylivka, Bohdanivka, and in the direction of Predtechyne, according to the Institute for the Study of War. -Reuters

WI Supreme Court hopeful spoke at event with pastor who says killing abortion doctors is 'justifiable homicide' In Wisconsin, far-right social conservative Dan Kelly is competing with liberal Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz for a seat on the state's supreme court. Kelly is vehemently anti-abortion, and Protasiewicz has been slamming him as a supporter of an anti-abortion law in Wisconsin that goes back to 1849. Now, Protasiewicz is calling Kelly out for making a virtual appearance at a Tuesday, March 21 event with the Rev. Matthew Trewhella, an anti-abortion extremist and far-right Christian nationalist who has described the murder of abortion providers as "justifiable homicide." In 1990, Trewhella founded a Milwaukee-based group called Missionaries to the Unborn, and he has a long history of promoting violence. Back in 1994, Trewhella said, "I don't condemn people who use force to try to protect babies, because they are human beings. And if someone uses force to try to protect those babies, it would be as if someone used force against Dr. Mengele, from Adolf Hitler's era. If someone used force against him, would I condemn the person for stopping Mengele from all the atrocities he did? No, I wouldn't condemn that person." https://www.alternet.org/msn/abortion-supreme-court-clarence-thomas/

Upgrading my home entry...

Would be really nice to see recaps on TSN or Sportsnet.

True, but Paul Martin lived in a different reality than the rest of us and was a horribly inept politician. Remember the Canada Steamship Lines issues?

Which leaves him open to the possibility of swapping a newer Iphone for some slap and tickle.

Ad hominem has been Trump's go-to since forever. He better wipe his feet after that so he doesn't track it from the barn.

When you turn the clock back 50 years, drunk driving resulted in a fine. sexual harassment was tolerated, polluters were allowed to do as they pleased (Sarnia being a prime example) , reproductive rights were unknown, discrimination was rife (much moreso than today) and the residential schools tragedies were squelched. Private interests changed none of these- it was your hated and feared governments.

How the Cuban government and its people collaborated on the Family Code Image via caesarjulivs/Shutterstock. Natalia Marques and Globetrotter March 23, 2023 Revolutionary Havana youth describe the process of building legislation in dialogue with the people. On September 25, 2022, Cuba passed one of the world's most progressive codes on families. All in one go, the small island nation legalized same-sex marriage, defined and upheld the rights of children, the disabled, caregivers, and the elderly, and redefined "family" along ties of affinity rather than blood. This opens the concept of "family" to include nontraditional forms of familial relations, which exist outside the model of the heterosexual nuclear family. This article was produced in partnership by Peoples Dispatch and Globetrotter. Hailed as "revolutionary" by many in Cuba, the code will help provide protections to people who would have otherwise faced discrimination in society while ensuring that Cubans in same-sex relationships who wish to marry now have the legal right to do so. According to young Cubans and social movement leaders, whom I spoke to about the Family Code while attending a conference titled "Building Our Future" in Havana in November 2022, the code is a reflection of a dialogue between the Cuban people and their government. In the time since the code was passed, the Cuban government remains in dialogue with the people. The Ministry of Justice is still holding seminars in provinces throughout Cuba for people seeking answers to questions that have come up during the implementation process. The Family Code has been influencing everything from sports to property relations. Notably, in just the first two months of the law being passed, 112 same-sex marriages were registered. A Revolutionary Code "It's a revolutionary code that will change the thinking and the vision that Cubans have regarding… discriminations that can happen in society," said Jose Luiz, a third-year international relations student at the Higher Institute of International Relations Raul Roa García. The Family Code legalizes and broadens the definition of a "family" far beyond the traditional definition. The code "will bring new protections to people who have, in one way or another, been discriminated against," Luiz told me. Cuba ratified a new constitution in 2019. The constitution was written through "popular consultations" with the Cuban people. Through this process, Cubans participated in community discussions with government officials to both discuss and amend the constitution. Article 68, which called for defining marriage as a union between two people, thus legalizing same-sex marriage, was mentioned in 66 percent of popular consultation meetings. A majority of the Cuban people involved in these processes supported maintaining the definition of marriage as being a union between a man and a woman. This is partly due to historicprejudices against LGBTQ+ people that are prevalentacross the Americas, and partly due to Cuba's growing conservative evangelical movement, which opposes progressive social reforms such as same-sex marriage. After intense debate regarding Article 68 among the Cuban people, the constitutional commission decided not to include the proposed language in favor of same-sex marriage and instead pushed the decision of addressing the matter through a future "family code" legislation. This legislation became the 2022 Family Code. 'Popular Consultation': A Government in Dialogue With Its People In order to overcome social conservatism to pass one of the most progressive Family Codes in the world, Cuba underwent a meticulous process of popular consultation, from February 1, 2022, to April 30, 2022. The National Assembly of People's Power stressed the importance of Cubans familiarizing themselves with the code, in order to prevent feelings of uncertainty. Through this process, the Cuban people made more than 400,000 proposals, many of which were included in the finalized code. Minister of Justice Oscar Manuel Silvera Martínez said that the 25th version of the code, presented to and approved by the National Assembly, "was more solid because it was imbued with the wisdom of the people." Young people played a central role in the process leading up to the approval of the Family Code. "The Cuban youth… are involved in all tasks that are deployed by the Cuban revolution," said Luiz. "We also participated in our referendum for our constitution in 2019. We were in popular committees, discussing the constitution and we contributed to that." In 2019, Cuba held a referendum on a new constitution. The referendum passed with a majority vote of 86.85 percent, which is about 73.3 percent of the total electorate. The referendum was preceded by a popular consultation process, in which a draft constitution was discussed in 133,000 public meetings nationwide, where the people of Cuba submitted 783,000 proposals for changes. Cuban officials stated that almost 60 percent of the draft constitution was modified based on the proposals submitted by the public during the popular consultation process. "I remember at my college, we had meetings to explain the [Family Code], and for us as students to give our perspective of the code and propose something for the code," Neisser Liban Calderón García, also a Cuban international relations student, told me. "But after we did that at college, we had the same thing in our community, with a different perspective because at college we are with our friends, with [other] students; but in the community, we are with people from all ages and from different families." García, who has a boyfriend, told me that he is glad that he will now have the opportunity to marry in the future. The results of this popular process speak for themselves: With 74.01 percent of eligible voters participating, the Family Code passed in a landslide victory with 66.87 percent of votes in favor.

Sooooo.....Mitzi won't be giving you the finger soon?

You seem to be unaware that price-fixing and collusion between corporations is common to limit competition , services and raise prices.

Now Putin can be even more hysterical about The Phantom Menace encroaching their borders.

It is amazing that no one caught that. It speaks volumes for their collective intelligence and invites a linkage to Dildo. NFLD.

Private corporations have the option to use force as well, and often do. Moreover, if/when they use their leverage inappropriately and/or illegally, they do not answer to you- you need to resort to (gasp) government agencies for remediation.

And yet, the countries with the highest taxes- western European/Scandinavian consistently have the highest satisfaction of residents, lowest natal fatalities, highest longevity and lowest violence and mental health incidents.

The fear of invasion from Europe with NATO coordinating is what is being stoked and sold to Russians by their military and politicians, much as the GOP in the US and Cons here are trying to do. Conventional sociology states that in times of danger/crisis, people tend to gravitate towards "strong" leaders and are willing to sacrifice rights and freedoms for a perceived sense of security.

The size of government is not the problem- its what the government of the day does with that power- to either make the lives of ordinary people better with good schools, healthcare, environmental regulations and infrastructure, or facilitating profit and growth at all costs so as to maximize profits.