A stunning photograph indeed! Textbook example of superb composition and exposure. A beautiful silhouette with a perfectly placed horizon. Rarely do I see such an image in today's smartphone camera world.
Well it’s nice to know Mabel wasn’t hauled off to jail after falsely being accused of theft. It was a setup. I hope Mabel demands more treats otherwise she’ll sue for defamation. I’ve got your back Mabel don’t you worry 💗
Good Morning, Steve and everyone! "A bit scruffy" or 'fluffy", Mabel's oodles of cuteness remains constant! What a lovely photo of the Toronto skyline. Enjoy the rest of the weekend and thank you so much, for not only sharing precious Mabel with us but also keeping us informed with the truth!
Feeling a bit scruffy myself lately, and not just because I need a new ‘do. I will find one I like for someone turning 61 next month. I made the mistake of inviting family over for the 4th. The last thing I feel like doing is celebrating. I would much rather be protesting. That’s more appropriate, honestly. It would make it seem less like a memorial service to me. Thanks, Steve, for all you do for The Cause.❤️🤍💙
Substackers are being threatened now. I am sure this admin doesn't appreciate that independent journalists are getting true facts out to the public and they are trying to discourage it. Trump uses fear to try to control us. Sending ICE to voting places, trying to outlaw peaceful demonstrations, but hopefully we will persevere.
Yes, all good, but you must retract your statement about DSA being "rife with antisemitism" or show your evidence. It's a false charge! I think you know it. I am really bothered by this and have defended you vociferously from lefties who say all the ex-repubs like yourself are just grifters and opportunists. I tell them you are a genuine patriot and deep thinker and historian. So don't prove me wrong pls
Thanks for your support, and for your comment, which deserves a response. Here it is:
I respect your note because it's offered in good faith.
I also respectfully disagree.
I won't retract the statement because it reflects my considered judgment after watching the evolution of the Democratic Socialists of America over many years.
Notice what I actually said. I didn't say every member of the DSA is an antisemite. I said the organization is "rife with antisemitism." Those are two very different statements.
The question isn’t whether every person in a movement harbors prejudice.
These questions are far more important:
What does the movement tolerate?
What does it reward?
What does it excuse?
What does it refuse to condemn?
That's the exact standard I applied to the Republican Party.
I didn’t leave the Republican Party because every Republican was a racist or an authoritarian. I left because the party accommodated, normalized, and ultimately empowered extremism. It stopped policing its own moral boundaries.
I apply precisely the same standard everywhere else.
Consider one example:
Hasan Piker is among the most influential voices in the activist left. He commands an audience of millions. Progressive politicians appear with him. Many activists celebrate him as an important public voice.
Yet, he has repeatedly drawn criticism for minimizing or dismissing concerns about Hamas, questioning or downplaying evidence surrounding Hamas’ sexual violence on October 7, using inflammatory rhetoric about Zionism as a "mental illness," and interviewing and platforming a participant in the Houthi hijacking of the Galaxy Leader.
Those controversies have been criticized not only by conservatives, but also by Democratic elected officials, Jewish organizations, journalists and scholars.
The point isn't Hasan Piker himself.
The point is that so much of the activist left continues to embrace him, despite repeated controversies involving antisemitism or the minimization of it.
That tells us something.
The same pattern has emerged inside the DSA itself.
Following October 7, the organization’s national statement focused overwhelmingly on Israel’s conduct, while attributing the attacks to the occupation rather than beginning with an unequivocal moral condemnation of Hamas’ massacre.
Local DSA chapters promoted demonstrations immediately after the attacks that many —including prominent Democrats — condemned as profoundly insensitive to the victims. Jewish members and former members have publicly described feeling unwelcome or marginalized. Even Democratic elected officials who once had close ties to the organization have distanced themselves over these issues.
Reasonable people can debate whether every one of those decisions was correct.
What is much harder to deny is the pattern.
Again, my standard isn't ideological.
I didn't leave the Republican Party because I became a man of the left.
I left because I refused to surrender my conscience to a movement that normalized fanaticism, bigotry and political violence.
I have no intention of surrendering it now.
I don’t grade hatred on a curve.
I opposed it when it wore a MAGA hat.
I oppose it when it wraps itself in revolutionary slogans, excuses terrorism, or dismisses antisemitism as an inconvenience to a political cause.
If that disappoints people who believe opposing Trump requires moral silence about extremism on the left, then we simply disagree.
My loyalty has never been to a party.
It has always been to the Republic -- and to a simple principle: there is no acceptable form of political bigotry, regardless of which side commits it. It's about right vs. wrong, not right vs. left.
Thank you for your considered and detailed response. I understand your p.o.v. but I can say I've been around DSA and DSA'ers for a long time and I've never met an antisemite among them, not once. Nor among the Palestinians I know. Nor have I ever met anyone who cheered October 7th. Never.
Antizionism is another matter. And I'm sure you know being antizionist does not make one antisemitic. Many Jews are antizionist. Jimmy Carter correctly, in my opinion, named Israel as a modern apartheid state. Today's Zionists act as if history itself began on October 7th, that there was never any problem before then, no murders, no ethnic cleansing by the state of Israel. The truth is different, as I have learned over the years. This has been a painfully slow learning process on my part. I used to see it as a "both sides" problem. As in Rodney King's famous question, "can't we all just get along"? These days I see the Israeli govt as completely intransigent and neofascist, completely committed to genocide and or at least the removal of all but a few Palestinians, and at bloody war with everyone in the region.
Maybe the problem is in the founding of the country, any country, based on ethinicity or religion. The "Jewish State" or the "Islamic Republic" are examples. I don't know. But I do know it's wrong to fund genocide and against our current laws and international law. Yet we persist, as a country, in turning a blind eye to this evil.
But back to the DSA, I think it's a bad rap. My own criticism of DSA is they are too incrementalist and too tied to electoral politics and the Dem establishment. Yet the establishment Dems and the psychotic regime leader DJT are simultaneously demonizing them! It's absurd. They're pretty much FDR Democrats, a.k.a. social democrats. Nothing wrong with that. FDR saved the country, as you have noted several times.
DSA is doing the Lord's work these days. More success to them I say, in more ways than one. Schumer and the others hate them. Please don't join that bandwagon!
Steve, that's a reply we all need to reflect upon! Humans and our ability to reason is often weak. That weakness is to be guarded against - self awareness and honest reappraisal is required. Its what Michael Jackson called, "The man (and woman) in the mirror." I am not a "religious" person; however, a broad spiritual depth is a goal we can all aspire to. Matthew 7:13,14 tells us: "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
If your anger and disappointment bring you to rage and rage triggers hate - stop and recalibrate. It is hate that caused what you are most terrified of and loath. If hate is anything, it is a LIE. Kipling told us in 1910: "...don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, Therefore, draw strength and direction from honoring all compassionate people wherever they hail from and whoever they may be. Try to FORGIVE and stay strong enough to reject hating or giving way to greed. The struggle will continue for as long as our species survives and is sentient
Geoff, DSA is not antisemitic. You can read what they stand for by clicking below. I would love to hear a response from Steve but I doubt one is forthcoming:
Steve, thank you for your response; I understand why you feel as you do. However, Hasan Piker has said repeatedly that he is not antisemitic and that his criticisms are of Zionism and its control over the current Likkud government of Israel. He has said regrettable things about Jews in thoughtless and angry outbursts and those statements are rightly condemned. His statements have, at times, been taken out of context to reflect a meaning he did not intend.
Zionist control has resulted in the commission of crimes against humanity by the state of Israel. Hamas is a terrorist organization and is rightly condemned. However, the attacks on Palestinians, involving murder and the theft of land and possessions by illegal Israeli settlers in the West Bank, warrants the same condemnation and so do the aggressive and genocidal attacks on Arab nations by Israel:
"On Friday, the top United Nations court said Israel’s presence in the Palestinian territories is unlawful and called for an immediate halt to settlement construction. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly denounced the nonbinding opinion, saying the territories are part of the Jewish people’s historic homeland.
Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza — areas claimed by the Palestinians for a future state — in the 1967 Mideast war. It has settled over 500,000 Jews in the West Bank, most of whom live on authorized settlements, in addition to over 200,000 others in contested east Jerusalem, which it claims as part of its capital.
The position of the ADS is supported by many Jews since its policies favor marginalized people whether based on economic satus, race, ethnicity, gender, religion or any other social construct.
State terrorism is no less reprehensible than any other form of terrorism. In today's world, the U.S. Israel and Russia are the major terrorist states. To be anti-MAGA/Trump does not make one anti-American. To be anti-Likkud/Netanyayu does not make one an antisemite. To be anti-United Russia Party/Putin does not make one a Russophobe.
Do not throw the baby out with the bath water. The platform of the ADS envisions a world free of prejudice and irrational hatred, a world dedicated to a caring and cooperative economy that recognizes the dignity of every individual human being as well as respect for the planet and environment that sustains us.
Thanks for the Sunday recaps Steve. It's hard to keep up every day so I appreciate it (and you). Pls post Mabel next week when she is ready for her close-up. 🤗
For Cheeto the deadliest word in the English language is loser. Cheeto wants to be a major global powerbroker but like Napoleon, Iran has become Cheeto’s Waterloo. There is prevalent magical thinking in the WH supporting his crazed policy origins. It began with the ICE lack of habeas corpus in deportation arrests, the illegal tariff policy banned by SCOTUS, the Iranian war not approved by Congress, refusing to hand over the Epstein Trump files mandated by law, the incessant election interference and subversion(SAVE Act), getting paid for pardons, refusing to help Americans with housing while giving large tax breaks to wealthy political donors, refusing to abide by court orders, blatant corruption with no bid contracts, funneling $$ into his own pockets through crypto, nepotistic awarding of contracts to companies that has loose ties to his family, and destroying the DC property.
The need for his legacy to be seen as the most powerful ruler the world ever known is the product of a demented psychotic man who wants to do what he wants to do. As he has done most of his life Cheeto is now making presidential decisions on gut instinct ignoring the advisors around him because he has some psychic powers.
But there are people who are complicit in supporting this dictatorship. And WE the People are keeping a scorecard on what can be done when this hellscape called leadership ends. The Nazi Republicans should not be allowed to run for dog catcher. And I would argue that the electorate that supports Nazi Republicans are complicit in their avowed racism, corruption, and immorality. How disgusting that there are Americans to turn a blind eye to authoritarian rule.
Mabel is such a little lady. Scruffy is not for her! Gorgeous photograph of Toronto skyline. I spent much time there in my youth…
I particularly liked your Old Man in the Mountain article this week. Character is hard to come by these days in our country. We know it’s there in many, just not in the maga republic party. Not by a long shot. How you guys calling it out day after day do it I’ll never know! Thank you as always.
A stunning photograph indeed! Textbook example of superb composition and exposure. A beautiful silhouette with a perfectly placed horizon. Rarely do I see such an image in today's smartphone camera world.
You would know, Sam!
Thanks Steve 😎
Taken from the Harbour Islands or while on the ferry that goes there from Queen’s Quay?
Takes me back to my travels to Toronto and the great time(s) I’ve had there.
She took it from the island.
Thought so.
The islands there are beautiful.
Well it’s nice to know Mabel wasn’t hauled off to jail after falsely being accused of theft. It was a setup. I hope Mabel demands more treats otherwise she’ll sue for defamation. I’ve got your back Mabel don’t you worry 💗
Love your writing and podcasts Steve. They are Always Factual and Genuine. Your Authenticity Keeps Me Going In These Crazy Times!
Your Passion For Our Country and Needing Change, is Exuberant in Every Word!
Exposing The Corruption in This Administration Is Vitally Important to Save 🇺🇸America!
We Are Losing Her Quickly And People Must Step Up and Act Now! There is NO Later!
Good Morning, Steve and everyone! "A bit scruffy" or 'fluffy", Mabel's oodles of cuteness remains constant! What a lovely photo of the Toronto skyline. Enjoy the rest of the weekend and thank you so much, for not only sharing precious Mabel with us but also keeping us informed with the truth!
Ditto!
Iran thinks, if you have to have an enemy, it might as well be a demented child chicken-liver taco, like Trump.
Beautiful photo! Thanks for sharing. Mabel deserves more treats. I know how that works. My beauty queen demands compensation and Mabel deserves it.
Hey Mabel…we are all scruffy in the morning. No need to hide your adorable face.
Feeling a bit scruffy myself lately, and not just because I need a new ‘do. I will find one I like for someone turning 61 next month. I made the mistake of inviting family over for the 4th. The last thing I feel like doing is celebrating. I would much rather be protesting. That’s more appropriate, honestly. It would make it seem less like a memorial service to me. Thanks, Steve, for all you do for The Cause.❤️🤍💙
Substackers are being threatened now. I am sure this admin doesn't appreciate that independent journalists are getting true facts out to the public and they are trying to discourage it. Trump uses fear to try to control us. Sending ICE to voting places, trying to outlaw peaceful demonstrations, but hopefully we will persevere.
Thanks Steve.
Yes, all good, but you must retract your statement about DSA being "rife with antisemitism" or show your evidence. It's a false charge! I think you know it. I am really bothered by this and have defended you vociferously from lefties who say all the ex-repubs like yourself are just grifters and opportunists. I tell them you are a genuine patriot and deep thinker and historian. So don't prove me wrong pls
Geoff,
Thanks for your support, and for your comment, which deserves a response. Here it is:
I respect your note because it's offered in good faith.
I also respectfully disagree.
I won't retract the statement because it reflects my considered judgment after watching the evolution of the Democratic Socialists of America over many years.
Notice what I actually said. I didn't say every member of the DSA is an antisemite. I said the organization is "rife with antisemitism." Those are two very different statements.
The question isn’t whether every person in a movement harbors prejudice.
These questions are far more important:
What does the movement tolerate?
What does it reward?
What does it excuse?
What does it refuse to condemn?
That's the exact standard I applied to the Republican Party.
I didn’t leave the Republican Party because every Republican was a racist or an authoritarian. I left because the party accommodated, normalized, and ultimately empowered extremism. It stopped policing its own moral boundaries.
I apply precisely the same standard everywhere else.
Consider one example:
Hasan Piker is among the most influential voices in the activist left. He commands an audience of millions. Progressive politicians appear with him. Many activists celebrate him as an important public voice.
Yet, he has repeatedly drawn criticism for minimizing or dismissing concerns about Hamas, questioning or downplaying evidence surrounding Hamas’ sexual violence on October 7, using inflammatory rhetoric about Zionism as a "mental illness," and interviewing and platforming a participant in the Houthi hijacking of the Galaxy Leader.
Those controversies have been criticized not only by conservatives, but also by Democratic elected officials, Jewish organizations, journalists and scholars.
The point isn't Hasan Piker himself.
The point is that so much of the activist left continues to embrace him, despite repeated controversies involving antisemitism or the minimization of it.
That tells us something.
The same pattern has emerged inside the DSA itself.
Following October 7, the organization’s national statement focused overwhelmingly on Israel’s conduct, while attributing the attacks to the occupation rather than beginning with an unequivocal moral condemnation of Hamas’ massacre.
Local DSA chapters promoted demonstrations immediately after the attacks that many —including prominent Democrats — condemned as profoundly insensitive to the victims. Jewish members and former members have publicly described feeling unwelcome or marginalized. Even Democratic elected officials who once had close ties to the organization have distanced themselves over these issues.
Reasonable people can debate whether every one of those decisions was correct.
What is much harder to deny is the pattern.
Again, my standard isn't ideological.
I didn't leave the Republican Party because I became a man of the left.
I left because I refused to surrender my conscience to a movement that normalized fanaticism, bigotry and political violence.
I have no intention of surrendering it now.
I don’t grade hatred on a curve.
I opposed it when it wore a MAGA hat.
I oppose it when it wraps itself in revolutionary slogans, excuses terrorism, or dismisses antisemitism as an inconvenience to a political cause.
If that disappoints people who believe opposing Trump requires moral silence about extremism on the left, then we simply disagree.
My loyalty has never been to a party.
It has always been to the Republic -- and to a simple principle: there is no acceptable form of political bigotry, regardless of which side commits it. It's about right vs. wrong, not right vs. left.
Steve
Steve,
Thank you for your considered and detailed response. I understand your p.o.v. but I can say I've been around DSA and DSA'ers for a long time and I've never met an antisemite among them, not once. Nor among the Palestinians I know. Nor have I ever met anyone who cheered October 7th. Never.
Antizionism is another matter. And I'm sure you know being antizionist does not make one antisemitic. Many Jews are antizionist. Jimmy Carter correctly, in my opinion, named Israel as a modern apartheid state. Today's Zionists act as if history itself began on October 7th, that there was never any problem before then, no murders, no ethnic cleansing by the state of Israel. The truth is different, as I have learned over the years. This has been a painfully slow learning process on my part. I used to see it as a "both sides" problem. As in Rodney King's famous question, "can't we all just get along"? These days I see the Israeli govt as completely intransigent and neofascist, completely committed to genocide and or at least the removal of all but a few Palestinians, and at bloody war with everyone in the region.
Maybe the problem is in the founding of the country, any country, based on ethinicity or religion. The "Jewish State" or the "Islamic Republic" are examples. I don't know. But I do know it's wrong to fund genocide and against our current laws and international law. Yet we persist, as a country, in turning a blind eye to this evil.
But back to the DSA, I think it's a bad rap. My own criticism of DSA is they are too incrementalist and too tied to electoral politics and the Dem establishment. Yet the establishment Dems and the psychotic regime leader DJT are simultaneously demonizing them! It's absurd. They're pretty much FDR Democrats, a.k.a. social democrats. Nothing wrong with that. FDR saved the country, as you have noted several times.
DSA is doing the Lord's work these days. More success to them I say, in more ways than one. Schumer and the others hate them. Please don't join that bandwagon!
Geoff
Steve, that's a reply we all need to reflect upon! Humans and our ability to reason is often weak. That weakness is to be guarded against - self awareness and honest reappraisal is required. Its what Michael Jackson called, "The man (and woman) in the mirror." I am not a "religious" person; however, a broad spiritual depth is a goal we can all aspire to. Matthew 7:13,14 tells us: "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
If your anger and disappointment bring you to rage and rage triggers hate - stop and recalibrate. It is hate that caused what you are most terrified of and loath. If hate is anything, it is a LIE. Kipling told us in 1910: "...don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, Therefore, draw strength and direction from honoring all compassionate people wherever they hail from and whoever they may be. Try to FORGIVE and stay strong enough to reject hating or giving way to greed. The struggle will continue for as long as our species survives and is sentient
Teach your children well!
Geoff, DSA is not antisemitic. You can read what they stand for by clicking below. I would love to hear a response from Steve but I doubt one is forthcoming:
https://platform.dsausa.org/program/
Anthony,
I have responded to Geoff's comment. Please refer to it.
Thanks,
Steve
Steve, thank you for your response; I understand why you feel as you do. However, Hasan Piker has said repeatedly that he is not antisemitic and that his criticisms are of Zionism and its control over the current Likkud government of Israel. He has said regrettable things about Jews in thoughtless and angry outbursts and those statements are rightly condemned. His statements have, at times, been taken out of context to reflect a meaning he did not intend.
Zionist control has resulted in the commission of crimes against humanity by the state of Israel. Hamas is a terrorist organization and is rightly condemned. However, the attacks on Palestinians, involving murder and the theft of land and possessions by illegal Israeli settlers in the West Bank, warrants the same condemnation and so do the aggressive and genocidal attacks on Arab nations by Israel:
"On Friday, the top United Nations court said Israel’s presence in the Palestinian territories is unlawful and called for an immediate halt to settlement construction. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly denounced the nonbinding opinion, saying the territories are part of the Jewish people’s historic homeland.
Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza — areas claimed by the Palestinians for a future state — in the 1967 Mideast war. It has settled over 500,000 Jews in the West Bank, most of whom live on authorized settlements, in addition to over 200,000 others in contested east Jerusalem, which it claims as part of its capital.
Netanyahu’s far-right government is dominated by West Bank settlers and pro-settler politicians. Netanyahu has placed his finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, in a new position inside the Defense Ministry overseeing settlement construction and development." https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-west-bank-funding-settlements-b3ebcceeed4ad7ca12292cd390dfd417
The position of the ADS is supported by many Jews since its policies favor marginalized people whether based on economic satus, race, ethnicity, gender, religion or any other social construct.
State terrorism is no less reprehensible than any other form of terrorism. In today's world, the U.S. Israel and Russia are the major terrorist states. To be anti-MAGA/Trump does not make one anti-American. To be anti-Likkud/Netanyayu does not make one an antisemite. To be anti-United Russia Party/Putin does not make one a Russophobe.
Do not throw the baby out with the bath water. The platform of the ADS envisions a world free of prejudice and irrational hatred, a world dedicated to a caring and cooperative economy that recognizes the dignity of every individual human being as well as respect for the planet and environment that sustains us.
Oh, no! I love Mabel scruffy or coiffed.
Thanks for the Sunday recaps Steve. It's hard to keep up every day so I appreciate it (and you). Pls post Mabel next week when she is ready for her close-up. 🤗
I’m Not A Loser! Am I??
For Cheeto the deadliest word in the English language is loser. Cheeto wants to be a major global powerbroker but like Napoleon, Iran has become Cheeto’s Waterloo. There is prevalent magical thinking in the WH supporting his crazed policy origins. It began with the ICE lack of habeas corpus in deportation arrests, the illegal tariff policy banned by SCOTUS, the Iranian war not approved by Congress, refusing to hand over the Epstein Trump files mandated by law, the incessant election interference and subversion(SAVE Act), getting paid for pardons, refusing to help Americans with housing while giving large tax breaks to wealthy political donors, refusing to abide by court orders, blatant corruption with no bid contracts, funneling $$ into his own pockets through crypto, nepotistic awarding of contracts to companies that has loose ties to his family, and destroying the DC property.
The need for his legacy to be seen as the most powerful ruler the world ever known is the product of a demented psychotic man who wants to do what he wants to do. As he has done most of his life Cheeto is now making presidential decisions on gut instinct ignoring the advisors around him because he has some psychic powers.
But there are people who are complicit in supporting this dictatorship. And WE the People are keeping a scorecard on what can be done when this hellscape called leadership ends. The Nazi Republicans should not be allowed to run for dog catcher. And I would argue that the electorate that supports Nazi Republicans are complicit in their avowed racism, corruption, and immorality. How disgusting that there are Americans to turn a blind eye to authoritarian rule.
Mabel is such a little lady. Scruffy is not for her! Gorgeous photograph of Toronto skyline. I spent much time there in my youth…
I particularly liked your Old Man in the Mountain article this week. Character is hard to come by these days in our country. We know it’s there in many, just not in the maga republic party. Not by a long shot. How you guys calling it out day after day do it I’ll never know! Thank you as always.
Beautiful Photo!