DJT may be the perfect frontman for the American Oligarchy. They are all rotten to the core and devoid of ANY of the values that made this a great nation despite its flaws. They let him turn the White House into a trailer park with a Hooters in front while they proceed with the real business--implementing Project 2025 while further enriching themselves on the backs of regular citizens.
Please let me piggyback something a bit off from what you've got right on.
How again a commenter here calls citing humanities as nothing more than self-exhibition.
I’ve often cited here novels, songs, films, and other arts. I’ve often urged schools in the U.S. and elsewhere to embrace essay writing so students nurture seeing and quoting others as individuals in their cultures. This would open, too, citing memoirs, histories, essay collections, and other arts.
One other commenter here has often resisted any role for humanities in our forum – Heather’s forum. But now a second commenter has labeled me with the same words as the first, as if any use of humanities aimed only to show off how smart I might be.
Please enlarge this scenario by going back 50 years. It was then that I first noticed this charge being thrown at prominent lefties and progressives in our universities then. This discomfited me 50 years ago, especially since the mid-1960s books, films, and songs vitally energized those passionate for anti-war, feminism, civil rights, farm workers, gays, and the environment.
I didn’t know it at the time, but it was the Heritage Foundation and the Hoover Institution (one new, the older with venerable legacy) then paying conservative intellectuals to shame those in our universities using humanities to help focus their energies. The far right then wanted universities instead only to rely on neutral specialists only – to shear all literacy of what the far right scorned as, at best, marginal ornamentation only, amateur excrescences, decorative irrelevances. They spent a lot of money on this campaign – and by the end of the 1970s had won.
Another post Powell-memo new foundation, ALEC, was successfully lobbying all state legislatures seriously to cut public subsidies to higher ed. It also began the tide of lobbyists in Washington, D.C.
This isn’t just lamentable history from 50 years ago. It’s also now two fellow commenters yet crusading to shame humanities now as then.
The long arm of plans, deliberate and with malice, to strip the government of any human endeavor. Media laser focused on the goals you mentioned. Hard to see as the storm gathered strength. Now we are seeing the damage.
And I say to the slime pit of the ages, “Please Drop dead now so I can poop on your gold-plated mausoleum and be the first to do it so I can get into the Guinness Book of World Records .” I’ll also bring poop from my house cats to sprinkle all over the unhallowed grounds.
I can see why you might feel impatience with how Phil raises the point repeatedly, but I think there is plenty of evidence that the humanities, which I understand to be expressions of our experiential humanness, are under attack by authoritarians, as they historically have are and have been in despotic regimes, left, right, and theocratic. I see it as only part of the picture, yet a very important part, and I think there is a lot a evidence available to back the claim that suppression of free expression of the arts is a core strategy of tyrants. That is subtler in our current, specific circumstances, but it is, I think, demonstrably there, and I think only the general momentum of a tradition of a comparatively free society has so far held back more draconian suppression by those seeking absolute power.
We really need fo stop using "trailer park" to mean something morally negative when THIS is the economy people are forced to live in. And yes, I live in a trailer.
"... turn the White House into a trailer park" disparages trailer parks and those who live in them. Most Americans who live in trailers do so because they are lower income and cannot afford otherwise. Housing policy in the U.S., under both Democrats and Republicans doesn't serve them.
Many on the Left, frequently self-righteously, champion certain underdog identity groups such as immigrants, migrants, racial minorities, Muslims, and LGBTQTIA+ but they lack awareness to the poor. Poor Americans like trailer dwellers can be classed "trailer trash" and their trailer homes used to represent something degraded. Likewise rural Americans can be disparaged as "hicks" and "red necks" which are put-down terms for largely white people who are also lower income and have less education.
I think the Left's commitment to an identity group focus over economic justice is a mistake. To its credit the Left desires human thriving and it has its best chance of succeeding when it addresses the material circumstances of people and understands that poverty cuts across all identity group boundaries.
PS - I don't think A. Ascher means to disparage trailer dwellers, but her language reflects a prejudicial thinking about the low income and poor that is built into our language, maybe built into the American psyche where it is your fault if you are poor in the land of freedom and opportunity. On the Left prejudicial expressions about the poor are not called hate speech, but prejudicial expressions based on identity are.
I agree with your calling out the trailer park language, don’t fall for the line that it’s the left that are all about “identity”. MAGA is all about white Christian identity. That’s the thing they’ve been selling. And, leftist movements that have focused only on economic situations and systems, such as unions, have a long history of excluding people of color. To raise issues of racism and its effects on people’s lives to increase awareness is not only a natural outcome but a needed one. We can do both-evaluate our own biases and not throw groups under the bus while we strive for a better economic situation for all.
So all the taxpayers spent $16 million on The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to be painted. The regime just bypassed the traditional open bidding process, and hired some of his cronies companies to do the work. Atlantic Industrial Coatings is the company that got the job because they had previously done work on the swimming pools at his Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia.
We are now hearing the absurd lie that there is “residual algae" being pushed out from the pool's underground water supply lines.
Well the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool will always have algae because it is a large, shallow, outdoor body of water. Because the water bakes in direct sunlight, and the temperature in DC reaches above 90 in the summer. It’s also humid. The water lacks a natural moving current, and frequently collects nutrient-rich bird droppings, it creates a perfect, natural breeding ground for algae growth. Think of a large pond with standing water.. Algae is always floating on top..
So we dropped a ton of money in this national monument for absolutely no reason, and the moron thought algae would not continue to remain.. and lies as to why it’s there..
For the Iranian deal, all the particulars haven’t been released in full. Why is it such a secret? Is it the same as the JCPOA, better or worse? Thinking it’s waaaaay worse. It’s difficult to say, because at this point when we’ve been lied to as often about these deals with Iran from this regime, it appears that the Iranian news is much more accurate. Going to wait to see the paperwork.
For me the question arises — why are they waiting for this ceremonial signing until Friday? Well there’s a few thoughts it’s Juneteenth and The Obama Presidential Center officially opens to the general public on Friday, June 19, 2026.
It took about a week and a half, maybe less, for the Reflecting Pool to turn from Ti-D-Bowl blue to algal pea-green. Painting the bottom of the Pool bright neon blue allowed it to absorb even more heat from sunlight, which in turn accelerated algal blooms which form naturally in the Pool because of its shallowness and water siphoned directly from the Potomac River.
Had the Very Stable Genius (with his Tiny Little Penius) had an elementary knowledge of chemistry or worked with a reputable contractor who did, this would have been obvious from the get-go.
And the bottom of the pool still leaks, by the way. Just saying....
Yep as he posted on that Lie Social media platform of his that he had achieved a perfect 30 out of 30 score on a high-difficulty cognitive test, asserting that his perfect score was considered proof of “extreme intelligence” nothing like being able to pick out an elephant in a group of three animals… simple chemistry as well as most subjects totally alludes that “stable genius”….
Thanks for the reminder about what else is happening on June 19th!
Polymarket has $72 million betting that "US x Iran permanent peace deal by June 15, 2026?" is a 97% sure thing. The resolution on whether it is true or not is due in 2 days unless there is a dispute...
Anybody wondering why Trump was so anxious to say the deal was signed yesterday? Anybody wondering what Eric and Don Jr. are telling their buddies about their speculations? Oh, and remember, Don Jr. is on the Polymarket advisory board, and Polymarket makes the call on whether the bet is resolved as yes or no.
Here is what has to happen for this to be resolved as yes:
"This market will resolve to “Yes” if Iran and the United states agree to a permanent peace deal by the specified date, 11:59 PM ET. Otherwise, this market will resolve to “No”.
A permanent peace deal refers to any agreement which explicitly indicates that military hostilities between the United States and Iran have ended or will permanently cease, or uses equivalent language clearly signaling a lasting end to military hostilities between the United States and Iran. Agreements that are explicitly temporary or which do not include a definitive agreement to end military hostilities between the US and Iran on a lasting basis (e.g. a temporary extension of the two-week ceasefire agreement announced on April 7, 2026), will not qualify.
A qualifying agreement will be considered to have been established if either of the following conditions are met:
The United States and Iran each sign or formally adopt a written agreement (e.g. a treaty or multi-point agreement) which meets the above criteria.
Both the governments of the United States and Iran provide clear public confirmation that a qualifying agreement has been definitively established. Negotiations, statements of progress, or other statements which do not constitute a definitive announcement that a qualifying agreement has been reached will not count.
The primary resolution source for this market will be official information from the governments of the United States and Iran; however, a consensus of credible reporting may also be used. "
$72 million is a big payoff if you bet NO and the resolution is deemed to be no, so 3% of the bets would get 100% of the pool
If it resolves to YES then that also resolves the additional $48 million bets based on later dates as well, all now at 98%-99% to resolve to YES. So not much of a payoff. Not clear from the resolution statement what will happen if hostilities resume before those dates. Big pots but not much payoff if you are betting with the crowd.
The fix is in on all of the political outcomes. The insider information is transparent, with the statements being meant to drive the stock markets and now the prediction markets. The people who are deciding the resolution have direct access to Trump through Don Jr., and the politicized regulatory agencies are no longer seeking to enforce the rules. You are asking to be fleeced.
Either that or this is a ruse to obscure the source of payoffs by going through a fixed prediction market with all of the transactions in crypto, so all you see is a wallet ID, and the owner of the wallet can maintain anonymity. If you know the preordained resolution, you, as the payer, take the losing side against a winning bet taken by the person being paid off. You get to deduct up to 90% of your gambling losses against your gambling winnings.
You soon may be able to bet on prediction market outcomes through binary event outcome ETFs in retirement accounts. The 1% are unwilling to let any small accumulation of wealth by the 99% be unavailable for potential plundering in the corrupt prediction markets.
Issuers like Roundhill, GraniteShares, and Bitwise filed for ETFs that track binary event outcomes (elections, recessions, layoffs, economic prints, etc.), packaging prediction‑market bets into an ETF wrapper. These were supposed to have received approval this spring, but the SEC requested more information.
Right now, the SEC is seeking public comment and working through suitability, manipulation, and structural issues before making a final decision on whether any of these funds can become available.
I guess you could go to Kalshi or Polymarket and set up a market on the binary event outcome of the SEC approving the binary event outcome ETFs…
This is the link to the graph of how sentiment started to flip from 4.7% Yes starting at 8am June 11 to 88% Yes at 8 pm June 14. You may need to sign in with a google account to see it. Final review is at 8 pm on 6/17.
So would I. Pick your date, but be careful of how the resolution will be determined. Would defensive actions count as a resumption of hostilities? Which side would have to start it? How big a reaction would be sufficient to trigger the resolution? We had a “ceasefire” that certainly had a lot of firing going on…
We are in Orwellian times—are we at peace or war? Trump says we have not been at war at all…
Megan, you're absolutely right that we need to act! I'm actually two weeks away from launching a grassroots movement to retake control of our government, legally and without violence. Want to help?
And again, I hope to see some serious remembrance of the import of the Declaration of Independence, alternative to whatever flashy flimflam the regime is planning.
One speculative comment is that the UFC paid out a bunch of that money in US$ to the Crypto bank owned by the Trumps and they paid out crypto dollars to the cage match participants and kept the real dollars itself. That certainly wouldn't surprise me LOL. Its like buying into a Monopoly game with actual US currency, and the Bank giving you back Monopoly money and keeping the real $. As they sometimes say, "it's nice work if you can get it!"
so to Iran goes 300 billion to re-construct the destruction trumpstein caused by bombing, 24 billion in frozen assets...and the billions spent on doing trumpstein's war...to say nothing of the deaths, families ruined and new decades-long ill will... and oh yeah, obama got it wrong...??! wow, what a world...
Yes, foosbeal, and we remain cycling around and around repetition after repetition.
The one change we really need: how having a Palestinian state would oblige Israel to stop West Bank persecutions and land thefts.
I’ve seen many recent news shows, podcasts, and Substacks – but seen no one on the need for a healthy, viable Palestinian state to mitigate the Iranians behind Hezbollah, Hamas, and Houthis.
A free Palestine, its open, public existence precluding Iranian funding for terrorists, could, too, begin the opening of Iran to being much less of the repressive mullah dictatorship it’s been since 1979.
But the one fact we refuse to remember is our role whatever it was, in the destruction of Mossadegh’s election—Iran’s republican moment. As know-it-allls we don’t do very well.
Even after the break-up of Standard Oil, Oil has been the ultimate monopoly. One of the few things Nixon got right was that we needed to be working harder on alternatives decades ago. THAT, however, would not have pleased the monopolists. The difference between the board game Monopoly and the real thing is that the oligarchs already own most of everything before you make your first move.
I don't have much support for much of America's policies in the middle east, but at the same time, to be fair, the Mossadegh election was 73 freaking years ago, when most of us here were either not born yet or just kids. Since then we have engaged in multiple major wars all over the globe. I think the Mossadegh disaster is one of those things we probably need to put into the rear window and get on with trying to actually fix things. Flailing on that old saw is not going to do much of anything in the way of helping diplomacy.
Exactly there will never ever be peace in the middle East until this happens. Even then the UN (hopefully still around) would be needed to make sure Israel abides.
I'm thinking, Colly, the Gulf states might cohere around a new state of Palestine.
Israel will see the need to treat its neighbors as human beings, as it can begin to model by finally fair treatment for Palestinians on the West Bank.
And, hell -- why not? -- schools throughout the region teaching older youth English can have essay writing program so all learn to see others (starting in home classrooms, then in exchange with farther off neighbors) as individuals, all in respect for variously fraught contexts, all the cultures with their varied complications.
You are obviously forgetting that the company line in Palestine has been that Israel has no right to exist and should be destroyed. That has been true for decades and as far as I know, at least at the governmental level, it hasn't changed. Ditto for Iran. And while I am NOT AT ALL in favor of Netanyahu's aggressions, I would like to see some moderation by both the Palestinian and Iranian governments towards Israel before I was willing to trust either of them all that much.
Might key players on all sides find it time to give up on the violence, Jon?
Who from the civilized world might call off those from the fossil fuel juggernaut and call on others as key players?
Aren't there any "good billionaires" who could enlist quality people aiming to go beyond the rut of hatreds, revenge, stereotyping, blanket religious abstractions, more murders, more bulldozers? Do the leaders of the Gulf states all feel satisfied with this status quo?
Might many grow out of the criminal Donald era, and all these parallel horrors?
You do seem to be forgetting that this is NOT a war of money or oil or even territory, ultimately it is a war about faith and religion. And in that realm, the mix of players looks like a Mad Magazine article. Until the "key players on all sides" as you note stop dealing in the idiocy of religious conflict, there isn't going to be any long-term solution because such a solution flies in the face of the righteous belief that only one side here is "right". All the criminals (including Donald and Putin, but also the sheiks from places like Saudi Arabia) are doing is acting like hyenas, staking out the various corpses that drop onto the desert from time to time and picking them clean. Until "lining their own pockets" becomes hated by all of their own societies and the people turn on them, they will continue these games including the one facing us now, i.e., a phony war that just prolongs the pain and heartache of death and destruction.
"Oh, what tangled webs we weave, when first we practice to deceive!"
Apparently so Foosbeal. Our out of his depth LOSER president, aided and encouraged by his unbelievably sycophantic cast of caricatures, starts a war with no support from the public. Then he cries out for help from the same international allies he’s been trying unsuccessfully to bully and fleece. Then he claims that the war he LOSES is over, leaving behind an even more fragmented Middle East, a re-established and strengthened Iranian regime and a world situation much more chaotic than it was before he started his vanity project war.
Then he creates a spectacle on the White House lawn that he thinks will divide and divert us from seeing the reality of what he has done and who he is? Really? We don’t have eyes? Did no one see what the LOSER looked like in his photos with Macron?
Then, after costing the US and the world untold billions of dollars and lives, he has to end up crawling back to the Iranians and sues for peace to the tune of over $300 billion just to end up in a much weakened position than we began with?
Did I mention that the failing Trump administration is led by and staffed with LOSERS?
Protect the country! Protect the Constitution! Protect the vote!
All his ranting about draining the swamp while it is Donold that is one of the most vile hideous swamp things to emerge from the toxic sludge, polluting, plundering, desecrating, demolishing, destroying our Nation...
Three Things That The American Electorate Needs To Do To Protect The Midterms
It’s increasingly obvious that the Nazi Republicans are hell bent on election subversion and interference in the upcoming 2026 midterms. Cheeto has never been more transparent about what his Nazi suppositories/syncophants are willing to do in order to get the election outcome that they want in order to stay in power.
Rachel Maddow interviewed Marc Elias who heads the independently run Democracy Docket which reports on election interference and after brainstorming with a task force of Democratic senators about what the Nazis may plan to do in November Elias came away with 3 important things that the electorate should be prepared to do.
1 Make a plan to vote. Vote early so that if your vote is challenged by Nazi Republican suppositories you can do the appropriate things to cure the reported issue that prevents your vote from being counted.
2 Information sharing and education about the threats is important for those voters who are not paying attention so that the electorate has understanding of what the Nazi suppositories are up to.
3 The public should be prepared to mobilize, organize and protest peacefully against Nazi suppositories interfering at drop boxes and polling locations.
The Nazi Republicans will do anything to retain power and WE the People need to show up and overwhelm the suppositories. Talk to friends, relatives, neighbors, family about the importance of the next two elections. Join an Indivisible chapter near you to be ready to peacefully protest and put down this federal insurrection.
I’m sickened by trump and his minions. I’m old and don’t have children to suffer the consequences of a maniacal and unstable administration. I still have hope , deep somewhere in my heart, for a brighter future…
From the wonderful, devious mind of Substacker Leslie -- In honor of the festivities, that tarp has now been decorated with blue pinstripes and emblazoned with enormous writing -- the "Donald J. Trump Memorial Butthurt Curtain."
…..while we, the public, bear the burden of “we have no money for health care, school lunches, medical insurance, veteran’s aid, funds for education, thousands of federal workers, whole governmental agencies, global development, dues for the UN, etc etc etc”. It makes ones’ blood boil to see all of the waste, fraud and abuse perpetrated in broad daylight by this regime all while stuffing their pockets with dirty lucre at the same time....
There is so much petty detritus in the news that we risk overlooking the most important development of all --- or non-development -- in the Middle East.
To put it bluntly, there is NO written, published, mutually agreed upon Memorandum of Understanding confirming anything Trump has claimed. There is no such thing as a "deal" absent such a Memorandum, agreed upon by both sides and published openly. There isn't even the concept of a Memorandum of Understanding. If there were, everyone would be discussing the details. But there are no details here to discuss.
When President Obama negotiated the JCPOA, signed by 5 countries in 2015, the final report was hundreds of pages long. At the very beginning of that report was Iran's commitment not to seek, acquire or develop a nuclear weapon. The agreement was negotiated by scores of nuclear physicists (not 2 real estate developers), with details that took three years to hammer out. The Strait of Hormuz stayed open during this time, and Iran was left not only without any enrichable uranium, but agreed-upon on-site inspections by nuclear teams to make certain it stayed that way.
In the past few days, the Gulf States have quietly been negotiating their own side deals with Iran, which translates to hundreds of millions already passed in secret bribes — their standard modus operandi. Reuters reports that tens of billions in frozen funds are being readied to give to Iran -- something Obama never did.
A couple of days ago, General Mark Hertling put it bluntly -- this is all straight out of “I Dream of Jeannie,” with a scantily-clad Barbara Eden blinking her eyes and nodding “yes, Master” to whatever Larry Hagman desired. Pure, made-for-TV fiction, arranged for the 17th time to suit the markets — and his birthday — rather than the peace of the Middle East.
We have until Friday to find out if the agreement to have an agreement to have a 60-day cease-fire amounts to a hill of beans. Whatever this is, it isn't a "deal."
The life-long con man who is currently the POTUS continues his life-long con, free to do so by a Republican Party that serves him rather the We the People or the Constitution (which they took an oath to defend and protect) They should all be thrown out of office as soon as possible.
(Note from an old friend) Once again, I'm grateful that you are doing so much reading for me.
"Slimy graft is part of who we are and what makes America tick." /// "American white collar crime is part of our national synergy." /// “A virulent White Nationalist administration is afoot in DC.” For the rest of my life, I'll refer to your notes about the "unsettling truths about human nature.” I like your bold print on “the masses mistake domination for greatness."
The unmitigated gall is unprecedented in our history I would venture a guess. It’s what happens when a lifelong mafia carnival barker is supplied with the money and power to make his every wet dream a reality. The only question is - can he get away with it? Iran put Epstein on the back burner. His heinous “redecorating” and spectacles coinciding with America’s “250” give him license to “jump the shark.” I feel that he has become tainted by his own excrement. Whether or not he can get away with it will be determined in Nov.; But every day before that, the squeeze must be on every republican “lawmaker” who has enabled this traitor, and every other politician who has turned tail. The stain will forever be on our country but, there is a last time for everything, as every old person knows.
DJT may be the perfect frontman for the American Oligarchy. They are all rotten to the core and devoid of ANY of the values that made this a great nation despite its flaws. They let him turn the White House into a trailer park with a Hooters in front while they proceed with the real business--implementing Project 2025 while further enriching themselves on the backs of regular citizens.
You've got it exactly, Annabel.
Please let me piggyback something a bit off from what you've got right on.
How again a commenter here calls citing humanities as nothing more than self-exhibition.
I’ve often cited here novels, songs, films, and other arts. I’ve often urged schools in the U.S. and elsewhere to embrace essay writing so students nurture seeing and quoting others as individuals in their cultures. This would open, too, citing memoirs, histories, essay collections, and other arts.
One other commenter here has often resisted any role for humanities in our forum – Heather’s forum. But now a second commenter has labeled me with the same words as the first, as if any use of humanities aimed only to show off how smart I might be.
Please enlarge this scenario by going back 50 years. It was then that I first noticed this charge being thrown at prominent lefties and progressives in our universities then. This discomfited me 50 years ago, especially since the mid-1960s books, films, and songs vitally energized those passionate for anti-war, feminism, civil rights, farm workers, gays, and the environment.
I didn’t know it at the time, but it was the Heritage Foundation and the Hoover Institution (one new, the older with venerable legacy) then paying conservative intellectuals to shame those in our universities using humanities to help focus their energies. The far right then wanted universities instead only to rely on neutral specialists only – to shear all literacy of what the far right scorned as, at best, marginal ornamentation only, amateur excrescences, decorative irrelevances. They spent a lot of money on this campaign – and by the end of the 1970s had won.
Another post Powell-memo new foundation, ALEC, was successfully lobbying all state legislatures seriously to cut public subsidies to higher ed. It also began the tide of lobbyists in Washington, D.C.
This isn’t just lamentable history from 50 years ago. It’s also now two fellow commenters yet crusading to shame humanities now as then.
The long arm of plans, deliberate and with malice, to strip the government of any human endeavor. Media laser focused on the goals you mentioned. Hard to see as the storm gathered strength. Now we are seeing the damage.
And I say to the slime pit of the ages, “Please Drop dead now so I can poop on your gold-plated mausoleum and be the first to do it so I can get into the Guinness Book of World Records .” I’ll also bring poop from my house cats to sprinkle all over the unhallowed grounds.
"One other commenter here has often resisted any role for humanities in our forum..."
You literally haven't the FAINTEST idea what you are talking about.
I can see why you might feel impatience with how Phil raises the point repeatedly, but I think there is plenty of evidence that the humanities, which I understand to be expressions of our experiential humanness, are under attack by authoritarians, as they historically have are and have been in despotic regimes, left, right, and theocratic. I see it as only part of the picture, yet a very important part, and I think there is a lot a evidence available to back the claim that suppression of free expression of the arts is a core strategy of tyrants. That is subtler in our current, specific circumstances, but it is, I think, demonstrably there, and I think only the general momentum of a tradition of a comparatively free society has so far held back more draconian suppression by those seeking absolute power.
Phil, Thank you! I found my Humanities courses in the early 70s to be exciting and invaluable.
Understanding without understanding the humanities is like learning how to drive despite having no place to go.
Huh? Don’t you read HCR? What do you think the study of History is?
The jumping castle was perfect for the toddlers birthday party.
Celebrating 80 years of bullying greed and pay back
LOL
lol...
We really need fo stop using "trailer park" to mean something morally negative when THIS is the economy people are forced to live in. And yes, I live in a trailer.
Thank you Annabel. Couldn't be said any better.
"while they proceed with the real business--implementing Project 2025 while further enriching themselves on the backs of regular citizens."
In other words, the same old serpent of conquest and plunder.
Well put
"... turn the White House into a trailer park" disparages trailer parks and those who live in them. Most Americans who live in trailers do so because they are lower income and cannot afford otherwise. Housing policy in the U.S., under both Democrats and Republicans doesn't serve them.
Many on the Left, frequently self-righteously, champion certain underdog identity groups such as immigrants, migrants, racial minorities, Muslims, and LGBTQTIA+ but they lack awareness to the poor. Poor Americans like trailer dwellers can be classed "trailer trash" and their trailer homes used to represent something degraded. Likewise rural Americans can be disparaged as "hicks" and "red necks" which are put-down terms for largely white people who are also lower income and have less education.
I think the Left's commitment to an identity group focus over economic justice is a mistake. To its credit the Left desires human thriving and it has its best chance of succeeding when it addresses the material circumstances of people and understands that poverty cuts across all identity group boundaries.
PS - I don't think A. Ascher means to disparage trailer dwellers, but her language reflects a prejudicial thinking about the low income and poor that is built into our language, maybe built into the American psyche where it is your fault if you are poor in the land of freedom and opportunity. On the Left prejudicial expressions about the poor are not called hate speech, but prejudicial expressions based on identity are.
I agree with your calling out the trailer park language, don’t fall for the line that it’s the left that are all about “identity”. MAGA is all about white Christian identity. That’s the thing they’ve been selling. And, leftist movements that have focused only on economic situations and systems, such as unions, have a long history of excluding people of color. To raise issues of racism and its effects on people’s lives to increase awareness is not only a natural outcome but a needed one. We can do both-evaluate our own biases and not throw groups under the bus while we strive for a better economic situation for all.
Bingo! The carnival barker's last hurrah...
So all the taxpayers spent $16 million on The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to be painted. The regime just bypassed the traditional open bidding process, and hired some of his cronies companies to do the work. Atlantic Industrial Coatings is the company that got the job because they had previously done work on the swimming pools at his Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia.
We are now hearing the absurd lie that there is “residual algae" being pushed out from the pool's underground water supply lines.
Well the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool will always have algae because it is a large, shallow, outdoor body of water. Because the water bakes in direct sunlight, and the temperature in DC reaches above 90 in the summer. It’s also humid. The water lacks a natural moving current, and frequently collects nutrient-rich bird droppings, it creates a perfect, natural breeding ground for algae growth. Think of a large pond with standing water.. Algae is always floating on top..
So we dropped a ton of money in this national monument for absolutely no reason, and the moron thought algae would not continue to remain.. and lies as to why it’s there..
For the Iranian deal, all the particulars haven’t been released in full. Why is it such a secret? Is it the same as the JCPOA, better or worse? Thinking it’s waaaaay worse. It’s difficult to say, because at this point when we’ve been lied to as often about these deals with Iran from this regime, it appears that the Iranian news is much more accurate. Going to wait to see the paperwork.
For me the question arises — why are they waiting for this ceremonial signing until Friday? Well there’s a few thoughts it’s Juneteenth and The Obama Presidential Center officially opens to the general public on Friday, June 19, 2026.
Take the tarp down from the Kennedy Center..
It took about a week and a half, maybe less, for the Reflecting Pool to turn from Ti-D-Bowl blue to algal pea-green. Painting the bottom of the Pool bright neon blue allowed it to absorb even more heat from sunlight, which in turn accelerated algal blooms which form naturally in the Pool because of its shallowness and water siphoned directly from the Potomac River.
Had the Very Stable Genius (with his Tiny Little Penius) had an elementary knowledge of chemistry or worked with a reputable contractor who did, this would have been obvious from the get-go.
And the bottom of the pool still leaks, by the way. Just saying....
Yep as he posted on that Lie Social media platform of his that he had achieved a perfect 30 out of 30 score on a high-difficulty cognitive test, asserting that his perfect score was considered proof of “extreme intelligence” nothing like being able to pick out an elephant in a group of three animals… simple chemistry as well as most subjects totally alludes that “stable genius”….
Some donkeys and asses are stable creatures.
Chemistry, physics, and biology (not to mention common sense) are all way to constraining for the Master of the Universe.
It was pointed out in photos that the guy who said that thing about Michelle Obama hardly has one at all. Might even be an internal organ.
Anabolic steroids have that effect, they say...
"Penius" Brilliant! Now we can abbreviate Trump as the TLP and thus avoid calling him a sleazy dickhead.
Thanks for the reminder about what else is happening on June 19th!
Polymarket has $72 million betting that "US x Iran permanent peace deal by June 15, 2026?" is a 97% sure thing. The resolution on whether it is true or not is due in 2 days unless there is a dispute...
Anybody wondering why Trump was so anxious to say the deal was signed yesterday? Anybody wondering what Eric and Don Jr. are telling their buddies about their speculations? Oh, and remember, Don Jr. is on the Polymarket advisory board, and Polymarket makes the call on whether the bet is resolved as yes or no.
Here is what has to happen for this to be resolved as yes:
"This market will resolve to “Yes” if Iran and the United states agree to a permanent peace deal by the specified date, 11:59 PM ET. Otherwise, this market will resolve to “No”.
A permanent peace deal refers to any agreement which explicitly indicates that military hostilities between the United States and Iran have ended or will permanently cease, or uses equivalent language clearly signaling a lasting end to military hostilities between the United States and Iran. Agreements that are explicitly temporary or which do not include a definitive agreement to end military hostilities between the US and Iran on a lasting basis (e.g. a temporary extension of the two-week ceasefire agreement announced on April 7, 2026), will not qualify.
A qualifying agreement will be considered to have been established if either of the following conditions are met:
The United States and Iran each sign or formally adopt a written agreement (e.g. a treaty or multi-point agreement) which meets the above criteria.
Both the governments of the United States and Iran provide clear public confirmation that a qualifying agreement has been definitively established. Negotiations, statements of progress, or other statements which do not constitute a definitive announcement that a qualifying agreement has been reached will not count.
The primary resolution source for this market will be official information from the governments of the United States and Iran; however, a consensus of credible reporting may also be used. "
$72 million is a big payoff if you bet NO and the resolution is deemed to be no, so 3% of the bets would get 100% of the pool
If it resolves to YES then that also resolves the additional $48 million bets based on later dates as well, all now at 98%-99% to resolve to YES. So not much of a payoff. Not clear from the resolution statement what will happen if hostilities resume before those dates. Big pots but not much payoff if you are betting with the crowd.
Whatever the outcome, I wouldn't bet on it.
The fix is in on all of the political outcomes. The insider information is transparent, with the statements being meant to drive the stock markets and now the prediction markets. The people who are deciding the resolution have direct access to Trump through Don Jr., and the politicized regulatory agencies are no longer seeking to enforce the rules. You are asking to be fleeced.
Either that or this is a ruse to obscure the source of payoffs by going through a fixed prediction market with all of the transactions in crypto, so all you see is a wallet ID, and the owner of the wallet can maintain anonymity. If you know the preordained resolution, you, as the payer, take the losing side against a winning bet taken by the person being paid off. You get to deduct up to 90% of your gambling losses against your gambling winnings.
You soon may be able to bet on prediction market outcomes through binary event outcome ETFs in retirement accounts. The 1% are unwilling to let any small accumulation of wealth by the 99% be unavailable for potential plundering in the corrupt prediction markets.
Issuers like Roundhill, GraniteShares, and Bitwise filed for ETFs that track binary event outcomes (elections, recessions, layoffs, economic prints, etc.), packaging prediction‑market bets into an ETF wrapper. These were supposed to have received approval this spring, but the SEC requested more information.
Right now, the SEC is seeking public comment and working through suitability, manipulation, and structural issues before making a final decision on whether any of these funds can become available.
I guess you could go to Kalshi or Polymarket and set up a market on the binary event outcome of the SEC approving the binary event outcome ETFs…
https://www.roundhillinvestments.com/prediction-markets
https://polymarket.com/event/us-x-iran-permanent-peace-deal-by
This is the link to the graph of how sentiment started to flip from 4.7% Yes starting at 8am June 11 to 88% Yes at 8 pm June 14. You may need to sign in with a google account to see it. Final review is at 8 pm on 6/17.
I would bet on resumption of hostilities.
So would I. Pick your date, but be careful of how the resolution will be determined. Would defensive actions count as a resumption of hostilities? Which side would have to start it? How big a reaction would be sufficient to trigger the resolution? We had a “ceasefire” that certainly had a lot of firing going on…
We are in Orwellian times—are we at peace or war? Trump says we have not been at war at all…
He is the master of distraction, is he not. With our piggy bank…
The Iranian deal is likely to be way worse when we get the bill for the war. Trump want's to tear down what other built just to leave his mark on it.
You’re so right he finds any way he can to cheat the system.
Trump/the administration is dangerous for our country/the world 💔🤍💙 Don’t just doom scroll about everything! Read and speak up!
Resource below to easily contact all of Congress - Be LOUD. Unrelentingly.
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Comments/reactions help keep this bumped ✊
Megan, you're absolutely right that we need to act! I'm actually two weeks away from launching a grassroots movement to retake control of our government, legally and without violence. Want to help?
And again, I hope to see some serious remembrance of the import of the Declaration of Independence, alternative to whatever flashy flimflam the regime is planning.
Hello Megan... Besides being Supremely Incompetent. DJT is Supremely Corrupt... DJT can only 'Win' by Cheating, and Declaring Victory Afterwards....
According to Dana White...
The UFC cage fight on the White House lawn on June 14th...
WILL definitely be the LAST...
As the UFC LOST $30 million on that cage fight!
The American taxpayers LOST at least $60 million AND the UFC LOST $30 million on trump's VANITY program.
Proving YET AGAIN...
EVERYTHING trump TOUCHES DIES!!
VOTE 'EM ALL OUT!!!
Obviously there is $90 mil that went SOMEWHERE though! I expect a good portion of that went into Trump's pocket (or wallet).
One speculative comment is that the UFC paid out a bunch of that money in US$ to the Crypto bank owned by the Trumps and they paid out crypto dollars to the cage match participants and kept the real dollars itself. That certainly wouldn't surprise me LOL. Its like buying into a Monopoly game with actual US currency, and the Bank giving you back Monopoly money and keeping the real $. As they sometimes say, "it's nice work if you can get it!"
so to Iran goes 300 billion to re-construct the destruction trumpstein caused by bombing, 24 billion in frozen assets...and the billions spent on doing trumpstein's war...to say nothing of the deaths, families ruined and new decades-long ill will... and oh yeah, obama got it wrong...??! wow, what a world...
Yes, foosbeal, and we remain cycling around and around repetition after repetition.
The one change we really need: how having a Palestinian state would oblige Israel to stop West Bank persecutions and land thefts.
I’ve seen many recent news shows, podcasts, and Substacks – but seen no one on the need for a healthy, viable Palestinian state to mitigate the Iranians behind Hezbollah, Hamas, and Houthis.
A free Palestine, its open, public existence precluding Iranian funding for terrorists, could, too, begin the opening of Iran to being much less of the repressive mullah dictatorship it’s been since 1979.
But the one fact we refuse to remember is our role whatever it was, in the destruction of Mossadegh’s election—Iran’s republican moment. As know-it-allls we don’t do very well.
Yes, some major U.S. arrogance going back a long time, Virginia.
Not only arrogance, but overt aid to lift up the murderous fossil fuel giants of that time -- that day's equivalent of the later Trump-Epstein class.
Even after the break-up of Standard Oil, Oil has been the ultimate monopoly. One of the few things Nixon got right was that we needed to be working harder on alternatives decades ago. THAT, however, would not have pleased the monopolists. The difference between the board game Monopoly and the real thing is that the oligarchs already own most of everything before you make your first move.
That has so seemed to backfire bigly. And yeah, as arrogant as it gets.
I don't have much support for much of America's policies in the middle east, but at the same time, to be fair, the Mossadegh election was 73 freaking years ago, when most of us here were either not born yet or just kids. Since then we have engaged in multiple major wars all over the globe. I think the Mossadegh disaster is one of those things we probably need to put into the rear window and get on with trying to actually fix things. Flailing on that old saw is not going to do much of anything in the way of helping diplomacy.
Exactly there will never ever be peace in the middle East until this happens. Even then the UN (hopefully still around) would be needed to make sure Israel abides.
I'm thinking, Colly, the Gulf states might cohere around a new state of Palestine.
Israel will see the need to treat its neighbors as human beings, as it can begin to model by finally fair treatment for Palestinians on the West Bank.
And, hell -- why not? -- schools throughout the region teaching older youth English can have essay writing program so all learn to see others (starting in home classrooms, then in exchange with farther off neighbors) as individuals, all in respect for variously fraught contexts, all the cultures with their varied complications.
You are obviously forgetting that the company line in Palestine has been that Israel has no right to exist and should be destroyed. That has been true for decades and as far as I know, at least at the governmental level, it hasn't changed. Ditto for Iran. And while I am NOT AT ALL in favor of Netanyahu's aggressions, I would like to see some moderation by both the Palestinian and Iranian governments towards Israel before I was willing to trust either of them all that much.
Might key players on all sides find it time to give up on the violence, Jon?
Who from the civilized world might call off those from the fossil fuel juggernaut and call on others as key players?
Aren't there any "good billionaires" who could enlist quality people aiming to go beyond the rut of hatreds, revenge, stereotyping, blanket religious abstractions, more murders, more bulldozers? Do the leaders of the Gulf states all feel satisfied with this status quo?
Might many grow out of the criminal Donald era, and all these parallel horrors?
You do seem to be forgetting that this is NOT a war of money or oil or even territory, ultimately it is a war about faith and religion. And in that realm, the mix of players looks like a Mad Magazine article. Until the "key players on all sides" as you note stop dealing in the idiocy of religious conflict, there isn't going to be any long-term solution because such a solution flies in the face of the righteous belief that only one side here is "right". All the criminals (including Donald and Putin, but also the sheiks from places like Saudi Arabia) are doing is acting like hyenas, staking out the various corpses that drop onto the desert from time to time and picking them clean. Until "lining their own pockets" becomes hated by all of their own societies and the people turn on them, they will continue these games including the one facing us now, i.e., a phony war that just prolongs the pain and heartache of death and destruction.
"Oh, what tangled webs we weave, when first we practice to deceive!"
A viable path before the “coalition of catastrophe”
I doubt being bombed by the US has loosened the dictatorship in Iran that hardened after we sabotaged their formerly secular elected government.
Apparently so Foosbeal. Our out of his depth LOSER president, aided and encouraged by his unbelievably sycophantic cast of caricatures, starts a war with no support from the public. Then he cries out for help from the same international allies he’s been trying unsuccessfully to bully and fleece. Then he claims that the war he LOSES is over, leaving behind an even more fragmented Middle East, a re-established and strengthened Iranian regime and a world situation much more chaotic than it was before he started his vanity project war.
Then he creates a spectacle on the White House lawn that he thinks will divide and divert us from seeing the reality of what he has done and who he is? Really? We don’t have eyes? Did no one see what the LOSER looked like in his photos with Macron?
Then, after costing the US and the world untold billions of dollars and lives, he has to end up crawling back to the Iranians and sues for peace to the tune of over $300 billion just to end up in a much weakened position than we began with?
Did I mention that the failing Trump administration is led by and staffed with LOSERS?
Protect the country! Protect the Constitution! Protect the vote!
You got it. Art of the Deal in action.
"Families? Families? We don' need no stinkin' families!"
Yet he is the hero of this narrative. Orwell was our Nostradamus
Next distraction from the Epstein files: Invasion of Cuba?
The reverse Midas. Everything he touches turns to scum. The reflecting pool is merely a mirror of his soul.
No truer words....
All his ranting about draining the swamp while it is Donold that is one of the most vile hideous swamp things to emerge from the toxic sludge, polluting, plundering, desecrating, demolishing, destroying our Nation...
Three Things That The American Electorate Needs To Do To Protect The Midterms
It’s increasingly obvious that the Nazi Republicans are hell bent on election subversion and interference in the upcoming 2026 midterms. Cheeto has never been more transparent about what his Nazi suppositories/syncophants are willing to do in order to get the election outcome that they want in order to stay in power.
Rachel Maddow interviewed Marc Elias who heads the independently run Democracy Docket which reports on election interference and after brainstorming with a task force of Democratic senators about what the Nazis may plan to do in November Elias came away with 3 important things that the electorate should be prepared to do.
1 Make a plan to vote. Vote early so that if your vote is challenged by Nazi Republican suppositories you can do the appropriate things to cure the reported issue that prevents your vote from being counted.
2 Information sharing and education about the threats is important for those voters who are not paying attention so that the electorate has understanding of what the Nazi suppositories are up to.
3 The public should be prepared to mobilize, organize and protest peacefully against Nazi suppositories interfering at drop boxes and polling locations.
The Nazi Republicans will do anything to retain power and WE the People need to show up and overwhelm the suppositories. Talk to friends, relatives, neighbors, family about the importance of the next two elections. Join an Indivisible chapter near you to be ready to peacefully protest and put down this federal insurrection.
I’m sickened by trump and his minions. I’m old and don’t have children to suffer the consequences of a maniacal and unstable administration. I still have hope , deep somewhere in my heart, for a brighter future…
From the wonderful, devious mind of Substacker Leslie -- In honor of the festivities, that tarp has now been decorated with blue pinstripes and emblazoned with enormous writing -- the "Donald J. Trump Memorial Butthurt Curtain."
He’s telling us to f***k off.
It shouldn’t be lost on anyone that we must pay hundreds of billions of dollars to Iran for them to accept our surrender.
…..while we, the public, bear the burden of “we have no money for health care, school lunches, medical insurance, veteran’s aid, funds for education, thousands of federal workers, whole governmental agencies, global development, dues for the UN, etc etc etc”. It makes ones’ blood boil to see all of the waste, fraud and abuse perpetrated in broad daylight by this regime all while stuffing their pockets with dirty lucre at the same time....
It's like a rotten movie that runs on a 24/7 loop.
There is so much petty detritus in the news that we risk overlooking the most important development of all --- or non-development -- in the Middle East.
To put it bluntly, there is NO written, published, mutually agreed upon Memorandum of Understanding confirming anything Trump has claimed. There is no such thing as a "deal" absent such a Memorandum, agreed upon by both sides and published openly. There isn't even the concept of a Memorandum of Understanding. If there were, everyone would be discussing the details. But there are no details here to discuss.
When President Obama negotiated the JCPOA, signed by 5 countries in 2015, the final report was hundreds of pages long. At the very beginning of that report was Iran's commitment not to seek, acquire or develop a nuclear weapon. The agreement was negotiated by scores of nuclear physicists (not 2 real estate developers), with details that took three years to hammer out. The Strait of Hormuz stayed open during this time, and Iran was left not only without any enrichable uranium, but agreed-upon on-site inspections by nuclear teams to make certain it stayed that way.
In the past few days, the Gulf States have quietly been negotiating their own side deals with Iran, which translates to hundreds of millions already passed in secret bribes — their standard modus operandi. Reuters reports that tens of billions in frozen funds are being readied to give to Iran -- something Obama never did.
A couple of days ago, General Mark Hertling put it bluntly -- this is all straight out of “I Dream of Jeannie,” with a scantily-clad Barbara Eden blinking her eyes and nodding “yes, Master” to whatever Larry Hagman desired. Pure, made-for-TV fiction, arranged for the 17th time to suit the markets — and his birthday — rather than the peace of the Middle East.
We have until Friday to find out if the agreement to have an agreement to have a 60-day cease-fire amounts to a hill of beans. Whatever this is, it isn't a "deal."
The life-long con man who is currently the POTUS continues his life-long con, free to do so by a Republican Party that serves him rather the We the People or the Constitution (which they took an oath to defend and protect) They should all be thrown out of office as soon as possible.
(Note from an old friend) Once again, I'm grateful that you are doing so much reading for me.
"Slimy graft is part of who we are and what makes America tick." /// "American white collar crime is part of our national synergy." /// “A virulent White Nationalist administration is afoot in DC.” For the rest of my life, I'll refer to your notes about the "unsettling truths about human nature.” I like your bold print on “the masses mistake domination for greatness."
The unmitigated gall is unprecedented in our history I would venture a guess. It’s what happens when a lifelong mafia carnival barker is supplied with the money and power to make his every wet dream a reality. The only question is - can he get away with it? Iran put Epstein on the back burner. His heinous “redecorating” and spectacles coinciding with America’s “250” give him license to “jump the shark.” I feel that he has become tainted by his own excrement. Whether or not he can get away with it will be determined in Nov.; But every day before that, the squeeze must be on every republican “lawmaker” who has enabled this traitor, and every other politician who has turned tail. The stain will forever be on our country but, there is a last time for everything, as every old person knows.
He actually fell asleep at the fight. Do healthy people do that?
What can Trump do after the 250? Tackle NYCity?