Heather’s newsletter has recently included more direct quotations — some of them quite lengthy — from the Manchurian Cantaloupe’s daily diatribes. There are snippets from “Truth Social” (nothing at all about Truth, and about as Social as venereal disease), long quotes from speeches, Oval Office soliloquys, defensive hunchback responses to queries aboard Air Force One, and the like.
Perhaps they’ve always been there, but their length and frequency have increased. Whatever, we owe her mightily for this alone. Real historians have real obligations to report events as they truly happen — not as so many would prefer to have them sound.
As embarrassing and shameful as it feels, It is important we keep being forced to listen to and confront the incoherent, un-cleaned up, 4-year-old, Orwellian, baby bibble-babble version of history, because that’s exactly the one that’s unfolding before our eyes. We don’t dare take our eyes off that chintzy, white MAGA-merch USA ballcap. It forces even MAGA to look straight at the crassness, vulgarity, greed and shamelessness that lies at the heart of everything he does.
Most reporters (and God knows every Republican) do the opposite — they clean him up, wiping the drool off his face first. They summarize, digest, repackage, condense, translate, interpret. In doing so, they contribute to the degradation of the moment by concealing its true scope. They put lipstick on the pig, allowing millions of lazy, indoctrinated people to pretend to themselves it can sing and dance as well.
A small point this is not. Future generations will scarcely believe Americans sent a true imbecile to the White House, rather than just a cheat, a sociopath, a criminal. How could a moron manage to launch a Middle East conflagration costing $890 million every day, without a single regard for its consequences? Lipstick all over the pig hides that question of questions.
So thank you, Heather, for continuing to tell it like it really is. Don’t take your eyes off that gussied up, slathered up, baseball cap-wearing, mango-formaldehyded, face-painted pig for a moment.
I appreciate what Heather is telling us. She and Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Timothy Snyder are 3 historians I subscribe to who help to interpret these times for me. It bothers me how Fox News gets off so easily for distorting the Truth. You also appropriately use Orwell's text as a means to describe this administration. My bookclub just read or reread for many of us, "1984" and it has clarified many things for me. For one, we know that totalitarian leaders need their forever wars to keep the people in line. We already see some Dems in Congress falling in line as they allowed Trump's illegal war to go on. I wrote a piece on the language of the fascist regime as well that we learn from the book.
One of Hermann Goring's quotes during the Nuremberg Trials seems somewhat pertinent right now:
"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."
-- Herman Goering, in conversation with the American psychologist, Gustave Gilbert, during the Nuremberg trials
And, Judith, I fear that is what got Democrats voting with Republicans to allow Trump free reign with this war. They were more concerned with seeming unpatriotic, than doing their fiduciary duty for the people who voted for them.
Actually the one place in which there is absolutely {no} difference between Democrats and Republicans is in how far they will go to sustain the bribes they get from the plutocracy. That's their unifying concern.
Now we have confirmation that Trump's initial attack on Iran included the bombing of a girls' school that "appears to have killed 168 people, or more, many of them children". How on earth can Linsey Graham see this as "cleaning out the bad guys"?
It is Trump's responsibility to see that his antics don't result in horrible crimes against humanity like this. If we, the American people, don't respond by throwing him out of office, we will be justifiably seen by the world as accomplices to these crimes. We need to be heard at the March 28 No Kings rallies!
Bootlicker Graham says and does what his handlers tell him to do, IMO. The orange stain on the carpet of humanity has, in his eyes, only one responsibility - make as much money as possible from every interaction. Nothing else matters. Nothing. As a narcissistic sociopath with diminishing mental capacity he is the performing monkey clanking his cymbals. Happy effin’ Monday.
Oxymoron! Trump's responsibility??? He is a walking dead person. He was never anything but a bad person; now he's rotting away: his mind is nearly soup, his skin is degrading. He should be dead but somehow he immune from "responsibility" for any of his crimes against laws, humanity, little girls... and now he's immune from the grave, where he belongs.
I don't think he worth commenting on. Paying attention to Trump is bad for your brain.
Same with Linsey Graham. Hearing him go on about this horrible crime against Iran is damage. Someone showed that video on a Youtube site. They apologize for showing this crap. But, they think we need to know....It is Horrible!
Look Away!
I don't think rallies make a difference. They don't give a damn what we want, think, like, say, yell. They've got the power.
He never cares about individual suffering, as he does not have feelings for others. People who support him see this lack of empathy as strength…so long as they are not suffering, everything is alright. His followers share this ideology of not having sympathy for others.
David, I’m not sure if Lindsey is retired from the Reserves. I believe that is where his rank originates. Wonder why he didn’t honor the patriotic reservists, who gave their lives in this war, by being there to receive them back to their homeland. Even though they were not part of his constituency.
Money is hardly even something one can TOUCH anymore...that old saw has ALways missed the point...much like 'bullets kill people'...
Money, like almost everything in life, is a tool...AND an objective, agreed(hopefully not heavy on the greed) upon system...take it from there, Harvey...
Harvey Kravetz, rather than money specifically or solely, I think the failure (to check and balance, or to advise/consent) of most current individuals in Congress comes from their desire to keep their Congressional jobs. Some of that desire is probably rooted in money, and I believe that some of it is rooted in an inflated narcissistic view of self-importance. Mysteriously, most seem to believe that their re-election is more important than the welfare of the country.
You are right, Loren. The democrats also dream that the ultra-wealthy might be their oligarchs too. But they will learn that the oligarchs are not the allies of democracy or democrats.
Back before his wife took over his YouTube channel, "Beau of the Fifth Column" used to say that billionaires "aren't red or blue, they're green" meaning they will back whichever party increases their wealth.
Of course he is making us less safe in every way he possibly can.
Everything costs more.
People are losing their jobs.
We are not educating our population because fascists like stupidity.
We have a military filled with Christian Nationalists who are being unleashed on the rank and file.
We have no intel on our enemies other than that while Israel provides because everyone who could provide it was fired.
We have no purpose for the war except because Trump and the people whispering into his ear want to kill everyone in the Middle East that is Muslim first.
He is threatening all of Latin America after having already threatened Greenland and Canada.
He is not giving us any FBI intel on terror threats and people in Texas paid for that with their lives so far.
We have no plan for an attack on our own country.
People are not being told to prepare for an attack be it military or hybrid, like everyone in the EU was.
We are killing civilians and the images are angering others, some of whom may want to take revenge.
Linda, he is destruction personified, death star. I see lots of posts on threads that rejoice in what he is doing because a lot of people want to pound the hell out of everybody. All they see is the video game aspect.....poof and gone. Everything is going to get worse and we will hear a lot of kvetching about costs, etc.
Linda, I got myself into some hot water with a coworker many years ago over "W's" mission creep in the middle east. My coworker was upset at people who protested the war and said they should "leave" the country and "go back where they came from". I said that I can trace one side of my family in North America back to 1644. The other side, at least several generations. Back then, I wasn't out on the street or calling Congress, but I was very against it--where was I to "go back" to? I also called those who were out protesting the "better patriots" because they fully understood and exercised their Constitutional rights! I am not joking when I say I saw an expression of utter confusion on him.
I found a YouTube clip from "Belle of the Ranch" from yesterday to be quite pertinent. She often gets snarky MAGA comments, and she always manages to point out people (aka MAGA) manage to out themselves as ignorant.
Thanks for the clip. Belle is great and so on point. Also, when Trump first said people should go back to where they came from I started thinking about where that would be for me. Now, I could choose the US, I am part Native American genetically, but not so much culturally. Still, I was born on US soil, and that makes me indigenous too. I am also a descendent of someone who is indigenous German. I could have gone with the African ancestors from my dad's side of the family too, but Africa is big and I would not know what country or countries my father's people hail from. So, lo and behold, here I am in Germany. Where does Trump belong? His family was kicked out of Germany for his grandfather being considered a draft dodger. It apparently runs in the family.
Nicely put, Steve...I wish it hasn't always been that way, pertaining to humans...beginning with...'EYE didn't do it, mommy'...and 'the dog ate my homework...'.
AND, very much, how those responses are handled at THAT 'juncture'...
Eadie, I get that. But, it also surprises me how people cannot always see what is behind them losing their jobs or other problems they are having right now.
A friend complained of her property taxes going up and blames it on the Democrats because it is a Blue State, it never occurs to her that it could be because of the federal government.
War is usually started by ignorant, arrogant men for their own purposes. The march to a war of choice is that their side is in danger and must be protected. The march to war is riddled with lies. The young people are sent off to war with the vainglorious politicians often saying the conflict will be over in a short time like six months. That is a huge lie. The coffins begin to come home a few at a time, but those fateful deliveries continue for far longer than six months, sometimes for years. And those are just the ones who were killed. Many, many more come home wounded and broken in ways they don’t know how to recover from. As a mother of a retired soldier, this whim of a war infuriates me.
Humans get irrevocable damage from the crap they see, the things they do, the physical damage, of course. IDF soldiers are committing suicide. (They should.)
The young men who go to war aren't even adults. A man isn't really an adult until he has judgment..around age 23-24. Their high degree of testosterone pushes them to violence and belief in their immortality. These are children playing war with their buddies.
I believe it was Goering who also claimed in speaking with an American general after WWII that the US could have a Hitler. The general replied that no we couldn't;t because win the US have a system of checks and balances. Goering insisted that yes the US could have a Hitler. He went on to say that you just tell the people something often enough and they will begin to believe it. He further said that those who still didn't believe, you just attack their patriotism. Precient words.
Mother's most remembered cautions, "Never think it can't happen here," and "Don't become the monsters you are fighting."
Mother was a 23 year old wife with two kids when my dad was stationed in near Munich Germany where we lived about 15 miles south of Nuremberg during the trials (during those trials and the Berlin Airlift).
She had been a maid working for Clara Endicott Sears at the Pergolas in Harvard in the early 40s but, in the war ravaged aftermath in the late 40s, on a TSgt's pay, had two live-in maids and an oil painter who paid for his room and board with us with oil paintings. She was always an avid reader and observer on the war and its aftermath.
As an eleven year old, I didn't pay enough attention to her views on the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, and the Israeli war started with Egypt, with the British, and French joining in the Suez crisis that Eisenhower refused to support, I think, before the Russians eventually crushed the Hungarian revolutionaries with tanks. In the following years, I did notice some impacts from some of the 1956 Hungarian refugees in, new to me, Hungarian-American clubs.
I still know too little of the history, but it was one of my first lessons in consequences of ill-thought out military actions in my lifetime. WWI was an earlier example that I suspect my grandfather (born during Grant's administration), might have wondered about, too.
I always considered History as just too many names, years, places...not worth study. Same with politic and who can know the truth??
I studied English Lit. and philosophy. I read quality fiction all my life, until now. Now,I want facts. (not that Shakespeare isn't very informative)
I don't like the facts. I don't support the human race. God gave up on his creation: the earth. His highest creature is wreaking the whole deal.
Humans know better ; they know about the "environment" as in the health of what sustains life...but they just can't help being addicted to power and violence.
In the Canadian-American production of "Nuremberg" in 2000 (with Alec Baldwin as Chief Prosecutor Robert Jackson), Captain Gilbert is the one who carried on that conversation with Gõring. At first, Göring refused to speak with Gilbert. Gilbert kept pushing his buttons, deliberately mispronouncing his name as 'Geh-RING' (in German, a trifling, silly, unimportant thing).
This greatly enraged the head of the Luftwaffe. Finally he burst out "meine Name ist NICHT Ger-RING. Meine Name ist Herman Göring!" The relationship between psychiatrist and patient began. At some point, Gilbert told Göring he was Jewish. "Oh, that's very interesting," said Göring, "for both of us."
I'm interested in learning more about Captain Gilbert, a Psychologist and interpreter for Kelly, and who saw more of the other prisoners, later serving as Head Psychologist at a VA hospital.
Though not directly comparable, my late brother-in-law was a criminal Psychologist who impressed me with successful restorative justice efforts helping truly reformed prisoners back as productive members of society. Even those serving longer sentences (up to life without parole) were helped learning how to live their lives less stress-fully. One particularly troubled man sentenced to life without parole, led to amazing him by calling Viktor Frankl collect, enabling him to listen for about two hours as Frankl restored his will to live. To my-brother-in-law, it was the ultimate reinforcement to never give up on anyone, no matter how troubled they seem.
He had become a Psychologist (and his brother a Psychiatrist), partially from having been childhood friends of Sam Melville before he became the "Mad Bomber," trying to force changes through violence. Neither could easily figure out why Sam turned to violence, and, like me, are as opposed to use of violence as MLK. Though starting out in the same neighborhood and with an appreciation for classical music learned from Melville, they took very different paths after high school.
Goering was so smart: I think Hitler hired The Best. Not like the Tyrant we have in the White House who hires those that suck ass. But, he knows by instinct that " tell the people something often enough and they will begin to believe it".
And, now I am informed that some Democrats voted yes to bombing Iran. They didn't want their patriotism attacked. This news just makes me even more SICK OF THE USA!
Let's hope that Trump, Hegseth, Bondi, Noem, Miller, and the rest of the war criminals (including congressional Repugnitans who continue to sit on their hands with zippered mouths) get their Nuremberg. I hope I'm alive to see it.
Hope springs eternal. Hoping to see all the war criminals, human rights criminals standing for judgement....THAT is a LOT of criminals. The IDF? How many actively targeted toddlers? And, then posted it on tic toc or to their family as a birthday gift?
At 86, I would just like to see Trump dead. It won't solve anything because he is not the problem. But it would be so nice.
Fetterman's got a lot of 'splainin to do for his lock-step support of all things Trump. I'd hate to see him caucusing with Barrasso and Thune, but he does the damage anyway
With Drs on cigarette commercials saying they were safe...what sort of ignorance does it take? One is inhaling burning smoke through the respiratory system...the same that supplies the most important nutrient to our bodies...
His brain is toast, ever since his stroke. I supported him when he was first running, no longer, the sooner he’s gone the better. He presents himself like a half-wit, we have a president that’s a half-wit, one in the government is way more than we can bear.
I agree with Alec. First of all, there are waaay too many commercials. It’s sooo painful to watch . I prefer to watch PBS news hour. (No commercials, unless it’s fundraising-which I am a sustaining member of) I catch Don Lemons shows on at 10a and 5p right here on Substack. I think his show is evolving into a news show with integrity. We must turn to Independant news for true reporting.
All three get most of what they write from actual journalists who report it. Commentators are great for analysis but the reporters who provide the basic information and are often slandered here as biased are the real folks doing the hard work. I find it astonishing that so many people buy into this false belief that the commentators report the news.
When you say commentators, are you referring to, for example, the many substack writers who are often mentioned in the comments right here in Heather's nightly letter? Personally, I am uncomfortable with so many suggestions to read this substack and that substack. While I may feel good because these posts align with much of what I support, isn't it harder to detect bias when you agree with the writer? How is it possilble to vet so many commentators?
I was talking about ALL commentators, i.e., those who COMMENT on the news, not those who actually report it. It is one of my strong biases against so many here who say that they boycott traditional media because of what they see as "bias". In fact, MOST mainstream media, particularly newspapers but also some TV news as well (CNN at least until they are eaten up by Larry Ellison's kid's company, sigh) are in fact quite UNbiased if you actually watch and listen. And if there ARE biases, they are typically TOWARDS the liberal side, not towards the Maga/GOP coalition.
Unfortunately, I think many of our liberal/progressive compadres WANT to hear "biased" news, i.e., news or reports that are slanted TOWARDS their opinion rather than actually unbiased news. I repeatedly see requests for people who are supposed to be reporters to "slam Trump more" but that isn't the responsibility of a news reporter. They are SUPPOSED to report with an eye towards no bias. Frankly I think New York Times actually sometimes shows its bias AGAINST Trump too much for a real newspaper, and yet many say that they have stopped reading the NYT because they are not anti-Trump enough.
I only avidly read two Substacks, Heather's and Joyce Vance's. Occasionally I peek in on Democracy Today (Marc Elias's substack) but I won't pay for it, if I paid for all the substacks that MIGHT interest me it would cost me WAY more than a newspaper subscription per year. I can't afford it and I don't see that it would enlighten me that much more.
I still read the NYT daily, although probably more selectively than I used to. I stay away from WAPO and LATimes as they are more biased than they should be. I watch CNN sometimes, MSNOW other times, but I recognize that MSNOW is a HIGHLY biased liberal outlet and I take most of what I see there with several grains of iodized salt.
I think you are probably handling things correctly, KathyF, the important thing is to make sure you do NOT let opinions (whether you like them or not) sway your own view of the world too much. Critical thinking was something my parents always drilled into me and fortunately those lessons have lasted.
November 21, 1963, the Constitution of the Republic of the United States of America was the law of the land. November 22, 1963, the law of the land was the National Securities Act of 1947. ‘1984’ was published in 1949.
Alec, did you know that Orwell was influenced by the Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin's book "We" first published in English a few years after it was written in 1921? Here is a copy of it.
We see some of the parallels by the character keeping a diary in Orwell's book, whereas the character in "We" posts entries as if they were journal entries. In both books there is forever war against the enemy, but most of the concepts are more clearly fleshed out in "1984" than in "We" which my bookclub read before reading "1984."
Ayn Rand’s short novel Anthem has striking “similarities” to Zamyatin’s We. Rand most likely read We in typed copies circulating in her youth in St. Petersburg. It could not have been published in Stalin’s Russia at the time.
We is a very good read in my opinion. Unlike Anthem or the rest of Ayn Rand.
Today is a good time for this quote from Frank Bruni of the NY Times, in a column he titles "We are being governed by unserious people."
"I’m sure these administration officials deem professionalism overrated, outdated, an enemy of necessary disruption, a brake on real genius. It’s for slowpokes and prudes. It’s fussiness for fussiness’s sake.
Wrong. Professionalism recognizes that your job is bigger than you are. It rightly regards teamwork and discipline as handmaidens of accomplishment. It understands that a sturdy institution requires a code of conduct. And it sweats details, because if you get enough of those wrong, you get nothing at all right."
Frankly, neither is The NY Times or the Washington Post. I get facts from 50-70 independent journalists on Youtube Prime (no commercials). I donate to as many of them as I can. And, from Substacks, also independent, funded by readers not by corporations.
MIT Professor and Pentagon advisor Ted Postol explains why the missile defense systems are failing in the war against Iran, and why the US and Israel WILL NOT WIN this war.
On Glenn Diesen..The Fraud of Missile Defense Exposed in Iran War
That is for sure. It should be fined whenever they pretend that fake news is real. They should have to make a disclaimer at the beginning of each show saying, "what you are about to hear is not true in any shape or form. It exists purely for entertainment."
Should we be surprised if trump - who has a very short attention span and a low threshold of patience and tolerance - pulls out the nuclear weapons. Afterall, didn't he say 10 years ago, if we've got them, why aren't we using them? Of course, the fall out could affect surrounding countries up or down wind, but at least the fall out won't exterminate all of humanity.....
It's always been a worry since I was very clear that that is one of the reasons that I voted for someone else and worked hard to get the vote out.
Of course, I am still grappling with the discussion of Fatwas that Malcolm Nance, Jacob Kaarsbo and a guest had today as they discussed the war, something they are doing daily. It was quite chilling particularly when someone wrote in the chat that every country that had US bases better kick them out. I have been thinking about that for Germany. I am living here and we have a lot of bases. Germans are not happy that war planes are flying out of here to the Middle East. Also, Israel parks its government plane Wings of Zion in the Berlin airport that everyone uses, when it is at war with Iran. Someone I know saw it last Monday when she was flying to the US.
I agree. After March 28, my Indivisible Group will be working on a boycott campaign which we are going to be starting in Europe against US products supporting ICE and this regime. A sampling are
True, but what Heather keeps forgetting is that in the myth, the white male cowboy with a white hat only ever uses ONE way to deal with his problems: guns. In westerns, the problems are always solved by shooting, and never talked out. Diplomacy is for the weak: real men shoot their problems.
I presume that "real men" SHOULD be in quotes because I was going to say that's why we have so much domestic violence today. Those men think they ARE "real men". Sigh.
And, apparently, an increasing number of younger men hold the view that women should return to the traditional role of being barefoot in the kitchen - a wife and mother w/ no career outside the home -- but today's younger women ("trad wives" aside) will give that view a hard pass, thank you very much.
The biggest cause of child poverty these days is fathers not providing support for their children. Back in the day when all women were expected to be "trad wives," at least their cowboy husbands were expected to be "good providers." Nowadays, we talk about single mothers as though their kids arrived via the stork and argue about how much government support they deserve...but rarely does anyone (on either the right or the left) advocate that the deadbeat dads be held to account. It might "serve the cowboys right" if the women stayed home, but their offspring wd starve.
You have a valid point, monimaca, though my thinking is that the brave single mothers are already pulling their weight and I would ask no more of them to make a statement. However women who work outside the home in a two- earner household has allowed corporations keep bleeding middle income families dry is they raise prices that absorb every ounce of disposable income that the two wage households could spend on a few things that make life a little more full. Showing how these women are propping up the economy might force corporations to take notice.
Or their wallets. The "boys will be boys" mentality pervades our culture from the far right to the far left, rich/poor, and everything in-between...and until the boys are required to support the children they sire, women will be left holding the bag...and implicitly blamed...even if not "shamed" like back in the bad-old-days. Both then & now, deadbeat boys mostly get off scot-free. My grandmother, born in 1888, used to say, "boys are curious; girls are romantic." Since no one ever mentioned "sex" in my house when I was a child, I had no idea what she meant at the time...but I later realized she had a point. The modern version might be, "boys are free to have fun; girls (& ultimately society) are obliged to pay the tab."
Yet the most famous ‘gunfight’ in the Old West came about because Sheriff Wyatt Earp enforced a city ordinance in Tombstone, Arizona banning public weapons, which the bad guys ignored.
The “cowboy” you make reference to may have a lot more to do with 1930s Hollywood Lone Ranger goofiness than with real 1880s history.
You ever wondered why they are called "cowBOYS" rather than "CowMEN"?
Back in the 1700's, before "cowboys" were out in the Wild West, most US cattle were raised in South Carolina. The weather there made it difficult for white men to herd the cattle - too hot, and not enough experience. So instead cattle men used African slaves - who were used to the heat, and also great with cattle, as they had a long history with them. But - you couldn't call them "men" - so the people who cared for your cattle were "boys."
I'm not so sure that African slaves were used to the heat; they were slaves.
I don't think immigrants from Mexico and Central America can work like dogs in the heat because "they are used to it" : they are immigrants who will take jobs no American will take.
It's sickening that black grown men were called boys.
"Alternative facts", "alternate universe", and yet "uni" means "one". The odds are always with the "house" ("eco", as in economy or ecology) and the "house" is where we live. A dearth of sufficient check-in with reality is called "psychosis" (or a "cult").
No...sounds like a good White Liberal story, like policing in America was based on slave patrols, or our government was based on the Iroquois Confederacy.
Myths White Liberals tell themselves. If we want Trump and MAGA to stick to facts, so should we.
Considering the massive amount of research required to publish, I’ll stick with Heather’s research. As to the Iroquois a trip to the Smithsonian gives support for the assertion. Wikipedia as a source is a first step, not enough to reach a conclusion.
There is, however, an alternate use of the term "boys" in referring to a criminal gang without regard to ethnicity - eg. the James Boys, the Bowery Boys, and now the Proud Boys. There was a gang of outlaw thieves and cattle rustlers in Cochise County, Arizona in the 1870s called the "Cowboys" (as opposed to the more common term "cowhand").
I don't know where Country Music fits in this conversation but I've been wondering about it, since I've been listening to a series with interviews on WUMB radio (American Routes, last Sunday). It's a sort-of news source that's ocurring simultaneously with conglomerating corporate media. Themes of partnerships, love stories, lonely roads, growers of vegetables who work to get time off for music-making with blended histories of interdependent alliances seem to exist alongside the divisive competitive violent simplifications that TV planted in our minds through Westerns.
And everyone knows if you play a country music song backwards your dog comes back to life, your girlfriend returns, and you don't run dry of beer and whiskey...
Congressman Louie Gohmert seriously asked the Bureau of Land Management if they could move the MOON to fix climate change. Yes. THAT moon. Maybe a Tesla with a tow rope?
Sheriff Wyatt Earp wasn't exactly the "good guy" he was depicted as on the TV show. So many people either ignored that or never learned it. He and his brothers were inveterate gamblers and considered by many citizens in the towns they lived as bad as the "Cowboys" who they opposed. More like two opposing Mob gangs than the bad guys and the good guys. They certainly were NOT as lawless as the Cowboys, but after the OK Corral and the subsequent shootings of Morgan and Virgil Earp, Wyatt went on a revenge raid which was just about as lawless as the Cowboys had been.
Had Earp managed to enforce a peace without a shot being fired, you would likely have never heard of him. Maybe Heather would dig up his story. We are a perverse species that way.
You are so correct and I have seen personally how this approach is the “righteousness for dummies” approach to conflict resolution. Add Rush Limbaugh, republican hate fest and we have our hell on earth, not a safe world for anyone.
A boy was hoped for since I was fourth female. Surprise. Four boys followed so we had a commune of sorts. I have had recruitment mail from military so changed spelling. Just plain Jane - or Jeri. Back to doing genealogy and Meier ancestors came from Germany and Alsace France. Warners from London. America is made of nuts and mutts. We are so stupid to claim dibs on any foot of land on planet earth. But we all have been curious seekers, or maybe just nosy about what is beyond the next hill.
Dutch Mike, this is also the solution of the non-cowboy, white male totalitarian leader. See my article on the language of Orwell's "1984" and how that language is the language of fascists. Trump and the Trumpers use it and war is built into their ideology.
Reagan was definitely the cowboy, perhaps Hegseth is the Cowboy here. Still, Trump is following the cowboy diplomacy but the purpose is better explained by Orwell. They get us into forever wars, and it can switch countries, the thing is to stay in war. We know why Trump wants that. We should not give it to him as he lists country after country in the Americas that he plans to make war on to supposedly eradicate their drug problems.
Starting a never ending series of wars is totally totalitarian. In both "We" by Zamyatin, "1984" by Orwell, they really show how dehumanizing living in such a system is. We need to hold on to our humanity even if it exhausts us and we hurt.
I was acquainted with some ranchers growing up and they seemed like nice and generous people. I heard a talk from a lady who grew up in a small settlement in Colorado where there we no vehicular roads, no electricity, pretty much pioneer conditions, and cattle was their way of life. Most of what she talked about was the exceptional degree everyone helped everyone else out, even passing strangers. These urban "cowboys" are different.
My husband like Thomas Pynchon books, and tonight we watched a movie based on one of them called "One Battle After Another." It made me think of the times we are living in now. It also made me think of how much violence Americans are exposed to on tv and in the movies. I don't do video games, but I would add that in too. I see these things taking over German culture but I also see some resistance to letting all things American culture wash over them when it is clear that they are harmful.
I agree. One thing our society desperately needs is education for all that focuses on how to solve problems/disagreements without violence.....beginning with parents and the very young.
I agree on the need to not solve problems with violence. Today my child was telling me how when she was playing with the neighbor children where she lives, and they were playing a game to see who could not smile, and he smiled, and then she laughed, he was upset because he felt she was laughing at him, which she probably was, and he scratched her. He is 5. So, she told him if he did not apologize she would not play with him. So, she did not the next day, and then she came to visit us. So, she said, she promised to play with him before she left and he had forgotten about the incident. I was telling her that he was too old to not be told in no uncertain terms that that is not the way to handle being upset. Use your words. He is the youngest of five children so he gets indulged. Given how lovely his family is, and they are not a tv household, I still think he will turn out to be a nice person.
Like many stereotypes we mis-remember…sure the Rifleman had a rifle but he was a single Dad raising his son…the strong silent type, the rugged individual…actually a pretty good show by today’s standards. Too many dip-shits for me..not all that funny.
Lincoln seemed to be a truly rugged individual with a passion for protecting individual rights. But that was not in conflict with his passion for the greater good. Far from it. We are inherently social creatures and even if we are "loners" society has a hand in making us who we are, and we, in turn, influence our community, I think, often, more than we know. Ego has a place, but it tends to be narrow and short sighted; in the extreme, it can become evil. Literally. We are fools if/when we ignore that potential.
Why The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence and Bad Day at Blackrock along with others are so interesting because the writers figured out how in some ways how to supplant that trope.
That is actually the lesson of Two Thousand years of European history culminating in Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union. So whereas American society may cherish suspicious myths, that lesson is grounded in reality. American history is actually more nuanced and likewise its popular culture. But if there is today a devotee of the Hitler-von Ribbentroff School of Diplomacy, it is surely V. Putin by reason of hard lessons learned. And Trump is a greenhorn. Cowboy. Coward.
I'm happy she listens to his speeches and reads his garbage so I don't have to! I already know who and what he is. I won't subject myself to his lies and propaganda unless Heather points it out for being particularly absurd and "enlightening".
Now and then we should listen to him speaking, I think. It is much worse than any transcripts can convey. And we should look at listeners’ reactions before they can put on their best spin.
Why? I might think he is mentally ill or senile? I already do. I might believe that he only cares about himself and is an immoral criminal conman and rapist? No further evidence required in my mind. Will it change my mind or actions at all? Nope. It would just be unnecessary torture and we are already tortured enough by this "president" on a daily basis.
It should be pointed out that almost every quote that Heather prints comes from a viable news source as she is not on Air Force One or generally at press conferences or other places where Trump goes off into the yonder.
I say this because many here repeatedly attack the REAL news sources we have as "sold out" or biased and quote Heather as a hero. She is a hero by replicating these words for us but it is a serious error to attribute most of this actual reporting to her.
Most of our solid news sources are still out there doing the difficult and tedious job of reporting. There are exceptions, true (Fox, for instance) but far fewer than most of you give credit for and I find that disappointing.
We should be acknowledging that Heather provides us with incredible summaries and analysis and looking at her sources every day you can see that she devours all sorts of news and provides us with a terrific transcript.
But it is wrong to suggest that somehow she is doing the basic work. That is being done mostly by so many reporters and editors who still believe that journalism is important and who deserve the credit that Heather rightly gives them..
Thank you, Jon Rosen. I agree. I am often puzzled by the wholesale dismissal of reporters and journalists whose findings are double-checked and whose insights I find helpful. I think of Carol Loennig, Eric Schmitt, Max Boot, David Ignatius, Megan McArdle, Jane Mayer, and many more. Broad brushes tend to color outside the lines when precision is what we need.
Thanks for the acknowledgement. I totally agree with your comment, and wish others would take it to heart too. We need MORE good information, not less, and we honestly don't always get the greatest information from MSNOW all of the time. More than Fox certainly, but not as much as a truly objective source might provide.
Exactly so. And as for Hegseth, words fail me. Hair well slicked back, camera makeup perfect, "No stupid rules of engagement! Kill! blood! it's terrific! it's a SNUFF movie!" And we once laughed at "I love the smell of napalm in the morning!" Time for a big re-release of Apocalypse Now. The ever-present sports cap: seeing it in such a wildly inappropriate setting, it's suddenly clear why he seldom appears without one: no risk of nasty baldness surprises - Make Combover Great Again. I had to laugh at the convolution that it was actually Trump who led Netanyahu into action.. His heartfelt, humble thanks to Keir Starmer for making Diego Garcia available.
Thank you for showing up. The implications and incongruities of holding this all at once is challenging us to morph daily. A word I read recently in "Outgrowing Modernity" is neurogenesis. I sleep by night because by day I tend controllable things and that grounds me while I witness, to exhaustion. I begin again after a dose of HCR and the comments here.
'Trump talked to ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl about the war. “I hope you are impressed,” he said. “How do you like the performance? I mean, Venezuela is obvious. This might be even better. How do you like the performance?” '
“Trump talked to ABC News Jonathan Karl: I hope you are impressed. How do you like the performance ?” I wonder: how did the interviewer, any interviewer, respond ? I always fervently wish the interviewer, like Executive Officer of the Russian sub Konovalov chasing Red October says to Captain Tupolev: “You arrogant ass, you’ve killed us !” But apparently they never do.
It’s Come To This, I know you know that Trump is a con artist. First we had TV, softening up the American mentality by lying at least six times an hour (otherwise known as ads). Then we had destruction of the tie between humans and nature, which would connect them to actual reality. Then to top it all off we had Fox which made a whole generation of American zombies unable to differentiate between truth and fiction. Then the internet, where anyone can write whatever they want and send it around the world in an instant. And now, Trump, who has lied from time immemorial to the point that I’m not sure he can even tell that he is lying. He does it as naturally as breathing. He is a complete idiot except for the part of the brain that says whatever he thinks will make his people (the ones who can’t tell the difference between the truth and lying PLUS the ones who are profiting from his policies) vote for him.
For this, our people have offered themselves up in wars for the last 250 years? It almost makes you cry. Is it the end? No, but it is serious. I hope everyone has found the No Kings rally that they are going to on March 28th. We need to get 15 million people out on the street. Nothing is more important on that day. If you are out of town, go to a march near you. Plan now to go.
Thank you, Elizabeth! This is a very important reminder. Worth lots more likes! I find much support reading the nimble thoughts of commenters here. And I know all of you will show up if you can. But let’s not get cynical now about a movement that is now now bringing in people who are marching for the first time in their entire lives. (Projection on my part? Maybe)
This comment needs to be shared. I too am disgusted such an imbecile is allowed to wreak havoc. The GOP have betrayed the US and the world for their own gain.
It all makes me depressed. When I read 'Project 2025', I was surprised by its similarity to documents I had read all the way back in 1982 when I was an intern on the Republican Policy Committee in the U.S. Senate. New issues were included that had arisen in the forty-plus years since my brief stint; the rhetoric was more trenchant.😯
Nevertheless, 'Project 2025' was recycled Reaganism with its heartlessness but no velvet glove. The Reagan ideology is exhausted; has been for twenty years. The 'philosophy' becomes more extreme as practitioners double down on it. Once again, ideology breeds idiocy, as conservative Edmund Burke might argue.🖕
Except this infirm idiocy is killing people through war, poverty, murder. What keeps crossing my mind: ¿why not make our society better and more compassionate? ¿Why not extend such charity to poorer peoples around the world? That is the kind of leadership, in the post-American century, that would make our founders proud and make us exceptional once again.😥
EDIT P.S., I.H.C.T.T., nice to see you batting lead-off.
Ned, something I learned while working with Albert Killackey on his tour de force found at UnitedWeAmend.org is that Project 2025 is not the first manifesto published by The Heritage Foundation. Their first was a series titled "Mandate for Leadership," which codified the principles advanced by Lewis F. Powell, Jr. in his infamous "Powell Memo." The point of Powell's spear was an attack on the American institution of education at all levels. To put a trumpian brand on it, "Make America Dumb Again."
At the risk of sounding like a one-note horn, I posit that all of this synchronizes, and is likely motivated by evangelical lust for power. Evangelicals dwell in the Old Testament (aka Hebrew Scriptures) and they identify with the Israelites, those poor twelve tribes who were constantly put upon, enslaved and humiliated for simply being "God's chosen people." Evangelicals worship the petty, jealous, vengeful Jehovah, who was constantly smiting people who persecuted his "special children." Evangelicals refer to their Bible as "the sword of the Lord," a weapon to be used to smite their enemies. Evangelical children participate in "sword drills," in which they regurgitate scripture verses upon hearing the reference address. After "Jesus Loves Me," the second song evangelical children learn is "Onward Christian Soldiers." Militancy is the evangelical mindset, and they can be counted on to support any war a U.S. president chooses to give.
Interesting view with which I disagree. 'The Powell Memorandum' is not infamous. Written at a time of intellectual turmoil, often lacking in intellectual integrity, the memorandum was simply a call-to-action for the business sector, expressed through the Chamber of Commerce, to defend the principles upon which it is based and justified.
From that memorandum that DID NOT argue for oligarchy: “The Chamber should consider establishing a staff of highly qualified scholars in the social sciences who do believe in the system…whose authorship would be widely respected - even when disagreed with…[to] speak for the *Chamber.”
Justice Powell would likely have lamented ‘Project 2025’ and the vindictive moralism you note for their impingements upon individual freedoms. In arguing in favor of a private sector voice to defend a system in danger of subversion in 1971, Justice Powell insisted upon the highest standards of integrity and scholarship.
Ned, you should probably read the memo again as an adult. If you can't see the direct through line to where we are today, then I would question your priorities.
The other day I googled a segment of one of those long quotes, and discovered, not to my surprise, that Heather was the only source for it. The White House isn't providing verbatim transcripts. She must have been actually taking it down from the audio recording.
We are clearly living in a Kafkaesque nightmare with reality melting like a Dali painting. As we indiscriminately drain the rich cultural and financial inheritances of our forebears, a reckoning will be demanded.
Trump's stupidity, incompetency, and psychopathic corruption has been in plain sight since the elevator descent. It will be poignant marker of cultural consequences for the future historical analysis of the forces allowing Trump's ascent, the sociological lethargy that tolerated his abuses, and the erosive governing powers that so freely abandoned our constitutional credos to enable Trump's disastrous reign of kakistocracy
Wow! Thank you for well placed words of anger, and disgust, feelings you are not able to contain due to the overwhelming horror of the disrespectful, self-centered, idiotic actions taking place in our nation's capital.
Human beings who have pledged their life's blood in service to the United States of America, to protect us and the values we cherish by putting their lives on the line as they follow the directives of their commanders have been killed doing their duty in Iran. They are beloved sons (and daughters) cherished by their families who will never hear their voices, laugh at their jokes, remember kindnesses that will never be experienced again. Expressing the loss of service men and women who have surrendered their lives and safety to DUTY is a sacred cause. They are the best of America.
I also desire to extend sympathy to the Iranian families who lost their children in the bombing of that school and to each Iranian citizen who is "caught up" in a war they did NOT start or want!!!
This is all on the leadership or lack there of within the United States of America.
While the world endures these horrors and instabilities, our president looks for America's tax dollars to throw away on personal projects ie filling prisons with human beings without trials...in situations worse than "caged animals" or building a ballroom! He is NOT asking for permission my fellow citizens!!!
We have persons in our country who cannot afford the rising cost of everything!!! Our president has no knowledge or concern regarding their needs or ways we can care for one another. He just takes another fist full of money for himself!
Our nation cannot continue in this way. Our allies cannot trust us for anything. We have become completely lawless....it is all about Donald Trump and what he wants...and he wants everything NOW...rules, following past proper directives, communication with Congress, with citizens of this country or our allies is not a part of his plans....a total disrespect for our military and the lives of men and women who have pledged to face horrific dangers for this country are being used by a self-centered child who wants "all the toys" for himself!
“A small point this is not. Future generations will scarcely believe Americans sent a true imbecile to the White House, rather than just a cheat, a sociopath, a criminal. How could a moron manage to launch a Middle East conflagration costing $890 million every day, without a single regard for its consequences? Lipstick all over the pig hides that question of questions.”
The soldier is now identified as Sargent, BENJAMIN N. PENNINGTON.
****************************
3/8/26 Friday 6 PM Pacific:
The 7th U.S. Soldier has been killed in the Iran War during an "attack on U.S. Troops" in Saudi Arabia. CNN Authors, Piper Hudspeth Blackburn & Isabelle D'Antonio. The soldiers identity will be withheld for 24 hours until the Soldier's family has been notified.
I'm seeing people say this Administration is hiding the true number of soldiers that have died. While I have seen no proof that this is true, it would be completely on-brand for our Con Man POTUS to do this.
More than 1,500 Iranian civilians have died in the US/Israeli bombing raids, including 180 children. There's clearly no rules of engagement at all in this war on the part of the US and Israel. They're hitting hospitals and historic landmarks as well as schools. Their bombing is so indiscriminate in its fury that it may end up with Iran being left as a failed state and surely no other state in the region can be anything but alarmed at this prospect when the Americans have finally fucked off leaving that mess behind as they always do.
The secretary of war seems to being enjoying himself with one bellicose statement after another.
As for the fallen soldiers, in your president's words "that's the way it is". He attends these 'dignified transfers' but he really doesn't give a hoot.
“The government you elect is the government you deserve” which is another ignorant remark by one of our founders although true. “Man builds to destroy” is my axiom. Mankind loves to destroy at various times in recorded history only to rebuild. You may call it the Phoenix rebuilding from the ancient ashes. The country has descended into Dante’s Inferno as a recurring lesson to be made of those who would destroy for the sole sake of destruction and wealth accumulation. And the motive behind the Wizard’s curtain is the recurring Jeffery Epstein files labeling Donald Trump a pedophile who raped girls. I’m reminded of a Malcolm X solution of making change “… by whatever means necessary” and you may use your imagination on this line.
And for the record... Trump is "America's president" but he is not "my" president. And in November, he will learn that people like me are in the majority.
Trump and Kegseth are bombing away without any clear strategy, planning, or understanding of the consequences. They are making no effort to replenish missiles and don’t understand that to invade would create a huge bloodbath killing thousands of American soldiers and it would antagonize th4 public even more. Trump and Kegseth ignored their on intelligence groups on Iran, who made it quite clear it would be difficult to dislodge the current government.
What is most damning here is not only the recklessness or dishonesty. It is the moral collapse underneath it. When war is marketed like a trailer, when officials speak in the language of image, dominance, and performance, and when the deaths of soldiers and civilians are treated as inconveniences to be managed through optics, something larger than policy failure is taking place. The meaning of war itself is being degraded.
In a democracy, war is supposed to remain grave, restrained, and answerable to the people. It is supposed to be understood as a last resort, never a spectacle. But here the pageantry comes first. The branding comes first. The choreography comes first. Human reality arrives only afterward, as fallout. That is why the offense is not merely political. It is civic and moral.
This is one of the oldest tricks of authoritarian culture. It aestheticizes violence. It makes destruction look like resolve. It turns cruelty into spectacle and calls it strength. It teaches people to admire the pose rather than examine the cost. That distortion is dangerous because it conditions the public to consume national trauma as performance instead of confronting it as tragedy.
And once that happens, everything begins to erode. Truth becomes expendable. Casualties become an optics problem. Human beings become props. The language of civic duty gives way to the language of branding. What remains is not strength at all, but moral rot dressed up as patriotism.
Iran, the US, Israel, and now Gulf states have brought critical desalination plants into the line of fire, raising the risk that the Iran War will trigger a regional water crisis rather than just an oil shock. Hitting desalination plants is widely seen as a dangerous escalation because it shifts from targeting military and oil assets to directly threatening everyday civilian life through water scarcity. This is taking a lesson out of Russia's playbook in Ukraine, where hitting civilian infrastructure is meant to break a population's will to fight. It is also a war crime and a crime against humanity.
Iran’s foreign minister says a US airstrike hit a desalination facility on Qeshm Island, cutting water to about 30 villages and accusing Washington of “setting the precedent” for attacking water infrastructure. Iran portrays its actions as retaliation after its own plant was struck, while Gulf states and Western officials frame the Bahraini attack as an unlawful assault on civilians, so each side is blaming the other for “crossing the line.”
Bahrain says an Iranian drone attack damaged one of its seawater desalination plants, calling it an indiscriminate strike on civilian infrastructure; authorities say water service is still operating, but the incident is treated as a serious warning. Reports indicate at least two plants in the UAE area suffered damage from nearby port attacks or falling debris from intercepted drones, even if they were not the primary targets, underscoring how exposed these facilities are once fighting moves close to the coast.
Israeli and US strikes have also come close to other Gulf desalination and power complexes as part of a wider air campaign on Iranian-linked targets, further heightening concern that more plants could be hit directly or indirectly.
Gulf countries obtain most of their drinking water from a relatively small number of large desalination plants, so even partial damage can threaten supplies for millions of people within days. Many facilities are physically integrated with power stations, meaning that attacks on electricity or fuel infrastructure can also disrupt water production even if the desalination units are not struck head-on.
Analysts and past US intelligence assessments have long warned that serious damage to a few major plants could force evacuations or create national-level emergencies; one earlier assessment cited by experts warned Riyadh might need to be evacuated within about a week if a key Saudi plant and its pipelines were knocked out. If either Iran or US–Israeli–Gulf forces start systematically targeting water infrastructure, the conflict could rapidly generate humanitarian crises with the populations of entire cities being displaced.
The US struck first here at a facility that had little strategic importance. The question is why? Who is vetting the target list? Was someone trying to send a message, or was it a whim, a let's just blow up some shit moment provoked by the video posted by the White House with the video game clips? The targeting of the girls' school appears, according to some sources, to be intentional, but possibly due to a misidentification of the building's purpose.
These incidents are going to cement the Iranians' resolve to make America pay. I live in a town with an overlook where you could see the smoke from the Twin Towers on 9/11. My daughter lost the parents of her classmates when she was twelve. It changed her. It changed me.
It is also going to sour all of those billion-dollar deals Trump made with the Saudis and others. MBS will not take kindly to having his pristine city bombarded and its population evacuated because there is no potable water. And he is a man who has a known thirst for bloody vengeance.
Thank you Georgia for the links, very informative and concerning. Trump, Hegseth and the regime really lit the fuse on this one.
Whether the missile strike on the Iranian school was intentional or not matters but it doesn’t make the killing of 100s of children any better. Imagine what the reaction would be if that many American kids were killed by another country raining missiles down on a school here?
They are going to come after us to avenge Soleimani and Khamenei, and all the damage in the July attacks on the nuclear facilities, and the current attacks. I don’t trust the competency of the national security apparatus, and I think Trump has burned our relationships with foreign intelligence services. I think it will be several attacks, on military bases and ports in the Middle East with hostage taking, and then something big in the homeland. The fact that Iran is getting Russian intelligence makes it more dangerous times. This is going to be meant to humble Trump, so it will be big.
Even though my experience on this subject is from government work in the 80s, I think everything you have written is correct. He has awakened several sleeping bears, and America will now pay for one man's ignorance of just how old and complicated relationships in the Middle East are.
Georgia, I don't think Iran will limit their retribution to just "humbling" Trump. After all, the concept of "an eye for an eye" originated in the Middle East. But I believe many Americans will suffer as a prelude to Iran doing us the favor that Mitch McConnell would not.
The potential for war on water has evidently just come into the sights of Western reporters. President Bone Spur's administration was surprised by that news for sure, having decimated the DoS of seasoned Mideast experts. (They preferred real estate developers.) The Iranians have likely appreciated this arrow in their quiver all along. But there is a point of honor at work, and they held back this bombing until now. I hope the world remembers who ignited this carnage.
I lived in pre-Revolution Tehran for a short time. The people of Iran are fiercely proud of their Persian heritage and history. They are zealous followers of Islam. Yes, they (especially younger generations) are curious about, drawn to western values like freedom of expression, but don't necessarily admire our American cultural values (if that is not an oxymoron...). And they remain resolutely suspicious of America's motives. Look at what the Gazans have withstood! Iranians aren't likely to shrink from today's American madness.
In my travels I met some who had gone to Iran and loved it. I traveled solo budget 5-7 months out 6 times. So,I met the most interesting people, and many of them were solo..which I say is the BEST way to travel. I met one American, a fellow who was on vacation from his job teaching english in Japan. Other than that. No Americans. Aussies, europeans, Japanese...In Myanmar, one lovely girl from China. this was probably 1995ish..before the Chinese were leaving. Now, I think China has to be #1 for travel: a miracle of progress.
I have seen videos on youtube of Iranians who live as nomades or in caves set up over time as complete homes for extended family...and the beauty of ancient sites which now we are bombing...and Tehran: a modern clean city.
Iran will never give up. The Palestinians take first prize as resisters. all they have now is their love of whatever land they have left and their resistance.
The USA is going to hell, destroying itself. as are the Israelis.
Judith, thank you so much for posting what the Iranian professor said. Everyone here has to watch this to understand how badly Trump has underestimated the power of the Iranian faction that supports the theocracy. The bottom line is that they see Trump as a pedophile and Bibi as a genocidal maniac, both devils and child killers, and they understand that the world will not be on their side, but they will fight until they win or are martyred. Martyrdom is a gift.
The emphasis was on how they are so much bigger and stronger than Gaza, and that they do not see themselves as victims.
It is chilling.
If Trump sends in ground forces to try to recover the uranium, I fear that they will either be massacred or taken as hostages and killed off one at a time.
Hello Georgia... Prior to the outbreak of Hostilities, Tehran was on the verge of running out of Potable Water... Indeed Israel gets the majority of its Potable Water, as do the Gulf States, from desalinization... Targeting this infrastructure by both sides should be a War-Crime...
Wow! Thanks for that information. I had only researched the size of the installation that was struck in terms of the overall countrywide system. What you found out makes any attack on potable water sources in Iran even more disgusting.
It seems like committing war crimes and atrocities is now de rigeur from day one in any hostilities worldwide. Zelenskyy seems to be the one exception, at least so far, in the face of enormous provocation.
Thanks Georgia... In General, with Climate Change. the Middle East is running out of Water... It was an impetus for Israel seizing the Golan Heights for example...
Hello Albert... Reagan was a B-Actor that never Served Overseas... He received a Draft Deferment, as did John Wayne... Ever see Reagan on a Horse?... Ever see GWB atop a Horse?... GWB is afraid of Horses... DJT hawking DJT Merch during the Dignified Transfer?.... DJT is shameless, and shows his contempt for the fallen...
He has rarely shown up in the past month or so. Lobs some truly pathetic (even for him), and short shots at a reply on a sub-thread. He just doesn’t have the “juice” he used to.
I’m guessing Ricky is none to happy with what’s going on, and I love it!
As an American, I am THRILLED to hear our bases being bombed. Only 775 more to go. I don't care about American lives either; I only care about our enemies; them Muslims.
Who will be those future historians? Chinese? The white human race , being so superior, is going to hell. The superior part is what is the problem. beating back superior Japanese and superior Germans, now superior Jews, who have gotten the benefit of the richest country in the world. The nice 3rd world people were never the problem...they didn't get into technology.
Hello Judith... That is a Good Question... So far the Chinese are Winning the Race to the top in the 21st Century... They lead the Race in the Adoption of Practical A.I., Robotics, and Patent filings... They are also not wasting their National Resources in Stupid Wars... DJT would never succeeded in the Chinese Society... Post Chinese, it may be A.I. writing the Story of the Human Tragedy....
I never served and I’m proud of it. Throughout my life, I never witnessed a war worth fighting for and all those who did serve I personally consider toadies who lacked an ability to act intelligently and refuse to serve as did My hero Mohammad Ali.
Nothing personal but when I constantly hear of someone who proudly served in a war — not in the military, I’m simply not impressed. I spent time on the streets protesting that war because I knew it was wrong and had my number been called up in Nixon’s lotto, I would have gone to Canada or Sweden.
Surely there remain raw feelings. I think history proved me correct that we wasted so many lives in Vietnam on both sides and turning the environment into a wasteland. I was born a rebel.
Thanks for the correction Albert... There are many Hollywood Stars that served in that War in Combat... Notably Jimmy Stewart, Lee Marvin, and many more...
Albert, thank you for this post. I have felt that the military salute should be reserved for those who wore the military uniform, and that the civilian "salute" should be the hand over the heart, with cover (hat) removed if worn. Some time back, I did a bit of research and discovered that certain civilians were given the privilege of the military salute one of them being POTUS.
There are a ton of rules and protocols, and many are dependent on the nature of the ceremony.
Joyce Vance, in her "Week Ahead" column, wrote this:
"The government’s brief begins like this: “Courts cannot tell the President what to say. Courts cannot tell the President what not to say. They cannot tell the President how to handle national security clearances.” It’s almost as though the government’s lawyers don’t know there’s a Constitution out there, a rule of law that both assigns power to and constrains the exercise of power by the executive branch of government, which is one of three branches of government in this democratic Republic, and not an all-powerful dictator."
People need to not just pay attention. They need to take action, now, and every day, until this menace to democracy and freedom is removed from the office that he has desecrated.
Miles Taylor recently reported some of the misspellings of recent DOJ court filings. These people don’t even know about spellcheck, let alone the Constitution.
Let’s hope they aren’t using Chat GPT to write their briefs and including fake citations. Some private attorneys have actually been caught doing it, and they get sanctioned and sometimes disciplined for it. The first thing the clerk and opposing counsel will do is to check your citations, and attorneys who use Chat GPT for briefs or memoranda are being lazy.
“We are unique among the world’s militaries,” Milley said. “We don’t take an oath to a country, we don’t take an oath to a tribe, we don’t take an oath to a religion. We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or a tyrant or a dictator.”
“And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator,” he spat. “We take an oath to the Constitution and we take an oath to the idea that is America – and we’re willing to die to protect it.”
I heard a fair amount of talk in my early youth of those working in our government being "public servants", but that concept died away. What the plutocrats have always wanted was a tyranny with them in charge. B-actor Reagan was hired to make that sound like a good thing.
I had to look up Candace, having no idea who she is. The men are all popular in a certain genre, one that I’ve certainly been exposed to for entertainment value but hardly would be equated with fine acting. I might give a pass to Voight for Midnight Cowboy.
Phil, I guess "superb" is in the eye of the beholder, but I don't see any "greats" in Albert's list. I see some fame, but not greatness. Violence and special effects often provide cover for mediocre talent.
Judith, in order from my subscriptions, Jeff Tiedrich, then Mary L. Trump, then Joyce Vance railed on Donald's stupid ball cap.
I have my own theory about that headgear, based on my observation of my mother's descent into dementia before she died. She underwent relentless mood swings, but frequently, she presented a kind of simple-minded childishness.
I imagine a simple-minded, childish Donald anticipating his having to make an appearance at a "boring" dignified transfer where he would be surrounded by military "top brass," all wearing their dress service caps. Donald's impaired mind thought, as commander-in-chief, HE should get to wear a cap like the generals do. The only caps he has access to are the merch in his grift shop, so he grabbed the newest, fanciest one. Now, Donnie looked important, like all the generals. And it never hurts to promote your merch anytime there's a camera around.
Joyce Vance also suggested we join forces and mount a sustained campaign on one issue demanding accountability… “because we cannot be a country that kills school kids and lies about it.” She wrote a short,succinct letter to Sen Britt.Let’s all do the same with our legislators!
What is very clear about this madman's actions is that his enemies, and there is a multitude of those, are going to retaliate in a very dangerous way for all of us. How I would love to see him out of the news and ignored for just one day as the effect would be amazing. Like the wicked witch under Dorothy's house, he might just curl up and disintegrate. I feel our country owes the world an apology that can never be big enough to cover all the affronts with which he has dirtied our relations with allies. I am at a point where words are too good to use against his misdeeds. Cut off all attention on every level to his conduct and watch him sizzle. And where are those two votes that could end this fiasco? I say again that Republicans have missed their chance to be history's greatest heros just by saying 'no'.
Unfortunately, we can't ignore it when our military is committing war crimes. Attacking the desalination plant in Iran is a war crime and a crime against humanity. At least it is for Russia when it attacks water treatment plants all across Ukraine.
My fondest wish before I die is to see Putin and Trump tried for war crimes at the Hague and doing their time in adjacent cells. And yes, that means we would have to accept the ICC's jurisdiction. I do not think after this fiasco that Trump would get a fair trial anywhere in the US as the coffins start to appear at Dover AFB daily.
What Americans politicians have often lacked is an understanding of nuance. Other cultures have a deep historic understanding of their past and hold on to centuries of history. In my youth I hitchhiked around Britain and Ireland and was often picked up by lorry drivers. Every single one of them gave me a history lesson that went back centuries and often had to do with long held grievances of past troubles between Scotland England and Ireland. As an American I was shocked that centuries of grievances oth had not dissipated. And that is the problem. The myth of the lone cowboy bring justice to the West, was always a fiction. And we continue to be a violent and ignorant population when we fail to even try to understand how we are creating several generations of anti American hatred with every bomb we drop. I grieve every one of those children who were killed and all the other innocent people who are dying in this unnecessary war.
You have written my biggest fear: the US is creating a generation (or more) of anti-American terrorists around the world, most especially in Venezuela, Iran, Greenland, Canada, Denmark, Mexico, and Cuba. Our children and grandchildren will pay the price for the Trump regime's ignorance and arrogance.
Heather, thank you! Friends- there’s a way to help folks get their ID documents so they can vote: volunteer with VOTERIDERS. It’s flexible— you can do it remotely, from your own home, on your schedule. Even a few hours a week makes a big difference. Sign up for orientation at VoteRiders.org/orientation
Every Republican is exactly right. If they want to distance themselves from Trump they need to switch parties like millions of us have who realized that there is absolutely nothing conservative about Trump and all of the Republican Senators and Congresscritters. They are cruel and evil and share almost no common values with most of us. WWJD? Certainly not bomb innocent civilians for absolutely no reason except to remain in power.
Can nothing save our country from this ignorant self-important buffoon and his incompetent insufferable imbeciles??? How is it possible that one narcissistic egomaniacal sociopath can derail this country so far from its original organization as a republic and an ally to Europe and others, into a country of cruelty and corruption that We the People are ashamed of?
I cannot believe we are enduring a second term with this subhuman and that generations will be suffering the consequences of his wrecking ball regime. I can't believe this is what my children will have to deal with in the years ahead.
Again, this is because thse Republican jellyfish who COULD have stopped Trump (Moscow Mitch McConnell foremost), very deliberately decided not to. Plus: this is exactly the way Putin and the TBBs (Tech Bro Billionaires)like it.
Mitch McConnell made it his duty to fill the Supreme Court with 'conservative' justices after Bork was rejected. And he had the ability to impeach and remove after the January 6 riot. He is responsible but I doubt he has the marbles to actually realize what he wrought.
Mitch is a snake in the grass, whispering his bile to the Senate. For over ten years, Senator Collins worked for Mitch. You see them laughing and planning their evil deeds in many pictures of them together.
And now, she is using the oligarchs to spew her BS on the radio, TV and the Internet anywhere she can. Hopefully, the people of ME will finally realize she works for Leonard Leo, Elon Musk, Charles Koch and other oligarchs who stand to gain from the Republican tax cuts.
Her war chest must be enormous though. Every day her election staff runs TV ad after TV ad, asking for Mainers to write " Susan Collins and thank her" for some little known thing she has done for Maine residents.
I notice "MI" at the tail end of your locations, GJ.
Where in Michigan might you currently reside? I ask as one born in California, but graduated from elementary (Dearborn, MI), junior high (with a year back in L.A., sandwiched between Dearborn and Livonia, MI), senior high (Livonia, MI), undergrad in Ann Arbor, M.A. in Ann Arbor (after the army), and Ph.D. in Ann Arbor. Then Blue Ridge Valley, s.w. MI, NYC, Budapest, eastern Slovakia, Moravian Brno, again s.w. Michigan, NYC again, San Francisco, and since then the mountains of Kyushu, Japan.
Phil, I worked for Prudential UK (Jackson National Life) in Okomos for a couple of years circa 2005-2007. If Lansing was on the ocean we would be living there now. There were several of us that had friends in the Ann Arbor area and we would get together once a month for dinner or sporting events, etc.--sometimes in East Lansing sometimes in Ann Arbor.
I've been back to East Lansing several times since the end of my contract at JNL. Hands down, it was the best run life insurance company we worked at out of over 75 of them. We also did work for AAA Michigan and we had a couple of actuaries working there in Dearborn.
Lansing had the best athletic club I've ever been to with 4 swimming pools, 5 basketball courts, 2 weight rooms, 2 spinning classrooms, 21 tennis courts, an indoor 1/5 of a mile track, several handball racquetball courts, 4 squash courts and many more amenities. Also, Lansing had many unique stores and some excellent golf courses.
I have many great memories from my time in Lansing.
Thinking forward, the only way the US will be able to make amends will be through both diplomacy and reparations. And we (as a country) will be broke because this thoughtless regime is burning through money like kindling.
Republican have always been pure bullshit when it comes to wars and their treatment of those of us who fight those wars.
As former congressman - and veteran - Max Rose pointed out last night on MSNOW, the TrumpVA is doing a great job of sending those or us (this involves me personally) with serious medical problems out for "Community Care," and then making it hard for us to get that care by not paying the community caregivers they send us to. I am right in the middle of that. However, my (Democratic) congressman - who I know well - happens to be the ranking member of the House Veteran's Affairs Committee. I am meeting his Veterans Affairs staffer this week to figure out how to ram a red hot poker up the ass of the Ass who has moved the Los Angles VA to East Germany (I'm not kidding - my care provider got nervous last month when I expressed some beliefs on current affairs - he acted like someone who was being listened to). Now that I know it's not just some "glitch" that affects me, those morons are about to find out what happens to those who cross TCinLA. Others have learned the hard way. I know how to use the system to fight them.
Anyone viewing whats going on from afar would conclude the utter stupidity of mankind : expenditure of billions to destroy and then spend even more billions to rebuild what was destroyed. And just imagine what if those billions were spent on hospitals, schools, healthcare, the environment, eradicating poverty, etc. How stupid is mankind ? Inder S Cheema
Very stupid. As Stephen Hawking said...paraphrasing...when humans go extinct, it will be because of stupidity and greed. I add that we, humans, will have so richly deserved it...going extinct.
“For far too many years now, polite society has treated the question of whether Donald Trump is a fascist like some delicate philosophical puzzle that must be handled with tweezers and a Latin dictionary.”
“The argument that “we cannot use the word fascism yet” has always relied on a convenient trick. It insists the label may only be applied after democracy has already been dismantled beyond repair, once the institutions are crushed and the system resembles the regimes run by Benito Mussolini or Adolf Hitler at their most consolidated. In other words, the diagnosis must wait until the disease has fully consumed the patient. This is the political science equivalent of refusing to call a wildfire a wildfire until the entire forest has burned down and the wildlife are filing insurance claims.”
*(full article in link)
CALL IT FASCISM OR ADMIT YOU’RE AFRAID
CLOSER TO THE EDGE and
ROOK T WINCHESTER
MAR 7 2026 | Substack
The evidence is clear. The hesitation is political.
no JBR, this author is not pro-facist…the article is asking how much destruction from Trump do we stand up to before we admit Trump never has wanted to build a strong America including jobs for families, a bright future for our kids, support for your elder years, healthcare for all and support for the small business owner including our farmers. We need Trump out of the Presidency now, before he pushes our enemies into a war that has no ending.
I agree with you. Trump says antifa is corrupt. His critics are not fascists. He is a fascist and clearly supports fascists. Authoritarian intolerant rule.
How do we get the exact opposite of what we have in Donald?
Let’s condense the long list we have of his crimes, vulgarities, and corruptions and say, well, he sinks to all of them out of his helpless need for lights, attention, and headlines always to be on him.
We get away from this by prizing skills to rise above ourselves, too – to put and practice in schools the arts of seeing others in all their contexts and complications.
Donald and all his and his pals’ arms dealing, drug lord pardoning, and underage girl trafficking float the world’s violence, narcotic deaths, and rape. Let’s compete with that by essay writing programs for older youth to see and quote individuals for how they personally face and deal with issues they self-identify.
We’re guaranteed Donald’s adolescence, lies, and violence. But without the program I cite for our best teachers, we’re extra guaranteed more of the same from dictators, oligarchs, social media billionaire zealots for hatreds, and religious sectarian nationalists and racists so long as the world’s schools don’t compete at all.
“The administration’s approach to foreign affairs appears to be the logical outcome of two generations of a peculiar U.S. cowboy individualism“
All supported by voters with the propaganda of the Corporate Worlds which includes corporate democrats.
The DNC is directly responsible for our current mess. Evil republicans have always existed, but complicit democrats frustrated voter and the fascists filled the void.
Now a Jesus freak from Texas has captured headlines as a “new” leader. The DNC did the same with Obama and he did nothing against corporate power. Occupy This was a missed opportunity for change but that’s not what the DNC allowed.
It is grotesque to say that the DNC is 'directly responsible' for the current mess. The DNC did not choose to be a minority in Congress. President Harris - with Democratic party support - would not have cut food stamps, would not have set terrorists and thugs loose on the streets chasing immigrants, would not have gone to war with Iran, would not have been on the take for personal wealth since day one (etc etc).
James Talarico is a practicing Christian, but "Jesus freak" sounds way more off base or unstable than Mr Talarico, who comes across as sensible, with sound policies. I like Jasmine Crockett better, but maybe Talarico is more electable in pretty-red Texas.
And Obama, whatever his failings in the follow-up to the 2008 financial crisis, was a far better president than Bush Jr or Trump, and the country was better off after his time in office than before he started. That's not a terrible test of success, rather than perfection.
“Harris would have done…” Ah, but voters “believed “ something different.
E.G., Bernie Sanders won the California presidential primary. The DNC rigged the state voting sequence and selected North Carolina next where he would not be selected. From then on, the song was “unelectable “.
Our two party system is rigged to prevent real change. Howard Dean screamed, Gary Hart held a woman on his lap. Now a “practicing christian” that is electable is a darling.
I’m 80 years old and watched progressive candidates be destroyed at the national level. During Obama democrats had both houses. The head of Goldman Sachs was selected head of Treasury. After 2008 people lost their homes but no one went to jail. People see hypocrisy and fascists fill the void of a “fix”
Laws are fences for the rich to jump…. The DNC is complicit.
No one is stating Biden or Obama or the Dems are as bad as Trump and the Rs. But the fact is they made serious errors of pride and judgment that helped make Trump’s ascension more feasible. Biden and his insiders hid the truth about his condition. That led to the Dems being unprepared to battle this known monster. Sorry, but this was unforgivable.
For about three bucks, you can get yourself a cup of coffee to go right along with that circular firing squad you clearly yearn for. They’ll even throw in a couple of packets of Splenda for free.
Beyond that, I don’t know what that circular firing squad gets you.
Right as usual Phil. The man I spoke of on my post had a severe learning disability and reading was torture. I had no idea of this for decades since he was clever, a genius with engines and a hard worker. But a scholar, nah. Therefore he was susceptible to the tv version of justice. No excuse but I finally understood. Met many others who were stuck in “Gunsmoke land” for various reasons and it did generalize far beyond the Wild West, sad to say…. The power of propaganda, and it doesn’t take a hardcore Fox, sometimes just distraction, or “entertainment” works as well.
He wore a baseball cap that he offers for sale, to the funeral. Great time to wear and advertise his merchandise. He also wore his bright red Maga tie as though it was a Maga political rallu. He also has called injured military loosers and suckers... Plus hes making a fortune off the war. And helping Russia. Of course fox covered it up and lied. As the price of gas spikes, making trump rich, why is there even 30% support for him and his henchmen by anyone who cares about the country the economy and its military.
47 is on the forever campaign trail promoting himself. Losing support of the USians he's taking his SHOW on the road to the adoring world of future MAGA to grift.
Sadly, my own govenment seems to be following suit in trying to reclaim the patriotic vote after wisely refusing to take part in this savage and unnecessary war.
It hasn't benefitted Starmer at all since Trump has continued to reproach him for the original offence of denying the US access to British bases to launch attacks on Iran. This means that unprecedented second royal visit that Trump was granted as part of the UK government's charm offensive was all for nothing. When will people ever learn that Trump is not a reliable ally or partner (even his fucking wives knew this!).
I hope Starmer’s missteps don’t put Farage in No. 10. I heard the King was furious over Starmer’s decisions to deal with Commonwealth matters without consulting Commonwealth leaders. Trump’s insult to Starmer was gratuitously unnecessary, and Trump has no idea he’s not won anything except for further anger from Iran.
Never happen; note the pardoning of Nixon, the immunity granted the Bankers' Plot fascists and the forgiveness of the Confederate traitors. The conduct of the ChristoNazi Regime, the cunningly perfected, always plausibly deniable collaboration of the Democrats and the embrace of tyranny implicit in the refusal of the people to {effectively} resist is obviously the true face of the {real} "America" and the criminal enterprise that has {always} been its definitive secret.
Meanwhile the ChristoNazis are [already] stealing our elections -- and the Democrats are doing absolutely nothing to stop the theft. Here in a vital Thom Hartmann exclusive is how the thievery is done, including credible statistical evidence showing that the ChristoNazis' purging of Blacks, Hispanics and white progressives from the 2024 voter rolls put Trump in the White House: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-q1lWsnlhg&t=5s (Election discussion starts at 9:09)
The {deliberate} bombing of the Iranian girls’ school is undoubtedly Trump’s reaffirmation of the ChristoNazi misogyny that fuels Trumpstein's victimization of terrorized children and capitalism’s apocalyptic assault on our Mother Earth. That hatefulness and white male supremacist bigotry define the Trumpstein Regime. Thus the terrible relevance of the full text of the Jane Doe lawsuit against Trump and Epstein (later withdrawn by the plaintiff in response to credible death threats): https://cdn.factcheck.org/UploadedFiles/Johnson_TrumpEpstein_Lawsuit.pdf
Heather’s newsletter has recently included more direct quotations — some of them quite lengthy — from the Manchurian Cantaloupe’s daily diatribes. There are snippets from “Truth Social” (nothing at all about Truth, and about as Social as venereal disease), long quotes from speeches, Oval Office soliloquys, defensive hunchback responses to queries aboard Air Force One, and the like.
Perhaps they’ve always been there, but their length and frequency have increased. Whatever, we owe her mightily for this alone. Real historians have real obligations to report events as they truly happen — not as so many would prefer to have them sound.
As embarrassing and shameful as it feels, It is important we keep being forced to listen to and confront the incoherent, un-cleaned up, 4-year-old, Orwellian, baby bibble-babble version of history, because that’s exactly the one that’s unfolding before our eyes. We don’t dare take our eyes off that chintzy, white MAGA-merch USA ballcap. It forces even MAGA to look straight at the crassness, vulgarity, greed and shamelessness that lies at the heart of everything he does.
Most reporters (and God knows every Republican) do the opposite — they clean him up, wiping the drool off his face first. They summarize, digest, repackage, condense, translate, interpret. In doing so, they contribute to the degradation of the moment by concealing its true scope. They put lipstick on the pig, allowing millions of lazy, indoctrinated people to pretend to themselves it can sing and dance as well.
A small point this is not. Future generations will scarcely believe Americans sent a true imbecile to the White House, rather than just a cheat, a sociopath, a criminal. How could a moron manage to launch a Middle East conflagration costing $890 million every day, without a single regard for its consequences? Lipstick all over the pig hides that question of questions.
So thank you, Heather, for continuing to tell it like it really is. Don’t take your eyes off that gussied up, slathered up, baseball cap-wearing, mango-formaldehyded, face-painted pig for a moment.
I appreciate what Heather is telling us. She and Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Timothy Snyder are 3 historians I subscribe to who help to interpret these times for me. It bothers me how Fox News gets off so easily for distorting the Truth. You also appropriately use Orwell's text as a means to describe this administration. My bookclub just read or reread for many of us, "1984" and it has clarified many things for me. For one, we know that totalitarian leaders need their forever wars to keep the people in line. We already see some Dems in Congress falling in line as they allowed Trump's illegal war to go on. I wrote a piece on the language of the fascist regime as well that we learn from the book.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/the-language-of-the-fascist-regime?r=f0qfn
One of Hermann Goring's quotes during the Nuremberg Trials seems somewhat pertinent right now:
"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."
-- Herman Goering, in conversation with the American psychologist, Gustave Gilbert, during the Nuremberg trials
And, Judith, I fear that is what got Democrats voting with Republicans to allow Trump free reign with this war. They were more concerned with seeming unpatriotic, than doing their fiduciary duty for the people who voted for them.
Actually the one place in which there is absolutely {no} difference between Democrats and Republicans is in how far they will go to sustain the bribes they get from the plutocracy. That's their unifying concern.
Now we have confirmation that Trump's initial attack on Iran included the bombing of a girls' school that "appears to have killed 168 people, or more, many of them children". How on earth can Linsey Graham see this as "cleaning out the bad guys"?
It is Trump's responsibility to see that his antics don't result in horrible crimes against humanity like this. If we, the American people, don't respond by throwing him out of office, we will be justifiably seen by the world as accomplices to these crimes. We need to be heard at the March 28 No Kings rallies!
Graham is evil (all profit motivation not morals) but I am more disturbed that so many support him
Lindsay is a worthless tool.
Bootlicker Graham says and does what his handlers tell him to do, IMO. The orange stain on the carpet of humanity has, in his eyes, only one responsibility - make as much money as possible from every interaction. Nothing else matters. Nothing. As a narcissistic sociopath with diminishing mental capacity he is the performing monkey clanking his cymbals. Happy effin’ Monday.
Oxymoron! Trump's responsibility??? He is a walking dead person. He was never anything but a bad person; now he's rotting away: his mind is nearly soup, his skin is degrading. He should be dead but somehow he immune from "responsibility" for any of his crimes against laws, humanity, little girls... and now he's immune from the grave, where he belongs.
I don't think he worth commenting on. Paying attention to Trump is bad for your brain.
Same with Linsey Graham. Hearing him go on about this horrible crime against Iran is damage. Someone showed that video on a Youtube site. They apologize for showing this crap. But, they think we need to know....It is Horrible!
Look Away!
I don't think rallies make a difference. They don't give a damn what we want, think, like, say, yell. They've got the power.
He never cares about individual suffering, as he does not have feelings for others. People who support him see this lack of empathy as strength…so long as they are not suffering, everything is alright. His followers share this ideology of not having sympathy for others.
Doesn't it seem like almost all of the Republicans are saying, "well if you wanna make an omelette...."
David, I’m not sure if Lindsey is retired from the Reserves. I believe that is where his rank originates. Wonder why he didn’t honor the patriotic reservists, who gave their lives in this war, by being there to receive them back to their homeland. Even though they were not part of his constituency.
Yes. And, they get money from that same people, sometimes just in different amounts.
The love of money the root to all evil.
Money is hardly even something one can TOUCH anymore...that old saw has ALways missed the point...much like 'bullets kill people'...
Money, like almost everything in life, is a tool...AND an objective, agreed(hopefully not heavy on the greed) upon system...take it from there, Harvey...
Harvey Kravetz, rather than money specifically or solely, I think the failure (to check and balance, or to advise/consent) of most current individuals in Congress comes from their desire to keep their Congressional jobs. Some of that desire is probably rooted in money, and I believe that some of it is rooted in an inflated narcissistic view of self-importance. Mysteriously, most seem to believe that their re-election is more important than the welfare of the country.
You are right, Loren. The democrats also dream that the ultra-wealthy might be their oligarchs too. But they will learn that the oligarchs are not the allies of democracy or democrats.
Back before his wife took over his YouTube channel, "Beau of the Fifth Column" used to say that billionaires "aren't red or blue, they're green" meaning they will back whichever party increases their wealth.
Like I've said for decades, Loren...the only difference between the two is which jumps through the corporate hoops the fastest...
Then Democrats were REALLY being unpatriotic......... and REALLY stupid!
I did the research: it was a really rotten idea that will help no one and further ruin the USA.
We killed their leader and 150+ families lost their precious little girls.
Now, we just bought ourselves another 9/11..which was not just one event. They were planning 4 events.
SONOFA BITCH!
Of course he is making us less safe in every way he possibly can.
Everything costs more.
People are losing their jobs.
We are not educating our population because fascists like stupidity.
We have a military filled with Christian Nationalists who are being unleashed on the rank and file.
We have no intel on our enemies other than that while Israel provides because everyone who could provide it was fired.
We have no purpose for the war except because Trump and the people whispering into his ear want to kill everyone in the Middle East that is Muslim first.
He is threatening all of Latin America after having already threatened Greenland and Canada.
He is not giving us any FBI intel on terror threats and people in Texas paid for that with their lives so far.
We have no plan for an attack on our own country.
People are not being told to prepare for an attack be it military or hybrid, like everyone in the EU was.
We are killing civilians and the images are angering others, some of whom may want to take revenge.
Here is how the House voted.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/05/politics/house-vote-war-powers-iran-vis
Here is how the Senate voted.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/04/politics/who-voted-war-powers-senator-iran-vis
We must get rid of the turncoats who are selling us out.
I really want to see Fetterman primaried and LOSE. I am so upset that I wrote so many postcards--on my own dime!!--for him!!
Whoa and what about decimating medical research and destroying vaccine programs? Oh, and climate change?
Linda, he is destruction personified, death star. I see lots of posts on threads that rejoice in what he is doing because a lot of people want to pound the hell out of everybody. All they see is the video game aspect.....poof and gone. Everything is going to get worse and we will hear a lot of kvetching about costs, etc.
Linda, I got myself into some hot water with a coworker many years ago over "W's" mission creep in the middle east. My coworker was upset at people who protested the war and said they should "leave" the country and "go back where they came from". I said that I can trace one side of my family in North America back to 1644. The other side, at least several generations. Back then, I wasn't out on the street or calling Congress, but I was very against it--where was I to "go back" to? I also called those who were out protesting the "better patriots" because they fully understood and exercised their Constitutional rights! I am not joking when I say I saw an expression of utter confusion on him.
I found a YouTube clip from "Belle of the Ranch" from yesterday to be quite pertinent. She often gets snarky MAGA comments, and she always manages to point out people (aka MAGA) manage to out themselves as ignorant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNIRoNVOUA0
Funny how they will proclaim themselves to be patriots and yet (bad word used as a verb!) all over the Constitution!
Thanks for the clip. Belle is great and so on point. Also, when Trump first said people should go back to where they came from I started thinking about where that would be for me. Now, I could choose the US, I am part Native American genetically, but not so much culturally. Still, I was born on US soil, and that makes me indigenous too. I am also a descendent of someone who is indigenous German. I could have gone with the African ancestors from my dad's side of the family too, but Africa is big and I would not know what country or countries my father's people hail from. So, lo and behold, here I am in Germany. Where does Trump belong? His family was kicked out of Germany for his grandfather being considered a draft dodger. It apparently runs in the family.
It is the juncture where excuse giving eviscerates moral clarity
Nicely put, Steve...I wish it hasn't always been that way, pertaining to humans...beginning with...'EYE didn't do it, mommy'...and 'the dog ate my homework...'.
AND, very much, how those responses are handled at THAT 'juncture'...
Linda, they were more concerned with keeping their jobs. They live in red states.
Eadie, I get that. But, it also surprises me how people cannot always see what is behind them losing their jobs or other problems they are having right now.
A friend complained of her property taxes going up and blames it on the Democrats because it is a Blue State, it never occurs to her that it could be because of the federal government.
War is usually started by ignorant, arrogant men for their own purposes. The march to a war of choice is that their side is in danger and must be protected. The march to war is riddled with lies. The young people are sent off to war with the vainglorious politicians often saying the conflict will be over in a short time like six months. That is a huge lie. The coffins begin to come home a few at a time, but those fateful deliveries continue for far longer than six months, sometimes for years. And those are just the ones who were killed. Many, many more come home wounded and broken in ways they don’t know how to recover from. As a mother of a retired soldier, this whim of a war infuriates me.
Humans get irrevocable damage from the crap they see, the things they do, the physical damage, of course. IDF soldiers are committing suicide. (They should.)
The young men who go to war aren't even adults. A man isn't really an adult until he has judgment..around age 23-24. Their high degree of testosterone pushes them to violence and belief in their immortality. These are children playing war with their buddies.
I believe it was Goering who also claimed in speaking with an American general after WWII that the US could have a Hitler. The general replied that no we couldn't;t because win the US have a system of checks and balances. Goering insisted that yes the US could have a Hitler. He went on to say that you just tell the people something often enough and they will begin to believe it. He further said that those who still didn't believe, you just attack their patriotism. Precient words.
Mother's most remembered cautions, "Never think it can't happen here," and "Don't become the monsters you are fighting."
Mother was a 23 year old wife with two kids when my dad was stationed in near Munich Germany where we lived about 15 miles south of Nuremberg during the trials (during those trials and the Berlin Airlift).
She had been a maid working for Clara Endicott Sears at the Pergolas in Harvard in the early 40s but, in the war ravaged aftermath in the late 40s, on a TSgt's pay, had two live-in maids and an oil painter who paid for his room and board with us with oil paintings. She was always an avid reader and observer on the war and its aftermath.
As an eleven year old, I didn't pay enough attention to her views on the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, and the Israeli war started with Egypt, with the British, and French joining in the Suez crisis that Eisenhower refused to support, I think, before the Russians eventually crushed the Hungarian revolutionaries with tanks. In the following years, I did notice some impacts from some of the 1956 Hungarian refugees in, new to me, Hungarian-American clubs.
I still know too little of the history, but it was one of my first lessons in consequences of ill-thought out military actions in my lifetime. WWI was an earlier example that I suspect my grandfather (born during Grant's administration), might have wondered about, too.
I always considered History as just too many names, years, places...not worth study. Same with politic and who can know the truth??
I studied English Lit. and philosophy. I read quality fiction all my life, until now. Now,I want facts. (not that Shakespeare isn't very informative)
I don't like the facts. I don't support the human race. God gave up on his creation: the earth. His highest creature is wreaking the whole deal.
Humans know better ; they know about the "environment" as in the health of what sustains life...but they just can't help being addicted to power and violence.
In the Canadian-American production of "Nuremberg" in 2000 (with Alec Baldwin as Chief Prosecutor Robert Jackson), Captain Gilbert is the one who carried on that conversation with Gõring. At first, Göring refused to speak with Gilbert. Gilbert kept pushing his buttons, deliberately mispronouncing his name as 'Geh-RING' (in German, a trifling, silly, unimportant thing).
This greatly enraged the head of the Luftwaffe. Finally he burst out "meine Name ist NICHT Ger-RING. Meine Name ist Herman Göring!" The relationship between psychiatrist and patient began. At some point, Gilbert told Göring he was Jewish. "Oh, that's very interesting," said Göring, "for both of us."
Chilling to the bone.
I'm interested in learning more about Captain Gilbert, a Psychologist and interpreter for Kelly, and who saw more of the other prisoners, later serving as Head Psychologist at a VA hospital.
Though not directly comparable, my late brother-in-law was a criminal Psychologist who impressed me with successful restorative justice efforts helping truly reformed prisoners back as productive members of society. Even those serving longer sentences (up to life without parole) were helped learning how to live their lives less stress-fully. One particularly troubled man sentenced to life without parole, led to amazing him by calling Viktor Frankl collect, enabling him to listen for about two hours as Frankl restored his will to live. To my-brother-in-law, it was the ultimate reinforcement to never give up on anyone, no matter how troubled they seem.
He had become a Psychologist (and his brother a Psychiatrist), partially from having been childhood friends of Sam Melville before he became the "Mad Bomber," trying to force changes through violence. Neither could easily figure out why Sam turned to violence, and, like me, are as opposed to use of violence as MLK. Though starting out in the same neighborhood and with an appreciation for classical music learned from Melville, they took very different paths after high school.
Goering was so smart: I think Hitler hired The Best. Not like the Tyrant we have in the White House who hires those that suck ass. But, he knows by instinct that " tell the people something often enough and they will begin to believe it".
And, now I am informed that some Democrats voted yes to bombing Iran. They didn't want their patriotism attacked. This news just makes me even more SICK OF THE USA!
So chilling. That quote is seriously newsworthy.
Yes it is.
Let's hope that Trump, Hegseth, Bondi, Noem, Miller, and the rest of the war criminals (including congressional Repugnitans who continue to sit on their hands with zippered mouths) get their Nuremberg. I hope I'm alive to see it.
Hope springs eternal. Hoping to see all the war criminals, human rights criminals standing for judgement....THAT is a LOT of criminals. The IDF? How many actively targeted toddlers? And, then posted it on tic toc or to their family as a birthday gift?
At 86, I would just like to see Trump dead. It won't solve anything because he is not the problem. But it would be so nice.
Wos, so accurate.
Fetterman's got a lot of 'splainin to do for his lock-step support of all things Trump. I'd hate to see him caucusing with Barrasso and Thune, but he does the damage anyway
The updated Joe Manchin.
Actually, he now seems worse than Joe Manchin. He seems to have gone MAGA!
So it appears
Fetterman has turned out to be another man who isn't fit for his job.
He manages to prove this fairly regularly
Does he get too much slack because of his health issues?
That's possible. His health issues raise the question of whether Fetterman should step down.
“Come to Marlboro Country” the cigarette ads featuring all those actor cowboys selling Philip Morris, killer of millions.
Noted, do you remember the ad, Two guys cowboys on horses, “Bob, I miss my lung.”
Marlboro was a women’s cigarette to start but didn’t sell.
And please bring back the ‘Merchants of Doubt’ and the anti-science movement created by cigarette companies amount others…very Reagan!
With Drs on cigarette commercials saying they were safe...what sort of ignorance does it take? One is inhaling burning smoke through the respiratory system...the same that supplies the most important nutrient to our bodies...
His brain is toast, ever since his stroke. I supported him when he was first running, no longer, the sooner he’s gone the better. He presents himself like a half-wit, we have a president that’s a half-wit, one in the government is way more than we can bear.
All three have a much more accurate take on what we’re seeing in the world than most people.
I agree with Alec. First of all, there are waaay too many commercials. It’s sooo painful to watch . I prefer to watch PBS news hour. (No commercials, unless it’s fundraising-which I am a sustaining member of) I catch Don Lemons shows on at 10a and 5p right here on Substack. I think his show is evolving into a news show with integrity. We must turn to Independant news for true reporting.
All three get most of what they write from actual journalists who report it. Commentators are great for analysis but the reporters who provide the basic information and are often slandered here as biased are the real folks doing the hard work. I find it astonishing that so many people buy into this false belief that the commentators report the news.
Turn off the tube. It’s corporate.
When you say commentators, are you referring to, for example, the many substack writers who are often mentioned in the comments right here in Heather's nightly letter? Personally, I am uncomfortable with so many suggestions to read this substack and that substack. While I may feel good because these posts align with much of what I support, isn't it harder to detect bias when you agree with the writer? How is it possilble to vet so many commentators?
I was talking about ALL commentators, i.e., those who COMMENT on the news, not those who actually report it. It is one of my strong biases against so many here who say that they boycott traditional media because of what they see as "bias". In fact, MOST mainstream media, particularly newspapers but also some TV news as well (CNN at least until they are eaten up by Larry Ellison's kid's company, sigh) are in fact quite UNbiased if you actually watch and listen. And if there ARE biases, they are typically TOWARDS the liberal side, not towards the Maga/GOP coalition.
Unfortunately, I think many of our liberal/progressive compadres WANT to hear "biased" news, i.e., news or reports that are slanted TOWARDS their opinion rather than actually unbiased news. I repeatedly see requests for people who are supposed to be reporters to "slam Trump more" but that isn't the responsibility of a news reporter. They are SUPPOSED to report with an eye towards no bias. Frankly I think New York Times actually sometimes shows its bias AGAINST Trump too much for a real newspaper, and yet many say that they have stopped reading the NYT because they are not anti-Trump enough.
I only avidly read two Substacks, Heather's and Joyce Vance's. Occasionally I peek in on Democracy Today (Marc Elias's substack) but I won't pay for it, if I paid for all the substacks that MIGHT interest me it would cost me WAY more than a newspaper subscription per year. I can't afford it and I don't see that it would enlighten me that much more.
I still read the NYT daily, although probably more selectively than I used to. I stay away from WAPO and LATimes as they are more biased than they should be. I watch CNN sometimes, MSNOW other times, but I recognize that MSNOW is a HIGHLY biased liberal outlet and I take most of what I see there with several grains of iodized salt.
I think you are probably handling things correctly, KathyF, the important thing is to make sure you do NOT let opinions (whether you like them or not) sway your own view of the world too much. Critical thinking was something my parents always drilled into me and fortunately those lessons have lasted.
Yes. Their understandings are well informed by historical knowledge and means to interpret events.
November 21, 1963, the Constitution of the Republic of the United States of America was the law of the land. November 22, 1963, the law of the land was the National Securities Act of 1947. ‘1984’ was published in 1949.
Alec, did you know that Orwell was influenced by the Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin's book "We" first published in English a few years after it was written in 1921? Here is a copy of it.
https://cdn.mises.org/We_2.pdf
We see some of the parallels by the character keeping a diary in Orwell's book, whereas the character in "We" posts entries as if they were journal entries. In both books there is forever war against the enemy, but most of the concepts are more clearly fleshed out in "1984" than in "We" which my bookclub read before reading "1984."
Yes. Zamyatin was really the first, Orwell and Huxley were later.
Ayn Rand’s short novel Anthem has striking “similarities” to Zamyatin’s We. Rand most likely read We in typed copies circulating in her youth in St. Petersburg. It could not have been published in Stalin’s Russia at the time.
We is a very good read in my opinion. Unlike Anthem or the rest of Ayn Rand.
Thanks.
Today is a good time for this quote from Frank Bruni of the NY Times, in a column he titles "We are being governed by unserious people."
"I’m sure these administration officials deem professionalism overrated, outdated, an enemy of necessary disruption, a brake on real genius. It’s for slowpokes and prudes. It’s fussiness for fussiness’s sake.
Wrong. Professionalism recognizes that your job is bigger than you are. It rightly regards teamwork and discipline as handmaidens of accomplishment. It understands that a sturdy institution requires a code of conduct. And it sweats details, because if you get enough of those wrong, you get nothing at all right."
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/09/opinion/kristi-noem-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.R1A.Jjh4.Dg5ZTey8uOQ3&smid=url-share
We are being governed by psychopaths and fools.
Trump and company are giving psychopaths and fools a bad name.
Giving selfishness a bad name, too.
Yes. We are being governed by psychopathic fools.
Unfortunately, roughly half the population, including about 60% of white Americans, like it that way. That’s the cowboy way.
I hope he meant this understatement sarcastically.
Fox News isn't news.
Frankly, neither is The NY Times or the Washington Post. I get facts from 50-70 independent journalists on Youtube Prime (no commercials). I donate to as many of them as I can. And, from Substacks, also independent, funded by readers not by corporations.
MIT Professor and Pentagon advisor Ted Postol explains why the missile defense systems are failing in the war against Iran, and why the US and Israel WILL NOT WIN this war.
On Glenn Diesen..The Fraud of Missile Defense Exposed in Iran War
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbQI_IYz6uM
That is for sure. It should be fined whenever they pretend that fake news is real. They should have to make a disclaimer at the beginning of each show saying, "what you are about to hear is not true in any shape or form. It exists purely for entertainment."
Should we be surprised if trump - who has a very short attention span and a low threshold of patience and tolerance - pulls out the nuclear weapons. Afterall, didn't he say 10 years ago, if we've got them, why aren't we using them? Of course, the fall out could affect surrounding countries up or down wind, but at least the fall out won't exterminate all of humanity.....
I fully expect Trump to use nukes -- including against any state or city that dares to secede from his Unified ChristoNazi Reich.
It's always been a worry since I was very clear that that is one of the reasons that I voted for someone else and worked hard to get the vote out.
Of course, I am still grappling with the discussion of Fatwas that Malcolm Nance, Jacob Kaarsbo and a guest had today as they discussed the war, something they are doing daily. It was quite chilling particularly when someone wrote in the chat that every country that had US bases better kick them out. I have been thinking about that for Germany. I am living here and we have a lot of bases. Germans are not happy that war planes are flying out of here to the Middle East. Also, Israel parks its government plane Wings of Zion in the Berlin airport that everyone uses, when it is at war with Iran. Someone I know saw it last Monday when she was flying to the US.
March 28 cannot come soon enough.
I agree. After March 28, my Indivisible Group will be working on a boycott campaign which we are going to be starting in Europe against US products supporting ICE and this regime. A sampling are
Enterprise-Rent-A-Car https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUhavJWDGVR/
Hilton Hotels https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-bEd67WQEHE
https://www.thetaskforce.org/news/statement-and-action-on-ice-and-hilton-corporate/
Amazon
https://freedcproject.org/amazon
ChatGPT
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/04/quit-chatgpt-subscription-boycott-silicon-valley
Palatir
https://freedcproject.org/amazon
https://www.campact.de/datenschutz/peter-thiel-palantir-polizei-software-stoppen-petition/
True, but what Heather keeps forgetting is that in the myth, the white male cowboy with a white hat only ever uses ONE way to deal with his problems: guns. In westerns, the problems are always solved by shooting, and never talked out. Diplomacy is for the weak: real men shoot their problems.
I presume that "real men" SHOULD be in quotes because I was going to say that's why we have so much domestic violence today. Those men think they ARE "real men". Sigh.
And, apparently, an increasing number of younger men hold the view that women should return to the traditional role of being barefoot in the kitchen - a wife and mother w/ no career outside the home -- but today's younger women ("trad wives" aside) will give that view a hard pass, thank you very much.
I saw those graphs, and have to admit the first thought that crossed my mind was “with age comes wisdom”. At 25 I thought I knew everything.
Laurie, Ann Telnaes just created a graphic comment on this.
https://anntelnaes.substack.com/p/happy-international-womens-day
Her cartoon was provoked by this new report:
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/almost-a-third-of-gen-z-men-agree-a-wife-should-obey-her-husband
My generation has utterly failed.
Thanks Dale -- I saw that too -- Ann Telnaes is marvelous!
Thank goodness she left the WAPO, because I love her editorial cartoons. I subscribed to her right after she went on Substack.
Trouble is, Our economy would really crumble if women decided to stay home. Would serve the cowboys right. Talk about a strike!
And they wonder why they can't get a date!
😂
The biggest cause of child poverty these days is fathers not providing support for their children. Back in the day when all women were expected to be "trad wives," at least their cowboy husbands were expected to be "good providers." Nowadays, we talk about single mothers as though their kids arrived via the stork and argue about how much government support they deserve...but rarely does anyone (on either the right or the left) advocate that the deadbeat dads be held to account. It might "serve the cowboys right" if the women stayed home, but their offspring wd starve.
You have a valid point, monimaca, though my thinking is that the brave single mothers are already pulling their weight and I would ask no more of them to make a statement. However women who work outside the home in a two- earner household has allowed corporations keep bleeding middle income families dry is they raise prices that absorb every ounce of disposable income that the two wage households could spend on a few things that make life a little more full. Showing how these women are propping up the economy might force corporations to take notice.
Yep. Toxic masculinity is the keyword here.
Some of my ancestors really were cowboys (as well as Indians). I don't believe for a minute they were Matt Dillons.
And they only think with one part of their anatomy, and it’s not their brain.
Or their wallets. The "boys will be boys" mentality pervades our culture from the far right to the far left, rich/poor, and everything in-between...and until the boys are required to support the children they sire, women will be left holding the bag...and implicitly blamed...even if not "shamed" like back in the bad-old-days. Both then & now, deadbeat boys mostly get off scot-free. My grandmother, born in 1888, used to say, "boys are curious; girls are romantic." Since no one ever mentioned "sex" in my house when I was a child, I had no idea what she meant at the time...but I later realized she had a point. The modern version might be, "boys are free to have fun; girls (& ultimately society) are obliged to pay the tab."
Yet the most famous ‘gunfight’ in the Old West came about because Sheriff Wyatt Earp enforced a city ordinance in Tombstone, Arizona banning public weapons, which the bad guys ignored.
The “cowboy” you make reference to may have a lot more to do with 1930s Hollywood Lone Ranger goofiness than with real 1880s history.
Cowboys in most cowboy movies do just about everything but herd cows.
You ever wondered why they are called "cowBOYS" rather than "CowMEN"?
Back in the 1700's, before "cowboys" were out in the Wild West, most US cattle were raised in South Carolina. The weather there made it difficult for white men to herd the cattle - too hot, and not enough experience. So instead cattle men used African slaves - who were used to the heat, and also great with cattle, as they had a long history with them. But - you couldn't call them "men" - so the people who cared for your cattle were "boys."
The first cowboys were black.
I'm not so sure that African slaves were used to the heat; they were slaves.
I don't think immigrants from Mexico and Central America can work like dogs in the heat because "they are used to it" : they are immigrants who will take jobs no American will take.
It's sickening that black grown men were called boys.
I've always thought that for a culture pushing manliness--why do the "Proud Boys' label themselves "boys"??
Well, the thought at the time was that "men" were made by God. "Boys" were - not quite there, yet.
Young historian Kahlil Greene has a Substack in which he chronicled the history of the the Black cowboys about a month or so ago; I recommend it.
Absolutely true. Thanks for mentioning this :) The MAGAs don't want to hear this, because it shatters their image of the lone _white_ cowboy...
The county and western song "Desert Lullaby" is more realistic:
Nothin' out there on the plains that you folks need,
Nothin' there that seems to catch your eye,
Still you got to watch them or they'll all stampede,
Plungin' down some 'rroyo bank to die,
"Alternative facts", "alternate universe", and yet "uni" means "one". The odds are always with the "house" ("eco", as in economy or ecology) and the "house" is where we live. A dearth of sufficient check-in with reality is called "psychosis" (or a "cult").
Now that’s an eye-opener for sure. Thanks for the brief but telling history lesson.
Didn’t know this
Heather mentions this often in her chats. Black and Latino men were the norm, not the white faces you see in movies and TV.
No...sounds like a good White Liberal story, like policing in America was based on slave patrols, or our government was based on the Iroquois Confederacy.
Myths White Liberals tell themselves. If we want Trump and MAGA to stick to facts, so should we.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy
Etymonline doesn’t support that story either.
Considering the massive amount of research required to publish, I’ll stick with Heather’s research. As to the Iroquois a trip to the Smithsonian gives support for the assertion. Wikipedia as a source is a first step, not enough to reach a conclusion.
There is, however, an alternate use of the term "boys" in referring to a criminal gang without regard to ethnicity - eg. the James Boys, the Bowery Boys, and now the Proud Boys. There was a gang of outlaw thieves and cattle rustlers in Cochise County, Arizona in the 1870s called the "Cowboys" (as opposed to the more common term "cowhand").
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochise_County_Cowboys
Very interesting point of semantics. If you are addressing a person of color, "boy" is a term of disparagement ie "You're not a man, you're a boy."
Whereas if you are referring to white males who live outside the rule of law, you are using a term of approval for their wild free spirit.
I don't know where Country Music fits in this conversation but I've been wondering about it, since I've been listening to a series with interviews on WUMB radio (American Routes, last Sunday). It's a sort-of news source that's ocurring simultaneously with conglomerating corporate media. Themes of partnerships, love stories, lonely roads, growers of vegetables who work to get time off for music-making with blended histories of interdependent alliances seem to exist alongside the divisive competitive violent simplifications that TV planted in our minds through Westerns.
And everyone knows if you play a country music song backwards your dog comes back to life, your girlfriend returns, and you don't run dry of beer and whiskey...
Precisely. But the MAGA goofballs have never learned (real) history and believe the Hollywood-Lone Ranger stuff.
Congressman Louie Gohmert seriously asked the Bureau of Land Management if they could move the MOON to fix climate change. Yes. THAT moon. Maybe a Tesla with a tow rope?
If they'll send a rocket to the moon with Musk in it, I'm all for it.
To the Universe; AND BEYOND!
Sheriff Wyatt Earp wasn't exactly the "good guy" he was depicted as on the TV show. So many people either ignored that or never learned it. He and his brothers were inveterate gamblers and considered by many citizens in the towns they lived as bad as the "Cowboys" who they opposed. More like two opposing Mob gangs than the bad guys and the good guys. They certainly were NOT as lawless as the Cowboys, but after the OK Corral and the subsequent shootings of Morgan and Virgil Earp, Wyatt went on a revenge raid which was just about as lawless as the Cowboys had been.
Had Earp managed to enforce a peace without a shot being fired, you would likely have never heard of him. Maybe Heather would dig up his story. We are a perverse species that way.
You are so correct and I have seen personally how this approach is the “righteousness for dummies” approach to conflict resolution. Add Rush Limbaugh, republican hate fest and we have our hell on earth, not a safe world for anyone.
"Republican hate fest"... I'm going to steal that one, JD.
Jeri often coins a good term!
Miselle wrote it... It your name 'Jeri'? (if I may ask?)
Yes, guilty as stated. Always can relate to your posts, Dutch Mike.
Same here :)
Might I ask if you consider yourself female, male or something else?
A boy was hoped for since I was fourth female. Surprise. Four boys followed so we had a commune of sorts. I have had recruitment mail from military so changed spelling. Just plain Jane - or Jeri. Back to doing genealogy and Meier ancestors came from Germany and Alsace France. Warners from London. America is made of nuts and mutts. We are so stupid to claim dibs on any foot of land on planet earth. But we all have been curious seekers, or maybe just nosy about what is beyond the next hill.
Dutch Mike, this is also the solution of the non-cowboy, white male totalitarian leader. See my article on the language of Orwell's "1984" and how that language is the language of fascists. Trump and the Trumpers use it and war is built into their ideology.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/the-language-of-the-fascist-regime?r=f0qfn
Reagan was definitely the cowboy, perhaps Hegseth is the Cowboy here. Still, Trump is following the cowboy diplomacy but the purpose is better explained by Orwell. They get us into forever wars, and it can switch countries, the thing is to stay in war. We know why Trump wants that. We should not give it to him as he lists country after country in the Americas that he plans to make war on to supposedly eradicate their drug problems.
Absolutely, Linda. It's all a big distraction from the Trump-Epstein files... Plus, it plays nicely into what his "BFF" Putin wants.
Starting a never ending series of wars is totally totalitarian. In both "We" by Zamyatin, "1984" by Orwell, they really show how dehumanizing living in such a system is. We need to hold on to our humanity even if it exhausts us and we hurt.
I was acquainted with some ranchers growing up and they seemed like nice and generous people. I heard a talk from a lady who grew up in a small settlement in Colorado where there we no vehicular roads, no electricity, pretty much pioneer conditions, and cattle was their way of life. Most of what she talked about was the exceptional degree everyone helped everyone else out, even passing strangers. These urban "cowboys" are different.
My husband like Thomas Pynchon books, and tonight we watched a movie based on one of them called "One Battle After Another." It made me think of the times we are living in now. It also made me think of how much violence Americans are exposed to on tv and in the movies. I don't do video games, but I would add that in too. I see these things taking over German culture but I also see some resistance to letting all things American culture wash over them when it is clear that they are harmful.
I agree. One thing our society desperately needs is education for all that focuses on how to solve problems/disagreements without violence.....beginning with parents and the very young.
Ab-so-lutely.
I agree on the need to not solve problems with violence. Today my child was telling me how when she was playing with the neighbor children where she lives, and they were playing a game to see who could not smile, and he smiled, and then she laughed, he was upset because he felt she was laughing at him, which she probably was, and he scratched her. He is 5. So, she told him if he did not apologize she would not play with him. So, she did not the next day, and then she came to visit us. So, she said, she promised to play with him before she left and he had forgotten about the incident. I was telling her that he was too old to not be told in no uncertain terms that that is not the way to handle being upset. Use your words. He is the youngest of five children so he gets indulged. Given how lovely his family is, and they are not a tv household, I still think he will turn out to be a nice person.
Heather doesn’t forget. To me states that point blank.
Like many stereotypes we mis-remember…sure the Rifleman had a rifle but he was a single Dad raising his son…the strong silent type, the rugged individual…actually a pretty good show by today’s standards. Too many dip-shits for me..not all that funny.
Lincoln seemed to be a truly rugged individual with a passion for protecting individual rights. But that was not in conflict with his passion for the greater good. Far from it. We are inherently social creatures and even if we are "loners" society has a hand in making us who we are, and we, in turn, influence our community, I think, often, more than we know. Ego has a place, but it tends to be narrow and short sighted; in the extreme, it can become evil. Literally. We are fools if/when we ignore that potential.
Why The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence and Bad Day at Blackrock along with others are so interesting because the writers figured out how in some ways how to supplant that trope.
That is actually the lesson of Two Thousand years of European history culminating in Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union. So whereas American society may cherish suspicious myths, that lesson is grounded in reality. American history is actually more nuanced and likewise its popular culture. But if there is today a devotee of the Hitler-von Ribbentroff School of Diplomacy, it is surely V. Putin by reason of hard lessons learned. And Trump is a greenhorn. Cowboy. Coward.
I'm happy she listens to his speeches and reads his garbage so I don't have to! I already know who and what he is. I won't subject myself to his lies and propaganda unless Heather points it out for being particularly absurd and "enlightening".
Now and then we should listen to him speaking, I think. It is much worse than any transcripts can convey. And we should look at listeners’ reactions before they can put on their best spin.
Why? I might think he is mentally ill or senile? I already do. I might believe that he only cares about himself and is an immoral criminal conman and rapist? No further evidence required in my mind. Will it change my mind or actions at all? Nope. It would just be unnecessary torture and we are already tortured enough by this "president" on a daily basis.
I watch to see just how fast he is coming unglued. I agree it won’t change minds or actions, except maybe spur more effort on my part.
It should be pointed out that almost every quote that Heather prints comes from a viable news source as she is not on Air Force One or generally at press conferences or other places where Trump goes off into the yonder.
I say this because many here repeatedly attack the REAL news sources we have as "sold out" or biased and quote Heather as a hero. She is a hero by replicating these words for us but it is a serious error to attribute most of this actual reporting to her.
Most of our solid news sources are still out there doing the difficult and tedious job of reporting. There are exceptions, true (Fox, for instance) but far fewer than most of you give credit for and I find that disappointing.
We should be acknowledging that Heather provides us with incredible summaries and analysis and looking at her sources every day you can see that she devours all sorts of news and provides us with a terrific transcript.
But it is wrong to suggest that somehow she is doing the basic work. That is being done mostly by so many reporters and editors who still believe that journalism is important and who deserve the credit that Heather rightly gives them..
You all should too.
Thank you, Jon Rosen. I agree. I am often puzzled by the wholesale dismissal of reporters and journalists whose findings are double-checked and whose insights I find helpful. I think of Carol Loennig, Eric Schmitt, Max Boot, David Ignatius, Megan McArdle, Jane Mayer, and many more. Broad brushes tend to color outside the lines when precision is what we need.
Thanks for the acknowledgement. I totally agree with your comment, and wish others would take it to heart too. We need MORE good information, not less, and we honestly don't always get the greatest information from MSNOW all of the time. More than Fox certainly, but not as much as a truly objective source might provide.
Exactly so. And as for Hegseth, words fail me. Hair well slicked back, camera makeup perfect, "No stupid rules of engagement! Kill! blood! it's terrific! it's a SNUFF movie!" And we once laughed at "I love the smell of napalm in the morning!" Time for a big re-release of Apocalypse Now. The ever-present sports cap: seeing it in such a wildly inappropriate setting, it's suddenly clear why he seldom appears without one: no risk of nasty baldness surprises - Make Combover Great Again. I had to laugh at the convolution that it was actually Trump who led Netanyahu into action.. His heartfelt, humble thanks to Keir Starmer for making Diego Garcia available.
Why can't I sleep at night?
Thank you for showing up. The implications and incongruities of holding this all at once is challenging us to morph daily. A word I read recently in "Outgrowing Modernity" is neurogenesis. I sleep by night because by day I tend controllable things and that grounds me while I witness, to exhaustion. I begin again after a dose of HCR and the comments here.
One develops a thirst for that daily dose of HCR!
'Trump talked to ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl about the war. “I hope you are impressed,” he said. “How do you like the performance? I mean, Venezuela is obvious. This might be even better. How do you like the performance?” '
He wants a Nobel Prize AND an Emmy.
And an Oscar for Best Performance by a Self-Fluffing Dickhead. Just as soon as he replaces the whole Screen Actors Guild with a passel of toads.
“Trump talked to ABC News Jonathan Karl: I hope you are impressed. How do you like the performance ?” I wonder: how did the interviewer, any interviewer, respond ? I always fervently wish the interviewer, like Executive Officer of the Russian sub Konovalov chasing Red October says to Captain Tupolev: “You arrogant ass, you’ve killed us !” But apparently they never do.
"Fool of a Took!"
"...performance..."
WTAF?
It’s Come To This, I know you know that Trump is a con artist. First we had TV, softening up the American mentality by lying at least six times an hour (otherwise known as ads). Then we had destruction of the tie between humans and nature, which would connect them to actual reality. Then to top it all off we had Fox which made a whole generation of American zombies unable to differentiate between truth and fiction. Then the internet, where anyone can write whatever they want and send it around the world in an instant. And now, Trump, who has lied from time immemorial to the point that I’m not sure he can even tell that he is lying. He does it as naturally as breathing. He is a complete idiot except for the part of the brain that says whatever he thinks will make his people (the ones who can’t tell the difference between the truth and lying PLUS the ones who are profiting from his policies) vote for him.
For this, our people have offered themselves up in wars for the last 250 years? It almost makes you cry. Is it the end? No, but it is serious. I hope everyone has found the No Kings rally that they are going to on March 28th. We need to get 15 million people out on the street. Nothing is more important on that day. If you are out of town, go to a march near you. Plan now to go.
Thank you, Elizabeth! This is a very important reminder. Worth lots more likes! I find much support reading the nimble thoughts of commenters here. And I know all of you will show up if you can. But let’s not get cynical now about a movement that is now now bringing in people who are marching for the first time in their entire lives. (Projection on my part? Maybe)
Thank you! Cynicism plays into their hands! Don’t let it!
"Manchurian Cantaloupe" -- priceless.
This comment needs to be shared. I too am disgusted such an imbecile is allowed to wreak havoc. The GOP have betrayed the US and the world for their own gain.
Or to keep out of prison for being in the Epstein files.
It all makes me depressed. When I read 'Project 2025', I was surprised by its similarity to documents I had read all the way back in 1982 when I was an intern on the Republican Policy Committee in the U.S. Senate. New issues were included that had arisen in the forty-plus years since my brief stint; the rhetoric was more trenchant.😯
Nevertheless, 'Project 2025' was recycled Reaganism with its heartlessness but no velvet glove. The Reagan ideology is exhausted; has been for twenty years. The 'philosophy' becomes more extreme as practitioners double down on it. Once again, ideology breeds idiocy, as conservative Edmund Burke might argue.🖕
Except this infirm idiocy is killing people through war, poverty, murder. What keeps crossing my mind: ¿why not make our society better and more compassionate? ¿Why not extend such charity to poorer peoples around the world? That is the kind of leadership, in the post-American century, that would make our founders proud and make us exceptional once again.😥
EDIT P.S., I.H.C.T.T., nice to see you batting lead-off.
Ned, something I learned while working with Albert Killackey on his tour de force found at UnitedWeAmend.org is that Project 2025 is not the first manifesto published by The Heritage Foundation. Their first was a series titled "Mandate for Leadership," which codified the principles advanced by Lewis F. Powell, Jr. in his infamous "Powell Memo." The point of Powell's spear was an attack on the American institution of education at all levels. To put a trumpian brand on it, "Make America Dumb Again."
At the risk of sounding like a one-note horn, I posit that all of this synchronizes, and is likely motivated by evangelical lust for power. Evangelicals dwell in the Old Testament (aka Hebrew Scriptures) and they identify with the Israelites, those poor twelve tribes who were constantly put upon, enslaved and humiliated for simply being "God's chosen people." Evangelicals worship the petty, jealous, vengeful Jehovah, who was constantly smiting people who persecuted his "special children." Evangelicals refer to their Bible as "the sword of the Lord," a weapon to be used to smite their enemies. Evangelical children participate in "sword drills," in which they regurgitate scripture verses upon hearing the reference address. After "Jesus Loves Me," the second song evangelical children learn is "Onward Christian Soldiers." Militancy is the evangelical mindset, and they can be counted on to support any war a U.S. president chooses to give.
Interesting view with which I disagree. 'The Powell Memorandum' is not infamous. Written at a time of intellectual turmoil, often lacking in intellectual integrity, the memorandum was simply a call-to-action for the business sector, expressed through the Chamber of Commerce, to defend the principles upon which it is based and justified.
From that memorandum that DID NOT argue for oligarchy: “The Chamber should consider establishing a staff of highly qualified scholars in the social sciences who do believe in the system…whose authorship would be widely respected - even when disagreed with…[to] speak for the *Chamber.”
Justice Powell would likely have lamented ‘Project 2025’ and the vindictive moralism you note for their impingements upon individual freedoms. In arguing in favor of a private sector voice to defend a system in danger of subversion in 1971, Justice Powell insisted upon the highest standards of integrity and scholarship.
By way of reference, I read the Powell Memorandum in high school and again in college. I had no problem with it. Of course, I did not agree with everything, including some of Justice Powell's political sympathies, which seemed shrill to me. https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=powellmemo
Ned, you should probably read the memo again as an adult. If you can't see the direct through line to where we are today, then I would question your priorities.
I read it to make sure my memory was accurate. I do not see that, nor would Justic Powell.
Thank you for your comments. “Manchurian Cantaloupe” will stay with me and give me a little reason to smile for the rest of this nightmare.
The other day I googled a segment of one of those long quotes, and discovered, not to my surprise, that Heather was the only source for it. The White House isn't providing verbatim transcripts. She must have been actually taking it down from the audio recording.
We are clearly living in a Kafkaesque nightmare with reality melting like a Dali painting. As we indiscriminately drain the rich cultural and financial inheritances of our forebears, a reckoning will be demanded.
Trump's stupidity, incompetency, and psychopathic corruption has been in plain sight since the elevator descent. It will be poignant marker of cultural consequences for the future historical analysis of the forces allowing Trump's ascent, the sociological lethargy that tolerated his abuses, and the erosive governing powers that so freely abandoned our constitutional credos to enable Trump's disastrous reign of kakistocracy
It's Come to This,
Wow! Thank you for well placed words of anger, and disgust, feelings you are not able to contain due to the overwhelming horror of the disrespectful, self-centered, idiotic actions taking place in our nation's capital.
Human beings who have pledged their life's blood in service to the United States of America, to protect us and the values we cherish by putting their lives on the line as they follow the directives of their commanders have been killed doing their duty in Iran. They are beloved sons (and daughters) cherished by their families who will never hear their voices, laugh at their jokes, remember kindnesses that will never be experienced again. Expressing the loss of service men and women who have surrendered their lives and safety to DUTY is a sacred cause. They are the best of America.
I also desire to extend sympathy to the Iranian families who lost their children in the bombing of that school and to each Iranian citizen who is "caught up" in a war they did NOT start or want!!!
This is all on the leadership or lack there of within the United States of America.
While the world endures these horrors and instabilities, our president looks for America's tax dollars to throw away on personal projects ie filling prisons with human beings without trials...in situations worse than "caged animals" or building a ballroom! He is NOT asking for permission my fellow citizens!!!
We have persons in our country who cannot afford the rising cost of everything!!! Our president has no knowledge or concern regarding their needs or ways we can care for one another. He just takes another fist full of money for himself!
Our nation cannot continue in this way. Our allies cannot trust us for anything. We have become completely lawless....it is all about Donald Trump and what he wants...and he wants everything NOW...rules, following past proper directives, communication with Congress, with citizens of this country or our allies is not a part of his plans....a total disrespect for our military and the lives of men and women who have pledged to face horrific dangers for this country are being used by a self-centered child who wants "all the toys" for himself!
I refer to Trump's social media platform as "Trump Social." Posts that get recylcled are, in my lexicon, reTrumps.
“A small point this is not. Future generations will scarcely believe Americans sent a true imbecile to the White House, rather than just a cheat, a sociopath, a criminal. How could a moron manage to launch a Middle East conflagration costing $890 million every day, without a single regard for its consequences? Lipstick all over the pig hides that question of questions.”
This.
Monday, 3/9/26 9 AM Pacific
The soldier is now identified as Sargent, BENJAMIN N. PENNINGTON.
****************************
3/8/26 Friday 6 PM Pacific:
The 7th U.S. Soldier has been killed in the Iran War during an "attack on U.S. Troops" in Saudi Arabia. CNN Authors, Piper Hudspeth Blackburn & Isabelle D'Antonio. The soldiers identity will be withheld for 24 hours until the Soldier's family has been notified.
I'm seeing people say this Administration is hiding the true number of soldiers that have died. While I have seen no proof that this is true, it would be completely on-brand for our Con Man POTUS to do this.
More than 1,500 Iranian civilians have died in the US/Israeli bombing raids, including 180 children. There's clearly no rules of engagement at all in this war on the part of the US and Israel. They're hitting hospitals and historic landmarks as well as schools. Their bombing is so indiscriminate in its fury that it may end up with Iran being left as a failed state and surely no other state in the region can be anything but alarmed at this prospect when the Americans have finally fucked off leaving that mess behind as they always do.
The secretary of war seems to being enjoying himself with one bellicose statement after another.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/08/pete-hegseth-pentagon-trump-iran
As for the fallen soldiers, in your president's words "that's the way it is". He attends these 'dignified transfers' but he really doesn't give a hoot.
https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-ap-top-news-politics-b823f2c285641a4a09a96a0b195636ed
The cruelty is the point, no apologies, no rationale, just video game glee
“The government you elect is the government you deserve” which is another ignorant remark by one of our founders although true. “Man builds to destroy” is my axiom. Mankind loves to destroy at various times in recorded history only to rebuild. You may call it the Phoenix rebuilding from the ancient ashes. The country has descended into Dante’s Inferno as a recurring lesson to be made of those who would destroy for the sole sake of destruction and wealth accumulation. And the motive behind the Wizard’s curtain is the recurring Jeffery Epstein files labeling Donald Trump a pedophile who raped girls. I’m reminded of a Malcolm X solution of making change “… by whatever means necessary” and you may use your imagination on this line.
Thanks for responding.
And for the record... Trump is "America's president" but he is not "my" president. And in November, he will learn that people like me are in the majority.
Trump and Kegseth are bombing away without any clear strategy, planning, or understanding of the consequences. They are making no effort to replenish missiles and don’t understand that to invade would create a huge bloodbath killing thousands of American soldiers and it would antagonize th4 public even more. Trump and Kegseth ignored their on intelligence groups on Iran, who made it quite clear it would be difficult to dislodge the current government.
I'm not expecting Persepolis to survive intact. That would be a archaeological loss to the world.
What is most damning here is not only the recklessness or dishonesty. It is the moral collapse underneath it. When war is marketed like a trailer, when officials speak in the language of image, dominance, and performance, and when the deaths of soldiers and civilians are treated as inconveniences to be managed through optics, something larger than policy failure is taking place. The meaning of war itself is being degraded.
In a democracy, war is supposed to remain grave, restrained, and answerable to the people. It is supposed to be understood as a last resort, never a spectacle. But here the pageantry comes first. The branding comes first. The choreography comes first. Human reality arrives only afterward, as fallout. That is why the offense is not merely political. It is civic and moral.
This is one of the oldest tricks of authoritarian culture. It aestheticizes violence. It makes destruction look like resolve. It turns cruelty into spectacle and calls it strength. It teaches people to admire the pose rather than examine the cost. That distortion is dangerous because it conditions the public to consume national trauma as performance instead of confronting it as tragedy.
And once that happens, everything begins to erode. Truth becomes expendable. Casualties become an optics problem. Human beings become props. The language of civic duty gives way to the language of branding. What remains is not strength at all, but moral rot dressed up as patriotism.
Orwell.
Iran, the US, Israel, and now Gulf states have brought critical desalination plants into the line of fire, raising the risk that the Iran War will trigger a regional water crisis rather than just an oil shock. Hitting desalination plants is widely seen as a dangerous escalation because it shifts from targeting military and oil assets to directly threatening everyday civilian life through water scarcity. This is taking a lesson out of Russia's playbook in Ukraine, where hitting civilian infrastructure is meant to break a population's will to fight. It is also a war crime and a crime against humanity.
Iran’s foreign minister says a US airstrike hit a desalination facility on Qeshm Island, cutting water to about 30 villages and accusing Washington of “setting the precedent” for attacking water infrastructure. Iran portrays its actions as retaliation after its own plant was struck, while Gulf states and Western officials frame the Bahraini attack as an unlawful assault on civilians, so each side is blaming the other for “crossing the line.”
Bahrain says an Iranian drone attack damaged one of its seawater desalination plants, calling it an indiscriminate strike on civilian infrastructure; authorities say water service is still operating, but the incident is treated as a serious warning. Reports indicate at least two plants in the UAE area suffered damage from nearby port attacks or falling debris from intercepted drones, even if they were not the primary targets, underscoring how exposed these facilities are once fighting moves close to the coast.
Israeli and US strikes have also come close to other Gulf desalination and power complexes as part of a wider air campaign on Iranian-linked targets, further heightening concern that more plants could be hit directly or indirectly.
Gulf countries obtain most of their drinking water from a relatively small number of large desalination plants, so even partial damage can threaten supplies for millions of people within days. Many facilities are physically integrated with power stations, meaning that attacks on electricity or fuel infrastructure can also disrupt water production even if the desalination units are not struck head-on.
Analysts and past US intelligence assessments have long warned that serious damage to a few major plants could force evacuations or create national-level emergencies; one earlier assessment cited by experts warned Riyadh might need to be evacuated within about a week if a key Saudi plant and its pipelines were knocked out. If either Iran or US–Israeli–Gulf forces start systematically targeting water infrastructure, the conflict could rapidly generate humanitarian crises with the populations of entire cities being displaced.
The US struck first here at a facility that had little strategic importance. The question is why? Who is vetting the target list? Was someone trying to send a message, or was it a whim, a let's just blow up some shit moment provoked by the video posted by the White House with the video game clips? The targeting of the girls' school appears, according to some sources, to be intentional, but possibly due to a misidentification of the building's purpose.
These incidents are going to cement the Iranians' resolve to make America pay. I live in a town with an overlook where you could see the smoke from the Twin Towers on 9/11. My daughter lost the parents of her classmates when she was twelve. It changed her. It changed me.
It is also going to sour all of those billion-dollar deals Trump made with the Saudis and others. MBS will not take kindly to having his pristine city bombarded and its population evacuated because there is no potable water. And he is a man who has a known thirst for bloody vengeance.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/8/how-targeting-of-desalination-plants-could-disrupt-water-supply-in-the-gulf
https://apnews.com/article/iran-war-desalination-water-oil-middle-east-12b23f2fa26ed5c4a10f80c4077e61ce
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/iran-names-mojtaba-khamenei-successor-to-the-late-supreme-leaderpreme-leader
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/world/middleeast/desalination-plants-iran-bahrain.html
Thank you Georgia for the links, very informative and concerning. Trump, Hegseth and the regime really lit the fuse on this one.
Whether the missile strike on the Iranian school was intentional or not matters but it doesn’t make the killing of 100s of children any better. Imagine what the reaction would be if that many American kids were killed by another country raining missiles down on a school here?
They are going to come after us to avenge Soleimani and Khamenei, and all the damage in the July attacks on the nuclear facilities, and the current attacks. I don’t trust the competency of the national security apparatus, and I think Trump has burned our relationships with foreign intelligence services. I think it will be several attacks, on military bases and ports in the Middle East with hostage taking, and then something big in the homeland. The fact that Iran is getting Russian intelligence makes it more dangerous times. This is going to be meant to humble Trump, so it will be big.
Even though my experience on this subject is from government work in the 80s, I think everything you have written is correct. He has awakened several sleeping bears, and America will now pay for one man's ignorance of just how old and complicated relationships in the Middle East are.
Georgia, I don't think Iran will limit their retribution to just "humbling" Trump. After all, the concept of "an eye for an eye" originated in the Middle East. But I believe many Americans will suffer as a prelude to Iran doing us the favor that Mitch McConnell would not.
Or if warships pulled right up off the coast of Mar-a-Lago and started bombing, and took trump prisoner?!
The potential for war on water has evidently just come into the sights of Western reporters. President Bone Spur's administration was surprised by that news for sure, having decimated the DoS of seasoned Mideast experts. (They preferred real estate developers.) The Iranians have likely appreciated this arrow in their quiver all along. But there is a point of honor at work, and they held back this bombing until now. I hope the world remembers who ignited this carnage.
Hello Donna... The preferred "real estate developers" are Minor League NYC Players...
Legends in their own minds... :)
I am adding this: an Iranian Professor describes how she and most Iranians felt about their Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9AYK4_2u2w&t=1922s
I lived in pre-Revolution Tehran for a short time. The people of Iran are fiercely proud of their Persian heritage and history. They are zealous followers of Islam. Yes, they (especially younger generations) are curious about, drawn to western values like freedom of expression, but don't necessarily admire our American cultural values (if that is not an oxymoron...). And they remain resolutely suspicious of America's motives. Look at what the Gazans have withstood! Iranians aren't likely to shrink from today's American madness.
Before 1978? Why were you there?
In my travels I met some who had gone to Iran and loved it. I traveled solo budget 5-7 months out 6 times. So,I met the most interesting people, and many of them were solo..which I say is the BEST way to travel. I met one American, a fellow who was on vacation from his job teaching english in Japan. Other than that. No Americans. Aussies, europeans, Japanese...In Myanmar, one lovely girl from China. this was probably 1995ish..before the Chinese were leaving. Now, I think China has to be #1 for travel: a miracle of progress.
I have seen videos on youtube of Iranians who live as nomades or in caves set up over time as complete homes for extended family...and the beauty of ancient sites which now we are bombing...and Tehran: a modern clean city.
Iran will never give up. The Palestinians take first prize as resisters. all they have now is their love of whatever land they have left and their resistance.
The USA is going to hell, destroying itself. as are the Israelis.
Was teaching ESL. Part of an extended overland trip from
NYC to Australia to Ireland then home.
how long in Iran?
People say negative things about Iran.. I say, pocket those things and wait for the truth ...there is so much BS about Iran....still
Hello Donna... Fiercely Proud to defend their Country... Recall how they fought the Iraqis in the Iraq-Iran War...
Judith, thank you so much for posting what the Iranian professor said. Everyone here has to watch this to understand how badly Trump has underestimated the power of the Iranian faction that supports the theocracy. The bottom line is that they see Trump as a pedophile and Bibi as a genocidal maniac, both devils and child killers, and they understand that the world will not be on their side, but they will fight until they win or are martyred. Martyrdom is a gift.
The emphasis was on how they are so much bigger and stronger than Gaza, and that they do not see themselves as victims.
It is chilling.
If Trump sends in ground forces to try to recover the uranium, I fear that they will either be massacred or taken as hostages and killed off one at a time.
OH YES! What a joke! Any person from the Epstein class would be killed immediately.
That son of the Shah: also killed right away....strung up.
Hello Georgia... Prior to the outbreak of Hostilities, Tehran was on the verge of running out of Potable Water... Indeed Israel gets the majority of its Potable Water, as do the Gulf States, from desalinization... Targeting this infrastructure by both sides should be a War-Crime...
Wow! Thanks for that information. I had only researched the size of the installation that was struck in terms of the overall countrywide system. What you found out makes any attack on potable water sources in Iran even more disgusting.
It seems like committing war crimes and atrocities is now de rigeur from day one in any hostilities worldwide. Zelenskyy seems to be the one exception, at least so far, in the face of enormous provocation.
Thanks Georgia... In General, with Climate Change. the Middle East is running out of Water... It was an impetus for Israel seizing the Golan Heights for example...
Hello Albert... Reagan was a B-Actor that never Served Overseas... He received a Draft Deferment, as did John Wayne... Ever see Reagan on a Horse?... Ever see GWB atop a Horse?... GWB is afraid of Horses... DJT hawking DJT Merch during the Dignified Transfer?.... DJT is shameless, and shows his contempt for the fallen...
The only horse we're going to see Trump get on is on an AI video that Trump thinks is cute.
Yesterday, there was a story about our bases being bombed and the suggestion that several American military personnel were killed in the raid.
And how is the evacuation of the approximately one million Americans stuck in the Middle East going?
Is Rick Sender still around? I blocked him so I don’t need to fuss with him. Just curious.
I did as well, and actually, I'd forgotten about him. It took me a moment to place his name!!
He has rarely shown up in the past month or so. Lobs some truly pathetic (even for him), and short shots at a reply on a sub-thread. He just doesn’t have the “juice” he used to.
I’m guessing Ricky is none to happy with what’s going on, and I love it!
sssshhh ...don't mention his name...
I don't know if I blocked him ; I have not seen him.
As an American, I am THRILLED to hear our bases being bombed. Only 775 more to go. I don't care about American lives either; I only care about our enemies; them Muslims.
Trump is a dead man walking. ....rotting from the inside out to his degraded skin.
But, still our "King".
Hello Judith... Future Historians will be perplexed at how the USA could have Destroyed itself in such a Short-Time...
American Indians had it down. WE killed them off. too bad we didn't learn from them...then maybe God would still be around.
Hello Judith.. I appreciate your Sentiment... But, I am indigenous, so I wasn't part of that...
Who will be those future historians? Chinese? The white human race , being so superior, is going to hell. The superior part is what is the problem. beating back superior Japanese and superior Germans, now superior Jews, who have gotten the benefit of the richest country in the world. The nice 3rd world people were never the problem...they didn't get into technology.
Hello Judith... That is a Good Question... So far the Chinese are Winning the Race to the top in the 21st Century... They lead the Race in the Adoption of Practical A.I., Robotics, and Patent filings... They are also not wasting their National Resources in Stupid Wars... DJT would never succeeded in the Chinese Society... Post Chinese, it may be A.I. writing the Story of the Human Tragedy....
There were many who served while some only performed. Reagan may have served in the 40’s but he performed in the 80’s. W continued the repub trend.
I never served and I’m proud of it. Throughout my life, I never witnessed a war worth fighting for and all those who did serve I personally consider toadies who lacked an ability to act intelligently and refuse to serve as did My hero Mohammad Ali.
I wanted to see reality on the ground, Bill.
Phil B., U.S. Army Vietnamese translator/interpreter 2 Sept. 1969 -- 4 Apr. '72
Nothing personal but when I constantly hear of someone who proudly served in a war — not in the military, I’m simply not impressed. I spent time on the streets protesting that war because I knew it was wrong and had my number been called up in Nixon’s lotto, I would have gone to Canada or Sweden.
Hello Phil... That is Admirable...
I LOVE Mohammad Ali! He chose Islam because Islam is about peace.
And, Marvin Gaye was a King. I saw him in his last performance in NYC. he was 2 hours late. Damn hard to be a Negro King in Amerika.
Hello Bill... As a Proud Apache, I turned down 4-Medical Waivers to Serve alongside my Apache Brothers...
Surely there remain raw feelings. I think history proved me correct that we wasted so many lives in Vietnam on both sides and turning the environment into a wasteland. I was born a rebel.
Thanks for the correction Albert... There are many Hollywood Stars that served in that War in Combat... Notably Jimmy Stewart, Lee Marvin, and many more...
Albert, thank you for this post. I have felt that the military salute should be reserved for those who wore the military uniform, and that the civilian "salute" should be the hand over the heart, with cover (hat) removed if worn. Some time back, I did a bit of research and discovered that certain civilians were given the privilege of the military salute one of them being POTUS.
There are a ton of rules and protocols, and many are dependent on the nature of the ceremony.
Joyce Vance, in her "Week Ahead" column, wrote this:
"The government’s brief begins like this: “Courts cannot tell the President what to say. Courts cannot tell the President what not to say. They cannot tell the President how to handle national security clearances.” It’s almost as though the government’s lawyers don’t know there’s a Constitution out there, a rule of law that both assigns power to and constrains the exercise of power by the executive branch of government, which is one of three branches of government in this democratic Republic, and not an all-powerful dictator."
People need to not just pay attention. They need to take action, now, and every day, until this menace to democracy and freedom is removed from the office that he has desecrated.
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/the-week-ahead-23e
Miles Taylor recently reported some of the misspellings of recent DOJ court filings. These people don’t even know about spellcheck, let alone the Constitution.
Let’s hope they aren’t using Chat GPT to write their briefs and including fake citations. Some private attorneys have actually been caught doing it, and they get sanctioned and sometimes disciplined for it. The first thing the clerk and opposing counsel will do is to check your citations, and attorneys who use Chat GPT for briefs or memoranda are being lazy.
“We are unique among the world’s militaries,” Milley said. “We don’t take an oath to a country, we don’t take an oath to a tribe, we don’t take an oath to a religion. We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or a tyrant or a dictator.”
“And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator,” he spat. “We take an oath to the Constitution and we take an oath to the idea that is America – and we’re willing to die to protect it.”
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/29/politics/milley-trump-wannabe-dictator
I heard a fair amount of talk in my early youth of those working in our government being "public servants", but that concept died away. What the plutocrats have always wanted was a tyranny with them in charge. B-actor Reagan was hired to make that sound like a good thing.
Enhanced by Hollywood now controlled further north in Silicon Valley
I had to look up Candace, having no idea who she is. The men are all popular in a certain genre, one that I’ve certainly been exposed to for entertainment value but hardly would be equated with fine acting. I might give a pass to Voight for Midnight Cowboy.
Careful, Albert.
Some (not all) of these on your list have proven superb artists, decent people.
Phil, I guess "superb" is in the eye of the beholder, but I don't see any "greats" in Albert's list. I see some fame, but not greatness. Violence and special effects often provide cover for mediocre talent.
Trump has never read The Constitution... because he doesn't know how to read.
Agree. Even if he read it, he didn't understand it.
Why does his childish behavior surprise anyone?
He's a self centered very bad person with dementia.
Thank you for Joyce Vance.
subscribed.
None of this should come sa a surprise, IMNSHO. It was all inevitable the day he was reelected.
And yes, Joyce Vance is a gem.
Judith, in order from my subscriptions, Jeff Tiedrich, then Mary L. Trump, then Joyce Vance railed on Donald's stupid ball cap.
I have my own theory about that headgear, based on my observation of my mother's descent into dementia before she died. She underwent relentless mood swings, but frequently, she presented a kind of simple-minded childishness.
I imagine a simple-minded, childish Donald anticipating his having to make an appearance at a "boring" dignified transfer where he would be surrounded by military "top brass," all wearing their dress service caps. Donald's impaired mind thought, as commander-in-chief, HE should get to wear a cap like the generals do. The only caps he has access to are the merch in his grift shop, so he grabbed the newest, fanciest one. Now, Donnie looked important, like all the generals. And it never hurts to promote your merch anytime there's a camera around.
Joyce Vance also suggested we join forces and mount a sustained campaign on one issue demanding accountability… “because we cannot be a country that kills school kids and lies about it.” She wrote a short,succinct letter to Sen Britt.Let’s all do the same with our legislators!
📲👩🏻💻
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/bloody-sunday?r=fqsxl&utm_medium=ios
Vance's post was awesome.
What is very clear about this madman's actions is that his enemies, and there is a multitude of those, are going to retaliate in a very dangerous way for all of us. How I would love to see him out of the news and ignored for just one day as the effect would be amazing. Like the wicked witch under Dorothy's house, he might just curl up and disintegrate. I feel our country owes the world an apology that can never be big enough to cover all the affronts with which he has dirtied our relations with allies. I am at a point where words are too good to use against his misdeeds. Cut off all attention on every level to his conduct and watch him sizzle. And where are those two votes that could end this fiasco? I say again that Republicans have missed their chance to be history's greatest heros just by saying 'no'.
Unfortunately, we can't ignore it when our military is committing war crimes. Attacking the desalination plant in Iran is a war crime and a crime against humanity. At least it is for Russia when it attacks water treatment plants all across Ukraine.
My fondest wish before I die is to see Putin and Trump tried for war crimes at the Hague and doing their time in adjacent cells. And yes, that means we would have to accept the ICC's jurisdiction. I do not think after this fiasco that Trump would get a fair trial anywhere in the US as the coffins start to appear at Dover AFB daily.
Bibi too
What Americans politicians have often lacked is an understanding of nuance. Other cultures have a deep historic understanding of their past and hold on to centuries of history. In my youth I hitchhiked around Britain and Ireland and was often picked up by lorry drivers. Every single one of them gave me a history lesson that went back centuries and often had to do with long held grievances of past troubles between Scotland England and Ireland. As an American I was shocked that centuries of grievances oth had not dissipated. And that is the problem. The myth of the lone cowboy bring justice to the West, was always a fiction. And we continue to be a violent and ignorant population when we fail to even try to understand how we are creating several generations of anti American hatred with every bomb we drop. I grieve every one of those children who were killed and all the other innocent people who are dying in this unnecessary war.
You have written my biggest fear: the US is creating a generation (or more) of anti-American terrorists around the world, most especially in Venezuela, Iran, Greenland, Canada, Denmark, Mexico, and Cuba. Our children and grandchildren will pay the price for the Trump regime's ignorance and arrogance.
Yup.
Heather, thank you! Friends- there’s a way to help folks get their ID documents so they can vote: volunteer with VOTERIDERS. It’s flexible— you can do it remotely, from your own home, on your schedule. Even a few hours a week makes a big difference. Sign up for orientation at VoteRiders.org/orientation
Better now than later
There are not enough words in any language to describe the disrespect and pure evil that is trump and every republican.
Every Republican is exactly right. If they want to distance themselves from Trump they need to switch parties like millions of us have who realized that there is absolutely nothing conservative about Trump and all of the Republican Senators and Congresscritters. They are cruel and evil and share almost no common values with most of us. WWJD? Certainly not bomb innocent civilians for absolutely no reason except to remain in power.
US government officials who support Trump in any way are deservedly putting a target on their own backs.
Can nothing save our country from this ignorant self-important buffoon and his incompetent insufferable imbeciles??? How is it possible that one narcissistic egomaniacal sociopath can derail this country so far from its original organization as a republic and an ally to Europe and others, into a country of cruelty and corruption that We the People are ashamed of?
I cannot believe we are enduring a second term with this subhuman and that generations will be suffering the consequences of his wrecking ball regime. I can't believe this is what my children will have to deal with in the years ahead.
Again, this is because thse Republican jellyfish who COULD have stopped Trump (Moscow Mitch McConnell foremost), very deliberately decided not to. Plus: this is exactly the way Putin and the TBBs (Tech Bro Billionaires)like it.
Mitch McConnell made it his duty to fill the Supreme Court with 'conservative' justices after Bork was rejected. And he had the ability to impeach and remove after the January 6 riot. He is responsible but I doubt he has the marbles to actually realize what he wrought.
Mitch is a snake in the grass, whispering his bile to the Senate. For over ten years, Senator Collins worked for Mitch. You see them laughing and planning their evil deeds in many pictures of them together.
And now, she is using the oligarchs to spew her BS on the radio, TV and the Internet anywhere she can. Hopefully, the people of ME will finally realize she works for Leonard Leo, Elon Musk, Charles Koch and other oligarchs who stand to gain from the Republican tax cuts.
Her war chest must be enormous though. Every day her election staff runs TV ad after TV ad, asking for Mainers to write " Susan Collins and thank her" for some little known thing she has done for Maine residents.
Yes, most of it from out of state money and from the wealthy who count on her for tax breaks.
I notice "MI" at the tail end of your locations, GJ.
Where in Michigan might you currently reside? I ask as one born in California, but graduated from elementary (Dearborn, MI), junior high (with a year back in L.A., sandwiched between Dearborn and Livonia, MI), senior high (Livonia, MI), undergrad in Ann Arbor, M.A. in Ann Arbor (after the army), and Ph.D. in Ann Arbor. Then Blue Ridge Valley, s.w. MI, NYC, Budapest, eastern Slovakia, Moravian Brno, again s.w. Michigan, NYC again, San Francisco, and since then the mountains of Kyushu, Japan.
Phil, I worked for Prudential UK (Jackson National Life) in Okomos for a couple of years circa 2005-2007. If Lansing was on the ocean we would be living there now. There were several of us that had friends in the Ann Arbor area and we would get together once a month for dinner or sporting events, etc.--sometimes in East Lansing sometimes in Ann Arbor.
I've been back to East Lansing several times since the end of my contract at JNL. Hands down, it was the best run life insurance company we worked at out of over 75 of them. We also did work for AAA Michigan and we had a couple of actuaries working there in Dearborn.
Lansing had the best athletic club I've ever been to with 4 swimming pools, 5 basketball courts, 2 weight rooms, 2 spinning classrooms, 21 tennis courts, an indoor 1/5 of a mile track, several handball racquetball courts, 4 squash courts and many more amenities. Also, Lansing had many unique stores and some excellent golf courses.
I have many great memories from my time in Lansing.
Moscow Mitch knows damn well what he did. He deserves absolutely no pity.
Thinking forward, the only way the US will be able to make amends will be through both diplomacy and reparations. And we (as a country) will be broke because this thoughtless regime is burning through money like kindling.
My thoughts exactly
Republican have always been pure bullshit when it comes to wars and their treatment of those of us who fight those wars.
As former congressman - and veteran - Max Rose pointed out last night on MSNOW, the TrumpVA is doing a great job of sending those or us (this involves me personally) with serious medical problems out for "Community Care," and then making it hard for us to get that care by not paying the community caregivers they send us to. I am right in the middle of that. However, my (Democratic) congressman - who I know well - happens to be the ranking member of the House Veteran's Affairs Committee. I am meeting his Veterans Affairs staffer this week to figure out how to ram a red hot poker up the ass of the Ass who has moved the Los Angles VA to East Germany (I'm not kidding - my care provider got nervous last month when I expressed some beliefs on current affairs - he acted like someone who was being listened to). Now that I know it's not just some "glitch" that affects me, those morons are about to find out what happens to those who cross TCinLA. Others have learned the hard way. I know how to use the system to fight them.
Go get'em! Hopefully Vets and Service Members will think twice before voting for Trump and MAGAs again.
Beating the system is tough, go get ‘em
More power to you, TC.
Go, TC, go!!
Anyone viewing whats going on from afar would conclude the utter stupidity of mankind : expenditure of billions to destroy and then spend even more billions to rebuild what was destroyed. And just imagine what if those billions were spent on hospitals, schools, healthcare, the environment, eradicating poverty, etc. How stupid is mankind ? Inder S Cheema
Very stupid. As Stephen Hawking said...paraphrasing...when humans go extinct, it will be because of stupidity and greed. I add that we, humans, will have so richly deserved it...going extinct.
"“We’re marching through the world,” Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) told a laughing Maria Bartiromo of the Fox News"..
.. the old adage "pride comes before a fall" is a painfull lesson.
Lindsey is the poster boy for weaponized imbecility
“For far too many years now, polite society has treated the question of whether Donald Trump is a fascist like some delicate philosophical puzzle that must be handled with tweezers and a Latin dictionary.”
https://closertotheedge.substack.com/p/call-it-fascism-or-admit-youre-afraid?r=kxzps&utm_medium=ios
“The argument that “we cannot use the word fascism yet” has always relied on a convenient trick. It insists the label may only be applied after democracy has already been dismantled beyond repair, once the institutions are crushed and the system resembles the regimes run by Benito Mussolini or Adolf Hitler at their most consolidated. In other words, the diagnosis must wait until the disease has fully consumed the patient. This is the political science equivalent of refusing to call a wildfire a wildfire until the entire forest has burned down and the wildlife are filing insurance claims.”
*(full article in link)
CALL IT FASCISM OR ADMIT YOU’RE AFRAID
CLOSER TO THE EDGE and
ROOK T WINCHESTER
MAR 7 2026 | Substack
The evidence is clear. The hesitation is political.
He says people who oppose fascism are corrupt. Hes clearly pro fascist. Believe him
no JBR, this author is not pro-facist…the article is asking how much destruction from Trump do we stand up to before we admit Trump never has wanted to build a strong America including jobs for families, a bright future for our kids, support for your elder years, healthcare for all and support for the small business owner including our farmers. We need Trump out of the Presidency now, before he pushes our enemies into a war that has no ending.
I agree with you. Trump says antifa is corrupt. His critics are not fascists. He is a fascist and clearly supports fascists. Authoritarian intolerant rule.
How do we get the exact opposite of what we have in Donald?
Let’s condense the long list we have of his crimes, vulgarities, and corruptions and say, well, he sinks to all of them out of his helpless need for lights, attention, and headlines always to be on him.
We get away from this by prizing skills to rise above ourselves, too – to put and practice in schools the arts of seeing others in all their contexts and complications.
Donald and all his and his pals’ arms dealing, drug lord pardoning, and underage girl trafficking float the world’s violence, narcotic deaths, and rape. Let’s compete with that by essay writing programs for older youth to see and quote individuals for how they personally face and deal with issues they self-identify.
We’re guaranteed Donald’s adolescence, lies, and violence. But without the program I cite for our best teachers, we’re extra guaranteed more of the same from dictators, oligarchs, social media billionaire zealots for hatreds, and religious sectarian nationalists and racists so long as the world’s schools don’t compete at all.
“The administration’s approach to foreign affairs appears to be the logical outcome of two generations of a peculiar U.S. cowboy individualism“
All supported by voters with the propaganda of the Corporate Worlds which includes corporate democrats.
The DNC is directly responsible for our current mess. Evil republicans have always existed, but complicit democrats frustrated voter and the fascists filled the void.
Now a Jesus freak from Texas has captured headlines as a “new” leader. The DNC did the same with Obama and he did nothing against corporate power. Occupy This was a missed opportunity for change but that’s not what the DNC allowed.
It is grotesque to say that the DNC is 'directly responsible' for the current mess. The DNC did not choose to be a minority in Congress. President Harris - with Democratic party support - would not have cut food stamps, would not have set terrorists and thugs loose on the streets chasing immigrants, would not have gone to war with Iran, would not have been on the take for personal wealth since day one (etc etc).
James Talarico is a practicing Christian, but "Jesus freak" sounds way more off base or unstable than Mr Talarico, who comes across as sensible, with sound policies. I like Jasmine Crockett better, but maybe Talarico is more electable in pretty-red Texas.
And Obama, whatever his failings in the follow-up to the 2008 financial crisis, was a far better president than Bush Jr or Trump, and the country was better off after his time in office than before he started. That's not a terrible test of success, rather than perfection.
“Harris would have done…” Ah, but voters “believed “ something different.
E.G., Bernie Sanders won the California presidential primary. The DNC rigged the state voting sequence and selected North Carolina next where he would not be selected. From then on, the song was “unelectable “.
Our two party system is rigged to prevent real change. Howard Dean screamed, Gary Hart held a woman on his lap. Now a “practicing christian” that is electable is a darling.
I’m 80 years old and watched progressive candidates be destroyed at the national level. During Obama democrats had both houses. The head of Goldman Sachs was selected head of Treasury. After 2008 people lost their homes but no one went to jail. People see hypocrisy and fascists fill the void of a “fix”
Laws are fences for the rich to jump…. The DNC is complicit.
Our {real} national motto is neither "E Pluribus Unim" or "In God We Trust"; instead it's "The Fix Is In." And always has been.
And it is worth noting that GW Bush had a surplus when he took office and before he started the Iraq war for WMD...
No one is stating Biden or Obama or the Dems are as bad as Trump and the Rs. But the fact is they made serious errors of pride and judgment that helped make Trump’s ascension more feasible. Biden and his insiders hid the truth about his condition. That led to the Dems being unprepared to battle this known monster. Sorry, but this was unforgivable.
For about three bucks, you can get yourself a cup of coffee to go right along with that circular firing squad you clearly yearn for. They’ll even throw in a couple of packets of Splenda for free.
Beyond that, I don’t know what that circular firing squad gets you.
Haven’t the faintest suggestion of what you’re trying to say…
Well, read below for some clues…
Right as usual Phil. The man I spoke of on my post had a severe learning disability and reading was torture. I had no idea of this for decades since he was clever, a genius with engines and a hard worker. But a scholar, nah. Therefore he was susceptible to the tv version of justice. No excuse but I finally understood. Met many others who were stuck in “Gunsmoke land” for various reasons and it did generalize far beyond the Wild West, sad to say…. The power of propaganda, and it doesn’t take a hardcore Fox, sometimes just distraction, or “entertainment” works as well.
He wore a baseball cap that he offers for sale, to the funeral. Great time to wear and advertise his merchandise. He also wore his bright red Maga tie as though it was a Maga political rallu. He also has called injured military loosers and suckers... Plus hes making a fortune off the war. And helping Russia. Of course fox covered it up and lied. As the price of gas spikes, making trump rich, why is there even 30% support for him and his henchmen by anyone who cares about the country the economy and its military.
47 is on the forever campaign trail promoting himself. Losing support of the USians he's taking his SHOW on the road to the adoring world of future MAGA to grift.
Sadly, my own govenment seems to be following suit in trying to reclaim the patriotic vote after wisely refusing to take part in this savage and unnecessary war.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/mar/06/keir-starmer-accused-of-mimicking-trump-with-middle-east-crisis-tiktok-post
It hasn't benefitted Starmer at all since Trump has continued to reproach him for the original offence of denying the US access to British bases to launch attacks on Iran. This means that unprecedented second royal visit that Trump was granted as part of the UK government's charm offensive was all for nothing. When will people ever learn that Trump is not a reliable ally or partner (even his fucking wives knew this!).
I hope Starmer’s missteps don’t put Farage in No. 10. I heard the King was furious over Starmer’s decisions to deal with Commonwealth matters without consulting Commonwealth leaders. Trump’s insult to Starmer was gratuitously unnecessary, and Trump has no idea he’s not won anything except for further anger from Iran.
Impeach.
Never happen; note the pardoning of Nixon, the immunity granted the Bankers' Plot fascists and the forgiveness of the Confederate traitors. The conduct of the ChristoNazi Regime, the cunningly perfected, always plausibly deniable collaboration of the Democrats and the embrace of tyranny implicit in the refusal of the people to {effectively} resist is obviously the true face of the {real} "America" and the criminal enterprise that has {always} been its definitive secret.
Trump and the ChristoNazi conquest is the triumph of a multi-generation, bi-partisan scheme more than a century in the making, The {irrefutable} evidence includes a PBS film about the enormous USian support for Hitler in the '30s and additional, meticulously footnoted documentation of the plutocracy's relentless embrace of Nazism: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-25-2026?utm_campaign=comment-list-share-cta&utm_medium=web&comments=true&commentId=205274486
Meanwhile the ChristoNazis are [already] stealing our elections -- and the Democrats are doing absolutely nothing to stop the theft. Here in a vital Thom Hartmann exclusive is how the thievery is done, including credible statistical evidence showing that the ChristoNazis' purging of Blacks, Hispanics and white progressives from the 2024 voter rolls put Trump in the White House: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-q1lWsnlhg&t=5s (Election discussion starts at 9:09)
The {deliberate} bombing of the Iranian girls’ school is undoubtedly Trump’s reaffirmation of the ChristoNazi misogyny that fuels Trumpstein's victimization of terrorized children and capitalism’s apocalyptic assault on our Mother Earth. That hatefulness and white male supremacist bigotry define the Trumpstein Regime. Thus the terrible relevance of the full text of the Jane Doe lawsuit against Trump and Epstein (later withdrawn by the plaintiff in response to credible death threats): https://cdn.factcheck.org/UploadedFiles/Johnson_TrumpEpstein_Lawsuit.pdf