German Nazis thank the Nazi Musk for his help

 The German Nazis won a big regional election in Germany.  Germany - Nazis! Musk - Nazi!  Per Paul Krugman:

"Neo-Nazis — no point in euphemisms — just won big in the rough equivalent of a state-level election in Germany. America’s leading neo-Nazi — again, no point in euphemisms — congratulated the AfD (in German) on the result, and in return received “thanks for your support” from the AfD’s lead candidate

Musk announced his Nazi nature a while back, so this is just a confirmation of the terrible danger that one of the richest bastards in the world is.

 MAGA is a collection of Nazis, KKK, Evangelical endtimer fanatics, and unbelievably rich billionaires - and none of them are here to help the common man in America or the world.

Oligarchs crying “Socialism!”

 The House Republicans just passed a “resolution” condemning socialism.  This is a 150 year old bullshit trick from the Jim Crow South that fools still buy into. These MAGA Cultists have nothing to run on, certainly no achievements these last two years - pointless war, rising inflation, food price escalation, farm foreclosures, endless sickening corruption, hiding the Epstein Files, attacking Canada, destroying decades of alliances worldwide, sticking water sucking pollution belching data centers all over hell and back…no winners there…

Historian Heather Cox Richardson makes it very clear that after the civil war the slaves were freed and as voters they pushed for government programs to aid the common good – schools, libraries, public roads, etc. The wealthy oligarchs who had lost their slaves were not about to let the slaves rise up in any way. So what they did was scream “socialism”! And, of course, they overturned the confederacy loss into a confederacy continuation by driving federal forces out of the south and ending reconstruction. And by establishing the new confederacy’s slave-like structure of Jim Crow, complete with cross burnings, beatings, rapes, imprisonment, and of course accusations of “socialism!”

They sure as hell were not about to let the slaves become educated and empowered in anyway. Keep them down. They stay on top. Racists. Oligarchs. Rich, greedy, entitled, cruel.

And here we are again, as usual in America the oligarch billionaires are screaming “socialism”. It’s the same story.  It’s the currently empowered confederacy oligarchs, spread now across the entire land. As always doing everything they can to disempower normal people with planned destruction of food Security, Social Security, Health Security, legal security, as much of government assistance and protection as they can get away with.  They are out to crush all of us, not just former slaves. By crying “Socialism”! “Communism”! It’s bullshit.

And Republican voting sheep keep falling for it and vote to give more and more power to the billionaires - and give up more and more power for themselves.

Don’t fall for it.  

Football brain damage … dementia

 At least one out of four football players suffer from CTE, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy dementia.  Make no mistake this is a terrible disease. I loved Gayle Sayers, the second greatest running back I ever saw.  He had a terrible debilitating CTE disease. It was a bad death, as is the case with CTE.  Teammate Mike Ditka supported Gayle in his disease and said he would discourage any son or grandson of his not to play football

“Mike Ditka, the head coach of the Super Bowl–winning 1985 Chicago Bears team, says that if he had a young son or grandson he would discourage him from playing football”

So, for me, I get no enjoyment watching people inflict life crushing brain damage on each other. What parent would do otherwise? Are macho manly manly manly fathers going to let their children risk torturous deaths? Mothers?

Here is the data from this extensive study:

“ Researchers considered every former N.F.L. player who died from 2016 to 2021. There were 878. Some died in their 20s, some in their 80s, most in between.

The study’s main finding was simple math: At least 215 of those 878 former players — 24.5 percent — had C.T.E.

The actual prevalence could be far higher. The roughly 25 percent rate does not consider the 643 brains that were not examined. Some of those, maybe many of them, likely had C.T.E. too.”

Baseball used to be the “National Pastime” when I was young.  Then America fell in love with violence and turned to football. Maybe it’s time to let go. 

Why do Republicans always create massive deficits?

Republicans pretend to be “fiscal hawks” wanting to cut the deficit. And now the debt is in the spotlight as it reaches 40 trillion dollars. Funny thing though, Republicans create the biggest deficits and raise the debt more than Democrats.  Golly, I wonder why?

First, of course, Republicans are owned by the super rich so they must CUT TAXES for the super rich.  Oh, they say, by cutting taxes on the billionaires it will put more money into the “creation of jobs”… you know, create new businesses and grow existing businesses. Mostly nonsense. Just a bunch of greed grabbing predators. And, hey, the billionaires make many millions from the tax cuts, but you middle class folks will save money too, why a few hundred dollars, maybe even a few thousand dollars. Aren’t you all so very grateful to the billionaires for these BIG BEAUTIFUL TAX CUTS?

But I think there is a much darker reason than lower taxes, which massively increase the deficit and GROW THE DEBT.  It lets the cruel, heartless, greedy, “empathy and compassion are human weaknesses” billionaires do what they have been dreaming of for nearly a century - overturn all the safety net programs of Obama, LBJ and even most importantly FDR.  Bye bye Obamacare, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, Head Start, college scholarships, SOCIAL SECURITY … anything that empowers normal people. 

But why?  Because they want a workforce that has no power, that will beg for jobs with paltry wages, that can easily be crushed if they try to rise up against the billionaire powers. 

Because today’s Oligarchs are the same as the Oligarchs of the dominant industry in the U.S. prior to the Civil War… plantation slavers.  Their ideal workforce are slaves who can make money money money for them and provide such wonderful and ego pumping entertainments as raping, whipping, hanging… you know keeping everybody IN THEIR PLACE, so that the billionaires, and their lickspittle subservients can feel that their place is ON TOP.  

And, after all, isn’t being ON TOP the most important thing in life?  Why else are the billionaires desperate to be richer than all the other billionaires?  And the faithful Republican voters? Oh, they get to feel like they are on top too because they HAVE MORE than those who have less. Just like those that they admire and hope to become - the greedy, heartless, racist, misogynist BILLIONAIRES.

It's actually not that hard to figure out.

Extinction burst

 Extinction Burst is a psychological state of mind that describes the behavior of someone who has been getting their way with a certain behavior forever and are no longer getting their way with that behavior.  The effects of the behavior are going Extinct.  So what they do is have a Burst of more and more of that behavior in order to get their way, just like they always did before.  But it doesn't work.  And eventually the behavior goes Extinct.

Case in point - a child throws tantrums and gets their way.  Then the tantrums aren't working anymore. So they have a Burst of excess tantrums demanding to get their way.  And when the behavior keeps not getting what they insist on, the behavior Bursts, it stops and has to be replaced by other behavior.

This is a pretty good explanation of MAGA.  Hard core, hypermasculine bullying and intimidation has been the hallmark of men for centuries.  And the world is changing and the old hypermasculine intimidating bullying is starting to not work.  Women are calling out and prosecuting sexual abusers for example.  Bombing the hell out of Iran is not working. Russia's invasion of Ukraine is failing. Etc.  

The burst?  Trump wants to do more bombing, and Putin wants to send more men into slaughter. Hypermasculine men "influencers" like the Tate brothers and Secretary of Defense, Hegseth, and Secretary of Health, RFK Jr, pose in the gym flexing their muscles.  See, see, see?  See how manly, manly, manly we are?  Aren't you intimidated?  Aren't you afraid? Aren't I just the most manly man you ever saw?

No.

The world, she is a changin'.  And power is not that simple.  Real power is not intimidation and force and cruelty.  And those, MAGA Trump KKK Nazis Putin Netanyahu Hamas, who are exhibiting a Burst of this Extinct form of power are failing dramatically.  Iran is not submitting to Trump's bombing and threats. Russia is failing. Hamas is being crushed. Women are not cowering and shutting up and submitting to sexual abuse.  Simple force and bullying are having less and less results.

We are discovering, and creating, what is actual, real power.  And real power is not the simplistic power of fear, bullying, intimidation, cruelty.  Maybe that worked for Hitler and Stalin.  Exhibit A is for us to see in how it is failing for Putin and Trump.  And their minions.

Hypermasculine bullying is not only in MAGA and the extreme Right Wing, of course. It is in the extremes of the Left Wing as well.  And it is a behavior of men and out of balance women in all walks of life.  But my point is that it is in the process of not working and is in the process of being replaced by a balanced understanding of real power. And real power includes Soft Powers of empathy, compassion, caring, concern, imagination, creativity, understanding, etc.  Things that the hypermasculine "men" like Elon Musk decry as "weakness".  

This is a process.  And it is taking time.  But there will come a time in the future when people will look at our bullying world with as much bafflement as we look at the America of slavery and be amazed that such nonsense was accepted as normal.

Has the U.S.A. become one of the world's most toxic countries?

I am an old man who has always been proud to be an American for decades.  After ten years of Trump that is no longer true.  America, more accurately the U.S.A., has become a pariah in the world.  Why? Because its president is a mentally ill avaricious predator.  But there is more.

First, Trump.  Trump has abandoned NATO, and is destroying decades old alliances. Trump is attacking green energy.  Trump is destroying the State Department, and American compassionate help in the world, and the health care system, and the military, and the judiciary, and the rule of law, and the Congress, and green energy, and the environment... the list is endless.  

But, there is more.  MAGA is doing all the same things.  MAGA is just the KKK in modern red hats.  MAGA is dedicated to turning the U.S.A. into Jim Crow U.S.A.  And they are succeeding way more than I want to admit.  MAGA wears masks dressed up as ICE and slams law abiding brown people to the ground, locks them in torture gulags, and deports them to countries that they know nothing about.  Just racist cruelty sanctioned by Trump and his racist minions.

And more yet.  The Fossil Fuel Oligarchy completely owns Trump and MAGA.  I understand that those who work in the fossil fuel industry want to protect it.  But the oligarchy is doing more than protecting their industry, they are sabotaging green energy.  I worked in the fossil fuel industry for decades and am grateful for my career.  But when it comes to energy in the country, and in the world, it is not a question of either-or, it is rather a question of both-and.  Fossil fuels will always have a future in the country and the world, and because Global Warming and Climate Change are so obviously tearing us up here and all over the world we need to actively develop energy that does not belch CO2 and Methane filth into the atmosphere.  And the U.S.A. dumps about 12% of the CO2 into the atmosphere and has only about 4% of the world's population.  We should be leaders in the invention and deployment of green energy.  But the fossil fuel oligarchy is actively seeking to destroy green energy in our country.  Too bad for the world, and too bad for the U.S.A. because the future will be more and more green and we will be late to the green technological party.

And even more.  Democracy. The U.S.A. has become a leader in destroying democracy in our country and thus has stopped being the model and leader of democracy around the world.  Trump's and MAGA's world is the world of authoritarian avaricious corruption and tyranny.  And they aren't trying to hide what they are.  Say it out loud, they are racist avaricious authoritarians, and they are proud.  They totally abandon the idea of being good and fully and proudly embrace the idea of being "smart", meaning being greedy and cruel. 

But the story is not over.  Trump and MAGA are disgusting to me, and to more and more American voters.  The midterms are coming, as well as the next presidential election.  And even though the KKK MAGAs will do all they can to overturn the elections, they are going to lose.  And over time I expect them to fade away, although it won't be a graceful exit.

The Soul and Spirit of America is not going to be crushed by the attempt of the worst parts of America, the KKK and NAZIs and polluters and cruel greedshits.  It will take time, but the greatest political idea ever written - "all men are created equal" - meaning all people are created equal - will long endure.  

Trump will die, MAGA will die away, the KKK will crawl back under their rocks of shame, and America will be part of and hopefully leader of a newly invented world of freedom and responsibility.  The damage is and will be terrible, but the story is not over.

Who's going to stop me?

Trump seems to have only two functioning questions that he ever asks himself - A. how does this benefit me? and B. Who's going to stop me?  Meaning, nobody will stop him and he knows it.

Who could stop him? Republican House and Senate members.  But they don't.  Are they just afraid of losing their jobs that they have spent their entire lives wanting? or are they thinking that at least they are better for the country than whoever would replace them because they think that someday, somehow, they are going to keep the insane president from doing something or another? or are they under a threat of murder from the Criminal in Chief or MAGA Cult fanatics?  

I guess it doesn't matter what the various reasons of the various Republican politicians who won't stop him are, he just keeps doing whatever the hell he wants, and nobody stops him, and he makes billions of dollars from his open, blatant, don't you wish you were me corruption.  And he keeps crapping on everything he touches, from the Washington DC to Canada to Europe to Ukraine to U.S. elite universities, to every government department that helps U.S. citizens in any way, to... to... to... It's endless.

So who is going to stop him?  Only us.  Voters.  The midterms need to be an overwhelming humiliating defeat of the Pedo in Chief, and he needs to be prosecuted and convicted of at least his corruption.  You would think that this 250 year old democratically elected Republic would be able to remove a corrupt madman from the helm of the Ship of State, but it turns out that we have been unable to overthrow both the Trump Cult leader and the Trump Cult.

But his time, and their time, is coming.  

It is such a depressingly sad thing to know that so many fellow Americans are so deeply corrupt or cruel or cowardly.  But, here we are.  

For now.

The Trump Cult

 Trump has the worship and undying loyalty and obedience of the Trump Cult.  I am currently reading "The Culting of America" by Daniela Mestyanek Young.  It is a very enlightening book about how cults and high control organizations trap their followers.  And I think it shows quite a bit about what is happening to those in the Trump Cult.  Here is a little excerpt describing how almost impossible it is to leave a cult - their whole world, support system, friends, family, identity is inside the cult.  And the "exit costs"- leaving - is too traumatic to do or even contemplate:

So, evidence that they have made a terrible mistake cannot be acknowledged or agreed to.  The exit cost is too high.  Even if they know there may be "some things" that they aren't all that happy with, they are surrounded by, engulfed by, an entire ecosystem of cult believers that can rationalize and explain away anything.  And to say no to the beliefs is to say no to the cult, is to say goodbye to the cult, is to say goodbye to their very life. So they don't.

But I think that one of the points that she makes is that cults start to fall apart when their "sacred assumption" proves false, and when their "transcendent mission" fails.  I think the Sacred Assumption of the Trump Cult is to purify America from the perceived corruption and heartlessness of liberal America.  And, wouldn't you know it? Trump and MAGA are astonishingly corrupt and heartless.  And the Transcendent Mission of MAGA is to expose and punish the Satan worshipping liberal elite pedophiles who would be exposed in the Epstein Files.  And wouldn't you know it? Trump and conservative billionaires and influencers are deeply in the Epstein files and Trump is doing EVERYTHING HE CAN (including going to war with Iran) to keep the Epstein Files hidden - as an obvious confession that he is in them up to his perverted eyeballs.

So, it will take time, but I am hopeful that the Trump Cult is and will continue to fall apart.  And Trump will just be a senile old fart saying ridiculous hate filled nonsense that fewer and fewer people pay any attention to.

Hegseth wants testosterone testing on the military

 The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, has made a big publicity statement about wanting U.S. military to be more and more warrior-like (more cruel, aggressive, murderous). And the way the manly, manly, manly Hegseth wants to do this is to have ALL of the military take tests for testosterone and "encourage" those who score low to take testosterone shots.  This is idiotic.  It shows no understanding of testosterone nor of actual military effectiveness.  So, what are the serious health risks of some of the poor fools who artificially boost testosterone?  Here is a summary from a google inquiry:

Serious Health Risks

Long-term or unsupervised use of testosterone supplements can lead to more severe complications:

• Cardiovascular issues: Increased risk of high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots, particularly in older men or those with pre-existing heart conditions Drugs.com+2.
• Hormonal disruption: The body may reduce or stop natural testosterone production, leading to dependence on supplements and withdrawal symptoms like fatigue, depression, and muscle loss hrtdoctorsgroup.com+1.
• Fertility problems: Reduced sperm production and testicular shrinkage can result in infertility hrtdoctorsgroup.com+1.
• Prostate effects: Potential enlargement of the prostate, which may increase the risk of prostate-related issues, including cancer hrtdoctorsgroup.com.
• Sleep apnea: Worsening or development of obstructive sleep apnea in some usersHegseth is unfit to lead the U.S. military.  Somehow the MAGA-sphere is obsessed with being manly, manly, tough, tough "men", and they confuse brutality with courage and manliness.  They are living in a tragic misunderstanding of manhood.  This is only the latest nitwittery of Hegseth and the MAGA Cult.  

By the way, he wants to also test WOMEN for low testosterone and give them supplements.  This is just another step in his long assault on women in the military.  

Buffoon.

ICE trained to terrorize

 I keep hearing critics of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) lamenting that they aren’t being given sufficient training, so they are screwing up and killing people and apprehending non-criminals and being too violent. Well, I don’t think that is true. 

I think they are following their training precisely. I think they are being trained to terrorize immigrants, documented and undocumented, and scare them out of the country. They are purposefully trained to terrorize immigrants, terrorize liberals, terrorize reporters, terrorize bystanders, terrorize witnesses, terrorize America. 

They are terrorists. They are KKK. They are “Republican” MAGA, Jim Crow, Confederacy, Bible Belt, white hypermasculine terrorists… who wear masks just like their KKK ancestors and role models did. 

Their ideological leader is the execrable Steven Miller, who literally looks like a Nazi SS fanatic, or like a young Vladimir Putin.  And, of course, this all flows down from the Bigot in Chief himself.  

They are doing what they are being trained to do. And that has nothing to do with the Rule of Law. 

MAGA deaths

MAGA deaths... The Trump and MAGA administration are so corrupt, so opaque, so deceitful that even the news of the hospitalization of Republican Senator, Mitch McConnel, and the death of Republican, Lindsey Graham, are cause for accusations of deceit.

Some liberals and Epstein Files MAGAs suspect that McConnel is essentially brain dead, or nearly so, and MAGA is keeping that hidden until after August 3 so that a special election to replace him is not held because they don't want Thomas Massie, or another Republican who wants to expose the Epstein files, to replace him.

Some on both sides suspect that Graham was hit with a heart attack inducing drug to keep him from supporting Ukraine against Russia.

Sow distrust, reap the whirlwind...

Trump's America - KKK

 Here is the defining image of the July 4 "celebration" in Washington DC on the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence ... KKK (Patriot Front) masked men on the DC Metro on their way to their racist march, surrounding one black woman.  MAGA is just another word for KKK/bigotry/hate/white supremacy/Nazi.  In case there was any doubt the KKK (Patriot Front) showed up in force complete with white masks.  

So, in 250 years we went from "...all men are created equal..." to Trump's America.  MAGA's America.  Disgusting.

The U.S. is losing three wars… Unhappy 4th of July 2026

 Putin’s Russia has been waging WWIV ever since Putin rose to power. His view is that Russia lost WWIII to the U.S.  So he has been trying to recreate the Soviet empire, and more. First target on his revenge list is to topple the U.S.  He, and Russians, see Trump as the U.S. Gorbachev, that is, Gorbachev was the idiot who lost the Soviet Empire, so Putin needed an American idiot who would lose the U.S. Empire. So they groomed and supported the American idiot, Trump, the Pedo in Chief. 

And Putin and Russia’s attack and destruction of the U.S. has been astonishingly successful. The U.S. no longer has allies. The U.S. no longer protects NATO. The U.S. has destroyed its own democracy and Constitutional Rule of Law. The U.S. is destroying its great scientific research universities.  The U.S is destroying its health care system. Etc. etc. etc. The main destroyer of the U.S. is, of course, the Pedo in Chief. But it turns out the Russians found a major group inside the country to push the destructive force to destroy the U.S. - MAGA. 

    Who is MAGA? The old Confederacy. And that brings us to the second war that the U.S. is losing - the Civil War.  The U.S. Northern abolitionists defeated the slaver South in 1865. But not so fast.  The Confederacy overthrew the victory, created the myth of The Lost Cause which perpetuated the bigoted lie that white men were superior to blacks (and browns and reds and yellows and women). 

So, what does the Confederacy do to show its violent rule? Destroys science - destroys expertise - destroys free speech - destroys dissent - destroys ethics - destroys empathy and compassion and caring - destroys the Rule of Law - destroys the arts. In other words, they turn the Constitutionally based U.S. into the Jim Crow U.S. or perhaps more accurately they turn us into the corrupt and violent Russia. See, says Putin and Russia, the U.S is not special they are no better than Russia. 

And, oh yes, the U.S. is also losing its idiotic war against Iran. Before we attacked Iran the Strait of Hormuz was open.  The Pedo in Chief wants his gullible MAGAs to believe he won… by opening the Strait. Astonishing nitwittery. 

And, oh yes, Russia is also losing its idiotic war against Ukraine. Sorry Putin.  Your days could be coming to an end soon. 

Dumbassery all around. 

So, here we are at the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. And as the oldest and wise man of the Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin said, we have a Republic - if we can keep it.  But we are losing it. This 4th is not much of a celebration to me. It certainly is not a celebration of the triumph and persistence of the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution is under severe assault, by the Pedo in Chief, by MAGA, by the Tech Bros, by the evangelical theocrats. 

But the story is not over. Trump and MAGA, and even the greedfuck Techbros, are starting to falter. And the greatest idea in human history is still in our souls, in our bones, in our country - All People are Created Equal.  And the white supremacist Confederacy will fall again, and the Russian style corruption, incompetence, and cronyism will fall as well.  

I choose to believe in The Better Angels of our Nature. 

… of the billionaires, by the billionaires, and for the billionaires …

 The government of the United States of America has always been strongly influenced by the super rich. Today’s Supreme Court escalates that corrupt tradition by making some kind of ruling about political party contributions. The details are interesting, I suppose, but it is worth understanding what the contribution limits to politicians are:

• $7000 limit - to a political candidate, $3500 during primaries and $3500 during the general election
•  $44,300 limit - to a political party 
• $290,000,000 limit - to a Super PAC (just kidding, there is NO LIMIT to Super PACs, Musk contributed over a QUARTER OF A BILLION $ in 2024)

And, oh yes, they elected an astonishing corrupt billionaire, who brags about Taking Care of His Bribers - the fossil fuel industry, the Crypto scams, the Tech Bros, etc. (as long as he gets his cut)

Democracy?  In the “Republican” (MAGA) Party? 

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

How NOT to negotiate

One of the first things you are taught as a negotiator is do not, do not, do not let your negotiating opponent know your deadline to get a deal done.  This gives them all they need to know to hold you hostage to whatever they want to gain in the negotiation.  You don't show up in their city, get picked up at the airport by a canny subordinate, make small talk, and answer their chit chatty question about when your return flight is.  If they know when you need a signature, they will hold off until the last moment, add extra demands, and happily shake your hand as you get what you need - a signature - and they get what they want - a whole bunch of things they had no reasonable expectation of getting.

So, witness the worst negotiator in the world, Donald Trump.  Everyone knew, Iran knew, Russia knew, Israel knew, America knew that Trump needed a HEADLINE - a DEAL - to open the Strait of Hormuz - on his BIRTHDAY.  Trump's entire world is about headlines, propaganda, spin, branding - not reality, just hype, for the MAGA gullibles. I guess MAGA will believe anything that Trump and Fox and the cult media bubble tells them to believe.

So, Trump manufactured his HEADLINE - OPEN THE STRAIT.  Yippee!  (And release Iranian assets, and further negotiate "details" of nuclear "dust", etc. etc. etc).  

What a patsy.

So, he got what was there before the most gullible, easily manipulated by Israel president in U.S. history had before his stupid invasion - the Strait of Hormuz as open.  (And Iran demonstrated total, unstoppable control of the strait any time they feel the need).  They got money.  They got to push off any real concessions on nuclear development (he is bored, wounded, and will do all he can to ignore Iran going forward - he lost and he doesn't want any more of those Iranian HEADLINES in the future)

I'm just grateful he didn't nuke Iran.

What is a "real man"?

 So much of MAGA is confused about what a man is... They think a "real man" is someone who is violent, scary, intimidating, cruel. Wrong. James Talarico, Texas Senate candidate against the corrupt criminal Paxton, gives a wonderful explanation of what a real man actually is (like his father)...

"He just did it because that’s what a man does. A man takes responsibility. A man upholds his commitments to his family and his neighbors. A man does what’s right even when no one is watching,” Talarico added.

Talarico then turned his criticism directly toward Cruz and Paxton: “And here’s what real men don’t do. They don’t lie and cheat their way through life. They don’t sell their soul to the highest bidder. They don’t steal from other people in order to enrich themselves.”

He continued: “And so I’ve said before, and I will keep saying that real men serve others. Weak men serve themselves.”

A real man speaks, a real Christian speaks. Thank you

Greater Israel? Greater Palestine? Two states?

 Standing in the present and looking back in time, both Israelis and Palestinians have very real reasons to kill each other.  Standiing in the present and looking forward in time, delusionally, both sides have very real reasons to kill each other - Israelis want Greater Israel, and Palestinians want Old Palestine.

Please stop.  These are delusions.  Neither is going to happen.

Please stand in the present, and do not look back for murderous reasons to kill each other, do not look forward into murderous delusions to kill each other. Please look forward to the only future that can be peaceful - a two state solution, both sides independent of each other, both sides not murderous, both sides just let it be.  

You can do it.  For goodness sakes, Ireland did it. So can you.

The desecration of the White House - a symbol of the mad "king"

 Sometimes a picture is worth more than a thousand words: here is how the filthiest person in America has soiled one of the greatest American symbols - the White House:

This is a symbol of Trump's trashing, destroying, crushing America.  As he has destroyed America's honor, alliances, decency, goodness, truth, default currency, economy, military readiness, trustworthiness, etc.  The destruction is too hard to summarize.  

Because, I guess, he's mad.  Resentful.  Hateful.  Wants to show us all that he is more powerful than America itself.  

Funny thing, though.  He will die.  And America will rise back up and wipe out every damned monument that this deranged, insane madman built to his glory. 

Ozymandius.

And, oh by the way, he is losing - losing the Iran war - losing the mid-term elections - losing his mental facilities - losing his ability to be continent - losing his ability to be entertaining and control a MAGA crowd.  He is sundowning.  Good.

Next up… Obama to be charged with treason?

Why has the Pedo in Chief chosen such a tiny nobody, Bill Pulte, to be “acting” head of the Department of National Intelligence?  Vengeance. 

How did Pulte gain favor? By using his fairly minor job heading Housing Finance to indict people the Pedo in Chief hates -  from Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook to New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California).  

He had a small job and did the one thing that is the most important thing to do for the orange faced pig in charge - indicted the pig’s enemies. Hahahahahahaha

Golly gee, if this twerp could find some ludicrous pittance thing to indict people Trump hates as Housing Finance, what oh what could he find to indict the pig’s enemies as Director of National Intelligence?  

Oh, sure - TREASON.  Some made up violation of secrecy. Who will he target?  Well, who does he hate?  Isn’t Obama on the top of that list? 

How did we get here?  Well, here is where totalitarian fascist dictators always end up.  David Fromm recently quoted Frederick Hayek, noted conservative luminary, in an Atlantic article about why the worst people rise to the top under totalitarian monsters:

“…the words of Friedrich Hayek, who said it best in his 1944 book about totalitarian systems, The Road to Serfdom, in the chapter “Why the Worst Get on Top”:

The totalitarian leader must collect around him a group which is prepared voluntarily to submit to that discipline they are to impose by force upon the rest of the people.

Advancement within a totalitarian group or party depends largely on a willingness to do immoral things.

To be a useful assistant in the running of a totalitarian state, therefore, a man must be prepared to break every moral rule he has ever known if this seems necessary to achieve the end set for him.

Pulte is to only the”acting” DNI. I don’t think the Pedo in Chief will nominate him, or anyone for Senate confirmation. He will just put in “acting” heads to do exactly what he tells them to do and skip the whole Constitutional mandated Advise and Consent thing. 

After all, who’s going to stop him?  MAGA?  Hahahahahahahahahahaha

So, here we are, dear Republican friends. You wanted something from this deranged monster - low taxes? gun rights? end abortion? Christian led schools? Law and order? (big guffaw), border control?  Are you happy?  Did you do a good job electing someone you admired so?

What are you actually getting?  Galloping inflation soon, gas shortages, food shortages, water shortages, many wars, subservience to Russia, subservience to Israel, petty vengeance of a mentally ill nutcase, farm closures, small business bankruptcies, closing of restaurants… we have no idea how low this can go.

Unless he’s stopped.  But only Republicans can stop him.  Dems will be right along your side, but Reps are the ones who have to impeach him.  Pick any one of dozens of High Crimes and Misdemeanors - massive corruption, violation of the emoluments clause, war crimes, how about pedophilia (release the stinking, filthy Epstein files you stinking colluding cowards)

For God’s sake let’s pray we don’t get nuclear war. 

Necessary globalization

 Artificial Intelligence and Global Warming/Climate Change are worldwide existential threats that cannot be solved by individual countries nor individual corporations. These are global problems and must have a world wide cooperative and collaborative effort to deal with.  Pope Leo XIV just addressed this in his “Magnifica Humanita” Encyclical.  He makes the key point that humans and the human spirit is magnificent, are expression of our divine Souls and Spirits, and that regardless of how exalted the “intelligence” of AI, Artificial Intelligence, becomes it will never become human with soul, spirit, conscience, or real human depth and sensitivities. From the Encyclical he warns that the world must collaborate to take responsibility for the unfathomable powers that AI will become:

“ In the past, it was largely up to the State to guide and direct innovation. Today, however, the main drivers of development are private, often transnational, parties that are endowed with resources and the capacity to intervene that surpass those of many Governments. Technological power thus takes on an unprecedented, predominantly “private” aspect, which makes it even more challenging to discern, govern and direct such power toward the common good.”

He then recounts the story of Nehemiah who coordinated a collaborative repair:

“ The narrative shows how the city is reborn, not through the initiative of one man, but through the shared responsibility of all: men, women, priests, artisans, heads of households and young people all play a part. It is an undertaking with God at the center, which rebuilds relationships before rebuilding with stones. Thus, ancient Jerusalem rediscovers a common language — not one of uniformity, but one of communion, namely the harmony that arises when all persons assume their own role”

The other threat to human welfare and even survival is worldwide environmental assault.  The seas keep getting warmer and catastrophic fires and floods and heat domes and blizzards and hurricanes and sea level rises and toxic air and toxic water. We are abusing the environment. And it is good that some counties are taking leads in environmental care,  but this is something the world needs to work together to deal with. 

Tragically, Trump and MAGA are in the grips of a terrible idea - America First. And nowhere is this toxic idea more harmful than America’s domination by the fossil fuel industry which doesn’t just protect fire burning and polluting oil and gas but uses its captured Republican Party to destroy as much green energy projects and research as they can. So, the world’s leading polluter pollutes, and stops technologies working on reducing the filth. 

Both of these world wide problems need world wide solutions, collaborative solutions.  Not countries against each other, but countries working together. We did it once on a very, very big problem: the ozone hole. The world worked together to eliminate chemicals, chlorofluorocarbons, causing the ozone hole. And it is working. Bravo. 

We can do it. We did it. We need to do it again.  

Wouldn’t it be nice if America once again took the lead on healing the world, rather than destroying the world? 

America’s lost innocence, part 2

 After Trump was clearly on his way to winning the Republican Party nomination the first time, I wrote on March 2, 2016:

“ America has been very, very lucky so far.  We have not been guilty of electing monsters to be our leaders. There have been many presidents that have engendered a lot of opposition, but none have been actual monsters.

Other countries have to live with a past that includes monsters.  Italy had Mussolini (whom Trump consciously or unconsciously mimics in his face and body language); Italy also had Caesar; Russia had Stalin, (and Lenin, and Peter the Great, and now Putin), China had Mao Tse Tung (and a few thousand years of brutal rulers); Japan had crazed generals; and of course Germany had Hitler.  These countries all lost their innocence long ago.  They were seduced by authoritarian leaders who became monstrous despots and war mongers.”

Well, here we are. Part 2.  Monster.  Trump is a monster. He is on the verge of starting WWIII. Why?  To avoid dying in prison once his horrendous perverted sexual crimes are revealed in the Epstein Files. So he creates endless headlines distractions - attack Venezuela, release the JFK assassination files, release UFO files, attack Iran, threaten Greenland (again), threaten Cuba… and the distractions just keep on coming…

Trump has no empathy, no compassion, no normal human sensitivities.  He is mentally ill, a psychotic narcissist who is incapable of having even the slightest concern for anyone or anything other than himself. He is terrified of being seen as a loser, and he has lost the war against Iran. The theocratic zealots running Iran are as nuts as Trump, but in a theological way rather than a mental illness way (though psychopaths are probably in charge there too)

So, here we are. Our country was ripe for the seduction of a cruel monster, and gave him the keys to… our laws, our health, our safety, our prosperity, our very survival… and that was a very terrible mistake. 

What comes first? His collapsing, demented body gives out?… or the end of America and millions of innocent lives?

So, America’s luck ran out.  The darkest and most destructive and hate filled parts of America were  courted, seduced, and dominated by its chosen monster. But since we are America, it is not just America paying this terrible price, but rather the entire world is paying while we wring our hands and flailingly try to stop the madness. 

The survival of us all is in the hands of the Republican House and Senate. Without them the monster rages unchecked. We rise up. We resist. We expose. We try to persuade.  But we might not make it to January 2027 with a new Congress and Senate. That might be too late. 

We need Republicans to take heroic steps and turn on the monster that they chose. We need them to do the hardest of all things, admit they made a mistake, and correct it. 

Republicans need to impeach him before it is too late. 

Government Non-Disclosure Agreemments?

 The lifelong criminal, Dondald J Trump, has used NDAs, non-disclosure agreements, in his businesses and marriages all of his life to hide his long list of crimes.  So, what does he want to do as President of the United States of America?  Oh, what an original idea - force government employees to sign NDAs.  

"The Trump administration is planning a government-wide nondisclosure agreement that would bar federal workers from sharing a wide array of “confidential government information"

The fact that this is an illegal demand is no impediment on a person whose whole life has been a life of crimes.  So, what is one more criminal act?  

Time for Congress to rise up. Time for the Republicans in Congress to rise up.  Republicans in Congress are being destroyed by this demented and deranged Pedo in Chief.  Not all of them are MAGA cultists.

When will they turn on him? Slush fund to protect Trump complicit criminals?  War of choice in Iran with no goal other than headlines to distract from the Epstein files?  Destroying the American and world economies with his idiotic frontal attack on Iran?  The Epstein files which will obviously reveal horrendous Trump crimes? Destroying the East Wing?  Destroying the columns of the White House?  Erecting a monumental atrocity arch to block Arlington Cemetery? Stealing top secret documents and selling them to Russia? Unconstitutionally using the office of the Presidency to grow his wealth by $4 BILLION?  Destroying the health apparatus of America and ending the development of vaccines as new pandemics are assured of coming our way?  

What idiocy, what atrocity, what stupidity, what boundless avarice and corruption will finally be the tipping point? When does America get a Congress?  When does Congress say no?  When does the Republican Party say enough, enough, enough!!!

Mob boss corruption

 So, the mob boss Pedo in Chief makes up a phony lawsuit for $10 BBBBBBBillion against the IRS which is part of the government that HE runs.  Then he “settles” for “only”  $1.8 BBBBBBBBBillion.  But what is this massive amount for?  Why, to pay for the “defense” of the criminals who have already been convicted of crimes connected to the benefit of… him.  And, not just getting them off for crimes already committed.  No, of course it is much more.  Golly gee, Ralphie, we MIGHT wipe out those old crimes and keep you out of prison and save you a fortune, but I wonder if you could just do us another little favor… another crime for the OrangeOne?  The OrangeOne would be oh so very grateful if you would.  And maybe you would be made whole for all of it. What do you say, Ralphie boy?  

Capice?  

And, oh yes, by the way, Trump and his family and all of his businesses will NEVER be able to be audited nor prosecuted for tax evasion.  You know - tax evasion - like the thing that the government put Al Capone in prison for?  Tax evasion - can't be prosecuted.  

Government?  Executive Branch?  What’s that got to do with anything?  You work for one person, and one person only. You belong to him. Everything belongs to him.

Clear?  

Attacking your enemy on Existential Ground

 I recently watched a Great Courses class on the lessons of Lao Tsu's "The Art of War".  One of the lessons was laying out what kind of ground battles were to be fought on - high ground, difficult ground, etc.  The one that comes to mind now is Existential Ground.  It is good not to force an opponent to fight on what they see as Existential Ground - that is, they must either fight, and win, or die.  They have no choice but to fight to the death.  

How does this lesson apply today?

One lesson is in Iran.  The Iranian Theocratic sociopaths are fighting for their lives, literally.  Trump and Netanyahu  have literally killed the top leadership in Iran.  Those left are fighting to the death.  They have no choice.  Trump is fighting for headlines. What the hell does he care what the long-term results are?  Just give him a headline and let him get the hell out.  Screw the rest of the world, the Pedo in Chief doesn't give a Tinker's Dam about the world.

Another lesson is the mid-term elections.  Here, the Pedo in Chief is doing battle on Existential Ground.  Either he wins, or he gets Impeached, and perhaps spends the rest of his life in prison.  No rules apply.  No laws apply. For him, and for his MAGA Cult, this is fight or die.  This is an existential battle.  They are doing all they can to win, and the only way they can win is through cheating and violence. Cheating, violence, and threats of violence will continue to escalate.

But this battle is on Existential Ground for Democrats, for the Rule of Law, for Democracy Itself as well.  If Trump's fascist takeover of the election succeeds, democracy in the U.S. may never recover.  Military intimidation at voting places, disenfranchising of multiple non-fascist voting peoples, false counting of votes, fascist takeover of the courts, all the corruption of fascist rule become the new America.  This is not an election.  It is a battle on existential ground.

An interesting example of an Existential Ground battle is Caesar's defeat of Pompey, which ended the Roman Civil War and let Caesar become dictator.  I am watching "Rome" on HBO, and Caesar's forces were severely outnumbered.  The fictional Caesar welcomed the battle because his outnumbered forces would have to fight for their very lives, while Pompey's forces were fighting for much lower stakes, and indeed they apparently fled at a crucial time.  

Military experts may know more about this than I, but it demonstrates the principle that those "fighting for their lives" cannot afford to lose, so watch out.

John Roberts = Roger B Taney

 Did Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert B Taney issue some good rulings during his tenure?  Who knows?  Who cares? He issued the ruling on the Dred Scott case saying the black man, Dred Scott, wasn’t a man but rather he was just a piece of property like a cow and had no legal rights.

Will Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts be remembered for anything other than relentlessly overturning the Voting Rights Act of 1965 giving voting freedom to blacks?  I hope not. His infamy needs to be placed right alongside Taney.