Trump is Hoover 2.0?

Herbert Hoover was blamed for the Great Depression, for good reason, and he destroyed the Republican Party for two generations.  FDR replaced him in 1932 and there wasn't a Republican president again until Reagan in 1980.  I know, Eisenhower was president in 1952 but it was never clear which party he would choose until he declared, so he was just a U.S. president without the baggage of the Republican Party, and indeed he accepted much of the FDR Federalization of the government.

Trump is destroying the U.S. economy, the U.S. dollar, the U.S. rule of law, the U.S. alliances, the U.S. world leadership, and U.S. goodness.  It will take at least two generations to undo the damage done by him, and Stephen Miller, and Russel Vought, and Pete Hegseth, and RFK Jr, and Tulsi Gabbard, and and and and ....

Trump and MAGA ended their pretenses long ago and have come out in bold public declarations that they are proudly white supremacist, Christian theocratic, plutocratic billionaire elitist, child rapist, above the law zealots.  And they think all they have to do to stay in power is to turn the U.S. into to a terrified police state run by the violent force of brutal, immune masked and highly armed thugs.

Bullshit.  Although it is deeply saddening to me to see that about 35 -40% of Americans are hard core MAGA cult racists and thugs, the great strength of America is synergy - the whole of multiple races and personalities and cultures and values is greater that the sum of its parts.  The synergy of the whole of America is much more powerful than the domination of one small part of America - white Christian theocratic men.  

Trump will fail.  MAGA will fail.  We are not Germany of the 1930s or Italy of the 1920s nor Hungary or Russia today. The Soul and Spirit of America is waking up, looking around, and saying What the Hell?  

They are following their training

Polite commentators are saying that ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and US Customs and Border Protection are "making mistakes" because they are "poorly trained".  They say they are not properly trained in police practices of crowd control, de-escalation, constitutional protections and limits, probable cause, etc.  

Nonsense.

They have been fully trained, and they are following their training.  You have to understand what they are trained to do, and what they are doing, on purpose.  They are trained to escalate, not de-escalate. They are trained to incite the crowds, not calm the crowds.  They are not there to "enforce" immigration laws or deport the "worst of the worst".  That is the cover story.

What are they trained to do?  What are they doing?  They are creating a MAGA Gestapo to terrorize the country.  Attacking and throwing men women and children to the ground and brutalizing them. Doing it for the cameras to show on MAGA Cult media to excite their cult to relish the violence (and call it "law and order").  To excite their cult to be violent. 

They are being violent to incite a violent response so the Pedo in Chief can declare Martial Law, or at least put masked US Gestapo menacing thugs and poling places in brown and black communities, and try to cheat the mid term elections which he knows he will loose in a landslide, be impeached and convicted, and face criminal trials.

What they are doing is getting the country used to violent masked, fully armored, using military weapons racists roaming the streets, smashing glass, breaking down doors, pulling people from cars and homes and workplaces.  

They are the KKK of today. They are the Nazis of today.  They are the Gestapo of today.  And we are supposed to be afraid, very afraid, turn away, keep our heads down, don't make trouble, don't see, pretend it's not happening.

Just like the Germans did in the '30s and the Italians did in the '20s and '30s.

But this is America in the 2020's.  We look, we see, we witness, we record, we say no.  We don't submit in advance. We don't submit at all.

We know the game plan. We say no.

 

Russian Honey Trap

 Accusations that Trump, Epstein, maybe others, raped and then murdered young teenage girls and boys has to be the most horrible of the charges revealed in the Epstein files. I hope local police properly search properties mentioned to have buried bodies.

Of course there are multiple charges of rape of young teen girls and boys. And Trump and Epstein are the most often documented names in the files. But there are many powerful names, including the execrable Elon Musk and habitual sex addict, Bill Clinton. 

But, to me, the most important charge is that the Epstein system of debauchery was a giant Russian KGB “honey trap” - that is, it lured weak, sexually deviant and obsessive men into sex acts that were despicable, or at least scandalous, and recorded them or documented them, and then blackmailed powerful political and business and influential men to obey Russia, or else. 

And so, Russia conquered America by trapping one of the weakest and most deviant Americans, Donald J Trump, and had an astonishing stroke of planning and luck when he became president of the U.S. 

So, it has long been obvious that Putin controls Trump, Putin demands that Trump destroy NATO, Putin demands that Trump destroy American alliances and military and economic ties, and sink the Pax Americana that inspired democracy and thwarted Soviet and then Russian imperial conquest since WWII. 

The more specifics that we see the more disturbed and depressed I become. Trump’s deviance and mental illnesses has been obvious from the start to even the mildest scrutiny over the last ten years. What is so hard to live with are the millions of our neighbors who refused to see the obvious, or saw it and didn’t care, or saw it and celebrated a kindred spirit of debauchery, greed, bigotry, and corruption. 

77 million people voted for this criminal in 2024, and who he was was not a mystery. He campaigns on his sins.  Say it out loud, he’s a monster and he’s proud. 

And murder

 And here is the accusation of murder:

Is this a false story plant to discredit scrutiny of Epstein crimes?  

Digital rape of children

 The latest release of the Epstein files gives us this depraved account:

We know that Trump bragged of “…grabbing them by the pussy…” and then “…they let you do it…” if you’re a celebrity. 

And we know that Trump was found guilty of digitally raping E Jean Carrol as a grown woman in a New York department store. 

So this story sticks because it is consistent with his known behavior. 

Sickening man, and all named here. When does MAGA get sick to its stomach and impeach the Pedo in Chief?

The way out

America has a unifying American narrative. It is the same as always - All People are Created Equal.  

MAGA, Trump, White Christian Nationalists, Nazis, KKK, etc... all of them say what the Confederacy said in 1860 - white Men, and Men only, are superior to all other people.

But the Divinely inspired dream of Thomas Jefferson of equality had the power to form a nation, end slavery, empower the Civil Rights movement, lead the post WWII world toward democratic freedoms, and now will overthrow the Trump MAGA cult of white supremacy today.  

The country needs to know what is right and what is wrong.  What's right? all people are created equal.  What's wrong? white men are superior to all other humans.

The philosopher, Mortimer Adler, in his book "We Hold These Truths" answered the question - what do you mean all people are created equal? His answer? we are all equally human.  Created by God and loved equally by God and, as Jefferson wrote, endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights - the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is the solid rock upon which the United States of America was built.  White male supremacy was and is the rigid but fragile thin ice that the Confederacy was built on, and it cracked and collapsed. As will Trump and MAGA and White Christian Nationalism.  

America, the dream of America, will rise up and prevail anew.

The KKK rides again

 Please remember that the KKK and other southerners killed people in the south during the civil rights movement. Then they wore hoods. Now they wear masks. Today they killed Alex Pretti, a ICU nurse for a VA hospital who was defending a woman that border control fascists had pushed to the ground, in cold blood in the street.  This after cold blooded shooting Nicole Good in the side of the head through her side window as her car was inching past him  

And they are being led by the president of the United States of America who approves of it all, and who makes it happen, and who wants killings so he can declare Martial Law and call off the mid term elections. Because whatever is in the Epstein Files must be so depraved that he would die in prison. This is about more than raping 13 year old girls and boys.

Do not take the bait. Don’t be violent. The only way Trump survives the midterm elections is if he can declare martial law and outlaw the elections.

This seriously ill deranged person has no bottom. He will always go lower than anyone can imagine.

Where is Congress? Where is the Supreme Court?

I wept today. Not the first time.

"Friends... it's time to take the signs down"

 In Davos, Switzerland at the World Economic Forum where over 2000 of the world's political and economic leaders gather, Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, gave a speech that marks the end of the old American led world.  He not only named the madness and threats to the world by America's mentally ill president, but he clearly said what the world must do to protect itself and end the madness.  This is not new to Europe.  Europe has seen fascist and cruel authoritarians many times over the last century, from Mussolini and Hitler to the Soviets and Putin and Trump today.  

Make no mistake.  America has become a threat to the free world.  We are the enemy.  

Here is a key passage from Carney's speech:

"In 1978, the Czech dissident Václav Havel, later president, wrote an essay called The Power of the Powerless. And in it, he asked a simple question: How did the communist system sustain itself?

And his answer began with a greengrocer. Every morning, this shopkeeper places a sign in his window: "Workers of the world, unite!" He doesn't believe it. No one does. But he places the sign anyway to avoid trouble, to signal compliance, to get along. And because every shopkeeper on every street does the same, the system persists.

Not through violence alone, but through the participation of ordinary people in rituals they privately know to be false.

Havel called this "living within a lie." The system's power comes not from its truth but from everyone's willingness to perform as if it were true. And its fragility comes from the same source: when even one person stops performing — when the greengrocer removes his sign — the illusion begins to crack.

Friends, it is time for companies and countries to take their signs down."

We in America must also "take our signs down."  We cannot just pretend that because masked men are not breaking down our doors that America has not changed.  America is over, or so say the MAGA cult, the Theocratic Zealots, the white supremacist insecure overgrown boys trying to be men by being scary. 

But the Soul and Spirit of America will not be broken by this latest assault by masculine insecurity and fear.  These people are not strong, even though they are violent, they are frightened and confused and panicking trying to stop the evolution of the human mind to an ever greater manifestation of the divinely inspired dream of America that All People are Created Equal.  

Trump and MAGA will not stand.

Trump and MAGA crippling America

 Donald Trump’s ridiculous obsession with conquering Greenland will completely destroy America’s involvement with NATO. And it will continue his ongoing project of destroying American power in the world. And ending 80 years of Pax-Americana that has guided the world since the end of World War II. 

To Donald Trump‘s mind all he is doing is making himself enormously rich. Anthony Scaramucci, briefly in Trump 1 administration, says that the people he knows inside the Trump administration report that Trump is dedicated to making $15 billion in this presidency. That he made $5 billion in his first presidency and wants a total of $20 billion - unconstitutional violation of the Emoluments Clause. 

The only thing that counts to Donald J Trump is what benefits Donald J Trump.

I remain convinced that this is more than simple, shortsighted greed on the part of Donald Trump. I remain convinced that he is under the control of Putin’s Russia. And one of Putin’s biggest goals is to destroy NATO.

But I think a funny thing is happening. I think NATO is sending military forces to Greenland to guard Greenland against an American invasion. Also, Canada is turning his back on trade with America and opening up to trade with China. Also, Europe is turning us back on trade with America and looking to other countries for its economic future.

And just for the heck of it Trump is attacking the value of the American dollar by threatening the independence of the Federal Reserve.  Since America is a debtor nation, China, Japan and other nations can just sell off U.S. Treasuries because of lack of trust in American responsibility, and we slide into a Depression. 

Donald Trump and his MAGAcult are so convinced of the Almighty Power of America that they think the rest of the world is subservient to and must obey any and all greedy, whimsical proclamations of the mighty Trump regime. Total nonsense. It is no longer the 1980s. 

The world has grown up. Donald Trump has not. MAGA has not.

How in the world will the rest of the world ever be able to trust, trade with, share intelligence information with, and rely on America in the future?  Donald Trump will die. MAGA will lose power. But I know, and the world knows, that at least 40% of Americans are unteachably ignorant, arrogant, cruel, and stupid.

Trump’ March towards the cliff continues. 

We get to see it and say No…

Donald Trump and MAGA have killed America of old, or so they think. I have a deep faith in the dream and goodness of the United States of America. We are based upon the brilliant truth that all people are created equal. MAGA, and the Confederacy before them, and Jim Crow too, are convinced of the false belief that white men are superior to everybody else. That’s what the Nazis thought. They were wrong. They lost. MAGA is going to lose.

We are in a final episode of southern slave owner, southern white supremacist, southern patriarchal authoritarian men trying to dominate the world around them. They do so out of fear. Fear that they are not as important as they were told they were from the cradle.  It’s not just southern men, of course. It’s northern men as well. Western men, Eastern men, authoritarian out of balance, chauvinistic men throughout this country are consumed with fear of loss of status and power. But their dominance is coming to an end.

All that is changing is the truth that all people are created equal. That means all people are equally human. And the Synergy of all of us is infinitely more powerful than the domination of a small sliver of our country.

That has always been America’s magic sauce.

Soon Trump’s destruction will be undeniable and he will join Republican Herbert Hoover as the most toxic political brands in American history. 

When did MAGA decide it wanted to be an imperial war machine?

Lots of MAGA thought they were voting for America First, no forever wars, but what they got was America the Imperialist war machine - Venezuela, Greenland, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, where else will the demented Orange Pedo in Chief target next?... Oops.

They thought they were going to get the end of the Russian war in Ukraine... Oops.

They thought they were going to get lower prices... Oops.

It was always clear that MAGA were naive, gullible, easily manipulated and lied to sheep. And so here we are, a confused MAGA wondering what the hell is going on.  

What's going on is they believed the most corrupt, greedy, insecure, cruel psychopath ever to posture as a Republican.  He's a vicious dumbass and his MAGA base are cruel, obedient dupes.  

Well at least they get to terrorize and prosecute their hated liberal "enemies", and that is what they are getting so I guess they are gleefully satisfied there.  How much fun it must be for them to watch their manly, manly, manly MASKED ICE thugs shoot mothers in fleeing cars... Oh boy!  What fun...

Time for Republicans to walk away from these psychopaths.

Damn.

Why he has to see it

 Why does the mentally challenged president need to see his name on so many things?  Trump hotels, Trump Towers, Trump Golf Courses, Trump the Game, Trump Magazine, Trump Ice, Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump Sneakers, Trump Vitamins, Trump University, Trump Coin, Trump Kennedy Center…

And even more frightening, why does he want to change the world map? Gulf of America, Greenland, Venezuela, Canada, Mexico?

I think it is because of his lack of legitimate, internally based self esteem and his desperate need to be told that he is valuable, and his need to see proof outside of himself, so he compulsively puts his name on everything he can think of. 

You can’t get self esteem from outside yourself, you always need more and more, and the need becomes insatiable.  The only self esteem that you actually feel is that which you own because you have slowly built internal qualities that you know and esteem - esteem yourself, esteem your own goodness.  These are to be honest, to be responsible as an adult, to have integrity which is spontaneous honesty and responsibility, to trust yourself rather than manipulate or bully or con others to provide for you, and to not consciously hurt others. If your self esteem is built on your own carefully developed character you don’t need outside proof of your value. 

Trump, obviously, has none of these qualities. He is endlessly dishonest, endlessly blaming and irresponsible, has absolutely no integrity and cannot be trusted by any rational person, and only manipulates and bullies and cheats and cons everyone around him, and he consciously hurts people. He has no internal qualities to stand on. There is no center. He can’t stand on the foundation of his own goodness.  Indeed the deepest but unacknowledged parts of him knows that he is not good. So, he can’t really have real self esteem. So, he needs to look out and name things so everyone will see and admire him. Well, I guess some do admire him. But what are they admiring, really?

The bottom rung of Dante’s hell are desperate and pathetic people who cry out “Please, don’t forget me”.  And I think in the end, that is all our president is begging of us all - please don’t forget him. 

It is very sad for this needy little person that he is trapped in a world where he cannot esteem himself based upon his own goodness. Who tries to be important and remembered by bullying, dominating, and killing people. And by putting his name on everything he can think of. 

And here we are, a country and as world being deeply damaged by this person’s illness. 

Why was his gun drawn?

 An out of control ICE agent shot and killed a 38 year old woman in Minneapolis who was trying to drive away from two threatening ICE agents. Our disgusting president claimed she deserved to be killed because she was trying to run over the agent.  But video clearly shows she was turning the car and he jumped in front of her then killed her.

Here’s my question.  Why the hell was his gun out and pointing at her head in the first place?  How was she some kind of threat to him?  Was she armed?  No. She was not a threat. 

He was a threat. And he killed her. And our president says “good”.

This is MAGA’s America. Crap. 

Does Donald Trump know that Stephen Miller is the real president?

Is Stephen Miller the real president?  It is clear that he is in charge of the racist effort to deport all brown people out of the country, and now we see him directing the takeover of Greenland.  We see the Orange dementia patient laboring to read U.S. policy with hesitation and mispronunciations words obviously written by "others" - Miller?

From the New York Times... "Stephen Miller, a top aide to President Trump, asserted on Monday that Greenland rightfully belonged to the United States and that the Trump administration could seize the semiautonomous Danish territory if it wanted.

“Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland,”"

????? "... BELONGS TO THE UNITED STATES..." ?????

Who's going to tell the Pedo in Chief that he is just a figurehead and the real brains behind the cruelty is Stephen Miller?  

Oil? Who cares?

 Our demented president just invaded Venezuela, captured its president, Maduro, and promised a Kangaroo Court conviction as a narco-terrorist.  Damn.

I have been "praying for" the Venezuelans to overthrow the Maduro murderous tyranny.  But not by America becoming Russia and invading the country.  

Why?  The cover story is drugs, but for Trump it's just about the oil.  What the hell do I care, or why should the people in Boise or Peoria care, if American oil companies make money in Venezuela?  Trump thinks seizing the oil for his oil company billionaires is a wonderful thing.  Who gives a shit?  The Venezuelan oil company PDVSA, Petroleos de Venezuela, is the major oil company now.  And they are incompetent bumblers who are run by the autocrat's inexperienced cronies, so the output has fallen dramatically. Also in Venezuela are the American Chevron and the French Total.  Who cares?  

I guess the Corruption in Chief cares.  It makes him feel like a powerful warlord rather than a cringing, fearful pedophile trying to escape prosecution.  And I guess he gets a few billion dollars in thanks from Chevron.  Yippee... We are all so happy for him...

So, America takes another step into becoming like Russia.  Just invade a country for their resources.  But again, I don't see how America benefits by Chevron or Exxon taking over the Venezuelan oil.  Chevron benefits. And Trump gets his bribe money.  

So... Trump benefits. And the only issue that ever is of any importance in a Trump presidency is how does Trump benefit?

Also, I guess we are supposed to stop focusing on Epstein Epstein Epstein.  But that is really not going to go away.

So now, isn't this a green flag to China to invade Taiwan?  Isn't this a formal approval of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and then the Balkan countries, and then the eastern European countries?

The Trump transition of America from the inspiration and defender of democracies around the world takes another nauseating step into its new role as a Russia-China like imperialist expansionist greed state.

Damn.

Uprising in Iran

The Iranians are taking to the streets in open revolt against the theocratic Islamic dictatorship initiated by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979.  Nearly a half century of crushing tyranny by religious zealots.

From TimesNow:

"The main trigger right now is the Iranian rial's dramatic fall. Since the short but devastating war with Israel in June, the currency has lost about 60 percent of its value, as per a report from the Associated Press." 

Iran's current theocratic dictator is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and it looks like all he knows is violence in response.  I have been hoping that the Iranian people would overthrow these toxic, dangerous religious zealots for decades now, and perhaps it will finally happen.

But this also tells Americans something important.  Although I have been horrified by the fascistic destruction of the American Constitution and democratic guard rails designed to prevent the rule of a wanabe king, what really upsets Americans is the economy and their personal lives - not that many seem to share my horror at the incipient fascism.  

But, as Iran shows, what brings a movement to overthrow a tyranny is when the people cannot afford to live.  When their lives become too painful to continue to accept.  

I don't see America rising up in the streets to overthrow the MAGA/Oligarchic/Theocratic tyranny being attempted to be installed to end our Constitutional Democratic Republic. But I do see American voters rising up and throwing out the astonishingly incompetent, ideologically blinded, corrupt MAGAs out of office in 2026. Making life too expensive to live will be seen more and more as the terrible economic policies of Trump and MAGA become more and more obvious.

One can have reason for hope.

2025 historically

What happened in 2025 that will be seen as historical decades from now? There has been so much chaos and crap, but what will be the things that changed the country and the world?

America gave up world domination and world leadership. With a Russian Asset operating as president of the United States, America deliberately abandoned the PAX Americana that was established after WWII - 80 years of influence - by opposing USSR and Russian tyranny and corrupt influence in the world. America is now on the side of Russia and is helping it conquer Ukraine and then the Balkan States and perhaps as much of Europe as Europe is unwilling to defend. But they will be on their own, and Putin says thanks to Orange Dumbass, and to his deluded Cult.

The destruction of American leadership in science and technology. By attacking, defunding, and destroying scientific research in universities and in the Federal Government, America became a backwards country stuck in a technological backwater as China and the world surged forward in a global scientific explosion. This is especially true in crippling research medically, especially crippling and ending vaccines and vaccine research. If a new pandemic sweeps the world, I am afraid America will lead the world in horror and death.

A severe attempt to end the Rule of Law and change to the Rule of President, but I think that effort will fail. Its failure in 2026 and later will be an historical process and a blessing.

American destruction of all alliances in the world as it switched to America First, meaning America alone.

The countries of the world stop trusting America, stop helping America, stop relying on America. The damage created by Trump and his MAGA cult, demanded by its chief enemy, Russia and Putin, will likely take at least two generations to undo.

Massive economic inequality in 2025. Could it lead to pitchforks in coming years?

Artificial Intelligence could become in 2026 the most earth-shattering technology since the printing press, with the end of meaningful employment for vast majorities of American people. At this time I know of nobody that has a real idea of how to deal with that.

Looks like a lot of historical turning points in 2025. 2026 could be a portal to real resolutions, and/or to deeper destructions. It is up to us.

Battleships are obsolete

America’s most ignorant and unteachable man just announced he’s going to build a bunch of battleships, call them the Trump fleet, puff up his chest and show the world how tough he is and how tough America is. There’s only one problem.

Battleships are obsolete. They were obsoleted in World War II. They’ve been replaced by aircraft carriers. Battleships can fire 20 miles. Line of site only. Aircraft carriers send planes out that can go hundreds of miles. These new battleships will be updated but they are still just a big beasts on top of the ocean and are pretty easy targets.

It’s as if he announced he was going to produce a hundred million muskets. 

The orange Pedo in Chief is lost in the world that went away long ago. 

When will Republicans catch on?  

Putin strikes America again - right before Christmas

 Trump got rid of about 30 U.S. ambassadors around the world. This significantly destroys U.S. influence and power in the world. The pretense is they will be replaced with America First loyalists. That’s just a way of saying they will be replaced with ignorant and incompetent political toadies. 

“ But John Dinkelman, the president of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), said the recalls amount to “nothing less than institutional sabotage” that will “undermine the United States’s role in the world.”

Putin is having a tough time conquering Ukraine, but America is a much easier conquest for him. 

Will MAGA ever wake up?  Or are all of them in on it?

Decades of expertise destroyed. Decades of American influence is destroyed. Putin is happy. As is Xi. I’m not.

He knows what he’s hiding

 It almost goes without saying that the Pedo in Chief has forced everyone in his administration to redact and disappear any and all incriminating evidence of his crimes against children in the Epstein Files. That alone is a bullhorn announcement by him that he is guilty. 

But it is not going to work. He’s cooked, done, desperate, panicking.  Because although we suspect what can be revealed, he KNOWS what he has done.  And my guess is he knows what horrible evidence is there because that evidence has been and is being used to blackmail him to obey the commands of his handlers. My guess is that Russia is who is controlling him with these hidden crimes, sexual and financial corruption. 

And it is not going to go away. His coconspirators are nuts if they think they can hide and gaslight the nation until it’s all just forgotten. And they’re even nuttier if they think they can break the law for him and not go to prison. 

How far will he go to create a more monstrous world story to try to bury the Epstein story?  I’m afraid this psychopath has no bottom. Do his servants finally say no?  That is too far? And enforce the 25th amendment?  

Or does he just say this isn’t fun anymore and resign? With a full pardon from the Opus Dei Catholic fanatic who is his Vice President. 

I choose door number two. 

The real presidents

 Looks to me like Stephen Miller and Russel Vought are the real presidents of the country.  Trump can still do horrible things to try to keep from losing his office and thus face many criminal prosecutions, but Miller is clearly in charge of the astonishing Gestapo cruelty against brown immigrants, and Vought is clearly implementing his fanatical Project 2025 theocratic takeover of the country. 

I am ready for the Pedo in Chief to figure this out and get rid of them as pretenders to the throne.

The Age of Coercion - is it’s time up?

 I am enjoying the PBS Masterpiece Theater presentation of Hillary Mantel’s “Wolf Hall”, the story of Thomas Cromwell, King Henry VIII, and some of his wives. The similarity of The Orange wannabe king and Henry are pretty strong, and there is a spoken line that seems so appropriate to this time of Orangeness - “The Age of Persuasion has ended; we have entered the Age of Coercion”.

But, it looks like the Age of the Orange One is starting to fade.  The mad king is less and less connected to reality, more and more connected to unfathomable greed, incompetence, and corruption.  And Republicans are finally noticing that the Emperor Has No Clothes - that indeed, he is just an old fart who has had his moment and hasn’t figured out how to leave without ending up in prison. 

His coercion is starting to fail. And the coerced will turn away?  Or will the circle and attack like hyenas?

The Human Race is hard wired for expansion, not contraction

 There are two Americas.  It has always been so.  The America of expansion and the America of contraction.  We get to choose, and we are in the process of choosing now. Examples:

Contraction - slavery born of the mistaken idea that white European men (not women) are superior to all other forms of human beings on the planet.  

Expansion - the American Revolution - Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin and John Adams - "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Contraction - the Civil War where the South fought to preserve the false idea that whites are superior to blacks, and to keep African Americans enslaved.

Expansion - the Civil War where the North fought to free the slaves and renew America's commitment to equality of all humans - "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

Contraction - the Jim Crow South that crushed African American power with terror and oppression

Expansion - the Civil Rights Movement led by African Americans and joined by all races to end Jim Crow and establish the Voting Rights Act allowing full democratic participation in the South

Contraction - McCarthyism and the Red Scare used legitimate fears of Soviet Russian Communist infiltration into the U.S. government to falsely strip liberals of influence and power

Expansion - Joseph Welch...As he struggled to maintain his composure, he looked at McCarthy and declared, “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness.” It was then McCarthy’s turn to be stunned into silence, as Welch asked, “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?”

Contraction - the John Roberts Supreme Court has overturned and continues to overturn the Voting Rights Act under the obvious false pretense that bigotry is over in America - the KKK rides again

Expansion - Americans need to, and will, reject the KKK fear based compulsion to perpetuate the false idea that white European men are superior to all other human beings

Contraction - Trump and MAGA - "Make America Great Again"  (white only again) - with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) thugs brutalizing and capturing and deporting brown people on the pretense of hunting illegal and dangerous immigrants, all for videos to show MAGA cult on Social Media and Government sanctioned TV news channels - so you can see how tough tough tough they are - and how they are fighting for the supremacy of the white race, again and again and again

But, here is the trick that history plays - the human race is hard wired for expansion, not contraction, for evolution, not devolution.  Contraction is doomed to failure because of its nature.  Its nature is to stop, to shrink, to go back.  Its nature is fear.  Its nature is in the name of fear to be cruel and punishing and domineering.  These are small energies. They are not energies that push forward and grow the human race. 

The human race is hard wired for expansion, hope, goodness truth and beauty, justice.  Martin Luther King said it beautifully: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."  This isn't wishful thinking, naivete, childish lack of cynicism.  

This is the essence of the Human Species - expansion not contraction.

The fossil fuel industry owns MAGA

Trump and MAGA own the Presidency, the Congress, as much of the Courts as they have been able to take over, as much of the media that they have been able to take over.  What is one of the results?  Massive U.S. environmental backtracking because they are all owned by the fossil fuel industry.

Not only is the fossil fuel industry destroying regulations on itself, it is actively working to destroy environmentally friendly green energy - from ending windfarm and solar projects to impeding Hydrogen fuel initiatives.  This is more than an industry protecting itself, it is a very powerful political campaign to cripple clean competition.  Greedshits-r-Us.

Fortunately, the rest of the world is not necessarily owned by these polluters.  Japan, China, India, etc. are often taking the lead in developing non-fossil fuel industries.  Thank you. By the way, it will not be either-or, it will be both-and - there will long be room for fossil fuels, wind, solar, geothermal, nuclear, Hydrogen, and who knows what is to come...

And, contrary to what the Orange Corruption in Chief and MAGA think, they will lose power, lose the Congress, lose the presidency, lose the Courts, lose their asses.  And the urgent imperatives of Global Warming and Climate Change will reassert themselves.  And the fossil fuel industry will have created an enormous backlash against their accelerations of climate disasters around the world.

Now, I am personally grateful to my own career that included supporting refineries and power plants.  A half a century ago I was proud to be contributing to productive power generation that grew our economy.  But I eventually had to accept that the future had to go in the direction of green energies.  The transition has been ongoing, and slower than we need, but I am sure that the finest scientific and engineering young minds at MIT, Stanford, Oxford, India, China, and around the world are not dreaming of making more efficient combustion engines or gas turbines. The holy grail that I expect they are pursuing are significantly reducing the reliance of fossil fuels for energy and making astonishing breakthroughs in energy storage, Hydrogen, Solar, Wind, Geothermal, and safe quick to build Nuclear.  

America (MAGA) has chosen, temporarily, to become obtuse and blind to the future, but the future just keeps on coming.  And America will have to catch up - or, of course, we can just buy the technology that the world developed in our absence.

Trump tries to help Putin win WWIV

According to former Russian chess champion and Russian critic, Gary Kasparov, we are currently in the middle of World War IV or so says Vladimir Putin.  What we call the Cold War, Putin calls  WWIII, and he is furious that Russia lost WWIII, so he has been waging WWIV ever since he took total control of Russia.  

He has been waging WWIV in the way Russia is expert at waging war - disinformation, propaganda, blackmail, extortion, all techniques to overthrow existing democratic governments in Europe and America.  And his success in the United States is stunning.  He installed a Russian puppet, Donald J Trump, as president and gave him the mandate that he betray NATO and leave Europe to the mercies of Russian interference and invasion.  And Trump must obey because, I think, three reasons. First it is clear that they have freedom ending kompromat on Trump - tapes of sexual perversion? proof of his operating as a traitor working for Russia?  Who knows?  Second, Trump is just one of the most corrupt, greedy pigs in American history (and that is saying a lot).  So Russia is just helping him amass a vast financial fortune.  Third, anything that makes Trump the most famous person in the world is catnip to his empty soulless self.  Putin plays all three of these.

Putin’s problem is he was dumb enough to try to conquer neighboring Ukraine. And it’s not going well. So he needs his American asset to bail him out. Imagine - relying on the deluded, insane Trump for anything. 

So, what just happened?  Trump has just released a revolutionary new national security program, which gives his master, Vladimir Putin, just what he wants.  He openly declares that America will not defend Europe against his master, Russia.  

Per Jason Horowitz of the New York Times:

"The Trump administration issued a national security strategy paper this week that called for European nations to take “primary responsibility” for their own defense, indicating that the United States should no longer guarantee Europe’s security. It accused the European Union of stifling “political liberty,” warned that some NATO members risked becoming “majority non-European,” and said the U.S. should align with “patriotic European parties” — code for Europe’s far-right movements."

The trouble with all of this for Putin, and Trump, is that Putin is not winning his war against Ukraine. His ground advances are excruciatingly slow at the cost of thousands and thousands of lives and financial ruin.  Of course he doesn't care about the loss of lives, nor a collapsing economy, but perhaps before too long Russians will care - a lot.

And the Orange Pedo in Chief is at real risk of losing his magic cult pixie dust as MAGA voters more and more realize that they have been conned, their lives are worse rather than better,  and they’ve been screwed by this orange con artist, who also just happens to be one of the main sex offenders in the Epstein menagerie, and they will walk away from him, and leave him shouting that they all need to obey! obey! obey!... please?

These old delusional fools are trapped inside their own grandiose delusions of historical importance. Good grief… spare us.  

Are these the leaders of The Reactionary Revolution?

The Roberts Supreme Court may be the actual leaders of the extremist right wing, theocratic, oligarchic, white supremacist Revolution.  They declared Trump to be immune from any crimes if he claims he is acting in his presidential capacity.  Outcome?  Here is what Pakistan is doing per Farid Zakaria…

“In a conversation with a friend from Pakistan, I lamented that country’s recent decision to give the head of its army expanded powers, including lifetime immunity from legal prosecution. My friend replied, “We’re just following in America’s footsteps. Didn’t your Supreme Court rule that the president could kill his political opponent and yet be immune from prosecution?”

America inspired the world with its visionary statement that all people were created equal. The Confederacy said that was crap because white men were superior to blacks. They lost the war but never gave up that insecure and pathetic belief.  Now they are MAGA and the Roberts Supreme Court. They will lose again. 

Bigotry is not a dream, is not a vision, it’s a fear. 

MAGA America is not inspiring other nations toward freedom and equality. They are giving permission for fear and cruelty. 

 I believe the true heart and soul of America will open its eyes and brush this tiny, greedy president, and his cult, aside and renew the greatest dream in world history - it’s pretty easy to understand, all people are created equal. It worked to free the slaves, to give women the vote, to give blacks the vote, to embrace gay marriage, and it inspired country after country around the world to throw off tyrannical dictatorships and create their own democracies. 

The dream that all people are created equal will not be killed by this sad moment in American history 

Will Venezuela 2025 be Ethiopia 1935?

  I am often struck by the parallels between Trump and Mussolini. Friday he called for the execution of six democrats who told the military that they must disobey illegal orders. Hang them says Trump!

Here is a summary of events from the recent documentary, "Mussolini, the First Fascist" which I found on You tube:

• He seized power in 1922
• He was to make Italy great again - Rome again - adopted the Roman Legion salute, later to be copied by the Nazis (and Elon Musk)
• Democracy was dead by 1925
• Parliament just obeyed Il Duce
• The only news was government propaganda
• Mussolini was on the news continuously - all Il Duce all the time
• Blackshirt fascists watched every family
• Violence solved everything was his operating principle
• To criticize Il Duce was seen as an attack on Italy - prison
• People had to pretend to agree, to hide, and eventually no one spoke out
• There was an assassination attempt where a bullet grazed his nose - HE WORE A PROMINENT BANDAGE OVER HIS NOSE and paraded before the adoring crowds
• The fascist motto was we don't give a damn
• Nothing was ever enough for him
• He inspired other dictators 
• 1935 invaded Ethiopia so as to be heirs of the great Roman Empire - poison gas, genocide - but ...

• Then started the downfall - he found out the Italians were not Roman gladiators, pfft...
• He became second fiddle to Hitler even though he had preceded him
• He declared Jews to be the enemy
• He declared Italians to be of the Arian race
• Invaded Albania and allied with Hitler
• Discovered he needed a permanent revolution or he would fall, but the fascist revolution was over
• Italian defeats broke Mussolini
• 1943 the Allies were in Italy 
• Mussolini arrested
• Imprisoned
• Hitler rescued him, a diminished shell of a man, watched always by SS
• Italy losing
• Mussolini executed and his corpse hung upside down form a telephone pole and his corpse beaten to a pulp

Turns out, violence didn't solve everything, but it eventually solved Mussolini. 

Lots of parallels, including cartoonish strutting and posing  

Fascist authoritarian incompetence

 James Comey is being prosecuted by an astonishingly incompetent, unqualified lawyer, Lindsey Halligan.  Why?  Because the qualified and competent lawyers refused to prosecute Comey. Why?  Because there is no case against Comey.  

So, why is she doing this?  Because Trump demands the prosecution.  Did he always understand that the case would fail?  Did he do this just for the headline of prosecuting a supposed "enemy"?  Perhaps.  Did he do this just to cost his enemy money in legal fees? Perhaps. Did he choose Halligan because she is pretty and looks good on TV? Sure.  

But this incompetence is not an accident, but is rather a feature of fascist authoritarian rule.  The insecure "king" cannot allow competent, intelligent, experienced people to be in positions under him.  Why?  Because the "king" can only have those who are loyal to him. Actually, loyal is the wrong word.  A stupid "king", as this one is and likely most of them are, demands OBEDIENCE, not just loyalty.  They are to throw themselves on their swords if the "king" tells them to.  And, what do you know, they destroy their careers and their lives by obeying their corrupt, criminal master.

I expect the prosecution against Comey will be thrown out.  And I expect the Orange Cheat in Chief to try to destroy the judge.  And I expect he will fail.

This incompetent obedient servitude is common in fascist regimes, it seems to me.  Venezuela seems to be an example.  Prior to the takeover by the cult leader, Chavez, Venezuela oil company PDVSA produced about 3.5 millions barrels per day.  Then Chavez got rid of the engineers and managers who knew what they were doing and replaced them with "loyalist" political servants.  The result? Under Chavez and later the Chavez successor, Maduro, PDVSA now produces about 1 million barrels a day.  Sure, US sanctions are part of that, but incompetent mismanagement resulting in poor maintenance and operation are maybe a bigger story.

The ultimate proof of fascist authoritarian incompetence, of course, was the Soviet Union.  Under Stalin and his brutal successors, installing only obedient loyalists, their economy, agriculture, prosperity was abysmal.  The Russians after the Soviet collapse were just ruled by a new "king", Putin and his obedient oligarchy.  The result?  The economy is about the size of Italy but they are good at nukes and oil production.  

The Orange Cheat in Chief and his obedient subjects are crushing the American economy, crushing American alliances, crushing American foreign influence, crushing American law (as best they can but courts are fighting back), crushing American higher education (some are fighting back), crushing American media (some are fighting back), etc. Lucky for us he is not very smart, and it looks to me like he is losing some of his fear factor over his cult.

Incompetent obedience is not an accident, it is a feature of fascist authoritarianism.

Why is the release of the Epstein files the most important thing in Trump’s world

 The reason that what’s going to be revealed in the Epstein files is the most important thing in the world today is because Donald Trump says they are the most important thing in the world. His world. And it affects us all. And he has been doing all he can to stop the release. 

Because he is threatening war with Venezuela to divert attention from the files.  

Because he is threatening Republicans to keep them from being released. 

Because his actions are a loud and obvious confession that he is guilty, so guilty that he will lose his presidency, so guilty that he will be imprisoned. 

Will there be unimpeachable evidence that he raped children?  Looks like it me. 

Will there be evidence that he is guilty of more than pedophilia?  Looks like it to me.  Like what?  

My guess is that the underaged girls were honey traps set up by Epstein in coordination with a hostile foreign power. Which?  My guess is Russia.  Tucker Carlson says Israel. Lure powerful men into pedophilia and take photos and videos of their crimes, and they will be controlled by whoever has the blackmail evidence. 

My other guess is that many financial crimes, lifetime imprisonment types of crimes, are the real secrets buried in the blackmail files. 

I think Trump sees this as the end of him.

Watch out world. He needs big, big, big headlines.  I am afraid that nukes are in his demented brain. 

The Democrats decision to re-open the government was probably correct

 I'm changing my mind on the Democrats decision to end the shutdown. Democrats got what they wanted, the huge undeniable message that they stood for helping normal people get health care and food, while Trump and MAGA didn't give a shit, and indeed were tuxedo wearing heartless billionaires.

Extending the shutdown would never have gotten MAGA to extend the Affordable Care Act subsidies. The shutdown was always about the message the Democrats care about people and Republicans are greedy billionaire shitheads. Message delivered and understood.

Dems took the victory, opened the government and will GET THE EPSTEIN FILES RELEASED once the House is back in DC.

Thanx

Schumer caves, again

 Trump is an idiot. He cannot understand anything complex.  People try to get info to him with pictures, simple ideas that he might be able to grasp. But… he has decades of expertise on building his brand, dominating the media, crushing enemies, getting his way. 

And he can smell weakness, and like bullies everywhere he is driven to crush weak people because he is afraid that he is weak so he has to crush the weak.  

It helps him tell himself he is strong. But he’s not. He’s just cruel, which is a weak person’s substitute for strength.  Bullies punch down. He punches Schumer and Schumer submits. He grovels to Putin because he sees Putin as strong and he is afraid. 

So, it looks like Schumer is giving up and pretending to believe the lies the Republicans are telling him about “concessions” needed to end the government shutdown. Bullshit. Trump will ignore them. It will make him feel strong. 

America loses.

The photo that Summarizes Trump

 Apparently, a man named Gordon Findlay, a HealthCare executive, collapsed during a press conference.  Dr Oz and others (not RFK Jr) rushed to attend to him. The cause of the collapse is unknown at this time, perhaps just a fainting episode.  But here is a photo that could be the most iconic photo of the Orange Narcissist so far in this administration - not trying to help, not bent over in concern to see if he is alright, just staring ahead, looks somewhere between indifferent and annoyed to me.. 

Good grief.

Anti-fascists vote!

 Trump and Steven Miller have declared antifa to be "terrorists".  What blithering idiocy. America lost about half a million soldiers fighting fascists in WWII.  To be anti-fascist is one of the great honors and achievements of America.  And anti-fascists have risen to the occasion once again.  

We voted.  We voted to say NO to the Fascist in Chief yesterday.  Bigly!!

Trump and MAGA and the Theocrats and the Oligarchs probably think they can just cheat and make false election results in 2026, bring out the violence, and crush the American Democratically elected Republic.  Delusional nitwits.

Make them suffer until they break

Michael Cohen, Trump's primary lawyer and cruel enforcer for about 14 years before he was sent to prison for illegal hush payments to Stormy Daniels on Trump's behalf, has written that he witnessed Trump saying many, many times "Make them suffer until they break", which is the real Trump "art of the deal".  It's not deals, it's extortion, it's mafioso attacks, it's totalitarian police state right here in our country.

The kindest explanation I can give for this extended 28-day government shutdown is that Trump is doing his extortion racket - make "them" suffer - who cares? not him, but he figures Democrats will care because he sees caring, empathy, compassion as weaknesses and he sees Democrats as weak.  And he expects to break them.  But we all know that the government is shut down because the Tyrant in Chief tells his Republican Party in Name Only party to shut the government down.  So, there will be no negotiation, or if they do the Republican negotiators will be snuffed out of the party, maybe literally?

But I think the real reason Trump will not let the government open is because if they do they will have to swear in a newly elected Democrat from Arizona, Adalita Grijalva, and she will be the last needed vote to release the EPSTEIN FILES.  

And it is clear that Trump, who is deeply guilty of so much that will be revealed if the EPSTEIN FILES are ever fully released, will do anything to keep them from being seen.  We think he is guilty of pedophilia, which drives Qanon and MAGA mad with rage, but I think it also includes lifetime criminal sentences for years of multiple financial crimes as well.  We don't know all that he is guilty of, but he does, and his behavior reveals that there is much there for him to hide.

All People are Created Equal

Democrats are trying to find a "message" for their political campaigns.  How did they lose the working-class vote? some of the black vote? some of the brown vote? some xyz vote? What message do they need to come up with?  I have a suggestion:

ALL PEOPLE ARE CREATED EQUAL.

Why do I think this is the "message"? Because it is not a message. It is a vision.  It is a dream. It is the foundational American vision and dream.  

This vision and dream won the Revolutionary War.  It won the Civil War.  It won the New Deal "war".  It won the Civil Rights Movement "war".  It won the War on Poverty "war". It will win again.  Why?

All People are Created Equal undercuts the very roots of fascism/authoritarianism/racism/Nazism/Oligarchy-ism/theocracy-ism. How?

Racism says Whites are superior to blacks and browns and reds and yellows.  Sexism says men are superior to women.  Xenophobia says white Americans are superior to brown immigrants.  Oligarchs say the rich are superior to we peasants.  "Kings" say they are superior to their "subjects".

But none of that is true.  All People are Created Equal means all people are human beings and are endowed by the Creator of Human Beings the Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.  Somehow, the flawed Thomas Jefferson had a moment of Divine Inspiration to put the emerging United States on the greatest dream the world had ever seen - All People are Created Equal.  At our deepest root, we are One.  And this truth cannot be killed by the bigots.

The law? - nobody is above the law; everybody is protected by just laws and legal systems.  Health, financial opportunity, abundance, safety of the home and neighborhood, anything that already excites liberals and democrats are a subset of ALL PEOPLE ARE CREATED EQUAL.

I hope that this message and vision catches fire and ignites inspiring political candidates.  This is the American Dream.  It is the American answer to "kings", racists, fascists, and bullies of all stripes.  

This is the greatest vision and dream in human history.  It is not going away. And it is needed now, and is much more powerful than the domineering scare-the-crap-out-of-everyone stupid MAGA cult led by an astonishingly cruel, but stupid, leader.