Clyde Haberman of the New York Times: “Robert Duvall, who drew from a seemingly bottomless reservoir of acting craftsmanship to transform himself into a business-focused Mafia lawyer, a faded country singer, a cynical police detective, a bullying Marine pilot, a surfing-obsessed Vietnam commander, a mysterious Southern recluse and scores of other film, stage and television characters, died on Sunday. He was 95.”
 |
| Thanks to RAS for the link. |
Kimberlee Kruesi of the AP: “Three people, including the suspect, were fatally shot during a Rhode Island youth hockey game Monday, authorities said. Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves told reporters that three other victims are hospitalized in critical condition. 'It appears that this was a targeted event, that it may be a family dispute,' she said. Goncalves did not provide details about the suspect or the ages of those who were killed, though she said it appeared that both victims were adults.”
Matthew Lee & Justin Spike of the AP: “U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday enthusiastically endorsed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's bid to serve a fifth straight term after upcoming elections in April, emphasizing during a visit to Budapest the strong personal relationship between the nationalist leader and ... Donald Trump. Orbán, who has led Hungary since 2010, is one of Trump’s most vocal supporters in the European Union, and has actively curried the U.S. president’s favor leading up to the April 12 vote in which he will face the toughest challenge of his last 16 years in power. Rubio was in the Hungarian capital for meetings with Orbán and his government where he signed an agreement on U.S.-Hungarian civilian nuclear cooperation that includes the possible purchase of compact nuclear reactors — known as small modular reactors or SMRs — as well as U.S.-supplied nuclear fuel and spent fuel storage technology.”
Anushka Patil of the New York Times: “A federal judge on Monday ordered the Trump administration to temporarily restore displays about George Washington’s ownership of enslaved people at a monument on the site of his former house in Philadelphia. The judge said the government’s claim to have the power to erase and alter historical accounts at the country’s monuments echoed George Orwell’s dystopian novel '1984.' In a 40-page opinion, Judge Cynthia M. Rufe granted a preliminary injunction to the City of Philadelphia, which had sued the Interior Department and the National Park Service over their decision to remove the displays. The order means the government must put the materials back up while the underlying lawsuit proceeds in court.”
Aaron Parnas is a fairly calm, straightforward reporter, and I've found most of his stuff to be pretty reliable and not sensationalized, unlike a number of other left-leaning podcasters' reports. So here's something to think about: ~~~
~~~ Here's the Substack post by Roger Sollenberger to which Parnas refers throughout the video. Thanks to RAS for the link.
~~~~~~~~~~
Marie: Yeah, I know it's Presidents' Day. But somehow it seems more patriotic to go out and buy an American-made mattress on sale at a Presidents' Day mattress sale than it does to go out of my way to honor the flawed men, many of whom already have statues or other substantial memorials erected in remembrance of their service. The current president*, of course, is such a horrible human being that -- unfairly or not -- he cast a dark shadow across the lot of them.
What a Real President Said. Ali Watkins of the New York Times: “Former President Barack Obama this weekend indirectly addressed a racist video posted earlier this month by ... [Donald] Trump, which depicted Mr. Obama and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, as apes. In a podcast interview published on Saturday, Mr. Obama was asked about the 'devolution of the discourse' in American politics, with the host mentioning the video shared by Mr. Trump as one of several examples of inflammatory comments or statements by officials from the current administration. 'There’s this sort of clown show that’s happening in social media and on television, and what is true is that there doesn’t seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sort of decorum and a sense of propriety and respect for the office,' Mr. Obama told Brian Tyler Cohen, a YouTuber and podcast host. 'That’s been lost,' he added. Appearing on Mr. Cohen’s 'No Lie' podcast, Mr. Obama did not directly address the video, which was deleted from Mr. Trump’s Truth Social account after it prompted rare, bipartisan outrage. But Mr. Obama stressed that he believed that most Americans found such content abhorrent.” An NBC News report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The video & a transcript of the interview are here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Cheyanne Daniels of Politico: “Former President Barack Obama is urging the Democratic Party to invest in younger candidates if it wants to come out victorious in the 2026 midterm elections and, eventually, the 2028 presidential election. In an interview with YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen that was published Saturday, the 64-year-old said part of the reason his own elections were so successful was because he was young at the time .'I’m a pretty healthy 64, feel great, but the truth is, half of the references that my daughters make about social media, TikTok and such, I don’t know who they’re talking about,' he said. 'There is an element of, at some point, you age out. You’re not connected directly to the immediate struggles that folks are going through.'” (Also linked yesterday.)
~~~ Marie: As a person in her ninth decade, I could not agree more. I'll have more to say on this later this week. It's something I'm been thinking about, thanks to a little inspiration from Plato.
Among the Failings of a Fake President*. Peter Baker of the New York Times: “After a year back in the White House, Mr. Trump’s efforts to promote himself as the singularly dominant figure in the world have become so commonplace that they no longer seem surprising. He regularly depicts himself in a heroic, almost godly fashion, as a monarch, as a Superman, as a Jedi knight, as a military hero, even as a pope in a white cassock. While Mr. Trump has spent a lifetime promoting his personal brand..., what he is doing in his second term as president comes closer to building a cult of personality the likes of which has never been seen in American history.... Cults of personality are traditionally associated with dictators and demagogues, not democrats.... But Mr. Trump does not seem concerned that he might be heading down a dangerous path.... Indeed, last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he ... [said,] 'Usually they say, “He’s a horrible dictator-type person, I’m a dictator,’” he said after delivering a rambling speech. 'But sometimes, you need a dictator.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: What Baker curiously omits from his analysis is how Trump's self-aggrandizement makes him a laughingstock and an international embarrassment. Even a Congressional Republican, though afraid to say so out-loud, called Trump "the Orange Jesus." That is, Trump is a joke not only to normal people but also to dedicated right-wingers.
What a Dick! Isabel Kershner of the New York Times: Donald “Trump’s public excoriation of Israel’s president because he has not yet pardoned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his long-running corruption trial has touched a nerve in Israel. Mr. Trump called President Isaac Herzog 'disgraceful' while speaking to reporters at the White House on Thursday. 'The people of Israel should really shame him' for not letting Mr. Netanyahu off the hook, Mr. Trump said. The blatant intervention into Israeli domestic affairs, together with the insulting tone, developed into a rare, open spat between allies over the honor of the Israeli president, who is largely a figurehead. The affront prompted pushback from some senior Israeli officials — including Mr. Herzog — while some staunch supporters of Mr. Netanyahu sided with Mr. Trump.”
The world has entered a period of wrecking-ball politics. Sweeping destruction — rather than careful reforms and policy corrections — is the order of the day. The most prominent of those who promise to free their countries from the existing order’s constraints and rebuild stronger, more prosperous nations is the current US administration. As a result, more than 80 years after construction began, the US-led post-1945 international order is now under destruction. -- Munich Security Conference report ~~~
~~~ Steven Erlanger & David Sanger of the New York Times: “In the space of just a year, European leaders have heard three descriptions of how the Trump administration is reimagining the American relationship with its allies. Each strikes a bit of a different tone, but all are intended to push them into a new era in which Washington’s commitment to defend them faces new limits. One was delivered by Vice President JD Vance last year, a blistering condemnation of European-style democracy, arguing that waves of immigrants and Europe’s restrictions on its own far-right parties pose a greater threat to the continent than Russia’s aggression. The second was a far easier-to-swallow version of a similar message from Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday. He described a hazy and sometimes idealized cultural history shared by Europe and the United States and argued that each faced “civilizational erasure” unless it figured out a way to control its borders. Then, at the same conference, the most senior defense official to attend, Elbridge Colby, the under secretary of defense for policy, offered a classic American national-security message about shared interests, not values, recommending that both sides focus on 'nuts and bolts kind of stuff.'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: The main lesson here: superpowers are not to be trusted. While European nations rushed to the aid of the United States after 9/11 in the only invocation of Article 5 of the NATO treaty, Trump himself pretends (out-loud) that their help never happened, and Trump officials -- perhaps slightly less delusional than Trump -- imply their assistance doesn't matter. "Don't count on us, Europe," they say. There are some advantages to our losing superpower status; one is that our future leaders may be forced to be less arrogant dicks than are the current crop of arrogant dicks. ~~~
~~~ ⭐Heather Cox Richardson: “The Trump administration’s white nationalist project was on full display this weekend [in Munich].... At the Munich Security Conference last year, just after Trump had taken office for the second time, Vice President J.D. Vance announced the U.S. was switching sides in global affairs. Henceforth, it would work to destroy the values of representative democracy and the global systems of trade and security that the U.S. and partners constructed after World War II. In their place, officials in the Trump administration and their media allies have embraced the Great Replacement theory that says Brown and Black migration to Europe and the U.S. is destroying 'western civilization.'... [The Munich Security report] warns that Trump is building a world based on private transactions that privilege a global elite and replace international cooperation with a few powerful countries....
“In his speech to the conference [Saturday], Secretary of State Marco Rubio was less confrontational than Vance was last year, but the message was the same. He attacked all three of the pillars on which the U.S. has previously stood in foreign affairs. Global trade has ruined the U.S. economy, he said, while international institutions have undermined sovereignty, and 'a climate cult' has imposed energy policies that are 'impoverishing our people.' He focused, though, on 'mass migration,' which he claimed 'threatens the cohesion of our societies, the continuity of our culture, and the future of our people.'”
~~~ Marie: When I was in high school, I had a Cuban friend who had remarkable alabaster skin. Being the ignoramus I was, I asked her why she was so light-complexioned compared to most Cubans. She said with pride that her ancestors were all Spaniards, not Indios. Her pride was in her "pure" European heritage; I don't think my friend was particularly interested in fitting in with all of us nominally White riffraff in the school. But Marco wants to be one of us. In the worst way. Marco seems to be one of those first- and second-generation Americans who aspires to full acceptance, and to him -- if he believes what he says -- full acceptance requires Whiteness. It's a pathetic, Nazi-tinged view of national identity, but there you are.
Steve M.: “Kristi Noem said something alarming on Friday: 'Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said ... Donald Trump’s administration is working hard to "make sure we have the right people voting' heading into the 2026 midterms....' She's articulating a near-universal belief in the Republican Party: that every Democratic electoral victory -- or at least every Democratic victory in a competitive race -- is the result of fraud, that if only legitimate voters are voting, only Republicans will win.... Noem and her party have been selling this lie for decades, and ... millions of GOP voters believe it, and will support voter suppression measures based on this belief.... The degree to which Republicans have succumbed to disinformation in the Fox News era is something we need to confront. But I don't think that reckoning will ever happen.”
An Accidental Admission of Guilt. Chris Geidner, the Law Dork: "If you knew who they are, they would not be safe. That is how Tom Homan..., Donald Trump’s border czar, defended masked immigration agents on Sunday.... [During Homan's appearance on CBS's 'Face the Nation,' v]irtually every word out of his mouth was a lie [except -- in a way -- his] ... explanation, as a justification, as an argument for masks. In reality, it is a deep admission of the fundamental moral failing at the base of the Trump administration’s lawless actions.... If a government’s actions in a democracy require masks — if the people being governed in that democracy cannot know who is acting — that is a problem with what the government is doing, not with the governed.... The second Trump administration ... is constantly seeking to act in secrecy. The less we, the public know, the happier they are. The reasons are obvious: They know how unpopular their actions are. They know this is unsustainable. They know what they are doing is wrong. Most importantly: They know that secrecy is essential to preventing accountability."
Marie: Kudos to Robert Reich for being braver than I am. Here's an open letter Reich writes in response to a New York Times report that DHS has subpoenaed Google (owner of YouTube), Meta (Facebook and Instagram), & other media corporations for the names on accounts that criticize ICE enforcement:
“Hello? Kristi Noem? Robert Reich here. I hear you’re trying to find the names of people who are making negative comments on social media about ICE enforcement. Look no further. I’ve done it frequently. I’m still doing it. This note to you, which I’m posting on Substack, is another example. If you want more details, just type 'Robert Reich' into an internet browser, followed by YouTube or Facebook or Instagram or X or TikTok or Reddit. Or Substack. Then type in your name, or ICE, or the Department of Homeland Security. That will give you plenty of evidence.... Let me not mince words: I really truly believe you’re doing a sh*tty job.” And so on. Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Trump Is Really Unpopular. Elliott Morris, who is among today's most trusted pollsters cited, writes, “This week, new data came out showing that anti-Trump protests are roughly four times as common as they were at the same point in his first term. The backlash isn’t just in the polls, it’s everywhere.... The backlash against Trump that is being picked up in the polls isn’t a fluke.... The data on real-world activity suggests [suggest!] anti-Trump sentiment is significantly more potent than it was during his first term, and that this sentiment is mobilizing a strong grassroots movement of pro-democracy activists. [This is also reflected in the finding] that low-political-knowledge, low-news-engagement voters — roughly 27% of the electorate — have swung from supporting Trump by 11 points in 2024 to disapproving of him by 13 points.... Finally, special elections also pick up the same signals as the polls.” Morris points out that it takes a lot of energy to get so many people out protesting and engaging in other anti-government activities, just as it takes a lot to get low-info voter to notice what's going on in D.C.
~~~~~~~~~~
28 comments:
On other failings of an embarrassing fake president - Isaac Stanley-Becker & Simon Shuster, for The Atlantic interview Norway’s prime minister and the head of the Nobel Institute on the U.S. president’s demands
"In his first extended remarks about the back-and-forth, the prime minister told us that he was not surprised by the grievance-filled communication because he’s familiar by now with Trump’s fixation on the Nobel Peace Prize. He has repeatedly told the president that pressure won’t help his cause, given how prize decisions are made. “I reminded him every time that it’s not my decision; it’s not the government’s decision.
....
A columnist for Norway’s leading newspaper put it bluntly: "For the first time in Nobel history, war was threatened because a head of state did not receive the Peace Prize,” Harald Stanghelle wrote in Aftenposten. “It could not be more absurd.”"
and thanks westcoastman for the explantion of the 19th hole....
And now, on Presidents Day, a few words from our old pal Tommy Paine.
How long has it been since you read Paine’s “Common Sense” or “Rights of Man”? It’s been a while for me, but when you do go back and read over his list of complaints against a king he called “the Great Brute of England”, see how often you can successfully exchange King for Trump. It’s most instructive.
Here’s a few instances.
We all know that Fat Hitler resides in a bunker which excludes all information from the real world barring that which he might glean from MAGA dolts on Fox or suggestions whispered to him by amoral schemers like Himmler Miller or greedy grifters like old acquaintances who call him up complaining that this or that law or person has deprived them of more unearned piles of cash. And yet, one would expect and certainty hope that a person in the position of making hugely consequential decisions should have access to actual knowledge, as opposed to “information” manufactured to push-pulll his weak mind in a certain direction. Here’s Paine:
“There is something exceedingly ridiculous in the composition of Monarchy; it first excludes a man from the means of information, yet empowers him to act in cases where the highest judgment is required. The state of a king shuts him from the World, yet the business of a king requires him to know it thoroughly; wherefore the different parts, by unnaturally opposing and destroying each other, prove the whole character to be absurd and useless.”
Yup, check on that one.
Okay. Paine also points to the contention by some who suggest reconciliation with the crown that any bad decisions by the king stemming from life in the bubble can be modified by members of parliament, which to Tommy seems completely daft:
“How came the king by a power which the people are afraid to trust, and always obliged to check? Such a power could not be the gift of a wise people, neither can any power, which needs checking, be from God; yet the provision which the constitution makes supposes such a power to exist.”
Righto…and you can bet this condition helped propel the other Founders to create coequal parts of the government so that the excesses of one can be checked by the others, except in our situation, one part of the government (the legislature) has “Kick Me” taped to their butts. Another one (the Supine Court) sez “Okay by us” to most of the horrors visited upon the nation by the Orange Monster King.
How about Fatty sitting there gleefully watching armed thugs attempting to overthrow the government for his benefit, or how he casually dismisses the murder of American citizens by ICE goons working to carry out his racist agenda? Here’s what Paine has to say about that sort of callousness:
“I rejected the hardened, sullen-tempered Pharaoh of England for ever; and disdain the wretch, that with the pretended title of FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE can unfeelingly hear of their slaughter, and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul.”
What he said…(Just imagine calling the King of England a wretch back then! But this pamphlet was incredibly popular in this country and even in England. It was the 18th C version of a viral post.)
Contiunued...
Part the second...
Paine also asks how can some not see what’s going on and think it’s okay.
“The powers of governing still remaining in the hands of the King, he will have a negative over the whole legislation of this Continent. And as he hath shown himself such an inveterate enemy to liberty, and discovered such a thirst for arbitrary power, is he, or is he not, a proper person to say to these colonies, You shall make no laws but what I please!?”
Well, I know what all of us would say, but there are plenty who would say different, or they’d both-sides the question or simply demur:
“Interested men, who are not to be trusted, weak men who cannot see, prejudiced men who will not see, and a certain set of moderate men who think better of the European world than it deserves; and this last class, by an ill-judged deliberation, will be the cause of more calamities to this Continent than all the other three.”
Interested men: the Bozos and Zuckerbergs, et al, Tech bro billionaires, big oil and gas honchos, and assorted, sundry, and many industries and CEOs with Fat Hitler on speed dial.
Weak men who cannot see: Or those who are weak and can see but choose to do nothing–congressional Party of Traitors cowards.
Prejudiced men who will not see: MAGAts and the right-wing media echo chamber inhabitants. This group also includes the authoritarian, anti-democracy curs on the Supine Court.
Moderate men who think better of the [Trump] world than it deserves: Media types who confer upon a treasonous greedy weasel the respect and all the benefits of every doubt due presidents in normal times but who refuse to recognize, either through editorial and ownership pressure, or their own lack of discernment the state of our current existential crisis. As Tom predicts, this last group, through their “ill-juudged deliberation, will be the cause of more calamities…than all the other three.”
Paine does remind us that, left to his own devices, unchecked by legislative or judicial branches, our current would-be king “... MAY ACCOMPLISH BY CRAFT AND SUBTLETY, IN THE LONG RUN, WHAT HE CANNOT DO BY FORCE AND VIOLENCE IN THE SHORT ONE. (All caps are in the original).
I would suggest an adjustment to this observation. Paine here was referring to what George III would eventually do were some sort of reconciliation accomplished by royalists in America, that he would succeed in beating them down even further. My edit would flip the two possibilities because craft and subtlety are not tools in Trump’s Treason Garage; he tends to go the force and violence route. Much more to his liking.
Finally, let us recall that Paine’s diagnosis and suggested treatment was (and still is) simple:
The king (his and ours) is a “brute” and a “fraud”, and needs to get gone.
On this Presidents Day, let us recall Tom Paine’s essential message:
NO KINGS.
How 2% can equal 100%
Eva Braun Bondi, that screeching harpy, lies again (How can you tell Bondi is lying? Her lips are moving.) when she claims ALL Epstein, Epstein, Epstein files have been released.
They truly think we are idiots.
"A new investigation examining emails sent between federal investigators and prosecutors has raised fresh doubts over the Department of Justice’s claim that it has released the full cache of Jeffrey Epstein files, suggesting the material made public amounts to just 2% of the data gathered by federal agents."
The fact that they are so desperate to make this all go away is pretty much proof positive that they A. Have something to hide (or a lot of somethings) or B. It's become so threatening and annoying to the Fat Fascist and Epstein BFF, that he hounds them day and night to make the whole thing disappear so he can back to the business of torturing immigrants and padding his pockets. Likely, it's both.
There's a new statue in Munich of the orange U.S. president. It's very
popular there (the statue, not the president)
https://www.instagram.com/p/DUyhnJ2Ao14/
Hey kids, lend a hand here.
"The editors of In These Times are joining the editors of The Nation in formally nominating the city of Minneapolis and its people for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.
Please sign this petition right away to join us in amplifying that nomination and demonstrating mass public support...
In the face of [ICE] attacks, the people of Minneapolis have stood their ground with nonviolent protest, mutual aid, and solidarity, confronting fear and authoritarianism with dignity and resolve. Thousands marched in freezing temperatures; communities have organized legal observers, delivered groceries to those in hiding, and whistled warnings in demand for human rights and constitutional freedoms."
Even if Minneapolis doesn't get it, It would be both a great thing to acknowledge the toughness of Minnesotans in the face of Fatty's fascist occupation, and a nice way to shove it up a certain fat ass.
Guys, if you haven't read the post RAS linked yesterday about the coming AI apocalypse, please do. Marie included a link to a MoDo piece that also points to this posting. It's big.
Akhilleus,
Good essay on old friend Paine. Thanks.
On shitty jobs:
There are both doing a shitty job and shitty jobs themselves. Then there are those who do shitty jobs shittily (one "t" or two, Otto?).
The Gnome manages both. Give her an award.
Marie's mention of Plato reminded me that yesterday, February 15 was the date (or close to it) of the Death of Socrates, as depicted in David's famous painting.
Old Socs was a pain in the butt to the Athenian establishment, so they put him on trial, a trial the outcome of which was a foregone conclusion. Never mind that Socrates' defense of both his life and his work ("corrupting da yutes of Athens") made for some of his most compelling arguments as relayed to us by Plato's various dialogues, Socs was a goner from "All rise". If you don't have time (or the inclination) to read Plato's account of the trial (the "Apology"), here's a pretty easy reminder.
And remember, the unexamined life is not worth living.
Ken,
I imagine the Gnome's award might look like 💩. But given her extra shittiness, the pile might have to be bigger, a lot bigger.
RE: Masks 4 ICE
Cops don't wear masks and their job is orders of magnitude more dangerous than what the ICE goons do. FBI field agents don't go around masked (although Kash and Carry does a nice job of dressing up like an actual, honest-ta-god field agent. He's got the big FBI jacket and everything!) and they go after actual terrorists. ATF agents don't use masks. You know who does? Crooks. Outlaws. Criminals. Oh, and cowardly snowflakes who do illegal shit.
The only ice that needs covering is the kind you pull out of the freezer and wrap in a towel for application to a sprained ankle. The sprain is an accident. Murdering citizens isn't. Gee...I can see now why they want to wear masks.
Westcoastman,
Your link isn't working anymore. I looked up "trump statue in Munich" and I'm wondering if this is it. Hey, pretty accurate representation. This particular statue was created by Danish artist Jens Galschiotâs. I guess the Danes aren't going along with Fatty's demands that they hand over Greenland. Another reason why authoritarians hate, hate, hate art and artists.
Akhilleus, That's the statue from my link which didn't work.
Been thinkin' about adopting a five year old to keep me up to date on the
internet stuff. It's tough getting old.
I have a youngster coming over this afternoon to help with a new printer
which we haven't been able to connect to the internet.
On the opposition to Fat Hitler this time around, in my little college town there has been a protest nearly every weekend for the last year downtown. Stuff like that barely gets a mention anywhere because they are peaceful and it is the new normal here now. I'm sure this kind of unsung sustained opposition is going on elsewhere without the attention and recognition that it deserves. Maybe one day the media will ride by the dinners and go down and talk to some of the people showing up week after week opposing the brutalities and corruption of this regime.
Getting Foreign Companies to Foot the Bill for His Big America Party.
"From his desk at the White House in December, President Trump announced a campaign to organize a series of Fourth of July celebrations for America’s 250th birthday, saying it would be “the most spectacular birthday party the world has ever seen.” On the other side of the world, embassies and consulates are echoing the president’s message and pitching executives to hand over large donations for splashy events.
In Hong Kong, companies have received “America 250” forms from the U.S. consulate soliciting donations. In Japan, companies have heeded the call and committed to tens of millions of dollars in contributions. In Singapore, the American ambassador pressed for donations before a room full of executives at a dinner at one of the city-state’s most expensive hotels."
Is there one essential difference between those who jumped or drifted into MAGA world and those who knew from the get-go that that Pretender was an ignorant, lying boob?
@Ken Winkes: I think the difference was that those who knew what
he was but their only interest was "what's in it for me."
The others were just uninformed (or ignorant).
RAS,
Fat Hitler makes no distinctions about where his money comes from. The funding of a specifically and solely American celebration by donations cadged from foreign governments, probably all of which have a lot to gain by pleasing a transactional chiseling wanna-be dictator in the Oval Office, never registers in any meaningful way with the Fatty Reich.
If he does it, if he wants it, if he demands it, it must be okay. This goes way beyond Nixon's self-serving "If the president does it, it isn't illegal". This is a claim to supreme autocratic power of a sort that might have given even the Tricky One a reason to pause and think WTF?
Norm breaking is no longer a thing. Fat Hitler is past breaking stuff (although there is still plenty he hasn't yet broken to pieces). He is building. Building a world by and for himself, a solipsist's dream world, a place where only his reality is true, where only his needs matter. Where nothing is illegal, immoral, or flat out wrong if it pleases him. It's said that true solipsism is quite rare, requiring herculean mental gymnastics to maintain the belief that your world alone is all that matters, but not so much if the solipsist is basically nuttier than a fruitcake (QED).
In a book on philosophical terminology, the genesis, history, and uses of the many expressions used by philosophers to describe the world, I found this neat little anecdote under "solipsism". "'Are there any solipsists in this department?' a philosopher visiting an Australian university once asked of his hosts. 'No theoretical ones, but several practical ones,' was the reply."
Fatty could be that rare example. Of course he's also a fucking loon, so he "wins" on two rare indexes of presidential danger signs.
Oh yeah, and about that money he's collecting for his bigly birthday party...who here thinks that every penny will go to the celebrations, or even that most will be dedicated thusly?
What I thought.
More shekels for the shithead.
Here is the post Parnas is referring to,
Roger Sollenberger
"FBI Interviewed Trump Accuser, Epstein Files Show
Trump was credibly accused of sexual assault in the Epstein files. It's unclear what became of the DOJ's investigation."
So let's forget for a moment I just linked to a video that connects several documents from the Epstein files which indicate the FBI received a tip from a woman in July 2019, who claimed that in about 1984, Jeffrey Epstein "introduced" Donald Trump to a girl who was 13 or 14 years old. According to her, Trump forced her head down on his exposed penis, which she bit. Trump punched her in the head and kicked her out. The report "was entered into the FBI's case files on August 9, [2019,] the day before Epstein was found dead in his jail cell."
Is that a coincidence? Really?
Nevertheless. I don't mean to undervalue the genuine complaints many women have against Jeffrey Epstein & his clients. They are important, and the women, if their accounts can be at least partially verified (but not a standard beyond a reasonable doubt), should be compensated.
Still, what I'm beginning to think is that the Epstein scandal with its sexual aspect is merely a salacious sideshow for the main story, which is an enduring, world-wide scandal. The scandal is the way in which all of these (mostly) men work together to promote each other's interests over the interests of the general population. Yeah, it's Pizzagate with some of the same players. But the Epstein story opens a door into what is a genuine international conspiracy among the "connected" and against the rest of us.
Epstein was not at the center of this conspiracy. He found out about it and became a player, but the "club" of elites has been operating since at least the turn of the 20th-century. (That could explain why it still seems to be mostly men.) I first became vaguely aware of it when Jimmy Carter -- of all people -- was president, and I came to appreciate it a little better when Bill Clinton became president, largely because of the backing of the elites to whom the Clintons were connected. (Hey, Robert Reich, I'm talkin' to you, too.) Clinton biographer David Maraniss (I think it was) wrote that the Clintons kept a Rolodex with 10,000 names on it.
Power is a life-affirming game to these people, and it truly is about who ya know and how you can use your connections for exploitative purposes. Of course, different players want different things: money, political positions, academic prestige, and so forth. The rest of us have the power to do something about it. But I'm not sure we'll ever get well-enough organized to break it. Even if we do, keeping it "broke" will be a never-ending battle.
Wendy,
This quote in your linked comment had me shaking my head:
"'For the first time in Nobel history, war was threatened because a head of state did not receive the Peace Prize,' Harald Stanghelle wrote in Aftenposten. 'It could not be more absurd.'"
The head shaking is only partly because of the ridiculousness of the situation, but more to the point, when thinking about limits of absurdity, one must consider a much larger scale if Fatty is involved. Absurdity is manufactured 24/7 by this preposterous prick and sold on the open market at a discount. Half off if you buy one absurd claim, and an extra gross if you buy more than three.
They hate community. They will do all they can to sow distrust among the people.
nullifie
"A female ICE thug posing as a distressed motorist in neighborhoods of Brooklyn Park (63% non-white), MN, to entrap good samaritans. This is the same MO Ted Bundy used to lure his victims to their demise."
There is video in the comments showing these posers at work.
Welcome to the other side to all the non Spanish halftime show complainers.. Though the lesson is lost on those with no ability for empathy.
Fifty Thousand Dollars
"Listening to Trump Admin officials, you'd never guess that the US stock market underperformed the rest of the world in 2025."
Fat Hitler one time dinner guest and bestie of TuKKKer KKKarlson, Nick Fuentes points to the number one enemy of America: Women. and he demands that women go to the gulags. All women.
As nuts as this sounds, there are probably millions of incel and MAGA types who listen to this shit and emphatically nod their heads like they just learned that it's darker at night than it is during the day.
It's always dark where this prick lives.
Listen to this kookamunga crap:
"[Women are] the ones making us sympathetic to poor people, which are also brown people. You know, when you -- I want you to understand something. When you're sympathetic to poor people, you're sympathetic to brown people because brown people are poor. OK? Not all poor people are brown, but most brown people are poor. So women are making us sympathetic to poor people, aka brown people. Women are making us sympathetic to George Floyd. Women are the reason that their fertility rate is low because they're getting educated and they attack every man as a rapist and a pedophile and they're henpecking and controlling all the men."
Didja get that? Brown people are poor and poor people are brown and brown people, I mean, poor people, I mean, George Floyd, and fertility rates and rapists...controlling...something, something, something. Pause for drool...HENPECKING!
It's like a guy trapped in the spin cycle of the dryer. Around and around and shit flying.
And not for nothin', but please to be showing me all the MAGAts who were sympathetic to George Floyd because WOMEN made them be like that.
But this asshole has a huge audience. And Fatty can say "I didn't know who he was" which is another ridiculous lie, but then he defended KKKarlson's having this guy as a regular guest.
Ladies, keep that can of mace handy. Hell...I'M gonna keep some handy.
Pedophiles aren't the only ones this administration protects.
"The FBI formally notified the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) on Feb. 13 that it will not provide the BCA with access to any information or evidence that it has collected in the Jan. 24 shooting death of Alex Pretti."
I'm not gonna link them because fuck those assholes, but I've run across at least three different right-wing outlets, two of them local TV station news departments that are tearing their hair out over President Obama's response to the fat racist's posting of the Obamas as apes, calling for his imprisonment for daring to challenge the Dear Leader. "It was just a joke! Liberals can't take a joke. And he is trying to divide the country just to make himself feel better, all while OUR president is doing everything he can to fix all the problems he inherited from criminal Democrats!!!" Aieeeee!
I am not even kidding. I clicked on the first one because I had no idea what their problem could be with Obama's measured and thoughtful response. I forgot that "measured" and "thoughtful" are not conditions or qualities found in the MAGA wild. I don't even think they could be inculcated under the most careful laboratory conditions.
I don't often stray into the fever swamps of MAGAdom, but it is a wildly scary place. And at least two of these rants weren't the feculent firehose sprays from some Trumper cancer cell, it was a "news" piece promoted by local TV stations letting its viewers know that, with no second thoughts, any challenge to the Orange Monster's desires or views demands that the bearer of those rebuttals be imprisoned.
This is waaaay beyond fever swamp crap.
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