Donnie is just ITCHING to take the US to war in Middle East! He'd love nothing more than to be the guy who futzes and swivels for days to make up his mind to BOMB BOMB IRAN! This maniac just loves being the center of attention, the guy in the middle of the whole sordid mess. Rather than be cut short by Mark Carney at the G7, he wants himself as the main event - ever looking to redeem his lousy parade performance to be the HNIC - head narcissist in charge!
Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin: unrepentant evil doers in their respective geopolitical spheres. Donald Trump: hapless, reality TV president who has no idea what or with whom he's dealing in either of these characters' conflict zones. We can pray for luck for ourselves, but nothing seems certain.
I have thought exactly what you have thought, Catherine. Everything we see and hear points to the possibility/probability that Putin is his advisor. Thank you for your comment.
The real reason he's mad at Macron is because Macron had a better parade with better weapons rolling down the street, and to top it off, a bigger crowd.
Another Afghan ally seeking asylum detained at the courthouse. DHS now tries to have asylum claims denied in advance, but the judge didn't go for it and allowed the hearing. Ice grabbed him afterwards anyway. Sorry Will Selber. 😦
Israel has been great about giving the president a chance to distract from ICE raid flip flops and calling out the military to go to LA...and the protests on Saturday...and the creaky Sherman tank passing in front of half empty risers....
Oh, goody. Another war. But this will be a good war with the certainty Congress will ratify the spilling of American and lots and lots of innocent Iranian citizen's blood. Congress is supposed to ratify war, right? Am I mistaken? Oh....wait...
But fear not, the Peach-Colored Psychopath promised no more foreign entanglements, except of course the billions upon billion dollars of ordinance gifted to Houthi heads (few Americans even know what a Houthi is....a Lebanese sandwich? A tribe in Lord of the Rings?), playing spin the bottle with manly pal Putin, or drawing up Greenland send in the Marines invasion plans. So fear not. No, B-52 nukes on the Ayatollah's day spa. No B-2 bunker busters down the throats of whoever is in the way. Am I right? Maybe?
PS The Trumpian annihilation of the Persian realm would be a very masculine and Sir (with tears), you are an American hero endeavor. And a sooth and salve to the narcissistic injury of that double whammy - a shitty shuffling parade viewed by five thousand and those Communist traitor rallies of five million and more.
I hate Donald Trump, and I don’t trust the motives of anything he does. That said, I trust Israel and Bibi completely. They are simply doing what we should have done 25 years ago. They are ending this despicable regime, whose very existence has been an affront and offense to America for 45 years. In this instance I support Trump’s stated policy (at least for today and for what it’s worth) that the only acceptable end to this game is Iran’s surrender and the defeat of the Mullahs. If that requires American boots on the ground, fine by me. God be with them.
Oh, c'mon. Trump left the G7 early so that he wouldn't be around to discuss further sanctions against Russia, and so that he couldn't be shamed into a meeting with Zelenskyy. Macron tried to cover for him -- maybe typical Gallic gallantry to a (notional) friend, maybe to obscure the fact that the "Leader of the Free World" was running away from the meeting with the rest of the most important Free World leaders -- and Trump, as usual, ignored the off-ramp being provided. Then expressed contempt for it. He started out despicable and does not improve with age.
I always think Trump can't surprise me with anything worse than he's done or been, but then there are assassinations and he can't bring himself to pretend - even for a moment - that he's not a monster.
Friend. Respectfully, buy & read immediately the wonderful, sane historian Tim Snyder's "ON TYRANNY." Especially the last chapter addresses the danger of the very thing you're saying you're "waiting for." There is no actualy reality to the wishful thinking "politics of inevitability," as he calls it: there is no version of "things getting better" just in a matter of the universe or American system simply re-balancing itself; we're past that: we have to actually fight all of this, actively, or else there will be no "things starting to get better" just automatically. Intense citizen organizing, protesting, law-suit filing, legislation pressure, campaigning aggressively for the mid-terms -- all these things need to happen and no one's gonna do it for us. This is a citizens' fight - all of us. I'm scared by how many people think that normality will return when norms themselves have been kicked down. They don't come back by some universal law. Once a society has stopped acknowledging how BAD & ABNORMAL it is when a norm is violated, and then another, and then another... once we just accept this stuff each news cycle, we make it easier for him to continue to violate norms until violation of norms itself is the new norm.
That NYT story has comments full of people complaining about difficulties with Social Security. Sample:
I have been paying into Social Security for 50 years. I will reach full Social Security retirement age in a few weeks. I applied for benefits three months ago so that they would start on time. My file was sent out of state due to a backlog and has been in limbo for months. There isn't anyone who can help. I am unable to work because I am now a caregiver for my terminally ill husband. We need that Social Security check to put food on the table. Just a short time ago, during the Biden administration, we could count on Social Security. Now we don't know if we will be able to collect. My anxiety level is through the ceiling as my husband's care is both physically and emotionally demanding.
Frau! Ya gotta put quotation marks around things that aren't coming from you directly :) I read this & thought, b/c there were no quotation marks, that this was you describing your personal situation & I got hella worried for you! But I think you're offering quotes from the NYT piece. (Same below)
I made this comment, & I retract it. It was ill-advised and grumpiness-borne. Frau Katze was super-chill about my grumpiness & I thank her for not biting my head off, as she could have. Sorry I was a big fat bummer. My bad.
No, you know what? It is I who owe you an apology. I'm sorry that I wrote a message that was kinda nit-pick-y when you were just trying to provide some urgently important context in a fraught moment. I'm sorry that I focused in on something surface that doesn't effing matter in the big scheme of things.
Frau Katze, Mrs. Cats (are you married to one or more cats? if so, i wish you all the happiness in the world) ... please accept my apology for doing something my farm-raised, old-school, salt-of-earth, no-BS midwestern grandmom used to call 'majoring in the minors': meaning, focusing on something petty when there are bigger things at stake.
Your response was gracious & I'm sorry I took up your energy. You handled this better than I did, & I thank you for your example.
Thank you again for modeling a gracious humanity in the face of someone who has allowed their discouragement to make them grumpy.
I just dealt with the doge nonsense at SS. My wife has a rare neurological disease and can no longer speak. For months we can not log into her account, told by IT for AA its an internal SS problem not a login credential problem. After waiting 5 hours for a call back from S. I was told they cant make me her agent over the phone and had to go to an office. We did that and was told staff was at 50% and the person who did what we needed no longer had a job. She instead set up an appointment for a phone appointment 2for 2 months later. We needed a document from her SSDI, and while at the office asked if they could print it out since we cant log in. She cam back and said the system was down and could not get in herself. So where is the efficiency.
What if Trump left the G7 because no-one wanted to play with him so "he took his ball and went home"? Knowing him as we do, it doesn't seem beyond the realm of possibility.
After these ten years of Trump on the national stage, his mean-spirited soulless comments about Governor Walz who is dealing with the worst tragedy in Minnesota's history, still shock the conscience. There are times the country needs to see leadership from the President-- President Reagan on the Challenger explosion, President Clinton after the Oklahoma City bombing, George W. Bush rallying the country after 911.
Donnie is just ITCHING to take the US to war in Middle East! He'd love nothing more than to be the guy who futzes and swivels for days to make up his mind to BOMB BOMB IRAN! This maniac just loves being the center of attention, the guy in the middle of the whole sordid mess. Rather than be cut short by Mark Carney at the G7, he wants himself as the main event - ever looking to redeem his lousy parade performance to be the HNIC - head narcissist in charge!
Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin: unrepentant evil doers in their respective geopolitical spheres. Donald Trump: hapless, reality TV president who has no idea what or with whom he's dealing in either of these characters' conflict zones. We can pray for luck for ourselves, but nothing seems certain.
I have thought exactly what you have thought, Catherine. Everything we see and hear points to the possibility/probability that Putin is his advisor. Thank you for your comment.
The real reason he's mad at Macron is because Macron had a better parade with better weapons rolling down the street, and to top it off, a bigger crowd.
Another Afghan ally seeking asylum detained at the courthouse. DHS now tries to have asylum claims denied in advance, but the judge didn't go for it and allowed the hearing. Ice grabbed him afterwards anyway. Sorry Will Selber. 😦
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ice-detains-us-army-interpreter-at-routine-asylum-hearing/
Israel has been great about giving the president a chance to distract from ICE raid flip flops and calling out the military to go to LA...and the protests on Saturday...and the creaky Sherman tank passing in front of half empty risers....
Oh, goody. Another war. But this will be a good war with the certainty Congress will ratify the spilling of American and lots and lots of innocent Iranian citizen's blood. Congress is supposed to ratify war, right? Am I mistaken? Oh....wait...
But fear not, the Peach-Colored Psychopath promised no more foreign entanglements, except of course the billions upon billion dollars of ordinance gifted to Houthi heads (few Americans even know what a Houthi is....a Lebanese sandwich? A tribe in Lord of the Rings?), playing spin the bottle with manly pal Putin, or drawing up Greenland send in the Marines invasion plans. So fear not. No, B-52 nukes on the Ayatollah's day spa. No B-2 bunker busters down the throats of whoever is in the way. Am I right? Maybe?
PS The Trumpian annihilation of the Persian realm would be a very masculine and Sir (with tears), you are an American hero endeavor. And a sooth and salve to the narcissistic injury of that double whammy - a shitty shuffling parade viewed by five thousand and those Communist traitor rallies of five million and more.
I hate Donald Trump, and I don’t trust the motives of anything he does. That said, I trust Israel and Bibi completely. They are simply doing what we should have done 25 years ago. They are ending this despicable regime, whose very existence has been an affront and offense to America for 45 years. In this instance I support Trump’s stated policy (at least for today and for what it’s worth) that the only acceptable end to this game is Iran’s surrender and the defeat of the Mullahs. If that requires American boots on the ground, fine by me. God be with them.
Was the Iraq war a good idea?
Bibi lobbied it hard and said it's a great idea.
I doubt Bibi nor Trump care what happens to Iran if they go for a full decapitation strikes.
There's no clear alternative government in sight...
Oh, c'mon. Trump left the G7 early so that he wouldn't be around to discuss further sanctions against Russia, and so that he couldn't be shamed into a meeting with Zelenskyy. Macron tried to cover for him -- maybe typical Gallic gallantry to a (notional) friend, maybe to obscure the fact that the "Leader of the Free World" was running away from the meeting with the rest of the most important Free World leaders -- and Trump, as usual, ignored the off-ramp being provided. Then expressed contempt for it. He started out despicable and does not improve with age.
Imagine Republican outrage if President Biden, or any other Democratic president, acted like Trump.
And Democrats wouldn't put up with it, either.
I'm sure Tim Walz doesn't care, one way or the other, but wasting Trump's time is the thing I most strongly recommend.
I say give Trump a Barrel of Monkeys set and let him have at it for the next three and a half years.
I always think Trump can't surprise me with anything worse than he's done or been, but then there are assassinations and he can't bring himself to pretend - even for a moment - that he's not a monster.
I keep waiting for things to start getting better generally.
no such luck
Friend. Respectfully, buy & read immediately the wonderful, sane historian Tim Snyder's "ON TYRANNY." Especially the last chapter addresses the danger of the very thing you're saying you're "waiting for." There is no actualy reality to the wishful thinking "politics of inevitability," as he calls it: there is no version of "things getting better" just in a matter of the universe or American system simply re-balancing itself; we're past that: we have to actually fight all of this, actively, or else there will be no "things starting to get better" just automatically. Intense citizen organizing, protesting, law-suit filing, legislation pressure, campaigning aggressively for the mid-terms -- all these things need to happen and no one's gonna do it for us. This is a citizens' fight - all of us. I'm scared by how many people think that normality will return when norms themselves have been kicked down. They don't come back by some universal law. Once a society has stopped acknowledging how BAD & ABNORMAL it is when a norm is violated, and then another, and then another... once we just accept this stuff each news cycle, we make it easier for him to continue to violate norms until violation of norms itself is the new norm.
We are faced with Nazis and their malevolence mitigated only by their incompetence.
Thank God for Incompetence.
That NYT story has comments full of people complaining about difficulties with Social Security. Sample:
I have been paying into Social Security for 50 years. I will reach full Social Security retirement age in a few weeks. I applied for benefits three months ago so that they would start on time. My file was sent out of state due to a backlog and has been in limbo for months. There isn't anyone who can help. I am unable to work because I am now a caregiver for my terminally ill husband. We need that Social Security check to put food on the table. Just a short time ago, during the Biden administration, we could count on Social Security. Now we don't know if we will be able to collect. My anxiety level is through the ceiling as my husband's care is both physically and emotionally demanding.
Frau! Ya gotta put quotation marks around things that aren't coming from you directly :) I read this & thought, b/c there were no quotation marks, that this was you describing your personal situation & I got hella worried for you! But I think you're offering quotes from the NYT piece. (Same below)
I made this comment, & I retract it. It was ill-advised and grumpiness-borne. Frau Katze was super-chill about my grumpiness & I thank her for not biting my head off, as she could have. Sorry I was a big fat bummer. My bad.
Sorry. I usually do. Forgot.
No, you know what? It is I who owe you an apology. I'm sorry that I wrote a message that was kinda nit-pick-y when you were just trying to provide some urgently important context in a fraught moment. I'm sorry that I focused in on something surface that doesn't effing matter in the big scheme of things.
Frau Katze, Mrs. Cats (are you married to one or more cats? if so, i wish you all the happiness in the world) ... please accept my apology for doing something my farm-raised, old-school, salt-of-earth, no-BS midwestern grandmom used to call 'majoring in the minors': meaning, focusing on something petty when there are bigger things at stake.
Your response was gracious & I'm sorry I took up your energy. You handled this better than I did, & I thank you for your example.
Thank you again for modeling a gracious humanity in the face of someone who has allowed their discouragement to make them grumpy.
No excuses.
Now go love on those cats my friend!
You have to edit the comment after pasting. That’s kind of fiddly on an iPhone.
But it does improve readability.
Here’s another one;
I just dealt with the doge nonsense at SS. My wife has a rare neurological disease and can no longer speak. For months we can not log into her account, told by IT for AA its an internal SS problem not a login credential problem. After waiting 5 hours for a call back from S. I was told they cant make me her agent over the phone and had to go to an office. We did that and was told staff was at 50% and the person who did what we needed no longer had a job. She instead set up an appointment for a phone appointment 2for 2 months later. We needed a document from her SSDI, and while at the office asked if they could print it out since we cant log in. She cam back and said the system was down and could not get in herself. So where is the efficiency.
See above apology. Frau Katze, these are really illustrative & helpful. Thank you & again, my apologies.
What if Trump left the G7 because no-one wanted to play with him so "he took his ball and went home"? Knowing him as we do, it doesn't seem beyond the realm of possibility.
I'm sure he was stewing plenty.
After these ten years of Trump on the national stage, his mean-spirited soulless comments about Governor Walz who is dealing with the worst tragedy in Minnesota's history, still shock the conscience. There are times the country needs to see leadership from the President-- President Reagan on the Challenger explosion, President Clinton after the Oklahoma City bombing, George W. Bush rallying the country after 911.
My favorite description of trump: if we took the worst human qualities, put them in an old hot dog skin and made it make sounds with it's mouth.