I’m continuing to experiment with this old trusty blog here. This thread, I guess, will be an open forum for whatever you’d like to say. Just keep it civil and mannerly, OK?
If this is the only thread that you’re likely to be interested in, and you wanna skip over all the old posts, what you need to do is just bookmark this page you’re on right now as a favorite. That way it will always open to this thread.
On the Russia–Ukraine matter: It’s important to pay really close attention to Trump‘s actual wording. Yesterday he specifically said “We will likely get some territory back“. Did you notice that word WE in there? Who is “we?” Sounds like he’s 100% aligned with Putin, doesn’t it?
Solid gold everywhere, umbrella tables on the new White House patio, a giant ballroom off the side of the White House? He’s doing his best to make the White House look like Mar-a-Lago, which was made to look like the palace of Versailles. And on top of that, he’s itching to get a Nobel peace prize. Trump is doing whatever he can do to indelibly etch his name into the history books for all time. Well, guess what. That’s the polar opposite of what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to erase his name from the history books for all time.
Speaking of weather (which we weren’t)..One piece of good news. We don’t have to worry about hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico this year. Because there is no Gulf of Mexico this year. Weee.
As for crime in DC, one thing we know for sure. On or about January 20 a new band of criminals moved into DC. I won’t name names, but we just saw a few of them blabbing in this morning’s White House press conference. Pirro. Patel. Hegseth. Bondi. Tru…. Oops! I said I wouldn’t names, didn’t I? My bad.
My observation is that, just as Trump supporters have strayed completely away from what it means to be American, a lot of so-called Christians have strayed away from what it means to be Christian. And oddly enough, those are largely the same people.
What a bizarre day today has been newswise, split screen between Taylor Swift setting new records for podcasting, and on the other side of the screen, Trump taking over DC. I literally don’t know what to make of it all Let’s just say I’m a million times more likely to be a Swifty than a Trumpy. I wouldn’t know one of her songs if I heard it, but she seems like a genuinely good person. And that’s good enough for me. Sign me up.
There are some things that are just plain true, that no sane, reasonable person would dispute. In law, the term they use is prima facie. To me it’s prima facie that Trump is bad. Or, more accurately, Trumpism is bad. I’m way beyond arguing or debating that point. I’ve moved on from knocking Trumpism. It’s bad and it needs to go, period—so we sane, reasonable people can start repairing the damage and get to work ACTUALLY making our nation great again.
I am not going to waste my time listening to MAGA folks attempting to make a case for Trumpism. Anybody who still believes that Trumpism is good for America is, in my opinion, misguided. That ship has sailed. So I won’t engage in that discussion.
A doofus dictator wannabe attempting to install himself as a totalitarian government is anti-American. What he is saying or doing with respect to issues is irrelevant.
DJT is throwing a blinding avalanche of stuff at the wall, knowing full-well that 90% of it won’t stick. But if just a smidgen of it sneaks past our scrutiny, he wins. That’s really the trick behind his art of the deal.
As you may have noticed, the pundits love referring to James Carville's famous statement from a couple of decades ago, "It's the economy, stupid." What he was saying, of course, is that the overriding issue most voters are most concerned about are inflation and the cost of living. I have to push back on that.
That was pre-Trump, before the entire fabric of our nation came under attack by MAGA. My observation these days is this. There are two kinds of voters: the ordinary folks and the very concerned ones. The ordinary folks, true, are apt to lose more sleep over paying the rent, making the car payment, and putting food on the table than the state of the world. And, yes, they are in the majority. So, yes, Carville is right when it comes to those voters; it IS about the economy. But then there's that smaller group of us whose concerns are way bigger than 'self.' These are the select thinkers who see the big picture and who wake up in the morning asking themselves, What must we do to fix the nation and the world?
To those 'concerned' Americans, it is NOT about the economy; the issue at the top of their minds right now is MAGA-Trumpism and how to thwart those evil-doers and their cult of misguided followers before they succeed in completely bulldozing our country and our cherished institutions into oblivion.
So, Carville, in all his political wisdom, might want to update his thinking. We have way bigger things to worry about these days than the price of a gallon of gas. Or at least a few of us do.
I think a lot of people are overlooking another reason why Trump cozies up to Putin—Trump has never liked Zelenskyy. First of all, they are both former entertainers who turned to politics. So, right there, that put Zelenskyy in competition with Trump. And we know how much he hates sharing the spotlight. Then on top of that, back in the first term when Trump was facing impeachment and all sorts of legal difficulties, Zelenskyy was a world superhero. The whole world was loving Zelenskyy. And you know that being upstaged like that got under Trump’s skin. So, I think there’s deep-rooted animosity there. Some of DJT’s ostensive support for Putin, I’d guess, is a personal vendetta against a rival competitor in the popularity game.
For the record, I am steadfastly behind Ukraine, Europe, and NATO. Aa a champion for democracy, I am fervently anti-authoritarianism. So I will not support that axis of totalitarianism—Trump, Netanyahu, and Putin. Whatever NATO can do to get rid of those three autocrats, I support.
I find it telling that neither Trump nor Vance were there this afternoon to greet the European leaders. Instead, they put Monica Crowley, an old Fox News idiot, to do the task. Kind of speaks to where this administration is with respect to the EU. Putin got the red carpet, a military flyover, and the President’s applause. Europe gets Monica Crowley.
There was a time in world history when the strong ran roughshod over the weak, when tyrants measured their strength by how many smaller countries they could conquer. That was then. Enter Jesus and a new message: The weak shall inherit the earth. Since then, enlightened civilizations have risen to the occasion and fought to eliminate the likes of the Mongolian empire, the Roman empire and the Ottoman empire, and have shed blood to thwart power-hungry strongmen who have attempted to rule with evil, imperialistic motives.
In recent years, there has been a resurgence of the selfish populist belief that finding a strongman who will promise to get you what you want and installing him in power is the only way to go—and, as long as your side wins, totalitarianism is perfectly fine. That is not the ideology I have ever subscribed to as an American, a Christian and a pragmatic thinker.
My dad made a career in the military flying B-29 bombers in World War II in order to prevent that way of thinking. And he passed a few embers of that torch to me. I’m no warrior, but I will use my voice and the might of my pen to try to persuade the unenlightened to drop their swords, embrace the weak, and follow Jesus.
Let’s strive to make a nicer world and a better humanity, okay?
I think they should come up with something that Putin considers even more important than keeping Ukrainian territory and offer him that instead. So, how about playing to his ego? How about agreeing to lift the sanctions (and the arrest warrant hanging over his head) and admit him to the club--that is, recognize Russia as a key player on the global stage, maybe even as a member of NATO and the EU, and agree to begin taking Putin seriously as a smart and credible voice in world affairs--in exchange for his dropping his KGB bravado schtick, taking his troops back home. and treating Ukraine as a friend and neighbor?
Sounds kooky, I know, but he might go for it. Could be he is a little weary of being the outcast pariah heading up a rogue state and is ready to shape up and go straight.
As for Crimea, which is strategically important and a key shipping harbor to both sides, I would create a neutral non-fly corridor that would enable both Ukraine and Russia to access that port freely in a friendly, cooperative fashion.
I do think the public needs to see everything concerning the Jeffrey Epstein case, so I’d like to have all of that documentation released. But I’m quite concerned about names of people being tossed around for political purposes. Whatever they decide to release, I would hope that they redact every name that’s in there. If there’s some prominent person named in there, call them Person A or Person B or something; don’t name them. These are innocent people until they’re proven guilty of something, and I’m worried that this is liable to turn into the usual political food fight between Dems and Repubs.
it strikes me as telling that the president a few minutes ago stated that he is the “chief law-enforcement officer.” That worries me, because he is not the chief law-enforcement officer—the AG is. But he seems to believe it is him. And he’s acting like it in everything he is doing.
Illinois Gov. Pritzker wisely pointed out the other day that the Nazis in the 1930’s “tore down a constitutional republic in just 53 days” and that “we have a president who seems hell-bent on doing just that.”
I was reading a little on the Cato Institute, one of the foremost think tanks for libertarians, and I still remain unclear on a question that has always bugged me. I would love it if a truly knowledgeable libertarian conservative would explain to me how advocates of liberty and small government could be so opposed to legislative overreach (e.g. excessive regulations, foreign meddling, etc. ) yet, at the same time, support the Trump administration's power grab. Isn't overreach by an authoritarian Executive branch that wants to "rule" the country every bit as insidious as overreach by overzealous agencies, bureaucrats and politicians? Seems to me investing total power in a king or dictator would be about as opposite from small government as you could possibly get.
Put me down as Kat Abughazaleh’s newest (and, no doubt, oldest) fan. Normally, I would be about the last person you’d expect to wax enthusiastic about a 26 year-old Gen-Z Palestinian-American, super-progressive social media influencer with a name I can’t pronounce. But she won my heart.
I won’t bore you with a biography of her (her nickname is Kat Abu, which I might be able to remember). But she is spirited, charming, articulate, anti-MAGA, and running for the U.S. Congress in Illinois. I only discovered her a little while ago, so I don’t know much about what she’s up to—whether she’s a podcaster or a YouTube sensation or what—but she sure has a knack for saying the stuff I like to hear. Mainly, her message is…get active! If you oppose what the government is doing, make your opposition known! Resist! Fight back! Refuse to put up with it!
You go, Kat! You have my support (even if I don’t buy into all your political ideas).
Levelheaded, sensible Americans know the difference between uniformed police officers and uniformed soldiers. The biggest problem with the Trump administration’s new law-enforcement policy are the optics.
Americans do not want to see platoons of armed soldiers in boots and camouflage driving armored vehicles and tanks through the streets of America. That looks way too much like martial law! And, moreover, what good are camouflaged britches and armored vehicles anyway when it comes to catching a drug dealer on a DC street corner? That is a stupid approach to law-enforcement.
Most Americans are smart enough to know the difference between a cop and a soldier. And we are not interested in having our cities look like war zones just so a few ignorant Trumpists can pretend to be soldier-boy tough bros.
As I reflect on the latest school shooting, yesterday in Minneapolis, I have to think that humankind has reached a crossroads where psychology meets sociology. How are the sociological factors of our era affecting 'mass' psychology? I have a sense that there is a profound connection. I look at the big picture, and what I see is our species declining physically, mentally, institutionally, socially, and in virtually every other way. Where does it end, in another Dark Age? In extinction? Until the experts figure it out and come up with workable solutions, I fear we are going to continue on that downward spiral. It's just really bizarre that you and I happened to be living through it in real time. Of all the thousands or millions of generations of people who have walked this planet, are we the lucky ones who get to witness the End Times? You have to wonder.
29 comments:
I’m continuing to experiment with this old trusty blog here. This thread, I guess, will be an open forum for whatever you’d like to say. Just keep it civil and mannerly, OK?
If this is the only thread that you’re likely to be interested in, and you wanna skip over all the old posts, what you need to do is just bookmark this page you’re on right now as a favorite. That way it will always open to this thread.
On the Russia–Ukraine matter: It’s important to pay really close attention to Trump‘s actual wording. Yesterday he specifically said “We will likely get some territory back“. Did you notice that word WE in there? Who is “we?” Sounds like he’s 100% aligned with Putin, doesn’t it?
But on the other hand, maybe “we”means us and Ukraine getting some territory back. Who knows?
Solid gold everywhere, umbrella tables on the new White House patio, a giant ballroom off the side of the White House? He’s doing his best to make the White House look like Mar-a-Lago, which was made to look like the palace of Versailles. And on top of that, he’s itching to get a Nobel peace prize. Trump is doing whatever he can do to indelibly etch his name into the history books for all time. Well, guess what. That’s the polar opposite of what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to erase his name from the history books for all time.
Speaking of weather (which we weren’t)..One piece of good news. We don’t have to worry about hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico this year. Because there is no Gulf of Mexico this year. Weee.
As for crime in DC, one thing we know for sure. On or about January 20 a new band of criminals moved into DC. I won’t name names, but we just saw a few of them blabbing in this morning’s White House press conference. Pirro. Patel. Hegseth. Bondi. Tru…. Oops! I said I wouldn’t names, didn’t I? My bad.
My observation is that, just as Trump supporters have strayed completely away from what it means to be American, a lot of so-called Christians have strayed away from what it means to be Christian. And oddly enough, those are largely the same people.
If our founding fathers could see what is happening to our country now, they would be appalled. And so would Jesus.
What a bizarre day today has been newswise, split screen between Taylor Swift setting new records for podcasting, and on the other side of the screen, Trump taking over DC. I literally don’t know what to make of it all Let’s just say I’m a million times more likely to be a Swifty than a Trumpy. I wouldn’t know one of her songs if I heard it, but she seems like a genuinely good person. And that’s good enough for me. Sign me up.
There are some things that are just plain true, that no sane, reasonable person would dispute. In law, the term they use is prima facie. To me it’s prima facie that Trump is bad. Or, more accurately, Trumpism is bad. I’m way beyond arguing or debating that point. I’ve moved on from knocking Trumpism. It’s bad and it needs to go, period—so we sane, reasonable people can start repairing the damage and get to work ACTUALLY making our nation great again.
I am not going to waste my time listening to MAGA folks attempting to make a case for Trumpism. Anybody who still believes that Trumpism is good for America is, in my opinion, misguided. That ship has sailed. So I won’t engage in that discussion.
A doofus dictator wannabe attempting to install himself as a totalitarian government is anti-American. What he is saying or doing with respect to issues is irrelevant.
DJT is throwing a blinding avalanche of stuff at the wall, knowing full-well that 90% of it won’t stick. But if just a smidgen of it sneaks past our scrutiny, he wins. That’s really the trick behind his art of the deal.
As you may have noticed, the pundits love referring to James Carville's famous statement from a couple of decades ago, "It's the economy, stupid." What he was saying, of course, is that the overriding issue most voters are most concerned about are inflation and the cost of living. I have to push back on that.
That was pre-Trump, before the entire fabric of our nation came under attack by MAGA. My observation these days is this. There are two kinds of voters: the ordinary folks and the very concerned ones. The ordinary folks, true, are apt to lose more sleep over paying the rent, making the car payment, and putting food on the table than the state of the world. And, yes, they are in the majority. So, yes, Carville is right when it comes to those voters; it IS about the economy. But then there's that smaller group of us whose concerns are way bigger than 'self.' These are the select thinkers who see the big picture and who wake up in the morning asking themselves, What must we do to fix the nation and the world?
To those 'concerned' Americans, it is NOT about the economy; the issue at the top of their minds right now is MAGA-Trumpism and how to thwart those evil-doers and their cult of misguided followers before they succeed in completely bulldozing our country and our cherished institutions into oblivion.
So, Carville, in all his political wisdom, might want to update his thinking. We have way bigger things to worry about these days than the price of a gallon of gas. Or at least a few of us do.
I think a lot of people are overlooking another reason why Trump cozies up to Putin—Trump has never liked Zelenskyy. First of all, they are both former entertainers who turned to politics. So, right there, that put Zelenskyy in competition with Trump. And we know how much he hates sharing the spotlight. Then on top of that, back in the first term when Trump was facing impeachment and all sorts of legal difficulties, Zelenskyy was a world superhero. The whole world was loving Zelenskyy. And you know that being upstaged like that got under Trump’s skin. So, I think there’s deep-rooted animosity there. Some of DJT’s ostensive support for Putin, I’d guess, is a personal vendetta against a rival competitor in the popularity game.
For the record, I am steadfastly behind Ukraine, Europe, and NATO. Aa a champion for democracy, I am fervently anti-authoritarianism. So I will not support that axis of totalitarianism—Trump, Netanyahu, and Putin. Whatever NATO can do to get rid of those three autocrats, I support.
I find it telling that neither Trump nor Vance were there this afternoon to greet the European leaders. Instead, they put Monica Crowley, an old Fox News idiot, to do the task. Kind of speaks to where this administration is with respect to the EU. Putin got the red carpet, a military flyover, and the President’s applause. Europe gets Monica Crowley.
There was a time in world history when the strong ran roughshod over the weak, when tyrants measured their strength by how many smaller countries they could conquer. That was then. Enter Jesus and a new message: The weak shall inherit the earth. Since then, enlightened civilizations have risen to the occasion and fought to eliminate the likes of the Mongolian empire, the Roman empire and the Ottoman empire, and have shed blood to thwart power-hungry strongmen who have attempted to rule with evil, imperialistic motives.
In recent years, there has been a resurgence of the selfish populist belief that finding a strongman who will promise to get you what you want and installing him in power is the only way to go—and, as long as your side wins, totalitarianism is perfectly fine. That is not the ideology I have ever subscribed to as an American, a Christian and a pragmatic thinker.
My dad made a career in the military flying B-29 bombers in World War II in order to prevent that way of thinking. And he passed a few embers of that torch to me. I’m no warrior, but I will use my voice and the might of my pen to try to persuade the unenlightened to drop their swords, embrace the weak, and follow Jesus.
Let’s strive to make a nicer world and a better humanity, okay?
I think they should come up with something that Putin considers even more important than keeping Ukrainian territory and offer him that instead. So, how about playing to his ego? How about agreeing to lift the sanctions (and the arrest warrant hanging over his head) and admit him to the club--that is, recognize Russia as a key player on the global stage, maybe even as a member of NATO and the EU, and agree to begin taking Putin seriously as a smart and credible voice in world affairs--in exchange for his dropping his KGB bravado schtick, taking his troops back home. and treating Ukraine as a friend and neighbor?
Sounds kooky, I know, but he might go for it. Could be he is a little weary of being the outcast pariah heading up a rogue state and is ready to shape up and go straight.
As for Crimea, which is strategically important and a key shipping harbor to both sides, I would create a neutral non-fly corridor that would enable both Ukraine and Russia to access that port freely in a friendly, cooperative fashion.
Ordinary folks see things as they are and say, ‘Oh, well.” We dream things as they should be, roll up our sleeves and get to work.
Speaking of Jesus, have I told you about my approach to life that I call NM? That stands for the Naoi Meadow Way. Google it sometime.
I do think the public needs to see everything concerning the Jeffrey Epstein case, so I’d like to have all of that documentation released. But I’m quite concerned about names of people being tossed around for political purposes. Whatever they decide to release, I would hope that they redact every name that’s in there. If there’s some prominent person named in there, call them Person A or Person B or something; don’t name them. These are innocent people until they’re proven guilty of something, and I’m worried that this is liable to turn into the usual political food fight between Dems and Repubs.
it strikes me as telling that the president a few minutes ago stated that he is the “chief law-enforcement officer.” That worries me, because he is not the chief law-enforcement officer—the AG is. But he seems to believe it is him. And he’s acting like it in everything he is doing.
Illinois Gov. Pritzker wisely pointed out the other day that the Nazis in the 1930’s “tore down a constitutional republic in just 53 days” and that “we have a president who seems hell-bent on doing just that.”
I was reading a little on the Cato Institute, one of the foremost think tanks for libertarians, and I still remain unclear on a question that has always bugged me. I would love it if a truly knowledgeable libertarian conservative would explain to me how advocates of liberty and small government could be so opposed to legislative overreach (e.g. excessive regulations, foreign meddling, etc. ) yet, at the same time, support the Trump administration's power grab. Isn't overreach by an authoritarian Executive branch that wants to "rule" the country every bit as insidious as overreach by overzealous agencies, bureaucrats and politicians? Seems to me investing total power in a king or dictator would be about as opposite from small government as you could possibly get.
Put me down as Kat Abughazaleh’s newest (and, no doubt, oldest) fan. Normally, I would be about the last person you’d expect to wax enthusiastic about a 26 year-old Gen-Z Palestinian-American, super-progressive social media influencer with a name I can’t pronounce. But she won my heart.
I won’t bore you with a biography of her (her nickname is Kat Abu, which I might be able to remember). But she is spirited, charming, articulate, anti-MAGA, and running for the U.S. Congress in Illinois. I only discovered her a little while ago, so I don’t know much about what she’s up to—whether she’s a podcaster or a YouTube sensation or what—but she sure has a knack for saying the stuff I like to hear. Mainly, her message is…get active! If you oppose what the government is doing, make your opposition known! Resist! Fight back! Refuse to put up with it!
You go, Kat! You have my support (even if I don’t buy into all your political ideas).
Levelheaded, sensible Americans know the difference between uniformed police officers and uniformed soldiers. The biggest problem with the Trump administration’s new law-enforcement policy are the optics.
Americans do not want to see platoons of armed soldiers in boots and camouflage driving armored vehicles and tanks through the streets of America. That looks way too much like martial law! And, moreover, what good are camouflaged britches and armored vehicles anyway when it comes to catching a drug dealer on a DC street corner? That is a stupid approach to law-enforcement.
Most Americans are smart enough to know the difference between a cop and a soldier. And we are not interested in having our cities look like war zones just so a few ignorant Trumpists can pretend to be soldier-boy tough bros.
As I reflect on the latest school shooting, yesterday in Minneapolis, I have to think that humankind has reached a crossroads where psychology meets sociology. How are the sociological factors of our era affecting 'mass' psychology? I have a sense that there is a profound connection. I look at the big picture, and what I see is our species declining physically, mentally, institutionally, socially, and in virtually every other way. Where does it end, in another Dark Age? In extinction? Until the experts figure it out and come up with workable solutions, I fear we are going to continue on that downward spiral. It's just really bizarre that you and I happened to be living through it in real time. Of all the thousands or millions of generations of people who have walked this planet, are we the lucky ones who get to witness the End Times? You have to wonder.
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