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Thursday Open Thread

Donald Trump was not invited to Dick Cheney's funeral.

He did, however, sign the Epstein bill.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

< Trump: Friends With Benefits (Pardons) and Open Thread
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    Not surprised (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Nov 20, 2025 at 11:31:54 AM EST
    that Trump wasn't invited to Cheney's funeral. IIRC he wasn't invited to Bush Sr. or Barbara's funeral either. And honestly I would be surprised if he is invited to the funerals of any other former president or VP.

    In honor of Dick "Dick" Cheney's ... (5.00 / 2) (#2)
    by desertswine on Thu Nov 20, 2025 at 12:09:34 PM EST
    funeral I left on the TV but muted the audio, and played a cd called Rachel's The Sea and the Bells.  The music reminds me of the voyage of the ship Demeter that took Dracula from Varna to England.

    Then I trimmed my toenails, which I find is MUCH easier having lost 25 pounds.  Everything is easier.  Here's to losing more weight!

    Parent

    Tomorrow I'm getting (5.00 / 2) (#5)
    by fishcamp on Thu Nov 20, 2025 at 02:07:03 PM EST
    the first pedicure in my life.  My ancient bones and joints won't allow me to reach my toes.  Weight is not my problem fortunately.

    Parent
    Revlon's (none / 0) (#6)
    by KeysDan on Thu Nov 20, 2025 at 02:15:30 PM EST
    most popular polish color is "Cherries in the Snow".  FYI

    Parent
    Apparently it's also a desert (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by jondee on Thu Nov 20, 2025 at 02:25:04 PM EST
    I thought it sounded like something from the Kama Sutra.

    Parent
    Thanks KeysDan but (5.00 / 3) (#16)
    by fishcamp on Thu Nov 20, 2025 at 05:30:54 PM EST
    I was thinking something in blue to match my eyes....🕶

    Parent
    Congratulations (5.00 / 1) (#13)
    by Zorba on Thu Nov 20, 2025 at 03:46:09 PM EST
    On your weight loss, and best wishes for more to come!

    Parent
    Ditto (none / 0) (#14)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Nov 20, 2025 at 03:49:18 PM EST
    Thanks, I'm hoping to lose more... (5.00 / 1) (#17)
    by desertswine on Thu Nov 20, 2025 at 09:35:40 PM EST
    I'm taking Mounjaro (sp). It seems to work by killing your appetite.  But I don't want to give the drug all the credit.  It turns out that a little exercise goes a long way.

    Parent
    It's cool (5.00 / 1) (#24)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Nov 21, 2025 at 03:49:50 PM EST
    seeing parts of yourself you haven't seen in a while.

    Parent
    Have you seen the movie (none / 0) (#8)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Nov 20, 2025 at 02:25:43 PM EST
    The Last Voyage of the Demeter

    mixed reviews but I love it.

    One of my favorite Dracula movies and too few have seen it.

    On toenails I've found a good time to trim them is if your feet are up and you can see the light of the tv through one or more.

    Parent

    I've seen it and I liked it. (none / 0) (#9)
    by desertswine on Thu Nov 20, 2025 at 02:41:43 PM EST
    But I did not like that Nosferatu remake from I guess it was last year.  I saw it at Brewflix and it was worse than the queso.

    Parent
    I agree that was disappointing (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Nov 20, 2025 at 03:30:45 PM EST
    That guy Robert Eggers has a new one I have hopes for


    Werwulf

    I love his movies.  Witch is a favorite Northman is odd but amazing the Lighthouse is just, you have to see it.

    Parent

    A couple of those shots (5.00 / 1) (#19)
    by jondee on Fri Nov 21, 2025 at 12:44:47 PM EST
    were very Frank Frazetta looking.

    Parent
    I kind of feel that way (none / 0) (#10)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Nov 20, 2025 at 03:06:15 PM EST
    about the new Frankenstein. It's gorgeous and wonderful like everything he does but it's not, you know, Frankenstein.


    Parent
    It's more (5.00 / 1) (#11)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Nov 20, 2025 at 03:08:27 PM EST
    Frankensteen.

    In a good way.

    Parent

    Vice President Vance (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by KeysDan on Thu Nov 20, 2025 at 12:36:24 PM EST
    also was not invited.

    Parent
    Happy turkey (5.00 / 3) (#20)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Nov 21, 2025 at 01:56:48 PM EST
    I think this Mamdani guy (5.00 / 1) (#22)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Nov 21, 2025 at 03:44:53 PM EST
    might have a future in politics.  

    I guess Trump needed some positive press but the  Mayor handled it perfectly,

    The son he never had. (5.00 / 1) (#25)
    by KeysDan on Fri Nov 21, 2025 at 03:50:49 PM EST
    In their White House meeting, Trump attempted to glom on to, and bask in, Mamdani's popularity. He, as a feral politician,  recognized and  acknowledged, the different character and charisma with which he needed to reckon.

      Trump deferred to Mamdani on many issues, while Mamdani remained focused on areas to which they purported to agree--safety and affordability,.  Mamdani would not deny having called Trump a fascist, but Trump denied that Mamdani was a Jihadist--thereby throwing Republican candidate for NY governor under the bus --that being her mantra. No accusation of being a lunatic communist or socialist.  Indeed, he pledged to help the  Mayor-elect succeed.    Of course, Trump being Trump, all of this may change if the polls change.

    It was a thing tho (none / 0) (#26)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Nov 21, 2025 at 04:09:31 PM EST
    wasn't it?

    I was sitting here paying bills and watched the whole thing.

    Loser, winner.

    Mamdani did what Trump always dreamed of, conquering NYC.  

    It was like a feral submission


    Parent

    I am loving some of the tweets. (5.00 / 1) (#40)
    by vml68 on Sun Nov 23, 2025 at 12:16:33 PM EST
    He looks like a boy who can't contain his excitement when he's around his crush 💀 he's definitely never looked at Melania like that before

    Bro wants to give him the bubba special

    Find you somebody who looks at you like Donald Trump looks at Zohran Mamdani.
    LINK

    JD Vance watching Donald Trump enjoying being around Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office.
    LINK

    Parent

    This is (none / 0) (#41)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Nov 23, 2025 at 01:17:02 PM EST
    Apparently he appeared (none / 0) (#43)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Nov 23, 2025 at 03:39:24 PM EST
    With no clown makeup in addition to the turtle neck

    No idea what that means  

    Parent

    While a turtle neck (none / 0) (#44)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Nov 23, 2025 at 03:50:53 PM EST
    works for just about everyone it really helps to have a neck.

    Parent
    They look like (none / 0) (#45)
    by KeysDan on Sun Nov 23, 2025 at 05:00:24 PM EST
    twins.

    Parent
    it (none / 0) (#27)
    by FlJoe on Fri Nov 21, 2025 at 04:40:44 PM EST
    was not what I expected, more 'fan boy meets rock star" than feral submission.

    Parent
    Really tho (none / 0) (#29)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Nov 21, 2025 at 05:22:01 PM EST
    for Trump that is a feral submission

    Parent
    Trump still has stuff (none / 0) (#42)
    by jondee on Sun Nov 23, 2025 at 01:53:46 PM EST
    he and his family want to do in NYC.

    Just like the old days: people to screw over, palms to grease, arms to twist, regulations to skirt, places to go, people to see..

    Parent

    I'm liking Feral Submission (none / 0) (#122)
    by jondee on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 03:47:52 PM EST
    as a band name.

    Parent
    Well (none / 0) (#37)
    by Ga6thDem on Sat Nov 22, 2025 at 11:55:01 AM EST
    there goes the Mamdani as boogie man strategy for 2026.

    Parent
    The moron batalion at Fox (none / 0) (#49)
    by jondee on Mon Nov 24, 2025 at 06:17:42 PM EST
    will handle all that.

    Brian Kilmeade will be talking about why we can't just euthanize him and then 'apologize' a week later after putting the idea in people's heads.

    Parent

    To usher in (5.00 / 1) (#33)
    by KeysDan on Sat Nov 22, 2025 at 11:25:42 AM EST
    Mayor-elect Mamdani to the Oval Office for a meeting with Trump, the Republican House of Representatives passed, with the help of 86 Democrats (including the Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries),  H. con. res.58, a resolution condemning the horrors of socialism.

    The resolution starts with a whereas, socialist ideology necessitates a concentration of power that has, time and time again, collapsed into communist regimes, totalitarian rule, and brutal dictatorships; whereas, socialism has repeatedly led to famine, mass murders, and the killing of over 100,000,000 people worldwide.........(naming  despots such as Stalin).......ending with: Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), that Congress denounces socialism in all its forms, opposes the implementation of socialist policies in the USA.  Passed. November 21, 2025.

    Of course, as has been widely noted, Trump pantsed the Republicans and  revealed 86 weak kneed Democrats too timid to support Mamdani or too obtuse to better time their idiocy.

    Beyond those 86 Democrats buckling in the face
    the Republican conjuring of a socialist bogeyman, have they lost resolve for programs such Social Security or public education by opposing implementation of socialist policies?

    It was glaringly apparent that the Republicans planned to make Mamdani a bogeyman (as they had for Hillary, AOC, and Mrs. Pelosi)---just before the White House meeting, the spokesperson claimed a "communist" was coming to meet Trump, and the MAGAts were full throttle on creating what they hoped would be an albatross to hang on Democrats neck.

    yeah, my cowardly congresswoman (5.00 / 3) (#34)
    by leap2 on Sat Nov 22, 2025 at 11:40:14 AM EST
    voted for that stupid "resolution." And I wrote her my thoughts.

    Ha, I can always count on you to make the really dumb votes in the House. Once again. [She also voted for the Resolution to Honor Charlie Kirk.!!¿?!] I didn't even have to look, although I did, just to make sure....that you did, indeed, vote for the stupid, time-wasting "Resolution to Condemn Socialism." What does that even mean? What is the point of this useless "resolution"? Are you so scared of Republicans yelling at you?

    By the way, THIS is American socialism (a partial list):
    Social Security
    Medicare/Medicaid
    Public libraries
    Public infrastructure-- roads, bridges, sewer, electricity, water
    Fire protection
    Public transportation
    Police Departments
    Public Parks
    Public schools (universities, community colleges)
    Head Start
    US Postal Service
    Agricultural policies, including SNAP
    US Military
    Insulin production
    (THIS one should be near and dear to you, no?)

    Did you just vote against all of this?

    I will assume you are/were a better pediatrician than the ignorant, frightened, cowardly politician you have become. Maybe you should go back to doctoring full-time.



    Parent
    PS: Needless to say, she is a Democrat (none / 0) (#35)
    by leap2 on Sat Nov 22, 2025 at 11:41:21 AM EST
    n/t

    Parent
    People (5.00 / 1) (#38)
    by Ga6thDem on Sat Nov 22, 2025 at 11:57:48 AM EST
    don't even know what socialism is nor do they know what communism is. That's the problem. And when you say do you like the fire department their eyes glaze over.

    Parent
    Honestly (none / 0) (#39)
    by Ga6thDem on Sat Nov 22, 2025 at 12:02:41 PM EST
    Mamdani's problems have nothing to do with any of this. He appears to have empowered the antisemites in NYC and he needs to clamp down on that. His statement on what happened at the synagogue was severely lacking.

    Parent
    I've spent a lot of time (none / 0) (#50)
    by jondee on Mon Nov 24, 2025 at 06:22:43 PM EST
    in NYC for years and never noticed all these 'antisemites' who supposedly flock there and don't remember it ever even being an issue until recently.

    Parent
    Seems (none / 0) (#51)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon Nov 24, 2025 at 08:04:58 PM EST
    like after 10/7 they started. Then they went quiet and now they are kicking up again. I don't get what they think harassing people going into a synagogue is going to do for their "cause".

    Parent
    The propagandists (5.00 / 3) (#53)
    by jondee on Mon Nov 24, 2025 at 11:28:10 PM EST
    are waging a concerted campaign to make it sound like Jews in NYC are being treated the way Pakestinians are treated in the West Bank and in Gaza.

    No one's buying it here. Not for one second.

    Parent

    (1) Hamas's horrific and merciless surprise assault on defenseless Jewish civilians in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing over 1,200 people and kidnapping over 200 Jewish hostages, was a crime against humanity.

    (2) The Israeli military's grossly disproportionate response against Gaza, a prolonged scorched-earth operation ordered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that was conducted without any due regard whatsoever for the lives and well-being of its 2.2 million inhabitants, killed over 60,000 non-combatants including nearly 20,000 children under age 18 (a very conservative estimate), and rendered 90% of the territory uninhabitable, is likewise a crime against humanity and further, a war crime.

    Not surprisingly, the International Criminal Court in The Hague on November 23, 2024 issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas commander Mohammed Deif, with all three being charged with the aforementioned alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

    There are no excuses for either side's leadership regarding their mutual culpability in this incredibly tragic, unnecessary and entirely avoidable affair.

    Netanyahu in particular should be singled out for gross incompetence in the conduct of his office. The man who styled and postured himself as Israel's last and best hope for security and protection instead facilitated the biggest killing of Jews since the Holocaust by redeploying the Israeli military into the West Bank and leaving his country's southern frontier undefended on October 7, 2023.

    Our own country is complicit in the slaughter as well. The ferocious Israeli military overresponse in Gaza has gone far beyond any legitimate claim of their country's own self-defense. The U.S. failure to use its considerable leverage over Israel to rein them in and prevent the wholesale destruction of that territory and resultant dislocation of its two-million-plus residents is nothing short of an international disgrace.

    Absolutely none of this butchery had to happen. The only people without blame here are the defenseless people on both sides who've since paid a terrible price for the kabuki-like folly of their political leaders. And we'll all have to live with the resultant shame and consequences for what we have collectively allowed to transpire in the region.

    This year marked the 30th anniversary of the tragic assassination of Israeli Prime Minister (and Nobel peace laureate) Yitzak Rabin in Tel Aviv by a far-right Jewish nationalist who had been radicalized by then-opposition leader Bibi Natanyahu's incendiary political rhetoric, in which he had condemned Rabin for his peace initiative with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and further intimated that he deserved death for having signed the Oslo Accords.

    Who knew then that when a grieving Israel laid Rabin to rest in Jerusalem's Mount Herzl national cemetery, that country had also buried its own soul alongside him?

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Go Ducks... (5.00 / 2) (#36)
    by fishcamp on Sat Nov 22, 2025 at 11:50:09 AM EST


    Shamwow no go... (5.00 / 1) (#52)
    by desertswine on Mon Nov 24, 2025 at 09:24:03 PM EST
    The "ShamWow Guy" is running for Congress in order to destroy wokeism in congress.

    He's been motivated by the "political infighting in the country" to run and "make America happy."

    I really really hope (5.00 / 1) (#54)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Nov 25, 2025 at 02:10:57 PM EST
    that idiot Kegbreath tries to "court martial" Mark Kelly for saying you can't follow illegal orders.

    It will elevate Kelly who clearly has ambitions and it will make it clear to all Trump plans to issue illegal orders.  

    You can't believe how clumsy and stupid these people are.

    Thank The Flying Spaghetti Monster for that.

    And, worse than (5.00 / 1) (#57)
    by KeysDan on Tue Nov 25, 2025 at 03:40:44 PM EST
    saying it is illegal to follow illegal orders, a court martial is warranted because of his uniform.

    Hegseth: so "Captain" Kelly, not only did your sedition video undercut good order and discipline, but you can't even display your uniform correctly.

    Your medals are out of order, rows are reversed.  When you are recalled to active duty, it'll start with a uniform inspection

    (Apparently in Kelly's military photo, the medals are reversed because it is a mirror image)

    Parent

    We are ruled (5.00 / 2) (#59)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Nov 25, 2025 at 03:56:29 PM EST
    by cartoon villains

    Parent
    Keghead is even stupider (5.00 / 1) (#69)
    by desertswine on Wed Nov 26, 2025 at 02:56:47 PM EST
    than he looks.

    Parent
    Actually (none / 0) (#55)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Nov 25, 2025 at 02:13:26 PM EST
    I think he just said you SHOULDN'T follow illegal orders.

    I think they should make more of those pointing out that when charges for illegal actions come they will be for YOU. Not Trump or Kegbreath

    Parent

    Not even that. What Kelly and his colleagues (4.67 / 3) (#58)
    by Peter G on Tue Nov 25, 2025 at 03:50:57 PM EST
    said is that members of the military are not obliged to follow illegal orders. Which is weaker than what the Uniform Code of Military Justice (the criminal law enacted by Congress to govern the conduct of military members) actually says. The UCMJ provides that a member must refuse to obey an order that is "manifestly illegal." Some of the Army troops that perpetrated the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam were prosecuted for killing noncombatant civilians, despite the fact that they had been ordered to do so. Kind of like the orders to kill fishermen (or drug couriers, for that matter) off South America to which Kelly was alluding.

    Parent
    KOS (none / 0) (#56)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Nov 25, 2025 at 02:19:40 PM EST
    Exactly. (none / 0) (#75)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Nov 27, 2025 at 01:28:07 PM EST
    U.S. Army Lt. William Calley was following the orders of his superiors when he led his platoon to participate in the slaughter of an estimated 500+ defenseless Vietnamese women, children and elderly in the village of My Lai. While 26 men were eventually court-martialed for that war crime, Calley was the only one who was convicted.

    Parent
    Kos (none / 0) (#60)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Nov 25, 2025 at 06:10:55 PM EST
    Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reportedly plans to upend decades of military support for the Scouting America in retaliation for the iconic organization's support for gender and racial equality.

    Parent
    Maga (5.00 / 1) (#62)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Nov 25, 2025 at 07:28:33 PM EST
    Is big mad about the Comey and James indictments being dismissed. Sooner or later they will realize there was mothing there.

    Bondi is going to appeal? What is she going to appeal? Is she actually going to go to court and say Hallogan was legally appointed when it is obvious she was not. And it is doubtful that the next prosecutor would refile charges since the competent ones have declined

    Candace (5.00 / 1) (#66)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Nov 25, 2025 at 09:15:31 PM EST
    Owen's is saying that Macron has sent assassins after her. Also saying these assassins killed Kirk

    I am becoming beyond tired of the crazy.

    Happy Thanksgiving (5.00 / 6) (#72)
    by KeysDan on Thu Nov 27, 2025 at 09:38:09 AM EST
    to Jeralyn  and her family, and to all Talk Left colleagues and theirs.

    Indeed (none / 0) (#73)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Nov 27, 2025 at 10:08:20 AM EST
    Lest we forget this Thanksgiving.. (5.00 / 1) (#76)
    by desertswine on Thu Nov 27, 2025 at 02:00:18 PM EST
     
       Alice's Restaurant...

       A peaceful T-day to all.

    Parent

    South Park (5.00 / 1) (#77)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Nov 27, 2025 at 02:05:34 PM EST
    This might be the one that gets noticed? (5.00 / 1) (#79)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Nov 28, 2025 at 05:21:42 PM EST
    Pete Hegseth could face a possible war crimes prosecution over a claim that he ordered a second strike to kill survivors of a U.S. missile attack on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean.

    The Pentagon chief insisted that all 11 people on board the boat should be killed, according to The Washington Post.

    "The order was to kill everybody," alleged two people with direct knowledge of the SEAL Team 6 operation targeting the waterborne drug smugglers.

    Two people were reportedly clinging to the burning deck of the vessel destroyed by a U.S. rocket fired off the coast of Trinidad on September 2.

    To comply with Hegseth's order, the Special Ops commander in charge of the operation allegedly ordered a second strike and wiped out the survivors.

    ------

    Sounds very much like something Pete might pass the buck for

    link

    Hogsbreath is a homicidal psychopath. (5.00 / 3) (#80)
    by Chuck0 on Fri Nov 28, 2025 at 07:19:54 PM EST
    In my opinion.

    Parent
    As someone (5.00 / 1) (#82)
    by Ga6thDem on Sat Nov 29, 2025 at 08:42:10 AM EST
    Said recently there's never been a better time to be a psychopath in America

    Parent
    Well, someone has (5.00 / 3) (#85)
    by KeysDan on Sat Nov 29, 2025 at 11:31:01 AM EST
    to get after these drug traffickers, right? To protect the children!

    In other news, Trump will pardon the former president of The Honduras, Juan Hernandez, who was convicted of drug trafficking charges in a U.S. Court.  Hernandez was found guilty in March 2024 of conspiring to import cocaine into the U.S., and of possession of machine guns.  He was sentenced to 45 years in prison.

    Parent

    If the situation is not (5.00 / 2) (#84)
    by KeysDan on Sat Nov 29, 2025 at 11:06:07 AM EST
    characterized as an armed conflict or  a violation of rules of engagement,  Hegseth  could be charged with murder.  To me, it seems more like murder.

    Parent
    These boats are unarmed, no? (none / 0) (#86)
    by desertswine on Sat Nov 29, 2025 at 12:27:59 PM EST
    Trump has (5.00 / 1) (#87)
    by KeysDan on Sat Nov 29, 2025 at 01:21:29 PM EST
    designated the military campaign against the alleged drug smuggling boats as "non-international armed conflict".

    But, more likely, these really are law enforcement operations. There has been no evidence provided that these are drug running boats.  And,in that instance where there were two survivors who could have been charged,, or could have talked, they were hustled off to their Country of origin---one to Colombia, the other to Ecuador.  In any event, it seems to me, if an armed conflict, these killings are war crimes, and if law enforcement, murder.

    Parent

    Hegseth has already ordered survivers to (5.00 / 1) (#90)
    by desertswine on Sat Nov 29, 2025 at 04:17:03 PM EST
    be killed.

    "A bombshell Washington Post investigation revealed that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth personally ordered U.S. forces to "kill them all" during a September 2 maritime strike off the coast of Trinidad, an unprecedented escalation in America's counter-drug operations and one that legal experts say may violate international law.

    According to officials with direct knowledge of the mission, U.S. special operations forces targeted a small vessel suspected of transporting narcotics. After the first missile strike destroyed the boat and killed most of the crew, observers reported seeing at least two survivors clinging to debris. Hegseth allegedly directed forces to launch a second strike to eliminate the remaining survivors, a move experts describe as potentially unlawful under long-standing rules of armed conflict, which prohibit killing combatants who are "hors de combat," or out of the fight."

    Salon

    What has this country become?

    Parent

    This country (5.00 / 1) (#92)
    by leap2 on Sat Nov 29, 2025 at 05:15:33 PM EST
    is now showing its loathsome underbelly that has been mostly shrouded by established norms and faux ethics of the body politic. Our history is replete with this attitude and behaviour. It's all coming belly-up for all to see in horror!

    Parent
    True. (5.00 / 1) (#95)
    by Ga6thDem on Sat Nov 29, 2025 at 07:04:38 PM EST
    Heather Cox Richardson has been talking about this and how we've been here before

    Parent
    Yes, (5.00 / 1) (#97)
    by KeysDan on Sat Nov 29, 2025 at 07:53:22 PM EST
    Trump  is Frankenstein's monster who escaped the lab.

    Parent
    I was just saying to a friend (none / 0) (#96)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Nov 29, 2025 at 07:32:59 PM EST
    Trump has done a kind of public service by tearing the masks off his supporters.  It's not just his supporters he has unmasked it's the system of corruption  

    I always thought that when the dust settled on the Trump era it would end up being good for the republic  I still think it might.  It's just taking longer than I thought.

    I think the election I thought was going to happen last time is going to happen next time.  

    It's really a choice.  
    I think most people, enough people, finally see that
    Or they don't and we become Hungary


    Parent

    Go Ducks... (5.00 / 2) (#83)
    by fishcamp on Sat Nov 29, 2025 at 09:21:19 AM EST


    Are we through sitting Shiva (5.00 / 2) (#117)
    by jondee on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 02:24:10 PM EST
    for Charlie Kirk?

    Because, I have to say that the temptation for organizations like TP USA to exploit a tragedy for political and monetary gain is one thing, but those Charlie Kirk Pez dispensers I'm seeing for sale online is going too far, imo.

    Google (none / 0) (#118)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 02:35:52 PM EST
    charlie kirk memorial fountain

    Parent
    I'm afraid to look (5.00 / 1) (#119)
    by jondee on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 02:55:53 PM EST
    I will say though, flags at half-mast for Charlie but nothing at all for the National Guardsmen just killed?

    The Idiot-and-Chief said something like (paraphrase) "I might honor them because they were from West Virginia and I did very well in West Virginia."

    Parent

    There is something seriously wrong (5.00 / 3) (#120)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 03:10:02 PM EST
    with 30ish of the country.  What irks me most is the level of support he still has.

    It wears on me.  I avoided family gatherings for Thanksgiving because I don't want to be around them.  With what he's doing and saying every day I can't sit at a table full of his supporters.
    I just can't do it.

    I called and made excuses.


    Parent

    Of the 30% (none / 0) (#121)
    by jondee on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 03:43:08 PM EST
    there's a solid 10% that know Trump is an idiotic, narcissist, but would support Ted Bundy for Prez as long he pushed the traditional Republican platform. It's all about policy for them and what's in it for me.

    Then there's the remaining 20% who just 'like' Trump because he reflects back to them their own ignorance and mean-spiritedness and makes feel better about themselves.


    Parent

    There is (none / 0) (#125)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 05:20:30 PM EST
    about 30% of the country that actually wants an autocrat to rule the country is what I have heard from political operatives. It's just that we've never really had anyone who took the opportunity or wanted to be an autocrat until Trump came along or like in some instances, Nixon, had people that roped them in. Right now we have the perfect storm for one. I guess we should be thankful that it's only 30ish percent and not 50ish.

    Parent
    It's also a huge % (5.00 / 1) (#131)
    by jondee on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 07:10:11 PM EST
    of people who pay minimal attention to what"s hapoening for mental health reasons - because they're so stressed-out about trying to pay the bills and keep it together in their lives. I can't say that I blame them.

    The workings of the internet algorithms aren't helping in that regard one iota. People are developing information dysphoria, and it's depressing and disempowering information at that.

    Parent

    Richard Nixon still enjoyed 30% support ... (none / 0) (#163)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 01:12:09 PM EST
    ... in the polls when he resigned the presidency in August 1974. That appears to be the approximate floor of hardcore approval of those Americans who are consistently deferential to the president no matter who it is, and who will turn a blind eye to the transgressions no matter what they are.

    Parent
    Imagine (5.00 / 3) (#167)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 02:33:59 PM EST
    Nixon tearing down the east wing.  And taking free 747s from Arabs.

    The Overton window is broken.  

    Parent

    Nixon did outreach to Billy Graham (none / 0) (#166)
    by jondee on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 01:52:28 PM EST
    as I recall. There's a consistent % of folks who woull give their support to Vlad the Impaler if validated their feelings about Jesus.

    Parent
    Not yet through (none / 0) (#178)
    by Jeralyn on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 05:07:53 PM EST
    sitting shivah on him - thank you for asking. We are done with it for Dick Cheney. The "tea party"/evangelicals are also fair game. So are the Mike Huckabees of the world.

    Parent
    They're going to have to (5.00 / 1) (#147)
    by jondee on Wed Dec 03, 2025 at 07:52:01 PM EST
    fumigate the place and perform an exorcism after the current whatever-it-is and his retinue of orcs. vacates the Whitehouse. Maybe, just to be the safe side, burning the whole thing down and rebuilding, after the stench dies down, would be the best course.

    I have had (5.00 / 1) (#150)
    by Ga6thDem on Wed Dec 03, 2025 at 08:05:04 PM EST
    the same thoughts. We may have to have the secret service forcibly remove him though. I would recommend taking everything off the walls, painting, replacing flooring etc. And take a wrecking ball to that damn grotesque ballroom and rebuild the west wing. At least the west wing won't have to be fumigated. Maybe Pope Leo can come and bless the white house to remove any remaining evil. Take a page from Jackie Kennedy and do a restoration not a renovation.

    Parent
    RIP Steve Cropper. (5.00 / 4) (#161)
    by Chuck0 on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 12:38:28 PM EST
    Long time Stax studio guitarist. Also part of Bookdr T and the MGs and The Blues Brothers Band. Steve Cropper got a shout out from John Belushi in "Soul Man." "Play it Steve." He was 84.

    One of the greats (none / 0) (#162)
    by jondee on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 12:46:25 PM EST
    I'm going to go listen to Green Onions. He also did a version with Roy Buchanan that's smokin.

    Parent
    No (5.00 / 1) (#173)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 04:45:06 PM EST
    Ah, so (none / 0) (#191)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 06:47:58 PM EST
    this explains my maga rep's anger directed at James today on Facebook. LOL. I wondered why he was posting about James.

    Parent
    Still better than this pic. (5.00 / 1) (#201)
    by vml68 on Fri Dec 05, 2025 at 06:51:39 PM EST
    RIP Frank Gehry (5.00 / 3) (#202)
    by CaptHowdy on Sun Dec 07, 2025 at 02:52:20 PM EST

    What an amazing body of work.

    I knew he designed the famous Binoculars Building that was near were i worked in Venice but just since his death I learned he designed the conference room we used at Digital Domain,

    It was this amazing undulating wooden structure that looked like a fish.  So it was called The Whale

    I'll find pics


    In accord with (none / 0) (#4)
    by KeysDan on Thu Nov 20, 2025 at 01:56:28 PM EST
    a new policy. the U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify the swastika, nooses, and the Confederate flag as hate symbols. The Coast Guard, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, has reworked its policy to align with the Trump Administration's changing tolerance for hazing and harassment in the U.S. Military.

    The Coast Guard (5.00 / 2) (#18)
    by KeysDan on Fri Nov 21, 2025 at 09:57:32 AM EST
    reversed itself and issued a new policy on Thursday, November 20, indicating that swastikas and nooses are still  hate symbols.  

    These hate symbols are , once again, bad. Although,  the Coast Guard claims that reporting was  fake news.  Hope no Coast Guard member got a swastika tattoo early this week.  Or was put in a  noose.

    Parent

    Maybe someone asked (none / 0) (#23)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Nov 21, 2025 at 03:48:10 PM EST
    about a Pride Flag.  

    I mean, if I can put up a swastika ...

    Oh sh!t, forget it.

    Parent

    If a member of the military displays (none / 0) (#28)
    by Peter G on Fri Nov 21, 2025 at 05:05:29 PM EST
    a pride flag, they get disciplined for engaging in "political" speech. Apparently a swastika is not "political." Or something.

    Parent
    I believe the new term the USCG proposed ... (none / 0) (#32)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Sat Nov 22, 2025 at 05:36:56 AM EST
    "We train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won't allow them to write 'f*ck' on their airplanes because it's obscene!"
    - Col. Walter E. Kurtz (Marlon Brando), "Apocalypse Now!" (1979)

    ... to use in reclassification of swastikas, nooses and Confederate flags is "potentially controversial - emphasis on "potentially."

    These people make my head hurt.

    Parent

    Well. (none / 0) (#30)
    by KeysDan on Fri Nov 21, 2025 at 05:36:39 PM EST
    if you got a swastika tattoo, you could run for U.S. Senator in Maine.

    Parent
    Good headline. Bad news (none / 0) (#15)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Nov 20, 2025 at 04:46:41 PM EST
    ICE Barbie (none / 0) (#123)
    by jondee on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 04:44:09 PM EST
    is still the best nickname to come out of all this. Fwiw.

    Parent
    Keystone Homeland Security (none / 0) (#21)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Nov 21, 2025 at 03:20:37 PM EST
    From AXIOS

    Businesses and bureaucrats found a workaround for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's order to personally review every contract over $100,000:

    Since August, DHS has awarded 11 new contracts between $99,999 and $99,999.99.

    Burt Meyer, 99, Dies; (none / 0) (#31)
    by desertswine on Fri Nov 21, 2025 at 09:36:34 PM EST
    The inventor of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots

    Thanks for the toys.

    Two other important deaths in the last (5.00 / 2) (#48)
    by Peter G on Mon Nov 24, 2025 at 01:50:16 PM EST
    couple of days: H. Rap Brown/Jamil al-Amin and Jimmy Cliff (the reggae star of "The Harder They Come").

    Parent
    Also Lite Brite and Mouse Trap (none / 0) (#47)
    by McBain on Mon Nov 24, 2025 at 10:47:28 AM EST
    Good memories

    Parent
    Anyone see the Age of Disclosure yet? (none / 0) (#46)
    by McBain on Mon Nov 24, 2025 at 10:38:56 AM EST
    The newest UFO documentary that's getting some attention?  I'm too cheap to pay $20 to rent it, so I'll wait a few months until it's free.  

    I did watch the film's director, Dan Farah, on Joe Rogan and found it to be a fascinating discussion.  One thing they discussed is the alleged craft we've tried to reverse engineer might not have crashed.  They might have been given to us and other countries to see who can figure out how to solve the technology, resulting in an ultra urgent race for superiority.  

    Or it could just be top secret human technology people are seeing do amazing things.  If so, why hasn't this technology been used to improve humanity? Lots of questions, hopefully we're getting closer to the answers.


    Jake Sherman (none / 0) (#61)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Nov 25, 2025 at 07:23:45 PM EST
    Is reporting that Republicans are ready to head for the exits not even waiting for the November elections. Seems they are tired of being threatened. Seems they could just do their jobs and quit being spineless but enough of them quit and it is Speaker Jeffries.

    I was going to leave a comment (none / 0) (#63)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Nov 25, 2025 at 08:11:58 PM EST
    about this.  They are seriously saying Jefferies may be the Speaker BEFORE the election.

    Tats lasting the Titanic

    Parent

    HA (5.00 / 1) (#64)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Nov 25, 2025 at 08:12:36 PM EST
    I'm just gonna leave that

    Parent
    I just (none / 0) (#65)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Nov 25, 2025 at 09:11:58 PM EST
    Saw on Jim Acosta that the GOP is sweating bullets over a Trump plus 22 district in TN. If the Dem wins that election I would expect those retirements to be happening suddenly.

    Parent
    Tennessee 7th (5.00 / 1) (#67)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Nov 26, 2025 at 01:51:27 PM EST

    If Republicans lose this seat, House Speaker Mike Johnson will be in a world of hurt.

    As it stands, Republicans hold just 219 seats in the House. If Van Epps loses, that would bring it down to just 218--the bare minimum majority. And with GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia resigning in January, Johnson could lose the majority before the 2026 midterms even take place.

    In fact, anonymous House Republicans who are angry that Johnson has defended Trump's every whim instead of sticking up for his own members said that more GOP resignations could be on the horizon.

    One irate GOP lawmaker even predicted that Johnson will lose his gavel.

    "It's a tinder box," they told Punchbowl News. "Morale has never been lower. Mike Johnson will be stripped of his gavel and they will lose the majority before this term is out."

    No matter what happens, a close race in Tennessee would be a terrible sign for Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterms. If the GOP has to defend seats next November, then they aren't just going to lose the House majority--they're going to lose it massively.



    Parent
    They (none / 0) (#68)
    by Ga6thDem on Wed Nov 26, 2025 at 02:50:48 PM EST
    Are dumping like 6 million into the election for that seat.

    Parent
    PWire (none / 0) (#70)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Nov 26, 2025 at 04:11:33 PM EST
    Democrats Drop $1 Million Into Tennessee Special Election
    November 26, 2025 at 11:28 am EST By Taegan Goddard 182 Comments

    "House Democrats are jumping into an upcoming special election in Tennessee, dumping $1 million on an increasingly nationalized battle for a deep-red congressional seat as President Donald Trump gets involved in the race," Politico reports.

    "The spending represents a dramatic escalation for national Democrats, who have so far not spent significant cash on the long-shot race."

    Parent

    Too late (none / 0) (#78)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Nov 28, 2025 at 02:20:51 PM EST
    Trump to Hold Tele-Rally for Tennessee Special Election
    November 28, 2025 at 1:52 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 148 Comments

    President Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson plan to hold a Monday evening tele-rally to boost a Republican candidate in a high-stakes Tennessee special congressional election, Axios reports

    Parent

    So (none / 0) (#81)
    by Ga6thDem on Sat Nov 29, 2025 at 08:33:06 AM EST
    Mike Johnson helps how? And I guess Trump is too ill to do an in person rally. If Beyn wins this election it will trigger an earthquake in DC. I expect a lot of the GOP will be like screw this I'm out of here.

    Parent
    I was (none / 0) (#71)
    by Ga6thDem on Wed Nov 26, 2025 at 08:25:20 PM EST
    Just listening to Rick Wilson and he said Trump is not starting "work" until noon and is done before 5. I guess he doesn't include the Gatsby parties as work. I remember last time he spent 2 hours in tje morning in hair and makeup which he obv7isnt doing this time. That or there is nothing hair and makeup people can do to help. Some.things are beyond the ability of even the most talented.

    Snopes (none / 0) (#88)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Nov 29, 2025 at 03:38:06 PM EST
    Personally (none / 0) (#89)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Nov 29, 2025 at 03:39:51 PM EST
    I would have dropped the middle initial

    Parent
    It's as if (5.00 / 1) (#93)
    by leap2 on Sat Nov 29, 2025 at 05:22:26 PM EST
    Snopes has been taken over by The Onion.

    Parent
    ... his perpetual pimp-huckster character from SNL, who at one time was hawking a self-help book on TV entitled "I Wanna Be a Ho."

    Parent
    FDA says covid vaccine has killed at least... (none / 0) (#91)
    by desertswine on Sat Nov 29, 2025 at 04:35:50 PM EST
    10 children.

    The director of the Food and Drug Administration's vaccine division (Vinay Prasad) told agency staff in a memo that an internal review found that at least 10 children died "after and because of receiving" the Covid vaccine.

    The memo uses highly ideological language, repeatedly characterizing Covid vaccine requirements for schools and employers as "coercive," calling past agency decisions "dishonest," and arguing that vaccine regulation "may have harmed more children than we saved." At one point, Prasad instructs staff who disagree with his conclusions to resign.

    The FDA is run by crazies.  You cannot believe anything this government says.

    Let's say that it's true that ten kids died (5.00 / 3) (#98)
    by Peter G on Sun Nov 30, 2025 at 04:49:14 PM EST
    out of 24 million who were vaccinated. So the fatal accident rate in those under 18 is around 4.2 hundred-thousandths of a percent. I am very sorry for those families, but that is a tremendous success if any significant number of those vaccinated were thereby protected from a devasting, often fatal illness.

    Parent
    Yes. (5.00 / 1) (#99)
    by KeysDan on Sun Nov 30, 2025 at 06:06:58 PM EST
    MAGAts/ Anti-vaxxers seem to not understand, or be able to assess, risks. And the idea of vaccines elude them---like  the anti-vax woman who would not risk having her children vaccinated  for diseases she never heard of and no one  ever gets.

    Parent
    You believe (none / 0) (#94)
    by CaptHowdy on Sat Nov 29, 2025 at 05:36:43 PM EST
    the opposite of whatever they say and go from there

    Parent
    Hegseath responds to (none / 0) (#100)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Dec 01, 2025 at 08:06:55 AM EST
    accusations of war crimes

    from republicans

    Hegseth ain't right in the cabeza. (5.00 / 1) (#102)
    by desertswine on Mon Dec 01, 2025 at 02:13:46 PM EST
    Maybe he can use the insanity defense (5.00 / 1) (#103)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Dec 01, 2025 at 03:16:22 PM EST
    Just about everyone except Trump cabinet members agree the best case version of what happened is it was legally a war crime.  
    If it's found we are not at war, or WHEN it's found we are not at war, it's called murder.  

    That stupid cartoon is going to be regretted I think.  

    This is going to have consequences. Trump is already distancing himself.

    Parent

    They are officially (none / 0) (#104)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Dec 01, 2025 at 03:32:53 PM EST
    throwing the Admiral under the bus.  Just saw propaganda princess read the statement.

    This is going to get very interesting.

    Parent

    Admiral Bradley deserves to be (5.00 / 2) (#108)
    by leap2 on Mon Dec 01, 2025 at 07:06:44 PM EST
    thrown under the bus, and run over a few times. He, of all people, should know that was a war crime/murder: Killing people hanging onto the floating debris. Screw that guy.

    Parent
    He might (none / 0) (#110)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 07:48:26 AM EST
    as long as Hegseath doesn't walk because of it I'm good.

    But I suspect that hanging this so publicly on the Admiral should certainly make the next guy give some thought to following illegal orders.

    Parent

    Huffpo (none / 0) (#105)
    by CaptHowdy on Mon Dec 01, 2025 at 03:37:02 PM EST
    Hmm (none / 0) (#106)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon Dec 01, 2025 at 06:05:48 PM EST
    I thought that only Hegseth was blaming the Admiral but it's official if the idiot is announcing the same. I sure hope that Admiral kept very detailed memos and other papers to defend himself against these monsters.

    The supreme court did say after all Trump could send in Seal Team 6 to kill his enemies. This rests most of all on their monstrous heads. Every last one of them that made that decision should be removed from the court but I know that the GOP will never do that.

    Parent

    For the umpteenth time, the Supremes did NOT (5.00 / 2) (#109)
    by Peter G on Mon Dec 01, 2025 at 09:47:37 PM EST
    say that a president could send in Seal Team 6 to kill "his enemies" or anybody else. They said that even if he did, he was still immune from criminal prosecution for it, unless first impeached and convicted. Being immune from prosecution is not the same as the act not being criminal, much less that it is allowable.

    Parent
    Which means that the next related case ... (none / 0) (#165)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 01:52:19 PM EST
    ... headed to MAGA Roberts & the Supremes will be to determine whether Whiskey Pete Hegseth or any of the president's direct subordinates in the cabinet likewise enjoy immunity from prosecution by virtue of their immediate proximity to the commander-in-chief in the West Wing. Anyone care to offer any odds on their prospective findings and conclusion?

    Meanwhile, the powers that be in the Pentagon will somehow find a way to inoculate those flag officers who'll all channel Sgt. Schultz of Hogan's Heroes and see / know nothing, while also identifying some poor unit-level schmucks who'll be conveniently scapegoated on behalf of their superiors in the U.S. military chain of command, thus effectively serving as the Lt. William Calley, Sgt. Charles Graner and Pvt. Lynndie England of their times.

    Lily Tomlin was right. No matter how cynical you become, it's just impossible to keep up.

    :-(

    Parent

    Thinking (none / 0) (#107)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon Dec 01, 2025 at 06:07:13 PM EST
    about this and thinking is murder about the only thing that might make the GOP do something? It sadly seems so. Trump can steal and commit all kinds of crimes but I guess maybe murder is a bridge too far.

    Parent
    Never a bridge (5.00 / 6) (#111)
    by KeysDan on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 10:11:02 AM EST
    too far.  After all these are fascists, (aka, Republicans).  Criminality and thuggery are fundamental components of fascism. Some may be worried about "the optics", but many Republicans are more likely on Representative Derrick Van Orden's  (R. WI) team--- who claims Americans do not care about this "war crimes garbage", and don't care about these "narco-terrorists".  To criticize these blow up the boat and everyone in them operations are, he claims, "Trump Derangement Syndrome".

    Parent
    And, Representative Van Orden (5.00 / 1) (#112)
    by KeysDan on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 11:28:10 AM EST
    seems quite empathetic in comparison with Megyn Kelly, Sirius right wing Podcaster and former NBC Today Show and Fox host. Kelly in an interview with Mark Halperin:

    "I really do kind of not only wanna see them killed in the water, whether they're on a boat or in the water, but I'd really like to see them suffer.  I would like Trump and Hegseth to make it last a long time so they loss a limb and bled out".  

    Parent

    Megyn missed her calling (none / 0) (#113)
    by jondee on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 01:39:47 PM EST
    born too late I'm afraid, to be a sadistic Kapo and wind up being hung at the close of WW2.

    Parent
    But she (none / 0) (#128)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 05:28:45 PM EST
    wasn't born too late to be a replacement for Maxwell in procuring children.

    Parent
    BTW those puffy looking bags (5.00 / 4) (#132)
    by fishcamp on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 07:26:40 PM EST
    on the boats of the alleged smugglers being blown to smithereens by the US Navy do not look like cocaine.  They look more like bags of pot.  Port of Spain, Trinidad and the rest of the island probably consumes about one kilo of coke per day, and many pounds of pot gets smoked daily.  Tobago is very small, but some drugs probably cross there on Hummingbird Airlines.  I've been both places several times.  Those alleged drugs could make it across to the ABC's, Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao where they would be consumed.  My point is none of those alleged drugs would make it to the U.S.  There is a definite route through all the islands of the Caribbean where people are waiting for drugs.  The idea of saving thousands of children dying in America by blowing up those boats is total BS.  The majority of drugs coming to the U.S. cross in trucks at the many border crossings from Mexico.  Also there are huge amounts of drugs entering America in container ships in the gulf and the many ports along our eastern coast..  Trump and Hegseth are trying to distract us again with their lies.

    Parent
    Those boats seem to be like a thousand (5.00 / 1) (#138)
    by desertswine on Wed Dec 03, 2025 at 12:39:21 PM EST
    miles from the US mainland.  Yet Whiskey Pete claims that they're a threat.

    Parent
    So here we are (none / 0) (#139)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Dec 03, 2025 at 01:58:27 PM EST
    No sane person would put anything of value on a boat in those waters.  

    So they are just running boats by threatening families to get drivers because they think it makes the US look bad to blow them up.

    Which it definitely does.

    Parent

    You know what makes (5.00 / 5) (#141)
    by jondee on Wed Dec 03, 2025 at 02:44:39 PM EST
    the U.S look bad? Pardoning a Honduran cocaine kingpin, while out of the other side of your mouth spouting off about all the "deadly poison flooding into this country."

    The only explanation for that discrepancy is that they believe the American people are deeply stupid. And they could be onto something.

    Parent

    I think they are just warming up (5.00 / 1) (#143)
    by CaptHowdy on Wed Dec 03, 2025 at 04:04:24 PM EST
    for making us look bad.  

    All this is most likely part of some lame plan to take Venezuelan oil.  Everyone knows this.  The Pope is warming the US not to but  I'm afraid it's just to perfect a win/win kind of distraction.  

    I fear for Venezuela

    Parent

    Like we haven't done enough (none / 0) (#144)
    by jondee on Wed Dec 03, 2025 at 04:34:06 PM EST
    in the last few decades to piss off Latin America.

    If you're right, the hard left reaction in SA and elsewhere will be enough to send Fox Nation into convulsions.

    Parent

    I agree with the oil motive. (none / 0) (#158)
    by desertswine on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 11:24:53 AM EST
    The disgusting trump is nothing if not a tool of the oil industry.

    Parent
    Rand Paul (none / 0) (#140)
    by Ga6thDem on Wed Dec 03, 2025 at 02:40:28 PM EST
    has said there is nothing drug related on those boats. They won't even let him see the entire operation and only let him see clips.

    This is bad for Trump. Really bad. Going to wonder how the supposedly pro-military GOP is going to handle Trump and Hegseth throwing the military under the bus.

    Parent

    Once in awhile, Rand (none / 0) (#142)
    by jondee on Wed Dec 03, 2025 at 02:50:26 PM EST
    takes his cajones out of mothballs and speaks up. Then after he realizes it's making too many ripples amongst the Trump faithful, he hides under the covers again.

    Parent
    yeah (none / 0) (#146)
    by Ga6thDem on Wed Dec 03, 2025 at 07:41:10 PM EST
    but I give him credit when credit is due. However for whatever he does it is 10x or more than what my senator Ted Budd does. Budd either licks Trump's boots or says nothing.

    Parent
    The reason I've been to Trinidad and Tobago (5.00 / 3) (#145)
    by fishcamp on Wed Dec 03, 2025 at 05:48:42 PM EST
    several times is because a past roommate in Aspen parents owned a beautiful vacation house on a golf course overlooking the Buccoo reef in Tobago.  During the off seasons, that no longer exists in Aspen, a few of us would go to Tobago for a vacation away from the snow..  Sometimes I stayed in Port of Spain , Trinidad a few days to explore that island.  I was approached several times to buy drugs, and this was way back in the 70's.  It reminded me of north beach or the Haight in San Francisco during the 60's.
    Then I went to the ABC's several times to refuel and get supplies on big fishing boats on our was through the Panama Canal to fish in Costa Rica.  All those places had drugs.  It was the taxi cab drivers that had the drugs.  Beer was my drug of choice, and even. That Dutch beer was too strong.   Diesel fuel was very inexpensive in both Aruba and Venezuela.  Strangely we were never approached to buy drugs in Venezuela.  I'm sure it's different now, but we can't go there.  The fishing was the best in Venezuela.

    Parent
    The only (none / 0) (#114)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 01:44:08 PM EST
    thing we can do is vote them out and shame them forever. Think about the Vichy in France post WW2.

    Parent
    I wonder if they're capable (5.00 / 1) (#115)
    by jondee on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 01:56:32 PM EST
    of shame or any kind of sober self awareness.

    What cracks me up about people like Kelly is that they have the temerity to masquerade as Christians. Jesus would probably prefer to be re-crucified rather than have to deal with them.

    Parent

    Bill Hicks (5.00 / 1) (#116)
    by jondee on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 02:02:23 PM EST
    used to say that if Jesus came back and saw all those gold crosses it would be like JFK coming back and seeing people with little rifles around their necks.

    Parent
    I am sure (none / 0) (#127)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 05:27:26 PM EST
    some of them will have zero shame and carry on until the end. I mean there were Nazis that never gave up the ghost. So it's not impossible to believe that it will be the same with maga. However they can be shunned and every time they pop their head up into the public sphere be reminded of their idiocy.

    Parent
    I can't wait till Megyn Kelly's (none / 0) (#130)
    by jondee on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 06:10:37 PM EST
    daughters start hearing different points of view from their friends at school and start asking Megyn "Mom, what the hell is wrong with you?"

    Parent
    Since (none / 0) (#133)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 08:13:31 PM EST
    1 of them is 14 I would be surprised if that is not already happening. They may already think their mother is cringe and try to not let anyone know who their mother is.

    Parent
    The Guide For Fox Blondes (none / 0) (#135)
    by jondee on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 08:41:59 PM EST
    that they're all issued recommends going out and having some more 'work done' when a family member upsets you.

    Parent
    WW2 was a horrible time in France. (5.00 / 2) (#170)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 04:11:57 PM EST
    Even to this day, many French people are pained and reluctant to discuss the matter because truth be told, there were far more French citizens who collaborated and consorted with the German or Italian occupation authorities than they care to publicly admit, and those numbers included longtime friends and family members.

    For example, my older sister's mother-in-law in Provence had a sister whose eldest child was fathered by an Italian Army officer who was stationed in their town in 1942. They publicly claimed immediately after the war that it was the result of rape but privately, they admit otherwise.

    Further, the French resistance was mythologized post-war by the De Gaulle government into its present heroic stature because again, truth be told, they were actually fairly unpopular during the occupation. Their often-violent activities against German troops and authorities tended to bring about equally violent reprisals against the general civilian population by the Wehrmacht or the SS.

    My sister's hometown in Provence outside of Nice has a plaque in the main town square that memorializes the 25 male townsfolk who were summarily arrested and hanged by the Nazis in Feb. 1944, in direct reprisal for a bloody attack on a German barracks in Antibes by the French resistance that killed five soldiers. Standing orders in Provence at the time directed that for each German occupier killed by the resistance, five French citizens were to be selected for execution in turn. Quite often, the Germans would compel the local French civil authorities, e.g., the mayor, to make those selections for them. Then, as now, the cruelty of that experience was exactly the point.

    The Vichy regime and German occupation remain for obvious reasons a very painful and regrettable era in French history. An estimated 20-25% of the country's population at the time could be logically designated as collaborationist in varying degrees and yet, again, truth be told, most of them were simply trying to cope as best they could during an unprecedented time and under some very trying and often-horrible circumstances.

    In our assessment of this period, we further need to also consider another sore point with French citizens. It's been estimated that some 600,000 French non-combatants lost their lives during the war, with some one-third of those being killed by the Allied aerial bombing campaign against the German occupation in 1940-44, as well as by direct military operations associated with the Allied liberation of the country in 1944-45.

    In Normandy alone prior to the Allies' D-Day invasion, some 60,000 French civilians died as a result of military action. During the Battle of Normandy itself, about six weeks of absolutely horrific combat (June 5 - July 20, 1944), another 39,780 French civilians perished in the crossfire, and another 350-400,000 were rendered homeless. The primary source of those awful figures is no less an authority than British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill himself, as recounted in his multi-volume History of the Second World War.

    Now, the appallingly high rate of civilian casualties in Normandy has always been regarded and accepted by historians (such as myself) as one of the unfortunate but necessary prices to be paid for liberation. But honestly, that's a cold and detached academic exercise. When you see and consider the actual numbers and, in my case, walk upon Normandy's hallowed battlegrounds and absorb the enormity of its scale, the brutal reality of that disastrous war, and its immediate impact and long-term consequences upon France and its people, is just so incredibly sobering.

    History is generally written by the victors, and its inconvenient truths and less palatable facts are more often ignored and later swept under the rug. Churchill's aforementioned admissions about the civilian costs notwithstanding, the complicated and tragic story of the military collapse and fall, the subsequent German occupation and the eventual Allied liberation of France during the Second World War is really no different. We need to always remember that.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Yes (5.00 / 1) (#187)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 06:06:40 PM EST
    nobody truly wins in a war. Everybody loses. But I still think the stench of maga will linger on those who attached themselves to it far longer than they would like it to.

    Parent
    My wife's mother's maternal line is from (none / 0) (#196)
    by Peter G on Fri Dec 05, 2025 at 11:50:29 AM EST
    Alsace, south of Strasbourg along the German border. She has cousins whose parents or grandparents fought with the Resistance (all Catholics, btw) and others who collaborated. To this day, their respective descendants do not speak to one another.

    Parent
    Senator Kelly (none / 0) (#101)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon Dec 01, 2025 at 08:27:05 AM EST
    Is right when he says these are unserious people.

    Can we drop off Trump and his minions at the Hague since our clown supreme court will not hold them accountable

    Parent

    Epstein-identical (none / 0) (#124)
    by CaptHowdy on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 05:02:16 PM EST
    I think (none / 0) (#126)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 05:24:45 PM EST
    that is editorializing on the part of the writer. The body of the article says that they are suing for human sex trafficking.

    Not sure what to think about that case.

    Parent

    This (none / 0) (#129)
    by FlJoe on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 06:03:15 PM EST
    Additionally, the plaintiffs accuse Trump and the other named defendants of having "attempted to murder" the lead plaintiff "no fewer than [on] five separate occasions" between 2023 and November of this year, including by way of "poisoning, vehicular assaults and orchestrated physical attacks designed to appear accidental."
    makes me wonder about, it all sounds a bit farfetched

    Parent
    It does (none / 0) (#134)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 08:15:03 PM EST
    but then we're also talking about Trump who apparently likes to see people killed.

    Parent
    Is this one of those (none / 0) (#136)
    by jondee on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 08:56:16 PM EST
    concoct ludicrous charges against Trump so that people will start questioning the veracity of the other Trump-Epstein stuff?

    Or am I overthinking it?

    Parent

    Could be (none / 0) (#137)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Dec 02, 2025 at 10:23:20 PM EST
    The details are strange but it also could be well there's this case and now I can't release anything.

    They also say they are investigating Bill Clinton, Bill Gates and Larry Summers. Okay. Why are they calling Bill to testify? I mean can he or should he testify to Comer Pyle if there's really an investigation? This new case purports the Gates Foundation is/was supporting sex trafficking. There's never been any evidence of that I've read about and it sounds like one of their George Soros accusations.

    Parent

    So the TN (none / 0) (#148)
    by Ga6thDem on Wed Dec 03, 2025 at 07:55:54 PM EST
    special election wasn't a win but the media seems to be full of bad news for the GOP due to the point swing. My rep won with 57% and if that swing happens here he is gone.

    There was a swing the the Democrats (none / 0) (#151)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 07:51:48 AM EST
    Of 13 points

    Which is consistent with the over performances in other special elections.

    If there is anything like a 13 point swing to Democrats nationwide it will be a blood bath.

    Parent

    Mike Johnson (none / 0) (#149)
    by Ga6thDem on Wed Dec 03, 2025 at 08:00:47 PM EST
    has lost control the house. There is another discharge petition this time to ban stock trading among members of congress. I guess instead of getting rid of him they will just continue to run over him. There are enough signatures on this bill to bring it to a vote. I would be surprised if Thune brings it up for a vote though.

    Another one bites the dust (none / 0) (#152)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 08:03:53 AM EST
    Nancy Mace Mulls Leaving House Early
    December 4, 2025 at 7:30 am EST By Taegan Goddard 113 Comments

    New York Times: "Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina has told people she is so frustrated with the Louisiana Republican and sick of the way he has run the House -- particularly how women are treated there -- that she is planning to huddle with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia next week to discuss following her lead and retiring early from Congress

    Still (none / 0) (#154)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 10:00:42 AM EST
    Got quite a few to retire before any chance of the house changing control. What you wanna bet enough retire to leave the GOP with a one vote margin. That might be worse for them than flipping

    I gotta love how all of a sudden these GOP women care about how women are treated

    Parent

    Adding insult to injury. (none / 0) (#153)
    by vml68 on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 09:30:37 AM EST
    There (none / 0) (#155)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 10:04:28 AM EST
    Is going to be a ton of bulldozers and other construction equipment busy in 2029 getting rid of all this crap. Do we even leave a Pic of Trump on tje white house??

    Parent
    I am pretty sure that it takes an Act of Congress (none / 0) (#156)
    by Peter G on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 10:47:15 AM EST
    to lawfully name or rename a federal building. And it may be unlawful to name one after a living person or at least after an incumbent office holder. Of course, even if I am correct in that, I don't know what can be done about it. Not sure who, if anyone, might have standing to sue, for example.

    Parent
    Look at it this way (5.00 / 1) (#159)
    by jondee on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 11:50:52 AM EST
    down the line, this will provide the sand blasters with a solid few days of work, hopefully at union scale, and will be another well deserved public slap in the puss for the Thing-that-talked.

    Parent
    Ronald Reagan offered a good suggestion ... (5.00 / 1) (#172)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 04:28:40 PM EST
    ... when considering the renaming of public buildings, structures and places after prominent people. He recommended that no such consideration be undertaken until at least 25 years after the death of the person in question, to give authorities, historians and citizens alike the perspective of distance and time necessary to properly assess the actual merit of the proposed honor.

    Notwithstanding Reagan's sound advice, and over the pointed objection of his own family members, congressional Republicans renamed Washington National Airport after former President Reagan in 1998, some six years before his death in 2004 from complications due to Alzheimer's disease. Go figure.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Trump pardoned (none / 0) (#157)
    by KeysDan on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 11:02:51 AM EST
    the indicted Texas Democratic Representative, Henry Cuellar and his wife Imelda. Trump claims he did so because Cuellar spoke out about "Crooked Joe's" open borders. The Democratic Congressman, running for re-election in a competitive Republican race, thanked Trump "for his tremendous leadership" and said he did not cut a deal with Trump.

    Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said " Cuellar is a highly valued member of the Democratic caucus" and gave Trump credit for solving the border crisis. Jeffries also called the indictment "very thin to begin with and was likely to be dismissed, if not by the lower courts, by the Supreme Court".  Moreover, "this was exactly the right outcome".

    Cuellar and his wife, Imelda, were charged accepting $600,000 in a scheme of bribery, money laundering, and foreign influence peddling-- involving a petroleum company run by Azerbaijan.

    Curious on many levels. For Trump, who is racing to redraw Congressional maps, throws a lifeline to a vulnerable Democrat in a Texas district. Jeffries and Pelosi came to Cuellar's rescue in a primary against a more progressive Democrat; Jeffries public  "gotta hand it to him" for Trump. And, then there is the Russian oil connection to Azerbaijan.  And, this is a pardon, not for a conviction, but for an indictment. If Jeffries was so confident about the weakness of the case, it could have been left to play out. And, given the transactional Trump, what is going on here?  Maybe, in light of the fascist government take over, Democrats need to just suck it up, but it has an odor to it.

    In 2024,  Cuellar and his wife were

    Wow, the border crisis is solved (none / 0) (#160)
    by jondee on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 12:29:23 PM EST
    now. That's a load off. s/


    Parent
    Can they have 8track tapes?!? (none / 0) (#168)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 03:21:33 PM EST
    Station wagons

    This rule will actually allow you to bring back the 1970s station wagon -- maybe a little wood paneling on the side," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on CNBC. "We can bring back choice to consumers so yeah the minivan is awesome but maybe the station wagon is cool too."



    LOL! (5.00 / 1) (#174)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 04:46:35 PM EST
    When I was a prepubescent lad, my mother bought a gold 1970 Pontiac Tempest Safari station wagon with the aforementioned faux-wood paneling on the side of the car. She admitted later that she absolutely hated that car and only bought it because my grandparents nagged her about being practical, what with all us kids and everything.

    She got rid of that battlewagon when I was 15 and much to everyone's surprise, she threw caution to the wind and bought a bright red Ford Mustang, because she had always wanted a sporty red car. That was the car in which I learned to drive, and she was always pretty generous about letting me take it out for a spin because she knew my friends were so easily impressed.

    ;-)

    Parent

    A generation (none / 0) (#176)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 04:48:35 PM EST
    lost their virginity in a station wagon.

    Parent
    I had (none / 0) (#180)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 05:12:50 PM EST
    One.  Roughly 1975-6.  I remember I traded it for a 1960 Impala hardtop, red leather, Hurst on the floor
    Just like this one
    I wish I still had it


    Parent
    Those old boats with fins! (none / 0) (#182)
    by leap2 on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 05:21:29 PM EST
    You could stack five bodies in that trunk.

    Parent
    I really loved that car. (none / 0) (#185)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 05:24:43 PM EST
    It did many road trips. I might have pics

    Parent
    Gas (none / 0) (#186)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 05:25:44 PM EST
    Was 24 cents a gallon

    Parent
    Which is why (none / 0) (#183)
    by jondee on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 05:22:39 PM EST
    I want to bring back 6 dollar Motel 6s.

    Parent
    He's an idiot. (none / 0) (#169)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 03:49:00 PM EST
    People got rid of their Ford Country Squires not because of regulations but because the things sucked a gallon of gas every five miles. Gas wasn't that expensive in the mid 90's and again regulations had nothing to do with discontinuing the station wagon. Even back in the day people with station wagons had at least 3 kids and most more. They just don't make sense for today and at 2.89 a gallon (here at least) who wants to spend that kind of money to drive a gas guzzler when you have 1 or 2 kids.

    Parent
    It would allow you (none / 0) (#171)
    by jondee on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 04:27:37 PM EST
    if it was practical idea, and not a nostalgia bait for stodgy white Trump voters with faulty memories.

    Parent
    These people are like (none / 0) (#175)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 04:47:37 PM EST
    bad sitcom characters

    Like attendees at a Mad Tea Party in a group


    Parent

    Where Golden Girls (none / 0) (#177)
    by jondee on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 04:54:11 PM EST
    and the Trump pee tape meet.

    Parent
    It seems possible (none / 0) (#179)
    by fishcamp on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 05:10:00 PM EST
    that a coven of ICE agents could rush on screen during the weather news since all the Miami stations have Latino weather girls.  They just busted a nurse looking blond lady in scrubs in Key Largo, and took her to jail.  She is a U.S. citizen.  She saw them all dressed out in their masks just finishing another bust, and for some reason turned around in her car.  They thought that was probable cause.  This is truly getting ridiculous.

    According (none / 0) (#188)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 06:10:22 PM EST
    to maga she deserved it because she did not comply. I hate to tell them but there was a Hispanic construction worker here in NC that showed ICE his real ID driver's license and they still took him in saying his ID was "fake". Then at some point when they were going down the road I guess they figured out or found out it was real and stopped along the road, threw him out and then threw his belongings at him on the ground.

    We are just going to have to keep going with this garbage until either the house flips or the 2028 presidential election. And I honestly hate that fact.

    Parent

    The Supreme Court says Texas can use the nap (none / 0) (#181)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 05:17:58 PM EST
    This is a surprise? (none / 0) (#184)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 05:23:25 PM EST
    It is to me but what do I know.

    Parent
    Not a surprise to me (5.00 / 2) (#189)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 06:12:01 PM EST
    at all. This supreme court is the root of a lot of our problems in the country.

    All my life the supreme court was a court that expanded freedom for Americans not restricted it. I guess we now have the type of court that existed during reconstruction or the late 1800's to early 1900's.

    Parent

    With medieval-theocratic (none / 0) (#190)
    by jondee on Thu Dec 04, 2025 at 06:21:15 PM EST
    undertones. They think A Handmaid's Tale is a blueprint.

    Parent
    When is racism not racism? (none / 0) (#194)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Dec 05, 2025 at 10:52:52 AM EST
    According to the U.S. Supreme Court's MAGA-addled majority, a political gerrymander is NOT racially motivated when it's undertaken for purely partisan purposes by a white nationalist-dominated state legislature to diffuse the political impact of that state's Latino and Black voters.

    So, as a white state legislator, you can legally gerrymander political districts to render irrelevant your state's minority voters, so long as you do so with a pure heart and assert that it's really for their own good.

    John Roberts has already secured his place in history as the worst Supreme Court chief justice since Roger Taney (1777-1864) on the subject of white male privilege and civil rights. Now he's building his own monument to that effect.

    These people make my head hurt.

    Parent

    Another gift to Trump from the Supreme Court (5.00 / 2) (#200)
    by KeysDan on Fri Dec 05, 2025 at 03:03:34 PM EST
    In a 6/3 Shadow Docket ruling the court reinstated Texas' new Congressional gerrymander, essentially, ensuring a pickup of five Republican seats.  It seems the sinister six want to be sure Trump retains a Republican House.

    Since another argument the Court made was timing---bad because it was on the eve of the election cycle, it is a worry that they will find California's new map to be OK, but should not go into effect until the next cycle, or some other finding made of saw dust and air.

    Parent

    Netflix buys Warner studio and HBO (none / 0) (#192)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Dec 05, 2025 at 09:19:13 AM EST
    Trump will probably (none / 0) (#193)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Dec 05, 2025 at 09:49:59 AM EST
    try to stop or interfere with this because he wanted his buddies at Paramount to come out on top.

    Parent
    The reason (none / 0) (#198)
    by Ga6thDem on Fri Dec 05, 2025 at 01:35:11 PM EST
    this was able to go through in the first place is entities are no longer afraid of him. The worst thing that can happen to an autocrat is people no longer believe he is "strong". And I am sure that Netflix has the resources to take him on in court. And by the time this kind of thing would make it to the supreme court Trump likely will be gone from office.

    Parent
    The day is coming (none / 0) (#197)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Dec 05, 2025 at 12:56:44 PM EST
    this is not the face of health and vigor

    One day soon we are going to wake up and it's going to be a different world.  A world less orange.

    At least the Romans got bread and circuses.. (none / 0) (#203)
    by desertswine on Tue Dec 09, 2025 at 01:27:35 PM EST
    The National Park Service will cut Martin Luther King's Birthday and Juneteenth, two holidays honoring Black history, from its list of free entrance days next year.

    Visitors will instead get free entry on June 14, which is Trump's birthday.