How many who voted for Trump would have voted for him if Trump had told them they’d get more new wars?
We are apparently on the cusp of another one, with Venezuela. It has the ring-echo of Ronald Reagan’s war with Grenada, if anyone remembers that. That war was more like a stomp – of a Caribbean island that was a nation in the same sense that a kid’s lemonaid stand is a business. Anyhow, Reagan didn’t run on ending wars. Trump did. So why is he starting them – and why with Venezuela?
Two reasons come to mind – and there are probably others.
The first is that Trump sees war – as all Maximum Leader types do – as good because it tends to rouse the manufactured patriotism of the populace, which serves to distract them from the problems besetting them and to get them to forget that the Maximum Leader is the cause of their problems. Herman Goring had much to say about this. The Chimp may have actually read about what Goring said, or had Dick Cheney read it to him.
Republican voters – in the main – are very susceptible to War Fever. This ought not to be especially surprising given the origins of the Republican Party, which was founded by the man who waged war against Americans who foolishly took seriously that stuff about self-government and consent of the governed. Lincoln and the Republicans schooled Americans about the truth of that, to the accompaniment of belligerent, crusader anthems – My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!
Today’s Republicans favor a mellower soundtrack – I’m proud to be an American! Where at least I know I’m free! – that’s as delusional as it is syrupy. But – then and now – the rank and file rally ’round the flag and what they are told it stands for.
But Reagan’s splendid little wars – there was also the Libyan Business – took place at a time when Americans were able to afford the rah-rah’ing because they could afford groceries as well as new cars and a home in the suburbs. Groceries are becoming a kind of luxury for many and a house something akin to what the idea of someday owning a mansion (and a yacht) was back when having a million bucks’ net worth meant you were rich rather than upper middle class. 
Today’s Americans are as sick of war – and paying for them – as they are of the sight of people still wearing “masks.” Yet they discover to their astonishment that they might as well have voted for Biden and put the “masks” back on again – insofar as the wars are concerned. Trump must be either catastrophically unaware of how little the American people – especially his base – want another war, or he is aware and just doesn’t care. The latter – if it is so – suggest that Trump may be on the verge of becoming a Maximum Leader in fact rather than just de facto. Maximum Leaders just do as they please, which is pretty much what Trump has been doing. Maybe he is on the cusp of making it official, as by declaring an insurrection – and then who cares what Americans think?
Project Esther is not a fictional story. Nor is Palantir unreal. Same goes for the new Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism. Did Trump voters vote for that?
Does it matter that they didn’t? might be a better way to ask that question. 
There’s another reason why Trump might be taking us to war against Venezuela, which by the way would be something akin to what National Socialist Germany did when it went to war against Poland (alongside the Soviet Union, but Americans tend not to be aware of that fact). When National Socialist Germany did it, it was said to be a war crime – punishable by death, for the leaders of National Socialist Germany. It is apparently something else when America’s leaders do it. Just ask The Chimp.
Back to the reason for the apparently imminent attack on Venezuela, which has not attacked nor threatened to attack America. Not militarily. But Maduro – the Maximum Leader of Venezuela – has promised to “ditch” the dollar – and that is a far worse threat to America’s Maximum Leader. Venezuela, which is a huge producer of oil, wants to accept other currencies as payment and that paints a target on his back. Or rectum. 
Ask Gaddafi about that.
None of this is going to make America Great Again. But that’s as beside the point as the rest of Trump’s promises.
We bought the ticket – and now it’s time to take the ride.
. . .
If you like what you’ve found here please consider supporting EPautos.
We depend on you to keep the wheels turning!
Our donate button is here.
If you prefer not to use PayPal, our mailing address is:
EPautos
721 Hummingbird Lane SE
Copper Hill, VA 24079
PS: Get an EPautos magnet or sticker or coaster in return for a $25 or more one-time donation or a $10 or more monthly recurring donation. (Please be sure to tell us you want a magnet or sticker or coaster – and also, provide an address, so we know where to mail the thing!)
If you’d like a Baaaaa hat or other EPautos gear, see here!











The fix is in on the boat bombings. Today’s New York Slimes, screen-shot below, proves it:
After Decades in Combat, A SEAL Suddenly Comes Under Scrutiny
Adm. Frank Bradley will soon face questions from lawmakers …
Hegseth Says He Did Not See Survivors of Boat Attack Clinging to Wreckage
Hegseth supported [sic] the admiral he said called for a second strike …
https://ibb.co/sJm91F9Y
Both these war criminal perps would have been convicted and hung at Nuremberg.
We’re the Nazis now, comrades.
Trump says he is going to make land strikes in Venezuela really soon – he implies it is against drug cartel facilities:
https://www.youtube.com/live/pZSd7jn9CSc?t=7570s
Of course that is what he is claiming offering us no proof. But we do know the CIA was controlling the Afghanistan heroin trade – protecting the drug lords and facilitating the spread of heroin into a world wide trade.
So I find it a bit of an irony that the big bad wolf says it is going after drug dealers. Hey Orange pig, try going after the CIA first!
Morning, Jack!
Trump needs a distraction, so he needs another war. It’ll really help if the poor Venezuelans manage to fight back, especially by attacking us here – which they’d have every right to do. But that will not be seen as justified self-defense by the Lee Greenwood Set. They’ll bellow about ‘Merica and how much they want someone else to die for their “freedoms.”
Bill Hicks used to say “it’s just a ride.”
That “we” can disembark any time.
Bill made light, didn’t mention the being ridden into town on a rail part of the ride, hoisted aloft the mob beneath, is the same rail that is the big club George Carlin observed isn’t light at all.
Except Hicks also said that when memory-bearers tell the rail-riders “it’s just a ride, you can get off any time you like” “we” kill them.
I don’t think most dare, or even want, to quit the ride.
The prospect of being ridden out of town, coated in tar & covered in feathers encourages eagles not to dare & in time such encouragement hardens into a comfortable learned helplessness that de/volves once potential raptors into fattening turkeys oblivious to the coming of the lord Lincoln’s “holiday” massacre celebration.
Names, faces, preferences & predilections change, but the story remains mostly invariable:
“We’ll beat your ass with a fence post, boy, then we’ll ride you out of town on your now personalized fencepost, replant your fencepost, tie your body to your fencepost, & give-allow railriders otherwise the gift of ranting you posterboy for a particular sliver of the homohatria pie.”
Aloha, M/iss A/merican P/ie … but your map was never ever even close to the territory.
Haven’t we lost the last seven or eight?
What happens when we lose this one? (Xi Jinping and Putin will probably die laughing, I mean besides that.)
The US empire has lost every war its been in since WWII. Its great at killing people and breaking things. But war is about more than that. They have demonstrated over and over again, that you can win every battle and still lose the war. William S. Lind has some insights into that.
President Jefferson sent ships to the Mediterranean to blockade Tripoli, and to attack and capture any Barbary ships interfering with American trade. He took this “defensive” action without a formal declaration of war from Congress, which some saw as an expansion of presidential authority over war-making powers. What Trump is doing seems similar to me.
Also, Congress did pass the War Powers Resolution of 1973 — over President Nixon’s veto! This resolution requires the President to: 1. Notify Congress within 48 hours of committing armed forces to hostilities. 2. Terminate the use of force within 60 days unless Congress has declared war, authorized the action, or granted an extension.
So, Trump can do it. If the boats and crews are in fact exporting dangerous drugs into our country, I’m all for it. If not, shame on USA.
Try again. You’re misrepresenting what Jefferson did.
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2024/03/02/war-powers-the-true-history-of-thomas-jefferson-and-the-barbary-pirates/
Congress cannot, at least constitutionally, transfer its power to declare war to the president. The War Powers Resolution is unconstitutional (no court needed).
Unconstitutional actions undertaken do not somehow magically make things constitutional.
Quoting from your link: *Despite this battle, the previous attacks, and the formal declaration of war by Tripoli against the United States, Jefferson was firm in his position that he was still “unauthorized by the Constitution, without the sanction of Congress, to go beyond the line of defense.”*
Jefferson thus stated that *defensive* force is just fine. Trump’s position is that his actions in question are to defend USA from illegal drugs.
Eric:
When these wars blow up, the Right is going to scapegoat the Jews. Ben Shapiro and Mark Levin among others are auditioning for the part, and Tucker, Candace, Fuentes are only too happy to take them on with potentially dangerous consequences to ordinary Jewish Americans many of whom couldn’t locate the Middle East on a map.
You mention Goering who confronted the Fuehrer. “Enough with the Jews already.” Goring was ahead of his time in regarding all poor shmucks, including Jewish shmkssk, indifferently.
Please try not to succumb to Jewgoating should you feel tempted.
Roger all that, Imbroglio!
I have tried hard (and will continue to try) to toe that line. No one is responsible for what they didn’t do – much less what someone else did.
Hi Eric.
I’d expect nothing less from a man of principle such as yourself. “The Jews” is just another aspect of those who look for simple answers to complex questions. Just like the Dark Cabal of Dr Evils lurking in an underground lair. The fact is, that the system itself because of its structure and incentives, naturally produces these perverse results, because of its perverse incentives. Its not a matter of putting the “right” people in charge. The system itself is terminally broken.
https://i.imgur.com/a0dPMQv.jpeg
Whoever controls oil controls the world
https://insidesaudi.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Venezuela_Oil_Reserves-2-768×604.png
note Saudi Arabia oil reserves are overstated, they have been pumping salt water into parallel wells to get the oil out
the ratio of water to oil is the recovery rate or ratio, now less than 50%
Rystad: OPEC’s Oil Reserves are Much Lower Than Officially Reported
By Rystad Energy – Jul 25, 2024, 11:00 AM CDT
Rystad: global recoverable oil reserves held largely steady at around 1,500 billion barrels.
The largest downward revisions are seen in Saudi Arabia, where development priorities have shifted from offshore capacity expansions to onshore infill drilling.
Rystad puts OPEC oil reserves well below its officially reported oil reserves of 1,125 billion barrels.
Trump finally achieved his ultimate goal, to be the center of attention to the whole world while holding political power over the world’s biggest military, and he is a narcissistic ego maniac … what could go wrong?
Trump is nuts IMO, his official truth social channel is his face with the flag colors:
ORANGE MIGA TURD IS NO PATRIOT
https://i.imgur.com/5qncs9j.jpeg
Trump is a zionist psyop, he is working as an agent for a foreign state yet pretending to be a great patriot, he even tweeted out a pic of himself as George Washington.
Trump is not George Washington, he is Benedict Arnold, a traitor.
Orange MIGA turd holds his base in complete contempt, and even has said so. What he cares about is making money, like blowing up Gaza so he and Kushner can build luxury condos – yet no one calls him out for this blatant misuse of state, he is using the military for site preparation for his latest real estate swindle, building on stolen Palestinian land after he assisted in genocide. Trump is a war criminal for assisting Israel commit genocide.
Likewise, this treasonous liar in chief, the world’s biggest thief now wants to invade Venezuela for oil. Make no mistake what Trump is doing, the CIA is the biggest drug runner in the world, he is not trying to stop drugs, he is attempting grand theft world’s largest oil reserves to keep the USA from going bankrupt.
Venezuela has the world’s lowest gasoline costs, only 1 cent per liter right now in Caracas.
https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/gasoline-prices?continent=america
TRADING ECONOMICS
tradingeconomics.com › venezuela › gasoline prices
Venezuela Gasoline Prices
Gasoline Prices in Venezuela remained unchanged at 0.01 USD/Liter in November.
https://www.ceicdata.com/datapage/charts/o_venezuela_ve-pump-price-for-gasoline-usd-per-liter/?type=area&from=1995-12-01&to=2016-12-01&lang=en
The “ride” would be more fun if it took place in the amusement park. But we all know that won’t be the case. Instead, it’s all about destruction, of both Venezuela and the US. And the only beneficiaries will be the war industry and the banksters.
Throughout history, governments have loved wars. That makes them feel important. El Trumpo is no different than any other polly-tard. They steal, pilfer, grift and destroy then go hide in the hills of the DC Cesspool.
Politicians aren’t declaring these wars, nor are they stopping them even when they buck the constitution. They are at fault for that. Amazing that families in this country still love sending their offspring into useless wars to defend freedom (what a fricking joke).
All these poor souls are doing is keeping the riff-raff in the DC Cesspool from losing their ill-gotten gains. How do you fight for a country that considers you no more than a taxpaying and voting slave?
Sure someone already mentioned this, but it’s just totally unbelievable: Right-wing, ex-president of Honduras just released from 45 year prison sentence after being pardoned by Trump for flooding the US with cocaine. Meanwhile Trump is illegally blowing up fishing boats and killing everyone on board for possibly running drugs and going to war with leftist Maduro for narco terrorism.
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/former-honduran-president-released-us-prison-after-trump-pardon-2025-12-02/
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/nyregion/honduras-hernandez-drug-trafficking.html
Cowardly Hegseth, lampooned as a “12-year-old playing army” by Senator Mark Kelly, tries to blame his subordinates:
‘Officials in Congress and the Pentagon said Monday they are increasingly concerned that the Trump administration intends to scapegoat the military officer who directed U.S. forces to kill two survivors of a targeted strike on suspected drug smugglers in Latin America, as lawmakers made initial moves to investigate whether the attack constituted a war crime.
‘Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, acknowledged Monday that Hegseth had authorized Bradley to conduct the strikes on Sept. 2. Bradley, she added, “worked well within his authority and the law, directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed.”
‘Her scripted remarks at a news briefing elicited a furious backlash within the Defense Department, where officials described feeling angry at the uncertainty over whether Hegseth would take responsibility for his alleged role in the operation — or leave the military and civilian staff under him to face the consequences.
“This is ‘protect Pete’ bulls—,” one military official, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations, told The Post.’ — WaPo
https://archive.ph/VG80C#selection-501.0-501.161
Time for a military coup against ‘Bone Spurs’ Trump?
“DON’T TALK ABOUT EPSTEIN!”
Degenerate, mass-murdering freak Pete Hegseth is actually taunting Congress to impeach him:
https://postimg.cc/4nfCBJ32
Here’s hoping they do.
Well, at least Pete has a sense of humor.
Let’s be honest, they are not going to drag in the Secretary of Defense/War or the President of the USSA to impeach them on formulating regime change in Venezuela. If they did then every President of the USSA and every Secretary of the DOD/War, Secretary of State, and four star general would be hog tied and strung up in front of the US Capitol. All governments kill people. One look at our history shows every President has overseen the mass murder of their military and innocent civilians. None of them are innocent.
The oligarchy is not going to hold one of their own as an example. Yeah, yeah, I know they hate Trump, at least that is what they tell the American people. Yet, nobody will bring anybody to trial, jail them, or execute them.
As George Carlin so elegantly stated, “They’ll get it all from you sooner or later ’cause they own this f**kin’ place. It’s a big club and you ain’t in it. You and I are not in the big club. By the way, it’s the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe. All day long beating you over the head with their media telling you what to believe, what to think and what to buy. The table is tilted, folks. The game is rigged and nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care. Good, honest, hard-working people: white collar, blue collar, it doesn’t matter what color shirt you have on.”
One snake…two heads, lest we forget that.
‘White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on Monday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized the second, follow-up strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean in September following a bombshell Washington Post report that claimed he ordered the military to “kill everybody.”
‘Leavitt told reporters at the White House press briefing that Hegseth authorized Adm. Frank Bradley to carry out the second strike, which reportedly killed two people who were hanging onto the burning vessel after an initial strike.’
https://thehill.com/homenews/5628447-defense-secretary-authorizes-drug-boat-strike/
It’s the second strike — summarily executing two people helplessly treading water in the ocean — that disgusts the minority of old school Americans who still retain a sense of fair play and the Geneva Convention (which Trump imagines is an AI trade show that could be staged in his new East Wing.)
For what it’s worth, I just messaged my Congress Clowns — all three of them military vets — and urged them to impeach Hegseth forthwith.
Hi Jim,
I admire your dedication to this matter, but very Americans few are going to sympathize with the death of drug traffickers. If this country can’t get behind the sparing of lives of innocent children, what makes anyone think that they give a damn about anybody else nationally or internationally?
Don’t get me wrong I agree with you what they are doing goes against international law and the Constitution of the Untied States. Only Congress can declare war, but they have turned a blind eye for decades to what the Executive Branch does even if it means galloping over Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11.
They’ve only declared war 5 times in 250 years despite being very nearly continuously fighting someone the whole time.
Congress has given up their Constitutional responsibility and Executive has gladly accepted it in the grey area of legality. Trump is doing what Biden, Bush, Obama, Clinton, Reagan, etc, etc have done without consequence.
Even the most deadly of them all to citizens, the American Civil War, was not declared. It was assumed as the CSA were in their view insurrectionists and the action defensive.
https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artI-S8-C11-2-5-4/ALDE_00013919/
They can grandstand publicly but zero, nada, nothing is going to change, they know they can’t pull too hard on the thread. It’s all an act.
truthspeaker1776: Agree 100%.
Whether these were drug traffickers or human traffickers is unknown. Eleven people in a boat suggests the latter. Hegseth is massacring people based on profiles, not factual knowledge. This is patently illegal and depraved.
The ends do not justify the means. No question. There’s certainly high probability that this is being done to set precedent and normalization.
However, yes, even if they were obvious warships, deck guns and flying a North Korean flag they have every right to be on the high seas.
When they enter our territorial waters (within 12 miles) an interception by the Navy or Coast Guard would be appropriate, at which point a deep 6 if they are belligerent or aggressive wouldn’t be clearly legal.
The Gulf of America/Mexico/whatever is an exclusive economic zone (within 200 miles) shared between USA, Mexico and Cuba. This is where the Navy seems to be asserting authority.
So have they actually committed a crime? I don’t know domestic or international sea law but I suspect they have found an EEZ does allow for “defense” so they may be plausibly and ambiguously legal. I bet if you look deeper into it these boats are being sunk close (like within 12 miles) to flag ships or oil rigs that represent islands of U.S. territory.
It makes me wonder what Carlin would have to say about what is going on today if he were still alive?
Hmm, it don’t matter – what dead people might’ve thought – Only, what the living, do.
The Venezuelan president has condemned Washington’s repeated threats of using force against Caracas, warning that the US plans to seize Venezuela’s vast oil reserves through military force.
Nicolas Maduro made the remarks in a letter to the Secretary General and member states of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC.
“Venezuela formally denounces before this body that the government of the United States of America intends to take control of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, the largest on the planet, through the use of lethal military force against the territory, the people, and the institutions of the country,” he said.
—————–
Hello, this is El Presidente Maduro, who is calling me?
Me, President Donald John Mountain Dew Macho Trump!
What do you want you crazed genocidal maniac, you are the biggest murderer on the planet killing innocent people so you can steal Palestinian land for Jared Kushner?
I want your oil, and if you don’t give all your oil to me, I will be forced to take it and not be able to get the Nobel Peace Prize! I will use my beautiful military forces, none better in the world – best in the world, to kick your brown ass all the way to the Orinco oil fields.
Best in the world? Russia is kicking your fat white ass in Ukraine! You are are a crazy man, we are not giving you a drop of our oil, it is our oil, you should stop coveting other nation’s resources and spend your time clearing out all the Israeli spies who infest your government, not to mention the $38 trillion in debt, which has bankrupted your capitalist society. Just because you painted yourself into a corner with endless spending for wars does not mean you can just steal our oil to stave off collapse.
How dare you criticize my Jew friends, I am the King of Israel, the greatest thing for Israel ever! Everyone in Israel loves me more than God himself!
You are the world’s biggest Jew whore, a disgrace to America and humanity. Go fuck yourself Orange turd, I gotta take a call from Vladimir Putin, who is giving us hypersonic missiles to send your navy to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.
Another war … on lethal, fake ‘vaccines’:
‘The FDA’s top overseer of vaccine policy on Friday told employees that at least 10 American children died “after and because of receiving” a Covid-19 vaccine. Dr. Vinay Prasad, director of the FDA’s vaccine division, also committed to implementing changes to the FDA’s evaluation of vaccine efficacy and safety, and encouraged dissenting employees to find a new job.
“This is a profound revelation,” Prasad wrote. “For the first time, the US FDA will acknowledge that COVID-19 vaccines have killed American children.” Prasad said the conclusion about children dying from Covid-19 vaccines was reached after he and other FDA staffers undertook a multi-month, “detailed analysis of deaths voluntarily reported to VAERS [Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System].”
https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/fda-covid-shots-killed-least-10-children-stronger-vax-rules-coming
Amazing — the FDA is actually using its VAERS reporting system, instead of denigrating its relevance, as it did during the ‘Biden’ regime.
‘Dr. Robert Malone, a Covid vaccine critic with credentials in mRNA technology, hailed Prasad’s memorandum as a historic milestone. “I am stunned, gobsmacked by his letter,” he wrote at Malone News. “The significance and importance of this letter in the context of US and global vaccine policy cannot be overestimated. This is a revolution, the likes of which I never expected to see in my lifetime. The Washington Post called me a liar for stating what is now official FDA policy and truth.”‘
Getting labeled a liar by the sorry likes of Bezos’s WaPo fishwrapper is an honor second only to winning the Nobel Prize. Death to the Lügenpresse.
Only 10 kids, huh? That’s how the quackcine pushers are going to frame it.
In fact the murderous effects of injecting biologicals and chemicals into the body take months, years, and decades to show up, usually in long term impaired immune damage and disfunction, in “allergies”, in autism, and subtle brain damage. Mostly in being weaker, dumber, and less healthy.
It’s been claimed that one of the reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire was lead poisoning from their pipes. We’ve got them beat by a long shot.
The report looked at 96 deaths and determined “no fewer” than 10 where without doubt due to the vaxx. The other 86 may have been but the timing and circumstances could be twisted to be exculpatory in VAERS. It didn’t clear them, just that at least 10 were not at all ambiguous.
If you’re a doctor and want bureaucratic cover a report such as this is gold. If 10 out of 96 random cases in VAERS over the 4 year study period are easily found then you have statistical justification to argue 10% of them could be vaxx deaths. It seems obvious to you but the wheels of institutional Leviathan roll slowly.
RE: “but the wheels of institutional Leviathan roll slowly.”
…It seems, it rolls even slower, in the minds of the Mom’s & Dad’s who allowed this sheet to be injected into their children. [AND, STILL DO!???]
Slow motion, slow. …Even slower than that. …Like, dense. …Super stupefaction, slow.
…If only, what I wrote, mattered.
Sigh.
…I begged. I pleaded. During the Plandemic, it did no good.
Kegsbreath is a sociopath who should have never been confirmed for his position the vote should have been 0-100. There are supposedly a couple Republican senators who now deeply regret their vote. Too little too late as they deserve to be held accountable for war crimes for voting to confirm the bastard.
Hey now. Didn’t the Roman’s elect a horse for this job?
…He’s doing much better than a horse, right?
I mean,look at the moral of his troops as a gauge?
…I haven’t seen any retention/happiness/suicide graphs lately. … Have you?
I have a suspicion that the moral of all D.O.D. is super duper Low & 1 person is doing the job of 5. …I wonder if that matters?
[Insert classic video of leaders rallying The troops]
Yah, that ain’t happening.
…I sorta wonder if what’s going on now – here – is a Lot like when The Wall fell, ‘over there’?
…Would we even know?
Would you risk your life and limbs to fight in these endless wars? The people who are going to make fortunes have no risk, while, you the soldier are taking all of the risk for a mere paycheck. Anyone who thinks war is a good idea obviously has never lived in a warzone let alone been shot at.
The cost is enormous, I could not afford to train and ship one soldier to any war. How does the nation pay for this extravagant empire spending? The can borrow unlimited billions and billions, that add up to trillions and trillions. So long as the US Treasury can sell the USA shit paper, the wars will go on.
Truly neither would I risk my life and fortune nor would I stand by and let people I love do so without at least some resistance. The problem for Trump, et al, and the empire is that the nutjobs are running the show…any real military mind would put this to bed toot suite….it’s just another opportunity to get our asses kicked again militarily and psychologically. For all the bombast, the Empire is betting the whole farm on a pair of twos…..sheesh. This is akin to the line from The Sun Also Rises when a character was asked how he went bankrupt….the reply was, “Two ways. Gradually and then suddenly”. We are rapidly approaching the suddenly phase.
I agree, the the biggest nutjob is God King Trumpenstein who ran on a peace platform, but lied and is now a big warmonger apparently to distract us from his involvement in the Epstein files. Obviously, if he is compromised, he should resign. But, of course, he won’t, and will have to forced out of office before he puts us all at risk.
Trump is a prime suspect in the Charlie Kirk assassination. I believe he was in on his own faked assassination because he lied about the blood on his hand. And I believe he is lying about the fishing boats being narcotics runners. He is proving to be a huge liar, deceiver, and Israeli loyalist making him a traitor. He needs to go ASAP.
Morning, Jack!
I agree with you. Trump’s lying is pathological because it is unconscious. He lies with ease, glibly. The truth does not matter to him. All that matters to him is . . . Trump. He is the end result of political evolution. Only – perhaps – Lyndon Johnson rose to Trump’s level of malicious mendacity. Nixon was a decent man in comparison.
Trump is going to bring in the Golden Age, alright. A spray-tanned one in which you need to huff the vapors of gold spray paint to dull the reality of it.
Now of the right people get killed in modern warfare…..Ezra Pound.
Quote by Ezra Pound
The real trouble with war (modern war) is that it gives no one a chance to kill the right people.
For instance, Zelensky should be fragged for destroying Ukraine.
Ukrainian soldiers fragged their commander in Khuliaipol while they were retreating – he tried to stop them. Good for them, now they need to kill the entire Ukraine high command for destroying their nation for “a bigger Israel”.
“During the Vietnam War, it is estimated that around 86 officers were killed in fragging incidents, with a total of approximately 1,017 such incidents reported.”
Hi Jack,
In re Keeeeeeeeeeev: I cannot fathom why Putin doesn’t just end this stupid conflict – on his terms. The longer it drags on, the worse it is for Russia (and Keeeeeeeeeev).
I’m guessing it takes time to denazify and demilitarize as much as possible. Hence the slow progress.
Bingo
Putin is also conserving the lives of his soldiers and the Russian people. He is doing so at great cost in munitions and money, quite in contrast to the communist human wave attacks of Soviet era military doctrine.
This says something about the man.
“I cannot fathom why Putin doesn’t just end this stupid conflict – on his terms”
Answer: “This says something about the man.”
Neither you nor Ernie understand the Russian mentality
Pray tell, AG. Do tell more.
I don’t know a single Russian. You seem like you’re holding back.
I met some Russians once, at a Thai restaurant, in Homer. I surmised from my brief to and fro about the food to fully and deeply understand the Russian mentality.
Well, the same, do tell.
And, was it over PHO?
Hi Helot,
The husband of a friend is Russian – from Russia. Ex military, too. The guy is extremely gregarious and warm when you get to know him. But you would not want to mess with him.
Hi Eric
Putin is one of the few adults in the room. Its because of his restraint that matters aren’t MUCH worse. His hardliners wanted to go scorched earth on Ukrain. That would have given those behind this proxy war exactly what they wanted. Which is to get NATO directly involved. Leading to WWIII. Which would very likely have gone thermonuclear by now. Those who mistake Putin’s restraint and caution for weakness, are demonstrating their lack of insight into the reality of modern Russia.
I agree with your analysis, BJ –
I keep hoping the Ukrainian people will end Zelensky – and thereby end this stupid war.
Hi Eric
The Ukrainian people have about as much to say about this, as we do over here… Most people I know don’t want us involved. But here we are. Zelensky is just a puppet playing a role. Just as Trump is. I suspect we both know who/what is actually behind this madness.
I think your analysis is spot on, BJ –
I’ll continue to hope for a Casceceau Moment, though!
I wouldn’t Yukon Jack. But since Lindsey Graham has such an affinity for wars, I think we should throw his butt out there on the front line. No weapon, either, since most of them are also in love for gun control. Let them figure out how to survive for a change.
Amen, Shadow!
Graham is unendurable. There is something beyond obnoxious about a pudgy old man – safe at home – voting to send young men into harm’s way. I am for instituting the Spartan’s idea that men who vote for war should be leading the charge, at the front.
I spent last evening with a bunch of “conservative” relatives one of who works for DOD (and yes he said “correction Department of War” [grrr]) and another who works for fedgov (Forestry), one a diehard Trumper (puke) all of whom fall of the official story if it it is their “side” telling it. They are the type impressed by “patriotic” displays such as military air shows (count me out), the DOD employee cousin is religious of the Christian Zionist variety. Fortunately the subject did change enough that it wasn’t all evening but when someone said Department of War I spoke up to stop the foolishness (even though it is more honest calling that is endless warmongering).
Arrrgghh! As the family heretic sometimes I feel so isolated then I am quickly reminded that is the cost of sanity [rant off]
One good thing: they’re all running out of other people’s money.
They are like dogs, fighting over the last bits of roadkill.
And, man power is collapsing.
A better question would be: Why would anyone imagine that Trump was anti-war, when in his first term he gave us the biggest military budget ever in the history of the world (Thus setting up his successor to supply the Ukraine with weapons and aid)? It’d be like believing a pyromaniac when he says that he is going to protect you from fire.
‘This country is in a serious recession.’ — Raider Girl
Since the National Bureau of Economic Research can take up to a year after a recession starts to identify it, people are always looking for earlier warnings.
Claudia Sahm of the Federal Reserve proposed one. When the 3-month moving average of the unemployment rate rises by 0.5% within 12 months, we’re in recession. Its average lag is 3.4 months after recession starts.
Now the Richmond Fed has developed a similar ‘S-O-S’ indicator, using the insured unemployment rate. This is hard data, using continuing unemployment claims (approved jobless benefits), whereas the monthly unemployment rate is based on a household survey (what people say). S-O-S triggers when the 26-week average of the insured unemployment rate rises 0.2 percent within 52 weeks. Average lag: 2.3 months.
Currently, with continuing claims s-l-o-w-l-y rising to almost 2 million, it’s halfway to triggering:
https://www.richmondfed.org/research/national_economy/sos_recession_indicator
If the economy is in recession now, we would expect the S-O-S indicator to signal it by February, although on one occasion (March 2001) its signal was simultaneous with the onset of recession.
One thing is for sure: if jobs become scarce, angry voters will punish, punish, punish the ruling party in next November’s midterm elections. Future House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries is tanned [permanently, as ol’ Charlie Pride used to say], rested and ready. 🙂
Hi Jim,
I just got back from the grocery store. Baskets and baskets of soda and frozen TV dinners. The very things not on sale. Math is becoming foreign to many people. I am standing at the ice cream display (Haagen Dazs, to be exact) and there is a sign that says pints on sale for $4 each. Okay, that isn’t too bad. A tad expensive, but better than the $6.29 they usually charge. Below that “spend $20, get $10 off”. I am looking around wondering why I am the only person standing at the freezer door. I would need to buy five pints to hit the $20 threshold. After the $10 off that comes out to be $2 a pint for Haagen Dazs! Does one need ice cream to survive? No, but if the store is willing to accept a loss take advantage of it. I saw the same thing with albacore tuna…on sale for $1.25 each. San Giorgio pasta $1.29 a box. Add in Nature’s Own dinner rolls on sale that were BOGO ($2.30 each) and a can of pears for $.79 and one can feed a family of four dinner for under $6. Add in a pint of ice cream for $2 and one has dessert, too for under $8.
A relatively healthy dinner compared to the bioengineered ingredients in a frozen lasagna that one just paid $14.99 for.
Hi RG,
Best purchase I ever made was a big chest freezer decades ago. A great way to take advantage of those sales and stock up good food at reasonable prices, especially when they have steaks and such on sale. Used to go through it fairly quickly before the kids moved out on their own but now it would last just the two of us a month or so if we couldn’t get to the store for whatever reason.
I want to weep every time I go to the grocery store, Raider Girl. I have an old fashioned, hand-held calculator that I use when I throw stuff in my cart, and if the price does not make me weep, the shrink-flation of the packages certainly will. How couples with children survive in this day and age, I do not know.
Same here, Shadow –
I think about this every time I go shopping for groceries. I wonder how many people are living on credit cards. It’s obscene how much even basic staples cost – and more obscene to listen to Trump lecture us that All is Well. Inflation is not “under control.” Not as regards necessities, such as food. Yes, you can buy a big, Chinese-made TV for $200. But $100 buys maybe two plastic bags of groceries. You really notice the cost of food if you avoid shit “food.” As an example: a single pack of Kerry Gold butter is typically about $6 now. It was $4 just a couple of years ago. A steak that cost $8 just a few years ago is now $12. Have you been to a Chipotle or Jersey Mikes lately?
We have neither in these parts but a walk through the meat section is frightening. The plan to make meats a luxury food for only the wealthy pisses me off because it is all artificial. One restaurant I frequent…two could have a nice meal with dessert and drink afterwards for sixty bucks. Now it is that much for one.
Hi Eric,
I’ve also noticed that the price of REAL FOOD is crazy expensive compared to the frankenfood that the globalist elite want the masses to eat (under guise of Stopping cliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimate change). However, I don’t know if you or anyone here heard this story, but there was a secret recording of a Campbell’s executive that was criticizing his company’s soups, claiming that they contain 3D printed meat. If Campbell’s soups actually contain 3D printed meat as that executive claimed, that alone is reason to avoid buying their soups. And to think, for years that company had the taglines “Mm Mm Good!” & “Soup’s Good Food!”
https://rumble.com/v728pss-caught-on-tape-campbells-soup-exec-reveals-truth-about-lab-grown-meat.html?e9s=src_v1_cmd%2Csrc_v1_ucp_a
Hi John,
Anything bioengineered is slowly killing us. It causes inflammation and messes up our gut microbes. Eggs, chicken, and beef are not required to be listed if they use bioengineered ingredients. Who knows if Campbell’s is telling the truth or not. I haven’t bought regular Campbell’s soup in years, but I have purchased quite a bit of their soups and broths from Pacific Foods. After the recent controversy I think I will stop buying them. Unfortunately, most of these large global conglomerates cannot be trusted. I guess I will be freezing homemade chicken broth this winter. 🙂
Hi RG,
Have you noticed how billionaires pushing bioengineered, lab grown, and 3D printed “food” almost invariably claim that it’s to “Protect the environment”, “Saaaaaaaaaaave the planet”, or even “Stop cliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimate change”, because I have. It’s also astounding how wanting to eat REAL FOOD instead of frankenfood made in a lab is now framed as RIGHT WING, because that is something that affects literally anyone who is a biological human instead of a Borg like drone, which is something else being pushed by billionaire technocrats.
Hi John,
Technically, they are correct. They are trying to protect the environment and stop climate change…by killing the rest of us.
Billionaires don’t lie, they just usually don’t finish the complete thought.
And yet, RG, there are people in my family who’ve bought the cliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimate change narratives hook, line, and stinker, while claiming they hate billionaires.
See John Williams’ Shadow Stats for true inflation figures:
https://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts
Thanks, Mr. Moderate, for the chart. That inflation rate looks about right.
Hi Shadow,
I stick to a strict grocery list. I scour the weekly circulars before heading out the door and base our dinners on what is on sale that week. Also, keeping the prepper pantry stocked with basics: flour, sugar, sauces, pasta, salt, vinegar, coffee/tea, etc. makes it easier to put together a meal. Take advantage of grocery store loss leaders by stocking up, using coupons (most are digital today) and most can be saved to one’s saving card, and don’t be afraid to split large orders with friends and family. My mom, sisters, and I will buy in bulk and then split the difference with each other because we are able to get a discount due to the amount we are buying. We do this mainly with seafood or beef, but Costco and BJs will have some deals that is too much for one family to use, but can be split among 3, 4, or 5 of us.
Surprisingly, Haagen-Dazs (vanilla, anyway) doeen’t have any crap Carrageenan in it.
“5 Alarming Reasons to Avoid Carrageenan: The Additive Harming Your Gut and Health”
https://www.fatsicktired.com/5-alarming-reasons-to-avoid-carrageenan/
Ingredients: Cream, Skim Milk, Cane Sugar, Egg Yolks, Vanilla Extract.
…GMO Beet sugar, I imagine. Not cage free eggs, and probably not hormone-free milk,.. just milk from cows fed absolute sludge, just like the cows up the road at the dairy farm here in Iowa. Who knows, though?
RE: “You really notice the cost of food if you avoid shit “food.””
…Therein, lies The Rub.
It’s sorta funny trying to ‘splain this to people,… people who have been conditioned.
It’s like the fella I know who owns a restaurant, he says, “People will eat, anything”. …Like cows, eating crap.? Idk.
Bizzarro World. …Open Up, & say, “Ahhh”???
Hi helot,
Actually, Haagen Dazs does not have any carrageenan in any of their flavors. A few of them have “natural flavors” which I am weary of, because what the heck is “natural flavors”. But, I actually do not buy anything with carrageen, processed oils, maltodextrin, dextrose, carnauba wax (if it goes on my car I am not putting it in my mouth). I read an article years ago about the damage these ingredients cause and I try to avoid them whenever possible.
Is that the ice cream composed of beaver anal gland?
I don’t know, Norman, maybe.
I will take my chance with castoreum than the petroleum they use in most ice cream.
I haven’t read anywhere that they do use it, but I just view it as I do honey, which is nothing more than bee puke.
Haagen Dazs can say they don’t need emulsifiers because they use industrial magic to convert, technically denaturing, the milk proteins into stabilizers.
The problem is misunderstanding ingredients. Gums can be naturally occurring and in fact carrageenan is derived from seaweed and has been used in China and Ireland (the word itself originated in Irish) for well over 1,000 years.
The issue IMO is chemistry and engineering creating things unnaturally at industrial scale and in this case General Mills and Nestle, who are behind Haagen Dazs, are creating a semi-frankenstein gel/preservative substance from the casein in milk using very high temperature pasteurization.
I prefer using a more naturally occurring gum of any kind than one that comes from an industrial scale process.
Hi RG, IDK, Big difference between honey and Beaver butthole secretions? We started making our own ice cream after the Beaver anal gland scare of 2013. Easy to do. heavy whipping cream, local goat milk, stevia brown sugar, fruits, chocolate, or whatever other ingredients you fancy. It’s pricey, more so in the last few years. So we cut back on how often we have it, mostly in summer/fall when lots of choices for fruit. Used to have an old fashion type ice cream maker. We finally broke down and got a Ninja. Came with lots of tasty cool recipes.
Trump doesn’t listen, reads nothing, doesn’t know anything said Rex Tillerson, CEO Exxon, was Trump 1.0 Sec. of State and quit after 2 years of service to Orange MIGA turd. Trump 1.0 ended in disaster, Trump 2.0 is following a similar curve – like that freight train going off the tracks into the ravine. Launching an aggressive war of conquest is always risky, the other side, seeing the injustice, might just fight back.
Attacking a large jungle country, what could go wrong? Venezuela has the backing of China and Russia, what could go wrong? It is hard to believe they would launch a huge attack over drugs. Venezuela does have the world’s largest oil reserves, virtually untapped and ripe for the taking, and it is in our hemisphere and right across the Gulf of Amerika.
Will Americans Continue To Tolerate Living in Poverty To Fund Genocide and Wars for Profit? – recent essay on Lew Rockwell
RW Media Pushes Venezuela Regime Change As A Cakewalk – Crooks and Liars
Neocon Elliott Abrams returns, promoting a Caracas cakewalk
“Former admin official who was present for many of the foreign policy failures in modern US history, has a military proposal for Venezuela”
“It may not be a “cakewalk,” but it’ll still be pretty damn easy.
Just a few air strikes at key targets in Venezuela and the “remov[al],” presumably by U.S. Special Forces, of “the regime’s top thug,” and the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro should collapse like souffle, paving the way to democracy, economic prosperity, and national reconciliation.
That’s the scenario painted by a leading, if controversial, neoconservative in a new article entitled “How to Topple Maduro,” published Thursday by the highly influential “Foreign Affairs” journal.”
—————
IMO risk averse Trump is in for a big surprise – just like a few months ago the attack on Iran became a huge disaster for Israel as Iran pummeled Tel Aviv and was blowing the shit out of major infrastructure. Panicked Bibi had to get Trump to intervene to stop the pummeling.
Trump has the disease of ego supremacism and is detached from reality. Attacking another country is insane.
‘Attacking a large jungle country, what could go wrong?’ — Yukon Jack
Viet-zuela soon will be ours! /sarc
Well come on all of you big strong men, Uncle Sam needs your help again
Say goodbye to your abuela, we’re headed down yonder to Venezuela
Put down your books and pick up a gun, we’re gonna have ourselves a whole lotta fun
CHORUS
And its 1,2,3 what are we fightin’ for?
Don’t ask me, I sure don’t know
Muh next stop is Maracaibo
And its 5,6,7 open up the pearly gates
Well there ain’t no time to wonder why
WHOOPEE, we all gonna die
— Country Joe and the Fish, Vietnam Song
FUCK THE WAR
Hi Jim,
Look what I just found… Jeebus! Some dudes spend all day on PornHub. I look at stuff like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/257236646387?_skw=Super+T10+manual+transmission&itmmeta=01KBAXF4MCMBYZ964HQMAJDEH0&hash=item3be47fb9f3:g:NHIAAeSwOLNpLE6u&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAABAFkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1dOpMHegHRJ2qTmXhpIXTJbhMu8Qems88LUxaiUnuMuTtfwoJ7jX2RaPHeU9z6%2FoGIrnhqKEVFWytwSOHmRlqRHvN7SM6F2a2tJ7%2BSWdjq%2FUIzRMTlHNmlq4Fuyscrl1st2hE6KNoKU%2FuZVeYffFB21rWURgdtcC8wG0WGekHlnswMA9YjGK8d9XXyMD5StrLZy7mOlp1R0GsRY%2BNNY%2BDpSBJZ427Yi8nMRPEjzv73GTiYGdcYEJAoItEFTGYZQpTSyYbyo39zyyf5ZcITUXVSeX6pqERvK5QWovSAcEInSVrLKYrisS%2BZ89SGTwR%2FqWQc%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7LKvN3aZg
That’s purty.
In the best Tim Allen imitation…
Arrr, arrrr, arrrr….
Oh baby, trans porn! (Automotive that is)
There’s even a topless pic too, nice syncros grrrr –
Hey it’s doable too, son-in-law had a complete Land Rover Defender motor, trans/transfer case shipped to WA from Michigan via motor freight. Guy there did a great job crating it up for shipment.
Hi Sparkey!
Yes, it’s very doable – because my TA was available with a manual from the factory, so everything just bolts in. I am accruing the parts to do this swap, as funds permit. First big thing is getting the car ready by pulling out the 2004R that’s in it right now and setting it aside for some other project!
Viet-zuela
Did you coin this, Jim H?
I’m stealing
Yes, f-ck the war and f-ck those that start them. If Trump wants war, let him and his sons go fight it. Trump got medical deferments during the Vietnam war.
Anyone that wants to go to another country and kill those people have to be outa their minds. There is no way in hell you can sell this idea that Venezuela is a threat to the USA.
Drugs? The biggest drug dealer on the planet is the CIA. Do an image search of US soldiers in Afghanistan poppy fields:
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=us+soldiers+in+afghanistan+poppy+fields&t=brave&ia=images&iax=images
War on drugs? Try War FOR drugs! When the Taliban have control these Muslim hardliners outlaw heroin production. When the USA has control, heroin production makes record highs.
Trump’s last war (already forgotten) was a disaster:
https://en.mehrnews.com/news/239277/Iranian-retaliation-left-Israel-s-military-capacity-in-ruins
What we think happened and what really happened are two different things. If the war had continued for two more weeks Israel would of been destroyed.
Bibi had Trump intervene, Iran stopped it’s missile barrages, Israel was saved unfortunately for the Palestinians and the rest of the world. Trump could of done nothing and allowed Iran to finish off Israel.
Hi Jack,
I was greatly disappointed when Iran stopped their attacks on Israhell, that shitty apartheid country deserves a good curb stomping.
They seem determined to have a rematch….sadly, Israel, having nukes, and being totally led by psychopaths, would rather burn down the world than admit any wrongdoing.
Were I in the halls of power in Iran, I would adopt the methods of the Mossad and IDF and start assassinating high level actors like Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich..that would seem like poetic justice.
Hi Mike
Iran likely stopped because going much further might have resulted in them being on the receiving end of Israels nukes. Look up the Samson option. Anyone who has watched Israels actions over the decades knows that yes, they are crazy enough to use them. Not to mention that the US would back them up. “Israel has a right to defend itself!!”…
I dispute the idea that Republicans are particularly susceptible to war fever. Yes, it is true that patriotic white boys from Republican states have provided the cannon fodder for the wars of the past 30 years after the Leftist counterculture rejected militarism during Vietnam. But Republican wars are, frankly, child’s play compared to what Bob Dole once referred to as “Democrat wars.”
Democrat Woodrow Wilson sent two million conscripts to the trenches of Europe to fight a country that never attacked us. Over 100,000 died. He also sent troops into Mexico twice.
Democrat FDR, in office 1933-1945 (the same years as Hitler, and almost exactly the same months) drafted TWELVE MILLION for World War II. 400,000 died.
Democrat Harry Truman dropped two atomic bombs, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians, and then sent troops to Korea in a so-called “UN police action.” 36,000 were killed.
Democrat Lyndon Johnson sent 500,000 conscripts to Vietnam. 58,000 died.
Democrat Obama escalated the war in Afghanistan and sent 100,000 troops there when it should have been over by 2002. 2,500 died for nothing. The dope-smoking anti-military mulatto Democrat was at war every single day of his eight-year presidency.
Yes, I am as opposed as anyone to Trump’s Venezuela bullshit and his channeling Teddy Roosevelt by killing hapless suckers in Latin America, but compared to what the Democrats have done it is merely a rounding error.
The military-industrial complex has largely become a Republican patronage swamp, and the Democrats tried to reverse that with their left-wing social engineering by putting trannies and homos into the Marines. But for the most part, it serves Israel. The U.S. M-I-C is basically a ZOG proxy for Israel today. The fact that Trump is attacking a nation that is not related to Israel in any way is unfortunate, but frankly something of an aberration these days.
“The fact that Trump is attacking a nation that is not related to Israel in any way is unfortunate, but frankly something of an aberration these days.”
Actually, it does. By rejecting the petro-dollar they are threatening the golden eggs laid by the golden goyim of America. If the U.S. economy actually collapses into a Zimbabwean nightmare the cash from DC just won’t be there.
Sorry I am so fucking sick of the spew from the right about “Democrat” wars when (1) it is a Uniparty when it comes to war (2) when it comes to cheerleading wars among the plebes it is overwhelmingly coming from the “right” (see my rant on relatives).
There is a growing antiwar right but they are still much in the minority.
How very true, MetalQueen. The difference between the D’s and R’s? The D’s will flat-out take your guns from you, and shoot you in the face. The R’s pretend to be your friend while they stab you repeatedly in the back. Either way, it is a choice of the method of dying and how quickly.
All those wars you mention pale in comparison to Dishonest Abe’s War of Northern Aggression. That dirty bastard wins the red/white/blue ribbon of tyranny.
In the end, both parties of Govco love war.
Hmph, willful delusion?: “I dispute the idea that Republicans are particularly susceptible to war fever. […] But Republican wars are, frankly, child’s play compared to what Bob Dole once referred to as “Democrat wars.””
…Splitting hairs. Gross distortion, too. Two Wings of the Same bird of Prey.
The question I wonder is: why do you favor unnecessary & non-defensive death & destruction enough so that you defend it?
‘BLACK SABBATH – “War Pigs” (Live Video)’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3b6SGoN6dA
I voted for Trump, because the alternative was horrible and because he’s entertaining, which shows just how much politics is a clown show. I never expected all promises to be kept and thusly wasn’t too let down until all the war bullshit started. I’m disappointed in him and criticize him regularly on Truth Social, not that anyone on his team reads or cares about the wee opinions of us plebes. I really wish there was a new place to go to, I’m not necessarily a nihilist, but I really don’t believe in the country anymore for the most part. At 53 years of age, George Carlin’s “this is the best we can do, folks” rings extremely true. I don’t believe that humanity is capable of effective self governance. We are a flawed species, we’ve had a lot of time to get it right and where is that asteroid already?
That’s much of what is wrong, young man, “I never expected all promises to be kept”
This, should Not be so.
[…Do I really need to extrapolate?]
If I had voted, no new wars would have been high on my list. It wasn’t hard to see this coming. The worst part is our military, which was on life support and headed for regional power status, now meets its enlistment quota. Commander Harris would have been better, no doubt. I said so, and I stand by it. President Trump screwed us enough times during his first term that this outcome wasn’t hard to see coming.
War, as practiced by the US Garbage Elite is such a counterproductive and useless enterprise. But, it should be looked at not from an emotional level. It’s just dirty business, an exercise in pushing our $$$ privilege down the rest of the world’s throat in gonzo like fashion. War is a racket, and all wars are dollar wars. It works really well to benefit the small cadre of pretorians and their bosses.
America is like a mortal wounded beast, striking out wildly in every direction as she slowly dies. Our entire political class is captured by a tiny group of off/white supremest’s. Our missteps are being used to usher in a global socialist order, the likes of which the world has never seen.
I’m one of the very few non-Democrats who agree with you, Norman. Commander Harris would undoubtedly have been “better” (loosely speaking) since her despotic rule would have engendered massive resistance from non-libtards. And resistance is exactly what this country needs, not quiescence just because we now suddenly have a daddy-style government where the normies feel safe enough to put their guard down now that Big Daddy is in charge.
Loosely speaking, haha.
Not only would non compliance have grown to unseen levels, competence by GovCo, already lacking would have plummeted. I prefer my digital gulags to be run by Sgt. Shultz types not O’brien from 1984. I guess I’m glad the border is closed and the J6ers are free. It really makes me wonder though at how deep the evil runs when Trump could have cut off the $$$, and easily ended the Ukroid war on day one, yet chose not to
I think a big part of this is to take everybody’s eyes off of Israel’s Gaza genocide and the Zionist fuckery that’s plagued the US and world for the past century. Zionists are in full panic, recently having to buy (through hyper-Zionist billionaire, Larry Ellison) Tic Toc and CBS to try to subdue the truth about their demonic actions. I now see billboards (via Outfront Media, LLC f/k/a CBS Outdoor, LLC) claiming general “anti-semitism,” of course without ever saying what the actual content is. I also recently received this text:
“Hi, my name is Matthew from Partners in Peace. I’m reaching out to understand how people view Israel. Do you have a moment to chat?”
This is what Zionism looks like in its death throws. No expense will be spared to try to shore up its crumbling foundation. I think it will be futile though. What was always cleverly hidden from plain sight, has just become too obvious to the vast majority.
There is also speculation that the Trump administration wants to go to war with Venezuela for their oil. If that’s the case, it would definitively prove that the government doesn’t REALLY think of oil as the driver of cliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimate change; they just want oil to continue their senseless wars while telling ordinary citizens NOT to use oil, be it for heating their homes this winter or driving an automobile.
It’s also possible that the U.S. government wants to go to war with Venezuela given its $38 TRILLION debt (and climbing). What better way to distract people from problems caused by such massive debt than to go to war? Europe is doing much the same thing re the senseless war with Russia, as they’re also in MASSIVE debt, and its citizens are getting fed up with their government, but European “leaders” want that war to continue.
Nothing rallies a people around their leader like a war. No, not the American people around Trump, the Venezuelan people around Maduro. Worked great for Castro, he played that card all the time. Don’t blame communism, blame those lousy Americans for boycotting our wonderful country. Enough people will believe Maduro, especially when the bombs start dropping, that he’ll suddenly become a national hero.
And you can bet his state run media outlets won’t be squeamish about showing death and blood. Unlike here in the US, where we’ll only get the sanitized version so we don’t have to face the truth about our imperial politics.
Or is Trumpenstein still butt-hurt over his clown puppet Juan Guaido being embarrassingly booted from his attempt to assume the Venezuelan presidency during our first go around with the orange Buffoon?
The Chimp knew better than to get involved in Venezuela, but I suspect Jeb! pulled the levers on that policy decision with an eye on putting his son, George P. (Diddly) Bush, in the White House.
We’ll see if P. Diddly runs again for Texas Attorney General. The registration deadline is in December.
Jeb! never wanted to be President. That would have required looking at P. Diddly’s mother for 4-8 years.
Are we watching the death rattle of a dying empire? It looks that way to me.
If this administration is foolish enough to attack Venezuela, the rest of the world is going to take note and act accordingly. It will be universally recognized as the international pariah it is.
Our only saving grace is that most people, unlike ‘Muricans, know that a government and the people living under it are two separate entities. That may be our only saving grace.
George nailed it decades ago…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT03vCaL-F0
And when it comes to “war”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x8nyw7-9QE
War is used as an optical illusion when they don’t want you to see what is really going on. What doesn’t the Trump Administration want us to see? Two things: the crappy ass economy (Black Friday was an absolute bust which means this country is in a serious recession) and the implementation of biometrics.
Personally, I am glad Americans stayed home. One of the few powers that we have is the boycott. Corporate America is treating their customers as fools. People cannot afford food, rent, and basic necessities. What did corporate monopolies do? Offer us 15% off. Wow (sarc). I haven’t seen discounts that low since last Wednesday. 😡
Apparently, the Trump’s Administration is refusing to see the writing on the wall. They are in deep shit. Their stupid policies (as well as the previous Administration) have pushed America’s affordability crisis into a downward spiral which will be impossible to rebuild from. Instead of recognizing it, addressing it, and trying to solve it they continue to put their heads in the sand and bomb 40’ Venezuelan sport cruisers…not only do we look like bullies, but pussies as well.
Correction: The last two administrations’ stupid policies.
Trump’s first run was an economic disaster too. His complete misunderstanding of supply and demand meant we got big tax breaks, big corporate handouts, big deficits, and with COVID… unprecedented direct handouts. That continued under O’Biden, who basically put half the country on welfare for two years to “flatten the curve.”
What did they expect to happen? Obviously Trump expected to be reelected in a landslide, a hero who beat the dread sickness. O’Biden hoped to try out MMT, at least on a small scale, with results pretty much as the libertarian economists predicted.
In a way, Trump really got lucky by having O’Biden steal his second term. The s***show he started really hit its stride in 2021-2 and was fizzled out by late 2023.
Hi RK,
I did include the previous Administration. Although, this started under Trump’s first term, Biden and Team did nothing to help matters. I believe the first three years of Trump’s first term were pretty good. I don’t remember too many people feeling the pinch and wages increased. The debt exploded under COVID by offering ridiculous programs such as PPP, payroll credits, and economic stimulus checks.
He played the same game as George W Bush. Instead of paying down debt he pushed tax breaks to goose the economy after it had been damaged (fatally?) by the 2008 Great Recession. I’m not saying Hillary would have done anything better, just that all he had to do was let the economy recover and we would have been fine. But he couldn’t abide real estate deflation so he had to re-inflate the bubble.
Hi RK,
JFK, Reagan, and Obama also introduced tax breaks. JFK dropped the top rate over 20% in 1964. I will defend tax cuts all day long. The individual will always handle their funds better than any government bureaucracy. The problem becomes when spending is not addressed in reference to a “potential” decrease in tax revenue.
So let all that debt default? Then what?
YES! Let it default. They printed it and gave it to their cronies, let their dishonest debt money evaporate back into the lies it came from.
It’s hard to take seriously that which was never real to begin with.
The government can not run anything efficiently. 30 motherfucking years of affirmative action, dei and ass kissing toads cannot led to greatness 😝
Where are you seeing that Black Friday was a bust? News reports say that the purchases just shifted to online, which set a record. Maybe it is as they say, that the upper income people are now driving the economy, bolstered by their investment wealth. Or, more on the old plastic card. Sooner or later, this whole thing is going to fall down and go boom.
Hi BAC,
There are no sale discounts, even online. The physical stores were empty. I don’t deny the fact that more and more people have switched from driving to the store to ordering via the website, but who is buying and what are they buying?
I am a geek, I pay attention to price trends. The deals are not out there. People are not spending. Even the grocery stores were empty days before Thanksgiving. A trip to Publix, Lidl, Harris Teeter, and Giant three and four days out prior to the day showed typical weekend traffic at a standstill. The grocery stores weren’t even “kinda of” busy. They were dead.
The wealthy (top 5% of the country) is not enough to supplement the other 95% of people’s spending. Grandma and Grandpa are nervous with the higher costs of day to day living. I highly doubt they are taking additional distributions from their retirement to buy some online crap.
Out of curiosity, who on here purchased anything on Black Friday or are looking to buy something on Cyber Monday?
Hi RG!
I bought a new hoodie and sweatpants . . . $15 each!
Lmao 😂
I picked up a pair of Chinesium 900 MHz data radios to play off-grid ham radio. 15% off on black Friday.
10% off my online booze order, woo hoo. Not enough to cover a liver transplant though.
Here in WA you want the good stuff it’s bootleg it or go broke. WA booze tax:
20.5% plus $3.77 per litre.
CostCo is your friend in this. Picked up some Japanese Hibiki for about 25% less than I could find it anywhere else. Never had it before. Was a big hit at Saturday afternoon poker.
Kids got me a bottle of Nikka from the Barrel last year, tasty! Little rascals did a great job on distilling that one.
On the wagon for two weeks so I’ll have good liver numbers at the annual blood test this month.
Got you some good kids there. And yes, those Japanese are crafty little rascals. They excel at just about everything they set their minds to. Never had Japanese whiskey before now. Really like the Hibiki, will try the Nikka next
Good luck on the blood work.
Hi RG.
I bought a wreath for my Mom’s grave. It was $5.00 off.
One of the local grocery stores had 10% off gift cards. That’s a pretty good deal, if I remember that I have the gift card!
I think the “I got 10-15% off” posts are making your point, RG.
People are realizing that “hunker down” is a thing.
I’m not sure what you’re seeing, RG, but I’m seeing quite the opposite. I drove across NC on Wednesday to go to TN and the roads were more crowded than I’ve ever seen the day before Thanksgiving. Coming back on Friday and stopping along the way, the shopping centers, restaurants, etc. were bustling. Everywhere I go locally there seems to be no lack of patrons. Granted, many of these areas are upper middle/upper class, but even the Walmarts are non-stop crowded. Unless you’re talking about a poor rural area, people haven’t stopped spending yet.
I live outside DC, Jason. The traffic and sales aren’t there. Yes, I95 is a nightmare, but it is people passing through their way back from PA to SC. Sure, some areas of the country are fine, but I have a hard time believing the sales figures being allocated for Black Friday, especially when inflation is not built in and it includes restaurant and groceries.
Almost 80 million people traveled, naturally, restaurants are going to see an increase in foot traffic. If one is driving 8 hours most people will hit a drive thru or a quick sit down establishment on their way to and from.
The problem with the sales data it is based on two areas that distort it. The first being inflation. The current readings is that sales increased 10% from last year. Do any of us believe that inflation stayed steady at 3% YOY? In October this country had one of the biggest hikes in producer and consumer goods in recent years. Items jumped 15, 20, even 30%. Of course, this can be contributed to the tariffs.
The second thing that is being built in that is overestimating sale numbers is that millions of government employees and government contractors got paid last week after a 43 day shutdown. The first stop was probably the grocery store, then Walmart, Target, etc. Spending that would have typically taken place over a month and a half has now been added to “Cyber Week” which are causing the numbers to be inaccurate. The real numbers (considering inflation and government spending) show a dismissal and disappointing YOY at negative growth.
Of course, media and the Trump Administration will say this is the “biggest, most incredible year ever”. The numbers to be reported in Mid January will show an entirely different outcome.
Should be producer and consumer prices, not goods.
Here’s my observation….I work a toy job at a Woodcraft store in Chattanooga…..this is a specialty area, woodworking tools, supplies, classes, wood etc. One line of expensive tools from Germany, Festool, has had to add import fees to cover the cost of Trump tariffs…..people are spending money that I personally could never justify…it’s as if nobody can look beyond a month to see the effect of currency debasement on demand for luxury items like river tables, custom charcuterie boards, high end cabinet installations etc. I have expected this market to fold ever since the Covid hoax shut down the economy, as any longtime reader of my comments will remember. That said, it sure does look like the pot is about to boil over. Nobody alive today has really suffered from the effects of a real depression, like my parents did…..the experience will sear itself into the memory of everybody in the West. Regardless of what Trump et al do in Venezuela, this tidal wave will not dissipate.
‘We are apparently on the cusp of another [war], with Venezuela.‘ — eric
Now the notorious Israeli ‘double tap’ has seeped into US military doctrine:
‘Republican-led committees in the Senate and the House say they will amplify their scrutiny of the Pentagon after a Washington Post report revealing that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a spoken order to kill all crew members aboard a vessel suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea several weeks ago.
‘A live drone feed showed two survivors from the original crew of 11 clinging to the wreckage of their boat after the initial missile attack Sept. 2, The Post reported Friday afternoon. The Special Operations commander overseeing the operation then ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s directive, according to two people with direct knowledge of the operation, killing both survivors.
‘A group of former military attorneys who have scrutinized the Trump administration’s military activities in Latin America released an assessment Saturday outlining relevant international and domestic laws, and said that regardless of whether the U.S. is in an armed conflict, conducting law enforcement or other military operations, the targeting of defenseless people is prohibited.
‘Under the circumstances, “not only does international law prohibit targeting these survivors, but it also requires the attacking force to protect, rescue, and, if applicable, treat them as prisoners of war,” the group said in a statement circulated to news media. “Violations of these obligations are war crimes, murder, or both. There are no other options.”
https://tinyurl.com/3vaxpfwu
Trump and Hegseth extinguish human lives — at least 83 to date — as casually as you or I would swat a gnat. We are governed by raging, psychotic sociopaths — depraved monsters in human form.
‘War crimes, murder, or both’ — these are what pass for American values, as the squalid, bankrupt yankee empire executes its final ignominious faceplant into the failed nation club.
The psychopaths in the Israeli government must be feeling especially smug and vindicated these days for their shelling of the USS Liberty’s lifeboats.