It became the practice of Roman caesars – after the actual one’s murder in the Forum and the reign of his immediate successor, Augustus – to buy the affection of the people (as well as the legions) by showering them with sesterces, coins in Roman times. It became necessary in short order – after Augustus – for the new caesar to do this, else he might end up – and often did end up – being put to death by his own praetorians.
Trump promised sesterces – twice thus far. Initially, we plebes were supposed to be getting a $5,000 check as our common refund, to be paid-for by all the money saved by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency. Does anyone in our amnesiac era recall? Musk has moved on to other things. As has DOGE. It ceased to exist as a formal entity – one created temporarily by Trump – back in November of last year. Some cling to the idea that “the principles of DOGE remain alive,” just as Roman plebes told themselves the principles of the republic remained alive after the ascension of Augustus.
DOGE was, as ought to be obvious by now, a show – like the shows (panem et circenses) put on for the plebes in Roman times, to keep them distracted and momentarily ecstatic. It works for just as long as the bread and circuses last.
Trump’s promises of sesterces – to the tune of $5,000 for each of us plebes – was of a piece. It was greeted with wild enthusiasm because so many of us plebes could very much use $5,000 – a small portion of the sesterces most of us plebes have been relieved of by the federal government over the course of just a few months of working and withholding.
A dog is always grateful for the scraps he gets.
But this DOGE produced no scraps. No sesterces. The imperator did revise his promise to $2,000 sesterces, which he – in his brilliantly oily way – did not say when would actually be paid. Just a hint that at some point they would be paid out. Well, we’re very close to the vaguely hinted at point at which the imperator said the sesterces would be paid out. Is there anyone who still believe they will be? Almost certainly. There are always people who believe – because they want to believe. They need to believe. The alternative is much too horrible to contemplate for these people. It is a common human failing. Consider all the people who continue to get “vaccinated” – and continue to get sick. To admit to themselves – never mind to admit it openly – that they got fooled is too much to bear.
Spring is almost here and summer not far behind. Both are likely to come and go without any sesterces arriving in the mail.
Caesar has other plans for them – and for us.
It may be a good thing, at least insofar as the sesterces – which would add fuel to the inflationary fire that has already pretty much burned the buying power of the sesterces in circulation to the ground. Another round of such “stimulus” would do the trick.
We all know what it’s like having to come up with 30 percent more of our own sesterces to pay for the same groceries and so on. Imagine having to come up with another 30 percent more.
Or even more than that.
. . .
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He was a friend of Barack …
‘Norway’s former Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland was hospitalized a week ago after a failed suicide attempt, days after he was charged with “gross corruption” after a police probe into his ties with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, local outlet iNyheter reports.
‘Jagland, 75, who gave Barack Obama a Nobel peace prize less than nine months into his presidency, was charged on February 12 after police carried out an extensive search of his properties – including apartments in Oslo and in Risør.’
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/former-norway-pm-attempts-suicide-after-epstein-linked-raid-corruption-charges-report
It’s all so sad … so ironic … so meta. No doubt Barky and Moochelle are camped beside Jagland’s hospital bed as we speak, serving cheering plates of chitlins and collard greens and hog knuckles to their fallen Nordic brother! 🙂
The Love Song of Donnie Demento
‘One lead was sent to the FBI’s Washington Office with the purpose of setting up an interview with the accuser. The lead was included in an internal PowerPoint slide deck detailing “prominent names” in the Epstein and Maxwell investigations last fall.
‘The woman who directly named Trump in her abuse allegation claimed that around 1983, when she was around 13 years old, Epstein introduced her to Trump “who subsequently forced her head down to his exposed penis which she subsequently bit. In response, Trump punched her in the head and kicked her out.”
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/24/nx-s1-5723968/epstein-files-trump-accusation-maxwell
A number of documents, including the one cited above, have gone missing from the DOJ. Investigations are beginning. Remember, it wasn’t the crime, but the cover-up that took down Nixon. 🙂
Hi Jim,
If this is true, then Trump is beyond words evil. In 1983, was going on 40 years old. A nearly middle-aged man doing what is alleged to a 13 year-old kid. No gray area. Not a 17 year old who could pass for 20 (in which case it’d still be vile what he’s alleged to have done but it’s far more so if it’s a kid).
Agreed. To be fair, it’s an allegation. But if DOJ deleted it from the Epstein files in a misguided attempt to protect Trump, it’s going to produce a Streisand effect of far more attention to this and other deleted documents.
Bet he’s still got a purple welt on his pecker from the toothy bat-bite of that feisty little minx … 🙁
Dug into all the major allegations for a bit on this and only 2 were made when Trump was not president or running for president. Suspicious.
Of the other 2, Ivana recanted and Harth later dated Trump and worked on his campaign. Seems that was leverage for her boyfriend’s contract suit against Trump.
On the good side, it is highly doubtful this one is true.
On the bad side, seems the FBI/DOJ are still dishonest.
Actually, Eric. If I recall it correctly, Orange Man was promising two separate checks, $5000 for the DOGE savings and $2000 for the tariff savings, and not a reduction of the $5000 DOGE savings. Of course the tariff money now has to be refunded because of the Supreme Court ruling, and that money, if any, is probably long gone, so there will be no refund of tariff money and the government will probably tax us more to help pay for the refunding of it back. Thanks, Don!!
Roger that, Watchman!
It’s all getting tedious. The slogans and “55D chess.” It makes my teeth ache.
There is no 55D chess! Trump is fucking up! But that said, Eric you are such a piece of crap! You should be spending 70% of your time or more on the Democrats which are PURE EVIL! But no… keep blackpilling people so the uniparty wins.
Hi Steve,
I’m a piece of crap? Because I’m not outraged by (and unwilling to soft-peddle) Trump’s serial lying? His surreal betrayal of every major campaign promise he made? Because I am appalled by his disgusting efforts to protect people involved in what may prove to be the worst scandal that has come to light in our lifetimes? It’s all just a “hoax” . . . right? Pam Bondi isn’t a horrid person. Kash Patel is a wonderful FBI chief.There is no “affordability” problem! The Dow is at 50,000!
Etc.
The man has agency, or so we are led to believe. He could choose not to lie. He could choose not to behave like a complete asshole. And yet he does. He could choose not to start all these wars/regime-change operations – yet he does. He abuses America first men like Thomas Massie and women like MTG. He could actually put America first. Instead, he puts himself (as he sees it) first. And Israel first. He is on the verge of starting a war that could become a major war that is obviously not in America’s interests. Did you vote for this? I didn’t.
I have been down this road before, my friend. I was there during the Era of The Chimp and I often got criticized by “conservatives” for pointing out what that The Chimp (hugely popular among “conservatives,” after Nahhhhhhhhhnnnnlevven) was going to shit the bed. Our bed. And he did. We got Obama because of Bush. It did not take a prophet to see this coming. Just someone who sees facts and understands that principles are important. Trump has none – other than his own self-aggrandizement. Even when it is self-destructive.
Those who blindly support Trump because they think they must because – as they see it – the alternative is worse – are likely to regret it. I know I do.
Trump is the piece of crap. Not I.
Meanwhile not a word on the seething demonic dems waiting to 10,000% kill us. Eric your coverage is completely bias. You never even mention them. I’m not saying don’t blame Trump, he definitely deserves the blame for the current shitshow. But it’s hardly lesser of two evils, it’s night and day. Surprised you have not even taken a swing at Spanbitch either. P.O.C. completely one sided!
Steve,
Trump is singlehandedly assuring the Left is going to come roaring back and when it does you and I everyone else not of the Left will have targets painted on our backs. He is pissing away all the political capital he came into office with, turning “MAGA” into a sick joke by pursuing policies not only disastrous but completely contrary to his promises. He likes to talk about the story of the snake during his campaign. Probably because it was a story about himself. I understand you think I have “TDS.” Bear in mind I am older than you and have been through this before (with The Chimp). I saw what was coming then and I see it again now, on account of that.
I tire of the lies and the endless trying to kick the football held by “Lucy” – so-called “conservatives” who conserve nothing.
PS: I assume you missed my article about Spanberger I published just a few days ago.
I would argue that the Dems are, if anything, very slightly less evil.
Because they pretty much claim to be authoritarian Marxists, and are in fact (more or less) authoritarian Marxists.
As opposed to (most) Republicans, who are slightly weaker-willed about being authoritarian Marxists, but pretend to be the opposite and then stab each other in the back.
At least with the Dems, what you see is more or less what you get.
Does anyone actually believe what dictator Don says let’s name a few lies
Going to Lock up Hilary
Free handouts on several occasions
No wars
Remove taxes
Remove lots of regulations
Stop migration as he adds billions in the fund to bring in refugees from all over
Lower cost of everything as I see it constantly go up
I could go on are you tired of winning yet
Remember the stimulus checks Trump sent out in 2020? Several die-hard tea party Republican types I worked with were so excited to get their Trump checks. “Have you gotten your Trump check yet?” I just shook my head in amazement…
They probably now wonder why everything is so much more expensive. It definitely isn’t the trillions of dollars printed in 2020/21, with some going to their stimmy checks.
Still waiting for him to repeal the income tax.
A good political move for Trump.would be to send $3000 checks to every taxpayer earning less than 150k from the tariffs revenue the Supreme Court shot down.
Clearly you don’t understand how inflation works.
Why should tariff refunds have an income limit? Didn’t we all pay them?
Second that RG,
I hope the class action lawsuits proceed quickly, and that Fedgov has to reimburse everyone. Should make Trumpenstein pay it out of his personal account since most of his money was stolen/grifted to begin with.
Most of us probably did not, @RG. To any degree, anyway. Most of it was eaten by the importers, which kind of lets you know how much the margin was. What did pass through should have prompted people to switch to alternatives or go without. I thought it was a very good thing, IMO, since it did help show which of the products you buy were foreign. If the price stayed level, it was more likely to be American.
But give it to the group most likely to go spend it? Yeah, stupid. Everyone should be able to understand what the “stimmies” like CovidCash did to “affordability”.
“Most of it was eaten by the importers, which kind of lets you know how much the margin was. What did pass through should have prompted people to switch to alternatives or go without.”
You sir are talking out your ass.
Just paid the tariff the other day on some small electronic parts coming from China. Literally days before the court ruling. Needed those parts to repair something.
In case you haven’t noticed, electronic components are no longer made in the USSA. The electronics industry hasn’t been here since the 60’s. It will never return the USSA and your solution is to go without. Ya – screw you pal.
Why will those industries ever return to the USA, because they aren’t important? Those industries were developed by free Americans, seeking to profit by their endeavors. They were betrayed by corrupt politicians, a treasonous legal system, and a ghetto glorifying culture where anything but white Christian achievement was denigrated and punished.
Putting a tarriff on those things is a very simple start to moving them back where we need them.
I also just got sticker shock on some electronics. Stuff I used to provide to my customers for $4000 now costs $11000. Inflation and tarriffs- these are costs of doing business when we’re involved in an existential struggle.
Only a matter of time until your business fails since you have no understanding of basic economics, inflation, or what tariffs represent.
Enjoy your existential struggle to return manufacturing to America by punishing Americans and your customers.
Basic economics- if you unemploy your customers, they cant afford your products or services at any price. Except of course by wealth redistribution schemes.
Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon- when money is printed, it will occur. The biggest single problem is it has allowed the connected to access the cheap money before the people who deserve it ever get theirs. Note that this isn’t the only problem with it.
Tariffs are just taxes, of the least offensive variety. They are easily calculated and require no intrusion such as self reporting and coerced form filing- except for the business doing the importing.
Not sure why my business would fail because of basic economics, inflation or tariffs- if they apply equally my services are still a better deal than my competition.
QED Sam.
It sounds as if you were the importer? Could you pass it all on to your customers? If not, you ate that part of it. That was largely true throughout retail sector. Walmart did not jack microwaves 145%. Almost certainly because they used a pass-through.
But you couldn’t find anyone to circumvent it? Crap, I did, and I’m a nobody. I spent some time talking to about a dozen business contacts and found two companies, one out of Singapore, the other out of Malaysia, who were willing to be the go-between for a couple percent.
“Voting in particular is an embarrassment, being a public display of weak character and low intelligence.” – Fred Reed
Enjoy what you’ve voted for.
People always vote for a balanced budget. The politician always promises to balance the budget in so many years. Trump did exactly that many times, yet the deficit continued to the moon.
Elon went to work cutting government waste, Trump then immediately spent the DOGE savings with a 50% increase in Pentacon spending. A 1.5 trillion war department budget will make USA military spending greater than all other countries combined.
Trump promised to be a peace candidate, immediately end wars. I think we should start detecting a pattern here. Talk is cheap. Say one thing to get likes and votes. Do another to please his donors. Trump views himself as the greatest gift to mankind – but unfortunately for his ego, he is not the richest man – thus he courts those who are richer as he climbs the stairway to Trump heaven, being the greatest and the richest, just like some king out of the Bible.
Trump is a maniac out of control, and I predict this Iran war is going to horribly bad for Trump and his Jewish backers. I fully expect stealth to be shot down, for example I will not be surprised in the least if one or more B-2s are shot down and the pilots being paraded down main street in Tehran.
This will be a “wave repeat” of Gary Powers, the U-2 pilot shot down over Russia. You can fly with impunity over another man’s country until they figure out how to overcome this, which they have a great interest in doing. Iran has set up state of the art Chinese radars that see stealth. Trump is being forced to attack, Israel is using Epstein disclosures to force Orange man to be their monkey. Perhaps Trump will TACO out, who knows?
Then we have the out of control budget deficit, trillions added to the national debt each year, this will continue until it can’t. The day will come when the debt owners revolt, as China has been doing selling off half of their US treasuries. So what happens if on day one of this war China dumps their treasury holdings? He who owes does not have the privilege to tell the world how it is going to be.
Trump is a damn fool, he took the job as POTUS knowing he was fully compromised, he thought he was so slick, he could out play his Tel Aviv handlers.
The military has been bought off with the perqs paid for with the soaring defense budget.
Do you know anyone getting discharged who *isn’t* on VA disability and doesn’t have a nice house even in competititve real estate markets?
Granted, I understand that a sacrifice is involved with serving, but we are creating a warrior class in the US.
Understated
I have a distant relative. Dropped out of high to join military. Retired after 30 years of “service”. Then went on to do 25 years of civil service.
Hasn’t worked an honest, productive job in his entire life.
Now working on trying to get disabled status for a tumor he got. Claims it was from military exposure but more likely than not it was related to the jab.
Total parasite.
I like that word, parasite, vs what I usually use, Maker’s vs Taker’s.
Now need the other word against parasite vs ?
Thx
I think Trump will likely declare that the checks are in the form of increased standard deduction. I’m still waiting on some statements, so have not gotten very far on filing, but I see the standard deduction (married filing jointly) has increased from $29,200 to $31,500. That is, even if you got no raise this last year, your taxable income will be reduced by $2300.
He will leave unsaid that the 2023 deduction was $27,700, so last year’s delta was $1500 — this year’s is only $800 more than last years’.
And, yes, cutting checks would be awful, for the reason you cite. I’m glad this (too?) was just another initial bargaining position, and did not follow through on it.
I have a friend who is still very loyal to Trump. She fervently believes he is draining the swamp and always just about to arrest “all the pedos and sex traffikers”. But then I remember how my entire family thought Biden was great and didn’t notice any cognitive decline at all. The flood if illegals pouring in was no problem at all. Electric vehicles were great and improvements in battery life were just around the corner!
There is a common denominator with both sides which is that when the good things never materialize they just go silent. Amnesia seems to be very convenient, we need to try it!
So if it makes my friend happy to think he is doing wonderful things then ok, I’m just bracing for the midterms and the next presidential election when the pendulum will swing the other way. And although it is difficult to imagine how we could get anyone more mentally depleted than Biden, they’ll find someone. The elites are just rubbing our faces in it now.
How can you be thinking of the money promised when there is a war to start? We need those funds to stop Iran from making a nuclear bomb. They are only minutes away again.
Posterity is not paying for it.We are every time you go buy something.
Look at silver prices.
Minium wage back in 63 was $1.25 Hr. Get in your time machine and come forward to 2026. Those 5 quarters are now (as of 2/22) worth $15.51 a piece.
Wouldn’t minimum wage in purchasing power have to be $77.55??
Not sure silver is the best yardstick. Back then, one of the principal uses of silver was film, now it’s dwarfed by demand for solar cells.
But, yeah, you can’t defer costs onto posterity. When the gov’t buys a missile, that capital was not used to make a product you wanted. You pay for that here and now by selecting a different point on the production possibilities frontier. But posterity will also get nicked for it, mostly in the form of reduced standard of living. Like we’ve all seen happen over to the standard of living over the last half century.
‘The imperator did revise his promise to 2,000 sesterces.’ — eric
Ah, but these precious sesterces were to be paid from the government’s bulging tariff revenues. On Friday the Supreme Court said Trump had no constitutional authorization to just make up tariff rates for each country, according to his whim. Last autumn, for instance, the Orange One whacked Switzerland with a harsh 39% rate, after a phone call with the Swiss PM in which he ‘didn’t like her tone.’
Or maybe Trump just resented being hectored by a female. I know the dulcet tones of Hitlary make me want to smash buildings and level mountains, just to stop her infernal cries of Caw! Caw! Caw!
Now an enraged Trump has imposed a 15% global tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. It expires in July, unless Clowngress acts to extend it. And they don’t want to touch this with a ten-foot pole.
Already, R-party candidates were finding that last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill act is giving them little electoral traction. The public is not feeling it. Now, though, whacking the plebes with a 15% tariff (tax) on everything nullifies any claim that the R-party cut our taxes. In fact, it just raised them, big time. The electoral punishment will be savage.
In retrospect, Democrats realize that they should ditched the senile ‘Biden’ entity way back in 2022, when his mumbling and confusion already had made clear that ‘Joe’ was old and out of it. Now, R-party retards are making the same colossal error with Donnie Dotard.
My estimate is that for every three days the Orange Oaf remains in power, the R-party loses another seat in Clowngress. They are facing an epic meltdown.
This week I’m attending a luncheon in which Arizona’s D-party governor, running for re-election, will speak. I’m betting that she’s gonna be smirking like a cat that just ate a canary. Running against a party headed by a deranged, ranting fool like Donnie Dotard is the gift of a lifetime.
She doesn’t need to actually do anything, other than point out the obvious fact that she’s not a Repugniclown; not a lackey of the deranged Orange Emperor, who’s busy destroying his own party’s candidates (e.g., Thomas Massie, Jeff Hurd of Colorado, etc.).
Everyone was hangin’ out
Hangin’ up and hangin’ down
Hangin’ in and holding fast
Hope Trump’s little world will last
Ship of fools
Ship of fools
— The Doors, Ship of Fools
I almost fell out my chair laughing so hard “I know the dulcet tones of Hitlary make me want to smash buildings and level mountains, just to stop her infernal cries of Caw! Caw! Caw!”
I think Trump’s days are numbered and may not even make it to the midterms. Attacking Iran may be the last thing he does …
https://www.unz.com/article/no-us-war-on-iran-an-open-letter-to-the-un-security-council/#comment-7510461
What’s worse than the promise of free money is the number of people that would cash the checks. Not caring one bit that they are simply impoverishing their children and grandchildren.
That’s true, Al –
I thought about adding something about this – and maybe I ought to do so.
“As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is, to use it as sparingly as possible… [and] not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen, which we ourselves ought to bear.”
-George Washington, Farewell Address 1796
I am convinced that was one of the main objectives of Covid BS.
“Let the American people enslave themselves more by taking the free cheddar”
Put your zip code in and see how many of your patriotic neighbors got in free
forgivable loans!!
https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/search?q=83641&v=1
My supposed arch conservative buddy admitted the other day he got 100,000.00
for one employ!! And now has the audacity to complain about prices of goods and services.
Farmers and Ranchers out here in Idaho were reveling in Gov-Co spoils. Buying new pickups, putting in new horse-riding arenas and more.
Everyone is benefit corrupted whether they realize it or not.
Wow, thanks for that- it is truly sickening. I live in a poor rural area and it looks like all my neighbors except me took a handout, averaging about 25 grand.
I noticed that, too, looking through the listings. Most of it was 4 families, using multiple aliases or even just alternate spellings of their names, for well into 6 figures. One of them has got to be fraud — the business hires 4-5 unskilled, 2 fork truck operators and 2 office staff, and nicked Uncle Sam for just under a million. There’s no way that was their payroll. Not when prevailing skilled wages in this neck of Outer Bumfuckistan is $18-$20. And the guy isn’t even Somalian.
Forget the children/grandchildren! As someone famously said, “Posterity always takes care of itself, so there’s no need to worry about them.” Cashing another “stimulus” (i.e. welfare) check would finish off what’s left of today’s middle class and usher in the techno-communist totalitarian state in its fulness.