Trump and the January 6th Hearings

W.J. Astore

The other day, a friend asked if I was watching the January 6th hearings about Donald Trump’s role in the Capitol riot. I had to admit I wasn’t.

I’m really not interested in what Trump did or didn’t do on January 6th. I already know he’s guilty.

Guilty of what, you may ask. Guilty of being a colossal narcissist. Guilty of being a sore loser. Guilty of putting himself and his ego before country and comity. Guilty of throwing his own obsequiously loyal Vice President under the bus. Guilty of promulgating the big lie that the election was stolen from him and that, if all the votes were counted, he would have won. Guilty of poor judgment, of meddling. Most of all, guilty of acting liked a spoiled brat who throws temper tantrums when he doesn’t get his way.

In short, he’s guilty of being unqualified by personality and temperament for any public position of trust, let alone of the highest public position in America.

The January 6th hearings aren’t going to teach me anything new here.

Saying all this about Trump doesn’t make me a Joe Biden fan, of course. As I argued before Biden was elected in 2020, he was too much of an establishment tool, too deeply compromised by special interests, and, to be blunt, too old to be president. But people keep telling me he’s the lesser of two evils and that I must vote for him again if he runs in 2024 because Trump or DeSantis or some other Republican is likely to be far worse.

I don’t want to see the January 6th hearings in “prime time” on TV. I want to see what Congress and the President are doing for people struggling to pay their bills, to find affordable housing, to get the medical care they need. What are we doing to control inflation? To raise wages? To make prescription drugs more affordable? To rein in a militaristic empire that is spending wildly on wars and weapons?

What are they doing to bring Americans together? That’s what I want to hear. I don’t need to hear more about Trump. I already know he’s a loser.

America!

131 thoughts on “Trump and the January 6th Hearings”

  1. Apart from the occasional gesture in election years, what incentive is there for Congress to do anything meaningful for the Great Unwashed, those living and working outside The Beltway, those who don’t matter in the Grand Scheme of Things?

    Liked by 3 people

  4. The hearings are political theater for the MSDNC crowd.

    Unless there are indictments forthcoming, they will soon be forgotten. But, I think anyone hoping for an indictment of Trump is going to be disappointed.

    Not as widely reported on the MSM (though repeatedly covered by conservative outlets), there have been grand juries on the alleged crimes of Hunter Biden – some of which, due to his laptop, may point to involvement of “the big guy”.

    Given, how justice is really done in this country, I could see a deal will be struck to not move forward with indictments of Trump – or Biden. Lower-level players, including Hunter Biden, may face prosecution, but not the two principals.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Exactly TOM R,

      The media is pumping this for all the bucks they can out of it. It was the same with the impeachment charades. This sh*t is made for TV nirvana. And they love the Ukrainian war! Next month something else that is going come along that’s the end of the World, or at least the US, and the vulture blood sucking media will jump onto that, forgetting this weeks end of the World.

      Its all just a big circus! No high-level player is going to see justice. And we poor low-level players are not going to get the governance we pray for.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. And for a minute look at that photograph the Lt. Col posted at the top of this blog! Have you ever seen anything more fake? It looks like a scene being acted out by a bunch of actors in a Hollywood B-grade movie!
        The guy in the coonskin hat holding the American flag! Come on! Straight out of Hollywood central casting! Another guy with his phone ready to take a selfie! Not a cop or a drop of blood to be seen! The rest of the World was looking on saying…..WTF!

        Liked by 1 person

  7. That would be pretty vapid prime time entertainment, i’d say.

    What are they doing about any of those things You want to see the American government confront, deal with, and fix? Absolutely nothing.

    And what are they doing to bring Americans together? Again, absolutely nothing.

    In fact, they are doing their very best to tear Americans further apart than they have been in over 160 years since the eve of what will become known as merely the FIRST American Civil War. And they are succeeding.

    And Trump was and is not a “loser” for the people who own, operate, handle, and script him. He accomplished exactly what he was sent to Washington to do. Just like Biden is doing exactly the same thing for exactly the same people; exactly as Obama did before Trump; and Bush the Lesser before him; and so forth.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I agree. Congress is not seeking to heal America.

      And if you told Trump about a guy who was owned, operated, handled, and scripted by others, I bet Trump would call that guy a LOSER, not knowing he’s the guy you’re talking about.

      Liked by 1 person

    2. The purpose of the Jan 6 committee is to keep Trump from running again or if he runs to keep him from being elected. It doesn’t really matter when they say. It’s just theater. Personally if I want theater I prefer to watch old movies.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. The sad thing about this ALEX is that it just makes people more resolved to vote Trump. Just like bombing people in Germany and Vietnam made them more resolved in supporting their own regimes. Trump is not going to lose voters because of this current charade. In fact, it may help him.

        Liked by 1 person

  8. Trump is narcissist but I think most politicians are narcissists. You don’t get to be President by being humble. Maybe Calvin Coolidge was humble. Maybe. Trump did at least a couple of very good things. He told federal agencies they had to delete two regulations for every new one. We have far far far too many regulations IMO issued by agencies who act as judge, jury, and executioner. Second, he questioned our participation in NATO, starting with the fact that the US heavily subsidizes NATO and protects European countries (from what??) at our expense. He even went so far as to question whether the US should be in NATO. We started NATO as a counter to the Soviet Union and because Europe was weak in the shadow of WW II. But Europe isn’t weak now and there is no Soviet Union. So why is NATO expanding?

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    1. The most important thing Trump accomplished was that he did not start any New Wars, or expand any Old Wars. That made him the first President to do that since before FDR.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Yes and it probably got him bounced from office. Recall when news about the Hunter Biden laptop was released 50 former CIA officials issued a letter saying the laptop was a fake. Biden even used that letter in one of the Presidential debates. Of course it turns out that the laptop was genuine but it does say that the CIA was against Trump, presumably for the very reasons you point out. The MIC couldn’t stand him. On the other hand they are delighted with Biden.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Those folks may have “hated” Trump publicly, but on the other other hand, America’s military-industrial-congressional complex and its secrecy-surveillance-security panopticon never had more money and power than they did under POTUS MAXXIMMUSS XLV. Until Biden came along, that is.

          Liked by 2 people

    2. Yes, you need a lot of confidence and self-belief, bordering on narcissism, to run for president. But Trump takes it to a whole new level, slapping his name on everything, from Trump tower to steaks to a “university” and even to vodka, among other products.

      The problem isn’t that Trump’s a narcissist. It’s that he’s an extreme narcissist who cares only about himself (and maybe Ivanka).

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Sorry Lt. Col but aren’t you are letting your TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) get the better of you!

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          1. @WJASTORE,
            Yes you are right. Its just that I look up to you as someone who is balanced and rational. And sometimes I think your hatred of Trump the Pussy Grabbing Man, seems to get in the way of your judging him for his successes as a politician. Lets face it, there have been many Presidents who had detestable character flaws and did great things for the country. How many did JFK bed for goodness sake? Marilyn Monroe they say!

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    3. If Calvin Coolidge was humble, perhaps it was because he sensed that he well should be.
      2.Trump has been involved with Russian organized crime since at least 1984. He probably was successfully identified as an asset that could be used to further Russian strategic goals as early as his 1987 Moscow visit. (he returned from that visit and took out full page ads in 3 top newspapers decrying how much money we spend providing military defense of allies and the worlds open seas). It was a spectacular success for the KGB. It continues to this day, and has spread to much of the general public.
      Putin’s strategic goals include the weakening of, and preferably disbandment of NATO. Decades of Russian disinformation campaigns have had some success in the USA regarding this. It’s biggest NATO success was with D. Trump taking various negotiations on reform, limiting goals, changing who finances what, etc and blowing them up into crises level. The internet/twitter world and various media brought it into the consciousness of average citizens. The Trump view managed to become widely accepted without debate or anything more than surface knowledge.
      There is no doubt in my mind that if Trump had a second term he would have pulled Trump out of NATO, NATO would have collapsed in the short term, (leaving Europe with a fragmented series of militaries) and Putin would have quickly acted in this vacuum to reassemble at least some parts of the Russian Empire and extend Russian suzerainty at least to the Odra (Oder).
      It also would lead to the resurgence of Germany as a strong military power. (It tends to be forgotten that a major prong of NATO in the first place was to prevent Germany from having a strong military….meaning the West, USA in particular, would provide the defense of their country. Which also meant we would pay for it).
      Due to family history I would be just as terrified of a resurgent Germany Military in Europe as I am with Russia being an organized crime syndicate with a Nationalistic, Racist, Romantic world view of Russkiy Mir/Eurasianism person as it’s dictatorial leader.

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      1. I’m sorry WORNSMOOTH, but your paranoids are showing my man! That Putin would have quickly acted in this vacuum to reassemble at least some parts of the Russian Empire and extend Russian suzerainty at least to the Odra, and there would be a resurgent Germany Military in Europe, is surely paranoid thinking.

        Russia being an organized crime syndicate with a Nationalistic, Racist, Mir/Eurasianism person as it’s dictatorial leader is also fictional. If paranoid thinking is your thing my man you would be better served by looking to the great Satan, the United States of America, who wishes to dominate the world with its 900 overseas military bases, its 13-aircraft carriers, and its $1.4-trillion military budget. It’s lethal submarines cruising the depths of the Worlds oceans loaded with their nuclear missiles poised to obliterate any city in the World, and millions of people, when their demented leader pushes the button. That would be closer to reality.

        Decades of US disinformation campaigns have had huge success convincing the peoples of the World that they are the good guys to be trusted. Meanwhile, since World War II, during a supposed golden age of peace, the United States military has killed or helped kill some 20 million people, overthrown at least 36 governments, interfered in at least 85 foreign elections, attempted to assassinate over 50 foreign leaders, and dropped bombs on people in over 30 countries. And Russia has minded its own business.

        Liked by 1 person

        2. Hi Dennis,
          I won’t argue at all about how you describe the Military presence of the USA in the world. I can’t confirm the numbers you total up regarding US barbaric behavior, but even if technically inaccurate (or accurate) the point made is valid.

          Where I will argue is that bad behavior on the part of the USA should not be flipped so as to make the Putin Kleptocracy into good guys. Neither does it mean I have to ignore my own knowledge regarding them.
          My knowledge of Russia has gaps and no doubt in some ways ranges from skewed to incorrect. (I know a great deal more about Poland and Ukraine). But what I do know is pretty solid.
          Regarding your comment about organized crime and world view of Putin as fictional, I assert, with much evidence, that it is quite accurate and forms the basis of how I view his Govt.

           Russia has had, for centuries, a staggeringly large penal system that also used the tool of internal exile....utilizing the vastness of its territorial empire. In the form of the USSR , particularly under Stalin, it reached a level that is almost incomprehensible in numbers of citizens imprisoned/exiled. Simply due to these numbers, an entire subset of society evolved which lead to an entire portion of society becoming part of a professional criminal world. Complete with governance, laws, etc. Beginning in the 70's or 80's a civil war was fought in the criminal world whether to stay fixed on doing nothing, ever, legit to make a living or to start to cooperate with authority to mix crime and normal society. The head Thieves in Law (vory v zakone) supporting this new path eventually won by sometime in the 90's.
Simultaneously it must be understood that the USSR was a police state. The Party was the Power, and it was enforced by the Cheka...then NKVD...then KGB. The KGB, obviously, lived side by side with the professional crime organizations and their leaders. There was a relationship spanning decades, and in some cases generations. As Party power began to wane in the late 80's there began to form a nexus between the two. With the collapse of the USSR it became a full blown partnership. The KGB was still very much a power, but no longer really had anyone to answer to. (there were no longer any really strong institutions and the military was always under the thumb of the police). There was also an opportunity to become stunningly wealthy, simply by combining with those who already ran the black market....organized crime. Ergo, into this vacuum the two most violent organizations became allies. The network also included the former republics as they formed their own state police from ex KGB and the sprawling Soviet vory.

          From what I read, and what learned from an Uncle who was a Warsaw Pact career Army Officer, Polish newspapers etc this is the basic structure in Russian Govt now, with the FSB/SVR being the first among the equals of them and the crime bosses/oligarchs.
          This has become way too long, and just scratches the surface…and I haven’t even mentioned Trump or the Republican party’s involvement yet. I also haven’t yet touched on Putin’s speeches, his admiration for the writings of Ivan Ilyin and Aleksandr Dugin, and overt race based Nationalism and his anti gay based (his words)war on liberal western values and Democracy.
          Suffice it to say that calling the Russian Government a Crime Syndicat is not fictional and my stating that Putin’s wish to reassemble the former Soviet/Russian Empire is not paranoia but based on both his public speeches and the writings of thinkers he references.
          Perhaps the shortest read I know of that has some of these ideas outlined would be Timothy Snyder’s book “The Road to Unfreedom”. Written in 2017 it is very much still relevant to today and would help with some understanding.
          Stay well and open to new information. (I try to as well)

          Liked by 1 person

          1. Thanks for your great comments WORNSMOOTH. I see things a lot different than you man! But I am open to new information. Everybody’s knowledge has gaps and is skewed by their life experiences. You stay well too!

            Liked by 2 people

          2. You would be lucky to have a leader like Putin in the USA. He cares deeply about his country and has been working to improve things there throughout his tenure.
            Putin always gives speeches we in the West wish many of our politicians could give. Strange, right?
            Anyone that STILL cannot see that the US Government, and especially the Democratic Party, is directly against their best interest is a lost cause.
            And thanks again Jimmy for exposing the truth.

            Liked by 1 person

            2. Wow. “We’d be “Lucky to have a leader like Putin in the USA,” eh?

              Would New Zealand be lucky to have a leader like Putin there? Of course, the way Y’All have treated and still treat The Indigenous Natives there, Y’All just might be right, Dennis.

              And tell me, Putinista: Do You volunteer to put Your body where Your mouth is, and go move to Putin’s Russia right now? Or do You have better things to do there on NZ?

              GMAFB.

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              1. So Jeff, what do find objectionable about the way Kiwi’s treat the indigenous Maori’s. Last time I looked we don’t have any Maori reservations in New Zealand. Help me with that.

                As for moving to Russia. Why not? How would my life as a retiree in Russia be worse than it is in New Zealand or Seattle? Or am I just being naïve?

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                1. Just curious Dennis. Do you have a political party that targets the Maori vote? Do the Maoris overwhelmingly vote for only one political party and which one?

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                2. @ALEX
                  The Māori Party is a political party in New Zealand representing the interests of the Maori ethnic minority. It contests the specially-reserved Māori electorates, in which its main rival is the mainstream centre-left Labour Party. Under the current leadership of Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, it promotes the following policies: uphold tikanga Māori, dismantle systemic racism, and strengthen the rights promised in Treaty of Waitangi. The political position of the Māori Party is generally described as centrist or centre-left. As of 2021, the party’s two MPs are also its co-leaders.

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                3. Interesting system. In the US we have certain lands set aside for Native American rule or joint NA/state jurisdiction in some cases, at least as far as such things as civil and criminal law are concerned. But we don’t have Congressional seats for NAs alone. Do the Maoris have dedicated lands for their tribes?

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            3. Putin is decidedly a product of a Russian system where toughness, ruthlessness, and, yes, competence is vital.

              Biden is decidedly a product of an American system where spinelessness, predictability, and, yes, incompetence are perfectly acceptable.

              Biden is a deeply compromised figurehead. Putin is a Machiavellian driver. I’d prefer a true leader with ethical principles who served the people, especially the working classes.

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              1. The American system has turned into a mass media extravaganza where media barons wield immense power to define the “issues” of the day and choose the candidates. Political campaigns accordingly are run according to the news cycle.

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  11. Jimmy Dore had this Jan 6 hearing charade figured out a month ago!
    A dumb jagg-off comedian doing YouTubes in his garage – could have performed this hearing in a couple of days and got it right – saving the country millions.

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    1. Jimmy is great as usual. The Democrats count on the news media to continually hit the public with party propaganda. Isn’t that one of the characteristics of fascism? Perhaps rather than focusing on Christian Fascism we should really talk about Progressive Fascism. Jonah Goldberg wrote a book in 2009 called “Liberal Fascism” so I can’t claim credit for this idea.

      Liked by 1 person

  12. Hello W.J.
    Truth to Power: You hit it on the head again. We are at the mercy of the media and the oligarchs. That is why my proposal is outside of the box, but has tentacles to every part of society.

    To create change we need something special to unite the world — because the world’s crises demand it! We are on the precipice of falling into the abyss or reaching new heights

    The answer is for the people of the world to unite to Stop War! Stopping war affects all issues.
    Once united, the political clout enhances all other

    A plan, that is not the usual plan, is ready NOW that is designed to unite the world!

    A Global Movement of Nonviolence, For the Children (GMofNV)
    to be implemented by an initiative to “Reach into Every Household,”
    A CALL to WOMEN, a World-Wide Unity Campaign

    The first thing we have to do is unite! Please ask me about U.N. Secretary-General Guterres

    Andre Sheldon
    Founder and Director, Global Strategy of Nonviolence

    Liked by 1 person

  13. I think the Jan 6 hearings are quite valuable and will become more important in years to come as historians look back on these days. I think a lot of people are more aware of what actually went on during and just after the last election.

    You said near the end of your post “What are they doing to bring Americans together?” I don’t think we’ll ever be together and frankly I have no common ground with the Proud boys, neo nazis, white supremacists, christian nationalism, evangelicals, gay bashers, and a host of others. I don’t want us to come together, I want more progressives to take charge and implement progressive policies. The conservatives certainly never concern themselves with bringing America together.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I agree, re: White supremacists, Neo-Nazis, and similar extremist groups.

      But evangelicals? Roughly 70-90 million Americans identify as evangelical Christians. If you exclude them, you’re cutting out a very big chunk of America.

      I’ve known plenty of evangelicals, esp. in the military. We had plenty in common.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. I’m always ignorant and emotional, but too many “evangelicals’ are ‘Christian’ Zionists — intent on Zionist/Israeli domination for their (CZ’) ultimate objectives of dispensationalism, rapture and whatever other bizarre, non-Prince of Peace trash they espouse. Pity the Palestinians. We are all Palestinians now.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. You don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist,” United States President elect Joe Biden, said in April 2007, soon before he was chosen to be Barack Obama’s running mate in the 2008 elections. At a packed AIPAC conference in March 2013, Biden elaborated on his ideological Zionist beliefs and his president’s commitment to “the Jewish state of Israel.”
          There is no doubt in my mind that Sleepy Joe is an “Israel Firster”. A person that places the ambitions, policies and well-being of the right-wing Israeli government over that of their country, America.
          And for sure ROBERTHSTIVER we are all Palestinians now. Well said my man.

          Liked by 1 person

  14. Atheists? Roughly 26% of Americans say they do not believe in God. That’s 86-million who identify as having no religion. If you exclude them, you’re also cutting out a very big chunk of America. (Sadly there’s still a lot of stigma around not believing in God in America. …“According to our samples, about 1 in 3 atheists in our country don’t feel comfortable disclosing their lack of belief,” Najle explains in an email.)

    https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/4/13/15258496/american-atheists-how-many

    Liked by 1 person

    1. If you are referring to me, I don’t exclude atheists, I am atheist. I was evangelical many decades ago but I don’t remember them (us) being radical right wing nuts like today’s Christian Right. It is not about excluding them, I feel they and the other groups I mentioned have excluded me and want me to conform to their ideology.

      Liked by 2 people

    2. In America, you should have freedom of religion — and freedom from it.

      Come, let us reason together. Let us share ideas. Religion (or lack thereof) should not be an obstacle.

      Liked by 2 people

  15. I think this video is relevant to the theme of todays thread
    Particularly the discussion of the Irrational Elite.
    I think this discussion was before Trump. And its really too bad that Christopher Hitchens wasn’t here.

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    2. Oops, looks like YouTube axed your video, Dennis. I regret not watching it earlier before the censors got into action. So is that a sign of fascism?

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      1. It’s pretty shocking when you see this censorship happening right in front of your eyes eh Alex! Really hits home that the 1st Amendment is not taken seriously by too many elites in America.

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  16. As Alex mentioned this hearing seeks to deny Trump regaining office and there is a theatrical aspect to it, but it is discovering the truth for the public to see or hear about. It is an example of government being functional and productive, a rarity.

    Why rare? This hearing can take place because it threatens no lobby and in leaving lobbies, the real drivers of our government, untouched, it safely leaves unilluminated a completely corrupt government that could never hold a hearing like this on anything that really matters. Trump is an ox safely gored. The hearing inflates the importance of a threat that floundered while giving the impression that here is an example of government working for us. No change is going to come in the way things operate in DC. Actual power is not threatened.

    BTW – speaking of the real power in government, I came across a link (was it here at BV?) to a terrific 4 part series from the BBC that tells the story of the rise of the market to eclipse the power of governments. Our representatives go through the motions, some with sincerity, but it is the profit motive that rules. The series is called The Mayfair Set and concentrates on Britain, but the American parallel is always in sight, particularly in the years of Michael Milken and Ivan Boesky. One startling sequence shows a very young Rudy Giuliani speaking when he was going after Boesky.

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    1. CLIF, what odds do you give that Trump will be gored? And when? LOL
      It seems to me that they failed to impeach him – so what chance do they have of getting him on this?
      I don’t think its very high.

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      1. Pelosi and the House of Representatives actually impeached Trump twice. Presumably this was done for the history books, to show how terrible Trump was. Neither time did the Senate vote to convict. In our system impeachment has two parts: the House votes to impeach and the Senate votes to convict. A person’s not removed from office unless he’s convicted.

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        1. Alex, surely people realize that the Senate with its Republican majority, slim as it may be, is not going to vote to convict Trump. Its not going to happen! This is all a made for TV melodrama. And all the DC critters are just using it to make brownie points with their constituents. I huge waste of time and dollars.

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          1. Conviction takes a 2/3 vote of the Senate. There has been no conviction for an impeached President. Andrew Johnson (1968) came closest but even that failed by one vote.

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  17. I certainly agree with your description of Trump, and I couldn’t help thinking as I read your list of the glaring personality traits of Trump that end up with his being a “spoiled brat” – what in the world is wrong with the crowds of people who follow him around like puppy dogs, slavering over everything he says and does? It is so obvious that he is an egotistical spoiled brat that I can’t help but be astonished and a little frightened by the millions in this country that idolize him. How did we manage to create so many stunningly ignorant bullies? I think a January 6 examination of that question could be helpful.
    As for Biden, I agree with you on that as well. I voted for him because I hoped he would be an improvement over Trump, but I’m not sure he is. He seems equally as bad, only in a different way. I will not be voting for him next time. As they say “enough is enough”, and his lies and his lack of concern for this planet and the lives of the young people who have to live with the spiraling environmental mess we are leaving them, along with his really vicious behavior of stealing the money of the Afghan people who are starving to death, and declaring that he won’t help them, makes me sure that I will not vote for him.
    I’m in my 80s and still clear headed (certainly more so than Biden) and I remember what this world was like before Reagan and even earlier when the terrifying Dulles brothers came along and started teaching us to hate anything that might have a touch of socialism to it. We have had a hidden agenda of hating communism ever since WWII, and as a result lies have been told about Russia for the past 80 years saying that they are planning to invade Europe. That has never been the case; Stalin was not a nice person, but he didn’t have plans to invade Europe. If you were a Russian helot you should have been afraid of him because he wasn’t nice to them, but he had no plans for Europe, and neither did any of the other Premiers, but that’s for another discussion – our 80 year national hatred of Russia for no rational reason; and all our wars fought because some country had socialist ideas.
    That is why we fought in VietNam remember? Because they were going communist? That is why we went into all those South and Central American countries because they elected a liberal leader who wanted the profits from their oil or fruit or whatever to go to their people rather than America’s Esso or United Fruit Co. We took out their popular leader and put in a fascisr dictator in every case! We did that in Iran too – remember? We took out a slightly liberal leader who wanted to nationalize their oil to help his people and we put in the Shah who ruled with an iron hand for decades. That’s who Biden is, he is exactly for that sort of behavior – and I certainly will not be voting for him.

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    1. Thank You, Ranney for that thought-provoking comment.

      Especially the part about America’s Wars, Coups, and other Imperialist Adventures and Interventions since the end of World War II in Southeast Asia, Central and South America, and the Middle East. And don’t forget that we were already in Afghanistan all thru the 80s, while bankrolling our boy Saddam’s Holy War against Tehran at the same time.

      Or, as then-President Trump asked CNN’s Bill O’Reilly back on February 17, 2017 after O’Reilly called Russian President Putin “a killer”: “There are a lot of killers. You think our country’s so innocent?” [ https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/04/politics/donald-trump-vladimir-putin/index.html ]

      And Your wondering how and why so many people can support Trump is a Damn Fine Question. But couldn’t one ask the same question of all those people who support Biden, or the Clintons, or Obama, Sanders, or AOC, or any other politician currently on the scene or trying to make it to the national level?

      But i have to challenge You on one thing You said: “We have had A HIDDEN AGENDA of hating communism ever since WWII, and as a result lies have been told about Russia for the past 80 years saying that they are planning to invade Europe.” [EMPHASIS added.]

      Approaching my Sixty-Sixteenth birthday, i grew up in the 50s and 60s, and remember nothing “hidden” at all about America’s “hate” [or was it “fear”?] of communism. From the time i remember my parents talking about Joe McCarthy and his Hearings, thru the Bay of Pigs goatrope, and the 1962 Missile Crisis, there was nothing hidden at all about the fact that the USSR and European Communism were our existential, mortal Enemies, and wanted and intended to “Bury Us.”

      That’s what the Space and Nuclear Arms races and so-called “Wars of National Liberation” were all about, isn’t it?

      And until Vietnam got cranked up enough for people [primarily we Boomers] to start to get personally and collectively concerned about it, very few ~ if any ~ Americans did not buy into that existential threat posed by the Russians and the Warsaw Pact.

      The Soviet handling of dissatisfied East Germans and Hungarians in the 50s drove that idea home with a fury. And the end of the “Prague Spring” in Czechoslovakia in August, 1968 nailed it down for good.

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    2. …….”We have had a hidden agenda of hating communism ever since WWII, and as a result lies have been told about Russia for the past 80 years saying that they are planning to invade Europe”….. and speaking of telling lies about Russia in meantime, since World War II, during a supposed golden age of peace, the United States military has killed or helped kill some 20 million people, overthrown at least 36 governments, interfered in at least 85 foreign elections, attempted to assassinate over 50 foreign leaders, and dropped bombs on people in over 30 countries. And Russia has minded its own business.

      Liked by 1 person

  18. ARE WE LIVING UNDER A KAKISTOCRACY: GOVERNMENT BY THE WORST? If So, What Should We Do About It? by Dan Sanchez

    In 1787, as Benjamin Franklin left the final session of the Constitutional Convention, he was asked what form of government the delegates had given America. “A Republic,” he answered, “if you can keep it.”

    Spoiler alert: we didn’t.

    In 1963, Leonard Read warned Americans that “our once-upon-a-time Republic” was degenerating into something else; “we are headed into a kakistocracy,” he wrote. [ https://fee.org/articles/kakistocracy/ ]

    Kakistocracy means “government by the worst.” Read particularly liked James Russell Lowell’s definition: “a government… for the benefit of knaves at the cost of fools.”

    Looking at the state of America today, we seem to be subject to the kakistocracy Read foresaw.

    Those holding the highest offices tend to be venal, abusive, and incompetent in their official conduct, and are frequently revealed to be dissolute—sometimes heinous—in their personal lives.

    And the masses who foolishly elevated such people to power have paid dearly for it in lost liberty and tumbling living standards.

    So a government “for the benefit of knaves at the cost of fools” seems like an apt description for the state of the nation, as well as the world.

    Continued at https://fee.org/articles/are-we-living-under-a-kakistocracy-government-by-the-worst/

    Liked by 1 person

  20. And now – if I’ve read things correctly – these hearings are shutting down until September. In my old neighborhood, that would be called “P*ss-poor Timing.” Unless the Democrats surprise everyone (including themselves) with a strong showing in the mid-terms, what’s to keep a Republican majority from shutting down the whole kit and kaboodle before anything meaningful (that word again) gets done?
    I can already hear the Speaker of the House, “The voters have spoken … blah blah blah … what more could we have done?”

    Liked by 1 person

  21. SPEAKING OF JANUARY 6

    Whatever that was up on Capitol Hill on January 6 ~ and whatever role Trump played in it ~ it was not a “coup,” an “insurgency,” or an “insurrection,” no matter what the politicians, pundits, and other propagandists in SwampLand, the media, Tinseltown, or academia have tried to tell and sell us.

    It was trespassing, breaking and entering, assault on government employees, the invasion and destruction of public and private property, the disruption of public business, and the wasting of public officials’ and government employees’ time, effort, and energy, and of taxpayers’ money.

    Coups, insurgencies, and insurrections aren’t attempted by people carrying nothing but flags, signs, selfie-sticks, and smartfones, with hotel checkouts the next day at 11 am, and carpool, plane, train, or bus rides home.

    That was not an attempt to overthrow the government of the United States [which, to actually happen in the real world, would have to start at the Pentagon, the CIA, and/or the Federal Reserve].

    At this point, the whole “Save America March” ~ at least for the thousands who showed up to hear Trump’s speech and didn’t go on to Capitol Hill ~ was, rather, an attempt by a bunch of disgruntled American taxpayer/citizens to have some sort of impact on what they see happening to their country and to their and their children’s future.

    It was a chance for those “Disgruntleds” to let somebody ~ anybody ~ know how they feel about the next President and how he got there; much as there were massive anti-Trump marches the day after his inauguration back in 2017, and condemnations of the whole Electoral College system.

    Of the however many that then went to the Capitol, there were but a few hundred who actually attempted and made it into the building, and, of them, but a handful who actually made it into the Chamber or Congressional offices.

    And from the looks of many of those who got inside, they weren’t exactly sure of what they were doing other than wondering how they got there, and what they were supposed to be doing next, other than making sure that they captured it on their phone.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Well said. Much ado about nothing. It was a demonstration that got out of hand. Any attempt to make it more than that is just self-serving propaganda nonsense.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. I agree with you Jeff and Alex. This “insurrection” was a joke! People all over the World have got used to Hollywood, and saw this for what it was. A made for TV melodrama! That the Congress is spending millions of dollars “investigating” this is the tragedy here.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. I agree it wasn’t an organized coup or an insurrection. But it was more than a “joke” and a “demonstration.”

        I see it as a warning. A warning of how easily a coup attempt could come to America. Just imagine if Trump was actually organized, committed, and ruthless. Fortunately, Trump is disorganized, undisciplined, and often lazy.

        January 6th showed that America is less robust and stable than we think — and that’s no “joke.”

        Liked by 2 people

        1. @WJASTORE,
          I don’t agree Lt. Col.

          This fake made-for-TV melodrama would have been a big nothing-burger if the police had done their job.

          That January 6th showed that America is less robust and stable than we think is hyperbole….it merely showed that in their made-for-TV-world Americans love this overdramatic stuff – after years of watching Hollywood junk. They eat it up. Having never seen or been part of a real insurrection in their country.

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          1. When I was living in Italy I went for a tour of the Palazzo Montecitorio building in Rome, the seat of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Republic and the Seat of the Representative chamber of the Italian parliament.

            I did not escape my attention in that tour, that the police, or really guards, had their machine guns at the ready! The Italian people know what an insurrection is when they see one! Try pulling a fake insurrection in there. See if you came our alive!

            Liked by 1 person

          2. Without a doubt, the “coup” had farcical elements. But let’s not forget a woman was killed, and people were hurt, and Trump did nothing to defuse the situation for 3+ hours.

            Liked by 2 people

            1. If we had a rating scale for protests and civilian disobedience events in America history Lt. Col, then “one woman was killed, people were hurt, and the President did nothing to defuse the situation for 3-hours”, surely puts it at about 151st on the scale or lower. Like I said a big nothing-burger. And do I have it wrong that the fatality was a cop shooting a protester?

              Like

        2. Without a doubt, the media and DNC/Dems are overplaying and exaggerating the “coup.” But let’s be careful not to underplay it. I watched some of it unfold on the day in question, and it’s rather amazing the Capitol police lost control of the building for so long.

          As usual, however, the police were rewarded for their lack of preparedness here with more resources and more money.

          Liked by 1 person

    2. Well, it was a bit more than a “demonstration.”

      I think most of the protesters were just there to vent, but there were others who had more on their mind: they really thought they could “stop the steal” and a few did get violent.

      It didn’t help that some members of the Capitol police looked the other way or even took selfies with them!

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Exactly. The Capitol police, who were actually there, treated it like a demonstration. It was a cakewalk compared to BLM demonstrations, which are not the subject of any Congressional hearings. The Jan 6 hearings are just an attempt to propagandize the public. Personally I’m offended. Where in the Constitution does it say the purpose of the federal government is to propagandize the public? The same thing is happening as far as Ukraine/Russia for that matter. We need to toss out of government those politicians who look to Joseph Goebbels as some kind of hero and mentor.

        Liked by 2 people

      2. Let’s use our imaginations and picture the Capitol “demonstration” on January 6th with all the “demonstrators” being Black instead of white.

        Can we honestly say Trump, various Republican sympathizers, and the police would have had the same response?

        Being white carries privileges. For example, I can’t imagine a Black man being married three times and having five children with three different wives while bragging about grabbing pussy would ever be idolized and elected as president. But Trump was. Because he’s a rich white asshole and we’re used to guys just like him.

        Liked by 3 people

        1. Personally I’m more concerned with the Democratic Party and their slavish media propagandizing the public. Trumps marital record actually is not much different than that of a lot of people in Hollywood, for instance. Am I outraged about that? No, I am not. As for your question I do know that if the demonstrators had been black there would be no Congressional hearings being held, and certainly not lasting for 18 months. Other than that I don’t know what Trump thinks. I’ve never met the man and certainly never spent enough time with his to know what he might think. I don’t hold it against him that he’s rich and white. Lots of people are rich and white. Including the guy who owns the Washington Post, which invariably is critical of Trump for being rich and white.

          Liked by 2 people

        2. You’re missing or ignoring my point, Alex.

          Only a white guy could win the presidency with Trump’s personal record. That’s a form of white male privilege.

          Imagine a woman married three times having five kids by three husbands and bragging of grabbing peckers. Would she have a ghost of a chance of being elected?

          My point is that white people, and white men in particular, can get away with certain behaviors because society generally accepts it, even applauds it.

          The white protesters and Trump supporters were tolerated, even supported, by police exactly because they were white males and Trump supporters.

          Black “demonstrators” breaking into the Capitol, stealing objects, commandeering offices, and threatening Congressmen and -women would have met a much more violent response by police. I’m guessing no selfies and no barricades being removed for them. And a lot more casualties among the “demonstrators.”

          P.S. I’m not against Trump because he’s “rich and white.” I’m against him for all the reasons I’ve listed above and in other articles.

          Liked by 2 people

          1. Apparently the police didn’t expect the white (Trump) demonstrators to be violent which is why they were so at ease with them. It turns out they were right, I think. The demonstrators didn’t carry weapons and other than a demonstrator being shot by a cop there were no deaths. BLM demonstrations for instance turn more violent typically, at least that I can see from the TV news. As noted in the Jimmy Dore video that Dennis put up the police prepared for BLM demonstrations in a much different way. Not sure that’s a question of white privilege or a matter of the differences in expectations based on experience. I’m not obsessed with white privilege like a lot of the (white) news media is. It is what it is. It seems to me the media’s focus on white privilege is to make people angry so they can be more easily organized politically. It doesn’t seem to do anybody any good besides that. A lot of what the media preaches is directed toward hate. CNN and MSNBC should just have good old fashioned hate sessions like in “1984”. Put up a picture of Trump, for instance, and encourage their viewing audiences to chant “hate, hate, hate”. I would take a dim view of such doings but I think much of what they say distills down to that message.

            Like

            1. @ALEX, good post my man. Arguably its the media who should be on trial here. They stoked this fake insurrection more than Trump did!

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              1. I agree the media and the Democrats are playing it for all it’s worth and more.

                There are much more meaningful and important issues to address, but see Clif’s comment. It’s all about political advantage and providing an illusion that government is doing something.

                Liked by 2 people

                1. You have to admit it L. Col., weird things happen in America! People all around the globe look on and shake their heads in disbelief! Like when Jack Ruby shot Lee Oswald! What the…..how could this happen? And when a football star obviously killed his wife and friend and got away with it! What the…..how could this happen? And when a scruffy bunch of protestors in dress-up invaded the capital chambers and were not hindered by the police! What the…how could this happen? LOL. Only in America my friend!

                  Like

          2. Interesting. White demonstrators = non-violent. BLM demonstrators = violent.

            White privilege: calling attention to it makes people angry and hateful. So I guess we should ignore it and maybe it’ll go away?

            BTW, I’m not trying to make anyone angry or hateful by citing white privilege. I just want people to be aware of it. Because it’s real.

            Liked by 2 people

            1. The color of one’s skin won’t go away but yes people should ignore it and concentrate on the things that make one’s life better. Like getting an education and having loving families and obeying the law. Why spend your life being angry? Has that ever done anybody any good? Prisons are full of people who are angry. Why encourage others to join them?

              Liked by 1 person

              1. Yes ALEX, but something is surely wrong when the US has the highest number of its citizens per capita behind bars in the World, with a disproportionate number of them being blacks.

                Liked by 1 person

                1. The US has the highest number of prisoners per capita and we also have one of the higher levels of violent crime for the developed world, although the less developed world has rates that are far higher. Blacks are over-represented in the prison population just as blacks are over-represented in the population that commit and are convicted of committing violent crimes.

                  Liked by 2 people

  23. To highlight what a Consumer Society we’ve become when the Rioter’s got into the Capital Rotunda they started taking stuff as if it was a Souvenir Shop! What bothered me most other than the lives lost was that a Sister “Sky-Cop” Air Force Security Forces was gunned down after breaching the Core of the Capital…! I watched all of last nights CBS Special News, and was appalled all over again. There are more pressing things that are threatening our survival on this fragile oasis of a planet now to give this matter any further credence.

    Liked by 1 person

  25. Trump, that nasty narcissist spoilt brat pussy grabber, wanted to establish good relations with Russia, and get the US out of NATO.

    Joe Biden and his son were in bed with corrupt Ukrainian Oligarchs.

    “Before the war the U.S. was sending $300 million per year to Ukraine,” Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for International and Strategic Studies, told NPR. Now, we’re providing $100 million a day to what was until recently considered “the most corrupt nation in Europe.“

    https://by-julietbonnay.com/2022/03/exposed-hunter-and-joe-bidens-corrupt-dealings-in-ukraine/

    Liked by 1 person

  26. For the extent of the US involvement in the corrupt Ukrainian oligarchs games this makes for very depressing reading. One has to wonder if in Trump’s second term this would have been mitigated? Probably not. But I do believe that Trump would have been able to prevent the Ukraine/Russia war.

    “No one is asking these or any other important questions. Just as no one asked if it was odd when Zelensky stated that Russia would have to “kill all residents” in Ukraine’s capital to take it and get to him.

    That, seems the high price that the ‘servant of the people’ is willing to let Ukrainians pay; and one that Washington is happy to let Americans subsidize.”

    https://consortiumnews.com/2022/07/22/servant-of-the-corrupt/

    Liked by 1 person

  27. STATE DEPARTMENT BROKERS ALLIANCE IN DESTABILIZED REGION BY PROVIDING ARMS TO TEXAN WARLORDS

    WASHINGTON—Calling the arrangement necessary to achieve long-term success in the volatile region, State Department officials announced Wednesday that they had managed to broker a key alliance in the failed Southwestern state of Texas by providing arms to local warlords.

    “The lack of stable institutions has left innocent Texans devastated by constant power outages, horrific maternal mortality rates, and skyrocketing illiteracy—we don’t agree with these warlords on everything, but strengthening their hold on the area through strategic weapons shipments is frankly our best shot at bringing Texas some semblance of functioning governance,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who noted that while the State Department’s new allies undeniably held backward attitudes toward women and extreme religious beliefs, such views were sadly too commonplace in that part of the world to be avoided.

    “You have to understand that Texas has long been a lawless, violent place, where corrupt local police force residents to fend for themselves while maintaining a facade of order through frequent, oftentimes arbitrary executions. Sending these warlords Stinger missiles and towed artillery systems will let them fill that power vacuum in the places where they aren’t the de facto authority already, and once they consolidate their rule, we can use our influence to promote peace, better educational opportunities, and, perhaps one day, democracy.”

    Insisting that the government’s interests in Texas were purely humanitarian, Blinken dismissed allegations that the U.S. was only intervening to secure the region’s vast fossil fuel deposits.

    https://www.theonion.com/state-department-brokers-alliance-in-destabilized-regio-1849089093

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Simple explanation: he wanted to be part of a demonstration but when it got out of hand he left as fast as he could. That’s what reasonable people do. Interesting though that the Jan 6 committee has turned into a general anti-Republican broadcasting effort. Considering who’s in charge I guess it figures.

      Like

      1. “Reasonable” people. So “reasonable” people raise a fist in solidarity with protesters, then run away from those same protesters when they scare him.

        Your definition of “reasonable” is different than mine, Alex.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. I was involved in some demonstrations back in the Vietnam war days. I probably raised my arm, maybe even in a fist. But if the demonstrations had started to involve law-breaking I would have gone the other way. So that’s how I think of what Hawley did, based on what I would have done. Of course I also realize that NBC typically favors Democrats over Republicans and so they really don’t like someone like Hawley who might seem like an up and comer. It’s just media bias showing.

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          1. You’re like Hawley? A powerful politician who appeals to the mob with a raised fist, then runs away when the mob breaches his sanctum?

            Don’t insult yourself, Alex.

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            1. Well, whatever my view of Josh Hawley I’m certainly not going to get it from the Jan 6 committee. They’re just a bunch of pompous clowns. IMO.

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      2. I’ve gotta think your “simple explanation” is simply too simple. I can’t begin to get into Trump’s head — don’t even want to — but to intimate that Trump was/is a “reasonable (person)” is simply beyond the pale…in fact, from where I sit, aghast at it all (all = the fractured/dysfunctional/chaotic/tragic condition of US society [sic] today, increasing to the point of self-induced violent annihilation), every facet of the being , the essence, of that warped man-child is beyond the pale.

        (That’s not to write that all that Trump did was — IMO, mind you — knee-jerk wrong…e.g., cut back our involvement-cum-ditch NATO. Surely there’s a law of average that requires that even a blithering fool has to get something right on occasion….)

        Like

        1. @ROBERTHSTIVER
          “If President Trump is reelected (as I hope he will be), we can expect four more years of the same type of White House activity: more originalist judges, ongoing lower taxes and deregulation, continuing funding for a stronger military, further restrictions on abortion, more school choice, continued support for Israel, hundreds of additional miles of border wall, a humane and just solution to immigration, continuing protection of religious freedom and freedom of conscience, abundant safe energy production, continued protection against Islamic terrorism, a stronger NATO alliance, more free speech protections on college campuses, continued protection of separate boys and girls sports teams and locker rooms, more trade agreements that are fair to the United States, accelerated renewal of our aging infrastructure, unflinching resistance to Russian and Chinese aggressiveness, continued isolation of Iran and multilateral containment of their hostile expansionist ambitions, normalization of relations between Israel and other Arab nations, and further solutions to the problem of high drug prices.

          No doubt more beneficial actions could be added to this list, but these should be enough to justify another four good years with Donald Trump as president.

          So here is a question for my fellow Christians: If you believe (as I do) that God is sovereign over the affairs of nations, do you think that Donald Trump’s presidency has been evidence of divine blessing or divine judgment? I admit that perceiving divine purposes in human events is a task that cannot be proved with certainty one way or another, but when I look over this list of 30 actions, it appears to me to be far more characteristic of divine blessing than of divine judgment.”

          Wayne Grudem is Distinguished Research Professor of Theology and Biblical Studies at Phoenix Seminary in Arizona. August 2020

          https://townhall.com/columnists/waynegrudem/2020/08/24/30-good-things-president-trump-has-done-for-america-n2574849

          Phew – maybe we did escape a bullet with Sleepy Joe defeating the Donald! Only read Professor Grudems narrative of 30-good things that Trump did if you want to chuck up your breakfast!

          Liked by 1 person

          1. People who talk about people in power sometimes tend to insert their own desires into the other’s feelings and actions. Psychologists call it “transference”. I think it works both ways. I can insert into another person my hopes and desires and actions and then love them for it. Or, on the dark side, I can take the things I hate about myself, insert them into another person, and then hate that person because it’s safer than hating myself. Wait! Have I just defined Trump Derangement Syndrome? I should write a paper but it will probably be rejected for publication. NB – I’m not a psychologist, nor have I played one on TV. But I did take a course once a long time ago. So that should be enough!

            Like

  29. Jimmy Dore hits the nail on the head again.
    Make sure you send a donation to your favorite Democratic politician.
    Vote for us and we won’t do sh*t for you!

    Liked by 1 person

  30. Can you imagine Alex how Rand and Jimmy would bring down the house in the Presidential debates! People would be swooning for them , like young girls swoon(ed) for Mick Jagger!

    Like

  31. Say what you like about the Gipper, but Ronald Reagan in his prime was a formidable politician.
    Charismatic as hell – can you imagine Biden or Trump giving a speech like this? Not a chance.
    These modern politicians couldn’t hold a candle to Reagan.
    And ironically be would be regarded as a bit left today – the way all American politics has drifted to the right.

    Like

          1. Trump got his start to the White House as a reality-tv show host, not as a real estate mogul and expert at screwing investors via bankruptcy.

            Liked by 1 person

    2. Yeah. Reagan did a GREAT job in Afghanistan with ObL and Da Boyz against the Ruskies; in Iraq bankrolling our boy Saddam’s Holy War against the Great Satan in Tehran; and of course there’s Ollie North, the Contras, the CIA and Cocaine, and all that.

      But da man sure could talk.

      Liked by 1 person

    3. The Reagan Presidency effectively ended on March 30, 1981, when Bush The Elder assumed command after the assassination attempt. From that point on, Bozo was just reading more scripts and doing what he was told to do.

      Just like every President since, starting with Billy Bob, Cheney/Bush the Lesser, Obomber, The Donald, and now Comatose Joe.

      Liked by 1 person

  32. Gee, this sounds familiar. Anybody here ever hear of the “Military Assistance Command, Vietnam” created in February, 1962?

    LAWMAKERS WANT US MILITARY ADVISERS SENT TO UKRAINE
    US Military Advisers In Ukraine Would Help Coordinate Logistics, Not Fight On Front Lines

    Kyiv, Ukraine–The Biden administration should allow the Pentagon to deploy U.S. military advisers to Ukraine to help coordinate the billions of dollars of arms flowing into the country and to keep better tabs on the weapons, members of a bipartisan congressional delegation visiting Kyiv said Saturday.

    “I think we should do more,” Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., the first Green Beret elected to Congress, told Fox News after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

    “That said,” Waltz continued, “it should come with appropriate safeguards, with appropriate oversight and the only way we can get that oversight is to actually have some advisors in Ukraine helping their military with the planning and logistics.”

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/lawmakers-want-us-military-advisers-sent-ukraine

    Liked by 3 people

  33. Once again, The Lady Caitlin J nails it:

    WHEN THEY ANNOUNCE WW3 LET’S JUST SAY ‘NAH’ [Extracts] by Caitlin Johnstone

    All of human civilization is being organized around a “great power competition” between the US-centralized empire and the China/Russia/Iran bloc, and that “competition” stands to benefit ordinary humans in no way, shape or form. It will hurt all of us and help none of us.

    There’s no valid reason why powerful nations can’t simply work together toward their mutual benefit. But it would mean the US empire giving up its plans of total global domination, so it’s not even being considered.

    This conflict is slated to last throughout the 21st century, and it already has a massive body count. The war in Ukraine is a direct result of this “great power competition”, and the economic warfare between the empire and Russia will starve many more. This is a terrible thing.

    Our world is being steered toward a dark and dangerous path full of impoverishment, starvation and proxy warfare, and fraught with the possibility of nuclear exchanges. THEY’RE PLAYING GAMES WITH OUR LIVES, AND BECAUSE WE’VE BOUGHT INTO THE PROPAGANDA, WE’RE LETTING THEM.

    ONE OF THE MOST ASININE THINGS ABOUT US FOREIGN POLICY IS THAT THERE ARE REPUBLICAN WARS AND DEMOCRAT WARS. Republicans cheerlead more for escalations against China and Iran while Democrats cheerlead more against Russia and Syria. They each facilitate different imperial agendas; when Republicans were in power we saw the Iran deal shredded, when Democrats took power we saw the proxy war in Ukraine. WHEN I CRITICIZE US WARMONGERING AGAINST CHINA I GET REPUBLICAN MORONS YELLING AT ME AND WHEN I CRITICIZE US WARMONGERING AGAINST RUSSIA I GET DEMOCRAT MORONS.

    They each think their wars are better than the other side’s wars, but in reality the opposing sides are an illusion and it’s all the same unified agenda: the agenda of planetary domination. They’re just trained by propaganda to cheerlead more for different aspects of that agenda.

    THE PREVAILING WORLDVIEW OF OUR DAY WOULD HAVE YOU IGNORE THE UNEQUALED CRIMINALITY OF THE MOST POWERFUL GOVERNMENT ON EARTH TO FOCUS ON THE FAR LESSER CRIMINALITY OF GOVERNMENTS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE GLOBE.

    The more things heat up with the Russia/China/Iran bloc the more we’re going to find ourselves hammered with culture war wedge issue bullshit by the social engineers of the oligarchic empire so we don’t start asking inconvenient questions and making inconvenient demands. INCONVENIENT QUESTIONS LIKE “WHY ARE WE BEING IMPOVERISHED SO THAT YOU CAN WAGE A PROXY WAR IN UKRAINE THAT WE STAND NOTHING TO GAIN FROM?” AND INCONVENIENT DEMANDS LIKE “STOP ENDANGERING ALL OUR LIVES WITH NUCLEAR BRINKMANSHIP OR WE’LL FUCKING EAT YOU.”

    THE WORLD WILL NEVER KNOW PEACE AS LONG AS THERE ARE SYSTEMS IN PLACE WHICH FINANCIALLY INCENTIVIZE WAR. HOPING FOR PEACE WITHOUT OPPOSING THOSE SYSTEMS IS LIKE JUMPING OFF A CLIFF AND HOPING GRAVITY DOESN’T DO WHAT IT ALWAYS INEVITABLY DOES.

    [EMPHASES added.]

    https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/when-they-announce-ww3-lets-just

    Like

    2. Jeff, how is your cut-and-paste article written by an Aussie gal about why we are being impoverished so that we can wage a a proxy war in Ukraine that we stand nothing to gain from relevant to todays comment thread – which is about Trump and the January 6th Hearings? Am I missing something here my friend?

      Liked by 1 person

  34. “A Pennsylvania woman who entered the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot and later recorded herself saying she wanted to shoot House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “in the frigging brain” has been sentenced to 60 days behind bars.

    Carina Laguzzi, Bancroft’s attorney, told The Washington Post that incarceration for the misdemeanor charge of trespassing is “overly punitive,” especially for people with no criminal history.”

    https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/capitol-rioter-who-said-she-wanted-to-shoot-pelosi-is-headed-to-prison/

    Liked by 1 person

  35. “Dawn Lee Bancroft, 59, of Doylestown was also sentenced to three years probation and 100 hours of community service and ordered to pay a restitution of $500.

    Bancroft is among the 800-plus people who were arrested and charged with seizing the U.S. Capitol building to contest the presidential election results. Bancroft is among the almost 200 people who have been sentenced, while others await trials and work out plea agreements.”

    So justice is moving slowly eh? 200-people have been sentenced.

    Liked by 1 person

  36. Just a glimpse of what the American people think.
    How does that saying go about the scary thing about democracy is that everyone can vote?

    Liked by 1 person

    2. He wasn’t interviewing people. He was politicking in a challenging and obnoxious way. People were there for a rally. What the F was he doing interrupting their day and making fun of them – people he doesn’t even know? He’s a good example of the decline of political conversation in the US. I would have told him (politely) that I didn’t share his assumptions about what was important. And if he persisted I would have told him to FO. Thanks for the heads up about Jordan Klepper.

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  37. @ALEX,
    We used to buy our 4th July fireworks at the Puyallup Indian Reservation in Tacoma Wa. And illegal cigarettes. And Whiskey!

    Like

    1. Indian reservations are not in general subject to federal laws. Or state laws for that matter. But that is still in contention in some ways, especially as regards criminal jurisdiction. Meanwhile Indian lands have been sporting more and more casinos especially in states where such gambling is otherwise illegal.

      Liked by 1 person

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