It’s fascinating that in a time when our country is led by a man completely without character, General Stanley McChrystal, the man who led our special forces in the Afghan war, has written a book specifically about character. Even more interesting is that he looks past Trump when seeking the basis for the lack of this attribute in our society. According to McChrystal, it’s not a singular lack emanating from a failed leader, but an almost universal failing brought about by the acceptance of the misdeeds of those we follow in the media, and the willingness to accept their often despicable behavior as long as they remain faithful to the image that made them successful. That’s how we can elect a Donald Trump, a man almost totally without character, a man who, even when he does the right thing, does it the wrong way, for the wrong reasons.
But people don’t recognize that anymore because they are more often than not lacking in the intellectual clarity necessary to make moral decisions. It’s not one hundred percent, but it is so prevalent that a convicted criminal like Trump can be elected president simply because he has been able to create an image of power and leadership on a TV show that appealed to our baser instincts.
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Donald Trump has just returned from a trip to the Middle East where he was right for a change on about half the stuff he said and did. That’s almost miraculous for the fat loser, but you have to give credit where credit is due. He’s trying to get Putin and Zelenskyy together and actually threatening the treacherous Russian with added sanctions if he doesn’t participate. It’s about time but it’s as good as anyone has been able to do. His meetings with the Saudis, the Emiratis, and the rulers of Qatar have seemed to have worked out in that they have agreed to make significant investments in American manufacturing, including a trillion-dollar aluminum plant in Oklahoma. Unfortunately, this went hand in hand with our promise to supply them with weapons. Yes, that means additional jobs and profit to the weapons industry here but it’s never a good idea to supply weapons to anyone. Fortunately, none of those nations have much of a history of war lately.
After screwing up Obama’s nuclear treaty with the Iranians during his first shot at the presidency, Trump is back again trying to get them to drop all uranium enrichment … or face the threat of having their facilities bombed. This seemed like a good move as it will take Iran out of the fight in the Middle East and hopefully relegate them to bystander status, but then Israel jumped the shark by bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities and now we’re back to a warlike footage.
Trump even got involved in Gaza but this time not at the resort building level. He is pushing Netanyahu to allow free access to food and medical trucks for the starving children of that unfortunate land. The Israelis have been dragging their feet on this one, claiming that the trucks are carrying more than food and medicine, and they may be right, but that’s just something they have to deal with if they want to be considered any better than the Nazis they have been emulating.
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The Trump administration, in its zeal to get rid of South American immigrants, is contradicting the U.S. intelligence services’ opinion that TDA, the criminal gang, is being directed by the Venezuelan government and is therefore a terrorist organization.
Trump and his lackeys want to establish this so as to use an ancient law to send accused but untried Venezuelans to Salvadorian jails without due process.
The last time this happened was when the Bush/Cheney stumblebum mess ignored our intelligence community for their own reasons and invaded Iraq. That little blunder cost the lives of over 4,000 American service men and women. I wonder how many of our boys and girls the draft dodger in the White House is willing to sacrifice in order to illegally kick out a handful of Hispanics. Speaker Johnson tried to defend this move on Face the Nation, and Margaret Brennan had him ready to throw up his guts.
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Donald Trump’s pathetic attempt at a budget may actually lose the GOP majority. The problem seems to be that the Republicans don’t actually have a vision of what they want. The current mess will blow trillions of dollars out the window and sink us by means of interest on the debt. Republican Senator Ron Johnson claims we can cut almost a trillion off the budget simply by cleaning up all the sloppy corruption and eliminating the crooks who are grabbing their piece of the pie, but this, he claims, is not being addressed by those who are writing the bill or those who are trying to pass it.
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The recent Ukrainian drone attack that took out a reported 34% of Russia’s bomber fleet may have brought about a catastrophic change in the power dynamics of war as practiced by the current nations of the world.
When a small power like Ukraine can cripple the strategic aspect of an international power like Russia with something that resembles a Radio Shack kit, nothing is ever going to be the same. And it’s not just Russia that now has to look to its military models. America’s nuclear fleet is now no safer than anyone else’s.
Does this indicate a new way to conduct war, or will it turn out to be an easily stymied shot in the dark? No way to know yet but it sure looks like it could turn a few military heads. This kid’s toy just might alter the balance of power around the globe. Or it might give powerful militaries another weapon with which to enslave the weaker ones. I think the former, but that just might be wishful thinking.
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The US Institute of Peace, (USIP) is an American independent, nonprofit national institute funded by congress and tasked with promoting international peace and conflict resolution. It works to mitigate and resolve violent conflicts through research, policy analysis, education, and direct engagement in conflict zones. Sounds like something we need, right?
Well, Elon Musk didn’t think so, so one day last month the DOGE forces descended on USIP, and with the assistance of the FBI, national security forces, and private security contractors invaded their headquarters, forced all the workers into the streets after illegally firing them, and then proceeded to destroy all the organization’s files, records, and research. Next, DOGE, just like any other thief, stole all the organization’s funding and resources, thereby destroying an important tool in the world’s search for peace.
Of course, it didn’t stick. A federal judge immediately ruled that the entire operation was criminal, and that DOGE must rebuild the building, which they had almost destroyed, and that every single employee must be rehired. Eventually, the money required to do the building and records restoration will be paid by your taxes, so neither Trump nor his drug addicted buddy, Musk, will have to pay up, but let’s hope that stuff like this eventually brings them up against enough outraged citizens that they and the cowardly GOP are brought crashing down at the mid-terms.