It won’t matter what Hegseth *says* during his confirmation. SCOTUS has taught us that - once confirmed - he/they can and will promptly change their tune and do whatever they want. And no one will do anything to stop it.
Frankly, that is starting to look like a good solution. For the entire West Coast, the East Coast down at least through Pennsylvania, and the blue border states in between the two coasts.
Not gonna happen. What American will freely give up their firearms? It is definitely not considered a basic 'right' to own firearms here, and I hope it never will be.
Many of the "blue" states (including NJ, where I live) take the "well regulated" part of 2A seriously - and would do even more if we hadn't been blocked by the extreme court.
Interesting. In a State that has more registered Democrats than Republicans, and votes for Republicans, makes me think that some of these, "Democrats" are still in the 1950s! I guess that at some point these, "Dixiecrats" will die out.
Don't blame you. He is a profound idiot and many of us here are embarrassed by everything he says and does, not to mention scared of him and co-president Musk, and Vance.
He wants to be a dictator. He worships dictators and sees them as the ultimate human beings. He's also a giant man-child who can't handle being denied what he wants.
Buy me, Muskrat!! My price is 1.5 Billion. Now, if every man, woman, and child asked for the same buyout price, it would deplete his accounts, and he would no longer have the funds to keep the man-child in his folds. We all win.
Just got off the phone with a friend who was born in Mexico, been here for 45 years and became a citizen years ago. He said that the rest of the World must be thinking that Americans are dumb as shit. I told him that it was only 49.9 % are dumb as shit. I think he is right, though. The rest of the World really do think we are dumb as shit.
Formally? The entirety of the United States should be acknowledged as the rightful property of the Native Americans, and we should be paying rent/property taxes to them for the use of their land.
Check out today's piece by Foul-mouthed Jeff Tiedrich: Musk lost a bundle when Houthis shut down Red Sea shipping. He wants to control sea lanes, not just existing ones (Panama Canal) but also future ones (Arctic Ocean) and rival ones (Mexico's proposed high volume freight railway connecting the Caribbean and the Pacific.) The bombast is all part of the grift: When we're clutching our pearls we are less likely to notice he's robbing us blind.
I do, too. His analysis is spot on. Sadly, many people who would be supportive of his p.o.v. can't get past the F-bombs. Their loss but there really isn't an alternative. Back in the day Eric Boehlert provided equally astute press coverage. His untimely death in 2022 was a real blow.
Trust me, you are providing a valuable service, but have in no way relieved my anxiety and uncertainty. Nevertheless, please continue shining your light under all of the rocks in the Trumpian swamp.
I cannot promise that my reporting will relieve anxiety. But it can help develop readers’ understanding of what is going on, and that can often lead to a sense that we can defeat the menace to our system and our democracy. That is the difference between falling into DIStress or training ourselves to hand EUstress.
YES!! I use it as a search engine. When I find something I need, I find who the maker is, then find THEIR website!! I pay a little more, mostly shipping, but it makes me feel SO good!
I did years ago and I never by from Amazon anymore. As best as I can remember, I only ever did twice when I had no choice. Nowadays I'd rather go without.
Let's also extend our heartfelt apologies to Canada, whose report on foreign election interference due for release next month may shed light upon similar U.S.-focused chicanery.
As to Trump's motives, it could be stated that only his shadow knows, but that begs the question as to whether he in fact has a shadow.
When I first heard about Trump’s threats against Panama, my immediate thought was that Jeff Bezos has just been to mar-a-Lago. Even before I thought of the Muskrat and his shipping needs, I thought of Amazon. I know relatively little about the routes Amazon uses to ship internationally but I still wonder.
Nope, it was written by Elmo using language used in South Africa rather than in the USA. Tesla need to be shipped using the canal. I can't wait for the day when he OD's himself.
Yeah, it saw an analysis of the language used and how it matched what the Muskrat says, but it doesn’t have to come from only one source. I’m assuming Amazon also ships a lot of stuff through the Panama Canal. Even though so far as I know they are at best cordial enemies they could both have an interest in the canal.
Trump (and the ones who put him there) has fantasies of owning all North and Central America.
But more interesting: Own Greenland, and you probably control the emerging Arctic sea lanes (https://www.thearcticinstitute.org/geopolitical-implications-arctic-shipping-lanes/). An alliance with Saudi, which is strategically positioned to control traffic from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, plus owning the Panama Canal, would seem to provide immense leverage over a huge majority of global shipping. I'm no expert, clearly (I looked at a map for 3 minutes), but a fascism-minded, power-hungry megalomaniac would probably think this way.
yep, and Musk is thinking that way. I wouldn't doubt he is whispering in Trump's ear a lot...and Trump is in cognitive failure and thus easy to influence. All one has to do is to praise him (narcissists thrive on being praised) and he'll do whatever the praiser wants. Putin knows this, too.
Let's just imagine Trump has Hitleresque delusions of grandeur and decides that along with invading Mexico, he could annex Canada, and then move south from Mexico until he gets to Panama. He could own the whole of North America! He's too lazy (and stupid) to make any logistical calculations but there are a lot of hangers-on who would love to provide influence and lots of flattery to encourage him. It could be a real mess.
Ah, but there’s more. Trump seizing Greenland enables him to shutdown the SOSUS operations in the western North Atlantic part of the Greenland-Iceland-UK (GIUK) gap which in turn grants Putin’s nuclear armed submarines unmonitored access to the eastern coast of the US and points south. Trump could take it a step farther and lease the operating stations to Putin. After all, Trump owes Putin big time for the Russian assistance to all those election campaigns.
But it doesn’t stop there. Presuming the Danes resist the incursion into their territory, the paradigm for which is The Ukraine, this fractures NATO thereby placing Europe in a vise between Putin and collaborateur Trump. I speculate that Europe would capitulate and that Poland, Germany and France would be occupied by Putin shortly thereafter. If Europe resisted, Putin would be able to order Trump to nuke all the major European capitals, nuclear capabilities, and major cities which Trump had our nuclear forces retarget away from Russian assets. That has the collateral effect of depleting our strategic arms relative to Putin’s.
We’re still not done. Putin might consider a collaboration with Xi much in the spirit of the early WWII pact between Hitler and Stalin. This could enable another vise move against Japan with pressure coming from Putin, Xi and collaborateurs Trump or Musk who has substantial manufacturing interests in China. I’m just not sure who Musk thinks he’s going to sell cars to unless it’s the array of oligarchs amongst the new axis
In the thick of all this is my concern that our military would be obeying illegal orders, which, of course, is why TFG wants to broom out any of the top brass who won't lie supine before him. A US invasion of a sovereign nation or one with whom we have treaties would be illegal, and any military compliance would signal the absolute undeniable end of democracy.
One of the things trump does is create controversy as a distraction. If we're all talking about this and Liz Cheney on January 20th maybe we're too busy to pay attention to his first day of dictatorship. Maybe we miss him pardoning the January 6th traitors. Maybe we miss him removing regulations protecting our air and water. He can't wait to show us how powerful he is. Fucker.
JD Vance is already keeping a list of Trump’s insane antics and will have no problem taking the presidency away from him at this rate. This is the unwritten plan of Project 2025.
This was always the elephant in the room. JD Vance is wicked smart. The minute the Republican machinery moved him into the starting gate as VP, I didn't have to wait for the bell and gates to fly open to know what would happen at the finish line. We've seen this movie before, starring senators, Act 3, Scene 1 Julius Caesar. Turns to his trusted sidekick and says "Et tu, Brute?" "History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes"--Mark Twain
Q: If a vice president assumes the presidency, who becomes vice president?
A: The new president appoints someone to fill his or her old position, subject to congressional approval.
Who that might be? It can't be Muskie because Muskie was not an American-born critter. Who will be Sneaker Of The House by then? Not Holy Mike, who won't last that long.
If it were not an actual threat made by a man whose judgment borders on the definition of criminally insane, I would find the Trump - Greenland saga uproriously funny. Let's see: He says we need to own Greenland; he implies that we should take it by military action if necessary; which means we would go to war with Denmatk, a NATO country. So,under the terms of NATO membership America would have to go to war with itself. Is there sometning wrong with this picture? UH, yes. Is there something wrong with Trump? Same answer.
We are already at war with ourself. The Greenland or America or Panama conundrum should drive Hegseth to drink. (Okay, okay, not a far distance, I know.)
Whenever Trump opens his mouth we should not just wonder about what he is saying but who is behind it because it's almost never a thought originating from him.
He has never had an original thought in his life and only responds to information given to him in the most ignorant, knee-jerk way.
Trump knows nothing about Greenland or Panama.
He couldn't point them out on a map if they were labeled with big Sharpie arrows pointing to them.
Somebody put a bug in his ear about Greenland and Panama.
The easiest way to get Trump riled up is to claim someone is cheating him.
Somebody who would greatly benefit from this is behind this.
The tiny tyrant is flexing. The worrisome part of this is who might be poised to help his previously impotent flexing become more than bluster and self-important rambling.
It won’t matter what Hegseth *says* during his confirmation. SCOTUS has taught us that - once confirmed - he/they can and will promptly change their tune and do whatever they want. And no one will do anything to stop it.
The extreme Court 'confirmation' 'hearings' prove you are exactly correct. Then with their outrageous 'immunity' horse pucky, they've guaranteed it.
This whole thing is now, literally, out of control. Nobody is flying the plane.
You’re assuming that he’ll say that he wouldn’t go along with an order by Trump to attack an ally. But I’m not so sure he’d say that at this point.
Even scarier. Because I’m not sure his saying he would attack ally, would prevent his being confirmed! We’re living in the upside down.
And I’m honored you replied to comment!
AGREED! (And yes, all in caps)
Yup. He'll lie. The idiots who vote to confirm for him will pretend like they didn't know he lied. Blah-blah-blah....
We here in the top half of North America are pretty annoyed too. 51st state my a**!
Meanwhile, how does Canada feel about annexing blue border states?
Frankly, that is starting to look like a good solution. For the entire West Coast, the East Coast down at least through Pennsylvania, and the blue border states in between the two coasts.
MD and at least northern VA would like to join too 🙏
For that matter, Washington DC itself would probably want to join. Awkward! 😛
maybe the Aloha State as well ?
Not gonna happen. What American will freely give up their firearms? It is definitely not considered a basic 'right' to own firearms here, and I hope it never will be.
Many of the "blue" states (including NJ, where I live) take the "well regulated" part of 2A seriously - and would do even more if we hadn't been blocked by the extreme court.
Count me in!!! Is NC far enough north? (I know it’s not blue).😪
Interesting. In a State that has more registered Democrats than Republicans, and votes for Republicans, makes me think that some of these, "Democrats" are still in the 1950s! I guess that at some point these, "Dixiecrats" will die out.
I'm a big fan of Canada, and I am so ashamed every time I hear our lawless president-elect trolling your country and its prime minister. I apologize.
Don't blame you. He is a profound idiot and many of us here are embarrassed by everything he says and does, not to mention scared of him and co-president Musk, and Vance.
Apologies to the world for the orange menace. Greenland, Panama, and many parts of America should be returned to the native population. Land back!
On November 5, Americans chose:
Lies over truth,
Ignorance over knowledge,
Chaos over order,
Malice over good will,
Division over unity,
Cowardice over courage,
Sleaze over character,
The criminal over the law,
And billionaires over ordinary people.
Proud to be a liberal woman, more than ever!
Proud to wear this totally unhinged radical liberal t-shirt in front of Republicans 👇
https://libtees-2.creator-spring.com/listing/radlib
Trump wants to make the government NO longer functional!
The Press fails to ask GOP leaders:
When did dishonor, dishonesty, disrespect become Republican virtues?
He wants to be a dictator. He worships dictators and sees them as the ultimate human beings. He's also a giant man-child who can't handle being denied what he wants.
Of course he does.
If he can neutralize our government he will be one step closer to the dictatorship he so eagerly seeks.
Maybe Muskrat will simply buy America for him.
Didn't he already do that?
Buy me, Muskrat!! My price is 1.5 Billion. Now, if every man, woman, and child asked for the same buyout price, it would deplete his accounts, and he would no longer have the funds to keep the man-child in his folds. We all win.
Just got off the phone with a friend who was born in Mexico, been here for 45 years and became a citizen years ago. He said that the rest of the World must be thinking that Americans are dumb as shit. I told him that it was only 49.9 % are dumb as shit. I think he is right, though. The rest of the World really do think we are dumb as shit.
Formally? The entirety of the United States should be acknowledged as the rightful property of the Native Americans, and we should be paying rent/property taxes to them for the use of their land.
@Public Servant, if only.
Check out today's piece by Foul-mouthed Jeff Tiedrich: Musk lost a bundle when Houthis shut down Red Sea shipping. He wants to control sea lanes, not just existing ones (Panama Canal) but also future ones (Arctic Ocean) and rival ones (Mexico's proposed high volume freight railway connecting the Caribbean and the Pacific.) The bombast is all part of the grift: When we're clutching our pearls we are less likely to notice he's robbing us blind.
yep, Musk sure in in it for himself. He's building Tesla manufacturing sites in China. He wants worldwide control, it seems. Power is what he's after.
And AI facilities.
A lot of us love foulmouth Jeff
I do, too. His analysis is spot on. Sadly, many people who would be supportive of his p.o.v. can't get past the F-bombs. Their loss but there really isn't an alternative. Back in the day Eric Boehlert provided equally astute press coverage. His untimely death in 2022 was a real blow.
re: Naomi Klein, "The Shock Doctrine".
I came here to offer the same: https://open.substack.com/pub/jefftiedrich/p/oh-look-elderly-golfer-is-a-geopolitical?r=750po&utm_medium=ios
We need to shout from every rooftop.
Trust me, you are providing a valuable service, but have in no way relieved my anxiety and uncertainty. Nevertheless, please continue shining your light under all of the rocks in the Trumpian swamp.
I cannot promise that my reporting will relieve anxiety. But it can help develop readers’ understanding of what is going on, and that can often lead to a sense that we can defeat the menace to our system and our democracy. That is the difference between falling into DIStress or training ourselves to hand EUstress.
"eustress" - nice word. Thanks for that.
Trump induced endorphins? Watching him do a prep walk would do the trick.
Cancel your Prime membership! Stop buying crap you don’t need. My kids and I love thrifting. I get rescued produce and am mostly vegetarian.
YES!! I use it as a search engine. When I find something I need, I find who the maker is, then find THEIR website!! I pay a little more, mostly shipping, but it makes me feel SO good!
I did years ago and I never by from Amazon anymore. As best as I can remember, I only ever did twice when I had no choice. Nowadays I'd rather go without.
Let's also extend our heartfelt apologies to Canada, whose report on foreign election interference due for release next month may shed light upon similar U.S.-focused chicanery.
As to Trump's motives, it could be stated that only his shadow knows, but that begs the question as to whether he in fact has a shadow.
Or a reflection.
Thanks Mia for remembering us and the foreign election interference report. Can't wait for THAT to drop.
When I first heard about Trump’s threats against Panama, my immediate thought was that Jeff Bezos has just been to mar-a-Lago. Even before I thought of the Muskrat and his shipping needs, I thought of Amazon. I know relatively little about the routes Amazon uses to ship internationally but I still wonder.
Nope, it was written by Elmo using language used in South Africa rather than in the USA. Tesla need to be shipped using the canal. I can't wait for the day when he OD's himself.
Yeah, it saw an analysis of the language used and how it matched what the Muskrat says, but it doesn’t have to come from only one source. I’m assuming Amazon also ships a lot of stuff through the Panama Canal. Even though so far as I know they are at best cordial enemies they could both have an interest in the canal.
I think Bezos is a bit busy with his wedding to the botox horrifica.
Good point!
Trump (and the ones who put him there) has fantasies of owning all North and Central America.
But more interesting: Own Greenland, and you probably control the emerging Arctic sea lanes (https://www.thearcticinstitute.org/geopolitical-implications-arctic-shipping-lanes/). An alliance with Saudi, which is strategically positioned to control traffic from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, plus owning the Panama Canal, would seem to provide immense leverage over a huge majority of global shipping. I'm no expert, clearly (I looked at a map for 3 minutes), but a fascism-minded, power-hungry megalomaniac would probably think this way.
yep, and Musk is thinking that way. I wouldn't doubt he is whispering in Trump's ear a lot...and Trump is in cognitive failure and thus easy to influence. All one has to do is to praise him (narcissists thrive on being praised) and he'll do whatever the praiser wants. Putin knows this, too.
Let's just imagine Trump has Hitleresque delusions of grandeur and decides that along with invading Mexico, he could annex Canada, and then move south from Mexico until he gets to Panama. He could own the whole of North America! He's too lazy (and stupid) to make any logistical calculations but there are a lot of hangers-on who would love to provide influence and lots of flattery to encourage him. It could be a real mess.
Ah, but there’s more. Trump seizing Greenland enables him to shutdown the SOSUS operations in the western North Atlantic part of the Greenland-Iceland-UK (GIUK) gap which in turn grants Putin’s nuclear armed submarines unmonitored access to the eastern coast of the US and points south. Trump could take it a step farther and lease the operating stations to Putin. After all, Trump owes Putin big time for the Russian assistance to all those election campaigns.
But it doesn’t stop there. Presuming the Danes resist the incursion into their territory, the paradigm for which is The Ukraine, this fractures NATO thereby placing Europe in a vise between Putin and collaborateur Trump. I speculate that Europe would capitulate and that Poland, Germany and France would be occupied by Putin shortly thereafter. If Europe resisted, Putin would be able to order Trump to nuke all the major European capitals, nuclear capabilities, and major cities which Trump had our nuclear forces retarget away from Russian assets. That has the collateral effect of depleting our strategic arms relative to Putin’s.
We’re still not done. Putin might consider a collaboration with Xi much in the spirit of the early WWII pact between Hitler and Stalin. This could enable another vise move against Japan with pressure coming from Putin, Xi and collaborateurs Trump or Musk who has substantial manufacturing interests in China. I’m just not sure who Musk thinks he’s going to sell cars to unless it’s the array of oligarchs amongst the new axis
In the thick of all this is my concern that our military would be obeying illegal orders, which, of course, is why TFG wants to broom out any of the top brass who won't lie supine before him. A US invasion of a sovereign nation or one with whom we have treaties would be illegal, and any military compliance would signal the absolute undeniable end of democracy.
um... wow... are you writing a Netflix screenplay? lol
One of the things trump does is create controversy as a distraction. If we're all talking about this and Liz Cheney on January 20th maybe we're too busy to pay attention to his first day of dictatorship. Maybe we miss him pardoning the January 6th traitors. Maybe we miss him removing regulations protecting our air and water. He can't wait to show us how powerful he is. Fucker.
Part of our responsibility is to draw attention to where it is needed and when. We will need to walk, chew gum, and punch Nazis at the same time.
Very well stated.
JD Vance is already keeping a list of Trump’s insane antics and will have no problem taking the presidency away from him at this rate. This is the unwritten plan of Project 2025.
This was always the elephant in the room. JD Vance is wicked smart. The minute the Republican machinery moved him into the starting gate as VP, I didn't have to wait for the bell and gates to fly open to know what would happen at the finish line. We've seen this movie before, starring senators, Act 3, Scene 1 Julius Caesar. Turns to his trusted sidekick and says "Et tu, Brute?" "History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes"--Mark Twain
Q: If a vice president assumes the presidency, who becomes vice president?
A: The new president appoints someone to fill his or her old position, subject to congressional approval.
Who that might be? It can't be Muskie because Muskie was not an American-born critter. Who will be Sneaker Of The House by then? Not Holy Mike, who won't last that long.
If Vance chooses March 12th to take over, Tumblr will lose it.
(The Ides of March is strangely popular there, it's hilarious.)
The Ides are on the 15th.
However, it is worth reading up on this guy (Curtis Yarvin) whom Musk, Bannon, and JD Vance have often said influenced them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Yarvin
Also, this is a must read: https://substack.com/inbox/post/153487494
Thank you, Christina. The 15th was my next comment.
Rachel Maddow did a blurb on Yarvin. He is VERY frightening. He says we have to stop being so "monarch-averse."
I’ve thought this all along too. Trump only needs to step out of line once!
The froth on top of the sewage is spreading.
Clear the swamp to create a cesspool 💩
If it were not an actual threat made by a man whose judgment borders on the definition of criminally insane, I would find the Trump - Greenland saga uproriously funny. Let's see: He says we need to own Greenland; he implies that we should take it by military action if necessary; which means we would go to war with Denmatk, a NATO country. So,under the terms of NATO membership America would have to go to war with itself. Is there sometning wrong with this picture? UH, yes. Is there something wrong with Trump? Same answer.
We are already at war with ourself. The Greenland or America or Panama conundrum should drive Hegseth to drink. (Okay, okay, not a far distance, I know.)
Whenever Trump opens his mouth we should not just wonder about what he is saying but who is behind it because it's almost never a thought originating from him.
He has never had an original thought in his life and only responds to information given to him in the most ignorant, knee-jerk way.
Trump knows nothing about Greenland or Panama.
He couldn't point them out on a map if they were labeled with big Sharpie arrows pointing to them.
Somebody put a bug in his ear about Greenland and Panama.
The easiest way to get Trump riled up is to claim someone is cheating him.
Somebody who would greatly benefit from this is behind this.
Leon Musk has always been a lousy supervisor. His lack of attention to detail is showing.
...and a lack of understanding and caring about the humans who are impacted by his quirky edicts.
The tiny tyrant is flexing. The worrisome part of this is who might be poised to help his previously impotent flexing become more than bluster and self-important rambling.