... President Donald Trump took a shifting tone on the midterms on Wednesday, pointing out that even if Republicans lose control of the House, Senate, or both, he would remain the U.S. commander-in-chief. "I'm here whether we win this or not," he told reporters in Arizona and Montana. ..

Wow.

@#3 ... Funny thing about tyrants...they're fat fucking pussy-ass bitches. ..

Tyrants also seem to be quite unable to deal with criticism.

The appellation "thin-skinned" comes to mind.

Oh, wow.

@#6 ... All Republicants are gutless, mindless pussy-ass bitches. ...

Speaking of the Republicans currently in Congress, I'd tend to agree.

@#57 ... So no, it's not too early. ...

My concern is not about the timeframe.

My concern is about the overt confidence that the Democrats have seem to have been proffering about their ~odds~ of a Blue Wave.

If the Democrats are saying that to their supporters, how does that sound to their supporters?

Would ~we have this election~ comments motivate people to go and vote?

That is my concern. That is, is the apparent over-confidence of the Democrats going to work against them on Election Day?

@#55 ... Don't over think it!!!!! ...

I do not think that my comment over-thinks it.

All I am saying is that Election Day is a couple three weeks away.

And forecasting the future comes with downsides.

@#13 ... Again, I am not criticizing the candidate ...

... and if I were to venture into the Texas Senatorial race, my first comment might be along the lines of ...

AG Paxton? WTF were the Republicans thinking? Their choice seems to indicate a total lack of thought or morality.

In deep red Texas, the Republicans are scrambling to keep up.

Wow, just friggin' wow.

But I won't go there ...

@#10 ... He's been saying the same things for years ...

I do not disagree.

But of late, the comments seem to be more, I'll say, emphatic.

Again, I am not criticizing the candidate, but the campaign process that we have become accustomed to.

imo ...

MAGA to the Press ...

~You are not allowed to report the words we actually say. Just adore MAGA and become a part of the MAGA cult.~

Has anyone seen anything to the contrary?

Yeah, so Sen Massie wants Sec Def Hegseth to be fired before all of Sec Def Hegseth's apparent, I'll say, ~meanderings~ are subject to a formal judicial review?

Why might that be?

Why might Sen Massie want that to occur?

Sound familiar?

More from the article ...

... On Wednesday morning, the live broadcast was halted, Halk TV's headquarters in the city of Istanbul were searched, and a new administrator was appointed by the government to run the media outlet. An arrest warrant was issued for the station's CEO, Cafer Mahiroglu, who currently lives in London. According to prosecutors, 11 people were arrested.

Turkey has faced criticism for years over restrictions on press freedom. Halk TV is one of the country's best-known opposition television stations and regularly broadcasts critical reports about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP). After the raid, journalists were initially prevented from entering the building. Pre-recorded programs were broadcast instead of live reports.

The timing is particularly sensitive: Halk TV was raided on the very day that jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem mamoglu was scheduled to begin his defense against corruption charges in court. The channel has been an important source of information for those following the trial.

Imamoglu, who won the mayoral election in Istanbul in 2019 and remained in office until his arrest on March 19, 2025, is one of Erdogan's most significant rivals, considered a beacon of hope for the opposition. He is still expected to run for president in 2028.

He is accused of establishing and running a criminal organization, as well as of various related financial crimes. Prosecutors are seeking a prison term of 2,352 years related to 142 charges. Imamoglu denies the allegations, arguing that the case is politically motivated. ...

@#3 ... They're take ..

So, there is an intentional bias in their reporting?

@#8 ... Which is better than it has been for, as I said, literally decades. ...

I do not disagree.

... What's 'fluff' to you is something average everyday Texans haven't been hearing in a very long time. ...

I called it "fluff" because it seems to be raised with such gravitas only in this late stage of the campaign.

I am commenting upon the tactics of campaigning, not the candidate.

And I have seen similar tactics time and time again across the decades.

Is there a better way for the US to put people into office, besides money-backed candidates and ads?

Yeah, the answer to that question may be a whole different thread ...

@#2 ... "Too much winning!! ...

yeah.

Someone may want to enlighten Pres Trump of the deeds that should be performed in order to even be considered for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Hint: for starters, maybe learn to spell it correctly when you post about it on social media?

... Missiles have rained down on Moscow in a massive Ukrainian attack targeting the city, explosions and fires have been reported in several locations in the city's southwestern and eastern regions. ...

What is the date the vid speaks of?

@#6 ... They are apparently important enough to resonate with voters in a state that's been Red for decades now. ...

While I do not disagree, the ultimate decision of that resonance will be on Election Day.

So ... Pres Trump, again,seems to have misrepresented an agreement he said he had, but did not have?

Why does he seem to have the need to prevaricate so much in order to boost himself?

@#4

As I said, late-stage campaign fluff.

:)

... Henkel previously worked in IT security for the Air Force and one day in the early 2000s saw a practice that just wouldn't fly today ...

Yeah.

Today, we have the Secretary of Defense go on to a public social media site and apparently provide quite specific details of a US Military mission.

At this point in the campaign, his comments are little more than fluff.

They seem to be based more upon the current day-to-day conditions than any manner of a longer-term strategy.

And not just him, but all the candidates at this point, two and a half weeks before election day.

The problem they seem to be facing is that the voters may have already decided.

Not only who they might vote for, but whether or not they may even vote.

Will the Republicans or the Democrats encourage more of their supporters to actually go to the polls?

That's the current question I wish I knew.

And the polls to not seem to reflect that aspect ...

Wow.

More from the article ...

... "They would write a CD, and then they would take that CD and then put it in a classified system and do the remainder of the mission planning," Henkel told us. "Then they would take that disc and then put it in the airplane."

Inside the airplane, the data on the CD would help the pilot navigate and contain information about threats they might encounter.

Later, when thumb drives became a thing, pilots used them instead of discs.

"They didn't really think about the overall impact of classified versus unclassified systems," Henkel said of the pilots. "Using the same device for both, they didn't understand that you could read and write onto a USB drive with malware. [They were] not really understanding the overall threat picture."

According to Henkel, Air Force personnel would buy their flash drives from local vendors rather than sourcing them from official military contractors. If they were in Afghanistan, those drives could literally come from a store in Kabul. And it wasn't exactly the equivalent of Best Buy. ...

"It was more difficult to bring a US-based computer into the nation than it was just to buy local," he said. "So they were just going out into the local market in Kabul or whatever city that they were out [in]. And I used to do this: go out, make relationships with the local vendors. Hey I need 100 USB sticks.'"

Unfortunately, enemies of the US noticed and soon started selling infected USB drives to local vendors in the Middle East.

Henkel knew that using a sneakernet with classified systems was a recipe for disaster. It's just that no one would listen to him.

"It was just a shock," he told us. "I was a young 22-year-old guy, very junior in the overall rank system, trying to tell colonels and majors that what they're doing is a violation.

In 2008, the US Department of Defense was infected by malware after somebody attached an infected USB flash drive to a laptop with access to US Central Command. The worm, dubbed Agent.BTZ, could collect information from infected computers and communicate with remote servers. A 2016 report from the FBI and DHS attributed the malware to one or more Russian groups. ...

Pres Trump, at his campaign rallies, often talks about sending your son to school and then, when he comes home, he is your daughter.

But what has Pres Trump said about giving your child a hug in the morning and then waving to them as the school bus drives away, and having that child coming back in a coffin?

Mr Musk is enjoying Pres Trump's multi-trillion tax cut for billionaires, while working Americans suffer and strive to put food on the table.

Why is it a surprise that billionaires want more of the same from the Republicans they seem to own?

And then there is the apparent inheritocracy that looks to be developing...

@#53 ... Democrats are weak and republicans know it. ...

Not necessarily weak, but more unable to come together for a common goal.

... The Supreme Court is in Trump's pocket. ...

Yup.

... Congress is non existent. ...

Congress is not non-existent. Congress still exists.

However ...

The Republicans in Congress have traded their "separate branch of government" responsibilities for untethered adulation of Pres Trump.

And the Republicans in Congress seem to agree with Pres Trump's assertions ...

Pres Trump - April 13, 2020
"When somebody's the president of the U.S., the authority is total, and that's the way it's gotta be."

Related ...

More from the poll ...

... Most Americans say President Trump has prioritized his personal financial interests and the interests of people close to him since taking office again in 2025. Far fewer say he has prioritized the country as a whole or people like them. Four in 10 believe he has done something illegal and another 18% see his actions as unethical but not illegal, though views diverge sharply by party.

More adults see Trump as focused on his own business interests and those of his inner circle than on the country as a whole or people like them. A majority, 56%, say Trump has prioritized his personal business interests "a lot," and 54% say the same about the business interests of his friends and family. By comparison, only 23% say he has prioritized the country overall "a lot," and just 11% say he has prioritized people like them "a lot." Half of Americans say Trump has not prioritized people like them at all.

Democrats and independents overwhelmingly say Trump has prioritized his own business interests and those of his friends and family "a lot" or "some," and about half of Republicans agree. Republicans are much more likely than Democrats or independents to say the president has prioritized the country overall or people like them. ...