Big money owns Trump, and Trump owns the House of Representatives...so the midterms are once again spotlighted as being of great importance to our Constitutional Republic.

One imagines, not a call to arms, but a call to disarm from the Catholic Church...a pleading to spare the lives of so many and look for avenues of peace.
One imagines hope, but truth be told, one is a little delusional this early in the morning, I am sure in a few hours, one will see that Trump and his dictatorship have hate and horror in mind.

Is the grift stealing oil for private interests or is it just more Trump/Epstein distraction that costs many lives, many of them American?

When I see opportunistic men and women with Black skin cheering on MAGA, I have to wonder at the power of greed. The main reason Trump won office was because he could steal the Republican Party by being more racist than the Bush family, and more willing to ally the white nationalist power vote with his future.

Never has "follow the money" been more important...They didn't get all that money by being great investors, they got it by, well, one things by methods so dark and dangerous to the rich and powerful that we probably will never actually find out who get their palms crossed, what bribes were paid...whatever.

So, it is ten years from now, and all American military might is AI connected, all can be fired and work independently, and someone hacks something, and our civilization is toast. People worry, perhaps with great cause, that the AI companies cannot be trusted, but hey, put all that power in the hands of a military led by another Hegseth...nightmare city.

This must have been as it was in Russia under Stalin...his underlings afraid to try and curtail his more murderous impulses, a nuclear power in the grasp of a very very dangerous man.

Fascinating how easily hate cloaks itself under pure white religious garb...has always, will always, and yet, for the discerning, there are wonderful people who believe, who take comfort and hope from their religion, and that is why I, an atheist, am so glad Talarico is running and hope he wins. His religion is no danger to those who see differently, he is an inspirational challenge to the far right.

Capitalism in its finest moment...as wild eyed wars break out and various stock markets head for the heights...oh wait, I meant, the Straits, as in dire.

All I can say is I am betting, friendly bet, that Trump resigns just after the midterms, if they go as badly as they promise at the moment, so that he can be pardoned by the new President, Rubio, who would be given the VP after Vance...well, takes the Alito seat?

Well, Trump needs a win, and Xi is brilliant enough to offer him one, though in the trade though might be the freedom of the people of Taiwan. Not sure why Xi would want a meeting with Trump, a man clearly on the downslope of cognitive decline and who no longer speaks with the backing of the American people.
Okay, maybe Xi is planning to give Trump a piece of idiotic golden something, to get him to preen and whatever.

As one who served in the Vietnam War after training in South/North Carolina in the Marines, I, for one, am glad Nancy is refusing to offer troops as sacrifices to Trump's greed for ...distraction?

Yeah but Putin's Russian coffers are bulging with profits..and Iran is actually making money selling its oil, thanks to Trump.

Interesting that both Putin and Trump use the same tactics and language to kill people and steal their land/oil. I have long past stopped wondering if Trump is a Russian agent...for he is clearly a Russian asset, and that is all that matters. The world should, in its quiet moments, steel itself for what is coming...Putin didn't leave, and one fears neither will Trump, not voluntarily, not without unleashing his brownshirts once again.

Come on, let's for once and all admit that Trump ran a deliberate campaign to somehow ally those who live to hate and those who value the rule of the jungle over the rule of law. Brilliant in that it was successful, insane in that it could only lead to what is happening, American fascism being on the march in the halls of Congress, and that means you, Republican Party.
No country should feel superior to America, they either fought their own civil war against the end point of capitalism, fascism, or they will one day. It is the end point of most capitalist cultures that the very few rule the great many using intimidation, hate, propaganda, distracting foreign wars...in short, Trumpist fascism.

Yup, we killed the rule of law and now all that remains is the law of the jungle, and unfortunately for the US, we have one wildly incompetent President leading us into that war.

Again, the transparency of the grift means that Trump has to 'retire' and let Vance replace Alito on the Supreme Court, so that Rubio can be VP and then President...thing Gerald Ford pardoning Nixon for any and all crimes, think Rubio trying to salvage the Republican Party 2028 elections by pardoning Trump and his grifting gang so there are no trials to remind Americans how idiotic MAGA was.

Small point needs to be made, when America murdered the rule of law for international relations, that meant that the rule of the jungle would take over, and that is insanity times ten.

Imagine for a minute that there really was such a thing as the rule of law involving sovereign nations...then the US President would be brought to The Hague to stand trial for murder on the high seas, in Venezuela, in Iran, and for the illegal boycott of Cuba.
But the Bush family killed the rule of law with their shock and awe campaigns to win something for somebody, probably for American big oil interests.
Without the rule of law, the rule of the jungle prevails and sooner or later...nuclear weapons of mass destruction make an appearance, and Israel has several hundred.

I have found that a true Christian is one I, an atheist, not need fear or hesitate to interact with...they have their faith and its responsibilities and the rest of the world has theirs. I wish Talarico well.

Oh yeah, I hope both Mattis and John Kelly have written memoirs detailing their first terms in Trump's insane White House, where they worked mightily to keep the Presidential fascist from killing demonstrators and starting wars. Not sure the Republican Party can be trusted with our American Constitutional Republic...they are too greedy and willing to take from the poor to give to the billionaires.

Big oil got us into the two Bush Iraq wars, into this Iranian war...and so on and so on, they see that all the oil under Middle East sand belongs to them...when the Iranians nationalized their own oil we murdered their democracy and installed the murderous Shah.

Now the murderers want to walk away from their murderous illegal, undeclared war, so they will claim victory and like Putin, will wait for another opportunity to kill and loot and steal land.
Epstein Trump...they must feel that threat is lessened.

Been one of the goals of the fascist element of the Republican Party for a long long time, to bankrupt America so the oligarchs could rule and FDRs safety net could be first, reduced, then torpedoed.

These are perilous times, no doubt about it...to speak the truth about the demented Russian asset in the White House is to lose one's job as a Republican Party, to lose one's freedom if in the military, and to lose one's mind, if one is a MAGA cult member.