It is the worst of illusions, the one that says that cutthroat capitalism will work things out for everyone, as it chases a profit. In fact, what does happen, is that great sums of wealth accumulate in fewer and fewer hands, in huge corporate boardrooms, and then the country's output is devoted to the welfare of the rich. So taking from the poor to give to the rich is seen as a good thing, efficiency and all that.
We need national health care, and we need it now.

I am sure I am not the only person who watched that yes, deranged, speech and thought "The man in charge of leading America in time of war, in time of economic collapse, this person who is our leader, is in full dementia'. He insulted the entire world, just because he has a personal "red spot" storm in the middle of his brain, one that reminds him that he is unloved and unwanted and incompetent, so he lashes out at everyone when given the chance.

What happens when you elect, hire, an out and out fascist to run your democracy. He does what Putin did, help his rich friends loot the treasury and everything that isn't nailed down, and put those who oppose his grifting ways, or delusional actions, into prison.

My constitution clearly says we all have a right to speak freely regarding our disapproval of our government. He clearly said that the constitution was not applicable when it came to criticizing him.

Russian Asset said what?
The President of Portugal was right when he said it was apparent, objectively, that Trump was indeed a Russian Asset.

It is genocide, it is murderous apartheid, it is...what America was founded on, the very rich and powerful "manifest destiny" their way to killing and looting and then blaming the victims. Imperialism, thy name has pretty much always been America...and of course, Israel.
One of the major reasons the International Criminal Court is not the law of the planet is because countries like Israel and America still have plans for extralegal appropriation of land.

One wonders if the principle that will emerge will be, burning a flag is free speech, but lighting a fire on federal property can be charged. But if it is free speech, that free speech right overpowers the point of creating a flame on public property, since no one was at risk.

So like the sixties, when Nixon divided us so completely that thousands of Americans moved...to Canada.

We are the UK, in that they were pushed by people who acted like Russian Agents, to get out of the EU and so weaken NATO.
We are Ukraine, in that they were led by a Russian Asset, Yanukovych, until the people tossed him out and now he lives in Russia.
We are America, led by a man who, as the President of Portugal said, surely acts like a Russian Asset, who divides us one from another, and alienates our allies.

Like Mattis and Kelly said, fascist to his core.
Like his former VP said, Trump is not competent to be President.

We went from a strong defender against Nazi fascism, in WWII, to being a country that supports the murderous tactics of a, yes, fascist regime. Israel used ethnic cleansing to establish its country, and clearly is intent on doing the same for the entirety of Gaza and perhaps the West Bank as well.
One thing Israel's conduct is doing is showing just how powerless the present day UN is. I think the great majority of nations should abandon the UN in New York and establish a new UN, perhaps in Geneva, one without any country having veto, with all nations having to belong to the ICC.
Yeah, won't happen, the super rich like things the way they are...being able to kill at will.

World, remember when Hitler took over country after country, murdering as he went? And then, when it looked like he had triumphed, his inner demons had him attack Stalin's Russia?
Some men are monsters...and now that Trump has taken over the United States and subverted its Constitution, do you think he will stop inside our borders? As nations fall to their inner fascist core, and they discover that Americans like Miller and Bannon have been creating powerful brownshirt armies...

Epstein.
One wonders just what the Royal Family wants from the Trump empire...they do not honor America with this garish display, they show how willing and able to bend a knee they are.

Sure does look like the coverup may have been more about the financial deals than about the sex, though there was a lot of sex trafficking of young women and that is bad enough.

Holy crap, I did just a little research on this shooting and it is frightening how strong the nihilist, violence is the purpose for life, websites are, how dangerous they are, and of course, how easily the far right is covering this shooting up.

Colbert is right, one has to wonder if CBS will just take the safe, chicken path and not put another comedian on at night to replace Colbert. I personally really, really agree with those who are saying that one of the things we are seeing is the melding of cutthroat capitalism with far right worship of the super rich...and hidden away is the taking from the poor that is decimating us at the bottom of the economic pyramid.

More and more drugs are being found to increase the possibility of dementia but the science to look for that danger is rarely done.

We are all Martians? Cool.

Trump learned his lesson in his first term...don't hire competent, courageous people like James Mattis to run the Defense Department or honest people like John Kelly to be his Chief of Staff, because they will find a way to stop him from strutting about as dictator. Has Trump hired even one experienced, talented, unbiased person to run anything?

Trump is just practicing for when he really does call for Martial Law and the cessation of elections in places where there are a lot of Black and Brown voters. There is a reason both his Chief of Staff Kelly and his Secretary of Defense James Mattis said that Trump was "fascist to his core".

As one who lived homeless for years, on the street and in rescue missions...life at the bottom is so bad, so painful, I would vote to make death with dignity laws available, on a voluntary basis, to those with degenerating diseases including dementia, and for those of us over 70...it is a human right to control our lives, and life at the bottom is pretty much the definition of hell on earth.
It is a deliberate choice, for the far right Republican Party, to pretty much work to push the poor and the powerless onto those ice floes...Look at what they are trying to do to what health care we do have, what housing we do have....

Let us be clear, the rich and powerful have universal health care...they matter, we don't. We on the bottom third of the economic pyramid are half citizens, as America is run from corporate boardrooms, and there is little profit in giving a ---- about us. Half citizens count, at best, at half of what the rich count as. My vote counts, but I cannot afford to buy a President and put him into office, as Musk and some other rich fools did for Trump, thanks to Citizens' United and our sold out federal Supreme Court.

It is clear our planet has several important decisions, and one of the most important is whether we all will live together in peace, or will we live in a world where wars of aggression and ethnic cleansing are just how the powerful run things.
I wouldn't bet on us getting it right any time soon.

Lower enlisted ranks have no way to assess an order in regards to whether it is an illegal order or not, but for the higher officers, saying they were just following orders doesn't work. Still, since the US doesn't belong to the ICC who is going to do anything? When the rule of law falls, so does civilization.