Drudge Retort: The Other Side of the News

Drudge Retort

User Info

lamplighter

Subscribe to lamplighter's blog Subscribe

Menu

Special Features

Sunday, January 04, 2026

Katie Miller, a former U.S. administration official-turned-podcaster, posted an image late Saturday showing a map of Greenland in the colors of the Stars and Stripes with a one-word caption: "SOON." read more


Letting the unreliable Grok be its own "spokesperson" lets xAI off the hook. read more


Saturday, January 03, 2026

The families of teenagers missing after a fire at a bar in a Swiss ski resort are facing an agonising wait for news and appealing for information about their loved ones online. read more


Colombian President Gustavo Petro said Friday that survivors jumped into the sea to escape a U.S. attack on suspected drug smuggling boats in the Pacific Ocean. Petro warned regional governments in a post on X after posting a map showing where the strike allegedly occurred, near Mexico and Guatemala. read more


President Donald Trump said Friday that his doctors have proclaimed him to be in "perfect health," adding that he "aced" a cognitive exam. read more


Comments

fwiw, the Monroe Doctrine was stated in 1823. It looks like there were 24 states.

List of U.S. states by date of admission to the Union
en.wikipedia.org

...
24 Missouri August 10, 1821[27]
25 Arkansas June 15, 1836[28] ...

...


And the US was an agricultural country. Not in need of world trade.

So, maybe, not a good comparison?


@#5 ... The boats that Pres Trump has been destroying and the people he has been killing ...

Let's play with some numbers ...

Timeline of Boat Strikes and Related Actions
www.justsecurity.org

... On October 5, Trump spoke at a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush. He implied there was an additional strike the prior evening, October 4, stating: "Every one of those boats is responsible for the death of 25,000 American people and the destruction of families. So when you think of it that way, what we're doing is actually an act of kindness. ...

OK, so, Pres Trump has said that each boat strike saves 25,000 American lives.

To wit ...

Trump: Each U.S. boat strike off the coast of Venezuela saves 25,000 people.
www.pbs.org

... The Trump administration has struck at least 32 vessels killing about 115 people in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean since September. Trump said previously that the boats were carrying drugs en route to the U.S. and during the press conference he said the drugs on each boat would kill "on average, 25,000 people."

However, experts on drugs and Venezuela told PolitiFact the country plays a minor role in trafficking drugs that reach the U.S. And the administration has provided no evidence about the type or quantity of drugs it says were on the boats. This lack of information makes it impossible to know how many lethal doses of the drugs could have been destroyed.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 73,000 U.S. drug overdose deaths from May 2024 to April 2025.

That means the drugs on 32 boats would have been responsible for 800,000 deaths, nearly 11 times the number of U.S. overdose deaths in one year. ...


Wait, what?

Pres Trump lied?

Again?!?!?

@#163 ... You mean ...

Based upon what I have read in your current trolling alias' posts, I would proffer that it has not a clue of what I mean in the comments I post.

Do try harder.

Call - I Don't Wanna (1987)
www.youtube.com

Lyrics excerpt ...

genius.com

...
I ain't here to hold you when you cry
I ain't here to hold your shaky hand
I ain't here to look you in the eye
Or beg for you to understand

I ain't gonna walk you thru your dreams
Walk you thru this life that we all know
I ain't here to listen while you speak
I ain't here to heal your broken soul

Am I here at all?

I ain't here to tell you what you need
I ain't gonna take a noble stand
I ain't here to look you in the eye
Or beg for you to understand

I can only tell you what I've seen
I can only tell you how it felt
When my heart was crushed so bad inside
Till I felt the hatred slowly melt
I don't wanna
...



I ain't gonna watch your every move
I ain't gonna dog your every step
I ain't here to sh

Here's an interesting view ...

U.S. regime change under Trump 2.0: Empire at a crossroads (March 2025)
www.bjreview.com

... Donald Trump was elected U.S. president in 2016 with a platform opposing regime change. After four years, his administration attempted to overthrow the Venezuelan regime by violently appointing an unelected puppet Juan Guaido as the "interim president," covertly continuing President Barack Obama's efforts to overthrow the Syrian Government, and nearly taking the U.S. to war with Iran through the assassination of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. In 2024, Trump was elected again by an even stronger margin on the platform of being a "peacemaker." The question is: Will this be the moment when a U.S. president truly changes the course of American foreign policy away from regime change wars and toward peace?

The U.S. has conducted hundreds of regime change operations since World War II and has been successful in dozens. However, regime change comes with costs. America's shrinking share of global economic influence and its overextended military power has led to a reliance on proxy wars, covert operations, and shock and awe wars of aggression. The result: chronic instability, chaos and economic impoverishment, to which Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine and several other nations can attest. ...

Trump's early foreign policy record indicates a dire need for Americans to understand "regime change" in a deeper way. Yes, regime change means the overthrow of governments, but the overthrow of governments is never without purpose. The purpose is the maintenance and expansion of U.S. imperial domination, and therefore all forms of U.S. interventionism are in a way linked to regime change. While Trump claims not to pursue direct regime change of any particular country, his administration's foreign policy remains committed to upholding U.S. dominance and the political manipulation required to achieve this. ...


Prescient?

Shriekback - This Big Hush (1985)
www.youtube.com

Lyrics excerpt ...

genius.com

...
[Verse]
Is there a fire in the sky?
Is there a moon up there?
Is there anything alive now?
This darkness is what I hear
This is a breathless silence
A moment out of time
I see your face in the shadows
The telltale signs are in your eyes

[Chorus]
More than I can hold in my hands
Running through the gaps like water
Aching with a passion inside
Deep as the river
All desire, the ashes and the fire
Turning this night inside and the light from you

[Verse]
Is there a flame in the dark?
Is there a bright hard star?
These creatures look the same now
We freeze wherever we are
We wake alone in the blackness
We sleep wherever we fall
One dream all around us
This big hush infects us all
...


More from the article ...

... He had messages from federal prosecutors, FBI agents and the federal Bureau of Prisons " all letting him know that the new president had just pardoned about 1,500 people who had been convicted for their actions at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The pardons included rioters who had injured Gonell as he and other officers tried to protect the building.

"They told me that people I testified against were being released from prison," Gonell said. "And to be mindful."

Gonell was one of the officers who defended the central West Front entrance to the Capitol that day as Congress was certifying Democrat Joe Biden's victory and hundreds of Trump's supporters broke into the building, echoing his false claims of a stolen election.

Gonell was dragged into the crowd by his shoulder straps as he tried to fight people off. He almost suffocated.

In court, he testified about injuries to his shoulder and foot that still bother him to this day.

"They have tried to erase what I did" with the pardons and other attempts to play down the violent attack, Gonell said. "I lost my career, my health, and I've been trying to get my life back."

Five years since the siege, Gonell and some of the other police officers who fought off the rioters are still coming to terms with what happened, especially after Trump was decisively elected to a second term last year and granted those pardons.

Their struggle has been compounded by statements from the Republican president and some GOP lawmakers in Congress minimizing the violence that the officers encountered. ...

[emphasis mine]


Drudge Retort
 

Home | Breaking News | Comments | User Blogs | Stats | Back Page | RSS Feed | RSS Spec | DMCA Compliance | Privacy