"While rising empires are often judicious, even rational in their application of armed force for conquest and control of overseas dominions, fading empires are inclined to ill-considered displays of power, dreaming of bold military masterstrokes that would somehow recoup lost prestige and power. Often irrational even from an imperial point of view, these micromilitary operations can yield hemorrhaging expenditures or humiliating defeats that only accelerate the process already under way."

Alfred W. McCoy

"Republicans aren't an opposition party now. They're the Democrats crazy ex-girlfriend."

Bill Maher

"The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom."

Isaac Asimov

"Under Trump, the GOP has become a profoundly different, and a far more malicious, party. Within the Republican Party, from top to bottom, Trump has made cruelty and transgressiveness cool. And in the process, he killed American conservatism. MAGA is not just antithetical to conservatism; it is at war with it."

Peter Wehner

"Gone are the days when leaders had to hide how much they didn't know. Now cluelessness is an electoral asset and smart politicians must play dumb, or risk voters' wrath. Welcome to the survival of the dimmest."

Andy Borowitz

"Trump has no use for the concept of 'service.' He doesn't care about active-duty troops, he doesn't care about veterans, he doesn't care about those who have fallen. The only thing that matters to Donald is money. Donald Trump knows nothing about service. In fact, he has contempt for it. He deferred his service in Vietnam five times using a fictional injury as an excuse because he is and always has been a coward."

Mary Trump

"Trump is a deeply unwell man. He is a deeply psychologically disturbed individual. If he were a member of your family, you'd be taking him, you'd be staging an intervention and taking him into a psychiatric hospital. He is, as I've been saying, a narcissistic sociopath, a pathological narcissist and a sociopath as defined by the American Psychiatric Association. These are, historians will tell you, the traits of authoritarian dictators throughout history."

George Conway

"If you're very, very stupid, how can you possibly realize that you're very, very stupid? You'd have to be relatively intelligent to realize how stupid you really are. This explains almost the entirety of Fox News." (and the gop) ""

John Cleese

"My parents remember the hardships of the Great Depression and the tremendous relief of FDR's policies that followed, but they are in their nineties now and about to bid farewell to this dimension. And, right on cue, here we go again, with a robber baron in the White House, tarting it up with gold accessories like a Russian bordello, in an attempt to convince his terrified ego that he deserves to be worshipped like a king."

Dan Piraro

Barron inherited bone spurs from Dad.

"I hang out with losers because it makes me feel better. I hate guys that are very, very successful and you have to listen to their success stories. I like people that like to listen to my success."

Donald Trump

"We are living in a time when it can be hard to hope. Each day we wake up to some new assault on our democratic institutions. Another setback to the idea of the rule of law. An offense to common decency. Every day you wake up to things you just didn't think were possible. Each day, we're told by those in high office to fear each other, and to turn on each other. And that some Americans count more than others. And that some don't even count at all. Everywhere we see greed and bigotry being celebrated and bullying and mocker masquerading as strength."

Former President Barack Obama

"MAGA men" who would be subject to a draft don't think war is a good idea. "MAGA men" to old for the draft think war is a good idea.

A nuclear warhead is too big for a vest. But it could sure be shipped in by Fed Ex. If they used a missile everyone would know where it came from and who to shoot back at.

"If you're very, very stupid, how can you possibly realize that you're very, very stupid? You'd have to be relatively intelligent to realize how stupid you really are. This explains almost the entirety of Fox News." (and the gop) "

John Cleese

"Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty."

Hannah Arendt

"Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty."

Hannah Arendt

"Eighty international scientific societies have endorsed the concept of a primarily human-caused climate crisis that is already starting to threaten the health and well-being of millions, and soon to be billions, of people in the next few decades. The total number of scientific organizations that dispute this is zero. If you were watching a basketball game where the score was 80 to 0, with one minute left in the fourth quarter, and you decided to bet your entire nest egg on that losing team, no one would argue that you were not severely delusional. ... Inability to discern reality is the hallmark of schizophrenia."

Dr Brian Moench

"Religion has convinced people that there's an invisible man ... living in the sky, who watches everything you do every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten specific things he doesn't want you to do. And if you do any of these things, he will send you to a special place, of burning and fire and smoke and torture and anguish for you to live forever, and suffer and burn and scream until the end of time. But he loves you. He loves you and he needs money."

George Carlin

The US midterm elections are on Tuesday 3 Nov 2026.
#16 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS

We can hope that's the case, and that elections are not interfered with.

"Trump may have started the war - but he doesn't have the power to unilaterally end it. The Iranians have not publicly stated that they will quickly agree to stop their attacks. In the last week, they have increasingly targeted the region's energy infrastructure, which could cause a major jump in oil prices and a longer period of uncertainty if they persist. Revolutionary Guard spokesperson Ali Mohammad Naini on Tuesday told Iranian state media that 'Iran will determine when the war ends.' "

Scott Waldman

"Eighty international scientific societies have endorsed the concept of a primarily human-caused climate crisis that is already starting to threaten the health and well-being of millions, and soon to be billions, of people in the next few decades. The total number of scientific organizations that dispute this is zero. If you were watching a basketball game where the score was 80 to 0, with one minute left in the fourth quarter, and you decided to bet your entire nest egg on that losing team, no one would argue that you were not severely delusional. ... Inability to discern reality is the hallmark of schizophrenia."

Dr Brian Moench

"Of course due process makes it harder for the government to do what it wants. That's the whole point " to make sure that the government is acting in accord with the law."

Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the Berkeley School of Law

"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."

Hanlon's razor

"A "gaffe" occurs not when a politician lies, but when he inadvertently tells the truth."
Michael Kinsley