Tag: Russia

Munda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

A remarkable shell game has taken over U.S. politics.

Here we have Donald J. Trump, a convicted felon, basking in the glow of the ‘law and order’ party. They support the blue, you know. That’s despite his attempted Jan. 6 coup, where his supporters attacked the police defending Congress.

Here we also have exhibit B, Donald J. Trump, known liar, having his praises sung by people who say ‘he speaks for us.’ They are, then, by the transitive property, liars, too, aren’t they?

As exhibit C, Donald J. Trump, failed business man (the proof is in the bankruptcies) is going to ‘run the government like a business’. Never mind that a business pursuing profit and a government serving its people have two wholly intentions, philsophies, and guiding principles.

To top that off, we have Elon Reeve Musk, unelected to any office, not even a U.S. citizen, accessing and cutting American programs. This is supported by the party that kept screaming about election fraud and stolen elections. Now they’re mostly silent on stolen government. Where citizens are voicing their displeasure to their elected Federal officials in the GOTP, those officials are running away. They don’t want to hear what ‘we the people’ have to say.

Finally, we have the Family Values party, the GOTP, formerly known as the GOP. They want to restore marriage because that will Make America Great Again. *snicker* Despite Donald Trump’s affairs and multiple marriages. To top that, as exhibit D, Elon Reeve Musk, Donald J. Trump’s top advisor and henchman, has had added another child to his growing family. His fourteenth child? With how many women?

The news comes as Musk’s custody issues with another mother of children, St. Clair, play out in the media. St. Clair, who is suing Musk for sole custody, has characterized him as an absent father who has only met their child three times and was not present for the birth last year.

What else can I say and expect? They voted for Trump to ‘Make America Great Again’. He’s responded by turning it into an imperial presidency, the ‘unitary executive’. They voted for Trump to lower prices and improve the economy, and everything he’s done has had the opposite effect. They voted to restore the nation’s standing in the world. He’s instead turned on allies, reducing U.S. influence, isolating us as we grow closer to countries like Russia and North Korea.

Question: if Russia is so trustworthy, will PINO Trusk let Putin put missiles in Cuba?

Follow up: With PINO Trusk bending over and presenting to Putin in Russia, does Russia need missiles in Cuba?

I’ve said it before. I’ll say it again. Donald J. Trump a con man, idiot, and bully. He’s a user and sociopath. He doesn’t care about people except how they can be used to further his own wealth and power.

Yes, I’ve said it before, but as it’s been proven again and again, the GOTP is a spineless party. Project 2025 is interested in advancing the nation as a white Christian theocracy. And the MAGAts are racist, sexist sheeple. The list of what Trump has said compared to what he’s done in opposition to what he — and the GOTP — promised goes on with many more examples. There is a simple bottom line.

They’ve been conned, but they were willing victims, and we’re being taken for a ride.

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Wenzda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

Such a firehose of news, I have two and half tons to think about.

First up, a child died of the measles in Texas, and the outbreak is growing. It’d be cynical to exclaim thoughts and prayers. That poor child. Yes, death is part of life, but when death, pain, and sickness can be mitigated but aren’t for religious or political reasons, I feel it. Pumps the cynicism in me up to the surface. News like this is painfully wearying.

Next comes some reflections on the U.S. and NATO. Legally, the U.S. can’t unilaterally withdraw without Congress’s approval. Of course, legally is a quaint notion in PINO Trusk’s worldview. PINO Trusk contiues thumping all over laws and the Constitution. Meanwhile, he can and is undermining the alliance’s intentions and cohesiveness with his bromance with Russia. If PINO Trusk did order troop withdrawals out of NATO bases, where would they be parked? We have military installations around the world, but it’d be a huge logistical challenge, and the ripples from such a decision…oh, the ripples.

The Idaho Capital Sun had a really engrossing article about a local meeting. North Idaho woman forcibly removed from Kootenai County Republican town hall When she exercised her free speech, men without badges who didn’t present identification forcibly removed her.

COEUR d’ALENE — A legislative town hall organized by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee devolved into chaos Saturday when unidentified, plainclothes security personnel dragged a Post Falls woman from the Coeur d’Alene High School auditorium for heckling legislators.

Though the company that provided security for the event has been identified, town hall organizers and Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris have claimed no knowledge of the security personnel or who hired them.

The tale is a whole ‘he said, he said,’ circle thingy with many attempting to deflect and pretend that others were in charge, but there seemed to be a lot of secrecy around the planning and execution. To me, such violent — and secretive — responses by ‘unidentified security’ is an outgrowth of the PINO Trusk thug mentality: bullying others without explanation to get their way. Sure smacks of Gestapo tactics. Really, read the story.

In “Letters from America”, Heather Cox Richardson posted clear, sharp insights and details about the budget resolution action going on in Congress. She begins with a Pete Buttigieg post: “A defining policy battle is about to come to a head in this country. The Republican budget will force everyone—especially Congress and the White House—to make plain whether they are prepared to harm the rest of us in order to fund tax cuts for the wealthiest.”

Ms. Richardson then presents the details. The GOTP wants to cut the deficit. To do so means cutting popular, useful programs while trying to push forward tax cuts for the rich. The GOTP’s entire reasoning process is maligned with flimsy logic and pathetic reasoning. History shows what they’re trying to do will absolutely not work. No matter, they’re too fucking bullheaded about it because they’re bending the knee to PINO Trusk.

I have mixed feelings about it. At this point, if the GOTP gets their way, slashing programs while giving the wealthy tax breaks, they’ll end up with higher deficits and a crumbling economy. Maybe then the MAGAts and others will awaken and demand a halt to the Great Undoing. If they don’t, the Great Shitstorm of 2025 will continue until serious reciprocal waves arrive. See, I’m, like, “We warned you, warned you, and warned you. You insisted that you wanted to fuck around and find out. So here it comes.” I kind of want to let it come, but that strikes me as being personally petty. Yet, based on the evidence so far, I don’t think they’ll learn until consequences jar their lives. I know, it’s a sad situation when it’s come to this.

“Requiem For The West” out of The Dish by Andrew Sullivan is the third piece which hooked my attention today. Mr. Sullivan writes, “We only saw Donald Trump’s foreign policy darkly in his first term — constrained, as he was, by a handful of white-knuckled Republicans in the executive branch. Now we see it face to face. It’s a vision where international law disappears, great powers divide up the planet into spheres of influence, and the strong always control the weak. It’s Trump’s vision of domestic politics as well. And of life.

“Control, plunder, gloat. This is the Trump way.”

That is the Trump way, along with using the gullible and low-informed. Trump has a history of breaking his word, laws, and contracts. He’s not a good businessman but he’s a really terrific liar and con man. In PINO Trusk’s world, “Zelensky is a monster but Putin is our friend. As for concessions from Russia for its unprovoked violation of an internationally recognized border? None that I can see, apart from stopping the war. (If you want to read Vance’s underwhelming defense of what’s going on, check out his reply to Niall here.)“

There’s the nub, too. PINO Trusk is so fucking adept at fooling people. Just give him a little material and he twists and hammers it until it seems like an absolute truth. He did that with President Biden’s age and inflation during the 20204 campaign. And yeah, President Biden didn’t put up much resistance. He’s done the same with ‘cutting fraud and waste’ through Doge now. Of course as so many have pointed out before, it’s not really about the inflation, President Biden’s age, or many of the other things which PINO Trusk said during his campaign: it’s about being racist and sexist. It’s about power and money.

Many of us see that.

Too many don’t.

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Frieda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

I’ve written this before, and I’ll probably write it about three hundred forty-one times more this year: Donald Trump is a fucking idiot.

His latest is that President Zelensky of Ukraine should not have fought back when Russia was attacking them. Should have ‘negotiated’ with the Russian bully. Essentially, Trump advocates rolling over for terrorists, as that’s how Russia has been acting.

What is that World War II word that can be used in this context? Oh, yes: appeasement.

Of course, never short on words while bankrupt on thinking, Trump also claimed he would end the Russia-Ukraine War before he was in office. “Before I even arrive at the Oval Office, shortly after we win the presidency, I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled,” at a June MAGA rally in Philadelphia. Yet, here he is, days into his term and the war goes on.

What a bullshit artist he is.

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Sinda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

PINA Trump hasn’t even taken the oath of office yet, and the crazy is already at a third-year frenzy. He’s grabbing headlines this weekend by bellowing about the Panama Canal.

“The Panama Canal is considered a vital national asset for the United States, due to its critical role to America’s economy and national security,” Trump said Saturday on his Truth Social platform. “A secure Panama Canal is crucial for U.S. Commerce, and rapid deployment of the Navy.”

Inspired by Trump’s demands, Putin put out statement that maybe Russia should demand Alaska back. “Alaska is considered a vital national asset for the Russian Federation due to its location and wealth of natural resources. A secure Alaska is crucial for Russian commerce, and a rapid deployment of our military forces.”

Not to be outdone, France issued a statement suggesting that they might demand the Louisiana Purchase be returned to France. “We were tricked into making that sale,” the statement said. “America’s ambassadors supplied champagne, whiskey, and wine to the meeting, and took advantage of France’s representatives.”

Representatives of King Charles III’s government put out a statement that they are re-thinking the history of the original thirteen colonies, and might demand that they be returned as well. Spain has suggested it might demand that Florida be returned to them, “Because it’s a really warm place and is important for our ability to relax, enjoy the sun, and visit Disney.”

Several Indian tribes in the United States have given notice that they intend to demand their territories back, noting that the United States failed to live up to treaties or killed the people inhabiting it and stole the land.

In another official statement, the President of the United Mexican States said that although Texas was once part of Mexico, they were willing to let the United States keep it.

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Thursday’s Theme Music

Mood: freshThursnergy

It’s fresh today. Thursday morning finds the thermometer informing us that it’s 62 F. The high will be 79 F, a surprisingly low number for August 15, 2024. Clouds layer part of the sky. Airnow.gov says our air quality is 18, so it’s good air. Nice to see the numbers, to validate what my eyes are seeing and my schnoozer is telling me.

Skimming through the news. Here’s a small sampling.

Earthquakes in Texas — Scurry County. Seems oil related as they encounter saltwater that must be injected deeper into the Earth. The Railroad Commission is investigating, so we know they’ll get to the bottom of it.

Hurricane Ernesto is storming toward Bermuda.

Two astronauts remain stuck at the space station after the new Boeing Starliner failed them. In a way it’s like an old sitcom called Gilligan’s Island. Those folks were trapped on an island for years after a shipwreck when it was supposed to be a ‘three-hour tour’. The astronauts were only expected to be up there two weeks. Unfortunately, the astronauts don’t have the professor there to help them out. He was always coming up with intriguing ideas.

Trump was called out for lying about what the economy was like at the end of his term, trying to make out that it was the greatest in history when it was not.

Ukraine made an incursion into Russia as that conflict keeps going.

Montana’s Supreme Court struck down a 2013 law that required minors to get parental permission before getting an abortion. The Reuters article says the court unanimous opinion was written by Justice Laurie McKinnon. She wrote that “a minor’s right to control her reproductive decisions is among the most fundamental of the rights she possesses” and that Montana had not shown that the law was justified to protect minors. Sweet.

The turnout for the Wisconsin primary was an impressively high 26 percent — highest in 60 years. Geez. It depresses me that 26 percent is an impressive turnout. It’s for the primary, though.

And Bobcat kittens were stealing golf balls.

Dance week continues. I asked The Neurons what song I should include today, and they shoved “The Safety Dance” into the morning mental music stream (Trademark dancing). The 1982 new wave tune was performed by Men Without Hats, a Canadian group. I was overseas when it started charting, living on Okinawa, and they loved the song in dance clubs over there.

Stay positive. Be strong. Lean forward. Vote Blue in 2024. Here’s the dance music. I’m off to freshen my coffee. Cheers

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The Russian Military Dream

I had a cavalcade of dreams last night. One stood out more strongly than the rest. I was in the military for over twenty years. Not infrequently, I find myself in the military again in dreams. It was so again last night.

In this one, I’d been selected for a new position. I was an E7 master sergeant, which is what I retired as. My predecessor, training me, was an E9 chief master sergeant. He was telling me that this position was a catapult to promotion if I do it right, and he thought I’d do it right. Hearing all that pleased me.

Then he gave me a black attaché case. “You’ll always be carrying this,” he said. “You are now the Russian nuke guy. That’s what everyone will start calling you.”

I’d had some idea of what I’d be stepping into even though it’d been a pretty close-hold process. They’d checked my security clearance and records, noted that I’d been on the Personnel Reliability Program because I’d controlled nukes. My top-secret clearance with all the tags of SI, SCI, TK and TQ that came with being associated with a covert intelligence program pleased them, too. Now I got why.

The Chief was explaining that I would be regularly briefed about anything and everything associated with Russia’s nuclear weapons. Locations, capabilities, changes, updates, whatever. Everything from personnel, process, and equipment. I’d be told everything, constantly. The idea was that I would be the national command authority’s primary go-to if any questions about Russia’s nukes came up.

Then he began taking me around offices, introducing me as ‘the new Russian nuke guy’, explaining that I was replacing him. Everyone shook my hand and welcomed me.

The dream ended while I was still in that process.

I have no idea what it all means but I found it weirdly reassuring, because I’d been selected. I was needed. That kind of thing feels validating, you know?

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Saturday’s Wandering Thoughts

I turn to the news. Hamas attacked Israel with missiles. Israel declares they’re in a state of war.

A sigh builds and falls.

Here we go again. More war. As so much of it has proven so useful in the past.

Just see how it’s going for Putin after Russia attacked Ukraine.

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The Magic Models Dream

The dream began with me in a small town with two friends, a male and female. We were all youngish, I’d guess in our twenties. An attack by Russian aircraft on another place in the world was underway. I had three models of the aircraft involved in my hands. These models were about a foot long but made of plastic. Somehow, using magic and the models, we were able to down the five jets. We knew this by watching it in a shallow puddle of water. Although the three of us were involved, the other two credited me with doing it.

Afterward, as we walked around the small town, with its parks and wide, quiet streets, news of what we’d done spread. People kept showing up out of nowhere asking for details and then asking if we could do it again. I was certain that we could. My female friend arrived with a video camera and told me that she wanted to interview me. Then she would broadcast it and put it on the net. I agreed to that, and was ready with the models, but small matters kept delaying us from beginning the interview.

She said that we would do it later and walked off after I agreed. I walked around more with the models and came to a fast moving, swollen creek. While watching the water rising up over rocks and crashing down, I grew aware that I could see other scenes happening in it. They mesmerized me. Leaning in to see things more clearly, I lost one of the models in the water. After some frantic searching for it, I spotted it floating down the creek and rushed after it.

With a little effort, I captured the model as it passed under a bridge. I realized then that it was time for me to meet my friend for the interview. As I arrived there, people approached me and told me that news crews from CBS and NBC were there to interview me. Someone else told me someone wanted to have me on their television show but I couldn’t understand the television show.

I saw my friend set up with the camera by a pavilion under a wide oak tree. I told everyone that I had to do my interview with her first and then walked in her direction.

Dream end.

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Rewriting History

In the Smithsonian Magazine’s excerpt of Narrative Tension, Inc.. From the forthcoming book Making History: The Storytellers Who Shaped the Past by Richard Cohen to be published by Simon & Schuster, Inc. Printed by permission, Richard Cohen writes this:

‘Around the same time, between 1934 and 1936, the Politburo, or policy-making body, of the Russian Communist Party focused on national history textbooks, and Stalin set scholars to writing a new standard history. The state became the nation’s only publisher. Orwell had it right in Nineteen Eighty-Four, where the Records Department is charged with rewriting the past to fit whomever Oceania is currently fighting. The ruling party of Big Brother “could thrust its hand into the past and say of this or that event, it never happened—that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death.”’

He is writing about the old U.S.S.R., the Soviet Union, and how Putin’s Russia draws from the lessons learned from Lenin and Stalin about rewriting history to control the narrative.

I can’t help but think of the United States. GOP led legislatures in several states are fighting hard to rewrite history or ignore it, battling against teaching critical race theory, solidly misrepresenting it as they do. Alabama passed HB 312 earlier in 2022, 65 to 32. Pushed through by Republicans, the bill bans teachers from broaching subjects that Republicans find divisive, like ideas that the United States is now or was ever racist.

Ignoring facts or history that is painful or inconvenient has become the GOP standard. It’s been going on in Texas for over twenty years. The Texas textbook controversy erupted as Republicans attempt to color the United States in white, Republican, Christan hues. Trump leans hard on this idea of changing history to fit his needs, denying that he fairly lost the election in 2020, accusing everyone he can of voter fraud, lying, and cheating, without offering evidence. Officials and lawyers working on his behalf have had their cases and lawsuits rejected as lacking merit in courts across the United States. The most prominent cases of voter fraud involve Republican and Trump lackeys being caught while illegally voting or tampering with the process. Search the net for proof of this. Of course, deep Trumplicans hold that anyone saying or printing anything except their version of the truth is guilty of spreading false news.

This is all supported by ‘Evangelicals’, a group that holds the world is only six to ten thousand years old, depending upon which group you hear. They ignore all evidence and facts to the contrary. Listening to such would distort their reality.

This operating process of distorting reality and twisting and denying history is just like Russia and the old U.S.S.R. It’s sad but not surprising that several Republicans are admonishing the world for not embracing Russia’s excuses and lies as the truth for why they invaded Ukraine. Why, paraphrasing their thinking, Russia is only destroying Ukranian cities and killing Ukrainians to protect them. Doesn’t that sound like thinking right out of 1984?

And the one excusing Putin and Russia most of all? That would be the dear GOP leader, Donald J. Trump.

The GOP has become a shallow party, bereft of principles, and desperate to remain meaningful. The only way they can now make history is by pretending what has happened — and is happening, in the case of climate change, and LGBTQ rights and equality — didn’t happen. Deny, deny, deny.

It’s been a long, sickening fall to watch for the party begun by President Lincoln.

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