So, the Andrew formerly known as Prince has to get his own house due to Epstein, while in the US the House won't reconvene and take up the Epstein list. Turns out the British were right all along, we're not capable of governing ourselves.
Showing posts with label Mike Johnson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mike Johnson. Show all posts
Monday, November 10, 2025
Thursday, November 6, 2025
CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 107th Edition. Tacky Crap, Delusion, and the Sgt. Schultz defense.
The House of the Rising Sun
Lex Anteinternet: Gilded Age Brothel School of Interior Design:Gilded Age Brothel School of Interior Design
Nuclear weapons should not be entrusted to anyone pleased by Trump’s Gilded Age Brothel school of interior design.George F. Will.
Trump has now put a gold lettered sign outside the Oval Office which says "The Oval Office".
This has, of course, sparked derision, as its stupid. The question is, however, does Trump not realize that all the tacky gold crap is going in the dumpster just as soon as he's gone? He probably actually doesn't.
"I know nothing".
Mike Johnson hasn't seen it. Whatever it is, he hasn't seen that.
Poor Mike, knowing nothing is his only defense.
Freak Out!
At least based on Twitter, which isn't a good place to actually judge how people feel, MAGAs are freaking out about the election results, as in "it means nothing at all it isn't donny's fault he wasn't on the ballot and people love him groceries are now free and Saudi chicks have a lot of money and everything is fine and new york will be sorry as they elected an Islamic commie I'l ltell my ma when Iget home the girls won't leave the boys alone. . .
Get a grip.
Well, actually don't. The results do mean something and you took a dope slap.
Last edition:
Monday, October 27, 2025
CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 106th Edition A series of Zeitgeist predictions about New York City.
Mamdani is obviously going to win.
Republicans will freak out.
Mike "Smarmy Smile" Johnson will be in full bullshit mode for weeks. "I'm not keeping the House in perpetual recess because I'm afraid of the Epstein files but because a Communist Marxist Islamist has been elected to Mayor in New York and that means that we can't look at the Epstein files".
Trump will wax poetic, "My Mommy, that's what I call him, mommy. . . I loved my mommy, she was from Scotland, where they invented golf. Are we in Mar A Lago, no, well, the Communists, Marxists, Monarchical Islamist don't want me to build a ballroom, that's because they can't dance and their legs are thin. The Wonderful thing about Tiggers is Tiggers are wonderful things tops are made out of rubber their bottoms are made out of springs Their bouncey, trouncey, ouncey, pouncey fun, fun, fun, fun, fun But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is I'm the only one. Tiggers are cuddily fellows Tiggers are awfully sweet everyone el'es is jealous That's why I repeat and repeat The wonderful thing about Tiggers Is Tiggers are marvelous chaps They're loaded with vim and vigor they love to leap in your laps They're jumpy, bumpy, clumpy, thumpy fun fun fun fun fun But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers Is I'm the only one I-I-I'm the only...-oof Ouch. I've decided to kill the entire population of South America. . . "
John Thune will say something, with an earnest looking John Barrasso behind him, but nobody will remember what it was, as nobody was paying attention to him to start with.
And then a weird thing will happen.
Mamdani will probably govern more or less from the center, as he'll have to, which is likely to make his administration a success.
Which is the biggest Republican nightmare of all.
Last edition:
CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 105th Edition. What's up with the rush on the White House?
Tuesday, October 21, 2025
Lex Anteinternet: The Vandals.
Lex Anteinternet: The Vandals.: American democracy has several great weaknesses, the primary one being that Americans believe that we have a "two party system". W...
The direct vandalism today was done by a Washington area demolition company that's been business for over 80 years.
Not too surprisingly, nobody had really taken much note in them until today, but apparently today they received it to their surprise, in spades.
What to make of that?
Well, people are really angry.
They probably shouldn't have taken the job, but then, things shouldn't be taken out on them either.
Genuinely surprised is Donald Trump and his administration, which is trying to downplay the entire event.
The Trump illegitimate regime is losing popularity, and this likely won't help. Trump has always had abysmal approval ratings and its getting worse. Still, there's a year to go until the midterm elections and the GOP is hard at work trying to gerrymander their way into surviving them. If they don't, much of this will come go a screeching halt in January, 2027.
That's a long ways off.
When it comes, Trump needs to be held to account. Some of this appears to be illegal. Trump today has claimed he's entitled to $230,000,000 from the DOJ for being investigated. Here he's acting without legal authority, maybe, to the tune of $250,000,000. He should be sued for damages.
And this monstrosity will come down. The question is how rapidly. It would be best if it came down following January 2027, but it's more likely that it will be at the beginning of the next President's term. Chance are this giant garden shed won't even be all up by then.
Chances are also good that Trump will have died of old age, or be so demented by that time as to have no idea what's going on. People hoping for Trump to suffer retribution for his actions are going to be disappointed. He's already advancing into senility and will be quite far gone by the second half of his term, if he doesn't expire prior to that time.
The people who will have to suffer damage to their reputations will be people like Thune, Barrasso, and Johnson. That process is well under way.
Having been attached to this will be a stink that will not wash off for some, however. The architect in particular, who has done fine work in the past, will not look good. Donors like Google and Lockheed are going to have a lot of explaining to do as well. The utter corruption of the Corporate Capitalist system has been fully exposed, but that will be very hard to address.
Monday, October 20, 2025
CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 104th Edition. Mike Johnson, toady, and other matters.
This one should be short. I'm very tired, and I'm in a bad/despondent mood. Nonetheless. . .
Some observations.
Mike Johnson, toady.
Mike Johnson is a complete toady . I don't know how he can stand himself. Those interviews with his little shit eating smirk in which he spouts lies. . . uff.
Johnson claims to be a Christian. He claims to be a Southern Baptists, and perhaps he is, but he seems to solidly be in the New Apostolic Reformation camp, and if I had to guess, he feels that lying to the heathens is justified if it brings about an Evangelical Republic. That view wouldn't be sanctioned by the views of most branches of Christianity.
Johnson is going to be remembered as one of the worst Speakers in American history due to his complete toadyism. He probably figures he'll be exalted for helping to bring about an Evangelical republic.
People who accuse others of being a Communist should be forced to live in a Communist country.
Johnson is one of those people who now run around calling the Democrats Communists, or Marxists. They are not, and its totally absurd. It's particularly absurd coming from a camp that is completely fascistic in real terms.
Johnson should be required to live in North Korea for a decade so he can learn what a Communist actually is.
Freaking out about New York
Part of the reason the "Marxist" term is getting thrown around is because Zohran Kwame Mamdani is about to be elected the Mayor of New York City.
Mamdani is a Democrat but he's also a Democratic Socialist. He's an observant Muslim and a member of the political far left, which is something that can only really happen in a Western country.
New York City has always been a Democratic stronghold. There are some Republican New Yorkers who are well known to history, such as Theodore Roosevelt, but the city's connection with the Democratic Party is very strong historically That shows in this race as the Republican candidate is Curtis Sliwa, who has less than zero chance of taking the office. Democrat Andrew Cuomo is running as an independent after having already lost to Mamdani in the primary. His chances are obviously very poor.
Oh well.
Bernie Sanders is also a democratic socialist and the country back in the past had some outright Socialist hold high office. All the bedwetting by the GOP is just stupid, but stupidity is really setting in around Donald Trump.
Donald Trump is truly weird.
The entire administration's desperate struggle to slander the No Kings rallies over the weekends really declined into the absurd. The weirdest thing was a completely juvenile AI depiction of a King Trump dumping shit on No Kings protestors. It's the sort of bathroom humor that juvenile boys like.
Juvenility is increasingly a hallmark of the Trump administration as his acolytes grasp on to his descent into dementia. The thing is, however, the blind refusal to face reality and invoke the 25th Amendment means that the country has been, by this time, almost completely destroyed as a serious entity. We will not rapidly recover from Trump, if we ever do.
Trump supporters dismiss all of this as "that's just his style" or as TDS. Derangement is the key word. Trump is increasingly deranged.
Gaza
Among the weird claims that Trump keeps making, I'd note is that he's ended eight wars.
The one war he might be able to claim he ended, the one in Gaza, seems to be teetering on the edge of a resumption of fighting. Added to that, quite frankly, there's no way whatsoever that Hamas is going to lay down arms. None.
If the peace is to hold, Gaza will need to be rebuilt as it's destroyed at practically a Hiroshima level, employment found for its people, which has never existed, and a real government put in place. It's not impossible, but nearly so.
Covert Operations
The Administration has authorized covert operations in Venezuela, which makes them non covert. Anyhow, our "peace president" is waging a small war against a foreign power illegally.
And its been revealed by the New York Times that during Trump's first term an attempt was made to insert Navy Seals into North Korea to plant a listening device. The mission went wrong as it encountered North Korean fishermen, all of whom were killed.
The details of this are unclear, but basically, that's murder unless its a case of mistaken identity.
In the Special Ops community the Seals are getting a bad reputation.
What is in those files?
Donald Trump last Friday called for Rep. Thomas Massie to be "thrown out" of Congress "ASAP".
Isn't that interesting?
Last edition:
CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 103d edition. Missing the obvious demographic aspect of the story . . ."Wyoming Churches See Revival, Shakeup After Charlie Kirk's Death"
Friday, October 17, 2025
Scared.
As in really scared.
That is the Administration and the GOP of the No Kings rallies.
Mike Johnson is flat out at the bed wetting level. Each of his posts are more extreme and visibly scared than the one before. They even had to drag out George Soros as a boogeyman.
It's almost like they expect John Wick and Kaiser Sose to come riding in on electric Harley's packing the expanded edition of The Epstein Files or something.
Or, more probably, that the American public won't believe it's a mass uprising calling for airstrikes on Los Angeles.
What on earth?
Thursday, October 2, 2025
A note. . .
Adelita Grijalva.was elected to Congress over a week ago and is known to be the final vote required to require the release of the Epstein files.
_(cropped).jpg)
Trump Chambermaid Mike Johnson isn't swearing her in on a pretext.
Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Mike Johnson, Tory.
I cannot for the life of me understand how the Democrats think this is some kind of winning political message. Yield man! Let the troops come into your city…
Mike declaring for King George.
Mike Johnson.
Lex Anteinternet: The Epstein Files. What's in them that Trump wants to keep them hidden?
Lex Anteinternet: The Epstein Files. What's in them that Trump want...: It's absolutely clear that he does, and all the "well Biden didn't release" them doesn't change that fact. Something ...
Since we published the Administration went into full bore freak out mode, which is really interesting.
Official Liar Karoline Claire Leavitt came out with the story that the signature on the image in question, placed in such a fashion that they're right over the doodles genitals, isn't Trump's and experts have proven it.
Bullshit. It's Trump's signature and it being placed there means exactly what you think it does.
So why so desperate to distance from Epstein?
Trump's defenders keep saying there's no evidence that he's screwed young teen women, but there is in fact an accusers and there's lot of circumstantial evidence that he's taken an interest in mid teen girls. The accuser could be outright lying, however, and there isn't much else to back up that claim directly, in so far as we know. But his actions are certainly making him look guilty of something.
Added to it, his close defenders, like Mike Johnson, are babbling all over themselves with excuses, including that maybe he was a plant for the FBI.
Seriously?
This is all exceedingly weird.
Tuesday, August 26, 2025
The 2025 Legislative Sessions of other states.
August 4, 2025
Texas Governor Abbott is threatening to remove Democrats who don't show up to vote on redistricting.
The Republican controlled legislature is being widely accused of gerrymandering in an attempt to retain control of the House of Representatives, where Mike Johnson sent Congressmen home early so they wouldn't be able to vote to open up the Epstein files. The Democrats are making it impossible for the redistricting to be passed by being absent.
Seems strange to threaten to remove people when one's own party sends people home to avoid voting.
August 26, 2025
Colorado's legislature was called into special session due to budget problems caused by the Big Ugly.
Texas did redistrict, which means that it's almost certain California will.
Last edition:
The 2024 Legislative Sessions of other states.
Tuesday, July 1, 2025
Common assumptions that may make an a**. . . well you get it. Economics.
As the Big Ugly is debated in Congress, I keep hearing a set of assumptions thrown around as if they're truths.
In each case, there's no reason to believe that they are.
The first one is that "the government is too big"? Oh? What's the right size government.
Republicans like to claim that the best government is the one that governs the least, but they've never put that into practice. They aren't right now. If you have masked Geheime Staatspolizei running around, you are definitely trying to govern.
They'd reply, as Mike Lee did the other day, that they're against faceless bureaucrats who are responsive to elected officials, which is pretty rich for a guy acting like he's the Senator from Deseret rather than Utah.
Anyhow, for a country of 300,000,000 what is the right size government?
Nobody seems to have an answer.
It's likely one, fwiw, that not only has more immigration officers, but more social security employees, and more IRS employees. The military, which nobody is proposing to shrink, probably doesn't need to be anywhere near its current size.
Speaking of the IRS, we also hear that "Americans are overtaxed". This is actually complete crap.
The big problem in the US economy today is that Americans are grossly undertaxed but still want a government that would have to be funded by a lot more taxes. Still, Americans believe they're heavily taxed.
I once had a die hard GOP Trumpee tell me that Americans paid the highest income tax rate in the world. When I challenged him on it, he looked it up right then on his computer and was stunned.
Frankly, the wealthy should pay a lot more taxes than they do.
An outright myth is the trickle down economic theory that Republicans have revived. Tax breaks for the wealthy don't trickle down. It's well demonstrated.
Another one is that you can grow your way out of a budget deficit. We know that you can't. And yet I heard Mike Johnson claim that we surely would do just that if the Big Ugly was passed.
Johnson is a smart man. He knows better, which either shows that he's sipping Sazerac with his coffee, willfully deluding himself, or flat out lying.
A secretly held one that causes people like Grover Norquist to wake up in the middle of the night cackling is that you can starve the government into being smaller. Newt Gingrich believed that. It just doesn't happen.
The rude truth of the matter is that the deficit has been too high for many years, but it really started ballooning during Trump I. Yes, it ballooned further during Biden's presidency. The Trumpites plan to balloon it to the point that will cause a fiscal crisis, there's no doubt about it.
The Republicans voting for the Big Ugly know this. They'll either be dead before it matters, or are just hoping somebody else will come around and fix the budget after they've killed the government back to 1914 levels. Why?
Well, um. . .the government is too big. . . and taxes are too high. . . and 1914 was a perfect year. . .
Friday, June 27, 2025
Five Republicans listening to their base.
The margin on this bill is so tight that five votes has a very good chance of sinking it in the House.
Good for the five.
And shame on Wyoming's delegation in Congress if it does not follow suit.
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
2024 Election Post Mortem, Part 3. First muted expressions of regret edition.
Alas, there's not that much time left until January 20, but the old thread was simply too large to keep going.
December 29, 2024
A major spat has broken out in the GOP between those who dislike H1B visas, which Donald Trump previously called "very bad" and "unfair", and those like Elon Musk who support them. Maga figures have been throwing rocks at Musk, and Musk told them to go "fuck themselves in the face", an unlikely insult for a man whose obsessed with epic level procreation (which is a fascination of certain elements of the far right).
Yesterday Trump came down in favor of H1B visas, claiming he's always liked visas in general, which isn't true, but then Trump doesn't particularly worry about truthfulness.
Bannon also said this past week that Mike Johnson has "got to go". One of Trump's sons claimed that the "vast majority" of Republicans were enemies, along with the Democrats.
Mike Johnson appears to have very little chance of retaining his position as Speaker of the House. Guess leopards ate his face.
December 30, 2024
Donald Trump:
The extension of the Debt Ceiling by a previous Speaker of the House, a good man and a friend of mine, from this past September of the Biden Administration, to June of the Trump Administration, will go down as one of the dumbest political decisions made in years. There was no reason to do it - NOTHING WAS GAINED, and we got nothing for it - A major reason why that Speakership was lost. It was Biden’s problem, not ours. Now it becomes ours. I call it “1929” because the Democrats don’t care what our Country may be forced into. In fact, they would prefer “Depression” as long as it hurt the Republican Party. The Democrats must be forced to take a vote on this treacherous issue NOW, during the Biden Administration, and not in June. They should be blamed for this potential disaster, not the Republicans!
Donald Trump, head of the GOP, the party of fiscal responsibility.
cont:
Trump endorsed Johnson for speaker.
December 31, 2024
Harriet Hageman was named incoming chair of the Anti-Woke Caucus.
I didn't know that there was one, but apparently it exists and is dedicate to fighting "woke" ideologies in government, business and society.
cont:
And:
My message to incoming President Trump is that first and foremost Canada will never be the 51st state of the U.S.
Pierre Poilievre, head of Canada’s Conservative Party.
January 3, 2024.
Today the new House of Representatives is sworn in, and the first attempt to chose a Speaker of the House will be made.
cont:
Johnson keeps his seat.
January 4, 2024
An interview with Senate Whip Barrasso. As per usual, not much content, unfortunately.
Something indicating an award for real content, and character:
Cheney receives 2nd highest
civilian award from Biden
January 10, 2024
Prosecutor Jack Smith's report will be released to the public. Trump tried to prevent this from occurring.
This:
Trump will be sentenced by a New York judge today on his multiple felony convictions in the one case that made it all the way through the court. They will be state law felony convictions.
cont:
J. D. Vance resigned his Senate seat yesterday in preparation for being sworn in as Vice President on the 20th and waiting out the interregnum until he can take the oath of office as President.
Ohio Lt. Governor Jon Husted is widely anticipated to be the individual who will take Vance's place until the 2026 election.
cont:
Newsletter from Sen. Lummis:
January 14, 2025 How many senators have shown up drunk to vote at night?...And how many senators do you know have gotten divorced for cheating on their wives...it's for show....it is so ridiculous you guys hold yourselves to a higher standard.: Sen Mullin, Hegseth confirmation hearing.
Same hearing. January 15, 2025 A NPR panelist on NPR's Politics stated that after reviewing the biographies of former Secretaries of Defense and of War, Hegseth is the least qualified nominee for that position of all time. |
2024 Election Post Mortem, Part 2. What's going on?
Friday, December 20, 2024
And the first drama of the new House of Representatives will be. . .
finding a replacement for Mike Johnson.
And that's likely to take forever.
Wednesday, May 29, 2024
The 2024 Election, Part XVII. Standing on their feet or crawling on their knees.
April 24, 2024
And, yes, we already have yet another edition.
First, this:
Mike Johnson, after receiving intelligence briefings on the Russia war in Ukraine and praying about it, reversed his prior position heroically. Wyoming's two Senators, who undoubtedly are not in favor of Russian winning the war in Ukraine, and who must at least suspect that voting against aid to Ukraine might mean the butchered bodies of American soldiers in Europe next year or the year thereafter, voted against it anyway.
Politicians are rarely held responsible for willfully wrong votes. Cheney was penalized by the voters for doing the right thing, but had the courage to do it anyhow. Lummis and Barrasso are doing the wrong thing so as to avoid suffering her fate. When the day comes, and if Russia prevails there's a good chance of it happening, and Russia crosses the Curzon Line, or the Balkan frontier, and the US finds itself obligated by its NATO treaty to defend Europe, assuming that Donald Trump, who hasn't upheld his oath to the Constitution, or his marital vow(s) would honor our treaty obligations, will those Wyoming politicians, who are too old to serve themselves, at least recognize that they have blood on their hands?
Probably not.
Let's look just a little bit on some of the current local races.
Senate
Lummis isn't running for reelection, but Barrasso is.
Barrasso is in political trouble as his opponent, Reid Rasner, who is from the Populist Party, is giving him a real run for the money, or so it seems. Barrasso, therefore, is running to the right of himself.
No Democrat has announced as of yet.
Wyoming House District 35
NCSD employee Christopher Dresang is running against Rep. Tony Locke, R-Casper, a Freedom Caucus member. Dresang is a Casper native who is a graduate of the Catholic school system's St. Anthony’s, and then Natrona County High School, Casper College, the University of Wyoming, and Montana State University-Bozeman. Locke, unlike many Freedom Caucus members, is actually from Wyoming and has a MS in engineering, making him all the more unusual as he's highly educated and yet apparently a populist.
Wyoming House District 56
Jerry Obermeuller, who was a really good legislator, announced last weekend he was not running for reelection and expressed the hope that a Republican (non Populist) did.
Elissa Campbell announced her run for that seat yesterday. She's a Wyoming native, unlike the numerous imports that make up the Invader wing of the Freedom Caucus, and she owns a consulting agency in Casper. She has two BA's, one in Philosophy, one in Environmental Ethics from the University of Wyoming. The press interview lacked very much useful content, and all we really know is that she's a mammal. Those who know her, however, feel that she'll be much like Obermeuller in outlook.
Wyoming House District 57
Another Wyoming native, and a former teacher, Julie Jarvis, is running against Jeanette Ward, an Illinois Populist who the Wyoming Education Association has been taking on, and a prominent member of the Invader wing. Ward is amongst the most extreme in every fashion of the Populist, and was an extreme school board member in her native state of Illinois. Ward has managed to keep her patrim fairly quiet, so nobody has every really looked at it much, even though her presentation alone has a fish out of war element to it. Jarvis is Wyoming Basque from Buffalo, and came out swinging against her.
This promises to be an interesting race as every Basque I've ever known was really smart and extremely feisty. Jarvis grew up, it might be noted, in a farming family. What kind of family Ward grew up in is a mystery.
April 30, 2024
Wyoming House District 34
Freedom Caucus member Rep. Pepper Ottman will face rancher, businessman and conservationist Reg Phillips in the primary election.
Presidential Campaign.
In a semi amusing story, I've been watching some Democrats like Robert Reich be absolutely hysterical about the Robert F. Kennedy race all season long, as they insisted that Kennedy was a Trump funded effort to draw Democratic votes away from Biden. The same logic, I'd note, applied to the No Labels effort which failed. In both instances, it always seemed to me that these efforts would draw votes away from Trump, not Biden.
Well, turns out, I'm right. In recent polls, the RFK campaign is drawing Trump voters. Well, of course it would. It features at lease one of the goofball populist elements, anti vaccines, without the boatload of moral sludge that comes out of a box of Trump Toasties. There's really nothing in the RFK effort that would draw Biden voters. There's quite a lot that might draw Trump voters who otherwise don't quite like the smell of Trump. Now, reportedly, he's targeting Trump voters.
He stands no chance of winning. But in the general election, while he'll draw some voters from Biden as well, it's really those who would otherwise feel compelled to vote for Trump that are attracted to him. And there are no doubt still a surprising number of voters who aren't Democrats, but don't like Trump, but otherwise would feel compelled to vote for Trump.
May 7, 2024
Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan has endorsed Joe Biden, stating that Trump has no moral compass.
Meanwhile, Trump, in trial in New York, seems to be cruising to be jailed for contempt of court if his current conduct keeps up.
Wyoming House District 42
Rob Geringer, s running for the state House against incumbent Freedom Caucus member Ben Hornok, stating that Wyoming's Republicans are losing their supermajoirty advantages by focusing on small differences.
Geringer is the son of the former Governor by that name.
May 9, 2024
Wyoming County Clerk's acting pursuant to requirements of the law purged 83,000 voters from the rolls, eliminating those who did not vote in the 2022 general election.
Wyoming, acting out of an imaginary fear of voter fraud where it doesn't exist, has eliminated same day registration, which means that a lot of those 83,000 that will show up to cast their votes this fall or this summer will be told to pound sand.
The Deadline to Register To Vote in the Primary is May 15.
Lots of people will ignore that. A lot of them will then bizarrely blame the Democrats.
Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has indicated he won't vote for Donald Trump, and is going to write in a Republican.
May 10, 2024
Donald Trump reportedly asked for 1B for his campaign. His campaign is noting that no quid pro quo was asked for.
May 11, 2024
Barron Trump, age 18, has declined to be a RNC delegate.
May 12, 2024
Christie Neom has been banned from two more South Dakota tribes meaning she's been banned from 20% of the landmass of her state.
RFK Jr, who previously was in favor of no restrictions on abortions, has changed his position to oppose abortion of viable infants, which is still a bloody position.
May 15, 2024
The largest Hispanic organization in the US, UnidosUS, has endorsed Joe Biden.
May 20, 2024
Tyler Cessor, executive director of the Wyoming Outdoor Council, has announced that he's running as an independent for House District 57, meaning that whoever prevails in that district, now occupied by Jeanette Ward, will face a candidate in the fall.
Cessor immediately was accused by Ward of aligning with the "radical Democrats" but it's clear that Ward is in trouble. With a 100% failure of her bills in the legislature and a record of being amongst the most populist of the "Freedom Caucus", she appears to be facing a real fight to retain her seat.
My guess, and it's just that, is that Ward will go down in the primary, and Cessor do poorly in the general.
Trump received the NRA's endorsement over the weekend. The extent to which the firearms' users organization has been extreme, so that's not surprising. What was interesting is that in a speech to the organization, Trump completely froze up when his teleprompter failed for 35 seconds. Use of a teleprompter is sadly common amongst modern politicians, and sometimes explains the poor quality of their oration, but Trump supporters have been harsh on Biden for using one.
May 27, 2024
Trump went to a NASCAR Race yesterday.
Hillary Clinton spoke, for reasons that are unfortunate and indeterminable, and stated that the Democrats didn't do enough to protect infanticide prior to the repeal of Roe.
For some unfathomable reason, the Democrats always choose to embrace things that make it impossible for some, who would vote for them, to do so.
The Secretary of State's office has published a list of who is running for office. We'll look first at the race for Washington seats:
And there's no earthly reason for John Holtz to try this again, as he will fail.
And a Democrat is now in the race against Hageman. She will lose, but at least somebody is trying.
State races are remarkably devoid of Democrats, all of which shows that the primary is the election that counts, and the state needs to move rapidly away from party affiliated elections.
May 29, 2024
Donald Trump endorsed John Barasso.
The current candidate roster.
Recent related threads:
Not a profile in courage.
Last prior edition:
The 2024 Election, Part XVI. The Compromised Morals Edition
Friday, May 10, 2024
Wars and Rumors of War, 2024. Part 5. A Wider War.
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
Matthew, Chapter 24.
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.
John Stuart Mill
April 14, 2024.
The Middle Eastern War.
This was mentioned yesterday, but in North America we're waking up to the news that Iran, the supplier of drones to Russia, used a huge number of drones in an airborne assault on Israel yesterday which was combined with missiles.
Because that's going to serve somebody's interest?
This was retaliatory in nature, of course, but it was also monumentally stupid on the part of Iran.
Almost all the Iranian munitions were shot down. The few that got through caused minor damage. The US participated in the airborne defense.
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukraine's defense chief warned that its battlefield situation has significantly worsened in recent days.
Mike Johnson, pick up your copy of John Stuart Mill.
April 17, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukrainian forces destroy Russian air defense systems in Crimea
The Middle Eastern War
Israel has carried out a retaliatory air strke on Iran. The details are sketchy at this time, but drones appear to be involved.
A big difference appears to be that Israel hit its targets, as opposed to Iran, which demonostrated an inability to get theirs through, although the US, UK and France helped Israel in its defense.
China v. US
A hacking campaign by China called Volt Typhoon has gained access to telecommunications, energy, water and 23 pipeline operators targeted, amongst other infrastrucure.
It should be obvious that China is preparing for war against the US, which will come over Taiwan.
April 19, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War/Middle Eastern War/China v. Taiwan.
Massively belatedly, the House of Representatives voted 316-94 to advance military aid to Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel. A final vote will come on Saturday, as this was procedural.
Isolationist are having a fit and will now take a run at removing Speaker Johnson, the latter having found his courage this week, at long last.
April 20, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War/Middle Eastern War/China v. Taiwan.
About bloody time, and better late than never, assuming it's not too late.
Finally, Mike Johnson, who apparently prayed about the matter, found his courage.
April 22, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
In listing to This Week, I learned that a majority of GOP Congressman voted against aid to Ukraine.
Shameful.
Some of the commentary on the weekend shows suggest that Speaker Johnson may have changed his mind in part because of intelligence briefings. If that's the case, we ought to be truly fearful of Russia winning the war.
MJT tried to insert an amendment into the bill which would have required all those who voted for the bill to become Ukrainian conscripts.
Middle Eastern War
Air strikes in Razah killed 22 people.
The US is imposing sanctions on the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, a unit for ultra Orthodox Jews, most of whom do not serve in the Israeli military and who are exempted from universal male conscription that the country generally imposes.
It's difficult to see how attempting to sanction a single unit would work.
April 24, 2024
Middle Eastern War
Pro Palestinian demonstrations are causing havoc across campuses in the US as protesters.
Anti-Semitic elements in these protests have been very notable, including delusional ones such as LGBTQ supporting protesters supporting, effectively, Hamas, even though Hamas would likely put a 9mm to their heads if they were in Palestine.
Stay tuned to see if the Horst Wessel song reappears.
Russo Ukrainian War
The aid bill passed the Senate 79 to 18. Wyoming's two Senators, who normally would have voted yes, voted no, so they can bow down to the Populist Party.
Iran v. Everyone
Four Iranians were arrested for a hacking scheme aimed at Federal agencies.
April 25, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukraine deployed M57A1 ATACMS ballistic missiles against Russian targets in Crimea. The new missiles vastly increase Ukraine's ability to hit deep into Russian held territory.
The sudden appearance of the missiles suggest that Ukraine was supplied them prior to the recent funding bill, which was only signed into law yesterday, but withheld use of them until the bill was passed.
Russia, regarding the bill, predictably squealed like a stuck pig or like Donald Trump complaining about being on trial for his prurient interest, while it itself has used long range missiles fairly indiscriminately in Ukraine.
Pope Francis in an interview with CBS News declared that a "negotiated peace is better than a war without end", calling on warring parties in Ukraine and the Middle East to negotiate.
Of interset here, perhaps, the Vatican recently released its "Declaration of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith “Dignitas Infinita” on Human Dignity”, the same appearing on April 8. While I've noted it elsewhere, I suspect that Catholics in particular, or at least some Catholics, have grown so weary of documents issued by Pope Francis that they're being ignored and dreaded at this point. Indeed, many Catholics are holding their breath on what will come out of the Synod on Snyodality. Anyhow, Dignatas Infinita, which people were holding their breath on before it came out (it had been announced that something was coming out) didn't receive very much attention from the world at large and frankly from Catholics as well, as sure sign that just too darned much is being generated by this Papacy.
What notice it drew from Catholic circles tended to focus on the concept of "infinite dignity", and what that meant. I haven't followed the results of that, and there wasn't that much discussion of it to start with. The Pope, however, drew a lot of flak for his statements on transgenderism, which are perfectly in line with Catholic beliefs. We'll deal with that elsewhere.
What surprisingly didn't receive much attention was his statements on war, which were:
War
38. Another tragedy that denies human dignity, both in the past and today, is war: “War, terrorist attacks, racial or religious persecution, and many other affronts to human dignity […] ‘have become so common as to constitute a real ‘third world war’ fought piecemeal.’”[64] With its trail of destruction and suffering, war attacks human dignity in both the short and long term: “While reaffirming the inalienable right to self-defense and the responsibility to protect those whose lives are threatened, we must acknowledge that war is always a ‘defeat of humanity.’ No war is worth the tears of a mother who has seen her child mutilated or killed; no war is worth the loss of the life of even one human being, a sacred being created in the image and likeness of the Creator; no war is worth the poisoning of our common home; and no war is worth the despair of those who are forced to leave their homeland and are deprived, from one moment to the next, of their home and all the family, friendship, social and cultural ties that have been built up, sometimes over generations.”[65] All wars, by the mere fact that they contradict human dignity, are “conflicts that will not solve problems but only increase them.”[66] This point is even more critical in our time when it has become commonplace for so many innocent civilians to perish beyond the confines of a battlefield.
39. Therefore, even today, the Church cannot but make her own the words of the Pontiffs, repeating with Pope St. Paul VI: “jamais plus la guerre, jamais plus la guerre!” [“never again war, never again war!”].[67] Moreover, together with Pope St. John Paul II, the Church pleas “in the name of God and in the name of man: Do not kill! Do not prepare destruction and extermination for people! Think of your brothers and sisters who are suffering hunger and misery! Respect each one’s dignity and freedom!”[68] As much now as ever, this is the cry of the Church and of all humanity. Pope Francis underscores this by stating, “We can no longer think of war as a solution because its risks will probably always be greater than its supposed benefits. In view of this, it is very difficult nowadays to invoke the rational criteria elaborated in earlier centuries to speak of the possibility of a ‘just war.’ Never again war!”[69] Since humanity often falls back into the same mistakes of the past, “in order to make peace a reality, we must move away from the logic of the legitimacy of war.”[70] The intimate relationship between faith and human dignity means it would be contradictory for war to be based on religious convictions: “The one who calls upon God’s name to justify terrorism, violence, and war does not follow God’s path. War in the name of religion becomes a war against religion itself.”[71]
These statements are not really novel, but they certainly call into question the concept of a just war, while not abrogating it completely. This is interesting as well as certainly in the region itself the Ukrainian Catholic Church, if not backing the war openly, seems to be generally.
I would note here something that's widely misunderstood. Wars today, while they do feature civilian death, and Russia certainly has been indiscriminate in its use of airborne munitions on Ukraine, and Israel has been leveling parts of Gaza, is actually less destructive on civilians that it was some 80 years ago and that is the overall actual trend.
April 26, 2024
Middle Eastern War
Hamas proposed to lay down its arms if an independent Palestinian state, which we have a long dormant thread in the hopper on, were to be created.
More specifically, it proposed:
“a fully sovereign Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the return of Palestinian refugees in accordance with the international resolutions,”
Israel is unlikely to accept that, but more than that, is such a tiny rump state even viable?
Meanwhile, Hamas and Palestinian groups have shelled the construction area for the humanitarian pier.
May 1, 2024
Middle Eastern War
Russia and China are hosting a conference on "Palestinian reconciliation" which seeks to give Hamas a role in the West Bank.
The move is particularly cynical for China, which occupies a large landmass, Tibet, which was an actual independent nation with its own ethnicity more recently than Israel's gaining of independence and which further suppresses its Muslim population.
Further ironic are university protests across the nation effectively in support of Hamas which feature groups that, if they appeared in areas of their outright control, would be murdered. A person can imagine that these protests are in support of Levantine independence in the region, or against Israeli actions in Gaza, but you have to jump through some uncomfortable hoops to get there.
May 2, 2024
Middle Eastern War
College campus protests in the US have grown large.
Shades of 1968, or something else?
Columbia has severed ties with Israel.
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukraine will start operating F-16s after May 5.
May 3, 2024
Niger
Niger has invited Russian troop to encamp at an airfield used by US troops.
Middle Eastern War
Campus arrests in the US continued yesterday.
All of this is helping Trump, so the irony stands a good chance of being that the protests get Trump elected who 1) is more pro Israeli than Biden, 2) will be anti-Islamic, and 3) whose views on Putin stand a good chance of getting the US into a war with Russia when Russia invades a NATO country.
But, hey, protests are fun. You can feel like you are really doing something, even if you aren't doing anything positive.
The UN reports that it would take until 2040 to rebuild the homes in Gaza that have been destroyed.
Given that Gaza isn't economically viable and a crap hole, it shouldn't be rebuilt, which should be obvious to all, but won't be as the Arab nations don't want the Levantines to move, and the Levantines are too politically juvenile to grasp that their future is elsewhere.
May 5, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
The Russians are in Ocheretyne and Arkhanhelske. Ukrainian forces have been struggling with a lack of artillery ammunition due to the circus in the U.S. Congress.
May 6, 2024
Middle Eastern War
Cease fire talks have broken down.
May 7, 2024
Middle Eastern War
Israeli ground forces entered Rafah following a series of air strikes.
Russo Ukrainian War
It appears clear that the Russians are building towards a more pronounced offensive in the north.
May 9, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
The Ukrainian government has passed a bill to conscript prisoners.
Not a good sign, really.
The President has not signed it into law as of yet, and it doesn't allow conscription of those convicted of the worst offenses or having more than three years left on their sentence.
May 10, 2024
Middle Eastern War
Israeli ground forces entered actually only went as far as the crossing into Rafah, which they now control. President Biden has indicated that the US will scale back military support for Israel extensively if Israel enters the city. Israel has indicated that it intends to do so none the less.
The US has withheld a shipment of 3,000 areal bombs to Israel over the potential that they'd be used in Rafah.
And this concludes this edition.
Related threads:
Iron Domes and Chutzpah
Last prior edition:
Wars and Rumors of War, 2024. Part 4. "Maybe I shall find them among the dead."
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