Enormous mistake…

…is about to happen if the Republicans start to act as if immune to any violent act. The ICC exists as a deterrent to escalating tensions and war. It is a measure of humanity left on Earth. If Republicans move into the column of those that leverage power against humanity they will have completely changed the character of this country and opened it to danger not yet measured in national security. They need to act cautiously. Trump has already assassinated two Iranian generals with impunity. The Republicans should act cautiously to repeat these horrors. 

The ICC should be immune from sanctions and rely on conscience and member opinion and dialogue for any indiscretions. They don’t make enormous amounts of money. I don’t know what good sanctions will do.

He’s back.

(Click here) 

I don’t imagine Dearborn, Michigan is happy today. Gorka is intelligence now. 

Things aren’t going to get better for the Palestinians. Israeli settlers are already moving into the West Bank. And a Republican Congress is set to legislate sanctions on the chief at the ICC. If the legislature fails then Trump will write an Executive Order for sanctions at the ICC. I think the Executive Order can be challenged.

Blind to the truth.

Does anyone believe anything said in Mar-a-lago? The place needs to be refurbished, what do you say, Elon? And then there are the golf courses that need primping. How about an investment in exchange for NASA?

If people sell their interests in Tesla and SpaceX Elon has no one to blame but himself and his extremist political views. 

Grimes is not alone.

 (Click here)

I think many people, including myself, witnessed a radical change in Elon Musk. It is what makes him a greater and growing to our national security.

I firmly believe Elon can’t be trusted. What the country thinks doesn’t matter now. Elon will have his way with Trump in office. 

There is going to be a lot of damage done to the USA in four years. We can only hope Biden’s four years of push back was enough.

There is a girl in Canada in intensive care with a mutated strain of the bird flu. Nothing should be dismissed as simply one infection. Bird flu can spread like wildfire. We’ve seen in the early 1900s. 

The vaccines are in order. The virus is being given an opportunity to mutate. People need to be vaccinated to end the opportunities for mutations. 

(Click here)

Vladimir Putin has it all wrong.

No one in this world is interested in invading Russia and change its sovereign identity. He needs to take his military back within Russian borders and this would all be over. 

(Click here)

Ukraine is and always has been interested in being an independent state, just as all the other Post-Soviet states. Ukraine has an obligation to the world in that it’s magnificent farmland can feed a very large percentage of those that are hungry. It is that which Putin needs to concentrate.

The days of the Soviet Union are over. The country was too large to protect no matter what military were to do it. There is no conventional weaponry capable of securing the former Soviet Union. It is why the nuclear capacity of the country was considered important.

The Post Soviet States have good quality of life for their people. Their citizens want to be free and not captive to regressive regimes. Continuing to rant about threats to democracy and nuclear strikes is a losing strategy, especially when it was never necessary in the first place.

Communists always WANT to believe there is some sort of evil plot against them by Free Nations of people. NO ONE IS INTERESTED.

The paradigm of strong militaries exists because everyone has their politics wrong. The never ending story of mutual hatred is the wrong political message. Aggression for land by free countries does not exist. We are no longer kingdoms. There is no head of state  looking for economic exploitation of any country.

Vladimir Putin is causing self-destruction and that of Russia. He is dragging other countries into a war they had nothing to do with.

Russia lost this war within the first week. The only reason this is continuing is because of wayward ideology with no basis in reality. 

NO ONE IS COMING FOR RUSSIA.

The Free World cannot stand by and watch this anymore. It isn’t even called a war, is it? What it is, is an ideological incursion into what was an unarmed country. Ukraine would gladly go back to being within its borders seeking trade with all it’s neighbors, but, somehow that is a threat to Russia, huh?

Vladimir Putin has ruined Russia. It not only has thousands upon thousands of dead citizens and any other sympathetic soldiers, it now has to accept soldiers from other countries to pretend it is important enough to the sovereign state of Russia. 

NO ONE IS COMING FOR RUSSIA!

Putin is in the position of protecting himself as a man guilty of human rights abuses and genocide of Ukraine’s children. That is the real problem and he doesn’t care what type of war engagement it takes to protect himself from prison or worse.

If Putin begins to release nuclear weapons there are no winners. Putin is standing at the door of mutual annihilation. Of all the profoundly evil men in this world he is the first to have access to nuclear weapons to protect his own life. It is astounding he is so intractable in a resolve to return the Soviet Union to existence. Certainly he knows how hideous this is. 

. 

NO ONE IS COMING FOR RUSSIA and no one is allowing Russia to come for us!

Vladimir Putin needs to stop this ridiculous aggression with no basis in reality and he needs to stop it now.

The Manhattan DA’s Office is exactly correct.

(Click here)

Once the Attorney General is in place she can file for a dismissal based on Trump’s re-election and supposed Supreme Court ruling. Them Then the convicted criminal and his Attorneys General can argue their case. 

Here is a bit of reality orientation for the amateur Trump administration.

(Click here)

The USA is a democracy of, by, and for the people. Soldiers are citizens that took up the call for readiness and during their service died in protecting the idea of their mighty country.

1.1 million soldiers dead in service to the USA since it’s inception.

And that is only the bloodshed. That doesn’t account for the wounded both physically and mentally.

THIS idea of defunding the federal government is dead on arrival.

This country exists because of the magnificent men and women of the USA military. Trump’s homey boys never served a day in their life and this is the genius they pretend to have?

The million-billionaires of the USA are spoiled brats with drool running out of their mouths for USA Treasury money. Maybe we should simply defund the space program? What do you say? The private space business certainly can exist with their profits. They don’t need USA Treasury welfare to exist anymore, right?

Elon and his friend prioritize their space investments over the lives of Americans that they should be grateful exist. I don’t believe Musk realizes how delicate the space program is in relationship to the lived of Americans. This country will soon be 250 years old. The space program has been around from Kennedy, but, this country’s people and military have been around for more than 250 years. Musk needs to get real about what is important about life. 

These guys are trippin’.

(Click here)

Trump is proposing throwing our veterans under the bus?

NIH is invaluable. Absolutely invaluable. This is ridiculous. This is how Musk sees his role in seeking pork and duplicity? Seriously. There is no genius in this. 

In seeking power in controlling government money, Elon Musk couldn’t see his way clear to increase taxes on the filthy rich? Seriously. Veterans’ health care is to be eliminated while billionaires are tax free? It definitely and without a doubt it sounds exactly like Donald John Trump. Does Trump ever believe he will have a well staffed military after this?

Defense Secretary

Setting aside the sexual exploits of most of Trump’s cabinet nominees;

Is the name Pete Hegseth…

OR

Five Star General Commander Pete Hegseth? 

He was a major. He was a field commander. That does not qualify him to be Secretary of Defense.

Has he ever been to the Pentagon other than as a tourist?

Will he be meeting the Joint Chiefs for the first time at an inaugural party? 

Does he understand the nuclear triad? Is it state of the art and if not, why not?

Knowing the affection Trump has for the USA’s enemies, and Russia was posing an eminent threat; would he stand down in the face of that danger if Trump says so? Would he surrender the most powerful military the world has ever known? Would he wave at Venezuela’s nuclear jets as they landed at Dulles? 

Does Major Hegseth believe Trump won the 2020 election? Does he actually think the 2020 election was stolen?

Angry Donald?

I am certain Trump is more than annoyed his nominees aren’t accepted with adulation. But, this is the problem with Trump. He doesn’t get it. Realizing how he lived his life in complete opposition to good practices in life and business he never “got it.”

The government is not about breaking rules for a certain personal outcome, it is about upholding values that all people value. Governance IS NOT JUST ABOUT HIM. 

There is nothing wrong with change, but, completely reordering the government to his own personal ideology is not possible in a democracy as great and diverse as the USA.

All of his nominees are his friends. They think the same as he does. They are all wealthy and like the privilege wealth brings them. It isn’t that people dislike the nominees personally, it is that they are not qualified.

The difference between he and Former President Obama is 180 degrees. Obama welcomed diversity of thought to his cabinet. He thrived with dialogue and advice different than his own. President Obama is a brilliant man, but he is always open to suggestions and opinion different than his before making critical decisions. Obama never had an agenda as Trump. President Obama lead. He did not dictate. There was no my way of the highway.

President Obama was admired for his life accomplishments even before he took office. The world and allies longed for his dialogue to be a part of theirs, so much so they awarded him the Nobel early in his presidency. In contrast Trump will never know the power of reputation that leads to peace, so much as brutal handling of other human beings. 

Obama’s reputation preceded him. He elevated others simply by being in his presence. Trump will never achieve what Obama did. Trump’s cabinet is a reflection of that truth. Trump embraces lies. He is the tabloid president.

Matt Gaetz is a terrible guy. Trump wants revisionist history, that is why Gaetz is important to Trump.

There isn't anything exceptional about this. He is a reflection of the beliefs of Trump and Trump World. We know he is a terrible guy. There isn't anything new here. 

November 15, 2024
By Ryan Reilly

Left is Florida District 1.

WASHINGTON — Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, (click here) the Florida Republican who Donald Trump wants to be the next attorney general of the United States, has spread lies about the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and championed the cause of Jan. 6 defendants whose cases he would oversee if confirmed to the job.

Trump’s nomination of Gaetz, the recent target of a federal sex trafficking probe that ended without charges, has sent shockwaves through Congress and through the Justice Department, a law enforcement institution that Gaetz himself has repeatedly targeted, including with false claims.

“Many attorneys and staff are struggling to find the right emotional response to the reality that’s unfolding before us,” said one law enforcement source close to the Jan. 6 investigation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly about the potential head of their department....

Besides realizing Gaetz has every intention of nullifying the reality of January 6, 2021, he will do so by turning loose the prisoners currently responsible for the acts of violence that day. He isn't making the USA safer.

November 20, 2024
By Michael S. Schmidt

Federal investigators (click here) established a trail of payments from Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice to be attorney general, to women including some who testified that Mr. Gaetz hired them for sex, according to a document obtained by The New York Times and a lawyer representing some of the women.

The document, assembled by investigators during a three-year sex-trafficking investigation into Mr. Gaetz, is a chart that shows a web of thousands of dollars in Venmo payments between Mr. Gaetz and a group of his friends, associates and women who had drug-fueled sex parties between 2017 and 2020, according to testimony that participants are said to have given to federal and congressional investigators.

At the parties, women, and a girl who was 17 at the time, were paid for sex, according to accounts of the participants’ testimony from people briefed on what they said.

The document bolsters recent claims by a lawyer for two of the women who say they had sex with Mr. Gaetz for money. It shows thousands of dollars in payments Mr. Gaetz made to both of the lawyer’s clients....

The SEX CONNECTION OF TRUMP APPOINTEES DOESN'T END WITH GAETZ.

These are the moral police, right? I mean Trump is the second coming.

His Secretary of Education is linked to child sexual molestation. Are children safe with McMahon's look the other way lifestyle? 

November 20, 2024

By Ivana Saric

Trump tapped Linda McMahon, (click here) his transition team co-chair and a former WWE executive, to serve as the next secretary of Education.

- A lawsuit filed last month on behalf of five former WWE "Ring Boys" accused McMahon and her husband, WWE mogul Vince McMahon, of being complicit in the grooming and sexual exploitation of children.

- The lawsuit alleged the McMahons knowingly gave ringside announcer Melvin Phillips Jr. "free reign" to entice boys as young as 12 or 13 to help around the shows.

- The lawsuit also alleged that the McMahons knew since at least as early as the 1980s that Phillips had a "peculiar and unnatural interest" in boys....

Florida has a rather significant problem with prostitution. Polk County is in the center of the State of Florida. The sex trade practices in Florida are wide spread.

Just sayin'.

President Barack Obama

(Click here)

President Obama holds the lowest homicide rate in the USA. It was consistently low all the years he was in office. 2014 was the best. Rates started to go up when Trump arrived on the political scene June of 2015. The rate of homicide under Trump escalated with 2020 his highest and among the highest in the last 34 years.

Trump likes to grandstand about undocumented crimes especially when the victim is a woman because his record on escalating violence in general while involved with politics is abysmal.

It was slowing down again with President Biden in office, but, with Trump carrying on like a two year old it still was far higher than it should be. It will increase and skyrocket again next year. This should be a huge issue for the 2026 elections. Trump has a horrible record on most things.

President Obama had a great Attorney General and Eric Holder did not put up with police abuse of power. As a matter of fact 2014 was the year Michael Brown (click here) was mercilessly gunned down over two packs of Cigarillos. It was the year Ferguson, Missouri met Eric Holder. Michael Brown was supposed to go to college a short while after his death. Michael Brown was a big burley man. He was loved by his family and lost his life needlessly. He was a threat to no one. There were so many, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Freddie Grey, Alton Sterling, Walter Scott, Oscar Grant, Philando Castile, and Brionna Taylor. That is a short list. All Americans going about their lives with no intention of confronting a police officer. 

Two packs of Cigarillos is a misdemeanor. There should have been a police report and a visit to his family’s home, not a man hunt.

Singling out an undocumented worker for political points is racism. The fact of the matter is Trump can’t reduce violence so much as propagate it. Laken Riley’s death while tragic occurred in escalating hate speech by Trump. He is going to use her death to declare a national emergency to round up human beings in this country. The problem of homicides in the USA is a lot bigger than a Georgia nursing student death.

There is no rash of violence by undocumented workers in the USA. At least they show up for work and love their families while escaping violence in their home countries that no doubt will have funding pulled yet again.

The undocumented employers should stand with them against a president making a problem where it doesn’t exist.

I once worked as a tractor trailer driver. Met a lot of people, mostly men who were once living a hard life or in prison at one time. The drivers would chatter among themselves on the CB radios. I was a woman’s voice so it toned the conversations differently. The men were revealing of their lives in those conversations and they formed friendships that never existed before. They were elevated by humor and acceptance.

I drove exempt freight from Boston frozen fish to carrots and greens from McAllen, Texas and watermelons from Medina, California to Hunt’s Point Market. Rarely in those runs were there “neat” loads handled by tow motor. Most of the time it was the undocumented or migrant labor that loaded my haul on a 48 foot Dane trailer with a Thunderbird refrigerator. Those people were invaluable. They moved the food supply of a nation. 

I was ridiculed when I cranked up the Thunderbird while “the wetbacks” loaded my rig. All I remembered were the smiles and big “thank yous” as they left the trailer and I padlocked the door. 

Americans don’t realize how their country actually runs and how dysfunctional it will become with a communist president that hates rather seeks domestic tranquility.

“Morning Joe”

(Click here)

I think they got it exactly right. What is concerning is that it was necessary in the first place.

The couple are leaders in their community. If they get it right they can be sure others do as well. Mika is a daughter of a world famous diplomat and she knows how it works when meaningful connections need to be made to prevent misunderstanding. 

Mika is also an incredible women’s advocate. She holds an important place in New York City as well as an enormous following of women across the country. 

Joe says it like it is and has witnessed many Republicans leave office and also stand up for the American democracy. He has a sensitive place in the media services in the country. I think he is brave to have reality set straight considering the parties involved in what may become a dangerous world.

We need this couple to be a strong voice for citizens of this magnificent democracy. 

Scott Pelley is a great American.

I admire and congratulate everyone involved in the production of “60 Minutes.” The display of loyalty to this great country in calling out the dangerous extremism of Trump’s regime is by far the most important step forward in defending liberty, freedom, allies, democracy, humanity, and Earth.

Drought in dairyland and the Garden State.

(Click here) 

The Presidential Reorganization Authority

(Click here)

Trump and his minions cannot run roughshod over Executive Branch agencies.

The way this works is that Congress grants the president a period of time to review agencies of the federal government. Once the review is complete the changes are submitted to the Legislature. However, this is different and nearly backwards from the regular methods of Congress. The changes will go through if there is NO action by Congress. It gives the appearance of a president/dictator, but, that is not the case.

The president presides over the Executive Branch created by Congress. Congress in turn funds the Executive Branch with budgets to facilitate smooth operation of the government in service to the people. 

Recent history found the Executive Branch in scrutiny by the people for a growing budget in the Executive Branch of “COC” funds. It was giving the president his own military to run contingencies overseas (click here). If the president was found to be abusing that power the Congress could rein it in a bit. 

But, with billionaires like Musk chomping at the bit, the most powerful body to decide the changes to the federal government is the current Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. He can a filibuster and end the changes the Executive Branch is demanding. There could be quite an interesting time for Senator Schumer. The filibuster could stop all the changes or modify the findings of the Executive Branch and only consolidation of duplicate activities by several offices might be called for. But, it is not unusual for the federal authority to run in duplicity or in tandem depending on the work load in any given agency.

Taking a look at things in the Executive Branch is the responsibility of the president. Reporting on those findings is also the president’s responsibility.

I have a problem with Musk co-authoring the review. Elon has Space X. Currently, private space companies are drawing 40 percent of NASA’s budget. That is a significant amount of money. Granted NASA’s budget is about 3 percent or so of the national budget, but, it is still a good amount of money.

The USA has a strong interest in space exploration and not space entertainment. The idea of the ALLOWANCE of private space agencies was to nurture that arm of the space program but ultimately they were to be run as private companies and earn monies to ultimately generate an income and be self-supporting. To date that hasn’t happened. 

I am not being mean. I am completely aware of the love Americans have for the idea of space travel as a frontier for science. I think that is strongly reflected in projects like sending actual names of Americans on a metal sphere to Titan. Most folks know Titan is estimated to be habitable as a natural satellite of Saturn. Sending names through space to Titan has an ideology that someday those same people will walk on Saturn. I am not going to get into the reality of that idea. I think the idea was exciting and an interesting activity for kids of all ages, including Grandpa and Grandma. 

But, to get back to NASA funding, it is a national security issue. NASA does a lot more than worry about the ISS and its experiments. There is an entire agency within NASA that concentrates on military interests. Ask MIT.

The “thing” is this. Forty percent of NASA’s budget is going to private interests and the program for them isn’t really panning out as was hoped AND expected. I hate to bring about this reality, but, there are astronauts (who are important and precious people who we have an invested interest as well as a humanitarian interest for their well being) that became stranded at the ISS. That is unacceptable.

ALSO, to me and some Americans will agree with me OUR own projects are delayed and delayed waiting for funding. Namely, Artemis. That is not healthy for the national interests of this country.

So. Not to belabor the issue.

I think it is obvious why I have a problem with Musk being willing to run roughshod over the federal budget. I think the initiative is corrupt with enormous conflict of interest.

I might add, Mr. Musk is nowhere near the sophistication of NASA. His heavy rockets are only in existence a short while and explode from time to time. He has had successes, but, his company is still in development. 

The U.S.A. has had its tragedies that no one is proud of. The reason for an O-ring failure was because the program was being driven to hard for the purpose of a Republican that wanted to make it’s Shuttle profitable.

With that said, there also one other issue. It would seem there are a few million dollars in the NASA budget devoted to D.I.E., the diversity program for outreach to states like Alabama seeking to bring minorities into the STEM program. Some verbal individuals at NASA think Elon can cut that out and put it to use for Artemis. That is offensive given the benefits of the program to young people. AND. Artemis is a multi-billion dollar project. A few million is going to close the gap in funding? I don’t think so.

There are a lot of nuances in government funding and a bunch of cowboys looking toward their own interests will never be interested in those nuances. Never.

I think i mentioned there is a trillion dollars US ear marked for the COVID-19 pandemic. That should be moved to pay the Social Security Insurance program. The federal government borrows from SSi and owes Americans a whole lot of money. That trillion should be coveted by Majority Leader Schumer to address the federal debt to SSI especially considering all the talk about its anticipated shortfall.

end…for now…

This is the current weather map for the USA.

(Click here) 

FOX is primarily inaccurate. This language for people planning to travel is very inflammatory. There will be storms and there will add misery to travel, but, the outcomes will not be lasting snow accumulation so much as slush and rain with wind and dangerously slippery conditions.

The current temperature map of the USA is below the FOX News terror alert.

There are absolutely no below zero temperatures on that map of the country. Correction, Idaho reached down to 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Snow can occur in cold temperatures but will not significantly accumulate unless the ground temperatures are freezing. Now, a frigid air mass can accompany a snow storm and start to cool the ground, but, it won’t happen overnight.

So, this is the way I see it. There will be storms and it will be cold with the arrival of the storms. Americans will want to don winter clothes during the storm, especially outside. But, the snow if it accumulated would be better news than if it didn’t. And it won’t, except, at higher elevations. The reason accumulation is good news is because it doesn’t saturate the ground and is a form of water storage. Why is that important? Because stored water in the form of snow doesn’t cause flooding.

I would be aware of melting snow. The melting snow is more like rain, except, slush is far more slippery than rain or snow. Slush in overnight temperatures also freezes. So, while there will be snow there will be hazards with this storm. I don’t know what the airlines are using to decide delays, but, short of high winds it would surprise me if deicers didn’t work well in freezing rain and slush conditions. 

What concerns me more about the impending storms is water runoff and swollen creeks, streams, and rivers.

Any drivers of any age should be prepared for slippery roads and possible flash flood alerts.

Hegseth is a wacko.

 (Click here)

The only reason he is not in prison or worse is because he was removed from the inaugural event as an insider threat (white supremacist). He is a problem that cannot be overlooked. He is an agitator by the sheer fact he took anti-Pentagon views to his viewership on FOX News. 

Hello? Pete what the heck?

The greatest military in the world doesn’t need an extremist on the cabinet. Hegseth is well known to his views. There is no reason to question him further. 

A Defense Secretary cannot be a hothead about the leadership of the top brass of the USA military. He would make life miserable for every commander in every branch of the service. 

Today’s military is all inclusive. There are women who lead, pilot helicopters and fighter jets. There are members and leaders from the LGBTQ community. I don’t know if he pays much attention but his tattoo and it’s implications are a direct insult to the current Defense Secretary.

Leadership exhibiting this level of extremist views would result in problems within the ranks of the military. There is just no doubt he is inflammatory. Any idea what that translates to on the battlefield?

Trump has a real burr up his ass and he wants desertion and division in the military. I would encourage the Senate to keep expecting a realistic person for Defense Secretary and not vote until one is chosen.

Mr. Hegseth needs to have some tattoos removed to exhibit the fact he can be a reasonable person rather than an extremist. It is one thing to have tattoos within the service among other soldiers, but, it is quite another thing to be at the top of the decision makers and exhibit such views with the authority a Defense Secretary can wield.

Someone needs to get real with Trump. This is nonsense. The military is not about political dogma. Honestly.

I have to wonder how much of this is quid pro quo. FOX News? Woke? He had the attention of a lot of right wing voters. “Could I be Defense Secretary if I get you elected?”

Musk is extremely likely outside USA sanctions.

(Click here)

This is not a coincidence.

Iran is scaling back its rhetoric because Musk probably gifted them with land acquisition. This violates not only Iranian sanctions but also sanctions against Russia as it enhances its trade economics, which includes more Iranian drone shipments that kill Ukrainian children as they sleep. Musk is a traitor relying on the purchase in some low key way of Trump’s pardoning power. 

With this development it is easy to see Trump’s plans for Ukraine. Ukraine will be assigned economic dependency with Russia. NATO needs to accept Ukraine into the organization and move NATO into Ukraine which would bring the USA into support the effort to stabilize Ukraine and return function to the land allowing Ukrainians to return home.

Trump can’t just close out the USA from NATO. He can pretend to have control when he doesn’t. He can be undiplomatic and ridiculed for grotesque behavior, but, NATO is a treaty and a long standing benevolent treaty. Only Congress can pass, modify, or end any treaty. The legislature and its moral content in the value of human life including maintaining our military readiness will rule the next four years. Trump has executive rights, but, no power to alter the course of the USA democracy. He can make life miserable, but, not permanently or exclusively.

Let’s bring Ukrainians home and expand NATO. Only then will Russia be able to negotiate a lifting of sanctions. The interior of Russia is in shambles. The prisoners Putin put on the front lines of his Ukraine conflict are returning home from war with their criminal records expunged and accolades of hero worship coming their way. The returning criminals return to the only life they know as criminals and are basically untouchable. If the local constabulary actually files charges against their heroes, the criminals simply return to the war until they are free to return home again. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. This includes murderers, pedophiles, and any other unimaginable Russian vermin. 

NATO’s movement into Ukraine will actually liberate the Russian people from an increasingly hostile domestic picture. NATO will end the conflict. Russia and its nuclear threats are its only real resort and amounts to desperation and stupidity. Russia is one of five permanent nuclear powers. It’s propaganda is it’s only real sword. 

(Click here)