FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2026
And he's stopping by woods to buy marble: Is the sitting American president in the grip of some sort of cognitive decline?
We don't exactly know how to make some such determination. Meanwhile, Blue America's mainstream press corps has agreed that they will never interview the medical specialists who might know how to shed light on such a topic.
That said, the unusual conduct goes on and on. Today, as they were driving (the possible) Mister Donald, his motorcade (reportedly) stopped for this:
Trump’s Motorcade Reportedly Stops At a ‘Random’ FL Strip Mall So He Could Buy Marble For His Ballroom Project
Go ahead and read the report from Mediaite!
He's threatening to blast Iran to smithereens (and to wreak havoc in parts of Nigeria), but he also wants marble armrests on the seats in the new Trump Center! Is there any chance that this peculiar state of affairs could imaginably, even possibly, maybe become somewhat dangerous at some point?
We've been asking that question for a long time. We might as well have been trying to catch the wind, or waiting for Dr. Godot to appear with an answer to our gloom-accessible question.
Cognitive decline is tragic, as is any serious "mental illness" ("personality disorder"). It helps if we Blues can remember to state that fact. Politically, we'll likely be even more effective if we really believe that statement.
Having said that, we're thinking this week of the crazy behavior in which this man has engaged for the past fifteen years. Setting possible medical issues to the side—medical issues which are always tragic, whether they involve cognitive decline or "personality disorders"—we're persisting in asking this:
Why haven't major news orgs in Blue America ever screwed their journalism to the sticking point by identifying that crazy behavior as an inexcusable state of affairs? As an inexcusable state of affairs which should be treated as a major front-page "news hook" every time the behavior presents?
More on that tomorrow. To Blue Americans, we'll only say this:
For something closer to forty years, you've been failed by the people you've been trained to trust and respect. When do we Blues plan to reject this dysfunctional lovers' agreement? More on this tomorrow morning, part of our THE SQUALOR[S] series.
Finally, events like these are always tragic. We advise you to pity the child.
ReplyDelete"When do we Blues plan to reject this dysfunctional lovers' agreement?"
When President Donald Trump and his team finish draining the swamp, and you "Blues" find yourselves in the garbage bin of history. That's when. Hopefully.
The swamp can't be drained until President Trump gets at least a dozen more participation trophies.
DeleteWhen Trump can keep his underwear clean, maybe he can be trusted with the swamp. That will be never.
DeleteHow come you Soros-bots are so dumb? A 12 y.o. could easily come up with something funnier than the shit you're puking here all day.
DeleteI guess your boss Mr. Soros is too stingy to hire anything half-decent. Yeah, I heard it about 'em super-rich currency speculators.
Relax.
DeleteWe're responding to a 5-year old.
At least Soros pays us in US dollars, not the worthless rubles you get doled out.
DeleteI think it's worth noting that Our Gracious Host faults "Blue" media for failing to note Trump's aberrant behavior--by quoting a story about that behavior that was posted on Mediaite, a prominent news website.
ReplyDeleteMediaite is a product of Abrams Media, founded and led by one-time NBC chief legal correspondent Dan Abrams.
Somerby started discussing Mediaite a few months ago, with overblown praise and frequent quoting. I don't know what the tie is between Somerby and Mediaite, but it is very obvious when Somerby chooses a favorite.
DeleteGroundNews rates Mediaite as "lean left," which means it has a moderate left bias but is mostly factual. Beyond "lean left" there is "left" and "far left" and "extreme left" so Mediaite is basically slightly left of center, not solidly left the way actual liberals and progressives would think of it.
DeleteLeft compared to Nick Fuentes?
DeletePeople noticed Trump's mental impairments and declines long before Bob (Bob patting himself on the back is embarrassingly misguided), and independent media has been reporting on the issue all along, but Bob pretends to be unaware.
ReplyDeleteBob dumbly asks: "Why haven't major news orgs in Blue America ever screwed their journalism to the sticking point by identifying that crazy behavior as an inexcusable state of affairs?"
For Bob, "Blue America" generally refers to corporate media, which is misleading, but in fact they have been covering that subject, just less so than independent media.
Why less so?
Because corporate media generally has right wing neoliberal and neoconservative leanings, and they know that tax cuts and deregulation for the wealthy and corporations won't happen on their own, and neither will their imperialist ambitions.
Plus Trump has sued several mainstream media sources, they settled in order to secure mergers and other financial positions, and now they are bent to his will in terms of what they cover. Why does Somerby never talk about Bari Weiss. Does he have some agreement not to talk about the compromised legacy media? It seems so.
DeleteSomerby always "forgets" to mention how Republican voters ate total pieces of shit for electing a guy who is struggling with his mental health to be the President of the United States of America.
DeleteI (don't at all) wonder why.
6:11,
DeleteFortunately for Trump, those media corporations left the USA, just like they would if you raised the corporate tax rate 50%.
Who left and what 50% tax you fucking moron.
DeleteNo one left, because the idea that a corporation would leave the country because their taxes went up is something only a fucking moron would believe.
DeleteMainstream media has run stories interviewing Dick Cheney's cardiologist, about what his aspirin-a-day means, what his leg swelling means, and why he had an MRI (later changed to a CAT-scan). Mainstream media has also run stories based on interviews with a neuropsychologist about the deterioration of Trump's vocabulary and other signs of dementia that can be analyzed from his speeches and press statements. The dementia-related coverage has been going on for weeks, so it is hard to see how Somerby missed it. The Wall Street Journal and NY Times have both covered his stumbling, swollen legs, and the bruising on his hands.
ReplyDeleteSo, Somerby's assertion that the "Blue media" doesn't talk about this stuff, by some sort of clandestine agreement he says, is false and even perhaps even a lie. Meanwhile, Trump's assertions that his health is perfect have routinely appeared in the mainstream media, sometimes with talk about his perfect cognitive exams that no other president has ever dared to take or talk about.
Somerby himself spent a great deal of words trying to convince his readers that Biden was falling apart. To rebut that, articles appeared describing Biden's White House physicians assuring the public that Biden was given a daily cognitive exam, like the ones Trump now says no president has ever taken before. I wish Somerby had paid attention to Biden's results on those tests, which were normal and showed no decline beyond some age-related memory problems of the type many people experience after age 40.
It is hard for me to believe that others here do not recognize that Somerby is shilling for Trump, when his statements about the media are so obviously false, and his mistreatment of Biden at the end of his term was so unfair.
Who does Somerby think he is fooling with this nonsense?
There are endless stories about Trump’s corruption, never mentioned by right wing news media. Stories about the dire effects of Trump’s policies. But hey, both sides…?
DeleteIMO Trump should be congratulated for threatening Iran if they kill demonstrators. Iran has a terrible government. The demonstrators could possibly lead to a better government. I don't think Trump really would blast Iran to smithereens. But, if the threat helps protect the demonstrators, that's good.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what Bob or other liberal critics would do about the uprising in Iran if he were President. Sitting on the sidelines and carping is a lot easier than being responsible for dealing with the situation.
And yet, IRONICALLY, Trump hates protesters in the US, and sends his thugs to smash their heads.
DeleteTrump is itching for another excuse to drop big bombs on Muslims somewhere in the world. It has nothing to do with demonstrators.
DeleteSo, what would you do about Iran, 6:33 and 6:36?
DeleteNegotiate a deal just like the one Obama did that Trump abrogated.
DeleteWe are not the world's policemen. Didn't you get the memo? It was written on MAGA stationary.
DeleteDavid in Cal,
DeleteIn your opinion, is the federal government just a money printer, who can spend endless amounts of dollars on protecting you from things that couldn't possibly effect your life?
You suck so hard on your own fucking bullshit, flip flopping day to day with your fucking nonsense you fucking idiot Dave. Let's figure out how to deal with our own Ice protestors before we bomb Iran, again for mistreating their protestors. Let's not pardon one El Presidente drug trafficker before we take out another you fake piece of shit.
DeleteTriggered, Hillary?
DeleteBigoted, Right-winger?
Delete"For something closer to forty years, you've been failed by the people you've been trained to trust and respect."
ReplyDeleteI totally disagree with this. First, I was never "trained" to trust and respect any media. Second, the press didn't go bad 40 years ago. Third, the press is not a monolith and it varies considerably on a number of variables. I date the problems back only to Fox News, when it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Russia and Putin (look at its relationship with Russia Today and note when it became routine for Republicans to appear there. It was around the time Russia funneled money to Republican elected official via the NRA. Somerby, of course, discussed none of this.
Personality disorders are not considered "mental illness" (with or without the scare quotes). Personality is defined as a habitual way of dealing with other people and the world, stable and constant across situations and the lifespan. Personality is, by definition, very difficult to change. A personality disorder is a dysfunctional way of interacting with other people and life situations that tends to obstruct the attainment of important goals and cause unhappiness or trouble with institutions to the point that a person seeks therapy with a desire to change. The treatment is to help someone to adjust their ways of dealing with problems and relating to people, not to change their basic personality.
ReplyDeleteThat is why personality disorders are not considered mental illness. Everyone has one or more personality types that can be categorized. These do not rise to the level of a disorder unless someone is seriously unhappy or in trouble with the law or cannot hold a job or maintain relationships.
When Somerby throws around such terms, conflating mental illness with personality disorder, he shows his ignorance and misuses diagnostic terms in order to call names or stigmatize someone in the news. That is an abuse that would cost a mental health professional to perhaps lose their license to practice.
Mental health issues are considered in court at several points. First, an accused person might be evaluated to determine whether he is competent to participate in his own defense and understand the proceedings. There was some question whether that was true in Trump's fraud case, especially given his falling asleep and contemptuous behavior toward the judge. Second a person may be evaluated after conviction and before sentencing, to determine the appropriate way to administer justice, degree of danger to the public and themselves, etc. Finally, a person might plead not guilty by reason of insanity, but in that case would have to meet a legal definition of sanity. Personality disorders do not typically make someone legally insane because they do not typically include manic or psychotic states and because a person with a personality disorder generally has the ability to conform their behavior to law, whether they have chosen to or not.
It is frustrating when Somerby throws around these technical terms (jargon) without understanding them. It makes his suggestions worthless and wastes a lot of time because he does nothing to correct his misunderstandings. His goal seems to be to excuse Trump, not to understand him. That is politically motivated, or perhaps a matter of identifying with Trump and thus projecting his own needs onto Trump in order to excuse his own thoughts and behavior. Who knows? But there is no value to Somerby continuing down thiis path day after day.
"Trump Brags About 'Acing' His Third Straight Cognitive Exam 1 Month After Making Same Claim"
ReplyDeleteSo, either:
a) they're giving him monthly cognitive exams because he's so out of it, or:
b) he's so out of it he can't remember that he already posted about the cognitive exam he took only one month ago.
c) Trump knows nothing matters to his voters, as long as he gives them the bigotry they crave, like children crave sugar.
DeleteWhich reminds me of how the corporate-owned mainstream media tried to make the 2024 Presidential election about inflation, which Republican voters are oblivious about.
I guarantee Trump is not getting 100% correct on those tests, so they are lying to him about the results, or he is lying to us about them.
DeleteSan Francisco's Mayor just signed a bill giving up to $5 million per person slavery reparations. But, as he signed the bill, the Mayor said the City is broke and he isn't actually going to pay any reparations. Huh?
ReplyDeleteThis is wrong on several levels. CA was never a slave state. Even if it were, the people getting reparations were never slaves. Slavery ended 160 years ago. And, even the Mayor acknowledged that the $5 million was just a figure plucked out of the air.
This seems like a dangerous bill. Blacks may be disappointed when they don't get any money. But, the bill sits on the books, with the potential of all kinds of mischief in the future.
I hope that someone takes this to Court. IANAL but arbitrary payments given to people of a certain race seems to me to violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Search Assist says, "The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment states that no state shall deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, ensuring that individuals in similar situations are treated equally."
The fund is for monetary donations from members and corporations in the private sector and acknowledges that city laws have in the past disadvantaged African Americans. It's not your money so settle down.-
DeleteClarence Darrow here would like to apply the 14th amendment to a state activity that involves setting up a fund for private citizens to contribute to a group of people, of their choosing. That has nothing to do with uniformly applying laws to different groups of people.
DeleteTriggered Hillary in Cal?
Delete“ measure does not allocate any initial city dollars, a move that may have helped secure support from the board's moderates after repeated years of city budget shortfalls. Instead, the ordinance establishes a framework to receive future contributions - whether through city appropriations or private donations.”
DeleteSo the SF bill does indeed contemplate government appropriations.
DiC, “ Jewish survivors of the Holocaust and their heirs have received substantial reparations and compensation from Germany,”
DeleteBlack former slaves and their heirs were never given anything like this from the US. Why not?
Delete"their heirs have received substantial reparations"
Bullshit.
If you don't know about efforts to help Jewish holocaust survivors then you don't know history.
DeleteIn effect, blacks received trillions of reparations via all various social welfare programs. Of course, welfare applies to people of all races, but the plight of blacks was always a key justification.
DeleteAlso, the widespread use of reverse discrimination, everywhere from the President and Supreme Court on down, is a kind of payment to black Americans.
BTW Jewish heirs got all this reparations? I never got a Deutschmark, even though the Holocaust was only 80 years ago.
The Holocaust Reparations Committee didn't fall for David in Cal's bullshit about being Jewish.
DeletePerhaps, TDS readers should follow suit.
David, don't forget the 50 acres and a mule. Jim Crow laws made sure that freed slaves were put back into slavery immediately after their nominal freedom.
DeleteAs I recall, the war on poverty was illustrated by white people in Appalachia (Vance's people). If welfare were reparations to black people, it wouldn't be limited to only the poor. Blacks have a poverty rate of around 20%. Where are the reparations for the other 80% of blacks? Non-Latino whites are the largest percentage of poor people, while Latinos are the second-largest percentage.
The excess emphasis and focus on black poverty is an aspect of racism, given that there are far more white and Latino poor people than blacks.
The Klan was founded, coincidentally, right after slavery was abolished.
DeleteDavid in Cal must have finally read the Constitution and realized the government has no role in policing the people.
DeleteGood for him.
No mention from Somerby that all Republican voters are such bigots, they would elect a mentally declining grifter to be the President of the USA, and the Right-wing, corporate-owned media, Bob pretends is "blue" won't mention it right along with him.
ReplyDeleteTrump the Dove (hat tip, corporate-owned Right-wing media), is attacking Venezuela.
ReplyDeleteIt's okay, though, because he's only attacking them with bombs that lower the federal deficit.
LOL.
In a shocking turn of events that has caught the Pulitzer Committee by surprise, the 23 year old vlogger has been found to have videotaped Minneapolis child care centers, that are running normally, at hours they were closed. This does not detract from his earlier stellar work, including a January 6th video in which he includes himself reveling over an old codger who stole mail from Nancy Pelosi's desk during the uprising. Upcoming on his calender: a trip to the White House for a round table discussion about ANTIFA. The new mainstream media for D. Trump, as in "no more fake news".
ReplyDeleteVenezuela!
ReplyDeleteWhat could go wrong?
The MAGATs:"America first. No more foreign interventions."
DeleteTrump overturns Maduro, forceably.
The MAGAts:"Why not?"
We’re gonna need troops on the ground if his regime thinks that they are just going to replace him with the next narco despot in line.
DeleteBehold all the powerful Democrats speaking out against the invasion.
DeleteThey are.
DeleteLittle quick with the trigger finger.
Delete‘Iraq 2.0’: Democrats seethe at Trump’s surprise Venezuela strike
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/03/congress-democrats-war-powers-venezuela-reaction-00709636
DeleteI miss way back 24 hours ago, when the Right pretended Trump being anti-war was more important to them than him acting out on his bigotry.
Maybe, they can go back to pretending they care about grocery prices, again.
Whatever bullshit they latch onto, the Right-wing, corporate-owned media (AKA the Mainstream Media) will be there to help.
Somerby is still awaiting orders about the talking point of the day. He clearly has no idea what to say about the invasion of Venezuela.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog describes the way right wingers (in this case DHS) just grab artwork for their own purposes without asking permission:
https://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2026/01/imagine-there-are-no-foreigners-its.html
Because that is what the right does. Including Somerby.
"The art -- which might make you think of California, big cars, and the early Beach Boys -- was done by a Japanese artist who, Wikipedia tells us, is "known for his cover designs of city pop albums in the 1980s." City pop is a Japanese music subgenre that never migrated to America, presumably because it's heavily influenced by American music (soft rock, funk, disco, R&B), as interpreted by Japanese musicians.
So this image is an immigrant, a work of visual globalism by an artist [Hiroshi Nagai of Tokyo] associated with musical globalism -- appropriated without permission in the service of an extreme anti-globalist message. Hey, steal an American's artwork next time, you idiots!"
There is considerable irony in using an artwork by a Japanese artist to illustrate the demand that the US exclude all foreigners, including legal immigrants and tourists, in order to make the nation 100% white.
At some point, Somerby will figure out what his handlers want him to say today, but for the rest of us "liberals" there is no question that American is behaving in a lawless manner by kidnapping Maduro and invading Venezuela. Lawlessness on a national level includes lawlessness on a personal level, and disrespecting the work of artists is just another means of oppressing us all.
Somerby's ongoing lack of respect typifies the right and outs him as red America more than any statement he makes out loud.
"He clearly has no idea what to say about the invasion of Venezuela."
DeleteClearly, if someone hasn't commented on something, we can conclude they have no idea what to say. So I'd better let you know how stupid your comment is, or else you'll say the same thing about me.
Other liberal blogs are having no trouble saying what they think about this atrocity.
Delete"Do what thou wilt" and call it Libertarianism or "Fuck Your Feelings" or whatever, as long as you can feel personally powerful by taking other people's stuff, shoving them off the sidewalk, ignoring norms and laws in order to pick on someone smaller -- in this case bullying immigrants and people with brown skin. Then whining when the system catches up with you or other people push back. That's what red America is about, including Somerby. (Look at the targets he chooses in his blog, while he winks and nods to Nazis.)
DeleteTrump can collect the $25 million bounty that Biden put on Maduro's head.
Delete"August 2025 (Trump Administration): The reward offer was further increased to a historic $50 million by the new Trump administration, which accused Maduro of leading the "Cartel of the Suns" drug trafficking operation.
DeleteThe reward is for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction for violating U.S. narcotics laws, rather than a "bounty" in the traditional sense, and is part of the long-running U.S. Narcotics Rewards Program."
Then file bankruptcy, because that is Trump's real Super-Power.
DeleteI guess it's clear now the dementia test Trump keeps aceing doesn't have a question like, "Should the US invade Venezuela?"
DeleteWhy didn't the people who curb Trump's odder impulses prevent this? What do Trump's cronies and billionaire friends gain by this attack on Venezuela? They let him do this, so they must have a reason.
DeleteAs Steve M. notes, Trump is doubling his cognitive test score and then rounding up, as he does with all of his made-up stats. 26 is average/normal and 16 is the cutoff for clinical concern. If Trump got 10, doubled it to 20 and then rounded up to 30, that would explain how he aced the test despite his obvious dementia.
DeleteDid Trump have Putin's blessing for this attack? Venezuela is nominally allied with Russia. It is hard to imagine Trump deliberately opposing Putin on anything, and look how he caved on Ukraine, so perhaps Putin and other oligarchs are dividing the spoils in Venezuela.
ReplyDeleteDid you notice that Trump is now threatening Mexico? He is saying that the cartels are running Mexico, not the president. Of course, that undercuts a similar snatch and grab there, since if the president is not running cartels there is no point in kidnapping her, but going after any real cartels is not as easy as sending the military into a single stronghold. But going after a sitting duck like Venezuela is far easier and bullies do not pick strong targets, so perhaps Mexico is safe for now.
If this attack doesn't deserve impeachment, and fucking children doesn't deserve impeachment, what does?
I am very interested in how Somerby can possibly "both sides" this. I am wondering how he can rationalize the obvious fact that the right just didn't learn from Bush's mistakes, won't curb its demented wannabe dictator, and its congress members will resign before they try to stop Trump's unlawful activity. If Somerby truly believe Trump is crazy, now is his time to say so.
The betting markets showed sharply increased odds of an attack on Venezuela shortly before the attack occurred. It seems somebody profited from inside info. You have to admire the professionalism of Hegseth's armed forces and the loyalty to America of Trump's staff.
I am curious why they also arrested Maduro's wife. Does anyone know?
You can both sides it with one word: Libya
DeleteLibya's leader was taken down by the people of Libya during a civil war. That wasn't what happened in Venezuela where Maduro has been kidnapped. The more direct comparison is to Noriega, but that was also done by a Republican president, George H.W. Bush.
Delete"The U.S. President during the major 2011 military intervention in Libya, aimed at protecting civilians from Moammar Gaddafi, was Barack Obama. He authorized air strikes under a United Nations Security Council resolution as part of a broad coalition. There was also a later, smaller U.S. intervention (2015-2019) under President Donald Trump, but the main "Libya War" typically refers to the 2011 conflict. " AI
Bob won't both-sides it with the Epstein Files release.
DeleteThat's for sure.
How much more Epstein release do we need to know that Trump shouldn't be president? What is Congress waiting for? They need to impeach Trump ASAP.
DeleteConsidering Trump's monumental stupidity and ignorance, it amazes me that Democrats have never figured out how to capitalize on it.
ReplyDeleteIt is because Democrats follow the law whereas Republicans and especially Trump do not.
DeleteYou would think if they can cut-off the head of bigotry, Dems could be victorious, because bigotry is all Republican voters have.
DeleteI see. They can't capitalize on Trump's stupidity because of their moral superiority. Got it. Makes perfect sense. ;)
Delete
DeleteUSAID is defunded and Soros is too stingy to hire enough confessing monkeys.
No, we can't capitalize on Trump's stupidity because of people like you.
DeleteAccording to Somerby, Dems were sleeping in the woods when Trump snuck into office again, after the right convinced everyone that Biden was too old and Kamala too much of a hoe to run the nation better than Trump's Putin-allied collection of sewer clowns.
DeleteDon't worry. We can let nature take care of Trump. The man is dying on his feet, in full view of the nation, while his cronies loot and pillage our own country for the benefit of billionaires who already have way more money than anyone needs. No one has said Putin is stupid.
Republican voters hate the elites who are stuffing their pockets thanks to Trump.
DeleteNow, pull my other finger.
Trump had no choice but to go after Maduro for being a drug-runner, especially after the entire Right-wing media ignored his pardoning the former Honduran President for trafficking drugs in the USA.
ReplyDeleteIt's easy for you people who haven't had to deal with the wrath of the imaginary Republican voting mob who cares about something other than bigotry, to say you wouldn't have done it too.
Somerby isn't writing because he is too busy trying on his old uniform in preparation for the coming war. Oh, wait, he didn't serve. Like Trump, he was a draft dodger.
ReplyDeleteI don't blame George Clooney for leaving the country ahead of the Venezuelan invasion, but I do blame him for leaving after attack Biden, getting him removed from the Democratic ticket (after he won the primaries) and putting Trump into office so he could make the country unliveable. He should have stayed and tried to atone for his huge mistake (committed along with Republican Jake Tapper). Clooney can run to France but he won't get into heaven.
DeleteWhy does it surprise me that most assholes are also cowards?
Delete"FRIDAY: He's "locked and loaded" for Iran!
ReplyDeleteAnd he's stopping by woods to buy marble: Is the sitting American president in the grip of some sort of cognitive decline?"
The phrase "stopping by woods" is cribbed from Robert Frost, a conservative poet who Somerby regularly rips off. It refers to a respite from responsibility, the woods, so it cannot be about Trump who is stopping to buy marble as part of his job (as he conceives it). But who cares what the poet meant? Not Somerby.
Somerby seems to have predicted that Trump would bomb Iran, not Venezuela. Why would he think that? Trump cares about money, not nuclear weapons, and oil means money.
Maybe Somerby is spending the day having a crisis of conscience? After all, he helped put Trump into office by kneecapping Biden and then criticizing Harris over lies and trivialities (her smile, oh that smile). Not to mention that he has been carrying water for Trump since 2015 when he became crazy himself. Anyone who helped Trump win in 2024 needs to think about their actions today, as Trump breaks international law to attack another country for its resources, ignoring congress and abusing our own military by using it to enrich himself.
What can Somerby say that won't sound as craven as he has been?
Trump says he is making the decision now about who should run Venezuela now that Maduro is gone. In other words, he is going to install a puppet.
ReplyDeleteSimon Rosenberg says Trump's act is wildly unpopular. Only 11% are OK with it and 74% think he should have involved Congress.
Deletehttps://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/venezuela-illegal-destabilizing-a
It's a better world with Maduro out of power.
DeleteIt' fine, we're going to be running Venezuela according to King Orange Chickenshit. It will be a better world when King Orange Chickenshit leaves it.
DeleteVenezuelan writer Emmanuel Rincón has called President Trump a "true champion of freedom" after the capture and arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Taking to X, he said: "On behalf of the people of Venezuela, thank you, President Donald Trump. You are a true champion of freedom and will go down in history as the greatest and most important president of the past century in the United States. Your name will be synonymous with liberator in Venezuela, and there will be a statue of you in our streets. Long live freedom."
DeletePeople in Venezuela have various political perspectives. This person you are quoting (because he supports your views) does not have any special standing to speak for "the people of Venezuela" as claimed. He is a guy with an opinion, just like you.
DeleteIt would be a better world with Trump out of power.
Delete"Cognitive decline is tragic, as is any serious "mental illness" ("personality disorder")."
ReplyDeleteCognitive decline is not a mental illness or personality disorder. It happens to all of us as we get older. It starts around 26 yo, but people often notice memory decline after age 40. The rate of decline increases sharply after age 65 but is individual and occurs from whatever baseline someone achieved in their life. If they live long enough everyone declines in old age -- that is not called tragic but is part of normal aging. Old people adjust to it just as they adjust to other aspects of aging.
Somerby has never understood the difference between normal age-related cognitive decline, which Biden showed, and abnormal disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Lewy-body dementia and other forms of dementia. These cause death, show severely altered behavior changes and destroy cognitive functioning. The course of these diseases are faster for Lewy-body dementia, slower for Alzheimer's, but terminal. A person may have good or bad days, but they do not get better, just progressively worse over time. The symptoms of these diseases are nothing like normal aging.
Trump is showing signs of dementia, not aging. He does not have a mental illness and it is not tragic, any more than other fatal diseases at the end of life are tragic. We all die of something eventually. We reserve words like "tragic" for those who die young or under unusual circumstances, leaving behind a young family or unfinished work. That does not apply to Trump.
Forgetting where you parked your car -- normal aging.
DeleteForgetting that you own a car -- dementia.
Forgetting the name of your grandson then remembering it later -- normal aging.
Mistaking your grandson for your dead husband -- dementia.
Neglecting to put your shoes away in the bedroom -- normal aging.
Putting your shoes away in the refrigerator -- dementia.
People with dementia lose the ability to speak at all. They wander outside their homes because nothing looks familiar to them anywhere they go. They forget to eat, becoming malnourished and weak, prone to illness. They are difficult for family to care for and thus require institutionalization, then nursing before death.
In normal aging, very old people can live independently if they have no serious illnesses. Many die in their own homes without special care. Others receive help with chores and shopping or cooking but otherwise live fulfilling lives in retirement. Many are cognitively competent and have intellectual hobbies and interests. They travel internationally, watch grandchildren, volunteer in their communities and get older each year without the ageist stereotypes imposed on Biden. These people are not vegetables or incapable as Somerby pretended here, advancing right wing propaganda. Somerby knows better but he did that anyway.
Now Trump wants to renovate the military golf course near him (which he has never used). Trump is reverting to these old development and redevelopment tasks because they are familiar to him (while being president is unfamiliar and thus scary). He knows how to pick out marble for buildings. He doesn't know how to interact with staff at the meetings he is asked to attend as president. He doesn't know what to do when decisions are expected of him. That has always been true, from his first term, but then he was able to be guided by staff. Now he is just at loose ends and doesn't know how to cope so he wants to avoid the job and do what he remembers how to do, build stuff.
ReplyDeleteThis is a sign of dementia.
That just tells me Republican voters care more about hurting non-whites than they do about a President who is suffering from dementia.
DeleteThe guy who said all Republican voters are bigots is looking more and more like a genius every day.
Talk about lies:
ReplyDelete"on Thursday, some fucking idiot declared that his New Year’s resolution was ‘Peace on Earth.’"
Yup, it was Trump. He had to have known then that he was going to attack Venezuela. Maybe he doesn't know what the word resolution means?
Trump's lost his mind, but Republican voters love him anyway, because he's a bigot.
DeleteSo there'll be a few days of happy talk and ambitious plans and self-congratulation. Then the looting will start.
ReplyDeleteTiedrich makes a good point. When Venezuela was invaded in the middle of the night, Trump was not at the White House but at Mar a Lago. There were no press around to ask questions of the president about the war Trump started with another country. That is not transparency.
ReplyDeleteFor that matter, why is Trump now living at Mar a Lago at all? He has been there for 16 days. Is he once again hiding from the people? Or does he only feel comfortable in a familiar place any more? Why did they put those labels on the Oval Office and other places at the White House? Has he reached the point where folks with Alzheimer's tend to wander? Do they think he will be safer in his compound because he has a longer history of living there, and because he cannot wander away from there, whereas someone at the White House might notice what is going on?
"why is Trump now living at Mar a Lago at all?"
DeleteBecause the White House is a construction zone.
And to think, some people will still say out loud that everything Trump touches won't turn to shit.
DeleteThose people are shameless.
From today, well into the week ahead, we're going to read and hear every manner of speculation about the Trump administration's motives in arresting Nicolas Maduro.
ReplyDeleteTrump himself offers a kaleidoscopic account of the reasons for the invasion and arrest: because of drug trafficking; because of gangs and drugs; to free the people of Venezuela; to reclaim "our" oil buried under the soil of land that isn't ours; because of the thousands of criminals and mental patients supposedly sent here. Trump's own account of the rationale for this action will change by the minute and endlessly.
The appropriate duty of our press should be to separate the transparent pretenses from explanations that can be supported by evidence. If and when that's done, I think the only sensible conclusion will be that this action is premised on fraudulent reasoning, in violation of our own laws and those governing international relations, and potentially destructive to the safety and well-being of both Venezuela and the United States.
In short, this is important to all of us as Americans.
Sadly, I'm discouraged. I see no reason to hope that even this decision by Trump will be discussed rationally or even honestly by his administration, Congress, or our press. This, like every other issue we face, will be just more shit flooding the zone.
Yes, in case you haven't noticed we are not living in a democracy anymore.
DeleteWere you around when this maniac ordered a backhoe operator to tear down an entire wing of the White House without so much as a permit? Or when this imbecile decided to put his name above President Kennedy's on the Kennedy Center Presidential Memorial?
The Congress and Supreme Court have given him carte blanch to do whatever he wants.
Turns out the Constitutional separation of powers only works when people are arguing in good faith.
DeleteI think the most urgent threat in Venezuela is a breakdown of order. If the existing Venezuelan military doesn't align squarely behind a prospective leader, the country could devolve into chaos, and possibly, civil war--with Americans holding the reins.
ReplyDeleteGod help us if that happens.
What the fuck is wrong with you? You have wax in your ears? King Orange Chickenshit has already proclaimed the U. S. will be running Venezuela for the foreseeable future. My money is on Procurator Kushner.
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DeleteMeh. The Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela, led originally by Hugo Chavez, started almost 30 years ago. At this point, I don't think there's still any significant number of counter-revolutionaries left inside Venezuela. Which means that civil war is unlikely.
It's also unlikely, it seems, that they will happily become a US colony. I'd say: either invasion or no political change.
@3:08 Sure. Continuity is a safe bet in a power vacuum. Let's go with that.
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DeleteTaking out top dog doesn't normally create power vacuum; Kennedy gets shot Johnson replaces him.
Although in your country, wherever it is, it might be different of course.
All of Maduro's henchmen are still in place in their regions and have come forward to show that they are in place and nothing has changed. It is unclear what Trump has gained other than to perhaps disrupt Maduro's talks with Xi that were taking place in Venezuela. Trump says no problem, because he has a good relationship with Xi.
DeleteIs there a power vacuum when Trump says he is going to appoint the new leader? It may be that Trump is pardoning drug dealers in the USA to let the drug bosses in Venezuela know that he has no plans to have his puppet interfere in their operations. Trump is now the ultimate drug kingpin in Venezuela through his puppet, whoever he installs as leader. Trump's prior gang and mob experience is coming in handy.
In his interview on Fox today, Trump said nothing about stopping narco-terrorism, just that those were the charges against Maduro and wife. He said the invasion was about oil, because they stole our oil. He bragged about our great oil companies. The drug stuff was pretty obviously just a pretext.
He’s also threatening Colombia and Cuba.
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