It’s beyond comprehension that Trump could have 36% of the population in support of this debacle in Venezuela. But my feelings of incomprehension when it comes to Trump’s support, no matter the issue, have become a chronic condition. Hearing human weasel Steven Miller (with offense to the animal) plays into all of this is beyond revolting.
I’m with you on that. It’s hard for those of us capable of logic, reason, and self reflection to understand how humans can have such poor reasoning skills.
I am reminded, nearly every day now, of what astrophysicist Carl Sagan had to say about it:
“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, 1997
Mark from my favorite state, thanks for quoting the brilliant Carl Sagan. Yes, millions were bamboozled into believing that a lying felon who almost overturned the results of the 2020 with his rabid mob could snap his fat fingers and voila, prices would go down, the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine would be ended on day and on and on. The last sentence of Dr. Sagan's comments is especially chilling so we have to change "almost never get it (power over you) back" to "we WILL get it back."
I know that things really suck right now and it is terrifying what is going on in our country. But, if we ever hope to live in a place where the rule of law, common decency and free speech is valued and celebrated, we have to fight on: vote, speak out, call our members of Congress, write letters to the editor of your local newspaper, give to causes you believe in. Our nation is counting on all of us to do our part. On les aura!!
Stephen Miller is the reason why we are where we are right now. He is the one with the crazy ideas about immigration, and he obviously is enthralled with being in charge and lauding the power of the US wealth and military power over every other nation. He wants to see America dominate whomever they want, and he gets off on that idea. He needs to go! America can’t survive the authoritarian mindset that Miller is forcing onto the entire administration!
I'd say if anything the chances are that this pointless escapade increases the chances of something worse in Greenland, Cuba and Colombia. The tactical success of the raid will have given Trump and his cronies an adrenalin rush and the lack of American troops now in Venezeula won't lead to public discontent as happened in the Bush years. Furthermore Trump loses interest rapidly and will be find further (mis) adventures attractive.
But nothing is changing in Venezuela. The same corrupt regime remains in place. Will the prosecution of Maduro, alone, be accepted as worth the hundreds of billions spent to achieve it? Yesterday I saw him propose the US Treasury rebuild the Venezuelan petroleum infrastructure “for” those little oil companies so that they can begin making money.
It will take 25 years to restore America's leadership role in the world. Assuming we move in that direction with gusto. Of course, things will be bad for American soft power in 2029++, and Rs will absurdly and obscenely blame Ds for America's falling off the pedestal, claiming that the world respected us under Trump. And the world likely does fear us: we have the most power military and the powerful nuclear force - and we elected a psycho to run the show.
I'm not sure I'd call the Trump PR effort on this invasion that bad. Compared with his economic messaging which is shouting that the economy is going A+++ and that paying tariffs is wonderful I'd say it compares reasonably well.
Actually, the invasion, the 'conquering' of Iraq, from the military side was very effective. At the time Iraq was considered to have a powerful, 'blooded' military after their long encounter with Iran. There was amazingly few American casualties in that initial phase.
It was after the military stopped calling the shots that everything went sideways.
We did not allow for a surrender. We could have gotten one I am certain, but we never even allowed it to happen. Saddam would have been the one to surrender but we targeted him from the beginning, we tried to bomb him, assassinate him with cruise missiles, if he poked his head out enough to send a message we would have targeted everything to that one spot.
With no proper surrender, even once they gave up, we proceeded to remove every person in the military, police government ... and so we removed ALL the institutional knowledge, competence, structure. That was the beginning of the FUBAR.
At the time I reflected online that the available evidence used to justify the conquering of a nation (essentially the murder of a nation) would not have been sufficient in the US to justify a search warrant, much less an arrest, much less a conviction.
This is the best analysis of motivation that I have seen. Thank you 🙏 I didn't believe it was about the oil either. People have been murdered for this and it is unforgivable.
The deficit increased last year due to Trump's actions and inactions. Millions of people are having to deal with impossible health insurance premiums and the costs of many necessities keep increasing. But, we're spending millions on the deployment of 20% of our fleet in the Caribbean with Trump wanting US oil companies to spend an estimated $100B a year for at least 10 years to rebuild Venezuela's oil. Republican's used to believe in less government and a reduced deficit. Now they don't believe in anything except holding onto power.
In my many decades on earth, I am amazed at how Republicans so easily move the goalposts. The latest example is MAGA and Fox News against foreign interventions, one reason Trump got elected. Now they are all in on this fiasco. One year ago the thought of us taking over Greenland would be widely ridiculed on bipartisan basis, now it could be a reality w/ the cackling Graham and Lutnick by his side. Growing up in the Cold War it is inconceivable to me that any Republican could accept the appeasement to Putin but here we are. We have a chance to put Putin away thanks to the bravery of the Ukrainian people. All we have to do is provide more arms to them and yet not one cowardly Republican will come out and make a statement about this. What happened to the party of Reagan? Head spinning.
Everything trump touches dies, including American foreign policy and respect of our allies. mago morons can't run the US, unless they mean running it into the ground, so how the hell can they think they can 'run' Venezuela? trump's maga cult is like play-doh in the hands of the cult leader. They can be shaped into whatever distorted mass he likes at the time. No more wars! More Wars! No more foreign involvements! more foreign involvements! trump could say that he is the ghost of Charles Manson and maga would yell, Go Charles! While trump's brain is melting, there also seems to be a thaw in the support of the orange bloat. And this was perfect timing to take the heat away from his good pal Epstein and the fifth anniversary of the seditious trump J/6 attack. trump knows how to deflect, deny and distract better than most anyone. He is doing it again. Dems better keep their eyes on the ball and not get lost in the chaos.
If we’re lucky, Miller gets sent to run Venezuela and then the people storm the bldg, drag him out and hang him like the idiots here wanted to do with Pence but this time succeed. One worthless idiot gone!
Of course the "war on drugs" is just flimsy pretext to stoke fear and support for the administrations actions. It has used the term “narcoterrorist” to describe drug traffickers while the Supreme Court has allowed the export of 600,000 U.S.-manufactured guns annually to cartels in Mexico against the wishes of its government – and that’s just Mexico. Meanwhile this administration has been slashing funding for treatment and study of the causes of drug addiction.
The trial of Maduro may turn out to be a nightmarish bag of worms for Trump. There may be questions raised about the role of the CIA in drug trafficking in the Caribbean for (there have been a lot of rumors, perhaps unsubstantiated, but some evidence may turn up), said to have been going on for years There also may be questions raised about the pardon of Hernandez, if it can become part of Maduro's defense.
I worry about the safety of Maduro and his wife while in U.S. custody, because I don't think the Trump and the DOJ really want a trial.
I am no fan of Maduro, but there is a lot of dirty laundry here, and we all deserve to know more of the story.
The War on Drugs (indie guitar rock) is one of my favorite bands and I have one of their concert sweatshirts. I hate that I'm less comfortable wearing it now because people might think I support this destructive and fake operation against drugs in Venezuela. Yet the millionth example of Trump ruining everything. 😆
It’s beyond comprehension that Trump could have 36% of the population in support of this debacle in Venezuela. But my feelings of incomprehension when it comes to Trump’s support, no matter the issue, have become a chronic condition. Hearing human weasel Steven Miller (with offense to the animal) plays into all of this is beyond revolting.
I’m with you on that. It’s hard for those of us capable of logic, reason, and self reflection to understand how humans can have such poor reasoning skills.
I am reminded, nearly every day now, of what astrophysicist Carl Sagan had to say about it:
“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, 1997
Mark from my favorite state, thanks for quoting the brilliant Carl Sagan. Yes, millions were bamboozled into believing that a lying felon who almost overturned the results of the 2020 with his rabid mob could snap his fat fingers and voila, prices would go down, the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine would be ended on day and on and on. The last sentence of Dr. Sagan's comments is especially chilling so we have to change "almost never get it (power over you) back" to "we WILL get it back."
I know that things really suck right now and it is terrifying what is going on in our country. But, if we ever hope to live in a place where the rule of law, common decency and free speech is valued and celebrated, we have to fight on: vote, speak out, call our members of Congress, write letters to the editor of your local newspaper, give to causes you believe in. Our nation is counting on all of us to do our part. On les aura!!
I remind myself every day of the British motto during WWII: Keep Calm and Carry On.
Yes, Mark, we could sure use a dose of Winston Churchill walking about raising his Cambridge bowler on his cane.
Aye.
Thank you Mark, for sharing Carl Sagan’s brilliant thoughts….Bamboozle- no other word like it. Leave it to MAGA folks to boost it to steroid-level 😳
Let’s hope Trump sets up Miller as the Venezuelan Czar. Can you imagine him dealing with all those brown people?
That sounds a like ar rather sadistic thing to hope for!
I’ve read Trump is thinking about it. I’m not sure I could have imagined such a thing! Wid’ya.
First, he’ll require English as the first language.
#2: Outlaw Spanish.
#3: Outlaw speaking out loud.
We have to stop agreeing like this, but just one more: Outlaw thinking.
Stephen Miller is the reason why we are where we are right now. He is the one with the crazy ideas about immigration, and he obviously is enthralled with being in charge and lauding the power of the US wealth and military power over every other nation. He wants to see America dominate whomever they want, and he gets off on that idea. He needs to go! America can’t survive the authoritarian mindset that Miller is forcing onto the entire administration!
Could this mean that he won’t pursue Greenland? Cuba?
I'd say if anything the chances are that this pointless escapade increases the chances of something worse in Greenland, Cuba and Colombia. The tactical success of the raid will have given Trump and his cronies an adrenalin rush and the lack of American troops now in Venezeula won't lead to public discontent as happened in the Bush years. Furthermore Trump loses interest rapidly and will be find further (mis) adventures attractive.
But nothing is changing in Venezuela. The same corrupt regime remains in place. Will the prosecution of Maduro, alone, be accepted as worth the hundreds of billions spent to achieve it? Yesterday I saw him propose the US Treasury rebuild the Venezuelan petroleum infrastructure “for” those little oil companies so that they can begin making money.
Dumb never set Don Trump back yet.
The gang that gang agley.
It will take 25 years to restore America's leadership role in the world. Assuming we move in that direction with gusto. Of course, things will be bad for American soft power in 2029++, and Rs will absurdly and obscenely blame Ds for America's falling off the pedestal, claiming that the world respected us under Trump. And the world likely does fear us: we have the most power military and the powerful nuclear force - and we elected a psycho to run the show.
It's never coming back, and frankly, that's what we deserve for allowing trump to get elected once, let alone twice.
I'm not sure I'd call the Trump PR effort on this invasion that bad. Compared with his economic messaging which is shouting that the economy is going A+++ and that paying tariffs is wonderful I'd say it compares reasonably well.
Actually, the invasion, the 'conquering' of Iraq, from the military side was very effective. At the time Iraq was considered to have a powerful, 'blooded' military after their long encounter with Iran. There was amazingly few American casualties in that initial phase.
It was after the military stopped calling the shots that everything went sideways.
We did not allow for a surrender. We could have gotten one I am certain, but we never even allowed it to happen. Saddam would have been the one to surrender but we targeted him from the beginning, we tried to bomb him, assassinate him with cruise missiles, if he poked his head out enough to send a message we would have targeted everything to that one spot.
With no proper surrender, even once they gave up, we proceeded to remove every person in the military, police government ... and so we removed ALL the institutional knowledge, competence, structure. That was the beginning of the FUBAR.
At the time I reflected online that the available evidence used to justify the conquering of a nation (essentially the murder of a nation) would not have been sufficient in the US to justify a search warrant, much less an arrest, much less a conviction.
This is the best analysis of motivation that I have seen. Thank you 🙏 I didn't believe it was about the oil either. People have been murdered for this and it is unforgivable.
The deficit increased last year due to Trump's actions and inactions. Millions of people are having to deal with impossible health insurance premiums and the costs of many necessities keep increasing. But, we're spending millions on the deployment of 20% of our fleet in the Caribbean with Trump wanting US oil companies to spend an estimated $100B a year for at least 10 years to rebuild Venezuela's oil. Republican's used to believe in less government and a reduced deficit. Now they don't believe in anything except holding onto power.
In my many decades on earth, I am amazed at how Republicans so easily move the goalposts. The latest example is MAGA and Fox News against foreign interventions, one reason Trump got elected. Now they are all in on this fiasco. One year ago the thought of us taking over Greenland would be widely ridiculed on bipartisan basis, now it could be a reality w/ the cackling Graham and Lutnick by his side. Growing up in the Cold War it is inconceivable to me that any Republican could accept the appeasement to Putin but here we are. We have a chance to put Putin away thanks to the bravery of the Ukrainian people. All we have to do is provide more arms to them and yet not one cowardly Republican will come out and make a statement about this. What happened to the party of Reagan? Head spinning.
Everything trump touches dies, including American foreign policy and respect of our allies. mago morons can't run the US, unless they mean running it into the ground, so how the hell can they think they can 'run' Venezuela? trump's maga cult is like play-doh in the hands of the cult leader. They can be shaped into whatever distorted mass he likes at the time. No more wars! More Wars! No more foreign involvements! more foreign involvements! trump could say that he is the ghost of Charles Manson and maga would yell, Go Charles! While trump's brain is melting, there also seems to be a thaw in the support of the orange bloat. And this was perfect timing to take the heat away from his good pal Epstein and the fifth anniversary of the seditious trump J/6 attack. trump knows how to deflect, deny and distract better than most anyone. He is doing it again. Dems better keep their eyes on the ball and not get lost in the chaos.
Trump stinks. Remove him.
If we’re lucky, Miller gets sent to run Venezuela and then the people storm the bldg, drag him out and hang him like the idiots here wanted to do with Pence but this time succeed. One worthless idiot gone!
Of course the "war on drugs" is just flimsy pretext to stoke fear and support for the administrations actions. It has used the term “narcoterrorist” to describe drug traffickers while the Supreme Court has allowed the export of 600,000 U.S.-manufactured guns annually to cartels in Mexico against the wishes of its government – and that’s just Mexico. Meanwhile this administration has been slashing funding for treatment and study of the causes of drug addiction.
The trial of Maduro may turn out to be a nightmarish bag of worms for Trump. There may be questions raised about the role of the CIA in drug trafficking in the Caribbean for (there have been a lot of rumors, perhaps unsubstantiated, but some evidence may turn up), said to have been going on for years There also may be questions raised about the pardon of Hernandez, if it can become part of Maduro's defense.
I worry about the safety of Maduro and his wife while in U.S. custody, because I don't think the Trump and the DOJ really want a trial.
I am no fan of Maduro, but there is a lot of dirty laundry here, and we all deserve to know more of the story.
The War on Drugs (indie guitar rock) is one of my favorite bands and I have one of their concert sweatshirts. I hate that I'm less comfortable wearing it now because people might think I support this destructive and fake operation against drugs in Venezuela. Yet the millionth example of Trump ruining everything. 😆
I love that the picture of the protest is showing a Wefail depiction of Dump 😆 love his work! (UK artist)