Category: Observations

Donny Has A Plan (Again)

Donny always has a plan….sad part none are thought out and seldom have anything to do with solving a problem

Donny sent two useless puppets to Russia carrying a new ‘idea’ for a peaceful settlement of the conflict with Ukraine….

President Donald Trump did not keep the mission secret, announcing the trip on Friday and saying that Witkoff and Kushner were carrying what he described as a concrete proposal for ending the war in Ukraine.

“We have an idea for peace,” Trump told reporters on Friday from the White House. “I sent Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, two great negotiators. They’ve done a great job, and we sent them over to see whether or not we can get something done. And there may be a good chance that we’ll do it,” he also said.

The news was then confirmed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a post on X, in which he also claimed to have received details about the visit from the U.S. president’s team. The statement did not specify whether Zelenskyy had been informed of the details of Trump’s proposed plan or only of the visit.

“Today, it has been clearly established that U.S. envoys will be in Ukraine and Russia in the coming days. We have the details from the U.S. President’s team. We discussed today that Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will visit Moscow and then Kyiv on Sunday. We are preparing for the visit,” Zelenskyy said. 

But is this glorious plan?

While speaking to reporters, the U.S. president also said on Friday that one of the primary obstacles to an agreement is the personal hostility between Presidents Putin and Zelenskyy, arguing that the two “truly hate each other” and that their personal relationship was interfering with the negotiations.

(nationalsecurityjournal.org)

And that, as best as I can determine , is this Donny plan for solving the situation.

They need to make nice or both need to step aside and let calmer minds intervene.

Good plan Donny.

As per usual conflicting issues get in the way when Donny has a plan.

US Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby has told the US’s European allies to prepare for a “protracted” war in Ukraine and to continue providing US-made weapons to Ukrainian forces.

Colby made the remarks in a virtual address to the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a coalition of dozens of nations the Biden administration formed in 2022 to coordinate the flow of weapons into the Ukraine proxy war. The address came after President Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner traveled to Moscow and Kyiv in an apparent effort to restart peace talks.

“As President Trump has stated, our goal is a lasting peace. We are supporting every effort in that direction. From the standpoint of the Department of War, however, we cannot predict when this tragic war will end,” Colby said.

“As you all well know, Russia is reconstituting its forces and defense-industrial capacity. We must be prepared for a protracted conflict and for Ukraine’s requirements to persist in the months and years ahead. And we must also be prepared for other plausible contingencies as well,” he added.

Colby said the situation “makes it all the more important for Europe to sustain support for Ukraine while also accelerating its own rearmament and reindustrialization.”

(antiwar.com)

Seriously?

Best case scenario….there is NO plan whatsoever…..just a loud mouth and his bumbling underlings.

In other words….no peace between the two just more death and destruction.

Donny, the master of foreign policy strikes again.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Where Have All The Protesters Gone?

That title would make a great protest song.

We have had many years of constant war and yet there seems to be little pushback on this…..why is that?

As a veteran of the war in Vietnam I have a hard time believing that the American people could care less about the lost of life and the life long injuries that war inflicts upon those that participate.

A recent op-ed tackles this question….

A University of Pennsylvania professor is arguing that if Americans want a louder debate over the war in Iran, they should start by putting their own kids at risk of fighting it. In an essay at the Hill, historian Jonathan Zimmerman contends the near-absence of campus protest—despite more than 750 US casualties and tens of thousands of Iranian ones—has much to do with the end of the draft. Students, he writes, know there’s no chance they’ll be sent, unlike during Vietnam, when the possibility of conscription helped turn colleges into centers of antiwar activism.

By contrast, “I haven’t heard a peep of antiwar sentiment as students return this semester,” writes Zimmerman, who also makes an equity case for a reinstated draft. The Vietnam-era draft was riddled with deferments that favored the affluent and connected, he notes, citing Donald Trump, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton as examples. A genuine, across-the-board draft could fix that. After all, he writes, “In a democracy, the burden of national defense should be shared.”

Read the full essay, which includes a mention of the satirical “Draft Barron Trump” movement.

I agree with this view….any opposition would be good for healthy debate….

I have written a couple of times about this…

War–Invest Your Children

Not long ago the Congress was considering the re-introduction of the draft….it did not go very far…

Conscription Anyone?

On a personal note….I would hate to see the draft again but I also worried about the lack of opposition to our many wars over the years….we cannot blame one party over another for both are guilty of wasting American lives and accomplishing nothing.

There needs to be a real revival of the antiwar opposition protests.

Without them there is no debate and without any debate there will be more American lives ruined by constant wars that no one wants to know about.

If there is another way for these conflicts to come to the forefront then please let us know….I am open to most solutions but solutions must be a priority.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Italians Have a “Crabs” Problem

Relax!  This is not going to be some dissertation on the problems with those little parasites that like to inhabit the hairy regions of a human’s body.

But a dissertation will follow the news…

Italy is sending in eight-armed reinforcements against a crab that won’t quit. In the Adriatic, scientists have released about 130,000 lab-bred baby octopuses in a bid to curb exploding numbers of Atlantic blue crabs that are wrecking fishing gear and wiping out lucrative clam and mussel beds—damage that farm group Coldiretti pegs at more than $230 million so far, the Telegraph reports. The “Octo-Blu” project, led by Bologna University and the Emilia-Romagna regional government, is banking on a simple food-chain fix: once grown, each octopus could devour up to four crabs a day.

The plan is far from a sure thing. The tiny “paralarvae” face a mortality rate of more than 99%, though researchers have sunk artificial dens to boost their odds. Still, even a single crab eaten can matter, notes project scientist Oliviero Mordenti, who points out that one female crab can produce up to 2 million eggs. Blue crabs have already forced some aquaculture businesses to shut and have been found 100 miles up the Po River, suggesting they’re spreading to avoid overcrowding, which leads to cannibalism.

“We chose the octopus because, in the wild, it is a formidable predator of crustaceans,” says Antonio Casalini, a University of Bologna aquaculture expert. “We are not introducing a new species but working on strengthening the population of a native species already naturally present in the Adriatic,” Casalini says, per Scientific American. Italy is also pushing a culinary counterattack, stocking blue crab in shops and on menus, but diners so far haven’t been able to eat their way out of the problem.

Now for my thoughts….

First maybe if they would stop killing thousands of octopus daily to satisfy their ‘culinary delights’ they might not be have such a problem.

Second, they eat urchins, snails, offal meat and such but not crabs…..that seems crazy….ask anyone down here on the Gulf Coast and they will tell you that blue crab is some of the best crab meat around.

Third, if they cannot bring themselves to eat the crab then fishermen could make a killing catching them and sending them to the Southern states…..Southerns will gladly eat them if a smile….and it would drive the price of local crabs down….another positive side effect.  The problem here is that it could damage local crab industry and put a strain on it.

Fourth someone needs to start a new Italian tradition with the crabs….try them you’ll like them….after all monk fish was not eaten in the past and look at the popularity today.

After I wrote this draft on Monday more to this saga has been reported…..it looks like they will try #3 on my list….

Italian fishermen for two years incinerated most of the invasive Atlantic blue crabs caught in the Po River Delta south of Venice. Few Italians had an appetite for the alien predator blamed for decimating their prized Manila clams.

While experiments in containment continue, including the release of tens of thousands of octopus predators, the industry’s response has been shifting to find new markets for the crustaceans. The strategy is already salvaging the livelihood of some fishermen and, some hope, may even rehabilitate the much-maligned crab’s image in Italy.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/articles/italians-enter-uneasy-truce-invasive-040730509.html

May I suggest exporting them to the UK they seem to be fish-centric and they might enjoy the crab meat.

That does it for me for this week…..I hope has a great weekend….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Donny Will Quit After Midterms

More juicy bullshit from Carville

There is always someone on the interweb that is predicted this or that around Donny….his health, his mental problems and so on…..but this one I found and thought I would post to get reactions if possible.

The Mouth of the South, Carville, is predicting that Donny will bow out after the midterms and Vance will advance to the seat of power…

The so-called “Ragin’ Cajun” James Carville has sensationally predicted that US president Donald Trump will resign from office following this November’s midterm elections, which are widely-tipped to yield a disastrous result for the Republican party.

Carville, who was the strategic brain behind presidential candidates such as Bill Clinton, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton, told the Daily Beast Podcast: “He’s going to walk away.”

Trump simply lacks the strength to face the crushing defeat headed his way, Carville argues: “He’s a soft man.” A medical expert has also suggested that Trump’s health is ‘getting worse’ after spotting several worrying signs

Concerns have also mounted over Trump’s health, with noticeable signs including drowsiness, swollen ankles, and dark bruises on his hands.

Current projections indicate that the Democrats have a 76.9% chance of securing a majority of seats in the House, a number that has climbed consistently in recent months. The president will bear the brunt of his party’s collapse, Carville says: “They’re going to blame [Trump] – the whole culture is going to change. The whole conversation is going to change.”

https://www.irishstar.com/news/us-news/donald-trump-will-quit-after-37623128

Seriously?

This dinosaur of past Dem glory is smoking crack.

Keep in mind that Carville pukes up something and the media runs to him….only because he had some success in the 90s….today he is a grumpy old man that carves attention.

This is a brain fart of an aging pundit that desperately wants to stay in the news so he belches out bullshit every chance he gets.

Does anyone seriously think Donny will give up his stranglehold on the country voluntarily?

I don’t….but what do I know….some aging pundit with more mouth than brains just keeps puking up fanciful bullshit.

Please do not hold your breath.

Please let me know what you think of this pile of manure.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Quick Look At The Midterms

We are quickly closing in on the midterm elections and in some circles there seems to be optimism there will be some sort of blue wave and in others it is not so rosy predictions.

There is an op-ed that states that the GOP may have already won the midterms….

President Donald Trump is alarmed that Democrats may retake the House of Representatives during the upcoming midterm elections, which in turn would empower them to impeach him. Yet according to one expert, Democrats will not have an easy job gaining control of that legislative chamber, despite their seeming advantages.

“President Donald Trump’s low job approval ratings, coupled with large Democratic leads in generic congressional polling, have most analysts expecting the House to flip to team blue in November,” wrote Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, for The Washington Post on Wednesday. “That’s still the most likely outcome, but a seat-by-seat analysis reveals a tougher challenge for Democrats than the overall picture suggests.”

Olsen began by pointing out the raw numerical strength held by Republicans.

“Large midterm gains usually occur when the party in power loses seats that typically lean toward the other side. In 2018, Republicans held 25 House seats Hillary Clinton had carried two years earlier; they lost 22 of them,” Olsen wrote. “But thanks to increased polarization (and mid-cycle redistricting shenanigans), the GOP only holds eight seats won by Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024.”

He added, “Redistricting has also shifted the House map sharply in the GOP’s favor. The median House seat — the 218th seat required for House control — under the 2024 maps was Arizona’s 1st District, which Trump carried by 3.1 percentage points. Now it’s Virginia’s 1st District, which he won by 4.9 points. Winning that district plus every single House seat Trump carried by less than that will be a tall order.”

https://www.alternet.org/republicans-midterms-trouble-house/

I see where the author is coming from ….and I have saw a report that most Americans think that Donny and the Boyz are corrupt….and yes it is a poll a dubious result at best….but here is what was found…

Nearly 90% of Americans now believe there’s “widespread corruption” within the U.S. government, according to a recent poll.

The data came from a Gallup poll published Wednesday. For the survey, respondents were asked, “Is corruption widespread throughout the government in this country, or not?” According to Gallup, 89% of participants responded to the question with “Yes.”

That number, Gallup noted, was the highest it’s been in two decades. Additionally, the figure sat at 73% just two years earlier. That 16-point jump is the highest of any two-year span in the last 20 years.

That sentiment was shared among three major voting blocks, with 91% of Democrats, 90% of Independents, and a staggering 83% of Republicans believing in widespread corruption. Interestingly, Democrats saw a 15-point jump from the previous year. Republicans, on the other hand, had just a two-point increase, as 81% believed the government was corrupt in 2025.

(mediaite.com)

If the poll is accurate why on earth would people vote for the continuation of this blatant corruption?

I do not think this will make much difference when the vote comes around….do you?

But what about the Dems and the rise of progressives?

Personally I have written many times how useless and out of touch the Dems are and some are noticing just how bad it is….

For the first time in a long time, Democrats have some real energy behind them. We have candidates that people are really excited about, ideas that people are really excited about, and most of us hope that this will lead to us retaking the Senate and the House — which will allow us to do some real fucking important things, like keeping Trump from nominating a fourth personal Supreme Court justice should Thomas or Scalia retire. Yaaaaay!

But because we can never, ever have nice things, there are some people working to destroy that chance. What people, you ask? Democrats!

https://www.wonkette.com/p/hear-ye-hear-ye-a-few-house-dems

This situation does not bode well for the Dems in the upcoming midterms and definitely not for the 2028 elections.

If have asked this question many times….just what in Hell do Dems stand for?

So to say that I am optimistic about the midterm elections is a false assumption….if the Dems are successful then I shall be surprised but not thrilled.

How do you feel?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Is SCOTUS Running Sacred?

I have not been the kindest of critics of SCOTUS and that has not changed I still think they are nothing more than political hacks.

I did read an article that I found interesting if it is accurate….

…

The court’s action, although temporary, raised the deepest concern about the intentions of Chief Justice John Roberts and the “conservative” bloc (whose version of conservatism no longer extends to upholding legal precedents or constitutional norms).

Americans rightly worry that the court will allow or even encourage President Donald Trump to deny voting rights, intimidate voters, and tamper with balloting, if only because the court majority has so relentlessly expanded his authority and exempted him from ordinary oversight.

In one decision after another, they have awarded him the powers and immunities of a monarch in a casual manner that would have made the founders retch.

Indeed, the majority has consistently lent its authority and reputation to his dictatorial ambitions, while increasing the power of the wealthy in politics and diminishing or eliminating the protections afforded to society’s least powerful groups. Making many of these bad decisions worse is the justices’ recent habit of issuing important rulings on the “shadow docket,” unsigned and unexplained, which undermines their integrity and shields them from criticism. It is hard to know how to evaluate a decision when no logic or law is offered to undergird its validity.

It would not be unlike the Roberts right-wingers to upend this election with a shadow docket ruling, a cowardly maneuver they have adopted in more than two dozen cases since Trump returned to the White House — and ruled in his favor in more than three out of four.

https://www.alternet.org/supreme-court-mail-in/

Roberts has seemingly been doing Donny’s work for him in recent rulings and some think that could bite them in the ass come midterm elections….if that is true then could Roberts’ recent dissenting opinion be a false flag to make them look more neutral?

Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the court’s liberals on Monday in a dispute over the planned White House ballroom, warning that his colleagues’ ruling threatens Congress’ control of federal spending. In a six-page dissent, Roberts said the $400 million project is “likely unlawful” because lawmakers never explicitly signed off on funding, reports the Hill, and he rejected the Trump administration’s claim that the work qualifies as routine White House upkeep. The dissent marks a rare break for Roberts from Trump’s claims to executive power, notes CNN, with the chief justice borrowing a line from Winston Churchill: “‘We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us’,” adding, “All the more reason to ensure that those responsible follow the rules in deciding what to tear down and what to build up at the People’s House.”

The 5-4 majority didn’t decide whether the ballroom itself is legal. Instead, it ruled that a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation lacked standing to sue, saying her objections amounted to a simple dislike of the project. That cleared the way for above-ground construction to resume on what the administration now calls a national security upgrade. Roberts countered that the plaintiff’s long involvement in historic preservation and her interest in the White House as it currently stands make her injury concrete enough to get into court. “The White House is not just any building,” he wrote, and the decision is “no victory for the separation of powers.”

I realize this is just a minor thing but it comes when they are most worried about the midterms….so is this just a game for popularity (or as close to it as they could come in this short time)?

Is this just smoke blown up our butts?

Thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Pistol Pete For President?

There is so much confusion around the 2028 election….will Donny try mto break the Constitution?  If not who will try to step into the MAGA void no Donny would create?

Would it be the idiot Vance?  How about Pistol Pete?

Pete Hegseth is already looking beyond the Pentagon, according to NBC News, which reports that the defense secretary has told confidants he’s weighing a 2028 presidential bid. The outlet notes that Hegseth and his wife, Jennifer, have been mulling the idea for months, seeing him as sharing some of President Trump’s appeal with the MAGA base—especially his combative style and hard-line stance on social issues. His recent trip to the Iowa State Fair to stump for GOP Rep. Zach Nunn has only fueled whispers on the matter. More:

  • Hegseth response: Officially, Hegseth says he’s not running and is focused on his current job. “His main priority is leading the War Department. All other speculation is foolish,” a Pentagon spokesperson says. Hegseth himself tweeted about it, calling the NBC report “100% false,” adding, “We told NBC that, but they just lie w/anonymous ‘sources.'”
  • Obstacles: Any run would come with baggage, including the unpopular Iran war Hegseth oversees, a watchdog finding that he mishandled sensitive military information on the Signal app, and criticism from former defense secretaries over his partisan political activity while in office, per NBC.
  • Public opinion: Perhaps Hegseth is denying NBC’s report because he’s already seen the polls: Newsweek reports that early polling has shown Hegseth to be a “long shot,” citing a CPAC straw poll from March that earned Hegseth just 1%; Vice President JD Vance drew 53%, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio came in with 35% (3% were undecided).
  • Possible? Salon’s Amanda Marcotte writes, however, that a potential Hegseth run “isn’t a joke,” noting that the defense chief “is the man most closely aligned with white evangelicals, who still make up the majority of GOP primary voters.” “In a field of dull choices like Vance or … Rubio, Hegseth’s over-the-top masculinity act, which reads as clownish to people outside MAGA circles, could be just the thing to push the former Fox News weekend host over the top,” Marcotte writes. NBC adds that Hegseth has become a frequent presence on the campaign trail to rally Trump voters and is a favorite with male Trump voters.
  • The woman behind the man: The Daily Beast, meanwhile, details how Jennifer Hegseth is working behind the scenes to whip up his “dramatic new power grab.”

Of course he would deny the report….for he must stay in the good graces of Donny and not upstage him….

Here is what some polls show….

The report comes as speculation over the 2028 Republican presidential field continues to grow, with several members of President Donald Trump’s administration already being discussed as potential candidates. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have emerged as two of the most prominent names, while other Republicans—including Donald Trump Jr. and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis—have also been floated as possible contenders.

Not one of those names will instill confidence in the office.

A president Vance would be laughable but a President Pete would be scary from the very beginning.

Are the American people that stupid?  Don’t answer that for the answer is obvious.

Any thoughts you would like to add?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

More Gaza News

The semi-literate plan of Donny’s for the truce in Gaza, the Board of Peace, which is a con job at best….has issued a statement on Israel and its troops in Gaza….

The official in charge of President Trump’s ceasefire plan for Gaza criticized Israel on Wednesday for its attacks on the war-battered Palestinian territory and warned that the alternative to the US proposal is the next war, the AP reports. Nikolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace high representative, insisted to the UN Security Council that Trump’s 20-point plan has not stalled and “has moved from the negotiating table to the engineering table.” The militant group Hamas has agreed to the proposal’s key provision to disarm and turn Gaza over to civilian rule, he said. But Israel’s ongoing strikes since last October’s ceasefire are still killing Palestinians—though much fewer—and Gazans can’t feel that the conflict is ending, he said.

“After three years of war and 20 years of military operations, I ask, will another strike on a munitions depot stop Hamas from rearming or tightening its grip on Gaza?” Mladenov said. “It will not. It only delays the demilitarization that would happen” and obstructs the transfer to a civilian government. A recent US deal with Hamas to disarm was seen as a potential breakthrough to end the war, which was sparked by the militant group’s deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in southern Israel. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his forces won’t withdraw from their current lines in Gaza until Hamas has handed over all its weapons.

Mladenov said that at a meeting he took part in last week with Netanyahu and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, “we went through his government’s concerns one by one and narrowed the areas that still require technical work.” Israel’s deputy UN ambassador, Noa Furman, reiterated to the Security Council his country’s commitment to Trump’s plan, but stressed that it can’t succeed while Hamas remains armed. He said Israel is working closely with the US to achieve Hamas’ disarmament.

The US ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, said concerns about Trump’s plan are being addressed and Hamas’ disarmament will be judged on its actions. Mladenov warned of the distance between the roadmap and what’s happening on the ground, and said if war resumes, there won’t be a roadmap to return to or anything left on the ground to rebuild. “That would not be a setback,” he said. “it would be a point of no return for everyone.” Mladenov stressed the need for political will to overcome the differences and said there is a choice to be made: “A Gaza disarmed, rebuilt and reconnected to the world. Or a Gaza rearmed, divided and in rubble, with a radicalized generation raised inside it and the next war already on the horizon.”

Seriously?

How many knew this would be the outcome? (sarcasm)

This is what we get when we allow Israel to dictate our responses and what we get for let amateurs run the foreign policy.

Yep, it is that simple.

I fear the Gazans are in for a real extended war unless someone changes things and that will be a long time coming as long as Israel controls our politicians.

Yep it is that simple.

Back in the early years of the 20th century France and the UK set these events in motion and I hope they are happy and well compensated.

Just FYI….since the ‘truce’ there is been no decrease in deaths or injuries….

The ministry said that since the truce deal was signed in October 2025, the IDF has killed at least 1,318 Palestinians and wounded 4,375.

Despite the US and the so-called “Board of Peace” negotiating a disarmament deal with Hamas to advance the stalled peace deal, the US has also backed Israel’s continued strikes in Gaza, and Israel has rejected the US-backed proposal.

The Peace President my ass!

Thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Long Con

Another re-post of a piece I wrote for Daily Agitator….if you are a subscriber then you can forego this post.

I keep doing this if the hopes that it will help drive more people to my other blog….

This is about the Chief Justice, Roberts…..and his rise to power….

 

The Long Con

Thank you for the visit….

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend and enjoy your time.

I Read, I Write, You KNow

“lego ergo scribo”