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An Ol' LSO's avatar

J.D. - spot on! And because of Trump's policies the financial bubble will blow before he leaves office. Going to be beyond ugly.

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Atanu Dey's avatar

Delightful writing, JD. Masterful! I could not but marvel at the alliteration -- "a collection of cars resembling cattle crammed in a crowded chute."

On a note of dissent: one should whether the canary lives not because it is valuable but that the miners are.

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Atanu Dey's avatar

" . . . one should care whether the canary lives . . . "

Please pardon the omission.

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Bob S's avatar

Political idolatry/personality cults are what they are.

Hypocritical posturing about how somebody is better/different than the other guy/sock puppet for More Big Govt.

At least is sure seems like that.

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Tim B.'s avatar

Bulls-eye! I voted for Trump three (3) times. I could vote neither for Hildebeast nor Camel Snot. So that left me (and 335,000,000 others) with Trump, who said a lot of things that sounded a lot better than what the above-mentioned heifers offered.

Well, looks like we've been had. Too bad we don't have a "vote of no confidence" process as do the Brits.

"What a fine mess you've gotten us into, Trumpley!" Actually, I think either of Laurel and Hardy would be better at 1600 Pennsylvania than the present inhabitant. (I apologize to all post-Boomers for the Laurel and Hardy reference, google them if you must. You can throw the Three Stooges into the mix too. Though the threesome's logic was insane, it was still logic. You can't say that about the current Ship of Fools. Does anyone discern anything rational in this administration's carryings on?)

Personally, if they would Article 25 Trump you wouldn't see me shed a single tear. I'm not sure about Vance, but maybe Vance has a few brain cells that function close to normalcy!

Our system of government and its leaders have become a joke, possibly soon to be a cosmic one!

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JD Breen's avatar

Well said!

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Klaus Hubbertz's avatar

Welcome back to "The New Normal" !!! 🔥🔥🔥 🧨🧨🧨

How depressing, after about a fortnight of unbridled Nature and watching wild animals, to go back and be tagged like cattle bound for Tyson Foods ...

You'll miss these days you will ALWAYS remember !!!

As well as you will remember the life-changing "investment" in verdant-flag countries ... 🤞🤞🤞

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Jimm Roberts's avatar

Welcome back.

I share your remarks about Israel in particular. Its very powerful US lobby has secured for it billions and billions of free US defense products and munitions and services

Some of these planes and bombs were even used to kill US sailors. In 1967, the USS Liberty was torpedoed and attacked by the Israeli air force and navy in international waters no less.

It has also displaced Senators and Congressmen who deigned to find fault with its undue influence in the US Congress. This lobby has even secured a tax deduction for US citizens who buy Israeli bonds.

I'll never forget sharing an elevator, albeit some years ago, in the Rayburn House Office Building with a Israeli lobbyist.

He loudly boasted to his colleague how he could get any Congressman to give him want he wanted.

My forecasts: Israel will not be affected by Trump's Tariffs. Nor will any elected official condemn Netenyahu's attack on Iran

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Mike Noone's avatar

JD. You are an astute observer of what my buddy, Doug Casey calls, "Boobus Americanus". Unfortunately the name can and should refer to the vast majority of people on the planet.

And here's the thing, no amount of good ink spilled on the topic will ever change the perceptions of the dumbed down, numbed down majority.

They have been trained since birth that what they are told is true, and that to not believe the narrative is not just unpatriotic but some kind of affront to humanity and decency, and the American dream.

Like you I just ended a journey, across 5 continents and multiple cultures and economies.

Like you I also managed to avoid the news. And given the choice I would prefer to live on the plains of East Africa where all of the showmanship and art of the deal is just more hot air to be carried away on a dust devil.

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Tony Pivetta's avatar

“All of our missiles, the ammunition, the precision-guided bombs, all the airplanes and bombs, it’s all from the U.S. The minute they turn off the tap, you can’t keep fighting. You have no capability . . . . Everyone understands that we can’t fight this war without the United States. Period.”

~IDF Maj. Gen. (ret) Yitzhak Brick, 12/3/2023

"Gee, why do they hate us?"

~Bewildered American, 9/11/2001

With the *trillions* of dollars we've ponied up to the U.S. "Defense" Dept. over the last three decades, you'd think we get a smattering of honest-to-goodness defense every now and then. Somehow, it never works out that way.

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Fred Carpenter's avatar

Excellent article, thank you. I live in South Dakota. AIPAC eventually ran Sen. George McGovern out of the Senate in 1980. But in his '72 presidential campaign his theme was 'Come Home America' - but we didn't listen. AIPAC-dominated DC seems to be winning and running everything now, foreign and domestic - sadly.

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Alan Henry Buckley's avatar

I basically have to agree with much of what you have written, thanks...

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