Tuesday, April 7, 2026

The talking dog calls it a day

 It is a long post- and well worth the entire read. I couldn't decide where to start and stop but here is my abbreviated version. Go and read the whole thing.... link at the bottom

And then shit got real, really fast. In a surprise to no one except the alleged American president and his lackey the [alcoholic and quite mentally disturbed] alleged Secretary of War, Iran did not fold. Instead, Iran began attacking ship traffic in the Straits of Hormuz, through which around 20% of the world’s crude oil transits, and began firing missiles and drones at various targets throughout the Middle East, especially American military targets, and Israel. It was quickly discovered that despite the hype, the Americans and their allies had a very limited supply of extremely expensive interceptor missiles, and that Iran seemed to have an endless supply of drones (and a whole lot more missiles than anyone anticipated). And so, with a shooting war in place that every single American president (including the first iteration of this one in 2017-2021) understood would have disastrous global consequences, strategically, economically, politically, you name it, the markets responded by sending the price of a barrel of oil way up over $100/bbl (with attendant U.S. gasoline prices going from $2 something a gallon to over $4 something a gallon) and attendant stock market losses, the alleged American president watched his already anemic approval ratings hit hitherto unknown lows.

For their part, the Iranians started playing favorites, and began allowing ship traffic in the Straits of Hormuz to pass if they paid a toll (around $2 million) and were from favored countries (most notably NOT the USA or Israel). Further infuriating the alleged American president.

So… when the going gets tough… the grifters get insider trading. And thus, every Friday, just after financial markets closed, the alleged American president would announce some fanciful progress in negotiations that would result in the war being over within hours, and of course, the Iranians would then deny everything, in the interim, large trades would mysteriously be placed on various financial markets, and then, come Monday, profits would be taken, lather, rinse, repeat. Until Mr. Market stopped playing. And the Iranians stopped playing too. The Iranians also got really good at posting mocking Lego-movie videos, featuring the alleged American president and his humiliations at the hands of the Iranians (whom he kept insisting lost their navy, their air force, their air defenses…)

At which point, the alleged American president began to truly panic, and start posting shit on his proprietary social media platform that was unhinged even for him. This was his Easter Sunday posting:

Kind of weird that his first term was dominated by failed contentions of “Infrastructure Week,” when after four years, he managed to barely build sections of his Medieval border wall. But wrecking Iran’s infrastructure… definitely on the table.

And despite all of his bluster, Iran continued to fight back, forcing the U.S. to abandon most of its bases in the Middle East, its embassy in Iraq, and forcing two of its supercarriers to sail hundreds of miles away from the Persian Gulf to be out of range of Iranian drones and missiles.

And so, the alleged American president who was supposedly obsessed with nuclear weapons during his first term (largely because he is a moron) has decided to double-down on the threats of violence, by having one of his psychopathic aides (I would guess Stephen Miller) draft his latest social media posts suggesting that “a whole civilization will die tonight.” The alleged president has backed off of his threats so many times thus far that an acronym (“TACO”) has been developed to suggest he “always chickens out.” Perhaps humanity’s future is dependent on “TACO Tuesday” actually coming to pass.

I don’t know. I just know that enough American racists just loved the idea of one of their own back in power, notwithstanding that his last go-round resulted in the gross mismanagement of a healthcare crisis that resulted in over a million Americans dying and tens of millions infected with a debilitating disease, possibly for life, to decide to bring this senile moron back. But this ill-mannered imbecile who now suffers from age related dementia (including vile diet and exercise habits) has access– exclusive access– to the American nuclear codes, and has clearly threatened to use them against a nation that presented no threat to us until he unilaterally attacked it. It’s possible that enough senior members of the military haven’t been purged who will refuse to follow blatantly illegal orders; it’s also possible that they will go through with what the commander in chief tells them.

I don’t know anymore. There were and are things I’d still like to do. One of which is see the Loquacious Pup continue to prosper, as she pursues an advanced degree (unfortunately out of state so I can’t be with her now). I’m sure the same is true for most of you. We all have unfinished business. But unless something I am not anticipating steps up and thwarts the imbecile who can now kill us all in the name of his petty racist hatreds, all of our business may be finished for us in days, if not hours.

I would just like to tell the Loquacious Pup, Mrs. TD, TD Mom, TD Brother and Sister and their kids, and my late TD Dad, and all of my friends and my comrades, I love you all. I don’t know how much that means to you, but it means everything to me. If those in charge were capable of love– and there is no evidence that they are– maybe we wouldn’t be facing what might be the end of everything.

Continue the conversation

Link to the whole post.

Monday, April 6, 2026

Thursday, April 2, 2026

From Roger Fitch and our friends down under (updated)

 

America’s Ozymandias

ROGER FITCH ESQ    THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2026

 

Roger Fitch, our man in Washington, examines three elements driving the United States towards the abyss ... War ... Corruption ... And, one man's maniacal ego

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“The lion’s share of blame for the wreckage this presidency is causing lies of course with Donald Trump himself; it is his whims, his prejudices, his bottomless corruption, his stupidity, and his malignant hatreds that propel it forward. But those with whom he has surrounded himself form a group unlike any we have seen before. When they prostrate themselves before him in those North Korean-style cabinet meetings, we see how pathetic they are, people with vast power yet not a shred of dignity” – Paul Waldman, Public Notice

 

“Anger defines Mr. Trump’s decade on the political stage. Anger at foreigners who come to this country and change its nature. Anger at allies who take advantage of America. Anger at Democrats who cross him. Anger at Republicans who cross him. Anger at appointees he deems insufficiently loyal. Anger at prosecutors, F.B.I. agents, judges, journalists, law firms, elite universities, cultural figures, corporate leaders, pollsters, central bankers and the Norwegian Nobel Committee” – Peter Baker, New York Times

 

“His contempt for law is … foundational. He treats courts as legitimate only when they serve him. He recasts legal accountability as persecution. He elevates loyalty over legality, impulse over judgment, grievance over governance. Mobs are not an aberration but a tool—summoned, legitimized, and, eventually, pardoned – Harold Litman

 

“This nation …cannot always remain at peace, and has no right to expect that it will always have wise and humane rulers, sincerely attached to the principles of the Constitution. Wicked men, ambitious of power, with hatred of liberty and contempt of law, may fill the place once occupied by Washington and Lincoln; and if this right is conceded, and the calamities of war again befall us, the dangers to human liberty are frightful to contemplate” – Ex parte Milligan (1866)

War

Donald Trump is a wicked man; Iran is a wicked war, stupid and irrational, a foreign policy blunder Trump began in 2017.

It’s also unconstitutional. Here’s the two-page letter the US provided to the UN Security Council justifying the invasion, claiming “self-defence” and “preventative war”.

There seems to have been no planning, other than the deception itself, reminiscent of the Japanese in 1941, negotiating peace in Washington while launching the Pearl Harbour attack in the Pacific.

Trump’s double-cross decoy of the Iranians, pretending to negotiate while preparing to attack, has now happened twice. The second time, it led to an unlawful war of aggression, joined by the lawless Israelis.

The US is now seen as untrustworthy, even treacherous.

Though entirely illegal, the war is reported as if Israel and the US were the good guys. In fact, Trump’s unauthorised, senseless, war-criminal attacks should be added to his list of impeachable offences.

Corruption

“[B]efore Trump, lying presidents and lying elected officials tried to make it seem they were not lying. Corrupt presidents and corrupt elected officials tried to make it seem they were not corrupt. With Trump and his banditos, there are no such games of pretend … Trump and his band of racists, profiteers, scoundrels, and flunkies seem high on their shamelessness. They defiantly flaunt their brazenness. They revel in their exploitation of power and their embrace of violence, dishonesty, intimidation, and brutality. Look what we can get away with. This has always been a favourite fix for Trump: conning suckers” – David Corn, Mother Jones

With the immunity the supreme court gave Trump, corruption is now on an industrial scaleTrump family wealth is up 70%. Everything is for sale: in six months, AG Pam Bondi dropped 23,000 criminal cases, surely suspicious.

Corporate bribery is reciprocal: taxpayer baksheesh may be paid to companies (even French ones) who implement perverse government policy incentives, e.g, replacing windmills with oilrigs.

Trump and the Republicans are providing “elite immunity” for people and companies who aren’t elite, only corruptly-privileged. Perhaps it’s natural that an administration run by a convicted criminal has, as one of its main goals, providing impunity for financial crimes perpetuated by its accomplices and supporters.

As Paul Krugman observed,

“There are people in positions of great power in the U.S. government engaged in evil conspiracies against everything that is good and decent … But there are no evil masterminds behind this. Only amoral, stupid grifters like Howard Lutnick … While MAGA-world’s fantasy villains like George Soros are brilliant and subtle, MAGA’s real villains are uncouth and dim-witted. Yet they carry out their sinister schemes in broad daylight. For all they need to flourish is utter shamelessness, along with the backing of a corrupt administration and a corrupt political party.” 

Insider trading is rampant. In the digital era, one must find out when a convenient change will occur, and that’s increasingly in the control of one erratic, indeed insane man.

Krugman believes Trump’s social media postings and counter-postings reveal organised insider trading, and in matters of national security, treason, by Trump underlings and other members of his crooked entourage.

Crime (white collar) never had a better year in the US than 2025, where one of their own (34 fraud counts) is US president, and the role of the Justice Department has changed from upholding the law to one of facilitating such criminal activity, Congress be damned.

Sadly, dropping fraud cases and pardoning convicted white-collar criminals, even those who pleaded guilty, also deprives the government and defrauded consumers of valuable court-ordered compensation.

Make America Gauche Again

The vanity-vandalism of Donald Trump would be funny if it weren’t so destructive. He’s determined to install bad taste in once elegant and sophisticated Washington, DC, and elsewhere.

The pathetic monomania of America’s Ozymandias is everywhere. Not content that Florida has agreed to rename Palm Beach’s airport, “President Donald J. Trump International Airport“, he now seeks other transportation hubs, wanting to rename both New York’s Penn Station and Washington’s regional Dulles Airport (DIA) after himself.

With trademark crassness, Trump pre-emptively sought trademark protection for “DJT” so he can usurp for himself the brand benefits (e.g, sale of tat) for any airport using his name/initials. He is already modelling merchandise from his online shop (MAGA caps) at official functions (e.g, cabinet meetings) and, shamefully, at observances for returning dead soldiers.

Beyond the ego vandalism – eg, purporting to rename Washington’s Institute for Peace and Kennedy Center after himself, there has been a flood of Louis XV-inspired kitsch in the White House itself: whorehouse décor Trump’s grandfather might have employed at his goldfields “hotels” in the 19th century.

No one expected the tasteless lower-class Trump to destroy cultural institutions or impose his edifice complex, a tacky White House ballroom (currently-blocked) and colossal Arch de Trump, on DC.

In Miami, another cash shakedown is underway, a widely-ridiculed and gold-bedecked 50-storey Presidential Library, with hotel rooms.