That phrase from All the President's Men keeps recurring to me: "Follow the money."
Isn't that what it comes down to?
Mega-corp CEOs, hedge fund managers, oil execs... it just goes on and on. Different clothes (nuclear weapons, fracking, insider trading) but the same old grift.
At what point do they have enough wealth, "they" being wannabe-trillionaires?
When they have more than they could spend in five lifetimes? Ten? When they can buy a city, or space travel?
With respect to nuclear comment—Project 2025 (page 91 & forward) calls for “modernization AND expansion of the nuclear arsenal.” Once again informative & interesting information
I don’t think this war with Iran and Israel’s ongoing killings in Gaza and Lebanon will end until both the US and Israel have entirely new and sane leadership.
The president doesn’t want to share anti ballistic weapons with Ukraine. That would upset his BFF and reduce our depleted stockpile. So nukes for NATO?
We have progressed so little in the history of this earth. War is always about resources, especially land. I believe that if we let women run governments, our world would look much different, and our lives would be much better. My heart is broken.
The Civil War laid bare a truth that haunts our nation still: slave states never embraced the Constitution’s noble vision of a federal government of, by and for the people and the human values and rights it would represent. These states were oligarchies of privilege and power based on hierarchies of human worth. Representative government with obligations to and for the common good was neither the goal nor reality.
Trump and his pay-to-play cabal of billionaires, self-seeking opportunists, and Armageddon hopefuls fit all corrupt authoritarian models, with elements of European “blood and soil” fascism. They also bring home how these attributes align with the systems and values of the Confederacy.
As Mary’s daily essays remind us, we’re still a divided nation without consensus on what we want from the governments that rule us.
However, most of us want to realize the Constitution’s vision of a more perfect union, with constitutional amendments as needed to ensure an inclusive, effective democracy based on evidence and reason. What the majority wants needs to matter more than it currently does.
Naming your pal, home builder Bill Pulte ~ an individual with absolutely no applicable qualifications or experience ~ to head our national intelligence apparatus simply reinforces what has become painfully obvious to those of us both at home and abroad:
On a complex world stage, you stubbornly choose not to value intelligence in no small part because you lack intelligence in general. Rarely, if ever, are you the smartest man in the room.
I’d respectfully ask you to do better, but I know you cannot.
I could never understand why it was OK for Israel to have nukes, but no one else. Right now Israel is being led by a madman, and no one is worried that they have nuclear weapons? Are we that stupid?
I agree, Linda. I also think of North Korea ... why weren't they stopped from having them? Any nukes is too many nukes. We have Japan and Chernobyl to show us why every country on the planet should adhere to a non-nuclear agreement ... that's really the only safe path forward. One of these maniacs is going to hit the button one of these days and the damage will be irreversible.
That phrase from All the President's Men keeps recurring to me: "Follow the money."
Isn't that what it comes down to?
Mega-corp CEOs, hedge fund managers, oil execs... it just goes on and on. Different clothes (nuclear weapons, fracking, insider trading) but the same old grift.
At what point do they have enough wealth, "they" being wannabe-trillionaires?
When they have more than they could spend in five lifetimes? Ten? When they can buy a city, or space travel?
How much is enough?
It's an insatiable appetite. And they love the chase as much as the catch.
With respect to nuclear comment—Project 2025 (page 91 & forward) calls for “modernization AND expansion of the nuclear arsenal.” Once again informative & interesting information
I don’t think this war with Iran and Israel’s ongoing killings in Gaza and Lebanon will end until both the US and Israel have entirely new and sane leadership.
The president doesn’t want to share anti ballistic weapons with Ukraine. That would upset his BFF and reduce our depleted stockpile. So nukes for NATO?
We have progressed so little in the history of this earth. War is always about resources, especially land. I believe that if we let women run governments, our world would look much different, and our lives would be much better. My heart is broken.
The Civil War laid bare a truth that haunts our nation still: slave states never embraced the Constitution’s noble vision of a federal government of, by and for the people and the human values and rights it would represent. These states were oligarchies of privilege and power based on hierarchies of human worth. Representative government with obligations to and for the common good was neither the goal nor reality.
Trump and his pay-to-play cabal of billionaires, self-seeking opportunists, and Armageddon hopefuls fit all corrupt authoritarian models, with elements of European “blood and soil” fascism. They also bring home how these attributes align with the systems and values of the Confederacy.
As Mary’s daily essays remind us, we’re still a divided nation without consensus on what we want from the governments that rule us.
However, most of us want to realize the Constitution’s vision of a more perfect union, with constitutional amendments as needed to ensure an inclusive, effective democracy based on evidence and reason. What the majority wants needs to matter more than it currently does.
My Dear Mr. President:
Naming your pal, home builder Bill Pulte ~ an individual with absolutely no applicable qualifications or experience ~ to head our national intelligence apparatus simply reinforces what has become painfully obvious to those of us both at home and abroad:
On a complex world stage, you stubbornly choose not to value intelligence in no small part because you lack intelligence in general. Rarely, if ever, are you the smartest man in the room.
I’d respectfully ask you to do better, but I know you cannot.
Regards,
I could never understand why it was OK for Israel to have nukes, but no one else. Right now Israel is being led by a madman, and no one is worried that they have nuclear weapons? Are we that stupid?
I agree, Linda. I also think of North Korea ... why weren't they stopped from having them? Any nukes is too many nukes. We have Japan and Chernobyl to show us why every country on the planet should adhere to a non-nuclear agreement ... that's really the only safe path forward. One of these maniacs is going to hit the button one of these days and the damage will be irreversible.