Here’s another Trump court loss. Big ones coming up.
Judge Fund During Legal Challenge
The Wall Street Journal reports Judge Pauses Trump’s ‘Anti-Weaponization’ Fund During Legal Challenge
A federal judge directed the Trump administration to pause efforts on a $1.8 billion fund for people who say they were targeted by prosecutors for political reasons, while she weighs a legal challenge to it.
The order issued by Judge Leonie Brinkema in the Eastern District of Virginia on Friday temporarily blocks the government from taking any action to initiate the “anti-weaponization” fund, such as moving money into it or considering claims, “to ensure that no funds are irreversibly disbursed.”
“It is important that the status quo be maintained,” the judge said in a footnote, adding that the government had allegedly refused the challenger’s request to refrain from transferring money to the fund or paying claims until at least mid-June to allow for briefing in the case. She has set a hearing for June 12 to consider the challengers’ request for a longer-lasting block on the fund.
The lead plaintiff challenging the fund in Virginia is a former prosecutor involved in cases over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Other challengers include a professor prosecuted after protesting an immigration raid, a city whose federal funding has been threatened because it limits cooperation on immigration enforcement, the National Abortion Federation association of clinics and voter advocacy group Common Cause.
The largest pool of likely applicants—and among the most controversial—is the group of more than 1,500 Trump supporters who were prosecuted for storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The settlement agreement establishing the fund also noted that antiabortion activists prosecuted for blocking entrances to abortion clinics could be eligible.
The chief executive of Democracy Forward, the legal team that brought the challenge, welcomed the order on Friday. “Today, a federal court recognized the urgent need to prevent taxpayer dollars from being distributed through a secretive and unprecedented political compensation scheme before the legality of that program can be fully reviewed by the court,” said Skye Perryman.
At least three other lawsuits have also been brought against the fund, in other federal courts. Soon after Brinkema issued her order, Judge Richard Leon in the District of Columbia said he would hold a hearing on June 10 in a challenge brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Fund Headed Nowhere
Ultimately, this fund is headed nowhere.
It stems from a result in which Trump was suing his own government, a preposterous idea. And key Senate Republicans are against it.
Look at things this way. The court is doing Trump a favor.
Trump Faces Senate Revolt Over Anti-Weaponization Fund
I discussed the Senate revolt on May 23, 2026, in Trump Faces a Full Revolt in the Senate, Even Senator Tom Cotton
“Who thought this was a good idea? Who chose this timing?” Cotton asked bluntly.
Cotton was speaking about Trump’s slush fund to pay January 6 rioters and other convicted criminals when Trump’s Attorney General Todd Blanche pitched the idea to the Senate.
Cotton knows the answer is Trump. He just didn’t say it. Other Senators did, many of them.
The Senate revolt was over the anti-weaponization fund and Trump’s endorsement of Ken Paxton over John Cornyn.
It happened at a closed-door meeting between Republican and Attorney General Todd Blanche who tried to sell the plan to skeptical Republicans.
Senator Revolt
- Tom Cotton: “Who thought this was a good idea? Who chose this timing?”
- Ted Cruz: “One of the roughest meetings I’ve seen in my entire time in the Senate,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), said Friday on his podcast. “Fiery does not begin to cut it,” Cruz said, adding that some senators were screaming at Blanche. Cruz, in his podcast, said he expected the administration would move—at minimum—to modify the fund or face “a full-on revolt” in the Senate.
- Cruz, in his podcast, said he expected the administration would move—at minimum—to modify the fund or face “a full-on revolt” in the Senate.
- Cynthia Lummis: “I’m just sad,” said an emotional Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R., Wyo.) after Trump announced the endorsement. She fretted that it would now cost Republicans “a fortune” to try to hold Cornyn’s seat.
- Thom Tillis: Tillis had drawn Trump’s ire by labeling the fund a “payout pot for punks” and “stupid on stilts.”
- John Thune: “The administration is going to have to come up with some suggestions and ideas,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) told reporters
- Ron Johnson: “Somebody described it as a galactic blunder, and I think that’s probably true,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) said to CNN.
- Bill Cassidy: The White House “put themselves in a bad spot. It wasn’t Congress that did it. Congress has had no input. Might be part of the problem,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.).
- Lisa Murkowski: Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski likened it to “dropping a bomb” on the legislative process.
The first three point above are on the fund. The rest are on Trump’s very poor decision to endorse Ken Paxton.
Other News
Ballroom Update
Falling Support
Big Court Loss Coming Up
In June or July, Trump is going to get smacked by the Supreme Court on Birthright Citizenship.
This will not be close. I expect Trump to lose 7-2 and possibly 9-0.
For discussion, please see Supreme Court Birthright Citizenship Arguments Suggest 7-2 Minimum Against Trump
Justice Kavanaugh hammers Trump’s lawyer, setting the tone.
Related Posts
May 26, 2026: Paxton Defeats Cornyn, Cook Political Immediately Lowers Republican Chances
Minutes after the AP call, Cook Political Report moved the general election forecast from “Likely Republican” to “Lean Republican.”
May 27, 2026: Trump Got What He Wanted in Texas Senate Primary, But So Did Democrats
Trump is gloating now over Ken Paxton. But he’s gloating over a loss.
If Trump thought this was a good and popular idea, he could have scored bigly by funding it himself. People would have forgiven any and all misinterpretations of his
blunderscorrections and the mid terms would be in the bag.It’s not like he and his cohorts haven’t made a few billion front running his otherwise idiotic policy changes every few hours.
Bah! Humbug! Where is the 10% credit card interest rates? Where are the DOGE refund checks? How about income tax on a postcard?
On the other hand stimulus checks will turn a frown upside down.
Money can and will buy you love.
Maybe you can’t buy love for money but you surely can rent it. I think Melania is a long term rental.
Another day and other 10+ mln of barrels not reaching the market…
From Al-Jazeera:
An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader and a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, Mohsen Rezaei, said today that Trump is “betraying diplomacy for the third time”.
“By continuing the naval blockade and making excessive demands in negotiations, he has once again proven that he is not inclined toward negotiation and is pursuing other objectives,” he wrote in a post on X.
Bigger picture we are being distracted from.
„You shall not steal.“ Exodus 20.15.
Where are all the pious Evangelicals when „their man“ loots the public treasure?
There are very few pious Evangelicals remaining… most are Conditional Evangelicals. Of course, the largest single denomination in America today is non-religious- in no small part due to widespread disgust with organized religion.
Where are the Pacifists like the WW1 people?
Or the Rachel Corries?
Now we simply piss and moan on social media.
I read yesterday that Trump invested a large sum of money into a company that he shortly after investing, gave a $40 billion grant to. Clearly this is illegal and immoral behaviour. Not long ago presidents had to keep their investments in blind trusts.
The Milton pardon is scandalous. And how was he left with any money at all after stealing so much….iot should have bene confiscated.
Our current day rhymes with history.
There is a reason our founders put in the Eighth amendment regarding Cruel and Unusual punishment. There is no doubt in my mind that the ruling powers at the time abused their power; one of the reasons they lost. Trump is trying to right that wrong committed by the entrenched ruling class, the Nasica of Washington. Nancy Pelosi must have been reading her Roman History.
This story is nothing new and goes back to Rome. In 133 BC, Tiberius and his supporters gathered on Capitoline Hill. Tiberius (Trump) arrived to thunderous cheers and applause. This was a peaceful and unarmed crowd as it was part of the Pomerium (Washington DC), within the sacred city limits.
Nasica (Nancy Pelosi), the pontifex maximus, donned his formal attire along with other opposing senators and supporters, went to confront the opposition. Along the way, they armed themselves with table legs. Seeing the approaching opposition, Tiberius and his supporters were alarmed, but seeing the group led senators and the pontifex maximus they let their guard down. Nasica and his supporters started pushing, shoving, and provoking the crowd. The crowd started to push back and defend themselves. The resulting melee was one sided as Tiberius people were unarmed. In such a small space people were trampled and shoved off the cliffs of the Capitoline. Three hundred supporters of Tiberius were killed. Tiberius, a tribute and supposed sacred position, was found by fellow tributes and senators and beat to death with table legs.
I see all kinds of parallels to Rome and us today. At least they have not killed Tiberius (Trump) yet, but they are still trying through lawfare, the courts and the house if they win. Do not let history repeat. The senate made no apologies and dumped the bodies in the Tiber. Despicable behavior from the likes of Nasica and her supporters.
This is one fact that should make you think about who and what you are supporting.
Your Ai story needs a reboot. Taco is the entrenched ruling class. He probably has more money than all the Congressmen combined. And when he tried to thwart democracy his supporters were armed and attacked the Senators who had no arms. In fact they stood aside and allowed them to roam the Capitol freely, except one self radicalized woman who lost touch and reality. Violent revolution is a common theme in history. Maybe train your Ai to think more positively.
“The Storm before the Storm” by Michael Duncan – pg 34-36; my paraphrase.
You “seeing parallels” does not equate to “one fact”
I suppose you don’t think Trump as POTUS is Cruel and Unusual punishment.
Doesn’t matter what the polls say. If the election were tomorrow Trump’s quarter-wit supporters would line up to vote for him again. We’re the dinosaurs that have voted for the asteroid and the asteroid is about to hit.
I don’t vote and when I did I vote third party My first was Barry Commoner, then mostly Nader but Perot sits there too.
Carlin was right about voting/
Time for the Weekend Insider Trading Investors Club to go to work!
I think that most Americans think this is just a passing nonsense. Possibly…but it is now clear that the American constitution is unfit for purpose.
How on earth America shakes itself out of this without really serious civil conflict is difficult to see.
The Constitution is far from perfect, but the problem is a Supreme Courtnthat treats speech as money, a corrupt party system, and an electorate stocked with certified morons.
You get morons in all countries, but the US flag adoration, America first and win by whatever means mentality means that America has its fair share.
However it is the current constitution that is being interpreted in ways inappropriate to a modern democracy that is a key part of the problem. Minor meddling with it is not going to help, a full rewrite for modern times is really needed. Not going to happen though, there hasn’t been even a meaningful amendment in decades. America is truly living in the past.
The current clown is simply exploiting it.
I agree….how can Americans vote for two demented fools one after another….we will have had 12 or 16 years of demented Presidents when Trump goes. ^5 should be the maximum age for a president….you should be 60 or under when you start to run for President.
Distraction. Trump and family win by not getting investigated by the irs. Does not matter if this slush fund fail or not.
Until a new president and AG arrive on the scene. Trump’s plea deal was not signed off by any judge.
Indeed it was rejected by a judge yesterday
Slush fund just clearly illegal unconstitutional and endorsement of packston in Texas is the sign of a very sinister SOB endorsing yet another sinister SOB
Finally
$1 million dollars for a pardon!
Just shows house and senate
Doing
Nothing to
Prevent crooks!
Collapse is arriving soon
“gloating over a loss”
This is his Art of the Deal, in a nutshell. Be too stupid to know you lost, and be born rich enough not to suffer for it.
As such, it’s really no surprise that the Greatest Liar Of All Time loves to GLOAT.
Judge has learned from Trump’s tariff antics and his claims that it is impossible for the USA to figure out how to refund a payment. Kudos, judge.
I have a few receipts.
Thankfully the Trump clown car is finally coming off the rails
Can’t be too soon, the guy is a menace
Trump is the distraction from everything else being put in place.
Plus he gets free press every day all the time.
And he has his puppets still in place except that counter intelligence guy that resigned.
The picture is much much larger than we see.
Speaking of comments about Trump’s Illegal slush fund; it’s worth pointing out that on the day it was announced the Lead Counsel for the US Treasury resigned. A pretty high profile position.
At least there is some folks with integrity left. But he’s probably a Democrat.
Each time one with integrity leaves, ask yourself what replaces them.
Ask yourself just how long it took that so called integrity to kick in before resigning.
It has got to be tough on career bureaucrats who really know nothing but government work. Consider a 50 year old mid level bureaucrat with a 6 figure salary and a pension. Resign and where do you go? What are your alternatives? Does Trump follow you out the door with meaningless lawsuits that might cost you big dollars for lawyers?
Tough to have exercise your integrity with that as your backdrop. You probably are forced to hold your nose as long as possible.
This is the dilemma that Trump causes with his one way street loyalty.
I suspect the federal employees’ union will pay legal expenses.
Please big business would snap him up for his access and contacts.
I know someone was threatening to resign over the $250 bill. It’s a great idea for Taco. Those able to afford one and dumb enough to get one, will get one. Those who can’t afford one will never see one.
Can you say HYPERINFLATION bill?
four of those equal 1k. Po folk, other than those doing illegal stuff, don’t have that kind of cash on hand.
Rich folk have wonderful credit they us.
These are for the dumb middle class working people who need to carry cash to buy things like food or res dope/smokes/gas.
All these signs happening in the background but very few catch on because the news cycle is so fast they blip by.
The bill that is meant to replace the $20 under Trumps inflation economy.
Trudat…
I had the impression that compensation for malicious prosecution, abuse of process, was pretty much an established principle. Trump’s well-meaning supporters who trampled around the Congress building were quite clearly led into it by the corrupt authorities (Congressional Democrats), who colluded with the media to create this incident and prevent a dispassionate analysis of the election results, if what I have read in Zerohedge is to be believed. Then they were very badly treated in jail. This is the sort of thing that corrupt people always do when they get good people in their hands.
I believe your characterization is mostly true. A compensation fund would have to be passed by Congress, though, and that won’t happen.
“if what I have read in Zerohedge is to be believed.”
Remember to put a /s at the end of a comment like this, otherwise folks will think you’re nuts.
Arthur of the tribe who thinks negative points from fellow commenters at ZH defines one as intellectually inept.
You mean the paid posters who create the narrative then move it anyway they choose?
Or the bots designed for the same purpose.
I think you meant to say that I think it “defines me” as smart. I do.
Why? ZH is over run by bots but has quite a few humorous and wide variety posters.
Any given day one may find a business owner sharing how tariffs forced him to increase prices, or some working guy commenting on crappy stuff in building for example.
San Fransisco Millennium tower in 26 inches off plumb. They spent 100 million to fix it and only moved it an inch.
Zero hedge posts a wide variety of people attempting to manage the narrative so you visit their website or invest in their finance group.
Legitimate articles by legitimate people with a very wide variety of posters.
Because of the amount of posters one will see divergences.
But ZH has been attacked for at least a decade.
Stop training your Ai model on conspiratorial information. It gums up the works and after a while you have to completely reformat the the disk and start all over again.
Um Iran Contra, Teapot Dome scandal, Father Coughlin’s Silver scam.
Conspiracies exist.
But many of the pretend violent ones are manipulated by the FBI using some dumb-asses and handing the materials to claim some good press.
And brother JEFF.
Reading this, I am again amazed how programmable the human brain is, to believe something in obvious flat contradiction to plainly observable reality.
Why? Every study since others started manipulating society uses the same methods and techniques.
Personally I liked the temple prostitute phase.
Makes me want to start a cult of my own, just to see what silly things I can get people to do.
Mormons and MAGIC UNDERWEAR!
I personally liked the ALIEN believing SEX cult.
Not much of a challenge cult members will do almost anything including offing themselves.
Poor dumb MAGA trash, led around like cattle with nose rings. Jesus, you’ll make excuses for anything!
“Trump’s well-meaning supporters who trampled around the Congress building were quite clearly led into it by the corrupt authorities”
Indeed they were:
Here’s what that Corrupt Authority told the people it had called to rally at the capitol:
‘We won this election, and we won it by a landslide’
A lie, proven by the fact that he got elected again despite the people that who were supposed to have stolen the election had even more power to do it than they did while he was president.
‘We will stop the steal’
‘We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn’t happen’
‘If you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore’
‘We are going to the Capitol’
The Corrupt Authority was too chickenshit to actually go, but his well meaning dimwits didn’t figure that out until they were already at the capitol, attacking cops, breaking stuff, smearing shit on the walls, and stealing whatever wasn’t nailed down.
Every single one of them, including the Corrupt Authority, should have hung for treason.
I didn’t catch any of the speeches live but after the riot I pulled it up on YouTube. During the ‘pregame’ music to gin up the crowd before the speeches they blared out “Saturday Night is Alright for Fighting”. I listened for 30 seconds and decided I didn’t need to waste 4 hours of my life corroborating the obvious.
Gaslighting got a lot harder with the advent of YouTube
Yeah, scheduling a “Stop the Steal” rally just a few hours before the official session of Congress is now the Democrats leading the idiot rioters.
I can barely believe the MAGA gullibility.
Well, okay, you’ve made a point that I hadn’t thought of there: the rally was scheduled just before the hearings were supposed to start. However, didn’t the police supposed to guard the building invite the demonstrators in? Weren’t doors opened? It looks to me as though Trump’s people were simply outsmarted by the Democrats in co-operation with the media.
If the Democrats were sure their “election victory” would stand up to investigation, they might have been wiser to have postponed the hearing when they saw that things were going to be disorderly. I’ve seen a meeting adjourned while a disturbed person could be calmed down and led off the floor. A chairman can do that sort of thing. Certainly, one shouldn’t disrupt a meeting, but these were not clever people: they knew enough to know that they were being deceived and cheated as usual, but they didn’t know how, or what to do about it.
Doing that to the public for long enough is a good way to bring your whole system down.
This is confusing for you, eh mate? Come November you are gonna be baffled I think. 🤔
Presidential elections are decided at the local and state levels as delineated in the Constitution. Congress certifies it by law on January 6th.
The rioters inside the House of Representatives actions on 1/6/21, were intended at minimum stop the certification. They were insurrectionists at a minimum.
Trump had used all the legal means available but lost in every court. His AG, William Barr – hardly a moderate or Lefty- told Trump he lost.
You need to change your nom de plume on Mishtalk.com to Tin Foil Hat.
“However, didn’t the police supposed to guard the building invite the demonstrators in?”
The ones I saw were trying to push them back, and getting beaten with flagpoles and whatever else the traitors had on them.
Some of the traitors had zip tie handcuffs. What do you suppose they intended to do with those. Some had a gallows.
Pull your head out of your ass.
I still can’t understand why the police being beaten didn’t use their firearm to protect themselves. Why didn’t their fellow officers help and stop the crowd. The first five or ten rioters on the ground would have turned the tide.
Like those debanked Canadian truckers.
Wasn’t Huey Newton the last person to successfully show power to government in CA when all those armed Panthers walked into California state capitol in 1967.
And Abbie Hoffman and the Yippees gat a permit to levitate the Pentagon three feet off the ground. But that assembly was broken up after they encircled the building.
I prefer my anti government types to be smart enough not to be captured.
They exist but you do not know their names.
Talk to some people and they will say so and so said something controversial which rings true.
They understand how the system works and avoid standing out.
Grey men in the background.
Good point.
I cannot tell if you are sarcastic here or if you truly mean what you type here. Let’s be generous and assume sarcasm.
You be generous all you want. I couldn’t care less.
“Trump’s well-meaning supporters” Mr. Orwell is proof of alien as in other worldly life. No one from earth could believe trump supporters are “well-meaning”.
They’re well-meaning from my point of view because they’re trying to preserve Western civilization. You’re not well-meaning, from my point of view, because you’re trying to support bureaucracy and corruption.
Judge says Trump can’t rename Kennedy Center or shut it down.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/29/trump-kennedy-center-judge-beatty.html
Lol everyone is getting tired of the clown and circus.
But he told us he is everyone’s favorite president
He is the most favored topic everywhere everyday all the time.
Bad press is better than no press.
Some banks have cut him off but others still lend to him, there is a story in there
After ALL these years? He already got Duechabank 3 times. Then got them to forgive $99M. That was a while ago though. His game now is just take out more loans to pay off previous ones. I think they call it High Finance. Something mere mortals do not participate in.
Jeff did, ever check his bio?
Some say Jeff was Mossad. That one I can believe.
If you owe the bank a small amount, the bank “own’s” you. If you owe the bank a very large amount, you “own” the bank.
He destroyed Atlantic City NJ with the help of a corrupt city council
Nothing Trump has done has surprised me yet, somehow a third of the US still loves him
When ICE ramped up enforcement, US‑born workers didn’t see any economic gains
https://theconversation.com/when-ice-ramped-up-enforcement-us-born-workers-didnt-see-any-economic-gains-283011
This is idiotic. ZH was previously bragging about US-Born gains.
The fact of the matter is this data is so flawed it shows nothing at all. Year-over-year comparisons are invalid. Period.
Month-over-month questionable for may reasons.
That wasn’t the design. The design was to place minimally trained quasi legal representatives of the government in virtually every city.
Kind of like a Wagner group not taken from prisons.
The problem is if he doesn’t declare martial law the next guy will.
Then the one after that will refine the criteria and um care of those detained.
Why would the next guy do that? The only way this happens is if Americans are dumb enough to elect another fascist populist. I mean, there are a lot of dumb people out there, but it’s not a sure thing, at all.
All the democrats have to do to make it happen is run a brown person or a minority for president.
And how many rights have been abridged since you have been born?
In case you forget things like MOVE, WACO, RUBY RIDGE, LAVOY FINICUM.
Never assume the next guy is pure and virtuous.
Sandman comic had a pretty funny and insightful observation about how Hell became worse when the Devil left and the Angels took over.
Emerging US-Iran MoU said to reference possible $300B postwar ‘investment fund’ to aid Tehran’s reconstruction
“Possible”. lol. Like Iran would believe that after two sucker-punch attacks by the Axis of Evil. At least $12B of Iranian assets are frozen. Immediately releasing at least half of that AND removing all sanctions on Iranian energy are minimum conditions for Iran to move forward with any plan.
Does Iran now get a sovereign wealth fund controlled by the Taco Mafia? Or is this a tax payer benefit that will come back to us in interest charges from Iran where the mafia takes a 99% cut for ‘admin’ fees? Or maybe Taco thinks he can get Elon to pony up a bond deal? I’m sure he’s got a few $B lying around.
“investment fund” DOES NOT mean reparations! It’s a totally different thing! After spending billions of MAGA taxpayer dollars on a lost war do you think our great leader would give $300 billion more? Heck no! He’s investing MAGA taxes in great, beautiful Iranian investments! All of MAGA will be rich! Bigly rich!
Yes, that money circling back to corrupt insider deals sounds like Trump playbook all the way.
Well Ukraine money laundering existed before Trump and Biden family benefited from that one.
Just say same old same old and be done with it.
‘Bigly’ rich. I like it! He just has the best words. Maybe Hasbro can make a special Taco Scrabble edition. Going to have to limit the letters to 4 or 5 though. MAGA is not used to using big words.
That was dumb. I spoke with a LOT of working people who were very literate MAGA who believed Trump was real change.
Now if you mean Evangelicals and Zionists and dual citizenship holders you might be on the right track.
Oh, I know a lot of ‘smart’ people with good educations and high IQs. What nearly all of them lack is EQ. They will defend him to last never admitting he bald faced lied to them. They said to me “his policies are great and I just didn’t like him as a person”. Very true on the latter point. He’s been a con artist all his life. And as such he’s always been untrustworthy. And now we’re seeing the fruition of that. In 2016 I would have voted for a ham sandwich over him.
Hope he has a sufficient amount of life insurance as it can be dangerous to go against the taco mafia that is rapidly growing in number and absolute power/abuse.
Please Arkancide has a larger head count than Trump.
“The court is doing Trump a favor.”
Precisely what I thought. The court is giving Trump an out, and he can blame an unelected judge.
A radical, leftist, liberal activist judge who hates America.
There are no real Liberals anymore and Left of what?
Hates America?
The way it is now the way every poster here does?
I might fly the flag upside down on the 4th of July this year.
I do that with all flag stamps.
More pardons up for sale. I wonder if I could start a REIT, steal all the money, donate a $1M to Taco, and keep the rest? Maybe just skip the whole indictment thing and ask for a pardon before I even steal the money. I mean do we really need to waste the AG’s time? We all know what’s gonna happen anyway.
Now you’re thinking outside the box. Become a Chabadnik and you got a deal.
Someone has been paying attention.
Read about the Vegas Biolab guy having all his federal charges dropped the hopping a plane home to guess where?
Well that’s a disturbing news story…
There are plenty in DC looking for entrepreneurial minds like yours. I see a bright future for you.
Your daily anti Trump posts are always entertaining and informative, but misding in context. Trump is a symptom of the political decay in America, not the cause. Are you hoping for a return to Carter/ Clinton era politics or even the policies of Bush Sr and Jr? Those days are gone.
Trump will be a relic of stupidly by the end of his term
But I agree it’s a symptom of rot
Rot vs rot actually – both sides
Yes, the system is oscillating into instability.
The system is always unstable, you just live in an illusion of normalcy.
Take any serial killer or child molester or wife beater and see just how normal they seemed.
For a while Dentists were so freak show they now require a nurse present.
Consider this we live in a country that now has more homeless people then when Lucille Ball made the made for tv movie the concrete pillow.
An essentially third world morality nation.
Most people just never cross the social boundaries and tend to remain within their own safe environments.
Both sides yes.
But Trump will be historically remembered as both the most effective and worst president in US history.
Trump has gotten virtually everything he wanted when he wanted.
Objectively I’m surprised just how much he has done and how much he is associated with and how many enemies he turned and how many of those enemies went to FLA and bent the knee and kissed the ass.
You have to realize that it doesn’t help to make sweeping statements about morality. What you need to do is to understand it.
I keep saying it. No one contradicts me, but no one listens. Government always consists essentially of soldiers, who live by force and the threat of force; and priests, who live by deception, having some sort of religion that people believe to a greater or lesser extent. The religion today is education, and the priestly classes are the teachers, the journalists (media generally), and the judiciary. Politicians are BROKERS: they make a living (as do tax agents, government-paid social workers and health care workers, and defense lawyers) by STANDING BETWEEN the government and its prey.
Priests are bad people more or less by definition. Brokers are mixed: they can lean towards the prey, or they can lean towards the government. A lot of politicians do see themselves as priests and work in the interests of the priestly classes.
The secret police (FBI, CIA etc.) are mostly soldiers – they like killing and torturing people – but they do have some priestly functions. Victory for them means putting something over the public.
I think our problem is that the priests have been in charge, have dominated the soldiers, for too long. They have captured the “democratic” system. What is needed is a period of rule by the soldiers. A soldier doesn’t have to be stupid: he can take advice. Rule by soldiers need not mean that knowledge would die out.
How conflating your words are. Any government requires a means to enforce the laws (see Madison’s angels statement).
How the laws are promulgated, enforced and adjudicated determines whether they promote the end of peace through the means of justice.
Education is not the modern day religion because you say so. Modern day priests are not teachers, journalists and the judiciary. – more conflation.
Brokers are not politicians, tax agents, etc. They are intermediaries in the private sector – more conflating.
Your conflations are situational to make your argument sound cogent. Nice try.
I thought I was seeing beneath the surface and understanding how society really works. The names (priests, soldiers, brokers, and about six others I didn’t have to mention in this short piece) I have given to the categories reflect what I see as the real functions of the people in those lines of activity (or inactivity).
As I see it, we all as children look for or at least accept “knowledge” from older and wiser people. Some of what we accept is true: some is false. Most of us also look for protection, knowing that we aren’t strong enough to defend ourselves against all comers. That leaves openings for priests and soldiers. Soldiers and priests come together to form all governments (I am not suggesting that all governments are equally bad, just that they are all inherently bad). The priests tend to dominate the soldiers because the priests are smarter.
However, if the picture I have of the feudal system in Christian Europe is anywhere close to the mark, the soldiers dominated the priests between about the founding of Christianity by Constantine and the year 1900. The royal families almost invariably developed out of the military, not the priesthood.
I am not denying that education was largely valid until it achieved government backing. Until the publication of ‘The Origin of Species,’ most people really did believe in Christianity to some degree. Since then, Christian priests have devolved into being entertainers.
Religions are not all the same. The best book I have read on the subject was (this is from memory – I haven’t seen or heard of the book for perhaps fifty years) ‘Cows, Pigs, Wars & Witches,’ by Marvin Harris. It is observational rather than theoretical, but it shows how different religions function in different societies.
Education fits our present understanding of the world in a way that Christianity no longer does. The priests of education are able to get away with things in the same way as the priests of Christianity were able to in the year 1500. The other racketeers – the journalists and the judges – are able to get away with their nonsense and evil-doing because we connect their activities with knowledge and education. We think (not entirely wrongly) that journalists spread knowledge of what is happening today. We think that judges rely on knowledge of the law, not seeing that the administration of the law is more a matter of sycophancy and resistance to boredom than any real intelligence.
Journalism and teaching were once legitimate professions. They are examples of power corrupting, now that they have become part of the government. I am not so sure that judges were ever very nice people: the courts could never be any more than a blunt instrument, even if they were in the hands of more or less honest people, instead of products of the universities.
Again, just because your understanding of how society works doesn’t make it so.
In a concise and easy way for ANYONE to understand the problem with the US is the oligarchs run this country.
Democracy is up for sale to the highest bidder as is justice, as is peace or war, as is the common welfare for the nation or for the few, as is health services, as is our education system, as is foreign policy, etc.
This auctioning off of America started before Citizens United.
https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746
Things seemed to take a turn when Fox News, Rush L, and all the other right wing radio stations came online after the FCC Fairness Doctrine was scrapped. Outrage were the cries and money and power were the prize. Then there was Gingrich’s raise money and win at all cost. And finally McConnell’s SC nominee got Bjorked. Upshot: power is everything, even if it’s not passing anything. Mitch should go down as the greatest obstructionist in modern history. It’s amazing, that in a country with an over abundance of choices, all we have in our politics is the uniparty.