Do you feel like the winds of change are blowing today too?
POSTED BY: 6ixStringJack
UPDATED: Sunday, September 6, 2026 16:05
VIEWED: 185382
PAGE 392 of 479
Gunboat diplomacy
The US has a long history of military extortion. The latest example is Trump’s saber-rattling movement of Navy battle groups off the coast of Venezuela and the extrajudicial assassinations the administration has been conducting off the Venezuelan coast in the name of drug interdiction.
Part of it is the classic right-wing pathology: Venezuela has huge oil reserves and a government unfriendly to the US. If Trump can depose Venezuela’s president and install a US puppet regime, it will flood the world market with cheap oil, lowering gas prices in the US.
The other part is that Venezuela is the only remaining benefactor of Cuba. Cut off that lifeline and Cuba folds, realizing the life-long dream of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Casual inspection of the history of US gunboat diplomacy doesn’t inspire confidence, but since when have history, facts and evidence deterred the right-wing fever dream?
________
Why Trump is threatening Venezuela
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/06/opinion/trump-venezuela-maduro-
invasion/
Preparations for a military assault on Venezuela raise an obvious question: Why? President Trump campaigned on a promise to “end the endless foreign wars.” In his inaugural address, he asked Americans to judge him “not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end, and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.” Given all that, why has he been threatening to launch a war of choice against Venezuela?
Maybe it’s an empty threat. Trump said in a recent interview that the Venezuelan government’s days are numbered, but when asked if he will order an invasion, he replied, “I don’t think so.” That would mean he has approved a massive and highly expensive deployment just for show.
The stated reason for intensifying pressure on Venezuela is that it exports deadly drugs to the United States and President Nicolás Maduro is complicit. It is not persuasive. Venezuela produces no fentanyl and is a smaller player in the cocaine trade than Colombia, Peru, or Mexico. War in Venezuela will not substantially reduce the availability of drugs in the United States. Despite what the White House says, this war would not be waged only to fight drug traffickers.
Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves. Big powers throughout history have seized foreign lands in order to loot their resources. Chevron is eager to repair Venezuela’s collapsing oil infrastructure and drill Venezuelan oil if political conditions change. President Trump is notoriously willing to shape his foreign policy to suit corporate interests. Even if war in Venezuela would open up a new energy supply and produce rich corporate profits, though, it would probably not be waged for that reason alone.
A third possible explanation for the Venezuela war fever is that Washington is driven by a wish to depose Maduro. He has been harshly authoritarian and outspokenly anti-American. In August the United States doubled the bounty it has placed on his head, from $25 million to $50 million. Taking him down would feel like a geopolitical victory. The recent awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a Venezuelan activist who has urged the United States to invade her country could cloak an overthrow in moral legitimacy. But if taking down odious Latin American leaders is the goal, why not start with President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, whose regime is equally anti-American and even more repressive? Some in Washington would enjoy seeing Maduro handcuffed and in an orange jumpsuit. Nonetheless, that wish is hardly intense enough to justify an invasion.
Nor could an invasion be explained as a simple attention-grabber, a kind of “Operation Distract From Epstein.”
The real reason this administration is threatening Venezuela may lie beyond Venezuela itself. Trump’s policy toward Latin America is driven by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has built his career on confronting Cuba. Today Cuba and Venezuela are close partners. If the United States can depose Maduro, Cuba could edge closer to col
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Construction crews completely demolished the East Wing of the White House without any input whatsoever from historians or structural preservationists. The East Wing as we know it (well, as we knew it) dates to 1942.
It took only about three days to destroy 83 years of presidential history. This from the same administration that just had D.C.’s only Confederate statute reinstalled while crowing the same tired lies you always hear from the right about how much they love and feel the need to preserve history whenever it’s a monument to racism they want to protect rather than the East Wing of the effing White House.
At any rate, the Trump administration has been bragging about how Trump’s new ballroom will not be taxpayer funded, but will instead be funded by private donors. I mean, taxpayers still aren’t getting compensated for the total destruction of the historical East Wing of the White House that we already owned, but sure.
Also I don’t really see how the president selling influence to giant corporations and obscenely wealthy individuals is going to be better for us than the waste of a few hundred million more tax dollars by the administration that just made history of its own by ballooning America’s national debt by an additional $1 trillion in the span of only two months.
More at https://angrybearblog.com/2025/11/donating-to-trumps-white-house-east-
wing-demolition
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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All I see in the Republican Party today is a creepy, weird fealty to someone who doesn’t deserve it. During Covid, I binged every Netflix documentary about cults — NXIVM and the Way Down Cult and Sarah Lawrence, everything. And what they all have in common is this weird, passionate devotion to an utterly unremarkable person. That’s where I feel we are now. I see the man-on-the-street interviews where people are calling Donald Trump authentic and honest, and he means what he says. I think you've got to be kidding me. What’s new is this strange, cult-like devotion to the very last person who would deserve it.
https://deadline.com/2025/11/aaron-sorkin-the-american-president-movie
-wouldnt-be-made-1236619651/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Do you know what you know?
(Over-confident Trumptards struggle to reach success in America because they are extremely mistaken about their competency in all areas of life except one or two)
It is inevitable that someone 91% or more certain about their answer when asked a question that they don't really know the answer to is foolish. See Trump for that phenomenon.
How confident are you?
How likely do you think the previous statement was true?
51%-60%
61%-70%
71%-80%
81%-90%
91%-100%
50-50 (absolutely no idea, it’s a coin flip)
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Quote:How Our Society Started Worshiping Idiots
Originally posted by second:
Do you know what you know?
We live in an era where noise is mistaken for wisdom and popularity for truth. But how did we get here — to a world that celebrates ignorance and mocks intelligence?
In this powerful video inspired by the philosophy of Socrates, we explore how modern society has begun to worship superficiality over substance, and why thinkers, truth-seekers, and critical minds are increasingly silenced. From the digital age to the age of the Sophists, this reflection uncovers how our craving for attention has replaced our pursuit of understanding.
Discover what Socrates, Carl Jung, and Nietzsche can teach us about the illusion of knowledge, the manipulation of truth, and the psychological forces that make the masses follow fools instead of the wise. More importantly, learn how you can reclaim your ability to think freely in a culture that rewards conformity.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Are you aware of who Beavis and Butt-Head are
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by second:
In 2024, only 2 states had all counties vote unanimously - let’s compare
Trump won in all counties in Oklahoma, which is ranked
44th in education
49th in healthcare
44th in quality of life
50th in test scores
The top ten worst poverty
Trump lost in all counties in Massachusetts, which is ranked
1st in education
2nd in healthcare
1st in quality of life
1st in test scores
The top ten least impoverished
Instead of making fun of them, maybe you should have fucking done something for them instead of doing it for everybody else in the world and bringing in rejects by the tens of millions to suppress their wages or just outright displace them from their already shitty jobs.
America hates Democrats.
Good riddance.
Your party is officially dead. Get fucked.
Shut the fuck up, dude.
I'm always right, and you're always wrong.
Look around you. The world you thought you were living in doesn't exist anymore. It never did.
You're finished. Everything you ever wanted will never come true now.
Your party is dead. Globalism is dead. Your ideology is dead. Kevin Drum is dead.
If you hate America so much, I suggest you take your billions and get the fuck out of here.
We hate you too, and there are A LOT more of us than there are of you.
--------------------------------------------------
Be Nice. Don't be a dick.
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Quote:6ix, you literally are crazy. There is zero possibility of you coming back from your insanity.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Are you aware of who Beavis and Butt-Head are
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by second:
In 2024, only 2 states had all counties vote unanimously - let’s compare
Trump won in all counties in Oklahoma, which is ranked
44th in education
49th in healthcare
44th in quality of life
50th in test scores
The top ten worst poverty
Trump lost in all counties in Massachusetts, which is ranked
1st in education
2nd in healthcare
1st in quality of life
1st in test scores
The top ten least impoverished
Instead of making fun of them, maybe you should have fucking done something for them instead of doing it for everybody else in the world and bringing in rejects by the tens of millions to suppress their wages or just outright displace them from their already shitty jobs.
America hates Democrats.
Good riddance.
Your party is officially dead. Get fucked.
Shut the fuck up, dude.
I'm always right, and you're always wrong.
Look around you. The world you thought you were living in doesn't exist anymore. It never did.
You're finished. Everything you ever wanted will never come true now.
Your party is dead. Globalism is dead. Your ideology is dead. Kevin Drum is dead.
If you hate America so much, I suggest you take your billions and get the fuck out of here.
We hate you too, and there are A LOT more of us than there are of you.
--------------------------------------------------
Be Nice. Don't be a dick.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Trump’s Nearly $2 Billion Postelection Windfall
Even though his campaign ended a year ago, the president hasn’t stopped fundraising.
By Michael Scherer and Ashley Parker | November 18, 2025, 6 AM ET
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2025/11/trump-fundraising-ballroo
m/684963/
On the morning after he won a second term as president, Donald Trump placed an unexpected call to his top fundraiser, Meredith O’Rourke. The night before, he’d told a ballroom of supporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, that he had held his last political rally—“Can you believe it?”—and was ready to focus on governing. But his message to O’Rourke after the break of dawn was different. “I want you to keep going,” he told her.
Within weeks, that message had gone out to his Republican donors, as well as to Fortune 500 companies and billionaire investors who typically avoided electoral politics. Their first opportunity was his second inauguration committee, which would eventually raise $241 million, about $90 million more than organizers needed to fund the events—and nearly four times as much as Joe Biden had raised for his own inauguration, in 2021. But that was just the beginning.
Trump wanted money for the sorts of political operations that many politicians support—the Republican National Committee, his own political action committee, a new dark-money nonprofit group, a super PAC run by longtime advisers. But he was also requesting money for technically apolitical nonprofit causes that offered corporations and wealthy individuals a chance to make tax-deductible contributions, including a dramatic White House renovation, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (now under his control), his presidential library, and a celebratory Army parade on his birthday. By August, Trump estimated that he had collected at least $1.5 billion since the election, more than all the money raised to support his 2024 campaign over two years, including funds raised by supportive independent super PACs. The tally is now approaching $2 billion, two people familiar with the effort—who, like others, were not authorized to speak publicly—told us.
Read: ‘I run the country and the world.’ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/06/trump-second-term
-comeback/682573/
Trump has kept careful track of the money coming in, regularly calling O’Rourke late at night for updates. He monitors who is giving, who is not, and the role of lobbyists who bundle donations, those familiar with his efforts told us. At times, the actual donation amount is less important to the president than the percentage of the donor’s overall assets. He thanks the most generous benefactors at swanky events at the White House and his clubs.
Much of the money has come from people or entities that have business before the government. Defense contractors, cryptocurrency investors, and technology companies have put in tens of millions of dollars as he has deregulated the industry or dropped enforcement proceedings. A select group of companies and executives—Amazon, Lockheed Martin, Coinbase, Palantir CEO Alex Karp—are top donors to multiple Trump projects.
Nothing on this scale was ever attempted by a sitting president prior to Trump. Other recent administrations have faced their own scandals over fundraising efforts. But Trump’s approach—in the extent of the donations he’s soliciting, the secrecy with which some are handled, and the frankness of the exchange of dollars for presidential favor—puts even the most ambitious prior efforts to shame. And he’s just getting started. “He hasn’t stopped,” a third person told us, “and I don’t anticipate that we will stop.”
Trump’s relentless fundraising has alarmed ethics watchdogs who have worked for years to reduce the role of large donations in buying access or protection from government regulation.
“While it is not unusual for lame duck presidents to fundraise for their Libraries, what we are seeing from President Trump in his first year of office is shockingly unprecedented,” Trevor Potter
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Trump, through his private investments, positioned himself to profit from decisions in his role as president
Trump was legally obligated to release the financial disclosures, which show he purchased more than $337 million in corporate and municipal bonds since August.
Trump waged a yearslong conspiracy-driven campaign against former President Joe Biden, accusing him of using the presidency to enrich himself and his family.
The suggestion that the president is staying out of his family’s business affairs has been contradicted by Trump Organization statements to foreign governments and by Eric Trump himself.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/15/trump-buys-82-million-in-bonds-since-l
ate-august.html
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:6ix, you literally are crazy. There is zero possibility of you coming back from your insanity.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Are you aware of who Beavis and Butt-Head are
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by second:
In 2024, only 2 states had all counties vote unanimously - let’s compare
Trump won in all counties in Oklahoma, which is ranked
44th in education
49th in healthcare
44th in quality of life
50th in test scores
The top ten worst poverty
Trump lost in all counties in Massachusetts, which is ranked
1st in education
2nd in healthcare
1st in quality of life
1st in test scores
The top ten least impoverished
Instead of making fun of them, maybe you should have fucking done something for them instead of doing it for everybody else in the world and bringing in rejects by the tens of millions to suppress their wages or just outright displace them from their already shitty jobs.
America hates Democrats.
Good riddance.
Your party is officially dead. Get fucked.
Shut the fuck up, dude.
I'm always right, and you're always wrong.
Look around you. The world you thought you were living in doesn't exist anymore. It never did.
You're finished. Everything you ever wanted will never come true now.
Your party is dead. Globalism is dead. Your ideology is dead. Kevin Drum is dead.
If you hate America so much, I suggest you take your billions and get the fuck out of here.
We hate you too, and there are A LOT more of us than there are of you.
--------------------------------------------------
Be Nice. Don't be a dick.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
That's fine.
I'll just keep being right about everything while you continue being wrong about everything.
You're the idiot here. Everybody knows it.
--------------------------------------------------
Be Nice. Don't be a dick.
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