Why Trump Should Let Russia Starve (But Won't)

Russia is nearing three whole years of war with Ukraine. And far from seizing the nation and taking over, it has found itself mired in an endless conflict. It has been able to maintain its economy despite severe sanctions by the U.S. and the rest of the world. But recent signs indicate that this house of cards may soon come toppling down on Vladimir Putin's head.

According to a recent Newsweek article, Russia has drawn a huge budgetary deficit over the last two years trying to defeat Ukraine. Europe has cut off its market for Russian natural gas, forcing Russia's oil industry to discount its supply, hurting overall revenue. High interest rates are threatening to bankrupt multiple Russian industries, and various oligarchs have fled abroad, hiding their investment interests in places where Putin can't get at them.

In short, Russia's economy is on the verge of collapse.

The timing could not possibly be worse. Had Kamala Harris won, Ukraine might actually emerge from this war the victor, taking back stolen lands after the inevitable collapse of Kremlin control. But that outcome is not going to happen. Instead, Putin's lapdog, Donald Trump, is about to resume his role as U.S. president. That might give Putin a chance, if Trump were to use his influence to swiftly bring the Ukraine war to a close.

Which is a shame. What Trump should do, or indeed any U.S. president should do, is let Russia fucking starve!

We have enough dictators in the world as it is. Unfortunately, Trump wants to become one of them. But if he were to let Russia's government fall that would be at least one less dictator. In fact, Trump might even be able to wield huge influence in Russia, possibly even bringing about a new democracy.

Nah, I don't buy that one, either.

What Trump will most likely do is go all-in for Putin. He will either let Russia keep what lands it has taken from Ukraine, or find a way to wipe out Ukraine outright, and he will do it as quickly as possible. He will do everything he can to restore and maintain Putin's power.

And then the U.S. and Russia will be joint allies in mutual dictatorship.

What a missed golden opportunity for positive change! If only Americans weren't driven insane by the unchecked, criminally-lying, Right-Wing Media Machine. If only Obama had restored the Fairness Doctrine when he had the chance. If only Americans gave two rat-shits about the truth.

If... if... if...

It's truly tortuous, being one of the few people who knows what's going on, and being powerless to stop it, outside of venting on this little blog. (I mean, the blog now averages over 1,000 views every week, which is a bit better than having no voice at all, but its still not enough. People would still rather listen to Tucker-idiot-Carlson than me.)

It was recently pointed out to me that Trump will be sworn in on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

No. Fucking really! On MLK Day!

Instead of the first black, woman president, instead of a fallen Russia and a new democracy there, instead of a victorious Ukraine and curtailed Israel, the misled American people actually chose to put a bluntly racist asshole in the Oval Office. On MLK Day!

Hold on to your butts, people. It's going to be a bumpy ride.

Eric

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"They Want An Open Border!"

"Liberals want open borders!"

Ever hear that one? Even from within a well-insulated, left-wing social media bubble, people have heard this claim reverberating its way through the right-wing echo chamber and into the legacy media. It's repeated constantly within the Right-Wing Media Machine, and never questioned.

But when have we liberals ever actually said this?

I've scoured all my favorite liberal media outlets for this one, and I've never heard a single liberal argue in favor of open borders. Not one. Oh, we've argued for compassion towards refugees, that's true. We've made the case for asylum-seekers. We've quoted the Emma Lazarus poem on the Statue of Liberty multiple times. But we've never argued for an "open border."

And we've certainly not done this through our actions politically. Barack Obama had some harsh words regarding illegal immigration in 2005, and he circumvented a do-nothing congress in order to crack down on illegal immigration. A Republican-led do-nothing congress, I hasten to remind you. The REPUBLICANS were the ones who wanted an open border. So they could campaign on it!

Almost the same thing happened again in 2024, when Biden and the Democrats had a bi-partisan deal with Republicans to secure the U.S. border in exchange for aid to Ukraine. As you should recall, Donald Trump derailed that agreement. HE wanted an open border. So he could campaign on it!

So why, with all these Republicans deliberately and maliciously keeping the border open is the Right-Wing Media Machine repeating the lie that Democrats and liberals are the ones who want an open border?

Put simply, because they know that disinformation reigns supreme right now. There simply is no solid commitment from the general public towards the truth, nor is there any semblance of responsibility on the part of media to report only the truth. There is no North Star for people to navigate by, and zero accountability for liars and deceivers. All that matters is more clicks; more follows; more retweets; going viral. The truth is ancillary to all that.

And Mark Zuckerberg just decided that even more disinformation will help improve Facebook. Fuck you too, dumbass.

Anybody else find it odd that the same ones claiming that liberals want an open border are also complaining about how childless many liberals are? One of the crazier memes of the 2024 presidential campaign was aimed at "childless cat ladies." And more than once, J.D. Vance said that parents should have more of a voice in government than non-parents. And, of course, Republicans made it their business to force pregnancy upon rape victims by outlawing abortion.

Are we full up in this country or not? Pick a lane!

It's sometimes hard to believe that this is the same Republican party that once so strongly criticized "welfare mothers" (a dog-whistle for unmarried black women on welfare) for being a drain on society. Then again, it's always been the right-wing policy to have more children, provided those children are 1) white and 2) Christian.

When Trump does his promised deportations, you can rest assured that none of the deportees will be white people from Europe.

So every time you hear some crazy Trumpist nutball saying, "liberals want an open border," just remember that person is full of shit.

Just like the rest of the unfettered Right-Wing Media Machine.

Eric

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Why Trump Really Wants Panama & Greenland

At first it sounds like a joke. Trump wants to take over the Panama Canal. And buy up Greenland. And make Canada the "51st State."

Now, the Canada crack is probably just Trump blowing his usual smoke. Also, he loves teasing Justin Trudeau, whom Melania has obviously had a crush on, even now. (See the above infamous image from 2019.) If the conservative candidate in Canada, Pierre Poilievre, wins election (as appears likely), Trump will likely work with him and not try to subvert Canada at all. But the Greenland and Panama plans are probably quite real. Trump has indicated so by sending Don, Jr. to Greenland to scope the place out. He indicated so again in yesterday's bizarroland press conference. That means he's not just saying dumb shit he doesn't really mean when it comes to Greenland and Panama. He's fucking serious!

Here are the likely reasons why:

Trump has real estate holdings in Panama, and it's been quite clear that he's been using them as a tax dodge and/or a money laundering scheme for foreign investments. Since this involves a sovereign nation other than the United States, there's a good chance that any investigations by the Panamanian government could reveal yet more corruption by Trump and his family, and Trump is powerless to stop it. Legally, anyway. (You may recall, back in 2017, that Ivanka Trump was caught up in the news story about Trump's tower in Panama, and the sour business dealings the Trump family had with Alexandre Noguiera.) By now, it is quite obvious, as a Newsweek article recently pointed out, that Trump has been cheating Panama out of tax revenue, probably totaling in the millions. He has also likely been using his Panamanian holdings for other nefarious activities, and it would surprise no one if Russian money were involved, like it similarly was with a Trump tower built in Toronto.

If he finds a good enough bullshit excuse to stage an invasion and takeover of Panama, all those legal problems go away, along with his debts.

That's the obvious case. What about Greenland?

News outlets have pointed out the numerous strategic advantages for the U.S. regarding Greenland. But those strategic advantages only apply to traffic going into and out of the North Sea region, including the Norwegian and Baltic seas. That means NATO countries and, of course, Russia. If Trump keeps siding with Putin, what's the point of holding Greenland?

The point could be Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. There are rumblings that Russia may be targeting them next. When the war with Ukraine ends, even with Russia only keeping its eastern holdings in the region, the Baltic countries could be targeted next. And with Trump-controlled U.S. forces controlling Greenland, it will be difficult to get European aid to those countries.

But all that's just military strategy. There's another big reason Trump might want Greenland - oil! With the realities of global warming causing Greenland's ice-sheets to retreat, hundreds of square miles of land mass have been exposed, and geologists know there's lots of oil to be exploited under there. Trump sees an opportunity to seize the island territory and then take in huge bribes from any and all oil companies willing to open a drilling site. It could mean billions for him.

And as president, he will have immunity for it all.

What irony! That the very global warming caused by fossil fuels has led to the opportunity for even more exploitation of fossil fuels! I mean, one could take the lesson that, if Greenland's ice sheets are disappearing, maybe that means global warming is real and we need to curtail our addiction to oil now!

But nah, that would make too much sense!

Of course, this is all speculation. But it's speculation founded on well-documented evidence.

We the People, misled by the Right-Wing Media Machine, threw our democracy away for a dictator. Now that dictator wishes to be a conqueror, too.

If he succeeds with Panama and Greenland, where will he turn next? (Don't think it won't be you, California!)

Eric

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Jan 6th Is "Moron's Day"

Well, it's January 6th. Four years ago to the day when Trump ruled himself out of contention for the presidency by giving aid and comfort to a mob who staged an insurrection.

For a few glorious days after that sad event, sanity reigned in Washington. Even Trump toadies like Mitch McConnell condemned the attack.

But then, you could just feel the Right-Wing Media Machine reasserting itself. It pushed against the obviousness of the situation, until, one by one, the Republicans who condemned the attack slowly were drawn back in by the irrational shrieks of their mislead constituents.

The wool was slowly pulled back over Republican eyes.

Since then, it denying that January 6th was even an attack has become a central tenet of MAGA delusion. Once again, the institutionalized disinformation rendered the democratic process impossible.

I ran into a sea-lion troll on BlueSky the other day. That platform is blessedly free of trolls, but when I commented on a friend's post that "Democracy dies in darkness, and it's pitch black out there right now," this troll actually dared engage me. He even asked if I was "okay." When I pointed out to him that right-wing media consistently misled the public, thus undermining the democratic process, he actually demanded proof.

PROOF?!

This is exactly like someone saying, "Prove to me it's raining!" while standing next to a window where one can clearly see the rain coming down! Naturally I simply blocked this troll after this. If this person cannot see what's right in front of his eyes, there's no point talking to him.

But this is exactly the kind of willfull blindness that has driven half our country completely insane. It's so prevalent, that literally the worst human on the planet, one Donald J. Trump, was returned to the White House after pulling off the January 6th stunt. It is as embarrassingly obvious as it is embarrassingly stupid. And now this embarrassment of the Right-Wing Media Machine, is currently hanging outside its zipper, tiny, pink, and shriveled, for all the world to see.

Right now, we fear Trump as a dictator. But the truth is that the Right-Wing Media Machine already has dictatorial power, and has had it for many, many years now.

THIS. MUST. END!

From now on, I propose that January 6th be remembered, not as the day in which insurrection occurred, but as the day when dumbfuckery actually dared to blind the public, and succeeded. We are now too collectively too stupid to even think our way out of this, the wettest of wet paper bags.

January 6th is officially "Moron's Day."

Eric

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The Secret Reason Dems Are Losing

Big kudos to Adam Conover, of Adam Ruins Everything, for giving me this seed idea. If you want to see the video that inspired this post go to his YouTube video.

There is a deep, deep reason why Democrats lost this last election, even to a gargantuan loser like Donald Trump, who is so unbelievably ruled out it isn't even funny. No, it's not because Democrats didn't pitch enough to the working class (although that was a factor). No, it's not because Kamala didn't pay enough attention to central social media cogs such as the Joe Rogan Experience (though I'm sure that was also responsible for a percentage). No, it's not because Democrats didn't prosecute the 14th Amendment two whole years ago (though that's a HUGE factor which I will never forgive them for).

No, it's because Democrats, like all political organizations, have abandoned the central communities which used to be the backbone of political engagement.

Time once was that being politically involved meant participating in a local chapter or group. You would attend some spaghetti dinner, maybe with free beer, and engage with the actual process of having your voice heard. But those days are long gone. In their place is a network of donations, donations, donations. And nobody seems to give a rat's ass about your opinion, except as far as your checkbook and $27 dollar donation goes.

By way of example, Adam Conover points to his local Democratic Party website. There's donation buttons everywhere. And in the one, small area where there isn't a donation button, there's... oh, yeah, another donation link.

Contrast this with the NRA's website, which has multiple local engagement events. If you want to participate in your local right-wing event, there are actual areas where your voice can be heard. In person.

Not so the Democratic Party.

Now, part of this is due to the logistics involved with the whole political process. Local events are logistically difficult, while online donations are relatively easy. It's tempting for a political party to get sucked in to the vortex of "donate, donate, donate," at the expense of actual engagement at ground level, where bake sales and pot luck dinners used to reign supreme. It's also easier to send thousands of spam emails than it is to actually have a community event.

There are more social organizations besides the NRA providing social cohesion. Churches, more than any other groups, are providing the kind of social cohesion which Unions' dinners used to (often in direct violation of the Johnson Amendment). They've always had a social circle, and that's always been one of their strongest secret weapons. People want to belong! They want to be part of something greater. And if all Democrats have for this is "donate! donate! donate!" it's no wonder that so many chose to abandon the Democratic cause, even at the expense of our entire fucking Democracy! (Yes, I'll blame you, dumbass centrist voter, even as I explain why you were so stupid.)

It's also small wonder that a robust "ground game," as traditional politicos call it, matters little, anymore. If one can't belong to a social circle of like-minded thinkers, why should they give a goddamn about some pimple-faced fool who knocks on their door "canvassing," as if that weren't an old vestige of selling Kirby fucking vacuum cleaners?!

Well, that's the bad news. The good news, is that there's new, ground-level organizations which are taking the place of the old spaghetti dinners which used to make the Union-Organizers and Democratic-Party chapter so formidable. (And here is where I radically depart from Adam Conover's wonderful rant.) For example (and I'll brag a little bit, here) Atheist organizations are helping to fill the void. This past December's Solstice Celebration meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we had more engagement (and more food!) than at any other time in the history of SWiFT (the Southeastern Wisconsin Freethinkers, check us out!). Where Churches used to reign supreme, secular organizations are now beginning to assert themselves.

People want to belong. And if they can't stand hymns, they will find something else more fitting.

It's a heady time for non-Christian alternatives. People were already wondering if Churches were all but dead 75 years ago. (I know, because the Wisconsin Historical Society possesses the old articles suggesting so from that era!) The replacements for religious stupidity are already in place. And, yes, so too are the replacements for Democratic Party engagement which they have (for stupid, if understandable reasons) abandoned.

Maybe you're irreligious. Maybe not. But whichever you are, you should ask yourself, "What can I do to re-engage people at the community level?"

Because that will matter more in the long run than anything else.

Eric

**

Institutionalized Disinformation

Two words: Institutionalized disinformation.

I've used these two words before, pointing out that this is why Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election. The disinformation was institutionalized. And when that happens, it's an extremely difficult thing to debunk, because people reason (incorrectly) that the huge infrastructure around the lie simply wouldn't exist if it weren't true.

Except, of course it would.

Need proof? A Guardian-Harris poll conducted last May, and again last September, showed just how bad the general public was being misled when it came to the economy. 

49% of respondents said they believe the U.S. economy is in a recession. (It's not.)

Nearly two-thirds (61%) said they believe inflation is increasing, when in fact it has fallen. (It was down to 2.1% right before the election!)

Nearly three-quarters (73%) said they didn’t feel any positive effects of the good economic news being reported.

Most strikingly, 51% of respondents said they believed that unemployment was at an all-time high. In fact, unemployment is at the lowest point it's been in over 54 years! (3.4%)

In other words, people really did believe up is down, black is white, and day is night when it came to the economy.

Were grocery prices still a bit high? Yeah, that part was true. It's what made all the other lies more believable. But prices take awhile to come down. And usually don't overall. Wage increases are required to offset the higher prices. Biden was already starting to make that happen.

Until the fake bill of goods, sold to the American people through a vast, lying, Right-Wing Media Machine, convinced a large number that the sunny skies outside their window was an illusion; that the silver lining in the cloud was actually a dark lining; that everything had actually gone to shit; that Biden was to blame for it all.

That's the power of institutionalized disinformation.

We see examples of institutionalized bullshit everywhere, from vaccine denial to the claim that the Sandy Hook massacre was staged. In religion, we especially see institutionalized disinformation, particularly among Mormons. (And if you happen to be Mormon, I don't care, and I don't apologize. Your beliefs are crap, wake up.)

Institutionalized disinformation is our #1 enemy. And if we ever get a chance to defeat it by rule of law, requiring anything labeling itself "news" to be absolutely objective, that is our #1 priority.

But we might not even get that shot. And if we do, you can bet that any attempt to defeat institutionalized disinformation will be strongly countered by the Right-Wing Media Machine.

Can we slay this dragon if we actually get one chance to strike a blow? I don't know.

All I know is, we'd better all have our minds made up to accomplish this one, all-important thing.

Eric

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Dentistry Is Our Right, Too

Here's a weird news story that probably escaped your notice, what with all the Luigi Mangione news coverage drowning everything out. A couple of weeks ago, a 70-year-old New York woman got caught practicing dentistry in her apartment kitchen in Long Island. The woman, Gladys Serrano, did apparently have some sort of a degree in dentistry from El Salvador, but her conditions were cramped and unsanitary. She was not certified to practice dentistry in the U.S.

This shouldn't really be surprising. Yes, some people turn to backwater dentists because they're undocumented and fear exposure, but more commonly, people simply can't afford dentistry anymore. People are so desperate for dental services they'll turn to anything. Sure, certain dental colleges take in patients for free in order to gain training and experience, but there's always a long waiting list. Tooth pain, more than anything else, will drive someone to absolute madness. They will seek help literally anywhere, even some little old Latina living in a shoebox flat in Hempstead.

Perhaps that's why a similar case cropped up in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, where a young woman was caught practicing dentistry without a license after someone noticed the posts she made on social media, advertising her business. She turned herself in.

Or then there's the case of a woman in my home city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who was caught doing the same thing. According to the state's dental association, this sort of thing is rare, but how rare could it really be when three cases of it crop up within months of each other?

Bootleg dentistry is apparently a booming underground business, and that's made possible because official dentistry has been priced out of the market, and has been for a long time. A simple tooth extraction could cost thousands, and for people caught between being able to afford rent or groceries this month, relieving the pain caused by a cavity is out of the question. So they suffer abscesses which lead to heart disease and other complications which will likely cost them much more money down the road than it would have if they could only have gotten preventive care in the first place. If they manage to live that long, that is.

Either that, or they turn to some old church-lady who pulls teeth when she's not attending the bead-and-button show. I hear she cuts hair, too.

It's expensive to be poor.

Had Mangione shot a dentist, we might all be paying closer attention to this. But oddly, dentistry is considered adjunct to healthcare. This dates back to the dark days when dentistry was practiced by, of all people, barbers. (No kidding! Look it up. This is why a barber's pole has a red stripe spiraling down it. To symbolize the red blood of a tooth extraction!) As such our backwards medical system regards dentists and opticians as separate categories from health care, accessories even, as though they had nothing to do with one another.

People have a right not to suffer tooth pain in agony while working a dead-end job. They have a right to be able to see clearly too, for that matter. (Though it seems myopia is more an ailment of the affluent, these days, doesn't it?) If we ought to be in full revolt over access to healthcare, how much more should we rebel against a system that wants to inflict us with severe mouth pain, day after day, month after month, year after year?

The wealthiest man on earth recently threw a large stone into the gears of the U.S. Government, just to keep a few billion more in his pocket.

It seems a shame we can't do the same thing when it comes to matters of our own extreme suffering, even of life & death.

Eric

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