How stupid is Trump?

McDonalds announces new McFelon Meal...

Flat orange soda, limp fries, and a small pickle.

Military Times: Army ordered to release records on Trump's Arlington cemetery visit


A federal judge has ordered Army officials to release their records by the end of this week regarding President Donald Trump’s controversial visit to Arlington National Cemetery this summer.

Senior Judge Paul Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday granted the release request as part of a lawsuit brought by American Oversight, a non-partisan, nonprofit group dedicated to getting the government to release records.

The group sued for the records to be made public following a Freedom of Information Act request.

“With the election just two weeks away, the American people have a clear and compelling interest in knowing how the government responded to an alleged incident involving a major presidential candidate who has a history of politicizing the military,” Chioma Chukwu, the group’s interim executive director, said in a statement following the order.

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2024/10/22/army-ordered-to-release-records-on-trumps-arlington-cemetery-visit/

Ffs, leave out the personal insults.

Btw, I have not voted you down.

Found this on Bluesky

Awesome in a bad way

Picture of Arnold Palmer with a huge dick.

(cnn)

#Perv45

Brooks and Granderson on why the presidential race is deadlocked in the polls:

"If I may, speaking as a journalist working for a publication that will not endorse someone [Los Angeles Times and the presidential race]. One of the candidates wants to arrest you for doing your job. That is frustrating."
--LZ Granderson, Los Angeles Times opinion columnist.

https://youtu.be/xpI5pG2-x_s?si=YZsVND5ZKGxmMn94

Narcissistic sociopathy (malignant narcissism)

This video defines the concepts of narcissism and sociopathy together, and we can use Trump as a living example of these pathologies.

We have to thank Trump for one thing, and that is making us aware of the pathology of narcissism and sociopathy. That he perfectly epitomizes these two psychological conditions and is such a perfect textbook example gives us an understanding that can't be gained from textbooks alone.

The question is why such a broad expanse of the public feels attracted to a person exhibiting these pathologies so strongly. Trump if nothing else serves as a living laboratory, an example of narcissistic sociopathy. That so many people are attracted to this type of personality and are so easily gaslit points out a problem in our society that is not easily remedied. Does it mean that there is an insufficiency in our spiritual values, our educational system, and our basic credo?

https://youtu.be/FnC38brDeZI?si=8fK0WIXHBh-lTaX_

I would say the fetishisation of free speech has a lot to do with it.

It means lies, falsehoods and propaganda are as important as the truth.

Good point.

"In book 8 of Plato’s Republic, Socrates argues that people are not naturally led to self-governance but rather seek a strong leader to follow. Democracy, by permitting freedom of speech, opens the door for a demagogue to exploit the people’s need for a strongman; the strongman will use this freedom to prey on the people’s resentments and fears."

"Once the strongman seizes power, he will end democracy, replacing it with tyranny. In short, book 8 of The Republic argues that democracy is a self-undermining system whose very ideals lead to its own demise. Fascists have always been well acquainted with this recipe for using democracy’s liberties against itself; Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels once declared, “This will always remain one of the best jokes of democracy, that it gave its deadly enemies the means by which it was destroyed.”

Today is no different from the past. Again, we find the enemies of liberal democracy employing this strategy, pushing the freedom of speech to its limits and ultimately using it to subvert others’ speech."
--Jason Stanley, How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them

I saw photos from the MS Gardens rally.

Not content with stealing Nazi slogans Trump has now started used
an infamous paedophile's slogan.

Jim'(Trump wi)ll fix it.

It's not a fetishisizing of "free speech" so much as it is a conflation with unfettered speech in one direction only.

Meanwhile, in Australia, in a paper not owned by Murdoch....

The bottom half of that is my comment on her headline.

He has no compunction to saying absolutely anything inflammatory or sensationalistic to garner media attention. He cares nothing about promoting his agenda to fear-monger. Any media attention is good as lon as people are mentioning his name. And media plays it by repeating everything that come out of his yap..without factchecking or countering so that readers swallow it. Media has made him reach everyone. People have no ability to sort out and use critical thinking.

"This month, The Economist called the U.S. economy "the envy of the world" amid historic growth, low unemployment, and the lowest inflation of any nation in the G7. The major stock market continue to hit record highs on a near daily basis. Yet Trump and Musk want to replace this prosperity with pain."

Trump Ally Elon Musk Warns of 'Necessary' Economic Collapse if Trump Elected

Elon Musk has offered a sobering preview of Donald Trump’s economic plan for America if he is re-elected, revealing that a period of intentional “temporary hardship” is on the horizon for American households. Rather than cautioning against it, Musk described this hardship as necessary and inevitable, supporting Trump’s blueprint for restructuring the economy by slashing government programs. Musk’s remarks, shared in a Telephone Town Hall organized by his America PAC, indicate that he and Trump see economic pain to average Americans as a necessary cost of their policy goals.

“We have to reduce spending to live within our means. And that necessarily involves some temporary hardship, but it will ensure long-term prosperity,” Musk stated in the call, fully endorsing the strain Trump’s policies would place on Americans. Musk’s words make it clear that the disruption is not an unintended side effect but an accepted—if not desired—outcome. The billionaire went further by responding to an X (formerly Twitter) user who anticipated a market downturn if Trump’s aggressive policies, including mass deportations and extreme deficit cuts, were enacted. The user predicted that with Trump and Musk in charge, the U.S. economy—dependent on debt and vulnerable to asset bubbles—would face a severe reaction before stabilizing under the intended austerity. Musk’s response was a simple acknowledgment: “Sounds about right.”


https://www.facebook.com/share/p/GYhqik8W2dfpjUhW/?mibextid=oFDknk

"This month, The Economist called the U.S. economy "the envy of the world" amid historic growth, low unemployment, and the lowest inflation of any nation in the G7. The major stock market continue to hit record highs on a near daily basis.

But, that's a bad thing?

Elon Musk has offered a sobering preview of Donald Trump’s economic plan for America if he is re-elected, revealing that a period of intentional “temporary hardship” is on the horizon for American households. Trump Ally Elon Musk Warns of 'Necessary' Economic Collapse if Trump Elected

Musk says everyday Americans must embrace the pain if Trump gets back in the Oval Office


"...a necessary economic collapse" For how long. A day? A year? 5 years? Is this a five-year-plan that starts with an economic collapse and restructuring? It sounds like the former Soviet Union with their perpetual 5-year-plans.

Why aren't Trump and Musk forthright about their intentional economic collapse and restructuring of the American economy? Do Trump and Musk get to suffer along with the rest of us Americans as they slash programs?

It isn't down to either of those people at all, which is why they can only advise, rather than manipulate the outcomes.

The BRICS nations are done with the petrodollar, and we're all moving on from crude oil ruling the system. Get used to that.

The recent Saudi(BRICS member) decision to increase in its production to put pressure on the price of a barrel is all the more critical as the global economy faces a period of great uncertainty.
Such an increase in supply quickly led to a drop in oil prices, directly affecting the revenues of other producing countries, notably Russia.
For Moscow, whose oil revenues represent an essential part of the national budget, this new price drop exacerbates the economic difficulties caused by Western sanctions, further reducing its ability to finance its operations in Ukraine.
This move also marks a departure from the current production-cutting policies adopted within OPEC+ and the BRICS (sic!) to maintain both high prices and absolute control over global oil production.