What a vile person George Clooney is. In a recent interview he asserted that Trump’s election in 2016 was largely attributable to having a “black man” as president for eight years prior.
Vile, arrogant, stupid.
Time to ban “artificial light” – ‘light pollution’ is destroying our night skies, causing sleep disorders, disorienting birds, etc.! 😉 Looks like more rules ‘n laws are needed…maybe a Capital Crime for an entire family if light can be seen inside a home from the outside at night.
hes a middling actor, who would be stuck in attack of the killer tomatoes twelve if it wasn’t for epstein, similar with pitt, damon, perhaps has a little more range, as I say, did that cake delivery to Lake Como seem bitter, he could play a minor conman with tarantino, but thats about his range, the low rate thief, in the oceans series, of course he helped deep six his wife’s career with the ICC, but as a atty who will defend terrorists, she will probably move on,
the coen brothers had him pegged in hail caesar, probably the katzenberg action piece the peacemaker was most amusing
With all the news relating to the hostages, this has slipped under the radar. Trump’s media company, in partnership with Rumble, sue Brazilian supreme court justice alexander moraes. This is the same justice that pressured musk to censor accounts of political opponents on X. In retaliation for Musk’s refusal to do so, he froze the assets of the brazilian branch of Starlink.
furthermore the hanging judge moraes who had imprisoned lula before in the car wash scheme, seems to have glommed on to a sleazy michael cohen type, mauricio cid, who offered a scalp against bolsonaro, in this ridiculous J6 type montage in order to save his skin,
the length they will go to deepsix populist figures, which suggest William Roper’s advice was wrong to Thomas More was wong
the screenplay for the peacemaker which involved rogue Russian military handing a nuke to Yugoslav militant was written by lesley cockburn, part of a duo of leftists, that spread conspiracy theories in the 80s, that were out of the Dezinforma handbook
the CIA Cocaine caper, having totally gotten the La Penca incident wrong,
she ultimately rang for congress, but lost out to a Rep who went all Orange Man bad, with the J6 tableau
trying to race swalwell as the dumbest congressman
Light pollution is a very sad and seemingly intractable problem.
“It’s Aug. 1. Third Army has been activated and you are going full blast to the Rhine River and you’re not going to stop. Remember what [Gen. George] Patton said, “Audacity—l’audace, toujours l’audace, l’audace—audacity,” Always audacity, more audacity; encore l’audace. And you cannot stop, you’ve got them completely in disarray. They’re floundering. They’re screaming. And then other people can follow up, like Marco Rubio did, in brilliant fashion, in Panama.
So, Donald Trump is a shock corp. He is the 3rd Armored Division, that’s got the enemy completely disorganized. And then behind him comes the infantry and they consolidate and institutionalize the accords that he’s made. So, the next group of people will go down to Mexico and they’ll get things institutionalized. They’ll go to Panama. They’ll talk to Denmark. They’ll do the mechanics of getting aid. But Donald Trump’s the tip of the spear. And the more audacious, the more ambitious and the more rapidly—in this brief window of four years—he can dismantle this administrative state and bring us back to common sense, the less opposition. They are trying to suggest to you, if you’ll slow down—we’re going to make him slow down and we’re organizing against him. They’re not organizing. They’re completely in disarray and they’re doing exactly what they should not do if they want to climb back from 31% up to 50[%] or 60% approval, the Democratic Party.
So, my advice to Donald Trump is pedal to the metal. Audacity, audacity, audacity. And keep on going.” — Victor Davis Hanson
• Have read VDH for decades, and often find very little daylight between his perspective and mine.
• Especially his thoughts about the threats we face – USA, western civilization – and how what I call “Boomerism” is a large part of the root cause.
• I’ll add that VDH has not always written about Trump in a favorable perspective – evaluated him using same In-The-Box standards many were using – but it appears that the proverbial light-came-on for him.
One solution is to turn off the electricity. I was in NYC in during the 1965 NE blackout. It was amazing, suddenly the moon and stars became visible. The only thing comparable was during the taxi strike, when the air cleared.
Go to Wyoming for the star experience, lying in your sleeping bag you can stare up into the starry heavens, it is stunning.
Re VDH: I’ll add that a lot of us were very skeptical of Trump, especially pre 2016 but also after. Personally, during his first term I felt he was often his own worst enemy at times. He was naive, untested and he didn’t exactly have a “mandate” since he didn’t win the popular vote. During his first term he had the Legacy Media and the entire Deep State monstrosity working against him. He didn’t truly understand his enemies and how they operated. He wasn’t familiar with the workings of the system and relied on others to make recommendations for his cabinet and other appointments. As a result, he unknowingly surrounded himself with turncoats who undermined him at every turn, whether by leaking to the press or ignoring his wishes while actively working against him behind the scenes. Being a non politician, he would often make it very easy for them to attack him by being brash with his language rather than careful and calculating.
Then he lost congress in 2018 and ultimately ended up getting partially impeached on the whispiest of premises as a result. Then Covid hit and he once again had to rely on the recommendations of so called experts, many of whom we now know were at least partially responsible for the outbreak to begin with. All the anxiety about the pandemic that was fueled by the Legacy Media and these same experts ultimately lead to him being defenestrated from office 2020 in a deeply questionable election.
He then (I feel unwisely) encouraged a peaceful protest on January 6th, 2021 that was almost certainly infiltrated by various Deep State agent provocateurs along with a few well intentioned fools and bad actors.
After infamous red trickle midterms of 2022, I and others lost heart about his chances of winning in 2024. Many of us gave in to despair, feeling that the Democrat-election stealing machine had become insurmountable. And I haven’t even yet taked about all the shameless Lawfare and assassination attempts, which likely ended up helping his chances far more than hurting them.
But these days it seems as if Trump has indeed learned and adapted from all his past assumptions and mistakes. He now knows his enemy.
there is a certain learning curve, some of the GOPe were taken in by the Steele subterfuge, you can count on one hand, who in the leadership, wasn’t taken in, they were so busy feathering their nests, focusing on pork projects rather than the wall, building the skeleton of the dezinforma network, ignoring the statutory authority in the immigration pause, Corker Bennett and Flake, one of these was suspected of being Woodwards source, was followed by Romney, Portman, and some third member, of obstruction, so they let Pelosi take back the House, then came the Impeachment subterfuge that we now know was subsidized and promoted by AID, then you have the rube goldberg regarding Covid and the Wuhan lab, certain consent decrees, that the likes of Kemp and Ducey entered into, the early case of the ballot avalanche with Arpiao, in Maricopa,
Rest assured, he’s made a list and checked it twice.
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will meet in Moscow on May 9 for the commemorations of the end of the Second World War.
For Vladimir Putin, May 9 is the most important day of the year. It is the day of victory in the Great Patriotic War. This war allows him to affirm that the whole world owes almost everything to the USSR, therefore to Russia, which can therefore return to the world after Yalta, when Moscow had kidnapped Eastern Europe.
But on May 9, according to our sources, there should be a major guest in the Moscow stands: Donald Trump, alongside Vladimir Putin.
On May 9, 2025, what victory would Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump celebrate? Less that of the Allies of 1945 than their common one in the peace negotiations on Ukraine, which the Kellog Plan predicts will end on… May 9. If all goes well for them, for their common plan, May 9, 2025 will mark their triumph, the triumph above all of Putin, who will thus see his initial comparison of Ukraine with the Nazis corroborated and endorsed. Let us never forget this argument about “Nazi Ukraine” which had justified in Putin’s eyes his outbreak of war. Thus, according to him, 80 years after having triumphed over the Nazis, we triumph over other Nazis!
Here is another Ukraine post from Powerline. This one covers an exchange between JD Vance and Niall Ferguson. Two smart guys, I think.
“I’ll add that a lot of us were very skeptical of Trump, especially pre 2016 but also after. Personally, during his first term I felt he was often his own worst enemy at times. He was naive, untested and he didn’t exactly have a “mandate” since he didn’t win the popular vote. During his first term he had the Legacy Media and the entire Deep State monstrosity working against him. He didn’t truly understand his enemies and how they operated. He wasn’t familiar with the workings of the system and relied on others to make recommendations for his cabinet and other appointments. Then he lost congress in 2018 … After infamous red trickle midterms of 2022, I and others lost heart about his chances of winning in 2024.”
Two economists were debating which is better: Capitalism or Communism. The American economist was pro Capitalism. The French economist was pro Communism. Time and again the American economist was able to easily refute the French economist’ points by using data, logic, and examples of successful results. Finally, the French economist blurted out in great exasperation: Yes, Capitalism is successful in practice; but in theory it is a disaster.“
• Jim: What is the difference between these two statements?
• Pam: They are the same – in theory Trump was a disaster, but in practice he was very successful (see 2017-2020: 1st term results, 2020: most votes for a Republican candidate in history & most votes for an incumbent President in history).
*****
• 2018: In the last 20 mid-term elections, the party in the WH has lost seats in the House 20 times (100%) and seats in the Senate 13 times (65%); only 6 Presidents – including Trump – have seen seats gained in the Senate.
• 2022: Trump not in office & SC overturned Roe v. Wade.
• 2024: Trump beat his record for most votes for a Republican candidate in history, and became only the second candidate in history to win non-consecutive terms.
So the IDF, and the request of the father, now says those two little boys were killed by hand and then mutilated. I’m with Trump at this point after all those “poor Gazans” cheered as the two boys caskets were paraded in the streets: Level the place and everyone in it.
A modest suggestion for the problem of light pollution:
North Korea is so desperate for foreign exchange that they’re sending cannon fodder to fight for an army infamous for cannon fodder. Lets give the the poor North Koreans a foreign exchange alternative: dark night resorts. Look at a satellite image of the Korean peninsula. North Korea is black as … night. Customers will come from all over Asia, not just South Korea.
For Europeans and Americans, we can start dark night resorts in Trump world’s Greenland. No more need for Danish welfare payments. The locals can become independent and get rich off the dark.
Postmodern tourism to the rescue.
For those of you who may not know, Niall Ferguson is the husband of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the anti-islamist activist who is bashed by global left for maintaining that all cultures are not of equal worth.
of course guess who the fishwrap press think are the real victims, if you could wrap up fish digitally,
In the 1990’s I lived in Carmel by the Sea for several years. The town has a number of quirks: No street address numbers, trees in the middle of streets, and a mandate of no street lights.
Walking the non-commercial streets on a moonless night, it could be very dark. Most of the Monterey peninsula population lives on the opposite side of a moderately tall ridge line, blocking much of that light.
Where is Trump coming up with numbers like US has given Ukraine $350-Billion of equipment & aid – like Zelensky only has 4% support amongst Ukrainians. Here another interesting number:
So where did Trump even get this ‘$500 billion’ estimate?!
The short answer: Nobody knows.
Blas concluded that the president’s numbers do not add up:
Say that Ukraine was able, as if by magic, to produce 20 percent of the world’s rare earths. That would equal to about $3 billion annually. To reach the $500 billion mooted by Trump, the U.S. would need to secure 150-plus years of Ukrainian output. Pure nonsense.
In fact, Ukraine has no significant rare-earth deposits other than small scandium mines, explained Blas. The U.S. Geological Survey doesn’t even list the country as holding any rare earths. In other words, Washington’s estimate likely includes critical materials like titanium, lithium, graphite, and other raw materials. However, this expanded scope still doesn’t get a U.S.-Ukraine deal to Trump’s $500-billion valuation, raising two possibilities: either America’s president has access to information unknown to experts, or he is relying on bad information.
J D Vance’s attacks on Niall Ferguson is another recent “own goal” in the Tucker Carlson school of populist diplomacy.
J D should use his brain and not his emotions. Just because FJB f’ed up Ukraine doesn’t mean the current administration should f’ over Ukraine to the benefit Vladdy.
Not a good path to take.
Has the Firing started?
‘On December 9, 2024, president-elect Donald Trump named Vitello as his nominee for director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
I watch for signs – that firing/reassignment may be a prelude of Trump reverting to his old chaotic ways. Noting this because of Trump and his Administration’s questionable Foreign policy openings.
Great prep ‘n beginning. Excellent few weeks opening…then the Trump ‘n Putin private talks. Now almost an eerie silence with a Russia/USA thumping sound in the background.
It’ll will probably happen quickly—either way—guess we shall see…
Something that’s been mentioned before, but the reconciliation deal, DOGE and potential budget cuts could create a potential for an economic downturn.
The dilemma for the Trump administration is the slush funding/massive government spending which produced with $2 trillion deficits is money fueling the ‘great’ economy to some extent, built on the chimera of government deficit spending.
Even if it’s mis-spending/funding leftist organizations, funding bridges to nowhere, it is spending in the economy.
The Trump administration is trying to uncover/eliminate the spending and bloated bureaucracy, but it is going to have an effect on the economy until the private sector expansion and lower energy costs kicks in.
Trump’s efforts to expand real economic growth through the private sector by increasing manufacturing/jobs will take time.
Adding to the drag is the potential that bond holders may not be eager to buy newly issued government debt securities without seeing the government is serious about reigning in the current account deficit. That could result in even higher interest payments that will make it more difficult to reduce the deficit.
Karmi, I was about to post that excellent Stephen Miller link when I noticed you beat me to it in yesterday’s open thread. Miller’s lesson was discussed this afternoon on the Will Cain show with Ari Fleischer. After interviewing Fleischer, Fox went to Trump’s introduction of the new commerce, or was it labor secretary, which I did not watch. I came back about 20 mins later and Fox’s bottom of the screen was saying that Trump was not going to Russia on May 9. Don’t know if your source above was wrong or if Trump changed his mind.
Karmi, the real reason Zelensky doesn’t want to do a deal with the US, is they’re already working on a deal with Black Rock and it will be easier to skim money from them than the US government.
Have been seeing brief snippets and quite a bit of chatter on Trump going there for May 9 Russian Victory stuff.
Then news seems to have broken today…quite a bit.
If Fox is correct – then maybe someone finally told Trump he was being played for an idiot, and he changed his mind. I’ll wait and see either way…
Karmi;
Or maybe you should desist from posting sketchy rumors with claims like “But on May 9, according to our sources, there should be a major guest in the Moscow stands: Donald Trump, alongside Vladimir Putin.” According to their sources – what sources? And why “should be” rather than “will be”?
Bio of the author: “François-Guillaume Lorrain is a journalist and writer. Graduate of the Ecole Normale, lecturer in literature, he is the author of ten novels and non-fiction works. In 2019 he was awarded the Contemporary History Book Prize.”
That link you posted was apparently the sole source for the story you decided was so important it had to be aired in the comments here.
neo
According to Steve, FOX said Trump was not going, and I saw numerous other articles on Trump going to Moscow for that Victory Russian stuff today.
French newspaper Le Point reported that Mr. Trump is “most likely to visit” Moscow and meet with Mr. Putin on May 9. The two leaders would “celebrate a shared victory” arising from peace negotiations to end Russia’s war against Ukraine, the newspaper reported.
Other European newspapers quickly picked up the report, saying that Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin during their Feb. 12 phone call agreed on mutual visits. The Financial Times reported that the U.S. and Russia are aiming to achieve a ceasefire between April 20 and May 9.
So that Le Point story appears to have been the original story. It’s also the link you had posted in your comment. That Le Point story gave no sources whatsoever – I quoted what it said, which was merely “according to our sources.” Not even “according to official sources.” Nothing whatsoever about the sources. And then apparently all the other stories had “picked up the report” from Le Point.
That seems to be the whole thing. It’s not that I can’t find other stories. It’s that there seem to be no other sources than the original story, which had completely amorphous sources (in other words, no reliable sources at all).
I think it’s important to look at things like that before spreading rumors. At present, the story rests on nothing. Also, Trump has denied the story. But – at least from what we know at the moment – it doesn’t seem to have been true in the first place. That’s not even unusual, unfortunately.
neo
There has been talk of this for a least a week. Maybe look at newer sources…
Karmi:
My link in the above post was from today. The post from Le Point – the one you posted a translation of – was also datelined today.
The first story had essentially no sources. The other papers picked it up without any additional sources. It’s been denied. What more do you want?
All the stories that say Trump was planning to come are datelined today. Every single one that I see. However, there’s a story from about a week ago that Putin had invited Trump. Perhaps you’re thinking of this or perhaps this sort of thing. An invitation is not an acceptance.
By the way, if you want to do a search for stories on certain dates or range of dates, you can do that on Google by using “tools” and then the drop-down menu on “any time” and then fill in “custom dates.”
neo
You need to update your sources to include foreign countries that Google might not show. The Le Point story was not new for me…just the first I saw that was easily found. Didn’t post the earlier info because I was waiting for it to hit western news.
I suspect more on it now…
UPDATE: neo – On your “Will trump lift sanctions on Russia” post – St dude @ 9:16 pm
Neo, your last part, i.e. JD Vance’s talk with WSJ was proved as a fake news. JD already pointed out in X that WSJ twisted his words.
News can change…sources and report can be wrong…some can be “fake news”…etcetera. What did Vance actually say? Was WSJ right or was X or was Vance lying on X to cover up what he had said?
Have ran some AI searches, but will stick w/ Grok since it uses X posts – Did JD Vance say: “The U.S. could use “economic tools of leverage” and “of course military tools of leverage” if Russia does not agree to a good peace deal with Ukraine”:
Yes, JD Vance did say that the U.S. could use “economic tools of leverage” and “of course military tools of leverage” if Russia does not agree to a good peace deal with Ukraine. This statement comes from an interview with The Wall Street Journal published on February 14, 2025, where Vance discussed potential U.S. options to pressure Russia into negotiating a peace deal that ensures Ukraine’s long-term independence. Specifically, he stated, “There are economic tools of leverage, there are of course military tools of leverage,” as part of a broader conversation about the range of options available to the U.S. under President Trump’s approach to the Ukraine-Russia conflict. This phrasing aligns closely with the quote you provided, confirming that he made such a statement.
So, maybe X hasn’t even caught up with its own posts.
Anyway, looks like Trump isn’t going to Moscow on May 9…if that remains true.
Re: Tom Hanks / SNL 50th anniversary
I admit I don’t watch SNL anymore, but I did catch the latest clip of Tom Hanks reprising his “Black Jeopardy” role as a denim-clad, working-class, racist in a red MAGA hat, speaking out that America would be better place if more people went to church, yet repeatedly shrinking away from shaking hands with the black Jeopardy host.
I like Tom Hanks but I was certainly annoyed by his ignorant, malign stereotype of MAGA supporters. I’ll never see Hanks the same way again.
Although a few conservative pundits — Jim Treacher and Ed Driscoll — played the let’s-not-get-upset card, I’d guess most conservatives are as annoyed as I am, if not more so.
The backlash has reached Hanks, who has turned comments off on his Instagram account and issued a non-apology along with some blather about how it’s unamerican not to take a joke and it is MAGA supporters who are being divisive.
Naturally, Robert DeNiro jumped in to defend Hanks then rant per usual on how immature and stupid Trump and his supporters are.
Keep on digging that hole, guys!
Karmi:
You really, really should start checking things out better.
I’ll just repeat hear my response to “St dude” in that sanctions thread.
St dude:
No, what I quoted was not “fake news.” Vance did in fact say that the WSJ had “twisted” his words in the interview. I believe he was talking about the indendiary headline, which I didn’t quote. The WSJ did interview him and they apparently posted the transcript, and the part I quoted was not twisted and there was nothinig fake about it.
The transcript of the relevant portion:
Q: Is there a sense as to what is the stick for Putin? I mean, obviously any kind of deal would have to entail an implicit threat that you have to stick to this or else you have to even sign on the dotted line. Is there any pressure that you’re thinking of?
Vice President Vance: I think certainly look there, there are instruments of pressure, absolutely and again, if you look at President Trump’s approach to this, the range of options is extremely broad, and there are economic tools of leverage. There, of course, military tools of leverage. There’s a whole host of things that we could do. But fundamentally, I think the President wants to have a productive negotiation, both with Putin and with Zelensky.
Q: So just want to make sure I understand you correctly. You’re saying that even though the possibility of an Ukraine NATO accession at the end of this process, or even the presence of U.S. troops in Ukraine is not officially off the table?
Vice President Vance: I think the President has been very clear that he doesn’t like the idea of moving Ukraine into NATO. He’s been very clear about that. I also think the President is very clear that whenever he walks in a negotiation, everything is on the table.
Holy crap. Read the headline Wall Street Journal printed next to the actual transcript of the interview with @JDVance. This is one of the most intentionally dishonest things I've seen in a long time. When Did @WSJ turn into the Huffington Post? pic.twitter.com/9J8TuzwFmv
Karmi wrote “I watch for signs – that firing/reassignment may be a prelude of Trump reverting to his old chaotic ways.”
No. These actions came at the request of Treasury Secretary Bessent.
Furthermore, regarding the earlier post at 3PM, after swearing in the new Commerce Secretary, at around 4-5PM Eastern, Trump tok media questions.
To one from ABC he shot back that that “explains it.”
That is asking him about a report of a May 9 meeting with Trump. WRONG. Completely untrue.
When will Karmi ever modernize the comment playbook? Instead of recycling hysterical canards?
Never, is the bet here.
So now Donald Trump is demanding a $500 billion “payback” from Ukraine for the previous $105 billion US aid after the Russian invasion. He is also demanding US economic control over the country’s oil, gas, and mineral resources as well as their ports and other infrastructure in perpetuity.
Ukraine will get nothing new from this and no additional aid or security guarantees whatsoever. He just wants to make a retroactive 400% profit margin from a country facing genocide. Actually, it’s even worse than that, as about 2/3 of that $105 billion was lend-lease requiring payback already, so about a 1200% profit.
He then warned Ukraine would face Russian control if it rejected the terms, saying “They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday. But I want this money back.”
To drive the knife in deeper, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Ukraine it faced imminent shutdown of its Starlink satellite communications — the backbone of its military and governmental communications — unless it agreed to the deal.
Basically the meeting in Saudi Arabia was the United States and Russia dividing up Ukraine, like Czechoslovakia was in 1938.
This is evil. Pure evil. In my 56 years on this earth I’ve never been ashamed to be American before. I am now.
If invading Canada, conquering Greenland, and handing Ukraine and the rest of Eastern Europe over to Russia weren’t enough, word in aerospace circles is Trump wants to unilaterally cancel SLS, Orion, the Lunar Gateway, the manned lunar landers, and now the International Space Station. That’s the entire manned space programs of the US, Canada, Europe, Japan, and the UAE.
Almost every ally we have in this world has poured decades and billions of dollars into these programs, and he is threatening to cancel them all. To say this has royally pissed them all off is an understatement. Europe, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf States are now openly talking about abandoning the United States for China.
The monumental idiocy of Trump’s foreign policy is breathtaking. I think only James Madison’s invasion of Canada may be worse, but considering neither Canada nor the UK had nukes back then, maybe not.
mkent, as Karmi alluded to we have no way of knowing how much if any of these rare earth resources Ukraine has. During an interview with Brian Kilmeade, Trump acknowledged there may be little there. Fast forward to about the 7 minute mark. The first segment is about Gaza.
Zelensky approached the United States with the idea of trading these resources.
As to the security guarantees, it should be obvious that the very presence of American companies working in/with Ukraine would discourage any Russian adventurism into Ukraine.
It’s seems to me it’s a lifeline to Ukraine. We bear the costs of developing/extracting these resources.
Let’s get real. Ukraine has estimated the rebuilding costs after the war could be $400 billion. Blackrock and JP Morgan are ready to set up shop in Ukraine. How do you think all these investments in infrastructure are going to be paid for? Ukraine is going to lose either way.
American involvement is probably the best security Ukraine could ask for.
The meeting in Riyadh was merely setting up a structure to begin the process of restarting diplomatic relations. A negotiating team will then begin working out the terms of a settlement. This first meeting had little to do with Ukraine.
And SoS Rubio explicitly said any settlement reached between Russia and the US would have to be acceptable to all parties, inferring Ukraine and Europe.
According to the Ukraine constitution any change in territory would require an All-Ukraine referendum. So the people of Ukraine would have to agree to any land concessions. I was shocked when he said that.
You do know the ISS is at the end of it’s design life.
From Wikipedia:
The station is expected to remain operational until the end of 2030, after which it will be de-orbited using a dedicated NASA spacecraft.[15]
On February 20, 2025, Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Senior Advisor to President Trump, suggested in a tweet that the International Space Station be de-orbited “two years from now” as Musk believes the station has “served its purpose” and has “very little incremental utility”. Despite this, no official decisions on moving up the de-orbiting date have been made yet by the president.
Trump has nothing to do with the 2030 date to bring the ISS down. It is becoming very costly to maintain.
neo:
I get “Error 404: Page not found … Sorry, no such page” on pages from 02/17/25 and further back.
”You do know the ISS is at the end of it’s design life. From Wikipedia:”
I’m an aerospace engineer. I don’t need Wikipedia to know about the ISS. I’ve lived it every day for the last 39 years.
The ISS is the *International* Space Station. Its largest segment is American, but it has sizable contributions from Russia, Japan, Europe, and Canada, and all of those countries fly their astronauts there and conduct experiments there.
Its current planned retirement date is 2030 when commercial space stations are expected to be ready to replace it. But NASA engineers have studied its condition and outlined rather simple upgrades to extend its life to 2035 if those commercial stations run late (which they already are). Beyond 2035 more extensive but doable repairs will be required.
So Elon Musk gets in a Twitter spat with one of Europe’s most distinguished astronauts, calls him retarded and an idiot, and then doubles down by unilaterally calling for ISS to be de-orbited in 2027, which as the head of DOGE and the closest advisor to president Trump he likely has the power to make happen.
After Trump’s threat to invade Canada, take Greenland by force, divide up Ukraine with Russia, pull American troops from Eastern Europe leaving them vulnerable to Russian invasion, and unilaterally canceling Artemis, this has majorly pissed off our allies. France is threatening to send troops to Greenland and Europe is threatening to hook up with China, giving them access to advanced aerospace technology.
And for what? So Trump and Musk can wave their dicks around on the international stage? America gains nothing from any of this.
I’m sure you’ll just dismiss this as “That’s just Trump being Trump”, but being an asshole has major negative consequences in real life. Unfortunately *we*, not Trump, will suffer those consequences.
Oh, to have a president who isn’t an asshole!
“Karmi:
You really, really should start checking things out better.”
Don’t hold your breath, neo.
I was recently thinking that other than the designated democrats, and possibly Greta van Susteran, I don’t think I have seen one news personality on either Fox or Newsnation disagree, or even question, anything said or done by Trump et al. I then found this pushback by Brian Kilmeade on his radio show. The interview sounds even worse than the excerpts in the article read.
Are either Kilmeade or Kellogg long for their jobs?
Correction to my earlier post. I referred to Newsnation when I meant Newsmax.
‘Which came first – the Chicken or the Egg?
Steve at 11:54 pm – Thanks for the video link.
OK…looks like LePoint article was published “02/21/2025 at 5:04 p.m.”
I see a lot of similar videos but cannot find date and time on them. I don’t do a lot of videos so am not that familiar to how they work. Plus, have moved on from the LePoint at this point, and am not going to spend time researching if the “5:04 p.m.” published article was on French time or American time.
If someone else wants to check out those times, we could see if Trump had possibly changed his mind after catching flack from the LePoint article, i.e., was the LePoint article correct. If the video interview was hours after the article then the article may have been correct.
Hope that makes sense…French time and American time, and if the article was published in France. Investigations can be such a pain at times…
UPDATE to 8:06 am comment:
Flushing cache, checking speeds, security, etc. on my blog before doing a backup and thought about this—in case anyone is doing further investigation into times of article ‘n video interview:
Had LePoint sources been from the same brief snippets ‘n chatter that I had been seeing for at least a week, and LePoint decided to throw a wrench into Putin & Trump’s May 9th plans. Something like that…
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What a vile person George Clooney is. In a recent interview he asserted that Trump’s election in 2016 was largely attributable to having a “black man” as president for eight years prior.
Vile, arrogant, stupid.
Time to ban “artificial light” – ‘light pollution’ is destroying our night skies, causing sleep disorders, disorienting birds, etc.! 😉 Looks like more rules ‘n laws are needed…maybe a Capital Crime for an entire family if light can be seen inside a home from the outside at night.
hes a middling actor, who would be stuck in attack of the killer tomatoes twelve if it wasn’t for epstein, similar with pitt, damon, perhaps has a little more range, as I say, did that cake delivery to Lake Como seem bitter, he could play a minor conman with tarantino, but thats about his range, the low rate thief, in the oceans series, of course he helped deep six his wife’s career with the ICC, but as a atty who will defend terrorists, she will probably move on,
the coen brothers had him pegged in hail caesar, probably the katzenberg action piece the peacemaker was most amusing
With all the news relating to the hostages, this has slipped under the radar. Trump’s media company, in partnership with Rumble, sue Brazilian supreme court justice alexander moraes. This is the same justice that pressured musk to censor accounts of political opponents on X. In retaliation for Musk’s refusal to do so, he froze the assets of the brazilian branch of Starlink.
https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-media-sues-brazilian-supreme-court-justice-nyt-reports-2025-02-19/
furthermore the hanging judge moraes who had imprisoned lula before in the car wash scheme, seems to have glommed on to a sleazy michael cohen type, mauricio cid, who offered a scalp against bolsonaro, in this ridiculous J6 type montage in order to save his skin,
the length they will go to deepsix populist figures, which suggest William Roper’s advice was wrong to Thomas More was wong
the screenplay for the peacemaker which involved rogue Russian military handing a nuke to Yugoslav militant was written by lesley cockburn, part of a duo of leftists, that spread conspiracy theories in the 80s, that were out of the Dezinforma handbook
the CIA Cocaine caper, having totally gotten the La Penca incident wrong,
she ultimately rang for congress, but lost out to a Rep who went all Orange Man bad, with the J6 tableau
very lame, but thats all they got,
https://x.com/redsteeze/status/1892946163168350402
https://x.com/seanmdav/status/1892706545458159804
trying to race swalwell as the dumbest congressman
Light pollution is a very sad and seemingly intractable problem.
https://youtu.be/EXzwhmrWsTM?t=158
• Have read VDH for decades, and often find very little daylight between his perspective and mine.
• Especially his thoughts about the threats we face – USA, western civilization – and how what I call “Boomerism” is a large part of the root cause.
• I’ll add that VDH has not always written about Trump in a favorable perspective – evaluated him using same In-The-Box standards many were using – but it appears that the proverbial light-came-on for him.
doing the best bialystok and bloom act,
https://twitchy.com/samj/2025/02/21/data-republican-david-hogg-n2408715
the one who had a fan club, for a war criminal like Girkin because he had turned on Putin for a brief bit,
https://twitchy.com/samj/2025/02/21/adam-kinzinger-maga-game-backfires-n2408698
We are all going to die, Reeeee.
One solution is to turn off the electricity. I was in NYC in during the 1965 NE blackout. It was amazing, suddenly the moon and stars became visible. The only thing comparable was during the taxi strike, when the air cleared.
Go to Wyoming for the star experience, lying in your sleeping bag you can stare up into the starry heavens, it is stunning.
Re VDH: I’ll add that a lot of us were very skeptical of Trump, especially pre 2016 but also after. Personally, during his first term I felt he was often his own worst enemy at times. He was naive, untested and he didn’t exactly have a “mandate” since he didn’t win the popular vote. During his first term he had the Legacy Media and the entire Deep State monstrosity working against him. He didn’t truly understand his enemies and how they operated. He wasn’t familiar with the workings of the system and relied on others to make recommendations for his cabinet and other appointments. As a result, he unknowingly surrounded himself with turncoats who undermined him at every turn, whether by leaking to the press or ignoring his wishes while actively working against him behind the scenes. Being a non politician, he would often make it very easy for them to attack him by being brash with his language rather than careful and calculating.
Then he lost congress in 2018 and ultimately ended up getting partially impeached on the whispiest of premises as a result. Then Covid hit and he once again had to rely on the recommendations of so called experts, many of whom we now know were at least partially responsible for the outbreak to begin with. All the anxiety about the pandemic that was fueled by the Legacy Media and these same experts ultimately lead to him being defenestrated from office 2020 in a deeply questionable election.
He then (I feel unwisely) encouraged a peaceful protest on January 6th, 2021 that was almost certainly infiltrated by various Deep State agent provocateurs along with a few well intentioned fools and bad actors.
After infamous red trickle midterms of 2022, I and others lost heart about his chances of winning in 2024. Many of us gave in to despair, feeling that the Democrat-election stealing machine had become insurmountable. And I haven’t even yet taked about all the shameless Lawfare and assassination attempts, which likely ended up helping his chances far more than hurting them.
But these days it seems as if Trump has indeed learned and adapted from all his past assumptions and mistakes. He now knows his enemy.
there is a certain learning curve, some of the GOPe were taken in by the Steele subterfuge, you can count on one hand, who in the leadership, wasn’t taken in, they were so busy feathering their nests, focusing on pork projects rather than the wall, building the skeleton of the dezinforma network, ignoring the statutory authority in the immigration pause, Corker Bennett and Flake, one of these was suspected of being Woodwards source, was followed by Romney, Portman, and some third member, of obstruction, so they let Pelosi take back the House, then came the Impeachment subterfuge that we now know was subsidized and promoted by AID, then you have the rube goldberg regarding Covid and the Wuhan lab, certain consent decrees, that the likes of Kemp and Ducey entered into, the early case of the ballot avalanche with Arpiao, in Maricopa,
Rest assured, he’s made a list and checked it twice.
This Should Be on Kash Patel’s FBI Priority List
Spoiler alert: It ain’t Santa Claus coming to town.
sure thats it,https://twitchy.com/samj/2025/02/21/democrats-refund-trump-lays-off-irs-employees-n2408699
is that your final answer
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house/3325213/jasmine-crockett-decries-doge-dividend-idea/
‘Reductio ad Hitlerum’ – Trump bends the knee ‘n Putin wins:
Trump to be in Moscow for end-of-war commemorations
Here is another Ukraine post from Powerline. This one covers an exchange between JD Vance and Niall Ferguson. Two smart guys, I think.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/02/j-d-vance-vs-niall-fergsuon-on-ukraine.php
• Jim: What is the difference between these two statements?
• Pam: They are the same – in theory Trump was a disaster, but in practice he was very successful (see 2017-2020: 1st term results, 2020: most votes for a Republican candidate in history & most votes for an incumbent President in history).
*****
• 2018: In the last 20 mid-term elections, the party in the WH has lost seats in the House 20 times (100%) and seats in the Senate 13 times (65%); only 6 Presidents – including Trump – have seen seats gained in the Senate.
• 2022: Trump not in office & SC overturned Roe v. Wade.
• 2024: Trump beat his record for most votes for a Republican candidate in history, and became only the second candidate in history to win non-consecutive terms.
https://wiba.iheart.com/featured/common-sense-central/content/2021-01-19-the-complete-list-of-president-trumps-accomplishments/
So the IDF, and the request of the father, now says those two little boys were killed by hand and then mutilated. I’m with Trump at this point after all those “poor Gazans” cheered as the two boys caskets were paraded in the streets: Level the place and everyone in it.
A modest suggestion for the problem of light pollution:
North Korea is so desperate for foreign exchange that they’re sending cannon fodder to fight for an army infamous for cannon fodder. Lets give the the poor North Koreans a foreign exchange alternative: dark night resorts. Look at a satellite image of the Korean peninsula. North Korea is black as … night. Customers will come from all over Asia, not just South Korea.
For Europeans and Americans, we can start dark night resorts in Trump world’s Greenland. No more need for Danish welfare payments. The locals can become independent and get rich off the dark.
Postmodern tourism to the rescue.
For those of you who may not know, Niall Ferguson is the husband of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the anti-islamist activist who is bashed by global left for maintaining that all cultures are not of equal worth.
Linked by a commenter over at Powerline, here is an opinion piece by Douglas Murray listing 10 facts that a lot of people seem to have forgotten or choose to ignore.
https://nypost.com/2025/02/20/opinion/putin-is-the-dictator-and-10-ukraine-russia-war-truths-we-ignore-at-our-peril/
back of the book section
https://twitchy.com/amy-curtis/2025/02/21/karen-bass-fires-la-fire-chief-crowely-n2408740
https://twitchy.com/amy-curtis/2025/02/21/abc-news-transgender-and-non-binary-residents-n2408703
of course guess who the fishwrap press think are the real victims, if you could wrap up fish digitally,
In the 1990’s I lived in Carmel by the Sea for several years. The town has a number of quirks: No street address numbers, trees in the middle of streets, and a mandate of no street lights.
Walking the non-commercial streets on a moonless night, it could be very dark. Most of the Monterey peninsula population lives on the opposite side of a moderately tall ridge line, blocking much of that light.
Where is Trump coming up with numbers like US has given Ukraine $350-Billion of equipment & aid – like Zelensky only has 4% support amongst Ukrainians. Here another interesting number:
Washington demands access to Ukraine’s natural resources. Trump says America stands to gain $500 billion, but there’s reason to doubt his math.
J D Vance’s attacks on Niall Ferguson is another recent “own goal” in the Tucker Carlson school of populist diplomacy.
J D should use his brain and not his emotions. Just because FJB f’ed up Ukraine doesn’t mean the current administration should f’ over Ukraine to the benefit Vladdy.
Not a good path to take.
Has the Firing started?
‘On December 9, 2024, president-elect Donald Trump named Vitello as his nominee for director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Trump administration reassigns ICE Acting Director Caleb Vitello – that’s from today news. Vitello wasn’t deporting enough.
I watch for signs – that firing/reassignment may be a prelude of Trump reverting to his old chaotic ways. Noting this because of Trump and his Administration’s questionable Foreign policy openings.
Great prep ‘n beginning. Excellent few weeks opening…then the Trump ‘n Putin private talks. Now almost an eerie silence with a Russia/USA thumping sound in the background.
It’ll will probably happen quickly—either way—guess we shall see…
Something that’s been mentioned before, but the reconciliation deal, DOGE and potential budget cuts could create a potential for an economic downturn.
The dilemma for the Trump administration is the slush funding/massive government spending which produced with $2 trillion deficits is money fueling the ‘great’ economy to some extent, built on the chimera of government deficit spending.
Even if it’s mis-spending/funding leftist organizations, funding bridges to nowhere, it is spending in the economy.
The Trump administration is trying to uncover/eliminate the spending and bloated bureaucracy, but it is going to have an effect on the economy until the private sector expansion and lower energy costs kicks in.
Trump’s efforts to expand real economic growth through the private sector by increasing manufacturing/jobs will take time.
Adding to the drag is the potential that bond holders may not be eager to buy newly issued government debt securities without seeing the government is serious about reigning in the current account deficit. That could result in even higher interest payments that will make it more difficult to reduce the deficit.
Karmi, I was about to post that excellent Stephen Miller link when I noticed you beat me to it in yesterday’s open thread. Miller’s lesson was discussed this afternoon on the Will Cain show with Ari Fleischer. After interviewing Fleischer, Fox went to Trump’s introduction of the new commerce, or was it labor secretary, which I did not watch. I came back about 20 mins later and Fox’s bottom of the screen was saying that Trump was not going to Russia on May 9. Don’t know if your source above was wrong or if Trump changed his mind.
Karmi, the real reason Zelensky doesn’t want to do a deal with the US, is they’re already working on a deal with Black Rock and it will be easier to skim money from them than the US government.
BlackRock and JPMorgan help set up Ukraine reconstruction bank
https://www.ft.com/content/3d6041fb-5747-4564-9874-691742aa52a2
Steve
Have been seeing brief snippets and quite a bit of chatter on Trump going there for May 9 Russian Victory stuff.
Then news seems to have broken today…quite a bit.
If Fox is correct – then maybe someone finally told Trump he was being played for an idiot, and he changed his mind. I’ll wait and see either way…
Karmi;
Or maybe you should desist from posting sketchy rumors with claims like “But on May 9, according to our sources, there should be a major guest in the Moscow stands: Donald Trump, alongside Vladimir Putin.” According to their sources – what sources? And why “should be” rather than “will be”?
Bio of the author: “François-Guillaume Lorrain is a journalist and writer. Graduate of the Ecole Normale, lecturer in literature, he is the author of ten novels and non-fiction works. In 2019 he was awarded the Contemporary History Book Prize.”
That link you posted was apparently the sole source for the story you decided was so important it had to be aired in the comments here.
neo
According to Steve, FOX said Trump was not going, and I saw numerous other articles on Trump going to Moscow for that Victory Russian stuff today.
Not sure why you can’t other articles on it?!
Karmi:
Follow the link I posted on the words “the sole source for the story.” Here, I’ll make it easy for you:
So that Le Point story appears to have been the original story. It’s also the link you had posted in your comment. That Le Point story gave no sources whatsoever – I quoted what it said, which was merely “according to our sources.” Not even “according to official sources.” Nothing whatsoever about the sources. And then apparently all the other stories had “picked up the report” from Le Point.
That seems to be the whole thing. It’s not that I can’t find other stories. It’s that there seem to be no other sources than the original story, which had completely amorphous sources (in other words, no reliable sources at all).
I think it’s important to look at things like that before spreading rumors. At present, the story rests on nothing. Also, Trump has denied the story. But – at least from what we know at the moment – it doesn’t seem to have been true in the first place. That’s not even unusual, unfortunately.
neo
There has been talk of this for a least a week. Maybe look at newer sources…
Karmi:
My link in the above post was from today. The post from Le Point – the one you posted a translation of – was also datelined today.
The first story had essentially no sources. The other papers picked it up without any additional sources. It’s been denied. What more do you want?
All the stories that say Trump was planning to come are datelined today. Every single one that I see. However, there’s a story from about a week ago that Putin had invited Trump. Perhaps you’re thinking of this or perhaps this sort of thing. An invitation is not an acceptance.
By the way, if you want to do a search for stories on certain dates or range of dates, you can do that on Google by using “tools” and then the drop-down menu on “any time” and then fill in “custom dates.”
neo
You need to update your sources to include foreign countries that Google might not show. The Le Point story was not new for me…just the first I saw that was easily found. Didn’t post the earlier info because I was waiting for it to hit western news.
I suspect more on it now…
UPDATE: neo – On your “Will trump lift sanctions on Russia” post – St dude @ 9:16 pm
News can change…sources and report can be wrong…some can be “fake news”…etcetera. What did Vance actually say? Was WSJ right or was X or was Vance lying on X to cover up what he had said?
Have ran some AI searches, but will stick w/ Grok since it uses X posts – Did JD Vance say: “The U.S. could use “economic tools of leverage” and “of course military tools of leverage” if Russia does not agree to a good peace deal with Ukraine”:
So, maybe X hasn’t even caught up with its own posts.
Anyway, looks like Trump isn’t going to Moscow on May 9…if that remains true.
Re: Tom Hanks / SNL 50th anniversary
I admit I don’t watch SNL anymore, but I did catch the latest clip of Tom Hanks reprising his “Black Jeopardy” role as a denim-clad, working-class, racist in a red MAGA hat, speaking out that America would be better place if more people went to church, yet repeatedly shrinking away from shaking hands with the black Jeopardy host.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/media/article-14421545/megyn-kelly-unleashes-tom-hanks-mocking-maga-supporters-snl.html
I like Tom Hanks but I was certainly annoyed by his ignorant, malign stereotype of MAGA supporters. I’ll never see Hanks the same way again.
Although a few conservative pundits — Jim Treacher and Ed Driscoll — played the let’s-not-get-upset card, I’d guess most conservatives are as annoyed as I am, if not more so.
The backlash has reached Hanks, who has turned comments off on his Instagram account and issued a non-apology along with some blather about how it’s unamerican not to take a joke and it is MAGA supporters who are being divisive.
Naturally, Robert DeNiro jumped in to defend Hanks then rant per usual on how immature and stupid Trump and his supporters are.
Keep on digging that hole, guys!
Karmi:
You really, really should start checking things out better.
I’ll just repeat hear my response to “St dude” in that sanctions thread.
St dude:
No, what I quoted was not “fake news.” Vance did in fact say that the WSJ had “twisted” his words in the interview. I believe he was talking about the indendiary headline, which I didn’t quote. The WSJ did interview him and they apparently posted the transcript, and the part I quoted was not twisted and there was nothinig fake about it.
The transcript of the relevant portion:
May 9 follow up. At the 8 minute mark Trump is asked about it.
https://youtu.be/S9Sy4dH5Jgc?si=R8KnihoKbQibFrwG
Karmi wrote “I watch for signs – that firing/reassignment may be a prelude of Trump reverting to his old chaotic ways.”
No. These actions came at the request of Treasury Secretary Bessent.
Furthermore, regarding the earlier post at 3PM, after swearing in the new Commerce Secretary, at around 4-5PM Eastern, Trump tok media questions.
To one from ABC he shot back that that “explains it.”
That is asking him about a report of a May 9 meeting with Trump. WRONG. Completely untrue.
When will Karmi ever modernize the comment playbook? Instead of recycling hysterical canards?
Never, is the bet here.
So now Donald Trump is demanding a $500 billion “payback” from Ukraine for the previous $105 billion US aid after the Russian invasion. He is also demanding US economic control over the country’s oil, gas, and mineral resources as well as their ports and other infrastructure in perpetuity.
Ukraine will get nothing new from this and no additional aid or security guarantees whatsoever. He just wants to make a retroactive 400% profit margin from a country facing genocide. Actually, it’s even worse than that, as about 2/3 of that $105 billion was lend-lease requiring payback already, so about a 1200% profit.
He then warned Ukraine would face Russian control if it rejected the terms, saying “They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday. But I want this money back.”
To drive the knife in deeper, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Ukraine it faced imminent shutdown of its Starlink satellite communications — the backbone of its military and governmental communications — unless it agreed to the deal.
Basically the meeting in Saudi Arabia was the United States and Russia dividing up Ukraine, like Czechoslovakia was in 1938.
This is evil. Pure evil. In my 56 years on this earth I’ve never been ashamed to be American before. I am now.
If invading Canada, conquering Greenland, and handing Ukraine and the rest of Eastern Europe over to Russia weren’t enough, word in aerospace circles is Trump wants to unilaterally cancel SLS, Orion, the Lunar Gateway, the manned lunar landers, and now the International Space Station. That’s the entire manned space programs of the US, Canada, Europe, Japan, and the UAE.
Almost every ally we have in this world has poured decades and billions of dollars into these programs, and he is threatening to cancel them all. To say this has royally pissed them all off is an understatement. Europe, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf States are now openly talking about abandoning the United States for China.
The monumental idiocy of Trump’s foreign policy is breathtaking. I think only James Madison’s invasion of Canada may be worse, but considering neither Canada nor the UK had nukes back then, maybe not.
mkent, as Karmi alluded to we have no way of knowing how much if any of these rare earth resources Ukraine has. During an interview with Brian Kilmeade, Trump acknowledged there may be little there. Fast forward to about the 7 minute mark. The first segment is about Gaza.
Zelensky approached the United States with the idea of trading these resources.
As to the security guarantees, it should be obvious that the very presence of American companies working in/with Ukraine would discourage any Russian adventurism into Ukraine.
It’s seems to me it’s a lifeline to Ukraine. We bear the costs of developing/extracting these resources.
Let’s get real. Ukraine has estimated the rebuilding costs after the war could be $400 billion. Blackrock and JP Morgan are ready to set up shop in Ukraine. How do you think all these investments in infrastructure are going to be paid for? Ukraine is going to lose either way.
American involvement is probably the best security Ukraine could ask for.
The meeting in Riyadh was merely setting up a structure to begin the process of restarting diplomatic relations. A negotiating team will then begin working out the terms of a settlement. This first meeting had little to do with Ukraine.
And SoS Rubio explicitly said any settlement reached between Russia and the US would have to be acceptable to all parties, inferring Ukraine and Europe.
According to the Ukraine constitution any change in territory would require an All-Ukraine referendum. So the people of Ukraine would have to agree to any land concessions. I was shocked when he said that.
Rubio First Reaction On US-Russia Talks On Ukraine Peace Deal, Reveals ‘Next Step’ After Lavrov Meet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuK5YgxWPt8
Brian Kilmeade radio interview with Trump:
‘I’VE HAD IT’: Trump addresses Zelenskyy criticism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_aSVsQdHto&t=911s
You do know the ISS is at the end of it’s design life.
From Wikipedia:
Trump has nothing to do with the 2030 date to bring the ISS down. It is becoming very costly to maintain.
neo:
I get “Error 404: Page not found … Sorry, no such page” on pages from 02/17/25 and further back.
https://thenewneo.com/2025/02/17/open-thread-2-17-2025/
”You do know the ISS is at the end of it’s design life. From Wikipedia:”
I’m an aerospace engineer. I don’t need Wikipedia to know about the ISS. I’ve lived it every day for the last 39 years.
The ISS is the *International* Space Station. Its largest segment is American, but it has sizable contributions from Russia, Japan, Europe, and Canada, and all of those countries fly their astronauts there and conduct experiments there.
Its current planned retirement date is 2030 when commercial space stations are expected to be ready to replace it. But NASA engineers have studied its condition and outlined rather simple upgrades to extend its life to 2035 if those commercial stations run late (which they already are). Beyond 2035 more extensive but doable repairs will be required.
So Elon Musk gets in a Twitter spat with one of Europe’s most distinguished astronauts, calls him retarded and an idiot, and then doubles down by unilaterally calling for ISS to be de-orbited in 2027, which as the head of DOGE and the closest advisor to president Trump he likely has the power to make happen.
After Trump’s threat to invade Canada, take Greenland by force, divide up Ukraine with Russia, pull American troops from Eastern Europe leaving them vulnerable to Russian invasion, and unilaterally canceling Artemis, this has majorly pissed off our allies. France is threatening to send troops to Greenland and Europe is threatening to hook up with China, giving them access to advanced aerospace technology.
And for what? So Trump and Musk can wave their dicks around on the international stage? America gains nothing from any of this.
I’m sure you’ll just dismiss this as “That’s just Trump being Trump”, but being an asshole has major negative consequences in real life. Unfortunately *we*, not Trump, will suffer those consequences.
Oh, to have a president who isn’t an asshole!
“Karmi:
You really, really should start checking things out better.”
Don’t hold your breath, neo.
I was recently thinking that other than the designated democrats, and possibly Greta van Susteran, I don’t think I have seen one news personality on either Fox or Newsnation disagree, or even question, anything said or done by Trump et al. I then found this pushback by Brian Kilmeade on his radio show. The interview sounds even worse than the excerpts in the article read.
https://www.mediaite.com/news/thats-vladimir-putins-fault-dont-you-agree-fox-news-brian-kilmeade-repeatedly-challenges-trump-during-anti-ukraine-rant/#article-nav
Also a little sanity from Keith Kellogg.
https://www.mediaite.com/news/trump-envoy-to-ukraine-praises-embattled-and-courageous-zelensky-amid-bosss-brutal-attacks/
Are either Kilmeade or Kellogg long for their jobs?
Correction to my earlier post. I referred to Newsnation when I meant Newsmax.
‘Which came first – the Chicken or the Egg?
Steve at 11:54 pm – Thanks for the video link.
OK…looks like LePoint article was published “02/21/2025 at 5:04 p.m.”
I see a lot of similar videos but cannot find date and time on them. I don’t do a lot of videos so am not that familiar to how they work. Plus, have moved on from the LePoint at this point, and am not going to spend time researching if the “5:04 p.m.” published article was on French time or American time.
If someone else wants to check out those times, we could see if Trump had possibly changed his mind after catching flack from the LePoint article, i.e., was the LePoint article correct. If the video interview was hours after the article then the article may have been correct.
Hope that makes sense…French time and American time, and if the article was published in France. Investigations can be such a pain at times…
UPDATE to 8:06 am comment:
Flushing cache, checking speeds, security, etc. on my blog before doing a backup and thought about this—in case anyone is doing further investigation into times of article ‘n video interview:
Had LePoint sources been from the same brief snippets ‘n chatter that I had been seeing for at least a week, and LePoint decided to throw a wrench into Putin & Trump’s May 9th plans. Something like that…