Error message

Deprecated function: Array and string offset access syntax with curly braces is deprecated in include_once() (line 20 of /home/caucusni/public_html/includes/file.phar.inc).

OT 20 AUG 25 ~ Peace

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 6:04am

Whoda thunkit? That word used by a sitting US presnit? Unheard of!

Seems to be pissing off some neocons and Eurocrats, so that is a good thing.
Course, considering the source, it may not mean what we would define as being
peace.

Will be interesting to see the results of the Z - trumpet throw down. And the ensuing
backtracking that inevitably follows.

trump lecturing the seven dwarves on peace ...

So it is an open thread, weigh-in with whatever you've found.
Peace out.

Tags:

Open Thread

Vote

Comments

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 7:34am

Good morning folks

There appears to be no limit
to the amount of digital ink spilled
over the current "peace" push by
the US administration lately.

Let's hope it bears fruit!

—

Zionism is a social disease

Submitted by Lookout on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 7:58am

Can we give peace a chance?

TPTB (MIC/CIA/MI6/Mossad) say NO! And, sadly will do everything in their power to see it doesn't happen.

Why? Follow the money...

Hope you're doing well. Thanks for the OT!

—

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 8:02am

Yes, peace is almost anathema

@Lookout

for the war economy of the US
the commander in chief is getting
plenty of push-back from your named
players, it is an uphill battle. We must
start somewhere.

—

Zionism is a social disease

Submitted by Socialprogressive on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 9:47am

There's no profit in peace

@Lookout

—

MAGA
Morons
Are
Governing
America

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 8:48am

Happy Birthday John Hiatt

73 years young today.

—

Zionism is a social disease

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 9:49am

Happy Birthday Robert Plant

77 years young today

—

Zionism is a social disease

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 10:11am

Good morning Cap'n Q. I used to believe in peace,

preach peace, march for peace, and all that. Lately I wonder.

There was a so-called "prince of peace" but what he preached wasn't peace as I know it, but patience, lay low until armeggadon and then sit back and bask in glory while all but the in crowd suffer unimaginable horrors. Der Drumpf, he talks this peace, "stop shooting but buy our weapons" while waging economic warfare on an unprecedented scale. His goal, it seems is to enslave the world, starting with our own population. Peace in murika comes carrying a bible and waving a flag but I spy jackboots instead of sandals.

That, at any rate, is todays mental hiccup. Nize tune from Mr. Plant there, Leadbelly orignal iirc, nize all the same.

be well and have a good one

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 11:10am

Here's a comment on Facebook of mine that was liked by nobody

Let's see: America could have Finland's educational system, or Germany's solar power complex, or Europe's mass transit, or China's or Japan's bullet trains, or Canada's universal health care system, or we could just have it in our heads that ending homelessness means actually housing the unhoused, like they do in a few zillion other countries.

But demanding any such things of our self-proclaimed representatives is universally characterized as "demanding perfection." Instead, you see, what we get is a government that is a commodity for sale, a Congress that creates billionaires, "national defense" that is actually a global police state, a live-streamed genocide paid for with US money and weapons, Zionist censorship, a pointless death adventure in Ukraine, a President who routinely shreds the Constitution, expanding prisons, shrinking universities, bus service, and safety nets, out-of-control costs in education, health care, rents, and home prices, daily mass shootings, about a thousand police killings every year, thousands of road deaths per year, and ghost towns in the middle of vast metropoli.

Oh sure, America's far from perfect, but it's better than Hitler's Germany or Dante's lowest level of Hell or something like that, and anyone who says otherwise must be demanding perfection.

What we don't need, you see, is a political party which turns those who would otherwise "demand perfection" into what the gamers call non-player characters. We don't, in short, need the Democrats.

THE DEMOCRATS GAVE US TRUMP

The Democrats knew, you see, and they've known for a long time now, that, if they were to retain the White House, they'd need to win the swing states, most of which are in the Midwest. So what did they do? They ran the least accessible President in history and then, three months before the election, they swapped him out for a woman who had no independent positions of her own in the middle of a live-streamed genocide, couldn't give a competent interview, and who blew $1.5 billion in the most pointless ways imaginable after being thrust into the candidate's chair to avoid a full-blown donor revolt.

What would a competent strategy look like? I know this one. They would, for starters, hold an open primary, and nominate the best candidate based on the results of that primary. I suppose the Dems felt out-of-practice, not having held a meaningful open primary in sixteen years, clutching those super-delegates for dear life.

So, yes, the Democrats gave us Trump. The historians among us will remember that last year was not the first year the Dems have presented their favorite political party with a gift. Most famously, under Obama, the Democrats gave, to the Republican Party, all branches of the Federal government, 13 governor's houses, and 900+ state legislative seats. But to have avoided that outcome, they'd have to have demanded something more helpful to the public than the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Grand Bargain. And that, you see, would be demanding perfection. So, yes, two terms of Trump. It's what we get for setting our sights no higher than the Democrats.

Y'all could, by the way, support Butch Ware...

https://www.butchware4gov.com/

*****

I guess it's not surprising that Democrats do not like being truth-bombed...

—

"the old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born; now is the time of monsters" -- Antonio Gramsci

Submitted by fire with fire on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 11:23am

Excellent screed, Cass

@Cassiodorus When politics is a zero-sum game, the result is always zero.

As we have discussed before, I am not enthused with your proposition about a new party, but we are in total agreement about the empty suit fraudulence of the Democratic Party which enables the likes of Shrub and Reagan to pose as strong leaders.

And I urge everybody to be careful with congratulating yourself for your own truth bombs.

Let's see: America could have Finland's educational system, or Germany's solar power complex, or Europe's mass transit, or China's or Japan's bullet trains, or Canada's universal health care system, or we could just have it in our heads that ending homelessness means actually housing the unhoused, like they do in a few zillion other countries.

But demanding any such things of our self-proclaimed representatives is universally characterized as "demanding perfection." Instead, you see, what we get is a government that is a commodity for sale, a Congress that creates billionaires, "national defense" that is actually a global police state, a live-streamed genocide paid for with US money and weapons, Zionist censorship, a pointless death adventure in Ukraine, a President who routinely shreds the Constitution, expanding prisons, shrinking universities, bus service, and safety nets, out-of-control costs in education, health care, rents, and home prices, daily mass shootings, about a thousand police killings every year, thousands of road deaths per year, and ghost towns in the middle of vast metropoli.

Oh sure, America's far from perfect, but it's better than Hitler's Germany or Dante's lowest level of Hell or something like that, and anyone who says otherwise must be demanding perfection.

What we don't need, you see, is a political party which turns those who would otherwise "demand perfection" into what the gamers call non-player characters. We don't, in short, need the Democrats.

THE DEMOCRATS GAVE US TRUMP

The Democrats knew, you see, and they've known for a long time now, that, if they were to retain the White House, they'd need to win the swing states, most of which are in the Midwest. So what did they do? They ran the least accessible President in history and then, three months before the election, they swapped him out for a woman who had no independent positions of her own in the middle of a live-streamed genocide, couldn't give a competent interview, and who blew $1.5 billion in the most pointless ways imaginable after being thrust into the candidate's chair to avoid a full-blown donor revolt.

What would a competent strategy look like? I know this one. They would, for starters, hold an open primary, and nominate the best candidate based on the results of that primary. I suppose the Dems felt out-of-practice, not having held a meaningful open primary in sixteen years, clutching those super-delegates for dear life.

So, yes, the Democrats gave us Trump. The historians among us will remember that last year was not the first year the Dems have presented their favorite political party with a gift. Most famously, under Obama, the Democrats gave, to the Republican Party, all branches of the Federal government, 13 governor's houses, and 900+ state legislative seats. But to have avoided that outcome, they'd have to have demanded something more helpful to the public than the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Grand Bargain. And that, you see, would be demanding perfection. So, yes, two terms of Trump. It's what we get for setting our sights no higher than the Democrats.

Y'all could, by the way, support Butch Ware...

https://www.butchware4gov.com/

*****

I guess it's not surprising that Democrats do not like being truth-bombed...

—

I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 11:40am

Think it was Dennis Kucinich

@Cassiodorus
.Who proposed forming the Peace Party
a few weeks ago in an interview. I like the
sound of it at the outset.

This is from a while ago.

About 1 hour.

Let's see: America could have Finland's educational system, or Germany's solar power complex, or Europe's mass transit, or China's or Japan's bullet trains, or Canada's universal health care system, or we could just have it in our heads that ending homelessness means actually housing the unhoused, like they do in a few zillion other countries.

But demanding any such things of our self-proclaimed representatives is universally characterized as "demanding perfection." Instead, you see, what we get is a government that is a commodity for sale, a Congress that creates billionaires, "national defense" that is actually a global police state, a live-streamed genocide paid for with US money and weapons, Zionist censorship, a pointless death adventure in Ukraine, a President who routinely shreds the Constitution, expanding prisons, shrinking universities, bus service, and safety nets, out-of-control costs in education, health care, rents, and home prices, daily mass shootings, about a thousand police killings every year, thousands of road deaths per year, and ghost towns in the middle of vast metropoli.

Oh sure, America's far from perfect, but it's better than Hitler's Germany or Dante's lowest level of Hell or something like that, and anyone who says otherwise must be demanding perfection.

What we don't need, you see, is a political party which turns those who would otherwise "demand perfection" into what the gamers call non-player characters. We don't, in short, need the Democrats.

THE DEMOCRATS GAVE US TRUMP

The Democrats knew, you see, and they've known for a long time now, that, if they were to retain the White House, they'd need to win the swing states, most of which are in the Midwest. So what did they do? They ran the least accessible President in history and then, three months before the election, they swapped him out for a woman who had no independent positions of her own in the middle of a live-streamed genocide, couldn't give a competent interview, and who blew $1.5 billion in the most pointless ways imaginable after being thrust into the candidate's chair to avoid a full-blown donor revolt.

What would a competent strategy look like? I know this one. They would, for starters, hold an open primary, and nominate the best candidate based on the results of that primary. I suppose the Dems felt out-of-practice, not having held a meaningful open primary in sixteen years, clutching those super-delegates for dear life.

So, yes, the Democrats gave us Trump. The historians among us will remember that last year was not the first year the Dems have presented their favorite political party with a gift. Most famously, under Obama, the Democrats gave, to the Republican Party, all branches of the Federal government, 13 governor's houses, and 900+ state legislative seats. But to have avoided that outcome, they'd have to have demanded something more helpful to the public than the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Grand Bargain. And that, you see, would be demanding perfection. So, yes, two terms of Trump. It's what we get for setting our sights no higher than the Democrats.

Y'all could, by the way, support Butch Ware...

https://www.butchware4gov.com/

*****

I guess it's not surprising that Democrats do not like being truth-bombed...

—

Zionism is a social disease

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 11:48am

Just to jog your memory -

@QMS

we had a primary with some meh candidates, pace candidate Kucinich, open warmonger Hillarity, and disguised warmonger Obummer. Kucinich wasn't the first one eliminated, but, OTOH, he didn't last very long, either. The US citizenry doesn't like peace, or domestic tranquility for that matter, they like bombing people, prefereably brown ones.

be well and have a good one

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 12:51pm

Yeah, McCain didn't fare too well

@enhydra lutris \
.
with his bomb, bomb, bomb Iran spiel
but the audience loved it IIRC

—

Zionism is a social disease

Submitted by ban nock on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 9:51pm

@QMS Kucinich didn't impress

@QMS Kucinich didn't impress with the UFOs but his wife was easy on the eye.

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 11:41am

Well put, Cass, but sadly missses the target because,

@Cassiodorus

with their heads in the sand, they are difficult to hit.

be well and have a good one

Let's see: America could have Finland's educational system, or Germany's solar power complex, or Europe's mass transit, or China's or Japan's bullet trains, or Canada's universal health care system, or we could just have it in our heads that ending homelessness means actually housing the unhoused, like they do in a few zillion other countries.

But demanding any such things of our self-proclaimed representatives is universally characterized as "demanding perfection." Instead, you see, what we get is a government that is a commodity for sale, a Congress that creates billionaires, "national defense" that is actually a global police state, a live-streamed genocide paid for with US money and weapons, Zionist censorship, a pointless death adventure in Ukraine, a President who routinely shreds the Constitution, expanding prisons, shrinking universities, bus service, and safety nets, out-of-control costs in education, health care, rents, and home prices, daily mass shootings, about a thousand police killings every year, thousands of road deaths per year, and ghost towns in the middle of vast metropoli.

Oh sure, America's far from perfect, but it's better than Hitler's Germany or Dante's lowest level of Hell or something like that, and anyone who says otherwise must be demanding perfection.

What we don't need, you see, is a political party which turns those who would otherwise "demand perfection" into what the gamers call non-player characters. We don't, in short, need the Democrats.

THE DEMOCRATS GAVE US TRUMP

The Democrats knew, you see, and they've known for a long time now, that, if they were to retain the White House, they'd need to win the swing states, most of which are in the Midwest. So what did they do? They ran the least accessible President in history and then, three months before the election, they swapped him out for a woman who had no independent positions of her own in the middle of a live-streamed genocide, couldn't give a competent interview, and who blew $1.5 billion in the most pointless ways imaginable after being thrust into the candidate's chair to avoid a full-blown donor revolt.

What would a competent strategy look like? I know this one. They would, for starters, hold an open primary, and nominate the best candidate based on the results of that primary. I suppose the Dems felt out-of-practice, not having held a meaningful open primary in sixteen years, clutching those super-delegates for dear life.

So, yes, the Democrats gave us Trump. The historians among us will remember that last year was not the first year the Dems have presented their favorite political party with a gift. Most famously, under Obama, the Democrats gave, to the Republican Party, all branches of the Federal government, 13 governor's houses, and 900+ state legislative seats. But to have avoided that outcome, they'd have to have demanded something more helpful to the public than the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Grand Bargain. And that, you see, would be demanding perfection. So, yes, two terms of Trump. It's what we get for setting our sights no higher than the Democrats.

Y'all could, by the way, support Butch Ware...

https://www.butchware4gov.com/

*****

I guess it's not surprising that Democrats do not like being truth-bombed...

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Thu, 08/21/2025 - 12:55am

The target, however, was the idiot Democrats in that thread

@enhydra lutris The idea was not to persuade them of anything but to embarrass them in front of anyone who might have been thinking while reading the post. These are people whose only talking point is "hate Trump," and yet they made Trump far more possible than he otherwise would have been.

—

"the old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born; now is the time of monsters" -- Antonio Gramsci

Submitted by on the cusp on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 1:45pm

Veterans ought to

be actively protesting and telling people what war is truly like for the plebes.
Propaganda is so powerful, it works folks up into a frenzy to destroy themselves and everyone elase as though it is moral and necessary.
I am glad I am old.
Thanks for the OT, dear friend.

—

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 1:51pm

This is an active group

@on the cusp

veterans for peace

https://www.veteransforpeace.org

—

Zionism is a social disease

Submitted by Marie1 on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 2:05pm

Can't improve on the title of the linked video -

and must concede that I have long loathed libertarians and Peter Theil (and Elon Musk). (They get to Palantir after the break.) His LOTR obsession (with a dash of Ayn Rand thrown in) is fits with the mostly male, adolescent worldview of libertarians. Let's not tell/remind them of the once "best run company in the country" that had a Star Wars obsession because they deserve the same fate.

Submitted by Socialprogressive on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 3:22pm

I was going to post this

@Marie1
but you beat me to the punch.

—

MAGA
Morons
Are
Governing
America

Submitted by Marie1 on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 6:03pm

Serendipity --

@Socialprogressive
just found these two today. Am now halfway through their JD Vance: Everything you didn't know about his shitty past. Yikes.
So far they have been totally accurate in their facts. Best of all, they're very amusing.

Submitted by fire with fire on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 3:03pm

Deja vu all over again

President Blowhard blows real hard at the Ukie Comedian

Submitted by fire with fire on Fri, 02/28/2025 - 10:50am
An humongous surprise in the "news" hit me upside the head this morning as I stumbled across some breathless talking heads on Fox News showcasing highlights of the Oval Office Pissing Match between Trump and Vance against Zelensky. Trump went so far off the reservation that the Fox experts would not go there with him. Their first "expert" was some thick necked guy in a suit who was the former CIA station chief in Moscow. This spook used his airtime to launch into the Putin is a Murderer Routine, ironically detailing Putin's history of bombing hospitals and schools.

I was shocked and dumbfounded to hear Donnie Fucknuts actually making sense as he told the little Ukie turd that he was losing the war and that he had no business trying to derail the peace negotiation. He also stated at one point, words to this effect: "I can be the biggest badass you've ever seen, but that's not how you get to peace."

Here is this lifetime shit head, actually going out of his way to make the case for Peace on global television.

Not that it matters what us peons think, I remain unconvinced that Trump is anything but a tool of the permanent government.

We'll see, maybe.

Half a year ago, we got to hear actual good sense coming out of Trump's yap. More nice-ish stuff coming now. Talk but no action.

Here is how this late comer to the peacenik fold could end the war without further need for yammering: Cut off all aid to Ukraine and watch the Ukie Turd figure out how to surrender.

Still not buying anything in the news, especially stuff that sounds sorta good like this crapola coming from Mr. Blowhard.

—

I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.

Submitted by Marie1 on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 6:12pm

Perhaps not peace so much for him,

@fire with fire
but his visions of big, beautiful Trump Towers and Golf courses everywhere in the world and doesn't want the nightmare of seeing them blown to smithereens. Or perhaps when Democrats and their flock are united and most Republicans are with them, he's not into playing ball with them. Or Putin reminded him of how much money was squandered on Ukraine for no discernable reason and it reduced the size of his tax cute.

Submitted by ban nock on Wed, 08/20/2025 - 9:53pm

the only possibility of peace

the only possibility of peace with Putin is if he is losing and even then it's just a pause until he can get it together to attack again. There's no cure for a rabid dog.