The Rule of Law is DOA

“The buck certainly doesn’t stop at his desk. Major League Baseball coaches face more retribution from the league’s commissioner for decoding their opponent’s signs than Trump will most likely face from the US Senate. It becomes clearer with each passing day that Trump has no problem with living in a swamp, as long as it’s his swamp.” Ron Jacobs, Counterpunch

The odds of witnesses being allowed to testify in Trump’s impeachment “trial” -- and who has ever seen a trial without witnesses or without the accused presenting one iota of exonerating evidence? -- are slim. True to his word, Mitch McConnell has twisted arms and growled threats to keep his caucus firmly in line behind Donald J. Trump. If no witnesses are allowed, we might as well pronounce the Rule of Law in America DOA. Thereafter, the batshit reasoning of Alan Dershowitz will become reality. 

This is the low point of my life as a citizen of the United States of America. I knew the impeachment trial in the Senate would be a farce. It’s astonishing to think that in a little more than three years, Donald J. Trump has shredded our most cherished institutions, and placed himself above the reach of law. According to Dershowitz’s bizarre logic, Trump can shoot Bernie Sanders dead and claim he acted in the service of his reelection, which is of course in the interests of the American people, meaning he will face no consequence whatsoever. Down in hell, Richard Nixon, who said it’s not against the law when the president does it, is smiling at finally being vindicated.  

The moral courage of the entire GOP would barely fill a thimble. How in the hell has Trump turned the GOP into a cult so quickly? Even Mitt Romney, who is independently wealthy and has nothing to fear from Trump, bows in subservience. Did these people never learn the simple playground lesson about bullies? You don’t retreat before a bully, you get in his face and expose him for the coward that he is. 

Profiles in cowardice, profiles in hypocrisy, profiles in sycophancy. This is every last man and woman in the GOP today. 

Donald J. Trump has dodged, ducked, and avoided accountability his entire life. The privileged little white boy, born with a silver spoon in his ass, always plays the victim, even as he stiffs contractors, cheats on his tax returns, lies about his wealth, and boasts about grabbing women by their private parts. The businessman who couldn’t make money in the casino business. The serial adulterer loved by Christian Nationalists. The racist adored by white supremacists. The ally of tyrants. The con man. 

Once Trump is acquitted there’s no return to the halcyon days of pedestrian political corruption. The system of checks and balances has been gamed. Get ready for full bore kleptocracy because there is nothing that can stop Trump. He may only be king of America’s rotting carcass, but he’s still king. 

The artist Patti Smith put it well in her memoir, Year of the Monkey: “A true darkening of days. All of the resources that could be used to scrape away lead from the walls of crumbling schools, to shelter the homeless, or to clean a foul river. Instead one candidate desperately shovels money down a pit, and the other builds empty edifices in his own name, another kind of immoral waste.” 

Fever Dream #111 - Trump Pulls the Trigger

On a Saturday night at Mar-A-Lago, hours after Melania had retired to her private quarters with a splitting headache and a chipped fingernail, and most of the sycophants who surround him had drifted off, Trump, for no apparent reason other than he felt like it, fired three shots at a housekeeper named Esmeralda Ruiz Rosales, better known around Mar-A-Lago as Lupita. Trump used a 22-caliber pearl-handled pistol he had borrowed from Rudy Guiliani. It was 1:13 a.m. Several members of Trump’s Secret Service detail witnessed the president pull the trigger, and saw Lupita fall flat on her back on the carpet. They saw Trump slip the .22 in his coat pocket and walk away as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. 

Lupita was 52 years old, a grandmother of four, and had worked at Mar-A-Lago for years, but had never met Trump. Her grown children despised the president and often told her she should quit working for his racist empire. The president’s Secret Service detail immediately sealed the property off. FBI and Secret Service reinforcements were called in. Someone got Vice President Pence on the phone. Pence had been woken from a very pleasant dream about Jesus Christ, especially the part when Jesus whispered to him,“It’s really you, Mike, you’re the chosen one, not that idiot Trump. What do you take for me?” 

Guests were ordered to remain in their rooms with the lights off and doors locked. Dozens of cooks, maids, housekeepers, bartenders, servers, a grumpy plumber and one catering manager were herded into the ballroom where they were ordered to surrender their phones, identification, keys, ID badges and sit quietly until further instructions were issued by the authorities. To use the bathroom you had to ask an agent, and be escorted there and back. Only one person at a time. This was a problem because the nearest working bathroom was a hike away. (Trump properties are known for their quirky plumbing.) But the Secret Service team was not fooling around this night, not after what a few had seen with their own eyes. Within fifteen minutes Mar-A-Lago was swarming with FBI agents in full combat gear. Trump was in his private suite, watching Fox News, utterly oblivious to what was going on not 400 feet from his bedroom. The president still had Guiliani’s pistol because none of the Secret Service agents had thought to ask him for it. 

In the ballroom Secret Service agents huddled with FBI agents amid the ringing of house phones and the buzzing, vibrating, chiming, and pinging of cell phones. Nobody in an official capacity seemed to know what to do. An FBI agent whispered to the Secret Service agent next to her, “Hey, you guys ever run scenarios on shit like this? When the President shoots somebody?” “Never,” replied the Secret Service agent. “Never needed to before January 20, 2017. It’s a new era.” Finally, a burly FBI man with a shiny bald head entered the room and took command. He barked orders left and right and the agents stepped to it. The bald FBI guy walked over and kneeled next to Lupita’s body. A puzzled look crossed his face, as if he had walked in on Mike Pence having sex with Lindsey Graham. The look was part disgusted, and part like, well of course Mike Pence is having sex with Lindsey Graham. 

At 2:10 a.m. Trump tweeted: A short while ago I shot an intruder here at Mar-A-Lago. Thank God for our beautiful right to bear arms. Let this be a lesson to anyone who tries to harm ME or the TRUMP family. 

Within minutes -- and one can only surmise how Fox News got the scoop when there was a virtual communications blackout in place -- Fox reported that the president had killed an Iranian terrorist who had breached Mar-A-Lago security by masquerading as a housekeeper. Citing White House sources, Fox reported that the terrorist’s target was the First Lady, and that this was clearly an act of revenge by Iran for the killing of General Qasem Soleimani. Reporters and TV crews and satellite trucks descended on Mar-A-Lago. Sirens wailed in the darkness. 

Vice President Mike Pence issued a statement, first thanking God for Trump’s bravery and heroism, then promising that the United States would take appropriate action against the Iranian regime once more facts about the attempted assassination of the First Lady were known. All options, Pence solemnly intoned, with what for him was real, honest feeling, were on the table. “Iran will not get away with this craven act of terrorism,” said the vice president. “We ask God to protect President Trump, and the Godly and Obedient and Righteous people of the United States of America.” 

At 2:33 a.m. Trump tweeted again: I’m the best shot! I was first in my class at West Point in shooting. Don’t worry, America, all is well! Your beloved First Lady is safe and sound! Iran will pay for this! 

Back in the ballroom, the Secret Service and the FBI struggled to keep the staff calm, particularly after Lupita was helped to her feet by the same bald FBI agent who had kneeled next to her. The agent, who towered above tiny Lupita, steadied the dazed woman as they walked to a table in the far corner of the room. Several of Lupita’s coworkers crossed themselves, others gasped, a few clapped. “It must have been a drill,” someone said. “Yeah,” one of the cooks muttered in Spanish, “it’s just more bullshit. That’s all there is around here, bullshit.” The ballroom buzzed. More agents arrived, in twos and threes. Radios crackled and hissed. An FBI helicopter circled Mar-A-Lago.  

At 2:51 Trump tweeted: The fake news media is reporting that I shot a housekeeper, not a terrorist. Lies! Iran attacked Mar-A-Lago! I will be addressing the nation shortly.

In Teheran the Iranian foreign minister issued this statement: The Islamic Republic of Iran had nothing to do with this reported attack on Mar-A-Lago. When we take our revenge for the assassination of Qasem Soleimani it will not be against Mrs. Trump. She has suffered enough just being married to the halfwit. 

Trump addressed the nation at 3:30 a.m. Trump’s skin looked peach-colored. 

So, I was walking in my stunning resort, one of the very best in the world, and this Iranian looking woman -- you can’t always tell, but this time I could, never a doubt, she was definitely Iranian -- walks straight at me with this blood-lust in her eyes. At first I mistook her for Nancy Pelosi. But it wasn’t Nasty Nancy, and it wasn’t Shifty Schiff, I will tell you that. I’ve looked death in the eye many times in my life. Nobody’s ever looked into death’s eyes more than Donald Trump. If you’re in the real estate business in New York City, you know what I mean. Once I knew this woman was there to get me, I stepped into action. I was very good friends with the great San Francisco homicide detective Harry Callahan. Great guy, he taught me a lot. Said I was the best shot he’d ever seen, even better than him and he was the greatest. There are streets named after him all over America, and if there aren’t any, there should be, and we can make that happen very soon. It will be great for the country. Instinctively I put my hand in my pocket and felt this lovely little .22-caliber revolver. Pearl-handled, really nice, fits my hand well. I drew, aimed, and fired three shots. Bang, bang, bang. My shooting form was perfect, right, like everything else I do. Perfect is what I do. Perfect economy. Perfect military. Perfect phone calls...

I was calm because I knew the terrorist was dead. She wasn’t moving, just real still. I stepped over the body and walked to my suite. The Secret Service and the FBI are taking care of the rest. Attorney General Barr, the greatest AG in history, is on it. If there’s any evidence to be found, Barr will find it and then he’ll never let anyone else see it, even if he’s subpoened by Congress or hung by his ankles from the Golden Gate Bridge. Great guy. 

The last we hear of Lupita is her shouting, “You can’t send me back to Mexico. I’m from Des Moines! I’m an American citizen you idiots!” 

At 4:30 a.m., a forensic technician from the FBI extracted a .22-caliber bullet from the ceiling, a second bullet from a baseboard, and a third from a potted palm tree. 

The All-American Circus

“Any plan for the future, therefore, which seeks to calm troubled waters will have to sweep barriers away, rather than pour oil over turbulent tides.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Are you ready for the circus? Chief Justice John Roberts may be presiding, but Mitch McConnell is the ringmaster, and crooked Mitch -- despite swearing an oath and signing his name in a book -- has already made it very clear that he’s not interested in impartiality, evidence, testimony from witnesses or any other standard aspect of a “trial.” Trump added a pair of odious legal personalities to his defense team, Ken Starr, of Clinton Impeachment fame, and Alan Dershowitz, pal and defender of Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased pedophile. Perfect casting. Slimeball on slimeball. 

America, we are in for a farce of the highest order. 

Trump’s made-for-TV-lawyers will cook up a big batch of nonsense for his defense. How else to defend a man whose conduct is indefensible, against whom the evidence is clear and overwhelming? A man who operates the White House as a criminal organization? Starr and Dershowitz  and other members of Trump’s Dream Team will likely attempt to turn the entire proceeding on its head. They want spectacle, a cross between The Apprentice and a WWE main event. They’ll paint the Democrats as Trump’s malign persecutors, a bunch of Javerts intent on hounding Trump out of office. They’ll portray Trump as the victim of a gross injustice. They’ll say it’s all Hunter Biden’s fault, and repeat the bogus claim that Trump did nothing wrong in trying to extort Ukraine for his own political gain. 

Keeping tabs on Trump’s transgressions is dizzying. It started on Day 1, the minute Trump placed his small white hand on the Bible and swore to protect, preserve and defend the Constitution. That was the foundational lie. Ever since, Trump has made a mockery of the presidency, doing everything he can to debase, weaken, and eviscerate the Constitution. He’s had plenty of assistance from Mitch McConnell and the Republicans, a rabid pack of see no evil, hear no evil, speak gobs of gibberish Kool Aid guzzlers. Day after day they rush to Trump’s defense and try with all their might to justify King Donald’s idiocy and cruelty. They steadfastly ignore all the investigations and lawsuits the Trump regime has spawned, content to wallow in the sewage flowing beneath Trump’s throne. 

While McConnell holds down the fort in the Senate, Trump continues his War on Reality, braying about his “perfect” phone call with the Ukranian president, Hillary Clinton’s emails, how much money he’s helped America’s banks accumulate; railing against low-flow showerheads and toilets and energy efficient household appliances. Trump claims to have no idea who Lev Parnas is, even though numerous photographs of Trump and Parnas have surfaced. His supporters lap the make-believe up like a kitten with a bowl of thick cream. Trump speaks their language, reinforces their biases and prejudices and complete lack of understanding of how a democratic republic works. He feeds and justifies their sense of grievance and alienation at the hand of the Libs. 

The Circus is here. The cast is ready. The Kool Aid is chilling and the popcorn is popping. Sit back, relax, enjoy the All-American show. 

Well & Truly

“First of all, I think it’s been totally consistent. But here’s what’s been consistent: We killed Soleimani, the number one terrorist in the world by every account, bad person, killed a lot of Americans, killed a lot of people.” Donald J. Trump

Another day in America, another nonsensical statement from King Donald I. Unhinged is the new normal in the nation’s capital. At the rate we’re going, it won’t be long before we see fistfights on the floor of Congress, as was common in the 19th century. Perhaps this isn’t a bad thing. I’d pay good money to see someone knock Mitch McConnell over the head with a walking stick. The man from Kentucky is a toad, and deserves a serious ass-kicking, as do most of the spineless members of the GOP’s Trump Cult.  

I was unaware that Qasem Soleimani was the No. 1 terrorist in the world. I thought that title belonged to Bibi Netanyahu. 

You have to admire the ingenuity of the US when it comes to naming unpleasant acts like assassination, torture and kidnapping. Targeted killing and enhanced interrogation techniques and extraordinary rendition sound more sophisticated. Upstanding nations like the US and Israel and Saudi Arabia would never engage in barbaric conduct like assassination, torture and kidnapping....

Believe that and you may as well believe every one of the more than 15,000 false and misleading statements that have tumbled from Trump’s mouth over the last four years. 

Call me naive, but I was astounded by the US response to the Iraqi parliament’s recent vote to expel all US military forces from the country. The State Department had the gall to make the preposterous claim that the US is a force for good in the Middle East. Try selling that line in Syria or Libya or Yemen. And then the US went full mob boss and told the Iraqi government that all its money held in US banks would be frozen if US forces were expelled. I was under the impression that Iraq was a sovereign nation rather than a US colony. Obviously, I was wrong. I forgot that the US never leaves. 75 years after World War II, US forces remain in Germany and Japan and Italy and Korea, ostensibly for the protection of these nations. Sure. And climate change is a hoax cooked up by the Chinese.  

I’ve never been to Iraq and have never met an Iraqi, but I started imagining a boy who was ten years old when the US launched shock and awe in 2003. To that point, his life revolved around his Baghdad neighborhood, his school, his family, and playing football with his friends. Then the US attacks. Cruise missiles and laser-guided munitions rain down, the ground shakes and fires burn across the city. He must remain indoors, away from the windows. His mother cries softly, his father curses Saddam, curses the US, curses his fate for being born in this country. The boy’s father wishes he could take his family to Canada or Sweden, someplace where it’s safe to venture outside and the electricity remains on. The father lived through US economic sanctions. He knows deprivation firsthand; he knows death, having lost a brother in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980’s. Saddam Hussein was a butcher, but at least under the regime food was plentiful and life had a semblance of normalcy and predictably. It was possible then to hope his son would have an easier life. What could he hope for now? The boy is terrified all the time, afraid to leave the house. 

Americans are conditioned to ignore the suffering of others. American lives matter more, have more value, so what if we kill half a million Iraqis? Or thousands of Afghans? American violence is always justified, cloaked in righteousness, for are we not the world’s champion of freedom and democracy? We’re the good guys. The red, white and blue avengers.  

Right. If only the historical record backed our rhetoric, but it doesn’t, not by a long shot. Haiti, Panama, Grenada, Guatemala, Argentina, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, the list of countries we’ve invaded or meddled in is very long and very bloody. Under the Trump regime we have achieved full rogue nation status. Trump broke the closet door and now we openly, brazenly, enthusiastically, side with tyrants, dictators and zealots. 

In the immortal words of Hunter S. Thompson, “We are well and truly fucked.” 

A Mount Shasta of Lies

“United States presidents have long lied about the pretexts for, and the nature of, their murderous and criminal foreign policy actions. Remember George W. Bush and Dick Cheney’s fraudulent claims that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq government possessed vast stocks of “weapons of mass destruction” that threatened the world and that Iraq had participated in the September 11, 2001 jetliner attacks?” Paul Street, Counterpunch

The rulers of the American government think the people (that’s us, you and me, our friends and family) they rule are stupid. They think we can be persuaded to believe whatever pronouncements or justifications they cough up and spit out. They give us word salads that mean nothing. And of course, they lie to us all the time -- about war, the economy, the cost of medical care, prescription drugs, housing, and the state of the ecosystem. 

They give us slogans and patriotic spectacle. They give us simplistic solutions to complex problems. They give us crumbs when we need the whole loaf. They give us chicken broth while they gorge themselves on filet mignon. They give us Flint River water while they drink Dom Perignon. They give us wars we don’t want against countries who haven’t threatened our safety or survival; they start them, we fight them with our bodies and pay for them with our blood and taxes. 

What a gallery of rogues, what a pathetic collection of criminals, grifters, Christian dogma warriors, ideologues, warmongers, and dimwits. No honor. No morality. No heart. Trump, Pence, Barr, Pompeo, Mulvaney, Kavanaugh, McConnell, Nunes, Pelosi, Schumer, Hoyer, Biden, W. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice. This is only a partial list of the first string team. There are many, many more, including current and former military commanders such as the detestable David Petraeus.  

Is it any wonder that  we’re divided, distracted, disengaged and demoralized? All governments lie, as the indefatigable journalist I.F. Stone once said. It’s like death and taxes, something we can count on, no matter what else is happening. When the corporate news media describes government lying it uses words like, “officials failed to tell the truth.” No, they flat out lied, deliberately, by design. Would you accept “I failed to tell the truth” from your young son or daughter? 

How many justifications has the Trump junta issued about the assassination of General Suleimani? Did the General pose an intimate threat to American personnel? Was Suleimani responsible for the killing of thousands of Americans? Was he planning to blow up the US Embassy? Did Trump order the strike to placate hawkish Senators who will soon act as jurors for Trump’s impeachment trial? Which is it? No evidence is offered for our consideration or analysis. We are asked to take the White House at its word, as if that is even possible three years into the most mendacious administration in American history.  The Trump presidency is a Mount Shasta of lies. The only reason it doesn’t crumble to dust is because all available GOP hands are straining to hold retaining barriers.  

The wound on America’s soul is full of pus. As at Antietam in 1862, there is nothing to be done but take a bone saw and cut deep into the rot, then offer feeble prayers that God is unlikely to hear. 

Ripping the Lid from Pandora's Box

“Trying to ascertain Trump’s motivations for this attack is like trying to peer into the bottom of a bowl of mud … or blood.” William Rivers Pitt, Truthout

Some outlines of the situation Donald J. Trump has thrust the United States into are starting to become visible. The Iraqi parliament votes to oust US forces from the country. Iran says it’s stepping away from the JCPOA. Tens of thousands of Iranians flood the streets; US flags go up in flames. As always, the US corporate media is poised to jam the gearshift into War mode. Bibi Netanyahu whispers in Trump’s ear; MBS praises Trump for his decisive leadership. The sycophants around Trump hail their hero. Christian warriors Pence and Pompeo pray for Armageddon and the rapture they believe will follow.   

America is addicted to war as sure as millions of Americans are addicted to opioids, and for the same reason -- the profits are fantastic. Both political parties worship at the altar of the War Machine, as evidenced by the recent bipartisan vote to hike the military budget to an even more obscene level. The question of how we pay for our habit is never raised; there’s no pay-go mechanism for war as there is for social programs that improve the lives and well-being of ordinary Americans. 

If the US is forced to leave Iraq, kicked out like a bad tenant, it will have repercussions across the region, from Syria to Yemen. What if other nations that play host to American bases decide that America is no longer a trustworthy and reliable ally, and tell us to pack up and get out?

From his first day in office, Trump has waged war on the truth and the rule of law, domestically and internationally. By authorizing the assassination of General Suleimani and a high-ranking Iraqi official, he has signalled to the world that we’re now playing by the law of the jungle. If the US can take out a high profile leader like Suleimani, what’s to prevent China or Russia or Turkey from doing the same? After our illegal invasion of Iraq -- the greatest strategic blunder in US history, for which none of the architects have paid any price -- our actions at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo signalled our approval of torture. We have adopted the barbaric tactics of our so-called enemies, as well as the tactics of the State of Israel. International law is something other countries must abide by; Israel and the US claim an exemption.  

The foolish and grandiose decisions of the past haunt us. The US declared global war on terrorism and in the process we have become terrorists. The great beacon of freedom, democracy and the rule of law is revealed as murderous and lawless. 

Addiction to war is killing this country, destroying the alliances and security frameworks that kept the world relatively peaceful since 1945; it’s also decimating the environment because the Pentagon is a major consumer of fossil fuels and producer of greenhouse gas emissions. Iran will build a nuclear weapon, and likely do it sooner than later. Saudi Arabia will have to follow suit. A nuclear arms race in one of the world’s hotspots will begin.  

Trump bounces around like a beachball in a windstorm, threatening to attack Iran’s cultural treasures, responding to the Iraqi parliament’s vote to expel US forces by demanding Iraq pay for the bases and facilities the US built during its long occupation or face economic sanctions. Think about this for a moment. The US invaded and occupied Iraq in 2003 based on lies and fabrications. First, that Iraq had a hand in the 9/11 attacks, and second, that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. The US destroyed Iraq, unleashed sectarian violence, and killed, directly or indirectly, hundreds of thousands of people. The US had no right to be in Iraq in the first place, and building bases and pretending to partner with Iraq’s political leaders was a risk the US took on. Take the risk, accept the consequences. Allstate doesn’t peddle imperial insurance. 

First lesson of superpower leadership: don’t open Pandora’s Box unless you have a plan to deal with the consequences. 

Brace for Blowback

“So why go to war with Iran? Why walk away from a nuclear agreement that Iran did not violate? Why demonize a government that is the mortal enemy of the Taliban, along with other jihadist groups, including al-Qaida and Islamic State? Why shatter the de facto alliance we have with Iran in Iraq and Afghanistan? Why further destabilize a region already dangerously volatile?

The generals and politicians who launched and prosecuted these wars are not about to take the blame for the quagmires they created. They need a scapegoat. It is Iran. The hundreds of thousands of dead and maimed, including at least 200,000 civilians, and the millions driven from their homes into displacement and refugee camps cannot, they insist, be the result of our failed and misguided policies.” Chris Hedges, Truthdig

Well, only two days into the new year and decade and mad King Donald I has gone and teed up war with Iran. Months ago, way before Trump was impeached, I predicted that we would come to this point. If this goes south as quickly as many professional observers, like Chris Hedges and Juan Cole, believe it will, it will belong 100% to the washed-up real estate mogul who fancies himself an infallible leader. 

Trump has no idea what he’s done. The blowback will come from many angles, some that cannot be anticipated by generals and experts and media talking heads, and certainly not by the dimwitted Trump. For a time he gets to play Donald-the-Conqueror, but then it will all change. Although Americans are weaned to believe that we are the smartest, fastest, coolest, and most deserving people in the world, much smarter than any of the people whose countries we bomb or invade or colonize, the fact is we invariably underestimate our opponents. For proof, see the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, and Yemen. Iran will not be any different. The Iranian leadership is brutal and repressive, no doubt or argument about this. But the Iranian masses are not going to start cheering for Trump and America to rescue them or help them overthrow the government. Iran is a far different animal from Afghanistan, and quite different from the Iraq the US pulverized in 2003. What’s the end game, Donald? You going to ride in on your golf cart and take Iran’s oil? 

This strike has other people’s fingerprints all over it, like MBS in Saudi Arabia and old reliable Bibi Netanyahu in Israel. Trump reportedly talked to both while not bothering to talk to Congress or the tattered remains of our European alliance. Both MBS and Bibi have corruption syndrome, the weight of domestic politics, and both have celebrated as Trump abrogated the Iran Nuclear Deal and instituted brutal economic sanctions, which, let’s not forget, is itself an act of war. Trump tried with all his might to strangle Iran. 

War is the ultimate distraction, and the US populace is not known for its attention span, particularly when it comes to our “beautiful” military, and I’m sure Trump is wagering he can ride a pyrrhic wave of patriotic feeling away from his impeachment troubles, his legal battles, and the con man’s ultimate fear -- that it’s all going to come crashing down and he will be exposed as an incompetent fraud. 

Buy the ticket, take the ride, as Hunter S. Thompson said.  

Fine start to the new decade. America’s political leaders, the elites and the 1% refuse to accept any limits on their power. They have a learning disability. They still cling to the belief that the best way to reshuffle the Middle East for America’s (and Israel’s) benefit is regime change. This has to be some form of psychosis. The American Empire is headed for the shoals.