85 thoughts on ““Pox” Vobiscum”


  1. Seth addresses President Trump and Putin having a one-on-one meeting and more in his monologue for Thursday, August 14, before taking a closer look at Trump claiming he personally selected the nominees for this year’s Kennedy Center honors so that he could prevent “woke” artists from getting the award.

  2. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/15/

    US-Russia talks on Ukraine: who’s who in the delegations to Alaska?
    Putin will bring old guard loyalists and younger financial power-brokers to meet Trump’s most trusted advisers

    When Vladimir Putin lands in Alaska on Friday for his high-stakes meeting with Donald Trump, he will be flanked by some of the most powerful figures in the Kremlin’s inner circle – a team of seasoned political operators, financial strategists and diplomatic enforcers who have helped shape Russia’s foreign and economic policy for more than two decades.

    The delegation, a mix of old guard loyalists and younger financial power-brokers, hints at Putin’s desire to woo Trump and dangle financial incentives for siding with Moscow on Ukraine.

    Trump will also be accompanied by a cadre of his most trusted advisers, among them a property mogul, a former hedge fund billionaire and the country’s top diplomat.

    The US president has long prized loyalty over experience, and many in Kyiv and the west are uneasy about the lack of seasoned Russia experts with real influence in the White House.

    Ultimately, though, the summit will come down to a face-to-face meeting between the two men – and putting Trump alone in a room with Putin has always been an unpredictable, and potentially dangerous, affair.

    Russian Delegation [continues IDing 5: the foreign minister, foreign policy advisor, defense minister, direct investment fund chief, and the finance minister]

    US Delegation {the 5 stooges}

  3. also for your entertainment in the guardian today
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/14/melania-trump-demands-hunter-biden-retract-comments-linking-her-to-jeffrey-epstein

    […]
    Biden made the Epstein comments during a sprawling interview with the US journalist Andrew Callaghan in which he lashed out at “elites” and others in the Democratic party who he said had undermined his father before he dropped out of last year’s presidential campaign.

    “Epstein introduced Melania to Trump. The connections are, like, so wide and deep,” Biden said in one of the comments that the first lady disputes. Biden attributed the claim to the author Michael Wolff. Donald Trump has accused Wolff of making up stories to sell books.

    Biden responded to the lawsuit on Thursday, speaking again to Callaghan, this time from a holiday location, and in effect doubled down on his unsubstantiated claim.

    Asked if he wished to apologize, Biden said: “Uh, fuck that, not going to happen.”

    “What I said is what I have heard and seen reported and written primarily from Michael Wolff, but also dating back to 2019.” He cited a number of publications, including the New York Times and Vanity Fair, as sources of his information.

    The first lady’s threats echo a favoured strategy of her husband, who has aggressively used litigation to go after critics. Public figures such as the Trumps face a high bar to succeed in a defamation lawsuit.

    The president also responded to the issue, accusing Biden of fabricating stories to denigrate the first lady. Trump told Fox News Radio host Brian Kilmeade on Thursday morning that he had encouraged her to sue.

    “I said go forward. You know, I’ve done pretty well on these lawsuits lately … and Jeffrey Epstein had nothing to do with Melania and introducing,” he told Kilmeade.

    “But they do that to demean, they make up stories. I mean I can tell you exactly how it was and it was another person actually … but it wasn’t Jeffrey Epstein. “I told her go ahead and do it.”

    Trump indicated he would prefer that the first lady used his lawyers.

    The president and first lady have long said they were introduced by Paolo Zampolli, a modelling agent, at a New York fashion week party in 1998.

    The letter to Biden is dated 6 August and was first reported on Wednesday by Fox News Digital.

    Abbe Lowell, a lawyer who has represented Biden in his criminal cases and to whom Brito’s letter is addressed, did not respond to a request for comment.

  4. speaking of the jeffrey/ghislaine mess, perhaps it’s what might be in DOJ’s Epstein files about the mrs that Dodo’s afraid of getting out… from the sexy salacious to the spy-dy suspicious.

  5. Melanoma is threatening Hunter Biden with a billion-dollar suit for saying she met pumpkin man through Epstein. Discovery on that could get interesting.

  6. Does anyone really think Trump wouldn’t let Ghislaine Maxwell escape if it saved him a pardon fallout?

    Her prison’s history of walkaways is unmatched.

    Here are the receipts:

  7. One thing Dodo succeeds with is rigging awards. Michael Cohen described his underhanded methods in his first book. I think it will happen again with the soon-to-be-unprestigious Nobel Prised.

  8. Maybe some enterprising young cub reporter out to make a name for himself will kind of follow her around with a camera while she’s out on work release. Free country and all that, eh?

    Haha there will probably be a few hundred mooks with iPhones surrounding the joint. I heard Woodward is renting a new high-powered wheel chair just so he can make the scene.

    Oh yeah, right……they’ll just smuggle her out with the dirty laundry.

    Haha……Texas.

  9. Doing a little research on farm commodity prices and production today. The interesting thing about all of them is how globally oriented they are. The modern farmer is a globalist.
    This quote from a cotton farming trade magazine drives the point home.

    World production is forecast 1.8 million bales lower as a result of reductions for the United States, Sudan, Uzbekistan, and Mali that more than offset a larger crop in China.

    Most Democratic activists don’t even know Uzbekistan exists, but there is some old grizzled farmer out in Cbob’s west Texas country going “Yep”.

    Jack

  10. Under the “all politics is local” column.

    From Iowa

    Over the last four years, grain prices have been on a downward trend. Soybeans — a major U.S. export and a pillar of the Midwest economy — have lost 34% of their value on the international market. Net farm income, while still above pre-pandemic levels, declined for two consecutive years after peaking in 2022.

    At the same time, input prices for fertilizer, fuel and other essential supplies have surged over the past five years, squeezing farmer profit margins and putting added strain on operations.

    “The big difference between the first trade war and now is our input prices. They’re a lot higher than they were,” Hemmes said.

    Borrowing has also become significantly more expensive for farmers, as the average interest rates charged on loans for land purchases and farm operations have increased by over 40% since 2020.

    As we talked about the other day on the trailmix Youtube meet up, Trump’s helter skelter approach to governing makes it even more difficult as all businesses out there have to do long range planning. For a farmer that is a minimum of the 6 months it takes to plant and then sell the crop. But farmers are only a small minority of rural Iowa. There are all the support services, from equipment dealers to grocery stores to small contractors that all need stability so they can plan for the future.
    Democrats have an opportunity to pick up votes in these areas, but they have to be there and be local. And Democrats haven’t been local in rural America for some time.

    Jack

  11. Governor Newsom Press Office
    @GovPressOffice

    MANY PEOPLE ARE SAYING – AND I AGREE – THAT I, GAVIN
    C. NEWSOM (AMERICA’S FAVORITE GOVERNOR) DESERVE THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE. WHY? BECAUSE OF THE “MOST INCREDIBLE MAPS IN THE HISTORY OF MAPPING” (EVEN COLUMBUS). THESE MAPS WILL END THE “VERY RIGGED” ELECTIONS, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN (MAGA!!!), RETAKE CONGRESS “FOR THE PEOPLE”, AND SAVE DEMOCRACY. NOBODY ELSE COULD HAVE DONE THIS – CERTAINLY NOT THE “SELF-PROCLAIMED” MASTER DEALMAKER DONALD “TACO” TRUMP (TINY HANDS) WHO MISSED “THE DEADLINE” AND LOST (SAD!). PEACE THROUGH MAPS — NO ONE HAS EVER THOUGHT OF THIS BEFORE. I AM THE “PEACE TIME” GOVERNOR NOW, STOPPING “POLITICAL WARS” BEFORE THEY START.
    HARMONY, UNITY, EVEN LOVE. THE NOBEL COMMITTEE HAS GIVEN THIS AWARD TO LESSER PEOPLE FOR MUCH LESS. I, GAVIN C. NEWSOM, ACTUALLY EARNED IT. THE WORLD WILL BE SAFER, KINDER, AND FRANKLY MORE “BEAUTIFUL” BECAUSE OF MY MAPS. GIVE GAVIN THE NOBEL, MANY ARE SAYING. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER! — GCN
    11:22 AM • Aug 15, 2025

  12. I’m curious how Melon-iya thinks Hunter Biden could have harmed her reputation even if his claim that Epstein introduced her to Dumbass is wrong. Of course I’ve never had one of the Einstein visas so maybe it’s just too complicated for my simple mind.

  13. ms maxwell better let them know she’s got an “open when I die” swiss bank box full of info, lists and vids just waiting for anything untoward to happen to her. Otherwise, they won’t hesitate to make sure she has a fatal accident on her way to work release.

  14. yo she’s compromised, chase another car

    Y’all are going to turn a right wing conspiracy into a left-wing conspiracy theory, which they will then dismiss as a left-wing conspiracy theory

    Stupidity is repeating the same actions for 20 fucking years and expecting different results

  15. Entire 12 person Fulbright Scholarship Board RESIGNS.
    /#%%%%%%%%%%%%##%%#%%%%%%#I

    When I have to talk to a maggot I bitch about taxes and rich people. Since I look like a maggot in good standing that serves to not start any rhubarbs. Pop said never argue with a fool.

  16. I’ll say “y’all” again:

    Have an in-real-life political conversation with someone who is not a political junkie, y’all will have a better understanding of what resonates, and it’s not the Epstein scandal, it’s inflation and the extremely high cost of living, it’s all anybody cares about- themselves

  17. do you want to start winning elections?

    Ask yourself this question every day:

    “What have I done to include black women in the political process today?”

  18. Dems want to win elections… they’d better remember…

    it’s still the economy… stupid!

    That’s what black people, white people, purple people… young, old… etc. etc. really care about.

    just my 5 cents… inflation.. ya know…

  19. https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/15/politics/us-military-deploying-caribbean-latin-america-cartel-mission

    The US military is deploying more than 4,000 Marines and sailors to the waters around Latin America and the Caribbean as part of a ramped-up effort to combat drug cartels, two US defense officials told CNN — a dramatic show of force that will give the president a broad range of military options should he want to target drug cartels.

    The deployment of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit to US Southern Command, which has not been previously reported, is part of a broader repositioning of military assets to the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility that has been underway over the last three weeks, one of the officials said.

    A nuclear-powered attack submarine, additional P8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft, several destroyers and a guided-missile cruiser are also being allocated to US Southern Command as part of the mission, the officials said.

    *There’s a hurricane?
    *Goin’ after Tony Montana with a nuclear sub?

  20. I don’t see many maggots since I stopped working.

    I really like that. That’s right up there with not having to go to the Harry’s Tweeter.

  21. every day i wish Newsom didn’t have that dinner 😭

    such a good politician

    (listening to him on “pod save”)

  22. Craig – If you get out there early tomorrow, you might get some good stuff for the trail or trail-live.

  23. I wish Newsom hadn’t done that bro-cast & found out he lets his 13-year old son listen to that garbage. But, not throwing out the good to wait for the perfect.

  24. https://nypost.com/2025/08/15/world-news/putins-foreign-minister-spotted-wearing-ussr-sweatshirt-at-summit/

    Russia’s foreign minister arrived in Alaska for Friday’s high-stakes US summit wearing a Soviet Union sweatshirt — an apparent jab reminding the world of the Kremlin’s ultimate goal to reassemble the Communist state.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022 as part of his personal ambition to re-form the Soviet Union, the collapse of which he has called “the greatest geopolitical disaster of the century.”

  25. https://newrepublic.com/post/199149/report-trump-privately-bashing-epstein-victims

    As the Trump administration keeps the Epstein files tight to its chest (the documents reportedly contain numerous redacted mentions of Trump), media appearances by victims of the notorious late pedophile have hampered the president’s hopes of redirecting the public eye anywhere but on his former friend Jeffrey Epstein.

    A vexed Trump, Rolling Stone reports, has privately taken to calling some survivors of Epstein’s abuse “Democrats,” suggesting they may be trying to sully his reputation for political purposes.

    The president has reportedly claimed that some speaking out are “clearly of a ‘Democrat’ political affiliation,” even floating the idea that some could be in cahoots with “prominent liberal attorneys or groups.”

    *This happened before Adolf’s political career, and probably while he was identifying as a Democrat. I believe the women. Lock him up.

  26. redirecting the public eye anywhere but on his former friend Jeffrey Epstein.

    where’s the evidence of that? just some shit some guy from New Republic wrote

    Newsom gets it, we have one more chance to just try and stem the tide, the Rethuglicans are redistricting for a reason

    midterms midterms midterms

  27. https://www.npr.org/2025/08/12/nx-s1-5494560/what-one-of-jeffrey-epsteins-victims-wants-from-the-trump-administration

    FARMER: When I was alone with Epstein and Maxwell at this ranch in New Mexico, you know, she’s the one who started instructing me on this is how – you know, how we massage Jeffrey. And this is what a massage is like. So you should get undressed, and I can give you a massage. And then, you know, expose my body and touch me. And I think that people don’t necessarily understand that she was not just involved in finding young women for Epstein, but she was also involved very much in the abuse and perpetrating those crimes herself. So, you know, she is not being blamed for someone else’s crimes. She is serving a sentence for her own crimes, and I just want to make sure people remember that and understand that.

    FADEL: Ghislaine Maxwell has been moved to a lower security prison. She’s also met with a top DOJ official. Watching that happen, what’s going through your mind?

    FARMER: I was really in disbelief at how quickly that all unfolded. And, again, that there wasn’t any sort of a heads up given to – you know, I spoke with other people that were involved, and I know that nobody received any kind of information about that before it happened.

    FADEL: The grand jury papers.

    FARMER: Yes.

    FADEL: The request to unseal them. Something Maxwell does not want. Something that your lawyers have said very much that you do want.

  28. Every day is more disgusting and degrading in the remains of these United States. Watched the reruns of a war criminal meeting with a criminal sexual abuser. Makes me very angry. Hope the traitor has a harrowing return home.

  29. Hundreds of factories opening all over the country. Car factories. AI factories. LoL
    Putin brought businessmen with him to make Adolf feel like it’s a regular business deal. Putin will give nothing. Anything he gives will be rescinded or will be a bigger get for Russia in the long run. Putin is as trustworthy as tRUMPsky. Not. At. All.

  30. Time for the annual reminder that what they actually called him was: “short-fingered vulgarian.”

  31. Another one of my morning reads

    The Trump administration has asked NASA employees to draw up plans to end at least two major satellite missions, according to current and former NASA staffers. If the plans are carried out, one of the missions would be permanently terminated, because the satellite would burn up in the atmosphere.

    The data the two missions collect is widely used, including by scientists, oil and gas companies and farmers who need detailed information about carbon dioxide and crop health. They are the only two federal satellite missions that were designed and built specifically to monitor planet-warming greenhouse gases.

    BTW, this data collected is about more than global warming. I lets scientist study crop production world wide to better forecast commodity prices and level the playing field between the local farmer and the big city commodities trader.
    So what is the annual cost for keeping this information resource ? About $15 million. Now days that is pocket change, for the value received, just for American farmers. The climate stuff is free.
    Another indication of just how stupid these people are.

    Jack

  32. there were a few times during the past election where Democrat messaging didn’t make the right wingers panic a bit

    we can focus on what was done right also 😊

  33. bId – from the ear shapes and the face droop I am pretty sure it is the real puttie. I have not looked at him walking, there may not be enough distance to see much. The real one has very distinctive ears, makes picking him out of old pictures when he was a KGB agent in Germany fairly easy. Also, he is small, short and stupid looking, but he is an old school agent, one you do not play with. Krasnov is too stupid to understand that.

  34. BB – Vlad walked up to Adolf on what appeared to be his comically-long, red tie. I’m sure it was the angle, but it looked really skinny.

  35. The two primary words in the NYT live-ish coverage of the Alaskan show are propaganda and disinformation. Sounds about right.

    “The meeting in Alaska between President Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has spawned a miasma of propaganda and disinformation, online trolling and unhinged conspiracy theories.”

  36. “Pursuing Peace” with US & Russian flags. A war criminal and an Orange authoritarian (and serial rapist). Not a decent human being nor a Ukrainian flag in sight.

  37. What nonsense is NBC spewing? Peace in Ukraine, while unleashing troops against civilians in your own country, having folks kidnapped and trafficked to torture prisons in other countries or for-profit concentration camps in the US. Even IF there was peace in Ukraine and all territories were returned to Ukraine, that tiny-handed, fck-faced moron doesn’t deserve jack squat.

  38. https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/15/business/trump-putin-business-opportunities-intl

    Anton Siluanov, Russia’s finance minister, and Kirill Dmitriev, a senior economic negotiator and head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, are among those attending the talks with Putin.

    “If we make progress, I would discuss (business opportunities), because that’s one of the things that they would like; they’d like to get a piece of what I built in terms of the economy,” the US president told reporters.

    *Adolf has built an expressway to a recession. Stupid prck.

    After Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Western companies left Russia en masse in protest.

    Since then, more than 1,000 global companies have either voluntarily exited or curtailed operations in Russia, according to a list compiled by the Yale School of Management.

    Household US names like Apple (AAPL), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Mastercard (MA) were among those who left, yet there have been some holdouts continuing to do some business in the country.

    Meanwhile, Chinese firms including automakers and tech companies have filled the gap left by their Western counterparts. Russians have also turned to copy-cat versions of American brands. For example, Stars Coffee emerged after Starbucks (SBUX) exited in 2022, adopting an audaciously familiar logo of a woman with a star above her head.

    So, if Western companies did return en masse, would Russian consumers welcome them?

    The European Union, once a top Kremlin customer, has banned all seaborne imports of Russian crude oil, and whittled Moscow’s share of its natural gas imports delivered via pipeline to about 11% last year, from more than 40% in 2021. The bloc still imports Russian liquefied natural gas via sea tankers.

  39. Interesting listening to the BS presser with a MAGAt. They hate Putin. Called him a liar. LoL Still loving their orange savior.

    They said they wished the press would’ve asked about “Russiagate.” No idea if they were serious, because it’s always the same chuckle.

  40. Question: Everyone in NATO knows Putin will keep pressing. If they don’t accept Ukraine into NATO in order to get Putin to stand down, wouldn’t NATO members know it was in their best interest to support Ukraine the next time Putin attacked Ukraine? At this point, is it necessary for them to be NATO members? An unofficial agreement for self-preservation of other countries?

  41. Governor Newsom Press Office
    @GovPressOffice
    TRUMP JUST FLED THE PODIUM WITH PUTIN — NO QUESTIONS, NOTHING! TOTAL LOW ENERGY. THE MAN LOOKED LIKE HE’D JUST EATEN 3 BUCKETS OF KFC WITH VLAD. IS HE AFRAID THE PRESS WILL ASK ABOUT ME??? (AMERICA’S FAVORITE GOVERNOR) AND THE FACT I “STOLE THE CAMERAS” THIS WEEK WITH “THE MAPS”? MANY PEOPLE ARE SAYING HE BEGGED PUTIN TO HOLD HIS HANDS (TINY) ON THE WAY OUT. ADMIT IT, DONNIE J… YOU’RE TERRIFIED BECAUSE THIS WAS THE WORST WEEK OF YOUR LIFE BECAUSE OF ME, GAVIN C. NEWSOM. “THE MAPS” WILL END YOUR PRESIDENCY, RETAKE CONGRESS FOR THE PEOPLE, AND EXPOSE YOUR RIGGED “LITTLE GAME.” MY “PERFECT MAPS” ARE MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN ANYTHING IN TRUMP TOWER (WHICH MANY SAY SMELLS WEIRD).
    @STEVENCHUENG47 — EXPLAIN THIS DISASTER!!!
    ENJOY YOUR FLIGHT HOME, DONALD — YOU’RE PUTIN’S PROBLEM NOW. I’M AMERICA’S SOLUTION.
    – GCN
    g 5:20 PM – 8/15/25 –

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