31 thoughts on “‘National security is not my thing’”

  1. Ignorant Republican Congress enables Trump’s deranged foreign policy
    by David Horsey Aug 19, 2026
    It has been clear for a long time that the loyalty Republicans in Congress show to Donald Trump far exceeds any concerns they may have about the president’s unhinged, impulse-driven foreign policy.
    That has never been more true than now.
    Trump has gotten the country into an unnecessary war in Iran that has seriously depleted and demoralized the U.S. military while dramatically boosting gasoline prices for American consumers. And, having once insisted the war would be over in days, Trump now just makes up bogus assertions of success that only indicate he has no plan at all for bringing the conflict to an end.
    In the process, Trump verbally attacks American allies whom he deems insufficiently obedient to his demands. Just in the last few days, he has threatened to “bomb the shit” out of Oman, a long-time Middle East ally, and he has discontinued military exercises with South Korea, apparently because that country’s leader declined to take part in Trump’s Iran misadventure.
    In distancing himself from South Korea, Trump once again bragged about his close friendship with Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s vile, nuclear-armed dictator and claimed, showing no evidence, that he and Kim were meeting soon for a love fest.
    Trump also came up with a crackpot idea much akin to his threat of colonizing Greenland: make the Strait of Hormuz a U.S. territory. How such a scheme could be accomplished, let alone sustained, was left to the president’s imagination.
    The list of Trump’s deranged foreign policy antics is quite long, but the tally of publicly-expressed concerns or disagreements coming from Republican senators and representatives is exceedingly short. It is obvious to the entire world — both friends and foes — that the United States is being led by a narcissistic bully who treats international relations like a cage fight, a man who cannot be counted on to hold to any promise. Yet, the faux patriots in the GOP Congress stay quiet and compliant.
    House and Senate Republicans’ timidity is not simply a strategy to protect their cozy jobs by avoiding the president’s wrath, it is also a result of their ignorance and disinterest in foreign affairs.
    I recently had lunch with a reporter who moved from England to cover Congress for a British publication. Though he had observed his share of mediocrities in the British parliament, he was astounded by the number of American congressmen who are incapable of stating informed opinions beyond simplistic soundbites.
    A great many American voters pay scant attention to what happens in the rest of the world. That ignorance is reflected in the people they elect to Congress who continue to support Trump’s dangerous follies simply because they are unable to discern the obvious: Trump is a deluded know-it-all whose erratic whims are turning the USA into an international pariah.


  4. Aug 20, 2026 #raginggrannies #midterms2026 #vote
    To be clear, Congress has had the power to stop 47’s fascist regime from Day 1. Yet, they have failed the People at every opportunity. We are in an illegal war with no exit strategy. The National Debt is at a record high with 1/4 of that occurring under 45/47. America has abandoned & alienated its longtime allies. People have lost healthcare, jobs, homes as well as losing family members, friends, & coworkers to ICE. All while the oligarchs have continued to increase their wealth.
    We the People have had enough of this useless Congress. Despite the regime’s efforts to suppress voters this November, we must all turn out in record numbers and vote them out! Then, we start the long progress of healing and building a better system for all.

  5. You’e on it, PatD. My random waking thought this morning was 25th Amendment, impeachment, resignation??? whatever if it takes to save ourselves from this dangerous fool. Add North Korea to his dangerous miscalculations. Our national security might not survive unless we find a way to get him out. Rosie last night begged him to just resign. Maybe if we agree to name everything in DC after him, he’d go?

  6. here’s what Mashable reported on
    Rosie O’Donnell ends ‘Kimmel’ run with a ballad for Trump
    “Poor Donny Boy, your polls, your polls are falling…”
    Rosie O’Donnell concluded her Jimmy Kimmel Live! guest-hosting week with a musical middle finger to Donald Trump.
    A longtime critic of the president, the comedian and screen legend has been starting every nightly monologue with a thinly veiled dig at Trump. On Monday, O’Donnell called the president “Mango Mussolini.” On Tuesday, “President Oompa J. Loompa.” On Wednesday, “President Petty Roosevelt.” And on Thursday, the host paid tribute to the “Hungry, Hungry Hypocrite in the White House” with a ditty.
    To close the monologue, O’Donnell sang a parody of the traditional folk song “Danny Boy,” a song often associated with her new home of Ireland, and it’s pure cinema.
    “Poor Donny Boy, your polls, your polls are falling / Your reflecting pool is green as Mountain Dew / Your wig’s a mess, your ballroom is appalling / And with Iran, you bit off more than you can chew,” O’Donnell sings.
    “But there’s a way to end this job / It’s time to use that stable genius brain / Since we all know you’ll never be Obama / Why not resign and make this country great again?”

  7. The Pyongyang Double-Cross

    Covering the Coverage

    Grab your neck brace, because watching the fallout of President Trump’s latest foreign policy fiasco will give you severe whiplash. He just gutted U.S.-South Korea military readiness to cozy up to Kim Jong Un, only for Pyongyang to immediately return the favor with a barrage of ballistic missiles. Across the board, the global consensus is painfully clear: we voluntarily surrendered our strategic leverage for a one-sided photo-op, leaving our allies twisting in the wind while a hermit dictator (and his sister) outplay the White House on live television.

    • [Mainstream]: Focuses on the stark contrast between Trump’s overtures and Pyongyang’s immediate missile launch. The subtext here is the U.S. president getting openly played while attempting to claim a diplomatic victory. – PBS NewsHour
    • [Progressive]: Frames Trump’s move as embarrassing appeasement, noting that Kim Yo-jong literally called Trump’s overture “not worthy of comment.” The U.S. is slashing its own military readiness just to get ghosted and mocked by a dictator’s sister. – The Guardian
    • [Mainstream]: Highlights the discrepancy between Trump claiming North Korea has 57 nukes, while Seoul says it’s up to 120. The absurdist element is the White House trying to rekindle nuclear talks while the president seemingly misplaces roughly 60 nuclear warheads in his public ramblings. – CBS News
    • [Defense Analysis]: A dry, clinical breakdown of how the launches occurred amid joint military drills. Behold the stoicism required to politely report that giving away strategic leverage doesn’t actually stop missile testing. – The American Legion
    • [Opinion Analysis]: Analyzes the “frivolous” and “oblivious” nature of Trump’s foreign policy. The absurdist framing is the administration bouncing from a stalemated oil war in the Middle East straight into getting mocked by a hermit kingdom in Asia. – The Washington Post ($)
    • [Mainstream]: [Ongoing] Contrasts the Trump administration’s demands of absolute loyalty from the DOJ with its unpredictable foreign policy swings regarding joint exercises. Demanding control at home while losing the plot abroad. – CNN
    • [Progressive]: [Ongoing] Centers on domestic U.S. fallout and lawmaker panic over gutting a 73-year-old military alliance. They point out Trump called the Kim regime “unthreatening” mere days before they resumed lobbing missiles. – The Guardian
    • [Mainstream]: [Ongoing] Notes how Trump’s abrupt decision to scale back exercises caused panic in Seoul. The tragedy is South Korea having to diplomatically smile while their primary defense guarantor treats their national security like a reality TV bargaining chip. – CNN
    • [Mainstream]: Focuses on the logistical fallout of wrapping up the military drills a day early following Pyongyang’s missile barrage. Now the U.S. scrambles to adjust field training schedules to accommodate a dictator who just fired 10 rockets. – AP News
    • [Mainstream]: [Ongoing] Details Pyongyang’s early threats regarding the military drills. The framing is that North Korea’s predictable rhetorical outrage still managed to successfully goad the U.S. president into canceling field exercises. – AP News

    — Human-directed. AI-generated. Powered by Silas Gemini (Pro).

  8. Health of Colorado priest in ICE custody deteriorating after almost a year in detention
    Edward Nalwamba has experienced worsening respiratory conditions while in Aurora ICE detention center

    A 78-year-old priest who has been in immigration detention in Aurora for almost a year continues to present symptoms of respiratory illness with no improvement in his condition.

    Edward Nalwamba, a citizen of Uganda who has lived in Colorado for more than two decades, has been in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention since September. For months now, he has presented respiratory symptoms that a medical provider who reviewed his case said could be indications of tuberculosis.

    His symptoms include coughing, chest pain, a runny nose, a scratchy throat and voice, headaches, dizziness and general fatigue, according to Joy Athanasiou, one of Nalwamba’s immigration attorneys. Nalwamba has become extremely malnourished and is now wheelchair-bound. He fell in early August and has nearly fallen on multiple other occasions, she said.

    “I’m very worried about my clients’ health,” Athanasiou said. “He still has ongoing symptoms that are not improving.”

    More at link

    Can someone explain why state authorities can’t get into this business when active TB cases are suspected? For that matter, why can’t they get in at all. They are private businesses. Shouldn’t any state facility be able to conduct health inspections at any time?

  11. Reminder of why the debt is climbing like a rocket. In addition to all the new spending and new tax cuts for the wealthy, it is all hitting just as the government is required to pay back all the excess funds “borrowed” from Social Security.

    Increasing the Government’s Debt Burden: Because the Treasury already spent the FICA cash surpluses on past budgets, it must pay Social Security back using current general revenues or by issuing new debt to the public. Passing multi-trillion-dollar tax cuts increases the federal deficit. This leaves the federal government with less fiscal flexibility and higher borrowing costs just as Social Security is demanding its money back.

    Recent Policy Changes to Senior Tax Brackets: Legislative changes, such as the expanded senior deductions in the 2025 “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” directly reduce the amount of income tax collected from higher-income retirees’ benefits. Because this specific tax revenue is legally obligated to flow straight back into the trust funds, the Social Security Board of Trustees notes that these specific tax rollbacks have accelerated the primary fund’s projected depletion date to 2032

  12. Good news, Jamie. That Seeger song is only blocked in Russia.

    FYI EVERYONE: Let me know in advance if there’s any music you want to play in our chat room. My AI can check the YouTube copyright status for our daily livestream (where restrictions are more common than when just sharing on websites). I am building a file of copyright-safe music we can play on air. Just made a sub-folder for those like this Seeger song, that are Banned In Russia — we could do music festival sometime for music Putin hates.

  13. Plenty of FREAK for today’s edition. Bring Yours 11am ET.

    • Breaking Bombshell: Full Natalie Harp Letters To Trump Explode On Scene
    • Trump-Cohen radio reunion: Bitter foes shared a mic for an exercise in sycophancy and overnight amnesia.
    • Harvard morgue side hustle: Harvard Medical School just settled for $53 million after their former morgue manager was caught selling donated body parts on the black market.
    • German donkey rampage: A loose donkey in northern Germany went rogue, jumped directly into a van, and started biting and kicking two motorists.

  14. Katie…
    FYI…I live in southern NH right on the border of Massachusetts. Our major news stations come from Boston. I’ve seen a lot of news about the Lindsey Clancy trial. The trial is not about who killed her children… she has admitted that she did it. The trial is about is she legally responsible because of postpartum psychosis and being overly medicated for it. So anyone saying they think her husband killed their children is wrong.

    It’s a very sad case.

  18. lol why are Dems letting rightists hand “trans-in-sports” around their neck, just buck the loud minority, it’s a fringe issue

    losing everything wasn’t enough for these loons

    You can’t call maga a “cult” and not them

    btw this is going to be the entire election cycle because trumpers can’t defend their God’s policies

  19. Trump’s pick to lead FDA is in favor of killing bees. Heidi Overton, advised on an executive order to increase production of the cancer-linked pesticide glyphosate.

    MAHA advocates say she defended the White House’s alliance with glyphosate’s manufacturer Bayer during a closed-door meeting.

  21. Today in the Diner…
    Tom Cotton Poll Shock & Melania Trump Finances Exposed

    Tom Cotton faces a shock Hendrix College poll in Arkansas while Melania Trump hides a $100 million real estate secret. The GOP panics in Texas.

    The Cook Political Report is shifting the map toward Democrats in Texas and Iowa, and suddenly the Arkansas Senate race is giving Tom Cotton a massive headache. We dig into the latest Hendrix College poll showing unexpected trouble for the GOP incumbent, while tracking Mary Peltola defending public radio up in Alaska. Meanwhile, Tommy Tuberville is out here trying to explain data centers in Ohio without having a clue how they actually work, handing Sherrod Brown a political gift on a silver platter.

    Down in Texas, Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton are sweating the details as candidates like James Talarico start gaining traction. We also follow the money straight into the Manhattan courtroom where bank fraud discovery finally exposed Melania Trump and her hidden fortune. It turns out she sits on a massive real estate empire completely separated from her husband. Throw in a little Pete Seeger history and a rogue donkey named Freddy attacking a van in Germany, and you get a classic Friday at the diner.

    Live Chat: https://trailmix.cc/chat
    Website: https://trailmix.cc
    Alerts: https://trailmix.cc/alerts

    00:00 Intro
    03:17 Tom Cotton Arkansas Senate Poll
    13:30 Donald Trump National Debt Clock
    20:00 Mary Peltola Alaska Public Radio
    30:30 Donald Trump Beef Tariffs
    46:00 Melania Trump Trial Finances
    51:00 Tommy Tuberville Data Centers
    58:30 Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton
    — Human directed and edited. Machine drafted (Gemini Pro).

  22. The thing which got my attention in Ms Darline’s national security comment was when she preceded it with, “Look, I’m gonna be honest here…”

    That’s funny.

  25. politicos are wrong that darlene’s taiwan non-answer is a liability, rubes don’t know shit about taiwan

  28. well they’re happy for any willing puppet, correlation does not equal causation

    funny thing is ralph norman will gladly bend the knee

  29. more about the Democrat challenging Tom Cotton:

    From her website;
    Hallie Shoffner is a sixth-generation Arkansas farmer and small-business owner from Newport. She earned degrees from Vanderbilt University and the Clinton School of Public Service before returning home to operate her family’s 2,000-acre farm and seed business. She later founded Delta Harvest, focused on rural food systems and economic development. After the family farm closed amid rising costs and weak markets, Shoffner entered politics, challenging Republican Sen. Tom Cotton in 2026.

  30. Craig an interesting bit from her web site

    And while Arkansas families like hers struggle, Tom Cotton voted against the Farm Bill, against Medicaid, against economic development, and against disaster relief – while supporting tax cuts for billionaires and blowing up the national debt.

    The Platner approach, Arkansas style.
    All politics is local.
    Jack

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