The Frankish Reich

Well, he doesn't call me names, so I guess I haven't kept tally. Anyway, you actually can be a value-added poster, when you choose to be ... resist the temptation to join the Zero Marginal Value crowd!

@sherpa @Joe Ferguson forever I hate to spoil the party here, but I believer Sherpa is a retired Navy pilot and current winemaker and that Fergy is a retired doctor with pretty good taste in music. Both of you have made some good comments here. I may have even learned a thing or two. That's more than I can say for a lot of other people. Maybe just agree to disagree on a few things; you may just have more in common than you think.

⬆️ FailedBiologist has something to say! Just like the other 121 times this week alone.

All this kind of proves my point. Biden was indeed checked out, although competent to serve as president because he leaned heavily on actual pros who would never do anything this stupid. Checked out, but steady hands minding the store. Trump is checked out too. Sure, he's a bit quicker on his feet (literally and figuratively) than Biden, but he's incredibly ADHD and distractable - hence his out-of-pocket golf trip when these very events were happening. Nobody said "lets call POTUS to make sure he agrees with Miller and not his own VP." The difference is the rank amateurs he defers to. The kind of people who don't notice that they've invited an interloper into their own sensitive (even if not classified, which it certainly was) "small group" conversation. Checked out, and with inexperienced fools minding the store.

Because many of our resident Trumpies seem to fit the profile - they don't read - I've found that it's best to always look for a Twitter link. So for their benefit (reading is hard!):

I'm pointing out a political reality. Back in the Reagan years, his think tankers proposed that people in the places like East Palestine be given "mobility payments" to allow them to relocate to the growing regions of the country. There was an understanding that despite an attempt to bring back American manufacturing jobs, that simply wasn't going to happen in numbers sufficient to bring back those depressed regions. Today, it's all bs within Trump World. We'll slap tariffs on evil Canada or the EU or whatever and it'll suddenly be 1963 all over again in East Palestine. It's a lie. Desperate people are susceptible to lies. It's not their fault; it's a normal human reaction. What they need is tough love, not soft lies.

The guy they literally have on their speed dial (to use the old nomenclature) President's Middle East advisor was on the call ... from Moscow. No security risk, it's encrypted!

BREAKING: Losers left behind in Sh!thole America Like Candidate Who Says He'll Bring Back Their Glory Days

Question: if nothing classified was going to be discussed, why even use Signal? You could just do a Zoom call (the inferior Microsoft Teams product is kind of the government default) or an old-fashioned open line conference call. So the fact that they went to "encrypted Signal" is telling in and of itself.

It's not that hard to move this beyond the current news cycle. You say it was a mistake, but that operational security was never compromised. You fire someone, it doesn't matter who. You say that you're reinforcing rules about authorized modes of communication when discussing national security issues. But that would be a normal administration. Right now we're in Trump Admin Stage 1: Denial. There were no "war plans." Jeff Goldberg is a wacko leftist liar (which begs the question: why do top admin officials have him as a Signal contact? Signal is what you use to reporters, right?). Let's focus on the successful mission instead of criticizing tiny things like this. Of course we're already seeing Stage 2: Biden Was Worse.

What makes you say that?

I went to a MLB game in Phoenix last year. I think it was mid-May, so figure 95 in the day. By the time of the first pitch it was fairly comfortable. If the roof were open it would've been a beautiful summer night. And they kept it closed. They don't want to let it warm up, then close it and try to bring the temp down again. What a waste. When the roof is closed that ballpark sucks.

Whaddya know. He was golfing while his Chief advisors speculated about what he would/would not or should/should not want to do. Saturday, March 15 2025 The President has no public events scheduled Mar-a-Lago 5:45 AM Out-of-Town Pool Call Time Mar-a-Lago Out-of-Town Pool 8:14 AM The President departs Mar-a-Lago for his golf club Mar-a-Lago 8:21 AM The President arrives at Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach 2:29 PM The President departs Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach for Mar-a-Lago Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach 2:56 PM The President arrives at Mar-a-Lago Mar-a-Lago 3:37 PM White House Press Office: Full lid called Mar-a-Lago 7:00 PM The President hosts a candlelight fundraising dinner at Mar-a-Lago [Note: Time is estimated] Mar-a-Lago

Just read those texts and you'll see another key point: Trump is completely disengaged. JD Vance pompously (does he have another way) suggests that Trump might not realize that bombing the Houthis in order to aid primarily European interests wouldn't be on brand for Trump's new every ally for itself policy. Hegseth disagrees. Did anyone pick up a phone and, uhh, I dunno, call Trump to find out what he wants to do? To see if he had somehow missed the subtleties of Europe Screwing that JD Vance saw clearly? By the way, where was Trump? On the golf course?

He was hard on Japanese Americans, hard on Nazis, soft on German Americans. Ol' reliable Mike Davis with, as usual, the stupidest hot take. Yes, FDR executed Nazis "after holding a military tribunal." As Judge Millett reminded the DOJ lawyer several times, the whole point is "after" some kind of process.

It was a FRICKIN DECISION TO BOMB AN ADVERSARY. No, Pete "I'll have a double" Hegseth didn't type, in all caps, at the beginning of every comment he wrote: TOP SECRET. And then go ahead and click "send" to a reporter. But to suggest that this was not secret/classified is absolutely ridiculous.

This shows you have zero idea of what you're talking about.

Well ... yes, we can all agree that it's a good thing that the op wasn't compromised ahead of time. But that is not all that is important here. This is just so jaw-droppingly stupid I had to check a couple other reports to confirm that it wasn't satire.

Goldberg has the info they texted (actually, submitted to him thru Signal). By the way, you never, ever, ever, submit classified info on a non-govt network. There are special secured lines for this. If Hegseth is no longer drinking you sure as hell wouldn't know it from his first few weeks in office.

Spoken by a federal appeals court judge in today's hearing on the Alien Enemies Act deportations to a Salvadoran prison. And it's true. FDR involved the Act during WW2 against German nationals in the US. Those Germans identified had the opportunity to respond and show that they are not Nazis.

Bingo! The Trump Tweeters must have settled on the 5D chess explanation. Well, Trump just chose a new option, the Sgt. Schulz, "I know nothing ..." Trump adds: The Atlantic sucks. It's going under (it's not, since Steve Jobs' ex is bankrolling it) And "if we leaked it, it wasn't effective since we pounded the Houthis" (Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg says he prudently/patriotically didn't redistribute the secret plan that was dumped on his lap) MORONS.

White House press response: A. He meant to do that. Wanted to leak the plans/conversation. 5D chess. Now they know what coming if they try anything! B. Biden told Hunter something something Ukraine. C. They were talking about some other extinct war plan, just like Trump meant he wasn't claiming he didn't sign the Alien Enemies Act proclamation; he was claiming that he didn't sign the 1798 Alien Enemies Act into law. Just in case you thought he was president then. D. All of the above. Idiots. Vengeful idiots, with the emphasis on the latter.

Markets up sharply today based on rumors that Trump's April tariffs will be lower than previously expected. If Trump's people aren't trading on these "rumors" I'd be shocked. Every random fart out of Trump's advisors moves the market 2 percent. Tons of money to be made.

"No Big Law Trump Firms Exist." calling bs on this - https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-targeted-20-biggest-law-092501746.html Jones Day, that Cleveland firm that became a huge Republican lobbying presence in DC. There's others, but that's the obvious one.

So maybe he doesn’t know what the hell Musk and Stephen Miller are putting out over his signature. Timing couldn’t be better. He’s lost it.