Trump Dumps: Redacted Version

The following Trump dumps or droppings will be unredacted when the Epstein Files are released in their entirety, UNREDACTED.

In the meantime, maybe we should publish a list of the rich and influential males who ARE NOT IN THE EPSTEIN FILES. It's probably a small, group.

Trump announced that he's directing the Pentagon and other government agencies to identify and release files related to extra-terrestrials and UFOs because of “tremendous interest.” MAGA thrilled by another "honest" dump by Trump. Aliens are reportedly worried that their names will not be redacted.

Trump is trying to recreate the US in his own image: cruel, dishonest, arrogant, ignorant, ugly, untrustworthy, amoral, and indecent. He has been succeeding up to now.

Don't Worry! Trump is moving the tankers through the Straits of Hormuz with his MAGIC SHARPIE.

If the US is as great and powerful as Trump says, why is he asking other countries to help fix the mess he has created with his "excursion" to Iran?

Ya Gotta admit that Trump has done what no other US president has done. He has made people sympathetic to Iran.

Trump says his attack on Iran is a "noble mission." Like Sir Galahad the Pure, he is on an "excursion," a quest for the Holy Grail. His Epstein Project is absurdist, a lot like the Monty Python film, but a XXX version. Shooting will continue during Trump's weekend excursion to Mar a Lardo to play golf.

How to win a war: Attack Iran with no plan beyond diverting people from your pedo “excursions.” Insult your allies and friendly countries. Hit them with high tariffs. Threaten some of them with invasion. When you have created a mess with your Epstein Files war, ask the above for help. When you have created a mess with your Epstein Files war, ask the above countries for help.

As he deteriorates mentally the "Real" DJ Trump is exposing himself more everyday as an incompetent sociopathic misogynistic racist and a not very good golfer with a gift for insulting and alienating almost everybody.

Trump declares that all thoroughfares in the US will be renamed Trump Street, Road, Avenue, Boulevard, Parkway, or whatever. Same for airports, schools, hospitals, parks, cemeteries.... Washington to be renamed Trumpopolis.

Trump announces name change for the USA. It will now be the UST, the United States of Trump. It will operate as a Corporation, part of Trump Enterprises International. The new country is expected to be financially bankrupt by 2028. It is already morally bankrupt.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!

The US Political System: A View from the Confused UK

I currently reside in the UK. Many people I know or have overheard in pubs find the US political system extremely confusing. Trump's attack on Iran has prompted new questions about it; notably his ability to start a war without the approval of the so-called representatives of the people: Congress.

OK, Brits find other things confusing, like baseball and American football, just as most Americans find cricket, rugby, and FIFA football confusing. As George Bernard Shaw put it, "The English and the Americans are two great peoples separated by a common language." 

Brits are expressing their confusion about US politics more often in the Trumpian Era, because Trump is in the news 24/7. Many of their comments since November 2024 relate to the question, How did the US "elect" such a despicable charlatan twice? What about learning from experience?

An American could reply, "Hey, UK voters made another charlatan, Boris Johnson, prime minister." That's true, but there is this difference: when enough people in the UK realized what a bloviating, bullshitting, devious narcissist Johnson was, they sent him packing. His own party did, in fact, responding to angry public opinion. 

That's one advantage the parliamentary system has over the presidential. Prime ministers serve at the pleasure of the party in power. The party in power can jettison their leader at any time, if they become sufficiently toxic to the voters. Presidents serve fixed terms. It is extremely difficult to get rid of an incompetent or vile one before the next election. 

The Conservatives (Tories) mistakenly allowed their members to pick Johnson's successor. The members tend to opt for candidates with extreme views and limited ability. That made Liz Truss the perfect choice. She managed to nearly destroy the UK economy in just a few weeks. Tory MPs could not get her out the door fast enough. Point taken.

Back to the UK view of US politics. The most common question after the 2016 election, was Why didn't Hilary Clinton get elected? She got 3 million more votes than he did. 

In order to answer that question, I had to try to explain the Electoral College, which of course has nothing to do with education. Have you ever tried to explain the English Wars of the Roses to glassy-eyed undergraduates? I have. I don't recommend it. 

I explained how the Founding Fathers in their wisdom created the Electoral College to prevent the US from becoming a democracy. They feared that the "people" would elect some nut who would threaten "property," including human property. The EC does not represent the "people." It represents the states, each of which has a certain number of "electoral" votes, based on their population, sort of.  

Three times in US history presidential candidates who lost the popular vote have become president, because they got a majority of electoral votes. 

The most recent time was in 2016, when the EC assured the "election" of a nut who wants to restore slavery and admires Hitler. Trump still claims he won the popular vote in 2016, just as he continues to claim he won the 2020 election, not Biden.

Yes, the Founding Fathers wanted a republic but not a democracy. And they are not the same thing. A country can be a democratic republic. It can be an undemocratic republic. It can also be a democratic monarchy, like the UK and quite a few European countries. The monarchs in these countries have no real power. They are titular heads of state. 

Of course, all this was not enough to explain Trump's rise to power.  There were many more questions to answer, even tougher ones. 

To be continued. 

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The Myth of Sisyphus: Capitalist Version

Sisyphus angered the gods. The gods punished Sisyphus by condemning him to push a large rock up a hill endlessly. Each time he pushed the rock near the top of the hill, it would roll back down to the bottom. 

As you can easily understand, this routine was both tiring and boring, a lot like working for a large corporation. Meaningless, it seemed. But Sisyphus managed to make the job more interesting, less tiring, and quite profitable. He gave it meaning. Every time he got to the top of the hill, he filled his pockets with soil and walked down to resume his task. 

Sisyphus repeated this procedure for many years. The hill got smaller and smaller as he removed the soil. Eventually, there was no more hill. The curse of the gods was lifted, for he could not roll the rock up a hill that no longer existed. 

Moreover, Sisyphus had managed to earn a substantial bonus from his labors. He had collected a huge amount of soil from the former hill, thousands of tons in fact. He proceeded to market the dirt to farmers, gardeners, and developers as "the finest topsoil in the world." He made a vast fortune peddling dirt. Eventually, he became a billionaire, then a trillionaire, and even bankrolled the gods. 

One must imagine Sisyphus happy. Not from rolling the rock up the hill, but by walking back down without it, pockets full of soil.

Apologies to Albert Camus and the Greek Mythologists

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What is to be Done to Save US Democracy?

If they wish to save democracy, the leadership of the Democratic Party must start actually leading, showing more (some?) courage and genuine outrage, and never compromising with authoritarians.

The Trump administration violates the law and constitution on a daily basis. The argument that as the minority party Democrats are helpless is bogus. The Republicans have never been helpless when in the minority. They have used every mechanism possible, fair and foul, to stop, slow down, amend, and derail Democratic measures. 

Democrats, at least the leaders and corporate Dems, have been too nice. They are playing by the rules of a game their opponents have changed beyond recognition. 

At Davos, Mark Carney, the Canadian Prime Minister, claimed rightly that the old world order is gone, thanks in large part to Trump's actions. The same is true of the political system in the US. 

Only radical action can impede Trump. Democrats must stop cooperating with him in any way. Do not vote for any Republican measures that advance his authoritarian agenda as seven did a few days ago to fund ICE, which operates outside the law as a form of domestic terrorism. 

To be worthy of their name, Democrats must join with democratically minded people and propose a measures designed to protect and advance democracy, as well as reverse the anti-democratic measures of recent years.

I have drawn up what I call the People's Charter for the USA. It derives its name from the democratic program drawn up in the UK in the 1830s. It had six points or demands. Five became law. My charter is longer but I believe American citizens should demand all of them.  

• 1.       Abolish the Electoral College, an anti-democratic institution that has empowered American reactionaries since slavery times. Replace it with the National Popular Vote. People in other countries find the Electoral College bewildering and idiotic, because it is.
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• 2.       Prohibit gerrymandering. Create an independent, non-partisan commission to draw up boundaries of congressional constituencies. This is done in other countries.
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• 3.       Overturn the obscene Citizens United decision of SCOTUS. It is responsible for hugely increasing the influence of big money in elections. Nothing like this exists in other democracies.
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• 4.       Prohibit political ads. They are virtually useless as information, misleading or untrue, insulting, and damned annoying. Prohibited in most democratic countries.
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• 5.       Introduce proportional representation or ranked voting to end the stranglehold of the corrupt two-party system. Some people will argue that this would make efficient government impossible. Ask yourself, is what we have now efficient? 
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• 6.     Make the Senate representative of the country. It gives the less populated states collectively far more power than the most populated. California with 40 million people and Wyoming with only half a million have the same number of senators. This is both absurd and grossly undemocratic.
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• 7.       Make voting simple, safe, and convenient. Voting is an obligation. It should not be a survival test, torture, or a danger. Eliminate voter suppression of all kinds. Other countries do not do things this perverse way.
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• 8.      Fund public education adequately and fairly. Public college and university education should be free or cheap, as it was when I went to college and university in the late 60s and early 70s. Why are we short-changing our children and dumbing down our voters? 
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• 9.      Establish a national, affordable health care plan that covers everyone. The present for profit system is a disgrace and an international laughingstock. The system costs the US twice as much as in other developed nations, and the results are worse in terms of mortality and morbidity. Scores of millions are uncovered or inadequately covered. Health insurance must be affordable, universal, and disconnected from employment. The present system turns many workers into virtual serfs tied to their jobs.
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• 10.       Require the payment of a living (not minimum) wage for all adult workers. This should vary according to local living costs. It costs a lot more to live in California than in North Dakota. Why should workers have to have two or even three jobs to make ends meet?
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• 11.     Reduce the period between the election of the president and the inauguration to two or three weeks, preferably less. This would have minimized Trump's ability to create havoc after the "stolen election" of 2020. In the UK and many countries, a new government generally takes over immediately after the election. This can be done because the parties have already selected the members of the cabinet and other ministers.
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• 12.     Reform the judiciary. Judges should be selected by professional bodies, not by presidents and Congress. This includes the Supreme Court, whose bias towards Trump is flagrant and dangerous. Justices of the SCOTUS and all judges should serve fixed terms, not for life. They should operate according to a code of ethics established by an independent board of legal and political scholars. 

Effective, fair gun control is imperative. I did not include it under these reforms but it would follow if they were implemented. Not possible? Check out other democratic, developed countries. 

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American Exceptionalism, Part II

The US is truly exceptional. What other country could have produced a leader as exceptional as Trump, a man who combined the talents of a gangster, grifter, bully, bullshitter, liar, pedophile, rapist, racist, fascist,  traitor....and elected him to the highest office in the land -- not once but twice.   

Under Trump 2, the US has become more exceptional than ever. His bellicose actions toward Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Greenland, Iran, Cuba, and Nigeria are merely the latest examples of American Exceptionalism. 

"American Exceptionalism" derives from the argument that the USA is fundamentally different from other countries; that it is superior to them, "Number 1," "The Greatest Country in the World." The reality is reminiscent of Orwell's 1984.

American exceptions abound:

The only wealthy country without a system of universal health insurance coverage. Existing health insurance plans verge on robbery. Under Trump 2, millions have lost even the most minimal health coverage. 

A Department of Health and Human Services led by "Worm Brain" R.F. Kennedy Jr, doing its best to revive diseases previous generations had virtually eliminated and to bring us more epidemics and pandemics. Measles is the latest revived disease, thanks to anti-vaccine propaganda. You would almost think the Trump regime is trying to kill you.

A Department of Défense (War?) led by "Whiskey Pete" Hegseth that thinks indiscriminate killing of civilians around the world is "legal" and Christian. 

A Department of Homeland Security under "Who is it Today?" that spends most of its time terrorizing and killing the American people. Now adding airports to its mission in a bid to destroy the airlines by making flying increasingly dangerous. 

A Department of Justice under Pam "Hide the Epstein Files" Bondi, devoted to undermining existing laws, eroding human rights, and protecting pedophiles. 

A minimum wage far below the level of a "living wage."

A railway system far inferior to that of every other developed country. Poor public transit in much of the country.

A deteriorating public education system, which helps the GOP to repeatedly con illiterate voters. 

A government friendly to pedophiles and other sexual predators.

Number 1 in billionaires.

Number 1 in medical bankruptcies.

Number 1 in mass shootings.

Number 1 in Covid deaths.

The US is currently in the grip of Christian-capitalist fascism. Its evolution into this obscene system did not begin with Trump. It is the result of decades of far right brainwashing and the gradual erosion of constitutional and legal protections of political and human rights. 

Trump is a product, a symptom, of the current malignant version of American Exceptionalism. He did not create it. It will not go away when he does without radical reform of the political, economic, and cultural systems.

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Kings Fall Apart: Or, It's Not Always Good to be King, Mr Trump

TRUMP has been trying to make himself the first King of the USA since a revolting people gave George III the boot in 1776. Laying aside the argument that the Donald is a much worse leader than the last king, the King of Orange should think twice about being on a throne, however golden. George III, a Far Better Man Than Trump

The history of monarchy in the British Isles, which I know best, should not inspire a desire to play Macbeth and Don a crown. Few kings or queens have been able to enjoy their reigns, short or long. Only one British king has been called "The Merry Monarch," Charles II, and even he faced a sea of troubles, partly of his own making. 

Charles II did manage to last twenty-five years and die in bed with his crown on his head, a fate denied many other monarchs. The last Anglo-Saxon king, Harold, was killed in battle against the 1066 Norman Invasion led by Duke William of Normandy. Tradition holds that an arrow landed in Harold's eye. He had been king for only a few months. 

William I, Harold's Conqueror, did much better time-wise. But he had to deal with an Anglo-Saxon populace which did not welcome being ruled by a king who rewarded his French-speaking warriors with their lands. He dealt with the opposition by killing lots of peasants and destroying their homes. His corpulent body exploded when he was being forced into a too small tomb, emitting a foul smell and showering those nearby with unmentionables.

William II, the Conqueror's eldest son, had a nasty and short reign, cut short by an arrow again. On this occasion, the archer may have been an assassin hired by his brother Henry, who succeeded as king. Henry I he had a fairly lengthy reign. Legend has it that he died from eating a surfeit of lampreys. It is more probable that  a stroke killed him. Or maybe he died of worry about the succession.

Henry had no male successor, only a daughter, Matilda. He named her as his heir, but when he died, the alpha males among his barons decided they could not stomach being ruled by a woman, and chose his nephew Stephen as king. Those familiar with the US election of 2024, when Americans chose Trump over Kamala Harris, will understand. 

The result was nearly twenty years of fighting between the supporters of Stephen and those of Matilda. The Anarchy, as this period is called, was not a good time for anybody, except for some robber barons. Peasants, as always, paid a heavy price. 

In the end, the two sides reached a deal: Stephen would remain king, but on his death, the throne would pass to Matilda's son Henry of Anjou. When Henry II became king in 1154, he started a line of kings known as the Angevins or Plantagenets. Henry also inherited a large part of France, directly, or through his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine. He was always moving about to keep control his large and diverse territories. He faced many rebellions among his nobles and vassals. The rebels eventually included his sons and Eleanor. 

Two of his sons became king after him. Richard and John, of Ivanhoe and Robin Hood fame. That's all fantasy, but so is Richard's "Lion-Heart" reputation. He is the only king to have a statue outside of Parliament, for some unfathomable reason. Richard spent a mere six months of his ten year reign in England, and like Trump, treated the country like a cash cow. He massacred thousands of Muslims, Jews, and even Christians while Crusading for Christ in the oddly named Holy Land. He also died when struck by an arrow, while besieging a rebel castle. Gangrene set in, and that did for him.

Richard I had no children. Enter his brother John, the only English king of that name. Let's see why. (NB: This is not John)

End of Part I.

 

Remarkable Charlestonians in the American Revolution

 

The Death of Major Pierson by John Singleton Copley, 1782. Tate Britain 

The American Revolution was a struggle for liberty, but not in the uncomplicated way we learned in school. The traditional story holds that Patriots fought to free themselves from arbitrary taxation by a tyrannical king, George III. In truth, the tyrant, if there was one, was the British Parliament, which passed the laws that angered the colonists. That was true enough. What is left out is that supporters of the British government also fought for liberty, but of a different sort. People on both sides viewed their actions as patriotic, even if they were sometimes self-serving.

Enslaved blacks fought to free themselves from slavery. The War for Independence, especially in  the southern colonies, was also in part a war to to preserve slavery. Slaveholders feared that an arbitrary British government might grant their slaves freedom after Lord Mansfield declared slavery illegal in English law in 1773. In that sense the Revolution had more in common with the later Civil War than is generally acknowledged. 

Many white Loyalists throughout the thirteen colonies supported the mother country because they believed that the constitutional monarchy, checked by Parliament, was the best protector of their inherited liberties.  

Charleston, South Carolina is famous as the place where the American Civil War began. Less well known is its significant role in an earlier civil war. For South Carolina, the American War for Independence was more truly a civil war than the conflict of 1861-1865. During the 1860s, South Carolinians were united in defence of their state. During the Revolutionary War, they were bitterly divided. South Carolina witnessed some of the most violent episodes of the conflict.

Remarkable Charlestonians in the American Revolution relates the stories of a spectrum of the city's residents during this turbulent time. Its subjects were famous, obscure, rich, poor, black, white, men and women. Some supported the "Patriot" cause; others were loyal to the British crown, or tried to remain neutral. A few switched sides, one more than once. Collectively, their experiences highlight the often grim reality of the revolutionary era. 

If you are convinced that Mel Gibson portrayed the Revolution correctly in "The Patriot" this book may not be your cup of tea. ( Pun intended).

The public memory of the American Revolution is encrusted with layers of convenient forgetfulness, dubious facts, distorted legends, and outright myths. History, as Sir Lewis Namier wrote, is not a visit of condolence. Nor should it be. This book seeks to portray the complexity of a chaotic, turbulent, and fascinating time. Its pages provide, I hope, a nuanced sense of what it was like to live in Charleston during the American War for  Independence, 250 years ago. It also, I believe, sheds light on the situation in the USA today. 

The premise of Remarkable Charlestonians is that people on both sides of the War for Independence fought for liberty, although with a different sense of what liberty meant. The majority black population wanted to rid themselves of enslavement, and many joined the British, who promised them freedom. Many white Loyalists believed that the British government was the best protector of "the rights of Englishmen" against what they saw as mob rule. White revolutionaries (Patriots) opposed what they perceived as the arbitrary actions of the British government. One of the things they feared and fought to prevent was the possibility that an overpowerful Parliament would declare slavery illegal in the colonies. 

For more information, visit Remarkable Charlestonians in the American Revolution – Arcadia Publishing $24.95 

Available at all good bookstores and even some bad ones.