In Which I Am Kinder to Stephen Miller Than He Deserves

Asked by Jake Tapper yesterday about the invasion of Venezuela and the kidnap of its President and his wife, White House deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said, "“We live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power... These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.”

No, you Nazi piece of lying shit, strength, force and power have not been the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.  Diplomacy has been used consistently for millennia, and especially since the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648.  Even Google AI is smarter than you, Stephen, you ignorant barbarian; the Treaty of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years War*, 

establishing the modern system of sovereign states by recognizing each state's right to govern its territory without outside interference, solidifying the nation-state, and granting religious freedom for Catholics and Protestants within the Holy Roman Empire. It formalized state sovereignty, territorial integrity, and mutual recognition, making it a cornerstone of international law...

The Thirty Years war was one of the most brutal and destructive wars in human history.  It ended partly because Europe was exhausted; strength, power and force wasn't working.  They tried cooperative problem solving, and the world was a different place.

The Cold War** lasted half my (long) lifetime, but it was called the Cold War because, in over forty years, no battles were fought, no missiles flew, no populations of civilians were destroyed.  No one kidnapped a sitting President.  In the end, it was economics and Gorbachev's reform policies which ended the Cold War.  Not power, strength and force.

No, Stephen, the real world is not the result of power, force and strength, it is the result of those things heavily moderated and, for the most part, kept in check, by diplomacy, calculation of mutual advantage, and an unwillingness to violate state sovereignty.  Sometimes that moderation has worked, sometimes it hasn't.

Grow up and read a book, you worthless, slobbering maniac.

* - I've underlined the important parts, which you might have missed while you were beating up little kids in the boy's bathroom instead of learning history.

** - Which ended before you were in Kindergarten, Stephen, but you could always look it up.  Obviously, not.

34? 6-7

 In what feels like a coordinated attack by Republicans and the media on the state of Minnesota and its Democratic governor, Tim Walz, lately the Democratic candidate for Vice President, various programs and departments, and lately the agency which oversees child care centers, are being accused of fraud, without, apparently, any evidence.  Walz has been accused of being “a hands-off leader when it comes to seeking accountability for episodes of fraud and mismanagement on his watch.”  Walz had ended his re-election campaign in response to the accusations.

Let's put aside the question of whether this would have happened if Walz hadn't run as the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate.  Let's put aside whether there are any other states (Texas?  The deep south, especially Louisiana?) where this kind of case can be made, and which would benefit from this kind of attention.

Let's even assume it's true, which is a position we're a long way from arriving at.  Hurrah!  In a year,  Minnesota will no longer have a Governor whose hand-off leadership style might have allowed fraud to flourish.

But a year from now, we'll still have a President who was convicted in court of 34 counts of felony fraud, and who has experienced exactly no consequences.

Apparently, the penalties for fraud are equal, but some are more equal than others.

Trump's Rubicon, At Least for Us

Turns out that the invasion of Argentina and kidnapping of their elected leader and his wife is Trump's Rubicon. At least for us. As soon as our schedule clears up this late winter/early spring, we're booking a relocation tour in Costa Rica.

Too Old

In January of 2025 Donald Trump became, among other things, the oldest person to take the oath of office of President of the United States, ever.  Since then, he has been exhibiting, in public, many of the symptoms of aging.  This has, as I'm sure you know, been a high-profile topic for news reports and analysts.

This morning, the Wall Street Journal published an article called "As Signs of Aging Emerge, Trump Responds With Defiance."  The signs of aging have been emerging for a long time, so the headline is a bit timid, but points to the WSJ for bringing it out into the public forum.

The article is balanced - too balanced, in fact, since statements from Trump and those around him are taken at face value.  It does not provide much illumination regarding Trump's behavior, which we have all witnessed, during the last year.  He and his doctor (whose name, I must report, in a brief fit of adolescent snark, is Barbarella) report that everything is fine.  Trump has a story for every symptom, most of which boil down to "It's fine, I'm the healthiest of all Presidents."  He doesn't like to take his doctor's advice, he says, because it's inconvenient or uncomfortable.  There is more evidence - without comment - that his diet involves a lot of McDonald's products.

Dr. Oz, who has drawn significant criticism throughout his career for promoting pseudoscience and unproven remedies, says "He is just with it on some fairly complex topics... I can’t even think of a single time where he said something where I don’t think he understands the issue here.”  This is reported without comment or follow-up.

Regardless of what you think of the WSJ's incisive investigative journalism, it must be said that it is another piece of evidence that Trump's age - and its visible effects on his ability to function as the President - are a major issue for Americans only a year into his term.

And why exactly was it that we decided that Joe Biden couldn't run for a second term?  I've forgotten... I am an old guy, after all...

No I haven't forgotten.  The reason he couldn't run was because he was "too old."

We all thought he was too old.  Well.  Welcome to the Dementia Presidency.