Remember this famous photo of George W. Bush being told about the September 11 attacks? And let us not forget that Bush spent most of the rest of that day flying in circles in Air Force One while arguing on the phone with a bunkered Dick Cheney about coming back to D.C.
So get this image of Trump being told there was agreement to part of his cease-fire deal in Gaza. This was taken during some Oval Office event where there were press with cameras present. Was this staged, or what?
I understand the Nobel Peace Prize winner for 2025 is supposed to be announced tomorrow. Let’s hope the committee has better judgment than to give it to Trump.
As ever, when trying to understand anything regarding Israel and the region thereabouts, I turn to Juan Cole. He’s hopeful that at least there may be a cease fire and aid can reach the people of Gaza. But beyond that he doesn’t appear to expect much.
The Trump peace plan has resulted in an agreement between Hamas and Israel to pause fighting and exchange prisoners. Other points in the plan, including an Israeli troop withdrawal and the laying down of arms by Hamas, appear still to be being negotiated, which is to say that we are hardly out of the woods. The Israeli government agreed to a phased withdrawal from the entire West Bank in 1993, and over 30 years later Israeli cabinet members are talking about simply annexing the entire territory and expelling its indigenous Palestinians.
And let us not forget that Hamas and Israel agreed to a hostage exchange and cease fire deal nine bleeping months ago, while Joe Biden was still president. In brief, Israel broke the deal.
According to PBS, the event in which the staged photo was taken was a roundtable on Antifa. Seriously. See Holly Baxter at the Independent (UK), Trump just hosted an ‘Antifa roundtable’ at the White House … it was so much worse than you’re imagining.
Around noon, a press release appeared on the official White House website, quoting numerous anonymous Portland residents, including a “man,” a “woman,” and a “business owner,” all of whom absolutely want the National Guard to storm their city. “I kind of support it 110%” is an actual quote.
But that was just the appetizer. At 3 p.m., the televised meeting began. And boy, was there a lot of meat.
Held at the table of “independent journalists” (far-right activists) and moderated by Donald Trump, it opened with a statement by the president that “paid anarchists” want to “destroy our country,” followed by bizarre, conspiracy-laden claims that anti-Trump protesters have signs made of expensive paper “with beautiful wooden handles” that therefore must have been printed in the basements of secretive organizations, and that “we have a lot of records already, a lot of surprises, a lot of bad surprises” in store for the people who align themselves with anti-fascism.
And by the way, he noted, “we got rid of free speech” because flag-burning is bad.
Do read the whole thing. It’s hysterical. They’re seriously pretending that Antifa is a real organization. Note:
Not to be outdone, in came Jack Posobiec, one of the right’s weirdest hangers-on, who is perhaps most famous for the time he spread the “Pizzagate” theory and then got removed from the pizzeria in question by police for filming a child’s birthday party. Running with the major theme of the hour — that Antifa is definitely, certainly, really real despite all evidence to the contrary, and that everybody needs to stop saying it’s not real — Posobiec made a startling claim: Antifa is so clearly real that it “has been going on for almost 100 years … going back to the Weimar Republic in Germany.”
Um, people protesting the rise of the Nazis were the bad guys? But yeah, some time in this mess with the right-wing media goons all around, Marco Rubio trotted in and fake informed Trump that part of his cease fire plan had been accepted.
Yes, the Trump Administration is best understood as the biggest and most badass reality teevee show ever! Because it ain’t a government in any normal sense of the word.
Speaking of not governing, check out some of these headline news stories about the ongoing shutdown:
Axios: Mike Johnson faces growing internal revolt over shutdown
CNN: ‘Everyone’s just getting destroyed’: MTG calls on Johnson to bring House back to DC and rails on GOP handling of health care If you read this one, you’ll see that MTG’s own message is pretty inconsistent also. She hates the ACA and thinks the subsidies are just driving up the deficit but wants the subsidies to be restored because otherwise everybody’s health care costs are going to go up.
And at The Hill, see my rep Mike Lawler get into a screaming match with Hakeem Jeffries. Great television, as Trump might say.
And speaking of overreach, here’s a bit of overreach that’s been underreported (TPM).
A grand jury Tuesday night declined to indict two protesters in the Chicago area accused of assaulting law enforcement, the latest in a shocking string of failures by the Trump Department of Justice.
Securing grand jury indictments is usually nearly automatic; only the prosecutors get to present evidence, and the bar is much lower for indicting someone than proving their guilt. But the Trump administration, in its eagerness to crack down on protesters resistant to its brutality, has now been rebuffed by grand juries in Illinois, Washington D.C. and California.
The official ICE account had crowed about the Chicago-area protesters’ arrests online, promising that they’d be “held accountable” and that “we will not be deterred.”
You can read more about it at Bloomberg Law.
"Was this staged, or what?"
Of course it was. If you watch the video the second diaper don looks at the note he gets this phony look of accomplishment, he can hardly read a teleprompter there is no way he read that note in less than a second, completely staged. Lil (foam party) Marco is all too willing to play along, he's learning alot from daddy diaper don these days!
Speaker Johnson is jumping through hoops to NOT swear in the new Democrat who will give a discharge petition the required number of signatures to force a vote on the Epstein Files release to Congress.
Grand Juries are denying Trump a major tool of repression by not returning criminal indictments against protesters. (Like sandwich guy.) This removes the threat that the DOJ can do terrible things to you for exercising free speech. Flip side is that MAGA and ICE will do brutal things, like shooting a minister in the face with "non-lethal" weapons at point-blank range. But the effect of such brutality may consolidate resistance, despite the horrid human cost.
The ascension of Antifa as a real organization indicates to me that Trump plans brutality against civilians, and he's trying to create a monster that justifies the illegal and unconstitutional use of force to repress Freedom of Assembly and Freedom of Speech. It's the domestic equivalent of "declaring" a boat is carrying drugs before you send it (and any evidence) to Davy Jones Locker. Trump will claim that anyone injured in any protest by anyone, police, military, or MAGA, had it coming because they were Antifa. I can't see that brutality caught on camera isn't cause for civil (law suit) action for excessive use of force, assault, etc., with HUGE damages awarded by an outraged jury. There's also discovery, like the identity of the ICE thug, and background for doing law enforcement. ICE has to stand by these thugs, which ruins their credibility as a real law-enforcement agency OR cut individuals loose to the justice and criminal system, which will have an effect on the morale of the apes who were promised they can do anything to anyone without risk.
Fetterman says he'll lead Democrats pushing for trump to receive the Nobel Prize if the agreement sticks.
Fetterman turned into a dud. I'm so disappointed in him. Maybe his stroke did too much damage. I trust he'll be successfully primaried in 2028.
Worse than a dud. I read an "analysis" of him. Recall that he often showed up in a hoodie, dressing the part of an outsider. He takes that to a fault, playing against his own team, the Democrats. I don't think his erratic behavior came from his stroke, it was there before, but the stroke has anyway diminished his abilities. He should be easy to primary, esp given how unpopular MAGA has become in his home district. Massive blue wave and all.
I figured that guy was a loon first time I laid eyes on him. I really question the sanity of a person that would get all those silly tattoos. Then I heard him speak and the deal was sealed for me, the guy is nothing more than a novelty, I'm not the least bit suprised he has morphed into a magat wanna-bee. He has no business serving in the US Senate.
He comes from a very wealthy family. I recognize his type. Rich kids who cosplay as working class salts of the earth.
Stephen Miller Goes Completely Mute On Live TV. Here's Why.
In essence, he said the quiet part out loud, and caught himself on live TV. The interviewer even had to ask him "Stephen? Stephen? are you still there?". In so many word, he said the regime wants unchecked power over everyone – hence the war against "antifa", a non-group and vague label that they will try to tar anybody with.
What I especially appreciate in this explainer is how Miller and MAGA seethe with anger. It was initially focused on illegal, criminal, immigrants, but will broaden to include everyone. The target doesn't matter. It's the unresolved rage inside that's driving all of this.
Thx for link. Scary. My only disagreement with Dr. Razzaque is that, IMO, the ever-rising anger of MAGA is not rooted in individual psychological trauma; it was intentionally orchestrated via decades of GOP propaganda (Limbaugh, FOX, etc). (My MAGA sister is a fine example of this; what I see is that the anger stoked by the GOP has warped her entire character, and it is now causing serious problems in her personal and professional life).
Here's another link – shorter & more lively – which notes a different problem: CNN seems to have (intentionally?) helped cover up Miller's mistake, by claiming that there was some technical issue. In a way, that's even more scary. A real journalist would have tried to get Miller to explain what he meant by 'Plenary Powers', but instead, they just gave him a free do-over.
Trump aide FREEZES on TV after DEVASTATING mistake
Let the tantrums begin. The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is from the wrong country and of the wrong sex. It is almost like the committee went out of their way to find a recipient that would incite a huge tantrum and some really sick rhetoric. Well good for them. It is like the prize committee knows the difference between a peacemaker and a chaos creator.
The wolf in sheep's clothing will shriek his wool is found fraudulent. Peace and fraud are both words he seems unable to understand. His definition is as false as the image he must see in his mirror. The distorted image is not a fault in the mirror or in his ears or eyes, it lies in distortions of his brain perceptions. His sycophants will assure him his tantrums are justified. More reruns of the same old, old same horror story.
Maria Corina Machado is a strong supporter of United States President Donald Trump, whom she described in 2025 as a "visionary" in relation to his opposition to the Maduro regime in Venezuela. After he deployed the Navy to the Caribbean in 2025, Machado praised the Trump administration. She has expressed support for the use of force to depose the Maduro regime; one of her advisors told the New York Times that she has coordinated with the Trump administration and that she has a plan for the first hundred hours after his deposition.
(wikipedia)
Would a gold plated participation trophy soothe his hurt feefees?
Well I guess those fucking Texan's will have to take their hillbilly asses back to Texas, no national guard in Chicago for now! This whole story has been horrible it's been hard to watch the evening news and see peaceful protesters getting gassed and shot at, and has sucked the attention away from what is really important. My cubbies are one game away from a trip to the NLCS!
https://apnews.com/live/donald-trump-news-updates-10-10-2025
Great ad for Prop 50 in California – "the Election Rigging Response Act", from StickItToTrump.com (scroll to the bottom). It's the only proposition on the ballot this fall.
"I HATE California !!"
Antifa is so clearly real that it “has been going on for almost 100 years … going back to the Weimar Republic in Germany.
But what is not being reported is that Antifa has a firm alliance with Venezuela's Cartel de los Soles which is why the USA is blowing up boats off the coast of northern South America.
BTW, wanna by a bridge? Almost new and only driven on by two little old ladies on Sundays.