Originally published at: War on Terror, Cartel Edition - TPM – Talking Points Memo
Hello it’s the weekend. This is The Weekender 
Trump ordered the military to fight Latin American drug cartels that it labeled as terrorist organizations in a secret directive, multiple news organizations reported on Friday. Let’s take a moment here to reflect on how far this marks the erosion of congressional power. In theory, presidents…
5 Likes
Good morning all. Hard to know what the right approach to funding the gov’t is in this environment. I think holding out until the Repubs are forced to do a CR might be the way to go. That should result in the least amount of damage while keeping the gov’t open. Might have to change my mind later.
And…FRisT!!!
33 Likes
It’s always the framing.
Quick, hide in the bathroom, Mommy doesn’t have Daddy’s dinner ready and he’s gonna punch her.
PS. Would they ever say “Putin risks angering Trump?”
50 Likes
So the War on Terror and the War on Drugs are the same war now? It makes sense at least in that both wars have been predictably ineffective in eliminating their targets, while also sacrificing treasure and civil liberties.
37 Likes
The only people that want this are MAGA and the Petrobarons.
The project is an example of the timeframe involved in the Arctic oil and gas projects the Trump administration is currently encouraging, says Moderow – spanning decades.
“We’re not talking about oil next year. We’re talking about oil in 2050 and 2060 and beyond, when we need to move past it,” he said. The projects “could easily be pumping oil when babies born today are retiring in a climate that’s not livable if that oil is not blocked”.
“It’s investing in production that’s going to be going on for decades, well past when we need to be at essentially net zero greenhouse gas emissions if we’re going to have a livable climate,” said Jeremy Lieb, a senior attorney at Earthjustice.
A 100,000 rando voters in a half-dozen or so swing states should not be what determines the fate of the entire planet.
40 Likes
Dear Lord, yet another day and another set of stories on the unraveling of the United States and the vow “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of …”
26 Likes
They’re really going full on Atomwaffen.
25 Likes
Meanwhile, in the view of quite a number of observers, today we are the terror…and, led with inceasing boldness by Donald John Trump, it’s all in the cause of White Makes Right! For example –
reflections on the big ICE recruitment drive (with more cash to burn than any of the world’s militaries and even more than the U.S. Marines) …
In Germany (which oughta know, since not too long ago that had to purge their military of burgeoning nests of Nazis) there’s a new documentary (World White Hate) about the current persistent growth of white nationalism. In short, just like ISIS and other terror movements spread across the world starting from spots in the Middle East, white nationalist terror is spreading from Donald Trump’s USA…
And meanwhile, Trump’s attack on Black Americans continues to get louder and prouder…Any minute now, one sorta expects to see a full page NYT ad explicitly seeking the death penalty for Obama…Although I guess he doesn’t need the ad now because we’ve handed him the bully pulpit (twice). In a recent rundown of his recent attacks from Chauncey DeVega at Salon there’s this, for example:
Last week, Trump targeted Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey, Al Sharpton and others with claims they were part of a conspiracy in which they were paid to endorse his rival, former Vice President Kamala Harris, in the 2024 election. “IT’S NOT LEGAL!” he posted on Truth Social. “For these unpatriotic ‘entertainers,’ this was just a CORRUPT & UNLAWFUL way to capitalize on a broken system.” Trump said he would soon “call for a major investigation.”
Again, no such conspiracy exists.
On Aug. 1, Trump called radio personality Charlamagne tha God, who is a Black man, a “low IQ individual” and a “racist sleazebag” because he dared to question the president’s policies and behavior. On Fox News’ “My View with Lara Trump,” Charlamagne tha God said “the least of us are still being impacted the worst” and was critical of Trump’s response to the Epstein scandal.
34 Likes
Also, and, if I understand it correctly, one of Russia’s propaganda points is that there is no independent Ukrainian government, that it is all a Western creation and puppet.
By negotiating and reaching a settlement for Ukraine, Donnie helps make that line appear true and offers some legitimacy to Russia’s war.
28 Likes
Why are the US and Russia meeting to carve up Ukraine without any input from Zelensky, its leader? Reminds me of what happened to Vietnam after WW II. They aided us during the war, and we snuffed out their anti-colonial ambitions afterwards and let France resume power. And there are many other examples of us wielding power over other countries without input from their residents. Many of them post WW II.
36 Likes
“Nothing about us without us” is so yesterday.
10 Likes
Republican children get to the terrible 2s and there parents need a reason to not like them anymore. They’ve changed! They used to be so sweet!
4 Likes
“The vice president did not respond to the paper’s request for comment about the kayak kerfuffle. Perhaps, he is hoping the silence can help him float on past this scandal.”
Obviously the commander of the USACE needs demoted, charged, and thrown in the brig pending a court-martial.
9 Likes
Oh, and paying Republicans.
2 Likes
The meeting with Putin is staged. Everything Trump does is staged, and mostly not even well staged. Both he and Vlad know that Zelenskyy will never accept these terms. This is another clumsy photo op to rub noses with Vlad and establish a pretext for withdrawal of support to Ukraine and I’m thinking he won’t be content with that. He wants Ukraine to capitulate so he can brag about having brought about “peace.” He’ll very likely threaten the EU and the rest of NATO if they continue to provide material support of Ukraine, perhaps with more tariffs or more threats to NATO.
Eventually, perhaps not next month, nor even next year, the EU and even the UK are going to have to come to grips that they are dealing with a dangerous madman and cut our country loose.
43 Likes
Noted passings, which folks say occur in threes, today include William Webster and Jim Lovell. Yet another disappointing obituaries page.
21 Likes
I think it was FOX on in the other room where I heard the man/woman team gushing over how powerfully Chump is dealing with Pootikins and changing the way these things are handled like never before!
17 Likes
His conundrum (yet another word he doesn’t understand): how to please Pootie and win an NPP.
12 Likes
Location is important too. Alaska is as close to common ground historically as the 2 nations get.
This is continuing Russian rehab among a Trump base that envies Russia’s naked violence, whiteness, and hatred of homosexuality.
27 Likes