What else is there to say?
A Facebook Communist friend posted that, and I know he believes it. What kind of indoctrination, propaganda, and unethical social bubble makes an intelligent man think that bigoted analysis is true, fair, reasonable or responsible?
And I guarantee that no one will criticize or argue with that asinine post.
[The Powerline weekly meme collection is especially deft today]
Again I was preparing a detailed analysis of why I believe Trump Derangement is important as a category, a diagnosis, and an acknowledgement of spreading national psychosis, not as an insult or an ad hominem attack. Again I was derailed by what I laughingly call “life.” But at the risk of piece-mealing a topic that deserves serious focus: I was reminded of the issue when a good friend wrote on Facebook last night to the usual unanimous praise and agreement of the Bubble after another fact-free rant, “If you voted for Trump, de-friend me and fuck yourself!”
You see, I view that post as signature significance for clinical Trump Derangement. She doesn’t know how many of her friends voted for Trump in 2024, or why, but no matter what her relationship with them may be, however much they may care about her, how many acts of kindness or love they may have blessed her with, regardless of what they have achieved or suffered and who they have helped in the other spheres of their lives, the simple, civic act of voting for the current President of the United States is sufficient justification in her jaundiced eyes to condemn them and demand that they cut themselves out of her life.
That’s nuts.
This isn’t a “Morning Ethics Warm-Up.” I am really just trying to keep up: right now I’m going to list quotes, videos and news developments relating to the apparent complete meltdown of the Axis of Unethical Conduct over the reality that President Trump is crushing so many of their schemes, dreams and delusions. The American way, the democratic way (ironically), would be to make fact-based, unemotional arguments, keeping the rhetoric civil, telling the truth, not trying to inflame the passions of the dumb, the illogical and the ignorant, and maybe even avoid saying “fuck” in the process.
In the intro to todays Friday Open Forum, I mused about designating this chapter of “The Great Stupid,” the social pathogen launched in 2020 with the simultaneous weaponized freakout over the Wuhan virus paired with the cynical and dishonest weaponized hysteria over the death of a single, over-dosing black perp under ambiguous circumstances involving a white cop, as “The Big Crazy.” For now, at least, I’m going to do that.
I chose that post above by Congresswoman Janelle Bynum (D-OR) to lead off as a perfect example of how Democrats are behaving. (Thanks to Matthew B for the pointer.) Here is a U.S. Congresswoman implying that the President of the United States has ordered law enforcement officials to shoot citizens. Law enforcement is “terrorism.” In past, non-crazy times, a public statement like that would be amply grounds for a bi-partisan Congressional rebuke.
Meanwhile:
—In New York City last night, a huge crowd chanted, “Kristi Noem will Hang!” and “Save a life, kill an ICE” as they gather to protest the ICE killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis. Nice. This is a violent party that has lost all ethical bearings.
—This is the kind of divisiveness and bigotry the DEI and intersectionalism ideology has fertilized. Mamdani’s racist aide is another example. These are not outliers:
—The lies that are being spread about Rachel Good are audacious, and yet many of my smart (well, they once were) Facebook friends are repeating them as fact. She was just an innocent, apolitical mom picking up her child from school and got caught in an I.C.E. raid! No, in fact Good was “an anti-ICE warrior” and part of a group of activists who worked to “document and resist” the federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota. After she moved to Minneapolis, Good joined “ICE Watch,” a coalition of activists dedicated to disrupting ICE raids in the sanctuary city. Colleagues have told reporters that Good was “trained” in methods of interfering with I.C.E. Ramming agents with cars has been one of the practices of ICE Watch across the country.
—The NeverTrump conservatives who bloviate at “The Bulwark” apparently have neither shame nor comprehension of the English language. Tim Miller, a Bulwark podcaster and a contributor to MS NOW said that he was “shaken” by the number of people who thought assassination was the appropriate punishment “for not following a masked federal agent’s orders.” Yeah, that’s a fiar characterization of what happened in Minneapolis Rep. Dan Goldman and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani both the shooting “outright murder.” Who would believe any of these people after statements like those?
Yeah, it’s crazy out there.
I’m thinking of designating this chapter in The Great Stupid as “The Big Crazy.”
And one whole side of the political spectrum wants it to be crazy. You can talk about whatever intrigues you here, of course, but I wanted to post this Twitter/”X” statement from “Cynical Publius,” an articulate and clever conservative, which I believe is spot on:
Dear Democrat ICE Protestors:
Hi. How have you been? I know we don’t see eye-to-eye on much, but I am hoping you will nevertheless give me 5 minutes of your time, if for no other reason than for your own protection. I am going to speak some hard truths. Please listen. First of all, everything Trump and ICE are doing with illegal aliens is totally legal. They are completely operating within the bounds of federal law. The deportations are legal. The raids are legal. The detentions are legal. Your Democrat leaders know this, and they know it would be politically disastrous to just say “ignore the law.” Instead, they are attempting to delegitimize ICE while skirting around the full legality of what ICE does. To accomplish this, they need to paint ICE as being truly, horrifically evil. Nazi-level evil. They NEED that to be the image the public sees. That’s where you come in. When Democrat politicians, “organizers” and journalists send you out in the street to obstruct ICE operations, they are doing so with the specific and deliberate attempt to create a situation where ICE kills a bunch of seemingly “peaceful” protestors, all for the cameras. They want another Boston Massacre. They want another Tiananmen Square. They want another Kent State. They are desperately hoping for the deaths and injuries of scores of people just like you. THEY WANT YOU TO DIE IN FURTHERANCE OF THE CAUSE. Did you not know that already? Renee Good was a nice start, but she screwed up by hitting the ICE agent with her SUV. What they need is dozens of Renee Goods who—based on what the cameras show and do not show—were murdered in cold blood by ICE. THAT IS THE GOAL OF YOUR LEADERSHIP. Did you realize that people like Tim Walz and Hakeem Jeffries see you as mere cannon fodder in their war on America? Did you know that? It’s not that they specifically want you, John Doe at 123 Main Street, to die, but if you are one of the victims, so be it. All for The Cause. Is this what you signed up for? To be a martyr? If so, good for you. But if not, please consider my words. For your own good.
Best regards, CP
Over to you, Clarence…
Unlike President Trump, DFH and Jacob Frey, I am not going to comment on what really happened that resulted in a “middle-aged white woman” being shot and killed by an I.C.E. officer after she deliberately used her vehicle to impede law enforcement activities. I will comment on Jacob Frey’s inflammatory, irresponsible rant in front of TV cameras, because I heard the whole thing, and was incredulous throughout. Points:
Interestingly, the New York Times has ignore Frey’s diatribe, and concentrated on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz more measured response. This suggests to me that the Axis believes that Frey went too far, and the less focus on it the better.
1. If President Trump’s tone and rhetoric were as deliberately provocative on January 6, 2021 as Frey’s were on January 7, 2025, I would have been more inclined to back the special prosecutor’s argument that Trump was trying to start an insurrection.
The above was posted by one of my formerly intelligent and rational Trump Deranged Facebook friends, as usual with no dissent and a lot of “likes,” “loves,” “wows” and angry face emogis. Again, to anyone not rendered a drooling cretin by bias, the thing shouldn’t need any further commentary: it “speaks for itself,” res ipsa loquitur. Nonetheless, the meme is instructive regarding just how completely such TDS victims have left reality while their critical thinking functions head into oblivion.
“He wants the oil” is the one arguably legitimate statement, if we generously permit over-simplification because of the genre’s intrinsic limitations. There are many benefits, to the American economy, to the Venezuelan people, and to global stability of removing Venezuelan oil production from its longtime role of assisting U.S. adversaries and Communist governments. The statement is deceitful, of course: Trump does not “want the oil” for himself, not is be determined to take the oil without just compensation to the nation. U.S. companies like Chevron, Exxon Mobil, and others are expected to take advantage of investment opportunities by rebuilding Venezuela’s deteriorating oil infrastructure. This will benefit that nation’s economy and welfare as well.
I decided to skip this issue a month ago when comic Amy Schumer was being called a hypocrite for suddenly showing off her newly svelte, Ozempic-drowned body all over social media after spending years defending being”plus size.” Then she posted bikini photos yesterday and social media was freaking out again.
“I think there’s nothing wrong with being plus size,” Schumer argued in a tiff with Glamour Magazine a decade ago. “Beautiful healthy women.” Amy got progressively more plus-size as the years went by and was more militantly anti-fatshaming as a “body-positivity” advocate while the pounds piled on.
Estonian theater Kinoteater recently staged Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” in a production with Romeo played by a rally truck and his secret love Juliet by a red Ford pickup truck. The climactic duel between Tybalt and Mercutio consisted of two excavators swinging their metal buckets in front of each other. The performance was staged in a limestone quarry. “Romula ja Julia” had virtually no lines, as there were no human actors, just ten drivers, two mechanics, a pyrotechnics expert, an excavator operator, and many vehicles to convey the classic love story. Among the Shakespearean were a front-end loader, a concrete mixer, a fire truck, city buses, other large machinery, and some smaller vehicles.
Co-director Paavo Piik explained that the contrast between the powerful vehicles and the themes of love and poetry is central to the production’s experimental approach. “I would still say that even though it was cars, it felt really sweet and cute. Like when you had the scene where the cars were, you would assume, kissing, the energy was captured really well. The sweetness and the love,” one spectator told Reuters.
Right. No lines, and a bunch of machines “kissing.” By what theory could such a spectacle be legitimately called “Shakespeare,” much less “Romeo and Juliet”? They might just as well have called a demolition derby “The Illiad.”
Ethics Alarms always takes the position that the acid test of any non-traditional theatrical concept or casting is 1) whether the creator’s message and vision is being fairly respected, and 2) whether the production “works” beyond the novelty factor.
Let’s just say that I’m highly dubious about this production.
(Curmie, Curmie! Wherefore art thou, Curmie?)
Part 1 is here.
I assumed that headline was a misstatement, because the jokes write themselves (Hamas is condemning an abduction?). But I checked some Arab world sources, and indeed, all of the terrorist organizations are big mad over President Trump nabbing Maduro. From an Arabic news agency:
Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has condemned the US aggression against Venezuela as a blatant and unprecedented violation of international law…Hezbollah movement, in a statement, condemned the U.S. aggression against Venezuela and the targeting of the country’s vital facilities, civilians, and residential buildings, describing it as a blatant and unprecedented violation of international law….It added that the military aggression shows disregard for global stability and security, and aimed at entrenching the “law of the jungle” in order to dismantle the remnants of the international system and strip it of any substance that could serve as a safeguard for nations and peoples.
The Palestinian movement, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, denounced what it called an “imperialist American aggression” on Venezuela, including airstrikes and missile attacks on Caracas and civilian, residential, and military sites, casting it as a new episode of ‘organized American terrorism” against sovereign states….
Palestinian Islamic Jihad described the US assault on Venezuela as an escalating campaign, from blockade to direct strikes, aimed at domination, occupation, and plunder, and a flagrant breach of sovereignty and international law. It said Venezuela is targeted for its steadfast support for Palestine and regional resistance forces, describing the struggle as part of a shared anti-imperialist battle.
Hamas, for its part, denounced the military aggression on Caracas and the kidnapping of President Maduro and his wife, calling it a grave violation of international law and the sovereignty of an independent state. The movement cast the assault as an extension of unjust U.S. interventions driven by imperial ambition that have destabilized multiple countries and threatened international peace. Hamas urged the UN, especially the Security Council, to take measures to stop the attack immediately.
I have to say, I find this mordantly funny. Could there be a more villainous, despicable group of critics for Democrats to find common cause with? Any minute now, I’m expecting a statement from the Seven Princes of Hell, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Asmodeus, Leviathan, Mammon, Belphegor,, and Satan, joined by demons Astaroth, Belial, and Azazel, declaring the U.S.’s dazzling Venezuelan operation to be a violation of international law.
Teddy Roosevelt would have loved this.
We woke up this morning to learn that the United States had captured the rogue Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, and was flying him out of Venezuela to face trial in the United States. President Trump had been increasing pressure on Maduro and his illegal government for months, terming the Venezuelan leader a “narco terrorist” whose illegal activities threatened the welfare of the United States and the safety of its citizens. The President of the United States has the power to do this. Trump did it.
U.S. forces encountered no significant resistance from Venezuelan air defenses or land forces (the government had claimed to have an arsenal capable of repelling such a U.S. operation). It appears that no U.S. military personnel lost their lives, though we should be cautious in this regard, because all of the facts aren’t in yet. However, as with the strike on Iran, the U.S. operation in Venezuela unquestionably benefited the U.S. and its public, as well as the nation of Venezuela, which had been dominated by a ruthless dictator who would not allow fair elections since he has ruled Venezuela by decree since 2015.
The incursion is legitimately termed a law enforcement operation. Your Trump Deranged Facebook Friends will conveniently omit the fact that Maduro has been under Federal indictment since 2020. The indictment reads in part,
