SATURDAY NIGHT MUSIC

 

A favorite since my childhood:

Tom Lehrer R.I.P.

 

About that summit between Trump and Putin:

 

It was a big nothing burger.  Putin came out the winner.  He, an international war criminal, was warmly greeted by the American president on American soil   Disgraceful.

And no ceasefire, as Trump demanded.  All he got from Putin was a knowing smirk  

NYTimes:  

Putin secured wins before and after the summit.

Mr. Putin scored a win even before he arrived in the United States. After years of being ostracized by the West, he returned to American soil for the first time in a decade, welcomed by American fighter jets, a red carpet and a ride in the Beast, Mr. Trump’s armored car.

And Mr. Putin secured another victory when it concluded, departing the United States without making any major concessions while maintaining a warm rapport with Mr. Trump. During the last several months, the American president had been growing frustrated with Mr. Putin, seeing the Russian leader as the hurdle to a cease-fire and an eventual peace deal to end the war in Ukraine.

YES.

The photo of MAGA President Donald J. Trump sitting with Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted child sex trafficker and rapist, whom he partied with along with his wife, Melania, is not virtue signaling; it's a fact.

Presidents Carter, Obama, and Biden did not party with the child rapist. Trump did. And no one, NO ONE believes Trump didn't know what Epstein and Maxwell were doing with those underage girls.

“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” Trump told New York magazine in 2002. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”

Somehow, I already intuited this:

 

This Study Finds a Chilling Link Between Personality Type and Trump Support 

Malevolent traits and reduced empathy go hand in hand. 

"In the years since Donald Trump emerged as the face of American conservatism, psychologists have grappled with a vexing question: why do so many Americans remain loyal to a morally questionable leader? Donald Trump has made tens of thousands of false or misleading claims, he had an affair with an adult star, and consistently misused donations, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg; yet, he maintains a cult-like loyal following. 

A new study, published this month in the Journal of Research in Personality, suggests part of the answer may lie deep within the personalities of his supporters. 

The research, led by psychologist Craig Neumann of the University of North Texas, examined whether certain personality traits—those associated with callousness, manipulation, and even enjoyment of others’ suffering—correlate with conservative ideology and support for Trump. The findings are striking: people who view Trump favorably are more likely to score higher on measures of malevolent traits and lower on empathy and compassion."

 [skip] 

"The reverse also held true. Participants who scored higher on benevolent traits like humanism, faith in humanity, and respect for others tended to oppose Trump and lean politically liberal.

These patterns held across gender and racial groups, though there were key differences. White men who scored higher on psychopathic traits also showed stronger support for Trump and conservative ideology. Among men of minority status, however, psychopathy did not predict political ideology. This variation, researchers propose, could stem from differing lived experiences with social power, privilege, and marginalization.

The study also looked at empathy, and the findings were disturbing once again. Trump supporters reported significantly lower levels of affective empathy (emotional concern for others) and higher levels of dissonant empathy (enjoyment of others’ pain). Interestingly, their ability to understand how others feel (cognitive empathy) remained intact."

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My takeaway:

If you admire a person like Trump, who has been a cheat, a liar, and a fraudster his entire life, then perhaps you admire those traits in your fellow human beings, and you enjoy seeing a bully, like Trump, make people's lives miserable.

IMO, if you admire and are drawn to a person like Trump who's consistently shown himself to be without honor and human decency, then perhaps those qualities in a leader are attractive to you, and possibly are qualities that you share with Trump himself? I don't know. I'm not a psychologist.

But I DO know that Americans who continue to support Trump (after all we know about his appalling temperament and immoral behavior) are willfully blind because they either lack the moral courage to abandon their support of him; or, worse, they're as morally repugnant as he is.

How corrupt is the Trump DoJ?

 

This corrupt:

"Ghislaine Maxwell remains the only child-rapist in US history to receive well-wishes from a president of the United States." --Lawrence O'Donnell 

She's also the only child rapist in US history to be moved to a minimum security camp with potential work release one week after meeting with the Deputy Attorney General.

The only conclusion one can make from this shocking preferential treatment of a child sex trafficker and rapist is that the Trump administration is soft on child sex traffickers and rapists.

Another degradation to our country brought to us by the Trump administration.

Shame!  Shame!  Shame!

This is some amazeballs trolling by Governor Newsom!

 

The great Mel Brooks often said that the way to show contempt for your enemies is by mercilessly ridiculing and mocking them.

Governor Newsom is a genius at it:

DEAR AMERICA, WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO WAKE UP?

Hitler emphasized that art must serve the state and reflect the “eternal values” of the Aryan race. 

In many speeches, Hitler framed museums as battlegrounds for cultural supremacy, urging the public to reject “Bolshevist” and “Jewish” influences in favor of art that glorified Germany.

 

Recent news reports indicate that President Trump is taking steps to influence the Smithsonian Institution, aiming to align its portrayal of American history with his administration's vision. 

In addition, the Trump administration plans to review all exhibits and materials from the National Museum of American History to ensure they align with Trump's "interpretation of American history"

Specifically:

• An executive order titled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History" was signed by President Trump in March 2025. This order accuses the Smithsonian Institution of being swayed by "divisive, race-centered ideology" and seeks to eliminate what it terms "anti-American ideology" from its museums, educational and research centers, and even the National Zoo.
• The order directs the Vice President (currently JD Vance), who is a member of the Smithsonian Board of Regents, to work to eliminate such ideologies from the institution. It also calls for the Vice President to work with Congress to potentially block appropriations for exhibitions and programs deemed inconsistent with the administration's anti-DEI initiatives.
• A White House review of Smithsonian museums has been launched to ensure alignment with President Trump's views on American history, aiming to promote "American exceptionalism" and remove "divisive or partisan narratives". The Wall Street Journal reported that top White House officials will scrutinize exhibitions, internal processes, collections, and artist grants.
• In response to the March executive order, the Smithsonian closed its diversity office.
• The Smithsonian has stated its commitment to operating "free of partisanship" and maintaining its nonpartisan status. In a June statement, the Board of Regents emphasized the institution's independence and the authority of its Secretary, Lonnie G. Bunch, in making personnel decisions, amid reports of President Trump attempting to fire a museum director.
• An exhibit referencing President Trump's impeachments was temporarily removed from the National Museum of American History but was later stated to be restored and updated to include all presidential impeachments.
• Critics argue that these actions represent political interference in the practice of history and an attack on the autonomy and integrity of cultural institutions, potentially suppressing a comprehensive understanding of American history, including narratives related to people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and women.

Hitler and the Nazi regime actively sought to control and impose their version of German history on historians and the public.

 Hitler and the Nazi regime actively sought to control and impose their version of German history on historians and the public. 

Here's how they did it

• Censorship and Propaganda: The Nazi Party, through its Ministry of Enlightenment and Propaganda led by Joseph Goebbels, implemented strict censorship of all media, including historical works. Books that contradicted Nazi ideology or were written by Jewish authors or other "undesirables" were banned and burned.
• Controlling the Narrative: The Nazis promoted a historical narrative that glorified German nationalism, Aryan supremacy, and the regime's actions, while demonizing enemies like Jewish people and communists. Textbooks were rewritten to reflect these narratives, according to the Holocaust Encyclopedia.
• Intimidation and Coercion: Historians who resisted or refused to align with the Nazi version of history faced severe consequences, including job loss, imprisonment, or even death. 

This control over historical narratives aimed to indoctrinate the German populace and ensure unwavering support for the Nazi regime and its policies. 

 Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime actively sought to control and shape the narrative of German history, forcing their version of events and interpretations on historians and the general population. 

Here's how they did it:

• Purges and control of universities: The Nazis purged universities and research institutions of Jewish and "politically undesirable" professors, according to Facing History & Ourselves. They overhauled curricula to emphasize Nazi ideology, according to Congress.gov.
• Nazi Student Groups: Nazi student organizations like the National Socialist German Students' League played a key role in monitoring faculty, according to the Holocaust Encyclopedia, denouncing those who didn't conform, and disseminating Nazi ideology within universities.
• Rewriting History to Support Ideology: The Nazis actively used historical research, particularly in fields like archaeology, to promote their claims of Aryan superiority and nationalistic fervor.
• Propaganda: The Nazi regime, through Joseph Goebbels' Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, exercised widespread control over all forms of media, arts, and communication to shape public opinion and behavior, according to EBSCO. They used propaganda to scapegoat groups like Jews and Communists, promoting lies and misinformation to justify their actions. 

The Nazi regime's efforts drastically impacted the intellectual landscape of Germany, with consequences felt for decades after the war.