FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE OUR COUNTRY IS IN DEBT UP TO OUR EYEBALLS BECAUSE POOR PEOPLE WANT "FREE STUFF."

 

This was fact-checked.

This also explains that this country believes in socialism for the rich and the military industrial complex.

Mariana Hernandez 

April 28 at 10:21 AM ·

Delayed flight. Gate C14. And God himself decided to entertain me by placing two men directly behind me solving America's $39 trillion debt problem between bites of a $22 airport sandwich.

Guy #1 turns to his friend:

"If capitalism is so great, why are we $39 TRILLION in debt?"

Guy #2, without missing a beat:

"Because of socialist programs, obviously."

I closed my laptop. I needed a moment.

Because let's actually look at where the $39 trillion came from. Not feelings. Not talking points. Numbers.

THE IRAQ & AFGHANISTAN WARS: $8 TRILLION

No WMDs found. No democracy built. Two countries left in chaos. That's not socialism. That's bipartisan warmongering with a Lockheed Martin logo on it.

THE 2008 BANK BAILOUT: $700 BILLION (+ $12 TRILLION in Fed support)

Wall Street gambled with your mortgage, crashed the global economy, then got handed a check with YOUR name on it. The banks kept their bonuses. You kept your debt. That's not socialism for the poor — that's socialism for the rich.

THE 2017 TAX CUTS: $1.9 TRILLION added to the debt

Sold as a gift to the middle class. Apple alone saved $47 billion. Your check? Maybe $40 a month. The debt? $1.9 trillion heavier.

THE US HEALTHCARE SYSTEM: $4.5 TRILLION per year

America spends MORE per person than any country on Earth — and gets LESS. A hip replacement in Spain? €6,000. In the US? $40,000. Medical bills are the #1 cause of personal bankruptcy in America. That's not too much socialism. That's the cost of having none.

PENTAGON BUDGET: $886 BILLION in 2024 alone

Larger than the next 10 countries COMBINED. Meanwhile your bridge is crumbling and your kid's school has a GoFundMe for pencils.

Now. Let's talk about socialism "failing."

MEXICO — right next door. Nobody's paying attention.

Claudia Sheinbaum became president in 2024. She has a PhD in climate science. An actual scientist running a country. Not a TV personality. Not a failed businessman. A scientist.

She expanded universal pensions, free internet nationwide, and scholarships for millions of young Mexicans. Foreign investment is flooding in. Nearshoring is making Mexico one of the hottest manufacturing destinations on Earth.

And she's navigating Trump's tariffs and border provocations with more dignity than any US politician has managed in years. She doesn't tweet at 3am.

Must be infuriating for some people.

BRAZIL — and this story needs to be told.

Lula was a factory worker. A union leader. A man who lost a finger in a machine press and turned his pain into a political movement. He was imprisoned on charges later thrown out by Brazil's Supreme Court — many believe to keep him from power.

He came back. Won the election. Returned to the presidency at 77.

Under Lula:

• Bolsa Família restored — lifting millions out of extreme poverty

• Minimum wage raised above inflation for the first time in years

• Amazon deforestation dropped 50% in his first year back

A man who came from nothing, survived prison, and came back to feed the poor and protect the rainforest.

That's not a communist villain. That's a story Hollywood would make a movie about — if he were American and right-wing.

CHINA — and this one will really hurt.

Nominally communist. And yet:

• 45,000 km of high-speed rail. The US has zero.

• 5 million engineers graduated per year. The US graduates 200,000.

• BYD just outsold Tesla worldwide.

• 800 million people lifted out of poverty in 40 years — the greatest anti-poverty achievement in human history.

Someone forgot to tell the second largest economy on Earth that socialism always fails.

While America spent $8 trillion blowing up the Middle East, China was building infrastructure, educating engineers, and buying up the debt America kept creating.

Who's actually winning here?

And yes — Venezuela. We know.

A corrupt petro-dictatorship that printed money, destroyed private institutions, and was strangled by US sanctions. Not a social democracy. Not what any serious economist proposes. Comparing Venezuela to these countries is like comparing a gas station hot dog to a Michelin star restaurant and concluding that food is dangerous.

Here's what those two guys at Gate C14 — and half of Facebook — can't grasp:

America doesn't have too much socialism.

America has socialism for the wrong people.

Subsidies for oil companies that made $200 billion in profit? Socialism.

Bailouts for banks that gambled and lost? Socialism.

Tax breaks for private jets and yachts? Socialism.

Free school lunch for a hungry 7-year-old? Suddenly that's communism.

The $39 trillion wasn't built by teachers, nurses, food stamps, or public libraries.

It was built by wars nobody wanted, tax cuts nobody needed, bailouts for people who needed them least, and a healthcare racket that would make the mafia blush.

But sure. Blame the socialism.

Flight's still delayed. They're still talking.

THIS IS HOW THE WORLD SEES AMERICA AND ITS PRESIDENT:

 

 

We have an adolescent running the country:

PS.  We had a nuclear deal. Trump spitefully tore it up because former President Obama sealed that deal with Iran. We all know that somewhere in Trump's little addled brain he understands that he'll never be as smart or beloved as former President Obama is and always will be.

ARE WE GREAT YET?

 

We went from this:

To this:

“I’M NOT A RAPIST. I’M NOT A PEDOPHILE.” 

Trump was forced to answer a few uncomfortable questions on 60 Minutes.

(Correction: Trump is, in fact, an adjudicated sexual assaulter/rapist (per the judge in the case).

Wedding on the grounds of Bunratty Castle, Bunratty, Ireland

 

Sunday, April 26, 2026

Bunratty, Ireland

Click on the images to get a better view.

P.E. WILL BE AWAY FOR A WEEK

 

Alan and I are flying to Ireland.

My son and daughter- in-law were married in New York last Christmas Eve; and because my daughter-in-law’s paternal family are all from County Clare, Ireland, we will have a wedding reception at Bunratty Castle so we can meet her Irish family and get to know them. 

We are looking forward to this adventure and exploring that part of beautiful Ireland. 

Sláinte!

The World Reacts to Trump the Bully

 

From “ The Other 98%”

The world is uniting against Donald Trump. This week made that impossible to ignore. On Saturday, the leaders of Mexico, Brazil, Spain, Colombia, South Africa, and Uruguay stood together in Barcelona at a summit built specifically to counter him. 

Spain’s Pedro Sánchez told the crowd: “They know their vision of how the world should be ordered is falling apart. From now on, they can be the ones who feel ashamed.” Mexico and Spain shook hands for the first time in years, setting aside a longstanding colonial dispute to stand in the same room against the same man. 

Brazil’s Lula said the UN is broken because “the countries that created it do not respect it.” He was talking about one person.

Trump responded by attacking Sánchez on social media.

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, who just turned a minority government into a majority by running explicitly against Trump, declared at Davos in January that the world is experiencing “a rupture, not a transition.” He looked at the camera and said: “We know the old order is not coming back.”

In Hungary, Trump’s closest European ally just lost in a landslide. Vance flew to Budapest to campaign for him. Trump posted “I AM WITH HIM ALL THE WAY.” It wasn’t enough. Now even Nigel Farage and Italy’s Meloni are distancing themselves. Being seen with Trump is becoming a liability across Europe, including for the European far right.

In Ireland, a protester took a hatchet to a U.S. military aircraft at Shannon Airport. Spain closed its airspace to American warplanes. NATO allies refused to send ships to the Strait of Hormuz despite direct demands from the White House.

The Pope told reporters from a plane bound for Africa: “I have no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly.”

And in the Bronx on Saturday, Barack Obama sat on the floor of a childcare center with New York City’s mayor and read to three-year-olds. One week after Trump said the government can’t afford daycare. 

The most powerful man in the world is losing in every room across it.

YOUR SUNDAY MOMENT OF ZEN

 

SATURDAY NIGHT MUSIC

 

John Prine:

ARE WE GREAT YET?

 

The more you know about the Christian Nationalist heading our Department of Defense, the more sickening it is:

"At the Pentagon's monthly worship service yesterday, the Secretary of Defense stood up, told military leaders what they hear in worship should "inform" their war decisions, and then read a prayer calling for "great vengeance and furious anger" on Iran. He said the prayer was called "CSAR 2517," standing for Combat Search And Rescue, and was based on Ezekiel 25:17.

It wasn't.

It was from the movie, Pulp Fiction. Specifically, it was the speech Samuel L. Jackson's character recites before executing an unarmed man. Tarantino wrote those lines himself.  

They are not in any Bible. They are in a Quentin Tarantino movie. 

The actual Ezekiel 25:17 has one sentence. The rest, including "the path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men," was invented for a 1994 film about hit men eating hamburgers.

"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee."

The Secretary of Defense [War] read a fictional hit man's execution speech to bless an actual war."

The service was reportedly the second in a row that Hegseth used violent verses and messaging in discussing the war in Iran: 

“Grant this task force clear and righteous targets for violence,” he prayed last month.

What the Christians' Savior, Jesus, ACTUALLY preached:  

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God" (Matthew 5:9).

What the Secretary of Defense did was quote a Hollywood movie's words about violence and killing as scripture, and he ignored the actual words of his Savior, Jesus Christ.

Are we great yet?

AND IT'S ONLY WEDNESDAY

BREAKING NEWS (See below):

Here's all the chaos Trump has caused across the world so far this week:

"- Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum is furious at Trump over deaths of Mexican nationals in ICE custody and the Cuba blockade.

- Italy’s Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, is upset with Trump’s treatment of the Pope.

- Canada’s PM Mark Carney’s party won big in an election in a refutation of Trump 

- Trump’s pal in Hungary, Viktor Orban lost in a landslide 

- Saudi Foreign Minister has declared that  “The era of relying on the US has ended.”

- Europeans are planning a “European NATO” without us

- Europeans are planning a post-war Strait of Hormuz effort without us. 

- China’s President says the world order is “crumbling into disarray” thanks to Trump's insanity (he’s right)

- Gallup finds the world views China’s leadership more favorably than the US under Trump." --Democratric Underground

And Trump is at it again. Now he's pretending that he's Jesus's "special friend." In addition to his malignant narcissism, Trump apparently has a messianic complex that impels him to force us all to see him as Jesus Christ's chosen and most favorite Christian. 

Imagine how the Evangelical MAGAs would have reacted had former Presidents Barack Obama or Joe Biden published this sort of blasphemy themselves on social media! But it seems that even blasphemy is not a bridge too far for those who support the convicted felon and adjudicated SA/rapist who partied for decades with child sex traffickers and rapists, Epstein and Maxwell.

This is the weird, surreal America we now live in, where a certifiable POTUS advertises to the world his mental disorders:

Yes. I wish that, too!

BREAKING:

Amid quarrel with pope, Trump strips Miami charity of funding to house migrant kids 

Because Jesus's best friend and Anointed One would be proud to see Trump make innocent children and babies suffer because the Pope dared to speak out against Trump's war mongering and anti-immigrant administration.

Has there ever been a more disgusting and indecent human being than Trump? 

Dear P.E. Readers,

 

The POTUS is a very sick, deteriorating man. How much longer will America keep up the pretense that Donald Trump is sane?

IMO, anyone still supporting this pathetic clown is as unstable as he is.

In the span of two hours last night, Trump went from attacking the Pope to declaring himself the Messiah. Thank gawd he didn't wear a tan suit, though! 

 After Criticizing Pope, Trump Posts Image of Himself as a Jesus-Like Figure 

The image, posted on Truth Social, appeared to be A.I.-generated and depicts the president as a divine leader healing the sick.

In any other country, if its leader published this garbage, his fellow countrymen and women would demand his stepping down for reasons of insanity.

Why does the Republican Party still keep this lunatic in office? Maybe the GOP leadership is as non compos mentis as Trump is?

"The president of Iran tagged Pope Leo XIV on Twitter (X)." Trump did that:

PS. On the defeat of Trump/Vance-backed authoritarian Viktor Orban:

"Orbán’s defeat capped a week of failure for Vance and Trump, a sign of Trump’s own diminishing power that may end in a midterm defeat as humiliating as Orbán’s. Trump, despite his bluster, looks smaller and more isolated than ever."--Eric Christiansen

EPIC LOSERS:

 

For our friend skudrunner (and Dave M.)

 

It's been a busy weekend at the goat farm.

We worked both Friday and Saturday because of 4 new kids and a doe who's ready to kid today.

But I had time to read some postings on social media and thought this one hit the mark:

Vance didn't get a deal.

Pentagon Threatened the Pope After He Criticized Trump

So, now the crazy former weekend FAUX NOOZ host, serial adulterer, and DUI Secretary of Defense, Hegseth, is going after religions that don't support his war-crazed policies?

Where have we seen this sort of madness in history? 

Nazi Germany (1933-1945): Despite a 1933 treaty, the Nazis violated the concordat, closing church schools, suppressing press, and sending thousands of priests to concentration camps, most notably in the "Priest Barracks" of Dachau. 

 Mexico's Calles Law (1920s): President Plutarco Elías Calles' 1926 penal code aimed to break the Church's power, sparking the Cristero War, a violent conflict between Catholics and the government. 

German Kulturkampf (1871-1876): Chancellor Otto von Bismarck initiated laws to assert state control over the Church, arresting bishops and priests, and forcing religious orders to disband. 

Soviet Union (1917 onwards): The Bolshevik government actively attacked the Catholic Church, seizing properties and arresting clergy. 

Early American Anti-Catholicism: In the 17th and 18th centuries, several colonies, including Maryland and Virginia, banned or restricted Catholic settlers and forced them to pay taxes to established Protestant churches.

Pentagon Threatened the Pope After He Criticized Trump 

"Relations between the U.S. and the Catholic Church have not been the same since January, when senior U.S. defense officials shared an abrasive message with a Vatican official. 

 Days after Pope Leo XIV delivered his State of the World speech, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby summoned Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s U.S. representative, to a closed-door Pentagon meeting for a bitter lecture. 

 'The United States,' Colby said, according to a blistering new report by The Free Press, 'has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world. The Catholic Church had better take its side.' 

One U.S. official present at the meeting brought up the Avignon papacy, a period in the 14th century in which the French monarchy bent the Catholic Church into submission, ordering an attack on Pope Boniface VIII that led to his downfall and subsequent death and forcing the papacy to relocate from Rome to Avignon, a region inside France. 

 The Trump administration had taken issue with the pope’s critique of its militaristic proclivities. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other top Pentagon officials were particularly aggrieved by portions of Leo’s January 9 speech in which the pope argued that 'a diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus among all parties is being replaced by a diplomacy based on force,' and that 'war is back in vogue, and a zeal for war is spreading.'

 

Meidas Touch Report (Yes, I know, this is a left leaning source, but its report has been confirmed):

"SHOCK REPORT: Did the Trump administration threaten the Pope's life?!

The Vatican has shelved plans for Pope Leo XIV to visit the United States after what officials describe as a deeply alarming confrontation with the Pentagon.

A stunning new report — now independently confirmed the publication Letters from Leo — reveals that a top U.S. official summoned the Pope’s then-ambassador, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, and delivered a stark warning: America has the military power to do whatever it wants — and the Church 'had better take its side.' ”

JUST SO WE'RE CLEAR ABOUT WHAT TRUMP THINKS HIS HOLY IRAN WAR ACCOMPLISHED:

 

Trump's cultists are giddy with excitement because the Strait of Hormuz was reopened.

The strait was freely open BEFORE Trump started his Holy Iran War! His war with Iran closed it!

Iran is now charging vessels $2 million to go through the strait. It was free before Trump's war.

And now, according to reports, it's closed again:

Trump's Press Secy., Karoline Leavitt:

 Karoline Leavitt: "Lebanon is NOT part of the ceasefire agreement". 

 FACT: The PM of Pakistan, who mediated the ceasefire, tweeted out that it WAS included. He's literally the one who witnessed the deal.

Either she's deliberately lying or is stupidly incompetent.

The Aftermath of the Raving Lunatic's Threats

 

Brett McGurk

And this is madness!

Hegseth: "God deserves all the glory. Tens of thousands of sorties, refuelings, and strikes, carried out under the protection of divine providence. A massive effort with miraculous protection."

Greg Sargent:

This is the reality, not the B.S. being propagandized by the Trump regime:

Is this what MAGA voted for?

 

A maniac willing to commit war crimes in the name of the US by destroying an entire civilization?

I

From Stars and Stripes:

Trump warns ‘a whole civilization will die tonight’ as Iran deadline looms

A self-imposed deadline set by President Donald Trump for Iran to reach a peace deal was looming Tuesday, as Trump escalated his threats to destroy the country’s infrastructure and talks appeared to stall.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” Trump said in a post to his Truth Social account. “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”

This is an American president, not the North Korean crazy man:

According to the Department of Defense's "Law of War Manual," Trump's "Truth Social" post is a war crime itself:

TRUMP'S EASTER MESSAGE TO IRAN AND THE WORLD:

 

FROM RAWSTORY:

"President Donald Trump issued a curse-laden threat to Iran on Sunday, warning its leaders that unless they cave to his demand to re-open a critical shipping channel to U.S. vessels, the United States would launch an unprecedented attack Tuesday on Iranian civilian infrastructure. 

 “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F----- Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.” 

(I read that FAUX NOOZ hasn't published Trump's crazy Easter Truth Social post, so his cultists on the Mother Ship won't see what a raging maniac he truly is.)

Trump’s post said the U.S. “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants!” 

In his post, Trump did not elaborate on what needed to be “done,” but said the U.S. “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran.” 

 On Friday, Trump said in another Truth Social post: 

“With a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL,& MAKE A FORTUNE.” “IT WOULD BE A “GUSHER” FOR THE WORLD???” said the post.

 1. General Protections for Civilian Objects Under the Geneva Conventions, parties to a conflict must distinguish between "civilian objects" and "military objectives." 

Definition of Civilian Objects: All objects that are not military objectives are considered civilian and are protected from direct attack. 

Presumption of Civilian Status: 

In cases of doubt about whether an object (such as a school, house, or place of worship) is being used for military purposes, it must be presumed to be civilian and cannot be attacked.

********************

Everyone who voted for this psychopath is complicit in what he's threatening and in what he may do next to Iran. 

The civilian destruction and deaths will be on the conscience of every person who voted for this maniac.

 

HAPPY SPRING.

AND HAPPY EASTER TO THOSE WHO CELEBRATE TODAY.

 

There's something desperately wrong with Trump.

He told the American people that America doesn't need the Strait of Hormuz, and it's not our problem.

This morning he posted on Truth Social account:

Trump posted that if Iran doesn't open up the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, "...all hell will reign[sic] down on them." And then ended his post with "Glory be to GOD."

We have a mad man running the country.

TRUMP FIRED AG BONDI

 

TRUMP'S SPEECH ON HIS IRAN WAR

I've been reading Krugman since 2005. Of all the reviews I've read about Trump's speech last night, my opinion is that Krugman's take is the most accurate:

 Paul Krugman:   

"It turns out that the speech was sort of an anticlimax, although not in a good way. Many people expected Trump to pull the mother of all TACOs, to declare victory and surrender. He did not do that. He declared victory, of course, but he did not actually announce an end to hostilities. On the contrary, he said we’re going to bomb Iran into the Stone Age. 

So add massive war crimes to your schedule. There is clearly no strategy here. There’s no endgame. There’s nothing. It’s hard to tell, as always, whether Trump is delusional or just completely unable to admit something that he actually knows.

 One of the moments that really struck me in the speech was him declaring that the whole world was extremely impressed by what happened. He said, the whole world is watching and they can’t believe the power, strength and brilliance. They just can’t believe what they’re seeing. The world can’t believe what it’s seeing.

 What it’s seeing is that the world’s greatest military power took on a fourth-rate power. Again, as I said the other day, Iran’s military budget is a rounding error in our military budget. And we lost. For all practical purposes, we’ve left ourselves in a much weaker position and Iran in a stronger position than it was before."

This is how the world sees Trump: