Instead of a State of the Union Address, Donald Trump decided to have an awards ceremony

This was probably a good idea, given the actual state of the union, which borders on civil war. Just a few days before, one of Donald Trump's own supporters came to his home in Mar-a-Lago, with a shotgun and a can of gasoline, and was gunned down by secret service agents, in what was presumably an assassination attempt against him, because of his involvement with famed pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. His Department of Homeland Security has been officially shut down, its funding totally cut off indefinitely, because of extra-judicial murders commited by federal ICE agents in Minnesota. Ordinary Americans are being acquitted across the country for assaulting federal agents, because ordinary Americans on juries will not convict them for defending themselves. The economy is weak, and getting weaker. Republicans appear to be heading for an historic defeat in the midterm elections in November, so bad that Trump is talking about canceling them.

The Relationship between Joshua Speed and Abraham Lincoln was homosexual in nature

The relationship between Joshua Speed and Abraham Lincoln not only looks like an obvious case of "consenting adults", but, also as if Abraham Lincoln was nothing more than a male prostitute, simply hopping into bed with the first wealthy man who propositioned him in return for immediate financial support. Good God, that's exactly what happened for chrissakes, and they remained bedmates for four years, and intimate friends for life! They must have been both Gay as the day is long! Obviously, Lincoln would do absolutely ANYTHING for a buck! And this is the guy who started the US Civil War, OMG!! The really concerning thing is what this says about Lincoln's own moral compass -- all he cared about was money and power, and had no morals whatsoever! https://time.com/7018422/abraham-lincoln-lover-of-men-documentary/ The key point here, is that while Lincoln was already an up and coming lawyer and politician, when he went into Joshua Speed's general store in Springfield Illinois, he was deeply in debt, and Joshua Speed did not know who he was at all, just that he "liked the look of him". And, Lincoln knew this. Was America's greatest president, and the leader of her greatest military undertaking, nothing more than a common street-walker?

Prince Harry's memoirs are in the news again

Prince Harry's memoirs are in the news again, because of a brief reference to his Uncle Andrew, who he largely ignores in the book. What's striking about this entire book is how truly bizarre the lives of the Royals are, totally controlled by Public Relations and family hierarchy. I suppose one could see them as Britain's Cheerleaders-in-Chief, these days, if nothing else. That's why Andrew's legal problems might be the end of them, at last, this time. As Donald Trump is proving a critical embarassment to the US, because of his moral failings and incompetence, so Prince Andrew is proving to be a critical embarassment to the Royal Family, making people wonder what function, if any, they really serve in Britain, now. If it really becomes clear that they have no function at all, that their considerable cost clearly outways any benefits they provide to Britain, or the world, it seems actually possible, now, that they may simply be dismissed from the world stage, as an obsolete, thoroughly antiquated medieval adjunct to government, that Britain could do much better, without. We'll have to see if Prince Andrew actually does go to prison, finally. It might be very difficult to maintain the Royal Family, at all, with the brother of the King serving years in prison for gross misconduct on many levels. What are they for, exactly? https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/celebrity/articles/prince-harry-wrote-uncle-andrew-193835194.html

Trump is self-destructing so totally, even NPR is trying to prop him up

I was fascinated to hear this morning, in NPR's excellent program "Left, Right and Center", that NPR is trying to prop up Donald Trump a bit. He's done some good things, he's shaken things up a bit. That kind of thing. Now, given that Donald Trump has totally cut off all funding to NPR, this is just a wee bit surprising. However, this time, even Donald Trump's attacks on NPR are starting to pale, in comparison to the damage Trump has done to himself, and to the nation. And, NPR does wish the US to survive as a nation, of course. Recently, we've had the descendent of a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court murdered in a very professional hit, just to send a message to the Supreme Court that their families aren't safe. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/beloved-millionaire-maine-philanthropist-shot-163123088.html We've had the Governor of Minnesota stage a mini-coup against the federal government, by calling up his own National Guard against thousands of Federal ICE agents terrorizing and murdering his citizens. We have ordinary citizens and shopowners putting "NO TRESPASSING BY LAW ENFORCEMENT" signs on their property, for the first time in US history. There is a level of instability and contempt for the law that is uncpredented in US history. And, even the more liberal elements in the media are getting worried about it, they don't want another civil war in the US.

The prediction market odds for Republicans holding the Senate are down to just 60/40

As Democrats show highly successful fundraising efforts in competitive districts, continue to maintain a strong lead in Generic Congressional polling, and continue to win elections in blood red districts in red states, the predictions markets are taking note, and bettors are now giving the Republicans only a slight edge of 60/40 over the Democrats, of holding the Senate. The most probable result now, is that the Democrats will win three seats, to tie the Senate at 50-50, with JD Vance being the deciding vote. Of course, given moderate Republicans like Rand Paul, and Lisa Murkowski, such an outcome would largely given the Democrats control of the Senate, in any case. This is a marked change from overwhelming four to one odds against the Democrats just a few months ago. The assumption was, that, although 22 Repubicans were up for reelection, against just 13 Democrats, all the Republicans were in districts that voted for Donald Trump, so the chances of Democrats taking these seats were minimal. What's changed, in particular, has been the incredible success Democrats have consistently shown even in Red States in elections over the last year, since Trump started messing everything up. Most Independents and even some Republicans are realizing that the Party of Donald Trump longer protects their best interests.

Shakespeare's only attempt at being a real historian -- The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth

https://archive.org/details/henryviii00shak/page/n9/mode/2up Most of Shakespeare's histories do actually have some attempts at historical analysis in them, and, of course, Shakespeare was obviously an accomplished amateur historian. However, almost all his histories depart very, very far from actual, true history, to some extent, because of lack of actual historical data to base them on, to some extent, because of his obvious professional need to create drama from history, whether it was actually present, or not, and, sometimes, because of a need to accomodate political pressure and social pressure to support contemporary political and social values. The one exception to this general rule that Shakespeare wrote dramas based very loosely on actual history, not history itself, is certainly his very last play, The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth. The title itself suggests that this play is an exception in many ways to his many other historical dramas, almost explicity stating that this work is actually biographical in nature, and not fiction, at all. There are obvious reasons for this. The events described in the play, if not quite in living memory of the older auditors, including Shakespeare himself, were definitely within the living memory of many people they would have grown up with as children and young people. Shakespeare and his contemporaries would certainly have heard many stories and first hand recollections of these events from family members and friends they knew very well indeed, and there were excellent records that could be consulted about the details of these events, from just seventy or eighty years previous to the time of the appearance of this play, in 1613. Hence, it would have been quite impossible for Shakespeare to depart very far from the actual truth of the the events involved, or the characters of the individuals involved, without appearing totally ridiculous. So, we have a level of absolute reality in this final play of Shakespeare, that is largely absent from any other of his productions. Shakespeare really has very little choice in the matter. Hence, the oft suggested view that this was not entirely Shakespeare's writing, because of its uncharacteristic lack of dramatic clarity, could simply stem from the fact that this play cannot be written simply as dramatic ficton, because it cannot possibly be pure dramatic fiction, under these particular circumstances. The play itself is essentially just a moderately dramatized history for the first four acts, eighty percent of the play, a pretty accurate and fairly grim portrait of the conflict between Church and State for power in England under Henry VIII. The King himself is given a nuanced portrait, extremely tough and ruthless, but also highly rational and brilliant. Probably pretty accurate. Anne Boelynn is presented as a rather innocent young woman, although ambitious, too, as innocent young women may be, at times. Katherine of Aaragon is presented quite sympathetically, largely an innocent victim of circumstances, basically a pawn in a huge power play. The final act contains a virtual apotheosis of the baby girl, and future Elizabeth I, upon her birth. I'm not sure there's anthing else in all of Shakespeare that comes so close to actually presenting a member of the British Monarchy as the Second Coming of Jesus Christ! While she was far from a democrat, her ability to judge "how far she could push the English people and Parliament" helped evolve the English monarchy into a more consultative institution than those of her continental rivals. This is, I think, the great message, as an historian, that Shakespeare is trying to give to the English people just before his death. The road to democracy, based on religious tolerance, and the popular will.

Ayn Rand's feel good philosophy of "Objectivism"

Ayn Rand has been popular in the US for nearly a century or so, now, largely on the basis of her advocacy of free market Capitalism as the most perfect incarnation of a truly rational and effective moral approach to existence as a whole. Having experienced the horrors of the Soviet Union first hand, she, quite reasonably, decided to escape to the US, and did quite a good job in doing so! She found in the US, that merely working odd jobs as a film extra was sufficient to maintain not too bad an existence, paradise compared to life in the USSR. And, she picked up a good sense of public relations from these experiences, sufficient to know how to attract attention, and ever acquire a certain degree of power, simply by telling people what they wanted to hear. Ayn Rand's "philosophy", if that is the word for it, is little more than prosaic, at length expostulations of American Optimism. She seems to be presenting popular songs like "Happy Days are here Again" and "Blue Skies, smiling at me" in extended philosophical form. While her criticisms of the brutality and arbitrariness of many Marxist regimes are reasonable enough, she makes the rather obvious error of equating all other philosophical systems -- Platonism, Christianity, Utilitarianism, even Nietzsche -- with them, only excepting her own rather vague pronouncements from this global condemnation of the philosophical field of ethics, as a whole. Ayn Rand seems to feel that merely repeating "rational" and "objective" over and over again, are sufficient to prove that she is, herself, being rational, and objective. I'm afraid, it doesn't quite work that way! Other than being told repeatedly how perfect and wonderful capitalism is, we really don't get much at all of a sense of reality from Ayn Rand, I do much fear me! https://courses.aynrand.org/works/the-objectivist-ethics/

The question at this stage, is how badly the Republicans are going to lose the elections this year

Donald Trump appears to be channeling the mad Roman Emperors Caligula and Nero, while the Republican Congress shrugs its shoulders, and says, "Well, hey, what can you do?". While the polls are giving the Democrats a substantial and increasing edge in the Congressional elections of 5% or so at this time, the elections are painting a much more dramatic picture. We see shifts of, literally, 30 points in the election results in all districts, including and particuarly in Red districts. The only people showing up to vote are Democrats, or Independents and Republicans who have shifted to the Democrats. This can hardly be surprising when we realize that ICE and federal law enforcement in general have turned into a virtual Nazi Gestapo organization under Donald Trump. Donald Trump is violating all principles of Republican government, and is attempting to establish a dicatorship. He wants to outlaw guns, he sees the state murder of American citizens as being perfectly natually and legal, he is declaring war on the entire world in his lust for power and destruction, and he wants to personally determine the winners of all American elections.

Why did Donald Trump throw DHS to the wolves?

Why did Donald Trump decide to give the Democrats the opportunity to simply shut down the whole of DHS, his most powerful domestic law enforcement arm? This move was critized by conservative Republcians like Rick Scott, who argued it reduced Republican leverage considerably to put DHS in isolation from the rest of federal government, particuarly when it is as unpopular as it is now, because of recent ICE excesses. Now, there are people who would argue that actually ICE is protected from funding cuts during a government shutdown, because of legislation that has already been passed, but, this is false. The entire government apparatus is affected by a government shutdown, and, in particular, no one is supposed to be paid. Members of Congress and Federal judges are excepted, because otherwise, there would be no government at all. However, the military isn't paid, and federal agents aren't paid. If they were paid, then continuing resolutions and government shutdowns would effectively be meaningless, nothing of signficance would be shut down, ever, and there would be no means to control the federal deficit, at all, ever, which is the entire purpose of continuing resolutions. So, why did Donald Trump put DHS at risk to this extent? I think the answer is rather simple, actually. Donald Trump was actually losing control of the US military, as the conflict between ICE and the Democratic states was increasing in intensity, exponentially. In particular, in Minnesota, Governor Walz actually deployed his National Guard against ICE, and, it was precisely at this moment, the Donald Trump perceived how perilous his position had become. He had mobilized elements of National Guards in other states, in preparation to attack Minnesota, but, he realized, or perhaps was simply told, that that was simply not going to happen. Effectively, Governor Walz launched a successful coup against the Federal Government, and Trump was forced to demobilize the National Guard units and start withdrawing ICE from Minnesota. In other words, Trump recognized that he risked totally losing control of the country unless he cut DHS, and ICE in particular, loose. He has been forced to wash his hands of them, or, quite literally, be deposed from all power.

ICE agents cannot be paid for long during a DHS shutdown

Donald Trump has attempted to "insulate" all ICE agents from government shutdowns, by putting them at the same level as members of Congress and Federal Judges. Their payment must not be delayed, because they are so "essential", even if the majority of the US population see them as little better than Gestapo agents, acting violently and extra-legally. This is really the trap that the Republicans are falling into. Kristi Noem is going to try to keep paying ICE agents during a government DHS shutdown, and, after a while, the Democrats are going to see that ICE are so unpopular, that the courts simply will not dare to support ICE. In any case, the entire principle of a government shutdown is to keep the government solvent by not spending money during it, so, paying ICE during a shutdown is totally inconsistent with this principle, even if ICE were really "essential", which they most certainly are not! Pure legal garbage, from Trump, as per usual!

Making crossing the US border a capital offence undermines the very basis of the US legal system

The fundamental issue at the bottom of all this nonsense over immigration in the US currently is that, in order to control immigration, it is necessary to treat all immigrants as if they were serial killers guilty of the most heinous crimes possible, because, otherwise, the force necessary to actually remove most of them simply is not justifiable. And, under these circumstances, the cure becomes much worse than the disease. We don't consider it appropriate to shoot people for jaywalking, and, of course, that makes jaywalking rather common. One is unlikely to be ticketed for it, because it generally isn't much of a problem, so, people tend to ignore this particular law all the time. To some extent, that has been traditionally the way we dealt with undocumented immigrants, as well. If they stayed in the country a while, and weren't a problem, there was no reason to deport them. They became part of the community, sometimes much valued members of the community. Now, it is often quite difficult to remove much valued members of the community, from their communities. People will protect them, and sometimes use force to do it. Forces of "law and order" will be in direct conflict with their communities, and, this is very dangerous indeed for both the communities, and for law enfocement, as we are now seeing. Claiming all these much valued immigrants are "criminals", and treating them as very dangerous criminals, will, inevitably, lead to a serious breakdown of law and order for everyone. Justifying extra-legal procedures on the basis of the "emergency" of apprehending these "criminals", will result in the discreditation of both law enforcement, and the law itself, as we are now seeing.

ICE aren't the Nazi SS, however, ICE are the Nazi Gestapo

The Jewish Anti-defamation Legue has made the point that ICE under Donald Trump aren't acting like the Nazi SS -- they aren't operating death camps causing millions of deaths in automated mass genocide. This is quite true, however, most people aren't saying that ICE are like the SS. They're saying that ICE are acting like the Nazi Gestapo, and, this is, actually quite accurate and true. ICE are acting extra-legally, they are terrorizing and brutalizing people regularly, they are killing people occasionally. That is exactly what the Nazi Gestapo did. The Nazi Gestapo had no direct role in the administration of the Nazi death camps, that was the job of the SS. ICE are the Gestapo, they aren't the SS. Yet, anyway. They might get to that level after another few years, of course. Now, to be fair, the Nazi Gestapo didn't really act much different from the secret police of any fairly brutal, authoritarian state, and there have always been plenty of those. It was the Nazi SS that was unique -- the professional masters of mass killing, of true genocide. However, that has no bearing on the fact that ICE, under Donald Trump, is acting very much indeed like the Nazi Gestapo.