Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
Let us not forget that they have taken steps to silence the Special Prosecutor over trump's felony investigation.
Their practice is not to deal with facts and evidence, but to hide them from the light of day.
His henchman are on record as trying…
We appear to have reached peak fascism. All dissent shall be punished.
Petty vindictiveness shall rule the day.
Time to start a gofundme for Kelly. Make it a payday!
Apparently, blindly following illegal orders is now the new military direction. …
"Trump has taken a hit on his domestic policy lately, as well.
After the Supreme Court on December 23, 2025, rejected the administration’s argument
that it had the power to deploy federalized National Guard troops in and around Chicago,
Trump announ…
"After World War II, the United States and its allies and partners put in place a rules-based international order
to prevent future world conflicts. Under that order, the members of the United Nations agreed
they would not threaten or attack another…
"That lack of preparation appears to be in keeping with the overall post-raid planning.
Trump told reporters today that administration officials were 'designating various people' to 'run' Venezuela,
'and we’re gonna let you know who those people are…
"At Strength in Numbers, G. Elliott Morris noted that military intervention in Venezuela
is even more unpopular with the American people 'than Trump’s tariffs and health care cuts.'
In September, only 16% of Americans wanted a 'U.S. invasion of Vene…
\"Morris notes that a December CBS poll showed that 75% of Americans, including 58% of Republicans,
correctly believed a president must get approval from Congress before taking military action
against Venezuela. The president did not get that approv…
MAGA tends to simple stories, being the divine undereducated and all that.
but they (and scotus) are unable to grok that grift underlies 99% of trump's actions. so here goes :
https://thedemlabs.org/2026/01/03/venezuela-maduro-trump-grift-oil-res…
Canada is the big loser. Their heavy oil will be displaced by cheap Venezuelan oil.
That presumes Donnie's plans ever come to fruition. It's interesting how quiet Chevron and the other US majors have been thus far...you'd think if they were 'give…
Canada is the big loser. Their heavy oil will be displaced by cheap Venezuelan oil.
That is an interesting point. Which could actually drive the price of gasoline in the Midwest up. Canadian oil is cheap there because it can be trucked directly in.…
So, they jingle the keys for their infantile followers, and direct their attention elsewhere. "Look, hey, it's Biden's fault".
The "buck" most certainly does not stop "here".
And in Miami, a Trump appointee has opened an investigation into what Trump loyalists deem a grand conspiracy conducted by the officials who led the Russia inquiry and the two criminal cases against Mr. Trump.
Ms. Bondi then installed a former personal lawyer to Mr. Trump who had no prosecutorial experience, Lindsey Halligan. Days later, she obtained grand jury indictments of both. A judge later dismissed the cases on the grounds that Ms. Halligan had bee…
In September, Mr. Trump pushed out the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia after the prosecutor decided there was no legitimate basis to indict James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, and Letitia James, New York’s attorney general.…
In his second term, after filling the upper ranks of the Justice Department with his former lawyers, Mr. Trump began carrying out that threat. In April, he signed executive orders requiring the department to scrutinize two people from his first admi…
In his first term, Mr. Trump repeatedly tried to do so, but his efforts were informal, sometimes furtive and, to his frustration, met with only limited success. But out of office, after he was twice indicted in federal court, Mr. Trump claimed that …
Fascism at work:
Mr. Trump has directly ordered the Justice Department to investigate and charge people he has singled out. Attorney General Pam Bondi has sought to comply, abandoning the post-Watergate norm that department officials should make pr…
@David_Snowball. Back in the sixties,at a small university in the Midwest, I was a participant in a noisy and disruptive action against the war. One of my professors from the department where I was a bit of a student leader, admonished me to chill.…
Good stuff folks.
@Anna It never struck me, but I see it.
@Mark How I Go Into the Woods is great.
@DavidMoran "Imago Dei who forgot his station" such a great line.
A much deeper (and darker) poem that I appreciate for it's optimism:
A Story That Could Be True
By William Stafford
If you were exchanged in the cradle and
your real mother died
without ever telling the story
then no one knows your name,
and somew…
@stayCalm - With all due respects, I don't think that Trump is ruling out the opposition leader because of gender. Apparently some members of the VZ military helped Trump. I think these people wouldn't help Trump with Maduro's ouster if they expec…
Let me expand a bit and provide some other thoughts
- War is great for the MIC and MIC affects most states.
- US controlling Venezuela (and seems Trump is already ruling out the opposition leader, perhaps because of gender) will give massive levera…
If I were to guess, the markets mainly go, "Meh." How to separate the wheat from the chaff?
I do wonder if added oil supply "hopes" could actually hurt oil stocks?
A surge in gold prices, wouldn't surprise. Still, as Sargent Schultz was known to …
@staycalm Not to be contrary with you, but rather as counterpoint: I may be wrong here, but the notion that war is good for an economy probably comes from the huge manufacturing effort that occurred when we entered WW II. It pulled us from a period …
@a2z interesting.
And this latest military coup is brought to us by the same pinheads who abandoned our Kurdish allies on the battlefield in Syria to be slaughtered by Erdogen's forces. And forced an unexpected abandonment of our hardened military …
@David_Snowball, Thanks for your reminder of perseverance and goodness for 2026.
Your commentary (including the lucky raccoon) for January 2026 reminded me of a poem I first heard at a Clancy Brother concert in college back in the 1970's (dating m…
Yes, they are good little boys. Tiny dogs who have been snipped.
I wonder if trump is ushering in a new era of terrorism on U.S. soil? All the old players and a host of new ones?
Peace In Our Time is surely right around the bend.
intervention in Iran's internal politics went so well last time! Those who ignore history, are doomed to repetition. No matter how people may feel about their own, they hate outside meddling even worse. Change that doesn't come from within never has…
Wow, @Vic_C that is an impressive turnaround story.
We are on the same page IRT risk/reward going forward. GPGIX sounds interesting. Appreciate the ideas.
Psychologically, this was inevitable. As trump devolves, and becomes more impotent, he will need to use the military as personal henchmen to bolster his ego.
History has taught that long term negative events follows such interventions. Our escapades in the Middle East can be directly tied events like 9/11. Iraq told us to hit the road, after a concerted effort to control their politics. Afghanistan drove…
despite the gerrymandering war, there is a lot of positive things at almost any level outside the current trump admin. its too easy to get bogged down only in whether dems will fail again at the executive level.
red-state iowa got the ball rolling…
