W. Niederhut

Hello, Jeff! How have you been? I was beginning to think that you had lost internet contact in your bunker. In any case, I hope that your latest intel about a long-range missile strike into Russia is wrong. What are those yahoos trying to do-- start a nuclear holocaust? Gospodi pomilui! IMO, we need a cessation of hostilities in Ukraine and Russia--not escalation.

Now, Kirk, in all fairness to John Cotter, Ireland does export Guinness Stout, Harp Lager, and Jameson's Irish whiskey. One of our local liquor stores used to put Guinness and Harp on sale for St. Patrick's Day, but I never mastered the fine art of pouring a Black-and-Tan. I like the taste of Guinness, but it always gives me a headache-- probably something in the Liffey water.

Yeah, Kirk, those poor MAGA dupes need to sell their Truth Social stock-- for pennies on the dollar-- before Trump cashes out his shares on September 20th. And Kinaski and Rigby need to investigate Kamala's Ear-Piece-gate scandal! Every MAGA knows that black people can't debate or give speeches without earpieces or teleprompters.

"The only person who ate a dog is RFK, Jr." -- Al Franken on September 10, 2024 (after the Harris-Trump debate)

Matt, I thought Kamala was terrific-- poised, articulate, intelligent, and honest. Trump blatantly lied about almost everything, as usual. The man is toxic. IMO, the mods and Harris should have pushed back harder on Trump's repeated lies about "creating the greatest economy," and his denial of the robust growth of U.S. manufacturing jobs (and low unemployment) under Biden. My biggest complaint is that the format and the mods didn't give Harris enough opportunities to rebut Trump's non-stop bullsh*t. Not sure how most Americans will respond to the debate, but I thought Harris won easily.

Greg, That's the same NPR article I just referenced above. The two experts also mentioned; 1) Disagreements about the extent of Ukrainian de-militarization, and 2) Skepticism about whether Putin was negotiating in good faith.

Yeah, Kirk, she should briefly, and repeatedly, point out that Trump is lying again, then re-direct to the facts and question. She can't let him skate unimpeded through his lying sh*t show routine the way Biden did. I hope she makes a few choice comments about January 6th and the False Electors. But she also needs to avoid wallowing in Trump's mire. Come on, Baby, light my fire!!! 🤪

Kirk, Frankly, I suspect that Nuland has been used by Putin and his clever propagandists in the Western media as a scapegoat for Putin's black ops in Ukraine. She's a Kremlin disinformazia boogeywoman, as it were. Notice that these Nuland narratives always ignore the mass outrage in Ukraine about Yanukovych's blatant corruption, and his incarceration (and hunger strike) of Yulia Tymoshenko. Instead, the pretence is that the mass protests against Putin's puppet were entirely the work of the notorious Victoria Nuland-- and that Putin and his imperialist mastermind, Alexander Dugin, were treated unfairly. And these Nuland narratives have persisted even after Putin started bombing residential communities in Ukraine. Putin's war crimes and mass casualties were blamed on the nefarious Nuland, NATO, and the U.S.

I wonder if anyone has ever written a biography of Sullivan. He was, apparently, Hoover & Tolson's #3 man at the FBI. Then he was murdered in a sham " hunting accident" in New Hampshire, shortly before he was scheduled to testify to Congress about the JFK assassination. He told friends beforehand that he feared he might be murdered.

Greg, I'm still trying to get the specific facts about the unsuccessful 2022 peace deal. According to an NPR interview of two academic experts, at the time, there were significant disagreements about the extent of Ukrainian de-militarization required for the deal, which Putin pursued only after the failure of his blitzkrieg on Kyiv. There were also significant doubts about whether Putin was negotiating in good faith. The two academicians said nothing about your claim that negotiations broke down over the issue of nukes and WMDs. P.S. There's so much Russian-funded disinformation circulating in Europe and the U.S. that we should all evaluate our sources carefully.

Matt, I'm old enough to remember a young black girl at school telling me before the 1964 Presidential election that LBJ was going to send black people back to Africa. It was a Republican trope circulating in our mixed-race neighborhood. And, yes, Trump loves the poorly educated. Someone joked a few years ago that there are two basic types of Trump voters-- those who are very rich, and those who are very stupid.

Pamela, I had the impression that Tim Walz's gubernatorial record in Minnesota was a sterling success, on a wide range of public policy issues-- more or less the diametric opposite of America's 21st century GOP gubernatorial disasters. Here’s what Tim Walz has done as governor of Minnesota • Minnesota Reformer As for the Minneapolis fire, I specifically recall reading that it was started by young white, right-wing Boogaloo Boys, at the same time that white "Umbrella Man" was filmed breaking store windows with a hammer. Man sentenced to 4 years for Minneapolis police station fire (police1.com) Minneapolis Police Reportedly Identify Viral 'Umbrella Man' As White Supremacist : Updates: The Fight Against Racial Injustice : NPR "Nothing to see here, folks...Move along now..."

Greg, Hadn't Ukraine already given their nukes to the Russian Federation, years ago, in exchange for an agreement that Russia would not invade their country? As for the specific details of the British and U.S. advice about Ukraine not signing the 2022 peace agreement, do you have a reference link for us? I would like to study the specific details. In the interview clip, (above) Nuland stated the deal would have left Ukraine essentially defenseless against a later Russian invasion.

Where are the Ukrainian people in your grossly flawed paradigm, John? Didn't the Ukrainian parliament vote 328-0 to depose Putin's corrupt puppet in 2014, when the people freed Yulia Tymoshenko from prison? For a guy who is, understandably, a fiery Irish patriot, you have an odd blind spot for the predicament of the Ukrainian people-- who resent being manipulated and murdered by their brutal, imperialist neighbor. One would think that the Irish, of all people, would sympathize with the plight of the Ukrainians. And this is an old conflict, similar to events in Kyiv in 1918, as described in Bolshakov's novel, White Guard.

Paul, I've never been very interested in race horse politics-- as opposed to policy issues-- but I have heard that Trump is not very popular in conservative New Hampshire lately. And yet, incredibly, Sununu still intends to vote for the Orange Felon?

Educate yourself, Karl. Trump used to keep a copy of Hitler's speeches on his nightstand. He's a racist demagogue. And Putin has, in fact, transformed the RF into a fascist police state in the 21st century.

Karl, You, apparently, don't know that the U.S. national debt was largely created by a series of GOP tax cuts for billionaires since 1980-- most recently, in 2001, 2003, and 2017. As for deregulation, study the history of the Robber Baron Gilded Age. Unregulated, laissez faire capitalism has been an historic disaster in American history.

Translation: "Might is right" ??? Putin and his KGB goons would probably love John Cotter's Irish proverb.

Geez... whatever happened to Republicans wanting less government? 🙄 Texas Sues For Access to Medical Records of Women Who Receive Abortions in Other States Disgraced Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued the Biden Administration to block a rule that protects the medical privacy of women who seek abortions in states where the procedure is legal. The rule is intended to safely allow women from red states access to reproductive healthcare in a different state in the wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court decision which overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Paxton released a statement claiming the Biden Administration rule is a "backdoor attempt" to interfere with the ability of states to conduct criminal investigations. All medical records are protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), but law enforcement agencies typically have the ability to subpoena medical records for criminal investigations. Texas has already sought to subpoena medical records for patients who received gender affirming care in other states, but Seattle Children's Hospital, and a Georgia Telehealth clinic called QueerMed sued to prevent Texas accessing those records. https://meidasnews.com/news/texas-sues-for-access-to-medical-records-of-women-who-receive-abortions-in-other-states Paxton wants to look at your genitals.

Karl, You're confused about American history and politics, as usual. I can't fix your problem. But, if you want to understand what Trump Derangement Syndrome is, watch this educational Donald Trump history video.

Yeah, Kirk, Karl is, obviously, clueless about the fact that J.D. Vance is a Peter Thiel puppet-- a fake populist, like Trump, working for billionaires to defraud the American people.

LOL, John. I'm still waiting for Roger to tell us when Ukraine ceased being a sovereign nation and UN member, and why a 328-0 parliamentary vote deposing Putin's puppet Yanukovych constituted legitimate grounds for Putin's illegal seizure of Ukrainian territory. You, Rigby, and Roger, obviously, drank that Kremlin kool aid. As for Putin's use of modern missiles to commit war crimes against Ukraine's civilian population, I mentioned that in reference to your bizarre whining about U.S. and NATO funding of Ukrainian defense forces. Meanwhile, your sophomoric Thomas Szasz reference is genuinely amusing. Dr. Robert Freedman, our UCHSC department chairman here, and editor of the prestigious American Journal of Psychiatry, always referred to Thomas Szasz as a "gadfly"-- an apt description of your erroneous Education Forum buzz.

Karl, You, obviously, know nothing about American history and contemporary U.S. politics. Hence, the moronic MAGA spam from J.D. Vance. Are you familiar with the differences between GOP and Democratic tax policies and IRS funding? Veteran's benefits? Education? (Hint: Trump and his MAGA goons want to abolish the Department of Education.) Child care? Border security? (Hint: Trump just blocked passage of the 2024 bipartisan Senate border security bill.) Trump's surrender to the Taliban in 2020?

John, You, obviously, missed the point of my above analogy. As for your pseudo-historical response, perhaps it hasn't occurred to you that Irish civilians and residential communities weren't being bombed by high-tech modern missiles in the early 20th century-- in a manner similar to Putin's war crimes in 21st century Ukraine. In any case, if you actually believe now that the besieged Ukrainians haven't been fighting, and dying, for their freedom and sovereignty since February of 2022, I can't help you. Perhaps a psychiatrist could be of some help, but I'm retired. I'll close by pointing out that you are still dodging my question. Can you explain how the war in Ukraine is not the legitimate resistance of a sovereign, democratic nation to an illegal invasion by a brutal, totalitarian police state?

Paul, Have you even listened to your own video clip here, in which the nefarious Ms. Nuland explains why the Brits and the U.S. advised the Ukrainians that this was a bad deal for Ukraine? One of Putin's conditions would have rendered Ukraine essentially defenseless against a future Putin invasion. As for John Cotter's redundant "proxy war" trope, I can't picture Cotter whining about a "proxy war" in a scenario where Putin bombed and invaded residential communities in Ireland, and the U.S. and NATO were trying to help Cotter and his besieged countrymen fight the invading army.