State of the Union Follow-ups
I found some good posts today about that SOTU:
PM Carney about the State of Union address: “I didn’t watch it.” 😂🤣😅 I love this guy 😅🤣
— 🍁🇨🇦Team Canada Forever🇨🇦🍁 (@teamcanadaforever.bsky.social) February 25, 2026 at 6:50 PM
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Definitely the first State of the Union where the president talked about the military killing unarmed fishermen as a laugh line
— Tom Scocca (@tomscocca.bsky.social) February 24, 2026 at 9:44 PM
"Holy shit, did WE ever make the right decision" - The US Women's Hockey Team
— The Daily Show (@thedailyshow.com) February 24, 2026 at 10:01 PM
Cathal Kelly actually wrote a very good article in the Globe and Mail:
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In the Globe and Mail, economic commentator Chris Gay writes At State of the Union, Trump touts economy with childish naiveté and Third World demagoguery
...his treatment of inflation, growth and stock prices as though he determines them by pulling the right levers and pushing the right buttons is precisely the sort of central-planning naivety you hear from economically illiterate Third World blowhards.
...The SOTU ritual, like presidential debates, has become a tedious, farcical affair that no one should watch without a stiff drink.
If there was any indication of the state of the union on Tuesday, it was in the audience: The GOP’s trained seals dutifully played their roles in the scripted call-and-response ritual, rising on cue to amen every applause line. Sullen Democrats sat on their hands and stewed. The state of the union is fractious.
What the speech also demonstrated is that Mr. Trump has nothing one could reasonably describe as an ideology. Ideology implies some degree of reading, analysis and intellectual coherence. Unless you count a few crustacean Archie Bunker notions about what’s wrong with the world and how to fix it, Mr. Trump is ideologically a blank slate...
In his substack, former UN ambassador Bob Rae writes The Donald Trump Show
...Those who only read the transcript may miss the point that this was a spectacle with heroes (“warriors”) and villains (Democrats and judges) that had more standing ovations than a 1930s Stalin rally.
...he turned the night into a trial run for the narrative and rhetoric that will dominate the airwaves until the midterm elections in November.
That narrative is not pretty.
As the story goes, the greatest and most powerful country in the world, the one exceptional nation, chosen by God, came dangerously close to losing everything under the singularly evil and incompetent Biden (crime family head!, Ukrainian corruption mastermind!), aided by liberal judges and hateful Democrats, but was miraculously saved by a man who was also chosen by providence and the voters (not once but three times) and so the country is once more on track.
That none of this is true only seems to make it more potent as dramatic motivation for Trump’s performance.
...The final paragraph of the SOTU described American history and the settlement of the West without a single reference to either slavery or the treatment of Indigenous Peoples, and an applause line was the end of DEI.
It is a narrative that has no room for any other country — except as enemies or supplicants — because the Trump fiction that has now been embraced by the Republican Party and its ideological amplifiers is a tale where the only country that counts is the United States of America.
.... the biggest lie in this narrative is that as a result of Trump’s impact, the U.S. is stronger and more respected than ever before. The truth is quite the opposite. The U.S., because of this president and his administration, is more mistrusted and disliked than it has ever been. That reality will only get worse as America turns psychologically inward and projects its power to intimidate and crush, but loses the capacity to understand and show empathy for a world that is, in fact, every bit as real and human as the authentic United States of America.
For me, the lowest moment of the State of the Union was the vicious attack on the Somali community by name as he alleged unparalleled fraud in Minnesota and other blue states, and announced that Vice President JD Vance would lead the investigation across the country into “criminal fraud”.
This smearing, scapegoating and use of racist tropes evokes the darkest prejudices of history, and places the president deeply in the firmament of the truly paranoid style in American politics. It never ends well.
And as reality intervenes, with ICE, the Epstein Files, tariffs, affordability, once more on the daily agenda, life will return to the new normal, with potential attacks on Iran, Cuba and Mexico waiting in the wings to stir the pot of an exclusivist nationalism in a world that is more on edge than ever before. “America is back” the president boasted as he jutted his chin.
In other circumstances, at other times, from any other source, this would be welcome news to the world. It is now about as welcome as a boast that “Russia is back” or “China is back”.
This isn’t your grandfather’s autocracy. The rest of us have our work cut out for us.
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#ETTD
These initials stand for Everything Trump Touches Dies, a hashtag coined by Rick Wilson of the Lincoln Project a decade ago.
It means that every single thing that Trump has anything to do with turns into a disaster.
Like this:
For all the boasts about how high the stock market is now...
Epstein Scalp-Watch
The scandal continues:
This news story was big over the weekend:
This Defector piece is pretty strange too:
And this article is well worth reading - in his substack The Status Kuo, Jay Kuo writes Three Head-Spinning Epstein Developments We owe the Brits a debt of gratitude.
Fourth anniversary of Putin's war in Ukraine
In his substack, Paul Krugman writes Day 1461 of Putin’s Three-Day War Courage, betrayal — and reasons for hope
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For all the boasts about how high the stock market is now...
I, for one, am tired of winning... See the impact of the Trump assault on the American economy. Turns out that Mafia-style bustouts are not so great for anyone but the thieves involved.
— Boston Tom Levenson (@tomlevenson.bsky.social) February 25, 2026 at 10:45 AM
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Source: www.ft.com/content/cfdc...
— Boston Tom Levenson (@tomlevenson.bsky.social) February 25, 2026 at 10:46 AM
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At his substack First and Second Thoughts, former CIA analyst Kent M. Harrington writes MAGA Here, MAUA Abroad: Does Making America Ugly Again Matter? Most Americans don't have a clue how badly Donald Trump has tanked the country's standing abroad or its consequences. The question is, do they care?I just got back from Whistler and overheard *so many* conversations from people all over the world about not going to the US. A Dane said “I was planning to go to Vegas this year but then the Greenland thing happened.” One Aussie said to another “I don’t want to wind up in an ICE concentration camp”
— Robert Cruickshank (@robertcruickshank.com) February 21, 2026 at 12:25 AM
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... just what do Americans actually know about the status of the United States and its influence abroad, including its effects on their national security, the economy, and other American interests?
For example, how many were aware of how America’s stock around the world has fared since Trump took office a year ago?
... A December 2025 Politico poll found that overall, Americans still view their country’s international role favorably. Nearly half — 49 percent — say the U.S. supports its allies around the world. Some 51 percent said the United States is a positive force globally. The Germans and French, for two, begged to differ. Pluralities in both countries and a majority in Canada asserted the opposite. To be sure, polls are snapshots of opinion. Nonetheless, the patterns emerging in 2025 suggest the last year has seen changes in US standing and influence that are having an impact at home as well as abroad....
Canada reduced intel sharing with US, Mexico reduced intel sharing with US, UK reduced intel sharing with US, EU reduced intel sharing with US, the Baltics & Nordics reduced intel sharing with the US. Intelligence and trust makes the world run, lose it & you collapse.
— Anonymous (@youranoncentral.bsky.social) February 23, 2026 at 8:59 PM
In this commentary, Hartman writes:🧵. This should really be a bigger story. Not addressed in SOTU! #proudblue #pinks
— Kathy Mortensen 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ 🇺🇦 💙 🌊 🐸 💙 🌵 🚲 🏊♀️ kayak (@kathyswords.bsky.social) February 25, 2026 at 11:44 AM
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Donald Trump is doing something to America that no foreign adversary has ever managed, something Putin’s been dreaming about for decades: he’s convincing our oldest and closest allies — countries we fought wars to defend and liberate, and with whom we share a democratic system of government — that the United States can’t be trusted... ...Put simply, our allies are doing what any rational nation would do when a key partner goes rogue: they’re hedging.
They’re hedging by building their own tech infrastructure, so that Trump can’t flip a switch and cut off vital services or demand back-doors into their communications systems or share information with Putin. So Trump can’t hand them over to Putin the way he is Ukraine. They’re hedging by embracing “strategic autonomy,” aka European defense capabilities that don’t rely on Washington or anybody in America.
...When you combine that internal authoritarian drift with external contempt for allies and admiration for Putin, you get the worst of all worlds: a United States that can no longer credibly lead democratic nations and may increasingly act as a spoiler on behalf of strongmen, grifters, and oligarchs worldwide. And, of course, on behalf of Putin.
Trump promised to “make America great again.” Instead, he’s teaching the rest of the free world that they need to live without us. All to our and our children’s detriment.
Epstein Scalp-Watch
The scandal continues:
And another one bites the dust. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
— Dee Chan (@deechan17.bsky.social) February 25, 2026 at 9:02 PM
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Sometimes the lower rungs fall first. That’s how power protects itself. But gravity works on everyone. The powerful who enabled or participated in Epstein’s abuse won’t outrun consequences forever. Corruption collapses from the bottom up. Don’t lose faith. #TrumpIsGuilty
— Jason Dogwood 💙 🏳️🌈 🌱 (@jasondogwood.bsky.social) February 25, 2026 at 12:29 PM
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Financial Times exclusive: Tens of thousands of internal emails and documents released by the US Department of Justice as part of the Epstein files paint for the first time a vivid picture of how Deutsche Bank rolled out the red carpet for the serial sexual abuser. ft.trib.al/6lAW6ay
— Jon Cooper (@joncooper-us.bsky.social) February 25, 2026 at 8:44 PM
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This news story was big over the weekend:
Then today, this:NYT matches NPR. @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/u...
— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) February 25, 2026 at 11:12 AM
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Of sure. And I totally trust them🤪 apple.news/A0FEVvzuIQm6...
— ahangingthread (@ahangingthread.bsky.social) February 25, 2026 at 9:02 PM
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Names of co-conspirators and authors of incriminating emails were redacted in violation of Epstein Files Transparency Act. Congress should demand answers. www.cnn.com/2026/02/09/p...
— Barb McQuade (@barbmcquade.bsky.social) February 22, 2026 at 8:06 AM
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This Defector piece is pretty strange too:
The feeling of having known something to be true, deep within your very being, only to have it confirmed as such. There's just nothing like it: defector.com/jeffrey-epst...
— David_j_roth (@davidjroth.bsky.social) February 23, 2026 at 9:37 PM
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And this article is well worth reading - in his substack The Status Kuo, Jay Kuo writes Three Head-Spinning Epstein Developments We owe the Brits a debt of gratitude.
... First, following the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, previously known as Prince Andrew, a man named Peter Mandelson, who is the ex-U.K. Ambassador to the United States, was arrested, too. Mandelson was taken in on suspicion of misconduct while in public office, based on evidence obtained in the Epstein probe.
Second, Roger Sollenberger expanded his reporting yesterday about a key victim. That woman had told the FBI directly that Trump sexually assaulted her when she was a child. She was interviewed by agents at least four times. Sollenberger’s new reporting reveals that the victim allegedly refused to cooperate with the FBI against Trump, for as yet unknown reasons, and that her name was initially left unredacted in a previously undisclosed file.
Finally, The Telegraph in the U.K. dropped a blockbuster report yesterday that Epstein had hidden files in storage units across the U.S. and paid private detectives to remove video equipment from his residences, including his place on Epstein Island, to throw off investigators.
These developments are distinct, but they point in the same direction: authorities and press in the U.K., along with independent reporters here, are piecing the puzzle together at increasing speed, and the dominoes are falling. Anyone within the Epstein network should be very worried....
Fourth anniversary of Putin's war in Ukraine
— Global News | Breaking, Latest News and Video for Canada (@globalnews.ca.web.brid.gy) February 24, 2026 at 9:00 PM
In his substack, Paul Krugman writes Day 1461 of Putin’s Three-Day War Courage, betrayal — and reasons for hope
... I am not a military expert. But I pay attention to those who are — especially Phillips O’Brien, who has been far more right about this war than anyone else I know. Furthermore, the future of the war will depend greatly on an issue I do know something about, Europe’s ability to provide Ukraine with the support it needs. So I thought I would use the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the war to talk about where we are right now.In last weekend's Phillips' Newsletter, Phillips O'Brien writes:
First, about the military situation.... The Ukraine war isn’t like World War II, in which breakthroughs could be exploited by armored columns sweeping into the enemy’s rear. It’s a war in which the battlefield is swarming with drones, where there isn’t even a well-defined front line, and the “kill zone” within which even armored vehicles are basically death traps is many kilometers wide.
Some observers still don’t understand how the reality of war has changed. Thus there have been breathless reports about the danger Ukraine would face after Russia seized the “strategic city” of Pokrovsk since July 2024. Russian forces finally entered Pokrovsk late last year and may now occupy most of the rubble. But it made no difference.
This reality shows how idiotic it is for the U.S. Department of Defense — sorry, Department of War — to decide that its mission is to embrace a “warrior ethos.” Bulging biceps and macho posturing won’t help you prevail in modern war, while bombastic stupidity is a good way to get many soldiers killed.
So if modern technology has turned war on the ground into a bloody stalemate — much bloodier for Russia than for Ukraine, but still indecisive — what will determine victory and defeat? The answer, which has been true in most wars, is that it will come down to resources and logistics.
If this were purely a conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the Ukrainians, for all their heroism, would be doomed. Russia, after all, has four times Ukraine’s population and ten times its GDP.
But Ukraine has powerful friends.
... despite Trump’s pro-Putin policy, Ukraine is still standing, while Russia’s year-long offensive has been a bloody failure. While Trump may have thought that he could discreetly hand Ukraine over to Putin, it turns out that he didn’t have the cards. ... Europe has for the most part stepped up to the plate, replacing most of the lost aid from the United States.... European — and, increasingly, Ukrainian — arms production has been ramping up. One indicator of European potential for arms manufacturing is that U.S. officials have gone ballistic over proposed buy-European provisions in Europe’s ongoing military buildup and threatened retaliation. This is quite rich: America in effect reserves the right to use its control over weapon systems to hobble other countries’ military efforts — on behalf of dictators the president likes — but is furious at any attempt to reduce dependence on those systems.
....So, how will this war end? Russia’s strategy now appears to be to terror-bomb Ukraine into submission, but as far as I know that has never worked. The more likely outcome is that European aid and Ukraine’s own growing prowess in arms production will gradually shift the military balance in Ukraine’s favor, and that Russia’s war effort will eventually collapse.
I hope that’s how it turns out. But even if it does, shame on America, for betraying a valiant ally.
More and more it seems that people are understanding the reality of what is happening. Ukraine is not collapsing (first point) and the Trump administration is not “negotiating” a peace deal between the Ukrainians and Russians. For the past 14 months (and longer with the Ukraine collapse narrative) much, I would say most, of the reporting of the war was not based around reality but lies and distortions—many of them deliberate. The collapse narrative has been pushed relentlessly by the analytical community and the Trump administration who were trying to maintain that they both knew what they were talking about when they did not. The negotiations narrative was sadly enabled by a press that was too afraid of Trump to report the truth. And that truth was what we are seeing is an attempt by the US government to force the Ukrainians to give Putin what he wants, and in exchange it seems like bribes are to go to the US. The inability of this to be reported honestly is shameful. ...O'Brien then goes on with details about recent military advances and describes the so-called peace negotiations:
...What seems to happen is this. The Ukrainian and Russian delegations come together in a large room with flags, and then the US chair (Steve Witkoff in the picture above) tries to make the talks about how much more land Ukraine needs to cede to Russia. The Ukrainians refuse to be bullied and then talks break up... This is not an attempt by the USA to bring peace. It is an attempt by the Trump administration to get the best deal possible for Putin, and in return probably get historically large payoffs.This was awful, too:
Oh, yes, there were reports this week on economic incentives being offered to the USA by the Russians as well. The final piece of the puzzle as it were....
Plus a few random news stories about other warsIt will be tough for America’s global reputation to recover after this absolutely shameful vote.
— Jon Cooper (@joncooper-us.bsky.social) February 25, 2026 at 8:15 AM
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We're finding out now how the Trump administration fights wars - by not telling anyone what they're doing until its all too far along for anyone to stop.
And this week there's a huge conflict between the Pentagon and the AI company Anthropic, because basically the Pentagon thinks SkyNet would be a really neat idea, what could go wrong...
Obama made a deal w/ Iran to stop them from getting nukes, but Trump backed out of it bcuz he wanted to own Obama For a year, Iran kept following the deal anyway, begging Trump to change his mind. Iran then began work on nukes again Now Trump is threatening to attack Iran bcuz “diplomacy failed”
— Bobby Kogan (@bbkogan.bsky.social) February 22, 2026 at 4:16 PM
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Washington’s Barbaric Blockade of Cuba Brings Solidarity from Small Global South Nations
— #TuckFrump (@realtuckfrumper.bsky.social) February 24, 2026 at 1:04 AM
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And this week there's a huge conflict between the Pentagon and the AI company Anthropic, because basically the Pentagon thinks SkyNet would be a really neat idea, what could go wrong...
"Our military's constitutional protections rely entirely on human soldiers having the ability to disobey an illegal order. AI weapons don't have that fail safe."
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