We could possibly recover, but we will never be the same. The electorate was warned, but they weren't interested. It could easily happen again. In many ways, the United States is a failed democracy. The two operative words for this failure are "money" and "racism".
Personally, I don’t think k we should “stay the same”.
Think about the fact that people in Norway won’t immigrate to the US (like trump wants) because it would be a major downgrade to the quality of their life.
Isn’t it time we had nice things like the majority of comparable countries have??? Past time, even?
Not to mention the ALL PERVASIVE racism & misogyny??
In other news: Trump's Piece of Sh*t Board is a more apt description. He is so good at finding pedos, psychos, and sickos one can only wonder which category(s) some of them fall under. The Pope said Nope; Bob knows what he is. WE could be paying $10 billion for starters, according to the "king of peace".
Speaking of royals, British authorities have confiscated Andrew's firearms to prevent him hurting himself or others. Too late. An Eton classmate thinks the family may try to demonstrate he's mentally ill, so he would end-up in some kind of facility instead of a prison. Same fate as Epstein? Either way they can eventually spend time together in hell.
Very savvy people thought they knew the answer to my question, but we are just BEGINNING to find out. See you in the streets!
2. I don't think the ex Prince is actually charged with rape. Should be charged here and extradicted. In February 2022, Andrew reached an out-of-court settlement with Virginia Giuffre for an undisclosed sum, estimated to be between $12 million and $16 million. The settlement was not an admission of guilt. It does not, however exonerate him from criminal prosecution. MHO New Mexico and Virgin Islands should be at the forefront. Maybe NY and other states where there is no statute of limitations for rape.
3. You are right. This is just the beginning. I'd subpoena all the prosecutiors from the 2008 period, as well as 2019. They can testify to what they saw. Still waiting to see the witness statements from the Florida investigations. Due dilligence would question every customer of the spa at Mar a Lago during the time that Virginia Guiffre worked there. Epstein and Brunel had an office here in Baghdad By the Sea.
The MC2 Model Management Connection
Funding: Epstein provided a $1 million line of credit to finance Brunel’s agency, which was located on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach.
Recruitment: Brunel reportedly scouted young girls from malls, high schools, and impoverished areas in Brazil, enticing them with promises of modeling careers in the U.S..
Luring Tactics: The Miami Herald detailed how models were brought to America on temporary work visas, only to be pressured into sexual acts with Epstein and others.
Working Conditions: In addition to sexual abuse allegations, a 2016 lawsuit revealed that MC2 models lived in overcrowded "model apartments," were paid in leftover food at "model dinners," and were subjected to financial fraud.
Legal Outcomes and Deaths
Jean-Luc Brunel: Arrested in Paris in December 2020 on charges of rape and sex trafficking of minors. He was found dead by suicide (hanging) in his prison cell in February 2022 while awaiting trial.
Documents released as recently as February 2026 show that the Justice Department had identified Brunel as a "potential co-conspirator" and that he had briefly considered testifying against Epstein in 2016 before "going dark".
AI:
Joseph Titone served as Jean-Luc Brunel's American attorney. Based in Pompano Beach, Florida, Titone represented Brunel and his agency, MC2 Model & Talent Miami, LLC, in various legal matters, most notably a 2015 lawsuit Brunel filed against Jeffrey Epstein.
Lawsuit Against Epstein: Titone filed a defamation and damages suit on behalf of Brunel, claiming Epstein's notoriety had made the MC2 modeling agency "almost worthless".
Cooperation Negotiations: In February 2016, Titone reached out to lawyers representing Epstein's victims to discuss the possibility of Brunel testifying against Epstein in exchange for immunity.
Legal Advice: Titone later stated that he had explicitly advised Brunel to "cooperate and cut ties with Epstein," though Brunel ultimately did not follow this advice and "went dark" before a scheduled meeting with federal prosecutors.
While Titone handled his U.S. affairs, Brunel was represented in France by attorneys Corinne Dreyfus-Schmidt (who stepped down in 2020), Mathias Chichportich, Marianne Abgrall, and Christophe Ingrain.
I had a premature emotional ejaculation,t the other day when I exclaimed that the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor broke the logjam.
He was not arrested on a pedophilia or sex related charge, but suspicion of misconduct in public office. The arrest relates to allegations that he shared confidential British government trade information
This doesn't break the log jam at all, and I can hypothesize that the British government, wants to avoid the pedophilia charge, because there are too many wealthy, and politically important people at risk of arrest and prosecution, not just in Britain, but worldwide, in countries with them they have alliances and trade.
There is no reason that the importers should get a refund of the tariffs. They raised their prices so American consumers would pay the tariffs. If the importers get a refund, it will be a windfall, and the taxpayers will pay twice, with those payments added to the national debt.
At least there should be a requirement that importers prove they suffered a loss and that their price increases were insufficient to cover the tariffs before they can claim a net loss.
There’s no doubt there will be a refund because an investment bank run by Howard Lutnick’s son (insider information) has been buying up the rights to these refunds at $.30 on the dollar. So he’s in line to make a huge profit at taxpayer expense: https://www.wired.com/story/cantor-fitzgerald-trump-tariff-refunds/
The importers are not due a refund, they passed the tariff on to wholesalers, wholesalers pass the tariff on to retailers, retailers passed the tariff on to consumers. Gov Prtizker has sent Trump an 8.8 Billion dollar bill
Based on reports from early 2026, the Trump administration is undertaking a massive expansion of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention infrastructure, with plans to build a network of facilities, including converted warehouses, designed to hold over 100,000 to 135,000+ people by the end of FY 2029
That is not 135,00 immigrants awaiting to be deported. That is for enemies of the state, and with this massive DHS budget, expect the number of beds to greatly expand.
As regards Aliens I'm of two minds on the subject. First for an alien to perambulate much less survive in Earth's atmospheric and gravitational field, they must have come from a planet with the same atmospheric gravitational field, or live in special shelters, and perambulate in special space suits, and breathing apparatus... unless that come from an alternate dimension, say Earth 2.
On the other hand Obama acknowledged that aliens are real, and Trump confirmed that by saying that he leaked classified information.
Trump just confirmed Obama's statement, and yes Obama tried to walk it back, saying that he hasn't personally seen any aliens. (How would he know?)
We're feeling quite smug here in the UK right now. My cousin in Philadelphia asked if he could borrow our Thames Valley Police for a while but I said, "No". They're still pursuing the despicable Mandelson who, as a cabinet minister, was responsible for Andrew M-W being appointed as a trade envoy. Possibly on the recommendation of JE.
If the royals are hoping he'll be declared mentally ill then is it not relevant that he was the same arrogant shit 30 years ago? And is that now enough to be declared mentally ill?
But don't despair. Justice in both our countries is slow (and expensive). But we never forget. I still trust that I will live to see the day when Pam Bondi is in a court house with the AM-W look in her eyes.
I agree with President Obama. It stands to reason that we are not the only sentient beings in the universe. Wherever those aliens are, I wish they'd come and rescue us and our planet.
• An Accidental Empire is a civic lament: America did not design its empire,
• it stumbled into it—through choices, crises, and silences that hardened into dominance.
The Moral Arc of Post‑WWII America:
From Surplus Virtue to Structural Reckoning
For a brief moment after World War II, the United States lived inside a moral world that felt exceptional. We believed we were different — more generous, more civic‑minded, more principled than the transactional societies we saw abroad. And for a time, it looked true.
But the truth is simpler, and harder:
Our morality was subsidized by our wealth.
When the war ended, the U.S. held nearly half of global GDP. Europe and Japan were in ruins. Our factories were intact. Our currency was the world’s anchor. Our military guaranteed access to resources and markets. We could afford to be magnanimous because we were rich beyond historical precedent.
This abundance created a moral illusion — a belief that our civic virtues were intrinsic rather than structural. We mistook surplus for superiority.
But as the world rebuilt, our share of global wealth naturally declined. The pie got smaller. And when you can’t spoil the kid anymore, the kid doesn’t become more virtuous. He becomes angry, anxious, and unpredictable. He “jumps ugly,” — because the structure that once insulated him has vanished.
This is not a uniquely American story.
It’s the oldest story in political philosophy.
The Midas Lesson
King Midas didn’t become monstrous because he was evil.
He became monstrous because he misunderstood the nature of wealth.
He believed more gold would bring more life.
Instead, the gold consumed the life around him.
America’s postwar abundance worked the same way:
• We mistook material dominance for moral destiny
• We believed our prosperity was proof of virtue
• We assumed our power was evidence of exceptional character
But when the gold stopped flowing at the same rate — when global competition returned, when wages stagnated, when the military‑industrial complex became a permanent economic engine — the illusion cracked.
Midas learned too late that his gift was a curse.
America learned too late that its morality was a surplus good.
The Philosophers Warned Us
From Aristotle to Tocqueville to Marx to Arendt, the warnings were consistent:
• Wealth without restraint corrupts judgment
• Power without limits corrodes virtue
• Prosperity without humility breeds delusion
• A society that worships gold eventually becomes ruled by it
We ignored them because we believed we were the exception.
We believed history’s laws didn’t apply to us.
But history always collects its debts.
The Structural Truth
America didn’t lose its morality because Americans became worse people.
America lost its morality because the material conditions that supported it disappeared.
When the surplus shrank:
• Solidarity gave way to competition
• Citizenship gave way to self‑entrepreneurship
• Public goods gave way to private risk
• Community gave way to market logic
This is the “post‑social society” Wolfgang Streeck describes — a world where individuals must optimize themselves because the state no longer can.
Our intentions were ideal.
Our structure was flawed.
And structure always wins.
Where This Leaves Us
We are not living through a moral collapse.
We are living through a structural correction — a regression to the mean of global history.
“States are becoming unable to impose on capitalism the social discipline that once made it tolerable.”
It was not only Midas who didn't understand the nature of wealth. Wealth is not money, things. Wealth is that which makes us happy. The more money and property you control, the higher up the social pyramid you climb, the more insecure you become. One false step, one misjudgment and it is a long way to the bottom and the landing is hard, to wit Andrew Mountbatten, Windsor, to Wit Benito Mussolini, to wit Adolph Hitler
Joe and Jan sixpack, living in a mortgage free home, with no debts, with enough income to feed themselves and buy life's little pleasures have wealth that Mark Zuckerberg could only dream of, because they don't have one ten thousands of his worries.
And wealth includes health and meeting health's needs.
Reading the Substack folks to whom I subscribe, and the Guardian, the NYT, CBC, Huffpost, I have to say I am even close to losing my religious faith. Why? I am not sure I WANT an afterlife. I just want this one to end. Because the one faith I have is a negative one: I have absolute faith in the ultimate irredeemability of humanity. We revel in destroying not just ourselves, but other species and the planet. Whatever we have contributed to the universe in art, music, science, philosophy (forget ethics and morals; we write about them, study them, teach them, but too many of us happily ignore them) doesn't make up for the rapacity which is our hallmark.
At least in the grave I will no longer have to deal with humans. Or a life that is increasingly both frustrating and infuriating, not to mention awash in cruelty, unkindness, annoyance. There I will have peace at last. There I will be free at last. And at least of some value to the worms.
We could possibly recover, but we will never be the same. The electorate was warned, but they weren't interested. It could easily happen again. In many ways, the United States is a failed democracy. The two operative words for this failure are "money" and "racism".
We survived a bloody civil war. We added 3 Amendments after that to extend civil rights.
Maybe things will straighten out.
Personally, I don’t think k we should “stay the same”.
Think about the fact that people in Norway won’t immigrate to the US (like trump wants) because it would be a major downgrade to the quality of their life.
Isn’t it time we had nice things like the majority of comparable countries have??? Past time, even?
Not to mention the ALL PERVASIVE racism & misogyny??
You really want to go back to THAT “normal”?
How many perverts does it take to run the world?
In other news: Trump's Piece of Sh*t Board is a more apt description. He is so good at finding pedos, psychos, and sickos one can only wonder which category(s) some of them fall under. The Pope said Nope; Bob knows what he is. WE could be paying $10 billion for starters, according to the "king of peace".
Speaking of royals, British authorities have confiscated Andrew's firearms to prevent him hurting himself or others. Too late. An Eton classmate thinks the family may try to demonstrate he's mentally ill, so he would end-up in some kind of facility instead of a prison. Same fate as Epstein? Either way they can eventually spend time together in hell.
Very savvy people thought they knew the answer to my question, but we are just BEGINNING to find out. See you in the streets!
1. The King of Peace will control all the money.
2. I don't think the ex Prince is actually charged with rape. Should be charged here and extradicted. In February 2022, Andrew reached an out-of-court settlement with Virginia Giuffre for an undisclosed sum, estimated to be between $12 million and $16 million. The settlement was not an admission of guilt. It does not, however exonerate him from criminal prosecution. MHO New Mexico and Virgin Islands should be at the forefront. Maybe NY and other states where there is no statute of limitations for rape.
3. You are right. This is just the beginning. I'd subpoena all the prosecutiors from the 2008 period, as well as 2019. They can testify to what they saw. Still waiting to see the witness statements from the Florida investigations. Due dilligence would question every customer of the spa at Mar a Lago during the time that Virginia Guiffre worked there. Epstein and Brunel had an office here in Baghdad By the Sea.
The MC2 Model Management Connection
Funding: Epstein provided a $1 million line of credit to finance Brunel’s agency, which was located on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach.
Recruitment: Brunel reportedly scouted young girls from malls, high schools, and impoverished areas in Brazil, enticing them with promises of modeling careers in the U.S..
Luring Tactics: The Miami Herald detailed how models were brought to America on temporary work visas, only to be pressured into sexual acts with Epstein and others.
Working Conditions: In addition to sexual abuse allegations, a 2016 lawsuit revealed that MC2 models lived in overcrowded "model apartments," were paid in leftover food at "model dinners," and were subjected to financial fraud.
Legal Outcomes and Deaths
Jean-Luc Brunel: Arrested in Paris in December 2020 on charges of rape and sex trafficking of minors. He was found dead by suicide (hanging) in his prison cell in February 2022 while awaiting trial.
Documents released as recently as February 2026 show that the Justice Department had identified Brunel as a "potential co-conspirator" and that he had briefly considered testifying against Epstein in 2016 before "going dark".
AI:
Joseph Titone served as Jean-Luc Brunel's American attorney. Based in Pompano Beach, Florida, Titone represented Brunel and his agency, MC2 Model & Talent Miami, LLC, in various legal matters, most notably a 2015 lawsuit Brunel filed against Jeffrey Epstein.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article248016630.html
Key Involvement
Lawsuit Against Epstein: Titone filed a defamation and damages suit on behalf of Brunel, claiming Epstein's notoriety had made the MC2 modeling agency "almost worthless".
Cooperation Negotiations: In February 2016, Titone reached out to lawyers representing Epstein's victims to discuss the possibility of Brunel testifying against Epstein in exchange for immunity.
Legal Advice: Titone later stated that he had explicitly advised Brunel to "cooperate and cut ties with Epstein," though Brunel ultimately did not follow this advice and "went dark" before a scheduled meeting with federal prosecutors.
While Titone handled his U.S. affairs, Brunel was represented in France by attorneys Corinne Dreyfus-Schmidt (who stepped down in 2020), Mathias Chichportich, Marianne Abgrall, and Christophe Ingrain.
Miami Herald
I had a premature emotional ejaculation,t the other day when I exclaimed that the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor broke the logjam.
He was not arrested on a pedophilia or sex related charge, but suspicion of misconduct in public office. The arrest relates to allegations that he shared confidential British government trade information
This doesn't break the log jam at all, and I can hypothesize that the British government, wants to avoid the pedophilia charge, because there are too many wealthy, and politically important people at risk of arrest and prosecution, not just in Britain, but worldwide, in countries with them they have alliances and trade.
There is no reason that the importers should get a refund of the tariffs. They raised their prices so American consumers would pay the tariffs. If the importers get a refund, it will be a windfall, and the taxpayers will pay twice, with those payments added to the national debt.
At least there should be a requirement that importers prove they suffered a loss and that their price increases were insufficient to cover the tariffs before they can claim a net loss.
There’s no doubt there will be a refund because an investment bank run by Howard Lutnick’s son (insider information) has been buying up the rights to these refunds at $.30 on the dollar. So he’s in line to make a huge profit at taxpayer expense: https://www.wired.com/story/cantor-fitzgerald-trump-tariff-refunds/
They should rebate to customers.
Yes, the customers paid the tariffs, not the importers.
The importers are not due a refund, they passed the tariff on to wholesalers, wholesalers pass the tariff on to retailers, retailers passed the tariff on to consumers. Gov Prtizker has sent Trump an 8.8 Billion dollar bill
Based on reports from early 2026, the Trump administration is undertaking a massive expansion of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention infrastructure, with plans to build a network of facilities, including converted warehouses, designed to hold over 100,000 to 135,000+ people by the end of FY 2029
That is not 135,00 immigrants awaiting to be deported. That is for enemies of the state, and with this massive DHS budget, expect the number of beds to greatly expand.
As regards Aliens I'm of two minds on the subject. First for an alien to perambulate much less survive in Earth's atmospheric and gravitational field, they must have come from a planet with the same atmospheric gravitational field, or live in special shelters, and perambulate in special space suits, and breathing apparatus... unless that come from an alternate dimension, say Earth 2.
On the other hand Obama acknowledged that aliens are real, and Trump confirmed that by saying that he leaked classified information.
Trump just confirmed Obama's statement, and yes Obama tried to walk it back, saying that he hasn't personally seen any aliens. (How would he know?)
We're feeling quite smug here in the UK right now. My cousin in Philadelphia asked if he could borrow our Thames Valley Police for a while but I said, "No". They're still pursuing the despicable Mandelson who, as a cabinet minister, was responsible for Andrew M-W being appointed as a trade envoy. Possibly on the recommendation of JE.
If the royals are hoping he'll be declared mentally ill then is it not relevant that he was the same arrogant shit 30 years ago? And is that now enough to be declared mentally ill?
But don't despair. Justice in both our countries is slow (and expensive). But we never forget. I still trust that I will live to see the day when Pam Bondi is in a court house with the AM-W look in her eyes.
I agree with President Obama. It stands to reason that we are not the only sentient beings in the universe. Wherever those aliens are, I wish they'd come and rescue us and our planet.
Or did you see that Twilight Zone episode about Aliens come to earth with a book, How to Serve man, turns out it was a cook book.
An Accidental Empire
• An Accidental Empire is a civic lament: America did not design its empire,
• it stumbled into it—through choices, crises, and silences that hardened into dominance.
The Moral Arc of Post‑WWII America:
From Surplus Virtue to Structural Reckoning
For a brief moment after World War II, the United States lived inside a moral world that felt exceptional. We believed we were different — more generous, more civic‑minded, more principled than the transactional societies we saw abroad. And for a time, it looked true.
But the truth is simpler, and harder:
Our morality was subsidized by our wealth.
When the war ended, the U.S. held nearly half of global GDP. Europe and Japan were in ruins. Our factories were intact. Our currency was the world’s anchor. Our military guaranteed access to resources and markets. We could afford to be magnanimous because we were rich beyond historical precedent.
This abundance created a moral illusion — a belief that our civic virtues were intrinsic rather than structural. We mistook surplus for superiority.
But as the world rebuilt, our share of global wealth naturally declined. The pie got smaller. And when you can’t spoil the kid anymore, the kid doesn’t become more virtuous. He becomes angry, anxious, and unpredictable. He “jumps ugly,” — because the structure that once insulated him has vanished.
This is not a uniquely American story.
It’s the oldest story in political philosophy.
The Midas Lesson
King Midas didn’t become monstrous because he was evil.
He became monstrous because he misunderstood the nature of wealth.
He believed more gold would bring more life.
Instead, the gold consumed the life around him.
America’s postwar abundance worked the same way:
• We mistook material dominance for moral destiny
• We believed our prosperity was proof of virtue
• We assumed our power was evidence of exceptional character
But when the gold stopped flowing at the same rate — when global competition returned, when wages stagnated, when the military‑industrial complex became a permanent economic engine — the illusion cracked.
Midas learned too late that his gift was a curse.
America learned too late that its morality was a surplus good.
The Philosophers Warned Us
From Aristotle to Tocqueville to Marx to Arendt, the warnings were consistent:
• Wealth without restraint corrupts judgment
• Power without limits corrodes virtue
• Prosperity without humility breeds delusion
• A society that worships gold eventually becomes ruled by it
We ignored them because we believed we were the exception.
We believed history’s laws didn’t apply to us.
But history always collects its debts.
The Structural Truth
America didn’t lose its morality because Americans became worse people.
America lost its morality because the material conditions that supported it disappeared.
When the surplus shrank:
• Solidarity gave way to competition
• Citizenship gave way to self‑entrepreneurship
• Public goods gave way to private risk
• Community gave way to market logic
This is the “post‑social society” Wolfgang Streeck describes — a world where individuals must optimize themselves because the state no longer can.
Our intentions were ideal.
Our structure was flawed.
And structure always wins.
Where This Leaves Us
We are not living through a moral collapse.
We are living through a structural correction — a regression to the mean of global history.
“States are becoming unable to impose on capitalism the social discipline that once made it tolerable.”
— Wolfgang Streeck, How Will Capitalism End?
It was not only Midas who didn't understand the nature of wealth. Wealth is not money, things. Wealth is that which makes us happy. The more money and property you control, the higher up the social pyramid you climb, the more insecure you become. One false step, one misjudgment and it is a long way to the bottom and the landing is hard, to wit Andrew Mountbatten, Windsor, to Wit Benito Mussolini, to wit Adolph Hitler
Joe and Jan sixpack, living in a mortgage free home, with no debts, with enough income to feed themselves and buy life's little pleasures have wealth that Mark Zuckerberg could only dream of, because they don't have one ten thousands of his worries.
And wealth includes health and meeting health's needs.
Reading the Substack folks to whom I subscribe, and the Guardian, the NYT, CBC, Huffpost, I have to say I am even close to losing my religious faith. Why? I am not sure I WANT an afterlife. I just want this one to end. Because the one faith I have is a negative one: I have absolute faith in the ultimate irredeemability of humanity. We revel in destroying not just ourselves, but other species and the planet. Whatever we have contributed to the universe in art, music, science, philosophy (forget ethics and morals; we write about them, study them, teach them, but too many of us happily ignore them) doesn't make up for the rapacity which is our hallmark.
At least in the grave I will no longer have to deal with humans. Or a life that is increasingly both frustrating and infuriating, not to mention awash in cruelty, unkindness, annoyance. There I will have peace at last. There I will be free at last. And at least of some value to the worms.
The, thing is you really can’t make this stuff up, Thom. The week that was. And so it Goes. Thanks Thom.