Political Posts

[cubsfan]

54 minutes ago, Parsad said:

 

No, the shutdown was a disaster for those American people who it affected...they were pawns in a tug of war between asshole politicians who were still getting paid.  Let's make sure we get the facts right, eh!  Cheers!

 

It was a disaster for Americans affected - absolutely.

 

It was a disaster for the Democrats because they got nothing out of it, so they put Americans through hell for nothing.

Get your (All) facts right!

[cubsfan]

48 minutes ago, Parsad said:

 

Cubs, I think both you and I can agree that there is a very easy way to make the Dems look completely stupid and exonerate the President from any smear campaign...that would be to release the Epstein files completely unredacted.

 

Wouldn't you agree?  Cheers!

 

I think they ought to release the Epstein files - why did the Democrats NOT release them when they had 4 years to do so??

 

My answer is - if they could have destroyed Trump by releasing the files - they would have.  I can only conclude - there is nothing to see there since they did not!

[Parsad]

55 minutes ago, cubsfan said:

 

It was a disaster for Americans affected - absolutely.

 

It was a disaster for the Democrats because they got nothing out of it, so they put Americans through hell for nothing.

Get your (All) facts right!

 

No, it was both parties.  The Dems actually capitulated, whereas the Republicans were willing to drag this out for months.  So, maybe you should really get your facts straight, instead of twisting it into some win for the GOP. 

 

This really pissed off a lot of citizens, including MAGA supporters.  It's why they are slowly defecting from the party they supported.  Did you hear the boos Trump got at the football game...he's never been booed like that.  

 

Because of his stubbornness and vindictiveness, people are becoming more aware of the mistake this guy was...36% approval rating.  Granted, the other option wasn't any better, but they are coming to realize that there must be a better choice out there and they will vote for it when it comes. 

 

Cheers! 

[cubsfan]

1 minute ago, Parsad said:

 

No, it was both parties.  The Dems actually capitulated, whereas the Republicans were willing to drag this out for months.  So, maybe you should really get your facts straight, instead of twisting it into some win for the GOP. 

 

This really pissed off a lot of citizens, including MAGA supporters.  It's why they are slowly defecting from the party they supported.  Did you hear the boos Trump got at the football game...he's never been booed like that.  

 

Because of his stubbornness and vindictiveness, people are becoming more aware of the mistake this guy was...36% approval rating.  Granted, the other option wasn't any better, but they are coming to realize that there must be a better choice out there and they will vote for it when it comes. 

 

Cheers! 

 

Don't be silly. The republicans voted to open the government 14 straight times. The dems tried to blackmail the country - and everyone knows it.

[Parsad]

1 hour ago, cubsfan said:

 

I think they ought to release the Epstein files - why did the Democrats NOT release them when they had 4 years to do so??

 

My answer is - if they could have destroyed Trump by releasing the files - they would have.  I can only conclude - there is nothing to see there since they did not!

 

Or there is shit on Trump and a whole host of Democrats and Republicans.  Cheers!

[JRM]

1 hour ago, cubsfan said:

 

I think they ought to release the Epstein files - why did the Democrats NOT release them when they had 4 years to do so??

 

My answer is - if they could have destroyed Trump by releasing the files - they would have.  I can only conclude - there is nothing to see there since they did not!

 

I think releasing the files makes years worth of blackmail and honeypot operations worthless overnight.  The most likely explanation in my mind is the people behind the blackmail operation (CIA\Mossad) don't want to lose control of their puppets in power.  Trump is almost certainly compromised by Israel, but I don't think by Epstein.  If all else fails, they will just threaten to end your entire blood line.

[Gregmal]

5 minutes ago, JRM said:

 

I think releasing the files makes years worth of blackmail and honeypot operations worthless overnight.  The most likely explanation in my mind is the people behind the blackmail operation (CIA\Mossad) don't want to lose control of their puppets in power.  Trump is almost certainly compromised by Israel, but I don't think by Epstein.  If all else fails, they will just threaten to end your entire blood line.

Yup, the absolute stupidity and simplicity amongst the “rah rah release the files” crowd is an ignorance to just that. The Democrats had them for 4 years and these deranged fucks woulda offed their mothers to get Trump…even now you continue to see the slightest bit of anything that can be contorted leaked…so there 1) likely ain’t anything on Trump, and 2) given probably 85% of the public want them released, it’s clearly bipartisan, which means that clearly there’s some bipartisan ruling class body that’s ultra high level blocking it.
 

Not really anything else, at least on a rational level, to deduce.

[cubsfan]

4 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Yup, the absolute stupidity and simplicity amongst the “rah rah release the files” crowd is an ignorance to just that. The Democrats had them for 4 years and these deranged fucks woulda offed their mothers to get Trump…even now you continue to see the slightest bit of anything that can be contorted leaked…so there 1) likely ain’t anything on Trump, and 2) given probably 85% of the public want them released, it’s clearly bipartisan, which means that clearly there’s some bipartisan ruling class body that’s ultra high level blocking it.
 

Not really anything else, at least on a rational level, to deduce.

 

There ya' go.

 

They had all the time in the world to sink Trump with Epstein smears, and did not.  That tells me all I need to know. 

 

If they release 'em - great, if not - don't really care. Everyone had their shot.

[Parsad]

https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/11/politics/jack-schlossberg-jfk-grandson-us-house-new-york

 

Great!  Another nepo-baby running for office.  Just what America needs!  Cheers!

[Parsad]

13 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Yup, the absolute stupidity and simplicity amongst the “rah rah release the files” crowd is an ignorance to just that. The Democrats had them for 4 years and these deranged fucks woulda offed their mothers to get Trump…even now you continue to see the slightest bit of anything that can be contorted leaked…so there 1) likely ain’t anything on Trump, and 2) given probably 85% of the public want them released, it’s clearly bipartisan, which means that clearly there’s some bipartisan ruling class body that’s ultra high level blocking it.
 

Not really anything else, at least on a rational level, to deduce.

 

6 minutes ago, cubsfan said:

 

There ya' go.

 

They had all the time in the world to sink Trump with Epstein smears, and did not.  That tells me all I need to know. 

 

If they release 'em - great, if not - don't really care. Everyone had their shot.

 

Let's not do hypotheticals.  Just release the information...doesn't matter which party.  Cheers!

[Gregmal]

2 minutes ago, Parsad said:

 

 

Let's not do hypotheticals.  Just release the information...doesn't matter which party.  Cheers!

Duh. But reality is…both won’t. Neither ever come to the same conclusion on anything…do the math 

[Parsad]

41 minutes ago, cubsfan said:

 

Don't be silly. The republicans voted to open the government 14 straight times. The dems tried to blackmail the country - and everyone knows it.

 

Yes, with zero negotiation...so don't try and bullshit everyone.  Cheers!

[Parsad]

12 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Duh. But reality is…both won’t. Neither ever come to the same conclusion on anything…do the math 

 

I think more and more people are demanding this...including MAGA supporters and hard-core Democrats.  It's got a decent chance of happening...especially with Dems pushing the vote now.  Cheers!

[73 Reds]

3 minutes ago, Parsad said:

 

I think more and more people are demanding this...including MAGA supporters and hard-core Democrats.  It's got a decent chance of happening...especially with Dems pushing the vote now.  Cheers!

Far more entertaining to me than whatever is there are the MOTIVES of the people demanding release of any Epstein materials.

[cubsfan]

14 minutes ago, 73 Reds said:

Far more entertaining to me than whatever is there are the MOTIVES of the people demanding release of any Epstein materials.

 

I agree!  If it makes Parsad, Change and DWY000 happy - I say release them!

[dwy000]

1 hour ago, 73 Reds said:

Far more entertaining to me than whatever is there are the MOTIVES of the people demanding release of any Epstein materials.

The motives are pretty obvious.  Far more entertaining for me is the motives of the people trying to keep them from being released.  Means they are bad.  And makes you wonder how many things have been done behind the scenes to keep them from being released that as of now nobody knew about.  

[DooDiligence]

DIVISION C—LEGISLATIVE BRANCH

APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2026

 

There's some fishy shit in here that allows senators to receive compensation for being wiretapped during federal investigations into the January 6th riots. Each senator that was wiretapped (Speaker Mike Johnson; Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina; Bill Hagerty, of Tennessee; Josh Hawley, of Missouri; Dan Sullivan, of Alaska; Tommy Tuberville, of Alabama; Cynthia Lummis, of Wyoming; and Marsha Blackburn, of Tennessee; and Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania) would receive NO LESS than $500k PER INSTANCE of wiretapping, not from the federal government, but from the taxpayers. Every congressperson has 3 phones and 3 emails, and each wiretapping recording is a separate instance. The congress-members in question could receive more than $3 million in ‘damages’. If these are your congresspeople, you should contact them.

 

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/lbfy26aconf.pdf

 

We now live in an openly corrupt state.

[Spekulatius]

The deep bench that @cubsfan is talking  about

 

[DooDiligence]

Seriously, who would invest in a business with this bunch of crooks in the c-suite?

 

Speaking of cooked books. They weren't rigged before, but you can bet they will be now.

https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economics/2025/bls-investigation-challenges-yes-rigged-data-no

[John Hjorth]

15 minutes ago, Spekulatius said:

The deep bench that @cubsfan is talking  about

 

 

LOL! - It's good!

[NnnnotSoSmart]

Is ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ Real?

No therapist would render such a derogatory and partisan diagnosis, but I’ve seen it in my practice.

 

Is “Trump derangement syndrome” real? No serious mental-health professional would render such a partisan and derogatory diagnosis. Yet I’ve seen it in my own psychotherapy practice. Patients across the political spectrum have brought Donald Trump into therapy not to discuss policy but to process obsession, rage and dread. Their distress is symptomatic, not ideological.

 

Clinically, the presentation aligns with anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders: persistent intrusive thoughts, emotional dysregulation and impaired functioning. Patients describe sleepless nights, compulsive news checking and physical agitation. Many confess they can’t stop thinking about Donald Trump even when they try. They interpret his every move as a threat to democracy and to their own safety and control.

 

Call it “obsessive political preoccupation”—an obsessive-compulsive spectrum presentation in which a political figure becomes the focal point for intrusive thoughts, heightened arousal and compulsive monitoring.

 

I initially viewed this as an ideological reaction, an understandable response to a polarizing figure. But over time the symptoms took on a more clinical shape. What once looked like outrage now presents as a fixation that distorts perception and consumes attention.

 

One patient told me she couldn’t enjoy a family vacation because “it felt wrong to relax while Trump was still out there.” Others report panic attacks or trouble sleeping after seeing him in the news. Their anxiety has outgrown politics and become a way of being.

 

At the group level, the pattern functions like a culture-bound syndrome, a condition shaped by shared social triggers within a specific context. From a diagnostic standpoint, it overlaps with obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and trauma-related syndromes.

 

While not a formal diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, it reflects the same symptom patterns and behavioral mechanisms used to define emerging conditions. By that measure, this presentation merits serious consideration.

 

The clinical importance of distinguishing this pattern lies in treatment. When it is coded simply as generalized anxiety or OCD, patients often receive reassurance or validation that briefly soothes them but ultimately reinforces the fixation. In this presentation, anxiety has fused with identity. The therapeutic work is to help patients regain psychological distance so they can separate internal fears from the political figure onto whom they have projected them. That requires limiting compulsive information seeking and disrupting the social feedback loops that sustain the preoccupation, rather than merely reducing anxiety. We make similar distinctions in conditions like body dysmorphic disorder and hoarding disorder: The meaning of the preoccupation determines how we treat it. The same principle applies here.

 

What makes obsessive political preoccupation distinct is its collective reinforcement: Social media, partisan news outlets and aspects of modern therapy have turned emotional validation into moral virtue. Each act of outrage delivers short-term relief that reinforces the cycle, maintaining the compulsion rather than resolving it. At its core, it isn’t much different from other OCD-like presentations I see in my practice.

 

The term “Trump derangement syndrome” emerged as a tongue-in-cheek partisan label. The joke obscured the psychological reality in which a political figure becomes a symbolic stand-in for threat and loss of control.

 

Mr. Trump himself isn’t the pathology; he is the trigger. For many, he functions as a psychological screen onto which unresolved fears and insecurities are projected. Political disagreement turns into perceived personal threat. A smaller group of Trump supporters have similar responses of opposite valence: They experience anger and feelings of persecution whenever Mr. Trump is criticized, as if an attack on him were an attack on them. In both cases, emotion replaces reason, and psychological distance collapses.

 

Therapy, once a space for cognitive restructuring, has in some quarters become an echo chamber for emotion. Rather than challenging distorted thoughts, many therapists affirm them, mistaking empathy for effectiveness. The language of trauma and safety has migrated into everyday discourse, pathologizing discomfort and politicizing distress. Political anxiety serves as moral performance instead of a cue for regulation.

 

For many Americans, what began as a stress response has become a chronic state of hyperarousal and vigilance. In 2016 the reaction was acute: disbelief, anger, panic. By 2020 it had hardened into identity. Now it has become a way of life. During the 2024 campaign and into 2025, many patients have spoken with fatalistic dread about Mr. Trump’s continuing presence at the center of national life. Even hearing his name can trigger a physiological response. They aren’t reacting to Mr. Trump the man but to Trump the symbol—the embodiment of chaos, threat and loss of control.

 

The clinical challenge is to engage without reinforcing the obsession. Helping patients limit information intake, identify cognitive distortions and tolerate uncertainty restores psychological flexibility, the capacity that obsession erodes. As with other anxiety disorders, exposure and cognitive reappraisal are more effective than reassurance. The goal is perspective, not persuasion.

 

Psychologically, the treatment is differentiation. Patients must learn to separate internal anxiety from external reality and to see Mr. Trump not as an emotional projection but as an external figure whose significance can be managed rather than magnified.

 

For therapists, the task is to resist moral contagion, restore perspective and help patients regain cognitive distance. The goal isn’t to feel safe from Mr. Trump but to feel stable despite him. We can’t have a healthy democracy if half the country experiences the other half as a trauma trigger. The challenge, clinical and cultural, is to rebuild psychological distance—to see the difference between what we feel and what truly is. Only then can people engage politically without losing their mental balance.

 

Mr. Alpert is a psychotherapist practicing in New York and Washington and author of “Therapy Nation,” forthcoming in 2026.

 

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/is-trump-derangement-syndrome-real-a603e4a1?st=YZ7rSN&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

 

My non professional advice?  Get help!

Edited November 13, 2025 by NnnnotSoSmart

[73 Reds]

12 hours ago, dwy000 said:

The motives are pretty obvious.  Far more entertaining for me is the motives of the people trying to keep them from being released.  Means they are bad.  And makes you wonder how many things have been done behind the scenes to keep them from being released that as of now nobody knew about.  

You mean the democrats during Biden's tenure?  Their renewed interest now is quite a spectacle.

[Gregmal]

8 hours ago, NnnnotSoSmart said:

Is ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ Real?

No therapist would render such a derogatory and partisan diagnosis, but I’ve seen it in my practice.

 

Is “Trump derangement syndrome” real? No serious mental-health professional would render such a partisan and derogatory diagnosis. Yet I’ve seen it in my own psychotherapy practice. Patients across the political spectrum have brought Donald Trump into therapy not to discuss policy but to process obsession, rage and dread. Their distress is symptomatic, not ideological.

 

Clinically, the presentation aligns with anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders: persistent intrusive thoughts, emotional dysregulation and impaired functioning. Patients describe sleepless nights, compulsive news checking and physical agitation. Many confess they can’t stop thinking about Donald Trump even when they try. They interpret his every move as a threat to democracy and to their own safety and control.

 

Call it “obsessive political preoccupation”—an obsessive-compulsive spectrum presentation in which a political figure becomes the focal point for intrusive thoughts, heightened arousal and compulsive monitoring.

 

I initially viewed this as an ideological reaction, an understandable response to a polarizing figure. But over time the symptoms took on a more clinical shape. What once looked like outrage now presents as a fixation that distorts perception and consumes attention.

 

One patient told me she couldn’t enjoy a family vacation because “it felt wrong to relax while Trump was still out there.” Others report panic attacks or trouble sleeping after seeing him in the news. Their anxiety has outgrown politics and become a way of being.

 

At the group level, the pattern functions like a culture-bound syndrome, a condition shaped by shared social triggers within a specific context. From a diagnostic standpoint, it overlaps with obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and trauma-related syndromes.

 

While not a formal diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, it reflects the same symptom patterns and behavioral mechanisms used to define emerging conditions. By that measure, this presentation merits serious consideration.

 

The clinical importance of distinguishing this pattern lies in treatment. When it is coded simply as generalized anxiety or OCD, patients often receive reassurance or validation that briefly soothes them but ultimately reinforces the fixation. In this presentation, anxiety has fused with identity. The therapeutic work is to help patients regain psychological distance so they can separate internal fears from the political figure onto whom they have projected them. That requires limiting compulsive information seeking and disrupting the social feedback loops that sustain the preoccupation, rather than merely reducing anxiety. We make similar distinctions in conditions like body dysmorphic disorder and hoarding disorder: The meaning of the preoccupation determines how we treat it. The same principle applies here.

 

What makes obsessive political preoccupation distinct is its collective reinforcement: Social media, partisan news outlets and aspects of modern therapy have turned emotional validation into moral virtue. Each act of outrage delivers short-term relief that reinforces the cycle, maintaining the compulsion rather than resolving it. At its core, it isn’t much different from other OCD-like presentations I see in my practice.

 

The term “Trump derangement syndrome” emerged as a tongue-in-cheek partisan label. The joke obscured the psychological reality in which a political figure becomes a symbolic stand-in for threat and loss of control.

 

Mr. Trump himself isn’t the pathology; he is the trigger. For many, he functions as a psychological screen onto which unresolved fears and insecurities are projected. Political disagreement turns into perceived personal threat. A smaller group of Trump supporters have similar responses of opposite valence: They experience anger and feelings of persecution whenever Mr. Trump is criticized, as if an attack on him were an attack on them. In both cases, emotion replaces reason, and psychological distance collapses.

 

Therapy, once a space for cognitive restructuring, has in some quarters become an echo chamber for emotion. Rather than challenging distorted thoughts, many therapists affirm them, mistaking empathy for effectiveness. The language of trauma and safety has migrated into everyday discourse, pathologizing discomfort and politicizing distress. Political anxiety serves as moral performance instead of a cue for regulation.

 

For many Americans, what began as a stress response has become a chronic state of hyperarousal and vigilance. In 2016 the reaction was acute: disbelief, anger, panic. By 2020 it had hardened into identity. Now it has become a way of life. During the 2024 campaign and into 2025, many patients have spoken with fatalistic dread about Mr. Trump’s continuing presence at the center of national life. Even hearing his name can trigger a physiological response. They aren’t reacting to Mr. Trump the man but to Trump the symbol—the embodiment of chaos, threat and loss of control.

 

The clinical challenge is to engage without reinforcing the obsession. Helping patients limit information intake, identify cognitive distortions and tolerate uncertainty restores psychological flexibility, the capacity that obsession erodes. As with other anxiety disorders, exposure and cognitive reappraisal are more effective than reassurance. The goal is perspective, not persuasion.

 

Psychologically, the treatment is differentiation. Patients must learn to separate internal anxiety from external reality and to see Mr. Trump not as an emotional projection but as an external figure whose significance can be managed rather than magnified.

 

For therapists, the task is to resist moral contagion, restore perspective and help patients regain cognitive distance. The goal isn’t to feel safe from Mr. Trump but to feel stable despite him. We can’t have a healthy democracy if half the country experiences the other half as a trauma trigger. The challenge, clinical and cultural, is to rebuild psychological distance—to see the difference between what we feel and what truly is. Only then can people engage politically without losing their mental balance.

 

Mr. Alpert is a psychotherapist practicing in New York and Washington and author of “Therapy Nation,” forthcoming in 2026.

 

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/is-trump-derangement-syndrome-real-a603e4a1?st=YZ7rSN&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

 

My non professional advice?  Get help!

I did find the best summary of this, something I haven’t found in gif world yet, but accessible via a google search under Elon Musk completely irrational, to be the best 15 second summary of this. 

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1030878135568715&id=100059396147148&http_ref=eyJ0cyI6MTc2MzAzOTIyMTAwMCwiciI6Imh0dHBzOlwvXC93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbVwvIn0%3D

 

 

shot in the neck with a dart lmfao 

 

 

 

 

[dwy000]

2 hours ago, 73 Reds said:

You mean the democrats during Biden's tenure?  Their renewed interest now is quite a spectacle.

I dont give a crap what party.  Release the files in full and prosecute all the guilty parties (including those who obstructed their release).  As someone with a daughter pedophiles are the biggest scum on the planet and this shouldnt be political.

[cubsfan]

2 minutes ago, dwy000 said:

I dont give a crap what party.  Release the files in full and prosecute all the guilty parties (including those who obstructed their release).  As someone with a daughter pedophiles are the biggest scum on the planet and this shouldnt be political.

 

Not to worry @dwy000

 

ICE is removing the pedophiles as fast as they can!

 

 The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the arrests of more than 150 illegal alien sex offenders during a major enforcement surge across the state of Florida. The operation targeted child predators, rapists, and violent criminal illegal aliens with convictions including sexual assault of minors, rape, lewd and lascivious conduct, child exploitation, battery, and attempted homicide. In total, more than 230 criminal illegal aliens—including 150 sexual predators—were arrested and are off our streets.

 

“I call this Operation Dirtbag because these individuals were not just sex offenders, they TARGETED CHILDREN."

 

https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/11/13/operation-dirtbag-ice-arrests-over-150-criminal-illegal-alien-sex-predators-florida