• Αναμένω με μεγάλο ενδιαφέρον την άφιξη της νέας Πρέσβειρας των ΗΠΑ στην Αθήνα Κίμπερλι Γκίλφοϊλ, η οποία είναι προσωπική επιλογή του Ντόναλτ Τραμπ. Η νέα εκπρόσωπος της Υπερδυνάμεως στην χώρα μας έχει πολύ καλές σχέσεις με το Ελληνοαμερικανικό λόμπι και η ίδια αναφέρεται συχνά στις θερμές και φιλικές προσωπικές της σχέσεις με το ελληνοαμερικανικό στοιχείου του οποίου η παρουσία στα πράγματα της Ελληνικής Ορθοδόξου Εκκλησίας είναι μόνιμη και ιδιαιτέρως κρίσιμης σημασίας.

  

• Όλα αυτά είναι δείγματα καλής διάθεσης και θετικής ψυχολογίας της νέας πρέσβεως προς όφελος των φιλικών και αποδοτικών σχέσεων ΗΠΑ-Ελλάδος σε μια κρίσιμη περίοδο με την αιμοδιψή μογγολό-Τουρκία του Ερντογάν να ξιφουλκεί για πόλεμο στο Αιγαίο αλλά και στην πολύπαθη Κύπρο.

• Τα κτίρια επί της Βασιλίσσης Σοφίας, όπου εργάστηκα 20 αποδοτικά και αξέχαστα χρόνια, είναι χώρος όπου η τύχη της Πατρίδος μας είναι το καθημερινό αντικείμενο περίπλοκων υπολογισμών και πολιτικών σεναρίων γεωπολιτικής σημασίας. Λίγοι αντιλαμβάνονται το τι εξυφαίνεται πίσω από τα κρύσταλλα του κτιρίου αυτού που χτίστηκε με πρότυπο τον Παρθενώνα— η τύχη μας παίζεται εκεί μέσα καθημερινά.

• Οι άμεσοι προϊστάμενοι μου στο Πολιτικό Τμήμα, με εξαίρεση δύο εξ αυτών, ήσαν όλοι άριστοί True Gentlemen συγκλίνοντες με τις απόψεις και εκτιμήσεις μου, όπως αποδεικνυόταν από το γεγονός ότι τηλεγραφήματα μου μεταδίδονταν στην κεντρική υπηρεσία χωρίς σχεδόν αλλαγές και διορθώσεις πλην ελαχίστων εξαιρέσεων κυρίως προσαρμογής εκφράσεων και όχι πολιτικής ουσίας (κάτι που συχνά εξέπληττε τους προϊσταμένους μου).

• Και το καθημερινό μου Early Bird Report, που ήταν μια εν τάχει παρουσίαση των ημερήσιων ελληνικών ειδήσεων των εφημερίδων και τηλοψίας, έφευγε χωρίς προηγούμενη ανάγνωση και ΟΚ από τους προϊσταμένους μου και με βαθμό Sensitive but Unclassified (Αδιαβάθμητο αλλά Ευαίσθητο) με παραλήπτες εντός της Πρεσβείας αλλά και το υπουργικό γραφείο και τις ανάλογες υπηρεσίες του State Department.

• Την τελευταία μέρα της υπηρεσίας μου κατέστρεψα, ως όριζε ο κανονισμός, τουλάχιστον 3000 κείμενα που όλα είχαν φύγει ατόφια, πλην ελαχίστων διορθώσεων, όπως αργότερα διαπίστωσα με την βοήθεια των Wikileaks.

• Σήμερα σκέπτομαι, σχεδόν μονίμως, τι θα μπορούσα να γράψω αν είχα όλο αυτό το υλικό που θα ήταν ουσιαστικά μια διπλωματική ιστορία των ελληνοαμερικανικών σχέσεων 1990-2010. Αλλά δυστυχώς είμαι σωματικά παροπλισμένος και ηθικά ένα κουρέλι.

• Δεν ξέρω λεπτομέρειες των κοινωνικών δεξιοτήτων της νέας πρέσβεως αλλά είμαι σχεδόν βέβαιος ότι δεν θα έχει ιδιαίτερα προβλήματα με τα τσιράκια της σημερινής κυβέρνησης και των διαδόχων της.

• Ούτως ή άλλως τα ελληνικά γκουβέρνα είναι μαζώξεις κυρίως ατόμων με περιορισμένες πολιτικές και διοικητικές ικανότητες που καθημερινά μάχονται κυρίως για την διατήρηση των οφίκιων και της καρέκλας τους και το γαϊτανάκι των ρουσφετιών… κάτι που απεδείχθη και προσφάτως με το φρικαλέο ανοσιούργημα των Τεμπών το οποίο έχει προκαλέσει πανελλήνιο επαναστατικό μένος κατά του ατάλαντου και συχνά γελοίου Κούλη και της διεφθαρμένης παρέας του.

• Η Κίμπερλι λοιπόν θα πρέπει να γνωρίσει εν τάχει τους βοϊδοκέφαλους των υπουργείων (και ουδόλως την ζηλεύω γι’ αυτό) αλλά και να συλλάβει σύντομα πια είναι τα pressure points των παρ’ ημίν πάτερων της πατρίδος, οι οποίοι, πλην ελαχίστων εξαιρέσεων, τραβούν ακόμη κουπί στα θρανία του πολιτικού δημοτικού (ελάχιστοι δε εκ των οποίων ομιλούν την αγγλικήν και εδώ είναι ένας ακόμη κόμπος).

• Λοιπόν, καλώς ήλθες Κιμπερλί και ούριος άνεμος στα πανιά σου.

• Και τι δεν θάδεινα για μια τετ-α-τετ συζήτηση για το τι σε περιμένει.

• Good luck and never surrender!

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Το Ζεϊμπέκικο της Ιφιγένειας (Εκδόσεις Κουλτούρα) είναι μια σύντομη συγγραφή του Γεωργίου Μάξιμου Μαδωνή ειδικευμένου στην Νεότερη & Σύγχρονη Ελληνική Ιστορία. Το πόνημα αυτό των 63 σελίδων, σε έκδοση Κουλτούρα, ήταν μια ευχάριστη έκπληξη, αν και το αντικείμενο του είναι μια από τις φρικωδέστερες στιγμές της πρόσφατης ιστορίας αυτής της δύσμοιρης χώρας με μια περίοδο αφάνταστης αγωνίας, καταστροφών, δηώσεων και αιματοχυσίας.

Το Ζεϊμπέκικο είναι «Μια ντουζίνα ιστορίες ανθρώπων από τον Εμφύλιο», όπως το προγράφει ο συγγραφέας, το διάβασμα των οποίων μας ξαναθυμίζει ότι η δύσμοιρη αυτή χώρα παραμένει αντικείμενο αρχαίας Ελληνικής τραγωδίας.

Προσωπικά ο γράφων άρχισε σταδιακά να μελετά τα της Μικρασιατικής Καταστροφής (οι οικογένειες πατρός του και μητρός του εκδιώχθηκαν από τα σπίτια τους στην Πόλη και στον Ελληνικό Πόντο από τούρκους σφαγείς) και τα τραγικά λάθη των Ελλήνων της Αθήνας που αναπότρεπτα με επηρέασαν βαθύτατα.

Το Ζεϊμπέκικο ήλθε να μου υπενθυμίσει και πάλι ότι οι Έλληνες γενικώς ξεχνούν πολύ εύκολα και δεν διστάζουν να κάνουν τα ίδια λάθη δοθείσης της (αιματηρής) ευκαιρίας.

Ο εμφύλιος, γνωστός και ως συμμοριτοπόλεμος, δεν διαφέρει ιδιαιτέρως από τις προηγούμενες καταστροφές και προσέφερε όλα τα καλά: σφαγές και εξολοθρεύσεις όλων εκείνων που διαφέρουν ως προς τα πολιτικά, φρικαλέες ωμότητες με χιλιάδες αθώα θύματα, βαθύτατο και άσβεστο μίσος προς τους «άλλους» και όνειρα ολοκληρωτικής επικράτησης των «δικών μας παιδιών» έτσι ώστε να επιτευχθεί ο στόχος της πλήρους συντριβής και εξαφάνισης «των άλλων».

Το Ζεϊμπέκικο προσφέρει μια αλυσίδα περιγραφής τέτοιων αιματηρών επεισοδίων όπου οι «καλοί» και οι «κακοί» δεν ορρωδούν προ ουδενός προκειμένου να επιτευχθούν οι στόχοι τους. Από την μια οι «καλοί» δηλ. οι οπαδοί της βασιλείας και η άρχουσα τάξη των πλουσίων όλων των βαθμίδων, από την μια, και, απ’ την άλλην, ο «λαός» των φτωχών και καταπονημένων της υπαίθρου αλλά και το «προλεταριάτο» της Αθήνας και των υπολοίπων πόλεων.

Η γλώσσα Του Ζεϊμπέκικου είναι απολαυστικά ρυθμική και πολύχρωμή χωρίς εκπλήξεις και κορώνες, οι οποίες πλέον βρίθουν στα «ελληνικά» της αγράμματης και αλληθωρίζουσας τηλοψίας.

Ο και η αναγνώστης δεν χασμουριούνται ούτε ξύνουν το κεφάλι τους δεχόμενοι/νες πρωτογόνους μύδρους από δημοσιογράφους (αμφοτέρων των φύλων) που κυριολεκτικά δεν ξέρουν που ‘παν τα τέσσερα).

Διάβασα το Ζεϊμπέκικο μέσα σε 3 & 1/2 ώρες αν και βασανίζομε από το σύνδρομο της χρονίας κοπώσεως.

Προτείνω άνευ φόβου και πάθους να προμηθευτείτε ένα αντίτυπο του Ζεϊμπέκικού και να απολαύσετε στιβαρή ιστορική έρευνα του πως πληρώσαμε πέραν πάσης περιγραφής την μετακατοχική περίοδο του ΕΑΜ/ΕΛΑΣ του οποίου οι μαχητές & μαχήτριες την γλύτωσαν τελικά πολύ φτηνά (ναι, είμαι των άκρων επί του αντικειμένου).

Υστερόγραφο: Θυμόσαστε πως ο άθλιος Ανδρέας του αθλίου ΠΑΣΟΚ έστειλε ΟΛΟΥΣ τους φακέλους των πολιτικών φρονημάτων στην υψικάμινο; Γιατί άραγε;

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Europe has done it (again)!

By mindlessly backing Ukraine’s comedic neo-Nazi dictator, who’s destroying his country with gusto and killing thousands of young Ukrainians in the process, is losing the support of the sane and now depends exclusively on the insane.

Donald Trump is destroying Kiev’s wet dreams with both words and actions—while the EU’s Von der Leyen keeps on pushing the European Union to go toe-to-toe with Russia and achieve Europe’s self-inflicted collapse in the name of solidarity to the neo-Nazi Ukrainians.

And in Moscow Vladimir Putin continues to look (correctly) at the Donald as the only sane Western leader, who is working to stop WWIII from breaking out.

To describe the current situation as “neurasthenic” would be an understatement. The creation of the EU, and the introduction of the Euro as its common currency, was a colossal historical mistake which all Europeans are now paying with their hard-earned incomes and their peace of mind.

It will take the words of a born seer to predict our tomorrow while the Russians are trying (honestly) to avoid WWIII as they display common sense which Von der Leyen’s Europeans are missing.

And, yes, these Russians aren’t Stalin’s homicidal minions.

I am pessimistic about our immediate future. Unless EU voters begin to kick out pro-war leaders, who are surveying the current situation with glasses fogged out by antiquated (and dangerous) ideologies, we are in for colossal disasters.

Who would have thought that the Europeans, who paid the price of TWO world wars, would be as naive and easily distracted today when current weaponry have the capability of pulverizing whole countries with the push of a few buttons.

This the time for all of us, irrespective of political opinions, to make sure our leaders use their heads, and not their media tongues or their personal preferences, to address the Ukraine colossal mess.

Now.

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The Periscope says: Struggling with autoimmune disease (like ME/CSF) is often a losing battle from the get-go. Many doctors misdiagnose the condition, which in turn leads to incorrect pharmaceutical treatment often with negative results.

The spread of such conditions, like ME/CFS, however, contributes to accelerating research seeking to understand the nature of the malady, which, in turn, opens the door to developing successful treatments.

As of this moment, ME/CFS still remains a mystery disease although current research continues to push doors open into understanding how it all occurs and evolves—which, in turn, increases the success of pharmaceutical research and development of specific drugs to battle the invading enemy.

Sufferers, however, still experience debilitating symptoms and severe psychological pressure which push many doctors to prescribe psychiatric drugs to lessen the day-to-day symptoms of the disease, which carry their own side effects and risk of addiction without contributing to successful and lasting therapies of the underlying cause.

This writer has been prescribed a ton of such drugs, which offered no solid therapies but, rather, “tested” ways of diminishing the daily torture of living in physical and psychological darkness. Needless to say, none of these drugs offered lasting and positive relief leading to a “revolving door” syndrome and diminishing hopes of beating the dragon.

Autoimmunity and ME/CFS

Research highlighting the role of the immune system in ME/CFS has led some scientists to suggest that autoimmune mechanisms may play a role in the development of the disease. However, as ME/CFS is complex, and differs both between people, and within the same individual over time, findings have been inconsistent

Autoimmunity is a state in which your immune system mistakenly attacks – and damages, the body’s healthy cells.

Autoimmune diseases – many of which share symptoms with ME/CFS, include rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, Type 1 diabetes, lupus, Sjogren’s syndrome, and some thyroid conditions.

A paper published in BMC Immunology aimed to search for, and summarise all existing, peer-reviewed, published studies relating specifically to autoimmunity in ME/CFS.

The search identified that 10 papers had been published since 1994 on autoimmunity and ME/CFS. Amongst these papers:

• One investigated the role of cytokine signaling – a process that involves the release of small proteins – cytokines, to control the activity of other cells in the body, particularly immune and blood cells.

• Three considered the genetic nature – the genes and other hereditary factors that impact how a person develops, of autoimmunity in people with ME/CFS.

• One studied the immune lineage – the different types of cells that make up the immune system and how they are related to each other, in people with ME/CFS.

• Six reported on the presence, and role of, autoantibodies in ME/CFS

  • Autoantibodies are antibodies – proteins produced by the immune system to recognize and neutralize foreign substances that enter the body, that mistakenly attack the body’s own cells and tissue.

While immune abnormalities – including increased levels of autoantibodies, have been observed in people with ME/CFS, the authors of the review article concluded that there is “inconsistent and insufficient evidence to classify ME/CFS as an autoimmune disease” – rather the findings from the 10 studies highlight the complexity of ME/CFS, and the urgent need for more research “to advance the development of diagnostic and treatment strategies”.

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Earlier this evening I got the results of my CUT scan that lasted 1 and 1/2 hours (!). This test is a nightmare for those who suffer from claustrophobia, like myself. The scanner is one long tube that barely allows the patient to move. The nurse provides audio protection, but even with this “shield” in place the unfortunate subject develops a mean headache from the get go thanks to crushing sounds generated by the scanner.

The attending nurse also provides the patient with an alarm button fixed at the end of a cable in case the unfortunate subject flips as the test develops (I did pressed it one hour into the grinding cacophony and the nurse spent 15 minutes trying to dissuade me from jumping out of the behemoth).

Finally, I was given the OK and was helped out of the contraption (exhausted but alive).

During the days of waiting for the full report I was laying on a bed of nails. I was convinced the test would discover horrible things developing in my innards…. something which was thankfully not the case.

Now, with this test out of the way, on to trying to find a solution for the severe mental collapse that crushes me daily.

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Αν θυμάμε σωστά πέταξα αετό μια τελευταία φορά το 1965. Σήμερα, Καθαρή Δευτέρα 2025, είμαι στο κρεβάτι αιχμάλωτος του Συνδρόμου Χρόνιας Κόπωσης (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). Το μέλλον παραμένει αόρατον. Περιμένω τα αποτελέσματα εξετάσεων που πιθανώς θα δείξουν λεπτομέρειες αυτής της κατάρας. Η επιστροφή σε κατάσταση υγείας είναι μάλλον ανύπαρκτος. Οι μέρες και οι νύχτες κυλούν μέσα σε μια επίμονη ομίχλη που συντηρεί το αίσθημα πνιγμού το οποίο κατατρέχει όλους και όλες που βασανίζονται ομοίως.

Η ελπίδα πεθαίνει τελευταία, λέγουν οι φιλόσοφοι, αλλά εγώ μάλλον δεν περιμένω θαύματα. Τρικλίζω ένθεν κακήθεν και βλέπω κατασκότεινα όνειρα που με βυθίζουν ακόμη πιο βαθιά στην κατάθλιψη. Αποφεύγω τον καθρέφτη και προπαθώ εις μάτην να δημιουργώ στιγμές πνευματικής και σωματικής ξεκούρασης. Κάποτε έγραφα κατεβατά ολόκληρα with the push of a button. Σήμερα κάτι τέτοια έχουν εκλείψει.

Keep me in your prayers που λέγουν και οι Αμερικάνοι και Χρόνια Πολλά σε όλες και όλους. Και προ πάντων ΥΓΕΙΑ!

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My ME/CFS has taken a turn for the worse and now I am bed bound for an undermined length of time. Wish me luck ‘cause I am at the end of my tether. Dark days ahead….and endless malaise…..

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Το Περισκόπιο σχολιάζει: Ο φανατικός ισλαμισμός έχει πια αναδειχθεί ως η υπ’ αριθμόν ένα απειλή για όλες τις πολιτισμένες χώρες του κόσμου. Και με την άοκνο συνδρομή του νέο-χιτλερικού Ισραήλ και του σχιζοφρενούς Νετανιάχου, ο οποίος θεωρεί ότι μπορεί να κατατροπώσει και να εξοντώσει τους Άραβες αντιπάλους του με την συνδρομή των ΗΠΑ και, ολιγότερο, με αυτήν της τρομώδους Ευρώπης, η οποία καταφέρνει καθημερινά να αυτοτραυματίζεται και να υπονομεύει εγκληματικά τον πολιτισμό της μέσω της «πολιτικής ορθότητας» και άλλων λεγομένων woke αηδιών.

Το ον της ανωτέρω φωτογραφίας δήλωσε ότι και τα (δυστυχή) τέσσερα παιδιά της θα εκπαιδευτούν για το πως να εξοντώνουν άπιστους—και αν πρόκειται να πέσουν υπέρ του Αλλάχ, ας πέσουν.

Και φυσικά αυτή η «μητέρα» δεν είναι η μόνη. Χιλιάδες χιλιάδων μουσουλμάνων γονέων προσεύχονται καθημερινώς στον Αλλάχ να αξιώσει τα παιδιά τους να θυσιάσουν την ζωή τους σφάζοντας απίστους, κάτι που φυσικά ανοίγει διάπλατα τις πύλες του μουσουλμανικού παραδείσου.

Ο σχιζοφρενής Νετανιάχου είμαι βέβαιος ότι θα τρίβει τα χέρια του όταν βλέπει αυτά τα ανατριχιαστικά φαινόμενα θρησκευτικής μανίας διότι έτσι αποκτά άνευ τιμήματος «πυρομαχικά» για τα διά του δικά του φρικώδη εγκλήματα εις βάρος των Παλαιστινίων.

Ελπίζω ότι όλοι & όλες μας αντιλαμβάνονται ότι τα σημερινά «θαύματα» του δυτικού πολιτισμού αδυνατούν να αντιμετωπίσουν τέτοιες εξωφρενικές καταστάσεις καθ’ όσον όλες οι θρησκείες διαθέτουν και τους αποφασισμένους κουνημένους μάρτυρες τους και την απέραντη αιμοδιψία τους.

Κατά τ’άλλα ο παγκόσμιος «πολιτισμός» συνεχίζει τα θαύματα του.

Το πλήρες άρθρο, που περιγράφει τα της γλυκιάς αυτής μητέρας, μπορείτε να διαβάσετέ μέσω αυτού του συνδέσμου

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JD Vance is Vice President of the United States and the designated voice of The Donald abroad among other things. JD is a veteran of the US Marine Corps and holds a Yale Law School BA awarded in 2013. He was elected to the Senate in the state of Ohio in 2022 and became a strong supporter of The Donald and eventually being chosen to be the Vice President of the United States after DJT wiped the floors with the macabre duo of senile Joe and “Door Knob” Kamala Harris.

Historically, American VPs are rather second-fiddle figures acting usually as the No. 1 voice of the occupant of the Oval Office both in America and abroad. JD, however, happens to be not only politically committed to “Trumpism,” but also, a particularly strong voice of promoting the take-no-prisoners policies of the current occupant of the White House, who is committed to a far-reaching overhaul of American domestic and foreign relations.

Listening to JD was a truly welcome surprise after the horrid 4 years of the Bidenistas struggling to promote Kamala “The Door Knob” Harris as the designated spokeswoman of senile semi-paralyzed, and constantly falling, Ole Joe, who didn’t know whether he was coming or going, and with who he was talking to, most of the time.

JD is a powerful “non-robotic” speaker. He obviously has a strong grip of the facts and didn’t hesitate “to tell it like it is” to the grey audience listening intently. He urged his listeners to end blacklisting far-right parties and stunned and silenced many of the attendees.

Vance’s robust presence and performance delivered a resounding message to a Europe that remains prisoner of the so-called “European Union,” a creature that is far from being a true democratic organization (as its talking heads miss no opportunity to remind all).

Vance also did not hesitate to surprise his listeners telling them Europe is not threatened from Russia and/or China, but, rather, by an “enemy within” that aims to suppress free speech in favor of e.g. “vulnerable” minorities demanding recognition of the “rights” of homosexuals, transgenders, and so many more anomalous creatures increasingly rejecting the rights of social overwhelming majorities that are pressed to accept the blatantly unacceptable.

“If you are running in fear of your own voters,” Mr. Vance said, “there is nothing America can do for you.”

Vance’s Munich speech put his visibly anxious listeners, already confused over Ukraine, shaky economics, increasing international instability, and so much else, on edge. But, this was deliberate action on Trump’s part, who never tires to remind all that Europe has fallen behind thanks to social confusion, failing politics, and economic woes that threaten the vast majorities of the Old Continent.

And Vance in Munich was just the beginning of The Donald’s foreign policies.

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Life, they say, has its unavoidable ups and downs and we all need to develop defenses “to manage,” as best as we can, when situations decide to take us to the proverbial woodshed for a good beating.

These words have been hammered into my mind since the day I came to realize nothing in this life comes easily, especially if one belongs to those of sensitive, romantic, trusting, and/or easily manipulated nature.

Now in my mid-70s, and suffering from a dastardly incurable malady that often pushes me to the precipice of agony, I do feel weak and unable to continue struggling to survive.

On a more positive note though, I do have a small “support network” of immediate relatives, and a couple of forever friends, who exhibit remarkable patience in listening to my groaning and moaning, mostly during endless telephone conversations.

I consider myself lucky in that all these wonderful people sound (and are) honest in their advice and eternal patience, as they bear hearing my cries, trials and tribulations.

There was a time when I was in their shoes trying to encourage those in hard times by delivering “confident” prognostications and conceivable solutions to impossible problems.

Judging from practicing such moral “first aid,” I’ve discovered that I was quite successful of delivering much-needed succor and, even, applicable tactics to manage often serious personal crises successfully.

Unfortunately, my current predicament is such that my own previously successful tactics turn out to be unable to offer me “operational” encouragement. And my current blind and fearful struggle goes on and on.

Having said that (and continuing to dig into old notes and reminiscences) I have come up with an “action” list of do and don’t when attempting to support friends in need. Offering successful moral support can be crucial, and even life-saving, to those in dire and desperate straits.

So, here’s my own “first aid action plan,” tested successfully in the past, in trying to sustain desperate and unlucky souls.

1. Make sure your language helps to validate your listener’s bruised feelings. Express your support in unequivocal terms and reassure him/her that you have their backs and they are not alone in this struggle.

2. Avoid your own “tactical” judgements, and examples of failed attempts to help others, because of your own inflated confidence in your presumed expertise.

3. Do stay in touch regularly. This is truly critical. A quick call every other day, if possible, can be a surprising boost to your friend or relative in need (and, also, it can deliver warnings about possible trouble that’s brewing silently).

4. Avoid your own overconfidence in trying to nail down what exactly tortures your good friend in need. Be patient with often desperate confessions and surprising personal details that float up to the surface as a conversation develops.

5. If you can, offer practical support help. Keep an eye on a person, who is visibly overwhelmed by events and needs a much-desired break from the ongoing crisis. And if you do have the time and the inclination, invite him/her for a cup of coffee in your favorite watering hole or offering to take a long walk with them to chat and release steam.

6. Crank up your patience reserves and don’t push for more private details and/or explanations if your suffering friend is obviously reluctant or fearful (or both) giving you inner details of what is going on. It is almost a given that, slowly slowly, he or she will open up and eventually bring all key facts on the table.

7. Finally, never underestimate giving the sufferer a much-needed boost by reminding him/her of their successes of the past that required time and effort. You'd be surprised to discover how uplifting this tactic can be.

All of the above may sound rather complicated, but you’d be surprised to discover how “doable” and helpful they are.

Never forget that something as simple as going for a cup of coffee, or a stroll in the park, with the sufferer, can be a potentially life-saving gesture for a person struggling in a universe of relentless doom and gloom.

Honest.

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It is getting more difficult by the day to keep up with the deluge of news from around a world that’s burning briskly with every passing hour. East and West look like an ancient Roman arena where gladiators are killing and maiming each other as if there’s nothing better to do.

In Nazi Ukraine, the Russian bulldozer is crushing Zelensky’s soldiers with prominent gusto—and with Tsar Vladimir coolly warning the US and NATO that any attempt to assist Kiev’s pathetic comedian “president” busy with pestering the US and NATO to send him more sophisticated weapons in order to prolong the carnage of his country’s youth with zero hope of reaching a negotiated solution to the bloodletting.

In Washington, Typhoon Trump sits in the Oval Office feverishly signing executive orders to make America Great Again with the help of a rather weird genius, known as Elon Mask, who’s equally busy spending oodles of $$$$ to promote his own, often strange, initiatives happily endorsed by The Donald.

I was a “Trumpist” since Day One and I still believe (now reluctantly) The Donald is the man America needs at this crucial time.

However, I am confused, and a bit fearful, with the new president’s often outlandish ideas, like the US grabbing Gaza and turning it into a cosmopolitan resort while uprooting her Palestinian population and sending them all off to other countries to start a “new life” which, by all accounts, will be very difficult if at all possible.

Already, Arab countries in the immediate vicinity are rather aghast with such unique initiatives that blatantly ignore the real facts on the ground and the long blood-drenched history of Israeli-Arab wars and pure hatred.

Very many years ago, a dear teacher of mine (now deceased) was never tired in repeating “Do Not Trust the Jews” having lived for most of his life in Greece’s northern capital of Salonika (Thessaloniki) where a Jewish community existed for centuries and had established a tight control of the city’s economic and trade life. Christian Thessalonians had developed a rather pronounced dislike for their Jewish neighbors, who missed no opportunity to undermine their Christian competitors to control as much as possible of the city’s trade and the brisk traffic of her seaport.

And then Eichmann et.al. arrived to give a terrible solution to the city’s Jewish burgeoning social and economic impasse by sending almost the entire Hebrew community to the concentration camps.

More recently, maniacal Netanyahu’s destruction of Gaza, and his horrifying massacre of innocent Palestinian non-combatants, including women, children and babies, has backfired with dozens of governments around the world openly calling out Mad Killer Bibi for his murder of so many innocents.

I am at a loss at this explosion of exterminatory brutality and complete disregard of the lives of millions of innocents. The Donald, who promised almost everything, and now is running into the brick walls of unforgiving reality, should pause, regroup, and deploy his obvious talents to making this schizophrenic world a bit better place to live to the benefit of all humanity.

Can he do it?

Or, does he want to do it?

This is a question which probably has no answer.

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The Ukraine war is a conflict that should have never happened. But, US nagging interference in the hope of prodding Moscow and pull the Ukraine neo-Nazis into NATO (!) succeeded in devastating that country and killed thousands of young Ukrainians who ended up in trenches they could not defend even with massive (and super expensive) Western weapons transfers and plenty of ammo supplies.

Still, the puppet Ukrainian neo-Nazi comedian playing president continues to pester the Western coalition for mass transfers of ammunition and latest technology weapon systems which the Ukrainians are unable to deploy successfully because they cannot learn how to use them in record time and under constant massive Russian fires.

It takes no philosophers of war to tell you the pathetic neo-Nazis have no hope in hell of defending against Russia, let alone succeeding in dealing decisive blows to Putin’s legions.

Both sides suffer serious casualties, but it is Ukraine that simply cannot afford such massive blending when her total population is just a fraction of that of Putin’s Russia (see a detailed report of casualties sustained by both sides here.)

The Ukrainians have no space to hide and no reinforcements to plug the bloody piles of their killed and wounded—especially since younger men increasingly seek to abandon their country and seek refuge in European countries to escape the growing carnage.

To remember the words of Sun Tzu “Those who win every battle are not really skilled — those who render others’ armies helpless without fighting are best of all.”

Zelensky et.al. have no hope in friggin’ hell of succeeding to sucker punch Putin and/or corner him in the battlefield— for each Russian fallen the Ukrainians suffer multiple KIAs who cannot be replaced by the newly inducted simply because the numbers of those replacements shrink steadily by the day.

In the background of this horror, however, The Donald continues to claim he can put an end to this war (unwinnable by Zelensky et.al.) in one single day. So far, this one single day increasingly looks like wishful thinking or, alternatively, simple boasting that could lead to disaster.

Still, however, Trump has initiated several strategies to bring an end to this ongoing war. A key component of his approach involves diplomatic engagement with both Russian and Ukrainian leadership.

Recently, Trump had a productive conversation with Putin, during which they agreed to commence immediate negotiations aimed at establishing peace in Ukraine. The discussions encompassed various topics, including the conflict itself, energy issues, and potential renewed areas of cooperation between the United States and Russia.

In parallel, Trump is also dispatching Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Ukraine to meet with Zelensky. The objective of this meeting is to negotiate a deal wherein the U.S. would provide aid to Ukraine in exchange for access to Ukraine's substantial reserves of critical minerals, such as lithium, titanium, and uranium. This initiative is part of a broader strategy to leverage economic incentives to facilitate a resolution to the conflict.

In addition, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has articulated a shift in U.S. policy, acknowledging that it is "unrealistic" to expect Russia to return Crimea to Ukraine or to approve Ukraine’s NATO membership as part of a peace settlement. This pragmatic stance reflects an effort to set attainable goals in the pursuit of ending the nearly three-year-old war.

Furthermore, the recent release of American teacher Marc Fogel from Russian imprisonment has been hailed by the White House as a significant diplomatic step that could aid negotiations to end the conflict. This development underscores the potential for diplomatic engagements to yield positive outcomes in the broader context of the war.

Furthermore, the recent release of American teacher Marc Fogel from Russian imprisonment has been hailed by the White House as a significant diplomatic step that could aid negotiations to end the conflict. This development underscores the potential for diplomatic engagements to yield positive outcomes in the broader context of the war.

And as they say “Hope Dies Last.” I bet Zelensky et. al. pray this saying holds ‘cause otherwise their life expectancy could shrink fast to a big fat zero.

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If you follow The Periscope regularly you must have noticed I am a “Trumpist” through and through. I always was an often a (hesitant) Republican mainly because of the Democratic party’s often clearly left-wing “socialism” Made in America. Socialism was, and is, an ideology that has no firm roots in a country created by freedom-loving settlers, who, nevertheless, had no compunction destroying the Indian tribes that preceded the European arrival by a few long centuries.

The criminal massacre of “redskins” by the newly arrived Europeans still remains a blood-dripping blot in the “new” European-driven United States, which nearly imploded herself in the 1860s thanks to a brutal war between the states over negro slavery and deep cleavages over early human rights pitting a blossoming industrial economy of the Northern states, which stood as a formidable block to the slave-driven cotton-based Southern society.

The trauma of the South’s eventual humiliating defeat never really mended fueling, among others, the disastrous racial riots of the 60s and 70s, which were only one part of a long history of mass racial violence in America.

My early American “social education” began in mid-1972, when I arrived in New York to begin studies at a community college.

Those were the days of the disastrous Vietnam war and Orwellian racial riots shaking many large American cities both in the north and south. I watched in disbelief as Army and National Guard troops deployed in various big cities to buttress police departments overwhelmed by the ferocity, and often armed, black insurrection.

To this day, I still find it difficult to understand this often unbelievable ferocity separating blacks and whites, which took decades to resolve—but not without leaving behind a still burning animosity of the “colored” toward the dominant whites.

Enter Donald Trump, the savvy billionaire who insists he’ll make America Great Again.

Initially, I was fascinated by his political and social messaging, and political savvy, because I despised the Clinton duo with a passion (and for reasons even grade school kids could understand).

The Donald’s 2016 quick (and, to many, surprising) victory) sent the opposition squiring to the drawing boards to understand what went wrong. And then another abomination emerged named “Obama administration.” The exact origins of good boy Barak (Obama) are still a mystery and the Obamas lavish lifestyle and spending, as if there’s no tomorrow, continues to alienate large swaths of voters, including legions of African Americans, who became ardent Trump voters, no questions asked.

These unlikely (and surprising) social maneuvers, still poorly understood in old Europe and elsewhere, turned out to be mana from heaven for the Trumpists, who regrouped and easily won the last election sending The Donald to the White House (and throwing Senile Joe and Kamala ‘Doorknob’ Harris to the sewer of history).

The returned Donald. however, now appears to be much more radical than what most people initially thought. Within hours of occupying the Oval Office he had his cabinet endorsing a literal deluge of presidential orders of reshaping all and sundry, whose “Trump radicalism” surprise both “Trumpers” and an aghast and confused opposition.

The lengthy recent analysis below by Jacobin, a socialist magazine whose politics form an anathema for all Trumpists (and then some) highlights the chasm that (unsurpassingly) divides Americans yet again.

I do admit that some, at least, of The Donald’s maneuvers are ill-thought out and I don’t understand the president’s embracing of the rather weird and unpredictable trillionaire Elon Musk spearheading a “reform” squad that appears to release fusillades right and left with complete abandon.

The United States is a gigantic aircraft carrier which must be treated with respect and a sense of genuine responsibility. Engaging in out-of-the blue “reforms,” and shooting from the hip at various “unwanted” policies that can cause harm to millions of people, isn’t exactly the right way of making the US great again….

The lengthy article quoted below comes from the Jacobin magazine and highlights acts that aren’t carefully planned and thought out. And even I, a confirmed conservative and opponent of anything leftie, I can see suspected wrong assumptions driving this massive Trumpist “re-definition” of how and why the US government acts.

A Key Opportunity to Check Trump: Stopping Medicaid Cuts

Defeating the GOP’s proposed Medicaid cuts, which will then fund huge tax cuts for the rich, is an urgent priority. It’s a chance to reestablish the popularity of the welfare state in American politics and hand Donald Trump and Elon Musk a much-needed defeat.

At this early moment in Donald Trump’s second administration, all of the action has been in the executive branch. The various executive orders he has issued (generally sadistic, unconstitutional, or both) have drawn great scrutiny. His empowerment of Elon Musk in the Department of Government Efficiency to bypass Congress and reshape the federal government however Musk wishes has ignited nothing less than a constitutional crisis. This seizure of power by the executive, and corresponding abdication of power by the Republican majority in Congress, is unprecedented.

Yet while all of the attention is on the actions of the administration, the normal work of politics continues in the legislature. Congress needs to pass a budget by March 14 to avoid a government shutdown. For months, Republicans have said that their budget will cut spending in order to pay for making permanent Trump’s tax cuts for the rich, which are set to expire this year. Their targeted proposed cuts: Medicaid, by over $200 billion over the next decade.

Defeating these Medicaid cuts is as urgent a priority as defeating Trump’s seizure of power. It’s a chance to defend the welfare state, to expose and deepen the fractures in Trump’s coalition, and to shatter the illusion that he can’t be stopped.

Read the whole (lengthy) article via this link

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Editor’s Note: The following piece was written by yours truly in 2016 when DJT was running from president for the first time. I was pretty sure he would win as he did, especially after the Obama disaster that ironically deeply hurt his own black people along with the “Basket of Undesirables” ready to cast their ballots en masse in favor of The Donald. Thankfully, and despite widespread sabotage by Clintonite and Barakista oligarchs, The Donald swept the floors with the Dems arrogant faces achieving an unpresented victory at the polls.

Donald Trump will go down in history as the proverbial mad bull loosed upon the corrupt American political establishment’s china shop to leave ruin and devastation in his wake.

Whether he wins the presidential election 2016 or not, Mr. Trump has accomplished something that could not have been probably accomplished any other way: he has shaken both American political parties in ways never seen before, and he has bluntly articulated the inner thoughts of tens of millions of Americans, ignored by “mainstream” politicians, and being shredded by way of the now all-conquering, mandatory dialect of political correctness, homosexual rights, an upending the way American kids are taught in schools seeking to promote filthy ideas and prompting kids as young as six year old to claim their “right” to undergo sex change surgery without parental consent.

Taking center stage by storm, Hurricane Donald has kicked mainstream media in the teeth and survived without sweat; has used language that strikes the fear of God in the hearts and minds of professional politicians on both sides of the aisle; and is blasting a path to the nomination by proving the monster polling industry wrong at every turn of the road (which has led to general mobilization of left-leaning pollsters seeking to prove he is already finished.)

Evidence of Mr. Trump’s blistering success as a master spoiler and a take-no-prisoners “rabble rouser,” as the liberal press wants it, comes in huge bursts. There isn’t a “respected” pundit, claiming five-star progressive credentials in the land, for example, who hasn’t pulled all stops in tearing into the Trump campaign with the most derisive attacks on both the man and those who saturate every venue he chooses for his campaign rallies.

Still, even life-long liberal commentators reluctantly admit, Mr. Trump has no difficulty controlling the news and creating what the news needs to say with minimum interference from the omnipresent left-leaning “editorial review” and the behind-the-scenes billionaire media moguls and their political friends.

In the battle against “Trumpism,” old time prestigious marques like The New York Times and the Washington Post have reached all the way to bottom of their character-assassination trick footlockers to find and deploy every last reserve of underhanded vitriol, combined with an unstoppable cascade of open and unprecedented insults, in order to torpedo the Mar El Largo Club mogul’s campaign.

The traditional faithful, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, have been yet again resurrected to remind us that Mr. Trump is, truly, a reincarnated combination of both these destroyers of democracy and tens of millions of innocents. And the Republican Party, aghast at the utter failure of the party leadership’s flyweight “approved” nominees, is staging an unprecedented campaign to stop the one candidate who can win the party’s nomination hands down, an effort which makes many Republican voters, fed up with traditional bland politicking, uncomfortable and, thus, increasingly divorced from the choices of the party patricians.

The Trump barrage profoundly upsets policies the American establishment considers etched in stone. The establishment sees such constants as non-negotiable since they form the cornerstone of a post-WWII world model defined by the United States—a foundation worth fighting and dying for that cannot, at any circumstances, be subjected to radical changes (which will also cause, among others, trouble in the flow of cash in the form of election time pledges that pad many deep pockets with monies enough to last a lifetime).

But, Donald Trump declares this foundation needs an urgent, radical overhaul that will make it unrecognizable in order to “Make America Great Again.”

The resonance of this Trump message is so strong that international organizations, but also governments, are already scurrying to preempt a possible Trump presidency fearing the emergence of an uber non-politically correct US paradigm that could spoil the efforts of some “more understanding societies” re. particularly “gay rights,” “the right to choose one’s own gender,” and the horrors emanating thereof (read this, for example ). And, already, many “foreign policy experts,” all establishment figures, have rushed to tell us why Mr. Trump could destroy America with his choices.

So, is Mr. Trump the destroyer-in-waiting or is he not?

If there is one thing certain among the piling uncertainties surrounding Hurricane Donald is that he is determined to bring a future presidency straight into uncharted waters without much care about what is etched in stone or what the establishment sensitivities, preferences, and cushy cooperative relationships define as prim and proper (if, that is, he succeeds in continuing to stun and hurry the immovable political satrapies and the Washington bedrock political institutions).

This is the reason why Mr. Trump causes establishment politicians, who are committed “to staying the course,” to lose sleep. Keeping America on its present bearing that many find corrosive and dangerous Mr. Trump has declared dead and buried.

The Hurricane’s crude language, his unhesitant, aggressive blasting of “legitimate protest” at his rallies, and his more than obvious contempt for the “Washington bureaucracy still running on floppy disks,” has invigorated voters long considered lost, in their despair about their present and future, and absent from the polls.

Such is the liberal left wing’s urge to declare “Trumpism” extinct that it took one bad week in the Trump campaign to trigger a veritable deluge of analyses to “Trump is self-destructing.” Such furor is the best proof of how established political baronies and the media are petrified at the mere thought of such a grand, disrespectful, insulting “spoiler” arriving at the White House and why he must be stopped at all costs.

History, it is often said, is written not by the mob, as traditional left-wing exegeses assert, but, rather, by inimitable leadership personalities, iconoclasts with the inner conviction that can smash promising idols and introduce a new religion to the masses. Historians continue to argue whether to vote or not for an Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Lenin, or Hitler, while the world unavoidably has to live with the results of these men’s successes and failures.

Thus, today’s rabble rouser, uncouth, anti-equality, racist, bigoted, foul-mouthed, anti-woman, anti-minority, Beelzebub Trump could well be the reformer, pathfinder, and logjam demolisher, for historians to argue about one hundred years from now.

As much as such a future possibility causes severe indigestion to those who have methodically tied American society down with lethal social, political, economic, “equality,” and “affirmative action” shackles, Mr. Trump, victorious or not, has already caused a large part of the liberal Barad-dûr walls to collapse.

I vote for him with hope for a truly better future.

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His legacy alone may be the real game changer—and as the liberal routine taunt

to the world goes: “Get a life... and live with it.”

4

The Periscope says: The latest Chinese AI chatbot Deepseek is out and free for all to use. The post below was returned by deepseek to the query “Chances of Gaza becoming US territory.” I find deepseek a bit “smarter” than its Ask Leo predecessor that is already widely distributed and has attracted millions of users who utilized it daily in their research, job, and any other online activity that might require quick answers. The Deepseek response to the query “chances of Gaza becoming US territory” appears below and is pretty neat.

1. Historical and Political Context: Gaza has a long history tied to the Palestinian people and the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is currently governed by Hamas, a Palestinian political and militant organization, and is considered part of the Palestinian territories. The U.S. has historically supported a two-state solution, which envisions Gaza as part of a future Palestinian state, not as a U.S. territory.

2. International Law and Sovereignty: Annexing or acquiring territory in the modern era is highly controversial and often violates international law, particularly if done without the consent of the local population. The people of Gaza are unlikely to support becoming part of the U.S., and such a move would face strong opposition from the international community.

3. U.S. Foreign Policy: The U.S. has no strategic interest in annexing Gaza. Its focus in the region has been on diplomacy, security, and supporting allies like Israel. Acquiring Gaza would not align with U.S. geopolitical goals and would likely create significant diplomatic and security challenges.

4. Local and Regional Opposition: Any attempt by the U.S. to claim Gaza would be met with fierce resistance from Palestinians, neighboring countries, and the broader Muslim world. It would also complicate U.S. relations with Israel and other allies in the region.

5. Practical Challenges: Gaza is a densely populated area with significant economic, humanitarian, and political challenges. The U.S. would have little to gain and much to lose by taking on the responsibility of governing such a complex and volatile region.

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Politics is dirty, agonizing, and often fatal business. During my working years I met, talked with, and listened to quite a few politicians. I was though already predisposed toward them and always took their word with a good pinch of salt. One of my earliest lessons, however, emerging from paying close attention to their boasting, their tin-can promises, and their thinly-veiled egotism, was to always take their word with a large pinch of salt.

And I never regretted it.

I was an early fan of DJT and watched him, with often pyretic interest and satisfaction, take DC by storm—and sending horrible Crooked Hillary and her cohorts to the rubbish dump of history.

My opinion of politians, always on the negative side, shrunk a bit by watching him mingle with the “proletariat” and being always ready to deliver a friendly, and apparently honest, word of praise, and what looked like real interest, to those of the working class, many of whom adored him beginning Day One.

It is a must, therefore, for the Donald to control his enthusiasm with the crowds and fall back to a more somber public strategy aiming to strengthen further his already strong public acceptance of his policies.

The Roman emperors were anything but “democrats” and were keenly aware that the mob needed plenty of bread and circuses to strengthen their trust to the ruling class. I suspect Trump has a similar sense of mind. But, today’s world is infinite more complicated than that of the Roman Empire.

It would be a tragic moment for America if DJT allows his instinctive tendency for sweeping announcements and tricky initiatives to ruin his opportunity “to make America great again.”

The tens of millions who carried him triumphantly to the White House deserve a true opportunity to see their lives change for the better—and America remaining strong, positive, and a superpower of good, after the end of the catastrophic senile Joe suicidal interlude.

Grand opportunities aren’t dime a dozen and (usually) occur once in a lifetime.

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