I think Putin hasn’t changed a lick and I’ll take Trump’s words about this or anything else seriously when I see actions. My best guess is Trump keeps shielding Russia from tariffs and shut up about Ukraine. Trump is mainly talking to the base here, anyways.

It shouldn't be allowed to turn this site into a MAGA dump. I can't support that financially and I'd like to contribute to the new improved site.

I'm going to piggyback on John (not to be confused with the other John) here to say that *thinking how to say this nicely* well, I can't figure out a way to say it nicely so I'm going to just second what he said. :)

I am in a similar situation.

Well, expletive; sorry to hear that, Canada.

Maybe by the time we get back to better financial positions, Weigantia will be a better place.

It's a better place with you and GT in it. I did see you sneak in and comment on a couple old threads (like you used to give us grief for doing), and it tickled my funny bone.

Apologies again for that ridiculous 51st state bullshit and our stupid current administration. We need your perspective here, Canada, even if it is just to give us grief about the stupid things our country is doing to yours... which I cannot say I'm sorry enough for that.

Get back here when you can, please.

I've been DOGE'd... so I have more pressing things to think about.

So good to see you but so sorry to hear that. Living through the DOGE era myself and knowing the multiple ways with which it is being experienced, I sincerely hope you had some kind of choice in the matter. I know that you know they're not saving any money in what they're doing, and they're definitely not in the business of saving lives.

Please come back and stick around when you're able. At the very least, please do surface again and let us know how you're doing. I am not above begging, if required.

A great song ALWAYS makes me feel better.

Unfortunately, most YouTube songs that have been uploaded since the late nineties/early 2000s has indubitably been pitch-"corrected", thereby turning great natural human-generated vocals of great singers into computer-generated voices that have been unnaturally calibrated to A440Hz standard tuning, equal temperament. And, this goes especially for officially uploaded music. Which makes me very, very sad.

It's one of the reasons why there won't be any more CW Sunday Night Music Festival and Dance Party evenings. It has all become too damned depressing for this authentic music lover.

Will a song make you feel better?

What you had and what you lost
They're all memories in the wind
Those Days Go By and we all start again

I think he took that as permission to crank the jerk to 11.

That is exactly what happened. It even posted something to that effect. It said that it was contrary to who CW is to deport, so it was going to do what it pleased. I'm paraphrasing. I'm not about to search through the excrement.

Please note that my calls for the TDS chatbot troll to be 86ed are recent. It's true that I've never seen any reason to allow it to stay, but whatever. It's just way out of control now. It shouldn't be allowed to turn this site into a MAGA dump. I can't support that financially and I'd like to contribute to the new improved site.

As far as I'm concerned, it hasn't changed (just like Putin!). It's revealed itself completely as the illiterate racist that it is.

Death penalty!

Best wishes for landing on your feet, whether it be back in the job you've just been relieved of or in a new adventure.

I am in a similar situation. Maybe by the time we get back to better financial positions, Weigantia will be a better place.

I recommend you alter his email slightly, too, to close the "Forgot my password" route.

Good idea. Extreme moderation for just one member of Weigantia shouldn't be too burdensome for Chris.

Then it will be interesting to see how the rest of you handle viewpoints that are different from you own. Ahem.

Putin is who he's always been, a Soviet trying to bring back the USSR's glory days. Ukraine's independence from the Russian sphere of influence was something he never intended to tolerate. even back in 2004 when the orange revolution occurred, vlad was already saber-rattling and planning to "take back" what he felt had been unjustly taken from him.

JL

I disagree with those like gt or jfc who think it's ALWAYS been that way, but at the moment michale is definitely being an abject jerk, as you've defined the term. I wouldn't let him back in at the moment, because he seems to think of this comments section as a "field of battle" (his words), his problem behavior as "the game" (his word), and has expressed no desire to change that basic premise.

I would like to have people here who could debate honestly from a range of conservative perspectives and could sincerely challenge some of our views, but that's clearly not what he's doing. right now it's just a mix of cheerleading, spamming, trolling, plagiarizing and cat pictures. as much as it saddens me to say, perhaps it's just time to break ties and move on.

JL

CW did not say that he would allow it back next Monday. He said Let's see what a week without him is like, shall we?

He doesn't need to grow a pair. Honestly, that doesn't even make sense. He needs to let go. How about we all work on giving him a reason to do so? Have you got anything to say about The Same Old Vladimir Putin?

You kind of created a monster by praising Michale in his cat thread without reading any comments from days before or after where he was really getting his jerk on. I think he took that as permission to crank the jerk to 11. You gave him rope, maybe inadvertently, and boy howdy did he hang himself... I'm good with your decision.

In the infinite wisdom of Nelson Muntz:

Haw-haw!

I'm not here to tell you what you should do with Mike... but FWIW I no longer recommend your site to younger people as Mike regularly fails the AITA test. It's one thing to have an honest discussion, it's completely another when Mike just wants to be the AITR.

I think the question is for you to answer, do you want a healthy commentariat where new people want to come in and engage ( when is the last time a new commenter got added?), or do you want to protect the one guy who makes it so toxic you don't want to engage with your readers.
I know what Mike is rooting for...

Dude, like millions you want Trump to just go away and leave us alone. But you are unwilling to do the same to your own personal Trump. What the fuck? Grow a pair!

Now that you've deported the illegal TDS chatbot troll to El Salvador, I do hope you'll leave it there. There are plenty of other sites where it can play stupid, tedious Pwn The Libs games. You are NOT harming it. On the other hand, it was intentionally degrading your website.

I am genuinely optimistic about the future of your site. Please don't allow it to become a MAGA dumpster again.

I'm not here to tell you what you should do with Mike... but FWIW I no longer recommend your site to younger people as Mike regularly fails the AITA test. It's one thing to have an honest discussion, it's completely another when Mike just wants to be the AITR.

I think the question is for you to answer, do you want a healthy commentariat where new people want to come in and engage ( when is the last time a new commenter got added?), or do you want to protect the one guy who makes it so toxic you don't want to engage with your readers.
I know what Mike is rooting for...

In the meantime I will not be returning as a regular... I've been DOGE'd... so I have more pressing things to think about.

VladP must be thrilled. He knows an empty threat when he sees one. The senate will act! LOL. Why does Fat Donny need a bill? To make sure it never happens? He just waves his magic wand at everybody else, but he's Putin's bitch.

I know, right!? Who needs a stinkin' bill when Trump can just unilaterally set tariff rates and have Bessent and Lutnick include the requisite language via that correspondence being sent out *checks calendar* any day now:

We have, at the same time, 150 countries that want to make a deal, but you’re not able to see that many countries. So at a certain point, over the next two to three weeks, I think Scott and Howard will be sending letters out, essentially telling people – we’ll be very fair – but we’ll be telling people what they’ll be paying to do business in the United States.

Donald Trump, May 16, 2025

So there you go! How much time could it take to add a simple paragraph in those letters about the 500% for doing oily business with Russia tariff? Oh, wait. Is that a 500% tariff in addition to the Trump-chosen tariff or in lieu of that!?

Well, not to worry; we'll for sure all know any day now when those letters go out. It'll be like Oprah all over again: You get a tariff and you get a tariff; everybody gets a tariff!

BTW - 500%? If we're going with cartoonish numbers, why not 10,000%?

Exactly! But not to worry because that Senate bill actually does call for the raising of said 500% tariff by an additional 500% every 90 days in which a country does not comply with Trump's demands... so essentially you're looking at *consults calculator* 1,000% global tariffs in a relatively short period of time, which you can be 10,000% certain will be going out in those letters to the humans and penguins any day now. :)

sorry...

-CW

I would *really* like to read comments again where people actually *comment* on stuff, so this drastic action was necessary to see it we can return to those halcyon days.

I dunno if he's as bad as Don got, but he's bad enough for me to want him gone, and that's good enough for now.

Anybody out there who wants to speak up in his defense, this is your last opportunity...

-CW

(sigh)

ok, y'all are right.

I am tired of this.

I am changing Michale's password until next Monday. Let's see what a week without him is like, shall we?

-CW

Hah! yeah, teenage lust is impenetrable (so to speak... heh...)

-CW

OK, touché!

-CW

nypoet22 [13] --

I had a cassette (through Columbia House, if I recall correctly) of "Darkness At The Edge Of Town," but never really got into Springsteen much after that.

I do remember when Better Days came out, though...

-CW

-CW

OK, I like the "TACO" thing, gotta admit...

:-)

-CW

yeah, it's a longshot, I admit...

I avoided the whole "bully" theme in this article... about how bullies back down when confronted themselves... but it is indeed in the back of my mind... I just thought I'd be hopeful, that's all.

-CW

That's already happening...

-CW

Oh, I believe it is definitely both, as Trump repeats his own obvious intentional deceptions so frequently that he comes to believe his own bullshit. The buffoon genuinely thought he and Putin had a "great relationship" not realizing he's actually always been nothing if not Putin's bitch puppet.

The reason for this is patently obvious, as anyone without a fawning adoration for Putin can plainly see -- because Putin is the only person on Earth who could indeed end the war in a single day, by ending his invasion/land grab. But Putin has no intention of doing so.

Indeed we knew this because "grandpa in his bunker" verifiably only ever offered terms consistent with the absolute and total appeasement of Russia, which (as we know) was never an option because it has failed miserably and consistently throughout history.

Donald Trump never admits he's ever been wrong about anything. His narcissistic personality won't allow him to, most likely, but no matter what the psychological reason behind it is, Trump infamously never admits a mistake.

AND

TACO: Trump Always Chickens Out

No president in the history of America has ever flip-flopped more frequently or more predictably than Donald Jumpy Trump.

‘Putin doesn’t realize… he’s playing with fire!’ — Trump’s message leaves little room for misinterpretation until he posts the opposite tomorrow morning - posted on Elon's Hellscape Twitter thingy by RT

It's almost as if Putin is giving the orange one an order.

For myself, I'll suggest that the idea of Trump actually learning that he has been wrong about Putin, and might actually take realistic action to hamper Putin's Ukraine war, is absurd on the face of it.

Trump is about bluster, bragging, and (when the opposition is weak enough) bullying. Putin is not weak enough -- being the leader of a sovereign state not dependent on US trade -- and so bullying is out.

Is there a "chance" of Trump taking effective action against Russia on the Ukraine issue, as Chris suggests? Yes, I suppose. There is always a "chance" of anything, even if the odds are reckoned as one in ten^200. But those aren't betting odds.

This is wishful thinking, that takes empty and frustrated Trumpian rhetoric seriously.

Miss Lindsey said I have coordinated with the White House on the Russia sanctions bill since its inception. and if Mr. Putin continues to play games, the Senate will act.

VladP must be thrilled. He knows an empty threat when he sees one. The senate will act! LOL. Why does Fat Donny need a bill? To make sure it never happens? He just waves his magic wand at everybody else, but he's Putin's bitch.

BTW - 500%? If we're going with cartoonish numbers, why not 10,000%?