Many of us do care. Unfortunately, I understand why that's so hard to believe......hope you're able to stay 'sunny,' until this shitshow comes to an end.
Yes many do care. It’s more of a rhetorical statement to the 77 million who voted for him. I live in AZ so “sunny” is pretty much part of my life everyday. Too much sun can be dangerous too.
Sarah Beckstrom died for the sins of the Republican Party.
The person who shot her was an Afghani national, brought here as an end result of an unnecessary war started by the Republican Party after September 11, and a hasty, poorly-planned withdrawal orchestrated by the Trump Administration. The Afghan government was willing to turn over the location of Osama Bin Laden, but President Bush wanted a war.
He was (apparently) vetted by both the Biden and Trump administrations.
But the question of "Why did he do it?" remains unanswered. Why did he drive all the way across the country to shoot two National Guardsmen? Surely there were closer targets. Was this a statement? Was he afraid of being deported to Afghanistan, since the Trump Administration seems willing to deport anyone at any time for any reason? Was he threatened with deportation?
Or was he paid to do it? And who paid him? The Taliban? The Trump Administration, to create another "national emergency", giving guaranteed immunity for his family in exchange for this "job"? Russia, or China, to push America farther toward authoritarianism?
And now I've been reading that it is possible that he was blackmailed into this by the Taliban (at the Independent and other outlets)...which, I'm pretty sure, is to throw us off the real story that he was blackmailed into this by a Three Letter Agency in our own government in order to continue / support / enflame the "national emergency".
Former Army Major during Vietnam, worked the emergency rooms at the U of Chicago in the 1960s and supervised the ER at Martin Luther King Hospital in Compton area. I have seen too much of the destruction of human life. Because my last name is often spelled Strom (means stream or storm), the name Beckstrom caught my attention. Mike's commentary was my first awareness that Sarah died, murdered at only 20 years of age.
My concerns for Trump's deployment of military against peoples living in the US, against outright violation of international law and targeting captain and crew of ships in the Caribbean and Pacific, and talk of a destructive force against mainland Venezuela, is that these are rehearsals for Trump's coup to retain his autocracy when Americans and perhaps Republicans in Congress finally realize they have backed a psychopath. Trump is responsible for the deaths of many Americans due to his mishandling of COVID-19 and his practicing medicine despite his mental handicaps (i.e., ignorance of medicine). We humans, tend to forget the ravages of the past.
Estimated Avoidable Deaths: Researchers from UCLA estimated in March 2021 that the United States could have avoided 400,000 COVID-19 deaths (or more) if the Trump administration had implemented a more effective health strategy that included mask mandates, social distancing, and robust testing guidelines. Dr. Deborah Birx, who was the White House COVID-19 task force coordinator, reportedly made a similar statement at that time. This number surpasses Putin-caused deaths to civilians resulting from his wars of aggression in Chechnya, Kosovo, Georgia, Crimea and now from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
What Putin has done in Ukraine mirrors prior atrocities in
1. 1st Chechen War 1994-1996: (35,000 civilian deaths, including 5,000 children),
2. 2nd Chechen War 1999- 2009: (3,170 civilian deaths)
[3. Kosovo War 1998-1999 (13,500 civilian deaths)]
4. Russo-Georgian War 2008 (380 civilian deaths)
5. Crimean Annexation 2014 (8 civilian deaths)
6. Russian-Ukrainian War (Donbas) 2014-2022: (3,400 civilian deaths)
7. Russian-Ukrainian War 2022-June 2023: (9,177 civilian deaths)
Total CIVILIAN Murders: 50,500 and counting (excluded Kosovo)
No one has tallied the number of deaths due to Trump's lack of support of Ukraine around the time of his "perfect" phone call with Zelensky, nor the deaths of civilians, children, and Ukrainian soldiers after Putin invaded Ukraine, and then Trump held off miiitary and financial aid. Yes, definitely nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize but do this after we award a posthumous Nobel to Adolf Hitler.
How much more of this can we endure? When will the people say enough and throw this bum out, and truly drain the swamp. If there was ever a prize for the Creature in the Black Lagoon, Donald Trump should get the award.
I am sorry, Sarah Beckstrom. We have let you down and now your life on this pale blue planet has ended. You never had the chance to marry, to pursue your dreams, to have a family of your own. Your death saddens me, and should sadden very person in this country, since it is your elders that did not protect you. I cannot fathom how your mother, father and other family and friends must be feeling.
"He only loves himself..." is inaccurate. In fact narcissism is a defense against self loathing, the self loathing that results from childhood abuse, which both Our Mad King Donald the 1st and his hero Adolf Hitler experienced, and that I've written about in "Greeley's Newsletter" on substack.com. The dynamic in both cases was described brilliantly by Swiss psychoanalyst Alice Miller in her 1983 "For Your Own Good". Simply put, any abused/abandoned child defends against his/her vulnerability, unprotected in a dangerous outer world by self-blaming and idealizing the parent/parent figure in order to reassure him/herself that they will be protected from the far greater threats from the environment. The late Historian and Univ. of Rochester history professor, Christopher Lasch wrote the 1979 "The Culture of Narcissism", including on pg. 32: "...thereby revealing narcissism as essentially a defense against (self-) aggressIve impulses RATHER THAN SELF-LOVE." Trump must constantly "project" away his self-loathing onto others and his Borderline Personality Disorder demands unquestioning "loyalty" from subordinates, as he is defended by his extreme rejection sensitivity, which triggers violent acting out if he is even questioned lightly. He is a very mentally ill and dangerous man and filled with self-loathing, not self love. Have a blessed evening and fasten your seatbelts.
Good to have a psychiatrist's input. I wonder what you thought of Bandy Lee's series of books that started with: The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President. If you've read it, please consider commenting. Also, would like to know your thoughts on this presentation by a psychiatrist regarding Trump's malignant narcissism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OtO-cypKmY
Hi Stephen! I think I pretty well said what I needed to say although much of it has been repeated numerous times, but you are the only physician who has responded. I used the 4 editions of the DSM clinically for 42yrs. before retiring in 2012 and that’s the nomenclature system I was forced to use by insurance companies and practice administrators for billing purposes. I have little respect for Forensic psychiatrist Bandy Lee and her books, none of which described Donald Trump’s psychopathology accurately, at least in the standard DSM terminology. Increasingly, the social media is flooded with “just so” pseudo-expertise, including the true diagnoses of DJT’s mental illnesses. I spell it out on “Greeley’s Newsletter” on substack.com. Not a single mental health professional of any ilk has questioned or debated my diagnostic assessment. “Malignant narcissism” is not a DSM diagnosis. Borderline Personality Disorder with a narcissistic trait is. I went to lectures by the nationally renowned psychiatrist/psychoanalyst Otto Kernberg 45 yrs ago at Cornell and use his models/diagnoses. Eric Fromm coined the “malignant narcissism” term, but he is not a trained mental health professional of any kind. Thanks for the reply and dialog. Have a blessed evening.
Perhaps John Roberts and his merry band of conservative “justices” should’ve consulted YOU before granting this particular POTUS near complete immunity from doing anything his oversized narcissistic heart desires without consequence. Just out of curiosity, what would you have told him?
Thanks (?) for that, but where and when does anyone anywhere in the social media or MSM, God forbid SCOTUS, consider the developmental psychology operating in any adult’s growing-up, or the pivotal impact of his/her parents during their early “formative” years. This is the ONLY way to truly understand a person’s behavior in the here and now. Sigmund Freud discovered this critical issue and his daughter, Anna Freud, carried on his work, but she focused on developmental issues in childhood exclusively. Read “The Ego and Its Defenses”, 1946. I have not seen anyone else, other than this retired 80yo physician/psychiatrist analyze Our Mad King Donald the 1st in order to understand why he is so aberrant and dangerous in his current position as POTUS. Same can be said for the Founder of the 12-step programs, who never actually took his own 12 steps, and was left a workaholic nicotine addict who tragically ended his life prematurely due to COPD. I’ve written a number of essays on Trump and Hitler, focused on their early parenting, or lack thereof, on “Greeley’s Newsletter” on substadk.com. Have a blessed evening.
Precisely...having studied narcissism over much of my life, you have described this contradiction well. It is the defense against shame, intense self-loathing that requires a defensive response that will stop at nothing to not be diminished. Again, will stop at nothing....whatever it takes to divert our gaze...what will happen next to our country, our people and the world in order to maintain this?
The timing is, shall I say, "convenient", as well, it seems every time the political winds are not blowing in his favor, the public gets another spectacle, and the usual suspects go into overdrive crying about "illegal immigrants", crime, the evil "liberals". First we got "assassination" attempts, then Charlie Kirk, now this, the common thread appears to be piggy's own criminality, and lack of popular support.....
But I’m still puzzled by one thing, since I’m just ignorant: if they are duty bound to disobey illegal orders, is not the deployment itself now illegal? After this tragedy I’m sure there’s a tl/dr explanation around here somewhere. Or will be soon provided.
The justice system doesn’t work fast enough to stop this administration’s plentiful criminal activity. The military is likely struggling with a situation they’ve never had to face before—a blatantly criminal commander in chief. And so illegal orders get followed and people get killed. And it’s trump’s fault.
So sorry about Sarah's demise and her fellow NG soldier's head wound, but just why the hell did they put themselves in harm's way in the first place? Were they not following an illegal order, now so certified by a judge? Our nation is in the throes of Donald Trump attempting to establish himself ABOVE THE LAWS of our nation and its Constitution, which he appears to have never read, just like he did not put his left hand on the Bible during his swearing-in in Jan. 2025, or his obvious leadership of an attempted coup against the US Congress on Jan. 21,2021, in order to stay in power by voiding the 2024 national election results. Blame Trump for this murder and we may see more due to his untreated mental illness and the grifters/sycophants supporting/protecting him from his own deep self-loathing reaching his conscious mind. Have a blessed evening and pray for the safety of ALL Americans, including but not limited to the NG soldiers.
Amen!! I'll second every last word of that...! Just devastated by her death because she should never have been there, except for the spectacle created by a mentally unfit president who used these troops for his personal agenda, ...not in defense of this country. I hope with every fiber of my being, that the tragic responsibility of someone's death lies solely on his soul alone. He put her there ....!!! 😥
Yes, she's gone and he'll forget about her utterly except for how he can use her. It's deplorable and very sad. And typical of his behavior. Just like he used the Kirk killing and used his wife as a prop. And that Kirk's wife allowed it and acts like it adds to her somehow is also sick. May this 20 year old woman, who undoubtedly had a good heart and good intentions rest in peace.
Donald Trump is a scumbag who should be charged with manslaughter because of his illegal orders regarding the National Guard. The West Virginia governor should be charged too because he should not have sent the guard there as a result of Trump.
Not to be crassly political, but the more I think about this through the lens of narrative and demagoguery, the more frustrated I get. Democrats should have the guts to affirmatively hang this around Trump’s neck Benghazi style. For all the reasons you mentioned here. Also, for deprioritizing the staff & funding of the anti-terrorism wings of the DHS and FBI! It just seems like such ripe political opportunity for Dems and they’re probably just going to stand back and let them demagogue against immigrants instead.
I had not heard she died and now it is even more apparent our potus has more blood on his hands.
He is responsible for her death.
He is responsible for hundreds of thousands dying and dead in Africa.
He is responsible for the 80 plus people in the Caribbean whom he blew to pieces.
These are all deaths attributable to him.
Americans don’t care.
This is tragedy.
And we need to make his murdering stop.
Immunity = impunity.
Many of us do care. Unfortunately, I understand why that's so hard to believe......hope you're able to stay 'sunny,' until this shitshow comes to an end.
Yes many do care. It’s more of a rhetorical statement to the 77 million who voted for him. I live in AZ so “sunny” is pretty much part of my life everyday. Too much sun can be dangerous too.
Amen
This is the first I’ve heard this news. I want to just yell and scream! Why!!?? My heart also goes out to this family!
To the family of Sarah Beckstrom, my heart goes out to you. This is a tragedy. Thank you Mike for writing this.
Sarah Beckstrom died for the sins of the Republican Party.
The person who shot her was an Afghani national, brought here as an end result of an unnecessary war started by the Republican Party after September 11, and a hasty, poorly-planned withdrawal orchestrated by the Trump Administration. The Afghan government was willing to turn over the location of Osama Bin Laden, but President Bush wanted a war.
He was (apparently) vetted by both the Biden and Trump administrations.
But the question of "Why did he do it?" remains unanswered. Why did he drive all the way across the country to shoot two National Guardsmen? Surely there were closer targets. Was this a statement? Was he afraid of being deported to Afghanistan, since the Trump Administration seems willing to deport anyone at any time for any reason? Was he threatened with deportation?
Or was he paid to do it? And who paid him? The Taliban? The Trump Administration, to create another "national emergency", giving guaranteed immunity for his family in exchange for this "job"? Russia, or China, to push America farther toward authoritarianism?
At this point, I wouldn't count anything out.
100 % agree with you.
As I said above, the timing is convenient, someone in another thread posted a quite plausible theory.....
And now I've been reading that it is possible that he was blackmailed into this by the Taliban (at the Independent and other outlets)...which, I'm pretty sure, is to throw us off the real story that he was blackmailed into this by a Three Letter Agency in our own government in order to continue / support / enflame the "national emergency".
Damn, there are no words that could speak the truth more eloquently.
Former Army Major during Vietnam, worked the emergency rooms at the U of Chicago in the 1960s and supervised the ER at Martin Luther King Hospital in Compton area. I have seen too much of the destruction of human life. Because my last name is often spelled Strom (means stream or storm), the name Beckstrom caught my attention. Mike's commentary was my first awareness that Sarah died, murdered at only 20 years of age.
My concerns for Trump's deployment of military against peoples living in the US, against outright violation of international law and targeting captain and crew of ships in the Caribbean and Pacific, and talk of a destructive force against mainland Venezuela, is that these are rehearsals for Trump's coup to retain his autocracy when Americans and perhaps Republicans in Congress finally realize they have backed a psychopath. Trump is responsible for the deaths of many Americans due to his mishandling of COVID-19 and his practicing medicine despite his mental handicaps (i.e., ignorance of medicine). We humans, tend to forget the ravages of the past.
Estimated Avoidable Deaths: Researchers from UCLA estimated in March 2021 that the United States could have avoided 400,000 COVID-19 deaths (or more) if the Trump administration had implemented a more effective health strategy that included mask mandates, social distancing, and robust testing guidelines. Dr. Deborah Birx, who was the White House COVID-19 task force coordinator, reportedly made a similar statement at that time. This number surpasses Putin-caused deaths to civilians resulting from his wars of aggression in Chechnya, Kosovo, Georgia, Crimea and now from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
What Putin has done in Ukraine mirrors prior atrocities in
1. 1st Chechen War 1994-1996: (35,000 civilian deaths, including 5,000 children),
2. 2nd Chechen War 1999- 2009: (3,170 civilian deaths)
[3. Kosovo War 1998-1999 (13,500 civilian deaths)]
4. Russo-Georgian War 2008 (380 civilian deaths)
5. Crimean Annexation 2014 (8 civilian deaths)
6. Russian-Ukrainian War (Donbas) 2014-2022: (3,400 civilian deaths)
7. Russian-Ukrainian War 2022-June 2023: (9,177 civilian deaths)
Total CIVILIAN Murders: 50,500 and counting (excluded Kosovo)
No one has tallied the number of deaths due to Trump's lack of support of Ukraine around the time of his "perfect" phone call with Zelensky, nor the deaths of civilians, children, and Ukrainian soldiers after Putin invaded Ukraine, and then Trump held off miiitary and financial aid. Yes, definitely nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize but do this after we award a posthumous Nobel to Adolf Hitler.
How much more of this can we endure? When will the people say enough and throw this bum out, and truly drain the swamp. If there was ever a prize for the Creature in the Black Lagoon, Donald Trump should get the award.
I am sorry, Sarah Beckstrom. We have let you down and now your life on this pale blue planet has ended. You never had the chance to marry, to pursue your dreams, to have a family of your own. Your death saddens me, and should sadden very person in this country, since it is your elders that did not protect you. I cannot fathom how your mother, father and other family and friends must be feeling.
"He only loves himself..." is inaccurate. In fact narcissism is a defense against self loathing, the self loathing that results from childhood abuse, which both Our Mad King Donald the 1st and his hero Adolf Hitler experienced, and that I've written about in "Greeley's Newsletter" on substack.com. The dynamic in both cases was described brilliantly by Swiss psychoanalyst Alice Miller in her 1983 "For Your Own Good". Simply put, any abused/abandoned child defends against his/her vulnerability, unprotected in a dangerous outer world by self-blaming and idealizing the parent/parent figure in order to reassure him/herself that they will be protected from the far greater threats from the environment. The late Historian and Univ. of Rochester history professor, Christopher Lasch wrote the 1979 "The Culture of Narcissism", including on pg. 32: "...thereby revealing narcissism as essentially a defense against (self-) aggressIve impulses RATHER THAN SELF-LOVE." Trump must constantly "project" away his self-loathing onto others and his Borderline Personality Disorder demands unquestioning "loyalty" from subordinates, as he is defended by his extreme rejection sensitivity, which triggers violent acting out if he is even questioned lightly. He is a very mentally ill and dangerous man and filled with self-loathing, not self love. Have a blessed evening and fasten your seatbelts.
Good to have a psychiatrist's input. I wonder what you thought of Bandy Lee's series of books that started with: The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President. If you've read it, please consider commenting. Also, would like to know your thoughts on this presentation by a psychiatrist regarding Trump's malignant narcissism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OtO-cypKmY
Hi Stephen! I think I pretty well said what I needed to say although much of it has been repeated numerous times, but you are the only physician who has responded. I used the 4 editions of the DSM clinically for 42yrs. before retiring in 2012 and that’s the nomenclature system I was forced to use by insurance companies and practice administrators for billing purposes. I have little respect for Forensic psychiatrist Bandy Lee and her books, none of which described Donald Trump’s psychopathology accurately, at least in the standard DSM terminology. Increasingly, the social media is flooded with “just so” pseudo-expertise, including the true diagnoses of DJT’s mental illnesses. I spell it out on “Greeley’s Newsletter” on substack.com. Not a single mental health professional of any ilk has questioned or debated my diagnostic assessment. “Malignant narcissism” is not a DSM diagnosis. Borderline Personality Disorder with a narcissistic trait is. I went to lectures by the nationally renowned psychiatrist/psychoanalyst Otto Kernberg 45 yrs ago at Cornell and use his models/diagnoses. Eric Fromm coined the “malignant narcissism” term, but he is not a trained mental health professional of any kind. Thanks for the reply and dialog. Have a blessed evening.
Perhaps John Roberts and his merry band of conservative “justices” should’ve consulted YOU before granting this particular POTUS near complete immunity from doing anything his oversized narcissistic heart desires without consequence. Just out of curiosity, what would you have told him?
Thanks (?) for that, but where and when does anyone anywhere in the social media or MSM, God forbid SCOTUS, consider the developmental psychology operating in any adult’s growing-up, or the pivotal impact of his/her parents during their early “formative” years. This is the ONLY way to truly understand a person’s behavior in the here and now. Sigmund Freud discovered this critical issue and his daughter, Anna Freud, carried on his work, but she focused on developmental issues in childhood exclusively. Read “The Ego and Its Defenses”, 1946. I have not seen anyone else, other than this retired 80yo physician/psychiatrist analyze Our Mad King Donald the 1st in order to understand why he is so aberrant and dangerous in his current position as POTUS. Same can be said for the Founder of the 12-step programs, who never actually took his own 12 steps, and was left a workaholic nicotine addict who tragically ended his life prematurely due to COPD. I’ve written a number of essays on Trump and Hitler, focused on their early parenting, or lack thereof, on “Greeley’s Newsletter” on substadk.com. Have a blessed evening.
Precisely...having studied narcissism over much of my life, you have described this contradiction well. It is the defense against shame, intense self-loathing that requires a defensive response that will stop at nothing to not be diminished. Again, will stop at nothing....whatever it takes to divert our gaze...what will happen next to our country, our people and the world in order to maintain this?
I think most us like me are waiting how big the blast radius will be when he gets rejected in 2026
Not just one man's need for optics; the obsequious WVA governor sent them there to show his loyalty to trump.
The timing is, shall I say, "convenient", as well, it seems every time the political winds are not blowing in his favor, the public gets another spectacle, and the usual suspects go into overdrive crying about "illegal immigrants", crime, the evil "liberals". First we got "assassination" attempts, then Charlie Kirk, now this, the common thread appears to be piggy's own criminality, and lack of popular support.....
Oink
But I’m still puzzled by one thing, since I’m just ignorant: if they are duty bound to disobey illegal orders, is not the deployment itself now illegal? After this tragedy I’m sure there’s a tl/dr explanation around here somewhere. Or will be soon provided.
The justice system doesn’t work fast enough to stop this administration’s plentiful criminal activity. The military is likely struggling with a situation they’ve never had to face before—a blatantly criminal commander in chief. And so illegal orders get followed and people get killed. And it’s trump’s fault.
I think this author pretty much summed it up. You will not here it from MAGA.
So sorry about Sarah's demise and her fellow NG soldier's head wound, but just why the hell did they put themselves in harm's way in the first place? Were they not following an illegal order, now so certified by a judge? Our nation is in the throes of Donald Trump attempting to establish himself ABOVE THE LAWS of our nation and its Constitution, which he appears to have never read, just like he did not put his left hand on the Bible during his swearing-in in Jan. 2025, or his obvious leadership of an attempted coup against the US Congress on Jan. 21,2021, in order to stay in power by voiding the 2024 national election results. Blame Trump for this murder and we may see more due to his untreated mental illness and the grifters/sycophants supporting/protecting him from his own deep self-loathing reaching his conscious mind. Have a blessed evening and pray for the safety of ALL Americans, including but not limited to the NG soldiers.
Amen!! I'll second every last word of that...! Just devastated by her death because she should never have been there, except for the spectacle created by a mentally unfit president who used these troops for his personal agenda, ...not in defense of this country. I hope with every fiber of my being, that the tragic responsibility of someone's death lies solely on his soul alone. He put her there ....!!! 😥
💔💔💔🙏🏻💔💔💔
Terrible Awful shameful tragedy
Yes, she's gone and he'll forget about her utterly except for how he can use her. It's deplorable and very sad. And typical of his behavior. Just like he used the Kirk killing and used his wife as a prop. And that Kirk's wife allowed it and acts like it adds to her somehow is also sick. May this 20 year old woman, who undoubtedly had a good heart and good intentions rest in peace.
Donald Trump is a scumbag who should be charged with manslaughter because of his illegal orders regarding the National Guard. The West Virginia governor should be charged too because he should not have sent the guard there as a result of Trump.
Not to be crassly political, but the more I think about this through the lens of narrative and demagoguery, the more frustrated I get. Democrats should have the guts to affirmatively hang this around Trump’s neck Benghazi style. For all the reasons you mentioned here. Also, for deprioritizing the staff & funding of the anti-terrorism wings of the DHS and FBI! It just seems like such ripe political opportunity for Dems and they’re probably just going to stand back and let them demagogue against immigrants instead.