Tab Clearing

Good morning. Just a friendly reminder that Ghislaine Maxwell is currently protected, enjoying pampering and puppy time while America's service members are forced to drink diseased water, eat rotten meat, and huff air infested by mold. She does yoga while they choose drowning.

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Trump is retaliating against Colorado for convicting an election denier of trying to rig the election for him. In a normal political world, this would be a massive scandal. But it's just another day in TrumpWorld.
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Meanwhile, in something that would be a massive scandal in normal times, AG Blanche spoke at a Trump rally.

Less than a week after Senate Republicans confirmed him as U.S. attorney general, Todd Blanche spoke at a political rally and appeared to endorse a Republican candidate for New York governor — a move that further politicizes the country’s top law enforcement role.

Blanche praised Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the GOP’s nominee challenging incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), while speaking at an event on Long Island that doubled as an effort by the Trump administration to highlight recent reductions in crime.

Then-AG Loretta Lynch had a brief meeting with President Clinton on the tarmac of the Phoenix airport ten years ago and the GOP lost its fucking mind over it. But this time...meh. We all know that Blanche may be cosplaying as America's chief law-enforcement officer, but he's Trump's consigliere. It's just another weight on the scales of the judgment of history that this administration is the most corrupt, ever.

Besides that, the fact that uniformed cops on Long Island attended Trump's rally speaks volumes. The Gilgo Beach Killer operated for a long time with very little interest from those birds.
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And when it comes to the Trump family, the Grift Goes On:

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The GOP thinks they're not doing enough for the rich. News to me.

Miss Lindsey is Gone (Updated)

Senator Lindsey Graham is dead.

About the best I can say is that he was the ultimate toady, always running alongside/behind somebody more charismatic or more powerful. He sucked up to Trump about as hard as he could.

On the other hand, the Russians hated him enough to issue an arrest warrant and he was a supporter of Ukraine, so there is that.

And he apparently never deleted his anti-Trump tweet.

ETA this:

Trump's July 4th: If the Heat Doesn't Kill You, the Pollution Will

First off, you can't bring coolers to his corrupt event. You have to buy it there. You can't bring a lawn chair, so you're standing or plotzing on the ground.

Second, you have to be there by 6PM:

Third, the fireworks don't start until 11PM, a full five hours after the security entrance closes. Which gives everybody hours to bake in the heat and humidity of a D.C. near-record summer day. The reason it's starting late is because it's not a non-partisan patriotic event, it's a Trump rally. And every one should know that, when he gets wound up, he can blabber nonsense for hours on end.

Fourth, because Donnie the Demented is focused on big numbers, his minions will set off more than forty times as many fireworks as a normal "Capitol Fourth" show. The smoke on the Mall may be more intense than that of a Napoleonic battlefield.

Baking heat, thick smoke and the lengthy rantings of a demented narcissitic lunatic. What's not to like for the dedicated MAGAidiot?

Corruption and Graft on an Unseen Scale

Trump gets himself, his kids and his companies immune from tax audits, forever.

The corruption and self-dealing of the Trump family is beyond disgust. Everyone in his family is a criminal.

The Republican party has had the three most corrupt administrations since the dawn of the 20th Century: Harding, Nixon and Trump. There are two kinds of Republicans: Kool-Aid drinkers and grifters.

Any Democrat Who Doesn’t Run on This is a Fool

Trump's ballroom, which he said was going to cost $200 million, then $300 million, and will be built with private donations is now going to cost taxpayers $1 billion.

You know that Emperor Bone Spurs's Temu Versailles addition was never going to be built with his money or with private donations, as he swore up and down it would be. He was always going to stick the taxpayers with its cost.

As the cost of gas keeps climbing, farmers get pushed into bankruptcy, airlines fail, the cost of everything else goes up because of rising cost of oil, and as this stupid war with Iran costs multiple tens of billions of dollars, he is laser-focused on his ballroom.

That's the only thing he cares about.

The wrecking ball swings on 1-21-2029.

I Hope They Make the New Passports Spit-Resistant

THE STATE DEPARTMENT IS CLOSE TO FINALIZING a radical redesign of the U.S. passport to include a picture of President Donald Trump, The Bulwark has learned from two sources with knowledge of the redesign, including one who shared images currently under consideration.

This is what it'll look like:

Ann Telnaes has a take on it:

Is there no floor, no cellar, no limit to his narcissistic defilement of our country? Even Hitler ddn't put his face on German passports.

Since Trump had his name redacted from the Epstein files, it'll be only fair to take a Sharpie and redact his name from your passport.

Hunter Biden Would LIke a Word With Trump's Dim Son

Eric Trump -- the president's son -- is on Maria Bartiromo's show bragging about one of his companies landing a $24 million Pentagon contract

[image or embed]

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) April 23, 2026 at 8:11 AM

Anyone who really believes that the Dim Son would be involved with a drone company selling to the government if his dad wasn't president should really think about slowing down their consumption of Trump Kool-Aid. This is naked corruption of the sort that, on a far smaller scale, got Repubicans twisted in knots about Hunter Biden.

But you know how it goes: It's OK if you're a Republican and ten-fold if you're a Trump relative.

Something to Ponder (and GOP Revisionist Morons)

Paul Krugman believes that there is a real possibility that things are going to get very bad.

He might be wrong. But I'd trust him over those idiots that now claim that we won the Vietnam War.

“And then we won” is quite some interpretation of the Vietnam War. https://t.co/1FJnCdH3TG

— Niall Stanage (@NiallStanage) March 31, 2026

I gather that Hollywood is going to have to rework all of those movies like First Blood and Platoon.

And this patch will need updating.

Since we won, they'll have no objection to changing the name of Hi Chi Mihn City to Trumpville.

Another Made-Up Participation Trophy for Our Toddler of a President

The Republicans are hard at work, creating awards so they can give gilded trophies to Trump.

President Donald Trump gave an hour-long, rambling speech Wednesday night at the National Republican Congressional Committee's annual fundraising dinner in Washington, D.C.

House Speaker Mike Johnson introduced Trump at the event and announced the president had received the first annual “America First Award.” Johnson called the prize a “beautiful golden statue … appropriate for the new golden era in America.”

The mocking will be epic. Here's a sample:

Mike Johnson: Tonight we have created a new award. We are going to do something we've never done before. We will honor him with a new award. He is the first ever recipient of the America first award. That is this beautiful golden statue here, appropriate for the golden era.

[image or embed]

— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) March 25, 2026 at 7:44 PM

Wow … this is great

May I suggest the gold statue be calf-shaped? https://t.co/oDEg57nrdn

— Matt Rein (@MatthewARein) March 26, 2026

Republicans have sold their souls to Trump. But in years to come, it will be as hard to find a MAGA Republican as it was to find a pro-Nazi German after April, 1945. They'll all tell you that they didn't support Trump, regardless of what you'll dig up about their support during these years.

Trump's Latest Poseur

Markwayne Mullen, current senator and former owner of a plumbing business, who likes to pretend that he was some sort of special operator, one with no military service and no known training:

Senator Markwayne Mullin had a major meltdown Wednesday as senators from both sides of the aisle questioned him about a supposedly classified mission he traveled on as member of Congress—and in doing so, may have threatened his speedy confirmation vote.

It seems the only thing Democrats and Republicans can agree on is that Mullin’s claims about a classified mission stink to high heaven. During Mullin’s Senate confirmation hearing, Senators Gary Peters and Rand Paul pressed the Oklahoma Republican on his claims about having received combat experience abroad, even though he never enlisted in the U.S. military.

Mullin claimed that he couldn’t disclose any information about the mission unless the senators sought special clearance—but he wouldn’t say from whom or what agency.

Right, because the spook agencies like to send sitting congressmen on classified missions for which they have had no training.

He's just another fucking poseur, a stolen-valor dude who is saying "it's classified" to cover up his lies. Mullen's a loudmouthd pussy who relies on his physical size to bully people.

I have to hand it to Trump: It was a hard task to find a nominee for DHS Secretary who was less-qualified than Kristi Noem, but Trump pulled it off.

Stupid Bombing

I'm no great shakes as a military historian, but as far as I can see, the examples of winning the support of a nation's people by dropping explosive ordnance on them are few and far between. Usually, it works the other way.

We're not making friends by trying to change the Iranian regime from the outside. You can bet your next paycheck that a very large majority of Iranians remember the last time we did that. But Trump and his people don't know any of that history, because they are fundamentally unserious people, if not downright stupid. (Kegsbreath being in the latter camp.)

And so, Mister Peace President has gotten us into another dumb war. Just like Chimpy did.

Meanwhile, with his penchant for bombing shit, one should start wondering about our stockpile of weapons. Production of Tomahawks almost stopped under Trump 1.0. Last time I checked, the production rate was fifty a year. There are discussions about ramping that up twenty-fold, but good luck with that.

If we get into a serious fight with China, we're going to be screwed.

GOP's Poll Tax on Everyone

That is what the SAVE Act is: a poll tax designed to stop poorer people and women from voting.

Voters need to prove citizenship. If you don't have your birth certificate available, you'll need to get a certified copy. If your name doesn't match, you'll need a certified copy of your name change or a certified copy of your marriage license-- each one of them if you've been married more than once and have had different surnames.

Or you'll need a valid passport or passport card.

None of that is cost-free. You may need to make repeated trips to your vital records department and pay fee after fee.

All is supposedly to prevent voter fraud, which is both extremely rare and mostly perpetrated by Republicans.

No, folks, the goal is to come up with a way to disenfranchise tens of millions of Americans, the ones more likely than not to vote against the Party of Fascism.

In other words, they want to rig the game.

Don't let them. Call or write your congresscritters.

GOP Cares Only About the Rich, Not About You

This is the Famous Patent Medicine Pusher, who now works for Brainworm Bobby:

Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump's administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), pushed for American seniors to "work one year longer" because he claimed it would benefit the economy.

Funny how they never think of raising taxes on the rich a little to help lower the deficit, oh, no. Their solution is always to stamp the boot a little harder on the faces of the poor, working and middle classes.

Sort of like how if you're a rich crimial, you can pay a large bribe make a 7-figure campaign contribution to Trump's various coffers and then you'll be popped out out the federal prison system like a champagne cork.

Kære hr. præsident: Gå ad helvede til.

It is rather something that Donald Trump, who faked having bone spurs to get out of the draft and then threatened to disown any of his kids who volunteered for the Army after 9-11, has the unmitigated gall to cast aspersions on the military service in Afghanistan of our soon-to-be-former NATO allies.

Every Republican who does not publicly denounce Trump for this is as cowardly as he is. Trump has turned the US into the bad guys, and the diseased and corrupted ghouls in the GOP are silent as mice in church.

Trump's Dementia is Getting Worse

Read this from the Orange Gasbag and tell me that he's not sinking into the abyss of dementia:

This has all the advanced reasoning of a child threatening to take his ball and go home. The Norwegian governmet has told the Maniac of Mar-a-Lago that they do not award Nobel Prizes. But once the Smoothbrained Autocrat gets an idea into his noggin, it doesn't come out.

Going on a rant and engaging in bad behavior because he didn't get a shiny bauble is something that most people would grow out of by age seven. But not this clown.

And if you're a Republican, this is on you. Find some gonads and fix your shit.

The Cowards of the Capitol

Even though there's a law requiring this plaque to be displayed, the Trumpist Toadies controlling the Congress won't put it on display.

January 6th, 2001 was a day of infamy. Republicans are traitors, they are seditious weasels, every last one of them.

2025

In an image:

2025 was worse than 2024 and I have no optimism that 2026 will be better than 2025. The Right seems to be fully onboard with the destruction of democracy and the installation of His Fraudulency, King Donald of Bronzer. The Democrats in Congress seem largely feckless.

Not all of the Right has buckled. Grandpa Sundowner pushed Indiana too hard and they didn't like it. As for the Democrats, their leaders in Congress seem to be addicted to tut-tutting as a response.

As for the media, well, a couple of cartoons summed it up:

Oligarchs bought up the companies that control most news outlets and then used that control to bend them to Trump. If they were hesitant, Trump had no qualms signaling that he'd use his power to fuck with their companies. So Larry Ellison, who owns Paramount, put a Trump-loving sycophant in charge of CBS News, who promptly spiked a 60 Minutes story that was unfavorable to the Administration (after he terminated Stephen Colbert's show). Bezos, who is trying hard to get into the rocket biz, muzzled the Washington Post's editorial section and forced out Ann Telnaes (the cartoon that precipitated that is the second one, above).

The only way this gets fixed is if we do it. If we vow, for the duration of Trumpism, to not vote for a Republican for any office whatsover, right down to the Town Dogcatcher. Maybe the non-Trump conservatives can assemble and for a new party, for the GOP may be irrevocably tainted by its slavish devotion to a corrupt wannabee dictator.

But we have to vote. For something like 35% of this country hates the fact that the rest of us can have a say. They want to repeal the Civil Rights Act, as well as the 14th and 19th Amendments. They want to repeal the Married Women's Property Acts. They want to repeal no-fault divorce to make it harder for women to get out of abusive marriages. And I have zero doubt that they want to make husbands immune from spousal violence laws.

The only way to stop this in a civil matter is to vote those fuckers out.

Avoiding a Beating

Translation: "I was going to be beaten like a rented mule and so I dropped out."

The other possibility is that this is a move to have a candidate available when either Ka$happ or the Puppy-Slayer gets shitcanned soon.

Mafia Nation (ETA: Indiana's Response)

Trump is running this country as though it was a Mafia family: "Nice state you have there, Indiana. Be a shame if something were to happen to it."

I hope that the Republicans in Indiana can find their balls and spine and call his bluff.

And then their congressional delegation can help stick it to the Bloated Orange Sundowner.

ETA: Indiana Republicans to Trump (and the White Slaveowners Heritage Foundation): Go fuck yourself. It wasn't even close.

Invest in Popcorn

A few conservative representatives with ties to the FBI and the Justice Department have spilled that the true details of the Epstein files are “worse” for Trump than previously reported, according to journalist David Schuster.

Michael Wolff, a longtime chronicler of Trump’s White House who conducted extensive interviews with Epstein prior to his death, told The Daily Beast last month that Epstein had shown him photos of Trump with half-naked “young girls” in his lap.

These rumors have galvanized into a legitimate movement among Republicans, who are now, Schuster wrote on X Wednesday night, clamoring for the files’ full release.

And so you see why the Republicans will move Heaven and Earth to keep the government closed in order to keep the government closed and keep the Epstein files hidden.

Republicans are protecting a major pedophile, and they are fully aware of that. Never ever forget that.