Trump Solicited the Airplane Bribe

The Trump administration first approached Qatar to inquire about acquiring a Boeing 747 that could be used as Air Force One by President Donald Trump, four sources familiar with the discussions told CNN. That’s contrary to the narrative from the president that Qatar reached out and offered the jet as a “gift” to him.

In short, they went looking for airplanes to buy or lease, at least that was the original idea. The Qataris, who were sitting on this massive white elephant of an airplane, were open to the idea. But somehow, somewhere along the line, the transaction was changed from paying Qatar with money to letting them them bribe Trump.

But fret not, Gentle Reader. The Republicans will twist themselves into knots to explain why this is all OK, because reasons.

MCAH-- Most Corrupt Administration in History.

100 Years Ago.

An American president wouldn't accept a free pie.

Of course, Silent Cal followed the most corrupt presidential administration of the 20th Century, so there's that.

Will "Sky Palace" replace "Teapot Dome" as a synonym for the corruption of the presdient at the time?

Oklahoma is for Morons

As part of the latest Republican push in red states to promote ideologies sympathetic to Donald Trump, Oklahoma’s new social studies curriculum will ask high school students to identify “discrepancies” in the 2020 election results.

Alchemy will be taught instead of chemistry, creationism and spontaneous generation in biology, flat-eartherism in geography class and so on.

Because MAGA don't need no book learning to install the tiny screws in iPhones.

Your Sunday Morning Prop Noise

Ford Trimotor:

MAGA Hypocrisy

They were all fine with Ka$h Patel posting a video which showed him killing prominent Democrats, including President Biden, with a chainsaw:

Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s pick for FBI Director, shared an AI-generated video of himself chainsawing Members of Congress, political opponents, and media outlets.

Dangerous and disqualified. pic.twitter.com/2hcDu7ORPA

— Senate Judiciary Democrats 🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryDems) January 25, 2025

But they are twisting themselves into knots of outrage because James Comey posted "86. 47." As noted in the cited article, conservatives repeatedly said "86 46" when Biden was president and nobody was investigated by the Secret Service. The Director of Homeland Security did not have a conniption fit.

Boy howdy, have things changed.

MAGA is a bunch of sensitive snowflakes who can dish it out, but they can't take it.

Heckuva Job, Trumpie

In order to avoid tariffs for companies that do a lot of international trade, they're moving those jobs to Canada.

Meanwhile, thanks to the Trump/Musk "cut shit so billionaires can pay less in taxes", swaths of the U.S. no longer have 24/7 weather forecasting services. They;ve also cut weather balloon launches.

Because only idiots like those two think that you can improve forecasting by cutting data used in forecasting.

Remember: China is a Hostile Power

Apparently, there are kill switches in the electronics of Chinese inverters to shut down solar farms and wind turbines.

Chinese “kill switches” that could allow Beijing to cripple power grids and trigger blackouts across the West have been found in equipment at US solar farms.

The rogue devices, including cellular radios, were discovered in Chinese-made power inverters that are used to connect solar panels and wind turbines to electricity grids across the world, including the UK.

The hidden communications equipment could be deployed remotely to switch off inverters with potentially catastrophic results.

The discovery, reported by Reuters, will heighten concerns that China has installed covert malware in critical energy infrastructure throughout the US and Europe. The kill switches could be deployed at any time in the event of a confrontation between China and the West.

Some serious work needs to be done on this crap in all Western countries. And any installations in the works need to be examined closely.

Also, for any utility company that thinks they'll be able to avoid damage claims using an act of war defense, they should rethink that.

Caturday

The outdoor tuxies.

We have been feeding Speck (top) for years. He's gone from running when he saw us to making eye contact and sometimes talking. But we can't get closer than six feet to him. Somebody had to have really abused him to make him so wary and may those people be damned to the hottest, most caustic circle of Hell, for half of the time. The other half, may they be submerged in pools of liquid hydrogen, with frequent cycling between the two spots.

Supreme Court Rules, 7-2, that Fascism is Bad

Pee-Wee German is, no doubt, having a full-blown temper tantrum.

The Supreme Court on Friday barred the Trump administration from quickly resuming deportations of Venezuelans under an 18th-century wartime law enacted when the nation was just a few years old.

Over two dissenting votes, the justices acted on an emergency appeal from lawyers for Venezuelan men who have been accused of being gang members, a designation that the administration says makes them eligible for rapid removal from the United States under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
...
Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented...

The question that will soon present itself is what will happen if Trump has a bunch of guys put on a plane and deported without a shred of due process, in defiance of court orders. I have zero doubt that the supine ball-lickers in the GOP in the Congress will do anything about it.

Because It's Friday

Zapping These Down Here

We'll start with our idiots in charge:

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

A family emergency just blew up. It's one of those bad "unexpected but anticipated" ones. Some of the routine features are already queued up, others, not so much.

Both blogging and comment moderation may be irregular for awhile.

Trump's Concern About Antisemitism is Just a Smokescreen for Bigotry Against Muslims

The proof is that his own White House is a nest of white supremacist and antisemitic people, including but likely not limited to Paul Ingrassia, currently serving as the White House liaison to the Department of Homeland Security; Rachel Cauley, the communications director for the White House Office of Management and Budget; and, of course, Ed Martin, Kash Patel and Department of Defense spokesperson Kingsley Wilson. All have a track record of statements, behaviors, and haning out with neo-Nazis.

The FLOSS has no problem with antisemites, as long as they're mostly white people or, at least, not Muslim.

Magnum Force, Abated

I recently shot my .44 Magnum while wearing anti-vibration gloves. They work. If you're shooting heavy magnums or pistol-grip shotguns, you might want to give them a try. You could also search for gloves for jackhammer operators.

Trump Coup 2.0

He's trying to take over Congress by an attack on the Library of Congress, which is not an executive agency.

Meanwhile, it's slowly sinking in with MAGA that Trump is only out for himself, what with his grift of an airplane. By the time they damn near disassemble that Qatari 747 to look for bugs, install electronics, install an air-to air refueling system, and examine every line of code in the FMS, Trump will be out of office, in exile, in a cell, or dead. Some of the crazier MAGA loyalists are comparing the jet to the Statue of Liberty, which is just fucking insane. Congress authorized acceptance of the Statue and the president at the time, Grover Cleveland, didn't take the Statue home with him when he left office.

And the Chinese Communist Party is pulling off machinations to buy $300 million of Trump's crypto. There's a huge "For Sale" sign blinking over the White House. Nobody is going Trump $300 million in cash or a $400 million dollar airplane.

I've said before that the plane would take years to retrofit. So all I can say, now, is Toljaso, I did.

Time to Defund ICE and DHS

Considering the fascist shit they are doing, like trying to confiscate a house that someone they don't care for no loner owns, they need to be defunded and made to find honest jobs.

The Right lost their collective minds over the "little pink house" twenty years ago. Their silence on this case is telling.

Fricking These Down, Here

When you fuck around, finding out is karma at work.

Episcopal Church to Trump: Fuck You, You Racist Asshole

In a striking move that ends a nearly four-decades-old relationship between the federal government and the Episcopal Church, the denomination announced on Monday that it is terminating its partnership with the government to resettle refugees, citing moral opposition to resettling white Afrikaners from South Africa who have been classified as refugees by President Trump's administration.

In a letter sent to members of the church, the Most Rev. Sean W. Rowe — the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church — said that two weeks ago, the government "informed Episcopal Migration Ministries that under the terms of our federal grant, we are expected to resettle white Afrikaners from South Africa whom the U.S. government has classified as refugees."

The request, Rowe said, crossed a moral line for the Episcopal Church, which is part of the global Anglican Communion, which boasts among its leaders the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a celebrated and vocal opponent of apartheid in South Africa.

"In light of our church's steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and our historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, we are not able to take this step," Rowe wrote. "Accordingly, we have determined that, by the end of the federal fiscal year, we will conclude our refugee resettlement grant agreements with the U.S. federal government."

There are any number of white-supremacist churches that the FLOSS can tap to help resettle the pack of bigots he's importing. But still, one would think that American racists would object at South African racists coming over to take their jobs.

Update on Bribe Force One

The FLOSS has lost Loomer the Lunatic on this one.

The Trump Cycle Continues

U.S. and Chinese officials said on Monday they had reached a deal to roll back most of their recent tariffs and call a 90-day truce in their trade war to allow for more talks on resolving their trade disputes.

What gaps in the supply chain will be there from all of this stupid shit will show themselves in the coming weeks and months.

The shit show poops on.

Xmas Gifts

Per the Trump Aministration's senior officials:

Girls, you get two dolls.

Boys, you get three pencils.

Trump gets a $400 million 747.

That's all.

Bribe Force One

In what may be the most valuable gift ever extended to the United States from a foreign government, the Trump administration is preparing to accept a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar -- a gift that is to be available for use by President Donald Trump as the new Air Force One until shortly before he leaves office, at which time ownership of the plane will be transferred to the Trump presidential library foundation, sources familiar with the proposed arrangement told ABC News.

Nothing like our president flying around in a giant airplane that advertises that he can be bought. No surprise that Bondi, formerly a lobbyist for Qatar, thinks it's all legal for a foreign government to give him an airplane for his exclusive use. She's approve if he was caught in bed with a dead 14-year old girl.

And anyone who thinks that he'll just park it at his "library" in 2029 is naïve as fuck.

Fewer and Fewer People Want Teslers (as the FLOSS calls them)

Tesla told Austin workers on its Model Y and Cybertruck lines to stay home for the week of Memorial Day, three workers told Business Insider.

The break is unusually long, the workers said. Production lines were up and running during the same period last year, they said.
...
In April, Elon Musk's carmaker reported a 13% drop in deliveries year over year. During the first quarter, Tesla reported it produced nearly 26,000 more EVs than it delivered, even after a drop in production of nearly 100,000 vehicles compared with the previous quarter.

Whether or not EVs are a good thing and whether or not the WankerPanzer in particular deserves its repuation as an expensive piece of garbage, it's a shame that the workers are paying the price for Musk's successive decisions to become so identified with the brand and then to go on full Nazi with the FLOSS.

But it is what it is. One of the few ways that people have to openly show their disapproval of him is to not buy his shitty cars. And so they are.

The American Gestapo

ICE agents, cosplaying as soliders, showed up at an apartment building to arrest two men.

It's pretty clear, by now, that those milita-kitted-out goons are not going after the worst of the worst. They are grabbing random people, those who are doing nothing more sinister than working at low-paying jobs, because they're trying to make a quota. They are far more evil than a cop who tickets out-of-staters for going four over the limit.

Note also that neither of those overweight clowns is showing any form of agency identification. Unmarked vehicles, unmarked gunmen, for all we know, it could have been a kidnapping. Even the Gestapo didn't hide their faces.

Memo to ICE: You are the bad guys.

Your Sunday Morning Jet Noise

Hawker Hunter in the Mach Loop.

Useful Tip: The Canadians Care More About Americans Than Trump Does

That is all.

Caturday

You can see his excitement about a new pope (name TBD as this is typed).

The FLOSS Is Losing His Mind

He thinks Mattel is a country.

No snark can match that.

Dictatorship, Incoming

In response to a question from a blogger for the far-right Gateway Pundit about when the Trump administration could start “suspending the writ of habeas corpus to take care of the illegal immigration problem”, White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller said the Trump administration is “actively looking at” doing so.
...
Miller told the blogger, Jordan Conradson, he had made a point of calling on first: “The Constitution is clear, and that, of course, is the supreme law of the land, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in time of invasion. So it’s an option we’re actively looking at. Look, a lot of it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not”.

Let's be crystal clear on this: A "suspension" of habeus corpus means that they could snatch up whomsoever they want, toss them into a cell and the person grabbed would have no recourse. It is what Pee Wee German has been aiming for since 2016 and now he sees it almost within his grasp. The GOP is going full fascist without a peep of protest from any of its sitting legislators (except maybe Rand Paul).

And it makes a mockery of those who said that having to wear a mask during a pandemic was tyranny. Real tyranny is the government snatching people off the street without legal process and the right to a trial.

Also, this, from Sam Stein:

If I understand the White House's current messaging it's that the border is completely under control unlike ever before in history, crime is dramatically down across the board, but we are also under such an invasion that we have to suspend habeas corpus?

Yep, that's exactly right.

Reminder to the Batshit Brigade: Moderation is in effect and the Banhammer List is being enforced.

Because It's Friday

There are probably innumerous railfans who are regretful that they couldn't get to China fifteen or twenty years ago.

Air Nazi Spins Up

The FLOSS is moving forward with bringing in Musk's racist countrymen as refugees. Because the one thing the Orange Bigot hates is that there were not enough white refugees coming into the country.

They should be greeted with a chorus singing "Kill the Boer." Or a sign saying "Rule 303 is in effect-- Breaker Morant."

One Plus for Da Pope

I'm not Catholic. I'm not Christian. So I guess it's fair to say that I don't have a side in the discussion about the new pope.

But I will say this: Anyone who can cause Laura Loomer to lose her fucking mind is alright by me.

Five-Finger Discounting These Down, Here

Someone Even Too Crazy for the FLOSS

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would pull his nomination of Ed Martin Jr. to be the top federal prosecutor for the nation’s capital, bowing to bipartisan concerns about the conservative activist’s modest legal experience and divisive politics.

Trump abandoned his pick to lead the nation’s largest U.S. Attorney’s office two days after a key Republican senator said he could not support Martin for the job due to his defense of rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Trump knows that few will care about his yanking a loser, but he won't look as powerful if one of his MAGA Batshitters loses a confirmation vote. Especially for a job where almost everyone is rubber-stamped into place.

So all of those stupid letters that MArtin was sending out to scientific journals and schools can go right into the shredder (if they haven't already).

But don't worry. He'll get a six-figure job as a legal analyst on Fox News.

Habismus Don't Give a Fuck

White smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel chimney Thursday, signaling that a pope has been elected to lead the Catholic Church.

Even old guys can't stand being locked out of PornHub for long, it would seem.

The FLOSS Fucks Up V-E Day

President Donald Trump has issued a proclamation designating Thursday as a day for the United States to celebrate victory in World War II as countries in Europe already do.
...
“Many of our allies and friends are celebrating May 8th as Victory Day, but we did more than any other Country, by far, in producing a victorious result on World War II. I am hereby renaming May 8th as Victory Day for World War II and November 11th as Victory Day for World War I,” he said last week on social media. “We won both Wars, nobody was close to us in terms of strength, bravery, or military brilliance, but we never celebrate anything — That’s because we don’t have leaders anymore, that know how to do so! We are going to start celebrating our victories again!”

He can't open his mouth without revealing his deep ignorance and shallow understanding of anything whatsoever. Let's detail a few, shall we?

• Fighting was going on in the Pacific and would until the Japanese surrendered in August.
• The Soviet Union had a small campaign going on against the Germans, in which they suffered something like sixty times the casualties of the United States.
• When the Allies named a supreme military commander in World War I, it was French Army General Ferdinand Foch. American troops didn't show up on the battlefield until the spring of 1918. More damning, American commanders adopted the "hey, diddle, diddle, straight up the middle" frontal assault tactics that the more-seasoned commanders in other armies, by that time in the war, knew were ineffective and which did little except produce high casulaties. American troops did supply the edge in both fresh units and morale that helped defeat the Germans, but the bulk of the fighting and the commanding was done by the British and the French.

Trump knows as much about history, or anything for that matter, as the average housepet. If he had gone on the show "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader", he would have been flayed.

And this, of course:

Trump is on the side of fascism, as was his party in the 1930s. It's kind of bitterly amusing that he is so keen on taking credit for what people in his party originially called "Mister Roosevelt's War" and who did everything they could to defund both the American military and deny aid to the Allies, whether out of naïve isolationism or a desire to see fascism win is still debatable.

With his affinity for Hitler and Nazi Germany, it's a safe bet that Trump believes that we fought on the wrong side of the war.

Heh. Heh. Heh.

Crushing a Tesla for fun.

Well, We May Be Fucked

We should count ourselves lucky if we can get through this mess without a spot of nuclear war.

Thieving These Down, Here