Shorter RFK,Jr. & CDC: Die, Kids, Die

Leaders at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered staff this week not to release their experts’ assessment that found the risk of catching measles is high in areas near outbreaks where vaccination rates are lagging, according to internal records reviewed by ProPublica.

In an aborted plan to roll out the news, the agency would have emphasized the importance of vaccinating people against the highly contagious and potentially deadly disease that has spread to 19 states, the records show.

Let's be clear about this: Bobby Brainworm doesn't give a shit about protecting public health. He's been pushing pseudoscience and eugenics-based crap for decades. He had his fingerprints all over a empidemic in American Samoa and now this. To his twisted mind, people dying in epidemics is a feature, not a bug.

To the Senators who voted to confirm him: This is on you.

Yet Another Right-Wing Criminal

Marine Le Pen was found guilty of embezzling funds from her post as a member of the EU parliament.

Details and accompnying snark to follow, perhaps.

Goodbye to Meals on Wheels

It appears that Brainworm Bobby's plan to make America healthy again is to starve some seniors.

He and the rest of his evil cabal are detestable, soulless ghouls. They trod on the most vulnerable of people, all so the rich can have tax cuts.

Good Snark to Start the Day

Stuck with a Tesla?

Think people are smart enough to see through a disquise?

Have it boosted.

Your Sunday Morning Rotor Noise

A Brantly performs an autorotation:

Bell-47:

R-44:

UH-1:

S.E. Asian Earthquake

The death toll from a huge earthquake that hit Myanmar has passed 1,600, as rescuers continue a desperate search for survivors and aid agencies warn of an “extremely difficult” response amid the country’s continuing conflict.

A few months ago, an American response for assistance to Thailand would have been spun up. But now? Crickets. Musk and Trump have torched the agencies that would have responded, the people who would have coordinated our disaster response have been fired.

This is what soft power is: Winning friends by helping those in dire need. Musk and Trum have forcibly walked the country away from being a global force for good, now concentrating on appeasing our enemies and alienating our friends.

What's a Little Book-Burning between Friends; USNA Ed.

Good ol' Pete the Drunken Racist has ordered about a thousand books be removed from the USNA library because they deal with issues of race, bigotry and history. A biography of Jackie Robinson and Dr. King's autobiography are on the list of books to be yanked so that the soon-to-be lily-white Christian Middies won't pollute their minds.

Deal Alert, 1911

A $300 1911 in God's own caliber.

You might have to tinker with it, maybe replace the recoil spring and the sear spring. But those aren't expensive. If you're slightly handy with tools, it's not hard to do a minor tuneup. It may not run with hollowpoints, or maybe it will. But .452" holes tend to slow bad guys down a tad, if you hit them in a decent spot. (The suprasternal notch is a good place to aim for, for a few reasons.)

In this day and age, having a serviceable .45 for not a lot of money may be a wise idea.

Whomping These Down, Here

Jackbooted Stormtroopers; UK Ed.

Quakers in Britain strongly condemned the violation of their place of worship which they say is a direct result of stricter protest laws removing virtually all routes to challenge the status quo.

Just before 7.15pm [on March 27th], more than 20 uniformed police, some equipped with tasers, forced their way into Westminster Meeting House.

No-one has been arrested in a Quaker meeting house in living memory.

The UK has been a leader in tromping down the road where the only permissible speech is that which the government approves of. But to be fair, they're not the only goverment that considered the peaceful Quakers to be national security threats.

Caturday

Other cats.

What’s a Little Wingnut Nepotism?

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s younger brother is serving in a key position inside the Pentagon as a Department of Homeland Security liaison and senior adviser, Hegseth’s office confirmed.

Yeah, he's super qualified, all right. Hundreds of thousands of Cederal workers are being DOGEd out of their jobs and this no-talent clown gets six-figures to be his brother's walking coatrack.

Let's See of a Treaty Signed by The United States is Worth the Paper it's Printed On

In 1916, the United States bought the Danish West Indies, now known as the U.S.Virgin Islands, for $25 million. As part of the deal, the Americans agreed not to object to Denmark's claim to Greenland.

Of course, Mango Mussolini, like his ideologial inspiration, hasn't met a deal that he wasn't willing to tear up. It'd be fun if the Danes then snuck troops into St. Thomas and reoccupied the place.

Hail to the Thief

The Fraudster Protection Association is in full swing!

President Donald Trump pardoned Nikola Corp. founder Trevor Milton for his October 2022 conviction of federal crimes related to defrauding investors with false claims about the success of the electric and hydrogen-powered truck maker.

Milton, 42, was sentenced in December 2023 to four years in prison, but he has been free since then pending an appeal of the former CEO's criminal conviction on securities and wire fraud charges in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

The pardon came two weeks after federal prosecutors urged District Court Judge Edgardo Ramos to order Milton to pay restitution of $680 million to Nikola shareholders, and another $15.2 million to Peter Hicks, a victim of his wire fraud.

He defrauds his investors and he gets to keep the money that he stole. How sweet a deal s that?

And how large of a kickback campaign contribution did he pay for that? Was it the Putin-standard percentage of half?

UPDATE: $920K contribution by Milton to Trump's PAC.

Hewing These Down, Here

Because It's Friday

Harbour steam

Of Course the Mango Felon Hires Criminals

The best-known member of Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service team of technologists once provided support to a cybercrime gang that bragged about trafficking in stolen data and cyberstalking an FBI agent, according to digital records reviewed by Reuters.

Edward Coristine is among the most visible members of the DOGE effort that has been given sweeping access to official networks as it attempts to radically downsize the U.S. government.
...
Beginning around 2022, while still in high school, Coristine ran a company called DiamondCDN, opens new tab that provided network services, according to corporate and digital records reviewed by Reuters and interviews with half a dozen former associates. Among its users was a website run by a ring of cybercriminals operating under the name "EGodly," according to digital records preserved by the internet intelligence firm DomainTools and the online cybersecurity tool Any.Run.

In most rational governments, having a tech guy who has defined links to fraudsters and criminals would be a hard no for hiring and retaining.

But in the Felonious Administration, being a criminal is a plus on their HR chart.

Trump Sends His Zampolits to the Smithsonian

Mango Mussolini, who has never been in a museum in his life is so concerned about the Smithsonian.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday taking aim at the Smithsonian and its museums, education and research centers.

Trump directed Vice President JD Vance to eliminate “improper, divisive, or anti-American” ideology from programs at the Smithsonian Institution, which receives federal funding.

I have little doubt that he'll close the National Museum of African American History & Culture and order it turned into the Museum of White Power.

And place your bets which Trump EO will come first: One that aims to restore "the natural segregation of the races", or one that "protects American womanhood" by permitting locking women out of most jobs.

Meanwhile, Little Marco basically is saying to people holding green cards: “You have the right to free speech, but we’ll imprison and deport you if you say anything that displeases the Orange Felonious Führer.”

Which is the same level of freedom that they have in North Korea and Russia.

Remember These Four Words When the Cops Are Around

"Shut the Fuck Up!"

Republicans Do the Banksters' Bidding, Not Yours

The Senate voted to repeal a rule limiting overdraft fees to $5.

All the Republicans, excpet for Runnin' Josh, voted to do that.

Because they have the backs of the bankers. Not of thier constituents.

Wait, What?? (Updated)

I mean, we joke about the Trump administration, being staffed with Putin's Poodles, but not as blatantly as this. It appears to be genuine.

Nothing will be done, of course, because the House and Senate committees that might investigate this are utterly loyal to the GOP, rather than to the United States of America. And AG Bondi cares nothing for the rule of law or national security, only for the dictates of her orange overlord.

Patrolling These Down, Here

Shorter Trumpy/Tulsi: First Amendment Rights for Me, But Not for Thee

I'm trying to track down a citation, but my impression is that, during the hearings on the stupidity of Trump appointees discussing war plans and then denying they did so and, when confronted with the proof, confessed lack of memory, that Gabbard was asked about her frequeet retweeting of pro-Russian propaganda. She said she had a First Amendment right to do that on her personal devices.

But some Turkish student writes a pro-Palistinian editorial in a student newspaper and black-clad ICE stormtroopers with masked faces snatch her up and practice some diesel therapy.

It's just standard right-wing views on freedom: The freedom to agree with them.

Shoulda Left Him to Rot In Romania, Donnie-Boy

Andrew Tate’s girlfriend, Bri Stern, accused him of nearly choking her unconscious during a violent sexual encounter, TMZ reported Wednesday.

Sources with direct knowledge told TMZ that Stern filed a sexual assault report claiming Tate attacked her March 11 at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Stern alleged Tate began choking her while they were having sex, but got too rough. She claimed she begged him to stop, but he allegedly continued, and the more she struggled, the more violent he became, TMZ reported. Stern reported feeling that everything became fuzzy, like she was fading into unconsciousness, and the alleged encounter only stopped when Tate was finished having sex, according to TMZ.

It looks as though if it had taken him longer to "finish", he would have killed her.

This rapist, remember, is a guy that the Felon^37 used his leverage to get back to the US so that Tate could evade charges for rape and human trafficking in Europe. Tate's crimes are the COFF's crimes, by proxy. For you can bet heavily that he would see nothing wrong with doing what Take did (allegedly).

Those Stupid Fools and Their Cell Phones

The user information, including some passwords, Trump administration officials is available online.

The deeper people look into this, more inept and comically stupid the Trump administration seems to be.

What they did is a crime, there is nobody to prosecute the cases. For it's a same bet that somebody, be it the FSB or Mossad, was reading that chat in real time.

The Tesla Scam

The Cybertruck isn't a truck. It's nothing but a car with some fancy panels thatmay or may not fall off.

The Cosplaytruck. The Fraudmobile.

When you see one on the road, spare a thought for the stupid owner who got swindled by this con. Or point and laugh. Your choice.

Crossing These Down, Here

I did, as soon as he "bought" the platform.
Because it wasn't rocket science to foresee that he was going to enshittify everything.