Trump's $250 bill (and the FCC)

In Mandarin Chinese, the number 250 (二百五, pronounced èr bǎi wǔ) is a common slang term that means "stupid person," "idiot," or "simpleton." Using it playfully calls someone a dummy, but it can be more disparaging depending on the tone. Because of this, pricing a product at ¥250 or giving it as a gift is generally avoided in Chinese culture to prevent accidentally insulting someone.

Trump 250.... yeah, that tracks.

Meanwhile, Trump's FCC is ordering broadcasters to fall in line with Trump and not be mean to him or the FCC will yank their licenses. Because under this FCC, "public interest" means "sucking up to the Demented Orange Felon-in-Chief".

The future investigations and criminal trials of these toadies will be epic in scope and nature.

And here is a little more insanity:

Four massive bronze horses positioned along the roads surrounding the Lincoln Memorial still shine in the sun from their first restoration in the 1970s. But their gold-toned coating is faded and patchy, and their heavy stone bases are cracked and dirty.

The Trump administration wants them glittering with a fresh coat of gold in time for America’s 250th anniversary on July 4. So in mid-April, the National Park Service handed a $5 million contract to a gilding studio in Maryland to repair the statues and cover them with a thick layer of 23.75-karat gold leaf.

It awarded the project without a full competition, according to NPS documents reviewed by NOTUS.

A "no competition" contract under these birds means that somebody's getting a taste. And, in case you want to know where the money is coming from for this bullshit, it's coming from national park fees. So the fee you pay to get into a national park like Yosemite or Acadia is going for Trump's vanity projects.

Your Sunday Morning Prop Noise

A Mk.XVIII Spitfire:

The Mk.18 was a postwar variant. It probably was optimised for paven runways.

One Grift After Another

The entire Trump family needs to seriously consider decamping to someplace without an extradition treaty in 2029. For wherever one looks, there is one deal after another where members of the Trump family and their friends are using their influence to get their beaks wet.

And nothing like a little insider trading.

He's Lost Whatever Marbles He Ever Possessed

So, with a possible short-term deal to end his blitheringly stupid war, Trump leaves it on the table (no decision) and goes to bed to shitpost through the night about the Reflecting Pool and the Kennedy Center.

I can't even snark about that, other to mention it's painfully obvious that he cares only about frivolitis and nothing about the hard issues.

His mind is gone. The wheels have fallen off his wagon.

History will harshly judge those who are pretending otherwise.

Warping

A post that argues that the idea of FTL travel has moved from "impossible" to "a horrifyingly complex engineering problem".

And that's what humans do. It might take centuries to get there, but if it's possible...

I don't read a lot of SF these days, but the only author I remember who was writing about Alcubierre drives is Marko Kloos.

Memorial Day

Today, May 30th, is the traditional day for Memorial Day, formerly known as Decoration Day, for the flags that were put on the graves of deceased veterans. It was meant to be a day of mournful reflection, with, at most, parades to commemorate the fallen.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans have died and continue to die in defense of this country and its interests. Many die years and decades afterwards from illnesses and wounds suffered in combat and even afterwards.

Why can't we have a day to remember them without it turning into a festival of commerce?

Caturday

Tuxedo Alley:

Stand By for Maximum Frothing on Truth Social and Fox (Updated)

A federal judge ruled Friday that President Donald Trump’s name was illegally added to the Kennedy Center and blocked the administration from closing the cultural and arts venue for major renovations.

Congress named the Kennedy Center and only Congress can change the name, sez the judge.

The Orange Sundowner's going to be shit-posting all night about this.

It began:

I ain’t reading all that. I’m happy for you though, or sorry that happened

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) May 29, 2026 at 5:34 PM

Because It's Friday

Blue Peter is pretty.

A Thuggish Version of Amateur Hour

There is news that Pete Hegseth called the emir of Qatar and threatened to kill him. Yesterday we also saw Trump threatening to "blow up" Oman.

What we are witnessing is not just their insanity; it's a sign of the decline of an empire. Their last attempt to regain power.

— أَبُو عِرْفَانِ پارسی (@A_E_P_1979) May 28, 2026

There may not be confirmation, yet, but this sort of macho adolescent bullshit would be what one would expect from Pretty-Boy Pete. And if this is true, the Trump Administration is actively sabotaging our relationships with every other country on the planet (except Russia).

Judging These Down, Here

The Dumbest Man in Trump's Cabinet Has an Idea

(Not that there isn't some insane competition for that title.)

This is his bad idea:

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says his office is “drawing up” plans to pull Customs and Border Protection agents from airports in “sanctuary” cities, which would make it illegal for international flights to land there.

The threat comes in response to protests outside an immigrant detention center in Newark, N.J., where demonstrators claim conditions are inhumane. Mullin dismissed those claims and doubled down, pointing to Newark’s airport, which handled 24.5 million international passengers last year.

NYC metro airports receive 50 million passengers a year from international flights. San Francisco recieves nearly 16 million/year. LAX, 11.77 million. You can find the numbers for other such airports inf you care. We're probably talking about 75 million passengers a year coming through those aiports. And Mullen's going to fuck with them at a time when this country is one of the few in the world to see drops in tourism (Russia's likely the other one).

Besides that, a number of those international flights are the subject of agreements with other governments. Cancel those landing rights and US airlines might find their slots canceled as well.

Markwayne couldn't outsmart a one-door mailbox. But sure, go ahead, Markwayne, fuck with the global air transport system. Let's see how bad it can get.

But he won't, because Markwayne doesn't have the balls.

Everywhere They Look, Trump is Corrupt

When the Pentagon announced a $620 million loan last year to a small North Carolina startup linked to Donald Trump Jr., defense officials and the company tried to tamp down suspicions of cronyism.

The president’s eldest son said through a spokesperson that he wasn’t involved. The Pentagon said Trump Jr. played no role in the record-setting deal. And the startup’s founder told reporters that his company, Vulcan Elements, received no political favoritism.

But interviews and Defense Department records reviewed by ProPublica show that the request to loan hundreds of millions of dollars to the firm linked to Trump Jr. was made by Peter Navarro, a White House adviser to President Donald Trump and a friend of Trump Jr.’s.

Turn over almost any matter in this administtration and you'll find Trump, a family member or someone connected to them getting rich from a grift associated with the Federal government. They are all crooks.

Trump Threatens to Bomb Allies

Donald Trump has threatened to “blow up” Oman if it fails to “behave” in a casual aside during a cabinet meeting, as the US scrambles to reopen the strait of Hormuz.

The US president made the threat after reports of talks between Iran and Oman about jointly charging a toll for ships passing through the crucial waterway, which has been all but closed since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran.
...
In an extraordinary threat, he added: “Oman will behave just like everybody else. Or else we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that. They’ll be fine.”

Great, let's piss off all of our allies.

Affluenza in TX

Adam Hoffman, a 49-year-old Waco attorney, was facing life without parole for the continuous sexual abuse of a young boy. Ken Paxton’s office took the case, sat on it for nearly three years and then offered him a deal to plead guilty to two misdemeanors and serve one day in jail.

Plus no registration as a sex offender, to boot.

If Hoffman hadn't been an influential attorney, he would have done life in prison, at least, until somebody shanked him. But Paxton dropped the felony counts and agreed to let him plead out to two misdemeanors. As it is, the judge sentenced him to two months in jail and he served one. He got out yesterday morning.

Pissing These Down, Here

Something's Up With Trump, And It's Not Good

He's getting his fourth annual physical in sixteen months. No doubt he'll come back and brag about his latest cognitive test, which he confuses with intelligence tests. But yeah, he's pretty fucked up.

National Kick-Off to Summer Day

Other than some parades, that's what today is, as I've been going on about for a very long time.

Apple: Tool of Repressive Governments?

Apple removed thousands of apps from its app store at the request of the Russians, but they're not the only authoritarians Apple has bowed to.

You can step outside of Apple's app store at your own risk.

The Iran War Chatter (Updated)

It would seem to be this: An end of hostilities with the Iranians, the Iranians open the Strait, the US drops the blockade, $25 billion in sanctioned Iranian assets are released and the issue of Iran's uranium stockpile and further enrichment are set aside for further negotiation.

To get there, the global economy has been shaken, there will be shortages of many oil-based goods for months to come (not to mention fertilizer and helium), the United States has burned through much of its arsenal of precision weapons, precious military assets have been wasted, allies have been essentially lost (levying tariffs on them didn't help any), and its enemies have been enboldened. And for what?

In short, the United States has spend tens of billions of dollars to end up in a worse position than it was before the war started. It will be lucky if the end deal is within a mile of the agreement that Trump ripped up eight years ago because it was negotiated by Obama. So. Much. Winning.

As for the war itself, the world, not including MAGA, will recognize one point: Trump lost his war.

Which is why Trump will likely pivot to invading Cuba, so he can have a win. Or so he thinks.

Grifting the Trumpy Rubes

The Trump smartphone is some cheap POS from Taiwan, and, if you order it, your personal information is up for grabs.

There's also a large discrepancy between the number of customers found (30K) and that sales figures (600K). But that may be due to the same sales-pumping bullshit shown in the Cybertruck and the Melania movie.

Your Sunday Morning Prop Noise

Spits and Hurries.

Trumpy DoJ Fuckery Continues (Updated)

A federal judge on Friday dismissed a human smuggling case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, finding that the Justice Department’s pursuit of criminal charges was designed to punish him for challenging his mistaken deportation to El Salvador last year.
...
“The evidence before this court sadly reflects an abuse of prosecuting power,” U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw, in Nashville, Tenn., said in his ruling granting Abrego Garcia’s motion to dismiss for “selective or vindictive prosecution.” Without Abrego Garcia’s “successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador, the government would not have brought this prosecution.”

Vindictive prosecution. Tainting the grand jury process. Lying to the courts. Trump's DoJ is a corrupt entity. Every judge should give them the same deference that they would give to a Mafia lawyer just off a six month suspension for ethics violations.

Here are the decision and order, thanks to dbliss for finding them.

Trump Steals Money From Kids

The Trump administration is nearing an agreement with TikTok to resolve an ongoing lawsuit over alleged child privacy violations in exchange for the social media company paying $400 million that the administration plans to use to fund President Donald Trump's Washington, D.C., "beautification" projects, sources familiar with the discussions told ABC News.

Normally, damages in a case are used to compensate victims. But the Orange Dementia Patient wants to use the money to pay for his Arc d'Trump, because even he has realized that Congress and his coterie of supllicant billionares won't pay for it. So he's going to steal money that should go to victims to pay for his vainglorious arch.

Even he knows that nobody is going to construct monuments to him once he shuffles off this mortal plane to Hell. After he's dead, nobody's going to name anything after him other than toxic waste incineration plants and public bathrooms.

When there is a drive to get down to the truth of his corruption, treason and self-dealing, one of the things that will happen (Lord willing) is tearing down that arch (if it's built) and restoring the other things he has defiled with his so-called "improvements".

Caturday

Priss is enjoying some garden time.

Face It, DJT, Jr, Your Dad Hates You

Trump will play round after round of golf, flying down to Florida every fucking weekend, but he's skipping his son's wedding because reasons.

Tulsi's Dacha Shopping?

She's essentially been fired as DNI. Trump's busy purging women in his cabinet.

The allegation that either she or somebody in her shop was passing intel to the Russians sank like a stone. I don't know who'll take over the job, but odds are they will be even more incompetent and even more in thrall to Putin.

Because It's Friday

Sounds like a three-cylinder locomotive.

Trumpy DoJ: Liars or Complete Incompetents?

The full transcript of the Broadview Six hearing is available. This is the money quote:

I relied on all of you and your personal representations in this case about what has been issued in discovery, about the types of searches you have done for exculpatory material, about what arguments you will and will not make in this case. And I do that because, first of all, I treat every attorney who appears before me as an officer of the court. But secondly, because I put even more reliance on Department of Justice attorneys. Your sole goal is to do justice. Your client is justice itself.

I do believe deeply in the presumption of regularity and that most government attorneys are doing the best they can to do the right thing. That trust has been broken.

This is going to spread and judges are going to regard US Attorneys and prosecutors as scum-sucking liars.

Trump is the Reserve King Midas: Everything he touches turns to shit.

Shit Falls Apart for the Trumpy DoJ

If you know of Ken White, AKA Popehat, then this thread about the judge finding out of the fuckery of the Broadview Six case is interesting.

Suffice to say that some of the DoJ lawyers might want to find careers that don't require a law license.

Which they may not have for very much longer.

Erasing These Down, Here

Same question here about Latinos:

< div style="text-align: center;">A Late Show "never used" graphic:

Crooked Cops, AZ Ed.

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Dept diverted over $160 million that was supposed to be used for addressing the issue of racial profiling to buy themselves all sorts of goodies. Cable TV subscriptions, a golf cart, office renovations, trips, Tasers and lots of other bullshit.

Almost three-quarters of the funds for the legal settlement were misspent. And now they have the unmitigated gall to insist the settlement is too expensive.

Fuck those guys. They're nothing but low-rent Trumpers.

ICE Goons Lie

And Minnesota might be able to prove it in court and lock one of those fuckers up.

It does seem that when there is a high-profile incident with video footage, ICE/CBP agents are always shown to be lying about what happened. It should be a presumption that a cop from DHS is lying whenever their lips are moving.

Musk's Sales Scheme

As electric pickup trucks go, the Tesla Cybertruck does a lot of things right, but it nevertheless remains controversial due to its unconventional styling. (Elon Musk’s various controversis haven’t helped, either.) Now a report from Bloomberg seems to indicate the truck’s sales numbers may be goosed, as it says 20 percent of all Cybertrucks are registered under non-Tesla companies owned by Elon Musk.

The story goes into some detail. Among 7,071 Tesla Cybertrucks sold in Q4 2025, it says, 1,279 were sold to SpaceX, xAI, The Boring Company, or Neuralink, with the vast majority going to Musk’s aerospace company. That’s a bit over 18 percent of all sales, and the report also states the trend has continued into Q1 of this year. It further points out that if you remove these trucks from the model’s overall volumes, “Cybertruck registrations in the fourth quarter would have fallen 51 percent.”

Nobody should be surprised that Musk is inflating his sales numbers by shuffling his Führerwagon to his other companies. He's just another rich-ass clown who believes that whatever benefits him is right.

Hypocrisy, Thy Name is Trump

If we're indicting Raul Castro for ordering the murder of Americans in international airspace, will Columbia then pursue murder charges against Trump and Hegseth for orderng the murder of fisherman?

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.

Gazing These Down, Here