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.

Trump's New Slush Fund is Clearly Illegal

Section 4 of the 14th Amendment:

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

But that doesn't matter. The cult of personality that is the modern GOP will do whatever Trump wants, without a quibble or concern for its legality. The Fascist Six on the Supreme Court will ratify whatever Trump wants to do. Until the mid-term elections, the Democrats are essentially powerless to stop Trump enriching his J6 thugs.

Which brings me to this: If you want to see our Republic survive to see 255 years, you had best go to the polls in November and vote for a Democrat. Even if youy're a lifelong Republican, vote for a Democrat. Maybe the GOP, after TRump, will find its way to being a party that is loyal to the Constitution and to the Republic, but they are not now loyal to anything or anyone other than Trump. The only reasonably painless way to stop this GOP march of fascism is to vote every one of those fuckers out, as did the Hungarians.

The FBI's Make-a-Wish Kid

When Kash Patel visited Hawaiʻi last summer, the FBI took pains to note the director was not on vacation, highlighting his walking tour of the bureau's Honolulu field office and meetings with local law enforcement.

Left out of FBI's news releases was an exclusive excursion that Patel took days later when he participated in what government officials described as a “VIP snorkel” around the USS Arizona in an outing coordinated by the military. The sunken battleship entombs more than 900 sailors and Marines at Pearl Harbor.

Someone had an idea: Make a reality show of Trump officials defiling national monuments. Pretty Boy Pete can rappel off the face of Mt. Rushmore. Dumbshit Markwayne can zipline over Gettysburgh. Little Marco can set up a hot tub at Yellowstone.

"I read something like this and I think: Some of us have been so focused on their authoritarianism and abuse of power and lawlessness that we’ve perhaps neglected to point out the additional fact that these are also just terrible humans—lacking class, grace, kindness or dignity."-- Bill Kristol

It's Like a Stupid Variant of Nixon Is President

An email from President Donald Trump’s White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles ordering staff to stop leaking to the press was leaked to the press on Friday.

In the directive, written in late March and obtained by Politico’s West Wing Playbook, Wiles warned that “no staff member within the Executive Office of the President is permitted to speak with members of the news media without the explicit approval of the White House Communications Office.”

J. Edgar Boozer's also trying to crack down on leaks.

Maybe if they were better at their jobs, nobody'd care.

Gorka Goes After the Imaginary Enemies in Trump's Head

“Violent left-wing extremists” and “extremist transgender ideology” are among the most concerning threats facing the country, according to the Trump administration counterterrorism strategy released Wednesday.

The strategy, the first released in President Donald Trump’s second term, underscores how Trump’s priorities differ from predecessors, listing “violent left-wing extremists” as one of its top three focuses, alongside “narcoterrorists” and “Islamist terrorists.”

"Violent transgendered terroists" sounds like either a bad punk rock band or some fevered demented dream of Commandante Bone Spurs.

Any fair analysis of domestic terrorist attacks in this country over the last thirty years will show that the perps are overwhelmingly white far-right men. There are three domestic terrorists sitting on Federal Death Row and two of them are white men who were trying to spark a race war.

But right-wing terrorists are Trump's people, which is why he's sent one of his pet Nazi thugs on a crusade to find nonexistent terrorists.

Maybe I'm Piling on the FBI's Make-a-Wish-Boy Director

But I don't think so:

Make-a-Wish-Boy, When He Didn't Have Access to a Gummint Jet

Kash Patel in 2023: “I’m just saying Chris Wray doesn’t need a government funded G5 jet to go to vacations. Maybe we ground that plane. $15,000 every time it takes off. Just a thought.”

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— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) November 2, 2025 at 9:28 PM

He's a little troll. His one function is flying around in his taxpayer-paid ride to show up at high-profile crime scenes with his child-sized raid jacket and toy badge, like he's real police.

$75,000 Make-a-Wish Kid’s Trip

FBI Director Ka$h Patel put on his kiddie-sized jersey to celebrate with the men's hockey team.

Sure, FBI, tell us more lies about this being an official trip.

Ka$h Living Large on our Dime

He took the FBI jet to Milan to watch hockey games. That cost us $75K or more.

Of course, like any good bureaucrat on a government boondoggle, he scheduled a meeting or two to justify the trip.

If Any Other FBI Director Since Hoover Had Done This, His Head Would Have Rolled.

FBI Director Kash Patel has — on more than one occasion — ordered that the security detail protecting his girlfriend escort one of her allegedly inebriated friends home after a night of partying in Nashville, according to three people with knowledge of the incidents.

Patel’s girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, asked FBI agents on her security team at least two times, including once this spring, to drive her friend home, and agents objected to diverting from their assignment, said the sources, who were granted anonymity to discuss nonpublic matters. But Patel insisted they do as Wilkins requested and in one case called the leader of Wilkins’ security detail and yelled at him to do so.

And you know, don't you, that a certain walleyed blogger would have been screaming blue bloody murder if Chris Wray had had members of his security detail escord a drunken friend home. But it's just peachy for Patel's main squeeze to do it.

The FBI is a joke under his "leadership". Patel's only interested in having fun and getting his ugly face on camera.

Labor Statistics Will Now Be Meaningless Tripe

Owwrr Deer Leeedur is firing the Director of Labor Statistics in order to put someone in who will cook the books to order.

President Donald Trump on Friday ordered the firing of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, hours after a stunning government report showed that hiring had slowed down significantly over the past three months.

Taking to Truth Social, he attacked Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the BLS. He claimed that the country's jobs reports "are being produced by Biden appointee" and ordered his administration to terminate her.
...
The politicization of economic data and potential interference with it by political appointees is something that's typically seen in nondemocratic countries like Russia, Venezuela or China.

And now here. Government statistics, at least those that the Sundowning Dictator can get his hands on, will be as valueless as those produced by Stalin's government.

Also, this:

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— George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 (@gtconway.bsky.social) August 1, 2025 at 4:16 PM