The Worst Thing Trump Did on 7/7/25

The idiot is trying once again to play tough guy with trade. 

Earlier this year, on April 2nd, when Trump placed his massive worldwide tariff scheme on pretty much every country, it took 10 hours for the White House to FRANTICALLY walk back that decision.  In the ten hours it was in place, most of the US's foundational economic markets (bond, currency, metals, housing, agriculture) were all cracked.  If they hadn't immediately walked back his disastrous tariffs, the country would have nosedived into a depression by that afternoon. 

Since then, Trump has waffled on tariffs, imposing them, then walking them back, earning a nickname from Wall Street traders, TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out).  Not only that, but Trump has repeatedly made knee-jerk handshake agreements (trade policy must be approved by Congress, NOT the White House), which are disastrous to the United States.

Tariffs on imported products are PAID BY AMERICANS! This means he is placing a tax on products Americans use, to be paid by Americans.  The hope he has is that American consumers will cease buying the foreign products, products which, in many cases, are not produced with any major capacity in the United States. As Trump keeps bragging about the amount of money the government is collecting from tariffs, he clearly doesn't seem to care that the money is coming from Americans.

Yesterday, Trump tried a relaunch of his previous disaster tariff policy, but this time he is trying to feel out how many tariffs he can impose without nosediving the markets.  He picked 14 countries (Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Laos, Myanmar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Tunisia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Serbia, Cambodia, and Thailand) and placed tariffs ranging from 25 to 40% on most imported products, and implied even higher tariffs on certain goods.  If any country puts reciprocal tariffs on the US, he promised to double them.

Trump doesn't seem to understand a lot about the world and trade.  Most of the world HATES him, and so foreign leaders know it will be political suicide to work with him, or to bow down to his wishes.  The other problem is that most of the world doesn't want our products, and can't afford to pay for them.  If he thinks this will lead to a boon to US exports, he's an even bigger fool than he already is.

He swears he won't back down this time, but really, all the world has to do is stop taking our Ag products, and this country's economy will come crashing down fast. Already, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, and New Zealand have rushed in to supply the Ag product that the world depended on the US for.  

This will not end well.

And the US dollar had its worst start to a year since 1973 and the oil crisis. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 7/6/25

Yesterday was a cavalcade of demented arguments as Trump sent Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and White House Economic Advisor Kevin Hassett out to defend not only his Big Beautiful Disgrace, but also his tariff disaster and the impacts from his ICE raids.

On various Sunday shows, the two clowns claimed:

• Bessent admitted that tariffs were indeed price increases (but tried to claim it was a one-time thing)
• Bessent said that Trump never promised he'd make trade deals, and then claimed that many of the countries never tried to contact them (YES THEY DID! It's something I wrote about in yesterday's WTTD)
• Bessent stated that most people getting Medicaid were able-bodied and would easily be able to find a job that pays for health care.
• Bessent (THE TREASURY SECRETARY) said the Democrats were responsible for blowing out the deficit in 2020, the last year Trump was in office.
• To avoid admitting how many people were going to lose health care under Trump's plan, Hassett insisted that all the people who do lose their insurance should just go get a job.
• Bessent, when challenged about Trump breaking his promises and changing Medicaid by adding a work requirement to it, insisted Trump never said that, only that he wouldn't change the benefits.  He did say he wouldn't change Medicaid, and he has also changed benefits.
• Bessent argues that 57% of Americans who understand that tariffs hurt the economy are all suffering from Tariff Derangement Syndrome. The Treasury Secretary doesn't understand that tariffs do actually hurt your economy.
• Hassett had a weird one.  When confronted about the multiple analyses that say the Trump bill will add at least 3 trillion to the deficit, Hassett responded, "Remember that Science is not a Democracy. Truth is not a Democracy." He then went on to say that all of these reports came from flawed groups and that only the White House is correct.
• When asked about the Yale Budget Lab stating the wealthiest Americans will see their income rise by 2% while the lowest income Americans will see their incomes drop, Bessent attacked the Yale group as "all ex-Biden officials and that we can ignore everything they say."
• Bessent then made the preposterous statement suggesting that Americans will be willing to work the jobs that immigrant labor has been doing.  He then said the jobs would likely have to pay more, and then completely pivoted to talk about new jobs coming back to America...so I guess no one is going to do the jobs the immigrants were doing.

Even these two dolts couldn't sell this crap sandwich.

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 7/5/25

A White House insider has revealed that the Trump trade war is not real at all.  Trump is apparently doing this for attention, to create content for his social media, and to be an agent of chaos. 

The story from Politco highlights that as we approach the 90 day self induced Trump dealline for countries to secure trade deals with the US, the rest of the world is convinced that TACO Trump plans on having to extend out his ultimatum deadline again as so far there doesn't seem to be a cohesive negotiating unit. 

Trump apparently has placed three people, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, as his crack team to negotiate all the deals, but no one seems to understand the basic process of negotiating a trade deal, and it's not clear how much communication is occuring between his three appointees.  Foreign countries are sending agents to negotiate, and those agents are not even able to get face time with Trump's three clowns.

The foreign trade representatives who have managed to get meetings with the trio of idiots walk away confused, as even the Trump team doesn't seem to know what exactly they are looking for in trade deals. Some countries have come to actually play Trump's game and give him a lot of concessions, but then Trump bashes them on social media, undoing any negotiations that might have happened.  The Insider's theory is that Trump likes the chaos more than actual results.

It's clear Trump's promise of 90 deals in 90 days will not happen.  And the few deals he has made are horrifically bad for Americans.

Then again, Trump Always Chickens Out...

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 7/4/25

Yesterday, Trump signed the disastrous piece of legislation, his 'Big Beautiful Bill,' which will end up killing millions of Americans, to make sure billionaires get more free government money. 

Trump at a rally afterwards bashed the Democrats for not voting for his bill. "They wouldn't vote only because they hate Trump (talking about himself in the third person. Okay, James Joyce.), but I hate them too, you know that? I really do.  I hate them. I cannot stand them, because I really believe they hate our country..."

This is the first time since the Civil War that a President has spoken out against a large portion of the population, and Lincoln was far more congenial in his references to the Southerners fighting against the United States. Trump is the first President to aggressively fight against a UNITED country, not hiding his disdain for the people he is elected to serve, including the ones who did not vote for him. 

Can you imagine the reaction of all the Republicans, the national news media, and even a lot of Democrats if President Obama, President Biden, or VP Harris had said, "I hate MAGA. I cannot stand them."? They'd be going crazy for a year! But the failure of our leaders and institutions to call out this atrocious behavior is inexcusable. 

It will take a generation for the damage this man has done to go away.  My guess is that only when the majority of his supporters pass away over time will Trumpism move back into the shadows, to the barbed wire-surrounded compounds in Montana and Michigan.

The Friday Link for 7/4/25

I will alwasy start a Friday Link on the 4th of July with the Muppets. WEIRDOS! 

Fantastic as always, but considering how things are going in this country today, maybe Stars and Stripes Forever should be replaced with The Talking Heads' Psycho Killer.  This modern video for the song features Saoirse Ronan.  Things aren't going great in America right now.

Then again, maybe we should replace it with A Pitch Perfect Riff Off.  Frankly, these parts are consistently the best part of those movies. And for the record, I could go with a lot more of Das Sound Machine in my life. 

Finally, this week, a more science-y video. Most of the time, when they identify a new dinosaur, they do so with like three bones and a tooth. Have you ever asked how exactly they do that?  The YouTuber channel Howtown, which has some style, asked that question with a class of dinosaurs called Pterosaurs. It is remarkable to see them figure that all out. And I've been to Chicago and seen the HUGE model they feature in this piece at their Natural History Museum (a must-visit!).

That's it for this week.  Happy Independence Day.  May we be free of these dark times soon.

Please make sure you stay up to date on your vaccinations. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 7/3/25

This is the Worst Thing Trump and his Administration did, and although he will sign the bill later on Independence Day, yesterday the House GOP were the villains on that one, so...

I think we have to go to Trump's victory rally in Des Moines, Iowa, last night. 

We'll start with his desire to have a UFC fight on the White House lawn. If you are not aware, the UFC is a barbaric, drunken bar fight labeled as a sport.  Whereas boxing is a technical enterprise of weakening your opponent, UFC is two people pummeling each other, where blood and injuries are cheered. I have no patience for it.  It's making a sport out of fights between fans in the stands at a minor league hockey game. 

And now Trump wants to put an official UFC fight on the White House lawn. It's beyond parody at this point. As someone pointed out, "Trump has UFC fight on the White House lawn" sounds more like an Onion headline from 2017.  

Trump then went on to use a notorious anti-Semitic term.  Talking to a Des Moines crowd that CLEARLY LOVES Trump for his racism, bigotry and anti-Semitism, Trump said: "No going to the banks and borrowing from, in some cases, a fine banker, and in some cases shylocks and bad people."  Shylock is the name of the Jewish character from Merchant of Venice, a Shakespearean play where anti-Semetic rhetoric and tropes were displayed.

Over the last 50 years, more and more anti-Semitic people have used the phrase.  Even Joe Biden said the phrase while VP, something the media lambasted him for, and something he apologized for after it was called out by the Anti-Defamation League. 

Don't hold your breath on the news media holding Trump to the same standard, or Trump having an epiphany. 

But it's the rally itself I want to point out. This rally was planned WELL IN ADVANCE! When people were saying the Republicans would show some level of restraint, fighting Trump on his most obnoxious proposals in his 'Big Beautiful' bill, I laughed.  The only time you see a Republican show a spine is when, AFTER political polling tells them they are on the way out, they announce their retirement and suddenly insist they've never fully agreed with the Trump agenda...that they freely voted for.  They're all cowards, but that's what makes them Republicans.  They're there for their willingness to acquiesce.

Trump knew this bill was going to pass.  Any Republican dissent was for show only. The Democrats sure as hell weren't going to do anything to stop it.  They had this all scheduled out.  No drama.  No fuss. 

And now everyone but the billionaires are screwed. 

The Sadness that is America

Instead of doing a Worst Thing, here are pictures of flowers I took while on vacation in northern Minnesota.

After what Republicans did to this country today, looking at flowers seems like a good option.

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 7/1/25

Trump continues to march down the road to fascism, as yesterday he visited what will be his new kennel for humans, the intentionally grotesquely named Alligator Alcatraz.

Basically, it's a flimsy prison tent city in the middle of the Florida swamps.  He wants to eliminate the middleman in his 'deport them to the gulag' system, so he's building a US gulag in the middle of Florida to send people. If you think about inhumane places to send people, Florida is high on that list! 

The people building it have claimed the facility will be hurricane-proof.  As they said this, a rainstorm (which was described as a very average rainstorm) immediately flooded a large portion of the prison complex.  I could point out this is hazardous, but this seems to be the point.  Trump and MAGA seem to want to have a MAGA gladiator stadium at the facility so they can watch the people whom they throw in there suffer.

He will likely start throwing anyone he doesn't like into this facility, including American citizens who have done nothing wrong.  This would be one of the reasons it's out in the middle of nowhere: to avoid scrutiny. 

Here is another weird thing about Trump.  One of the things he LOVES about the Alligator Alcatraz is that it's surrounded by alligators and snakes, which could kill someone who tries to escape. Considering how shoddy the place is built, I think there's a decent chance the animals will get in regardless, but Trump loves the idea of people he's deemed to be criminals being eaten and ripped to shreds by wild critters.

He then talked about restoring the original Alcatraz, an insane idea as that would require a complete rebuild of the facility.  One of the reasons he wants to open Alcatraz back up is that he says it's an island surrounded by sharks, once again relishing in people he's deemed to be criminals being eaten.

Trump seems to want to be a Bond villain.  

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/30/25

The extent of Trump's trade war disaster really came to light yesterday, as his promise of "90 deals in 90 days" is nowhere near fruition.

Trump's trade problems are multi-layer, starting with the obvious:  he applied a 10% tariff on all imports and then said FROM THAT POINT he'd negotiate.  The rest of the world is not willing to accept his 10% mulligan, and so every negotiation starts off with our trade partners already upset.

It gets worse from there.  Trump is basically wanting every concession he can get while offering zero concessions in return to the other countries. For some reason, he thinks he can force his will onto these other nations, and he doesn't seem to understand that these other countries are not about to sacrifice their own internal businesses and GDP to make Trump look like a good negotiator.  

When another country tries to install a retaliatory tariff, Trump screams and throws a tantrum, insisting there is no trade deal will occur.  Most of the time, this leads to the other country backing off, or offering Trump a trade bone, but regardless, to reverts all the trade discussion between the two countries back to square one.

And then there is the fact that Trump can't keep his mouth shut.  Trump has repeatedly bragged about being the chief negotiator in a conflict resolution between Pakistan and India.  Fun fact, he wasn't, but it hasn't stopped him from claiming to be the wheeler-dealer.  The problem is that this resolution between Pakistan and India seems pretty thin to begin with, and Pakistan is happily touting Trump's claims.  Pakistan knows the people of India are not fans of Trump, and if Indian Prime Minister Modi keeps making excuses for Trump and keeps trying to work with him, Modi looks pretty bad to his citizens.  Modi has, in pretty blunt terms, repeatedly said Trump had nothing to do with the resolution, but Trump's continued claims have made India move further away from a proposed trade deal. 

India was going to be Trump's first success story, but Trump's irrational need to be the hero of EVERY story has stalled this trade agreement, and there seems to be a real question on whether it will ever happen.

On top of that, there are demands from the Trump Administration that certain agricultural products from the USA that are banned in other countries because of health, chemical, GMO, or quality concerns be accepted. Foreign trade representatives have pointed out that most countries would need a legislative agreement to lift the protections they have in place, something which will not happen, but these obvious roadblocks are being ignored by Trump's team.  It sounds like at least three major trade deals would be on their way to ratification, but Trump doesn't want to be perceived as being the person conceding. 

In conclusion, Trump is an idiot, and his foolish trade war has been a disaster for the United States.

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/29/25

Coming back from my vacation, I could go back over the last twelve days and pick from the buffet of horrific things that human dumpster fire did, but I will only focus on what is in front of us.

On the heels of the Supreme Court attacking their own judiciary and insistting that a judge can't formally stop an executive action without it coming in case form to the Supreme Court, a process which would allow Trump to break the law for up to a year + before someone would actually be able to stop him, Trump has ramped up his racist and totalitarian agenda in the wake of the ruling and is goose-stepping forward.

It came to light yesterday that Trump issued a Justice Department memo that directs attorneys to prioritize denaturalization of naturalized citizens who commit certain crimes. There are currently 25 million Americans who were born in another country and became naturalized US citizens. The argument they are making is that many of these people "illegally procured" their US citizenship, a claim the Trump Administration has zero evidence of. 

Even more heinous is that the attorneys are being told to pursue civil charges, not criminal charges.  That means the government is not on the hook to provide a lawyer for the accused, and their burden of proof is at a much lower level than with a criminal trial.

That means Trump is going after people who not only wanted to become Americans, but who have already gone through the insanely long-winded, time-consuming, methodical, and expensive process of becoming a US Citizen.  Now, Trump is punishing them for already jumping through the hoops, mainly because they have a darker skin tone than Casper.

This is clearly a first step, with the next being to go after birthright citizenship, and eventually getting to Trump's goal of controlling the masses by threatening to revoke the citizenship status of American Citizens whose ancestors came to the US hundreds of years ago.

And my guess is the Supreme Court, even when an eventual case gets onto their docket, would consider undoing a Constitutional Amendment completely from the bench, to help their king, Trump.

Ther Friday Link for 6/27/25

Hi all!

I love history.  I'm currently on my vacation, and the books I've been reading, one has to do with Mark Twain, and the other is a historical investigation into murder.  As I said, I love history.

This week, I stumbled across a great channel that takes us back in time to look at how some of the largest cities on the planet grew to become the greatest cities on the planet. The channel is This Is History, and it reminds me of an old version of the History Channel before they became obsessed with aliens, antiques, and pawn shops. There are a lot of different history videos, all of them providing a look at a larger historical topic or concept.  So far, I like it.

Here are three city videos for New York, London, and Paris! 

Finally, is a cooking video from Jamie at the ANTI-CHEF.  He has found a hamburger cookbook from the 1950s, and he tries some of the dated recipes.  The banana meatloaf is a hard pass from me, but the other three look pretty darn tasty.  And I'll be damned if I don't try the burger dogs for this upcoming 4th of July celebration!  Those looked good! 

Have a great weekend, everyone!  See you at Twin Cities Pride on Sunday! 

Please make sure you stay up to date on your vaccinations.

The Friday Link for 6/20/25

I realized I've not put out a Friday Link with what I thought were the best skits from the last season of Saturday Night Live. Let's remedy that.

Once again, I know there will be people upset with this list. Fine, it's just my opinion.  

I'm giving out an honorable mention as Andy Samberg and Charli XCX had a digital short which was one of the most enjoyable songs from the last year...not the theme of the song, which was calling the cops on everyone (although pretty funny), but just the beat.  Rewrite the lyrics and release this as a regular song!  Here I go! 

#10 - Bungee. Timothée Chalamet is a sneaky good host. His bizarre workout class skit was the right kind of preposterous.

#9 - Beppo.  John Mulaney has such good timing and delivery.  This sketch could have been really boring, but it ended up being hilarious. 

#8 - Sushi Glory Hole. Andy Samberg and Akiva Schaffer really want to feed you sushi in a creative and disturbing way. 

#7 - Washington's Dream 2. Nate Bergatze returned, and they revisited Washington, talking to the troops. It's not as funny as the first one, but it still holds up pretty good.

#6 - Maybelline - Two of the best impressionists the show ever produced are Chloe Fineman and Dana Carvey, and they are both featured here (with Ariana Grande doing a pretty good impression herself).  The impression is Jennifer Coolidge! 

#5 - Miss Eggy on the White House Correspondents' Dinner.  Live TV can sometimes save a sketch.  As good as Ego Nwodim is, this sketch was kind of pedestrian, until the audience decided to jazz it up! And Ego did not miss a beat. 

#4 - New York City Council Campaign.  John Mulaney shines as a candidate with a less-than-advantageous name. 

#3 - Check To Check Business News - A great sketch with Ego Nwodim and Jon Hamm and a take on business news for most Americans. 

#2 - The Culps from the 50th Anniversary show.  The classic characters of the Culps with Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer were as good as ever.  They did this for the SNL 50th Music night, so not really even in any of the main broadcasts, but it is so good I almost made it the best thing from the season.

#1 - The Weekend Update Christmas Joke Swap. In case you are not familiar, Colin Jost and Michael Che write jokes for each other to read on the Christmas show and the end of the season finale, and they have no idea what they are about to read.  These jokes are some of the most offensive jokes you'll hear, but they have figured out a way to get away with them by making the other the butt of each punchline.  The Christmas edition was the best ever, with an all-time classic joke moment featuring Jost and his wife Scarlett Johansson.

Have a great weekend, everyone!  

Please make sure you stay up to date on your vaccinations!

A Note

This has been a rough week.  After what happened in Minnesota last weekend, I'm taking my pre-scheduled vacation and withdrawing.

I've learned that it's counterproductive to try to keep updating my personal blog while I'm on vacation, so I won't be posting The Worst Thing Trump Did until the 30th. I need to decompress.

I am still numb about the political assassination of Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband and the shooting of Senator Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. 

I'm taking some time. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/17/25

Trump's threatening Iran is REALLY stupid.  

Embarrassed after his disastrous birthday parade, Trump headed to the G7 in Canada, only to be met with a stunning wall of friendly but tired-of-his-antics world leaders.  Trump started off the G7 by insisting the other members were being too mean to his buddy Putin (who was excluded from these meetings because he's an evil dictator).  The other world leaders didn't budge, and frankly seemed to be openly mocking and ignoring Trump.

Trump stomped off the world stage and headed back to DC, where Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu saw an opportunity.  Bibi started to play on Trump's stupidity and desire to be taken seriously, encouraging him to show the world he's a tough guy and to attack Iran. Trump bit on Netanyahu's lure, and suddenly this country started ramping up its military to match Trump's anti-Iran stupid rhetoric.

Netanyahu knows Israel can only bomb Iran from the air, and he's not stupid enough to try a ground war with them.  That's why he needs Trump and the US military.  Netanyahu is more than happy to sacrifice our troops for his cause, and with Trump, he has an easy-to-manipulate fool who will jeopardize our troops (and the potential for an all-out Middle Eastern war) all for the promise of adulation from the World Stage, a validation Trump begs for. 

Can we beat Iran?  Yes, but it would be a long, incredibly costly (both in human life and cost) venture that would stagnate this country for years.  It'd also probably tank the world financial markets.  Should we attack them? NO!  Reminder, Iran was pretty much (contently) contained after Obama signed the nuclear deal with them, a deal Trump ripped up in his first stupid term.

But Trump is a complete idiot, so...

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/16/25

I would love to make Trump storming out of the G7 the winner today.  He's still furious over the Saturday debacle, and it was clear the other 6 countries think he's a laughing stock, but instead, I'm going to go with the Trump phone! 

The Trump Organization has announced that they have started a new venture, Trump Mobile, and will release a new smartphone, the T1, which they initially said would be made in America. It won't anytime soon, but they still made the claim.  It is also not a new cell phone network, as they are only reselling Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile network access. 

The phone will retail for $499 and requires a non-refundable (HA!) $100 down payment.  On top of that, you'll be required to pay $47.45 per month for it, but they are promising a slew of special services that will come with the phone, such as "device protection."  They did not describe what "device protection" means, but it is likely through a third-party provider, like the other features for the T1, like roadside assistance, telehealth, and prescription services. Most people speculate that the phone comes with very basic versions of those services, and T1 users should anticipate numerous fees if they use those services beyond a basic level. 

OH! And it's just a repackaged phone you can already buy. The T1 is incredibly similar to a T-Mobile REVVL 7 Pro 5G. The specifics of the display and cameras match the other phone perfectly.  

What doesn't match up is the price. The full retail price of the T-Mobile REVVL 7 Pro 5G is $250, and it currently sells on Amazon for $169, $330 cheaper than the T1!

The sitting President is trying to hawk crappy cell phone serivce.  WOW, no wonder the G7 countries mocked him.

For a scam, this is a really stupid one.  Only an idiot would buy this, but that's exactly what Trump is banking on.

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/15/25

Of course, they were going to lie about the attendance at the Trump Birthday parade! 

The Administration said they were expecting 250,000 people, but it's clear they had nowhere near that many people attend the Trump birthday/Army Birthday parade in DC.  Some of the most sparse numbers are pegging the actual attendance at around 10,000.  Now I know sometimes the left gets ahead of themselves and will throw out an atrocious number to goad Trump, but from people who were there on the ground, the actual number of attendees seems to be from 10,000 to 50,000 (but the social media page who placed the attendance on the top of the range acknowledged they were probably giving a generous count).

Regardless, the Trump Administration sent White House spokesperson Steven Cheung out to insist the actual number in attendance was 250,000.  We all know they are making themselves look like idiots for the MAGA faithful who weren't there.  Good news for Steven is that it looks like he'll be the Easter Bunny next Easter at the official White House celebration.

One of the reasons the Administration is furiously trying to inflate the numbers is that on the same day of his big boy birthday parade, the people behind the #NoKings rallies nationwide made an estimate of 11 million people in attendance, protesting Trump. If that number holds up, then 3.5% of the entire population of the country of 330 million spent part of their Saturday protesting the disgrace in the White House.

Trump, clearly raging, made the announcement later on Sunday that he's specifically going to attack Democratic-leaning cities with his ICE Gestapo, a punishment for daring to not bow down to him. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/14/25

No post yesterday as most of us here in Minnesota were shocked by the terrorist attack which killed Democratic Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, and the shooting of MN Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette by an anti-abortion extremist, who had a plan to kill a lot of other people.

I'd interviewed Speaker Hortman at least 6 times over the years.  She was always a wonderful conversationalist and a political leader who was passionate about helping Minnesotans.  I remember when she became the leader of the Democrats in the House, and I felt she was a sensational pick.  She had a lot to do with that Minnesota Miracle year of 2023 being as good as it actually was.

I've interviewed Senator Hoffman three times, and remember a wonderful evening at a station event a few years back where I got to spend time with him, his wife, and their daughter, the same daughter Yvette threw herself on top of to prevent her from getting shot by a psychopath.  

I am not okay right now. I am so sad and angry. 

I did spend time at the #NoKings rally yesterday in Minnetonka, on the west side of Minneapolis/St. Paul, and being with so many positive people furious at where our country is headed, was a comfort.

The worst thing Trump did yesterday was clearly his attempt to usurp the birthday of the US Army AND Flag Day, and turn them into a big boy petty party for himself, and how horrible it ended up being.  Everything about it was SUPER cringe, from the lackluster crowds, to the lack of motivation from the troops, to the Administration daydreaming throughout the event, to a cake which (frankly) I could have made a better version of.

The US Army deserves better than what they got yesterday, mistreated and turned into a clown for a petulant child's birthday party. Watching Trump fidget through it must have been him realizing how outnumbered he is right now in this country.

As I predicted, the free red hat all the hired seat fillers had to wear was indeed a Trump hat, meaning that the entire point of this was not to honor the troops, but rather to honor the large orange blob.

Finally, yesterday, the Administration put out a tribute on Flag Day.  That's fine, but they, for some reason, put two small icons of the Russian flag on the image they sent out to celebrate OUR Flag Day! I would say it was an accident, but I'm pretty sure we all know it wasn't.

The Friday Link for 6/13/25

Hi all!

If you've followed the Link for a while, you know I LOVED when Bon Appétit had their super chef line up and were putting out must-see cooking videos that made everyone want to work in the test kitchen.  Unfortunately, there were a lot of problems behind the scenes, and most of the great personalities left the channel (although the great Chris Morocco still occasionally shows up). 

The hosts they have now are fine, and the food is still the star, but it was a must-watch for a few years.

Imagine my surprise when I found a new cooking channel on YouTube, Food52.  This is the video that popped up in my timeline, with Noah Tanen showing us how to make Utica Greens, which look really tasty! 

Okay, Food52, you have my attention.  I then went and scrolled through their videos and caught this delightful one with Tess Gigone, where she found an old school savory Jell-o recipe from long ago and gave it the old college try.

I liked this video too.  Tess is quirky, fun, and somewhat addictive (traits a few of the old BA chefs had).  The only suggestion I would make is to not be so over-the-top negative until you try it.  It's a fun video.  I give her a lot of credit for even trying to make this dish.

So lastly, I found this one video featuring Lydia Keating and what I am presuming is her husband (they never really ID him). I LOVE Mussels and this looks delicious.  The two have a fun back and forth, but two things.  I know you've got to pay the bills, but the ad placement in this video is a little heavy-handed.  Also, please do not call a recipe simple if the first thing you are doing is roasting beef bones to get the marrow out of them to make one ingredient of this dish.  Simple for me does not include an extensive (although maybe or maybe not too complicated) cooking time. 

Overall, I like it.  I will be making Food52 a regular watch. 

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Please make sure you stay up to date on your vaccinations!

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/12/25

I would say the manhandling of Senator Alex Padilla by Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem's henchmen is an undeniable winner.

I say henchmen because you can clearly see that these men don't have an allegiance to the US government at all.  They are there to ONLY serve Kristi and Kristi alone. That's not their job!  These guys weren't Secret Service, they were henchmen.

So 'Cosplay' Kristi, who is always playing dress up, had one of her highly choreographed media showcases, where she had her prepared statements and was going to 'answer' prescreened questions which she had practiced, to address the military being dispatched to attack US Citizens on US soil in Los Angeles, turing the military into a police agency to arrest people Kristi doesn't like, something Krisit was found to have encouraged our drunk Defense Secretary to do more of. 

The California Senator showed up at the event, and even though he clearly identified himself and was a person the Secret Service should have known to be A SITTING US SENATOR, he was wrestled out of the press charade and handcuffed in the hallway.  

It was clear that when he started to ask a question that Kristi wasn't prepared for, that THEN they grabbed him and took him out of the room.  This stunning level of authoritarianism was done just to prevent our incompetent Homeland Security Secretary from having to answer a question in public that she was likely not going to have a ready answer for.  For the Administration, the fake façade of competency is the only thing that matters.

A Noem spokesperson insisted the SITTING US SENATOR was an attacker, lunging at Kristi, even though, ONCE AGAIN, the senator identified himself over and over again to the hired thug henchmen.

Ever since, Kristi has tried to portray herself as the poor innocent victim, portray Padilla as a raging out of out-of-control criminal, and portray her having a 15-minute meeting with the Senator after the incident, behind closed doors, away from media scrutiny as some sort of benevolent charitable act.

If I were the Democratic Party, I would have a Senator or Rep. at EVERY Noem press fiasco from here on out. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/11/25

Today is Trump's continued abuse of the military, either through making them do a job they're not supposed to do, turning them into a political prop, or trying to steal a day to honor for them to make it all about himself.

First, this message.  As a Veteran of the US Army, F- this guy!

Word has come out that morale among the troops deployed into LA is pretty low for multiple reasons.  As one soldier put it, "We're usually deployed to help a community, and the community comes out to show their gratitude.  This time, the community doesn't want us here, and they are not very welcoming." On top of that, the deployment of the troops happened so fast that no one at the Pentagon filed the necessary paperwork to get them paid, healthcare, and the benefits that active duty military are promised.  Considering the questionable legality of the deployment, those military employment basics might not be coming to these soldiers anytime soon.  And even after photos showed the less-than-ideal living conditions of these deployed troops, they still have yet to get adequate housing/facilities.

Trump doesn't have time to care about those troops.  He was off to Fort Bragg to do a political rally with the soldiers.  This indeed was a politcal rally because the Trump Administration screened the soldiers that were featured behind the draft dodging anti-Ameirca orange jackass. This whole rally was a "tightly orchestrated effort to curate the optics" of the event. The soldiers behind Trump were picked because of their political leanings and physical fitness.  The language of "no fat soldiers" was used to cull the audience.  And female soldiers were not welcome.  Only a handful of the crowd behind Trump was female, BY DESIGN! Trump feels women can serve and die for this country, but he doesn't want you ruining his photo op.

Army officials vented their frustration about this dog and pony show, as politicizing the military, and the Army in particular, is something that leads to falling public opinion, and lower morale within the ranks.

This leads us to the petulant orange man child's birthday military parade, hardly disguised as a salute to the military.  On Saturday, we are going to have a military parade like a third-world dictatorship to make Trump feel like a big boy! One slight problem: they're apparently having difficulty finding enough people who actually want to attend the parade.  Someone has found a Craigslist ad for seat fillers for June 14th in DC.  Perspective hires are expected to wear Red, White, and Blue, and minorities are "encouraged" to apply, as the ad notes these minorities will be prominently featured in the broadcast (my guess is they'll save the ICE arrest for AFTER the parade). 

Parade watching hires will get a free fast food lunch and be paid $1000 in cryptocurrency (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!).  But it's one specific line that gives away Trump's real goal of making this salute to the military really about a swearing of allegiance to him and him alone.  Every hire will be provided a red hat to wear. My guess is that the hat will bear a Trump slogan, and the right-wing TV networks covering it will insist "the crowd all wore the hat independently in a sign of Trump's appeal.  Look, another minority!!!"

...It'd be a shame if a lot of people signed up for that work and wore anti-Trump or pro-Biden shirts under their Red, White, and Blue...

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/10/25

Sorry, I've been busy the last few days with graduation stuff.

The last few days could be a litany of things, with Trump's insanely over-the-top, military-heavy reaction to minor protesting in LA, a clear test run of his Administration's desire to deploy active duty military to mandate a 'Trump über alles' standard for all Americans, a clear frontrunner.  I've said for years that Trump is a deranged psychopath, so needy for praise and adulation that he will become a jilted ex if people don't love him.  "If you don't love me the way I want you to love me, I will FORCE you to love me."  Pure dictator 101.

Violent protesting is bad, but the VAST majority of the protesters are peaceful.  When the Right has to create AI-generated videos or show footage from video games or old news stories to make their claims of chaos seem based in reality, you know they have nothing.

I should mention that what LA is really showing us is the insanity of the idea of trying to have the military occupy the major US cities of this country.  They have 4000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines deployed to about a 20 square block radius in Los Angeles, at a cost of 134 million dollars, AND all those troops can do is protect Gestapo ICE agents and guard Federal Buildings.  To hold LA overall, you'd need at least 100,000 troops and well over a billion dollars. Add in New York, Chicago, Houston, Seattle, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Denver, San Francisco, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, Miami, and Phoenix, and you'd have to activate EVERY SINGLE MILITARY PERSON across the globe, including pulling every troop off of every foreign base, ordering every US ship back to the US coast, and activiating every National Guard and reservist in the country (calling up all the reservists and National Guard troops for a long deployment would also be a MASSIVE disruption in the economic chain!). The cost to occupy the major US cities of this country would probably be close to a trillion dollars, and I think that's GROSSLY undercounting the cost. 

Still, Trump is foolish enough to try it, so he's creating disasters to portray himself as the hero after he "solves" the problems he has created. 

We definitely could consider Brain Worm Magee's latest anti-vax insanity, as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the committee that issues official government recommendations on immunizations.  Kennedy spewed his insane arguments to validate it, but all he did was take respected vaccine experts and remove them, planning on finding the biggest and dumbest anti-vax kooks he could to issue a ruling that validates his zealotry.

And that's what this is all about.  They know eventually, after millions of people start dying of preventable diseases, and the next Administration fires every one of these nutballs, he'll be on the outside again, so what he's doing is preparing to release a slew of unscientific, thrown together anti-vax stupidty as "offical governemnt reports" so that he and his dipsh!t brigade can point to those fraudulent reports and scream "SEEEEEEEE!  The Federal Government even made a report which proved I was right all along!"  They're doing so because they make money off of being anti-vax morons, and so this is them plowing the fields to make as much money for themselves, KILLING PEOPLE WITH THEIR ADVICE, long after they are out of office. 

And a reminder, pretty much all of them have a dark dirty secret they desperately want to keep away from their dumb ass followers:  Their families are all vaccinated.

Nope, for today we have to go with the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, who yesterday released a bizarre video talking about the horrors of nuclear bombs. She talked about the devastation and death that a single bomb can produce.  Fine.  We kind of already knew that.

Here's where it gets crazy.  Her main point is to warn the US and all of its allies to not provoke Vladimir Putin and Russia in regards to their conflict with Ukraine. Seriously, this is Russian Propaganda, fed to OUR DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE to be distributed to the American people.

You can easily piece together to conversation Vlad must of had with Tulsi, telling her she neds to do more to push Russian interests. Tulsi, CLEARLY COMPROMISED, put forward this drivel. This would be like warning America to stay out of WWII, as Hitler will be really mean if we interfere.  Stuff like that did happen back before Pearl Harbor, and we now know that those people were agents of Nazi Germany pushing Adolph's agenda.  

I have zero doubt we'll eventually have the evidence proving the Hawaiian Traitor's compromised existence, but really, this plea to 'Be Nice To Vlad' goes a long way to proving she's rotten. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/7/25

Let's just start with the truth:  Trump, desperate to get his spat with Elon Musk off the front pages of newspapers, decided to go full dictator and send in troops to occupy Los Angeles. 

As local Los Angeles residents once again protested masked ICE agents violently searching for anyone they could deport, it became clear that the protestors were not going to relent and allow the house-to-house searches the ICE Gestapo was attempting.  The protestors were angry and vocal, and some even did cross the line and get violent, but a reminder that this is the same President that was giggling and laughing, REFUSING to call up the military to stop the January 6th insurrectionists who were directly attacking the US Capitol building, looking to kill any Democrat and hang Mike Pence.  It was only when Virginia and Maryland said they were sending in their National Guard forces did Trump finally tell his supporters to leave and go home.

In comes Trump this time, promising to send in the National Guard. 

Then the Drunk Pete Hegseth puts the Marines on ready to ATTACK AMERICAN CITIZENS, while the Nazi Steven Miller intentionally started labeling this an Insurrection.  He was doing so to goad the Democrats, but it does present the question.  Does Miller think that Insurrections are bad, hence he's now equally condemning January 6th, or does he feel the current people he's labeled as Insurrectionists should get he same treatment as the previous Insurrectionists, pardons from Trump?

To show you this was all about getting the Trump/Musk feud off the front pages, Trump didn't let this stop him from attending a UFC fight.

Folks, you have a camera.  USE IT! Make sure you are filming Trump's secret police and military when they are dropped into US Cities.  Trump and Republicans WANT to start killing US citizens.  When they do, they will make up a completely fraudulent narrative to justify their unjustifiable actions.  As we saw with George Floyd, eyewitness video might be the only way we find out what really happened.  Film it and post it as fast as you can, tagging the BBC, The Guardian, and Rolling Stone. 

I will never forgive Marrick Garland for not doing his job. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/6/25

The Trump Administration finally obeyed the multiple court orders and returned Kilmar Ábrego García, the Maryland man they wrongly deported to a gulag in El Salvador to be tortured and killed, back to the United States.

Before you begin to think that this is a positive, you underestimate the pettiness and bigotry of the Trump Administration.  

Ábrego García, a man with no criminal record, was returned to the United States only to be indicted and charged on what appear to be made-up charges, because the Trump Administration is made up of small people unable to admit their mistakes. 

They're charging him with illegally smuggling undocumented people and conspiracy to commit that crime.  During their showboat press conference, AG Pam Bondi also accused him of smuggling guns and drugs (racist attacks because he's not European White), but with all her allegations of a massive crime ring, the smuggling charges are the only ones they are prosecuting.

This whole attack is a smear campaign.

It should be noted that Trump got this Federal Grand Jury indictment in Tennessee, NOT Maryland, where Ábrego García lives, or in Washington, DC, where the Federal Government is located.  Federal District Courts, where Federal Grand Juries are summoned, are located everywhere, so this was CLEARLY jury shopping, heading to the most conservative state east of the Mississippi, close to DC, to prosecute this case. 

They jury shopped because, without a bunch of racists, they wouldn't have gotten the indictment.  They clearly didn't want to bring him back from Trump's gulag without a prosecution in place. Trump, Bondi, and MAGA are terrified of being proven wrong about immigrants.  White Supremacy is what appeals most of all to their base. 

Most legal experts are expecting a full exoneration of the charges. 

The Friday Link for 6/6/25

Howdy All!

Today I was at my youngest child's high school graduation.  It was wonderful.  I am a proud father, and I made a lot of noise when my daughter's name was called.  There were a lot of proud parents there. When their child's name was read, the family members in the stands hooted and hollered, waved banners, made noise, and made sure their family pride was on display for everyone to see.

Talking to another one of the parents, she made an understandable point, that sometimes the cheering went on so long that it somewhat drowned out the name of the next person coming up to get their diploma. I get wanting to be fair and nice, but I also want to point out that considering the 4-year college graduation rate in the United States is around 38% (that's all Americans, either born here of American parents, immigrants, and those with birthright citizenship), high school graduation IS the major life education event for most families.  Let them hoot and holler.

The first video this week is a political one, but 1) it's fantastic, and 2) it addresses graduation and other topics that MAGA attacks immigrants and birthright citizens for.  It turns out that the far more productive class of people is the immigrants/birthright citizen group, NOT the American citizens born of American parents.  As a matter of fact, it's not even close.  Sullys_Classroom is the YouTube channel, and his point that some in MAGA feel like they don't have to earn something to receive it, is SPOT ON! No one is stealing anything from MAGA.  Some MAGA don't want to put in the hard work, demanding to be rewarded just for being MAGA. That's not how life works! 

Next up are two videos that are a bit heady.  The first is from regular Link contributor Joe Scott, asking what a common item found from the Roman age actually is. There is this strange object which has been found throughout the northern extent of the Roman Empire, and no one seems to know what its function was.  Scott breaks down the theories!

To understand the next video, you need to know what the Fermi Paradox is.  Enrico Fermi, when he started to realize how big the universe was, asked the question of "Where is everyone?" Considering the number of planets and stars and galaxies and universes, shouldn't there be a lot of alien species, some of whom are far more advanced than us, if evolution is something common?  This question has only gotten more and more interesting with the more and more planets and stars and galaxies and universes we discover.

Maybe there is a simple solution to why Earth managed to eke it out, and what happened on Earth is limited to a handful of other planets, a certain evolution of our cells, which makes the explosion of evolutionary diversity possible.

This is HEAVY DUTY SCIENCE! I found it fascinating. PBS Space Time has the details! 

That's it for this week!

Please make sure to stay up to date on your vaccinations.  I want you to be healthy! 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/5/25

The verbal breakup and slap fight between the world's wealthiest man and Trump has to be the winner today.

Let's unpack one little element of this fight: the admissions.

By the end of the day yesterday, Trump was openly acknowledging that he knew of/heard rumors of Elon Musk's mentally unstable behavior and disturbing drug use.  He didn't just find out about what should have been sure-fire deal breakers as far as government service, HE KNEW!  Not only did he say he knew Musk was mentally unstable and a drug user, but he put the man in charge of regulating everyone's personal information, allowing a damaged man to build a database of private information on every American citizen.

Musk made the clear accusation that the reason Trump has not released the Epstein Files is that Trump's name is all over them.  We already knew that Trump was BFF's with Epstein, appearing with him in multiple photos (some of which proudly featured underaged girls).  We also already know that Trump's name appeared on the flight logs of Epstein's child sex plane multiple times, and he traveled to Epstein's child sex island with underage girls, ONCE AGAIN, multiple times.  At this point, the only people who ignore the circumstantial evidence that Trump likely participated in child sex acts with underage girls are the MAGA cult members who will desperately discredit anything to make their Trump a God. 

But this assertion that Trump is indeed in the Epstein Files points to a VERY ugly truth.  If true, Elon, Pam Bondi, the Attorney General, and MANY OTHER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS KNEW Trump was a child sex abuser and not only ignored that crime, they became his enablers.  These are the same people who scream "GROOMER(!)" and PEDOPHILE (!)" anytime they want to dismiss a Democrat. Every Republican accusation is an admission...

I also love Trump, after Musk took credit for getting him elected, furiously arguing he was the most popular elected President of all time.  That is a laughable statement.  YES, Elon Musk, with his major donations, and his buying Twitter for billions just to turn it into a mouthpiece for MAGA, indeed handed Trump the election.  Trump really hates that being pointed out.

I don't see this ending well for them, but this is really a fight between narcassitic pond scum and a white sumpracist smelly fungus.  No one sane is rooting for either side. 

The Worst Thing Trump did on 6/4/25

There are unqualified hires, and then there is the entire Trump Administration.

The latest national embarrassment comes in the name of Thomas Fugate. He has been given a leadership role at the Department of Homeland Security, in the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3), combating terrorism, school shootings, and other hate-driven crimes. Part of his job is to oversee an 18-million-dollar grant program, which is dedicated to helping communities battle violent extremists. He replaced Bill Braniff, a counter terrorism expert with 20 years of national security experience. 

Thomas is 22. He recently graduated from the University of San Antonio (probably a fine college).  He has zero government work experience, zero government leadership experience, and absolutely zero experience in terror prevention or government security.

Staffers who have met with him state he seems to have zero knowledge about the role he now holds, and call meetings with him "career counseling." 

His LinkedIn profile says he was a gardener in 2020. So, how does someone so criminally unqualified for a job get one like this?  Fugate had an internship at the Heritage Foundation, and he worked for the Trump campaign last year. 

I am going to add his photo to this story as it's better than any movie villain I could post.  I love the peach fuzz mustache and the attempt to look intelligent with his raised brow. He looks like a complete and total f-cking moron. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/3/25

One of the things about the supporting cast of clowns that Trump has made his cabinet is how they seem to have taken their personality and professional standards from a villain of an 1980s teen movie. Self-centered, arrogant, full of themselves, petty, small, greedy, self-serving, and mean-spirited (although they think they're HILARIOUS!)

Case in point, the ultimate douche-nozzle that is the Secretary of (hic) Defense, Drunky McGuzzlebottle, aka Pete Hegseth.  What that f-er did yesterday is so bigoted, homophobic, and demented that there's a decent chance a court would order mandatory mental health counseling for him.

As Pride month kicks off, Hegesth specifically waited until the beginning of Pride to announce he was stripping the name of prominent gay rights activist and Navy Veteran Harvey Milk from a naval ship, a fleet replenishment oiler.  He specifically wanted to announce this at the beginning of Pride to hurt the LGBTQ population. Who the F- DOES THAT?!?

Milk was a gay rights activist in San Francisco,  a major early voice in the initial fight for equality for the gay community, but he's far from the only name Hegseth is eagerly wanting to rip from the bow of a Navy Ship.  Thurgood Marshall, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Harriet Tubman, Delores Huerta, Lucy Stone, Cesar Chavez, and Medgar Evers are all going to have their names equally removed from the Navy ships they adorn.  My guess is that The Drunk Hegesth is waiting until Juneteenth to announce the removal of the Black names from the ships, as he and his aryan nation buddies high-five and giggle about "showing them!"

When the Democrats return to office, not only should they return these ships to the names they had, but they should also find the latrine ship and name it after that Drunk F-er.