The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/28/25

Yesterday was a bit of a banner day, but there is one that just screams MAGA fever dream.

Trump has said the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) has violated Title IX in regards to allowing a transgender swimmer to compete on the women's team and use the women's facilities.  It doesn't mention Lia Thomas by name, the transgender athlete who last competed for Penn in 2022, who has become a focus of equality for the transgender community, but it's clear the Trump Administration wants to erase her from history.  They also want to do such damage to Penn that no one ever thinks about allowing a transgender athlete to compete in the sport that matches their sex ever again. 

A lot of this has to do with Riley Gaines, the spoiled brat swimmer who John Oliver quite correctly pointed out seems to be furious because after she tied with Thomas for 5th in one particular race, Gaines carried the 6th place trophy, not the 5th place trophy.  Seriously, that seems to be the focus of all of her pathetic anger.  It kind of sounds more like a bigot who was only looking for the flimsiest argument to validate her bigotry as something just. 

If you've not watched John Oliver's outstanding look at transgender athletes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flSS1tjoxf0

Yesterday, the Trump Administration threatened to prosecute Penn if they did not comply within ten days with the following three terms:

1) Penn must issue a statement that it will comply with Trump's interpretation of Title IX.

2) Penn must erase Lia Thomas from existence in regards to the school's athletic department, negating any roster spot, victories, finishes, or awards she might have received. 

And one that gives up the MAGA ghost on this, turning this into 'wealthy white female athletes are the real victims of discrimination in this world'...

3) Personally apologize to each individual swimmer "whose individual recognition is restored expressing an apology on behalf of the university for allowing her educational experience in athletics to be marred by sex discrimination."

A real Scarecrow ruling over the courts in The Dark Knight Rises quality about that last one.  "GROVEL AT OUR FEET AND BEG FOR OUR FORGIVENESS, OR ELSE!"  It should be noted that it'd likely be next to impossible for Penn to comply (if they wanted to) with sending out an apology to every swimmer from every meet that Thomas participated in.  

This is bigotry pretending it's been validated as something noble and righteous.  It's not.  It's just bigotry.

Mind you, the rules when Lia Thomas swam allowed her to swim, so this is basically demanding Penn apologize for doing something legal, something that Trump is trying to make retroactively illegal.

Anytime bigots have tried to create a second-tier class of humans, it's ended badly.  Just because it's wrapped up in blonde suburban athletes doesn't make it any less disgusting.

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/27/25

He says he wants to bring back Columbus Day.

1) Presidents don't bestow holidays.  

2) Congress does, and they have never rescinded Columbus Day. Columbus Day is still the official Federal Holiday

3) Many states and over 200 cities have replaced it with Indigenous Peoples' Day, and how he feels he can force them to only focus on praising Columbus remains to be seen.

Columbus wasn't the first person to "Discover" the North American continent. The Native population had been here for thousands and thousands of years, and just skipping past that to make a whitey folk hero in Columbus is pathetically racist.  It also should be mentioned that people from eastern Asia clearly knew of Alaska, and likely got to the West Coast of Canada, if not the lower 48. The Scandinavians actually had settlements reaching far down the northeastern side of North America. Also, the Island Nations of the Pacific seemed to be familiar with the western side of the South American continent. 

Columbus was HORRIBLE! Remember, he did ALL OF THESE horrible things:

• Enslaved thousands of innocent people
• Demanded that they mine gold for him
• He cut off Native people's ears to stoke fear.
• He killed Native people when it was more convenient than untying them.
• He kidnappped native women for the sole purpose of giving them to his crew to be raped.
• He even tortured Spanish settlers on the islands.

But let's focus on one horrific crime.  I want every person who romanticizes Columbus to remember this. HE ALLOWED 9 AND 10-YEAR-OLD GIRLS TO BE SOLD AS SEX CURRENCY, BRAGGING ABOUT HOW MUCH THEY WERE WORTH!!! (How many times was Trump on Epstein's island?)

Columbus was so bad, around 50,000 Natives killed themselves to escape his sadistic rule. He was so bad that even the people back in Europe in the age of the Spanish Inquisition thought he was too brutal, and was going too far.

And Trump LOVES him.

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/26/25

Trump was a bit of an embarrassment on the international stage as he attended the funeral for Pope Francis in Rome.  

The most glaring mistake he made was to wear a blue suit to a funeral.  I'm not a fashion maven or wealthy, but I have a black suit in my closet right now for funerals. He looked like a guy attending a wedding. He stood out badly in the black adorned crowd.  

A black suit at a funeral is a basic. Was he trying to draw attention to himself at the funeral of the Pope?  It's either that or he's a complete idiot who needs someone to dress him.

He also chewed gum like a major league manager as he sat in the front row of the service, and he checked his phone during the service.  Whereas I do understand he needs to stay in touch, we all know it was FAR more likely he was checking his social media pages. 

He also got called out specifically during the homily. Do you know how much of a villain you need to be to be referenced as a source of wrong thinking during the remembrance of a Pope's life? 

After, terrified of having to actually talk to the world leaders he had placed tariffs on, Trump quickly skedaddled out of Rome and back to his golf course in Jersey, wasting a golden opportunity to engage in negotiations with world leaders in this time of economic upheaval. 

As far as him allegedly dozing off during the service, the still images look damning, but since there doesn't seem to be any video of it, it's very likely he was bowing his head during the service and just looked like he was sleeping.

Regardless, another banner day for Trump on the international stage. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/25/25

The Trump Administration deported a U.S. citizen without due process.

Regardless of whether MAGA likes the law, the US currently has birthright citizenship.  A two-year-old US CITIZEN, BORN IN THE UNITED STATES. referred to in court documents as VML, was deported with her mother when she was caught by the Gestapo ICE during a routine appointment in New Orleans. 

The judge ruled, "It is illegal and unconstitutional to detain, detain for deportation, or recommend deportation of a U.S. citizen."  The judge has called for a May 19th hearing to have the U.S. government explain how they thought deporting a U.S. citizen was legal. 

The Government insists they tried to get in touch with the father of the child but couldn't, even though he was apparently in contact with VML's mother repeatedly. The Government is insisting they didn't want to break up the mother and daughter without dad present, so they deported the US CITIZEN along with her mother. They have said that the 2-year-old will not be denied entry back into the United States if she comes to the border (a laughably obtuse argument to make).

I'm sure we are about to hear that the 2-year-old was a lifelong gang member and had intimidating tattoos.

 

The Friday Link for 4/25/25

This week, we start with the University of Minnesota Dance team again.  This time, they are representing the USA at the World Championships.  AND THEY WON GOLD! 

I needed this.  This country is neurotic, on edge, economically unstable, and barreling towards a dictatorship. There isn't a lot you can be proud of in the US right now. Then I saw this, and for a few minutes I remembered what it was like to be a proud American.  It's amazing how far away the Olympic Games from last year feel right now. 

Next up is a fun segment from Conan O'Brien's Podcast, Conan Needs a Friend. In this episode, Nathan Lane talks about getting the part in The Birdcage.  It's fun, and Lane is such a good storyteller.

Finally, tonight is a little bit of a prepper class for you if you plan on going to see the Thunderbolts* movie, which opens next week.  One of the characters is The Sentry, Bob Reynolds, who happens to be one of the strongest characters in the entire Marvel Universe, and suffers from severe mental illness.  It's not a good combination.

For the history of his character, Comics Explained will give you the details. 

That's it for this week.

Please be safe and stay up to date on all of your vaccinations! 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/24/25

Pete Hegseth is a national disaster.

We found out yesterday that The Drunk actually threatened the acting Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy Admiral Christopher Grady.  Hegseth is a paranoid drunk and apparently (furious over his private security briefing for Elon Musk getting leaked to Trump and the press) screamed at the Admiral, "I'll hook you up to a F-ing polygraph!"    

Imagine what the response would be if a Democrat EVER talked to a high-ranking military official in such a manner.  Imagine what the reaction would be if a Democratic Defense Secretary brought their spouse into classified briefings?

But it was the other revelation yesterday that should be a MASSIVE concern for everyone. Hegseth apparently had an unsecured, non-Pentagon internet line set up on his Pentagon computer so he could use the Signal App, and no one could track who he was talking to. 

The insanely boneheaded idea that we should ever have an unsecured internet connection in a building that houses all of our military secrets is insane, but we need to start asking the question, "Who exactly is Hegseth trying to talk to that he doesn't want anyone knowing about?"

Hegseth proudly displays white supremacist tattoos that romanticize the Christian slaughter of Muslims and Jews, and his extremist views have been a major red flag for years.  Is Hegseth communicating with extremist Christian organizations, or his white supremacist friends, on how to remold the military into a KKK with nukes? 

He clearly doesn't want other people knowing who he is talking to, and that alone should call for his immediate removal as Secretary of Defense. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/23/25

I could go with Trumpo frantically screaming "DO OVER" to China, as he's pretty much begging for them to stop HIS trade war, but it's a revelation that came to light on Wednesday, which takes today's cake.

Lloyd Austin was President Biden's Secretary of Defense.  During his term, he kind of disappeared for three days.  It was discovered he was dealing with a medical issue and didn't want to alert the world to the issue.  This was a mistake, as he should have said something to Biden and the Administration about it.

Needless to say, Republicans went CRAZY! They called for him to be prosecuted for dereliction of duty and "abandoning his post." There were calls for committee hearings, and in the House, the eager to attack Republicans initially tried to villify him before realizing berating someone for being medically ill was not the "Christian" look they were trying to imitate.

Now we find out that a much worse situation happened with 'the Drunk' Pete Hegseth. 

Early in Secretary of Defense Hegseth's tenure, the White House needed him to sign a memo.  The memo ended up sitting on Hegseth's desk for three weeks; THREE WEEKS! Why was it there so long?  Apparently, the White House could not find him or get in touch with him FOR THREE WEEKS! This has been confirmed: the Secretary of Defense was AWOL for three weeks!  It wasn't like he disappeared, as the media did cover some of his movements at times.  He just avoided the White House like the plague, never returning the White House's calls!!!

Was he convening a group of his drinking buddies in secret to talk about how they could bring a white male power structure back to the military, while guzzling brown liquor by the caseful?  I wouldn't bet against it.

Most of those same Republicans who went apesh!# about Austin are still members in the House and Senate.  So far, they have not expressed any concern about this dereliction of duty, or the 5000 other derelictions of duty Hegseth has achieved in such a short period of time. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/22/25

We go to Brain Worm Magee again, but he just took a dark turn.

RFK Jr. has announced that as part of his plan to get the results he desires from an as-of-yet unstarted study of autism in America, he will amass a massive database of medical information on people.  This is people's PRIVATE medical information, and it does not seem he is looking for consent to get the information.  It's unclear what information or who he will target, but anyone involved with autism, whether that's a person with autism or family members of someone with autism, is on the list.  It also seems like he will be collecting information on any individual or family member of someone who is developmentally disabled. 

The plan is a comprehensive database, which would also include private medical data from Medicare and Medicaid, AND they will access your private data from pharmacies, lab testing, and genomics data, all of which is private, all of which they will not ask if they can use. 

They say the plan is to hire 10 to 20 OUTSIDE research teams to have full access to your medical data, meaning all that data will be out on the market for anyone to buy and sell.

Obviously, many people are outraged and do not want to give Brain Worm access to their private medical data, but what is shockingly quiet are the people who have constantly warned us about this sort of thing.

For 40 years, the far Right in this country has screamed about stopping government overreach in the form of databases collecting our information.  They bellow about it when a Democrat is in charge, and yet no Democrat has come close to even suggesting something 1/10th as intrusive as RFK Jr. has suggested.  Anytime you want to start screaming again, be my guest.

But many people have pointed out that RFK Jr. might actually be starting a far more sinister plan in motion.  In history, evil despots have constructed lists of people who were developmentally disabled. They did so to eventually exterminate those people.  The Trump Administration does have members who have either suggested zero government aid and assistance to the developmentally disabled, and some have even suggested "removing them," as all they do is "waste resources."  

This sounds WAY too much like something we have seen played out with dictators in the past.  Maybe we should ask what RFK Jr.'s real goal is here.

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/21/25

We have to keep in perspective how many things under Trump get ignored, things that if they were to happen under a Democratic President, would become year-long stories, with conspiracy theories which would be quoted for a decade.

Case in point, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi 'Gravel Pit' Noem had her purse stolen.  Not only were her building credentials, driver's license, AND PASSPORT in the purse, but she also had $3000 IN CASH and blank checks. 

It's not clear how this happened, but it seems like she left a purse with $3000 in cash just lying around! This is the kind of judgment usually reserved for a meth head trying to pick what dumpser to jump into. 

There are also questions about the $3000 in cash.  Was it her cash or was it the government's cash?  Was there any cash at all, or is she claiming there was to try to get an insurance payout or reimbursement from the government? 

She says she had the money for "Easter gifts."  I am a Christian and have celebrated Easter for many years.  What the f- is an Easter gift?  Does she think Easter is Christmas? If she was trying to get money to buy Easter outfits for various members of her entourage, it was Sunday evening when the purse was stolen, a little late in the day to be thinking about Easter clothes.  If this were money for work-related expenses in any capacity, you'd think they'd have given her an official credit card, hence no need for cash.

I am a middle-class man.  The most personal cash I have ever had on me at any given time was probably $300.  I have credit cards and I get cash back when I use them.  Did she have the cash to randomly pull it out to wave it in people's faces, to pretend to be some big wheeler-dealer (something I've seen losers do)? Was there no cash in the bag, and she's just saying it was there? Is she buying drugs ( I think this might not be as far-fetched as people might think)? Was she doing the office payroll? 

If this were a Democratic Secretary, the Right would've already labeled the money as being from their secret lover for them to purchase bath salts to use to drug children they are killing to eat their gall bladders. And at least half of the national news media would report on that insane narrative like it were a viable discussion. MAGA for years would be talking about the "bath salts gall bladder Secretary!"

But Gravel Pit? Not even in the top 10 of craziest things on any given day.

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/20/25

It was three unbelievable things that happened yesterday.

Third place will go to Trump, saying that anyone defending Kilmar Abrego Garcia from the Trump Administration's FALSE CLAIMS needs to be prosecuted. Basically, unless you repeat their lies as certifiable facts, you will be charged and "held responsible."

The second-place finisher has a little uncertainty.  It's not clear if Vance, frustrated that he was not able to meet with a VERY SICK Pope on Saturday, demanded he have an audiance with the pontif, OR if Pope Francis, upon hearing that Vance was TRYING TO ARGUE CATHOLIC CHURCH DOCTRINE TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, stormed out of his death bed and met with Vance to confront him, but Pope Francis gave Vance an earful for trying to argue that the Trump Adsmisitrations CLEARLY ANTI-CHRISTIAN behavior to immigrants was somehow allowed under a medieval (not biblical) standard the Church had centuries ago called "ordo amoris," a standard the Pope quickly pointed out that Vance had misinterpreted.  

The fact that Pope Francis died later almost begs the question of whether that meeting with Vance, either demanded by Vance or in response to Vance's stupidity, helped progress the imminent death of the Pope.

But the Department of Defense apparently falling apart at the seams takes the cake.  ANOTHER case of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth sharing classified information, this time it was the same classified details about an airstrike on Yemen he wrongly shared on a group chat, to a Signal chat group that included Hegseth's wife and brother, neither of who have the clearance to hear such details. 

Then came details that the Department of Defense is in complete chaos.  Also, it was reported that Hegeseth has included his wife in face-to-face briefings, which, ONCE AGAIN, she doesn't have security clearance to attend.  

If any of these three things happened under Biden, EVERY REPUBLICAN would be demanding his resignation and drawing up articles of impeachment. 

But with Trump, it's just another day.

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/18/25

We haven't checked in lately on Scott Turner, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Turner caught some justifiable flak for putting out an insanely religious-specific benefit and statement on Friday.  He allowed Christian and Jewish workers to leave early on Friday in celebration of either Easter or Passover. He then put out a statement to the department and the media explaining he was indeed playing favorites on religion as the head of Housing and Urban Development, something that blatantly violates the separation of church and state standards.

When contacted by the Huffington Post about his brazen pro-Christianity/Passover statement (and let's be honest, the only reason he included Passover was to give his pro-Christianity agenda the thinnest sheen of cover), he went cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs! His reaction screams, "I know I crossed a line, but now I am going to attack you and scream loudly to try to hide in plain sight."

He accused Huiffington Post of having Trump Derangement Syndrome, the current tactic for MAGA dolts to try to sweep away Trump's disasterous 2nd term so far.  He accused the media outlet, which just asked for him to clarify his statement, of being pro-criminal gang members and against Judeo-Christian values.  

He added, "Our Constitution says that we are endowed by our Creator."  It doesn't.  That would be a reference to the Declaration of Independence, a document which also states RIGHT BEFORE, "All men are created equal," written by men who did not view all men as equal, men who viewed Black, minority, and Native American men at that time as lesser humans or property.

Turner's original email was deemed to be so "overtly religious" that HUD staff members filed a formal complaint through the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

I am persoanlly a Christian.  You do or don't do whatever it is you do or don't want to do. Turner is so out of line, but we are about two SCOTUS rulings away from mandatory Christian baptisms for any Federal employee.  

And if you had actually ever read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you'd know Jesus wouldn't want to force Christianity on anyone. 

I am taking Easter off.  I'll post again on Monday.

The Friday Link for 4/18/25

Hi all!

This week, I start off with a fantastic new movie trailer! (See what I did there?)

I am so looking forward to seeing the Fantastic 4 movie. The idea of putting it in a retro timeline and having them take on Galactus...this might be perfect! 

Also tonight, a longer video from Joe Scott.  This time, he breaks down the history of lost media, whether intentionally lost or accidentally lost.  He does talk about a few fairly notorious and ugly videos, but they are descriptions only.  Doesn't mean the descriptions won't make you squeamish. 

And finally this week, a great clip from Jon Hamm's hosting turn on Saturday Night Live.  The Check To Check Business News Network.  Not only is Hamm great, as well as the rest of the cast, but there is a realness to this bit that kind of cuts deep.

Have a great Easter weekend, everyone.  Be safe and stay up to date on your vaccinations. 

I want you healthy, unlike Brain Worm Magee.

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/17/25

Let's check in with Mike Lindell. 

The MyPillow owner, who has been trying to undo Trump's 2020 loss for four years, had a bad day yesterday.  Apparently, he was near blubbering as he argued, at a hearing on why he hasn't paid a $50,000 fine he was ordered to pay, he has no money left.  He's currently trying to liquidate his homes, has laid off his employees, and no bank wants to give him a loan (Something which he enabled when he got the equivalent of a payday loan, and then sued the outfit for the high interest rate on the loan.  No legit loaning operation wants to have anything to do with him now).

This is all his fault.  In 2021, he could've apologized to those he wronged and probably gotten away with minimal damage, but it's his doubling down, tripling down, quadupling down, and so on that have gotten him to the point of complete ruin.

Yesterday, we got an interesting story of a Trump Administration Treasury appointee, David Eisner, approaching the IRS to reconsider an audit of Lindell.  This is a HIGHLY unusual action, an action Eisner validated by saying Lindell should get a pass because he is "a high-profile friend of [Trump]." Career people with the IRS and the Treasury can never remember anyone trying something like this before.

It should be noted that Mike has pretty much admitted to screwing up his taxes, if not outright fraud. He apparently misfiled an employee retention credit during the COVID-19 epidemic, something he described as a "misunderstanding."  He also tried to write off a warehouse full of an expired substance he claimed would cure COVID-19 (HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!).  He claims he wasn't happy taking the loss in 2022, when he should've filed it, because he wanted to write off the warehouse losses during a year when he had gains. You can't do that! You can't claim a child tax credit 15 years after your kids moved out because it would be better for you to do so that year.  

If the Treasury is calling off the IRS, it's not because the IRS doesn't have cause for an audit. 

By the way, I find it very interesting that in Minnesota, AG Keith Ellison announced an investigation into three of Lindell's nonprofits for possible violation of state charity law.  A month later, Lindell claims to be out of money.  Read about that here: https://www.startribune.com/mypillow-ceo-mike-lindell-charity-investigation-minnesota-attorney-general-keith-ellison/601238407?utm_source=gift

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/16/25

The most incompetent Attorney General in the history of this country, Pam Bondi, announced the Administration is suing the state of Maine for NOT discriminating against the transgender community. 

In February, Trump, at a meeting of the Governors, singled out the Governor of Maine, Janet Mills, demanding that Maine follow his orders and discriminate against transgender athletes by preventing them from participating in sports.  As of right now, there are only two transgender athletes playing sports in Maine schools, so MAGA is intentionally elevating this issue to "crisis" status hoping that bigotry will help them avoid criticism for their numerous other mistakes, and win over public support. 

At that time, the Governor of Maine said, "See you in court."

So here we are.  

Moving past the press corps asking Bondi to explain why THIS was such a top issue while they are intentionally ignoring court orders by leaving Kilmar Abrego Garcia in an El Salvadoran gulag, a fact Bondi deflected by once again OUTRIGHT LYING about Garcia's history and background, the lawsuit itself seems to rest it's argument on MISQUOTING the law within Title IX, and omiting the CLEAR language which says as long as the sport is not a contact sport, anyone can try out for any team.  I would hope that we get past the point of even limiting contact sports, but we have to fight the fight in front of us right now.

I bring this up not to mislabel transgender athletes. They're able to choose which team they play on, like I presume they would allow me to choose which team I should play on.  This is more to directly take down the Trump Administration's bigoted narrative.  The law says, as long as it's not a contact sport, ANYONE can try out for the team.

Bondi and Trump can't do anything to stop that.  

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/15/25

It's time for another check-in with Brain Worm Magee, aka RFK Jr.

On the tail of him announcing he was doing a research study insisting at the end of the study we'd know exactly where autism comes from, a statement which shows the guy has no idea how medical studies operate (You don't announce the findings before you've done the research, you f-ing idiot!), Kennedy had some words about the ever-growing measles outbreak in Texas and other parts of the country.

Before this year, the USA hadn't had a measles death in a decade, and there hadn't been a case of a child dying since 2003.  So far under Brain Worm's tenure, we've had 3 deaths, including two kids. 747 cases have been confirmed in the US, and in Texas, where most cases have been reported, that number is up to 561 cases, but authorities have said very clearly that these are probably undercounting the real case total. 

So far Magee has downplayed the importance of vaccinations at every turn and has even insisted that immunity from the measles vaccine quickly dissipates, even though two doses are shown to give lifelong protection.  He has also encouraged people to use UNPROVEN treatments for measles, including steroids and antibiotics.  His comment that Vitamin A cures measles led to emergency rooms seeing people with overdoses of Vitamin A. 

Even though this is clearly a bad outbreak, Kennedy, in Indiana on Tuesday, claimed the CDC had done a great job dealing with the crisis, comparing us to Europe where they had 127,000 cases.  This number is a garbage stat as it's for 53 different countries, FOR THE WHOLE YEAR, and many of these countries didn't have nearly the effective healthcare system that Kennedy and Trump inherited. In truth, this is a stunning crash of the US system.  

Also comparing yourself to other countries is insanely dishonest, trying to validate Kernnedy's ineptitude by comparing this country to FAR WORSE HEALTH CARE SYSTEMS!  He might as well compare us to the 1880s.  Of course, we are doing better than them! We know how to deal with measles and we used to have a functioning HHS to administer help in a time of crisis!

Magee then added, "Healthy children should not die of measles." THERE IS NO ONE SPECIFIC TREATMENT FOR MEASLES!!!  There just isn't! That's why we should encourage vaccinations! Healthy kids with measles can die of it and often suffer complications such as pneumonia and brain swelling. 

Kennedy is a complete and total moron. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/14/25

Without a doubt, the 'dictator off' Trump had with El Salvadoran despot Nayib Bukele. 

The whole point of Bukele's visit was to give Trump cover from the Supreme Court as Bukele insisted he was not going to return the wrongly deported man Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Not only did Trump insist he had nothing to do with Garcia being wrongly deported (which he ordered), but administration toads Bondi and Miller went on to repeatedly lie that Garcia was a violent gang member, something he is not.  One person even claimed Garcia was worse than Bin Laden(!?!).  Remember that the administration has already admitted that they wrongly deported Garcia, as he had done nothing wrong.

Then Trump gushed about deporting American citizens he doesn't like to his El Salvadoran gulag to also be tortured and killed. The Administration tried to validate his comments after the fact by ensuring Trump was only referring to the worst criminals; [paraphrasing] 'only the worst would be deported to another country to be tortured and killed without due process.'  No explanation on why American jails and courts were not good enough to punish violent criminals who commit crimes in the United States, or any explanation around the argument that if Trump wanted to use 1798 wartime laws to deport bad people to prisons outside of the US, why military prisons, like Guantanamo, are not suitable for the task? 

Understand something about Republicans. They create these fantastical villains to justify their depraved punishment fantasies. They really want to jail and punish their political enemies, but they know they have to create a validation for their most ardent followers to accept as justification. That's how you go from 'Democrats Trump doesn't like' to 'bloodthirsty vampire people who drink the blood of babies in the basements of pizza parlors!' 

The answer to why Trump is not happy using courts and jails in the US is Trump's evil revenge fantasies; he wants to deport his political enemies to be tortured and killed, like Stalin or Hitler. Now he is trying to convince his followers to let him.  That's how you get "Garcia is worse than Bin Laden.'

And I think it's a pretty safe bet, that Garcia is probably already dead, killed by an El Salvadoran dictator's death squad, per Trump's orders. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/13/25

I knew something might be up when two Fox News hosts insisted Trump was the healthiest he's ever been.

Trump took his annual physical, and with all the fanfare of a White House controlling state-run media, they plastered how he's [paraphrasing] 'the healthiest ever and stronger than Thor.'  The truth is he does have some serious health problems.  He should.  He's VERY old!!!

Trump has high cholesterol, probably due to his unhealthy diet which would be a challenge for a 30-year-old, and is taking TWO medications for it.  That's not a minor cholesterol problem.

But it's the polyp in his colon that is a bigger concern.  It sounds like they plan on removing it, and suggested he get another colonoscopy in three years.  If you're developing polyps, that's a precursor to colon cancer.  I HIGHLY doubt he was diagnosed with an abnormal polyp and they suggested an elderly man wait 3 years for his next colonoscopy.  This is a bit of a concern.

Also, he once again bragged about passing a basic cognitive test, a test he could not remember any of the questions from.  Trump is definitely mentally compromised, and the sad part is we will never know how much he was until 80-plus years in the future after his Presidential hold on his records expires.  I guarantee he will prevent anyone from finding out the truth while any of his MAGA cult is still around.

And a reminder, this is what they've allowed us to hear.  This is the same man who desperately hides his weight from the public.

Speaking of which, if Joe Biden had the same diagnosis, the national news media would be asking when he would step down. The double standard on Trump versus anyone else is obnoxious. 

As a 56-year-old man, let me suggest you get a regular colonoscopy starting at 45 years old.  Colon cancer is a preventable cancer. Yes, a colonoscopy is a bit uncomfortable, but you know what is worse?  Colon Cancer. As a person who has known three people who have had it, one of whom died, get over your squeamishness and get one. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/12/25

In the early morning hours of Saturday, someone tried to sneak something past the American people.

A US Customs Office official memo released a new series of product codes that were suddenly no longer impacted by Trump's 125% tariff on China. One of them was 8517.13.00.00, which corresponds to smartphones. 

It was part of a pretty stunning list of items now exempt from US tariffs on China, including other electronic devices (computers) and components, memory cards, semiconductors, and solar cells. These would constitute the majority of the largest Chinese imports to America.

That was a MASSIVE concession! It doesn't sound like China negotiated this, nor did the US get anything reciprocal from the Chinese to counter this massive walkback. Also, the White House never announced this, just quietly included the new product codes for an exemption in a Customs memo in the middle of the freaking night, on a weekend.

The near-sighted view points to the Trump administration finally understanding there is no current way to return smartphone manufacturing to the US.  Conservative estimates place a US-produced iPhone at a $3500 minimum, and that does not take into account the majority of the components still needing to be imported, hence those tariffs would still need to be applied to that final price. The entire tech sector must have screamed at Trump, Navarro, and the rest of the cavalcade of idiots to stop being so stupid. 

The long-sighted view paints a darker message here.  Trump DESPERATELY wants to put tariffs on China, so his acquiescing and allowing the largest items of Chinese import to come into the country without any comparable returns from China is HUGE! This is a confession that the US Economy has indeed been damaged by Trump's tariff stunt, and the administration is frantically trying to assure the rest of the world that the US is still the same economic investment it was before Wednesday. Considering the growing and expanding cracks in the foundational elements of the US Economy, I'm not sure the rest of the world cares anymore.

This was Trump caving, admitting he was wrong, and frantically trying to scream "Do Over!"  The man bankrupted a casino.  Now we see how he did it. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/11/25

We head back to the courtroom where Judge Paula Xinis was stunned yesterday after the White House and Trump's DOJ still refused to answer the fundamental questions about where the wrongly deported man Kilmar Abrego Garcia actually is?

The Administration argued they were reviewing the Supreme Court ruling that said the US government needed to get Garcia back to the United States and insisted they had no obligation to respond to Judge Xinis until they deemed it to their advantage.  They also started to argue the definitions of words within the SCOTUS ruling, clearly implying they intended to drag this whole issue out as long as they can.

I felt the Administration doesn't want this man back on US soil, as he can tell the world the torture Trump and his team have been up to at this gulag in El Salvador, a gulag that some administration members have started asking if the US could buy part of the prison, so they could send American citizens there with no recourse.  Then it suddenly dawned on me:

Is Garcia dead already? 

Is he dead and the Administration knows it, hence why they are frantically dragging their feet on doing anything in this case. 

If that is indeed what's happened, the same people intentionally not answering questions will be the ones trying to convince the American people of a new lie:  "We were always looking out for Kilmar.  We're just as upset about this as everyone else is!"

The Friday Link for 4/11/25

I have been eagerly waiting for this post since I saw this clip from last Sunday's Last Week Tonight. 

John Oliver has a great discussion about transgender athletes.  I'm for transgender athletes competing with nontransgender athletes, and Oliver's deep dive into the issue comes up with the same logical answer.  He does an amazing job approaching this issue with far more balance and calm than I would've.

It's great to see him dismantle the outrageous lie that transgender athletes have stolen 900 medals from others, a laughably easy-to-dispute made-up bit of bigotry.  And Oliver does something delicious to watch; dismantle Riley Gaines for the judgemental hater that she is.

But it's two points that he hammers home which I love.  The first is the insane injustice transgender athletes endure as bigots dismiss their struggle and journey by insisting they're nothing more than men in dresses.  The other is the fallacy that transgender athletes are winning EVERY competition.  That's just laughable, but no one in the mainstream media seems to want to challenge the Republican bigots who push that lie.

This is a great piece and one which you should share with everyone you know.

This is why that dude keeps winning Emmy's.

Also tonight, the latest music video from OK Go, 'Love.'  This time they discover mirrors and robots!  And it's all in one take! 

That's it for this week! Have a great weekend!

Please make sure to stay up to date on all of your vaccinations! Please. I don't want you sick. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/10/25

Let's take a break from Trump breaking the Bond Market, Commodity Market, Ag Market, and Consumer Confidence to focus on one of the most incompetent boobs in American History, Brain Worm Magee himself, RFK Jr.

During a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Kennedy stated we will know what is causing the "autism epidemic" by September.

First, there is no "epidemic" per se.  This is him using that word to try to scare people into thinking the idiot is onto something.  He is also using the word "epidemic" to get people to overlook his horrific mismanaging of the actual epidemics hurting this country right now, Measles, COVID, and Avian Flu.

Kennedy says 1 in 31 people are diagnosed with autism today, compared to "One in 10,000 when I was a kid."  

When Kennedy was a kid, autism wasn't its own separate diagnosis and any testing that occurred back then was very limited and often incomplete.  So the 1 in 10K line is a made-up stat...from the Director of Health and Human Services...(exasperated sigh)...

His own CDC says the actual number today is 1 in 36 (why isn't he talking to them???) which is different than in 2000 when the diagnosis rate was closer to 1 in 150. The reason that number has changed isn't due to a growing threat, but rather the ability of scientists to diagnose the problem at a younger age, the diagnostic criteria steadily expanding, and new diagnostic standards.

Also, there are a lot of people diagnosed with autism later in life after not being diagnosed when they were younger.  We can also add the change in social attitudes and expanded treatment options as other factors on why there has been better diagnosing of autism.

But none of that matters to Magee. He keeps insisting there is something artificial that is causing autism, something which will be "validated" by his report on it, regardless of whatever science or research shows.  Just wait for this idiot to say something like "Grape Juice causes autism," and then the grape juice industry sues the US government for defamation.

Meanwhile, Measles?!?...ANYONE?!?

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/9/25

Apologies for not having an entry yesterday.  My internet was down most of the day.

Before I get to the worst thing he did yesterday, let me explain the REAL reason Trump frantically pulled back on his tariffs yesterday.  

This was not his plan.  If it was, then he wouldn't have put the tariffs in place that night, tariffs which were active for about 10 hours before Trump quickly idled them.  This was an emergency response to the Bond Market starting to crater, and if he hadn't immediately pulled back, the US would've been spiraling into a deep Depression by late afternoon.

There is a difference between the Stock Market and the Bond Market.  The Stock Market is measuring the temperature of the business community on a day-to-day basis.  If the Stock Market tanks, it's a recession, meaning short-term economic growth is stymied due to a lack of faith in the business community.  The Bond Market (simplifying it) is a snapshot of how investors and the rest of the world think of the stability of a country. The Bond Market, particularly US bonds, immediately started reacting after midnight, when Trump's worldwide tariffs went into place.  There was a definite movement that was showing an extreme lack of faith in the US system, and the Bond Market was showing clear signs of a possible collapse. If the Bond Market Collapses, that's a Depression.

Here's another way to look at it.  Imagine you go to your bank and are told your personal account has limited funds.  This means the next month, or maybe the next few months will be lean.  Less eating out, more frugal activities.  That's a recession.

Now imagine you went to the bank and the bank said "We're out of money! The most we can give every customer is $10 and we have no idea when we are going to get any more cash." It'll be years before you and your community recover, likely with a lot of losses along the way (foreclosures, seizures, massive corporate closings, massive unemployment). That is a depression.

The Bond Market is why Trump frantically pulled back on his tariff plan, but considering the bond market, as well as the Ag Markets and Consumer Confidence, are still very much on edge right now, our country's economy is anything but safe.

The worst thing Trump did yesterday is what he did when he realized he had to undo his tariffs and the Stock Market was likely going to jump.  There are clear signs of insider trading and market manipulation in the hour and minutes before Trump's announcement.  It's clear Trump and his administration, along with their buddies, used Trump's utter incompetence in economics to their own advantage and gobbled up a lot of the low-priced stocks before his announcement which drove up the markets 2900 points, and, in turn, made a mint.

Keep in mind that the people who lost the money were the workers and middle-class investors who didn't have the resources or the time to move individual stocks around on a massive lever.  Those people are screwed, but at least Trump, his administration, Republican leaders in Congress, and the billionaires who bankrolled them all came out smelling like roses.

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/7/25

It wasn't necessarily what the orange idiot did, but rather the SCOTUS.

They not only sided with Trump on allowing him to use a WARTIME rule to deport Venezuelans without having to prove they are actually a threat to the country, but they also slowed down the return of an innocent man Trump deported to his gulag in El Salvador, a man the Trump Administration has already said was innocent of any wrongdoing.

With the 5-4 ruling that allows the 1798 Alien and Insurrection Act to be used, the court did say there has to be a basic legal review before the people can be deported but the parameters they put in place are vague, lack clear definition on what court an individual can appeal to, and this rule will likely be ignored by Trump. 

There is not a chance in hell the same 5 justices would've EVER ruled this way with any other president. 

This is a dark day in America. The SCOTUS has basically signed off, again, on the idea that Trump is a king. This one ruling will lead to insane abuses of power.  It's tragic how few Republicans in this country are willing to do anything to leash in this madness.

If a Democratic president would have tried anything 1/100th as brash as Trump has, at least a third of the elected Republican officials would be openly carrying assault weapons at the Capitol, calling on their supporters to make encampments outside of DC to eventually storm the White House. 

Meanwhile, a third of the Democratic party continues to capitulate to the Right... 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/6/25

60 Minutes does what 60 Minutes does; it finds the truth.

Yesterday they aired a report that exposed the Trump administration's lies about the Venezuelans deported to Trump's Gulag in El Salvador.  Most of them have no ties to gangs, and SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT OF THEM have never done anything wrong!!!

Trump randomly deported any Venezuelans they could find, including people who were CLEARLY not criminals or gang members.  Of the 25% who were deported with criminal records, most of them are low-level offenses like traffic tickets or personal use drug charges.  Now they are all being tortured. 

Let's run what exactly has happened here.

• Trump during the campaign, realizing they can't just do what they want to do and deport all brown-skinned people, came up with a threat.  The Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua does exist, but not nearly to the extent that Trump told his followers. They made it sound like entire swaths of America were taken over by the gang. These lies really got racist and racist-lite white America on board with their campaign.
• He wins, and now he has to deliver.  Instead of acknowledging they overplayed the threat of the gang to Americans, they instead make a decision: any Venezuelan who is captured in America is to be deemed part of Tren de Aragua.
• Realizing they have no evidence on the vast majority of them, Trump envokes a wartime rule from 1798 to justify flying them out of the country with zero due process.  They insist they were all gang members, even though it is clear their own arguments lack any real evidence.
• They ship them to Trump's gulag in El Salvador, KNOWING that innocent people are about to get tortured and killed. 
• To further hide the fact they are torturing innocent people, they've now adopted the stance that the so-called evidence against the Venezuelans is classified as 'state secrets.' 
• The Venezuelans have done nothing wrong and Trump and his scum are frantically trying to hide what they've done in plain sight.

In a few years, when we have hearings and trials about all this, the same people running around with puffed-out chests and bravado will be presenting a VERY DIFFERENT tone: "I was ordered to do it," and "I trusted them to tell me the truth but now I realize they were lying."

It will never fix the damage they've done to innocent people. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/5/25

The White House keeps trying to make the tariffs on the uninhabited, full of penguins, Heard and McDonald Islands an intentional choice, implying that if they hadn't listed the islands, the islands would've become incorporated shell country origin shipping ports for China and others to avoid tariffs.

There are a lot of stupid lies here.

• Australia runs the islands, so it'd be impossible for China to list the islands as a source of shipments.
• There are no people there.  There is no harbor, port, town, or independent government. You can instantly presume any shipments from the islands would be a lie.
• You could easily list the islands as part of Australia, which they are, and then apply Australian tariffs on them if any ships came into a US port and tried to claim them as their source.
• If a shipment of (let's say) microwaves showed up at an American port, it's a safe bet we'd all know they didn't come from the islands AS THERE IS NOTHING THERE BUT ROCKS AND PENGUINS!!!

This dire attempt to insist their mistakes are not really mistakes, but rather some sort of idiot savant Vulcan Chess is the really embarrassing part. We all know you screwed up, but you keep lying like you did when there was a sudden jump in airplane crashes, the spread of measles, and the classified Signal chat. 

One of the worst parts of this administration is watching complete morons screw up and, attempting to be clever, insisting all of us "just don't get it," while they scream gibberish into the void with smug looks on their faces. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/4/25

Let's get an obvious fact out of the way. Trump and his DOJ could get Kilmar Abrego Garcia back from El Salvador in 6 hours if they asked.  They could. 

District Judge Paul Xinis ordered the DOJ to get the innocently deported Maryland man back from the El Salvadoran gulag Trump sent him to, a notorious prison designed to torture and kill the people who enter.  The administration has admitted the man was deported in error. 

Pam Bodi, the least qualified Attorney General in history, released a statement through the White House to the judge, insisting if they wanted Garcia back, they needed to contact the President of El Salvador, as they say they have no jurisdiction to get the man back.  This is them trying to argue their mistake has no consequences.

My guess is they don't want him back because it will be revealed that 1) Garcia indeed has been tortured and they don't want him revealing what happened to him, and 2) that indeed Trump, Bondi, and the White House ORDERED the people they shipped to the gulag to be tortured and killed by the EL Salvadoran government.  It's not that they're not proud of what they've done, but they know if the American people find out the truth, most of his own supporters will be saying "I wanted them gone, but I sure as heck didn't want that to happen.

The lawsuit Garcia will have against the US Government will be in the billions. Trump's administration trying to get the case dismissed by arguing they were only using a wartime decree in a time when we hadn't declared war on anyone will be laughed out of court.

The Friday Link for 4/4/25

Let's start off with a sneak peek of Superman.  This expands on the clips we saw in the previous trailers where Krypto, the Superdog, retrieves Superman. Seeing Krypto as a very good, very excited boy is fun. 

I was always more of a Marvel comics kid, but I've enjoyed the Superman movies. This one looks like a hoot with a lot of secondary DC characters showing up (Guy Gardner Green Lantern!).

Also tonight a revisiting of Jelle's Marble Runs, the sporting events that are really just marbles rolling down a course. 

They did a winter competition and here are three of those events including the final which includes some excitement at the end! Who will roll their way to victory?!?

Finally tonight, I never realized how poorly designed Los Angeles was. It's actually a mess.  The YouTube page OBF did a fine video explaining why exactly it's pretty hard to design a city worse than Los Angeles is designed. It shows that the city is on a path to more and more problems.

That's it this week.  Have a wonderful weekend and please make sure you stay vaccinated. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/3/25

Once again, it is extremely easy to blame Trump for the tariff issue, but there is another thing that is unbelievably horrible. 

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month and Trump's proclamation for the month specifically targeted transgender care as a main focus of what he calls abuse.

Trump and his administration are clearly trying to redefine transgender people as a 2nd tier class of human beings, something which history shows us never ends well.

Not only did he single out transgender care as child abuse, but he also intentionally did not say anything about the most common risk factors for neglected and abused children (which has nothing to do with transgender care).  This is once again the Republicans ignoring the actual threat to focus on a mythical threat that's created to attack a desired villain for political reasons, a villain which in most cases has little or nothing to do with the crisis they say they're addressing.

Speaking of which, I have a massive list of Conservatives and Republicans who have abused kids, a far bigger threat than the non-existent transgender myth.  And it includes our recently caught MN State Senator Justin Eichorn (#1384!):    https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/e/2PACX-1vTFikAP6MXDCJjWzgMIOvpsT1ji-HwO-rLEvNE8e-cfCGh0YHoZluIG5TEsmwFub7MzIDfh0XgvcWL8/pub?fbclid=IwAR3mEG998_MrFpPwPCbAFbIXbr3jXs47GkyMTXDV-PmcUIDpD0oP-yzRq2M

(undoubtedly MAGA...)

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/2/25

I could EASILY go with the tariff debacle; whether it was Trump imposing tariffs on a bunch of penguins, just making up tariff rates with random numbers, or saying he plans on returning the country to the days when white men had the advantage, during the age of slavery and during the brutally unfair 'wealthy über alles' Gilded Age, but something else popped up on my radar.

A series of communications between Trump's temporary commissioner of Social Security Leland Dudek and his staff. A few weeks back, Trump had a very public spat with the Governor of Maine, Janet Mills. As payback, emails show Dudek asking staff about the contracts the state of Maine had with the Social Security Administration.

Dudek wanted to cancel those Social Security contracts as retribution for Mills standing up to Trump.  His staff quickly informed him that doing so would result in missed payments and increase the likelihood of identity theft.

Dudek told them to go ahead regardless.  He did so calling the Governor of Maine a "petulant child."

By doing what he did, Dudek didn't directly hurt Mills, but rather the Social Security benefit recipients of Maine.  We now know he knew that, but he decided to hurt AMERICAN CITIZENS instead of GIVING PEOPLE THE MONEY THEY'RE OWED! Remember, people pay into social security, so this is them getting their investment back, something Dudek proudly denied.

This all came crashing down within 24 hours as part of his cancellation was to deny hospitals the ability to give newborns their social security number at birth, something that is done in 99% of births in the country. Realizing he didn't understand exactly what he had done, he reinstated the contracts.

When this was exposed, there was a mixed reaction from the guilty.  The White House, WHO VOWED NOT TO DISRUPT SOCIAL SECURITY AT ALL, admitted to indeed supporting the punishment of Maine. Dudek himself insisted he didn't intentionally do anything, and that he clearly did not want to create an "undue burden on the people of Maine," something his emails show that was EXACTLY what he was trying to do. 

These are evil people.

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/1/25

The Trump administration fired thousands of Health and Human Services employees across the country, with the goal of the administration firing 10,000 federal Health and Human Service employees in this initial round, with the eventual goal of 20,000 people fired.

The employees fired in DC and Maryland found out in one of the douchiest ways possible.  They went to work on Tuesday and waved their badges to get entry into the building.  If the light was red, they were gone. Only the biggest jackasses would ever think something like that would be appropriate.

The firings included 3500 at the FDA, 2400 at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(!!!), 1200 at the NIH, and 300 at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.  None of those departments will run even as close as smoothly as they did prior to the firings.

One element that is not discussed is the impact of the lack of working people in local communities.  These cuts will not just be on the East Coast, as people across the country, including in many rural communities, will be let go, impacting local economies. 

It also should be mentioned that reports are coming out that RFK Jr. is indeed putting an anti-vax litmus test out there on employees.  If you think vaccines are fraudulent, you get to stay.  This will end up killing millions in the US. 

 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 3/31/25

And now we have our first admission of an innocent man being deported to Trump's gulag in El Salvador.

Late Monday the administration admitted that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported wrongly to El Salvador to the notorious prison designed to torture and kill everyone who enters.  The administration then went on to insist there was nothing they could do to get him back.

Moving past the reality that at least 10 other people the Trump Administration secretly snuck into that gulag are innocent of anything they were accused of, Trump could have this guy back in the US in 6 hours if he wanted to.  

Trump is leaving the man there to prevent him from returning home and telling the country what the heck is actually going on down there. If it's common knowledge that innocent people are being tortured and killed without any legal process to overturn it, he knows many of his more ardent supporters will bail.  

Not all of them.  A shocking amount of Trump supporters are more than happy to go along with torture and killing as long as it's not white people it's happening to.  So Christian...