The Worst Thing Trump Did 5/21/25

It'd be justifiable and easy to go with the insanely embarrassing attempt to "Gotcha" the president of South Africa with a made-up bit of white supremacist imagination theater about non-existent white genocide, but today I'm going to pick one that's a little more personal.

I live in the Twin Cities metro area.  I remember 5 years ago, the horror at watching four police officers kill George Floyd in the street at 38th and Chicago.  I remember the shame I felt after realizing it was crystal clear that the minority population of the metro had been telling the truth about the racist Minneapolis cops. I remember watching the city burn with riots (started in part by white supremacists who infiltrated our city).  I remember the Minneapolis police at that time targeting the media to punish them for telling the world the truth.  I remember Jaleel Stallings (look him up) and an almost equally evil bit of racism by Minneapolis cops, TWO DAYS after murdering George Floyd!  I remember the police union head at the time, Bob Kroll, initially praising the four officers who killed Floyd, then sounding like he and the Republican MN Senate majority leader, Paul Gazelka were working on an attempt to overthrow the state government.  I remember the trial, hoping justice would be done.  I remember crying tears of joy when it was a guilty verdict!  I saw the Minneapolis PD get purged, as Bob Kroll left in shame, and no other leader was going to be allowed to cover for the HORRIFIC policing that had occurred over the decades in this city.  And I remember the DOJ report on how broken the Minneapolis police actually was (read my post about it at this link: https://progressivecitizenx.blogspot.com/2023/06/police-state.html).

Minneapolis policing was broken.  Yesterday, Trump said, "Nothing to see here."

The Trump Administration moved to dismiss the consent decree between Minneapolis and the Department of Justice, which mandated sweeping changes for the MPD.  He also dismissed consent decrees for Louisville and multiple other metro areas, whether finished or still being investigated. 

The last five years have seen a lot of bigots and racists try to revisit the murder of George Floyd and try to spin it as some sort of cover-up, that George Floyd deserved it, that the cops were actually heroes. These brazen lies have permeated the racist tolerant minds of MAGA, and now Trump thinks he's righting some wrongs committed against white people.

I guess it does tie back to the stupidity he laid out in the Oval Office yesterday.

F Trump and F all these guys who perpetuate the lies.  God bless George Floyd and God bless Minneapolis/St. Paul.

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 5/20/25

It is STUNNING how ill-prepared and unqualified most of Trump's Cabinet officials are.  Yesterday we saw a doozy! 

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi "Where's Cricket?" Noem showed the world that she DOES NOT KNOW what habeas corpus is. She CLEARLY had no clue.

Habeas corpus is the legal principle that the government provide a public reason for detaining and imprisoning people. The Suspension Clause of the US Constitution (Article 1, Section 9, Clause 2) states, "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended."  The Federal government allows you to petition for habeas corpus, and most states have the right of habeas corpus in their constitutions and/or state laws.

When asked by Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire what habeas corpus means, THIS is the word salad that came out of Kristi's pie hole:

"Habeas Corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country."

NOT EVEN CLOSE! She was immediately stopped by a stunned Hassan, who realized in real time that Noem has no idea what habeas corpus really means.  And for the rest of the questioning, Noem never once gave the impression she even knew the basic framework of the principle.

WOW!!!

Then again, it's already come to light today that she is interrogating staff at Homeland Security with FOUR-HOUR lie detector tests to try to determine who is and is not a leaker! Needless to say, this has led to many seasoned employees within the department to leave.  

I'd say this is comical, but there is nothing funny about any of this.

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 5/19/25

With last week's announcement that Trump's Federal Emergency Managemnt Agency [FEMA], the main federal government agency that deals with the aftermaths of natural disasters striking the United States, that the agency ITSELF said it was not even close to being ready to deal with hurricane season, which begins on June 1st, the effects of Trump's cuts are plainly and painfully apparent.

Two days after storms ripped across Missouri, Kentucky, and Virginia on Friday, FEMA is still nonexistent in any of those states. The mayor of St. Louis said FEMA was nowhere to be seen on the ground. This is an incredible reversal of the standards that existed for FEMA for my lifetime.  They were usually on the ground assessing and setting up operations within 12 hours of a natural disaster.  This is something that had been confirmed by two friends who have worked with FEMA.

In case you're saying, "Okay Matt! Sure, Trump is ignoring the super liberal city of St. Louis, but he surely has FEMA on the ground in rural red areas!" That's a big no. FEMA has announced they are waiting until later THIS WEEK to begin their assessment for who will and will not receive funds.

Spoiler alert, most of these areas will be on the "Will not" side of that equation.

Trump running FEMA this way is a total businessman's overview.  FEMA is not a profit-making department.  They exist to help people struggling through tough times, hence, the entire purpose of the agency is to go and give aid as needed. Trump looks and sees no revenue being generated and immediately says, "That has to stop."

The end result will be natural disaster-created economic disaster zones where the community slowly dies due to the lack of investment to get them back on their feet.  St. Louis will survive, but towns with 3000 or fewer people will collapse. 

An example of this is in Mississippi, where March storms have still not been addressed, and victims there are still rummaging through piles of debris that used to be their homes. The state asked for FEMA help on April 1.  They still have not gotten ANY assistance, or even a response.

Reminder: the Trump campaign made up an outrageous lie, that Biden had forsaken the victims of flooding in the southeastern US and had refused to send FEMA in to help "those poor people."  Trump campaigned on that LIE, telling everyone that he would be there "100 times better."

And you stupid dopes believed him.

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 5/18/25

This isn't so much about Trump's Administration, but rather the mentality that has permeated our culture as Trump and MAGA have been given the spotlight.

President Joe Biden announced he's suffering from an aggressive form of prostate cancer, and it has spread to his bones. 

Many of the front-facing members of the Trump Administration have sent what appear to be sincere condolences and prayers to him, but this allows the B-team MAGA douches to shine, the guys who will first scream how all liberals want Trump dead, then insist they are taking the Christian 'high road' and sending Biden their best, only to immediately smack back hard at Biden with an uncalled for attack.  They can't help themselves.  They are the worst of humanity.

Donald Trump Jr. attacked Biden and his wife, former First Lady Dr Jill Biden, who has a doctoral degree in Education, NOT medicine, implying she should've rooted out this cancer much earlier, and that Biden's cancer might actually be some sort of twisted conspiracy. And of course, MAGA jumped on board and immediately started to attack a man who just announced he has cancer.  At this point, all MAGA is saying is "what did he know and when did he know it?"  They've removed any false veil of concern from their faces.

The national news media, clearly a lapdog of Trump and MAGA, piled on.  They immediately ran with the conspiracy, implying it's impossible that this diagnosis could have just happened, and that he must have known he had cancer for 5, 10, even 20 years and kept it quiet.  It took the national news media only a few hours to turn a cancer diagnosis into a 'scandal.'  Mind you, the same national news media doesn't bat an eye when the clearly overweight Trump insists his height and weight make him a top-echelon athlete in the NFL. 

I hope none of these people have the public and national media react as coldly and callously to the news of themselves or a loved one getting cancer.  If it does happen to these fools, the hardest thing to take will be their insistence that any criticism of them is unfounded, as they NEVER disrespected Biden over his diagnosis. 

Atrocious behavior and a lack of accountability are the real diseases plaguing our country today. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 5/17/25

As Trump and his Administration act like they have pulled back on the tariffs, the reality is that there are a lot of tariffs still in place on most of the goods coming into the United States. There is a 10% universal tariff, a 25% tariff on cars and auto parts (with some exceptions), a 30% tariff on Chinese imports (with a few exceptions), and a 25% tariff on all goods from Canada and Mexico not covered by USMCA.  All of those tariffs are currently in effect and costing Americans more.

Trump has now gone after Walmart, the country's biggest retailer.  Walmart announced this week that customers should expect prices to go up because the Trump Administration is making them go up.  Trump didn't like that and has ordered Walmart and their executives to eat the extra costs so that their customers don't get mad at him.

And that's the whole point.  Trump, by going after Walmart publicly, knows a majority of his base will blame Walmart for his disastrous economic plan. Trump knows he's hurting Americans with his tariffs, and he knows that Walmart executives will only cover so much extra cost.  There is no way Walmart is going to eat all of these extra costs, so prices will go up in their stores. When that happens, Trump wants to make sure Walmart takes all the heat for it. 

It also should be noted that the same MAGA people who scream at the top of their lungs about the made-up hysteria about Democrats wanting government price regulations on private companies are the ones now ORDERING private companies to absorb the costs of their horrendous tariff debacle, hence government regulating prices of private companies, courtesy of MAGA!

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 5/16/25

You need to pay attention to what the Republicans in Congress, under Trump's command and the guidelines of Project 2025, are about to do to kill affordable college for most students.  

• Subsidized loans, where the Federal government pays the interest while a student is in college, will end.
• Unsubsidized loans would be maxed out using a guideline with a very limited focus; the median cost of a student's program of study, BUT the maximum amount of unsubsidized loans a student could get would be the median cost of college period. A more expensive program at a more expensive college would mostly be out of pocket and too expensive for 90% of families.
• The aggregate amount you could borrow from all entities to attend college would be maxed out at 50k for undergraduate, 100k for graduate, and 150k for professional programs.
• Students would also have to max out their unsubsidized loans before they could use Parent PLUS to help cover the remaining costs, a reversal in how that program works
• Colleges and Universities would have to pay the Federal Government a percentage of the non-repayment balance, meaning they would have to start denying access to lower-income students.
• Pell grants would be limited to students taking 15 credit hours per semester, up from the current 12.
• If they are already borrowing twice the amount of the maximum Pell Grant, they would be forbidden from getting a Pell Grant
• They will kill Biden's SAVE plan and only have two methods of repaying loans: one tied to a fixed payment that cannot be waived, and one based on the borrower's total adjusted gross income, with a variable interest rate. 

An undeniable outcome of these changes is that college will become too expensive for a third of the people currently attending college. Putting aside the government basically saying, "You're not wealthy enough to have THAT career," the long-term impact of denying people the ability to earn $75,000 and more a year and being restricted to careers that pay $40,000 a year will dramatically limit Federal and state tax bases.  Not to mention, these changes dramatically limit the ability of poorer people to be able to lift themselves into a different economic bracket.  

To all those idiot GenZ'ers who insisted Trump would make college more affordable, F-you! 

And a reminder that this is all a part of the Far Right puppet masters' ultimate goal of returning the United States to a pre-1890 economic model, where the commoners were kept uneducated and working for low wages in their company towns. By removing public education and affordable higher education, you are creating an economic model based on feudal system economics. 

And remember, Republicans refuse to raise the Federal minimum wage.

The Friday Link for 5/16/25

Of course, we are going to start off with the new Superman trailer. 

This looks really good.  They're including a lot of DC superheroes in the movie, like Guy Gardner, Green Lantern, and the amazing Isabela Merced from Alien Romulus and The Last of Us as Hawkgirl. They are also not shying away from some of the kitchy elements of Superman, like Superdog, but it's the interaction between Superman (David Corenswet) and Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) that sells this trailer.

The remainder of this week's link is really science-y! Have you ever asked how the scientists have been able to figure out how to back-track the plate tectonics and show where all the land masses used to be on the planet?  

Considering plate tectonics wasn't even an accepted science until 80 years ago, it is remarkable how they've been able to quickly understand how the Earth's crust moves.  Howtown does an easy-to-follow and entertaining crash course on how exactly the land masses move, and how they figured out where exactly they used to be.

The last science video tonight is really cool, because it allows you to do something you can't really do in a lot of places, actually get an idea of what the earth looked like millions of years ago, namely an underwater reef which is now high and dry on the Texas/New Mexico border. 

PBS Terra has a great video on the fossilized remains of an ancient underwater reef.

And before this video, a quick note.  The US would be A LOT worse (and dumber) if not for quality PBS and Public Radio programming. PLEASE contact your politicians and tell them to preserve PBS and NPR! Thanks.

Have a wonderful weekend, and please make sure you stay up to date on all your vaccinations! 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 5/15/25

Sorry for missing yesterday. I was massively busy.  I learned from past postings that if I burn myself out, I eventually quit altogether, and I want to try to keep this going as long as I can.

Yesterday, we had a story come out that I initially thought was fake.  It sounded so dystopian and outrageous that it couldn't possibly be real. But once again, it was proven to me that nothing can out insane the Trump Administration.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi "Where's Cricket" Noem is apparently working with Duck Dynasty producer Rob Worsoff on a reality television show where immigrants will be pitted against each other in a contest where the winner would be fast-tracked for US citizenship.  The show would be called The American.

Apparently, there is a 35-page pitch that was coordinated with Noem herself. The "contestants" would be given tasks to accomplish across the country, like rolling logs, mining for gold, or driving a stock car on a dirt track, and officials from US Citizenship and Immigration Services would vote for which "contestant" gets eliminated at each round.  The grand finale would be the winner being sworn in on the steps of the US Capitol.

This sounds less like the Apprentice and WAY more like the scene in The Dark Knight where Joker breaks a pool cue, throws it at three guys, and tells them there is one opening in his organization.

This Administration is ONE STEP AWAY from having starving people fight for Trump's table scraps on a Pay-Per-View event, with his whole cabinet in the front row, howling in delight as people hurt themselves for food.  

You know...Christians. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 5/13/25

Sean Duffy once again proved that the high point of his career peaked on The Real World. 

The Transportation Secretary was frantically deflecting and avoiding answering why exactly the Newark Liberty Airport tower, one of the three airports serving New York City, and one of the major air traffic control centers in the country, had 3 people working instead of the REQUIRED 14 on Monday evening, from 3 to 10 PM. This massive shortage of staff caused major delays, with flights up to 7 hours behind schedule. 

This is on top of the revelation that the Newark air traffic control center has experienced 3 communications blackouts, where, each time, the tower wasn't able to communicate with any airplane for more than a minute. 

The most recent communications failure came this last Sunday morning, as Duffy and his staff were panicking, trying to tell everyone that flying into and around the Newark airspace was safe to do.  

Apparently, there were massive delays on Sunday in Atlanta, as failing runway equipment impacted hundreds of flights at one of the country's busiest airports. This is on top of a laundry list of tragic accidents, near misses, delays, and equipment failures that have plagued the Transportation Department since Trump took over.

This is all on Trump.  He tried to pull a Reagan and fire all the air traffic controllers (somethiing that was actually quite disasterous to US airline travel when Reagan did that in the 1980s, a problem that was only fixed when President Clinton hired them all back after taking office in 1993) in a pathetic attempt to look like he was cutting costs, but failed to understand the immediate and damaging consequences he had committed to the air taffic system.  Duffy has been desperately playing Whack-A-Mole, dealing with the continued problems Trump created within the first week of his Presidency.

None of these problems were occurring anywhere close to as frequently when President Biden was in charge. 

But, poredictably, Duffy eventually went on to blame President Biden. 

When I flew back from South Carolina a week plus ago, we had to do an emergency waive off at MSP because a Delta flight had not cleared the runway, something that occurs, but I've never had it happen before on a plane. My family, who all flew back to New England, experienced MASSIVE delays and cancellations just trying to get back home.

Trump has really damaged American Transportation.

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 5/12/25

God damn Brain Worm Magee.

Once again, in an interview and in a press conference, he said the following things:

• Parents, through their failure to research every element of their child's life, are the real cause of their child's autism. (IT'S A GENETIC DISEASE, YOU DUMBASS!!!)
• Vaccines cause autism.  (THEY DON'T!!!)
• The MMR vaccine (which is needed right now with the Measles outbreak in the USA) causes severe brain swelling (IT DOESN'T!!!)

He also goes on to say that parents should research every medicine their child takes. THIS IS AN INNOCENT STATEMENT WHICH ACTUALLY IS THE LYNCHPIN TO HIS LIES!!!  Not only is this highly impractical for a parent to fully research every medication, because not every parent has the science background or time to do/understand the research, but he knows this mentality drives people to fraudulent huckster websites, which are lies disguising themselves as wholesome medical research. These people make money by pushing anti-vaxx hackery as fact, and in turn jeopardize the health and well being of your children/family/community.

RFK Jr. makes a mint off of anti-vax rhetoric and misinformation. 

And a reminder that Magee insisted all this anti-vax stupidity was just a smear campaign against him when he was being confirmed.  He lied his ass off. 

This is why we need a competent Health and Human Services to do the research and give us the honest answers, something Brain Worm has worked hard to undermine ("Don't trust anyone but me!").

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 5/11/25

Trump isn't even trying to hide the fact that he has turned on the "International Bribes Now Accepted" sign at the White House. 

In a BRAZEN bit of bribery and corruption, Trump has agreed to take a $400 million plane gift from the royal family of Qatar.  The plane is known as a 'flying palace' and is being described as a gift to Trump, NOT to the United States. 

Even though the plane is a gift to Trump, Trump plans on using taxpayer dollars via the Air Force to upgrade the plane to Air Force One standards (and I WOULD PRAY sweep the damn thing for listening devices and cameras).  Then, right before he leaves office, the plane would be transferred to his Presidential Library for him you use privately.  Trump is getting a sports car plane and having the taxpayers pay for the bulletproof glass and the super-duper, limited edition detailing package. 

Coincidentally, Trump lawyers have a prepared release stating it's not a conflict of interest to receive the plane because no stated benefit to Qatar was guaranteed.  This LAUGHABLE argument has already been endorsed by the worst Attorney General in US history, Pam Bondi. 

This plane would be the most expensive gift to a US President in history. And I guarantee that when Qatar wants something, Trump will quickly pick up their call. 

The Constitution does specifically state that any gift to the President MUST be approved by Congress, but considering how little this Administration thinks the Constitution applies to them, and Congressional Republicans obediently forgoing their obligation to ensure their true God Trump is happy, everyone involved will likely just shrug their shoulders and let it happen, as they always do with Trump. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 5/10/25

This entry is not so much about Trump, but about one of his biggest enablers, the national news media.  And (spoiler), they're still HORRIFICALLY favoring Trump in all their news coverage.

The most common example I bring up about the mind-numbing favoritism the national news media has with Trump is his age and competency.  The national news media PROUDLY ran Joe Biden out of the Presidential race last year, yet a nearly equally elderly man who is clearly FAR MORE mentally unfit for office doesn't get a peep of outrage about his presidency.

How about another one?  Trump is not negotiating trade deals with the UK and China.  He can't.  Only Congress can formalize a trade deal with a foreign country. What Trump is doing is (at best) handshake deals about a vague framework of a future trade agreement, which may or may not come to fruition.  That is a LONG way away from a "trade deal."

But yet the national news media reports his actions as a "Trade deal," something the BBC pointed out was not true.  This is a BASIC fact check, and yet the national news media allows the lie to be pushed without even a simple, mild clarification.

What has always been the more heinous element of the national news media's behavior is how they go after a Democrat for the same statement.  Imagine if Joe Biden had said, "I've just made a trade deal with the UK."  The national news media would rush out to counterpoint (AND educate) about how Biden did no such thing.  Then they'd run with the 'mental decline' narrative on Biden, the same one they loved going with last July.  "Biden thinks he's making trade deals!  Clearly, he's mentally unfit for office!" 

The national news media not only enable Trump, whether out of fear, orders, or compliance, but they present an intentional viciousness when it comes to traditional coverage of Democrats, constantly vilifying them with hearsay, hypotheticals, and zero flexibility, ALWAYS presenting the negative narrative.

One extremist far left protestor presents an outrageous statement on policy at a rally, and suddenly, it's "EVERY Democrat is on board with this new policy from the extreme left."  Meanwhile, at least a third of Trump's staff are undeniable racists and Nazis, but the national news media still refuses to cover the CLEAR infiltration of the Republican Party, making excuse after excuse on why they can't label MAGA fairly. 

The national news media would complain about Joe Biden for ONLY giving them an hour-long interview as "Biden Administration abuses the media."  Meanwhile, Trump could round them up and start shipping them to his El Salvadoran Gulag, and they'd probably insist, "We deserved this."

Not only has the national news media not gotten better from last Fall.  They've gotten monumentally worse.  Their inexcusable failure to properly cover Trump, himself, his lies, his agenda, and the consequences of it all will cost lives, if it hasn't already.

For the record, I read the Guardian and the BBC for national news.

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 5/9/25

Karoline Leavitt, Trump's Press Secretary, made a hilariously stupid excuse in regards to Trump's unjustified firing ot the first female Congressional Librarian, Dr. Carla Hayden.

The Library of Congress is not a traditional library like in your neighborhood. It's a repository of all the books copyrighted in the United States. The Librarian oversees the entire collection and has a role in the copyright office. 

Every book published in the US goes into the Library of Congress, no exceptions.  This is a senior management role within the government.

Leavitt said Hayden was fired because was giving inappropriate books to children. 

It was clear when she was asked about the firing, she really had no idea what the Congressional Librarian actually does. 

The Friday Link for 5/9/25

When I worked on AFN Nuremberg in 1991, I remember the music charts for America being very different than the music charts everywhere else in the world. Back then, maybe half of the songs on the British charts were completely unknown to anyone in America.  

Back in the 1970s, the charts were even more divergent. Two things started bringing the world's music tastes together.  ABBA was so good that it forced open the American market. Their popularity began an international search for the next ABBA, bringing more foreign acts to the attention of the USA.

But it was MTV that really started the change.  Music videos were relatively new for us, but the rest of the world was leaps and bounds ahead of the US when it came to music videos.  A lot of early music videos from American bands were just concert footage or singing on a soundstage. Meanwhile, a band like Men at Work became a must-watch because of their three-minute movies to go along with their songs.  The need for MTV to fill up their schedule allowed a lot of foreign bands with good videos to get a foothold in America.

Today, the consolidation of the music industry and the rise of music clips in social media posts mean music acts are designed and promoted to be international hits.  This, in turn, limits the exposure to a limited number of chosen bands and makes the world's music much more vanilla, with the hits in the USA matching many of the hits in other countries.

As the world's music tastes have consolidated, the YouTube page Bandsplaining asks a great question: What is the most American song of all time, a song which was a huge hit here but never really made it in other countries?  

This is a little dry, and they sure did get thorough with their research, but I think their end results make a lot of sense and are a fun watch.  

Also tonight, from the Dropout series Make Some Noise, here is every shot that comedian Pete Holmes took at the host, Sam Reich.  You really don't need to know anything about either one of them to enjoy these stunning slap downs.

Enjoy the weekend.

Please make sure you stay vaccinated.  I don't want you sick, dead, or bankrupt with medical debt. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 5/8/25

Let's talk about Trump's "major trade deal" with the UK.

First off, it's not a trade deal.  He cannot impose a trade agreement without Congressional approval, which he does not have. This is the bare bones of a framework, which is more of just a handshake deal between the two countries. 

One bit of tariffs that was lifted was on steel and aluminum imports, and products that are made from steel and aluminum.  The raw steel and aluminum are more of a one-way street, because the cost of power to produce steel and aluminum in the US is cost-prohibitive (thanks to the massive energy demands of AI).  UK producers love this concession, but it still has a minimal impact on the industry. This is a win for the UK and a slight positive for the US

Cars still have a 10% import tariff in both directions.  Once again, British cars coming to the US will be more expensive.  But Trump did agree to lower the rate from 25% to 10% on 100,000 UK cars, after which the import tariff is 27.5%.  This is still a negative for both countries. 

Nothing was negotiated on pharmaceuticals or the digital service tax the UK imposes on online social media, search engines, and online marketplaces. So no movement there.

Here's the point Trump hails, which is really a non-existent benefit. The UK agreed to drop the 20% tariff on US beef imports and increase the amount of US beef imported from 1000 tons to 13,000 tons.  This is the same quota the UK has with other countries.  Sounds great, until you realize that these numbers mean very little, considering the UK will not allow US beef treated with growth hormones into the country. The VAST majority of US beef is treated with beef hormones, so this will not increase any beef imports outside of organic beef, which is still subject to inspection, as GMO crops are being fed to the cattle (hence the UK might limit that beef too). Overall, this is a slight improvement, but unlikely to fuel anything but a slight positive with pure organic operations.

The UK agreed to drop the tariffs on importing US ethanol, which is the one good to this deal.

But a reminder, the 10% tariff on the vast majority of products from the UK remains in place, and that means everything is more expensive.  

This is not an improvement.  This is smoke and mirrors. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 5/7/25

JD Vance openly threatening World Cup Soccer fans before next year's World Cup in North America is pretty stupid, but today we will focus on Trump and the Republicans' war on the Postal Service, wanting to privatize it.

I say postal service, but this is really a war against the postal workers' union, much like MAGA attacks on education are geared at destroying teachers' unions. 

Trump's latest salvo is the announcement that he's going to appoint a Board member from FedEx, David Steiner, to take over the Postal Service from the atrocious current postmaster general, Louis DeJoy. On top of that, Trump is in the process of remolding the Postal Service Board of Governors, as there are currently 4 vacancies on the Board and one individual who is only serving in a temporary role. 

This is a huge step towards privatizing the Postal Service. While some MAGA voters applaud the idea of that, they have no idea what they are asking for. If privatized, the Postal Service will simply end all service as we know it, and it will likely eventually cease to be an option for 90% of the country.

No private company will spend the money required to deliver mail in rural America. Not a chance. What will happen is a consolidation of mail services to a local hub.  That local hub won't be in every town.  That hub will likely be in the largest town, an hour away from most rural residences and businesses. You'll have to pay a monthly fee to have a post office box at this one hour away from your house regional postal hub.  If you get a bill in the mail, take it home and put it in the return envelope, you'll likely have to drive the hour back to the regional postal hub to mail it, which will likely cost two to three times more than it does today. And if you need to have mail in your new for-profit postal box on a daily basis, that will be a more expensive postal box option.

Metro areas will weather this a bit better, as their regional hubs will be closer to the population, but you will also have to pay for a P.O. box there. Wealthier, more condensed neighborhoods will give those communities the option of home deliveries, but at a premium price. 

And the days of "If it fits, it ships" will be numbered as the cost to ship a package will skyrocket, making it cost-ineffective to send anything but Amazon. 

If you want to see the future, look at the Irish postal service.  Fewer services, lost packages, and massive downsizing of staff are all too common there.  We will long for the days of the US Postal Service of today, which runs pretty darn good, thanks to the postal workers. 

And Trump will kill that.

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 5/6/25

The weakening of our military.

On Tuesday, the drunk Pete Hegseth announced the Trump Adminsitration would be getting rid of 20% of the Four Star Generals and Admirals in the US military, cut all National Guard generals by 20%, and cut the number of general and flag officers (officers with a rank of one star or higher) in the other military branches by 10%. This will get rid of well over 100 of the top lifetime military leaders.

The man making the decision on who stays and who goes is a drunk incompetent boob whose highest rank was a Major, a full two ranks below a one star general. My guess is he doesn't even understand the complexities and nuances of these ranks, yet he's going to make the decision on who stays and who goes.

This has nothing to do with military preparedness and far more to do with removing military officials who might push back on the military being ordered to open fire on US citizens.  The Trump Administration wants military leaders loyal to him and him alone.

On top of that, the Supreme Court allowed Trump's bigoted transgender ban to be enforced while the court case weaves its way through the Judicial system. Not only does this not bode well for the rights of transgender Americans to be able to serve in the military (the SCOTUS decision was a 6-3 ruling to enforce the ban), but it's just stupid.  You have people who want to serve in the US Armed Forces, people with years of leadership and on-the-job experience that make them a valuable resource, and you're telling them, "We don't want you!"  

I salute all who serve, like I did. Patriotism and love of country have nothing to do with who is President at any given time.  It's unconscionable to punish such loyalty to country. 

 

The Worst Thing Trump Did May 1 through May 5, 2025

It's kind of ironic that this came up as I was traveling in the Southern US to visit family over the weekend.

It's clear that the only racism the Trump administration is going to fight is the made-up racism where they insist the most persecuted people in the US are the majority ruling one, white, male, straight Christians. And with Congress being made up of over 70% white people and over 70% male, Trump has had enough of "his people" being "marginalized."

This entire argument boils down to this racist ideology:  If any person who is NOT a white, male, straight Christian gets hired, a scholarship or any perceived advantage (whether real or not), they must have cheated to get it because everyone else is 'substandard' to a white, male, straight Christian.  That is REALLY BIGOT-Y!

Now, the Trump Administration is pushing for an official policy of segregation, undoing the last 60-plus years of laws meant to fight the undeniable racism that had permeated our society.  I guess these guys are tired of taking off their white hoods and extinguishing their burning crosses whenever the public eye is upon them.

The Johnson Administration had sued the Plaquemines Parish School Board in Louisiana to stop their intentional whites-only school policy, and the case had a Federal consent decree established on the School Board to stop their racism.  Not anymore! Trump ordered his DOJ to stop the case, allowing for legal segregation to return to the United States.  Now the racists of Louisiana can have their little Adolfs and Evas go to school without seeing anyone darker than Casper. 

The DOJ has also signaled that it will likely end all other desegregation cases against other southern bigoted school districts. By the way, there are currently 130 school districts that are under federal government desegregation orders, with the schools located in the states you could list easily; Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana (what else did those 6 states do together...). 

MAGA claims these rules to address belligerent racism are "Federal Government Overreach." These are the same MAGA people currently pushing for the Federal Government to stop transgender people from existing, women from being able to vote, women from being able to choose their own healthcare, minorities from being able to stay in the US, and the LGBTQ community from having rights, because in those cases the Federal Government regulating the masses "just feels right" and "JESUS!!!"

This also comes on the heels of the Administration telling government contractors they can legally have segregated restaurants, waiting rooms, and drinking fountains. Also, the Trump Administration seems to have stopped the consent decree for Minneapolis to clean up their police department in the wake of the UNDENIABLE racist killing of George Floyd and others.

The majority of Trump's voters INDEED voted for this.  They voted for racism to be the north star of this Administration, and even if the Trump Administration destroys their MAGA lives with his other disastrous policies, they will always love him for his unabashed bigotry. 

The Firday Link for 5/2/25

Howdy all!

This week, we go back to Tasting History with Max Miller for the old hobo classic, Mulligan Stew, a cheap meal from the Great Depression. Not only do I love historic cooking, but if the economy turns as bad as it looks like it will, then this might be a helpful how-to! 

Two things about his recipe.  Max points out that the ketchup of today is probably a lot sweeter than the ketchup of the time of the Great Depression. Ketchup (and there are actually a lot of versions of ketchup, some made with other fruits and vegetables, like mushrooms) was a way to preserve the vegetables/fruits that had really gone past their prime. I think that is a spot-on analysis! I almost wonder if a can of tomato sauce with a teaspoon of vinegar would be a better option. 

Also, and this is just me, I imagine a can of Spam would be better than the canned corned beef.  I've had plenty of the corned beef in my life, but I am more partial to the Spam.

Also this week, the movie Thunderbolts* is out in theaters, and between this one, Captain America: Brave New World, and the upcoming Fantastic Four movie, we are leading up to the future Avengers' story lines, Doomsday and Secret Wars.

If you are wondering what these stories are, they are not a reference to the classic storyline from the 80s, Secret Wars, but more from a run of comics from about 10 years ago, and they were VERY good! If you want to understand what is coming, The Den of Nerds has a very good breakdown. 

Finally tonight, the finals of some of the Jelle's Marble Runs Elimination Race for this season.  

Once again, I know there are just marbles, but you do end up cheering for certain ones to win. 

There will be no 'The Worst Thing Trump Did' for the weekend.  More on Monday or Tuesday.

Have a great weekend, and please make sure to stay up to date on your vaccinations! 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 4/30/25

First things first, I'm not going to post a WTTD for the next few days. Me taking time off means I'm taking time off. MAYBE Monday we'll have a new entry.  

Yesterday was a freaking hoot! There were so many insane comments from the Trump Administration (I almost went with Pam Bondi, the Attorney General, heaping compliments and praise on Trump like she was a North Korean government official, begging for her family's lives, was surreal to say the least) but at the end of the day Brain Worm Magee, HHS Secretary RFK Jr. takes the cake again.

During a town hall event on Newsnation with a stunning lineup of Chris Cuomo, Bill O'Reilly, Stephen A. Smith, and James Carville (who was dressed like a melting strawberry ice cream cone), Magee made the following statement about the MMR vaccine, a proven safe vaccine:

It contains "a lot of aborted fetus debris."

NO IT DOESN'T!!!

This is insanity. Brain Worm, who insisted his conspiracy theories about vaccines would not be his compass while in office, showed that ALL of his decisions are being made by wacko conspiracy theory after wacko conspiracy theory. 

Mind you, there is a measles outbreak in the US right now, which is REALLY bad, and his telling people this lie to deter their usage of the vaccine should be a crime itself.

Also, this is another example of fools who know they can't win over the masses with a regular argument, resorting to outrageous exaggeration, applying the worst characteristics and descriptions to the thing they want to vilify, to try to scare people into agreeing with them. 

RFK Jr. is a freaking disgrace of a human being.