The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/16/25

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/15/25

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

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

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

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

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

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/14/25

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Friday Link for 6/13/25

Hi all!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have a great weekend, everyone!

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

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/12/25

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/11/25

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/10/25

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/7/25

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/6/25

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

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

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

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

This whole attack is a smear campaign.

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

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

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

The Friday Link for 6/6/25

Howdy All!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That's it for this week!

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

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/5/25

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Worst Thing Trump did on 6/4/25

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/3/25

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

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

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

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

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

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/2/25

Trump's director of FEMA, David Richardson, stunned his staff when he claimed he was unaware that the term 'Hurricane Season' actually referred to a specific timeline of when hurricanes typically hit the United States, generally between June and November.

The head of FEMA wasn't aware of the primary timeline threat of hurricanes, one of the most consistent, deadly, and costly natural disasters that hit the United States EVERY YEAR!

A FEMA spokesperson insisted that Richardson was making a joke (???), but Richardson was hired with ZERO Emergency Management experience.  He claims his resume as a Marine artillery officer qualifies him to run FEMA.  It doesn't.

It's also a real problem that many members of FEMA upper management have either left the agency or been fired, and reductions in FEMA staff have left the agency ill-prepared to deal with a major natural disaster, IF TRUMP EVEN SENDS IN FEMA!!!

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 6/1/25

June 1st is the official start to hurricane season, and thanks to Trump, these storms are about to become a lot more dangerous.  Not because (undeniably) climate change is making these storms worse, but rather because he's understaffed the offices needed to help forecast these massive storms.

Fifteen national weather service offices stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to Puerto Rico are short meteorologists, and four offices in particular (Miami, Houston, Jacksonville, and Puerto Rico) are short-staffed by at least a third. And the National Weather Service is frantically trying to fill the 'meteorologist-in-charge' position in both Houston and Lake Charles, Louisiana.

The National Hurricane Centers were already understaffed, but now, thanks to Trump, they are grossly overstretched. The head of the National Weather Service Employees Organization has said bluntly, "We're at the snapping point now."

A National Hurricane Center spokesperson implied "we'll be fine," but Rick Spinrad, who was administrator for the NOAA until January, had a different outlook. "If I were a citizen of Texas, Florida, or Georgia, I wouldn't be sure how well warned I would be of a hurricane."

And considering how FEMA has pretty much stopped showing up to disaster areas, this could be a long year for anyone in hurricane country. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 5/31/25

It is no secret that the white supremacist element in the White House, mainly White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Racist Fredo himself, Stephen Miller, is very upset that more brown skinned people have not been rounded up and shipped out of the country.  

My guess? When Trump announced his racist roundup, there were some special precautions made to prevent certain areas from being raided.  While Los Angeles, NYC, and Chicago were fair game, some metro areas (like Las Vegas) and a lot of the rural corporate farm strongholds were initially exempt from the ICE Gestapo's roundup list.  This was due to large GOP donors saying, "Hey, your round-up of migrants is fine in Liberal areas, but we need those workers here, so we expect some guarantees we won't be raided."

It seems like any hypothetical agreement is out the door, as Racism will always win within the Trump Administration. 

There is a new list of "100 Sanctuary Jurisdictions" from the Department of Homeland Security, which not only includes the Right Wing's usual liberal metro area punching bags, but also includes Las Vegas, Huntington Beach, California, and Athens, Georgia.  And the list includes rural counties, with many of those counties being the location of meat processing facilities, large agriculture regional hubs, large dairy operations, or counties with a large corporate farm presence.  In those regions, undocumented workers are generally the only people willing to do the hard work for the wages they receive. 

There are a lot of Republicans currently freaking out, with good reason.  A study in Wisconsin showed that if raids happened in Chicago, the ripple effect would hit hundreds of miles from the roundup zone, costing local agricultural operations up to a third of their workers, as the workers run in fear.  Now that these raids are happening in rural America, with local county sheriffs (eager to try to impress Trump with their loyalty) taking on the role of 'local ICE agents,' the economic impacts on the Ag sector and Republican strongholds will be massive. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 5/30/25

Elon Musk's tenure with the White House is now "officially" over.  What we have found out about his 4+ month term is incredibly disturbing.

Trump insiders have started throwing him under the bus as he leaves, probably paving the road to eventually blame Elon for the inevitable pain Trump's policies are going to cause.

The New York Times published a story that alleges Elon is abusing drugs on a massive scale. Multiple White House insiders detail disturbing levels of drug use, including Elon's overuse of ketamine, a horse tranquilizer, apparently taking so much of it that his body was starting to have severe reactions to the amount he was using, including the loss of bladder function, a symptom associated with massive intake. 

But ketamine is only the beginning.  He apparently abused ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms, and carried around with him a daily "medication" box which consisted of 20 pills, SOME of which were labeled as Adderall.  He's also been known to be abusing Ambien, a sleep medication (what the other pills in the box were, no one knows).  There are also reports of excessive use of weight-loss drugs.

Musk even admitted using ketamine, but insisted it was only once every few weeks, but the Times report implies it was far more of a daily use, something which would be needed for advanced medication implications like bladder failure. And it was alleged that he took these drugs in private meetings. 

Once again, these are allegations. 

His personal behavior was also a major problem. Not only did the billionaire constantly play video games and post on his social media accounts on Twitter, but apparently, he got violent. There is a reported story that two of Trump's more senior advisors got into a screaming match.  Now we find out that it was Musk and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and it wasn't just screaming.  After Bessent called out Musk for not finding far more in government cuts, Musk apparently physically shoved the Treasury Secretary.  This alleged ethics breach was too much for Trump, and he asked Musk to depart the Administration.

Yes, this story is getting some coverage, but ALL OF THIS should be leading the news for the next two months! It sure as hell would be if Biden had given an alleged druggie access to the public's personal information, and that same person started a physical altercation with the Treasury Secretary.  This is a BAD reality TV show at this point.

Part of this is also Elon desperately wanting to distance himself from Trump, because the second the Democrats take back over in this country, he knows every action and contract he has will be under review.  He needs time to sway public support and (to be honest) buy a few Demorcats to keep him safe.

But we should never forget that Elon bought his way into the White House with not only hundreds of millions of dollars in donations, but in buying Twitter for 44 billion just to neutralize what had been a check on Republican/Trump lies.  Trump gave this man, a man with (allegedly) serious behavioral issues and (allegedly) serious drug issues, access to everyone's personal financial, medical, and educational information, and there's a decent chance Musk copied it all and has it on his own personal servers. 

The Friday Link for 5/30/25

This week's link starts off with a brilliant piece from Jimmy Kimmel.  

Kimmel puts on a fake conspiracy theory show, and the results are hilarious.  He asks a simple question:  Is Donald Trump a time traveler?  What Kimmel then does is top notch layered comedy, absolutley mocking and destroying Trump for the jackass he is, while at the same time skewering these right wing conspiracy dolts who can find a conspiracy in everything! Kimmel feasts on these losers' pathetic desire to be right at all costs, so that they make the most outrageous and unhinged jumps and connections in a failing attempt to create an aura of legitimacy.

It's spot on how he mocks the way those people pause their show to take drink breaks big enough to drive a semi through. I also love the self-absorbed merch swipe!  Enter The Rabbit Hole! 

Next up is the folks at Rotten Tomatoes putting together all the trailers from the Marvel Cinematic Universe up until Endgame. It's fun to go back and see these trailers again, and see some of the moments which were featured in the trailers but never ended up in the movies themselves.

I loved the fact that my kids came of age at the time these movies hit.  My son, who turns 24 later this year, still goes to Marvel movies with me.  We just saw Thunderbolts* together. 

Finally, tonight is a local band made good, Durry.  This is the latest music video for their new song More Dumb.  Austin and Taryn are getting really good at creating memorable music, and their videos just keep getting better.  These guys are hitting on all cylinders right now. I could not be happier for them! 

Have a great weekend, and please make sure you stay up to date on all of your vaccinations. 

The Worst Thing Trump did on 5/29/25

When the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Brain Worm Magee, aka RFK Jr., released his Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) report, we all knew what was eventually going to be uncovered.

The report has been revealed to have quoted made-up research and is riddled with numerous citation errors.  Frankly, it's a mess. Seven sources credited in the report don't seem to even exist. In one example, they quoted a report by epidemiologist Katherine Keyes about youth mental health. One slight problem.  The paper cited never existed, at least not one where the reported authors of said paper had anything to do with it.

Another author was also quoted for a made-up report, and the misquoted author, Harold Farber, criticized the content in the made-up paper he was credited for writing as a gross overgeneralization of the scientific research.

When confronted by this, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed "complete confidence" in Magee's report, claimed the errors were nothing more than formatting problems, and said Kennedy's MAHA report was "backed on good science that has never been recognized by the Federal Government."

That is a crazy ass excuse! 

On a follow-up question, she was asked if the report was written AI, and Leavitt refused to answer.

Yes indeed! Clearly, large swaths of this report were written by AI. The insanity of the Federal Government releasing an "official" report with such obvious flaws and mistakes is mind-boggling. 

 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 5/27/25

The Trump pardons are just a freaking travesty.  If you pay Trump an obscene amount of money and/or go on television and claim you were politically prosecuted by Joe Biden, you are in line to get a pardon.

Over the last few days, Trump pardoned Paul Walczak, who undeniably cheated his employees out of money and was a tax cheat.  Elizabeth Fago, Walczak's mom, is a major fundraiser for Trump and was involved in the stolen diary of Ashley Biden and the attempts to use it as a smear campaign against Biden's campaign. Fago attended the million-dollar-a-plate Perkins meal at Mar-A-Lago and, PRESTO!, Paul was pardoned.

Trump also pardoned Scott Jenkins, a disgraced Sheriff from Virginia, who sold auxiliary deputy sheriff positions within his department to area businessmen for $75,000 each. He was guilty, as a jury found him guilty late last year. He insisted he was politically prosecuted by Biden, even though the evidence of his cash-for-badges scheme was undeniable. 

Yesterday, Trump pardoned Todd and Julie Chrisley, stars of the reality TV show Chrisley Knows Best.  Once again, a stunning amount of evidence against them led to a jury conviction of the two for tax evasion and stealing more than 36 million dollars from banks through fraudulent loans. They attempted to steal 36 million, and they are being let go.

Why?  Their daughter, another MAGA harpy who constantly screams about being a victim, claimed on Lara Trump's Fox show that they were prosecuted solely for political reasons.  They weren't. They were thieves. 

I find it funny that the same people arguing that stealing 36 million is no big deal are the same people who would demand a Black person be locked up for life for attempting to take $36 that wasn't theirs.  

And the report is that Trump is considering offering a full pardon to Oath Keeper traitor Stewart Rhodes.  And although he can't pardon state charges, he's actively trying to find ways to pressure the governors of Minnesota and Colorado to release Derek Chauvin and Tina Peters (respectively).

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 5/26/25

Details stuffed into Trump's Big Beautiful Bill are trickling out.  This is because the bill is so large and enormous that it has been easy for people to stash little things into it without really being seen.  Someone, under the cover of darkness, added a small note that would immediately revoke the Judiciary Branch's ability to oversee Trump.

"No court in the United States may use appropriated funds to enforce a contempt citation for failure to comply with an injunction or temporary restraining order if no security was given when the injunction or order was issued." 

The language at the end of the tidbit is designed to make this sound fair, but in reality, it's a poison pill to any court cases against Trump.

The courts use budgeted funds to enforce contempt citations and failure to comply orders.  What this bill is saying is that the people bringing the cases against Trump would have to completely fund any potential enforcement action needed when Trump says "Screw You" to the courts.  Unless the people who have brought the charges put forth hundreds of thousands of dollars in advance, there's technically nothing the court can do to enforce any violations of their rulings. 

One little line says there will no longer be any consequences for Trump ignoring a court order.

The insanely fast march to turn Trump into a king and this country into a dictatorship continues. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 5/25/25

Because the news media treats Trump like no president who has come before him, we sometimes miss the little things that in ANY OTHER ADMINISTRATION would have begun major discussions on fitness for office.

Between posting clips of his bizarre West Point speech, continued threats against Harvard University, once again walking back a trade threat after he tanked the markets on Friday,

(Quick side note: What do you bet, at his crypto banquet Thursday night, Trump and some buddies set up a plan where he would knock down stock prices of European companies and Apple computer with these on the fly tariff threats, quietly put buy orders in, and then walk back his tariff threat, eagerly making millions of his market manipulation?)

And already posting inappropriate attacks on Memorial Day, Trump posted a picture of a "friend" of his being bitten by a swan at his golf course, claiming golf is a dangerous sport.

Past Presidents have had rough, colorful personas that they kept in the quiet of back rooms. We've NEVER seen a President present such weird, stupid, and (to a point) inappropriate content directly to the masses like a manager getting ready to be visited by HR.  

This is not a sign of the times.  CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT THE NEWS MEDIA WOULD BE LIKE IF JOE BIDEN HAD SENT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE THIS IMAGE?!?  They would be going nutzoid, with at least half the major newspapers in the country demanding an immediate investigation, and the other half demanding his immediate resignation.  Their argument would be, "Clearly, his mental decline has become too much for the job!"  And EVERY MAGA DOLT would be demanding Biden be prosecuted for...something(???).

But Trump does it? The MAGA dolts are screaming it's hilarious, and the news media outright ignores the questionable behavior. 

The national news media's failure to fairly cover Trump, ignoring behavior they would've condemned under ANY OTHER ADMINISTRATION, is one of the greatest betrayals this country has ever seen. The national news media are a partner in this Administration's crimes, easily manipulated out of fear of making Trump mad. 

The national news media continues to attack Joe Biden four months after he left office, for such things as having cancer (!!!).  They are so determined to look like they have integrity, they hyperfocus on the one guy they've been allowed to kick, while outright ignoring the FAR GREATEST THREAT TO THIS COUNTRY in the last 160+ years. 

The national news media, after Trump orders troops to fire on unarmed US citizens, will gleefully write the stories about how they all deserved to be gunned down for their thoughts. 

By the way, if I were the guy in the swan picture, I'd sue the hell out of Trump and his golf course. This post would be considered Exhibit A.

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 5/24/25

Trump gave the traditional presidential address at West Point, which ended up being a jumbled mess of dementia, random unrelated issues, and political quackery. 

Wearing a MAGA hat as he addressed the graduating officers, Trump bragged about his isolationalist stance, and bragged about getting rid of DEI initiatives, which in turn ended up with him screaming about transgender people and drag shows. 

"The job of the US Armed Forces is not to host drag shows..."  As a member of the US Army, I never remember drag show week in the battalion.  He went on to brag about ending "transgender for everyone forced onto our brave men and women..." Once again, I never remember the Army having a mandatory transgender week.  Along with comments about critical race theory, it was clear he was just flexing his racism and bigotry over the troops. I have zero doubt he had his dips!t racist inner circle screaming, "Hilarious, Sir!"

Then the speech turned stupid.  We got a rant where he advised the graduates (including many women) to avoid trophy wives. "...I must tell you, a lot of trophy wives, it doesn't it work." (That's the quote!) Trump notoriously has had three trophy wives, women who ARE THE MOTHERS OF HIS CHILDREN, and he badmouthed them in front of West Point. 

He then went on to complain that he was investigated more than the "Great, late Alphonse Capone." As Trump continues to praise Capone as "Great," we should note that he wasn't.  He murdered a lot of people and ran a crime empire.  Trump's comparing himself to him in a favorable light and calling him "Great" while pretending he himself is innocent doesn't hide the stink as well as he thinks it does.  Trump is indeed a convicted criminal, also found guilty of sexually assaulting E Jean Carroll in a civil case, and is clearly guilty of many other crimes. And my guess is that Trump is going to be investigated a lot more in the future.

Trump then broke with modern tradition.  Past Presidents (Obama and Biden) shook the hands of every West Point graduate as they walked across the stage.  Trump ended his speech and quickly left before any names were read. 

There is one quote I want ot point out.  Trump said: "The military's job is to dominate any foe, and annihilate any threat to America, anywhere, anytime, and any place."  This is clearly code telling the graduates, 'if I order you to shoot at American citizens in this country, you'd damn well better do it!'

He will eventually order troops to attack us. I am convinced of that. 

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 5/23/25

Trump said he's going to apply a 50% tariff on the European Union and a 25% tariff on the US company, Apple.

I could try to explain Trump's latest round of idiot 'tough talk,' but the truth is he thinks he can force countries into taking all US products for free while the US imposes tariffs on the other countries. I've made the point before that the EU did fine without the US for a long time, and even though this new trade-heavy world is nice, I don't think they have a real problem going back to ignoring the US, at our peril.

The threat against Apple is interesting. Apple has consistently made the point that the reason they manufacture their products in China has far less to do with the cost of labor, and far more to do with the skill set of the labor.  The machinists in China are more plentiful and more educated than what you can find at home.

This actually goes back to a major problem of Trump's demand to just shift high-tech jobs back to the US.  Setting aside Apple needing to build billion-dollar manufacturing facilities here, which currently do not exist, and pretending the materials needed to make an iPhone could all be sourced domestically, there's a real problem with getting enough trained US workers to do the job.  

Some dolt who barely finished high school, who thinks "learning stuff is for stupid idiots," who has been fired from three jobs because he's a drunk, and whose best career outcome was two years working second shift at a gas station, can't just be put into a high tech production facility, where the employee needs a high skill set of technical courses just to understand the basics of the job they're doing.  This isn't a "we'll train you for three days and then you can make the iPhone!" kind of job!

Dumb MAGA idiots don't want to accept this reality;  the problem is not the availability of jobs, but their reluctance to take math, science, and higher education seriously when they were in school.  They're grossly unqualified to do the job!  They don't think this is a resume position, but a 'filling out an application' job, like it's an Arby's.   China understands what is required in modern manufacturing, hence why they've been training people in technology at a MUCH higher rate than the US.  

Trump's real problem with Apple is that he wants them to dumb down production, which they can't do.  Considering Trump will never invest in educating his base, all Apple can do is look at this threat and shrug.

The Friday Link for 5/23/25

Hey all!  I hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend! 

Let's start off with a video celebrating America, namely, why does every major city in the US exist? Actually, it's pretty entertaining! Sometimes the explanation is a no-brainer, but some of the cities' locales were a mystery to me. The YouTube Channel Mr. Beat has the details! 

Next up is fossils.  Sometimes fossils look like fossils.  Sometimes they make absolutely no sense. There are more of the latter than you know.  Extinct Zoo steps up with a video introducing you to some of the most bizarre animals and plants we've ever found fossilized, with some of them escaping being classified as anything we've ever seen. 

Finally, I was proud to serve in the US Army (salute to all who do and have served, along with their families who also serve at home), but I am not brave enough to try to make Thomas Keller's version of a Caesar Salad.  Seriously, it looks AMAZING, but the complexity of this recipe is nutzoid! Anti-Chef is willing to take the hit for me, and considering how fast he devours it, it must be absolutely spectacular flavor-wise. 

That's it for this week.  Stay healthy and safe.  I hope you enjoy your weekend! 

Please stay up to date on your vaccinations!

The Worst Thing Trump Did on 5/22/25

Last night's "Give Trump money to get access" event, where people literelaly bought access to Trump via his crypto currency and investment funds (tollerated by the same people who made up fake outrage about the fake 'Hunter Biden is giving people access' scandal), for a chance to sit with him at a dinner is bad, but no one in this Adminstration out crazies Brain Worm Magee.

Robert F Kennedy Jr. released his report on children's health yesterday, and it's everything stupid you'd expect it to be.

We'll start by pointing out that Brain Worm promised that his department would have absolute transparency during his confirmation hearings, but we have no idea who the actual authors of the report are. He specifically has not released the names of the people who wrote the report, only that the report was commissioned by the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) committee.  We have no idea who exactly it came from, but it screams the usual health huckster conspiracy theory bull, which is all about scaring and not about finding the real problems.

The report specifically focuses on five areas.  Ultra-processed foods, environmental chemical exposures, children's mental health, "overmedicalization," and corporations taking over the regulatory commissions that are placed there to regulate them. Sure, some things might get some majority appeal, but the report also ventures into quack science.

They talk about flouride leading to lower IQ in kids, but intentionally leave out the exposure rate to get lower IQ outcomes is insanely high, something the majority of kids will never be exposed to, and it also ignores the PROVEN science that flouride in water reduces children's cavities, the most common chronic condition in children.  

Magee also goes back to implying that vaccine schedules are a problem for children's health, while offering ZERO evidence that vaccines are the cause of any specific chronic disease.  He's just pushing his anti-vaxx crap. 

I also wonder if the rest of the Republican party had read this report, as the makers of ultra-processed foods, the people dumping dangerous chemicals into the environment (both of which should be regulated more, in my opinion), and the corporations taking over the regulatory commissions are ALL major Republican sponsors.

This report outright ignores the two most dangerous things to kids today, automobile crashes and firearm incidents. It also ignores the role of behaviors started in adolescence, namely smoking and drinking, which lead to chronic health problems later in life.

It becomes really hard to argue you want to fight something like ultra-processed foods without talking about the real problem, access to affordable healthy food options.  The Trump Administration has killed numerous programs designed to get healthy food options to kids since it took office. So far, RFK Jr. has not said a thing about those cuts.

This is about Brain Worm Magee setting up the reports so that HIS issues, which he uses to make money for himself, are the only things discussed, ensuring the outcomes that make him the most money are the ones found, regardless of whether they're factual or not.

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.