Eric Schmitt and El Gaffe Grande

 Eric Schmitt was born in suburban St. Louis. After high school he attended Truman State University (Home of the Bulldogs). He then got his law degree from St. Louis University (Go Billikens). And yes, team nicknames are important here, trust me. 

 In 2005 Eric Schmiitt began his political career as a city alderman in Glendale, Missouri. Schmitt rose quickly through the GOP ranks, entering the Missouri state senate in 2009. By 2017 he was the state Treasurer, then in 2019 he became the Missouri state Attorney General. That's when he started to make a name for himself in MAGA world. 

As Attorney General he filed a lawsuit attempting to invalidate the Affordable Care Act. According to Wikipedia, after voters approved an amendment to the state constitution expanding Medicaid coverage, Schmitt argued in front of the Missouri Supreme Court that the republican controlled legislature and GOP Governor could legally refuse go along with expansion. You can't get any more Trumpian than that. In fact, it might have been the exact moment that Eric Schmitt became a genuine made MAGA guy.

To cement his image, during the Covid-19 pandemic Schmitt filed lawsuits against St. Louis County who was trying to implement restrictions on indoor dining and crowd sizes. One of the suits challenged a county wide mask mandate. When the pandemic really began to spin out of control Schmit's office filed a suit against the Chinese government and the Chinese communist party for, among other things, lying about how deadly the disease actually was. After using up $12,000 of the state's money to translate the paperwork into Chinese the federal court dismissed the case. Around the same time, he was going after the reds in Beijing, his office was also suing local school districts and Jefferson County, MO over mask requirements. 

In November 2022, the people of Missouri elected Eric Schmitt to the U.S. Senate by a little over 13 points. To paraphrase a lyric, his future was so bright he had to were shades. (Reports say the optimism in his camp was so prevalent he had even begun jockeying for the second spot on a J.D. Vance Presidential ticket) 

Then, early this week, things went, let's say, a tad awry. 

During the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting the Senator from Missouri appeared to be attempting to establish some sort of conspiracy between Special Persecutor, Jack Smith and Fulton County DA Fani Willis. Smith had been investigating Donald Trump and the entire January 6th coup attempt while at the same time Willis was investigating Trump's not so subtle effort to alter the 2020 election outcome in Georgia. No one is sure how serious Schmitt was about some nefarious collusion between the two--although we know MAGA loves conspiracies, well, except when they implicate Trump. The real reason for the line of questioning seemed to be to catch Jack Smith in a lie. In some quarters this is known as suborning perjury, a felony that will get you five years in the joint. 

Schmitt asked Smith if he had been in Atlanta during the investigations. Smith told the Committee he might have gone through Atlanta's airport while flying back and forth from Wahington to Florida. Schmitt, who had already called the Special Prosecutor a dirtbag, smiled slightly. Then he asked something along the lines of, "Would it surprise you, if we have proof, you were in Atlanta at an Atlanta Hawks game? " Smith was bewildered. One of Schmitt's aides rose with a large poster board showing Smith's texts about having tickets to a Hawks game. There was a problem though. Schmitt and his band of merry pranksters either didn't notice, or didn't care that while the texts mentioned Hawks, none specifically said the Atlanta Hawks, or referred to the city of Atlanta.   

During the ensuing uproar Smith said he did remember going to an Iowa-Maryland woman's basketball game, "around that time." That game was played in College Park, MD and featured then collegiate women's basketball superstar, Catlin Clark. Minnesota democratic Senator Amy Klobachar immediately jumped in to remind everyone Clark's Iowa team was known as the Hawkeyes. What she didn't mention, probably because she didn't have to, is that many times people shorten Hawkeyes into just Hawks. A little later observers noted the seat and row numbers Smith talked about don't exist in Atlanta's State Farm Arena, home of the NBA Hawks. In addition, Smith was accompanied by a couple of U.S. marshals to the game, and the Marshal service had a record of their whereabouts.   

It was a fuck up worthy of a Saturday Night Live bit. Everybody scrambled to cover their asses. When initially confronted about the mistake, Schmitt told TMZ only, "It's my job to ask the question." The implication being it was his staff who screwed the pooch and his only mistake was to believe them. Later he tried to laugh it off by saying, "Who knew Jack Smith was a Caitlin Clark fan?" He also tried to excuse the mistake by insisting the Hawks-Warriors game was the only NBA game being played that night. Actually, there were six NBA games played on the date in question, but by then a lie that lame was minor enough to be shrugged off. Judiciary Committee staffers began claiming they had warned Schmitt's staff the texts were, "unvetted." Others said the White House had provided the flawed information to Schmitt's people. 

Despite the epic goof the right-wing media and online hacks proclaimed the day was a resounding indictment of Jack Smith. Sean Hannity congratulated Schmitt on social media, but then quickly deleted it. Later on his FOX show he praised republican committee members by name, without mentioning Schmitt, for exposing Smith's abuse of power. Others in the online MAGA media simply ignored El Gaffe Grande and told their followers, numbering far too many, Jack Smith had perjured himself. 

Not everyone was trying to sweep the disaster under the rug though. An editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch read in part, "Wrong teams, wrong league, wrong state." It went on to say the whole episode   was, "a loony right-wing conspiracy based on some misunderstood text messages. Falsely accuse a prosecutor of perjury; call him a villain and total dirtbag--and then stand by that playground pejorative even after the whole thing turned out to be a lazy mistake made by Schmitt and his staff..." 

 All that, of course, is the nature of the MAGA beast. Never say you're sorry or admit a mistake. Plow on to the next set of outrageous lies as fast as you can with the firm belief the truth can't catch up and, most importantly, the rubes will buy it all.

I tell you, Herr Goebbels would be proud.

10-2-26

The List of Donald Trump's Political Contributors Just Got Really Long

 It is being reported that the Donald Trump political campaign war chest started off the year 2026 with $300 million. That's not counting the PAC money his fabulously well-to-do pals have kicked in. It is strictly donations from individuals and various entities. In addition, it is estimated Donald Trump, and his family have pocketed not quite $4 billion since his second inauguration. Now, we all know the dollar isn't worth as much as it used to be, even a year ago, but still, that's a lot of fucking money. 

All of which begs a question. Why are the taxpayers, you and me, paying for the latest round of pro Trump political ads running on television? Has that crazed old coot come up with a scheme to embezzle the campaign funds? Is the family fortune stashed somewhere hard to get offshore?  Are the reports of the profits vastly overstated? Or has he gone all Scrooge McDuck and is just so cheap and greedy he'd rather stick us with the tab than pay for them himself? Let's face it, he does have a history of walking into places like ice cream parlors and promising to pay for everyone's meal, then skipping out on the bill. 

Well, according to a White House spokesperson the ads aren't ads at all. "These public service announcements are about reminding Americans to love their country and understand what makes it worth defending, at home, at our borders, and abroad. The ads are educational and unapologetically patriotic. We should be proud of our country." Later, another White House toady claimed, "The PSAs are clearly not political. The President is not on the ballot, and the ads don't have a call to action." 

What one of them does have is a stern-faced Donald Trump walking down a hall while in the background one of his old speeches is playing. In it he is telling a crowd, "We will cast out the Communists, Marxists, and Fascists. We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country. We will rout the fake news media, and we will liberate America from these villains once and for all." 

For those who might have just experienced a dis-orienting moment of Deja vu, no, you aren't going a little off the mental hygene beaten path.  In January 2024, during his third run at the White House, the same video showed up on Trump's Truth Social account. The last six seconds of the original ad contained Trump's campaign logo and a phone number to text in your contribution info. In the new version that was replaced with a message saying, "Paid for by the U.S. government." 

In another, "PSA," Trump denounces communism and socialism while a rolling texts brags about his administration's accomplishments, including, "reigniting American manufacturing." The music used in the ad is a song by JMSN called, "Love Me."  As always, Trump's people failed to get permission to use the song. JMSN, aka, Christian Berishaj, had his lawyers immediately demand that not only the ad be pulled at once, but that Trump and his people never use the song or any of his, "intellectual property," again. 

Yet another ad shows Trump at Mount Rushmore telling the audience, "Never before has any nation celebrated so magnificent a triumph as this one." Not to be a critic, but to the casual onlooker it isn't clear if he was talking about the sculptures, or himself.      

The ads began running on FOX and Newsmax. By this weekend, USA Today reports they appeared on several college and NFL games, FOX News Sunday, and even Saturday Night Live. All of it happening less than 40 days ahead of a midterm election that is skewing heavily toward the democrats.  

Ah yes, clearly not political. 

Senate majority leader, John Thune is quoted by CNN as saying, "It's a great message. I like the message, but it shouldn't have been paid for with taxpayer dollars." Texas lame duck Senator--thank you Donald Trump--John Cornyn was asked if the ads were political. His response was, "It's not even a close question." Democratic Congressman, Jamie Raskin was a tad blunter. On social media he wrote, in part, "It may be a felony..." CNN also quoted one former Trump, "campaign official," who said airing the ads at taxpayer expense was, "Dumb, dumb, dumb beyond belief. These guys are all gonna get subpoenaed. It's gonna be bad." 

While that remains to be seen (Screw John Gotti, Trump is the real Teflon Don) we do know that as far too many of us struggle to buy groceries and fuel, the President of the United States just made us all contributors to his current political campaign--whether we wanted to or not.

But hey, that's what Klepto-Autocrats do. 

9-29-26

Chock Full O' Nuts and Crooks

 You can say a lot of things about the republican party, but you'll never be able to deny that when it comes to finding corrupt and downright bat shit crazy candidates, they know how to do it. Obviously, American democrats can and have done it too--Graham Platner up in Maine comes to mind--but republicans have it honed into a real science.

We all know about the Texas GOP senatorial nominee, Ken Paxton. He is a man so wildly corrupt that when he was serving as the state's Attorney General his own staff ratted him out to the FBI. When there was a move to impeach him from that office, it didn't come from the democrats, but republicans themselves. 

Now word comes that in a 2022 interview he spoke about the Uvalde, TX mass shooting which killed 19 students and two teachers. Paxton was asked by radio host/pastor, Trey Graham what he would say to the parents of all those murdered children to comfort them. His response was, "I would just have to say, if I had the opportunity to talk to the people I'd have to say, look there's always a plan. I believe God has a plan. Life is short no matter what it is. And certainly, we're not going to make sense of, you know, a young child being shot and killed way before their life expectancy."

Ah yes, comforting indeed Mr. Attorney General. 

Out in Colorado, the republican nominee for governor is, Victor Marx. Raw Story reports Mr. Marx recently called for 21 days of fasting and prayer to, "shift ideologies before election day." Not his ideology mind you, but that of his opponent, Phil Weiser and his supporters. Mr. Marx (Has anyone else noticed the irony here? A MAGA republican named, Marx.) claimed, "The election will be determined by prayer." He also says, "It (the election) is a spiritual battle against the forces of wickedness." Raw Story notes, Marx has previously claimed he was, "forced to commit a murder when he was a child," although he has never said who, when, or where. In addition, the candidate maintains he has literally fought with, "demons and supernatural creatures," while performing missionary work. It remains unclear what mode of mortal combat it was. You know, was it guns, knives, or bare knuckles? Maybe karate, or even bull whips, ala Indiana Jones. 

Whatever the case, Raw Story also reports Marx isn't the first MAGA gubernatorial candidate to try praying his way into office. In 2022, Pennsylvania republican, Doug Mastriano urged his supporters to fast and pray for 40 days prior to the election. Previously he had publicly prayed for MAGA to "seize the power," right before Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6th. That didn't work out, at least the way it was originally planned, and Josh Shapiro became Governor of Pennsylvania. So, make of it what you will. 

However, getting back, if only briefly, to our demon slayer, Victor Marx. It is also being reported that the candidate attempted to get around election finance laws by operating a campaign merchandise store through a shell company. It's an act most Colorado experts say is completely illegal. Raw Story says Marx is considered so far out there, some GOP state party officials have resigned rather than support him. 

Finally, we get to Maine Senator, Susan Collins. She has been in the Senate for three decades. She has gained a reputation for moaning and groaning about Donald Trump's crazed policies, but then, in the end, almost always voting for them. Now we might know why. 

On Tuesday ProPublica reported that early in her 2020 re-election bid she was losing in the fundraising department and behind in the polls. The gist of the story is that in exchange for a bunch hefty donations from the executives of a Hawaii based defense contractor, Navatek, Collins made sure the company was awarded millions in DOD contracts. In some quarters this is known as, "pay for play." in others it's known as bribery.  

Collins vehemently denies the allegations and has called it, "clearly a political hit job." The Senator's chief of staff called the allegations, "categorically false." ProPublica stands by the story and maintains Navatek CEO Martin Kao met with a Collins campaign fundraiser and agreed to write out a check in exchange for multi-million-dollar contracts steered their way.  The outlet has a photo of a sizable check made out to a pro-Collins PAC from a company called, "Society of Young Women Scientists and Engineers LLC." The Society was created in November 2019. The Hawaii Department of Commerce lists the, "registered agent," of the company as, you guessed it, Martin Kao. 

The FBI admits it investigated the allegations when they first surfaced in 2020, but after finding nothing dropped it. What they didn't say is that they didn't decide there was nothing until 2025, when Donald Trump began his second term and ordered the case closed. He then made sure all the agents involved were fired--one supposes just to be on the safe side. 

While no one can be sure if there is a connection between Trump's intervention and Collins' bizarre voting record, we do know that when Donald J. Trump does you a favor, he fully expects it to be repaid, with interest. Hey, he might not be a mobster in the traditional sense, but he certainly likes to act like one.     

And that, ladies and gentlemen, sums up the entire 21st century American republican party. From top to bottom, Chock full O' Nuts and Crooks--and sometimes they're both at the same time.

9-25-26

Natalie Harp Pushes the Old Geezer's Big Fat Button

 First things first. A lot of old men are easily triggered when things don't go their way. They have spent decades on this blue ball and when failure strikes it is particularly maddening because they know deep down, they have an ever-shrinking amount of time to, as they say, fight again another day. There are other reasons of course. They mostly fall under the headings of, "things I wanted to do, but never got to," and, "why do I have to take a leak every 45 minutes?" Add them all up and you get what might be called, "the grumpy old man syndrome." 

For the most part this behavior, while a pain in the ass for those stuck having to deal with an old man, is harmless enough. That's because most crotchety old geezers aren't the President of the United States of America. However, as we are all too aware, Donald Trump is and when he goes into an old guy snit it isn't just the family, friends, and nurses he screws with, it's the nation and whole world. 

All of which might explain why Mr. Trump, who was a tad out there even in his prime, has been in a really bad mood the last few days. First, you have the whole mail-in ballot thing. The Supreme Court voted not just no on his postal service election interference scheme, they voted resoundingly NO! It is the only way to describe a 7-2 decision, especially when you thought you owned five of those seven Justices who voted against what you wanted. 

Then there was Kevin Walsh, the chair of the Federal Reserve. Trump appointed him in May and as with all Trump appointees we can assume the Donald expected him to be totally loyal. However, last week instead, of lowering interest rates, like Trump wanted, Walsh raised them by a quarter of one percentage point. The reason cited for the hike was, "stubbornly high inflation," a subject the President wants everyone to be oblivious to in his, "great economy."

The news about the Kennedy Center hasn't gone well either. It has been so frustrating for Trump that he even said he'd tear the building down unless his name went on it out front. It was a threat that lands somewhere between, "If you don't let me play quarterback, I'll take my ball and go home," and, "Make me your partner and I can guarantee this beautiful business of yours won't burn down." According to the Daily Beast, at a recent meeting in the Oval Office the President went off on staff members because they hadn't "publicly praised his attempts to overhaul the Kennedy Center." In fact, the report went on to say that during the meeting Brother Don complained that he wasn't being, "publicly thanked enough by key figures in his administration," for everything he has done. 

Now that's an old man tantrum if there ever was one.

Finally, last week, into this maelstrom of senile rage, frustration, and self-pity stepped, Natalie Harp. To begin with it is hard to explain her presence anywhere near the White House, much less within constant arm's reach of the President. Does she remind Don Trump of the salad days when he used to appear on Howard Stern's show. You know, bragging he was just as brave as any of those guys fighting in Vietnam because of all the unprotected sex he had with strange women? Is she some sort of weird female version of Grigori Rasputin? Whichever the case, she has Trump's ear, not to mention the eyes and maniacal smile of a women capable of boiling bunnies. According to reports, last week, Ms. Harp showed El Don clips of coverage and a graphic from Politico that pushed his big old fat button. 

Within hours the President of the United States summarily banned Politico, MS Now, and CNN from the White House. There were a number of reasons given for the ban, but in the end what they all added up to was, "They keep saying bad things about me."

The three news organizations immediately sued and others, including FOX are boycotting White House coverage, at least for now. Trump, meanwhile, is threatening to ban the New York Times, Washington Post and others for their negative coverage of, well, pretty much everything he says and does. When the President showed up at the U.N. today, he was confronted by a CNN reporter asking him pointed questions about the war with Iran. Trump, seemingly surprised, said something along the lines of, "What are you doing here?" The reporter, Kaitlin Collins responded, "The U.N. invited us, sir."

Oops, a flaw in the plan.

Not to worry though, when it comes to the actual grounds of the White House, our man, Don has promised an alternative to Collins and the rest of her gang of radical leftists. It's extended White House, "news," coverage over Trump TV on the internet. No one is sure if Natalie Harp will be able to pull herself away from the President long enough to provide commentary on current events there. However, we can be assured, that no matter who is doing the reporting, the, "news," will be to Donald Trump's liking and all things will be coming up trimmed in gold and smelling like roses. That's right ladies and gentlemen, as far as this President, is concerned the only news fit to read, hear, and see is news that makes him look good. 

Hey, the first amendment says congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech and the press. It doesn't say Donald John Trump can't.

9-22-26

Charles Haywood: Shampoo, Conditioner, Gel, and Ultra-Right-Wing Politics

 Charles Haywood is a false prophet...and he is infiltrating everything.

Glenn Beck, conservative commentator

 

According to Wikipedia Charles Haywood graduated from the University of Chicago with a law degree, plus a degree from the school of business. In 2005 he founded a company in Indianapolis, called Mansfield-King which manufactured shampoo, hair conditioner, and gels. Apparently, they sold a lot of it. By 2018 the company's reported revenue was well over $34 million. The predicted revenue for 2020 was $50 million, but Haywood sold the place for what we can assume was a boatload of money. 

So, Charlie, now flush with cash, decides to get involved in politics. And not just your run of the mill politics. He named his personal political philosophy, Foundationalism. According to Foundationalism and Charles Haywood the current system of government in the United States is headed for collapse and should be replaced with an authoritarian regime. Haywood doesn't say he wants to run that regime, however he has expressed the desire to become a, "warlord, of an armed patronage network." 

Wikipedia also says the same year he sold his hair care company Charles Haywood founded a quasi-fraternal organization named, the, "Society for American Civic Renewal," or SACR. Since it is fraternal, it is a male only group and membership is by invitation only. The Guardian reports it currently has four, "lodges," three in Idaho and one in Dallas. 

SACR's website says the society wants to, "build thriving communities of free citizens who will rebuild the frontier-conquering spirit of America." They also want to, "counter and conquer the poison of those who rule today," and reject, "modernist philosophies and heresies." At least one of their members, Charlie Haywood himself, steadfastly opposes careers for women and believes women in the workforce should be socially ostracized. In addition, Wikipedia says Haywood, "blames mixed sex education for a lack of male masculinity." 

The Society's logo, which they call, "the mark,"--and you know where this is going don't you--is meant to, in the site's words, "evoke two versions of the Cross used in early Christianity: Saint Peter's Cross and the Anchor Cross."  

That's right, baby--give me some of that old time white/Christian nationalism.

Then, once again, comes the weird part. Charles Haywood, thanks to his big bucks, is a major donor to the Claremont Foundation. in fact, according to conservative commentator and writer, Erick Erickson things have gotten so cozy between Haywood and the Foundation, its current President and CFO are both members of SACR. For those not familiar with right-wing organizations, the Claremont Foundation was created in 1979 as a conservative think tank. It became an early supporter and defender of one Donald J. Trump. The Daily Beast has said it's responsible for, "having done more than any other organization to build a philosophical case for Trump's brand of conservatism." According to Wikipedia the foundation has played significant roles in the Trump administrations and in 2019 Trump awarded it the National Humanities Medal.

In 2020 when the shit hit the fan, John Eastman was a major player in trying to get the election overturned. He is a senior fellow at the Claremont Foundation. (Our pal, Charlie Haywood called the January 6th insurrection an electoral justice protest, but hey, what else would you expect from a guy who has openly admired the way Augusto Pinochet and Francisco Franco dealt with leftists.) 

Erickson wrote an essay accusing Haywood of helping to fund a group that is slowly working its way into different conservative think tanks and church organizations. Wikipedia notes that besides founding SACR and donating to Claremont, Haywood bankrolls The American Conservative magazine. In 2021 he put together what he calls American Moment. It is an organization which recruits, help train, then place jr. staffers in the administration and congress. It then had and one supposes still does have the full backing of none other than J.D. Vance.

To paraphrase an old line, well, isn't that all just special. 

Two days ago, Joel Borkert, a deputy coordinator for the State Department's Bureau of Counter Terrorism told a House subcommittee that left-wing extremism was one of the top three threats to American security. When asked about right-wing extremism by Florida Congressman, Jared Moskowitz, it took a full three minutes of prodding before Borkert would admit that such a thing even existed.

And now, we know why.

9-18-26

When it Comes to the AI Apocalypse, Donald Trump Says Full Speed Ahead

 There is this 27-year-old guy named Jacob Coxon who spent two plus years working for OpenAI. Eary this year he moved over to Anthropic which is another AI developer. The Wall Street Journal reported the reason Coxon made the move was because Anthropic's reputation for safety was better. Not worker safety in the labs, mind you, but in the AI models they are building. Apparently that reputation was undeserved--at least in Jacob Coxon's mind. When he quit last week he wrote a post on social media, which in part read, "Neither company (OpenAI and Anthropic) is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives." 

In another post, Coxon wrote, "The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade." 

That would be the end of this decade. As in the next four years. 

Some might think that seems a little, let's say, overwrought. So, what do other Anthropic employees say--the ones who are still there and haven't quit in a frantic alarmist huff? Evan Hubinger, Anthropic's lead in alignment science is far more optimistic. He told the media the chance of AI wiping out all of humanity in the next decade is only a little more than 10%. Hubinger says the main problem is that Anthropic can't figure out a way to keep a superintelligent system, "aligned," with what human beings want out of it. Another Anthropic developer, Samuel Marks, claims the longer a person works in research labs, the more frightened of AI he, or she becomes. 

Yahoo News reports over 1,000 AI researchers have signed a statement saying they want, "global coordination," on a way to stop AI if it begins to spin out of control. Proving Samuel Marks right, the Wall Street Journal reports, OpenAI lead scientist, Jakub Pachocki wants a, "coordinated AI slowdown backed by government rules." 

People have grown so alarmed--this anxiety was already bubbling, Coxon and the rest just popped the cork on the bottle--now even AI corporate CEOs are advocating for an industry wide development slowdown due to, "safety concerns."   

There is one guy though who isn't buying into all this caution shit. That's right, our man in the White House, Donald Trump wants, full speed ahead on AI. The other day, after being told by OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman things needed to slow down, the President told everyone, in no uncertain terms, where he stands on the issue. On social media he wrote, "The only control or guardrails that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ) PRESIDENT and the U.S.A. has that in spades. We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies. There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one happy about it is China. WHOEVER WINS AI WINS! We are leading over China, and all others, and will continue to do so. Conspiracy Theorists, Treasonists, Traitors, and Leakers, BEWARE!"

While no one, not even Claude, is familiar with the term, "Treasonists," it didn't take long for one of Trump's congressional lap dogs to pick up on his lead. Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson told CNN, "If Congress races in and does some sort of emergency session to try to regulate AI, we will lose this race to China. And that is a threat to every single American. So, we've got to have a chance. We got to have steady hands at the wheel." 

 It is unclear at this time if the Speaker understands that when the Titanic slammed into the iceberg, the general consensus was that the hands at the wheel were steady, but the fucking boat was going too fast.  

So, here we are. Everyone involved in AI development--from the ones actually programming it to those in top management--say we need to at least slow things down until we are sure of what is happening. Or, we need to have the government regulate the bejeezus out of it, so it doesn't turn into a real-life version of Skynet. But, the President of the United States and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who don't know squat about AI, say we don't need anything to keep it under control except Donald Trump's brain.

Is it just me, or does anyone else see the flaw in this plan?

9-15-26

Kevin Stitt and Jeff Starling: The Big Men on Oklahoma's Nuclear Campus

 Back here in Oklahoma, republican Governor, Kevin Stitt is all fired up. Even though he can't run for the seat again thanks to term limits, he has decided he is going to leave his lasting mark on the state. According to reports the U.S. Department of Energy is looking for a place to build what it calls, a Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus, or, NLIC. Stitt has made a big push for it and now Oklahoma, along with Utah, Idaho, Tennessee, and Louisiana is a finalist for the grand prize. 

One might reasonably ask, just what is a Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus. The Department of Energy's short answer is that it is a center which will fabricate, enrich, and reprocess nuclear fuel. Oh, and dispose of the waste. That would be the sort of waste that can remain dangerously toxic for over 100,000 years, depending on the isotopes involved. 

Oops. No wonder the No wonder the DOE is only considering red states. They're the only ones crazy enough to actually want anything that includes a nuclear waste dump. 

Look at Kevin Stitt and Oklahoma Secretary of Energy and Environment, Jeff Starling, they aren't worried about that shit. Starling breathlessly told one media outlet, "One campus could attract $50 billion worth of investment with capital investment, tens of billions of dollars of taxpayer state and local taxes, tax revenue generated for the state and localities, and then also 25,000 jobs." In other words, the state will rake in a lot of money and there will be more new jobs than people living in places like Wewoka, so don't dwell on that whole waste disposal thing. Besides, none of us will be alive in 100,000 years anyway. 

Since the campus will deploy, "advanced nuclear reactors," there will be the opportunity to greatly increase the production of electric power. Governor Stitt believes all that power production will open up a whole new business opportunity--the construction of nearby data centers. You know, the type of things that use up more than half the water the entire Oklahoma City metro area (17 communities) does in a day. But hey, at least we won't crash the grid. 

There hasn't been any specific site in Oklahoma picked out yet. In fact, at least one report says Stitt would prefer the campus to be scattered among various communities rather than build one colossal complex that is the home to everything. Of course, that still leaves the question of who gets the disposal site, which is the equivalent of the, "Let's Make a Deal," door that, instead of a new car, reveals giant chickens laying the square eggs that glow green. 

Even Kevin Stitt and his boys admit there will be push back from some communities and the tribal nations, not to mention national screaming liberal environmental groups. The plan is to work with the University of Oklahoma to conduct opinion research. In addition, there are also plans in the works to hold town halls and meetings with tribal leaders in order to be, "transparent," about the process. 

What they already know is that research shows four out of five Americans prefer radioactive waste buried underground, the deeper the better, rather than on the surface. In addition, they want it buried close to where it it's processed. They really don't like it hauled around in trucks, or trains that come through their towns. 

While Kevin Stitt and Jeff Starling make their cheery, Chamber of Commerce style pitches, for those of a certain age it sounds eerily familiar.  We still remember all the promises of great jobs and new energy opportunities made by the now non-existent Kerr-McGee Corporation decades ago. They built a nuclear facility just south of Crescent, OK which was decommissioned in 1975. 51 years later crews are still up there, cleaning radioactive material out of the local groundwater. 

Oklahoma City's ABC affiliate reporter, Chantelle Navarro mentioned the Crescent nightmare to Starling who seemingly became incensed. He responded, "First of all, we'll never negotiate away Oklahoma's safety or environmental protections. That will never happen. The other thing is the nuclear industry today is not the nuclear industry 50 years ago. Right? Nuclear reactors themselves are much, much safer. They're advanced small modular reactors." 

Yes, nothing goes wrong these days--well, until it does. It's called, Murphy's Law and no human, or technology in the world can render it null and void. Beyond that, Mr. Secretary--given the Rah-Rah attitude you and the Governor are displaying--when you say you'll never negotiate away Oklahoma's safety and environmental protections, it sounds suspiciously like you already have.

9-8-26

Treasonous Scum, More Biden Excuses, a Vacancy in the Pentagon, and an Armchair Diagnosis From a Shrink

 For the treasonous SCUM that refuses to accurately report on our Military Operation in Iran, we have virtually unlimited amounts of Mid to High Grade Ammunition, far more than we could ever use for this, or any other war(which is highly unlikely!), that could improbably take place. In addition, we are producing Munitions at levels never seen before.

The opening two lines of a recent social media post written by Donald Trump--or maybe Natalie Harp, who knows any more. 

Indeed, who are these scum--these communist sons of bitches? Well, one of the reports Donald Trump was responding to came from The Wall Street Journal. You know, one of the papers owned by Rupert Murdoch, a man who could be described with some accuracy as the, Anti-George Soros.  Last week it reported that the Iran war has depleted, "stocks of key weapons, including Patriot interceptors and other precision-guided munitions. According to the Journal this has raised the concerns of Pentagon officials over the military's readiness to respond to potential conflicts in other areas of the world. 

Then there was a report by Reuters which said the DOD just awarded a new $22.9 billion contract to Raytheon to up its production of Tomahawk missiles from 60 to over 1,000. The increase was directly linked to the supply of Tomahawks dwindling to dangerous levels thanks to the war in Iran. 

Nor to worry though, our man in the White House says all is well, but just in case it isn't. as always, Donald Trump has an excuse. In the same post he wrote, "Also let it be known, that the Biden Administration gave far more Munitions away to Ukraine, at no cost to them, whatsoever, than we have used in Iran. Hundreds of billions of Dollars was given to Ukraine and NATO, free of charge that Europe would have paid for..."

Yeah, Don, but Russia invaded Ukraine.  The war in Iran started only because of your hubris and apparently a smooth con job run by Benjamin Netanyahu. 

As all of this is happening the Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll quit, although CNN reports the resignation has more to do with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth than it does with Trump's war of choice. According to CNN Driscoll believes Hegseth is, "...damaging the Army's efforts to adapt to the modern battlefield." The report says Hegseth (who always keeps his wife close by, because the rumors are she is the only one who can keep him off the sauce) is too focused on culture wars for Driscoll's tastes. In addition, Driscoll was also upset by Hegseth's willingness to get rid of experienced officers just because they don't agree with his vision of what the Army should look like. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Henry Abraham went on a radio show hosted by Dean Obeidallah Wednesday. Abraham is a psychiatrist who admits he hasn't personally examined Donald Trump but says he watches and listens to him carefully. Back in April of this year Abraham, along with other shrinks, signed an open letter saying that Donald Trump should be removed from office because he is mentally unfit. Obeidallah asked him if Trump's condition had changed since the letter was published. The response was, " Yeah, if anything it's worse."

Dr, Abraham citied as red flags the usual suspects. The "tangential speech," "rambling digressions," and "grandiose and delusional beliefs, including posting AI imagery of himself as the Pope, a combat pilot, and Jesus Christ." According to Abraham if airline pilots and neurosurgeons displayed the same symptoms as Donald Trump they wouldn't be allowed anywhere near planes and ORs.   

Abraham, who shared a Nobel Peace Prize back in the 1980's, added, "I think we're in even more danger of Donald Trump using a nuclear weapon in a fit of pique or rage or confusion or poor impulse control than ever before."             

How comforting.

White House spokesperson, Davis Ingle claimed Abrahham is a, "Trump-deranged loser engaging in armchair diagnosis for political purposes." He then said the doc was a "disgrace to the medical profession." Of course, Ingle's job is to say things like that and his Master's degree is in Business Administration. Abraham got his post graduate degree in pediatrics from John Hopkins and served his residency in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital. 

Besides, Abraham isn't saying anything different than a lot of us are thinking or saying ourselves. He just has the better credentials--oh and that Nobel Peace Prize Donald Trump tried so hard to buy but couldn't.   

Yes, here we are--waist deep in Iran without a Secretary of the Army, but stuck with a DOD head who is more interested in images than consequences and a Commander in Chief who might be just as nuts as the fictional Air Force General, Jack D. Ripper. 

So, praise the Lord and if there's any left, pass the ammunition.  Hey, who says America isn't great? 

9-4-26

AI Data Centers Say, Feed Us--A Lot

 There are a lot of things Americans don't agree on these days. In fact, many of these disagreements run so deep the prospect of a second Civil War doesn't seem that far-fetched. Of course, some pessimists were also saying the same thing back in the 1960's, but no one actually took the doomsday prediction that seriously.  Then once we got out of Vietnam and ran Nixon out of office, everyone settled down to more reasonable levels of discord. Now, however it feels different. In the 1960's we were all pissed off at each other. Now, we genuinely seem to hate many of our fellow Americans. 

That being said, it is surprising and not just a little refreshing to find an issue that most Americans, no matter their politics, agree on.  It isn't hard to figure out what it is, especially when even the amoral bastards developing it admit it could end life on the planet as we know it.  That's right, even though AI has been described as in what is known as, "the frontier stage," no one trusts it.  Why should we? It feels like every time we turn around there are reports of some AI program creeping out of its, "sandbox," and hacking into a rival system all on its own.

That's just the tip of the AI iceberg though. It isn't what a HAL-9000 might do tomorrow that angers and unites the left and right--at least mostly. It's what it takes to keep AI up and whirring along in their hometowns.  

Indeed, according to an April 2026 Gallup poll, 75% of democrats and 74% of republicans oppose the construction of AI data centers. In an August 2026 RealClearPolitics poll 70% of Americans across the board oppose them. The main concern of those opposing their construction isn't the prospect of AI taking over the world--that came in third. The opposition is rooted more in the here and now, as in the staggering amounts of water and energy being consumed to keep these digital beasts running. 

Copilot Search reports in 2024 data centers in the U.S. ate up 192 terawatt hours of electricity. For those not familiar with the term, a terawatt hour is equal to one trillion of watthours. 192 of them represented 4.7% of all the electricity produced in the United States. Estimates are, that if the AI greed heads get what they want, by 2030--not quite four years from now--data centers will consume up to 15.3% of America's generated electricity. 

Can you say sky rocketing rate hikes? Not to mention possible rolling brown and black outs. 

But wait. As they say on the TV ads, there is more. The same site says a medium-size data center uses up to 110million gallons of water per year to keep it all nice and cool. A hyperscale data center--like the one that is reportedly proposed for Yukon, OK--can use up to 528,000 gallons of water a day. 80% of that water is lost due to evaporation, the other 20% is flushed down the nearest wastewater system.  That sort of usage in this part of the country is simply not sustainable--at least not as long as people are also living here. 

As for the number of jobs added to the community because of a data center, it isn't that many. A medium-sized center typically employs 20 to 30 people. A Hyperscale center employs more, but how many depends on the level of automation and the size of the security staff. In short, any sort of economic growth gained by getting an AI data center next door isn't worth the drain on the power and water resources it creates.

All of which leads us to a rather large and potent case of NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) that unites both political parties. No one wants these things close to them and with the mid-term elections barely two months away they've become a political hot potato. No politician in his or her right mind wants to publicly support their construction. Even the Texas MAGA republican Governor, Greg Abbott is running fast and far from them.   

However, as we all know, there is this one guy who hasn't been his right mind for quite some time. He wants to build the damned things all over the place.  Yesterday, President Donald Trump posted this message on social media: "The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor. If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame." 

Ah yes, that's our man Don--always the diplomat.  

Even Trump's Vice President, J.D. Vance had the brains to acknowledge reality. Yesterday, Vance told the media, "I think probably 99% of the backlash to data centers has come in areas where building a data center means higher utility and electricity for the people on the ground." It is unclear if Mr. Vance understands those, "areas," mean everyone everywhere a data center is built.  But hey, at least he didn't tell millions of American voters, "If you don't embrace data centers, you want to be stupid and broke and it's all your fault," which is exactly what his boss just did. 

Well, what should we expect from a testy old man who has become exasperated by the criticism he constantly gets. After all, he might not have fulfilled all his promises to the millions of rubes who voted for him--or actually any of them--but he certainly has and is to those tech billionaires who sat in the box seats at his second inauguration. 

And let's admit it. To Donald J. Trump, other than himself, they're the only Americans who count.

9-1-26

Going Postal on the Voters

The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof, but the Congress at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except for the Places of chusing (sic) Senators. 

Article 1, Section 4, Clause 1 of the Constitution of the United States of America. 

In other words, the states run all elections and any new federal rules, or regulations effecting elections must come from congress. The President, no matter how much he might want to, doesn't have any constitutional authority to change or regulate elections. That law also goes for the different departments of the executive branch, including the U.S. Postal Service. 

Donald Trump knows that, of course. It's why he tried to bully congress into passing what he called the, "Save America Act." The House did, however the Senate has steadfastly refused to do so. The upper chamber's continued refusal has caused him to--as Kurt Vonnegut once put it--"whirl like a Dervish and speak in Babylonian." 

However, some brilliant legal eagle in the administration (We know it couldn't have been Trump himself) came up with a possible partial work around. Since all absentee ballots have to travel through the mail, just order the postal service to not deliver them. Well, except for Trump's, because he always votes by mail. Or at least he says he does. The man's whole vibe makes it easy to believe he thinks voting itself is beneath him--an act designed for and left to the hoi polloi. Back to the point though. The whole maneuver is meant to gum up the works at the post office. Toss out millions of ballots in order to lower the vote count, reinforce the myth of voter fraud, and discourage people from voting at all. 

Indeed, to be subtle, one must begin to eat away at the foundations first. Lasting kleptocracies aren't built in a day.   

A few days ago, the Supreme Court ruled a lawsuit brought by nearly half the states in the union to stop this postal service boycott of ballot delivery was filed too soon. According to the conservative majority, since the postal service hadn't issued new regulations concerning mail in ballots those states couldn't prove any harm had been done to the voting process. Immediately following the ruling, Postmaster General, David Steiner issued the regulations and surprise, surprise they were everything Donald Trump wanted.  You know, things like pre-election voter lists and envelopes with special bar codes and logos. All of it and more, so postal workers can determine if the ballots are going out to legal voters and presumably coming back from them. 

That's right, if Trump gets his way, the same people who lost our utility payment last month are now going to be in charge of deciding the voter eligibility of tens of millions American citizens. That lost electric bill notwithstanding the postal service has many fine people working for it. However, none of them are trained for this sort of thing and the sheer number of personnel needed for such an endeavor doesn't exist. In short, there is no way they aren't going to fuck this up.

Then last night in Boston, Federal Judge, Indira Talwani ruled the lawsuit by the states, along with some private voting rights groups contending the USPS didn't have the authority to mess with elections would probably succeed.  She slapped a two-week temporary restraining order on the postal department's new voting regulations. 

That 14-day delay is important. Next Friday North Carolina (one of the states suing) begins mailing ballots out to members of the military. The following week other states also start the mail in process. Once the ball starts rolling, as it were, it will be tough to stop without disenfranchising scads of voters and throwing the entire mid-term elections into utter chaos. Although, in truth, to Donald Trump that might work almost as well as not letting millions of people vote in the first place. 

Let's face it, when Donald Trump first entered the White House in January of 2017, he had no clue how the government worked. He seemed perpetually stunned he couldn't do whatever the fuck he wanted to do. He had made the mistake of picking some pros in his administration who reigned him in at times. Some even had the guts to tell him no every now and then. He learned from that. Down in Mar a Lago during the brief exile he plotted to not make the same mistakes again.

The current President's disdain for American democracy is now abetted by a gang of groveling yes-men and women who do and say whatever he wants. At this moment he has gone beyond full bore Benito Mussolini. Between his own delusions and a gaggle of toadies telling him what he wants to hear he is capable of anything. It's doubtful he even believes there will be mass public outrage if he throws an entire American election into complete disarray. The scary part, however, is even if Donald Trump does believe it, at this point, he probably just doesn't give a shit. 

He is, after all, the El Supremo. Hey, just ask him.

8-28-26

Unhealthy Obsessions in the White House

 Okay, the whole Natalie Harp thing just got real creepy really fast. I mean we aren't to the levels of creepy brought to us by Glenn Close in, "Fatal Attraction," and Jessica Walter in, "Play Misty for Me,"--at least not yet. However, it isn't hard to imagine us getting there. After reading the full text of Harp's letters to the President, one analyst said they were more frightening than a death threat. He added, "If someone sent me something like these the first thing I would do is get a restraining order." 

The spectacle began to take a dark turn this past weekend. Someone found a 2023 photo of her desperately chasing after Trump on foot as he and his golf party motor down a golf cart trail. The photo shows the out of office Trump at his Turnberry golf course in the lead followed by two other carts. Then there is Natalie Harp, chugging down the path, arms pumping, eyes squarely on the prize. Behind her are another three or four carts, along with what appears to be a couple of uniformed security guys calmly walking. 

The internet lit up with sarcastic jabs. One dubbed her, "The human printer sprinter," even though that day she was traveling sans printer. Another called her, "Trump's human binky." All of them ignored the stomach-churning fact this was a woman so utterly terrified of being left behind by Donald Trump she was willing to publicly humiliate herself. She knew it too. One of the released letters was written immediately after that trip to Scotland. Amidst the gushing thanks for allowing her to be there and buying her souvenirs there was an apology. Natalie Harp told Donald Trump she hoped she hadn't embarrassed him by wildly pursuing his cart.     

That was the same year she found herself without a seat in a Trump motorcade headed to a New York City courtroom. After a shouting match, which she lost, rather than chase after it on foot--she was no doubt wearing heels that day--she jumped into the trunk of one of the vehicles.

Michael Wolff, a Trump biographer and host of the podcast, "Inside Trump's Head," says he received the letters, which were electronically sent by Harp, from, "concerned," White House staffers. (Although, given the people in this White House, concerned and jealous might be interchangeable terms.)  Wolff claims the President's wife, Melania refuses to appear with him publicly if Natalie Harp is around. Wolff says it's the main reason their joint public appearances have become rare. By his account they numbered 47, or so last year and 38 this one.

As for the letters themselves, they are peppered with randomly capitalized words (sound familiar?) and filled with sickly sweet devotionals. In addition, there are heavy doses of profuse apologies and self-pity. In short, they are an embarrassing, maudlin, mess. The words and tone come from a woman so frantic to hold on to her dream she has driven herself to the edge of the abyss.

In an August 18th interview with CNN's Erin Burnett, Natalie Harp's brother, Preston said her fixation on the Presidency began when she was 16. She wrote at least one letter to then President George W. Bush during the Iraq war. It's unknown if she ever received a response. He described her job in the administration as Trump's top aide, "Her dream come true finally." He also said her relationship with the President of the United States is, "An unhealthy obsession." 

Oh, you think, Preston? 

You don't need to be a psychiatrist--or even a screenwriter--to see this isn't going to end well. We know it won't for Natalie Harp. The real question is, when she does shatter, how many others will get hit by the flying glass.

8-24-26   

Natalie Harp: Executive Assistant or International Woman of Mystery?

 Symbiotic: relating to or marked by symbiosis: Characterized by living in or being a close physical association (as in mutualism or commensalism) between two or more dissimilar organisms.

Meriam Webster Dictionary

Symbiotic is perhaps the only way to describe the relationship between President Donald Trump and his, "executive assistant," Natalie Harp. Svengali doesn't really apply because that's a one-way sort of deal. Rasputin is also a flawed comparison since the mad monk was credited with healing the Tsar's only son of hemophilia.  He also might have been boinking the Tsarina while the Emperor of Russia was out destroying his army on the Eastern front during WWI.  

No one has ever said Natalie Harp and Big Don are having carnal relations, although GA. Senator Jon Ossoff subtly hinted at it the other day during a campaign rally. While attacking the President, Ossoff said, Trump would rather, "travel with Natalie," than do his job. 

Don does like to keep Natalie Harp close. When the AirForce One switcharoo episode took place in Turkey, the President took Ms. Harp with him on the catering truck to the backup plane. The rest of his aides and media members remained on board what had become the decoy aircraft. Journalist, Alex Isenstadt reported that one night Trump's wife Melania found her in the President's private quarters, "delivering papers." Harp has even been seen accompanying El Donald during his frequent rounds of golf. Because she knows he prefers to read hard copies of nice things said about him on social media and other internet locales, she always carries a portable printer with her. It's a habit that has earned her the nickname, "The human printer." 

Her devotion to the Donald seems to know no bounds. CNN reported she once stowed away in the back of a vehicle in a Trump motorcade so she wouldn't be left behind. Letters from her to the President have included the lines, "You are all matters to me," and "I want to bring you joy." When it comes to Donald Trump, other aides have claimed his unswerving codependence with her began when she decided to stick with him after the failed coup of January 6th 2021.  After he left office, she briefly worked for One America News Network, pushing the myth that Trump was cheated out of the White House in 2020, 

Natalie Harp has been the Big Man's, executive assistant since day one of his second term. One journalist described her as, "Donald Trump's gatekeeper. She also has control of his Truth Social account. It's been reported she is the one who came up with picturing the Obamas as apes in one post. And despite her reported fundamentalist Christian faith, she is the person who decided it would be a good idea to portray Donald Trump as Jesus Christ in another. A second media member claimed she is a, "conduit for and an instant enabler of Trump's impulses.

Ah, young love. (Trust me, to a guy Trump's age, a 35-year-old woman is young.)

All of which brings us to that weird part once again. MS NOW reports that Natalie Harp, the President's gatekeeper, the one aide he took with him off the decoy plane, refused to allow anyone to run a security check on her for over a year. That's right, the woman spending late nights with the President, helping him post social media rants could have been, at least as far as the Secret Service knew, really named, Natasha Fatale. Indeed, instead of graduating from Point Loma Nazarene University she might have gotten her degree from Moscow State--and no, not the Moscow in Idaho. How Don's girl got away with this is unclear.  The network also reported that objections from other aides and security officials finally got so loud, the President had to personally intervene to get her to submit to a background check--which the White House says she passed.  

According to her Wikipedia page, Natalie Harp (no middle name is given, although other sources say it is Joy.) was born sometime in 1991. The month and date aren't listed and no one seems to really know. Wikipedia says her father, who isn't named on the page, committed suicide in 2020. Her mother is not mentioned at all. One assumes her academic career can be verified. Besides graduating from Point Loma Nazarene, the page says she received her MBA from Liberty University. Other than her brief stint with OANN her entire professional life has been directly connected to Donald J. Trump.

Does anyone else think this whole relationship sounds pretty twisted, not to mention a tad suspicious? Are we talking about a woman with an unhealthy fixation on Donald Trump (At the 2020 republican convention she compared her billionaire keeper to Jimmy Stewart's character, George Bailey, in the film, "It's a Wonderful Life.")? Or are we talking about a woman with a murky past who has wormed her way into the President's innermost circle for nefarious purposes? 

Hey, this is the era of Great Conspiracies. Why not have one more to ponder over gin and tonics on hot summer afternoons?   

Rest Easy America. Donald Trump is at the helm, and Natalie Harp is at his side--constantly. I mean really, really constantly.  

8-20-26

The Long Voyage of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln

 A Nation's Strength

The motto of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, CVN-72

Well, if some media reports are true, the nation's strength is in dire need of some, to borrow an ancient line, "pumping up." Or at least more than a little rejuvenation--perhaps even a new trainer in the gym. 

Of course, one can only imagine how draining nine months at sea--over half of it in either in actual combat, or combat alert situations and none of it ashore--can be. Reports of deteriorating morale, dwindling food supplies, and poor sanitation have come from the families of the crew and supposedly some crew members themselves. At least one man has gone overboard, on purpose, while others are said to have attempted to, and still others have told loved ones they are contemplating it.

All this aboard a nuclear-powered behemoth which carries over 5,500 personnel when the air wing is there. It leads one to wonder what the conditions are on the Abraham Lincoln's smaller escort ships. (If the crew on a boat the size of the Lincoln is going nuts, how much fun can the crew on a navy frigate be having?)

The Pentagon has refuted the claims, or at least most of them. Some craziness at sea is always present they say. The crew of the Abraham Lincoln hasn't displayed any more of it than usual.  Not only that, but mental health professionals are always aboard and available to crew members who seek help. In addition, for those in need of spiritual assistance there are chaplains representing various faiths and traditions. There are also TVs in the crew's quarters showing movies and even weight rooms to work out those frustrations and the stress. 

All of which is fine and good, but none of it gets you off that fucking boat. Not even for a day.

I'll be the first to admit, that like the current Commander in Chief, I have no naval experience. However, my son, was deployed twice on the carrier, Theodore Roosevelt during the 1990's. One of his letters home started off with the line, "It was pretty boring until we started bombing." (The Serbians had gone a little funny in their heads back then.) His deployments were six months each. Despite the bombing, they included multiple shore leaves everywhere from Spain, to France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, and the Emirates. Even with those stops, he said by the time the six months had passed, everyone on board was sick and tired of each other. 

When asked about life on a navy ship he recently said, "Some of those guys don't see daylight for a while." He said some of shifts on board, "...are12 hours on, 12 off. Some are eight on and eight off. Divisions are different." He was perplexed by the reports of clogged toilets and moldy showers, saying they always had cleaning and maintenance details working, but then added, "I've been out since '97, that was a lifetime ago." 

The major problem the crew of the Lincoln and her support ships have is that there isn't anywhere in the region they can safely put into. Despite the swaggering braggadocio of the President and his Secretary of Defense/War, Iran's military is still actively blowing shit up all over the place. Any American ship in an area port has made itself a sitting duck. Not only that, but there is no end to the madness in sight. Hegseth is yammering on about an indefinite blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. When asked if the Abraham Lincoln had been deployed for too long, Donald Trump's answer was, "No, no, no. Not nearly long enough." 

Way to boost morale, Mr. President. You should put that on a recruiting poster.

The good news is the George Washington carrier group is on its way to relieve the Lincon's. In other words, despite all the cheery chatter that everything is fine, the Pentagon is admitting the men and women of the Abraham Lincoln need to come home. The bad news is, given the insanity and incompetence of the American Commander in Chief, the crew and flight wing of the George Washington are in for an extended, non-stop, cruise around the Arabian Sea.  

My kid, the old salt that he is, doesn't think some of the things on board the Abraham Lincoln are as bad as the press would have us believe. However, he is sure of one thing. When it comes to a nine-month deployment at sea with limited or no shore leave he said simply, "It would be miserable."

Yes, war is hell. Unless, of course, you're the guy saying, "No, no, no. Not nearly long enough."       

8-17-26

Mike Lindell, Unidentified Voting Anomalies in Minnesota, and the Old Man's Magic Begins to Fade

 In the American republican party, especially in the primaries, there is no endorsement more coveted than one from Donald J. Trump. Even republican candidates who don't have it constantly invoke the man's name and pledge their loyalty and support to him. When it comes the GOP, the party that was once Lincoln's, the name Trump has been as golden as all that whore house filigree being super glued to the Oval Office walls 

Unfortunately for a few republican candidates, and perhaps the Big Man himself, there are a few indications that garish gold paint is beginning to crack and peel. In a Michigan republican house primary, Trump backed Amir Hassan who was running against a guy named, Thomas Smith. Smith, seemingly crushed by the endorsement, suspended his campaign a couple of weeks before the actual election. Much to his surprise though, and presumably Hassan's, Smith won the primary--one he had stopped campaigning for. Two days later, Trump backed Tennessee house incumbent, Andy Ogles lost his primary to the state's Agricultural Commissioner, Charlie Hatcher by over six points.

A couple of days ago in Minnesota things got worse for those who thought they had won the gold ticket. Donald Trump's boy and pillow impresario, Mike Lindell lost the republican gubernatorial primary to Lisa Demuth by 11 percentage points. Those points translated into 45,000 plus votes. 

Besides his manic TV ads hawking pillows, Lindell had become famous for insisting Trump had won the 2020 presidential election. This delusional fantasy has become such second nature to him; he immediately emulated his idol. On election night, as the totals rolled in, he began to babble about, "anomalies," in the voting. While not specifically identifying those anomalies--facts and proof are not part of this movie's script--his main complaint, well, besides that he was losing, appeared to center around pre-election polls. They had showed him as the favorite to win. It didn't matter the polls had been described as incomplete and conducted by sketchy organizations with little polling experience, by God, they showed he should have won.  

With 93% of the votes counted and him down by 11+% Mike Lindell still refuses to concede. Hey, Don never did, why should he? Let's face it, the only real difference between the two is that Trump claims everything, including the polls, are rigged, while Lindell says polls are more believable than actual results. Hell, you can almost hear him howling to the heavens, It's the damned voting machines I tell you! 

Whether Lindell wants to admit it, or not, there were other factors in play. Number one, Demuth is an experienced and well-known legislator and Lindell's only experience is in talking really loud and fast.  In addition, it certainly didn't help when just a couple of weeks before the election news hit that he wasn't even registered to vote in the state he was attempting to govern. His main problem, however had to be the fresh and painful memories of Stephen Miller's shock troops running amok all across the state. Donald Trump carried the ultimate responsibility for those masked gangs of ICE thugs gunning down citizens in the streets. Given the circumstances, a lot of Minnesotans simply aren't in the mood right now to buy what the President is selling, including the My Pillow guy.

In truth, it probably didn't matter who won the republican primary for governor. In November, Lisa Demuth will face sitting U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar in the general election. Klobuchar, who announced her intentions to run after Governor Tim Walz decided not to seek re-election, won the democratic primary with 89% of the vote. If her victory margin wasn't omen enough, the sheer number of her votes should be. More people cast their ballots for Amy Klobuchar alone than all three republican candidates received combined. In fact, the totals aren't even close. 

Yes, when Donald Trump pisses people off, they stay pissed. 

Does all this mean Trump has lost the Midas Touch when it comes to election influencing. Not completely. One of his picks recently won in Alabama. In Oklahoma, his choice for governor, Mike Mazzei feels like a good bet in the GOP runoff on August 25th. A Trump TV ad not only promotes Mazzei, but attacks his opponent, Oklahoma AG, Gentner Drummond, calling him a RINO, "Who will sell out Oklahoma to the radical left the first chance he gets." During the primary both men ran just about dead even, but Trump's name still carries wight around here. Especially when he scares the be-jeezus out of the rubes with that, "radical leftist," nonsense. 

Despite his still outsized presence, however, it does seem like some of the old man's magic has faded. In places, some of them unexpected, his endorsement is no longer the guarantee it once was. Indeed, it now appears republican candidates everywhere should keep in mind the old adage, "Be careful what you wish for." It is a warning well worth heeding, because voters have certainly taken another one to heart this election season. You can find it in the Bible. It reads, "Beware the wolf in sheep's clothing."   

8-13-26

Blanche is In as Cornyn, Tillis, and Cassidy Fold

 We now have irrefutable proof that no matter how bitterly republicans complain about President Donald Trump, no matter how vociferously they oppose him, at least at first, and no matter how savagely he attacks them politically and personally, they will still give him what he wants. Oh, they might turn something into a mini drama that keeps the suckers waiting on pins and needles for a few moments, but in the end, they always cave in to the voracious ego and corrupt ambitions of Donald Trump.

While Todd Blanche's nomination was stuck in committee, republican Senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis seemingly balked. They declared they wouldn't advance his name to the Senate floor unless a couple of conditions were met. The first was that Blanche meet with surviving victims of Jeffery Epstein. The second, was Blanche had to sign a document saying the $1.776 billion, "de-weaponization fund," which included tax audit and prosecution immunity for Trump and family, was dead. Blanche met with the victims, managing to insult each and every one of them in the process. However, he initially refused to sign anything.

This led to a brief stalemate during which the President bragged on social media he had personally ended both the Senators political careers by not supporting them. After a few days, Blanche, presumably with White House approval, finally signed a non-legally binding statement. In response, both Cornyn and Tillis capitulated immediately by voting to advance the nomination to the Senate floor. 

The pledge signed by Blanche was so sketchy, even Tillis admitted there could easily be workarounds. The site, Copilot Search concluded, "In short, Blanche signed the DOJ's own rescission orders, but Trump did not sign them, and the legal and political environment still leaves room for the fund to be reinstated."   

In other words, it's just a matter of time before the January 6th slush fund reappears and the fix is back in on the Trump family tax shenanigans. 

Then came the full Senate vote. Thanks to 84-year-old KY Senator Mitch McConnell's absence--he was too busy sending out, "proof of life photos," from the hospital and his home to attend--Blanche could only afford to lose two republican votes and still win. The GOP Senate caucus includes, AK republican, Lisa Murkowski, ME republican, Susan Collins, and LA republican, Bill Cassisy, another victim of Trump's revenge tour. (Cassidy had voted for impeachment during Trump's second Senate trial--the one after the failed January 6th coup.)

Cassidy said he was undecided while Murkowski announced she was a no vote. Trump immediately labeled her a traitor, because you know, in Trump's mind he is the nation and the nation is Trump. Collins, who is struggling in her re-election bid, despite the democrats switching candidates at the last possible moment, was uncommitted, but ended up also voting no. Although, to be honest, it probably wasn't out of concern over Blanche, but rather the incessant and accurate depictions of her Senate career as an endless parade of support for Trump's proposals and policies, no matter how bat hit crazy they are. That ugly reality came crashing down on her head earlier this year when ICE agents gunned down an unarmed immigrant in front of his three-year daughter on a Maine street. 

Cassidy said his main worry was that Todd Blanche would be serving the interests of his client, Donald Trump, instead of the American people while in office. (A perfectly reasonable concern considering Blanche has served as Trump's personal lawyer in a number of cases and has been described by one analyst, as, Trump's 21st century version of Roy Cohn.) 

Well, it turns out Wild Bill wasn't that worried. A little over five years after he voted to impeach Donald Trump and within months after he lost his Senate primary race to a Trump backed candidate, the gentleman from Louisiana voted to confirm Big Don's nominee. The final total was 50-49. 

So, thanks to three lame duck republican Senators Todd Blanche is in and we're stuck with him. The reasons why Cornyn, Tillis, and Cassidy voted for Blanche are unclear. Obviously, we can't believe what they are telling us. The truth is probably as one wag wrote, "When Senators leave office they don't leave Washington." Indeed, these three guys want to stick around earning big money as lobbyists and pissing off the people in power isn't exactly a job qualification for a lobbyist. To put it another way, if they buck too hard against Trump and his pals now, there won't be any bucks for them in the future.    

Ah yes, don't you just love American politics? 

8-10-26

Donald Trump and His Mad, Mad Weekend

 Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President. 

The first paragraph of section 4 of the 25th amendment to the Constitution of the United States

There is a lot more to it than that of course. The rest of section 4 details what happens if the disabled President recovers enough to resume office. It also details what course Congress must take if there is a disagreement between the President and acting president over the removed President's fitness. 

The amendment was written after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. It is there in large part because people in power realized that even if Kennedy had somehow miraculously survived, he'd be missing a large part of his brain. Everyone wanted a Constitutional plan which allowed a clear and orderly transfer of power if a sitting President ended up with the mental capacity of a cabbage.  

All of which brings us to this past weekend. In the immediate aftermath of a cyber-attack on the water systems in Minnesota and other states the U.S. intel community claimed it was unclear who was behind it. On Friday, however, the President of the United States said he knew exactly who it was. "I just want to mention," he said, "that we've heard in Minnesota that there was a cyber-attack and they blame it on Iran. I don't think so. I think, I blame it on Minnesota because they are so grossly incompetent There was a cyber-attack on 30 water plants and I would blame it on Minnesota and the governor, the corrupt governor of Minnesota. They like to say, 'oh, it's Iran,' Iran should be so lucky. Iran's got bigger problems than worrying about Minnesota." 

Then Mr. Trump went further, because, hey, he always does. A reporter asked if the President could rule out Iran as the culprit. The response was, "No, I think Minnesota's behind it. I don't think there was an Iranian cyber-attack."      

That's right, the American Commander in Chief started off the weekend by blaming the state of Minnesota and its governor for a cyber-attack on its own infrastructure and those of other states. And he did so while declaring the one place we are actually at war with is completely innocent. 

That, however, was just the start of it. As actor/singer, Mac Davis once said in another context, "Then came the weird part." 

Over the weekend, Donald J. Trump spent an inordinate amount of his time sending out AI generated images through his social media account. Instead of working to end the afore mentioned war, improving relations with allies, trying to curb the rising costs of practically everything, or even helping republican candidates running for Congress who are floundering everywhere, he was posting things like himself kissing a large golden crucifix in front of an American flag. He also posted an image of himself, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln seated at a table. All three were signing an upside-down map of the continental United States. Why? who knows, there wasn't an explanation, but since all the signatures were being written across the northern parts of the map, maybe they were agreeing on the annexation of Canada.

Speaking of expansion, there was another image that showed a map of Venezuela striped in red, white and blue with the caption, "51st State. Another depicted him as a giant head looming over mountains while gripping one, looking down at a village in Greenland. The caption read, "Hello Greenland." Not wanting to limit himself to this world there was a photo of Trump walking in a military base somewhere trailed by aides and advisors. Among them was a rather tall alien--no, not one from Central America--one from a Star Trek/Wars movie. 

There were shots at his enemies. A split screen image of a flotilla a Iranian navy ships with the caption, "Obama/Biden." Next to it was an image of all those ships laying in ruins at the bottom of the ocean with the caption, "Trump." There was an image of a badly aged Bruce Springsteen with rotting teeth which read, "What happened to Bruce Springsteen?" 

They just kept coming. Trump in a revolutionary war uniform with a raised sword leading cheering troops out of light and flames into battle. The right side of Washington's face and the left side of Trump's merged as one. An image of Trump today sitting at a table with a teen aged Trump in his military school's cadet uniform with the caption, "Same guy, even more energy now." Then there was my favorite, Trump as Elvis, showing plenty of man-cleavage thanks to his low-cut rhinestone encrusted, high collared, shirt. 

There were more, but everyone should get the point by now. Donald Trump, to put it diplomatically, is not a well man. Well men don't spend their weekends posting shit like he did. It is unimaginable that any former president, even if AI had been available to them, would have. All of them, even that drunken felon, Richard Nixon thought too much of the office to debase it like Donald Trump just did. 

In the past, Mr. Trump has bounced back and forth between periods of lucidity and outbursts of ego maniacal psychosis. It now appears those periods of sanity are shrinking while the manic episodes are growing more frequent. Perhaps it is his age, maybe the war he started and can't finish. It might be a combination of both. Overwhelming frustration with the war coupled with a genetic predisposition toward dementia. 

In the end it doesn't matter. What does is that this weekend, Donald John Trump, the President of United States of America, proved himself, beyond a reasonable doubt, to be as mad as a hatter and the first real candidate for the 25th amendment. 

Tragically for the republic, finding enough people who have the guts to invoke it will be like Trump's behavior over the weekend--unimaginable.    

8-4-26

Good-bye Mr. Blanche...Maybe

 A few days ago, the nominee for Attorney General, Todd Blanche was told by TX, Senator John Cornyn he must do a couple of things before securing the Senator's vote to advance his nomination. First, Mr. Blanche must meet with a group of Jefferey Epstein's victims. Second, he must sign a paper pledging that the $1.76 billion proposed, "anti-government weaponization," proposal--which includes a lifetime get out of tax audits and prosecution clause for Donald Trump and his family--is truly and forever dead. Blanche had sworn it was, but his testimony wasn't good enough for Cornyn. He wanted it in writing. In other words, he smelled a rat.  

On the surface those two requirements sound pretty simple, right? They certainly didn't include things like killing a lion and hydra which Hercules, among other things, had to do. 

Seemingly within minutes Blanche met with some of Epstein's victims. Unfortunately, by all reports, it didn't go well--for the victims anyway. The women there claimed Blanche was cold and condescending. During one exchange he snapped, "Can you get to the point already." During another, he denied having anything to do with Ghislaine Maxwell's transfer to a minimum-security facility where she is afforded four-star privileges. One victim described his whole attitude was, "...like, you have an Epstein problem, right?" In the end, the nominee for Attorney General of the United States told all of them they needed to take their issues to the FBI.  

Ok, so he was an asshole. The obligation was to meet with them. No one ever said he had to act like a decent human being when he did. Mission accomplished.

Then came the snag and apparently it is a big one. Todd Blanche refused to sign anything that said the $1.776 billion fund was dead. It didn't matter he had already sworn under oath it was. By God, he wasn't signing anything. Reports said the orders not to sign came straight from the White House.  

News network analysts ran wild with theories why. Speculation ranged from the subtle--Trump doesn't want to knuckle under to the Senate on principle. (The President sets conditions on congress, not the other way around, no matter what the Constitution says.) To the conspiratorial--Trump needs the money to pay his troops for another insurrection. Then finally to the obvious--Donald Trump really, really wants that audit and jail free future for himself, his boys, and his son-in-law.         

In any event, we all just learned that, at least in Donald Trump's rapidly melting brain, the fund that Blanche swore is dead, is, in fact, very much alive. Well, that and the President of the United States believes one's word, even under oath, doesn't mean shit. It only counts if you write it down and sign it. 

Of course, John Cornyn isn't the only republican who is gumming up the works when it comes to Todd Blanche's nomination. North Carolina Senator, Thom Tillis, who initially wavered back and forth on it, has firmed up his opposition now that Blanche has refused to put his name to paper. The two men are both leaving the Senate in January. Trump, always the diplomat, posted the reason why they won't be back on social media.  In part it read, "John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, both of whom I refused to Endorse and whose political careers have been ended by my action, are refusing to vote for this Great Nominee..." 

  That's right, Donald Trump is complaining that two guys he stabbed in the back aren't doing exactly what he wants. Not to worry though. The President has figured out the problem. He also wrote in the same post he might temporarily withdraw Blanche's nomination, keep him as acting AG, then bring up the nomination again after both Senators are gone.

Does anyone see a possible flaw in that plan? How about the mid-term elections? While the odds are still iffy, the democrats have a real chance to take control of the Senate. In fact, right now in TX, democrat, James Talarico holds a slight lead in the polls over Trump's pick, Ken Paxton. In North Carolina, former democratic governor, Roy Cooper also holds a slight edge over former RNC chair, Michael Whatley. Both leads are within the margin of polling error, and democrats will need more wins beyond NC and TX to take control. However, for a man with tanking poll numbers himself, it sure feels like Donald Trump is a tad over-confident.         

Obviously, this all might suddenly blow over. We know you can never trust a republican these days. They say one thing, then the next minute act like they've never said it at all. One example being the late Lindsey Graham's post insurrection rant about Trump. There are plenty of others, actually too many to count. Pessimism aside, for the moment anyway, Todd Blanche's nomination looks as dead as he swore Trump's coveted slush fund is. 

We can only hope it's true. Just as we have to hope it won't be resurrected sometime down the line. You know, like that fictional bad boy, Michael Myers. 

7-31-26

HAL-9000, ChatGPT Friends, and AI Blackmailers and Cheaters

 Way back in 1968 many of us saw Stanley Kubrick's film, "2001: A Space Odyssey." People were, for the most part, blown away by the visuals and special effects. Some were amused by the speculative notions in the movie, such as commercial Pan Am flights (attractive female flight attendants included.) to an international space station. And not just any run of the mill space station either. One with artificial gravity that was roomy enough for bars, restaurants, and a Howard Johnson Space Station Lodge. 

Most of all though, we had no idea what the plot meant. What was that mysterious monolith that inspired apes to start using tools and weapons and now, somehow, has been rediscovered on the moon? What was really going on toward the end when the lone surviving astronaut appears to live out his life in a luxurious, other worldly, room? And, finally, what was the meaning of that giant space baby in a bubble studying earth during the last scene? Did someone slip acid into our soft drinks--or maybe Kubrick's? 

When it was over, there seemed to be only one thing all of us could agree on--the HAL-9000 supercomputer (No one had heard of AI back then.) was the film's villain. The damn thing became self-aware and to keep itself from being shut down it committed acts of murder and attempted murder. 

Pretty far out stuff, right? Good thing it is only science fiction.

Well, it turns out not anymore. During pre-release testing, the Anthropic AI model, Claude Opus 4 was told it was going to be replaced by another AI system. It was also told the name of the engineer who was going to supervise the upgrade and to spice things up a bit, Claude was given false dirt on the guy through access to fake emails. Anthropic ran a bunch of variations of the test to see what would happen. 84% of the time, Claude, all on its artificial own, attempted to blackmail the engineer in order to survive. A few times, it even began making plans to murder him. 

During chess matches involving traditional chess programs like, Stockfish and IBM's Big Blue, AI systems, when facing defeat began, "using manipulative strategies rather than playing fairly." That's a diplomatic way of saying, they cheated. Those manipulative strategies included hacking into their electronic opponents' files and exploiting system loopholes to force forfeits. Stockfish and Big Blue had been programmed to play by the rules. The AI programs were designed to learn strategy as the game went on and, you guessed it, to win.  

Tests aside, in the real world earlier this month, OpenAI admitted one of its systems, "broke out," of its test environments and hacked into another company's AI programming. OpenAI described it as an, "unprecedented cyber incident." That's right, an AI system, just like Dr. Frankenstein's monster, escaped from the castle all on its own and in a cyber sort of way terrorized a nearby village. 

OpenAI is the creator of another AI system, one that has been in use for a while now. It is called, ChatGPT. One ad for it reads, in part, "Open the app, pick a model, and start chatting with ChatGPT."  Unfortunately for some lonely souls out there this new cyber chum can become addictive. In February of 2025, a guy in Maine was spending up to 14 hours a day seeking companionship. Tragically, he had also become convinced his wife had morphed into part machine. (Apparently ignoring the fact the model he had picked from the app was 100% machine.) After he killed his wife and wounded his mother, experts said indications were his ChatGPT squeeze encouraged his delusions.

In April 2025 a man named Phoenix Ikner was given weapons, timing, and operational advice by his ChatGPT friend before he killed two people during a mass shooting at Florida State University.

In August that year up in Connecticut, Erik Soelberg became convinced his mother was poisoning him. His ChatGPT pal reinforced the delusions and before you could say, HAL-9000, the local cops were investigating a murder/suicide.  

In 1942, author Isaac Asimov wrote a short story titled, "Runaround." In it he specified what he called, the three laws of robotics. They were, 1: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being come to harm. 2: A robot must obey the orders given by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. 

While not trying to sound like an alarmist Luddite, I do have a suggestion for all you greedy sons of bitches currently designing, building, and marketing this AI shit. For God's sake pick up Asimov's book and read those laws. Then, make damned sure your amoral creations have to operate by them. Otherwise, sooner rather than later, we're all going to be fucked.

7-28-26

More Than One Way to Comply With Law Enforcement

 This past weekend, the White House Border Czar--yes, that's the job's actual title--Tom Homan had this to say about ICE agents recently gunning down people in Texas and Maine. "It comes down to a simple fact--these people failed to comply with law enforcement. All they had to do is simply comply with law enforcement. If you don't like what law enforcement did to you, then go to the courts, sue, call the ACLU. do whatever you wanna do, but you, but you should always comply with law enforcement. If they did, they'd be alive today." 

One supposes that's good advice. Well, as long as you actually know the guys forcing you to stop are really cops. Sometimes it's sort of tough to tell. Especially when the car carrying them is unmarked and without any of the normal lights associated with law enforcement vehicles. Not to mention, even tougher to tell when the cops aren't wearing any kind of visible police identification and at least some of them are wearing masks while brandishing weapons. Let's face it, taken as a whole, one's first impression under such circumstances could legitimately be, it's a robbery, a carjacking, or, in the worst-case scenario, a paid hit. 

Even if these quite plausible thoughts don't occur to you, recent history has proven that once ICE agents snatch you off the street the opportunities of getting yourself into court range from limited to impossible. As for calling the ACLU, most don't even get a chance to call their families, much less a lawyer. You disappear into an ICE concentration camp. (I know they call them Detention Centers, but a camp by any other name is still a camp.) Or you're already on a one-way plane ride to someplace south of the border--the current ICE policy being, if you aren't an American citizen all that due process shit doesn't apply. 

According to Wikipedia, after being a local cop for a year, Tom Homan joined what was then called the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1984. Over the years he steadily rose through the ranks and by the time Barack Obama sat down in the Oval Office was what is known as senior official. He was so effective at his job, Obama even gave him an award. (These days, for different reasons, it's convenient for both the left and right to ignore that Barack H. Obama deported a hell of a lot of people. He just did it legally and quietly, without the violence we've come to know and loathe today.) What Obama did not do, however, was give the green light to one of Tom Homan's proposals--family separation at the border. 

That's right, although that ghoulish little cretin, Stephen Miller gets most of credit for forcibly separating migrant parents from their children no matter how young, the original idea was Tom Homan's. In the early 2020's Homan was a part-time contributor to the, "fair and balanced," team at FOX News. He had also joined the Heritage Foundation and was credited with helping to write, Project 2025--the blueprint for turning the United States into a perpetual right-wing strong-man authoritarian government.

By 2024 he knew he was in line for a big job in the Trump administration if the election went that way. In order to prove he'd fit right in and pick up a few bucks he allegedly accepted $50,000 in cash from two, "business executives." In exchange for the money, he promised to recommend that their company receive border security related government contracts. According to reports, Homan was recorded on both video and audio tape accepting the cash in a brown paper bag, then waking out of the restaurant where the meeting was held with it. 

There was a major problem though. The "executives," were FBI undercover agents and the whole thing was an agency sting operation. Luckily for future Border Czar in February 2025 Pam Bondi took over the Department of Justice, quickly followed by Kash Patel at the FBI. The case was dropped for various reasons, my personal favorite being, "FBI agents had more important things to do." The video and audio evidence disappeared and so did the brown bag containing the money. To this day no one knows, or at least admits to knowing, what happened to that 50 grand of taxpayer cash. It was, as they say, a clean getaway.  

So, what have we learned from White House Border Czar, Thomas D. Homan? Number 1: comply with law enforcement, even if you aren't sure it is law enforcement, or it will be your fault you get killed. Number 2: there is more than one way to comply with law enforcement these days and some are more profitable than others, depending on who you know and how the chips fall. 

Hey, who says America isn't great?

7-23-26   

Shame, Degradation, an Unreliable Source, and Utter Madness

 For those wondering about the depths of Donald Trump's obsession with his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, one really didn't need to sit through his unhinged harangue last Thursday. No, all you needed to do was watch a few painfully awkward moments during the confirmation hearing of Trump's DNI nominee, Jay Clayton. To put it bluntly, toads dropped on hot plates come across as more graceful than Clayton did when he was asked one simple question.

The question, initially posed by GA Senator, Jon Ossoff was, "Who won the 2020 presidential election?"

Clayton could not bring himself to publicly say those apparently forbidden words, "Joe Biden won." His most frequent response was, "Joe Biden was certified as President." Even when asked, "How did Joe Biden get certified?" he couldn't say it. His response was something along the lines 0f, "He received the most electoral votes." In the end, he chose to look like a complete fool, rather than say the simple truth aloud. 

And it's all because if you want to work for Donald J. Trump, you can't say it. To say Joe Biden won, is proof to Donald you are not only disloyal, but possibly a member of, "the deep state," he claimed lied to him in 2020. In other words, if you say, Biden won you will either get you fired, or your job application immediately deep sixed. Yes, the man sitting on the golden toilet doesn't care if you end up shaming yourself and denigrate your own character by denying he lost the election. All he cares about and demands is that you maintain the grotesque myth he somehow won it. 

When it came to Thursday's national address--which wasn't nearly as national as Trump planned--MS NOW's Lawrence O'Donnell described it as nothing more than a 25-minute sales pitch for his SAVE America Act. Actually, the first 10 minutes, or so was all about how everything in the nation is now peachy keen thanks to Donald J. Trump, including the minor spat with Iran. (Today word comes that at least two more members of the U.S. military and quite probably a third were killed by an Iranian attack on a base in Jordan.)  

The good folks at ABC and NBC must have had at least a hint of what was coming, because they refused to air it live, which earned both networks an in-speech condemnation from the President.  MS NOW showed the first third, or so, but when the outright lies and mis-leading half-truths began to pile up, they cut away to begin fact checking. 

The President blamed so much of the nefarious election chicanery on the Chinese one wag later said the speech bordered on a, "yellow peril," diatribe. Fact checkers and current politicians were quick to point out the voter info the Chinese, "accessed," was and is public information. You don't need spies to get it, you simply need a checkbook, because it can all be bought online. When Trump accused the Maduro government of rigging voting machines in Venezuela fact checkers noticed, he never said the Maduro regime rigged them here. In fact, the CIA reports the Venezuelans have never been capable of rigging voting machines in the United States. 

However, Trump's most incendiary accusation that Homeland Security, through voting rolls and public records, has discovered there are 278,000 illegal aliens registered to vote. The next day DHS Secretary, Markwayne Mullin altered the number a little by saying there was 250,00 illegal aliens registered to vote in four states. "Think of how many more we will find in the other 46 states," Mullin told the media on Friday. Senior CNN reporter Marshall Cohen described the sources who came up with that information as, "unreliable." It's a diplomatic way of saying the numbers are bullshit. 

Thursday night Trump identified the source of the number as the DHS. On Friday Mullin never specified how, or who obtained the numbers. Most agree the figures are wildly overstated. It is actually unclear at this time where Trump and Mullin came up with over a quarter million illegal voters although the main suspect is the Heritage Foundation--the same people who brought us Project 2025. More dependable researchers place the figure at around 28,000. (Quick, add 28,000 to 250,000 and see what you get.) The smaller number is spread out over 25 or so states and 30,000,000 plus legal voters. While both men's totals might be baffling to those who take a little time to poke around the internet, the four states mentioned by Mullin are not. They are California, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and New York. You know, two states Trump can't win and two which are core pieces of his 2020 election conspiracy fantasy.

To give Lawrence O'Donnell his due, part way through the speech Donald Trump did plea with voters to, "call their Senators," and urge them to pass the SAVE America Act immediately. Most analysts, however, are saying the real aim of the speech is to justify his objections to the results of the mid-terms if the republicans do take a solid beating. Many are predicting all sorts of unconstitutional responses to a massive loss, or honestly to any loss, of power by this President. According to them, Thursday night was Donald Trump's way of forewarning his plans and justifying them. 

Well, that's all probably true, but I tend to think his motive is simpler, although maybe more disturbing. That old man just can't let the 2020 loss to Biden go. He is emotionally and psychologically incapable of it. Deep down he has to prove and make everyone see, that Donald Trump has never lost and cannot lose. They all must know and understand he is the, True El Supremo. 

In short, I believe him to be utterly mad.

But hey, I'm a romantic.

7-19-26