Mixed Messages, Counting Counties Instead of Voters, and Stephen Miller has Two Months to Come Up With a Plan

 A week ago, as the votes began to be counted, various media outlets reported that Donald Trump had stated he would accept the results of the midterm elections no matter what. While acknowledging that would be a refreshing change from what we've come to expect from the man, some remained skeptical. Let's face it, Donald Trump has been known to change his mind. (During his midterm campaign blitz, he was cancelling, then rescheduling rallies all over the place.)  It doesn't take a shrink to see, stability is not the guy's strong suit. Just ask the entire population of Greenland. 

Hey, how else do you explain things like, the President congratulating democrats on a good job, then appointing Stephen Miller--he once described the democrats as, "a party of freaks, weirdos, losers, and crazies"--his new Chief of Staff. Then on Sunday--less than 48 hours after he gave Miller the job--in an interview with CBS, Trump gave himself an A plus on closing the border but admitted that hunting down immigrants in the streets as they were going to work at legitimate jobs might have taken things too far. Guess who came up with that strategy, Don? Guess who came up with the daily quota of immigrant arrests that ICE couldn't begin to keep up with? That's right, the one and only, Stephen Miller  

Obviously, the messages being sent from the gilded Oval Office have been a tad mixed. Yesterday, six days after he told the New York Times he'd accept the results of the election, Trump wrote on social media, "Does anyone really believe that this Election was honest? How could the polls be so wrong??? Some early voting dumps were so large that it was impossible to win, no matter how many people went to vote. It's all about the machines which are far more important than the voter!"

Now that's the Donald Trump we've all come to know far too well.  Not that wimpy dude who on Sunday said he is willing to work with democrats. (Although we all understand that when DJT says he wants to work with people he really means he wants people to work for him.)

The post was largely ignored by the mainstream media, but no doubt it will invigorate true believers like Pastor, Lorenzo Sewell. Brother Sewell heads the non-denominational, 180 Church in Detroit. The day after the Tuesday night debacle he appeared on what is known as the "FlashPoint," podcast, explaining why the fix had to be in. According to the Pastor, "Do you know that even Talarico, he won--watch this--he only won 31 counties? There's over 204 counties in Texas." Sewell went on, "In Ohio, Husted and Brown--Brown only won 16 counties. There's 88 counties in Ohio." 

So, there it is as plain as day right in front of our noses. James Talarico didn't win nearly as many counties as Ken Paxton, therefore Paxton was the legitimate winner of the Texas Senate race. The fact that Paxton kicked ass in places like Hale County, pop, 33,000 and other similar west Texas locales while Talarico overwhelmingly won in Harris County, pop. 5 plus million has nothing to do with it. 

According to Sewell, it's not the number of people who vote. By God, it's the number of square miles they live in. 

Frustrated by the apparent constitutional glitch, the Good Pastor Sewell then said this: "These are democrat socialists. How is it they take every important seat? They literally did the midterm massacre. That's what happened last night and I have a spiritual suspicion, Gene, I got a Holy Ghost hunch that we need another January 6th. I'm telling you I'm getting up for it. I'm ready to go to the Capitol. I'm ready to present my evidence because I won't let them steal my nation. I'm not taking this lightly. I've already talked to a few of my friends and we're ready to go and literally present our evidence, because the President doesn't have a presidency anymore. We gotta understand this. His Presidency is done. The only thing the church can do is stand up. We have to pursue, overtake, and we need to reclaim all that the devil has come to steal, kill, and destroy."         

For those wondering, Lorenzo Sewell was a guest speaker at the 2024 Republican National Convention. In January of 2025 he was one of several ministers who gave benedictions at Donald Trump's inauguration. In other words, he's well known at the White House. 

Yes, suspicions are growing that some nefarious game might be afoot here. At this point it isn't clear just what it is though. It's doubtful Reverand Sewell's dream of a second storming of the Capitol will take place, but it doesn't mean more subtle schemes aren't quietly being put into place. Donald Trump's mind might be decaying, but Stephen Miller's is still, as the lyric says, "squirming like a toad." And Herr Miller, who has nothing but contempt for everything except raw power, has nearly two months to come up with a plan that allows Don and now himself to keep it all for themselves.

Sure, call me paranoid. However, after watching Donald J. Trump for over a decade, I know three things. One, he lies about everything--I mean every fucking thing. Two, when he wants something, no one tells him no. Three, he thinks democracy is a sort of Santa Claus, invented by the powerful to keep the suckers entertained and happy.

11-10-26

A Blue Tsunami

We've achieved more in less than two years than any administration in American history and I've kept every single promise I made. Except far more, I've actually kept far more promises than I made. We've done much more than I promised.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America on November 2nd, 2026.

And with those outright lies and that momentary trip into dementia, the President sent his MAGA political toadies off into the midterm elections. Prior to Monday, in rallies across the land, Donald Trump had told people, "To pretend I'm on the ballot." So, people actually did exactly that and Mr. Trump quickly got a lesson in the old adage, "Be careful what you wish for..." 

Yes, it would appear the days of the easy con are over for Mr. Trump and his crowd. A few weeks ago, when he promised to pay every voter five grand if the republicans kept the House and Senate the rally crowd applauded, but you could tell no one there was really buying it. There had been too many lies and broken promises already. They might not have liked democrats, but the religious fervor for The Leader was missing. It was like watching a jaded crowd at a pro wrestling match. They go through the motions of cheering, but they are all painfully aware the action is fake.

In other words, to paraphrase an old line, "Fool me a bunch shame on you. Fool me one time more than a bunch shame on me."    

As the results began to pour in last night and the sheer size of the debacle was becoming apparent, the first excuse out of the White House was it happened because he wasn't on the ballot. That quickly morphed into, the candidates just weren't good enough, which is an interesting thing to say considering Donald Trump hand-picked more than just a few of them. In North Carolina, Trump's boy, Michael Whatley lost by 19 points. In South Carolina the Trump backed sister of the late Lindsey Graham, Darline Graham lost to Annie Andrews, who the President had labeled, "Trannie Annie." In the Texas GOP Senate runoff Trump inexplicably backed Ken Paxton rather than loyal incumbent, John Cornyn. Paxton, a man so thoroughly corrupt his own staff at the AG's office ratted him out to the FBI, won the runoff, but last night lost by over 1 million votes to James Talarico.   

On and on it went. GOP incumbent Roger Marshall lost in Kansas (The last time a democrat won a U.S. Senate seat in Kansas was 1932--or for you movie buffs, seven years before "The Wizard of Oz was released.) Republican incumbent Susan Collins lost in Maine. A democrat, Josh Turek won in Iowa as did Sherrod Brown in Ohio. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, who was accused of being everything up to and including the second coming of Osama Bin-Laden, edged out republican Mike Rogers by a little less than 300,000 votes. (At one rally in Michigan Trump had demanded that if El-Sayed won he must go through a metal detector before being allowed in the Capitol building.) 

Republicans lost the House early on. Two Senate seats are still up in the air--Alaska and Mississippi of all places. Even if both go republican the democrats will still hold a majority in the upper house. Donald Trump has woken up to a new world this morning. Well, at least a new one in January. There is no telling what nefarious bull shit he will try to pull between now and then, although he did tell the New York Times he would accept the results. However, as we all know, what Donald Trump says and what he does are many times two completely different things. 

What we know for sure however, is the American people have just overwhelmingly repudiated Donald Trump's politics of selfishness, greed, hubris, fear mongering, and wildly overt corruption. Not to mention the President's notion of an imperial executive branch.  They also just told El Don and his billionaire buddies their votes can't be bought. (It's estimated Elon Musk spent $158 million trying to get Ken Paxton elected in Texas. In Georgia, a republican Super PAC spent $44 million to defeat Jon Ossoff. He beat yet another Trump approved candidate by 18%.)

If this blue wave of democrats is sworn in without a hitch in January, they now must get something done for the people who elected them. While there will be a huge temptation to go after Donald and Co. the first goal of democrats can't be retribution--a concept Trump could never grasp--it has to be the people. There has to be an understanding among those newly minted House and Senate members the average American doesn't give a rat's ass about things like revenge, or re-installing DEI regulations, or, sorry to say it, the needs of the LGBQT or whatever community. They just want to be able to afford food, fuel, and medical care. They want the war to stop and the tariffs to go away. They want to be able to buy a fucking house for God's sake. Attack those issues, not the crazy old man now sitting isolated in the White House.  

His act is dead.  

11-4-26

Evangelicals and the Sin of Empathy

 On Inauguration Day 2025--after democrats didn't storm the capitol in an attempt to overturn an election they lost--Mariann Budde, the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington spoke at an interfaith prayer meeting at the Washington National Cathedral. With President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance sitting in the front row she talked about the importance and value of empathy. Bishop Budde asked Trump and Vance to show mercy to, "vulnerable and fearful communities," such as gays and undocumented immigrants 

Now comes word, via the HuffPost, of a poll taken by a D.C. based group known as the Public Religion Research Institute, (PRRI). It found 84% of Democrats, 70% of Independents, and 53% of republicans feel empathy is positive foundation for society 

Hey, who wouldn't, right? Well how about Protestant Evangelical Christians? The PRRI poll discovered only 42% of Protestant Evangelicals think empathy is a good thing, while 54% believe in their heart of Christian hearts it could be a danger to society in general and specifically to the republic. That's right. The same people who love to praise Jesus and tell us we have to accept him to get to heaven don't really think that whole, feed the hungry and clothe the naked thing he preached is good for America and Americans. 

As the HuffPost notes, this revelation really shouldn't surprise anyone. It reports that shortly after Bishop Budde spoke that day, a guy named Ben Garrett went viral on social media when he posted a photo of the Bishop and wrote, "Do not commit the sin of empathy. This snake is God's enemy and yours too. She hates God and His people. You need to properly hate in response. She is not merely deceived but a deceiver. Your eye shall not pity." 

The HuffPost reports Garrett is a Deacon of an unnamed church in Utah. With a little digging we find Garrett is a 2008 graduate of the University of Mississippi. He began his career and remains a, writer, analyst, and commentator on Ol' Miss football and basketball. He even worked for a bit at FOX Sports and USA Today. Besides covering Rebel football and basketball, Garrett is listed as the Pastor of Refuge Church in Ogden, Utah. He also co-hosts a podcast (doesn't everyone these days) titled, "Haunted Cosmos." One source says, "the podcast explores high Strangeness from a biblical worldview..." 

   Okay, so Ben Garrett isn't exactly Martin Luther, but who is?

The anti-empathy movement didn't just start with Trump 2.0. In its poll report PRRI says in 2019, Reverend Joe Rigney wrote about, "The enticing sin of empathy." The Reverand's main concern was that, "Satan corrupts through compassion." Rigney is the former head of The Bethlehem Seminary in Minneapolis. He resigned in 2023 because of, "a divergence of views between he and the Seminary's governing board on the issue of Christian Nationalism." According to Religion News Service Bethlehem Seminary is an outgrowth of Bethlehem Baptist Church in the Twin Cities. 

This is all wrapped up in the spiritual schizophrenia of Evangelicals. On the one hand they praise the name of Jesus Christ but then ignore his teachings and go right back to the God of the Old Testament who doesn't urge His followers to forgive their enemies, but rather to massacre them. Or as, Franklin Graham put it in a Christmas sermon at the Pentagon, "We know that God loves. But did you know God also hates? Did you know God is also a God of war?" (A quick note to Franklin--according to Homer, Ares, the Greek god of war, backed the Trojans who lost.)  

Of course, it isn't just Evangelical pastors and theologians who don't think much of empathy. Elon Musk went on, "The Joe Rogan Experience," and told the host, "The fundamental weakness of Western Civilization is empathy, the empathy exploit. They're exploiting a bug in Western Civilization, which is the empathy response." It's unclear if he told Rogan this before, or after he gutted USAID with Donald Trump's approval. (Musk called USAID a criminal organization beyond repair.) It was an act that moved Bill Gates to say, "The world's richest man is killing the world's poorest children." 

Yeah Bill, but at least ol' Elon didn't fall prey to, "the fundamental weakness of Western Civilization."'

 I have never claimed to be a theologian and I never will. However, I do consider myself a Christian, although one who is constantly appalled that the title, as it were, has been appropriated by Evangelicals. (Like the good Bishop I'm an Episcopalian.) After seeing the PRRI poll I do have one thing to say though to all those so out there who are so dubious of empathy. 

"Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves."

Matthew 7:15

Oh, and something my wife told me a long time ago, "It's God's job to judge people. Our job is to love them." 

Amen to that, now please pass the scotch.

10-27-26

Revisiting the Lost Girls Fifteen Years Later

 Fifteen years ago, three young women in the Oklahoma City area died violent deaths within in a single month that spanned early October and early November. First, on October 13th, the partially dismembered body of 19-year-old Carina Saunders was found in an empty lot behind a suburban Bethany, OK grocery store. Second, on October 28th, Kelsey Bransby, also 19 was found shot in her southwest OKC apartment. Then finally, on November 9th, 17-year-old, Alina Fitzpatrick's nude body was discovered in far eastern Oklahoma City. At the time, while trying to be grimly witty, I dubbed it, "The Autumn of the Lost Girls. "

The death of Ms. Saunders garnered the most press for a couple of reasons. It was the most spectacularly gruesome of the three. Indeed, nothing gets the public engaged like decapitation, missing hands and feet, and a back story which includes an attractive young woman sinking into the dark world of drugs, possible sex trafficking, and savage street gang violence. Not to mention that the Bethany Police Department, who took the lead in the case had decided to conduct their investigation on the front page of the daily newspaper and on the six o'clock news of every television outlet in town. 

The names of witnesses and potential witnesses became public knowledge almost as fast as the Bethany cops talked to them. Rumors and clues grew into lurid urban myth, and the names of suspects came and went. By the time the OSBI--itself not exactly the FBI of Inspector Erskine--was handed the investigation, witnesses were recanting and suspects were being released due to a shocking lack of real evidence. It didn't take long for all of them to head for parts unknown. To this day there is a $50,000 reward for information leading to the unknown killer, or killers of Carina Saunders.

Kelsey Bransby's death resulted from a druggy get together with her friends, Danielle Cooley and Cole Hopper. While stoned, Hopper was fooling around with a handgun when he, accidently shot Ms. Bransby in the face. Instead of sticking around to help, both Hopper and Cooley fled the apartment, leaving their, "friend," to bleed out. In 2024, Cooley, who had previously been listed at the Taft, OK women's facility, was doing time at a DOC locale Oklahoma City. She had been popped once again, this time down in McClain County, and her release date is unknown.

Hopper has been in and out ever since the shooting. In 2024 he stole an RV from a lot in OKC where he had once worked, then led police on a 10-mile chase through Oklahoma City before running the RV off into a drainage ditch. His most recent arrest earned him the dubious title of Career Felon.  The media's list of his crimes began with manslaughter. Kelsey Bransby's name wasn't mentioned.

Alina Fitzpatrick disappeared on November 4h. Her parents immediately reported her missing. (Unlike Saunders' family, who didn't say anything for close to two weeks after she went into the wind.) Her nude body was found on November 9th in a lot by a woman and her adult son who were there taking a look at some land the mother owned. Her body had fresh scrapes and bruises, but, as the OKC police later said, none of them were serious enough to cause her death. There was also what has been described as the remains of a gag stuffed in her mouth. In addition, the state medical examiner discovered an amount of meth in her body that might or might not have proven fatal for a woman her size and age. Her cause of death is officially listed as, "undetermined." The OKC police do not classify it as a homicide, but rather as suspicious. 

One source close to the investigation said the police consider Alina Fitzpatrick's death an overdose and have, "little confidence," it will ever be solved. A few years ago, an anonymous comment in this blog claimed the cops knew who killed Alina Fitzpatrick and that person was in jail on other charges. The comment remains unsubstantiated. 

If they had lived Carina Saunders and Kelsy Bransby would both be 34 years old. Although given her lifestyle the odds of Saunders making it out of her 20s seem remote. (Her family claims she had dreams of becoming an opera singer. Friends said she had bragged about becoming a porn star.) Of the three, Alina Fitzpatrick seemed the most likely to have survived into her 30s and become successful one way or the other. Although, in truth, even she had apparently started teasing fate. (The night she vanished, she was dropped off by friends at an unnamed apartment complex halfway across town from her home. Her phone was turned off a short time later. She had also been complaining of recently receiving disturbing calls from a mysterious man and talked about changing her number.) This year she would have been 32. 

I have been asked why I keep revisiting that terrible autumn. I have no clear answer for it. Perhaps it's because all this occurred right as I started this blog and I was as transfixed as everyone else by the series of ghastly murders--for a few weeks there was talk this burg had a genuine serial killer on its hands. Carina Saunders and Kelsey Brandsby were in in the same high school together, although there was no evidence they ever hung out, or even knew each other. The police were quick to snuff out the theory and Cole Hopper and Danielle Cooley proved them right to do so. 

Maybe I knew that everyone, except families and friends, would soon forget about all about the three victims and the cruel circumstances of their deaths. Americans, after all, like our horror real, but over with quickly. We can probably thank 24-hour news cycles for aiding and abetting our utter lack of an attention span, but it goes beyond that. Most of the time we just get bored of the same crime and names and want to move on to new outrages. Maybe I'm just one of those fading romantics who think, Hey, we need to remember the deaths of these women because we need to remember they existed. No matter how flawed, they were here. They were part of us.

Or as, John Donne put it so eloquently, although decidedly un-PC, a long time ago: 

Any man's death diminishes me, 

Because I am involved with mankind,

And therefore never send to know for who the bell tolls; 

It tolls for thee.  

10-23-26

Desperation, Crude Denigration, and Over the Top Fear Mongering on the GOP Campaign Trail

 Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Thomas P. Tip O'Neill once said, "All politics is local." Donald Trump and the wholly owned subsidiary of The Trump Organization, known as the American republican party, don't really adhere to O'Neill's adage. To them it's more like, "All politics is personal." In other words, rather than tell voters what they have done and will do to improve their lives, it is preferable to call the opposition all sorts of derogatory names and scare the beejeezus out of the base with absolutely crazy shit. 

Indeed, fear and hate are much easier sells than explaining policy and detailing paths forward, especially when you really don't give a rat's ass about anyone but yourself. And let's face it, when you've screwed the pooch as epically as Trump and his band of sycophants have, talking about what you've actually done seems a tad counterproductive. 

This past Saturday organizers put together another round of, "No Kings Day," protests nationwide. On Saturday there were 3,000 No Kings rallies held across all 50 states. While there weren't any official head counts, most estimates put the total number of people participating in the millions. However, the numbers didn't matter to the right-wing propaganda machine at FOX News. On the program, "The Big Weekend Show," panelists were more interested of the demographics of the protesters. FOX contributor and New York Post columnist, Miranda Devine said, "All you have is really baby boomers who are reliving their misspent youth as hippies and protesters, and they have nothing better to do, clearly." 

Then Devine added, "And maybe they don't have any relationships with their grandchildren and children, or maybe they never had children. They just seem like demented elderly people who are very angry and the one thing that really drives them is their complete and utter hatred of Donald Trump." As a coda, Devine described the protests themselves as a, "very ugly look." 

Another panelist, Toni Lahren declared, "Does that really get out the vote when you see a bunch of geriatric grandparents out there with signs about how much they hate Donald Trump?" Lahren's final analysis was, "I know this gets some people out--the people who have not a lot of friends and they need to have something to do on a Saturday."

That's pretty bold, not to mention, ironic talk coming from people defending an 80-year-old guy who looks and sounds pretty fucking demented himself a lot of the time. 

From there we go to a rally in Kansas meant to bolster the struggling campaign of incumbent republican Senator, Roger Marshall. Donald J. Trump, the Big Kahuna himself told the crowd, "If you want to see what is at stake in this election just look at what is happening in France--a once great nation that is being conquered, looted, and burned to the ground by migrants, jihadists, and communists who hate Christianity." Then to make sure the rubes were able to connect the dots he told rally-goers, "When you see burning steeples and raging fires in France just remember that is what the radical democrats want to do to America." 

It might be worth noting a couple of things here. First, Marshall's opponent, Adam Hamilton is the senior pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in a Kansas City suburb--not exactly a typical hangout of jihadists and communists. Second, Kansans might elect a democrat to the U.S. Senate for the first time in over 90 years thanks to the whole, politics is local thing. 

This past Friday, the President told a crowd in Georgia, "I mean we have five states where your child goes off to school as Tim and comes back as Tammy three or four days later. It's true. And teachers--somebody makes a decision." He then said, "Can you imagine? They don't even need approval. It's sick. You'll have five--I think Minnesota and some others--I think its five or six states. You know that, right?"

Anna Arkin of the Minnesota Department of Education told the media the accusation was, "Unequivocally false," although she shouldn't have had to. CNN reports the White House has never provided a single example of such a thing happening and that when asked for proof, other right-wing organizations refused to even respond.  The philosophy, one supposes, being, hey, all we have to do is say it, we don't have to prove it.   

  Yes, the electorate ready to make its decision in two weeks and the Trump owned GOP reeks of desperation. Obviously, they've decided it's time to fall back on the tried and true--crude denigration and over the top fear mongering. Well, why not?  God only knows, it has worked before. 

All of which leads us to another quote from old Tip--one which the GOP and Donald Trump have learned the hard way. "It's easier to run for office than it is to run the office."

Amen, brother.

10-20-26

The American Horror Show Visits Bend, Oregon

 Yesterday out in Bend, Oregon somewhere between 400 and 450 students showed up for classes at Silver Rail Elementary School. A little after one pm so did a 16-year-old kid armed with what is currently being described as a long gun. The type of long gun hasn't been specified yet, although one outlet described it as being a shotgun. Whatever the case, the intruder, faced with locked doors, used his weapon to shoot his way inside. he killed three students, aged 5, 8, and 11 and a teacher. In addition, he shot another student and teacher who are both listed as critically wounded. The gunman was then killed by a man variously being called a bystander and Good Samaritan. 

Does any of that horror show sound familiar? It should. According to Education Week as of Oct. 5th there had been 24 school shootings in the United States. CNN, on the other hand claims that through Sept. 23rd there had been 42. (It keeps changing slightly, depending on the talking head.) The reason for the difference is gruesomely simple. Education Week's stat includes shootings in K-12 schools and only those in which children were either killed or wounded. CNN counts not just Ki-12, but also college campuses and shooting incidents that didn't actually kill or wound anybody. 

So, pick the size of your nightmare, America--it is, all yours no matter which you choose. 

As always, in the immediate aftermath the details are few and far between. (There is a news conference scheduled for this afternoon which will provide a few more, but probably not any definitive answers on why--well, other than the shooter was nuts.) The only things we know right now about the killer are his age and that he lived in Bend. Neither of those two things are surprising. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were seniors at Columbine High School when they opened fire. Nikolas Cruz was 19 when he began pulling the trigger at Marjory Stone Douglas in Parkland, FL. Salvador Ramos was 18 in Uvalde, TX.  Adam Lanza, the oldest of the gruesome bunch, was 20 when he showed up at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT. All of them were locals. 

All we know about the, "Good Samaritan," at the moment, other than he might be a student's dad, is he followed the shooter into the school and killed him. with a handgun. Although, on second thought, one supposes that does prove he is a lot braver than all those fat bellied Texas cops who stood around outside Robb Elementary in Uvalde while young Mr. Ramos continued his murder spree. 

Since it is illegal for a 16-year-old to buy a long gun in Oregon it is safe to assume the killer either stole the murder weapon or one his parents owned it. And since it is the 21st century we can also assume he left some sort of digital record of his grievances either real or imagined and possibly his plans. Unless, like Adam Lanza, he anticipated an electronic search and destroyed the hard drives on his devices. In any event the media has said a search of his home began last night. 

What comes next will be a continuation of post tragedy behavior that's predictable, politically driven, and amazingly short lived. In America our outrage and horror are real but never lasts long. We generally have the attention span and patience of gnats. Some on the left will scream about all the guns. Many on the right will point to the thread bare NRA adage, "Only a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun," and say it was proven at Silver Rail Elementary. Even though in this case the good guy didn't immediately stop the bad guy. That's right, while many may celebrate the abbreviated body count, others are burying their dead babies and beloved family member.  The heroism displayed doesn't ease their pain. Nothing anyone says, has done or will do can.

The truth is that the guns aren't going away. There are simply too many of them and the pro-gun lobby is too strong. The trouble is crazy people aren't going away either. The big question is, how do we keep the two apart. If someone has a suggestion, please put it on the table immediately. And while you do I have second question. Would all the gun aficionados out there who like to cite the second amendment as they oppose any sort of gun ownership restrictions please tell me--exactly which, "well regulated militia," do you serve with? 

10-16-26

Kimberly Guilfoyle's Lesson on the Calvera Principle

 Here are some things we know about Kimberly Guilfoyle. First, the suddenly former U.S. Ambassador to Greece prefers her men to be both rich and famous. She was married to Gavin Newsom for five years, the last two while he was Mayor of San Francisco. She then married the CEO of what has been described as am interior and production design company named, Eric Villency. (Not a name readily recognized which probably explains why it only lasted three years.) Later, she was Donald Trump Jr's main squeeze and fiancée for six. 

Second, she likes to spend money. Anyone who can rack up a $100,000 debt on an American Express Card, apparently without a clue how she is going to pay for it, must. 

Third, when it comes to corruption, she is about as subtle as one of those, Nigerian dudes on the prowl for your bank account number. 

According to various reports, prior to her confirmation hearing in the Senate last year, Guilfoyle contacted Kentucky attorney, Eric Deters pleading with him to cover the 100 grand tab. The Wall Street Journal reports one message read in part, "Honey please I need you to get this done for me today." Deters' initial response was, "I can't do this without getting a divorce." Proving she probably really did owe the money Guilfoyle told him, "You could send it there. It won't show up anywhere if you wire the money to American Express that's all that will show. Please." 

The Washington Times writes Ms. Guilfoyle promised Deters, among other things, to use her connection in the Trump administration to help with the issues he was having with the IRS and the Department of Justice. In addition, she was willing to make sure Deters had access to senior Trump officials on other matters. Other reports say Deters not only wanted help with the tax problems but also wanted her to score him a spot on Tucker Carlson's podcast and to send a song he had written to Kid Rock. Kimberly Guilfoyle's lawyer vehemently denied practically everything Deters has said.  However, there is no denying the message she sent to Deters which in part read, "...one of my guys, Julio is meeting with Billy and or Faulkner for IRS. I can get you in for a meeting on the matter we discussed please get back to me ASAP." 

Once in Greece, the new American Ambassador is reported to have hooked up one way, or another with a Greek lobbyist, Christos Marafatsos. He was at so many high-level meetings with her some foreign officials thought he was her chief of staff.  

All this broke because of Eric Deters. After a series of messages to Guilfoyle wanting to know why she hadn't come through for him--on anything--she responded that he needed to stop writing about their deal, or it would get her fired. Deters then went what is commonly referred to as ape shit. He ran straight to the national media, raging publicly about Guilfoyle's personal treachery. 

The end of the sordid little saga didn't take long. The story broke last week and earlier today it was reported the White House had made Kimberly Guilfoyle the offer she couldn't refuse. Seemingly within minutes she had resigned.

In the original version of the film, The Magnificent Seven, the Mexican bandit, Calvera tells a story about how he once robbed a bank in Texas. "The American government sent, a whole army to get me. A whole army. One little bank. In Texas only Texans can rob banks." The same principle is applicable here. In Trumpistan only Trumps can brazenly sell access to Trump stuff. 

Well, hey, we don't want to sink into anarchy, do we?

10-13-26