James Comey and the Seashells on the Sea Shore

 Cool shell formation on my beach walk.

The caption to a photo posted by James Comey on social media last year of seashells arraigned into the number 8647.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the term 86 as, "to refuse to serve (a customer)" or to, "get rid of," or, "throw out," someone or something. Apparently, it originated among soda fountain and lunch counter employees back in the 1920's or 30's. One legend, the one I prefer, had it originating during prohibition at a bar called Chumley's in New York City's west village. One of its two entrances was at 86 Bedford Street. When the staff was tipped off about impending police raids, they would, "86 the customers." In other words, rush them out of the joint via the Bedford Street door.

The point here being nowhere in the history, or usage of the term do the words, kill, or assassinate, or harm come up. "Getting rid of," which can be interpreted in any number of ways--86 the milk, it has gone bad--is the closest to anything you can imagine referring to violence. Be that as it may, Donald Trump and some of his cronies, at the time the post showed up, declared it a thinly veiled lethal threat against President number 47, the afore mentioned, Donald J. Trump. In response, Comey deleted the photo while saying he had no idea it could be taken that way and had meant it as a joke. Not long afterward the whole issue dropped off everyone's radar. 

It wasn't the first time 86 has been used by some when referring to a President. ABC News reports that during a 2020 TV interview Michigan Governor, Gretchen Whitmer sat near a small figurine bearing the number, 8645--Trump's first term number. While Joe Biden was President hotshot MAGA commentator, Jack Posobiec sent out a social post which read simply, "8646."No one said a word about threats of violence in either instance.

Ah yes, those were more innocent times. Trump hadn't lost all his marbles yet and Biden, as infirm as he might have been, was actually trying to be a President rather than some mad king fixated on a gilded ballroom no one but him gives a flying fuck about. James Comey's first indictment during the reign of number 47 came when Pam Bondi was running the DOJ. It had nothing to do with messages in the sand. After it was summerly tossed by a federal judge, Bondi seemed to lose interest in Comey altogether. 

Who can blame her?  By then she had become neck deep in that vast swamp known as the Epstein files. Trump got rid of her earlier this year. One of the rumored reasons was he felt she was dragging her feet when it came to pursuing his political enemies with criminal charges. 

Then along came Todd Blanche. He is now the acting Attorney General and head of the DOJ. He is best remembered as once being Trump's personal lawyer. Then later as the Deputy Attorney General who interviewed Ghislaine Maxwell who was at the time in a heavy-duty federal lockup. Maxwell assured Blanche that number 47 wasn't involved in any of Epstein's deviant behavior, then she was, "just coincidentally," moved to a minimum-security facility. She now reportedly receives catered meals and regular visits from puppies so she can play with them.

It is also being reported Todd Blanche really wants to be named Attorney General of the United States, not just acting Attorney General. In his search to find a way to please El Donald the long forgotten 8647 episode must have hit him like a bolt of lightning. His path of suck uppery was clear. Find a federal grand jury in North Carolina--home of the beach with the shells--and indict James Comey. So, he did just that. The indictment includes one charge of, "Threats against the President and successors," and one of, "Transmitting a threat in interstate commerce." ABC reports the prosecutors who parented the case wrote, Comey's deleted post constituted a threat that any, "reasonable recipient who is familiar with the circumstances would interpret as serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States." 

In a statement the ever-ambitious Blanche said in part, "...you are not allowed to threaten the President of the United States of America. That's not my decision. That's Congress' decision, and a statute that they passed that we charge multiple times a year." 

Oh really? Earlier this year at the C-PAC smoke and mirrors jamboree, Jack Posobiec, of 8646 fame interviewed the acting Attorney General in front of a live audience. The subject of Posobiec's post while Biden was President never came up. Well, one supposes there are threats you don't have to worry about and then there are THREATS that you do.  It just depends on how nuts the boss is. 

And, in Todd Blanche's case, just how badly you want the job.  

4-30-26

Cole Allen's Righteous Duty, Security Questions, and Conspiracy Theories

 We know Cole Thomas Allen is smart. You don't get into, then graduate from the California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech) without having some brains. Allen's initial degree was in engineering, his Masters was in Computer Science. The guy is 31 years old, reportedly designs computer games, and works for a company that specializes in tutoring AP students. Apparently, neither of those jobs pays enough to allow him to have his own space, because until a few days ago he lived with his parents in their Torrence, CA home. 

We also know--at least since Saturday night and Sunday morning--Cole Allen is pretty good when it comes to planning and logistics. Reports are he bought the guns in his possession at least a year ago, if not longer. He stashed them at his parent's place, without their knowledge, and periodically snuck them out to practice with at a gun range. He also avoided security questions by taking trains from LA to Chicago, then to Washington D.C. In addition, he booked a room into the Washington Hilton, prior to White House Correspondents Association Dinner, which featured President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, a number of high-ranking cabinet members and of government officials. Also present at the annual soiree that evening was every big-time media executive and reporter who covers the White House and politics in general. (For those with a taste for coincidence, Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinkley right outside of the same hotel.)

Fortunately for the President, his wife, and God only knows how many others, when it came to tactics, Cole Allen wasn't worth a shit. After all the planning, all the patient preparation, the only thing he could come up with to assassinate, Donald J. Trump and others was a crazed bum-rush through a metal detector and past a perimeter of armed security. It was a move that had all the crafty nuances of a plot hitched by Wile E. Coyote. 

Minutes before he tried to bull his way through security, Cole Allen emailed his family, letting them know what he was going to do and why. In the message he prioritized his hit list, while explaining how he was planning to deal, "nonlethally," with guards who would try to stop him. He apologized to them all for lying to them about the excuses he made up to travel to Wahington. He also apologized to his employer and students. In addition, he accused the President of treason and being a pedophile. In the letter he described the impending attack as his, "righteous duty." When it came to the Christian principle of, "turning the other cheek," he argued it applied only to the one being oppressed, not to someone who sees others being oppressed--proving once again interpretations are completely at the whims and prejudices of the interpreter. He signed off with the moniker, Cole, ColdForce Friendly Federal Assassin, Allen. (As opposed to Stan Lee's Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman.)  

As soon as his brother read the email, he contacted the local police who got in touch with the Secret Service, but by then Cole Allen had already pulled the trigger--a couple of times. One of the shots hit a Secret Service agent square in the chest--so much for that nonlethal stuff--but luckily the man was saved by his body armor.    

Questions about security were immediately posed. The main one being, how did this heavily armed clown check into a hotel that was going to host the President, his wife, and key members of his cabinet and staff without someone taking a look in his luggage? Not to mention how did he get from his room all the way to the main line of security while openly carrying a fucking shotgun? The answer to that question was brutally simple.  He used the stairs rather than the elevators. 

Since this is America, all the guns he brought were legally purchased in CA. And because Americans are a tad delusional, immediately after the attempt, the internet came alive with conspiracy theories. The most common accusation was that Donald Trump and, or his people staged the event in order to revive his tanking approval ratings. As proof at least one cited Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt's pre-shooting statement to FOX News. Describing the President's upcoming speech, she said it would be, "funny and entertaining," then added, "there will be some shots fired in the room tonight." Yeah, and Jack Kennedy's secretary was named Lincoln and Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy, so what?  

Late Saturday evening Donald Trump, back at the White House, held a brief press conference. By all accounts, even from outlets which are openly hostile to him, he sounded reasonable, measured, and downright Presidential. By the next morning, however he had recovered from this moment of sanity. In a social media post, he claimed the shooting was the reason that, "military leaders and the heads of all the security agencies," had, "spent years begging to have a grand White House ball room built." You know, like the one he is building.

It didn't take long after that for Trumpista talking heads to blame the assassination attempt on, "democratic hate speech. Their argument apparently being if you criticize the man in any way, it will automatically create a Cole Allen. 

Meanwhile, last week, mere hours prior to the shooting Donald Trump posted this on social media. "The Southern Poverty Law Center has dedicated their existence to attacking my voters in the Klan. (The italics are mine.) That's FRAUD! Therefore the 2020 Presidential Election should be permanently wiped from the books!!!" That's our man Donnie Trump. He is, as God and the rest of us are his witnesses, standing up to defend what he believes is one of his key voter demographics--members of the nation's original organized hate group, the Ku Klux Klan. 

 Which leads us to another Christian principle we might want to interpret. "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

4-27-26

Kash Patel, Directing Under the Influence

 Here is what we know for sure about FBI Director, Kash Patel. In 2025 he used government owned jets, presumably at taxpayer expense, on a trip to Scotland to play a round or two of golf with pals. That same year he used the jet on a couple of occasions to fly down to a Texas hunting lodge. In addition, he used it to wing his way to Pennsylvania in order to see his main squeeze, Alexis Wilkins perform. When questioned about the use of the FBI owned and operated aircraft for these exotic excursions Patel's response was something along the lines of, "FBI Directors have lives too." 

In January of this year Patel used the same jet to attend the Olympics in Italy. Specifically, he was there to watch the U.S. men's hockey team win the gold medal. Afterward he showed up in the team's locker room and partied hearty with them--chugging and spraying beer and jumping around as if he had been on the ice with them. There is no denying his behavior in that moment, it is all on tape. Everyone who saw it witnessed the Director of the FBI swilling beer while acting like a 20-something jock gone wild.

Apparently, everything just mentioned is minor shit compared to the real weirdness going on with the head of the FBI. A few days ago, Sarah Fitzpatrick wrote a piece in The Atlantic titled, "The FBI Director is MIA." If you believe her story, it could have been called, "The FBI Director is DUI." 

According to Fitzpatrick's article, among other episodes, there were a number of times last year when meetings that included Patel had to be delayed until later in the day. The reasons were to let him sleep off wild drunken nights or at least semi-recover from massive hangovers. She wrote her sources were, "six current and former officials and others familiar with Patel's schedule..." 

She also reported that last year Patel locked himself into an office and remained unavailable and un-responsive for hours. At least long enough that agents were forced to request, "breaching equipment." You know, the kind of gear SWAT teams use to batter down doors so they can get to hostages, or suspects. Fitzpatrick cited "multiple sources familiar with the request."

Then came April 10th this year. For those not aware, one of the various prizes found at the bottom of vodka bottles, especially for people with high profile jobs is paranoia. On that date, Patel, for unknown reasons, wasn't able to login to an internal DOJ computer system. He immediately panicked. He jumped on the phone, "frantically," calling aides and friends utterly convinced he had been locked out of the system on purpose. He told them all he had just been fired by the White House. It was simply a minor glitch, or repeated typo on his part. The White House hadn't fired him--at least not yet. Two of Fitzpatrick's nine sources described the Director's behavior as, "a freak-out." 

Actually, the Director might have valid reasons to be worried about his job. Kristi Noem has been gone for a while now and yesterday, the Secretary of Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer was shown the door. Reports are Chavez-De Remer ran her corner of the bureaucracy similar to the way Ghislaine Maxwell ran Jeffrey Epstein's island. While her husband and father were openly hitting on young female staffers the Secretary was knocking back copious amounts of hooch and telling the staffers to do, "whatever they tell you." It all begs the question, Where did the President find this woman, at Caligula's swimming pool? Well, that and, what in God's name must New Years Eve be like at the Chavez-DeRemer house?  

Let's get back to Kash Patel though. The head of the FBI is now suing The Atlantic and Fitzpatrick for defamation, while demanding boat loads of cash from both. To win his case he will have to prove Fitzpatrick knowingly lied--and The Atlantic knew she was lying--in order to specifically damage him personally and professionally. Prior to the trial the agency will have to provide the defense with any and all records pertaining to the alleged incidents. During it the layers for The Atlantic and Fitzpatrick will be able to call witnesses, put them under oath and ask them some pointed questions about Patel's behavior.  All of which led MSNOW's Lawrence O'Donnell to predict that even if a judge let the suit go to trial--which he doubted--Patel would drop the complaint rather than face damning testimony.  

We'll see. Meanwhile Kash Patel leads a bureau woefully undermanned thanks to his fealty to the Mad King. Career agents and administrators have either quit or been removed because they were deemed dis-loyal. Others have been reassigned to help deport anyone with a Hispanic accent. And a few, if Sarah Fitzpatrick is right, spend a lot of their time trying to shake the agency's director out of drunken stupors. 

 All of which begs a final question. Where the fuck is J. Edgar Hoover when you actually need him?

4-21-26

Paula White-Cain and the Divine Donald

Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Jesus of Nazareth as quoted in Matthew 7:15 (the King James version of the bible)

I am always a tad nervous when I quote the Bible, especially when using it to make a point. First, I'm not a theologian and will never pretend to be one. Second, the Bible says a lot of things and all sorts of people can pick out bits of scripture to justify whatever they want to justify. Basically, because there are so many things written in the Old and New Testaments the Bible can be interpreted to say whatever the reader wants it to say. 

Lately though, Matthew's quote of Jesus' words feels awfully relevant. A little while back, Paula White-Cain told Donald Trump and the nation, "Mr. President, no one has paid the price like you have. It almost cost your life. You were betrayed, arrested, and falsely accused. It is a familiar pattern that our Lord and Savior showed us." 

No doubt this inspired Donald J. Trump to seek even greater ambitions than those he had already proven to have. Indeed, "Screw this king shit, I'm going really big time." That's right, let them have their, no king's day demonstrations. Donald Trump isn't a king, he is the Messiah.  

Shortly afterward White-Cain spoke, Trump posed an AI generated picture of himself as a messianic presence. In it he wore a flowing red and white robe while healing a sick man as those around him prayed, a divine light shone in the background and eagles soared overhead. (Let's face it, the man does have a thing for birds, just ask him about wind driven turbines.) Not long after the post he accused Pope Leo XIV of being weak and a loser. Leo, the first American pope, is the spiritual leader of nearly 1.3 billion Roman Catholics worldwide. That's 48% of all Christians on the planet.

Now that takes balls, or one supposes a new Messiah. A couple of days later, the President seemed to back away from the message that he is Christ when he posted another picture. This one wa of himself seated at a desk while Jesus stands blessing him with his hands. Trump later claimed he thought the original picture was simply him as a doctor healing someone. Vice President J.D. Vance, on the other hand, described the first as a joke and said it was deleted because people didn't understand Trump's sense of humor.

Through all this surreal nonsense and some would say blasphemy, White-Cain has remained publicly silent. Maybe she was too busy sorting all the money she rakes in thanks to her work as a televangelist/internet preacher.  Last spring, on her YouTube channel she promised to deliver followers, "seven supernatural blessings," if they donated to her ministry during Passover. The blessings included God assigning an angel to those who pitched in. The angel would then, among other things, become an enemy to their enemies, give them prosperity, take sickness away, and grant them a long life. A pretty sweet deal, right? But wait, there was more. For $125 you could receive an, "olive wood communion set," made in the Holy Land.  And for a cool $1,000 or more, you would get, "a beautiful 10-inch Waterford crystal cross." 

No wonder this woman is Trump's spiritual advisor. She is his kind of Christian--one who is not only willing to goose his ego to rarified heights but also loves to scam the rubes as much as he does.

White-Cain has been divorced twice--perhaps another spiritual connection--her current husband is Johnathan Cain, best known for being in the rock band Journey. In 1991 she and then husband, Randy White founded what eventually became, Without Walls International Church. In its heyday the church had 20,000 members, making it the 7th largest congregation in the U.S. It eventually went bankrupt, not an easy thing to do since it is reported that between the years 2004 and 2006 alone Without Walls received $150 million in donations.  White-Cain maintains she had left the church before the financial collapse and had nothing to do with it.  

 She is a Christian nationalist as opposed to a white nationalist, claiming to value religion over race. There is evidence of that being true. Black Entertainment Television was one of the venues airing her weekly broadcasts. She was such a hit, Ebony Magaxine once wrote, "You know you are onto something new and significant when the most popular woman preacher on BET is a white woman." 

Hey, no fame, no gain. And no access to the President of the United States. 

Yes, thanks in no small part to Paula White-Cain, it feels like we have come to the point actor Peter O'Toole reached at in the movie, "The Ruling Class." In the film O'Toole plays a mad English nobleman who believes himself to be Jesus Christ. When asked what made him think he was, O'Toole's character responded, "When I realized that every time I prayed to Him, I was talking to myself."

sic vita est

4-16-26

The Artemis II Interlude: A Fleeting Pause in the Chaos

 For a news junkie, Donald Trump and his grotesque posse of clowns, deadly sociopaths, and carnival shills can, at times, cause serious emotional and intellectual overloads. Befuddled hopelessness, dread, and outright rage cause a wide range of visceral and mental disfunction. The synapses in the brain begin to flicker ominously, then finally short circuit. 

This past week even Melania Trump climbed onto the ride. Unexpectedly, apparently even to her husband, she showed up at a press conference to tell everyone she didn't know Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Not only that but she had no idea what they had been doing and she had never broken any laws in her life. She also called for Congress to allow the victims to testify under oath so their personal horror stories could be put in the public record.  

It didn't seem to matter to her that no one in the mainstream media had ever accused her of anything like that. Or, that the nation's entire news industry had shifted its focus to the war in Iran and for the last month plus hadn't talked about Epstein and his co-predator.  Why did she do it now or at all? Was she responding to internet rumors? Was she getting back at her husband for letting Stormy Daniels whack his bare ass with a rolled-up magazine? And more darkly, had Don screwed up the war in Iran so badly, was she was trying to shift attention away from it? In other words, was her presser held to distract from the original distraction? 

It was a scene too weird and inexplicable for a rational mind to process.  When coupled with everything else going on, brains began to shut down--causing some of us to stand and scream, "WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?"

Thankfully, in the midst of this chaos, on Friday evening we caught a break.  

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon. They were the first human beings to ever step foot on a celestial body that we don't call Earth. For many, like myself--I got my first telescope in 1959--it was an event straight out of science fiction. Suddenly all the things we saw in Stanley Kubrick's film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, which had been released the year before, seemed on the verge of happening. At the time I told friends, with complete certainty, that by the year 2000, the United States would have a permanent presence on the moon. Despite a war in SE Asia going horribly sideways, for a little while the country was euphoric. Other nations actually admired us. No one needed to tell Americans why we should be proud. We all knew exactly why we were.  

A little over three years after Apollo 11 landed on the moon, Apollo 17's crew left it in December 1972. We didn't go back for over a half century.  

The Artemis II crew didn't land on the moon, but they did major prep work for that landing to take place. planned landing will pave the way for the overdue moon base I thought would be there 26 years ago. In addition, the four member team travelled further from this planet than anyone ever has before. When they splashed down in the Pacific Friday, after a nerve jangling six-minute radio blackout, for a brief moment it was 1969 all over again. The cable news networks turned away from all the madness for a wonderful instant and focused on what we could accomplish together rather than what divides us and turns us all, to one degree or another, into raging political beasts hell bent on destroying those we oppose.     

The Artemis II mission wasn't completely without controversy. A few of the perpetually irate and put upon MAGA types complained one of the crew members, Jeremy Hansen, was Canadian. There was also the  ever present conspiracy mongers who claimed, just as they have since Armstrong and Aldrin made the trip, the whole mission was faked. However, these groups were so small and insignificant, hardly anyone noticed them. 

Yes, Artemis II was a success. More importantly it was a success that crossed political boundaries when we needed it the most.  

Tragically, the glory and unity were fleeting. The day after the splashdown, Donald Trump announced he would use U.S. warships to close off the Strait of Hormuz. That would be the same bottle neck of water that he demanded Iran to open up last week. If they didn't, he had bellowed, their, "entire civilization would die."  There are also reports the President now wants the Persian Gulf to be renamed to--you guessed it--The Gulf of Trump. 

Indeed, the chaos and insanity have returned. These days it doesn't take long.

4-12-26

The President of the United States is Insane

 On the Saturday before Easter Day, televangelist, Paula White-Cain told the President, "And Mr. President, no one has paid the price like you have paid the price, it almost cost you your life. You were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It's a familiar pattern that our Lord and Savior showed us."

The next day, Easter Sunday, Donald Trump showed us a pattern which wasn't so Christ-like. On the day the Christian faith celebrates the Savior's resurrection--arguably the most important and holiest day of the year--the President of the United States posted on social media, "Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin' Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell--JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP. " 

Now that's a man who understands when to be completely crude and inappropriate.  I mean let's face it, while no one on earth can truly know, what Jesus would do, it's safe to assume the Good Lord would never say something like that. 

The message from Trump moved former Congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene to write in part, "Everyone in this administration that claims to be a Christian needs to fall to their knees and beg for forgiveness from God and stop worshipping the President and intervene in Trump's madness. I know all of you and him and he has gone insane, and all of you are complicit." Ms. Greene finished the lengthy social media message by writing, "This is not making America great again, this is evil."

That's right. A former U.S. Congresswoman and, a person who actively supported Donald Trump during his three runs for the Oval Office, just called the guy insane and said what he is doing is evil. Not only that, but she also, not too subtlety, told his cabinet they need to invoke the 25th amendment and remove him from office. 

Unfortunately for us all that won't happen. As MSNOW's Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out last night, Donald Trump appointed a cabinet designed explicitly not to pull that particular trigger. This time around he made sure there wasn't anyone there who would ever disagree with him no matter the circumstances. He could say the world is flat and the moon made of Swiss cheese and those sycophants and cowards in his cabinet along with many republicans in Congress, would praise him for his scientific brilliance and insight. his spiritual advisor, White-Cain would say his knowledge is divinely inspired. 

For those who think Greene went over the top in her assessment of Trump's mental state, this morning he posted another message on social media. The opening lines read, "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will."

It doesn't matter if it is a grotesque bluff, or Trumpian bluster taken to its ludicrous extreme. No head of state who says something like that during a time of war can be considered in their right mind. Adolf Hitler might have tried to do it, but for God's sake not even he ever came out and publicly said it. Certainly, no American President has ever said it, or anything remotely like it, even during the heat of our fiercest wars.

Who knows? Maybe the President will go all TACO at the last minute. It wouldn't be the first time. Even if he does though, by writing those words he proved Marjorie Taylor Greene was right on Sunday.

Ladies and gentlemen, it can now be said in all seriousness, without any hyperbole. The President of the United States of America is both clinically and dangerously insane. 

4-7-26

Bye-Bye Bondi and General George, Hello to the Trump Oath

 You can say many things about Donald Trump, but one does have to admit the man certainly knows how to change the subject in a hurry. On Wednesday night--April Fool's Day--the President pre-empted prime time TV across the land to address the nation on the war with Iran. What followed was a rambling, overly repetitive, 19-minute rehash of excuses, promises, lies, and bellicose threats we've all heard before, along with dashes of campaign rhetoric thrown in for good measure. In short, the President delivered a big, semi-coherent, nothing burger.

Then came Thursday morning when he sacked Attorney General Pam Bondi. In a social media message, Trump thanked her for her service, congratulated her on her successes, while telling the world she would be pursuing a new career in the private sector, "to be announced at a later date." What he didn't say was why he canned her. He left that up to media speculation. 

So, speculate the media did. Most concluded it wasn't because of Ms. Bondi's lack of loyalty to the President. No, her firing was because of her failure to execute that loyalty to Donald Trump's satisfaction. Sure, she got rid of everyone in the DOJ who ever investigated Trump, for whatever reason, but she failed to bring the main players in those investigations to trial. Not that she didn't try, but grand juries and judges kept demanding some sort of viable legal reasons and proof of guilt to indict or proceed. You know, reasons other than her boss was pissed off at those people. Unfortunately for her, in every instance she didn't have any. None of that mattered to Donald Trump. He doesn't give a rat's ass about the Constitution, or any of that innocent until proven guilty shit--unless he's the one on trial. By God, he wanted those people in jail, and Pam Bondi wasn't putting them there.

Then of course, there is the elephant in the room. Almost from the moment she was confirmed she began to screw the pooch when it came to the Epstein files. Her trip to the unemployment line probably began as soon as she told the media she had a list of Epstein's, "clients," on her desk. She was just waiting, she said, for the President to let her know what their disposition should be.  Not long after that came the Mrs. O'Leary's cow moment. She told everyone she wouldn't be releasing the files at all because there was nothing in them worth seeing.   

It started a firestorm no one, including Trump, could put out. What followed was an endless parade of delays, confused excuses, and the outright violation of a Congressional statute. All in the name of protecting her boss and his buddies. (Also known as his donors send partners in crime.) 

Now Todd Blanche, the former Deputy AG will take over as Acting Attorney General. He, unlike Bondi, has personally represented Donald Trump in court. He is everything the President wants as an Attorney General and head of the Department of Justice, a man who has been on the Trump payroll for years. He's also the guy who convinced Ghislaine Maxwell to say she never saw Donald Trump do anything inappropriate with Epstein's victims, then paid her off with new, let's say, more comfortable, federal digs.

Meanwhile, back to the war.

Nearly lost in the Bondi hysteria, there was more military news. Yesterday, Secretary of Defense/War, Pete Hegseth fired the U.S. Army's highest-ranking officer, General Randy George. Some sources report Hegseth showed him the door because he wanted someone there who would, "implement President Trump and the Secretary's vision for the army." Other sources noted General George had served as senior military advisor to Joe Biden's Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin. Having done so, he was suspected of not being a Hegseth loyalist. 

The truth is it's likely that both observations are correct. It could also be the General either dissented or at least seemed reluctant when it came to initiating the war in Iran. Or, more darkly, what Trump and Hegseth are planning to do with ground troops there in the near future. 

In any event, some might say firing the Army's Chief of Staff during the middle of a war that the Commander in Chief says we are winning, "like no one has ever seen before," does feel a tad suspicious, if not downright contradictory.  Politico notes that since Hegseth has taken over the Pentagon more than a dozen senior military officers have been purged. That includes former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair, C.Q. Brown, Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, and Air Force Chief of Staff, General James Slife. That's a lot of career military people who wouldn't "implement," Trump and Hegseth's "vision," for the armed forces of the United States. 

It's probably that damned Constitution again. The fucking thing just keeps getting in the way of everything. 

Obviously, the next step is for the President to compose and administer a new federal oath--a Trumpian version of pre-WWII Germany's Hitler oath. After all, at least in his dementia infested mind, Donald John Trump is the country and the country is Trump. 

Hey, just ask him.

4-3-26