Buttermilk Sky

  The Consumer Price Index has risen by three percent since January and Trump's poll numbers have  plummeted  even among  Hispanics,  one of his steadiest demographics.  The war with  Canada  is on again after Ontario premier Doug Ford had the temerity to attack Donnie with the words of Ronald Reagan denouncing tariffs.  ("Trade barriers hurt every American worker.")  The vandalism at the White House is so hated that reporters documenting it were kicked out of the Ellipse park.  Equally unpopular is the latest outrageous pardon -- Zhao Changpeng, founder of  Binance  and admitted money launderer who helped the Trump crime family amass $4.5 billion since last November.  Higher  insurance premiums under the ACA have begun with a 75 percent increase in Idaho.  The ICEstapo is having trouble recruiting goons who can pass its already relaxed  fitness  tests, even after waiving background checks.  ...

 With less than two weeks to go and fourteen percentage points to make up,  Andrew Cuomo  has decided to let his Trump flag fly.  He released an AI video called "Criminals for Mamdani," in which his opponent's supporters are shown abusing a woman, shoplifting (in a keffiyah), selling drugs, etc.  Cuomo lived in Albany for a long time, so he may have forgotten how diverse New York City is.  I can't think of any other possible excuse. What, no Red Sox hat? Today, according to the  Times,  Cuomo will receive the endorsement of the deeply unpopular incumbent Eric Adams, who once called him "a snake and a liar."  All he needs now is a photo op with Trump in front of the ruins of the White House. J.D. Vance was in Israel this week and  Netanyahu  marked the occasion by having the Knesset, which he controls, vote for formal annexation of the West Bank.  Vance pronounced himself "insulted," sensing that the thousand-year peace declared...

 A man was snorkeling off the coast of Israel when he encountered a shiver of  Dusky sharks,  a species considered harmless to humans.  A few minutes later there was only blood in the water and small pieces of snorkeler.  Well. The water in this area is unusually warm because of a nearby power plant.  Also boat operators throw them fish scraps to provide a show for tourists.  This teaches them to beg and when that doesn't work, to help themselves. I thought I'd start there because it makes a kind of sense, unlike everything else. "A  Christian music star  born without arms has been arrested on charges of possessing and producing child pornography."  Why is this newsworthy?  Because Jon Paul Sheptock, former pastor of First Montgomery Baptist Church in Texas, also worked at a women's prison.  Oh, and he sang the National Anthem at a Trump rally in 2022. Leaving that Flannery O'Connor novel behind, we turn to the New York mayoral...

  This is the former East Wing of the White House being smashed open to make room for the desperately not needed Make 'em Believe Ballroom.  No professional builder, even a terrible one, starts a big job like this in late October and no one but a vandal would alter a  National Historical Landmark  without permission from Congress and the National Park Service, but when you've already been convicted of 34 felonies, what's one more?  It's not as if Little Mike is going to stand up to Daddy, and  Doug Burgum  is busy firing Park staff and having his eyebrows landscaped. According to  Kash Patel , so believe it if you want, the Secret Service were strolling around West Palm Beach and came across "an elevated hunting stand within elevated sight line" of the place Air Force One lands.  No one was there but someone could have drawn down on Dear Leader as he struggled with one of those woke Marxist umbrellas that conspire against him.  CNN says ...

 It was a perfectly beautiful autumn day for the estimated seven million people who gathered in parks and squares and in the streets to express themselves with signs, balloons, costumes and music.  Nobody came to "hate America" except a demented old felon who posted an  AI fake of himself dumping shit all over it from a fighter plane.  Wearing a crown that looked like it was made for Bert Lahr in The Wizard of Oz.    This woman was ready for him. California  had to close a 17-mile stretch of I-5 on Friday as the Marines at Camp Pendleton fired off a few 155mm artillery shells over it "in preparation" for Saturday's event.  No, of course it wasn't NO KINGS, the guys simply chose that day to celebrate the Corps's 250th birthday.  Also pure coincidence that Greasy Pete and Couch Humper were present.  What do you mean, warning shots? The dictatorship took advantage of the festivities to carry out more unpopular actions.   Kristi N...

  The importance of Taylor Swift:  The video of her song "The Fate of Ophelia" features Swift costumed in white in imitation of Friedrich Heyser's painting, and hundreds of people are crowding into a small regional museum in Germany, the  Hessische Landesmuseum  in Wiesbaden, to see the original.  They don't seem to care about the rest of the treasures, like tourists who queue for hours to squint at "Mona Lisa" and then exit the Louvre, muttering about how small it is. Have you seen this painting?  Picasso's 1919 gouache "Still Life with Guitar" disappeared from a consignment of pictures traveling from Madrid to  Granada for a show called "Still Life:  The Eternity of the Inert."   It measures 5 x 4 inches, which means it may have been slipped into a pocket or tote bag. As Americans continue to hyperventilate about a rapper performing in Spanish at a sacred event (the Superbowl halftime show) the British prove themselves much more op...