Catching up

 Kristi Noem is going to have a bad day today.  Even Republicans are complaining about her lack of interest in little details like hurricane relief for North Carolina, so intent is she on choosing the most flattering outfit for her next media appearance.  ProPublica tracked down some of the money that's been disappearing in the direction of DHS and found that $11 million had been directed to Naples, Florida, to rebuild a pier after a big-money donor got in touch with her.  Guess what?  She visited the city ten times while she was governor of South Dakota, possibly because Corey Lewandowski owns a home near the pier.  Small world.  (Pro tip:  If you're fleeing wintry South Dakota for a dirty weekend in Florida, don't use state credit cards.)

Some colorful new names popped up in the files Congressional investigators received from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein:  Peter Thiel, Elon Musk and Steve Bannon all shared his hospitality between 2014 and 2019.  Are there any monsters this guy didn't cultivate?  Idi Amin maybe?

Heck of a job, Dave!  As the July 4 floods swept away campers and others in the hill country of Texas, no one could find the acting FEMA administrator David Richardson.  This matters because under a new rule, resources costing over $100,000 could not be deployed without his signature.  (Kristi again.)  Officials told the Washington Post that he's often AWOL, especially on nights and weekends.  So if you have to deal with a tornado or earthquake, try to schedule it during working hours.

Sinclair and Nexstar affiliates will resume carrying Jimmy Kimmel Live! tonight because of the companies' responsibility to "serve the interest of our communities" while remaining "accurate and engaging for the widest possible audience."  Translation:  local advertisers were pulling out under pressure from viewers.  On Tuesday Kimmel had 6.2 million viewers and 26 million on YouTube.  That's more than will probably watch the World Series this year.

Here's another story of grass-roots populism out of Melbourne, Florida:  A restaurant owner on Cypress Avenue made a disparaging remark about the blessed martyr Charlie on social media and the mayor retaliated by threatening to change the name of her block to Charlie Kirk Lane.  After a contentious meeting the city council voted down the re-naming.  As you might expect the owner of Lamb & Co. apologized, but that didn't stop the negative Yelp reviews, death threats and other expressions of free speech.  A lot of people didn't like the idea of a mayor bullying a small business owner.

Holidays coming and Melania Trump has special set of ornaments for you!  Brass and enamel tchotchkes depict Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building and Mount Rushmore (without husband's face) for $75 to $90 apiece!  Called 250 Collection to honor birthday of America!  Order today, shipping may take ten to twelve weeks because small children tend to doze after ten hours at work. 

Melania's step-granddaugher or whatever Kai Trump has her own grift going, selling $130 sweatshirts and hats branded with the initials KT.  One person pointed out that the KT logo is already trademarked by American Eagle/Travis Kelce.  Trademark, shmademark.  He may be engaged to Taylor Swift but does he get to use the White House grounds for his ads?  He does not!

In one of those shameful episodes currently being disappeared from official history, twenty soldiers received the Medal of Honor for their role in the 1890 massacre of more than 350 Lakota, many of them women and children, at the "Battle" of Wounded Knee, South Dakota.  Lloyd Austin ordered an investigation but never acted on its recommendations and now Piss-drunk Pete says the troopers can keep their medals.  What did you expect?

Don't be surprised if you see one of those 3 am psycho-rants about Colin Kaepernick.  Earlier this month Delta State University student Demartravion "Trey" Reed was found hanging from a tree on campus.  The death was ruled a suicide even though hanging is a bizarre way to kill yourself, especially for a black man in Mississippi.  His family was not satisfied and Kaepernick's Know Your Rights Camp Autopsy Initiative is paying to have a private autopsy performed.  Local authorities have handed over reports to K$H Patel's FBI and Trump's US attorney, so it's better to be thorough.  

Speaking of psycho-rants, yeah, he's still complaining about "sabotage" at the UN.  I wonder what he'd say if delegates walked out as they did when Benjamin Netanyahu was speaking.