VM Day
Undistinguished weekend pundit turned Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy has some outside-the-box insight about the nation's airports to share. Antiquated radar and overworked air traffic controllers are not the problem, no matter what radical left lunatics think. Travelers have simply forgotten how to dress. "We have unruly passengers on planes...you have passengers berating gate agents." (Hey, Nancy Mace, he's talking about you!) "Be in a good mood, dress up, bring civility back to travel." Then we will see "the golden age of transportation that Donald Trump talks about." The Biden administration tried to give passengers the rights they enjoy in Europe by assuring them up to $775 compensation for long flight delays, but Duffy failed to mention that this has now been rescinded. It's remarkable there aren't more instances of air and airport rage. But sure, ladies, break out the hats and white gloves.
A line has been drawn in the sand, literally. MAGA faithful Ron DeSantis, Rick Scott and even Byron Donalds are appalled by plans to allow offshore drilling for oil and gas off the coast of Florida. "The new maps released today...outlining potential new offshore oil drilling sites in the Gulf of America [sic] are HIGHLY concerning," writes Senator Ashley Moody. "Preserving our state's natural beauty is deeply important to the millions who call the Sunshine State home, our visitors, and those whose livelihoods depend on tourism." Translation: We expected you to foul the beaches of godless California, not ours!
From the sleepover for Prince Bone Saw to the verbal abuse of female reporters it's been a grim week for press freedom. It's good to see the people who cover the White House finally beginning to fight back -- against Karoline Leavitt. After she repeatedly said Democrats were encouraging the military to disobey lawful orders the well-named gaggle, led by Nancy Cordes of Bari Weiss News, jeered as she fled the room. Perhaps one day they will protest when Trump calls someone "piggy" or "nasty." Perhaps I will discover a winning lottery ticket in my winter coat.
Remember Jonathan Pollard, the American defense analyst who was convicted of spying for Israel and sentenced to life in 1987? Released in 2015, pardoned in 2020 by Trump, he now lives in Israel. Pollard is back in the news because the New York Times finally decided to tell us about his meeting with Ambassador Mike Huckabee last July, which alarmed the CIA station chief. Pollard said the meeting was "friendly," going on to call Trump "a madman who has literally sold us down the drain for Saudi gold." (After his release he was flown to Tel Aviv on Sheldon Adelson's plane and got a "hero's welcome" from Netanyahu. The Middle East is a confusing place.) MAGAs from Steve Bannon to Mike Cernovich are losing their minds, whether about the meeting or the insult to Trump is not clear.
I'm a little worried for Zohran Mamdani, who has a White House meeting scheduled for today -- did the prince leave any bone saws behind? As a warmup the House voted 285-98 to condemn "the horrors of socialism" -- isn't it great to have them back? Plus-size freshman Randy Fine presided wearing a yarmulke "emblazoned with the Florida state flag, which is based on the Confederate battle flag." (Congress is a confusing place.) Eighty-six Democrats voted for this foolishness while two cowards voted "present." Mamdani is in town to be threatened with having his security clearance withheld because Trump hates Muslims.
Then on to important business. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) was indicted for allegedly stealing $5 million in FEMA overpayments to her company and Greg Steube (R-FL) is leading the charge to get her expelled from the House. None of that "innocent until proven guilty" guff -- she's no George Santos.
The Department of Education is being dismantled but not before another denigration of women. Nursing is no longer to be considered a "professional degree," meaning it's not eligible for Grad PLUS loans, part of the cost-cutting required under the Big Billionaire Bastards bill. Not all nursing students are women but most are. They do the unsung of work of keeping patients alive between momentary visits from The Doctor and they don't earn enough to matter. May as well prepare for your career by working your way through nursing school with a shift at Arby's, honey, I don't think the AMA is going to have your back on this. Talk to the physical therapists, social workers, teachers and accountants who are similarly excluded. Still eligible for Grad PLUS: doctors, lawyers, veterinarians, chiropractors -- and theologians. (Trump really wants to go to heaven.)
In one of his final acts Pope Francis appointed Sister Raffaella Petrini to head the Vatican City State administration last February. The rule that the president must be a cardinal has now been amended by Pope Leo, which suggests that what he calls "shared responsibility" will continue. Yes, the Catholic Church is more progressive about women than the Trump administration. A little. No female cardinals yet.
Actors like Morgan Freeman are fighting back against the theft of their voices by AI, but this is a new level of larceny. Fox News, where they also want to go to heaven, announced a new Life of Jesus Podcast to feature "immersive storytelling" to "bring stories from the New Testament to life." They list a hundred prominent actors including Brian Cox, Kristen Bell, Malcolm McDowell, John Rhys-Davis and Sean Astin. This is the first the actors have heard of it. In 2010 they participated in an audiobook called The Truth and Life Dramatized Audio Bible and had no idea it was being "repurposed." This is wholly in keeping with the outright theft of songs by Trump's campaigns to the outrage of Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen and others, under the legal theory of "What are you going to do about it?" I can hear the lawyers coming.
Just in time for Christmas (and that cashier who says "Happy holidays") it's the Living Legend DT47 handgun, an adorable derringer from Bond Arms decorated with quotes from Dear Leader, a steal at $645.00. Trump is going to be pissed he didn't think of it first. Then he wouldn't be reduced to pathetic begging emails like this:
Get that monitor out of your baby's room! The Chinese use them to spy on us! That's what Rep. Ashley Hinson told Maria Bartiromo, and even she seemed a little skeptical. "They want to know what Americans are up to, so they can continue to undermine our way of life, our value system...to think the Chinese could be spying on your morning routine [with the baby]." Hinson wants to replace Joni Ernst in the Senate so strap in. You must be over 18 to take this ride.
Let's end the week with a truly gonzo criminal scheme. In a plot reminiscent of William Walker a couple of Texas men, Gavin Weisenburg, 21, and Tanner Christopher Thomas, 20, planned to take over Gonave, a small island 30 miles from Port-au-Prince with a population of 100,000, with an army of homeless mercenaries from the Washington, DC, area. Once landed, they would kill all the men and force the women and children into sex slavery. They studied Creole and one of them joined the US Air Force in order to acquire military skills. A federal grand jury indicted them for conspiracy to murder, maim or kidnap in a foreign country and production of child pornography.
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