A pending, looming disaster

 

Jeffrey Epstein was the scum of the earth but he wasn't without a sense of humor.  Although his best friend probably complained that the picture was unflattering.

Yet another group of MAGA fascists, the Center for American Rights, is demanding the FCC strip PBS and NPR of licenses now that the Republicans have voted to end funding.  It must have given PBS's Newshour special satisfaction to put a new selection of Epstein photos on its website today shortly after they were released by Oversight Committee Democrats.  All your favorites are here, smiling and relaxed:  Bill Clinton, Richard Branson, Woody Allen deep in conversation with a cleaned-up Steve Bannon, Bill Gates, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Alan Dershowitz (for whom Epstein put on his Harvard jersey), and -- be warned -- some disturbing sex "toys."  The faces of the women and girls are redacted.  Trump's is not.  There are thousands more, we're told.

There was good news for Trump -- South Park aired its final episode of the season.  Everything else was fairly shitty.

Despite (or in defiance of) death threats and worse, Indiana's state senate voted 31-19 against adopting the all-red electoral map Trump demanded.  A flat-out effort to deny Democrats even two districts out of nine, including two visits from J.D. Vance, failed miserably.  Told by some gang called Heritage Action -- who dreams up these names? -- that "Roads will not be paved.  Guard bases will close.  Major projects will stop.  These are the stakes and every NO vote will be to blame," Hoosiers said, Fuck it, that stuff isn't getting done anyway.  Hang Mike Pence?  Hang yourself.  (I may be wrong, I don't know how Hoosiers think.) 

As he always does when faced with failure Trump pretended he barely noticed.  "I wasn't working on it very hard...I wasn't very much involved."  Someone must have hijacked Truth Social and name-checked every Republican who needed "encouragement to make the right decision" through threats, swatting and MAGA primary challenges.  Probably he won't notice the latest unsuccessful attempt -- the fourth by some counts -- to indict Letitia James.  Her offense was convicting Trump of 34 felonies but the charge against her was mortgage fraud.  The Virginia grand jury refused to indict, possibly because they can read.  As reported in the Guardian this week Trump took out mortgages on a couple of houses adjoining Mar a Lago in the early 1990s, claiming they would be his primary residence.  He never lived in either, renting them out.  Oops.

Ahead of the vote in Indiana RNC chair Joe Gruters has been saying things like "We are facing almost certain defeat" and "It's a pending, looming disaster heading our way."  He's a professional, unlike his sometime co-chair, singing star Lara Trump.  Another political op who wisely chose anonymity observed, "Nobody believes the economy and particularly affordability is getting better."  The America First wing can't be happy with the seizure of the Venezuelan oil tanker or the threats to Colombia -- they want our uniformed troops right here rounding up "illegals" and intimidating blue cities.  But unlike the perpetually disarrayed Democrats, Trump's cult are judged on the basis of their absolute loyalty to him and his policies, no matter how unpopular.  Imagine Joe Biden's cabinet straining to outdo one another in slobbering adulation.  Biden would say, "C'mon, man, never mind the malarkey, how are we doing getting kids vaccinated?"

Trump is -- what is the Irish expression? -- away with the fairies.  Yesterday he pardoned election felon Tina Peters.  Of course it's meaningless because he has no power over state cases but when has that ever stopped him?

If it keeps him from ordering troops to invade Colorado and break her out of prison like Dillinger, it's fine with me.  If President Herzog doesn't act soon, Trump may pardon Benjamin Netanyahu, too.  

It goes on.  He issued a mad screed about how rosy things are compared to the "MESS" he inherited and wailed that his record-low poll numbers don't reflect it.  "When will I get credit for having created, with No Inflation, perhaps the Greatest Economy in the History of our Country?  When will people understand what is happening?"  Probably when they don't walk through the supermarket removing items from the cart as they approach the register, hoping they don't need to stop for gas on the way home.  Where the lights will still be on. 

In the meantime he will continue to praise himself.  There was a White House Congressional Ball last night and what could be more joyous and festive than racism and hate?  Somalis were singled out for the usual lies -- millions of immigrants stealing billions of dollars, marrying their brothers, you know the song.  After eight years he's still amazed that Steve Scalise's wife wept at the hospital when her husband was shot.  "I know many wives who would not even be crying," he said, while Melania stood a few feet away, her face more masklike than usual.  

Who cares if America doesn't appreciate him?  "The European nations are reporting that your president might as well be the leader of the European nations also.  They listen to us and they respect us like they've never respected us before...we wanna get along with as many nations as we can.  We've been ripped off by a lot of them for a lot of years."  That's not the nations, grandpa, that's their leaders slurping the felch because they want lower tariffs.  (Ted Lieu tweeted, "Many people say Trump should also be the special teams coach for the Browns.")

Not to piss on Donnie's KFC but Europeans once respected us like crazy.  Here's a picture of a million Parisians losing their minds for Woodrow Wilson in 1919:

He won a Nobel Peace Prize, too.  The real one.

With an eye on the doomed midterms the House just approved the Protect America's Workforce Act by 231-195.  If it passes the Senate it will nullify Trump's executive order removing collective bargaining rights for most federal workers.  Or as they're spinning it "20 RINO TRAITORS just stabbed Trump in the back!"  They love that Nazi imagery.

Never mind, loyal Trumpanzee Jon Husted (MAGA-OH) has the solution to affordability:  "Earn more, keep more of what you earn and drive down prices."  Why didn't I think of that? ask economists everywhere.

Florida has been using state resources to destroy, in some cases with jackhammers, LGBTQ displays such as crosswalks but some cities are fighting back.  St. Petersburg installed eleven bike racks to honor "the Pride street murals that were removed."  

In Key West Susan Kent painted part of her fence only to get a complaint from her "Christian Republican" neighbor.  Kent says she has "something else planned."  I'll bet.  Conches don't take crap from anyone.