Tag Archives: news

And So It Goes

Today is Tuesday, December 23, 2025. As I type this, the newly renamed Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is broadcasting a show on now-despised CBS featuring Demented Don as the host honoring such far-right icons of performing arts like Gloria Gaynor, Michael Crawford, Sylvester Stallone, KISS, and others. I’ve already written my comments on watching this show on another forum tonight in which I urge people to boycott the show altogether. After this, I will not be able to enjoy Gaynor’s gay theme song, “I Will Survive” anymore. I will not enjoy my Michael Crawford CDs either anymore. As for Stallone, I’ve never been a fan of his anyway, so I won’t run to see him in anything new either. As for KISS, I now “kiss” them off my list.

For those who want to understand why this pathological, psychotic madman is rebranding everything and stamping his horrible name on everything from the prestigious Kennedy Center to boats, there is an online HuffPost article that answers that question. The article is entitled “Mary Trump: Trump Renamed The Kennedy Center For 1 Reason, And It’s A ‘Tragedy.'” The piece is written by Elyse Wanshel.

The analysis for this obsession by the current president to put his name on almost anything that generally doesn’t move is provided by his critical niece, Mary Trump. In this article, she provides the reason why her uncle slaps “his name on everything.”

During an episode of the Daily Beast’s podcast last Thursday, host Joanna Coles asked Trump’s niece about why she thinks the president decided to change the name of the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center. As you might know, the Kennedy Center was named in honor of President John F. Kennedy in 1964, months after his 1963 assassination. Mary Trump is a psychologist and outspoken critic of her uncle’s policies.

Stating, “I’m trying to contain my contempt,” Trump called the movie “obscene” and “illegal” by noting that in order to change the name of the institution, it needs to be approved by Congress, but as everyone sadly knows by now, Congress has abandoned its Constitutional duties ever since Drumpf was reelected.

“Also, last I checked, you’re not really supposed to be naming things after living presidents, current or former,” Mary Trump observed.

After saying this, Mary Trump pivoted to give her opinion on why her uncle decided to change the name.

“He wants to turn every public space in America into some version of WWE or Ultimate Fighting,” Mary Trump said, referring to the president’s low-brow taste in culture. “And it is just grotesque that he thinks that somehow this legitimizes him or gives him the same stature and standing as somebody like President Kennedy. But that’s partially why he’s doing it – for himself.”

Trump continued, “But here’s the thing, it’s never going to be enough. Ever.”

Then the outspoken, critical niece provided the real psychological reason for Dump’s constant grab of legitimization here: it was his terrible upbringing by his father and mother in which he was, basically, unlovable. Mary Trump said the reason Demented Don puts “his name on everything” from steaks to Bibles and buildings is “all in service to filling a black hole that is unfillable.”

Here Dump’s niece really unleashes her wrath on Drumpf by saying how “obscene” it was that someone as uncultured as her uncle would want his name emblazoned upon a center for the arts. Trump emphasized that Kennedy’s relationship with the arts was so profoundly different from that of her uncle who probably has never attended a play or even read a book. He would not be able to distinguish Chekhov from Dummkopf. She skewers her boorish uncle, saying, “Donald cares nothing for the arts. He and his administration have underfunded or defunded them.”

Trump is correct here, as the Chump regime has moved to eliminate federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Contrast here Kennedy’s articulate vision for the arts in which he said, “I look forward to an America . . . which will reward achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in business or statecraft” and this statement, “I look forward to an America which will steadily raise the standards of artistic accomplishment and which will steadily enlarge cultural opportunities for all of our citizens” to what Trump has said about the arts, —————————-. This means he’s said fucking nothing!

Now that we might know a little more about the psychological reason for Dump’s need to put his name to everything, it still doesn’t justify the obsceneness of the action he took in renaming a true cultural institution as the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts which should have never been renamed after him at all – ever!

The show is over and I hope the ratings for it were in the toilet!

I will be away for the next three days visiting friends in Easton, Pennsylvania. I hope to post my blog on Friday if I don’t get home too late.

Have a merry Christmas or not.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Monday, December 22, 2025. The Jeffrey Epstein scandal will be Dump’s albatross, since it’s not going away and it gets worse with each passing day. Today the Daily News has an editorial on the subject and it’s entitled “Truth will out.” Basically, the editorial points out how Dump’s own Justice Department is obviously protecting him from possible indictments as a pedophile by failing to comply with the law that stated ALL the files must have been released by last Friday, December 19. I wrote about this already.

Thus the editorial indicates how the department released only a fraction of the records with heavy redactions. By the way, I watched a full episode of Saturday Night Live for the first time in decades and the show began with Grump impersonator, James Austin Johnson, delivering a simulation of his horrible, horrible Wednesday address last week. He was quite funny. I’m surprised the ogre-in-chief hasn’t tried to remove this show from the air, but he can still try to do it before he leaves office.

The editorial notes that the situation with releasing the files only came about because of bipartisan pressure from both sides of the aisle that forced Demented Don’s hand, “after he had falsely promised to release the files in full and then angrily insisted that he wouldn’t because there weren’t any and this whole story – of a billionaire and his cadre of friends, among the most influential people in the world, running a pedophile sex trafficking ring – was a nothing burger.”

The editorial also notes that this despot has met his match with this burning issue and that his most loyal supporters have finally opened their eyes to his inherent vileness, “and many are not happy with him.” Praise the Lord!

Dump, according to the editorial, did not seem to grasp his already conspiratorially minded MAGA base that really cared about this issue, “and had bought into an alternate reality where he would be a savior bringing the Epstein abuses to light,” but there was no way to square that with what clearly happened during that time, especially if Grump himself is plainly implicated.

The thrust of the editorial is that this matter should be a concern of everyone and that the truth MUST come out, despite who is mentioned in these files or documents, “regardless of wealth, social status, party affiliation and political prominence or anything else.”

Thus the “Injustice” Department, as I’ll now dub this personal arm of Dump’s vengeance force, is certainly violating the law “in order to promulgate injustice and shield the president.”

The editorial muses “What could possibly be in those files that Trump is willing to dynamite his credibility with his own base at a time when he’s historically unpopular and his MAGA movement is splintering?” A person can only speculate how damaging and incriminatory those files are to this already sexually adjudicated felon.

In conclusion, the editorial promises that the nation will eventually find out what’s in them, sooner or later. “All of this maneuvering is just delaying the inevitable, but there are too many eyes watching; the truth will emerge here and everyone who worked to obscure it will face consequences.” We hope!

I have one other route that this could go – without the lackadaisical and inherently corrupt Injustice Department taking its damn time in order to protect a wanton criminal, and that is if all of the Epstein survivors themselves just come out with their own list of abusers before this gets resolved by Congress. They must know who their abusers were; they just release their own list, with the aid of lawyers representing them. Do you think this is a good course of action then? I’ve heard that they have condemned the Injustice Department for its handling and release of the files. Even former President Bill Clinton has called for the immediate release of all of the Epstein Files.

Now Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced he will introduce a Senate resolution to sue the Department of Justice for failing to fully release files related to Jeffrey Epstein by the deadline mandated in the Epstein Files Transparency Act, accusing the Drumpf regime of breaking the law, shielding powerful figures, and prompting calls for lawsuits, contempt proceedings, and even impeachment of Attorney General Bimbo Bondi.

Shit! Another breaking controversy and that is a CBS “60 Minutes” episode that was taken down by right-wing Bari Weiss, its new editor-in-chief, because it paints this cruel regime in a fucking terrible light as it depicts what happened at the beginning of the Orange Turd’s deportation policy of sending immigrants to a despicable El Salvadoran facility, known for its brutality. The facility is called CECOT. But here’s the rub, the station accidentally aired part of this hard-hitting episode that Weiss removed to mollify the Orange Dictator.

I’m listening to it now on The Parnas Perspective, part of a podcast that I listen to regularly. Can you believe what Canadians now think of this country after viewing it? The episode paints a horrible picture of this regime’s continuing inhumane policy. No wonder Weiss decided to take it down, but shame to her for bending a knee to this despot. So when will this censored episode ever be seen here in the United States? I doubt it will be seen anytime soon as the reverberations of 1984 have gripped our country with this current administration. The news story details brutal beatings by guards and many other indignities forced to experience, while food and medicine were often withheld from the prisoners. Everyone should be able to see this here, but now you can’t because of outright censorship being practiced by legacy media. It’s an outright shame!

This Weiss lady is quite a character; she actually hosted a town hall with the widow of the arch right-wing guru, Charlie Kirk, on her station, and she’s obviously Jewish, but very right wing. Ugh! Actually, she considers herself anti-“woke.” Fuck her! But she’s in a very prominent and dangerous position now, which does not bode well for independent media in the age of Drumpf. How many years left do we have with this despot? This capitulation to Leader Drumpf by CBS should really scare everyone!

All I can say is when is the next “No Kings” rally? We need one very soon. The last one was in October. It’s now December. It will soon be too cold to march here in Manhattan.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Sunday, December 21, the first day of winter. Brrr! The Winter Solstice for the Northern Hemisphere of 2025 was noted at 10:03 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). This marks the shortest day and longest night, when the Earth’s axis tilts furthest from the Sun, but also signaling the beginning of longer days ahead. I am not a fan of this season, so I definitely will look forward to more sunlight during the day, not less, as the months go by.

In the meantime, it seems as if the sun has definitely descended on this country as it reels under the supposed leadership of its 47th president. But there are some glimmers of hope, very minute, in the recent announcement of two resignations from politics from two of Grump’s most staunchest ass kissers, Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), who just announced her resignation from the party, saying she would not seek reelection at the age of 71.

Stefanik was poised to seek the governor’s post – God forbid – but she made the decision to suspend her campaign for governor to pursue motherly pursuits instead. This is so fucking ingenuous coming from a female MAGAt who would have done anything to kneel at the cross for her Supreme Leader, but she was recently put out of favor of Drumpf’s patronage for whatever stupid reason, and she knew this very well and that she instinctively understood she would not have had a chance in Hell to progress in the governor’s race in a blue state, especially with how dissatisfied many voters are with Dump right now and with MAGA, both Republicans and Democrats, as well as Independents. Her decision to withdraw from the race came less than two months after she launched her campaign in November. She will also not seek reelection for her House seat in 2026. All I can say to her is “Good riddance!”

Another breaking story concerns the continuing “cover-up” of releasing the notorious Epstein Files that was mandated to be carried out on Friday. Which was not done in good faith, and because of this disappointing disclosure of some – and not all – of the files, I’m now hearing that bipartisan Congressional members are seeking to file inherent contempt charges against Bimbo Bondi, the Attorney General. I just wish this finally happens without too much discussion about it. Congress is out of session until January 2026. So nothing is going to happen here now – until then.

Even a Republican, Thomas Massie, from Kentucky, is supporting such a measure to file contempt charges against Drumpf’s personal attorney general who doesn’t take a step without consulting her Anointed One. This is quite a big thing in that a repugnican is also talking about filing these charges against Bondi.

In three days, Elliot and I will be leaving for our annual Christmas trip to “Ralph” and “Sandy’s” home in Easton, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, December 24. We generally stay three days with them, and we’ll return on Friday, December 26.

Therefore, I’ll be posting two more blogs before Wednesday. I hope you enjoy them.

Have a good week.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Saturday, December 20, 2025, one day before the first day of winter and the winter of this country’s discontent, as the country continues to reel under the alleged leadership of Donald J. Grump. But there are glimmers of hope as we approach the New Year!

One of the big stories happening now with this monstrously corrupt administration is the incomplete release by Dump’s personal Justice Department yesterday of the damning Epstein files that was demanded after the liar in chief signed the petition to disclose the files on Friday, December 19. As would be expected, Democrats have decried this paltry release of the files and the obvious redaction of names in them as a “cover-up” by this Dump and his regime. Thus an online MS Now article appeared yesterday covering this revolt by Democrats over the unsatisfactory release of the files. The article is called “Democrats slam Trump administration for incomplete release of Epstein files,” and it’s written by Mychael Schnell.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) weighed in on the nothing burger released to the American public yesterday with no prominent Republican names in it, “This set of heavily redacted documents released by the Department of Justice is just a fraction of the whole body of evidence. Simply releasing a mountain of blacked-out pages violates the spirit of transparency and the letter of the law.”

Schumer added, “Senate Democrats are working to assess the documents that have been released to determine what actions must be taken to hold the Trump administration accountable. We will pursue every option to make sure the truth comes out.”

On Friday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote a letter to Congress explaining that “because of the volume of material and the requirement that every page of every document be reviewed for potential redactions, final stages of review of some material continue.” In other words, he should have said, “America, you’re fucked! We’re not releasing everything this Friday and take that!”

But that is not what Congress approved of a month ago. Under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, “all unclassified records” were due to be released by December 19, which was yesterday. The only “permitted withholdings” were “records that include personally identifiable information of victims; depict child sexual abuse; would jeopardize an active investigation; show images of death, physical abuse or injury of individuals; or include information authorized by an executive order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy.”

The fact that this warped regime withheld some documents immediately raised concerns by Democrats.

A spokesperson for Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin said, “The Justice Department’s failure to fully comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act not only violates the law, it continues this Administration’s pattern of protecting President Trump and other perpetrators. He added that this was an ongoing “cover-up” from Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, two fuckups in the Drumpf regime.

Other Democrats were quick to use the phrase to describe what just happened yesterday.

Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA), wrote on X, “This looks more like a coverup than an actual release of the Epstein Files.”

Being even more critical, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) also wrote on X, “Now the coverup is out in the open.” She added, “This is far from over. Everyone involved will have to answer for this. Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, whole admin. Protecting a bunch of rapists and pedophiles because they have money, power, and connections. Bondi should resign tonight.”

Another congresswoman, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), posted a photo on X of a page full of redactions. She wrote, “This is part of the Trump’s administration’s Epstein Files release – 119 pages of Grand Jury testimony, fully redacted. This is not transparency. This is a cover-up. Follow the law and release ALL of the damn files.” And she should have said also “without redactions.”

Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) said the intent of the law is clear. “They had 30 days to comply and release the Epstein Files. They are blatantly breaking the law to cover up for pedophiles.”

There you have it, folks. The morally bankrupt people left in the Justice Department after this asshole in chief scrubbed the entire department of independent, nonpartisan agents is now forcefully protecting the pedophile in the White House, and it’s plain disgusting. What more do we need to justify the removal of this man from office?

This noncompliance by the Justice Department to an act of Congress should infuriate all of us and will result in us being even more distrustful of this fucking government more than ever. This abominable response by authorities to a law stipulating the entire release of files related to the odious Jeffrey Epstein only hurts the many survivors of this monster. America should demand justice for them – finally.

Have a good Sunday.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Friday, December 19, 2025. As I indicated yesterday, I was out last night first having a late lunch/early dinner with Elliot at Peter Luger’s, in Williamsburg, and then rushing to the Lyceum Theatre where I saw Oh, Mary! for the very first time. All of the reviews deem it a rip-snorting, 80-minute compendium of sight gags, puns, and irreverence, and boy, does it deliver.

Originally conceived by nonbinary writer Cole Escola and starring him in its initial run in 2024, the play farcically examines the life of our 16th president’s First Lady, Mary Todd Lincoln, and her not-so-well adjustment to life in the White House with her husband, Abraham. At this performance, Mary is assayed by well-known comedy actress Jane Krakowski and her husband is portrayed by John-Andrew Morrison, a man of color.

The other person of note in the cast is Cheyenne Jackson who plays Mary’s acting coach, John Wilkes Booth. Get the snide revision of history here. Abraham Lincoln is covertly gay in Escola’s imagination and he is actively having an affair with the actor who will subsequently assassinate him at Ford’s Theatre, on April 14, 1865. But in Escola’s wild imagination, it’s not Booth who shoots him, but someone else, whom I won’t say here.

The night belongs to Krakowski who cavorts, screams, and plots against her husband and staid Washington society. She lets everyone know that she is bored with life in Washington and wants to pursue a career in cabaret, which her husband is intent on preventing her from doing so.

The 80 minutes or so fly by very quickly, as character after character struts on the stage and engages in the campiest exhibition of farce there is. Mary is shown to be an raging alcoholic always trying to hide some of her hootch. In one extended loop, she addresses a portrait of George Washington as “Mother.” Encouraged to try oil painting, she guzzles a bucket of paint thinner, throws it up, and drinks it down again.

Anyone who thinks he or she will be getting a true history lesson from watching this comical take on events leading up to the assassination of our 16th president would be better advised to read Doris Kearns Goodwin’s account of Lincoln in Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln or any other historian’s account of our Civil War president.

But if you don’t mind mindless irreverence for 80 minutes or so, hightail it to the Lyceum Theatre for Oh, Mary! You won’t be disappointed.

In the meantime, back to reality in the form of our madman president who delivered one of the worst speeches of his horrible political career on Wednesday. In an online HuffPost article on the speech, MS Now host Lawrence O’Donnell delivered a blistering assessment of the Orange Turd’s address in “Lawrence O’Donnell Says Trump Was ‘Angry’ At 1 Irrefutable Thing in Address To Nation,” by Marco Margaritoff.

O’Donnell dubbed this president the “worst public speaker” in America and fact-checked his White House address on the economy from earlier in the evening. He said, “America’s worst public speaker struggled mightily reading a teleprompter full of lies tonight.” Then he went on to debunk every comment made by the lying dotard in the White House. One of those claims was that “inflation was the worst in the history of our country.” O’Donnell called it a lie, saying that “inflation was at 3% when Donald Trump took office. Inflation is at 3% right now.”

O’Donnell further debunked claims that he was “elected in a landslide.” Actually, he won the popular vote – if he even did so – by 1.5 percentage points. He claimed his tariffs aren’t being footed by the American taxpayer (of course, they are). He also debunked the claim that Democrats are demanding costlier health insurance. This is also not true.

The “Last Word” host went on to note that Grump delivered his speech “in a monotone anger” and argued that he shouted the Oval Office address because he still hasn’t “learned how microphones work” – before concluding, “He seemed to be angry at the truth.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) offered his assessment of this terrible speech as well, saying, “It was an unhinged speech that was of course untethered from reality and truth.” He continued, “Donald Trump has made things worse for the American people. He refuses to acknowledge that the tariffs that he is solely responsible for have actually increased costs on everyday Americans by thousands of dollars per year.”

Jeffries castigated the clueless president for breaking his promise on Day 1 to make prices more affordable. He said, “And life isn’t getting more affordable in the United States of America. It’s getting more expensive. And that is the problem that Donald Trump refuses to confront.”

Oh, and this windbag spent most of the cringeworthy address blaming his predecessor for things he deserves all the credit for. What a total moron! Let’s hope Americans are not fooled by this charlatan any more and will do the right thing in November 2026.

Have a nice weekend.

And so it went!

Here is the playbill from this wildly funny show.

And So It Goes

Today is Wednesday, December 17, 2025. Tonight the convicted felon who is occupying the White House right now is supposed to address the nation to “celebrate” his first year of accomplishments, but those of us with any common sense, know that his entire delusional address will be bathed in lies, lies, and more lies, so I’m determined to avoid it at all costs. He is doing this because he knows his party is fracturing presently and he’s losing the narrative. In this speech, he hopes he will be able to change that, but I hope a majority of Americans will tune to something else that is more genuine than this fabulist bloviating for an hour or so about nonsense. I mentioned on an anti-Dump message board that I’d rather subject myself to being waterboarded than be forced to watch the spectacle of the old man making a fool of himself.

But those who hunger for the truth of what’s happening right now in our benighted country, here are the facts as supplied by Democratic Wins Media today in a piece devoted to Demented Don’s speech. Right off, the writers of this piece say that “If the speech runs long [and usually they do for no sane reason], it won’t be because Trump has much to say – it’ll be because he’s trying to spin his failures into fiction.” Again, this liar in chief will try to change the narrative because his “own base is fracturing, his approval numbers are falling, and even his allies are openly questioning his leadership.”

For those masochists who listen, expect Mr. Piggy, as I’ll now call him, among other epithets, to begin with the economy. “He’ll brag about his tariffs, claim prices are going down, and insist he ‘inherited a mess’ from President Biden.” Of course, none of this is even a scintilla true.

The true facts – Dump inherited a strong economy from his predecessor – one with record-low unemployment, rising wages, and a recovering middle class following Mr. Piggy’s disastrous handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. And what did Mr. Grump do with it? He destroyed it. His reckless tariffs have sent prices spiraling, raised costs for working families, and crushed American exporters. “The unemployment rate has skyrocketed to its highest level since Trump’s first term ended in chaos during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

In this particular instance, Mr. Piggy cannot gaslight the American public out of what they actually feel and see. His economy is in shambles and Americans know exactly who is responsible. And it isn’t Joe Biden. Or Kamala Harris.

On the subject of immigration, Mr. Piggy will certainly try to declare victory on immigration – saying that the border is secure and that he’s restored “law and order.” Instead what he’s really done is unleash chaos and friction within our borders.

Never before has an American president unleashed a private arm of enforcement agents like the much-hated ICE agents who are presently terrorizing immigrant communities – people like my fabulous cleaning woman, “Lareto” – creating fear rather than safety. “His policies have done nothing to make Americans safer – they’ve only divided neighbors, separated families, and made our country feel smaller and meaner.”

On the subject of Venezuela, our new “hot spot,” this embarrassment of a president will almost certainly invoke this new ongoing conflict and call his policy here “toughness.” What we should really do is call it for what it truly is: “a potential new war near our own shores, motivated by oil and ego.”

And all of the bullshit that Drumpf promised earlier to be a “peace president.” Instead, he’s leading us into another needless conflict that risks lives, destabilizes our hemisphere, and raises global energy prices even higher.

The bottom line then is that this cold-hearted, soulless human being will not be able to spin his way out of his coming-apart presidency. His immigration policy is cruel and chaotic; his foreign policy is explosive; his party is splintering, and his base is breaking away. Finally!

Tonight’s speech will not change the reality of what is actually happening under Grump. “It will only confirm what Americans already know: the country is weaker, poorer, and more divided under Donald Trump’s failed leadership.” I would add, “more cruel” under his damn lack of leadership, actually.

This is the clincher: “The only thing Trump will be celebrating tonight is the sound of his own voice – and even that won’t drown out the reality that he’s losing.”

Another thing about not listening to him tonight is that I can’t stand hearing his whiny, little complaining, much-mocked voice anyway. His putrid comments about the death of a true American patriot are still reverberating in my mind and I would rather watch paint peel than listen to him.

As I indicated in yesterday’s blog, tomorrow Elliot and I will be dining at Peter Luger’s in Brooklyn tomorrow. I will then head toward Manhattan to see Oh, Mary. It’d better be good, that’s all I will say. Everyone I know says it’s a continuous laugh riot, but I’ll be the judge of that.

On Friday, we’re seeing my newish friend “Harry” also in Manhattan. But we still don’t know what we’ll be doing. I should post my blog that night, but I don’t know for sure.

Anyway, enjoy your Thursday.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Tuesday, December 16, 2025. Just two days after the demented president posted a vile, insensitive, disgusting post on the death of Rob Reiner, today I’m learning that the behind-the-scenes Drumpf chief of staff Susie Wiles scorched Grump and his present regime in a sweeping Vanity Fair profile published Thursday. This blistering account of the chaos within the Grump administration is covered in a Daily Kos piece published today entitled “Trump’s top aide exposes White House chaos – and regrets it.”

As if we didn’t know already, Wiles described Mascara Vance as a “conspiracy theorist for a decade.” The remark lands amid lingering speculation over Vance’s political transformation – from once likening the toddler in chief to Adolf Hitler – which is accurate, in my opinion – to becoming one of his staunchest defenders. Wiles suggests the shift was less ideological than opportunistic, calling it “sort of political.” Anyone could have guessed that after he was one of Grump’s most strongest critics who then executed a 180-degree turnaround when he ran for the Senate in Ohio and was backed by the odious billionaire Peter Thiel. I’m ashamed to say that Thiel is patently gay.

Responding to Wiles’ assessment of Vance being a conspiracy nut, Vance himself offered a wry caveat. He said, “Sometimes I am a conspiracy theorist, but I only believe in conspiracy theories that are true.” Yuck, yuck, yuck! So droll coming from such an insipid personality!

In her interview, Wiles is unsparing in her criticism toward Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, calling him “a right-wing absolute zealot.” Which is no surprise here!

The magazine notes that Vought was the “architect of the notorious Project 2025” which is being carried out by this lying son of a bitch who originally claimed he had no knowledge of it when he was campaigning. This is the Heritage Foundation-backed blueprint to radically reshape the federal government.

Wiles also weighed in on the despised Elon Musk and his short-lived effort to slash $2 trillion from the federal budget, an initiative that ended with Musk conceding he could cut only $150 billion by the end of 2026. And when asked about Musk’s continually erratic behavior, Wiles did not mince words.

The chief of staff said that Musk was actually microdosing when he was being erratic. In a since-deleted post, Musk originally argued that fascistic leaders like Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler “didn’t murder millions of people. Their public sector workers did.”

As for Musk’s suspected drug use, Wiles confirms all of the speculation. She claims that the Tesla mogul is an “avowed ketamine [user],” echoing The New York Times‘ claim that Musk heavily used drugs while working in the White House. Not only does this current White House protect pedophiles, it also protects drug users, according to this interview with Wiles. Wiles said Musk sometimes mixes ketamine with other drugs. The liberal newspaper also notes that Musk is an avid user of ecstasy, psychedelic mushrooms, and Adderall. Oye, was little Muskie high all that time while he was slashing the federal government’s supposed excess?

Her own Orange Toad of a boss wasn’t even spared in the magazine, with Wiles describing Grump as having an “alcoholic’s personality,” drawing a comparison to her father, legendary NFL broadcaster Pat Summerall, who struggled with alcoholism before getting sober.

Here I dispute Wiles’ assessment of Grump’s horrible personality, describing it as an alcoholic’s. She claims that alcoholics have “exaggerated personalities when they drink.” This is true, I won’t deny that, not that I know many alcoholics. I just feel that Grump has a cruel, vindictive, and soulless personality arising from lack of love given him when he was young. That is the assessment made years ago by his estranged niece, Mary Trump, in her psychological profile of him published years ago called Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.

We all know that one of the things this idiot doesn’t do is drink. He cites his older brother Fred’s addiction to drink and his early death as the reason why he doesn’t drink. However, he does drink Diet Coke continuously. Because of this nasty habit, the president can point to a button on the Resolute Desk that summons the beverage at the press of a button.

While the media-shy Wiles made the comments to Vanity Fair’s Chris Whipple, she has been one of Grump’s most loyal and influential advisers, previously managing his 2024 campaign.

Talking about her boss’s unfounded allegations of mortgage fraud against Attorney General Letitia James, Wiles concedes that Drumpf did carry out a retribution campaign against her. Here she makes a laughingly absurd remark about Trump’s thirst for vengeance, “I don’t think he wakes up thinking about retribution. But when there’s an opportunity, he will go for it.” Like always, I’d say.

Now that the interview with Wiles is on the record, the camera-shy Wiles attempted to push back against the narrative of a chaotic and frenzied White House, saying that the Vanity Fair profile was a “disingenuously framed hit piece,” arguing that key context had been omitted to paint the White House as chaotic and negative. I don’t think that if Susie Wiles sat down with this Whipple fellow to give a candid interview about what goes on in the Dump White House and then literally blows the roof off the building in the process that she can now walk back what she already said in the profile.

But don’t think Ms. Wiles has changed her MAGA roots from doing this interview. She has drunk the Dump Kool-Aid like so many gullible Americans when she insists that the administration had “already accomplished more in eleven months than any other President has accomplished in eight years.” My jaw just drops from reading this hogwash. She signals out Drumpf’s “unmatched leadership and vision” and says that nothing in the story would slow the push to “Making America Great Again.” Give me a break, lady! You certainly didn’t paint a rosy picture of your boss’s regime for Americans for Vanity Fair and people reading it will just shrug their heads in agreement.

Today I did have lunch with my former colleague “Sally” and her husband “Stuart.” We met at a very chi-chi place on East 70th Street and held forth for almost 2 hours. After that, I walked to the West Side to browse in my favorite bookstore on 80th Street and Broadway. I succumbed to buying a book for only $1 this time: Susan Isaac’s Compromising Positions, a book from 1978. I think I saw the movie that the book was adapted into from 1985 that starred Susan Sarandon and Raul Julia. It was a comedy/mystery.

Talking about mystery, I saw the latest Knives Out entry on Netflix last night on the recommendation of my friend “Harold.” At the outset, I have to say I was ecstatic over the whole production: the scenery, the setting, the characters, and the marvelous acting from a rich ensemble, headed by Daniel Craig as the detective Benoit Blanc. This is the third entry in the series created by writer/ director Rian Johnson, and I aver it’s the best in my opinion.

This film is called Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery and mystery it is, as Blanc is called in to a small parish to investigate the mysterious murder of Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (a bellowing Josh Brolin who is unrecognizable at first in a flowing white beard and hair). This fire-and-brimstone pastor is found stabbed in the back during a Good Friday service, moments after having ducked into a small stone alcove, just off the main altar, in full view of the congregation. Soon the visiting priest, Father Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor) is suspected of Brolin’s murder since he has had words with the monsignor and is opposed to the church leader’s methods of attracting parishioners. The young priest who maintains his innocence throughout, here brilliantly played by O’Connor, is brought into Blanc’s confidence to investigate the remaining flock who become the true suspects.

Here the cast is fleshed out by Glenn Close as perennial church assistant and overall factotum Martha Delacroix, the failed far-right politician Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack), the once-popular novelist Lee Ross (Andrew Scott), the hard-driving lawyer Vera Draven (Kerry Washington), and the town doctor Nat Sharp (Jeremy Renner) who is nursing his depression after his wife leaves him for someone else, and the wheelchair-bound former star cellist (Cailee Spaeny), who hopes that the thousands of dollars she’s donated to Wicks will generate a miracle cure for her chronic pain. Before long, we learn that all of them had good reason to kill the monsignor. During all of this chaos, there is even echoes of a Third Day Resurrection. Mila Kunis plays the local police chief who brings Craig into the case, as she finds herself out of her league with this mystifying murder.

I won’t give much else away, only to highly recommend the film for great writing, in which themes of faith, spirituality, and immortality are tackled. Craig and O’Connor make a very intriguing pair as they conduct their investigation into Brolin’s murder. They also spar over religion, as Blanc notes his skepticism over Catholicism, while young Father Jud tries to nudge him toward something more spiritual throughout their association.

Go see it if you have Netflix.

Good news: I’ll be here tomorrow since I discovered that only four people were going to attend the TCM meeting at the Tick Tock Diner. So I texted our organizer and said I was now not coming.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Sunday, December 14, 2025, the first night of Chanukah, the Festival of Lights. I expected this to be a light news cycle but was shocked by two mass shootings occurring a world apart within the last two days: a shooting here in this country at Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island, that killed two people and wounded nine others and the horrific mass shooting in Sydney, Australia, at Bondi Beach that resulted in at least 15 dead and scores wounded.

An online CBS News article reports on the attack in Australia that occurred during a Chanukah celebration at the famous Australian beach. The article is entitled “Gunmen kill at least 15 in attack targeting Australia’s Bondi Beach Jewish community Hanukkah celebration, officials say,” and it’s by Emily Mae Czachor and Anna Schecter.

The assault killed at least 15 people, including a 12-year-old, government officials and police said. Another 40 people were hospitalized with injuries, including two officers and three children.

The horrendous event was carried out by a father and son pair who targeted Jews directly. The father was 50 years old and his son was 24 years old. The two cowards opened fire with long guns at Bondi Beach while the local community was celebrating the first night of Chanukah. The 50-year-old died and his son was hospitalized in “serious condition,” New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said.

The younger assailant was identified as a Pakistani national based in Sydney, according to a U.S. intelligence briefing and a driver’s license provided by Australian police.

Officials have not identified the victims of the attack, but one victim was identified: Rabbi Eli Schangler, who had been a key organizer of the Chanukah celebration where the shooting took place. The international organization Chabad, which represents a branch of ultra-Orthodox Judaism, identified Schlanger as one of their spiritual leaders.

Called Hanukkah by the Sea, the event was held to mark the beginning of the Jewish holiday observed from sundown on Sunday until Monday, December 22. More than 1,000 were at the beach when gunfire broke out, said Lanyon. He called the attack a “terrorist incident” and said the perpetrators used “long arms,” referring to long guns such as shotguns or rifles, to carry it out.

During this terrible incident, there did emerge a hero from the crowd in the form of a fruit shop owner by the name of Ahmed al Ahmed who jumped up from a crouched position behind a parked car and tackled one of the evil suspects, who had just fired his weapon toward something out of view. Following a short struggle, the man disarmed the suspect, pushed him to the ground and turned the weapon on him, at which point the suspect stood up and walked in the opposite direction.

Unlike the United States, mass shootings in Australia are rare. Unfortunately, researchers have recorded dramatic upticks in antisemitism incidents in the country since the October 7, 2023, assault by Hamas terrorists on Israel triggered the war in Gaza, along with spikes in hate incidents against Muslim groups.

In response, the Australian government appointed special envoys lsat year to address antisemitism and Islamophobia in its communities. However, attacks have continued to happen since then. “In July, an arsonist set fire to the door of a synagogue in Melbourne, another major Australian city, seven months after a different synagogue in the same city was burned by criminals in a blaze that injured one worshipper.”

The Brown shooting has been apparently carried out by a 24-year-old suspect from Wisconsin, authorities have indicated. The person of interest was found with a revolver and a small Glock handgun in his room at a hotel in Coventry, Rhode Island.

The shooting left two students dead and nine injured at the Ivy League school in Providence. What the hell possessed this young man to walk into a classroom and indiscriminately shoot up the place, killing two strangers? Time will hopefully tell.

This rash of mass shootings in this gun-happy country actually comes today on the 13th anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that took the lives of 20 children and 6 adult educators. I doubt this shitty president will ever mark this solemn anniversary with some principled remarks.

Again, where is the outcry to pass sensible gun legislation after so many mass shootings involving these weapons of mass destruction? A majority of Americans do endorse such legislation, but our NRA-backed politicians in Washington certainly do not! It’s time they get the boot in upcoming elections, as well s Democrats who are in the pocket of the National Rifle Association. You would think after 20 innocent lives were slaughtered in the Sandy Hook shooting, lawmakers would have done their damn jobs, but no, the atmosphere did not change at all.

We are a cursed nation – full of crazy people who love to shoot their guns off in the direction of other people whom they hate.

And I was going to say, “Happy Chanukah” to all of those who celebrate. What a terrible beginning to the holiday, I say.

Have a good week.

And so it went!

Here is Forest Hills on a wintry Sunday morning.

And So It Goes


Today is Thursday, December 11, 2025. Today the horrible Senate rejected legislation to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits, thus sealing their doom in 2026, one must hope! This negligence will result in millions of Americans guaranteed to see a deep rise in costs at the beginning of the year. Don’t think for a minute that this regime is not working only for the rich with this inaction in the Senate today. This sad day is covered in an online Associated Press article by Mary Clare Jalonick entitled “Senate rejects extension of health care subsidies as costs are set to rise for millions of Americans.”

Senators voted on two partisan bills that they knew would fail – the Democratic bill to extend the subsidies, and a repugnican alternative that would have created new health savings accounts. Thus none were passed.

This inaction today marks an unceremonious end to a months-long effort by Democrats to prevent the COVID-19 era subsidies from expiring on January 1, including a 43-day government shutdown that they forced over the issue.

Ahead of the votes, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York warned repugnicans that if they did not vote to extend the tax credits, “there won’t be another chance to act,” before premiums rise for many people who buy insurance off the ACA marketplaces.

Schumer said, “Let’s avert a disaster. The American people are watching.” Boy, are they watching these ugly repugnicans who are so dismissive of their financial and health needs. It’s a crying shame and voters will not forget this betrayal next November.

The Senate voted 51-48 not to move forward on the Democratic bill, with only four repugnicans – Maine Senator Susan Collins, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, and Alaska Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan – voting with Democrats. Murkowski intoned, “We failed. We’ve got to do better. We can’t just say ‘happy holidays, brace for next year.'”

Out-of-touch repugnicans were trying to negotiate an alternate plan in which money would be given directly to consumers instead of to insurance companies, an idea that has been echoed by Demented Don. Democrats immediately rejected this stupid GOP plan which might have given individuals $2,000 to $4,000 which would not be enough to offset the significant premium increases many consumers would face if the enhanced ACA subsidies expired.

Schumer had the last laugh here when he said, “When people’s monthly payments spike next year, they’ll know it was Republicans that made it happen.”

When the government shutdown ended, a caucus formed that attempted to negotiate with repugnicans over extending the subsidies, but when repugnicans demanded language adding new limits for abortion coverage that were a “red line” for Democrats, the talks broke down without reaching a consensus.

It’s no mystery that repugnicans have always hated Obamacare and they have tried time after time to destroy it or whittle it down. This failed attempt in the Senate to do anything about extending these ACA subsidies just reflects their age-long contempt for Obama’s signature legislation that has helped millions of Americans.

There is slight – only slight – hope that the House could take up some type of health care legislation, but don’t expect anything from this Trump loyalist House Speaker who is the worst speaker in Congress’s recent history, I dare say. He does not work for the country’s interests, he works solely for the interests of one manipulative, unethical felon, and his name is Donald J. Grump.

One Alabama Republican Senator, Katie Britt, said this about her disgusting colleagues not being able to do anything for her American constituents, “Real Americans are paying the price for this body not working together in the way it should.” Tragically, this body is so incompetent and is incapable of working together to enact legislation that would benefit the average American.

Representative Kevin Kiley (R-CA) said that if the House also fails to act and health care costs go up, the approval rating for Congress “will get even lower.” That’s a fact!

One good piece of news amid all of the rotten news coming out of this regime is Indiana’s total rejection of a Grump-led bid to gerrymander more House seats for the GOP. This move by the Indiana state house delivers a stunning repudiation to Demented Don’s redistricting demands to tilt the 2026 midterms to repugnican advantage. This action could dent the party’s efforts to effectively claim more seats before the 2026 midterm elections are even held.

What was on the map in Indiana were two seats that are now held by Democrats. The tyrant in the White House has already threatened those repugnicans who vote “no” on the congressional map in Indiana with electoral consequences. When will people realize this declining president acts more like a mafia don than a president with potential actions like that? Fuck him!

Therefore, the people we should call heroes today are the Republican senators in Indiana who pushed back against Demented Don’s demands. What is frightening about this story is that more than 10 Republican lawmakers in Indiana have reported threats of violence and swatting attacks amid Demented Don’s demand for redistricting in the state.

In striking down the map, those state senators refuted in no uncertain terms the White House pressure campaign and the threats that had been made on their lives. We owe them a debt of gratitude for their fortitude in this matter.

Tomorrow Elliot and I are seeing a swing performance at the Joyce Theater at 7:30. This is quite coincidental, considering we attempted to dabble in this dance genre with our friends in Easthampton just on Sunday. We’re looking forward to seeing how different these dancers are than the ones we saw at the Marigold Theater.

I just recalled that I won’t be here on Saturday either. On Saturday, we’re seeing a performance at the Park Avenue Armory called The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions at 8 with our gay neighbors, “Randy” and “Burton.” This is billed as “a cabaret-like spectacle that draws on theater, dance, storytelling, and song in a profound adaptation of the cult book of fables.” I knew nothing about it until we had dinner with our neighbors last month and they mentioned they were going on Saturday, December 13. That’s when I went downtown to buy tickets for the same performance. The show is only until December 14.

See you on Sunday then.

Have a Good Friday and Saturday.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Tuesday, December 9, 2025. Today there was a revolt orchestrated in the House by several prominent female congresswomen against the frightful leadership of MAGA Mike Johnson. In an online USA Today article written by Natalie Neysa Alund, this rebellion receives center stage. The article is entitled “‘Hard truth:’ Nancy Mace says Pelosi was a better House speaker.” Oooh, that must hurt!

The Republican congresswoman who offered the bitter truth about Johnson’s horrible House Leadership was Republican Nancy Mace of South Carolina who said, Rep. Nancy Pelosi “was a more effective Speaker than any Republican this century.” She argued that her own traitorous party should learn from her leadership and she claimed that the party is marginalizing rank-and-file members, including women. That’s not hard to believe considering their awful handling of the Epstein files and the inescapable fact that their Supreme Leader is a raging misogynist.

Mace recently published an op-ed for The New York Times yesterday in which she wrote she came to Congress five years ago “believing I could make a difference for my constituents, for South Carolina, and for a country I love deeply.” She unfortunately learned “the system in the House promotes control by party leaders over accountability and achievement.”

Mace, 48, became the first Republican woman elected to Congress from the state in 2021 and has criticized the toddler in chief over the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack. Regrettably, she has since become one of his staunchest allies.

The South Carolina congresswoman asserted in her op-ed that there are so many obstacles placed in anyone’s way that “any member who came to Washington with noble intentions [must] ask: ‘Why am I even here?'”

Nancy Pelosi, who served as a former House speaker, announced her retirement in November, serving two stints as the highest-ranking member of Congress, first from 2007-2011 and again from 2019-2023. She was a staunch opponent of the Orange Turd when he was first in office. Who could forget the time she shredded the madman’s State of the Union address in front of cameras throughout the world when he finished his speech?

Pelosi’s time in office led to two impeachments of Drumpf, organized efforts to convince former President Joe Biden to drop his bid for a second term, and pushed through the Affordable Care Act, the biggest expansion of health care in a half-century.

Mace called her claims about Pelosi and House control “a hard truth Republicans don’t want to hear.” On August 4, Mace launched a campaign for the South Carolina gubernatorial race. So here it seems as if she’s looking for a graceful exit from Congress by pursuing the governorship of her state.

Mace was quite ruthless when it came to criticizing her party, saying, “When Democrats hold the majority, they ram through the most progressive policies they can. They deliver for the coalition that elected them while they are in power.”

Republicans, on the other hand, Mace deplored, do the very opposite.

“We get the majority, then become petrified of losing it. We pass the most moderate policies we can pressure conservatives to accept, betraying the coalition that delivered us here. Ms. Pelosi was ruthless, but she got things done. The current House is restrictive and ineffective, control with barely any results. Republican leadership seems intent on replicating her model of consolidation without her bold vision to push through the policies that won us the majority.”

Mace cited a meager statistic when it comes to introducing bills on the House floor this year. She said only 5 percent of the bills introduced this year have seen a floor vote.

She concluded, “What we have now is the worst of all worlds: little accountability, transparency, and results.”

The entire unworthy GOP should truly heed her words here; they cannot continue to go down the rabbit hole of ineptitude, but indeed, if they do, they will easily lose their supermajority next year in a tsunami of Democratic wins. It will just demonstrate to them that just winning elections to retain power without delivering to constituents isn’t enough to maintain control of Congress. Supermajorities are not permanent, as Rep. Nancy Pelosi stated in response to Mace’s criticism of her party.

This just in: coming on the heels of Nancy Mace’s openly critical takedown of her own party, today Democrats flipped the Miami mayor’s seat, electing the first Democrat in 30 years. This cannot be good news for the party of Johnson. The Democrat, Eileen Higgins, defeated the red hat repugnican who was endorsed by the liar in chief, and that loss really says something about the cachet of this lying, psychopathic president. Higgins gave Democrats a boost in one of the last electoral battles ahead of the 2026 midterms.

The only thing I’ll report about today is the brief conversation Elliot and I had with our Guatemalan house cleaner, “Lareto.” We scheduled her to work in the apartment around 10, so we had to wake up earlier than usual: 8:30. She arrived actually a little earlier than 10, around 9:45, and we welcomed her into our cozy abode. At some point, the conversation steered itself to her fears about going out because of what the Dump regime is doing with immigrants. She indicated she doesn’t like going out to Long Island where ICE agents have conducted recent raids.

Lareto’s fears are sadly well founded since the Orange Menace retook office and has embarked on a very un-American campaign of terror against undocumented immigrants. This is just one example of how the regime’s policies have affected someone close to me. Now I can’t say I don’t know anyone who has been touched by the cruelty of this regime’s agenda.

And so it went!