Tag Archives: politics

And So It Goes

Today is Thursday, November 13, 2025. The damn Epstein scandal does seem to be gaining momentum and it appears it will not go away anytime soon! Aaron Blake provides an analysis of the affair for CNN in “The political danger of the Epstein files for Trump.” It provides commentary on the growing damage it could cause the Drumpf presidency if nothing is done about it in the near future.

Even though the Teflon Don II hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with the convicted sex offender, Dump sure is “doing a great job of looking suspicious,” Blake avers. Blake contends that this stand on the part of the sexual offender in the White House “could be a political problem in and of itself – regardless of whatever ultimately comes from the Epstein files.”

A batch of newly released Epstein emails yesterday added details about Drumpf’s past relationship with the disgraced financier, “but no smoking guns.” However, those emails in of themselves cast a doubtful eye on the culpability of the White House occupant. In one of those emails from 2011, Epstein expressed surprise to accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell that Dump’s name hadn’t surfaced amid accusations involving Epstein. The convicted sex trafficker added that at one point Dump spent hours with Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre at Epstein’s house. Could they have been discussing modern art perhaps?

And in 2019, Epstein appeared to signal Grump was quite aware of Maxwell recruiting girls from his Mar-a-Lago resort in the 2000s, saying “of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine [sic] to stop.”

If this does not provide certain proof of Grump’s complicity in what Epstein was darkly doing to underage girls, it’s quite notable what his White House was preoccupied with just the other day: orchestrating a pressure campaign to thwart a House discharge petition that would force a vote on releasing the full Epstein files.

Despite this campaign to change their votes on the petition, thank God no repugnican conceded to the president’s wishes. So, no repugnicans removed their names from the petition, and Speaker MAGAt Johnson quickly said he would schedule a vote for next week on compelling the Justice Department to release the full documents.

Even if the measure passes in the House, that’s not the end of the story. The GOP-led Senate would still need to take it up, and Grump would still have to sign it. So it would be doubtful that Grump would release information that could torpedo his own disastrous presidency.

The more he and his awful lackeys continue to dodge, delay, and deny what seems to be almost overwhelming evidence of some wrongdoing on his part, the more Americans grow disgusted with this administration’s apparent lack of transparency. Grump has contributed to people’s believing there’s a conspiracy behind everything, and wouldn’t it be wonderful of this piece of shit cannot persuade voters that there has been no conspiracy with regard to Epstein. He will be undone by his petard. And it’s certainly about time – that his own very loyal supporters finally turn on him.

Really, should this country continue supporting a possible pedophile in the White House? Boy, have we devolved into pure depravity if this situation were allowed to continue? Where is the move to impeach this president?

People should be outraged over how Ghislaine Maxwell was transferred to a minimum-secuirty camp that she didn’t appear eligible for without a waiver. And that this convicted sexual predator was interviewed extensively by Grump’s private attorney. Hmm, doesn’t this in itself smack of interference on the part of the president in something he shouldn’t be even involved in? To me, this is very suspicious; this monster has even been allowed more perks than other inmates, it’s being reported. She is getting special treatment then; tell this to the many victims of Maxwell and Epstein. This is quite troubling, to say the least.

All I can say is I hope this will finally bite the fat ass of the Orange Turd in the very end. (No pun intended!)

Have a good Friday.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Wednesday, November 12, 2025. The dam has broken on the continuing scandal of Jeffrey Epstein, infamous sexual predator who took his own life (?) in 2019. This is happening right now as the government shutdown has sadly ended, in my opinion, and that lone representative from Arizona has finally been sworn in by this disgusting MAGAt Speaker Johnson who withheld swearing her in for eight fucking weeks! We know why! It’s so obvious!

If you really think the sexual predator sitting in the White House isn’t guilty of crimes committed while being a guest at Epstein’s lavish digs, ponder this: Donald J. Trumpf sought to get Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) to remove her name from the Epstein discharge petition. This bombshell revelation is covered in an online MSNBC article by Mychael Schnell and Jake Traylor entitled “Trump sought to get Boebert to drop her name from Epstein discharge petition.” This is just emblematic of this furiously corrupt administration and it will not end well for the criminal in chief.

It is obvious that Dump administration officials met with Rep. Lauren Boebert at the White House today. They attempted to convince her to remove her name from the Jeffrey Epstein petition before it could be changed, according to a White House official and a source close to Boebert.

Boebert is only just one of four House Republicans who signed the Epstein discharge petition – a maneuver allowing legislation to reach the House floor without the blessing of its leadership. Now on Wednesday afternoon, the petition reached the magic number of 218 signatures after the swearing-in of Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ), the bar for triggering House action.

Now the despicable Johnson will be forced to hold a floor vote on an issue that has roiled this regime ever since the felon got back in. Under House rules, no more names can be added or removed from the petition since it hit the 218 mark!

House Democrats actually released new emails today from Epstein suggesting that Dump “knew about the girls,” which Drumpf has repeatedly denied. He could deny until he’s blue in the face, but here, facts still matter.

Thus we have undue pressure put on Boebert to drop her name from the petition. However, she was not persuaded to remove her name despite the White House effort, said one of the sources who requested anonymity to discuss a confidential meeting. So there are even whistleblowers in this ferocious craven regime who still know right from wrong.

Even though the magic number of 218 has been reached by today, floor action will not be immediate for those who believe a vote would be taken immediately. According to House rules, seven legislative days must pass before a member can call the legislation to the floor for a vote. After that, the speaker has to set a vote within two legislative days.

Now with Thanksgiving recess just around the corner, any action on the discharge petition would likely not take place until December.

On his show tonight, Chris Hayes thinks the vote will come next week on releasing the Epstein files. Let’s see. I and many other people do think the truth will eventually come out – to the detriment of Little Donnie.

Three other repugnicans signed the petition in addition to Boebert: Nancy Mace (R-SC), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and Thomas Massie (R-KY). But House repugnicans have been busy fending off multiple calls for legislative action from Democrats who are demanding transparency and also seeking to further drive a wedge among repugnicans who are divided on the issue.

If you recall, before Drumpf was elected, both he and several of his awful cronies now in this incompetent government called for the full release of the Epstein files and many supporters of that effort felt betrayed when Attorney General Pam “Bimbo” released a memo in July that essentially closed the case. Dump has loudly called for his followers to move on – since his name is on that list – but not all of them have.

The House Oversight Committee continues to investigate this sexual trafficker and his convicted associate Ghislaine Maxwell, taking depositions and issuing subpoenas. Democrats on that committee released a tranche of documents today, including emails mentioning Drumpf.

Fucking press secretary Karoline Leavitt who is just a shill for her Supreme Leader criticized the Dems’ actions today, saying “The Democrats selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.” Notice how the truth is smeared as “fake” here. It’s just disgusting! She has learned well from a master!

And just ruminate over this: this abnormal president is even considering giving Maxwell a pardon for her sick crimes! He’s already pardoned despicable characters like former disgraced Representative George Santos who was a true mentor of his since he relentlessly lied his way into Congress and committed real crimes while in it. He’s pardoned other cronies who helped with his 2020 bid to subvert the election, people like disgraced former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. This is so appalling that one cannot even grasp how venal this is. This is such an abuse of the presidential pardon that there hasn’t been anything like it since Dump and, hopefully, there won’t be after him!

And so it went!

Here are some more pics from Nashville.

This is Nashville’s own Parthenon. We never went in it; I just took this photo from the Nashville Trolley tour we took on Sunday, November 9.

This is one of the singers at the Opry: Charlie Worsham, who I didn’t know – until that night. Some of his songs are “Love Don’t Die Easy,” “I Hope I’m Stoned,” “Could It Be,” and “Hang On to That.”

This is another singer who we saw that night: Quinn XCII. He explained the reasoning behind his colorful moniker: “Quinn” is an acronym for “Quit Unless Instincts are Never Neglected,” and XCII are the Roman numerals for 92, representing the artist’s birth year, 1992.

More of Quinn XCII. Notice the ten-gallon hats in the audience?

The only photo of me and Elliot being shown here, Saturday, November 8.

These statues flanked the corner of the main drag in Nashville.

This custom-designed car, located in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, is Webb Pierce’s 1962 Pontiac Bonneville that features rifles, handguns, and silver dollars. Michael Webb Pierce was born in 1921 and was once one of the most popular hanky tonk vocalists and guitarists of the 1950s. His biggest hit was “In the Jailhouse Now.” With this 1962 car, Pierce had leather interior added fashioned after a cowboy saddle and ordained with guns and silver dollars. In fact, there are over 150 silver dollars on the interior of the car. He not only drove flamboyant cars, he dressed as flamboyantly.

And So It Goes

Today is Wednesday, November 5, 2025. Flush over triumphant Democratic victories across the country yesterday on Election Day, today conservative news outlet The Wall Street Journal torches MAGA triumphalism in a hard-hitting editorial published today. An online article by Isaac Schorr entitled “A ‘Warning on ‘Trump’s Unpopularity’: The Wall Street Journal Torches ‘MAGA Triumphalism’ After Election Night” reports about the paper’s editorial which declares “The era of MAGA triumphalism should be over.”

Under the headline, “Democrats Start Their Comeback,” and sub-headline, “A warning for the GOP from New Jersey and Virginia on affordability and Trump’s unpopularity,” the Journal observed that “President Trump rolled to victory in 2024 promising to reduce inflation and make middle-class life more affordable. The warning to Republicans in Tuesday’s election results is that Democrats are turning the tables on affordability, especially when they steer clear of leftist cultural snares.”

After reviewing Democrats’ victories in Virginia, New Jersey, and New York City, the conservative newspaper suggested that the Orange Turd played a role in the GOP’s losses. Even though the GOP won both states in 2009 and Virginia in 2021, under Presidents Obama and Biden, “this time Democrats had the advantage of rallying voters upset at President Trump.” Exit polls showed the Orange Turd’s approval rating at 44 percent in New Jersey and 42 percent in Virginia.

The conservative Journal wasn’t the only media entity to acknowledge as much. On the fake news station, Fox News, Brit Hume chalked up Democrats’ triumphs simply to anti-Dump sentiment.

“Today Donald Trump went from a lame duck to a humiliated lame duck,” so states Lawrence O’Donnell on his show tonight, The Last Word. The election of New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani to be New York’s newly elected 111th mayor signals “Donald Trump’s days are numbered,” according to an online Mirror article by Christopher Bucktin entitled “‘New York mayor Zohran Mamdani’s win signals Donald Trump’s days are numbered.'” Here the piece boldly declares “the tide has turned” against the fascist in the White House.

I’ll quote some of this lovely piece here: “It is the first major, flashing-neon, impossible-to-spin sign that the American public has begun to reject the catastrophic second presidency of Donald Trump.”

Again, the language here is impossible to not overstate: “New York did not just choose a new mayor. It chose a new direction, a new generation, and a new political vocabulary.”

According to the article, Mamdani built a powerful coalition that Trumpism has never understood and cannot compete with: younger voters, working-class immigrants, and the Black and Latino communities who know too well what it means to be used (by Dump and his horrible party) as political props and then summarily abandoned.

Mamdani didn’t just win, according to the article, he redrew the map of who holds power in New York City. He did it while becoming the city’s first Muslim mayor and the first South Asian to ever hold the office.

So, what did the idiot in the White House do in the wake of these disastrous results? He does what he always does: he shrugs, he deflects, he denies, he snarls, he bursts out in anger. Here he blamed Congress, his staff, the government shutdown, the “media elite,” but always forgetting to blame himself. He was the sole person on the ballot and people came out in droves to vote against him!

This was also on the ballot, according to this well-written article, “his policies, his cruelty, his chaos, his hollow nationalism, his disdain for every person who does not fit his reflection – those were the issues voters saw. And they rejected them.”

All of those states that racked up large Democratic victories were saying one thing very clearly: We are done with the policies of this cruel administration. The conclusion is quite telling: “And Trump, for the first time in this term, looks like a man who knows he is being outplayed.”

In the wake of this wonderful good news, today will be my last blog before next Monday, November 10, because Elliot and I are flying to Nashville, Tennessee, tomorrow morning for a four-day birthday celebration. It was this or a party, but I decided upon going somewhere where I haven’t been to before. One friend is joining us: “Harvey.” He overheard Elliot mentioning our going to Nashville a while ago, and he asked if he could come along. Elliot cheerily said “sure, you can.” He’ll be meeting us in Nashville since he’ll be leaving out of Newark Airport. He is also staying at the same hotel where we’ll be staying. But he will not be accompanying us to the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday, November 8. He said he might be going to an ice hockey game. But we’ll join up for some nice meals, that’s for sure.

Have a good four days. Hope to see you on Monday.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Monday, November 3, 2025. It’s late here owing to Elliot and me hosting our neighbor/friend “Diane” tonight over the apple walnut cake I baked yesterday. She brought a bottle of prosecco with which to toast me in advance over my coming birthday this Saturday She just left close to 10. Atticus was quite present all during the time of Diane’s visit. He eventually got up on the kitchen table to sniff the remnants of the apple cake. He even came up to Diane’s knee for a little while.

Today the fucking entire repugnican party was excoriated in an address by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries who slammed the GOP and the president as “running a Pedophile Protection Program (PPP)” as the government shutdown enters its 34th day! I’ll just lighten the evening by repeating a Dump joke: “How many Trump supporters does it take to change a lightbulb? None. Trump just says he fixed it – and they all stand around cheering in the dark.” That’s the joke; I found it on Instagram.

Some good news: the sitting president or golfing president, whatever you want to call him, has received the worst approval ratings ever. An online CNN article covers this great news for the opposition party by Jennifer Agiesta entitled “Democrats are more enthusiastic about the midterms as Trump’s approval hits a second-term low, CNN poll finds.”

Thus one year out from the midterm elections, the Democratic Party holds a sizable enthusiasm advantage as views of President Poop dip further into negative territory, according to a CNN poll conducted by SSRS.

According to this poll, Dump’s approval rating stands at just 37 percent, the worst of his second term in CNN polling and roughly equivalent to his 36 percent approval rating at this point in his first disastrous term. His disapproval rating is 63 percent, just one point above the previous high of 62 percent as he was leaving office in January 2021.

According to the poll, even though Democratic-aligned voters remain far less fond of their own party (65 percent have a favorable view of the Democratic Party) than Republican-aligned voters (80 percent have a favorable view of the GOP), but even those Democratic-aligned voters with a negative view of the party are almost universally behind the Democratic candidate in their district (93 percent) and broadly motivated to vote (71 percent say they are extremely motivated).

All told, Democrats hold a 12-point advantage among those voters who say they are extremely or very motivated to turn out next year. This is probably not as true of those identifying as repugnican.

Americans as a whole are broadly dissatisfied with the state of the country (as they should be: 68 percent say things are going badly) and the economy (72 percent say it’s in bad shape, and 47 percent call the economy and cost of living the top issue facing the country). About 6 in 10 (61 percent) say Dump’s policies have worsened economic conditions in the country.

Americans are increasingly likely to say Chump has gone too far in using the power of the presidency – 61 percent say so, up 9 points since February. On President Poop’s desecration of the East Wing, 54 percent of the public is screamingly dissatisfied or angry with this, with just 10 percent saying they’re satisfied with or happy about that decision. Another 36 percent (including nearly half of repugnicans) say it doesn’t matter to them. These are the people who don’t think much about this at all.

The CNN poll was conducted by SSRS online and by phone from October 27 to 30 among a random national sample of 1,245 adults, including 954 registered voters.

Tomorrow is Election Day here and in many other states. It will be interesting to see if voters will turn against President Poop’s endorsement of former governor Andrew Cuomo as mayor and elect Zohan Mamdani as the first Muslim mayor of the Big Apple.

Tomorrow also marks my gay men’s reading club meeting where we will discuss The Power of the Dog which I finished reading more than two weeks ago. So I’ll be absent from this venue until Wednesday.

Have a great Election Day, everyone. Vote for the candidate you believe will be best for New York. The last one was surely a bad fit. I’m very concerned if Proposition 50 on California’s ballot will be approved, which will be a bulwark against fucking repugnican redistricting in other states.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Wednesday, October 29, 2025. The unhinged “dictator” in chief sparked more fury on social media today when he threatened to send in more than the National Guard to U.S. cities if it’s warranted. This alarming pronouncement by this despot was covered in an online article for OK! entitled “‘Dictator’ Donald Trump Dragged for Threatening to ‘Send More Than the National Guard’ to U.S. Cities,” and it’s by Brianna Sainez.

Without any surprise, Dump’s declaration of sending more than the National Guard to our cities – read, just blue cities – he will never send troops to red states like Alabama, Kentucky, et al. that have more violent crime than the blue states he’s targeting – was raked over the coals by social media users far and wide.

The Orange Despot made this declaration aboard the USS George Washington in Yokohama, Japan, on Tuesday, October 28. He made this announcement to U.S. troops who were forced to listen to this guy bloviate.

The delusional leader stated, “We have cities that have trouble. We can’t have cities that are troubled (boy, is he the troubled one here) and we’re sending in our National Guard. And if we need more than the National Guard, we’ll send more than the National Guard because we’re going to have safe cities. We’re not going to have people killed in our cities.” In the meantime, this douchebag has indiscriminately killed 57 alleged drug traffickers in the Pacific Ocean and on the coast of Colombia without any evidence. Is this even legal?

Then the douchebag continued his despotic rant, “Whether people like it or not, that’s what we’re doing.” Then he fabricated the worst falsehood regarding what people want the federal government to be doing in their fair cities, saying, “You know, people don’t care if we send in our military (I fucking beg to differ since there was the matter of seven million protesters out on our streets last Saturday protesting just this horrible measure.), if we send in our National Guard, if use send in Space Command (why not send in the cavalry while you’re at it?), they don’t care who the hell it is. They just want to be safe. And we have safe cities now.”

Then he made the case worse for himself when he ridiculously claimed he could do whatever he wanted to. Without the courts, or “nobody would get involved.” He added, “And I could send the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines – I could send anybody I wanted.”

Once this clip went out, a flurry of critics on social media rapped Dump for the despot he truly is becoming. One user commented, “This is a dictator fantasy. The president doesn’t get to ‘do whatever I want’ . . . Deploying the military against Americans would continue to spark legal battles, constitutional crises, and grave risks to civil liberties.” Another user wrote, “The American democracy depends on institutions that check power, not on leaders who brag they’re above them.”

One user hit the nail on the head, saying, “Trump’s unhinged fantasy of turning American cities into militarized war zones without a whisper of judicial oversight isn’t leadership, it’s the blueprint for a fascist dictatorship we’d all regret electing.”

When Dump previously announced plans to deploy the National Guard to Washington, D.C., in August, citing rising crime rates, the data on crime rates have actually debunked that claim since rates had already dropped more than 25 percent in the last year. But Dump doesn’t look at facts, he just decides on gut instinct, even though it’s 99 percent wrong all the time!

Despotic comments aside here, Dump is also taking heat for his shambling performance in Asia in which he met with Japan’s new female Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. There he appeared to be in cognitive decline when the prime minister had to forcefully take the president around to meet with dignitaries, where for one moment, it looked as if he strutted away without knowing where he was. Again, I didn’t watch the coverage from his Asia trip at all, and I can’t vouch for that. I did quickly watch a clip on my iPhone, though, and it does appear that the president looked befuddled there for a moment. Again, this could have been forestalled by a majority of American voters just voting for the better candidate in Kamala Harris, but, no, we had to vote for the Alzheimer’s case instead! And now we’re stuck with him declining right in front of our very eyes. Just like Ronald Reagan, and many people would claim Joe Biden as well. I would posit that Biden was far more cogent in his perceived decrepitude than this guy ever was!

A little note about tomorrow: my friend “Harvey” and I will be attending the screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho tomorrow evening at Lincoln Center, with the New York Philharmonic performing the score alongside the film. I noticed an ad online announcing the orchestra was doing this a while back, so I decided to buy tickets for it in honor of Halloween. Since Elliot was not interested in going, I asked Harvey instead. He agreed to go. The show starts at 7:30 and we’re meeting to have dinner before the production. I’m looking forward to it.

I’ll see you, possibly, on Friday, which is officially Halloween. I don’t think I’ll go into the Village to watch the parade since rain is forecasted that day. Actually, rain is expected even tomorrow, but this won’t deter me from seeing the cinematic progenitor of all of those slasher films that followed it.

Have a happy Thursday.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Tuesday, October 28, 2025. I know I wrote that I might be absent from this page yesterday, but I’m here now. Our friend, “Patricia,” did take us out to dinner to celebrate our combined birthdays at Nick’s Bistro, on Metropolitan Avenue. The dinner was quite lovely; we shared some nice appetizers like a copious beet salad and crab cakes, while ordering individual entrees for each of us. I ordered the lemon ouzo chicken, while Patricia had lamb chops, while Elliot ordered the chicken kebab. For dessert, we asked for the chocolate mousse cake and shared it among the three of us. The dinner lasted only about 90 minutes, and then Elliot drove Patricia back to her apartment while also driving back to our block, with me parking the car just yards away from our apartment building. (Elliot gets a little wigged out with parking our not-so-new Subaru on a certain side, which is the left in this case.)

In the meantime, former President Joe Biden issued a dark warning against his successor in a speech delivered in Boston on Sunday in which he noted that the United States is facing “dark days” under this president, President Poop, but that the country is “more powerful than any dictator,” clearly painting Dump as a tinplated dictator. This announcement against his successor appears in an online article for Just News by Misty Severi entitled “Joe Biden claims US is facing ‘dark days’ under President Donald Trump.”

The former president made the comment while accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Edward M. Kennedy Institute.

The former commander in chief urged Democratic voters to stay optimistic about the country’s future, but not to ignore the current administration’s alleged attacks on free speech and tests on the limits of executive power.

“Since its founding, America served as a beacon for the most powerful idea ever in government in the history of the world,” Biden said, according to the Associated Press. “The idea is stronger than any army. We’re more powerful than any dictator.”

Biden reminded the audience that the country’s history is “not a fairytale” and said the United States depends on a presidency with limited power, a functioning Congress, and an autonomous judiciary, which are all under massive attack by this cruel regime.

“Friends, I can’t sugarcoat any of this. These are dark days,” Biden said. Biden went on to indicate that the country will “find our true compass again” and that “we will emerge as we always have – stronger, wiser, and more resilient, more just, so long as we keep the faith.”

Along with the comments made by the former president, the government has now entered its 28th day of being shuttered, with repugnicans not to be found anywhere, as repulsive MAGA Johnson furloughed his representatives weeks ago in order to avoid releasing the Epstein files. The shutdown has resulted in the furlough of roughly 900,000 federal employees and left 2 million working without pay. And where is the president during all of this? you might ask. He’s in Japan fumbling his way through meetings with Asian leaders. I refused to watch any coverage of the asshole. I dare say running away to Asia while the government remains closed is fucking bad optics. And the American people are paying close attention to what the Orange Turd is doing. And are massing together to register their displeasure with this administration.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Monday, October 27, 2025. The government is in its sixth week of a shutdown orchestrated by only Republicans, not Democrats, as MAGA Johnson would have you falsely believe. And now voters are finally incensed over the continued shutdown that will have negative repercussions in major areas. Today an online piece by Joe Scarborough for MSNBC entitled “The GOP’s government shutdown could cost it the Virginia race for governor,” Scarborough makes the case that these ugly repugnicans will finally be held accountable at the ballot box.

Thus because Republicans will not negotiate with Democrats over Affordable Care Act insurance premiums that will rise precipitously for millions of Americans, you have federal employees, people in the military, air traffic controllers now working every day without pay. On the other fucking hand, you have members of Congress, who haven’t set foot in Washington, D.C., in weeks, still collecting their goddamn paychecks. Is that fair, folks? I dare say it ain’t at all. This will have the accumulated effect of enraging voters for upcoming races.

Scarborough writes, “Any Republican who thinks that’s not a political problem has their head in the clouds,” or, as I would say, “their heads up their ass.”

The GOP’s problems don’t stop there even. The U.S. Department of Agriculture now says that come November 1 (this coming Saturday), the 42 million Americans who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, will not receive their benefits. This just doesn’t affect Democrats; just like cuts to Medicaid, this will severely impact people in both red and blue states alike.

Now while thousands of federal employees continue to work without pay and millions of Americans are on the verge of losing much-needed benefits, we have an Orange Turd of a president not focused on reopening the government or forcing repugnicans to come to the negotiating table, instead he’s focused on demolishing the East Wing of the White House to build a $300 million ballroom and giving Argentina a $20 (I think it’s now $40 billion) bailout.

Scarborough accurately forecasts that repugnicans will pay the price, and I say it will better come true. With just a week to go until Election Day in Virginia, the latest Washington Post-Schar School shows former Democratic Representative Abigail Spanberger with a 12-point lead over her opponent, Republican Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears.

The MSNBC host also writes that “Voters know which party has a monopoly on power in Washington, and they’re going to hold it accountable.”

Thus this long-term shutdown will have consequences for the damn party in control of all the levers of government: the fucking repugnicans.

In the meantime, the horrid government that voters voted in again just announced that another foe of this asswipe is being investigated by Attorney General “Lapdog” Bondi, and that is Nancy Pelosi.

In the meantime, the demented president today revealed that he underwent an MRI during his recent checkup and brazenly lied about the results. He sounds more in like an Alzheimer’s fog every fucking day. In CBS News, an online article by Kathryn Watson discloses the sad story behind the growing decline of this president in front of the world stage. The article is titled “Trump reveals he underwent an MRI during recent checkup, calls results “perfect.”

Thus the Orange Menace told reporters he underwent the test during his recent checkup at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he called the results in Trumpspeak “perfect.”

Dump underwent a second examination in early October – six months after a physical in April – just leaving for the Middle East. The president was asked if he received an MRI as a part of his “advanced imaging” his physician said he received at Walter Reed.

Here is where Dump devolved in Trumpspeak: “I did. I got an MRI, it was perfect, yep,” telling reporters aboard Air Force One today, en route to Tokyo during his Asia tour, adding, “I gave you the full results (sure he did!). We had an MRI and the machine, you know, the whole thing, and it was perfect.” Doesn’t he sound as incoherent here as always?

Then he positively dived into full-on Trumpspeak, saying that his doctors told him he has “some of the best reports, for the age, some of the best reports they’ve ever seen.” Dump also had doctors lie for him, saying that his cardiac age “was found to be approximately 14 years younger than his chronological age.” They never said his mental age was that of a four-year-old, though. I dare you to believe this bullshit!

Tomorrow Elliot and I are having dinner with our friend “Patricia,” and I don’t know if I’ll be present here tomorrow evening. It depends; we’re meeting around 4:45 p.m. for a 5:15 reservation at Nick’s Bistro, on Metropolitan Avenue. I would dare guess that we won’t be out that long. How long could one linger over dinner?

Have a good Tuesday then.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Wednesday, October 22, 2025. I’m posting this blog rather late tonight since Elliot and I were being hosted by our new friends on the second floor, “Randy” and “Burton.” We were invited over for dinner and Randy prepared a lovely dinner consisting of roasted chicken, coconut-flavored rice, and marinated cucumbers. For dessert, we all shared some sweet delicacies from a bakery Randy patronized in Astoria. All during dinner, we were greeted by Randy and Burton’s lovely 14-year-old cat, a Main Coon-type cat called Poofy or some name like that.

We were invited for 7 and we stayed at least 2 and a half hours. Elliot announced a little after 9 that he was getting tired, as we also decided to defer to Randy who was leaving for Portugal tomorrow night to participate in some sort of marathon. He mentioned that he was also spending some time in Paris before flying home to New York, and Elliot promised to give him several tips as to where to go in the City of Lights.

The only article I will comment on tonight then is one that should terrify President Poop and that is the online article in WGTC by Jorge Aguilar entitled “‘They’re dominating media institutions’: The No Kings movement just got a lot bigger, and Trump should be terrified.”

The thrust of the article is that the No Kings movement, the people behind the massive anti-Dump protest on October 18, of which I proudly participated in, is officially rolling out a nationwide response network that’s going to call on supporters to take new actions every single week. Boy, will this fascistic president be shitting in his Depends over this! The leaders of the movement told The Guardian there’s serious energy for “some type of disruption,” and they’re not messing around.

Future actions could include targeted boycotts, campaigns at universities, more street protests, and electoral organizing in local communities. This is huge news, and it signals the era of passive opposition is positively over, as one organizer put it, “The No Kings era is here, and it’s defined by widespread mass defiance of this regime.”

The sheer scale of this turnout is what should have the administration quaking. Tens of thousands of people like myself joined a national call earlier this week just to hear what’s next for the growing resistance. I emailed Indivisible just today to volunteer my skills to the organization and to receive communiques about what the next steps will be. “This broad showing is a big deal because it proves just how much opposition to Trump there is in every single corner of the U.S.”

The idea of a general strike is also on the table, and it’s one that has some serious top-tier support. Chicago’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, brought up the idea at his city’s rally, and labor leaders like the United Auto Workers president, Shawn Fain, and the Association of Flight Attendants counterpart, Sara Nelson, have both called for it.

The cofounder of Indivisible, Ezra Klein, said, “No successful antiauthoritarian movement in the history of the world has relied exclusively on one-day protests, even historic, incredible life-giving one-day protests like Saturday. Successful movements grow, they evolve, they diversify their tactics, and they do new things together. There are going to be big mobilizations in our future, but before that, there’s going to be overreach from this regime. We’re seeing it with our own eyes. They’re dominating media institutions, they’re dominating universities. They’re bullying businesses and political opponents, and we need to coordinate a way to respond quickly and powerfully with the full force of this movement. The era of capitulation and obey ion advance, that’s over.”

Some of the targets that this movement could be focusing on could be corporations or institutions that support the despicable MAGA platform. (By the way, I saw a wonderful sign this past Saturday in which the acronym was given a new identity as “MAGA = Morons Are Governing America.”) Other places of commerce like sports arenas could also be targeted to disrupt the flow of capital.

This is the only piece of good news I’ve heard about since the Orange Tyrant took office in January. Let’s show this corrupt regime the true power of the people.

Tomorrow I will probably be AWOL from here again since Elliot and I have invited this time our thirtyish friend “Taylor” over for dinner. He is the fiancé of our adopted niece, “Rebecca,” and we have cultivated his friendship ever since he entered our lives several years ago at our friends’ house in Easton, Pennsylvania, some Christmases past.

Have a good Thursday then.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Sunday, October 19, 2025. A day after one of the most peaceful protests was held in these here United States to demonstrate against the Godawful Dump administration, MAGA Mike showed his true despicable colors by double downing on the “No Kings” rally, declaring the widely peaceful demonstrations were evidence of “a rise of Marxism in the Democratic Party.” Is this secret pedophile serious? Is he smoking crack? What a fucking thing to say about these protests that went on without much ado in every state of the union. This absurd, clownish criticism of the rally appears in an online article for Politico entitled “Speaker Johnson doubles down on ‘No Kings’ criticism following demonstrations nationwide,” by Cheyanne M. Daniels.

In an interview with ABC News’ Jonathan Karl on “This Week,” the Louisiana Republican said the protests were “political cover” for Democrats as the government shutdown continues. This does not compute and doesn’t even make sense. What did this asshole mean about these protests providing “political cover” for Democrats? Especially when it is truly the fault of Republicans for the third-longest shutdown, not Democrats.

Here is what this fascist Speaker thought was offensive during the nationwide protests in over 2,500 locations throughout the country: “I mean, we have video and photos of pretty violent rhetoric calling out [does this fucker realize that Dump is the principal source of the most vile rhetoric in his horrible political career for the past 9 years now?] the president, saying fascists [not that he would ever admit that the Republican Party is now the Fascist Party] must die and all the rest.” Again, Fucker Johnson, there is no violence here, these are words; but your entire party should know how injurious these words could be since your party engages in name calling and far worse for the longest of time!]

When Fucker Johnson was pressed as to his earlier vile comments decrying Democrats as anarchists, Antifa, and pro-Hamas, he defended his remarks rather than offering an apology to highlight his humanity. But he’s not, folks, human, I mean!

He now attempted to walk away from his all-generalizing comments regarding the composition of the Democratic Party, saying, “I never said it was the whole Democratic Party [but he did, folks; this is a lie], but you and I have to acknowledge the reality,” which means he was singling out New York City’s Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani, who is a Democratic socialist. But here, Johnson and the rest of his party cannot even define what a Marxist or a socialist is, so he labels Mamdani “an open socialist Marxist.” Mamdani has previously stated he is not a “communist,” as Dump and his party have called him. He does identify as a democratic socialist and not as a communist. So this puts a pin in Fucker Johnson’s argument about the candidate identifying as a communist.

He then offered a very spurious explanation as to why the Supreme Leader should not be called a king. He stated, “If President Trump was a king, the government would be open right now. If President Trump was a king, they would not have been able to engage in that free speech exercise on the (National) Mall,” Johnson stated. Don’t give us any favors here, Fucker Johnson, in even giving King Drumpf any ideas as to declaring mass rallies illegal since there’s always time to do this. I cannot bear this man and wish him to disappear.

A day after the largest mass demonstration in U.S. history flooded the nation’s streets and thoroughfares, this deranged president’s response to peaceful opposition to his unlawful policies was to post an AI video of himself as a bomber pilot [is that hilarious!} dropping what appears to be feces on protesters below. Huh? Is this an educated, articulate response to what just happened yesterday? Thus this sickening clip is covered in a People online article entitled “President Trump Fires Back at ‘No Kings Day’ by Posting AI Video of Himself Bombing Protesters with Brown Liquid,” by Escher Walcott.

The video shows the idiot dumping brown sludge, or – to be more frank – shit, if you will, on protesters in response to their participation in the “No Kings” rallies. In the fake clip, the president is seen wearing a crown while sitting in a fighter jet marked “King Trump.” He is then seen flying over large crowds of demonstrators and dumping brown liquid on them in what appears to be Times Square in New York City.

Does anyone think this is a measured, intelligent response by a President of the United States to criticism lodged at him by millions of disgruntled Americans? No, it’s actually sickening! To me, this is the work of a fevered, adolescent brain. Also, this offensive video truly shows how this president is hugely disdainful of millions of Americans. This is the true “Hate America” personification of what Fucker Johnson was talking about right before the rallies took place. A president who truly hates his constituents. And that is why millions of us demonstrated yesterday to drive home that message!

Tomorrow is Elliot’s birthday, so we have a full day planned to honor that occasion. We hope to finally see the new Leonardo DiCaprio film, One Battle After Another. For breakfast, we intend to enjoy a genuinely Jewish-flavored breakfast at Russ & Daughters, on Orchard Street. Then Elliot – depending on the weather – would like to walk around his old neighborhood on the Lower East Side. Thus I will not post anything tomorrow. I’ll see you on Tuesday.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Saturday, October 18, dubbed “No Kings” Day at 2,500 events throughout the nation in response to the authoritarian bent of this mad president. I proudly participated in this event here in New York at 47th Street and 7th Avenue, where a humongous crowd inched its way down toward 14th Street where it just broke apart. This was a 33-block walk that seemed to take forever. There had to be thousands and thousands of energized marchers besides myself on line; at one point, I even thought I spied Broadway diva Patti LuPone standing right behind me with her own sign declaring Trump has to go. Of course, I didn’t approach her since I’m sure she didn’t want to be recognized and fawned over during this protest. So I just looked the other way and tried not to focus on staring at her as I stood for almost 90 minutes before beginning the march.

This time I convinced a friend to accompany me, “Jerry,” whom I met by the subway stop in Forest Hills at 10. I set my phone alarm for 8:30 and had a little breakfast before rushing out at 9:50. We then waited for the F train and boarded it, heading toward 47th-50th Street.

I had a large shopping bag that contained my large anti-Dump sign, plus other signs for Jerry who failed to bring his own placards. We headed for 47th Street and waded into the huge crowd that gathered to show their disgust with this administration. As we waited to get the go-ahead to start walking, that’s when I believed I saw Ms. LuPone in back of me.

In an online article for AlterNet entitled “Trump opponents have a plan for exposing his ‘power’ as ‘fragile’ – not ‘unstoppable,'” by Alex Henderson, MSNBC’s Antonia Hylton told host Ali Velshi that the protest outside was turning out to be much larger than previously thought, corroborating my personal suspicions about the true size of the crowd. Hylton reported, “Originally, they thought about 200,000 people.” She added, “But right now, best guesses are that they far exceeded that.” To confirm this, remember that on June 14th, I had to wait a full half-hour before being able to start walking toward the designated end point, whereas today, I had to wait almost 90 minutes before being able to start marching. To me, this signifies that the protest crowd had to exceed 200,000 disgruntled marchers.

In an op-ed published by MSNBC’s website that day, Ezra Klein and Leah Greenberg (two cofounders of the progressive group Indivisible), emphasize that the size of the protests is important – as it sends a clear message that Chump’s power is “fragile” rather than “unstoppable.”

Klein and Greenberg argue, “Right now, this regime is invading and occupying cities across the country. Their masked officers are terrorizing American communities and immigrant families. They’re attacking the final provisions of the Voting Rights Act. And the White House is using the powers of the executive branch to go after political opponents of all stripes, from New York Attorney General Letitia James to comedians to peaceful protesters. Each of these moments might seem isolated, but together, they form a single authoritarian project: silence dissent, project strength and convince the rest of us there’s nothing we can do to stop it”

Klein and Greenberg argue that Dump needs us to believe he’s unstoppable, “that his grip is permanent, that resistance is futile.” They add, “And if we believe him, it just might work. Here’s the truth: It’s all a lie.”

Therefore, I will provide some pics of the protest that I took as I marched proudly today. Look at this acronym made of Dump’s name from one protester: “T (traitor), R (rapist), U (ugly), M (mendacious) and P (pedophile).” Seems to fit, don’t you think?

I just got the figures then for this huge protest: “More than 350,000 people across New York City protested on Saturday,” organizers said. This quote is from an article covering the nationwide demonstrations in Independent. Now the figure for the entire country is pegged at “nearly 7 million,” not 10 million.

As we marched, I forgot to say that we chanted, “Hey hey! Ho ho! Donald Trump has got to go!” and “What does democracy look like?” The answer, “This is what democracy looks like!” Also, in Washington, D.C. alone, more than 200,000 demonstrators turned up. In Chicago, a massive crowd of 100,000 showed up to register their disgust with Dump and his craven enablers. Even actor John Cusack was interviewed on Chicago streets, where he had a direct message to this monarchical president: “No, you can’t put troops on our streets. You can’t create enough chaos to invoke the Insurrection Act so you can stay in power. We all know what your plan is. He also added this wish for the administration, “Go to hell!”

The city of Atlanta had 35,000 protesters in which Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock told the rally crowd that Americans should be “concerned” about Dump’s recent cringeworthy remarks to the military. This is where he talked about handling “the enemy from within,” code word for Americans citizens who disagree with the asshole’s policies and that “we have to handle it before it gets out of control.” Chump had the audacity to tell the commanders in the room that some of them would be involved in using U.S. cities run by Democrats as “training grounds” for troops. Can you believe this fucker saying something as batshit crazy as this to a roomful of generals and top military brass?

Have a good Sunday!

And so it went!

Two great signs showing some creativity here.

Here is the convicted felon without makeup. Truly ugly!

Here is the crowd at the New York protest!

Here is another creative sign.

Standing around.

More protesters marching down 47th Street.

Another creative sign declaring the enemy within is really made up of Dump’s own cabinet: creepy Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, and Russell Vought, the horrible architect of Project 2025 and is now the Director of the United States Office of Management and Budget.

A very clear declaring “No kings” here!

I really like the “release the Trumpstein Files” sign, where Drumpf’s and Epstein’s faces merge into one.

This pic is probably at the beginning of the march. We’re still milling around here.

This is the sign that I carried for 3 hours.