Tag Archives: politics

And So It Goes

Today is Sunday, June 8, 2025. The first flashpoint of this fascistic regime is now occurring in California, specifically in Los Angeles, with the deployment of the National Guard to quell peaceful protesters demonstrating against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents cracking down on immigrants at various sites. Today a political strategist predicted that this heavy measure undertaken by the convicted felon will backfire on him. Let’s hope she is right in this regard. Her comments appear in an online RawStory article entitled “‘This is going to backfire on him’: Strategist flags big mistake Trump is making.” It’s written by David McAfee.

At the moment, the president is using a heavy hand to suppress protests against his Draconian immigration policies, and it is bound to backfire, according to Shaniqua McClendon, vice president of politics for Crooked Media. She appeared on MSNBC today to discuss the protests.

McClendon initially stated that the Dump administration is making things “really tense” and that “they want the protesters to react in ways that ‘justify’ responses that are over the top.”

She compared the situation to the George Floyd protests in 2020, and then said Trump is “trying to get a reaction out of them.” I think this is very obvious. It has been already predicted that the Chump regime would rely on these measures in order to justify more violence against protesters.

McClendon said, “But I think the thing that may backfire [against] him is that he’s bringing more attention. More people are probably tuning into the news right now, and they’re going to wonder what is going on.” She added, “And this is going to backfire on him. But I just hope it’s enough time that, you know, he can be stopped.”

Another vocal critic of Dump’s actions here in Los Angeles is former Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger who issued a dire warning amid swirling speculation that Donald Dump might invoke the centuries-old Insurrection Act. In an online article for WGTC, Omar Faruque writes a piece entitled “‘It won’t end well,’ warns Adam Kinzinger as Donald Trump allegedly crosses the red line to unleash centuries-old military powers.”

The current mess began in Los Angeles when federal immigration authorities launched a series of high-profile raids across the city. These operations, targeting undocumented immigrants, were conducted in areas with significant Latino populations, including Paramount and the Fashion District. Over 100 persons have reportedly been detained, and the raids have left communities reeling.

Things escalated when protests erupted in response to these actions, with tensions boiling over near a Home Depot south of Los Angeles. Federal agents in riot gear faced off against angry protesters,. who hurled rocks, cement chunks, and other projectiles. “In retaliation, the agents deployed tear gas, flash-bang grenades, and pepper balls, resulting in a chaotic scene of smoke, shouting, and scattered fires in the streets.”

As the clashes intensified, California Governor Gavin Newsom stepped in, denouncing the federal government’s actions as “inflammatory” and accusing them of deliberately provoking unrest. However, Newsom urged protesters to remain peaceful, warning that any escalation would only “play into the hands” of those seeking to sow division, particularly the Dump regime.

The Insurrection Act was signed into law in 1807 and grants the president the authority to deploy military forces domestically in cases of rebellion, insurrection, or obstruction. One must ask then is why didn’t this thug invoke this during his own insurrection on January 6, 2021, against the protesters crashing the U.S. Capitol when a true insurrection was occurring? Anyone not watching Fox News knows the answer to that one.

This is a tool of last resort, though. It’s meant for moments when all other mechanisms of maintaining order have failed. Historically, it’s been invoked during extraordinary circumstances, such as enforcing desegregation in the South during the Civil Rights Movement or in response to the 1992 Los Angeles riots in the wake of the Rodney King beatings.

“Using the Insurrection Act to suppress protests, however, would be a controversial move, especially in a case like this where local and state officials – including Governor Newsom – are actively opposing intervention.” What is at stake here isn’t just the situation in Los Angeles – it’s the precedent this sets if Dump relies on it to quell peaceful protests. Then he can do this anywhere, at any time! Do we really want this, folks?

If Dump can do this, what does this mean for the future of American democracy? Are we really copacetic with the idea of a president using military force to suppress constitutional dissent? This situation is not about “restoring order” or “enforcing the law.” It’s about control and using force for no sane reason other than flexing the muscle that all dictators wield or wish to wield.

One other explanation for Dump doing this now is that he’s been humiliated in recent days by his public breakup with his billionaire donor, Elon Muskrat, who might even switch allegiances to Democrats – God forbid! – and by Senate Republicans’ refusal to quickly enact his so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which should be renamed the “Murder Bill” instead, by China’s Xi Jinping’s refusal to back down on trade (and restrict shipments of China’s rare earths, which American industry depends on), and by Vladimir Putin’s refusal to end the war in Ukraine. Also, there is the federal courts that are pushing back against his unlawful actions regarding immigration and almost everything else. And he’s had to endure insults and smears from the richest person in the world, who has a larger social platform than he does.

I just hope that this situation does not escalate into full-on civil war because it isn’t pretty. I can’t wait until next week, June 14th, to see what this would-be despot does then against the millions of people protesting his “Big, Beautiful” fucking military parade! This is a president who will stop at nothing to use the military against ordinary Americans who disagree with him!

Have a great week anyway.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Saturday, June 6, 2025. It’s late here owing to Elliot and I having dinner out with our friend “Patricia” on the occasion of her birthday this coming Wednesday and our watching the second and final episode of a marvelous documentary on the late Paul Reubens, better known as his alter ego, Pee-wee Herman. The documentary is being screened on HBO as Pee-wee as Himself and is only two episodes long. It’s a fascinating, expansive examination of the artist and performer Paul Reubens who achieved stunning success portraying the character of Pee-wee Herman and the devastating fall from grace experienced during the period in the early 90s when he was arrested for indecent exposure in an adult movie house in Sarasota, Florida, where his parents lived. If any of you were a fan of the absurd character known as Pee-wee Herman, this documentary is for you. For me, I was mildly interested in knowing his story. I was not a viewer of Pee-wee’s Playhouse, the iconic show he launched on CBS in the 1980s which ran for five seasons, as I found out. I haven’t watched any of his films either, but I was interested in seeing this documentary since it is narrated by the late actor right before his death on July 30, 2023, at the tender age of 70. The documentary revealed that the actor never told anyone that he was in failing health because that was the type of person he was: secretive. He was also secretive about his personal life since he was gay and this would not score too well with his millions of fans way back then if he were in character as Pee-wee. In the film, Reubens does acknowledge he was in a gay relationship with a painter named Guy Brown that ended before the painter died from the complications of AIDS in the 80s. This is a highly entertaining and ultimately sad portrait of someone who eschewed his true identity in order to pursue the trappings of fame and notoriety. It’s a fitting documentary to be shown in the month of Pride.

In the latest dictatorial move made by this lawless president, the Dump regime has deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to California as a result of ongoing protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents for doing their job in Los Angeles. An online article in The Washington Post covers this breaking story and it’s entitled “Trump activates National Guard in L.A. area protests” and it’s written by Maeve Reston and Emily Davies.

This move is strongly condemned by California Governor Gavin Newsom, calling it “purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions.”

Dump immigration czar Tom Homan said authorities were mobilizing “to address violence and destruction” near locations that were raided on Saturday, in an interview – where else? – on Fox News.

This measure can only be seen as Dump making his promise a reality which he posted on the campaign trail that, if elected, he would crack down on Democrat-run cities and states that offered “sanctuary” to undocumented immigrants.

In a statement, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt claimed that “violent mobs have attacked ICE Officers and Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations in Los Angeles.”

“Federal immigration officials began the series of sweeps in Los Angeles County on Friday, including in the fashion district downtown.” Demonstrators began gathering in Paramount, California – about 20 minutes outside of Los Angeles – after a Saturday morning raid near a Home Depot. In a separate clash with police on Friday in downtown Los Angeles, officers reported that a small group of violent individuals were throwing large pieces of concrete.

Newsom stated that the federal government’s move to nationalize the California guard to respond to protests was unwarranted. He claimed that local authorities were handling the protests that unfolded in Paramount.

The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, which handles law enforcement operations in Paramount, did urge the public to “exercise the right to protest peacefully with respect for the safety of all community members.”

Don’t you really think this is an unnecessary move on the part of this would-be autocrat who really wants to show his muscle here with respect to a few protests that have not devolved into acts of violence? Their assessment of these protesters as “violent mobs” is just Trump-speak, nothing else! We should not be duped by their overexaggerations of reality in this case.

Have a good Sunday.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Friday, June 6, 2025. Outraging millions of Americans with their coddling of the Orange Cheeto, the “Extreme” Court allows this fucking DOGE (Disgusting Oligarchs Grabbing Everything”) gain access to your private Social Security data in a divided ruling today. This despicable ruling is examined in an online article entitled “Supreme Court lets DOGE access Social Security data of millions of Americans,” by Ann E. Marimow and Justin Jouvenal. The conservative majority on this partisan court just folded in front of Donald J. Chump. I’m livid with rage over this decision and so should you be!

Today this bastion of putrid conservatism sided with the Dump administration for now in two cases involving the U.S. DOGE Service, a fake agency for everyone to know, whose efforts to slash government agencies and obtain data about Americans have been mostly shrouded from public view.

The justices cleared the way in the first case for DOGE representatives to access the sensitive Social Security Administration data of millions of citizens, while litigation on the matter continues. Again, this ruling should outrage any American who feels his or her privacy has been violated by this permission granted to this phony government agency.

In the second case, which also should be viewed as a terrible decision, the high court shielded DOGE from having to immediately disclose records to a government watchdog group seeking information about the service. What is this court afraid of by not granting the group access to DOGE?

Of course, the court’s three liberal justices disagreed with the conservative majority’s actions in both cases with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson warning of “grave privacy risks for millions of Americans.” Go, girl, express your anger here toward your asshole colleagues, primarily Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito and the other conservative bums.

Taken together, the orders were another example of this court granting most of the Chump administration’s emergency requests to lift or scale back lower court rulings blocking his initiatives while legal challenges play out.

To cite some recent horrible decisions, the justices have permitted the administration to bar transgender troops from the military, fire independent agency leaders without cause, halt teacher grants, and remove protections for as many as 350,000 Venezuelans while legal challenges to all those efforts make their way through lower courts.

The only exceptions were in cases involving the due process rights of migrants targeted for fast-track deportation by this cruel administration. In such cases, the justices have required the government to provide notice and opportunity for the immigrants to challenge their removals.

Jackson used her lengthy dissent to criticize her colleagues for allowing the administration’s initiatives to take effect even though lower courts have not yet ruled on the legality of those measures.

Here Jackson tapped on the truth when she suggested the court has different rules for this regime, largely granting its emergency requests when the only emergency is that the government “cannot be bothered to wait.” That’s so true of this devilish administration that it’s not even funny.

Dump and his minions had asked the justices to intervene – which they did without any further ado – after a federal judge in Maryland correctly said DOGE representatives appeared to have violated privacy laws by viewing the personal data of some of the more than 70 million Americans who receive Social Security benefits.

Let’s hope this unfair ruling is not the final say on this continuing story with DOGE that is hated by so many decent Americans for its fucking infiltration into quite sensitive data of millions of people. Naturally, I’m one of those Americans who receives such benefits and are apprehensive of what this court has just allowed this crazy agency to do.

One of the critics of this poor decision, the coalition led by Democracy Forward said it is disappointed by the ruling. “This is a sad day for our democracy and a scary day for millions of people.” Adding in a statement, the group said, it “will continue to use every legal tool at our disposal to keep unelected bureaucrats from misusing the public’s most sensitive data as this case moves forward.”

What distinguished this Friday was Elliot and I having dinner with a regular at the Austin Street Diner who I will call “Jerry.” I’ve met Jerry many times for breakfast throughout the years, but it was Jerry who has always suggested we get together to plan a trip together. Since we really don’t know Jerry other than his anti-Dump views and the fact that he enjoys playing tennis, I thought the best thing was to schedule a dinner first before even thinking of going away with him. So we finally met Jerry at 6 at a local Italian restaurant by the name of Tuscan Hills.

I would say the dinner went quite well in that Jerry did open up a bit – but not too much – about his personal life. We learned he grew up in Oceanside, Long Island, and that he had a brother and sister. Jerry informed us that his brother died just last year, which I didn’t know anything about. He mentioned his sister now lives in Wyoming, but he’s not close to her. Very sad! We never asked why, though.

From the restaurant, I walked Jerry to MacDonald Park, while Elliot went home. We sat a little talking about my writing endeavors and then we parted as dusk rolled in. I walked Jerry to his building; he’s only about 10 minutes away from us. He suggested having us over for dessert the next time. And I agreed! So possibly we’ve made a nice, new friend late in life. I think that’s quite extraordinary.

Have a good weekend.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Thursday, June 5, 2025. I know I said I might not be here because of my being with my friend “Harvey.” I did see him for a very nice lunch at an eatery on Spring Street called Balthazar where we sat outside and watched the parade of passersby walk by. Most of them, we speculated, thought they fancied themselves as belonging to the beautiful set. Well, at least a few of them did as they pranced on by. I suggested we see a film afterward and Harvey did accompany me to the Mercer Street bookstore whereupon Harvey took his leave and I – regrettably – bought another book: The Fall of Richard Nixon by Tom Brokaw. It’s not such a long book, so I vow that I will read this one. After I read the books I bought in Wales first.

After paying for this book, I walked to Film Forum, on West Houston Street. I wanted to see a new documentary called Television Event which went on at 6:10. Actually, upon further review, I discover this documentary is not new; it was released on November 11, 2020. The documentary examines the production of a controversial 1983 made-for-television film on the effects of nuclear war on the citizens of the Kansas City area. The name of that film was called The Day After and almost 100 million terrified Americans watched the film in their living rooms. I was among them so many years ago. I had some time to kill, so I had another cup of coffee on Broadway.

When it was time to return to the cinema, I was stopped by the ticket taker who informed me the price of one ticket was not $13 for seniors, but $17 which is the regular adult price. He claimed this policy goes into effect after 5, which is quite strange, if you ask me. So I said goodbye Television Event, hello Queens. I called Elliot to tell him I was coming home. So I walked alongside Houston Street to take the F back to Forest Hills, where I had to stand the whole time because of how crowded the car was.

So let’s get back to that juicy duel between two assholes, one Donald J. Dump and the other one Elon Muskrat, that spilled out into the public today, as two egomaniacs carry out their school yard feud to the utmost pleasure of the American public who could have seen it coming over the horizon. It’s now Muskrat who went full tilt against Dump in an online Radar article entitled “Musk goes off! Elon Claims Trump Was ‘Replaced By Body Double’ and Bashes ‘Lying’ President As Bromance Falls Apart Amid Spending Bill Chaos.” Don’t you just love this public tiff between these two crybabies!

Oops, I lost the article. Here’s another one from USA Today entitled “Elon Musk escalates feud with Trump: ‘Time to drop the really big bomb.'” The writer is Joey Garrison. The accusations made by Dump’s now-former chum are even more deadly than the ones mentioned in the earlier article that I can’t find. In this article, Muskrat alleged that the so-called president’s name is mentioned in undisclosed, classified files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as their feud devolved into nasty personal attacks today.

Today in a post on his own social platform, X, Muskrat stated, “Time to drop the really big bomb,” referring to Dump’s name in the Epstein files. He added, “That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!”

Muskrat provided no evidence for his allegation but wrote: “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.”

On the other side, it was Dump who threatened to end government contracts with Muskrat’s companies and Musk left the White House’s DOGE because he supposedly “fired” him. Maybe this deluded man thinks he’s still on The Apprentice and believes he truly fired him. We’ll never fucking know!

Then Muskrat fired back at this pretender to the throne by saying, rightfully, that “Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.” Finally, he told the truth about how his fucking money helped this crazy man back into the White House. If he had funneled his money to Kamala Harris, we probably would not have Chump back in the White House. Maybe he would have been in the Big House instead!

“Two madmen are at war!” Lawrence O’Donnell just stated on The Last Word. And that is the damn truth. Hopefully their feud will divert the attention of this ADHD president away from destroying the country – at least for a short while. And maybe his “big, beautiful bill” will be scorched by Muskrat’s condemnation of it! I’m hoping for it!

Oh, Muskrat also said that DJT should be impeached. That’s also correct!

Don’t you just love this public quarrel between two unworthy men?

Have a good Friday!

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Wednesday, June 4, 2025. Rumors are circulating around the Orange Cheeto’s silence the last few days, especially after his former billionaire bro slammed his “big, beautiful bill” as a “disgusting abomination” before he huffed and puffed out of the White House and out of his duties as the head of DOGE (“Disgusting Oligarchs Grabbing Everything”). MSNBC host LawrenceO’Donnell provides some answers as to why TACO Dump has remained silent amid this blowback from a previous fucking rich friend in an online article for Daily Beast called “MSNBC Host Says Trump Is Too Scared to Fire Back at Musk.”

Speaking on The Last Word, O’Donnell claimed the president is simply afraid of Musk. Remember this fecund bastard donated $288 million to Dumpster’s presidential race.

Also, on Tuesday, the longterm MSNBC host said Muskrat’s condemnation of the bill was the moment that all the watchers of Elon Muskrat and Donald Chump have been waiting for since Muskrat joined the Dump presidential campaign.

O’Donnell rightfully states that Dump didn’t respond to Muskrat’s public condemnation of his stupid bill because of the reality that he fears Muskrat. O’Donnell reports, “If you attack Donald Trump and Donald Trump says nothing, Donald Trump’s silence is the biggest expression of fear that he has.”

The MSNBC host says it plainly to explain Dumpster’s silence here. “Donald Trump fears the richest person in the world turning his money against Donald Trump’s candidates in Republican primary elections.” So there it is: the bastard is afraid of losing Muskrat’s millions and is afraid of his turning other repugnicans against the bill, which could mean its eventual death. O’Donnell corroborates this, saying, “And Donald Trump fears the richest person in the world convincing Republican members of the Senate, and the House, not to vote for Donald Trump’s budget bill that Elon Musk now calls a ‘disgusting abomination.'”

A more alarming and dystopian feature of this buffoon’s ongoing dismantling of democratic principles in America is an online article predicting a rebellion by MAGA supporters against Dump and a new initiative that will raise the hackles on everyone living in the United States. The online article appears in Tyla and it’s entitled “MAGA supporters ‘turn against’ Trump after terrifying new citizen database sparks major privacy concerns,” and it’s written by Rhianna Benson.

Thus a group of even the most loyal MAGA loyalists have seemingly turned against the president following a controversial new partnership between the Dump administration and a data analytics firm.

According to a New York Times article published this week, the president and his team of traitors have recently made the decision to partner with a software company called Palantir. The Colorado-based firm, cofounded by Dump billionaire supporter Peter Thiel, would give the unproclaimed king unlimited access to a new compilation of data on all American citizens. This means the bastard would have all of our personal information at his fat fingertips. “The new partnership would therefore be handing the president an unprecedented amount of surveillance power.”

This decision has naturally sparked national outrage – not just among left-leaning Democrats but among thousands of Dump’s former fans. Finally, a cause that can unite all of us against this Orange Cheeto.

“Many Americans now live in fear about the growing influence of technology in the States, specifically with regards to how their personal and professional data will be managed.”

Many people question whether this initiative will affect their right to privacy, as well as their civil liberties.

Now expressing his feeling of betrayal by this convicted felon, one die-hard supporter tweeted, “People are so quick to suggest that I flipped on Trump . . . No, no, no . . . I didn’t flip on Trump. TRUMP FLIPPED ON US.”

Even one of Dump’s previous famous supporters, self-professed white nationalist and far-right voter Nick Fuentes even chimed in on the debate.

Also taking to X (formerly Twitter), he described the administration’s new partnership as “the ultimate betrayal” of Dump’s “own people.” Fuentes wrote, “They are tracking everybody that criticized Israel, everybody that interacts with somebody that’s criticizing Israel, and whether you’re a citizen or not, whether you’re brown or not, Christian or Muslim, they’re putting you in the Palantir database.” He then added, “They’re putting you on the enemies list. If you don’t see a problem with that . . .”

God, if this disgusting white nationalist himself has a beef with this unpopular president’s initiatives like collecting everyone’s personal information for his own nefarious needs, then maybe this asshole has finally crossed the Rubicon with regard to his horrible policies. I just wish the legacy press gave this story more airtime than what it’s been getting. This will unite all Americans against the Dump administration in a way you’ve never seen since he took office on January 20.

Tomorrow I’m seeing my newfound friend “Harvey” for lunch since we didn’t attend Tuesday’s gay men’s club meeting. We also might see a film afterward, so I’m not sure if I’ll be here tomorrow evening. Time will tell.

Have a good Thursday.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Tuesday, June 3, 2025. Just what I’ve always written in this blog: that president Donald J. Chump may not last his second term because of obvious mental decline, as now being suggested by a top Republican political strategist by the name of Rick Wilson who predicts this for online Mirror in an article by Christopher Strong entitled “Donald Trump ‘may not last White House term’ as political advisor spots cognitive decline.”

Wilson thus points out that Dump might not serve out his term because of possible cognitive issues. Speaking to Times Radio, Wilson, who cofounded political action committee the Lincoln Project, argued that Dump is showing worse signs than just senior moments.

The long-time political strategist stated, “He is incoherent. His inability to articulate any thought or position without constant asides, constant lapses, the verbal aphasias he is experiencing at various points.” It comes after another ex-presidential advisor claimed Dump may be suffering from syphilis. Oh shit!

Rick continued his examination of the president’s declining mental health: “As a very close observer of Trump since 2015, I can tell you the man you’re watching today is not the Trump of 2015, nor is he the Trump of 2020, he’s not even the Trump of 2024.”

The advisor noted that Dump’s struggle to communicate is not unusual, given his age. He will be 79 on the afternoon of that wasteful military parade on June 14.

Wilson added, “There is a decline in Trump’s ability to communicate, there is a decline in Trump’s ability to articulate his thoughts. This is not uncommon when people get older.”

Other experts have speculated that Dump may actually be suffering from dementia, reports the Irish Star.

Because of this new speculation over Dump’s mental fitness, don’t even accept the lies told by Dump’s own physician, Captain Sean Barbabella, who wrote in a recent statement, “President Trump remains in excellent health, exhibiting robust cardiac, pulmonary, neurological, and general physical function.” What bullshit, I would dare say. Don’t you recall that during his first term, a now disgraced doctor claimed that Dump would live to the age of 200! Who believes in this bullshit, given the many signs of his declining mental acuity for everyone to see?

On a lighter side, given these very dark, dire times, it’s been noted that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) will be distributing free tacos today in reference to the new TACO slogan inspired by Donald Duck’s erratic approach to instituting tariffs that will prove to be injurious to this country’s economy. The slogan or acronym stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out,” and it’s evident it has gotten under this son of a bitch’s skin. So I would say, “use it until he loses it!” Maybe he’ll pop an aneurysm after lashing out at his critics who are using it ad nauseam. This humorous story appears in The New Republic in an article written by Adrienne Mahsa Varkiani entitled “Democrats Are Giving Out Free Tacos to Make Fun of Trump.”

The DNC has commissioned a taco truck that will be parked outside the Republican National Committee’s Washington, D.C., headquarters from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. The truck also comes with a a graphic of Dump in a chicken suit and the “Trump Always Chickens Out” slogan.

DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a statement to Axios, “With his idiotic trade policy, he talks a big game, caves, and then leaves working families and small businesses to deal with the fallout.”

We have to thank Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong for coining the term TACO last month to describe Dump’s tendency to announce massive tariffs before suddenly changing his mind, as he has done over and over again. The term has now become a common one among Wall Street traders trying to predict the market.

When confronted with this acronym by a brave female reporter, the toddler in chief responded, “Don’t ever say what you said. That’s a nasty question. To me, that’s the nastiest question.” No, Mr. Dump, you’re the nastiest human on the planet for very obvious reasons!

Even though this is a funny stunt, it still be would be better if the Democratic Party had a more aggressive stance toward this nascent fascism being carried out by this horrible administration.

Oh, by the way, it’s the month of June and that means it’s Pride Month. With this president, the attacks against the LGBTQ+ community have risen in shocking numbers, so we must all be vigilant and stand against this erosion of civil rights for gay individuals, especially people in the trans community.

What we should applaud now is the breakup between the mental midget Dump and his billionaire bro, Elon Muskrat, when it was announced that the latter will be leaving his position in government. Let’s all say, “Good riddance, Mr. ‘Drug-addled’ Muskrat!” It couldn’t come at a better time! We should all be surprised that it even lasted this long!

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Sunday, June 1, 2025. I was indeed missing in action yesterday, as I was watching some films that I started a day earlier but never finished. One of those films was Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, released in 2024. Leigh is noted for a number of films like Secrets and Lies exploring the human condition through nuanced, naturalistic characters. This latest from him is not any different. It stars Marianne Jean-Baptiste as a woman experiencing bouts of depression and fits of anger, directed toward loved ones as well as complete strangers. It’s not too clear as to why Pansy, played by Jean-Baptiste, is that way other than her making an admission that her mother favored her younger sister, Chantelle, and that she feels that everyone hates her.

The second film I finished yesterday was from 2023: To Catch a Killer starring Shailene Woodley and Ben Mendelsohn as two people brought together in an FBI investigation of a shocking New Year’s Eve rash of killings in Baltimore. Under the explosive booms of fireworks on that night, 29 people are shot and killed, without pattern, leaving the investigative team in the dark, grasping at paper-thin straws of evidence. Woodley plays Eleanor Falco, a police officer who is at the scene of the horrible killings. Mendelsohn plays FBI investigator Geoffrey Lammark who recruits Falco as his teammate on the burgeoning investigation of the mass murders. This movie was quite different from the earlier one that didn’t rely on sensational violence to tell its tale of human misery.

Today a violent antisemitic attack occurred in Boulder, Colorado, in which a man set at least six elderly Jewish people on fire during a Boulder Run for Their Lives event, a weekly gathering of Jewish community members meant to support the hostages taken during the October 7 attacks in Israel in 2023. The suspect, an Egyptian, allegedly used a flamethrower and yelled “Free Palestine” moments before launching the terrible attack. This incident came less than two weeks after two Israeli Embassy staffers were shot and killed in Washington, D.C., by a lone gunman who yelled “Free Palestine” while being arrested.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis condemned the attack in Boulder that left at least six injured today. He was interviewed for an online CNN article by Michelle Watson entitled “Gov. Polis condemns the ‘heinous’ attack in Boulder that left six injured.” Polis said, “As the Jewish community reels from the recent antisemitic murders in Washington, D.C., it is unfathomable that the community is facing another antisemitic attack here in Boulder, on the eve of the holiday of Shavuot.”

What’s interesting about Polis is that he’s Jewish and got married to his longtime partner in a traditional Jewish ceremony in 2021.

It’s incidents such as this one and the one in Washington, D.C., that has frazzled many Jewish Americans who feel that they are being unfairly targeted for these abominable terroristic attacks just because of their Jewish faith. There are many residents of Israel who do not support the current prime minister’s war in Gaza. However, this reality is lost on these assailants who mistakenly lump everyone together just because they identify themselves as being Jewish. It’s a very unsettling time to be living here after the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel more than two years ago. Let’s see if this president actually comes out and condemns the violence without hesitation witnessed in Boulder, Colorado, today. I wouldn’t hold my breath!

Have a good week.

By the way, tomorrow I’m going for my first shingles vaccine at 2:30 at a local CVS. This is a two-shot dosage series, with the second shot administered 2 to 6 months after the first shot. Let’s hope there are no side effects to this inoculation.

And so it went!

This is Saint Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church, located on 6th Avenue, in Park Slope. I drove myself to a new bookstore in Park Slope called Troubled Sleep, located on 6th Avenue, and this is the church standing across from the bookstore.

Here is another view of that dazzling structure.

And So It Goes

Today is Friday, May 30, 2025. A very alarming opinion piece by Thom Hartmann for AlterNet details how close we are in launching a homegrown dictatorship in the form of the Trump Crime Family and it’s entitled “No administration has ever been this corrupt – and you just can’t look away anymore.”

Hartmann goes on to explain how all dictators are corrupt and how they “skim wealth out of the state’s coffers and public commons, and how they use the typical tools of dictatorship to intimidate good government advocates into silence: violence, threats, capture of police agencies and courts, intimidation of the press, cowing politicians, and prisons.” This is where we are heading already under Trump 2.0, Hartmann points out.

The writer of this piece also saw this reality in many governments around the world, particularly in Uganda under Idi Amin, the country of Haiti, the Philippines under Ferdinand Marcos, Thailand during the military coup, Colombia, Peru, Russia, South Sudan, China in the 1980s, and a handful of others.

In every case, the media was cowed, courts were run by sycophants loyal to Dear Leader, and the police were largely unaccountable to the people while kleptocrats shoveled fortunes into offshore banks and American or British real estate.

Hartmann goes on to indicate how Americans are peculiarly blind to the birthing of a dictatorship here in America, since we’ve never had a president – until now – who publicly attempted to use his position of power to enrich himself (“even Richard Nixon had the good sense to try to hide the bribes he took from the milk lobby and Jimmy Hoffa”).

The path toward dictatorship begins when the leader takes power democratically, like in Russia and Hungary.

Here things relatively seem normal, although there’s an apparent zeal for “reforms” that appear questionable like replacing government functions with private contractors close to the leader, appointing incompetent but totally loyal toadies to run major essential agencies, and changing election laws making it easier for wealthy people to buy elections – think of Muskrat and his outsized influence on the last election – and harder for democracy advocates to vote.

Here is a chilling thought from Hartmann about this: “Those ‘reforms’ are the early warnings that, if not stopped quickly, a dictatorship is being birthed.”

What ensues from this inchoate dictatorship are loud complaints about “fake news,” “enemies within the government,” and “activist judges,” all language employed by this Orange Cheeto to portray his perceived enemies. “This is the second major warning that the newly elected leader is trying to move the country toward authoritarianism.”

Hartmann then notes that every senior official in every corrupt foreign government he’s ever met or negotiated with wasn’t particularly sagacious and definitely wasn’t qualified to hold the position of power they did. Now he points the finger at Dump’s cabinet of fools as an indication of this trend toward authoritarianism”: the secretary of Homeland Security (Kristi Noem) who doesn’t know what the term habeas corpus means, the Secretary of State (Pete Hegseth) who refuses to call Putin a war criminal, the Secretary of Education (Linda McMahon) who is a billionaire wrestling promotor, the Secretary of Health (Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.) who is a conspiracy-nut lawyer with no training in medicine, and the Social Security Commissioner (Frank Bisignano), just to name a few.

Thus Dump has put 13 of his billionaire buddies in his cabinet and stocked his senior-most roles in critical federal agencies with incompetent but reliably loyal bootlickers.

Soon the Dear Leader will eventually throw people into prison or bankrupting them for defying him or speaking out against him. Here with this final stage of a dictatorship, it might be critical that the country recognize that it is knee-deep in such a position.

This could also be the moment when Dear Leader is “forced” to use citizen armed militia violence, the legal system, and the military to crush his opponents and terrorize the general public.

As we’re heading down this inevitable path, Hartmann now sees that an inflection point in this second Chump administration would be June 14, the day of the “big, beautiful” parade for the Dear Leader in honor of his 79th birthday, where Little Donnie could drop what’s left of the mask of civility and begins what he considers a “necessary” crackdown to protect himself from being held to account for his corruption and lawbreaking.

Hartmann worries that if the protests are large enough on that day, the “final threads holding our republic together” could be broken. This could happen if Dump’s people infiltrate the demonstrations to provoke violence and cause property damage like what happened during a tiny handful of the George Floyd protests. As you might recall, Dump had considered using the National Guard to shoot protesters then. This could be the final test of America’s will to democracy, Hartmann states. If this doesn’t occur then, it will certainly come over the following year. He wonders: “Do we still have the will, the determination, and the courage to fight one more battle on behalf of democracy?” I seriously wonder myself.

Before I go, I wanted to mention the dark comedy that Elliot and I saw locally today, the film Friendship starring ever-reliable Paul Rudd and lesser-known Tim Robinson as a schlubby suburban dad who suddenly finds himself in the position of being a friend to the way-more-cool Austin Carmichael who recently moves into Craig’s neighborhood. The fun begins when a package is accidentally delivered to Craig Waterman’s house which is meant for Austin, his new neighbor up the block. The usually awkward Craig who thinks going to see a Marvel film is the apotheosis of high-brow entertainment is now pushed to seek out Austin’s friendship by his cancer survivor of a wife (Kate Mara) who is the owner of a small floral business.

It is Robinson’s performance as the off-center Craig that steals the film, easily away from Rudd who is used to doing these male-to-male bonding roles in other bromances. Craig comes across as a borderline psychotic in some very disturbing scenes like the time he curses out a potential client (he works for a digital marketer), the mayor of his town, in a presentation conference for no reason at all. When Austin dumps him for his bizarre behavior, he breaks into Austin’s house and steals a pistol from his former friend’s drawer. This item features prominently in the dark conclusion to this off-kilter film.

It is Austin who introduces Craig to adventure in the form of taking him through abandoned tunnels and treating him to his playing in a rock band and introducing him to his social circle of male friends. This is all very heady to the socially awkward Craig who soon idolizes his new male chum. But the whole scene unravels when Craig does a truly bizarre thing when he’s at Austin’s house hanging out with his bros. It happens when the pair practice some boxing moves in front of the guys and Craig punches Austin when it was certainly not the time to do so. He then ingests a bar of soap that promptly is read as uniquely strange.

The film is written and directed by Andrew DeYoung and it certainly is not a film for everyone since it’s very dark and twisted.

Have a great weekend.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Wednesday, May 28, 2025. This is going to be a brief blog since Elliot and I did go out this evening to have dinner with “Mary” and “Joseph” from Woodmere at Lucky Boy, on Rockaway Turnpike. As always, it was great having food at this local Greek taverna. The piece de resistance is always the place’s fabulous coconut cream pie. We ended our delicious meal – I had the chicken parmigiana with capellini, along with a Greek salad, while Elliot ordered the fish and chips. Joseph also had the fish and chips, while his wife had some similarly delicious dish I can’t recall here. After dinner, we drove to a nearby Target to do some shopping for various sundry items. We came home close to 9:30.

Breaking news: the illegal and unconstitutional tariffs that the newly named president who has been called TACO (which stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out” for his topsy-turvy stand on imposing tariffs or not) has been dealt a death blow by a U.S. federal court that ruled the clueless president overstepped his authority to impose sweeping tariffs that have raised the cost of imports for everyone from giant businesses to everyday Americans. TACO Dump has now been dealt a humiliating blow by the only agency that is this country’s sole guardrail against a lawless insulter in chief, the judicial branch. As sadly expected of TACO Dump, he and his administration has already appealed this unanimous decision by the three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of International Trade that meets in Manhattan. This binding decision is reported in an online CNN article by Ramishah Maruf and David Goldman entitled “US Court blocks Trump from imposing bulk of his tariffs.”

But just as the cock crows, this ridiculous administration appealed the decision tonight, leaving the situation uncertain for consumers and companies and potentially prolonging the battle over whether Dump’s import duties will stand – and possibly reshape the global economy. Too bad TACO Dump will not ever admit defeat – it’s the same fucking story with his never accepting his damn loss in the 2020 presidential election! So now the country – and world – will have to wait until TACO Chump’s case is reviewed by the “Extreme” Court. If it even is, that is!

This low-profile court in Manhattan stopped TACO Dump’s global tariffs that he imposed, citing emergency economic powers, including the “Liberation Day” tariffs he announced on April 2. It also prevents Dump from enforcing his tariffs placed earlier this year against China, Mexico, and Canada, designed to combat the infinitesimal amount of fentanyl – but the Dump administration would have you believe that the drug is being brought into this country by the tons – coming into the United States.

“The court ruled in favor of a permanent injunction, potentially grinding Trump’s global tariffs to a halt before ‘deals’ with most other trading partners have even been reached.”

The order halts TACO Dump’s 30 percent tariffs on China, his 25 percent tariffs on some goods imported from Mexico and Canada, and the 10 percent universal tariffs on most goods coming into the country.

In the wake of this anti-Dump ruling, stock futures surged. Dow futures rose nearly 500 points, or 1.1 percent. The broader S&P 500 futures were up 1.4 percent, and Nasdaq futures were 1.6 percent higher in after-hours trading.

The lawsuit was filed by the libertarian legal advocacy group Liberty Justice Center in
April and represented wine-seller VOS Selections and four other small businesses that claimed they had been severely harmed by the tariffs. The panel came to a unanimous decision, publishing an opinion on the VOS suit and also one by twelve Democratic states brought against the Dump tariffs.

Dump implemented these tariffs without the consent of Congress – who is now groveling before him anyway – by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which gives the president the authority to act in response to unusual and extraordinary threats. But the law plainly does not include any mention of tariffs as a potential action the president can take once IEEPA is invoked.

The lawsuit alleges IEEPA doesn’t give the president the power to enact tariffs in the first place, and even if it was interpreted to, it “would be an unconstitutional delegation of Congress’s power to impose tariffs,” according to a statement.

Here is the humiliating blow to Dump’s self-confidence: the court concurred that he lacked the authority to impose those tariffs even after declaring a national emergency. It stated, “IEEPA does not authorize any of the worldwide, retaliatory, or trafficking tariff orders” in their order released today. It added, “The worldwide and retaliatory tariff orders exceed any authority granted to the President by IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs. The trafficking tariffs fail because they do not deal with the threats set forth in those orders.”

Of course, the TACO Dump White House didn’t concur with the decision. A spokesperson, Kush Desai, said in a statement that: “it is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency. President Trump pledged to put America First, and the Administration is committed to using every lever of executive power to address this crisis and restore American Greatness.” Pure fascist poppycock coming from this administration – nothing more! And Dump’s fascistic deputy chief of staff who has been estranged from his own family because of his far-right extremism, Stephen Miller, was even blunter, posting on X that “The judicial coup is out of control,” not realizing that he and those in the White House are more out of control than this lawful three-panel court.

All I can say is kudos to this less-well-known court for its stunning decision against the purported second king of the United States. Anytime this incompetent buffoon is rendered a decision against him is a good day in America, I say. And today was such a good day!

Have a good Thursday. The weather is not supposed to be nice once more, unfortunately.

And so it went!

And So It Goes

Today is Tuesday, May 27, 2025. In the wake of this so-called president’s disgusting Memorial Day message to the nation, MSNBC anchor Lawrence O’Donnell took a scorched-earth approach to discussing the Orange Cheeto’s inflammatory Memorial Day address on his Truth Social account.

In an online article by Alex Welch for The Wrap, O’Donnell once again stated that “Donald Trump proved once again why he is unworthy to be President of the United States by posting on Memorial Day this poison on social media.” The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell host went on to note, “Think back to Richard Nixon, who was literally driven out of the presidency by the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruling against him. Richard Nixon never once dreamed of using language like that.” He also never, ever ignored Supreme Court or lower court rulings like this jackass has.

O’Donnell was eventually joined by Norm Ornstein, a political scientist and emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, who similarly slammed Chump’s Memorial Day post. “It’s what a narcissistic sociopath would do,” Ornstein bluntly stated. He additionally criticized Dump’s Saturday commencement address at West Point, calling it “unhinged.”

Ornstein explained, “[He] wore his campaign hat and then left before doing what every other president has done when they’ve given that address, which is shake the hands of the people who are graduating from West Point.” Ornstein added, “he said, ‘I have to deal with China and Russia.’ and then went off to play golf.”

“The contempt that the Commander-in-Chief we now have has for our fallen heroes and for emerging military leaders is sickening,” the political scientist concluded. For his part, O’Donnell once again questioned Chump’s mental capacity, calling it “completely inadequate for the presidency on any level, be it intelligence or knowledge or emotional stability or even appreciation of very fundamental things about what it means to be American.” I will now call this so-called president the “insulter in chief” for his egregiously insulting Memorial Day message.

O’Donnell insisted, “That is relentlessly on display nonstop.” I wonder if the legacy press like The New York Times or other prestigious news outlets can write articles on what O’Donnell has bluntly stated on his program last night: That Donald Chump is suffering from dementia. O’Donnell concluded, “Some people want to just keep the focus on Joe Biden and what condition was he in the final year of his presidency, when Joe Biden never, ever ever said anything like what Donald Trump just said.” Again, anybody who deflects the topic away from Dump’s inchoate dementia to discuss a former president’s possible loss of cognitive function should be called out for trying to normalize a deranged current president.

Anyway, it’s late here owing to Elliot and me having dessert downstairs at “Randy” and Burton’s” apartment at 7:30, where we enjoyed chatting with both men over tea, decaffeinated coffee, and some interesting vegan desserts. We also enjoyed seeing Poofy, the boys’ Norwegian Forest cat. Poofy is a large, muscular cat, with a glossy coat and a bushy tail. He was quite friendly with the two of us; he didn’t hide from either of us as we sat in the living room. We started chatting with both Randy and Burton who came in a few minutes late with the desserts that he got at a bakery in Brooklyn. Then Elliot went off into the dining room section to talk with Burton, while I sat on the couch talking to Randy. Elliot claimed that our speech volume was disturbing him, so that’s why he broke away from the four of us. After about two hours, Elliot decided it was time to leave, so we did. I would have stayed a little longer and have tried to talk to both Randy and Burton. But then, I wouldn’t have posted a blog tonight if I had stayed.

As for tomorrow, I might be away from here as well since we’re invited to dinner in Woodmere, Long Island, with “Mary” and “Joseph” at Lucky Boy restaurant, on Rockaway Turnpike. But we’ll see.

Have a good Wednesday.

And so it went!