__________ 

“Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.” 

Joe Kent, Director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center

__________ 

 

March 1, 2026: Can we all stop a moment, in the middle of making fun of Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi, to remember that Donald Trump’s first choice for attorney general in his second term was Matt Gaetz. 

The man was accused of trafficking minors for sex.

___ 

 

The start of a “Golden Age.” 

3/4/26: Damn! Joe Biden did it again! Using his mystery powers, he caused the U.S. to lose 92,000 jobs in February, even though Donald Dumpling is in the second year of his second term in the White House. 

Unemployment ticked up to 4.4%. 

Even worse, the report for December 2025 was reduced to 48,000 jobs added, and January’s job gains were cut by 4,000, to 126,000. 

Worst of all: The U.S. economy has shed jobs in five of the last eight months, which even Fox News can’t spin into any kind of success story. 

 

I remember how happy White House Press Secretary was, back in April 2025, when the economy added 158,000 jobs, and she boasted about Donald’s brilliant job-creating skills. 

The White House called it the start of a “Golden Age.” 

On Fox News, Maria Bartiromo quoted the president, who was telling every, “It’s going to be the best economy anybody has ever seen.” 

Donald was so excited, he hit the caps button in the middle of another Truth Social post: “We’re only in a TRANSITION STAGE, just getting started!!!” he claimed. 

FUN FACT: I fondly remember when my MAGA friends would bash President Obama’s jobs record, saying, “oh, the job participation rate is sooooo low.” 

It can be fun to look at the chart below and point out another problem for the myth of Donald the Jobs Magician. 

 

When Donald took over in January 2017, the job participation rate was 62.8 percent. It did rise to 63.3 percent, even though fewer jobs were added in any of Donald’s four years in his first term, than jobs added in Obama’s last six. And, when Sleepy Joe took over the rate was only 61.4 

Yes, yes, COVID. We know. 

But we all remember how Donald whined and said in 2017, that he had “inherited a mess.” By the time Joe stepped down, the rate was up again, to 62.6 percent, and now Donald is in charge again – and down it goes.

 

* 

WE WILL MISS HER, but Kristi Noem is out as head of the Department of Homeland Security – just because she spent $220 million to make movies touting her great leadership of DHS, and mostly showing her wearing hair extensions, or riding horses. 

Fox News goes with the kind of hard-hitting journalism we have come to expect, with Howard Kurtz explaining: 

We can now openly admit what has been unfolding before our eyes for a year: that Kristi Noem was an utter, complete, total catastrophe, her tenure in charge of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) little more than a self-promoting crusade.

 

She was unqualified for the job from day one, and largely responsible for the awful excesses of ICE and the frustrating failures of FEMA. 

 

President Donald Trump’s decision to fire her, which took way too long, liberates many Republicans to acknowledge what many in the media, including me, along with Democrats and outside critics, have been saying all along: Noem was a slow-motion train wreck.

 

My first question is why, only now, can Fox “openly admit” the truth. Isn’t the job of a news organization to uncover and report the truth? 

Anyway, Noem is out – and so is Corey Lewandowski, who served as her de facto chief of staff and f**k buddy. 

As for the “slow motion train wreck” that was Kristi, she can take consolation in her new government job – which was just made up so she could fill it. Taxpayers will continue to support her. 

Meanwhile, we are left to wonder how she ran a department that could award a $143 million no-bid contract to Safe America Media, a company that had been created only eight days before, and a sub-contracting firm tied to the Strategy Group. 

And what do you know! The CEO of the Strategy Group is the husband of DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin. Strategy Group also won a fat contract from Noem when she was governor of South Dakota – for an ad campaign to attract more workers to South Dakota. 

And in that campaign, Kristi got to dress up as a dentist, plumber and state trooper, and fun was had by all. 

 

* 

YOU COULD SAY that the family values party, the party of Christian nationalism, has been taking a few lumps lately, what with Kristi and Cory banging in the back of an expensive new DHS jet. 

Well, let’s not forget Texas Congressman Tony Gonzalez, now found in a report from the Office of Congressional Conduct, to have been involved in a sexual relationship with a staffer. 

Well, we all know a good conservative Christian could never lie – and so, Tony had denied any improprieties, and the staffer, Regina Santos-Aviles, can’t testify against him, because she set herself on fire last September and died by suicide. 

(You can send flowers or a gift if you go to this link.) 

 

Around that time, she had texted a colleague, “I had affair with our boss and I’m fine.” But clearly, she wasn’t. 

As for the Congressman, he tried the bold approach, insisting that he would not “engage in these personal smears and instead remain focused on helping President Trump secure the border and improve the lives of all Texans.” Gonzales is a married father of six, and Santos-Aviles was married and had a son.  

He also blamed a disgruntled former staffer for trying to stain his sterling reputation – without really addressing what Santos-Aviles said. 

ABC News was good enough to publish a sampling of the text messages Gonzales was sending his aide: 

In a series of texts from May of 2024, Gonzales, a married father of six, repeatedly requests “sexy” photos from Santos-Aviles. The aide seems initially hesitant, writing, “you don’t really want a hot picture of me.”

 

Gonzales continues, saying, “I’m just such a visual person” and “Sorry.”

 

He also appears to ask Santos-Aviles about her sexual preferences. Santos-Aviles replies to the request by saying, “This is going too far boss,” but appears to engage in flirtation, saying, “how long have you thought I was this hot?” 

 

CBS also reported on the texts, with Gonzales asking his aide what her “favorite position” was during sex. 

And can we just note: President Trump had endorsed Gonzales for another term. 

Gonzales has now dropped out of the race and, we guess, will be a stay-at-home dad, watching the kids. 

(Again, you have to be a nitwit not to see why a free press is required.)

___ 

 

3/5/26: Pardoned January 6 rioter, Andrew Paul Johnson, is going back to jail – but this time he’s not getting out anytime soon – that is, unless the president is even a bigger scuzz bucket than I think he is. Johnson has been convicted of raping two minors, one boy, and one girl, both aged 12. 

His sentence: life in prison. 

A second pardon recipient, Jake Lang has been in the news regularly. First, he kicked apart an ice sculpture in Minnesota, and got charged with a felony. Then he brought a roast pig to Gracie Mansion, home of New York City’s Muslim American mayor and then dropped it off in front of a kosher Jewish restaurant to get double his hatred with just one pig – eating pork being against the teachings of Islam and Judaism. 

Finally, video has surface of Lang. 

And that was after he also made anti-Semitic remarks.

___ 

 

3/9/26: Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee announced on X today that he does not like the First Amendment – but does enjoy hating other people: 

 

I am going to assume that Congressman Ogles is too dimwitted to have ever read much American history – because he forgets that Catholics and Jews were once entirely unwelcome in this country, too. 

Also, Mormons had a rough go. 

Well, snake handlers are alright, I guess. 

We should also note that there are perhaps as many as four million Muslims already living in the United States – and since most of them are minding their business, as I type, just like most of the Methodists, or Quakers, or Buddhists or agnostic, I’m not sure why Ogles thinks he gets to judge all the members of the religion and demand that U.S. citizens (which most are) get out.

 

* 

A BIT OF GOOD NEWS: Today, a unanimous jury in Manhattan found the Alexander brothers, Alon, Oren and Tal, guilty on multiple federal charges, including rape and sex-trafficking. 

Eleven victims testified against them in court. 

The brothers have long been a force in New York City luxury real estate circles, and their trail of crime goes back at least as far as 2009. The first victims to blow up the brothers’ schemes came forward in 2024, when Kate Whiteman and Rebecca Mandel filed a lawsuit, and then other victims came forward – and the brothers promptly sued the real estate trade publication that reported on their claims. 

The boys were demanding $500 million for defamation. So, let’s just say, their chances of getting a dime are greatly diminished. 

(Now let’s pray that the president doesn’t pardon the boys.)

___ 

 

3/10/26: It appears the Trump Tax Cuts are still not paying for themselves – and will not, in perpetuity. 

Good luck, grandkids. Uncle Sam is going to leave you a big bag of nothing in his will. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the federal deficit ballooned by one trillion dollars in just the first five months of 2025. 

In February, the federal government borrowed $308 billion.

 

* 

WE DO HAVE “good news” related to money. President Trump has started pushing for a new gold coin to be minted in time for the nation’s 250th birthday. And you will never guess who will be on its face. 

Okay, it’s him: 

 

* 

WE ALSO HAVE bad news to report – assuming you like the idea of a government with three roughly equal branches. 

In part, because of President Trump’s repeated attacks on the courts, including the highest court of all, only 22% of registered voters in a recent poll said they had a “great deal” or “quite a bit” of confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court. 

After the justices struck down Trump’s signature tariff rules, on a 6-3 vote, he vented on Truth Social, complaining, “Our incompetent supreme court did a great job for the wrong people, and for that they should be ashamed of themselves (but not the Great Three!).” That would mean he considered two of the three justices he placed on the court to be “incompetents.” 

The three votes in favor of the tariffs came from Clarence Thomas (who else), Samuel Alito (also, who else) and Brett Kavanaugh.

___ 

 

3/11/26: As a student of history, I am not quick to blame presidents for foreign policy problems – so, I won’t entirely fault Trump for starting a war, which could end well – though I fear it won’t. 

It is grotesque, however, to hear his response to a question asked today, regarding the worst mistake of the war, so far, a missile strike on an Iranian girl’s school that killed 175 students and teachers. A reporter asked Mr. Trump if he had any comment about that attack – which he had previously said was the result of an Iranian missiles going off target. Now a U.S. intelligence report indicates the school was probably hit with a Tomahawk cruise missile. 

“What?” Trump responded. 

“The school in Iran. A new report says the military investigation has found it was the United States that struck the school,” the reporter repeated. 

“I don’t know about it,” Trump replied. And that’s what worries me second most (first: being the deaths of so many innocent people in the school). That is, for once, I believe him. I believe he doesn’t know about it. Because he’s an incurious, narcissistic dolt. He doesn’t care enough to know. 

Donald announced the start of the war from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, on February 28, where he also spent the first Sunday in March. Then he spent the second weekend of the month at Trump National Doral – one of his private clubs in Florida – except that he flew down to his club – then he flew back to Dover Air Force Base to attend the transfer of the remains of the first six dead service members returned to this country – then he wasted more taxpayer money and flew back to Doral again. Then he spent most of Monday, also at Doral, before flying back to D.C.

___ 

 

3/12/26: Donald Trump has now described the attack on Iran as a “a little excursion that will keep us out of war” and says we have already won. He also told a reporter that attacking Iran has been “easier than we thought.” 

(Not counting blowing up a school full of Iranian girls. Right?) 

 

In fact, he insists there’s nothing left to blow up at this point. 

Only the Iranians don’t quite agree with his assessment. Today, after the president suggested that ships should “show some guts” and run the risk of sailing through the Persian Gulf, the Iranians blew up two oil tankers. At least one crew member was killed, and 38 people have been rescued. 

U.S. officials are also reporting that a KC-135 refueling tanker aircraft has crashed in western Iraq, and another was damaged. As of now, status of the crew of the downed plane is unknown. 

Here at home, a terror suspect rammed his explosives-laden truck into a synagogue/school in West Bloomfield, Michigan. Fortunately, he was killed before he could slaughter others. CBS explains: 

In a statement provided … the Department of Homeland Security identified the suspect as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a Lebanese-born U.S. citizen. A source in Michigan's Lebanese American community told CBS News that a strike roughly 10 days prior on the Lebanese village of the suspect's family killed several of his family members, leaving him devastated. 

 

A second terror attack, carried out by a man who had previously been jailed for supporting ISIS, left one student at Old Dominion College dead, and two injured, and the suspect was also killed. 

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones closed today at 46,678, on worries about the effect high oil prices will have on both the U.S. and world economies. On February 6, the Dow topped 50,000 for the first time, and White House Press Secretary Karolyn Leavitt couldn’t have been more happy to announce that Donald J. Trump was the greatest president ever. Also, Joe Biden was a terrible person – lower than bathtub scum. 

Also having a bad month: Kristi Noem has reportedly lost her complimentary membership to Mar-a-Lago, and will now have to pay $1 million, like all the other Fat Cats, if she wants to attend.

___ 

 

3/13/26: Our MAGA friends will no doubt be surprised when they learn that White House advisor and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner is spending time in the Middle East: 

A)   Working on a new peace plan because his old peace plan flopped.

B)    Kissing Benjamin Netanyahu’s ass.

C)   Trying to raise $5 billion for his private equity firm.

(The correct answer: All of the above.)

 

Now, a normal person might think A and C might conflict; and B would just be a foolish way to protect American interests. But this is life in Trumpistan. If, say, the Saudis invest a billion cool ones in Affinity Partners – where Jared runs the show – then the U.S. government might just be willing to provide air defense help for the Saudis in return. Also: air cover for the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, etc. 

It’s a slick move.

 

* 

THANKS mainly to Speaker of the House/Terrible Christian Mike Johnson, a plaque honoring the members of law enforcement who defended the Capitol on January 6, 2021, has finally been installed. 

But Mike wanted to have fun and made sure it would be bolted to a wall in a hallway where visitors cannot go. 

You can’t make this sh*t up. 

Even worse, the Department of Justice, which runs on taxpayer dollars, has been fighting in court all along, first to keep the plaque from being displayed at all, now to have a lawsuit filed by two officers injured that day thrown out. What those officers are suing over is the placement, which they say violates both the spirit and letter of the law, requiring that a plaque be made and then publicly displayed. 

Johnson’s first thought was to have the plaque displayed in the U.S. Capitol’s basement boiler room. 

(Okay that’s a joke. Because he never thought of that.)

___ 

 

3/14/26: Hooray, the Iran War is already won! Donald says so, and Donald never lies. On Monday he called our attacks a “little short-term excursion.” Kind of like when kids plan to take a school field trip to see the art museum. Only in this “excursion” the school gets blown up. 

Nothing to worry about, see! Fighting, the non-fighting President of the United States said, was “very complete, pretty much.” 

Only no one informed the Iranians, and they continued to attack oil fields across the Middle East.

___ 

 

3/15/26: Well, we’re at war and Donald Dumpling is spending another weekend at his private Florida estate. 

Because of course he is.

___ 

 

3/16/26: No telling how long the fight with Iran will last – so let’s just say the dawn of the era of cheap gas has been delayed. 

Nationwide, the average price for a gallon of gas today was $3.72. And Donald Dumpling is still an asshole, at that. 

___ 

 

3/17/26: If you’re a normal American, trying to show up on time and work every Monday, and drive your kids around to practices, and cook dinners, and pay all your bills, you may not be following politics closely. 

I would like to point out that I (an avowed foe of almost all that President Trump does) am not the only person to feel that his tariff policy has been (shall we say) erratic. If you missed it when the U.S. Supreme Court told him his tariff shenanigans were violating the Constitution, I will politely note. 

Chief Justice John Roberts summed up the problem in part, with the following description of how that policy had been implemented. 

Since imposing each set of tariffs, the president has issued several increases, reductions and other modifications. One month after imposing the 10 percent drug trafficking tariffs on Chinese goods, he increased the rate to 20 percent. One month later, he removed a statutory exemption for Chinese goods under $800. Less than a week after imposing the reciprocal tariffs, the president increased the rate on Chinese goods from 34 percent to 84 percent. The very next day, he increased the rate further still, to 125 percent. This brought the total effective tariff rate on most Chinese goods to 145 percent. The president has also shifted sets of goods into and out of the reciprocal tariff framework ([e.g.,] exempting from reciprocal tariffs beef, fruits, coffee, tea, spices and some fertilizers). And he has issued a variety of other adjustments ([e.g.,] extending “the suspension of heightened reciprocal tariffs” on Chinese imports). 

 

Frankly, it was hard for most businesses, and for most consumers to keep up with all the changes, as they came.

___ 

 

“Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation.” 

3/18/26: I think even many of the most faithful MAGA faithful will agree that his has been a difficult few days for Donald J. “I won’t start any foreign wars” Trump. Apparently, he grew tired of ending wars willy nilly, and now he has started his own – and it’s more complicated than he expected. 

As a history teacher, and an avid reader, who does understand something about modern warfare, it is possible that by April 1, the Iranian regime may be crushed and good riddance. The superiority of the U.S. military is on display; and our Israeli “friends” are no slouches, either. 

USMC jet.

Having said that, there is also a good chance that after we blow up big chunks of Iran, that they end up with a new edition of a theocratic regime and continue to massacre their own people. 

Donald, I predict, won’t care. 

In the meantime, our allies are keeping back in this fight because Donald picked it, and he’s a giant asshole. He has mocked NATO’s help in Afghanistan were more than a thousand allied troops were killed. Now he wants NATO to help us again. He asked China to help us clear the blockade of the Straits of Hormuz? 

Huh? 

Plus, I’ll be honest. Israel has been warning that Iran was “weeks” away from having nuclear bombs, starting in 1997, and they have not. Even Joe Kent, Donald’s now-former Director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center” is starting to sound like me – me being a sceptic where Trump’s claims about Iran are involved. 

In his resignation letter, this week, Kent wrote, “I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.” Kent, of course, had the bona fides for his job – if not necessarily the character – since he was a 2020 election denier and liked to dabble in white supremacy talk. 

Trump, of course, had to bash Kent on the way out, telling reporters, “I always thought he was weak on security.” 

Yet, Kent was chosen despite always being weak? 

What complete bozo put him in his job. Must have been Joe Biden… Well, that’s it! As a patriotic American, I am going to go right to Wikipedia, so I can find out when Biden put him in this post. 

And, as I suspected it was … Oh, f**k no! It was DONALD! 

 

Well, then, Mr. Biden gets a pass and even White House Press Secretary and Go-to-Banshee Karolyn Leavitt won’t be able to blame Democrats for Kent’s obvious weakness. Instead, she was forced to describe Kent’s letter as “laughable and it’s insulting.” 

In fact, to hear the Banshee tell it, no one in the White House even knew who this Director of Counterterrorism was. Was he a golfing buddy of the president, or was he a backup singer for Kid Rock? 

“It’s been a while since the president has seen him here at the White House,” she told reporters. “It’s been a while since he’s been involved in the process of the presidential daily briefs, and he’s been actually present for the president’s intelligence briefings. This was an individual who was not involved in any of the discussions pre-operation and throughout this operation.” 

Well, don’t let me nitpick; but one reason he probably hasn’t been seen in the White House much lately is because Donald spends almost every weekend and parts of the rest of the weeks hobnobbing with his Fat Cat pals at Mar-a-Lago. 

So, the question for now is can we knock out Iran before we break the world economy by mistake. 

The Lords of Finance are worried, with the Dow Jones average sinking another 768 points today.

 

* 

IN YET ANOTHER WALLOP to the presidential nuts we are forced to say that the inflation report for February came in much too hot. Wholesale prices for the month were up 0.7%, which, if that trend were to continue, would work out to an increase of 8.4% for an entire year. And that, clearly, would be grim. 

Well, at least the federal deficit is going down, right? Let’s give it a little check. To the Debt Clock we go: 

 

I apologize for being unable to clear the entire screen this time, but as you can see in the upper left corner, the federal deficit has now topped $39 trillion. 

Last July 3, when I checked, we had just passed $37 trillion, with the tab caught spinning at $37,057,124,980,792. 

And the clock kept whirling, and on October 23, 2025, the dials showed we had passed $38 trillion – which is not what Donald said he would do. No, no, no. He was going to tame that Budget Beast! 

You don’t have to be suffering from TDS to know this kind of math doesn’t work – unless we want to leave our descendants holding an empty bag, and if you hoped Donald J. Dumpling would tame the debt, you had reason to hope he would – and maybe hold your nose so as not so smell the racism – and pray. 

Now you know: He’s not going to tame the deficit one bit; and the only people who are sure to come out of the next three years looking good are the superrich folks who pay for the kind of government they want.

___ 

 

“I’m running for Congress to help him finish it.” 

3/19/26: If Mr. Trump’s efforts to reduce the deficit are a giant flop, we can admit his Pardon Business is going gangbusters. 

Assume for a moment that you are very, very rich (okay, you probably aren’t) and you have committed a little fraud. What will the “law and order” president do for you. 

Well, as President John F. Kennedy once said, “Ask not what your country can do, ask what it will cost you to bribe a White House lackey.” While the MAGA faithful were fuming over the threat of transgenders in women’s sports, and immigrants eating their pets, and commies running the Democratic Party, The Dumpling has gone on a pardoning spree. And he doesn’t bother to go through procedures. 

He’s like Oprah, only with pardons. “You get a pardon, and you get a pardon, and you…” 

So, under what circumstances will you, the Convicted Felon, be considered for a pardon or clemency? First: You need money to pay your top-dollar attorneys. Second: You need more money to donate to Donald Trump and his campaigns and causes. Third: It is suspected but not yet proven that you will need money to grease the White House wheels. Fourth, if you have supported Donald in the past – in some way – you will have a chance. In fact, Trump can’t even rule out a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, the #1 enabler of Jeffrey Epstein’s massive sex-trafficking scheme. 

Look, we on the Democratic side hope the Department of Justice can prove Somalis committed fraud in Minnesota. No taxpayer has ever benefited when fraud is committed and the scuzz bag who committed it gets away. So. How about Salomon Melgin? That’s a funny, foreign-sounding name. He probably snacks on cats and dogs. In fact, he was sentenced to seventeen years in jail after he was convicted of stealing $42 million from the Medicare system. 

Well, that would be small potatoes to the fine fraud work committed by Philip Esformes, who ran a massive assisted-living facilities corporation in Florida – where God knows a lot of people love to vote red. Esformes ran a scheme to submit false billings and by the time of his arrest he had walked away with $1.3 billion that you, my dear taxpayer, and I, had to pay to make Medicare work. 

He was looking at twenty years in prison, following his arrest and conviction in 2020; but Donald waved his magic Pardon Wand and spared him a life behind bars. Why? Because Esformes was said to have spent his time in prison working on “prayer and repentance.” But don’t worry! 

He still must pay $5.5 million in restitution. 

In all, Donald Dumpling has pardoned or granted clemency to 70 individuals who were convicted of fraud. 

The New York Times presents an interesting comparison. Are you a Somalian fraudster in Minnesota – and does Donald want to paint a picture of all Somalis as “garbage” (as he called them) and undeserving of living in these United States? Also: It won’t help if you are Muslim and/or black or brown. 

Anyway: 

Take, for instance, the case of Aimee Bock and Salim Said, who were charged as part of the $250 million theft from the federally funded child nutrition program in Minnesota. Federal prosecutors say they used the money “to fund their lavish lifestyles,” adding that the verdict against them “sends a message to the community that fraud against the government will not be tolerated.” 

(Okay, my MAGA friends we Democratic types are happy to see crooks go to jail.)

 

Well, then, you just know that Lawrence Duran, who once owned a Florida mental health care company, deserves to spend a long, long time in jail. In 2011, he and his co-defendants plead guilty to ripping off Medicare to the tune of $205 million. Which, if we adjust that figure for inflation would equal $299.8 million. Prosecutors said at the time that Mr. Duran “billed Medicare for hundreds of millions of dollars in mental health services that were not necessary or never provided.” 

Duran was looking at fifty years in prison. And now he’s not. 

Did you perhaps commit fraud of your own, but testify against Hunter Biden in some way?

You did? Devon Archer, who gave testimony that lead to an investigation into the schemes of the former president’s son, was convicted of “defrauding investors and a Native American tribal entity of tens of millions of dollars.” 

Pardoned. 

Jason Gallanis, a business buddy of Hunter, also testified against him, and then got convicted of fraud of his own. 

 Pardoned. 

Disgraced Congressman George Santos? The guy ripped off everyone from his own roommates, when he was young, to donors to his campaign for office – and he still got a pardon. 

Trevor Milton – convicted of defrauding investors in his electric vehicle startup company – donated, along with his wife, $1.8 million to Donald’s campaigns. 

Pardoned! 

Isabella Herrera donated $3.5 million to Trump’s political campaigns – and did she get a pardon? No she did not. 

But her dad sure did, and all he did was commit wire fraud and bribery along his way to the slammer. 

In fact, her dad, Venezuelan-Italian banker Julio M. Herrera Velutini, was one of three billionaires Donald decided to pardon almost as fast as he had his Pardon Pen back in his hand for a second term. 

He decided to pardon Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering on his crypto platform. 

And he pardoned longtime English soccer club owner Joe Lewis, who had pleaded guilty to insider trading charges. 

And he pardoned Isabella’s dad, even before he could stand trial on charges of committing campaign finance violations. 

(I am spit-balling here, but I am guessing Herrara Velutini did not donate to many Democrats as part of his alleged felonious schemes.) 

Eliyahu Weinstein was convicted twice of defrauding private investors and still had his sentence commuted. Clearly, Mr. Weinstein had learned his lesson and would go free and sin no more. 

Except that the “lesson” he learned was that crime does pay, and he was soon arrested and convicted again, this time for tricking investors and running a giant Ponzi scheme. This time he got 37 years in prison for his crimes. 

Adriana Camberos was convicted in 2021 for a scheme involving selling fake energy drinks, but Donald commuted that sentence. In 2024, she and her brother were convicted of defrauding food wholesalers – and Donald had to pardon her again. Her brother also skated out of jail. 

I know at least one of my MAGA friends has told me that I suffer from TDS, Trump Derangement Syndrome. I don’t think I do. Because I don’t like crooks. I don’t want a fraudster who supports Trump to get away with my tax dollars, nor a Somali immigrant fraudster, either. I don’t want leprechauns to get away with committing fraud against private investors. 

Consider the odd case of Steve Bannon, who ran a scheme that defrauded the MAGA faithful during Donald’s first term in office. Steve and three co-conspirators convinced the Red Hat battalions that if they donated a few million dollars to a worthy cause, then Steve’s new company would use the money to build a wall on the border with Mexico – and America would be saved. 

So they took in $25 million and spent it wisely, mostly on themselves, and the only part of the wall the crooks ever built fell over not long after it went up. It somehow didn’t matter and Bannon got a pardon, I suspect because he knew too much about Donald’s criminal behavior in the days leading up to the January 6, 2021, assault on Capitol Hill. And bizarrely, Bannon’s three co-conspirators did not. During Donald’s first term there were still people who surrounded him who had scruples and he thought it best to wait till his last day in office, January 19, 2021, to pardon Bannon. 

That same day, almost under cover of dark, you might say, Donald pardoned Elliot Broidy, his friend and advisor, who had taken foreign money and lobbied to get a Malaysian politician out of a conviction for looting funds from his own people. 

Ken Kurson, a friend of Jared Kushner got a pardon – but not for committing fraud, for once! All he did was do a little cyber-stalking during a bitter divorce. 

Then President Trump pardoned Jared Kushner’s dad, Charles, which shows you that blood is thicker than water – and also more important than justice. 

Then Donald pardoned the ex-husband of Fox News Liar Judge Jeanine Pirro, as a favor to her and their children – and all her ex, Andrew Pirro, ever did was commit tax fraud, which if it had been me, I would still be camping in jail. 

Other pardons and commutations, in either Trump’s first term, or so far in his second, include Rep. Rick Renzi, an Arizona Republican, sentenced to three years for corruption and money laundering. 

Donald had so much fun pardoning former GOP lawmakers that he did it again with his Sharpie pen. Chris Collins, who represented a district in New York, when he wasn’t busy with insider trading schemes, spent two months behind bars – but got out 24 months early when the president pardoned his ass. 

(Believe it or not, Collins is planning to run for Congress again in 2026, with the slogan, “I helped President Trump start the fight in 2016. I’m running for Congress to help him finish it.”) 

And former-Congressman Duncan Hunter, another Republican, got a pardon, even though he had become famous for spending campaign donations on luxury trips for his family and himself. In one famous incident, he used campaign cash to pay $625 to buy a plane ticket to Italy for the family pet, a bunny named Eggburt. 

That one was hard to top – and just a fraction of the $200,000 the Hunter family admitted to misusing. 

But Trump’s pardons can’t be stopped. He has pardoned Steve Stockman of Texas, another Republican congressman who turned out to be a crook. As U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick explained in 2018, “At trial, the government proved to the jury that former Congressman Stockman ran his campaign and fraudulent charities to simply enrich himself [emphasis added] and defrauded well-meaning donors. This type of corruption by public officials gives our entire democratic system a black eye.” 

Stockman got hit with ten years in prison and an order to repay more than a million dollars, much of that loot meant to fund charities who could have used it to do good work. In all, he got nicked on 23 felony counts.

___ 

 

3/20/26: Strange but true: With oil prices skyrocketing around the world, and everyone praising the wisdom of Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Iran again – after obliterating Iran’s nuclear capabilities last June – a slight hiccup is heard. Or perhaps a loud flatulent eruption at Mar-a-Lago. 

Once again, Donald Dumpling has flown the coop and will spend his third weekend of the war at his private estate. That would be three in a row. 

The geniuses who brought you America’s latest war have now decided to “un-sanction” Iranian oil. No joke! They will allow the Iranians to sell oil – to keep prices worldwide down. Then they will drop expensive ordinance on Iranians who might be spending the money to build more bombs or fire missiles at people they don’t like. 

Such as U.S. troops. 

Also, sanctions on Russian oil have been lifted for the same reason – despite the fact that Russia is helping Iran to target our planes, ships, soldiers and bases. But not Trumps. Trumps never enlist and fight. In other news, Russia will continue to murder Ukrainians and will now be able to spend more $$$ on that cause.

 
In time of war, some leaders play golf.

 

* 

SINCE WE ALL WANT to know about what’s going on with the war, we should be happy to report that a federal judge has ruled that new Pentagon rules were an attack on freedom of the press. That new policy had been implemented – perhaps to keep any stories about Pete Hegseth getting drunk – out of the headlines. 

Basically, Pentagon reporters had to sign an agreement not to report on any news that the Pentagon didn’t like. 

Most reporters refused and were then barred from the premises – although a few right-wing bootlickers signed the pledge. That would include Laura Loomer and former Congressman Matt Gaetz. 

The New York Times sued and just won. 

As the Washington Post reports, “Senior U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman said in his ruling that the ongoing war with Iran made it ‘more important than ever that the public have access to information from a variety of perspectives about what its government is doing.’” 

 

FUN FACT: The stock market continued to slide on Friday, with the Dow Jones average sinking to 45,577. 

(Somebody should let White House Press Secretary Karolyn Leavitt know.)

 

* 

Measles man. 

WE CAN now report that measles cases in the U.S. total 1,487 so far in 2026. That makes this year second worst, going all the way back to 2000, when the disease was reported as being eradicated in all fifty states. Last year was the worst by far – with 2,284 cases. So, this year is shaping up to be even worse. 

Third place goes to 2019, with 1,274 cases – that also being one of Donald’s years in office. I think we can award the president the new title of “Measles Man.” 

(By comparison, there were only 504 measles cases total during Joe Biden’s four years in office.)

 

* 

IN BONUS NEWS, the State of Florida has been working hard to free school children in that state from vaccine mandates – including for measles, of course. Also: mumps and rubella. We want all young Americans to have a chance to experience the fun of measles, mumps and rubella. 

But wait! There’s more. The Florida Department of Health wants to end the mandate that requires kids to be vaccinated against polio. If you are too young to remember the fear that disease once struck in American hearts, we should remind you. Polio used to strike tens of thousands of American children every year, with 58,000 cases, leading to 3,000 deaths in 1952 alone. The disease was always worse in summers – largely because strains of the virus can be found in soil – and often lead to shriveled muscles, kids walking with canes for the rest of their lives, kids no longer able to breath on their own and doomed to survive in iron lungs, and (as noted) death. 

Even this blogger – who remembers the fear we children felt, growing up in the 50s – did not know that diphtheria was an even greater scourge – killing one of every ten children infected. 

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“Our better angels like Bob.” 

3/21/26: Robert Mueller, the former head of the F.B.I. (and a man once confirmed by a Senate vote of 100-0), a combat veteran, with a Bronze Star and Purple Heart to his credit, for his service during the Vietnam War, has died. 

Well, stay classy, President Tru… 

Oh, no. He had to hop on Truth Social and remind us (which he does almost daily) what a giant prick he is. “Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead,” Donald posted. “He can no longer hurt innocent people!” 

In fact, Mueller’s investigation of Trump’s ties with Russians during his first campaign led to the conviction of several of Donald’s bosom buds.

 

That forced Donald to cover for them – and promise them pardons if they were good. That would include General Michael T. Flynn, Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, George Papadopoulos, George Nader, and Michael Cohen (all convicted for their crimes), and Steve Bannon, who simply refused to show up before Congress and testify. 

Ty Cobb – who represented Trump 45 during his battles with Mueller – but came to realize what a crook his client was, responded to Trump 47 the way any decent human being would: “What the president said today, of course, is petty, shameful, despicable, and undignified,” he said. “Sadly, that is the president we have. But fortunately, in American history, we’ve had people like Bob Mueller, and hopefully our better angels like Bob can get us beyond the fascism that we’re experiencing at this moment.” 

(Well said, Mr. Cobb, well said.)

 

* 

IN EVEN MORE bonus news, North Carolina Senate Leader Phil Berger, Trump-endorsed candidate for another term, has apparently been defeated in the GOP primary, earlier this month. 

The first tally of votes showed him losing by two (2), and a recount now shows him trailing by twenty-three. 

In the first count of votes, Sam Page piled up 13,077 to Berger’s 13,075. So, typically, a partial recount showed that the initial tally was fundamentally correct – as almost every recount this blogger has checked in the last ten years does. 

Berger is now requesting a full recount – which is his right.

___

 

FUN FACT: Donald Trump’ approval rating has slumped to a new low, standing today at 41.8 percent. 

 

* 

CLIMATE CHANGE is in the news again as scientists warn that the problems they had predicted are starting to get worse. 

Or as non-scientist Donald J. Trump says, it’s a “hoax.” Just scientists pushing the Green New Deal Scam. 

Scientists warned that temperatures would begin to rise, the rainfall would be heavier, and that glaciers around the world would melt faster than ever. 

“Things are getting really outside of what humans have ever seen [emphasis added, unless otherwise noted],” Friederike Otto, a professor of climate science at Imperial College London, told The New York Times. “Almost every part of the world is experiencing these extreme events.” 

Ocean temperatures, for example, continue to rise, causing worldwide bleaching of coral 'reefs, with a concomitant decline in fishing stocks. Ah, but who cares about fish! We’ve got the new Trump gold coins. 

In Antarctica, scientists warn that the Thwaites Glacier is beginning to crumble. If it breaks apart, sea levels worldwide could rise two feet in just a few decades. This blogger will be “a-moldering in the grave.” But Miami, Florida, which sits only six feet above sea level will be in dire straits. 

Especially at high tides.

___ 

 

3/24/26: Good news, America, according to the Sometimes-First Lady, who is rarely seen doing much of anything, we have another Trump getting interested in politics. That would be Barron, largest of all Trump’s at 6-foot-9. 

“He gives advice to his father,” she says. 

What the youngest scion is not getting interested in is enlisting to do his part in the Iran War. In fact, Melania has made it clear. Appearing on Fox News Business to get in a plug for her new documentary, she said of her son, “You need to be there for a child nonstop, especially when they need you, especially at that age that Barron is.” So, he’ll be staying put in D.C., where mom can make sure that he doesn’t get hurt. The biggest risk he’ll ever take is probably walking through low doors. 

(The Trump family tradition lives on!)

___

 

3/25/26: This week, in one of the dumbest moves of all time, Team Trump agreed to pay a French company $1 billion to walk away from two leases to build wind farm projects off the East Coast of the United States. The company promises, instead, to invest in fossil fuel opportunities, instead.

___ 

 

3/27-29/26: Donald Dumpling spent the last weekend of March, and the fourth weekend of the war by jetting off to Mar-a-Lago once more. That made his record a perfect 4-for-4. 

He even spent parts of both Saturday and Sunday at his own golf club in Palm Beach. Four for fore?

___ 

 

3/30/26: As I have repeatedly said, I know many fine people who still support Donald J. Trump. I don’t know how that’s possible, but I do know these people are not racists or anti-Semites, nor haters of other stripes. 

Nevertheless, I believe (stealing an idea I saw the first time Donald ran for office) that if you are a racist, you’re going to love Donald J. Trump. 

Today, we learn that Kai Schwemmer, newly appointed political director for College Republicans of America, has had a few strange ideas that (until recently) he was more than happy to share. 

As always, the free press keeps doing what the free press does best – uncovering the truth. It turns out young Mr. Schwemmer had posted previously a few gems of thought: 

He wanted all his friends and fans to know, after he had a DNA test, that he was thrilled to know, “I’m 0% Jewish.” 

In fact, when one of his online followers asked if he could call him “our Mormon Nick Fuentes,” Kai wasn’t at all inclined to push back, Fuentes being a big fan of Adolf Hitler, who makes jokes about the Holocaust. Schwemmer used to broadcast on Fuentes’ own platform, Cozy.tv – after respectable media platforms banned his brand of anti-Semitic hate. So, you figure Kai knew his target audience well. 

And if Jews weren’t out to get you, or ruin the world, gays, Schwemmer wanted us to know were “weaponizing” gyms “to give you Aids.” 

(I’m not sure what kind of gym he was attending, to be frank.)

 

Finally, Schwemmer appeared on a broadcast with Fuentes, and later said Nick “woke me up to immigration” which can’t mean anything good. It’s like saying Stephen Miller is your role model on any topic at all. At one point, Kai was asked about Fuentes, and responded, “Yes, I am. I am a fan of Nick.” 

(Well, who doesn’t like Holocaust jokes!) 

And if you ever wonder why women don’t vote Republican much these days, consider Kai, who liked his fans to know that he was “very much an anti-universal suffrage guy.” Let women stay home, not vote, and maybe knit socks.