Ben
Franklin:
“There are two passions
which have a powerful influence on the affairs of men. These are ambition and avarice; the love of
power and the love of money.”
Alexander Hamilton:
“When avarice takes the lead in a
state, it is commonly the forerunner of its fall. How shocking is it to
discover among ourselves, even at this early period, the strongest symptoms of
this fatal disease.”
John Adams warned of the
“Gangrene of avarice.”
 |
Avarice: It's who Trump is. |
June 2025: THE DEDICATED BLOGGER has been forced to accept the bitter truth. Keeping up with Donald Trump (a.k.a. “Donald Dumpling”) during his second term has been a herculean task. This has much to do with the fact that anyone with scruples is gone from the White House, under Trump 47.
Only the
soulless and the sycophants remain – some of Trump’s most loyal aides being one
and the same.
 |
November 1, 1952: The United States explodes the first hydrogen bomb. |
Once
again, we will default to the HOT/NOT HOT format to bring what order out of
chaos we may.
***
A chronology of Iran and other nuclear nations.
THERMONUCLEAR HOT – Bombs and missiles: First, Israel attacks Iran, claiming the Iranians are weeks or days away from having enough enriched uranium to produce their own atomic bomb. Iranian defenses are quickly crippled; but they strike back at targets in Tel Aviv and across the tiny Jewish nation.
Here, it might be wise to remind ourselves that Bibi Netanyahu has long been warning everyone that Iran is just minutes – days – weeks – months – years – from getting a nuclear weapon:
1992: He claims Iran is “three to five years” away from having the bomb.
1995: Iran is “three to five years” away, he says, again.
1996: Iran, says Bibi, is “extremely close” to having nukes, and “catastrophic consequences” will result, if the Iranians achieve their goal.
(The U.S. government believes Israel has possessed nuclear weapons for fifty years.)
1998: In related news, Pakistan explodes its first nuclear weapon – to offset what it sees as a threat from India.
(India explodes its first atomic bomb in 1974).
2003: President George W. Bush warns the world that Iraq is in possession of weapons of mass destruction, and that claim is used to justify a U.S. invasion. No such weapons are ever found.
(We all remember how that worked out.)
2006: In an interview with Glenn Beck, Netanyahu tells listeners that Iran is like Germany under Hitler. Or like David Koresh, the cult leader who died with dozens of his followers at Waco, Texas. The Iranians, he says, want “to obliterate America,” want “to obliterate America’s allies,” want “to take over the world’s oil supply.” He warns that the Iranians want nuclear weapons “with which they can dominate the world.”
At the time, the U.S. government is cutting back its stockpile of nuclear weapons but still has 7,853.
(It would seem unlikely that Iran could ever “dominate the
world.”)
2006: North Korea tests its first nuclear weapon.
2012: Netanyahu cries wolf again, insisting that Iran is just “a few months away” from having its own weapons of mass destruction.
2015: President Obama agrees to a deal with Iran to halt enrichment of uranium to levels necessary to make an atomic weapon. Netanyahu claims this has “opened a pathway to the bomb.”
(Did we mention that Iran was “a few months away,” three years
ago?)
2017: Obama
leaves office. Iran still has no bomb. Trump takes over. North Korea keeps
firing missiles to prove that it could hit the continental United States, if it
wanted. Donald promises “fire and fury like the world has never seen” if the North
keeps threatening the U.S. with attack.
May 2018: President Trump withdraws from the deal with Iran. “The Iran Deal,” he grumbles “was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.”
(He promises to work out a better deal!)
June 2018: Mr. Trump meets with Kim Jong-un, the homicidal North Korea leader. The president claims the meeting went great. In an interview with Greta Von Susteren, he gushes in describing Kim: “He’s got a great personality. He’s a funny guy, he’s very smart, he’s a great negotiator. He loves his people, not that I’m surprised by that. I think that we have the start of an amazing deal. We’re going to denuke North Korea.”
September 2018: Trump says he and Kim “fell in love” and North Korea is going to hand over all its nukes.
February
2019: Mr. Trump claims that he has worked out a deal with North Korea – and he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
January 2020: Standing beside Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump reveals his Middle East Peace Plan, which he calls “the deal of the century.”
(It’s a Neville Chamberlain “peace for our time” kind of moment.)
September 2020: Trump, Netanyahu, and the leaders of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, sit down to sign the Abraham Accords. “We’re here this afternoon to change the course of history,” Donald says. “After decades of division and conflict, we mark the dawn of a new Middle East.”
“Thanks to the great courage of the leaders of these three countries, we take a major stride toward a future in which people of all faiths and backgrounds live together in peace and prosperity,” the president insists. The accords “will serve as the foundation for a comprehensive peace across the entire region.”
(Trump presents the Israeli leader with a golden key to the
White House.)
2021: Donald leaves office (albeit not without first helping stir up a devastating attack on democracy).
(The Palestinians never sign the Abraham Accords.)
(Trump never gets a deal done with Iran.)
(North Korea never surrenders a single nuke.)
(Trump never does win a Nobel.)
January 20, 2021: President Biden takes office. Four years later, when he leaves the White House, Iran still has no nuclear weapons.
2023: Hamas launches a surprise attack on Israel, killing 1,195. Israel responds by pulverizing the Gaza Strip, killing an estimated 57,000 Palestinians.
2024:
Candidate Trump runs for a second term on the promise to keep the U.S. out of
any Middle East wars.
January 20, 2025: In his Inaugural Address, Trump announces, “We will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end – and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.”
FUN FACTS:
The first atomic bomb, dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, killed 78,000 Japanese. That bomb had an explosive power estimated to be 15 kilotons (a kiloton being equivalent to 1,000 tons of TNT.)
The
second atomic bomb fell on Nagasaki on August 9, and another estimated 60,000
to 80,000 people were killed.
 |
Two badly burned survivors of the attack on Hiroshima. |
Modern hydrogen bombs have an explosive power measured in megatons – that is 1,000,000 tons of TNT.
No nation, in the last eighty years, has deployed an atomic bomb – for painfully obvious reasons.
It is
estimated that at the very moment Donald delivered his second Inaugural Address,
the nine nuclear powers possessed more than 12,000
atomic weapons.
The United States and Russia both have more than 5,000 nuclear weapons. China is in third place with 600. France had 290, the United Kingdom has 225, India has 180, Pakistan has 170, and North Korea has 50.
It is estimated that Israel possesses 90 nuclear weapons, with at least 50 designed to be delivered by land-based Jericho missiles.
Five other members of NATO are believed to be “hosting” nuclear weapons, which is kind of wild.
Both Russia and the United States possess additional “tactical nuclear weapons” for battlefield uses. Some are estimated to have an explosive power as high as 300 kilotons – which is kind of nutty, if you think it over.
A single atomic bomb exploded over New York City (it is better to explode bombs above a city and not let the ground absorb any of the power of the blast) would kill an estimated 583,160 people.
Even if an atomic blast didn’t kill you, the electromagnetic pulse created would fry your car’s computers; and you and millions of others would be hoofing it to work every day.
According to one estimate:
A 1.4
Megaton bomb launched about 250 miles above Kansas would destroy most of the
electronics that were not protected in the entire Continental United States.
During the brief return to atmospheric testing in 1962, a 1.4 megaton nuclear
weapon was detonated over Johnston Island at an altitude of about 250 miles.
The effects of EMP were observed in Hawaii, 800 miles east of the detonation.
Streetlights and fuses failed on Oahu and telephone service was disrupted on
the Island of Kauai.
Scientists
believe that an all-out nuclear war would lead to a “nuclear winter,” as all the smoke, and
dust of what used to be cities, and the ashes of untold numbers of human beings,
animals, insects, trees and plants filled the sky, severely reducing the amount
of light that reached the Earth’s surface.
Russia
could, if it desired, hit every town and city in the United
States, with a population of more than 5,000, and still have several hundred atomic
weapons left over, maybe to strike Disney World.
BLOGGER’S
NOTE:
The humble gentleman who resides in Glendale, Ohio would not normally fault a U.S.
president for whatever other nations do – since a president is often no more
than a powerful spectator, when it comes to what other nations do.
Yet, Trump,
himself, has always been quick to blame his predecessors, while oddly unwilling
to accept even a wisp of blame if bloodshed does erupt.
He has
said repeatedly that the war in Ukraine would not have started if he had been president
in 2022. By the same logic, since this war with Iran started when his lard ass
was plunked down in the Oval Office, by Trumpian logic, he merits blame.
When I
work on this post, on June 23, A grand total of 230 days had passed since
Donald was elected on November 5, 2024, at which time he promised to end the
fighting in Ukraine in one day.
100 MILLION DEGREES HOT: And that’s Celsius. According to Fox News, President Trump (when not busy golfing) had been considering using a nuclear bomb to take out Iran’s nuclear facility at Fordo, buried deep underground. But don’t worry. It would only be a “tactical nuclear weapon.”
If Donald had the urge.
NOT HOT – Working: President Trump bags his job early Friday afternoon, June 20, and heads for his private club at Bedminster, New Jersey.
Where he is expected to spend his time…playing more golf.
(Donald gives the go-ahead for a strike on Iran the next day.)
June 2025: THE DEDICATED BLOGGER has been forced to accept the bitter truth. Keeping up with Donald Trump (a.k.a. “Donald Dumpling”) during his second term has been a herculean task. This has much to do with the fact that anyone with scruples is gone from the White House, under Trump 47.
Only the soulless remain.
 |
Stephen Miller. |
Once
again, we will default to the HOT/NOT HOT format to bring what order out of
chaos we may.
***
HOT –
Hate posting: The Dumpling displays his lack class, coupled with disdain for a
free press. On Truth Social, he squeezes in time to type: “Why does Fox News
allow failed TV personality Jessica Tarlov to ‘soil’ The Five? Her voice, her
manner, and above all else, what she says, are a disgrace to television
broadcasting.”
___
NOT HOT – Accuracy: President Trump also spent time hate-posting about Fox News opinion polls.
On June 18, he announced proudly that he had the highest approval rating ever seen for any president past, present and to come (I exaggerate only slightly) at 56%. Then Fox did a story, based on its polling, and had Trump at 46% - including a 46% approval rating on his handling of immigration. On handling of foreign policy, Donald scored 42%, on the economy, 40%, and on inflation, a woeful 34%.
Naturally,
the president exploded, like the crabby old man that
he is, and all but shouted at Fox News reporters, “Get off my White House lawn!”
In fact, he started off by insisting that Fox was wrong, and he won the 2020
election. “The Crooked FoxNews Polls got the Election WRONG, I won by much
more than they said I would, and have been biased against me for years,” he complained.
“They are always wrong and negative. It’s why MAGA HATES FoxNews, even though their anchors are GREAT. This has gone on for years, but they never change the incompetent polling company that does their work.”
So, the hard-working blogger went back to check. He looked at the final polling numbers for Real Clear Politics in 2024. The last Fox poll had Trump winning by 50% to 48%, close to a perfect call.
Trump won 49.8% of the vote. Harris trailed at 48.3%.
(Trump calls that a “landslide,” because half the time he sounds
like a delusional nutcase.)
You could go back to 2020, too. In that election, Fox got Biden’s vote total just about right, predicting 52% (he scored 51.4%), but did underestimate the share The Dumpling would win. They thought he’d get 44% (wherein reality, he had 46.9%) But as all the polls predicted in 2020, Trump lost.
___
HOT – Fat
cats: Ordinary Americans will be thrilled to learn that the ultra-rich had an
excellent year in 2024, when (according to Republicans) “commie’ Democrats were
in charge. For instance, Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies had the best time of all,
banking $6.8 billion. Brian Armstrong, a crypto king, pulled
down $523.6 million. Tony Xu of DoorDash didn’t need tips. He took home $313.8
million. Brian Niccol of Starbucks received $95.8 million in compensation.
___
NOT HOT – Average Americans: In 2024, 1-in-4 consumers had to rely on “buy now, pay later” plans to afford groceries (i.e.: they charged cereal and canned corn on their credit cards.)
___
HOT:
Still measles! As of June 20, the U.S. had logged 1,227 cases of measles, the
second worst year since 2000, when the disease was declared eradicated in the
United States. That year, the only 85 cases involved Americans who had traveled
overseas, or been infected by people who had.
___
Elon and The Dumpling – all out of love.
NOT HOT – Bromance: To start the month, we learned that the World’s Richest Man, Elon Musk, was leaving DOGE behind, after laboring for Team Trump for less than six months. Trump wished him well – and gave him a golden key to the White House, in a tasteful embossed box. Then Elon went home and started hate-posting on X. He called the president’s “Big Beautiful Budget Bill” a “disgusting abomination,” and warned that it would add several trillions to the federal deficit.
___
HOT – Conspiracy thinking: Musk also suggested on X, that Trump may have been replaced by a body double.
(If anyone had motive –it was Melania.)
___
HOTTER: Elon was just warming up. Next, he called for Trump to be impeached, insisting his name appears in secret government files related to disgraced pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
HOT-A-MA-TOT: The prickly president replied,
on Truth Social, that lawmakers should “terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies
and Contracts.”
___
HOT-A-MA-TOT #2: Steve Bannon joined the battle, and called for President Trump to deport Elon, and to deny him due process, and maybe give him a wedgie as he boarded the plane back to South Africa.
Or maybe El Salvador.
“I am of
the strong belief that he is an illegal alien,” Mr. Bannon said of Mr. Musk,
and we all know that “belief,” not evidence, is good enough to get anyone Trump
doesn’t like deported these days.
___
HOT-FOOTING-HOT: President Dumpling suggests that Musk suffers from Trump Derangement Syndrome and may have “gone crazy.”
(No word on whether he has demanded that Musk return his golden
key.)
___
HOT – Active-duty troops sent to blue states: Normally, U.S. troops are not sent into states unless governors request help, for example during natural disasters, and usually, troops are from the National Guard, and units remain under state control. (If you remember what happened at Tiananmen Square in China in 1989, or know about military takeovers in places like Myanmar, or the regular coups in South American countries, you can understand why the U.S. Constitution and federal laws limit a president’s ability to deploy the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, etc., in states where troops are not wanted.
Trump? He
ignored all precedent and sent active-duty Marines to Los Angeles. Because he’s
an authoritarian at heart.
___
NOT HOT – The Third Amendment. That amendment bans the quartering of troops in private homes and was a natural reaction by our Founding Fathers to King George III’s tactic of sending Redcoat soldiers to cities like Boston, to crush dissent.
 |
| Using troops to quell protest - 1770 style. |
___
NOT HOT
– Checks and balances. (See above.)
___
NOT HOT – Class and common decency: Don Jr. posts what he thinks is a funny meme, calling for the shooting of protesters in L.A. “Make Rooftop Koreans Great Again,” he posts, along with a picture.
That picture harkens back to the 1992 riots in the city, when police battered Rodney King almost to death, and were still found innocent of any wrongdoing. Tensions between Korean store owners and black protesters exploded, and some store owners brought rifles for protection.
Which may be fine.
The president’s son joking about killing protesters is not. Junior has the same level of empathy as his dad.
That is: The same as a mushroom
___
NOT HOT – Rep. Randy Weber: The GOP congressman from Texas channels a little Don Jr. when he shows up for a radio interview and starts cracking “jokes.” Commenting on his beloved president’s plan to pay illegal immigrants a $1,000 to self-deport, he suggests flying them back to their home countries. Once overhead, however, you open an exit door and offer them a choice: money or a parachute.
Weber could
make Adolf Hitler laugh.
 |
A regular comedian - Congressman Weber. |
___
HOT: Frankly, gun sales are always hot in this country. We are on pace
for 15.5 million firearms to be sold this year.
___
NOT HOT
– Child and adolescent safety. A study of gun deaths, prior to and since a
Supreme Court ruling in 2010, which made it harder for local governments to
restrict gun ownership, reveals a festering problem. In states which loosened gun
laws homicides and suicides increased. The average age of the youngest victims
in all types of shootings, including accidents (23,000 fatalities), was
fourteen. In addition, “Three of four school
shootings are committed with a weapon taken from the home of the
family or a close relative [emphasis added, unless otherwise noted].”
___
HOT – Staff members at the National Institute of Health: A letter signed by several dozen employees at N.I.H. sounded alarm. “We dissent to administration policies that undermine the N.I.H. mission, waste public resources, and harm the health of Americans and people across the globe,” they explained. These concerns, had been raised repeatedly, since Team Trump took over, they added, “yet we remain pressured to implement harmful measures.”
Funding
for more than two thousand studies has been cut. Clinical trials have been
halted, so that patients enrolled, for example, in studies of kidney disease, are
suddenly told, “Hey, we’re not going to continue with this trial, that might
lead to life-saving treatments for you or others.”
You
should just go home and die.
___
HOT, AS ALWAYS – Planet Earth: Scientists warn that “atmospheric thirst” is making droughts more common and making them worse. Most drought studies have focused on changes in precipitation. (The news isn’t good there either). Now experts are considering drying patterns from 1901 to 2022. Atmospheric thirst is a measurement of evaporation, which is affected by temperatures (increasing yearly, round the globe), wind, humidity and solar radiation. Drought has been spreading since the 1980s, but the period from 2018-2022 has been especially bad. Worldwide, the area affected by droughts increased by 74% in that period.
 |
The planet gets hotter and drier every year. |
___
NOT HOT
– Geography! President Trump announces a new round of travel bans, blocking all individuals
from Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea,
Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen from entering the U.S. Observers
note that, since 1989, there is no country named “Burma,” meaning people
from Myanmar might be able to sneak past the TSA folks.
___
NOT HOT
– Allies: The bans are also bad policy, since refugees from Afghanistan, who
helped us during two decades of fighting, or their relatives, are desperately
seeking asylum.
___
EVEN NOT
HOTTER: On further thought, President Doofus announces that he may ban travel
from 36 more countries. These would include: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda,
Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire,
Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Ethiopia, Egypt,
Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger,
Nigeria, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe,
Senegal, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia
and Zimbabwe.
___
“Founded as a Christian nation.”
HOT – Hateful stupidity: Congresswoman Mary Miller is furious when a “Muslim” delivers the morning prayer in the U.S. House of Representatives. This should have “never been allowed,” she howls.
First, we should point out that Giani Singh, a Sikh religious leader, is not a Muslim. And Miller is a bonehead.
In addition to the stupidity of Miller’s comments, someone needs to explain to Rep. Bonehead that the First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion, almost without limit. (Human sacrifice not included.)
Miller grumbled that the United States was “founded as a Christian nation” and insisted “our government should reflect that truth.”
We should point
out that in Colonial America, Catholics were banned entirely in some places. Baptists
could be whipped in New England colonies by other Christians for their flawed
views on when to baptize, Quakers could be executed, and witch-burning was a
fad. Freedom of religion was often necessary to protect Christians from
other Christians.
Antisemitism
was pretty much accepted everywhere our forefathers and foremothers, and
fore-in-laws went.
___
HOT – Hitler.
Let’s not forget the time Rep. Miller
gave a shout out to the Nazi madman, during a speech to “Moms for America.” On January 5, 2021, just one day before the
attack on Capitol Hill, she fumed, “This is the battle. Hitler was right on one
thing. He said, ‘Whoever has the youth has the future.’”
Sure. Even if the future includes the Holocaust.
 |
Rioter, center, sprays police with chemical irritants. |
___
Will smooch for work.
NOT HOT – Government
job prospects for non-MAGA folks: We now have a new “loyalty test” to determine
whether a candidate can be hired to serve as an
air traffic controller, an FBI agent, or a park ranger.
The prospective hire must complete several essays, including:
“How would you help advance the president’s executive orders and policy priorities in this role?”
(Best answer: “I
would kiss Trump’s ass, without questioning why or when. And I would enjoy
doing so.”)
“Identify one or two relevant executive orders or policy initiatives that are significant to you, and explain how you would help implement them if hired.”
(Best answer:
“I would personally like to work for ICE, and wear a mask, and shoot people
with rubber bullets if they protest, just because we snatched high school kids
at their graduation parties. I think it would be awesome to deport them to
places like El Salvador, even if they are originally from Belarus, and make
sure they rot in maximum security prisons.”)
“How has your commitment to the Constitution and the founding principles of the United States inspired you to pursue this role within the federal government? Provide a concrete example from professional, academic or personal experience.”
(Best answer:
“I have read the Constitution at least once, I think, in, like, fifth grade
social studies class, or maybe it was art. I think there should be only one
branch of government, not three. And that one branch shall be the “President
Trump Branch,” and we shall all smooch the president’s posterior. See answer
#1.)
___
HOT:
Rep. Andy Ogles claims there’s strong support in
Congress for a third term for Mr. Trump. (And possibly a fourth, fifth,
and sixth, if we keep Donald cryogenically preserved.)
___
NOT HOT – The three-branch concept of government. Republican lawmakers are outraged because judges keep telling President Dumpling that he can’t just do whatever he wants because …
The U.S. Constitution.
GOP legislators
insist that they can and should impeach
any judge
that doesn’t do what Trump wants, reducing the number of real branches by one.
___
“Doubly violative of the Constitution.”
HOT: Thankfully, the courts continue to slap Donald silly. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports:
U.S. District
Judge John D. Bates has ruled against President Donald Trump’s executive order
targeting the law firm Jenner & Block LLP. Bates found the order
unconstitutional, claiming it violates protections of free speech and the right
to counsel. This marks the second time Bates has blocked Trump’s attempts to
punish law firms he views as adversarial.
“Going after law firms in this way is doubly violative of the Constitution [emphasis added],” he added. “Most obviously, retaliating against firms for the views embodied in their legal work ... violates the First Amendment's central command that government may not ‘use the power of the State to punish or suppress disfavored expression.’”
(Bates was chosen for a spot on the federal bench by George W.
Bush.)
___
HOT #2: In a similar case, Judge Richard J. Leon rules that an executive order aimed at crippling WilmerHale, another law firm whose work angered Trump, is unconstitutional and “must be struck down in its entirety.”
(Even the commas.)
“The cornerstone of the American system of justice is an independent judiciary and an independent bar [emphasis added] willing to tackle unpopular cases, however daunting,” Judge Leon explained.
Leon was so exercised that in his 73-page ruling he laced it with exclamation points, such as this blogger might use: “F**king Donald Dumpling!!!!!!!!!”
“Accordingly,” the judge continued, “they took pains to enshrine in the Constitution certain rights that would serve as the foundation for that independence. Little wonder that in the nearly 250 years since the Constitution was adopted no executive order has been issued challenging these fundamental rights.”
Finally,
he added, “If the executive [The Dumpling] is inclined to interfere with the
traditions that are essentially necessary to have the rule of law in the
adversarial system of justice, the president’s hands should be tied.”
___
NOT HOT – the American Bar Association: White House Christian Lady Karoline Leavitt has announced that the ABA will no longer be consulted for recommendations when selecting candidates for positions on the federal bench.
Henceforth, the president shall use a Ouija board or appoint a few January 6 rioters, or maybe Stormy Daniels.
___
HOT – More
hate-posting: Threats against federal judges spike, as Donald blows on the glowing embers of MAGA loathing.
Between March 1 and May 27, 197 judges have been threatened.
When
Judge Brian E. Murphy ruled that Team Trump couldn’t send deportees to South
Sudan – a country none of them had ever seen – The Dumpling erupted. First, the
president hammered the “caps button,” then started hate-posting. Judge Murphy
was a “FAR-LEFT ACTIVIST.” He was one of those “USA HATING JUDGES WHO SUFFER
FROM AN IDEOLOGY THAT IS SICK, AND VERY DANGEROUS FOR OUR COUNTRY.”
___
HOT: Mr.
Trump appoints Thomas Fugate, 22, to head the Center for
Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3) at the Department of Homeland
Security. The Center “plays a vital role supporting nationwide efforts to
combat terrorism and hate-fueled violence.” Mr. Fugate has never worked in
the field – although he did once operate his own lawncare business.
___
HOT –
Right-wing killers: In Minnesota, on June 14, two Democratic lawmakers are shot at their homes. Melissa Hortman is killed,
along with her husband. John Hoffman is badly wounded, as is his wife, in what
police call “targeted attacks.”
___
NOT HOT – Facts. Vance Boelter, the assassin, is quickly revealed to be an evangelical Christian pastor. On film, you can watch him espouse anti-abortion sentiments. He has a target list in his vehicle listing more than 70 individuals he’d like to kill, including Democratic politicians Rep. Ilhan Omar and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. Both are Muslim – and the assassin is also anti-Islam. In addition, we know he had preached against LGBTQ rights. His roommate, and childhood friend since fourth grade, tells reporters that Boelter “voted for Trump” and was “a strong supporter” of the president. Records also show that when the killer lived in Oklahoma in the early 2000s, he and his wife registered to vote as Republicans.
Right wing nincompoops on X, including Head Nincompoop Elon Musk, and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, did not bother to wait for facts to emerge, and promptly labeled him a Democrat and, in Sen. Lee’s clueless, tasteless case, “a Marxist.”
Which
the senator thought was funny.
 |
| Boelter shows up disguised as a police officer at a victim's home. |
___
HOT –
Monopolies: Two meatpacking giants, Tyson and JBS, now control 85% of the beef
processing business in this country. Prices for steak and hamburger have increased by 22% year-over-year, which
is not what Candidate Dumpling was promising last fall, whenever he blabbered
about groceries.
___
HOT – Ignorance!
David Richardson, acting head of FEMA, told staff he was not aware the U.S. had
a “hurricane season.” According to the MAGA faithful, Richardson was “joking,”
but we do know any new plan for the 2025 season – which began on June 1
– is still not ready.
___
NOT HOT: Trump Healthcare, which does not yet exist. The president again insists he has “concepts of a plan.”
(This is like when the blogger tells his wife he has “concepts
of a plan” for vacuuming.)
___
Cruel and unusual: “No empathy” ICE enforcements.
NOT HOT – DESPICABLE: An illegal immigrant in Colorado attacks a pro-Israel demonstration with a homemade flamethrower. Eight people were injured, including six with burns.
(MAGA types insist this proves all undocumented persons should
get the boot.)
___
HOT – Trump supporters, under the collar: An Alabama couple found out the hard way, that Trump immigration policies weren’t going to be nuanced or humane. Morgan Karimi voted for Donald, believing ICE would go after criminal scumbags. Sadly, ICE grabbed her husband Ribvar, 26, who had fled Iran. Mrs. Karimi now says she and her family no longer support Donald.
___
NOT HOT – ICE agents in Massachusetts decide to waste time and resources arresting a “dangerous” high school student, who has been living in this country, and going to school since age six. On his graduation weekend!
Maybe ICE should focus more on the flamethrower guys, and not high school kids, who could be deported to countries they hardly know.
Or to South Sudan – a hell hole.
___
ICE COLD: Federal agents nab a “dangerous mother” of three, including a five-year-old daughter with severe autism, and prepare to ship her to whatever country Donald Trump might choose.
“Goodbye,
mama.”
___
ICE COLD: Narciso Barranco has sent three sons to the United States Marines. Two are currently serving. ICE just chased down their dad, who was doing landscaping work in Santa Anna, California, and when agents pinned him to the ground one started pummeling him in the head. (Across the U.S. Armed Forces, 19.5% of all personnel identify as Hispanic.)
Alejandro Barranco, Narciso’s oldest son, says his family feels “betrayed.” Part of his time in the Marines was spent on duty in Kabul, when Afghanistan fell, and thirteen Marines (like him) were killed by a suicide bomber.
(No member of the Trump family has ever served in combat.)
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___
ICE COLD:
ICE agents strike fear in the hearts of dangerous criminals everywhere by
arresting a former U.S. Army interpreter who helped our fighting men and women
(and trans soldiers) in Afghanistan. “I came here to make a better life,” the
Afghan-born refugee can be heard saying in video of his arrest. “I didn’t know
that this would happen… I worked with the U.S. military.” His name has been withheld
for fear of Taliban retaliation, if he is denied asylum.
___
GODDAM, F**KING ICE COLD – ICE enforcement: On Truth Social, on June 12, Mr. Trump changes course, like a Maine moose trying to ice skate. “Our great farmers and people in the hotel and leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long-time workers [emphasis added, unless otherwise noted] away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace,” Donald Trump explains. “We must protect our farmers,” he continues, “but get criminals out of the U.S.A. Changes are coming.”
According to The New York Times, the next day an email goes out. ICE is ordered to stop acting like ICE until further notice (unless enforcement operations can be used to stir up blue cities like Los Angeles).
“Effective today,” Tatum King, a top ICE official writes, “please hold on all work site enforcement investigations/operations on agriculture (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and operating hotels.”
Agents are also told to stop arresting “non-criminal collaterals,” or people who might be here illegally, but not criminals.
According to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates, as recently as 2022, 42% of farm workers in this country were undocumented, with another 19% authorized foreign workers or green card holders.
(What happened to the Biden-caused “invasion” of illegals???)
___
HOT:
Extreme MAGA types and born haters in the Trump administration react with fury
to the news of planned enforcement changes. The moose on ice skates changes
direction again. On Monday, June 17, The Washington Post reports that
ICE agents have been told they must continue conducting immigration raids at
agricultural businesses, hotels and restaurants. The first clarifications were
already in the works on Sunday, and the “new instructions were shared [on
Monday] in an 11 a.m. call to representatives from 30 field offices across the
country.
___
NOT HOT: Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear dresses up as an ICE agent, stops your A+ Roofing van, and drags away five of your “criminal” employees. This is funny (except for the workers) because Vincent Scardina, the owner of said Florida company, was, heretofore, a Trump supporter.
(Criminals captured: 0.)
___
STILL NOT HOT: “Thank you for your service,” as they say. Adrian Clouatre, who says he “gave up the best five years” of his life to serve with the Marines, is now short one wife. U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents snatched her up when she showed up for a green card interview.
The former Marine isn’t asking for much. “At the very least, I would like to be able to keep my wife,” he told a reporter. He and his spouse, Paolo, have two children, a 1-year-old boy, and a nine-week-old daughter.
(Criminals captured: 0. American family members deprived of a
loved one: 3)
___
NOT HOT: Glenn Valley Foods’ plant in Omaha, Nebraska is shut down, as ICE agents take away 76 undocumented employees and employees suspected of using false papers. (That would be 35% of the workforce at the plant.)
Again,
many of the workers taken have been in this country for years and have children
who are citizens.
___
HOT – Assholes: Once again, the ICE guys who wear masks so we can’t figure out who they are, have snagged another “dangerous” illegal immigrant, this time, right here in Cincinnati, where the blogger lives. In this case, the wilily “killer” is Emerson Colindres, a 19-year-old high school graduate and soccer star.
In fact, the diabolical teen has been plotting a strike by not having a criminal record, as if to make himself look unthreatening, and cleverly showing up for a routine check-in with immigration authorities at their office in Blue Ash.
I think we can all agree that this “monster” has been waiting patiently, preparing to strike, having come here from Honduras at the age of 8. Clearly, as President Trump could explain, Emerson, is a threat to all of us, every day of our lives, just waiting to kick us to death with his soccer cleats.
In fact, he comes from a nest of “vipers,” as Channel 19 explains:
Fleeing
persecution from gangs, Colindres’ mother, Baquedano Amador, has said she
applied for asylum when she arrived in this country with her son and
now-16-year-old daughter in 2014.
A judge
denied her application, and the family was given a final order of removal in
2023.
ICE
officials recently told his mother that she and her daughter must leave the
country within 30 days.
Catholic
charities have been trying to help the family – but I think this means all
Catholics hate America and oppose the rule of law.
___
HOT – Assholes, again, and again: Deporting criminals who want to eat our pets or slit our throats, that’s fine. The problem is that ICE recently grabbed Maria Isidro, the wife of a Florida pastor, who had been living in this country for almost thirty years and sent her back to Mexico.
That arrest was announced on Facebook recently, by her daughter Daniella, who has now been deprived of her mom.
“She’s just being treated as though she’s not a human,” a family friend says.
(And this is exactly what Stephen Miller wants.)
___
HOT – Hungry alligators: Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has a brilliant new idea for how to help ICE do God’s work. He would like to build a detention center in the middle of the Everglades, and surround it with “gators, crocs and snakes,” what he describes as a “low-cost” solution for detaining “criminal aliens.”
The hell with
it. Next, he just suggests shooting them all dead.
HOT – Yeah, ICE: Striking swiftly, to “Make America Great Again,” ICE arrests Moises Sotelo-Casas, described as “a popular Oregon vineyard owner,” who was caught in the act of going to church. His daughter, Alondra, told KGW8 NEWS, “He was in chains at his feet... everything was taken from him.”
According to a GoFundMe set up by his family, the prisoner is a husband, father of three and a grandfather.
In 2020, he was awarded the annual Vineyard Excellence Award by the Oregon Wine Board. So, I think we can all agree, his arrest now keeps us safe from corkscrews. Something like that.
Also:
Killer grandpas.
___
HOT – More assholes: ICE has also swept a killer nursing school graduate off the streets, after Caroline Dias Goncalves, 19, was caught in the act of driving too close behind a truck in Colorado. Let off by the officer who stopped her, he notified ICE, and another horrible human being was taken away.
As the MAGAs love to say, “I voted for this.”
If you did, you’re disgusting, I would say. Heretofore, she was protected by the DACA program – and for that reason, for now, she has been able to retain a lawyer and has been released from detention.
Are we sure we need to be protected from her?
And not ICE?
___
HOT – ICE,
ICE, BABY: In other raids, ICE has arrested four restaurant workers in San
Diego, no doubt intent on poisoning our food – which, of course, has never
happened before. They also chased down a worker at a car wash, where I think
the danger was, he might have scratched the cars’ paint. Also, they showed up
at an LA Fitness gym, reading to grab any illegals who might drop dumbbells on
patrons’ heads; and, best of all, they keep showing up for immigration court
hearings and handcuffing dangerous illegals who have come to court as required.
___
HOT – ICE: The men and women (and no transgenders!) have grabbed another killer off the streets. This time they arrest the wife of a Ayssac Correa, a sergeant in the U.S. Army, and deport her without so much as a, “Thank you for your service,” to her husband.
By one estimate, as many as 80,000 undocumented spouses and parents of active-duty personnel may be living in this country.
Wouldn’t it be great if one of the Marines Trump sent to Los Angeles to help ICE, ended up helping them deport his or her own parents!
(White House aide Stephen Miller would call that sweet.)
FUN FACT: No Trump has ever served on active duty, not since 1885, when Friedrich Trump first arrived from Germany.
___
NOT HOT: After ginning up anti-immigrant terror for years, Donald Dumpling is slowly coming to the realization that Donald Dumpling is a dope. (We could have told him that in 2015, as soon as he and Melania came floating down on that golden escalator.) Suddenly, he realizes that all Mexicans aren’t “killers” and “rapists,” and he’s changing deportation strategy again!!
On Friday, June 20, he announces his latest plan. He wants farmers to know they might be able to keep employing undocumented migrant workers without fearing ICE will come grab them before they can load all the lettuce on the trucks.
“We’re
looking at doing something where in the case of good, reputable farmers, they
can take responsibility for the people that they hire, and let them have
responsibility, because we can’t put the farms out of business, and at the same
time, we don’t want to hurt people that aren’t criminals,” Trump told
reporters.
___
HOT – Morons! Really, President Moron? You “don’t want to hurt people that aren’t criminals?” Fuck. Really!!! Tell the pastor’s wife (above). Or the soccer kid who was here in Cincinnati (above).
But now he’s gone.
Fuck!
Who the fuck thinks this guy knows what the fuck he’s doing at this point?
___
HOT AND COLD – Elderly Americans. The Big Beautiful Budget Bill zeroes out funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Millions of poor, mostly elderly Americans rely on the program to help pay energy bills. So that, for example, they don’t freeze to death in winter. But hey, billionaires need tax cuts, and let poor people wear earmuffs to bed.
Now, depending
on the seasons, they will be HOT in summers, and COLD in winters, just as Jesus
always wanted.
___
HOT – New
ship names! Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is keeping Americans safe from … names!
Names he and The Dumpling don’t like. Hegseth has ordered a U.S. Navy oiler renamed after realizing
that the USNS Harvey Milk honored a gay naval veteran. Other oilers
to be considered for new christenings: the Thurgood Marshall, the Ruth
Bader Ginsberg and the Harriet Tubman. I am hoping Hegseth will remember
his boss and christen an oiler: USNS Bone Spurs.
___
HOT (ALWAYS) – Trump family finances. Disclosure forms filed by the president this month reveal that he and his three sons made $57,355,532 last year, from their ownership stake in World Liberty Financial, their cryptocurrency platform launched in 2024.
Clan Trump has also banked $3 million related to royalties on the Save America coffee table book.
Also: royalties
on Trump Sneakers and Fragrances, such as “Eau de Fascism” ($2,500,000), Trump watches
($2,800,000), Trump bibles ($1,306,035), The “45” Guitar ($1,055,100) and NFT
licensing and royalties ($1,157,490).
___
HOT: Not
to mention charging $1,000,000 a plate for other Fat Cats to rub elbows with
Donald during a candlelight dinner at one of his private golf clubs – in April.
___
HOT: And
the big bash for crypto bros in May. At that dinner gathering the 220 guests paid between
$55,000 and $37.5 million for a seat.
___
HOT: After
yet another dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Jeffrey Bezos agrees to pay $40 million
dollars to make a documentary film about First Lady Melania Trump. (It is
expected that she will pocket $28 million herself – almost making sleeping
with Donald worth it.)
___
NOT HOT – The Dumpling in court: The president continues to battle, in hopes of avoiding paying a $5 million judgment in a defamation case filed against him by E. Jean Carroll. Carroll had claimed that he sexually assaulted her, and then defamed her, calling her a liar. The jury heard the evidence and decided … Carroll was the winner.
Not a
single juror believed Trump. Now a federal court has voted, 8-2, to
allow the judgment to stand.
 |
Ms. Carroll - around the time of the attack. |
___
NOT HOT:
Mike Lindell also loses in court again and must pay $2.3
million to Eric Coomer, a man he defamed, saying Coomer helped Dominion
Voting Systems steal the 2020 election from that great American hero, Donald J.
Dumpling Trump.
___
HOT – Denial: Mike says he won his court battle, because his company could not be found guilty of defamation, probably because it’s a company, and not a lying, living, breathing doofus. (Like Mike.)
Mike is
also famous for saying he had proof of election rigging, saying he would pay $5
million to anyone who could disprove his claims, and then refusing to pay, when
a numbers expert quickly showed his “evidence” was nothing but computer
gibberish. A court has ruled that Mike must pay the man.
___
NOT HOT – Artificial intelligence: My favorite Lindell story is the time his lawyers used AI to craft a filing and ended up submitting an argument to the judge that cited precedents from court decisions which did not actually exist.
That was
funny.
___
NOT HOT: Trump’s former ally, and legal expert, John Eastman, has learned that a California appeals court has upheld his disbarment, basically for being a lying sleazebag, who helped Donald push the “Stolen Election” lie in 2020.
“Attorneys have a fundamental obligation to be truthful and uphold the rule of law,” the court found.
“John Eastman violated this
obligation when, at the behest of his client, now-President Donald Trump, he
engaged in a calculated campaign to falsely undermine the results of the 2020
presidential election, which then-candidate Donald Trump lost. In so doing, Mr.
Eastman lied to courts, Vice President Michael Pence, and the American people.”
Yeah. Get it?
He’s a liar.
Lindell’s a liar.
Rudy Giuliani’s a liar. (He was hit for $148.3 million in a defamation suit of his own, which he lost.)
A whole shitload of Trump lawyers are liars and were convicted or pleaded guilty to a bevy of crimes. (That would include Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Kenneth Chesebro, Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, and Michael Cohen.)
Fox News was chock full of liars, and their lying cost the corporation $787.5 million in a defamation judgement.
And, of course, Donald Dumpling is the most bodacious liar of all.
 |
Eastman and Giuliani both showed up on January 6, 2021, to spread lies. |
___
HOT – Italian dictator style: When President Trump visited Fort Bragg, N.C., recently, he stirred the Mussolini tin pot again. Speaking in front of a backdrop of cheering, laughing U.S. Army soldiers, he called Los Angeles a “trash heap,” insisted immigration protesters were part of a “foreign invasion” and claimed the 2020 election was stolen from his Benito J. Trump grip.
And, of course, many of the men and women in uniform applauded when he attacked the “fake news.”
The troops were there voluntarily, so you figure many were Trump supporters; but the Army has admitted it regrets allowing Trump merchandise to be sold on base, including those popular red MAGA hats.
There are also reports that cards like this were for sale:
NOT HOT: Trump pick to head up the Federal Aviation Administration turns out not to have a pilot’s license as he had repeatedly claimed.
___
HOT –
Justice: Former Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan, 83, is sentenced to prison. With luck, he’ll be paroled
before he hits his 90th birthday, but he also owes $2.5 million in restitution
for his crimes.
___
HOT – Using your brain: Anytime you read that a politician has been convicted of wrongdoing, decide what you think before you learn to which party they belong. If you are a Democrat, you are still better off when Democratic office holders go to the slammer. And for those of you who vote Republican, the same is true.
(Madigan was a Democrat.)
NOT HOT: People in other countries have a dim view of President Trump’s leadership skills. In a survey of 24 countries, 62% said they had “no confidence” in the president, and only 34% said they did. In Canada, 77% said they had no confidence in Trump, meaning they’re probably no keen on becoming the 51st state.
The Dumpling scored best with Nigerians (79%), Israelis (69%), Kenyans (64%), Hungarians (53%) and Indians (52%). Opinions on Trump may skid in Nigeria, if he goes forward with his plan to add their country to his travel ban.
More
generally, the percentage of respondents who had a favorable view of the United
States also declined, by double digits in a dozen countries, and in fifteen
overall, compared to spring 2024.
___
HOT – Indian name-mascots: The Department of Education, being led by and dismantled by former pro-wrestling maven Linda McMahon, is fighting to stop the State of New York’s ban on names like “Thunderbirds,” “Warriors” and “Chiefs,” and potentially offensive images. “The Trump Administration,” McMahon promises, “will not stand idly by as state leaders attempt to eliminate the history and culture of Native American tribes.”
As a former history teacher, the blogger has a mix of opinions related to this issue; but he does with New York schools would get rid of images of indigenous leaders in war bonnets, since that is the custom style of tribes of the Great Plains. He also remembers the big fights of the 90s over names like the “Redskins,” which, to his mind, definitely did not pass muster.
Still…see
below.
___
NOT HOT: Funding for the Bureau of Indians Affairs, rarely robust in the best of times, has been cut by Elon Musk and his DOGE Boys. The Big Beautiful Budget Bill now stuck in the Senate, would cut $700 million from various programs, and another $239 million for tribal housing.
But
sure. You kids in New York can keep your “Chiefs” t-shirts.
___
HOT – Saving “Green Jobs:” In their zeal for deficit reduction, Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives slashed funding for anything that sound remotely like it might have to do with staving off climate change (called a “hoax” by Donald Dumpling) or harm the tender feelings of Big Oil and Big Coal.
This was all very exciting, and GOP leaders in Congress thumped their chests and talked about “saving taxpayers’ money,” which is always a thrill. Suddenly, thirteen members of the party realized that important clean energy projects, already begun in their districts, under President Biden’s 2022 infrastructure bill, would come to screeching halts. Jobs would be lost. And investments would dry up.
Constituents would not be thrilled and might remember not being thrilled on Election Day 2026.
The thirteen, all of whom had voted for the “Big Beautiful Budget Bill,” save one man who slept late by mistake, sent a letter to their Senate friends and told them they really didn’t want those projects to be cut.
