Queries

So, how would you describe Trump and his cabal of vile incompetents?

• A nest of vipers [Nœud de vipères]
• The worst and the dumbest [cf. The Best and the Brightest of an earlier era]

Is there anything at all that Trump could do that would lose him his core 25% of the US public? Rape his daughter?

Après lui what form will the Democrat déluge take?

Will Trump ever do time? Any of his dutiful sycophants?

News

The Customs and Border Protection near El Paso, mistook a party balloon for a Mexican cartel drone and shot it down using a {secret] laser anti-drone weapon provided by the U.S. military.​ The FAA abruptly closed El Paso Airport. This followed disputes between the FAA Administrator and Pentagon officials over testing protocols, made without prior notice to the White House or other agencies. The closure halted commercial, cargo, and emergency flights, causing cancellations and diversions. The restrictions were lifted within hours after ‘high level coordination’.Local leaders criticized the “incompetence” and lack of communication, noting economic impacts and unnecessary alarm. Mexican President denied evidence of cartel drones in the area.

Trump’s concentration camp build-out includes nearly $40 billion for warehouse conversions

An analysis of US general elections from 2016-2022 – using Heritage Foundation data – found mail voting fraud averaged just 0.000043%. [‘Widespread fraud’ is the basis of Trump’s demand for national control – i.e. rigging – of voting in the November mid-terms.}

Quotes, Observations and Commentaries

Experts say Trump’s cult of personality rivals that if history’s worst dictators: [Not sure you need expertise to arrive at this conclusion]

Pam Bondi did actually tell the truth. She said that, as long as you make billions of dollars for this administration, for this president, as long as you increase the value of the stock market, you are free to traffic, to abuse and violently assault as many children as you want. That was her message to the men around the world and to the men in this country, and to the men around the president – that she will not prosecute you as long as you make enough money for him. She’s their broker. She’s speaking for the president. Just keep making money. Just keep sending it our way and we will look the other way. Because that’s what they’ve done so far. And she sent a message to everyone out there: Keep paying us and we won’t prosecute you. You can keep doing it.

Incredible as you and I might find it, Kristi Noem is believed to be preparing for a 2028 presidential bid. The estimable Jen Psaki here rounds up a remarkable list of failures and bad news suffered by Noem, and shares highlights of eye-popping new reporting from the Wall Street Journal about how Noem has led her department into chaos with tyrannical behavior, wasted money, rumors of infidelity, and bizarre drama over a lost blanket that resulted in the firing and re-hiring of a Coast Guard pilot.