We know how bad the working class is taking it from the policies of Donny and his Band of Lunatics….but what can be done?
This is an opinion written by Eugene V. Debs in 1916….it could well have been written yesterday….
Just to let you know this fight we are having today is NOTHING new.
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
Our brainless Donny has a full schedule of ‘celebrations’ for our 250th anniversary….a UFC cage match. a street race, a county fair, etc etc etc…..all the mind numbing crap and little about what this country went through in that 250 years.
But what can we expect from a historically ignorant president?
Last week, Donald Trump’s rolling assault on the physical landscape of the capital set its sights on yet another historical landmark. The fountain in the World War II memorial, Trump declared, looked “in pretty bad shape on the bottom,” in need of a makeover “duplicating” that for the nearby Reflecting Pool, though “maybe with a slightly different color … a lighter blue.”
But as we head toward Trump-led celebrations of our country’s semiquincentennial featuring a UFC cage fight in a 5,000-person arena thrown up on the White House lawn, we need to recognize that his onslaught against our history has also extended far beyond the physical.
Not long ago, two watchdog groups sued the Trump administration over the White House’s internal guidance that email exchanges between executive branch officials could be peremptorily deleted, escaping preservation for the historical record. A blatant violation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978, the memo leaned on a Justice Department move declaring this act itself unconstitutional. While this time, a court then ruled in favor of the watchdogs, this administration’s efforts to vanish its own public record advance its sweeping campaign to expunge realities as well as richness from American history, to reduce it to tales of untethered “heroes” that will drain its democratic lifeblood.
In April, the Organization of American Historians convened its annual conference in Philadelphia. New York Times reporter Jennifer Schuessler described the tone of this gathering of American historians as “anxious.” This attendee felt a more widespread emotional undercurrent: anger. That feeling has been stirred far more by the Trump administration’s designs on American history than by other worries reported by Schuessler, including historians’ “declining authority” as growing numbers of Americans take up history telling via TikTok, YouTube, and other media that are available to everyone.
I, along with many other historians, am far less bothered by TikTok history than by the sheer scope and brazenness of this top-down White House–led assault on history.
https://newrepublic.com/article/211170/trump-250-commemorating-history-ignorant-president
As a political historian I am disgusted with the gaudy display of insensitivity shown by this idiot that claims to be a ‘stable genius’ and yet he cannot see past the infantile cheap tricks he calls ‘celebrations’.
Anything to say?
Something to think about../..this is how the 1876 celebrations went….
In the summer of 1876, the United States was preparing for its 100th birthday with patriotic celebrations. In its first century, the country had grown from 13 states to 37, with Colorado poised to become the 38th state weeks after July 4.
But while Americans felt proud, many were also worried. “The country was filled with anxiety for the future,”
https://www.history.com/articles/american-centennial-1876-celebrations
A little history goes a long way.
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
There were rumblings over the weekend that there was a deal waiting to be signed…..and it was announced on his birthday (go figure)….
The US and Iran have finally struck a peace deal after 4 months of war. Both sides on Sunday said they had agreed to halt military operations in a conflict that has rattled global politics and energy markets, reports the Wall Street Journal. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said a formal signing will take place Friday in Switzerland. “Both sides have declared the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” he wrote. The two nations later confirmed, though “permanent” might be a overly optimistic: The most difficult issues have pushed into the next round of talks, notes the New York Times.
- Trump: “Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete,” President Trump wrote on social media late Sunday afternoon. “Congratulations to all! I hereby fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade. Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!”
- Iran: “Agreement reached,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on the X platform. “Greetings to Diplomacy General,” he added, under a photo of Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
- 60 days: The accord launches a 60-day window for talks over Iran’s nuclear program. In return for limits on that program, Iran expects access to frozen funds and potential sanctions relief. Trump said he’s not seeking regime change, while promising “strong inspections” without detailing how they would work.
- Oil prices: The price of Brent international crude dropped about 5% on the news to $83 a barrel, report CNBC.
There had been word that Donny would sign the deaal on Sunday….
President Trump said Saturday he plans to sign a peace framework with Iran on Sunday, though the Tehran government indicated it’s not on the same timeline. Posting on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “The Deal is scheduled to get signed tomorrow,” the Hill reports. He promised the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil chokepoint closed during the current crisis, would reopen immediately after a signing, while hinting at an undefined “ultimate alternative” if the process falters. Pakistan, which is mediating the talks, similarly projected a quick resolution, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif saying the agreement would be finalized within 24 hours.
You did not think he would let this minor deal crap on his birthday bash did you?
It is good news that the ‘war’ is over….but is it?
Will Israel stop killing in the name of ‘defense’?
If I were Cuba I would be fearful!
How long before Cuba will feel the pressure from Donny and Pistol Pete?
Just wondering.
Any thing to add?
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
Today is Flag Day and sadly also Donny’s birthday and he will make it all about him….this country history and survival is far more important than some orange twat trying to feed his ego.
Let’s start with his newest desire to buy the Chagos Islands….why?
His big idea for a concert on his birthday crapped out he will take to the stage, as usual, and thump his chest….
President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the U.S. semiquincentennial celebration will now be a “rally” featuring a handful of musical acts, as well as “a fine and highly dignified gentleman” – himself.
Last week, the president canceled his “Freedom 250” concert series at the Kennedy Center after six of the nine musical acts canceled their appearances. The series had been touted as the “Great American State Fair,” featuring artists such as Vanilla Ice, Bret Michaels, and the surviving member of Milli Vanilli.
Donny is messing with research grants….
The Trump administration is proposing a sweeping overhaul on how the federal government awards billions of dollars in research grants. But researchers say it could allow the administration to limit and exert more control over critical scientific research. Craig McLean, the former chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, joins William Brangham to discuss.
This is scary….their moronic policies have led to the worse measles outbreak in many years….whooping cough is on the rise as well….
The newest problem that the incompetent MAGA twats will deal with is the screwworm….and one of them knows where it originated….always take the easy way out….and blame Biden.
A Republican senator is alleging, without evidence, that the New World screwworm’s spread is tied to migrants crossing the border, even though the parasite is moving through livestock.
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) went on CNBC to fault the response to a recent outbreak of the flesh-eating New World screwworm in Texas. Marshall pinned the situation on former President Joe Biden, pointing to migration from Central America.
Referring to the screwworm, he said on CNBC, “This is another thing we can thank Joe Biden for.” Marshall claimed that millions of people arriving from Central America brought the parasite into the U.S. on pets and on people, which then led to infections in livestock.
https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/deluded-maga-wrongly-claims-migrants-1876722
In some states mail-in voting is the only way they can get to vote and of course Donny and the morons have a hared-on for mail-in ballots….
State election officials could soon face a stark choice: Hand over voter lists to the Trump administration or risk losing Postal Service delivery for mail-in ballots.
That dilemma stems from newly proposed USPS rules that seek to comply with an executive order President Donald Trump signed this spring to crack down on mail-in voting. If courts let the order stand, it would give the federal government an unprecedented role in elections — and could put even more voter data in the hands of Trump officials searching for supposed election fraud.
The proposed rules lay out new conditions that states would have to meet to send ballots through the mail, including giving the agency lists of all voters set to receive mail ballots.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/10/politics/postal-service-deliver-mail-in-ballots
I just do not understand the idiocy that comes with a MAGA hat….and why does the prez need the voter rolls?
Just have to post on the MAGA idiots…..this one is about gays….
Christian nationalist hate pastor Joel Webbon — a man who blames Jewish people for all social evils, thinks marijuana makes men “spiritually gay,” and thinks Adolf Hitler wasn’t so bad after all — and the co-hosts of his Right Response broadcast said in a June 9 episode that female public school teachers and childhood molestation turn boys into homosexuals. There is absolutely no proof backing up their claims.
First, the co-hosts discuss how feminine men don’t go to heaven. “Don’t be gay,” Webbon said, “There is spiritual gayness, and there is literal gayness… and you need to be avoiding both of those…. You will not inherit the kingdom of God if you are a literal sodomite, that’s true, but also if you are effeminate.”
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/06/hate-pastors-say-female-teachers-cause-men-to-become-gay/
Can you believe the stupidity in these people?
Since today is Flag Day I want to cut my Sh*t Show post short to post something that is important….the proper display of the symbol of our country, the flag….
So-called ‘patriots’ have a flag in the front yard and about 70% of the time it is displayed wrong….
- Time of Display: Display the flag only from sunrise to sunset. If flown at night, it must be properly illuminated during darkness.
- Weather Conditions: Do not display the flag in inclement weather unless you are using an all-weather flag made for outdoor conditions.
- Hoisting and Lowering: When raising the flag, hoist it briskly to the peak of the pole, and when lowering, lower it slowly and ceremoniously as a sign of respect. Never let the flag drop to the ground while lowering it.
- Half-Staff Protocol: Flying the flag at half-staff is a sign of mourning or respect. To do this properly, first raise the flag to the peak briefly, then lower it to the half-staff position (halfway down the pole). Before taking the flag down for the day, raise it to the peak again, then lower it completely.
- Multiple Flags Display: If the U.S. flag is displayed with other flags (such as state or organizational flags) on adjacent poles, the U.S. flag should be at the center (if applicable) and at the highest point, and it must be hoisted first and lowered last. No other flag should ever be placed above the U.S. flag or to its right (on the same level) when displayed together.
- Parade & Procession: When the flag is carried in a procession or parade with other flags, it should occupy the position of honor. This means the U.S. flag is on the marching right (i.e., to its own right, which is the viewer’s left), or if other flags line both sides, the U.S. flag goes in front at the center of the line. The U.S. flag should not be draped over a vehicle, float, or boat; if displayed on a vehicle, it must be on a staff firmly attached to the right fender or chassis, not draped over the hood or sides.
- Wall or Vertical Hanging: When hanging the American flag against a wall or from a window, the union (the blue field with stars) should always be uppermost and to the flag’s own right, which means to the observer’s left when facing the flag. This rule applies whether the flag is hung vertically or horizontally. (In other words, if you hang the flag vertically on a wall, make sure the stars are at the top left from the viewer’s perspective – this is the correct way to display American flags vertically.)
- Use on a Casket: When the flag is used to cover a casket (as in a military or state funeral), place it so that the union (blue field) is at the head of the casket and over the left shoulder of the deceased. The flag should not touch the ground at any point, and it is removed and folded with honor before the casket is lowered into the ground.
- Indoor Display and Stage: If displayed flat behind a speaker or on a stage, the flag should be above and behind the speaker, with the union to the observer’s left. When displayed by a staff on a podium or in a church/auditorium, the flag should be positioned to the speaker’s right (audience’s left) as they face the audience, as this is the position of honor.
There is more to flag protocol….and a little history….
https://www.showallegiance.com/blogs/american-flag/quick-reference-guide-to-u-s-flag-protocol
Milestone–Yesterday I posted my 20,000th post….and every one has been a joy….hopefully I can keep going for another 20,000. Thanx everyone for your support and most of all your visits and comments.
We begin a new month, a Summer month, when all thoughts are to a coming vacay….today’s Dump is a bit lengthy for it must make-up for my absence last Saturday….sorry….
Local–All this weekend there will be 2 blueberry festivals and a pickle festival….and somewhere in there there will be a celebration of Elvis who visited the Coast in the Summer of 1956…plus the Scraping The Coast….cars tricked out come to play….
Personal–Lung doctor is still fighting to find out what that new mass is in my lung…..not responding to chemo so probably not a cancer…..but what then? That means more scans and more doctors getting involved.,….oh goody.
I have been harvesting my blueberries….I have two big bushes left out of 12….storms have taken its toll. I will get about 2-3 quarts of berries this year….plus my plums have come in and not the harvest I wanted only about a 2 gallons of plums….
Enough chit chat let’s get to the grits and gravy……
Since cancer is an important part of my life as well as many others I like reporting on new approaches…..
National Institutes of Health (NIH)-supported investigators have developed a blood test to find pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, one of the deadliest forms of cancer. The new test could improve survival rates from pancreatic cancer, which tends to be diagnosed at late stages when therapy is less likely to be effective. The findings were published in Clinical Cancer Research.
Overall, only about 1 in 10 pancreatic cancer patients survive more than five years from diagnosis. However, experts expect that when the cancer is found and treated at an earlier stage, survival would improve. While finding the cancer early is key, there are no current screening methods to do so.
In the study, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, and Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, used a phased approach to testing biomarkers in the blood collected from patients with pancreatic cancer and similar patients without the malignancy. They included two blood biomarkers previously explored for use in this way, carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9), which is used to monitor treatment response in patients with pancreatic cancer, and thrombospondin 2 (THBS2), another previously used marker. Neither worked well as a screening tool. CA19-9 can be elevated in people with benign conditions such as pancreatitis and bile duct obstruction while other patients don’t produce it at all due to genetic factors.
In analyzing banked blood samples, the team found two novel biomarker proteins that were elevated in the blood of early-stage pancreatic cancer patients compared with healthy volunteers, aminopeptidase N (ANPEP) and polymeric immunoglobin receptor (PIGR).
When they combined ANPEP and PIGR with CA19-9 and THBS2 the four-marker panel successfully distinguished pancreatic cancer cases from non-cases 91.9% of the time for all stages combined at a false positive rate of 5% in non-cases. Similarly, for early-stage (stage I/II) cancer, the four-marker test identified 87.5% of cases.
Today organ transplants are no big deal…..that is unless you do 3 major organs at one time.
Organ transplants are among the greatest achievements in medicine, but there’s a major limitation: we just don’t have enough organs. One way that scientists hope to get around this is by using animal organs in place of human ones, and this field just took a step forward thanks to the first-ever combined liver and kidney transplant in a human using pig organs.
The use of animal organs in human transplants is called xenotransplantation, and it’s something that’s been the subject of imagination, scientific theory, questionable attempts, and – most recently – increasing experimental success.
The inescapable reality of organ transplantation is that a lot of people will not receive a human organ in time. There are over 100,000 people on the waiting list in the US alone, and 13 people die each day waiting for a transplant.
Strategies to tackle this problem include better ways of preserving, transporting, and selecting donor organs. Artificial options are also being explored, such as the titanium heart that recently saw a man in Australia become the first person to survive for a milestone 100 days with such a replacement organ.
Parkinson’s is a debilitating disease and there may be some progress on the disease….
Parkinson’s disease is one of the most common brain disorders in the world. It affects movement, balance, and coordination, and it gradually becomes worse over time.
More than one million people in the United States live with Parkinson’s disease, and thousands of new cases are diagnosed every year. Although doctors have treatments that can help reduce symptoms, there is still no approved therapy that can slow or stop the disease itself.
Now, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have discovered an important clue that could change that situation.
Their study, published in the journal Neuron, identified a brain immune protein that appears to help Parkinson’s disease spread through the brain. The researchers believe that blocking this protein may one day help slow the disease in its earliest stages.
New Parkinson’s Discovery May Stop the Disease Before It Gets Worse
My daughter gets so angry at politics that it drives her to tears….why is that?
A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that political emotions, including anger, anxiety, disgust, depression and hope, are physically experienced in ways that differ from everyday emotions.
Researchers asked nearly 1,000 participants to map where they felt both ordinary and political emotions in their bodies using a body-mapping method known as the emBODY tool, which tracks bodily sensations tied to emotional experiences.
The study found that political emotions “take on distinct bodily patterns.”
“Politics itself may be a substantial source of emotional dysregulation,” the researchers wrote.
They also found ideological differences in how political emotions are experienced. Participants who leaned Democratic reported stronger bodily sensations tied to negative political emotions than those who leaned Republican.
https://www.newsnationnow.com/health/political-anger-comparison-study/
Tattoos, a fad that I never understood, has moved from the silly to the intellectual….
In line with the the rise of AI slop, visualised thinking – charts, Venn diagrams, complex chord diagrams and various other illustrations pulled from statistics – has become something of a signifier in recent years. They’re usually posted in Substack articles, pinned to Pinterest boards, or tucked into Instagram carousel posts with an indie-electro backing track. But beyond online spaces, these diagrammatic visuals have also begun cropping up in the tattoo world.
More and more posts of freshly tattooed skin with diagrams, axes and arrows are appearing on feeds. Some show fine line designs of systems-based models, others use labelled axes, or interconnected structures that map the many forms of the human condition. It’s an influx that East London-based tattoo artist Deven, whose recent work includes a circular map of the genetic code and a triangular mapping of the spirit, body and soul, can attest to. “Although abstract patterns and diagrammatic tattoos have always existed, there’s been a noticeable increase in people wanting these kinds of designs,” she tells us. “I’ve had people asking to add structural elements into my existing flash designs, while others have sent me diagrammatic images to incorporate into their tattoos.”
This report is eeeewww!….
More than 100,000 live cockroaches that are illegal to keep in Australia were confiscated from a single breeder, officials said Friday. Not surprisingly, it accounts for the country’s largest-ever seizure of exotic invertebrates, per the AP. The haul of Madagascar hissing cockroaches and dubia cockroaches, worth 200,000 Australian dollars ($142,000), was seized in May from a commercial breeder in the city of Bathurst in New South Wales state.
The Madagascar hissing species is one of the world’s biggest cockroaches, measuring 2 to 3 inches in length. Photos released by the department showed a shiny, brown invertebrate larger than a person’s finger. It’s much bigger than the country’s common Australian cockroach, which measures between 0.9 and 1.4 inches long. Cockroaches flourish in Australia because of its sub-tropical climates, with the country home to hundreds of species.
Bathurst snake catcher Stefanie Lesser told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the larger exotic species were likely being sold as a cost-effective reptile food because their large size meant fewer insects were needed. Officials urged pet owners to seek out crickets or wood roaches to feed their lizards instead. Both Madagascar hissing and dubia cockroaches are illegal to import into Australia. They can’t be legally kept, bred, or sold, no matter how they were obtained. Australia has strict biosecurity controls at its borders to protect its agriculture and horticulture sectors and native wildlife from pest infestations.
You fools want roaches? Then come South we have them in spades.
How about masturbating birds?
A new study has found that masturbation among birds (that’s the birds doing the masturbating, not what would happen if a human were to practice self-loving in a park) is natural and healthy. The result flies in the face of the prevailing assumption that such behavior is a harmful response to captivity and stress that should be punished.
Self-love, also known as autosexual behavior, is pretty common in the animal kingdom, especially among mammals. It has been observed in species such as primates, marine mammals (dolphins and walruses), elephants, horses, squirrels, and dogs, among others. Tortoises and marine iguanas are also known to enjoy some “personal” attention when the mood takes them.
However, despite being a widespread behavior, masturbation represents a bit of a Darwinian puzzle. Viewed purely through the lens of adaptive functions, it has never been clear why individuals should waste resources such as time, energy, or sperm on something that doesn’t seem to aid them.
Finally….the collection of urine….
A select number of toilets in Europe are doing double duty: collecting human waste and then turning the urine component into fertilizer. Writing for the Guardian, Chloé Farand profiles VunaNexus, the Swiss company behind “Aurin,” a nitrogen- and phosphorus-rich liquid fertilizer made entirely from treated urine that’s now approved for use in Switzerland and France. Special toilets divert urine to a set of tanks that scrub the urine of antibiotics and other micropollutants, pasteurize it to eliminate viruses, strip out the water, and concentrate it into Aurin.
VunaNexus’ system is in place in a number of commercial and residential buildings, including one that houses one of Geneva’s biggest private banks; it currently recycles about 800,000 gallons of urine a year. If it managed to magically gain access to all the urine in Europe, CEO David de Chambrier estimates it could meet roughly 30% of the nitrogen need. As Farand writes, “That’s not enough to transform the fertilizer market but it provides an alternative,” especially as the war in Iran “[exposes] the vulnerability of the fertilizer market.” The big hurdle is cost—currently as much as 50x that of conventional products—so scaling up and getting paid for the wastewater treatment it provides are key.
If interested …. Read the full story
Enough stuff….I hope everyone has a lovely Saturday and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
Sunday is Flag Day…..it’s Donny’s birthday….it’s time to protest.
The anti-Donny movement, No Kings, has had several successful protests and they have another planned for Donny’s birthday, 14 June…..
It’s been more than two months since “No Kings” protests again drew crowds across the U.S. Another event is set to take place in just over a week, but the call to action by organizers is a little different than others before it.
Back in March, millions attended more than 3,000 “No Kings” events held nationwide, marking the third round of rallies since President Trump took office. Rallies last year attracted more than 5 million in June and 7 million in October, according to U.S. organizers.
The next event is scheduled for June 14. The same day, Trump’s birthday, UFC match-ups are set to be held on the White House’s South Lawn as part of a series of celebrations marking America’s 250th anniversary.
Meanwhile, the Committee for the First Amendment, relaunched last year, will be hosting “Rise Up, Sing Out: A Concert for the First Amendment.
Being held at The Town Hall in New York City, the 90-minute event is set to be headlined by Bette Midler, Patti Smith, and Jane Fonda. It will “celebrate the freedoms guaranteed by our First Amendment … and the people power that both fuels these rights and is essential to guarantee them.”
The No Kings Coalition, which is partnering with the Committee on the First Amendment, says watch parties are being scheduled across the country to stream the event, giving communities space “to sing along, make art, share food, connect with neighbors, and take meaningful action together.”
While previous No Kings events have resulted in rallies, June 14’s event “will serve as a critical opportunity for No Kings supporters to strategize, connect with local organizers, and prepare for the ongoing fights ahead of the midterm elections.”
“… while the President attempts to distract the country with his UFC cage fight spectacle, the No Kings movement will be gathering in living rooms, community centers, and local businesses for public and private watch parties in key cities and rural communities alike,” a press release reads.
Several watch parties have already been scheduled, including events in and around Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, and San Francisco.
(thehill.com)
Let’s wish this fool a happy birthday by protesting his stranglehold on the country and his killer policies…..time for this clown to go away….one way or another.
https://www.nokings.org/ can help make this happen but it will take much more work for a success.
There is an op-ed about this protest….and I agree with it for the most part…..
Americans across the country are banding together to fight the Trump administration. Sort of. Maybe. Well, not really. But many will spend a few hours on June 14 standing in a park, yelling into the air, and then go home wondering why nothing has changed. On the president’s birthday, there will be yet another “No Kings” protest – and it will accomplish next to nothing.
We keep getting calls to protest for a day, boycott for a day, stay silent for a day, wear a color for a day, post on social media one time. There’s a phrase for this kind of action: Doing the bare minimum.
The 1950s Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted 13 months. To desegregate a single public transit system in a single city, residents sacrificed for more than a year. They carpooled, walked, watched each other’s kids, left home earlier and got back later. They didn’t ride the bus for a day and pat themselves on the back. The same goes for the lunch counter sit-ins across the South. Those college students didn’t get food dumped on them, get punched and kicked, get spit on and called racial slurs for an afternoon and call it a victory. They went back again and again.
These protests are a good idea but they are short-term…..for a Saturday protest will be forgotten by the following Thursday. If you want these protests to have lasting effect then they must be continuous and relentless.
So on one hand the op-ed is correct and should be a long-term strategy.
You thoughts will be appreciated.
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
A couple of Congress people have decided to try and take on Donny and his money making machine….
Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Rep. Ro Khanna are introducing a bill Thursday to establish a federal review board for direct foreign investment in the U.S., as President Donald Trump courts global ventures as part of trade deals he makes with nations around the globe.
The bill, shared exclusively with CNBC before it is introduced, would create the “Foreign Investment Review Authority” as an independent executive branch authority. The panel would be responsible for reviewing direct foreign investments and determining whether they are permissible.
It would function as a board, with a chair appointed by the president, subject to Senate confirmation; designees of the secretaries of Commerce and Labor and the attorney general; along with four presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed board members from a political party that is not the same as the president’s. It would also create an Office of the Chief Ethics Officer and a Public Oversight Board to receive complaints.
Baldwin, D-Wis., and Khanna, D-Calif., say the board is necessary to ensure foreign direct investments aren’t undercutting U.S. workers. They also say it would potentially stop corrupt deals, with the lawmakers pointing to investments Trump has secured in his negotiations of trade deals around the globe.
Like I said a damn good idea….expose Donny’s manipulations and using his office to make money….
This will probably go nowhere but at least some Dems are trying to fight Donny and spotlight his abuses of office.
A shame that he will not be held responsible or forced to pay back all the cash he and his family have made office the office of president.
The ‘stable genius’ needs to be cut off at the knees….and soon.
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
Since the US and Iran have started exchanging fire once again…the rhetoric coming from the Lazy Boy recliner in the Oval Office (does it still exist?) is the same as always from the mouth of Donny….
Early Thursday morning Donny starts thumping his chest (but not too hard)….
The renewed attacks between the US and Iran are on track to worsen in a significant way. President Trump on Thursday said the US planned to hit Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT,” before further raising the stakes: “At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela,” he wrote on Truth Social. The threat came after the two sides exchanged strikes for the second straight day, reports the AP.
Kharg Island is major oil terminal off the nation’s coast, seen as the “country’s economic lifeline,” notes the BBC. Its seizure would not only damage Iran economically but could give the US a base from which to carry out military attacks on the mainland. However, seizing the island would likely require ground troops, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Tough talk….(watch the markets)
Then after his lunch of Big Macs and Diet Coke the tune has changed (as if right on schedule)
Hours after threatening a major escalation in the Iran war, President Trump said the bombs are back on pause—and that Iran is on board with talks, reports the Wall Street Journal. In a new Truth Social post, Trump said he called off plans to unleash a new wave of strikes and to seize the Kharg Island oil hub because peace negotiations “have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved.”
Trump said the “final points have been, in both concept and great detail, approved by all parties involved, including the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, and others.” Iran has not yet publicly commented. Trump added that the US naval blockade of Iranian ports will stay in place until a deal is signed, with time and place to be announced “shortly,” per the BBC. The president has previously announced imminent deals that have fallen through.
This event is all too familiar (watch the markets) This is for those too damn lazy to check the markets….
US stocks rallied to their best day in two months, and oil prices fell Thursday, after President Trump called off his threat to bomb Iran in the evening. That raised hopes for a deal that could get the global flow of oil going again.
Apparently Donny is working from an old script….this is the same bullshit he gave about a month ago.
He should hire new writers his present ones are getting tiresome.
BTW the war has made the US the world’s number one oil importer and that means dollars for oil companies….so how long will we play this stupid game?
Any thoughts?
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
There are approximately 15oo lobbyists on K Street and now the DoD is trying to make it easier for more corrupting money to be available….
As it pushes for a record breaking $1.5 trillion defense budget, the Department of Defense wants lawmakers to water down restrictions on the infamous revolving door between the Pentagon and industry, inviting more undue influence from the defense sector.
The DoD’s legislative proposal, submitted to Congress for consideration in the FY 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), tosses out key lobbying restrictions introduced by the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in 2017. It remains unclear whether the proposal will be included in the base text of the Senate version of the NDAA, which has not been released.
The McCain restrictions prevented recently departed officials from lobbying the Defense Department or Armed Forces for two years following retirement. But the new DoD provision would only impose this two year “cooling off” period on former defense officials who want to lobby in the specific military agency or Pentagon office where they used to work.
The DoD claims it needs to do this because the limits now in place “may restrict the Department’s access to the knowledge and expertise of its former personnel” and thus could have an “adverse effect on [the department’s] recruitment and retention.”
As such the bill also eliminates McCain’s two-year cooling off requirement for “behind-the-scenes” activities, which include the “preparation and planning activities, research and other background work” that can support a company’s lobbying activities. The DoD asserts that measures restricting these behind the scenes lobbying efforts are difficult to enforce.
Ben Freeman, the director of the Quincy Institute’s Democratizing Foreign Policy Program, calls the Pentagon’s rationale a “cop-out.”
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/revolving-door-pentagon/
This admin will do anything to make the corruption more intense….
Personally I think the cooling off period should be at least 5 years with 10 being the best idea.
We have enough criminals with buckets of money for Congress and the admin….it is time to close that corrupting appendage of government down for all time.
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
The DNC has seen to the exposure of the public in the reasons why they were so beaten in 2024….my thought it is decaying corpse of a political party.
The 2024 election “was a punch to the gut, and people were pissed off,” Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Ken Martin wrote Thursday in a statement accompanying the report’s release. “How, we all asked, could Democrats have lost to Donald Trump again? How did we blow through billions of dollars? And where do we go from here?”
The resulting report paints a bleak picture for Democrats. “We must admit and accept some hard truths about our Party,” it cautions. “Since the high point of the 2008 Obama landslide…the Democratic Party has vacillated between stagnation and retrogression. In doing so, we have lost the confidence we once received from everyday Americans—and election results show it. In the sixteen tumultuous years since that historic election, Democrats have lost ground at every level of government.”
This is actually the first time in more than a decade that Democrats have publicly taken any such introspection.
https://reason.com/2026/05/22/democrats-tried-to-bury-2024-election-autopsy/
The party did not need this ‘autopsy’….The party had the wrong candidates, the wrong issues, and were controlled by special interests….see how hard was that?
Come on let’s be honest…..the Dems were and still are….pathetic….
Well, the much-ballyhooed autopsy on the 2024 election has arrived from Democratic National Committee’s headquarters, and it is a shame it didn’t stay buried in a trashcan in one of their offices deep inside the Beltway, and as far away from real people as possible.
Before moving on just as quickly as I can, from this unmitigated mess of typos, redactions, double-talking and sniping — and better yet, the leadership who allowed it — I want to underline some finer points, and hard-earned lessons we can take from it, and the disastrous 2024 campaign season.
First, given all the unprofessionalism, money-wasting, bickering, and out and out dysfunction in the party, it’s a wonder Kamala Harris didn’t lose by 25 points. It is clear that because of a series of self-inflicted wounds, the Democrats were not ready to do battle during the most important election in U.S. history.
https://www.alternet.org/dem-autopsy/
Now the DNC is scrambling….but it matters not for they will continue to lose….the DNC purged any and all members that had good sound ideas that conflicted with the special interest agents that now dwell within the DNC.
A new election is on the horizon….does anyone see anything that will lead us to believe that the Dems are capable of winning a national election? So far most of the Dems have done nothing but complain….that will not fly in the next election.
I do not see it….do you?
Time to find a political party that will actually treat you and the rest of us with some sort of respect.
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”