Let’s Try This Stupidity Again

Back in the early days of the 2008 election a couple of guys wanted to build a new independent party (dammit!  I cannot recall what is was called)….their idea was to nominate a Dem and a Repub for a new independent ticket….it was a bomb and at best it was a political scam…..and now almost 20 years later another ‘well meaning’ billionaire has a ‘new’ idea.

Floridians aren’t getting John Morgan on the ballot—but he’s dangling six figures to rebrand their politics. The 70-year-old billionaire ended statewide speculation on Monday by announcing that he would not run for governor, reports Politico. However, Morgan does plan to launch a new state political party and will pay $100,000 to whoever comes up with its name. The contest rules will be laid out in the coming days. One that’s clear: Morgan can afford the reward: Forbes pegs his worth at $1.5 billion.

Morgan, who built the Morgan & Morgan injury law empire, has poured millions into successful ballot measures to raise Florida’s minimum wage and legalize marijuana, earning him the nickname “Pot Daddy.” The former Democrat, who is now registered as an Independent, previously flirted with gubernatorial runs in 2018 and 2024. In his Monday video, Morgan argued that “what ails us is the two-party system,” adding, “Most of us agree on most things, but if you put the D up and the R up, nothing ever gets done.”

Do not be fooled!  This is just another political scam by a billionaire that is hedging his vote in case Donny is shown the door.

Got It!  (Damn!  That took a lot of thinking on my poor brain)

This 2008 attempt was called Unit08

The political reform movement was founded as a non-profit organization by several political figures: Democrats Hamilton Jordan, Gerald Rafshoon, and Republican consultants Doug Bailey and Jim Jonas and the former two-term independent Maine Governor Angus King. Unity08 attempted to leverage online technology, such as secure voting, to allow American voters to determine the most crucial issues facing the country, discuss them with potential nominees, and participate in an online convention to nominate a bipartisan presidential ticket. In an interview that aired on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer in May 2006, Unity08’s founders said that the group was formed in response to the polarization between the Republican and Democratic political parties. The group also cited a poll it commissioned from Princeton Survey Research and claimed that 82 percent of Americans think that the two major political parties are unable to address the country’s problems and that 73 percent of Americans are in favor of alternatives to the two parties.

The group’s status as a non-profit organization came into question when they asked the Federal Election Commission whether the group could defer registering as a political action committee until after its candidates for the 2008 presidential election were named. A draft released by the commission in July 2006 concluded that “Unity08 must register as a policy committee and therefore is subject to the reporting requirements and limitations and prohibitions.”  In October 2006, the commission voted on the matter and declared that the group must register as a political action committee.

It stated goals were….

Unity08 had four major goals:

  • Enable Americans to rank America’s most crucial issues.
  • Empower Americans to draft or evaluate Unity08 candidates and actively engage them in debate about the crucial issues.
  • Empower Americans to nominate a bipartisan Unity ticket via an online convention and secure voting process.
  • Elect the Unity08 presidential ticket to national office.

The Unity08 presidential ticket was to consist of two candidates that come from different political parties. This bipartisan team was to propose a bipartisan cabinet in an effort to end paralysis in government. Co-founder Doug Bailey explained “What we are trying to do is to create a forum for people who are in the middle who have been left out of politics.”

Here is what ‘liberal’ bloggers thought (that would be me)

Liberal bloggers also expressed frustration with Unity08 because they contend that the group promoted “establishment” centrist or center-right politicians in the molds of Joe Lieberman and Michael Bloomberg while at the same time doing little to promote the progressive values it would seemingly represent. Chris Bowers of the political blog MyDD called the group’s supporters “rich, center-right, ‘non-partisan‘ donors who trash progressives and never criticize conservatives in power,” and claimed that the movement has no grassroots support.  Other bloggers also criticized the heavy representation of lobbyists among the organization’s officers.

It failed….why?  Lack of funds for most people saw it for what it was a political scam.

Please do not fall prey to this overt bullshit by a some billionaire to hedge his vote.

I will vote for a third party but it will not be anyone of this caliber.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Economic Inequality

The Dems should be all over this situation but instead they want to mess around with Epstein and other such nonsense none of which will improve the lives of Americans on iota.

Economic inequality should be the priority as elections start coming into view…for instance…

On Saturday, data shared by The Kobeissi Letter highlights a stark divergence in wealth growth since 1976.

According to the post on X, the real wealth of the top 0.001% of U.S. households has surged roughly 3,500% over that period.

By comparison, the top 0.01% and 0.1% saw gains of about 2,200% and 1,200%, respectively, while the average household’s wealth increased by just 200%.

The post also noted a sharp rise in ultra-wealthy households, estimating that about 430,000 U.S. households now hold at least $30 million in net worth, including roughly 74,000 worth more than $100 million.

A large share of wealth at the top is tied to financial markets. “~72% of wealth for the top 0.1% is concentrated in corporate equities, mutual funds, and private businesses,” the post said.

In contrast, lower-income households have struggled to build wealth.

“The bottom 50% of US households had more debt than assets for nearly 2 decades,” the post stated, adding that their net worth turned positive only after 2020, aided by stimulus checks and rising home values.

Summing up the trend, the post concluded: “Asset owners are the only winners.”

https://www.benzinga.com/news/politics/26/04/51903117/us-wealth-inequality-hits-record-high-as-top-0-001-gains-3500-since-1976-while-average-households-lag-at-200

Let’s be honest the plan is to pay workers as little as possible to keep the CEOs rolling in bonuses….

Janine Jackson interviewed Institute for Policy Studies’ Sarah Anderson about “successful” corporations paying poverty wages for the April 17, 2026, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.

Janine Jackson: In 2024, Forbes asked, “What Is the Secret to Walmart’s Success?” The answer:

Walmart’s strategy is boring but reliable. The foundation is provided by the scale of the business, creating the fuel necessary to maintain cost leadership.

In 2025, the Economist explained to readers “How Walmart Became a Tech Giant—and Took Over the World.” The answer, well, founder Sam Walton, a “trucker-capped, pickup-driving penny-pincher,” had a simple idea: “Keep costs low, pass savings on to customers, win market share, harness scale to further lower costs, and listen as the cash registers sing.”

Early this year, Inc. Magazine gave us “One Bold Decision Helped Make Walmart a Trillion-Dollar Company.” That story says:

Early this year, Inc. Magazine gave us “One Bold Decision Helped Make Walmart a Trillion-Dollar Company.” That story says:

Most experts see the company’s tremendous growth as a triumph of technology, including AI, and that’s certainly true. Walmart has used its heft, highly efficient warehouse network and the ubiquity of its stores as a competitive advantage.

But oho, the shocker, the big reveal, is that former CEO, Doug McMillon, “visited Walmart stores and asked the people working there what they needed. He listened to their answers and he started paying them more.”

Well, I hope you’re sitting down for this: “To begin with, every associate, as Walmart calls employees, would earn at least $9 an hour and soon move up to $10 an hour.” McMillon took home $27.4 million in 2024.

https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/its-all-about-keeping-wages-at-poverty-levels-to-overpay-their-ceos/

There you have a simple plan….give the voters something that will help make their wallets fatter and you have hit on a winner.

But instead the Dems crawl back to the high dollar donors and become their representatives not those of the people….they will be losers as long as they lay with the dollars.

You can change that but instead you had rather stand on the sideline and wish for change….and whine about your plight.

Not coming as long as you have that kind of attitude.  PERIOD!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

WTF? A UAE Bailout?

This Donny move needs to be spotlighted.

I recently read that Donny is considering a taxpayer bailout of an oil rich country, the UAE….

President Trump said he is considering a financial bailout for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), an autocratic state experiencing an economic downturn due to the war in Iran. If the Trump administration does use public resources to rescue the UAE, it will be assisting a country that has partnered extensively with the Trump Organization and the Trump family.

On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reported that UAE Central Bank Governor Khaled Mohamed Balama “raised the idea of a currency-swap line” during meetings in Washington, D.C., last week with Treasury Department and Federal Reserve officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Officials from the UAE said that they “had so far avoided the worst economic effects of the conflict but might still need a financial lifeline.” According to the Journal, a formal request has not yet been made.

UAE officials argued that the war between the U.S. and Iran could damage the country’s economy and harm its global financial standing. The war has already damaged the country’s oil and gas infrastructure, and Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz has cut off oil shipments that are a key source of dollar revenue.

https://popular.info/p/trump-floats-taxpayer-bailout-for

I say bollocks to that!

Donny will do anything for his oil buddies….including throwing taxpayer money at them to preserve his standing with the wealthy.

Let them learn what it is like.

Then after ranting about this situation I read that the UAE is considering leaving OPEC….

The United Arab Emirates said Tuesday that it will leave the oil cartel OPEC and its wider OPEC+ group effective Friday, a move rumored for some time as the Emirates chafed under production restrictions and increasingly had frostier relations with neighboring Saudi Arabia. The UAE has been a longtime member of OPEC, first through its emirate of Abu Dhabi in 1967 and later when the UAE became its own country in 1971, reports the AP. But the UAE has been increasingly trying to leverage its own foreign policy in the Middle East, which has contradicted some positions of Riyadh over time—particularly as Saudi Arabia began to directly challenge the Emirates in trying to draw foreign investment as the kingdom opened up under assertive Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

“This decision reflects the UAE’s long-term strategic and economic vision and evolving energy profile, including accelerated investment in domestic energy production, and reinforces its commitment to a responsible, reliable, and forward-looking role in global energy markets,” the UAE said via its state-run WAM news agency. “Following its exit, the UAE will continue to act responsibly, bringing additional production to market in a gradual and measured manner, aligned with demand and market conditions.”

Saudi Arabia long has been considered a heavyweight of OPEC, an oil cartel based in Vienna that has seen some of its market power wane as the United States increased its production of crude oil in recent years. Saudi Arabia and the UAE increasingly have competed over economic issues and regional politics, particularly in the Red Sea area. The two countries had joined together in a coalition to fight against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels in 2015. However, that coalition broke down into recriminations in late December, when Saudi Arabia bombed what it described as a weapons shipment bound for Yemeni separatists backed by the UAE. Saudi broadcasters long based in Dubai, the economic hub of the UAE, have pulled back to the kingdom in recent months as tensions rose.

Come Friday the UAE will be an independent oil producer…..what will that mean?

OPEC just lost a cornerstone member at the worst possible time. The United Arab Emirates’ decision to walk away from the producers’ group strips OPEC of about 13% of its capacity and one of its few members able to quickly pump more oil—right as war in Iran has shut the Strait of Hormuz and scrambled Middle East alliances, reports the Wall Street Journal. “It’s the hardest blow ever,” Homayoun Falakshahi, a senior oil analyst at commodities data company Kpler tells the newspaper. “It raises the question about whether OPEC can survive.” The sentiment is widespread:

  • It’s “the beginning of the end” for the alliance, Saul Kavonic of MST Financial tells the BBC. The UAE is OPEC’s fourth-largest producer behind Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Iran, accounting for about 3.6 million barrels a day, or 3% of the global supply, per the New York Times.
  • The effect on prices will be minimal in the short term because of the war, but the longer-term effect is harder to gauge. Greater volatility is one likelihood, per the Times. “But beyond the oil market implications, a deeper fault line is at play,” per Semafor. “The UAE’s move is the latest sign that it is no longer willing to go along with historic alliances it views as unnecessary purely for the sake of harmony.”
  • The nation has been signaling a break with OPEC for a while as its ties with Saudi Arabia in particular have frayed, per Reuters. The UAE no longer wants to be constrained by OPEC quotas, and it “would have both the incentive and the ability to increase production, raising broader questions about the sustainability of Saudi Arabia’s role as the market’s central stabilizer,” analyst Jorge Leon of Rystad tells the outlet.
  • One other common refrain is that the move is seen as a win for President Trump, who has previously complained that OPEC was “ripping off the rest of the world” with inflated prices, per Reuters. The BBC sees the move as opening the door to closer ties between the US and the UAE.
  • The break leaves 11 core members at OPEC, notes the Washington Post: Algeria, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.

Bet prices go up.

Why is no one talking about a taxpayer bailout for a foreign country?

This is going to bite the US in the ass in several ways.

Need I say more?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Story For All Times

Sorry for the delay in posting this but events have been moving rather quickly these days.

Recently with our war with Iran one of our jets was shot down and its pilot was behind ‘enemy lines’ and of course the mentality of no one left behind’ it became a heroic story for the media.

But with Pistol Pete and Donny’s chest thumping another chapter to this saga came out….

It was billed as an awe-inspiring mission that highlighted the astonishing ingenuity and sophistication of the world’s most powerful military.

But now the story of how an American air force crewman of an F-15 fighter jet was rescued in Iran is at the centre of an extraordinary online debate over whether it was all an elaborate smokescreen to cover up a disastrous US attempt to snatch Tehran’s enriched uranium.

One post by a defence commentator on X, which described the official story as ‘nonsense’, has attracted 1.5 million views.

Details of the drama – tailor-made for a Hollywood action film – were given by a triumphant Donald Trump two days after the plane was shot down.

The mission to rescue one airman, he said, involved a staggering ‘air armada’ of more than 155 planes, including four bombers, 64 fighters, 48 refuelling tankers and 13 rescue aircraft, as well as hundreds of special forces troops.

The actual on-the-ground rescue was carried out under the cover of darkness by a strike force led by Navy SEAL Team 6 – the US military’s most elite unit – and Delta Force commandos flying in on two Special Operations transport planes also carrying small helicopters for the mission.

But a technical foul-up – the planes got bogged down on a muddy runway – allegedly necessitated a second rescue mission with US bombers creating a ring of fire around their makeshift air base to repel Iranian forces.

The missing aviator is now safe, according to Trump, who says the team that extracted him suffered no casualties.

…

But the events surrounding the ‘rescue’ are now being hotly disputed, not least by Iran. So who is telling the truth?

Suspicions about the White House version of events have been fuelled by the lack of information about the rescued air force colonel, the plane’s weapons systems officer, who has only ever been referred to by his call sign, ‘Dude 44 Bravo’.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15730295/Why-believe-mission-rescue-downed-airman-Dude-44-Bravo-really-smokescreen-audacious-attempt-snatch-Irans-uranium.html

Please read the attached article it has a good sequence of events…..

Now is this just a conspiracy theory in the making or is it a truth that is being used to sell the war?

It will make excellent fodder for a made-for-TV movie….maybe that is the plan all along.

Then I saw another story about this rescue plan…..where Donny was eliminated from the decisions…..

Military advisers intentionally excluded President Donald Trump from the command room during the recent high-stakes extraction of a downed American airman in Iran, fearing his erratic temper would jeopardize the mission, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing a senior administration official.

The move came during a period of intense agitation for the president. Following the downing of a US jet by Iranian forces, Trump reportedly spent hours screaming at aides in a nearly empty West Wing, haunted by the specter of the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. “If you look at what happened with Jimmy Carter… it cost them the election,” Trump privately fretted, according to sources familiar with the matter.

To mitigate the risk of impulsive interference, aides opted to provide the commander in chief with updates only at “meaningful moments,” rather than the minute-by-minute tactical feeds being monitored by the National Security Council.

https://www.jpost.com/international/article-893485

If true it was a wise idea…..

Thoughts?

I Read. I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Bi-Partisan Investigation

Just days ago there was another ‘attempt’ on poor Donny’s life and as usual he and his demented minions ran to the cameras to make some wild statement….playing Donny as a victim they have started blaming….

As if right on key….that blonde bimbo Leavitt did what they always do…..blame the Dems….

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt applauded President Donald Trump’s “calm in the face of chaos” after a suspected shooter attempted to take his life for the third time at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, using the moment not only to condemn political violence but also to press an urgent case for strengthening national security funding.

“President Trump is fearless because he loves this country, and he is willing to put his own life on the line to deliver on the promises that he made to the American public,” Leavitt told reporters, emphasizing that while political disagreements are inevitable, “those disagreements must remain peaceful.”

Her remarks came as she returned to the podium despite plans for maternity leave, saying the seriousness of the “attempted assassination” against the president and other administration officials required immediate public communication about the administration’s response.

Leavitt sharply criticized what she described as the long-running “demonization” of Trump by Democrats, media figures and what she called a “left-wing cult of hatred,” arguing that years of rhetoric labeling Trump a “fascist” or “threat to democracy” have contributed to a climate that enables violence. She claimed the suspected shooter’s manifesto was “indistinguishable” from language commonly seen on social media and in public discourse.

https://abc3340.com/news/nation-world/white-house-press-secretary-karoline-leavitt-blames-democrats-rhetoric-for-inciting-political-violence-after-president-donald-trump-assassination-attempt-correspondents-dinner-ballroom-shooting-suspect-cole-tomas-allen-manifesto-kimmel-first-lady-melania

Then there is the reaction from Congress after the growing incidents of political violence…..

“We need a bipartisan national commission for political violence in this country. I heard Sen. Tillis speak,” he added. “We should look at social media. We should look at mental health issues. We should look at language. But we need to do something to bring the temperature down.”

Moments before Khanna’s appearance, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) spoke to Welker about the need for an end to political violence, describing social media as an “amplifier” and “instigator” that targets “vulnerable people.”

“In many cases, we’re seeing people who are committing these horrible acts have behavioral health and other challenges, stability issues in their lives,” Tillis said, adding that what “American people need to do is take a breath, confirm their facts, talk to their elected officials, think a bit before they judge people.”

Tillis continued, “They all have a role to play. And we in elected office do as well. Our words matter. The weight of our words matter, and we need to be very measured in the way that we use them.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5850124-bipartisan-commission-political-violence-khanna/

Let me save them some time…..this is happening because of the spread of racism, loss of rights and the raping of this country by a megalomaniac and his buddies…..the people are tired of this assault on them and their country.

This is hilarious on the face of it…..this commission will be a toothless tiger it will ramble on with whitewashed bullshit and try to find a scapegoat.

They know what is happening and they are running scared…..as they should.

Bi-partisanship….the great lie of American politics.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Shameful Experimentation

Time for some history….(this is where you can tune out if so desired)….

Most of us old farts remember the horrific medical experimentation done by the likes of Mengele, Eichmann, Himmler, et al.,…these quacks used prisoners as guinea pigs….and they were condemned by the rest of the world as purveyors of genocide.

The sad part is the younger generation cannot seem to come up with one prison camp name…..

In 2025, 48% of Americans ages 18-29 could not name a single concentration or death camp, according to a survey by the nonprofit Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which works to secure compensation and restitution for Holocaust survivors.

Another 53% of surveyed Americans said that they had encountered Holocaust “denial or distortion while on social media.”

Given their ages, approximately 70% of living Holocaust survivors will likely die by 2035. As they do, more and more people will never hear firsthand experiences about the atrocities Nazis perpetuated during the genocide of European Jews.

My research shows that Holocaust education and awareness, though, doesn’t always follow a linear path.

How sad is that?   6 million dead and no one can be bothered to remember them.  But I guess you gotta be old to remember this shit.

The US and others were just as guilty of unethical experiments like Tuskegee Syphilis Trials, the UK’s Porton Down Chemical Trials, and others were also involved…..

Research involving human subjects is littered with a history of scandal that often shapes people’s views of the ethics of research. Often the earliest cited case is English physician Edward Jenner’s development of the smallpox vaccine in 1796, where he injected an eight-year-old child with the pus taken from a cowpox infection and then deliberately exposed her to an infected carrier of smallpox.

Although Jenner’s experiment was, fortunately, successful, the method of exposing a child to a deadly disease in this way would undoubtedly nowadays be seen as unacceptable. Perhaps the most notorious cases of unethical research were revealed during the Nuremberg trials concerning Nazi experiments on concentration camp prisoners. This “research” included involuntary sterilisation, inducing hypothermia, and exposing subjects to diseases such as tuberculosis.

There are also examples of government-run research that took advantage of the vulnerability of the subjects to ensure their participation and which resulted in the subjects experiencing severe harms, such as the Tuskegee Syphilis trials or the UK-run Porton Down chemical experiments in which 11,000 military personnel were exposed to mustard and nerve gas between 1939 and 1989.

https://theconversation.com/human-experiments-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-39876

But one of the most horrendous experiments was done by the CIA, the MKULTRA….

MKUltra[a] was an illegal human experimentation program designed and undertaken by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to develop procedures and identify drugs that could be used in altering human behavior.[1] The term MKUltra is a CIA cryptonym: “MK” is an arbitrary prefix standing for the Office of Technical Service and “Ultra” is an arbitrary word out of a dictionary used to name this project. The program has been widely condemned as a violation of individual rights and an example of the CIA’s abuse of power, with critics highlighting its disregard for consent and its corrosive impact on democratic principles.[2]

Project MKUltra began in 1953 and was halted in 1973. MKUltra used numerous methods to manipulate its subjects’ mental states and brain functions, such as the covert administration of high doses of psychoactive drugs (especially LSD) and other chemicals without the subjects’ consent. Additionally, other methods beyond chemical compounds were used, including electroshocks,[3] hypnosis,[4][5] sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, and other forms of torture.[6][7]

Project MKUltra was preceded by Project Artichoke.[8][9] It was organized through the CIA’s Office of Scientific Intelligence and coordinated with the United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories.[10] The program engaged in illegal activities,[11][12][13] including the use of U.S. and Canadian citizens as unwitting test subjects.[11]: 74 [14][15][16] MKUltra’s scope was broad, with activities carried out under the guise of research at more than 80 institutions aside from the military, including colleges and universities, hospitals, prisons, and pharmaceutical companies.[17] The CIA operated using front organizations, although some top officials at these institutions were aware of the CIA’s involvement.[11]

Project MKUltra was revealed to the public in 1975 by the Church Committee (named after Senator Frank Church) of the United States Congress and Gerald Ford‘s United States President’s Commission on CIA Activities within the United States (the Rockefeller Commission). Investigative efforts were hampered by CIA director Richard Helms‘s order that all MKUltra files be destroyed in 1973; the Church Committee and Rockefeller Commission investigations relied on the sworn testimony of direct participants and on the small number of documents that survived Helms’s order.[18] In 1977, a Freedom of Information Act request uncovered a cache of 20,000 documents relating to MKUltra, which led to Senate hearings.[11][19] Some surviving information about MKUltra was declassified in 2001.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MKUltra

Read this if you are not familiar with the tactics of the CIA and how they manipulated American citizens with horrific experiments.

Do not condemn anyone until you see what the CIA is capable of doing….

Korean prisoners of war in the 1950s were subjected to early MK-ULTRA experiments while in American custody, according to recently declassified CIA documents which confirm these experiments for the first time.

The only reporting that previously referenced Koreans being used as guinea pigs for these experiments was journalist John Marks’s landmark 1979 book, The Search for the “Manchurian Candidate.” Using CIA documents, Marks traced the now-infamous MK-ULTRA project to its start, when it was known as Project Bluebird. In the book, Marks describes how, in October 1950, 25 unnamed North Korean POWs were chosen as the first test subjects to receive “advanced” interrogation techniques, with the overt goal of “controlling an individual to the point where he will do our bidding against his will and even against such fundamental laws of nature as self-preservation.”

CIA Ran MK-ULTRA Experiments on Prisoners of War in U.S. Custody, Declassified Docs Confirm

I wish I could say that this type of human abuse has been eliminated but I bet that it still goes on and under tight secrecy……use Iraq as an example.

Before you set about condemning the nazis just look around the US has been no better.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Shots Fired!–Update

Yesterday I wrote about the drama at the ‘Correspondents Dinner’……a Donny drama…..in case you need a refresher…..

Shots Fired!

There is now more that can be said…..

As usual Donny had to dash in front of the cameras and make it into a drama that he could exploit….

The man suspected in a shooting outside Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner—described by President Trump as a “sick person”—was identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, two law enforcement officials told the AP. “When you’re impactful, they go after you. When you’re not impactful, they leave you alone,” Trump, safe and uninjured and still in his tuxedo, said at the White House two hours later. “They seem to think he was a lone wolf.” There was no immediate indication of any other involvement, and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said she had “no reason” to believe anyone else was involved. Video posted by Trump showed the suspect running past security barricades as Secret Service agents ran toward him.

“There does not appear to be any sort of danger to the public at this time,” Bowser said at a separate news conference. All officials protected by the Secret Service were evacuated. Those in attendance included Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio—and many other leaders of the Trump administration on a night when the nation is at war with Iran. “Today we need levels of security that probably nobody has ever seen before,” the president said. But he also said, “We’re not going to let anybody take over our society.” After an initial attempt to resume, the event was scrapped for the night and will be rescheduled. A law enforcement officer was shot in the bullet-resistant vest but is expected to be OK, several sources say. The suspect was allegedly armed with guns and knives when he stormed the lobby outside the ballroom where the event was taking place, as Trump was seated onstage

The president commended the Secret Service and suggested that the shooter wasn’t close to breaching the ballroom, the AP reports. Trump, describing what was going through his mind as the shots rang out, said he initially believed it was a tray being dropped, noting that the noise was “quite far away.” But the first lady, he said, was “very cognizant” that it was a shooting. “I think she knew immediately what happened,” the president said, recalling that his wife told him, “That’s a bad noise.” He said he wanted the dinner to continue, but law enforcement preferred it to be rescheduled. He also struck a somber tone, telling reporters that being president is “a dangerous profession” and that attempted violence against him is “part of the job.”

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said charges related to Saturday night’s attack will be filed shortly, and that the nature of the charges would be obvious considering what had happened at the dinner. Blanche stressed that “the investigation is obviously ongoing and just started.” FBI Director Kash Patel, flanking Trump, said the agency is examining a long gun and shell casings recovered from the scene, as well as interviewing witnesses from the dinner. He urged anyone with information to come forward.

What about the alleged shooter?

Social media posts that appear to match the California man arrested Saturday in the shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner show he is a highly educated tutor and amateur video game developer. A May 2025 profile photo of Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, appears to match the appearance of the man in a photo of the alleged attacker being taken into custody that was posted Saturday night by President Trump. The photo, posted to the social networking site LinkedIn, shows him in a cap and gown after graduating with a master’s degree in computer science from California State University-Dominguez Hills.

Allen, 31, earned a bachelor’s degree in 2017 in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He listed his involvement there in a Christian student fellowship and a campus group that battled with Nerf guns. Bin Tang, a computer science professor at California State University-Dominguez Hills, told the AP that Allen took a few of his classes before graduating. “He was a very good student indeed, always sitting in the first row of my class, paying attention, and frequently emailing me with coursework questions. Soft spoken, very polite, a good fellow. I am very shocked to see the news,” Tang said.

A local ABC station in Los Angeles included an interview with Allen during his senior year of college as part of a story about new technologies to help people as they age. He had developed a prototype for a new type of emergency brake for wheelchairs. Allen contributed $25 to a Democratic Party political action committee in support of Kamala Harris for president in 2024, according to federal campaign finance records.

Allen’s online resume says he has worked for the last six years at C2 Education, a company that offers admissions counseling and test preparation services to aspiring college students. A 2024 post on the company’s Facebook page listed Allen as the company’s teacher of the month. The company did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Saturday night. Allen also posted that he had developed a video game for the Steam platform based on molecular chemistry. A post under Allen’s name said he was working to develop a new “top-down shooter” combat game set in outer space.

That explains everything….he donated $25 to Harris campaign….

How long will Donny harp on this event….how long can he extend the drama and his victim-hood?

He started immediately using it to further his warped agenda.

All these supposed chances and no one is good enough to make good on the attempts…..bollocks!

Someone on social media wrote….stop interrupting my night unless he is dead…..a cold hard truth these days.

Since I refuse social media I will let my dear friend Pete let you know the skinny…

Bad Acting

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Last Week At The Sh*t Show–26Apr26

I now return to my regular schedule postings…..

“I’m the one guy who says don’t force the stupid people to be quiet. I want to know who the morons are”   Mark Cuban

A full week of a loud mouth firing off his mouth before his brain is loaded (considering if there is a brain in there)….each week the GOP and MAGA boneheads get more and more silly.

I see Donny who use to say he was a ‘stable genius’ is now saying of himself….he described himself: “extraordinarily brilliant.”  Okay that is laugh worthy!

I see our clueless leader is still harping on that he deserves the medal of honor…..

Donald Trump likes to receive honors and awards. Just look at how happy Trump was to get the first ever FIFA peace prize or when Venezuela’s María Corina Machado gave Trump her Nobel Peace Prize medal (to clarify, he may possess the medal, but he’s not been awarded a Nobel). And he apparently wants to expand his collection by awarding himself the Medal of Honor. In a conversation about the war in Iran, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump has “mused [that] he should award himself the nation’s highest military honor, the Medal of Honor.”

…

Trump thinking about potentially giving himself this honor isn’t new, though it hasn’t lost any of its cringeworthiness with time. It was one of the most embarrassing moments of Trump’s State of the Union. During his speech (via YouTube), he seemed to acknowledge why he wouldn’t get it: “I was informed I’m not allowed to give it to myself, and I wouldn’t know why I’d be taking it. If they ever open up that law…” The week before, during a speech in Georgia, he said that he should get the Medal of Honor for going to Iraq to visit the troops in 2018. He said, “That’s a little stretch if I gave myself one. … Someday I’m going to try.”

https://www.thelist.com/2152947/donald-trump-obsession-medal-of-honor/

As a veteran who served two combat tours in Vietnam I am disgusted by Donny’s take on the war….

President Donald Trump blurted out a stunning claim about the Vietnam War in a CNBC interview — which was made all the more stunning by the fact that he avoided service in that war and called avoiding an STD his own personal Vietnam.

Trump famously avoided the Vietnam draft through a series of deferments that included a medical claim of “bone spurs” that has been discredited by the family of the doctor who made the diagnosis.

Decades later, Trump made repeated references to the avoidance of STDs as his own “personal Vietnam,” telling Howard Stern in one interview that “It’s like Vietnam, sort of. It is my personal Vietnam. I feel like a great and very brave soldier.”

But in a lengthy interview on Monday morning’s edition of CNBC’s Squawk Box, Trump brought into bold relief the consequences of his sacrifice in sitting out the war when he told the show’s co-hosts that “I would’ve won Vietnam very quickly.”

Trump Blurts Stunning Claim About Vietnam War — Which He Avoided Serving In

He’s a fucking idiot!  I have no use for the people’s opinion that did not serve…..their words are hollow and ignorant.  (Forgive the racy tone….I do have my buttons)

For me the silliness crap is all this holier than thou bullshit from Pistol Pete and Dumbass Donny….these people along with the likes of that slug Speaker want to force religion upon this nation….

Nearly 250 years after the founding of this nation, the United States finds herself at a crossroads, asked to choose between two different visions of what it means to belong to the American family.

One path leads to a Christian nationalist rebranding of America based on the alluring myth of religious and national purity, where Christian and American identities are synonymous, and where Christians are tasked with holding authority over all essential aspects of American civic life.

The other path is a return to America’s pluralistic roots and the endeavor to create a society in which people from diverse religious traditions can freely bring their gifts and aspirations to bear on a shared diverse democracy.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2026/03/22/eid-sharia-law-us-threat-christian-nationalism/89189035007/

These blockheads are doing what they accused Muslims of wanting to do about 20 years ago.

Plus the Congress and Donny and the board of crooks are trying to legislate morality….cannot do it…..why?

The moral argument for not making laws about many—especially victimless—activities is that people have a right to live their own lives so long as they don’t hurt anybody else. That’s a convincing case for those of us who naturally gravitate to a live-and-let-live take on life. But it’s unpersuasive to the growing ranks of those inclined to control freakery in these illiberal times, and who believe the state should step in to control bad things. The strongest rebuttal to the authoritarian case is that people so vigorously disagree as to what constitutes “bad” that efforts to regulate a whole host of activities invite noncompliance. Recent polling provides evidence that Americans disagree on many issues.

When it comes to what constitutes an immoral activity, Americans have some common ground. According to recent Pew Research polling, 90 percent of us believe it’s immoral for married people to have an extramarital affair. Two percent say it’s morally acceptable and 7 percent believe it’s not a moral issue at all. That low opinion of cheating is shared by 93 percent of Republicans and 88 percent of Democrats. At least 90 percent of Catholics, Protestants, and Jews agree. Eighty-nine percent of men and 91 percent of women concur, and at least 89 percent of all age groups also morally disapprove of stepping out on a marriage. The weakest disapproval comes from atheists, “only” 84 percent of whom call extramarital affairs immoral, and 5 percent of whom say they’re morally acceptable.

https://reason.com/2026/03/25/dont-legislate-morality-most-americans-cant-agree-on-whats-immoral/

Personally I think these efforts by the GOP are immoral and I refuse to bow.

Here is one for you…..Donny is thinking about bailing out an oil producing country…..

The Trump administration is considering whether to provide financial support to the United Arab Emirates as economic fallout from the U.S. war with Iran ripples across the region.

Emirati officials have discussed possible relief measures with the White House, including a currency swap, if the country’s economy deteriorates further. The talks come as shipping disruptions tied to the Strait of Hormuz continue to threaten oil flows and regional stability.

The issue was raised last week by Central Bank Governor Khaled Mohamed Balama during meetings with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. While UAE officials have indicated their economy remains stable for now, they have signaled that assistance may be needed if conditions worsen.

Trump Considers Billion-Dollar Bailout For UAE, Biggest Backers His Family Businesses, As Iran War Strains Allies

Tell me there is not something hinkey with this proposal.  Why does a nation where no one has to work because of oil revenue needs a bailout.

Plus Donny’s Board of Peace just got an infusion of over a billion dollars….Donny’s family will be tapping it I am sure….

In January 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing an organization called the Board of Peace, whose stated purpose is to promote peacekeeping around the world.

Three months later, in April 2026, social media posts online claimed the Department of State had authorized the transfer of $1.25 billion in funding to the board. Social media users claimed the transfer effectively placed the money, which was supposedly intended for international relief and peacekeeping efforts, directly in the hands of Trump, the board’s chairman.

Trump and the board’s executives control funding for the Board of Peace — and Trump selects the executive board — and the president will continue to do so even after his second term ends in January 2029.

https://www.snopes.com/news/2026/04/21/state-department-trump-board-peace/

You know how the GOP is always blaming someone for their stupidity…..this one takes the cake for the week….

Robert F Kennedy Jr has dismissed any suggestion that his vaccine skepticism has contributed to measles outbreaks across the U.S., instead placing the blame on immigrants.

“It has nothing to do with me,” the Health Secretary told lawmakers at a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday, in which he was questioned on his department’s budget for 2027.

“If you’re worried about polio and tuberculosis, you should look at the immigration policies in this country. ’Cause the place where it’s occurring are the place[s] where the immigrants are going, because they’re not vaccinated.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/rfk-jr-measles-immigrants-b2962920.html

This idiot is as brain dead as the moron he works for…..

That is enough corruption for this Sunday…..let me put a small smile on your face….

I hope that made up for the awful news I brought forth.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Shots Fired!

All too familiar words these days….seems like they are repeated everyday or so…..but this time it is about a spot that usually gets some other type of press…..the Correspondent dinner.

Usually the night is full of jocularity and fashion…..but that was the years before Donny and his band of thugs….

President Trump was reported uninjured and other top leaders of the United States were evacuated from an annual dinner of White House correspondents on Saturday night after an unspecified threat, the AP reports. One law-enforcement official said a shooter opened fire. An officer in a bullet-resistant vest was reportedly shot, but is expected to be OK. No other injuries were immediately reported. The Secret Service and other authorities swarmed the banquet hall at the Washington Hilton as guests ducked under tables by the hundreds. “Out of the way, sir!” someone yelled. Others yelled to duck.

The event was getting underway when armed security rushed in. Attendees were eating a spring pea and burrata salad, and waiters had begun preparing to bring out the next course when a security detail appeared on the ballroom floor and yelled for everyone to get down. Journalists in gowns and tuxedos ducked near tables as wine splattered onto white tablecloths and glasses clinked in the hurry to seek safety. Armed security burst through the doors of the ballroom and raced toward the dias where Trump sat as attendees ducked or crouched under tables. At one point, someone in the room shouted, “USA!”

Trump said that a “shooter has been apprehended” in a post to Truth Social about 30 minutes following a security incident at the White House correspondents’ dinner. Some in the crowd reported hearing what they believed to be 5 to 8 shots fired. Both Trump and Vice President JD Vance were uninjured in the incident. Dinner organizers said there will be an “announcement shortly” from the stage. It was later reported that the dinner would be rescheduled, but that everyone was safe.

Generally, the Hilton hotel, where the dinner has taken place for years, remains open to regular guests during the White House Correspondents Dinner. It has typically been focused on the ballroom—rather than the hotel at large—with little screening for people not entering the dinner itself. In past years, that has created openings for disruptions in the lobby and other public spaces, including protests in which security moved to remove guests who unfurled banners or staged demonstrations.

Always a little drama when Donny is involved.

I wonder if someone was paid for this disruption?

Gee!  Is Donny really that unpopular?  (sarcasm in case you missed it).

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

IST Saturday News Dump–25Apr26

AS if by magic I return to the news dump for your entertainment pleasure…..or possibly in a nightmare.

Local–Last week NOLA had its annual French Quarter Fest with music and food……this past Thursday NOLA’s annual Jazz  Fest began….if you like music then this is the place to be….here is what to expect….

Music

And if you want some of the best damn food you will ever eat then….check out the food section of the website….

As most of my regulars know I live on the Gulf Coast and we watch the hurricane season….more so since Katrina….and looks like we may have a bit of good news….

Meteorologists have forecasted a below-average hurricane season for 2026, suggesting fewer storms than usual. This prediction comes after analyzing various atmospheric conditions and oceanic patterns that typically influence hurricane activity. Factors such as cooler sea surface temperatures and a potential El Niño event are contributing to this outlook. Historically, these conditions have been associated with reduced hurricane formation in the Atlantic basin.

We can only hope.

Personal–Not much this past week…..I am still breathing and reading and ranting…..

Enough chit-chat…..time for the grits and gravy….

Since I am fighting cancer I always look for reports that might prov e helpful….

There is news about something called CAR-T therapy…..

A woman who had been sick for many years with three autoimmune conditions has experienced a remarkable recovery after being treated with CAR-T therapy. This revolutionary cell-based therapy has been making waves in cancer science, but this case marks the first time it’s been successfully used in someone with these three life-threatening disorders.

CAR-T therapy takes a patient’s own cells and essentially turns them into targeted, disease-fighting machines. It’s been particularly promising for blood cancers – last year, early results from a clinical trial of a treatment based on this technology showed its impressive effects in patients with an aggressive type of leukemia.

First approved in the US in 2017, these therapies start with the extraction of a patient’s T cells, which are a subset of white blood cells and “the body’s primary killer of infected and other diseased cells,” explains the National Cancer Institute.

https://www.iflscience.com/car-t-therapy-is-revolutionizing-cancer-treatment-next-on-the-list-autoimmune-disease-83144

Oh Damn!  I do not east a lot of sweets but I do enjoy my fruits and vegetables…..could they be one of my problem s?

A diet packed with fruits, vegetables, and whole grains is widely considered healthy and typically seen as a cornerstone of disease prevention.

But new research from the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of Keck Medicine of USC, suggests the relationship may be more complex.

Findings presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research indicate that non-smoking Americans under 50 who follow these diets may face a higher risk of developing lung cancer.

“Our research shows that younger non-smokers who eat a higher quantity of healthy foods than the general population are more likely to develop lung cancer,” said Jorge Nieva, MD, a medical oncologist and lung cancer specialist with USC Norris and lead investigator of the study. “These counterintuitive findings raise important questions about an unknown environmental risk factor for lung cancer related to otherwise beneficial food that needs to be addressed.”

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-reveal-eating-fruits-and-vegetables-may-increase-your-risk-of-lung-cancer/

Sorry but this needs more clarification.

The older I get the more I worry about my mind failing me….I can handle my body aging out but my mind is something I must keep in good working order…..

Scientists have taken a significant step towards combating the inflammation responsible for brain aging and brain fog, which has traditionally been viewed as irreversible. What’s more, the solution, which has been tested on mice, doesn’t even involve invasive surgery but can be administered with a simple nasal spray.

Over the past century, advances in medicine, public health, and the overall standard of living (for many people) have led to increased life expectancy. But accompanying this extension in our years is a rise in age-related ailments, especially neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. One factor contributing to this is inflammation.

As we age, our brains start to experience a low-grade but chronic inflammatory process referred to as “neuro-inflammaging”. You can think of this like a small, ever-present “fire” that constantly smolders deep in the brain’s memory center. The metaphorical smoke from this fire creates brain fog that makes it difficult to think, form new memories, or adapt to new environments. At the same time, it increases the risk of a person developing disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.

https://www.iflscience.com/nasal-spray-could-reverse-brain-aging-by-lowering-inflammation-and-re-energizing-brain-cells-83226

That is enough of the health stuff….let’s get to the weird stuff….

String theorists will be pouty…..they think the universe has an infinite amount of dimensions and now some guy says there are only 7….

It might sound like something from The Matrix, but scientists now say that our universe has seven dimensions.

In addition to the four dimensions we normally experience – height, length, depth, and time – physicists argue that there are three extra ‘folded’ layers of reality.

Far from being science fiction, researchers believe it could solve one of the most stubborn problems in the history of physics.

According to the researchers, this wild theory finally explains what happens to black holes when they die.

Scientists used to think that black holes were cosmic voids from which nothing could ever escape.

But in the 1970s, Stephen Hawking realised that black holes emit radiation, slowly evaporating away as time goes by.

The problem is that this appears to violate one of quantum physics’ most important rules, creating something called the information paradox.

A group of researchers now say they have found a solution to this 50–year–old conundrum – but it only works if the universe really has seven dimensions.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-15741331/scientist-claims-universe-SEVEN-dimensions.html

That ought to get the name calling to a fevered pitch.

In 1960 a noted scientist predicted the end of the world (there is always one, huh?)

Predictions for the end of civilization come around fairly regularly. Many of us who were alive during 2012 can recall the misinterpretation of the Mayan calendar which suggested the end was nigh and led to a sense of impending doom. Just last year was spent dodging the rapture that had been forecasted by TikTok prophets. This year, the Doomsday Clock was set the closest to midnight it has ever been. So, it perhaps comes as no surprise that we’re hurtling towards another deadline for humanity on November 13, 2026, which is appropriately a Friday. What might be a bit more unsettling is that this prediction was made by a physicist using mathematical models and population data.

…

Von Foerster became interested in computational biology early on in his career, founding the Biological Computing Lab at the University of Illinois in 1958. This field brings computational and mathematical methodology into the study of biological systems. Employing such methods, von Foerster published his controversial doomsday prediction in the journal Science in 1960. In his model, “doomsday” occurred when the world’s human population grew to infinity, and we would be “squeezed to death.”

Prior to this paper’s publication, models of population growth (e.g., the model created by Thomas Malthus) were exponential. In other words, the population growth (i.e., birth rate) would be proportional to the existing population. Whereas von Foerster and his colleagues asserted that population growth is, in fact, hyperbolic. With this model, he argued that population growth actually accelerates as it grows due to communication and the human ability for cooperation. In such a model, the population approaches infinity: doomsday.

https://www.sciencing.com/2138206/how-1960-physicist-predicted-world-end-november-13-2026/

Damn!  I think that is Thanksgiving Day….that could ruin a good meal.

If you have ever been on a road trip with the kids then you know that they have to pee every 20 miles…..well the Chinese may have solved that problem…..

Road trips in China may eventually come with a new kind of onboard convenience: a slide-out car toilet. Chinese EV maker Seres has secured a patent for an “in-vehicle toilet” that tucks beneath a passenger seat and can be deployed with a push or voice command, according to a filing with China’s intellectual property office seen by the BBC. The system includes a fan and exhaust pipe to vent smells outside, a waste tank that must be emptied by hand, and a heating element designed to evaporate urine and dry solid waste. In the patent filing, Seres said the system is designed to “satisfy users’ toilet needs on long journeys, while camping or while staying in the car.”

Seres hasn’t said if or when the feature will make it into a production model. The idea lands as Chinese electric-car makers race to differentiate in a crowded market by loading vehicles with extras like refrigerators, karaoke systems, and massage seats. Seres, which sells mainly in China but has expanded to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, is one of the few Chinese EV firms currently turning a profit in a sector many analysts say is ripe for consolidation.

Psychedelics may get easier to get…..

INTEREST IN research investigating psychedelic drugs including psilocybin, ketamine, ibogaine, and LSD and their potential role in improving mental health has been heating up for a while. Now, with the signing of an executive order for the FDA to fast track review of these drugs, interest is at a fever pitch. This order is expected to lower barriers to researching these drugs and may even make some drugs eligible for the Right to Try Act.

A decade ago, using drugs like magic mushrooms, especially in a therapist’s office, seemed cringey, extreme, and not helpful for what patients were there for. Today…it’s complicated.

Tech bros and CEOs have been trumpeting their use of mushrooms (psilocybin) to optimize performance and improve emotional well-being, and new science is probing the mental health benefits of these and other psychedelics. The conversation got louder as MAHA championed for them being outside of Big Pharma’s hands (largely) and being “suppressed by the FDA,” according to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Meanwhile, plenty of people aren’t waiting for government approval before experimenting: About 8 million US adults reported using psychedelics in 2023 (often for fun), according to a RAND corporation survey. Now there are psychedelic happy hours, ibogaine retreats abroad, and chocolate candies for microdosing.

https://www.menshealth.com/health/a71077196/psychedelics-fast-track

Leave it to the tech bros…….

That does it for me…..go out and enjoy your Saturday and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”