Sunday, May 31, 2026

Dementia Don's Further Descent Into Madness, Cont.

 

Didn't see the corporate media report on this nuttery?  Surprised not surprised:



Wow, he's totally focused on things that matter to the American people, amirite?!

Here we have an unstable, puerile, cognitively-impaired, wildly narcissistic, lawless, dictator-approving moron who also happens to have the nuclear launch codes right there next to his Diet Coke red button.  What does corporate media and the rest of the establishment see?

LGM's Paul Campos notes:

I would like to believe that, if Trump had posted something this completely unhinged a few weeks into his first presidency, when when the elite media were still breathlessly waiting for and then announcing on various occasions that this was the day on which he had become president, aka stopped being the Donald Trump everyone had been observing for several decades, it would have produced some sort of shocked reaction from those very same people, instead of what it produces now ... exactly nothing.

What we are seeing here is the ongoing cumulative radicalization of the Trump regime, which in turn is being met by something close to total denial by almost all of the American establishment, because the alternative would be to acknowledge what is actually happening in this country now. And that is literally unbearable for the establishment, because doing so would itself radically undermine that establishment’s legitimacy, most particularly in its ow n eyes.

Which means that the pretending will continue for as long as possible, which could be quite a long time.

When this scabrous era ends, the list of media and other "establishment" enablers, cowards, and favor/ access-seekers who place profits-over-principles, will be long but deserving of (at the bare minimum) shunning by the majority who actually cared about American democracy and fought for it.

BONUS: More on the dementia screening test that the MF thinks measures his "intelligence" from a doctor.


Sunday Reflection: What We Stay Alive For

 



“We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. So medicine, law, business, engineering... these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love... these are what we stay alive for.” -- esteemed American poet and essayist Walt Whitman (5/31/1819 - 3/26/1892), from his landmark epic "Leaves of Grass." Thought of as the "father of free verse" and America's "first national poet," Whitman influenced and was revered by countless writers and poets, including Oscar Wilde, Ezra Pound, Langston Hughes, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. 

(photo: Matthew Brady)


Conan O'Brien Presents -- A Harvard Commencement Address

 

Conan O'Brien's commencement address at Harvard has, as you would expect, lots of smart humor, some important truths, and some digs at the Malignant Fascist (and Whiskey Pete Hegseth's alma mater Princeton).

Saturday, May 30, 2026

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(James MacLeod, @macltoons)

(Lalo Alcaraz, LA Weekly)

(Rick McKee, caglecartoons.com)

(Michael de Adder, caglecartoons.com, Canada)

(Jimmy Margulies, King Features)

(Bill Day, caglecartoons.com)

(John Branch, King Features)

(Nick Anderson, The Contrarian)

(Drew Sheneman, Tribune Content Agency)

(Kevin Kallaugher, The Economist, UK)


Skeets Of The Day

 

Judge launches investigation of the corrupt MAGAt thug slush fund --


BREAKING: A federal judge in Miami just made a striking turnabout — essentially reopening Trump's $10 billion case against the IRS, saying that she wanted to investigate "grievous allegations" that the hasty deal to resolve it was "premised on deception."

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— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1.bsky.social) May 29, 2026 at 6:10 PM


Operation Epic Epstein Fury: oil flow through Hormuz --


Oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz might not return to levels seen before the Iran war

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— CNBC (@cnbc.com) May 30, 2026 at 9:03 AM


The lying Malignant Fascist's health report's not believable -- 


The Trump regime's lying is at Soviet levels. This quote is often credited to Solzhenitsyn but probably originated with Elena Gorokhova: "The rules are simple: They lie to us, we know they’re lying, they know we know they’re lying but they keep lying anyway, and we keep pretending to believe them."

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— Mark Jacob (@markjacob.bsky.social) May 30, 2026 at 9:31 AM

 

The White House finally released the totally believable results of Trump’s physical. He’s still supposedly 6’3” and 238 lbs. super healthy. The only thing wrong with his hands is bruising from shaking hands. He has a scarred ear from a gunshot. And it seems they gave him another dementia test.

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— Helen Kennedy (@helenkennedy.com) May 29, 2026 at 11:01 PM

 

Trump took another cognitive/dementia test at Walter Reed. They don’t just give these things out for fun, and it’s definitely not normal to take them several times a year if there’s no concern. He was also seen by 22 specialists and got a chest CT. And they released the results 11 pm Friday. 🤔

— Angry (@angrystaffer.bsky.social) May 30, 2026 at 8:45 AM


The misfiring MAGAt attacks on James Talarico -- 

 

It's almost as if they don't get that "vegan" was code for gay and that having sex with a vegan is only gay to them.

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— 🗽LOLGOP🗽 (@thefarce.org) May 30, 2026 at 9:41 AM

 

Congrats to the GOP for forcing the entire country talk about @jamestalarico.bsky.social’s girlfriend, who it turns out is super hot 👍

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— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen.bsky.social) May 29, 2026 at 11:11 PM


Sea shells by the sea shore case's prosecutor quits.  Misconduct perhaps?  -- 


(NBC News) - A rookie federal prosecutor who brought a case accusing former FBI Director James Comey of threatening President Donald Trump’s life by posting a photo of seashells on Instagram has stepped off the case. @ryanjreilly.com www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

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— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) May 29, 2026 at 7:24 PM


Rip that disgraced name off of the Kennedy Center -- 


They will have thousand of volunteers for this one.

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— Julian Sanchez (@normative.bsky.social) May 29, 2026 at 3:03 PM

 

I knew Trump was obsessed with putting his name on everything but I didn’t realize it was so important to the cult.

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— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) May 30, 2026 at 7:47 AM


Perhaps I won’t need that pickaxe after all. Thank you, Congresswoman Rep. Joyce Beatty, for your courage and dedication to ensuring proper procedures are followed. What a great way to celebrate you on your birthday, Uncle Jack! https://rekhrc.org/4dNeGgQ

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— Kerry Kennedy (@kerrykennedy.bsky.social) May 29, 2026 at 4:31 PM

 

Ah yes, the "Peace President" -- 


www.cnn.com/2026/05/27/p...

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— Brian Finucane (@bcfinucane.bsky.social) May 28, 2026 at 12:04 PM


Ukraine keeps hitting the war criminal Russians hard.  Slava Ukraini   -- 


Overnight, Ukraine’s drone boys turned Russia’s Taganrog airfield into a junkyard sale: two Tu-142 Bear-F strategic bombers and an Iskander missile launcher all went BOOM. Turns out billion-dollar Russian hardware burns just fine when Ukraine brings the fireworks. Sleep tight, Ivan. 🇺🇦

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— Jon Cooper (@joncooper-us.bsky.social) May 30, 2026 at 6:45 AM


Freedom 250 loses another act 😉.  Is the Kars4Kids band next? -- 

 



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— Kevin (@kevinc13.bsky.social) May 30, 2026 at 10:32 AM

 

 

 

Quotes Of The Day

 

There's apparently a group of Democratic operatives calling themselves "Project 2029" who are developing what they think is an analog to the MAGAt fascists' "Project 2025" -- that notorious document that gave them a running start on dismantling the Federal Government, Constitution, and "liberal administrative state" once the Malignant Fascist took office.  Here are two commenters who've seen a summary of an early version of the Dem operatives' work and have some serious concerns.

Brian Beutler

"...These liberals, all veteran Democratic operatives, have begun offering glimpses of their work, and I’m of two minds. First, generously: As the saying goes, there’s no bad ideas in a brainstorm. Ideas are good. Ideas that start out bad can become good. Ideas that seem unresponsive to the needs of today can become urgent—or they might just be worthy apart from any particular salience, easily slotted into some future appropriation bill without fanfare.

"Second, more importantly: We are not—at this rate—getting a Project 2029 that serves anything like the purposes Project 2025 was meant to serve. We’re getting competing factional agendas, from a familiar universe of people, all of whom want jobs in or influence over the next administration. And so they’re devising policy ideas meant for popular consumption, rather than governing stratagems for fixing the American state.

"This is an error of conception. It doesn’t discredit any particular idea let alone the whole suite. It just means that if liberals or progressives thought party operatives were hard at work on a blueprint for the first several months of the next Democratic administration—a series of steps that any Dem president could execute to put the country back on an even keel—they’re going to be terribly disappointed. Unless something changes..."  (our emphasis)

Josh Marshall

"... If you look at the challenges faced today by Democrats, their reputational problems, lack of trust not only by unattached voters but by their own partisans, the biggest problem is that people think they are weak, their espousal of values doesn’t match their willingness to fight for those values and goals. At the most basic level, they don’t have a strong understanding of political power and how to use it. A Project 2029 should be mostly a blueprint for how to use trifecta power to the maximum extent possible by law and constitution to make thoroughgoing structural changes to the federal government to buttress against authoritarian fascist attack. Reinforcing the structures of civic democracy is a central part of that. To use a sports analogy, that doesn’t mean running good plays. It means reshaping the entire playing field. They’re not the same thing. That means starting as the sine qua non with things like ending the Senate filibuster and reforming the Supreme Court. But those are only the start. Those are the ones that make all the other reform and structural changes possible. They are also the talismans of seriousness. Because if you’re not willing to tackle those, you’re not any kind of player or even on the field.

"The reason to do this is, above all, because it needs to be done. The country managed for a long time with a very imperfect system because none of its presidents actively wanted to govern as dictators or as though they owned the country. We don’t have that luxury any more. But there are secondary importances too. It is a demonstration that Democrats have become comfortable using political power to its maximal extent and are willing to do so. So it’s a demonstration of ability and willingness. The biggest reason for the Democrats’ unpopularity is the idea that they are weak and essentially useless. You can’t contest elections effectively, over time, without changing that perception. And you change the perception by changing the reality."  (our emphasis)

The operatives coming up with this are likely the same ones advising DNC Chair Ken Martin, Sen. Chuck Schumer, and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries.  Their playing field, from these indications, is that of 1980 or maybe even 2016.  They're not, to use Marshall's analogy, reshaping it to meet what needs to happen for the future, radical de-Trumpification of America.  It also might be said, to extend the sports analogy, that they don't have any balls.

 

Judge Begins Inquiry Into Slush Fund Deal

 


Federal District Judge Kathleen Williams -- whose court was preparing to hear the Malignant Fascist's bogus case against the IRS before the MF "settled" out of court with his own "Justice" Department -- has begun an inquiry into the legality of the settlement after 35 former judges asked her to reopen the original case.  From Politico

"A federal judge is demanding answers to allegations that President Donald Trump defrauded her court by filing a lawsuit against the IRS as a pretext to reach a settlement that resulted in a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund to make payouts to his political allies.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams launched the inquiry Friday, after closing the lawsuit on her docket last week. The Miami-based Obama appointee cited a request by 35 former federal judges who urged her to reopen the case to determine whether Trump’s effort amounted to “serious misconduct” and an abuse of the court system.

It’s the latest wrinkle in a developing scandal that has drawn bipartisan outrage on Capitol Hill, multiple lawsuits aimed at blocking the “anti-weaponization” fund and demands for further investigation by government watchdogs and courts."  (our emphasis0

Corrupt Attorney General and the MF's former criminal defense lawyer Todd Blanche cooked up the scheme to file a lawsuit with the intent of withdrawing it and settling out of court for $1.8 billion, including an egregious deal not to audit the MF or his organization's taxes, opening the door for more tax fraud.  

Yesterday, a separate Federal judge blocked any distribution of funds by Blanche to the MF's allies, including the paramilitary thugs who stormed the Capitol and injured dozens of police officers. 

 

Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House

 

We were unfamiliar with this Mayan revival gem by Frank Lloyd Wright, built in 1924 in the hills of Los Angeles, even though it was featured in tv shows like "Blade Runner" and "Twin Peaks," and a number of movies.  But now we're going to take a look inside and outside the Ennis House with Architectural Digest and real estate agent Rayni Williams, which you could have bought for a mere $23 million back in 2019 when this was videoed!

Friday, May 29, 2026

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(R.J. Matson, CQ/ Roll Call)

(Nick Anderson, Raw Story)

(Rick McKee, caglecartoons.com)

(Emad Hajjaj, Alaraby Aljadeed, UK)

(Joe Heller, hellertoon.com)

(Matt Davies, Newsday)

(Adam Zyglis, The Buffalo News)

(Patrick Chappatte, Le Canard Enchaîné, France)

(Drew Sheneman, The Star-Ledger, Newark, NJ)

(Tim Campbell, Tribune Content Agency)

(Dennis Goris, @dennisgoris)

(Pia Guerra and Ian Boothby, @mannequinonthemoon, Canada)


Judges Rule On Slush Fund, Kennedy Center

 

In the span of a few hours, two Federal judges dealt blows to the unhinged and narcissistic Malignant Fascist:

1. Federal District Judge Leonie Brinkema temporarily blocked any funds going to allies of the MF from the $1.8 billion MAGA thug fund that he and his corrupt Attorney General and Treasury Secretary "settled" on his flimsy $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS for leaking his tax returns:

"The fund is being operated out of the Justice Department. Both Democrats and Republicans have criticized the fund. Opponents have labeled it a massive 'slush fund' for President Donald Trump’s allies. Its existence has alarmed some legal experts, in part because there will be very little public oversight over how it is managed. [snip]

The Trump administration cannot take any further action on the fund while legal motions are pending, 'which includes the transferring of money to the fund; the consideration of any claims submitted to the fund; and the disbursing of any funds from the fund,' according to the order.

The judge said the order was necessary to 'ensure that no funds are irreversibly disbursed from the Anti-Weaponization Fund' while there are motions pending to block the distribution of funds. She set a hearing for June 12."

The slush fund has drawn widespread outrage at the brazen grab of taxpayer money to reward the January 6 rioters who assaulted police, and other election deniers who attempted to overthrow the 2020 election.

2. Federal District Judge Christopher Cooper ordered that the MF's name be removed from the Kennedy Center and that the closing of the Kennedy Center for a two year period for "renovation" be temporarily suspended:

“'The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so,' Cooper wrote in his order in U.S. District Court in Washington.

'Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.'”

In addition to building monuments to himself like his golden ballroom / bunker and the monstrous "Arc de Trump" outside of Arlington National Cemetery in the MF's first 18 months in office, he's been slapping his name on buildings, currency, and anything that he thinks will erase his disgraceful record and adjudicated criminality.  Time to start the demolition of his corrupt projects.

 

Skeets Of The Day

 

The Epstein-Trump files coverup / questions & no answers --

 

Under Pam Bondi, survivors’ names were unredacted. One survivor’s name was mentioned over 500 times. Epstein’s co-conspirators? Redacted. These weren’t “errors.” They were choices. Choices that protected the powerful and put survivors in danger.

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— Oversight Dems (@oversightdemocrats.bsky.social) May 29, 2026 at 11:00 AM

 

Epstein survivors pressed House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer (R-KY) before the committee questions former Attorney General Pam Bondi about the release of the Epstein files. www.ms.now/news/pam-bon...

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— MS NOW (@ms.now) May 29, 2026 at 10:37 AM

 

Operation Epic Epstein Fury / scoresheet --

 



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— Krassensteins (@krassenstein.bsky.social) May 24, 2026 at 11:52 AM

 

DOJ's vindictive pursuit of Trump rape victim E. Jean Carroll, cont. --

 

Doesn’t get worse than this. DOJ probes 82 yo who is enemy & adjudicated victim of Trump. Alleged false statements in civil cases are ubiquitous & criminal probes of them are nearly unheard of. Judge & unanimous appeals panel found the mistake benign & irrelevant. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/27/u...

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— Roger Parloff (@rparloff.bsky.social) May 28, 2026 at 8:25 AM

 

The Epstein class / worker wealth divide --


The world is producing more wealth than ever, but it's not going to workers -- it's going to companies and their shareholders. The drivers are outsourcing, corporate concentration, automation, and laws hostile to collective bargaining. www.wsj.com/finance/stoc...

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— Christopher Mims (@mims.bsky.social) May 29, 2026 at 8:44 AM

 

... while Trump gets richer in the only way he knows how --


Trump seems to be having an amazing run of luck in the stock market over the past several months.

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— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) May 29, 2026 at 6:51 AM

 

Maybe Trump can bury another wife there at the first hole --


Farmers in northern Vietnam are dismantling a decades-old cemetery to make way for a $1.5bn golf course and luxury residential development by the Trump Organization and its local partners, a project seen as crucial for ties between Hanoi and Washington. ft.trib.al/YCZl74S

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— Financial Times (@financialtimes.com) May 28, 2026 at 10:58 PM

 

Trump's tariffs and inflation --


Dallas Fed estimate for how much lower inflation would be without Trump tariffs www.dallasfed.org/research/eco...

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— Catherine Rampell (@crampell.bsky.social) May 28, 2026 at 12:00 PM

 

Leaving with class and a quote --


!!! Trump appointees at Treasury push for $250 bill with his face on it. Director of Bureau of Printing & Engraving, who resisted the effort, said she was involuntarily reassigned last month. “The buck stopped here,” she wrote in her goodbye. wapo.st/4fM4Hei

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— David Wessel (@davidmwessel.bsky.social) May 28, 2026 at 6:59 AM

 

Performers cancelling out on Trump's poisonous "fest" --

 

Trump’s Freedom Fest 250 is poison. Now Bret Michaels is out too.

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— Hoodlum 🇺🇸 (@nothoodlum.bsky.social) May 29, 2026 at 8:48 AM

 

'vanilla ice congratulations u are the opening act and your planned set is 10 minutes but we are sure the 30 minutes you are set to perform will be appreciated for the entire 45 minutes also congratulations u are the closing act"

— darth™️ (@darthbluesky.bsky.social) May 28, 2026 at 10:12 PM

 

A metaphor for the Washington Post (Happy Friday!) --

 

This looks like what Bezos did to the Washpost newsroom

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— Bill Grueskin (@bgrueskin.bsky.social) May 28, 2026 at 10:08 PM

 

 

Weekend Music

 

On this day in 1969, supergroup Crosby, Stills, and Nash released their self- titled debut album. Several hits, including "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" and "Marrakesh Express," were spawned from the album, but one of our favorites remains "Wooden Ships."  A collaboration of David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Jefferson Airplane's Paul Kantner, its apocalyptic vision of a post-nuclear war is somewhat belied by the melodic qualities of the song.  It brings back memories for us, and maybe you.  Hope you enjoy.


Face(s) Just Asking For A Punch

 



Terminally weird and sycophantic Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent holds up a sample of a proposed $250 bill with his cult leader's mug shot on it at a press conference yesterday. In his position, Bessent would know that it's illegal to put a living person's image on circulating U.S. currency (31 U.S.C. § 5114(b). In addition to this, the MF's signature will be added to new printed currency in place of the Treasury Secretary's. 

It's more diversion from the growing outrage over the MF's fraudulent MAGA thug slush fund, where Bessent played a key role in overseeing the defendant IRS and approving the illegal "settlement," a role for which he should be impeached and removed. 

(photo: Punchable face of a Bond villain. Facebook)

Bezos' Rocket Goes "Boom"

 

A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket experienced a sudden disassembly (explosion) yesterday at Cape Canaveral during a "hotfire" ground test. There were no injuries, except to Blue Origin owner, Trump suck-up and gazillionaire Jeff Bezos' ego. From CNN:

"Video captured from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida Thursday evening appears to show a rocket exploding on its launchpad.

'All personnel are accounted for and safe,' Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin’s founder, said in a separate X post. 'It’s too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it. Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.'”

Easy for the smug Bezos to say, as he competes with South Afrikaner fascist and white supremacist Elon Musk's SpaceX exploding rockets in their puerile race to space. It followed an April failure that resulted in a failure to deliver its payload:

"The company announced New Glenn’s plans to return to flight earlier this week after a failure during the rocket’s third flight on April 19 prompted a Federal Aviation Administration investigation. During the April mission, the rocket’s first stage booster landed successfully on a seafaring barge, but the upper portion, or second stage, of the rocket didn’t manage to deliver its payload..."

Sadly, both Bezos and Musk will keep plowing ahead on their quest to see how much money they can set fire to. This is the result of privatization of a national mission, where two arrogant moguls vie for supremacy in space. 

Here's video of the rocket exploding:

Thursday, May 28, 2026

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge


 (Ruben Bolling, dailykos.com)

(Pedro Molina, Tribune Content Agency)

(Jimmy Margulies, King Features)

(Dave Whamond, caglecartoons.com, Canada)

(Adam Zyglis, The Buffalo News)

(Bill Bramhall, New York Daily News)

(Michael de Adder, caglecartoons.com, Canada)

(John Deering, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

(Jeff Stahler, gocomics.com)

(Drew Sheneman, Tribune Content Agency)

(Nick Anderson, Dallas Morning News)

(Paul Noth, The New Yorker)