If anyone thought that Russian thug and war criminal Vladimir Putin didn't have strong Soviet leanings, think again. After all, in 2005 he mourned the collapse of the Soviet Union by saying it was the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century." Imagine thinking that.
This statue of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin is a testament to Putin's admiration and even emulation of the brutal Stalin. It was unveiled earlier this month in Moscow's main subway station, and replicates one that was removed in 1966 during the de-Stalinization process. The bad old times are back.
(photo: Alexander Nemenov/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images)
This guy stole $10 million from the employees of his nursing home to buy himself a luxury yacht and Cartier watches. He PLED GUILTY.
And because his Mom gave Trump $1 million, he just got a pardon.
And this story barely makes the news today. WTF. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/27/u...
The orange felon pardoned corrupt Virginia Sheriff Scott Jenkins who was convicted of bribery and fraud, now he pardoned Todd and Julie Chrisley who defrauded banks.
Because nothing says law and order like a felon gifting pardons to other felons for their loyalty. Pure fascism.
Trump E.O. targeting law firm violated 1st, 5th, and 6th Amendments --
BREAKING: Trump's executive order targeting WilmerHale is unconstitutional, Judge Richard Leon — a GWB appointee — finds.
"The Founding Fathers knew this!"
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Again we celebrate the great Bruce Springsteen as both an artist and a patriot. Speaking the truth about the Malignant Fascist in a concert in Manchester, UK, triggered a puerile and nasty response so typical of this disturbed demagogue, who'll never get Springsteen to bend the knee to him. Meanwhile, Springsteen is on his "Land of Hopes and Dreams Tour" and drawing big audiences, as his "Tracks II: The Lost Albums" of unreleased songs are scheduled to be released on June 27. Last month we featured one of them, "Rain in the River." Our choice today is "Blind Spot", another gem of a song that would have been a hit at any point in his incredible career. Enjoy.
South African fascist and Afrikaner white supremacist Elon "Leon" Musk is having problems not only at his failing Tesla car company, but his SpaceX rockets aren't cooperating with his geeky vision of space flight to Mars. From Reuters:
"SpaceX's Tuesday night Starship launch went further than previous attempts.
But in the end it lost control and is believed to have disintegrated on reentry, marking another setback for Elon Musk's promise to put humans on Mars.
The two-stage spacecraft, consisting of the Starship vessel mounted atop a towering SpaceX Super Heavy rocket booster, blasted off at about 7:36 p.m. EDT (2336 GMT) from the company's Starbase launch site on the Gulf Coast of Texas near Brownsville.
SpaceX launched the Starship system with a previously flown Super Heavy booster for the first time, aiming to achieve a key demonstration of its reusability.
As expected, the 232-foot (71-m) first-stage rocket separated from the upper-stage Starship vehicle several minutes after launch and headed back toward Earth.
But SpaceX controllers lost contact with the booster during its descent before it presumably plunged into the sea instead of making the controlled splashdown the company planned." (our emphasis)
Musk, like his cult leader, can't accept losing, so he portrayed the setback as a "big improvement" over the last couple of launches, which also ended in disaster. In their announcement, SpaceX called the failure a "rapid unscheduled disassembly," the same silly jargon that was used in the previous failures.
It's past time for the U.S. to wean itself off of SpaceX's monopoly, which in itself is a national security problem given the dangerously mercurial and radical head of the company. That won't happen in the Malignant Fascist's regime, since he's a MAGA icon and can hold his political contributions hostage, but it has to be done eventually.
"... The [SCOTUS] majority seems at once delighted that Trump is creating
opportunities to shift the law rightward yet distraught that he
sometimes pushes to the point of encroaching on the court’s own power.
Its solution, for now, is to continually stake out middle ground when
conflicts between the two branches’ agendas arise. By doing so, the
court is all but encouraging the administration to test, if not blow
past, the limits of its own decisions. It has repeatedly endorsed the
president’s interpretation of Trump v. U.S. as a near-boundless
grant of executive authority. No one should be surprised when Trump
concludes that the bounds of his power extend well beyond the Supreme
Court’s own rulings..." -- Mark Joseph Stern, in Slate, on "The Supreme Court's Reaping Stage." As Stern writes in his essay, the Court is finding that granting unlimited power to a narcissistic, would- be dictator may well end up rendering the Court itself side- stepped and irrelevant, with the Malignant Fascist already defying court orders (including SCOTUS's). They'll reap what they've sown, but we're all paying for it.
The Malignant Fascist's revenge tour continues, Harvard edition --
New: “The Trump administration is set to cancel the federal government’s remaining federal contracts with Harvard University — worth an estimated $100 million, according to a letter that is being sent to federal agencies on Tuesday.”
@nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/27/u...
Trump’s war on Harvard is a war on you, on truth, independent thought, free expression, the Constitution, the principles on which this country was founded. It has nothing to do with elites or DEI or antisemitism and everything to do with seeking to silence potential opponents.
NEW: NPR says it's suing Trump over his executive order that aimed to end federal funding for NPR and PBS — arguing the order violates the Constitution and the First Amendment's protections for freedom of speech.
BREAKING: In a stunning moment, renowned journalist Scott Pelley just highlighted how Donald Trump is working to stifle free speech in America, and how he plans on fighting back. This is huge.
Haaretz’s Yaniv Kubovich reports that Israel plans to seize 75% of Gaza and relocate more than 1,3 million Palestinians in the upcoming offensive, ultimately forcing the entire population into three military zones with food supplies strictly controlled by GHF/Israel. www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
They gave the MF immunity, and now they'll be reaping what they sowed --
This should be seen as evidence of the crisis: federal judges fear that Trump will order U.S. Marshals to stand down on securing the safety of judges whose decision they don’t like. This is just devastating.
www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...
Trump is both inciting rage at federal judges and controls the police force that protects federal judges. You see the problem here? www.thenation.com/article/soci...
Crippling Courts. The bill, hiding behind the premise that it
is an appropriations measure, prohibits any funds from being used to
carry out court orders holding executive branch officials in contempt.
This is designed to enable Trump and his officials to continue defying
court orders. It is almost certainly unconstitutional—if courts have the
nerve to say so.
Bonus for the Tax Prep Industry. The Biden administration
sponsored a Direct File measure to allow taxpayers to save money by
using a free IRS tool to file their tax return rather than paying
commercial tax preparers. The program is now available to taxpayers in
25 states. The reconciliation bill repeals the program.
More Savaging of Migrants. The bill adds $45 billion to build
immigration jails—more than 13 times ICE’s current detention budget. The
bill would allow indefinite detention of immigrant children. It also
adds several fees intended to harass. The measure charges families
$3,500 to reunite with a child who arrived alone at the border, and a
person seeking asylum will have to pay an “application fee” of at least
$1,000.
Terminating the Tax Status of Nonprofits. The reconciliation
text gives the administration the power to define nonprofits as
“terrorist-supporting organizations” and expedite the ending of their
tax status. This is ostensibly directed against pro-Palestinian groups,
but could be used to suppress the free speech and activism of climate
organizations and others.
Blocking State Regulation of AI. The bill prohibits any state
or subdivision from passing “any law or regulation regulating artificial
intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated
decision systems during the 10-year period beginning on the date of the
enactment of this Act.” It requires the repeal of any such laws already
on the books. According to The Lever,
the language could be stretched to block efforts by local governments
to regulate private equity firms and other landlords using AI software
to jack up rents.
Gutting the Estate Tax. As if the current exemptions were not
enough, the bill raises the no-tax floor to a staggering $15 million for
single people and $30 million for couples in 2026. So a couple could
leave $29.99 million to their heirs, tax-free. As recently as 2001, 2.1
percent of estates paid some tax. With this change, the percentage falls to less than 0.08 percent.
Weakening the Child Tax Credit. The bill nominally increases
the current Child Tax Credit from $2,000 to $2,500 per child. But it
also lowers the eligibility income threshold, making millions of
children ineligible. The bill also excludes from the credit 4.5 million
children who have a parent without a Social Security number but who
pays taxes with a tax identification number. These children are
predominantly U.S. citizens with an immigrant parent.
Expanding School Vouchers. The bill gives $20 billion in the
form of tax credits to donors who give money to voucher schools. It also
creates a tax shelter from paying capital gains taxes to donors who
give appreciated stock to voucher schools. These two provisions amount
to a direct federal subsidy to voucher schools using wealthy individuals
as a pass-through. This government support for voucher schools comes at
a time when Department of Education support for public schools is being
slashed.
Stealth Cuts in the Affordable Care Act. The bill allows tax
credits that subsidize ACA premiums to expire at the end of 2025. The
result will be that out-of-pocket costs for insurance under the ACA will
become more expensive and millions of people will lose coverage.
And … Support for Gun Silencers. Buried deep in the bill is a
provision that repeals the $200 excise tax on the sale of gun silencers,
which have no lawful purpose other than concealing shootings.
This is easily the most ultra- reactionary, regressive, cruel, and unhinged- from- reality budget bill passed by the House in our memory. It represents the "Project 2025" priorities of the MAGAt Republican Party/ cult, which has yearned to roll back the progress of the last 90 years in our country. If the majority of it is passed by the MAGAt Republican Senate, an enormous redistribution of wealth upward, and the dystopian policies noted above will become fact. As Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned, "When this country wakes up in the morning, there will be consequences to pay for this." We trust in her foresight and ungraciously hope the consequences are particularly paid for by the MAGAts who voted for this evil.
Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance writes in her Substack column that the 2026 elections will be upon us before we know it, and Americans that are sick of the unhinged, bullying Malignant Fascist's cruel regime have an opportunity to elect majorities in Congress. Her bottom line in the interim is to stand up to the bully and don't back down:
"All told, during campaign season, Trump made over 100 threats to prosecute or punish people he perceived as enemies. We’ve seen him make good on that in a series of executive orders, some cloaked in the pretense of concern over anti-Semitism or discrimination (which now means failing to protect white Christians), that target individuals or institutions he thinks have done him wrong. His public directions, presumably to Attorney General Bondi, to investigate people or entities are part and parcel of it. As are the social media posts attacking people, often just for doing their jobs.
It’s no way for the president to run the White House. But elections have consequences, and this is among them following 2024, when just enough Americans stayed home, or bought fake concerns about Biden’s economy, or wanted a change. Some people are so inured to Trump’s bad behavior that they shrug their shoulders and pass it off as “just Trump.” When you hear people doing that, stop and remind them that this isn’t normal or innocent. He is literally on a revenge tour and abusing the powers of the presidency." (our emphasis)
Her column lists some of the MF's authoritarian models, from Marcos in the Philippines, to Alabama Gov. George Wallace, and Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who were turned around by resistance to their ideology. she notes that "our history is full of evidence that we know how to turn the tide."
President Donald Trump said Monday that he is pardoning a former Virginia sheriff who was sentenced to 10 years in prison after a jury convicted him on federal bribery charges for deputizing several businessmen in exchange for cash payments.
Former Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins, 53, was found guilty on fraud and bribery charges and sentenced in March.
But on Monday, Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social that Jenkins and his family “have been dragged through HELL by a Corrupt and Weaponized Biden DOJ.”
“This
Sheriff is a victim of an overzealous Biden Department of Justice, and
doesn’t deserve to spend a single day in jail. He is a wonderful person,
who was persecuted by the Radical Left “monsters,” and “left for dead,”
Trump said in the post. “He will NOT be going to jail tomorrow, but
instead will have a wonderful and productive life.”
Messages
seeking comment were left with Jenkins’ lawyers. The U.S. Attorney’s
Office for the Western District of Virginia was closed for the Memorial
Day holiday.
Jenkins is the latest pardon Trump has given to loyal supporters. In April, he pardoned Nevada Republican Michele Fiore, who was awaiting sentencing on federal charges that she used money meant for a statue honoring a slain police officer for personal costs, including plastic surgery.
In January, Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, an underground website for selling drugs. Ulbricht had been sentenced to life in prison in 2015 after a high-profile prosecution that highlighted the internet’s role in illegal markets.
He also pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of all of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, including people convicted of assaulting police officers. [snip]
Acting United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee said at the time that
Jenkins violated his oath of office “and this case proves that when
those officials use their authority for unjust personal enrichment, the
Department of Justice will hold them accountable.” (our emphasis)
Never let it be said that the convicted felon fraudster and head of the Trump Crime Family wasn't a felon's best friend!
As far as a "weaponized" prosecution, Jenkins was found guilty by a jury of his peers (as was the Malignant Fascist). If the MF is looking for "weaponized" prosecutions by the Justice Department, he need look no further than this. Beyond the gaslighting, of course, it's all meant to let his cult members know that they can be as lawless as he is and they won't suffer any legal damage. So far, so bad.
"... The great irony is that there absolutely was malfeasance by the media in
its coverage of the 2024 presidential campaign — not in how it covered
the sitting president, but in how it covered the challenger.
"Donald Trump assaulted the Constitution he had sworn to defend after he
lost reelection in 2020. He invited his followers to Washington long
after the votes had been counted, whipped them up into an angry mob and
then sicced them on his own vice president and Congress to coerce them
into awarding him a second term. [snip]
"The political media’s efforts to normalize him notwithstanding, it was
plain from all of Trump’s open talk about revenge and his vows to grab
extra-constitutional power that America was risking a slide into
autocracy if voters returned him to the White House.
"An even sadder truth is that, faced with a choice between democracy and
the promise of cheaper Doritos, America went with the Doritos.
"We were never going to get the latter, and, as is becoming clearer by
the day, we’ll be lucky to get through this with some semblance of the
former." -- S.V. Date, concluding an op/ed in HuffPo, "Yes, There Was A Media Scandal In 2024. No, It Wasn’t About Joe Biden." There's a certain symmetry after all to myopic Jake Tapper rising to the top of the political media as the Malignant Fascist rose to the top of our political system.
BONUS: They're still at it, of course --
The MAGA movement just basically redubs all Trump appearances so that they don't hear the craziness. It's the way they deal with cognitive dissonance, and that won't change.
But then the New York Times helps out with headlines written as if nothing crazy at all happened:
/2
WTF, AP? Trump wasn’t just “accused” of “getting facts about [the supposed South African genocide] video ‘twisted’”. He DID get them twisted. He lied about it (or his subordinates lied to him about it). THIS ISN’T IN QUESTION! @froomkin.bsky.social @fairmediawatch.bsky.social
The Republicans let you know who's important to them (spoiler alert: it's not you). The first bar is the negative effect on the lowest household income quartile; the last bar on the right is the positive effect on income for the top 0.1 percent of households:
"Happy" (?) Memorial Day from the Very Stable Malignant Fascist --
Happy Memorial Day to federal judges applying settled law, against whom Trump is encouraging stochastic terrorism.
In a functioning democracy this would produce an aggressive response, but Trump is right that neither a majority of Congress nor a majority of SCOTUS will do anything about it.
So he raised the tariffs, paused that raise, paused that pause, then paused that pause of the pause. And no-one knows if it'll be paused again (and if such a pause will be unpaused) or what happens when (or if) the pause whose pause was paused concludes.
Grifters gonna grift: the 220 winners of the contest to attend the dinner spent $394 million on Trump’s official cryptocurrency.
www.nbcnews.com/tech/crypto/...
MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND STORY: French caretakers take the sand from Omaha Beach in Normandy and scrub it into the letters to give them the brown/gold coloring.
They do this for all 9,386 soldiers who died.
France also gave us this land as American soil.
In her recent appearance before a Senate panel, cosplay queen and dog executioner Kristi "ICE Barbie" Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, responded to a question by Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) to define "habeas corpus." Noem responded with a definition that was the un-Constitutional opposite of the true definition, but one which must have pleased her audience of one, the Malignant Fascist. Here's Amanda Marcotte, writing in Salon.com, on the "MAGA bimbo act" that many MAGAt women have adopted to please their cult leader:
"There was much mockery of Noem for being so dumb in mainstream and left-leaning media, but notably, neither Noem nor her allies have shown any shame or defensiveness about her alleged mistake. Whether Noem comes by her confusion honestly or she was just play-acting, she's there to play the role of the proud MAGA bimbo, in the grand tradition of figures like Sarah Palin. The MAGA bimbo isn't just ignorant. She's contemptuous of people who actually know what they're talking about, especially if those facts-laden human beings are fellow women.
In the world of MAGA, stupidity is a badge of honor for both sexes, but the heads of women need to be thoroughly empty. Book learning, in MAGA-land, is for lesbians and cat ladies. Intelligence gets in the way of the true duties of MAGA womanhood: keeping up your highly artificial appearance and, crucially, defending the man you serve with your whole heart and soul. Especially if said man, in this case Donald Trump, is himself dumber than a box of rocks. It's so much easier to be a yes-woman for such a man if you turn your own brain off completely." (our emphasis)
In the cult of the Malignant Fascist, his social orbit includes countless bimbos with their Mar-a-Lago faces who appear at the MF's estate dressed in provocative dresses, hair and makeup mimicking that of MelanomaMelanie Melania Trump's, but with even more Botox, fillers and facelifts (see, bimbo exemplar Kimberly Guilfoyle, whose over-the-top bimbo look proved to be too much even for Junior). They're single women looking for a wealthy boyfriend, wives of donors, and politicians like Noem seeking to inherit the MAGA mantle.
As Marcotte points out, the figure of the dumb bimbo is comforting to men who aren't bright themselves, because it makes them feel smarter. That's certainly the pattern of the dim MF, who stalks women before grabbing them sexually, assured that they won't object because he sees so many of them as bimbos. Sadly, so many of them would have no problem with that.
