Monday, September 14, 2026

“LOOK! OVER THERE!”

Which are so expensive we can only afford a few at a time, and when we use those up….
Trump is having a Crashout Monday on Truth Social: "Oil is flowing through the Hormuz Strait. The Countries of the World, which have been no help to us whatsoever, should, and will, reimburse the United States of America when this SCAM Confligration is all over. We are doing it much more for others, than we are for ourselves, and we have been for Generations! President DONALD J. TRUMP"
They will reimburse us before, or after, Mexico pays for the wall?

More trustworthy reporting.
Trump's Crashout Monday continues: "I hope everyone realizes that price increases throughout America were caused by Sleepy Joe Biden and the Biden Administration, not by “TRUMP.” Even Oil was higher under Biden than it is right now, and we prevented Iran from having a Nuclear Weapon! With the temporary exception of Oil, prices are coming down sharply, and Oil will drop like a rock as soon as the Military Conflict with Iran is over, and that will not be long. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP"
Tl;dr: “IT’S NOT MY FAULT!”—DJT It’s really hard not to think of this as: “DON’T LOOK AT TRUMP, LOOK OVER THERE!”
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Our Man On Their Side

Trump needs a new walkway to the helipad at the White House. "Let them eat cake.” 🍰  But then Noem needed a new jet.✈️  Culling the herd. MAHA being anti-vax is not an accident, after all. The best and the brightest. 🙄
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Trump Likes Flock Cameras, Too

Man o' the people. “Feral cunning.”

Even GregAbbott is disavowing Flock cameras. After the Lege funded the purchase of them statewide.

Maybe Trump should come down here and campaign for Paxton and AI and Flock cameras. The shit-tastic trifecta!
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Didn’t Trump Call Himself “The King Of Debt”?

And wasn’t his “business” largely a matter of spending other people’s money? I don’t think any of those bankruptcies were personal. He set up separate entities that failed and took everyone the entity owed money, down with them. But never Trump. Or getting them to give him money, without always giving anything in return (the Saudis couldn’t get any help with the Houthis)? The rotten apple doesn’t fall far from the blighted tree.

And yes, it’s a national security problem. Then again, Trump I showed Russian officials around the west wing of the White House.

You already paid for this.
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🐍 🛢️

It’s an easy promise. Republicans won’t “win” (he hasn’t defined the terms of the offer, has he?), so he won’t have to pay up. Trump will be too busy screaming about the “rigged” election, anyway. And it’ll cure your warts and improve your sex like life!
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Well, Ken, You Fucked That Up, Too

Cornyn’s message prompted a flood of criticisms against French from several Texas Republican state representatives.

“You can oppose immigration policy without demeaning people because of their race or ethnicity — this post has crossed the line,” said House Speaker Dustin Burrows.

Others took an even firmer stance.

Former House Speaker Dade Phelan called French “unfit for office.” State Rep. Jared Patterson said Texans deserve Railroad Commissioners who do their job instead of “using a statewide campaign as a platform for racial division.” And state Rep. Drew Darby lamented that he has “never seen conduct so unbecoming of a Railroad Commissioner or candidate in that time.”

Darby’s call for French to apologize came with a threat.

“If not, I would remind any candidate that the Texas Legislature has granted the Railroad Commission broad discretion in carrying out its duties — because we have trusted the competence and fairness of those who serve. That trust can be revisited,” Darby, who chairs the House’s Energy Resources committee, added in his post on X.

“If Mr. French wants to regulate immigration policy, he should have run for Congress.”
It's not to be overlooked that French won the GOP primary to get on the November ballot. Nor that:
This was not the first time that elected Texas Republican officials have blasted French for his racist remarks, but it remains to be seen whether these criticisms would blunt his rise to statewide office.
Gov. Abbott and Lite Guv Dan Patrick both criticized French for his racism, until he won his primary. Then, oddly, it didn’t seem to matter. As I said before, I think Cornyn is just waking up to how racist his party is, now that it’s through with him.
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Sunday, September 13, 2026

The Great Sin Of The Boomers…

... was setting adolescent males as the standard of “cool.”

Over 60 years later, their sheer numbers are still casting a shadow we haven’t stepped out from under. It’s why Trump and MAGA are still in control.  And why they won’t be much longer.

MAGA has worn that out, too.
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Why Didn’t Paxton Mention Bo French?

Oh, that’s why: Paxton didn’t mention French, did he?

Meanwhile:
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Trump Wants Control Of The Kennedy Center….

 …or he’ll hold his breath until his face turns blue.

The paper said a report, prepared by the institution's ​trustees, claims that within a few weeks the institution [the Kennedy Center] won't be able to pay employees or meet maintenance costs. The report ​was prepared in advance of a meeting that ​is scheduled for Tuesday.

The Post also said that Trump will ‌help ⁠the Kennedy Center if his involvement is acknowledged. The trustees' report represents "a remarkable new phase in Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center, which has been engulfed ​by financial turmoil, ​leadership upheaval ⁠and litigation since he installed himself as chairman last year," the paper said.
I don’t honestly know the operating structure of the Kennedy Center, but I don’t think Trump can force it into bankruptcy. It is, after all, owned by the federal government, operated as a bureau of the Smithsonian, and a federal judge has already ruled Trump can’t close it “for renovations.” (Trump probably imagines that, since he can’t bring the Center under the rubric of “national security,” he’ll just threaten to bankrupt it.)

Trump has no fucking idea what he’s doing. Which is why he thinks he can hold his breath until he gets his way.

He really is a toddler.
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The Fish Rots….

French is running for a place on the Texas Railroad Commission (regulates oil production in Texas). Gov. Abbott is running for reelection, so he’s more of a weasel than the Senator. Abbott blames the picture:
“That is not my message,” Abbott said. “A selective picture of Longhorn fans celebrating our biggest home victory-ever-actually shows a way that Texans unite. We all support our college football teams.”

“The way we win the state is the same way we win football games,” Abbott added. “We unite under the brand of Texas.”

Abbott also defended Texas’ hard-line immigration policies, saying unity “doesn’t mean that Texas cannot also lead in having the toughest immigration laws of any state in America and freezing H1B visas at our universities.”
So, does he agree with French? Or is it no big? Texans also unite for racism, asshole. At least the racists I’ve known think so. They also think the rest of us just don’t understand. 

Like French. And Abbott, apparently. Of course, it comes down from the top. Cornyn should be realizing about now he’s the last decent man in the GOP. And he’s on the way out.

This just seems to fit here; and I like it.
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How Many Cases Has DOJ Lost Against Trump’s “Enemies”?

Your reminder that Homan is not a lawyer and does NOT even play one on TeeVee. (The “case” against Omar isn’t going to happen. If it does, Elmo’s number is up in  ‘29.)

How you do it right:
El-Sayed: Weijia, with all due respect this is the third time you've asked about a twitch streamer in California. I'm not interested in having a conversation with streamers in California because they are not raising the prices of gas and groceries.

Let's actually talk about the issues that are affecting people instead of getting distracted by whatever the president says we should be talking about. Their whole game is to make us fight culture wars so that we don't pay attention to the fact that the president has made $2.2 billion. His family has made even more. How about your family in Michigan?
How you do it wrong.
On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, the New York Times spent time and resources analyzing the Reflecting Pool.

And they continue to avoid doing any real reporting on all the vandalism that has clearly happened at the Reflecting Pool:
- 342 feet of razor blade slashes
- "8647" spray painted in massive black letters on the pool
- U.S. Attorney's Office: "The NPS employee...stated that the defendant then knelt, placed both hands into the reflecting pool—below the surface of the water—and started to ‘violently’ rip and tug at a large portion of the blue pool coating."
- "8647" chemical bums on the nearby grass
Yes, that is quoting testimony never presented in public because DOJ dropped the “vandalism” claim for lack of evidence. And “razor blade “slashes” that weren’t found when the pool was drained. The numbers in the photo of the “8647” are so perfect it must be AI, not real. DOI is determined to rebut the NYT article quoting the contractor who says the job was done wrong.
Like any major construction project—and in this case, the world's largest reflecting pool that was worked on in record time for the 250th celebrations in Washington, DC—there were parts of the project where the contractor has returned to make sure the work is perfect. And with the major vandalism of long razor-blade gashes, the contractor is also replacing the sections of the pool damaged by vandals, who also repeatedly reached into the pool and ripped at the coating.
The contractor told NYT they returned to start over, because the first try was a complete cock-up.

DOI just will not accept that they’re never going to make “fetch vandalism” happen. But let’s talk about Hasan Piker! Gossip is much more interesting!
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Anything But Take Responsibility

(Reminder that the man’s never had so much as a Board of Directors. Even school superintendents answer to a school board.)
MIKE JOHNSON: Lutnick said the $5,000 check would come from tariff revenues. Trump thinks of the American people as shareholders in this American dream

TAPPER: The tariffs revenue is about $300 billion, not $1.3 trillion, and obviously Americans are paying those revenues. But devil is in the details
(Trump’s never had shareholders, either.) And the King of Never Being Responsible: Lickspittles from the Oval Office, down.
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Square This Circle

A minute later: Even a GOP Congress wouldn’t meddle with those primal forces in January.

And aren’t Democrats the only ones concerned with the economy?
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Reminder That We Elected FDR Because Hoover Was President When The Great Depression Started

🤦‍♂️ 
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King Canute II

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Saturday, September 12, 2026

Does Jet Lag Affect The Timing Of Sundowning?

Asking for a country.
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I Wonder If They Can Price It By The Half Gallon?

Yeah, it could be the price isn’t that much higher (yet!). It could be they’re out of diesel! In “parts of California.”

Golden Age, bay-bee!
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…Is A Confession

Chaffetz: Mike Rogers… I've seen him close and personal. You contrast that with a guy working on his muscle shirts and standing for the Palestinians. That's the choice. I can't believe that people working in those auto plants, those blue collar workers, those people that love Michigan, they love football, they love America… I can’t imagine they go for El-Sayed because I can’t imagine he likes any of those things.
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Trump Is Stuck In Neutral

Q: Are you considering withdrawing from the USMCA deal?

Trump: What does that mean?

Q: Are you considering withdrawing from the USMCA deal with U.S., Mexico and Canada?

Trump: No, I get along great. We're going to have a great relationship with Mexico. We actually have a good one with Canada. Canada wants to make a deal very badly
No, that wasn’t the worst part. It was built on rejecting diversity and dividing the country finally into white (European, though that took awhile), and non-white. Most of the labor that made white people rich was done by non-white people; well, and poor whites who were kept poor. Even slavery in America wasn’t good for 500 years. He has to work himself up to it. Completely clueless. It’s honestly hard to imagine someone so ignorant in such a position of responsibility and authority. He diminishes the nation.
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Trump Is Stuck In The ‘70’s

I get the talking point, because Trump is using Carr to abuse the authority of the FCC. (Disney/ABC could tell Carr to pound sand, but affiliated stations are not run by Disney and could choose to avoid the legal troubles. Or Sinclair could pull Kimmel again….). But the truth is, the Fairness Doctrine doesn’t apply to cable. It only applies to broadcast. And who’s watching broadcast TV 📺 anymore? Except, I mean, Boomers. Who we’re all supposed to despise, now. Gotta blame somebody, right? As I was saying, not seeing this: on TeeVee doesn’t mean people aren’t seeing it. If anything, Carr made sure more people see it.   Idiots.

(And Talarico is interpreting scriptures and Xian doctrine the way I was taught to do in seminary. It’s only “radical” and “dangerous” if you want to keep people under your thumb. Watching Robert Jeffress at the Trumpapalooza, it was clear he likes his congregation ignorant and knowing only the scripture he tells them about. Jeffress is big on the “personal relationship with Jesus”* that, as Talarico says, excuses everything else. Which is ironically close to the Reformation protest of the RC’s practice of selling indulgences. Talarico cites Matthew 25 (“Lord, when did we see you?”) for the argument that what the Lord requires of us is to take care of each other.  Jeffress prefers to divide us between those on his side, and everyone else. And “everyone” covers a lot of people. But it’s “everyone” who we are called to help. That’s what I learned in seminary. Good theology is always good for you.)

*His emphasis on John 14:6 is the classic choice for exclusion, because he means “coming to God” only through his ideas of God. No other need apply. Which is to put himself in the seat of judgment. But isn’t that what Jesus criticized the Pharisees for doing?
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Dear House of Saud: You’ve Already Paid For This!*

This comes as U.S. Central Command Commander Admiral Brad Cooper visits Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. has aided the Saudis with intelligence support during the escalating conflict between them, the Houthis, and Internationally Recognized Government (IRG)/IRG-aligned forces in western Yemen.


*Laurie Anderson
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Friday, September 11, 2026

So Build One Next To MAL…

... and raise the value of that property.

The noise won’t bother your guests.
The value of your house goes up? This idiot has absolutely no idea what he’s talking about.
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Behaving Like Adults

MAGA: behaving like children.
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China Will Get This If We Don’t

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Well, We’ll Always Have Ireland 🇮🇪

Trump: The war will be over very shortly after the election. They're hanging out for dear life, hoping that we lose so they can deal with dumb weak Democrats and they can have their nuclear bomb. So they're going to be quitting or dropping out or who knows what the hell, whatever it is…
While Trump wants everyone to focus on his fake cash giveaways, this is the single most consequential story of the moment.

Iran-backed Houthis just took effective control of the Bab al-Mandeb strait, one of the world’s most important shipping chokepoints.

This route carries a huge share of global oil and trade. When it gets disrupted, energy prices rise and shipping costs explode.

Iran’s proxies just gained a much stronger position and they are set to make more gains in the region.

Trump’s war will go down as one of the biggest foreign policy disasters in history.
The Houthis seized Mayun Island, also known as Perim Island, in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, according to various reports from the region.

The small volcanic island is strategically important because it sits inside the strait and divides the waterway into two shipping channels. Control of Mayun gives the Houthis a significant position from which to monitor and potentially threaten commercial vessels transiting between the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

The seizure comes just one day after the Houthis captured the strategic port city of Mocha and as their forces advance toward Dhubab on the Yemeni mainland. Together, these gains put the Houthis in a substantially stronger position around one of the world's most important maritime chokepoints.
Axios reports that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called President Trump twice Thursday and urged the U.S. to launch strikes against the Houthis as the group advanced toward the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Trump declined, and U.S. officials said the administration currently has no plans for direct military action against the Houthis.

The request marks a shift from July, when Riyadh told Washington it could handle the Houthi threat itself and Trump backed Saudi military action. Since then, the conflict has expanded, with the Houthis capturing the Red Sea port of Mokha and advancing toward the Bab al-Mandeb.

Axios reports the U.S. is instead increasing intelligence and targeting support to Saudi Arabia. About 200 U.S. personnel are reportedly providing nonkinetic support, while CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper traveled to Saudi Arabia for urgent coordination talks.

The administration is seeking to keep the Red Sea open without adding another front to a U.S. military effort already heavily focused on Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, Trump is off to Ireland for the Irish Open being played on his golf course there.
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Jake Tapper Could Not Be Reached For Comment

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Morning Notes, With Rabies

MAHA A/k/a “culling the herd.” He’s not speaking. They’re not talking about him. I’m old enough to remember when Biden did this after an overseas trip in October. It was in the headlines and chewed over by the chattering class until January of the following year. "Look deep into my eyes. 👀 You are getting sleepy, very sleepy. Gas prices are down. When I snap my fingers, you will wake up believing it!”

(Crude oil prices are down almost 3% today. That could change by close of business. But Brent is still at $104, and WTI at $99. The price at the pump is not going anywhere, except probably up.)
I had to come back to it. GOAT:
Local health departments in North Carolina have evaluated hundreds of people for rabies after they interacted with baby goats that were part of a mobile petting zoo, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.

As of Wednesday, 284 people have been evaluated by local health departments, while others have consulted with a healthcare provider directly to assess their potential rabies risk.

The goats were owned by Farm Adventures, based in Harmony, North Carolina. Between July 28 and August 27, local officials said in a statement, the farm took the goats throughout the state and visited at least 10 locations, including a Masonic picnic, assisted living centers and a back-to-school bash, as well as private events.
Since July 2026, multiple United States jurisdictions have reported local increases in human rabies exposures involving known rabies vectors or animals in which rabies is less commonly reported. Several high-profile rabies outbreaks and mass rabies exposure events have highlighted the importance of performing careful rabies risk assessments and following evidence-based recommendations for administering PEP.
Culling the herd.
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Fear Of Voters

 And other observations.

Trump came to Lake Texas to view the shipwreck of the Paxton campaign, and instead of throwing out a life preserver 🛟, had the steward push Paxton’s piece of flotsam away from his ship, lest it be sullied.
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Thursday, September 10, 2026

Pretty Much The Definition

Every confession is…a confession. Like that one. Is he any good at lowering inflation? Or gas prices? Or staying out of unnecessary and costly wars? Lowering deficits? Governing, at all?

Because being good at making up insults is the kind of thing kids on the playground take pride in.

And Talarico turned that one into a t-shirt his supporters wear, back before summer. If you come all the way down to Texas, try to keep up, huh? You’re just embarrassing yourself.
Is he talking about Talarico, or about Trump? 9:15 and Trump takes the stage. And yes, that’s what they’re chanting. It can go back down by $44,000, too. Don’t you feel lucky, now? So then he got back on script 🤷‍♂️ and repeated his comments on Paxton’s looks, money for everybody if the GOP keeps Congress, even that “thousands of people” are standing outside, again. They even repeated a Piker picture: Have they so quickly run out of ideas? Well, he did show respect for Jesus. I guess that’s what that is.
G’night, Dallas. We hardly knew ye.
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It’s All So Clear

(Although no one is applauding.)
🤦‍♂️

Friend of Epstein; cheated on every wife he ever had. “Grab ‘em by the pussy!” And that just for starters. But he knows “respect for Jesus”? 

He also said: Notice how his explanation turns. Remember he also thought the documents he took to MAL were his personal property, too. "Dividends”? When government does that, isn’t it “communism”? As God is my witness,🙋‍♂️ I did not think Joe diGenova knew the meaning of the word “ethics.” I’m having violent fantasies that show no respect for Jesus, but would rid the country of a lot of problems in one go.

So I’d best keep them to myself.
Trump is skewing the numbers. And now we know why: Our food is unsafe.
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How To Win Friends And Influence People

Guys come up: you know, I wish you didn’t do the war in Iran. Gasoline’s up, ba ba, ba ba,” Trump said, mimicking their complaints before adding, “let me ask you just smart people, let me ask you, not too many of them by the way.”

Trump then asked the crowd whether Iran could have a nuclear weapon. After receiving the answer “Absolutely not,” he declared, “Well then I’m right then, I win.”
Sure thing.
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Welcome To Texas

(Apologies for the repetition, but that’s Twitter.) I grew up in the Presbyterian church. I knew quite a few Baptists in town who were convinced I was damned, if not exactly evil. Welcome to Texas. There’s that. And that.
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So Which Is It?

IOW, it can’t go through reconciliation, and Democrats would block it in the Senate. Or: we’ll just find the money in December. Or something. He has no clue. Which is fine; he has no intention of sending out the money. There won’t be any risk of it, after all.
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Especially Of Blood In The Face

Now with Paxton and MOH references! And rambling innumeracy. That oh so valuable Trump endorsement. Or the MOH. America as one rises up in righteous indignation at this gross injustice! Or not.
“The National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation recognizes President Donald J. Trump as a champion of honor for his unwavering commitment to preserving and sharing the legacies of the Medal of Honor recipients, his tireless effort to ensure the Medal of Honor, and those who received it are celebrated nationally…”
America as one says: “Wait, who? What?”
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I Haven’t Been To Starbucks In A While

Brooke Rollins: "There is more beef being consumed today than ever before. The price remains where the price is, but people keep buying it. Normally you have a price go up and demand goes down, but it's the opposite. $6.50 for a pound of ground beef, which by the way is less than a latte from Starbucks, feeds a family of four. The protein is excellent."
Has the price of a Starbucks latte now over $8? And are lattes sold by the pound now?
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Another Log On The Pile

Add another log to the pile:
Trump now says he's handing out $500 “rebate” checks to nearly 1 million people and calling it justice for being “wrongly overcharged” on Obamacare, after his administration let the enhanced ACA tax credits expire, raising what enrollees pay by an average of $1,016 a year if they kept the same plan.

On top of that, Americans have already spent $670–$770 extra per household this year just on gasoline and diesel from the Iran war. Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi estimated in June that the war had already cost American households roughly $1,000 each through higher fuel, food, and other expenses.

It’s a familiar authoritarian tactic: impose economic pain by taking away things people rely on, offer to hand back a fraction of what people lost, and then demand praise for the “relief.”
Something else that will never happen, and Trump will deny he ever said. Besides: Or $500 to 1 million Americans (do they also get the $5000?). Congress can do it.

But they won’t. And Trump can’t do it, unless they do.
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Hillary Leans Into The Anti-Semitism

C’mon, we’re all thinking it. About Netenyahu, I mean.

A flashback to the days when we had a real SOS.
I have a lot of problems with Israel, just like I have a lot of problems with America. I don’t “love” either country, although that doesn’t mean my only other option is to hate them. That said, I can understand Hillary to be saying she doesn’t hate Israel, because we are only allowed dichotomous language in these conversations.
Hillary Clinton: "We have to look at our potential dangers, especially what Xi is thinking. 'They they can't defend anybody anymore because they don't have the capacity to defend. Maybe we can coerce Taiwan into just giving up because there's not going to be any support.' If you look at the world map right now, it is not favorable to the US. And in large measure, I would argue that's because of very wrongheaded decisions that are being made by this administration."
Hillary Clinton: "I thought the whole Republican mini-convention and Trump's speech was making the case for the Democrats. I think it actually helps us for people to see the contrast between what Trump is offering and what his administration has produced, and potential for change."
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