Thursday, February 26, 2026

King’s ‘X’!

"National Security” is not the magic sword and shield Trump imagines it is.

Especially if he has no more evidence now than he did in 2020. (He claims China “interfered” in 2020. He couldn’t prove it then, he can’t prove it now.)

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Epstein Matters

New: Dozens of FBI witness interviews from the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein appear to be missing from the massive trove of files released by the Department of Justice last month, according to a CNN review – including three interviews related to a woman who accused President Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her decades ago.
;New documents — made public for the first time — show in greater detail how Epstein tried, and often succeeded, in influencing almost every level of the criminal justice system that threatened to disrupt his sex trafficking and money laundering empire. Epstein’s efforts to corrupt the justice system is important because, had some of these figures rigorously investigated and monitored Epstein, he may not have been able to continue to sexually abuse women and girls for another decade. This story is based on a Miami Herald review of thousands of documents released by the Justice Department, court records and interviews with key people involved in the Epstein case. The documents — released in response to the Epstein Files Transparency Act passed by Congress last year — reveal how Epstein wooed state and federal prosecutors, assistant district attorneys, sheriff’s deputies, probation officers, federal marshals and customs and border patrol officers.
The more things change…. Spoiler: she blisters them.
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AI 🤖 Is GOOD For You!

Well, it’s good for Elmo.

Survival of the richest. 

Is this a great country, or what?
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Foreign Policy

America First Puppet.
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DHS: Numerous Cars In Newark Ram ICE Agents, Obstruct Justice

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No Notes

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With Idiots In Charge: Greenland 🇬🇱 Edition

Jeff Landry, Trump’s special envoy to Greenland, told the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal that conversations with two Greenlanders visiting the United States prompted him to discuss Greenland’s healthcare system with Donald Trump.

In doing so, Landry confirms the account previously given by Greenlander Jørgen Boassen.

Landry met with Greenlandic Trump supporter and bricklayer Jørgen Boassen and satirist Sikkerneq Olsen in Louisiana. They had been invited to the United States in connection with the Mardi Gras festival in the state, where Landry also serves as governor.

During the meeting, Boassen raised concerns about healthcare conditions in Greenland, which he considers inadequate — a point Landry now also confirms to The Wall Street Journal.

“They think the universal healthcare system over there is terrible,” he told the newspaper.

Landry also said that he discussed the issue with Donald Trump during a dinner at the White House on Saturday. The following day, Trump announced plans regarding a hospital ship in a social media post.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Landry emphasized that the ship will be dispatched.

— DR
"They" being the two Greenland residents Landry invited to Louisiana. I still remember a non-Texan working for the Austin paper in the early ‘80’s who trashed Tex-Mex in his restaurant reviews. His opinion was not that of the residents of Austin.
New details shed light on how the U.S. president may have come up with the idea of sending a hospital ship to Greenland.

Prior to the announcement, Trump’s special envoy to Greenland, Jeff Landry, had received visits from two Greenlanders. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Landry says it was conversations with them that prompted him to discuss Greenland’s healthcare system with Donald Trump.

According to the special envoy, it is “the rule rather than the exception” that the United States’ two hospital ships are deployed on humanitarian missions.

“The exception is to say no to assistance from the ships, as Greenland and Denmark have done,” he says.

According to Landry, a ship will be dispatched.

Whether Denmark and Greenland want it or not.

Jeff Landry confirms that he discussed the issue of Greenland with Jørgen Boassen during the Mardi Gras festival, to which his office had invited the two Greenlandic guests.

“The thing that stood out was the healthcare system,” Landry tells The Wall Street Journal.

Confronted with the fact that the majority of Greenlanders in a recent opinion poll expressed a negative or strongly negative view of the American welfare system, the special envoy responds that he disagrees.

“That’s not what I’m hearing from Greenlanders. They think the universal healthcare system over there is terrible,” he says.

Landry further explains that he discussed the matter with Donald Trump during a dinner at the White House on Saturday.

The president asked him whether Greenlanders really needed a ship, the special envoy says:

“I said they absolutely need it. He said, ‘Well then let’s get it.’”

Later that same day — early Sunday Danish time — Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that he, together with “the fantastic governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry,” would send a hospital ship.

A hospital ship will be sent and will reach Greenland, even if it takes until summer before one of the vessels completes its maintenance work, Landry tells The Wall Street Journal.

He also says that he does not intend to consult Nuuk or Copenhagen.

“I will just coordinate with the military,” he says.

— Berlingske
Nuuk is the Capitol of Greenland, and site of the U.S. consulate there.

I doubt Trump will remember this by summer; and I’m fairly sure the Greenland Prime Minister won’t allow the boat to dock.
Governor Landry – State of Louisiana,

President Trump says he has spoken with you, about Greenland.

I have spoken with your statistics.

Louisiana ranks 41 out of 51 in the 2025 State Health System Performance Scorecard published by the The Commonwealth Fund.

At the same time, the data from your own state shows serious affordability challenges:

Access to a doctor 14.7% of adults in Louisiana could not see a doctor in the past year because of cost Source: Louisiana Department of Health

Avoided care due to cost 11.5% of adults avoided medical care because they could not afford it Source: America’s Health Rankings

Prescription medication affordability: 36% report skipping doses, splitting pills, or not filling prescriptions due to cost Source: Healthcare Value Hub, Louisiana CHESS Survey

Nationally, 8.2% of adults do not take prescribed medication as directed because of cost Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Uninsured 11% of adults in Louisiana are uninsured Source: The Commonwealth Fund

President Trump is going to send a great hospital ship to Louisiana to help care for the many people who are sick and not receiving adequate medical treatment there.

It’s on the way!!!
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Waste, Fraud, And Abuse

But Tom Homan pulled ICE out of Minnesota, right? The same Tom Homan who wants to school Pope Leo XIV on Catholic doctrine? I’m guessing JD Vance will want to explain “just war” to Pope Leo, too.
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The People Have Changed The Channel

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Heckle And Jeckel

I guess, strictly speaking, Mike Lee didn’t see himself do this.
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Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Going Off The Deep End

So, in 4 years, they haven’t learned anything?  Why am I not surprised? Fetterman is not keeping good company. I have no use for people who want to overthrow other governments, especially when they will bear none of the consequences, and freely renounce the responsibility. I know Tuberville isn’t running for Senate again. Governor of Alabama, or just unemployed, are choice positions from which to do deny your part in the mess that followed your message. You can read it in The New Yorker. Or for free on the internet, on several sites and feeds. I guess when it’s in “legacy media,” it’s…”legitimate”? (I like The New Yorker. I just don’t understand what Glasser contributes, frankly. She’s kind of the magazine’s version of Maureen Dowd.) Because that’s worked out so well, before. 🙄 Can somebody put that in an ad, and play it on a loop? Because statistics don’t pay the bills, and the DJIA doesn’t give everyone a bigger paycheck. Or a paycheck at all. (Screw that trickle down shit.) Hassett wants to ignore those numbers. It should be clear to a child that Trump wants to deport everyone he doesn’t like.Racism is just his starting point, not his terminus. Fraud is investigated by IG’s and the FBI, and prosecuted civilly and criminally by the DOJ. Which explains why Vance is now in charge. Is he going to direct cases to the interim AUSA’s Bondi and Blanche keep firing? Or is he just going to invent numbers and throw darts at a board to declare the guilty nationality this week? Never mind, he answered that question. (And thanks, John Roberts! This wholly unconstitutional “unitary executive” thing is working out great! For the oligarchs.) "War is peace." "When I use a word, it means what I want it to mean.” "Unless I just don’t know what I’m talking about.” (The person the Senator is referring to died in 1989. When the Senator was twelve years old.)

And to end more or less where we started:
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Hello Darkness, My Old Friend…

Hand to God, until I got to the Russian flag, I wasn’t sure that wasn’t about Trump’s America.

I have a t-shirt the Lovely Wife gave me that says: “I survived the Sixties. Twice!” I’m beginning to feel like it’s going to be three times. This is like Déjà vu all over again.
OTOH, it’s Trump who doesn’t have the cards.
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The View From Greenland

USNS Mercy is not designed for Arctic operations.

The vessel has no ice class and is not ice-strengthened. This means it can only operate safely in ice-free waters.

The current sea-ice chart (see image) shows significant ice coverage around Greenland, marked in red. Operating in these areas without ice reinforcement would pose substantial structural and operational risks.
I saw a random tweet declaring the Navy hospital ships couldn’t operate in Arctic waters. Apparently that was correct.
Can medicine prices be cut by more than 100 percent?

During his State of the Union speech, Donald Trump boasted that he had forced pharmaceutical companies to lower prices.

However, his description of how much prices have fallen is misleading, according to the news agency AP.

“I took prescription drug prices from the highest in the world to the lowest. It’s a tremendous achievement. The result is price reductions of 300 percent, 400 percent, 500 percent, 600 percent and more,” Trump said.

However, it makes no sense to speak of price reductions in that way. Prices cannot fall by more than 100 percent. In practice, that would mean patients are being paid to take the medicine.

—DR
“The whole world is watching”…
Jeff Landry, Trump’s special envoy to Greenland, told the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal that conversations with two Greenlanders visiting the United States prompted him to discuss Greenland’s healthcare system with Donald Trump.

In doing so, Landry confirms the account previously given by Greenlander Jørgen Boassen.

Landry met with Greenlandic Trump supporter and bricklayer Jørgen Boassen and satirist Sikkerneq Olsen in Louisiana. They had been invited to the United States in connection with the Mardi Gras festival in the state, where Landry also serves as governor.

During the meeting, Boassen raised concerns about healthcare conditions in Greenland, which he considers inadequate — a point Landry now also confirms to The Wall Street Journal.

“They think the universal healthcare system over there is terrible,” he told the newspaper.

Landry also said that he discussed the issue with Donald Trump during a dinner at the White House on Saturday. The following day, Trump announced plans regarding a hospital ship in a social media post.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Landry emphasized that the ship will be dispatched.

— DR
... and they see we’re unreliable.
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Trump As An Agent Of Reform

And was himself convicted of civil and criminal fraud. The fox is still a poor guardian of the henhouse. Abolish ICE. Abolish SOTU. Let the next President send Congress a PDF. Congress doesn’t have to host this thing. Reassert Congressional priority. It is Art. I, the longest and most complex in the Constitution. Art. II requires the POTUS report to Congress on “the state of the union”  “from time to time.” It doesn’t require Congress to put on an obsequious dog and pony show.

Some of the “cherished institutions” Trump is driving into the ground deserve to be reformed out of existence thanks to him. The SOTU as we know it is one of them.

I know, I know. I’ll show myself out….
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Why I Don’t Trust In Polls

Texas Tribune:
Through Monday, 665,664 votes were cast in-person and by mail in the Democratic primary, compared to 593,692 cast in the Republican primary, according to unofficial data from the Texas Secretary of State. The 1,259,356 votes is higher than both the 2024 and 2020 primaries through seven days of early voting, despite turnout typically being higher in presidential election years.
Also Texas Tribune, also same day:
Dallas U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett has a double-digit lead over Austin state Rep. James Talarico in the final days of Texas’ Senate Democratic primary, according to a new poll released Wednesday.

In the survey, fielded from Feb. 2 to Feb. 16, Crockett garnered the support of 56% of voters, while Talarico got 44%. For the Democratic primary, pollsters from the University of Texas’ Texas Politics Project surveyed a sample of 369 voters, producing a margin of error of +/-5.1 points.
369 voters out of 665,664 just seems like a very small tail trying to wag a very big dog.
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Rolling In The Years

CNN: So the the polling universe here is about 13 points more Republican than the overall population usually is. 38% said they had a very positive reaction to the speech 25% somewhat positive, 36% negative. How does that very positive number stack up against previous addresses? Well, look here it's about six percentage points lower than Donald Trump was at with the very positive score last year. He was at 44%.

Compared to previous presidents in this midterm year. So in 2026 this year, tonight 38% very positive reaction Joe Biden four years ago, 41% very positive reaction. That was the year Democrats lost control of the house. You see trump in 2018 was at 48% very positive when he, his party lost control of the house in his first term. So you see here again, Donald Trump is at the bottom of this
Ansari: My parents fled an authoritarian regime in Iran. They came to this country because America was supposed to be different. This country welcomed them. It allowed them to work hard and to build a better life. And in one generation, they watch their daughter become the first Iranian-American Democrat ever elected to Congress. That is the promise of America. And I refuse to let it be dismantled.
Smith: You’ve seen the searing images of what has happened in my state and in our country — people arrested, detained, and assaulted. The killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. You’ve seen the searing images of Liam Ramos and his dad ripped away from their home and sent off to Texas for no reason at all.

But I’m here to tell you: what you see in those pictures is only part of the story. What’s really happening is so much worse.

Once you get past the powerful documentation from eyewitness accounts in small towns across Minnesota, you realize this same thing is happening everywhere.

Restaurants have closed. People have lost their livelihoods because of this secret police that has attacked our state. Families are torn apart, and they may never be put back together again. The pain, the suffering, and the damage will last for a very long time. This is what Donald Trump and Kristi Noem are doing right now.

But we’ve also seen something else in Minnesota. People came out into their neighborhoods and stood up for people they didn’t even know. They brought diapers. They helped families get prescriptions. They gathered together out of pure love for their neighbors — even neighbors they had never met.
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Is This Because…

...Trump wanted one of your medals?🏅  Or is it because women’s sports are still treated like a red-headed stepchild? 😡
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Tuesday, February 24, 2026

Speaker Johnson Threatens The Nation With A Good Time

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The Reviews Are In

Damning with stupid praise. Alternatively, the Constitution only requires a SOTU “from time to time “ be delivered to the Congress. It was a way of reminding the POTUS which branch was the real power (co-equal branches is a misreading of the Constitution, IMHO). For the first 100 years the statement was hand-delivered to Congress. We could go back to delivery by email, rather than an address to Congress. After all, the House has to agree to host this thing. They could decide they have better things to do.
Trump needs to be in bed after dark anyway.
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Did I Miss Anything?

(🤦‍♂️) (I thought he’d already done that.)
Trump: The Somali pirates who ransacked Minnesota remind us that there are large parts of the world where bribery, corruption, and lawlessness are the norm, not the exception. Importing these cultures through unrestricted immigration and open borders brings those problems right here to the USA.
(Takes one to know one?)
Trump: When it comes to the corruption that is plundering America. There's been no more stunning example than Minnesota, where members of the Somali community have pillaged an estimated $19 billion from the American taxpayer. We have all the information, and in actuality, the number is much higher than that. Unknown: You’re lying
(😎) I didn’t think I missed anything.

Well, I did miss this:
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🤔

Boebert: I support releasing the congressional hush money slush fund. Tens of millions of dollars have been paid out over the years here in Congress to keep staffers quiet about alleged sexual misconduct. I would love to find out about every member who has ever had to pay a settlement to a staffer.
Schiff: I've not missed the State of the Union in the 25 years I've been in Congress, but we have never had a president violate the constitution every day with seeming impunity.

We've never had masked armed, poorly trained agents, victimizing our cities, demanding to see people's papers.

In this country we've never seen a Justice Department go after members of the political opposition because the president doesn't like what they have to say.

We can't treat this as some new normal, so I'm here boycotting this State of the Union address rather than being in that building listening to those endless lies.
Speaker Johnson: It’s shameful that they would boycott an address. We don’t do that. Republicans don’t do that. It doesn’t matter if the president is from the opposing party — we don’t skip out. Our constituents want and need us to be here. Every member of this House represents more than 750,000 people. They’re disenfranchised if you’re not sitting in your seat to fulfill the role and responsibility of Congress.
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Woolgathering

I am grateful to each of the 107 countries that stood with Ukraine today in defense of life at the @UN .

The General Assembly adopted our resolution in support of a lasting peace, with clear calls for a full ceasefire and the return of our people.

These are the right and necessary steps. And we will keep working actively to achieve peace, together with our partners.
The poster boy for “privilege.”
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😎

This is the equivalent of a major Trump rally in Austin. Or Berkeley. Or NYC. Midland is as red as Austin is blue. Maybe more so.

Admittedly it’s only a primary, but Democratic motivation, dare I say enthusiasm? I don’t remember seeing this in Texas since Texas flipped from blue to red.

Future’s so bright…😎
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I’m Not Drinking Anymore

I never drank much (especially after that weekend in Corpus Christi early in my marriage, when we spent the weekend with my brother. He and I got stupid drunk, and the Lovely Wife took no pity on us the next day. She also never let me forget it. It’s been close to 50 years, and I still don’t bring it up….). But I’ve had to give it up (consequences of age. So it goes.) At least I can avoid the temptation. 

It would probably be the only way to get through it.
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Has It Been That Long?

I’m sure Joe Biden is to blame. Wait a minute. A year ago, Canada and Mexico were our very close allies.

What a difference a year makes.
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The Last Word

Life’s too short, after all.

Popehat, as usual, puts it best:
Does that look like a man who can both stand up and talk for 2 hours
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Morality Matters

You’ve said Tony Gonazales needs to resign. What will be your message to Speaker Johnson and some of your other Republican colleagues who have been silent on the issue?

Massie: I think they’re looking past his egregious transgressions to keep a slim majority here in the House. But they run the risk of losing the whole majority if they don’t address this.

PabloReports: Do you think he can survive this as a congressman?

Massie: I doubt it. Maybe the voters in Texas will decide this in his primary in a few days. But in the meantime, we’re not well served by the damage it does to the GOP’s reputation, particularly in light of the effort they made to keep the Epstein matter covered up.
Nancy Mace on Tony Gonzales: I filed a resolution last night to expose all sexual harassment violations by members of Congress. I’ll force a vote on it.

PabloReports: Is this going to be like the Epstein files, where it takes months and months?

Mace: They’ll probably just refer it to committee and sweep it under the rug like they always do.

Luna: That’s where it will die. Everything goes to die in committee.

PabloReports: If it’s going to die in committee, how can his constituents know what happened?

Mace: Voters are going to have to turn out against him or force him to resign. I don’t know how he goes forward. It was disgusting and shameful, and it’s why many women feel like second-class citizens. We’ve just got to say no more.
Torres: I think Tony Gonzales should resign. The fact that this young staffer died the way she did, and for him to deny what he had done to her, is just unconscionable.

PabloReports: What message does it send that so many Republicans have remained silent on this issue?

Torres: Their silence speaks volumes. Look at what’s happening with the Epstein files. These people don’t want to be held accountable for any of their misdeeds.
Do you think Tony Gonzales should resign?

McBride: Absolutely.

PabloReports: What message does it send that so many Republicans have remained silent on this issue?

McBride: I think after 10 years of Trump and an insurrection, it’s clear Republicans will never hold themselves accountable.
Gonzales probably survives the primary. But imagine the political ads….
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Government By Irresponsible People

 If I said this about America (and I could):

"Jørgen Boassen, a 52-year-old Greenlandic bricklayer who last year helped organize Donald Trump Jr.’s visit to the island, says he was the one who inspired Jeff Landry, governor of Louisiana and Trump’s appointed Greenland envoy, to propose the idea," the Journal wrote.

During a Mardi Gras cultural exchange trip in Louisiana, Boassen griped to Landry about Greenland's "deteriorating" healthcare system, citing his mother's tragic death from sepsis after a misdiagnosis at a rural clinic.

“I told him our healthcare system is deteriorating, and that people are sick. Some people are diagnosed too late,” Boassen told the Journal.

He said he didn’t ask for a U.S. hospital ship, "but any help is appreciated."

Landry brought up Boassen's concerns at a White House dinner, telling Trump that Greenlanders "absolutely need" medical assistance.

“I said, they absolutely need it. He said, ‘Well, let’s get it,’” Landry said.

Within hours, Trump publicly trumpeted his plan on Truth Social, claiming ships were "on the way" to help residents "who are sick, and not being taken care of there."

Greenland's leaders weren't amused, with Health Minister Anna Wangenheim branding it psychological warfare.

Notably, despite Trump's urgent tweets, no hospital ships were actually ordered to deploy. Both Navy vessels remain stateside undergoing maintenance, according to the report.
(and it’s not just in rural areas) Would Canada or a European government send us some of their socialized medicine?

Of course not; their leaders are not clowns. 🤡 
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How Many Baghdad Bobs Does The GOP Contain?

The Quitter has thoughts.
Bongino: The left doesn't know this, but the Summer Olympics are coming up. The FBI has a significant footprint in the security planning. For Kash Patel to go there and take a look at what's going on… he goes to a game and they invite him into the locker room and he pops one, keep crying man. Whatever
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Nah!

 I already know what he’s going to say:

“He’s made a mockery of the State of the Union speech and he doesn’t deserve an audience,” said Sen. Christopher Murphy (D-CT) recently, who will be joining Democrats for the alternative event, the “People’s State of the Union,” The New York Times reported.

“He’s going to tell 40 different lies, call Democrats names; he’s going to paper over his corruption, and I don’t feel like what he’s doing dignifies having Democrats there to cloak the speech in a veneer of respectability.”
Lucky for me, I can just read a book. The TeeVee needs a rest, anyway.
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