Thursday, September 24, 2026

Trump Mulls Export Ban

Yeah, do that.
"There isn’t one big, frictionless domestic oil and gas market for Trump to micromanage," wrote the board. In Houston, they continued, there is surplus production of diesel, "but infrastructure bottlenecks and regulatory barriers like the Jones Act make it difficult to easily transport it to, say, Boston and the rest of the East Coast, so we export the rest to buyers across the planet. Hang out in Galveston and you can watch those diesel-filled tankers sail across the horizon."

At the same time, the board wrote, East Coast states are reliant on importing diesel because they can't make enough to meet demand. "Banning U.S. exports would make those global prices skyrocket — sending the price at the pump along the Atlantic coast skyrocketing, too."

States and cities that produce a lot of petroleum might temporarily get relief at the pump, the board noted, but it wouldn't last: "Because we make more than we can use, stockpiles would build, storage tanks fill up, and refiners would have the untimely incentive to actually produce less. Meanwhile, the energy industry could be scared away from making any future investments in refining or export capacity."
So nothing would change before November; and then things would only get worse. The administration could waive the Jones Act, but diesel is still priced by the global market. Unless Trump imposes price controls and forces suppliers to ship from Texas to New England at an artificially suppressed price, nothing changes. And Trump needs congressional authority to do that. 

It would also be socialism, wouldn’t it?
And it will go down big in Texas.
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It’s A Representative Government

Deputy Assistant to the President Sebastian Gorka: "Everybody is obsessing with the price of gas -- this is much bigger than the price of gas. Think about what would happen to the price of gasoline if those missiles were nuclear tipped. The idea that you're experiencing problems would be absolutely incomparable."
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You Know They Want To

Or Trump could put him on a small boat in the Caribbean.
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Wednesday, September 23, 2026

Stranger Than Fiction 🤡

 I thought this was a joke.

Mostly because of this: I didn’t think anybody could be dumber than Tuberville.

The race to the bottom continues.
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🥶Somebody’s Gonna Have To Explain It To Me

Why is Trump the only person in this picture who is dressed like it’s February? In Chicago.

Is he cold? The high in D.C. today was 66F. Even in Houston, that’s not considered cold.

Is he too fragile to handle 66F?
Or is he just too old?
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Geography Lesson

The only difference(s) between North Korea and Iran is(are):

North Korea is half a world away from Israel. And the Strait of Hormuz.

Oh, and North Korea actually has “nuclear tipped” missiles.
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“AMERICA! LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT!”

Thought I’d heard the last of that in the early ‘70’s. Then again, I never thought I’d be hearing about Commies under the bed again. Old Boomers, man. They’re the worst.

Next up: Jane Fonda is “Hanoi Jane.” Again. Everything old is pointless and still old, again.
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So Many EO’s To Repeal….

I didn’t realize he’d decided all government documents must now refer to “SI.” 

He’s determined to make us all as stupid as he is.
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Survival Of The Fittest…

... and fairest.

Fuck the rest o’ y’all.
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Of Martial Law And 🦆🦆🦆

That’s not how this works! That’s not how any of this works! 😈
Ticktin, who went to military school with Trump as a teenager, told The Atlantic that one scenario this fall ends with Trump declaring martial law on or around Nov. 3. "Either martial law, or step aside," Ticktin said.

Asked about the prospect of riots if Trump tried to overturn the results, Ticktin said he wasn't worried. "Believe me, our armed forces are a lot bigger than they are," he said.
Ooh, tough guy!
Root, a LindellTV host and Gateway Pundit columnist, has pushed Trump to declare a "national-security emergency" to impose voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements, and the right-wing pundit told The Atlantic he sends his columns directly to Trump by email and text, and Trump regularly reposts them on Truth Social.

"I hope he takes orders from Wayne Allyn Root," Root said.
🤡
Trump apparently hasn't ruled it out. While interviewing the president last month on his radio program, Root floated the idea of declaring a national emergency to seize control of the election, and Trump sounded intrigued by the idea. "Let me just say that stranger things have happened, okay?" Trump said. "I'll leave it at that."

Experts say such a declaration wouldn't give Trump the power he'd need because emergency powers are limited to specific authorities granted by Congress, and none of them covers elections.
Too many kids who never grew up, learning about “law” from TV and movies.

“Martial law” is not a legal concept in Anglo-Saxon law. It is present in some European countries because of the Roman law of the Empire. Rome allowed for a diktator who could take full control in a time of crisis. Julius Caesar took control that way, and simply never gave it back.

Which is one cautionary tale about the office. The other is that the idea was to defend the empire in a crisis; and when the crisis had passed, the office dissolved. But, effectively, the diktator usurps the power of the sovereign. Even in Britain today the king has authority that cannot be usurped; well, not without a civil war. (England is sometimes more Catholic than the Pope in its historical and cultural allegiance to the long defunct empire. But not in this respect.) In America, we, the people are sovereign. To allow martial law would be to usurp our sovereignty.

The legal concept of a “national emergency” under our Constitution is a statutory one. There’s no provision in Article II that gives the president the powers of a diktator. And here’s the rub; elections in America are creatures of law. Creatures of statute, particularly. The constitution gives the states authority over national elections, with Congress able to exert limited control. 

The President has no authority over elections whatsoever. The President only has the authority to declare national emergencies based on the authority Congress has granted by statute. He has no authority to declare “martial law” because it’s not a legal concept under our Constitution or laws.

Since elections are creatures of law, they can only be challenged in courts of law. And the courts (well, excluding Thomas and Alito) are not going to recognize any declaration of “martial law” as valid. Nor is there any statute giving the President authority over elections. If there was, Trump would have simply decreed the 2020 presidential election invalid, and actually refused to leave the White House (another paranoid conspiracy, but from Trump’s opponents). He didn’t declare martial law, either; although he still insists evidence of fraud in 2020 is still being found.

So the real risk in November is for Trump. Nothing Congress does before January can’t be undone after January. Nothing Trump does can’t be overruled by Congress, including refusing to end the standoff (which is all it is) with Iran. Maybe Mike Johnson will try not to seat the next House. But when they are seated, will they expel him? Maybe John Thune will try to challenge the Democrats elected to the Senate. But when they are seated, how will they react to Thune?

Actions always have consequences. Extreme actions prompt extreme consequences. And fucking with representation in Congress, on purely partisan grounds, is not exactly party outreach material.

Republicans are already turning away from Trump in a panic as reality breaks down the walls of their assumptions. Are they really going to engage in a futile effort to protect Trump in January? Or are they going to leave him to the consequences of his actions?

People tend to act from self-interest, after all. And Trump is already a lame duck. 🦆 
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The Odds Congress Cancels That Ballroom Rise Daily

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Aiming For Father Of Dobbs

JUST IN: In a deeply embarrassing and un-American court filing, the Trump regime is now arguing that CNN, MS NOW, and Politico can be stripped of White House access in the name of “national security.”

In the new filing, DOJ argues that even reporting that is accurate but contains sensitive national security information can cause harm, and says limiting reporters’ physical access can reduce their ability to obtain such information.

The DOJ uses Donald Trump’s deranged Truth Social posts in the filing to make its argument.

The regime is asking the judge to reject the outlets’ emergency bid to restore their White House access and is also arguing that longstanding precedent protecting press access was “wrongly decided.”

In other words, the Trump regime is afraid of the American people learning the realities of the failed war in Iran and Trump’s disastrous presidency.
In other, other words, they’re aiming at Alito.

Trump has been perfectly clear about why he banned three media outlets from the White House: he doesn’t like what they say about him. There’s evidence for that. There is no evidence that any one of the three poses a serious national security risk by being in some areas of the White House.

What Trump’s DOJ wants to do is to essentially overturn the Pentagon Papers decision. But, as I say, there’s no evidence here that national security issues are involved. That’s supposed to matter.

Alito has made it clear the evidentiary record that makes it to the Supremes doesn’t matter at all. Then again, so has the whole court, when Alito gets to write the majority opinion.

The Supreme Court is supposed to rule on the law, after the fact record is settled by the trial court. There may be insufficient evidence for a legal ruling, but the appellate courts are bound by the evidence admitted in the trial court.

Alito isn’t. He’s notoriously steeped in MAGA conspiracy theories, as evidenced most recently by his dissent in the mail ballot decision. DOJ is trying to tee this up for Alito and Thomas, hoping they will bring along at least Kavanaugh and Gorsuch and Barrett. I think that’s a long shot, but it’s their strategy; that much is plain.

There should be some evidence on which to base a national security concern presented in the trial court. The DOJ has only vague hand waving about the White House being a secure building. That much is true. But that’s an argument for excluding the press and the public from the building (nobody walks blithely around Langley. For decades NSA didn’t officially have a building.). If you let the press in, even on the basis of press credentials, you can’t start excluding them because you don’t like what they say. Again, that eliminates the purpose of  “Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” (Interesting the amendment focuses on Congress, when Trump thinks he can make laws. But if Congress can’t do it, neither can the POTUS.) So, will Alito dissent when this case reaches the Supremes? One can only hope he has to.
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Tuesday, September 22, 2026

How Does Health Insurance Work Again?

Dr Oz: "There are five times more people in parts of Obamacare in Florida than live in the state. It's impossible More than a third of people on Obamacare have never used the insurance policy once. If you were gonna pay your hard-earned money to buy insurance, would you ever use it? The answer is yes."
I’ve used my car insurance five times in 50 years. I’ve used my home insurance once (a drunk drove into my house). I still haven’t used my life insurance. 

Obviously I’m committing fraud. 

(I pay for my Medicare, and use it a lot more than I ysed health insurance before I went on Medicare. Probably has something to do with being 71 instead of 31. Ya think? Oz clearly doesn’t.)
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AI 🤖 And Greenland: Connecting Nothing With Nothing

Nope.
Cognizant of the rights and obligations deriving from the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty, and

considering that Greenland through the Kingdom of Denmark has been a part of NATO since then;

Recalling the long history of cooperation between the Parties based on their deep respect for democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, as well as the more than eighty years of close defense cooperation between them, which has contributed to strengthening the security and stability of the United States, Greenland, and the rest of the North Atlantic Treaty area;

Reaffirming the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark, and recognizing that the People of Greenland constitute a people pursuant to international law with the right to self- determination;

Noting that the procedure for Greenlandic independence is set out in Article 21 of Act no. 473 of 12 June 2009 on Greenland Self-Government;

Recognizing the Parties’ respective obligations and commitments under international law as well as national legal frameworks, including all existing agreements between the Parties;

Recognizing the need to protect the pristine environment of Greenland and reaffirming Article VI concerning Protection of the Environment in the 1991 Memorandum of Understanding, as well as the 2004 Joint Declaration;

Recognizing the economic, social, and cultural rights of the People of Greenland, including with respect to their lands and their way of life, including hunting, fishing, and other traditional, cultural, historical, future activities, and developments;

Considering that the Defense Arrangements have promoted stability and well-being in the North Atlantic Treaty area by uniting the Parties’ efforts for collective defense and preserved peace and security as well as developed their collective capacity to resist armed attack;

Recognizing the United States’ indispensable historical and ongoing contributions to the security and defense of Greenland and the rest of the North Atlantic Treaty area, including significant sacrifices and billions of dollars spent over the better part of a century, dating back to before World War II and the establishment of NATO, and the irreplaceable role the United States military plays in the defense of the territory of Greenland now and in the future;

Acknowledging the reopening of the U.S. Consulate in Nuuk and the U.S. contributions to mutual scientific and educational cooperation and exchanges, minerals cooperation, cooperation on economic development and business promotion, and cultural and local partnerships together with Greenland;

Acknowledging as well Greenland’s contribution to the Parties’ mutual security interests and its consequent sharing of the associated risks and responsibilities, and the commitment of the Parties to continuing close cooperation within NATO in ensuring North Atlantic security, as set forth in the 2004 Igaliku Agreement;

increased military activity and growing strategic interest in the region; Recognizing the Parties’ common goal of international peace and peaceful co-existence, and respecting the important contribution of Greenland to this goal;

Reaffirming the common goal of maximizing real, tangible, and substantial benefits to the People of Greenland from the Defense Areas;

Noting that the security situation in the Arctic is changing and that more efforts are needed to ensure security there in the future; Recognizing the Parties’ shared interest in allowing the United States to have military access to the territory of Greenland to the extent necessary to defend the North Atlantic Treaty area, Greenland, and the American continent, including through establishment of a Golden Dome defense system; and

Wishing therefore to further amend and supplement the Defense Arrangements, so as to strengthen them and reinforce their permanent nature, Hereby agree as follows:

...

This Agreement amending and supplementing the Defense Arrangements shall facilitate the ability of the Parties to take any measures necessary or appropriate to carry out expeditiously their respective and joint responsibilities in Greenland, including to defend the North Atlantic Treaty area, Greenland, and the American continent, while respecting the interests of and providing benefits for the Greenlandic society.

II.

NATO engagement

The Parties support a stronger NATO engagement in the Arctic, including as regards planning, presence, exercises, and joint intelligence gathering.

III.

Definitions

For the purposes of this Agreement:

“1949 North Atlantic Treaty” means the North Atlantic Treaty signed at Washington on April 4, 1949.

“1951 Defense Agreement” means the Agreement Pursuant to the North Atlantic Treaty between the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States Concerning the Defense of Greenland, signed at Copenhagen on April 27, 1951.

“1991 Memorandum of Understanding” means the Memorandum of Understanding between the Kingdom of Denmark, including the Home Rule Government of Greenland, and the United States Concerning the Use of Sondrestrom Aviation Facility, Kulusuk Airfield and Other Matters Related to United States Military Activities in Greenland, done in Copenhagen, March 13, 1991.

“2004 Igaliku Agreement” means the Agreement between the Kingdom of Denmark, including the Home Rule Government of Greenland, and the United States to Amend and Supplement the 1951 Defense Agreement, Including Relevant Subsequent Agreements Related Thereto, signed at Igaliku on August 6, 2004.

“2004 Joint Declaration” means the Joint Declaration on Cooperation on the Environment in Greenland between the Parties issued on August 6, 2004 in Igaliku.

“2020 Diplomatic Notes” means the exchange of diplomatic notes between the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States concerning contracting, dated October 27, 2020.

“Defense Area” means an area in Greenland where the United States establishes and/or operates a military base consistent with the Defense Arrangements.

“Defense Arrangements” means the 1951 Defense Agreement, together with subsequent amending and supplementing agreements and related non-binding arrangements between the Parties, as set out in Annex 1.
Six agreements since 1949, including and beginning with the NATO treaty. This agreement also confirms the independence of Greenland, and the importance of NATO to the regional security upheld by this agreement, and in general.

Did Trump even read what he signed? Never mind; silly question.
Confirmed, then: Trump has artificial intelligence. Just underlining the point.
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Change The Definition, Change The Discussion

MacCallum: How concerned are you about the socialist part of the equation that we are seeing with El-Sayed and with AOC?

Dingell: I hate labels. What do you call me? I'm one of the leaders of medicare for all. My father-in-law was one of the authors of social security and got called a communist at the time. Do you think there is any senior right now that would call social security communism?
He's the hero of the action movie he thinks he’s living in.
El-Sayed: Yes, we need to make medicaid whole again. Yes, we need to replace the ACA subsidies. But we need guaranteed healthcare for everybody.

We do this thing in this country where we allow different people's bodies to command different reimbursement rates. It is a crazy thing. And everybody should be able to command the same reimbursement at the end of the day. I can tell you this with some experience, we all look the same on the inside.
Kamala Harris: As one of the most financially strong economies in the world, we have the distinction of also having one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world. So it raises the issue of disparities and also hypocrisy when the are leaders who otherwise walk around every day talking about their family values
Family values. Socialism . Communism. The rule of law. Three of those don’t loom so large as they used to; and the fourth is becoming more important than it has in years, if only because of determined efforts to extinguish it.
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“Me No Alamo!”

The story goes that, at the Battle of San Jacinto which decided Texas Independence, the Texans (not a typo) roared down on the Mexican soldiers screaming “REMEMBER THE ALAMO!” The memory of that massacre, and the lesser known now, but better known then, Goliad massacre, was fresh on their minds.

The Mexican soldiers reportedly responded: “Me no Alamo!” Which is at least the spirit of Vance’s reply.
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Kruschev Pounding His Desk At The U.N. , 1960

Trump threatening a war crime, 2026: Busy people can’t be sure who to trust, right, NYTimes Pitchbot?
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So Full Of 💩 His Eyes Are Brown

6 months in, and he’s done neither. "Covid will just go away.” He got mad at CNN and MS NOW and Politico for telling the truth, too. (Dwindling supplies is also why Trump stopped bombing Iran.) But Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon! (North Korea does. But somehow, that’s not a worry. 🤷‍♂️) Except the one he started. (Oh, and the 8 he didn’t settle.) Nope:
The Parties shall make best use of the procedures set out in the Defense Arrangements, including the 1951 Defense Agreement and the 2004 Igaliku Agreement, as amended and supplemented herein, to enable the following:

i. The United States shall be allowed to modernize and expand its activities in Pituffik Space Base;
ii. The United States shall be allowed to establish an additional Defense Area at Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig in accordance with modalities and technical details to be mutually agreed by the Parties;
iii. The United States may establish additional defense areas in Greenland and strengthen its military operations or facilities. Either Party may identify the need for a new Defense Area for the defense of the North Atlantic Treaty area, Greenland, and the American continent. Such Party shall provide a proposal describing the location, scope, size, and types of activities of the proposed Defense Area as well as other modalities such as mitigating measures, including those necessary to take account of the 1991 Memorandum of Understanding and the 2004 Joint Declaration. The Parties shall immediately convene to engage in consultations through the Permanent Committee to decide implementation details based on mutual agreement. If no agreement is reached within 90 days at the Permanent Committee, consultations shall escalate to the deputy minister level, followed by the minister level;
iv. The United States shall award all contracts to commercial enterprises for goods and services related to the establishment, maintenance and servicing, including, but not limited to, construction and dismantling projects, of Defense Areas in Greenland to Greenlandic sources to the maximum extent possible, taking into account the capabilities and feasibility of such sources to implement contracts. To secure contracts to Greenlandic sources, the Parties agree to update the 2020 Diplomatic Notes accordingly.
It’s basically the 1951 agreement, redux. It specifically cites that agreement as still in force and effect. All Greenland and Denmark really did is give Trump a new rubber ball. And get him to sign an agreement reaffirming the sovereignty and independence of Greenland. 🇬🇱  No one else is. Please campaign personally on that slogan.
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The Same Senate That Won’t Repeal The Filibuster?

 Seymour Hersh has news!

In the near term, I have been told that the Republicans will not give up on keeping control of the Senate, even if the initial returns go against them,” Hersh wrote in a report published Tuesday on his Substack.

“Close elections will be challenged, and there are enough committed election deniers in place in enough states to pose election challenges that would force a delay in the seating of the new Senate on January 3, 2027, as mandated by the Twentieth Amendment of the Constitution.”

As such, Hersh warned that newly elected Democratic senators could have the certification of their victories delayed, and “would not be allowed to join the new Senate,” putting the new Congress in "unpleasant waters.”

“This mess would eventually fall into the hands of Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the respected Republican Senate majority leader who would be the one to decide when to bring an election dispute to the floor of the Senate for an up-or-down vote,” Hersh wrote.
It’s the same fantasy Mike Luttig is floating about the House. But this has a bit more credibility because 2/3rds of the Senate is already seated.

But the mechanics are a bit dicey. If “election deniers” do challenge Talarico or El Sayed, the matter will have to go to court to have any teeth. Will 2/3rds of the Senate vote to disallow a Senator being seated because the Texas GOP is squawking? Then what keeps Dems from doing the same thing in 2 years? Or in January, in the case of GOP victors? Aside from the fact that the Senate is almost evenly split now. I haven’t run the numbers, but does the GOP dominate the 2/3rds not up for election? Or do the Democrats? And if the newly elected Democrats are finally seated, what revenge do they take on the Republicans?  MAGA was that stupid. The Tea Party was that stupid. The Freedom Caucus was that stupid.

In the House. Never in the Senate. And where are they now?

I don’t see Thune having the votes to play this game. Especially not if he’s already worried about what Democrats would do in the majority in a Senate with no filibuster.

And what does any of this have to do with lowering the price of gas and groceries? The White House still doesn’t care about that, but it’s a sure bet the House and at least 1/3rd of the Senate, do.
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Getting Rid Of Thanksgiving And The 4th Of July

The GOP response. Not the best choice of metaphor today. Every accusation….
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