Our Northern Cousins

Say What, JD?

It's close to a dead solid cinch that there's a subtext here. Cuz this is pretty extreme, and this kinda thing is never about what it seems like it's about on the surface.

What kind of idiot politician do you have to be to tell people they're lying about enjoying a holiday meal - and then turn right around and say you're going with that holiday meal yourself?

Paranoid Mike says this is JD Vance trying to condition people in uniform to go along with whatever he says.

Today's Brian

File this under "Strange Bedfellows".

One Bit Of Good News

The Dirty Fuels Cartel takes a hit.

Today's Brian

... is actually Today's Marc Elias.

(paraphrasing)

"I am more powerful than Elon Musk, or Jeff Bezos, or Mark Zuckerberg because I can stand up right here, right now, and say, "Fuck you Donald Trump. Fuck you. And they can't do that."

Today's Brian

Feedback

Ukraine

Trump wants the Nobel Peace Prize, and it's not unreasonable to think Putin has convinced him that it can be "arranged" - so he doesn't care what has to be destroyed, or who has be killed, for him to get it.

The strategic objective - The Big Move - involves dividing up the world into three spheres of influence (ie: ownership). Russia gets Europe and the Middle East, China gets Asia and the Pacific, US gets the whole western hemisphere, and we'll either divvy up Africa, or (more likely) we'll duke it out over that turf later.

Another attempt at world conquest seems to be well underway.

What The Blue-Eyed Buck-Naked Fuck Is This Shit

Get Ready

Our Night Of the Long Knives may not be too far away.

Trump's gang seems to be pushing hard to create a constitutional crisis, and they're making the moves necessary to minimize resistance from inside the government.

Was He Lying Then

... or is he lying now?

Yes. On both. When the question is whether Trump did something shitty, the answer is always YES.

Here Comes The Pain

First Buddy Elon has told us to expect some hard times. And of course, that's being exuberantly translated by the rubes as meaning everybody will be rich and fat and happy at some point shortly thereafter.

Number 1, don't expect that pain to be evenly distributed. This is America, dummy - rich people won't be feeling it.

Number 2, anybody pulling down less than about $250K is likely to get slammed pretty hard - if  Trump does what he says he wants to do.

As usual, the word "if" is doing some heavy lifting, but we all know that Trump can't stand being told no, and that he thinks because he said it, somebody at least has to make it look like it's being done so he can lie about what a magnificent star-spangled president he is.

So, exactly as predicted, Trump 2.0 has all the earmarks of becoming another FUBAR wrapped in a clusterfuck tossed into a dumpster fire.

Tariffs on Canadian crude oil:

The ghost of Tariffs past:

What I worry about most is that this time, the circus will serve as cover not just for the billions in graft that will pour into the pockets of Trump and his merry band of leeches, but also for all the shitty things the Project 2025 plutocrats are working on. So when The Unitary Executive thing is more or less in place, the A25 coup will remove Trump and replace him with ... fuck if I know what happens after that, but it's got me keeping some pretty odd hours.

Fake lord help us.

Today's Brian

Nobody ever lost money betting against the depravity of the GOP.

Rapey McFivehead quits, and now we get to hammer a few points home.

1. What was all that noise from MTG? What was she referring to when she mouthed off about releasing "all the reports"?
2. What exactly was Mike Johnson alluding to with his Pandora's box thing?

And, of course, we'll see if a few GOP Senators have managed - at long last - to find their fucking spines.

There's a whole fucking shoe store left to drop.

Today's Brian & Glenn

I think I get it - gotta be careful about setting precedent, and you don't wanna hand the bad guys a weapon they can use against you later (assuming of course we actually find our way outa this fucked up mess), and we have to interpret the law, and apply the law, and not try to make the law on the judiciary side - etc etc etc. I'm there. I get it.

But goddammit - I'm so fucking sick of rich people stomping around in smarmspace manufacturing loopholes - using and abusing the courts to duck responsibility.

Here's a thought: Obey the fucking law. Could we try that for a while?

Today's Brian

Trump is losing. Expect the shit to intensify.

Today's Brian

Today's Brian

It's a grift. Because it's always a grift.

Listen Up

When your dreams and expectations are high, but you repeatedly fall short in spite of knowing you're working as hard as you're able - over time, it becomes very difficult not to look for something external to blame.

Today's Brian

"Trump showed his ass - metaphorically, thank god."

Today's Brian

It's been kind of a mantra for a while: It's not up to the Dems to save the GOP.

Looks like we're gonna step up and do it anyway.

And it feels like a side benefit of saving American democracy, but it's not. Turns out it's a requisite.

So c'mon, Republicans - the water's too cold - it's gonna kill ya - get it the fuckin' boat, and let's go do somethin'.