2025 🤡 ✡️🌻✡️🌻✡️ 🤡  

💣 🧨 💣 🧨 :  Welcome to 2025, the year that opened with two explosive events.  A physical and metaphorical beginning of the dumpster fire that’s to come over the next four years?  The first event took place in New Orleans when 42- year- old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who contrary to Trump’s kneejerk social media assertion, was not an illegal immigrant who’d recently crossed into the US from Mexico but was instead a US born, Army veteran from Texas, drove a rented truck into a crowd killing at least 15 and injuring dozens more. According to at least one news reports, Jabbar was raised Christian but recently converted to Islam.  Judging by the ISIS flag found in his truck, if that report is true, his conversion involved the type of radicalism that often leads to terrorist acts.  While officials in New Orleans were dealing with the aftermath of Jabbar’s horrific attack and Louisiana Senator John Kennedy was making snidely inappropriate comments at a press conference he should have stayed away from, a Tesla cyber truck exploded outside of Trump’s Las Vegas hotel. Initially that explosion was met with some gallows humor and a few quick to social media memes but laughter subsided once it became apparent that the explosion wasn’t due to one of Musk’s temperamental batteries but was another terrorist event, this one resulting in the death of the truck’s driver likely another terrorist, as well as the injury of at least seven bystanders.  Several media outlets reported this morning that the Las Vegas driver was 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger, an army veteran, who, assuming initial reports are true, served for a time at the same Army base as Jabbar, the New Orleans truck terrorist.  In another coincidence that may not be a coincidence (Gibbs Rule #39 There’s No Such Thing As A Coincidence), both Jabbar and Livelsberger were driving vehicles rented through Turo, a car sharing service. As to initial reports including those cited here, as President Biden pointed out in the press conference he held last night, we should all wait for the facts to be verified before jumping to any conclusions.  That message was likely directed at both Trump for his illegal immigrant comment and Fox News which actually took the unusual step of retracting their quick trigger news story that Jabbar was an illegal immigrant who had entered the country through the Texas-Mexico Eagle crossing two days ago, a faux report that Don Jr still has posted on his Truth Social account.  One more thing worth knowing, if you are a Tesla driver, Tesla tracks all of its cars so while it’s helpful to investigators that Musk’s company was able to remotely unlock the truck that exploded in Las Vegas and provide videos of all its stops at charging stations along its route, it’s kind of intrusive to know he can also track you.

House of 🤡 🤡: Though no one expects any explosions, the House Speaker election, which is scheduled to take place on Friday, could involve some fireworks.  Trump reluctantly endorsed current Speaker Mike Johnson over the weekend, not because he likes him very much, trusts him, or even wants him to return to the post but because there does not appear to be any other member of the Republican caucus who can garner enough votes to win the post, not that it’s certain that Johnson can.  With all 215 Democrats expected to be present and voting for Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, including Speaker Emeritus Pelosi who will be back from her hip surgery sojourn, Johnson needs 218 of the 219 Republicans to vote for him to retain his speakership. The Republicans are short one seat because Matt Gaetz, though he won reelection, has resigned, although he theoretically could show up to further muddy the waters.  One Republican, Kentucky’s Thomas Massie, has already said that he won’t be voting for Johnson and another Texas’ Chip Roy, a very outspoken critic of Johnson, may also jump ship unless he can extract something like Chairmanship of the Rules committee in exchange, and that’s not expected to happen.  A few other members of the most right-wing part of the Republican party are also on the fence and/or holding out for favors, though it’s not clear that any of them are really willing to cross king of retribution Trump, or 💰 💰 Musk who has already said that he’ll fund their opponents in 2026 if they don’t play ball.  If one of the holdouts votes present rather than for another candidate, Johnson could still squeak by. Expect chaos ahead if Roy or anyone else joins Massie and no one votes present. Adding to the mess, the debt ceiling has expired which means that the Treasury is “employing extraordinary measures” and relying on cash on hand to fund debt right now, just another reason that a capable Speaker is needed ASAP, not that Johnson is all that capable, but Hakeem Jeffries is and we know he will help bail Johnson and the country out, at least with regard to the debt ceiling.      

And: Before the New Years holiday, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected Trump’s request for a new trial in the E Jean Caroll case.  That case is the one that resulted in the smaller of the two defamation judgments against him. The Court’s ruling makes ABC and Disney’s decision to kowtow to and pay off Trump that much more disconcerting. Also, Elon Musk who is currently residing at a $2000 per night Mar a Lago villa so that he can stay as close as possible to his minion Trump has changed his X handle to Kekius Maximus and his avatar to Pepe the Frog, the frog image is a white supremacist symbol, some suggest that the Kekius name also has a racist meaning.  Musk, the supporter of right-wing Nazi adjacent parties keeps telling us who he is and because he’s rich and threatening few who matter are willing to speak out against him and Trump doesn’t appear to care because 💰 and maybe because he agrees?   It’s going to be a long four years.

#BringThemAllHomeNow