Apocalypse Now🤡 😱 ✡️🌻😱 🤡

War: Last week Trump changed the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War.  Remember when Nobel Prize seeking, draft dodger Trump said that he would end all wars on day one of this administration, forget about that.  In addition to sending the wrong message about solving disputes peacefully, the name change is technically illegal because name changes require Congressional action, but legitimate or not Secretary of “War” Pete Hegseth has already started changing signs and stationery.  Depending on who you ask, the rebranding will cost somewhere north of $100 million, maybe closer to $1 billion, hardly in keeping with that whole DOGE thing but then again, DOGE was never really about cutting costs or efficiency, it was always about exerting control, deregulating, and keeping millionaire tax cuts intact. Costs aside, the renaming also sends a combative and threatening message to allies and “enemies,” but then again so did blowing up an alleged drug smuggling boat and its eleven occupants without first establishing that they really were drug smugglers or even just boarding the boat and arresting its occupants. Trump isn’t only threatening foreign enemies, over the weekend he, or more likely someone in his communications department, posted a message of  a svelte version of Trump along aside a “Chipocalypse” label threatening to go to war against Chicago, saying “I love the smell of deportations in the morning…. Chicago is about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR 🚁 🚁🚁.”  Yesterday, before embarking on his trip to the US Tennis Open, Trump sort of walked back his threat to attack Chicago, but who is he kidding?  It’s hardly a coincidence that his minions felt that they had to warn the USTA that the sensitive 🥭maniac didn’t want any of the booing they knew would accompany his arrival at the NYC tennis center broadcasted. The order was disregarded, there was booing, and it was aired. Unfortunately, the Chicago attack will probably unfold sometime this week.  The Chicago invasion will involve the rounding up of undocumented workers under the guise of ridding the city of crime. The red state Governors with cities with higher crime rates who’ve been sitting on the sidelines applauding Trump’s actions, maybe they should stop because they’re not immune either.  On Thursday, Homeland Security raided a Georgia construction site for what is supposed to become a “sprawling” electric battery plant.  They detained somewhere around 300 mostly South Korean workers. When completed, assuming it is completed, the battery plant which Governor Kemp lobbied hard to have built in his state, is supposed to provide around 8500 jobs.  Trump has now deeply offended South Korea, a staunch ally, who has been doing what he says he wants, moving production into the US. At least the South Korean workers will be luckier than most of the migrants that Homeland has been rounding up as they won’t be sent to a gulag facility, their government has chartered a plane to bring them home.  The plant will probably still be built, but it will take longer, and some hurt egos will now need to be unruffled through diplomacy rather than hostile actions. As to the 8500 jobs it looks like we need them now more than ever because as indicated by Friday’s anemic job figures, Trump’s economy is not humming along because tariffs are taxes and they cause wary corporations to act cautiously.  Moreover, firing boatloads of government employees affects them as well as lots of people and small businesses in their orbit.  There are now fewer job openings and unemployment is up.  But not to worry, because Trump’s economic gurus insist that of all that is Biden’s fault, and that if we wait long enough there will be a major turnaround, or at the very least, they’ll get better at falsifying statistical data in the hopes that no one notices that their grocery bill is increasing while their paychecks are disappearing.

MAHA Not:  In keeping with combat, deception, and discombobulation, Health Secretary RFK testified before the Senate last week.  It did not go well.  He lied about almost everything, called the recently fired CDC Director Susan Monarez a liar, misstated “facts,” and engaged in verbal battles with the Senate panel, a group that included two Republican doctors, Senators Bill Cassidy and John Barasso, who both appeared shocked to learn that that the anti-vaccine RFK lied to them during his confirmation hearing when he promised not to implement anti-vaccine policies. RFK answered yes to Republican Senator/Doctor Bill Cassidy’s disingenuous question as to whether Trump should receive a Nobel prize for getting the COVID vaccine out so quickly during the pandemic but then immediately followed up by trashing the vaccine.  He also said that the COVID vaccine really didn’t save lives because those CDC statistics about more than one million being saved could not be believed. He even denied that the Trump’s beautiful budget bill cut Medicaid, a stunning statement given the bill includes almost $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts.  After the hearing, Trump reaffirmed his support for his pocket Kennedy because of course he did but even he appears confused about Kennedy’s dissing of his vaccine. A few western blue state Governors are now forming a health care alliance to replace some of the information that will no longer be provided by the CDC and they and a few others are taking actions to ensure that the COVID vaccine remains available in their states.  On Friday New York Governor Hochul ordered that providers in NYS provide the vaccine to everyone who previously qualified for it. To that end over the weekend Walgreens (Duane Reade) eliminated its requirement that those seeking COVID vaccines first obtain a doctor’s prescription.

People and Politics:  It turns out that lots of folks, including three of Trump’s cabinet members, have claimed more than one primary residence on their mortgage applications, the so-called crime that Trump is using as his justification for firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook while also going after California’s Adam Schiff and New York’s Tish James.  According to ProPublica those three cabinet members are the EPA’s Lee Zeldin, Transportation’s Sean Duffy, and Labor’s Lori Chavez-DeRemer.  It’s not just cabinet members, the father and stepmother of Federal Housing Director Bill Pulte, the Trump toady who scoured this housing files to find the “incriminating” information about the prominent Democrats, is also “guilty” of the same offense.  Though no one has suggested that EJ Antoni, Trump’s choice to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics is a multiple mortgage offender, he is a prolific social media poster and many of those posts included lewd comments about Kamala Harris, grotesque comments about other prominent women and gay people, and spread far-right conspiracy theories. Of course, all of that may be why Trump has nominated him because it’s not like he has any relevant credentials. Though the discharge petition has not yet passed, there’s likely to be more news on the Epstein/Maxwell front this week since the Epstein estate is expected to release its trove of documents, including the now infamous Epstein birthday card that Trump denies, but probably did, contribute to.  Last week, O’Keefe Media Group, a far-right organization, caught Joseph Schnitt, the acting Deputy Chief of a Justice Department on hidden camera saying that the government will “redact every Republican” from the Epstein client list. He and his bosses at the DOJ now claim he was just basing that on press reports.  Oopsie. And the government runs out of money at the end of the month.   

#BringThemAllHomeNow