It’s been a busy week jammed packed with news and events mostly emanating from Trump and minions. The amount of damaging information seeping out of the White House seems to have increased dramatically. Rats fleeing the sinking ship?
Another New Year Bites the Dust!
Happy Year of the Fire Horse!
Chinese New Year is one of the top five new years of the year!
The Epstein Files
There was a lot about the Epstein Files in the news. I’ve had lots of thoughts like everyone else, but nowhere to really post it on Ye Olde Blogge besides here.
Lutnick’s Nannies
Was I the only one who was disappointed that Congressional questioners of Howard Lutnick didn’t ask him about the interest Epstein had expressed in one f his nannies and was that the reason he brought his nannies to Epstein’s Rape Island? Was that why his nannies were so top of mind for him during the hearing was because he was trafficking one of them to Epstein?
Trafficking in Secret-Sensistive Documents
The Prince formerly known as Andrew has been arrested for passing sensitive government documents to Epstein. Who else had sensitive government documents to pass to Epstein? Someone who stored secret documents illegally at Merde-a-Lardo and his NYC home, perhaps?
Am I the only one who thinks the real explosive information in the files is the trade in state secrets and money laundrying?
Exonerated?
Is Trump’s gleeful claims that he’s been exonerated — based solely on Bondi’s testimony before the House committee apparently — from criminal wrongdoing in the Epstein files is (a) wishful thinking and (b) projection and confession?
Was Giuffre Trafficked to Wexler?
Last Epstein File thought: Why hasn’t a reporter or member of Congress asked publicly about Virginia Giuffre’s sworn testimony that she was trafficked to Les Wexner? Even if the old pervert denied it, the question should be asked, right?
Who’s Concentrating?
Trump is building a massive capacity in concentration camps. They aren’t leasing warehouse space, they are buying it. These are at least semi-permanent. Once Trump has sated his lust for torturing People of Color at the concentration camps. And, the for-profit prison companies have squeezed every cent out of the mass deportation policy. What will they do with them then? Who will they house there? Who will the for-profit prison companies be paid for jailing?
Trump’s Bruised Hands and Canckles
I figure that Trump has congestive heart failure (CHF) and that explains the bruising on his hands and his canckles. He’s probably taking IV’s to aggressively treat his advanced CHF. Why he’s not wearing compression socks, though, I don’t know. I figured him to be too vain not to. Maybe he thinks no one will notice?
It’s been another busy week in the #GOPDystopia, but there are signs that the wheels are coming off the fascist bus. We’re not out of the dark yet, but at least we got a clever new nickname for Trump, Orange Canckle.
Image Attribution
This image was found at Deviantart using a Creative Commons search.
The Psy of Life 
Those camps sound a lot like the camps that the right said Obama was building….funny how that works. chuq
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Just missing the underground tunnels from Walmarts and Chinese bases. Was that it?
Jack
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LOL chuq
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I wonder whether CHF would also explain T’s public napping, or is he just that easily bored.
He still thinks the other countries pay the tariffs that SCOTUS just torpedoed. Of course, he says he will find a way around that. Still, he just lost his favorite form of leverage, not only internationally, but on every business or investor involved in trade.
Even some very deep Red places are deciding they don’t want either the concentration camps or data centers. The “detention centers” are clearly a major grift operation even if nobody ever gets put there. Follow the money!
The Epstein pot is really just beginning to boil, especially across the pond. The oligarchs here will try to clamp a lid on it. That will turn it into a pressure cooker with no relief valve.
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Howdy Bob!
One detail not lost on Trump and other people in the files is that as foreign countries investigate their nationals, details about Americans can be uncovered and made public. There is little to no influence that the administration will have over European allies over their investigations, especially considering the poor treatment they’ve received by Trump.
CHF and its treatment can account for his drowsiness. If you’re not moving blood around your body very efficiently, the brain gets too little oxygen and sugar which can result in drowsiness. It doesn’t help that he is so easily bored, but that’s what you get when you have executive dysfunction.
Of course, the SCOTUS decision against his tariffs is a narcissistic wound. He’s just devastated by the decision. His immediate statement about imposing new tariffs is just a fuck you to the Supremes. He’s not going to be reigned in or constrained by law or courts, even SCOTUS. He will collect tariffs unless and until something or someone stops him. We’ll see if anyone does or can.
Huzzah!
Jack
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I’m seeing more attention being paid to Epstein’s personal and influenced donations and funding (as to people in Academia with Misogynist and anti DEI positions). That is some progress.
Trump ois already saying he will continue to collect the tariffs and impose more. He really does appear to believe that the other countries pay the tariffs. That alone should be sufficient evidence of incapacity for an Amendment 25 process.
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Howdy Bob!
We have to rely too much on Republicans for most of the ways to remove Trump, but he needs to be removed. Vance won’t be worse and very likely will be better, especially with Democrats holding one of the congressional chambers. The paths to removal: (1) impeachment (2) Amendment 25 (3) resignation and (4) death. None of them seem likely, except for dying. He seems very unhealthy and in increasingly poor health, although the bruising on his hands seems to be less of an issue than it had been. Perhaps it means that his CHF has improved from the agressive IV treatments or that the MSM has tired of it already. Of course, advanced CHF can cause a sudden unexpected unhearalded end.
The only real hope of removal is for Republicans to turn on him because he’s threatened their economic interests as some people have suggested for the peculiar reasoning for the conservative SCOTUS justices voting against tariffs.
Huzzah!
Jack
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Well, he already bumped up the 10% tariff (on top of those that the SCOTUS decision didn’t kill) that he did on Friday to 15%. Will it go to 20% tomorrow? The other world leaders are not exactly lining up to grovel and kiss the ring and beg, so that might happen. Also, if he goes to shooting at Iran, nobody is going to be happy in that neighborhood except Israel. Maybe Qatar will want their airplane back.
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Howdy Bob!
As I understand it, the law he’s using to enact tariffs now has a 150 day limit before they must be approved by Congress. One hundred fifty days from now puts us in August, which will be post-primaries and pre election. Congressional Republicans will be freed from the immediate threat of being primaried and needing to do something to help their chances at reelection. It will also give enough time for the House to change hands to the Democrats.
Also, any and all countries and businesses can simply wait the 150 days and lobby Congress to let them expire. Can the money of billionaires outweigh the flying monkey squads plethora of death threats?
Huzzah!
Jack
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The EU are poking back, insisting that he honor the “trade deal” made last Summer. Perhaps this new chaos is already too much and it will be hard ball time there and in other places. Of Course, if he goes seriously to war with Iran, all his deals with the Gulf States will be among the first casualties. Loyd’s of London will have voice too regarding insurance for tankers going in and out of the Persian Gulf.
Word from The Hill is that a War Powers bill will be introduced this week. If Trump gets worried about that, he will try to get the war going before it can be voted on.
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Howdy Bob!
Anyone who thought they had a deal that Trump would adhere to or not throw over at the smallest whim is pretty foolish. I’ve heard so many people say, “A deal is a deal” — Viet Nam being one of them who bribed Trump to end their tariffs only to have them return, suddenly. No word from the penguins on Head and McDonald Island on their views on the tariff changes. The SCOTUS tariff decision exposes Trump at his weakest and the bankruptcy of Trump’s unpredictability.
His insistance of maintaining his mercurial capricious tariffs policy will require Congress eventually. How much the Republican Congress — given that the Congressional majority hasn’t changed hands by then — will support them come August.
And, it is very clear that Trump believes that the tariff money is his to do with as he will. He ain’t giving no one no money. In fact, you get the impression that the money has already been spent, and they don’t want to let anyone know. Trump was hoping to “the tariff checks will be released in two weeks” until he was safely out of office.
Huzzah!
Jack
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It’s in “The Art of the Deal” to promise whatever it takes to get the signature, and do whatever you want. Nobody, business people, other countries (including allies), his employees (including political appointees), legislators, or voters should ever have thought he could be trusted. The only sensible strategy in working with him is to skim off as much cream and grift as you can while the ride lasts. Only the deeply corrupt need apply. Honest actors are prey.
His beliefs about tariffs only really come down to seeing them as tools of power. He may also still believe that it is the other countries (not business, there or here) pay them, but that really doesn’t matter. He truly feels that it is money in his pocket, and power in his hand.
In August – oops, Congress takes August off – in late July or September, with the next budget coming due and the midterms around the corner, we will see what happens, or doesn’t. A lot will depend on how the economy is doing at the kitchen table level.
As an aside, I’ve lost track of the status of the litigation about his plan to change birthright citizenship. Has SCOTUS heard that case yet? Or, is it getting kicked over to next session?
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Howdy Bob!
You’re in luck. I follow several law-focused and SCOTUS-focused podcasts — ain’t retirement grand? — and they say oral arguments are scheduled for April. It is the Voting Rights case that I worry about. If they release their opinion too soon, states can redraw their maps before the 2026 election. One reason it hasn’t dropped may be because they don’t want to finish off voting rights BEFORE the 2026 elections. SCOTUS seems to be cottoning to the real threat that Trump an MAGA is to them and their privilege.
Trump surrounded himself with people who knew the rules: you can do anything you want as long as he gets a piece of the action. And, he only wanted you if you were willing to break the rules and grab with both hands. I imagine that right about now, it is dawning on Pam Bondi that she is first in line to be under bussed. She doesn’t have Lewindowsky (sp?) to watch her back like Noem does or a connection to the tech bros that Vance does. In fact, she might not even have a lucrative income stream to keep him happy like Ludnick and Bessent do. Hopefully, he isn’t tired of grabbing her yet. It is about the only thing she has left to keep him happy.
Huzzah!
Jack
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SCOTUS does have reason to worry. I half expected him to go off on them and maybe demand that the 6 who killed the tariffs be impeached in the SOTU, but he didn’t. Roberts, for all his conservatism is an institutionalist, and he may have at least put together a majority on that kind of issue.
Bondi is not getting results. Her clock is ticking. And, she might be dumb enough not to know that.
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