LOOKING AHEAD AT WEEK 3 OF KRAZY MONTH 11

First of all and most important, congratulations to my nephew David Elster and The Amazing Amanda, for him popping the question to her yesterday when they went hiking on the trail they hiked on their first date back in the middle of COVID, and for her saying “Yes.” I officially admit I was wrong to tell him he was out of his mind to go looking for a date in the middle of the pandemic. Fortunately for him, back then Actual Real People were on those dating sites, rather than the AI chatbots and scammers that have now taken up permanent residence on those places, and he met Amanda - who it took only a whole 30 seconds for me to fall in love with when they came up to Los Angeles for me to meet her. They’re now a nice big blended family - him and her, his two boys and her daughter. Many of you know David from his posts here as a fellow subscriber. Happy Forever to them.

Back to the other reality:

Regarding all the tsuris about whether Warner Bros Discovery will be taken over by Netflix or the Ellisons, comedy writer Joel Stein observes that losing another independent studio does have its upside: “But in the real world, it costs writers more to drive all around town to have our sitcom pitch turned down by multiple studios than to get rejected in one spot.”

Following the killing of two U.S. soldiers and one American civilian in Syria on Saturday, and the injury of several more, Trump wrote on Lies Anti-Social: “We mourn the loss of three Great American Patriots in Syria, two soldiers, and one Civilian Interpreter. Likewise, we pray for the three injured soldiers who, it has just been confirmed, are doing well. This was an ISIS attack against the U.S., and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them. The President of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is extremely angry and disturbed by this attack. There will be very serious retaliation.” The two soldiers and one civilian were likely killed by an ISIS gunman, ABC News reported. Three other U.S. troops were injured during the attack, which occurred in the northern Syrian city of Palmyra. The troops were on a joint field patrol with Syrian security forces before they were attacked, according to the Syrian government-backed news agency SANA. Three Syrian security members were also injured.The United Kingdom- based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights alleged that the shooter was a member of the Syrian security force, reminding us that events in the Middle East continue to be too complicated for American politicians to understand.

Colorado officials are bracing themselves for an all-out “battle” against President Donald Trump as they seek to get ahead of the president’s pledge to pardon Tina Peters, a former county clerk who was jailed in connection with the efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, The New York Times reported Saturday. There are rumors that - now that he has “pardoned” election-denier Tna Peters, that Trump will send US Mrshals to the prison where she is serving a 7-years sentence, to “free” her. “This is so far beyond the pale,” said Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat. “No one has thought to do this because it is so clearly against our constitutional system of government.”

The bratty three year old who inexplicably lives in the Gold House and claims to be El Presidente is still mad that the adults told him he couldn’t steal all the cookies in the cookie jar. Early Saturday, Trumplethinskin managed to crawl to the Golden Throne, where he went on Lies Anti-Social to re-up his vow to support primary challenges against Indiana Republicans that opposed redistricting efforts, singling out GOP leader state Sen. Rodric Bray. “Republicans in the Indiana State Senate, who voted against a Majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, should be ashamed of themselves. Headed by a total loser named Rod Bray, every one of these people should be “primaried,” and I will be there to help! “Indiana, which I won big, is the only state in the Union to do this!” Our bratte 3-year old has lashed out at Hoosier State senators every day since the Indiana State Senate failed to advance a new GOP-favored map. He has also suggested Bray is out the door after senators voted 19-31 vote against the state House-passed measure — with 21 Republicans joining 10 Democrats to reject it. “It’s an odd way to try to build a party, let alone one that can act and legislate,” said former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R), who opposed efforts to redistrict mid-cycle. “They’d be a lot better advised, I think, to spend time trying to deliver results on things that are troubling the American people as opposed to shooting allies in the back,” he added. We are seeing proof he knows this is the beginning of his end. Maybe he’ll do the world the favor of getting really upset and bringing on that long-promised massive fatal myocardial infarction.

Louisiana’s GOP leaders are at odds over federal immigration enforcement efforts in the Bayou State, as Border Patrol agents seek to arrest 5,000 people. Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser said local residents, who are living legally in the state, have raised concerns. “I think the president needs to take a step back and look at what’s going on and try to relieve some of the fear in these communities for the people that are here legally,” he said in an interview, according to local outlet 4WWL. “It’s home builders, it’s restaurants, it’s hotels — people aren’t showing up for work,” Nungesser, who’s in charge of Louisiana’s tourism efforts, said in an interview. “How long is it going to continue?” he said. “Did they say we’re gonna be here for two weeks, for two months, or we’re gonna be here until 12 million people are detained? What is that going to cost the economy?” Gov. Jeff Landry’s office said undocumented immigrants should be swiftly removed. Landry’s spokesperson Kate Kelly said: “It is disappointing that he would seek to give individuals who enter our country illegally and then commit crimes greater rights than American citizens. When an American citizen commits a crime, they are held accountable under the law and face jail time — the same standard should apply to everyone.” The stupid MAGA bimbo fails to notice that Nungesser was talking about people who haven’t committed any crimes.

Surprise, surprise - Jake Tapper has finally accused the White House of hiding the truth about Trump’s health. “There is something going on with his health that they’re not telling us,” Tapper judged on CNN’s The Lead Thursday after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt gave a bizarre explanation for the president’s bruised hand, saying it is the result of his shaking so many hands daily, “He is meeting with more people than any of you even know about”. Tapper said, “First of all, we haven’t seen bruising like this on the hands of other presidents who also presumably shake a lot of hands, or senators.” Republican Alyssa Farrah Griffin seemed similarly unconvinced by the party line, and suggested that the administration needed to give a clear statement about the president’s medical status. “These questions are going to continue to dog him. These questions that the public has about this MRI that he got. I think that there’s going to have to be a better answer,” she said. Hey, better late than never, Jake.

A new poll finds a plurality of Republican voters now believe that Trump was aware of Epstein’s crimes before they were made public, CNN reported Saturday. The new poll asked 4,434 voters between Dec. 3 and Dec. 8 whether they believed Trump had advanced knowledge of Epstein’s crimes prior to the disgraced financier’s first criminal conviction in 2008 for child prostitution. 60% of respondents said it was unlikely Trump wasn’t aware of Epstein’s crimes before they were made public, compared to 18% who said they believed Trump was unaware. While the margin wasn’t as dramatic for Republican voters, more Republicans indicated that they believed Trump was aware of Epstein’s crimes than didn’t. “Even among Republicans, slightly more felt Trump was probably aware (39%) than leaned toward him not knowing (34%),” CNN reported. “Just to underscore the remarkable things these polls are telling us: Three-quarters of Americans suggested they remained open to the possibility that the president of the United States knew about or even engaged in crimes with a notorious pedophile. And even many Republicans thought he knew something about what Epstein was up to.”

Trump’s efforts to keep his loyalist U.S. attorneys in their roles hit a dead end this week, as two top federal prosecutors stepped down over piling complications from their leadership. Julianne Murray, Delaware’s GOP chair-turned-top federal prosecutor, announced her resignation Friday, just days after Alina Habba said she was leaving her position. It appeared to mark a rare reality check for the administration, which has taken extensive steps to keep its embattled U.S. attorneys in their posts, even as courts have ruled they are serving unlawfully. Sigal Chattah and Bill Essayli, the acting top federal prosecutors for Nevada and the district covering Los Angeles, respectively, were disqualified by judges and have appealed. Challenges to the installations of John Sarcone III and Ryan Ellison, who hold the roles in the Northern District of New York and New Mexico, respectively, are pending. Murray’s appointment had not drawn a legal challenge, but the clock on her interim status ran out last month. A judge declined to extend it, and she suggested the panel’s reasoning in ruling against Habba applied to Murray. Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney, rejected the notion that the judges were engaging in partisanship, saying what she sees is the courts preventing an abuse of power by asserting a check on what they see as an illegal appointment.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed Friday to temporarily block U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s planned contempt hearings this coming week after Maladministration II asked to halt his review and boot him from the case entirely. Maladministration II’s move escalates its long-running feud with Boasberg over his handling of the case, which began in March after Trump invoked the rarely used Alien Enemies Act to swiftly deport alleged Venezuelan gang members as part of his sweeping immigration crackdown. DOJ claimed Boasberg has created a “strong appearance that the district judge is engaged in a pattern of retaliation and harassment, and has developed too strong a bias to preside over this matter impartially.” Boasberg had recently ordered testimony from a former DOJ employee, Erez Reuveni, who has since made a whistleblower disclosure about the failure to halt flights that took more than 100 Venezuelan men to be imprisoned in El Salvador’s infamous CECOT concentration camp. Reuveni was present for meetings as Maladministration II prepared to ignite the AEA, including a March 14 meeting where former No. 3 Justice Department official Emil Bove is alleged to have said that the “DOJ would need to consider telling the courts ‘fuck you’ and ignore any such court order,” which Bove denies. His materials also suggest DOJ attorney Drew Ensign may have lied to Boasberg about the pending flights; Ensign has been called to testify Tuesday. The testimony will inform Boasberg as he considers referring Trump administration officials for criminal contempt after finding his March order to turn around deportation flights being carried out under the AEA was violated. DOJ’s filing said: “This long-running saga never should have begun; should not have continued at all after this Court’s last intervention; and certainly should not be allowed to escalate into the unseemly and unnecessary interbranch conflict that it now imminently portends.” In fact, Boasberg is following the muddled ruling from the DC Court of Appeals after two Trumpscum judges on the court slow-rolled the appeal for over six months.

The duffer who’s “won” every golf competition at the courses he owns is now going to clownfuck the DC municipal courses. Maladministration II issued a notice of default to the group that manages Washington’s three municipal golf courses, escalating a behind-the-scenes struggle over who will control some of the District’s most visible public land and effectively positioning the president to operate its public golf properties. We really need to abolish the fucking game of golf, if only to limit the number of places where the scumbags who think there’s a direct link between what passes for their brains and their bank accounts hang around and tell each other how wonderful they are and how they’re the “makers” and of course should get all the goodies, instead of us “takers.”

I see all you folks lucky enough not to live in the USA have taken a look at the news, considered what handing over 5 years of your personal information for some gap-toothed semi-literate to paw through looking for signs of disapproval of Dear Leader, listened to the horror stories of going through Customs here now, and have made the correct decision: the number of Europeans traveling to the US has dropped 35% in recent weeks after all the batshittery has blown up.

In Missouri, the group People Not Politicians submitted 305,000 petition signatures to force a 2026 referendum vote on the GOP’s newly gerrymandered map. They only needed 107,000 signatures to get it on the ballot—but since Republicans like to cheat, it’s always safer to go way over the minimum. Republican leaders are trying to pretend this won’t stall their new rigged map from going into effect, but the head of People Not Politicians, Richard von Glahn, says “the map is frozen” until a vote is held.

Hundreds of students in Hillsboro, Oregon, walked out of class Friday to protest Trump’s rampant immigration abuses. The crowd grew in numbers as they marched through town, holding signs and chanting slogans before gathering with more than 1,000 folks for a large demonstration at a local civic center.

A protest was held against Trump outside of the Army-Navy football game he attended yesterday. People were there to speak out against the unhinged regime - not against the military.

They braved the cold, traffic, and security to exercise their right to protest. One participant said: “Baltimore refuses to be silent in the face of authoritarianism. Protest is not un-American, but fascism is. This country was born in dissent against tyranny.”

This happened back on December 3, but it’s too good a story to miss: Marine Sgt. Derrick McMillian was waiting for the subway in Manhattan when he heard a commotion. He saw that a man had fallen onto the tracks and was struggling to stand up. McMillian realized that a train was about 2 minutes away. Without hesitating, he jumped onto the tracks and went over to the man, whom he was afraid would stumble onto the electrified third rail. “I saw people were more just kind of like watching, wondering, who’s going to help this guy. I’m seeing him trying to get up and he can’t get up. It just felt normal and natural to go down and help him out.” Video of the rescue shows McMillian patiently lifting the man up so that others waiting for the subway could pull the man onto the platform. Even though McMillian knew a train was minutes out, he said he was not concerned about being struck while trying to help the man on the tracks. “The trains aren’t that fast. So, I knew I would be able to at least get him off the tracks a lot faster than a train would be coming to me. So, I wasn’t too worried about the train running me over. I was more concerned with this gentleman touching that third rail.” McMillian, who’d received combat lifesaver training in the Corps, tried to determine what the man’s injuries were and said he thought the man showed signs of suffering a concussion. He then tried to Fireman Carry the man, but the man was disoriented. Eventually, McMillian lifted the man into his shoulders and others on the platform helped pull him out of harm’s way. “Then one minute later, the train came. After I climbed back on the platform, the train came shortly after. We moved his legs out of the way.” When asked why he sprang into action, McMillian cited a lesson he learned from one of his staff sergeants: People expect that Marines will always help them out, no matter who they are or what they look like. “I just didn’t want to be a bystander. I didn’t want to see this man die. So that was what was motivating me.”

Claire Berlinski again gets the last word: “I understand why Musk is lying. I understand why Trump’s circle is lying, too. But I don’t understand - I find it infinitely depressing - why so many Americans *believe* them. This is just the dumbest, most obvious lie. They’re like a toddler who insists it wasn’t him who stole the cookie in his hand from his bawling sister, it was Big Bird. It’s just so stupid, so childish. But hundreds of thousands of Americans are willing to believe it was Big Bird. So they’ll keep transforming the world into something ever-more dystopian, because they can.”

Photo: KarenRN

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