POKING AROUND AT THE BEGINNING OF WEEK 3 OF THE SECOND 100

It’s Day Number 113 of the attempted fascist coup against Ame4rica. There are 540 days to the mid terms.

From the Department of Yes The Republicans Do Plan To Gut Medicaid: Legislation introduced by House Republicans late Sunday as part of the “Big Beautiful Billl,” would slash Medicaid spending significantly by imposing new restrictions on Medicaid beneficiaries such as work requirements and more frequent eligibility checks, but the most controversial changes floated to the program were not included. The bill from the House Energy and Commerce Committee comes ahead of what’s expected to be a marathon committee hearing Tuesday. It appears to cater more to the moderate wing of the party than the conservatives, who had been agitating for drastic cuts to the program. But it remains to be seen if leaders found the right balance between the two factions. If thse proposals afre “moderate,” the English language no longer has any meaning.

From the Department of Further Adventures In The Art Of The Kneel: Donnie Two Dolls announced this morning that China “agreed to open up” after the two countries announced that they would temporarily slash most of the tariffs on each other’s goods. He offered few details about that development, but said it was “maybe the most important thing” to come out of the high-level trade talks between the two superpowers in Geneva, Switzerland, over the weekend.

“We have to get it papered, but they’ve agreed to open up China.” The announcement from Saddam’s Palace North, formerly known as the White House, came hours after U.S. and Chinese officials said they struck an agreement to pause most tariffs and other trade barriers for 90 days.

The U.S. agreed to temporarily reduce tariffs on China to 30%, down from 145%. Beijing said it will lower tariffs on U.S. goods to 10% from 125%. Donnie said tariffs on China would not go back to 145%, even if a longer-term deal cannot be reached once the 90-day pause expires. “But they would go up substantially,” he added.

From the Department of Thank You Governor Pritzker: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is leading the charge to protect residents in his state from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s controversial autism database, signing an executive order on Wednesday to shield Illinoians’ medical information from the feds. Kennedy, who has spread conspiracy theories about autism and recently faced a backlash for broadly painting people with autism as incapable of leading a normal life, raised further fears after he announced that HHS would establish a registry of people with autism as part of his dubious fishing expedition into the “root causes” of the disorder. Kennedy said this morning the plan is still in effect but will be “voluntary” for participants, while vowing to protect Americans’ privacy. Pritzker isn’t taking any chances. “Every Illinoisan deserves dignity, privacy, and the freedom to live without fear of surveillance or discrimination,” he said in a news release announcing his executive order. “As Donald Trump and DOGE threaten these freedoms, we are taking steps to ensure that our state remains a leader in protecting the rights of individuals with autism and all people with disabilities.” The news release rebukes Kennedy’s false and widely denounced framing of autism as an “epidemic” and explains what the order means in practice: “Under this Executive Order, state agencies may not collect or disclose personally identifiable autism-related data unless it is required for care, legal compliance, or program eligibility—and must always follow strict privacy and data minimization rules. Contractors, vendors, and grantees who work with state agencies are also covered by this executive order, and shall not collect, store, or disclose autism-related data. All disclosures must be limited to the minimum amount of information necessary to meet the legal requirement, and should be anonymized where allowed and practicable.” For the record, RFK Jr’s “questions” have had answers for years now. IT’S NOT A FUCKING DISEASE, YOU OVER-EDUCATED UNDER-INTELLIGENT OXYGEN THIEF!!!!!

From the Department of People Are Surprised To Find Out Donnie Wants To Crash The Markets: After Donnie head to Saddam’s Palace South, er, I mean Motel-A-Lardass, for the weekend on Thursday, the stock market again went into freefall on Friday. The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% Friday and wound up with a loss of 0.5% for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%. In response, Donnie went on Lies Anti-Social and upped everyone’s blood pressure when he posted a video from a person going by the handle @AmericanPapaBear, claiming Donnie is purposely tanking the stock market so he can get the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. The MAGA Morons were quick to call the strategy "genius" and compare it to playing chess while others are playing checkers. Another even claimed Donnie was playing 3D chess. Trinh Nguyen, an expert economist in emerging markets in Asia, posted on X that if true, Donnie's actions would be akin to "Burning the house to cook steak." She followed up: "The amazing thing is that he thinks it is a win & so is his base. Golfing now to enjoy his win of crashing equities to boost bonds or to lower bond yields. Of course, they buy this narrative. They don’t own anything. So you can’t lose if you don’t own anything or have anything of meaning to protect. Better to burn it all down so everyone is equally disillusioned. Wait a minute. Stalin did it. Make Russia Great Again." Attorney Jeremy I. Senderowicz, who focuses on financial services, remarked, "Darkly amused by the emerging rationalization among some on this app that the tariffs are a move designed to push interest rates lower to aid the refinancing of our debt this year. That’s an argument that Trump is deliberately crashing the economy to lower interest rates. It reminds me of Alan Greenspan in the late 90s responding to Qs why he didn’t raise rates to choke off the stock market “bubble.” Paraphrasing his response: “if you’re asking if we can accomplish that, we most certainly can - but you really wouldn’t like the other effects.” Another self-described avid investor and analyst quipped: "Well it’s confirmed… he’s purposefully liberating you from your 401(k) your IRA and soon your job."

From the Department of Donnie’s Also First Lady At Saddam’s Palace North: In the “everything’s normal” relationship of Donnie and Melania, she has only traveled from Saddam’s Palce South to the North office 12 times since his enshittification day. Donnie has thus been forced to take over the decor-choosing duties of the First Lady and has been hard at work transferring Floridumb tackiness to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. In the Oval Office, he has installed more flags and many more portraits of past American leaders, including several of himself. He has brought back his Diet Coke button. He has sought to remake the White House in Mar-a-Lago’s image, with gold finishings, gold decor, gold trinkets and, down the line, potentially a ballroom. He has suggested paving over the Rose Garden that Melania infamously renovated in 2020 to resemble the patio at his Palm Beach golf club.

From the Department of Elmo Keeps The Fuckups Continuous: Everybody’s favorite Unreconstructed Afrikaner Nazi’s artificial intelligence company is belching smog-forming pollution into an area of South Memphis that already leads the state in emergency department visits for asthma. None of the 35 methane gas turbines that help power xAI’s massive supercomputer is equipped with pollution controls typically required by federal rules. The company has no Clean Air Act permits. In just 11 months since the company arrived in Memphis, xAI has become one of Shelby County’s largest emitters of smog-producing nitrogen oxides. The turbines spew nitrogen oxides, also known as NOx, at an estimated rate of 1,200 to 2,000 tons a year, far more than the gas-fired power plant across the street or the oil refinery down the road. The Memphis xAI showdown could become a national test case for artificial intelligence, which demands more electricity than regular internet searches to complete even simple tasks. The main product at xAI is Elmo’s chatbot, Grok, which also generates images. It has become known for having fewer user guardrails than other artificial intelligence programs, like ChatGPT, which often prevent users from requesting images that violate copyright standards or are deemed insensitive. Grok allows users to make deepfakes depicting things like Mickey Mouse wearing a Nazi uniform. Musk has called it “the most fun AI in the world.”

From the Department of The Big Fight Happens on Thursday: the Supreme Court set Thursday to hear arguments regarding Donnie’s Day One attempt to unilaterally knock birthright citizenship - enshrined in the Fourteenth Amendment - out of the Constitution. The case in question is Trump v. CASA, which involves the dispute over Trump's executive order summarily reinterpreting the Fourteenth Amendment to eliminate birthright citizenship in the United States. Lower courts have already ripped Trump's order to shreds, but he wants the Supreme Court to do more than just let him go ahead with the order — he also wants them to limit courts' ability to even issue nationwide injunctions against his orders going forward. Maladministration II seeks to stay three injunctions, issued by judges in Maryland, New Jersey and Washington state, 'except as to the individual plaintiffs and identified members of the organizational plaintiffs or states.It's possible the court could reject this, or they could simply do as Donnie instructs and leave it at that. But if they also prohibit or set limits on nationwide injunctions, CASA will be one of the most important cases of the term. Norm Eisen, who has a record of fighting Maladministration II and winning so far, went on MSNBC Sunday to highlight evidence that the Supreme Court is ready to rein them in. Eisen said, "The Supreme Court is clearly concerned also, if you look at the trajectory of their cases rejecting Donald Trump again and again on issues like immigration. He said he would be a dictator on day one. The essence of dictatorship is this kind of defying the constitution and laws, so it's not only on the 14th amendment, but across the board." Eisen pointed out the victory he obtained last Friday: “He's reorganizing the entire federal government unconstitutionally, and that federal court agreed. We won on Friday. We got a Temporary Restraining Order. Trump is running amok. The Supreme Court are not just robots calculating the meaning of the words in the constitution. They're human beings. They're political actors. They see this run amok administration, this unlawful administration." He concluded, "So that coloration also tends to lead me to believe they're going to confine him." I for one hope Norm’s right but it’s the Trump Supreme Court he’s talking about, so I for one will be keeping the celebratory fireworks in the safety locker for now.

From the Department of Donnie Spills More Bullshit On Us: Donnie Two Dolls’ deal for the Arabic Flying Whorehouse, er, I mean “new AF1", has resulted in Maladministration II being pushed to investigate reports that the president will be accepting a $400 million jet from the country of Qatar, according to reports. Qatar over the weekend was forced to push back on the reports, suggesting the plan is tentative and not finalized. Even Trump allies and fellow Republicans rebelled against the reports. Now, Axios is reporting on a push for an investigation. In an article entitled "Scoop: Dem seeks probe into reports Qatar plans to gift plane to Trump," the outlet's Andrew Solender reports, "A House Democrat is seeking an investigation into reports that the Trump administration plans to accept a jet worth roughly $400 million from Qatar to serve as Air Force One — and President Trump's personal plane after he leaves office." As to "why it matters," Solender added that, "The swift backlash signals that congressional Democrats may latch onto the issue when they return to session next week." The Democrat with the plan is Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), who reportedly "wrote to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the acting Department of Defense inspector general and the Office of Government Ethics requesting a probe into the matter." "With an estimated value of $400 million, the aerial palace would constitute the most valuable gift ever conferred on a President by a foreign government," he wrote. Torres further "asked for an 'immediate' ethics review of the reported gift and an advisory opinion on whether it violates federal ethics rules or the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution," according to the report. He also asked for a recommendation on "policy reforms to prevent the conversion of foreign gifts into private property by current or former presidents." The DNC put out a press release Sunday afternoon branding the development as Trump's "latest grift." In answer, Donnie jumped on Lies Anti-social and proclaimed: "So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane. Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!! MAGA."

From the Department of Important Words That Shouldn’t Be Forgotten: Former Supreme Court Associate Justice David Souter died this past weekend. In 2012 when asked, “What should schools be doing to produce civically engaged students?” The Judge grew “animated and reploied: “I don’t believe there is any problem of American politics and American public life which is more significant today than the pervasive civic ignorance of the Constitution of the United States and the structure of government. One person will come forward and say, ‘Give me total power, and I will solve this problem.’ That is the way democracy dies. An ignorant people can never remain a free people. Democracy cannot survive too much ignorance.” Hear! Hear!

From the Department of Pope Leo XIV Is Totally american: Pope Leo XIV has two older brothers. One seems completey cool from interviews. The other? Welll... Lou Prevost has been doing some of his own preaching ― for the right-wing flock. In an April 23 post, Prevost wrote that Obama longed “for the total destruction of our way of life and turning this country into a dictatorship, and a racist one on top of it.” Earlier he advanced a conspiracy theory that “OBAMA WAS A CIA ASSET, PUT IN PLACE TO DESTROY THE USA.” On April 4, Prevost shared an old video of Nancy Pelosi’s since-reversed stance on China tariffs with the caption, “These fucking liberals crying about tariffs is just unreal. Do they not know that there is a thing called video? Just listen to what this drunk cunt has to say In the mid 90’s long before her husband had grindr dates.” On Feb. 21, Prevost posted a meme with the caption, “Your child isn’t trans. You’re just a shitty parent.” Yeah, it’s as American as apple pie for the family idiot to now be an all-in Trump ignoramus.

From the Department of Here’s Another Reason To Love AOC: In response to one of the DHS Gestapo Goons going on Faux Snooze and threatening to arrest the congress members who were at the New Jersey ICE concentration camp last week when the masked goons attempted to kidnap Mayor Baraka, AOC posted on hef Instagram account: “You lay a finger on Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman or any of the representatives that were there, you lay a finger on them, and we’re going to have a problem.”

From the Department of It’s Always The Raciscm: Later today, Donnie Two Dolls will welcome the arrival of the first group of 49 Unreconstructed South African White Supremacists when they arrive at Washington’s Dulles International aboard their chartered flight from Johannesburg. They have been awarded refugee status by Donnie, so they can leave the land of their birth which was unfortunately given back to the darkies by the lib’ruls. Maladministration II has fast-tracked their applications while pausing other refugee programs, halting arrivals from Afghanistan, Iraq, most of sub-Saharan Africa and other countries in a move being challenged in court. The flight will be the first in a “much larger-scale relocation effort,” White House deputy chief of staff Reincarnation-of-Reinhard-Heydrich Stephen Miller told reporters on Friday, saying that what was happening to Afrikaners in South Africa “fits the textbook definition of why the refugee program was created.”

From the Department of How Many Fries Is Donnie Short Of A Happy Meal?: The Addled Old Fool who resides in Saddam’s Palace North raised eyebrows and concerns about his mental fitness after wandering away from a White House event. After announcing an executive order this morning intended to lower the price of prescription drugs by up to 80 percent, he nearly walked out of the gathering without signing the order following a rambling speech. "There's never been anything like it," he said. "It's a very exciting time in America. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you." Then he turned to walk out of the room before Mehmet Oz, his administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, tapped him on the back and redirected him back to a desk to sign the order. During the event, Rachel Scott pressed Trump on the $400 million “palace in the sky” luxury airplane he plans to accept from Qatar. He called Scott “fake news” and said that she “should be embarrassed” for asking the question. Grampa Befuddlepants strikes again.

From the Ever-busy Department of The Wrong RFK Got Shot: Every fall since 2021, new COVID-19 shots have been available to protect folks from the latest COVID-19 strains. This is because, just like the flu, COVID-19 mutates quickly and vaccines need to be updated to ensure the season’s shot is targeting the right virus strain. This happens for both the flu shot and the COVID-19 shot, which is why new jabs are available roughly every September. But in recent weeks, the future of the anticipated fall COVID-19 boosters has been questioned. There are rumors of a potential delay in distribution due to testing changes that many experts call unnecessary, and potential changes to the recommendations regarding who actually needs the shots. This is all due to the machinations of anti-vax moron RFK Jr. He also has demonstrated his completelack of knowledge about how disease is contract, bragging this morning about having that he spent Mother's Day hiking with his family in Dumbarton Oaks Park, followed by a “swim with my grandchildren, Bobcat and Cassius in Rock Creek." The waterway is dangerous because sewage flows directly into it. The National Park Service officially forbids swimming and wading in the creek. "Swimming and wading are not allowed due to high bacteria level. Stay out of the water to protect streambanks, plants and animals and keep you and your family (including pets!) safe from illness. Rock Creek has high levels of bacteria and other infectious pathogens that make swimming, wading, and other contact with the water a hazard to human (and pet) health. Please protect yourself and your pooches by staying on trails and out of the creek. All District waterways are subject to a swim ban - this means wading, too!" Of course, RFK Jr has said he doesn’t believe in the germ theory that is the foundation stone of modern medicine.

And today in the Department of Good News, there’s this:

Tesla is overstocked with Cybertrucks, the PS1 graphics-looking mobile monument to Elmo’s deep lack of creativity. With over 10,000 unsold units just sitting in dealerships, the stainless steel monstrosity has become more burden than an automotive revolution. Despite Elmo’s grand claims of selling 250,000 Cybertrucks annually, and a million reservations that may as well have been scribbled on crumpled cocktail napkins, Tesla barely eked out 6,400 Cybertruck sales in Q1 of 2025. At this rate, they’d be lucky to hit 20,000 by year’s end. And that’s assuming the accelerator doesn’t glue itself to the floor again, or any number of the many, many shocking reasons Cybertrucks have been recalled in their brief existence. Even with massively discounted financing, Tesla can’t move these things. Desperate to offload inventory, Tesla dropped a “cheaper” $69,990 Rear Wheel Drive version in April that comes with fewer features and—one assumes a complimentary disclaimer, or maybe even a guarantee, that something on this thing will fall off within a few months. It feels like white flags are being waved all over the place, especially as Tesla redirects workers from Cybertruck production back to the Model Y. While we can’t yet write Cybertruck’s obituary, the prognosis is grim. Desperate to offload inventory, Tesla dropped a “cheaper” $69,990 Rear Wheel Drive version in April that comes with fewer features and (one assumes) a complimentary disclaimer, or maybe even a guarantee, that something will fall off within a few months. What was once marketed as the future of transportation now feels like a midlife crisis on wheels. It has simultaneously become a Swasticar and a Gen-Xer divorcemobile, a pair of reputation-ruining associations that will take a miracle to recover from. Driving out of my nice little Encino neighborhood on what passes here for Tobacco Road the other day, I discovered we now have one of these monstrosities resident. I wonder what Bozo boy will say the morning he walks out and finds his Swasticar decorated with a swastika. Who would be mean enough to do something like that? The world wonders.

It feels like white flags are being waved all over the place, especially as Tesla redirects workers from Cybertruck production back to the Model Y. While we can’t yet write Cybertruck’s obituary, the prognosis is grim.

Dr. Graham Parsons, a tenured professor of philosophy at West Point, gets the last word today: “Academic freedom is important at any institution of higher learning, but it has an additional importance at a military academy. The health of our democratic system depends on the military being politically neutral. Protecting freedom of thought and speech in the academic curriculum at West Point is an important way to avoid political partisanship. By allowing the government to impose an ideological orthodoxy on its classrooms, West Point is abandoning its neutrality and jeopardizing a critical component of the very constitutional order that the military exists to protect.”

Mr. Biggles, who had become blind at this point.

Comments are for paid subscribers.