POKING AROUND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SHITSTORM

Wow, it’s only Day 2 of the second six months of Maladministration II Fakakte and things are really... fakakte! This is day 182 of the failed fascist coup. There are 473 days till we put this monstrosity out of its misery.

Back in the Before Time - before this stinkbomb exploded - when I started writing this, I ran across the good news that nearly 75% of Democratic voters are feeling motivated to vote in the next election cycle, according to the latest CNN/SSRS poll. The survey, conducted this past weekend, shows 72% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters are “extremely motivated” to vote ahead of the midterms, compared to 50% of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters. Among Democrats, motivation to vote his increased in the early months of Grampaw Shitstain’s second term in office — up 10% from October, when 62% of Democratic voters said they were eager to vote in the 2024 presidential elections. Republican enthusiasm, meanwhile, has declined by 17% from October, when 67%t said they were extremely motivated to vote in the election. The latest data could be good news for the Democratic Party, which saw nearly half as much enthusiasm in a poll taken in the October ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. I think the Republicans are about to get much less enthusiastic, and that Democrats are going to see their enthusiasm go through the roof. Now, if the Democratic Party leadership will only listen to people like Michael Cohen and others who want to fight like hell... (Remember: Trump is a vampire. He won’t be dead till the stake is driven through his heart and the corpse is left out in the sun to catch fire.)

I managed to think that this news was the Big Deal of the cycle yesterday in the Before Time:

In a shocking - but not unexpected by those here in Hollywood who have been paying attention - move, CBS announced that it would cancel Late Night With Stephen Colbert in May 2026 and exit the late-night television business completely. Colbert announced it to his audience at the taping for the Thursday night show, saying “Next year will be our last season. The network will be ending our show in May. It’s the end of ‘The Late Show’ on CBS. This is all just going away. I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners. I’m so grateful to the Tiffany network for giving me this chair and this beautiful theater to call home. And of course, I’m grateful to you, the audience, who have joined us every night in here, out there, all around the world.” Son David Ellison was a well-known “Hollywod lib’rul” until he was extorted by Grampaw Shitstain with the CBS “lawsuit”, at which point he became a Trumper and a suckup to Gramps. His father Larry - founder of Oracle - is a long time Tech Right bro and personal supporter of Trump. The rumors have been flying in Hollywood after the “lawsuit” (which was meritless) was settled in order to receive FCC approval for the sale of CBS (which is owned by Paramount) that the Ellisons had made an unwritten agreement with Gramps that they would get rid of “liberals” on CBS and other Paramount properties. Jon Stewart’s contract for his show on the Paramount-owned Comedy Central is up in December and has been considered more likely than Colbert (who’s made them a shitpot load of money over the years) to be axed. With the Colbert annoucement, Stewart is probably packing his bags as I write this. The “folks at CBS” who have been Colbert’s great partners are also more than likely headed for the unemployment line. The show was losing $40 million a year in ad revenue since 2021, so they can argue it was an economic decision, not political (Yeah right), which Paramount management did, saying: “it is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”

Informed Rumors have it that the Ellisons have taken meetings with Bari Weiss about her becoming involved in CBS - it turns out the talks are about Skydance buying her operation, The Free Press, one of the biggest companies based on Substack; this will definitely end with her involved in the “new” CBS News, most likely as an “ideological guide.” David Rhodes (brother of former Obama staffer Ben Rhodes) who once ran CBS from 2011-19, is likely to return and bring a “centrist” viewpoint; how he will manage the right wing Weiss is anybody’s guess. If Stephen Colbert quickly finds a new high-profile home, it will be a hopeful sign; if not, the loss of Colbert will demonstrate the mainstream media’s complete cave to Gramps. Given Paramount’s willingness to fold to Gramps, there’s no reason to think they would stand up to any political pressure, or resist any specific demand (which, of course, is the reason to not settle frivolous litigation…). All of the late shows on linear TV are down 50% in revenue over the past four years, making all of them targets for disappearance.

Of course, Grampaw Shitstain had to take a victory lap on this. He wrote on Lies Anti-Social from the Golden Throne Room: “I absolutely love that Colbert’ got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.” He also took aim at ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and NBC’s “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon, while praising Fuxx Snooze’s talentless Greg Gutfeld, whose talk show “Gutfeld!” airs an hour earlier than the major late-night shows. “I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert! Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show.” Gutfield, like rest of the talentless halfwits who have become MAGAts did so in order to find an audience stupid enough they would think these people were funny. Dennis Miller comes prominently to mind. Where is he these days? Entertaining at Branson?

Gramps issued an executive order Thursday to form a new classification of noncareer federal employees who will be hired to “help faithfully implement the President’s policy agenda.” The employees will be listed under the “Schedule G” classification and will engage in “policy- making or policy-advocating work,” according to the White House. The move creates another class of political appointees who, unlike career federal workers, can be hired and fired at will. This will allow the administration to funnel new hires into such roles, giving Maladministration II greater power over the federal workforce. Schedule G jobs will be noncareer positions, which will “generally” be expected to end once the president who appointed them leaves the Oval Office. The classification does not apply to career positions or career workers. “President Trump believes creating non-career Schedule G positions will enhance government efficiency and accountability and improve services provided to taxpayers by increasing the horsepower for agency implementation of Administration policy.” What this does is recreate the Federal workforce of the 19th century before the civil service reforms, with employees who come and go according to who is in office, thereby wrecking any continuity in government operations.

Karen at yesterday’s July 17 protest in HoodRiver

Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell has fired back at the Trump administration after it accused him of embarking on an “ostentatious” renovation of its Washington headquarters. Powell issued a point-by-point response rebutting the administration’s claim that he had mismanaged the $2.5 billion project. The letter was sent to White House budget chief Russell Vought, who had suggested that Powell had broken the law by failing to comply with government oversight regulations. Powell explained that some elements of the project that Vought had raised concerns about—such as new water features, VIP elevators, and a VIP dining room—were not or were no longer a part of the project. “There are no VIP dining rooms being constructed as part of the project. There are no special, private, or VIP elevators being constructed as part of the project… Although the Board’s initial design included new water features for the 1951 Constitution Avenue building, they have been eliminated. Fountains that were original to the Eccles building are being restored.” The $2.5 billion renovation project was approved in 2017 before Powell was appointed under Maladministration I.

The Wall Street Journal, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, also published a biting editorial attacking Gramps after his threat to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell - before the Big Story. On Wednesday, in his latest attack on the Fed chief, Gramps complained that Powell was doing a “lousy job” and not doing enough to lower interest rates. The Journal’s editorial board wrote: “It’s often hard to know when President Trump is serious about something, or merely creating a distraction.” The paper then offered Trump blunt advice about potentially firing Powell: “Don’t do it.” The Journal editorial continued: “Love or loathe Mr. Powell, Mr. Trump chose him. Mr. Trump also chose the tariff taxes, and a multitude of no-growth tax and spending handouts in the new budget bill. Now the President has to live with his choices.”

The Justice Department has recommended a sentence for the former police officer convicted of violating the civil rights of Breonna Taylor in the raid that killed her in 2020: a single day in prison. Harmeet Dhillon, the Gramps-appointed Assistant Attorney General in charge of the DOJ Civil Rights division - who sees her duty as turning the division 180 degrees to defend those who are otherwise indefensible - asked a federal judge to hand down the sentence for ex-Louisville police officer Brett Hankison on Thursday. Hankison was convicted in 2024 of violating Taylor’s civil rights for his role in the police raid in which two other officers fatally shot her. The charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Hankison is set to be sentenced next week. Dillon is suggesting that - because Hankison did not directly fire either of the two shots that killed Taylor - that he serve three years of supervised release. So far, Hankison is the only officer involved in Taylor’s killing to be convicted on civil rights charges. While he did not strike Taylor directly, prosecutors alleged his actions were catalysts for the botched raid that ended with two other officers, Myles Cosgrove and Jonathan Mattingly, fatally shooting the 26-year-old. During the raid in March 2020, Hankison fired 10 shots into Taylor’s Louisville apartment during a botched “no-knock” raid. Police had obtained the search warrant—which allowed them to enter Taylor’s home, but not to use deadly force—because they believed that Taylor was involved in an ex-boyfriend’s drug trafficking scheme. I thought before I read this that Alex Novak’s publishing company coming out two years ago with a book by one of the cops justifying the raid - which got such a negative response that the publishing company got dropped from a deal they had with a major publisher in New York - was bad enough, but Harmeet Dhillon standing the concept of civil rights on its head has to be among the most egregious acts by Maladministration II.

A third aide who served former President Biden while he was in the White House has refused to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Comer posted on Xitter that it was “unbelievable” that Annie Tomasini, who served as deputy director of Oval Office Operations, and others refused to answer “basic questions about … Biden’s fitness to serve. It’s apparent they would rather hide key information to protect themselves and Joe Biden than be truthful with the American people about this historic scandal. There needs to be transparency and accountability, and we will continue to pursue the truth and examine options to get the answers we need.” Sorry, you dumb fucking hillbilly, but you wouldn’t know truth, transparency or accountability if they came up and tore a chunk out of your fat hillbilly ass. You have demonstrated on numerous occasions that you are less trustworthy than Hoe McCarthy was.

Jonathan Su, Tomasini’s attorney, said in a statement to the panel: “The Committee has asked Ms. Tomasini to testify in connection with an investigation into ise of the autopen. There is no actual evidence of wrongdoing by Ms. Tomasini, and President Biden has already confirmed that he made all decisions concerning the grants of clemency at the end of his term. It is well known that there is an ongoing federal criminal investigation into this matter by the Department of Justice, ordered by the current White House. This past week, the Chairman suggested that it is ‘very possible’ the investigation could generate criminal referrals to the Department of Justice. Under these circumstances, any reasonable person would seriously consider an invocation of their Fifth Amendment rights.”

The NRCC is attempting to tie Democratic lawmakers in New York and New Jersey facing competitive reelection bids to New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani in a new paid digital advertising campaign unveiled Friday. The campaign targets New York Reps. Laura Gillen (D), Tom Suozzi (D) and Josh Riley (D), along with New Jersey Rep. Nellie Pou (D). The 30-second spots feature a picture of Mamdani and the lawmakers with the caption: “Together we can raise taxes, defund the police, and build a socialist New York.” “If Democrats had their way, Mamdani’s pro-criminal, open-borders, anti-law enforcement, and antisemitic agenda would be the law of the land,” said the committee’s spokeswoman Maureen O’Toole. (FACT CHECK: Not one word of that has any connection to reality, including “and” and “the”.) The DCCC hit back: “Laura Gillen, Tom Suozzi, and Josh Riley are laser focused on delivering real solutions for their constituents, and voters in their districts aren’t buying these baseless and desperate attacks,” said DCCC spokesperson Riya Vashi. “It’s clear Republicans would rather talk about who the Mayor of New York City may be than answer for their own toxic agenda because they know that slashing health care and raising costs on working families to give tax breaks to billionaires isn’t exactly a winning message.”

That the COVID school closures were wrong and that teachers’ unions were to blame is now a fundamental tenet of modern conservatism. Yet a considerable body of research has emerged that supports the basic contentions teachers’ unions have been making all along. Critics’ principal assertion is that closing schools was unnecessary because children were at little risk of serious harm from COVID. Teachers’ unions asserted that, because students in large public school districts are disproportionately low-income, they often live in apartments with extended families and multiple generations, leaving these families particularly vulnerable to the virus, even if their school-age children were asymptomatic. A cohort study of over 165,000 American households containing both adults and children confirms this assessment, finding that among all “household transmissions … 70.4 percent started with a pediatric index case.” The authors of the study, published in the American Medical Association’s “JAMA Network,” conclude: “We discerned an important role for children in the spread of viral infection within households during the COVID-19 pandemic, heightened when schools were in session, supporting a role for school attendance in COVID-19 spread.”

A source deeply embedded in the Trump administration’s ongoing trade talks accused Gramps of waging a tariff war for TV ratings.“Donald Trump knows the most interesting part of his presidency is the tariff conversation,” the White House insider, who chose to remain anonymous out of fear of reprisals, told Politico. “It’s all fake. There’s no deadline. It’s a self-imposed landmark in this theatrical show, and that’s where we are.”

And then there’s all the rest of the shitshow:

Earlier in the day on Thursday, the former president of the doomed Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City said he had to confront Donald Trump in the 1980s for showing up on the casino floor with Jeffrey Epstein and a 19-year-old. Jack O’Donnell told CNN’s Erin Burnett that while the woman wasn’t a minor, the casino risked a major fine or even losing its license for letting anyone under 21 inside. O’Donnell said he also warned Trump, who turned 40 in 1986, it was “not going to look good” if he is seen hanging out with young women and Epstein, who was later exposed as a pedophile. “One incident that I think kind of proves their closeness and how much they hung out together. One time I came in and the commission was waiting, the inspectors were waiting in my office, and Donald and Jeffrey had come into the casino in the wee hours of Sunday morning, 1, 1:30 in the morning,” O’Donnell said.He added that Epstein and Trump were with a group of three women and that the officials knew one of them was 19 because she was the No. 3 ranked female tennis player at the time. To get on a helicopter with a friend and three other people and fly down to Atlantic City, I mean, you can connect those dots, they were pretty good buddies,” O’Donnell added. After detailing just how tight the pair were in the 1980s, O’Donnell told CNN how he had to read Trump “the riot act” for bringing underage women onto the casino floor. “I had to call them and say look, they’re giving you a break this time, but if this happens again, the fine is going to be substantial and it’s going to be on your head,” O’Donnell said. “And by the way, it’s not going to look good, you and this guy Epstein coming down here with these young women.”

Gramps has defended himself in the Shitshow by saying “I never wrote a picture in my life.” That went down in flames within an hour of being issued, when several doodles and artworks created by Gramps surfaced online to directly contradict his claims, suggesting he regularly produced sketches adorned with his trademark signature. In his 2008 book, “Trump Never Give Up: How I Turned My Biggest Challenges into Success,” Gramps wrote about his “new talent,” adding he usually draws for charity and that “it takes me a few minutes to draw something, in my case, it’s usually a building or a cityscape of skyscrapers. Art may not be my strong point, but the end result is help for people who need it.” In January this year, Sotheby’s sold a Trump portrait, this one in his beloved color of gold, for $15,000. The sketch, said to be “reminiscent of Riverside South development project in Manhattan”, was originally done for a celebrity art auction to benefit Capuchin Food Pantry, dubbed “Doodle for Hunger.” While the picture was dated “2004″ by Trump, Sotheby’s states it was initially drawn in 2003, the same year he allegedly sent another doodle to his close friend Jeffrey Epstein. In 2017, another one of his signature New York City skyline drawings sold for $29,184. It was also originally done for charity in 2005. The same year, another NYC skyline doodle, originally created for the St Francis Food Pantries and Shelters and also drawn in 2005, sold for $20,000. Julien’s Auctions also sold a Trump 2006 original they titled ‘George Washington Bridge’ for $4480. It is described as an “original ink illustration on paper” and “signed in black ink by Donald Trump lower center.” The drawing in the letter referenced in The Journal story was also in black marker. Also in 2017, a sketch of the Empire State Building by Trump sold for $16,000 by Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles.

And that is as much as I can stand to cram in here. But the day is still early and I suspect I’m not going to get to work on that model much, since I’m sure there’s another later post in all this crapola.

Becca has it right too.

(Hood River looks so good - I can’t wait till I’m there.)

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