Wow, time flies when you’re havin’ fun. Today is Day 188 of Grampaw’s shitshow, an event like no other in the country’s history, that holds your attention more than a trainwreck happening in front of you. There are 484 days till the Republicans blow an even-bigger gasket in public than they’re doing right now.
The Wall Street Journal published an important scoop on Wednesday that goes a long way toward explaining why Grampaw Shitstain is in such a terrified tizzy about the Epstein Files:
Citing senior administration files, the WSJ reported that back in May, Pam Bondi told Gramps he is in the Epstein Files. This comes after Gramps telling a reporter last week that he’s not in the files, per a ‘quick briefing” by Bondi. Whitey’s House Director of Comms Fu Manchu stated that this is most definitely “Fake News!” Coupled with the photos that emerged on Tuesday showing Epstein at Dilbert’s Mar-A-Lago marriage to Marla Maples way back in 1993, Grampaw’s bullshit is being shown up for being, well... bullshit. No matter how hard he tries, the floodgates are open and the swamp is draining.
Yesterday, Director of National Ignorance Tulski Gabbard made a surprise appearance at the White House press briefing where she outlined to reporters details of key findings from a House Intelligence Committee report published in 2020 that was newly made public. Tulski said her office has referred documents it has released to DOJ, suggesting it could implicate former President Obama. A section of the intelligence report detailed by Tulski included information Maladministration II claims Russia had on Hillary Clinton, presenting alleged emails from the DNC that detailed Clinton’s mental health, claims that are uncorroborated. The Cult Girl assessed to be a Russian agent would not say why the 2020 report was only being publicized now, fending off the notion it was being done to improve her standing with Gramps.
The shit just keeps flowing: Photos from 1993 confirm for the first time that Epstein attended Trump’s 1993 wedding to Marla Maples. Epstein’s attendance at the ceremony at the Plaza Hotel was not widely known until now. In addition, footage from a 1999 Victoria’s Secret fashion event in New York shows Trump and Epstein laughing and chatting together ahead of the runway event. Yeah, Gramps never knew this guy. Ever.
Ryan Goodman had this to say about the plan to give Ghislaine Maxwell a pardon in exchange for her declaration that she and Epstein never procuredor offered any underage girls to Grampaw Shitstain: “The Epstein files don’t have an incentive to lie for a coverup. A convicted sex trafficker in search of a pardon does. The dead giveaway: DOJ can simply release all the Epstein files, but refuses. Another sure sign that the fix is in. Attorney for convicted sex trafficker of minors, Ghislaine Maxwell: "We are grateful to President Trump for his commitment to uncovering the truth in this case." And says they're already in discussions with the administration.” David Frum lists the three acts of The Quid Pro Quo: 1) Trump pardons Ghislaine Maxwell. 2) Maxwell affirms Trump's version of events. 3) MAGA is astonished and offended that non-MAGA suspects a quid pro quo. Politico: “ [Anything] she says may be exceedingly difficult to corroborate. That challenge will be exacerbated by her obvious incentive to tell the Trump administration what it wants to hear, perhaps in a bid for clemency or a reduced sentence.” Perediction: Maladministration II will atempt to do this since Gramps is so flailingly terrified, but it will do him no good and will only increase the pressure on him. (With any luck, that should lead to the massive fatal myocardial infarction)
Charlie Warzel wrote in The Atlantic: “A third reading of Trump’s Truth Social posts - especially his reposting of strange viral Facebook garbage and angry culture-war stuff railing against “woke” sports-team names - suggests that these posts aren’t part of any kind of strategy or coping mechanism, but examples of a person who is addled and raging at things he feels he has no control over. For years, people have offered anecdotes that Trump behaves online like some isolated, elderly people who have been radicalized by their social-media feeds; in 2017, Stephen Colbert memorably likened Trump to America’s first racist grandpa. His recent posting certainly fits this template. And paired with some of Trump’s other cognitive stumbles - he seemingly forgot last week that he had appointed Fed Chair Jerome Powell - it all starts to feel more concerning. In this context, Trump’s Truth Social page is little more than a rapid-response account that illustrates a world that doesn’t actually exist: one in which POTUS looks like a comic-book hero, is universally beloved, and exerts his executive authority to jail or silence anyone who disagrees with him. This sort of revenge fantasy would be sad coming from anyone. That it is coming from the president of the United States, a man obsessed with retribution, who presides over a government that is enthusiastically arresting and jailing immigrants in makeshift camps, is terrifying.”
Sebastian as a kitten
Wednesday afternoon in Florida, U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg declined the DOJ request to unseal grand jury transcripts from a probe into Jeffrey Epstein, writing “The Court’s hands are tied — a point that the government concedes.” The decision thwarts Grampaw’s efforts to tamp down criticism from MAGA for now but does not affect DOJ’s other pending requests to release grand jury transcripts tied to later federal investigations of Epstein and Ghislane Maxwell, in New York. Expect the same there. DOJ knew this was the likely outset; they will now claim,“We tried, we really really did, but these radical left wing judges only want to hurt Dearest Leader and try to harm his Awesomness.”
For those who still believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and the Hollywood Bullshit from Paramount that Stephen Colbert was canceled for “financial reasons,” try this: Tuesday, Gramps posted on Lies Anti-Social that his payoff, er, I mean “settlement” with Paramount, parent company of CBS News, is actually worth $36 million – not the previously reported $16 million. He claimed the $20 million difference will come in “advertising” promised to him by Paramount: “BREAKING NEWS! We have just achieved a BIG AND IMPORTANT WIN in our Historic Lawsuit against 60 Minutes, CBS, and Paramount. Just like ABC and George Slopadopoulos, CBS and its Corporate Owners knew that they defrauded the American People, and were desperate to settle. Paramount/CBS/60 Minutes have today paid $16 Million Dollars in settlement, and we also anticipate receiving $20 Million Dollars more from the new Owners, in Advertising, PSAs, or similar Programming, for a total of over $36 Million Dollars. This is another in a long line of VICTORIES over the Fake News Media, who we are holding to account for their widespread fraud and deceit. The Wall Street Journal, The Failing New York Times, The Washington Post, MSDNC, CNN, and all other Mainstream Media Liars, are ON NOTICE that the days of them being allowed to deceive the American People are OVER. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Yeah, “A big fat bribe” - Colbert’s alleged “crime” - was right.
Redistricting appears to be all the rage now. It’s not just Tejas v. California. Ohio - with a GOP supermajority in the legislature that would approve this - is looking to kill off the last Democratic-held seat in the state, as is Missouri which is taking aim at Emanuel Cleaver’s seat. Maryland is considering getting rid of their last Republican seat. New York is looking to kill all four of the Republican seats around New York City, as was planned but not carried out the last time. California Democrats are thinking about killing off the four Republican seats here, though Arnold Schwarzenegger’s reform that took the power to redistrict away from the legislature may keep this from happening. Those are just the ones talking about doing this loud enough to make people perk up their ears. If this happens, the result will be an internal division into two countries - one smaller while it controls the majority of the nation’s wealth, the other larger but mostly the home of the left-outs and poorer. Such a division will not stand, a house divided like this cannot exist for long, and the ultimate result will the death of the country founded on the aspirational ideal that all people are created equal. It’s also not so certain in its outcome as some people not paying full attention believe it is. Once “safe” districts can suddenly become competitive with a change in party representation the result. The game of political musical chairs can have two members of the same party, each formerly in a safe seat, forced to take each other on with a resulting division of voting loyalty that allows the other side to claim victory.
If you believe this from alleged “Treasury Secretary” Bessent, I strongly advise you not to go outside today; someone’s going to take you for all you have and leave you with nothing but a barrel: U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday morning in an interview on Bloomberg TV that MaladministrationII was not in a rush to nominate a new Federal Reserve Chair to replace Jerome Powell. "We are getting the process underway. Obviously it's going to be President Trump's decision, and we're not in a rush." That, despite Gramps saying the following yesterday about Powell during that insane “press availability” at Whitey’s House: “You know, he has these think tanks. and they build - they build buildings for people that think. and it’s really not thinking, it’s uhh, a little bit of combination of thinking, but it’s uhh, it’s something you sort of have, or you don’t have.”
Ohhh, look! The ICE goons have committed another Crime Against Humanity: An Afghan national, identified only as Zia, who worked as a translator for the U.S. military was seized by armed and masked ICE thugs and transported out of his adopted home state on July 16. The interpreter, was detained during a routine appointment related to obtaining a green card in East Hartford, Connecticut. He was then taken to an immigration detention center in Massachusetts. Zia, who was living in the U.S. legally, is now under threat of deportation back to Afghanistan, a country he fled because he feared he would be tortured or killed by the ruling Taliban. “What happened to him is the worst kind of abhorrent violation of basic decency,” Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal said, “He actually worked and risked his life in Afghanistan to uphold the values and rights that are central to democracy.” Zia entered the U.S. in October 2024 on a special visa and a humanitarian parole scheme introduced by President Joe Biden for those at risk fleeing Iraq and Afghanistan. DHS claims that Zia entered the country illegally and is also under investigation for a “serious criminal allegation,” without specifying further. ICE took steps to immediately remove him from the country without due process. A judge has issued a temporary stay blocking Zia’s immediate deportation, but he remains under detention in Massachusetts. Yes indeed, this is how we “win hearts and minds” in other countries and give people in them cause to want to work with us.
In the midst of all the public insanity from Maladminstraton II, they really are doing some very serious maladministration: The EPA is initiating a formal reconsideration of its 2009 "Endangerment Finding," which determined that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare. In a blitz of destructive actions announced by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin last month, he specifically called for a reconsideration of the 2009 Endangerment Finding. This finding serves as the basis for regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, and the EPA's reconsideration could potentially lead to a rollback of regulations on power plants, vehicles, and other sources. This finding, made under the Clean Air Act, declared that six greenhouse gases (GHGs) endanger public health and welfare. A repeal could impact existing regulations on greenhouse gas emissions, leading to increased emissions and hindering efforts to address climate change. The EPA's decision is likely to face legal and scientific challenges, as the 2009 finding has been upheld in court and is supported by a wealth of scientific evidence.
David Pressman, the U.S. ambassador to Hungary from 2022-25, writes that the key similarity between Hungary and the United States isn’t Orban and Trump but how elites have responded to the authoritarian threat: “After years watching Hungary suffocate under the weight of its democratic collapse, I came to understand that the real danger of a strongman isn’t his tactics; it’s how others, especially those with power, justify their acquiescence. Here, too, powerful people are responding to authoritarian advances just as their Hungarian counterparts have - not with defiance, but with capitulation, convinced that they can maintain their independence and stay above the fray.” Another reason to eat the rich, which a gastronomic authority has confirmed are extremely tasty, “lightly sauteed with a nice Chianti.”
At a hearing on Wednesday (before they headed for the high timber) of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, David Richardson, acting leader of FEMA - the guy who’s such an expert on emergency management that he doesn’t know what “hurricane season” is - defended FEMA’s response to the deadly Texas floods despite pushback from lawmakers. A particular point of contention was the NYT report that call center contractors were laid off after their contracts ended on July 5. On July 6, FEMA only answered 35.8 percent of calls, according to the Times, while on July 7, they only answered 15.9 percent. Richardson called the report “fake news” and said that “the vast majority of phone calls were answered.” He also said there was an Emergency Rescue Team “on the deck” on July 4 but that it took Texas several days to request them. This lie was exposed by numerous interviews with ERT personnel, including the unit’s leader who resigned in protest of the incompetence displayed by Richardson and Noem in this event on Monday. “The disaster declaration didn’t come in until Sunday, and then Monday they requested and the support was there within 24 hours.” Even Scott Perry couldn’t believe that whopper. In response to a question from him, Richardson said that on July 4 he had been on vacation, but returned the next day. “I spent the entire vacation in my vehicle speaking on my phone either to the state of Texas or DHS coordinating for the events in Texas,” he said. Many reports detail that he was never on the scene during the event. These lying incompetent scum can’t even do convincing lies.
MAGA Fuckstick Candace Owens got dragged into court for her bullshit on Wednesday, when a 219-page lawsuit was in Delaware Superior Court by French President Emmanuel Macron, and his wife Brigitte over Owens’ repeated claims that the French first lady is a trans woman. The Macrons claim Owens used her claim that Brigitte Macron “is in fact a man” to “promote her independent platform, gain notoriety, and make money.” In doing so, they claimed, Owens “endorsed, repeated, and published a series of verifiably false and devastating lies about the Macrons” on her podcast. The suit claims actual malice: “These claims are demonstrably false, and Owens knew they were false when she published them. Yet, she published them anyway. And the reason is clear: it is not the pursuit of truth, but the pursuit of fame.” Owens has previously said she would “stake my entire professional career on the fact that Brigitte Macron, the current first lady of France was born a man.”
Here’s big Good News for Democrats: It is being reported that popular former two-term Democratic governor Roy Cooper will announce his campaign for the open North Carolina US Senate seat on Monday. With Thom Tillis announcing he will not run for re-election, the NC GOP does not have a popular figure in the party who can stand successfully against Gooper, who was elected governor twice. This morning, it was announced that RNC Chair Michael Whatley (A MAGAt’s MAGAt) is planning to run. He will run with President Trump’s blessing (the eqiivalent of an anvil around his neck by then) for the seat, confirming Politico, who first reported the news. Politicao repoted that former RNC Co-Chair Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, has decided against a run.
In more good news forthe Good Guys: Two Judges ruled Wednesday that Maladministration II must release Kilmar Abrego Garcia on his criminal charges in Tennessee, and immigration authorities must allow him to return to Maryland on supervision without taking him into custody.
The rulings allow UCE to restart Abrego Garcia’s immigration proceedings in Baltimore once he is back, but they must provide 72-hours’ notice before trying to remove him to a country where he has no ties.
Once again, JoJoFromJerz gets the last word; I stand in awe of this: “Donald Trump is unraveling faster than a ham-scented necktie at a sweat lodge, and the Republican Party is right there with him—spinning in a glittering panic spiral, shrieking “LOOK OVER THERE!” like deranged pageant moms at a gas station brawl. Don’t look at his poll numbers, which are sinking like a MAGA yacht made of expired hydroxychloroquine and sun damage. Don’t look at his economy, which is behaving like a clearance blender from Bed Bath & Beyond—technically running, mostly cracked, and seconds from detonation. Don’t look at the Epstein birthday letter, a festering jar of verbal syphilis where he wished a convicted pedophile “another wonderful secret.” No, they need you to panic about Joe Biden’s autopen like it forged the Magna Carta, stole the crown jewels, and set fire to the Vatican while whispering gender pronouns. It’s a tale told by felons, full of treason and tantrums, signifying absolutely nothing.”
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I love JoJofromJerz! She has a persuasive view of events!
JoJo from Jerz is phenomenal with her turn of every phrase… How she comes up with it all boggles my mind.
I think of creative writing grades 2 and 3 - my context with frequency - and figure if she showed that spunk as a kid, she might’ve had some quiet consultations with her teachers about her creative writing pieces.
I remember a kid, name and all, but to protect his privacy I won’t say… In 2nd grade, he wrote an essay about a James Bond movie, and his teacher was very, very very upset, told his dad he was being exposed to things he should not see. I had his brother in my 3rd grade class and the 2nd grade brother came to me the next year for 3rd. Brilliant kids.
The parents had divorced dramatically. I was friends with each, but always very separately. The mom referred to the divorce as a re-enactment of the movie “War of the Roses,” an outrageous and bitter divorce battle, to quote Wikipedia.
Even yesterday at the surgicenter, I found myself pondering the various people around me as 3rd graders… Every person is so individual! I love it!
And age 8 is fairly pivotal… generally speaking, the brain makes a shift, a leap of development in many forms.
I always love referring to Bloom’s Taxonomy because the stages of development are so reliably accurate so much of the time. Everything from exposure to an idea to then rote repetition with then gradual understanding, etc. There’s a threshold midway, like an equator, when understanding goes into territory of analysis, synthesis, and more… Critical thinking tops the list, but humor is even beyond that. Linguistically… If you understand humor in another language, you’ve reached the peak.
In class, I had a small wooden step ladder labeled with sharpies step-by-step so even the kids were exposed to considering this hierarchy.
Case in point:
Plain as day, our grandkids understood jokes with hilarity when in grade 3, while a year earlier they did not yet get the humor.
A stark example was a talent show held in class one day. I sat, back to the windows along the street and, a rarity for me, the 2nd and 3rd graders were segregated to the left and right. (Generally, I did not segregate them.) So one tall girl, again whose name I remember, but decline to say…was telling jokes. The 3rd graders would laugh while the 2nds looked blank. Put the show on pause : 3rds graders explain the joke to the 2nds; then the performer on stage tells the joke again and we all laugh together!
It could not have been more stark! She was a Jehovah’s Witness and I remember my surprise when she ventured into several jokes that were off color and I had to quietly redirect her. I think she got it, but was just giving it a try. Funny moment.
I’m so glad I did not pursue a career as accountant or secretary because I’m sure I had a whole lot more fun as an educator!