Gotch!

If that's how Congress is supposed to work... putting a zinger over on a colleague?

This morning I wrote about the congressional hearing with Jack Smith... I want to talk about the drama surrounding the hearing.

They were gleeful... “We got him now!”

Why are they so set on getting Jack Smith?

Why... because Trump wills it!

 Viral slow zoom on Katie Britt says it all as she realizes Jack Smith gotcha moment is going up in flames
The exchange unravelled after Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt mistook a Caitlin Clark college basketball game in Maryland for an NBA game in Atlanta Jasmine 

Independent 

Fernández
30 September 2026

 

 

 A video of Alabama Republican Senator Katie Britt looking visibly stunned during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing circulated on social media after her colleague, Senator Eric Schmitt, stumbled in his questioning of former special counsel Jack Smith.

Schmitt, a Missouri Republican, attempted to corner Smith over an alleged 2024 trip to an Atlanta Hawks basketball game, suggesting the trip pointed to coordination with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in the prosecution of Donald Trump. During the exchange, Schmitt accused Smith of committing perjury.

“You will go down as a total dirtbag,” Schmitt said.

Smith corrected him, pointing out that Schmitt had mistaken the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks for the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team.

They were gleeful... we got him now!

 

Why are they so set in getting Jack Smith?

 

 

Why... because Trump wills it!

 

Reuters reported that,

 Former US special counsel Jack Smith told senators on Tuesday that he will not be silenced by threats of prosecution, as ​he faced Republican accusations of abuse of power in his investigations of President Donald Trump.

Smith brought two since-dismissed criminal cases against Trump over his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 ‌election and his alleged mishandling of classified documents after his first term.

That is what started this witch-hunt... his nerve in investigating their cult leader.

 Republican lawmakers, who have repeatedly blasted Smith for what they see ​as vindictive, politically driven prosecutions of Trump and his allies, alleged Smith abused his authority and used his investigations to obtain information from a variety of Republican officials and groups.

And now they had him! Perjury! So once again, they drag him before a hearing! Since they do it, they think everyone does it!

 “This wasn't a normal prosecution,” Grassley said. "Mr. Smith's operation was a partisan weapon that broke the rules."

That would be quite natural for the Republicans to think that. This is the evidence! We got the goods on him...

 Based on text messages Schmitt said his office had viewed, he accused Smith of attending an Atlanta ​Hawks basketball game, suggesting that would have placed him in the city where local prosecutor Fani Willis was also trying to prosecute Trump.

So if Mr. Smith was there in the same city where Willis was, in their mind, that was enough evidence... in the same city with over a quarter of a million people... collusion! We got him!

 Republican efforts to hold Smith responsible for his alleged abuse of power have picked up in the past year, though no charges against him have been filed. Smith gave closed-door testimony to a Republican-led House committee in December, saying the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot “does not happen” without Trump. Smith then gave public testimony before the same committee in January.

They dug through not just his call list but also all the texts that he sent. They smelled blood, and that was enough for them.

 Much of the Republican criticism of Smith has focused on records his investigators obtained involving members of Congress. Smith obtained phone call logs from several ​Republican senators around the time of the Capitol ​riot. In July, Republican senators revealed that ⁠Smith also reviewed texts from 44 US lawmakers as part of a review of material from White House aides.

They thought they had a "GOTCHA." They were not looking for the truth but rather something to get him on. In other words, they were looking for something to justify their searches of his life, to prove Trump was right, that this was an attack on him.

This was personal to Trump. It certainly looked less like a search for the truth than a search for something, anything, that could be used against Smith.

 

 

---

Update: 4:15PM

People, What Is The Number 1 Problem In The U.S.

Okay folks...

online polls

What? Jack Smith? What about him?

Jack Smith defends Trump probes in Senate hearing filled with GOP insults

The former special counsel testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee amid the Justice Department’s pursuit of those involved in investigations into Trump.

NBC News

By Ryan J. Reilly and Justin Goldman

Sept. 29, 2026

Former special counsel Jack Smith told senators Tuesday that he would not be silenced “by continued threats of prosecution” over his handling of the investigation into President Donald Trump.

Smith appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee amid the Justice Department’s push to target law enforcement officials involved with his investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the lead-up to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, as well as the probe into his handling of classified documents after he left office in January 2021.

Smith, who brought two since-dismissed federal criminal cases against Trump, said in his opening statement that he stood by his decision to bring charges against Trump, which was the result of a deep investigation that uncovered substantive evidence.

I feel sorry for Mr. Smith. The Republicans on their vendetta against him is must be costing him, both monetarily and psychological.

This has going way beyond gathering fact to political zingers... The Rolling Stone reported,

MAGA firebrand Eric Schmitt came after Jack Smith during a dramatic Senate hearing on Tuesday, attempting to catch the former special counsel in a lie about his conduct during his high-profile investigations of Donald Trump. Schmitt, however, had his facts completely wrong — not that you’d know it by watching the right wing content mill. 

Instead of admitting the mistake, some MAGA tastemakers have doubled down on Schmitt’s completely wrong assertion that Smith was lying about attending an Atlanta Hawks game in early 2024.

Schmitt’s original gaffe has to be seen to be believed. The Missouri senator thought that he had text messages that proved that Smith was in Atlanta on Feb. 3, 2024, which he believed would have indicated that Smith was somehow colluding with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who was also investigating Trump. Schmitt’s “proof,” was a series of text messages from Smith’s staff that referenced a basketball game, which Schmitt was certain was the Hawks’ game against the Golden State Warriors. The texts referenced a game, yes, but one that Smith soon realized likely referred to the University of Maryland women’s NCAA game against the University of Iowa that he attended the same day. Sen. Amy Klobuchar delightedly pointed out that Schmitt had probably mistaken the Hawkeyes (Iowa’s mascot) for the Atlanta Hawks.

Stand by your man

Stand by your man

And show the world you love him

Keep givin' all the love you can

Stand by your man

"Stand By Your Man" Tammy Wynette

The Rolling Stone goes on to report,

Despite this pretty conclusive proof that Schmitt was up the creek without a paddle, MAGA media has doubled down. Here’s Schmitt just minutes later, on The Charlie Kirk Show, attempting to launder his reputation with a feeble insistence that he was right all along. 

CHARLIE KIRK SHOW: Gotta give you some flowers. Dang! So you had text messages from Jack Smith's team confirming he was going to a Hawks game, and he sat there acting dumbfounded?

ERIC SCHMITT: It was the only NBA game going on at that time in Atlanta. He claimed later that he… pic.twitter.com/IqTIG8YP38

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 29, 2026

MAGA commentator Benny Johnson also cast Schmitt’s questioning as a win. He posted an out-of-context clip of the exchange, before it was revealed that Schmitt was wrong. “Senator Eric Schmidt Just CAUGHT Jack Smith perjuring himself on the stand in his testimony,” Johnson wrote, adding that Smith was “stunned.”

If you can dazzle them with truth... baffle them with lies.

What Is It With These Republicans

Can you image if a Democrat said to kill Republicans... it would be all over the front page. But...

Texas Republican called for public execution of Democratic leaders – report

Bo French, who is running to lead a state agency, has in the past posted controversial and racist statements online

The Guardian

Ariana Baio

Mon 28 Sep 2026

Bo French, a Texas Republican running to lead a powerful state agency, has a history of making controversial social media posts, including calling for the public execution of Democratic leaders, according to a recent investigation from CNN’s KFile team.

French, who is running to lead Texas’s railroad commission, has recently faced criticism from members of his own party after making a racist post on social media. Powerful Republicans, including the Texas senator John Cornyn, said they would not support French in the upcoming election.

But the latest spat over French’s social media has led to a deeper look at his online history. In a review of old posts from social media accounts that seemingly belonged to French, CNN’s KFile team found that the Texas Republican repeatedly called for public executions of opponents.

This is despicable! And the fact that other Republicans are not calling him on on this is even worst!

French is no stranger to posting controversial statements online.

Over the last year, he has used his platform to assert that the entire religion of Islam should be banned; claim childless women were “selfish” and “responsible for the demise of our culture”; and posted a poll to ask whether “Jews” or “Muslims” posed a bigger threat.

According to CNN/KFile’s investigation, in May 2020 French used an account under the name “rwbofrench”, which has since been suspended, to encourage Donald Trump to “hang” Obama-era officials believed to be part of the “Russia hoax”.

And this is the candidate they are putting forward in the election. In another Guardian article they report that,

The outbursts came repeatedly during Ted Cruz’s Thursday night address at the American Airlines center, when he named a Democrat he accused of holding radical views. After the senator mentioned the New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, video footage depicts at least one audience member shouting: “He should be shot!” The same cry followed when Cruz named Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, and again after he named Texas Senate candidate James Talarico. Cruz did not pause or respond to the shouting, and it remains unclear whether he heard it from the stage. Cruz did not respond to a request for comment.

[...]

Asked about the moment on CNN’s The Source With Kaitlan Collins, El-Sayed said such rhetoric had become dangerously normalized and that it should unsettle anyone who heard it. He called on Republicans to name the chant for what it was: incitement that both parties ought to reject, and appealed for a return to a politics centered on people’s basic needs and dignity.

No it is not! It might be in the Republican party, but I haven't heard any Democrats call for executions!

And what does about the people who voted for him?

Reagan/Trump

What do the two presidents have in common?

Yes, they were both Republicans.

Yes, they both tanked the economy.

But neither took diseases seriously. Reagan: HIV/AIDS. Trump: Ebola. Ebola is not like COVID; it doesn’t spread like wildfire but more like AIDS... slowly. But it is still highly contagious!

Congo’s Ebola outbreak tops 8,000 confirmed cases as disease remains out of control

AP News

September 28, 2026

The number of confirmed cases of Ebola virus in Congo has surged past 8,000, as the country runs out of health workers to contain the deadly disease, officials said Monday. The outbreak is the country’s 17th and its deadliest.

Congo announced an outbreak on May 15, caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which has no known treatment or vaccine, and has struggled to contain it.

The latest data from Congo’s health ministry released Sunday showed that 8,067 cases have been confirmed, with 3,901 deaths as of Sept. 26 across 63 health zones in seven of the country’s 26 provinces, with a fatality rate of more than 48%.

Do you remember that Reagan delayed funding because it was the “Gay” disease? This time, funding has been cut back across all USAID funding. The thing is, Ebola never sleeps.

Some areas have shown signs of improvement, with fewer confirmed cases in the past several weeks, including in Ituri province and Haut-Uele, but officials say the disease is spreading further in other areas, expanding its geographical reach.

Diseases never sleep.

Media ITE reported:

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, was quoted as saying at the time, “This is not efficiency. It is dangerous neglect. The United States spent years building the relationships, supply chains, laboratories, and community health networks that help stop deadly diseases at their source. The Trump administration tore into that capacity and now wants to pretend the consequences were unforeseeable.”

Just like Reagan you can't ignore diseases! Infection Control Today wrote,

The Ebola outbreak spreading across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and into Uganda is now one of the most rapidly escalating in the virus's recorded history. As of May 25, 2026, the CDC reports that the bulk of the devastation is concentrated in the DRC, with 906 suspected cases and 105 confirmed cases," or restructured as "906 suspected and 105 confirmed cases, with 234 deaths

Once a disease gets a toehold the CDC will be putting out one brush fire after another. Even though Ebola doesn't spread easily if a enough Ebola infected people come here it could overload the system.

Last year the Senate Foreign Relations Committee put this out...

The Dangerous Consequences of Funding Cuts to U.S. Global Health Programs

“In less than two months, the Trump Administration has undone six decades of investments that made the United States more respected and influential than any other nation. The resulting chaos has left us weaker and more vulnerable. Like all of my colleagues, I have always supported reforming government and making sure our tax dollars are spent wisely. But this administration has ignored U.S. laws enacted by Congress-cutting foreign assistance programs and USAID staff that are essential for our nation

[...]

Top Line Impact of Global Health Cuts

• Our 50-country network for stronger surveillance to deadly diseases from bird flu to swine fever [is] gone.
• Our emergency response system that cut response times to global outbreaks from greater than two weeks to less than 48 hours [is] gone.
• AIDS programs to prevent new cases of HIV in high-risk populations [is] gone
• Programs for preventing child and maternal deaths that reached 93 million women and children under 5 in 2023 and added 6 years of life on average [has been] cut 92%.
• Lifesaving tuberculosis programs cut [by] 56%.
• Lifesaving water and sanitation programs cut[by] 86%.
• Funding for GAVI, the global vaccine alliance, which was set to vaccinate half a billion children [was] terminated and, if not restored, will cost 500,000 lives a year and drive higher exposure to measles in the U.S.

It almost seems like if there isn't a buck to be made the Trump adminstration doesn't care about it.

"We have met the enemy and he is us."

That famous saying came from Pogo, a satirical comic strip created by Walt Kelly but it could apply today to the Trump adminstration.

Vance Busted Using Bogus Numbers in His Big Crusade

The vice president claimed his task force found $250 billion in fraud—but its own figures tell a murkier
The Daily Beast

Tom Latchem 

Sep. 28 2026

JD Vance’s claim that his White House task force uncovered $250 billion in fraud in just a few months is based on questionable accounting, a new report has revealed.

The vice president has made fighting fraud a major part of his remit since Donald Trump put him in charge of the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud in March.

But a New York Times analysis of the administration’s own records found some figures being used by Vance to show his task force’s successes are inflated, difficult to substantiate, or based on work that began before Trump returned to office—which one expert described as a “sleight of hand.”

Naw... the Trump adminstration would never do that! Now would it?

The accounting also includes money the government has not actually recovered, the Times found. More than a third of the ledger’s $59.1 billion in “fraud enforced” is linked to $22.6 billion attributed to the Small Business Administration. Most of that represents delinquent pandemic loans sent for debt collection, which had previously been identified as potentially fraudulent during the Biden administration, rather than billions already clawed back from fraudsters.

What? You mean this is from the Biden adminstration! And Trump is taking credit for it? Figures.

We Are At A Crux

[Essay]

There are certain points in time that take a radical turn—like the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, or the Robber Barons cornering all the wealth right before the anti-trust acts were passed. Once again, the bubble burst, which led to the Great Depression and the creation of Social Security.

What do they all have in common? The concentration of wealth.

Well, once again, we are at a crux. This November is going to be a major turning point, and like all cruxes, it can go either way.

This November, if Trump wins and maintains control of Congress... god help us. It will shape the world for more than a generation, leading right down the road to 1984.

If the Republicans maintain just one chamber... see the above, unless they manage to grow some backbone.

If the Democrats sweep a Blue wave... battle lines are drawn in Congress over the seating of the new members... impeachment... the Speaker becoming president... civil war? It is yet another crux.

“May you live in interesting times.” This November will prove that old blessing/curse true.

[/Essay]

Smoke & Mirrors

This guy was a strong anti-LGBTQ Republican... hard core.

He introduced the law banned Pride flags and non-official flags from being displayed in public schools and government buildings! He sponsored legislation targeting transgender individuals, including bills attempting to restrict transgender people from working as teachers, proposals to eliminate gender identity provisions from state documents, and efforts regarding birth certificates and public bathrooms!

But you have to wonder... was a it a all to hide his crimes?

Breaking: State Rep. Trevor Lee charged with four felonies related to alleged mortgage fraud

The firebrand representative immediately resigned his legislative seat after being charged by the Utah Attorney General’s Office.

Salt Lake Tribune

By Robert Gehrke, Emily Anderson Stern, and Addy Baird

Sep. 28, 2026

The Utah Attorney General’s Office has charged state Rep. Trevor Lee with two counts of fraud and two forgery-related counts stemming from allegedly falsified documents related to the mortgage on his Layton home.

Lee, a 35-year-old Republican who lost his reelection bid in the June primary, promptly resigned his House seat after the charges were filed in 3rd District Court. The Salt Lake Tribune confirmed in July that the attorney general’s office was investigating Lee.

[...]

The charges accuse Lee of having falsified a contract with a company named Enevive — including forging the signature of its CEO — purporting to show that he made $168,000 annually from the business in order to get a $1 million home loan from Kind Lending last year.

It seems like our worst critics are crocks crooks.

One Land, One Justice.

One set of laws governing the land.

That is the basis of our Constitution... but the Supreme Court is thinking that maybe two sets of laws or more might govern the country.

Supreme Court Emergency Docket Asked to Protect Right to Use Religious Courts

A state court has ordered an Orthodox Jew to demand that a rabbinical court reverse a religious ruling. That goes too far.

National Review

By Dan McLaughlin

September 23, 2026

The use of religious tribunals to settle disputes that might otherwise be heard in civil courts has long been a fault line in systems of civil law. The very structure of Anglo-American law presumes a sometimes-abstruse division between the spheres of law and equity that has roots in medieval England, where the chancery courts (while ruling in the king’s name) were often de facto religious tribunals. In more modern times, when the government’s courts are civil, we see instead controversies arise when litigants want to use the religious courts — or feel compelled by their religious communities to do so.

[...]

he use of religious tribunals to settle disputes that might otherwise be heard in civil courts has long been a fault line in systems of civil law. The very structure of Anglo-American law presumes a sometimes-abstruse division between the spheres of law and equity that has roots in medieval England, where the chancery courts (while ruling in the king’s name) were often de facto religious tribunals. In more modern times, when the government’s courts are civil, we see instead controversies arise when litigants want to use the religious courts — or feel compelled by their religious communities to do so.

Now, this hot potato has landed on the Supreme Court’s emergency docket. Justice Sonia Sotomayor ordered Wednesday that a response be filed by Monday, September 28, in Strulovitch v. Bain, a case arising from a collision between the courts of New York State and an Orthodox Jew’s resort to a rabbinical court known as a beis (or beth) din. The dispute is a real one, although whether it belongs on the emergency docket is a closer question, especially because it is embedded in a commercial dispute whose twists and turns are characteristically intricate.

My problem is... "feel compelled by their religious communities to do so," and also what happens if someone is not a member of that religious sect? The way I see it, it is like a clause to use binding arbitration (which I am against). As long as both parties agree, I don't see a problem, but if it is forced on a person... no. And that a person can back out at any time.

The order by Jamieson goes further than necessary in trying to “rectify the potential damage” to a litigant’s “reputation in the religious community.” Whether the Supreme Court will find that this is a sufficiently urgent First Amendment violation to warrant emergency relief is another matter. And it’s always hazardous to judge the whole case just on one side’s argument. But the narrow relief of striking that portion of the order seems warranted if one wishes to avoid a collision between the secular and religious courts.

A can of worms is about to be opened when you have two or more sets of laws...

One nation under one law!

Hmm... I wonder if they would change their tune if the religious court ruled that trans women are women. I bet you would hear the Supreme Court change their tune.

I have to wonder if a religious court or body issues a ruling that affirms trans people, I think the the conservative courts or lawmakers will suddenly become very interested in asserting state supremacy and invalidating religious autonomy. However, when religious rules are used to restrict rights or enforce traditional hierarchies, I see the same institutions will be eager to carve out broad "religious freedom" exemptions.

Electric Bills!

How many times have you heard that from candidates this election cycle, promising to bring down your electric bill? But ask them this: “Why aren’t you speaking out against Trump’s blocking of wind and solar power?”

Wind and solar power frozen out of Trump permitting push

Reuter

By Nichola Groom

December 10, 2025

Summary

• Power demand seen rising 32% by 2030, driven by AI expansion
• Federal delays threaten solar and wind projects on public and private lands
• Renewable plants are quicker to bring online, but Trump says less reliable

U.S. President Donald Trump's freeze on approvals for major onshore wind and solar projects is leaving thousands of megawatts of clean power capacity in limbo at a time of soaring demand for electricity, a Reuters review of permitting data and interviews with industry officials shows.

Just one solar project has been approved on federal lands since Trump took office in January, and none have been permitted since July when Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered that all new decisions related to renewable energy projects require his personal sign-off.

Why aren’t politicians talking about Trump’s blocking of renewables at the behest of coal companies? 

AP News reported,

Democratic attorneys general from California and New York sued the Trump administration Tuesday over its plans to buy back offshore wind leases as President Donald Trump seeks to discourage the expansion of wind energy in favor of fossil fuels.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said he is suing over removal of a project off his state’s coast planned by Chicago-based Invenergy. The Trump administration said in June that it’s buying back the company’s U.S. offshore wind leases for four wind projects on the East and West coasts.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, meanwhile, led seven states in suits seeking to block the Invenergy deal and another proposal with Bluepoint Wind, which agreed in April to end a wind farm under development off the New York and New Jersey coast.

The deals would hand energy companies $1.4 billion in taxpayer dollars in exchange for the cancellation of multiple projects. ln all, the Trump administration has pledged nearly $4 billion to companies to walk away from projects across the country.

Why is he doing it? Why is he pushing coal? Last December, at a rally in coal country, he said in a speech…

So we only call coal, clean, beautiful coal. Is that right, fellas, because coal needs a little public relations help. It's a very powerful -- it's a very powerful fuel. It's used by China. You know, China makes all our windmills but they don't have any wind farms. It's a little interesting, isn't it? Wind is the worst.

It's a big -- it's a big -- that's a scam. They ruin your valleys. They ruin your peaks. They -- and the most expensive energy. The only ones that get rich are the developers who make a fortune. You have to change the windmills. And most of them are made in China, but China has very few wind farms. You know why?

Because they're smart. You know what they do have, a lot of coal. They love coal. So that's OK. But we have clean, beautiful coal and we brought it back into vogue. We have nuclear. We have oil and gas. We have sort of everything. We don't want -- we don't approve windmills. We don't approve it. I'm sorry.

Why is he pushing coal? Because the coal industry is a major backer of Republicans.

But now, with oil prices skyrocketing, buying wind and solar contracts is driving up the cost of electricity and you don’t hear candidates addressing it!

Big Brother!

[Essay]

There are those who say, “Yeah, but it is only an ad.” I say, no, it is a lot more than a 30-second ad.

The rapid-fire montage of imagery is akin to subliminal advertising!

The dramatic music and intense personal praise have led critics to describe it as unprecedented and akin to state-run media or psychological conditioning.

It is not the fact that taxpayer dollars paid for this, but the fact that it is government-produced propaganda for “Fearless Leader.” I don’t usually use derogatory nicknames, but this fits what he did to a “T.” It is something that you saw with Hitler, Stalin, and Mao Zedong, and something like North Korea now.

Donald Trump torched over 'propaganda' Fox News ad that says 'love me' on repeat

A new White House advert about President Donald Trump, which aired on Fox News and features JMSN's Love Me song playing on repeat, has sparked backlash on social media

Irish Star

Scarlett O'Toole and Chiara Fiorillo

25 Sep 2026

Donald Trump has faced ridicule on social media following the launch of a new White House advert about him.

The 30-second spot, broadcast as a paid commercial during Fox News breaks with a disclaimer noting it is funded by the US government, showcases multiple images of the president, 80, set to JMSN's song Love Me. In the footage, Trump can be heard saying, "Together, we will defeat communism, socialism and Marxism in America. America will never be a communist country."

Total propaganda!

The British Guardian put it this way…

The White House on Friday defended its decision to use taxpayer funds to buy airtime on Fox News for a White House-produced, pro-Trump ad that some Democrats said could be illegal government propaganda aimed at influencing voters in the upcoming midterm elections.

Naw… Trump would never do that. Would he?

By contrast, the 30-second version of the pro-Trump ad broadcast on Fox News this week uses audio of Trump telling supporters in Las Vegas last month: “Together we will defeat communism, socialism and Marxism in America,” and a rapid-fire montage of images of Trump beneath the onscreen text: “America will never be a communist country,” as a chorus sings the words “love me”, taken from a song of that name by JMSN. In the original speech, Trump explicitly identified the enemy as “Dumocrat communists in Congress”.

The last 10 seconds of the ad include text at the bottom the screen saying: “Paid for by the US government.”

This is something out of the novel 1984 and Big Brother—glorifying Trump, complete with a repeating chant of "Love me" like some subliminal message. Can you imagine if it was Stalin's picture up there with flags waving in the background what people would have thought? We saw these films in the 1930s. We saw them for the Ayatollah, and now we are seeing them for Trump!

CBS News wrote,

The White House, in response to CBS News' inquiries about the pro-Trump ad, denied it was a political ad and called it a "public service announcement."

"These public service announcements are about reminding Americans to love their country and understand what makes it worth defending, at home, at our borders, and abroad," a White House spokesperson said. "The ad is educational and unapologetically patriotic. We should be proud of our country."

A White House official said the PSAs "are clearly not political," and noted, "The President is not on the ballot and the ads don't have a call to action."

In another letter to Wiles, the top Democratic appropriators in the House and Senate demanded that the ad be immediately pulled from air, saying it was a violation of federal law. 

"This is the sort of government propaganda one might expect in North Korea, not the United States of America, and it is an egregious and illegal misuse of Americans' hard-earned tax dollars," Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland wrote.

The only thing missing in the ad was the apple pie!

Add to this Trump wanting his banners all over D.C., the desire to build the ballroom and the arch, and his name on the Lincoln Center. And now this!

No, it is not the cost I object to, but the ad itself. It should never have been made.

[/Essay]

---

UPDATED: 4:40PM

---

UPDATED: 9/28 @ 9:30AN

Time posted this article...

Trump's Taxpayer-Funded Ads Draw Bipartisan Criticism

by Chad de Guzman

Sep 28, 2026

“This is the final battle,” Donald Trump could be heard saying in one of the taxpayer-funded television ads that aired ahead of the November elections and elicited scrutiny across political parties for potential violations of federal law.

The 30-second ad is a black-and-white video of Trump walking down a hall over audio of his warnings against “the deep state,” “warmongers,” “globalists,” “Marxists,” “communists,” and “fascists.” Trump posted the same video on his Truth Social platform in 2023, but with one difference: Then, the monochromatic ad ended with words on screen calling on the viewer to join Trump’s campaign and fine print saying it was “Paid for by Donald J. Trump for President 2024, Inc.” This time, the 2026 ad says at the bottom: “Paid for by the U.S. Government.” 

[...]

Some lawmakers, including from his own Republican Party, are raising concerns with Trump and the White House over the advertisements. Asked about the ads by CBS News on Sunday, Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana said: “I don’t think any public official, including President Trump or Kristi Noem or John Kennedy, should spend public money on private ads for themselves.” (Kennedy was referring to former Homeland Security Secretary Noem, who came under fire for spending $220 million on an advertising campaign for border security.)

When asked about the “Love Me” ad, Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina said that the use of taxpayer money was reminiscent of the far-right former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. “It’s inappropriate,” Tillis told reporters.

“Once Bitten, Twice Shy.”

You have to watch out for a cornered rat... that is when they are most dangerous!

The GOP wants to talk about crime, immigration and trans issues. Voters don’t

CNN

Aaron Blake

Sept 26, 2026

Republican former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz summed up a large portion of the GOP’s midterm message this week when he responded to a man who said he was voting Democratic for the first time ever.

“I hate the war too,” Gaetz told the man on X. “But the Democrats want to trans your kids.”

The trans issue seemed to be a potent one in the 2024 election — President Donald Trump’s team cut an effective ad that professed Democratic nominee Kamala Harris was “for they/them. President Trump is for you.” But a new CNN poll this week suggests that playbook won’t be as effective this time.

“Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”

And that seems to be the case for several other red-meat GOP issues, as well. Republicans have well-established topics that voters favor them on — and that they’ve sought to focus on. But, right now, polls show those aren’t voters’ top priorities.

“Don’t let the shiny object distract you.”

In a Gallup poll this is what they found...

• Economy — 90% extremely/very important
• Democracy — 85%
• Immigration — 72%
• Education — 85%
• Healthcare — 79%
• Crime — 75%
• Abortion — 66%
• Transgender rights — 38% 

And in a Pew Research poll they found... that when .asked what single issue they most wanted congressional candidates to talk about, 29% named the economy, 7% immigration, 5% health care, and 9% government ethics/reform. We didn't even make the list of responses.

“Smoke and mirrors.” 

“Pay attention to what they don’t want you looking at.”

The voters are not hearing what they want to hear: how are they going to fix the economy?

Then Trump says, “Vote like I’m on the ballot!”

I'll tell you, that probably turned off a lot of voters, and many Republicans are trying to step away from Trump.

As election enters its final stretch, some Republicans are distancing from Trump

NPR | By Elena Moore

September 25, 2026

There's a rare thing happening inside President Trump's Republican Party: dissent.

The president has long insisted on loyalty, but in recent weeks, a growing number of Republican candidates and elected officials have distanced themselves from core pieces of his agenda: from calling for an end to the U.S. war with Iran and relief from high prices, to criticizing his handling of key agenda issues like immigration.

It comes at a critical moment for the GOP. With less than 40 days until voting ends, the party is scrambling to hold onto a slim majority in Congress, where control of both the Senate and House of Representatives could come down to just a handful of toss-up races.

Trump's presence in the midterms looms large. He has repeatedly told voters to vote like he is on the ballot, despite facing historically low approval ratings. That could backfire, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll, which finds that a plurality of registered voters, 45%, and a majority of independents, view their vote as a vote against Trump.

“When the same distraction keeps appearing, start asking what it’s distracting you from.”

On Tuesday, Utah Republican Sen. John Curtis, who isn't up for reelection until 2030, released a letter urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate the president's son, Donald Trump Jr., after ProPublica reported that a Russian oligarch financed large portions of a lavish party to celebrate his wedding.

My worry is what he will if he feels that he's losing... Will he do something with ICE? The National Guard? What will a caged animal do?

Saturday 9: Don't Take Your Love from Me

Saturday 9: Don't Take Your Love from Me (1956)
On Saturdays I take a break from the heavy stuff and have some fun… 

 Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

 

1) In this song, Doris Day sings about what happens when you take a petal from a rose. When did you last get or give flowers as a gift? 

Um… never.

2) This song is about a woman who fears losing her love. What's the most recent thing you lost? (Hopefully it's not as consequential as a great love. It could be as small or unimportant as the back of one of your pierced earrings.) 
A crown.
Yep, a crown.
I’m just waiting for it to come back.

3) Doris was known as The All-American Girl Next Door. Who lives next door to you? 
I’m in a good neighborhood. But it is a graying neighborhood, the two neighbors on either side, their children just went off to college. And the neighbors across the street had their grandchildren over.
 
4) As a young girl, Doris Day was passionate about dance. She recalled that concentrating on her lessons helped distract her from the pain and embarrassment of her parents' divorce. When you want to escape from what's troubling you, what do you do?
Photography.

5) The maitre d' at one of Doris' favorite restaurants wanted to ask her out. Knowing how she loved her dogs, he impressed her by handing her a bag of meat scraps and bones to take home. They began dating and, in 1976, he became her last husband. What's the best way to your heart? 
Lobster.

6) Over her long career, Doris received Golden Globe and Grammy Awards and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was also inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame, honored for being one of the most celebrated women to have been born there. Name a famous person born in your home state.
Katharine Hepburn
Gary Burghoff
Peter Tork
 
7) She was frank about her financial difficulties, yet some people are uncomfortable discussing money. Are you one of those people?
Kind of.

8) In 1956, when Doris released this song, The Wizard of Oz was shown on network TV for the first time. What movie have you seen multiple times?

9) Random question: Would you rather have a chef or a chauffeur?
Since I hate driving through the Tappan Zee area in New York and going through Providence so right now I’ll go with the chauffeur.

---

So, what’s new in the Diana household? Well, as stated above, a crown recovery! Otherwise, it's thousands of dollars for a new one. If I find the old one, it will only be a couple of hundred bucks to glue it back in.

Right now, we are in a state of PANIC, we are in the grip of a Nor’easter! I was going to go grocery shopping for just some odds and ends and then I thought: “Diana are you crazy? Everyone and his brother will be to get some odds and ends. I can live without for now.

Where I live, we are on the fringe, but it's in the low fifties with a 20 to 30 mph wind. However, Cape Cod is set to get tropical-force winds of 50 to 60 mph, along with heavy rain. And of course, I’m worried… I still have my patio furniture outside, and I can only wonder where it's going to end up. Outages are piling up on the Cape and here... here is the outage map.

So if everything comes out right as planned I should be back up to the Cape around mid-week.

Hate Comes To Connecticut

Another Pride flag is torn down from a church in Windsor.

 Pride Flag Torn Down From Historic Windsor Church
The church's senior minister called it an act of intimidation and said the flag would be replaced.
Jay Kenney,
Patch

Sep 9, 2026

 

 

 A Pride flag was torn down from the front of First Church in Windsor last week, prompting the church’s senior minister to condemn the act and promise that the flag will be replaced.

The Rev. Dr. Ned Allyn Parker discussed the incident in an open letter posted Tuesday. Parker said he believes the flag was removed to intimidate the church or silence its message of support for LGBTQ+ people.

“When a symbol of welcome is torn down, the message sent to LGBTQIA+ people is that their dignity is negotiable,” Parker wrote.

No other news source in Connecticut has carrying this, I guess bias crimes are becoming common here.

 

 

Another Invasion?

Is the military getting ready for another invasion? There are reports that Trump is getting ready to invade Cuba!

U.S. military lays groundwork for potential action around Cuba

CBS News

By James LaPorta

September 25, 2026

The U.S. Army Reserve is examining whether it can provide the military's Southern Command with police forces, medical personnel and other support units within the next four months, according to an internal Army message reviewed by CBS News.

Though the message makes no reference to Cuba, the request is for continued military planning aimed at Cuba, according to multiple U.S. officials who spoke to CBS News under condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

There is no indication in the document that any units have received deployment orders. But the planning comes as the Trump administration puts intense economic pressure on Cuba and urges the island nation to make political reforms.

CNN reported...

He made the promise even more directly during an August 2024 rally speech in the swing state of Pennsylvania, saying: “Under Trump, we will have no more wars, no more disruptions, and we will have prosperity and peace for all.”

Pro-Life... Bull!

In pro-life states, mother and baby deaths are increasing! Because of these laws that men are passing so they can get more votes.

 

They are not pro-life, but pro-votes.

Ectopic Pregnancy Deaths Have Nearly Doubled. It’s Worse in States With Abortion Bans.

ProPublica

by Andrea Suozzo and Agnel Philip
September 9, 2026

 

 

Reporting Highlights

•     Increase in Deaths: ProPublica’s analysis of CDC data found that almost 200 women died after an ectopic pregnancy from 2020 to 2025, compared with about 100 in the previous six years. 
•     Delays in Care: Abortion bans make exceptions for ectopic pregnancies, but getting a definitive diagnosis can mean waiting days or even weeks, while the risk of rupture and death rises.
•     Federal Inaction: There’s been no public response to the increase in deaths. The Department of Health and Human Services has drastically cut maternal health staffers and grant funding.

The number of women who died after an ectopic pregnancy has spiked in recent years, a ProPublica analysis found. The mounting deaths in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data have drawn little scrutiny or response.

Of course, there has been no response from the HHS & CDC; that would be admitting to the deaths.

To treat an ectopic pregnancy, which is almost never viable, doctors must terminate it. But lawsuits and federal complaints have alleged that some medical providers are hesitating or flat-out refusing to do that in states where they face criminal penalties for performing an abortion. Patients described their terror. 

“I genuinely thought I was going to die,” said Kyleigh Thurman, whose right fallopian tube ruptured after she struggled to get ectopic care in Texas in 2023.

“There were a few times I asked my husband if I was going to die,” Leitaea Lowrimore of Oklahoma said in a lawsuit after being denied treatment for an ectopic pregnancy at multiple hospitals in February. “I kept thinking about our kids.”

At times like those, doctors shouldn't have to consult lawyers! The American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC) wrote:

New Report Shows Worsening Health Outcomes for Women in States With Abortion Bans
Author(s)Giuliana Grossi
July 18, 2024

 

 

Mississippi, Texas, Nevada, and Oklahoma are among the poorest-performing states overall for women’s health care access, quality, and outcomes, while Massachusetts, Vermont, and Rhode Island rank at the top, according to a new state-by-state scorecard. The scorecard examining women's health was released today by the Commonwealth Fund and revealed disparities in women’s health and reproductive care across the United States.1

The findings raise concerns over the state of women’s health care in the US and the ripple effects of the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v Wade, which has significantly altered access to critical reproductive health care services.

“The US Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v Wade in June 2022 has significantly altered both access to reproductive health care services and how providers are able to treat pregnancy complications in the 21 states that ban or restrict abortion access," the report stated.

 

[...]

 

 Using the latest available data, the results demonstrate significant disparities between states in reproductive care and women’s health, as well as deepening racial and ethnic gaps in health outcomes, with stark inequities in avoidable deaths and access to essential health services. The findings suggest these gaps could widen further, especially for women of color and those with low incomes in states with restricted access to comprehensive reproductive health care.

Doctors are afraid! When they need to make life-or-death decisions, they don't need the state second-guessing them! When politicians make medical decisions, people die.

New Research Finds State-Level Abortion Restrictions Associated with Increased Maternal Deaths 
February 12, 2026

 

 

 The increased number of state-level abortion restrictions in the U.S. was associated with a parallel increase in maternal deaths between 2005 and 2023, according to new research presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) 2026 Pregnancy Meeting™. Researchers found that states with five or more different abortion restrictions had higher rates of maternal deaths from any cause, cardiovascular disease, and violence than those states with fewer restrictions. 

“Abortion is a medically safe procedure, and restricting access to it has real consequences,” said Marie C. Anderson, MD, a resident in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons in New York City, who led the study.  
 
“Our research adds to a growing body of literature confirming the profound negative impact these restrictions are having on maternal health in this country,” said co-researcher Lisa M. Nathan, MD, Chief of Obstetrics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. 

But death doesn't mean anything to Republicans as they kowtow to Christian nationalists! A report by the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) said:

 Results. Among the 14 states with abortion bans, there was some evidence of a potential 9.2% (95% credible interval [CI] = −1.6, 20.7) increase in the number of pregnancy-associated deaths above expectation, equivalent to 68 (95% CI = −13, 147) excess deaths; the rate was also higher than expected, with 3.3 (95% CI = −2.6, 9.0) additional deaths per 100 000 live births. Relative changes in pregnancy-related mortality were similar in magnitude but had greater uncertainty. There was no detectable increase in maternal mortality.

Conclusions. Abortion bans may be associated with an increase in pregnancy-associated and pregnancy-related mortality, although data limitations and chance variation in these rare outcomes constrain the certainty of these and other findings. (Am J Public Health. 2026;116(6):819–828. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2026.308465)

And even if these anti-abortion laws are repealed, the damage they have done will take years to repair. Clinician.com writes;

Abortion Bans Lead Physicians, Nurses to Avoid Certain States
August 1, 2023

Medical students, residents, and practicing OB/GYNs are saying they do not want to train and practice in states with extreme abortion bans, including Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and others. The authors of a recent study found that four in five physicians and trainees preferred to avoid working in states with abortion bans.1

“Our main findings were that among a very large sample of physicians and trainees on social media — over 2,000 — more than 80% preferred to avoid training and practicing in a state with an abortion ban,” says Vineet Arora, MD, MAPP, study co-author and a professor of medicine and dean for medical education in the department of medicine at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.

The preference was consistent regardless of specialty. Physicians said they wanted to improve access to care for patients but also cited personal family health reasons for their preference for states with safe and legal abortion care, Arora notes.

They are creating OB/GYN deserts that will take years to heal, and they know it. They read the same reports, they know what is happening, but they just don't care... period. They want the votes from their evangelical Christian base.

Stop and think for a moment. Now you are a medical student who is looking for a place of residency—are you going to go to a hospital in a state that bans abortions and fail to get a complete education?

The same is true after graduation... would you want to practice in a state where you can get arrested because of treatment for an ectopic pregnancy?

Don't you think that Republicans know all this? They put votes above women's lives.

If they were really "pro-life," they wouldn't reduce spending for WIC, SNAP, school meals, and Head Start. If they were really "pro-life," they would support programs like those instead of reducing their funding! 

Is Washington Becoming the New Versailles or Peterhof?

Picking the brain of Trump.

Oooo… do we want to go there.

•    The ballroom
•    The Arch
•    The Kennedy Center
•    The golf course
•    The banners of Trump all over DC

 What does it remind you of? Versailles and Louis XIV, or Peterhof and Peter the Great?

Is Trump trying to make a legacy like Versailles or Peterhof?

Trump has this dream of going down in history as a great president who designs Washington, D.C., in the image of St. Petersburg or Versailles.

Hyperallergic writes,

$200M Trump Ballroom Proposal Looks a Lot Like Versailles

Social media users couldn’t help but notice similarities between the lavish project, led by architect James McCrery, and the palace of a certain ill-fated French monarch.

Maya Pontone

August 3, 2025

President Trump has proposed a $200 million state ballroom off the White House’s East Wing, the newest addition to his growing list of inane design priorities for the presidential headquarters, which includes ornate gilded décor in the Oval Office, a propagandist painting of his assassination attempt, and a Mar-a-Lago-inspired pave-over of the historic Rose Garden.

[…]

The NCAS is a conservative Washington, DC-based nonprofit that advocates “to end the hegemony of Modernism in federal architecture by advancing the classical and humanistic tradition.” The organization is responsible for partially writing Trump’s 2020 executive order recommending that federal buildings be constructed in the so-called “classical” (referring to Neoclassical, Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Beaux-Arts, and Art Deco) and traditional styles. The order was echoed in a memorandum issued by Trump earlier this year that drew widespread criticism.

Evocative of the NCAS’s architectural renderings for the renovation of New York City’s Penn Station, the project envisions a ballroom of lavish grandeur and scale, consisting of high-arched windows, massive chandeliers, fluted columns, and ceilings with symmetrical crown moldings.

In Trump's mind gold = power! And Versailles and Peterhof drip of power and wealth!

Many social media users responded to the White House’s announcement by drawing comparisons between Trump and the last French monarchs, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, whose reign is infamous for lavish personal expenditures and royal extravagance at Versailles amid food scarcity, fueling the masses to revolt. (Trump’s own Mar-a-Lago beach club and New York City apartment bear several architectural similarities to the grandiose Parisian palace.) Some also criticized the project by pointing out the administration’s recent gutting of expanded healthcare coverage and soaring grocery costs being escalated by Trump’s trade war, which he finalized this week.

Let them eat cake!

The British across the pond they write in the Guardian writes...

When you have a developer as US president, you might expect some zhooshing up of the capital. A few buildings renovated, maybe some parks replanted. But when you have a megalomaniac builder in charge, things can get out of hand. A decade ago, when Donald Trump was first elected, I asked what it might mean for the US to be led by a real estate tycoon whose career had left a trail of broken promises, angry buyers and endless lawsuits, with rules flouted, heritage trampled and the world pockmarked by a fleet of aspirational towers clad with a flimsy veneer of luxury. The answer is worse than I could have imagined.

With the air of a nightmarish Hollywood sequel, Trump 2 has seen the president’s true architectural ambitions unleashed: The Blingpire Strikes Back. As America’s self-styled decorator-in-chief, Trump has not only overseen the gilded mutilation of the White House, but embarked on the Mar-a-Lagofication of Washington DC itself, applying his gold paintbrush to statuary, daubing ponds with flaking pool liner, and brewing plans for a colossal triumphal arch – all procured in a blizzard of no-bid contracts. And, in true dodgy salesman style, this programme of bauble-building is turning out to be a high-profile decoy for deeper damage being wrought elsewhere.

[...]

Trump boasted that his ballroom will be “more beautiful” than Versailles, but it looks like something thrown together from the classical off-cuts bin, without any regard to how the pieces fit. “It has all the kneejerk gestures of classicism,” a former Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) official told me, “but they are not integrated in a way that makes any sense.”

A sweeping ceremonial staircase leads to nowhere. A grand pedimented entrance is shunted to one end of the east facade. The portico columns run four rows deep (“The supreme court is three deep,” Trump noted. “No other building has it, and I did it because it’s incredible.”) The ballroom’s proportions are so out of whack, it will make the White House look like a lopsided fiddler crab, the swollen appendage vastly dwarfing the original building.

His construction it is completely over-the-top!

The inflated scale was too much to bear for its architect, the bowtie-wearing James McCrery II, who protested at the increasingly Frankenstein nature of the classical details being applied. Enter Shalom Baranes, whose DC firm has handled multibillion dollar federal contracts, including the renovation of the Pentagon after the 9/11 attacks.

But Trump controlled every aspect of the construction overturning the architects! So much so it has been questioned if the building now meets building codes!

Then we have his golf course!

Park Service quietly awards contracts to work on Trump’s takeover of East Potomac golf course

AP News

By  MATTHEW DALY

September 16, 2026

The Trump administration has awarded contracts to begin work on President Donald Trump’s planned takeover of the East Potomac Golf Links in Washington, Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee said Wednesday.

Rep. Jared Huffman of California, the panel’s top Democrat, revealed during a committee hearing that the National Park Service hired a civil engineering firm to begin work on the historic public golf course, without any public announcement or heads-up to Congress. A lawsuit challenging Trump’s plan to revamp the golf course argues that the administration’s redevelopment would violate the congressional act that created the park more than a century ago.

“Now, this is not just any old golf course. This is a beloved public space with huge historic significance,” Huffman said.

Trump is “systematically moving to take this historic, publicly accessible resource and turn it into another gilded private golf club for the mega-rich,” Huffman said, calling the project “a methodical, deliberate effort to take a public park away from the people,” with American taxpayers footing the bill.

Trump is the "Me" president everything is about him!

However, not everyone likes what they are seeing!

Trump's vision for D.C. draws design backlash and court challenges

PBS News Hour

By Jeffrey Brown, Anne Azzi Davenport, & Azhar Mercha

Mar 24, 2026

Leading cultural and architectural preservation organizations asked a federal court to stop the Trump administration from proceeding with its Kennedy Center reconstruction project. It's the latest development in a fight over the look and architecture of the nation's capital, and the power of the presidency. Jeffrey Brown reports for our series, Art in Action, as part of our CANVAS coverage.

[...]

Yesterday, a coalition of leading cultural and architectural preservation organizations asked the Washington, D.C., federal court to stop the Trump administration from carrying through with its quarter-billion-dollar Kennedy Center reconstruction project.

It's the latest development in an ongoing fight over the very look and architecture of the nation's capital and a referendum on the power of the Trump presidency.

Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown reports for our Art in Action series, exploring the intersection of art and democracy as part of our Canvas coverage.

He wants to remake Washington, D.C.; he wants it to be his legacy! He wants it to become the new St. Petersburg or Versailles. What could surpass the greatest thing for a narcissist to do, but to leave a city made in his golden image?

Racial Profiling -- OK

At least one Supreme Court justice thinks it is okay to arrest U.S. citizens because they look foreign!

ICE Cites Brett Kavanaugh’s SCOTUS Opinion To Defend Targeting US Citizen

Newsweekl

By Dan Gooding and Joshua Rhett Miller

Sep 23, 2026

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Wednesday cited a U.S. Supreme Court opinion, written last year by conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh, to defend immigration agents who stopped and questioned an American citizen in Illinois because he looked like their target.

In its reasoning, the department said it had been "vindicated" for its practices through the Supreme Court opinion, which said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents could stop an individual based on reasonable suspicion. Critics have argued that this allows agents to racially profile individuals as potential undocumented immigrants, leading to conflicts between federal agents and U.S. citizens.

[...]

"To be clear, apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion; under this Court's case law regarding immigration stops, however, it can be a 'relevant factor' when considered along with other salient factors," Kavanaugh wrote.

Welcome to Trump's world... a mixture of The Handmaid's Tale, 1984, and Brave New World! We are moving toward a society where citizens are eyed with automatic suspicion and forced to justify their presence evokes the exact kind of dystopian surveillance and erosion of rights as in those novels. "Your papers please!"

Code Breaker

No, not that kind of code breaker, but rather building code. It seems like there is a big question: Does the new ballroom meet code, and has it been inspected by the National Park Service for electrical, plumbing, and structure?

‘I am the code’: Trump clashed with ballroom architect over safety issues

James McCrery II resigned in October after warning that the president was insisting on designs that violated fire and safety codes.

The Washington Post

By Sarah Blaskey and Jonathan O'Connell

Sept 23, 2026

James McCrery II resigned in October after warning that the president was insisting on designs that violated fire and safety codes.

In the weeks leading up to his resignation last year, the first architect on the White House ballroom clashed with President Donald Trump over design features that the architect believed violated building safety codes, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions and corroborating documents reviewed by The Washington Post.

Trump brushed off McCrery’s concerns, they said, and the president countered that no building codes apply to White House construction. “I am the code,” Trump said. That episode, as described by the people familiar with the matter, offers new insight into Trump’s priorities for the ballroom at a time when he is flexing executive power to fast-track construction projects across the nation’s capital.

The interviews and documents obtained by The Post — including early ballroom designs and images Trump appeared to have marked up with his trademark black-ink Sharpie — also show how deeply involved the president has been in the details of the project.

According to ChatGPT there are questions about:

According to the Post’s documents and interviews:

• Main emergency egress: The early design did not allow the majority of occupants to exit quickly enough through the principal entrance, which the architect said conflicted with fire-safety requirements.
• Secondary exits: The alternative emergency escape routes were considered inadequate.
• Kitchen/fire separation: The design provided insufficient protection against a fire in the kitchen spreading rapidly to the ballroom above.
• Restrooms/plumbing: The proposed number of toilets was inadequate for the building's maximum occupancy. One early plan had only seven women's stalls. The Post says there was little room to add additional facilities because the ballroom consumed most of the footprint. (The Washington Post)
• Overall “life safety”: White House meeting notes from September 2025 specifically recorded “Life safety — big concern.” A November note said, “Life safety — needs POTUS buy in.” The Post reports that discussions about code and life-safety issues continued for months after the original architect left. (Nvdium)

Is this another of Trump's follies?

Nydium goes on to report that:

White House renovations and construction are typically handled by federal agencies required by law to comply with nationally recognized building safety standards to the “maximum extent feasible,” unless doing so would present a national security risk.

But Trump’s White House construction projects are being routed through the Executive Residence, a tiny office that is not a federal agency and is therefore exempt from rules governing agencies. The District of Columbia government has no jurisdiction to enforce local building codes on federal property.

The contractors hired to design and build the ballroom are responsible for adhering to safety standards as they work nearly round-the-clock to meet Trump’s ambitious deadlines, according to experts. Discussions about the life-safety deficiencies in the ballroom’s design continued for months after McCrery resigned, according to White House records.

It is not clear from the records reviewed by The Post whether the safety issues he identified have been resolved in more recent designs by Shalom Baranes Associates, the architecture firm that replaced McCrery’s firm late last year. Shalom Baranes Associates declined to comment. When Post reporters visited McCrery’s office this month, he asked them to leave and not contact him again.

Does this give you a warm, fuzzy feeling? How about this?

Trump’s growing vision for the ballroom triggered a cascade of design issues, including conflicts with building standards McCrery was trained to follow, according to the people familiar with their discussions.

McCrery informed the White House that Trump’s ballroom design did not meet fire safety codes, which require the majority of guests to be able to quickly exit through the main entrance during an emergency, according to the people and documents.

The architect also pointed out that alternative emergency exit routes out of the building were insufficient, and that there was little in the design to prevent a kitchen fire from rapidly spreading into the event space on the floor above.

This is all just a vanity project for Trump... he has a Walter Mitty dream of going down in history like Versailles and Peterhof.

Renderings show an ornate and gilded interior that departs from the simplicity of the original White House and echoes the look of the ballroom at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, a look he has said was inspired by the Palace of Versailles in France. A March budget for the new White House ballroom included nearly $6 million in gold leaf.

Well Now We Know

Earlier I wrote about candidate promises of pie-in-the-sky tax cuts. Now Fazio has said where he will cut... Medicaid!

Ryan Fazio pledges unprecedented CT income tax cut

Plan to save families $2,000-plus hinges on fiscal good fortune, healthcare cuts

CT Mirror

by Keith M. Phaneuf

September 22, 2026

Republican gubernatorial candidate Ryan Fazio swung big Tuesday, unveiling an plan to cut income taxes that he insists would return $2,000 to $2,500 annually to middle-class families by 2031.

But Fazio’s plan is based partly on outdated spending and revenue trends, leaving it unprepared to maintain hundreds of millions of dollars in new investments in municipal aid, affordable childcare and social services.

The relief plan, which he pitched during a midday stop in downtown Stratford, also would end state-sponsored healthcare for undocumented adults and children, impose a controversial “managed care” system to cap Medicaid assistance, and levy fees on private universities with major endowments. It also hinges on Connecticut winning a tax battle in court with neighboring states.

I don't know about you, but I don't like cutting healthcare for the undocumented. So where are they going to get their healthcare? The Emergency Room, the most expensive treatment. And how are they going to pay? They're not, so that will drive up the price for all of us.

“All of this is just based on a house of cards,” Afriyie said, adding the childcare investment is “something that’s going to pay big dividends in the future and shouldn’t be imperiled.”

So he wants to shift the burden onto lower-income people and off of the rich... a typical Republican... "Me" first. No thanks.

Remember When...

The Trump administrations was so upset over software from China being suspect of trojan bugs, well get a load of this... the Trump adminstration but software from a company that supplies software to Russian intelligence!

DoJ: Uncle Sam bought forensics software from same Russian operation supplying FSB

Russian devs alleged to have built tools for US agencies as software from same op was sold to Moscow's security services

The Register

Carly Page

24 Sept 2026

US defense and homeland security agencies bought digital forensics software developed by the same Russian operation that also sold its wares to the FSB, according to US prosecutors.

The Department of Justice says Oxygen Forensics CEO Lee Reiber and Russian national Oleg Sergeyevich Davydov have been arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud over an alleged scheme to hide the company's Russian ownership and where its software was actually being built.

Oxygen Forensics, based in Virginia, sold digital forensics tools to the US Department of War and several Department of Homeland Security components, including Homeland Security Investigations, the DHS Office of Inspector General, and the Secret Service's National Computer Forensics Institute (NCFI).

Prosecutors allege Oxygen presented itself to Uncle Sam as an independent US company, when it was actually owned and controlled by five Russian nationals through a Cyprus-based holding company.

Maybe if Trump and Company didn't fire all those people in the intelligence agencies they might have found that out!