Guillotine Barbie

Yesterday Dimwit Donnie showed the world that he’s absolutely the most ridiculous, ignorant, and fecal brained fool on the planet. But then, he does that every day.

Trump says he will put a ‘100 percent’ tariff on Mattel to prevent them from selling toys if they manufacture somewhere else. (source)

First he says kids don’t need to get 30 dolls for Christmas – they can make do with two. I’m curious, what child on the planet owns 30 dolls (let alone gets that number on just one holiday)?!

If you haven’t figured it out already, Donnie Dollhands talking tough about Barbie is a distraction. He’s throwing our focus off his tariffs that will really hurt us. Like what? Those levied on lumber, medicines, smartphones and laptops, car parts and so much more.

The cancer med I take is manufactured in Japan. My anti-seizure med is made in Belgium. My eye goop is produced in the Philippines. And that’s just three of the half a bazillion ‘scripts I take daily to stay upright and reasonably sighted. If Medicare doesn’t cover all my meds I’ll croak a LOT sooner. Does the orange griftasaurus care. Of fucking course he doesn’t! He thinks disabled folk, people like me, should just die. He’s even said that about his very own relatives. OG (orange griftasaurus) thinks we’re not worth the effort and expense to keep alive.  FUCK HIM sideways with a rusty spork and zero lube.

Re: car parts. Remember when a big beloved tree fell over in a nasty wind storm and struck our awesome MINI a glancing blow? Yeah, the parts needed to fix it and make it ALL better come from Germany. Two months post-crash, thanks to the tariff twat, they’re still not here. Dunno when we’ll get Godzilla back but the repairs will be WAY more expensive thanks to the Imbecile Who Would Be King.

And now he wants to put tariffs and restrictions on American owned companies.

In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Kreiz (Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz) was asked whether it would be cheaper to relocate some manufacturing to the U.S. due to the tariffs, but responded: “We don’t see that happening.”

“We believe that production in other countries—where we can be efficient and more productive—is the best balance between manufacturing outside of the U.S. and [continuing] to develop product in terms of design and creativity in America,” he said. (source)

Ya know WHY most of the goods we consume are produced elsewhere? Factories were moved to China, Mexico, India, and elsewhere because corporations didn't want to pay U.S. citizens a living wage. The suits don’t like safety regulations, unions or anyone standing in the way of their insane C-suite pay packages. GREED. They also figure that Americans won’t care about the slave labor conditions that Cambodians, Mexicans, Chinese, etc. suffer as long as we continue to snap up the latest iPhone, Barbie, Nikes, etc. On the whole? They’re not wrong. I feel like I’m boycotting every profits-over-people company in the known universe and I’m still not consuming cleanly.

Getting manufacturing moved back to the U.S. is just one step in the process. There’s building and equipping the factories, finding and training a workforce AND paying a livable wage. This doesn’t happen with magic and fairy dust.

The more I see of the moneyed classes, the more I understand the guillotine.
~ George Bernard Shaw

Argument Clinic

Some folks are just feverishly looking for an ugly fight 24/7. They’ll find the reason, the spark for it in dust and smoke.

I’ve got no time or patience for that shit. You wanna argue? Got an urgent yen for a verbal tussle? You feel the need to flex your “debate” muscles? Feel a fit of condescension coming on? You’re a quart low on self esteem? Need to top up the old ego tank?

Go talk to your mother. Get a therapist. Join a club. Head down to your local pub. Get out of my face.

You want a civilized exchange of ideas, facts, and opinions? I’m fine with that but don’t play me with that devil’s advocate nonsense. Don’t come at me with the disingenuous “I’m just asking questions“ horseshit. I’m not interested in fluffing your ego and that’s what that passive aggressive tactic amounts to.

Maybe the folks who pull this jejune nonsense feel like no one listens to them and they have big, important thoughts and opinions? Okay. Get a blog. Write an opus. Stand on a milk crate outside Park Street station and pontificate to the masses.

Have a soul deep need to have the last word, make the final point? Pay me. It’s $150 per hour and I’ll need the bucks up front. What do you get? I’ll sit there exhibiting deeply thoughtful listening attitudes for as long as your wallet holds out. I’ll throw in the occasional “I hadn’t thought of it that way before” and “you make a good point “ for an extra sawbuck per interjection.

Hells bells, I’m deaf. I could sit in my comfy chair pretending to listen for hours on end. You could be raving on about Martians, tariffs, and game show hosts versus Fox “news” hosts.

People who pull the argument-as-sport snot-twaddle must really miss the days of the Roman Colosseum.

The Argument Clinic sketch – Monty Python

Cookies, Crap, and Heroes

Just so ya know, a macaron is just an Oreo that spent their junior year in France.

Yup, it's true and now I need a fancy shmancy cookie.
~~~
An addition to yesterday's VP Grim Reaper business. Apparently Death Boy endorsed his brother’s run for mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio. This was a primary – the final vote happens in November. Dude got an embarrassing 13% of the vote. Couchfucker’s bro lost BIG.

Showing that he’s every bit as delulu as his furniture molesting sibling, Bowman said "looks like he (his opponent) had a good head start, but we're kind of catching up a little bit.”

Yeah man, face reality. You could be the reincarnation of Lincoln, Gandhi, and Mandela but, with that train wreck brother of yours, you’re toast.

FYI – In Yiddish the word for bedbug is: וואַנץ   It’s pronounced Vants (or, Vance). No surprises here.
~~~
Here’s how you can tell you’re old – almost daily now, I find myself saying It’s always something. Sure, it amuses me to say it like Roseanne Roseannadanna but my annoyance and stone weariness is real.

Fer fuck’s sake, I have Nf2 – shouldn’t that be proof against all other health crapoli?! Yes, yes it should.

That CT scan I had last Thursday where the nurse couldn’t nail a vein for my goddamned IV? Yeah, I’ve been having all kinds of fun since then which may or may NOT be related. Could be the new symptoms and the CT scan and contrast are unrelated. Maybe something brandy new is falling apart in my old bod. FUN!

It's always something – if it ain't one thing, it's another!
~~~
In more hopeful news:

Hackers have targeted GlobalX Air, one of the main airlines the Trump administration is using as part of its deportation efforts, and stolen what they say are flight records and passenger manifests of all of its flights, including those for deportation, 404 Media has learned.
   ~~~
“Anonymous has decided to enforce the Judge's order since you and your sycophant staff ignore lawful orders that go against your fascist plans,” a defacement message posted to GlobalX’s website reads. (source)

If the names of the people flown to El Salvador are known:

• Families will know where their loved ones are.
• The info can be used to obtain lawyers who will advocate for their rights.
• We the people are able monitor the fucking process and expose the depths of unconstitutional depravity of this administration.

Other upbeat news – remember that MAGAt who chased a 5 year old Black, autistic child, repeatedly shouting the N-word at him as well as the man who stepped in to protect him?

She (Shiloh Hendrix) created a crowdfunding campaign to help her relocate from Rochester (Minnesota), saying she and her family had been put in a “dire situation.” She said she “called the kid out for what he was” after he reached into her son’s diaper bag.

NAACP officials Wednesday said her account wasn’t factual. They allege Hendrix yelled at and chased the boy around in an intimidating manner at the park. (source)

The ragingly sadistic Twatzilla has raised close to $750,000 SO FAR from her brothers and sisters in racist barbarism. The white trash fucker is getting rich off her racism. 

Racist Twatzilla (AKA Shiloh Hendrix)

Kiandria Demone enters the arena and has become one of my new heroes.

"This is not a situation where I just wanna cyberbully [Shiloh] and have people talking about her bad dye job. I want to actually get in this situation and make a difference," Kiandria said. Armed with first-hand knowledge around compliance and payment processors, she put her coding skills to work. 

"I cracked HTML web code to expose the payment processor funding the racist campaign that is rewarding a yt woman for calling a Black child the N-word," Kiandria wrote on Threads. "The payment processors and the banks are the real villains here honestly. They are the only ones who win either way. The racist people donating are just the idiots being taken advantage of." 

Kiandria identified Square as the payment processor embedded in GiveSendGo's checkout system and launched a coordinated online effort to hold the company accountable for hosting and facilitating hate-based profit.

"GiveSendGo is an online site, they have to have a third party payment processor and these payment processors have policies. 

They have laws, they have regulations that they have to abide by," Kiandria said. (source)

Make life Hell for those who profit from inflicting pain. Make racism unprofitable and massively shameful. As it it should be.

It's a Death Cult

Woke up with Blue Öyster Cult’s song Don't Fear the Reaper in my head. Why?

Have you seen our government in the past few months?

I mean, there’s J.D. Couchfuck, the pudgy faced, eyeliner sporting, diplomacy impaired, dimwitted, and assholian Vice President who proudly, boldly, says that he makes up shit to gull the rubes.

He insisted on meeting the Pope and short hours later the Supreme Pontiff was dead. Coincidence? I think the fuck NOT.

VP Name-of-the-Week visited India in late April and at least two dozen people were killed in a terrorist attack in Kashmir. Just now I read that India has retaliated, bombing Pakistan – 26 humans are dead. Would this have happened if Vance had stayed home? Doubt it.

We should have known that VP Many Names was a harbinger of death and destruction when he could NOT stop going on about imaginary refugees in Ohio killing children and pets.

VP Lying Sack of Shit has a death itch that he just can’t satisfy.

Then there’s that fucking ghoul, Stephen Miller. Honestly, he already looks like he was the original model for the Grim Reaper.

The puppy killing, grossly cosmeticized, hair extension and botox addicted grandma who simply lives for the chance to send legal US residents to forced labor prison camps, is obviously totally down with the Trump Death Cult too.

I only mention it BUT when Trump finally croaks, when his puppet masters are no longer able to Weekend at Donnie’s his bloated carcass, the horrors won’t be over.

He’s only a figure head, a fluorescent gaslamp to bring in the low wattage bumpkins and pervs. The American, Russian and other miscellaneous oligarchs who own Trump will still be around. It’s only a matter of time before they find their next charismatic (to the patsies, suckers, and fools), morality-free, power obsessed marionette.

One thing’s assured though, the next world wrecking freak (assuming, post-Trump, there’s an Earth left to destroy) won’t be the rizzless, repulsive, bizarre social bumbler, Vance.

Seasons don't fear the reaper
Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain
We can be like they are

We Can Be Heroes

Mike Lawler, House Rep for New York’s 17th District, is considered a “moderate” republican BUT, with how batshit fascist the party has become, what does that really mean? He’s a Project 2025 Trump supporter. That doesn’t sound so moderate to me. There’s no longer any such thing as a moderate republican. That died with Eisenhower.

“Lawler and his staff tried to rein in the crowd, but attendees drowned them out in the video clip, which ends with Lawler saying, “Folks, tariffs are way more complicated than you…” before it cuts off.” (source)

No, you bloviating Orange Anus suck-up, tariffs are not all that complicated. The bottom line is that tariffs are taxes on imported goods. The importing business pays the tariff . That increased cost is then passed on to consumers—us!

Mike Lawler is a pathetic scaredy-pants.

On Sunday, Lawler’s staff required people to RSVP and set up a series of ground rules, including that attendees live in the district, not record at the event, refrain from shouting or standing, and “be respectful of one another, of staff, and of the Congressman,” a sign at the door read. (source) 

Essentially, be doormats, don't insist on having me do my job, let me stand here and lie to you and I don't want proof of my spinelessness to get out. Oopsie, that backfired, eh?

Emily Feiner, a 64-year-old social worker from Nyack (which IS within Lawler’s district), was forcibly removed. Why? She asked a question and requested a REAL answer instead of Lawler's dodge and dance bullshit.

“I got called on. I asked a question. The question was: ‘What was his red line? What would it take in terms of unconstitutional actions that the Trump administration was doing for him to finally exercise his oversight role and call for an end?’” Feiner said in an interview. “And he didn't answer my question. He talked about appropriations. So I was frustrated, and I did call out, ‘Answer my question, answer my question.’ And then the next person, he didn't answer their question either.”

Feiner said that she was then approached by a member of Lawler’s staff, who told her: “You’ve been warned twice, you’re coming out now.” Feiner said that she had been targeted since she arrived at the venue, saying that Lawler’s staff “immediately zeroed in on me” despite the fact that “my behavior was no different than 80% of the behavior in that room.” She said that she thinks she was targeted because she has been to protests outside of Lawler’s office and has been critical of the congressman online. (source) 

OF COURSE Pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous words come to mind with a slight revision.

First they came for the Jewish social workers…

I only mention it Mikey BUT having your pet Gestapo carry Grandma out of your town hall is not a good look.

Emily Feiner showed more spine than most of our elected reps.

This is what America is now. Brownshirts carrying Grandma out of a town hall for exercising her first amendment right to free speech.

In the audience, Jeanette Spoor, a 74-year-old retiree, said she wanted to ask Lawler about the future of Social Security and Medicaid but wasn’t called on during the nearly two hour event.

“You’re not helping your constituents if you’re making it hard for them to get help,” she said in an interview.

She added, “I have no hopes for this guy.” (source)

I hope Lawler enjoys the rest of his term in office because he’s not gonna get another one. Considering the obvious fact the these republicans are micro dicked wonders, it amazes me that they can’t avoid stepping on them constantly.

ICE Needs to Melt

So far this year (fiscal ICE year begins in October), at least nine people in ICE custody have died—three in April alone.

Brayan Garzón-Rayo, a 27-year-old man from Colombia who lived with his family in St. Louis, died on April 8 at the Phelps County Jail in Missouri, where the local sheriff contracts with ICE to incarcerate immigrants. Nhon Nguc Nguyen, 55, from Vietnam, died on April 16 after spending two months in ICE custody. He was being held at the El Paso Processing Center in Texas.

Democrats in Congress are demanding answers following the death of Marie Ange Blaise, a 44-year-old citizen of Haiti, who died on April 25 at the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, Florida, after several weeks of being shuffled between immigration jails in Louisiana, Florida and Puerto Rico. (source)

ICE claims on its website that detained alien health care is one of the agency’s highest priorities. Yeah, reality and this statement have fuck-all in common. Detainees, those abducted by ICE, have been paraded in front of cameras, cut off from attorneys and family members, and held like unwanted dogs in some nasty ass, soon-to-be-shut-down-for-aninal-cruelty “shelter.” 

A report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Physicians for Human Rights, and American Oversight from June of 2024 found that, between January 2017 and December 2021 95% deaths in ICE custody were preventable or possibly preventable if appropriate medical care had been provided.

Gee...gosh...golly, I wonder who was president during those years. Yup, you guessed it—it was old Sphincter Mouth the Barbarian.

President Train Wreck wants everyone locked up in Guantánamo and trafficked on to El Salvador.

A government memo obtained by CBS News shows the Trump administration created broad rules outlining which migrants can be held at Guantanamo Bay, allowing officials to send non-criminal detainees there despite a vow to hold "the worst" offenders at the naval base. (source)

We’re next.

In a statement released last week, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the Trump administration's legal arguments around deportation cases suggest the U.S. government already believes it "could deport and incarcerate any person, including U.S. citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene.” (source)

Almost 90% of those kidnapped by ICE are held in for-profit private prison camps. ICE director Todd Lyons publicly, boldly said “we need to get better at treating this like a business,” and described his ideal deportation process as “like [Amazon] Prime, but with human beings.” This is what happens when government is run like some assholian, out-of-touch-with-humanity mega-corporation.

“Detention camp” fuckers are making big buckos off this administration’s unconstitutional denial of due process, its gross lies, and complete barbarism.

Who owns the ICE prisons? The GEO Group and CoreCivic are the primary villains. Their joints are forced labor camps. Yes, slavery is back. Honestly? It never left.

The U.S. is a Justice-Free Zone.  Do you know anyone who works for ICE, GEO Group or CoreCivic? Out those soulless motherfuckers. Name and shame!

By the by, the CEO of GEO Group is J. David Donahue. Damon Hininger is the garbage human heading up CoreCivic. He's so excited about all the incoming slaves, he's spooging his Tom Ford's.

Lion's Teeth

Dandelion
     noun
well-known plant of the daisy family found in Europe, Asia, and North America, with a tapering, milky root, producing one large, yellow flower, late 14c., a contraction of dent-de-lioun, from Old French dent de lion, literally "lion's tooth" (from its toothed leaves), a translation of Medieval Latin dens leonis. From Latin dens (genitive dentis) "tooth," from PIE root *dent- "tooth" + leonis, genitive of leo "lion"
I love it when dandelions grow through cracks in sidewalks. It’s heroic. They give me hope. If a wee flowering herb can triumph over cruel, soulless concrete, surely we can triumph over the burnt sienna Bozo’s ruthless and devious Fascist Party.

You probably know this already but, every part of the dandelion—flower, root and stems—is edible.

You can make tea from the leaves AND the roots. It contains vitamins A, C, and K, folate, calcium and potassium. It’s also a fine diuretic. So, they’re good for our kidneys.Tea made from the roots has a detoxifying action on the liver. Really! It’s also good at clearing up acne.

The much maligned dandelion has antioxidant properties too. Yes, they can help to prevent or delay some types of cell damage. Dandelions can assist in managing blood pressure and blood sugar AND lower cholesterol. They can reduce inflammation too.

Wine can be made from dandelion flowers.

Wine made from dandelion blossoms has an ancient legacy in Europe as a low-cost substitute. Dandelions flourish even in dry, sparse conditions. Therefore, the custom was carried on by settlers in the Plains States of North America.
   ~~~
Dandelion wine is essentially more alcohol than wine because it is warm and rich, comparable to a fine bourbon. You can prepare a drink that’s very sugary by using only the yellow sepals, or you can use the entire bloom to give it a little extra zing. There are many different techniques to produce dandelion wine, but as a general principle, you should acquire one liter of wildflowers for every liter of wine you intend to brew. (source)

You can find an ingredient list and recipe here.

Dandelion roos can be cooked and consumed like carrots. They’re actually more nutritious than spinach and broccoli. Wowie kazowie, eh?

A lovely veggie dish to try is dandelion greens with double garlic. Ya know, anything with “double garlic” is gonna be stupendous.

How about a wild spring green pizza?

Try a dandelion pumpkin seed pesto. MMMMMMMMMMMMMM, pesto!

Dandelion flower cookies? YES!

More here.

Never EVER cook and eat dandelions that have been treated with chemicals! I’m talkin’ weed killer here. I know, I know DUH but I gotta say it.

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

This and That

Don’cha just hate when the nurse can’t find a damn vein for the IV?

I was in for a routine/juuuuust checking CT scan on Thursday and, in an effort to nail one of my veins, I ended up getting stuck three different times. Why? What up? They need to shoot me up with ‘contrast.’ This is a dye that enhances image quality. It enables the radiologist to make more accurate diagnoses. On the final needle/vein go ‘round, after Nurse #1 gave up and passed me off to the next needle jabber, there was success. It was, however, painful to the point of tears (my pain and tears, not the nurse—her eyes weren’t leaking). While she was digging around, I had to ask, what? Did I forget to bring my veins with me today?

Lest you think I’m a whiney-ass baby, I have up to half a dozen or so MRIs with contrast done every year. I’m used to the IV action. This is just the second time in more than 40+ years of getting poked that there’s been a problem.

Are my veins collapsing like some common RFK jr. type heroin addict? Maybe but I kind of doubt it.
~~~
It seems Senator John Fetterman’s having more health problems. I read a summary in the Philadelphia Inquirer—the full article is in NY Magazine and paywalled.

Former and current staffers are expressing concerns about Sen. John Fetterman’s well-being, with his former chief of staff painting the mental health of the senator, who previously underwent treatment for clinical depression, as more dire than previously reported.

Fetterman says that former staff who’ve come forward are just “disgruntled employees.” Even if that's the case, his endorsement of Palestine genocide—“Let’s get back to the killing”—is, at bare minimum, deeply, grossly disturbing.

I hope Fetterman gets the help he needs before he fucks over the voters of Pennsylvania more than he already has. If not and he continues to be an erratic, flip-flopping mess what can be done? The 25th amendment solution only applies to presidents.

Congressional history is filled with examples of members who have had severe, debilitating illnesses. Senator Karl Mundt of North Dakota suffered a stroke and was absent from the Senate for the final three years of his term. Illness forced Senator Carter Glass of Virginia to be absent from the Senate for nearly two years. In the case of Glass, citizens of Virginia petitioned courts to remove Glass from his seat, as it was effectively vacant. The court refused to take action. (source)

Is Fetterman’s transformation from progressive leaning Dem to opportunistic, genocide endorsing, Manchin/Sinema knock-off due to the stroke rearranging his brain and not keeping up with his post-stroke treatments? Is he experiencing a resurgence of his clinical depression? Is he off his meds?

Or is he just engaging in political fancy dancing in an effort, in this insane trump era, to cruise to a second senatorial term? 

She turned to the sunlight
    And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbor:
    "Winter is dead.”
~ A.A. Milne, When We Were Very Young