Easy peasy!
Unclear if he means Medicare, Medicaid and the VA, but there’s no logical reason why they shouldn’t be included. It’s fantastic! Just give the money to the people so they can give it to the big bad insurance companies instead of the government giving it to the big bad insurance companies. That will lower the costs hugely and the people will have a lot more money to spend and everything will be perfect!
Thank God his uncle taught at MIT.
He’s putting his cheap gold filigree and gold lettering all over the outside of the White House now…
That “walk of Fame” is the one that features the autopen where Biden’s portrait should be.
How about this?
The memes are coming fast and furious:
A real American through and through:
“That night I believed that I was protecting the rights of immigrants…And let us not forget that the great seal of the United States says ‘E pluribus unum.’ That means ‘from many, one.’ Every life matters no matter where you came from. No matter how you got here, no matter how you identify, you have the right to live a life that is free.” — the sandwich guy
I’m going to leave this piece by the great voting rights lawyer Mark Elias because it’s not just funny, it’s also inspiring. The sandwich guy is not actually a joke:
In moments of darkness, an unlikely hero must step forward — or in this case, a hero was thrown forward.
More specifically, a hero was thrown at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer. I like to focus my Saturday pieces on important news that may have gotten buried beneath the ever-crazy headlines. From redistricting to political prosecutions to election nights, there’s a lot going on.
So, when news of Sean Dunn’s trial — or as you may know him, Sandwich Guy — hit my Bluesky feed, I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night unless I shared it with all of you.
Let’s start at the beginning: It was a warm summer night in August. On Donald Trump’s orders, National Guard troops had descended upon Washington, D.C. Spirits were low, tariffs were high. But not high enough to prevent Sandwich Guy from buying a hoagie from Subway. The National Guard troops patrolling the streets were an ominous warning for our country, and an unsettling presence in the District. Trump’s claim that the agents were cracking down on crime — in a city where crime was at a low point — was a half-baked excuse to execute his authoritarian agenda.[…]
So, as agents patrolled 14th and U, Dunn took matters into his own hands. He flung the offending sub at Gregory Lairmore, a CBP agent, apparently shouting, “You fucking fascists! Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city,” and took off running.
For Dunn, his mission was simple: “I was trying to draw them away from where they were. I succeeded.”
However, for the judge trying his case, this is the meat of the matter. Was Sandwich Guy’s act of resistance a violent crime, or was it a harmless outburst? Pressing questions in a pressing case. And, for all of the judge’s talk that this would be “the simplest case in the history of the world,” it turns out it actually was a pressing case that extended into a four-day trial.
A jury was selected. Reenactments of the Sandwich Assault were performed. A witness was called to stand. Lairmore was asked to identify the sandwich (he couldn’t).
Because this was never just about a sandwich — this was about the future of America. This was about acts of resistance, freedom of expression, and our right to fling processed meats in the face of authority. Sandwich Guy wasn’t just Sandwich Guy — he was a symbol of the opposition movement. And both sides of this trial knew that.
The Trump administration tried to make an example of Dunn. They had him arrested and circulated the video. They tried to indict him on felony charges, but failed. At each stage, Dunn’s legend grew.
Eventually, Dunn was charged with misdemeanor assault, and over the course of four days, the government tried to prove the extent of the violent nature of this fierce footlong. The prosecutor insisted that we don’t have the right “to strike another person, even with a sandwich.”
And apparently, this was no ordinary sandwich. “I could feel it through my ballistic vest,” Lairmore, Sandwich Target, testified. One onion string hung lifelessly from his police radio. Mustard stained his shirt. One would assume he’ll have to get it dry cleaned. In this economy? A tragedy on its own.
Now, if Lairmore felt the Sandwich through his vest, this raises a lot of questions: Just how fast is Sandwich Guy’s fastball? Should we get him on the Nationals? Should these explosive, titanium footlongs be banned by TSA?
Dunn’s defense didn’t let the government go down an erroneous path. There seemed to be a conspiracy afoot (long). Dunn’s attorney presented an Instagram video from the infamous night. Beneath the caption “this sandwich is going down in history,” the offending sub — GASP — is still nicely in its paper wrapping, contents concealed. If the sandwich still fits you must acquit!!
The defense also points out that Lairmore and his CBP colleagues seem to find humor in this situation. Lairmore’s coworkers bought him a sandwich plushie (which lives on his shelf) and he proudly dons a “felony footlong” sticker on his lunchbox. Would someone so traumatized from this situation be surrounded by constant reminders of it?[…]
After four days of trial, the jury — on the verge of laughter themselves — is sent away to deliberate. They must determine whether Sandwich Guy acted “forcibly.” Seven hours later, we finally had our verdict: not guilty.
After many victories on Tuesday, it was another win for the opposition movement. Because, remember: this was never just about a sandwich. Republicans wanted to make an example of Sandwich Guy — to prove that Washington, D.C., was a city riddled with crime in need of law and order. But Sandwich Guy isn’t a criminal — he is a man who was standing up for the people against tyranny — sandwiches be damned.
Mark Elias is a national hero (sandwich) too.
The New York Times interviewed Fox News’ resident jerk Greg Gutfeld whose late night show is apparently getting higher ratings than any of the other late night hosts. This is seen as a great triumph except for the fact that the others combined are far bigger. He gets all the wingnuts, just as Fox does.
In this excerpt he’s talking about them and why they are allegedly miserable failures compared to him:
You described their shows as being therapy sessions for people who are mad at the world. Is there not a way in which your show functions similarly? Oh, no. Our show is fun.
You can be fun and mad at the same time. You can. But generally, I like to be part of the punching bag, and I encourage that among the guests. The teasing makes it fun. And also I genuinely like people that I tease. In fact, if you want to know the people I don’t like, it’s the people that I don’t tease.
So you must love the women of “The View.” Yes! I love Whoopi.
You must be a big fan of Rosie O’Donnell? I put the people I don’t know in a different kind of room, but I make fun of everybody that I love, and relentlessly. … I say that “Trump derangement syndrome” is now an addiction. It’s creating a filter in which everything you look at, the people that you know, your relationships are all seen through this. “If you don’t see this my way, we’re gonna have a problem.” My reflex, no matter what the story is, is to always put it back in its box so it doesn’t become something that changes the way I view people.
You don’t think there’s a way in which your show also sits behind the Trump filter? It’s as if you’re saying it only works one way. Yeah, but there’s a key difference here. I may think you’re wrong; you might think I’m evil. The teasing and the ridicule is not “You’re Hitler” or “You’re a fascist.” If I insult you over the top, it’s obviously a joke. I don’t put a target on your back.
I think you’re being a little disingenuous. Am I really?
I read all your books. The most blatant counterexample to what you’re talking about is, you literally use the phrase: “The left are dumb fascist mothereffers.” What book was that?
Your most recent one, “The King of Late Night.” I’ll have to look back at that. What was the context?
The left. Who was I talking about?
The left. It was a blanket statement. I don’t remember the specific context. Was it part of some kind of amplifying narrative — where it’s like, “These people are a threat to democracy,” “It’s gonna lead to World War III”? This is the most damaging thing that has happened in the United States, I believe, because if you look at everything from the Palisades fire to Charlie Kirk getting shot, these are all the product of amplified narratives. The repetition, the brainwash, the persuasion of being told over and over again. I’d have to look at that and see what I said. I imagine that it was in some kind of paragraph of hyperbole where I was having fun, if it was in all caps especially. Or I could have been mocking the actual language. I don’t know, I’d have to trust you on that. You seem like a nice guy — for now, anyway.
He’s clearly an idiot who doesn’t even know what’s in his own book. And the “we’re just having fun joking around and you people are a bunch of dry sticks” is a very boring old trope. But this whining about how the cruel left is name-calling is just too much:
I could go on but why bother? They are convinced that they are decent, God-fearing people who never have an unkind thing to say about anyone and yet are being called fascists and their feelings are very, very hurt.
But sure, they’re just fun-loving jokesters.
The protest movement is getting it done:
Rick Perlstein sent me this from a protester who was throttled and abducted by ICE agents. I can’t believe this is America:
One of the upsides about all this is that even though these agents are masked and unidentifiable, and thus unaccountable, their leadership is not. They can be the ones held responsible for every single act of brutality their henchmen carry out.
And ICYMI (Wired):
Criminals posing as US immigration officers have carried out robberies, kidnappings, and sexual assaults in several states, warns a law enforcement bulletin issued last month by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The bureau urges agencies to ensure officers clearly identify themselves and to cooperate when civilians ask to verify an officer’s identity—including by allowing calls to a local police precinct. “Ensure law enforcement personnel adequality [sic] identify themselves during operations and cooperate with individuals who request further verification,” it says.
Fat chance. One commenter wryly observes, “It’s so confusing … ICE agents are acting like criminals, and criminals are posing as ICE agents.”
* * * * *
No King’s One Million Rising movement
50501
May Day Strong
Freedom Over Fascism Toolkit
The Resistance Lab
Choose Democracy
Indivisible: A Guide to Democracy on the Brink
You Have Power
Chop Wood, Carry Water
Thirty lonely but beautiful actions
Attending a Protest Surveillance Self-Defense
The Trump administration made good on its threat to appeal a federal judge’s order to release SNAP emergency funds to 42 million Americans facing hunger during the government shutdown. Late Friday, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who oversees that judicial district, granted a stay on the order:
The justice did not rule on the legality of the White House’s actions. Instead, she imposed a pause meant to give an appeals court more time to weigh legal arguments in the case, as the government forged ahead in its bid to withhold funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during the federal shutdown.
The order, known as an administrative stay, came as a growing number of states, including New York, Kansas, Pennsylvania and Oregon, had started to release full benefits to their residents anyway. Many announced their plans on a day when even the Agriculture Department had suggested in guidance that it could soon make the money available for food stamps, after initially refusing to do so.
But it remained unclear late Friday how the new, temporary hold imposed by the Supreme Court might now affect some of those payments, or whether SNAP benefits might once again face delays, cuts or other restrictions.
The appeal came hours after the USDA announced it had set about funding the program to comply with the court order.
View on Threads
Look beyond the legal wrangling. Let’s be clear. Trump’s effort to stop the flow of food aid to American families is not something he had to do. It is something he chose to do. Once the court ruled that distributing SNAP funds from the emergency reserve was legal and appropriate, the Trump administration might simply have released the emergency funding and saved food-insecure Americans additional anxiety, scrounging, and growling bellies. It/he just doesn’t want to. Because it’s more important to Trump that everyone know that he is above the law. No Obama-appointed judge can tell him what to do.
“JoJo From Jerz” (Joanne Carducci) wants to make sure you don’t miss that:
View on Threads
* * * * *
No King’s One Million Rising movement
50501
May Day Strong
Freedom Over Fascism Toolkit
The Resistance Lab
Choose Democracy
Indivisible: A Guide to Democracy on the Brink
You Have Power
Chop Wood, Carry Water
Thirty lonely but beautiful actions
Attending a Protest Surveillance Self-Defense
Polar Bears!
A northern Ontario polar habitat benefited from an award-winning pumpkin donated by Jeff Warner of Aidie Creek Gardens, who gave the habitat a 1,400-pound pumpkin. The donation was to the delight of Henry, the habitat’s 1,200-pound polar bear, who more than had his fill of the massive pumpkin. “
Jeff was driving it up the highway.” The staff member saw the Aidie Creek Gardens info on the side of the van, so she gave them a call. “And pretty quickly they got back to me and said, if we don’t take it, it’s just going in the compost,” Baxendell-Young said. “They brought it right to us. So that was great.” She said pumpkins are a popular seasonal treat for bears, and the habit normally receives a bunch of them as donations after Halloween. So she already knew that Henry loves pumpkins.
Although he was a little hesitant when it first arrived. “Henry actually came out and didn’t know what it was — and got actually quite defensive … because I think he was just quite shocked at this new thing in his enclosure,” she said.
But, as the habit’s live video feed showed, it didn’t take long for him to chow down. While Henry loves the taste, Baxendell-Young said the pumpkin is “an empty food for them.” They can eat as much as they want without gaining weight, unlike brown bears, who store the food for hibernation. “It tastes really good, but it does just go directly through their digestive systems,” she said. “There’s going to be a lot of pumpkin poop for us to pick up in the coming days.”
“It’s to bring light to polar bears and to celebrate them as they’re coming to congregate on the coast up near Churchill, Man., and all along the Hudson Bay in the James Bay Coast as they’re waiting for the sea ice to reform so they can head back out to start hunting again,” Baxendell-Young said.
It’s also an opportunity to remind people of the challenges polar bears are facing. Ice is forming later and later because of climate change, and polar bears need the sea ice to hunt seals. That means the bears are struggling to get enough to eat and are more prone to disease.
“The winters are warming, the ice-free period is getting longer,” Baxendell-Young said.
The Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat is a home for polar bears that can’t live in the wild. It’s currently caring for two bears: Henry and Ganuk.
Here’s Henry taking a snooze:
More Henry:
Henry and his buddy Ganuk:
The AP went down to Venezuela to find out who Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth are murdering with impunity:
One was a fisherman struggling to eke out a living on $100 a month. Another was a career criminal. A third was a former military cadet. And a fourth was a down-on-his-luck bus driver.
The men had little in common beyond their Venezuelan seaside hometowns and the fact all four were among the more than 60 people killed since early September when the U.S. military began attacking boats that the Trump administration alleges were smuggling drugs. President Donald Trump and top U.S. officials have alleged the craft were being operated by narco-terrorists and cartel members bound with deadly drugs for American communities.
One mother describes the “confusion and anguish” of losing her son, who is believed to have been killed in one of the boats targeted by the U.S. military.
The Associated Press learned the identities of four of the men – and pieced together details about at least five others – who were slain, providing the first detailed account of those who died in the strikes.
[…]
The Trump administration has justified the strikes by declaring drug cartels to be “ unlawful combatants ” and said the U.S. is now in an “armed conflict” with them. Trump has said each sunken boat has saved 25,000 American lives, presumably from overdoses. The boats, however, appear to have been transporting cocaine, not the far more deadly synthetic opioids that kill tens of thousands of Americans each year.
There is no epidemic of cocaine deaths in America, fergawdsakes. It’s the opioids. But I guess since they know it doesn’t matter what they say, they could claim they’re all carrying nuclear weapons and get away with it.
They are murdering these poverty stricken men who are scraping together a few bucks by taking some cocaine to the islands where it will be sent to Europe. (America doesn’t obtain cocaine this way — it comes over the U.S.- Mexican border.) It goes against American law and International law but they don’t care. And if you buy the logic they are using they can claim that anyone who sells or uses drugs in another country or inside the United States is a narco-terrorist subject to summary execution any time the president orders it.
Reminder: Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is sitting in the Hague awaiting trial for enacting this policy.
This needs much more circulation than it’s gotten:
He’s got three years to go, folks.
Here he is today, doubling down on saying that the economy is terrific.
He sounds crazy. And I expect that even some Republicans see it.