Rich with irony

ICE is carrying out a mission that a majority of Americans do not support, and is executing the mission in way that most Americans believe is extreme and abhorrent.

This afternoon, retired Army general Stanley McChrystal spoke at the retirement ceremony hosted by HRC for six trans service members who were forced out under Trump’s ban. “I shouldn’t have to be thanked for being here. First off, we shouldn’t be here. This shouldn’t be happening.” Full remarks:

The precedents

The video does more than raise questions about the bogus claims of Trump and Noem.

Key findings on economic issues in the new Economist/YouGov poll:

Stephen Miller asks on his CNN interview, "By what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland?" I put that very question to Claude AI.

Here is the Trump Doctrine, as articulated by Stephen Miller in his truly frightening interview with Jake Tapper this afternoon. It is very much like the doctrine of the dictators we fought and defeated in World War II and of Putin today. It is un-American at its very core.

New: "Oil And Gas Industry Spent $250 Million On Elections That Produced The Current U.S. Government—And A Potential Venezuela Windfall" 88% of that $250M went to Republicans. me, for @forbes.com with @opensecrets.org's analysis www.forbes.com/sites/zachev...

OUT: Helping you pay for health care. IN: Helping oil companies pay for their infrastructure in a foreign country.

This is very sad news. David Mitchell was a terrific person and a great champion for making medicines affordable. He will be missed.

Do you have a Republican representative? Call them. You don't have to like Chuck Schumer. I'm not asking you for that. But our situation doesn't change before midterms in any other way than enough Republicans breaking ranks with the mad king.

The Social Security Administration began the second Trump administration with a hostile takeover. It ended the year in turmoil. Long-strained customer services at the federal agency have worsened since President Trump began his second term, data and interviews show. https://wapo.st/4q0Fi31

Don’t lose sight of this (Trump hopes you will):

Trump's determination to run Venezuela and give American companies control of its oil industry puts the lie to Rubio's contention that the attack was simply a law enforcement operation supported by the military.

"We are not afraid of boots on the ground" is not a statement of military principle that most Americans would agree with.

I understand the desire of Trump et. al. to brag on the military operation, but no one questioned whether the U.S. is militarily superior to Venezuela. There was little doubt about our ability to do this, but after Trump's rambling talk there is even more doubt about the wisdom of doing it.

From Economist/YouGov poll two weeks ago:

Trump done a terrible job running the United States, so now he is moving on to running Venezuela.

Nobody elected Donald Trump to run Venezuela. In fact a lot of people voted for Donald Trump because they did not want presidents running other countries.

Did he mean to say "a military assault the likes of which has not been seen since the invasion of Iraq"?

Premiums up. Coverage down. Up to 22 million people face higher costs, and nearly 5 million could lose insurance—because Republicans in Congress took away the ACA tax credits. This didn’t have to happen.

Wherever this soulless place is, it’s not America and not a country where I would want to live.

Speaking from the bottom of my heart, my wish for 2026 is peace. A just and lasting peace for Ukraine. For nearly four years, the Ukrainian people have shown extraordinary courage under the fire of an unprovoked war. We wish them and all people across the world peace, well-deserved peace, in 2026.

As is usually the case, Trump’s claims on drug prices don’t bear scrutiny. "These deals are being announced as transformative when, in fact, they really just nibble around the margins in terms of what is really driving high prices for prescription drugs in the U.S.” www.reuters.com/business/hea...

Screwing up Social Security is a feature of Trumpism, not a bug.

Good on the Cookers

When you have a need for skilled care what are some of the things you look for? One of the most obvious things we look for is the quality of the skilled care Nurses, and staff. Rfkjr has decided to eliminate the nurse part of skilled care nursing facilities. Article linked in 2nd post. #SheShed

Trump is such a loser

This is key to understanding today's political arithmetic: 21% of Trump voters say they are now worse off financially than they were a year ago, per the new Economist/YouGov poll. Definitely not what they voted for.

Trump class is an oxymoronic phrase

This headline gets it right

From Semafor: "US intelligence assessments still find Russia’s goal remains to capture all of Ukraine, Reuters reported — findings that undermine Trump’s pronouncements about Putin’s willingness to deal."

1. BREAKING Sharyn Alfonsi, a correspondent for 60 Minutes, sent an internal email to colleagues stating that CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss “spiked our story” about the Trump administration and the transfer of deportees to a prison in El Salvador.

He very clearly took the side of bigotry.

Trump says that "affordability" is a recent political invention of Democrats, but it is been a central point at least since the fall of 2021.

NY Times vs. the Washington Post on Epstein files. The Fox Newsifcation of the Post is pretty sad.

Whatever Trump is hiding in the Epstein files must be pretty bad because this half-assed release/coverup guarantees the story will stay front and center for a long time to come.

First new production: It Can Happen Here

Three years and one month from today, I’m going to grab a pickax and pull those letters off that building, but I’m going to need help holding the ladder. Are you in? Applying for my carpenter’s card today, so it’ll be a union job!!!

The Kennedy Center is the Kennedy Center, and I am sure there are many people like me who will never set a foot inside it until Trump's highjacking of the place has been undone. Thankfully, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Company has moved its DC run to the Warner Theatre, where we will see them.

Really awful ratings for Trump in the new Fox News poll on nearly every issue. A tv address can’t fix the mess he has made of things.

It's bad.

This is quite remarkable. Wiles makes herself a witness for Letitia James, tanks Comer’s pursuit of the Clintons, criticizes ICE deportations of non-criminals, admits a land attack on Venezuela requires Congress to declare war, and compares Trump to an alcoholic. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/u...

“Integrity of the proceedings” is a sick joke

Kind of darkly funny that the government's defense of the well thought out plan for Trump's bigly beautiful ballroom looks like this storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Trump's depravement syndrome is 1000x worse than Trump derangement syndrome. People who are disgusted by Trump have lots of good reasons to be. Not being disgusted by him at this stage is a much clearer sign of derangement.

This should be the biggest story in the country right now. The sitting US President was extorting state lawmakers from his own party by threatening to withhold public money if they didn’t gerrymander for him. I don’t know how else to say it…

Trump to Nebraska: DROP DEAD (literally) Remember next November.

The huge drop in Trump’s approval on the economy in the the AP-NORC is getting a lot of attention, and deservedly so. But his high disapproval rating on immigration also is worth highlighting - a 23 point drop in his net approval since March. Trump has very little left going for him politically.