Portland called. They said they are neither war-ravaged nor burning to the ground.

With Trump boasting of the billions of dollars that will flow into the treasury as a result of his tariffs, this is a good time to recall that every penny of this windfall will be sucked out of the pockets of US companies and US consumers.

See how easy it is to not be an ass-kissing, sycophantic suckup? Others should give it a try. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/u...

As promised, in light of the WaPo report of Everglades camp detainees being swarmed by mosquitoes in the shower and unable to sleep at night due to being bitten, I want to briefly address concentration camp history and mosquitoes. I won't be comprehensive but will give a few examples. [1/17]

July 23, 2025

This is insane. When will this unspeakable inhumanity end? Israel under Netanyahu has lost all claim to the moral high ground it once held. www.ft.com/content/acb6...

Truth is indeed better than fiction: www.borowitzreport.com/p/obama-post...

Showing amity and respect for our most important commercial partner, our most indispensable ally, and our best friend.

Genius negotiator Trump threatens Russia with tariffs. But tariffs are taxes on imports, and the US imports almost nothing from Russia. In 2024, US imports from Russia were about the same as imports from Sri Lanka. There is literally nothing to place tariffs on!

What is with the headline writers at NYT? Stop lying. Trump is not taxing Brazil with his insane and economically illiterate tariffs. He is taxing US firms and US consumers. They are the ones who will pay the tariffs.

Given Trump’s Brazil madness, this is an opportune moment to remind Americans that tariffs on products imported from Brazil are paid by the US purchasers of those products. Not the exporter in Brazil. Not the country of Brazil. Coffee and orange juice, anyone?

Republicans think it is important to investigate Biden’s cognitive decline while in office, but not important to investigate whether key staff vacancies at federal weather agencies as a result of DOGE cuts contributed to the tragic outcome of recent flash floods in Texas. Sure. Makes perfect sense.

Imagine my elation when Trump pronounced yesterday that there would be “no tax on social security for our great seniors.” Awesome! Except it’s a big, fat lie. There is nothing in Trump’s budget - not a single word - about eliminating tax on social security income. Smarten up, people. He’s a liar.

Trump continues to tell the same old lie about tariffs, saying he would send a letter to trade partners advising them “what tariff they're going to be paying."

It was quite a day yesterday in Trump’s America.

Turns out tomatoes present a good case-study of just how stupid Trump’s trade policy is. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/o...

This is a good time to remember the JCPOA with Iran put in place under Obama. You know, the nucelar deal that Trump branded as “a disaster” and withdrew from, only to replace it with… nothing. Turns out the JCPOA was doing exactly what it was supposed to do:

The evidence cannot be ignored. ICE is a terrorist gang. They have more in common with a white nationalist militia than they do with an actual law enforcement agency.

Terrorism is defined as “the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.” When ICE gangs sneak up on law-abiding immigrants who are in the US legally and snatch them off the streets, this is terrorism, pure and simple.

I'm trying to imagine a Democratic president saying openly and proudly that he would be sending federal agents to target the 'Republican Power Center' in Texas, Florida, and Tennessee. We would be in the midst of a civil war before he'd finished saying those words.

Israel can launch a strike so precisely targeted that it kills a bunch of generals and nuclear scientists a thousand miles away. But when there is one Hamas fighter in a building where hundreds of non-combatant civilians are living, they blow up the building, and the non-combatant civilians with it.

When campaigning, Trump assured us repeatedly that “other countries” would pay the insane tariffs he proposed. Now he is strong-arming Amazon to hide the cost of tariffs, and threatening Walmart that they must “eat” the cost of the tariffs. Fucking liar. And anybody who believed him is an idiot.

Trump’s “Liberation Day” is the new “Infrastructure Week.”

Everyone should know how General Charles C. Rogers, the brave American whom serial draft-dodger Trump has erased from history for being black, earned his Congressional Medal of Honor: www.cmohs.org/recipients/c...

apnews.com/article/trum... Any chance this will persuade the rubes that their hero is a lying sack of shit? Not a chance.

apnews.com/article/isra... Utterly shameful.

News of the Godly: www.texastribune.org/2025/03/12/r...

The president who gave a blanket pardon to those convicted of violent crimes related to the Jan 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol labeled those protesting at Tesla dealerships “domestic terrorists” and promised that his government would make sure they “go through hell.” What an anticonstitutional jerk!

Yesterday, Trump once again trotted out the preposterous lie that the U.S. “subsidizes” Canada to the tune of $200 billion annually. This is absolute nonsense.

Trump called the consumer boycott of Tesla "illegal." What? Do consumers no longer have the right to exercise their freedom of choice in how they spend their money?

In an attempt to obscure his subservience to Putin, Trump threatens Russia with tariffs. Somebody tell him that the US imports almost nothing from Russia, so there are no imports to place tariffs on. In 2024, imports from Russia were about the same as imports from Nicaragua. That ain't much.

This is stunning: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/w...

Trump world invariably refers to Elon Musk as simply “Elon.” This is creepy and cult-like.

Anybody remember Flin Flon’s own Eric “Elbows” Nesterenko?

What would Gordie do?

Some of his readers have asked Mike Masnick @mmasnick.bsky.social why his technology news site, Tech Dirt, has been covering politics so intensely lately. www.techdirt.com/2025/03/04/w... I cannot recommend Mike's reply enough. It's exactly what readers need to hear, what journalists need to do.

After Trump's comments last night, there can no longer be any doubt that his administration's perverse wrecking ball will soon be aimed at social security. What was once unthinkble is now likely.

Only one thing Trump says about tariffs is true. They will indeed bring money into government coffers. They will suck the money right out of the pockets of US consumers and US businesses, and use it to fund the massive tax cuts for the rich they are ready to roll out.

Dems should not be talking about disrupting Trump’s MAGA pep rally tonight. They should be talking about boycotting the farcical affair entirely. Come on, man! Show some leadership!

With Trump’s tariffs on Mexico and Canada set to take effect tomorrow, we should all be clear on what tariffs are and how they work.

God Bless Vermont!