The Justice Department posted pardons online bearing identical copies of President Donald Trump’s signature before quietly correcting them this week after what the agency called a “technical error.”

Hmmmm, tough problem, I get it. Lemme think... Maybe you could give them badges and not have them wear full face-covering masks? Or have them behave more like law-enforcement and less like gangsters kidnapping regular people? Just floating some ideas here.

Worth a read. Or so I think, anyway.

TIL: Mamdani's father was introduced to Marxism in America. thewashingtonstandard.com/zohran-mamda...

1. The approach of mainstream Democrats is summed up in this astonishing February advice from the Democratic strategist James Carville: “Roll over and play dead. Allow the Republicans to crumble beneath their own weight and make the American people miss us.” www.nytimes.com/2025/02/25/o... 🧵

Dutch elections yesterday. Far-right got ~48 of 150 seats. Exit-polls put right-wing extremist PVV at 19 seats. The counted votes now indicate 26 seats. So to summarize the Dutch in 2025: one third nazis, and of those a quarter of the closeted variety. How's your day going?

Funny how 10 dead white people in Kyiv are framed as proof of a brutal war of aggression, and 100 dead brown people in Gaza are merely an increasingly fragile ceasefire.

I see no potential conflicts of interest here... The Trump Media & Technology Group, which controls the social media platform, on Tuesday announced it would partner with Crypto.com to introduce “Truth Predict”, which would allow users “to react instantly to developments in major current events”.

New ICE recruiting ad

Major surprise development! It turns out bad things happen when you allow people to wear random camo and masks instead of badges, and have them not show ID as they stuff people in unmarked cars.

I hope you believe Sam Altman means well. In fact ... you better believe it, you might go insane otherwise.

Hard to see how a war can be avoided at this point.

Crap, Trump's gamble with taxpayer money worked. (Probably not for the taxpayers, but that was never a concern anyway.)

Es geht los...

Don't know the amount, but $130M is clearly just a drop in the bucket. Unless it goes to selected US Marines and special forces units that have special roles when the Insurrection Act is invoked, and whose loyalty to the king is too important to risk. Not revealing the donor is ... interesting.

An anonymous friend of the president is paying US military salaries, out of the goodness of his heart. Yeah, that sounds legit.

Decent Financial Times article on Trump's stranglehold on power through the threat of revenge.

"If the West Wing is the mind of the nation, then the East Wing is the heart." - Betty Ford

"The design is grotesque, but perfectly in keeping with the aesthetic Trump prefers — Liberace-meets-Albert Speer-meets-DJ Jazzy Jeff."

So the federal gov is closed and a suspected Russian asset is working a plan nobody knew in advance, using workers he controls, plus trucks and heavy machinery, right on top of the Presidential Emergency Operation Center? What would the US pay for a similar position vis-a-vis Putin?

Why does everyone keep calling it “The Epstein Ballroom?” Please stop repeating “The Epstein Ballroom” because it is not called “The Epstein Ballroom!” Don’t tell the news that it’s called “The Epstein Ballroom” and please don’t repost this!!!!!

So the US is buying Argentinian pesos in an apparent effort to keep the currency from devaluing. They're betting against the world's FX traders in a situation that reminds many of the Bank of England's position trying to defend the Pound Sterling against George Soros in 1992.

Nope, he's not just taking out one side of the facade. Nobody seems to really know what the plan is: all we know is the sketches were a lie. You just know some Russian asset is working on him right now: "You'd REALLY be the greatest builder of all time if you remodel the entire place."

"guided missile warheads and explosive components" for ICE.

"Hi. This is the White House. We'd like to rent the largest non-interfering hydraulic excavator with hydraulic breaker you have on hand. Yes, non-interfering."

Don't have time to convert playlists and find something else now, but if #Spotify is still taking thug-money for #ICE recruiting ads in a week, I'm cancelling my family plan. Have 1000+ song playlists, 60s - 90s, like music discovery based on them. Any suggestions where to go? #BoycottSpotify

Anyone else having intermittent trouble connecting to Signal?

And hopefully in another 50 years, it's going to be hard to convince new generations that the video thing actually happened.

After reclaiming frogs and the US flag, people are now apparently reclaiming the "USA! USA! USA!" chant. If this goes on much longer, all the GOP will have left is energetic nazi salutes and stale rhetoric about jews and brown people.

THIS! SO MUCH THIS! I would urge all Democrats to vote to replace anyone that has not understood that this is the bare minimum and that there will probably not be third chance to save democracy.

At the chique doctor's office, the assistant used the tone of voice reserved for legal stuff they have to bore you with. "We have to say we have AI listening to help us summarize. That's ok, right?" Her surprise gave away that everyone is fine with that. Seriously? This is where we are? 🤦‍♂️

Those reading this in Berlin: No Kings rally at Pariser Platz this Saturday: 14:00-16:00. In Amsterdam, milquetoast expats didn't want to hurt the feelings of their adopted royal billionaire and named it No Tyrants. Screw that though: No Kings! Museumplein, 13:00-15:00. (image: serving suggestion)

Nothing to see here. Just kidding. Boys will be boys.

POOF! $20B to bailout for Argentina became $40B. Payable only if Milei's LLA party keeps majority Oct 26. So the president uses US tax money to bribe voters in Argentina so his corrupt buddy there can stay in power. .. Hey, forgot to ask. This presidential immunity thing... How's that working out?

Only the very best musicians rise to the level of felony aggravated clarinet.

The resistance is much more well-organized than I thought.

Which Democrats are on the record saying that when they get elected, ICE will be immediately disbanded and a new and much smaller and more professional agency will be hired from scratch?

If your God needs to be saved by Eric Trump, ...

With some clever fashion sense, you don't need literal swastikas and SS-runes to signal you're with the team.

NEW: There’s a disaster unfolding in Alaska right now. And no major network is covering it. The remnants of Typhoon Halong battered western Alaska overnight. Homes, with people in them, have literally been swept into the Bering Strait. At least 20 are missing. No comment from any federal agency.

This is your reminder that if you are making any preparations for a wilder post-whatever world, you need to ditch any and all modern vehicles. For the price of one of these, get yourself a small parking lot full of early-90s Toyota LandCruisers.

Art at its best: powerful reflection of reality at the exact right angle.

Imagine that

Dutch people abroad: if they sent you one if these, now is a good time to send it back. (Yesyes, I will put stamps on it, just need to go buy some.)

Turns out that if a mentally ill moron is elected President, he picks a cabinet full of other morons and Congress and the Supreme Court merely cheer them on, ... ... bad things happen. I know. Weird huh?

"Just like we did with cartels, we’re going to take the same approach…with Antifa." Bondi explains how they're going to deal with ANTIFA - defined as those who meaningfully oppose them. So far, every step of the way, they've said what they were going to do. FFS, believe them!

Norway appears genuinely worried how the authoritarian American President will take it if he doesn't get the Nobel Peace Prize. Which, no matter which way you slice it, is a profoundly crazy sentence to write.

Planning to leave the US, but are sort of waiting for things to get just a little worse? Here's your reminder that you can also be too late.

Let’s check in on the warzone in Portland.