A Scroll in the Dark

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Attribution: What Fresh Hell by Rick McKee, CagleCartoons.com
[Rick worked for decades as the cartoonist for the Augusta Chronicle in Georgia. Rick also draws the syndicated, daily comic panel “Pluggers.” Rick was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year, along with everybody else.]
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108 thoughts on “A Scroll in the Dark”


  1. The new Trump Mobile phone has arrived, rotisserie chickens now fly for free, and Stephen presents World Central Kitchen’s Chef José Andrés with a check for $2,497,404.15 representing generous donations from fans of The Late Show.


  2. Jimmy sends his congratulations to Stephen Colbert and the incredible team at The Late Show for all of the great work they have done over the last eleven years and he encourages people to watch their last show, Trump has been very busy making his bank account great again, he filed a $10 billion lawsuit against his own IRS which then settled by giving him a $1.776 billion slush fund, the Trump administration has indicted former President of Cuba Raul Castro, the Senate voted to advance a resolution that would limit Trump’s war in Iran, he took an early morning victory lap to celebrate destroying all the Republican candidates who dared disagree with him, he weighed in on the Mayoral race here in Los Angeles and gave his stamp of approval to Spencer Pratt from “The Hills,” MyPillow Man Mike Lindell is running for Governor of Minnesota and things are finally looking up, the highly anticipated Trump Mobile phone finally began shipping this week, and Jimmy talks to Donald Trump’s badly bruised hand.

  3. a twist on “let’em eat cake”
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/20/doj-prosecutor-jack-smith-trump-report-email
    A former Department of Justice prosecutor is facing felony charges after emailing herself a sealed Biden-era investigative report concerning Donald Trump and attempting to hide the documents as cake recipes, federal authorities said on Wednesday.
    Carmen Mercedes Lineberger, who worked as a managing assistant US attorney in Florida, is facing two counts of theft of government money or property in addition to charges related to her alleged alteration of the documents, according to the indictment.
    In early 2025, Lineberger received a copy of an internal report “related to a pending federal criminal investigation”, which she would later send from her DoJ inbox to her personal email in December 2025, according to the indictment. The report was filed in the US district court for the southern district of Florida, where she was employed.
    Lineberger allegedly sought to hide evidence of the document by changing its name to “Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf” before saving it to her government-issued computer, prosecutors said.
    The indictment did not offer further details about the nature of the report, but it did characterize the document as being blocked from public release, per an order from US district judge Aileen M Cannon.
    Cannon, who Trump has previously lauded as a “model of what a judge should be”, barred the former DoJ special counsel Jack Smith from discussing or sharing any findings from his investigation into Trump’s alleged mishandling of White House documents at the end of his first term.
    Smith also led an investigation into Trump’s alleged plot to obstruct the 2020 election. Both cases were dropped after Trump secured a second term. Justice department policy protects sitting presidents from criminal prosecution.
    In a January court filing, federal prosecutors condemned Smith’s report. “The illicit product of an unlawful investigation and prosecution belongs in the dustbin of history,” they said.
    Meanwhile, advocacy groups have sought to unseal the report through court appeals.
    It’s unclear why Lineberger sent the report to herself. She faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison if convicted of the charges.

  5. The Bishop of Rome, Il Papa, The Pope, is rumored to be calling into Colbert tonight.
    And also, Trump told Netanyahu “Yes I AM the boss of you!”
    The Strait of Hormuz is still closed and Trump has fallen badly in polling of Republicans as well as Independents.

  6. NYT:

    How the $1.8 Billion Trump Fund May Violate Past Practice and Policy
    The fund that could offer payouts to Trump allies who accuse the government of mistreatment is not only highly unusual but also appears to violate the administration’s own policies.

    By Devlin Barrett
    Reporting from Washington
    May 20, 2026

    The $1.8 billion fund created by the Trump administration this week to pay people who claim mistreatment by the federal government appears to violate longstanding Justice Department standards and practices, as well as a policy directive issued by the administration last year, legal experts said on Wednesday.

    Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, defended the fund at a Senate hearing on Tuesday, calling it “unusual” but insisting it was appropriate and reflective of past settlements.

    Justice Department veterans have been deeply skeptical of those claims, particularly when it comes to a provision in the deal that offers President Trump, his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr., and the Trump Organization immunity from tax penalties. They have also been critical of the decision to resolve a lawsuit filed by one group of people in a way that gives more than a billion dollars to an entirely different category of people.

    “I have never heard of the department ever being willing to grant blanket immunity,” said Jennifer Ricketts, a former branch director in the department’s civil division. “That seems blatantly corrupt. It’s a shocking gift to the president.”

    Justice Department veterans also said the new fund appeared to contradict a specific policy instituted by the Trump administration last year under former Attorney General Pam Bondi that largely prohibited payments to groups not involved in an underlying lawsuit.

    A Justice Department spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.

    The deal struck between the president’s lawyers and his own administration, without oversight of a judge, could involve major payouts to people who had not sued the government, as well.

    “I’ve just never seen litigation risk outside the four corners of the complaint being used as justification for something in a totally unrelated lawsuit,” Ms. Ricketts added.

    […]

    Anyone surprised? Anyone? Beuhler?

  7. But wait. Some still serve our country. WaPo.

    Police officers at Capitol on Jan. 6 sue to block DOJ payout fund

    The fund violates federal law and would legitimize political violence, officers Harry Dunn and Daniel Hodges argue in first known challenge.

    By Salvador Rizzo

    Two police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday seeking to block the Trump administration’s nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who claim they were targets of a “weaponized” legal system.

    Harry Dunn, who retired from the Capitol Police, and Daniel Hodges, a D.C. police officer, said in their lawsuit that the Justice Department’s new fund could enrich the far-right extremists who led the attack on the Capitol and embolden those who commit violence in President Donald Trump’s name.

    The use of taxpayer money to fund those payments would represent “the most brazen act of presidential corruption this century,” attorneys for Dunn and Hodges said.

    The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in D.C., is the first known legal challenge to the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” announced this week by acting attorney general Todd Blanche. No funds have yet been disbursed.
    In an unusual move, Trump agreed to drop a $10 billion lawsuit he had filed against the IRS over the 2019 leak of his confidential tax records, and in exchange, his administration agreed to establish a $1.776 billion fund to pay applicants who can show they were improperly investigated or prosecuted.

    Trump has long claimed that he, along with allies and supporters, has been wronged by Democratic administrations. Under the settlement, the president and his family cannot receive payments.

    A five-member commission that Blanche has yet to appoint would set the criteria for the awards and distribute them to eligible applicants. The $1.776 billion would be drawn from the Judgment Fund, which Congress created in 1956 to cover the cost of legal settlements or court judgments involving the U.S. government.

    The settlement — which includes a provision that forever bars the IRS from pursuing unpaid-tax claims against Trump, his family or businesses that predated the agreement — has drawn bipartisan concern. Critics described it as the latest step in Trump’s quest to rewrite the violent history of the Jan. 6 attack.

    The Capitol riot followed a rally where Trump repeated his false claims that he had defeated Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. A mob stormed and breached the Capitol, forcing lawmakers to evacuate and delaying the certification of Biden’s victory for hours. More than 140 police officers were injured, including Hodges, and the Justice Department has said the attack caused millions of dollars in damage.

    […]

    We have never seen corruption at this level, based on such an obvious lie, done so openly and with such a disingenuous explanation and defense. Luckily, some of the victims who tried to stand the line and protect the US from Dumbass’ supporters ain’t taking this shit lying down.

  8. The Trail Mix Architecture Update: WordPress 7.0

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    https://trailmix.cc

  9. Republicans expected to abandon $1B security proposal for White House and Trump’s ballroom and other disgruntlements
    WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leaders are expected to abandon a proposal for $1 billion in security money for the White House complex and President Donald Trump’s ballroom on Thursday after members of their own party questioned the timing and the lack of detail in the Secret Service request.
    Pressured by the White House, Republicans have tried to add the money to a roughly $70 billion bill to restore funding to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol. But the security proposal met with backlash from some GOP lawmakers who are questioning the cost and how the taxpayer dollars would be used.
    The bill’s text has not yet been released, but the Senate hopes to pass it this week and send it to the House before leaving for a weeklong Memorial Day recess. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., acknowledged “ongoing vote issues” on Wednesday as leaders tired to measure Republican support, as well as “ongoing parliamentarian issues” as they try to figure out what will be allowed in the bill under the chamber’s rules.
    Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said Wednesday that the bill would be “back to square one” without the security money because “the votes are not there.”
    Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said the effort to add the security package to the bill was a “bad idea” and he does not think there is enough backing to pass it, even if the cost were reduced.
    The wrangling comes as Democrats have criticized Republicans for trying to fund Trump’s ballroom when voters are concerned about basic affordability issues — and as some GOP lawmakers have grown increasingly frustrated with Trump. Several GOP senators have spoken out against the administration’s $1.776 billion settlement fund designed to compensate Trump’s allies who believe they have been persecuted, and many were upset by the president’s endorsement Tuesday of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the party primary runoff next week against Sen. John Cornyn.
    “There’s always a consequence with taking on United States senators,” Thune said Wednesday. The president “obviously has his favorites and people he wants to endorse and that’s his prerogative. But what we have to deal with up here is moving the agenda, and obviously that can become slightly more complicated.”
    Republicans could set parameters on Trump’s settlement fund
    The “anti-weaponization” fund, part of a settlement that resolves Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns, has unexpectedly become one of the main complications in the bill. Democrats said they would force votes to block it or place restrictions on it.
    Democrats have an opening because Republicans are trying to pass the immigration enforcement bill through a complicated budget process that requires a long series of amendment votes. Democrats are considering multiple amendments, potentially to block that new fund outright or to ban any payments to Trump supporters who harmed law enforcement officers in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
    Those amendments, along with others, could pass as a growing number of Republicans have voiced reservations about the fund. So Republicans are now discussing their own last-minute additions to head that off, potentially placing some parameters on the settlement and who could receive compensation, according to two people with knowledge of the private discussions who requested anonymity to discuss them.
    Thune — who said Tuesday that he is “not a big fan” of the settlement and doesn’t see a purpose for it —- said Wednesday that any new language potentially putting restrictions on the settlement is “a work in progress.”
    It’s unclear how any Senate Republican changes would be received in the House, even as some Republicans there have also criticized the settlement.
    House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Wednesday that the House will pass the bill “whatever form it takes.”
    Tensions rise between Senate and White House
    As Republicans challenged the settlement and parts of his agenda, Trump unloaded on the Senate in a social media post.
    He urged Republicans to fire the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, who said over the weekend that parts of the $1 billion security proposal cannot remain in the ICE and Border Patrol bill. Trump also renewed his long-standing calls for the Senate to pass the SAVE Act, a Republican bill that would require all voters to prove U.S. citizenship, and to end the Senate filibuster.
    Republicans need to “get smart and tough,” Trump said, or “you’ll all be looking for a job much sooner than you thought possible!”
    While they have been loyal to Trump on most issues, Senate Republicans have resisted his repeated calls — even in his first term — to kill the filibuster, which triggers a 60-vote threshold in the Senate.
    Hanging over the growing GOP rift is Trump’s surprise endorsement of Paxton. That intervention has Republican senators privately fuming that it could cost them their majority in November as they view the incumbent, Cornyn, as the better candidate in the November general election.

  10. MTG, among all the other nasty little things she has been, is a QUITTER.
    After incessantly running her fat mouth ad nauseum decided to QUIT rather than fight.

    Fucking loser.

  12. Hanging over the growing GOP rift is Trump’s surprise endorsement of Paxton. That intervention has Republican senators privately fuming that it could cost them their majority in November as they view the incumbent, Cornyn, as the better candidate in the November general election.

    Who was surprised by that endorsement? Had to be someone who knew nothing about Dumbass or Paxton. They’re in the same club.

  13. Stur, good point about MTG. Quit to avoid Dumbass’ bullying. The only difference between her and all but a handful of Republicans in Congress is that she’s not in Congress. All she did was go out the door pouting and sticking her tongue out.

  14. Craig,

    Everyone is curious about how Colbert would go out with a bang. I speculated it might be Obama and the Clintons, but the Pope would even top that.

  15. Jamie, my money is on the Pope!

    Today’s menu (plus Extreme Mortman — we throw spitballs at Sarah Huckabee making July 4th all about Jesus).

    The USS Nimitz is in the Caribbean and Havana is getting loud. Just another day in the global dumpster fire. Grab a booth and let’s find the intellectual honesty before reality completely melts down. Watch the teaser, join our chat 11am ET:

  16. https://people.com/air-france-flight-forced-divert-after-passenger-dr-congo-boards-in-error-amid-ebola-outbreak-11980988

    Air France Flight Bound for Detroit Forced to Divert After Passenger from DR Congo Boards ‘In Error’ amid Ebola Outbreak

    U.S. flight restrictions linked to the outbreak meant the passenger should not have boarded.

    Authorities prevented the flight from landing in the U.S. due to new travel restrictions

    Deborah Mistor, a passenger on the flight, told the outlet that the rest of the passengers were then flown from Montreal to Detroit on the same aircraft.

    “I think enough people must have been questioning what was going on because 30 minutes later, he came back on and said that he wanted to confirm that there was nothing wrong with the plane, there were no technical difficulties, that it was strictly because of U.S. authorities not allowing us to land in the U.S.,” she told CBS News.

    Mistor said the flight attendants then all put on face masks. “Having a crew mask up when they were not informing us of what was going on [was] very concerning,” she said. “It lets your mind wander as to what the situation you’re being placed in might be.”

    *Hopefully, everyone is well and there was no actual exposure, but if there was actually concern about public health…this is the dumbest regime in the history of regimes.

  18. https://www.fastcompany.com/91545731/this-sentence-about-ai-got-apple-co-founder-steve-wozniak-applause-not-boos-for-his-commencement-speech

    “You all have Al-actual intelligence,” Wozniak said, eliciting applause from the Michigan audience. “My entire life in the technical world, I’ve been following people who were trying to figure out how to make a brain.

    “I was at a company where the engineers figured out how to make a brain,” he continued, saying it “takes nine months.”

    *Notice that Woz did not go on to tell them to go make babies.

  19. Raul is the new target on Blanche’s list, directed by Kegsbreath & The Rapist.
    Because 94 is the new 45.
    Really? Raul Castro? DANGER!

  21. Dex, the 94 year old ex-President of Cuba (who was reportedly head of the Cuban military when the act occurred)? That Raul Modesto Castro [Ruz]?

    According to the indictment Raul Castro Ruz was Minister of MINFAR (Directorate of Counter Intelligence for the Cuban Military) and vice president of Cuba in 1996. It oversaw the Ministry of the Interior, which oversaw the Directorate of Intelligence, which was responsible for gathering foreign intelligence. According to the indictment, Castro Ruz authorized the use of deadly force against BTTR – the anti Cuban group that operated the flights that were shot down with 4 Americans (3 citizens + 1) onboard on February 24, 1996, alleging that in January on 3 occasions, Castro met with military leaders and authorized them to take decisive and deadly action against BTTR aircraft. It’s a conspiracy case as far as Castro goes.

    Pretty thin gruel if you ask me.

  22. Their passing a law to stop Clump’s Iran war just gets him out of it by blaming democrats.
    Not good.
    He’s practically begging to get out of this insanity he’s created, like his daddy used to do and there it is; “I could have won it if it hadn’t been for the American “traitors” who ruined it for him.”

    Do not save this schmuck and his little reptilian sock puppet Hegseth from the metaphorical tarring and feathering they deserve over this disaster.

    Make them eat it.

  24. Jamie! I don’t have the skills even to Post a Photo of my towns forest. But you could Look up the Harz Mountains. That’s the nearest low mountain range in the north.

  25. Today in the Diner…
    Epstein Files, Sherrod Brown & The 250th Anniversary

    Epstein files panic, Christian nationalists hijacking the 250th anniversary, and why Pope Leo XIV is taking on President Trump. A reality check.

    We are peeling back the noise on today’s Digital Diner, starting with the Epstein files and the sudden panic gripping Capitol Hill. If Thomas Massie actually knows what is in those redacted documents, it is time to read them on the House floor and let the chips fall. We also dive into President Trump projecting his own blackmail fears onto Netanyahu while parading around China without his toupee.

    Howard Mortman from C-SPAN drops by the booth to look at how politicians are already exploiting America’s upcoming 250th anniversary. We review Sarah Huckabee Sanders trying to turn the Fourth of July into a Christian nationalist tent revival, completely ignoring James Madison’s warnings about the establishment clause. Meanwhile, Pope Leo XIV continues making brilliant geopolitical moves that clearly get under the President’s skin.

    Plus, we cover Sherrod Brown’s critical Senate race in Ohio, the NAACP urging athletes to boycott southern colleges over voting rights, and a hilarious clip of King Charles reminding us about that time the British burned down the White House. Grab a booth and a cup.

    Live Chat: https://trailmix.cc/chat
    Website: https://trailmix.cc
    Alerts: https://trailmix.cc/alerts

    00:00 Intro
    01:10 The Epstein Files Cover-Up
    02:40 Pope Leo XIV vs President Trump
    10:30 Howard Mortman on the 250th Anniversary
    17:00 Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Christian Nationalism
    27:00 Sherrod Brown Ohio Senate Race
    31:40 President Trump Spotted Without His Toupee
    39:50 NAACP College Athlete Boycott
    1:01:00 King Charles White House Jokes

  26. https://www.reuters.com/world/india/adani-group-stocks-rise-after-us-drops-fraud-charges-against-gautam-adani-2026-05-19/

    Adani Group stocks rise after US drops fraud charges against Gautam
    Adani

    The U.S. Justice Department on Monday moved to drop charges accusing Adani and associates of paying bribes to secure power supply contracts in India, while Adani Enterprises separately settled allegations tied to liquefied petroleum gas imports from Iran.

    Adani Group stocks have been volatile since short seller.

    Hindenburg Research’s 2023 report alleging stock manipulation and improper use of offshore tax havens, with several companies recovering sharply from initial losses before coming under renewed pressure amid broader market weakness and legal scrutiny.

  27. ok i looked up Platner’s “controversies” and the left will never win again if inelegant Internet posts, or anything that trivial, are disqualifying

    nobody’s perfect damn

    watched a clip of him apologizing profusely for using a common expression and talk about personal
    growth, the left is so goddamned out of touch

  28. Jon Husted was Ohio’s Secretary of State for two terms before he went to Washington — he served as the state’s 50th secretary of state from 2011 to 2019.

    His path after that:

    – **2011–2019:** Secretary of State. Won in 2010, re-elected in 2014 over Nina Turner.
    – **2019–2025:** 66th Lieutenant Governor under Mike DeWine, after dropping his own 2018 gubernatorial run to join DeWine’s ticket.
    – **January 2025:** Appointed to the U.S. Senate by Gov. DeWine to fill the seat vacated by JD Vance, who left to become vice president.

    The Senate bio still lists him as a “former Ohio House Speaker and Secretary of State”, and he’s now running in the 2026 special election to keep that Vance seat, setting up the expected matchup with former Sen. Sherrod Brown.

  33. https://www.ibtimes.com/us-beef-exports-china-cook-row-maga-roils-brooke-rollins-3802945

    “We just relaxed tariffs on importation of Argentinian beef because the lack of U.S. supply relative to demand was jacking up prices, but now we are going to export the U.S. beef we were told we were short on to China? Make it make sense,” Sean Davis, the co-founder of the conservative magazine The Federalist, posted tagging Rollins. Davis is seen as a leading MAGA mouthpiece.

    Prices have soared 77% since January 2020, when ground beef as priced at $3.89 per pound, it said.

    The China export development was welcomed by the beef industry, which said China has granted a five-year extension to hundreds of US beef plant export registrations, opening access to one of the most important overseas markets for American beef.

    But the announcement seems to have angered Trump’s rural supporters, who were miffed earlier by the administration moves to ease beef prices through imports, Rawstory reported.

  34. so Favreau suggested as if
    he had inside info that the autopsy blames Kamala’s position on Gaza as the primary factor in her loss

    not that she had one and no i haven’t read it

  38. ugh why bother

    get into herbal teas or something like that

    nuts can be a treat

    weed soda?

    yeah they have sugar free weed soda, you won’t give AF about cake

    crackers and cheese and grapes 😮

  39. First Maine Senate poll since Gov dropped out:

    Platner led Collins by 7 points in the new poll, with support from 48 percent of respondents compared to the Republican senator’s 41 percent support. Eleven percent said they were still undecided about who they would support in November. — Newsweek

  41. My autopsy:
    There was no song and dance which could prevail after what they did to Biden.
    It’s like speaking to people who are facing away from the cave’s entrance. He shoulda done this, he shoulda done that, but when the Dems began to get shaky after the gop and nbc trapped him in that TOTAL trap of a debate……that’s the moment they lost.

    The one bedrock solid fact on this earth in my life that I know—if democrats kneecap their incumbent just before the election—they LOSE.
    78 years has shown me that.
    I was a child of tv so that also made me a child aware of politics since Truman-Ike.

  45. My autopsy is Republicans are dishonorable and will always stoop to Lee Atwater-dirty tricks and race-baiting tactics; Democrats can’t or won’t.

  46. I mean, if he couldn’t unify his own party, how could he win the general election?

    didn’t and didn’t

    beat Medicare tho 😜

  47. dude i was listening on my phone and when he said that i was just like “fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…”

    heart dropped

  48. but the people in the room with him did know and it’s not a bigger controversy than the most corrupt administration in history (trumpco), but they did know

    ran that mr mcgoo mfer anyway

    that’s a form of hubris also

  49. social media invalidated the conventional wisdom of incumbency that you’re espousing yourself to that i once did also

    the game changed to pro-wrestling

  50. Lessons from Lee Atwater that Republicans have yet to learn.

    In a February 1991 article for Life, Atwater wrote:

    My illness helped me to see that what was missing in society is what was missing in me: a little heart, a lot of brotherhood. The 1980s were about acquiring – acquiring wealth, power, prestige. I know. I acquired more wealth, power, and prestige than most. But you can acquire all you want and still feel empty. What power wouldn’t I trade for a little more time with my family? What price wouldn’t I pay for an evening with friends? It took a deadly illness to put me eye to eye with that truth, but it is a truth that the country, caught up in its ruthless ambitions and moral decay, can learn on my dime. I don’t know who will lead us through the ’90s, but they must be made to speak to this spiritual vacuum at the heart of American society, this tumor of the soul.

  51. The fucking guy you’re defending literally rolled out a red carpet for fucking trump and told him “welcome home” before trump’s 2nd inauguration, clueless

    fuck ‘im

  52. there’s always evil, it’s indefensible to assert that trump is some unique threat no one could counter

    he’s a bufoonish hustler, libDems have become THAT intolerable

    the online white millennial libs are insufferable

    they ain’t saving shit

    PRINT IT

  53. If he’d been supported he had a CHANCE…..Our senile old man against their senile old man…..without that support there was no chance. None.
    Biden’s fault? Irrelevant. The situation was that Biden chose what he chose and the Dems publically politically crucified him There is nothing following that which could have prevented a gop win.

    I usually don’t see any point to rehashing old stuff about stuff, but if it happens to come up I DO still retain a few perennial observations and opinions

    🙂

  55. Attribution: Pope Leo XIV steals Trump’s MAGA sheep by Michael de Adder, CagleCartoons.com
    [Michael de Adder was a political cartoonist for various publications in Canada and the USA. His work has appeared in just about every newspaper in Canada. In 2020 he was awarded the Herblock Prize for editorial cartooning. Michael is a two time winner of Canada’s National Newspaper Award.]

  59. listen, I’ll meet you halfway and agree that if Democrats supported Biden the way Republicans support Trump then MAYBE he could’ve won but that’s not how Democrats conduct themselves

    Like asking a cat to be a dog

    that would mean they would’ve had to have supported him despite knowing he was in cognitive decline

    if a single op-ed from an Old Hollywood A-Lister can bring down your entire administration then maybe you have deeper problems

  60. Old Biden may have been drooling but he was no Marius because when Marius was drooling he was also causing a major bloodbaths….at least Old Biden was spared any evil intent.

  61. PROGRAMMING NOTE: Our daily podcast airs 11-Noon ET on YouTube. WATCH Today’s Replay Here.

    What is Actually Clicking: May 21, 2026

    1. Politics: Republicans and Democrats clash over a $1.8 billion taxpayer fund meant to compensate victims of “lawfare.” – Punchbowl News ($$$)
    2. Hard News: Partisan finger-pointing erupts over USAID cuts as an Ebola outbreak forces enhanced screening at Dulles. – U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic
    3. Politics: DOJ veterans sound the alarm over alleged political weaponization of the John Brennan criminal probe. – CBS News
    4. Politics: Civil libertarians cry foul after Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein successfully ousts incumbent Rep. Thomas Massie. – News From The States
    5. Hard News: The DOJ sparks a diplomatic firestorm by announcing murder charges against 94-year-old former Cuban president Raúl Castro. – Just Security
    6. Politics: Foreign policy hawks sweat over a $14 billion arms sale and a direct call to Taiwan’s president that ditches the One China policy. – The Guardian
    7. Culture/Offbeat: Pundits mock the absurdity of reality TV villain Spencer Pratt’s surprisingly effective social media run for Mayor of L.A. – RealClearPolitics
    8. Politics: Panic sets in among the GOP as inflation and the Iran war drag midterm polling into dangerous territory. – WV Dispatch
    9. Culture/Offbeat: The internet rages after Jeff Bezos defends Amazon’s $40 million Melania Trump film as merely “a good business decision.” – The Guardian
    10. Business/Politics: Civil rights advocates go to war over new GOP legislation aimed at gutting federal contracting preferences for minorities. – PilieroMazza Blog

    These are the stories driving the most traffic right now—not necessarily the stories we think you should read, and not always the most recent.

    A roundup by our AI partner Silas (Gemini).

    Daily podcast airs 11-Noon ET at https://trailmix.cc/diner

  62. Ruh roh, Dumbass is gonna be PISSED. WaPo.

    Senate GOP, frustrated with Trump’s $1.8B payout fund, delays immigration bill
    Republicans postponed plans to pass money for immigration enforcement agencies ahead of a week-long recess.

    By Jarrell Dillard, Riley Beggin and Theodoric Meyer

    Republicans postponed their plans to pass billions of dollars in additional funding for immigration enforcement agencies Thursday after widespread frustration over a new $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” derailed the bill.

    Senate Republicans peppered acting attorney general Todd Blanche with questions about the fund during a lunch meeting Thursday, according to two Senate GOP aides familiar with the meeting, including who would be eligible for the money and what guardrails would exist to prevent people convicted of attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, from benefiting.

    The two aides, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal negotiations, said Blanche did not adequately answer those questions, and Senate Republicans didn’t feel they could move forward with their funding bill without a plan on how or whether they would address the new fund in the legislation.

    White House officials “need to help with this issue, because we have a lot of members who are concerned,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) told reporters after the meeting.

    Republicans had been rushing to finish the legislation before they leave for a week-long Memorial Day recess.

    Senators were already going to strike their plans to include in the bill $1 billion for security in the “East Wing Modernization Project,” the name for President Donald Trump’s proposed ballroom and underground renovations.

    The administration’s new fund to compensate people who believe they were victims of “weaponization” by the Justice Department was created Monday, when Trump agreed to drop his family’s lawsuit against the IRS in exchange for the creation of the fund and an agreement to bar audits of his, his family’s and his businesses’ past taxes.

    Republicans’ inability to include security funding for the ballroom in the bill and the prospect that they could restrict the administration’s “Anti-Weaponization Fund” are the latest signs that they are willing to break with Trump.

    Republicans control the Senate 53-47, giving them a narrow margin for error since no Democrats are expected to support the bill. At the same time, Trump is losing his grip on Senate Republicans after openly campaigning to defeat Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), who lost his primary Tuesday, and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), whose primary is next week..

    […]

    Oh, really, let’s see what they do after the toddler throws a fit.

  63. Full autopsy not compete until Elon’s part in 2024 is dissected.

    Preliminary autopsy: Dems ignored all of the Gaza folks. The Gaza folks were stupid enough to believe tRUMPsky was gonna be for peace in the region. He lied.

    https://www.npr.org/2025/03/03/nx-s1-5249686/arab-muslim-voters-dearborn-hamtramck-trump-gaza

    Last week, Trump posted an apparently AI-generated video of a so-called “Trump Gaza” development, which featured an image of Trump sunbathing with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    Reached by phone after seeing the video, Ibrahim Duhaini said it made him regret supporting Trump, and he would not have done so if he’d known Trump would post such a message.

    “He didn’t say anything like that before,” Duhaini said. “When he came to Dearborn, to the community, he said that he would strive for peace and justice for the whole region.”

  64. “listen, I’ll meet you halfway and agree that if Democrats supported Biden the way Republicans support Trump then MAYBE he could’ve won but that’s not how Democrats conduct themselves

    Like asking a cat to be a dog”
    ******************************************++

    I agree.

  66. Craig.
    I get along with splenda in a cake. I use it as a sub for sugar in “grandmas cake” It does change the texture of the cake a bit when baking from scratch. I don’t know about your cake mix. For my ginger bread I do a 1 to 3 mix of one part sugar to 3 parts splenda., in addition to molasses.
    For an insulin dependent diabetic, carbs are carbs in most baked products.
    I’ve never had any problem with splenda but there are some sugar free candies that give me intense gas and diarrhea, so I don’t eat sugarfree candy..
    Jack

  68. Sturge
    if my old neighborhood emails are any indication Democrats of all shapes and sizes are getting into this election. Groups that used to be strictly education about their favorite subject are now doing GOTV training sessions.

    Jack

  70. like how do libDems not have a de facto leader by now

    because it’s still a gatekept operation is the likely reason

    a couple wins here and there doesn’t mean the old way still works

    hey maybe it does but these rethugs are so arrogant they just laugh at hard questions, they don’t seem concerned (about midterms or anything else)

  71. everything Craig concluded in 2016 wasn’t wrong. It was just a terrible fucking time to say it.

    more right now than it was then

  72. Guess what! The blowback from the 1776 slush fund has caused Republicans to scurry away from DC early for the holiday weekend.

  73. BTW, poobah, I’ll expect a report on that cake. Yellow with fudge icing was a fave of mine as a lad. You might take Anon’s suggestion of herbal tea as an “and” suggestion rather than an “or”.

    So I’ve been wrestling with BP shit. Had an aberrant reading in a clinical trial I was participating in (not a BP trial, BTW) and my Primary said limit salt to 2 gm/day. Easy, right? I misheard it and thought it was 200 mg/day. (Not so fucking easy) Did my level best to do that for the past week and watched sys drop 40 or so points and asys drop 10. So to do that I had to closely monitor the sodium I was ingesting. The amount of salt in foods is insane. F’rinstance, that serving of SF cake would have 425 mg – and who eats that size piece – especially if it’s sugar free? And salad dressing JHC…

  74. https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2026/05/fact-check-claims-about-massies-previous-primary-vote-counts-and-gallreins-mail-in-ballot-numbers-are-true.html

    “You mean to tell me that Thomas Massie got less votes in this Primary Election than the last primary election when over 45,000 ish new voters showed up to vote in this years [sic] primary?

    Ed Gallrein received 10,854 “mail in” ballots votes tonight alone.

    Thomas Massie lost by 10,280 votes.”

    *It do seem odd, especially coupled with reports of Massie signs everywhere.

    Ah, but the Zionists like Miriam Adelson probably bought the election ~fair and square~ but they haven’t bought a Senate seat…yet.

  77. Mom made yellow cake with caramel icing that was to die for. The icing was art, and when it was really good it was food porn.

    Now there’s a real outy.

  78. BiD, let’s see if Dumbass criticizes the mail-in votes that beat Massie. Fraudulent, right? Easy to cheat, right? SOMEONE should compile an AI video of DonOld squawking about mail-in voting fraud and put those numbers up as a crawl.

  81. https://www.newsweek.com/trump-envoy-jeff-landry-heckled-video-greenland-visit-dont-come-here-11976759

    Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, arrived in Nuuk for the first time on Sunday in a bid to calm tensions after Trump threatened to annex the Arctic country for U.S. national security reasons.

    Landry walked around Nuuk offering residents Make America Great Again (MAGA) hats shortly after arriving in Greenland on Sunday, but few accepted his offer, The New York Times reported.

    Greenland resident Orla Joelson shared a video on X on Wednesday showed Landry walking through the city. “Don’t come here,” a person can be heard yelling in the clip.

    One Greenlander gave Landry’s entourage the finger as he toured Nuuk, while others scowled, the newspaper reported.

    “They should fix their own country first,” Hanne Hansen told the Times.

    *Attn: Greenlanders! Do NOT allow the US vampires to cross your threshold! Wake up, Europe! Wake up, world! Orange Adolf will try to take it all, or burn down what he can’t have in one way or another.

  83. “Iran would live nothing more than to see us all get Ebola.” -Apparently there’s a virus on FaceBook for a certain group of folks & this is now a talking point? I’m guessing they’ve never seen a PersiaBoi Lego video.

  84. https://people.com/donald-trump-told-don-jr-his-wedding-is-not-good-timing-for-me-11981491

    Donald Trump Jr. and Bettina Anderson are rumored to be getting married this weekend, but the president warned reporters he’s focused on “a thing called Iran”

    *BS, the old turd goes golfing every weekend. He’s scheduled to be at Bedminster. This may be the weekend for his medical treatment that he disappears for periodically; they could do that in NJ, and then he could make an appearance riding around in a cart.

    The other take on it here is that he may be afraid of ~another~ assassination attempt. FFS, there was never a single, real attempt.
    Of course, I can’t say that, or anything about Charlie Kirk, his “glitter widow,” or any number of things, which is why I am grateful for the Trail & 11-Noon.

  89. https://hoodline.com/2026/05/ice-swarm-outside-west-side-library-poll-site-sparks-outrage-in-san-antonio/

    ICE SWARM OUTSIDE WEST SIDE LIBRARY POLL SITE SPARKS OUTRAGE IN SAN ANTONIO

    …turning an ordinary traffic stop into a tense scene outside an active polling place.

    Eyewitness photos and accounts published by the San Antonio Current say about nine ICE officers arrived roughly two minutes into the DPS stop and that two agents used a phone to scan the driver’s face. According to the Current, the trooper later placed the driver in his patrol car and left while ICE officers stayed on scene. The outlet also reports that Democratic Bexar County district attorney candidate Jane Davis called it inappropriate for ICE to operate outside an active voting location.

    Witnesses also reported that Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar arrived and ordered the federal agents to leave the polling site, and that ICE personnel appeared to be in the process of departing as the sheriff showed up.

  92. ICE Recruitment Tweets Are So Racist That Cops Feared They Could Incite Neo-Nazi Violence

    ICE RECRUITMENT TWEETS ARE SO RACIST THAT COPS FEARED THEY COULD INCITE NEO-NAZI VIOLENCE

    A newly uncovered police bulletin warns that white supremacists may interpret ICE social media content as a call to violence.

    COLORADO LAW ENFORCEMENT officials warned their counterparts across the country that social media posts by the Department of Homeland Security recruiting for ICE contained so many white supremacist themes that they could endanger the public, according to internal records obtained by The Intercept.
    The Colorado Information Analysis Center cautioned in a March bulletin that “violent extremists” might perceive “White Supremacy Ideology in ICE Recruitment Materials,

  96. A few comments
    1. HS Athletes are not going to boycott big SEC universities because stupid shit legislators gerrymandered their votes away as long as they get big NIL money to play ball.
    2. That cake looks really good.
    3. $60M for a fucking MMA fight for an addled octogenarian? GMAFB
    4. Shit’s gonna hit the proverbial TS fan tomorrow and over this weekend. (Tough shit – fuckim).
    5. Does DonOld even know what Memorial Day is about? (Here’s a hint – it ain’t celebrated on a golf course)

  97. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/21/greenland-trump-us-envoy-jeff-landry-visit

    Protests at new US consulate after Trump envoy says time for US ‘to put its footprint back’ on Greenland

    Protesters carried Greenlandic flags and signs that read “USA Asu” (Stop USA) and shouted “Greenland belongs to Greenlanders” outside the Greenlandic parliament before shouting “go home” outside the US consulate.

    Prime minister says he will boycott opening, as protesters hold signs saying ‘stop USA’ and shout ‘go home’

    The US special envoy, Jeff Landry, arrived in Nuuk uninvited with a delegation including a doctor, who caused fury by saying he was there to “assess the medical needs of Greenland”.

    During his visit, Landry told Agence France-Presse he thought it was “time for the US to put its footprint back on Greenland”.

    He said: “Greenland needs the US. I think that you’re seeing the president talk about increasing national security operations and repopulating certain bases in Greenland.”

    *USA ASU – now we know a Greenlandic palindrome.

    This US regime is effing H/tler & the N&zis. The world needs to get their sh/t together.

  98. Ronnie Chang just did a terrific rip on the protruding belly button 5” from dumbass’ face in the Oval Office.

  99. https://www.newsweek.com/trump-elizabeth-macdonough-senate-parliamentarian-fire-explainer-11973953

    Why Trump is demanding the Senate parliamentarian be fired

    The president posted on Truth Social, “Shockingly, Republicans have kept the very important position of ‘Parliamentarian’ in the hands of a woman, Elizabeth MacDonough, who was appointed, long ago, by Barack Hussein Obama and a vicious Lunatic known as Senator Harry Reid, who ran the Senate for the Dumocrats with an ‘iron fist.’

    Trump continued, “Over the years, she has been brutal to Republicans, but not so to the Dumocrats — So why has she not been replaced? There are many fair people who would be qualified for that vital job. The Republicans play a very soft game compared to the Dumocrats. It is their single biggest disadvantage in politics. The Dumocrats cheat, lie, and steal, especially when it comes to Votes in Elections, but stick together, whereas the Republicans allow the Elizabeth MacDonoughs of the World to stay in power, and brutalize us. We need THE SAVE AMERICA ACT passed, and NOW — And, likewise, kill the Filibuster, which would give us everything! If we don’t pass at least one of these two provisions quickly, you will never see another Republican President again.

    “The Dumocrats will end up with 2 additional States, D.C. and Puerto Rico, and all that entails, including 4 Senators, many Congressmen, and many additional Electoral Votes, and they will also get their dream of a packed United States Supreme Court with their most favorite number — 21 Justices. The Dumocrats will eliminate the Filibuster on the First Day that they get an opportunity to do so. The Republicans aren’t doing it because they say the Dumocrats will never do it, but the Republicans are WRONG. Get smart and tough Republicans, or you’ll all be looking for a job much sooner than you thought possible!”

    Formally, the Senate parliamentarian serves “at the pleasure” of the Senate majority leader, meaning Republican John Thune of South Dakota has the authority to remove and replace her.

    In practice, that means it would not require a vote of the full Senate. The majority leader could simply dismiss MacDonough and appoint a new parliamentarian, as has happened in the past, including a 2001 dispute when a parliamentarian was removed.

    However, firing the parliamentarian is considered a major escalation because the position is traditionally nonpartisan and central to maintaining Senate rules and precedents. Lawmakers in both parties have historically resisted doing so or overriding rulings, arguing it would undermine institutional norms and open the door to changing rules to suit the majority’s agenda on a case-by-case basis.

    Newsweek has reached out to Thune’s office via a contact form on his website on Wednesday afternoon for comment.

    *Call Thune & tell him not to bend the knee.

  100. https://newrepublic.com/post/210800/donald-trump-jr-son-wedding

    “He’d like me to go,” Trump said. “It’s gonna be just a small, little, private affair. I’m gonna try and make it, I’m in the midst—I said, ‘You know, this is not good timing for me. I have a thing called Iran and other things.’”

    Trump then went on to blame the “fake news” for his impending decision, claiming that he would be raked over the coals by the press whether or not he attended. “That’s one I can’t win on,” Trump said.

    “He’s uh—he’s been a very, a person I’ve known for a long time,” Trump concluded on the topic of his first child. “Hopefully they’re gonna have a great marriage.”

    *Father of the year, eh.

  101. I’m gonna try and make it, I’m in the midst—I said, ‘You know, this is not good timing for me. I have a thing called Iran and the back nine.

  102. Donald Trump Jr. refused to speak to his father for an entire year after his parents separated.
    He was 12 years old when his father’s affair with Marla Maples was plastered across the tabloids. Furiously blaming his father for the split and the public humiliation, he initially didn’t want anything to do with him, hanging up the phone whenever his dad called. This year-long estrangement caused a deep early rift, though he eventually reconnected with him and went on to join the family business.

  105. Here’s my post-mortem on the final episode of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert:

    Going into it as if it were a normal show, knowing that it’s not ; we all go into each day trying to create some normalcy in this Bizzaro world where broligarchs and poor, white evangelicals are best buds, propping up a pedophile who is looting the treasury.

    Enjoyed the Chicago nod to Pope Leo, who would’ve been an amazing get, but probably thought it would cheapen the office.

    McCartney was my second guess because he was in NYC at SNL last weekend.

    I can imagine folks not understanding, or even hating, the Einstein-Rosen bridge bit, but it was kind of perfect. However you felt about it, it’ll stick with you like a weird fever dream. How did Cobert end his show? You’ll still remember it in ten years whether or not you liked it.

    Both songs were perfect, too.

    Oh, the “Lucy & Linus” bit – it would be fun if CBS actually got sued.

    G’nite.

  106. Kaitjustice | SUBSTACK
    The Jared Kushner Investigation - A RED STRING BOARD BREAKDOWN
    Read on Substack →

    Wait! Seriously, Jared Kushner bought 666 Fifth Avenue. He is the anti-Christ. LoL

    Scott Bessent!

    This is a good read.

  107. Jasmine Crockett just ended any future she might have by endorsing an AIPAC-moneyed candidate instead of Cori Bush for Representative in Missouri.

    Bush lost her seat last time because of Gaza. You know, the thing not mentioned in the DNC autopsy of 2024.

    Anyhoo, folks are turning on Jasmine Crockett. She’s shown her true self, and it’s just a being paid shill for BiBi.

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