User-Supported News Commentary Hosted by Craig Crawford
Dumbing Down
Attribution: Dumb Phone by Harley Schwadron, CagleCartoons.com
Author: patd
“But I don’t want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."
"How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
View all posts by patd
47 thoughts on “Dumbing Down”
to the point, Trail friend BiD’s news share last thread explains why it might be a good thing to go retro-tech:
Supporters of President Donald Trump expressed anger and disbelief online following reports that his administration had advanced plans to create a national citizen database with technology firm Palantir.
The reaction from Trump’s supporters reflected growing unease within conservative circles, indicating a rare rupture between the president and key segments of his constituency. The controversy underscores nationwide anxieties around privacy, civil liberties, and the growing influence of technology firms over personal information management.
“People are so quick to suggest that I flipped on Trump…No, no, no…I didn’t flip on Trump. TRUMP FLIPPED ON US. I’m just not willing to continue living in a LIE, and I will tell you the unfortunate TRUTH about it,” The Patriot Voice wrote on X to his 158,000 followers.
Nick Fuentes, a far-right Trump supporter described as an “America First” white nationalist, called the association between the Trump administration and Palantir “the ultimate betrayal of his own people.”
“Feeding every ‘MAGA extremist’ into an AI database controlled by a CIA/Mossad cutout,” Fuentes said on X, where he has roughly 561,000 followers. “Seriously, if Palantir isn’t the deep state, then what is?”
“I’m beginning to think it started when DJT walked down that escalator, before 2016,” wrote an X user with the moniker “Redneck Common Sense.”
Other critics, including activist Jason Bassler, compared the plan to China’s “Social Credit System,” warning of the dangers of centralized personal dossiers.
“No, this Palantir database isn’t like the others,” Bassler wrote on X on June 1. “It will combine:
-Tax filings
-Student debt
-Social Security
-Bank accounts
-Medical claims
-Immigration status
“No previous database system has ever centralized this much personal info across various federal agencies.”
Former Republican Representative Justin Amash: “The surveillance state…the police state…the deep state……are alive & well under Trump. He signed bills to extend & expand mass surveillance. Now he’s building profiles’ on millions of law-abiding Americans. It’s an extraordinary threat to liberty.”
Paul Graham, computer scientist, said: “Palantir is ‘helping build the infrastructure of the police state.’”
her p.s. on the above:
*Ive written to, and called, my members of Congress about this issue…so I guess that’s going down in my permanent record. LoL
President Trump’s daily intelligence briefing has a new look.
the monologue that followed
America’s intelligence chiefs are seeking a more engaging way to brief the president, the head of FEMA is cracking jokes about hurricane season, FBI Director Kash Patel probably looks bigger in person, and Tinder has a new minimum height setting.
dumb is as dumb does
published in 2024 Dumb Down is a parody of “Downtown,” a song made famous by the performance of Petula Clark back in 1964. The parody lyrics were written by Freedom Toast with video production by Parody Project.
and the parody project’s newest hit is on the press sec:
Taco Belle is an expansion on the term, “Taco Trade.” The TACO Trade is a market strategy and Wall Street phenomenon, an acronym for “Trump Always Chickens Out,” which was coined by the Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong in May 2025 to describe investor reactions to President Donald Trump’s fluctuating tariff policies
Executive Producers Don Caron and Jerry Pender
Attribution: Trump taco rooster by Taylor Jones, Politicalcartoons.com
Fully expect the U.S. Army’s 250th-anniversary parade to include a sing-song dedicated just to President Donald Trump, whose birthday falls on the same day, said the State Department’s chief of protocol Monica Crowley.
“June 14 is a special day,” Crowley, a former Fox News personality, told MAGA flamethrower Steve Bannon on his “War Room” show Tuesday.
“Of course, it’s the president’s birthday,” she continued. “So I’m sure the crowd will break out into a ‘Happy Birthday.’”
Bannon called it, “Providential.”
Crowley agreed.
Then she added: “And it’s also Flag Day, Steve. So, meant to be. Hand of God. Hand of God, for sure.”
The celebrations will see heavy tanks rolling through Washington, D.C..
The shindig will cost up to $45 million.
Some $16 million of that predicted cost will go on repairing damage caused to the city’s streets by the armored vehicles, U.S. military officials have admitted.
Russian Tanks Show Up for Parade, Proceed To Destroy City Streets
Even a relatively light tank will chew up asphalt roads.
Officials have banned army tanks from parades in the U.S. for more than half a century, and new pictures from Russia make it painfully clear why. The photos, from preparations for the country’s annual V-E day military parade, show a tank’s treads chewing up a Moscow street during a parade rehearsal.
Russian blogger and armor enthusiast Yuri Pasholok uploaded pictures of the T-34/85 tank to his blog. The tank was part of a contingent of military vehicles brought to Moscow as part of the 2020 V-E Day commemoration, an event that typically involves a parade of military tanks, armored vehicles, and aircraft. The parade is being held later than usual this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
[describes tanks involved]
Obviously this could be a problem on asphalt-lined roads, and tanks have been banned from military parades in the U.S. for precisely that reason. In 2017 President Trump declared he wanted a 4th of July military parade similar to that held in Paris for Bastille Day. Trump wanted tanks and other military vehicles but was dissuaded after the Pentagon explained the cost of the parade and how tracked vehicles could ruin Washington D.C.’s streets. Exacerbating the problem is the sheer weight of modern military vehicles: a U.S. Army M1A2 main battle tank weighs 68 tons—more than twice as much as the T-34/85.
Pasholok blog entry shows several T-34/85s in parade colors, apparently practicing on Moscow’s Tverskaya Street. These tanks are apparently of Czechoslovakian origin, having been built by Czechoslovakia under license and imported by the Russian Army for ceremonial activities. Russia imported another 30 T-34/85 tanks from Laos in 2019.
Source: Yuri Pasholok
Elon officially off the reservation. A fury of posts like this from him on X
Days of the Long Knives.
We knew Hegseth was an incompetent bastard. Now he is aa vicious one. In addition to the below attack on the honor given to Harvey Milk, there are reports that the black heroes in this class of ships are all facing name change, but that is not yet confirmed.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Navy to take the rare step of renaming a ship, one that bears the name of a gay rights icon, documents and sources show.
Military.com reviewed a memorandum from the Office of the Secretary of the Navy — the official who holds the power to name Navy ships — that showed the sea service had come up with rollout plans for the renaming of the oiler ship USNS Harvey Milk.
A defense official confirmed that the Navy was making preparations to strip the ship of its name but noted that Navy Secretary John Phelan was ordered to do so by Hegseth. The official also said that the timing of the announcement — occurring during Pride month — was intentional.
Elong still on the team…..somehow, for some reason this is just more theater.
Seems very much “too good to be true”.
You could be right Sturg. I noticed that Trump, Mr. “I hit back harder”, has not responded to Elon, maybe he doesn’t think it’s real.
Far too late – or maybe way too early – for Elon to redeem himself.
Doesn’t most of Elon’s money come from government contracts? Hmmm…
Chucky T is wrong. It’s the DOGE/Palantir database that created a comprehensive file on everyone, including MAGAts, that will break the faith. Chicken TACO is now the head of the deep state, and they don’t trust the gubbamint.
Yeah, Elon is still part of the team, even if he’s not a team player. He’s just full of hot air. And ketamine.
It’s all for the show and the show must go on.
The corruption will cause Magger resentment when they realize they funded it and didn’t get any.
Dodo was elected by maggers to take all the money from the undeserveds and give it back to them. Instead, he’s keeping it.
Working on tomorrow’s Col. Sanders vid. Here’s all the secret ingredients.
New Federal Employees Must Now Write Essays Praising Trump’s Policies
Can they get AI to write it for them?
Could they do a Johnathan Swift and make a modest proposal in their essay. It’s a possibility that nobody in this administration has read “A Modest Proposal,” or that they would understand what they were reading.
It’s not really any extra work. Just plug in a ridiculous, horrible, and probably unconstitutional EO on Chicken TACO’s menu into an AI generator, add an “in the style of” command, and see what happens.
Craig – Have you tried other things chicken-fried in 11 herbs and spices?
In this Rockland County district (Ramapo 35) Kamala Harris received zero votes, even though the Democratic candidate for Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, received a majority of the vote (79%).
Wonder which herbs and spices Chicken TACO uses on his roof?
Elon Musk’s Reign of Corruption Chronicled in Elizabeth Warren Report
Issued by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the report is titled “Special Interests Over the Public Interest: Elon Musk’s 130 Days in the Trump Administration” and features a list of 130 actions by Musk, his companies, and family members that “raise questions about corruption, ethics, and conflicts of interest.”
Happy 19th Amendment Day, ladies. Let’s hope it’s not the last. Let’s hope something comes of the Rockland County lawsuit/investigation.
Adolf: Elon knows computers. Elon and I have a surprise. I don’t need anymore votes. I have all the votes I need.
Comes in a McCormick packet
Elon’s musk continues stinking up the joint.
BiD, waiting until I taste how this comes out.
I’ve already alerted my Lazy Man Cooks legal team — KFC is gonna steal this idea
“ Chuck Todd: “President Trump’s downfall will be corruption. His crypto scam could lead to the end of the MAGA movement.””
lol no
I haven’t even bothered to try to determine how deep in an alternate reality the Trumpers I know are since the election, but I promise you they are still in one
they certainly aren’t concerned with learning to appreciate the scale of Trump corruption
They or their folks are all dependent on some kind of benefit payments. They’ll notice when those dry up. But they’ll be told it’s Democrats’ fault and they’ll believe that story.
They accept as fact “the rich are different.” It’s the poorer people they begrudge.
In F Troop they wanted to call the local Native American tribe the Fakawi Tribe but the censors caught it. So they became the Hakawi Tribe instead.
More chicken fingers
After 5 years, we should feel better about the Dodo Administration’s abilities to prevent the next scourge, not worse. But we feel worse. You’d almost think killing Americans is their objective.
A top coronavirus vaccine adviser at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has resigned, citing concerns that she could no longer help vulnerable people after federal health officials rescinded long-standing recommendations to immunize children and pregnant women.
Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos said in an email to colleagues Tuesday that she made a “personal decision” to quit the CDC after 12 years.
“My career in public health and vaccinology started with a deep-seated desire to help the most vulnerable members of our population, and that is not something I am able to continue doing in this role,” she wrote, according to a copy obtained by The Washington Post.
She said she made her decision Friday. Her email did not further detail her reasons for leaving. It came days after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other health agency leaders said they would stop recommending coronavirus shots for healthy children and pregnant women.
We don’t have collective punishment in the U.S. but if they were involved they should be charged, not deported.
Know-nothing Noem.
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — A federal judge issued an order Wednesday to prevent the deportation of the wife and five children of an Egyptian man charged in the firebombing attack in Boulder, Colorado.
U.S. District Judge Gordon P. Gallagher granted a request from the family of Mohamed Sabry Soliman to halt deportation proceedings of his wife and five children who were taken into federal custody Tuesday by U.S. immigration officials.
The family members have not been charged in the attack on a group demonstrating for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Soliman faces federal hate crime charges and state charges of attempted murder in the Sunday attack in downtown Boulder.
The number of victims was updated Wednesday to 15 people and one dog.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said Wednesday that they are being processed for removal proceedings. It’s rare that family members of a person accused of a crime are detained and threatened with deportation.
Soliman’s wife, 18-year-old daughter, two minor sons and two minor daughters all are Egyptian citizens, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
“We are investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it,” Noem said in a statement.
“President Donald Trump issued a new proclamation on Wednesday restricting travel by foreigners from 12 countries and partially restricting entry for travelers from an additional seven countries.”
*Many African countries on the list, but not South Africa. Wonder if he realizes it might not just be yt Afrikaner trailer trash coming here from SA.
they threw a few on there to make it look like they’re not targeting Haiti and Somalia exclusively
orbes reported Wednesday that the golf club was flagged for 18 health violations, nine of which were deemed critical, in the latest report issued by the Somerset County Department of Health.
The May 6 report, which was publicly released, rated the club a 32 out of 100 possible points – the lowest score in the county.
Inspectors found expired milk, raw meat that was stored improperly and a dishwasher that wasn’t getting to the required temperature.
Raw meats and eggs are required to be stored separately from ready-to-eat foods.
In the Bedminster kitchen, raw meat was being stored above the cheese, the inspection found.
The milk being used in the kitchen had expired three days before the inspection occurred.
There were four separate hand-washing violations as well.
Sinks lacked soap or the required paper towels for hand drying.
Additionally, no employee with the required ‘food manager level certification’ was present at the time of the inspection.
The club was issued a ‘conditionally satisfactory’ C grade – with management required to hang the sign in public view.
Nowhere is this attempted whitewashing more jarring than his effort to sweep away the consequences of the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development, which has supported food assistance programs around the world and helped administer the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. Musk once bragged about feeding USAID into a “woodchipper.” But, on May 20, when Bloomberg’s Mishal Husain asked about the disruption of PEPFAR funding in an interview in Qatar, the tech executive dismissed the claim out of hand.
State Department cables obtained by Mother Jones warn that cuts to foreign assistance programs are driving hunger and human trafficking in Malawi, and threatening to undo years of progress battling the AIDS epidemic in Lesotho, by terminating a program that worked to prevent HIV transmission from mothers to their children.
to the point, Trail friend BiD’s news share last thread explains why it might be a good thing to go retro-tech:
her p.s. on the above:
*Ive written to, and called, my members of Congress about this issue…so I guess that’s going down in my permanent record. LoL
President Trump’s daily intelligence briefing has a new look.
the monologue that followed
America’s intelligence chiefs are seeking a more engaging way to brief the president, the head of FEMA is cracking jokes about hurricane season, FBI Director Kash Patel probably looks bigger in person, and Tinder has a new minimum height setting.
dumb is as dumb does
published in 2024 Dumb Down is a parody of “Downtown,” a song made famous by the performance of Petula Clark back in 1964. The parody lyrics were written by Freedom Toast with video production by Parody Project.
and the parody project’s newest hit is on the press sec:
Taco Belle is an expansion on the term, “Taco Trade.” The TACO Trade is a market strategy and Wall Street phenomenon, an acronym for “Trump Always Chickens Out,” which was coined by the Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong in May 2025 to describe investor reactions to President Donald Trump’s fluctuating tariff policies
Executive Producers Don Caron and Jerry Pender
Attribution: Trump taco rooster by Taylor Jones, Politicalcartoons.com
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-official-predicts-maga-crowd-s-sycophantic-moment-during-army-parade/ar-AA1G3Jwn?
in re that Some $16 million of that predicted cost will go on repairing damage caused to the city’s streets by the armored vehicles, U.S. military officials have admitted.
from 2020 article published when DODO wanted the 1st parade
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a32936404/russian-tank-street-destruction/
How will the MAGA movement collapse? Chuck Todd: “President Trump’s downfall will be corruption. His crypto scam could lead to the end of the MAGA movement.”
https://x.com/chucktodd/status/1929594298359505115?t=6dSJ7ikIrJA2yvEQPv-sCA&s=09
Elon officially off the reservation. A fury of posts like this from him on X
Days of the Long Knives.
We knew Hegseth was an incompetent bastard. Now he is aa vicious one. In addition to the below attack on the honor given to Harvey Milk, there are reports that the black heroes in this class of ships are all facing name change, but that is not yet confirmed.
Here is an article about the other ships being considered: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/navy-new-name-usns-harvey-milk-ships-named-for-civil-rights-leaders/
Today on Trail Mix
Elong still on the team…..somehow, for some reason this is just more theater.
Seems very much “too good to be true”.
You could be right Sturg. I noticed that Trump, Mr. “I hit back harder”, has not responded to Elon, maybe he doesn’t think it’s real.
Far too late – or maybe way too early – for Elon to redeem himself.
Doesn’t most of Elon’s money come from government contracts? Hmmm…
Chucky T is wrong. It’s the DOGE/Palantir database that created a comprehensive file on everyone, including MAGAts, that will break the faith. Chicken TACO is now the head of the deep state, and they don’t trust the gubbamint.
Yeah, Elon is still part of the team, even if he’s not a team player. He’s just full of hot air. And ketamine.
It’s all for the show and the show must go on.
The corruption will cause Magger resentment when they realize they funded it and didn’t get any.
Dodo was elected by maggers to take all the money from the undeserveds and give it back to them. Instead, he’s keeping it.
Classic Dictator move…
New Federal Employees Must Now Write Essays Praising Trump’s Policies
Working on tomorrow’s Col. Sanders vid. Here’s all the secret ingredients.
Can they get AI to write it for them?
Could they do a Johnathan Swift and make a modest proposal in their essay. It’s a possibility that nobody in this administration has read “A Modest Proposal,” or that they would understand what they were reading.
It’s not really any extra work. Just plug in a ridiculous, horrible, and probably unconstitutional EO on Chicken TACO’s menu into an AI generator, add an “in the style of” command, and see what happens.
Craig – Have you tried other things chicken-fried in 11 herbs and spices?
Fresh and dried thyme? Who knew?
https://smartelections.us/lawsuits-1
In this Rockland County district (Ramapo 35) Kamala Harris received zero votes, even though the Democratic candidate for Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, received a majority of the vote (79%).
Wonder which herbs and spices Chicken TACO uses on his roof?
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/elon-musk-corruption-elizabeth-warren-report-1235353085/
Elon Musk’s Reign of Corruption Chronicled in Elizabeth Warren Report
Issued by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the report is titled “Special Interests Over the Public Interest: Elon Musk’s 130 Days in the Trump Administration” and features a list of 130 actions by Musk, his companies, and family members that “raise questions about corruption, ethics, and conflicts of interest.”
Happy 19th Amendment Day, ladies. Let’s hope it’s not the last. Let’s hope something comes of the Rockland County lawsuit/investigation.
Adolf: Elon knows computers. Elon and I have a surprise. I don’t need anymore votes. I have all the votes I need.
Comes in a McCormick packet
Elon’s musk continues stinking up the joint.
BiD, waiting until I taste how this comes out.
I’ve already alerted my Lazy Man Cooks legal team — KFC is gonna steal this idea
“ Chuck Todd: “President Trump’s downfall will be corruption. His crypto scam could lead to the end of the MAGA movement.””
lol no
I haven’t even bothered to try to determine how deep in an alternate reality the Trumpers I know are since the election, but I promise you they are still in one
they certainly aren’t concerned with learning to appreciate the scale of Trump corruption
They or their folks are all dependent on some kind of benefit payments. They’ll notice when those dry up. But they’ll be told it’s Democrats’ fault and they’ll believe that story.
They accept as fact “the rich are different.” It’s the poorer people they begrudge.
In F Troop they wanted to call the local Native American tribe the Fakawi Tribe but the censors caught it. So they became the Hakawi Tribe instead.
More chicken fingers
After 5 years, we should feel better about the Dodo Administration’s abilities to prevent the next scourge, not worse. But we feel worse. You’d almost think killing Americans is their objective.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/06/04/cdc-covid-vaccine-advisor-quits/
We don’t have collective punishment in the U.S. but if they were involved they should be charged, not deported.
Know-nothing Noem.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-travel-ban-countries-list-2081172
“President Donald Trump issued a new proclamation on Wednesday restricting travel by foreigners from 12 countries and partially restricting entry for travelers from an additional seven countries.”
*Many African countries on the list, but not South Africa. Wonder if he realizes it might not just be yt Afrikaner trailer trash coming here from SA.
they threw a few on there to make it look like they’re not targeting Haiti and Somalia exclusively
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14781035/donald-trump-bedminster-kitchen-violations.html
orbes reported Wednesday that the golf club was flagged for 18 health violations, nine of which were deemed critical, in the latest report issued by the Somerset County Department of Health.
The May 6 report, which was publicly released, rated the club a 32 out of 100 possible points – the lowest score in the county.
Inspectors found expired milk, raw meat that was stored improperly and a dishwasher that wasn’t getting to the required temperature.
Raw meats and eggs are required to be stored separately from ready-to-eat foods.
In the Bedminster kitchen, raw meat was being stored above the cheese, the inspection found.
The milk being used in the kitchen had expired three days before the inspection occurred.
There were four separate hand-washing violations as well.
Sinks lacked soap or the required paper towels for hand drying.
Additionally, no employee with the required ‘food manager level certification’ was present at the time of the inspection.
The club was issued a ‘conditionally satisfactory’ C grade – with management required to hang the sign in public view.
Nowhere is this attempted whitewashing more jarring than his effort to sweep away the consequences of the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development, which has supported food assistance programs around the world and helped administer the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. Musk once bragged about feeding USAID into a “woodchipper.” But, on May 20, when Bloomberg’s Mishal Husain asked about the disruption of PEPFAR funding in an interview in Qatar, the tech executive dismissed the claim out of hand.
State Department cables obtained by Mother Jones warn that cuts to foreign assistance programs are driving hunger and human trafficking in Malawi, and threatening to undo years of progress battling the AIDS epidemic in Lesotho, by terminating a program that worked to prevent HIV transmission from mothers to their children.