When was the last time America had a president that spouted disinformation about, riffed on, and tried to politically weaponize a major aviation disaster? Answer: Never. Now we get to see what happens when we implement 25% tariffs without warning on our two largest trading partners (and former allies) for reasons that are complete MAGA base chum bullshit and make no sense at all. With Trump's erratic behavior introducing so much instability into the economy the S&P500, Dow and other major indexes may very well end the greatest bull market in history and finish 2025 lower than they are today.
Great piece, Charlie!! Great approach to the Trump lies and bullshit. What gets me the most after nearly 10 years of his drivel he still assumes everyone just accepts EVERYTHING he says. More than 1/2 the US electorate is not his base. His schtick is wearing thin. Patience, a couple of his Executive Orders (signed with crayons) have not done the job. There will be more. It seems his rocket scientists actually aren’t qualified. It will happen more. The key is to throw his missteps back at the masses, as you do Charlie. It will start to sink in, hopefully in time for the midterms. He is incompetent and those around him are woefully unqualified. Nothing has changed from Trump 1.0, except the extent of the grift because he believes he’s immortal. Greed and incompetence will be his undoing.
I wish to see more coverage of the power behind the throne. Show Stephen Miller in all his fascist glory. Show the advisors and cover their backgrounds in depth. Show the donors and others who pander to get influence.
It's not all Trump, he's just the puppet, and I refuse to give him the power he craves when this racist evil has been present since Gingrich and longer. They were saying it out loud long before Trump. And for god's sake, put a spotlight on the Heritage Foundation. Why is that an "org"? It's time for some whistleblowers to blow the lid off this corruption!
If you look at Fox or NR you will see cheerleading about a man taking charge. And let's be honest that for years a large subset of the GOP has imagined that the US could simply cut expenses in all areas? So outside of Trump putting forth his mean man face - what he is doing is what the GOP has wanted each time the House threatened to shut the government down.
So there is nothing new. After years of lying about government - that it is incompetent - we are now here - with a man so careless that he really will fire the lot of them.
Decades from now when the US is a failed state, historians will say about us that we did this to ourselves.
In the barrage of malfeasance our payola president has unleashed, this story affecting all of us seems to have been lost in the fog; yet, it deserves much more attention than it is getting in the media.
Not only is Musk meddling with OPM employees’ contracts and email systems, he’s attempting to capture the US payment systems at Treasury prompting this resignation:
Would you lend some insight into whether this is another smoldering dumpster fire 🔥 ready for ignition by the formerly executive now extortion branch? How can a private party with foreign interests like Musk have access to US Treasury systems?
And as always, many thanks for sharing pictures of your pups, Eli and Auggie. They are salve for our souls. 🐾🐾 🍗🍗🍖🍖🐾🐾
Pete. Thank you for those photos. I have no idea how we will make it through these next four years. Except with the love and companionship of our family, friends and very importantly, our pets. A cuddle with my little dachshunds fixed the world for a moment.
"Trump Officials Release Water That Experts Say Will Serve Little Use
"Trump administration officials began releasing significant amounts of water from two dams in California’s Central Valley on Friday in a move that seemed intended to make a political point as President Trump continued to falsely blame the Los Angeles wildfires on water policies in the Democratic-run state.
"The releases, as ordered, have sent water toward low-lying land in the Central Valley, and none of it will reach Southern California, water experts said. Nonetheless, President Trump said on Friday that the same action would have prevented the Los Angeles wildfires on the other side of mountain ranges over which the water has no way of traveling.
“'Photo of beautiful water flow that I just opened in California,' President Trump posted on Friday on social media in an apparent reference to the dam releases. 'Everybody should be happy about this long fought Victory! I only wish they listened to me six years ago — There would have been no fire!'
"Experts expressed dismay on Friday that releasing so much water now served little use for farmers, who typically have higher irrigation needs in the spring and summer months when agricultural fields are abundant. ...
"On Thursday, water managers in the Central Valley learned that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had been directed to dramatically increase the flow of water from reservoirs in the Sierra Nevada into local rivers, at a rate that officials said would have served no agricultural purpose and would have threatened the stability of local levees. ...
"Alarmed, local water managers rushed Thursday to prepare for an abrupt onslaught of water they had not asked for ....
"Laura Ramos, interim director of research and education at the California Water Institute at California State University, Fresno, said ... 'If the purpose was to help with the fires in Southern California, we do not believe that it will, because that’s not where that water goes' ... 'That water should’ve been kept behind the reservoirs for reserves,' she said. 'Right now there isn’t anywhere they need to put it.'”
Thank you for the “no snark”: it is so much harder to turn away from the glaringly obvious when there is nothing even slightly amusing or clever to engage with instead of dealing with the stark reality. Speaking as a highly educated, very competent, and often ignored or ridiculed female former executive just old enough not to have benefited from any even rudimentary efforts to create inclusive merit-based hiring, staffing, or promotion policies, I find myself appropriately shocked but not even a little surprised by the current turn of events. Yes, it is truly shocking how completely and overtly unqualified most of the nominees are; but I also have to ask myself if this is so much weirder than a CEO choosing a COO because they both like to find and eat hamburgers in cities where there are non-US operations or setting out on a strategy dictated by a bunch of hard-driven White would-be and former Wall Street guys who just wanna do deals than it is to develop a thoughtful strategy in a changing industry informed by a strategic planning department that has studied the changing economics and regulatory environment and their potential impact on the company’s operations because said department includes informed, educated, competent non-white non-guys? Yes, waaaaaaaaay worse when it affects the very infrastructure of our nation’s operations and affects probably 98%+ of citizens to one degree or another. But unambiguously a recognizable effort to roll back time to the pre- and early Reagan years when life was so much easier for guys who looked the part and swam in a pool of perfect labels.
"The United States had not had a fatal air crash in 16 years."
Should be: "The United States had not had a fatal airliner crash in 16 years." There have been countless fatal small-plane and helicopter crashes during that period.
We need to keep noticing the number of military helicopter crashes too. There have been far too many, and most are left unexplained. These "training accidents" are questionable.
More devastating news. And then we see Pete…. Now I can breathe again. Thanks!
Old demented stinking ass man.
When was the last time America had a president that spouted disinformation about, riffed on, and tried to politically weaponize a major aviation disaster? Answer: Never. Now we get to see what happens when we implement 25% tariffs without warning on our two largest trading partners (and former allies) for reasons that are complete MAGA base chum bullshit and make no sense at all. With Trump's erratic behavior introducing so much instability into the economy the S&P500, Dow and other major indexes may very well end the greatest bull market in history and finish 2025 lower than they are today.
Great piece, Charlie!! Great approach to the Trump lies and bullshit. What gets me the most after nearly 10 years of his drivel he still assumes everyone just accepts EVERYTHING he says. More than 1/2 the US electorate is not his base. His schtick is wearing thin. Patience, a couple of his Executive Orders (signed with crayons) have not done the job. There will be more. It seems his rocket scientists actually aren’t qualified. It will happen more. The key is to throw his missteps back at the masses, as you do Charlie. It will start to sink in, hopefully in time for the midterms. He is incompetent and those around him are woefully unqualified. Nothing has changed from Trump 1.0, except the extent of the grift because he believes he’s immortal. Greed and incompetence will be his undoing.
Oh Pete… you are so handsome and your greys give you an aristocratic look of wisdom. Be warm my sweet Boy😇
He would. That’s how that 73 IQ brain works!
I wish to see more coverage of the power behind the throne. Show Stephen Miller in all his fascist glory. Show the advisors and cover their backgrounds in depth. Show the donors and others who pander to get influence.
It's not all Trump, he's just the puppet, and I refuse to give him the power he craves when this racist evil has been present since Gingrich and longer. They were saying it out loud long before Trump. And for god's sake, put a spotlight on the Heritage Foundation. Why is that an "org"? It's time for some whistleblowers to blow the lid off this corruption!
Loved the photos of sweet Pete! Such a sweetie.
Trump has repeatedly said he will not take responsibility for anything. What do you expect
Things the people mentioned above do not get: competence as in real qualifications, and irony, humor, and compassion.
If you look at Fox or NR you will see cheerleading about a man taking charge. And let's be honest that for years a large subset of the GOP has imagined that the US could simply cut expenses in all areas? So outside of Trump putting forth his mean man face - what he is doing is what the GOP has wanted each time the House threatened to shut the government down.
So there is nothing new. After years of lying about government - that it is incompetent - we are now here - with a man so careless that he really will fire the lot of them.
Decades from now when the US is a failed state, historians will say about us that we did this to ourselves.
Good morning, Charlie!
In the barrage of malfeasance our payola president has unleashed, this story affecting all of us seems to have been lost in the fog; yet, it deserves much more attention than it is getting in the media.
Not only is Musk meddling with OPM employees’ contracts and email systems, he’s attempting to capture the US payment systems at Treasury prompting this resignation:
https://newrepublic.com/post/190983/top-treasury-official-quit-elon-musk-fight-payment-system
Would you lend some insight into whether this is another smoldering dumpster fire 🔥 ready for ignition by the formerly executive now extortion branch? How can a private party with foreign interests like Musk have access to US Treasury systems?
And as always, many thanks for sharing pictures of your pups, Eli and Auggie. They are salve for our souls. 🐾🐾 🍗🍗🍖🍖🐾🐾
I've said in on places - Elon MUSK needs to be in jail. He has zero authority to do anything, regardless of what POS thinks.
Also search for this article: "Prison Company Banking on ICE Raids Donated to Trump Campaign."
Thanks 🙏
Pete. Thank you for those photos. I have no idea how we will make it through these next four years. Except with the love and companionship of our family, friends and very importantly, our pets. A cuddle with my little dachshunds fixed the world for a moment.
Wild article in the NY Times now. Excerpts:
"Trump Officials Release Water That Experts Say Will Serve Little Use
"Trump administration officials began releasing significant amounts of water from two dams in California’s Central Valley on Friday in a move that seemed intended to make a political point as President Trump continued to falsely blame the Los Angeles wildfires on water policies in the Democratic-run state.
"The releases, as ordered, have sent water toward low-lying land in the Central Valley, and none of it will reach Southern California, water experts said. Nonetheless, President Trump said on Friday that the same action would have prevented the Los Angeles wildfires on the other side of mountain ranges over which the water has no way of traveling.
“'Photo of beautiful water flow that I just opened in California,' President Trump posted on Friday on social media in an apparent reference to the dam releases. 'Everybody should be happy about this long fought Victory! I only wish they listened to me six years ago — There would have been no fire!'
"Experts expressed dismay on Friday that releasing so much water now served little use for farmers, who typically have higher irrigation needs in the spring and summer months when agricultural fields are abundant. ...
"On Thursday, water managers in the Central Valley learned that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had been directed to dramatically increase the flow of water from reservoirs in the Sierra Nevada into local rivers, at a rate that officials said would have served no agricultural purpose and would have threatened the stability of local levees. ...
"Alarmed, local water managers rushed Thursday to prepare for an abrupt onslaught of water they had not asked for ....
"Laura Ramos, interim director of research and education at the California Water Institute at California State University, Fresno, said ... 'If the purpose was to help with the fires in Southern California, we do not believe that it will, because that’s not where that water goes' ... 'That water should’ve been kept behind the reservoirs for reserves,' she said. 'Right now there isn’t anywhere they need to put it.'”
Gift link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/31/us/trump-water-california-central-valley.html?unlocked_article_code=1.tk4.cLt5.gj9cOH6rJBkM&smid=url-share
POS nearly flooded a few communities down river. Fortunately, smarter heads prevailed.
It will impress the Fox crowd. We need to slam them massively for their biased coverage. After all, DJT is all about ridding the media of bias.
Trump is an idiot who makes things worse with political stunts to be filmed for his Cult audience. News at 11.
Thank you for the “no snark”: it is so much harder to turn away from the glaringly obvious when there is nothing even slightly amusing or clever to engage with instead of dealing with the stark reality. Speaking as a highly educated, very competent, and often ignored or ridiculed female former executive just old enough not to have benefited from any even rudimentary efforts to create inclusive merit-based hiring, staffing, or promotion policies, I find myself appropriately shocked but not even a little surprised by the current turn of events. Yes, it is truly shocking how completely and overtly unqualified most of the nominees are; but I also have to ask myself if this is so much weirder than a CEO choosing a COO because they both like to find and eat hamburgers in cities where there are non-US operations or setting out on a strategy dictated by a bunch of hard-driven White would-be and former Wall Street guys who just wanna do deals than it is to develop a thoughtful strategy in a changing industry informed by a strategic planning department that has studied the changing economics and regulatory environment and their potential impact on the company’s operations because said department includes informed, educated, competent non-white non-guys? Yes, waaaaaaaaay worse when it affects the very infrastructure of our nation’s operations and affects probably 98%+ of citizens to one degree or another. But unambiguously a recognizable effort to roll back time to the pre- and early Reagan years when life was so much easier for guys who looked the part and swam in a pool of perfect labels.
"The United States had not had a fatal air crash in 16 years."
Should be: "The United States had not had a fatal airliner crash in 16 years." There have been countless fatal small-plane and helicopter crashes during that period.
We need to keep noticing the number of military helicopter crashes too. There have been far too many, and most are left unexplained. These "training accidents" are questionable.