Thomas Friedman sees no doubt that this was a setup, with wartime Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sandbagged by Trump and his dutiful puppy Vance. Whether Trump deserves enough credit to be capable of setting anyone or anything up is hard to say, even if Lindsey Graham told the president of a sovereign nation in advance of the meeting to drop to his knees and bow and scrape before Trump. This could be read to suggest that Graham was in on the set up, or that he just realizes that Trump only tolerates sniveling sycophants.

But while the cadre of the Trump-dependent spew the talking points to gaslight a nation that watched the debacle in real time that it was Zelensky being disrespectful of Trump, the rest of the world isn’t buying. Russia loved it, watching Trump suck up to Putin, but European countries, one after another, watched in dread as they came to the realization that the post-World War II structure of the world had come to an end. Continue reading →

Prefatory Note: To close out the month of February I’m pleased to share with all of you a pilot for a TV sitcom I recently wrote. It’s based off a Friday Funny post that was kind of a weird fever-dream sort of thing during the pandemic and I’m honestly not even sure if it’s on the website anymore (SHG does the post title here ring a bell? Just curious.)[Ed. Note: It’s here.].

Anyway I wanted to bring Glen the Grocery Store Greeter to the modern era and try to make him funny today. Hope you enjoy this because next week shit’s going to get weird.—CLS

COLD OPEN

INT. VOLUNTEER VALUE MART – ENTRANCE – NIGHT Continue reading →

It’s one thing to support what Trump is doing. While there’s a huge difference between reducing the federal bureaucracy and doing so competently, in a way that won’t wreak havoc and undermine the good and necessary along with the wasteful, it’s possible that some refuse to grasp the difference. And there’s a huge difference between shifting historic alliances with democracies to siding against them, denigrating them, while lavishing praise upon totalitarians. But hey, this is America and people are allowed to support whatever policies they believe to be better for the nation and themselves, no matter how simplistic and irrational they may be.

But how is it possible that these same people refuse to recognize lies when they smack you in the face? Continue reading →

The first thing we do is, let’s kill all the lawyers.

Dick the Butcher, Act IV, Scene II, Henry VI, Part II. Contrary to what some wags believe, Shakespeare’s point, made through the dialogue of Dick the Butcher, was that the first thing to be done on the path to totalitarianism was to get rid of the lawyers, as they stand in the way. Like it or not, it’s what lawyers do.

During his Senate confirmation testimony, Secretary of Defense cum former Fox & Friends Weekend anchor Pete Hegseth stated that JAGoffs, as he calls them, get in the way of real warriors doing their lethal warrioring. From his perspective, it makes some sense. After all, military lawyers, Judge Advocates General, aren’t there to tell a soldier to fire at will, but to fire in accordance with the rules of engagement. Who likes rules when they really want to shoot people? Continue reading →

It’s one thing for Trump to have pardoned every defendant, no matter what Capital police officer they beat while enjoying their “tour” of the Congress or collection of souvenirs or depositing bodily excretions on desks, of the January 6th insurrection. After all, they did it for Trump, and how better to show his love of thuggery in his honor than to exercise his presidential prerogative with a big, beautiful pardon for his day of love?

But in the process, other crimes came to light having nothing to do with their being very fine people, and they were just good, old fashioned crimes of the sort that would have been used to castigate them had they been anything other than Trump’s love children. And on February 6th, the government argued that the pardons were granted for the insurrection, but not the ancillary crimes committed. Continue reading →

The janitor at Health and Human Services:

• Swept floor
• Mopped floor
• Cleaned bathroom
• Changed empty toilet paper roll
• Emptied waste baskets

The lab tech at the FBI:

• Cleaned slides
• Changed chemical in test tube
• Prepared slide
• Observe slide
• Filled out report on slide

Continue reading →

One would think that K$sh Patel, too unqualified to be deputy director but now director, could find an active agent who supported his liege within that otherwise famously progressive organization, the Federal Bureau of Investigation. After all, there must be a few of the Republicans who aren’t so RINO or conservative that they would take issue with the agenda of a president whose goal was to remake what was once the nation’s premier law enforcement agency into his personal arm of retribution.

But apparently not.

Mr. Trump, making the announcement on his social media site, said the newly installed F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, had named Mr. Bongino to the No. 2 post at the country’s most powerful law enforcement agency. The role of deputy director does not require Senate confirmation, meaning two steadfast Trump loyalists will effectively be installed at the uppermost reaches of an agency known for its tradition of independence.

Continue reading →

Did Chief Justice John Roberts anticipate that a second Trump term would not merely test the outer boundaries of executive power, but push beyond the logical extremes by which the Court decided that the president, who happens to be Trump at the moment, is freed of the shackles of prosecution because we necessarily trust the person elected by the American electorate not to be a vulgar, lying, narcissistic ignoramus?

It seems unlikely that the CJ, when deciding matters such as United States v. Trump, anticipated that he might very well send out Seal Team 6 to murder his rivals. After all, that was just a ridiculous hyped up analogy to make a point, not a serious threat that the Court needed to face, needed to address. After all, that would be crazy. Who would even consider doing such a thing? Continue reading →

In response to criticism of Trump’s flipping America’s support from UKraine to Putin, a person on twitter argued that this is what America voted for when it elected Trump. Indeed, this argument appears in response to pretty much every move Trump, or his work wife Musk, makes, that this is what America voted for.

The problem is that we elected a president, but we never held a referendum on any of the individual positions Trump took during the campaign. Even more to the point, the issue of how any goal would be accomplished was not on the table. Sure, Trump said that he would end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours, or even before he took office, was only taken seriously by the dumbest of his MAGA faithful, but did anyone vote for Trump because he swore to abandon our allies, Ukraine and Europe, in furtherance of his unrequited bromance with Vladimir Putin? Continue reading →

Friends, it’s February 20, 2025, and I’m officially declaring war on snow. Yes, that fluffy white bastard that turns Knoxville into a scene from The Shining minus the charm of Jack Nicholson chasing me with an axe. I’ve had it. Done. Finito. If I see one more snowflake drift down like it’s auditioning for a Hallmark movie, I’m going to lose what’s left of my mind, and trust me, there ain’t much left after the Girl Scout cookie season gauntlet.

Let’s set the stage. It’s East Tennessee, where winter usually means a light dusting of frost that melts by noon and leaves us free to argue about college football in peace. But no, not this week. This week, Mother Nature decided to cosplay as Elsa from Frozen and dump YET MORE snow on my driveway, my car, and my soul. Continue reading →