Dear Everybody:
The big news today is of Trump’s continuing delusions of grandeur (though, actually, that’s pretty much the story every day):
--Yesterday Trump’s good buddy and head of FIFA, Gianni Intafantino presented him with its newly created first (and probably only) FIFA Peace Prize. Intafantino said the award was for "the individual who have taken extraordinary actions for peace."
--Trump got a gold trophy, a certificate, and a gold medal on a large blue ribbon, which he immediately grabbed out of the open box and put around his own neck, not even waiting for Infantino to do it. (Note: He had considerable trouble getting it around his neck, which was interesting.)
--Trump apparently thought it was a real award. Trump: "This is truly one of the great honors of my life."
--rugbymom: "He’s never taking it off, gonna sleep with his medal on, and his gold trophy cradled in his arms like a teddy bear."
--The event was presumably to do the draw for who played who in the first game of the World Cup, but even that part of it was rigged. Canada’s prime minister drew Canada, Mexico’s drew Mexico, and Trump--surprise, surprise--drew the US.
--MAGA and other sports fans were NOT happy. On Fox, they said, "This was so rigged. It’s ridiculous." And "We just got duped."
--Trump then gave one of his rambling speeches. In it, he said we should change the name of American football so it doesn’t conflict with international football (soccer.) "When you think about it, this is football, there is no question. We have to come up with another name for the other one." (I’m sure American football fans will be happy they have to change the name of their sport.)
--Then Trump’s buddy Andrea Bocelli and the Village People performed, with the Village People playing YMCA and Trump doing his little dance. The whole thing was an embarrassment.
--The event was held at the Kennedy Center, which was shut down for several days so that they could hold these events, with previously scheduled performances being canceled. Word is that Trump let them hold the draw and other events there for free, and the price was they gave him a Peace Prize.
--You shouldn’t get the idea that this was orchestrated by FIFA. Apparently the other members of the board didn’t know anything about the award until Intafantino told them after it was a done deal.
--Many of the board’s members were very unhappy about it. There is also widespread frustration with Infantino’s decision to side with Trump even as White House policies are causing chaos for the World Cup--refusing to issue visas for teams and fans and causing chaos for local organizations.
--There was widespread mockery of the event and the award.
--Governor Newsom posted a photoshopped image of him being given the award with the caption, "Newsom Awarded Inaugural Kohl’s Peace Prize--WOW! AN HONOR! GCN"
--Eric T. Cat; "FIFA is a spectacularly corrupt organization, there are no depths to its depravity. It’s no surprise that FIFA and Trump mesh so well together. But even by their standards, making him a Peace Medal is a new low."
--Jacqueline Klein: "He just got an imaginary Peace Prize for ending imaginary wars from FIFA!"
--clairence: "And he got this FIFA Peace Prize! What a hero!"
--schmaurity: "In the spring MBS and LIV Golf will present its Golfer of the Century Trophy to Trump."
--Alternative Dog: "The first thing that came to mind was the Onion’s ‘Kim Jong Un Named Onion’s Sexiest Man Alive for 2012.’`"
--desk guy: "The Nobel Prize Committee should announce the World Cup winner tomorrow."
In other Kennedy Center news:
--Trump again "accidentally" called the Kennedy Center the Trump-Kennedy Center: "You have a big event on Friday at the Trump-Kennedy Center--oh, excuse me. The Kennedy Center." He then grinned nastily and said, "Pardon me, such a terrible mistake."
--The Kennedy Center Awards are coming up soon, and the Center has announced that the medals will no longer have their signature rainbow colors. (Note: The rainbow colors represented all the different kinds of arts being honored, but these idiots think it means LGBTQ+.)
--Good Trouble: "The pettiness of this Trump regime is just astounding!"
--Trump’s head of the Kennedy Center, Richard Grenell was asked about the fact that ticket sales have collapsed, with the center selling less than 50% of events. He responded by saying he had fired a dance programmer "who traveled the world watching other dance programs and expecting her salary and travel expenses to be paid." (He apparently does not know that this is what dance programmers do, travel around, find acts to perform at the center, and booking them.)
--An agent said that his artists who have performed at the center since the takeover haven’t been paid. (I’m shocked, shocked.)
In other Trump dementia news:
--Dean Blundell had a really interesting substack on Trump’s dementia, in which he quoted at length a medical professional who has worked with dementia patients for fourteen years. His explanation of Trump’s symptoms--and of the bruises on his hands--is that Trump is getting infusions of kisunla, a monoclonal antibody drug used to slow the decline of dementia.
--He said the bruises on Trump’s hand (which were on display at the FIFA event and showed a lot of swelling on his hand, too) is the result of the repeated infusions on his veins.
--Kisluna does not help with Alzheimer’s symptoms, only slows the progress, and can cause brain swelling and brain bleeds. "A small bleed on the brain is most likely what happened when he disappeared over Labor Day," he concluded, and said it also explained the drooping of the face. Repeated MRIs are necessary to monitor the possibility of brain swelling and bleeds.
--The medical professional said, "I think he’s got 3-5 months left in the land of the living when you compound all of these symptoms along with possible heart failure and kidney disease."
--Blundell concluded, "Donald Trump is very very sick--and declining fast--and it's the worst-kept secret in America (not named in the Epstein files."
In Hegseth and the murdering of innocent civilians news:
--More information is emerging about what’s on the video. The guys were in the water for over an hour, clinging to a piece of the boat and trying to right another piece. The boat had split in half. The guys clothes had been blown off in the first explosion.
--Maybe the worst part is that when they saw the plane coming back, they signaled to it as if for help. Then the plane blew them apart!
--Daily Kos: "The footage of the two men’s desperate final moments made some viewers nauseated, leading one to nearly vomit. ‘It was worse than we had been led to believe,’ one person told us."
In pipe bomber news:
--There has been absolute silence from the media on the pipe bomber ever since they found out he was a MAGA guy who thought the 2020 election was stolen. (I’m not kidding--the story has completely disappeared from the headlines!)
--In pipe bomber news, the guy’s attorney says that, yes, he plans to use Trump’s pardons as defense, arguing that his client is covered by the blanket pardon.
In economic news:
--Trump yelled at Fox for putting on Peter Schiff, "a Trump hating loser who has already proven to be wrong" who dared to say Trump’s economy isn’t going so well. Trump: "Biden caused the AFFORDABILITY CRISIS. I’M FIXING IT!"
--According to Raw Story, Trump is facing increasing sniping from members of his own party that he’s ignoring the mood of the country on the economy.
--He’s not the only one. Kevin Hassett continues to go on Fox News and make happy talk about the economy, assuring everyone there is NO affordability problem (while grinning a big grin) and blaming Biden for it. Hassett: "It’s just what happens sometimes when one political party has a lot of the media echoing what they’re saying. The affordability problem was 100% created by the Biden administration.
--Ted Lieu: "Dear White House, keep having Trump advisor Kevin Hassett do TV interviews. I love how he oozes out-of-touch arrogance and fails to acknowledge skyrocketing health costs, increasing grocery costs, and surging electric bills. He will help Democrats flip the House. Thank you."
--None of Trump’s insistence that the economy is fine is working. In the latest poll, 76% said the economy was poorer or only fair and 62% said Trump was responsible.
The White House announced that Trump intends to go on an "affordability tour" across America:
--They say he will hold rallies to convince people that inflation is down and the economy is doing great. The first rally will be held in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.
--George Conway: "The President will discuss the economy, but he will also provide important updates about Hannibal Lecter’s dinner plans and Arnold Palmer’s substantial penis. Additionally, his team of military physicians will reveal the record-setting results of his latest cognitive testing."
--Helioscrivener: "Oh, my. These speeches are a great idea. I would encourage them all the way."
--Dem Matters: "Well...he could FIX the issue of affordability instead of going on the road to lie to our faces that prices are going down when we know damn well they are going up because of his stupid policies."
--Lissann4: "Oohhh. Send him out there. By the time he’s done, his approval rating will be minus 5."
--Note: Trump has always been energized by rallies and the adoration of the MAGA crowds, but I just don’t see this happening given the condition Trump is in and the fact that those MAGAs seem to be pushing back--see those town halls in the fall. Plus, it’s the middle of winter.
In ICE news:
--In Tucson the newly elected Arizona Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva (the one Mike Johnson took so long to swear in) was pepper sprayed by ICE at a Mexican restaurant.
--A US citizen got badly mauled by an ICE attack dog, even though he was not resisting arrest or trying to flee. He was violently attacked and dragged away--AND SINCE WHEN IS ICE USING ATTACK DOGS????
--The Trump administration admitted they deported a man to Guatemala in spite of an immigration judge’s order that he not be deported there because he was likely to be tortured. The judge ordered them to facilitate his return by next week.
--A NYPD officer stopped ICE officers from roughing up immigrants and trying to take them into custody and arrested them, to cheers and applause from the surrounding crowd.
--ICE spokesman Tricia McLaughlin insisted again: "Children are not being zip tied. This is another disgusting smear." (Only they are. There’s video.)
--On the news of ICE’s recruiting a bunch of unqualified guys with gang connections, white supremacist connections, criminal records, and no training, a bunch of people have been posting that scene from BLAZING SADDLES where Hedley Lamar says, "I want you to round up every vicious criminal and gunslinger in the west. Take this down: I want rustlers, cutthroats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, viprs, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, shit-kickers, and Methodists."
In the Sabrina Carpenter/ICE saga:
--By this afternoon Sabrina Carpenter had 138 million views of her statement about Trump’s using her music in a vicious ICE video that says, "This video is evil and disgusting. Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda."
--A White House official who sounded a lot like Stephen Cheung had responded: "Here’s a Short and Sweet message for Sabrina Carpenter: we won’t apologize for deporting dangerous criminal illegal murderers, rapists, and pedophiles from our country. Anyone who would defend these sick monsters must be stupid, or is it slow?"
--But on Friday the White House quietly deleted its ICE video using her song.
--The White House later posted another video that used a clip of Carpenter speaking on Saturday Night Live, altering her words to say "You’re under arrest." (They’re just itching to get sued.)
--Sock Seven said that was "their infantile response to being chastised. These idiots are chest-thumping testosterone-laden bullies masquerading as adults!"
-ICE has now compounded it by using Joey Valence’s music in their ICE videos, too. Valence: "I’m disgusted to see our music was used without our knowledge topr consent to promote ICE. To be clear, this video does NOT represent my OR JVB’s thoughts or beliefs in any form and we are actively working to get this taken down."
In historical news:
--The Nazis were famous for killing innocent civilians. At Malmady during the Battle of the Bulge, they captured 84 American soldiers (who were prisoners of war and subject to the rules protecting them), drove them to a field, made them get out of the truck and shot them all in cold blood. --In the village of Oradour-sur-Glane, the SS herded all the people into the town square, separated them by gender. They then put the men in barns and the women and children in the village church, locked them in, and set them aflame, throwing in grenades for good measure. (I remember reading about this in one of Leon Uris’s books and thinking they had to be monsters to do such a thing. I still think that, and I think the same thing about Hegseth and the boat attacks.)
In other news:
--Kristi Noem admitted she defied a court order and ordered the flights to El Salvador to continue.
--Brussels slapped a 120 million euro fine on Twitter and Elon Musk.
--The Pentagon has altered the portrait of Admiral Rachel Levine. They took down the bronze name plate and typed the admiral’s dead-name (her name when she was male) and put it on a slip of paper inside the glass. The now-retired admiral was the first transgender military officer to achieve such high rank.
--George Conway: "So gratuitously and pointlessly spiteful and petty."
In good news:
--The Trump administration has reinstated all library grants after a court order ruled they had to.
--The Wisconsin ACLU filed a lawsuit banning ICE from using local jails to hold or house arrested detainees and the Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled for them to skip a number of judicial steps and go straight to the Wisconsin Supreme Court for adjudication.
--Tablas, a regular Daily Kos commenter noted, "I see a major sea change in the way they’re covering Trump." He said in one short stretch of flipping channels, they saw stories about ICE’s violence, Patel’s using the FBI for his private ends, Trump falling asleep in a meeting, and the affordability crisis.
In Christmas news:
--The Lake Street Church in Evanston, Illinois, put up an ICE-themed Nativity Scene outside its church. There are Roman centurions dressed in ICE vests and face masks, the Virgin Mary is wearing a gas mask and holding a zip-tied baby Jesus on her lap, and Joseph is face down in the snow.
Best comment of the day, from Mohamad Safi: "If the US saw what the US is doing in the US, the US would invade the US to liberate the US from the tyranny of the US."
Keep calm and carry on,
Connie Willis