Most reporting on Trump’s speech emphasized either his belligerence — his rejection of global cooperation — or the fact that almost everything he said was a lie. But isn’t the bigger story the fact that the leader of what used to be the world’s most powerful nation — I say “used to be” because America’s power is collapsing before our eyes — has clearly and undeniably lost his mind?

I’m by no means the only commentator to see parallels between Trump’s UN speech and the scene in Bananas. But comparing Trump to a fictional character is unfair — to the fictional character. After all, in Bananas the mad dictator is quickly removed from power. In America today, some Republicans are quietly distancing themselves from Trump. A few are even voicing subtle, elliptical criticisms. But will he be impeached, or face 25^th Amendment proceedings? Not a chance.

Indeed, let’s be honest: the only reason these faint hints of Republican rebellion are newsworthy is that they come after years of slavish obedience and flattery — obedience and flattery that continued even though Trump’s deteriorating mental state has been obvious for a long time.

I read an excellent commentary titled “It’s Sundowning in America,” inspired by Trump’s demented demands that he receive the Nobel Peace Prize several months ago. The damage being done by Deranged Trump Syndrome was already obvious. And that was before Trump squandered America’s military credibility, as well as a dangerously large share of our munitions, on his catastrophic war-of-choice in Iran.

There’s a high probability that Trump’s power will be considerably reduced in the aftermath of the November midterms. Polls point to a blue wave that is highly likely to give Democrats control of the House and more likely than not to deliver the Senate. If that blue wave does indeed materialize, I expect that there will be an enormous sigh of relief across the country because it will be a major, if not fatal, setback for Trumpism.

However, we shouldn’t let the short-term relief of a November victory blind us to the long-term realities. Trumpism did not emerge out of thin air – that is, an unfortunate draw of the democracy cards. Instead, Trump and Trumpism is the culmination of a decades-long threat to American democracy, to the moral, legal and social fiber of this country.

There is a straight line from Koch Brothers money, allied with segregationists and religious fundamentalists, that runs through the Federalist Society and the Roberts Supreme Court, through the MAGA-fied Republican Party, through the crypto-industry and the tech-broligarchy, that leads to Trump. And it will take a single-minded, fearless and incorruptible new generation of Democrats to defeat this many-headed hydra.

We should also recognize that Mad King Donald will still retain a great deal of power even with a Democratic Congress. He won’t feel that he has failed America, he will believe that America has failed him and try to punish the nation accordingly. Thus, he will use his remaining power vindictively not just against the victorious Democrats, but also against the American people.

 

 

I did not comment when Charlie Kirk was murdered, but let’s just say I had thoughts on the matter.

One of Kirk’s many contributions to vile hatred was his evil fascist Professor Watchlist, the “official list of leftist faculty,” who should be targeted by fascists. Among the little things that they can do is destroy your Rate My Professor rating with bullshit, since that  worthless site doesn’t actually require any proof you were in a class to say terrible things about a professor. Among the big things they can do is give murderers a list of targets.

Well, a year after Kirk’s killing, his movement is broke, leaderless, and in shambles — among the casualties is the Professor Watchlist. That story came out a couple of weeks ago. I checked it this morning and it is still no more. Of course, it could come back.  But any step toward reducing the fascist infrastructure of hate is a positive step.

Meanwhile, there’s another benefit to Kirk’s passing:  This year’s “Freedom Fest” was canceled because they only sold 4 tickets.

The question I found myself asking in the immediate aftermath of Kirk’s death was “Just how much of a piece of shit human do you have to be for your wife’s initial reaction to your passing is to run out and buy a bunch of expensive designer clothes and costumes, then parade joyously on stage as you try to take over your husband’s movement?”

The fact that she then made a pass at America’s third-worst hunk of shit human (JD Vance) really sez something about those family values.

 

 

 House Ethics Complaint Filed Today

Against Lauren Boebert from Colorado.

The complaint alleges that Boebert slept with multiple staffers and issued six-figure payouts in hush money with taxpayer dollars.

She is accused of carrying out sexual relations with 2 former Chiefs of Staff and her District Director between 2021 and now.

She is accused of mishandling federal taxpayer money, misusing campaign funds, and “witness tampering” regarding a $200K payout to one former staffer/lover who threatened an ethics complaint.

 

 

MeidasTouch has obtained exclusive images this afternoon showing the aftermath of an Iranian attack on a US base in Kuwait, and based on what we’ve reviewed, the destruction is severe.

Several structures at the base appear to have been completely destoryed, with everything surrounding them leveled as well. What were once functioning structures are now flattened, with debris scattered across the surrounding area.

The most alarming detail in the material we obtained involves one of the base’s bunkers, the exact kind of hardened structure troops are trained to run to and shelter in the moment incoming fire is detected. According to the images, that bunker took a direct drone hit. The fact that a shelter specifically built to protect personnel during an attack was itself struck is the detail that stands out most.

This reporting lines up with what ABC News separately and independently reported this week. ABC’s Rachel Scott and Chris Boccia obtained their own images and video showing damage to buildings and at least one aircraft across three US bases in Kuwait, including Camp Arifjan, along with Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, which houses US assets that were partially evacuated amid the danger. CBS News had separately reported on widespread base damage earlier in the week. Here are more images obtained by MeidasTouch:……………………

More American service members have died in the Middle East during the ongoing Iran war than the Pentagon has disclosed publicly, according to six U.S. officials familiar with the Defense Department’s internal casualty accounting data.

Five of the officials said there have been at least 22 military fatalities — four more than what appears in the Pentagon’s public database, known as the Defense Casualty Analysis System, or DCAS.

A sixth official, who like the others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the figures, said 23 service members have died since Feb. 28, when the Trump administration, in concert with Israel, initiated the Iran war. Not all of the undisclosed deaths are directly tied to the conflict but have involved U.S. personnel who were in the Middle East amid ongoing hostilities, this person said.

Additionally, the official said, three U.S. contractors who were based in the region have died since combat operations began.

In multiple images, the words “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED” could be seen at the top of what appeared to be a poster viewed by the president. Credit…Kenny Holston/The New York Times

SOURCE:  NY TIMES

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/17/us/politics/trump-kennedy-center-photos.html

The lawsuit was filed by Representative Joyce Beatty, Democrat of Ohio, who is suing the Kennedy Center as a board member. In federal court, she has objected to the temporary closure of the institution this week for what center officials say are severe safety concerns over fallen ceiling plaster.

A judge on Thursday denied her request for an emergency hearing, allowing the center to remain closed for now. But the judge also reminded the administration that it had promised in another lawsuit over the center to give notice of any plans for demolition. Such notice must be provided 30 days in advance, the judge ordered.

In a filing earlier Thursday, Ms. Beatty’s lawyers had expressed alarm about the photos and asked the judge to make “crystal clear” that officials could not just demolish the center.

The filing also made note of the president’s recent comments that he would withhold funding for much-needed renovations to the building, essentially condemning it, if he was not allowed to add his name to the face of it.

Despite attempts by RFK Jr. and his allies in rural Pennsylvania to deny it, the administration’s anti-vaxx campaign is having exactly the effect it intends (people getting sick and dying) [gift link]:

Following America’s recent measles deaths, anti-vaccine activists have cast doubt on the virus as the culprit. They’ve pointed to a victim’s underlying health conditions or, as they did last year in Texas, blamed hospital error. But the two latest measles deaths in Pennsylvania—bringing the state’s total to four since mid-August—have made the United States’ measles crisis undeniable.

Last month, the Pennsylvania Department of Health announced two measles-associated deaths; both cases were later revealed to be infants too young to have been vaccinated. In response, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—who was an anti-vaccine activist for decades before becoming health secretary—wrote on X that the deaths might have been “altogether fabricated.” (He later acknowledged a coroner’s conclusion that one of the deaths had been caused by measles.) Then, last weekend, an unvaccinated 40-year-old woman died in Jefferson County; immediately, people on Reddit and X insisted that her death wasn’t really caused by measles, because she’d had asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, both of which can make breathing difficult. Yesterday, state officials revealed that an unvaccinated 18-year-old died from a rare inflammatory condition of the brain and spinal cord that can be triggered by measles. Some commenters online deemed that death suspicious too.

What the armchair epidemiologists miss is that vulnerability to the infection doesn’t make a death less real. The two infants both tested positive for measles. The Lancaster County coroner’s office determined that one infant died of a ruptured spleen; however, when I spoke with that child’s parents, they told me that the mother had been extremely ill with the disease when she gave birth, the baby was not breathing when he was born, and they believed measles had killed their son. The other infant was born with a rare neurological condition, but the coroner found that measles was ultimately the cause of death. Greg Furlong, the Jefferson County coroner who investigated the 40-year-old woman’s death, told me that although the woman had conditions that made her vulnerable to measles, and was on supplemental oxygen, she was active before she contracted the virus. She cooked for her family and cleaned the house. Measles killed her in about a week. “If she wouldn’t have got the measles, would she still be alive today? I say yes,” Furlong, a Republican who is also the mayor of Summerville, said.

Four deaths in roughly four weeks suggest that the state is in the midst of an enormous outbreak. The Pennsylvania health department lists total cases at 693, with 99 in the past week. But considering that measles kills about one to three of every 1,000 children it infects, the actual number is likely much larger. Milder cases are going unreported. Many who fall ill, particularly in the Amish community, aren’t getting tested; the Amish parents of the infant who died with a ruptured spleen told me that their 13 living children had all caught the virus, but they never got swabbed.

These deaths are occurring after three unvaccinated people, including two young girls, died of measles in Texas and New Mexico last year. Those were the first measles deaths in the country in a decade. The last time the United States experienced four measles deaths in a calendar year was in 1992, at the tail end of a years-long outbreak that killed more than 100 Americans. That resurgence led to a recommendation that children receive two doses of the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, and prompted a nationwide push to increase vaccination rates. It worked, and measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000. But overall kindergarten vaccination rates started declining during the coronavirus pandemic, and some areas, including Lancaster County, have fallen well below the 95 percent needed to maintain herd immunity.

The strategy that RFK Jr. is using to try to deny responsibility for the effects of his measles outbreak is the same one Bari Weiss tried to use to diminish the impact of the food blockade in Gaza — since the people who face the worst consequences are often those with other health problems, pretend that it’s really only the other health problems that matter, The cynicism and amorality in both cases is readily apparent. There are people dead who would still be alive in Pennsylvania if not for RFK Jr.’s tireless anti-vaccine activism, and many many more who have become seriously ill.

Meanwhile, let’s check in on the man in the hot dog costume:

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) on Wednesday said the nation’s worst measles outbreak in the United States in 35 years is “going to be a terrible legacy for this administration,” citingrecent deaths in Pennsylvania.

“Misinformation and misguided policies are leaving children and adults unprotected against disease that we know how to prevent,” Cassidy, a physician and chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said at the outset of a hearing for three key administration nominees.

If only Cassidy was in a position of power that would have allowed him to stop RFK Jr. from becoming Secretary of Health and Human Services, which happened through a mysterious process nobody has been able to fully identify.