Like Maria Said Paz

Tuesday, April 15, 2025

I hope Marjorie's going to offer something other than her (questionable) word

Pathetic and money grubbing Marjorie Taylor Greene. Anyone remember how recently she was online trying to get money so her newly 21-year-old son could get drunk? Her money grubbing may have gotten worse. Bryan Metzger (BUSINESS INSIDER) reports:

In the hours before President Donald Trump announced a 90-day partial pause on a slew of new tariffs on foreign goods, he declared on social media that it was a "great time to buy."

One of his loudest allies in Congress had already gotten the message.

According to a disclosure made public on Monday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene plunged somewhere between $21,000 and $315,000 into the stock market on April 8 and 9, investing in 17 different companies including Apple, Elon Musk's Tesla, NVIDIA, and Palantir.

Trump's tariff pause announcement sent markets soaring on April 9, and anyone who purchased stocks in the final hours or days before Trump's announcement would have seen significant gains.

Greene has said that she doesn't control her own trades, telling BI in a statement on Friday that she signed a "fiduciary agreement to allow my financial advisor to control my investments."

"All of my investments are reported with full transparency," Greene added.

The congresswoman's office did not immediately respond to a follow-up question on Monday about whether she had advanced knowledge of Trump's tariff pause. In the wake of the market rebound, Democrats have suggested that Trump and his allies may have benefited from market manipulation.

I hope Marjorie's counting on something more than her word. She does get that most of us don't believe her, right? She also should get why that is.

Let's note Chelsea Handler on THE DAILY SHOW from two years ago talking about nut job Marjorie.

Marjorie Taylor Greene: I have people come up to me and say crazy things to me out of the blue in public places that they believe because they read it on the internet.

Chelsea Handler: Well if that's not the pot calling the kettle QAnon. This woman thought 9/11 was a hoax, that the Clintons killed JFK Jr. and that Jews are in charge of space lasers. But please, don't come at her with some crazy ideas -- she might believe them.

Again, I hope Greene has something more to offer than her word.

"The Snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Monday, 4/14/25. Chump wrecks the market, Tulsi Gabbard lies and it may be to avoid paying a state income tax, Bill Maher's been disgusting for years and finally people are starting to notice, let's look back at the Oval Office moment when Alien Musk racked up a big score playing bumper pool with his child's head, and much more.

Let's start with Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence. And this is going to be a very conversation opening because I don't feel good and am throwing up.

She's been caught in a possible lie -- another. David Packman noted it on his show.

That went up here on Saturday. A word on that, my YOUTUBE feed is junk. If it shows someone I'm subscribed to, it's showing a video from two weeks ago. I'm going to try using Rebecca's YOUTUBE because it's not messed up like mine. I posed David's video above here on Saturday. I almost added a note to it because it's missing a point. I did not feel good Saturday or Sunday (or today) so I hoped someone would cover it.

Tulsi has declared her homestead is in Texas. She voted in Hawaii. David points out that she's in violation of her VA loan and why. And he points out that she should have voted in Texas and why. If she did vote in Hawaii, she violated their laws.

The thing I want to know, that would clarify this whole thing, is she paying state income tax?

She voted in Hawaii after claiming on TV and elsewhere that she was living in Texas.

She voted in Hawaii's election. Will she be paying state taxes?

The reason people scum like her move to Texas is there's no state income tax. That's the only reason trash like Tulsi goes to Texas. (Well closeted male actors go there to try to hide their gay love affairs from their fans -- but, shh, no bongo talk this morning.) She has no connection to the state or its history.

So she damn well better be paying state income tax in Hawaii this year because she used Hawaii's state resources -- that residents of Hawaii pay taxes for -- to vote in that state instead of her own self-proclaimed state of Texas.

What is looks like is that she's not just a liar and someone determined to avoid paying taxes but a sponge who uses the resources that others pay taxes for.

Her actions appear illegal. But, again, she used the resources of Hawaii for her 2024 vote. That means she damn well better pay Hawaii's state income tax for 2024.

She's a cheat and a grifter and she's as fake as Convicted Felon Donald Chump. On the fat man, JD Wolf (MEIDASTOUCH NEWS) reports:

At one of his Florida golf clubs, Trump was presented with a large wooden carving commemorating the 2024 assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pennsylvania. The artwork, unveiled during a private moment caught on video, had been draped in an American flag before being revealed.

As Trump looked on, the man presenting the carving pulled the flag from the sculpture and wadded it up in his hands and later casually placed it on a nearby chair. Trump engaged the man in discussion about the artwork—about hanging in the White House and listening to details about its creation—but made no comment on the handling of the flag.

The use of the American flag in this way violates the U.S. Flag Code, which prohibits using the flag as drapery, and demands proper handling and storage of it. The video quickly drew attention online, with many pointing out the irony: Trump and his allies have long portrayed themselves as staunch defenders of patriotic symbols, frequently criticizing opponents for perceived disrespect toward the flag.

He has never been fit to be president. And his cult has no patriotism which is why they tried to carry out an insurrection and overthrow the government. The flag matters about as much to them as Jesus matters to the Christian Nationalist movement -- which is to say not at all. Ava and I covered that detail in our piece for THIRD. If other stuff is ready, it'll go up this evening or tonight. If it's not, we're posting our piece all by itself again.

I've known Jane Fonda for years and have a lot of love for her -- we defend her, Ava and I, in our new piece. But I stand by my remarks here that she should not have gone on Bill Maher's show. The left never should have promoted that show or done anything to advance Bill Maher who is a disgusting and hateful man. We've said that here for decades. Maybe others can start to catch up with that reality?

Let's be clear that women haven't spend the last years applauding Bill. Let's be clear that LGBTQ+ people haven't. Nor have Muslims. If you claim to be on the left -- lie Socialists Zac and Gavin of THE VANGUARD -- and you promoted Bill Maher, it's time for you to do some public reflection and address the very real hatred of others that you have and the need to giggle at attacks on the marginalized. You really need to address that before you try to lead everyone astray yet again.

Grasp that Ben Affleck rightly called Maher out in 2014 for his Islamophobia but idiot court jesters like Zac and Gavin have spent the last ten years promoting him. They need to get honest about what they did and the very real damage that they were part of.

Meanwhile, Paolo Confino (FORTUNE) reports:

Since President Donald Trump announced his sweeping tariff policy over a week ago and sent global markets into turmoil, the U.S. stock market has lost trillions in wealth. All the major indices such as the S&P 500, the Nasdaq 100, and Dow Jones Industrial Average are down for the year after markets reacted extremely negatively to Trump’s new trade policy.

The major selloff induced by the new Trump policy reversed what was shaping up to be another good year in the markets. Investors and analysts had expected the U.S. stock market to continue to deliver solid returns, even if it did slow down from the record-setting pace of the previous two years. In fact, Trump’s election brought a new wave of market optimism, as initially stocks soared on the back of what many had viewed as a pro-business president.

Now the opposite is true. Markets are sinking on the back of the uncertainty Trump injected into the U.S. economy since he returned to the White House.

To make up for the losses they’ve incurred so far this year, the major U.S. stock indices—the S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow—would all have to rally to an extent that isn’t unheard of, but has only ever happened in good years.

However, a strong year in 2025 seems unlikely. Since the market crash caused by Trump’s tariff announcements, most major Wall Street banks have revised their annual forecasts for the economy to reflect the ongoing downturn. Some of those banks even called for a recession as the stock market slide coincided with cratering bond markets and a devaluing of the U.S. dollar.

Through Friday, the S&P 500 is down 8.8% year-to-date—a stark reversal from the rip-roaring gains of 2023 and 2024 that together accounted for the best two-year stretch since 1998.

Are you grasping how much damage Chump has done to the US economy? For that matter, to the global economy?

Friday night on THE 11TH HOUR WITH STEPHANIE RUHLE, Stephanie hosted a panel discussion on the economy that Chump's destroyed.

Rachel Barber (USA TODAY) reports, "President Donald Trump’s approval ratings on the economy and inflation have fallen after weeks of tariff policy twists and turmoil in the stock market, according to a new poll released Sunday. The CBS News survey of 2,410 Americans found 44% approved of Trump’s handling of the economy and 40% approved of his handling of inflation, both down 4% from March 30. The president's overall approval rating dropped to 47% this month, down from 50% in March and 53% in February." Tom Boggioni (RAW STORY) reports:

After only three months in office full of missteps, some political observers are admitting Donald Trump's second time in the Oval Office is going poorly with one Washington insider pointing out his tariff plan has turned into a "self-inflicted wound" that has damaged his prospects.

In an interview with the Guardian's David Smith, Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota, marveled at how badly things have gone for the re-elected president while admitting it may be too early to call what is going on now a "failed presidency."

He then added, "... but to me there are clear indications that Donald Trump’s presidency is endangered."

Chump was never that popular to begin with. A majority of voters did not vote for him. He did not receive 50% of the votes. He squeaked by. And he did so on lies. As he exposes himself every day, Americans turn away. Lucy Strathmore (2 PARAGRAPHS) notes, "Political activist Zachary Shrewsbury, executive director of the West Virginia nonprofit organization Bluejay Rising, reported Thursday on X: 'Trumpism is cracking in West Virginia. People aren't loyal they're desperate. I see it daily in all my organizing. This state isn't lost. With real focus and a movement rooted in labor and dignity, we can take it back'." At THE DAILY BEAST, Paul Waldman writes:

On Wall Street and in C-suites across the country, titans of American industry and capital are aghast. How could President Donald Trump plunge us into ruinous trade wars amid yo-yoing tariffs and send markets into chaos ahead of a widely speculated recession? They gave him their support and their donations, and this is how he repays them?

The better question is: How were they so naïve as to think this wouldn’t happen?

It’s hard not to take some satisfaction in the sudden distress of the plutocrats.

“This is not what we voted for,” tweeted billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman. “What CEO and what board of directors will be comfortable making large, long-term, economic commitments in our country in the middle of an economic nuclear war?”

You don’t say.

Yes, the honeymoon is over, as Glenn C. Altschuler notes at THE HILL:

In a poll conducted by the Wall Street Journal, 52 percent of respondents disapproved of his handling of the economy — usually his strong suit — up 12 points since October 2024. Even before “Liberation Day” and the huge stock market plunge, only 42 percent gave his tariff policies a thumbs up. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that only 36 percent of Americans think the administration and so-called Department of Government Efficiency are doing a competent job in reducing the number of federal employees.

Trump’s honeymoon, such as it was, is over. And critics of his policies have become more aroused, active, visible and vocal.

In February, videos of town hall meetings in conservative congressional districts in Wisconsin and Georgia dominated by angry protestors went viral. When the phenomenon began to spread, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) — who knows that similar “revolts” in 2009 and 2017 were followed by a powerful backlash against the party in power in the ensuing midterm elections — told his colleagues to stop scheduling such meetings: “Why would we give them a forum to do that right now?”

Those who went ahead anyway had a hard time reassuring their constituents. Questioned about DOGE’s firing of military veterans, Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) replied, “No pain, no gain.” Rep. Steve Womack (R-Wyo.) told federal workers who lost their jobs, “Just be patient.”

Let's turn to Musk and at the request of many we're just copying and pasting from Saturday's post.

Mike's picked Alien Musk as "Idiot of the Week." And it's not been a good week for Musk. Yasmeeta Oon (DMR NEWS) notes, "Tesla’s stock has dropped a staggering 22% in the last four trading sessions, continuing its 45% loss for the year. This downturn has erased over $585 billion in value from the company, severely affecting Musk’s financial standing." Robert Crow (THE COOL DOWN) adds, "Teslarati has reported that New York City's comptroller, Brad Lander, is asking the municipality to sue Tesla based on Musk's activities within the Department of Government Efficiency. In a release, Lander asserted that Musk's work with the administration has taken the CEO away from his duties with Tesla. The company's stock has plummeted since Musk joined DOGE, causing 'losses over $300 million for the New York City pension systems,' Lander said in the release." Naomi LaChance (ROLLING STONE) reports:

Elon Musk, who owns one of the world's biggest social media platforms, has spent many millions of dollars on politics as he helps Donald Trump slash the federal government and continue the administration's attack on immigrants. Now, Musk is saying that he is losing the "propaganda war," potentially through his own choices.

Recent polling shows people don't like Musk. On Friday, numbers pundit Nate Silver posted on X that Musk's popularity is at negative 14 points. Trump, for comparison, is at negative 5 points. The chart shows that Musk's popularity markedly decreased when Trump took office, with 39.6 percent of respondents viewing him favorably as of this month.

He's a racist and people are learning that. He's not 'an' American. He's a citizen of South Africa. He was born there. He's citizen of Canada (though some are reviewing that status) via his mother. He applied for US citizenship after fleeing South Africa when White racism crumbled as apartheid collapsed. Per his brother, he broke visa rules in the US which would mean his US citizenship was fraudulent and should be revoked.

Despite not knowing anything about US history or the Constitution, he and his bro-incest partner -- brocest as Ann calls it -- Donald Chump set out to destroy America and the people in it. The American people are suffering and that's why they hate Musk and his pig jowls Diego Pérez Morales (MIBOLSILLOCOLUMBIA) reports:

The recent announcement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has sent shockwaves through the healthcare sector. Under the leadership of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an ambitious plan to restructure the department is underway, potentially resulting in the loss of up to 10,000 jobs. This move is part of a broader strategy to overhaul the functioning of key agencies responsible for tracking health trends, conducting medical research, and ensuring the safety of food and drugs. The implications of such a massive layoff are profound, raising concerns about the future of public health services in the United States.

That's only one of many examples of the mass firings. Americans are losing their jobs and they hate Musk.

They also hate him because he's a disgusting parent. That's obvious by (a) the treatment of his daughter and his attack on her and other trans people, (b) his 'spreading his seed' and (c) that ridiculous and appalling Oval Office moment where, when his young son wasn't on his shoulders, he was pressed against Musk's crotch. That was really disgusting and it's amazing that people wanted to look the other way.

I waited for others to comment. None did. I thought, well, it's just me that finds that shocking and that's because I was raped as a child in elementary school (by the man who kidnapped me). But this week, I started asking other people about that moment. It's not normal. There's nothing normal about Alien Musk. And a grown man should have pushed the kid away from his crotch. But somehow it just seemed normal to Musk. Wonder why that is?

I don't live in a world where it's normal for a child's head to rub against it's father crotch over and over. I don't live in a world where a father wouldn't stop the kid from doing that. That's not me blaming the child. The behavior I witness in that video seems taught and modeled. So I don't blame the child.

I do blame the adult parent who clearly has boundary issues. And I do blame the occupant of that office who invited Musk in and just sat there while Musk all but humped his own child.

A lot of you e-mailed that seeing the video in that context made you wonder how it took place without comment in real time. I agree. I had two friends call who are child therapists and state they saw some of the video in real time and didn't even pick up on it -- again, they're child therapists.

Let's wind down with this from Senator Mark Kelly's office:

April 11, 2025

“It is unconscionable that as American families are concerned about their financial security during this economic crisis entirely manufactured by the President, insiders may have actively profited from the market volatility and potentially perpetrated financial fraud on the American public.”

Today, Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), and Adam Schiff (D-CA) sent a letter to the Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Paul Atkins, to determine whether President Trump, any members of his cabinet, or other donors, insiders, and administration officials engaged in insider trading, market manipulation, or other securities laws violations.

“We urge the SEC to investigate whether the tariff announcements, which caused the market crash and subsequent partial recovery, enriched administration insiders and friends at the expense of the American public and whether any insiders, including the President’s family, had prior knowledge of the tariff pause that they abused to make stock trades ahead of the President’s announcement,” called the senators.

The senators wrote: “Before pausing the tariffs that threw markets into disarray, President Trump appears to have previewed his plans to do so on Truth Social: at 9:37 am, he announced, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT.” His official announcement of the tariff pause came roughly 4 hours later at 1:18 pm.”

The senators also asked how Trump administration cuts to the SEC might impact the agency’s ability to respond to large-scale market events and pursue enforcement actions. They requested answers to their questions by April 25, 2025.

Banning insider stock trading has been a priority for Kelly since he became a senator. In 2023, he introduced the Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act to require all members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children to place their stocks into a blind trust or divest the holding—ensuring they cannot use inside information to influence their stock trades and make a profit.

Click here to read the full letter.

Kat's "Kat's Korner: Lenny Kravitz let's it ride on a new classic" went up Sunday.

The following sites updated:

Sunday, April 13, 2025

Gretch The Wretch

Gretch The Wretch has always been more of a media creation than an actual politician who served the people. I think this was evident yet again with her most recent public moment of stupidity. Joshua Wilburn (OK) notes:

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was ridiculed by critics and fellow Democrats for being used as a "political prop" after appearing to stand alongside President Donald Trump at the White House while he signed executive orders targeting former Homeland Security officers over their comments surrounding the 2020 election.

BLUESKY has some good reactions.

Smart. Strong

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— New York Times Pitchbot (@nytpitchbot.bsky.social) April 12, 2025 at 12:01 PM

cc gretchen whitmer

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— Oliver Willis (@owillis.bsky.social) April 10, 2025 at 1:24 PM

She’s probably reading a Penthouse. Gretchen think she slick

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— Patrick Cosmos (@veryimportant.lawyer) April 12, 2025 at 4:23 PM

Gretchen Whitmer joins the Gavin Newsom side.

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— Annika Brockschmidt (@ardenthistorian.bsky.social) April 9, 2025 at 5:22 PM

📌This incredible NYT photo of Gretchen Whitmer groveling to the America-attacking Trump Wednesday reminds me of another politician's groveling with the devil on earth ... When will people learn?

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— D. Earl Stephens (@dearlstephens.bsky.social) April 12, 2025 at 6:24 PM

"The Snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Friday, April 22, 2025. Democrats angling for the 2028 presidential nomination need to stop undoing the work that the rest of the party has put so much time into, Chump's destruction of the economy leads to questions regarding his sanity and much more.

Before we get to anything else let's start with these two videos.

That's from last night's THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW on MSNBC. As noted before many times, especially during the Obama years, I know Eric Holder -- going back to the 90s -- and I like Eric Holder. He is not a snap decision person. He is calm and deliberate. Which makes what he says in the above videos all the more important about who we are as a country and what we need to do to protect and fight for the democracy that we have. So if you haven't already streamed Rachel and Eric's discussion, please make a point to. Grasp that Eric comes at these issues not just as a former Attorney General of the United States or as an attorney, he's also been a judge. His knowledge base is vast and, again, he's not a snap-judgment person. When he speaks, he's given it a lot of thought beforehand.

Rachel and he are discussing very important topics. And I was going to pull something in regarding Dan Abrams later in the snapshot but let's move that around. Zachary Leeman (MEDIAITE) reports:

Mediaite founder Dan Abrams marveled at the “left-wing” media’s fumbling of numerous scandals involving President Donald Trump while arguing that “right-wing media” milks controversies for all they’re worth.

“Have you noticed how quickly Signalgate has faded from the news? It was a really big story for about a week. And then it just seemingly disappeared,” Abrams said on his SiriusXM show, which airs on the POTUS Channel. Had the same scandal occurred under [a] President Kamala Harris, Abrams argued, it would be an endless story on conservative media networks like Fox News and Newsmax.

“This would still be all over right-wing media, potentially for months, with investigations and demands, and it just makes you realize that they are so much better than the left at milking a scandal,” he said.

Abrams noted that scandals involving Hillary Clinton and Hunter Biden are still hot topics in right-wing media circles, while Signalgate and its central figures like Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz get a fraction of the attention.

He said:

They did it with President Biden for months, years, trying in any way possible to link him to his family’s shady business dealings. Last week on Fox News, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth got mentioned 30 times. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz got mentioned 24 times. Those were the two principal figures in the Signal Chat scandal. And when they were mentioned, it was usually in the context of other national security stories. And yet, Hunter Biden, in that same time period on Fox News, mentioned 60 times, about nine mentions a day. One mention every couple of hours, more than Pete Hegseth and Mike Waltz combined.

Abrams then ran through a list of issues that would likely be bigger issues if a Democrat were president, including Peter Navarro, Trump’s trade advisor, being a convicted felon. Navarro was convicted in 2023 of contempt of Congress. He spent four months behind bars.

And Dan (another I've known for years) is right. It's appalling how so many either ignore real stories or give them a quick nod and then rush off to more garbage.

In "Media: Stop the insanity," Ava and I were addressing this topic:

What were they thinking when they served up this slop?

It's a question you can also ask of Zac and Gavin, the hosts of THE VANGUARD who give Socialists a bad name with their fact-free commentary and contradictory assertions that, on a good week, sometimes manage not to completely reveal the depth of their hypocrisy.

It's good that they have such deep hypocrisy since everything else about them is shallow.

November 5th, Convicted Felon Donald Chump was re-elected president. And how have you used your time since then?

If you're Zac and Cody of THE VANGUARD, you've pulled on your cock in public and that's about it.

THE VANGUARD is sort of like two Taylor Lorenzes instead of one. Two vapid and uneducated gossip queens instead of just one.

There have been 129 posted segments of THE VANGUARD since November 8th (three days after the election). And surely the two Socialists have been all over Donald Chump, right?

Wrong.

53 segments found the boyz sucking up to Kyle Kulinski, Krystal Ball, Glenn Greenwald and others in their circle jerk instead of addressing anything remotely resembling a real issue or need.

You know what's worse than that?

76.

That's the number of segments Silly & Billy have done attacking THE YOUNG TURKS.

Now hosts Cenk and Ana were Socialists once upon a time -- back when Silly and Billy praised TYT. Back then, the DSA Bible JACOBIN even let Ana host their podcast. And, of course, back then Cenk and Kyle Kulinski decided the best way to get Socialists elected into Congress was to form Justice Democrats as a cover for Justice Socialists. And of course, they were backed by the notorious Trumper Peter Thiel. This really does matter and it goes to The Politics of Destruction and how political extremists can easily flip from left to right. But VANGUARD boyz never impart any important lessons like that. No, they just provide gossip.

So the 76 segments THE VANGUARD did gas bagging over TYT served no real purpose other than gossip.

Most of the recent segments about TYT was gossip revolving around or deriving from Francesca Fiorentini. For months, she's been THE VANGUARD top topic due to making statements such as stating she was afraid of Cenk. And other gossip.

Gossip.

Not news.

Nothing political either -- not even if you cite the old adage: The personal is political. Just gossip.

During this 76 segment period, Francesca finally got fired by TYT. That wasn't surprising, but being kind, we posted her video talking about that at THE COMMON ILLS.

One video.

One video was sufficient.

Why are Zac and Cody obsessed with TYT? More to the point, as alleged adults, why aren't they concerned with anything else?

[. . .]

And Zac and Cody, how pathetic are they?

People are being deported from this country, Chump is purging our education systems and museums of Black history and women's history and LGBTQ+ history. He is talking like a madman of seizing the land of foreign countries. He is refusing to follow court orders. He's carrying out a ton of crazy and illegal activities.

And where is THE VANGUARD?

Serving up another year's worth of segments telling viewers Cenk and Ana are bad bosses!'

At this late date, how is that even news?

We need to build a better media! We need our own Joe Rogan! We need! We need! We need!

We need to do our damn jobs.

As Stan noted last night, "And those two stunted White boys of THE VANGUARD -- Zac and Gavin. Yuck. They just reek White privilege and entitlement, don't they? They're so deeply stupid about everything whether it's politics or their pretense to know pop culture. I don't think -- left, right whatever -- there are two bigger idiots on YOUTUBE than those two. "

Doing your job is not Kyle talking about how his balls feel in certain underwear and calling that a YOUTUBE segment for the left or Silly and Billy doing the one milliionth take down of THE YOUNG TURKS.

I'm not a YOUNG TURKS fan. I've never praised Cenk and Ana, I've never confused them with anything but fraud's and tricksters because I've always known the deal with the devil they made to get that money. I have nothing but contempt for them. But at this late date, after they've embraced transphobia and racism and people have left TYT for that and told their stories, there's really no need for 76 segments since the election telling us how awful Cenk and Ana are to work for.

There are many other things that are not being covered. SignalGate being only one.

They fan boy over nonsense and that's true of so many YOUTUBERS.

In this country a big issues has become the fact that Republicans in the House are refusing to go home and hold townhalls in their districts and talk with their constituents.

They don't want the feedback.

And the feedback comes with the job.

Some elected officials in Congress have underscored this by going to nearby districts or even to out of state for them districts to hold a townhall. And that's good and that underscores that the GOP is not listening and they are not doing their jobs.

Some hacks like Zac and Cody tear away at what's being accomplished with their fluff pieces on Tim Walz.

From last night, that's Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Tim Walz: Circuit Rider Governor"

and it addresses the reality that Zac and Gavin and all the other dim bulbs won't: Tim is not helping anyone with his nonsense tour.

He is the governor of Minnesota. He does not need to be holding town halls in Houston, Texas or various cities in Iowa or Ohio or California or . . .

He is an elected governor who is now spending weeks on the road to criticize the GOP for ignoring their own constituents, the people who elected them.

Tim is on the road doing this, on the road out of his state doing this.

The hypocrisy is appallling.

Now he's doing it not to help anyone, he's trying to lay groundwork for the party's presidential nomination in 2028. It's not happening, Tim. You lied non-stop and you can't come back from that in the mainstream press. You also delivered the worst, the absolute worst, debate performance in the lifetime of televised vice presidential debates. The absolute worst.

DSA may or may not have delivered the vice presidential nomination to you last August -- Democratic Socialists of America claimed they did back in August in a series of Tweets that we've highlighted many times before.

They won't be able to help you in 2028. Their rat f**kery of the election, their work to defeat Kamala, did not escape the attention of the party. It's why their one time asset James Zogby now has his face pressed against the glass and when he tries to call friends in the party who once took his calls, he's told that they're unavailable or that they'll call him back (and then they don't).

Elections do have consequences. The DSA will find that out the hard way.

But Tim's too busy trying to promote himself and angle for his future.

In doing so, he's defeating all the work that people have put in underscoring how the GOP is not serving the people who voted them into office.

And all Tim's really accomplishing is sporting his sexism and racism.

Slamming Kamala?

Walter Mondale never slammed Jimmy Carter. John Edwards didn't slam John Kerry. Lloyd Bensen didn't slam Michael Dukakis. Not even Joe Lieberman slammed Al Gore.

But White Tim thinks it's okay to go around slamming Kamala?

He needs to own the fact that his record of non-stop lies and his lousy debate performance negatively impacted the campaign.

But he doesn't want to talk about what he did wrong, does he?

He needs to get his ass back to his home state and stop giving the GOP an opening to shoot back, "Well Tim Walz is a governor and he's all over the country doing town halls -- everywhere except his own state."

He and the hideous Gretch The Wretch Whitmer have done real damage to the party this week and a functioning left media would have been addressing this.

We don't need a Joe Rogan. We just need YOUTUBERS who will do actual work. MEIDAS TOUCH does, TABITHA SPEAKS POLITICS does, Coach D and some others do.

But the DSAers on YOUTUBE -- all of whom are too scared to tell their streaming audience that they're Socialists -- waste our time day after day and week after week.

Now let's get to what we were going to start with. SignalGate, tariffs, wrongful deportations, it's not been a good time for the Convicted Felon. Alex Henderson notes:

President Donald Trump claims that U.S. manufacturing slowed down during former President Joe Biden's four years in the White House, and he insists that his tariff-driven trade policy will lead to a renaissance in manufacturing jobs.

But according to Cleanview Energy founder Michael Thomas, Biden — not Trump — is the one with the stronger record on manufacturing jobs.

In a Thursday, April 10 post on X, formerly Twitter, Thomas posts, "The manufacturing boom that started under the Biden administration is grinding to a halt under Trump." And Thomas backs it up with a chart.

The chart, using U.S. Census Bureau figures, shows data on manufacturing jobs between 2016 (when Barack Obama was still president) and 2025 (when Trump returned to the White House). Altogether, the chart offers data spanning four presidential administrations.

U.S. manufacturing jobs, according to the chart, declined slightly during Trump's first presidency — before surging during Biden's four years as president. The chart shows the number of manufacturing jobs continuing to climb under Biden, peaking in 2024 before starting to decrease under Trump.

Right about now nearly the entire country's joining hands and swaying back and forth as Tiffany sings "Could've Been." And we all know what could have been.

Instead, we got the disaster that is Chump. Chump's semi-paused tariff scheme. Jamie Ross and Hannah Jewell (WASHINGTON POST) ponder the sudden semi-pause, "Why did he change his mind? Allies and world leaders told Trump he risked sparking a global crisis. His advisers say the pause is strategic -- a claim undercut by Trump himself." Andrew Feinberg (INDEPENDENT) quotes Chump declaring, "We're working with a lot of different countries, and it's all going to work out very well. I think it's going to work out really, very well. But we're in good shape." Sounds like someone trying to convince themselves -- someone really, really trying to convince themselves.

He might succeed in fooling himself; however, the non-delusional will not be so easy to trick. Gustaf Kilander (INDEPENDENT) delivers the harsh reality:

As President Donald Trump’s back-and-forth on trade policies creates chaos in the financial markets, some fund managers are questioning the rationality of his decisions.

“In the last few days, we have had many conversations with macro fund managers,” Tom Lee, the head of research at the financial analysis firm FSInsights, wrote on Wednesday morning, before Trump backed down from most of his tariffs on U.S. trading partners.

“And their concern is that the White House is not acting rationally, but rather on ideology. And some even fear that this may not even be ideology,” he added. “A few have quietly wondered if the President might be insane.”

Brian Karem (SALON) shares, that a Republican told him, "I'm not saying he’s insane. But his administration is the most sloppy, unprofessional, arrogant and stupid group of people ever assembled in government." And Karem also shares, "Others, however, are saying he’s insane." Samantha Nungesser (DECIDER) quotes THE VIEW's Ana Navarro stating, "If they're saying that this was all strategic, then he is a sadist,” she fumed. “Because what kind of government leader puts his people through this kind of distress and sadness and anxiety for a week just for giggles? His supporters always say that he plays fourth-dimensional chess. I think he should be in a padded room playing with his own drool because the things he does are just simply lunacy. And we're not out of this. We're not out of this by any means. [. . .] Let's not underestimate the result on consumer confidence of the havoc he has wreaked for the last 11 weeks. We have antagonized our allies yet again."

Bertrand Benoit and Kim Mackrael (WALL STREET JOURNAL) point out, "Economists stressed that a high degree of uncertainty remained despite the 90-day pause, which would negatively affect investment, growth and inflation expectations going forward" while Carlos Segovia (EL MUNDO) explains, "From the 3.95% demanded by investors days before, it jumped to 4.6%, a huge increase in an asset usually calm with few surprises. Several factors had come together for such an increase: the need for liquidity by traders due to the stock market crash and the growing sense that the safest US financial asset is no longer so due to the absolute legal uncertainty sown by the White House." Economist Paul Krugman (SUBSTACK) walks us through the land of reality:

Will crazy be an excuse if some were gaming the system? What if crazy isn't the only c-word involved in this administration effort? What if the other c-word is corruption? Simon Walter (INDEPENDENT) explores that notion:

The Democrats, led by California senator Adam Schiff, are calling for an investigation into insider trading. Even Trump himself seemed muddled over when he decided to make this change, telling reporters in the same sentence that it was “over the last few days” and “fairly early this morning”.

The turmoil caused by his chaotic tariff antics may not lead to his resignation, as Watergate did for Nixon, but the stain on Trump’s personal and political reputation and credibility could be as permanent.

After Watergate, Nixon could never escape the brutal truth that he was a crook and a liar. After Tariffgate, Trump will never escape the brutal truth that he has been exposed as unfit to run America’s economy – and that when he was found out, he claimed (preposterously) that it was all part of his “strategy”.

However, if claims that some used the wild fluctuation in stock market prices to make a killing turn out to be true, and crucially, that this was directly or indirectly aided and abetted by those in Trump’s White House, it will take more than his usual bluster to shrug it off.

Nixon tried to shift the blame for Watergate, claiming it was all the fault of others. It didn’t work. Time will tell whether Trump tries to blame others for Tariffgate. However, as with Watergate, there can be no denying that only one person was responsible: the US president.

Trump’s humiliating climbdown on tariffs has striking similarities with Liz Truss’s downfall as prime minister.

As in her case, it was the bond market response by hard-headed financiers – who, unlike Truss and Trump, understand economics as opposed to political fantasies – that forced him to confront reality.

Tommy Christopher (MEDIAITE) wonders if stock manipulation was taking place:

After a disastrous week in the stock market, Trump tried to calm fears Wednesday morning by posting a message telling investors to relax and “BE COOL” — hours before he announced a 90-day “pause” on most of the tariffs that caused the market to tank.

While Trump aides and supporters chalked the episode up to a masterful negotiating strategy, Trump told reporters he made the move because “I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting yippy, you know, they were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid.”

But along with his earlier plea for investors to “BE COOL,” Trump also sent a message that looked very suspicious to some people in hindsight. At 9:37 AM on Truth Social, Trump wrote ““THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT”.

Rep. Steve Horsford (D-NV) and other Democrats have accused Trump of market manipulation and suggested his message was meant to tip off his supporters. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) made a similar accusation Wednesday.

“If people are pissed about insider trading here at the House, look at what’s happening at the White House right now and with the Republican Party,” AOC said to Spectrum News.

Trump was confronted about the accusations at the end of a 73-minute cabinet meeting Thursday afternoon as reporters were being ushered out. Trump did not answer, but appeared to have a delayed reaction with raised eyebrows and a shake of the head[.]

The doubts, the erratic nature of Chump, the corruption and stupidity? It's all impacting the way Americans seen The Orange Menace. Martha McHardy (NEWSWEEK) reports:

President Donald Trump is facing a sharp decline in approval ratings following the announcement of new tariffs that rattled markets and sparked backlash from consumers.

Trump's sliding approval over tariffs highlights growing voter dissatisfaction with his economic policies, particularly as inflation-weary Americans feel the pinch of higher prices.

The tariffs' popularity and impact on the economy will be crucial to the outcome of the 2026 midterm elections. The economy is always close to the forefront of voters' minds, and Democrats believe higher prices caused by the duties could spark a backlash against Trump.

Let's wind down with this from THE BLACK COMMENTATOR:

The Black Commentator Issue #1036 is now Online

April 10, 2025