Week of Memory and Gratitude
Trump Speech, Another Trump Speech, Trump Honoring His Own Noble Sacrifices, Trump Being Trump

With a brief nod to those who fell in service to our country, he devotes most of his narration to reminding us of the deep appreciation we all owe for the great sacrifices made by himself, enduring as he must the slings and arrows of outrageous scum who just don’t love their country (and their president).

OH, and let’s be mindful of a separate event:
Trump Warns West Point Graduates About the Troubles with ‘Trophy Wives’ – No, REALLY!

He examines Trump’s practice of demonizing groups he doesn’t like and sees linguistic similarities with that of a past personality.
Can we guess?

Key fictional reaction (Barack Obama):
I knew it!

Key balance at expense of truth:
First up, the New York Times. While reporting on the White House Occupant’s characteristically unhinged speech at West Point, the Paper Of Record felt the need to indulge in shameless sanewashing.

Key pattern:
Everyone who talks to Donny has a choice. They can indulge the spoiled little rich child, or they can try to talk to him like an adult. The latter usually results in a tantrum. Then the king of Great Britain sends him a note and someone else promises him a golf course, like Vietnam, and Donny feels important again.

Key consequence:
Unfortunately, there’s are real costs to his extended adolescence. One of those is the long-term damage he’s doing to our foreign relations with Canada, our closest friend and ally. The best neighbor any country could have.

He loses in court again, as two more judges rule his tariffs are against the law. (Turns out the law is pretty clear)

On top of that, he has reversed himself so many times, a new derisive acronym has been born, now commonly used on Wall Street.

Key new act of Trump mob mercy:
Trump also commuted the six federal life sentences of Chicago gang leader Larry Hoover, 74, who was convicted of murder, extortion, money laundering, and drug related offenses, and from prison ran a notorious drug gang that had about 30,000 members across 31 states and brought in an estimated $100 million a year. Hoover still faces what’s left of a 200-year sentence in Illinois for murder.

Key TACO based on tariff practices:
Trump Always Chickens Out

Key TACO effect:
[I]nvestors have figured out that they can buy stocks cheaply immediately after Trump’s initial tariff announcement and then sell higher when stocks rebound after he changes his mind.

[Update: The tariff court rulings are postponed until the appeal process confirms them, but the TACO acronym remains.]

The same analysis is now available in audio format, as Richardson narrates in podcast.

Jason Linkins can’t resist a bit of snark over it.

and a correction that doesn’t help much.

[Personal note: I’m gonna spend the whole rest of the day not thinking about any of that.]

Key Proof of non-Bigotry (via Maher):
I mean of course there’s some racists everywhere who are that bad, but generally all the MAGA people I know have no problem shaking hands with a Black person.

It’s usually unfair to paint whole groups by the same brush, unless a given group defines itself with that brush.
But must we really deconstruct this hoary old trope again?

I’m considered old, possibly because of age. But the some of my best friends proof is much older than am I by many decades.

Key decline (to a hall with mostly middle‑aged women):
[His staff] did not feel safe to attend since it was a public event.

At each town hall, a seat reserved for Representative Graves is empty.

Key headline:
Empty Suits. Empty Seats.

On the negative side, OH Mylanta!!!

With more specifics explained (as in YIKES)

Key bad example:
…the GOP budget provides enormous tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy, allowing them to pocket hundreds of thousands in tax savings while working families face rising costs and cuts to benefits.

Key better example:
You’re going to lose your health insurance because Donald Trump and all the greedy motherfuckers who hang out at his golf course think you and everyone like you are a bunch of leaches. They’re gonna scheme and lie and break the rules to get this bill passed, pocket all that money, and won’t lose a lick of sleep when it ruins your life.

Key question:
Which video might get you to call your representatives or march in the streets? Which one did you swipe past the moment you heard the word “budget” or the uncanny phrase “working families”?

Brian summarizes on social media:

He warns foreign students they’d better keep their mouths shut.

Out of satire and back in the world as we know it, I wonder if she will escalate all the way to very concerned.

Then comes this:

Key insight (quote)
…the Nazis were cool and what the Germans did in WWII was awesome.

Julian Sanchez sees what he thinks ought to be obvious:

M. Bouffant at Web of Evil is unimpressed, explaining to poor Chris that deface usually involves more than a note taped to a bumper.

Key spoiler:
Elon Musk is the World’s Richest Dope Fiend

Key expectation:
Musk seemed to aspire to be a THE highly respected businessman who would be perceived by many as a colorful hero.

Key lament:
How could Americans not learn to love a man who said he wants to save western civilization from empathy?

Key outcome:
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, is getting out of DOGE.

One Justice recused and didn’t vote for unstated reasons, but most likely because of ties to individuals in the case.

Imani Gandy skims the surface of a Supreme Court semi-superficial ruling that is pretty much a non-ruling.

The 4-4 split leaves in place a lower court decision against the funding. But it also invites the next Constitutional violation case, the outcome of which will probably depend on which way Justice Amy Coney Barrett will pray and sway.

Key temptation:
When we allow ourselves to be drained of the simple pleasures of this life, we become complicit in those who desire our demise. The moment we lose the ability to look ahead or feel expectancy or sense possibility, we move from authoritarianism’s opposition to its collaborators. When our reservoirs of hope dry up, they have us right where they want us.

Key restorative:
Living your best life in a dystopian nightmare isn’t giving it a foothold; it is the single greatest way to deny its power.
 
Keep dancing.

A lot to overcome at any age.

Having had some experience in this area, I confess I don’t see much to recommend rushing into it.

Beginning (followed by much more):
When mankind is gone, when only beasts reign over the Earth again,
None will mourn, nor celebrate.
Mourning, celebration, the very meaning of death, die with us;
For they are of the mind.

Separately, as if to illustrate a small part, a few minutes of awesome: