Here’s a fun fact: Between the 2024 presidential election and the inauguration on January 21, 2025, the Trump Store launched at least 168 new products. One product would have been weird.
This isn’t just a way to grift your supporters, but also to take bribes. The Trump Store isn’t run by the Trump Campaign, but by the Trump Organization. All the profits go directly to Donald Trump. These 168 products are in addition to the products launched before the election, like Trump Watches, Trump Shoes, Trump Bible, etc, etc. Now, we’re going to get Trump Mobile. I, for one, expect future commercials to be made even cheaper than those featuring Ryan Reynolds for Mint Mobile.
Trump Mobile will sell a gold (fake) cell phone for $500. Check it out. (snip-MORE)
They did it again. The goons have arrested a Democratic politician for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
It was just last week when California Senator Alex Padilla was tackled and handcuffed in a federal building in Los Angeles during a press conference held by Kristi Noem, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The excuses for handcuffing the senator have been lies and bullshit.
They said he “barged” into the press conference. He was escorted in by the FBI and the National Guard, which is not “barging.” The so-called barging is not on any of the videos I have seen.
They said he “lunged” toward Kristi Noem, but you don’t see that on any of the videos either. You just see the Secret Service grabbing him. Kristi Noem carries on speaking while the SS is grabbing the senator and dragging him out of the room. If she was “lunged” at, she didn’t seem to be rattled by it.
They say he took off his Senate pin. Even if this is true, so what? It’s not a factor, especially since he identified himself.
They say he didn’t identify himself. Look at the tapes. He identified himself multiple times. (snip-MORE)
After reflecting further on Piers Akerman’s recent assertion that my analysis of the situation in the Middle East was “utter bullshit” and not tethered to reality, I realised how angry that made me feel. As a white, elderly, Anglo-Saxon male, I believe I have earned the right to be most distressed by Western privilege and the arrogance which so often distorts reality, much like a fairground mirror. It paints Palestinians as irrational terrorists and Iranians as fanatical mobs, erasing the colonial fingerprints smeared across their histories. That is the real bullshit.
Take Iran: a democracy overthrown in 1953 by Anglo-American operatives for the crime of nationalizing its oil. The CIA’s coup reinstated the Shah—a tyrant whose torture squads (trained by SAVAK and Mossad) disappeared thousands. When Iranians finally revolted in 1979, the West recoiled not at the Shah’s brutality but at the loss of a pliant client. Now, the same powers that strangled Iranian democracy lecture its theocrats on human rights—a grotesque pantomime.
I am sorry to say that Netanyahu embodies this hypocrisy. He rails against Iran’s “aggression” while annexing Palestinian land, arms settlers who burn olive groves, and starves Gaza into submission. His hysteria over Iran’s nuclear program (still unproven after decades of sanctions) mirrors the WMD lies he helped sell in 2003. Remember his cartoon bomb stunt at the UN? Pure theatre. What truly terrifies him isn’t ayatollahs with centrifuges but a regional order where Israel isn’t the unchecked hegemon.
The West has perfected a sinister alchemy of psychological inversion—an Orwellian recalibration of language that transforms resistance into terrorism, domination into peace, and sovereignty into existential threat. When Hamas fires rockets, it’s decried as barbarism, while Israel’s 56-year occupation of Palestinian land vanishes from view like morning mist. Apartheid walls that carve up stolen territory are rebranded as “security measures”, their concrete brutality softened by bureaucratic euphemisms. Iran’s civilian nuclear program sparks apocalyptic warnings, while Israel’s arsenal of 90 thermonuclear warheads—never inspected, never acknowledged—sits quietly in the Negev desert. This linguistic jujitsu doesn’t merely describe reality; it manufactures it, ensuring Western audiences see only mirrors and shadows where power and oppression stand plain as day.
I urge you to consider that none of this emerged in a vacuum. The US and UK engineered the Middle East’s instability—from Sykes-Picot’s arbitrary borders to arming Saddam against Iran, then crying havoc when blowback came. October 7th didn’t erupt from ancient hatreds; it was the predictable eruption of a people caged, humiliated, and drone-struck for generations. To focus solely on Hamas’ atrocities while ignoring Israel’s 56-year occupation is like condemning a burning man for screaming.
There can be no meaningful progress without first confronting uncomfortable truths. The West must reckon with its destructive legacy—the CIA’s 1953 coup in Iran that strangled democracy, the 1967 war that birthed an occupation now in its sixth decade, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq based on fabricated WMD claims. These aren’t ancient histories but open wounds that continue to shape regional dynamics. Pretending otherwise isn’t diplomacy; it’s willful blindness.
Netanyahu’s hysterical warnings about “existential threats” must be exposed for what they are—not genuine security concerns but a naked fear of justice. His real nightmare isn’t Iranian centrifuges but the collapse of the apartheid system that preserves Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean. Every settlement expansion, every Gaza blockade, and every racist nation-state law reveals the true project: not coexistence but permanent domination.
We must fearlessly reject the false symmetry of “both sides” narratives. While Israelis live with the psychological trauma of potential violence, Palestinians endure the daily reality of military checkpoints, land theft, and indiscriminate bombardment. Comparing Hamas rockets to Israel’s occupation is like comparing a slingshot to a tank battalion—technically both weapons, but existing in fundamentally different universes of destructive power. True peace begins when we stop equating the oppressed with their oppressors.
The future demands more than temporary ceasefires. It requires dismantling the myths that let the West play both arsonist and firefighter. Otherwise, we’re just counting the days until the next explosion.
Remember all the talk of the Biden crime family. Remember the outrage over Hunter Biden selling paintings to wealthy people? Oh the republicans held hearings, the news media was full of these stories, the republicans even paid a guy to lie about a call and money they were raking in. 20 million the republicans claimed. tRump made 57 million in crypto coin grift in the first 4 months of his term. Not a peep from the hyper moral republicans in congress and the right’s media machine. Here are a couple quick articles on the tRump crime family.
The Advance prides itself on attracting superior talent to our pages, and Clay Jones may well be at the top of the totem pole if awards are the measure. In 2022 he won the Robert F. Kennedy Award, and he has been a finalist for the Herblock Prize. What makes a great political cartoonist? That’s tough to say, but certainly the ability to make connections that others miss, and that force us to both laugh and think about issues in ways we may not have previously imagined — even (perhaps especially) when it makes us uncomfortable. That’s precisely what Jones has accomplished today, building off this week’s seemingly unrelated stories about geese and the endless struggle in our community over the homeless.
Dawwwww. Thank you, guys. That’s super nice.
I was just being silly with this, but proofer Laura said it was “silly, but kinda accurate.” I was afraid my editor would hate it because it was so weird.
Creative note: I wrote this Thursday night, and drew at home Friday night at the end of a long day. I wanted it to be finished before Saturday so I could focus on all the DC stuff.
Music note: Dammit, I don’t remember because I drew it two nights ago.
I’m sorry I made you wait for today’s blog, but I thought it would be more interesting to write the blog about Trump’s birthday parade after I actually attended his birthday parade.
And let’s not make mistakes about this. This military parade was not for the Army, but for Donald Trump.
Here’s the funny thing: I didn’t make it to the parade. Yes, I got a hotel room, and I planned to attend the parade, but three things happened. There were fences. Long long long fences. There was not a huge crowd, but it was tough to get through the snake of fences. Then, there were lines. But didn’t I just say the crowds were not huge? They weren’t, but the Trump organization likes to make people wait because it gives the impression that the crowds are large when they’re not.
And they must have expected much larger crowds because there were MAGA merchants everywhere. Yet, it didn’t seem like they were having a lot of customers. The street vendors selling ice cream had longer lines. I bought a cone.
If you want a huge crowd, go back to President Barack Obama’s inauguration. That was a huge crowd. Go back to Kamala Harris’ speech last November. That was a huge crowd. Or, go back to the last time I went to a Washington Capitals game. It was incredible if you could find a seat on the metro because the crowds were so large. But today, I took a metro at 5 p.m. and it was easy to find a seat. It wasn’t packed. And it wasn’t packed after the event either.
The parade started early because they wanted to beat the rain that never came. There were sprinkles, but nothing that should be able to stop a tank.
I said there was a thing that kept me from making it to Constitution Avenue, where the parade was held. The first were the fences, the second were the lines, and the third were the protests. The protests distracted me.
The official No Kings protests did not happen in Washington, DC. They didn’t want to start a fight. But, that didn’t stop independent protesters who did outnumber the MAGAts in my opinion. And readers, I feel bad because I wasn’t very nice to the MAGAts. You’ll see.
The closest thing I saw to violence was when a woman took a wild swing at a man holding a sign. They crossed paths, and she took a swing as they passed each other, which I don’t think she intended to connect. But he turned around and said, “Did you just take a swing at me?” She did not turn around, so he yelled, “Fuck Trump.” Yes, she was a MAGAt. And no, the man didn’t try to do anything violent. He kept on his way after yelling, “Fuck Trump.”
I had to know what was on his sign that made her want to take a swing, and here it is.
In a telephone interview this morning with ABC’s Rachel Scott, Donald Trump said he “may” call Minnesota Governor Tim Walz about the targeted attack in Minneapolis that killed Melissa Hortman, a state legislator, and her husband.
In a moment that needs bipartisanship, empathy, and for a president to actually act presidential, Donald Trump said, “Well, it’s a terrible thing. I think he’s a terrible governor. I think he’s a grossly incompetent person. But I may, I may call him, I may call other people too.”
He just can’t do it. He gave it a shot yesterday, issuing a statement someone else obviously wrote, “I have been briefed on the terrible shooting that took place in Minnesota, which appears to be a targeted attack against state lawmakers. Our Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and the FBI, are investigating the situation, and they will be prosecuting anyone involved to the fullest extent of the law. Such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America. God Bless the great people of Minnesota, a truly great place.”
Forgive me if I don’t put a lot of faith into the investigative skills of Pam Bondi and FBI Director (sic) Kash Patel.
Trump blamed “hateful rhetoric” from the left when an assassin took aim at his ear. You’re not going to hear the term “hateful rhetoric” from Trump over the assassination of a state legislator in Minnesota.
We’re going to hear a lot of hypocrisy this week coming from MAGA Land.
For Trump, it was “hateful rhetoric” that got his ear shot, but the “targeted attack” on the left is a mystery.
I wanted to give you a long and in-depth blog on this, but I totally forgot while waiting at the airport. The worst part is, my flight was delayed for over two hours, so I had time to write it. Now, my flight is boarding and I’m still typing.
The next time you hear from me, I’ll be in California.
The view from my room:
I’m staying at the Sheraton by the Pentagon. Here’s the view I took yesterday afternoon. (snip-MORE)
June 16, 1961 Following a meeting between South Vietnamese envoy Nguyen Dinh Thuan and President John F. Kennedy, the United States agreed to increase the presence of American military advisors in Vietnam from 340 to 805, and to provide direct training and combat supervision to South Vietnamese troops. The number of U.S. personnel rose to 3,200 by the end of 1962. President Ngo Dinh Diem and President Eisenhower in DC, five years earlier
June 16, 1965 A planned civil disobedience turned into a five-hour teach-in on the steps and inside the Pentagon about the escalating war in Vietnam. In two days, more than 50,000 leaflets were distributed without interference at the building that houses the U.S. Department of Defense. A World War II artillery officer, Gordon Christiansen, turned in his honorable discharge certificate in protest.
June 16, 1976 South African police opened fire on black students peacefully protesting the requirement to learn Afrikaans, the language of the small white minority that enforced the racially separatist regime known in Afrikaans as apartheid. Neither black nor colored (other non-white or mixed race) South Africans could vote or live where they chose. Over 150 South African children were killed and hundreds more were injured in the shooting—what became known as the Soweto Massacre. fact: Soweto stands for: SOuth WEst TOwnships The History of Apartheid in South Africa Read more on Soweto
June 16, 1992 Former Reagan Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger was indicted for his participation in the Iran-Contra affair, charged with four counts of lying to Congress and prosecutors. He had concealed the secret arrangement to provide funds to the Nicaraguan insurgent contra rebels with profits from selling arms to Iran, which in turn were to encourage the release of hostages held by groups allied with Iran. President Ronald Reagan with Caspar Weinberger, George Shultz, Ed Meese, and Don Regan, discussing the President’s remarks on the Iran-Contra affair. The Reagan administration (1981-1989) had been circumventing the legal ban on material support for the terrorist activities of the contras. Iran had needed the weapons for its war with Iraq, and it was hoped that Iran would respond by encouraging the release of hostages being held by Islamist groups in Lebanon. President Reagan had publicly and repeatedly promised never to negotiate with terrorists, and had maintained the break in diplomatic relations with the Iranian revolutionary government. Weinberger and the five others charged were all pardoned by President George H.W. Bush six months later, days before the trial was to start, and shortly before President Bush would be leaving office. More on Iran-Contra pardons
I am sorry I am posting so many videos and cartoon memes. The issue is my cataracts are so bad one of my eyes is no longer working and my glasses are useless. I saw an eye doctor on Tuesday and when Ron gets back we will have a talk about surgery. It will have to be done on both eyes. What bothers me is the last time I was under for surgery they had a hard time bring me back. My breathing got too shallow and … well it took them a lot longer than they expected to bring me back to consciousness. I am worried if I go under again … I may stay there. But it is a struggle to do anything on the computer now. All the letters are made of fuzzy caterpillars and things I look at even with my glasses have fur on them. But I need my glasses for the computer, phone, and watch but can’t wear them for anything else. So I can take them off for bigger things like watching videos, moving around doing things, even driving. Just need them for reading and typing which gives me a headache after a bit. Hugs.
Federal officials have begun carrying out President Donald Trump’s orders to enforce a World War II-era criminal law that requires virtually all non-citizens in the country to register with and submit fingerprints to the government.
Since April, law enforcement in Louisiana, Arizona, Montana, Alabama, Texas and Washington, D.C., have charged people with willful “failure to register” under the Alien Registration Act, an offense most career federal public defenders have never encountered before. Many of those charged were already in jail and in ongoing deportation proceedings when prosecutors presented judges with the new charges against them.
The registration provision in the law, which was passed in 1940 amid widespread public fear about immigrants’ loyalty to the U.S., had been dormant for 75 years, but it is still on the books. Failure to register is considered a “petty offense” — a misdemeanor with maximum penalties of six months imprisonment or a $1,000 fine.
In reviving the law, the Trump administration may put undocumented immigrants in a catch-22. If they register, they must hand over detailed, incriminating information to the federal government — including how and when they entered the country. But knowingly refusing to register is also a crime, punishable by arrest or prosecution, on top of the ever-present threat of deportation.
“The sort of obvious reason to bring back registration in the first place is the hope that people will register, and therefore give themselves up effectively to the government because they already confessed illegal entry,” said Jonathan Weinberg, a Wayne State University law professor who has studied the registration law.
But the Trump administration also has another goal. It says one purpose of the registration regime is to provoke undocumented immigrants to choose a third option: leave the country voluntarily, or, in the words of the Department of Homeland Security, compulsory “mass self-deportation.” Those efforts, alongside the administration’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act and a more aggressive approach to immigration raids, are meant to achieve a broader, overarching campaign promise: the largest deportation program in the history of America.
“For decades, this law has been ignored — not anymore,” the department said in a February announcement that it would enforce the law. The department called “mass self-deportation” a “safer path for aliens and law enforcement,” and said it saves U.S. taxpayer dollars.
The Department of Homeland Security did not answer questions about its enforcement policies.
A long dormant law will now affect millions
The Alien Registration Act was passed in 1940, amid fears about immigrants’ loyalties. A separate provision of the statute criminalizes advocacy for overthrowing the government. For about two decades, that provision was used to prosecute people who were accused of being either pro-fascist or pro-Communist.
The registration provision, though, remained largely dormant, and had not been enforced in 75 years. It applies to non-citizens, regardless of legal status, who are in the U.S. for 30 days or longer.
Certain categories of legal immigrants have already met the requirement. Immigrants who have filed applications to become permanent residents are considered registered by DHS, for example. And even some undocumented U.S. residents are already registered: U.S. residents who have received “parole” — a form of humanitarian protection from deportation — are also considered registered.
Still, DHS estimates that up to 3.2 million immigrants are currently unregistered and are affected by the new enforcement regime. The administration has created a new seven-page form that non-citizens must use. The form requires people, under penalty of perjury, to provide biographical details, contact information, details about any criminal history and the circumstances of how they entered the U.S.
After DHS issued regulations to enforce the registration requirement in April, the administration announced that 47,000 undocumented immigrants had registered using the new form.
A legal challenge and a series of prosecutions
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and other advocacy groups filed a lawsuit challenging Trump’s move to revive the registration requirement in March.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, initially expressed skepticism toward the administration, saying in a recent hearing that officials had pulled a “big switcheroo” on undocumented immigrants. But McFadden in April refused the plaintiffs’ request to temporarily block the policy, saying the Coalition likely lacks the legal standing to sue because it has not shown that it would be harmed by the policy. The group has appealed McFadden’s decision.
In the meantime, the administration has begun to prosecute people for failure to register for the first time in seven decades.
The prosecutions so far have stumbled.
On May 19, a federal magistrate judge in Louisiana consolidated and dismissed five of the criminal cases, saying prosecutors had no probable cause to believe the defendants had intentionally refused to register.
Judge Michael North wrote that the Alien Registration Act requires “some level of subjective knowledge or bad intent” behind the choice not to register. The prosecutions, the judge wrote, are impermissible because most people are simply unaware of the law, and the government “did not provide these Defendants — as well as millions of similarly situated individuals here without government permission — with a way to register” since 1950.
But North also pointed out that the government may have an easier path to proving probable cause in the future, given that DHS created a new registration form in April. And government attorneys have appealed the five dismissed cases.
The Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana declined to comment on recent charges filed under the law.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said the office “is aggressively pursuing criminals in the district and will use all criminal justice resources available to make D.C. safe and to carry out President Trump’s and Attorney General Bondi’s direction to support immigration enforcement.”
The other federal district attorneys whose offices filed charges did not respond to a request for comment.
Michelle LaPointe, legal director at the American Immigration Council, an immigrants’ rights advocacy group, said these initial cases are the “tip of the iceberg.” LaPointe is among the attorneys representing the Coalition in its lawsuit against the administration.
“I don’t expect them to abate just because there were some dismissals,” LaPointe said, pointing to North’s statements about future charges. “They have already stated that they intend to make prosecution of the few immigration-related criminal statutes a priority for DOJ, and it’s very easy for them to at least charge, even if they’re not always gonna be able to sustain their burden to secure a conviction.”
Weinberg, the Wayne State law professor, agreed that the administration will likely continue attempting broad enforcement.
“If they bring a whole lot of prosecutions and end up losing all, they may step back,” Weinberg said. “If they bring a whole lot and win a few, they’ll say, ‘Well, that’s the basis on which we can move further’” and appeal — potentially all the way to the Supreme Court, he noted.
Scottie's Playtime 