Corrupt Supremes Keep Helping Felon Screw with Our Elections

By Michael Woyton

Another ruling from the corrupt Supreme Court has gifted the current corrupt administration in the White House another way to screw with the midterm elections.

SCOTUS ruled Friday that president donald j. felon* could go ahead and use a controversial federal voter database to verify the eligibility of voters, the Associated Press reported.

The unsigned emergency order — seriously, when are we going to require SCOTUS to justify in writing all their decisions? — allows states to use the tortured title of Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, to verify the eligibility of voters on their rolls.

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The AP points out that existing law “blocks most states from systematically purging voters from their rolls within 90 days of an election,” so whether this will have any impact is up in the air.

SCOTUS’ majority “concluded that a lower-court ruling that had blocked the Trump administration from rolling out the system was improper because it inhibited ‘the federal government’s efforts to assist state and local agencies in the proper administration of the midterm elections’,” the New York Times said.

That’s certainly putting lipstick on a pig.

Apparently, the braintrust majority of Supremes still hasn’t read the Constitution that explicitly gives control of elections to the individual states, unless Congress comes up with legislation.

The ruling gave no vote count, but all three liberal justices — who likely have read and understand the Constitution — joined in dissent.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said, in her 12-page dissent, that the majority created conditions for some states to cancel the voter registrations of “at least some recently naturalized citizens or to force them to provide proof of citizenship before voting.”

She said the harm of disenfranchising or burdening even a small number of voters “outweighs the nonexistent harm that the government experiences when it is prevented from taking an action that it likely lacks the authority to take.”

See? Reading the Constitution can help make your argument. And can put you on the correct side of democracy.

This ruling will undoubtedly make the convicted felon and adjudicated rapist feel better than he did after the Supremes some how did the right thing last month and blocked the U.S. Postal Service from screening mail-in ballots and preventing them from being delivered.

The grifter-in-chief had his diaper/printer nanny post on social media after that ruling that the court was making “shockingly bad rulings that are of such magnitude that it won’t be easily possible for our Country to recover or heal.”

Once again, every statement he makes is projection or admission.

— — — — —

After all of the above, I urge you to keep checking the status of your voter registration. The clock is ticking and deadlines for registering to vote or changing your voter registration in time for the midterms is coming up.

Go to trusted websites, such as your county’s board of elections or vote.gov to confirm you are registered to vote.

We cannot assume or trust that the government is acting in our best interests.

Read “Are You Registered to Vote? Are You Sure?” for more information about a site that Evil Elon Musk is using to harvest your personal data.

And if you aren’t registered or know someone who isn’t registered, you know what to do. Now!

— — — — —

* I’m following what the wannabe king declared on social media that he will only refer to the Supreme Court in lowercase because he has a complete lack of respect for them after the illegal tariffs ruling.

Find and follow me on BlueSky through this link.

Lead art by Michael de Adder.

Felon’s Numbers Reach Record Territory. What a Downer

By Michael Woyton

“The president is polling somewhere between Ebola and Ed Sheeran right now,” said Jimmy Kimmel on his late-night talk show Tuesday.

It’s a funny line, sure, but it’s not as funny as the results from the latest survey done by the American Research Group.

On Monday, ARG (no, it’s not talk like a pirate day) said a total of 29 percent of Americans, down from 30 percent in August, approve of the way president donald j. felon* is handling his job.

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Sixty-eight percent said they disapproved of his job handling, up from 66 percent in August.

Regarding the economy, only 26 percent approve of the way the grifter-in-chief is doing, with 71 percent disapproving.

Among registered voters, it isn’t much better. ARG reported that only 30 percent approve of the adjudicated rapist’s job performance; 68 percent disapprove. When asked about the economy it was 27 percent approval and 71 percent disapproval from registered voters.

ARG said the results were based on 1,100 completed interviews with a random sampling of adults between Sept. 16 through Sept. 20. The theoretical margin of error is ±3 percentage points.

While the ARG numbers take the convicted felon below 30 percent for the first time, CNN chimed in Wednesday with new polling that said the president has a net approval rating with independents of negative 71 points.

CNN’s chief data analyst Harry Enten could not have been more excited as he explained that in the 2024 election, the elderly golfer beat Vice President Kamala Harris by 15 points among independent voters.

The president’s approval at this time has shifted, in less than two years, 86 points among “pure” independent voters, those who do not favor either Democrats or Republicans.

“I mean, these are the deep depths of the ocean,” Enten said. “You never see numbers like these.” 

"A brand new CNN poll shows President Trump at an all time low in his approval rating… look at his net approval rating now with pure independents – it's negative 71 points! I mean, these are the deep depths of the ocean. You never see numbers like these. An 86 point shift away from the president!"

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-09-23T14:07:10.807Z

Overall, CNN’s polling has the president with a 33 percent approval rating and a 67 percent disapproval rating.

“Two-thirds of Americans say Trump has worsened economic conditions in the country, and majorities say that the war in Iran, as well as new tariffs, have had a negative effect on their own finances,” CNN said. “By contrast, few say they’re seeing benefits from Trump policies like changes to the tax law, or the establishment of Trump Accounts for children born during his second term.”

While most Americans called increased gas prices a financial hardship — through only about one-quarter called it severe — “the public remains dubious that Trump has any plan to address the issue,” according to CNN.

Voters in the midwest, particularly Iowa, aren’t too happy with the way the mayor of Mar-a-Lago is handling things, and it’s showing in a recent survey of the 2026 midterm elections by the Marist Poll.

When registered voters in Iowa were asked if they approved of the job the president is doing, only 41 percent said yes, with 58 percent saying they disapproved.

That is having an effect on the state-wide races in Iowa.

On the generic congressional ballot question, 50 percent of registered voters favor the Democratic candidate over the Republican (45 percent), though a majority thinks the Republican will the election.

In the Iowa gubernatorial race, Democrat Rob Sand is leading Republican Zach Lahn 54 percent to 42 percent.

In the race for United States Senate, Democrat Josh Turek is ahead of Republican Ashley Hinson by eight points: 50 percent to 42 percent. Regardless of who they support, voters said Hinson would defeat Turek, according to the Marist Poll.

The Marist Poll surveyed 1,050 registered Iowans between Sept. 17 and Sept. 20. The margin of error is ±4.4 percentage points.

Yes, the numbers are not great for the red side of the aisle, but they are only poll numbers. You know the adage “the only poll that matters is on Election Day.”

However, they are probably closer to the truth if one considers the offer the mango Mussolini made at his trumpalooza convention of $5,000 to every adult American if the House and Senate remain in GOP control.

Then again, if you believe he will actually make good on that offer, make sure you get your maga hat before they go out of style.

— — — — —

* I’m following what the wannabe king declared on social media that he will only refer to the Supreme Court in lowercase because he has a complete lack of respect for them after the illegal tariffs ruling.

Find and follow me on BlueSky through this link.

Lead art: screen grab from CNN via YouTube.

Felon Willing to Destroy Kennedy Center, America if He Doesn’t Get His Way

By Michael Woyton

I couldn’t have said it better than JoJoFromJerz.

She said, “How fucking broken do you have to be to threaten to tear down a slain president’s memorial unless they put your name on it?”

Forget that the Kennedy Center is made from priceless marble given to the United States by Italy and that Sweden gifted the opera hall’s starburst chandelier. The opera house’s massive Japanese red-and-gold stage curtain, weighing about 3,000 pounds and measuring more than 100 feet wide, required special looms to be made just to weave the fabric.

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Forget all that. Remember that the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was created by an act of Congress to honor the assassinated president as a living memorial. While there are other memorials or monuments to JFK in the surrounding area, the Kennedy Center is the only monument dedicated to him within the District of Columbia.

And the manbaby-in-chief is saying it’s only fitting and proper to plaster his name on the building, basically because “only he can fix it.”

Where have we heard that before?

The adjudicated rapist and convicted felon told reporters, “For me to get involved and to take that on long-term and carry it or to raise money to carry it — I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition. Because frankly, if we don’t do that, it’s going to close. It’ll end up being ripped down.”

As CNN’s analysis pointed out: “But Congress last year appropriated $257 million for renovating the building. Trump apparently wants credit for getting Congress to do that — and is trying to hold that funding up to get what he wants. But it’s Congress that put up the money.”

The Florida grifter wants people to think that the center is failing financially and will continue to decline without his help. The name “Trump” must be put on the building or fundraising will come to a halt.

“It’s also pretty evident that, to the extent the center is in financial trouble, it coincides with Trump’s effort to take it over,” CNN said.

Tax documents as recently as September 2024 showed the center running a surplus of more than $41 million, with $307 million in revenue and $266 million in expenses.

After his second inauguration and after he was crowned chairman by a loyalist board of directors who he appointed is when financial problems kicked in, with artists scheduled to perform canceling and ticket sales and fundraising falling sharply.

Repeat: after he took over the financial problems kicked in.

Listen to Maria Shriver, niece of President John F. Kennedy.

— Dr. Jack Brown (@drjackbrown.bsky.social) 2025-12-18T23:07:25.977Z

So it really is true that “everything Trump touches dies.”

What else has he touched that is dying?

The country is in a week-long war with Iran that has been going on for more than six months; the East Wing was demolished; the country has racked up more than $40 trillion in debt; the prices of gasoline and diesel continue to climb; inflation is higher; armed ICE thugs, when not shooting and killing American citizens, are putting people in concentration camps; berries, jalapeños and iceberg lettuce are among the recent food recalls; four people died of measles, marking the first time in decades there have been so many deaths in a single year; Canada is pissed at the U.S.

I could go on, but you get the picture. 

And Shady Vance is out there saying the president and he have done a lot of good and voters shouldn’t elect in the midterms the people who have caused all the problems.

“Give us another chance, or give us another couple of years,” he pleaded, “to continue to work on the amazing things that we’ve been doing for the past two years.”

Now that’s comedy.

As Dr. Phil would say, “How’s that workin’ for you?”

The bottom line is that the demented makeup man would see the country burn if he isn’t able to get what he wants.

He never should have been elected the first time — much less the second.

— — — — —

* I’m following what the wannabe king declared on social media that he will only refer to the Supreme Court in lowercase because he has a complete lack of respect for them after the illegal tariffs ruling.

Find and follow me on BlueSky through this link.

Lead art by Jon Darkow.

Are You Registered to Vote? Are You Sure?

By Michael Woyton

Happy National Voter Registration Day, y’all!

Are you registered to vote?

Have you checked to see if your registration is still valid?

National Voter Registration Day is a coordinated effort by organizations and volunteers nationwide to get people to sign up so they will be eligible to vote in November.

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According to information on the website, United States Census data from 2020 found that as many as one in four Americans who were eligible to vote were not registered to vote.

So if you are not already registered to vote, you can use this link to start the process.

You can use the same link to check the status of your voter registration. 

Some of the reasons you want to check your voter status is if you’ve moved, you’ve changed your name since you last voted or you’ve gotten married.

FYI, it is important to use the right website — like vote.gov — to register or check voter status. Vote.gov is run by the Election Assistance Commission and does not ask for your personal information or track your activities. Evil Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, is behind an advertising campaign that encourages people in key states to check their registration through a site he created called votesafe.org.

Unlike vote.gov, Musk’s website, which is funded through his American PAC political action committee, collects a ton of your information, including your full name, date of birth, home address, email address, cellphone number, IP address and location, your browser and operating system, links you click on, your voter registration status and more.

Why does Musk need or want this information? Well, there used to be a disclaimer on his website that said information collected will only be used to support America PAC’s activities and would not be shared with advertisers or political organizations.

The disclaimer, as of August 29, no longer includes that language. In other words, all the info Muskrat captures from you can be sold or shared with whomever he wants, including whether or not you are registered to vote and how you submit your vote.

Interesting, no? Do you want someone like Muskrat to have and share all your information? Nobody knows what he or his minions did with all the information they were allowed to access during the DOGE fiasco at the beginning of the second term of president donald j. felon*.

With 50 days until the midterms, I urge you all to:1) Help get out the vote.2) Protect our electoral machinery from interference.3) Not succumb to complacency, defeatism, or cynicism.We are the only ones who can end this nightmare.We are the leaders we’ve been waiting for.

— Robert Reich (@rbreich.bsky.social) 2026-09-15T00:00:04.942420Z

Another reason to verify your voter status is because of voter suppression efforts happening around the country like in Texas.

Not only did the state use a federal database to flag registered voters as potential noncitizens and if they didn’t respond in time they were cut from the voter rolls, the Texas secretary of state recently said that more than 1.2 million voters in the state are on what is called its voter “suspense list.”

“That means election officials have reason to believe a voter no longer lives at the address listed on their registration,” KERA News reported.

And the clock is ticking — in Texas and around the country. There are deadlines after which you cannot register to vote or change your registration.

There’s more in the KERA News article if you are in Texas. 

And if you’ve made this far in this column, you have the tools you need to become or stay a registered voter at your disposal.

Spread the word. We need people who aren’t registered to register and get to the polls.

This is literally a “use it or lose it” election.

— — — — —

Good for Massie. And just where the hell are the Democratic congress members? Why aren’t they filing articles of impeachment against members of this administration every damn day?

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie reads articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth.About. Damn. Time.

— The Lincoln Project (@lincolnproject.us) 2026-09-15T17:37:34.688586894Z

— — — — —

* I’m following what the wannabe king declared on social media that he will only refer to the Supreme Court in lowercase because he has a complete lack of respect for them after the illegal tariffs ruling.

Find and follow me on BlueSky through this link.

Lead art by Michael Woyton.

Felon Admits Only Way He Wins Is if There’s Cheating

By Michael Woyton

I’m still waiting for my DOGE check.

I’m still waiting for my tariff refund check.

Hell, I’m still waiting for my check from George Soros for the the 2017 Women’s March.

So I can add to the list of checks I’m waiting for what came out of the brain-addled mouth of president donald j. felon* Wednesday night.

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Yes, the grifter-in-chief told attendees of the midterm convention that if they vote in large enough numbers to re-elect the magas in House and Senate, thereby holding majorities in both house, that each and every American adult will get a bright and shiny check for $5,000.

So … bribery? From the so-called president of the United States?

Where are the calls for impeachment? 

Then on Thursday night the demented, elderly golfer had the crowd raise their right hands and pledge to “cheat like hell” in the midterm elections, adding that they should vote whether they are registered or not, “like they do.” 

“They” being non-magas, right? Cuz every accusation he makes is an admission of guilt.

Next Trump will start exhorting crowds to eat the dogs and the cats.

— davidrlurie (@davidrlurie.com) 2026-09-11T16:18:12.552Z

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Again, where are the calls for impeachment?

One has to admit that it was pretty stupid ballsy to hold a first-ever midterms convention when polls show a presidential approval rating somewhere between 30 percent and 40 percent and the three-day war in Iran has been going on for more than six months and gas and diesel prices are going up and the cost of living is more expensive and there’s a threat to have the post office take over deciding who can vote.

An indication of his flagging popularity was in his comment at the convention that “This place is packed,” referring to the crowd in the American Airlines Center in downtown Dallas.

He even said there was an equal number of people standing outside, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The conservative news outlet went on to say there were no lines outside the convention hall Wednesday, and the arena’s upper deck was nearly empty and the middle tier was only slightly fuller.

We all know the convicted felon has never been able to not tell a lie.

Who possibly would believe anything this adjudicated rapist says?

Unfortunately, the answer is too many people.

— — — — —

* I’m following what the wannabe king declared on social media that he will only refer to the Supreme Court in lowercase because he has a complete lack of respect for them after the illegal tariffs ruling.

Find and follow me on BlueSky through this link.

Lead art: screen grab from C-SPAN via Aaron Rupar.

Felon Tests Ways to Screw with Voting Weeks before Midterms

By Michael Woyton

Remember back in 2014? There were a few of us who were writing that Project 2025 was not being taken seriously enough.

And few American voters listened to those warnings, choosing to elect a failed talk-show host/real estate huckster/convicted felon president for a second time.

With the midterms only 62 days away, American democracy — or what is left of it — is facing another hair on fire moment.

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The felon-in-chief has tearing down our ability cast votes safely and conveniently by mail clearly in his sights.

He issued another one of his non-legislation executive orders back in March that restricted and centralized control of how mail-in voting would be overseen by the federal government.

Please keep in mind that the Constitution — you know, the country’s owners’ manual — specifically gives the authority to regulate House and Senate elections to the state legislatures not the president.

Not really caring, or even caring to care, president donald j. felon* did his press release/Sharpie thing and told the United States Postal Service to come up with a way to eliminate ballots that are being sent by mail.

Actually, the EO directed the Department of Homeland Security to create a list of American citizens who are cleared to cast ballots and told the postal service to only send mail-in ballots to those who are on the list.

That was blocked by a federal judge, and NBC News reported an anonymous federal official said in a whistleblower complaint that the system the USPS built to oversee mail-in ballots is “flawed, untested and likely to cause major disruptions in this fall’s midterm elections if it is implemented.”

The complaint, which was sent to the office of Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat and member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, described the USPS’s system as being developed in a “rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed process.”

How flawed? you may ask.

Well, the whistleblower said, “[a}s presently designed, if even one bar code on one single ballot in a bulk-mailing of 10,000 ballots fails to properly scan during the verification process, the entire batch is rejected and sent back to the state — effectively stopping the ballots from being mailed to the voters.”

Hmm. So, hypothetically, one glitch in one envelope’s scanning process could mean thousands of ballots could be rejected.

That certainly has the possibility of massively screwing with our elections, don’t ya think?

As icing on the cake, the whistleblower added that the USPS ordered work to continue on the the system, “despite court orders blocking implementation of the project.”

So, come hell or high water, the rapist-in-chief is going to do his best to keep people from exercising their constitutional right to vote.

Blumenthal called the information from the whistleblower “disturbing.”

He said the USPS system “is set up to fail — and risk[s] the right to vote for millions of Americans who cast their ballots by mail.”

The senator added that “such sloppiness and haste seems clearly part of a purposeful attempt to create chaos and prevent people from voting,” and he is demanding answers and accountability.

Again, there IS NO ROLE for the executive branch — that means the president — in running or managing elections.

This is a hair-on-fire moment for this country.

Are we just going to buy a new toupee or are we going to demand Congress do something about it?

— — — — —

The Department of Injustice sent its thugs to Wyoming for the GOP primaries recently and even the GOP is complaining.

Fancy that, will ya?

In an op-ed published on the news site WyoFile, journalist Kerry Drake wrote that two attorneys from the U.S. Department of Justice were sent to Wyoming to monitor the August 18 primary election.

Gov. Mark Gordon and Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee, both of whom are Republicans, were apparently blindsided by the presence of DOJ lawyers.

At the State Canassing Board’s election certification meeting, Gordon “called the attorneys’ Election Day interference ‘aggressive, irregular and disruptive’.”

The attorneys got to the polls shortly after they opened at 7 a.m., ABC News reported, and said they “intended to interview voters while assessing compliance with federal civil rights and voting rights laws,” the county clerk said in a statement.

Lee, the clerk, said her office did not allow the interviews to be conducted in the polling sites. She said the monitors wanted to see training guides and asked how election equipment was obtained.

According to Wyoming law, only election observation by certified poll watchers is allowed.

Drake explained the situation best: “If Department of Justice attorneys blatantly march into the reddest, most pro-Trump state in the nation and demand to interview voters and inspect voting machines in violation of Wyoming’s state election laws, what do you think will happen in both red and blue states during the Nov. 3 midterm elections?”

Was this a dry run concocted by the convicted felon to see what buttons he could push for the midterms and the 2028 presidential election?

Sounds like election interference. 

Sounds impeachable.

— — — — —

* I’m following what the wannabe king declared on social media that he will only refer to the Supreme Court in lowercase because he has a complete lack of respect for them after the illegal tariffs ruling.

Find and follow me on BlueSky through this link.

Lead art: screen grab from CBS Morning News via YouTube.

Felon’s SCOTUS Pals Need Refresher Course on Constitution

By Michael Woyton

Someone get the Supreme Court justices a copy of the Constitution.

There is even a free app they can put on their smartphones.

Article I, Section 4 of the Constitution — otherwise known as The Elections Clause — gives the authority to regulate House and Senate elections to the state legislatures, according to the National Constitution Center.

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Yes, there are limits. The Elections Clause gives the ultimate power for regulating congressional elections to Congress, saying that it “may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations.”

Who is not mentioned in The Elections Clause? The president and his desire to legislate through the use of a Sharpie and an executive order.

In March, president donald j. felon* issued an executive order restricting and centralizing control of how mail-in voting would be administered.

The mango mussolini has long blamed “rigged” mail-in voting for his 2020 defeat, without any evidence, and decided to have the Department of Homeland Security create lists of “eligible” voters state-by-state for federal elections. Additionally, he instructed the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute election officials who provide ballots to those voters the government says are ineligible and required the United States Postal Service to deliver ballots only to voters on the DHS’s pre-approved lists.

Democratic officials in 23 states and the District of Columbia sued, arguing that the states and Congress had the power to run elections, not the president.

On Monday, a majority of the Supreme Court “opened a path ,,. for possible implementation” of the president’s order, the Associated Press reported, “though it remains unclear how much can be put in place before the fast-approaching midterm elections.”

The 6-3 decision “didn’t decide the legality of Trump’s order, instead ruling that states who sued did not have the legal right to challenge it,” the AP said.

Basically, a majority of the court said that the executive order is really just a bunch of words that may or may not come to fruition and may or may not disinfranchise a lot of voters. Because they reached that decision, they have said that everything is speculation and therefore it can proceed. For now.

Additionally, the decision says that not allowing the president and his henchpeople to undermine the states’ right to oversee their elections “meddles in ‘the workings of’ the Executive Branch.”

So keeping the executive branch from doing something that is unconstitutional is “meddling.” Gotcha.

The Roberts court decision does actually admit it might be wrong.

“The Court’s disposition of this application does not mean that any measure taken by the Government to implement the Order will necessarily be lawful,” the decision said.

Gee thanks. That is small comfort 70 days before the midterms.

In her dissent, joined by Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Sonia Sotomayor in so many words called the decision bullshit.

She said, again in so many words, that there is enough “there” there in the president’s order to allow the states to immediately sue for relief right now and should not have to wait until the damage is done.

In a separate dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson pointed out the paradox that, historically, SCOTUS has held that even valid election-related legal claims can come too late.

“Today’s revelation is that such claims can also come too early — never mind that an election is looming and related harms are presently occurring,” Jackson wrote.

She pointed out that the president can only be “harmed by an injunction barring executive action if that court order is preventing him from doing something the law permits him to do.”

Jackson clearly states that the Constitution — remember the Constitution? — “plainly assigned the power to conduct federal elections to the States,” adding that the president “does not have any legal authority to require that elections be conducted in accordance with his preferences, or to withhold delivery of mail-in ballots that are not formatted” as the president wishes.

She is concise in her conclusion: “This is not a close call.”

Jackson wrote that the court should not have interfered with states’ constitutional rights.

“[I]t is both a serious legal error and a grave misuse of our equitable emergency powers to let the Executive proceed even one step further,” she said in her dissent.

There have been calls to not overreact to the decision from the Supremes.

Norm Eisen wrote on social media that there is more that can be done, particularly because SCOTUS said they simply said that the states which sued did so too early, before there was a final rule from the USPS.

“Now we HAVE a final rule & we will litigate it,” he wrote. “I’m as confident in our arguments here as in any of our cases!”

New York Attorney General Letitia James was quoted by the AP calling the decision a “painful setback.” However, she said “it would ‘not be the final word’.”

Whatever happens there will likely be chaos as states start ramping up election procedures for the November midterms.

The order from SCOTUS “effectively restarts the legal fight … in an incredibly compressed timeline,” PBS News said, “with initial ballots scheduled to be sent to North Carolina’s overseas and military voters in just over a week, on Sept. 4.”

The adjudicated rapist and convicted felon certainly accomplished one of his goals: to sow doubt and confusion in the electoral process.

And his corrupt buddies in the Supreme Court have shown no inclination so far to stop him.

— — — — —

* I’m following what the wannabe king declared on social media that he will only refer to the Supreme Court in lowercase because he has a complete lack of respect for them after the illegal tariffs ruling.

Find and follow me on BlueSky through this link.

Lead art: screen grab from Google Maps.

Given Choice Between Ignorance and Knowledge, Felon Prefers Former

By Michael Woyton

We certainly live in stupid times.

There’s a demented media whore living in the White House.

He surrounds himself with television talk show hosts, a roadkill-eating anti-vaxxer with an on-the-nose quacking duck phone ringtone, a reality TV star, a wrestling promoter and more — sycophants all.

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He is more concerned that statues aren’t gilded, columns aren’t ornate enough and office buildings aren’t white enough than the fact that he doesn’t know how to get us out of a war he was told would be over in a few days. He wants his name plastered on everything and even posts images of himself wearing military medal-covered uniforms to which he has no claim.

He doesn’t want people to remember that during the last presidential campaign he made promises to cut the price of groceries, gasoline, electricity and more on Day One. I’m sure you’ve noticed that none of that has come to fruition.

He has a vice president who, in an opinion piece published in the Washington Post, decried all the fraud taking place in the United States, saying, “If you steal from the American people, we will find you, we will stop you, and we will put you in prison for a very long time.”

A suggestion, Shady Vance: Check the Oval Office. How much money has the grifter-in-chief made since being sworn in for the second time? And then there’s Capital One and its money-laundering concerns.

In a 1980 essay published in Newsweek, Isaac Asimov wrote, “There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”

The golfer-in-chief and his administration sicko-phants are counting on the American public to stay ignorant and to not remember what promises he’s made and what lies he continues to tell.

The “American First” lie was put into the spotlight when, in advance of the midterms which don’t seem to be going in favor of the adjudicated rapist, the convicted fraudster signs a proclamation allowing 80,000 metric tons of lean beef trimmings to be imported from Argentina tariff-free.

He defended the move by saying it will bring down high prices of ground beef and help Argentina — not struggling U.S. farmers. Wait — is he now admitting that consumers pay the tariffs and not the countries doing the importing?

So much for “America First” when there’s the possibility of buying votes for GOPmaga candidates.

Here’s hoping the mayor of Mar-a-Lago realizes that lowering the price on one food item will likely not change the minds of many voters who are struggling to afford gasoline so they can go shopping for the lower-price hamburger.

And it was made abundantly clear this weekend that the administration is not alone in cherishing, if not encouraging, ignorance.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries surprised many by the report of him meeting secretly with non-administration non-official Jared Kushner, the mango’s son-in-law.

The meeting was held in a “private space” in New York City, according to three sources granted anonymity “to discuss a meeting about which they were not authorized to speak publicly, the New York Times reported.

Neither Jeffries nor Kushner would comment on the meeting, which was described as “a broad conversation on a range of topics” and a “catch-up” for the two of them.

Can you say “sleeping with the enemy”?

Here’s my question: How stupid are you, Hakeem?

If you needed just one reason that Jeffries should be removed from congressional leadership if and when the Democrats become the majority party after the midterms, this is it. Remember that Jeffries said that Democrats aren’t focused on impeaching the president for a third time “at this moment.”

You want to read the room again, Mr. Minority Leader?

Anyone who thinks that once president donald j. felon* is out of office everything will settle down with the lambs and lions lying together in a beautiful green field is out of their mind.

Sirius XM radio host Dean Obeidallah wrote that the meeting doesn’t help Dems win in November but rather causes a distraction to the real goal.

“How could Jeffries not know the meeting would get leaked and it was the wrong thing to do?!” he wrote.

Zeteo editor and CEO Mehdi Hasan wrote on social media that the “only meeting Hakeem Jeffries should be having with Jared Kushner is to tell him he’ll be subpoenaed by the House for a corruption investigation on day one of the Democratic control of the House.”

Jeffries has to go. Period. 

We must have strong leaders who won’t try to play both sides of the aisle. Especially when the other side of the aisle has never been willing to give even an inch.

There’s been no good faith negotiations with the GOPmagas and there won’t be once dear leader is out of the picture.

Kushner is only in it to make as much money as possible before he is forced to leave the country.

What is Hakeem Jeffries in it for?

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The NYTimes is reporting that House Democratic leader Jeffries met with Jared Kushner. "Mr. Kushner suggested that Mr. Jeffries should meet with the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, two people with knowledge of the meeting said."anntelnaes.substack.com/p/minority-l…

— Ann Telnaes (@anntelnaes.bsky.social) 2026-08-24T13:49:29.376Z

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* I’m following what the wannabe king declared on social media that he will only refer to the Supreme Court in lowercase because he has a complete lack of respect for them after the illegal tariffs ruling.

Find and follow me on BlueSky through this link.

Lead art: screen grab from Raise the World Project Now via YouTube.

Is Felon on Track to Bankrupt America?

By Michael Woyton

Welcome to the United Casino States of America.

Famously, the convicted felon currently napping in the Oval Office bankrupted several Atlantic City casinos over his storied career.

And it looks as if he’s on his way to do the same thing to the United States.

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An announcement Wednesday from the Treasury Department said that this country’s budget deficit “soared” to its highest monthly level in more than five years, CNBC reported.

The shortfall for July totaled $432.3 billion, which is up 48 percent from the same period one year ago.

Additionally, this is the largest monthly deficit since March 2021.

Right now, the national debt is $39.9 trillion or $116,947 per every person in America. One of the main drivers of the debt is that we are not generating enough revenue to cover  spending. But the uber-wealthy were given a massive tax cut by the president in the big ugly bill.

Outlays are way up — active duty military pay, veterans benefits, Supplemental Security income, Medicare and tariff refunds are causes.

But let’s be realistic: Direct military and defense spending are nothing to sneeze at.

Secretary of War Crimes Pete Hegseth’s military effort of choice in Iran has cost taxpayers $37.5 billion so far — and there’s no end in sight, especially when we’re looking at a potential $1.1 trillion defense budget for next fiscal year. We’ve also run out of difficult-to-manufacture weapons, though the administration denies that.

We even lost, thanks to the Iran war of choice, at least 45 really expensive drones that can cost between $30 million and $50 million. 

On top of all the war spending, the adjudicated rapist got a bee in his decreasing bonnet that (old timey) steam catapults on aircraft carriers are better than the electromagnetic catapult systems currently in use, potentially costing billions of dollars.

Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly said that the elderly golfer shouldn’t be making those kind of decisions.

“He’s a marginally failed real estate developer with multiple bankruptcies,” The Hill reported Kelly saying. “He shouldn’t be weighing in on systems, on aircraft carriers.”

In case anyone still wonders how he went bankrupt six times.

— 𝕊𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕖 𝔾𝕦𝕣𝕝 (@sundaedivine.lol) 2026-08-14T14:50:14.192Z

What is even more perplexing is that, according to recent reports, the Navy is evaluating “a major, costly redesign for its newest class of aircraft carriers” because what we already have doesn’t meet the con-artist-in-chief’s “aesthetic preferences,” The Independent said.

Redesigning the carriers, per a study from his first term, would cost billions of dollars and create major delays.

This “president” doesn’t care what anything costs because it sure as hell isn’t coming out of his pocket.

He wants to paint over the granite of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building only because it doesn’t match the nearby White House. Experts have warned that painting the exterior of the building would cause extensive damage, and by the way, it’s a National Historic Landmark.

His administration is also buying warehouses, supposedly for ICE, which are not being used, as well as aircraft that aren’t ever in the sky.

Then there’s the “free” Boeing 747-8 from Qatar that experts are estimating will cost taxpayers up to $1 billion when all the fixes are said and done.

With his diminishing state of mind, it is entirely possible that president donald j. felon* believes he is still running one of his casinos and, for him, it seems to be business as usual.

I wonder which country would snap up the U.S. if there were a liquidation sale.

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The problem with a single-payer universal health care system is that the wealthy won’t be able to profit off of your illness. And we just can’t have that. /sarcasm

“A single-payer universal health care system could cover every American, save more than 100,000 lives a year, and still cost $1 trillion less than the system it would replace, according to a new preprint study led by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health.”ysph.yale.edu/news-article…

— Jen Taub (@jentaub.bsky.social) 2026-08-17T05:25:26.752Z

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* I’m following what the wannabe king declared on social media that he will only refer to the Supreme Court in lowercase because he has a complete lack of respect for them after the illegal tariffs ruling.

Find and follow me on BlueSky through this link.

Lead art: screen grab from Forbes via YouTube.

U.S. Sailors Try to Jump Overboard; Additional Reflecting Pool Charges Considered; More: News of the Day

By Michael Woyton

No amount of testosterone testing will help with morale problems. This story is just horrific that it’s happening to people who want to serve our country.

READ: Multiple USS Abraham Lincoln sailors have tried to go overboard amid extended deployment, families say.

Shame on Secretary of War Crimes Pete Kegsbreath for letting it get this bad.

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He just can’t let it go, can he? Even United States Attorney Jeanine “Box Wine” Pirro saw that it was a stupid thing to do the first time — eventually.

READ: White House asks DOJ to consider new prosecution in Reflecting Pool case.

Maybe next time, don’t hire a buddy/donor to do a big job for a no-bid project.

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LOL.

Hold on though. Lindell refuses to concede. Because of course he does.

READ: Mike Lindell refuses to concede in Minnesota primary despite getting far fewer votes.

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White House health announcement or Chernobyl employee “after” photo?

— Jesse Duquette (@jesseduquette.bsky.social) 2026-08-12T03:48:12.564Z

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* I’m following what the wannabe king declared on social media that he will only refer to the Supreme Court in lowercase because he has a complete lack of respect for them after the illegal tariffs ruling.

Find and follow me on BlueSky through this link.

Lead art: screen grab from Firstpost via YouTube.