Howdy! No, I’m not being housed at Guantanamo Bay, but came back to the mountain on Sunday for appointments on Monday and Tuesday (today). Woke up the last two mornings with fresh snow. I hope this isn’t going to be one of those years that we have snow until Easter, because I’m getting done with it. I’m ready for summer – just skip spring.

Anyhoo, it is slowly but surely starting to happen. Like I mentioned in a post a couple of days ago, the judiciary is stepping up to the plate and making rulings that seem to be based on constitutional law, and not cow towing to a King. In my post last Friday I spoke about three judges who found actions by the administration to be “illegal,” a ”sham,” and “President Trump is using taxpayer dollars to pursue a personal vendetta.” The next day a D.C. District Chief Judge verbally ordered planes carrying alleged gang members bound for El Salvador to return to the U.S., even if they were already in the air. The administration rejected those orders, basically telling the judge to F*** Off. That didn’t go over well with the judge and he ordered a fact finding hearing yesterday evening that was continued into today. Trump is firing up the troops calling for the judge to be impeached. Believe it or not, Chief Justice Roberts, a Trump lackey until just recently, rebuked Trump and some Republican House members calls for impeaching members of the judiciary. This one is starting to get juicy. We’ll have to fire up the popcorn popper and watch how some of the DOJ’s finest try to explain to a federal Chief Judge why they blatantly disregarded his orders. Today, we have another federal judge rule that Musk and DOGE likely exercised unconstitutional authority “in multiple ways” to dismantle USAID. Like I say, slowly but surely the probable illegalities that are being performed by Musk and his crew are starting to be recognized by the court’s and the swinging of the hatchets are being reversed.

I like French wines, cheeses, and Beef Bourguignon. And now, I love some of these French politicians who are standing up and telling it like it is about Trump and his phony patriotism as seen by our allies across the globe. Last week it was Claude Malhuret giving a speech on the floor of the French Senate describing Trump and Elon destroying America. Yesterday it was Raphael Glucksmann saying that some in the United States have “chosen to side with the tyrants” and “fired researchers for demanding scientific freedoms,” joking that the French should probably take back the Statue of Liberty, a statue offered to the United States to honor our revolution. The press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, once again had to take the bait and when questioned during her morning press briefing about Mr. Glucksmann’s speech, spouted off, “And my advice to that unnamed low-level French politician would be to remind them that it’s only because of the United States of America that the French are not speaking German right now.” I tell ya, every time I see a photo of her standing behind the podium with that smart assed smile on her face flaunting her silver Cross and then spouting off some propaganda bull s**t, I just wantta puke.

And Tesla stock is down 5.34% today. Isn’t it a shame? Tomorrow tRump will probably call a press conference and give a warning that he is considering banning the sale of all EV autos in the United States other than Tesla. Investors and analysts on Wall Street are increasingly getting a belly full of Musk’s DOGE activities and want him to get out of politics and back to his real job. Me thinks it might be too late, as I see some real momentum growing for anti-Musk protestors to make the Tesla brand a wart on the witches behind. MAGA’s talk a big line about getting themselves a Tesla, but reality is that one end of the spectrum won’t give up their lifted 4-wheel drive Dodge Ram’s and the other end won’t give up their Audi’s, Mercedes, and BMW’s. Besides, who wants to buy a target for being keyed, spray painted, and window shattering. I can just see another White House commercial on the front lawn coming up. Gotta boost those sales for Bro Elon.

Well, that’s enough for now. Have a great evening. Ziggyman

 

I’m just sitting down to ramble today as the pouring down rain is hammering against the windows. A real coastal storm. Almost as big a storm as the upcoming vote in the Senate for the Continued Resolution bill passed by the House a couple of days ago. The storm is from the Dem’s and the caving in by Chuck Schumer to side with the MAGA’s. On Wednesday I wrote that Schumer said the Republicans didn’t have the Democrat votes to pass the CR. Well, that sure changed in a day. You know when DJT congratulates Chuck Schumer for being gutsy and courageous, doing the right thing, that Chuck is nothing but a spineless CS. The only folks not pissed at him right now are the MAGA’s across the aisle from him. This is not going to end well for Schumer. No way is he going to be able spin his decision on this one. Politics have changed from the time Schumer entered the political scene. There is very little sitting down and negotiating in a bipartisan way. Trump and the GOP/MAGA’s demonstrate every day that those days are over and many of the senior Dem’s just can’t understand it. Trump threatens to “Primary” (support a challenger to any RINO that doesn’t bend his knee to the King’s wishes). I think we are going to start seeing senior Dem Representatives and Senators being “primaried” by younger and smarter challengers in upcoming elections. Anyhoo, we’ll see how the vote goes this afternoon.

As democracy is being challenged every day and our civil liberties are being repressed by a leader who calls himself a King, thank God we have some judges who follow the rule of law and are holding the line to fight the efforts by a certain party to move us to authoritarianism. In the past few days we have seen rulings by two judges against the mass layoffs by Elon and DJT, ordering the immediate reinstatement of employees from several federal agencies, saying the process used was “illegal,” a “sham,” and the contention that the firings of probationary employees had been for cause, and not considered a mass layoff, “borders on the frivolous.” Another judge granted a temporary restraining order stopping one of Trump’s vindictive executive orders against a well-respected law firm, writing in the order “To the extent that this executive order appears to be an instance of President Trump using taxpayer dollars in government resources to pursue what is a wholly personal vendetta, advancing such political payback is not something which the government has a cognizable interest.” If only some judges on the Supreme Court would have the courage to not bend the knee to the Trumpster.

I’m reading more and more articles of MAGA’s all of a sudden expressing “buyer’s remorse” at their decision to vote for the savior. Farmers complaining about the effect of the tariff talks and the DOGE dismantling of USAID; homebuilders complaining about the effect of tariffs on steel and lumber, and the deportation of immigrants who actually build the houses; winemakers worried they will be put out of business with the tariff wars resulting in the high cost of exporting of their wine to countries like Canada and buying corks and wine barrels from Europe; automakers talking about the price of cars going up $12,000; and then investors, retirees, workers contributing to their 401-K’s watching the stock market take a dump as a result of all this nonsensical chaos. Just like the kid on the playground getting detention for punching another student, elections have consequences and you get what you voted for. March 14, 2025

Oh my, and those poor GOP Representatives not taking the advice of their House leader and foolishly still holding town hall meetings. I guess another one from North Carolina got abused by a rowdy crowd yesterday at what he thought would be a love-fest.

Well, Happy Pi Day. We made it through another exhausting work week. Oh, wait, I’m retired and every night is now Friday night. I think I’ll go get the popcorn popper out, pop up a bowl of those lil kernels and watch the Senate vote. Hmmmm, what popcorn topping would go with my martini. Have a great evening. Over and out! Foxtrot Delta Tango. Ziggyman

This is going to be a short one today, but I just had a couple of goodies to send you on this ‘hump day.’

Starting with, reality is beginning to set in as a result of the fun the DOGE crew has had playing in the sandbox. Today, the Federal Trade Commission asked a federal judge to delay a trial in a case accusing Amazon of using deceptive practices in its Prime subscription program. The reason for a delay you ask? It seems the FTC is having staffing and budgetary challenges after getting the hatchet from DOGE. The FTC lawyer told the Court “Our resource constraints are severe and really unique to this moment. We have lost employees in the agency, in our division and on the case team.” Several hours later, presumably after he got his ass spanked by his boss and Elon, the attorney returned to the Court and said ‘Whoops, we don’t need to delay.’  I expect we’ll be hearing about staffing and budgetary issues causing a failure to perform from other agencies in the near future.

In an earlier life I had some delicatessens, specializing in some beautiful, very delicious sandwiches. Oh, how I wish we still had those deli’s so we could put the ‘Trump Sandwich” created by a Canadian café on our menu as a ‘Special of the Day.’ The sandwich they created is described as having ‘White Bread, Full of Baloney, with Russian Dressing and a Small Pickle.’ This is not a joke. Ya just gotta keep smilin.’

I wrote yesterday that the House passed the continuing resolution budget bill, which will now be voted on in the Senate, and it looks like the Dem’s are going to be playing hardball on this one. Schumer says that the Republicans aren’t going to get the votes they need for the Senate to pass the House bill. So far, there has not been any bipartisan discussion regarding this budget that was put together by Trump and his administration. The Dem’s are proposing a one month continued funding to allow for bipartisan discussion. Get out the popcorn. This is going to be an interesting one to watch.

My fatherly advise for you today. DO NOT VANDALIZE A TESLA. If you do, you will be arrested as a domestic terrorist and sent to the electric chair or die by a firing squad. Also, I am of the understanding that the First Amendment regarding Free Speech is a myth and should you express your views contrary to the current administration’s liking you will be deported or sent to Guantanamo Bay.

I don’t know if I just dreamed this or heard it somewhere that Trump is adding another product to his marketing portfolio. Not only can you buy a Trump autographed Bible, or a Trump and Melania memecoin, but now he is offering a dozen eggs in a fake gold-plated carton (of course with his autograph on the carton) for only $79.99. And, if you can get 10 of your neighbors together to each buy two cartons, he will have Air Force One fired up to make a special delivery to the neighborhood. What a genius.

Like I said, it’ll be a short one today. Go Blazers. 7:00 pm against the New York Knicks. Have a great evening and remember — Foxtrot Delta Tango. Ziggyman

Is it just me? I wake up in the morning, lay in bed for a few extra minutes pondering what kind of s**t show we will have today, get up and fix a cup of coffee, open up my iPad, look at the notifications, and have a WTF moment. Yesterday, it was the stock market going freefall throughout the morning. This morning, Trump said the U.S. will impose an additional 25% tariff on steel and aluminum from Canada, raising the tax to 50% overall. This roiled the market and it picked up where it left off yesterday, continuing it’s slide into correction territory. In Trump’s first term this kind of market behavior would have caused him concern, as he based the state of the economy and his performance ratings on the stock market. That has changed during Trump 2.0. Someone in his inner circle has evidently convinced him to not worry about the stock market, just keep up your trade war and pile on those tariffs baby. A falling stock market isn’t the end all, but it certainly has a negative impact on many Americans, directly and indirectly. Current workers 401K accounts are getting decimated, retired folks retirement accounts are getting decimated, retiree pensions are taking a big hit, and individual retail market investors are watching their accounts take a big dump. The only glee I get in this is watching Tesla stock continue to get hammered. The stock has fallen every week since Elon Musk went to Washington, D.C. to take over our government. These seven straight weeks of losses have seen the stock go from $424.07 on January 21^st to a close of $230.58 today. Investors have been selling their Tesla stock as they see falling sales of Tesla vehicles and, as a result, profits. They see the massive protests of Musk’s political activities, boycotts, and DOGE mass firings of government workers as a good time to exit TSLA. Donald, of course, has stepped in to try and save Elon, making this absurd statement on Truth Social this morning: “Elon Musk is ‘putting it on the line’ in order to help our Nation, and he is doing a FANTASTIC JOB! But the Radical Left Lunatics, as they often do, are trying to illegally and collusively boycott Tesla, one of the World’s great automakers, and Elon’s ‘baby,’ in order to attack and do harm to Elon, and everything he stands for.” And to further support his buddy, Trump, who doesn’t drive, is going to buy a Tesla. So there you have it, it is now illegal to buy yourself a Ford instead of a Tesla. Pretty crazy times ain’t it?

The big event to watch for this week, however, will be the congressional voting to see if come Saturday morning we have a partial shutdown of government. As I am writing this, I see that the House did approve the continuing resolution spending bill. We will now see what happens in the Senate, which will be more difficult to pass, as it will need the support of at least 8 Democrats. Normally, this process is a bipartisan exercise to craft a measure that both sides could support. This one, however, is a Trump crafted measure that will let the administration spend pretty much as they want to advance their policies. The sycophantic GOP congressional members and the leaderless Dem’s have abdicated their responsibilities of funding government functions and programs and providing oversight of the executive branch as they roll over and hand the reins to Donald and Elon.

One of the most beautiful speeches I have heard or read recently was from a French politician, Senator Claude Malhuret, making an eight minute speech to his colleagues in the French Senate last week, which perfectly describes Trump and Musk. I am posting a link so you can watch or read his address. https://thebulletin.org/2025/03/for-this-french-senator-trump-is-a-traitor-and-europe-is-now-alone/ To give you a little taste, here are a few of his statements in the speech. Trust me it is a good read. Check it out. “Washington has become the court of Nero: An incendiary emperor, submissive courtiers, and a buffoon on ketamine tasked with purging the civil service.” “Trump’s message is that being his ally serves no purpose, because he will not defend you, he will impose more tariffs on you than on his enemies, and he will threaten to seize your territories, while supporting the dictators who invade you.” “I have confidence in the solidity of American democracy, and the country is already protesting. But in one month, Trump has done more harm to America than in four years of his last presidency. We were at war with a dictator; now we are fighting against a dictator supported by a traitor.“

If $18 million for weekly golf trips isn’t enough, now we get to start watching a $200 million ad campaign from Homeland Security proposed by Trump. I haven’t seen the ad yet, but what I have read is that we will get to see Homeland Security Secretary Barbie ICE, (Kristi Noem) in a blue suit standing with a backdrop of American flags thanking Trump “for securing our border and putting America first.” DHS skipped a competitive bidding process to give two Republican-linked firms the contract. Surprise, Surprise.

That’s enough for today. We’ll just have to get up in the morning and see what chaos the day brings. Now go read the speech from Claude Malhuret and have a great evening! Ziggyman

Happy Sunday! Hope y’all are having as nice a weekend as Donald is – at our expense. It’s another golf weekend for the guy who gave Obama crap about how much he golfed during his presidency. The difference is Obama golfed at local courses and not on a weekly basis. Donald, however, has flown on Air Force One to Mar-a-Lago 6 of his first 7 weekends of this term at a cost to American taxpayers of approximately 18 million dollars. Not only have we paid for these trips, but DJT makes money by charging Secret Service and other staff traveling with him lodging and dining costs for staying at Mar-a-Lago during these weekend excursions. 18 million dollars in the first seven weeks of Trump 2.0!!! At this rate he will far surpass the $151.5 million it cost us during his first term for his personal leisure at our public expense.  And the big question is – where is DOGE and what do they have to say about this? Well, while PINO (President In Name Only) is out playing golf the teen- agers are sitting back in whatever office they have taken over for the weekend figuring out how to cut more from that particular department’s budget via firings.

Speaking of firings. An internal memo obtained by the Associated Press on Wednesday indicates that the Department of Veterans Affairs is planning to cut over 80,000 jobs over the next few months. DOGE has already cut a few thousand jobs in the VA and hundreds of contracts. More than 25% of VA employees are veterans themselves. The administration is saying that these cuts won’t result in a loss of healthcare or benefits for our veterans. I say, bull pucky. One of the services that has already been affected is the Veterans’ Suicide Hotline. While Democrat congressional members have decried this level of cuts, the Republicans have sat back and are taking a cautionary stance. I would love to be at a GOP’s Town Hall meeting held in a VFW Hall over the next few months. But, of course, that probably won’t occur since Speaker Johnson has recommended to Republican Representatives they not hold Town Halls at this time, as most have ended up being a ‘s**t show,’ and doesn’t look good on television.

While I’m on the topic of veterans, how about the removal of transgender soldiers from our military following an Executive Order from tRump on January 27^th saying service members with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria are incompatible with the government’s “high standards for troop readiness, lethality, cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity.” The Pentagon has given a directive to begin separation actions within 30 days for those military members who have gender dysphoria or a history of it. In 2018, it was estimated that there were approximately 14,700 transgender troops. 21 attorneys general have subsequently filed a friend-of-the-court brief to block implementation of this asinine directive. New York Attorney General Letitia James says this ban “cruelly targets the transgender Americans who have dedicated their lives to protecting our freedoms. I want all transgender service members and veterans to know that we see you, we respect you, and we will always fight for you. Your service is invaluable, and we will not allow this bigoted attack to diminish your service to our country.” As PINO continues to daily piss off our allies, who may not be jumping with enthusiasm to get involved in any future military action against the United States, I would like a large and strong presence in our military services. Anyone with half a brain knows that there are more non-transgender members of our military who don’t exhibit these standards described by tRump and Secretary of Defense Hegseth than those who are gender dysphoric. Good God, when I look at the standards of cohesion, honesty, humility, uniformity, and integrity stated in the Executive Order, I would have to say that separation orders need to be drawn up immediately for the ‘Bone Spurred’ Commander in Chief. Of the 535 members of the current United States Congress, 99 are military veterans. Less than 1 in 5 have any idea what military service is like, but have members of Congress such as Tommy Tuberville who has repeatedly said “there’s nobody more military than me.” He has never served. I’m upset, also, that the Pentagon has now given directives to remove over 26,000 photos, possibly expanding to over 100,000, of war heroes and military firsts as a result of their DEI purge. Most of the photos are of women and minorities. The corker, however, was the purge of the WWII B-29 aircraft ‘Enola Gay,’ which dropped the first bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Why? Because the name of the plane contains the word “Gay.” This has been fact checked and it’s true. You can’t make this s**t up. I think it would be a good exercise to have some of these ‘military experts’ go through Basic and Advanced Infantry Training. I can tell you, I don’t remember half of my high school teachers’ names, but I can tell you who each of my Drill Sergeants were from 60 years ago – Sergeants Glover, Vega, Zamora, Johnson, and Pena. Let’s hope the attorneys general are successful in their attempt to block this ridiculous transgender ban, and the Pentagon or someone in charge of this DEI purge get’s their head out of their a** and understands how stupid this is making alot of people look.

Sorry, I got a little carried away and probably made this rambling a bit too long, but what the hey. It’s Sunday, if you’re reading this, you aren’t out golfing. Have a great evening. I know I will. I just took a pork loin roast off the Traeger and will be piling some thinly sliced pork on Artisan Buns slathered with barbeque sauce while we watch the Blazers hopefully beat Detroit. Ziggyman.

Before I sign off, I just have to leave you with this thought. Did PINO really think the government spent millions on making mice transgender?

The missus and I are enjoying a bright and sunny day at the beach house so I thought I would ramble a little before we go out for a walk. It sounds like we’ll have a couple more days of this great weather before the rains return. We got down here on Tuesday and settled in with a martini to watch PINO’s address to Congress. I didn’t really need to watch it, as I already knew there would be boasting about how much he has got done in such a short time; Joe Biden was the worst president ever; tariff’s are the most beautiful word in the dictionary; and we would hear a number of untruths scattered throughout the speech.  I expected to see the Republican side of the aisle jump and cheer every 15 seconds and the Vice President and Speaker of the House perform like the rally squad at a high school basketball game.  What I didn’t predict or expect, however, was the outright name-calling by our president. Democrats were called the “radical left lunatics” and he, once again, referred to Senator Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahantas” while the Republicans sat and cackled. I didn’t like seeing Texas Representative Al Green shouting and waving his cane in a Marjorie Taylor Greene like demonstration during the presentation. Yes, I know the Republican side of the aisle booed and acted similarly toward Obama and Biden, but this isn’t a school recess, so just because ‘they” did it doesn’t mean the other side can’t show some decorum. The pink clad Democrat’s silent auction paddle bit was kind of whacky and impotent, also. I thought the Democratic Party’s rebuttal response from freshman Senator Elissa Slotkin was excellent and I see her beliefs as an example of where the Democratic party needs to be headed. Her formula for success in winning campaigns in the House three times and now in the Senate has been based on one theme: the middle class and making the economic security of everyday Americans felt. Donald Trump won the election by making the lower and middle class think that he was “the man” that would take care of them. Unfortunately, they believed him and are now beginning to experience ‘buyer’s remorse.’ The Dem’s better listen to Senator Slotkin and figure out that being seen as a party of elite’s rather than a party for the working class is not working and will not win them elections come mid-term 2026. Trump is a showman and as such is good at reading his audience and knows how to say what the audience wants to hear. To actually do it is another matter. Rather than shouting about how awful DJT is and waving a cane around, the Dem’s should be planning their attack for the time the major screw up happens, and I can feel it coming soon. This tariff nonsense, Ukraine, DOGE, Social Security, Medicare, you name it – each have a high probability of creating an explosion that the GOP will look back and wish they had had the cojones to quit Trump before being blamed for the damage done to the American people. As they get shouted down by working class Americans at their town halls, switchboard breaking phone calls, and threatening emails, the Trump sycophants are going to begin to crumble. Two memorable quotes from Tuesday night: “Look, the president talked a big game on the economy, but it’s always important to read the fine print. So, do his plans actually help Americans get ahead? Not even close.” Senator Slotkin. “I believe that my life was saved that day in Butler for a very good reason,I was saved by God to Make America Great Again—I believe that.” Donald Trump.

Wow! I’m amazed. The Supreme Court ruled against Trump by reinstating a lower court order requiring his administration to release foreign aid funds that had been frozen by an Executive Order from his first day in office. It was a 5-4 decision with Justice’s Roberts and Barrett siding with the three liberal judges. MAGA folks are not happy and Justice Amy Coney Barrett is getting their wrath, calling her a DEI hire, weak and timid, and a rattled law professor with her head up her a**. Judge Alito is staying loyal to Don, however, saying he is stunned that the Court ruled against Trump. How could they have done that to our Godfather, he wonders? One other notable observation from Tuesday night’s ‘show’ was Trump vigorously shaking Chief Justice Roberts hand and thanking him very much and telling him he won’t forget it, for I guess granting him absolute immunity. Again, Wow!!

Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1,447 points from Inauguration through today. Tesla stock down $161.00 since Inauguration. Egg prices have reached an all time high this March according to the USDA. Meanwhile, The Secretary of the Treasury defends Trump’s tariffs and once again says to prepare for some distractions as the tariffs are implemented (on again, off again, on again, off again), meaning get ready for higher prices at the grocery store, the auto dealership, and just about everything you spend your hard earned cash for. I just read an article that the GOP budget goals cannot be reached without cutting into Medicaid and Medicare. Social Security is being wrecked by Musk and Trump in a plan to privatize the program. All this winning is just making my head swim. Thank you Donald and your MAGA voters. I’m going to end today’s ramble with a ramble from JoJo From Jerz as she so eloquently describes Ma and Pa MAGA’s: “Now listen up you Cousin-Loving Clodhoppers, because the cold, hard truth is this: none of this is about making your life better. It never fucking was. It’s about keeping you distracted while they rob you blind, gut your communities, and sell this country off to the highest foreign bidder. You think he gives a shit about you? You think he even knows you exist? Newsflash, you Yankee Doodle dipshits: he wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire unless he could charge you for it. You’re not his base—you’re his marks. His useful fucking idiots. His willing accomplices in the slow, painful destruction of everything that once made this country halfway decent.”

With that I’m going to prepare a martini and watch the 5:00 News. Didn’t get my walk in because I was too busy rambling. Oh, I did take a break and go buy some lumber for a project. Have a great evening! Ziggyman

When a Clown moves into a Palace, he doesn’t become a King. The Palace instead becomes a Circus – Turkish proverb.My, oh my. I’m not sure who the bigger clown was on Friday in the Oval Office negotiating session with Zelenskyy.  PINO, who calls himself King, or JD Vance who wanted to impress the King. In what was thought to be a meeting to make a deal between the United States and Ukraine to bring an end to the war with Russia, instead ended up a ‘shout-fest’ with Zelenskyy getting kicked out of the White House by tRump. Watching the exchange made me cringe as PINO and JDV wanted Zelenskyy to get down on the floor and kiss PINO’s capped-toe dress Oxford’s and ‘say ten thank you’s,’ as they both said that Zelenskyy had not shown a great enough thankfulness for what the U.S. had done for Ukraine. The facts are that Zelenskyy has expressed appreciation numerous times. It went off the rails from there and once again the actions of the two clowns made the United States look like s**t to the rest of the world. The laugher was Vance accusing Zelenskyy of trying to “litigate this in front of the American media.” Now let me see. Who set up this media show with cameras and reporters (including a Russian reporter who was able to sneak into the show)? It wasn’t Zelenskyy. JD went on to accuse the Ukraine president of running propaganda tours, campaigning for Democrats in Pennsylvania and being ungrateful. Putin is jumping with joy after watching the clowns carry out his propaganda campaign for him and gives them an A+ for their performance. The Europeans, who have come to Z’s defense and give him their full support, give America an F (as in the report card, but I think they also have given us another “F’, like you know what).

Going back to that cabinet meeting held on Thursday, my brother reminded me of tRump’s first Cabinet meeting during Trump 1.0 when he made a statement about his great accomplishments in such a short amount of time and then asked the Cabinet members to make a statement. Do you remember Mike Pence starting it off with a little speech about it being a privilege to serve as the VP for such a wonderful man? From there, as I remember, each member tried to outdo each other in the amount of praise they threw at DJT as he sat there and gave that simpy smile he does so well. You know the one. Thank goodness we didn’t have to experience that during Wednesday’s meeting. I can only gag so much before I begin throwing up.

And how about the “law and order party” working to lift a travel ban and allow Andrew Tate and his brother, both arrested and charged in Romania with human trafficking and forming a criminal group to sexually exploit women. They deny the allegations, but why would Trump administration officials pressure Romania to lift the travel ban to allow them back into the United States? Andrew Tate is a big Trump supporter, which is all it takes to get on DJT’s good side. Tate posted on X earlier this month, “The Tate’s will be free, Trump is the president. The good old days are back. And they will be better than ever.” I am happy to say that not all conservative MAGA’s are supporting this and have spoken out. The conservative radio host Erick Erickson posted on X, “We should wait and see, but I can say that if Trump really did bless allowing the Tate brothers to come to the US, it would be the primary exhibit that his administration is guided by a hyper-online right that is very out of touch with the real world and needs to touch grass.” Let the splintering begin.

That’s enough for today. Have a great weekend! Ziggyman

Got home a bit ago from taking the missus to her first cataract surgery. It went well and she is now taking a snooze, so I thought it would be a good time to ramble.

Yesterday, I unintentionally watched a portion of President Musk’s first cabinet meeting as it was being shown on my morning stock market program on CNBC. Sooo, here’s the setting of this cabinet meeting – PINO (President In Name Only) and the Cabinet, dressed in their ‘Sunday Best,’ sitting at an oblong circle of tables with their underlings sitting in a row of chairs behind them, and behind them members of the media (handpicked I’m sure, as reporters from the AP and Huffington Post have been banished for being meanies). Over in the corner at the rear of the room waiting for his introduction is Elon, wearing a black t-shirt emblazoned with “Tech Support” and his black MAGA baseball cap. After the obligatory niceties, PINO turns it over to Elon, who proceeds to take over the meeting while Donald takes a nap. It was a sight to see, I tell ya’. Elon was pretty solicitous to the Cabinet having heard that some of them are getting annoyed with his take over. Once Elon finished his oratory and allowed PINO to say a few words, DJT starts out saying that “this country has gotten fat and bloated and disgusting.” Now that’s a statement that should go down in history from the fast food King who probably served up McDonald’s 14 oz Big Arch burgers and fries for the Cabinet lunch. I say, ‘well that’s who voted for ya Sherlock.’ PINO then began his slew of false claims, misinformation, fibs, whatever you want to call them. There were too many to list here in detail, but Daniel Dale the fact checker for CNN, listed 16 that I counted related to Ukraine, the European Union, tariffs, trade with Canada, the economy, education, health, fentanyl, mail in voting, and so on. During this fibby part of the meeting PINO spoke matter of factly, but then, all of a sudden, he just got giddy as he introduced an idea that he and his Commerce Secretary cooked up – sell a “gold card” visa for $5 million as a pathway to U.S. citizenship.  He said people of wealth could buy the card or companies wanting to bring in talented people from outside the U.S. could buy the card. He thinks they’ll sell like hotcakes and bring in billions, if not trillions of dollars. To be fair, there are other countries that have a similar program, so it wasn’t invented here, but PINO thinks that people only want to come here to tRump World, especially since November 5, 2024. Luckily for me they broke back to the regularly scheduled program before I had to go plug in the popcorn popper for this “show.”

Today’s winning ‘Quote of the Day’ comes from Garry Kasparov, former world champion chess player turned activist, and that quote is: “Republicans ordered the sh-t sandwich and now complain about how it was cooked.” This was in response to an X post from Louisiana Senator Dr. Bill Cassidy mourning the death of the first child who died of measles Tuesday night. Kasparov says Republicans and the G.O.P. can’t have it both ways. Cassidy, if you will recall, after days of conflicting thoughts on RFK Jr. ended up being a deciding vote for his acceptance as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Meanwhile, anti-vaxxer Kennedy blows off this death and measles outbreak as something that happens every year. Big deal, right?

After the U.S.A. joined Russia to vote against a UN General Assembly resolution condemning Russia’s war against Ukraine this week, I once again want to point out the hypocrisy of the flag flying, ‘Merica First’, patriot phonies, who cheer on their bone spurred Godfather wannabe as he bends over for Daddy Vladdy. I wrote a couple of weeks ago about our fathers and grandfathers who fought and died to defeat fascism and keep America a free nation looking down horrified at what they are seeing happen to the country they fought for. I’m not talking about DOGE, or the economy, or the kakistocracy, or climate change – I’m talking about America becoming an ally of any country that is run by a dictator. The Greatest Generation is up there looking down to see that the country they fought for to defeat fascists and defend democracy and freedom is now snuggled up to the biggest dictators and fascists in the world. WTF has happened they wonder?

Well the missus is up from her nappy poo so I’ll go play with her for awhile and get off this blood pressure rant. Enjoy this sun and have a great evening! Ziggyman

Wow! How about that storm yesterday and last night? We are on the mountain and it wasn’t too bad other than heavy rain and some gusts during the middle of the night. I’m hoping the beach house is okay after the high winds and rain there. My next door neighbor texted and said it was quite a storm with high winds and power out from late afternoon until early this morning. He walked around our house and, happily for me, didn’t see any visible damage. The missus has her first cataract surgery on Thursday and I have a post op appointment on Monday, so won’t get down to check things out until next week. Hope y’all survived without any damage to your homes and property.

The storm might be over here, but it’s gaining in strength elsewhere in the country, both weather wise and politically. We’ve gotta hang in there, though, because it’s about to get very interesting as the wheels are slowly starting to come off. Over the past two weeks we have seen the chaotic firing and then rehiring of federal workers from several agencies including National Park Service workers, National Nuclear Security Administration nuclear weapons experts, U.S. Department of Agriculture bird flu scientists, and Department of Veterans Affairs crisis line workers. Today 21 DOGE staffers resigned by sending a letter to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles saying, “we will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans’ sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services. We will not lend our expertise to carry out or legitimize DOGE’s actions.” Also this morning , The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index for February was released. The Index marked the largest monthly decline since August 2021 and follows the same path as the consumer report released last Friday that I wrote about this weekend. Consumers aren’t feeling good about where this economy is and where they feel it’s going in the near future. Today Joann Fabrics announced they were closing all 800 of their stores across the country and going out of business. This really pissed the missus off being the quilter and crafter she is. This afternoon the House passed a Republican budget resolution that calls for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and a $2 trillion reduction in federal spending over the next decade. This is referred to as Trump’s ‘big, beautiful ‘ budget bill and sets up some super duper infighting within the G.O.P for what programs to cut in order to fund the large tax cuts that will benefit the rich. I say, once the common man MAGA’s realize what this means for them and we all have to experience the ramifications of this budget bill, the town hall meetings are going to get much uglier, so hang on. If you’re not a vegetarian and you like to rip into a big, fat juicy steak now and then, you’ve probably seen the price of beef take a pretty good-sized jump recently. Projections are they will continue to follow the path of eggs. When Trump enacts his tariffs on Mexico and Canada, which he said this morning he was going to do, then there are going to be some very unhappy imbiders of Mexican tequila and beer, and Canadian whiskey. Canada has already said they won’t be importing American spirits if Trump follows through with his tariff war. So there you have it for today. The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, until someone screws things up so bad they fall off.

The missus and I went to Costco yesterday and look what we filled our cart with. We’re gettin’ ready for the wheels to come off and the show to begin.

I’m going to leave you with that for the evening. Sweet dreams. Ziggyman

I have nothing better to do on a ‘pouring down rain’ Sunday afternoon, so I’ll just sit here and so some reflection of current events.

Starting with Friday. It was not a good day for stock market investments in my and your individual and retirement accounts as the market tanked “big time,” with the S&P 500 experiencing its worst day of 2025. I just don’t know how ‘sleepy’ Joe could have let that happen to us. Our current PINO (President In Name Only) would like to put the blame on ol’ Joe, but he’s going to have to own this one, starting with the market’s concern about tariffs. DJT may think ‘tariff’ is the most beautiful word in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, but many economists, analysts, and market portfolio managers disagree. We also have had recent corporate earnings reports which have come in lackluster as consumer spending has slowed down. In an article on CNBC’s website Friday, Steve Cohen, the billionaire CEO of Point72 hedge fund, sees Trump’s aggressive trade policy, his tough stance on immigration, and the DOGE cost-cutting moves as negatives for the economy and will likely result in a pullback in the stock market leading to a significant correction. He says, “Tariffs cannot be positive, okay? I mean, it’s a tax,” and “On top of that, we have slowing immigration, which means the labor force will not grow as rapidly as … the last five years.” With regard to DOGE, he says, “When that money has been coursing through the economy over many years, and now, potentially it will be reduced or stopped in many ways, this has got to be negative for the economy,” Also on Friday the US Index of Consumer Sentiment for February was released and showed a drop in consumer confidence. The Index on Friday’s report was 64.70, down from 71.70 the previous month. This is a report that details consumer attitudes, buying intentions, vacation plans, and consumer expectations for inflation, stock prices, and interest rates. Donald in the past has said that the stock market is a gauge on the state of our economy and the performance of the president. If that is the case, DJT should be ‘largely, hugely’ concerned.

We had another Friday night massacre, like the “Valentine’s Day Massacre” of a week ago. This time it was centered on military Generals, not “putty knife toilet seat s**t scraping” Park Service staff. Friday night Trump fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, four-star Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., and announced he will nominate a retired three-star general to succeed him as the nation’s top military officer. General Brown has over 40 years of military experience and was a former combat pilot. He became the first Black man to lead a branch of the military as Air Force chief before becoming the chairman of the Joint Chiefs in 2023. This move was not unexpected, as Pete Hegseth said earlier that “we need to start by firing the Joint Chiefs of Staff” for supporting a “woke” agenda that undermined military readiness. But, General Brown was not the only military leader fired on Friday. In total, six Pentagon officials were fired, including Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead the Navy, the Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force General Jim Slife, and the top lawyers for the Army, Navy, and Air Force were all given the boot. Starting next week, the Pentagon plans to cut 5,400 civilian probationary workers. These firings are seen by Congressional Democratic leaders and former military leaders as a direct attempt to politicize the military. I would venture to guess that there are a bunch of “beautiful” military leaders walking around today with their “you know what puckered up” thinking “I might be next if I don’t bow to the King’s wishes.” I have to disagree with Secretary Hegseth, I believe the actions that he and the King are enacting are undermining our military readiness much more than the crime of promoting DEI.

And now we have news outlets reporting a COVID-like bat virus has been discovered in the Wuhan lab in China that was associated with the 2019 pandemic in which 1.2 million Americans died from COVID-19. It is reassuring to know that RFK Jr is now in charge of Health and Human Services and will be right on top of this. I might suggest calling your financial adviser on Monday morning and picking up some Pfizer and Moderna stock before this next pandemic hits. Or you might want to wait and see what anti-vax snake oil treatment Robbie comes up with. I’m sure it will be worth a bowl of popcorn.

My favorite event of the week, though, has been Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) calling out Elon
Musk for his new requirement that all federal employees defend their jobs or else get fired. “This is the ultimate dick boss move from Musk – except he isn’t even the boss, he’s just a dick,” she wrote on X. It was a response to this X post from Musk.

I’m sure the chaos this next week will include: The United States Postal Service takeover; pentagon and more military leader firings; a peace ‘undeal’ in the Ukraine-Russia war; trying to gain support from MAGA’s by gaslighting about receiving a $5,000 dividend check as a result of DOGE savings; the DOGE crew wanting the key to Fort Knox to decide whether selling the gold in there would be an efficiency; and finally, what advice Baron will give his daddyo this week. Have a great evening and keep Pope Francis in your prayers. With that I will leave you this to ponder. Our partners getting ready for a “night on the town.” Ziggyman