a twice-weekly news & meme round-up,
usually on Sundays and Wednesdays
The lucky part of Trump’ϟ first term was that four years passed without a major international crisis. Now Trump has created such a crisis, killing a lot of Iranians, pissing off millions of people not known for turning the other cheek.
The attack was illegal, of course, and it’s unproven that Iran was working toward nuclear weapons, but that’s irrelevant. They’re a nation, and by our world-wide stone age traditions, nations are allowed to have weapons.
Whatever happens next? Dunno, but it’s going to be stupid. You can count on it.
AND NOW THE NEWS
plus memes and
my brilliant opinions
#529
JUNE 22, 2025
Ninth Circuit grants Trump control over California National Guard in Los Angeles
This is the green light for the new civil war Trump’s minions will bring — soldiers fighting Americans, wherever people stand up to fascism. Which, in practice, mean blue states will become occupied territory.
Day by passing day, we are watching what amounts to a national police riot by ICE
ICE declares itself above Congressional oversight
Why the events of this past weekend should worry everyone who wants a peaceful democracy
Excerpt: No Democratic presidential candidate would welcome the support of violent extremist groups (not that they would even offer it). Trump has. Repeatedly. They were at the U.S. Capitol for him on January 6, 2021, ready to administer a little street justice to his vice president in his name and in order to keep him in office illegally.
And that is why this political violence is different from the Weathermen-Patty Hearst iteration back in the ’70s. Today, one of our two political parties abets it.
THE CRUELTY IS THE POINT
Supreme Court OKs suicide for transgender teens
Oklahoma Republican seeks to ban drag shows as “obscenity”
Guy who’s never worked a day in his life complains that Americans have too much PTO
Trump fails to mark Juneteenth, federal holiday celebrating end of US slavery
GIVE US YOUR TIRED, YOUR POOR, YOUR HUDDLED MASSES YEARNING TO BREATHE FREE, SO WE CAN IMPRISON THEM
Agents spotted swapping license plates on ICE vehicles
‘Ticking time bomb’: ICE detainee dies in transit as experts say more deaths likely
For ‘detainee’, please read ‘kidnapping victim’.
ICE thugs in Cali are deputized corrections officers
US deports teen soccer star to Honduras days after his high school graduation
ONLY THE RICH HAVE RIGHTS
Under Republican budget bill, you’d have to be rich to sue the Trump regime
‘An existential threat’: Food banks brace for fallout from Trump illegal cuts
Republicans want to expand the child tax credit — but not for poor kids
TO HELL WITH HEALTH AND SCIENCE
Trump’s EPA to “reconsider” ban on cancer-causing asbestos
Trump regime’s new rule will limit Obamacare enrollments
Top vaccine expert flames Trump health czar: ‘Americans are going to die’
Well, yeah. Thanks for saying it, and thanks for reporting it, but anyone who’s awake knows Americans will die. “This was no boating accident.”
GOOD NEWS
Inside the scrappy network of volunteers protecting their neighbors from ICE
Trump regime complies with court order (!) and releases Columbia activist Mahmoud Khalil
Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart in critical condition after cardiac arrest
FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF DYSTOPIA
US Army appoints Palantir, Meta, OpenAI execs as Lt. Colonels
Feds arrest yet another Democrat for the crime of helping others under attack from ICE
Kansas City Public Schools is hiring a school spy to investigate students
Magic Tree House author, ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ among hundreds of Tennessee book bans
HORRID, HORRID PEOPLE
It’s almost goes without saying, but yeah, the guy who said this is a coal baron who inherited his massive wealth and equally massive cruelty.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) slammed for disgusting tweets about Minnesota shooting
OUR FRIENDS, THE DEMOCRATS
Hakeem Jeffries, top Dem in the House
Chuck Schumer, top Dem in the Senate
EYE ON AI
They’re putting blue food coloring in everything
When you phone 9-1-1 in Salt Lake City, AI soon may take your call
Google bribes iNaturalist to use generative AI — volunteers quit in outrage
How much energy does AI use? The people who know aren’t saying.
ChatGPT use linked to cognitive decline, research reveals
MY BROWSER HISTORY, MINUS THE PORN
Is the decline of reading poisoning our politics?
The long history of Iran on the verge of having nuclear weapons [2015]
American police are out of control — 6/18
Ignoring the climate emergency — 6/16
The Lord works in mysterious ways — 6/20
And that’s the way it is,
and nothing will
meaningfully improve
until billionaires fear for their lives
6/22/2025
Logo illustration by Jeff Meyer. Tip ‘o the hat to the Anderson Valley Advertiser, Bleepity-Bleep, Lorem Ipsum Dolor, Mitchipedia, Sloth Unleashed, Toad’s Lily Pad, Voenix Rising, and anywhere else I’ve stolen links, illustrations, or inspiration.
Special thanks to Linden Arden, Becky Jo, Joey Jo Jo emeritus, Jeff Meyer, John the Basket, Dave S, Name Withheld, and always extra special thanks to my lovely late Stephanie, who gave me 21 years and proved that the world isn’t always shitty.
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