Author: Jon Ponder

As heard on Blue Sky, “Apparently the IVF terrorist self-identified as an anti-procreation, pro-death vegan.” At first, authorities in Palm Springs were confused because the bombing occurred Saturday at a fertility clinic there, not an abortion clinic. The one person who was killed turned out to be the bomber himself. He was identified as Guy Edward Bartkus, 25, whom the FBI described as having “nihilistic ideations.”

Equalizer in Chief: His nibs says he’s invented a new word to describe his plan to reduce drug costs that actually raises the costs. “Basically, what we’re doing is equalizing,” Trump said. “There’s a new word that I came up with, which is probably the best word. We’re gonna equalize where we’re all gonna pay the same. We’re gonna pay what Europe’s gonna pay.” Europe pays more, so Americans will pay more.

Let them eat tariffs, Trump says, referring to Walmart, MAGA’s favorite retailer. He’s demanding that the company “eat the tariffs” instead of raising prices – which is a prime example of authoritarian economics.

Comey folds: Former FBI director James Comey was spotted leaving his home and ducking into a black SUV with the Secret Service before speeding off. CNN reported that Comey is cooperating with the Secret Service amid blowback over his “86 47” beachside post—which critics, including Trump himself, have alleged was a veiled assassination threat against the 47th president.

Making America the 90s Again: Deranged Trump Boosts Bonkers Clinton Kill List Conspiracy. “President Donald Trump boosted a wild conspiracy theory that accuses the Clinton family of murdering seven people.”

Handing Trump the 2016 election on a gold-plated platter wasn’t enough to save former FBI director James Comey from being investigated by Trump’s secret police over an Insta post. The offending post was a photo of sea shells arranged to spell, “86 47,” which means toss the 47th president out of office. Fascist idiocrats claimed Comey’s post called for the assassination of Trump. Comey removed the post right away.

Speaking of idiots, our wannabe autocrat felt he had to explain groceries to a Middle Eastern leader: “We have a term ‘groceries.’ It’s an old term, but it means basically what you’re buying, food, it’s a pretty accurate term, but it’s an old-fashioned sound, but groceries are down.”

Fascism is allergic to voting, so it shouldn’t be surprising that the DOJ Voting Section Has Just Three Lawyers Left, Watchdog Estimates, says Democracy Docket. The section had 30 lawyers assigned to enforce voting laws before the Trump insane clown posse hit town.

And when the wannabe autocrats don’t like the way voters vote, they finagle a re-do: Republican legislators approve ballot item that would again ban most abortions in Missouri.

The USDA hangs a giant banners depicting America’s best and worst presidents on the facade of its neoclassical headquarters in Washington.

What First Amendment? A Business Insider story with the headline, “Don Jr. is the new Hunter Biden,” has so enraged Don Jr.’s daddy that he has ordered his lackeys to attack the European conglomerate that owns Politico and Business Insider, because it is a “German Influence Operation.” Whatver that is.

Newsweek: Qatar’s Gift to Trump Is Unsold Plane It’s Been Trying to Dump for Years.

A president from the erstwhile party of free enterprises tells an American CEO where not to expand his business, and members of his allegedly pro-capitalism party fall in line and remain mute: Trump to Apple: Don’t expand iPhone production in India.

Sen. Josh “Running Man” Hawley, MAGA-Mo, is so afraid of voters on Medicaid that he’s swallowed his fear of Trump long enough to speak out against the boss’s “big beautiful” cuts to healthcare funding for those in need.

It’s not just the pundits. Science Tells Us the U.S. Is Heading toward a Dictatorship

One of the most innovative reactions to the Trump/Musk chainsaw approach to destroying the U.S. government has come from rock ‘n roll superstars, REM. The group’s members, Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Peter Buck and Bill Berry, have commissioned a remix of their 1981 college radio hit, “Radio Free Europe,” and released it with all proceeds going to support Radio Free Europe.
Musk/Trump axed funding for key federally supported broadcasting outlets in March. On March 9, Trump ordered the U.S. Agency for Global Media, USAGM, to “eliminate all activities that are not required by law,” according to NPR.

The network also reported that “The termination notices for grants for the funded networks, two of which were reviewed by NPR, carried the signature of Trump’s senior adviser Kari Lake, whom he placed at USAGM, not the agency’s acting chief executive. Lake does not appear in her current job to have the statutory authority to carry out that termination.”

In a its statement on its official website, REM said, “We are thrilled to announce the release of Radio Free Europe 2025, a five-track benefit EP featuring two never-before-released tracks: a 2025 remix by longtime collaborator Jacknife Lee and original producer Mitch Easter’s 1981 remix ‘Radio Free Dub.’”

“The cancellation of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s grant agreement would be a massive gift to America’s enemies,” Steve Capus, the president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, said in a statement today shared with NPR. “The Iranian Ayatollahs, Chinese communist leaders, and autocrats in Moscow and Minsk would celebrate the demise of RFE/RL after 75 years. Handing our adversaries a win would make them stronger and America weaker. We’ve benefitted from strong bipartisan support throughout RFE/RL’s storied history. Without us, the nearly 50 million people in closed societies who depend on us for accurate news and information each week won’t have access to the truth about America and the world.”

Order

Click here to pre-order/stream Radio Free Europe 2025 now and watch the Dispatch video for the Jacknife Lee remix.

Donate

Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

During her April 23, 2025, show, Rachel Maddow provided a run-down of the Trump regime’s destructive, mistake-ridden first 100 days. In describing the Trumpists’ authoritarian takeover of the country, she took us on a wild ride through the regime’s long list of blunders:

• Oops! Freezing all federal funding/grants, then rescinding the order within 48 hours due to confusion and legal challenges.
• Oops! Accidentally listing the wrong person as acting head of the FBI on the White House website and letting the error stand.
• Oops! Accidentally sending names of hundreds of CIA officers in an unclassified email to the White House.
• Oops! Announcing a policy that inadvertently halted all mail from China, then reversing it.
• Oops! Accidental firing and attempted rehiring of nuclear security agency staff.
• Oops! Misstating savings on a contract by billions of dollars.
• Oops! Reversing a decision to remove legal aid for migrant children after public outcry.
• Oops! Cutting, then restoring, the program for 9/11 first responders.
• Oops! Elon Musk, Trump’s top campaign donor, sending out mass layoff threats to federal employees, then walking it back.
• Oops! Cutting and then restoring burial services and cancer support for veterans.
• Oops! Accidentally eliminating Ebola prevention measures, then reversing.
• Oops! Cutting and then reinstating hires for the Veterans Crisis Line due to an “administrative error.”
• Oops! Deleting and then restoring thousands of federal contracts in error.
• Oops! Announcing mass firings of federal employees, then denying it happened.
• Oops! Posting hundreds of federal properties for sale, including agency headquarters, then removing the listings without explanation.
• Oops! Publicly releasing unredacted Social Security numbers and private information of hundreds, including Trump’s own lawyer, in JFK assassination files, then scrambling to mitigate.
• Oops! Accidentally texting war plans to a journalist.
• Oops! Admitting to mistakenly deporting a Maryland man to an El Salvador prison.
• Oops! Tariffs inadvertently affecting remote islands, including one inhabited mainly by penguins.

At the end of the segment, Maddow suggested that we should keep this long list of Trump’s failures in mind as the mainstream media sane washes and glosses over of the chaos in its reporting on Trump’s first 100 days.

Salon.com: Rep. Andy Ogles, R.-Tenn., is the latest House Republican to make a splashy grab for President Donald Trump’s attention, introducing a proposal to amend the Constitution and allow the 78-year-old to try for a third term.

In a statement, Ogles claimed Trump “must be given the time necessary” to enact his legislation and praised the president as the “only figure in modern history” who could properly lead the country.

“This amendment would allow President Trump to serve three terms, ensuring that we can sustain the bold leadership our nation so desperately needs,” Ogles said.

Ogle specifically excludes Obama and any other presidents who successfully served two consecutive terms. However, in the extremely unlikely event that this amendment gets the required two-third votes in the House and Senat, this provision is so illogical that it would almost certainly be struck down, setting the stage for a 2028 match up between Trump, 82, and Barack Obama, 67.

“Turns out the President Musk thing was off base because Stephen Miller is really running the country,” Ron Filipkowski wrote recently on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “These are Miller’s ideas and Miller’s executive orders. Trump is just signing them and talking gibberish about what’s in them.”

No one who followed Trump’s claims during the election can be surprised by the firehose of ultra-right executive orders spewed by the new administration in its first few days. They were cribbed out of the Heritage Foundation’s anti-democracy “Project 2025” manifesto, which has been rebranded as “America First,” borrowing a name from a 1930s U.S. fascist movement associated with celebrity aviator Charles Lindbergh.

The only surprise is that the morbidly obese, 78-year-old Trump. the laziest president since Reagan, has had the energy to do it all. The suggestion by Filipkowski, an attorney associated with the Meidas Touch Network, that Miller is doing the heavy lifting makes sense.

The Resistance to the coming fascist state under Donald Trump unofficially kicks off at his inauguration on Monday with the notable absence of key Democratic figures who would normally appear on stage with an incoming president.

Hell Freezes over

Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, is going to be bitterly cold in Washington, D.C. WTOP reports that there is a chance of snow on Sunday and predicts gusty winds on Monday, with a high temperature of just 20 degrees.

Ex-Presidents Out at Lunch

Of course, Pres. Biden and Dr. Jill Biden will be on the podium, as will former presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, along with his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and George W. Bush and his wife Laura. However, Michele Obama has opted not to attend.

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi will not attend the inauguration, and it is not because she recently broke her hip.

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