The current second Trump administration: a compendium of horrors

For Trump that’s the best part because he thinks having to spend your own money is the worst thing that can happen to someone.

Nothing surprises me with MAGA politics regarding James Comey, there News & Media machine road Hunter Bidens offenses with tenacity of a top 10 public enemy for the better part of 6 years! The part that I find astonishing is there are basically 25 % of the voting nation could care less about right and wrong in regards to Trump and his personal and public behavior! It has deeply affected relationships in my family & friendships on numerous levels!

New State Department rules would deny visas to those who fear returning home

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/04/28/trump-asylum-nonimmigrant-visas/

(Not sure if this is a gift link.)

The Trump administration on Tuesday issued new rules for visa applications that could limit asylum claims in the United States, ordering diplomatic missions to ask applicants for nonimmigrant visas if they fear returning home to their country — and to refuse U.S. travel documents for those who say yes, according to a cable reviewed by The Washington Post.

The directive comes after a federal appeals court ruled late last week that President Donald Trump’s declaration of an “invasion” at the U.S.-Mexico border to restrict entry from asylum seekers was illegal, effectively clearing the way to reopen the country to migrants fleeing persecution in their own countries.

U.S. officials will be required to ask two questions of applicants: “Have you experienced harm or mistreatment in your country of nationality or last habitual residence?” and “Do you fear harm or mistreatment in returning to your country of nationality or permanent residence?”

"Visa applicants must respond verbally with a ‘no’ to both questions for the consular officer to continue with visa issuance,” the cable states.

The new rules are the latest effort by the administration to sharply limit the number of foreign nationals who receive asylum in the United States.

IOW, fuck the Statue of Liberty.

If only it were possible for that dismissal to include DAMAGES to be awarded to Comey.

I’m with those who deplore his 2016 choices with regard to sticking it to Hillary Clinton; his conduct was partisan and, in my view, violated his oath of office.

But even so, I’d love to see Donald and his willing minions pay a price for abusing our justice system the way they do.

And a pull string.

The kind where you pull it and a voice says DONALD TRUMP IS THE GREATEST HUMAN BEING WHO EVER LIVED…???

Holy shit. One of the talking heads on CNN (obviously a Trumpist) just stated that 86 means “eight miles out and six feet deep, so obviously it is a call to violence.”

Guess she’s never eaten in a greasy spoon where Flo might call out “86 the eggs and kiss my grits,”, or watched “Get Smart,” with Agent 86, the screwup.

Dumbass said something to the effect that everyone knows what means; even children.. Please. No way had he ever heard of ituntil someone fed it to him.I’m familiar with its use in restaurant kitchens but I most often heard it in the context of being kicked out of a bar/ club. Either way, nothing whatsoever about violence.
They sure do know how to stretch, before and after mental gymnastics​:roll_eyes:

Where 86 is a rhyme for “nix” as in throw it out.

This is painfully stupid even before you get to the fact that there was a pretty famous case where an anti-war protester said “If they ever make me carry a rifle the first man I want to get in my sights is L.B.J.” and the Supreme Court ruled that it is political hyperbole, and thus protected by the 1st amendment.

This is its origin: rhyming slang used in diners. Like all folklore, it is multivalent and its meaning is dependent on context. It can be a call to violence, and it can be understood as such by people who lack the full context, including membership in the cultural subgroup communicating with it. Declaring that it is a call to violence is like declaring “6-7” always means “-1.”

This seems to be the correct thread for this, because if I was an American in need of a new passport, this would horrify me:

Now, in fairness, not every new US passport will have the Trump design. From the item:

But holy hannah! This is getting ridiculous.

I have my sign for the next No Kings rally.

In other news, passport applications at the Washington Passport Agency have dropped to zero.

I’m very glad Mrs. Martian and I just got our passports renewed last month.

No mention of the Trump class submarines with the screen doors?

I’m thinking that the indictment is sufficiently outlandish that there is no clear precedent for dismissal.

Does anyone know what the grand jury vote was on each count? And were there additional counts that the grand jury refused to indict on?

IANAL, but isn’t the question of whether 86 means violence just the sort of issue for a jury to sort out?

If not dismissed, or if the dismissal is reversed on appeal, I read that the judge is a Bush the Younger nominee, Louise Flanigan, who works out of New Bern North Carolina. Per Wikipedia, the county New Bern is in (Craven County) went sixty percent for Trump in November 2024.

I think this indictment is a horror. If Comey is convicted, it would be a precedent to shut down all but the most careful internet criticism of Mr. Trump. I’m just not as optimistic as some others.

I assume that the indictments for this are coming soon:

They would have turned away the St. Louis.
What am I thinking? They would have sunk the St. Louis because it was obviously smuggling fentanyl.

You just know that somewhere in the bowels of what passes for trump’s mind, there’s a desire to tear down the Statue of Liberty and put a statue of him up on that base. Much larger & much, much, much more gold than the tired green lady from the past.

Not to go too far afield here, but wouldn’t a Kid Rock lyric be better than that trash from Emma Lazarus?

It certainly is. But where is the indictment of Mr. Comey’s co-conspirator: the person who actually constructed that Call To Assassination on that beach???

This lapse might lead some to think that the Trump Regime isn’t serious about protecting Dear Leader!

(Last night during his show The Last Word, Lawrence O’Donnell speculated that during American football games, any instance of a player wearing number 86 standing next to another player wearing 47 might result in both being arrested, indicted, and tried. I mean, it makes as much sense as the seashells-photo case does.)

(I don’t see a link to that segment, yet, but here’s a link to the show:

Just because I was curious, I looked in on a predominantly right-wing message board, where this sentiment was repeated by one of the usual suspects. “It’s Mafia slang for offing somebody,” he averred. “Eight miles out and six feet deep.”

When taken to task by some of the more moderate posters, who spoke of cancelled orders at diners and dive bars that want to get rid of an obnoxious patron, he repeated himself, sometimes in all-caps: “IT MEANS TO KILL SOMEONE!!! WATCH TV AND MOVIES!!!” I have a sneaking suspicion, but cannot confirm, that Trump created the “kill” definition for “86” because it serves his purposes; and his followers, to whom he always speaks the truth, have bought it, hook, line, and sinker.

I won’t go on about what else I read on that message board, but I’ve been to diners and dive bars, and “86” does not mean “take the eggs out back and shoot them,” or, “kill the obnoxious drunk at the end of the bar.” It simply means, “somebody’s cancelled their order” or “we’ve run out of eggs” or “toss this guy out of here.” How we get from there to some so-called TV Mafia definition of killing … well, I have no idea.

“Kill” is also used in diner slang: “a burger, kill the tomato.” Spoiler: they don’t literally kill the tomato.