INTERNATIONAL FALAFEL DAY UPDATES
Sure, It's Deep-Fried ... but It's Chickpeas! And You Dip Them in Yogurt! So Clearly, They're Super-Healthy For You!
-With the buildup to the No Kings rallies on Saturday continuing (now estimated at around 2,000 individual events nationally and world-wide), there is still for many an understandable tension and fear, perhaps in vulnerable moments teetering into frustration and even depression. Particularly as federal troops are now ensconced in an American city and a section of the American media pumping as much frustration and fear into the rest of the country, it can be a tough thing to deal with if you are not within that MAGA bubble.
-That bubble is getting pretty rancid. Murdoch-paid-for media like the New York Post and Fox News continue to spin a story of Los Angeles being a hellscape of foreign (read: brown) gangs terrorizing the populace and burning everything in site being heroically defended by the National Guard and Marines who endure crossfire as intense as the most intense World War II fighting.
-This fiction is also being carried out on social media, where followers who only want to see NBA news stories somehow start to get right-wing influencer posts and jingoistic military porn in their feeds without asking; and by MAGA-heavy sites like Rumble, which has become a center of AI-generated videos of flames forcing innocent (mostly white) people into the streets into the angry arms of illegal aliens here to steal our money and women if not stopped by Dear Daddy Donald himself.
-All of it is designed as proper propaganda amid the military in Los Angeles, and the open secret that it is the dry run to see just how far Trump and the real mastermind of both the L.A. occupation and the fascistic amping up against all immigrants by Trump's right cloven hoof Stephen Miller is, to make everyone feel resistance is futile and one should just bow to Dear Leader and he may let you live in relative peace for a while - especially after venerating Don at the I-Do-TOO-Have-a-Big-Penis military parade to honor Flag Day the 250th Anniversary of the formation of the U.S. Army Trump's ego and vanity on his birthday.
-But ... is it? Is all the scuffling and spinning by Team Trump, assisted by a cowed Legacy Media Inc. (the latest proof: the firing of ABC commentator Terry Moran for what appeared to be a pretty accurate description of Miller's psychopathology), making America more pliable and less ready to resist? Are all the pro-democracy commentators who have been looking to Saturday and beyond who are insisting that the moves Trump is making are not just a by-the-fascist-numbers clicking off of the playbook but actually signs that Trump is weak and getting weaker just full of it? Is Trump ... at long last ... winning?
-Weeeeeelllllll .... it does NOT appear to be so ... hear me out …
-Start with Los Angeles. For all the hyperventilating of Trump and MAGA and their media and company, they simply run into the reality that, as the cliche goes, there ain't no there there. The city is NOT coming apart at the seams. The streets are NOT full of armed renegades. The place remains, aside from pockets of protests, most of which are rising because of actions taken by ICE, quite lovely for a brunch or walk right this very minute. It's not Xanadu, but it's also not Thunderdome. (I need to update my movie references, I know ...)
-Further, there are now more and more stories about the National Guardsmen and Marines that have been sent to Los Angeles, commanded to patrol streets that only get filled when they hit the streets to nonviolently protest against them in full battle gear with little else to do but sweat, then returning to barracks that, according to CA Governor Gavin Newsom and photo evidence, still do not have rations or cots or, according to other reports, full assignments or pay.
-"Morale is not great" among the assigned troops, reports The Guardian - and it may not be made better as THIS JUST IN: in Congressional testimony this morning, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth renewed fears of alcohol abuse by ignoring a leading question from a MAGA ally to admit that, actually, his office DOES have "contingencies" to "make Greenland safe." (Hic!)
-So L.A. seems not teetering on the brink of anarchy, the troops seem to be the center of whatever unrest is going on, and the troops themselves may be starting to get irritated about their assignments. That does not really look or sound like Trump is Winning, does it?
-Ah, I feel some of you thinking, but all that MAGA media is snowing everyone about it, and they are not getting the messages about Trump or ICE or L.A., so AAARGH! Again, understandable, but let's take a look at some polling, shall we?
-True, a pre-L.A. poll taken by CBS News showed 54% approval - but that was a poll taken on Saturday, which was the day the major ICE protests in Paramount, CA went down, and even that poll showed discomfort about the rate of deportations, and 63% still supported having hearings before deportations, not immediate deportation or open-ended detention.
-The first post-LA protest polling by YouGov/The Economist taken June 6-9 - as the troops were deployed over the weekend - revealed breakdowns from the CBS polling. Aside from immigrants who have committed violent crimes (89% support) or non-violent crimes (50% support), every other question about who should be deported is going against Trump and Miller - and by massive numbers. The poll shows 29% support for deporting people with young children who are citizens, 23% support for deporting children born in the U.S., and 17% support to deport people married to U.S. citizens. All are categories that Miller said now should be deported as of last weekend, and all are categories that Miller deeply and twistedly wants to see deported. So they are, and have likely, lost the argument.
-But that polling came on the heels of a broad-base set of polling from Quinnipiac that were, collectively, arguably the worst set of polls for Trump ever taken.
-Start with immigration, where the poll showed Trump's policies were only supported by 43% of the respondents and only 40% of respondents supported Miller's deportation policies. Bad as those numbers are, those were the best numbers in the poll. Quinnipiac also showed rising disapproval of Trump's handling of the economy (56%, down two points) with approval clinging to 40%. The STUPIDSTUPID MAGAGOPTrump tariffs are only supported by 38% of voters, his attacks on universities at 37% approval, his handling of the Israel/HAMAS War at 35% support, and his support of Russia over Ukraine at the same 34% support rate.
-Want more? Sure you do! Quinnipiac polling about members of Team Trump are also way underwater. Trump's Quinnipiac numbers have him at 38% - significant in that through his first term and between 2021-24, his numbers stayed relatively steady at around 42%-45%.
-He is joined at 38% by Health and Human Services criminal Robert F. WormBrain Kennedy Jr., but both faring better than former President Elon Musk, whose approval rating is at a gawdawful 30% (which may explain social media posts that "some" of the posts he made against Trump last week may have been "over the line," though he doesn't specify which ones, and made a call to Trump that Trump took).
-And that brings us to the worst number of Quinnipiac, the one that (along with Miller's anti-immigrant bile) may have been the true motivator of Trump's actions: a mere 27% of those polled now favor passage of the Big Bill O'Crap, currently stuck in the Senate and being reworked in a way that many Congressional observers warn are making ultimate passage of all the horrors in it more and more tenuous, since even MAGA should theoretically understand dreadful polling and what it means.
-This could be why THIS JUST IN: Trump has clompmozied his way to a press briefing and, in addition to a social media post, is now claiming ICE will not be working to deport farm workers and hotel workers (YA DON'T SAY?!) anymore - thereby apparently bringing some of Trump's now world-famous chicken TACOs to arguably his signature issue, and ... maybe setting up Miller for the fall? (We can dream …)
-Trump loves a show, but his skills as a showman are also eroding. Witness the "speech" he delivered on Tuesday in Ft. Bragg in which he made numerous attacks on Joe Biden (because DEMOCRATS have TrUmP DerANgeMEnT SynDROmE) and announced re-renaming a number of forts back to their loser Confederate general names, and did so before a group of loud, cheering, pro-Trump troops. Naturally, soldiers behaving in any kind of partisan manner is against the Military Code of Conduct, but not the Trump Code of Conduct, so they did - and they apparently did so in a clearly calculated way.
-Military . com reported that the crowd was carefully selected to ensure that those who attended were Trump-sympathetic - and photogenic, as the obese elder currently in the Oval Office demanded that anyone in the camera shot as Dear Leader demanded there be "no fat soldiers" behind him. Add to that a report that an OK company set up a table to sell Trump-branded crap (including a faux credit card that read WHITE PRIVILEGE CARD: TRUMPS EVERYTHING), and a commander who spoke to the newsletter anonymously called the whole event "a bad week for the Army for anyone who cares about us being a neutral institution," adding "This was shameful. I don't expect anything to come out of it, but I hope maybe we can learn from it long term" (along with criticism that more Pentagon officials have not pushed back on it).
-As if President AlphaMale's dominance cosplay weren't undercut enough through all of this, yet another rumbling about his health are now popping up courtesy of a prominent photo taken while Trump attended a UFC event and was gifted a prize belt for being a Special Boy. The photo showed a fighter trying to strap the belt on his enormous girth - and below the belt, in one of his pant legs, a clear outline of what appeared to be a tube could be seen, along with extra bulk around his knee.
-Intrepid BlueSky accounts and bloggers quickly discovered that there is a catheter on the market that is designed with the catheter bag strapped on to a knee, leading to speculation about why Trump would be setting himself up to allow his bladder to be emptied that way. Further photos showed that, while golfing last weekend, those same outlined appeared on both pants legs, and renewed attention on a constant bruise on his right hand (which he conspicuously now hides with his left hand whenever he is doing a photo op).
-What's up? I report, you speculate ...
-SO, with all THAT, does this look like a guy successfully projecting strength? He still could - as many have pointed out, if Trump gets concessions or gets Governor Newsom to back down or punish him, it sets up a template Trump could try to use throughout this term, in particular the 2026 midterms, to gin up division and fear and keep his power - particularly if, as Trump and Miller clearly are hoping for, any of the protests turns violent and they can frame the violence as the fault of the protestors. But if he fails and backs out of L.A. as he might be backing off on the immigration measures, it could be a way to break his hold on DC and start truly countering much of the damage he and his minions are doing and want to do.
-Which brings us to the No Kings rallies and the Trump Penis Parade in DC. March, march with joy, if you happen to see any National Guardsmen (you will in CA and TX), take a note from Malcolm Nance and mock them for having to be stuck on the street doing nothing (they'll blame the commanders if they aren’t already) while also bringing them decent food and having a good time in front of them - a way to, essentially, win over the military so they do not shoot anyone (and thus show Trump they are not under his wee tiny thumb).
-DO NOT THROW SHITE! Chicago, for one city, is anticipating attendance at the main rally there will dwarf the Hands Off! rally in April, with at least a dozen other rallies throughout the area - and that’s just Chicago! (Can we get to that 11 million/3.5% of the population nonviolently resisting???)
-As for Trump, well, a Craigslist ad that may or may not be a parody claims to be looking for people to sit in the stands, wear red or gold, look forward to a fast food mean, and 'enjoy' the military hardware going past them - all for a well-earned wage of $1,000 worth of cryptocurrency paid for by an organization calling itself FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT LLC - and his parade is now looking at weather in the mid-80s, super-humid, and with a strong threat of severe weather that, combined with a potential pathetic crowd size, is already giving rumblings that the entire parade may, in the end, be cancelled.
-Happy Birthday, Donnie - and let's compare notes on Sunday to see how things went and where we go from here (unless something nutty happens between now and then).
-In closing before the day's history, a reminder that he really is not strong at all in every way you can define 'strong,' so stay strong yourself, fight as you can, bring plenty of water and sunscreen (and watch your devices that you bring with you, just in case), and NO KINGS!
-NEWS ON THIS DATE: In 1880, the first perfect game in MLB history was thrown by Lee Richmond of the Worcester Ruby Legs. In 1898, the Philippines declared their independence from Spain. In 1964, Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison for "sabotage." In 1967, the Supreme Court ruled interracial marriage was not unconstitutional. In 1974, girls were given permission to play in Little League Baseball. In 1987, Ronald Reagan went to the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and said "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" (And .. he did.) In 1991, Boris Yeltsin was elected President of Russia. In 2016, the deadliest mass shooting in American history saw 49 killed and 50 wounded at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, FL.
-DEBUTS ON THIS DATE: The cotton gin (1770), inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame (including Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and Honus Wagner, 1939), a diary gifted to Anne Frank (1942), "Rock Around the Clock" (1954), "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (1965), RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981), MARIAH CAREY (1990), TOY STORY 3 (2010).
-HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Johanna Spyri, Irwin Allen, Ivan Tors, Uta Hagen, Richard Sherman, Vic Damone, Anne Frank, Jim Nabors, Chick Corea, Marv Albert, Brad Delp, Bun E. Carlos, Peter Farndon, John Linnell, Gwen Torrence, Bounty Killer, Jason Caffey, Hideki Matsui, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and Dallas Clark.
-REST IN PEACE/POWER: William Cullen Bryant, Jimmy Dorsey, Medgar Evers, Saul Alinsky, Norma Shearer, Nicole Brown Simpson, Ron Goldman, Leo Buscaglia, Theresa Merritt, Bill Blass, Gregory Peck, Don Herbert, George Voinovich, Sylvia Miles, Jim "Mudcat" Grant, Philip Baker Hall, Carol Higgins Clark, Treat Williams, Jerry West, and Tony LoBianco.
-FEED THE WORMS: Silvio Berlusconi bought it on this date.
-George H.W. Bush was born on this date. Henry Hill died on this date. You decide if they get a Happy Birthday/Rest in Peace or if they Feed the Worms.
-TODAY'S MUSIC INTERLUDE: Happy Birthday to Robin Carlsson, known to the world simply as Robyn!