NATIONAL EAT WHAT YOU WANT DAY UPDATES

You Might Be Able To Celebrate This if You Make Your Mom Breakfast or Take Her Out for Brunch or Dinner …

-HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! I shall celebrate with a gin and tonic, which was my Mom’s cocktail of choice – and I hope you celebrate the Moms in your life. They deserve it!

-Tough to find a place to start with the updates, but the courts and what surrounds them have been extremely active and significant. Trump continues to see the courts smack down the vast majority of his Presidential Proclamations, most recently orders to reinstate fired Federal workers and the release of Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk over a dubious deportation order. Bloomberg reports over 320 cases have been filed against Trump, with 140 still being litigated and at least 140 cases going against Team Trump – again, standard operating procedure on how Trump has run his multitude of failed businesses into multiple grounds.

-But it also seems to be clear that Trump himself is not running matters in the White House. Amidst several press availabilities this week, a new repetitive phrase is emerging any time Trump yawnyowels in response to a question – “I don’t know.” That phrase was invoked at least half a dozen times over questions ranging from the MAGAGOPTrump tariffs to personnel matters to whether a reporter was being “nice” to him (and by “nice” Trump means “You aren’t complementing my cologne and telling me how thin I am – you suck!”). So it is with all the losses Trump is taking.

-But it also appears, as has been mentioned here, that Trump’s right cloven paw, Stephen Miller, may be the true power – and that is not good. Because in response to their court losses, and particularly in the wake of all the pushback against Miller’s clear desire to Make America White Again, on Friday night Miller floated the possibility to “explore” getting rid of Habeas Corpus – the right of anyone accused of a crime to have legal representation in a court of law or other authorities.

-Indeed, the current practice of using ICE agents to ‘arrest’ anyone suspected of being in the United States illegally and immediately taking them to detention centers in the United States or outside of the U.S., Miller and his minions (Tom Homan, Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi, Marco Rubio) have effectively taken that right away from thousands of people already in custody, and while the legal pushback has been consistent, not all of those who should be released are being released, so articulating the threat simply brings the practice in fuller relief – and, probably, is being used as a threat by Miller.

-We have also already seen escalations by Miller to see how far he might be able to go to fill his fascist Jones (another Trump characteristic, by the way). We have seen the arrest of a sitting Judge for the “crime” of letting a suspected illegal immigrant to leave a courtroom full of ICE agents, and on Friday another provocation took place in New Jersey. There, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and three sitting House members attempted to visit a detention center that had not been given permits to be converted into a detention center by the state. When rebuffed, Baraka and the Congresspeople worked to begin a press conference outside the center.

-As it began, an estimate 24 ICE agents – fully armed, masked, wearing dark glasses, and without badges or other personal identification – swooped in and arrested Baraka for trespassing, taking him into custody and taking a mug shot.

-From there, the three Congresspeople had a loud confrontation with the ICE agents, with them claiming physical assault by ICE, and representatives of Homeland Security led by Interim New Jersey Federal Prosecutor Alina Habba – yes, THAT Alina Habba – naturally denying everything and claiming that it was the three unarmed Congresspeople that were doing the assaulting on the fully body-armored and assault-rifled ICE troops.

-Baraka – who, it must be said, is also running for Governor of New Jersey from an office that was the launching pad of now-Senator Cory Booker – said he would continue to protest the facility despite the threats. The threats, however, should probably be read as very much part of what Miller and his horde want to see, as this administration’s “keep the trains running” policy will clearly be trying to get rid of all immigrants of color and anyone who dares try to defend them.

-If you think “get rid of all immigrants of color” is hyperbole, I would point to another bit of news this week: the announcement that Trump and Miller et al will be looking to allow their first set of refugees into the United States. That group? White South Africans who are claiming they are being persecuted by the multi-racial non-Afrikaner Government of South Africa.

-As we are talking about foreign influences and the United States, there is quite a bit of foreign policy news that has also taken place over the last few days. On the STUPIDSTUPID MAGAGOPTrump tariff front, the U.S. and China are … well, they’re doing something, but it’s hard to figure out what. What is known is that Trump toutslurred the beginning of what they are calling tariff negotiations – but China is not talking, and Trump began “negotiations” by reducing the 145% tariffs on goods from China to 80% before talks began.

-So it is quite likely Trump is negotiating against himself as retailers continue to scream that empty shelves are coming because of the tariffs and Trump’s chief tariff-spinner, Commerce Secretary Howard “Nutlick” Lutnick, continues to claim with his I-LOVE-the-smell-of-Trump-farts-in-my-face smirk while priming MAGA to accept their medicine for austerity new promise of Boss Donny Two-Dolls-Five-Pencils.

-Trump is also involved … somehow … in a story this Substack has not yet mentioned: the military back-and-forth over the last week between India and Pakistan. The countries traded bombing runs and “targeted” attacks against what each side claims were encampments of troops, and on Saturday morning the White House claimed a cease-fire was negotiated by the White House and Rubio. The problem was, both countries denied either a cease-fire or any role Rubio or Trump played in it, and while fighting seems to have calmed and some talks seem to be occurring between the countries, the role of Trump or Rubio seems to be fuzzier than they claim.

-Then there is Russia and Ukraine. The European Union, working with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, took what was a three-day cease-fire floated by Vladimir Putin and have turned it into a counteroffer of a 30-day cease-fire IF Russia comes to the table for real negotiations. Putin, in a long-delayed press conference that finally took place at 1 am Moscow time, countered that they would be willing to conduct “one-on-one” negotiations later this week – an offer given a positive response if not full approval by Zelenskyy.

-Amid these negotiations, the United States – which earlier in the week warned American in Ukraine to be aware of potential “escalation” of attacks in Kyiv by Russia “at any time” – also indicated approval of the developments, though what kind of information they have been getting has also been called into question. Multiple news outlets report that Trump Ukraine envoy Steve Witkoff relied on a Russian translator supplied by Vladimir Putin for negotiations rather than a State Department translator - a move that echoed the infamous Helsinki meeting of 2018 in which Trump met Putin with no other American official present, which then led to a press conference in which Trump damn near repeated Russian talking points syllable for syllable. Naturally, the White House responded with a shrug and a “no biggie.”

-Through this idiocy, let’s not forget – SLAVA UKRAINI!

-Speaking of White House personnel, there was another shift where what looked like a firing was merely a reappointment, followed by somehow making an appointment that would be somehow worse yet morbidly entertaining. On Friday, after endangered North Carolina Senator Thom Tills said he would not support the appointment of Ed Martin to be Trump’s DC Federal Prosecutor (owing to Martin’s presence in the January 6 insurrection and ‘flirtations’ with other extremists), Trump pulled Martin’s nomination – though Martin was then appointed to simultaneously fill three “task forces” where he would not be subject to Senate votes – “task forces” to “investigate” “weaponization” of federal law enforcement (that is, Marin will be tasked to harass anyone trying to hold Dear Leader’s feet to any accountability flame).

-But Trump apparently needs to find someone to fill the DC chair, at least for awhile, and ideally without needing to do any kind of silly hearing about qualifications, since the only qualification Trump and Bondi want is someone who will so slavishly defend Trump their employer would warn anyone who would listen that such a person should not be anywhere near a job like that.

-Luckily for Trump (if not the rest of us), he knows exactly the person to fill the role … the one, thank God the only, the excretable, “Judge Box o’ Wine,” Jeanine Pirro.

-Yes, the woman whose own employers at Fox have charmingly labelled “nuts,” a “reckless lunatic,” and a “reckless maniac” because of her slavish and out-of-control sycophancy to Trump that already has helped Fox to have to pay over $780 million for their lies about the 2020 Presidential election won by Joe Biden, will now be the twenty-third Fox employee to be tabbed by the White House to do their best to run representational government and the concept of public service into the foulest latrine they can find placate the man-baby who cannot stop watching propaganda outlets that make him happy in between Fish Delight sandwiches and ketchup-hurlingi tantrums run the DC prosecutors office for 120 days to do Trump’s bidding (see “Habeas Corpus” and “cloven right paw” above).

-A Trump Petty Atrocity player who comes pre-petty-atrocitied. It’s talent of a sort, I suppose …

-On top of everything else, Pirro may be able to tip a few in the office with give some companionship to another embattled Trump Cabinet official, Defense Secretary Pete “Drunky McHoneyPotAnyone?” Hegseth. Despite continued calls for Hegseth to be rid of for all sorts of reasons, another set of reasons may have emerged that, if not directly because of Hegseth, is still somewhat symbolic. This week, two American fighter jets “slipped” and “fell” off aircraft carriers into the Red Sea.

-Luckily, no fatalities took place, but other reports indicate four aircraft have been lost since Hegseth was confirmed – and while there are no indications Petey wandered onto the decks in a stupor and accidentally leaned on any of them leading to their losses, there continues to be a severe lack of oversight or care to detail in his work and the work of many Cabinet officials – something this Substack may very well be talking about later this week.

-Because, in other aircraft news from the Trump Regime, THIS JUST IN: multiple news services confirm that the country of Qatar – the country that built World Cup soccer stadia with slave labor and helped bankroll and house HAMAS leaders for their October 7 terrorist attacks on Israel – has ‘gifted’ Donald Trump a 747 aircraft that has been called “a flying palace” full of gold accents and other gauche luxury items (and who knows – listening devices from various countries?) that Trump not only is happy to accept now, but to use it as a substitute Air Force One while President and ultimately as a personal plane once he leaves office.

-Now, I know what you’re thinking – YOU’RE thinking, “HOLY HELL WHAT KIND OF BRIBERY IS THIS AND HOW IN THE F*$K CAN THAT BE LEGAL?!” You’re thinking that, I’m thinking that, most sane people and world officials are undoubtedly thinking that, but you see, dear reader, you are not Trump or MAGA. Trump sees it as a perk of the job, his lapdogs in the Attorney General’s office have already said “Emoluments Clause, Schlamaluments Clause!” and MAGA is happy to have to have their children settle for two dolls and five pencils so Dear Leader can fly in an insanely tacky-looking “flying castle,” as the plane has been described. It is one of the things that makes MAGA MAGA and makes us not MAGA.

-And, of course, it’s not like the Trump Corruption Train is slowing down. Another story this Substack has not yet touched on that will need to be touched on involves the open use of the White House to push cryptocurrency, especially crypto controlled directly by Trump and failsons Don Jr. and Eric “Eric” Trump. It’s a bit too much for Mother’s Day and needs a little organization on my part, as in my world crypto is basically trying to use Chuck E. Cheese game tokens as actual money, but we’ll get to it!

-A lot happening and it is a holiday, so we’ll tuck this Update in with the usual bits of trivia – and fear not, the pressures of being in the streets and the courts are absolutely having an effect, as evidenced by the attempt to play the Habeas card amidst all the losing. June 14 is the new big date and there will be plenty about that, so please finish reading this Update and GIVE MOM THE ATTENTION SHE DESERVES!

-NEWS ON THIS DATE: In 1894, Pullman Car Company workers went on strike over wages and working conditions – a strike that would lead to the government intervening against the workers. In 1934, the first of a series of devastating dust storms hit the Great Plains – they would eventually sweep all the way to the East Coast. In 1960, Adolph Eichmann was captured in Argentina. (Aspirations!) In 1997, IBM’s Deep Blue computer defeated then-World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov – the first time a machine beat a man at a strategic game.

-DEBUTS ON THIS DATE: Rome (330), THE WINTER’S TALE (1611), Glacier National Park (1910), regularly-scheduled television broadcasts (1929), M (1931), tubeless tires (1947), Monty Python (1969), the WOODSTOCK Soundtrack (1970), CATS (1981).

-HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Baron Munchausen, Chang and Eng Bunker, Irving Berlin, Martha Graham, Salvador Dali, Foster Brooks, Phil Silvers, Richard Feynman, Denver Pyle, Mort Sahl, Christopher “Kit” Lambert, Doug McClure, Milt Pappas, Eric Burdon, Butch Trucks, Darrow Igus, Frances Fisher, Mike Lupica, John Clayton, Martha Quinn, Natasha Richardson, Tim Blake Nelson, Greg Dulli, Cory Monteith, Matt Leinart, Cam Newton, and Sabrina Carpenter.

-REST IN PEACE/POWER: Johnny Hodges, Barbara Hutton, Lester Flatt, Chester Gould, Douglas Adams, Noel Redding, Floyd Patterson, Harold Lederman, Peggy Lipton, Jerry Stiller, and Hodding Carter III.

-FEED THE WORMS: Soviet mole Kim Philby bought it on this date.

-Louis Farrakhan and former Trump Chief of Staff John Kelly were born on this date. John D. Rockefeller Jr. died on this date. You decide if they get Happy Birthdays/Rest in Peace/Power or if they Feeds the Worms.

-THE DAY IN CULTURE: The Number One Album in America on this date … in 2025, SKELETA by Ghost … in 2015, SOUND & COLOR by Alabama Shakes … in 2005, DEVILS & DUST by Bruce Springsteen … in 1995, the FRIDAY Motion Picture Soundtrack … in 1985, WE ARE THE WORLD by USA for Africa … and in 1975, CHICAGO VIII by Chicago.

-TODAY’S MUSIC INTERLUDE: Rest in Power to Bob Marley.