NATIONAL SKIPPING DAY UPDATES

I Know, I Know, It Looks Like That’s What I’VE Been Doing For a Week …

-What was supposed to be a one-day skip-over to prepare for some Easter weekend events for yours truly wound up being a week-long vacation from the posting – and let’s face it, we will all need mental health breaks to breathe because of … (gestures wildly) … but I AM BACK, and with a week’s worth of events, there will be a bit of a theme that for the most part hints at building resistance and resilience as we battle against all those jerks we’re battling against. So let me summarize where a few of those battles stand from this Substack’s perspective …

-Let’s begin with arguably the major issue of concern as of this time last week, the status of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran refugee and constituent of MD Senator Chris Van Hollan who was mistakenly “arrested” by ICE agents and deported to El Salvador. Van Hollan’s trip resulted in a meeting with Abrego Garcia and a transfer from the notorious prison he had been sent to – a relief to family members who feared the obfuscation of the Trump officials involved meant harm had been done to him. Van Hollan continued his advocacy for Abrego Garcia by appearing on all five Legacy Media Inc. Sunday morning news shows, and other Democrats have begun trips to El Salvador demanding visits and confirmation of others taken down there.

-At the same time, a 7-2 Supreme Court decision issued early Saturday morning (we’re talking 2 am early) resulted, somewhat amazingly, in a group of suspected Venezuelan “gang members” (to Team Trump is not too exaggerated to say anyone that looks vaguely brown with tattoos and Michael Jordan gear is a gang member) getting turned around and returned to their facilities in LA rather than being exported.

-Of course we know which two SCOTII were gung-ho to ship those prisoners to the slave labor camp run by El Salvador’s self-described “hipster” dictator, Nayib Bukele, with Samuel Alito dissent-whining about not being able to help Trump go full Operation Wetback 2.0.

-And Lord knows Trump and company still really really want to do it. They continue to brazenly lie about Abrego Garcia, including parading poorly-Photoshopped photos of Abrego Garcia and Van Hollan allegedly sipping margaritas during the visit, using a 2019 charge of domestic violence as an attempt to justify the expulsion (the charge was dropped and he has no criminal record), having Trump’s spokesBarbie Karoline Leavitt claim Abrego Garcia was involved in sex trafficking children (seriously), and having Trump slumpdrooling over another Photoshopped picture of “MS 13” cut-and-pasted on Abrego Garcia’s knuckles.

-In short, Trump is all in on refusing to bring Abrego Garcia back, in large part because of the excitement he feels in hoping American citizens can be deported to El Salvador or other countries (reports say Trump and Marco Rubio may have a deal to send prisoners to Rwanda) and in large part because, as weepy as Trump is about having to follow due process and as inept as Trump has been in deporting alleged illegals (believe it or not, Trump’s illegal deportations are well short of the rate of legal deportations carried out under Joe Biden – whatever you think of THAT statistic), that part of the Trump 100 Days is pretty much the only one that could be vaguely called “successful.”

-Because we sure as Hell canNOT call whatever the Hell he is doing with the MAGAGOPTrump Tariffs as “successful.” When last we left that mess, Trump was still wagging his stomach as if it was his penis at China in an attempt to “intimidate” them into accepting massive tariffs to punish them for … apparently not accepting Trump’s stomach as his penis, I suppose. China’s approach to Trump was to apparently wait to see when and how Trump would try to back out of the American tariffs, which by every actual economist not standing near Trump’s stench was well on their way to imploding the Biden economy – and, lo and behold, it worked. Trump wheezeslurred that China’s tariffs “probably” would not stand, and while as of this writing most were still in force, the general feeling was that they would be lifted because they are bad and stupid and have no real purpose other than to make Trump feel manly at the expense of the world’s economy and America’s position in it.

-After all, among the things China has in their possession is an enormous investment in the United States in the form of treasury bonds and U.S. debt. Simply put, if China dumped those bonds the U.S. would be, in technical economic terms, FUUUUUKED. Or as a meme charmingly put it, Trump held up cards to China saying “WE HAVE ALL THE CARDS” and China countering, “We made the cards.” So Trump had no choice.

-Ah, but Trump always needs SOMEone to blame, so with the MAGAGOPTrump Tariffs languishing despite boasts of countries “lining up” to “negotiate” their own deals with the U.S. Trump, Trump decided to shitpostCAPLOCK against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who last week flat-out rejected any demandplea from Trump to reduce interest rates further, noting that doing so would result in stagnant economic growth and massive inflation thanks to the aforementioned MAGAGOPTrump Tariffs.

-But baby wants what baby wants NOW, so Trump began to threaten to remove Powell and install a MaJeR EcoNAmiZT to do what he wants (possibly Peter Navarro alias Ron Vara?) – which of course is Hella Illegal, and the markets reacted on Monday with another Trump-inspired swan dive before semi-rational heads somehow got Trump to semi-reverse course and basically say he won’t fire Powell BECAUSE HE CAN’T and calmed said markets for another few days.

-In case you are wondering why Trump might be obsessed about the interest rates, consider stories that point to the massive hits Trump’s properties are taking. Even though he can and is blowing off laws everywhere he can because who is going to stop him?, he can’t do that to mortgages – and many of his mortgages are massively overleveraged with loans upon loans upon loans (Art of the Deal, amirite?!).

-BUT, if by some chicanery that nobody will stop because he would try to ship anyone who tried to El Salvador miracle, interest rates were to come down … why, his properties would be magically saved! WHATTACOINKYDINK!! So don’t expect Trump’s cat anus mouth or social media aliases to let go of letting Powell go – or Powell to not actually do his job, which he does with steely defiance.

-And as it happens, steely defiance is starting to become a bit of a fad. We have noted the moves Van Hollan and other legislators with deportations (including Reps. Robert Garcia and Alanna Pressley and Senator Ed Markey) and the positive responses they are getting. We also continue to see Democrats and others flocking to rallies and defiance to Trump through the leadership of Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Maxwell Frost, Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, and Governors J.B. Pritzker, Josh Shapiro and Tim Walz. They are finally being joined by organizations that are starting to throw middle fingers and chests towards Trump to tell him that they will not bend any joint in deference to him.

-Starting to lead the pack is higher education, led by the biggest of the big, Harvard University. After seeing the capitulation of Columbia University in which Columbia’s attempt to appease Trump in exchange for trying to keep already-issued federal grants to the institution be met with Trump demands for micromanaging curriculum and hiring policies, Harvard concluded that it would never accede to such demands (as well as realizing that any deal Trump makes is literally worthless because Trump will always break deals he makes) – and thus Harvard not only told Trump to shove his wee tiny fisties where the sun don’t shine if he can reach behind his fat ass far enough to do it (but in academic language), it has countersued Trump and the White House demanding they release the monies they were already granted on the silly idea that ending cancer research was a disproportionate way to … (checks Trump’s ‘orders’) … protect Jewish students from alleged anti-semitic attacks?

-Harvard’s lead is now being picked up on by other schools. Fellow Ivy League school Princeton followed suit, then came a “NATO-like pact” of all 18 Big Ten schools (long story involving football) to fight Trump (including Michigan and Northwestern, both of whom initially acceded to threats over DEI programs), to a letter signed by (as of this writing) over 150 University Presidents nationwide pushing back against the “unprecedented government overreach” threatening higher education schools. Schools have long been targets of the hardest-right-wing, and Executive Intern J.D. Vance, fresh off dropping the National Championship football trophy and being lectured to about morality by aides of Pope Francis days before the Pope’s passing (with Vance getting an in-person visit the day before?!), has long described professors as being threats to MAGA and would-be autocrats. But at last there is fight happening against Trump!

-There may also be one less fighter next to Trump (or at least downwind). Actual President Elon Musk continues to have really awful days (HAHAHA – er, uh, aw) as his DOGErs continue to randomly fire everyone while vacuuming data from Government computers to put … somewhere. Inside the White House, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent fired Apartheid Boy’s self-appointed temporary IRS Chair for a second one, which apparently led to a screaming match between the two that was so loud Trump was able to hear through his haze.

-On top of that, Tesla Motors reported a staggering 71% drop in profits in the first quarter of their fiscal year – very very VERY bad for a man who has leveraged the worth and stock of that company to fund other money-losing bid-nesses he runs and whose only steady income might be government contracts. All of which made E claim he would soon be leaving – like the end of May – and while his coding minions are apparently still there, his name (and Tesla) is now toxic, and even if he leaves to run it again, it may be too late – HAHAHA – er, uh, aww. (Snicker!)

-And as if all THAT wasn’t enough bad news for Team Trump, there is also the greasy-haired hyperactive smells-like-barstool dipwad jackass Defense Secretary, Pete “Drunky McHoneyPotAnyone?” Hegseth. Somehow still employed despite a revelation that a conversation with classified material about a Yemen bombing run was published on the not-Defense-Department-secure messaging site Signal earlier in the month, this past weekend a second conversation with classified material about a Yemen bombing run was published on the not-Defense-Department-secure messaging site Signal – this one including information about flight paths sent to him by Pentagon brass that was sent to his wife and brother.

-That was after Hegseth marched four hand-picked aides out of the Pentagon for leaking stories about Hegseth earlier in the week, along with a warning from one of the four he fired that the second Signal story was just the start of the dirt that was about to come out on Petey. That dirt includes today’s Petty Atrocity of the Week – that the manly man who loves to travel to military bases to work out and show off his pecs and Christian nationalist tats also has had a makeup room installed in the White House for his shots on Fox and other dudebro social media sites.

-If it were anyone else in the military, exposing secrets without authority on unsecured outlets would result in hard jail time. But this is Pete Hegseth and this is Trump, and Trump is thrilled that Petey is erasing the military record of Jackie Robinson from military websites while making sure non-woke pro-manliness manifestos like MEIN KAMPF stay on military bookshelves, because playing an anti-woke SecDef is more important than a Pentagon “in disarray” as other reports are airing. Still, stories that people in the White House juuust may be looking at possible replacements are still being circulated, so who knows?

-Trump is staggering towards his first 100 day mark on April 30. By every rational account this has been one of, if not the flat-out, worst 100 days in modern Presidential history. His polling on every issue – yes, even immigration! – is now well south of 50%, and his 100-day numbers are the worst since … wel, alas, his first 1000 days in 2019. Courts continue to slow and stop more than a few of the Project 2025 shenanigans. We are tired of him, but we continue to fight and continue to show up for protests (another round took place last Saturday, with May Day, May 1, being the next target), and while the flood-the-zone strategy continues, we have reason to keep swinging. He is definitely being slowed down, and it is a worthy fight to have, so even with a week from posting, there are positives with the news and the fight.

-So hooray to us, let’s keep swinging, let’s get back on schedule (okay, that’s mostly for me), let’s enjoy NFL Christmas – also known as the NFL Draft - and let’s get to the day’s trivia and stay loose!

-NEWS ON THIS DATE: In 1898, Spain declared war on the United States. In 1916, the Easter Uprising began in Ireland. In 1976, Lorne Michaels offered the Beatles $3,000 to reunite on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (“You can give less to Ringo – I don’t care!”) not realizing John Lennon and Paul McCartney were together watching the show (and reportedly thought about going but did not). In 1980, an attempt to rescue hostages being held in Iran failed when aircraft collided en route, killing eight American troops. In 2003, North Korea announced it had nuclear weapons. In 2018, streaming audio overtook CD and vinyl records in music sales. In 2023, India became the world’s most populous country.

-DEBUTS ON THIS DATE: “La Marseilles” (1792), The Library of Congress (1800), PETER PAN as a musical (1950), satellite transmission of a television signal (1962), THE JANE FONDA WORKOUT VIDEO (1982).

-HAPPY BIRTHDAY: William De Kooning, Robert Penn Warren, Justin Wilson, Lou Thesz, Richard Donner, Shirley MacLaine, Jill Ireland, Sue Grafton, Richard Holbrooke, Barbra Streisand, Nigel Harrison, Eric Bogosian, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Vince Ferragamo, Michael O’Keefe, David J., Rick Beato, Cedric the Entertainer, Djimon Hounsou, Omar Vizquel, Chipper Jones, Eric Snow. Lee Westwood, Carlos Beltran, Kelly Clarkson, and Jack Quaid.

-REST IN PEACE/POWER: Daniel Defoe, Lucy Maude Montgomery, Willa Cather, Vladimir Komarov, Bud Abbott, Pete Ham, Wallis Simpson, Oliver Tambo, Pat Paulsen, Estee Lauder, Billy Paul, and Robert M. Pirsig.

-Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley was born on this date. You decide if he gets a Happy Birthday or if he Feeds the Worms.

-TODAY’S MUSICAL INTERLUDE: From the album FULL MOON FEVER, released on this date in 1989.