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Slapping the tacky gold everywhere
Further

Grifty Colossus Strikes Again and Again and...

Oh man. Same old clown show, awash with boondoggles, each more cringey than the last. As the mad man-child deconstructs DC and slaps his hideous face and name everywhere - historic buildings, fascist arches, garish statues, possibly imaginary gold phones - others have taken his lead with their own patriotic spinoffs. Cue "Fuck You" upgrades, a Strait to Hell arcade for a video-game war, and a Trump/Epstein "Memorial Reading Room" packed with 3.5 million pages of files, where "the truth is hard to deny."

Trump's narcissistic vandalizing of D.C. - couldn't his KKK dad have just hugged him now and then? - is "something dictators have done throughout history," noted Bernie Sanders of his proposed SERVE Act, or Stop Executive Renaming for Vanity and Ego. Co-sponsored by six Senate Dems, the bill would bar any sitting president from naming federal properties after themselves, an act both "arrogant" and illegal. At this rate many weary Americans would likely argue, "Let the chiseling off begin," but for now the bill sits in legislative limbo and we're stuck with the resulting atrocities; they continue to multiply like locusts, even as he's proposed a $10-billion fund for more "beautification" projects around "the capital of the greatest Nation in the history of the world."

Though he increasingly nods off in public - or per the White House, blinks - he still clutches at a farcical show of dominance he's leaned on in the endless self-glorification campaign that is his execrable life. There are posts quoting fictional "fans": "Remarkable leadership,” "Master of the Deal,” "THE GREATEST PRESIDENT WE HAVE EVER KNOWN." From the guy who's "confused the country for his living room," there's D.C's re-branding: the plaques, name changes, razed East Wing for a billion-dollar "albatross" nobody wants. There are new massive Stalin-esque banners at construction sites proclaiming, “Thank you, PRESIDENT TRUMP”- "like Michael Scott buying himself a World’s Best Boss coffee mug" we paid for - to which unenthused residents added, "Fuck You Cunt."

Snug in a delusional bubble where his approval is def not in the toilet, he feels free to rant, lie, melt down online without consequence. In one manic night, he posts 55 times in three hours: “Arrest Obama the traitor” and “DEMONIC FORCE,” also Hillary, Brennan, Comey, Kelly. Asked how much he thinks about the cost to Americans of his calamitous war, he blurts, “Not even a little bit.” His lackeys follow suit: Ka$h Patel yells, lies, hustles bourbon, pads his stats and takes a "VIP snorkel" in Pearl Harbor around the tomb of 900 U.S. soldiers as Sean Duffy takes his nine offspring on a "patriotic," seven-month Great American Road Trip filmed for YouTube and complete with "head-spinning" corporate sponsorship, both on the taxpayers' now-rapidly-shrinking dime.

Meanwhile, another project nobody asked for - draining and repainting the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, aka "reflective pond," from traditional grey to garish blue - has shockingly veered off course. After boasting his bestest golf course pool painters could easy-peasy do a no-bid, $1.8 million, "smart and beautiful construction" that Dems stupidly opposed - "Dumacrats love sewage" - the cost has soared to $13.1 million, it's now by a contractor he "did not know and have never used before,” staff are worried the job is behind schedule, with "uneven application" leaving bubbles, holes and "mottled shades of blue" in the pool, and a judge has set a May 21 hearing for a lawsuit charging the project wasn't properly vetted, ditto a color "more appropriate to a resort or theme park."

More winning in Miami, where another lawsuit charges three acres of multi-million-dollar waterfront land were illegally grifted by DeSantis to Trump for $10 for his presidential “library,” actually a gaudy hotel with no books but more vitally two gold statues of, you know. They will presumably join in grotesque kinship with the $300,000, crypto-bro-funded, bronze and gold leaf Don Colossus just unveiled at Doral Miami, "where the Republic is currently moldering." Before "a robotic chorus of evangelical functionaries who (have) transformed themselves into the most theologically humiliated cohort in modern memory," the statue was honored as, not an idolatrous golden calf, insisted Pastor Mark Burns, but "a celebration of life" and symbol of "the hand of God over (Trump’s) life." Definitely not a cult.

Tacky is as tacky does Tacky is as tacky doesBluesky screenshot

Despite being heralded as God's second favorite son - one who "understands the Scriptures better than the Pope" - Trump is also widely deemed "an economic serial killer" presiding over an "America First Corporate Graveyard," skyrocketing inflation, national debt, farm bankruptcies, and energy costs, and possibly "the largest single act of grand larceny in American history" with a $10 billion payout by his own DOJ against his own IRS to settle his bullshit lawsuit for their leak of his tax returns, which every other president has released. Still, because grifting chutzpah thy name is, and because there's never enough money to fill the ugly gaping hole where a soul should be, he's still running penny-ante scams. Up next: Trump Mobile, "for the forgotten MAGA man."

Last June, his huckster spawn announced the launch of "a sleek, gold smartphone engineered for performance.” The T1 Phone, "proudly designed and built in the United States,” would be available in August at $499. For almost a year, they urged followers to make $100 "deposits" to "pre-order" the beauties; over half a million did, ponying up about $59 million. Then, the bait and switch. The terms of service quietly changed: The "deposit" provided "a conditional opportunity" to buy if Trump Mobile chose to sell. Pricing, production schedules, shipping costs were "non-binding." "Made in the USA" became "Proudly American Designed." "Delivery" dates got pushed back. Unexplained charges appeared. A reporter who called "Customer Service" got “Omega Auto Care." To date, no fantasy Trump phones have shipped. Cheap Crooks 'R Us.

"Service for the forgotten MAGA man" "Service for the forgotten MAGA man"Image from Bluesky

Also, liars. With even neo-cons now deeming the Iran War potentially more of a debacle than Vietnam, the good folks at Secret Handshake, creators of the Trump/Epstein bestie statues, decided that with the regime hyping war like a video game, they might as well turn it into one. Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell , which is also online, features three working, arcade video games set up inside DC's War Memorial; they promise "high-octane, flag-waving, boots-on-the-ground...pure pixelated patriotism," or, per Hegseth, "laser-focused maximum reps annihilation mission crushing (with) sustained unrelenting pressure." Battles - by tweet, not gun - pit US forces against ”Iranian schoolgirl,“ "DEIyatollah,“ low-flow shower heads, the Pope and other "threats to American freedom."

Games open with Trump declaring, “Another big, beautiful day as the best President ever.” Options for the prompt, “Ready to ROCK Iran back to the Stone Ages?” are “Not Yet...” “Yes” and “Hell Yes.” Yells Pete, “Let’s liberate some oil!” Trump can order a Diet Coke or bomb Iran; search for barrels of oil, ideas for Truth Social posts, or endless threats that lead nowhere; he vows to “fight this war and win it by hamburger o’clock.” Melania: “I WAS NEVER ON THE EPSTEIN JET...Did you burn the files yet?” JD, fat-faced: “I love couch.” The only way you can lose is by trying to hold Melania’s hand, which abruptly ends the game; otherwise, it’s impossible to end or win it. Irony never dies: Images have surfaced of bored National Guardsmen - a $1 million a day deployment - playing.

Another piece of protest art brings the truth of "one of the most horrific crimes in American history” to Trump's hometown. "The Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room,” in New York's Tribeca, is a first-of-its-kind, 5,000-square-foot installation containing all the unsealed Epstein files - 3.5 million pages printed and bound into 3,437 volumes weighing 17,000 pounds, "a physical, undeniable record of corruption, cover-ups, and crime." The pop-up project in the Mriya Gallery was created by the non-profit Primary Facts; it took them about a month to print the files. The exhibit is on view through May 21; admission to groups for a one-hour session is free; organizers are raising funds to cover the New York premiere and bring it to other cities.

The Trumpsonian installation is built around a candlelit tribute to Epstein's more than 1,200 victims and survivors, whose names are all redacted here in closed binders - unlike at the DOJ, where they were badly, only partly redacted, a failure adding insult to injury along with an ongoing, multi-pronged cover-up. The Trump and Epstein Reading Room also includes a timeline documenting the decades-long crimes, legal proceedings and intersections between the two men's lives, all underlining the criminal absurdity of federal claims "there's nothing left to investigate." The vast trove of information, organizers say, is "what 3.5 million pages of evidence looks like." Trump, as deeply complicit as he is narcissistic, "wanted his name on stuff." Now, here it is.

From the Trumpsonian From the TrumpsonianImage from Memorial Reading Room

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Rising sea levels are seen in New Orleans
News

Evacuation Must Start Now as Climate-Driven Rising Gulf Slowly Drowns New Orleans: Study

A study published Monday warns that New Orleans must immediately begin planning and gradually implementing its permanent evacuation to avert a dangerously rushed exodus later, because it has passed a "point of no return" as climate-driven sea-level rise slowly swallows the storied city.

"With global temperatures poised to exceed the 1.5°C Paris Agreement threshold—a level that triggered substantial ice sheet collapse during the Last Interglacial—low-elevation coastal zones face sea-level commitments far beyond current planning horizons," says the study, which was published by the journal Nature Sustainability.

"With this geological frame of reference, we examine the impact of sea-level rise on what may be the most physically vulnerable coastal zone in the world using prehistoric and contemporary patterns of human mobility," the publication continues. "We highlight the positive aspects of the recently commenced out-migration in this region and argue that the fate of communities landwards of this coastal zone will be decided in the next few decades."

"While climate mitigation should remain the first step to prevent the worst outcomes, coastal Louisiana has evidently already crossed the point of no return,” the paper adds.

That's because rising waters are slowly eroding Louisiana's coast, including New Orleans, which “may well be surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico before the end of this century," according to the study's authors.

“Louisiana is a canary in the coal mine. It is one of the rare places where we’re already clearly seeing climate-motivated depopulation combined with other social and economic factors,” said Yale School of the Environment professor and study co-author Brianna Castro.

The authors argued that by acknowledging the inevitability of New Orleans' underwater future, government and residents can avert a fraught rushed retreat by planning and executing a managed multigenerational relocation and set an example for other threatened coastal communities.

According to one widely cited study published a decade ago, around 13 million Americans living in coastal areas could be forced to relocate to higher ground by the end of the century due climate-driven sea-level rise, with the Gulf Coast and Florida expected lose the most livable land. Globally, hundreds of millions of people are expected to be displaced by 2100 due to rising seas.

After Hurricane Katrina—which inundated the city and killed nearly 1,000 people in the New Orleans metro area—billions of dollars were spent fortifying the city's levee system, which failed catastrophically during the 2005 storm. However, experts warn that in the long term, levees won't be able to stop the rising waters any longer.

That's why the study's authors said officials must begin the city's orderly depopulation as soon as possible.

"What kind of retreat do you want?" asked Castro. "Do you want to incentivize it and then people go naturally for jobs, housing, and lifestyle amenities—or do you want people to wait and then have to leave abruptly in crisis?”

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Oil Prices Rise Above $100 A Barrel Again As Blockade Of Hormuz Strait Begins
News

IEA Chief Warns Only 'Weeks' of Oil Inventories Left Thanks to Trump's Iran War

With no end in sight to the Strait of Hormuz crisis caused by President Donald Trump's illegal war with Iran, the head of the International Energy Agency warned Monday that global energy supplies are running dangerously low.

IEA executive director Faith Birol told reporters in Paris that the world only has weeks' worth of oil reserves left, raising the likelihood that energy prices will soar even higher in the near future.

Birol said that oil inventories are "declining rapidly" and added that there was "a perception gap in the markets between the physical markets and the financial markets," as the price of oil in futures markets has not yet risen to a level that accurately reflects the coming supply crunch.

In his remarks to the press, given on the sidelines of a G7 gathering taking place this week in France, Birol warned that it's only a matter of time before the supply shortage of fertilizer, which was also caused by the Iran War, leads to a surge in food prices that "might give a big push to inflation numbers."

The Financial Times reported on Sunday that energy markets are approaching a "tipping point" where prices could see another upward surge that would throw the global economy into a recession.

Paul Diggle, chief economist at fund manager Aberdeen, told The Financial Times that he has been modeling the economic impact of oil hitting $180 per barrel, which he said would set off a global inflation crisis.

“We are taking that outcome very seriously,” Diggle said. “We are living on borrowed time."

Oil prices briefly fell last month after the US and Iran announced a ceasefire agreement. However, the Strait of Hormuz has remained closed throughout that period, and Trump is reportedly preparing to restart attacks on Iran in the near future if no deal to reopen the strait is reached.

In a Sunday Truth Social post, Trump again threatened Iran with destruction unless it agrees to his demands.

"For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them,” the president wrote. “TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!”

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Chris Rabb Campaigns For Congress In Philadelphia
News

'AIPAC Lost!' Democratic Socialist Chris Rabb Wins US House Primary in Pennsylvania

"Standing against genocide is good policy and good politics!" proclaimed the grassroots group Track AIPAC after Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb won the Democratic US House primary in the state's 3rd Congressional District in Philadelphia.

Rabb, a democratic socialist, was outspoken in his criticism of Israel and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and his support of Palestinian rights during the campaign—aligning himself with a growing majority of Democratic voters while the pro-Israel lobby worked to secure a victory for one of his opponents, Dr. Ala Stanford.

314 Action Fund, a super political action committee (PAC) that supported Stanford, covertly received $500,000 from the powerful but increasingly toxic pro-Israel lobbying group, despite the fact that Stanford claimed she did not take money from AIPAC.

Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, a vehement supporter of Israel who butted heads with Rabb over US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the state, also reportedly worked behind the scenes to defeat the progressive.

With 92% of votes in early Wednesday morning, Rabb had secured 44.3% of the vote compared to 24.1% for Stanford and 29.5% for a third candidate, Sharif Street.

Chants of "AIPAC lost!" rang out at Rabb's victory party in Philadelphia.

In a victory speech to supporters, Rabb said his campaign—which also centered on his calls for Medicare for All; a Civilian Climate Corps to work toward decarbonizing the US economy; and universal basic guarantees for housing, childcare, and other essentials—had been dismissed by the Democratic establishment

"They told me this wasn't possible. That's what they said," said Rabb. "I don't know who 'they' are, but I know who we are. I'm looking at 'We the People.' And I'm not talking about 'We the People' 250 years ago. That was a much smaller 'we.'"

Rabb was outspoken in his criticism of the Democratic establishment during his campaign, and said in a one interview that a key question facing the party is whether it is "prepared to listen to the base that demands this progressivism because what many people are calling progressive are pretty much standard things in other nations where universal healthcare is the thing, where there's no notion of healthcare insurance, it's just healthcare."

Rabb secured endorsements from influential progressive leaders including US Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), and Summer Lee (D-Penn.) as the election drew near.

Should he win the general election in the deep-blue district in November, journalist Prem Thakker noted, he'll be one of at least four democratic socialists in the US Congress, including Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

Others whose primaries are coming up include former Rep. Cori Bush in Missouri and Darializa Avila Chevalier and state Rep. Claire Valdez in New York.

Ryan Grim of Drop Site News credited progressive organizations, including pro-Palestine super PAC American Priorities and the Justice Democrats, with giving crucial support to Rabb's campaign.

"And Rabb himself ran an exceptional race, building on years of relationships he built among progressives and activists in the city," said Grim. "And also AIPAC royally screwed up, got caught trying to spend money through 314 Action to prop up a flawed candidate, and then never recovered when she flopped."

Khanna said that along with Tuesday night's loss in Kentucky of Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who has joined Democrats in pushing for the release of files related to sex offender and President Donald Trump associate Jeffrey Epstein and for a stop to Trump's military assault on Iran, the primaries sent a clear message to candidates.

"If you take a stand against war, AIPAC, and the Epstein class, you have no place in the Trump coalition," said Khanna. "But the future of the Democratic Party that is done with the establishment is yours to shape."

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Bolivia protests
News

Bolivian Government Charges Labor Leader With Terrorism as Police Crack Down on Protests

A leader of Bolivia's main labor federation, the Bolivian Workers' Union, said late Monday that the country's public prosecutor is "trying to silence" mass protests that have included Indigenous communities, miners, peasants, and teachers in recent days, as the government issued arrest warrants for labor and grassroots organizers.

TeleSUR reported that State Attorney General Roger Mariaca confirmed his office was charging Mario Argollo, executive secretary of the union, known in Spanish as Central Obrera Boliviana (COB), with public instigation to commit crimes and terrorism.

“They will not subdue us in the struggle we have undertaken," Argollo said in a statement. "They are trying to silence us as leaders with popular actions and criminal charges."

Drop Site News also reported that the public prosecutor issued an arrest order targeting Justino Apaza Callisaya, a leader of the Federation of Neighborhood Councils of La Paz (FEJUVE), "an influential grassroots organization tied to urban protest movements and labor mobilizations."

The office is also reportedly investigating "several individuals" following COB's declaration of a general strike on May 1.

"The accused are being investigated for extremely serious offenses including: public incitement to commit crimes, criminal association, terrorism, financing terrorism, attacks on transportation security, [and] attacks on public services," reported Drop Site.

The mass mobilization has included dozens of road blockades across the country as the union and other groups have demanded the resignation of President Rodrigo Paz, whose administration ended a fuel subsidy amid an economic crisis; higher wages; and an end to privatization, including through Law 1720, which opponents say would allow the transfer of Indigenous and peasant land to corporations.

Protesters have spent days marching from their communities to La Paz, where thousands were met by riot police armed with tear gas canisters on Monday.

Al Jazeera reported that some protesters brandished "dynamite sticks and slingshots" as they arrived in the capital city.

An unspecified number of protesters were injured Monday as the government deployed the police and the military to try to break the road blockades, Al Jazeera reported. TeleSUR said that at least four demonstrators were reportedly killed. About 90 arrests were made.

The US State Department said Sunday that it supported Paz's efforts to "restore order for the peace, security, and stability of the Bolivian people."

COB said the government was responding with "militarization and repression instead of listening to the people."

"History will remember who defended the citizenry and who turned their backs. No force should be above the people or their rights," said COB.

The arrest documents and government investigations, said Drop Site, showed that "the Bolivian government is escalating its response to the protests by describing parts of the strike movement not simply as civil unrest, but as potential terrorism and organized criminal activity."

A student leader at the Public University of El Alto told Drop Site, "No matter what the Paz government attempts to do, repress the protesters or sanction us as terrorists... we will continue to uphold the sovereignty and rights of our peoples."

An Indigenous leader told the outlet that Paz's government "was clearly elected with a mandate from the social movements and from indigenous peoples—who have been stabbed in the back the minute they entered office. They have attempted to use the state to go after the very forces that got them to power."

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Alfredo Rodriguez
News

Cuba President Decries ‘Collective Punishment’ by US as ‘Act of Genocide’

Cuba's president said Monday night that the Trump administration should be "criminally prosecuted" for its continued economic war on the island nation, saying the oil blockade that began more than three months ago as well as new sanctions are part of a "collective punishment" policy that amounts to an "act of genocide."

President Miguel Díaz-Canel suggested that the White House was aware that its latest round of sanctions against Cuban officials was unnecessary, noting that "there isn’t even any evidence to present"—but said the new measures announced by the State Department on Monday were a way of furthering "anti-Cuban rhetoric of hate... to justify the escalation of its total economic war."

"Under the leadership of our party, state, government, and its military institutions, no one has any assets or property to protect under US jurisdiction. The US government knows this full well," said Díaz-Canel. "That’s why we will continue to denounce, in the firmest and most energetic way possible, the genocidal siege that seeks to strangle our people."

Díaz-Canel spoke out after the administration said it was imposing sanctions on the Cuban intelligence agency and nine Cuban officials, including the country's ministers for communications, energy, and justice, and three military generals. Several officials in the Communist Party of Cuba were also sanctioned.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is the son of Cuban immigrants and has long pushed for regime change in the communist country, released a statement saying those targeted by the sanctions "are responsible for or have been involved in repressing the Cuban people."

"These sanctions advance the Trump administration’s comprehensive campaign to address the pressing national security threats posed by Cuba’s communist regime," said Rubio.

The sanctions were announced a day after a White House official claimed to Axios that Cuban officials are "discussing plans" for drone attacks on the US; the outlet acknowledged several paragraphs into its article on the alleged threat that Cuba is believed to be strategizing for a defensive attack as the US ramps up hostilities, rather than an unprovoked strike.

Díaz-Canel emphasized that the White House's sanctions are only the latest action taken against Cuba following the "immoral, illegal, and criminal" executive order President Donald Trump signed in January, which threatened countries with tariffs if they provided fuel to Cuba—resulting in a severe energy shortage on the island, frequent rolling blackouts, and a crisis in the country's healthcare system, with hospitals struggling to offer basic services. Farmers have said the shortage has left them unable to efficiently provide food to communities.

“We have absolutely no fuel and absolutely no diesel,” Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy said last week.

Díaz-Canel said the US has pushed the blockade that has been in place for decades "to levels never seen before, penalizing companies that want to invest in Cuba or simply provide us with basic goods like food, medicines, hygiene products, or others."

"The collective punishment to which the Cuban people are being subjected is an act of genocide that must be condemned by international organizations and criminally prosecuted against its promoters," said the president.

He also expressed gratitude to the governments of Mexico and Uruguay, which sent a shipment of aid to Cuba on Monday.

"This donation, which arrives in very difficult days for Cuba due to the direct and multidimensional impact of the United States blockade on the daily life of our people, is a living testament to the historic solidarity between our peoples and to the principles of humanism, cooperation, and integration that must unite the region," said Díaz-Canel.

The Trump administration's invasion of Venezuela, abduction of President Nicolás Maduro, and takeover of its oil reserves in January cut Cuba off from its top energy supplier.

The US is reportedly now considering an indictment former Cuban President Raúl Castro for shooting down planes that belonged to a US group and violated Cuban airspace in 1996. Trump—who has attacked not only Venezuela but also Iran—has repeatedly mused about the possibility of invading Cuba.

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