Todd Blanche's DOJ Now Going After Low-Level Staffers in Pursuit of Trump's Revenge Agenda

Remember Cassidy Hutchinson?  She was the 25-year-old administrative aide to Mark Meadows that was subpoenaed by Congress to testify at the 2022 House hearings on the January 6 insurrection.   Everything she said at her four (legally-compelled) appearances was corroborated by Secret Service agents and other White House personnel.

There are now reports that Todd Blanch's Justice Department has assigned its civil rights division to investigate Hutchinson-- due to Trump's anger at anyone perceived to have done him wrong, according to four people familiar with the matter.

The decision is in keeping with the administration’s bid to find new ways to use the powers of the federal government to target convicted felon Donald Trump’s political opponents. Those efforts persist even though the department has struggled to carry out the president’s demands for retribution and has increasingly hit roadblocks from judges, grand juries and even some of its own prosecutors.

Blanche demonstrated his complete ignorance of DOJ's mission (to be an independent arm of the justice system) when he said (at a press conference last week) that Trump had “the right,” even “the duty,” as president to call for investigations of anyone [the President] believed deserved them.

 

Does Trump Think Catholics Are a Bunch of Fucking Morons?

Shortly after posting a hateful screed against Pope Leo XIV, convicted felon Donald Trump posted an image that depicted him as a Jesus figure, which quickly drew rare criticism from the religious right, prompting allegations of blasphemy. 

The post also came mere hours after Chicago's Cardinal Cupich lambasted the Trump administration for posting “sickening” social media content about the Iran war during an interview on 60 Minutes.  The CBS show interviewed Cupich and two other high-ranking American Catholics (Newark's Cardinal Tobin and Washington DC's Cardinal McElroy) days after Pope Leo XIV ramped up his criticism of the war. 

The shocking image posted by Trump was in the style of a painting, depicting him in a long white robe with a red cloak draped around his shoulders. In one hand was an orb glowing with light; Trump’s other hand rested on the forehead of a man in what resembled a hospital bed — light beaming from the man’s head as Trump appeared to pray for his healing. Patriotic symbols including an eagle, fireworks and the Statue of Liberty filled the frame.

Before the post was deleted, evangelical and Catholic allies called the image blasphemous in a rare public break from a base that has largely stood by Trump.  “I don’t know if the President thought he was being funny or if he is under the influence of some substance or what possible explanation he could have for this OUTRAGEOUS blasphemy,” wrote Megan Basham, a prominent conservative Protestant Christian writer and commentator. “But he needs to take this down immediately and ask for forgiveness from the American people and then from God.” 

Isabel Brown, a Catholic podcaster with the Daily Wire outlet and a conservative influencer allied with the Trump White House, spoke out against it.  “This post is, frankly, disgusting and unacceptable, but also a profound misreading of the American people experiencing a true and beautiful revival of faith in Christ in the midst of our broken culture,” Brown wrote.  

Faced with such quick backlash, Trump attempted to explain that he thought he was being depicted as a "doctor."  “I thought it was me as a doctor, and had to do with Red Cross, as a Red Cross worker, which we support,” Trump said.  “It’s supposed to be me as a doctor, making people better,” Trump continued. “And I do make people better. I make people a lot better.”  Trump added “only the fake news” could suggest he was depicting himself as Jesus, ignoring the criticism he received from his own religious supporters.  Last year, Trump shared a picture of himself dressed in full papal robes after joking that he would “like to be pope”, an image that also sparked widespread attention and debate online.

The new image and the subsequent reaction echoed a Truth Social post Trump ultimately deleted earlier this year, a video that at the end briefly showed Barack and Michelle Obama depicted as apes. The post was deleted after roughly 12 hours, but not before the White House press secretary dismissed criticism and urged the news media to “stop the fake outrage.”

 

Embarrassment for ICE Barbie as Trump Kicks Her to the Curb

I couldn't let this jaw-dropping piece of news pass by.  Kristi Noem, the fired former head of the Department of Homeland Security, suffered another round of embarrassment upon exiting the Trump administration.  The Daily Mail reported that Noem's husband is a cross-dresser who wears large fake breasts and hot pants while messaging with online adult entertainers.

According to the report, Bryon Noem sent at least $25,000 to interact with fetish models, whom he communicated with using a phone number that easily identified him as the now-former DHS secretary's husband.

Experts say his behavior opened his wife up to blackmail that could have endangered U.S. national security.  “If a media organization can find this out, you can assume with a high degree of confidence that a hostile intelligence service knows this as well," former CIA officer Marc Polymeropoulos told the Daily Mail.

And given that his wife appears to be openly cheating on him with sleazeball former Trump administration aide Corey Lewandowski, who can blame Bryon for working out his kinks on the side?  We can however, throw some shade his way for pretending to be some holier-than-thou Christian who claimed to have stayed with his wife because of “his calling from God to support her,” as an unnamed family member told the New York Post earlier in March.  We can also shame him for apparently being so careless and sloppy with his communications with the models, since it could’ve endangered American national security.

It's hard to feel bad for ICE Barbie Kristi Noem, who wasted millions of taxpayer dollars to fly around the country with her alleged fuck-buddy so she could film ads promoting herself and stage stunts to torture immigrants.  Noem’s detractors also are accusing her of lying about her knowledge of her husband’s reported fetish, saying it’s something that’s been openly known in Trump world for years.

Good riddance to basic white trash and the hillbilly-style drama that seems to follow her wherever she goes. 

The Slovenian Sphinx Speaks!

 

Alex Warren - Fever Dream

Artemis II Returns to Earth Today

 

Iran Now Charging Tolls on the Strait of Hormuz-- Trump Trying to Save Face

In yet another sign that Iran got the upper hand on Trump, there are now reports that Iran is charging some ships millions of dollars to pass through the Strait of Hormuz (according to NBC News).

Shipping traffic through the strait has plummeted since the U.S. and Israel first attacked Iran in February. But some ships have been getting through.  

Ships carrying Iranian oil or goods have been allowed to pass freely, according to The Wall Street Journal. Ships from friendly nations have been paying a toll of $1 million or more, while ships from unfriendly countries have been blocked.  The situation has been dubbed “the Tehran toll booth” by shipping industry experts, according to NBC.

“The Strait of Hormuz is no longer a chokepoint,” Athens-based Xclusiv Shipbrokers said in a recent report, according to the Journal. ”It’s being reshaped into a controlled corridor where access is conditional, selective, and increasingly political.”

Although some ships have been forced to pay, it does not appear Iran has a consistent policy, according to NBC. State media reported the Iranian parliament was preparing legislation to formalize the tolls.

Ceasefire mediators say the current status quo (Tehran's tolls) in the strait is unlikely to change, especially in light of the confusion over the terms of the so-called ceasefire.  Iran and Pakistani mediators say that the ceasefire included Lebanon-- but with Israel continuing to bomb its northern neighbor Iran says that the terms of the ceasefire have been violated.

Trump claimed in an interview with ABC News that he’s considering a “joint venture” with Iran to manage tolls in the Strait of Hormuz.  But it's obvious to everyone that Trump is only trying to salvage his reputation as a dealmaker-- as Iran will almost certainly refuse to share tolls with the U.S. and Trump will not want to be seen as the one who called off the ceasefire.  What a mess!