Unsightly Mental Blemishes

From the NBC News report of Jeanine Pirro’s nomination to the position of U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C.:

Trump made the announcement on his Truth Social, mentioning Pirro’s previous roles as a prosecutor and a judge, and said she was “currently Co-Host of The Five, one of the Highest Rated Shows on Television.”

And Fox News noted (same article):

In a statement after Trump’s announcement, a Fox News spokesperson said Pirro “has been a wonderful addition to The Five over the last three years and a longtime beloved host across FOX News Media who contributed greatly to our success throughout her 14-year tenure. We wish her all the best in her new role in Washington.”

And her own producer?

Pirro pushed conspiracy theories about voting in the aftermath of Trump’s 2020 election loss, and she came up in litigation filed by Dominion Voting Systems. Fox News tried to redact what one of Pirro’s executive producers thought about one of her post-2020 election monologues, with the producer writing, “This is completely crazy.”

And, ah, how many folks cheered at the news that she’s co-host of The Five? What does that have to do with the qualifications for being a U.S. Attorney in one of the most important district offices?

Yeah. Not much.

President Trump continues to exhibit symptoms of chronic incompetence and/or dementia, and Fox News just encourages it. Regardless of what the Democrats are doing, this is not an honorable behavior by Fox News.

The sad part is that, professionally, she may be qualified for the position, although assertions that she’s nuts by those who should know is a detractor. But don’t throw this crap about television ratings into the mix. It just makes Trump look like a lunatic. Which he is.

Perseveration:

the act of saying or doing something repeatedly when there is no longer any reason to do so:

• Many of the errors that the children made consisted of verbal substitutions and perseverations.
• Perseveration may be a sign that a child is on the autism spectrum. [Cambridge Dictionary]

Noted in this WaPo article title. “Carolyn Hax: 4 a.m. bathroom breaks become perseverations on life’s mistakes.“

President Trump thinks he’ll suspend habeas corpus,

… a legal procedure by which a report can be made to a court alleging the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual …

does he?

Someone should tell him that’d true for himself as well.

One difference I’ve noticed between Trump I and Trump II: where’s his family? Melania’s made clear her distaste for the President, but what of the three kids, Ivanka, Eric, and Don, Jr., plus spouses, who were so salient in the first Administration, and have disappeared, more or less, from view in this second Administration?

I decline to speculate on Trump family tensions, but I cannot help but wonder if the kids foresee disaster awaiting them and Dad, and only by not being part of the Administration can they hope to avoid being mopped up by Trump’s enemies when his incompetence drags him down.

Just wonderin’.

CNN, along with every other media outlet in the world, is reporting the new Pope is … Robert Prevost of the United States:

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of the United States has been elected the 267th pope and will soon step onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica as the new leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

Prevost, 69, from Chicago, Illinois, is the first ever pope from the United States. He will be known as Leo XIV.

I think I must have a buck somewhere that says President Trump will claim credit for Prevost’s election. Sigh.

Republican star – no matter how much I don’t like his refusal to recuse back in his first run for governor against Stacey Abrams (D-GA) – and Governor Brian Kemp (R-GA) is out of the running:

Governor Brian Kemp (R) just formally announced he’s not going to run for Senate next year against Senator Jon Ossoff (D). It’s difficult to convey how big a coup this is for Democrats and how big a setback it is for Republicans for the 2026 midterms. Candidate choice is always important but seldom decisive. This is an exception. Ossoff was (and is) a favorite against everyone but Kemp. [Josh Marshall, TPM]

And it’s voluntary. I agreed with Mr Marshall, above – only Kemp could give Senator Ossoff (D-GA) a real contest, and Governor Kemp is signaling that, in a year and a half, he doesn’t think he can beat the Senator.

Now, Marshall thinks Kemp has Presidential ambitions, and he might. But getting a Senator’s seat builds momentum – but losing such a race could destroy Kemp’s chances in a Presidential race. No one likes a loser, which explains why then- and now- President Trump ran around screaming about Democratic cheating in 2020. It wasn’t just that he couldn’t accept being a loser, but it also endangered his chances of re-attaining the Presidency.

And winning back the legal sanctuary of the Presidency.

In any case, if Kemp foresees disaster in a friendly, conservative-if-purple State, well, it could make next year’s election very interesting for the balance of the Senatorial races.

It’s always good to see demi-gods agreeing with me. In this case it’s conservative lawyer and former Federal judge J. Michael Luttig, commenting on the same quote that drew my attention recently, wherein President Trump thinks he needs to consult brilliant lawyers to decide if his oath to uphold the Constitution really applies to him. Here’s Huffpost’s report:

Catachresis:

1. : use of the wrong word for the context
2. : use of a forced and especially paradoxical figure of speech (such as blind mouths) [Merriam-Webster]

I’ve been running across a lot of unfamiliar words of late, although this seems a specialist word for grammarians, and I’m definitely not a grammarian. The Merriam-Webster link also discusses grammarian usages of catachresis, mostly in what appears to be a snitly way. Noted in “Your existential terror is adorable,” Rachel Manteuffel, WaPo:

Slackmoji is essentially an adorable medium. You can, as my colleague Chloe Coleman has, choose a little cartoon frog as an avatar for yourself and illustrate your feelings that way. Perhaps you feel shame.

And while you admit you feel ashamed, you’ve also cutened it up for public consumption. It’s … processed. Indirect. Ironic. Visually catachrestic. It’s like poetry.

I recall castigating someone, in email, for using an emoji. This is back in the BBS days, where it was all ASCII, not the emoji-enabling UTF-8, and so it was nothing more than :). I told them it was lazy and would never last.

I was half-right. Yes, that’s shamelessly stolen from someone giving a speech concerning X Windows at one of the UNIX conferences a long time ago. Or maybe it was the commentary.

This sounds tawdry and, in view of the Constitution, slightly nutty:

In a little-noticed lawsuit filed last week, the America First Legal Foundation sued Chief Justice John Roberts and the head of the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts.

The case ostensibly proceeds as a FOIA lawsuit, with the Trump-aligned group seeking access to judiciary records. But, in doing so, it asks the courts to cede massive power to the White House: the bodies that make court policy and manage the judiciary’s day-to-day operations should be considered independent agencies of the executive branch, the suit argues, giving the President, under the conservative legal movement’s theories, the power to appoint and dismiss people in key roles. [TPM]

This doesn’t make much sense, does it? I think what’s going on here is that an extremist right wing group that currently holds the White House wants to be rid of the Constitution, but it doesn’t just dare to declare the Constitution no longer applies. The Constitution is damn near holy writ for a large majority of the citizenry that covers a large portion of the political spectrum. Worse yet, given Republican gun control politics, that segment will be heavily armed, alarmed, and annoyed.

What’s the next best thing? Gut the Constitution. I see this lawsuit as an attempt to kill the Constitution without actually admitting they’re killing the Constitution. This is a perhaps subtle distinction from the article’s quoted experts:

These are all facets of an escalating campaign to erode the independence of the judiciary, experts told TPM. The lawsuit demonstrates another prong of it: close allies of the president are effectively asking the courts to rule that they should be managed by the White House.

Will the courts permit their self-dissolution? I’m sure at least one judge can be persuaded to agree, but I doubt SCOTUS would agree. Although Justices Alito and Thomas are alarmingly agreeable to the Trump Adminisration’s suits, there have been 9-0 decisions against Trump, and I suspect that’ll happen here.

But no doubt the reasoning is You don’t know ’til you try. This is a lawsuit to keep an eye on.

Here’s the text as reported from WaPo:

Floriography:

Floriography is a coded communication where each flower and color holds symbolic meaning. Stemming back thousands of years, the language of flowers reached a pinnacle of popularity in the Victorian era. Intentional flower combinations allow the giver to communicate without uttering a word. [Petal Republic]

Noted in this fashion video. Keep your eyes on the back wall.

If you can.

Nobel Prize-winner Paul Krugman remarks on a report that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told a bunch of big investors that the China tariffs will not last long:

While news media and some investors may still be credulous enough to believe Trump’s boasts, harder-headed players will look at his U-turns and conclude that he runs away when confronted. Why would China be “very nice” now that it knows that Trump can be rolled? On the contrary, China will be even less likely than before to make concessions. And other countries will be more willing to stand up to Trump and more likely to make deals with Beijing.

We are, in short, in a worse position than we were before Trump began his tariff bluster. Being a cowardly, loud-mouthed bully presiding over utter chaos is not an effective negotiating strategy.

A smart guy would hire an expert with a great track record to run a problem area.

Might I suggest to President Trump that he hire his predecessor, President Biden? A spectacular track record when it comes to economics.

Flummoxed:

Informal. utterly bewildered, confused, or puzzled:
When I walk into a store to buy video equipment and see the multitude of options, I’m befuddled and flummoxed. [Dictionary.com]

Our source gives 1835 as the oldest known usage; flummoxed was certainly old, even out of date, when I was a kid. Noted in “Trump’s familiar routine after failing to cut deals with Congress: Signing legally dubious executive actions,” Toluse Olorunnipa and Ashley Parker, WaPo:

Here, have a picture. Some bad movies lead to great stills, but not this one.

G. K. Chesterton’s character Father Brown has led to at least two TV series, both eponymous and, depending on your taste, either one or the other is charming. It also has led to one or two movies, and at least Sanctuary of Fear (1979) is, ah, not charming, as my Arts Editor put it.

It’s a poorly thought out drama. Brown is now an American catholic priest in New York City, where he happens across a young woman who arrived in the big City just a few months prior. Equipped with a job typical of the era, and ambitions to make it on the stage, she is afflicted with strange incidents: a man is shot as she walks through Central Park, but disappears before she, or a man she swiftly recruits, can climb a fence and render aid. Her boss’ office is rifled and the blame affixed to her; she’s locked into her gym and late to a performance, and as she arrives late her understudy, on stage, is shot to death; the aforementioned body puts in another appearance; & etc.

Yes, it actually is interesting. But Father Brown’s later TV series, such as that starring Marc Williams, support themselves on character and charm as well as plots, and there’s precious little present here. Oh, there’s a little, such as Brown’s lovely interaction with a traffic court judge, but in the main it’s whine, whine, whine, everyone hates me, guys on the make, and a resolution that no audience member would have found.

Which cuts the fun in half. I almost wanted to see the resolution to the subplot involving an annoying monsignor and the accounting of the parish’s books, just because the monsignor was so annoying. Maybe he could join the slain.

But no such luck. In some ways this is a typical TV movie of the era, conceived in the pursuit of lucre, a pursuit that puts little value on a quality product.

A pity.

With regard to the President’s campaign to take control of the Federal Reserve, Steve Benen notes:

Just as importantly, if not more so, is the inconvenient fact that Trump can’t legally fire Powell without cause, even as the president suggests otherwise. If he were to try to take such a step, it would face immediate pushback in the courts, while simultaneously adding a fresh round of chaos and uncertainty to the markets.

It occurs to me that this is what you get from next-quarter thinking – frantic flailing. Whether it’s Donald Trump, Elon Musk, or any of a number of egotistical businessmen, their behavior turns out to be the same – focused on the next play, rather than winning the game.

And here’s the team of evil, led by team captain and all-around naughty Evil Sorceress! Little known fact, this team captain is a sister to the Good Guys team captain – but they don’t speak any longer!

Tin Man (2007), technically a TV mini-series, is a retelling of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, but darker than the classic movie, The Wizard of Oz (1939). Dorothy is now DG, her parents are, well, the audience will find out, the Tin Man is a cop, the Scarecrow is called Glitch because half of his brain was appropriated by the evil Sorceress, and the Lion is now a mystical empath who spends most of his time looking, ah, mystical. Don’t confuse him with the Mystic Man, the old Wizard driven to madness. And what drove the Sorceress Queen to be evil?

Parts of this are promising, simply as another take on an old, beloved tale, because such explorations can turn up new moral questions not revealed by the first movie; the explorations can be instructive.

But, by and large, Tin Man fails on this most important of matters. It’s too caught up in the tattoos on the buxom of the Evil Sorceress – give them another shake to keep the straight male segment of the audience! – and DG is really quite terrible.

Some of that is the storytellers’ fault. Characters travel through the plot as if aware of their destiny to win; hardly any reverses are met and conquered, moral questions raised and answered. This is a movie too wetly in love with its plot machinations to recognize the importance of sacrifice.

If you delight in visuals, you may want to see this simply as a refreshing change from The Wizard of Oz. But it’s reminiscent of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), a visually rich, dramatically empty set-piece.

If you need your stories to have meat on their bones, be aware this retelling is problematic.

Max Miller of Tasting History delivered a short summary of the hobo culture following the Civil War up to World War II today.

He reports they were an important component of American labor, not only supplying mobile workers, but with a culture of their own, etc. Given the intention of MAGA and President Trump to stop illegal immigrants, and those immigrants oft-reported importance in filling jobs on farms and low-paying manufacturing jobs, and combining that with an economic future that is darkening as the days pass, I have to wonder:

Will we see a return of hobo culture to absorb the excess labor and fulfill the labor needs of those who provide low-cost products such as farm produce, abattoirs, etc?

Something about this video from Africa touched me.

The weather folks are forecasting some rough weather for Monday, so here’s a peaceful pic for today.

And now it’s time for the hole.

Disgraced former U.S. Rep. George Santos was sentenced Friday to over seven years in prison, sobbing as he learned his punishment for the crimes that led to his expulsion from Congress.

Santos, who pleaded guilty last summer to federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, appealed for mercy. In a federal court a short drive from his old congressional district, he said through tears that he was “humbled” and “chastised” and realized he had betrayed his constituents’ trust.

“I offer my deepest apologies,” he said, adding: “I cannot rewrite the past, but I can control the road ahead.” [AP via yahoo! news]

Or does it? I wonder if President Trump is pondering a pardon, as Santos took negative attention away from President Trump.

I think it goes without saying that Santos would accept it.

An important opinion, recently issued, by Federal Judge Wilkinson, with the usual too-brief commentary:

This is indeed incredible. “Conservative judge” doesn’t quite cut it as a description of Wilkinson. He is one of the most deferential-to-government-power judges in the country. When he writes like Justice Sotomayor it’s signs-and-wonders level.

— Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a furocious floof (@evanbernick.bsky.social) 2025-04-17T20:49:18.913Z

This is indeed incredible. “Conservative judge” doesn’t quite cut it as a description of Wilkinson. He is one of the most deferential-to-government-power judges in the country. When he writes like Justice Sotomayor it’s signs-and-wonders level.

In case the above BlueSky link disappears, this is from someone named Evan Bernick, and includes a clip from Judge Wilkinson’s recent opinion concerning the implicit suspension of habeas corpus in the Garcia debacle.

Wilkinson is considered a very conservative judge; his rejection of a key legal argument, and accompanying ridicule, is basic proof that the judicial branch rejects President Trump’s lies, arguments, etc.

The Legislative branch remains under Trump’s control, and has little enforcement powers in any case. The Executive remains under President Trump’s thumb, and since most or all law enforcement resides there, it seems unlikely that we’ll be seeing Trump marched away in cuffs.

Or will we?

Oh, it remains unlikely. but it’s not beyond possibility that one of the agencies will decide to simply arrest him and let the fallout go where it will.

We’re more likely to see him impeached, either as Johnson comes to his senses, or a successor takes responsibility seriously, and then someone arrests him. Possibly Vice President Vance, if he is called upon to assume the Presidency.

Encomium:

Encomium (en-KOH-mee-um) comes from a Latin word meaning “to celebrate.” It’s a speech, poem, or other text written in praise of a specific person or thing. Encomia are usually written in very elevated language and praise their object in very strong terms. [Literary Terms]

Noted in “The Bukele Playbook Trump Is Following,” Andrew Sullivan, The Weekly Dish:

So it’s obvious which one Trump and Vance prefer, isn’t it? They humiliated Zelensky while lavishing Bukele with encomiums for his collaboration in providing an extra-territorial, extra-judicial, concentration camp for whomever in America Trump wants to grab off the street, bundle into an airplane, and get Stephen Miller to call a terrorist. What’s not to like?

From CNN/Politics on 4/18:

Gary Shapley, whom President Donald Trump named acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service earlier this week with the support of Elon Musk, will no longer serve in the role, sources told CNN — a win for Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s office, which had opposed his appointment. …

Shapley had the backing of Musk and congressional Republicans, while Bessent’s office had reservations, three sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Bessent was out of the country when Trump appointed Shapley.

Shapley’s ouster from the top leadership role, which was first reported by The New York Times, ends a whiplash week at the IRS, which is a bureau of the Treasury Department. Trump signed the paperwork appointing Shapley on Tuesday, triggering panic among some career civil servants.

Shapley, who helped lead the Hunter Biden investigation, had provided whistleblower testimony to Congress as Republicans claimed partisan bias by Justice officials had hindered the investigation of the son of President Joe Biden. Republicans had celebrated his ascension at the IRS after Trump had previously named him deputy chief of IRS criminal investigations.

So Musk and Bessent bang heads and Bessent wins. But I don’t see any reason given for Bessent’s objection. Or was this dogs pissing on each other?

Republicans are not known, at least any longer, for subsuming their ambitions for the greater good. And Musk is notable for not being a formal member of the Administration.

This may be an obscure signal of power struggles behind the scenes.

I haven’t had time for blather, although I do see the markets fell some more today, and Professor Richardson thinks the Trump Administration is beginning to panic. Here’s a picture of spring tulips.

And stay tuned, here’s our seasonal management team!