Reflections from the Heart of the Empire: Islands of Reason in a Sea of Batshit Crazy

and please don't try what this cat did at home

• Russia and Ukraine have sort of agreed to a limited ceasefire, the limits of which have yet to be determined, with Russia insisting that the stoppage of Western military and intelligence aid to Ukraine is non-negotiable.

  • Just like they have from the beginning of the war.

• Ukraine’s military, meanwhile, is advertising on Tik-Tok how many McDonald’s cheeseburgers a soldier’s pay can buy as a recruitment tool.

  • Seriously? If Ukraine doesn’t have better cheeseburgers than McDonald’s by now, then it is clear that all that American aid has been a colossal failure.

• A Federal Judge blocked the Musky One’s DOGE from accessing Americans’ confidential personal information from Social Security.

  • Any Federal, state, or county employee knows there are laws about this stuff limiting access to specific people with specific duties, and the Musky One’s IT posse ain’t included.

  • Damned near ALL Social Security data is confidential.

• In seeming revenge, Trump’s Social Security Administration announced that after March 31 all applicants will have to apply in person while simultaneously closing 47 Social Security field offices, mostly in areas that voted heavily for Donald Trump. Here’s the list.

• There is already public reaction. Voters in Georgia protested the closure of their local Social Security office, and while they were at it denounced their congresscritter as well. I love efficiency like this.

  

• Speaking of Musky things, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recalled every Tesla cybertruck on the road because their plastic panels fly off on the highway and endanger other motorists.

  • This is proof positive that Americans should trust the freaky South African gazillionaire with our retirement income because he obviously cares so much about our safety and security.

• Israel resumed its genocide in Gaza while Donald Trump threatened Yemen with the same. (below: a father’s worst nightmare paid for by my tax dollars, which is why I can damned well condemn it)

  

• The Yemeni Army claimed it successfully hit an Israeli airbase with a ballistic missile, and Hamas fired rockets into Tel Aviv.

• Another Federal Judge denied the Trump Administration’s request to hold hearings on Mahmoud Khalil’s flagrantly unconstitutional kidnapping intimidation deportation in Louisiana instead of his home district in New Jersey. This really is very good news for him.

• So much for no new wars under Trump. The US conducted an airstrike on Somalia.

• The two astronauts who preferred to stay in space an extra nine months rather than fly a Boeing product home are finally safely back on Earth, and were welcomed by dolphins(bottom right).

  

• Yet another Federal Judge ruled that the Federal government cannot deport an Indian citizen who is married to an outspoken Palestinian American citizen because he is, well, married to an American who says things they don’t like, without at least having a hearing first. If your reaction is not,

  

then you seriously need to mindfully read the entire Bill of Rights. Better throw in the 13th and 14th Amendments as well.

• The slavering, batshit crazy warmongers who run the European Union changed their own rules to increase military aid to Ukraine over Hungary’s objection. So much for the past requirement of unanimity, but at least it’s a good illustration of what batshit crazy looks like.

  

• Still not convinced? European leaders plan to increase their own military spending just in case the US cuts back or pulls out of NATO so they can potentially wage a war against Russia. Scintillatingly brilliant! Russia’s response will be nichevo, better known in English as

  

• Napoleon ought to know. The Russians used his own axiom against him.

• Ohio’s ban on profitable gender experimentation affirming care on minors was declared unconstitutional by a 3 judge panel of a Federal Appeals Court.

  • Fun fact #1: This is the ACLU vs. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who has a long record of competence, and will definitely go all the way to the US Supreme Court.

  • Fun fact #2: Yost is Vivek Ramaswamy’s sole Republican primary opponent in the race for Ohio governor next year, which means Ramaswamy has a serious problem and doesn’t even know it yet. Neither does the political press.

• The Presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda held peace talks in Doha and called for an immediate ceasefire between Rwandan-supported M23 rebels and the DRC.

• The next day, M23 rebels captured another city in the DRC. They look pretty well-equipped, and say the talks don’t apply to them.

  

• Vladimir Putin is dangling a rare earth mineral agreement in front of Donald Trump’s greedily quivering nose, and I’m sure there are some powerful American oligarchs who want a piece of that action.

• Donald Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, which quite probably violates the Separation of Powers doctrine in the US Constitution. Expect more Federal Judge stories.

• Finally, citizens in Jackson, Mississippi rescued a cat who had managed to get his head stuck in a can. No one knows if he was emulating a Musk fan boy, the leader of an EU country, or just looking for clean drinking water since you can’t get that out of a tap in Jackson. Whichever, Kitty is doing much better now.

  

Thank you for reading, good day or night, and good luck.

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