Another Week in Paradise

"Hey! Let me out of here!" --RFK, Jr's brain worm

So, kids, what have we learned this week? We learned that journalist Ryan Lizza is a really bad fiance' to break up with, second only to his ex-fiance' journalist Olivia Nuzzi. In addition to her online romance with the nincompoop at the head of the Health and Human Services Department, Lizza revealed she apparently also had a real one with former South Carolina Governor and devotee of the Appalachian Trail, Mark Sanford.

And Lizza's revelations about a "poem" RFK, Jr. sent Olivia when they were sexting each other have all the poetic subtlety of a second-rate porn film. Albeit with some florid and overwrought verbage. I debated whether to include his prose and decided against it. I figured that it's actress Cheryl Hines' problem at this point, and she is no doubt checking every divorce lawyer in her rolodex right now.

Nuzzi has a new book out, and she's being touted as some sort of journalistic Kardashian, and that pretty much sums up the brave new world of reporting.

But before leaving RFK and the merry pranksters at HHS, we now see the resurfacing of his asinine theory about vaccinations and some supposed link to autism. I recall first hearing about this from noted scientist and talk radio icon, Don Imus. In addition to revealing himself to be a full-blown racist, the I-man was promoting his nutty wife's theories about the autism link, no doubt gleaned from Bobby Jr's internet ravings.

This latest HHS advice generated a response from the American Academy of Pediatrics President, Dr. Susan Kressly...

Vaccines are the most important tool we have to help children’s immune systems learn to recognize and resist serious diseases, so they can stay healthy and do the important work of childhood: playing, learning and growing in their families and communities. When we give something to our children, we want to know it is safe. That’s why repeated studies in multiple countries, involving large numbers of people, have studied the safety of vaccines. This includes examining the question of a connection with autism. We know from this repeated research that there is not a link. Devoting more research dollars to answer a question that is already known does not add to our knowledge about the safety of vaccines. It does a disservice to individuals with autism and their families by diverting funding that is needed to learn more about autism and how we can strengthen supportive communities.

But we all knew that, didn't we?

Nuzzi told her former fiancé that she feared RFK might kill her. I don't know about that, but he certainly will kill a lot of others.

We discovered it was also apparently Muslim week at the White House.

We also learned, by the way, that the President can now pronounce New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's name instead of calling him Zorro Mamajama or something.

The expected head-butting didn't happen, and Trump even joked about Mamdani calling him a fascist. Fortunately, it seems "Piggy" from Bloomberg wasn't in the room to spoil the bro-fest with her non-Halal questions.

So, counting Putin, Trump now has two "communist" friends, I guess.

We also saw a friendly visit from the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, and the man who ordered the murder and dismemberment of American-Saudi journalist Jamal Kashoggi in 2018, Prince Mohammed bin Bonesaw. And again, all was forgiven, money was promised, along with F-35s, and a grand time was had by all.

And when a reporter from ABC, a woman of course, had the temerity to ask Trump about the ethics of his family investments in the Kingdom, and the Crown Prince about killing Kashoggi, the President went on both defense and offense...

"A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about, whether you like him or didn't like him," Trump told reporters, with bin Salman sitting beside him. "Things happened, but he knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that."

The Prince's involvement was confirmed by Trump's own intelligence people in the first term, by the way.

And of course, there was the obligatory swipe at the reporter, Mary Bruce of ABC when she asked about releasing the Epstein files. From the Associated Press...

“It’s not the question that I mind,” Trump said. “It’s your attitude. I think you are a terrible reporter. It’s the way you ask these questions.”

After addressing the Epstein question, he returned to Bruce, saying that “people are wise to your hoax.”

“I think the license should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake and it’s so wrong,” he said. “And we have a great (FCC) commissioner, the chairman, who should look at that because I think when you come in and you’re 97% negative to Trump. And then Trump wins the election in a landslide. That means, obviously, your news is not credible. And you’re not credible as a reporter.”

On the foreign relations front, we are sending a flotilla of destroyers, cruisers, a sub, and the biggest carrier in the world, along with B-52 and B-1 bombers to prepare an attack on, yes, Venezuela. Why? Well, why not, after all? President Maduro is a thoroughly unlikeable guy and cocaine or something, I suppose.

Whatever it is, stomping this military of 3, yes 3, operational F-16s won't be easy, I guess. And here is the complete Venezuelan navy....

This level of overkill for dubious reasons reminds me of the great mosquito hunt of Monty Python...

Oh, and I mentioned Putin earlier. Well, a "peace plan" for Ukraine was announced by the administration, then denounced, and then announced again. We're not sure where Secretary of State Marco Rubio stands on it as I write, but here's what we know.

Vlad gets everything he wants. That's the plan.

Ukraine will give up about 1/5th of its territory, agree to limit the size of its military by half, give up any long-range weapons, and never, ever join NATO.

And Russia agrees to, uh, well, hold on, I'm checking. Well, it appears Putin will sit back and laugh, best I can tell.

The President announced today on Truth Social that he is disappointed that President Zelensky is not more grateful. And of course, the usual rant about how this is all Biden's fault somehow. According to Mediaite...

“The War between Russia and Ukraine is a violent and terrible one that, with strong and proper U.S. and Ukrainian LEADERSHIP, would have NEVER HAPPENED. If I had won the 2020 election, Putin would never have attacked! It was only when he saw Sleepy Joe in action that he said, ‘Now is my chance!’ The rest is history, and so it continues. I INHERITED A WAR THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED, A WAR THAT IS A LOSER FOR EVERYONE, ESPECIALLY THE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE THAT HAVE SO NEEDLESSLY DIED.”

Trump went on to claim that Ukraine’s leaders have not expressed gratitude for U.S. assistance in the conflict — despite Zelensky going out of his way to thank Trump and the U.S. both before and after their heated argument in the Oval Office in February.

“UKRAINE ‘LEADERSHIP’ HAS EXPRESSED ZERO GRATITUDE FOR OUR EFFORTS, AND EUROPE CONTINUES TO BUY OIL FROM RUSSIA,” Trump wrote. “THE USA CONTINUES TO SELL MASSIVE $AMOUNTS OF WEAPONS TO NATO, FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UKRAINE (CROOKED JOE GAVE EVERYTHING, FREE, FREE, FREE, INCLUDING ‘BIG’ MONEY!). GOD BLESS ALL THE LIVES THAT HAVE BEEN LOST IN THE HUMAN CATASTROPHE!”

Oh, and President Zelensky has until next Thursday to say yes or we say adios. Otherwise, as the President so delicately put it, "They can continue fighting their little hearts out."

But without any US help.

Happy Thanksgiving, Volodymyr!