Please believe me when I tell you that I detest writing about Donald Trump. During the wretched first year of his second term in office, in service to my mental health, I have made a real effort to not follow every single daily outrage. And yet, the man and his minions are everywhere, the news is unavoidable. There is a miasma over America, and indeed, the world. I live for the day I can retire the This Week in Trump category from this site, but today is not that day.

Instead, I am reproducing the letter Trump sent to the Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre, which displays enough stupidity to stun a team of oxen in its tracks.

Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.

Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also.

I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT

That anyone could read this twaddle and still believe the man is fit for the presidency beggars belief.

Alexandra Petri tried to be the government all by herself. It did not go well. It’s almost as though governments exist to improve society for everyone, in ways no individual possibly could on their own.

It is legal to film ICE. The EFF has more.

Recording government agents is one of the few tools citizens have to hold state power accountable. Any attempt to redefine observation as “violence” is not only unconstitutional—it’s authoritarian gaslighting. When a government fears cameras more than crimes, it isn’t protecting the rule of law. It’s protecting itself.

Without the citizen recordings of the killing of Renee Good, the administration’s outright lies would likely be all that we heard about this horrible incident. Recording the authorities is essential.

In Dedham, MA, one church’s nativity scene sits half-empty. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph replaced with a note stating ICE had been there. It’s a powerful message. Predictably, not everyone approves.

The Archdiocese of Boston on Friday called the sign and missing figures a “politically divisive display” and said the parish should restore the créche to its “proper sacred purpose.”

The Archidocese of Boston can pound sand, along with anyone offended by this display but not the reality of what’s going on in America under Donald Trump.

Years back, I visited the Haskell Free Library and Opera House in the village of Derby Line, Vermont. Derby Line is located right at the border of Canada, with the aforementioned building actually straddling the border itself, a deliberate design decision made back in 1904. The entrance is on the American side, but Canadians have long been able to access it without needing to pass through customs. It has never been an issue.

You will likely not be shocked to learn that this friendly arrangement has been ended by the Trump administration.

Since 2018, the intersection at Ocean Drive and 12th Street in Miami Beach played host to a gorgeous Art Deco crosswalk:

Earlier this month, as Florida continues to be a source of shame, this installation was senselessly destroyed by government employees.

Update (October 23, 2025): The Miami Herald seems to have deleted their entire post on this matter, which is rather concerning. It may be accessible via this link: https://archive.ph/KHNTq.

Here’s the basic story from The Miami New Times instead.

Last week, I read the headline “Fewer foreign tourists are visiting Boston this summer. Some blame Trump”. My first thought was “…and others also blame Trump?”. There really is no one else. It’s patently obvious that the despicable and inhumane actions of America’s border authorities, at the behest of President Trump, would lead to a reduction in visitors from abroad.

Sure enough, each and every person mentioned in the article rightly assigns the blame for this drop to Trump. I guess the headline uses “some” only because they didn’t have a chance to speak to everyone.

Rümeysa Öztürk was one of far too many people who have recently suffered at the hands of American authorities. After returning home to Boston from Mexico, Jemmy Jimenez Rosa was detained for ten days. During that time, she was not provided with access to a lawyer nor necessary medications.

When Rosa asked about his wife’s medical care, the agent cited HIPAA laws as a barrier to knowing her health issues. Taken aback, Rosa pointed out that doctors can share medical information with law enforcement when a patient is in custody, which is specifically outlined in HIPAA.

“He said a very disgusting joke after that,” Rosa recalled.

“He said, ‘We’ll notify next of kin if she dies.’ And at that moment, I knew that I was no longer dealing with humans.”

Eventually, after Rosa’s husband and a lawyer filed a successful motion for her release, she was turned loose into a rainy evening with no way to contact her family. No one should be treated this way.

According to the FDA, there might be radioactive shrimp in the food supply. That’s fun.

The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that the public should avoid eating certain frozen shrimp sold at Walmart due to concerns that the seafood may have been contaminated with radioactive material.

…

Among the products includes Walmart’s “Great Value brand frozen shrimp,” the health agency said.

The FDA alert warning folks away from this shrimp is unexpected, because that organization is overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Anti-science idiot Robert F. Kennedy Jr. heads the HHS, and his history very much suggests he’d be pro-radioactive shrimp. Maybe he just hasn’t heard about this yet.