Lazy Caturday Reads: Trump Ruins Everything

Good Day Sky Dancers!!

Carl Wilhelm Wilhelmson, The Black Cat, 1922

We, the people who never wanted Trump as president, have been forced to deal with his lies, his clownish nonsense, and his rage-filled public behavior since he came down the escalator in Trump Tower to announce his candidacy on June 16, 2015–nearly 11 years ago.

There really wasn’t a break in the madness after he lost the 2020 election. He constantly found ways to make himself the center of attention, and then we had our hopes raised with all the prosecutions, most of which ended up failing because–incredibly–he was elected for a second time.

Speaking for myself, it has been a long hard road. Even if he actually leaves the White House in January, 2029, he will likely still find ways to keep himself in the news. I wonder if I will live to see the day when he is really gone.

For the past few days, we have waited for his name to be removed from the Kennedy Center building, while he fought repeatedly in the courts to keep it there. I think it has finally been taken down now, but I’m not really sure, because the huge tarp covering the front of the building is still in place.

PBS News: Trump’s name removed from the Kennedy Center building following court-ordered deadline.

The curtain started to come down for President Donald Trump at the Kennedy Center on Saturday.

After a day of legal maneuvers and thunderstorms, workers began the process in the early morning hours of removing the letters spelling out the Republican president’s name from the facade of the iconic performing arts venue. They were a few hours past a court-ordered deadline and did their work shrouded by a tarp, much to the frustration of onlookers who had gathered for hours hoping to witness a dramatic moment symbolizing the limits of Trump’s power.

As the sun rose over Washington, the tarp remained in place, leaving it impossible to determine whether all the letters had been removed. Shortly after midnight, the Kennedy Center asked a judge to extend the deadline until noon EDT, citing the storms for delaying the work. The court agreed to that request Saturday morning.

The removal of Trump’s name closes one of the more unusual chapters in the history of the Kennedy Center, which began construction in 1964 and was dedicated to the memory of the slain president, Democrat John F. Kennedy. At what is typically one of the few relatively nonpartisan spaces in Washington, Trump has wielded tremendous influence over the venue during his second term.

Though he rarely discussed the Kennedy Center during his 2024 campaign, Trump moved quickly to oust the institution’s leadership when he returned to office in January 2025 and replaced it with a board of trustees that named him chairman. His name was quickly added to the building.

Why did Trump want his name on a memorial created by Congress for a president who was assassinated? Trump is a year older than I am. He was alive when Kennedy was murdered and the nation mourned. Did he know what happened? Did it have any effect on him? Apparently not.

Albert Anker, Girl with her cat

And check this out: the Trump-controlled board of  the Kennedy Center stole money that was donated to support the national opera company. Julia Jacobs at The New York Times: Opera Company Sues to Collect $17 Million From the Kennedy Center.

The Washington National Opera, which recently severed its longstanding relationship with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, has filed a lawsuit that demands more than $17 million from the center that the opera company estimates it is owed.

The suit, filed Thursday, says that since the opera company struck out on its own this year, Kennedy Center officials have refused to release the money, which the court papers say includes endowment funds, other donations and income that was collected for the company’s benefit.

“W.N.O. reluctantly files this case to preserve its future and to protect its donors and artists,” lawyers for the opera said in court papers, which identify the funds as donor gifts received over years that are “critical” to its operations.

In a statement responding to the lawsuit, Roma Daravi, a spokeswoman for the center, said that the relationship with the opera company “financially burdened” the center for more than a decade. The statement noted that taking into account the company’s endowment, an external accounting firm had calculated that the company had “accumulated a $72 million deficit to the center” between 2011 and 2026, the years it was an affiliate of the institution….

The opera left the center in January, nearly a year after President Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center led to an exodus of audiences, artists and donors. Officials at the center said then that they had decided to part ways with the opera, which had played there since 1971, “due to a financially challenging relationship.”

The opera’s lawsuit, filed in the United States Court of Federal Claims, details the tensions that arose before the company’s departure. It lists the federal government as the defendant because the center was established by Congress….

The lawsuit says that the day before the separation announcement, Donna Arduin, the Kennedy Center’s chief financial officer, told leaders of the opera company that money in a fund containing bequests and other contributions to the opera had been used as collateral for a line of credit.

The suit says Ms. Arduin asserted that those funds belonged to the center, but the opera company contends they were expressly reserved for its benefit. The suit did not specify how much money was said to have been used as collateral.

Unbelievable. They took funds that were donated specifically for the opera company and spent it on something else–just like Trump is stealing money that Congress has allocated for specific purposes and using it for his ballroom, his arch, and who knows what else. For Trump, taxpayer money is nothing more than an ATM for him to withdraw funds from.

By Suzanne Valadon, 1920

Trump is so self-centered that he probably doesn’t know the names of all of his grandchildren. Nothing seems to matter to him except for his personal desires and his rapidly changing attitudes toward people and institutions, based whether they praise him and bend to whatever his wishes are at any moment in time.

He covered the Oval Office in gold, paved over the Rose Garden (Melania had already wrecked it in his first term), and turned the West Colonnade into a “Presidential Walk of Fame,” with gold-framed photos and gold-lettered plaques, with insulting descriptions of the presidents he dislikes. He even put up idiotic gold signs to designate these places–as if no one knows where the Oval Office or Rose Garden are.

Then he tore down the East Wing of the White House with no warning, and began building an illegal “ballroom.”

Tomorrow, Trump is going to force the country to deal with a UFC fight on the White House lawn. We’ve already had to watch him turn the White House into an embarrassment worthy of the Beverly Hillbillies. The White House grounds looks like a junk yard, as he prepares for a public UFC fight on his birthday.

The UFC installation has already caused problems.

Aaron Parnas a Midas News: White House UFC Event Lighting Nearly Blinded Flight Crew on Approach to Reagan National.

A commercial airline pilot that spoke to MeidasTouch this evening has filed aviation safety reports after powerful lighting used during the construction and testing of the UFC octagon on the White House grounds allegedly shone directly into their cockpit during a nighttime approach into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), creating what the pilot described as one of the most severe visibility disruptions they have experienced in their career.

The pilot, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the incident, was flying into Reagan National on a recent flight when aircraft on approach encountered intense white light associated with the UFC event held on the White House South Lawn.

According to the pilot, the lights illuminated the cockpit during the final stages of landing, a critical phase of flight when pilots rely heavily on visual references. The pilot described the incident as “10 times worse than any laser illumination event” the pilot ever experienced.

While laser strikes on aircraft are a known aviation hazard, the pilot emphasized that this incident did not involve lasers. Instead, it involved powerful white event lighting that they said created a similar, and potentially more dangerous, effect by overwhelming pilots’ vision during approach.

Following the incident, the pilot filed reports with both the Federal Aviation Administration and NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS), a confidential reporting program used by aviation professionals to document safety concerns and hazards.

We are supposed to be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, but Trump has ruined that by turning the anniversary into a celebration of himself. I hope there are thunderstorms tomorrow. And bugs.

The Independent: Rain could wash out Trump’s UFC Freedom 250 birthday fight at the White House.

Rain and lightning could end up being an uninvited opponent at Sunday’s UFC fight at the White House.

AccuWeather warns that on Sunday, Washington looks like it will be hit with a “a heavy thunderstorm late in the afternoon,” in which “downpours and lightning could impact the events at the White House.”

By Indira Baldano

The temporary stadium built on the White House lawn includes a roof arching over the UFC’s famous Octagon arena itself, but guests watching from the stands will not be fully covered.

Making matters worse, the hot and humid conditions, paired with the bright lights of a UFC fight, could attract swarms of bugs.

“This event is going to draw a big crowd,” University of Maryland entomologist Michael Raupp told Axios. “But guess what? There are going to be even more bugs joining.”

And the bugs will attract bats.

“If you have this banquet of small flying insects,” Raupp added, “the bats are going to say, ‘Oh, baby!'”

UFC boss Dana White has acknowledged that weather (and wildlife) could be an issue.

“The three big problems, as far as I am seeing right now, are rain, lightning and a ton of bugs,” White told The Hollywood Reporter last week, recalling a recent White House dinner where guests were bothered with “clusters” of gnats.

He added that’s he’s worked with his production team to prepare for these potential issues.

We’ll see about that.

Farrah Tomazin at The Daily Beast: Creepy Threat to Trump’s Big Birthday Extravaganza.

The biggest threat to Donald Trump’s lavish UFC birthday bash may not be a lawsuit, a heatwave, or Americans outraged by the spectacle at the White House.

It might be the bugs.

As crews put the finishing touches to the sprawling outdoor arena erected for UFC Freedom 250, organizers are grappling with a problem that every Washingtonian knows all too well: summer insects descending on bright lights in the nation’s swampiest city.

The latest weather forecast has Washington, D.C. at a temperature high of 91 degrees Fahrenheit on Sunday, with “hot with intervals of clouds and sun; a thunderstorm in spots late in the afternoon.”

“Downpours and lightning could impact the events at the White House,” says the ominous warning from AccuWeather, a global weather tracking service that boasts “superior accuracy”.

But AccuWeather’s bug tracking may be even more concerning for the president as he celebrates his 80th birthday watching burly men ground-and-pound in a cage fight.

“Warm weather and the metabolic rate of insects increases causing bugs to invade homes and gardens in search of food. With a rise in rain, notice an increase in mosquitoes, stink bugs, roaches and termites,” the site says, warning of “extreme” risk on Sunday.

All this could be somewhat unpleasant for the fighters gasping for air in an already slippery octagon splattered with sweat and blood, as well as UFC boss Dana White, who has made it clear over the years how much he dislikes outdoor fight cards because you can’t control the elements.

By Richard Williams

Tara Dublin writes at Raw Story: This plan will make Trump’s birthday his most miserable yet.

Dublin recalls the Bicentennial celebration in 1976. She was 7 years old, but she still recalls that everyone was excited. To her “it felt like something out of a movie.” The main thing I remember from the Bicentennial is that someone in government made Boston put up more street signs so tourists could tell where they were.

On the 250the anniversary, Dublin writes:

And here we are again, on the brink of celebrating America’s 250th birthday, and it’s going to yet again be like something out of a movie.

Except that movie is called Idiocracy.

The White House is currently obscured by a giant UFC Octagon ahead of Toddler Trump’s 80th birthday party on Sunday. Of all the mortifying things Trump has done, this has brought the kind of global embarrassment that can’t be calibrated by even the most advanced of scientific instruments. Shirtless men are going to beat the crap out of each other in front of what’s supposed to be a symbol of leadership.

Now, it’s the White Trash House.

It looks like the three-ring circus it is. It breaks my heart every time I look at it. Because, despite everyone joking about it and making clever memes about it, Trump has deliberately destroyed the People’s House because he hates America….

None of this destruction should have been allowed. He could’ve built it on his own property, and it would even be on brand for Florida. But instead, he used who-knows-whose money (not his) and turned the South Lawn into a Carny Paradise. The attendees will revel in the spectacle of shirtless men beating the crap out of each other as a birthday present for an 80-year-old criminal fraud at the center of the biggest political cover-up in American history.

We’re still learning even more about the Epstein Files cover-up, something our Founders never could have imagined when they created this non-Christian nation conceived in liberty. While Trump was fixating on turning DC into Mar-A-Lago on the Potomac, his entire staff was meeting in the Situation Room to figure out how to keep protecting him, instead of giving the victims the justice they all deserve. They’ve all known for far too long what’s in those files, and they’ve done nothing about any of it.

Marcel Leprin, Suzanne Valadon and her Cat

You can read more at the link, but here’s what Dublin is hoping for tomorrow:

There’s been terrible weather in Washington all week, with thunderstorms predicted on Sunday to make Trump’s party a literal washout. You can almost believe in divine intervention when the weather seems this targeted….

If you’re lucky enough to live somewhere with great weather on Sunday, No Kings protest marches are scheduled all across the country to make sure Trump has the most miserable birthday of his entire life. It’s going to be 92 degrees here in Portland, and along with the main march downtown, there’s going to be a more family-friendly carnival-type thing in a park with A LOT of trees providing shade. I think I might opt in for that instead of baking in the streets and feeling mad.

Speaking of Portland, I’m extra proud to be an Oregonian after learning that our state was the first to drop out of Trump’s dumb “America 250” State Fair. I’m sure Oregon won’t be the last Blue state to drop out. It’ll be just like when all of the artists dropped out of Trump’s dumb “America 250” concert, which is now just him and Vanilla Ice. The “State Fair” will probably just be Alabama by the time July 4th rolls around.

One last bit of good news: Democrats now have an 82% chance of taking back the House in November!

Trump’s next big project is the giant arch he wants to build in his own honor that critics say will block views of Arlington Cemetery. But that’s not the only problem.

Heather Richards at Politico: Trump’s massive arch could snarl traffic for years.

Construction crews building the massive triumphal arch proposed by President Donald Trump would work in two 10-hour shifts daily until the monument celebrating the nation’s military history is complete, according to a new assessment released by the National Park Service.

Erecting the 250-foot-tall arch in a traffic circle at the head of the Memorial Bridge over the Potomac River would take two to three years on the proposed schedule, according to the documents released earlier this month. The plan suggests a sizable disruption along a major thoroughfare in the nation’s capital.

Girl with Cat, by Merle Keller

The year-round construction schedule emerged from the NPS’s initial review of the arch’s impacts required under the National Historic Preservation Act. The Trump administration has fast-tracked the review process, which examines how historic properties and the Washington landscape would be reshaped by the towering project. The administration is aiming to commission the monument in honor of the nation’s 250th birthday this year.

According to the NPS review, construction would begin with several months of site excavation. Drilling rigs would be deployed to construct a foundation system, and caissons would be installed to 75-foot depths to reach bedrock.

“Continuous heavy equipment operations would occur during this period,” the agency said.

After the foundation is completed, crews are expected to take nearly one year building the concrete body of the arch, deploying 320-foot cranes. In the final phases, granite cladding would be fixed to the concrete exterior and golden statues would be installed on the arch’s roof, including a 60-foot-tall winged figure resembling Lady Liberty. Landscaping would complete the exterior design.

The White House claims to have a solution to any traffic problems.

A White House spokesperson Friday said the NPS worked with the Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration to develop traffic plans for the circle.

“In an effort to increase pedestrian and vehicle safety as well as efficient movement for both, we have conducted detailed traffic modeling and simulations to better understand the impacts of different contemplated traffic flows,” the official said in a statement. “After construction of the Arch, traffic delays will be minimized to the time needed to safely accommodate pedestrian crossings and the flow of traffic.”

Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) whose district includes Arlington National Cemetery near the arch’s proposed location, said Friday the construction outlook is a “nightmare in the making.”

“The Trump administration is pursuing an aggressive construction schedule that would require years of lane closures and major disruptions along one of the most heavily traveled transportation corridors connecting D.C. and Northern Virginia,” Beyer said in a statement to POLITICO’s E&E News. Beyer last month asked the Interior Department to disclose any traffic and transportation research it has completed.

“The public deserves a full and transparent accounting of its impacts on traffic, parking, recreation, and access to existing sites like Arlington National Cemetery,” he said Friday. “The disruption this project would cause is only compounded by this rushed process and these unanswered questions.”

There’s more at the link.

Is Trump satisfied with all these self-aggrandizing projects? Probably not. He’s always coming up with new ways to make everything about him.

I suppose I should include some serious news in this post, but there isn’t much happening except that Trump is still claiming a deal with Iran is on the verge of happening. This time the Iranians sound a bit more interested, but we’ll have to wait and see.

I hope you all are having a nice weekend.