And the new Pope isn't a Putin groupie like Francis was

You were expecting a Polish Pope I suppose.

And the new Pope isn't a Putin groupie like Francis was

You were expecting a Polish Pope I suppose.

God, no! I hope we'll never have another Polish pope.

Fair enough. 
In fairness, Francis promoted Miserando atque eligendo.

Here's a useful article from CBS:

See the list of Trump Cabinet picks and more White House appointments so far - CBS News November 23 2024

• White House chief of staff: Susie Wiles
• Secretary of state: Marco Rubio
• Attorney general: Pam Bondi (after Matt Gaetz withdrew)
• Deputy attorney general: Todd Blanche 
• HHS secretary: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
• Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought
• U.N. ambassador: Elise Stefanik
• "Border czar": Tom Homan
• Defense secretary: Pete Hegseth
• Secretary of veterans affairs: Doug Collins
• National security adviser: Michael Waltz
• Interior secretary: Doug Burgum
• Secretary of energy: Chris Wright
• Secretary of transportation: Sean Duffy 
• Secretary of commerce: Howard Lutnick
• Secretary of education: Linda McMahon
• Secretary of the treasury: Scott Bessent
• Secretary of labor: Lori Chavez-DeRemer
• White House counsel: William McGinley
• U.S. Ambassador to NATO: Matthew Whitaker 
• Secretary of homeland security: Kristi Noem
• HUD secretary: Scott Turner 
• CIA director: John Ratcliffe
• Director of national intelligence: Tulsi Gabbard
• EPA administrator: Lee Zeldin
• Solicitor general: Dean John Sauer
• FDA commissioner: Marty Makary
• Secretary of agriculture: Brooke Rollins
• CDC Director: David Weldon
• FCC chairman: Brendan Carr
• Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator: Dr. Mehmet Oz
• Surgeon general: Dr. Janette Nesheiwat
• U.S. ambassador to Israel: Mike Huckabee
• U.S. ambassador to Canada: Pete Hoekstra
• U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York: Jay Clayton
• Department of Government Efficiency: Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy
• Deputy chief of staff: Dan Scavino
• Deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser: Stephen Miller
• Deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs: James Blair
• Deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel: Taylor Budowich
• Presidential Personnel Office head: Sergio Gor
• White House communications director: Steven Cheung
• White House press secretary: Karoline Leavitt

Long list, but worth having here; you will find commentary in the article.

Trump Administration Halts Harvard’s Ability to Enroll International Students

In a news release, the Department of Homeland Security sent a stark message to Harvard’s international students: “This means Harvard can no longer enroll foreign students, and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status.”

Got to do something about that rampant anti-semitism…

Harvard is of course just the beginning. There are currently about one million international students in the US (down 11% since last year). Imagine all the nice white kids from West Virginia and Mississippi who could be graduate students at top universities if the slots weren’t all filled with them dang furners!

This just in…. the Trump Department of Uneducation has just proclaimed that all US public school students will be required to memorize and recite the lyrics of the Shaker hymn “Tis the Gift to be simple.” Oddly admired for their crude furniture, the Shaker movement died out, perhaps not surprisingly because they disapproved of sex despite what the hymn lyrics suggest.

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come 'round right.

Which artist had a number one hit with a song that, improbably, rhymed Rockefeller and umbrella?

I was going to post an answer, but I chickened out.

Exactly!

Rufo has misread the room: the "visual symbolism" began with ICE agents cosplaying as SEAL Team 6 to arrest someone's grandmother. This provoked protests, as it was surely intended to do.

Then the Pretender sent in the National Guard, in spite of the Mayor of Los Angeles and the Governor of California specifically asking him not to ... which apparently prompted him to send in some Marines for good measure.

Note that the Guardsmen and the Marines do not have police powers: they cannot make arrests.

So what are they there for?

To kill protesters if things get violent.

Rufo pulls out of his ass the idea that the Pretender's goal is to implement his immigration agenda. It isn't. His immigration agenda is based on bullshit ... like every other of his agendas. We -- and in particular, the ICE agents -- were told that they'd be arresting Osama bin Laden and El Chapo every day; instead they're arresting pizza makers and gardeners. We were told that they'd be deporting millions; instead they're deporting a couple thousand, some of them illegally.

The immigration agenda is in shambles. It was never serious policy, just a dog whistle for the true believers. Now the general public can't avoid recognizing it as a stupid, cruel joke.

So what does the Pretender do?

What he always does: he looks for some new outrage to distract from prior idiocies.

This time the new outrage he's hoping for will involve killing people.

I think the coup plan goes without saying: you don't try to escalate a broad police interaction into a deadly confrontation unless you have a plan to deal with the (likely significant) part of the population that absolutely rejects what you have done.