Greetings! Word of the Day: Kleptocracy.  Thank you Donald Trump for putting this word into the everyday vocabulary of politically aware Americans who attempt to describe your presidency...Department of Not-So-Strange Coincidences: Brian Morrissey, the Treasury Department’s top lawyer, resigned Monday just as details of Trump’s heinous $1.8 billion “Anti-Settlement Fund” were emerging, according to the NY Times, which first broke the story. Morrissey was a Trump appointee. Maybe he grew a pair....Busboys and Poets, a woke DC coffee chain, is being sued by the author of the 2023 novel Pinkface, for dropping his transgender book. The Daily Caller has the complicated details. The novel centers on a male high school senior who fakes transitioning into a female to get an edge in applying to an elite university...Dept. of Good News: For fans of Quentin Tarantino’s last film, “Once Upon a  Time in Hollywood,” the character of the big-hearted rogue Cliff Booth was one of the joys of the film. Deadline now reports that a full-length movie, “The Adventures of Cliff Booth,” featuring Brad Pitt reprising his Oscar-winning role, will bow theatrically on Thanksgiving weekend, before landing on Netflix Christmas day. That is something to look forward to, especially if we’re living in a world where the Republicans maintain their majority in the House and we need something to put a smile on our faces....Just askin’: whatever happened to the White House Correspondent’s Dinner that Trump wanted rescheduled within a month of the April 25 shooting in Washington? This Saturday marks the end of the four-week period.  In case you’re wondering, I’m not in favor of rescheduling...If you keep reading, I’ll keep Righting. Howard

Greetings! Shameful. Right-wing media outlets that I’ve surveyed this morning have been remarkably silent about the IRS’s get-out-of-jail-free card to Trump and his $1.8 billion slush fund to aid his buddies. Only Bari Weiss’s The Free Press called his schemes a “scandal”...The progressive Meidas Touch Network’s editor Ron Filipkowski posted a list on X of the Trump sycophants who may be eligible to receive payments from the “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”   The rogues gallery includes Steve Bannon, Peter Navarro, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis. ...Nasty. Newsbusters has a list of what the pub’s Alex Christy considers the worst moments from “Late Night with Stephen Colbert.”...Dept. of Sticks &  Stones: PJ Media calls Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, “the AOC of jurisprudence”...Who’s interested in red-white-and-blue-themed merch to celebrate the nation’s 250^th birthday? The Federalist has a comprehensive guide to select knick knacks and apparel to commemorate the nation's semiquincentennial in style.  Among items The Federalist spotlights: America-themed moccasins, a patriotic wreath sash, a series of America-themed postage stamps designed by Ralph Lauren, and – my favorite – an America 250 t-shirt from the Nixon foundation....Agree! The American Conservative describes Trump’s war with Iran as “disastrous”... Last night I attended the Syracuse University Newhouse School of Public Communications Mirror Awards event honoring the best articles about the media.  Notably, the winner for best commentary was Pamela Alma Weymouth who wrote in The Nation about her grandmother Katharine Graham’s successful stand against a corrupt president and his administration. She was the legendary owner of The Washington Post. The title says it all: My Grandmother Stood Up to Nixon – Jeff Bezos Should Take Note...If you keep reading, I’ll keep Righting. Howard