S&p Changes Criteria For Sovereign Ratings

The Vatican today named one of the leading liberal Catholic prelates in America to run the prominent D. C.-area archdiocese, sending to the nation’s capital, as a second Trump administration begins, a cleric known for a pastoral approach to migrants and for the “radical inclusion” of the LGBTQ+ community. If you think this was a shot across the bow at Trump and MAGA, you would be right.

Official merchandise sales from Donald Trump's inaugural committee can be used to cover Trump’s personal expenses -- including legal fees. In other words, those million-dollar "inaugural donations" made by top CEOs like Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, and companies like Meta, OpenAI, Uber, and Robinhood are little more than discreet bribes, since news organizations don't have the stones to point it out.

Treasonous Trump hasn’t been sworn in yet, but his impending return has already upended hundreds of prosecutions against his Jan. 6 flying monkeys, and has disrupted the ongoing effort to arrest more rioters -- er, "patriots." Via CNN: The historic effort by Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents to investigate the deadly Trump-inspired storming of the Capitol has led to more than 1,570 arrests in nearly all 50 states, making it the largest criminal probe in American history.

Someone needs to remind Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson that lying is a sin. Johnson made an appearance on Fox's Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo this weekend, and was asked by Bartiromo about the New Year's terrorist attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. As we already discussed here, the first thing Trump and Republicans like Johnson did following the attack was to lie that the United States' supposed "open borders" and undocumented migrants were to blame, even though the suspect is a 42-year old U.

Above, Echo & the Bunnymen performs, Lips Like Sugar. Our Failed Political Press ™ is terrible, innit? Dame Magazine has sumpin' to say about it. It's a long piece so you might want to save it and savor it over lunch. The Mahablog opines on what is and what is not reported. Hal Brown's Streamline reports on the state of the Fiji Mermaid. Progressive Eruptions looks at the pearl-clutchers. Bonus Track: Shower Cap's Blog returns with some observations, as only they can. Round-up by Tengrain who blogs at Mock, Paper, Scissors.