Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is already under investigation for extravagant personal expenditures of taxpayer money.  We’ve paid for hockey games, ski lodges, steakhouses, and snorkeling, but what are these and a few charter jet rides to a guy who has his own damn flag and coin?

At the Interior Department’s headquarters in downtown Washington, Secretary Ryan Zinke has revived an arcane military ritual that no one can remember ever happening in the federal government.

A security staffer takes the elevator to the seventh floor, climbs the stairs to the roof and hoists a special secretarial flag whenever Zinke enters the building. When the secretary goes home for the day or travels, the flag — a blue banner emblazoned with the agency’s bison seal flanked by seven white stars representing the Interior bureaus — comes down.

Yep.  Zinke: the Queen of Damn England.

Nobody can remember this ever happening since about 1917.  Maybe it’s a 100 years of sanity celebration.

He also commissioned his own coin that he gives to who … I dunno, maybe taxpayers because they paid for the damn thing in the first place.

Nice of him to follow Trump’s gold theme, right?

Have a nice weekend thinking about ways the Trump administration is saving you money in Puerto Rico.

Thanks to Deb for the heads up.

Did you know that last Friday a guy tried to set off a bomb in a terrorist attack at the airport in Asheville, North Carolina?

Yeah, I didn’t either.

The man authorities say left an explosive device at Asheville Regional Airport on Friday morning that contained ammonium nitrate and fuel oil said he was preparing to “fight a war on U.S. soil,” according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.

Michael Estes, 46 years old, walked into the airport with a bag around midnight.  He disappeared from the surveillance camera for a few seconds and then emerged without the bag.

Security checked the bag and a trained police dog alerted them that the bag contained a bomb.  It was a homemade bomb with an alarm clock attached.

Michael Estes

In the complaint, investigators noted that the type of device found at the airport, called “AN/FO” explosives, has been used “in a number of terrorist-related incidents around the world in the past.

“When AN/FO comes into contact with a flame or other ignition source it explodes violently,” the complaint states. “Shrapnel or nails or ball bearings are often items added to the device so as to increase the devastation inflicted by the explosion.”

The materials used to make the bomb were traced back to Estes, who confessed to “preparing to fight a war on U.S. soil.”

Now imagine if Estes had been a Muslim.  Or black. Donald Trump would have tweeted all weekend about it.  It would be headlining the news.

Now that right there?  That’s white privilege gone insane.

Thanks to SGray for the heads up.

It’s coming. Start decorating.

There’s already a house in the running for best Halloween ever.  (You may have to enlarge some of the pictures to see the funny parts.)

Thanks to G Foresight for the heads up.

Facebook is stunned by this —

Of course, he didn’t know about the 25th amendment.  That’s why he’s been acting so crazy.   You didn’t think he’d be acting this crazy if he knew he could be removed for being crazy, did ya?  I mean, hell, he ain’t that crazy.

Headline from the Hill.

Yeah, I know exactly how that feels.

“An ‘extremely credible source’ has called my office and told me that @BarackObama’s birth certificate is a fraud,” Trump tweeted in August 2012.

“I think President Obama has been the most ignorant president in our history. His views of the world as he says don’t jibe and the world is a mess.” Trump,  July, 2016.

“He has been a disaster as a president. He will go down as one of the worst presidents in the history of our country. It is a mess.”  Trump, August of 2016

“No, I meant he’s [Obama] the founder of ISIS. I do. He was the most valuable player. I give him the most valuable player award.”  Trump, August of 2016

“I want him to show his birth certificate. … There’s something on that birth certificate that he doesn’t like.” — Trump on “The View” on March 23, 2011.

“I think he’s [Obama]  a threat to our country,” Trump said on a radio show, November 2015.

“You know, people cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and can’t even mention the words radical Islamic terrorism. There’s something going on — it’s inconceivable. There’s something going on.” Trump, June, 2016

“I think he’s the worst president maybe in the history of our country,” said Trump on Fox News.  August 2016

Since impeaching Trump is going slower than a snail pulling a cruise ship, it becomes more important whether or not Susan Collins decides she is going to run for Governor of Maine.

She says she will make a decision this Friday, which means she’s made a decision and will announce it Friday.

“Collins, among the most moderate GOP senators, has been a thorn in President Donald Trump’s side… But were she elected, her departure from the Senate would be a sharp blow to Republicans because without Collins, the seat would become much more difficult to keep out of Democratic hands in 2020.”

Taking back the senate would be better than recess in heaven.  We can play Republican and refuse any Trump nominees for the court or even federal judges.  We need to win three seats because we can’t count on Joe Minchin for diddle squat.

Send Susan Collins an email and remind her that Maine needs a sane governor.