Charles P. Pierce

2 days ago | esquire.com | Charles P. Pierce

I read recently that a huge cloud of dust from the Sahara Desert has crossed the Atlantic and is about to blow into the American Southeast. This is a lousy break for anyone with respiratory problems, but there also does seem to be something of a bright side to it. The Saharan dust has been known to tamp down the development of tropical storms and hurricanes, especially at the start of the season, which is, like, now.

2 days ago | esquire.com | Charles P. Pierce

Democracy is a very tough room. No sooner do you manage to rid it of the porcelain-skinned, pullulating, drug-addled moonbat, a bloodless apparatchik steps in to defend—and to expand—on the work done by the porcelain-skinned, pullulating, drug-addled moonbat. Now comes Russell Vought, architect of Project 2025, of which the president, of course, knew nothing, to explain that Elon Musk had some good ideas in his mind among the dancing pink kangaroos.

2 days ago | esquire.com | Charles P. Pierce

「毎日のように、腐敗した公務員の話を耳にする。汚職にまみれた銀行家、実業家、アスリート…過去10年の成功譚の裏には、決まってスキャンダルがある。我々は腐敗の大海に飲み込まれつつあり、次に沈むのは誰か、誰が救われるのかを案じている」 —ジャック・マッコイ（Jack McCoy） キルギスのバーオーナー、米国防省から70億ドルの契約を得る ICIJ（国際調査報道ジャーナリスト連合）の最新調査によって、また一人の“とんでもない男”が明るみに出た。彼の事件は、ただ事ではない。 カリフォルニア出身のビジネスマン、ダグラス・エデルマンは、約20年にわたって、米軍に燃料やサービスを供給する企業群を背後から支配し、総額70億ドル超（約1兆円）の国防契約を獲得していた。彼はその莫大な資金を使って、ハリウッド映画、イラクの新聞、東欧のMTVフランチャイズなどに投資。しかも、自らが企業の実質的所有者であることを隠すため、あらゆる手段で名前を出さないよう工作していた。裁判資料によれば、録音された会話の中で彼は「自分の名前が何にも出ないようにするために全時間を費やしてる」と話していたという。...

3 days ago | esquire.com | Charles P. Pierce

You may recall last Friday, when the shebeen noted that its old friend, Senator Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa and retired hog de-baller, got herself in a little fix. She answered a constituent’s question about the impact of the Medicaid cuts in the Big Plug Ugly Bill.

3 days ago | esquire.com | Charles P. Pierce

I swear, the crowd over at HHS continues to try deliberately to make me think of this routine every time I hear the word, “MAHA.” From Mother Jones:NOTUS first reported on Thursday that at least seven of the more than 500 studies cited in the MAHA report, focused on improving children’s health, did not actually exist; later on Thursday, The New York Times reported that at least two additional citations featured in the report were also fake.