It is sad commentary on our standards of beauty when disfiguration becomes a norm, when injected botulinum toxin becomes a risk many are willing to take, when ridiculously puffy lips and facelifts and tummy tucks and breast augmentation and other structural manipulations become viable alternatives to—heaven forbid—the aging process.

Many obviously have no qualms committing to these changes, these “improvements,” and they just as obviously don’t care about the relatively grotesque appearance they take on for the rest of their days.

Cleft palate and other positive life-changing procedures aside, blame it on Hollywood, blame it on a fixation with image, blame it on a fear of growing old. When I see someone who’s had elective work done, I’m not thinking, “Oh, that’s better.” It’s more along the lines of “Ugh, that’s disappointing.”

And so sadly insecure.

So now I read that Europe and Japan are considering ways to dissolve the constipation in the Strait of Hormuz.

No, dammit! Don’t cave to the moron-in-chief. I understand that the choke point is causing pain at the pump and the cost of diesel is going through the roof, so do it for those reasons, if you feel obliged to do something, but don’t appease Donald Trump.

Tie yourself to the mast! Do whatever it takes to avoid falling under whatever spell he’s able to conjure. He just says stuff and expects people to listen, to fall in line. You’re under no obligation to follow through on his cockamamy demands. Don’t save his ass! He is bereft of honorable intent.

Good luck threading this needle while not contributing to the conditions that lead to WWIII, and remember: fossil fuel alternatives are too woke. “Drill, baby, drill!” is where it’s at…

Yikes.

Markwayne and Rand had a bit of a testy tete-a-tete to lead off Mullin’s confirmation hearing yesterday. A real tone setter.

Another delightful Trump appointee sits before the committee, being grilled by Democrats (and Paul), but soothed and defended by Republicans with the now-familiar defense of just another folksy guy with a different style than Kristi Noem. Qualifications are an issue with just about any Trump appointee, but none of that matters for Republicans on the committee, since it’s a Trump appointee and the mission is to just push him through.

The Dems are always the worrywarts, uncomprehending of folksy charm and apparently hidden qualifications that the Republicans somehow always see. It’s smarmy, and sickening to watch. These hearings end up being mere formalities, regardless of qualifications, or lack thereof.

Wow– how bad an option was Matt Gaetz? Was he intentionally thrown out there as a trial balloon, a sacrificial lamb, as a way of making anyone who came after him look like a saint?

Where does he get off, angling for help from allies to keep the Strait of Hormuz open?

First of all, what allies might he be talking about? I didn’t realize we had any allies left who were on speaking terms. He’s been doing such a great job of alienating everyone, I figured by now we’d pretty much be on our own. Well, except for Israel. They’re like two peas in a pod—Trump and Netanyahu.

It’s really rich—Trump just demanding that NATO pony up, take on trying to extricate his sorry ass from a debacle of his and Bibi’s making.

Hold your ground, western Europe and others. There’s no need to indulge this farcical brain trust.

The Trump Administration is an active accident scene, so it’s difficult to focus on the road in front of us while trying to avoid the wreckage being strewn in all directions.