Ramadan

The White House posted a 146-word “presidential message on Ramadan” on its website on Feb. 17. Tellingly, it did not contain the word “Muslims.”

“I send my greetings and best wishes to all those celebrating Ramadan,” it reads. And who is exactly celebrating the month?

The White House had no problem mentioning the word “Christians” in its Feb. 18 Ash Wednesday message.

That 273-word piece also referred to Jesus Christ and his 40 days of temptation in the desert, his Passion, death on the cross and triumphant resurrection on Easter Sunday, which it called “the greatest miracle in the history of mankind.”

Early in Trump’s first term in office (Jan. 27, 2017), he issued a “travel ban” on seven Muslim majority nations. That hit list include Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, and Syria.

“This sacred time for many Americans emphasizes prayer and fasting, strengthens familial and community ties, and affirms our shared values of compassion, charity, mercy, and humility,” read the presidential message.

I assume that doesn’t cover the Somali immigrant community in Minneapolis.

Trump referred to them as garbage. “When they come from hell and they complain and do nothing but bitch, we don’t want them in our country,” he said at the end of a Cabinet meeting in December. “Let them go back to where they came from and fix it.”

Here’s wishing all Muslim-Americans a peaceful and happy Ramadan.

Biggest & best of all time. “I believe it’s the most consequential board, certainly in terms of power and in terms of prestige,” said Trump in kicking off the debut session of his Board of Peace. “There’s never been anything close because these are the greatest world leaders.”

He was talking about the leaders of member states, which include El Salvador, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Mongolia, Argentina, Bulgaria, Paraguay, Indonesia, Pakistan and Azerbaijan.

Trump was so confident of the meeting’s success, he decided it was okay to take a nap during he proceedings.

He was wide awake though as the session closed with his favorite song, “YMCA” by the Village People.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to fire his public affairs chief Dave Butler.

Driscoll is part of the US negotiating team that is trying to end the war in Ukraine.

Was Pete a little piqued that Driscoll, who is a close ally of vice president Vance, is playing such an important role in ending the war?

Butler served as an advisor to Driscoll for the peace talks.

Doesn’t Hegseth have more important things to do than firing a PA guy?

After all, the US is on the brink of war with Iran.

Affordability crisis is good news for Walmart. The Bentonville behemoth posted a 5.6 percent jump in Q4 revenues to $190.7B. Operating income jumped 10.8 percent to $8.7B.

The retailer continued to make headway among consumers with household incomes of more than $100K.

CEO John Furner noted that households with incomes under $50K are feeling the stress, with some “people living paycheck to paycheck.”

Those cash-strapped consumers are doing more grocery shopping at Walmart as its food prices are growing at a slower-than-the-national-inflation rate.

Sam Walton’s crew is doing its part.