Just as I finished sitting shiva for Kristi, Pam falls. I’m reeling. Pete — watch your back!

Frank Bruni and Bret Stephens had a delicious back and forth on the embarrassing cross-dressing pics that emerged on Noem’s hubby Bryon.

Frank: What makes the Noems’ situation so difficult to process and so much to process is that after the pictures’ release, Kristi Noem asked for some compassion, but she offered absolutely none of that in her wretched days as the secretary of homeland security. She reveled in the vilification of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, baselessly slandering them before their dead bodies were even cold; with a $50,000 gold Rolex on her wrist, she strutted in front of caged men in El Salvador, celebrating their consignment to a hellhole. Incapable of mercy (or, for that matter, decency), she now beseeches it.

Bret: Cross-dressing is fine by me, but shooting a 14-month-old dog because it couldn’t hunt — and then boasting about it in a political memoir — is psychotic and despicable, not to mention dumber than buckshot. Everything about her tenure as homeland security secretary could be gleaned from that incident. Also, her taste in watches is terrible: A sporty Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso or a 1960s-era Omega Seamaster De Ville in a 34-millimeter stainless steel case would have shown actual class.

Pam’s departure blows a hole in the sexy blonde wing of the administration. We still have Karoline. In pretending she is fine with the move, Bondi wrote: “Leading President Trump’s historic and highly successful efforts to make America safer and more secure has been the honor of a lifetime, and easily the most consequential first year of the Department of Justice in American history.” We certainly agree with the “most consequential” part. Like the plague was consequential.

Here’s how the NYT described her tenure: Ms. Bondi surrendered much of the department’s historic independence and oversaw the exodus of experienced career officials, leaving the department’s public corruption and national security units, along with many local U.S. attorneys’ offices, weakened and demoralized.

That’s putting it mildly. She didn’t surrender “much of” the department’s independence, she surrendered all of it. There have been bad AGs before, e.g., John Mitchell. You remember, Martha’s hubby? But no one has taken a torch to the department like our Pam. It’s in ashes.

In other administration news. Headline from The Onion:

Hegseth Replaces Top General With Horse That Drinks Beer

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The puzzle yesterday was a little blah, but egs came to the rescue with two good parsings. First, at 50A the clue was “Tundra, for one,” and the answer was HABITAT.

egs:

Q: What did the Abbess ask the naked nun?

A: Where’s your HABITAT?

Then, at 37A, for the clue “Hit HBO series inspired by a post-apocalyptic video game,” the answer was THELASTOFUS.

egs: We went to see a vegan mariachi band last night — THELASTOFUS.

That took me a while to unpack: THE LAS TOFUS.

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At 6D, “Ticks of a ticker” was HEARTBEATS. Son Volt dug up these two tunes for us.

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Andrew Norton, of the Dull Men’s Club (UK) shared the news with the membership of a “not too exciting” museum re-opening that features British Post mailboxes.

And he asked for other suggestions. Hazel Smith offered the railway museum in York but was upbraided by Paul Clark on the grounds that it is “FAR too interesting.” Clark offered the Cumberland Pencil Museum in Keswick. When EmEM Jay said: “I love that museum. Even bought a WWI map pencil,” Clark responded with “TBF I still talk of little else.”

Mark Kirkham suggested the British Lawnmower Museum. Nora, below, is one of the tour guides.

Tony Simpson recommended the Chair Museum in High Wycombe. Admission is free, but they are closed Mondays and Saturdays. Looks inviting.

Last, literally, Ruth Hunt suggested dropping in at the Coffin Factory/Museum in Birmingham.

Admission is 9.5 Euros for an adult (11 for a 1 hr. 15 min. guided tour.) The website notes the following:

Our Self-Guided entry is designed to be more inclusive to those with additional needs as you can interact with our volunteers as much or as little as you like. Our Mobile Tour has all the information you need and the loud machinery demonstration can be bypassed.

Alternatively, we do offer a specialised Relaxed experience for groups, which is a factory tour designed specifically for people on the Autistic Spectrum and their families. It is also suitable for people with additional learning, sensory or communication needs.

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In today’s puzzle, at 37A the clue was “Low-priced car introduced in 1980.” Remember the ill-fated YUGO? I shared this with the gang:

There was a whole slew of Yugo jokes back when there were Yugos. The jokes were about as bad as the cars. But that was okay, a bad joke won’t leave you stranded in the middle of nowhere (probably). Why were Yugos equipped with rear defrosters? To keep your hands warm when you pushed them. How do you double the value of a Yugo? Fill the tank. What makes a Yugo go faster? A tow truck. You get the idea.

My favorite bad car line was from a call in to Car Talk the great old radio show on NPR. Some poor fellow called in with a litany of problems with his lemon of a car. And either Ray or Tom said “You must be a student.” And the other one said “Or, worse, a professor.” Ouch.

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At 29D, the clue was “Target of some filters,” and the answer was EMAILSPAM.

Egs hopped right on it:

How NOEM offers condolences to Bondi: EMAILSPAM.

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This poem by Hayden Carruth is from today’s Writer’s Almanac.

“The Cows at Night.”

The moon was like a full cup tonight,
too heavy, and sank in the mist
soon after dark, leaving for light

faint stars and the silver leaves
of milkweed beside the road,
gleaming before my car.

Yet I like driving at night
in summer and in Vermont:
the brown road through the mist

of mountain-dark, among farms
so quiet, and the roadside willows
opening out where I saw

the cows. Always a shock
to remember them there, those
great breathings close in the dark.

I stopped, and took my flashlight
to the pasture fence. They turned
to me where they lay, sad

and beautiful faces in the dark,
and I counted them — forty
near and far in the pasture,

turning to me, sad and beautiful
like girls very long ago
who were innocent, and sad

because they were innocent,
and beautiful because they were
sad. I switched off my light.

But I did not want to go,
not yet, nor knew what to do
if I should stay, for how

in that great darkness could I explain
anything, anything at all.
I stood by the fence. And then

very gently it began to rain.

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At 54D the clue for TIED was “Like some tongues.” I missed this song when it came out in 2018. It’s by the Wombats. Turn it up!

See you next time, Chatterheads. Thanks for stopping by.