In my wasted youth, I once worked a summer job as a waiter at Shoney’s. It is an experience that I do not recommend. But it did teach me two valuable things: 1) How not to drown in a puddle of my own shame when I walked through the dining room with my fellow waiters and sang a birthday song that began: “Happy, happy birthday, we’re so glad you came”; and 2) That when the surly cooks ran out of chicken fried steak, they would shout “86 the chicken fried steak!” through the pass.
Saying “86” to something, in restaurant lingo, means that it is no longer there, it is finished, it is no longer on the menu. This is the only sense in which I have ever heard the term used in my entire life.
But according to Wikipedia, which naturally has an entry on the termThere are two more meanings. “86” can also apply to people a restaurant refuses to serve, and some slang dictionaries say it can refer to murder.
Which brings us to former FBI Director James Comey, Instagram, and a photo of seashells.
86 shells!
In 2025, Comey posted on Instagram an image of shells arranged in the shape of two numbers: “86 47.”
James Comey’s seashell post.
James Comey’s seashell post.
Trump, our 47th president, has long held a grudge against Comey, dating back to Comey’s investigation into Trump’s possible ties to Russia. famous trump fired Comey in 2017—then, just in case, he fired his prosecutor daughter in 2025.
Trump has been clear for years about his desire to use the power of the federal government to make life harder for Comey, and federal officials in his second term have been willing to comply.
Fortunately, they’ve also been pretty stupid. Through a series of astonishingly incompetent actions, the administration has now had its first indictment against Comey. scrapped in virginia—a loss so epic it beat Trump Acting U.S. Attorney for Virginia Firedalso.
