Blue Bunny Woes 😱 ✡️🌻 😱 🚀🚢 🗳️

Truth or Dare:  Before the Iran war all ships regardless of country of origin could pass through the Strait of Hormuz, no toll required.  That was then, this is now and the Strait is not open to all. Trump keeps saying that a deal with Iran is imminent.  Iran says that that it’s deal which involves our supposed ally Oman would block US and Israeli ships and would include “penalties” of up to 20% of the value of cargo on ships from countries that violate any of their terms. However, Trump still insists that all ships will be able to pass, no fees imposed, or at the very least no fees that aren’t paid to the US. All of these things can’t be true. Trump also insists that reports that the US is running out of key precision long-range and air-defense interceptor missile are fake news. The Washington Post, which Trump renamed yesterday the Washington Compost, says that he and Secretary of War/Beer Hegseth had a shouting match last weekend at Camp David when Trump learned for the first time (!) that the supplies of those missiles really are seriously depleted. Trump and Hegseth are now launching a leaker search to find out who told the Washinton (Com)Post about that verbal battle because tracking leakers will solve the missile shortage problem? Maybe Trump should pay more attention to missile supplies than to the reflecting pool, his Arc d’Trump, his ballroom, his helipad, and his golf course renovations.      

Peeps:  The Senate vote on Todd Blanche’s confirmation as Attorney General hasn’t taken place yet and now it might not because though Dead Men Walking Senators Tillis and Cornyn caved earlier this week, this morning Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski announced that she’s a definite no.  She had hinted yesterday that she was heading in that direction by saying that she’d been hearing from her consituents that they opposed Blanche’s confirmation.  It’s still not clear how Lousiana Dead Man walking Bill Cassidy will vote. He was a surprise guilty vote for Trump’s second impeachment so while he usually caves, he’s been known to cross Trump.  Given that Trump is responsible for him losing his primary, he has every reason to gift Trump with a no vote but then again he provided the key vote for RFK even though he knew he shouldn’t.  Absent a surprise visit to the Senate floor from the ailing Mitch McConnell, Blanche will not be confirmed even if Cassidy caves. McConnell reports that he’s been released from rehab and is now back home recuperating but unable to come back to work yet which could mean he really is recuperating but probably means that he’s decided to spend his final days at home. In either case, it doesn’t appear that he’ll show up for a vote.  Unfortunately Blanche can still remain on as Acting Attorney General.  Blanche’s now unlikely confirmation would require only a majority vote, but getting the full Senate to vote to hold Virus Guru Fauci in contempt of Congress would require 60 votes which explains why the whole Senate isn’t likely to vote on holding him in contempt.  Unfortunately for Fauci,  Kentucky’s Rand Paul really hates him and everything he stands for so instead of recommending a full Senate vote, he had his Homeland Security Committee vote Fauci in contempt. The vote was partisan with all the committee’s Republicans slamming Fauci. It’s absurd that Fauci, a key player in leading us out of COVID who received a commendation for his efforts from Trump, is now being punished for his efforts. Makes you wonder if anyone will answer the call the next time there’s a pandemic or if we’ll just have to rely on RFK, raw milk and Vitamin A.  As to RFK, this week the FDA approved Moderna’s new RNA flu shot, mFLUSIVA, for those over 50, but its not clear that RFK will support the CDC following suit.  The Moderna shot provides stronger protection from the flu because mRNA technology allows for it to be adapted to more closely match the prevailing flu virus than traditional vaccines that need a longer lead time. The good news is that the Senate has finally confirmed Dr Erica Schwartz as the new CDC head, the bad news is that RFK is still her boss and concern remains that much the way he impeded short lived CDC head Susan Monarez’s independence he’ll impact her decisions.

Everyone in Disarray: Most of the focus this week was on the results of the Michigan Senate primary and whether or not the Democrats can “heal” their self-inflicted wounds to keep the seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Senator Gary Peters but Trump suffered a few hits this week too.  The first one took place in Michigan where Thomas Smith, a retired engineer who had dropped out of Michigan’s 8^th District Congressional race a month ago, beat Trump endorsed candidated Amir Hassan even though he’d stopped campaigning and had stopped raising money. The second one took place last night when Trump’s candidate, incumbent Andy Ogles, lost his Tennessee primary to former state agriculture commisioner Charlie Hatcher in one of the state’s newly redrawn districts.  Apparently even with Trump’s endorsement, the new sections of Ogles’ district didn’t buy into Ogles’ extreme anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant views.  The district is still expected to go Republican in November.  In other Tennessee news, Trumpy Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn won her Governor primary which means that she’ll likely be Tennessee’s next governor. 

More 💩:  One thing we know about Trump and his mini Goebbels Steven Miller is that they are both very persistent.  The Supreme Court ruled against the rationale for most of his tariffs, so Trump found another law and reinstituted tariffs.  Yesterday he followed suit with birth right citizenship by issuing two executive orders, one directed at children of “alien enemies” the other intended to clamp down on birth tourism.  Though both provisions may appeal to the anti-immigrant set, it’s not clear that either will withstand court review nor is it clear who gets to define who is an enemy alien or who gets to determine what constitutes birth tourism so cue the lawsuits. Ohio Republican Congressman Max Miller/former Trump aide is still in Congress running for reelection but the drip of accusations against him continues.  Yesterday’s news concerned his daughter’s blue bunny.  The accusation, backed up by some very petty emails, is that Miller has been holding his daughter’s blue bunny hostage, refusing to turn it over during custody exchanges.  He may or may not be guilty of spouse and child abuse, he may or may not be an ecstasy user, but holding the soothing toy back, that’s just mean.  As of today, for “only” $100,000 per month you can subscribe to Trump’s market moving Truth Social posts, getting to see them before the general public because in addition to all his other crimes and misdeamonors, Trump is all in on insider trading and who is going to stop him. No worries though, because yesterday South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott said that Trump is “the paragon of ethics.” And add New Jersey to the list of states that have had their water systems attacked by what are to believed to be Iran hackers, by everyone but Trump who probably blames NJ’s Governor or maybe even Minnesota’s Governor.     

 

 

Ballot Box Blues😱 ✡️🌻😱 🚀🚢 🗳️

Ballot Box 🗳️:  As I write this morning, with >95% of the vote counted, the race to be Michigan’s Democratic nominee for the Senate is still up in the air.  Progressive, anti-Israel candidate Abdul El Sayed is leading the more mainstream Haley Stevens 48.6% to 47.3%.  The NY Times hasn’t called the race but is now saying that El Sayed is likely to win.  Pre-election polls, or at the very least the ones that the progressive crowd had been touting, had projected that El Sayed would win by somewhere around 7 points so while a victory, assuming he wins, is a victory, his may not bode well for him or the Democrats in November because beating the Republican’s Senate candidate, former Congressman Mike Rogers, won’t be easy.  Beyond the Michigan Senate race, results for the progressive/socialist set were mixed.  Bernie Sanders backed Progressive Sunrise Movement co-founder William Lawrence won his 7^th District Michigan House primary mostly because he was up against two moderates who split the vote. The Michigan’s 7^th is currently held by a Republican so, again while a victory is a victory, a primary victory by a progressive might not lead to a Democratic pick-up in November. Elsewhere in Michigan, Democratic Socialist Donavan McKinney is locked in a tight race with incumbent Shri Thanedar for Michigan’s 13^th District.  In St. Louis, Missouri Democratic Socialist and former Squad Member Cori Bush who’d been trying to knock off incumbent Wesley Bell who’d knocked her out of Congress in 2024 lost by over 20 points.

Blanche Update:  Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche moved one step closer to getting the Acting removed from his title after Dead Man Walking Senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis bought into his “fingers crossed behind his back” promise not to proceed with Trump’s slush fund for insurrectionists. They are both also on board with Trump, Don Jr, Eric, and the Trump Organization getting their tax obligations, or at the very least the amounts they owe but failed to pay for prior years, zeroed out.  Cornyn’s and Tillis’ caving was not all that surprising because while their days in the Senate are now numbered, those lucrative lobbying jobs and board appointments beckon and pissing off Trump would likely put their future earnings power in jeopardy.  As predicted Maine’s Senator Susan Collins is the recipient of this confirmation vote’s golden ticket.  She announced yesterday that she will be voting against Blanche’s nomination.  With Mitch McConnell teetering at death’s door and unable to vote, that means that the golden tickets are all used up. Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski hasn’t yet announced how she’ll vote but Trump’s been coughing up benefits and carve outs for her state, so she’ll probably cave.  That’s particularly awkward for the pro-choice Murkowski since yesterday a tape of a call that Blanche had with an anti-abortion religious group surfaced.  On that call, Blanche said he is planning to roll back abortion access even in states that have laws protecting it.  Those efforts to further screw women will likely include eliminating access to Mifipristone. 

Peeps:  Republican Congressman Max Miller who as of now is still running for reelection continues to deny that he ever abused his wife and child, instead asserting that the problem is that his lying wife is nuts. Apparently, former Melania aide Stephanie Grisham who he dated and allegedly abused during Trump One is nuts too. Reports are that Miller who used to work for Trump is even resisting an uncharacteristically polite nudge from Trump who told him that while he thinks he’s a nice guy and as of now he still has his endorsement, it’s time for him to step aside not because of the abuse allegations but because recent polling is turning against him.  Miller appeared on Jake Tapper’s CNN show yesterday where he denied that he’d ever hurt his wife and child, he also said that rumors about him and ecstasy aren’t true because the only drug he indulges in is testosterone, a self-own since excessive testosterone use can lead to aggressive behavior like wife beating. Miller also continued to cast aspersions at his father-in-law Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno, not so subtly referring to old rumors about the married Senator seeking sex on a gay dating website.  Miller is now being investigated by the House Ethic’s committee, a process that could take a while.  Unlike Miller, Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards just announced that he is terminating his reelection bid.  The 56-year-old Edwards was censured yesterday for “persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct towards to two young female staffers.” One of those staffers was 19 when the harassment began, the other was in her early 20s.  Trump’s still not happy with Washington DC US Attorney/Fox Alum Jeanine Pirro but at least for now Pirro who showed up for her meeting at the White House with documentary proof that Secretary of the Interior Doug Burghum had “misled” Trump about his responsibility for the Reflecting Pond fiasco, still has her job. 

Iran War: Trump, who is re-ripping up the White House lawn because his newly built helipad is leaning precipitously, is once again talking up an imminent deal to open up the Strait of Hormuz while also announcing that the duplicitous Iranians are not to be trusted. Also, news is that we are running out of long-range missiles which is either true or an excuse for Trump and War/Beer Pete seeking more defense spending or both.  Once upon a time we had adults in the White House and someone other than a weekend Fox host running the Pentagon as well as experienced professionals serving as negotiators.  Sure, they sometimes screwed up but at least they had a chance of succeeding.                 

  

  

Taxman 😱 ✡️🌻😱 🚀🚢 🌮

🌮🌮🌮: It was another TACO🌮weekend. Trump promised a massive military action against Iran but then called it off saying that he was once again on the verge of opening the Strait of Hormuz and getting Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions, with the  “perimeters” of a deal, perimeter being another one of his malapropisms.   His 🌮came at the request of “regional allies and Saudi Arabia” but was apparently a surprise to Israel who, according to senior Israeli officials, were “left in the fog,” updated about his change in plans through Trump’s social media. Meantime, the FBI has tied dozens of water and wastewater system cyber attacks in seven states to Iran. Trump shrugged off the attacks, blaming the ones in Minnesota on the gross incompetence of Minnesota’s Governor Tim Walz even though he has been told by his intelligence officials that the attacks originated in Iran.  It wasn’t just danger to the water and sewer systems that Trump was spinning, he also continued to lie about the cause of the damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pond, lashing out at his handpicked Washington DC US Attorney Jeanine “Judge Box of Wine” Pirro for dropping the charges against David Hearn, the Olympic canoeist who’d been indicted for slashing the pools liner.  Pirro, who had managed to obtain that indictment against Hearn before researching the facts behind his alleged crime, admitted that documents she’s since received from the Department of the Interior reveal that the damage she previously attributed to Hearn was a “result of flawed installation by the contractor." In other words, the Mar a Lago buddy of Trump’s appropriately named Greenwater company had botched the job.  Trump’s buddy had been awarded the contract and told to complete his assignment toot suite so that the pool would be ready for Trump’s 250^th anniversary soiree. He apparently prioritized toot suite over doing it well.  Unlike Pirro, who when push came to shove, was unwilling to overtly lie in a court of law, Trump’s other toady, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum is sticking with the “canoeist did it” story, insisting that the pool job his department oversaw was not botched. Judge Box of Wine may be back at Fox sooner than she’d planned because speaking truth is a definite no-no in Trump land especially when the result of that truth casts aspersions on Trump.   

 

Blanche Saga: When last week ended, Todd Blanche’s confirmation was being held up by Dead Men Walking Senators John Cornyn and Tom Tillis over their objections to Trump’s $1.8 billion anti-weaponization “slush” fund and its wide-ranging Trump tax amnesty provision.  Over the weekend Trump doubled down, saying that despite Blanche’s verbal promise not to move forward with the slush fund, he most definitely would move forward with it especially if Blanche, who he said would be the best Attorney General in the history of the US, wasn’t confirmed. Late last night, Blanche sort of caved.  He confirmed in a signed statement posted on X (twitter) that the Justice Department would rescind the order that created the anti-weaponization fund and in an accompanying but curiously unsigned statement walked back parts, although not all of Trump’s IRS protections. The “clarified” IRS protections would grant immunity from audits “only” to Trump, Don Jr, Eric, and the Trump Organization, rather than the broader pool of Trump family members and their associates, a group who would have benefited from the original Justice Department deal with Trump. The “get out of audits free card” would not pertain to future audits.  Though they shouldn’t, Blanche’s concessions satisfy Cornyn and maybe will be enough for Tillis though he hasn’t confirmed that yet. If Tillis is on board, the concessions, even the watered-down IRS concession, will probably be enough to get Blanche’s confirmation out of the Judiciary committee onto the floor of the Senate for his confirmation vote and if history is a guide, all Republicans except for Susan Collins who given her upcoming election will probably be awarded a “bye,” will vote for his confirmation.  It would be naïve to believe that Trump won’t still try to compensate the marauders who invaded the Capitol by reupping the weaponization fund or through other means.  It’s also absurd to think of his IRS deal, assuming it stands the test of time and the courts, as anything other than a bigly win for Trump.

Miller Time:  Ohio Congressman Max Miller, who “allegedly” poured hot water on his now ex-wife Emily and broke their two-year-old daughter’s collar bone finally had the rough weekend he deserves.  After he posted a video saying that Emily, the daughter of Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno, was unstable and had been lying about how he’d hurt her and their child, asserting that the hot water was tossed in fun, citing as “proof” that it was a nothing burger that six days after he scalded her she had cooked him dinner, his father in law Senator Moreno issued a statement in which he finally defended his daughter.  Senator Moreno said that the “last two years have been pure hell” for his daughter, his wife, and his family. That out of concern for the safety of his daughter he had hoped to keep their situation private but that Miller’s “increasingly erratic and dangerous behavior had made that impossible.”  He then said that Miller should step down from Congress, a bit embarrassing for others like fellow Ohio Congressman Jim “Gym” Jordan who just been on TV expressing support for Miller. Adding to the ugliness, Miller doubled down, attacking his ex-father-in-law Moreno by casting aspersions on his sexuality, implying that Moreno who may or may not have previously posted on a gay dating site was in the closet. Miller should resign, but it’s not clear he will.  It’s also not clear that Speaker Johnson who needs his vote will admit that saw any of the relevant social media posts. One person whose benefitting from the Miller mess may be his Democratic opponent Brian Poindexter, then again Trump has endorsed Miller and so far hasn’t pulled his endorsement.  Who needs soap operas when reality is so much more riveting?  

More 💩:  RFK appeared with CNN’s Dana Bash yesterday.  It’s not clear why anyone thinks he deserves Sunday morning airtime.  He was combative and lied a lot, Bash tried to push back, and she did but not enough.  He blamed Democrats for making him look crazy as if that’s why he looks crazy. He continued to blame autism on vaccines citing hundreds of non- existent studies, he blamed Virus Guru Fauci who some of his Republican colleagues want jailed for everything, and when asked about what he’d do in a future pandemic he said he’d prioritize the Constitution. Measles levels on his watch surged to a 35 year high last year and he’s talking about the Constitution for future COVID like outbreaks.  🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ Tomorrow is primary day in Kansas, Missouri, Virginia, Washington, and in Michigan where the Democratic Senate race for the seat being vacated by Senator Gary Peters is the one to watch. Also, 80-year-old Democratic Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur who is running for reelection was injured in a hit and run car crash. Reports are that she and her aide who was also hurt are hospitalized in stable condition, hopefully far more stable than Mitch McConnell who is either recovering from being old and infirm in rehab, on life support, or according to some dead.  If it’s the latter, we might know by tomorrow because today is the last day that a special election for his seat can be called. And because, of course, Elon Musk who once said he was out of the election business, is not.  He’s planning on spending boatloads of money for Republican candidates because he’s rich and he can.    

 

 

Diversionary Tactics 😱 ✡️🌻😱 🚀🚢

Slush:   During his Senate Confirmation hearing Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said that Trump’s weaponization/slush fund, which includes a provision granting permanent tax amnesty to Trump, his family, his companies, and any affiliated companies, was dead. He refuses to put what he said in writing, a confirmation that he was lying. Blanche is a Trump tool, more than 1,200 former DOJ employees and hundreds of federal prosecutors, including former colleagues from the SDNY have signed letters opposing his confirmation.  In addition, he has intentionally mishandled the Epstein files, likely to hide anything that might implicate Trump. Despite all those flaws soon to be ex-Senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis say that they’d happily confirm Blanche but only if he first puts his promise to nix the weaponization fund, including its Trump tax amnesty, in writing. The catch is that Trump wants his slush fund and really, really wants that tax amnesty so he won’t let Blanche put what Cornyn and Tillis insist they must have in writing. Assuming the dead man walking duo aren’t persuaded to cave, their demand is a problem for Blanche and his orange client because both Cornyn and Tillis are on the Senate Judiciary Committee.  With all of the Committee’s Democrats voting against his confirmation, Blanche can’t make it out of committee to the Senate floor for a vote without Cornyn and Tillis’ support.  Yesterday, providing further indication of how important the slush fund, particularly its tax amnesty provision is to him, Trump threatened to pull Blanche’s nomination until January, resubmitting it once Cornyn and Tillis are gone. Putting aside that there’s a chance, albeit a small one, that Republicans won’t control the Senate come January, Trump’s threat is form over substance because he can keep Blanche on as Acting Attorney General for as long as he wants though being confirmed is better than being acting. It’s very revealing of how important the tax amnesty is to Trump.  We’ve long known that he owes at least $100 million plus interest on one of his prior returns, It’s fair to assume he and some other members of his family owe or anticipate that they will owe much more because why else would he be fighting over a “mere” $100 million, small potatoes for someone with a $6 billion plus net worth. There’s got to be more to his financial picture. 🤷‍♀️

 

The Fauci Diversion: The on again, off again Iran war is mostly on, economic growth is anemic, inflation continues, and Trump’s sinking polls are dragging down Republicans, so this week Republicans dragged Virus Guru Fauci in to testify about all the horrible things he did and the lies he “told” during the COVID pandemic. COVID killed 1.1 million of us but thanks to Fauci and his team’s efforts and Operation Warp Speed championed by Trump, 3.2 million more didn’t die.  None of that matters to people like Senators Rand Paul and Bernie Moreno because where’s the fun in acknowledging that?  Instead, they went all in on attacking Fauci, who admittedly is a mere mortal who made mistakes at a fraught time in an attempt to protect people from a novel death causing virus. At the end of his first term Trump awarded Fauci a Presidential commendation for his efforts but that was back when Trump who gets a COVID vaccine every year still publicly admitted that COVID was a thing and before MAGA world concluded that all vaccines were bad and that Fauci and his ilk are devils incarnate. Trump’s commendation was nice, so was the Presidential Medal of Freedom that Fauci received from George W Bush for his AIDS work, but as it turns out neither is as valuable as the pardon that Biden granted Fauci before he left office.  Unfortunately, Biden’s pardon doesn’t protect Fauci for anything he says now so on the advice of his counsel he plead the Fifth instead of answer questions, many of which were intended to “catch” him up in what later could be claimed to be a criminal “misstatement.” A few Republicans are now threatening to prosecute Fauci for committing made-up state crimes to get around Biden’s federal pardon.  They’re also condemning him for pleading the Fifth because only Trump gets to do that.  Trump’s name is being emblazoned everywhere, but Fauci is the evil one?  Make it make sense.  Notably though he used the “F” word, cursing at the “evil” Fauci, Senator Moreno is still fully supportive of his son in law/ Representative Max Miller because all Max did was throw scalding water on Moreno’s daughter and break his two- year- old granddaughter’s collar bone.   Shifting back to the economy, the Federal Reserve now chaired by Trump’s new guy Kevin Warsh held interest rates constant rather than raise lower them in an effort to keep inflation under control.  Funny how former Fed Chair Jerome Powell was lambasted by Trump for doing the same. Regrettably, the bond market didn’t react well to what it viewed as Warsh’s incoherent accompanying statement. It remains skittish, something about expensive wars and tariffs fueling inflation so while the Fed Rate didn’t go up, long term interest rates did.  In other war news, Trump announced that his Board of Peace has reached an agreement for the "complete disarmament" of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza.  🤷‍♀️ 🤷‍♀️

 

More 💩:  Former FBI Head Jim Comey’s and his “86 47” shell configuration case were back in the news.  He’s trying to have the vindictive case against him thrown out.  To that end Comey’s lawyers asserted that he was illegally surveilled by the Secret Service, an argument bolstered by reports that Secret Service agents didn’t believe that Comey had done anything that warranted surveillance but were told that they had to pursue aggressive measures because Trump was seething about those shells.  Also, as crazy as it sounds, the DOJ sought confirmation from convicted Mafia killer Sammy Gravano and a few other people of that ilk.  They wanted Gravano to confirm that Comey’s use of “86” in his seashell post was a threat against Trump’s life.  Gravano said a “gangster would never use that term” and that he didn’t believe that Comey had nefarious intent.  In other words, fuhgeddaboudit, which is what Democrats would like to do about the Wisconsin Governor race. Last week, Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez dropped out due to alleged campaign finance irregularities, yesterday another leading contender, former Lt Governor/Senate candidate Mandela Barnes, followed suit.  He said he was dropping out because he couldn’t win but it appears that he dropped out over allegations that he used his position within the state’s Democratic party to pursue sexual encounters with young women.  Progressive candidate Francesca Hong who is endorsed by the Democratic Socialists is now leading in the polls. That’s nice for her but maybe bad for Democrats’ chances of keeping the governorship because she may be too left leaning for the 50:50 state. On the subject of socialists, against the advice of his advisors, NYC Mayor Mamdani announced he’d released the list of all those “rich” people who own “pied a terre” residences. The problem is that the list includes lots of people who live full time in those alleged pied a terre house, coops, and/or condos meaning that many of those identified as real estate tycoons are not and are not subject to the new tax.  Yesterday, the Mayor announced that he’s hired more staff, as in he’s spending more money, to help the misidentified fill out the annoying forms required to prove that they don’t owe the tax.  It increasingly looks like Mamdani is the flip sign of the Trump coin. By the way, though more people are jumping turnstiles, despite Mamdani’s campaign promise, buses are not free. Also, Bibi has not been arrested and though somewhere around 50% of NYC lawyers are Jewish, there are no Jews on Mamdani’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary, 🤷‍♀️ 🤷‍♀️ 🤷‍♀️

 

 
The Sixth Sense 😱 ✡️🌻😱 🚀🚢

War Drums:  Last night Jordan intercepted and destroyed five Iranian ballistic missiles that targeted US bases in the Kingdom. Also yesterday, together with Saudi Arabia the US carried out strikes on Iranian-backed militias in Iraq in response to Iranian attacks on Saudi oil facilities.  And because the world is one big Venn diagram with lots of overlapping circles, Iran considered but then held off on attacking a seaport in Ukraine.  The seaport attack would have been in response to a Ukrainian strike on an Iranian ship, which was a response to Iran and Russia providing each other with military assistance. Keeping with the Venn theme both Ukraine’s Zelenskyy and Israel’s Netanyahu were in Washington DC yesterday, where in addition to attending the funeral of their long-time, now forever gone supporter Senator Lindsey Graham they had individual closed-door meetings with Trump. Curiously, Laura Loomer, the right winger who has Trump on speed dial has done a radical 180 shift and is now a supporter of all things Ukraine. Maybe she’s been visited by Grahams’s ghost?  Netanyahu could use a supportive spook of his own because despite all the help he gets from Miriam Adelson’s wallet, his star continues to wane, taking all things Israel with it. With Graham out of the picture, Trump seems disinterested in Bibi’s satellite imagery of Iran repairing and building up its missile production infrastructure at its heavily fortified Pickaxe Mountain facility because while nukes and missiles may have been the reason Trump jumped into the war, now the orange one is looking for an exit door as even he seems to get that a 62% un-favorability rating (The Economist/YouGov), is a bad thing especially with the midterms in the not so distant future.  Trump’s refusal to acknowledge that affordability really is a thing and that the electorate cares about pocketbook issues, also explains why his DOJ has asked the Supreme Court to accelerate a review of his executive order restricting mail in voting because if Trump can’t appeal to voters with policies that benefit them, all that’s left is preventing those who blame him for their grocery, gas, and health care bills from voting altogether.  Mail-in voting and regulating elections are supposed to be the purview of states, rather than the federal government, but Trump’s sway with the Supreme Court should neve be underestimated, so it’s anyone’s guess how they’ll rule.

Peeps:  Former Senator Graham who no one expected to see exit so soon is gone. Energizer bunny Trump who frequently appears on the cusp of something dire continues to soldier on even if that soldiering includes incoherent speechifying and inopportune naps. Senator Mitch McConnell is another story altogether.  His handlers have produced another questionable proof of life picture of him with his wife former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao sitting by his side. The party line is that Mitch is now in rehab on the mend but not yet ready to reappear in the Senate chambers.  Nor is he up to meeting with Andy Beshear, Kentucky’s Democratic Governor.  The moderate Beshear who is frequently mentioned as a potential 2028 Democratic president or Veep candidate is getting lots of heat from the left of his party and from Kentucky’s dead man walking Congressman Thomas Massie who harbors delusional Twitter dreams about becoming Mitch’s interim replacement for not barging into Mitch’s room to personally take his pulse. It’s almost as if the Democratic Socialists want to take Beshear down 🤷‍♀️.  In any case, Mitch’s absence comes with benefits because no Mitch in the Senate chambers means the Republicans remain short a vote.  Yesterday, Jay Clayton, Trump’s pick for Director of National Intelligence was confirmed by a vote of 51 to 47 with all Democrats voting against him and all Republicans except for the absent Mitch and the mourning Darline Graham voting for him. At one point a few Democrats had planned to support Clayton’s nomination because while he lacks relevant experience he’s not the truly awful Interim DNI Bill Pulte who fired more intelligence staff yesterday, but Clayton lost their votes by refusing to say that Trump lost the 2020 election during his confirmation hearing.  Mitch’s absence didn’t matter for Clayton, but it might matter for Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche whose confirmation remains up in the air. Republicans John Cornyn and Thom Tillis want him to formally commit to “spiking” Trump’s weaponization fund.  As of this morning, that has not happened.  Worth noting that both Cornyn and Tillis, who famously questioned Hegseth’s suitability but then voted for him anyway, tend to cave.  In other people news, details about the horrific abuse that Congressman Max Miller has perpetrated on his wife, the daughter of Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno, keep surfacing.  According to police reports Miller who has been endorsed by Trump,  poured hot water on his wife, put a gun to her head, and may have broken his two-year-old daughter’s mysteriously broken collar bone.  Crickets from Dad/Senator Moreno and Trump about all this. Speaker Johnson says that despite the police reports the accusations against Mills are just “allegations.” Others have been booted from the House for lesser crimes, but Johnson needs Miller’s vote and anyway he’s not a Democrat so that wife abuse thing does not count. Right about now Graham Platner probably wishes that he was a Republican.

More 💩:  On Friday, an Energy Department attorney who apparently didn’t want to be disbarred for lying to a judge, admitted in a court filing that the administration withheld federal grants from states because they had “awarded their electoral college votes” to Kamala Harris during the 2024 election. Similarly having two Democratic Senators was another reason for doing the same.  Contrast that to Joe Biden who intentionally provided energy related funding to Republican controlled states.  In other news, while it’s good that $600 million that had been pledged to international vaccine alliance GAVI is now being unfrozen, all is not good on the vaccine front.  Measles is at record levels, virus guru Fauci is being skewered again in Congress because apparently saving lives is a crime, and Trump is pressing RFK to find those phony links between autism and vaccines.          

 

 

99 Days 😱 ✡️🌻😱 🚀🚢

Rinse Repeat:  It’s not clear why any journalists attend White House Correspondents dinners in the best of times but particularly now given how hostile this White House is to their profession, but they do.  Friday night, the correspondent crowd held their Mulligan dinner.  Trump, who routinely calls all unflattering news fake, was the featured speaker. His speech which was peppered with mostly lame jokes also seethed with his usually hatred. Probably because he has a crush on her, he targeted CNN’s Kaitlin Collins, calling the award she’d received for covering his Oval Office blow-up with Ukraine’s Zelenskyy a fake, and then, in a joke that fell flat, he compared her to trans actress Dylan Mulvaney.  Moving on to news that matters, after once again threatening to blow Iran out of existence, Trump pulled another TACO, not because he doesn’t want to obliterate Iran but because his military advisors, most notably Joint Chiefs Chair Dan Caine expressed concerned about our “declining inventories of air defense interceptors.” According to CNN, Veep Vance, who this week has moved into 2028 poll position over “little” Marco Rubio, also “expressed concern,” not all that surprising since the Veep’s never been a fan of the war.  Keeping with the usual blame Biden for everything theme, UN Ambassador Waltz, the Signal chat fall guy, blamed Sleepy Joe for using up US stockpiles by sending so much aid to Ukraine. Possibly because he’s dead and can’t speak for himself, some clips from a documentary in the works about former Senator Lindsey Graham appeared in the Wall Street Journal over the weekend.  The shared snippets reveal that Graham had pursued a “yearslong quest to topple the Iranian regime” and that he pushed for “even more aggressive action” than Israel’s Netanyahu was willing to take.  Graham’s now permanent inability to whisper in Trump’s ear could also explain why Trump pulled another TACO this weekend.  The WSJ Journal also reported that Graham sensed he was running out of time, that he told the documentarian that he “didn’t have time to sleep because he needed to finish off the Iranian regime; sort out a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine; and establish ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel by the end of the year.  A memorial service for Graham is scheduled to take place tomorrow in Washington DC.

Data Disruptions: After facing boatloads of criticism, the Pentagon restored the records of the four US soldiers killed last week to its official Iran war casualty database.  In addition, after claiming press reports about the number of soldiers who’ve been injured during the Iran war had been exaggerated, the Pentagon now admits that the 600 plus figure is substantially correct.  They also added 127 to the total, a number that reflects injuries sustained during last week’s attacks of US installations by Iran.  To save face, while also making it a little more challenging for the press to access casualty data, the Pentagon is now including recent deaths and injuries on a different page, in a new category called “Overseas Operations Casualties” to be distinguished from Epic Fury Casualties.  The thing is if your family member has been killed or injured, they’re still dead or injured regardless of which category they’re included in. Put this under one of the stupid things that happens when the Pentagon is led by a weekend Fox anchor kowtowing to a lame “fake” news leader.     

More 💩:  Miami resident Katie Phang lost her MSNBC weekend show when Comcast spun MSNBC off into Versant which renamed in addition to changing the station’s name to MSNOW closed down its Miami studio.  She hasn’t gone away.  In an action filed under the Administrative Procedure Act, she’s been arguing that Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche and the DOJ’s excessive and unexplained redactions of the Epstein files prevent public accountability and transparency for Epstein’s victims. Her case continues to gain traction. DC District Court Judge Sullivan who earlier ruled much to the DOJ’s dismay that Phang has standing, has now ordered the DOJ to provide him with unredacted versions of specific records or submit detailed legal justifications and logs for continued redactions under court review so that he can see what it is that the DOJ is hiding from the public.  Needless to say, Blanche and his orange “client” are not happy about that.  Assuming that Sullivan gets access to the files he’s requested we may be one step closer to seeing what remains hidden and it’s fair to assume that’s what’s hidden is being hidden to protect a certain someone and his closest (most generous) friends. The orange one probably isn’t all that happy with the uncowed NY Times continued focus on his Qatari gifted plane’s inadequacies.  The NYT which is as a matter of principle doesn’t attend White House Correspondent dinners, reported this weekend more about the plane’s lack of security features including that in addition to lacking adequate missile defenses and presidential communication facilities, the plane also lacks a lower second “emergency” exit like the one that George W Bush used during 9.11.  The Secret Service didn’t want Trump flying on the plane at all, but he was determined to have it put in service in advance of his 250-birthday party celebration.  They thought Trump would limit its use to domestic flights, but he insisted on flying it to Turkey.  He ended up flying out of Turkey on one of the older, more secure Air Force Ones because the threats that were first reported by Israel but dismissed as more Israeli histrionics turned out to be real.  

Etcetera: Border Czar Tom Homan admits that just maybe the INS hasn’t been doing a good job vetting its hires.  That admission follows news that the INS agent who shot and killed a Colombian man in Maine was hired despite his record of serious mental problems and violence.  Troy Jackson is officially Maine’s new Democratic Senate candidate.  Democrats who are once again reported to be in disarray hope that he’s got what it takes to take down the until now unsinkable Senator Susan Collins and that the only bad thing he’s ever done is throw a bottle at a female colleague.  The midterms, assuming there are midterms and that all eligible voters who want to vote get to vote, are in 99 days.   

 

Tariffs Are Back 😱 ✡️🌻😱 🚀🚢

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire:  We all know that Trump lies a lot, but his Pentagon’s newest lie is a despicable doozy.  Pentagon officials have removed the four soldiers who died this week from the list of Iran war casualties asserting that because their deaths occurred after the ceasefire that Trump declared in April, they don’t count as war deaths.  Putting aside that the ceasefire is a myth, that is an insult to the fallen and their families but it’s in character for Trump who insists that we’ve won the Iran war, something he repeatedly claims while threatening to obliterate more of Iran’s infrastructure every time they or their Houthi surrogates attack another ship. Threats or no threats those ship attacks keep coming, which explains why the price of a barrel of Brent crude surged to over $100 for a while yesterday before settling back a bit. Trump isn’t just lying, he’s also all in on his TACO dance.  After announcing that he’d agreed to provide Saudi Arabia with nuclear capability in a deal that didn’t include the safeguards and inspections that we’ve imposed on other allies to insure that approved civilian uses don’t morph into the manufacturing of nuclear bombs and then getting scathing public criticism from some of his usual Congressional allies and Israel he’s back tracked.  He now insists that the deal is preconditioned on the Saudis joining the Abraham Accords which would require that they normalize relations with Israel. That’s an unwelcome surprise to the Saudis who have no interest in doing that, so at least for now, with now doing a lot of heavy lifting, the nuke deal is on ice. Also, tariffs are back. In substance the newly imposed tariffs look a lot like the ones that the Supreme Court ruled against except they are justified by different laws, mostly by Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 which allows for tariffs on trading partners over policies related to forced labor in global supply chains. It’s hard to believe that Trump whose trade minions have spent the past few months searching for evidence of those labor violations cares much about forced labor but if that’s what it takes to get his tariffs back he’s all in.  The new tariffs which replace the terming out tariffs that Trump imposed following the Supreme Court decision cover “roughly” 60 trading partners, including China, the European Union, and the UK, and account for 99.4% of US imports.  Trump repeatedly says that affordability is a fake concept ginned up by Dumbocrats so why should anyone be surprised that he remains all in on inflationary tariffs during an election year when voters are focused on rising costs?

Legal Morass:  We haven’t heard much from Congressman Jim “Gym” Jordan lately, maybe because he’s positioning himself to challenge Speaker Mike Johnson as head of the House Republican caucus after the midterms but he’s back.  Yesterday, he referred former special counsel Jack Smith to the Department of Justice, claiming that Smith made false statements to Congress while testifying about his Trump investigation. Smith’s lawyers deny the allegation, saying that he testified truthfully but since its Trump’s DOJ it’s fair to assume that Smith is in for some torture.  Besides, the DOJ needs something to distract from their most recent screw-up.  Yesterday, after being skewered by District Court Judge Arun Subramanian for violating protections given to journalists as well as for “slipshod” legal work, the DOJ withdrew the subpoenas that had demanded grand jury testimony and phone records from NY Times journalists as well as the additional subpoenas for their families’ phones. Those subpoenas had been issued to placate Trump who remains irate about the NY Times article about how he flew to Turkey on his Qatari gifted plane even though the plane hadn’t been retrofitted with the critical communication and security features included on the old Air Force One, the plane he hates because it doesn’t have Trump approved gold accoutrements. Though Trump continues to insist that the Qatari plane is up to snuff, the NY Times article was spot on about its security inadequacies which explains why it is back in the shop having all those neat and very expensive security features added. In other legally fraught news, the DOJ has dropped its demand that the University of Pennsylvania turn over a list of Jewish people on its campus. The DOJ’s rationale for demanding the list was that it was needed as part of its investigation into anti-Semitism but WTF a “Jewish list.” What could possibly go wrong with that?  In other legal news Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche hasn’t been confirmed yet, but a lot of arm twisting is going on so it’s probably just a matter of time.  In addition, since Trump’s CDC nominee Erika Schwarts now has Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy’s support she is expected to be confirmed but since not enough Senators attended yesterday’s Health Committee meeting her confirmation is still on hold.. While she is expected to pass muster, Sean Kaufman, Trump’s nominee for assistant secretary for preparedness and response, might not. His problem is that he previously made lots of anti-vaccine statements and also dissed lifesaving vitamin K shots for infants.  Just what we need an anti-vaccine, anti-RNA guy dealing with the next pandemic.  By the way, there have been somewhere around 11,5000 cases of cyclosporiasis, the gnarly parasite that RFK insists he has under control even though he doesn’t.

More 💩:  Most of us don’t pay much attention to the really skeevy Tate Brothers Andrew and Tristan but among the so-called manosphere they’re influencer idols because who cares about their misogyny, and those credible accusations of trafficking of girls and rape anyway. Earlier this year with a lift from the Trump administration, the Tates who are dual citizens of the US and the UK had been freed from confinement in Romania and allowed to travel to the US where they’ve been busy hobnobbing with lots of MAGA types in Florida.  Not everyone in Florida was happy about them being there which may explain why they’re now in US federal custody awaiting extradition to the UK where they face a total of 59 combined charges involving seven alleged victims. Andrew Tate is charged with 42 counts, including rape, human trafficking, assault, and indecent images of a child, while Tristan Tate faces 17 counts including rape and human trafficking.  A number of their MAGA fans, a group that included Don Jr, Barron Trump, Alina Habba, and Candace Owens, among others have gone quiet, but some are sticking with them including Tucker Carlson who blames their woes on their outspoken criticism of Israel because that rape stuff is so not a problem when you can just blame Israel. Back from her short maternity leave, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insists that Trump won’t intervene on their behalf but it’s early so who knows, a TACO could be in the works.