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.    

 

Proliferation  😱 ✡️🌻😱 🚀🚢

Quagmire:  Under pressure from regional mediators Trump is considering whether or not to pursue a 10-day ceasefire with Iran in order to reopen the Strait of Hormuz but he’s also weighing the option of going all in on war by launching a massive military campaign.  Complicating matters Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis announced a blockade of Saudi Arabia shipping intended to cut off the Red Sea route the Saudis are using to ship oil around the blockade in Hormuz.  Wars even if they’re called excursions or operations don’t come cheap which is why Trump has Secretary of War/Beer Pete Hegseth asking for more money.  Yesterday during his appearance before the Senate where he was pushing Trump’s $87.6 billion supplemental funding request he said that the war has cost $37.5 billion to date. He testified that the supplement is needed to replenish stocks of all those bombs and rockets that despite his and Trump’s continued insistence otherwise have not eviscerated Iran military capabilities.  Naturally, he blamed the shrinking weapon stockpile on Biden for providing so much assistance to Ukraine because every problem is still Biden’s fault. Ignoring that lots of the huge amount that was allocated for defense in last year’s funding package still hasn’t been spent and that a whole lot of money is hanging out in the bloated Department of Homeland Security budget he said that without the passage of the supplemental package, he’ll have to cut back on crucial items like troop training but definitely not on his plans to shoot all of the male troops full of testosterone, because priorities.  While Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine also argued for the added funding, he said that the military will figure out a way to do what it needs to do even if it’s not forthcoming because they always manage to muddle through. In other regional news, yesterday Trump approved a “landmark” nuclear deal for Saudi Arabia that will provide the Kingdom with a civilian nuclear program while also opening the door for local enrichment of uranium. The deal is very controversial; the Saudis have been pressing for US signoff on its nuclear aspirations for a long time but have been turned down repeatedly.  Trump came close to giving them approval during his first administration but then was persuaded not to. Though the Saudis insist that their program would be for civilian purposes only, they’re also on record saying that they’ll pursue a military nuclear program if Iran ever manages to produce the bombs that we say they are or at least were close to producing. It’s hard not to believe that Trump signed off on the Saudi’s program in exchange for Saudi Arabia’s continued support of his priorities, personal and national.  The Kingdom is currently a US ally but then again there was a time when Iran was an ally too.  On the subject of allies, when he campaigned for Mayor, NYC’s Mamdani promised to arrest Israel’s Bibi Netanyahu if he visited NYC during his term.  Israel’s Prime Miniters typically attend the regularly scheduled UN General Assembly meetings that take place every September in NYC. Netanyahu is expected to attend this year’s. Mamdani admitted yesterday that since he’s not a king, and not even a prince, he can’t arrest him. Israel is scheduled to hold new elections in October so who knows how much longer Bibi will be PM. The elections will be messy because Israel’s elections generally are but unlike other countries in the Middle East, Israel is a democracy and holds regular elections.     

Primary Update:  Yesterday was all about Arizona.  All of the candidates endorsed by Trump won their Republican primaries.  Since only election deniers get Trump endorsements, all of the winning Republicans are absolutely positively sure that Biden did not beat Trump in 2020. Among them is Congressman Andy Biggs who easily won his gubernatorial primary.  Biggs, a supporter of those friendly tourists who ransacked the Capitol on January 6^th, tried to get Arizona’s 2020 presidential election results tossed by pressuring Arizona’s House Speaker Rusty Bowers to sign a letter calling for official decertification.  Biggs will face off against Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs who is running for reelection. Elections in Arizona are typically very close so while the Governor, Attorney General, and Secretary of State are currently all Democrats that could easily change which is why Trump had DOJ officials monitoring polling places in Maricopa, Apache and Pima Counties yesterday because if you can’t win legitimately, scaring voters away and/or questioning the legitimacy of election outcomes is Trump’s strategy and they probably wanted to get some practice time in before November.  On the Democratic front, moderate incumbent Greg Stanton easily fended off his progressive challenger Kai Newkirk who taking a page from the “progressive” handbook had attacked his long-term support for Israel.  There was no primary in New Jersey yesterday, but Democratic Governor Mikie Sherill announced that due to a “glitch” in the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission’s software system, 6000 non-citizens were automatically registered to vote between 2023 and 2024 when the “glitch” was fixed.  Of the 6000 registered, 400 actually voted though none of their votes, which crossed party lines, impacted the outcomes of any elections.  It’s good that Sherill went public with the problem which took place before she was governor, however not so good that it happened at all and that it’s surfacing while Trump is pressing to disenfranchise so many with his coveted SAVE Act. Moving on to South Carolina, apparently Trump’s encouragement and endorsement have worked.  Former Senator Lindsey Graham’s sister Darline who was supposed to be only an interim Senator is now running; however, with no chance of winning, the eccentric Nancy Mace is not.     

Literally More 💩:  RFK says that the explosive diarrhea causing cyclosporiasis parasite is under control.  It’s not. Also, despite a statement on Monday that Taylor Farms, coincidentally a big Republican contributor, had been falsely identified as the source of the still spreading cyclosporiasis parasite outbreak due to a false positive test result, it probably is the source, or at least one of the sources.  In other not MAHA news, RFK announced yesterday that he’s pausing over $1 billion in federal Medicaid funding to California and Minnesota, something about fraud but probably more about keeping in Trump’s good graces.  

 

Split Screens😱 ✡️🌻😱 🚀🚢⚽️

War and ⚽️:  Spain won the FIFA World Cup.  Trump who spent part of his weekend playing golf attended the Sunday match despite the escalating Iran war and even though New Jersey’s Meadowlands stadium doesn’t have the super secure ballroom he says he absolutely must have in order to safely host events in Washington.  The Canadian smoke covering parts of the Northeast is gone, at least for now, but not gone enough for Trump who is threatening to impose tariffs on our northern neighbors for their failure to adequately “sweep” their forests.  Parts of downtown Manhattan were flooded by the torrential rain that hit the area on Saturday night while another person died from Legionnaire’s disease on the Upper East Side. The FDA now says it goofed when it cited Taylor Farm’s Mexican lettuce as the source of the gnarly Cyclospora outbreak that’s infected thousands, about what you’d expect from the currently understaffed FDA and their also understaffed CDC cousin which stopped monitoring Cyclospora outbreaks because Elon Musk and his Doge geniuses thought that parasite monitoring was so yesterday.  Usha Vance gave birth to a baby boy, VP Vance’s fourth child.  The Vance’s baby was planned but if Secretary of War/Beer Pete Hegseth’s testosterone for male troops plans are implemented there will be a slew of very unplanned “rape” babies born soon, at least that’s what Fox’s Jesse Watters more than implied (celebrated?) on Friday.  While Usha was in labor, the rest of us were watching football, washing lettuce, seeking shelter from the rain deluge, and/or doing our best to evade legionella infected water towers, four more soldiers died in the escalating Iran war that’s now almost five months old. The four soldiers, three of whom died during a strike on a US base in Jordan and another from shrapnel during a “controlled” detonation of an Iranian drone in northern Iraq, are just the tip of the iceberg, thousands more have died in the region, and an additional 430 American soldiers have been injured or wounded since the war began. Nevertheless, Trump who has upped attacks on Iran insists we’ve won, and that the Strait of Hormuz is under our control but like many things he says, as our regional allies who keep on getting struck by Iran’s missiles and drones know, that’s fake news. 

Senate Mania:  Though Maine’s Democratic party selection process for replacing the Nazi tattooed, accused rapist Graham Planter isn’t over yet, the state’s Democrats appear to be coalescing behind former state Senate president Troy Jackson.  Seeing the writing on the wall, three other of major candidates including Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, physician Nirav Shah and former congressional staffer Jordan Wood, have dropped out of the race. Jackson who shares most of Platner’s “progressive” views, is the guy who was previously accused of throwing a bottle at one of Platner’s female supporters. Apparently Jackson’s bottle throwing pales in comparison to Platner’s sexcapades and ink 🤷‍♀️ so that’s not a problem, or not yet a problem.  While the Maine mess has been getting lots of attention, there’s a lot going on in other Senate races. In Nebraska where incumbent Republican Pete Ricketts is up for reelection, with the blessing of her party Cindy Burbank, the official Democratic candidate has dropped out of the race, throwing her support to Nebraska Independent Dan Osborn who while viewed as a longshot has a better chance of unseating Ricketts. As part of his pitch to voters, Osborn says that if he wins he won’t caucus with either party. In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola, the native Alaskan who served in Congress for one plus terms before losing her reelection bid in 2024, a victim of Trump’s sweep, is running against incumbent Republican Dan S Sullivan. Peltola is a credible candidate whose chances in Alaska’s ranked choice voting election may be helped by Dan Sullivan’s Dan Sullivan problem.  That problem involves the candidacy of a second Dan Sullivan who can be distinguished from Incumbent Dan only by his middle initial J.  Despite efforts by the state’s Republican party and Incumbent Dan S to have him booted, name “doppelganger” Dan J remains on the ballot. It’s confusing but that’s the point.  South Carolina still has to choose a Republican to replace departed Senator Lindsey Graham in the November election.  Over the weekend Trump muddied up that process by announcing his endorsement of Lindsey’s sister Darline Graham Nordone who was sworn in last week as South Carolina’s interim “place saving” Senator.  To date Darline has not indicated an interest in running for a full term but then again, Trump’s endorsement almost guarantees her the seat if she wants it so she might decide she wants it.  That would be a major disappointment to those who plan to run including Republican Congressman Ralph Norman who announced his candidacy this weekend. In Michigan which may be the most important race of all, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren who were among Graham Platner’s supporters were out campaigning for candidate Abdul Al Sayed, their now favorite progressive who can’t find it within him to say that “rogue state” Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state.  AOC who notably did not endorse Platner maybe because she believed all the accusations against him was also on the Al Sayed trail this weekend.  Al Sayed is running against more moderate candidate Congresswoman Haley Stevens who has been endorsed by retiring Senator Gary Peters, former Senator Debbie Stabenow, Emily’s List, and the Congressional Black Caucus in appreciation for her support of them.  She also has support from AIPAC, which is the ultimate double-edged sword.      

Governor Mishigas:  Trump has endorsed wacko pillow guy Mike Lindell who is running for governor in Minnesota against Senator Amy Klobuchar.  Republican Lindell is not registered to vote in Minnesota, but he is a dedicated Trump fan and election denier and besides, he’s got precedent on his side since Alabama Senator “coach” Tommy Tuberville resides in Florida when he’s not in Washington and is now running to become Alabama’s next Governor.  The race to replace Wisconsin’s retiring Democratic Governor Tony Evers hit a bigly bump this weekend after the Democratic party’s leading candidate Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez dropped out over improprieties in her finance reports. Governor Ever’s preferred candidate, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who had left the race because of Rodriguez’s ascendance, has now reentered the race.  Other Democrats running include State Representative Francesca Hong and former Lt Governor Mandela Barnes who lost his Senate bid against Republican Ron Johnson in 2022. Wisconsin is the ultimate fifty-fifty state; moderate Democrats fear that progressives Hong and Barnes would lose the election to the Republican candidate Tom Tiffany. 🤷‍♀️

 

Big Big Lies 😱 ✡️🌻😱 🚀🚢 🔥

Five Alarm🔥:  Last night, Trump who has dismantled much of the country’s election safeguards gave a speech in which he amplified a false narrative about the country’s elections being compromised by foreign players, most notably China and Venezuela but definitely not Russia.  Ironically, he was the president during the “compromised” 2020 election that he insists he won even though he didn’t and won the 2016 and 2024 elections when Democrats were in control because elections are only compromised when he loses. Oddly enough, some of the documents that Trump declassified to buttress his claims actually debunk them.  Trump also claimed hundreds of thousands of noncitizens are registered to vote and went off on China “stealing” voter data.   The voter data that he claims China stole are widely available to anyone who want them and hundreds of thousands of noncitizens are not registered voters, but both assertions are the kind of ominous sounding lies that freak out the people he wants most to alarm and energize.   To quote Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal:  “Trump didn’t provide any evidence of voter fraud, prove that people had cast ballots in the US who shouldn’t have or reveal that election outcomes had been altered because of interference.” The point of his speech was to inject uncertainty into the upcoming elections in order to justify asserting federal control over statewide elections, particularly in those states where elections are likely to be close so that he can ensure that he and his party maintain control of the House and Senate because Trump really fears loss of power, oversight, and another impeachment.  To that end, he also pushed for the passage of the voter squelching SAVE Act. For the most part, the major networks did not air his speech in its entirety or on their main platforms though the increasingly MAGA friendly CBS carried most of it, cutting him off at the end when he called for their competitors to lose their broadcast licenses for not giving him airtime.  While it’s easy to dispute much if not all of what Trump said during the speech, his lies carry enormous weight. Whether Trump’s manages to wrest control away from state and local authorities may not matter. He’s setting the stage for a January 6 on steroids if, as expected, Republicans lose the November elections, and this time there won’t be any Mike Pence types to call his bluff because he’s effectively fired or eliminated the dissenters in his party and there doesn’t appear to be anyone willing to talk truth to power in his administration.

Confirmation Polka: On the subject of truth or the lack thereof, the confirmation process for Jay Clayton and Todd Blanche isn’t done yet. Director of National Intelligence nominee Clayton, like all of Trump’s other picks, refuses to acknowledge that Trump lost the 2020 election to Biden, not because he doesn’t know that Biden won but because he knows his nomination will be pulled if he says so.  The devious Blanche is shifty about everything though he did accidentally speak truth when he inadvertently admitted that he still views himself as Trump’s lawyer.  Yesterday, after outgoing North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis said that he wouldn’t provide the key vote that Blanche needs to get his nomination voted out of the Judiciary Committee onto the floor of the Senate unless Blanche met with some of the Epstein victims, Blanche finally sat down with a few of them.  Though Blanche reports that the meetings were terrific, the victims he met with disagreed with one saying he “treated the meeting as a mere ‘check-the-box’ exercise intended to secure votes for his confirmation. He danced around his wording, repeatedly interrupted us, and could not commit to anything that would demonstrate good faith or begin to restore trust.”  Another said she “found him abrasive, condescending and intentionally noncommittal to survivors.” Tillis, who threatened to vote against Pete Hegseth’s nomination before voting for him, says that he’s now happy with Blanche because crossing Trump even on his way out of the Senate is a step too far especially if he wants one of those lucrative lobbying jobs or maybe even an ambassadorship.  For his part, Secretary of War and Beer Hegseth who keeps firing and/or refusing to promote Black people and women is now focused on making sure members of the military have adequate levels of testosterone. 🤦‍♀️

More 💩:  The Iran war is still on, bigly.  More than 100 House Democrats joined outgoing Republican Thomas Massie in voting against the continued funding of Israel because voting against Israel is a thing these days. Massie whose one good thing was supporting the Epstein victims always votes against foreign aid, he is a member of the Jewish Space laser crowd, his social media posts have grown increasingly anti-Semitic, and he’s very mad at Trump who he holds responsible for his demise so his sponsorship of the anti-Israel amendment is no surprise.  Some of the Democrats votes were performative, a statement against the Netanyahu government, others have always voted against all things Israel, and some voted the way they did because they live in fear of being threatened and/or losing their primaries. Weird how many of the same people are mostly silent when other countries do things.  Why is that?   For his part “walk to the beat of his own drummer” Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman is threatening to abandon the Democratic party if it abandons Israel. He’s erratic but his threat should be taken seriously because losing him could be the difference between Democrats regaining the Senate majority or not.  On the subject of erratic, Trump has countermanded the Department of Homeland Security’s temporary suspension of potentially lethal car stops, more than implying that he wants more rather than fewer opportunities for senseless deaths. Keeping with the 💩 theme, the CDC which has far fewer people focusing on food borne diseases these days because what’s a little diarrhea among friends says it has identified the source of the Cyclospora outbreak.  They say it’s linked to the shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bells in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia.  However, there have also been Cyclospora outbreaks in other states including New York, Texas, North Carolina, Illinois, and New Jersey to name a few so maybe their search should continue?  Turning back to 💩ty things in Trump world, Trump’s teleprompter operator has been suspended for placing bets based on his early view of the contents of Trump’s speeches which makes it that much more bizarre but totally in character that Trump Media plans to further monetize Trump by selling early access to his Truth Social media posts.  That reeks of corruption and insider trading, but it’s not like anyone in power has a👃for that kind of thing anymore.

 

 
Tune in on Thursday 😱 ✡️🌻😱 🚀🚢

Wars:  Despite Trump’s multiple assertions that he’s won the war with Iran and that Tehran wants peace more than us, we’re still at war and the war is escalating with no end in sight.  For a while this week, Trump who is once again threatening to bomb Iran to smithereens, said that the US would take over the Strait of Hormuz, charging passing ships transit fees to cover the costs of their protection. Given that just about everyone, except for Iran and Oman but including Secretary of State Rubio have rejected the idea of imposing transit tolls for a previously free waterway, that idea sunk like a lead balloon. In response to the pushback, Trump pulled another TACO; he now says that countries in the region will compensate for their protection by investing in the US.  That’s one of his favorite lines, it’s a face-saving claim, the transit fee is off the table, the investment will probably never come.  Though there have been no reported deaths of US soldiers on the Iran front this week, the same can’t be said about the war against immigrants.  It turns out that arming untrained ICE agents with guns has consequences, something that proved deadly for 25-year -old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a father and Columbia national who was killed when an ICE agent shot into his car in Maine. Guerrero was not the person ICE was seeking, “just” collateral damage in Trump’s war against immigrants.  Naturally, the official government response is that Guerrero was using his car as a weapon.  There’s no evidence of that and at least for now, in response to Guerrero’s death and last week’s “shooting while driving” death of 52-year-old construction worker Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado in Houston, ICE agents have been directed to halt most traffic stops. Worth noting, Maine Senator Susan Collins provided a critical vote for the huge ICE funding package.  Though Democrats still haven’t selected a candidate to oppose her, they’re making sure that Maine voters are well aware of that vote and though it might be wish casting, polls show her lagging behind a TBD Democrat . On the Senate front, Linsdey Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone was sworn in as his replacement yesterday. She’ll serve until January when she’ll be replaced by the winner of South Carolina’s November election. Picking a family member as an interim replacement for a dead Senator is not without precedent, usually the interim appointee is a spouse but since Graham was a bachelor, Darline, who has no plans to run for election, was not a surprising choice.     

Flashing Red Lights:  The Iran war and the INS shooting news are newsworthy but something even more frightening is scheduled to take place on Thursday night when Trump takes to the airwaves to deliver a primetime speech in which he plans to provide “evidence” the outcome of the 2020 election, the one he lost to Joe Biden, was swayed by foreign interference in those voting machines that he’s been screeching about for years.  To bolster his claims, he plans to share previously rejected “proof” provided to him by Bill Pulte, the interim Director of National Intelligence who picked up the ball from Tulsi Gabbard who had spent some of her final days as DNI lurking around Fulton County, Georgia’s election facilities and who has been kept in place longer than anyone had anticipated to provide Trump with this kill the midterms ammunition. It’s reported that Trump is going to claim that Georgia’s two Democratic Senators, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock are illegitimate since they benefited from all that phantom foreign manipulation of Fulton County’s election machines. Notably Warnock didn’t just win in 2020 when he was running in a special election to replace Republican Senator Johnny Isaacson who stepped down for health-related reasons, he also won a full term in 2022.  Ossoff is up for reelection in November. Early in the year, Republicans had targeted his seat as their most likely pick up but much to their dismay, his popularity his grown and he’s polling well.  Absent election interference from Trump’s forces, Ossoff is expected to win reelection which goes far to explaining what Trump is doing.  He is laying the groundwork to justify taking over Fulton County’s election apparatus, a plan that will involve scrubbing the election rolls of “illegitimate” Democratic voters while stationing very intimidating armed troops outside of Fulton County polling places to scare off voters. He won’t limit himself to Georgia, he is expected to use his faux claims of election interference to justify doing the same in other heavily Democratic areas in swing states like Michigan and Pennsylvania.

More 💩: Confirmation hearings for Jay Clayton, Trump’s nominee to replace Bill Pulte, and Todd Blanche, the interim Attorney General who Trump wants confirmed to the AG spot that used to be filled by Pam Bondi take place today.  Clayton whose initial hearing was delayed so that Trump could keep the nefarious Pulte in place a bit longer is expected to his quick confirmation, not because he’s qualified but because Senators on both sides of the aisle want Pulte gone from the DNI spot as soon as possible. Unless a few Republicans, especially ones like John Cornyn and Thom Tillis who are on their way out and therefore have little to lose, step up to the plate, Blanche who should not be confirmed will be confirmed as well. That’s a travesty.  He doesn’t even pretend to be anything but Trump’s personal lawyer.  On Monday, while trashing the deal that Blanche helped Trump “negotiate” with the IRS, the one that would eliminate audits of his tax returns and that also involved the funding of a huge slush fund for Trump’s January 6 abettors, Federal Judge Kathleen Williams of the Southern District of Florida referred him to the NY Bar, more than suggesting that he’s not fit to practice law.  As noted in today’s NY Times editorial, Blanche “has celebrated the January 6 rioters. He has misled Congress under oath. He has said it is Mr. Trump’s ‘right,’ and ‘indeed it is his duty,’ to use the department to investigate people he ‘has had issues with.’”  Blanche has also engaged in “frivolous” prosecutions of Trump’s foes, impeded the Epstein investigation, and probably promised Ghislaine Maxwell, who he had moved to a Club Fed, a pardon if only she keeps her mouth shut about Trump’s Epstein related crimes. Sadly, Blanche is the worst, which is why Trump wants him confirmed and also why so many of Trump’s abettors will vote for his confirmation.  On a positive note, E Jean Caroll has finally received the $5 million (plus interest) that Trump fought so hard to deny her.     

 

 

 

Ghost 😱 ✡️🌻😱 🚀🚢

Switcheroo:  Over the past few weeks, the focus has been on the health of Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell with rumors circulating that he was on life-support so when screens lit up very early Sunday morning with news that South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham had died, it was worth a triple take. While older than the 64-year average age of members of the Senate, at 71, Graham wasn’t even among the ten oldest members of the upper house.  In addition to the 84-year-old McConnell, that list includes Iowa’s Chuck Grassley (92), Vermont’s Bernie Sanders (84), Idaho’s Jim Risch (82), Maine’s Angus King (81), Illinois’ Dick Durbin (81), Connecticut’s Richard Blumenthal (79), Massachusetts’ Ed Markey (79), New Hampshire’s Jeanne Shaheen (78) and Oregon’s Ron Wyden (77).  Like McConnell, Durbin and Shaheen are retiring this year.  Risch and Markey, who is being primary challenged by Congressman Seth Moulton, are running for reelection because if Grassley can stick around forever, why shouldn’t they try? Though a number of conspiracy theorists and Kremlin watchers have suggested that Graham’s death was due to one of Putin’s nefarious poisons, initial reports are that the globetrotting, pro-Ukraine, pro-Israel Trump whisperer died from an aortic rupture.  As to Mitch, he’s hardly the picture of health, but judging by the message and accompanying photo he posted yesterday which included a “proof of life” copy of a July 12 newspaper, he’s still among the living.  McConnell who suffers from post-polio syndrome, said that despite reports that he’d suffered a heart attack, he hadn’t, rather his absence was due to one of his frequent falls, this one so serious that it knocked him out, landing him in the hospital where he also contracted pneumonia.  He has moved from an acute care hospital to a rehab facility and though he doesn’t know when he’ll return, he asserts he will and intends to remain in the Senate through his retirement in January. 

Senate Bingo:  Since he was running for reelection, Graham will need to be replaced twice.  South Carolina’s termed out Republican Governor Henry McMaster, no doubt with Trump’s forceful input, will first appoint a “place-filler” Senator who will serve through January 3, 2027.  At the same time, McMaster will schedule a primary where state voters will decide who should replace Graham on the November ballot. According to South Carolina law, a one-week filing period for a special primary election begins on the second Tuesday after the candidate’s death, or July 21.  The special primary election would be held on the second Tuesday after that filing period closes, or August 11. Any necessary runoff would follow two weeks after that, or August 25. Reports are that erratic Congresswoman Nancy Mace who came in fifth in the Republican gubernatorial primary is considering a run, as are Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette who lost the gubernatorial runoff despite being endorsed by Trump and businessman Mark Lynch who lost to Graham in this year’s Senate primary. The winner of the special primary, or runoff if necessary, will face off against Democrat Annie Andrews in November. By virtue of Graham’s death, South Carolina pushed the Maine Senate race off the cover for a minute, but since Maine’s November race is expected to be far more competitive than a race in the very Republican South Carolina and may even decide who wins control of the Senate, it will soon be back above the fold. On Friday afternoon, Maine’s Nazi tattooed accused sexual predator Graham Platner finally formally withdrew his candidacy, surprising many who’d thought that the remorseless creep, who signed off of his withdrawal statement with the words “F*ck ICE, Free Palestine, would stall until the last minute.              

More War and 💩: Though Graham’s death dominated the Sunday news, Iran hasn’t gone away, if anything hostilities have gotten worse.  While Trump keeps insisting that Iran wants peace more than he does, the Mullahs and the IRGC have a funny way of showing it.  The missiles continue to fly, ships in the Strait of Hormuz are still being targeted, and to put more pressure on the US and the critical oil markets, Iran continues to target neighboring Arab countries, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Jordan, and the UAE.  The language in the now infamous (worthless?) Memorandum of Understanding about who gets to control transit through the Strait is absurdly vague.  Iran interprets it to mean that they get to govern transit, the US does not agree. Perhaps vagueness and the accidently ceding of control of key transit points are things that happen when a real estate buddy and a son in law are your chief negotiators 🤷‍♀️.  It’s not just Iran that’s frustrating Trump, he’s bigly mad that the NY Times reported that his Qatar gifted 747 is missing crucial security accoutrements.  On Friday, he forced FBI Director Kash Patel to cancel his plans to fly another grift trip on his government funded plane to another one of his girlfriend’s performances, commanding him to show up at the White House and work up subpoenas for the five NYTimes reporters, including Julian Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager, Eric Schmitt and Adam Goldman, who’d worked on the article detailing the security features that Trump’s new airplane/toy lacks.   Those subpoenas which were issued by the SDNY were then delivered to the journalists who Trump wants to force into coughing up the names of the government employees who “leaked” the plane’s obvious inadequacies.  Obvious, because just about everyone knew that the plane was rushed into service too quickly for all the needed expensive, complex, and time consuming security features to be incorporated. The NY Times five are due in court on Wednesday, “setting up what is likely to become an expedited legal battle over whether reporters can be compelled to testify about confidential sourcing and newsgathering.”