Blue Birthdays 🤡 😱 ✡️🌻😱 🤡

Epstein, Epstein, Epstein:  The infamous Jeffrey Epstein birthday book is now in public and as first reported by the Wall Street Journal it includes a graphic note from Trump. Despite Trump’s assertion that he doesn’t doodle, a lie which was quickly followed up by his admission that he does doodle but that his doodles only include buildings, his note to Epstein includes an outline of a naked female torso with some suggestive text.  Trump and his spokesperson, the duplicitous Karoline Leavitt, continue to assert that he didn’t write the note that he wrote. To bolster their claim, they both say that the first name only signature is “obviously” a forgery, insisting that Trump always signs his full name. Unfortunately for Trump, there are many examples of him signing missives with only his first name and most of them, including one he sent to MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, include the same ending flourish that is on the Epstein note. Trump hasn’t yet withdrawn his $10 billion lawsuit against WSJ publisher Dow Jones & Co., News Corp., Rupert Murdoch, and the two reporters responsible for first revealing what he calls the forged note but it’s likely he will at some point because discovery would be a disaster for him.  Maybe he’s waiting for a suitable diversion, something like a nuclear attack. Of course, his usual enablers, including Speaker Mike Johnson and a few right-wing press outlets are sticking with him, agreeing that if he said he didn’t write and sign the note, then he didn’t.  Over the weekend Johnson claimed that the only reason Trump was so intertwined in Epstein’s life is because he was working as an undercover agent for the FBI, a claim so absurd that even Leavitt denied it.  Johnson has retracted his ridiculous lie maybe because if Trump is a mole, he’s not working for the US. 

🎂 📕 Details: The contributions to the Epstein birthday book run the gamut from Bill Clinton’s rather benign birthday wish to some seriously icky sexually explicit notes, an indication that most of Epstein’s buddies knew all about his predilection for young girls and that some likely partook of his “offerings.”  One of those icky notes includes a picture of Epstein with two other men at Mar a Lago holding an oversized “novelty” check bearing a Trump signature, along with a note suggesting Epstein had “sold” Trump a “depreciated” woman for $22,500.  Depreciated in this context likely meaning a woman over the age of consent.  Though the check and the signature that accompany it are clearing false, they indicate that the Epstein’s friends were all in on the joke, the “joke” being Epstein and his pedophilia. Some joke.  The Epstein estate, the provider of the Epstein birthday book, plans to release more of its files soon. The Massie/Khanna discharge petition still hasn’t passed through the House but will soon be short only one vote since last night, as expected, Democrat James Walkinshaw won a special election for the seat that opened up following the death of Congressman Gerry Connolly. Another special election for a safe Democratic seat in Arizona takes place on September 23, after that the discharge petition is expected to have all the votes it needs for passage. Trump must be very concerned about what’s in the Epstein files.  Why else would he be lying so much and trying so hard to block them?  Earlier this week Trump told attendees at an event at Washington’s Museum of the Bible that statistics about how much his use of troops were reducing crime in DC would be better if only local officials would stop including domestic violence data because “incidents that take place in the home” such as a man’s “little fight with the wife” shouldn’t count.  During a 1990 divorce deposition Trump’s first wife Ivana, the one buried at his NJ golf club, accused him of rape, just one of those little fights that shouldn’t count? Is it a stretch to believe that Trump knew all about Epstein activities? During her interview with Deputy Attorney General Blanche, Ghislaine Maxwell noted that a few of Trump’s cabinet members were friends of Epstein’s, something that Blanche curiously did not follow-up on.  Moreover, the NY Times wrote this week about how various senior bankers at JP Morgan facilitated Epstein’s curious financial activities with one admitting that he also had sex with at least one of Epstein’s “girls.” To be clear, we haven’t seen any proof of Trump doing that, but his comments about domestic violence combined with all his denials and deception are hardly exonerating.    

Law and the Economy:  Trump notched a few legal victories this week.  By a vote of 6 to 3, the Supreme Court said that at least for now it’s fine for roving federal agents to conduct immigration stops using factors like race or language to identify individuals because if you speak Spanish or have brown skin, you are obviously guilty of something? Justice Kavanaugh seemed particularly unconcerned about the targeting, saying it was reasonable to briefly question people who meet multiple “common sense” criteria for possible illegal presence, including employment in day labor or construction, and limited English proficiency. The very white, privileged Kavanaugh seemed unconcerned that “briefly” sometimes means being tossed into jail here or abroad for a few days or weeks. Today’s NY Times reports that the same team who brought us Project 2025 want Chief Justice Roberts to step aside so that Kavanaugh can replace him as Chief.  Last night Roberts, who at least for now is still the Chief, said that it was okay for Trump to continue to freeze $5 billion that Congress had appropriated for foreign aid, at least for now.  The Court also announced that in response to the Trump administration’s request, they would soon take up his tariff appeal.  Though many pundits believe, and the tariff and appeals court have ruled, that most of Trump’s tariffs are illegal taxes, Trump appears to have SCOTUS in his pocket so who knows what they will decide. Maybe they will buy into Trump and Treasury Secretary Bessent’s arguments that tariffs imposed without Congressional approval are legal and that even if they aren’t, they should be left in place because rescinding them could cost Treasury bigly if they have to pay back what they’ve already collected.  The Justices have job security so they might not be all that concerned that the tariffs appear to be making the economy, which JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon warns is “weakening,” worse.  It doesn’t help that, as revealed by yesterday’s data revisions, the job situation is 911,000 people worse than what was previously reported. In other legal news, last night a federal judge in Washington DC, temporarily blocked Trump from firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.  Cook is the Governor that Trump wants ousted claiming she lied on her mortgage applications, the crime that’s only a crime when done by Democrats, and okay for Trump’s Cabinet members.  He wants her out so that he can exert control over Federal Reserve decision making, another one of those things that could add to economic uncertainty and translate into more woes.

Fog:  The Russians have been bombing the bejesus out of Ukraine and yesterday about 20 or so of the hundreds of drones that they used to attack Ukraine crossed into Poland’s airspace. Calling the invasion of their airspace, a provocation, Poland, with the help of some of our other NATO allies, shot down four of the Russian drones, an escalation of the conflict that Trump was going to end on day one of Trump 2.0. Also, yesterday in retaliation for an attack by Palestinian terrorists in Jerusalem that resulted in the killing of six Israelis and the wounding of dozens more, Israel led by the trigger-happy Bibi launched an attack against Hamas leadership.  That’s not unusual, the unusual part is that the targeted leadership was in Qatar. The Israelis said that they alerted the US in advance, but Trump denied that he knew about their plans. That Qatar is where many members of Hamas’ leadership reside is hardly a secret, but Israel actually attacking Qatar to takeout some of their leaders was a bit of a shocker, even for Trump who probably is now a bit worried that not only won’t he get his coveted Nobel Peace Prize but that the Qataris might ask for their plane back. None of this is good, peace is that much more elusive, and the hostages are still hostages.

#BringThemAllHomeNow  

 

Apocalypse Now🤡 😱 ✡️🌻😱 🤡

War: Last week Trump changed the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War.  Remember when Nobel Prize seeking, draft dodger Trump said that he would end all wars on day one of this administration, forget about that.  In addition to sending the wrong message about solving disputes peacefully, the name change is technically illegal because name changes require Congressional action, but legitimate or not Secretary of “War” Pete Hegseth has already started changing signs and stationery.  Depending on who you ask, the rebranding will cost somewhere north of $100 million, maybe closer to $1 billion, hardly in keeping with that whole DOGE thing but then again, DOGE was never really about cutting costs or efficiency, it was always about exerting control, deregulating, and keeping millionaire tax cuts intact. Costs aside, the renaming also sends a combative and threatening message to allies and “enemies,” but then again so did blowing up an alleged drug smuggling boat and its eleven occupants without first establishing that they really were drug smugglers or even just boarding the boat and arresting its occupants. Trump isn’t only threatening foreign enemies, over the weekend he, or more likely someone in his communications department, posted a message of  a svelte version of Trump along aside a “Chipocalypse” label threatening to go to war against Chicago, saying “I love the smell of deportations in the morning…. Chicago is about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR 🚁 🚁🚁.”  Yesterday, before embarking on his trip to the US Tennis Open, Trump sort of walked back his threat to attack Chicago, but who is he kidding?  It’s hardly a coincidence that his minions felt that they had to warn the USTA that the sensitive 🥭maniac didn’t want any of the booing they knew would accompany his arrival at the NYC tennis center broadcasted. The order was disregarded, there was booing, and it was aired. Unfortunately, the Chicago attack will probably unfold sometime this week.  The Chicago invasion will involve the rounding up of undocumented workers under the guise of ridding the city of crime. The red state Governors with cities with higher crime rates who’ve been sitting on the sidelines applauding Trump’s actions, maybe they should stop because they’re not immune either.  On Thursday, Homeland Security raided a Georgia construction site for what is supposed to become a “sprawling” electric battery plant.  They detained somewhere around 300 mostly South Korean workers. When completed, assuming it is completed, the battery plant which Governor Kemp lobbied hard to have built in his state, is supposed to provide around 8500 jobs.  Trump has now deeply offended South Korea, a staunch ally, who has been doing what he says he wants, moving production into the US. At least the South Korean workers will be luckier than most of the migrants that Homeland has been rounding up as they won’t be sent to a gulag facility, their government has chartered a plane to bring them home.  The plant will probably still be built, but it will take longer, and some hurt egos will now need to be unruffled through diplomacy rather than hostile actions. As to the 8500 jobs it looks like we need them now more than ever because as indicated by Friday’s anemic job figures, Trump’s economy is not humming along because tariffs are taxes and they cause wary corporations to act cautiously.  Moreover, firing boatloads of government employees affects them as well as lots of people and small businesses in their orbit.  There are now fewer job openings and unemployment is up.  But not to worry, because Trump’s economic gurus insist that of all that is Biden’s fault, and that if we wait long enough there will be a major turnaround, or at the very least, they’ll get better at falsifying statistical data in the hopes that no one notices that their grocery bill is increasing while their paychecks are disappearing.

MAHA Not:  In keeping with combat, deception, and discombobulation, Health Secretary RFK testified before the Senate last week.  It did not go well.  He lied about almost everything, called the recently fired CDC Director Susan Monarez a liar, misstated “facts,” and engaged in verbal battles with the Senate panel, a group that included two Republican doctors, Senators Bill Cassidy and John Barasso, who both appeared shocked to learn that that the anti-vaccine RFK lied to them during his confirmation hearing when he promised not to implement anti-vaccine policies. RFK answered yes to Republican Senator/Doctor Bill Cassidy’s disingenuous question as to whether Trump should receive a Nobel prize for getting the COVID vaccine out so quickly during the pandemic but then immediately followed up by trashing the vaccine.  He also said that the COVID vaccine really didn’t save lives because those CDC statistics about more than one million being saved could not be believed. He even denied that the Trump’s beautiful budget bill cut Medicaid, a stunning statement given the bill includes almost $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts.  After the hearing, Trump reaffirmed his support for his pocket Kennedy because of course he did but even he appears confused about Kennedy’s dissing of his vaccine. A few western blue state Governors are now forming a health care alliance to replace some of the information that will no longer be provided by the CDC and they and a few others are taking actions to ensure that the COVID vaccine remains available in their states.  On Friday New York Governor Hochul ordered that providers in NYS provide the vaccine to everyone who previously qualified for it. To that end over the weekend Walgreens (Duane Reade) eliminated its requirement that those seeking COVID vaccines first obtain a doctor’s prescription.

People and Politics:  It turns out that lots of folks, including three of Trump’s cabinet members, have claimed more than one primary residence on their mortgage applications, the so-called crime that Trump is using as his justification for firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook while also going after California’s Adam Schiff and New York’s Tish James.  According to ProPublica those three cabinet members are the EPA’s Lee Zeldin, Transportation’s Sean Duffy, and Labor’s Lori Chavez-DeRemer.  It’s not just cabinet members, the father and stepmother of Federal Housing Director Bill Pulte, the Trump toady who scoured this housing files to find the “incriminating” information about the prominent Democrats, is also “guilty” of the same offense.  Though no one has suggested that EJ Antoni, Trump’s choice to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics is a multiple mortgage offender, he is a prolific social media poster and many of those posts included lewd comments about Kamala Harris, grotesque comments about other prominent women and gay people, and spread far-right conspiracy theories. Of course, all of that may be why Trump has nominated him because it’s not like he has any relevant credentials. Though the discharge petition has not yet passed, there’s likely to be more news on the Epstein/Maxwell front this week since the Epstein estate is expected to release its trove of documents, including the now infamous Epstein birthday card that Trump denies, but probably did, contribute to.  Last week, O’Keefe Media Group, a far-right organization, caught Joseph Schnitt, the acting Deputy Chief of a Justice Department on hidden camera saying that the government will “redact every Republican” from the Epstein client list. He and his bosses at the DOJ now claim he was just basing that on press reports.  Oopsie. And the government runs out of money at the end of the month.   

#BringThemAllHomeNow

 

Contagion 🤡 😱 ✡️🌻😱 🤡

Epstein, Epstein, Maxwell: The controversy that won’t go away continues to haunt Trump.  Yesterday a group of Jeffrey Epstein/Ghislaine Maxwell accusers appeared outside of the Capitol.  While the women took to the microphones to talk about being targeted and abused by the creepy duo, Trump who appears increasingly desperate to prevent the release of the full trove of Epstein files, continued to call the Epstein affair a Democratic hoax while his enabler Speaker Mike Johnson did his best to impede the release of the full set of Epstein files. The two of them have made it clear to House Republicans that they shouldn’t vote for the Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie sponsored discharge petition that would force the release of all the Epstein files rather than the selectively filtered cache of files that the Department of Justice released earlier this summer and again earlier this week.  In addition to Massie, only three other Republicans including Nancy Mace, Marjory Taylor Green and Lauren Boebert have signed on to the discharge petition.  Assuming all 212 Democrats sign on, and it’s expected that they will, two more Republicans are needed for the petition to pass.  The bottom line is that there must be something really, really incriminating in the full set of files that Trump fears because why else would he be working so hard to prevent their release and why else would Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice have had 1000 FBI agents scour the files for all references to Trump? Naturally, Trump being Trump his efforts also include throwing lots of shiny objects, as well as a few missiles, into the air as a diversionary tactic so he also had his Pete Hegseth led Department of Defense shoot a Venezuelan drug smuggling boat out of the Caribbean, killing eleven people, rather than just forcing the boat to stop, the normal, and by normal think legal, way that those boats are typically handled. While the boat incident including the military build-up in the seas outside of Venezuela and the Epstein saga are dominating the news cycles, Trump and his administration have also continued their war against the environment, cancelling and defunding renewable energy projects especially those that include the windmills Trump hates so much, and issuing factually inaccurate reports that deny that climate change is real while also continuing to put the nation’s health at risk by demonizing vaccines. So basically, a normal Trump 2.0 month.  

Legal Morass:  Trump hasn’t been faring well in the courts this week, or at least in the lower courts.  On Tuesday, US District Court Judge Charles Breyer ruled that the administration had violated the Posse Comitatus Act when it used the military to patrol the streets in Los Angeles. The Posse Comitatus Act is the 1878 law that prohibits the use of the US military for domestic law enforcement. It’s okay for the military to protect federal buildings but street patrols are not supposed to be within their remit because in theory the US is not a dictatorship or a banana republic.  Breyer’s ruling only applies to California and will be appealed, so Trump is still planning, or at least loudly threatening to send the military into other cities, most notably Chicago despite the equally loud but much more articulate pushback from Illinois Governor Pritzker.  Also on Tuesday, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reinstated Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, the Democratic appointed Federal Trade Commissioner who Trump had fired from the agency that is responsible for consumer protection and antitrust enforcement. In a split 2-to-1 decision, the court said that the Trump administration’s attempt to block Slaughter, from resuming her role at the FTC. had “no prospect of success” because she’d been fired without cause rather than on the required grounds of “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” When he fired Slaughter, Trump had also fired Alberto Benoya,  another Democratic appointee, but since he subsequently resigned citing personal financial reasons, he was not reinstated as a result of the Court’s ruling.  Keeping with the Tuesday string of Trump losses,  by a vote of 2 to 1, a 5^th District US Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled that Trump can’t use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to speed the deportations of people that he and his abettors Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem accuse of being in Venezuelan gangs like Tren de Aragua, the gang that they claimed based on tattoos rather than real evidence that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was a member of.  Abrego Garcia is the migrant who’d been sent to the El Salvador gulag before being flown back to a US prison after his deportation received so much bad press.  The Alien Acts case is another one “destined for a showdown” at the Supreme Court.  It’s a good thing for Trump that SCOTUS is stacked with his appointees and a few other like-minded justices because he’s going to need them to get all his nefarious plans back on track.

Viral Musings:  Southern California health officials are encouraging residents to don masks to impede the spread of the COVID that is “surging” through their communities. While masking up is depressing, it’s a rational response to the upswing, particularly for those who are vulnerable or just need to go stay healthy enough to work.  The California recommendation which is partially in response to the very high levels of COVID in the sewer system, a tool used to measure COVID spread, stands in stark contrast to the idiocy that’s going on in Florida.  Yesterday with Florida Governor DeSantis’s support, the state’s Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo who first came to attention for his cavalier attitude towards COVID and his total and complete disdain for masks, even in hospital settings, announced that Florida will work to eliminate all vaccine mandates.  He emphasized that by saying he means “All of them. All of them, Every last one of them” because they are all “wrong and drip with disdain and slavery." The polio virus, in concert with the measles, German measles, chicken pox, and all the other viruses that we should be protecting children from are celebrating.  The folks at Disney World should be shaking in their boots because the park will soon be the virus epicenter (Epcot center?).  Maybe it’s time to add a virus exhibit next to the It’s a Small World ride? Sure, most parents in Florida will probably continue to get their little ones vaccinated but herd immunity only works when somewhere around 95% of us are protected and that’s not going to happen as long as the criminally dopey Ladapo eliminates school vaccine mandates. Parents with young children, particularly those too young to have received all their shots, should really think about that when they make their holiday travel plans. And young kids are just part of the problem, it’s more than fair to assume that Ladapo’s disdain and “slavery” claims will impact the uptake of HPV, meningococcal, tetanus vaccines as well. And it won’t be only Florida because idiocy, like viruses, is contagious, and viruses don’t respect state lines.

#BringThemAllHomeNow

 

Sunny With a Chance of Autocracy 🤡 😱 ✡️🌻😱 🤡

Welcome to September:  The weather may be changing but the political environment looks a lot like August, only worse. Congress is back in session. The House which fled Washington early to avoid having to deal with the Epstein mess is back and so is the Epstein mess.  While Trump continues to tease a pardon for Epstein’s partner in sex crime Ghislaine Maxwell, the bi-partisan House team of Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie have scheduled a press conference to take place on the Capitol steps on Wednesday with ten Epstein victims, some of whom have never publicly discussed their horrible experiences. There is another government funding deadline at the end of the month, and Trump is trying to push through another rescission package defunding $5 billion in foreign aid,  this time without Congressional approval, an attempt that is expected to end up in the courts. Right before the Labor Day holiday, a Federal Appeals Court ruled that since tariffs are taxes and since taxing power lies with Congress, most of Trump’s are illegal. For now, the tariffs will remain in place while the Trump administration appeals the decision to the Supreme Court but to state the obvious, Trump is not a happy man.  He’s also not a healthy man or at least that’s what was all over social media over the weekend.  Noting that he’d been both unseen and uncharacteristically silent for several days, the Twitter (X) crowd claimed that we were in Weekend at Bernie’s mode. We’re not there, as least not yet, but it is curious that to establish proof of life, Trump’s press machine posted several out-of-date photos of him with some prior golf partners before he finally showed up on camera, from a distance, looking even more bloated and pale than usual. In contrast, a smiling Joe Biden, clearly aware of the Trump health rumors, was seen enjoying one of his favorite ice cream treats.

MAHA Not:  The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) crisis continues.  More long-time professionals have resigned, outraged by RFK Jr’s destructive policies and his war against vaccines.  Over the weekend nine former CDC directors published an op-ed in the New York Times titled "We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American's Health." They accuse RFK and his cronies of undermining the nation's public health system.  There have been calls for RFK to resign, but as long as Trump stands behind him, that’s not likely to happen.  If anything, RFK appears to be solidifying his control, the White House has appointed his deputy Jim O’Neill, who like Kennedy is vaccine “skeptical” and particularly hates the COVID vaccine to serve as interim CDC head.  As to the COVID vaccine, the upheaval at the CDC is already having an effect on its availability.  CVS and Walgreens are now requiring a prescription or are not offering COVID vaccines in some states pursuant to their understanding of state guideline that prohibit or limit the administration of the shots without CDC approval a problem because though the FDA has signed off on the shots, the CDC has not yet done so, assuming it ever will.  This isn’t a blue versus red state thing, absent change in state policy, New York is one of the states where a prescription will be required and the shot won’t even be made available in Massachusetts, Nevada, and New Mexico. Trump who once bragged about getting “his” amazing COVID vaccine into arms in record time is now demanding that drug companies prove the shots are effective.  The shots are and have saved lives, but Trump’s base thinks they’re not, believes that mRNA is evil incarnate, and that may be all that matters to him.  The COVID shots and RNA technology are just the tip of the iceberg.  RFK’s faux study examining the link between childhood vaccines and autism is expected to be released this month.  That’s the link that has been debunked but that RFK says exists because he can see it in the “overburdened mitochondria” of children he sees in airports. And one more health note, the Pediatric Brain Cancer Consortium’s NHI funding is being cancelled because why would we want to find a cure for that?

People and Politics:  Rudy Giuliani whose car was rearended over the holiday weekend under unusual circumstances for anyone except the bizarre former Mayor has been released from the hospital. Trump is using the accident as a reason to award him the Congressional Medal of Freedom which he’s really getting because he lied about the election and refuses to say anything bad about Trump.  In keeping with rewarding allies, especially those who pushed his election lies,  but punishing opponents, especially those he has targeted with hate, Trump has cancelled former VP/presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ Secret Service protection which had been extended by President Biden; reports that California will take up the slack. The FEMA employees who collectively questioned the mismanagement of their agency have been put on leave because no one criticizes the Dear Leader or his henchwoman Kristi Noem, except for a federal judge who has ruled that their efforts to deport a group of unaccompanied migrant children back to Guatemala isn’t kosher. This morning New York City Congressman Jerry Nadler announced that he will not be seeking reelection.  Unlike Iowa’s Joni Ernst, Nadler’s decision isn’t about electability but is in response to concerns among the Democratic electorate that the average age of their delegation is too old, especially when compared to Republicans.  It’s not about the views of the elders, many of whom like Nadler are very liberal.  It’s the concern that like Joni Ernst said, everyone dies and they’re probably closer to doing so, while in office.  That would put a Democratic majority at risk assuming there really are midterm elections and that Democrats manage to retake the House despite Trump’s continuing efforts to get more Republican states like Missouri, Ohio, Florida, Indiana and wherever else possible to squeeze out Democratic seats as well as his new likely illegal push for universal voter ID.

Fog:  It turns out that Trump’s disproportionately high tariffs on India aren’t just about pushing India to stop buying Russian oil.  According to the NY Times, the tariffs are also punishment for India’s Prime Minister Modi not supporting Trump’s very public Nobel Prize campaign. Trump who hasn’t managed to end the Ukraine-Russia war or the Gaza 💩 show, believes or wants Modi to say that India and Pakistan are now BFFs.  They’re not, and Modi isn’t prepared to say they are, instead he’s now buddying up with China’s Xi and Russia’s Putin, something that prior administrations have tried hard to prevent. As to Russia and Ukraine, Politico reports that real estate friend Steve Witkoff’s inexperience has been “shining through,” saying that his failure to understand the complexity of negotiating has led to “miscues” rather than actual peace.  And son in law Jared is back, making plans for post war Gaza.  Oy.         

#BringThemAllHomeNow