August 26, 2025

I have the right to do anything I wanna do. I’m the President of the United States. -- Donald Trump, at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday

What's in a Name? Matthew Bigg of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said on Monday that he would consider changing the name of the Defense Department to the War Department, the name it used until shortly after World War II.... At an event in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump said the name War Department 'just sounded better,' adding, 'I think we’re going to have to go back to that.' He said it was a reminder of the country’s record of victories in conflicts under the old name, citing World Wars I and II. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Mr. Trump that the change was 'coming soon.'” MB: You bet Drunk Pete wants to be “Secretary of War.”

Emily Davies & Salvador Rizzo of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Tuesday said he wants to see the death penalty imposed on every person convicted of murder in D.C., continuing his exertion of control over the capital city with a move that is likely to draw intense political and legal pushback. 'If somebody kills somebody in the capital, Washington, D.C., we’re going to be seeking the death penalty,' Trump said at a cabinet meeting. 'And that’s a very strong preventative.' In D.C...., a death sentence can only be imposed if a jury agrees, a significant challenge for prosecutors in a city where opposition to capital punishment is widespread.... The D.C. Council abolished capital punishment in 1981. In 1992, Congress placed a referendum on the D.C. ballot asking if capital punishment should be restored — the city’s voters said no by a large margin.... Under current practice, all decisions to seek the death penalty must be approved by the attorney general.” ~~~

     ~~~ Scientific American Editors (March 2024): “Study after study shows that the death penalty does not deter crime, puts innocent people to death, is racially biased, and is cruel and inhumane. It is state-sanctioned homicide, wholly ineffective, often botched, and a much more expensive punishment than life imprisonment.” MB: That is to say, this is just one more instance in which the dumbo dictator uses false “justifications” as the “basis” for harsh policies, often against minorities.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Monday: ~~~

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “A federal judge on Tuesday threw out an extraordinary lawsuit that the Trump administration had filed against the entire federal bench in Maryland, challenging a standing order intended to briefly slow down the government’s ability to deport undocumented immigrants. In a scathing 39-page ruling, the judge, Thomas T. Cullen, called the suit 'novel and potentially calamitous,' saying that the administration had simpler — and clearly more legal — ways to contest the standing order aside from bringing a suit against all 15 federal judges who sit in Maryland. Judge Cullen, who was appointed by ... [Donald] Trump..., used the ruling to take Mr. Trump and some of his top aides to task for having repeatedly attacked other judges who have dared to rule against the White House in a flurry of cases challenging aspects of its political agenda.... The case in front of Judge Cullen began in June when the Trump administration filed suit challenging a standing order ... [that] said that immigrants who sought to contest their removal from the country in the Maryland federal courts by filing what is known as a habeas petition would automatically be granted a two-day reprieve from being expelled.”

Mitch Smith of the New York Times: “A federal judge in Wisconsin rejected a state jurist’s claims of judicial immunity on Tuesday in a case that is testing the limits of the Trump administration’s ability to bar local officials from interfering with its deportation campaign. The failed attempt to dismiss the case means that Judge Hannah C. Dugan of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court remains on track to stand trial on federal charges of concealing a person from arrest and obstruction of proceedings. Judge Lynn Adelman, who was appointed to the Federal District Court by President Bill Clinton and who is presiding over Judge Dugan’s case, said the state judge had not shown that she should be exempted from the prosecution because of her role.”

Meredith Hill of Politico: “... Donald Trump’s first secretary of Labor will answer questions from House investigators next month about his involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein case. House Oversight Chair James Comer said Monday that Alex Acosta, who led the Labor Department from 2017 to 2019, has agreed to sit for a transcribed interview with the panel on Sept. 19. As U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Acosta signed off on a 2008 deal that allowed Epstein to plead guilty to a single state charge, ending a long-running FBI investigation without federal charges. The deal is now widely seen as being unduly favorable to Epstein....” ~~~ MB: I don't know whether or not any of the “House investigators” work for Democrats. If not, this probe of Acosta's sweetheart deal for Epstein could be a sweetheart probe.

⭐Careless, Incompetent DOGE Boys Put All Our Social Security Data at Risk. Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: “Members of the Department of Government Efficiency uploaded a copy of a crucial Social Security database in June to a vulnerable cloud server, putting the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans at risk of being leaked or hacked, according to a whistle-blower complaint filed by the Social Security Administration’s chief data officer. The database contains records of all Social Security numbers issued by the federal government. It includes individuals’ full names, addresses and birth dates, among other details that could be used to steal their identities, making it one of the nation’s most sensitive repositories of personal information. The account by the whistle-blower, Charles Borges, underscores concerns that have led to lawsuits seeking to block young software engineers at the agency built by Elon Musk from having access to confidential government data. In his complaint, Mr. Borges said DOGE members copied the data to an internal agency server that only DOGE could access, forgoing the type of 'independent security monitoring' normally required under agency policy for such sensitive data and creating 'enormous vulnerabilities.'” ~~~

     ~~~ An NPR story is here. A TechCrunch report is here. MB: And do blame the confederate Supremes for this disaster. From Zack Whittaker's TechCrunch report: "While a federal restraining order in March initially blocked DOGE staffers from accessing the country’s database of Social Security records, the Supreme Court lifted the order on June 6, paving the way for DOGE’s access." The ruling was 6-3, with all the confederates voting to give the DOGE boys access. ~~~

The Court opts ... to relieve the Government of the standard obligations, jettisoning careful judicial decisionmaking and creating grave privacy risks for millions of Americans in the process. -- Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissenting, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor   

Kyle Cheney of Politico: “Mail-in ballots that Pennsylvania voters submit without proper dates on the return envelope may not be discarded, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday, the latest twist in an years-long legal fight over mail voting rules in the battleground state. Pennsylvania election officials have rejected thousands of votes in recent years under a state law that requires voters to handwrite a date on the outer envelope when voting by mail. That practice disproportionately affects Democratic voters, who are far likelier than Republicans in the state to vote by mail — meaning Tuesday’s ruling, if it stands, would likely boost Democrats in future elections.”

Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: “Lawyers for Jack Smith, the former special counsel who investigated Donald J. Trump, have struck back for the first time against some of the accusations conservatives have leveled against him, denouncing an ethics complaint as 'imaginary and unfounded.' For months, Mr. Smith has remained silent as the president and some of his senior advisers, including top Justice Department officials, publicly attacked him, accusing Mr. Smith of engaging in wrongdoing for overseeing two criminal inquiries and indictments of Mr. Trump.... 'Mr. Smith followed well-established legal principles in conducting the investigations into President Trump, and the courts presiding over the resulting prosecutions have already rejected the spurious allegations that the manner in which Mr. Smith prosecuted these cases was somehow improper,' [Smith's lawyers wrote to acting special counsel Jamieson Greer, whose office has no affiliation with Smith's former role]. The letter also noted that while Mr. Greer’s office had publicly confirmed it had opened an investigation, neither Mr. Smith nor his lawyers had received any inquiries from [him].”

Dan Mangan of CNBC: “The Federal Reserve on Tuesday said it would abide by any court decision on whether ... Donald Trump has the legal authority to fire Board of Governors member Lisa Cook. The Fed, in a statement from a spokesperson, noted that 'Cook has indicated through her personal attorney that she will promptly challenge this action in court and seek a judicial decision that would confirm her ability to continue to fulfill her responsibilities as a Senate-confirmed member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.' The statement was the Fed’s first response to Trump’s announcement on Monday night that he was removing Cook as Fed governor because of allegations she committed mortgage fraud.” ~~~

~~~ Paul Krugman: “Yesterday Donald Trump said that he had fired Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors ... on tissue-thin allegations of mortgage fraud.... At this point the immediate onus is on Jerome Powell, the Fed chairman. He has the right — I would say the obligation — to say, 'Show me the legal basis for this action.'... If Powell caves, or the Supreme Court acts supine again and validates Trump’s illegal declaration, the implications will be profound and disastrous. The United States will be well on its way to becoming Turkey, where an authoritarian ruler imposed his crackpot economics on the central bank, sending inflation soaring to 80 percent[.]... This is not a case a nonpolitical Justice Department would even consider bringing to trial, or have much hope of winning. And again, it has no relevance at all to Cook’s work at the Fed, providing zero justification for dismissal 'for cause.' But of course Trump’s attempt to fire Cook has nothing to do with allegations of fraud. Her real crime, in his mind, is that she isn’t an obedient minion (oh, and that she’s a black woman.)” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I do think it's important to bear in mind that the vast majority of Trump's actions against U.S. citizens and residents are against people of color. For instance, the cities he's taken over or threatened to take over have black mayors and large minority populations. All that anti-DEI crapola targets racial and other minorities. The ICE raids of course are mostly against minorities. The Congressional districts he's seeking to dilute or erase have large minority populations. And so forth. A major thrust of the Trump dictatorship is to bring back Jim Crow.  

Robyn Pennacchia of Wonkette seems to have a good handle on Trump's flag-burning ban, and I especially appreciated her take on Glenn Greenwald, from whom I have not heard in a long time but it looks as if he's still on Xitter and has a Substack account. 

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Aspiring Dictator Moves Toward Full-Dictator. OR, ~~~

~~~ ⭐as Garrett Graff writes, “The United States, just months before its 250^th birthday as the world’s leading democracy, has tipped over the edge into authoritarianism and fascism.... Everything else from here on out is just a matter of degree and wondering how bad it will get and how far it will go?... Donald Trump is close to batting a thousand at speed-running the very abuses of power that led to the Founders to write the Declaration of Independence in the first place.... One could say that Trump has blown through the nation’s constitutional and political guardrails, but a more accurate assessment is that both Congress and the Supreme Court ... removed those guardrails helpfully in advance.... The response, meanwhile, by [national] Democrats has been unconscionably weak.... Trump’s push now is clearly focused on locking in an illegitimate claim to power. Whether we can come back from this moment is a story yet unknown.” ~~~

A lot of people are saying maybe we like a dictator. I don't like a dictator. I'm not a dictator. I'm a man with great common sense and a smart person. And when I see what's happening to our cities, and then you send in troops instead of being praised, they're saying you're trying to take over the Republic. These people are sick. -- Donald Trump, Monday ~~~ 

~~~ Dan Froomkin of Press Watch: “The top story of the moment is the one story that our most influential newsrooms won’t touch: That the United State has become an authoritarian state. At some point, the evidence becomes overwhelming —  and we have reached that point. The frog in the metaphorical pot of water has boiled to death.... Our dominant media institutions ... obscure reality under a haze of incremental stories, each one presented as if what is going on is fairly normal. As if it’s just politics.” ~~~

~~~ David Frum of the Atlantic notes that after Trump's first term, Congress and the Biden administration did far too little (and too late) to address Trump's lawlessness & prevent future abuses like those he had committed. Thanks to akaWendy for the gift link.

Aaron Pellish & Kyle Cheney of Politico: “... Donald Trump on Monday said he is firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, escalating his pressure campaign on the Central Bank to lower interest rates. In a social media post, Trump shared a letter addressed to Cook asserting the Department of Justice’s inquiry into whether Cook lied on mortgage applications amounted to 'sufficient cause' to remove her from the fed board. 'The American people must be able to have full confidence in the honesty of the members entrusted with setting policy and overseeing the Federal Reserve,' Trump said in the letter. 'In light of your deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter, they cannot and I do not have such confidence in your integrity.' Trump has repeatedly sought to influence the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates and has previously suggested removing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.” (The linked letter is via Trump's social media account.)  (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

I will not resign. I will continue to carry out my duties to help the American economy as I have been doing since 2022. -- Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook in response to Donald Trump's attempt to remove her from office ~~~ 

     ~~~ Tony Romm, et al., of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said on Monday that he was taking the extraordinary step of removing Lisa Cook from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, in a legally dubious maneuver that could undermine the independence of the nation’s central bank.... But Ms. Cook and her lawyer [Abbe Lowell] vowed to fight her dismissal, maintaining that the president did not have the grounds to oust her. Ms. Cook has not been charged with wrongdoing or convicted of a crime.... Many legal experts raised serious concerns late Monday with the manner of Ms. Cook’s dismissal, and the president’s justification for doing so, as they warned that Mr. Trump’s intervention could compromise an institution at the heart of the economy with damaging results.” The AP report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Rachel Maddow, on-air Monday night: "No president has ever fired a member of the Federal Research board -- because they aren't allowed to." (Slight paraphrase.) ~~~

     ~~~ Adam Liptak of the New York Times looks at the legal issues re: whether or not Trump can fire Cook. ~~~ 

     ~~~  Paul Krugman: “If you write about politics and imagine that Trump cares about mortgage fraud — or for that matter believe anything Trump officials say about the affair without independent confirmation — you should find a different profession.... The real story here isn’t about [Lisa] Cook, or mortgages. It’s about the way the Trump administration is weaponizing government against political opponents, critics, or anyone it finds inconvenient.... Mainly it’s about intimidation: 'If you get in our way we will ruin your life.'... What we’re witnessing is the authoritarian playbook in action.... If the administration thinks it has enough evidence to bring charges, it should bring charges, not demand that she quit her job. The important thing to understand is that we are all Lisa Cook.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Monday signed an executive order aimed at eliminating cashless bail in the United States by threatening to cut federal funding to jurisdictions that allow the practice. Mr. Trump has long railed against cashless bail, in which criminal defendants are not required to post bail when they face lesser charges. Studies have shown that such policies have not led to an increase in crime.... Mr. Trump’s executive order instructs Attorney General Pam Bondi to identify which jurisdictions have “substantially eliminated cash bail as a potential condition for crimes that pose a clear threat to public safety and order” within 30 days.... Mr. Trump also signed a second executive order that targeted cashless bail practices specifically in Washington, D.C....

“Proponents of cashless bail argue that the cash-bail system is unfair, since wealthier individuals can pay to free themselves from jail while poorer individuals cannot afford to do so while their cases play out. They argue courts should consider whether an individual is threat to the community, not how wealthy they are, when deciding whether they can be released ahead of trial.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ An AP report by Melissa Goldin explains aspects of cashless bail. 

     ~~~ Flag Burning? Good Grief! Emily Davies & Jenny Gathright of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump moved on two issues important to his conservative base Monday, signing executive orders aimed at ending cashless bail across the country and pushing courts to reconsider the legality of burning the American flag.... Trump’s order on flag burning directs his administration to prosecute people who 'desecrate' the American flag and to detain and remove immigrants who have been accused of such behavior. The Supreme Court in 1989 issued a 5-4 ruling that found burning the U.S. flag is protected by the First Amendment, but Trump in the executive order asked U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to find a case that could challenge that ruling. The majority of the justices now are significantly more conservative than the court was then.” (Also linked yesterday.) The AP story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the order, via the White House. ~~~ 

If it were up to me, I would put in jail every sandal-wearing, scruffy-bearded weirdo who burns the American flag. But I am not king. -- Former right-wing Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, discussing the 1989 ruling (Scalia was in the majority in the 5-4 decision) ~~~

     ~~~ Charlie Savage & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: “...  there was a significant disconnect between the president’s words [at the signing] and the order he signed. The text says nothing about putting people in prison for a year. Instead, it acknowledges that the Supreme Court in 1989 ruled that flag burning is a form of political expression protected by the First Amendment.... In his order, Mr. Trump instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to look for ways to prosecute people who desecrate the national symbol 'to the fullest extent permissible under any available legal authority' without running afoul of the First Amendment.” A CBS News analysis is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: What I still don't get is this: Even if banning flag-burning were constitutional, I don't think the president* can decree an act illegal. Laws are made by Congress, not by presidents. Trump, as Scalia might say, is not a king. ~~~

     ~~~ Washington Post Editors: “Trump’s order targets flag-burning for precisely the reason Scalia thought it was constitutionally protected: because it 'is a statement of contempt' for the United States, as the order puts it.... Like many of Trump’s executive orders, this one seems intended less for its policy effect than as a provocation.” ~~~

~~~ Martin Weil of the Washington Post: “A man set fire to a U.S. flag across the street from the White House Monday evening to protest ... Donald Trump’s anti-flag-burning executive order. The man was arrested in Lafayette Square, but not on grounds of violating the order — or of burning the flag. Instead he was charged with violating a law against setting fires at federal parks.” The Secret Service detained the man and the Park Police arrested him. “Neither agency reported specifically that the fire involved a flag and they did not identify the man by name.” An NBC News story is here. MB: I would surmise that eventually the arresting docs have to cite a statute that the perp allegedly has violated, and “'cause Trump sez so” is not a statute.

Not just a dictatorship, but a communist-style dictatorship ~~~ 

~~~ Tony Romm & Ana Swanson of the New York Times: “Three days after the United States agreed to acquire a stake in the chipmaker Intel..., [Donald] Trump signaled on Monday that he would pursue similar investments in other major companies, describing his new economic strategy as an attempt to 'get as much as I can.' Mr. Trump’s pledge underscored a significant and potentially risky shift in the relationship between government and private enterprise. With a particular focus on powerful computer chips, the White House expressed new fervor for nationalizing certain industries and technologies, in ways that conservatives once may have found unfathomable.... Mr. Trump also extracted a pledge from chipmakers, including Nvidia, to give the government 15 percent of their revenue from selling powerful computer chips to China, an idea that lawyers in the Commerce Department are trying to figure out how to legally carry out.” This appears to be a gift link, and the story is worth reading because it explains how Trump had abandoned the safeguards the bipartisan Biden-era CHIPS Act imposed upon a federal investment in Intel. ~~~

     ~~~ Both Garrett Graff & Dan Froomkin -- linked above -- refer to Trump's nationalization of some corporations as part of his authoritarian scheme. 

Trump Again Embarrasses U.S in Front of Foreign Leader. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: Donald “Trump, appearing beside President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea on Monday as the decades-old alliance between their two nations shows signs of strain, heaped praise on the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and stressed their positive relationship. Appearing eager to insert himself into one of the thorniest issues in Korean politics, Mr. Trump repeatedly mentioned having a good rapport with Mr. Kim, said the North had 'great potential' as a country, and at one point offered to arrange a meeting between Mr. Kim and Mr. Lee.... In an hour-long session in front of reporters..., Mr. Trump repeatedly lingered on his relationship with Mr. Kim.”

He Hears What He Wants to Hear. Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: “While speaking to reporters at the Oval Office on Monday..., Donald Trump claimed that Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) told him last year that he had been 'the greatest president' of Moore’s lifetime. But ... [Moore said] in a radio interview hours later that he never told Trump that.... The White House on Monday night insisted that Moore had heaped praise on Trump, telling The Washington Post in a statement that he did so 'behind the scenes after the President’s landslide victory on November 5th.'... In Trump’s retelling, Moore approached him at last year’s Army-Navy football game in D.C.’s Maryland suburbs, hugged him and complimented him, telling him that he had done a 'fantastic job' as president....” In a video Fox Nation took of a brief exchange between Trump & Moore at the game -- which Moore says is the only conversation they had that day -- Moore does not praise Trump.” ~~~

     ~~~ CNN's fact-checker Daniel Dale makes the same assessment: Moore did not hug Trump or call him "the greatest president." But Moore did call Trump "sir"! 

John Ismay, et al., of the New York Times: Donald “Trump directed the Defense Department on Monday to take a larger role in domestic law enforcement, including by 'quelling civil disturbances,' as he threatens to broaden deployments of the National Guard in cities run by his political enemies. The executive order, released by the White House on Monday morning, also formalizes the creation of specially trained National Guard units in the District of Columbia and all 50 states that can be mobilized quickly for 'ensuring the public safety and order.'... In a statement, the White House ... said the executive order would increase 'participation across agencies'  in enabling more specially trained personnel to deliver on Mr. Trump’s campaign promise and 'constitutional obligation to make D.C. safe and beautiful again.'” The link to the order embedded in the story is via the White House. ~~~

~~~ "Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Light." Paul Campos in Lg&$: "... I assumed that [Trump's] second term would be low energy, with golf dominating the schedule — it has, but not nearly enough — featuring a completely checked out figurehead that would lead to much backstabbing rivalry among his unsupervised satraps. Instead, despite his very obviously declining health — can we ever catch a break in this regard? — Trump seems positively energized by his bottomless narcissistic rage, and the non-stop carnival of revenge and fascistic lib-owning that it has clearly inspired.... But seven months in we’re looking at pretty much a worst case scenario, in which his evident engagement causes his minions to jockey furiously for attention and favor, leading to further cumulative radicalization, and a situation increasingly reminiscent of some other times and places that have descended into sheer totalitarian madness." ~~~

~~~ Heather Cox Richardson ticks through some of Trump's Monday Oval Office grotesqueries, then lands on Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker's extended retort to one of them. ~~~ 

~~~ Julie Bosman of the New York Times: “Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois has a message for ... [Donald] Trump: Keep the military out of Chicago. Mr. Pritzker, a Democrat, stood alongside the Chicago River on Monday afternoon, flanked by Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago, pastors, business leaders and community organizers, to push back on Mr. Trump’s offhand declaration that he would send the military into the city, as he had done in Los Angeles and Washington.... At the lectern, Mayor Johnson noted Chicago’s progress in reducing crime, saying that Chicago does not rank among the top 25 most dangerous cities in the country.... Chicago is not in the midst of any civil unrest or protests. Violent crime rose during the pandemic but has plummeted since then. Murders are down 50 percent since 2021, and in the last year, crime has fallen in nearly every major category tracked by the Chicago Police Department.... On Friday, Mr. Trump said that he planned to target Chicago and New York for his next federal crackdown on crime, calling Chicago 'a mess' and suggesting he was willing to use active-duty troops on city streets. 'We’ll straighten that one out,' Mr. Trump said, adding, 'I think Chicago will be our next, and then we’ll help with New York.'” ~~~

~~~ Gov. JB Pritzker knows what to say and how to say it. Rachel Maddow later called this a speech for the history books: ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the full text of Gov. Pritzker's speech, courtesy of CBS News. Rachel Maddow called the speech one for the history books.  

Chelsia Marcius & Grace Ashford of the New York Times: New York City “Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told the U.S. attorney general, Pam Bondi, on Monday that New York, where crime has been dropping for months, does not need the presence of the National Guard, according to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the matter. During the 30-minute meeting, held late Monday afternoon at Police Department headquarters in Manhattan, Commissioner Tisch noted the city’s record-low number of shootings and shooting victims, the official said.”

Alan Feuer & Minho Kim of the New York Times: “Federal prosecutors [in Washington, D.C.,] on Monday reduced the charges against a woman accused last month of assaulting an F.B.I. agent during a protest against immigration officials in Washington, refiling her case as a misdemeanor after they were unable to persuade three grand juries over a month to indict her with a felony. It is highly unusual for prosecutors to fail even once — let alone three times — to obtain an indictment from a grand jury given the way the process is stacked in favor of the government.... On July 23, [Sidney Lori] Reid was accused in a criminal complaint of having forcibly assaulted, impeded or interfered with federal agents as they sought to transfer two alleged gang members into F.B.I. custody at the local jail in Washington the day before.... Mr. Trump’s takeover of the Washington police has led the U.S. attorney’s office to instruct prosecutors to charge defendants with the most serious crimes possible in each case and to do so in federal court, where sentences tend to run much longer.”

You May Smack Your Gobs, But This Is Standard Trump. Brianna Tucker of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump said Monday that the Justice Department plans to sue California over legislation aimed at redrawing the state’s congressional maps — an initiative by Democrats to counter Republican-driven efforts in Texas to remake its map. Asked by a reporter whether his administration might challenge California’s newly passed bills, Trump, using a derogatory nickname for Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), said: 'Well think I’m going to be filing a lawsuit pretty soon. And I think we’re going to be very successful in it.' This month, Trump urged Republicans in Texas to aggressively redraw maps to their advantage ahead of the 2026 midterms, arguing that Republicans are 'entitled' to five more seats in Congress. The Trump-backed map passed last week, creating five more U.S. House districts in Texas that favor Republicans.” ~~~

I wouldn't be very surprised if we find out before the next election that there's kind of, be an emergency called. I don't have it on good authority that this is going to be done, but a number of people are urging it because it's necessary. And with that emergency, we're going to be able to turn the tide. -- Peter Ticktin, former Trump attorney, at a (right-wing) Gateway Pundit "conference"; via Media Matters  

~~~ MEANWHILE, in Utah. Hannah Schoenbaum of the AP: “The Utah Legislature will need to rapidly redraw the state’s congressional boundaries after a judge ruled Monday that the Republican-controlled body circumvented safeguards put in place by voters to ensure districts aren’t drawn to favor any party. The current map, adopted in 2021, divides Salt Lake County — Utah’s population center and a Democratic stronghold — among the state’s four congressional districts, all of which have since elected Republicans by wide margins. District Court Judge Dianna Gibson made few judgments on the content of the map but declared it unlawful because lawmakers had weakened and ignored an independent commission established by voters to prevent partisan gerrymandering.”

How to Become an Ambassador! ~~~

Kadia Goba of the Washington Post: “House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Kentucky) subpoenaed Jeffrey Epstein’s estate on Monday as part of an ongoing probe into the handling of the federal sex-trafficking investigation with Epstein at its center, requiring the estate’s attorneys to respond by Sept. 8. The committee, among other material, requested Epstein’s attorneys produce a leather-bound 'birthday book' Epstein’s former partner Ghislaine Maxwell compiled for her associate’s 50th birthday. Comer also requested 'any document or record that could be reasonably construed to be a potential list of clients involved in sex, sex acts or sex trafficking' facilitated by Epstein. The GOP base has been in an uproar since the Trump Justice Department said in early July that there was no 'client list' in its files associated with Epstein, contradicting what Attorney General Pam Bondi and some former administration officials have claimed.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Maria Sacchetti, et al., of the Washington Post: “A federal judge on Monday temporarily barred Kilmar Abrego García’s deportation to Uganda until she can hold a hearing to examine whether the Trump administration will give him an opportunity to contest his removal to that country. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis issued that order from the bench, hours after Homeland Security officials detained him during a required check-in at the U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore and said they’d begun processing him for removal. The effort to remove Abrego comes just three days after he was freed from criminal custody by another federal judge, in Tennessee, to await trial on migrant smuggling charges. Trump officials had insisted Abrego would “never go free” in the United States, and ICE notified him shortly after his release Friday that the agency intended to seek his removal to Africa within days.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ New York Times liveblog: “Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the immigrant who was wrongfully expelled to El Salvador in March and then brought back to face criminal charges, was detained again on Monday after the administration indicated that it planned to re-deport him to Uganda, his lawyer said. The detention unfolded after Mr. Abrego Garcia arrived at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Baltimore and came only three days after he was freed from custody in the criminal case that was filed against him in Federal District Court in Nashville.” ~~~

Chris Cameron: “Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s lawyer announces to the crowd outside the immigration office in Baltimore that he has been taken into custody by ICE. His lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, says that the stated intention of the meeting with immigration police was for an interview, but 'clearly, that was false.' He said that ICE did not say why they were detaining him or where they were taking him.” 

Jazmine Ulloa: “The crowd descended into boos and chants of 'shame' as Sandoval-Moshenberg announced that Abrego Garcia had been detained again. Immigrant rights volunteers in yellow vests shielded his family members as they left the building.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The AP's liveblog is here. (Also linked yesterday.) 

Maxine Joselow of the New York Times: “Employees at the Federal Emergency Management Agency wrote to Congress on Monday warning that the Trump administration had reversed much of the progress made in disaster response and recovery since Hurricane Katrina pummeled the Gulf Coast two decades ago. The letter to Congress, titled the 'Katrina Declaration,' rebuked ... [Donald] Trump’s plan to drastically scale down FEMA and shift more responsibility for disaster response — and more costs — to the states. It came days before the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, one of the deadliest and costliest storms to ever strike the United States. 'Our shared commitment to our country, our oaths of office, and our mission of helping people before, during, and after disasters compel us to warn Congress and the American people of the cascading effects of decisions made by the current administration,' the FEMA employees wrote in the letter.”  (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The was published by "Stand Up for Science" so the link embedded in the story is not firewalled. It lists the names of signatories and says 146 signatories did not list their names; there are a total of 181 signatories.

The New York Times story of Donald Trump's threat against Chris Christie is here. (Related Mediaite story linked below.) MB: I'll give Trump this: it's quite a feat to make Chris Christie seem heroic & turn John Bolton into a sympathetic figure. (Also linked yesterday.) 

Enid Nemy of the New York Times: “Maurice Tempelsman, the enigmatic and politically connected Belgian-American diamond magnate who drew news media scrutiny for his business dealings in Africa and was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s companion for more than a decade before her death in 1994, died on Saturday in Manhattan. He was 95.”

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Israel/Palestine. Isabel Kershner, et al., of the New York Times: “Twenty people were reported killed in Gaza on Monday, among them medical workers and [five] journalists, when two Israeli strikes hit a hospital in what Israel’s prime minister later described as a 'tragic mishap.' The Gaza health ministry, which provided the death toll, also said that dozens more people had been wounded. The five journalists  had worked for media outlets including Reuters, The Associated Press and Al Jazeera, according to their employers.” This is an update of a story linked yesterday. (Also linked yesterday.) The Guardian's report is here.