August 24, 2025

Life in Trump's U.S.A., 2025. Irene Rotondo of Mass Live: Upon returning to the U.S. at Boston's Logan Airport from a family vacation in Mexico, Jemmy "Jimenez Rosa, a legal permanent resident and mother of four U.S. citizens, was detained [by federal authorities] over what her lawyer believes was a decades-old, personal-use marijuana charge, which is no longer a crime in Massachusetts today. [During her ten-day detention, she] was shuttled between detention facilities — including one for men only — from Massachusetts to Maine. She was denied proper health care for her diabetes, asthma and other serious health issues, which led to two hospitalizations, her lawyer said. All the while, her husband — a former Department of Homeland Security employee who grew up in Boston — struggled to locate her and secure her release.... [Finally, o]n Wednesday afternoon..., a judge ... vacate[d] Jimenez Rosa’s past marijuana conviction [which had been sealed for years]..., and immediately filed a motion for her release." Federal agents then released her into the street in the rain, and she walked to a Cheesecake Factory where a stranger lent her his phone so she could call her family.

Joe DePaolo of Mediaite: “Longtime Jeffrey Epstein associate and convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell was honored a prestigious Clinton Global Initative event well after allegations against her of sexual misconduct had already been made public — a bombshell CNN report revealed Sunday. [MB: The CNN report is subscriber-firewalled.] According to CNN’s KFile, Maxwell was an honored guest at a Clinton luncheon in September 2013 on ocean conservation, — where she was recognized alongside other 'Commitment to Action' leaders. (Maxwell was representing a now-defunct non-profit called the TerraMar Project — an ocean conservation group.) Footage reviewed by CNN’s KFile showed Maxwell rising — along with others — to receive applause, at one point in the luncheon. KFile also reviewed a list which recommended Maxwell to receive complimentary access to the confab. Such a list, according to a source in KFile’s report, indicates that either Bill or Hillary Clinton personally approved the access for Maxwell.”

~~~~~~~~~~ 

We’ll know which way I’m going, because I’m going to go one way or the other. -- Donald Trump, trying to articulate his future plans for negotiating a peace deal between Ukraine & Russia ~~~ 

~~~ Confused Old Man “Not Happy” about War. Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump is signaling that he would step back for now from efforts to reach a Ukraine peace deal, expressing frustration over rising casualties and the failure of the two sides to come closer to a peace agreement. 'I’m not happy about anything about that war. Nothing. Not happy at all,' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday. He added that he would make an important decision about the future of the conflict in 'two weeks,' a phrase that he often uses not to specify a precise time frame, but to indicate that he wants to put off a decision for a while.... For all the diplomatic pageantry..., there’s been little sign of progress, with Moscow resisting any proposals to cease its attacks on Ukraine or accept anything short of its maximum goals for the war. Outside analysts have suggested the White House misunderstood Putin’s aims and may have been influenced by wishful thinking.” ~~~

     ~~~ Wait! Let's put that "I'm not happy about it" in context. ~~~

     ~~~ Robert McCoy in the New Republic, republished by Yahoo! News: “If another country were to bomb an American-owned factory on foreign soil, one might expect — at the very least — harsh condemnation from the sitting U.S. president. The anticipated response from a president who enjoys a reputation as both a champion of American business and a tough guy on the world stage would be even fiercer. But ... Donald Trump fell far short of such expectations on Friday, when he was asked about Russia’s strike on the Ukrainian branch of the American electronics manufacturer Flex.... 'I told [Putin], “I’m not happy about it,’” the president said, before immediately changing the subject. 'I’m not happy about anything having to do with that war.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The WashPo essentially downplayed Trump's remark by characterizing it as a general antipathy to warfare, when in fact the remark was a mealymouthed response to an attack on a U.S. corporation. Trump is so in-the-tank for Putin that he can't even muster up a show of indignation, much less outrage, when Putin bombs a U.S.-owned factory. Then there's this: ~~~

~~~ Confused Old Man Is Aiding the Enemy. Edward Helmore of the Guardian: “US defense officials have blocked Ukraine from using US-supplied long-range missiles to strike targets inside Russia since late spring as part of a Trump administration effort to get Vladimir Putin to engage in peace talks, according to a report on Saturday. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Pentagon has blocked Ukraine from using US-made Army Tactical Missile Systems, or Atacms. Two US officials told the outlet that on at least one occasion, Ukraine had sought to use Atacms against a target but was denied under a 'review mechanism' developed by Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon’s undersecretary for policy.... The review system reportedly gives US defense secretary Pete Hegseth approval over the use of the Atacm.... Before the inauguration in January, Trump told Time magazine that the decision to allow Ukraine to use US weapons systems to attack targets inside Russia had been a mistake.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Assuming the report is correct, one would think Trump might ask himself how helping Putin is working as a sweetener to get him to "engage in peace talks."  

Marie: Chris Cameron, et al., of the New York Times name five takeaways from Todd Blanche's interview of Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted sex criminal and one-time friend of Donald Trump, who wishes her well. Blanche, despite his job as No. 2 at DOJ, remains Trump's attorney, as he attested during his confirmation hearing. Here's my favorite of the five takeaways: 

“At several crucial moments in the expansive interview, Mr. Blanche peppered Ms. Maxwell with questions about some of Mr. Epstein’s associates, while dropping other lines of questioning when the conversation appeared to be politically inconvenient. Mr. Blanche, for example, asked many more questions about Mr. Epstein’s relationship with former President Bill Clinton than he did about Mr. Epstein’s relationship with Mr. Trump. In the end, Ms. Maxwell denied that either had engaged in sexual misconduct or other inappropriate behavior, and said neither had visited Mr. Epstein’s private islands.... 

“'Some [associates of Epstein] are in your cabinet, who you value as your co-workers,' Ms. Maxwell said. ... At another point she said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, once joined Mr. Epstein on a trip to hunt for dinosaur bones in the Dakotas.... Mr. Blanche immediately moved on, and the claim that other associates of Mr. Epstein work in the Trump administration was never brought up again.” MB: Not exactly a search for the truth. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Nnamdi Egwuonwu, et al., of NBC News: “The family members of a prominent survivor of Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse said they were 'outraged” by the Justice Department’s decision to release transcripts from Ghislaine Maxwell's testimony last month to a federal prosecutor, arguing it provided Maxwell a 'platform to rewrite history.' 'The content of these transcripts is in direct contradiction with felon Ghislaine Maxwell’s conviction for child sex trafficking,' the family of Virginia Roberts Giuffre said in a statement.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I hadn't seen it that way, but the family is right. DOJ released the transcripts and audio of Blanche's interviews of Maxwell without comment. No reminder that Maxwell is a convicted sex trafficker currently serving a 20-year sentence. No reminder that the government had previously charged her were perjury. A naive listener/reader might infer Maxwell's assertions were true, especially because the high-ranking federal official who was interviewing her did not question most of her claims. Rather, Blanche acted more-or-less as Maxwell's attorney might if he were guiding her through a direct examination in court.  ~~~

     ~~~ If not as Maxwell's attorney, then as a cooperating witness. Adam Klasfeld shows how Blanche questioned Maxwell in a way intended to help his real client: Donald J. Trump.  

Kathyrn Watson of CBS News: Donald "Trump on Friday said Chicago will probably be the federal government's next target for its anti-crime effort, following the ongoing operation in Washington, D.C., with New York City after that. The remarks were the president's clearest indication yet that he intends to bring his crusade against crime beyond the corridors of his direct authority in Washington. Mr. Trump also said he's willing to bring in the 'regular military' into the District of Columbia, not just the National Guard, which would be a significant escalation of the president's use of the military on U.S. soil." ~~~

     ~~~ Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: “The Pentagon has for weeks been planning a military  deployment to Chicago as ... Donald Trump says he wants to crack down on crime, homelessness and undocumented immigration, in a model that could later be used in other major cities, officials familiar with the matter said. The planning ... involves several options, including mobilizing at least a few thousand members of the National Guard as soon as September to what is the third most populous city in the United States.” ~~~

     ~~~ Ashleigh Fields of the Hill: “Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) on Friday pushed back on ... [Donald] Trump’s threat to target Chicago next in the Trump administration’s crackdown on crime following a sweeping takeover in the nation’s capital. 'As Donald Trump attempts to create chaos that distracts from his problems, we’ll call it out for what it is,' Pritzker wrote in a lengthy thread on social platform X 'Trump and Republicans are trying to distract from the pain they’re causing — from tariffs raising the prices of goods to stripping away healthcare and food from millions.' 'After using Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. as his testing ground for authoritarian overreach, Trump is now openly flirting with the idea of taking over other states and cities,' he wrote in a subsequent post, just hours after Trump turned his sights on the Windy City during a speech from the White House.” ~~~

     ~~~ Todd Feurer of CBS News Chicago: "After ... Donald Trump on Friday said Chicago would be the next target for sending in federal troops to fight crime, similar to his strategy in Washington, D.C., Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker said any such move would be an illegal abuse of power. 'There are many things the federal government could do to help us reduce crime and violence in Chicago, but sending in the military is not one of them,' Johnson said in a statement." ~~~

~~~ James Fallows and his wife Deb took a walk in downtown Washington, D.C., on a summer's afternoon: "There has rarely been a more beautiful summer day in Washington. Bright blue skies. Temperatures in the low 80s. Clear and dry air, rather than the usual August-in-DC atmospheric swamp. And practically no one was there to witness or enjoy it." The post includes many snapshots they took to show us "How it looks when a terrorizing government scares people away."

The Department of Injustice. Dan Barry & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “In the seven months since Mr. Trump, newly returned to the White House, granted clemency to nearly 1,600 people charged in the largest criminal investigation in Justice Department history, his administration has turned the agency upside down.... The template for that transformation was Jan. 6 — the pardons and then the purge. To date, the Justice Department has fired or demoted more than two dozen prosecutors who were assigned to hold the rioters accountable — roughly a quarter of the complement.... By tradition, the department long steered clear of White House intervention. Now, to remedy what the president has deemed the past weaponization of Justice, it has been deployed as a weapon for his score-settling and political crusades.”

Asha Rangappa in a New York Times op-ed: “On Friday, F.B.I. agents searched the home and office of ... [Donald] Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, to determine whether he illegally shared or possessed classified information.... The very fact that the public can’t be sure whether this is ... a legitimate investigation highlights the current crisis of trust in federal law enforcement, a crisis that has been exacerbated by the words and actions of Mr. Trump and members of his administration.... [In addition to repeatedly denigrating Mr. Bolton,] soon after taking office this January, Mr. Trump terminated Mr. Bolton’s security detail, despite the fact that Iran had made threats on Mr. Bolton’s life and an Iranian was charged in 2022 in a plot to assassinate him.... At the same time, Mr. Trump has also attempted to delegitimize other, substantially similar investigations — when they were directed at him.” Looks like a gift link. ~~~

~~~ New York Times Editors: “It is too early to know what the F.B.I. will claim to find in all of those boxes [it took from John Bolton's home and office,] but not too early to surmise that the search for incriminating documents was not the real goal of Friday’s search. Even if it turns up documents that should not be there, the administration has damaged any presumption of good faith by flinging weightless accusations of criminality at those who challenge it. That approach was evident in the snide social media posts that accompanied the search. “NO ONE is above the law,” wrote Kash Patel, the bureau’s director. '@FBI agents on mission.' Mr. Patel’s deputy Dan Bongino jumped to an accusation of guilt with his response: 'Public corruption will not be tolerated.' And Attorney General Pam Bondi declared: 'America’s safety isn’t negotiable. Justice will be pursued. Always.'” This too appears to be a gift link, so read on.

Yahoo! Business has republished a Fortune story by Marco Quiroz-Guitierrez about Donald Trump's post-inaugural bond-buying spree. Akhilleus linked the original Fortune article a few days ago. (Also linked yesterday.)  

Even the righty-right-wing editors of the Wall Street Journal are disgusted with Trump: ~~~ 

~~~ Wall Street Journal Editors: “...  it is increasingly clear that vengeance is a large part, maybe the largest part, of how [Donald Trump] will define success in his second term. His revenge campaign took an ominous turn Friday as FBI agents raided the home and office of Mr. Trump’s first-term national security adviser John Bolton.... It’s hard to see the raid as anything other than vindictive.... The presidential id is now unchained. Mr. Trump made clear that he was out for blood against Mr. Bolton when he pulled the former adviser’s protective detail after his re-election.... This is the kind of gratuitous viciousness that has increasingly defined Mr. Trump’s return to office.... The real offender here is [not Mr. Bolton but] a President who seems to think he can use the powers of his office to run vendettas. We said this was one of the risks of a second Trump term, and it’s turning out to be worse than we imagined.” The link appears to be a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) 

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: “It’s going to take a long time to fix all the horrible overreaches of this president.... Now he thinks our tortured history of slavery is getting in the way of America being 'the HOTTEST country in the world.' (The Saudis told this to Trump to puff him up, and he’s been repeating it ever since.)... He’s tried to restore Confederate statues and names. He’s retreating from the Civil Rights Act of 1964. His flunkies have downplayed Black icons like Harriet Tubman, the Tuskegee Airmen and Jackie Robinson.... Trump whitewashing slavery is the ultimate act of white privilege from a nepo baby who is the apotheosis of white privilege.... Abe Lincoln ... urged Americans to move past the Civil War 'with malice toward none, with charity for all.' Trump has malice for all, charity toward none.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Up to Their Usual Tricks. Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: “The overwhelming majority' of documents the Justice Department gave Congress in response to a subpoena for all information from its investigation into the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein had already been publicly released, the top Democrat on the House’s principal investigative committee said on Saturday. The Justice Department began sending material on Friday to the House Oversight Committee, which had demanded all records by Aug. 19, providing a total of 33,295 pages. But Representative Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the panel, said that of the files the committee had received, only 3 percent contained new information. The remaining 97 percent of the pages, he said, had information previously released by the Justice Department, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement or the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s office.” (Also linked yesterday.) A related CNBC story is here.

James Wagner of the New York Times: “In April, not long after designating English as the official language of the United States, Mr. Trump restored a penalty — taking a driver off the road — for violating a longstanding U.S. law that requires commercial vehicle drivers to know the language well enough to read road signs and communicate with U.S. officials. The order set off a frantic rush in Mexico, where companies are trying to quickly teach drivers enough English to keep their businesses alive. This year, according to Transportation Department data, officials reported more than 5,000 violations by truckers from Mexico who did not speak sufficient English, versus roughly 240 in 2024.”

Who's the Commie Now? Gerrit de Vynck of the Washington Post: “...  Donald Trump’s announcement that the U.S. government would take a 10 percent stake in chipmaker Intel adds to a string of multibillion dollar compacts with major tech firms that have trampled conventions insulating private business from the American presidency and government. The unprecedented deals over the last month have seen some of the nation’s largest public companies, including Apple and Nvidia, conform with Trump’s demands. Some pledged to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in line with his policy goals and others to pay the federal government an extra cut of revenue not required by existing taxes. 

“The U.S. government is set to become Intel’s largest shareholder, after the chipmaker confirmed late Friday that the government agreed to invest $8.9 billion previously allocated to the firm in federal grants to own 9.9 percent of the company. Some Republicans and Libertarians have complained that Trump’s transactional moves are a betrayal of the GOP’s traditional commitment to free-market policies.” ~~~

~~~ Heather Cox Richardson: “It is wild to see Republicans cheering on a president who publicly threatened a CEO and stated openly that he shook the man down for a major share in his company [Intel]. It is even wilder to see Republicans, who since 1980 have held so fervently to the idea of free markets that they have denounced even the most basic regulations as socialism, celebrate the government takeover of a private company. The story of that shift is a larger story about how the Republicans came to put party over country and, now, how they have put power over everything.... 1980 saw the takeover of the Republican Party by an extremist faction known as the 'Movement Conservatives.'... [Ronald] Reagan promised to put businessmen in the driver’s seat, but he depended on the votes of racists and sexists to win the White House.... In 1994, [Newt] Gingrich managed to flip the House of Representatives to the Republicans for the first time since 1954, and he set out to reshape the Republican Party into an instrument for destroying the modern government.” A fun romp through the evolution of the GOP, ending with “just textbook 1930s fascism.”

Travis Loller of the AP: “Immigration officials said they intend to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda after he declined an offer to be sent to Costa Rica in exchange for remaining in jail and pleading guilty to human smuggling charges, his defense attorneys told a court Saturday. The Costa Rica offer came late Thursday and included a requirement that he remain in jail for the time being and then serve whatever sentence he would receive for pleading guilty, according to a brief filed in Tennessee.... After Abrego Garcia left jail on Friday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement notified his attorneys that he would be deported to Uganda and should report to immigration authorities on Monday. Later on Friday, 'the government informed Mr. Abrego that he has until first thing Monday morning — precisely when he must report to ICE’s Baltimore Field Office — to accept a plea in exchange for deportation to Costa Rica..., his defense attorneys wrote.... The Saturday filing came as a supplement to [an earlier] motion to dismiss, stating that the threat to deport him to Uganda is more proof that the prosecution is vindictive.”

Crimson Capitulation. Stephanie Saul of the New York Times: Despite the fact that Harvard University has not reached an agreement with the Trump administration, “the university has ... [already] enacted a host of items on the White House wish list..., which have ranged from eliminating diversity offices to ousting program leaders.... Recently, Harvard also took down websites for its Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, as well as websites for companion offices for gay and female students, and said they were merging them into a new, single center.... Harvard removed two of the ... leaders [of the Center for Middle East Studies], including Cemal Kafadar, a leading Turkish scholar, in March.... Harvard said it had suspended the relationship [with Birzeit University, a top Palestinian college in the West Bank] and had struck up new ones with institutions in Israel.”

Victoria Bisset & Grace Moon of the Washington Post: “Postal operators around the world have announced they will suspend certain deliveries to the United States, ahead of an end to a long-standing tariff exemption for packages worth $800 or less.... Previously, most imported goods with a value of $800 or less were exempt from tariffs. That rule, known as the de minimis exemption, is set to end on Aug. 29 — though letters or personal gifts worth less than $100 won’t be affected.... A number of national mail companies around the world from Europe to Asia and the Pacific have responded by temporarily suspending some mail services to the U.S. For consumers, this could mean delays in receiving packages — which may now also incur tariffs of $80 or more.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is another Trump-induced pain for ordinary Americans as well as for vendors around the world. For years, I have made purchases -- usually of items advertised on Amazon, eBay or Etsy -- directly from overseas vendors. No more. 

Colleen Deguzman of the Texas Tribune: “Hours after the Texas Senate approved a new congressional map early Saturday morning that more heavily favors Republicans — legislation Gov. Greg Abbott plans to 'swiftly' sign into law — a lawsuit against the governor was filed, alleging that the redrawn districts are racially discriminatory. The 67-page complaint against Abbott and Secretary of State Jane Nelson supplements legal action filed by LULAC in 2021 challenging the state’s original maps and argues that redrawing districts mid-decade is unconstitutional.”

 

Robyn Pennacchia of Wonkette is here to keep you abreast of the travesty -- according to the woke-averse MAGA crowd -- of the freeway-exit-adjacent Cracker Barrel restaurant chain removing the cracker (i.e., the old white guy in overalls) AND the barrel from its logo. It's important to keep up on things that matter.

~~~~~~~~~~ 

Michigan. Reasonable People May Disagree. The attractive young woman pictured in the video below is Rep. Laurie Pohutsky. She is a Democrat serving in the Michigan House of Representatives. Like all good legislators, Pohutsky is dutiful about constituent service. That service extends to people who might not have voted for her. So here she is listening to the wants and needs of one of her constituents. Do listen along with her. Thanks to RAS for the link: