September 1, 2025

Garrett Graff: “... Washington and social media have spent Labor Day weekend in a frenzy over Donald Trump’s health. The president, who seems like he can’t stomach staying out of the public eye and spotlight for even a few hours, had no public appearances on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday — nor any over the long weekend.... To me, there are six clear reasons we should be talking about this more than we are and why the press corps should be digging more deeply and more seriously around this topic: 1) The bruised hands.... 2) The pattern changes.... 3) The years of lies.... 4) Trump’s obviously diminished capacity.... 5) The Swollen Ankles.... 6) The Biden Precedent.” Read through. ~~~

    ~~~ This Is Fishy. Andrew Holleran of the Spun, republished by Yahoo! News: Donald "Trump, 79, took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to [post] a photo of himself fist-bumping the former NFL head coach [Jon Gruden].... 'Great playing Golf with Jon Gruden — A really nice guy, and true character!' ... Trump posted on Sunday, August 31.... But social media users have noticed that Gruden was wearing the same outfit [and playing at the same course] in an Instagram post dated Aug. 23." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I don't have a conspiracy theory for you. But I will say that a public figure doesn't post a week-old snap of himself implying it was a newly-taken photo -- unless he's hiding what he looks like now. I'm sure some of you thought I was going wacky when I suggested Friday that we were playing a game of "Where's Dumbo?" because Trump hadn't been seen for a couple of days. Well, a couple of days has expanded to five days, & Dumbo is still MIA. ~~~ 

     ~~~ BTW, a photographer with a long-range lens did take a photo of Trump this weekend. You can see how that turned out. The photo on the right is what Old Joe Biden looked like this weekend. Joe has cancer. Who looks healthier and more mentally sharp? BUT the MSM isn't covering Disappearing Dumbo.

 

William Foege, William Roper, David Satcher, Jeffrey Koplan, Richard Besser, Tom Frieden, Anne Schuchat, Rochelle P. Walensky & Mandy K. Cohen in a New York Times op-ed: “We have each had the honor and privilege of serving as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, either in a permanent or acting capacity, dating back to 1977.... What Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has done to the C.D.C. and to our nation’s public health system over the past several months — culminating in his decision to fire Dr. Susan Monarez as C.D.C. director days ago — is unlike anything we have ever seen.... Secretary Kennedy has fired thousands of federal health workers and severely weakened programs designed to protect Americans from cancer, heart attacks, strokes, lead poisoning, injury, violence and more. Amid the largest measles outbreak in the United States in a generation, he’s focused on unproven 'treatments' while downplaying vaccines. He canceled investments in promising medical research that will leave us ill prepared for future health emergencies. He replaced experts on federal health advisory committees with unqualified individuals who share his dangerous and unscientific views. He announced the end of U.S. support for global vaccination programs..., citing flawed research and making inaccurate statements. And he championed federal legislation that will cause millions of people with health insurance through Medicaid to lose their coverage.... This is unacceptable, and it should alarm every American, regardless of political leanings.” The link appears to be a gift link.

David Chen of the New York Times: “The image of red-state governors mustering uniformed troops for duty in blue-state cities has left many Americans with the foreboding sense of a nation dangerously divided, perhaps even drifting toward open conflict. Mr. Trump denied statistical reality last week when he was asked whether he might send federal forces into high-crime cities in Republican-led states. 'Sure,' he said, 'but there aren’t that many.' There are that many: Kansas City, St. Louis and Springfield, Mo.; Birmingham, Ala.; Cleveland, Dayton and Toledo, Ohio; Tulsa, Okla.; Memphis and Nashville; Houston; Little Rock, Ark.; Salt Lake City; and Shreveport, La., all have crime rates comparable to Washington’s, according to F.B.I. statistics.... Jeffrey A. Butts .. of the ... John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, noted that even in Washington, federal resources are not actually being targeted where they would make the most difference, in high-crime neighborhoods far from the photogenic monuments and government buildings where National Guard troops are patrolling.”

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: “The Trump administration’s crackdown on crime in Washington has been propelled, in part, by an aggressive clampdown on guns, with city and federal officials confiscating around 150 weapons since the president declared a crime emergency in the capital nearly three weeks ago.... The shift toward gun enforcement — and publicizing the aggressive street sweeps — marks an abrupt departure for an administration that has courted Second Amendment maximalists and sharply downgraded federal firearms enforcement....  A New York Times review of about 1,000 arrests suggested only a slight increase in the overall number of arrests compared with the period before the surge, but pointed to a major increase in federal firearms prosecutions.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, I get it. The population of D.C. is about 43 percent Black, and Trump probably thinks the percentage of Blacks is higher. The administration doesn't want to clamp down on guns; it wants to clamp down on Black people with guns. 

Sam McNeil & Valentina Petrova of the AP: “A plane carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was hit by GPS jamming over Bulgaria in a suspected Russian operation, a spokesperson said Monday. The plane landed safely at Plovdiv airport in central Bulgaria and von der Leyen will continue her planned tour of the European Union’s eastern frontline nations, said commission spokesperson Arianna Podestà.... The incident with von der Leyen’s plane is the latest in a series involving suspected Russian electronic interference with GPS satellite navigation. For months, countries bordering Russia — including Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia — have warned of increased electronic activity interfering with flights, ships and drones.”

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HAPPY LABOR DAY! Heather Cox Richardson on how the Republican party, formed to defend free labor, quickly abandoned workers and became the party of business. ~~~

~~~ Erik Loomis in a New York Times op-ed: Donald “Trump is the most ruthlessly antilabor president since before the Great Depression.... Mr. Trump and his administration have unilaterally stripped collective bargaining rights from hundreds of thousands of federal workers.... Mr. Trump ushered in Labor Day weekend on Thursday by continuing his assault of federal unions, adding the Patent Office, NASA and the National Weather Service to his list of targeted agencies.... Mr. Trump has attacked workers in other ways. He has gutted the Department of Labor through [DOGE] cuts.... He is also rolling back Labor Department rules from the Obama and Biden administrations that allowed home care workers to earn overtime and farmworkers to campaign for better working conditions. And he has severely undermined the National Labor Relations Board.... Despite this assault on their very existence, we have barely heard a peep from unions.... To survive the Trump onslaught, organized labor must rise to the moment.” ~~~

~~~ Yes, We Have No Tomatoes. Corey Williams of the AP: “As parades and other events celebrating the contributions of workers in the U.S. are held Monday for the Labor Day holiday, experts say ... Donald Trump’s stepped-up immigration policies are impacting the nation’s labor force. More than 1.2 million immigrants disappeared from the labor force from January through the end of July, according to preliminary Census Bureau data analyzed by the Pew Research Center. That includes people who are in the country illegally as well as legal residents. Immigrants make up almost 20% of the U.S. workforce and that data shows 45% of workers in farming, fishing and forestry are immigrants.... About 30% of all construction workers are immigrants and 24% of service workers are immigrants....”

“Beyond Dunning-Kruger.” S.V. Date of the Huffington Post: “His lying and temper tantrums aside, evidence abounds that the president's most important, and dangerous, feature is his ignorance.... Some of [Trump's ridiculous] beliefs, such as the insistence that sea-level rise will somehow create more oceanfront property, have little real-world impact. Others have had major consequences. Trump’s certainty that other countries pay tariff revenue to the United States has created a drag on the U.S. and global economies, spiking prices for consumers and battering domestic farmers and manufacturers.... His belief defies common sense.... Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is said to have called him a 'moron,' which was clarified later as a 'fucking moron.'... Notwithstanding proof of his profound ignorance, though, Trump has, through the years, insisted that he possesses a genius-level intellect.... According to [David] Dunning [of the Dunning-Kruger Effect], that particular trait of believing you know more than experts in pretty much every field goes far beyond the typical case of Dunning-Kruger. 'That’s an added layer,' Dunning said. 'That’s self-deception.'” MB: If you don't think about what his job is, and how he is using the stupid to ruin people's lives, this is kind of a fun article to read.

Karen DeYoung & Kate Brown of the Washington Post: “A postwar plan for Gaza circulating within the Trump administration, modeled on ... Donald Trump’s vow to 'take over' the enclave, would turn it into a trusteeship administered by the United States for at least 10 years while it is transformed into a gleaming tourism resort and high-tech manufacturing and technology hub. The 38-page prospectus ... envisions at least a temporary relocation of all of Gaza’s more than 2 million population, either through what it calls 'voluntary' departures to another country or into restricted, secured zones inside the enclave during reconstruction. Those who own land would be offered a digital token by the trust in exchange for rights to redevelop their property, to be used to finance a new life elsewhere or eventually redeemed for an apartment in one of six to eight new 'AI-powered, smart cities' to be built in Gaza. Each Palestinian who chooses to leave would be given a $5,000 cash payment and subsidies to cover four years of rent elsewhere, as well as a year of food.” The link is a gift link. MB: Sounds more like a gleaming war crime to me. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Adding Insult to Injury. Edward Wong, et al., of the New York Times: “The Trump administration has enacted a sweeping suspension of approvals of almost all types of visitor visas for Palestinian passport holders, according to American officials. The new policy goes beyond the restrictions announced by U.S. officials recently on visitor visas for Palestinians from Gaza. Last week, the State Department also said it would not issue visas to Palestinian officials to attend the annual U.N. General Assembly in New York next month. The more sweeping measures, laid out in an Aug. 18 cable sent by State Department headquarters to all U.S. embassies and consulates, would also prevent many Palestinians from the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in the Palestinian diaspora from entering the United States on various types of nonimmigrant visas.... The new measures affect visas for medical treatment, university studies, visits to friends or relatives and business travel, at least temporarily.”

Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration on Sunday grounded planes carrying migrant children that the White House intended to deport to Guatemala after a federal judge issued an emergency order temporarily blocking any removal of about 600 unaccompanied minors. Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said she learned from plaintiffs that the administration was putting hundreds of unaccompanied minors onto flights on Sunday morning despite an order she issued earlier in the day barring officials for 14 days from deporting 10 children named in a lawsuit. As a result, she moved up a hearing to early Sunday afternoon and extended her pause to cover the roughly 600 children from Guatemala at risk of deportation....  

“Drew Ensign, who represented the Justice Department, said during the hearing that his agency was not aware of the initial order blocking the deportations when the children were first put on the plane. Sooknanan had issued the order early Sunday morning after the National Immigration Law Center entered an emergency filing seeking a pause in the deportation of 10 Guatemalan children. While Sooknanan’s first order covered only the 10 children listed as plaintiffs in the initial filing, she extended her pause during the afternoon hearing to cover the roughly 600 children at risk of deportation because the suit was filed as a class action.” Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here.

Stiffing the Troops. David McAfee of the Raw Story: The Trump administration is reportedly putting the National Guard troops it has called up on 29-day assignments because assignments of 30 days or more require the government to pay full basic housing allowances to troops.  

Jake Spring of the Washington Post: “Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) on Sunday said he is making every effort to stop ... Donald Trump 'from using the military to invade states,' as the administration threatens to deploy the National Guard to Chicago like it has done in D.C. and Los Angeles. The comments came after Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) signed an executive order instructing police not to cooperate with troops or federal agents in the event of such a deployment.... [On Saturday, Trump said in a social media post], 'JB Pritzker, the weak and pathetic Governor of Illinois, just said that he doesn’t need help in preventing CRIME. He is CRAZY!!! He better straighten it out, FAST, or we’re coming!']” ~~~

~~~ Todd Feurer, et al., of CBS News: "Mayor Brandon Johnson signed a sweeping but largely symbolic executive order Saturday afternoon to protect residents' rights in preparation for federal agents possibly arriving in Chicago for a major immigration enforcement effort. The order also seeks to bar any federal agents working in Chicago from wearing masks, and to require them to wear badges and other identifying information. The Democratic mayor's signing of the 'Protecting Chicago Initiative' comes amid growing concerns of a military deployment to America's third-largest city as soon as Friday. The order seeks to ensure that residents know their rights, and every part of the city government is directed to protect residents from federal action, the mayor said at a news conference." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Kaia Hubbard of CBS News: "Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday that 'we haven't taken anything off the table' when asked about expanding immigration enforcement operations to cities throughout the U.S.... Noem said Sunday that there's been 'ongoing operations with ICE in Chicago and throughout Illinois and other states, making sure that we're upholding our laws.' But she acknowledged that 'we do intend to add more resources to those operations.'" (Also linked yesterday.) 

David Cohen of Politico: “'I only see harm coming,' said Demetre Daskalakis in an interview that aired Sunday about his departure from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Speaking to host Martha Raddatz on ABC’s 'This Week,' Daskalakis discussed his resignation as director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, which came after the ouster last week of CDC Director Susan Monarez, a Trump appointee who came in to conflict with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on vaccinations. Three other top health officials also resigned.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Thanks, Trump! David Pierson & Mujib Mashal of the New York Times: “...  The leaders of China, Russia and India, the three largest powers not aligned with the West, smil[ed] and laugh[ed] like good friends as they greeted each other at a summit on Monday.... The tableau carried multiple messages, analysts said. The bonhomie between Mr. Xi and Mr. Putin was meant to convey a close bond between them as leaders of an alternative world order challenging the United States. Mr. Modi sought to show that India has other important friends — including China, regardless of an unresolved border dispute — if the Trump administration chooses to continue alienating New Delhi with tariffs.... That imagery in the city of Tianjin, where more than 20 leaders from mostly Central Asia and South Asia gathered, showed how the geopolitical disruption caused by Mr. Trump has given China and Russia a platform to rally partners such as Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Pakistan.” ~~~

~~~ Laura Bicker, et al., of BBC News: "The leaders of China and India say there is now deepening trust between them after years of tension that includes a long-running border dispute. China's President Xi Jinping and Indian PM Narendra Modi met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) in the port city of Tianjin. It is Modi's first time in China in seven years. Xi told Modi that China and India should be partners, not rivals, while Modi said there was now an 'atmosphere of peace and stability' between them. Russian President Vladimir Putin is also at the summit, attended by more than 20 world leaders, which this year has been overshadowed by trade wars with the US." ~~~

~~~ Kapil Komireddi in a New York Times op-ed: “For three decades, successive American presidents have invested enormous diplomatic capital to cultivate a friendship with India.... To Washington, India was a vast emerging market, a potential counterweight to China, a key partner in maintaining Indo-Pacific security and a rising power whose democratic identity would bolster a rules-based international order. For its part, India — mistrustful of the West after nearly a century of British colonial rule — shed its Cold War suspicion of Washington, which had armed and financed its archnemesis Pakistan for decades, and moved steadily closer to the United States. It took Donald Trump one summer to obliterate these gains.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Traitors Ask for Compensation. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “...  even though the president has given [the January 6 insurrectionists] their freedom and has taken steps toward satisfying their desire for retribution, they are asking for more: In the past several weeks, the rioters and their lawyers have made a concerted effort to push the Trump administration into paying them restitution for what they believe to be their unfair prosecutions. On Thursday, one of the lawyers, Mark McCloskey, said during a public meeting on social media that he had recently met with top officials at the Justice Department and pitched them on a plan to create a special panel that would dole out financial damages to the rioters — much like the arrangement of a special master to award money to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Emma Fitzsimmons & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: “Rudolph W. Giuliani was injured in a car accident in New Hampshire on Saturday evening and taken to a hospital with a fractured vertebra, according to the head of security for the former mayor of New York City.... A person close to Mr. Giuliani said he was expected to recover. The narrative of how the accident unfolded, based on accounts from Mr. Ragusa and the New Hampshire State Police, is a little unclear.” This is an update of a developing story linked yesterday. An NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) 

Michael Schmidt & Nina Agrawal of the New York Times: “Robert S. Mueller III, the former special counsel who investigated ties between ... [Donald] Trump’s campaign and Russia, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease four years ago, his family said in a statement on Sunday. In recent months, Mr. Mueller, a former F.B.I. director, has had difficulty speaking and experienced mobility issues, people familiar with his condition said. As a result, a congressional committee has withdrawn a request for Mr. Mueller to give testimony this week in its inquiry into the government’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigations.”An ABC News story is here.

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Tennessee. Adeel Hassan of the New York Times: “A rural Tennessee sheriff who was portrayed by Hollywood as a leader who had to bend the law in order to fight crime killed his wife 58 years ago, prosecutors announced on Friday. They said that they had amassed enough evidence against the sheriff, Buford Pusser, who served in McNairy County from 1964-70, to present an indictment to a grand jury in the killing of his wife, Pauline Mullins Pusser, 33, who died in 1967. Though Sheriff Pusser died in a car crash seven years after his wife’s death, prosecutors said it was critical to make public what they had learned, in part because the case inspired the Nixon-era law-and-order hit 'Walking Tall' in 1973. The movie ... starred Joe Don Baker as Sheriff Pusser, a crusading official who cleaned up the streets with the help of a colossal baseball bat.”

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Afghanistan. Safiullah Padshah, et al., of the New York Times: “More than 600 people were killed by a 6-magnitude earthquake in eastern Afghanistan, the authorities said on Monday. Officials said the death toll was likely to rise significantly as rescue workers rushed to reach communities in mountainous areas hit by the quake, which left more than 1,300 people injured. The epicenter of the quake late Sunday was near Jalalabad, a city of about 200,000 people, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. Less than 100 miles away, residents of Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, fled their homes as aftershocks were felt across the city throughout the night. The quake was a shallow one, just five miles from the earth’s surface, which made it likelier to be destructive.”