September 7, 2025

David Waldstein of the New York Times: “ There was little demonstrable cheering or booing when Mr. Trump entered the main seating area [of Arthur Ashe Stadium] at 2:30 p.m. for the national anthem. But when he was shown on the video screens, fans unleashed a loud round of mostly boos, with some cheers mixed in. The president was on the screens only briefly, as he stood and saluted.” ~~~

Pablo Monsivais & Farnoush Amiri of the AP: “Law enforcement officials on Sunday removed a peace vigil that had stood outside the White House for more than four decades after ... Donald Trump ordered it to be taken down as part of the clearing of homeless encampments in the nation’s capital. Philipos Melaku-Bello, a volunteer who has manned the vigil for years, told The Associated Press that the Park Police removed it early Sunday morning. He said officials justified the removal by mislabeling the memorial as a shelter.”

Here's Heather Cox Richardson on Warmonger Don: “...  this open attack of the president on an American city is a new level of unhinged. Mehdi Hasan of Zeteo wrote: 'The president of the United States just declared war, actual military war, not a metaphorical one, on a major American city, and one governed by his political opponents.' He added, accurately: 'In any other period, this would be impeachment-worthy.'... Trump’s threats against American citizens are outrageous, but they also feel desperate.” 

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~~~ Trump Threatens to Go to War Against Chicago. Chicago Sun Times & Wires: “...  Donald Trump’s Truth Social post saying Chicago was about to find out 'why it’s called the Department of War' drew swift rebuke from Illinois leaders Saturday morning. 'I love the smell of deportations in the morning,’ he posted on Truth Social, a reference to the 1979 war movie 'Apocalypse Now' where Robert Duvall’s character Lt. Colonel Kilgore says, 'I love the smell of napalm in the morning.' “Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of War,” the post continued.... The White House shared the post on its X account. Gov. JB Pritzker responded to Trump’s post Saturday on X, saying it 'is not normal.' 'The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city,' Pritzker said in the post.... Speaking from the 24th annual Mexican Independence Day Parade in Pilsen Saturday, Sen. Dick Durbin called the post 'disgusting.'... In a post on X, Mayor Brandon Johnson called on Chicagoans to protect each other amid the threats.” Thanks to aka Wendy for the lead. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This really is insane. Donald Trump does not seem to understand he is POTUS* and neither does whoever posted his tweet on the White House account.  Also too those are somebody else's hands because they're not covered with bruises. T'was a time not so long ago when a member of Congress declared that a president wearing a tan suit in August was an inexcusable. (Although, to be fair, I would agree with a Twitter user called Fly Sistah, who opined in 2020 ....) ~~~

~~~ Hamed Aleaziz & Julie Bosman of the New York Times: “Chicagoans came out in force against Mr. Trump in the city’s downtown on Saturday afternoon, as a demonstration drew thousands of people who protested the prospect of increased ICE arrests and the president’s plan to bring the National Guard into the city.... Protesters also marched in Washington on Saturday, objecting to Mr. Trump’s actions in the district, particularly his seizing control of the Metropolitan Police Department, the first time a president has done so.” ~~~

     ~~~ The AP publishes photos of the Chicago protests here. Kudos to the person who lofted a sign with a depiction of Trump wearing a Hitler uniform & holding up his book "Mein Trumpf -- the Turd Reich." 

~~~ ⭐Ezra Klein of the New York Times argues that Democrats should shut down the government: “I recently asked Kate Shaw, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, what powers the recent Supreme Court decisions seem to grant Trump that Barack Obama or Joe Biden just didn’t think they had when they were president. Here’s what she said: 'Refuse to spend money appropriated by Congress. Remove heads of independent agencies protected by statute from summary firing. Fire civil servants without cause. Dismantle federal agencies. Call up the National Guard on the thinnest of pretexts....' Obama and Biden, she added, 'didn’t think they had the power to disregard statutes passed by Congress and the text of the Constitution. They didn’t think they had the power to do things like treat the presidency as an office that permits its occupant to use the power of the state to reward friends and punish enemies and engage in self-dealing and enrichment.'...

“Donald Trump is corrupting the government — he is using it to hound his enemies, to line his pockets and to entrench his own power. He is corrupting it the way the Mafia would corrupt the industries it controlled.... This is authoritarianism happening.... This is what Democrats cannot fund.... A shutdown is an attentional event. It’s an effort to turn the diffuse crisis of Trump’s corrupting of the government into an acute crisis that the media, that the public, will actually pay attention to.” The link is a gift link. ~~~

~~~ Julian Barnes & Katie Edmondson of the New York Times: “The Trump administration continues to erode the power of Congress, trampling on its constitutional prerogatives in ways large and small. Through it all, Republicans in charge have mostly shrugged — and in some cases, outright applauded — as their powers, once jealously guarded, diminish in ways that will be difficult to reverse.... For nearly a century, Democratic and Republican presidents alike have sought to amass more power, particularly to conduct foreign policy and military operations, and with a few exceptions, succeeded in chipping away at congressional influence. What is different now is the degree of disdain Mr. Trump has shown for Congress — and the willingness of G.O.P. leaders to defer to him even when it means undercutting their coequal branch of government.” 

Trump Takes Credit for Biden Projects He Tried to Squelch. Richard Fausset of the New York Times: “In southern Connecticut, the federal government is replacing a 118-year-old bridge along America’s busiest rail corridor. The $1.3 billion project was largely funded by the 2021 infrastructure law that was championed by then-President Joseph R. Biden Jr. — and strenuously opposed by Donald J. Trump. 'PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP' a sign by the road declares. 'REBUILDING AMERICA’S INFRASTRUCTURE.'... A number of similar signs have popped up in front of major infrastructure projects financed by the bipartisan 2021 legislation, a $1.2 trillion package that Mr. Trump ... had passionately railed against. He called the bill 'a loser for the U.S.A.,' and warned that Republican lawmakers who signed on could be thrown out of office by angry primary voters. 'Patriots will never forget!' he wrote.”

ABC Sports May Censor Any Trump Protests at U.S. Open. Brian Mahoney of the AP: “... Donald Trump will watch the U.S. Open men’s final from Rolex’s suite in Arthur Ashe Stadium.... Trump’s first appearance at the Grand Slam tournament in New York since 2015 — before his first run for the White House — will be Sunday as a guest of the Swiss watchmaker.... Accepting use of Rolex’s suite is noteworthy because it comes weeks after the Trump administration imposed a 39% tariff on Swiss products. That’s more than 2 1/2 times higher than the one on European Union goods exported to the U.S. and nearly four times higher than on British exports to the U.S.... The U.S. Tennis Association said its policy is to 'regularly ask our broadcasters to refrain from showcasing off-court disruptions,' so it’s possible ABC’s telecast of the match Sunday might not include coverage of any protests that might arise.” ~~~

     ~~~ Jennifer Bahney of Mediaite: “Broadcasters covering the U.S. Open men’s tennis final on Sunday have been 'asked' to censor any audience reaction to ... Donald Trump, who plans to attend as the guest of tournament sponsor Rolex. Tennis reporter Ben Rothenberg wrote Saturday for his publication Bounces, 'An internal email sent by the U.S. Tennis Association leadership to U.S. Open broadcasters, obtained by Bounces, requested that broadcasters censor any possible protests or other reactions to President Donald Trump’s presence at Sunday’s U.S. Open men’s final between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.'... [Rothenberg wrote,] '... the preemptive instructions outlined by the USTA in this email — asking broadcasters to censor and avoid any possible protest or negative crowd reaction to Trump for television audiences watching around the world — is further complicity in broadcasting Trump’s desired stagecraft for his first appearance at the U.S. Open in a decade.'” The Guardian's story is here, via RAS.

The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley. Marie: With constant tending, you can tame a natural setting into geometrically-shaped gardens of exotic trees and flowering, man-made hybrids. But try as you may, Mother Nature is persistent in doing what she will. Paving over her stilleto-unfriendly elements does not eliminate all of her pitfalls. Now Trump may have to tent over the new pavement in the White House Rose Garden. ~~~

~~~  AP: “... Donald Trump hosted a dinner Friday night for members of Congress in the newly paved White House Rose Garden, telling them they were the first gathering of what he dubbed the 'Rose Garden Club.' The president held a microphone as he addressed about 100 people, mostly House Republicans along with some GOP senators, thanking them for their support of his legislation. 'We call it the Rose Garden Club. And it’s a club for senators, for congresspeople and for people in Washington, and frankly, people that can bring peace and success to our country,' Trump said. Trump said he intended for the tech executives he dined with Thursday night, including Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, Apple CEO  Tim Cook and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, to be the first ones to enjoy the space. That dinner was moved indoors due to rain.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Even when the tech giants went indoors, there were problems. At least one tech guru had trouble with, well, tech. Zuck got caught on a hot mic accidentally revealing that those pledges of gigantic tech investments are just numbers Trump made up. Everything is fake. The entire administration is a charade, a Potemkin village of idiots. Thanks to akaWendy for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

Hannah Knowles & Clara Morse of the Washington Post: “Once intermittently cordial with Trump, [California governor Gavin Newsom] has embraced all-out warfare, taunting him daily in what his team calls a 'flood the zone' strategy. Trump, in turn, has mentioned Newsom more than any other potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate since the start of his second term, according to a Post review of social media posts and emails. The result: a remarkable back-and-forth between the president and the governor of the most populous state in the country that reached a low point last week. Trump posted multiple doctored videos of Newsom on social media, while the governor suggested Trump has dementia and pinned an unflattering photo of the president atop his official press account.”

Tom Winter of NBC News: "The Justice Department on Friday asked a federal judge overseeing the case of deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to deny a request from NBC News to unseal the names of two associates who received large payments from him in 2018, court documents show. The Justice Department cited privacy concerns expressed by the two individuals as the reason for not making their names public. The first associate received a payment of $100,000 from Epstein and the second associate received a payment of $250,000, both in 2018, days after the Miami Herald began publishing a series of investigative stories where victims criticized a plea deal he received in Florida in 2008. As part of the plea agreement, Epstein secured a statement from federal prosecutors in Florida that the two individuals would not be prosecuted.” ~~~

~~~ Jack Silvers of the Daily Beast, republished by Yahoo! News: “Cleo Glyde, a model who knew [Jeffrey] Epstein in the 1980s and 1990s, before his horrific crimes came to light, spoke exclusively to The Daily Beast Podcast about how Epstein used her and a close friend as 'trophies on display' during a bizarre encounter with Trump. Glyde told podcast host Joanna Coles how she met Epstein through a mutual friend when she was 22 years old.... Epstein suggested that she and her friend ... both wear white dresses and come with him to Trump Tower.... Glyde said that Trump 'smiled and laughed' when they came in … '... but not in a way that made me uncomfortable at the time.'... The White House called Glyde’s testimony a 'hoax.'... The statement contrasts a bombshell claim made by Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday that Trump was an “FBI informant” on Epstein, which would suggest that they were so closely linked that the now-president had information about Epstein’s crimes.” ~~~

~~~ Josh Marshall of TPM "connects a few dots" to come up with a theory about what may explain Trump's efforts to keep the Epstein files under wraps. Marshall uses some fairly tenuous "dots" to theorize that Trump outed Epstein's child sex abuse to the FBI. In 2004, Epstein was interested in purchasing a property in Palm Beach, & one time he brought his long-time friend Trump around to see it. Trump, being the kind of "friend" he is, then went behind Epstein's back and bought the property himself. Epstein told Trump he would get back at him by revealing in lawsuits how Trump's was laundering millions of dollars for a Russian oligarch. Trump and Epstein had gone catting together for years, so Trump of course knew about Epstein's preference for underage sexual partners. So Trump informed on Epstein to the feds, not because he was appalled by Epstein's abuse of young women, but because he wanted to get back at Epstein AND undercut Epstein's credibility. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Marshall may be right about all this, but Trump is so paranoid about those files I think the "Big Secret" is something worse than "Trump is a snitch." I suspect Trump has learned that some underage girls have accused him of abusing them, possibly in ways that are kinky enough to embarrass him. 

Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “The Trump administration has started an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Massachusetts, saying it was targeting 'the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens living in the state.'... In its statement on Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security called out Mayor Michelle Wu of Boston, who has drawn the administration’s ire for speaking out against the scale of its immigration actions. 'Sanctuary policies like those pushed by Mayor Wu not only attract and harbor criminals but also place these public safety threats above the interests of law-abiding American citizens,' the statement said.... This week, the Justice Department sued Boston for its sanctuary city policy, known as the Boston Trust Act, seeking to persuade a federal judge to invalidate the measure.” 

Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: “South Korea reached a deal with the United States to free hundreds of South Korean workers arrested when U.S. immigration authorities raided the construction site of a battery plant in Georgia, the country’s presidential office said on Sunday. 'There are some administrative procedures left, but once they are cleared, we will send a chartered plane to bring our people home,' Kang Hoon-sik, the chief of staff for President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea, told a meeting of senior officials from the administration and the governing Democratic Party on Sunday. Mr. Kang provided no further details, including when South Korea expected to send the plane. But his remarks provided the first strong indication that South Korea and the United States were working out a diplomatic solution after days of tensions between the allies.”

Ben Johansen of Politico: “Vice President JD Vance defended using America’s military for 'killing cartel members' that bring drugs into the United States on Saturday, dismissing a critic who asserted a recent airstrike on a boat allegedly trafficking drugs was a war crime. 'Killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military,' Vance posted to X on Saturday morning. He then engaged in a back-and-forth with Brian Krassenstein, an anti-Trump social media influencer and podcaster, who said 'killing the citizens of another nation who are civilians without any due process is called a war crime.' 'I don’t give a shit what you call it,' Vance replied.” MB: Not very presidenty, JayDee.

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: “The alumni association at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point has canceled an award ceremony for actor and veterans advocate Tom Hanks.... Hanks, 69, was to receive the prestigious Sylvanus Thayer Award, which recognizes an 'outstanding citizen' who did not attend West Point and has a distinguished record of service that exemplifies the academy’s ideals.... A ceremony and parade were scheduled for Sept. 25.... Retired Army Col. Mark Bieger, president ... of the West Point Association of Graduates..., apologized for the cancellation. The email did not say whether Hanks’s award has been revoked or if it will be presented in some other format.... The planned celebration appears to have run headlong into Trump-era politics.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Richard Luscombe of the Guardian: “Ticket sales at the Kennedy Center have continued to plummet following Donald Trump’s takeover of Washington DC’s premier performing arts venue, with the prestigious Stuttgart Ballet expected to dance next month to houses less than 20% full. Audiences are 'voting with their feet to skip out' on shows that would once have been packed, in protest at the US president inserting himself into the center’s management and operations as its new chairman, amid discussions around the notion of renaming it after Trump, according to an analysis by the Washingtonian magazine.” (Also linked yesterday.)

All the Best People. Daniel Hampton of the Raw Story: "CNN anchor Erin Burnett ... brought KFILE reporter Andrew Kaczynski on her show ... on Friday evening to discuss his new reporting on E.J. Antoni, Trump's pick to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics after the president ousted the agency's longtime chief because he didn’t like the jobs numbers.... Kaczynski said his team found 'highly disturbing posts.' 'Sexually graphic, degrading, misogynistic comments about Kamala Harris. We found anti-gay slurs. We also found that he spread a lot of conspiracy theories about COVID, about the 2020 election,' said Kaczynski.... 'Very hateful things,' Burnett said, remarking that Antoni was replying to vulgar posts. 'The image that he was responding to of Kamala Harris was absolutely disgusting. We can’t even show it.... It was beyond pornographic. It was disgusting.'" CNN's report, which (I think) is here, is subscriber-firewalled. (Also linked yesterday.)

Joanna Walters of the Guardian: “The surgeon general from the first Trump administration on Saturday said that the US president should 'absolutely' fire health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr over his “dangerous” policies on vaccines and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Jerome Adams, who has become a pointed critic of the controversial public health decisions being swiftly rolled out in the second Trump administration, made his most fierce attack yet on what has been unfolding. 'He’s putting us at risk,' Adams said of RFK Jr, adding that Kennedy is  'endangering America at large' with moves to limit access to vaccines, such as shots to protect against the deadly Covid-19 virus.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “Justice Stephen G. Breyer on Saturday defended a judge accused of defying a Supreme Court ruling, saying in an interview that he knew the judge to be scrupulously honest and respectful of higher courts. Justice Breyer, who retired from the court in 2022, has avoided criticism of his former colleagues. He declined on Saturday to directly address Justice Neil M. Gorsuch’s concurring opinion last month accusing Judge William G. Young, of the Federal District Court in Boston, of ignoring a binding precedent. But that opinion plainly prompted Justice Breyer’s decision to step forward with rare public comments in praise of Judge Young as model jurist whose rulings he had often reviewed during his 14 years as an appeals court judge in Boston.... Judge Young ... was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1985.... Justice Gorsuch had harsh words for Judge Young, accusing him of serious misconduct in a ruling restoring grants from the National Institutes of Health that the Trump administration had sought to cancel.... Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh joined the concurring opinion.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Gorsuch is of course a prickly prick, and Kavanaugh is, well, O'Kavanaugh. 

Taylor Telford, et al., of the Washington Post: “Hardly any corner of the economy is untouched by jobs cuts and slowdown: Employment in all goods-producing industries slumped in August, with the deepest losses coming from manufacturing and mining. The service sector was racked by steep layoffs in business and professional services and IT. Meanwhile, job vacancies are shrinking as employers hold fire on hiring, data show.... As companies wrestle with inflation, economic uncertainty and trade policy whiplash, many are shredding payrolls and shifting tasks to artificial intelligence while pulling in higher profits.”

Ruby Kramer & Matt Viser of the Washington Post: “Former president Joe Biden has chosen Delaware as the home for his presidential library, assembling a new board of friends, advisers and political leaders to decide on a site and begin fundraising the millions of dollars it will take to build the legacy project. Planning for the presidential library began shortly after Biden, 82, left office in late January, according to a senior member of the Joe and Jill Biden Foundation. A 13-person board, recently approved by Biden, will now begin the monumental task of raising money from beleaguered Democrats at a time when the party is already struggling to inspire donors and keep pace with Republicans’ fundraising after its losses in 2024.” The AP's story is here. MB: Besides that, the Biden library will be so boring because it will have books but no golden A-rab jet plane.

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California. Orlando Mayorquín  & Matt Stevens of the New York Times: “The Los Angeles Police Department ended its protection services for former Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday after facing criticism from an elite unit of its officers and the police union.... The department said this week that it had assigned officers to assist the California Highway Patrol in providing security for Ms. Harris. The agencies stepped in to fill the security gap that was left after ... [Donald] Trump terminated Ms. Harris’s Secret Service security detail beginning Monday.... Ms. Harris had faced elevated threats during her time in office and throughout the 2024 presidential campaign, according to the people familiar with her security arrangement.”

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Japan. River Davis & Kiuko Notoya of the New York Times: “Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba of Japan said on Sunday that he planned to resign, plunging the country into deep political uncertainty in a turbulent time. Japan is grappling with rising right-wing populism at home and heightened unpredictability from its key ally, the United States. Mr. Ishiba, who was elected to lead the governing Liberal Democratic Party just last September, is choosing to step down to prevent a split within the party, he said in a news conference in Tokyo. Several prominent members of the Liberal Democrats have called for a vote to be held on Monday on whether to hold an extraordinary leadership election, nearly two months after suffering a huge setback in parliamentary elections in which new right-wing populist groups gained support. The blow left the Liberal Democrats, who have led Japan for all but five of the last 70 years, a minority party in both chambers of the Diet, the country’s Parliament.”

Ukraine/Poland. Andrew Kramer & Yurii Shyvala of the New York Times: “After 80 years..., the remains of the 42 people found outside a now-abandoned ethnic Polish village in western Ukraine ... received the dignified burials they were denied in the final days of World War II, when their bodies were tipped into a mass grave.... For Ukraine, it was intended to put to rest a long-festering dispute with Poland, a critical ally in the war with Russia, over history and World War II-era massacres.... Another site was exhumed last week. A dozen others are planned.”

Ukraine/Russia. Siobhán O’Grady & Serhiy Morganov of the Washington Post: “Russia unleashed a massive air assault on Ukraine early Sunday, sending more than 800 drones and 13 missiles into the country in an hours-long attack that set the main government building in Kyiv ablaze for the first time during the war. A Russian drone also struck a residential building in the capital, killing a woman and infant. At least 20 other people were wounded, officials said.... The assault marked the largest number of Russian drones ever sent into Ukraine in a single day and continued a worrying trend of increased Russian attacks on the center of the capital, following another huge strike on Kyiv last week.