... OR, as RAS puts it ~~~
Akhilleus told us a few days ago that this would happen. He was right: ~~~
Josh Gerstein & Andrew Howard of Politico: “The Supreme Court significantly narrowed a key provision of the Voting Rights Act in a 6-3 ruling Wednesday, further eroding the impact of the landmark civil rights-era law. For decades, Section 2 — a provision that broadly outlawed discrimination in voting on the basis of race — has been interpreted to allow, and sometimes demand, the use of race-conscious data in redistricting, to protect the voting power of minorities. But the court’s new opinion, which split the justices along ideological lines, throws into question exactly how states can utilize race in their mapmaking process. The case involves a challenge to two majority-Black districts in Louisiana.... Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito said evidence of racial disparity in the drawing of earlier maps was too weak to justify the use of race to draw the new map.... All three liberal justices joined a dissent by Justice Elena Kagan, who read portions of her opinion aloud from the bench — a sign of profound disagreement with the majority.” MB: I'll be darned if can figure out what Alito is talking about, but I'll take Kagan's word for it: “... she said what the majority billed as mere updates actually 'eviscerate the law' and amount to the 'demolition of the Voting Rights Act.'”
~~~~~~~~~~
Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: “King Charles III demonstrated what seemed to be a master class in Trump II diplomacy at a state dinner in the East Room of the White House Tuesday night, delivering a speech with all the right ingredients in just the right amounts. There was dry British understatement; jokes tailored to ... [Donald] Trump’s proclivities (a Coca-Cola toast and crack about 'readjustments' to the East Wing); a little obsequiousness balanced with a little prodding about NATO; and the shiniest, Trumpiest of gifts. 'Mr. President,' the king said, 'I am delighted to present to you, as a personal gift, the original bell which hung on the conning tower of your valiant namesake.' He gestured to an object that had been sitting under a golden cloth on a white pedestal beside him. The red-coated arm of an equerry shot forth to unveil a highly polished bell. Etched quite clearly onto the bell’s surface were the words TRUMP 1944. Evidently there had been a submarine called HMS Trump, launched from a U.K. shipyard in 1944, that played a role in the Pacific during World War II.... 'Should you ever need to get hold of us,' the king said, 'well, just give us a ring!' The room burst into applause and the president, looking positively beatific, flashed the king a thumbs-up.” ~~~
~~~ Isabel Keane of the Independent: "As King Charles addressed Congress on how executive power is 'subject to checks and balances.' the White House's official X account posted a photo of the British monarch with ... Donald Trump captioned: 'TWO KINGS.'" MB: Trump is so crass he has no idea how completely the British royals (and millions upon millions of ordinary people) outclass him. McCreesh, the Gray Lady reporter, can't help ending his otherwise straight report on the state dinner with, "There was something comical about seeing the king and queen among the Trumpian court." What was comical, of course, was the sharp contrast between the polished king and Trump's squad of buffoons. Indeed, the overarching (one might say gobsmacking) irony of Charles' visit to Washington, D.C., is that an hereditary king clearly understands, articulates and appreciates an American democracy established in a revolution against his predecessor & ancestor, while the clumsy clown the dying democracy has chosen as its president* not only doesn't understand democracy, he strenuously opposes it and is trying to kill it.
Michael Shear & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: “... on the first full day of a state visit focused on the shared history between the United States and Britain, [King Charles III] sprinkled in some ever-so-subtle rebuttals to Mr. Trump.... The king tucked his rejoinders into a mostly lighthearted speech to Congress on Tuesday afternoon and during evening remarks at a formal banquet at the White House.... In a rarity for the Trump era, the president stuck mostly to his script during the day’s ceremonial events.” MB: Charles' remarks did not seem ever so subtle to me. I thought he smacked Trump around quite deftly and obviously. More on his digs linked below. ~~~
~~~ Marie: BTW, a photo accompanying the article demonstrates how Trump is no longer able to walk normally. I imagine most people have, at various times, made awkward pivots that left them for a moment in similar positions. But this is not the first instance in recent times I've seen Trump drag his left foot while it oddly points inward, toward his right foot. If he weren't one of the cruelest people in the world, I'd feel sorry for him. ~~~
 |
| Trump struggles to walk on the new granite pavers. NYT photo. |
The King's Speech. Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: “King Charles III urged Americans and Britons to draw on their shared heritage to defend democratic values, including checks on executive power, as he exhorted U.S. lawmakers to address global problems collectively in an era of unusually sharp divisions. In the course of his first state visit to the United States as monarch, Charles stayed scrupulously nonpartisan over the course of a 28-minute address to a joint meeting of Congress. But he promoted what he described as centuries of common interests, including in areas where ... Donald Trump has sought a sharp break from U.S. precedent.... The United States and Britain should defend Ukraine, Charles said. An independent judiciary should deliver impartial justice. Diverse societies make countries strong. Societies must protect the natural world. And the U.S. and Europe should 'ignore the clarion calls to become ever more inward-looking.'...
“The vision of the American role in the world that [Charles] outlined ... stood in stark contrast to that of Trump, who has declared that migration weakens societies, used executive orders to bypass Congress, attacked judges who rule against him, questioned the scientific consensus on climate change and declared his desire to wind down support for Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion.... 'Executive power is subject to checks and balances,' Charles said, spurring bipartisan cheers and whistles from his audience at a time when the Republican-led Congress has greatly diminished its power largely by acquiescing to many of Trump’s demands.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Charles Dissed Trump. And Everybody Cheered. Annabelle Dixon of Politico: “King Charles III deployed the first royal address to the U.S. Congress in 35 years today — and he had plenty to say to Washington’s gathered political leadership. His speech to a bipartisan crowd of elected officials, Supreme Court justices and U.S. military officials was delivered with trademark British understatement but was strong on subtext. Politico decodes some of the key passages of the biggest public speech of the British monarch’s four-day U.S. state visit.” MB: Read Dixon's analysis, but if you listen to Charles' speech, you'll hear more instances in which he calls Trump to task. It was quite a gutsy speech, well-delivered. Dixon doesn't say so, but we should bear in mind that the King's government -- that is, Starmer and his people -- would have been written/approved the King's remarks; Charles was in effect speaking for the Starmer government. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
Amelia Nierenberg of the New York Times: “The Jeffrey Epstein scandal has ripped through the highest levels of Britain, prompting the firings of two top officials and a rupture in the royal family. Now it looms over the state visit of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. Mr. Epstein, the convicted sex offender, cultivated ties with political and business elites on multiple continents, including with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the king’s brother. Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his titles over his connections to Mr. Epstein and was arrested this year over accusations of misconduct in public office, after reports that he may have shared confidential information with Mr. Epstein while serving as a British trade envoy. He has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged. After his brother’s arrest, the king made a rare and direct public statement expressing support for an investigation. Since then, he has limited his public comments on the issue. The king and queen will not meet with Mr. Epstein’s victims while in the United States, despite a request from Representative Ro Khanna, Democrat of California. Lawyers representing Charles and Camilla said that they were unable to do so because of 'ongoing police inquiries' in Britain.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: That's okay, Chuck. The leader* of our own country, who was Epstein's best friend -- not merely the brother of a friend of Epstein's -- won't meet with the survivors, either. In fact, the Count of Mar-a-Lardo has gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid the survivors. Why, even our dear leaders' factotums won't look the women in the face when they're sitting in the same room, just feet away from each another. ~~~
 |
| Former AG Pam Bondi (foreground) at a Congressional hearing earlier this year, refusing to acknowledge Epstein survivors & their relatives. |
Family Squabbles. Leo Sands of the New York Times: “One meeting that appears to be absent
from King Charles III’s carefully planned schedule in the United States
this week is any reunion with Prince Harry. On a four-day state visit intended in part to repair bruised U.S.-British relations,
Charles’s itinerary currently includes no plans to see Harry, his
41-year-old son, who lives in California with his wife, Meghan, and
their two children. Buckingham Palace officials declined to comment when asked whether the king and his
younger son would meet. Charles and Queen Camilla are scheduled to be in
Washington on Tuesday and New York on Wednesday before departing on
Thursday. The family fell out publicly when Harry, who holds the title Duke of Sussex, withdrew from royal duties in 2020 and relocated to California in an act of self-exile. In the years since, their relationship has been tested again and again.” (Also linked yesterday.)
⭐Jim Rutenberg & John Koblin of the New York Times: “Federal regulators on Tuesday ordered a review of all station licenses owned by ABC, an extraordinary move to pressure a major television network whose programming has frequently angered ... [Donald] Trump. The agency overseeing the review, the Federal Communications Commission, said in a filing that the action was related to an investigation into ABC’s diversity and inclusion policies. But it came in the middle of a fight this week between Mr. Trump and the network’s late night host, Jimmy Kimmel, that prompted the president to demand that ABC fire Mr. Kimmel. The license review represented an escalation by the Trump administration and the president to punish major media outlets for their coverage. Mr. Trump has personally sued several news organizations, including The New York Times, and the Pentagon has tried to sharply restrict news media access. Mr. Trump’s F.C.C. chairman, Brendan Carr, has repeatedly threatened to take action against broadcasters, including to take away their valuable station licenses. His agency’s action on Tuesday was the first direct step toward potentially doing so.” The Guardian's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: We have known for years that Donald Trump deplores the First Amendment -- except of course when he can use and abuse it to his own advantage. His many personal lawsuits against media giants for defamation are outrageous, but using the power of his office to deprive network-owned stations in major markets of their licenses is a threat not only to the network, but also to millions of its viewers. AND it is glaringly unconstitutional. ~~~
~~~ Victor Mather of the New York Times has the full backstory.
Cesar Sayoc, a Trump super fan & obsessive Fox viewer, sent pipe bombs in 2018 to Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, & many other top Dems. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In the wake of the attacks, Trump said about his rhetoric: 'Tone down, no. Could tone up.' -- Mehdi Hasan, squeet (also read at least a few of the comments -- thanks to RAS for the link)
Jonathan Chait of the Atlantic: "To describe Donald Trump as a corrupt aspiring authoritarian is not to conclude that he should be murdered.... This claim suffers three serious defects.First, it assumes that violence is the only logical response to an attempt to undermine democracy.... The second problem[:] ... Trump himself routinely violates it. The president has spent a decade calling his rivals communists and traitors, among other hyperbolic insults.... And third, the conservative principle would seem to rule out any criticism of authoritarian tendencies, however real they may be.... The norm that many Trump-supporting conservatives seek to enforce is ... a one-sided ban imposed on Trump’s critics so that the president can do as he wishes." Chait highlights an irony/fallacy in the right's argument: by assuming that assassination is the only antidote to authoritarianism, wingers are adopting exactly the same theory that led the would-be assassin to aspire to kill Trump and members of his gang. Thank you to akaWendy for this gift link.
digby: "There was a time when Trump actually sued CBS for editing out an innocuous piece of a Kamala Harris interview." digby publishes parts of the transcript of the full interview. Some of it is incoherent gibberish; some is insane conspiracy theory. digby credits CBS News with heavily editing the interview to make Trump appear mentally competent, which he clearly is not. MB: I heard on the teevee that Trump's people directed the edits; I don't know if that's true or not. Whatever. One might argue that an old man who had fallen down the night before and might have been rattled by a probable assassination attempt should be cut some slack. I don't know what time of day CBS conducted this interview, but it was sometime on Sunday, the day after the correspondents' dinner. IOW, the old man had time to pull himself together. If he was still shaky, his people should have rescheduled the interview. Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. See also his commentary in yesterday's thread. (Also linked yesterday.)
Except for the bit in the end with the Insult Dog, Jon Stewart really captured the reactions to the White House Correspondents' Dinner fiasco: ~~~
Philip Kennicott of the Washington Post: Trump's ballroom project “suggests that he plans to leave behind not just a radically transformed White House complex but a different conception of the presidency. The regal trappings Trump favors in design and architecture will now be mirrored by an essentially regal protocol for seeing the president.... There’s no reason that state dinners can’t be held [elsewhere].... Local developer Ronald Eichner and architect Matthew Bell, who teaches architecture at the University of Maryland, point out that the Treasury Building, adjacent to the former East Wing, includes two courtyards of some 20,000 square feet, which could be converted into a ballroom within the White House security perimeter.,,, But, of course, the real function of this ballroom isn’t about governance or diplomacy. It’s about fundraising, about endless rubber-chicken dinners for cadres of donors seeking influence and business leaders hungry for government contracts.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: One reason Trump does everything wrong derives from his own narcissistic personality and the authoritarian project that defines his presidency*. He thinks he "alone can fix it," so he doesn't seek advice from Congress (which is often required by law) or from experts. I didn't know there were huge nearby courtyards that could be converted to ballrooms, and Trump didn't think of it either. Instead, he dreamed up this grandiose monstrosity to permanently mar the White House and serve as a bad reminder of himself. Then he sent in the bulldozers. Kennicott's column, BTW, is accompanied on the front page of the WashPo, at 6:45 am ET, by a mislabeled photo. According to the caption, the photo is of "The Trumps and the royals by a model of the president’s proposed White House ballroom." In fact, it's of "The Trumps and the royals by a beehive modeled after the White House." I expect the photo and its misinformation will go away sooner rather than later.
As for the motion DOJ filed asking for dismissal of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's suit against the ballroom, Madiba Dennie of Balls & Strikes complains in a headline, "The Justice Department Is Now Reformatting Trump Truth Social Posts as Court Filings." More on the filing linked on yesterday's page.
Jennifer Jacobs, et al., of CBS News: "The alleged gunman was running at full speed as he raced past the magnetometers on the second floor of the Hilton hotel in Washington, D.C. He discharged his shotgun, likely hitting the cellphone tucked inside the pocket of the bulletproof vest worn by the officer who fired five shots at him, according to two sources familiar with the investigation of the incident Saturday night at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Officials investigating the incident said they estimated 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen was running at about 9 miles per hour when he sprinted through and discharged the shotgun he had with him. Officials are still conducting ballistics testing to confirm whether it was the shot he fired that hit the officer wearing the bulletproof vest in the chest, sources said." ~~~
~~~ Carol Leonnig, et al., of MS NOW: "The FBI has not found the fragment that pierced a Secret Service officer’s bulletproof vest at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday, leaving investigators unable to say for certain whether the armed attacker shot the officer or how he was injured, according to two people briefed on the probe." The article includes a number of other bits of news about the case.
RAS managed to find an uplifting story among all the swamp effluvium: ~~~
~~~ Kimberly Nordyke of the Hollywood Reporter: “After the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was abruptly cut short..., the Washington Hilton was left with a lot of unserved food.... Weijia Jiang, White House Correspondents Association president and CBS News’ senior White House correspondent, revealed in a social media post Monday that the Hilton donated the approximately 2,600 dinners that had not been served. 'The Hilton donated the ~2600 dinners that went unserved at WHCD,' she posted on X. 'They freeze dried the steak and lobster for longer shelf life before giving them to 2 shelters for abused women and children. HUGE thank you to the staff that worked through the night under terrible circumstances.'” (In a photo accompanying the article, Trump has the vacant, drooping visage of an old man who doesn't know where he is.) (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: How ya' gonna keep 'em on mac & cheese after they 'et Kobe? While some Republicans have long been obsessed with the idea that SNAP beneficiaries are using their government subsidies to buy steak and lobster (yes, it's legal, and no, they don't often buy luxury foods), at least Republicans haven't proposed laws to prevent donations of steak and lobster. Yet.
Marie: Damn! I truly was going to renew my passport so I could go to Quebec & pretend I was in Europe. Now I won't be able to get a passport: ~~~
~~~ John Hudson & Amy Wang of the Washington Post: “The State Department will begin offering a new version of U.S. passports featuring an image of ... Donald Trump inside, said two U.S. administration officials, the latest effort to cement Trump’s brand on the nation. A picture of Trump — surrounded by the text of the Declaration of Independence and the American flag — will be included on one of the inside pages of the new passports, with the president’s signature in gold appearing below it, to commemorate the 250th anniversary of American independence, said officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the program before its unveiling. Another page will include a picture of the Founding Fathers signing the Declaration of Independence, according to images from the State Department. It was not immediately clear whether Americans signing up for new passports or renewing their old ones would automatically receive the passports with Trump’s face in them or have a choice for the traditional design.” (Also linked yesterday. BUT. This morning the link has been updated to a gift link.) The AP's story is here.
Pete Hegseth was livid when the Army launched an investigation into two helicopter crews who likely used their Apaches for a politically-inspired fly-by. And Drunk Pete just can't stop, even when his boss seems to disapprove: ~~~
~~~ Ali Watkins of the New York Times: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the pro-Trump musician Kid Rock flew in military helicopters together on Monday, weeks after the Army came under scrutiny for a flyby at the singer’s home. 'Joined my friend @KidRock and some of our great @USArmy Apache pilots for a ride this morning,' Mr. Hegseth said in a post on X.... It came after Mr. Hegseth made an extraordinary move to shut down an Army investigation into military helicopters hovering outside the singer’s home in Nashville last month.... Videos the singer posted on X on March 28 show two Apache helicopters hovering feet away from a pool at his [home].... The episode sparked fierce backlash and a military investigation, with ... [Donald] Trump himself remarking that the crew members 'probably shouldn’t have been doing that.'... The Army went on to bar the crews from flight duty and launched an investigation. But Mr. Hegseth, in a remarkable circumvention of the military chain of command, personally reversed the suspensions and shut down the inquiry. 'No punishments. No investigation. Carry on, patriots,' Mr. Hegseth said in a post on X.”
How much does Todd Blanche want to be attorney general? Way too much. ~~~
“After the image was posted, the Secret Service went so far as to track the location of Mr. Comey and his wife as they traveled from their vacation spot to their home in Northern Virginia. When Mr. Comey learned of the uproar, he deleted the post, saying that he did not know that it had a violent connotation and that he opposed violence of any kind. The Secret Service interviewed him by phone that evening, and Mr. Comey said he had no intent to cause the president harm.” (Also linked yesterday.) Update: the link has been changed to one that appears to be a gift link. NPR's story is here. The AP's story is here. ~~~
You can see this new indictment of James Comey as an outrage, which it is, or rather a patently illegitimate abuse of power. I see it as more evidence of his crashing out & collapse, more direct & absurd lashing out while he's unable or lacks the mental wherewithal to right his own political ship. -- Josh Marshall on Bluesky, via Scott Lemieux
There is a frenzied feeling to the news coming from the White House these days. -- Heather Cox Richardson ~~~
~~~ Ken White, author of the Popehat Report, is not exactly equivocal in his opinion of the suit: "On April 28, 2026, the United States Department of Justice indicted former FBI Director James Comey over a mildly sassy arrangement of seashells. The charge is preposterous and no competent or honest prosecutor would bring it. It represents a betrayal of the professional and ethical obligations of every U.S. Department of Justice attorney involved, and reflects the complete collapse of the Department’s credibility and independence in favor of a cultish and cretinous devotion to Donald Trump." White goes on to take down the DOJ's supposed arguments. And he concludes by suggesting that very 86-47 remedy: expel Trump.
~~~ Even the Bezos Post Editors acknowledge that “The Comey Indictment Is Ridiculous”: “The administration’s efforts to use criminal law to attack political opponents keep failing, but this attempt is even more ridiculous than usual.” ~~~
~~~ Ed Helmore of the Guardian explores the etymology of the term "86."
~~~ We must remember, as Akhilleus reminds us, that the 86-47 meme is a knockoff of MAGA's more mellifluous "86-46" message against Joe Biden. ~~~
~~~ Tom Durante of Mediaite: “CBS’s chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett kicked off an interview with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Wednesday by asking him whether MAGA influencer Jack Posobiec could be prosecuted for the same threat that former FBI Director James Comey is currently being indicted for. Speaking to Blanche [Wednesday] on CBS Mornings, the day after Comey was charged over his '86 47' seashell Instagram post in 2025, Garrett began by asking Blanche about a similar post by Posobiec, which said '86 46.' 'In 2022, someone well known in right-wing circles, Jack Posobiec, posted on X, “8646.” He did not take it down.... The Biden Justice Department never prosecuted him. By the standard of that grand jury, Jack Posobiec should face charges as well. Will the Justice Department pursue that case, because they sound very similar?'” MB: I'll let you read Blanche's hilariously unconvincing response. Thanks to Akhilleus for this excellent Gotcha report link. ~~~
As alleged in the indictment, Dr. Morens and his co-conspirators
deliberately concealed information and falsified records in an effort to
suppress alternative theories regarding the origins of Covid-19. -- Todd Blanche, application for promotion statement on the Morens case ~~~
~~~ Benjamin Mueller of the New York Times: “Dr. David Morens, a former senior adviser to Dr. Anthony S. Fauci at the National Institutes of Health, has been indicted on charges of skirting federal record-keeping laws and concealing emails related to the origins of the coronavirus outbreak in China. The indictment, unsealed on Monday by the district court in Maryland, accuses Dr. Morens of working in concert with scientists outside the federal government to protect their funding for virus research. In return, the indictment says, one of those scientists supplied Dr. Morens with 'illegal gratuities,' including two bottles of wine and a promise of a future meal at a 'Michelin starred' restaurant. The allegations against Dr. Morens follow a yearslong effort by Republican lawmakers to link Dr. Morens, Dr. Fauci and the country’s premier medical research agency to the beginnings of the coronavirus pandemic. Soon after ... [Donald] Trump returned to office last year, his administration accused Dr. Morens of deleting federal records on a website it had created to argue that 'the true origins of Covid-19' had been a lab leak.
“That investigation of Dr. Morens has so far yielded no evidence that scientists or health officials were involved in research that started or spread the coronavirus outbreak. The private emails of Dr. Morens’s cited in the indictment also do not show him trying to conceal evidence of a lab leak. But they do reveal a concerted effort by Dr. Morens to prevent journalists and investigators from gaining access to emails that show him trying to insulate scientists from what he described as baseless 'political charges' that the coronavirus had leaked from a lab.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: This indictment for disobeying record-keeping laws is brought to you by the guy whose boss is known for flushing sensitive documents down the golden toilet and for stealing thousands of official documents, a great number of them classified. ~~~
~~~ Here's a sequel to last week's episode of "Todd's Bogus Lawsuits" ~~~
~~~ Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “The central premise of the federal charges filed last week against the Southern Poverty Law Center is that the storied civil rights organization defrauded its donors and betrayed its stated mission to fight hate groups by paying secret informants inside extremist networks. On Tuesday, however, the law center pushed back firmly against the accusation that it sought to promote, not dismantle, far-right groups, asserting in court papers that information gleaned from its informants was shared at least three times with law enforcement agencies, including the F.B.I., resulting in arrests and prosecutions. In fact, just two weeks before the Justice Department unsealed its indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center, its lawyers met with prosecutors on the case in an effort to persuade them that the informant program, which was closed three years ago, had not been used to fund hate groups, but to hold them accountable.... 'The Department of Justice is well aware that the S.P.L.C. provided helpful information, through the use of its confidential informants, to law enforcement,' the papers said. 'The Department of Justice also knows that these confidential informants helped law enforcement put violent extremists in jail.'” MB: That is, the FBI has rather routinely worked with the SPLC to bring prosecutions based on the SPLC's informants' discoveries and testimony. ~~~
~~~ Enemies of the Pod People. Zachary Basu of Axios: "The Trump administration moved Tuesday against three enemies of the MAGA coalition: a former Anthony Fauci adviser, Somali-run daycare centers in Minneapolis, and Jimmy Kimmel. A fourth, former FBI director James Comey, was indicted for a second time after a federal judge dismissed the Justice Department's case against him last year.... The retribution campaign at the heart of President Trump's second term is escalating, not easing, as gas prices climb, the Iran war grinds past 60 days and his approval rating sinks to record lows.... Federal authorities executed 22 search warrants in the Twin Cities, almost all at Somali-owned childcare centers suspected of bilking taxpayer-funded programs.... The raids mark federal law enforcement's first major return to Minneapolis since Trump's sweeping ICE operation, which was scaled back in February after the killing of two American citizens." ~~~
~~~ Ah, Here's a Tricky Challenge for Todd. Andrew Deuhren of the New York Times: Donald “Trump has made no secret of his desire for total control over the historically independent Justice Department, publicly directing prosecutions and declaring that government lawyers must follow his interpretation of the law.... But his extraordinary influence over the department is now a potential obstacle to one of Mr. Trump’s other apparent goals: receiving a $10 billion payout from the government he leads. In January, Mr. Trump sued the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns to The New York Times in 2019, arguing that the agency should have done more to prevent the disclosures. Mr. Trump, as well as his family business and two of his sons, demanded at least $10 billion in damages.... Judge ... Kathleen Williams, an appointee of President Barack Obama in the Southern District of Florida..., ordered the government and Mr. Trump’s personal lawyers to submit briefs on the question, essentially forcing the Justice Department to state its position on Mr. Trump’s suit. As the judge explained in her order, the Constitution requires that the two parties in a lawsuit are genuinely opposed to each other — and not colluding to engineer a legal ruling favorable to both sides. Without a conflict, the lawsuit is void and the judge must dismiss it.”
Benjamin Weiser & Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: “Maurene Comey, a former federal prosecutor who accused the Trump administration of firing her last year for political reasons, may proceed with a lawsuit in federal court over the government’s objection, a Manhattan judge ruled on Tuesday. Ms. Comey, a daughter of James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director and one of ... [Donald] Trump’s best known adversaries, said in her suit that there was no plausible explanation for her abrupt July 2025 dismissal other than Mr. Trump’s enmity toward her father or her 'perceived political affiliation and beliefs, or both.' The Trump administration had asked the judge, Jesse M. Furman of Manhattan federal court, to dismiss Ms. Comey’s suit against the government, saying it had to be pursued first before the Merit Systems Protection Board, an independent agency that hears complaints from federal workers about employment actions. But Judge Furman held that her claim was “outside the universe of cases” that Congress intended the board to resolve....” (Also linked yesterday.) Update: the link has been changed to one that appears to be a gift link.
Jake Spring of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump has withdrawn his nominee for the head the National Park Service..., Scott Socha, a tourism executive..., as the agency heads into peak tourist season without a chief and amid low staffing levels following the administration’s efforts to shrink the federal government.... Socha made a 'purely personal decision' as he did not want to face the financial scrutiny of the confirmation process or to sell off certain assets he held, according to the person familiar with the matter.... Socha had worked for Delaware North, a food and hospitality company, for 27 years and had no government experience. Delaware North has government contracts to run certain operations at parks, such as the retail and food services at Yellowstone National Park. 'We’ve said all along that Scott Socha was deeply unqualified to run the National Park Service,' said Aaron Weiss ... [of] the Center for Western Priorities, a conservation group, in a statement. 'Our parks deserve far better than someone who spent his entire career trying to privatize them.'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: In the meantime, I suggest printing up a bunch of life-sized cutouts of Trump dressed up in a Smokey the Bear outfit and spewing a characteristic message like this one: ~~~
 |
| By Ed Wexler. |
~~~ Ben Noll of the Washington Post: “Stretching from Oregon to Florida and northward to the nation’s capital, nearly 63 percent of the country is facing drought conditions of varying intensity, just 2 percentage points shy of the most widespread drought this century, which occurred in 2012.” The link is a gift link; the article includes maps that allow you to check out your area.
~~~~~~~~~~
New Jersey. Rep. Tom Kean, Jr., may be too ill to show up for his day job (related story linked yesterday), BUT ~~~
~~~ Dave Leventhal of NOTUS: "Congressional financial records reviewed by NOTUS indicate Kean bought and sold shares of eight different stocks between March 10 and March 31.... Kean personally certified the disclosure[s].... In 2022, Kean defeated then-Rep. Tom Malinowski, whose stock disclosure-related violations of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act dogged him throughout his reelection bid. As a newly minted congressman in 2023, Kean cast himself as an ethics reformer, pledging to place his millions of dollars worth of personal assets into a congressionally approved blind trust. But Kean never did, in part blaming a cumbersome process for doing so. He’s continued to trade individual stocks while serving in Congress....” Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)
22 comments:
Narcissists, get in line, mofos...
Directly after the story about Fat Hitler plastering his faux tough guy mope puss on US passports, the next linked story begins..."Pete Hegseth was livid..." I thought for a second it would go on to say "....livid that he didn't get his picture on a passport as well."
Maybe in another life, Kegsbreath. In this one, I give you until the midterms and if the war we lost to Iran isn't officially over yet, should humiliation still rain down on the Pentagon and the Blight House for getting beaten like a rented mule by the mullahs and the IRG, you may need your own passport once your crusader cosplay ass gets fired.
Steve M. On "No More Mister Nice Blog" offers a modest proposal to the august NY Times that now and then, amidst the flood of attempts to give the MAGAts room to air their myriad grievances on the pages of the Gray Lady, that editors perform a service to the non-MAGA readers who have to scan this ignorant claptrap as it is, not challenged or presented with the teensiest bit of factual information that might offer both context and a counter to the misinformation provided therein.
For example, a MAGAt named John congratulates the Orange Monster for a great deed which, um, wasn't at all very great.
"And [Trump] initiated getting us out of the World Health Organization and the Paris climate agreement. Two positive things, I guess, if you really look at it on the whole. I mean, that was accounting for a lot of our budget money."
And here's where the insertion of just a few facts would provide healthy and much needed context and reality to this claim.
'In fiscal year 2025, the federal government spent $7.01 trillion. In 2024-25, U.S. contributions to the World Health Organization were supposed to be $750.9 million. That money, which was withheld by the Trump administration, would have been .01071184% of the federal budget.
That's not 'a lot of our budget money.'"
They either overlook or simply don't care that pretty much every single one of these focus group participants gets their "news" either from online right-wing swamp sites, or Fox. But maybe they'd give liberal focus groups the same leeway.
"I assume the paper wouldn't dream of challenging the assertions of these raw, elemental Real Americans. (Yes, I think the Times considers even Black and Hispanic Trump supporters to be genuine Volk whose wisdom must never be challenged, unlike the opinions of icky liberals.)
I'd extend fact-checking to all Times focus groups, even the rare ones that include Democratic voters. But it will never happen."
Again, this is not classic "Both Sides" journalism. This is "Be nice to the MAGAts" journalism.
8647!
And now for the second time, James Comey must deal with the expense and angst of another trumped up, bullshit charge that this was a call to assassinate the president*, harrumph!
Oh, but wait. What if some right-wing fever swamp denizen like Jack Posobiec had done something similar referring to Joe Biden, the last real president. Say, for instance, a Pot influencer and supporter of authoritarian right-wing control had posted an image with the phrase 8646. Wouldn't that require the very same full court press by Todd Blanche, LLC, formerly known as the Department of Justice?
What say you Toddy, isn't this the very same thing?
"That’s just completely not true,"....
Oh, okay. He goes no to rant about grand juries and investimagations and then sez that his guys have not been sitting around doing nothing....No...I'm sure that's true. They were reposting 8646. So it's only a problem if it involves the Fat Fascist.
Got it.
Oops...Link to previous comment.
But gee....not long ago, Todd Blanche was singing a very different tune.
Back when in 2023, Fat Hitler went after Judge Tonya Chutkan and special prosecutor Jack Smith, threatening "If you come after me, I'm coming after you!". And not long after, he demanded that Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley be put to death.
According to Blanche though, neither of these threats were a big deal. Just kiddin' around.
"I’ve been waiting since Blanche was reappointed for defense attorneys to raise the claims he made in his prior work for Donald Trump, but the closest anyone has come were Judge Hannah Dugan and Congresswoman LaMonica McIver invoking his claims about immunity.
And while most attorneys will say Blanche is not estopped from taking legal positions contrary to those he has held in the past, a problem with the way DOJ charged Comey as if this were a real threat might provide the opportunity. Rather than charging that Comey knowingly and willfully intended to threaten Donald Trump, DOJ instead deemed this a threat because, 'a reasonable recipient who is familiar with the circumstances would interpret as a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States.'"
But I guess that same "reasonable person" wouldn't deem Fatty's threat to have Mark Milley killed very serious, at least according to Blanche.
Funny how proximity to evil and stoopid rubs off so quickly.
Trumplov's Dogs...
As the Lawyers Guns and Money blog points out, we shall very quickly see a lineup of schmucks who will insist the Fat Hitler-Todd Blanche attack on Jim Comey is not only perfectly okay, but absolutely necessary to the existence of democracy and apple pie and You Ess Ay!
"...one of the most depressing things about Trump’s sub-sub-sub-sub-frivolous lawfare is the number of people in the Republican extend universe who have to pretend that it’s all totally legitimate...omebody will step up, whether it’s an affirmative defense, a “maybe it’s not 100% on the level but something Biden did is a million times worse,” or some kind of hybrid.
It’s also true that the point here is not to secure a conviction per se — the sheer idiocy of the indictment is precisely what makes clear that the DOJ is now Trump’s personal stable of Roy Cohns...The point of the indictment is to demonstrate that the United States Department of Justice is wholly an instrument of Donald Trump’s senescent pique, no more independent of him than a boil on his ass. The point is to show that the administration can, and will, use the Department’s mechanisms to punish enemies. The point is to show that the Department can, and will, punish protected speech. The point is to show that the Department is staffed by committed fanatics willing to do anything, however unethical and unconstitutional, to promote Trump.
The point is to show that in the war between Donald Trump and the U.S. Department of Justice, Trump has won. Now they’re on the field slitting the throats of the wounded and looting bodies."
What he said.
Makes cents
Rev. Benjamin Cremer
"Notice how a book can make you gay, a vaccine can make you autistic, a mask can make you sicker, and a poster of the Ten Commandments can make you moral, but guns don’t kill people."
The Worst - Even the Taliban and Somali pirates gave their prisoners soap and toothpaste
I think it was Lawrence O'Donnell last night that pointed out that Fat Hitler didn't understand the messages that King Charles gave in his speech because all he could hear or focus on was that Charles had an accent. I'm sure that is why the orange oaf was able to mostly stay on script.
Lucky us! Ashley Parker & Michael Scherer, for The Atlantic, report that T**** believes "he is the most powerful person to ever live" He wants to be remembered as the one who did things that other people couldn’t do, because of his sheer power and force of will.
"The tendency to self-aggrandize is as fundamental a feature of Trump as his sculpted hair and overlong red ties. But it has become even more important in setting his priorities and steering his actions as he hurtles through his final term in office. He no longer has to worry about the judgment of voters and can instead focus on what he’s decided really matters: ascending to become one of history’s so-called great men and leaving an enduring—and, in many cases, physical—imprint. The result, at least so far, has cost many lives and billions of dollars, damaged the world economy, strained already fragile alliances, and cratered the president’s standing with the public. But those around him cast his new focus as a liberation. “He is unburdened by political concerns and is able to do what is truly right rather than what is in his best political interests,” the administration official told us. “Hence the decision to strike Iran.”"
Akhilleus,
Yesterday you mentioned that some people may be scared to come watch soccer games here in the US because of ICE, but what if we do a rebrand. It should reassure the foreigners if instead of ICE they are now getting beaten and dragged away to a dirty cell with fifty other soccer hooligans if it was by NICE.
"The White House’s official X account shared an AI-generated image of an immigration agent labeled ‘NICE’—short for National Immigration and Customs Enforcement—standing at the southern border with a child, alongside the slogan ‘Defending Our Country.’
The post echoed Donald Trump’s Truth Social endorsement of a supporter’s suggestion to rename ICE, which he called a ‘GREAT IDEA!!!’"
So a "racial gerrymander" to protect Black voting power is "unconstitutional" but a gerrymander that protects White vote is not?
I must have somehow read today's Supine decision wrong.
Oh, to be an Injustice Dept. lawyer>>>
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/29/us/politics/trump-justice-department-lawsuit-tax-returns-disclosure.html
This R congressperson, supporting the charge that Comey threatened DiJiT , says there is such a thing as " dangerous speak" and that Comey done done that.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5854681-comey-seashells-trump-threat/amp/
The rampant pervasive instant stupidity and malevolence of these people is getting REALLY annoying.
David A. Graham, for The Atlantic, on The Evolution of Trump’s Corruption
"Seven years ago, during a marginally more innocent time, the Trump administration announced plans to hold the 2020 G7 summit at Donald Trump’s resort in Doral, Florida. The backlash was fierce, and somehow the then–Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney’s dismissive attitude—“Get over it”—failed to quell concerns, including among Republicans.
....
Things are different in Trump’s second term. Later this year, the United States will host the G20 summit—an offshoot of the G7 that includes approximately 20 leaders of the world’s largest economies—and the president has selected Trump National Doral as the location. A few days ago, The Washington Post reported that Trump even intends to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin, a global pariah, to the meeting. But the Doral G20 has gotten nowhere near the same amount of attention, and much less backlash.
....
(He has also already disinvited South Africa from the summit for largely imagined offenses against Afrikaners.)"
RAS,
By any other name...
Yeah, I read about that brilliant idea. It's not ICE, it's NICE. Oh! Well, why didn't you say so? You mean when they tase me now and throw me in a van to be sent off to some Central African war zone, they'll forgo the extra beatings in that van? Wow. Now that's a genius idea.
Reminds me of how the drug lords in "The Wire" addressed the same problem. Heroin you're selling is stepped on too much? Customers complaining? Easy. Just rebrand the product. Of course it's still gonna be the same death dealing shit but at least the customers will be happy. For a while.
Are they that stupid or do they think everyone else in the world is that stupid? Maybe instead of cosplay soldier of fortune camo and masks they all dress up in pink tutus. That would be more reflective of their natural state. As someone once put it, these ICE goons are too cowardly to join the military, but too stupid to be cops. Add to that the essential cowardliness of bullies, and maybe pink tutus would be the way to go. But then they're still carrying automatic weapons, pepper spray, knives, and flash bangs. And they're still untrained, off the chain, violent assholes.
Nah. Hey. I have a solution! Disband ICE, hire responsible, well trained personnel, and fire all these cosplay assholes. Oh, except for the ones who need to be dragged in front of a judge and sentenced for their many crimes against the American people.
Just like with Facebook. Zuckerberg realized that Facebook had become so toxic it needed a rebrand, so presto: META! Yay! Except now it's even worse.
The South African Chainsaw maniac grabbed Twitter and rebranded it as X. Now it's a total hellhole of Neo-Nazis, vicious incels, white supremacists, militia nuts, and guys who put balloons down their shirt pretending to have gigantic boobs.
The biggest boobs are the Fat Hitler idiots who came up with this idea. It's still the same death dealing shit.
"along ideological lines"
Those being, Justices who support the laws, their intentions, and justice for ALL vs justices who support corruption of the laws for their side and weaponization against their opposition and selected "justice" only for those who think exactly as they do.
"Ideological" sanewashes the perversion on justice and the law that these losers commit against the us on a regular basis. "Me win, you lose" is not an ideology sane adults living in a society take, but that is what we have with the six idiots sitting on the bench that has an oversized say in how our society functions.
We knew that when Little Johnnie assigned the task of writing the majority opinion in Callais to Hit Man Sam Alito, it would be the death knell of the Voting Rights Act. And as usual, we were right. If anyone despises the VRA more than Roberts, it's Alito. And again, as usual, the Nazis on the court try to pull a fast one (talk about a sad rebranding effort). They say now that "We're not against the Voting Rights Act" but what they're really saying is that from now on, the VRA simply doesn't matter. So no one can accuse them of killing it, they just cut its throat and left it in an open field to die on its own.
I love how Alito determines that it's racial discrimination for Black voters in Louisiana, who make up a third of the population, to have district maps drawn to ensure that they have at least SOME representation in Congress, but it's NOT racial discrimination for the white guys who brought this suit to demand that having those districts is intolerable for them.
See? It's easy. Blacks want representation: Discrimination!!!! Aieeeeee! Whites want only white representation: AMERICAN HEROES!
Jesus, Alito would have made a hell of a plantation overseer. "Where's my whip? Thim darkies is gettin' uppity again!"
Norm of Minnesota
"State of Collapse"
Nearly everything the right and Tr*** say is a tell for what they want to do or what they are feeling about themselves.
RE: the Norm of Minnesota clip.
A moving story of how a single individual took it upon himself to right just one of the myriad wrongs inflicted upon this country by the inhumane and too often inhuman goons operating under the direction of a senile, hateful, racist old man who whines about political violence, but only if it seems pointed in his direction. He makes frequent and gleeful use of violence as a strategic tool to aid his rise to an authoritarian monarchy and never looks back at the death, destruction, and chaos that ensue when he does so, as he so often does.
But then I watched the next clip of Tim Walz, just a decent guy, a fine and noble American, who made a remark that I found truly profound.
Addressing members (I assume) of the Minnesota legislature, he said "...our work in St. Paul was to make Minnesota [as a governmental, political, and social entity] a place worthy of the great people who live there."
Just think of that. The MAGAts and Fat Hilter's thugs like Stephen Miller and Shady Vance and the other goons surrounding him like weeds around a pile of shit, insist that everyone prove that they are worthy of living in MAGA land. They have no interest in a government for the people, by the people. Their interest is in a government of one, the Dear Leader, to whom everyone else owes fealty and must work hard to prove that they fit in, otherwise, it's pepper spray in the face, a beating, and a plane ride in chains to some war torn country thousands of miles away, or shoved out of an ICE facility with no money, tattered clothes and no way home.
How any rational, reasonable, sentient person could think that both sides are the same is beyond my abilities.
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