Aaron Boxerman & Leily Nikounazarof the New York Times: “People across the Middle East waited uneasily on Saturday for a decision from ... [Donald] Trump about a
proposal to end the war with Iran, as the United States reaffirmed its
resolve to emerge with a deal he finds acceptable. Mr.
Trump said on social media on Friday that he was meeting with advisers
at the White House Situation Room to make a 'final determination' about
the proposed deal, but that meeting ended with no announcement. Mr. Trump has zigzagged on his positions during the negotiations, vacillating between talk of progress on a deal and threats of renewed strikes. Later on Friday evening, Iran said there was still “no final agreement” with the United States.... Some people in Iran who had hoped that the war could lead to the end of
the Islamic Republic’s authoritarian rule said they were disillusioned
and indifferent to the idea of a potential agreement.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update. Luke Broadwater, et al., of the New York Times: Donald “Trumphas toughened the terms of a potential framework for a deal to end the war in Iran, and has sent
those proposed changes back to the country for consideration, according
to three officials. It was not immediately clear what changes had been made to the text of the agreement. Mr.
Trump has been concerned about parts of the potential deal that would
include unfreezing funds for the Iranians, two officials said. He has
been harshly critical of President Barack Obama for doing the same in
the more than decade-old agreement that was signed to curtail Iran’s
nuclear program. The official added that Mr. Trump’s changes — a new, tougher proposal —
were potentially intended to speed up the process by putting pressure on
Iran to accept the framework already sent to Iran’s supreme leader,
Mojtaba Khamenei, for approval.” ~~~
~~~ Mark Caputo & Barak Ravid of Axios: "Trump asked for several amendments to the deal his envoys reached with their Iranian counterparts during a Situation Room meeting on Friday.... Trump wants the deal and expects to
finalize it soon, but is keen to strengthen several points that are
important to him — particularly around Iran's nuclear material, two U.S.
officials said. Trump's request has launched another round of
back-and-forth between the parties that could last several days."
Meagan Vazquez of the Washington Post: “U.S.
military forces fired a missile into a commercial ship in the Gulf of
Oman that was attempting to sail toward an Iranian port, Central Command
said in a statement, the latest effort to enforce President Donald
Trump’s naval blockade designed to weaken Tehran’s economy as peace
negotiations continue. Centcom said on
Saturday that the Gambia-flagged merchant vessel was observed 'transiting international waters toward an Iranian port on the Gulf of
Oman and issued more than 20 warnings while informing the vessel it was
in violation of the U.S. blockade.'”
Julian Barnes of the New York Times: “The U.S. military killed three men in a strike against a boat in the eastern Pacific that it said was
transporting narcotics, U.S. Southern Command announced on Saturday. The
United States began a campaign of boat strikes last year in the run-up
to the military operation that seized Nicolás Maduro, the president of
Venezuela. The military has continued the operations in the Caribbean
and the eastern Pacific, killing around 200 people it has said were involved in the narcotics trade. But narcotics experts say the boat strikes have failed to slow the smuggling of cocaine from South America to the United States. According to Brown University, the costs of the operation are now at $4.7 billion. Southern Command provided little detail
about the Friday strike but noted that intelligence reports said the
vessel was trafficking narcotics and traveling on a route used by drug
smugglers.”
Here's how Trump's attorneys conspired to screw ordinary American taxpayers: ~~~
~~~ Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: “... the job of addressing
the vexing problem of how to settle [a lawsuit Donald Trump filed against the government he controls] fell to a tight-knit group of lawyers, all of whom had allegiance to Mr. Trump. On
one side of the talks was a Justice Department run by Todd Blanche, the
acting attorney general who once served as Mr. Trump’s criminal defense
lawyer. On the other were the
president’s private lawyers, among them Boris Epshteyn, who was a former
client of Mr. Blanche’s. Mr. Epshteyn played a significant role in
moving forward the deal to end the suit, coordinating and holding
discussions with all of the sides involved: Mr. Trump, the president’s
personal lawyers and Justice Department officials.... In the end, the lawyers’ solution did not give Mr. Trump what his
lawsuit had demanded, which was simply to move funds from the Treasury
Department into his own pocket. But the agreement that was reached was still a big victory for the president and his allies: It set up a $1.8 billion fund
to pay people deemed to have been harmed by so-called government 'weaponization' ... and released Mr. Trump and his businesses from potentially costly I.R.S. audits.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: The guy who released Trump's (and thousands of others') tax returns, Charles Littlejohn, worked as a contractor for the IRS in 2012-2013 during President Obama's administration, but Trump's Treasury Department rehired him in 2017, and it was during Trump's first term that Littlejohn released Trump's tax returns, the basis of Trump's $10BB complaint. During Joe Biden's administration, the DOJ successfully prosecuted Littlejohn. So Trump's Treasury Department employed the person who leaked Trump's taxes, Trump later sued his own Treasury Department, and his own Justice Department agreed to a super-generous settlement in Trump's favor. So Trump is (technically) responsible for initiating the original crime against himself, then he sued himself for the crime his subordinate committed, then he granted himself a generous settlement.
We can all stop fretting that no big stars will appear at the 250th celebrations in the capital and that even most of the D-listers who had signed up have dropped out. The great carnival barker himself has come to his own rescue:
~~~ Jesse Bedayn & Collin Binkley of the AP: “An upcoming celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, 'The Great American State Fair,' recently had several musical guests back out partly over the event’s ties to ... Donald Trump. Now, Trump himself is slated to headline the festivities, the organizers said Saturday. 'I
understand Artists are getting “the yips” having to do with their
performance,' Trump posted to his social media platform Truth Social
Saturday, adding that he was thinking of bringing 'the man who some say
is the Greatest President in History (THE GOAT!), DONALD J. TRUMP, to
take the place of these highly paid, Third Rate “Artists.’” The
group organizing the June fair on Washington’s National Mall, Freedom
250, confirmed the billing in a statement, writing, 'we are excited to
announce that President Trump will personally kick off this historic
celebration on Wednesday, June 24.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Oooh, Update. Humiliated, Furious AND Confused. Derrick Taylor of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Saturday called for the cancellation of a concert series celebrating the nation’s 250th
birthday this summer, after a wave of musicians pulled out. 'Cancel it,' Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social,
adding, 'We should have a giant MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN RALLY, for
250, instead of having overpriced singers, who nobody wants to hear,
whose music is boring, and yet who do nothing but complain.'... At least five musicians [of the nine performers announced Wednesday] have since dropped out.... In an earlier post on Truth Social on Saturday, Mr. Trump had suggested that, rather than canceling the concerts, he should instead headline the event. Calling himself 'the Number One Attraction anywhere in the World' and 'the man
who gets much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime,' Mr. Trump wrote
that he should 'take the place of these highly paid, Third Rate “Artists.’” In that post, Mr. Trump
said he was ordering 'my Representatives” to explore 'the feasibility of
doing an America Is Back rally,' where he would 'give a major speech,
rallying the Country forward like I have done ever since being
President!'
“There was some confusion surrounding whether Mr. Trump was, indeed,
referring to the concerts in the earlier post. There, the president
referred more than once to an event 'on Wednesday.' The concerts
announced by Freedom 250 are currently scheduled to take place across
two Thursdays and Fridays and one Saturday.” MB BTW: This was still the top headline on theWashPo's main page Sunday morning at 5:00 am ET: “Trump to headline Great American State Fair after music acts cancel.” In fact, here's a gift link to the WashPo story. So you can read all about it, even though the unstable better-than-Elvis president* apparently has changed his mind about starring in is own crap show.
~~~ Marie: Gosh, I remember the day before Barack Obama was inaugurated. Not even a big ole sesquicentennial, just as ordinary presidential inauguration. Here's a list of who-all came to perform before a crowd of tens of thousands during the dead of winter. ~~~
Marie: To read an excellent/hilarious criticism of self-appointed film critics, do check out Akhilleus' commentary on Christopher Nolan's film "The Odyssey" in yesterday's thread. One might think, upon reading Akhilleus' take, that Elon Musk is a stupid racist. Akhilleus did make me wonder what ancient Greeks looked like. This is what Art Intel had to say: "Their appearance was characterized by olive to light skin, dark brown or black hair and dark eyes." Elon will be disappointed to learn that "The concept of race as we know it today (e.g., 'White' or 'Black') did not exist in antiquity; ancient Greeks categorized people primarily by language, culture, and geography rather than skin color." The White guy with the light brown hair and blue eyes pictured here is Matt Damon, who plays Achilles in Nolan's film. He doesn't look Greek to me, but in fairness, when Damon was a college student, he belonged to the Delphic Club, which for a few years in the 19th century was a chapter of Delta Phi. So Greek on Greek. The kid had aspirations.
Riley Rourke & Jacob Wycoff of CBS News: "A meteor exploded off the coast of Massachusetts, causing a loud boom
that could be heard throughout the state Saturday afternoon, according
to WBZ-TV chief meteorologist Eric Fisher. NASA said the energy released
when the meteor broke up was equivalent to about 300 tons of TNT. It
was heard around 2:11 p.m. Eastern Time, with people describing a
sudden bang that rattled windows, startled pets, and even shook some
homes. Dozens of phone calls came into the WBZ-TV newsroom reporting a
loud explosion heard around Boston, as far as Ipswich and Johnston,
Rhode Island."
~~~~~~~~~~
Maine Senate Race. Katie Glueck & Lisa Lerer of the New York Times: Last summer Democratic Senate candidate Graham “Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, told a senior campaign aide that he had been exchanging sexual messages with multiple other women. Genevieve McDonald, a former state
legislator who was the Platner campaign’s political director before
leaving in October, said Ms. Gertner reached out just days before a big
Labor Day rally with Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont, and
was concerned her husband’s behavior could become a political
liability. Ms. McDonald said Ms. Gertner told her that her husband had been exchanging sexual messages with as many as a dozen women. A
current Platner campaign official said Mr. Platner had been
communicating with up to six women. The conduct had stopped, the
official said, before the campaign launched. The current official said that the messages surfaced when Ms. McDonald
asked Ms. Gertner if there was anything she wanted to share amid an
internal vetting process. Ms. Gertner told the campaign that the couple
had dealt with the issue in counseling, according to the official.... In a statement released by the campaign, Ms. Gertner suggested that she
had been betrayed by Ms. McDonald, saying she was 'deeply hurt' and
bothered by 'the invasion of our privacy.'” Politico's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: McDonald sounds like a plant to me. Just about every campaign does its own oppo research on its candidate, but obviously campaign personnel do not share their findings with the media. I doubt a review of Susan Collins' texts will turn up any extramarital sexting exchanges. Of course, you never know!
Aaron Boxerman & Leily Nikounazarof the New York Times: “People across the Middle East waited uneasily on Saturday for a decision from ... [Donald] Trump about a
proposal to end the war with Iran, as the United States reaffirmed its
resolve to emerge with a deal he finds acceptable. Mr.
Trump said on social media on Friday that he was meeting with advisers
at the White House Situation Room to make a 'final determination' about
the proposed deal, but that meeting ended with no announcement. Mr. Trump has zigzagged on his positions during the negotiations, vacillating between talk of progress on a deal and threats of renewed strikes. Later on Friday evening, Iran said there was still “no final agreement” with the United States.... Some people in Iran who had hoped that the war could lead to the end of
the Islamic Republic’s authoritarian rule said they were disillusioned
and indifferent to the idea of a potential agreement.”
Well, we can all stop fretting that no big stars will appear at the 250th celebrations in the capital and that even most of the D-listers who had signed up have dropped out. The great carnival barker himself has come to his own rescue:
~~~ Jesse Bedayn & Collin Binkley of the AP: “An upcoming celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, 'The Great American State Fair,' recently had several musical guests back out partly over the event’s ties to ... Donald Trump. Now, Trump himself is slated to headline the festivities, the organizers said Saturday. 'I
understand Artists are getting “the yips” having to do with their
performance,' Trump posted to his social media platform Truth Social
Saturday, adding that he was thinking of bringing 'the man who some say
is the Greatest President in History (THE GOAT!), DONALD J. TRUMP, to
take the place of these highly paid, Third Rate “Artists.’” The
group organizing the June fair on Washington’s National Mall, Freedom
250, confirmed the billing in a statement, writing, 'we are excited to
announce that President Trump will personally kick off this historic
celebration on Wednesday, June 24.'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Gosh, I remember the day before Barack Obama was inaugurated. Not even a big ole sesquicentennial, just as ordinary presidential inauguration. Here's a list of who-all came to perform before a crowd of tens of thousands during the dead of winter. ~~~
~~~~~~~~~~
Marie: I suppose schadenfreude is a sin. Oh, shame on me. But maybe I'll indulge my endorphins just a while longer. ~~~
~~~ For the Fat Fascist, It Was Fucked-up Friday: ~~~
A One. Jonathan Edwards of the Washington Post: “A
federal judge Friday ordered that ... Donald Trump’s name be removed from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and that
officials halt its plan to close the venue for two years. In a pair of rulings, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper granted
in part Rep. Joyce Beatty’s (D-Ohio) request for a preliminary
injunction to temporarily block Trump from taking any further steps
toward closing the institution. The judge also ordered Kennedy Center
officials to remove Trump’s name within two weeks. The ruling throws the Kennedy Center’s near future into uncertainty,
blocking leaders from shutting down the performing arts venue in July
after they have canceled most performances in anticipation of the
closure.... In December, Beatty, an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center’s board, sued her fellow trustees days after they voted to rename
the institution 'The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial
Center for the Performing Arts.' Beatty said she was muted during the
virtual board meeting when she tried to voice opposition to the name
change, a claim the center disputed. She later amended the lawsuit to
seek a broader halt to the closure, and the court granted her request
for key documents related to the renovation plan, including building
assessments and budget materials.” The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. Trump Is Incensed. Julia Jacobs & Zach Montague of the New York Times: “Mr. Trump railed against the judge’s ruling in an incensed social media post, suggesting that he was considering casting theKennedy
Center aside as one of his personal projects. The president wrote that
unless he was free to decide the center’s trajectory, he had 'no
interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey.' 'Unfortunately,
Judge Cooper and the Radical Left would rather see it DIE than have
President Trump transform it into something that everyone could be proud
of, much as I have done, in many cases, throughout my life,] he wrote. Judge
Christopher R. Cooper, of the Federal District Court in Washington,
determined that the board’s decision to add Mr. Trump’s name to the
Kennedy Center violated a law passed by Congress in 1964 that made 'crystal clear the institution was to be named for former President
John F. Kennedy.... Roma Daravi, a spokeswoman for the center, said that it would appeal the
ruling, signing her statement as the 'Trump Kennedy Center Vice
President of Public Relations.'” (Portions of this report were included in a NYT liveblog linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ And a Two. Trump's Slush Fund Hits a Speed Bump. Kyle Cheney, et al., of Politico: “A
federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s effort
to
establish a fund to reimburse people who claim they were targeted by the
'weaponization' of the federal government. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said the restraining order was meant to ensure that no funds are 'irreversibly disbursed' before the legal fight over the newly announced fund has a chance to play out.... The order from Brinkema, a Clinton appointee based in northern Virginia,
will pause the establishment of the fund until at least June 12, when
she has set a hearing to consider the matter further.... It
was an unusually urgent action by the judge, who said in her brief
order that she was compelled to rule prior to a formal response from the
Trump administration because of concerns that the fund might quickly
begin doling out cash. The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by a former Justice Department prosecutor and other plaintiffs
who contended that it was an illegal and unconstitutional abuse of
taxpayer funds. Rather than apply the fund in a 'viewpoint neutral' manner, they argue that it’s essentially rigged to reward Trump’s
political allies.” The New York Times story is here. Thanks to RAS for the lead. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Here's the press release from Democracy Forward, which represented the plaintiffs in the case. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ And a Three. Alan Feuer & Andrew Duehren of the New York Times: “A federal judge in Miami reopened ... [Donald] Trump’s
$10 billion case against the I.R.S. in a striking
turnabout, saying that she wanted to investigate 'grievous allegations'
that the hasty deal to resolve it was 'premised on deception.' The
ruling by the judge, Kathleen M. Williams, on Friday to revive
the case
shortly after closing it was a significant blow both to Mr. Trump, who
had voluntarily dismissed the suit last week, and to the Justice
Department. After the president withdrew the suit, senior department
officials released a pair of extraordinary agreements that settled the
case by establishing a $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who
claimed they were victims of government 'weaponization' by
Democrats. The deal also conferred lucrative tax benefits on Mr. Trump,
his family and his businesses. Judge Williams’s decision came in
response to court papers filed on Wednesday by a bipartisan group of 35
former federal judges who urged her to bring the case back to life and dig into the details of the agreement to settle it. The
former judges said that Mr. Trump’s settlement agreement raised serious
questions about his 'candor toward the court and manipulation of the
judicial system.'” (Also linked yesterday. However, the link has been changed to one that appears to be a gift link.) Politico's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "White House
officials are seriously considering abandoning ... Donald Trump's
$1.776 billion 'Anti-Weaponization Fund,' a controversial legal 'settlement' Trump arranged with his own administration that critics have called a slush fund to pay out his allies who have faced legal troubles.... According to the Wall Street Journal, over a dozen GOP senators 'privately urged top Trump aides to drop the fund since its creation last week,
said people familiar with the outreach' — one of them being Sen.
Lindsey Graham (R-SC).... 'Administration officials have grown increasingly concerned about the
viability of the fund, people familiar with the matter said...,' said the
report. The president, for his part, 'hasn’t agreed to drop the fund' as
of now, but has acknowledged it has created significant political
problems for the GOP."
Chris Cameron of the New York Times: “The White House released a three-page report from ... [Donald] Trump’s physician late Friday detailing the
results of his physical exam at Walter Reed National Military Medical
Center earlier this week. Mr. Trump’s
doctors in the past have released positive health reports that stress
the president’s excellent condition and good health habits. Friday’s
report, written by the president’s physician, Dr. Sean P. Barbabella,
gave a similarly upbeat assessment of Mr. Trump’s health, declaring that
the 79-year-old president 'remains in excellent health, demonstrating
strong cardiac, pulmonary, neurological, and overall physical function.' Mr. Trump, the oldest man to be inaugurated
as president, underwent an extensive battery of physical and mental
tests, according to the report. The president had an echocardiogram, an ultrasound image of the heart, following increased testing of his cardiovascular system last year and a diagnosis of chronic venous insufficiency, a condition that occurs when veins have trouble moving blood back to the heart.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: See? Trump does maintain some White House traditions, after all. Like having his doctor lie about the results of his physical exam.
Matt Moret of the Athletic: “... Donald Trumppurchased between $15,000 and $50,000 worth of stock in
TKO Holding Group, the parent company of UFC and WWE, weeks ahead of a
White House UFC event he’s promoted for months. The purchase was disclosed in Trump’s May 8 financial disclosures,
which are publicly available through the U.S. Office of Government
Ethics. Those documents do not specify how much stock Trump purchased
but say he acquired it March 25 — a little more than two weeks after the
Freedom Fights 250 fight card was publicly revealed.... UFC is scheduled to hold the first professional sports event on the
White House grounds on June 14, Trump’s 80th birthday, to celebrate the
250th anniversary of the nation’s founding. Construction is underway on
the White House South Lawn, with seating for roughly 4,300 attendees and
a large temporary arch dubbed 'The Claw' going up earlier this week.” (MB: Although I don't have an Athletic subscription, I was able to access this article, perhaps via my NYT subscription.) A Huffington Post story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: As I've mentioned before, this is a form of corrupt insider trading in which Trump buys stock in a company whose value he can raise, then he acts in ways that indeed raise the stock's value. Ergo, he profits. While CEOs and other insider traders can do the same thing (or something similar) regarding the companies they control, perhaps the POTUS* is uniquely positioned to manipulate the values of so many different stocks in so many different types of companies.
Desperately Seeking Spectators. Must be Handsome. Dan Lamothe & Alex Horton of the Washington Post: “The
Pentagon is moving to recruit hundreds of troops to appear as
spectators at ... Donald Trump’s UFC cage-fighting event at the
White House, and requiring those who attend to pay for their travel and
meet height and weight requirements, according to people familiar with
the matter and internal memos reviewed by The Washington Post. The
Defense Department in recent days has solicited volunteers across the
services to attend the June 14 event in uniform. Officials are seeking
junior enlisted personnel and junior officers specifically, according to
internal messages.... Junior troops make up the military’s lowest pay grades. One memo, circulated within the Air Force, stipulates that to be
eligible, personnel 'MUST MEET CURRENT WAIST-HEIGHT RATIO and current
physical fitness standard.' Troops will be required to wear their
short-sleeve dress uniforms, the memo adds.” The NBC News story is here.
Maxine Joselow of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Friday rescinded two decades-old executive orders that restricted off-road vehicles on public
lands, in a move that could lift prohibitions on their use in most
national parks. The first executive
order, signed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1972, established strict
criteria for the use of off-road vehicles on federal lands, in an effort
to minimize their environmental impact. The second, signed by President
Jimmy Carter in 1977, authorized the government to immediately shut
down off-road driving if it was causing ecological damage. Both
orders applied to a variety of vehicles designed to drive on unpaved
surfaces like dirt, sand, gravel, mud, rocks and snow. That included
all-terrain vehicles, dirt bikes and snowmobiles. In a fact sheet,
the White House called both executive orders 'outdated and burdensome,' noting that they were issued before the advent of modern technologies
that can help the government detect off-road vehicle tracks in sensitive
ecosystems.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'll be damned if I can see what detecting ATV tracks has to do with it. But never mind. Trump signed these orders because he and his ilk think violent and destructive "sports" are "manly." Destroy the vegetation and terrify small animals? What power! What a rush! These people are pathetic.
Does
the following story help you answer this T/F question? "Donald Trump
and Congressional Republicans really care about me." ~~~
~~~ Jesse Drucker & Dylan Freedman of the New York Times: “A year ago, the Trump administration
withdrew from a global effort to curb offshore tax-dodging by multinational companies. That decision has been a huge gift to corporate
America, enabling companies to avoid at least $40 billion in income
taxes since the beginning of 2025. A
New York Times review of securities filings from nearly 500 companies
showed that they avoided taxes by attributing hundreds of billions of
dollars in earnings to low- or no-tax foreign locales like Cyprus,
Bermuda, Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. Often, corporations
funneled the profits through subsidiaries in places where they had no
employees, offices or customers. Tax havens became more appealing after ... [Donald] Trump signed an order
on his first day back in office withdrawing the United States from a
13-year international effort to end such schemes. The effort led to
dozens of countries imposing a minimum corporate tax and rules for
pursuing companies using tax havens. After House Republicans passed
legislation last year targeting some of those countries with a new tax,
international officials agreed to exempt U.S. companies from much of the crackdown.”Thanks to Ken W. for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Follow-up Question: Since profitable, multinational companies
are evading U.S. taxes, who is doing the taxpaying for them? Answer:
Yeah, you. Class dismissed.
Owen Scott of the Independent: “Katie Miller, the wife of controversial home security advisor Stephen
Miller, has claimed that a tweet from one of the Democratic Party’s
social media accounts which told her husband to 'shut up' is 'violent political rhetoric.' The official Democrats account on X hit out at Mr Miller, who is White House deputy chief of staff for policy, after he falsely claimed on X that Texan State Representative James Talarico was the Democratic Party’s first 'transgender Senate candidate.' Replying to Mr Miller, the Democrats’ account wrote, 'Shut up you ugly f[uck].' Later, on Fox News show The Ingraham Angle,
Ms Miller claimed, 'This is the same violent political rhetoric that is
leading people to shooting up, whether it be the White House
Correspondents’ Dinner or President Trump in Butler.'” Read on. Of
course there's more of this high-minded dialog. (Also linked
yesterday.)
Adam Sella, et al., of the New York Times: “The Trump administration has quietly slowed funding for scientific research at Harvard and other universities
that have been targets of a White House pressure campaign, according to
government data reviewed by The New York Times. The
funding slowdowns at the National Science Foundation, one of the
largest single sources of federal research dollars for universities,
have also affected Duke, Princeton and Yale, records show. Grant
proposals that had previously been recommended for funding by employees
who oversee the review process have been flagged in recent months for
additional scrutiny, but with no clear explanation provided in the
records and researchers left largely in the dark. The
holds had set off alarm bells inside the agency and on some campuses.
Federal judges ruled in two separate cases last year that the Trump
administration had broken the law by halting research grants as a way to
impose policy changes.”
They Really Don't Know What They're Doing, Ctd. Em Luetkemeyer of NOTUS: “The White House’s new website highlighting arrests of undocumented
immigrants lists the United States as a country of origin for some of
those arrested in many cities across the country. The White House teased the Aliens.gov
website as if it were dropping UFO files, but it turned out to be a map
compiled by the Trump administration of ICE arrests, searchable from
areas across the country — after nearly a whole minute of unskippable
intro text in the style of the TV show 'The X Files.' When NOTUS asked why the United States was listed for arrests made by
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, the White House said it was
an error.... As of Friday afternoon, the 'United States' was still listed as a
country of origin for people arrested by ICE in many cities, including
Washington, D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, Miami and more.”
Uh-oh. Trouble on Retribution Beach. Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A rookie federal prosecutor who brought a case accusing former FBI Director James Comey of threatening ... Donald Trump’s life by posting a photo of seashells on Instagram has stepped off the case. Matthew Petracca, who had been
recently hired as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of
North Carolina, is no longer on the Comey case, according to a court filing. Petracca
also dropped off of other criminal cases in the Eastern District of
North Carolina in recent days, according to court filings. Petracca is a
former Republican county committeeman in New Jersey whom U.S. Attorney
for the Eastern District of North Carolina W. Ellis Boyle hired months
ago, NBC News has reported. Boyle oversaw the highly criticized case, which will go to trial in October if it manages to survive legal challenges. Petracca
had contemplated leaving the Justice Department altogether, according
to two people familiar with the matter, but instead remained a DOJ
employee after taking a week off.... Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Severo is now heading the Comey case." ~~~
~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "Congratulations to Mr. Severo on his pending abject humiliation, whether
that comes from the case being dismissed with extreme prejudice or
another preemptive resignation."
Stephen Groves of the AP: “Former Attorney General Pam Bondirefused to answer questions Friday on ... Donald Trump’s involvement in the release of the Jeffrey Epstein
case files as she defended the Trump administration’s actions before
House lawmakers scrutinizing the process. Bondi, who spent roughly four
hours on Capitol Hill for her closed-door interview, was again defiant
when she was confronted by lawmakers about the Epstein investigation.
In her opening statement, she stood behind the Department of Justice’s
handling of the case files and said that Deputy Attorney General Todd
Blanche, now the acting attorney general and Trump’s former personal
attorney, had overseen the process to publish them.... Several survivors of Epstein’s abuse gathered outside the Capitol office
where the interview was taking place. They tried to make their presence
known to Bondi as she entered the room, but several said they were
shoved aside by police officers.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: If you ever were a teenaged girl who went to an American junior high school or high school, then Pam Bondi
will seem familiar to you. We didn't have a name for her sort of
classmate when I was in school, but nowadays we know them as "mean
girls." Some mean girls gets over their penchant for cruelty, but my
experience is that it sticks with most of them. One woman -- a former
cheerleader whom I did not know well when we were in school -- sought me
out at our 40-year reunion -- 40 effing years! -- to tell me that I
shouldn't have worn such a nice outfit to a casual event (in fact, my
dress was a casual style but it was one I thought flattered me). I'm pretty sure Pam Bondi would have taken offense at my appearance, too. ~~~
~~~ The Perils of Pam, Episode 1, in which Our Heroine Portrays Herself as an Innocent Damsel Controlled by Powerful Male Subordinates. Glenn Thrush & Michael Gold of the New York Times: Bondi's “remarks ... were a bracingly candid admission of her own powerlessness that belied her nominal role as one of the most powerful
figures in government.... Ms. Bondi told committee members that Mr.
Blanche was managing 'the entire investigation,' Representative Robert
Garcia of California, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said after
emerging from a tense session Ms. Bondi had long sought to delay or
dodge. She added in the hearing that
Mr. Blanche was responsible for determining which documents would be
released, another person present for her testimony said, describing how
she also repeatedly punted to Kash Patel, the director of the F.B.I. Current and former Justice Department officials ... disputed Ms. Bondi’s
characterization....
“In one remarkable exchange, Ms. Bondi claimed to have played no role in
the drafting or release of [a] July 2025 memo [that ended the Epstein case and which she signed] — now seen as a major
blunder.... Ms. Bondi said she had no idea about [Ghislaine Maxwell's transfer to a Texas club fed] until she read about [it] in the news.... Democratic lawmakers questioned the unusual presence of Harmeet Dhillon,
the assistant attorney general for civil rights, at Ms. Bondi’s side,
where she frequently intervened to advise Ms. Bondi not to answer
questions.”
Julie Bosman & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: “The federal prosecutor overseeing a
criminal investigation related to E. Jean Carroll, a former magazine
writer who accused Donald J. Trump of sexual assault, has presided over a Chicago office marked by high-profile prosecutorial failures and a
deluge of staff resignations. The
prosecutor, Andrew S. Boutros, was appointed by the Trump administration
as the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois just over a
year ago.... He has emerged as a prosecutor closely aligned with Mr. Trump’s agenda,
apparently undeterred by repeated pushback from judges and juries in
recent months.... Last week, Mr. Boutros was admonished by Judge April M. Perry in her
courtroom after the judge found that prosecutors in his office had acted
improperly before a grand jury.... The charges in that case, whose defendants, including Mr. Parente’s client, became known as the Broadview Six, were dismissed.
That ended one of the Trump administration’s most highly publicized
prosecutions of protesters during Operation Midway Blitz, the
immigration crackdown. Other cases tied to the crackdown have fizzled.” For more on Boutros-behaving-badly, see Michelle Goldberg's NYT column, gift-linked yesterday.
Owen Jones of the Guardian: “The US war machine has turned its sights on Cuba.
Marco Rubio, the Cuban-American secretary of state who has long craved
the fall of the island’s communist government, made that clear again last week.
While professing a preference for a 'negotiated settlement', he said
the chances of a deal were 'not high'. A couple of months ago, I saw up close the economic devastation already inflicted by decades of US siege – and, since January, by a crippling oil blockade introduced byDonald Trump. The US has now charged
the country’s former president Raúl Castro with conspiracy to kill US
nationals, four counts of murder and two counts of destruction of
aircraft over the downing of two planes in 1996. The evidence points
increasingly in one direction: it is all grimly reminiscent of the
indictment of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, used to justify his kidnapping by US forces.... Trump is hardly keeping his intentions secret. 'I do believe I’ll be … having the honour of taking Cuba,' he declared in March, reminiscent of the 19th-century European colonialists who carved up Africa.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie:
Earlier this year, I figured Maduro was Marco's participation trophy, a
hard-earned prize awarded for his complete submission to Trump the
Magnificent. But it appears now that Trump is planning to give Little
Marco yet another, more cherished, award, an epic acknowledgment of
Trump's complete domination of his former presidential rival.
They Really Don't Know What They're Doing, Ctd. Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “The Department of Homeland Security
sought on Friday to clarify its announcement last week that immigrants
seeking permanent residency would have to return to their home countries
to await their green cards, claiming there was no major change in
policy and that only some will have to go back. The clarification appeared to be a partial walk-back of an announcement in a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services news release last week. Despite a longstanding policy of allowing immigrants to remain in the country while they wait for their green cards, it said individuals would now have to go back while they wait except in 'extraordinary' cases. But
on Friday, the Homeland Security Department said it was not a blanket
change and that it would be up to individual immigration officers to
decide whether someone should be forced to go abroad to gain a green
card. They said that officers have long had such discretion.... It was a substantial shift from last week’s announcement, but was
unlikely to reduce confusion or fear, as details are still scant about
who might be affected and how.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: We could ask Markwayne to clarify the policy, but I suppose he's too busy trying to get his wife a no-show job so she can also get the taxpayers to ferry her back & forth between D.C. & Oklahoma.
Ana Ley & Mark Bonamoof the New York Times: “Hours after federal agents agreed to withdraw from the parking lot of an immigration detention center in New
Jersey to allow oversight from local law enforcement, state troopers
scuffled late Friday with protesters who have been gathering there since
the Memorial Day weekend. Sgt. First
Class Charles Marchan of the New Jersey State Police said in an
interview on Friday that his agency had negotiated with federal
officials to leave the area outside the Delaney Hall detention center in
Newark so that the state police could assume control. The
change could restore order outside the center, where federal officers
on Friday charged into a crowd, pushed protesters to the ground and
sprayed a chemical irritant. One officer beat a demonstrator with a
baton across the torso, thighs, knee and calves as he tried to flee.
Three protesters were arrested and carried past a razor-wire fence into
the detention center. Later on Friday,
around 50 protesters remained outside the facility, with about two
dozen law enforcement officers seen standing guard. Several protesters
said that state troopers charged them on foot and on horseback in an
attempt to disperse the demonstration.” The link has been updated to one that appears to be a gift link.
Anna Griffin of the New York Times: “A jury in Spokane, Wash., on Thursday
convicted three anti-ICE demonstrators in a closely watched case that
tested the effectiveness of the Trump administration’s effort to use
federal conspiracy charges against protesters, and prompted the region’s
acting U.S. attorney to resign. The
eight-day trial of the protesters, Bajun Mavalwalla II, Justice Forral
and Jac Archer, stemmed from a June 2025 demonstration outside a
building rented by the federal government.... Shortly after the demonstration, Richard
Barker, then the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of
Washington, authorized prosecutors to examine whether protesters could
face charges.... A
federal grand jury later indicted nine people. Mr.
Barker resigned before the indictments were filed and has since said
that he did not believe the charges were warranted because no officers
or protesters had been injured. His
successor, Stephanie Van Marter, signed the indictments charging the
nine defendants with federal felonies. Six reached plea agreements on
lesser charges, but the other three rejected plea deals, arguing the
federal government was violating their First Amendment rights.”
Ernesto Londoño of the New York Times: “Law enforcement officials from Minnesota
and Texas on Friday arrested an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent accused of shooting a Venezuelan immigrant this year and lying
about it. The agent, Christian J.
Castro, 52, was caught in Texas after investigators from the Minnesota
Bureau of Criminal Apprehension tracked him down, according to the
Hennepin County attorney’s office, which had charged him with four
counts of second-degree assault this month. He faces an additional
charge of filing a false police report.... Mr. Castro was placed on leave in February
and ICE’s interim director, Todd Lyons, said that Mr. Castro was under
investigation for appearing to have lied under oath, a federal crime. ICE
officials described the state charges against Mr. Castro as 'unlawful
and nothing more than a political stunt' in a statement issued the day
he was charged. State prosecutors
have acknowledged that they face significant practical and legal
hurdles, because federal officials enjoy broad immunity from
prosecutions that stem from conduct in the line of duty.” (Also linked yesterday.) Update: the link has been changed to one that appears to be a gift link. An MS NOW story is here.
⭐The Mass Disenfranchisement of Eligible Voters: Method 1. Jacob Knutson & Jim Saksa of Democracy Docket: "The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) said in a yet-to-be-published proposed rule
Friday that it’s drawing up plans to radically crack down on mail voting by sending ballots only to voters who are registered with the
federal government. The proposed rule, which will be formally published next week, is an
alarming step toward implementing ... Donald Trump’s sweeping
attack on mail voting ahead of the 2026 midterm election. And it would
represent a massive expansion of federal control over voting, without
congressional authorization.... The order is currently the subject of multiple lawsuits. USPS’s
proposed rule came a day after a federal judge overseeing one of the
lawsuits declined to block
the order. The judge concluded the plaintiffs lacked standing to
challenge the order since federal agencies had not yet taken steps to
implement it. Now, that appears to have changed." ~~~
~~~ Marie: This truly is horrifying. If implemented, millions of people could lose their votes. That includes, well, me! Now, if I could somehow "register" with the feds online, it might not be so bad for me. But millions of lower-info voters will have no idea they need to get approval from the federal government to get a ballot. Plus, if you read on down Knutson & Saksa's report, you'll see that there is lots of room for bureaucratic screw-ups, either by local officials or USPS personnel. The usual time to request a mail-in ballot begins in a few months. Yet the Post Office hasn't even started to design, develop, test & implement a computer system meant to identify millions of people over the course of a few weeks. This is a massive screw-up waiting to happen. And that, of course, is the plan. ~~~
~~~ Because for Trump, facts are a problem: ~~~
~~~ Lok Darjee of the Guardian: “Utah released the results of a year-long audit [link fixed] of the state’s voter rolls,
finding that the vast majority of its voters are verifiably US
citizens, amid an escalating legal battle with the Trump administration
over access to voter registration data. The audit, launched in April 2025, found that 99.72% of Utah’s registered voters are confirmed US citizens. Of the more than 2 million voter records reviewed, 27 individuals were identified as non-citizens
and removed from the rolls. Only 13 of those individuals had ever cast a
ballot. The review, released on Wednesday by Lieutenant Governor Deidre
Henderson’s office, also flagged 25 probable non-citizens, who have been given 30 days to provide proof of citizenship or face removal from the voter rolls. The
Trump administration has made supposed election integrity a central
priority, following Trump’s long-running false claims that the 2020
election was rigged against him. The administration has pursued voter
registration information from a wide raft of states, even at times
resorting to lawsuits. But states already regularly monitor and maintain their own voter rolls.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Henderson is a Republican, as I imagine are most Utah state officials. So these are not exactly left-wing radicals trying to falsely dismiss Trump's claims.
M. Gessen of the New York Timessusses out some lessons from Hungary's defeat of Orban that could work in the U.S. to defeat Trump. MB: I hope Democratic politicians take these lessons to heart, because they need to work on their techniques. They're definitely not the masters of some of Gessen's suggestions: like calling out the Trump regime for what it is: "a fundamentally criminal enterprise."
~~~~~~~~~~
Marie: Looks like the Palm Beach County Sheriff's office is staffed with very Trumpy deputies: ~~~
~~~ Florida. Mark Walker of the New York Times: “In February, a sheriff’s deputy was
working on traffic enforcement in Lake Worth Beach, Fla., when he
stopped a 36-year-old woman named Kathleen Thomas. After approaching her
car, he explained why he had pulled her over: She had been holding her
cellphone in her right hand. But
before he could get very far with his explanation, Ms. Thomas held up
her right arm. There was no phone in it. There had never been a phone in
it because she has no right hand.... The deputy eventually requested that the citation be dismissed, according to court records.” MB: That deputy should definitely see if he can get one of those big old ICE signing bonuses, because he sure has what it takes to be an ICE agent, what with his experience in charging people for no reason.
Iowa. Mitch Smith of the New York Times: “Ian Roberts began this academic year as
superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools.... But on Friday, about a week
before classes let out for the summer, Dr. Roberts was sentenced by a federal judge to two years in prison for lying about his citizenship on
an employment form and for possessing guns while in the country
illegally.... The unraveling of Dr. Roberts’s career
began in September when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers
tried to detain him. Dr. Roberts, a former Olympic runner who was
scheduled to be at an elementary school field day, fled from the
officers. He was eventually arrested, and a gun was found in his
district-issued vehicle.”
A One. Jonathan Edwards of the Washington Post: “A
federal judge Friday ordered that ... Donald Trump’s name be removed from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and that
officials halt its plan to close the venue for two years. In a pair of rulings, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper granted
in part Rep. Joyce Beatty’s (D-Ohio) request for a preliminary
injunction to temporarily block Trump from taking any further steps
toward closing the institution. The judge also ordered Kennedy Center
officials to remove Trump’s name within two weeks. The ruling throws the Kennedy Center’s near future into uncertainty,
blocking leaders from shutting down the performing arts venue in July
after they have canceled most performances in anticipation of the
closure.... In December, Beatty, an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center’s board, sued her fellow trustees days after they voted to rename
the institution 'The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial
Center for the Performing Arts.' Beatty said she was muted during the
virtual board meeting when she tried to voice opposition to the name
change, a claim the center disputed. She later amended the lawsuit to
seek a broader halt to the closure, and the court granted her request
for key documents related to the renovation plan, including building
assessments and budget materials.” The AP's report is here. ~~~
Julia Jacobs: “In a social media post on Friday..., [Donald] Trump railed against a federal judge’s order that the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
remove the president’s name from its marble facade. He wrote that the
judge, who also temporarily blocked the center from closing for
renovations, should be 'ashamed of himself.' 'Unfortunately,
Judge Cooper and the Radical Left would rather see it DIE than have
President Trump transform it into something that everyone could be proud
of, much as I have done, in many cases, throughout my life,' he wrote
of the performing arts center.”
Julia Jacobs & Zach Montague: “Mr. Trump railed against the judge’s ruling in an incensed social media post, suggesting that he was considering casting theKennedy
Center aside as one of his personal projects. The president wrote that
unless he was free to decide the center’s trajectory, he had 'no
interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey.'” ~~~
~~~ And a Two. Trump's Slush Fund Hits a Speed Bump. Kyle Cheney, et al., of Politico: “A
federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s effort to
establish a fund to reimburse people who claim they were targeted by the 'weaponization' of the federal government. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said the restraining order was meant to ensure that no funds are 'irreversibly disbursed' before the legal fight over the newly announced fund has a chance to play out.... The order from Brinkema, a Clinton appointee based in northern Virginia,
will pause the establishment of the fund until at least June 12, when
she has set a hearing to consider the matter further.... It
was an unusually urgent action by the judge, who said in her brief
order that she was compelled to rule prior to a formal response from the
Trump administration because of concerns that the fund might quickly
begin doling out cash. The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by a former Justice Department prosecutor and other plaintiffs
who contended that it was an illegal and unconstitutional abuse of
taxpayer funds. Rather than apply the fund in a 'viewpoint neutral' manner, they argue that it’s essentially rigged to reward Trump’s
political allies.” The New York Times story is here. Thanks to RAS for the lead. ~~~
~~~ Here's the press release from Democracy Forward, which represented the plaintiffs in the case. ~~~
~~~ And a Three. Alan Feuer & Andrew Duehren of the New York Times: “A federal judge in Miami reopened ... [Donald] Trump’s $10 billion case against the I.R.S. in a striking
turnabout, saying that she wanted to investigate 'grievous allegations' that the hasty deal to resolve it was 'premised on deception.' The
ruling by the judge, Kathleen M. Williams, on Friday to revive the case
shortly after closing it was a significant blow both to Mr. Trump, who
had voluntarily dismissed the suit last week, and to the Justice
Department. After the president withdrew the suit, senior department
officials released a pair of extraordinary agreements that settled the
case by establishing a $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who
claimed they were victims of government 'weaponization' by Democrats. The deal also conferred lucrative tax benefits on Mr. Trump, his family and his businesses. Judge Williams’s decision came in response to court papers filed on Wednesday by a bipartisan group of 35 former federal judges who urged her to bring the case back to life and dig into the details of the agreement to settle it. The
former judges said that Mr. Trump’s settlement agreement raised serious
questions about his 'candor toward the court and manipulation of the
judicial system.'”
Stephen Groves of the AP: “Former Attorney General Pam Bondirefused to answer questions Friday on ... Donald Trump’s involvement in the release of the Jeffrey Epstein case files as she defended the Trump administration’s actions before House lawmakers scrutinizing the process. Bondi, who spent roughly four hours on Capitol Hill for her closed-door interview, was again defiant
when she was confronted by lawmakers about the Epstein investigation.
In her opening statement, she stood behind the Department of Justice’s
handling of the case files and said that Deputy Attorney General Todd
Blanche, now the acting attorney general and Trump’s former personal
attorney, had overseen the process to publish them.... Several survivors of Epstein’s abuse gathered outside the Capitol office
where the interview was taking place. They tried to make their presence
known to Bondi as she entered the room, but several said they were
shoved aside by police officers.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: If you ever were a teenaged girl who went to an American junior high school or high school, then Pam Bondi will seem familiar to you. We didn't have a name for her sort of classmate when I was in school, but nowadays we know them as "mean girls." Some mean girls gets over their penchant for cruelty, but my experience is that it sticks with most of them. One woman -- a former cheerleader whom I did not know well when we were in school -- sought me out at our 40-year reunion -- 40 effing years! -- to tell me that I shouldn't have worn such a nice outfit to a casual event (in fact, my dress was a casual style but it was one I thought flattered me). I'm pretty sure Pam Bondi would have taken offense at my appearance, too.
Does the following story help you answer this T/F question? "Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans really care about me." ~~~
~~~ Jesse Drucker & Dylan Freedman of the New York Times: “A year ago, the Trump administration
withdrew from a global effort to curb offshore tax-dodging by multinational companies. That decision has been a huge gift to corporate
America, enabling companies to avoid at least $40 billion in income
taxes since the beginning of 2025. A
New York Times review of securities filings from nearly 500 companies
showed that they avoided taxes by attributing hundreds of billions of
dollars in earnings to low- or no-tax foreign locales like Cyprus,
Bermuda, Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. Often, corporations
funneled the profits through subsidiaries in places where they had no
employees, offices or customers. Tax havens became more appealing after ... [Donald] Trump signed an order
on his first day back in office withdrawing the United States from a
13-year international effort to end such schemes. The effort led to
dozens of countries imposing a minimum corporate tax and rules for
pursuing companies using tax havens. After House Republicans passed
legislation last year targeting some of those countries with a new tax,
international officials agreed to exempt U.S. companies from much of the crackdown.”Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~
~~~ Follow-up Question: Since profitable, multinational companies are evading U.S. taxes, who is doing the taxpaying for them? Answer: Yeah, you. Class dismissed.
Owen Jones of the Guardian: “The US war machine has turned its sights on Cuba.
Marco Rubio, the Cuban-American secretary of state who has long craved
the fall of the island’s communist government, made that clear again last week.
While professing a preference for a 'negotiated settlement', he said
the chances of a deal were 'not high'. A couple of months ago, I saw up close the economic devastation already inflicted by decades of US siege – and, since January, by a crippling oil blockade introduced byDonald Trump. The US has now charged
the country’s former president Raúl Castro with conspiracy to kill US
nationals, four counts of murder and two counts of destruction of
aircraft over the downing of two planes in 1996. The evidence points
increasingly in one direction: it is all grimly reminiscent of the
indictment of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, used to justify his kidnapping by US forces.... Trump is hardly keeping his intentions secret. 'I do believe I’ll be … having the honour of taking Cuba,' he declared in March, reminiscent of the 19th-century European colonialists who carved up Africa.”
~~~ Marie: Earlier this year, I figured Maduro was Marco's participation trophy, a hard-earned prize awarded for his complete submission to Trump the Magnificent. But it appears now that Trump is planning to give Little Marco yet another, more cherished, award, an epic acknowledgment of Trump's complete domination of his former presidential rival.
Ernesto Londoño of the New York Times: “Law enforcement officials from Minnesota
and Texas on Friday arrested an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent accused of shooting a Venezuelan immigrant this year and lying
about it. The agent, Christian J.
Castro, 52, was caught in Texas after investigators from the Minnesota
Bureau of Criminal Apprehension tracked him down, according to the
Hennepin County attorney’s office, which had charged him with four
counts of second-degree assault this month. He faces an additional
charge of filing a false police report.... Mr. Castro was placed on leave in February
and ICE’s interim director, Todd Lyons, said that Mr. Castro was under
investigation for appearing to have lied under oath, a federal crime. ICE
officials described the state charges against Mr. Castro as 'unlawful
and nothing more than a political stunt' in a statement issued the day
he was charged. State prosecutors
have acknowledged that they face significant practical and legal
hurdles, because federal officials enjoy broad immunity from
prosecutions that stem from conduct in the line of duty.”
Owen Scott of the Independent: “Katie Miller, the wife of controversial home security advisor Stephen
Miller, has claimed that a tweet from one of the Democratic Party’s
social media accounts which told her husband to 'shut up' is 'violent political rhetoric.' The official Democrats account on X hit out at Mr Miller, who is White House deputy chief of staff for policy, after he falsely claimed on X that Texan State Representative James Talarico was the Democratic Party’s first 'transgender Senate candidate.' Replying to Mr Miller, the Democrats’ account wrote, 'Shut up you ugly f[uck].' Later, on Fox News show The Ingraham Angle,
Ms Miller claimed, 'This is the same violent political rhetoric that is
leading people to shooting up, whether it be the White House
Correspondents’ Dinner or President Trump in Butler.'” Read on. Of course there's more of this high-minded dialog.
~~~~~~~~~~
The New York Timesis liveblogging developments in the Iran War. From the pinned item at 6:00 am ET: “The fate of the discussions between the United States and Iran remained
unclear on Friday after U.S. officials said there had been progress
toward a 'memorandum of understanding.'... The emerging 'memorandum of understanding' still needs approval from Mr.
Trump, and Iran has not confirmed any commitments. It was not clear
whether all the parties were working from the same draft agreement, one
diplomat involved in the process said.”
Michael Crowley & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: “Three months after ... [Donald] Trump launched war on Iran, his seemingly
haphazard approach to the conflict is bewildering allies at home and abroad as he veers between diplomatic dealing, military strikes and
increasingly far-fetched ideas.... A long post on Mr. Trump’s Truth Social account on Monday typified his
mixed message, declaring at once that negotiations with Iran were 'proceeding nicely!' before warning that anything short of a 'great
deal' would mean 'Back to the Battlefront and shooting, but bigger and
stronger than ever before — And nobody wants that!'” MB: Now that, Patrick & Ken W., is tergiversation (see yesterday's Comments for context).
David French of the New York Times: “... the United States is negotiating with a regime that ... [Donald] Trumpclaimed we had already changed, to open a strait that was supposed to be open last month, and to end a nuclear program that we said we had obliterated. We’re doing all that as news continues to emerge that the war wasn’t as one-sided as we were told.... Not only was Iran able to immediately and
decisively close the Strait of Hormuz, it’s now clear that the Iranian
regime inflicted significant damage on American bases in the region and significant damage on oil and natural gas production around the Persian Gulf. In addition, in spite of U.S. air superiority, the Islamic Republic was still able to damage or destroy at least 42 manned and unmanned American aircraft.... It’s an open question as to how much we damaged Iran’s missile program.... The Trump administration hasn’t accomplished any of its war aims.... [This is] what happens when you put incompetent and corrupt people in charge of dangerous and difficult military operations.” Worth a full read. The link is a gift link.
Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: Donald “Trumphas increasingly adopted a posture of nonchalance in the face of mounting fallout on multiple fronts: an unpopular war that has dragged on longer than he said it would, the creation of a government fund that could benefit his allies, and his fixation on remaking Washington into his vision of a gilded city.... 'I think there’s a sense that people in D.C., the Republican
establishment and the administration, are not making regular working
people their primary focus, and that was what doomed the Biden
administration,' ... said [GOP strategist Albert Eisenberg].... Matt Tuerk, the Democratic mayor of
Allentown..., said..., 'I think that the president’s
disregard for how Americans are feeling about prices, or how his fellow
party members are feeling about the midterms, is kind of like the
mirror image, or opposite image, of how people on the ground feel.'...”
Criming in Plain Sight, Ctd. Eric Lipton of the New York Times: Donald “Trumpearlier this year purchased more than $1 million in the stock of Dell Technologies, a transaction that is drawing scrutiny after the Pentagon
this week announced a $9.7 billion contract with the Texas-based computer company.... Mr. Trump also went out of his way in February to praise Dell Technologies and its founder, Michael Dell, at an event
in Georgia that took place nine days after Mr. Trump’s purchase of more
than $1 million in Dell stock. The Georgia event took place after Mr. Dell and his wife pledged in December
to donate $6.25 billion to help kick off the so-called Trump accounts
program that creates special investment savings accounts with tax
benefits for American children. At the
event, Mr. Trump celebrated the donation by the Dell family and went on
to endorse their computer products. 'Go out and buy a Dell computer,' Mr. Trump said.... The government estimated [Dell's Pentagon contract] is worth $9.69 billion.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Jordan Novet of CNBC: "Dell reported
its fastest pace of revenue growth for any period since its return to
the public market more than seven years ago, and topped analysts’
estimates for sales and profit. The stock climbed as much as 27% in
extended trading on Thursday.... One big winner in the Dell pop is President Donald Trump, who became a shareholder in the first quarter, according to U.S. government ethics filings." (Also linked yesterday.)
Desperately Seeking Aileen. Katie Robertson of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Wednesday refiled his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the publisher of The Wall Street
Journal over an article about a birthday book greeting to the sex
offender Jeffrey Epstein. A judge had dismissed Mr. Trump’s previous
complaint. The amended complaint, like
the original, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of Florida. Judge Darrin P. Gayles had thrown out Mr. Trump’s first lawsuit in April, saying
the president had not plausibly shown that The Journal published the
article with 'actual malice,' a legal standard that public officials
must meet in defamation cases. To meet that standard, the publication
had to have either known that what it was publishing was false or acted
with reckless disregard to the truth. Judge Gayles had given Mr. Trump
until Wednesday to refile. The lawsuit centers on a Journal article
published on July 17 that described a letter and a drawing of a naked
woman that appeared to be signed by Mr. Trump in a 2003 birthday album
compiled for Mr. Epstein.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: In fact, I
don't know how the Southern District of Florida assigns judges to a suit
that is being refiled. It's possible that the new suit would go right
back to the judge who oversaw the first case. It's also possible that
the new case would go into the hopper and be randomly assigned to a
judge. And that assignment just might go to the Nation's No. 1 Trump
Judge Aileen Cannon of the Southern District of Florida.
Heather Cox Richardson thinks this is the week that was. "... future books and films made about the Trump Era will begin with an image
of the White House this week. The world-famous Rose Garden has been
replaced with a patio that looks like one at Mar-a-Lago. The East Wing
is rubble. And on the sweeping South Lawn, right outside the front door
of the White House, construction is underway on a massive Ultimate
Fighting Championship arena for cage matches to be held on Trump’s 80th
birthday. Now treating the nation’s capital as his property, Trump appears to
be leaning on his past role as a real estate developer as a solution in
Iran remains elusive, inflation in the U.S. climbs, and his popularity
drops. In addition to turning back to real estate, Trump seems to
be lashing out to reassert his dominance over those who have hurt him."
Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: “Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday that his agency had been working on a mock-up of a $250 note bearing the face of ... [Donald] Trump in preparation for an addition to the nation’s paper currency that
would for the first time include the portrait of a living president.... 'I don’t think that there’s anything
untoward about having the person who is president of United States on
the 250th anniversary bill,' Mr. Bessent said at the White House. The
Treasury secretary noted that 'at present, no living person can be on
U.S. currency' and said there would be no changes to that policy unless
Congress passed proposed legislation allowing Mr. Trump’s portrait to
appear on a $250 note. Mr. Bessent acknowledged that political
appointees at the Treasury Department had asked the Bureau of Engraving
and Printing to begin preparations for the new currency.”
~~~ A History Lesson for Scotty. Marie: There is an historical, philosophical reason for
the law against slapping portraits of living people on U.S. currency and why it is in fact "untoward" to even contemplate putting a living political figure on a Treasury bill: "During
America’s infancy, the government didn’t want to put President
George Washington or any of the Founding Fathers on U.S. currency. Since
government-issued coins had first appeared in the world, it was common
for the faces of kings, queens and emperors to appear on them. The
Founders had just gotten a constitutional republic up and running, and
didn’t want the nasty habits of the old monarchies slipping in." Therein, of course, is the very reason Trump wants his
face on a greenback. He opposes our foundational democratic principles.
For him, his ugly puss on the $250 is more evidence he is indeed the
king, the queen (more on that below), the emperor. ~~~
The buck stopped here. -- Patty Solimene, the first female director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, in a farewell email to colleagues ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yesterday I linked a WashPo story by Jonathan O'Connell about Trump
administration officials who pressed the office responsible for printing the nation’s money
to design a $250 bill featuring Donald Trump’s portrait. But I either
missed part of the story or it was added after I read the article (I think the
important part was added):
“The
director of the printing bureau, Patricia 'Patty' Solimene, and
other staff repeatedly explained to [the administration officials] that there
were legal and procedural obstacles to producing the note and that it would take years
longer than they envisioned.... The two political appointees were
dismissive in response.... Solimene said she was abruptly reassigned
from her post by Treasury management on April 27, writing the next day in an email to colleagues
that she was leaving with a 'heavy heart.' She wrote in her goodbye
email, a copy of which was obtained by The Post, that she had beenreassigned to another job in the Treasury Department and that her departure was 'not my choice.'” That is, when a division head explained why it was against the law to put Trump's mugshot on U.S. currency, the Trumplodytes effectively fired her. In Trumplandia, it's the king's way or the highway.
Finya Swai of the Hill: “California Gov. Gavin Newsom(D)
on Wednesday said he will impose a 100 percent tax on state residents
who receive money from the Trump administration’s new $1.8 billion
'anti-weaponization' fund meant to compensate those who feel they were
wrongfully prosecuted by the government.... A New York lawmaker proposed
a similar 100 percent tax on state residents who receive payments from
the fund. New York State Assembly member Alex Bores (D), who is running for
Congress, announced on social media that he has introduced a bill titled
the Anti-Insurrectionist Act, which he said would prevent ... [Donald] Trumpfrom using 'your tax dollars' to pay individuals involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.”
Ashley Parker of the Atlantic: “... there’s ... little doubt that Trump has unabashedly embraced the aesthetic — the je ne sais quoi — of a certain kind of gay man.... 'It’s a gay man frozen in amber in the late 1970s and early 1980s, before AIDS,' ... James Kirchick, the author of Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington, told me.... But Trump has also been willing to vilify transgender individuals, especially athletes, for political gain.... Jonathan Lovitz ... [of the] Human Rights Campaign wrote to me, '... he wants the benefits of a country and culture that queer people helped
create, while advancing policies that make those same people less safe
every day.'” Thanks to akaWendy for this gift link. A while back, I did briefly mentioned some of Trump's stereotypical gay behavior, comments and preferences. I think Parker does a good job of not only adding to that but -- more importantly -- bringing out how and why his overall attitude and actions are deplorable.
Glenn Thrush & Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: “The Justice Department’s examination of E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuits
against ... [Donald] Trumpcould prove to be a significant shift in the
administration’s campaign of retribution, moving from targeting of
public officials to scrutinizing a case brought by an 82-year-old
private citizen who has accused him of sexual assault.... The investigation involves donations made by a nonprofit founded by the
liberal billionaire Reid Hoffman to pay for Ms. Carroll’s legal bills.... Mr. Hoffman’s nonprofit, American Future Republic — and not Ms. Carroll — is currently the subject of the criminal inquiry, although that could
change, a person with direct knowledge of the situation said. The U.S. attorney overseeing the matter
in the District of Northern Illinois, Andrew S. Boutros, said in a
statement Thursday evening that his office 'has never opened' a criminal
investigation into Ms. Carroll. On
Wednesday, people briefed on the investigation said that Ms. Carroll was
a primary target, prompting a backlash in the hours after news of the
inquiry broke.
“Ms. Carroll and her benefactor are being scrutinized by a department in
which naming and shaming, as opposed to securing convictions, is considered a legitimate aim of law enforcement.... Under the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, the pace of department
activity involving Mr. Trump’s rivals has accelerated significantly....” MB: IMO, this is Blanche & Boutrous belatedly realizing that going after an elderly woman who already has been sexually abused & defamed by Trump is a bridge too far for the sensibilities of real people. But just because they may be able to claim they haven't formally opened a criminal investigation against her doesn't mean they haven't been sniffing around, looking for an excuse to pounce. ~~~
~~~ Michelle Goldberg of the New York Timestakes a look at the corruption in the U.S. Attorney's Northern District of Illinois office. Her overview is devastating. And most of that was before the Hoffman/Carroll investigation/or-not came to light. The link is a gift link.
Patrick Marley of the Washington Post: “The FBI in recent weeks has interviewed current and former election officials about the 2020 election in Milwaukee, ramping up wide-ranging
reviews of voting in the swing states that ... Donald Trump lost
that year. Election officials are cautiously watching the developments in Milwaukee to see if agents try to seize ballots, as they did in January in Fulton County,
Georgia. The confiscation of tens of thousands of absentee ballots from
Wisconsin’s largest city would set off alarms because Milwaukee
maintains its absentee ballots in a way that could allow agents to
determine who voters selected — undermining the secrecy of their
ballots.”
In Trumplandia, There Are Many Ways to Please the King. Here's One. Sharon LaFraniere of the New York Times: “A financial agency has asked a federal judge to reverse its own court victory against Gemini Trust, a
cryptocurrency firm whose founders are close to ... [Donald] Trump and have
invested in Trump family ventures. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates specialized financial markets including some crypto transactions, now says that it should never have sued Gemini for misleading agency officials
over its Bitcoin business. Without acknowledging guilt, Gemini had
agreed in January 2025 to settle the case and pay a $5 million fine. In
a joint filing with the firm late Wednesday, the commission asked a
federal court to nullify the consent order reached in the case, which
had been filed under the Biden administration. The
filing then took a swipe at the commission’s own legal staff, saying
the evidence against Gemini was flawed and its lawyers’ conduct 'fell
short of the standards expected of any litigant, much less a federal
agency.'
“The move is the latest in a series of
actions the commission has taken since Mr. Trump’s return to office that
have benefited companies involved in cryptocurrencies or prediction
markets. The Trumps are heavily invested in both mushrooming industries,
which make up an increasingly important part of the commission’s
oversight responsibilities.A New York Times investigation
published on Sunday found that the commission has shrunk its work
force, purged career officials, sharply curtailed crypto enforcement and
given a helping hand to prediction market firms.”
You might be so surprised to learn that spending billions of your taxpayer dollars blowing some South American fishing boats out of the water & murdering the people in them is not all that effective a way to curb illegal drug usage in the U.S. ~~~
~~~ Simon Romero of the New York Times: “... almost nine months into the operation, epidemiologists, addiction
scientists and public health experts say cocaine, by far the top drug
smuggled out of South America, is as easy to get in much of the United States as it was before the strikes [on small boats traveling in the Caribbean & eastern Pacific] began. The findings — based on evaluations of
street prices, lethal overdoses, purity of samples and drug seizures at
U.S. borders — raise questions about the effectiveness of the largest
U.S. military deployment in Latin America in decades. The costs of these military operations have already climbed to $4.7 billion, according to Brown University’s Costs of War project.... To the dismay of many addiction specialists and experts on the drug trade, Trump administration officials have quietly ramped up
attacks against small boats in recent weeks with secret fixed-wing
attack aircraft and armed MQ-9 Reaper drones, placing the strikes at the
core of a reframed war on drugs — one that has shifted from traditional
interdiction to a strategy of direct military action.”
Brian Otieno of the New York Times: “A high court in Kenya has temporarily suspended the establishment in the country of an Ebola quarantine unit
for Americans, dealing a blow to the Trump administration’s plans to
have the facility operational on Friday. The court order,
an official version of which was seen by The New York Times, was dated
Thursday and came after a civil society group filed a petition
challenging the constitutionality of the quarantine facility. It was unclear how long the suspension would last, but a further hearing about the case is expected on Tuesday. The civil society group, the Katiba Institute, said it wanted to compel
the Kenyan government — which has not confirmed the existence of a deal
to accept American citizens — to disclose details of any such
arrangement.” ~~~
~~~ When Cruelty & Incompetence Meet. Marie: It's almost impossible to get things right on the fly, so it's not surprising that the worst-laid plan for Ebola abatement went awry. Way last year, Donald & Elon & Marco thought it would be a great idea to blow up relatively inexpensive but complex U.S. aid programs abroad, and this is one of millions of bad results.
Dan Vergano of Scientific American: “On Thursday the White House released long-anticipated draft regulations
that, if enacted, would give political appointees the final word on
federal research grants and other funding across government agencies. Scheduled
to be officially published in the Federal Register on Friday, the
412-page proposal on federal spending rules would centralize Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) control over releases of government funds,
including for scientific research grants. The OMB is headed by Russell
Vought, lead architect of Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 plan for
the Trump administration.... At scientific agencies, the proposal states that 'senior appointees must
conduct these reviews and apply specific principles when evaluating
proposals,' a departure from past practice whereby apolitical expert
review committees approved research grants. Scientific peer review of research proposals, long the standard for
approval of research grants at the National Institutes of Health, the
National Science Foundation and other governmental science agencies, 'remains advisory and does not replace agency discretion,' the proposal
states.”
Megan Lebowitz of NBC News: "Two musical artists listed as performers at an upcoming event on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to celebrate America’s 250th
anniversary said they won’t be attending despite being listed on the
lineup. Freedom 250, a public-private partnership backed by ... Donald
Trump, announced a list of performers Wednesday, but shortly after,
Morris Day and the Time and Young MC announced that they would not be
making appearances.... The artists’ posts came shortly after Freedom 250 announced the 'first wave' of participants,
including hip-hop acts Vanilla Ice and Flo Rida, country star Martina
McBride, funk and soul group The Commodores, dance-pop act C+C Music
Factory and Bret Michaels, the frontman for the glam metal band Poison." ~~~
~~~ AND the List Keeps Growing. Hillel Italie of the AP: “A day after the ... Donald Trump-affiliated Freedom 250 announced the 'first wave' of performers for
“The Great American State Fair” shows on Washington’s National Mall in
June and July, the lineup has been hit with a wave of cancellations.
Young MC, Morris Day, the Commodores and Martina McBride are among the scheduled acts who have said they will not be appearing.”
The Four Horses of the Trumpocalypse. Anna Kramer of NOTUS: "Four massive bronze horses positioned along the roads surrounding the
Lincoln Memorial still shine in the sun from their first restoration in
the 1970s. But their gold-toned coating is faded and patchy, and their
heavy stone bases are cracked and dirty. The Trump administration
wants them glittering with a fresh coat of gold in time for America’s
250th anniversary on July 4. So in mid-April, the National Park Service
handed a $5 million contract to a gilding studio in Maryland to repair the statues and cover them with a thick layer of 23.75-karat gold leaf. It awarded the project without a full competition, according to NPS documents reviewed by NOTUS. As
Trump hurries to put his stamp on a city he’s long denigrated as
crumbling and ugly, his administration has doled out tens of millions of
dollars for contracts with short timelines and little oversight. In total, the Interior Department is spending at least $95 million in
taxpayer funds for new D.C. beautification projects, according to a
NOTUS review of government spending data.”
When Things Get Dicey, Invoke a Conspiracy Theory. Evan Halper of the Washington Post: “Utahns took to the streets of Salt Lake City last week to oppose the
construction of a 40,000-acre data center backed by billionaire 'Shark
Tank' star Kevin O’Leary in the largely undeveloped northwest corner of
the state.... O’Leary claimed in a video posted Monday that 'nefarious accounts out
of the country' linked to the Chinese Communist Party were driving the
backlash to his project, by flooding Utah with false claims in a
foreign-backed influence campaign aimed at stopping America’s AI
buildout.... His fiery response was quickly echoed by the Trump administration.... 'Any place that’s trying to build data centers is getting bombarded with
foreign-directed propaganda to try to block these from being built,' [Interior Secretary Doug Burgum] said [on Fox 'News.']...
“Donald Trump has closely allied himself with the AI industry and its
building spree, encouraging data center construction and speeding up the
process of obtaining permits for the facilities. [The American Energy Institute and Trumpy Power the Future, both of which promote
fossil fuel production, and the Bitcoin Policy institute, which
advocates for cryptocurrency, issued reports that blamed foreign influence for Americans' opposition to the data centers.]... The reports generally did not present direct evidence that foreign conspiracies are driving public sentiment on data centers.”
Julian Mark of the Washington Post: “The
Supreme Court on Thursday tossed the conviction of a Mississippi man
sent to death row for his role in the murder of a shopkeeper, finding
that his attorneys were not given the proper chance to challenge
potential racial bias during jury selection at his trial 20 years ago. In
a 5-4 vote, the court found that Terry Pitchford, who is Black, did not
have the opportunity to challenge the dismissal of four Black potential
jurors. It is the second time the high court has thrown out a capital
case after the same Mississippi prosecutorwas accused of excluding Black jurors.... [Pitchford's] partner ... fatally shot shop owner Reuben Britt ... during the armed robbery, according to court filings. Pitchford,
who was 18 at the time of the robbery, was accused of being an
accomplice.... Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh wrote in the majority’s opinion.... Justice
Neil M. Gorsuch wrote a dissenting opinion, joined by Justices Clarence
Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Amy Coney Barrett.... Notably, Kavanaugh and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. broke from their conservative colleagues in siding with Pitchford. While reading his opinion, Kavanaugh referred back to the details of the crime that led to Pitchford’s conviction.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Kavanaugh's opinion here is doubly extraordinary. First, that he ruled in favor of a Black person convicted by a racially-biased jury and second, that he paid attention to the trial court record. By contrast, in his concurring opinion establishing the notorious "Kavanaugh stops," Kavanaugh completely ignored the trial record which showed how egregious (and unconstitutional) were the actions of ICE officers against people the agents determined "looked like" immigrants. Instead, Kavanaugh claimed, "... reasonable suspicion means only that immigration officers
may briefly stop the individual and inquire about immigration status. If
the person is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United
States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter." So, for at least one brief moment, it appears that Kavanaugh may be capable of learning from his worst mistakes. ~~~
~~~ However, Chris Geidner, the Law Dork points out that this is not the first timeKavanaugh has rendered an opinion against race-based juror removals: "Kavanaugh’s first such opinion, Flowers v. Mississippi, came in his first term on the court in 2019." Geidner's analysis is worth reading. MB: I rather enjoyed the part where Kavanaugh showed that Gorsuch's dissent "does not make much sense and is not a reasonable reading of this record."
Joe Patrice of Above the Law used AI to figure out the identity of the federal judge who was not named but whom Eleventh Circuit judges sanctioned for having sex in chambers with a “high ranking law enforcement officer.” “... we worked out with a very high degree of confidence that it was Judge Eleanor Ross of the Northern District of Georgia.” MB: Judge Ross is an Obama appointee.
2028 Presidential Race. Mitch Smith of the New York Times: “Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, one of the country’s highest-profile Democrats, told a local journalist on Thursday morning that she would not seek the presidency in two years. 'There will be a robust group of people running for president,' Ms. Whitmer told a reporter for Detroit’s WJBK-TV. 'I will not be one of them in 2028. I can tell you that.' Ms.
Whitmer, who has often been listed among the Democrats likeliest to run
for president, sounded less definitive later in the day, but gave few
specifics. She neither confirmed that she would forego running nor that
she would contemplate a bid. Instead, she told a group of political and
civic leaders gathered on Mackinac Island, Mich., 'Never say never.'”
Kenneth Chang of the New York Times: “A rocket built by the Jeff Bezos-owned space company Blue Origin blew up on the launchpad in Florida on Thursday night. The explosion occurred at about 9 p.m. during a test being conducted in advance of an upcoming launch. 'We experienced an anomaly during today’s hotfire test,' Blue Origin reported on social media. 'All personnel have been accounted for.' The test was to fire the seven engines in the booster stage, while
keeping the rocket firmly held down on the launchpad. Flames began
rising up the sides of the rocket and a massive explosion enveloped the
launchpad.... The rocket had been set to carry 48 satellites for Amazon’s internet
constellation, Leo, an acronym for 'low-Earth orbit.' Leo is a
competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink network. The Amazon satellites were not
onboard.”
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. RIP, CBS News. Benjamin Mullin & Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: “In a bid to remake the country’s top-rated
news program, Bari Weiss, the editor in chief of CBS News, on Thursday
unveiled an overhaul of '60 Minutes,' replacing the show’s executive
producer with a tech journalist and firing two of its on-air
correspondents. Ms. Weiss named Nick
Bilton, a former New York Times technology columnist and a filmmaker who
has directed and produced documentaries for HBO and Netflix, as her
pick to lead the 58-year-old Sunday show. Mr. Bilton, who has never
worked in traditional broadcast news, will replace Tanya Simon, who had
been at the show for more than three decades. CBS
News also fired Cecilia Vega, the program’s first Latina correspondent,
and Sharyn Alfonsi, whose segment on torture in Salvadoran prisons was pulled off the air
abruptly last year by Ms. Weiss, who requested more reporting. It aired
in full at a later date. Draggan Mihailovich, the executive editor of '60 Minutes,' was also fired, as was Matthew Polevoy, a senior producer. Ms.
Weiss, an opinion journalist with no prior experience in television,
has made major changes at CBS since being appointed last year by the
tech scion David Ellison.” The link appears to be a gift link. Here's the AP story. ~~~
~~~ Tom Jones of Poynter: "Years from now, we may look back and see what happened Thursday as among
the most pivotal days — maybe for the better, although many are
predicting for the worse — in the history of the best American TV
journalism show that’s ever been.... With Alfonsi and Vega fired, as well as Anderson Cooper’s leaving on his own, the show is losing three of seven correspondents."
~~~~~~~~~~
New Jersey. Dan Merica & Anna Liss-Roy of the Washington Post: Rep. Tom Kean, Jr.., (R) after more than three months, is still MIA. “Kean, the son of former New Jersey governor Thomas H. Kean, is running unopposed in New Jersey’s GOP primary on June 2.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Israel/Palestine, et al. David Halbfinger & Jonathan Reiss of the New York Times: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of
Israel said Thursday that he had directed the Israeli military to expand its control of the Gaza Strip to 70 percent of the Palestinian enclave,
ratcheting up the pressure on Hamas, the militant group that rules the
rest. His announcement came as
negotiations on Gaza’s future have stalled over Hamas’s refusal to
disarm and Israel’s nearly daily strikes in Gaza, both in apparent
defiance of the cease-fire agreement struck in October, after two years
of war.”
Ephrat Livni of the New York Times: “Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations
said Thursday that his country would cut ties with the U.N. secretary general and his office, after the office’s decision to include Israel on
an upcoming sexual violence blacklist over alleged sexual abuse of
Palestinian detainees.... Hamas is also included on an associated list of countries and groups accused of using sexual violence as a weapon of war.... Danny Danon,
the Israeli ambassador..., denounced the decision, denied the accusations and accused the
U.N. chief, António Guterres, of lying and of choosing not to fully
investigate claims against Israel. 'To put us and Hamas terrorists on
the same list,' Mr. Danon said in a video. 'That’s unacceptable.'... The country has pushed back
against accusations of abuse of Palestinian prisoners, including sexual
violence.... Earlier this month, [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu threatened to sue The New York Times for defamation over an Opinion column describing the use of sexual violence against Palestinians by some soldiers, settlers and prison guards.”
Ukraine/Russia, et al. Steve Hendrix & Serhii Korolchuk of the Washington Post: “Russia’s advance has suddenly stalled, and Ukraine is fighting on its own terms — a comeback credited to Kyiv’s efforts to steadily strengthen
the capabilities of its ... sustained, three-tier strategy of short-, medium- and long-range drone programs.... Russia’s progress at the front has ground almost to a halt. The Kremlin
is losing tens of thousands of soldiers a month while suppressing
growing public anger at home. And with European funding, Ukraine has
become an increasingly formidable arms manufacturer in its own right.” ~~~
~~~ Cassandra Vinograd of the New York Times: “A Russian attack drone hit an apartment building in eastern Romania early on Friday, according to the
authorities, drawing swift and sharp condemnation from NATO and the
European Union. The episode comes amid
heightened fears that Russia might seek to expand the war beyond
Ukraine to target a member of the NATO security alliance. Ukraine is not
a member of NATO, but Romania is. Romania’s
Foreign Ministry said the drone had been involved in an overnight
assault on Ukraine but had crashed into an apartment building in Galati,
Romania, sparking a fire. Two people were injured and several others
required medical attention. The ministry said it had informed NATO of the 'serious violation of
international law and of its airspace' and had asked the alliance to
speed up the transfer of anti-drone capabilities.”
