May 11, 2026

Your Tax Dollars Wasted on a Secret Crackpot RFKJ Project. Christian Jewett & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: “Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said little publicly about vaccines in recent months, at the behest of a White House worried that his unpopular stance will hurt Republicans in November’s midterm elections. But he has not abandoned his quest for evidence that they are unsafe. Working behind the scenes, Mr. Kennedy is spearheading an intense push, across health agencies under his purview, for government scientists and federal data contractors to examine his long-held theory that vaccines are helping to fuel an epidemic of chronic disease.... The ... wide-ranging inquiry ... resurrects research into a number of ideas Mr. Kennedy has espoused, including whether vaccines are linked to autism and whether thimerosal, a preservative that has largely been removed from vaccines in the United States but remains in some flu shots, is dangerous. The effort is being led by Martin Kulldorff, a biostatistician and vaccine safety expert who rose in prominence during the pandemic as a critic of Covid restrictions and vaccine mandates, and is now the health department’s chief science and data officer.”

From the pinned item on the New York Times liveblog (also linked below) of developments in the Iran war: Donald “Trump said on Monday that the cease-fire in Iran was on 'life support.'... The Iranian offer is a 'piece of garbage,' Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, adding that Tehran was in the grip of 'lunatics.'” ~~~

~~~ One of the many discouraging aspects of the war is that you can't believe either side. In fact, it's best to consider everything Trump says to be a fabrication. For instance ~~~

     ~~~ Alexander Smith of NBC News: “Trump said [Monday] he thought a diplomatic solution was still very possible' because the Iranian leaders 'change their mind. They’re very dishonorable people.' He accused the Iranian leaders of agreeing to hand over their enriched uranium — a major sticking point between the two sides — before going back on this offer. 'Two days ago, they said, “You’re going to have to take it,’” he told reporters in the Oval Office, saying that the Iranians told him that only the U.S. and China had the capabilities to do so. 'But they changed their mind because they didn’t put it in the paper' document.” MB: This is pure fantasy. The Iranians did not change their minds or agree to give their enriched uranium to the U.S. or China. The party who has changed his mind is Trump. He's a complete nitwit. 

     ~~~ Marie: I'm serious when I suggest that every respectable news outlet top every story in which there's a "Trump sez" element with a plainly-worded disclaimer that Trump usually lies so any remarks recorded should be regarded as unreliable.  

Paul Krugman: “Elon Musk is no Andrew Carnegie. America used to be a middle-class society. But income and wealth disparities began rising rapidly during the Reagan years, and by the late 80s many observers began drawing parallels between the new era of inequality and the Gilded Age. At this point, however, it’s clear that we are not experiencing a mere replay of the reign of the robber barons. We are living through something much worse. The tech bros make the 'malefactors of great wealth' called out by Theodore Roosevelt look benign by comparison.... The concentration of wealth at the top is continuing to soar.... The big political question going forward is whether there will be a significant backlash against the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a small number of mean-spirited men. I believe that there will be such a backlash, indeed that it is already starting, and that there is a political opening for some genuine populism if politicians have the courage to take a stand.”

Donald Trump continues to astound. He and his administration have spent billions of dollars terrorizing, rounding up, abusing, incarcerating and deporting tens of thousands of ordinary people. During the course of this massive anti-immigrant project, his goons have killed some people, including native-born Americans. All this is necessary because, he says, "they're criminals, they're rapists," "they're eating the cats, they're eating the dogs," and so forth. But it turns out there are some foreign-born (alleged!) criminals Donald welcomes. ~~~

~~~ Here's One. y Bartosz Brzeziński & Jordyn Dahl of Politico: “Fugitive former Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro is now in the United States courtesy of a visa from ... Donald Trump after fleeing Hungary. Ziobro had been in Hungary since 2025 after former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán granted the disgraced minister asylum. New Hungarian leader Péter Magyar, however, promised to launch extradition proceedings against Ziobro upon taking office. Ziobro is wanted in Poland over the alleged misuse of public funds and the deployment of Pegasus spyware against political opponents. He has consistently denied the charges, calling the investigation a political vendetta from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.... According to Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, Trump personally approved the visa over the objections of Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the U.S. ambassador in Warsaw, Tom Rose.” Thanks to RAS for the link.

Steve Vladeck critiques the Supremely-created redistricting chaos in a post titled, "We're all trying to find the guy who did this." As Vladeck writes, "the guy in the hot dog costume is Chief Justice Roberts." The post kinds of skips around from topic to topic, and I found I could skip around with it.

Marie: I have often made the mistake of accusing Donald Trump of behaving like a toddler when I know perfectly well that many toddlers are much smarter & wiser than Trump. Here's a case in point: 

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The New York Times is liveblogging developments in the Iran war. From the pinned item at 7:00 am ET, by Aaron Boxerman: “Iran’s demands for U.S. war reparations, recognition of its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and an end to American sanctions were among the conditions that ... [Donald] Trump has deemed 'unacceptable,' Iran’s state-owned broadcaster reported on Monday. The terms were detailed in a social media post by Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting after Mr. Trump on Sunday dismissed an Iranian counterproposal as 'TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE.'... The first two conditions would almost certainly be non-starters for the United States, while the third would be possible only if Iran is willing to make major concessions on its nuclear program, which it has shown no sign of being willing to do. The comments showed how far apart the United States and Iran remained after a week of strikes in the Persian Gulf rattled their month-old cease-fire.” ~~~

~~~ Erica Green, et al., of the  New York Times: Donald “Trump on Sunday rejected the latest offer from Iran to end the war with the United States, declaring that it was 'TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE.' Mr. Trump commented hours after the Iranian government said it had sent a counterproposal to end the conflict following a tense week of attacks and responses in the Persian Gulf that rattled a fragile cease-fire between the countries. The details of Iran’s proposal were not made public, and Mr. Trump did not say what was objectionable. 'I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called “Representatives,’” he wrote in a post on his social media platform. 'I don’t like it.'”  (An earlier version of this report -- part of a liveblog -- was linked yesterday.) The AP's report is here.

Ephrat Livni of the  New York Times: Donald “Trump and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in separate interviews on Sunday that the war against Iran was not over, seeming to undermine messaging from the Trump administration last week that the conflict had run its course. The interviews further compounded confusion about a military campaign marked by shifting goals and messaging since the American-Israeli attacks on Iran began in late February. Mr. Trump, in an interview released by the syndicated news show 'Full Measure,' said Iran had been defeated militarily. Yet when asked if it was accurate to say that combat operations were “over and done,” he refuted that assessment. 'No, I didn’t say that,' Mr. Trump said, adding that Iran was 'defeated, but that doesn’t mean they are done.'... Mr. Netanyahu also told CBS’s “60 Minutes” in an interview that the conflict was not over.... 'There is still nuclear material, enriched uranium, that has to be taken out of Iran,' Mr. Netanyahu said. 'There’s still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled. There are still proxies that Iran supports. There are ballistic missiles that they still want to produce.'”

New York Times: “Oil prices rose and stock futures ticked down on Monday as investors reacted after the two sides failed to agree on a U.S.-Iran peace deal.... As gas prices remain elevated in the United States, Chris Wright, the energy secretary, said on Sunday that the Trump administration would be open to pausing the federal gas tax, which accounts for 18.4 cents of the per gallon price of gasoline.” 

"Diaper Don." The video below is explicit and cringeworthy, but it answers a question many have raised. The speaker is Noel Casler, producer of "Celebrity Apprentice." Casler first publicly made the claims ca. 2020. (Trump is a guy who sued CBS News because he didn't like a standard edit they did of a Kamala Harris interview; yet, according to Art Intel, Trump has not sued Casler): 

Donald Trump, Preeminent Biblical Scholar. Ben Blanchett of the Huffington Post: “Donald Trump on Saturday promoted a controversial Baptist pastor’s claim that he has a better grasp on the Bible than Pope Leo XIV just days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with the pontiff to try and cool U.S.-Vatican tensions. (Watch the clip below.) 'The great irony is it looks like President Trump has a better understanding of what the Bible teaches about the role of government than the pope has,' said the evangelical Christian leader [Robert Jeffress] in a Fox News clip shared by the president on Truth Social. 'And I’m glad the president hasn’t backed down at all.'”

Marie: You will no doubt recall all those stories about how businessman Trump was always screwing contractors, refusing to pay everybody from the piano tuner to the pool guy because he arbitrarily declared they "didn't do a good job, and I don't pay for shoddy work." (As if Trump would know whether or not a piano was in tune.) He was such an untrustworthy businessman that he wound up a litigant in 3,500 lawsuits. Well, nothing has changed: ~~~

~~~ Scott McLendon of the Miami New Times: “From his foundry in Zanesville..., [Ohio, sculptor Alan] Cottrill has worked on hundreds of commissioned statues now standing across the country.... But never has a commission been as chaotic as the crypto bro-funded, gold-leafed, looksmaxxed Trump unveiled this week at Trump’s golf club, he says[:] 'This was a clusterfuck.'... Demands to nix the turkey neck and make the model skinnier, missed payments, and calls to install the statue last-minute — no Cottrill commission has been as complicated as the statue dubbed 'Don Colossus.'... When asked if [he] would ever work with the crypto bros or Trump’s team again..., [Cottrell] didn’t need to hear the full question before responding, 'Fuck no.'” Treat yourself to the whole story. Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: If there's anybody sleazier than Trump (and I'm not saying there is), it's the bums who suck up to him. (Also linked yesterday.)

Any Federal Program That Primarily Aids People of Color Is Illegal. Bernard Mokam of the New York Times: Alabama's Black Belt is "a stretch of largely rural counties so named for its dark soil and history of slavery.... Today there are more than 50,000 people in [Alabama's Black Belt] who pipe raw sewage into open trenches and pits. Now, a seeming solution to the public health problem has been stymied by ... the Trump administration’s war on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Three years ago, the Biden administration concluded in its first-ever environmental justice investigation that Alabama officials had failed to adequately address the sanitation crisis disproportionately affecting the Black residents of Lowndes County. The state agreed to an interim agreement that unlocked millions of dollars in federal funding to provide homeowners with septic tanks that could handle the difficult soil. But soon after President Trump returned to office last year, the Justice Department ended the settlement, calling it 'illegal DEI.'” ~~~

    ~~~ Marie: If a program designed to solve a particular problem -- like a sanitation matter -- primarily helps Black people (coincidentally or otherwise), then it's "illegal DEI." On the other hand, if a state gerrymanders its voting districts to purposely eliminate representatives selected by Black people, then that gerrymandering is a legal political prerogative. (a) Fundamental principle: all men are created equal. (b) Paradoxical corollary: If a policy would help Black people; it's illegal; if it hurts Black people, it's legal. (c) Fundamental rule underlying this apparent paradox: in the land of Republicans, the White man is king. 

Parasitic billionaire Doug Burgum, showing off his dead trophy.

~~~ Todd Richmond of the AP (May 8): “U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued an order in January directing multiple agencies to remove what he termed 'unnecessary regulatory or administrative barriers' to hunting and fishing [in the national parks, refuges and wilderness areas] and justify regulations they want to keep in place.... The order applies to 55 sites in the lower 48 states under the National Park Service’s jurisdiction.... Managers at various locations have already lifted prohibitions on hunting stands that damage trees and training hunting dogs, using vehicles to retrieve animals and hunting along trails, according to [a National Parks Conservation Association] review of site regulations the organization recently performed after learning of the order.... Dan Wenk, a former Yellowstone National Park superintendent..., said park managers established their regulations by talking with stakeholders and, as a result, most of the restrictions have been widely accepted. He said it makes no sense for the Trump administration to upend that structure without substantial public discussion.” (Via Oliver Kornetzke.)~~~

~~~ Oliver Kornetzke: "Our national parks, the singular American institution that even our most cynical generations somehow managed to protect for over a century, are now officially open for hunting....[Decisions to preserve these lands,] made and remade over more than a century by Republicans and Democrats alike ... is being unwound right now by a criminal regime that has looked at the most universally beloved public asset this country has ever produced and seen nothing but dollar signs and donor favors to repay.... This is asset-stripping an entire continent in real time, converting the irreplaceable into a one-time payout for a handful of parasitic billionaire donors who will be comfortably dead long before the full consequences arrive, while the rest of us, our children, and every generation after them inherit the dead silence where ecosystems that took millions of years to develop used to live and breathe.... And once [these ecosystems] are gone, they are not coming back." Thanks to akaWendy for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is all part of the pathetic macho-man paradigm, and there is nobody in more desperate need of playing that game than a "parasitic billionaire" (an oxymoron, but in a good way) who spends the majority of his time dressed in a bespoke suit & occupying a high-rise suite; that is, as far away as possible from the primal demands of life of the natural, untamed world. So dress him up in Burberry-styled hunting gear, Doug, give him a guide and a gun, set his puny ass down in a rugged 4-by-4 and send him tearing through the wilderness that belong to all of us, so that he too can kill a large, feral animal who doesn't stand much of a chance against a high-powered rifle with a digital laser rangefinder sight. (I would challenged that piss-ant parasite to shoot ducks in a barrel at the county fair.) 

Reid Epstein of the New York Times: “Democrats are struggling to respond to a major redistricting setback in Virginia, with some party leaders discussing an audacious and possibly far-fetched idea for trying to restore a congressional map voided by the court but showing little indication they have a clear plan. During a private discussion on Saturday that included Democratic House members from Virginia and Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader, the lawmakers vented anger at their defeat at the Virginia Supreme Court, spoke about a collective determination to flip two or three Republican-held seats under the existing map and discussed a bank-shot proposal to redraw the congressional lines anyway.... The conversation reflected the desperation and fury that have gripped the party after the state Supreme Court struck down a favorable map that had been ratified by voters. The most dramatic idea they discussed — which would involve an unusual gambit to replace the entire state Supreme Court, with a goal of reinstating their gerrymandered map — drew mixed reactions on the call, said the people, and it was not clear that it would even be viable, or palatable to Gov. Abigail Spanberger and Democrats in the Virginia General Assembly.” The link appears to be a gift link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: See yesterday's page. As Jamelle Bouie laid it out, there is no need to replace all the Virginia supremes. Bouie explains why it is sensible -- AND legal AND ethical -- to just ignore them. 

Sonia Rao & Jin Yu Young of the New York Times: “Seventeen American passengers who were aboard the cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean that faced a hantavirus outbreak returned to the United States early Monday morning, a health official said. An official from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that the Americans were aboard a flight from Tenerife, Spain, that landed in Nebraska.... Two of the passengers on the flight traveled in specialized biocontainment units out of an abundance of caution. One passenger had mild symptoms, and the other was the passenger who had tested 'mildly' positive for the Andes virus, the department said.” An AP report is here.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. From the Bowels of the Bezos Post. Natalie Korach of Status: "On Monday, as The Washington Post celebrated its two Pulitzer Prize wins, the newspaper found itself scrambling to bring back two previously laid-off video operators to help livestream the celebration because, after the company’s massive layoffs in February, no one remained who could operate the system. Back inside the paper’s K Street headquarters, the former employees encountered a number of changes that stood in stark contrast to their hollowed-out team: a newly renovated opinion studio outfitted with fresh couches, extensive new video equipment, a bar setup, and the kind of natural wood-paneled backdrop increasingly favored by podcasters and creators.... One current staffer questioned why ... the opinion section would need a makeshift version of Joe Rogan’s podcasting set. “It’s what the owner wants, I guess,” they sighed.... So far, the investment has produced an astonishingly small audience: just 182 YouTube subscribers, with many videos attracting only a few dozen views.”

Joseph Berger of the New York Times: “Abraham H. Foxman, a hidden child of the Holocaust who became the chief warrior against antisemitism in the United States as national director of the Anti-Defamation League for almost three decades, died on Sunday in Manhattan. He was 86.”

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Louisiana Senate Race. Gary Sernovitz in a New York Times op-ed: “On Saturday, we’ll get some data on how yet another Trump Tragedy will end. Recent polls put Bill Cassidy, the senator from Louisiana, in third place heading into the first round of the Republican primary here. It’s his first competitive race in a dozen years and the culmination of a zigzag of events that had him standing up ... [Donald] Trump, kissing up to Mr. Trump, being tossed aside by Mr. Trump, gaining no political advantage in any direction along the way, and undermining not just his positions as a politician but also — in what makes this tragedy more raw than most — his greatest accomplishments as a physician. As James Carville summed up the events to me: 'Bill Cassidy sold his soul to the devil, and he didn’t get anything for it.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be damned if I can figure out what Sernovitz credits as Cassidy's “greatest accomplishments as a physician.” Maybe it's “that he is as close as we have to the nation’s most powerful doctor.” Not very powerful at all, IMO, when he approved Bobby Kennedy for Health Secretary. A nay vote there would have been a hill worth dying on (metaphorically/politically, that is). 

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Cuba. Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D) & Jonathan Jackson (D): “As members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, we spent five days in Cuba in April to better understand the humanitarian impacts of America’s monthslong energy blockade of the island. We came away shocked by the inhumane effects of the policy, whose goal appears to be strangling the economy until the Cuban people are brought to ruin and the country is available, as ... [Donald] Trump put it, for the 'taking.'... We returned from our trip certain that if the American people knew the full extent of what is happening on the ground in Cuba, they would demand an end to the blockade immediately. The U.S. blockade of fuel to Cuba, on top of the longest embargo in modern U.S. history, defies the norms of international law that provide for state sovereignty, nonintervention in domestic affairs and the right of nations to trade freely. ” 

Ukraine/Russia, et al. Another Trump Fail. Angelique Chrisafis & Pjotr Sauer of the Guardian & Agencies: “Russia has been conducting assault operations on the Ukrainian frontline in breach of a three-day ceasefire announced by ... Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday. 'The Russians are continuing assault activity in sectors key for them,' Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, said in his evening address. 'On the frontline, the Russian army is not complying with the ceasefire and is not even really trying to.' The US-mediated ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine appeared under serious strain on its second day on Sunday, with both sides accusing the other of violating the deal through weekend attacks.... Zelenskyy’s comments came after Vladimir Putin said he thinks the Ukraine war is winding down, hours after he had vowed to defeat Ukraine at Moscow’s most scaled-back Victory Day parade in years and even as two of his senior aides played down the notion of a quick end to the conflict.” Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. See also his commentary in yesterdays thread. 

Kim Barker, et al., of the  New York Times: “With peace talks on ice and Ukraine now more self-reliant, President Volodymyr Zelensky seems to be stepping away from the United States.... [Ukraine] no longer needs the United States as much, after years of efforts to build up its own defense production. Kyiv is also openly looking elsewhere for support. In the past month, Mr. Zelensky has been drumming up backing around Europe. He has thanked countries including Germany and Italy for helping Ukraine as the war against Iran threatened Kyiv’s supply of weapons. He has reached agreements to help countries in the Middle East defend themselves against Iranian drones, deals that could build new security relationships. The winding path to a potential breakup with the United States is littered with setbacks and indignities for Ukraine.”