From the pinned item (@ 7:00 pm ET) on a New York Times liveblog of developments in San Diego: “Three men were fatally shot outside of a San Diego mosque on Monday afternoon, including a security guard who may have prevented a more deadly massacre, the authorities said. Two suspected shooters, both teenagers, were found dead nearby. Officials said at a news conference that the bodies of the suspects were discovered in a vehicle near the mosque, the Islamic Center of San Diego, and that they appeared to have died from self-inflicted gunshots. The police said one was 17 and the other 19. Investigators recovered anti-Islamic writing in the car, according to two law enforcement officials briefed on the matter who were not authorized to share details publicly. Before the shooting, one of the two suspects took a firearm from his parents’ house and left a suicide note, the officials said. The words 'hate speech' were written on one of the firearms used in the attack.... The Islamic Center of San Diego, which hosts daily prayers, also includes a school on its grounds. As parents waited on a nearby street, an imam, Taha Hassane, posted a video to social media assuring them: 'We are safe. The entire school is safe. All the kids, all the staff, all the teachers.'”
⭐They. Did. It. The Most Corrupt Administration in U.S. History Jumped into the Abyss. Fatima Hussein, et al., of the AP: “The Trump administration on Monday announced the creation a $1.7 billion fund to compensate allies of the Republican president who believe they were mistreated by the Biden administration Justice Department. The 'Anti-Weaponization Fund' was announced by the Justice Department as part of a deal to resolve ... Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in announcing the fund in a statement that it was 'a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.' Democrats and government watchdogs immediately pledged to fight what they called a 'corrupt' and unprecedented resolution, warning that the arrangement would unjustly enrich people close to the president with taxpayer dollars and open the door to meritless claims of political persecution.
“Trump’s lawyers disclosed the dismissal of the case in a filing Monday in federal court in Florida, where the president sued earlier this year.... Trump’s attorneys suggested in their court filing seeking to dismiss the case that the resolution would not be reviewable by a judge. But a group of 93 members of Congress filed a brief teeing up a challenge.” The Washington Post's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Where exactly does the American taxpayer go "to be heard and seek redress" from this criminal project?
I had a total military victory. But the fake news, guys like you, write incorrectly. You’re a fake guy. We had a total military victory. I actually think it’s sort of treasonous what you write. You should be ashamed of yourself. I actually think it’s treason. -- Donald Trump to multiple Pulitzer Prize-winning NYT reporter & Times Washington Bureau Chief David Sanger, Friday ~~~
~~~ Robert Reich: “Note Trump’s use of the pronoun 'I.' He didn’t say 'we' had a military victory. Trump’s malignant narcissism is worsening. Also take note of his blatant lie. His war in Iran has been anything but a victory. His delusions and deceptions about the war are escalating.... And note the not-so-subtle threat Trump directed at Sanger — that Sanger could be accused of treason if he continued to report that Trump’s war is failing.... Trump has made it harder for us to switch from oil and gas to renewable sources of energy, in which China is excelling.... Trump’s and Israel’s aggression apparently have proven to Iran’s new (and more extremist) leaders how much they need [a nuclear weapon].... A madman is in charge of American foreign policy — but almost no Republican member of Congress, no major CEO or university president or head of a major foundation, and certainly no member of Trump’s regime is willing to sound the alarm. They are all cowards.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: It's nice that for once Trump picked on a White, male reporter instead of his preferred targets: women of color. Of course in Trump's mind, anyone who works for the New York Times -- the "fake news," the "enemy of the people" -- can land on Trump's hit list at any moment.
Jeffrey Gettleman, et al., of the New York Times: “... for the past four months, negotiators from the United States, Greenland and Denmark, which controls Greenland’s foreign affairs, have been holding confidential talks in Washington about Greenland’s future. The talks were meant to give Mr. Trump an offramp to his threats of a military takeover of Greenland and to scale back a crisis that risked breaking apart the NATO alliance. But Greenlandic leaders are worried about what is being proposed, which is a much larger U.S. role on the Arctic island. And they fear that if the conflict with Iran winds down, the president will swing his aggression back on them.... The American demands are so steep, Greenlandic officials fear, that they amount to a major imposition on their sovereignty. Despite all of the talk from Danish and American officials that Greenland’s future is up to the island’s 57,000 people, Greenlandic officials said the American demands would tie their hands for generations.”
Trump Immigration Policies are Cruel ... Miriam Jordan & Jeff Adelson of the New York Times: “A new analysis suggests that more than 100,000 children have been separated from their parents during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. And roughly three-quarters of those children ... are likely U.S. citizens, according to estimates from the Brookings Institution that were shared with The New York Times.... The researchers, whose report is based on a statistical analysis of the detainee population, argue the official statistics are an undercount because of how the government collects that information. The findings point to a scale of family separations that far eclipses that of the first Trump administration’s 'zero tolerance policy in 2018, when about 5,500 children were removed from their parents immediately after crossing the southern border.” ~~~
~~~ ... AND Stupid. Alba Dominguez of the Guardian: “The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown could cause the US to potentially lose up to $479bn in ... tax revenue over the the next 10 years, with enforcement deterring undocumented workers from filing their taxes this year, according to tax experts. Tax advisers say major changes, including proposed data sharing with immigration enforcement, have made filing taxes risky for undocumented immigrants. Tax benefits for immigrant parents have also been removed, further removing incentive to file taxes at all.”
AND Cruel AND Stupid. Amanda Marcotte of Salon: Robert Kennedy, Jr.'s push to get Americans off antidepressants is not to free people from the fog of psychiatric drugs, as one might imagine. Rather, “Kennedy has become a bog-standard right-wing Republican. His aims are political in nature, not medical. His heated, misleading rhetoric about SSRI [-- selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors --] use, including demonizing people who need mental health medication as coddled weaklings, functions primarily as a justification for stripping people of medical care.... He has a long history of talking about people on SSRIs in dehumanizing, often racist language that implies their actual problem is they’re lazy and need to just work harder.... Kennedy has a real talent for taking reactionary, often sadistic ideas and reframing them to sound compassionate and therapeutic.... Kennedy has defended kicking millions of people off healthcare, falsely claiming that they’re 'almost all illegal immigrants.'”
Ari Berman of Mother Jones: “The revival of Jim Crow is happening with alarming speed across the South, following the Supreme Court’s destruction of the Voting Rights Act, with Southern Republicans set to dismantle at least five majority-Black districts in South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi.... Justice Samuel Alito wrote in Callais that 'the Nation had faced nearly a century of “entrenched racial discrimination in voting,’” when the Voting Rights Act was passed, but claimed those days were now over. However, the rush to eliminate Black representation in the wake of his decision shows that just the opposite is true.”~~~
~~~ Marie: Berman doesn't go far enough, IMO. The confederate justice may pretend they believe John Roberts' infamous dictum, "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race." But the way they rushed through their ruling in two separate actions to make sure Louisiana & Alabama could wipe out their Black-majority districts this year shows that their intention was to rid the South of Black representation ASAP. Does anybody think these confederates are going to look at what's happened, admit they made a terrible, terrible mistake, and issue a correction re-establishing Black-majority districts? Of course not. Sure, Clarence Thomas is Black and Amy Phony Barrett has two Black children, but Thomas & Barrett are just as racist as any Neo-Nazi in Donald Trump's fan base.
Barbara Ortutay of the AP: “A federal court on Monday dismissed claims filed against OpenAI and its top executives by Elon Musk, who accused them of betraying a shared vision for it to remain a nonprofit dedicated to guiding artificial intelligence’s development for the good of humanity. Musk, the world’s richest man, was a co-founder of OpenAI, which launched in 2015 and went on to create ChatGPT. After investing $38 million in its first years, Musk accused OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and his top deputy of shifting into a moneymaking mode behind his back. The nine-person jury found that Musk waited too long to file his lawsuit and missed the deadline for the statute of limitations. The jury had deliberated only two hours. The jury served in an advisory role, but Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers accepted the verdict Monday as the court’s own and dismissed Musk’s claims.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
Dan Diamond & Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump is planning to ... [build] a permanent helipad, perhaps as early as this summer [on the White House lawn].... Unlike some other Trump construction projects, the helipad idea is one that has been under discussion for years. It’s viewed by some internally as an overdue solution to a years-old problem: The new generation of Marine One helicopters runs the risk of burning the lawn. The problem exists because the new helicopters, the VH-92A Patriot, manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft, have exhaust vents that aim heat down, making grass-scorching likely. As a result, the Marine Corps, which operates the helicopters used to transport presidents, has been unable to deploy the VH-92A at the White House, although it is used to support Trump’s travel elsewhere. The Marines, Sikorsky and Sikorsky’s parent company, Lockheed Martin, have spent years trying to find a solution.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: This may not be a bad idea, but construction of a helipad still should go through proper review rather than just building it on Trump's say-so. There are reasons real presidents didn't "just do it."
Christian Nation. Ruth Graham & Elizabeth Dias of the New York Times: “Thousands of people gathered on the National Mall on Sunday for a daylong rally blending Christian prayer and political fervor, a gathering ... [Donald] Trump had touted as an opportunity to 'rededicate America as one nation under God.'... Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ... recounted an apocryphal account of President George Washington praying at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-1778, a moment that has become a touchstone for some Christians who argue that the founders envisioned America as an explicitly Christian nation. 'Let us pray for our nation on bended knee and let us ask our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, as Washington did on that momentous day, so help us God,' Mr. Hegseth said, to cheers from the crowd.... The rally aimed to crystallize the narrative that the nation’s founding was an intentionally Christian project, a framing disputed by many scholars.... Mr. Trump did not appear in person.... His participation consisted of a prerecorded video in which he read a chapter from the Old Testament book of II Chronicles. The video appeared to be the same one that Mr. Trump recorded in the Oval Office last month for a marathon reading of the full Bible organized by an activist in Texas.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: IOW, Trump couldn't be bothered with reading another couple of Bible verses an aide picked out. (More on this linked below.) This kind of event is not just anti-Constitutional and anti-historical, it's embarrassing to have these stupid lies perpetuated in a national setting. Here's more from Jennifer Schuessler of the New York Times who traces the origins of the Washington-in-prayer story. (The link is a gift link.) ~~~
“... the story of his dropping to his knees in solitary prayer at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-8, at one of the bleakest moments of the American Revolution, is more legend than history. Scholars trace its first appearance to the decade after Washington’s death, in the 18th edition of a biography by Mason Locke Weems (which also included the invented tale of young George chopping down the cherry tree). Weems, an evangelical pastor and bookseller, claimed that he heard the story from a local Quaker who had come upon the general in prayer, and was so inspired that he abandoned his pacifism and embraced the cause of the Revolution.... In the 20th century, even as scholars and journalists debunked it, the tale became part of mainstream patriotic civil religion, appearing on postage stamps, stained-glass windows and the cover of The Saturday Evening Post.” ~~~
~~~ Steven Waldman of Religion News Service: "The religious ancestors of the modern evangelicals leading the event in Washington, D.C. — not to mention the Catholics and the sole rabbi who also spoke at the rally — were outcasts in 1776.... The folks leading this effort would have been viewed as heretics, worthy of suppression, for most of early American history. If there was a Christian America, they were not included.... Catholics ... were banned from even voting in five Colonies. In most places, heretical and dissident Protestant denominations were harassed, too....T he Baptists of the day — the ancestors of modern evangelicals — were routinely tossed in jail for daring to not be Anglicans." Many of the founders did believe, however, that religion was necessary to promote the morality necessary for a democracy to function. But founders like James Madison opposed the government's promoting or favoring one or two religions over others. ~~~
~~~ Heather Cox Richardson: “The 'Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving' event is part of the Trump administration’s attempt to use the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence to rewrite America’s history, turning it from one that champions the Enlightenment values of natural rights, equality, and self-government to one that requires Americans to accept that some people are better than others and to defer to their leaders.” Richardson goes on to explain how Trump took over the celebration of the 250th anniversary, appropriating money previously authorized by Congress and doling it out to pro-Trump groups.”
~~~ Erkki Forster of the Daily Beast, republished by Yahoo! News: “... Donald Trump skipped his own White House-backed event 'rededicating' the nation to God to spend the day at his preferred place of worship: the golf course.... Meanwhile, Trump, 79, fired off a decidedly unholy and chilling Truth Social message once again threatening to wipe out Iran. 'For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them,' he wrote. 'TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! President DJT.'... Trump, who said in 2020 that he considers himself a non-denominational Christian, appears not to have attended a church service since his January 21, 2025, visit to the Washington National Cathedral in the final event of his second inauguration.”
Erica Green of the New York Times: “With his generational wealth, his 20-acre Mar-a-Lago estate..., and his lucrative family businesses around the world..., [Donald] Trump has never purported to be an ordinary American. Instead, he has argued that he could use his business savvy to help lift up the country’s forgotten men and women. But in recent weeks, as Americans feel deep economic strain from the war he launched in Iran, Mr. Trump’s actions and words have opened him up to accusations that he is either out of touch with — or indifferent to — the lives of everyday Americans. The costs are ballooning from his renovation, re-decoration and building spree in Washington, D.C., and at the White House. He goes on social media posting frenzies that often focus on his pet projects, gripes and personal triumphs, including a 22-year-old newspaper review of his television show, 'The Apprentice.'...
“When Mr. Trump was asked whether the economic hardship Americans are feeling would motivate him to make a deal to end the war[, he said] 'Not even a little bit.'... In an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier, Mr. Trump ... [said,] 'That’s a perfect statement.... I’d make it again.'... 'It’s what lawyers call an admission against interest,' [James Carville] said. 'It’s the greatest admission against interest in the history of the presidency.'... A new CNN poll found that 77 percent of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, thought Mr. Trump’s policies had increased the cost of living in their communities.” The link appears to be a gift link.
Marie: Up until now, insider traders were people who got some inside information about looming changes in a company's fortunes; these traders bought or sold stock based on their knowledge of company secrets. The inside info could be any number of things: the company was about to announce a new product; the government was about to change a policy that would favor or disfavor a company; a company's upcoming quarterly report would be surprisingly favorable or unfavorable. Insider trading is illegal. Donald Trump has created a unique category of insider trading. Instead of relying on insider tips, Trump creates the tips. He makes remarks or approves policies that he anticipates will affect the value of a company's stock. And he makes stock purchases or sales based on what he is planning to say or do. Yesterday, akaWendy Victoria D. linked a short video -- which I later embedded -- in which Liz Oyer outlined Trump's corrupt stock trades. Come now some details. ~~~
~~~ The Greatest Insider Trader of All Time. Judd Legum of Popular Information who details stocks Donald Trump purchased before and/or on the day he publicly praised the companies whose stocks he bought. As Legum explains, at least some of these stocks he (or Eric) purchased on his own, "unsolicited"; that is, not because of a broker's recommendation. MB: Is this corrupt practice impeachable? I'd say so.
Paul Krugman: While Donald Trump remains president*, China & the world need not worry about falling into the Thucydides trap -- the theory "that conflicts erupt when a declining power is confronted by a rising rival.... The global scene right now isn’t dominated by a conflict between a rising and a declining superpower, because the declining power is led by a man who has no idea what makes great powers great, is easily distracted by trivia, is focused on self-enrichment and self-aggrandizement, and fantasizes about himself as Jesus. If you want classical analogies, think of America right now as the Roman Empire under Caligula, although Caligula didn’t do anything like as much damage …"
Meryl Kornfield of the Washington Post: “For months, the Government Accountability Office has been conducting a major investigation into how DOGE members handled sensitive information.... But the probes have been stymied by federal agencies trying to avoid handing over information.... The struggle between administration officials and the government watchdog has held up the investigative process as the GAO has sought to get records and other information about how [Elon] Musk’s team of technologists gained access to the government’s most guarded data in the early months of the second Trump term.... The Trump administration and the GAO have repeatedly clashed in the past year. Administration officials accused the GAO of partisan influence, and the Office of Management and Budget has stonewalled requests from the GAO that it considered to be 'invasive.'” MB Translation: OMB director Russ Vought knows GAO staff could find evidence of DOGE law-breaking, breaches of Americans' privacy rights and misuse of data.
Lena Sun & Sammy Westfall of the Washington Post: “A handful of Americans in the Democratic Republic of Congo may have been exposed to suspected cases of Ebola in an unusually large outbreak there that the WHO has declared to be a public health emergency. At least one individual with symptoms may need to be medically evacuated, according to two individuals familiar with the Trump administration’s Ebola response who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal discussions. The Americans, including a family with children, have been working for a nonprofit in the outbreak area in Congo’s eastern region, the people said Sunday.... The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said earlier Sunday it is supporting partners 'actively coordinating the safe withdrawal of a small number of Americans who are directly affected' by the outbreak in Congo and Uganda....” A UPI story is here.
~~~~~~~~~~
Colorado. Nick Corasaniti & Jack Healy of the New York Times on how Gov. Jared Polis (D) came to grant clemency to Tina Peters, a Colorado elections official who used her position to try to prove Trump's claims about 2020 election fraud. MB: I read some of the article; I don't think Polis has a good excuse, and his way of going about the pardon provides no promise to get what he claims to want in exchange: to free Colorado from Trump's anti-Democratic retribution campaign. This is one big win for Trump corruption.
26 comments:
It was not me but Victoria D that linked that interesting and informative video of Liz Oyer on Trump's corruption yesterday!
Thanks. I got it right yesterday, but goofed up today. I'll correct the credit.
You know why the Pretender is arranging all these statues and monuments to celebrate and memorialize him?
Because no on else would.
The whole thing started, remember, with the "fans" he hired to watch him descend that escalator. Symbolic, really. He started his political ascent by going down. And he's still seeking new depths.
I've had about enough of Google's Art Intel. Yes, he's helpful in quickly answering some questions that I used to take some time to answer. I had to nose around the Internet to find a reliable site with a sensible answer; now I just ask Art. (Actually, I don't ask Art; I ask the question and Art volunteers an answer.)
Now this:
A couple of weeks ago -- and definitely not at my invitation -- Art started "summarizing" the emails I write to a friend with whom I check in every day so we can make sure we're both alive. These are not public emails; they're personal emails between a friend and me. Fortunately, they're not love letters or incriminating letters; they more just "proof of life" correspondence. Still, I found Art's "summaries" invasive, not helpful & annoying -- even though I had realized all along that Art was reading my correspondence.
Today, Art got way worse. Instead of just summarizing what my friend and I wrote in our emails, he "suggested" how I should respond to my friend's most recent email. It was creepy. Other than the fact that the answer didn't read like something I would have written, there was nothing really wrong with the substance of Art's "suggestions." I probably would have expressed some of the same concerns on my own, albeit using my own wording.
What is so creepy is that AI isn't just going to make widgets so we lose our jobs in the widgets factory -- that, in the long run, would be a good thing if we had a government that bothered to handle it right. And AI isn't just answering questions faster (and not necessarily accurately) than a person can answer himself by checking several Websites.
No, this attempt my Google to write my email for me is rendering superfluous not just the work I might do -- assembling widgets -- but also what I think. Instead of writing an email and sending it off to a friend, I have to do no more than hit send. It is no longer necessary to express myself; Art will do that for me. AND he's doing this work for me not because I ask him to -- as a student might if she wanted to cheat on writing a term paper -- but even when I did not ask for help.
AI is horning in on my personal mail -- not only reading it but also writing it -- with no explicit permission from me. It's unsettling.
Had the same feeling about AI's suggestions for email responses, Marie. It is creepy.
When I first encountered that Google "service" a few weeks ago, it brought to mind that old saw about how do I know what I think til I see what I say....with this disturbing twist: How do I know what I think til I see what AI tells me I'm thinking? Weird.
Jared Polis is pro-insurrection. Setting free a person who not only was trying to undermine the voters and the will of the people, but also someone who made it harder and more dangerous for the election workers going forward. Even the Republican DA who prosecuted Peters' case was against setting her free. And on top of that the courts had already told the judge to relook at her sentencing to possibly shorten her time in jail.
mass uninsuring
"But here’s the biggest threat to your life and the lives of your loved ones that most of us face, coming from the Trump regime. And it’s the threat getting the least coverage, tracked obsessively by Charles Gaba and almost nobody else. Yes, I’m talking about the mass uninsuring of America.
Three million Americans have already lost ACA coverage this year, per internal CMS documents obtained by NOTUS. Wakely Consulting, one of the world’s leading actuarial firms, projects the year-end number could reach 5.8 million. The New York Times puts it starker still: over the next couple of years, Americans on ACA-backed insurance plans are likely to fall from 24 million to 19 million, a drop of more than 20 percent. In Georgia, the exchange is already reporting falloffs of more than 35 percent."
"Trump Posts Image Of Himself With Buff And Shackled Alien In Yet Another Bizarre Spree Of AI Slop Postings"
Taco scandal! Oh No!
Even as the media focus on Graham Platner's past in order to help the PoT (as they ALWAYS do), down in Texas, the media there are attacking Democratic senate candidate James Talarico for not ordering the "right" taco. Gun totin' real 'murican men with testosterone up the ass are outraged! Aren't you glad the media have priorities?
"This election has James Talerico, running for senate in Texas, who appeared with Barack Obama at a taco joint and ordered breakfast tacos with eggs, cheese and potatoes which they are all saying makes him some sort of commie vegan. Of course they are stupid because that’s not vegan and Talerico isn’t even a vegetarian. He just like egg, cheese and potato tacos which sound delicious to me and I’m not a vegetarian either.
As for the stupid article posted above, the media suggests that Talerico ordered the dish as a middle-of-road choice to appease “both sides” in the vegetarian debate. And the way we know it’s ridiculous is that Talerico goes to this place so often that they asked him if he wanted his usual order. Unless he’s been planning this clever ploy for years, it’s pretty clear that he just likes these tacos. And I don’t blame him."
Hmmm....such a scandal! Keep that guy out of the Senate at all costs! But let's see....while the press focus on Talarico's taco order as being possibly disqualifying, how about the guy he's running against, Ken Paxton. Maybe let's not bring up the mountain of scandalous shit in his background, cuz ya know, MAGA, and Fatty:
Felony securities fraud.
Bribery and abuse of office
State bar and professional misconduct lawsuit
Concealment of extramarital affair
Long list of historical disciplinary actions
But no biggie. It's more important for the press to go after the Democrat. Especially for a taco.
This is why we can't have nice things. Like a working congress and a president who isn't a monster.
The narcissism is beyond malignant, it's an all encompassing disease. What is the purpose of showing oneself with a made up alien...what? Not only that, there must be a command line in all these AI slop depictions of the Fat Fascist that he be shown 50 to 75 lbs lighter. The AI alien image reminds me of another cartoon of Fatty with an alien. In this one, a couple of little green men approach a lady and say "Take me to your leader." She shows them Fatty, a fat blob, asleep on his desk. They look at the lady and say "You're kidding". That's more like it.
Those "helpful" AI "suggestions" that appear when writing emails in the Google app I just ignore. In fact, I usually write something completely different. It's not that I'm showing some dumb App who's boss, I just reject the "help".
Taking this to extremes (which doesn't seem all that far off at this point), a world in which AI apps do everything, I'm reminded of the sort of future depicted in the movie "Wall-E" (actually a wonderful film) in which humans, who have left the earth after destroying it, now exist in a gigantic space station, but because computers do everything for them, they are all stupid and lethargic, they're all fat blobs like Trump, unable to walk, who are driven around in driverless vehicles to get the next order of Chicken McNuggets or ice cream. AI might offer some amazing advances, but I'll finish my own sentences, thank you very much (you see? It happens here too, since Blogger is owned by Google).
You just know that White House helipad will have a gigantic T in the middle, surrounded by golden rings and lit up bright enough to be seen from space.
The manipulation factor connected to Fat Hitler is through the roof. War Criminal Bibi calls Fatty and whispers sweet death promises in his cauliflower ear, and sure enough, it's on to more War Criming! As soon as he hears Bibi say "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" Fatty gets on his failed antisocial app and promises death and destruction to every Iranian, which is, of course, a war crime in itself.
Stupid, malleable, and demented is no way to run a country.
Tom Sullivan
"Governing Is For Suckers
Lawmaking is a tool for making money
When are Americans going to learn that Republicans exist to pillage the economy and leave Democrats to clean up the mess so Republicans can do it again? That’s Michael Tomasky’s thesis this morning at The New Republic.
Likely never. Proving the alleged P.T. Barnum maxim, Americans reelected to the presidency the Seven Deadly Sins on two legs, a twice-impeached, convicted felon with a catalogue of personality defects thick enough to hold open doors to the Library of Congress. But should Americans experience a political Great Awakening, perhaps, Tomasky offers, they’ll question the “idea that the party of big business must surely be more trustworthy on economic policy.”"
Akhilleus -
The Republican candidate for senator wont be decided until next week - 5/26/26. Are Texas republicans so maga aligned they actually select Ken Paxton?
Michelle Pitcher for the Texas Observer provides more detail on Paxton's numerous scandals. Glass House
"Paxton has made himself a household name in Texas as one of the most MAGA-aligned Republicans. But he’s perhaps most infamous for surviving numerous scandals and legal challenges over his two-decade career in state politics. He was AG for less than a year before he was indicted on securities fraud charges in 2015. He was reported to the FBI by his own employees for alleged bribery and abuse of office in 2020. (He illegally fired those whistleblowers.) He was then impeached by the Texas House of Representatives in 2023, but he was ultimately acquitted when the matter reached the Senate. In 2025, his wife, state Senator Angela Paxton, filed for divorce on “biblical grounds” after years of her husband’s admitted infidelity.
When Paxton’s the defendant, he’s quick to dismiss the allegations. Such claims are merely attempts, he’s said, at “sabotage” and “bogus witch hunts” that ignored “the rule of law, the Constitution, and innocent until proven guilty.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/05/18/trump-will-end-10-billion-lawsuit-against-irs-over-leaked-tax-records/?
I don't know what to say.....
Wendy,
Of course it's nice to see that some media outlets in Texas are not afraid of showing Paxton for the cheap crook he is, but it still galls me that this whole Both Sides fanaticism still requires that they find SOMETHING against the Democrat. It's like the Republican candidate is robbing a bank and shoots and kills three tellers and five bystanders, but Oh LOOK! Over there. The Democrat candidate is ordering a vegan taco! OMG!
Enough already with that crap!
So the Crooked Fat Hitler Slush Fund is now a reality. Wonderful. Now he could give 50 people $36 million apiece. 1800 people a million dollars each. Or 3.6 million people $500 each.
And it will probably turn out to be tax free to the FOFH (friends of Fat Hitler).
How is this even legal? And don't look to the Swine Court for any sort of correction or redress for American taxpayers whose pockets are being picked so that Fatty can splash his pals with cash. They will likely declare everything perfectly legal and above board, as they board the private jet of an oligarch with business in front of the Court to fly off to a free luxury vacation, replete with $1,000 bottles of wine and chit chat about how nice it would be if laws didn't apply to them.
Republican corruption is so deep, so dug in, so toxic, so perfectly malevolent, that it is the only thing of which the most virulent cancer cells are jealous.
@Akhilleus: I didn't make myself clear. The "suggestion" I got from AI today was not merely one of those bits where you start a sentence with "Thank you for your attention" and AI suggests the next words should be "to this matter."
No, this "suggestion" was three whole paragraphs. It responded to everything my friend wrote to me, and she covered several topics. The "suggestion" included a salutation and closing. It was an entire letter/email. I literally could have just hit "send." In fact, AI invited me to do so.
We're not just getting to Science Fiction Land. We are there. The only thing that is holding me back -- at the moment -- is my quirky writing style that Art hasn't mastered. But he'll get it. And then I will disappear.
And remember, young people have not necessarily developed a "style." A program that answers all of Grandma's questions -- in polite "grown-up" language and without typos or the accidental swear word -- is a compelling temptation for a kid who would otherwise struggle over what to write to Grandma. Up until now that struggle would have been part of a learning curve. Now the education part will no longer exist. Of course AI will make us dumber.
As I wrote, creepy.
'a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.'
Are Democrats and targets of the Right going to be raking in the cash? I wonder if Hunter Biden qualifies for a payout? Comey has a strong case for his lawfare application. So does Letitia James and Hillary Clinton. So many people qualify for Donnie Dollars brought to us once again by the US taxpayers. How much is Jerome Powell's non indictments worth?
Haha, jk. Democrats and FH's enemies are not considered real people and therefore are not eligible for Donnie's war chest bucks.
"A Simple Prayer for MAGA's Gospel Grifters, Holy Hypocrites and Blaspheming Bubbas"
Marie,
Whoa. I've never seen that. That IS creepy.
The insult on top of the injury. The 1.8 billion slush fund references the Keepseagle adjudication as justification for this latest grift. The Keepseagle adjudication which awarded nearly 700 million to Native American farmers due nearly 20 years of proven discrimination by the Ag Dept. is a fish from an entirely different kettle (hcn.org).
This time, no adjudication, just taxpayer money to be awarded to many presumably already pardoned for their criminal actions. A cherry, I'd say, on a shit sundae.
The slush fund tries to legally let Trump just take all the money for himself if he wants. Once the money is in the account the US has no liability to safeguard or protect the money according to the DOJ.
RAS,
Yup. I read it that way, too.
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