Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Tuesday is expected to undergo his third scheduled medical checkup in 13 months, as outside physicians say they have
persistent questions about the nearly 80-year-old president’s health and
fitness.... While the White House has a round-the-clock medical team that can
privately attend to the president if needed, Walter Reed has facilities
for advanced imaging and other procedures.... Independent doctors have asked why Trump’s hands have been repeatedly bruised, why his legs are swollen and whether his occasional sleepiness is a sign of a deeper issue, saying that they find White House explanations insufficient.... Trump has touted his performance on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, which is used to screen for dementia or cognitive decline.” ~~~
 |
| Yeah, he looks great. At a Cabinet meeting, 2025. |
~~~ BTW, if you're impressed with what a genius Trump is ("the doctors had never seen anything like it") because he says he "aced" the Montreal Cognitive Assessment test not once, not twice, but three times, here's Jim Acosta taking the same test live on the YouTubes.
Tom Nichols of the Atlantic: Many observers, including Trump's prominent supporters, are horrified as they watch Trump “stagger to an incoherent defeat” in his war against Iran. “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told Trump that the mullahs would fall; CIA Director John Ratcliffe, however, told him that such a prediction was 'farcical.'... [Saturday], the president told Axios that the chance of reaching an agreement with the Iranians was a 'solid 50/50,' and that he either would accept a 'good' deal or 'blow them to kingdom come.' Neither of these things is going to happen. Instead, a piece of paper will, at some point, come out of a meeting room in Pakistan. It will certify that the United States must accept a major strategic defeat in the Middle East. And Donald Trump, who brought America to this point because of his ego and his incompetence, will sign it.” Thank you to akaWendy for this gift link. Definitely worth a read.
Marie: Members of my family were Fidel Castro's victims. I hate that we are doing this to Cubans: ~~~
~~~ Ed Augustin & of the New York Times: “Life ... across much of Cuba, already difficult because of an economy that has been in shambles for years, has become even worse since the Trump administration mounted its escalating pressure campaign against the country’s communist government.... Outside Havana, the capital, power outages now last 20 hours a day. The lack of energy has set off an enormous humanitarian crisis that has become deadly.... The U.S. oil blockade has left millions without cooking gas.”
~~~~~~~~~~
From the pinned item on the New York Times liveblog of Iran war developments @ 6:00 am ET Monday: “Negotiations between the United States and Iran appeared to be continuing on Monday after President Trump played down hopes of an imminent breakthrough and a senior U.S. official said final approval of an agreement toward ending the war could take days to finalize. American and Iranian officials have presented clashing descriptions of the emerging agreement, compounding doubts about whether or not the deal could get over the finish line. But both sides have said the deal could reopen the Strait of Hormuz.... Officials from both countries have said any agreement would be an initial framework that would lead to further negotiations.” MB: IOW, it's “a concept of a deal.” ~~~
~~~ Sean James of Mediaite: “... Donald Trump went on a mini-rant against the 'losers’ who are criticizing him for reported details of his negotiations with Iran, with the president saying they need to keep their yaps shut for now because the deal 'isn’t even fully negotiated yet.' Trump slammed his detractors in a post on Truth Social on Sunday afternoon.... Trump also jabbed ex-President Barack Obama for his agreement with Iran.... 'I don’t make bad deals!' Trump said at the end of his post.” MB: To be clear, I don't think Trump understands the JCPOA agreement at all. For one thing, according to FactCheck.org, “The nuclear agreement included China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union, so Obama didn’t carry out any part of it on his own. The deal did lift some sanctions, which lifted a freeze on Iran’s assets that were held largely in foreign, not U.S., banks.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: “Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States was prepared to enter 'into very serious talks' about Iran’s nuclear program if Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz, signaling that the Trump administration was prepared to accept an interim agreement that didn’t immediately take away Iran’s ability to make nuclear weapons. 'You can’t do a nuclear thing in 72 hours on the back of a napkin,' Mr. Rubio said in a brief interview Sunday during his visit to New Delhi. 'The straits have to be immediately reopened, and then we will enter, under agreed-to parameters, into very serious talks about enrichment, about the highly enriched uranium and about their pledge to never have nuclear weapons.'... Mr. Rubio insisted that Mr. Trump’s policy that Iran could not have a nuclear weapon had not changed. But he signaled that the United States was prepared to adopt a phased approach to the talks, one that critics have said could take away Mr. Trump’s leverage in the negotiations.”
Cheyanne Daniels of Politico: “A day after he announced a deal with Iran was in its final stages..., Donald Trump said his administration will not rush negotiations.... Trump’s efforts to make a deal have been met with pushback, both from Democrats and members of his own party. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on Sunday called the deal a 'blunder,' telling 'Fox News Sunday' the U.S. is in no better position than before the war began, while Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told CNN’s 'State of the Union' the deal 'doesn’t make sense' and that Trump had received bad advice from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.”
This sounds like a dog-ate-my-homework excuse, perhaps approved by CBS's Friends of Trump Club executive board. But it could be true. Maybe: ~~~
~~~ Jennifer Jacobs of CBS News: "U.S. intelligence shows that Iran's supreme leader is effectively holed up in an undisclosed location with little access to the outside world and is only reached by a labyrinth of couriers, according to U.S. officials.... The Iranian officials authorized to work with the Trump administration have been having a difficult time communicating inside of their own government system — and it's a central reason why the details of a potential deal with Iran and past agreements have been slow to emerge. When the U.S. sends proposed details, the difficulty in reaching the supreme leader means there can be a long delay before the U.S. receives a response, two of the officials said."
Ian Swanson of the Hill: “White House Communications Director Steven Cheung blasted former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for criticizing a deal being negotiated by the Trump administration to end the Iran war, telling the one-time Trump ally to 'shut his stupid mouth.' Cheung wrote that Pompeo 'has no idea what the f[uck] he’s talking about,' after Pompeo wrote in a post on social platform X that the deal being floated was 'not remotely America First.'... Pompeo was one of several conservatives on Saturday criticizing what appears to be an emerging deal to end the Iran war. Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) also offered criticisms.” ~~~
~~~ David McAfee of the Raw Story: "White House communications director Steven Cheung unleashed a profanity-laced broadside against former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after Pompeo criticized the Trump administration's emerging deal with Iran — setting off a wave of condemnation from commentators across the political spectrum.... The spectacle of a Trump aide attacking the man Trump himself chose as his top diplomat drew particular mockery. 'Pompeo is so dumb that Cheung's boss made him Secretary of State for nearly 3 years,' wrote National Review senior editor Ramesh Ponnuru."
Erika Solomon of the New York Times: “... regional experts say [Iran] will have a good chance of portraying the results [of negotiations] as a win. Two months ago, Mr. Trump had vowed there would be no deal with Iran except “unconditional surrender.” Instead, Washington looks as if it has been forced to accept Iran’s oft-repeated position that the only way to end this standoff is through negotiation, not war.”
Paul Krugman: "... Trump’s Iran war may be over, or virtually over. America lost.... At a fundamental level Trump, who began by demanding UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER and trying to impose a subservient new regime, is now slinking away, leaving Iran’s hard-liners empowered — and America’s reputation shattered." Krugman goes on to outline what he thinks are the reasons the U.S. lost, much of which he attributes to the incompetence of Trump & Drunk Pete.
The Presidency* as National Menace. Adam Sella of the New York Times: Donald “Trump is seeking to create state-by-state citizenship lists, saying they are necessary to block
noncitizens from voting, a virtually nonexistent issue that the
president has described as widespread despite his own administration’s inability to substantiate the claim. 'I think this will help a lot with elections,' Mr. Trump said in March before signing an executive order
directing the Department of Homeland Security to create a list of
citizens in each state that could be used to help determine voter
eligibility.... More recently, the president has championed a strict voter identification bill, now stalled in the Senate, which called on states to use federal databases to identify noncitizens.... During a recent hearing
in Federal District Court in Washington in a lawsuit challenging the
order, the Justice Department acknowledged the lists would likely be
unreliable for determining voter eligibility. Here are some practical, legal and historic implications of Mr. Trump’s proposal.”
Cheyanne Daniels of Politico: “In an interview with CNN’s 'State of the Union,” the retiring North Carolina Republican [Sen. Thom Tillis] called the [DOJ's slush] fund, which allocates money toward 'anti-weaponization' efforts, 'stupid on stilts.' 'I call it a payout pot for punks,' Tillis said. 'It makes no sense. So it’s politically tone deaf. Whoever did it should be fired. Let’s figure out a way to help people who are victims of warfare, not people who are convicted by a jury of their peers or pled guilty to assaulting a police officer. Please.'” (Also linked yesterday.)
Shane Goldmacher & Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: “A little more than five months ahead of the midterm elections..., [Donald] Trump seems to be focused on virtually anything other than keeping Republican control of Congress.... For many, a new jaw-dropper came last week when Mr. Trump created a $1.8 billion fund to pay people who say they have been victims of 'weaponization and lawfare,' including those who attacked the Capitol and law enforcement officers there, on Jan. 6, 2021. Incensed Senate Republicans, many of whom lived through that day, returned home vexed by a president who appears set on pursuing his personal priorities ahead of the November midterm elections, even if doing so undermines his own party. They angrily abandoned Washington on Thursday without funding the president’s immigration crackdown or the $1 billion he wants for his ballroom.”
Katie Benner of the New York Times: “The [adult male] bystander who was struck when Secret Service agents exchanged fire with a gunman near the White House grounds ... underwent surgery and was in stable condition [on Sunday], according to the Secret Service and Metropolitan Police.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Motoko Rich& Elisabetta Povoledo of the New York Times: “Pope Leo XIV on Monday set out a sweeping vision for corporate executives, politicians and individuals who will shape and be shaped by the future of artificial intelligence, warning leaders to safeguard humanity from A.I.’s most disruptive effects. Leo’s declaration came in the form of a papal encyclical, an open letter to “all people of good will” that ran to roughly 42,300 words in its English version. It outlined his desire to protect human dignity and agency in an age in which technology threatens to replace humans in many professional and social roles. He presented it alongside Christopher Olah, a co-founder of Anthropic, a major A.I. developer, in a symbolic gesture of dialogue between leaders of the spiritual and technological worlds. While emphasizing that 'technology should not be considered, in itself, as a force antagonistic to humanity,' he wrote that 'the pursuit of greater profits cannot justify choices that systematically sacrifice jobs.'” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ The AP report is here. AND here are some excerpts of the encyclical, via the AP.
~~~~~~~~~~
California. Charlotte Dulany & Shawn Hubler of the New York Times: “An industrial tank containing about 7,000 gallons of a highly flammable toxic chemical appears to have cracked, Southern California officials reported on Sunday. The development was interpreted as a possible sign that a catastrophic explosion or rupture might yet be averted.... TJ McGovern, the interim fire chief of the Orange County Fire Authority, said in an update that firefighters conducted a 'successful operation' on Saturday night to inspect the tank at a plant in Garden Grove that belongs to GKN Aerospace, a company based in the United Kingdom that manufactures aircraft components. The container became increasingly pressurized on Thursday, heating the chemicals inside and releasing gas that could trigger an explosion. Firefighters responded, dousing the tank with copious amounts of water in an attempt to cool it. But GKN Aerospace’s team was unable to inject a neutralizing agent to reduce the chemical’s instability because of several failed valves.... Gov. Gavin Newsom of California declared a state of emergency in Orange County on Saturday. More than 40,000 residents in the surrounding areas are under evacuation orders, and officials have become increasingly concerned that some may be prematurely attempting to return home.” MB: Garden Grove is just south of Anaheim. (Also linked yesterday.)
19 comments:
Fatty sez “Unconditional surrender” is the only grounds on which he, the Great Donald, will end this latest war of choice.
But of course! Except he’s the one who will be doing the surrendering. The Grand Surrender and Skeedaddle is already in progress. I mean, we have Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber, with occasional help from Little Marco doing the negotiating. We’ll be lucky to get a half off deal at some rundown bodega in Tehran.
But about that winning and unconditional surrender poppycock…
Look, the mullahs are still in charge. Iran now controls the Strait of Hormuz, which was not the case before Bibi and Bobblehead started dropping bombs. Iran still has most of its missile launching sites intact and has plenty of drones to cause trouble. Iranian dissidents are far worse off now then when Fatso promised “Help is on the way! Start taking over, I’ll be right along. Couple of weeks maybe.” Iran must now be thinking they absolutely need nuclear weapons capability, and meanwhile the US has greatly depleted its stockpile of weapons. A resumption of hostilities and we may be down to having to resort to slingshots and harsh language if we get attacked by anyone else. If this is winning, I’ve badly misinterpreted Mr. Webster’s definition of the word.
As for great deals, one can only chortle maniacally when reading Fatty’s arrogant and demonstrably false assertion that he only makes great deals. Riiigghht. And Santa and the Easter Bunny are sunning themselves on a beach somewhere tossing back drinks with little umbrellas in them as you read this.
Finally, we can be sure that all this talk of a “Deal” to end the war and reopen the Strait (under new ownership) will be drawn out again and again. Why? Digby has the answer:
“I wouldn’t look for any kind of deal or any word of the deal falling apart until the markets open on Tuesday. There’s insider trading to be done.”
What she said.
The grift continues apace.
"Empty rooms and Fifa cancellations - US hotels fear World Cup washout"
Andor - Nemik's Manifesto
A distraction, Can you spot the cat.
@RAS: No, I couldn't! Even when I cheated and found the answer, I had to look twice to spot the cat. I kept thinking it was a trick question; it isn't. And I absolutely could not find the cat. Of course two weeks ago I lost my glasses in my tiny little house and thought I'd never find them again, so that was an indicator I wasn't going to pass the find-the-cat test. (The glasses were in one of the first places I looked; I just didn't see them.)
@Marie: Yeah, I needed a clue the first time I saw it. Even today before I posted it I knew the general area it was in and it took me a bit figure it out.
Digby - "The Normalization Of Immature Cretinism Is Complete"
"Fox News reads Trump's disgraceful Memorial Day post as though it's a normal presidential message"
RAS,
I’m usually pretty good at those types of puzzles but this one got me. No kitty cat. I did conclude, however, that this city must have very narrow streets. Woof!
Marie,
Re: hidden glasses. Too often, when searching for my reading glasses, I ask my wife or my son if they’ve seen them. “They’re on your head” has been the reply so often that this is now the first place I look. Either that or they’re dangling from my collar. Silliness abides as the years go on.
Bob Garfield, on his Bully Pulpit substack, offers a reasonable rationale for why Cuba next. Why anything emanating from the smashed pulp of slime under the orange dome as the basal ganglia shut down at an increasingly rapid rate: World War Epstein.
"Same as everything else. Same as Greenland. Same as '51st state' Canada. Same as humiliating Ukraine. Same as demonizing NATO. Same as attacking Venezuela and Iran. Same as occupying Memphis, Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland and Washington, DC. It’s the Wag the Dog shit: Trump squandering American blood, treasure and any minimal lingering global goodwill to distract from his own haunting felonies past and present. Gifted presidential immunity by the reactionary Roberts Supreme Court, it’s why he ran for reelection to begin with: to escape his own civilian humiliation, especially a bald, bronzer-free, Big Mac-less, golfless, pussyless death behind bars.
In short, Trump is sowing havoc and human suffering to wage conflicts here, there and everywhere with the strategic objective only of mass distraction. Call it World War Epstein."
Employing the two pronged (double prick) strategies of Roy (never back down, never apologize, never admit anything, just attack) Cohn and Steve (flood the zone with shit) Bannon, Fat Hitler plows on, the outrages, the stupidity, the amoral greed, the ignorance, the piling up of the hates create wave after wave of shit washing over the populace, the media, and the outside world, which watches either with glee or sadness as a great nation is dragged down into the mud.
And of course..."The captive Injustice Department certainly will take no action; its perverse new role is to conceal and endorse his crimes. The goon cabinet is similarly all aboard. Likewise the craven MAGA-infested Congress. As Bannon well understands, the flood overwhelms not just the media but the electorate."
And Fatty has already seen that war is a great way to flood the zone (also, to make a ton of money on insider trading) so....Cuba next.
Akhilleus,
You got to focus in line with the first "C". It is just a head.
RAS,
Ha! Got it. Thanks.
If you haven't found the cat, try zooming in on the picture - much easier to see that way!
Tom Nichols, in The Atlantic, writes that "even the president’s supporters are alarmed" because T****’s War Is Staggering to an Incoherent Defeat
"...as this war stumbles to a close, it is clear that the president, too, is lost: He didn’t know what he was doing when he began it, and now he doesn’t know how to get out of it.
Only a day ago, Trump was trying to project confidence. Yesterday, he hailed an agreement with Iran as mostly done; it was, he said on his Truth Social site, “largely negotiated” and close to “finalization.” The Iranians, of course, immediately disputed this characterization, and by the next day, Trump was backpedaling. “If I make a deal with Iran,” he posted this afternoon, “it will be a good and proper one, not like the one made by Obama, which gave Iran massive amounts of CASH, and a clear and open path to a Nuclear Weapon.” The agreement that was only a day earlier “largely negotiated” was now only a notional memorandum, and Trump griped that it was unfair to criticize it because “nobody has seen it, or knows what it is,” and it “isn’t even fully negotiated yet.”"
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/world/middleeast/abraham-accords-israel-arab-states-deal-trump.html
The Abraham Accords: A typical Pretender peace deal. It's just pretend; a peace deal between countries that are not at war.
Now the Pretender wants more to join. Won't be so easy I'd wager. Some of the other countries he's invited have more recently actually been at war with or at least hostile to Israel...
It would be a big win for the Pretender but much as I hate all the winning, my feelings are mixed on this one.
RAS,
I haven’t been following the Andor series, but Tony Gilroy, the show runner, is an excellent writer. “Rogue One” was a superior prequel in a genre that doesn’t often do prequels very well, and his script for “Micheal Clayton” alone made that a great movie.
The sentiments expressed in this clip are an important reminder of the existential threat we face from the forces of authoritarian traitors. All very well said. The only thing I would add to the final reminder to “try” comes from another Star Wars character, Master Yoda.
Luke Skywalker when learning how to control the Force, tells Yoda “I’ll try” to which Yoda replies “There is no try. There is do or do not.”
Given the stakes and the forces of MAGA evil aligned against us, we cannot afford to “do not”.
It just burns my tail listening to that self-absorbed, draft dodging coward drone on about the “brave men and women” fighting in his operation Epic Fail. These are people he has described numerous times as suckers and losers. None of them would have been put in harm’s way had he been a true leader instead of a narcissistic ignoramus. He whines about how his operation is keeping the world safe. Not in the least. In fact, the world is far more dangerous because of him. I’m betting at some point he ragged on about his fucking ballroom-bordello is needed for national safety as well. Please, can 2028 get here soon?
Akhilleus,
I highly recommend Andor. Gilroy pulled a lot from history.
"History, not the prequels, provided Gilroy’s playbook as he drew on years of “fascist rebellion greatest hits” to create his show.
Andor creator and showrunner Tony Gilroy discusses how 4,000 years of revolutions helped create a riveting political drama, without a Jedi knight or Skywalker in sight."
RAS,
Sold.
I've been a big Star Wars fan from the beginning. In fact, I got to see a 20 minute clip of the original movie while attending a 24 hour Science Fiction Film festival at the Orson Welles Cinema in Cambridge back in 1977. Apparently, the suits at 20th Century Fox were queasy about the film and had no idea how it would play. There was some connection between a Fox guy and the owner of the Orson Welles, so they sent along a short clip. The place went wild and not long after that, Fox released it to the general public. Fox has always sucked.
The Welles was a fabulous place, one of the premiere retro and indy movie theaters in the Boston area back then (and there were a bunch). Midnight showings of "The Harder They Come", the movie starring reggae star Jimmy Cliff about gangsters in Kingston, Jamaica, had so many people smoking bones, you didn't need to bring your own to get high. The place looked like a small fire was sending up clouds of ganja smoke. But that first look at the Star Wars universe was cathartic. So "Andor" It is.
Fatty restarts the war
So much for the idea of a concept of a plan for an end to this stoopid war. Fat Hitler is on the warpath again. Clearly, someone got to him and said "Donald, you look like a weak sister. Better start bombing these Mooslim bastids again."
And so...he is.
"Hours after Iranian negotiators arrived in Qatar for talks on ending the war, U.S. forces struck missile launch sites in Iran and boats trying to emplace mines, American officials said Monday night.
U.S. Central Command characterized the strikes in southern Iran as defensive and said they had been intended 'to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.'"
Iran has been laying mines for a while, so why now? Who knows? He's a moron.
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