The New York Times is liveblogging developments in the Iran War. From the pinned item at 10:00 am ET: “Israel pounded southern Lebanon on Wednesday, the latest strikes in its escalating military campaign against Hezbollah.... The new attacks were launched a day after Israeli strikes killed at least 31 people, including children, in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese health ministry. The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia group, has intensified just as diplomatic efforts to secure an agreement between the United States and Iran appeared to be inching forward.... On Tuesday, Mr. Netanyahu said that he had deployed a large number of forces to capture additional territory in [Lebanon]. The United States and Iran also ratcheted up hostilities on Tuesday, after signaling for days that they were making progress toward a temporary agreement....”
Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: “The U.S. military conducted an airstrike on Tuesday against a vessel it accused of smuggling drugs, killing one person and leaving two survivors in the eastern Pacific, U.S. Southern Command said in a social media post. The result of the strike was unusual. There have rarely been survivors in the 58 attacks against boats the United States has claimed were engaged in drug trafficking in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific. And in all but two cases, survivors were lost at sea. Military experts say the strikes are illegal, extrajudicial killings. The strike on Tuesday, the first in nearly three weeks after the military accelerated its recent pace of attacks, brought the death toll to at least 194 since September.... Gen. Francis L. Donovan of the Marine Corps, the head of the Southern Command, ordered the strike, the command said in a statement on social media, which included a 19-second video showing a boat speeding along in the water and then exploding. Southern Command said in its social media post that it had notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate a 'Search and Rescue system.' A second U.S. official said on Wednesday that the Mexican Navy was in charge of the search for the survivors.”
Digby is surprised to find that two of the most establishment D.C. establishmentarians -- Mike Allen & Jim VanderHei of Axios -- have accurately figured out Trump's impulsive power grabs. According to Mike & Jim, "You can sort [Trump's] choices into three buckets: 1. Rule of law as weapon: Trump has pointed the machinery of the federal government at his enemies while enriching himself and his family.... 2. Economy by improvisation: It often feels like Trump is running the world's largest economy on gut feelings and Truth Social posts.... 3. Power projection on personal whim: Trump often seems to be running U.S. foreign policy and the military via social media — by instinct, with an eye on the visuals.... The bottom line: Much of the policy Trump puts in place can be undone by the next Democratic president. That's the result of acting alone, without leaning on Congress to pass laws. But the world won't instantly trust America again. Generals don't just come out of forced retirement. Institutions, once bent, don't always snap cleanly back into place." Emphasis original.
Heather Cox Richardson reprises some atrocities the Department of Homeland Security has been committing in our names, starting at the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, New Jersey. AND for this (see linked Mediaite item below) DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin plans to halt international flights into Newark airport. They are cruel, and they are stupid. See also RAS's commentary on this in today's thread.
Pema Levy & Ari Berman of Mother Jones on the Appeals Court decision rejecting Alabama’s effort to redraw district lines for the November elections (related stories linked below). Levy & Berman aren't letting the Supremes get away with anything (though as I indicated below, I'm confident they'll green-light a racist response): "Tuesday’s decision from the three-judge panel, however, takes Callais [the Supreme Court's decision in a Louisiana redistricting case that guts Section 2 of the voting rights act] at its word. Step by step, it lays out why the Alabama map fails under Supreme Court precedent, the VRA, and the Constitution. It repeatedly reminds readers that the Supreme Court agreed with their finding in Allen v. Milligan that Alabama had violated the VRA, and that Callais claimed not to have upset that opinion. If the Supreme Court meant to use Callais to end all claims of anti-Black racial discrimination in gerrymandering, the panel effectively sends the case back to the high court and tells them, do your dirty work yourself."
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Texas Primary Elections.
From a New York Times liveblog:
Reid Epstein & Nick Corasaniti: “Ken Paxton, the MAGA-aligned state attorney general who received ... [Donald] Trump’s endorsement last week, won the Republican primary for Senate in Texas on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. His victory scrambles the national battle for control of the Senate, puts Republican fealty to the president at risk in the chamber and upends politics in Texas. Mr. Paxton defeated Senator John Cornyn, a four-term Republican who is well-liked by his Republican colleagues and had not faced a close general election in his more than 20 years in the Senate. Mr. Paxton has remained popular with voters despite being marred by scandal throughout his career, including being impeached by the Texas House of Representatives in 2023.” You may want to read some of the other entries. ~~~
~~~ The NYT's stand-alone story is here. ~~~
~~~ Liz Crampton of Politico: “The storied career of Sen. John Cornyn came to a swift and decisive end at the hands of the GOP voters who once propelled him to power. The senator was a towering figure in both national and Texas politics, known for his sober temperament, ability to cut deals and role in shaping the Senate GOP conference during the last four presidencies. Then, just about an hour after polls closed Tuesday, Cornyn lost his primary to Ken Paxton, a scandal-plagued MAGA darling who was boosted by ... Donald Trump’s last-minute endorsement. Cornyn’s defeat is rattling the establishment wing of the GOP, who viewed the brutal primary as a battle for the soul of the party. His supporters mourn his approaching absence in the Senate as another example of an institutionalist who fell victim to the rise of the populist right, what they see as the end of an era of compassionate conservatism.” MB: I'm afraid my lacy hanky is not tear-stained. To hell with the lot of them. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Here's why ordinary people despise politicians: John Cornyn ran vicious attack ads warning voters of what a terrible human being Ken Paxton is. Fine. The ads don't tell even the half of it. ~~~
~~~ Willa Robbins of Mediaite: “Yet when Cornyn addressed his supporters on Tuesday night, he informed the crowd that he intended to support Paxton in November.”
Tim Balk of the New York Times reports on "five things to know about Ken Paxton." But the Gray Lady being who she is, Balk takes all the fun out of what a low-class turd Paxton is. Balk might as well have written that Paxton was falsely accused of cheating at polo. BTW, as summer approaches, you should know that the response to the call in the "Marco Polo" water tag game has been changed from "Polo" to "Rubio." With any luck the game will change back after Trump discards Rubio.
Reid Epstein of the New York Times: “Former Representative Colin Allred of Texas won a Democratic House primary runoff on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, ousting the woman who replaced him in Congress when he ran for Senate two years ago. Mr. Allred is the general-election favorite in the heavily Democratic district, based in Dallas. His victory over Representative Julie Johnson signifies the likely completion of a circuitous path back to Congress for Mr. Allred, who represented the Dallas area for three terms in the House before he challenged and lost to Senator Ted Cruz in 2024.” The Texas Tribune report is here.
David Goodman of the New York Times: “Johnny Garcia, a sheriff’s deputy and the preferred candidate of Democratic leaders in Washington, prevailed on Tuesday in a primary runoff for a South Texas House seat, The Associated Press declared. Mr. Garcia defeated a progressive activist whose calls to imprison 'Zionists' brought condemnation from many in her party. Mr. Garcia’s victory is likely to fuel Democratic hopes of holding onto the 35th Congressional District even after Republicans in the Texas Legislature redrew it last year to favor a Republican. The district includes parts of San Antonio along with several suburban and rural counties. The majority of the population is Hispanic and a third is white.” An NBC News story is here.
Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: “Representative Christian Menefee defeated Representative Al Green on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, in a Texas showdown that represented the kind of generational clash consuming the Democratic Party nationwide. Mr. Menefee, 38, toppled the 11-term incumbent, Mr. Green, 78, in a new Houston district that Republicans redrew last year, compressing two Democratic-held districts into one as they sought to increase Republican seats in the state. Mr. Green became the first incumbent Democrat to lose a primary in 2026.... Mr. Menefee first won a special election to fill a congressional vacancy in February. He immediately continued campaigning to stay in Congress, putting him on a collision course with Mr. Green, who has been an outspoken progressive known for heckling ... [Donald] Trump during his speeches before Congress. Republican mapmakers shifted Mr. Green’s Ninth District from south of Houston to the city’s suburbs, making it solidly Republican. He opted to run for re-election in the new Texas 18th, which Mr. Menefee began representing only a few months ago and which overlapped with some of his old seat.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I will always be grateful to Al Green for inspiring me to buy my beautiful "pimp cane." In fact, I even owe thanks to Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) who derided Green for waving his "pimp cane" at Trumpolini.
Liz Crampton of Politico: “Rep. Chip Roy lost the GOP runoff for Texas attorney general after a challenger to his right painted him as insufficiently loyal to MAGA. State Sen. Mayes Middleton’s victory Tuesday proves that fealty to ... Donald Trump continues to be the defining issue for Republican primary voters.... Roy, a Freedom Caucus member, failed to overcome accusations that he betrayed the conservative movement by occasionally breaking with Trump, both over fiscal spending and in voting to certify Trump’s 2020 election loss. Trump made no endorsement in the race.” MB: Anybody running to the right of Chip Roy has to be a flaming lunatic.
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Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: Donald “Trump, the oldest man to be inaugurated as president, had a physical exam at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Tuesday, and said that his doctors had given him a clean bill of health. 'Everything checked out PERFECTLY,' Mr. Trump, who will turn 80 next month, wrote on social media Tuesday afternoon after the fourth publicly disclosed medical exam of his second term.” * (Also linked yesterday.)~~~
The New York Times' liveblog of developments in the Iran war onTuesday is here. From the pinned item at 12 noon ET Tuesday: “Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned on Tuesday that they would issue a 'decisive reciprocal response' to any attacks that violated the cease-fire, after U.S. Central Command said it had conducted strikes in 'self-defense' against Iranian mine-laying boats in the Strait of Hormuz.... The country’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said in a written statement that the war with the United States had shown that American military bases in the Middle East are no longer safe.... The ratcheting up of hostilities after a period of relative calm added to the uncertainty surrounding negotiations for a potential peace deal. ... [Donald] Trump and his administration have continued to offer conflicting signals about the state of play, making statements over the weekend indicating that a deal, at least to open the key oil and gas shipping lanes of the strait, was close at hand.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Nahal Toosi of Politico: “... Donald Trump’s demand that more Muslim-majority countries join the Abraham Accords and recognize Israel as part of efforts to end the Iran war is being met by officials in such countries with laughter, dismissal and, often, silence. Trump’s idea, should he stick to it, could endanger a U.S.-Iran peace deal — governments may walk away from mediating talks rather than risk angering their publics by establishing ties with Israel. But some Middle Eastern officials aren’t taking Trump’s demand too seriously, saying they view it as merely the U.S. president trying to appease hawkish Republicans who worry he will give away too much in talks with Iran.... Trump’s assertion, nonetheless, injected uncertainty into an already volatile situation.... Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday that he was 'mandatorily requesting' that countries such as Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia sign on to the accords.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: "Mandatory request" is of course an oxymoron, though not one that is surprising coming from a stupid old wanna-be dictator. ~~~
~~~ Maybe the Abraham Accords story got you to wondering about the progress of Trump's "Bored of Peace" -- an organization which he envisioned as a substitute United Nations with Trump himself as the Secretary General of Everything: ~~~
~~~ Still Bored. David Gilmour of Mediaite: “... Donald Trump’s much-hyped 'Board of Peace' for Gaza reconstruction is reportedly yet to receive a single dollar into its official fund, despite billions in international pledges and repeated promises from the president that the initiative would reshape the region after the war. Four months after Trump unveiled the body with considerable fanfare, four people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times on Wednesday that the World Bank-administered fund created for the project remains entirely unfunded. 'Zero dollars have been deposited,' one source said.”
Paul Waldman: Donald Trump is haunted by the specter of Barack Obama. "... Obama is what Trump wishes he could be. Every day when he looks in the mirror to apply his makeup, Trump sees the wrinkled face of a fat old man.... Obama is (relatively) young and thin and handsome. All of Trump’s boasting is desperate and sad; Obama has a self-assurance that doesn’t need to shout. Obama is legitimately well-educated and smart; Trump feels horribly insecure around those with advanced degrees (the tell that he’s feeling that way is when he brings up his uncle who taught at MIT). Foreign leaders admired Obama yet have nothing but contempt for Trump; the same is true of the cultural elite whose approval Trump craves. The former president hangs with acclaimed artists and thinkers; Trump has to content himself with Kid Rock. Whatever you thought of his presidency — and it had plenty of shortcomings — Obama has a coolness Trump knows he could never approach. He’s sleek and confident where Trump is garish and overcompensating. Trump brings up Joe Biden more often in conversation, because he can call Biden weak and old, but Obama hovers in the background, a sly smile on his face, always mocking Trump and his failures."
“White House officials earlier this year pitched renaming the train hub 'Trump Station,' but the renderings show it would retain the name it's had since it opened in 1910, when the Pennsylvania Railroad first started running trains into Manhattan. Trump himself has said he did not suggest renaming it. Gov. Kathy Hochul has said it would never happen.”
Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: “The Trump administration wants to roll out a uniform nondisclosure agreement across the federal government that would bar employees from sharing internal government information, citing the need to stop leaks to media organizations. Each agency could determine whether to adopt the agreement, which would require federal workers not to disclose 'nonpublic, confidential or proprietary' information and to notify the agency of any theft or loss of such information, according to a proposal released on Tuesday by the Office of Personnel Management.... The broadly worded agreement could go beyond laws that already govern the improper release of classified information and protected personal details held by the government.” The NBC News story is here.
Cheesiest Consolation Prize Ever. Alex Isenstadt of Axios: Donald "Trump has appointed former Attorney General Pam Bondi to an advisory committee focused on AI policy.... Bondi, whom Trump ousted as AG last month, will be on the Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).... Bondi will be charged with facilitating coordination between the government and the tech titans on the panel." MB: So, secretarial work.
Patel Fires Another Top Official Without Cause. Ken Dilanian of MS NOW: “FBI Director Kash Patel last week fired a senior intelligence analyst who played a role in the FBI’s 2017 assessment of the motives of the gunman who attacked a House Republican baseball practice, a report that drew the ire of the GOP because it did not label the incident as domestic terrorism. Four people familiar with the matter said Deputy Assistant Director Emily Morales received a letter from Patel on Friday ending her FBI employment, after which she turned in her badge and was 'walked out' by FBI security, as is standard practice.... Sources ... said her removal was widely perceived inside the bureau as the latest in a series of firings of nonpartisan FBI agents who did their jobs in a way that drew disfavor from ... Donald Trump or Republicans.... [A] report by House Republicans was deeply critical of the [FBI's initial assessment]....” Read Dilanian's full report for an explanation of what probably annoyed Patel.
Michael Luciano of Mediaite: “Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin said ... on Tuesday’s edition of Hannity on Fox News ... [that] his department is 'drawing up' plans to prevent inbound international flights from landing in what he called 'sanctuary cities.' The Trump administration has been waging an ongoing crackdown on undocumented immigrants across the U.S. Officials have railed against what they call 'sanctuary cities,' where local law enforcement have been instructed not to cooperate with federal immigration agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In response..., Donald Trump has deployed immigration agents and even the National Guard to Democratic-run cities.... The secretary then explained that DHS has been floating the idea of preventing international flights from arriving in certain cities, especially Newark, New Jersey, because of the ongoing protests at Delaney Hall, a detention facility holding up to 1,000 immigrants. He said local law enforcement is not assisting federal agents there.... On Monday, ICE agents fired pepper spray at protesters and Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) outside Delaney Hall. ”
Apoorva Mandavilli & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: “The Trump administration plans to send to Kenya U.S. citizens exposed to the Ebola virus rather than bring them home for observation and treatment, according to three people with knowledge of the plans. The approach is a stark contrast to the way previous administrations responded to outbreaks, during which health care workers and other U.S. citizens exposed to the virus were brought home to be treated at specialized medical units. The administration this month flew an American doctor who developed symptoms to a hospital in Germany, and transported six other Americans for monitoring in Germany and the Czech Republic.
“The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is estimated to have ballooned to more than 1,000 cases and more than 200 deaths in just the 11 days since it was first announced, making it the third largest on record already. Aid cuts by the Trump administration shut down crucial disease surveillance networks and medical supply chains that might have detected and contained the epidemic sooner.... A few dozen Public Health Service officers are now being trained to deploy to Kenya to provide medical care to Americans who are deemed at high risk of developing Ebola.... Government scientists and physicians who develop symptoms will also be treated in Kenya.”
Animal-curious Man Visits Teevee Snake Oil Salesman; Wrangles Snakes: ~~~
~~~ Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: “The video racked up nearly eight million views in about eight hours on X, the latest in a string of eyebrow-raising encounters between Mr. Kennedy and members of the animal kingdom, as varied as rattlesnakes, ravens, a dead bear and a whale carcass.” Vigdor, in another bow to the sensibilities of the Gray Lady, took the high road and called in experts to comment on Kennedy's snake-wrangling skills.” Not bad, was the consensus.
Sucking Up to Trump Pays Off for Bezos. Amy Wang of the Washington Post: “Blue Origin has secured a multimillion-dollar contract to deliver lunar rovers and other equipment to the moon, part of NASA’s efforts to construct a base at the lunar South Pole for 'sustained human presence' by the 2030s, the agency said Tuesday. NASA will pay Blue Origin at least $188 million to deliver the first lunar terrain vehicles to the moon.... Blue Origin is owned by Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder who also owns The Washington Post. The Washington state-based space company was already slated to deliver NASA payloads to the moon this fall as part of the first of three phases of the Moon Base project....”
Perry Stein of the Washington Post: “Former president Joe Biden sued the Justice Department on Tuesday, seeking to block the Trump administration from releasing the recordings and transcripts of his private interviews with a ghost writer who was helping to write his memoir. The lawsuit argues that releasing the recordings would reflect an abandonment of the Justice Department’s 'obligations to safeguard sensitive and highly personal law enforcement information.' The Justice Department informed Biden it plans on June 15 to provide the material to a congressional committee and a conservative think tank that had filed a public records request, according to the lawsuit.... [The recordings] reportedly include Biden reading from notebooks chronicling his time in office that investigators determined contained classified information. The Justice Department, under [AG Merrick] Garland, had declined to release the recordings.” Here's a NOTUS report. ~~~
~~~ Willa Robbins of Mediaite: “... Donald Trump responded to Joe Biden’s lawsuit against the Justice Department on Tuesday, calling the former president a ‘crooked politician’ in a Truth Social post.”
Noah Robertson of the Washington Post: “The Republican-led House Armed Services Committee introduced the first draft of its marquee defense policy bill Tuesday, authorizing a record $1.14 trillion in military spending for the coming fiscal year. The bill, which at this stage serves as an outline of committee leadership’s priorities, mostly focuses on measures to grow the U.S. defense industry — a goal that has grown more urgent as the Pentagon seeks to replace the thousands of munitions it has fired during the Iran war. The vast sum of money is consistent with ... Donald Trump’s call for $1.5 trillion in defense spending to rapidly expand the Pentagon’s arsenal of precision weapons and fund signature Trump projects, such as the Golden Dome missile defense shield and a fleet of battleships for the Navy.”
Supremes Rule Against Free Speech. Ann Marimow of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court on Monday dealt a setback to immigration judges challenging restrictions on their ability to speak out on public policy.... A group of immigration judges filed suit in 2020 over a government policy limiting their work-related public statements, saying it violated their free speech rights. The National Association of Immigration Judges said such restrictions interfered with their ability to guest lecture at universities and to speak to community groups about matters of public importance, an issue that has taken on greater significance as Mr. Trump has put new pressure on the immigration system. The judges are part of an administrative court system and make decisions about asylum claims, deportations and other related matters. They are overseen by the Executive Office for Immigration Review, a division of the Justice Department.... The justices’ unsigned ruling was a procedural one and allows the litigation to continue in the lower courts.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Alabama Redistricting. The Best-laid Schemes o' Them Supremes Gang Aft Agley. Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: “A panel of federal judges on Tuesday rejected Alabama’s effort to use a new voting map for the November midterm elections, saying that the districts discriminated against Black people and could not be used so shortly before a vote. The state is likely to appeal the decision directly to the Supreme Court, which last month ruled that a Louisiana congressional map drawn to create two majority-Black House districts was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, has already set special primaries in August in four House districts that would be affected by her state’s new congressional map. The ruling further confuses the electoral landscape across the South, as Republican-led legislatures have raced to implement new district lines after the Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It also demonstrates how the ruling from the nation’s highest court has further muddled how lower courts interpret the landmark civil rights law. If the case makes it to the Supreme Court, it will be the first major test of the high court’s new standard for challenging congressional maps under the Voting Rights Act.
“In its order, the three federal judges made clear that they had reviewed the arguments through the lens of the Supreme Court’s so-called Callais ruling last month but maintained that the state’s map intentionally discriminated against Black voters.... The decision was issued by Judge Stanley Marcus, who was nominated to the bench by former President Bill Clinton; and by Judges Anna M. Manasco and Terry F. Moorer, both named to their posts by ... [Donald] Trump.” The AP's report is here. AND here's a Democracy Docket report. (Also linked yesterday.) The story has been updated. Also, the link has been updated to one that appears to be a gift link.
~~~ Marie: If the Supremes take this up again -- and if they don't dare punt it to the super-secret shadow docket -- six of them very well may have to top their courtroom outfits with white hoods. At least the rest of us will have the pleasure of watching you racist old farts squirm and wiggle your way outta your latest anti-democratic plot. And, BTW, I have every confidence they will discover a circuitous but successful route to get to Jim Crow Blvd.
Florida Redistricting. Patricia Mazzei of the New York Times: “A judge in Florida declined to temporarily block the state’s aggressive new congressional map on Tuesday, allowing it to remain as a lawsuit challenging it moves forward. The map could give Republicans four additional seats as they try to maintain control of Congress in the November midterm elections. The voting and civil rights groups that sued this month argue that the map violates a state ban on partisan gerrymandering, known as the Fair Districts amendments, that voters passed in 2010. But Judge Joshua M. Hawkes of the Second Judicial Circuit in Tallahassee wrote in denying the temporary injunction that the groups had not sufficiently proven that their case was likely to succeed.... The plaintiffs said that they would appeal, though time is running short.” Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) appointed Judge Hawkes. Politico's story is here.
South Carolina Redistricting. Eduardo Medina, et al., of the New York Times: “The South Carolina Senate abruptly adjourned on Tuesday without taking up a new congressional map that aimed to eliminate the state’s lone majority Black district and cement an entirely Republican delegation. By refusing to act, lawmakers defied pressure from ... [Donald] Trump and national conservatives to wade into the country’s redistricting wars before the November elections. A failed effort to stop debate Tuesday afternoon signaled that with thousands of votes already cast on the first day of early voting, there was no longer enough support among Republicans to push through new district lines before the state’s June 9 primary. Instead, the State Senate agreed to adjourn, effectively punting votes on a new map until after the primary. The vote ensures that for now, South Carolina will remain among the outliers in the South.” (Also linked yesterday.) The [Charleston] Post & Courier report is here. ~~~
 |
| South Carolinians line up to vote in Orangeburg County. May 26. |
~~~ Here's the main reason South Carolina state senators chickened out: ~~~
~~~ People Power. Fighting Back by Casting Ballots. Luis-Alfredo Garcia of South Carolina Public Radio: "... a record number of people turned out for the first day of early voting while the Senate met to debate new congressional maps in an effort that — for now — is effectively dead. More than 44,000 people had voted early as of 3 p.m. Tuesday, according to the South Carolina Election Commission. The figure is a new state record for turnout on a single day of early primary voting. The previous single-day state high was about 23,000 votes in 2024."
Minnesota. Ernesto Londoño & Mitch Smith of the New York Times: “The Minneapolis police chief, Brian O’Hara, who drew national attention for taking the reins of a department reeling after the murder of George Floyd, resigned on Tuesday after a personnel investigation into his conduct, the city announced. Records obtained by The New York Times showed that Mr. O’Hara had received a written reprimand from Mayor Jacob Frey on Tuesday for what he described as 'serious misconduct.' An investigative report commissioned by the city found that Mr. O’Hara had likely deleted a contact from his phone last year while facing a previous internal investigation into allegations that he had sexual relationships with city workers. The report found no evidence that Mr. O’Hara had engaged in any such relationships, but said the apparent deletion of that contact likely amounted to interference in the initial investigation.... Jennifer Lor, a city spokeswoman, said that Mr. O’Hara was the subject of 17 additional personnel complaints that remain open, though she would not describe them. She said reviews into those complaints would continue.”
Another Not-Trump Break. Maybe Donald & Rudy & Bobby Junior spent too much time watching Saturday morning cartoons ~~~
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18 comments:
So the MAGA sheep in Texas have opted for a Fatty style crook. Great. Democrats have a real shot now. They can't screw this up.
Speaking of MAGAts, today, while running some errands, a car cut me off in traffic swerving in and out of lanes dangerously close to other cars. At one point someone beeped at the guy as he almost ran them of the road. He stuck his hand out the window and gave everyone the finger. The license plate said MAGA.
Because of course. I'm sure they're not all assholes, but assholes tend very much to be MAGAts.
I see the Swines came out against the First Amendment. Funny, no one tells them they can't go out and give speeches and jabber about fascist bullshit, collecting big pay days for doing so.
Between now and the general elections, I'll be interested to see how many slick schemes the Party of Traitors (and the Swine Court) come up with to rig the elections for their candidates. I can just picture the roadblocks Fatty and his judges will put in place to help his chosen lackeys like Paxton. This will be a real test for Democrats, but everyone needs to stop whining and wringing their hands about that stupid 2024 post mortem. Get on with it. The Nazis are working day and night to steal this election while we dance the usual infighting tangos.
Agree, AK. Never has a political party spent so much (wasted) time examining their navels. I know the purists say OH NO we cahn't be like the MAGAts and the Swines because we are Democrats and we do the right things, always. NO ONE cares what whoever thought about the 2024 defeat. Pretty much we know that 77 million morons thought he luved them, thought he would make everything work out, would NEVER take us to war-- and what they brought us was treason writ large, and none of us gives a flying sh*t what any of them think. Just bring on the staff of the Atlantic-- they all have brains in their heads-- and do whatever seems sensible. And yes, they are Nazis, regardless of what a Fox reporter thinks. She's one, too.
Paxton getting elected the R MAGAt trumptastic piece of crap just means TX is exactly what we think of them. Poor Cornyn is still a trumptydope. Hasta la vista. Hope our man can beat the crook, but not holding my breath. I am just hoping our governor holds his seat against any number of white nationalists. AND hoping for Sherrod Brown. And that's about it.
Markwayne's idea about sanctuary cities is idiotic on so many levels. Air traffic is already crowded and has been a disaster during Fat Hitler's reign. We already don't have enough air traffic controllers as it is and now he proposes increasing their work. And sanctuary cities are not the final destination for most of those flights. So the financial hit from such a stupid idea would be minimal. He is floating this idea at a time when flight costs are skyrocketing and the US is having trouble bringing in tourists from overseas. Once again a MAGAt opens his mouth but no thoughts come out.
Businessmen
"Elon Musk has used Donald Trump’s war in Iran to quintuple the amount he’s charging the Pentagon for SpaceX services.
The Defense Department has relied heavily on the tech broligarch’s satellite internet platform, Starlink, to guide LUCAS drones, otherwise known as “kamikaze” or “suicide” drones, in its attacks on the Islamist regime."
Mega Mass Hearings
"Immigration courts inside the Justice Department are drastically accelerating immigrants’ hearings and bunching them together with the goal of issuing more deportation orders. The new and unprecedented tactic was shared with NPR by immigration attorneys and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, a trade association that tracks trends in these courts.
Immigrants are now being scheduled for massive master calendar hearings — or “mega masters” — that include 100 or more people at a time. That’s up from two or three dozen people at a time, which had been typical before for a first hearing. For many immigrants, this is their first appearance in court to try to make their case to be able to stay in the U.S."
I mentioned the Markwayne-Mullin bright idea last week. He is a complete moron. It used to be that cabinet secretaries, congress people, reps, senators, etc., had staff that could do some basic research into whatever Big Ideas they were on about, vetting those ideas before going public and looking like imbeciles. Apparently that's not the case anymore, or more likely, our DHS guy (with his background in plumbing supplies, NOT national security or anything close, we really do have Joe the Plumber in charge of homeland security) has handed out some cushy sinecures to buddies who are just as stupid as he is. After all, he's not gonna hire some really whip smart, experienced person as a chief of staff, that would make him look, well, stoopid.
But this is exactly what Fat Hitler has done. It won't do to hire anyone he thinks might be smarter than he is (Christ, is that a low fucking bar), which is why we have a drunken part time TV host running the Pentagon, a beauty queen running Agriculture, a wrestling lady in charge of blowing up Education, and Joe the Plumber overseeing---hold on--make that "overseeing" national security. The funny thing is, in his attempt to punish sanctuary cities, Marky-wayne-O would end up really screwing red state airports.
Sooooo much winning!
Given the high regard (*choke, gurgle*) in which John Cornyn holds the supremely odious Ken Paxton, and given the fact that Fat Hitler came out and shivved him in the back just days before the election, I was hoping Cornyn would spend his last few months in the Senate giving Fatty the finger every chance he got, voting down anything slithering out of the Blight House. But no, as soon as Paxton won, Cornyn bent the knee. "Of course I'll be supporting Mr. Paxton! He's a great human being and will make a superb senator!" The Yellow stripe on the back of Texas.
Fuck me.
These people.
MAGA mega mass hearings? Sounds more like mass graves. "Shove 'em all in. Get the quicklime and bury 'em before they stink. NEXT group!"
On the Pretender's impulsivity as noted in the Axios piece above:
My thoughts ran along the same lines when I commented on a Times op-ed on the Pretender's fuzzy thinking about borders...:Did point out, though, that in all the fuzz, there are some threads that run so true....
"Historically, borders have been provisional, sometimes contributing to peace, at others to conflict. When they don't coincide with ethnic, race or religious groups, problems often follow.
That said, the authors are correct in saying Trump's fuzzy notion of borders is dangerous, as is much of his fuzzy thinking, but its motivation is no different when it comes to borders than it is in other areas.
Economics is equally prominent in what passes for his thinking. For Trump, it all comes down to his racist biases and his determination of what's good for me at the moment?
Trump sees geographic entities as white or not, as rich or poor, and as strong or weak. He's all for the white, the rich and the strong. Those borders he respects.
The others? Not so much. They are worth only what he can extract from them."
I'd add that he approaches dealing with our own states in the same way.
Jonathan Chait, in The Atlantic, comments that John Cornyn went quietly.
"The senator from Texas, one of his party’s most effective fundraisers and influential legislators, devoted his losing campaign and most of the past decade in politics to a wan effort to portray himself as the president’s faithful servant. He tweeted out a photo of himself reading The Art of the Deal, introduced a bill to rename a highway the “Trump Interstate,” and even set up a campaign page reiterating his fealty that boasted, among other facts, that he had a “more than 99.2% voting record with President Trump—higher than Ted Cruz.”
Ah, but that 0.8 percent made all the difference. Cornyn had warned in 2016 that Trump’s presidential nomination could hurt the party. He voted to certify Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. And he privately urged Trump not to run in 2024. Even though Cornyn opposed both impeachments of Trump, ultimately backed him in the 2024 primaries, faithfully advanced his legislative agenda, and supported all of his controversial nominees, Trump could smell the faintest signs of discomfort or reluctance."
HE MUST CONTROL EVERYTHING...
Latest Big Idea from the very stable genius: Mandatory non-disclosure agreements for all federal employees. That means no talking to anyone about what a shit show it is working for Dear Leader. This is just more control over thoughts and words, real Big Brother shit. It's effectively a kind of loyalty oath, the kind favored by authoritarian states (and wannabe dictators like fat boy).
Fatty sez it's necessary to protect state secrets (no...it's to keep information about this idiocy away from the media), but...
"It is already a crime for federal employees to improperly share classified information. Federal employees are also bound by the Privacy Act, which prohibits the disclosure of personal information held by the government, such as Social Security numbers or medical records. There is also a federal law that bans the release of a company’s trade secrets, such as information that is shared with the government as part of a regulatory requirement.
And some agencies already have policies in place to restrict employees from speaking without authorization. During the first Trump administration, some agencies issued widespread gag orders. Last year, the Labor Department threatened employees with legal consequences if they spoke to journalists, ProPublica reported at the time.
Mr. Trump, who has used nondisclosure agreements throughout his business career, has also had campaign staff members sign such pledges, and he has sued people who violated them. In some cases, courts have ruled in favor of his former employees."
In the same way he has tried to force universities to sign loyalty oaths in order to receive federal funding, Fatty is attempting other coerce all federal employees into being his personal army of see no evil, hear no evil (or if you do) speak no evil drones. It's a loyalty oath.
But it's also an attempt to protect the Dear Leader. In fact, it's all of a piece with the decision by Fatty's personal law firm (formerly the Department of Justice) that the presidential records act is unconstitutional and therefore President* Convicted Felon can destroy any documents, emails, tapes, videos, etc he believes might put him in a bad light (would any of these documents do the reverse?).
Of course, only the Supreme Court has the power to determine what is constitutional and what is not, but Todd Blanche and the First Crook don't give the teensiest ant turd for rule of law or anything that throws up legal roadblocks to whatever scam or crooked scheme they have in mind.
Loyalty oaths are just another index of the extreme level of paranoia and cowardice that rages through this administration.
See, Fatty wants to protect every bit of information about his illegal and unconstitutional shenanigans, but it's perfectly okay for him to release transcripts of a Biden interview. If this were Trump and the same thing were happening to him, he'd be suing everyone for billions.
Brawndo has what plants crave.
"7 Reasons Why Today’s World Feels More Like Idiocracy than Ever
Mike Judge's 2006 satire feels closer than ever under the Trump Administration"
Not Just Cornyn
"Within hours of Ken Paxton defeating Sen. John Cornyn in Tuesday’s Senate Republican primary runoff in Texas, the Senate GOP’s campaign arm deleted at least nine press releases and digital ads from its website that had attacked Paxton — an erasure of a monthslong opposition campaign that the committee had waged against the man it will now help elect."
NYT gift link
"The Case for California’s Billionaire Wealth Tax
A large labor union representing health care workers and advised by academic experts — including the two of us — got the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act on this November’s ballot. The proposed tax would be a one-time levy of 5 percent on billionaire wealth, spread over five years. If the measure passes, it would be the first tax targeted at the combined personal and business wealth of billionaires enacted anywhere in the world."
Another way for Republicans to attack the environment.
"The National Park Service is using at least $67 million worth of park entrance fees to help fund President Trump’s beautification projects in Washington, according to a New York Times analysis of federal records.
Nearly $60 million in fees paid by visitors to national parks across the country is funding repairs to nine of the capital’s ornamental fountains, the analysis found. The government is putting another $7 million worth of entrance fees toward the renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which costs $13.1 million overall, according to an internal Park Service document reviewed by The Times."
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