You may recall that back in 2018 New York State's former attorney general Barbara Underwood closed down the private Trump Foundation after she said her office had found "a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation — including unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more. This amounted to the Trump Foundation functioning as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump's business and political interests." Not surprisingly, the old dog is up to his old tricks (allegedly!): ~~~
~~~ Lily Becker & David Rohde of MS NOW: "Three congressional Democrats said on Thursday that as much as $21.5 million paid by ABC, Meta, Paramount and X to settle lawsuits brought by ... Donald Trump is missing or has been spent without explanation and requested a full accounting from the foundation building his presidential library. In a letter to the treasurer of the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., cited discrepancies between Trump’s newly released financial disclosures and the foundation’s own filings with Florida ch arity regulators. The letter asks the treasurer to explain the discrepancies, which the lawmakers discovered after Trump released his annual financial disclosure forms earlier this month." Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: Innocent accounting errors? Not likely. See also RAS's & Ken W.'s commentary below.
Mary Roeloffs of Forbes: “A sample of lettuce from Taylor Farms that had tested positive for cyclospora — and pinned the ongoing cyclosporiasis outbreak on the major produce supplier — was a false positive, the Food and Drug Administration confirmed, and federal investigators have taken several steps back in identifying what caused thousands to be sicked with an 'explosive diarrhea parasite.' The FDA on Sunday said it re-reviewed the sample of lettuce it initially took from Taylor Farms and that its lab produced had a false-positive result for cyclospora, meaning the lettuce cannot be definitively tied to the outbreak as the agency had previously claimed. Investigators stopped short of completely clearing Taylor Farms.... Investigators still believe shredded iceberg lettuce served primarily at Taco Bell (which Taylor Farms supplies) caused the outbreak....
“Taylor Farms and its executives have made significant donations to ... Donald Trump and his allies. Federal Election Commission filings show Taylor Fresh Foods Inc., the parent company of Taylor Farms, made a $1 million contribution to MAGA Inc., the super PAC supporting Trump's political operation, in March 2025, less than a week after the FDA announced it would delay implementation of the 'Food Traceability Rule.'” Emphasis added. Thanks to RAS for the leads. Now wouldn't we be the silly conspiracy theorists if we thought there was some connection between the donations and the FDA's suddenly reversing its findings?
Marie: Just in one full day's news reports, you get a whiff of the extent and pervasiveness of Trump's corruption. He is accepting huge contributions from companies the federal government regulates. He may be extorting or misusing money from his "library" foundation. He took a $400MM+ bribe from a foreign nation in the form of a "gift" jet that (a) he intends to transfer to his "library" (probably while flying around in it) and (b) is charging U.S. taxpayers untold millions to retrofit the plane. He is selling high-speed access to potentially market-changing announcements to companies that pay to play on his vanity social media site. He may be letting companies off the hook for creating serious health and safety hazards if they make substantial donations to him. He is undermining our basic (and essential) democratic systems in order to retain his power and ability to continue his scams. Again, this is just what made the news today. There are plenty of other corrupt schemes sitting out there that didn't happen to have any major newsworthy developments today.
~~~~~~~~~~
The New York Times' live updates of developments in the Iran War are here. From the pinned item at 6:00 am ET: “Oil and gas prices rose and a tanker was ablaze in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, as the United States and Iran exchanged another round of attacks even as both sides signaled that they were open to resuming talks. The latest hostilities were launched after the Pentagon said that a U.S. service member had died in Iraq while conducting a controlled detonation of an Iranian drone.... U.S. forces said overnight that they had carried out a ninth straight night of strikes on Iranian military sites, while Kuwait, an American ally, said on Monday morning that it was intercepting fresh Iranian attacks. The violence has spiraled beyond the Strait of Hormuz.... The latest disruptions to shipping through the strait pushed the price of Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, to its highest level in a month on Monday before paring back most of those gains. The average price of gas in the United States returned to more than $4 a gallon, the AAA motor club reported.” ~~~
~~~ Karen DeYoung, et al., of the Washington Post: “The United States and Iran moved closer to all-out war over the weekend, as the exchange of attacks on civilian and military structures continued to escalate and with at least three and possibly four U.S. service members killed since combat resumed a week ago.... Centcom also said Sunday that another set of unidentified remains had been found at the base in Jordan. Separately, it reported that a U.S. service member in northern Iraq was killed in action Saturday during a 'controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance' from a downed Iranian drone.” ~~~
~~~ Jane Arraf of NPR: "The Department of Defense identified on Monday the two service members killed last week as 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, 25, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, 19, of Carrollton, Texas. It said both were killed during an Iranian attack last Friday at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan." ~~~
Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: “In the week leading up to the Iranian attack on Friday that killed two U.S. soldiers and left one service member missing in Jordan, Iran carried out three other strikes against U.S. forces in the country. Those attacks injured dozens of U.S. service members and damaged several helicopters, according to several U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.... But the Pentagon did not disclose the earlier strikes, nor the casualties and damage they inflicted. The episode is the latest example during the Iran conflict of the tension between what the Pentagon says is the need for operational security and the government’s obligation to inform the public about the conduct of the war.... Central Command is not required to release information about injured service members, especially when they quickly return to duty, a U.S. military official said.... The last major Pentagon briefing on the war was in early May.”
Jennifer Bahney of Mediaite: “The U.S. death toll has risen after U.S. Central Command reported finding the remains of a service member who went missing after Iran struck a U.S. base in Jordan on Friday. Fox News correspondent Mike Tobin in Tel Aviv reported Sunday, 'Unfortunately, the loss of life of U.S. Service members, an update. We reported earlier two U.S. Service members had been killed and a third missing. The remains of that third missing U.S. Service member have been recovered, so you’re talking about three people killed by that strike. And another unfortunate incident, service members were disposing of the explosives, and an Iranian attack zone, something went wrong and another U.S. Service member was killed. All of this according to Central Command.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE. Daily Beast, clip republished by Yahoo! News: "Trump, meanwhile, spent Saturday golfing at his Bedminster club, taking hours to finally address [the] deaths Saturday afternoon, when he called the development 'a very sad thing.' But the deaths apparently didn't have too great of an impact on the president, as he spent the rest of his evening with a dressed-up MAGA crowd to attend the ]America's 250th Birthday Gala] at his Bedminster National Golf Club in New Jersey." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ AND Sunday Trump attended the World Cup soccer finals at MetLife Stadium where the crowd booed him when his image appeared on the jumbotron. (Also linked yesterday.) SO THEN ~~~
~~~ Luke Brown of the (New York Times) Athletic: “Spain defeated Lionel Messi’s Argentina in extra time to win the 2026 World Cup. Substitute Ferran Torres struck in the second half of extra time to secure Spain’s second World Cup after a disappointing Argentina were reduced to 10 men. The defending champions did not register an attempt on goal until the 117th minute and fell short in their bid to become only the third nation to retain the World Cup.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Reduced to 10 men? What's that all about? Allow me to explain because I'm such an expert on the futbol: "... midfielder Enzo Fernández was sent off after receiving his second yellow card of the match. Fernández earned his second booking and an automatic red card following a reckless, late challenge on Spain's Pau Cubarsí just as normal time was expiring. Because he was sent off during stoppage time, Argentina had to play the entirety of the 30-minute extra time period a man down, eventually losing the match 1-0." (You might think I let Art Intel explain that to me.)
Trump Embarrasses U.S. Again at World Cup Final. Alexander Abnos of the Guardian: “Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino were booed as they took to the field for the presentation ceremony before the US president attempted to gatecrash Spain’s victory party.... When the US president and Infantino came on to the field for the presentation after Spain clinched victory, boos rang out around the stadium. The White House pool report said that ambient crowd noise, which had been sitting at approximately 78 decibels before their introduction, rose to 84 decibels when Trump entered the field. Then, after Trump presented Spain with the World Cup trophy, he attempted to stand with the team at the side of the podium as they celebrated before Infantino quietly ushered him away.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' Athletic has a story on "everything that happened in the ... trophy presentation." It includes photos of Trump; in one he looks angry, in the others he looks lost. MB: You can't be sure he knew where he was. I would also note that the president of Mexico, the prime minister of Canada, other officials, even the prime minister of Spain, even the king of Spain knew enough to get out of the picture and let the team enjoy its moment. ~~~
~~~ Update: David Rothkopf -- a fairly serious fellow -- describes Trump's turn on the FIFA stage like so: “There was Trump with that vacant 'Where’s Waldo' expression on his face. He was seeking to steal some of the spotlight from Spain’s World Cup-winning soccer team. He tried to stand center stage. Then he wandered to the edge of the group and smiled at the camera. Then he felt a tug as FIFA president Gianni Infantino sought to escort Trump away from the stage. The president looked dazed and disoriented.... Perhaps he was a bit in shock, given the open hostility the crowd of 80,000 at the Meadowlands [MB: now MetLife Stadium] showed him.... Boos and whistles and hoots rang down, which were louder than the triumphal music FIFA had intended would dignify the moment. As happened during the recent NATO Summit, Trump seemed lost and alone, not quite sure why the world was not conforming to the delusions of love, respect, and grandeur that play 24/7 in his mind....
“The pathetic display took place at the same time as American soldiers were dying in a distant war, an illegal war, a war Trump started, a war Trump does not know how to exit, a war costing the not just American lives but thousands more from Iran, Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East and billions of dollars from the U.S. Treasury, a war that is weakening America, inflaming our allies, creating a global economic crisis and, at the same time, is strengthening the enemy we recklessly targeted. Trump’s display, therefore, was not just embarrassing. It was disgusting. It was reprehensible. It was yet another instance of him showing disregard and contempt for our military. Indeed, while reports came in of Americans killed and missing over the course of the weekend, he played golf, he attended parties, and he could barely be bothered to comment on the tragedies unfolding thanks to his malevolence and incompetence.” ~~~
~~~ Robert Davis of the Raw Story: "An Australian broadcaster was mystified by ... Donald Trump's stunt at the World Cup Final on Sunday, which was caught on a hot mic. Trump accompanied FIFA President Gianni Infantino on the field for the trophy presentation ceremony following Spain's 1-0 win over Argentina in the World Cup Final in New York on Sunday. Trump was roundly booed by the crowd as the two men walked onto the field, and he stuck around for the team photo, which seemed to catch Infantino off guard. One of the broadcasters was seemingly confused by the visual. 'Are they going to edit him out of that?' the broadcaster from SBS Australia said, referring to the image of Trump and Infantino on stage while the confetti cannons rang out and the Spanish team hoisted the trophy." For an unvarnished report of the after-game show, see Akhilleus' commentary at the end of yesterday's thread. ~~~
~~~ Aaron Parnas has the story: ~~~
~~~ Ali Walker, et al., of Politico: “... Donald Trump has spent much of his second term in office berating Spain over its anemic military spending and refusal to allow American forces to use Spanish bases for bombing missions in Iran. Earlier this month, Trump branded the country 'hopeless,' derided the Spanish as 'bad people' and briefly threatened to cut off all trade in goods with Madrid.... [Sunday, Trump] ... handed the sports world’s greatest prize to captain Rodri [-- Rodrigo Hernández Cascante --] in front of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, King Felipe VI and a global television audience of more than one billion.”
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said on Sunday that the Boeing luxury jet donated by Qatar that he recently took overseas would soon be 'maxed out,' suggesting it could get additional defensive capabilities to match the standards of the older jets used for presidential travel. The president commented after returning to Washington from New Jersey aboard the jet, a Boeing 747-800 that was given as a gift — and which Mr. Trump has said he plans to take with him for his presidential library when he leaves office. A reporter traveling with the small group of reporters in the presidential motorcade pointed to the Qatari jet’s fuselage and said: 'Mr. President, this plane does not have antimissile defense systems on it. Why are you flying it?' Mr. Trump replied, 'Well, it has — it has a lot, and you know it has a lot of capability, but as I understand it, in about a month or so, they’re going to send it to have it be maxed out. So they’re going to be sending it, and they’ll have it be maxed out. 'It’ll take about a month,' he said....
“It appeared to be an admission from the president that the plane’s security measures are not as extensive as the models that have been designed to be built from the ground up to serve as Air Force One. The New York Times reported earlier this month that the new jet, which he flew to Turkey, lacks the same defensive countermeasures as the older model, including antimissile capabilities.” MB: Trump is copping here to another of his many screw-ups, this one due -- as so many are -- to his staggering vanity. He just had to have the fanciest plane on the tarmac at the recent NATO summit, so he ordered a rush job on the Qatari retrofit, and of course it was poorly done, leaving not just himself but everyone who flies with him in danger. (Also linked yesterday.) An NBC News story is here.
All told, the statues dating to his second term are of negligible artistic value.... President Trump’s embrace of an official classicizing style in art and architecture finds its closest equivalent in authoritarian regimes. -- Maxwell Anderson, former president of the Association of Art Museum Directors, in an email to the Washington Post ~~~
David Ignatius of the Washington Post: “When ... Donald Trump delivered his television tirade Thursday night about 'shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure' and a 'cover-up' of Chinese election interference, he directed viewers to examine declassified intelligence the White House had just posted on its website. [But] Rather than supporting Trump’s inflammatory claims about Chinese election meddling and other threats, the documents undermine many of his arguments. And contrary to his portrait of a diabolical 'deep state,' they show an intelligence community that’s almost comically cautious and bureaucratic in reaching its conclusions. What’s frightening about Trump’s wild accusations of fraud is that they could 'undermine confidence in US democratic processes,' which the National Intelligence Council warned in a January 2020 memorandum was a basic goal of foreign meddlers....
[Trump's] speech seemed a deliberate attempt to undermine public confidence. Intentionally or not, he was doing our adversaries’ work for them.... [He] spent much of his first term claiming that the investigation of Russian meddling was a 'hoax,' [which it was not,] and in the first months of his second term, he dismantled much of the election-security enforcement capability at the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.”
Dan Pfeiffer explains why Trump's selling special high-speed access to Truth Social posts "might actually be the most corrupt thing Trump has done since returning to office. It’s so brazen and so blatant.... The whole product is designed for high-frequency and algorithmic trading firms that profit off the gap between when they get the news and when everyone else does. Ordinary investors are structurally on the losing side. This is no different than Trump giving a heads-up on a market-moving announcement in exchange for a bribe. It’s pay to play." MB: I linked to at least one report about this last week, but I wasn't sure how the scheme would work since the heads-up gave "subscribers" the advantage of mere milliseconds. But if it's algorithms that are doing the trading, then the "subscribers" don't have to waste time thinking about how to act on Trump's pronouncements. The algorithms do the trades automatically, ahead of those who don't have this high-speech access. How do the algorithms "read" Trump's intent? I have no idea.
Alexandra Petri of the New York Times: “Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, welcomed their fourth child on Sunday. Alec Neel Vance was born on Sunday morning, the Vances announced in a post on social media on Sunday evening.... Alec’s birth is the first known time in modern U.S. history that a sitting second lady has given birth while her husband is in office. The White House congratulated the Vances in a post on social media.” A Huffington Post story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: "The White House"?? Nothing from "the President*"? Still, it was great, I guess, that JayDee & Usha issued a joint statement; just a little while back, it appeared JayDee had not seen much of his wife. From the Independent: “On Sunday (21 June), the US vice president joined his wife on a Father’s Day Special episode of Storytime with the Second Lady. Greeting his wife, who is pregnant with their fourth child, he tapped her knee as he told her it’s 'good to see you'. Social media users quickly commented on the couple’s 'lack of chemistry' during the 'incredibly awkward' moment. 'The face Usha Vance makes when JD touches her knee is a cry for help if I've ever seen one,' said one user.” BUT. Maybe Usha is getting that help in the form of a home away from JayDee. ~~~
~~~ Apparently the 33-room mansion at the U.S. Naval Observatory is no longer good enough for Hillbilly Vance & Family. OR, he's depositing Usha & the kids out on the farm while he stays in town canoodling with a high-priced couch. ~~~
~~~ Paul Schwartzman of the Washington Post: “... word that Vance and his wife, Usha, are making a second home in Middleburg[, Virginia,] is dominating local chatter, the focus of which is less about MAGA and more about him bringing too much Washington — motorcades, helicopters, Secret Service — to an old-money enclave that views itself as an escape from Washington.... Published reports [say] that the Vances, who are expecting their fourth child later this month, are moving into a second residence at Wolver Hill Farm, a nearly 500-acre estate.... A person familiar with the arrangement ... confirmed the vice president is leasing two of the farm’s four homes and said the Secret Service is expected to be a visible presence on the road leading to the property.” ;Many residents are not amused. MB: Middleburg is in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains -- part of Appalachia -- so maybe it reminds JayDee of the topography of home, if not the accommodations. (Also linked yesterday.)
Feds to Hold ICE Thugs Harmless. Devlin Barrett & Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “Federal agents around the country were told in recent days that the F.B.I. would no longer investigate confrontations with immigration agents — cases that sometimes yield evidence that could be used to prosecute Department of Homeland Security agents implicated in violent encounters.... If enacted, such a change would sharply limit law enforcement scrutiny of immigration agents, as the Trump administration draws mounting criticism over killings at the hands of federal officers.... F.B.I. managers around the country received a written notice informing them of the change on Thursday.... The same day, some ICE agents around the country were notified by their F.B.I. counterparts. The guidance shared with them said that the bureau would stop investigating claims of assaults against Department of Homeland Security agents.... Even though such investigations are intended to determine whether the officers were in fact attacked, they can provide a crucial means of gathering evidence implicating the agents themselves. A joint statement by the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security, however, denied that any such change was underway.” (Also linked yesterday.) Update: the link has been changed to one that appears to be a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: So, the way I see it, the FBI (and or the DOJ & DHS) told its offices around the country not to collect evidence to help determine who was responsible in cases of assault, serious harm or death. But they ("they" being some government entity or entities) are pretending that isn't true. Some alternative theories are possible. Like (1) Kash got over his skis & decided on his own that agents would not investigate, whereupon DOJ or DHS leaders overruled him. Or (2) the NYT's multiple sources made up the whole story. Or (3) NYT reporters made up the whole story. This is another of the hundreds of stories that would be a major scandal if there weren't hundreds of stories about this administration that are scandalous.
Kelby Vera of the Huffington Post: “Border Czar Tom Homan claimed the several deaths springing from confrontations with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents might not have happened if the deceased were following orders.... Homan told 'Face the Nation' host Margaret Brennan that anti-ICE sentiment has 'emboldened' people to not comply with law enforcement.... 'They would be alive today if they simply complied with a vehicle stop by federal law enforcement. Just comply,' he argued.... Brennan then asked how that would play out in instances where there was little to no way to identify ICE as law enforcement, citing the man in Houston, Texas, whose family claims he likely fled agents fearing that the people in the unmarked vehicle tailing him were robbers. When Homan said the man still should have heeded the vehicle’s emergency lights, Brennan noted there were no lights visible in video of the Houston incident, nor any body camera footage to back his claim.... [Homan then] admitted he had not seen the video evidence Brennan was talking about.” ~~~
~~~ CBS News has the transcript of the segment here.
Danny Hakim of the New York Times: “The U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago is among the most prestigious in the country.... But the Trump administration’s immigration sweep in Chicago last fall has left the office in crisis. The office brought a wave of doomed cases that accused protesters and immigrants of assaulting federal officers. That accelerated an exodus of veteran prosecutors, some of whom felt they’d been wrongly pressured into pursuing the charges.... The heads of all seven sections of the Chicago office’s criminal division have left in the past year, as have many of their successors and deputies. More than 100 former federal prosecutors from the office recently signed a letter criticizing Andrew S. Boutros, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, saying that 'actions taken by leadership in the last year have tarnished the reputation' of the office.... Some 59 [assault] charges were abandoned by prosecutors or dismissed by judges.... That 2 percent success rate is a stark reversal for the Justice Department, which wins an average of more than 90 percent of criminal cases.” The link appears to be a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)
David Ovalle of the New York Times: “A man fatally hit by a truck in Florida while running from an encounter with immigration agents was visiting from Mexico, according to a nonprofit organization supporting his widow. A spokeswoman for the organization identified the man as Juan Jairo Coronilla Durán, 28, of Guanajuato State. State and federal officials have repeatedly declined to identify the man who was killed last Tuesday when he ran on to a busy roadway and was struck by a tractor-trailer. The man was fleeing an encounter with agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations at a Wawa gas station in St. Augustine, Fla.... [A spokeswoman for t]he nonprofit, Colectivo Árbol..., said that, according to Mr. Coronilla’s wife, he was visiting on a valid tourist visa and had planned to return to his home country on Saturday. The New York Times could not independently verify the claim.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Maine Senate Race. Bayliss Wagner, et al., of the New York Times: “Troy Jackson, a progressive, has built a clear edge in Maine’s abbreviated nomination process to replace Graham Platner as the Democratic Senate nominee after he dropped out this month under pressure from party leaders. On Sunday, as Mr. Jackson widened his considerable advantage among a group of delegates who will pick the nominee, another candidate, Shenna Bellows, dropped out of the race. Mr. Jackson, a former president of the Maine State Senate, appeared to have the support of a broad group of delegates elected at county meetings this weekend for a statewide convention next week. At the convention, the delegates will vote on a replacement for Mr. Platner, who ended his campaign after a rape accusation that he has denied.” (Also linked yesterday.)~~~
~~~ Aaron Pellish & Andrew Howard of Politico: “Troy Jackson has effectively secured the Democratic nomination in the crucial Maine Senate race, winning the support of a majority of the state delegates who will officially nominate a candidate next weekend. While they are not legally bound to support him, nearly two-thirds of the 601 delegates have committed to voting for Jackson at that statewide convention. Jackson dominated the county-level meetings this weekend that selected those delegates, with two rivals falling far behind — and one of them, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, dropping out of the race partway through the process Sunday.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Ukraine/Russia. Cassandra Vinograd & Marc Santora of the New York Times: “Russia bombarded Ukraine’s capital with one of the largest ballistic missile assaults of the war before dawn on Sunday, Ukrainian officials said, the third major attack on the capital, Kyiv, in the past 35 days.... City officials said one person had been killed and more than 15 had been injured. The attack was part of a broader barrage across Ukraine that included at least 41 missiles and 125 drones of various types, the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement. The sustained campaign aimed at Kyiv has coincided with Ukraine’s own increasingly successful targeting of Russian oil and gas facilities — which has prompted fuel shortages across the country — to take the war closer to Russia. Over the weekend, Ukraine expanded that campaign, striking two warehouses belonging to Russia’s largest online retailer, Wildberries.” (Also linked yesterday.)
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Maine Senate Race. Reid Epstein of the New York Times: “A process to choose a new Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine that began as a messy free-for-all has turned into a coronation for Troy Jackson, a progressive in the mold of Graham Platner, who was forced from the race 12 days ago. Over the weekend Mr. Jackson’s supporters swept the county meetings to select delegates to the state convention, according to the slate released by his campaign, seizing command of the two-week sprint to choose an opponent for Senator Susan Collins, the state’s five-term Republican incumbent. The gatherings provided quick clarity to a state convention that could have been chaotic and spared Maine Democrats myriad risks inherent with standing up a nomination process in less than three weeks. Mr. Jackson, a former state lawmaker, built such an imposing advantage on Saturday that he delivered what amounted to a victory speech on Sunday morning before the day’s delegates were selected.” MB: I'll be Susan Collins is concerned.™ ~~~
~~~ Jenna Monnin of NOTUS: Troy "Jackson ... has the backing of more than half of the delegates who will attend next weekend’s nominating convention, according to an analysis by the Bangor Daily News. His position strengthened Sunday as four rivals — former state Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Nirav Shah, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, former Capitol Hill staffer Jordan Wood and Maine Beer Company co-founder Dan Kleban — withdrew from the contest. "
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U.K. The New York Times is liveblogging the U.K.'s transfer of power. From the pinned item at 6:05 am ET: “Andy Burnham will become the leader of Britain on Monday, capping an extraordinary demonstration of political power in which he easily won a seat in Parliament and swiftly engineered the resignation of the sitting prime minister so that he could take his place. Mr. Burnham, who spent the past nine years as the mayor of Greater Manchester, one of the fastest-growing regions in Britain, seized on widespread dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Keir Starmer to make his move. After Mr. Burnham ran alone in a leadership contest, the Labour Party announced him as its leader on Friday, setting up Monday’s official transition. Aides said Mr. Burnham would deliver a speech outside Downing Street on Monday in which he would lay out his domestic priorities and promise to give more breathing room to British people struggling with high prices and slow growth.”
22 comments:
You may wonder how DiJiT will "max out" his Big Baby stretch 8 in "a month". Easy. The Secret Service guys put their feet down in Ankara, embarrassing DiJiT and reconfirming that BB8 ain't got the right stuff.
So, within the next month (he's growing up - it used to be "two weeks.") He'll throw a tarp over BB8 for a few weeks, fire the Secret Service guys who embarrassed him, and then use BB8 for domestic flights. They still won't allow him to take it out of the country.
This is the Stalin method of solving problems. Get rid of whomever is causing a problem. "No man, no problem."
Matt Viser, for The Atlantic, prvides detail on "the political scandal of the summer" featuring the latest emblem of possible prosecutorial overreach
"[The reflecting pool scandal] But it has a dash of everything that Trump’s critics loathe about this presidency: a vanity project driven by Trump’s desire to accomplish what his predecessors couldn’t; a no-bid contract for a straight-from-central-casting Trump donor; incompetence leading to a botched repair; refusals to acknowledge reality; and, finally, the scapegoating of perceived enemies. Along the way, algae bloomed, chemicals were dumped, and ducks turned up dead. The banks of the pool—at its best a scene of unparalleled American majesty—took on a sort of circus atmosphere as locals and tourists alike stopped by to see the disaster for themselves. Some took a small souvenir to commemorate the moment."
Thought this one a particularly fascinating Krugman:
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/trumps-war-on-the-future-monetary
"A Bigger, More Beautiful America"
“USA! USA! He hates what 🇺🇸 is supposed to be. Every day we go out and make an argument about what 🇺🇸 is— an America bigger than his hate.”
Michigan Senate candidate talks about the aspirational US that so many want to see.
Blanche & Associates
"The Arbogast Fallacy
An Alternative Explanation for "Sanewashing"
The problem is, the object of so much of that labored ideation, Donald Trump, is obvious. He is not a complex figure of Nixonian contradictions. There are no depths to plumb; his biographers are going to have to pad out their books with a lot of background information and photo sections. He does not engage in subtle Machiavellian maneuvering; the only moves he knows are the playground rudiments: brag. Deny. Bully. Bribe. There’s nothing there for a smart person to figure out; they’re writing think pieces about a guy who doesn’t."
John Pavlovitz
"America Isn't Politically Divided, It's Morally Fractured.
The prevailing narrative of the last decade is that America has been fractured by political ideologies, bunkered down in disagreement on what path will most serve the common good. This is a dangerous fiction we need to discard once and for all.
The dividing lines in America have nothing to do with party affiliation anymore.
[...]
It’s time we stopped pretending that our current national crisis is political, as that only serves to distract us from the far more worrisome truth that we need to reckon with:
We’re not politically divided; we are morally fractured.
We are not fighting legislative battles but a war to stay human or abandon our humanity altogether."
Marie wrote: “ I surmise that the photo of statue of Jefferson pictured here, was taken at another location, inasmuch as the sculpture is set on a lawn, and Trump got rid of all the pesky grass in the Rose Garden.”
Another giveaway as to the location is that had the picture been taken at the White House, Fatty would have been standing in front of Jefferson doing that stupid thumbs up thing he always does with that inhuman looking rictus grin he puts on.
A friend texted me yesterday during the WC presentation to say he wished the photographer had told Fat Hitler to move so he could take a picture of Spain’s team without a fat interloper marring the shot. I told him that Trump would have had the guy arrested, jailed and waterboarded for ten years.
One final thought about the all stone Rose Garden. Francis Coppola once made a film called “Gardens of Stone”. It was set largely at Arlington National Cemetery, a place where the Orange Monster is adding new stones with his ego war. While he golfs and photobombs a soccer team to perform his usual theft of unearned glory.
More bodies to come. More stones for the garden. More monuments to himself.
Where's the Money
"Three congressional Democrats said on Thursday that as much as $21.5 million paid by ABC, Meta, Paramount and X to settle lawsuits brought by President Donald Trump is missing or has been spent without explanation and requested a full accounting from the foundation building his presidential library."
Incompetent or Corrupt?
From Taylor Farms
"Today, FDA apologized to us.
Yesterday, FDA informed Taylor Fresh Foods that one of its iceberg lettuce products from central Mexico tested positive for cyclospora. Today, we were informed that FDA made a mistake, and this was a false positive. To be clear, at this moment, FDA has not identified a single positive product test result for Cyclospora."
Apparently Taylor Farms gave $1 million to MAGA Inc PAC.
The Guardian on the false positive.
RAS,
It's all of a piece, but that presidential library grift may be the smallest potatoes of all. No one know where the billions (now eight or ten) in Venezuela oil money is going either....
My neighbor cleaned out her freezer yesterday and gave me a turkey breast
wrapped in 'American Flag Blue' plastic.
I was afraid to cut that plastic in case the microwave was watching and
would report me for cutting 'American Flag Blue' similar to the reflecting
pool blue.
Anyway, I did it finally and no one with guns came knocking on the door.
Ken,
Absolutely. There is SO much corruption that a few Tens Of Millions can easily go missing and it is barely a story, much less front page news anymore. Now they are trying to get people to give them a million dollars a year for insider trading tips. Again it is barely newsworthy to most of the press despite the blatant public corruption and self dealing.
Jared Yates Sexton, for his substack Dispatches From A Collapsing State, warns that t****’s teevee address can’t be ignored
"Election interference is more than just canceling or rigging. Several operations are already underway as these conspiracies are redundant in nature. Marco Rubio and others have ramped up rhetoric about declaring “socialists” and the “far left” as terrorist groups and it’s not hard to imagine, as we’ve seen in other countries, and attempts here within the U.S., such as continual pushes to outlaw communists from seeking office, a situation where the GOP will try and ban leftists identifying as socialists from power. Trump and those around him have declined to say they will not use the National Guard or ICE to intimidate voters or patrol election sites. And, before Trump’s speech on Thursday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt refused to answer whether Trump would accept the Midterm results, which shouldn’t come as a surprise as he has refused to validate every election he’s ever been a part of until he had been victorious.
....
Despite social media accounts saying it was “boring” or “tired” or just “more of the same,” it constituted a new chapter in this authoritarian takeover. Once more: we are granted a gift whenever an aspiring dictator makes his intentions clear. Rather than plans and intentions transpiring behind closed doors, the public airing allows us the opportunity to predict and prepare. Trump is a buffoon, an embarrassment, and yes, any speech he gives is going to be self-indulgent and an intolerable bore. But we must listen if only for our own sake."
Lisa Murkowski explains why the SAVE act is bad for her constituents
RAS: The Arbogast Fallacy-- just wow. Perfect description of you-know-who. Fits right into the next article about moral fractioning. This is no longer political opposition. Wow. These guys are on fire. Thanks.
On Arbogast:
No nothing complicated about the Pretender. He has two motives: Amass more wealth (by any means) and be admired for it.
A great fit for a public servant.
Waldman's take on the moral fracture noted above. Maybe by implication but it's there. These days, it always is.
https://paulwaldman.substack.com/p/democrats-must-keep-asking-republicans
I've heard of a lot of different sorts of fallacies but never came across the Arbogast Fallacy. It's an excellent way dispensing with a lot of nonsense surrounding the Orange Monster.
Oh yeah, and given the outcome of indulging in this fallacy, given the fate of Detective Arbogast, it's a fallacy to be avoided at all costs.
(I'm picturing a number of NYT columnists and other assorted beard strokers going backwards down the stairs like this...And while that's not me wielding the knife, I feel like it sometimes.)
Little Baby to Big Baby
“Gianni Infantino carefully explains to Donald Trump that he is not part of the Spanish national team.”
Just wondering if Drunk Pete (between shots of Jack) will be ordering a post-mortem screening of those service members killed at that air base in Jordan to see if their testosterone levels meet his exacting standards for WAR FIGHTERS!
If not, he can point to those test results as proof that his WAR FIGHTERS need rapist levels of T!! Dammit!
Oh, wait. High levels of testosterone won’t save you if you’re hit by a bomb?
Never mind.
But since so much of effective modern warfare is conducted with remote controlled drones, are super high levels of testosterone even necessary?
While we’re at it, we should demand that Drunk Pete have his T levels checked and made public…that is, after he meets with his hairdresser and has his blush and foundation colors properly matched in his private Pentagon makeup room. And those wrinkles in his designer suit! Goodness!
Did they just do a Trump and make shit up?
"Confusion swirled around the ongoing cyclosporiasis outbreak on Monday after the produce supplier linked to the illness pushed back against the Food and Drug Administration. FDA officials said in a press call on Monday that its investigation still points to Taylor Farms’ iceberg lettuce as the source of the outbreak, despite the company claiming the agency apologized to it for announcing a false positive result on a test for cyclospora in Taylor Farms’ lettuce.
“We did not offer an official apology, but did explain factually the issues,” an FDA official said. Over the weekend, the FDA announced — and then retracted — the news that a sample of lettuce from Taylor Farms had tested positive for cyclospora. That test was a false positive, meaning the agency has not found any “confirmed positive sample results for product testing of Cyclospora,” the FDA said in a statement."
With "Friends" Like Us
"Trump imposes 50% tariffs on Canadian goods, citing disputes over autos, alcohol and cheese
The move could unleash a new wave of economic chaos, pushing inflation higher and fraying relations between Washington and one of its closest allies."
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