August 1, 2026

Sierra Lopez of the East Bay Times: “World War II 'Rosie' Jeanne Gibson, a National Parks ambassador who spent her final years in the Bay Area highlighting the contributions of women during wartime and encouraging little girls to fight for what they deserve, died Wednesday. She was 100. The Pinole resident, who welded war ships as a teenager and detailed her story nearly every Friday for the past few years at the Rosie the Riveter World War II Homefront National Historical Park in Richmond, died of congenital heart failure while surrounded by loved ones.... Millions of women like Gibson who worked in American shipyards and factories during World War II — many of them stepping into the industrial workforce for the first time while the men who had formerly worked such jobs were deployed overseas — became known as “Rosie the Riveters,” after the 1942 hit song of the same name.” Thanks to RAS for the lead. ~~~

     ~~~ AND a special shoutout to Donald Trump & Pete Hegseth., those Class A asses: 

     ~~~ Marie: I found a number of articles written in March 2025 reporting that the images of women working in factory jobs during World War II were flagged for removal from Pentagon Websites as part of Donald Trump's effort to obliterate any "DEI" content. (God forbid the kids should find out that, for instance, women, the Tuskegee Airmen and Navajo Codetalkers were crucial to the war effort.) One article dated April 2025 was firewalled, but indicated that images of Rosie the Riveter had been removed from the Pentagon database. 

Okay, this is hilarious. Thanks to RAS for the link. Via digby. 

MAGA cult members, remember when Trump personally awarded Dr. Anthony Fauci a Presidential Commendation for his work on Operation Warp Speed and the COVID vaccine?

Trump apparently didn’t.

When Megyn Kelly asked him about it, he claimed he had no idea who gave Fauci the award.… pic.twitter.com/oljqmr2kKt

— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) July 31, 2026

     ~~~ Marie: The reason Trump can feign ignorance of the award and who gave it to Dr. Fauci is this answer to my question of Art Intel: "Unlike a traditional in-person medal ceremony with media coverage, the commendations were issued via a White House Statement rather than a public photo-op event." Besides, the commendation was given to 52 people for their work on Operation Warp Speed on January 19, 2021, Trump's last full day in office. I'm sure on that day Trump was preoccupied with stuffing papers down the golden toilet, stealing classified documents and other criminal & illegal activities. From his ready answer to Kelly, it seems likely Trump was reminded this week of giving Fauci the commendation.

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Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Friday held what the administration said was the first televised Cabinet meeting at Camp David, assembling his deputies at the secure wooded retreat to tout the administration’s accomplishments. But the rural Maryland setting, long used by presidents for sensitive private meetings or as a tranquil escape, swiftly became the latest stage for Trump’s frustrations over a series of stalled domestic and foreign policy initiatives. Trump railed against Republican senators blocking his nominee for attorney general, lamented the collapse of his proposed $1.8 billion Justice Department payout fund, questioned whether Iran was negotiating a potential ceasefire in good faith and warned that Democrats would open U.S. borders if they won the midterm elections.... Trump’s Cabinet members, as they have at past meetings..., took the opportunity to lavish praise on the president.... Reporters who covered Friday’s Cabinet meeting were told to leave their cellphones outside the room, because it was a secure information facility. However, the White House allowed several live video streams of the meeting, and photographers were permitted to take pictures.

When is a deal not a deal? When Donald Trump is one of the parties: ~~~

~~~ Chris Cameron of the New York Times: Donald “Trump backtracked on Friday from a promise earlier this month to let Ukraine make Patriot missiles, weapons that were sorely needed as a defense interceptor against Russia’s deadly ballistic missile attacks. On July 8, Mr. Trump had unexpectedly assented to sharing technology behind the missiles to allow Ukraine to build them, saying that 'we’ll give them the right to make Patriots' during a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on the sidelines of the NATO summit meeting in Ankara, Turkey. He added: 'We’ll show them how to do it.' When asked about the agreement during a meeting with his cabinet on Friday, Mr. Trump said 'we have not agreed to that,' suggesting that he had changed his mind because 'it is a hard thing to give away that kind of technology' and because of the risk that 'those people you give the technology, they could someday turn on you.'” The link is a gift link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Regarding all the hoohah over Todd Blanche's refusal to commit to writing assertions he made before both House & Senate committees that Trump's $1.8BB slush fund was kaput: Blanche was speaking for his client, he was in perfect alignment with his client. Because Blanche, whom Trump has since thrown under the bus, was following his client's practice of promising one thing and doing the opposite. Just as Trump's word is meaningless, so is his lawyer's. Oftentimes, there's a method to their madness. See also related NYT reports by Michael Gold and by Feuer & Duehren, linked below. ~~~

~~~ Sometimes Innocent People Die Because Trump's Word Is Worthless. Constant Méheut of the New York Times: “Russian ballistic missiles struck Kyiv early on Saturday, killing at least nine people and injuring more than 30, local officials said. The barrage came just hours after ... [Donald] Trump backed away from a promise to let Ukraine manufacture U.S.-designed Patriot missiles — one of the few air defense systems capable of intercepting the very weapons used in the overnight attack. Two days earlier another Russian air assault also killed nine people, as Moscow escalates its attacks in an apparent effort to exploit Ukraine’s dwindling air defenses. Ukraine has long warned that it is running short of air defense interceptors, especially Patriot missiles, the most reliable weapon Western allies have given Kyiv to counter Russian ballistic strikes.... Mr. Trump’s backtracking on Friday ... is likely to deal a blow to morale in Ukraine.” The link is a gift link.

Marie: Our tax dollars are not being misspent only on relatively small, frivolous Trump projects like fake gold appliques & crumbling "American flag blue" Reflecting Pool crust. Sometimes the Whims of a Crazy Old Man cost us a lot of money; to wit: ~~~

Christopher Flavelle, et al., of the New York Times: Donald Trump has “long fixated on ... hulking ... polar icebreakers. He viewed them as crucial to dominating the Arctic, where rising temperatures have put key shipping lanes and vast mineral wealth up for grabs. And he was incensed that the United States possessed far fewer than Russia.... [Last October], Mr. Trump and [Finland's president Alexander] Stubb ... announce[d] a deal for 11 icebreakers, worth almost $7 billion, to be built by shipyards in both countries. The arrangement was unusual in various ways. The number was twice as many as the Coast Guard, which manages America’s fleet, had said it needed. The contracts for building the ships would be awarded without competitive bids. And while seven of the ships are expected to be built in the United States, the first four would be built in Finland, requiring Mr. Trump to waive a law prohibiting the construction of national security vessels overseas....

“The story behind Mr. Trump’s personal intervention in Coast Guard ships provides new insights into how his administration has cut corners and flouted rules in pursuit of projects that suit the president’s desires, regardless of whether they fit any broader strategic rationale. The reliance on no-bid contracts, usually reserved for highly specialized or urgent needs, mirrors other recent Trump-driven projects — ranging in scale from renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to a $1.3 billion deal to build a migrant detention center.” The link is a gift link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Gosh, I sure hope we're getting an extra one to sit in Biscayne Bay near Trump's planned presidential* library. For a price (payable to the Trump Personal Bank Account), visitors could have a fun experience staying overnight in sailors' quarters aboard a real icebreaker.  

Elderly Man Invents Another Crazy Conspiracy Theory. Nicholas Kerr, et al., of ABC News: "... Donald Trump on Friday blamed Minnesota's Democratic governor for cyberattacks on the state's water systems even though U.S. officials previously told ABC News authorities are investigating whether Iran or hackers associated with the country could be behind them. 'We heard in Minnesota there was a cyberattack and they blame it on Iran. I don't think so. I think, I blame it on Minnesota because they're grossly incompetent,' Trump said a Cabinet meeting at Camp David.... [Gov. Tim] Walz pushed back against Trump in statements on social media Friday. 'Trump knows exactly who is responsible for this attack, and knows that other states were hit too. This is what modern warfare looks like, and it further illustrates there’s no plan to win a war with Iran,' he said. The governor also noted federal cuts by ... DOGE weakened cyber security. 'DOGE took an axe to CISA and left the U.S. exposed to cyber attacks. Thankfully, our experts in Minnesota were able to identify the vulnerability quickly and work with local communities to stop it,' he said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Daniel Arkin, et al., of NBC News: "Cyberattacks targeting municipal water systems have been reported in at least seven states this week, prompting the FBI and the Environmental Protection Agency to warn utilities nationwide that hackers are trying to disrupt critical water infrastructure. In a public service announcement Thursday, the agencies said water and wastewater utilities have reported incidents to the FBI, with some malicious activity degrading water operations. The announcement does not name the states." MB: Gosh, I wonder if Tim Walz is responsible for the attacks in the other six states, too.

Michael Gold of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Friday escalated his confrontation with the Senate over Todd Blanche, his nominee for attorney general, calling on the chamber to immediately confirm him and lashing out at a key Republican who is withholding his vote. Yet even as Mr. Trump vented his anger, he appeared to validate the concerns that have fueled Republican opposition to Mr. Blanche’s confirmation, defending the idea of creating a federal fund to pay those who claim they were unfairly prosecuted by the government. That plan prompted a G.O.P. revolt in May, and Mr. Blanche had promised that it was dead. But the two Republicans holding up his nomination, Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, have continued to insist they need written assurances that no such payouts will occur.... In a social media post and at a cabinet meeting, Mr. Trump hinted that he wanted to revive the fund. Later, his lawyers said in a court filing that they planned to appeal a recent order that denounced the fund and the deal that had created it.” The link is a gift link. A Politico story is here. ~~~

~~~ Alan Feuer & Andrew Duehren of the New York Times: “Lawyers for ... [Donald] Trump said on Friday they would appeal a recent order from a judge casting doubt on the legitimacy of a $1.8 billion fund and extraordinary personal tax protections that emerged from a deal to drop his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. The notice of appeal and a request to pause the judge’s order, both filed in Federal District Court in Miami, were the latest signs that Mr. Trump was willing to pursue his fight for the fund and the tax provision even though they have badly damaged his relations with Senate Republicans and jeopardized the confirmation of his pick for attorney general, Todd Blanche.... On Friday, the president reiterated his support for the so-called anti-weaponization fund in particular, writing that the people it was intended to benefit — potentially including rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — still deserved restitution. 'Perhaps there has never been a group of people treated so badly in our Nation’s history,' he wrote. 'They are suffering still, many ruined, and I felt that they should be given compensation for what has been done to them.'” (Also linked yesterday.) Update: the link has been changed to a gift link. The story itself also has been updated, with Duehren added to the byline. ~~~

     ~~~ Politico's story is here. 

Marie: I missed this update to a report I linked earlier, but Patrick caught it in Friday's Comments:

Thirty-one individuals and organizations were summoned to court, forced to hire lawyers to defend against frivolous claims. The only common thread against them was Mr. Trump’s animus.... Every claim was frivolous, most barred by settled, well-established existing law. These were political grievances masquerading as legal claims. This ... was a deliberate use of the judicial system to pursue a political agenda. -- District Judge Donald Middlebrooks, Order, Nov. 2022 ~~~

~~~ Matt Naham of Law & Crime: "Donald Trump won't quit trying to breathe new life into his RICO lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, even after years of resounding losses across the board and million-dollar sanctions. Supreme Court review remains a long shot, but the president's lawyers have at least bought themselves more breathing room. Trump lawyers Alejandro Brito and Richard C. Klugh last week submitted an application to Justice Clarence Thomas, asking him for one month of extra time to a file a petition for a writ of certiorari.... Thomas, the justice assigned to handle applications like this one within the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals..., on Wednesday grant[ed] an extension until Sept. 9.... Trump's legal team claimed to have 'good cause for an extension to flesh out 'exceptionally important' questions about a 'series of fundamental legal errors by the district court and the court of appeals,' including the upholding of 'extreme sanctions.'... Brito, Trump's lead attorney in many Florida federal lawsuits against the media, also filed the president's lawsuit against the IRS, leading a judge to refer him to the bar." (Also linked yesterday.)~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is kind of perfect, isn't it? A corrupt judge gives a lifeline to a mob boss who claims a political rival is involved in organized crime. It's like Pizzagate, but more ridiculous! See also Patrick's commentary, which highlights some of the nonsense.

I’m very proud of it [the Reflecting Pool recoating]. I’m very good at building things and constructing things. -- Donald Trump, Oval Office, shortly before Reflecting Pool reopened in June

You know, we have 100- … I think 290-, 300-foot slit right through it.... Probably a box cutter or a knife of some kind.... They did something to create the algae. -- Donald Trump, press event, June 22

Thugs, they just told me a little while ago, six have been arrested and six or seven are under... They have pictures and everything else. They went to the bottom and it's not a paint job. It's very expensive. It's not rubber, but it's like rubber. And they went down with probably a box cutter or a very sharp razor of some kind or a knife and they cut and then they started ripping it up. You know why? Because they're sick people and then the side of the pool right at water level, they took razors and they started cutting this very expensive stuff. It's incredible stuff. It's beautiful and it's still beautiful, but we have one area where they cut it, it's still holding, it's not leaking. -- Donald Trump, Oval Office, June 24

Many additional people have been arrested having to do with the disgraceful Vandalism of our beautiful Reflecting Pool. -- Donald Trump, social media post shortly after Pool reopened

It was slashed with a knife, or box cutter, high grade colored waterproofing liner - it was VANDALISM! -- Donald Trump, social media post in July ~~~

~~~ Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.
Best Friday Afternoon News Dump in Years. Ryan Reilly of NBC News: “The Trump administration has dropped its case against a former Olympic canoeist charged in connection with damage to the Reflecting Pool, acknowledging their allegations against David 'Davey' Hearn don’t hold water. In a filing Friday afternoon, a supervisor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, which is headed by Jeanine Pirro, wrote that officials obtained information that undermined 'the evidentiary basis for the indictment' against Hearn. Prosecutors said that after the indictment, the Interior Department 'provided additional documents to the USAO-DC indicating that damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in June 2026 was the result of flawed installation by the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings.' DOJ said they 'first became aware of information showing that the damage was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism' after reviewing more documents. The Justice Department filing said that based on its review of evidence, 'it is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt.'” (Also linked yesterday.)

     ~~~ Update: the New York Times story is here; the link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) The Washington Post report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ You can read the filing here. Pirro excoriates the Department of Interior for withholding evidence, especially on page 18. The linked pdf is a court document, located via NPR. 

     ~~~ Marie: Do you think maybe U.S. Attorney Boxwine should have pulled together the facts before she disrupted the life of a man by charging him with a felony? And before she held a press conference where she rattled off all the "evidence" she possessed that would prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt? Say, doesn't Davey Hearn sound like a good candidate for a huge payout from the Trumpleslushfund? ~~~

     ~~~ Here's Aaron Parnas citing chapter & verse of Pirro's proof beyond beyond a reasonable doubt, in writing, that Donald Trump, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and she herself are big fat liars. Enjoyable.

Gee, This Is a Bit Bleak. Steven Erlanger of the New York Times: “To America’s allies..., [Donald] Trump’s war in Iran, now in its sixth month, seems headed for a strategic defeat. They worry that the inability of the United States to turn military superiority into a sustainably changed Iran has displayed a vulnerability that Russia and China will welcome. In addition, Mr. Trump’s goals remain unmet, and the U.S. military is running short on key armaments that it needs for global reach. For the moment, Iran is seemingly resolute under a more radical government, its nuclear and ballistic missile programs are degraded but not destroyed, and the Strait of Hormuz is effectively under its control. The war has left both the United States and Israel in weaker positions — and blaming each other for the mess. 

“Iranian missiles and drones not only restrict traffic through the strait and damage the economic infrastructure of allied energy production, but they also continue to threaten American bases across the Middle East and have killed or injured American service members.... With Mr. Trump’s aims shifting, Washington is losing credibility both militarily and diplomatically, analysts said. Its conduct in the war underscores the impression that the United States is an unpredictable instrument of global disorder, they said.” The link is a gift link.

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: “The top U.S. general in Europe privately warned the Pentagon this week that he lacks sufficient naval forces to continue protecting Israel from incoming ballistic missiles, officials said, illustrating how the ongoing Iran war has imposed constraints on the military. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the head of U.S. European Command, sent written notification to senior Pentagon officials saying that without another Navy destroyer he will be forced to choose defense of the United States 'homeland' over that of Israel, said the officials....” ~~~

~~~ Linda Qiu of the New York Times: “As the United States’ war with Iran stretches into its sixth month, concerns over a depleted weapons arsenal, rising casualties and economic consequences have mounted.... [Donald] Trump has waved off those worries, even as he seeks a diplomatic solution to end the fighting and polls show Americans growing frustrated with the war. Instead, he has characterized the war in Ukraine as a greater drain on military resources [and blamed President Biden], defended the death toll [in the Iran War] by comparing it with previous military engagements and celebrated single-day drops in oil prices. Here’s a fact-check of some of his recent claims.” The link is a gift link. ~~~

Crater left by U.S. bomb that hit home on Iran's Qeshm Island.

~~~ WTF? One Reason We're Running Out of Weapons. Christiaan Triebert of the New York Times: “The United States struck a family home on Iran’s Qeshm Island overnight on Thursday with a large-scale bomb, according to an analysis of videos, photos and satellite imagery by weapons experts and The New York Times. Iranian officials said the strike had killed a husband and wife and their 2-year-old son. The couple’s two other children were pulled from the rubble alive, they said. The size of the crater and munition fragments appear to show the weapon used was a 2,000-pound bomb called a Mark-84, one of the largest conventional bombs used by the U.S. military. The location and time of the strikes are consistent with where and when the United States was operating. 

“The evidence raises questions about what the United States was targeting and why such a large munition was used. The strike hit a densely populated neighborhood on the island, which sits in the Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran, and appears to have been part of a flurry of attacks the United States said it had launched to retaliate against earlier strikes by Iran on a base used by American forces in Jordan. The Times found no indication of a military site near the family’s home or any reports of military casualties from the strike....” The link is a gift link.

Nevertheless, We Persist. Sarah Davis & Filip Timotija of the Hill: “The U.S. is reportedly planning to reopen strikes against Iran as soon as this weekend, U.S. officials told several outlets on Friday. CBS News reported that Israel is also involved in the plans to launch “one of the harshest bombing campaigns to date” against Iranian energy infrastructure targets, citing multiple sources. The Israeli and U.S. militaries joined forces to launch the initial strikes in this conflict at the end of February.... During [a Cabinet] meeting [Friday], the president said the U.S. military would be hitting Iran 'very hard.' 'At some point, they’re going to say, “We just can’t take it anymore,’” he said while reporters were still in the room. Trump also said Iran is doing 'very poorly' and said its leadership has been 'very dishonest.'” ~~~

~~~ Yippee Ki Yay. Heather Cox Richardson pegs Trump's and Hegseth's enthusiasm for war and other acts of aggression to an ideology centered on "the American cowboy, as the figure the American government should privilege and protect. In their mythology, the cowboy wanted nothing from the government but to be left alone to rise through his own hard work, protecting himself and his family from wrongdoers with his gun and his principles. The education, expertise, cooperation, and coalitions on which the modern U.S. stood before Trump were signs not of strength, but of weakness." 

Heather Cox Richardson takes a look back at the history of the social safety net. "But now, in 2026, the Republicans in charge of our government reject the vision of a government that works to support its people. They see government regulation, taxation, and a social safety net as an attack on individual liberty. In their One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which they passed in July 2025 with no Democratic votes, the Republicans delivered Trump’s signature economic policy. The law partially offset trillions of dollars in tax cuts by cutting $911 billion from Medicaid over ten years. Most of those cuts will begin to take effect in late 2026 and early 2027, after the midterm election." Clever. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Well, you ask, just where are these cuts coming from? Here's one place: from lazy folks lying around on their deathbeds: ~~~  

~~~ Robyn Pennacchia of Wonkette: “On Thursday, US District Judge Richard Stearns of Massachusetts (a Clinton appointee) denied a request from Democratic attorneys general of 25 states and the District of Columbia to postpone the implementation of a new rule that would require Medicaid patients with terminal diseases to prove that they are too 'medically frail' to be able to work 80 hours a month or be cut off entirely.... You can be on your literal deathbed and you will need to convince some random bureaucrats that you really are too sick to work, in order to not get kicked out of it.... It’s not especially easy to navigate bureaucracy while also being very, very sick — and that’s not meant to be a bug, but a feature.” Thanks to Ken W. for the link. Ken makes the point that this is just another in our continuing series, "Cruelty Is the Point, Ctd." But there's more. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Miranda Yaver of MS NOW: “The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Tuesday that it will end a subsidy program to stabilize premiums of Medicare Part D prescription drug plans, in which nearly 25 million people are enrolled.... Unlike traditional Medicare, which does not cover most outpatient prescription drugs, Medicare Part D offers stand-alone prescription drug plans through private insurers.... Subsidies, which the Biden administration set up to offset increases in premiums, were supposed to run through at least 2027, but CMS is now moving to end them early.... This policy shift undercuts Trump’s expressed commitment to prescription drug affordability, the rare healthcare issue on which the White House has sought to claim the political high ground.... The subsidy elimination also aligns with the administration’s broader efforts to reduce social spending, most notably through the historic Medicaid and SNAP cuts in last year’s 'big, beautiful bill.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ AND How About This Diabolical Plot Targeting Little Children? Death by Deregulation. Coral Davenport of the New York Times: “The Trump administration is preparing a major rollback of federal requirements for Head Start, a change that supporters of the child care program fear could gut its longstanding antipoverty mission. The proposed changes would remove most of Head Start’s 133 pages of requirements for math and literacy curriculums, class sizes, medical screenings, home visits and even a requirement that children brush their teeth after meals.... Head Start advocates say that erasing regulations serves as a backdoor way to dismantle a program the administration does not like. The White House last year called Head Start 'radical' and tried but failed to freeze spending on it.... The program, which today serves about 700,000 children under 6, has for decades attracted bipartisan support.” The link is a gift link.

Joe Gould & Kadia Goba of NOTUS: “... Donald Trump hasn’t ruled out deploying troops or federal agents to polling places in November. Democrats are preparing for how to respond in case that happens. Democratic lawmakers ... conducted closed-door tabletop exercises last week that included the possibility of armed federal personnel dispatched near polling places.& Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California), who participated in the exercises led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, said Democrats are preparing to challenge the administration over any 'pretext they would make for this type of deployment — because they would be lies — before those deployments even happen.'... Senate Democrats plan to use election observers at the polls to monitor and document any inappropriate activity so they can respond in the moment and inform potential action by Congress. In the meantime, Padilla said Democrats are encouraging early voting.” Read the whole article. It hints at how dire the situation is. And this isn't just wackos tearing their hair out because of imagined scenarios. This is level-headed, experienced people who are anticipating the Trump playbook. (Also linked yesterday.)

Peter Jamison of the Washington Post recounts the last day of an Ohio factory from the points of view of the workers who lost their jobs: On "June 30..., the Conn Selmer plant in Eastlake, Ohio[, which produced brass musical instruments, ... closed]. At a time when the president of the United States said the country was in the midst of a manufacturing renaissance, the 150 people who still worked at the plant were losing their jobs, and seeing many of them offshored to China.... Eastlake is emblematic of the White and working-class communities that were once overwhelmingly loyal to the Democratic Party but have shifted rightward in recent decades.... Conn Selmer, whose parent company, Steinway Musical Instruments, had been acquired in 2013 by [billionaire hedge-fund owner John] Paulson’s investment business.... [Paulson is] an adviser to the president and one of his biggest fundraisers....” ~~~

~~~ Nevertheless, Trump and other Republicans really care about workers: ~~~

The Cruelty Is the Point, Ctd. Also, Climate Change is Fake. Scott Dance of the New York Times: “Republicans in Washington are taking steps to roll back federal workplace heat protections as summer temperatures surge. The Trump administration is moving to rewrite Biden-era rules that would mandate breaks and access to water and shade for workers, in a step businesses lauded but that labor groups said could weaken already limited federal protections. Congress is considering legislation that would go a step further, prohibiting the Labor Department from adopting the Biden-era heat plan or similar rules. A​t the same time, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is curtailing workplace inspections that President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s appointees had increased to raise awareness of heat-related illnesses.... The proposed revisions would also reverse momentum toward codifying extreme heat as a workplace hazard.” The link is a gift link.

Marie: Say, George Santos is back in the news. I'll bet he mended his ways after Donald Trump so generously commuted his seven-plus-year prison sentence after he was convicted of wire fraud & identity theft: ~~~

~~~ Stella Canino-Quiñones of the Washington Post: “Former congressman George Santos (R-New York) agreed to pay $35,000 to settle charges by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that he engaged in “manipulative activity” in trades he made regarding whether he would attend the State of the Union address, the CFTC said in a statement Friday. Santos traded on a contract on the prediction market Kalshi in February titled 'Who will attend the State of the Union?,' and specifically traded on the question of his own attendance, according to the CFTC. In social media posts, Santos made 'material misrepresentations and omissions' about his attendance, the CFTC said. Once the prices moved favorably for him, he raked in more than $17,500 in profits, the regulatory agency said.... Santos will pay a penalty of $17,500, will surrender his profits and will be banned from prediction market trading for three years.”

Annals of “Journalism,” Ctd. Bezos Post Opinion Editor Quits. Erik Wemple of the New York Times: “Adam O’Neal, the top editor of The Washington Post’s opinion section, resigned on Friday, a little more than a year after Jeff Bezos, the paper’s owner, hired him to reorient the section toward a more libertarian bent. 'While this was not an easy decision, I am leaving proud of how far the opinion section has come and optimistic that its best days lie ahead,' Mr. O’Neal wrote in a note to colleagues. He did not say in the note why he was leaving. In a meeting with colleagues on Friday, Mr. O’Neal explained that his departure was a 'personal decision' that he had been considering for a while, according to two people who attended.” The link is a gift link.

Marie's Sports News. Adam Crafton & Dan Sheldon of the Athletic/New York Times: “FIFA and Gianni Infantino have performed a dramatic U-turn on his plot to sell a stake in its commercial and event operations after widespread condemnation of the plans.... Infantino’s proposal attracted major opposition from UEFA, Concacaf and the Asian federation (AFC), with the European confederation saying all 55 of its members would boycott FIFA competitions, including World Cups, if the plans remained on the table.” The link is a gift link.

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Arizona. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: “A ransom note addressed to Savannah Guthrie a day after her 84-year-old mother, Nancy Guthrie, was kidnapped said that the elder Ms. Guthrie was 'safe but scared,' but another note sent several days later said that she had died unexpectedly of a medical condition. The notes, released on Friday by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department in Arizona, suggested that whoever was responsible for her abduction may not have intended to kill her. And their release, nearly six months after Ms. Guthrie’s disappearance, was also a sign of how little apparent progress the investigation has made. The sheriff’s department released the notes without saying whether they were authentic, but said that investigators hoped someone would recognize the writer’s 'patterns of word choice, syntax and phraseology.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: (1) I recall that shortly after her abduction, reports indicated that Nancy Guthrie had a medical condition that required her to adhere to a regimen of medications. So her abduction -- without her meds -- obviously contributed to her death, assuming she is dead. Under most state laws, that would make her kidnappers responsible for her death. (2) An expert CNN interviewed yesterday said the senders' notes appeared to be AI-generated, so I would be surprised if they would be much help in identifying the senders in the way Unabomber Ted Kaczynski's sister-in-law & brother identified Kaczynski as the possible author of a long "manifesto."

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~~~ Spain/Morocco, et al. Anthony Faiola of the Washington Post: “The sudden arrival of a massive group of migrants at a Spanish exclave in North Africa triggered a fresh wave of political attacks against Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on both sides of the Atlantic, as voices from the right in Spain, Germany, Italy and France, with the White House joining in, lashed out against Europe’s leading liberal in office. Spanish officials said nearly 50,000 migrants rushed the Spanish territory [of Cueta] over the past 24 hours, swimming or climbing over fences into the small outpost with a population of 83,000, 11 miles from the Spanish mainland and accessible via an hour-long ferry. At least 57 people died in the mad dash to Ceuta, Spanish authorities said. As images of the crush spread quickly via social media, Spain responded, ordering a military deployment on Thursday to restore order. On Friday, Spain reinforced security and border fences, with Morocco deploying water cannons to push migrants back. Spain is rapidly repatriating the new arrivals. By Friday afternoon, around 3:30 p.m. local time, 37,500 migrants had been returned to Morocco....” The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Zoya Sheftalovich of Politico: “More than 48,300 of the approximately 50,000 people who entered the Spanish exclave of Ceuta from Morocco have returned, a Spanish government official told Politico. 'Most of the people that came yesterday are now back in Morocco,' said the official....” (Also linked yesterday.)