Trump Says Sailors' 244-Day Tour of Duty Was "Not Nearly Long Enough." Julie Tsirkin, et al., of NBC News: "... Donald Trump on Friday dismissed concerns from families of service members about the grim conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, whose deployment had been overextended in the Middle East due to the Iran war.... Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews, NBC News asked Trump if the deployments have gone on for too long and if he’s worried about troops’ mental health. 'No. No. No — not nearly long enough,' Trump said. In interviews with NBC News and other outlets, family members of some of the thousands of people aboard the ship have described a lack of supplies and food and an overall deteriorating mental health situation with multiple sailors having attempted to jump overboard.... The vessel has been at sea for 244 consecutive days." ~~~
~~~ Update. Erica Green & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: “When the reporter said that the crew members’ families were concerned, Mr. Trump said, 'No, they’re not.'... Later on Friday, while speaking at an event in Garden City, N.Y., Mr. Trump continued to defend the war and boast about its progress.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ John Ismay, et al., of the New York Times: “The aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln’s supply problems began soon after the first day of the war, as Iranian missiles and attack drones fell on a Navy base in Bahrain. The Iranian attack, retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli assault on Tehran, destroyed much of the base. And as it went up in smoke, so did a major logistics hub that the Navy has relied on for decades.... With the threat of Iranian attacks at other ports in the region, the Pentagon looked to a base under British command on the island of Diego Garcia as its supply hub.... At the war’s outset, Keir Starmer, then the British prime minister, denied the Pentagon access to Diego Garcia for use in the operation against Iran. That decision drew Mr. Trump’s ire, and Mr. Starmer ultimately relented on March 1.... The Navy began using Diego Garcia as the main shipment point shortly after the Navy’s base in Bahrain was heavily damaged.” The link is a gift link. MB: Diego Garcia is about 2,200 miles from where the Lincoln is located now, yet as nearly as I can tell, it's still the “supply hub” for the carrier because closer established supply hubs are “well within the range of Iranian missiles.”
Finya Swai of the Hill: “Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) blasted ... [Donald] Trump on Thursday for ordering the U.S. Navy to revert to older catapult systems on its aircraft carriers, arguing the change would be costly while questioning Trump’s qualifications to make such a call. 'He’s a marginally failed real estate developer with multiple bankruptcies,' Kelly said in an interview with MS NOW. 'He shouldn’t be weighing in on systems, on aircraft carriers.'... Kelly, a former Navy combat pilot and NASA astronaut who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, warned the move would force the Navy to redesign ships that are well into development and are 'probably going to cost billions of dollars.'” Video embedded below.
Lawrence Hurley of NBC News: "... Donald Trump on Friday asked the Supreme Court to allow him to continue construction of a sprawling ballroom adjacent to the White House. The emergency application follows an Aug. 7 ruling by an appeals court in Washington upholding a federal judge’s decision that would block aboveground work on site while litigation moves forward."
Josh Gerstein of Politico: “The BBC is seeking to subpoena ... Donald Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner in connection with a $10 billion defamation lawsuit the president is pressing against the U.K. broadcaster. Lawyers for the BBC say the Trump family members 'without question have personal knowledge' about President Trump’s intentions in delivering the speech at the heart of the case: his Jan. 6, 2021, address to supporters at the Ellipse as the Capitol attack was getting underway. The president’s lawsuit alleges that a BBC documentary aired in the U.K. in 2024 defamed him by splicing together distant parts of the speech to make it sound like he was endorsing violence. The BBC has apologized for the editing but denies that it is valid grounds for a suit.”
Everybody on Trump's Payroll Is Corrupt. Reis Thebault of the New York Times: “As ... [Donald] Trump fumed late last year over Colorado’s imprisonment of Tina Peters, a convicted election denier, a White House special assistant organized an urgent 'brainstorm call.' The goal, outlined in an email sent to officials at five federal agencies, was to prioritize Colorado for the purposes of ensuring grants and federal support are in line with administration priorities, the assistant, Emily Underwood, wrote on Dec. 15.... The next day, the Department of Transportation and the Department of Energy, whose representatives were invited to the brainstorm, announced they were canceling hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants for Colorado projects.... [Colorado is suing the Trump administration.] Judge R. Brooke Jackson of U.S. District Court expressed shock at the revelation.” The link is a gift link.
JoJo From Jerz of Are You F'ng Kidding Me? has some words for Karoline Leavitt. Lots of words. Choice words. MB: I suspect JoJo went to the Akhilleus School of Creative Writing & aced all her classes.
Donald Trump, Wasting Your Taxpayer Dollars on His Conspiracy Theories. Peter Elkind, et al., of ProPublica: In late March, “the federal government was scrambling to find criminal cases to back up ... Donald Trump’s claims that illegal voting by noncitizens was tipping the scales in American elections. Agents from Homeland Security Investigations, a massive federal law enforcement agency, had been dispatched to work leads across the country.... HSI deployed its tech platform to find noncitizens on voter rolls, despite warnings from agency insiders that it would lead to an 'ungodly' number of false positives.... DOJ leaders ignored internal concerns that transferring voter lists to HSI for criminal investigation might not be legal.... An investigation by ProPublica reveals for the first time how the Trump administration came to harness HSI’s personnel, technology and sweeping legal authority in service of its election agenda — and how meager the results have been, despite the prodigious resources sunk into the effort.... Despite intense White House pressure, the effort has produced only a few dozen noncitizen voter prosecutions nationwide — and even fewer convictions.”
Edward Helmore of the Guardian: “A woman was arrested on Friday morning in connection with the vandalization of the National World War Two Memorial on the National Mall in Washington DC, the capital’s federal prosecutor announced. Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, announced mid-morning that a suspect was in custody and had been charged with federal crimes. The memorial had graffiti scrawled on it and the pool polluted with soapy bubbles.” Related story linked below.
Tim Craig, et al., of the Washington Post: “Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty Friday to federal stalking charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and admitted that he shot the executive outside an investor conference in late 2024. Mangione, 28, read a statement in court in which he described tracking Thompson to the conference in Midtown Manhattan and shooting Thompson with a 3D-printed gun equipped with a silencer.... He is scheduled to stand trial next month on state murder charges.”
Israel/U.K. Emma Graham-Harrison & Rowena Mason of the Guardian: “The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called the UK 'the Islamic republic of Britain' in a podcast interview, where he also described the country as the 'first Islamic republic to get a nuclear weapon'. His comments, made during an interview for Israel’s army radio, played into a common far-right Islamophobic trope about Britain’s small Muslim population.”
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Marie: There's more, but I need a break. I'll add some Garbage de Trump et Cie this afternoon. There are some excellent links in today's Comments. But there's more. Much more. And the reason is because (a construction to horrify every bona fide teacher of English) Trump & his cronies commit more corrupt acts every single day than any single person can digest in any single day.
They Just Won't Stop. Julia Jacobs of the New York Times: “The board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted on Thursday to inscribe ... [Donald] Trump’s name on the building beneath the main signage, according to two people with direct knowledge of the proceedings, aggressively testing a federal judge’s order. According to the resolution approved by the Trump-allied board, the inscription underneath the institution’s name would read: 'Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.' The board’s decision, which directs officials to act by 'all legal means,' came shortly after it voted to move forward with Mr. Trump’s plan to shutter the building for renovations.... The president’s name was added to the building last year, but the judge ordered the letters taken down, finding that only Congress had the authority to change the institution’s name.
“The center removed Mr. Trump’s name in June but is appealing the ruling. The move appeared to be a creative workaround to a provision in the federal law governing the Kennedy Center that says 'no additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas.'” The board also stuck with their decision to close down the center, even though the court had found that board had been “derelict” in making that decision.” The board also suggested “naming the center’s grounds the 'President Donald J. Trump Plaza.'” The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Lawrence O'Donnell interviewed Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, who is a member of the board. Whitehouse said that Donald Trump -- who made himself chairman of the board -- phoned in to the meeting and said he had been listening in on all or most of the proceedings. Whitehouse said Trump boasted about his ballroom (which has nothing to do with the Kennedy Center, of course.) Trump claimed, contra extensive reporting and public documentation, that the ballroom project was completely paid for by private donations. And then -- Donald Trump voted to slap his name back up there on the Kennedy Center, naming the grounds for himself, and shutting down the main center for the rest of his term in office. Whitehouse noted that the resolution was brought and passed without input of counsel; he doesn't think the court will let it fly. Update: Ah, here it is on the YouTubes: ~~~
Jonathan O'Connell & Sarah Blaskey of the Washington Post: “Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other top Senate Democrats are requesting an audit of spending on the White House East Wing and ballroom, saying in a letter Wednesday that the Trump administration’s handling of the project raises 'serious concerns about transparency, accountability, and stewardship of this national landmark.' The D.C. Circuit Court ruled [a week ago] Friday that Trump needed congressional approval to continue work on the ballroom, setting up a likely Supreme Court showdown. For months..., Donald Trump said the project would be fully funded by private donors; more recently, he has said that taxpayers will be paying for major security components of the East Wing. The White House maintains that the ballroom itself will be privately funded. On Wednesday, The Washington Post, citing confidential contracts and other documents, reported that the administration is now planning to spend at least $927 million on White House campus projects, including the East Wing, with most of the money coming from taxpayers.”
Riley Beggin & Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump’s media company has forged ahead with selling investors advance access to top Truth Social posts despite legal and ethical questions as it faces renewed scrutiny over its financial stability and relevance. Trump Media & Technology Group reported Monday that it had signed up more than 10 customers in the week since the launch of its new product, Truth API. Some were paying less than the $100,000 per month it had initially asked, the company said.... On Wednesday, two media organizations sued Trump and other administration officials over Truth API. The Intercept and the Freedom of the Press Foundation argued that the service is unconstitutional because it gives paying customers privileged access to public, market-moving announcements.... Trump Media stock dropped slightly after-hours following the earnings call. It has fallen by nearly 40 percent this year, and traffic to Truth Social has declined. Meanwhile, world leaders say they have grown inured to the threats the president regularly posts to the platform. Still, the company’s quarterly revenue climbed 89 percent over the same time period last year, driven in part by its streaming platform and advertising on Truth Social.”
Hugo Chiasson & Elise Spenner of the Harvard Crimson: “A district court judge dismissed the Trump administration’s antisemitism lawsuit against Harvard on Thursday, concluding that the incidents pointed to by the government were 'too isolated and episodic' to show that the University remained in violation of federal civil rights law. U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns wrote that the government’s amended complaint focused almost entirely on incidents from the 2023-2024 school year and cited just three incidents from March 2025. The government sued Harvard in March alleging that the University’s response to alleged antisemitism following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack was so inadequate that it constituted 'deliberate indifference.' The lawsuit sought extraordinary relief, asking the court to cut off future funding to Harvard and retroactively claw back nearly $1 billion in federal grants issued.... The brief, four-page decision dealt a major blow to one of the Trump administration’s most aggressive legal attempts to hold Harvard accountable for its response to campus antisemitism — but stopped short of deciding whether the University had violated civil rights law during the tumultuous months immediately following Oct. 7.” (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times report is here; the link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: As Lawrence O'Donnell said last night, the judge's decision embarrasses not only Donald Trump but also the universities that capitulated to him.
~~~ Marie: Sen. Mark Kelly, a former Navy pilot and astronaut, told Jen Psaki last night that he has flown off of carriers hundreds of times and has a master's degree in aeronautical engineering. Nonetheless, he said he would never dare to order systems engineers how to design the launch system for jets flying off carriers, much less make that order based on a single conversation he had with some guy a decade ago. (Of course, as far as we know, Mark Kelly does not have the "very good brain" that came with Trump's "good genes," proof of which is an uncle who was an accomplished MIT professor.) BTW, if you read the Guardian's story, you'll see that the supposed conversation with the navy man was another "Sir" story -- so fictional or mostly fictional. ~~~
~~~ This news report by Sam Lagrone & others of USNI [U.S. Naval Institute] News has more details on President* Steamhead's commands. Also this: “... Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to consider foreign-built warships and auxiliary vessels for the U.S. Navy, in addition to other proposed changes to shipbuilding, in a sweeping presidential memo released on Thursday. Citing a lack of capacity in the U.S. naval shipbuilding base and cost growth, Trump is instead calling for more foreign investment in U.S. shipbuilding and the use of foreign ship designs that would initially get constructed abroad.... By law, American warships and cutters have to be built in the U.S., but the president has broad authority to waive that requirement for general 'national security interests.' Congress is trying to halt the executive push for foreign shipbuilding....”
~~~ Here's a related report by Emily Chang & Nicholas Kerr of ABC News. Also too: "... Donald Trump signed [a proclamation] on Thursday ... imposing tariffs on drones.... Trump is slapping 'ad valorem' tariffs on drones and drone parts, citing the 'national security threat' posed by such devices. The tariff is set to take effect 21 days after signing. The tariffs on drone components that are 'not particularly sensitive' will take effect 180 days after signing. According to a fact sheet released by the White House, this includes a 100% tariff on 'particularly sensitive' drones, as well as a 25% tariff on those that are smaller in size with less pressing security concerns. The proclamation also imposes a 15% tariff on drones and components from the European Union, Japan, Liechtenstein, the Republic of Korea, Switzerland and Taiwan, as well as a 10% tariff on some drones from the United Kingdom.”
As long as I'm president, we will be the best led, the best trained, the best equipped, the most disciplined, and the most elite fighting force the world has ever seen. -- Donald Trump, February 13, 2026 ~~~
~~~ John Ismay, et al., of the New York Times: “Democratic senators have begun raising concerns about the extended deployment of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, amid reports about poor living conditions and a lack of downtime for the crew after more than eight and a half months at sea. The Lincoln, a San Diego-based aircraft carrier with a crew of about 5,000 sailors, is supporting U.S. operations in the Middle East against Iran. In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Hung Cao, the acting Navy secretary, Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, described a list of reported problems on the ship.... Senator Ruben Gallego, Democrat of Arizona, said in a social media post on Wednesday that he was requesting an overnight visit to the Lincoln for a bipartisan delegation of lawmakers.” The link is a gift link. See related stories linked yesterday. A NOTUS report is here. ~~~
~~~ The NOTUS report, BTW, includes Drunk Pete's response. Rather than being reassuring, rather than promising to improve conditions, rather than apologizing for dropping the ball, Pete follows Trump's Handbook for Narcissists. Pete first says that stories about conditions on the U.S.S. Lincoln are misrepresentations. Then he lets you know that He Pete Hegseth is extraordinary and a better person than critics of the ship's conditions: “We make sure every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment.... I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody.”
There are many ways in which autocrats work against ordinary people and for their wealthy cronies. Here's a stereotypical but perverse way: ~~~
(1) ~~~ “No Fraud Is Too Small.” Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: “As the White House expands its 'war on fraud,' the Justice Department announced criminal charges in recent days against a new symbol of that battle — a food truck in Santa Ana, Calif. Soriano Produce, a weathered white food truck advertising ice cream treats as well as fruits and vegetables, drew the attention of undercover agents at Immigration and Customs Enforcement for what investigators said was a startlingly high number of food stamp transactions for such a small business. The case against the food truck owner, Esmeralda Soriano, is an example of the Trump administration’s push to show that 'no fraud is small enough or big enough to look away from,' as Vice President JD Vance said in a speech in April. The new emphasis on small-dollar fraud comes as the administration has issued pardons and commutations to white-collar convicts, pulled back from pursuing criminal cases against multinational corporations and dropped high-profile charges against wealthy executives.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ (2) Catherine Rampell in the Bulwark: “... the Department of the Treasury announced this week that it would destroy the government’s registry of shell-company ownership. This is an anti-corruption database that Treasury is by law required to maintain, so that law enforcement can more easily “follow the money” when investigating crimes. Even worse, the Trump administration will also destroy all the data it has already collected, so that no future presidential administration or local police department can use it, either. 'It’s like Trump ordering the deletion of the FBI’s entire fingerprint database,' former congressman Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), a champion of the 2021 law that created the corporate registry, told The Bulwark. They’re effectively salting the earth, so that sex traffickers, scam artists, drug lords, money-launderers, and tax cheats can roam free not only through the end of Trump’s time in office but long after he’s out, too.” MB: I linked to a story about this the other day, but I didn't quite get how bad it was. Rampell and Malinowski explain.
Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “For nearly a year, the American Civil Liberties Union has been waiting for an answer to a legal question arising from one of the earliest pillars of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration agenda. Could ... [Donald] Trump use the sweeping powers of an 18th-century wartime law to summarily deport people accused of belonging to a Venezuelan street gang? In September, a three-judge panel of the conservative federal appeals court in New Orleans provided a response, rejecting Mr. Trump’s use of the law, the Alien Enemies Act, after finding that the American homeland was not under invasion by the gang, Tren de Aragua.
“On Thursday, however, the full court, which had been mulling the question ever since, made the unusual decision to dismiss the case altogether because of what amounted to a legal technicality. The judges ruled that because the government had already expelled the three Venezuelan men who filed the original lawsuit challenging Mr. Trump through traditional immigration methods, there were no longer any plaintiffs — and so no longer any case. The surprise move ... was a messy — and somewhat baffling — conclusion to the leading case in a long-running and multipronged legal battle that had seemed destined to end up in a showdown at the Supreme Court.” The link is a gift link. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~
~~~ Rebecca Schoenkopf of Wonkette points to the opening graf of the ruling by the Fifth circuit: "'It has long been established that mail-in ballots are prone to fraud. See, e.g., Veasey v. Perry, 71 F. Supp. 3d 627, 676 (S.D. Tex. 2014) (“Mail-in ballots are not secure.”), aff’d in relevant part, 830 F.3d 216, 256 (5th Cir. 2016) (en banc). That is why voting by mail jeopardizes election integrity and democracy itself.' That’s a pretty bad ruling!"
Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “In 1924, Congress sent a message to the world: We are no longer ready to take 'your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.' Seized by fears around crime, demographics and economic losses, it set quotas that limited immigration from Italy, Poland and Russia. It effectively barred immigration from Asia. It also instituted a cap of 150,000 immigrants allowed into the country in a given year, rejecting the vision laid out by the writer Emma Lazarus in her famous poem.... Today, many historians see those dynamics repeating — except this time..., [Donald] Trump is hardening the country’s borders against the huddled masses largely on his own authority....
“Using administrative action, and backed by expansive new powers upheld by the Supreme Court, Mr. Trump has drastically pulled back on all forms of immigration. He has banned asylum at the southern border. He has ended deportation protections for people from disaster- and war-scarred countries. He has blocked refugees except a group of mostly white South Africans. He has instituted policies essentially halting long-term immigration from parts of the Middle East and Africa. And he has tried to limit green cards for those who could be seen as relying on government benefits. At the same time, he has deported hundreds of thousands of people and paid others to leave voluntarily, using threats of being banished to dangerous third countries if they stay.” The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Alan Feuer & Ernesto Londoño of the New York Times: “Four days after Alex Pretti was fatally shot while filming officers taking part in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota, the Homeland Security Department quietly opened an investigation ... not the Border Patrol agents who had killed Mr. Pretti ... [but into] several left-leaning political organizations — labor unions, a climate change group, socialist collectives — that investigators believed had provided help and money to what they described as the 'violent opportunists and agitators' on the street, according to newly released government documents. As part of their inquiry, the documents show, homeland security officials used an array of invasive tactics during the first half of this year to gather information on many groups and individuals who were never accused of crimes, crossing the line that has traditionally stood between investigating criminal activity and political dissent.” The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)
The juxtaposition of the following two linked stories -- one from the NYT & the other from the WashPo -- is rather extraordinary.
(1) While stories like the "No Fraud Is Too Small" make it clear Trump is operating from the Dictator's Manual, he is picking and choose his lessons. Making the trains run on time is a chapter he skipped over. ~~~
~~~ Scott Dance of the New York Times: “At the start of what is becoming an intense wildfire season this year, federal officials warned of a 15 percent decrease in available 'hotshot' teams, the elite squads that fight complex blazes in the most rugged areas.... The nation’s wildfire-fighting corps is a mix of state, local and federal workers and private crews-for-hire who work together. As more than 100 wildfires burn in 15 states, state resources are strained. At the same time, the federal government has cut jobs at the U.S. Forest Service and is consolidating its firefighting capabilities. The result is confusion, supply problems and slower responses.... A combination of larger and more numerous fires and the Trump administration’s changes has made it harder for officials to deploy and manage firefighters effectively this year.... Climate change-fueled drought has primed Western landscapes for fast-spreading flames: Warming temperatures allow the air to suck moisture from the landscape more quickly, increasing the dry fuel available for fires. The administration has cut more than than 5,800 jobs from the Forest Service....” The link is a gift link. ~~~
(2) ~~~ IOW, it seems that Trump doesn't care if the homes of ordinary people burn down. True enough, but look what happens when an oligarch calls: ~~~
~~~ Brianna Sachs & Andrew Ba Tran of the Washington Post: “Undersecretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment Michael Boren, who oversees the U.S. Forest Service, asked agency staff last month to escalate the amount of aircraft at a seven-acre fire that had started near his mega-ranch in Idaho’s Sawtooth National Forest, according to two Forest Service officials familiar with the matter. Boren, a tech billionaire and Trump appointee, oversees about 200 million acres of national forest and public land. He also owns thousands of acres in Idaho, including the 480-acre Hell Roaring Ranch situated within the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. And before his current role, Boren has clashed with the Forest Service numerous times over the years. On July 12..., while at his ranch, Boren called Forest Service officials in the Sawtooth Forest at the regional level and national operations in Washington multiple times to question why there weren’t more aircraft battling the fire.... [Although the Sawtooth fire] '... was easily accessible by ground...,' at least some of the aircraft were diverted from efforts to contain fires elsewhere in the state....” The link is a gift link.
Drew Harwell, et al., of the Washington Post: “The country’s most prominent seller of automated license-plate readers said Thursday it will enact major changes in hopes of more proactively preventing abuse by police officers. Flock, the maker of a vast roadside camera network that maps cars’ movements into a database searchable by law enforcement, said it would for the first time start requiring officers to label every search with a criminal case number and automatically review all searches for 'abnormal activity,' a previously voluntary feature that the company said was used by about a third of its 7,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide.... The announcement [of this and other changes] comes roughly a week after The Washington Post reported that at least 50 officers had been accused, charged with or convicted of misusing Flock’s system and other license-plate readers to spy on people’s locations, including to stalk their girlfriends and ex-wives. Since publication, The Post has confirmed more than a dozen additional cases of license-plate-reader misuse.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Liam Scott & Rachel Kurzius of the Washington Post: “Part of the World War II Memorial on the National Mall was covered in soapy bubbles and red graffiti Thursday in an incident that the U.S. Park Police were investigating. Mountains of white suds appeared in and around the memorial’s fountain by the Atlantic Arch. Red graffiti spelled out 'Clean hands dirty $' beneath the arch, and red and green paint was splattered on some of the granite stonework. While the affected fountain looked like a bubble bath, the water in the Rainbow Pool continued to flow.” A UPI story is here.
⭐Amanda Marcotte of Salon has an excellent lesson for Democrats on how to win elections: “I’m a pretty far-left progressive, with politics that tend to be called 'socialist' these days. I want to nationalize health care, make college and childcare free, and tax billionaires out of existence. But still, I was so glad to wake up yesterday morning to the news that David Crowley beat Francesca Hong in the Wisconsin Democratic primary for governor. She can’t win a general election.... Don’t get me wrong. I’m annoyed at all the centrists on MS NOW crowing about how this is a defeat for the left. No, it is not. Her actual policy platform included incredibly reasonable calls for affordable education and expanding BadgerCare. But Hong couldn’t stop confirming people’s suspicions that she was the stereotype of a hectoring leftist.... The left wins when it backs candidates who lead with joy and humor, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Mayor Zohran Mamdani.”
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| Loser "Winner" |
~~~ U.K. Nigel Vanquishes a Trash Bin! Michael Shear of the New York Times: “Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform U.K., Britain’s populist right-wing party, won a special election on Thursday that he initiated when he resigned amid a parliamentary investigation into possible financial impropriety. As expected, Mr. Farage easily defeated dozens of fringe and novelty candidates, including Count Binface, who wears a trash-can-themed costume. None of Britain’s other major parties participated in the race, the results of which were announced early Friday. They called it a political stunt engineered by the Reform leader to distract from the investigation.” The link is a gift link.
28 comments:
"Republicans" want SNAP the same way they want equal rights for all and affordable healthcare or billionaires to pay their fair share, in theory but not in reality. If Republican voters actually wanted any of the decent things they claim to support they would not be voting for Republicans who do and claim the opposite. And Republican voters should get NO credit for empty platitudes that have no connection with how they actually live their lives or vote.
"Democrats and Republicans Want Higher SNAP Benefits as Grocery Bills Rise
Democratic and Republican voters across a series of politically competitive states and congressional districts broadly agree that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits should be increased, new polling shows, as grocery prices continue to put pressure on household budgets."
Deficit Hawks
"The U.S. federal budget deficit for July jumped to $432 billion, a record for the month, as higher outlays and more negative tariff revenues also brought the 2026 fiscal-year-to-date budget gap to $1.799 trillion, topping the full fiscal 2025 deficit with two months left in the fiscal year, the U.S. Treasury said."
"Congo’s Ebola outbreak is on track to surpass the deadliest one in history, WHO chief says
The ongoing Ebola outbreak in Congo is on track to surpass the deadliest one in history, which erupted over a decade ago and killed over 11,000 people, the head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday."
Republicans want to roll back as many regulations as possible. They have claimed that the government is too involved in people's lives. That is unless they can use some obscure regulation to attack their opposition right now. But in fact those regulations were put in place to combat real problems and in many cases to protect the vulnerable. Republicans in many cases don't care about the consequences of their actions and in some are actively trying to undermine the good the government has done to protect people, including kids.
As sycophantic media suckups raise hosannahs to KKKaroline Leavitt as a great and wonderful press secretary, it's important not to forget what a nasty harridan she was (is).
Yesterday, looking for a particularly nasty slur she tossed at some reporter who dared to ask her a question she had no idea how to answer (except to attack the questioner), I watched a few videos of her press conferences. Holy Cow (as Yankees announcer Phil Rizzuto used to say). What a witch! I do have to give her credit for being able to direct a non-stop firehose of lies and sleazy accusations of horrid "disrespect" for the Orange Monster towards anyone asking simple questions about one of his many idiotic EO's or mumbling word salads. He picked a good one. Oh, not for the job of press secretary, whose remit required communicating important information to the press and the public. Her job was to viciously attack, attack, attack, to sneer, to lie, to spit out constant, embarrassing encomiums to her fat boss who had that very day done "Immensely great work for the American People, at his own expense! And you all had better worship him for it, OR ELSE!"
Like everyone else caught in the orbit of the fat ball of evil that squats at the Irresolute Desk, falling asleep, shitting his diaper, farting, and singning obscene orders to fold, spindle, and mutilate the American Experiment, Tokyo Rose Garden's job was almost 100% performative. Her querulous quotidian impersonations of an actual press secretary were designed and carried out as performance art for an audience of one. Her job was to tear into the press he/she hated and to coddle the MAGA stenographers, fawners, and flunkies. And she never wavered. She was like an actor seeking admission to the Royal Shakespeare Company who never headed for the loo without shouting "Once more into the breach, dear friends" as if to remind the RSC gatekeepers that her every thought was Bardly based.
Because she knew that over in the Opioid Office, that sleazy den of golden gewgaws and childish tchotchkes, sat the Orange Monster, stewing in his poopy diaper, listening intently for the slightest hint of decency or truth. He's like that six year old little monster in that Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life" who would turn people who displeased him, who didn't worship him, who didn't say wonderful things about him into ghastly things or banish them to the cornfields behind his house.
We forget (and they simply don't give a shit) that these fucking people work for us, not the other way around. But like little Anthony Fremont in that Twilight Zone ep, they all wish for us to just go away and die so they can get on with their looting, their lies, their horrible grifting.
And KKKaroline was one of the best at all of that.
Wait...so Fatty was listening in on the entire proceedings of that Kennedy Center committee meeting, a committee composed largely of snickering lickspittles? He doesn't have better things to. do?
We are a nation in trouble, we are in the middle of a war, we have raging forest fires, sky high prices for gas and groceries, we have masked goons parading around the streets shooting people, crippling healthcare costs, a measles epidemic, an economy in the toilet and this fat piece of shit has nothing better to do other than making sure his toadies get his name on a building???? After a court told him to fuck off with that shit?
Here's a very revealing bit about that mania for imprinting his gigantic, childish scrawl across the face of America and the world. Some Matt Mowers person, a former "advisor" to Fatty (what kind of job is that anyway? He doesn't listen to anyone but himself) was on CNN lying about how the Fat Fascist doesn't care one bit about getting his name on the Kennedy Center building. He was brought up short by CNN's Pamela Brown:
"Mowers, who served as a senior adviser during Trump’s first term, gave his two cents on displaying the president’s name across the iconic building on Thursday’s edition of CNN’s The Arena, explaining, 'Look — it doesn’t bother me, it doesn’t help me. I don’t really care too much about it. I don’t think most Americans do.'
'Honestly,' he continued, 'I don’t think the president truly cares that much either.'
'Hold on!”' Brown interjected. 'Let me tell you why I know he does. He’s cared about this since his 20s. He told my mom [former First Lady of Kentucky Phyllis George], in his 20s, that his dream was to have his name on every building in the world.'"
Yeah. What she said. This is why the entire country can go straight to hell, but Fatty's primary concern is now and always will be, himself.
Oops...sorry...here's the link to the CNN story referred to in the previous comment.
How much will you bet me that Fat Hitler SOOOOoooo wishes he could change his "Sir" stories into "Your majesty" fables.
Made me kinda sick, but this morning's Heather offers a good picture of where we are today.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-13-2026
A local twist on Flock cameras:
https://www.goskagit.com/news/local_news/sedro-woolley-to-pay-40k-share-in-flock-camera-case-settlement/article_
Brave Little Boy is distracting again.
Priorities Timmy, Priorities
So Many Failed On The Epstein Case
"Hugh Hefner reportedly notified the FBI that a Playboy Playmate was sexually abused and trafficked by disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and others in his orbit.
Court records state that Hefner was told by then-Playboy Playmate Audra Christiansen in 2005 that she was an Epstein survivor and requested the Playboy founder call the FBI, arguing he would have more status than her with the authorities. Hefner allegedly called the FBI several times with the tip, who didn’t investigate the claim for 15 years, according to court documents."
Qasim Rashid on Abdul El Sayed's historic run for Senate.
And the The Republican obsession of old men wanting to cosplay Thanos.
Someday, just for variety, I'd like to see Waldman not make sense.....but this isn't the day.
https://paulwaldman.substack.com/p/the-next-democratic-president-must-545
I keep reading that Democrats are asking for answers about what's going on with the USS Abraham Lincoln which has been beset with problems: food shortages, plumbing disasters, unsafe and unclean working conditions, exhausted crew members who have been at sea for 250 days without a break, and in a few cases, sailors at the end of their rope jumping overboard.
How is it that only Democrats care about these debilitating conditions, caused by Fat Hitler's ridiculous War of Ego? Well, that's the answer then, isn't it? The Party of Traitors lackeys and craven cowards want no part in an effort to find out WTF Drunk Pete's military is doing here, especially if the answers might reflect badly on the Fat Fascist.
I thought the GOP was the Party of Mighty Military Wouldja-Woo. Aren't they all gung-ho, blow 'em up, missiles up the asses of our enemies kinda guys? John Wayne go get 'em and kill 'em all types?
I guess not if it means criticizing the infant in the office.
With almost each passing hour, the evidence of true corruption and dangerous, life threatening sycophancy and cowardice pile up against this former political party. It's not a political party any longer. It's a footstool for a fat moron.
And while we're at it, how is it that Fatty is planning deluxe meals and scrumptious culinary delights in his whore house ballroom while sailors at sea doing his dirty work are scrounging for food? Does anyone think Drunk Pete is going without? Don't these grifting liars constantly brag about the greatness of the You Ess Ay? Then why can't a sailor get a fresh apple now and then and not have to wade through feces flooding the floors in order to relieve themselves?
There will be an end to (some of) this someday, but the scars from the abuse the nation is suffering at the hands of these traitors will never go away.
And while we're on the subject of the military and sycophancy, is there any chance that smart professionals in the Pentagon can sit down with the obese infant and explain that his idea about maintaining a 1950 era system is bonkers? I know he doesn't listen to anyone when he thinks he's smarter than everyone, but I'm hoping there are some clever high ranking guys at the Pentagon who can mollify the baby by saying "Sure, Mr. President, we'll get right on this" and then stall until his fat ass is out of office.
And what about this business of having foreign nations build our warships? Wouldn't this be the Qatari Bribe Force One clusterfuck all over again, but 100 times worse? This is a little boy who wants what he wants and he wants it NOW! Waaaaahhhh! But every time he rushes things along, it's a disaster. Just tell the little boy that everything is going great and we'll get right on his sling shot idea.
Then do what's best for the Navy and the country and to hell with that screaming infant.
RAS,
They should tell Mike Rogers that Thanos got his head cut off.
Check out that cartoon that RAS links, the one about little Timmy having to suffer through the measles because Fatty has to play up to the MAGA Anti-vaxxers.
This isn't just a funny cartoon (sad-funny), this is exactly what's happening. He would rather children and their parents suffer and maybe see some kids die than losing a few MAGA votes. This is the absolute truth.
Just one quick reminder about little donnie trumpie's science aptitude, since he's claiming that he knows more than Navy engineers.
Remember, this is the guy who claims magnets don't work under water and who recommended people drink a shot of Clorox to avoid Covid.
When I read Amanda Marcotte's clip (above) that we need people who campaign with joy and zest, a la AOC and Mamdani, I was reminded of Emma Goldman's retort when one of the comrades advised her that serious revolutionaries don't dance with such abandon. To which Emma was reported as saying "If I can't dance I don't want to be part of your revolution."
So I went to find the quote, and learned she never said that.She did rebut the idea that serious revolution precludes wild dancing, but the slogan came from a feminist writer in the 1970's putting the thought on a t-shirt.
Too bad. It was a great quote, but without Emma's chop it loses its luster.
Akhilleus: He IS telling "your majesty" stories. He just mispronounces "sire."
Talarico - He won't steal your pen.
Weaponization
"Smoking gun’ email shows White House summoned agencies to Colorado-focused meeting amid Tina Peters furor
In the days after December meeting, several agencies in attendance announced cuts or adverse actions against the state
In mid-December, an assistant to President Donald Trump summoned officials from several federal agencies to a meeting so they could discuss what to do about Colorado. Under the subject line “brainstorm call,” Emily Underwood asked officials from five agencies to join a call later that day “prepared to discuss immediate actions that your department or agency can take with respect to Colorado.”
The Underwood email was disclosed publicly during a hearing in Denver on Tuesday as part of a Colorado lawsuit alleging retaliation by the Trump administration that state officials argue was motivated by the president’s frustration with Peters’ incarceration and by the state’s mail-in balloting system."
How Loyal Are You? To A Foreign Power
"The US wants to know how loyal each NATO ally is to Donald Trump’s policies before cutting military assets defending the alliance. In a document recently sent to North Atlantic Treaty Organization members and seen by Bloomberg News, the US asks a series of questions that gauge support for the president’s approach. Has the country “been publicly supportive” of US foreign policy? What “restrictions” has the country placed on the US military using its bases?
The document also tries to assess whether countries are spending money with US defense contractors. And it asks whether they have “publicly opposed regulations” that “inhibit” contracts with US firms. Overall, it queries: “Has the country shown alignment with the US approach to ‘strong, clear, and quiet’?” — referencing a line from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth."
Michael Mechanic, for MotherJones, on ways Elon Musk Cost Us a Fortune
"DOGE saved us nothing. In fact, Musk’s little project has cost America dearly. In countless ways, we are much worse off than we were on the day Trump took back the Oval Office and invited the richest man on Earth to come in and break things.
....
The point is, talking about “savings” from DOGE is like talking about savings from not paying your mortgage, ignoring the part where the bank comes and takes your home. Such is the subterfuge we’re dealing with.
Breaking things is disastrously easy. Building them is hard. Elon Musk pushed Humpty Dumpty off the wall. Piecing him back together, if even possible, will take decades, concerted effort, and enormous sums of money—money that will now be in short supply thanks to Trump and his enablers."
Patrick,
Dang! I was always fond of that quote. Emma was a wild woman and she did actually once say ""If I couldn't see the funny side of things I'd have faded long ago."
In her autobiography she reflected on a scene in which she was taken to task by a young nascent revolutionary who thought her dancing at a party was unseemly for an avatar of anarchy.
"At the dances I was one of the most untiring and gayest. One evening a cousin of Sasha [Alexander Berkman, Goldman s lover], a young boy, took me aside. With a grave face, as if he were about to announce the death of a dear comrade, he whispered to me that it did not behoove an agitator to dance… My frivolity would only hurl the Cause. I grew furious at the impudent interference of the boy. I told him to mind his own business, I was tired of having the Cause constantly thrown into my face. I did not believe that a Cause which stood for a beautiful ideal, for anarchism, for release and freedom from conventions and prejudice, .should demand the denial of life and joy. . . If it meant that, I did not want it."
Emma was, not surprisingly, no fan of Rules for Anarchists. Too bad about the quote, but she is still a badass.
Just imagine what the MAGAts would try to do with someone like Emma today. These days they want to hang anyone who says mean things about the Fat Fascist. Emma helped plot assassinations of contemporary oligarchs.
And oh yeah, "Sire" would be just the thing he thinks of. Too bad I'd have to pronounce it "sew-er".
From Doktor Zoom on the no fraud is too small administration....maybe....but some is obviously too large:
https://substack.com/home/post/p-211072623
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