If you did not know this story, you will feel better for knowing it now: ~~~
AND these are people of character, people whom the President* of the United States would like to beat with a hockey stick: ~~~
~~~ Mickey Djuric of Politico: “U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra is visiting Gander on Friday to thank the small Newfoundland town that opened its homes to thousands of stranded Americans after 9/11 — even as the trip draws criticism from Canadians angry about ... Donald Trump’s treatment of their country.... [Hoekstra] has embraced Trump’s confrontational approach toward Canada, shrugging off the president’s comments about making Canada the 51st state, picking fights with Canadian leaders and amplifying taunts and provocations — most recently over the renaming of Lake Ontario. More than 268,000 Canadians have signed a nonbinding petition calling on the ambassador to be kicked out of the country.... The town council assured residents Hoekstra’s invite was 'not an endorsement of any individual, their comments or their political views.'... The ... council said Gander’s lesson from 9/11 was not that Canadians and Americans would always agree. It was that in crisis, they could be there for one another and recognize each others’ humanity.”
Marie: It turns out there is a connection between the 9/11 terrorist attack and Donald Trump. It is not the one that resurfaces in his fantasies: ~~~
~~~⭐Radley Balko in a New York Times op-ed: “Six weeks after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Congress passed the Patriot Act. The vote was 357 to 66 in the House and 98 to 1 in the Senate. Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, the chamber’s lone dissenter, said later that many of his colleagues hadn’t bothered to read it. The law granted sweeping powers to the federal government.... The Patriot Act accelerated the steady erosion of America’s civil liberties.... Well, welcome to the worst-case scenario. We now have a president who is using the post-9/11 counterterrorism powers for his own ends. He is declaring national emergencies where none exist and is targeting his political enemies as if they were terrorists. He is carrying out reckless, extrajudicial executions on the high seas, while members of his administration joke about the possibility that some of those killed were innocent. He and his administration have encouraged officers from the Department of Homeland Security, created after the 2001 terrorism to stop attacks by foreigners, to engage in racial profiling and harassment of Americans. In the name of national security, he conflates criticism with treason, protest with terrorism, dissent with sedition.” The link is a gift link.
Paul Krugman: "The past two years have been worse than almost anyone could have imagined, but the truth is that we were already well on the road to this MAGA nightmare on the day the towers fell." Krugman refers you to a column he wrote in November 2001: ⭐"A full picture [of what is happening in the U.S.] would show politicians and businessmen behaving badly, with this bad behavior made possible -- and made worse -- by the fact that these days selfishness comes tightly wrapped in the flag. If you pay attention to the whole picture, you start to feel that you are living in a different reality from the one on TV.” The link to Krugman's NYT column is a gift link.
~~~~~~~~~~
I’m getting a little bit tired of politics now. -- Donald Trump, speaking at his fake convention last night
New York Times: “Before taking the stage for the second night in Dallas, Mr. Trump was asked by Laura Ingraham of Fox News whether he intended to campaign harder than he ever had before. 'No,' he replied bluntly.... Mr. Trump seemed almost blasé about the possibility of Republicans losing one or both chambers of Congress. I’ll block all their bad stuff for two years. It won’t be the same, but I’ll be a blocker, what can I tell you?'... Again and again, Mr. Trump turned to other priorities, the most pressing of which seemed to be the crowd size in Dallas.... Rows of seats in the American Airlines Center stayed empty throughout the affair. Endangered Republicans, sensing a brush fire rather than a lit torch brightening the way forward, steered clear. 'No empty seats! Fake news,' Mr. Trump exclaimed on Thursday, spending about three minutes affirming that the busy arena was packed when it wasn’t.” The link is a gift link.
Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump said Wednesday that the Pentagon’s top general was at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, but a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday that is not true. Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, instead spoke a few miles away at a 9/11 anniversary event at the George W. Bush Presidential Center.... Trump, speaking at the political convention, said he wanted to thank Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Caine, and that they were both present. 'Where is General Caine? Trump asked. … They’re here someplace.'... Pentagon regulations prohibit U.S. troops from attending 'partisan political events as an official representative of the Armed Forces, except as a member of a joint Armed Forces color guard at the opening ceremonies.'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: This is another example of Trump's mental incapacity. That top brass are not permitted to appear at events that are primarily political in nature is common knowledge. Of course a real commander-in-chief would know that.
Trump's Fake Trillion-Dollar-Plus Bribe. John Yoon of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Wednesday floated the idea of issuing every American adult a $5,000 'dividend' check if his party kept control of the House and Senate in November — an extraordinary offer that would cost more than $1 trillion and likely would require congressional approval.... It was not immediately clear if Mr. Trump would, or could, follow through on the proposal. Federal law prohibits spending money to influence voting decisions, such as vote-buying or voter bribery, but Mr. Trump framed the checks as a benefit for all American adults, no matter whether or how they voted. After the president’s speech, Vice President JD Vance defended the idea in an interview with Fox News, pointing to revenue from the administration’s tariffs. But the cost of the dividend checks would dwarf the $330 billion that the United States has collected in tariff revenue since the start of Mr. Trump’s second term. The Treasury has started refunding some of that money, with interest, since the Supreme Court struck down some of the duties in February.” The link is a gift link. MB: Guess they didn't teach 'rithmetic in them hillbilly schools when JayDee was a lad. (Also linked yesterday.) More on the bribe on yesterday's page. ~~~
~~~ Chris Taylor & Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: “... the proposal quickly drew heat from critics on both sides of the aisle, including some of Trump’s own supporters.... 'I am hugely in favor of winning the midterms, and love much about this admin, but am strongly against bread and circus bribes,' Palantir co-founder and Republican donor Joe Lonsdale said on X.... Some conservatives slammed the policy as an example of exactly the kind of socialism that Trump and the GOP warn Democrats will usher in if they regain power. 'Will post-conservative Republicans also try to defend Trump’s $5K “dividend” socialist vote-buying scheme that would cost nearly $1 trillion?' former House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good said on X.” ~~~
~~~ Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: “Similar payments [Donald Trump] promised previously never materialized. In 2025, Trump floated a 'dividend' based on spending cuts achieved by the U.S. DOGE Service, led by donor Elon Musk. The idea came from [MB: white nationalist] James Fishback, who calculated taxpaying households could receive $5,000 based on Musk’s stated goal of saving $2 trillion. DOGE ended up claiming to save only $110 billion; the Government Accountability Office determined that figure wasn’t sufficiently documented and counted cuts that were already in progress. In November, Trump promised Americans (excluding high earners) $2,000 from tariff revenue.... Current tariffs cost households about $1,100 annually, according to an estimate from Yale University’s Budget Lab.... Last year ... Trump said he would support a bill that would ... put $1,000 or $1,500 in health savings accounts.... The bill didn’t pass, and health insurance premiums rose.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Trump seems to know that (a) his promise to give everybody a $5,000 "dividend" is a lie. And he may even know that (b) it's illegal to bribe voters. Read his word-salad gibberish response (YouTube link) when Laura Ingraham -- of all people -- asks him why he doesn't just hand out the $5,000 checks now because Republicans already control both Houses of Congress. ~~~
~~~ Steve M. says Democrats must stop tiptoeing around Trump's falsely-promised bribe because enough dimwitted voters to affect close elections will be swayed by it: "That's the message: Donald Trump ruins everything he touches, and his only response to his failures is to bribe you to forget all about them, using money that isn't his. It's your children's and grandchildren's money he's bribing you with. Say it. Say it every day."
The Understudy Takes the Stage. Tyler Pager of the New York Times: “As he took the stage on Thursday night to deliver his keynote address, [Vice President JD] Vance made no effort to conceal how much he enjoyed the limelight.... Mr. Vance on Thursday took some of his most concrete steps to try to position himself as the inheritor of Mr. Trump’s loyal base.... Mr. Vance placed a heavy emphasis on his own personal story, speaking more about his wife than any candidate running for office. The vice president drew on the recent birth of his fourth child and the first anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s death. And he appeared to relish playing the role of attack dog, at times lobbing provocative barbs against Democrats and gleefully dismissing a protester who interrupted his speech.... The vice president also used the gathering to try to deepen his relationships with activists and donors. He bounced around state delegation breakfasts Thursday morning and appeared on 'The Charlie Kirk Show.'...” The link is a gift link.
Isaac Arnsdorf & Matthew Choi of the Washington Post: “An attendee at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas on Thursday night could be clearly heard calling for Democratic Senate candidates to be shot. Sen. Ted Cruz, who was delivering a speech when the attendee shouted out, did not react to the outburst in the moment.... Cruz’s social media account later posted a clip of his speech in which a man in the audience shouted three times, 'He should be shot!' — when Cruz talked about New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Democratic Senate nominees Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan and James Talarico of Texas.... The shouts occurred shortly after Cruz said that hate contributed to the assassination attempts on ... Donald Trump and the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk one year ago.”
Jonathan Swan, et al., of the New York Times: “Vice President JD Vance took the unusual step over the spring and summer of calling U.S. military commanders in the Middle East, Europe and Asia directly, seeking their unvarnished assessments of the Iran war.... Mr. Vance ... opposed the war from the outset and was charged by ... [Donald] Trump with helping to end the conflict.... Mr. Vance came away from some of his conversations with deep concerns about the overall strategy and the prospects for success.... The vice president incorporated these lessons into his private talks with Mr. Trump and their inner circle. At the same time, the president was hearing more in his briefings from Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about the strain on U.S. stockpiles and the resilience of Iranian forces, which Mr. Trump initially found difficult to believe....
“There was a gulf between the sobering private assessments that Mr. Vance received and what top administration officials, including the president and vice president, have said publicly. Mr. Trump has continued to falsely claim that the United States has already won the war, that the Iranian military has been demolished and that there are no problems with U.S. weapons supplies. And Mr. Vance recently downplayed the idea that the United States was even engaged in a war.” The link is a gift link.
~~~ Marie: While it is traditional and more-or-less expected of vice presidents to show unwavering support for the presidents they serve, this is not a Constitutional requirement. And there certainly is no requirement for a veep to lie to the public in support of the president's policies. Citizens should not have to rely on Jonathan Swan & Times sources to tell them what JayDee really knew about Donald's Iranian excursion. JayDee is just as unqualified to be president* as is Dementia Don. Both have repeatedly broken faith with the people.
They Wanna Get Lost in Your Rock & Roll & Grift Away. New York Times: “Steve Witkoff..., [Donald] Trump’s special envoy, reaped at least $257 million last year from his sprawling business empire, a remarkable haul for a government employee. Mr. Witkoff’s earnings, reported in a newly released disclosure form for 2025, include $120 million from selling a stake in his family’s real estate business. He also collected nearly $107 million from a holding company that invested in a variety of other ventures, including the Trump family’s cryptocurrency business. The Witkoff and Trump families founded the crypto business, World Liberty Financial, in the run-up to the 2024 election. And although World Liberty has said Mr. Witkoff was not involved in the company’s operations last year, he continued to own a financial stake until divesting it early this year.
“Mr. Trump’s stake in the firm was even more lucrative. Last year, he brought in nearly $800 million from World Liberty, according to the president’s disclosure form released in June. All told, Mr. Trump collected about $1.4 billion from his family’s various cryptocurrency businesses last year, including World Liberty and his $TRUMP memecoin.... [Witkoff's] disclosure, released by the White House this week, offers the latest illustration of potential conflicts stemming from World Liberty.” The link is a gift link.
The Missouri Mess, Ctd. Ann Marimow & Mitch Smith of the New York Times: “The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday once again prevented Missouri from using a congressional map in November that was redrawn to give Republicans an advantage in the midterm elections. It was the second time this week that the Supreme Court waded into a dizzying legal fight over Missouri’s congressional map, and it came just two months before a general election in which the state’s voters could determine control of the House. The court’s brief order did not include any reasoning, as is often the case when the justices respond to emergency requests. There were no noted dissents. The ruling left up in the air how Missouri would conduct a general election in November, given that the courts have now invalidated the map the state used to conduct primary elections last month.” Politico's report is here. The link is a gift link. MB: At least the Supremes came down on the correct side of the argument for a change. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Jen Rice of Democracy Docket: “As Missouri Supreme Court judges considered the extraordinary move of holding the state’s top election official in contempt, his attorney signaled on Thursday that he may continue to defy an order blocking a gerrymandered GOP map for the midterms. However, Secretary of State Denny Hoskins (R) quickly changed his tune after being grilled by judges and being ordered to return for a second appearance Thursday afternoon, issuing a statement shortly after the contempt hearing confirming that he will comply with orders. 'Following the United States Supreme Court’s stay, the only governing court order in effect is from the Missouri Supreme Court,' he said in a statement. 'In accordance with that order, my Office is directing local election authorities to use the 2022 congressional map.'” ~~~
~~~ Update. Andrew Childers of Democracy Docket: “Missouri’s Supreme Court held the state’s top election official in contempt Thursday for defying its order not to use a gerrymandered map for the upcoming midterm election. The development was the latest embarrassment for Secretary of State Denny Hoskins (R), after being thwarted in his attempt to force the gerrymander on Missourians. Hoskins entered the day defiant, but he quickly backed down after being grilled by the judges. Hoskins ultimately conceded and agreed that the state will use a 2022 district map for the upcoming election. But that was not enough to stop the judges from officially finding him in contempt. The court didn’t say what, if any, penalty Hoskins faces following a brief second appearance Thursday afternoon.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: This seems like a big deal to me. The secretary of state is one of the state's top officials. And this is not a finding driven by political partisanship. Five of the seven Missouri supreme court justices are Repubicans, like Hoskins. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I wish this were the end of the story. It is not. The NYT report by Marimow & Smith (linked above) has been updated to elaborate on some of the undetermined matters that the state still faces because of Hoskins' ill-considered, partisan decisions. It isn't even clear who the Congressional nominees are since primary voters selected them in now-defunct, super-gerrymandered districts.
Jacob Rosen & Stefan Becket of CBS News: "A federal appeals court denied the Trump administration's request to lift a lower court's order that blocked new rules for mail ballots before the midterms, the latest twist in a case that has already reached the Supreme Court. In a nine-page opinion issued Thursday, a three-judge appellate panel in the First Circuit Court of Appeals said that the Trump administration failed to show that the new rule from the U.S. Postal Service would not cause 'chaos and widespread voter disenfranchisement' ahead of the November midterms if implemented, as a lower court judge found earlier this month. 'Indeed, appellants have not even seriously challenged this aspect of the district court's ruling, much less demonstrated why it is clearly erroneous,' the appellate panel wrote, adding that, contrary to ... [Donald] Trump's long-running claims of mass fraud in mail voting, 'there is no record evidence of past fraud or a likelihood of impending fraud related to the November 3 election.' The judges continued that if the new rule were to be implemented, it would 'likely result in the disenfranchisement of millions of voters across the country while providing minimal — if any — gains in combating voter fraud.'" President Joe Biden appointed all three judges on the panel. ~~~
~~~ Elleiana Green of Politico: “Republican chief election officials from seven states said that it’s too late for ... Donald Trump’s mail-in ballot order to be implemented before the midterm election, urging the Supreme Court to not allow the rule to go into effect in a brief submitted to the court on Wednesday.... Many election officials have already said Trump’s orders are 'not feasible' given that ballots have already been sent out in North Carolina and other early states, but the public disagreement from elected Republicans is notable given how much the president has focused on mail voting. Wednesday’s brief — which was also signed by current and former local election officials, many of whom are Republican — echoes the same concerns and urges the Supreme Court to ensure this election is conducted under the same rules used in 2024. The chief election officials that signed on are Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson and six secretaries of state: Kentucky’s Michael Adams, North Dakota’s Michael Howe, South Dakota’s Monae Johnson, Georgia’s Brad Raffensperger, New Hampshire’s David Scanlan and Kansas’ Scott Schwab.” (Also linked yesterday.) A Washington Post story is here.
Another “Grand Conspiracy” Fail: Crazy Old Trump Henchman Quits. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “A loyalist prosecutor handpicked by the Justice Department to lead a contentious conspiracy investigation into several of ... [Donald] Trump’s political opponents abruptly quit his job on Thursday after facing pressure from his superiors in Washington, according to three people familiar with the matter. The prosecutor, Joseph diGenova, had been in charge of what Mr. Trump’s allies have often referred to as the 'grand conspiracy,' a sprawling inquiry based in the U.S. attorney’s office in South Florida that has sought to implicate federal officials who have investigated Mr. Trump in a single plot to deprive him of his rights. Mr. diGenova’s resignation was the latest setback in the case that began last year and has dragged on for months.... Mr. Trump has repeatedly put pressure on prosecutors to bring criminal charges against his opponents, calling them out in private meetings and in social media posts. He has also expressed displeasure about the slow pace of the retributive investigations he has helped to set in motion.” The link is a gift link. An ABC News story is here.
Kyle Cheney of Politico: “A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected ICE’s effort to detain millions of people without bond, comparing it to the 'historical stain' of Japanese internment during World War II. 'Mass detention of marginalized individuals without due process harkens back to some of the darkest moments in our country’s history,' 4th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Nicole Berner, a Biden appointee, wrote in a 2-1 majority opinion joined by Judge Barbara Keenan, an Obama appointee.... It’s the ninth loss in a row for ICE at federal appeals courts, all of which have now ruled on the policy. The Supreme Court is all but certain to take up the issue in its next term.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Benjamin Mullin & John Koblin of the New York Times: “'Jimmy Kimmel Live' has decided against broadcasting an interview on Thursday night with James Talarico, the Democratic Senate candidate in Texas, and will instead post it on YouTube, the latest development in a yearlong battle between ABC and the Federal Communications Commission. During his monologue on Wednesday night, Mr. Kimmel said that his show preemptively made the decision because of pressure from ... [Donald] Trump and the F.C.C. over 'simple, traditional editorial decisions; guest bookings it would seem they don’t like.... Now that he’s president, his F.C.C. has threatened me, threatened our show, threatened our network, ABC, our affiliates, our local stations,' Mr. Kimmel said. 'So if you want to learn about a candidate for the Senate tomorrow, you will have to go to the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” YouTube channel,' he added.” MB: Kimmel said Donald Trump himself appeared on his show twice in 2016 when he first ran for president*. The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) A Texas Tribune story is here. ~~~
~~~ Update: Here's the interview. MB: Whether you watch it or not, it might help if you clicked on "Watch on YouTube," as I assume that will increase the number of views, thus irritating FCC Chair Brendan Carr -- update: and Donald Trump: ~~~
~~~ Sydney Carruth of MS NOW: “The White House on Thursday accused ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel of 'play-acting' after the late-night host announced his interview with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico would not air because of what he described as threats from the Trump administration.... In February, 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert' was blocked from airing an interview with Talarico in a decision driven by its parent company, CBS, after Carr pushed to apply the agency’s 'equal-time' rule to late news interviews and talk show programs.”
Who would marry Stephen Miller? Somebody like this: ~~~
~~~ Cat Zakrzewski & Aaron Schaffer of the Washington Post: “For nine months, conservative podcaster Katie Miller has used her social media megaphone to denounce the AI chatbots ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini — accusing them of liberal bias, endangering children or lax security in nearly 500 posts, according to a Washington Post analysis. Miller has not told her followers that she holds a significant and, until recently, undisclosed financial interest in the outcome. She holds more than $1 million in Elon Musk’s xAI, which is a major rival to the companies whose products she has targeted. Her financial interest was included in a disclosure released by the White House last week detailing the finances of her husband, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Rachel Roubein, et al., of the Washington Post: “Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was given access to military aircraft for his travels across the country, including as part of Republicans’ push ahead of the midterm elections, according to four people.... Kennedy flew aboard a military jet as he joined Iowa GOP candidates in that state last month.... He has sparingly used this more costly form of transport for other trips since he became health secretary.... Richard Painter, the former chief White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush and a critic of Trump, said that he does not recall instances in the Bush administration when Cabinet secretaries flew on military jets aside from officials involved in defense or others involved in foreign relations. He said such instances of other Cabinet officials flying on the planes should be used only in exceptional circumstances and never be mixed with political events.”
Dustin Volz of the New York Times: “Anthropic said it had disrupted several potential plots this year by scientists who used its leading artificial intelligence models to conduct research that could have helped develop biological weapons. In a report describing misuses of its A.I. models, Anthropic said it could not determine whether the research served a legitimate or nefarious purpose because valid biological inquiry — the kind that can lead to breakthroughs like vaccines — can also help engineer dangerous pathogens. In the face of that uncertainty, Anthropic said it erred on the side of caution because the consequences of missing malicious activity could be severe.” The link is a gift link.
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19 comments:
IOKIYAR
At last night’s Trump-a-pa-loser, Fat Hitler led the crowd in a pledge of MAGA allegiance to himself, commanding everyone to vote even if they weren’t registered , the exact crime he accuses millions of phantom illegals of having done which cost him the 2020 election.
He screamed that they should all “cheat like hell” in order to keep him from losing control of everything, all his beautiful wickedness.
I’m guessing the legacy media won’t even mention this blatant encouragement that millions commit a crime in so that he feels better.
It’s not only okay to cheat and break the law if you’re a Republican, now it’s a requirement.
So says the Orange Monster.
Tom Nichols, for The Atlantic, reflects on A Quarter Century of Panic
"Saying this even 25 years later seems uncharitable, but after the attacks of 9/11, many Americans, and their government, panicked. Worse, the United States institutionalized this panic in the form of new priorities, new programs, and new agencies, so that even when the fear subsided, the intemperate policies driven by that fear remained. Over the next quarter century, America would spend trillions of dollars, pass draconian laws, create a behemoth of a new Cabinet department, militarize law enforcement, and embark on two major military campaigns.
These measures were taken because after 9/11, everything became terrorism. Everything, as if we all now agreed that we could push aside all the other trouble in the world because we had finally found the Worst Thing Ever. I say this as a criticism, but I was not exempt from the emotions and the intellectual detours they produced in the moment. And I should have known better: I had spent most of my career studying long-standing problems of security and international relations. Even so, I was one of the millions of Americans and others who believed that the world after 9/11 had changed forever. We were wrong."
@Akhilleus: Katie Rogers of the NYT, who seems to like Trump a little too much, did write near the top of her report, linked above, "'Please raise your right hand,' Mr. Trump instructed a rowdy crowd of thousands inside a Dallas arena on Thursday evening. Many of them complied. 'I pledge to the greatest president in the history of the United States that loves us so much he can’t even breathe that I will go out with my family, my friends, I will do it any way — I don’t care if I’m registered or not, I’m going to try and cheat like hell, like they do.'” (Mr. Trump usually frowns on election fraud.)"
Rogers' coda is of course pure bull. Trump does not "frown on election fraud." Not at all. He considers every vote, including individual's votes, that are not for him or in his favor to be "election fraud." That is, a vote for a Democrat is ipso facto "fraudulent."
He used to go to the trouble to make up election-fraud stories (in 2016, it was buses of Massachusetts Democrats riding into New Hampshire to vote in the presidential election), but now I think he just calls almost every vote he doesn't like "election fraud," usually without bothering to specify who-all the fraudsters were and how they did it.
Republicans Always Get Mulligans
"The Missouri Supreme Court found Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins in contempt of court on Thursday. Chief Justice W. Brent Powell announced the decision during a hearing on Thursday afternoon.
Then Powell said that because Hoskins dropped his attempt to use the 2025 congressional map, Hoskins was no longer in contempt. “The civil comtemptor has, at all times, the power to purge himself of any attempt by complying with the order of this court,” said Justice Brent Powell during a hearing on Thursday."
I don't think that is how it is supposed to work. But this may have something to do with it, "A group of Republican lawmakers are threatening to impeach Missouri Supreme Court justices if they hold Secretary of State Denny Hoskins in contempt of court over the state’s ongoing congressional map dispute."
"Families lost weeks of food they couldn’t afford to replace. Then their SNAP claims were denied.
When a powerful storm tore through Gary, Indiana, knocking out the power for two weeks, Tiffany Harrison, a mother of three, had to throw out all of the food that had spoiled in her fridge and deep freezer.
It was a big hit to her family in this majority-Black city where roughly 2 in 5 people rely on the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, to feed themselves, according to an analysis by the nonprofit news organization Capital B. At the time the power went out, Harrison’s deep freezer had been stocked with discount meat, like family packs of chicken, which she buys in bulk and breaks down into smaller packages so they can last throughout the month, she said. “We learn to be frugal to make the food last,” she said.
But the storm turned that planning upside down and added additional expenses for thousands of parents like Harrison, who were not only without power, but were also advised to boil their drinking water."
The Anthropic story seems like a plant to pretend that the AI companies are being responsible as many of their current and former employees are screaming that they might just wipe us all out if left to their own devices. The story can't even decide if they did the right thing since they did not bother to look into what people were actually doing with their software. If people were actually trying to create bioweapons with AI that would be a big deal and should probably be forwarded to law enforcement. These companies are also not known for their forthrightness so they still need a tight leash on what they are doing and the risks associated with what they are planning. Unfortunately we have the most incompetent and dumbest Congress that can barely tie their shoes much less create meaningful legislation for an industry that many of them have already sold out to.
Marie,
Quite. And that line about Fatty frowning on election fraud is not just more Times Sanewashing(™), it's an out and out attempt to gaslight readers, a bit of fraudulence on its own.
Even when he's not pushing election fraud lies about how Democrats are out to steal HIS election from him, and even when he's not promoting the idea that Republicans should "cheat like hell" and vote even if they're not registered, he engages in massive types of fraud across the board.
If you look at the definition of fraud as "...an intentional act of deception used to trick someone out of money, property, or a legal right for personal or financial gain" pretty much everything he does smacks of fraud. The ballroom-bordello-hidey hole for conducting criming is a fraud. It has nothing to do with standard White House business (except, I. guess insofar as 99% of the business conducted in the present White House lands squarely in the realm of grifting, personal enrichment, and unconstitutional power grabs). He's also said no taxpayer money will be used to build it. A complete lie.
The plethora of attempts to rig elections, including illegal gerrymandering, disenfranchising voters he doesn't like, voter intimidation, plans to surround Democrat leaning polling places with armed ICE goons, his attacks on mail-in voting, and attempts to discredit election results he doesn't approve of, and now outright bribes, are all efforts to intentionally deceive or cheat Americans out of their right of a free and fair election for his own personal benefit.
And when some of these fucking sane-washers and both-siders wake up (see my comment on Peter Baker yesterday, who seems only now to be realizing that his years-long insistence on both-sides reporting--also a form of fraud--has resulted in placing us on the verge of complete autocracy) wake up, it's far too late to do anything about it. The damage has been done. So even hinting that Fatty is against voter fraud is a blatant lie.
Crazy what photographs are capable these days - Jupiter and moons
Marie-Rose Sheinerman, provides a fact-check on t****'s lies about 9/11 for The Atlantic--
The president’s latest version doesn’t square with the facts.
"Where were you on 9/11? Every American old enough to remember the day has an answer to that question. President Trump has several."
As the Hillbilly Allergy rushes to center stage to take his bows for being a good little goose-stepping Nazi fuck and bask in the reflected adulation still directed toward his dangerous lunatic boss, we have yet another horror to add to the forest of black marks against Fat Hitler. He has shoved this oleaginous, shape-shifting creation of Peter Thiel down our throats. I sincerely hope this unctuous, duplicitous furniture fucker will never be elected to anything ever again, but the mere presence of such a devious snake in the shithole on the national stage drags the whole show down to Punch-and-Judy levels of simple minded sideshow bigotry and hatefulness. So thanks for that, asshole.
Trump has also signalled in ways that even his stupidest supporters can understand that he will sometimes help those who help him, J6 rioters, and that he supports fraud. He has pardoned So many fraudsters this term. If you send some of your fraudulent winnings his way then he may help out if he thinks it is in his interests. All those pardons are a green light to doing what you can for your godking.
Couldn't Get Gutfeld Nunbers
"The first night of Donald Trump‘s midterm convention failed to generate a ratings bounce for Fox News, with the audiences comparable or even slightly below regular primetime programming. Fox News’s coverage of the convention dominated the primetime hours on Wednesday, drawing an average 2.3 million viewers. But that is less than its September, 2025 primetime viewership, when it averaged 2.54 million viewers.
During Donald Trump’s speech from 9 p.m. ET to 11 p.m. ET, Fox News averaged 2.5 million viewers. A year ago, during the month of September, Hannity drew an average of 2.89 million in the 9 p.m. ET hour and Gutfeld! garnered an average of 2.94 million at 10 p.m. ET."
I made sure to add my "view" to Jimmy Kimmel's interview with James Talarico, the one that could not be televised because Fat Hitler's propaganda minister-cum attack dog, the FCC leg breaker, Brendan Carr has de-first amendmentized it.
Okay, well here's something else that will not be televised .
But with any luck, come this November, if Democrats do the right thing, get their act together, stop stabbing each other in the back and take it to the streets to push back hard against the obese infant and his murdering horde of grifters and liars, and if the legacy-corporate media provides the slimmest of chances, an electoral defeat WILL be televised. Whether or not Brendan fucking-asshole Carr likes it or not.
My calendar says today is Patriot Day. Waiting for the president* to claim that
he is the greatest patriot of all, and that's why everyone worships him.
Last night NBC news talked about DiJiT's $5k bribe offer, and noted that the only such promise he has delivered was $1,776 he described as a "bonus", he was giving for uniform military personnel. NBC forgot that that money had been appropriated before DiJiT's #2 (really, #2) term, in Biden's budget, as an increase in the military housing allowance. So, DiJiT should get no credit for anything but not cancelling that.
Don't Look Down
"A family has prepared a brutal welcome for President Donald Trump as he heads to Ireland for a glorified golf trip.
On the flight path to Shannon Airport, one family has left the president a reminder that not everyone is happy that he is in Ireland. An anonymous woman called leading radio network Today FM to talk about her foul-mouthed protest, sharing a photograph of her backyard covered in massive painted letters spelling “FXCK TRUMP.” The massive sign dwarfs the woman’s home and stretches across her whole yard."
RAS,
Amazing image of the moon, Jupiter, Io, and Ganymede, reminders that there are still wonders surrounding us that the MAGAts and their obese enfant terrible haven't ruined or gotten their grubby, grifting, grinding mitts on.
Homer mentions Ganymede in the Iliad during a passage in which Aeneas breaks down his family tree and the name is a reminder of several things. First, what kind of a memory did those Homeric dudes possess? Geez. Every now and then, someone will stop the show, even in the middle of a battle(!) and rip off a couple dozen names of his ancestors, where they were from and what they did for a living (....son of Eurialis, owner of a thousand fine horses, whose father, Boraxia, lived by the river Wahwah and grew the best olives in the world"....okay great, Now can we get back to stabbing each other in the neck?"). And the names! Never counted them, but there must be close to 1,000 different names mentioned in "The Iliad" alone. It's kind of like all those begats in the Bible: Abraham begat Issac, who begat Jacob, who begat Joe Blow....and on and on. Such a memory. I guess it wouldn't have mattered if one of the Homer guys forgot a name or three or fourteen and just made shit up on the fly. Who would know?
It's also a reminder that those 17th astronomers had a pretty good grasp of the humanities in addition to all that math and physics and chemistry they needed to know. All four of the biggest moons of Jupiter (the Roman version of Zeus) were "buddies" of Zeus. Ganymede was brought by a smitten Zeus up to Olympus to serve as cup bearer to the gods. Sounds like a pretty cool title, but man, what a drag, always having to run around making sure everyone's glasses don't run dry, like a frazzled waiter on a cruise ship. "Hey, Gany, what up? Where's my wine?" "Where in the hades is that Ganymede? I'm thirsty as a horse in the desert". What kind of life is that? Anyway, Io, Callisto, and Europa, all paramours of Zeus (whether they liked it or not apparently) were also picked for their connection to the god. Those science guys knew their stuff.
But don't send this to Fatty. He'll demand that planets be renamed for him, although "Trumpia" might not be a terrible name for a methane ice giant devoid of life. He already emits metric tons of methane and sulfur through the leaks in his Nanny Natalie applied diapers.
The Big Mail Ballot Dance. And it's all around the edges.
If states are per the Constitution responsible for voting within their borders, why don't the courts just say so and be done with it? Wouldn't take too many words to do so.
All this talk about not enough time to put a patently illegal EO in place is well beside the point, isn't it? Seems like legal both-siderism at best. Sweating vert hard to avoid the nub of the issue's wrongness..
Finally! The answer to the $500 ACA refund scam--via my doctor son. (I knew it was a scam)
https://charlesgaba.substack.com/p/trumps-latest-con-is-on-presenting.
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