Jeff Cox of CNBC: "The Federal Reserve on Wednesday approved its first interest rate hike in more than three years and indicated another is to come, as part of an effort aimed at combating inflation brought on by spiraling oil prices and other factors. In a move that markets widely anticipated, the central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee voted 12-0 to increase its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point, or 25 basis points. The move brought the overnight funds rate to a target range of 3.75%-4%." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging developments; this is a gift link.
This is an astounding, but not surprising, development to watch: ~~~
~~~ Jeanna Smialek & Matina Stevis-Gridneff of the New York Times: “The European Union has invited Canada to work toward becoming its first 'associate member,' a title meant to underscore the nation’s growing closeness to the 27-country bloc as both face deteriorating relationships with the United States.... [Donald] Trump has waged a relentless trade war with Canada, challenging its economy. The United States has pulled back support for NATO and Ukraine, leaving the European Union scrambling to shore up its defenses. That vacuum has left both the bloc and the nation looking for new partners as the alliances established after World War II shift. 'We must urgently reimagine our partnerships,' said Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Union’s executive arm, on Wednesday during a major annual speech in Strasbourg, France. Mark Carney, the prime minister of Canada, was seated directly to Ms. von der Leyen’s left as she made her address. 'I would like to work with you on opening the door for Canada to be the first associate member of the European Union,' she told him.” The link is a gift link.
Marie: We now live in a country whose president* is so crazy that he accuses the opposition party of trying to assassinate him (and, implicitly, of killing and wounding others in the process). This sort of insane accusation by said president* is so commonplace that the major news outlets don't even cover it; in fact, a story about the very document in which the president* made the false accusation doesn't even mention it. This. Is. Not. Normal. (See stories by Casey He of Politico & John Amato of Crooks & Liars, both linked below, for context.)
~~~~~~~~~~
Rats! Foiled Again. Make That: Rats Foiled Again. Jonathan Edwards & Grey Battle of the Washington Post: “A federal judge on Tuesday barred the Kennedy Center from once again adding ... Donald Trump’s name to the performing arts venue and presidential memorial. U.S. Judge Christopher Cooper reiterated much of the ruling he made more than three months ago when he ruled that the center’s Board of Trustees had illegally voted to add Trump’s name to the building’s facade and ordered them to remove it.... The center’s board is scheduled to meet Tuesday afternoon and had originally prepared to consider yet another proposal to recognize Trump on the building’s exterior.
“But late Monday, Justice Department lawyers told a judge that the board would only focus on the resolution to immediately close the center’s main building. In the materials dropped from Tuesday’s agenda, center leaders say they have exhausted their financial resources and could be unable to make payroll or pay routine maintenance bills 'within a matter of weeks.'... Center leaders have blamed previous management for the institution’s financial problems and said Trump’s name has attracted new donors. But the confidential financial records show that ticket sales and fundraising plunged after trustees added Trump’s name to the building in December.... In May..., Cooper temporarily blocked an earlier attempt to close the building.... Management says new evidence has made the closure urgent.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ ⭐Nevertheless, They Persisted. Julia Jacobs & Zach Montague of the New York Times: “Simmering turmoil over the future of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts boiled over on Tuesday as the center abruptly closed to the public and ... [Donald] Trump threatened to cancel a planned $257 million renovation if his name was not returned to the front of the building. Allies of Mr. Trump have been pushing for months to close the center for major renovations and to honor the president by affixing his name to its marble facade. A federal judge has blocked both efforts. On Tuesday, the center aggressively tested the judge’s order not to close by shutting its doors in what officials called an emergency action designed to protect people from deteriorating conditions inside the building.
“Shortly after 4:30 p.m., employees heard a sudden notice on the P.A. system: The center is now closed to the public. Please exit the center by way of the Hall of States.' By the evening, security guards stationed outside entrances to the main lobby were turning people away. One officer said the building had just closed.... But lawyers for Representative Joyce Beatty, a Democratic ex officio board member whose lawsuit is at the center of the court battle, signaled that they would view any closure as in direct conflict with a court order.
~~~ Marie: Trump's social media post appears to me to be as close as he has come to openly defying a court order. "Contempt of court" is too precious a term to apply here. If I defy a court order, I am in contempt of court. If a president* does it -- especially when he is flagrantly violating a specific law -- it's a Constitutional crisis. Insisting upon affixing one's name to a building that is a Congressionally-mandated memorial to a real president, in defiance of a court order, seems a remarkably silly way to end the rule of law and blow up the Constitution. It is, however, an apropos edifice on which a raging narcissist would plant his flag. ~~~
~~~ Here's Rep. Beatty describing the Kennedy Center board meeting. Uh, wow! The Kennedy Library Foundation should give Beatty its Profile in Courage award. She's a pip:
This Supreme Court is bullied and cajoled by the Radical Left into making decisions that have set America back at least a hundred years. -- Donald Trump, Tuesday morning on his failed social media platform
One would think Trump would be thrilled with a decision that "set America back at least a hundred years" inasmuch as that is the essence of Trump's tyrannical project. -- Marie ~~~
~~~ Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “The decision on mail ballots is part of a pattern. The Trump administration met with overwhelming success in some 30 emergency applications to the Supreme Court since the president’s second term began, on what critics call its shadow docket. Those decisions were nominally provisional, but they often delivered lasting victories to the president. In rushed proceedings that mostly yielded decisions with scant or no reasoning, the court divided along partisan lines much more often than in cases on the court’s so-called merits docket, which require full briefing, oral arguments and in-person deliberations. The theme of those emergency rulings was deference to presidential power. But the tide started to turn in December, when the court refused to allow the deployment of the National Guard in Illinois over the objection of local officials.
“The rebukes continued in the term that ended in June. The court rejected the centerpiece of Mr. Trump’s beloved tariffs program, leading to refunds of many billions of dollars in illegal levies. It also thwarted Mr. Trump’s attempt to fire a Fed governor and disagreed with his interpretation of a law that he said barred counting some ballots received after Election Day.... This [summer, the Court] dealt Mr. Trump a stinging loss, ruling that his executive order seeking to curtail automatic citizenship for babies born in the United States violated the Constitution.” The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)
When Trump was not berating a member of Congress, when he was not knocking the Supremes he appointed, he was making unsubstantiated accusations against the F.B.I. director he previously appointed. (But he seems to still like the FBI director he has now, the one defending bestiality during Senate testimony [story linked below]: ~~~
~~~ Casey He of Politico: “... Donald Trump on Tuesday accused former FBI Director Christopher Wray of mishandling the investigation into the assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pennsylvania. In a post on social media, Trump alleged without providing evidence that information on the assassination attempt 'was missing, altered, corrupted or gone.' 'Dirty Cop Christopher Wray should pay a price for the way he handled this assassination attempt, and certainly for the things he said,' the president posted.... [It's difficult to know what Trump is talking about. During Senate testimony Tuesday, current FBI Director Kash Patel said,] 'We found no evidence that [Crooks] was literally even speaking to any other human being other than his parents who he resided with.'... At a White House press conference Tuesday, Attorney General Todd Blanche said the FBI has discovered new information about [the would-be assassin's] background in response to a Senate inquiry, but did not specify the information.” MB: Blanche, of course, should not be holding events in the White House at all. In fairness to him, though, he's not a real attorney general; he's more a Trump lap puppy and in-house, beck-and-call counsel. More on the Blanche & Patel tag team linked below. ~~~
~~~ Wait, Wait! There's More! Politico's He certainly cleaned up Trump's post. Here's a little something Trump wrote in the same post that He didn't mention. Thanks to Akhilleus for the link; see also his commentary below: ~~~
~~~ John Amato of Crooks & Liars: "... Trump sent out an unhinged, lie-filled Truth Social post saying it was a 'Democrat Plot, to get me out of the Election.' I'm not certain, but Trump might have been egged on by a NY Post article that claims an anonymous donor paid to have [shooter] Thomas Crooks' body cremated ten days later. How Trump turned that into a Democratic plot is par for the course." Amato reprints Trump's tweet.
BUT Trump Is a Gracious Host! ~~~
Darryn Pollock of beingcrypto, republished by Yahoo! News: "Donald Trump made nearly 28,700 stock trades in 17 months, more than the entire Congress's 22,200 combined, even as he pushes a lawmaker trading ban that leaves his own portfolio untouched. The figures, drawn from a Bloomberg review of disclosures through June, land as Republicans turn stock trading into a campaign issue ahead of the midterms. House Republicans passed a bill in July barring members of Congress, spouses, and dependent children from trading individual stocks. The measure says nothing about the president. Trump ... told Congress in his State of the Union address that it should pass 'without delay.'... He called Senator Josh Hawley [R-Mo.] a 'pawn' last year after Hawley proposed extending trading limits to the presidency."
"A Slight Majority" Is Paying Attention. Avery Lotz of Axios: "A slight majority of registered voters describe ... [Donald] Trump as corrupt and dangerous, a recent poll found, while just 14% say he isn't divisive."
It is hardly surprising that the World's Biggest Liar is waging a war on facts: ~~~
~~~ Mike Zapler of Axios: "The nerdy, traditionally apolitical world of federal data is increasingly getting swept up in the Trump administration's push to control every level of government. Across the federal government, agencies are changing how they collect and publicize information. More and more, politics and ideology are part of the equation.... Reliable, unbiased data informs nearly everything the federal government does — from distributing benefits and enforcing workplace discrimination laws to responding to public health threats."
Brett Murphy, et al., of ProPublica: “The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee launched an investigation into Donald Trump Jr.’s relationship with a Russian oligarch who paid for much of Trump Jr.’s wedding earlier this year. Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., sent two letters on Monday to the White House and Trump Jr. requesting records related to Trump Jr.’s financial relationship with the oligarch, Umar Kremlev. 'The secretive, close relationship between the son of a sitting U.S. President and a member of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s inner circle raises serious national security and public corruption concerns,' Garcia wrote. Garcia told Trump Jr. it 'may be the most serious allegation against you to date.' The letter to Trump Jr. asked for documents including Trump Jr.’s communications with Kremlev and 'financial records of all purchases made for your wedding by foreign nationals.'” ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE. Marlam Kahn of ABC News: "The nation's top law enforcement official appears unlikely to investigate a Russian oligarch with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin who allegedly paid thousands of dollars to bankroll festivities for Donald Trump Jr.'s wedding to Bettina Anderson earlier this year, after the news sparked national security and counterintelligence concerns. 'The president doesn't know who this person is. I think other members of the family don't know who this person is ... When you say am I investigating -- Am I investigating what?' Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters Tuesday during a White House press briefing in the Rose Garden."
Donald Trump Keeps Making Up Stuff. Ivan Nechepurenko of the New York Times: “The Russian and Ukrainian governments made clear on Tuesday that neither had agreed to an energy cease-fire that ... [Donald] Trump presented as a done deal a day before. Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said at a news briefing that, while Russia believed a halt to strikes against energy infrastructure would be 'a very good idea,' such a deal would not have much effect on fuel markets, as Mr. Trump had claimed. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said in his overnight address that Mr. Trump’s proposal to halt strikes was 'strong' but that Kyiv would only comply 'if our American partners can ensure that Russia is genuinely ready to stop this war.' Mr. Trump announced on social media on Monday that both sides had already agreed to the energy truce, adding that the rise in global diesel prices was mostly caused by the Russia-Ukraine war, not by the war in Iran. Energy experts have disagreed with that claim.... Overnight, both Russia and Ukraine continued to conduct strikes against each other.” The link is a gift link. Here's the NBC News story. (Also linked yesterday.)
~~~ While Putin's Puppet & his special envoys/realtors/financiers Jarhead & Witless are making friends with our notorious adversary, this is happening: ~~~
~~~ Milena Wälde of Politico: “U.S. prosecutors have charged five people allegedly working for Russian intelligence with conspiracy to finance terrorism and, in three cases, conspiracy to commit murder for hire. The charges, unveiled on Tuesday, also allege that the network recruited operatives to conduct surveillance and killings in the U.S., and to attack civilian and military infrastructure in European countries which are aligned — or perceived to be aligned — with Ukraine. All five defendants remain at large. The indictment says the group most recently approached a U.S.-based individual to surveil and kill a prominent Russian dissident living in the country. Two alleged recruiters offered that person $40,000 to 'eliminate' or 'disappear' the target and discussed finding someone else to carry out the murder.... 'These defendants allegedly operated as part of a global assassination network that reached into the United States,' Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg said, accusing them of acting 'at the behest of the Kremlin.'”
Michael Crowley & Edward Wong of the New York Times: “The Trump administration has approved a $2.8 billion sale of heavy bombs to Israel, according to a U.S. official, in what would be among the largest deliveries of U.S. munitions there even as American public support for the country declines. The proposed sale would include 40,000 one-ton bombs whose use by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon has drawn international anger because of the civilian harm caused by their wide blast radius. Human rights groups and some foreign governments have condemned Israel for dropping the giant munitions in densely populated areas, sometimes killing dozens of civilians in strikes targeting just one individual. The package would include 20,000 each of America’s 2,000-pound MK-84 and BLU-117 bombs. It would also provide Israel with 20,000 bunker-busting I-2000 penetrator warheads, which explode on delay after smashing through an outer surface like soil, rock or concrete.” The link is a gift link. The Washington Post broke the story; this is a gift link.
John Ismay of the New York Times: “Some of the most detailed information about the Iran war has come not from the office of the defense secretary or the White House, but from a report released by the Defense Department’s inspector general. The independent oversight agency offered glimpses into the U.S. military’s inventory shortfalls, and the damage from Iranian counterattacks to consulates and other diplomatic facilities in the region. The document, which was issued on Monday, covered only the first four months of the war, from Feb. 28 to June 30. On Tuesday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said in a separate report that war had cost the United States roughly $38 billion through Aug. 1. Here are some key takeaways from the inspector general’s report.” The link is a gift link.
Kathryn Wilkens of Mediaite: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is seeking fit, well-groomed troops to attend his upcoming 'State of the Force' address — and potentially join him for a workout — according to The Wall Street Journal. The Pentagon has asked military commanders to put forward service members for the Sept. 30 event who meet specific fitness and appearance standards, the Journal reported, citing emails it reviewed. One such email, sent to Army commanders Tuesday, said potential attendees must pass the Army fitness test and satisfy its waist-to-height ratio, while maintaining 'impeccable grooming and uniform standards (no exception).' Officials told the outlet that other military commands received similar instructions.”
Your Weird Lede of the Day. Ariana Baio of the Guardian: “The FBI director, Kash Patel, defended his agency’s decision to roll back restrictions on agent applicants who have previously engaged in bestiality, arguing the FBI 'did not want to punish victims of bestiality' by automatically disqualifying them. The unusual topic of bestiality emerged during a Senate judiciary committee oversight hearing on Tuesday after Democrat Dick Durbin and Republican John Kennedy questioned Patel’s decision to remove barriers that previously prevented applicants who engaged in prostitution and bestiality from being qualified for a job at the FBI.” Read on, for the fun of it. ~~~
~~~ Marie: You do have to admit that Kash's testimony gives new meaning to the common expression applied to incompetent public officials: "I wouldn't vote for him for dog catcher." ~~~
~~~ Alex Griffing of Mediaite: “FBI Director Kash Patel came armed to Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee with pages of opposition research on the Democratic senators on the panel. Reuters photographers managed to snap a close-up pic of some of the jabs he had ready to go for Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the minority whip. The page titled, 'DURBIN INFO,' included bullet points that read, 'Wealth has increased 364% since 1997 (took office in 1983).... Fined by FEC for late disclosures,' and 'Wife has lobbying conflicts. Wife’s clients (Eastern Illinois University and the City of Napierville) collected over 1 million in federal earmarks prompted by Durbin.'... Politico’s Jonathan Martin ... offered a take on the photo, arguing 'it’s just one more thing among the dozens, but the expectation that cabinet secretaries are there to perform a show for Trump rather than offer any insights about their actual work is now just de rigueur.... Of course there was always contention at these hearings with the opposition party. But they have become indistinguishable, down to the talking points, from a cable TV food fight.'...” ~~~
~~~ Chris Marquette of Politico: “Senate Democrats battered FBI Director Kash Patel on Tuesday at a Senate Judiciary oversight hearing, combatively criticizing a broad swath of his behavior and performance.... The tension climaxed when the normally genial Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) angrily asked Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) to end his questioning of Patel, saying, 'Are you done now? Are you ready to shut up?' Booker had called Patel a 'thug' who targets reporters and their families when they write stories critical of him and the broader Trump administration and who investigated a journalist after writing a story on his girlfriend. When Grassley asked Booker to wrap up his comments, Booker said Grassley wasn’t being equitable with members’ time to speak.... Patel called Booker 'the biggest mockery in the United States Senate, and you’re sitting next to [Sen. Adam] Schiff.' Grassley appeared to grow frustrated with Booker’s remarks and told him he wasn’t respecting him as chair. Booker later called for Patel to be sanctioned for speaking in what he said was a disrespectful manner to Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.).” ~~~
~~~ Here's Lawrence O'Donnell on Patel's testimony. O'Donnell does have his Irish up: ~~~
~~~ (Marie: I looked for just a straight highlights video of the hearing and couldn't find one.)Matt Peterson of CNBC: "... Democrats laced into Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a combative House hearing Tuesday. They sought to paint him as covering for ... Donald Trump in the face of high energy prices and rising interest costs on consumer debt.... Bessent presented a spirited defense of Trump’s economic record in his testimony, which was formally scheduled as part of International Monetary Fund oversight but rapidly devolved into a free-for-all about partisan views of the economy. Bessent was frequently interrupted not by just Democrats, who insisted he answer yes or no questions on a range of issues, but also by a group of protestors who objected to U.S. sanctions on Iran and Cuba."
“This” Is “Efficiency?” Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: “The Trump administration paid federal employees $9.5 billion not to work during 2025, part of the president’s plan to reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy and government spending, according to a new estimate from a congressional watchdog. The Department of Government Efficiency’s program to shrink the federal work force through deferred resignations increased the use of paid administrative leave by 435 percent during the first year of ... [Donald] Trump’s second term, the Government Accountability Office said in a report on Tuesday. That represents a sixfold increase since 2023.... The federal civilian work force has shrunk by about 12 percent since Mr. Trump returned to office, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management, as a result of resignations, firings and new hires. But the agency has not been able to identify the long- term savings, the accountability office found.” The link is a gift link.
Paul Krugman on "the MAGA plot to destroy humanity." This is a good read, and it's not a real plot to destroy humanity, as far as I can tell. It's just that Trump and Hegseth are Dumb, with a big "D," little "u," little "m," don't forget the "b." Or, as Krugman puts it at one point, "Climate denial, we know from decades of experience, is fueled by an unholy trinity of financial interest (fossil fuel companies determined to keep their profits flowing), ideology (conservatives hostile to any form of regulation) and psychological insecurity (real men burn stuff.) AI-risk denial presumably reflects a similar mix of factors." (Also linked yesterday.)
Heather Cox Richardson started writing about Trump's autocracy seven years ago yesterday.
David Yaffe-Bellany of the New York Times: “A sweeping bill that would create business-friendly rules for cryptocurrencies stalled in the Senate on Tuesday, a major blow to the crypto industry’s plans in Washington. The Senate voted 50 to 49 to block consideration of the Clarity Act, a high-profile piece of legislation that was shaped by crypto executives over months of negotiations with Congress and the White House. The bill passed in the House last year, but it has faced numerous delays in the Senate. The vote on Tuesday was a stinging defeat for the industry that makes it unlikely the legislation will pass anytime soon — if ever.... While many Republicans embraced the bill, Democrats largely opposed it. Many of their concerns centered on ... [Donald] Trump, who generated $1.4 billion from a network of crypto businesses last year. Democrats wanted stronger language to prevent the president and other public officials from using crypto to make money.” The link is a gift link. A CNBC report is here.
The person who posted this short video wrote, "This is elder abuse!!" I think he's right. Everybody who claims he has been chatting with Mitch is an effing liar. I'll admit that Mitch Machiavelli would do the same damned thing to another senator in a similar situation. Nevertheless, whoever is forcing this dead man walking (being wheeled around) to be put on public exhibit should be prosecuted. Thanks to RAS for the link. See also comments near and at the end of yesterday's thread. (Also linked yesterday.)
Robert Jimison of the New York Times: “The House on Tuesday voted for a third time to direct ... [Donald] Trump to end the war in Iran or seek explicit authorization to continue it, delivering another bipartisan rebuke to his handling of the conflict as fighting in the region continues and American voters increasingly disapprove. Seven Republicans joined Democrats in supporting the resolution, which does not carry the force of law but seeks to compel the administration to either halt the operation or win a vote of Congress approving it. But the action in the Republican-led chamber was the latest sign of frustration on Capitol Hill over the ongoing conflict and its domestic impacts, including high gas prices, weeks before midterm elections in which control of Congress is at stake. Lawmakers voted 220 to 204 in favor of the resolution, which was offered by Representative Seth Moulton, Democrat of Massachusetts and a combat veteran, who said the war with Iran 'has not only failed, but backfired.'” The link is a gift link. The AP story, published by MS NOW, is here.
Michael Gold of the New York Times: “The House on Tuesday killed a Democratic attempt to impeach ... [Donald] Trump over his administration’s immigration crackdown and deadly shootings involving federal immigration agents, as Democrats split over whether to allow the effort to move forward. The majority of Democrats opposed a Republican bid to quash the impeachment measure, which was introduced by Representative Al Green of Texas. But dozens of them, including the party’s three House leaders, voted 'present,' declining to take a position in a reflection of the dilemma the issue presented as Democrats campaign to take the majority in the midterm elections. Even as they have regularly condemned Mr. Trump as corrupt and his actions as unlawful, Democratic leaders have tried to keep the party’s message focused on the high cost of living and the economy.” The link is a gift link.
Erin McDaniel of NPR: "Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky moved Tuesday to impeach Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth over the war in Iran. Congressman Massie, a long-time critic of the Trump administration, read the articles of impeachment aloud from the House floor just after the chamber convened at noon. Massie alleges that Hegseth has waged the Iran war illegally, among other 'high crimes and misdemeanors.' Massie alleges that Hegseth initiated the conflict unlawfully, defied Congress' order to withdraw from the conflict and incurred unnecessary civilian casualties.... The House will have to act on Massie's proposal by Thursday, a quick turnaround. The body is set to leave Washington this week for an extended recess that will end after the midterm elections in November."
Mia McCarthy, et al., of Politico: “A pair of House Democrats voted to advance a slate of GOP bills in a procedural vote that was otherwise on track to fail — the second time they have crossed party lines to help out House GOP leaders in recent weeks. Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington and Jared Golden of Maine previously aided Speaker Mike Johnson ... when they voted to advance a 'rule' resolution that teed up a Golden-authored measure aiding lobstermen.... [This time,] Golden and Gluesenkamp Perez ... joined with Republicans ... to set up votes on bills that would hand ... Donald Trump new authorities to sanction Russia’s trading partners as well as measures rolling back some EPA regulations. Gluesenkamp Perez said in a statement on X after the vote that she is 'proud to represent one of the largest Ukrainian communities in America' and she will 'always stand with my community’s values.... My vote today gets us one step closer to enacting these sanctions into law and I look forward to voting tomorrow to cut off the flow of Russian oil money fueling this war.'...”
~~~ Marie: Kevin, of course, was instrumental in effecting that subsummation (I reckoned I had made up this word, but it turns out it's a real word) via a picture more infamous, but perhaps less enduring than Fagan's oil portrait.
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| Lardo & Kevin at Mar-a-Lardo, 2021. |
Holly Otterbein, et al., of Axios: "Members of Congress and governors are under increasing pressure to regulate AI, but more than two dozen of them who spoke with Axios said they don't use the technology or have rarely done so.... 'Heavens no,' said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), 75, chair of the Armed Services Committee, when asked if he uses AI. 'Personally? I don't think I've ever used it,' said Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), 74, the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.... After we spoke with him, Pallone shared a statement through a spokesperson that said: 'You don't need to do drugs like heroin to know they should be regulated. Members of Congress don't need to spend their time talking to AI chatbots all day to know we need to rein in this dangerous technology.'"
Jeremy Peters & Cecilia Kang of the New York Times: “In thundering, back-to-back speeches, Senator Bernie Sanders and Stephen K. Bannon on Tuesday denounced the billionaires who run the country’s largest tech companies and urged Americans to demand tighter restrictions on artificial intelligence before its capabilities exceed human control. The unusual public appearances by the country’s elder democratic socialist and a leading architect of the MAGA movement, at a conference in Washington, underscored the deep and rising anxiety over the potential destructive power of artificial intelligence. As calls to regulate the technology have grown louder, transcending political allegiances, there is little consensus from Congress or the White House about what a national policy would look like.” The link is a gift link.
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California. Yan Zhuang & Shawn Hubler of the New York Times: “At least five people were dead in Los Angeles after back-to-back accidents late Tuesday in which a van broadsided a bus and then an NBC news helicopter, apparently hovering nearby to cover the story, plummeted to the ground and burst into flames, the authorities said. The crashes, which brought scores of emergency responders to the San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Chatsworth during the evening rush hour..., left the television news crews who cover it — often from news choppers — struggling to maintain their composure on the air. An NBC4 anchor, who had earlier told viewers that the station had lost contact with its helicopter crew, confirmed that the helicopter that had crashed had been carrying members of the station’s team.... Then the station abruptly ended its news coverage and switched to other programming. NBC4 later said that its reporter Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw had been aboard the helicopter and were killed in the crash.” The link is a gift link.
Delaware. The New York Times has posted Delaware's primary results here; not a gift link. According to Chris Hayes of MS NOW, this is the last primary election of the 2026 cycle.
19 comments:
Tom Nichols, for The Atlantic, on Trump’s Kennedy Center Shakedown
"The center’s top officials, the people who were supposed to be entrusted with the future of this cultural icon, have admitted their failure. They acknowledge that Trump will not support the institution unless his name is on it. Well, so be it. The trustees should let the center close, declare bankruptcy, and come to a sad end—all on Trump’s watch. Allow the Kennedy Center to fail in full view of the American public, and let them decide whether such things matter.
Otherwise, Trump will plow ahead and do something no one wants, because no one bothered to stop him.
The Kennedy Center can always be rebuilt and reopened...the restoration of the center could be one of the items on the next president’s to-do list....Scrap the czarist-style ballroom. Rebuild the East Wing of the White House. Halt the fascist-flavored victory arch that will dishonor nearby Arlington Cemetery. Fix the Reflecting Pool. Chisel Trump’s name off the U.S. Institute of Peace.....Painful as it would be to see the Kennedy Center go bankrupt, it would be more painful to cave to Trump’s deeply cynical refusal to save a national treasure unless he gets his name on it."
I'm surprised that Joyce Beatty has not been shot by the Fat Fascist (or rather by one of his made men, since he's a coward himself) after that Kennedy Center meeting. Whoo! I'll bet no one talks to the little führer like that (ie, as if he were a normal person who needed to be taken down a peg for being a dick). "You have more bankruptcies than anyone else in the room"? Yow. Good for her.
And not for nothin' but how is it this fucking guy has time to sit in on board meetings for a performing arts center when the country is going to hell in a Trump-made handbag? We are at war, gas prices through the roof, bond ratings are crazy, measles outbreaks are killing children (entirely his fault--all of it), but he has time to scream and yell because his name isn't on a building? But PoT pols and Fox collaborators are all perfectly okay with this? Instead of actually doing his job his top priorities are getting his name on the Kennedy Center (against a court order), building his bordello-ballroom-hidey hole for dirty business, golfing, looking up Nanny Natalie's skirt, posting AI slop pictures of himself as a super hero, sleeping through meetings, and rigging the upcoming elections.
But yeah, this is all normal.
One more thing about the obese infant's delusional worldview.
How is it that, on one hand, we are in a Golden Age, the nation has never been better off, the economy is the best it's ever been, we are the gold standard and the world is in awe of us (him, he means). But at the same time, commies and "dumocrats" are destroying the country, the world is laughing at us because we have mail-in voting (Canada, Germany, Iceland, South Korea, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Poland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, all have full mail-in voting, a further 20 countries permit limited groups of voters to use mail-in ballots, including Australia, India, Ireland, Japan and Spain), immigrants are infecting the entire country, bad rulings from the Swine Court are making it so that the country may never recover again, Aieeeee!
How can all of these things be true at the same time?
I guess if you're in the midst of a descent into dementia, coupled with raging, uncontrollable narcissistic infantile impulses and basically hate everyone who won't bow to your every ridiculous whim....
Basically, if baby gets his way, everything is jake. If not, we're all going to hell.
Yeah...golden age. Right.
As I wrote in my comment to the Times on this one: Though weak on the prescriptive, on where we go from here and how we get there (the hard part) the best descriptive piece I've read on the administration's purported concern for civil rights.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/16/opinion/trump-antisemitism-israel-civil-rights.html
A few days ago I commented that it seems passing strange that Fat Hitler doesn't make more of the assassination attempt against him. All he cares about is that the AP doesn't get to use that picture of him with his tiny fist in the air after his ear was nicked.
Well, that was then. Now, because he's desperate (and stoopid) he's now claiming that Democrats tried to kill him!
What's that? Evidence? Well, of course not. There's no evidence, but I double-dog dares ya to say the Dear Leader is a lying sack of shit about this.
And to show how absolutely bonkers this latest hunk of MAGA red meat is, even scrotum tongue bathers like Kash & Karry and Todd Blanche are doing the ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Google Eyes Kash went so far as to say there's zero evidence that the kid who missed Fatty ever talked to anyone other than his parents, never mind canoodling with Democrats to plot an assassination. And seriously, if he was conniving with Democrats, it's no wonder he missed. They probably told him "Now, don't actually kill him. Just wound him a bit, maybe an ear...okay? A little scratch. We don't want to do too much."
But red meat for the droolers. That's right in his wheelhouse. Expect a lot more of this.
There's a whole lot to unpack about Eight Ball Jr's splashy Bahamas wedding, but here's just one thing to chew on.
Eight Ball is a defense contractor for the United States military (another nepotistic no-bid contract for a drone company he slithered into in between doing lines). How is it that it's perfectly okay for a defense contractor to be taking money from a foreign actor, one who is close to the leader of an historic enemy of the United States? If this were any other contractor, he'd be hauled in for about 20 congressional hearings, his contract voided and the FBI and CIA acting as his official proctologists for next three years.
But it's a central member of the Trump Crime Family, so it's all hunky dory.
More on this in a bit.
From the google, answering "how much is the KenCen appropriation? :
"... The regular annual federal appropriation for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is $44.93 million ($44,926,000) for fiscal year 2025, with a proposed $37.2 million under consideration by the House Committee for fiscal year 2026. [1] (https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48726)In addition to its standard operating budget, Congress passed a massive, one-time special appropriation of $256.657 million (commonly cited as $257 million) under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. This supplemental funding is legally earmarked for large-scale capital repairs, physical restoration, clearing the maintenance backlog, and upgrading security structures at the facility through September 2029. [1] (https://deadline.com/2026/09/kennedy-center-to-close-trump-1237104360/), [2] (https://www.facebook.com/WPLGLocal10/posts/this-just-in-the-board-of-the-kennedy-lcenter-voted-to-close-over-financial-issue/1118650023854584/)
It may be legal for the board to close the doors on (specious?) safety grounds, but not to forego appropriated repairs. They are not "bankrupt." Just another illegal dereliction by the lawbreaker in chief.
ProPublica has the finances
"Something weirdly not noted in a lot of the coverage of the extortionate threats to murder the Kennedy Center unless it’s reimagined as a shrine to Trump: There was no dire fiscal crisis until Trump’s goombahs started mucking with it. Its finances were fine. "
"Metro Times review finds that donors named in those [Epstein] files have given nearly $4.7 million to support [Mike] Roger's senate campaign."
"National Weather Service Switches To “Lake America”
Changes are underway at the National Weather Service, as it prepares to start referring to ‘Lake Ontario’ as ‘Lake America’.
In a memo released today, officials say, “NWS is in the process of implementing Executive Order 14422, “Honoring the American History of the Great Lakes and Renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America. Work is underway to update naming conventions as quickly as possible on online maps, weather products, websites and other materials across the NWS.”"
Don Junior's brother in law is also the lead negotiator for Russia's war on Ukraine. There are so many people in the the government who Junior could be a backdoor for the Russians to get information to with all the access he has through his family and now the military contracts Akhilleus mentioned. In the first administration Kushner asked for a secure line to the Kremlin so he could talk to them without anyone in the US government's knowledge. Kremlev didn't just throw together an expensive private island wedding extravaganza at the last minute. These two "friends" have been in regular unreported contact for a while.
MAGA' De-enlightenment to dim the future of science
"For many U.S. scientists funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the agency they know and loved died on 10 September.
That’s the date NSF issued a 10-page memo signaling a retreat from its traditional role of giving grants to individual researchers to pursue their best ideas and to train the next generation of scientists. Instead, the memo makes clear, NSF will devote the bulk of its resources to addressing the research priorities of President Donald Trump and his administration, many of them technology focused."
Associate Member
"European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday proposed opening a path for Canada to become the European Union’s first associate member, a striking overture as U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs drive Ottawa closer to Europe."
Tom Sullivan has a picture of Trump's Kennedy Center
We can be in the Golden Age, never better off, at the same time as commies are destroying our country in exactly the same way that Barak Obama was ruthless, tyrannical dictator at the same time he was a feckless, useless, rudderless shell of a man.
Grab people by the feelings so strongly that they can't process facts.
As RAS points out, there was no financial calamity with the Kennedy Center until Fatty took over. Also, it bears recalling that whenever he says "Oh, the place is falling apart! It's a disaster, it should be knocked!" He has personally--personally--been in charge of the Center since he grabbed control of it and installed his lackeys 19 months ago (in February of 2025). So, he's had almost two years to do something about repairs and whatever else was needed to keep the place from "falling apart" but all he's done is illegally slap his name on the wall and scream and yell and poop his Depends since he was forced to take it off. The huge tarp placed there to hide his shame is STILL up, so no one can see that his GREAT NAME was sheared off. No one did that to Ozymandias, by Jing!
So if the place is in physical and financial ruin, there's only one person DIRECTLY responsible. Hint: he's fat and stupid and wears orange makeup.
The Kennedy Center has the misfortune of finding itself in the center of a vicious Venn diagram. For Fat Hitler, the center represents a number of areas of great personal interest.
First, the name. The Kennedy name has long been synonymous with the sort of glamor and charisma that Fatty desperately desires. He's a cheap, sleazy, self-promoting huckster and suspects that the patrons and probably most of the performers at the Center see him as such. That, he cannot abide, so he'll take it over and show those assholes who's boss. Second, it's THE PERFORMING ARTS center for the entire nation, given its location. Fatty has long considered himself a premier showman and entertainment expert. Why, he ran an international beauty contest for underage girls (underage girls he ogled in the altogether as he burst unannounced into their dressing rooms to check them out), he was the STAR of an unreality show. They STOLE his Emmy, godammit! Thus, it was only natural that the greatest president with entertainment expertise should take over and show the rubes how it's done. He'll bring in great acts: Lee Greenwood, Kid Rock, maybe some strippers. Fuck that opera shit.
Then there's his belief that not even the greatest architects and builders in world history can compare to the great Donald as an expert in building stuff. The pyramids? The Taj Mahal? Roman Colosseum? Pshaw, Pikers. If the place needs renovation, he'll paste a shitload of gold spray painted gewgaws from Home Depot on the walls, plenty of pictures of himself, and maybe some other tacky bullshit. How 'bout some toy boats like he has in the Oval Office? He's the Great Donald! How dare they not listen to his wicked wonderful expertise.
Also, to cap it off, there's the chance to appropriate the Kennedy name and style. But first, he needs to step on the real Kennedy style and show everyone that the Trump style is the BEST. So, pave over Jackie Kennedy's Rose Garden. Make it look cheap and sad, exterminate every iota of class and beauty. Then go for the Center. That'll show 'em.
The Orange asshole is certainly a monster, but he's a pretty simple (and simplistic) person. It's all about ego, vanity, revenge, and money. The new Kennedy Center Venn diagram.
Junior, the Trump Crime Family, and Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia....
Russia all the time.
The Pro Publica article that uncovered the funding source for Eight Ball Junior's splashy three day wedding party in the Bahamas, rental of private island--$100,000 per day, and spectacular fireworks--$70,000, plus helicopter and seaplane transits to and fro, and who knows what the hell else...all heavily funded by a secret benefactor: Umar Kremlev, a Russian oligarch close to President Vladimir Putin.
Funny, in'it? Given all the billions the Trump Crime Family has scooped up since Fat Hitler's return to power, Junior (or Daddy Warbucks) could have easily footed the bill, but there's a reason these mooching assholes never pay for anything themselves, with Daddy in the Oval, everyone's got to pay to play, and Junior LOVES being considered one of the highest levels of Trumpy gangsterism, especially by his buddies in PutinVille.
But let's look briefly at this Kremlev person. First, not his real name.
"In 2009, Umar Kremlev did not yet exist.
He was in his late 20s, with a criminal record for extortion and battery, still going by his birth name, Umar Lutfulloyev, according to the Russian independent news outlet Proekt. But he was about to rapidly ascend in Russia to a position of wealth and influence, with the help of a powerful friend." (psst...the friend's initials are VP--don't tell anyone.)
Criminal record, extortion, battery. Sounds like a Trump kind of person.
Part 2
Kremlev became a boxing promoter with ties to the Olympics, until, OOPS, it became clear that one of his Putin supported outfits was found to be kidnapping thousands of children from Ukraine and schlepping them off to become good little Russian goose steppers for Uncle Vlad. So, no more Olympics for Kremlev.
That's okay, because he was involved in so many shady operations, Vlad kept him around and made him a hugely wealthy oligarch (apparently Putin's kind of mover-shaker-leg breaker and thug). All of which brought him into contact with Eight Ball, who like his fat daddy, fancies himself a Manly Man Boxing aficionado.
But what does Putin care about boxing?
"In 2020, Kremlev became president of the IBA. The association was something akin to FIFA but for boxing and had long overseen the sport in the Olympics. But it had been beset by corruption allegations and was on the brink of insolvency. Kremlev brought money to the table from Gazprom, the state-owned company that operates as an arm of Putin’s government. Gazprom publicly became the IBA’s financial backer, filling its coffers with tens of millions of dollars.
Former high-level IBA officials said that Kremlev had a clear political agenda. 'Umar is guided by Putin. It was using the sport for soft political power,' a former IBA board member told ProPublica. 'It’s geopolitics. That it’s boxing is just happenstance.'"
Much the same way as Sultan Bonesaw, MBS (another BFF of the Trump Crime Family) has used golf for sports-washing purposes, his LIV scam (which is now falling apart). These guys see many uses for soft power, an opportunity to get things done that can't be accomplished by bullets or bombs or threats. Fatty, stupidly, sees soft power opportunities (such as international aid operations) as money that should be going into his pockets, not saving the lives of millions of starving and sick people in "shithole countries", which in turn destroys American influence abroad. Smart, right?
Part 3
So Putin uses Kremlev as another back door to the Trump Crime Family, just as he's using Witless and Ku$hner. He plays Trump on so many levels it's hard to keep track. But don't forget, Fatty was in deep with Russian mobsters from way back.
Back in the 80s and 90s, when his shitty Trump Tower was half empty, he learned he could make a ton of money by renting out condos to no-show Russian mobsters who used those purchases to launder their money. Trump has always relished his entrees into that demimonde world of shady gangsters and crooks, made him feel Manly, I guess, plus it got him cash.
As for the boxing stuff, I learned in a recent Daily Beast podcast, from David Rothkopf, something I never knew. You guys all remember Fatty's connections with Mafia lawyer and Tailgunner Joe's sleazy mouthpiece, Roy Cohn, who became the Donald's "legal" advisor. Cohn's father was a boxing promoter. Boxing promotion in NY back in the day was entirely mob controlled. More Mafiosis in the soup.
So here we are decades later, and as Rothkopf points out, the Trump that traipsed around NYC back in the 80s, with Russian mobsters, grabbing pussies, sidling up to boxing and wrestling types (he was a big pal of the uber shady Don King), hiring Mafia connected businesses to help with his buildings, the guy who never saw a sleazy, shady deal he didn't like, that guy is the exact same guy that is pooping his Depends in the White House today.
A few years ago, I recall a college roommate of Ted Cruz observing that the Ted who sat in the Senate was the same as the punk asshole kid he roomed with years before. At the time I remember thinking that this was really weird. Most people grow. They learn, they evolve. Someone who is the exact same at 40 as they were at 18 is pretty fucking scary.
But this is Trump too. He has never learned a thing. He's the exact same sleazy crook now as he was 40 years--hell, 50 years ago.
And his kid, like him, in in deep with Russian mobsters. And he is a defense contractor and his daddy is president*. And this Kremlev guy, this guy who is close to Putin, foots the bill for Eight Ball's wedding. But he won't ever want anything back in return. Will he?
Nothing to worry about here, is there?
Like I said, with these pricks, it's Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, all the time. Bob Mueller had it right. He was just too nice
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