If you are Donald Trump or a Donald Trump appointee, at some point in every day you ask yourself, "What can I do that's stupid and destructive and weakens democracy and usurps the traditional rights of ordinary Americans?" And then you do it.
Crazy Old Man Bans Major News Outlets. Michael Grynbaum & Benjamin Mullin of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said on Friday that he would ban journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico from reporting at the White House. Mr. Trump published his abrupt proclamation, which he said was “effective immediately,” in a post on Truth Social, the social media platform he owns. The president wrote that his move was 'a result of their constant “reporting” FAKE NEWS!,' repeating one of his most common complaints about independent news outlets. It was not clear how such a ban might be enforced, or whether it could pass muster in the event of a legal challenge.” At 3:45 pm ET, this is a developing story. The link is a gift link.
A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times: “On Sept. 18 of [1951], at the south end of [Manhattan], on Nassau Street, the newspaper we know today as The New York Times published its first issue. Put together in unfinished lofts by candlelight, it consisted of four dense, colorless pages of text. It sold for a penny. On Friday, The New York Times turns 175.... How unlikely it is that a newspaper born before indoor electricity — let alone cars, radio, telephones, planes and computers — is still here.... Today, the future of America’s free press is uncertain. As the advertising-based business model that long supported original reporting has collapsed, the country has lost nearly 3,500 newspapers and a vast majority of local journalism jobs in just two decades....
“No president in modern history has been more hostile than Donald Trump to a press he’s dubbed 'the enemy of the people.' He accuses reporters of treason, a crime punishable by death. He personally sues news organizations when their coverage displeases him. He directs his administration to use the levers of government power to investigate, subpoena and prosecute journalists for doing their jobs. But in a reminder of the press’s lasting importance, Mr. Trump, like his predecessors, still reads The Times.”The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Worth a read. It's notable, IMO, that Sulzberger thinks the U.S. is still "a global superpower." I'm not sure he's been paying close attention to where we stand in the world today.
~~~ Arc de Trump News, Ctd. Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump has insisted that a 250-foot-tall triumphal arch should be built near Arlington National Cemetery, citing long-abandoned plans to construct a monument there. Local officials, preservationists and historians are now pushing an alternate idea: Abandon the arch and consider building the slender columns that were originally envisioned by architects and lawmakers a century ago. 'We request meaningful consideration of an alternative that more accurately reflects the spirit and intent of the 1924 McKim Mead & White design and the 1925 Act of Congress,' C. Andrew Lewis, an official in Washington’s historic preservation office, wrote in a letter to the Trump administration on Wednesday and obtained by The Washington Post. 'Specifically, we request the [National Park Service] to evaluate design concepts consisting of two columns that truly frame, rather than limit the historic view corridor.'” ~~~
~~~ Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: Donald “Trump’s planned 250-foot triumphal arch in Washington must have a constant flame atop the structure to make it safe for planes to pass by in one of the busiest airspaces in the country, the Federal Aviation Administration said. In a hazard study released on Friday, the F.A.A. deemed the proposed arch, which would sit along a flight path less than a mile from Ronald Reagan National Airport, safe for air travel provided that Mr. Trump complies with recommended safety measures. 'The proposed structure should be appropriately marked/lighted with a nonstandard eternal flame and continuously floodlighted by searchlight projectors installed at three or more equidistant points around the base of the structure,' the study said. In June, F.A.A. evaluators recommended that red, blinking obstruction lights similar to the ones atop the Washington Monument be added to the arch — a common measure for large structures that go up near airports. But upon further review, the agency altered the safety provisions.” The link is a gift link.
Noah Robertson, et al., of the Washington Post: “More American service members have died in the Middle East during the ongoing Iran war than the Pentagon has disclosed publicly, according to six U.S. officials familiar with the Defense Department’s internal casualty accounting data. Five of the officials said there have been at least 22 military fatalities — four more than what appears in the Pentagon’s public database, known as the Defense Casualty Analysis System, or DCAS. A sixth official, who like the others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the figures, said 23 service members have died since Feb. 28, when the Trump administration, in concert with Israel, initiated the Iran war. Not all of the undisclosed deaths are directly tied to the conflict but have involved U.S. personnel who were in the Middle East amid ongoing hostilities, this person said.” The link is a gift link.
F.Y.I., the link (below) to Greg Miller's WashPo story on recent Russian plots against Westerners has been updated from a standard link to a gift link.
Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: “Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, temporarily halted some cooperation with the agency’s counterpart in Canada this month after the nation’s public broadcaster reminded its journalists of a longstanding policy not to refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as 'terrorism' without attribution to experts, according to multiple officials with knowledge of the event. The extraordinary move to punish the Royal Canadian Mounted Police appears to have been short-lived, and it was specific to the F.B.I. Other parts of the U.S. government involved in intelligence-sharing continued with their operations. And not every element of cooperation between the F.B.I. and the mounted police was halted, according to the officials with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the sensitive law enforcement dynamics. Still, the abrupt move by Mr. Patel risked disrupting F.B.I. operations with Canada and jeopardizing the organization’s relationship with Canada’s national law enforcement agency, which works closely with the bureau on a wide range of issues, including terrorism and cybersecurity cases. It came as ... [Donald] Trump was ramping up pressure on Canada, hitting the longtime U.S. ally with punishing tariffs and taunting Prime Minister Mark Carney.” The link is a gift link.
Megha Rajagopalan & Pranav Baskar of the New York Times: “Two men deported to Equatorial Guinea by the Trump administration were hooded, bound, beaten with guns and shoved down a flight of stairs recently by police officers at a remote hotel where immigrants are being held indefinitely, according to witnesses and lawyers. The deportees said the beatings and subsequent arrests were intended to stop them from telling the outside world about the deteriorating conditions and growing violence inside the hotel, which has become a de facto prison for 29 men and women from different countries. Experts and human rights advocates predicted such abuse after the Trump administration began deporting people to authoritarian countries where they had no ties or, in many cases, legal rights. Equatorial Guinea, like other countries cooperating with the U.S. deportation program, is notorious for human rights violations, including torture and arbitrary arrest, according to the State Department.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I think of this not as some African thugs beating up these people but as Donald Trump, Stephen Miller, Marco Rubio & Markwayne Mullin torturing these people. They knew this would happened and they arranged to make it happen. The people I've named are criminals.
Stacy Cowley of the New York Times: “For more than 80 years, activist shareholders have had a potent tool for pressuring companies for governance changes by submitting proposals and seeking a shareholder vote on their suggestions. This week, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed scrapping that process. It wants to eliminate a detailed rule that is often used by activists and advocacy groups to pursue changes in companies’ operations. The proposal will be open for public comment for 60 days, after which the agency can move to finalize the change. Shareholder proposals frequently focus on environmental and social concerns, like corporate diversity and worker protections, or on governance issues such as executive pay. They are typically advisory and do not dictate decisions by a company’s board. Paul Atkins, the commission’s Trump-appointed chair, said the proposal to discard the rule reflected his highest regulatory priorities.” The link is a gift link.
Michael de la Merced of the New York Times: “Warren E. Buffett, who built one of the most successful investment firms in history and became a sage of American capitalism, is stepping down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the company said on Friday. Mr. Buffett, who turned 96 on Aug. 30, will remain on Berkshire’s board as chairman emeritus, effective immediately. His older son, Howard G. Buffett, will become chairman under the company’s succession plan.... Mr. Buffett stepped down as chief executive of the company at the end of last year, and a longtime lieutenant, Greg Abel, took over.” The link is a gift link.
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This post is going viral. Thanks to RAS for the link: ~~~
other photos show that this placard was carried off the plane by Bill Pulte. I expect Trump will post this image on Truth Social sometime soon. Watch this space.
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 17, 2026
~~~ Even the New York Times is weighing in. ~~~
~~~ Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: “Late Wednesday night, photojournalists captured images through the windows of Air Force One that showed ... [Donald] Trump reviewing a large poster board with what looked like a rendering of a construction site beneath three very visible words: 'Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.' The photos raise many questions that the White House has so far refused to answer. Roma Daravi, the Trump-allied spokesperson for the Kennedy Center, isn’t talking either. There is one other person captured clearly in the images of Mr. Trump reviewing the demolition poster board plan: Bill Pulte, a Trump loyalist who is the nation’s top housing official (he also did a stint this year as the acting director of national intelligence).
“The photos have already been incorporated into a previously filed lawsuit over the fate of the Kennedy Center, which closed this week after a disastrous year and a half under Mr. Trump’s stewardship that saw plummeting ticket sales and a talent exodus. The lawsuit was filed by Representative Joyce Beatty, Democrat of Ohio, who is suing the Kennedy Center as a board member. In federal court, she has objected to the temporary closure of the institution this week for what center officials say are severe safety concerns over fallen ceiling plaster. A judge on Thursday denied her request for an emergency hearing, allowing the center to remain closed for now. But the judge also reminded the administration that it had promised in another lawsuit over the center to give notice of any plans for demolition. Such notice must be provided 30 days in advance, the judge ordered.” The link is a gift link.
Aishvarya Kavi of the New York Times: “Former staff members of the U.S. Institute of Peace asked a federal court on Thursday to prevent the Trump administration from carving ... [Donald] Trump’s name into the facade of the headquarters in downtown Washington. In a filing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, lawyers for the institute’s ousted leadership said that engraving Mr. Trump’s name on the building would cause 'irreparable harm' because the act would further damage the organization’s independent mission. They argue that mission is separate from the federal government. Mr. Trump’s name was already adhered on the Institute of Peace in December in large, silver letters alongside the existing engraving of the institute’s name. A White House spokeswoman said at the time that the organization, which has essentially been defunct since March 2025, had been renamed the 'Donald J. Trump United States Institute of Peace.'” The link is a gift link. A Politico story is here.
Marie: Late yesterday morning, I posted a video of NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani talking with some young children and another video full of stills of President Obama playing with children and babies. Both Mamdani & Obama seemed to be having a good time. Then Akhilleus challenged me: "Do a search for 'Trump holding babies'. In most pictures, he's holding them away from his body as if maybe they have cooties. In others he's holding little babies like a sack of something he's not sure about. He never looks comfortable or at ease. Even when he's kissing babies on the campaign trail. It's all performative and a terrible performance at that. " I thought I'd better check to see if Akhilleus could possibly be right. I'm not going to show you all the pictures I found that confirmed Akhilleus' shocking! assertion, but here's one. (I thought maybe the photo was fake. It is not. It's an AP photo; here's a Denver Post story the photo accompanies. It seems Trump was trying to kick the babies out of one of his rallies):
Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: “President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea pushed back against pressure from the Trump administration on Friday, declaring that his country would not deploy troops or military assets to support the U.S.-led war against Iran. In recent weeks..., [Donald] Trump has publicly taunted the South Korean leader, venting frustration over what he described as Seoul’s refusal to help defend the Strait of Hormuz — once the world’s main transit point for oil — while American troops remain stationed on the Korean Peninsula to shield South Korea from North Korea. On Friday, Mr. Lee firmly rejected any military involvement in the Middle East conflict. 'There will be no deployment of troops or dispatch of military assets to be involved in or intervene in this war,' Mr. Lee said in a news conference.” The link is a gift link.
Edward Wong of the New York Times: “The State Department said Thursday that the Trump administration was moving forward with the sale of 48 advanced F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, despite internal reports by U.S. intelligence agencies that China could acquire or steal the warplane’s technology. The package of the jets and a spare engine, valued at $24.3 billion, 'will improve Saudi Arabia’s capability to deter current and future threats by strengthening its homeland defense,' the State Department said in the announcement. The agency also gave formal notification to Congress of the pending sale. If the production and delivery of the planes is completed, which would take years, Saudi Arabia would be only the second country in the Middle East to have F-35 jets, after Israel. The State Department made the announcement one day after The New York Times reported on U.S. intelligence concerns on the sales. Internal reports expressing concerns about the possibility of F-35 technology being compromised by China and Saudi Arabia’s military partnership had been circulating among federal agencies and congressional committees.” The link is a gift link. A Politico story is here.
Ismaeel Naar of the New York Times: “Fighting has intensified near two strategic provinces in Yemen, a sign that Iranian-backed Houthi militants are expanding their offensive after seizing the country’s Red Sea coastline, analysts say. A sustained Houthi push into Yemen’s resource-rich eastern regions, including Marib Province, would threaten the economic lifeline of the internationally recognized government and risk triggering a fresh humanitarian crisis among millions of Yemenis.” The link is a gift link.
Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: “Congress this week passed a landmark sanctions bill taking aim at Russia’s energy sector, a new attempt to make Russia 'suffer' for its invasion and to pressure Mr. Putin to make compromises. But even as that bill makes its way to Mr. Trump’s desk, the Trump administration is doubling down on a different approach: offering benefits for Russia that officials hope will get Mr. Putin to consider ending his war. Among the new inducements: the White House is now considering signing business deals with Russia before it stops fighting in Ukraine, according to two people close to the talks.The approach represents a shift from Mr. Trump’s pledge last year that business deals with Russia would not come 'until we get the war settled.' It indicates that Mr. Trump’s envoys for ending the war, Steve Witkoff and [Jared] Kushner, are groping for new ways to entice Russia to stop fighting, now that it has become clear that Ukraine will not withdraw from the swath of its own territory that Mr. Putin insists he must control before the war ends.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: And whaddaya bet some of those business deals are with the Trump Organization, the Jared Kushner Nepotism Foundation, and Witkoff Investments, Ltd.? ~~~
~~~ Greg Miller of the Washington Post: “In a matter of weeks, Russia has been linked to a stunning series of attacks and plots that — had any one of them turned deadly — carried the potential to trigger a dangerous escalation in the war in Ukraine and the West’s broader conflict with Moscow, according to security officials and experts. The spate of attacks — at a moment when the Trump administration is pushing to revive peace negotiations — has put security agencies on edge..., threatened travel routes that are critical to Ukraine’s ability to maintain ties with its supporters, and raised concerns that Russia once again is probing how far it can go in widening the war as it seeks to break the will of Kyiv’s backers. Russia’s drone strike on a train near the Ukraine-Poland border early Sunday seemed to mark a worrisome new development in Moscow’s calculations.... The attack destroyed a locomotive on a section of track where a delegation of diplomats and former top European officials — including former British prime minister Boris Johnson — had passed a short while earlier.... Former CIA director David Petraeus and two other former agency officials were on a separate train that was evacuated minutes before the explosion....” The link has been updated to a gift link.
Charlie Savage of the New York Times: “Attorney General Todd Blanche has repeatedly participated in campaign events and spoken in partisan terms about the coming midterm elections since his confirmation last month, despite criticism that he violated a longstanding Justice Department principle of steering clear of electoral politics. This week he waded again into those waters — twice.... The second Trump administration has ... unabashedly destroyed the post-Watergate norm of Justice Department independence from the White House in investigative decisions. Early on, Mr. Blanche’s predecessor, Pam Bondi, declared, 'We are so proud to work at the directive of Donald Trump.' Last September, after Mr. Trump publicly demanded that she charge several perceived adversaries, the department pushed through short-lived indictments of two of them.... Since January 2025, dozens of judges have viewed its representations with suspicion, eroding the traditional bonds of trust, known as the 'presumption of regularity,' that the courts typically grant the department.... Still, Mr. Blanche is dismantling another post-Watergate principle: that Justice Department leaders stay away from partisan politicking.” The link is a gift link.
As the Worms Turn. Christina Jewett & Teddy Rosenbluth of the New York Times: “Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday told members of the anti-vaccine group he founded that they had 'a strong and steadfast friend at the White House' and that he would 'die with my boots on' pursuing answers about the risks of vaccines. His remarks, to a convention of Children’s Health Defense, signaled a notable shift from earlier this year when White House officials and political advisers had pushed Mr. Kennedy to sidestep the vaccine issue, given widespread support among voters for protecting children against deadly diseases.... He also generated applause when he announced that he would be looking at the health effects of electromagnetic radiation and so-called chemtrails, the trails left by airplanes that the Environmental Protection Agency has said are actually condensation, not chemicals....
“They came just one day after ... [Donald] Trump’s nominee for surgeon general, Dr. Nicole Saphier, gave a full-throated defense of the safety and efficacy of vaccines during her Senate confirmation hearing.... The speaker before Mr. Kennedy was Mark Gorton, the president of the MAHA Institute, who called the success of the polio vaccine a 'fraud,' priming the audience for the remarks of their former leader, who railed against vaccines for two decades. The speaker after him was Andrew Wakefield, a discredited British doctor whose retracted paper linked the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine with autism.... Despite worries from his political advisers, Mr. Trump himself has recently jumped into the vaccine debate. Last month he signed an executive order that called for limiting the number of vaccines given to children. In a White House signing ceremony filled with misinformation, he falsely described the measles shot as 'lethal.'” The link is a gift link. An AP report, published in the HuffPost, is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a sober-faced GWU professor of medicine, speculated on Anderson Cooper's show that RFKJ talked about chemtrails -- what Reiner called "contrails," for condensation trails -- because he didn't have time to talk about Yetis.
Eric Bazail-Eimil & Myah Ward of Politico: “The White House on Thursday withdrew the nomination of Oklahoma state trooper Lance Schroyer to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement after a Republican blocked his confirmation hearing. Schroyer’s nomination stalled after Senate Homeland Security Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a foe of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, requested that the Department of Homeland Security provide his committee with more information about its investigation into two ICE and Border Patrol agents accused of killing two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis in January. Paul, who as chair controls the committee’s hearing and markup agenda, had not yet scheduled a hearing or markup on the nomination. 'Senator Paul has not expressed opposition to the nominee,” [Paul's spokesman Drew] Carmicheal said, adding that Paul had nothing to do with the nomination being withdrawn and was not blocking or stalling Schroyer.
“Schroyer was a surprise pick to lead ICE. He had no experience leading a major law enforcement agency, let alone an organization the size of ICE. But Schroyer has close ties with the DHS secretary. Schroyer at one point led Mullin’s security detail and Mullin made Schroyer a senior adviser at DHS.” MB: Yeah, but I'll bet he is right good at saying, "License and registration, Ma'am." and "Outta the car, buddy. Hands on the hood."
Reuters, published in the Guardian: "A federal immigration officer wanted on assault charges for shooting and wounding a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis was arrested there on Wednesday, eight months after a confrontation that became a flashpoint over Donald Trump’s deportation sweeps. Christian Castro, an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent, was taken into custody by agents of the Minnesota bureau of criminal apprehension in Minneapolis and was booked into the Hennepin county jail on his outstanding arrest warrant, the agency said. Castro had been released on bond from federal custody earlier this month, after an initial appearance in a district court in McAllen, Texas, on charges of lying to investigators about the circumstances of the 14 January shooting. Under an agreement with Minnesota law enforcement, Castro voluntarily drove to Minneapolis from Texas to turn himself in to state authorities at his attorney’s office but ended up being arrested minutes before he was due to arrive, the lawyer, Daniel Gerdts, told Reuters." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Ernesto Londoño of the New York Times: “An immigration officer who spent months fighting extradition to Minnesota to face charges stemming from a shooting appeared before a judge in Minneapolis on Thursday after spending a night in the county jail. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, Christian Castro, 52, was arrested Wednesday afternoon in Minneapolis after he drove from his South Texas hometown to Minnesota, where he faces felony charges in state and federal courts. Appearing in court wearing handcuffs and an orange jail uniform, Mr. Castro agreed to waive the right to fight extradition from Texas as part of a series of conditions for his release pending trial. Hennepin County District Judge Paul R. Scoggin set bail at $200,000 and prohibited Mr. Castro from possessing firearms and from having contact with victims and witnesses in the case. Mr. Castro also agreed to wear an electronic monitoring device.” The link is a gift link.
Madaleine Rubin of the New York Times: “A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer was found guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting, robbing and threatening four women with a gun at hotels in the Chicago area in 2022. After a nearly two-week trial, a federal jury in Illinois convicted the officer, Luis Uribe, on all charges, including 10 counts of deprivation of rights and one count of brandishing a firearm. According to prosecutors, on at least six occasions between February and October 2022 in Schaumburg and Naperville, Ill., Mr. Uribe, who worked at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago at the time, entered the hotel rooms of four women, brandished his badge and threatened them with a firearm issued by Customs and Border Protection. Mr. Uribe robbed each of the women, who were all of Chinese descent, sexually assaulted two of them and tried to sexually assault the two others, said a spokesman from the U.S. attorney’s office in the Northern District of Illinois. At least two of the women said they were working as prostitutes at the time.”
Amelia Davidson & Josh Siegel of Politico: “One vulnerable Republican senator’s attempt to fast-track a data center bill that easily passed the House failed on the Senate floor [Thursday] afternoon due to objection from the top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) asked for quick passage of the Ratepayer Protection Act — a measure aimed at curtailing high energy bills associated with data centers. Sending the bill to ... Donald Trump’s desk might have given Husted and fellow Republicans an answer to the nationwide backlash to data centers. His attempt to pass the bill by unanimous consent Thursday fell short after Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) objected. Heinrich argued that the Ratepayer Protection Act did not go far enough to force data centers to foot the bill for their energy costs. He offered his own bill — the GRID Savings Act — as an alternative; Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) objected to it.”
Karen Weise & Mike Isaac of the New York Times: “Newly unsealed court documents showed considerable concern within Microsoft and its close partner OpenAI over the use of millions of news articles to develop artificial intelligence systems. As OpenAI was forging ahead with its work, Microsoft employees debated whether what OpenAI was doing represented the 'largest theft of labor in human history' and could create a 'doom loop' that could ultimately threaten the quality of the large language models they were building. 'Millions of people around the world will soon consider large models “hoovering up” all their work to be an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions,' said one internal Microsoft document from 2023. Inside OpenAI, there was also worry that its ChatGPT chatbot could lead people away from reading news elsewhere. In a June 2023 memo, Nick Turley, who led the team developing ChatGPT, wrote that A.I. posed an 'existential threat' to publishers. And in February 2024, he wrote that A.I. products 'will get more and more substitutive as they get better.'” The link is a gift link.
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California. Livia Albeck-Rivka of the New York Times: “The driver of an S.U.V. that slammed into a Los Angeles bus on Tuesday evening, killing two people and injuring five others, has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder, prosecutors said Thursday. The driver, Bailee Lynn Rios, 36, was 'impaired by drugs”' when she blasted through a red light into opposing traffic and broadsided the bus, the district attorney of Los Angeles County, Nathan J. Hochman, said at a news conference on Thursday. In addition to murder, Ms. Rios has also been charged with driving under the influence and reckless driving, Mr. Hochman said.” The link is a gift link.
Florida House Race. Marie: Maria Salazar is a member of the House of Representatives. See if you can figure out her party affiliation from this ad:
~~~ I didn't think so. She's a Republican. ~~~
~~~ Patricia Mazzei, et al., of the New York Times: “Representative María Elvira Salazar, a Florida Republican, released a television ad on Thursday directly assaulting ... [Donald] Trump’s immigration crackdown, a rare and remarkable break and a warning sign for her party of eroding support among Hispanic voters.... The decision by Ms. Salazar, a three-term representative from Miami, to record such an ad is striking given that she won re-election by 20 percentage points in 2024 and serves in the House Republican leadership as an assistant whip. Mr. Trump carried the district two years ago with 57 percent of the vote, and Ms. Salazar’s race in Florida’s 27th Congressional District has not been considered among the nation’s most competitive. But her ad — and its message — appear to be a sign of backlash to Mr. Trump’s immigration policy in Hispanic communities.... Mr. Trump endorsed Ms. Salazar for re-election earlier this year, writing on Truth Social, 'SHE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN.'... For months, [Ms. Salazar] has been pushing other House Republicans to back a bipartisan bill that would give some immigrants with no criminal background a path to obtain legal status and work permits but not citizenship.” The link is a gift link. Politico's story is here.
Sometimes "reading between the lines" requires a person to just erase the lines: ~~~
~~~ Missouri Redistricting. (Yes, Really.) Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: “A federal appeals court labored Thursday to interpret the Supreme Court’s intention when the justices blocked an order that would have allowed Missouri to use a new GOP-friendly map for the midterms. Though the high court’s order last week appeared to be the death knell for the GOP-led redistricting measure — once expected to net Republicans one additional seat — a panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals attempted to breathe new life into the issue, suggesting the justices may have been hoping for one more chance to address the matter. 'It’s on our plate and I think the Supreme Court has said “get to it,’” said Judge James Loken, the presiding member of the three-judge panel, interpreting the high court’s ruling as a directive to the appeals court to quickly dig into the merits of the case.... Loken’s interpretation of the Supreme Court’s 104-word order as conveying profound urgency was puzzling because the justices used boilerplate language they often deploy in emergency appeals. In addition, the high court’s ruling — issued without noted dissent — could be read as virtually certain to leave the old districts in place through the election regardless of what any lower federal court does.”
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Nepal, et al. Somini Sengupta, et al., of the New York Times: “Glaciers are melting across much of the Himalayas. Long-frozen ground, known as permafrost, is thawing. And a raft of disasters is menacing tens of millions of people who live in the countries that span the world’s highest mountains: landslides, bursting lakes, swollen rivers so forceful they wash away entire communities. Now, three weeks after a glacier collapsed, unleashing flash floods that left more than 8,000 dead or missing in Nepal and China, experts are urging national and local leaders across the region to prepare better for the next catastrophe. That includes more robust monitoring of their shared mountains and rivers, exchanging data with each other, and putting in place early warning systems and evacuation plans.” The link is a gift link.
20 comments:
RFKJ is so full of shit. I know the readers at RC know this, but it needs to be reiterated because the press gives these MAHA hacks far too much benefit of the doubt. Kennedy rolled over to support cancer causing pesticides and he gave his approval of the bubblegum flavored vapes for "adults". The recalls of dangerous food has been haphazard and shrouded in secrecy or tainted with money and access. Random beef scraps from who knows where are going to temporarily flood the market for no one's benefit except the foreign beef companies unloading their cold storage at a nice profit for no gain to consumers or the US cattle industry. The price of healthy food is skyrocketing with none of the MAHA losers saying or doing anything that makes a material difference. All the so-called benefits that the MAHA movement could have brought are absent. Instead they are still obsessed with condensation trails and fighting against scientific advancement and research, or making kids sicker. They are exactly who so many people said they are and would be in positions of power. Because only the delusional or corrupt would refuse to take these crackpots at their words and actions.
Glaciers
"About 12.5 trillion tons (11.3 trillion metric tons) of ice from glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica have melted since 1979, which is enough frozen water to stack ice five feet deep across the continental United States, according to a major scientific report.
A warming Earth is accelerating the melting of the planet’s two major ice sheets, with five-sixths of the melt not coming from hotter air, but from warmer waters eating away at the ice sheets from below and the sides, with glaciers flowing into the oceans, according to a study in Wednesday’s journal Scientific Data. That’s bad news for future sea level rise, the study’s authors said."
The Trouble Finding a Proper Woman
"The FBI internally warned that a group of women were creating fake online dating accounts with “tradwife” aesthetics in an effort to lure US immigration agents and “dox” them.
The FBI in Chicago disseminated a brief memo to other law enforcement officials across the US on the potential threat to agents in February, warning that “as of late January 2026, a small group of women allegedly were creating fictitious online dating profiles with the purpose of attracting and then doxxing law enforcement participating in immigration enforcement”. The report, which was shared with the Guardian, provided few details about the alleged scheme and did not explain the source of the information."
War Crimes
"A U.N. fact-finding mission on Iran said on Thursday it had reasonable grounds to believe the United States was behind two military strikes on a school and sports facility in Iran in February, and that these constituted war crimes.
It also found that Iranian authorities committed crimes against humanity during their deadly crackdown on anti-government protests."
Trump jokes about banning fishing because he thinks he has the power to do anything he wants or idea that was fed to him by people around him.
Air Travel
"Federal aviation officials are preparing to launch an AI-powered air-traffic tool in one of the nation’s busiest corridors as soon as Monday. The software, known as Smart, is expected to help the Federal Aviation Administration and airlines reduce delays and cancellations and find routes for flights when disruptions scramble air traffic. It will first debut in the Washington, D.C., area ahead of a broader nationwide rollout, according to government and industry officials.
When fully rolled out across U.S. airspace, the software is supposed to act as something like the brains of the nation’s air-traffic control system. The firm Air Space Intelligence won a $875 million, 12-year government contract earlier this year to build out Smart and a related system."
The problem for the public with data centers extends far beyond the centers themselves. Dana Milbank reports on a proposal for high voltage power lines that would ruin the landscape for miles of beautiful (and in some areas, pristine) countryside in central Virginia.
https://www.washingtonsun.com/perspectives/dana-milbank-data-centers-are-destroying-virginias-countryside-even-in-places-that-have-no-data-centers?redirected=notus_org
Message to Democratic Politicians
Interesting that Google Eyes Kash&Karry is siccing the newly MAGAfied FBI (ie, largely bereft of experience and brains) to investigate some Trad Wife scam designed to suck in misogynistic assholes who want to be married to June Cleaver, washing the dishes in an A line skirt and pearls, keeping her mouth shut, no opinions voiced, but willing to assent to whatever perverted shit they want in the bedroom.
You want a scam investigation? How about looking into how ICE sends out letters to immigrants to "C'mon down to the courthouse and git yer citizenship papers" then when people show up, beat them, shackle them, throw them into a van to be transported to some filthy rat infested ICE facility to await a plane to a central African war zone.
Guess that sort of investigation will never happen in Fat Hitler Land.
Again Trump shows he doesn't know anything about economics.
“If we buy $2 billion worth of bananas from Brazil, we’re losing $2 billion. So if we stop eating bananas, we save $2 billion.”
This only works with Trump businesses. Don't buy $1 million in trumpcoin and you still have $1 million, don't pay $20k for Trump University and you still have $20k. But with products with actual value when you spend money you get a thing of value in return, like say a banana.
Polio Bob can multitask the spreading of dangerous bullshit!
So here he is giving his usual "Vaccines are Horrible" speech to a bunch of what amounts to the medical version of Flat Earthers, idiots who are happy letting children die so long as their braindead conspiracy theories are supported by the head of HHS. So that's Dangerous Bullshit No. 1. Dangerous Bullshit No. 2, his entirely batshit crazy assertion about CHEM TRAILS! Holy condensation, Batman. Another in the loooooong line of proofs that this moron failed sixth grade science. Then check out that tan. Seriously? Because this is Dangerous Bullshit No. 3.
I guess he gets props (minimal) for not going the orange makeup route like a certain fat infant, but holeeee....What he's doing is saying to teenagers and not so smart adults, that tanning beds are the way to look Healthy and Manly and Desirable to potential pieces of ass on the side (don't forget his little notebook where he jotted down his many out of wedlock conquests, giving each a rating--what a fucking jerk).
Kids, this is the number one person in the country (at least nominally) representing the idea of health, a healthy lifestyle, and common sense approaches to that life. But here he is touting quack cures, insanely dissuading the unsure and the stoopid not to vaccinate their children, putting it out there that vaccines are LETHAL (yeah, this is a Fatty thing, but Polio Bob should have come right out and said "No fucking way, fatso"), spreading long debunked ideas about fucking chem trails (and maybe he'll get right on that search for the Yeti, Marie), AND with his every appearance and picture in the news of that face that looks like it was taken out of the oven too late, encouraging kids (and those not so smart adults) to visit the tanning salon as often as possible.
Jesus Fricasseed Christ. First, tanning beds are proven to be far more dangerous than the full sun at noon (the worst time to be lying out getting a tan). "Tanning beds are extremely harmful because they emit intense ultraviolet (UV) radiation—up to 15 times stronger than the midday sun—which damages skin cell DNA and significantly increases the risk of skin cancer." (per Art Intel)
And not only that, but get this: "The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies indoor tanning devices as Group 1 carcinogens, placing them in the same cancer-causing category as tobacco." And we know that 90% of the most dangerous form of skin cancer, melanomas, are caused by exactly the kind of UV radiation given off by tanning beds, same as the sun only 15 TIMES STRONGER!
I probably shouldn't say that about tanning beds being as bad as smoking for a person's health, next thing we know, Polio Bob will show up on stage with his ultra tan, spreading more dangerous bullshit while smoking a giant stogie. Anything to kill more Americans, because FREEEDOOOMMMM!
Oh, but here's the other thing about tanning salons, that Roadkill Bob has that the average cancer getter doesn't. He gets a ride to and from his tanning salon with his own security guards. That we pay for.
Nice, huh?
And I don't care if he's getting a spray tan. Most people seeing that fried face won't know the difference and go straight for the UV treatment.
And here's one more thing. WormBrain has been instrumental in killing longstanding FDA rules against kids under 18 using tanning beds.
Sure, no vaccines, plenty of cancer causing UV rays, unpasteurized milk, unregulated peptides for everyone, roadkill for snacks (don't forget raccoon penis, a delicacy!) and lies about chem trails.
I'm not gonna add "Could it get worse?" cuz we all know it can. And will. Another Fat Hitler Superhero for Dangerous Bullshit.
Where's the beef, the oil, the money?...
After Fat Hitler send invading agents into Venezuela to kidnap the president and take over its oil fields, we were told all kinds of lies about how all of that oil money would redound to American FREEDOMMM and other stuff like that.
Has it? I mean, where is it?
Only the Trump Crime Family knows.
"At any other time in American history, it would end the career of somebody like Scott Bessent, our limited-intelligence Treasury Secretary. It came out yesterday when Illinois Congressman Sean Casten was questioning him about the “billions of dollars” that Trump keeps claiming America is 'getting' from selling Venezuelan oil.
Bessent agreed with Trump, saying the oil and oil money we’ve seized from that country is 'one of the largest assets to ever go on the U.S. balance sheet.' Billions and billions of dollars.
So Casten asked him a simple question: Can you tell us who controls that money and where it is? Can you confirm 'whether or not those [funds] are flowing to U.S. persons?'
Bessent’s answer was a shocking single word: 'No.' He ain’t talkin…
Did Trump take the oil and the money from the oil? Bessent refuses to say. Trump refuses to say. Nobody, in fact, in the Trump regime will tell us where that money is or who controls it or even who’s making the money accrued on its interest."
In other words, it's no one's business but the Thief in Chief. As far as he's concerned, the oil is his. The money is his, and we can all go fuck ourselves.
So Fatty set up a secret offshore account to hide HIS oil money. Elizabeth Warren wasn't having any of this gangster bullshit so the Trumpies claimed they "closed that account" (no proof of that, however). But still no one knows where the money is our how much there is of it.
"A State Department official testified to Congress back in April that around $3 billion had gone back to Venezuela, but Trump boasted in July that the US had sold more than $13 billion in stolen Venezuelan oil and suggested he could divert those funds to the American military or anywhere else he wanted."
To this day, no one but Fat Hitler insiders knows where the money is. Democrats are trying to pry what should be public information out of these gangsters with a bill called the "Venezuela Oil Proceeds Transparency Act". But guess what? Party of Traitors lackeys refuse to let it out of committee and if it did make it out, Bible Mike would refuse to bring it up for a vote.
Secret offshore accounts, zero transparency, insiders making out like bandits, congressmen told to go fuck themselves. That's how it works now.
My sincerest hope is that should this predicted blue wave hit American shores in November, Democrats won't just say "Oh, let's all be friends" and forget about outrages like Fatty's Venezuela Oil and Money Heist.
Epstein, Epstein, Epstein
The Pedophile in Chief's favorite words.
And maybe ours too, if this works.
"Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna say they have now secured commitments for all 218 signatures needed to force a House vote on Epstein Files Transparency Act II."
Another reason Bible Mike hopped on his horse and skedaddled out of town. They won't be back for six weeks, but maybe then this bill will get passed. Of course, it hasn't mattered much what congress says, Fatty's hacks at the Injustice Department will refuse to abide by any laws they don't like. A petition will be sent to the Swine to protect Fat Hitler and his fellow Epstein buddies from public scrutiny.
But it's a small victory that enough votes are in hand to pass this thing. We'll take it.
How to spin this one....whoo!
Gas station signs in certain areas around the country are now saying OUT of diesel.
Woof. I guess this will be attacked as fake news, but if a few stations are OUT, that means plenty more will be experiencing the same outage. This is the Golden Age?
Fatty wants his name on the Kennedy Center building.
Okay. How 'bout this?
Maybe the Ten Commandments should be posted in certain states...
"Post the Ten Commandments. Post them everywhere. Post them to the schools, the courthouse, post them to the Village Square. I don’t need to be reminded not to lie, cheat, steal, kill, covet my daughter, cousin or neighbor’s wife (or cow), shit-talk my neighbor (or anyone else), bow down to false prophets or worship a false god, among other sins. I know not to do these things, don’t need reminded
They do. They need them posted everywhere, constant reminders to don’t do it
Because they’re stupid, in need of constant instruction and supervision"
What he said.
Um....WHAT? (chapter 547)
So....what else can we blow taxpayers' money on to mollify the Christianist hate groups?
Oh, wait. I know we're deregulating the SHIT out of substances that pollute our water, but we need to put some wicked serious (and expensive) safeguards in place to make sure we're not DRINKING FETUSES.
I am not even kidding.
"From the Liberty Counsel’s website:
Municipal water systems are not designed to clear the abortion pill or human remains from water. As a result, you may very well be drinking and showering in chemical residues from your neighbor’s abortion, even if you live in a state where abortion and abortion pills are banned."
And the EPA is going along with this bullshit, starting an investigation into the YUUUUGE amount of abortion pill chemicals and fetus remains in drinking water.
Asleep at the wheel. The dummkoph in the White House missed Constitution Day by one day. He shoulda banned CNN, et. al. yesterday. Maybe Natalie gave him the wrong date.
"US military had close call after using AI for false intelligence report, sources say
The intelligence report, circulated across the US military this spring in the midst of the war with Iran, immediately set off alarm bells: A Chinese ship in the Middle East was transporting components of a nuclear weapons program."
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