Stephanie Kirchgaessner of the Guardian: “Brendan Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), was for about a decade a member of a rogue Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) group when he was in his late teens and 20s that some former members compared to a 'cult'.... Former [members of Washington, D.C.'s Midtown group] say its one-time leader Michael Quinones – who died of cancer in 2007 – came to control nearly every aspect of their lives, including where they lived, worked and went to school. Former members who spoke to the Guardian also allege that teenage girls and young women were sexually exploited at Midtown, where they were regularly pressured and coerced into 'dating' and having sex with multiple men who were also Midtown members – sometimes decades older than them. In at least one case, a former member said she believes that what happened to her could be described as sex trafficking. People who knew Carr during his years in Midtown say they do not believe he participated in inappropriate behavior.”
Amanda Marcotte of Salon: Natalie Harp's willingness to show Trump bad press “suggests that ... she is actively dangerous. It’s unclear why she apparently showed the president clips that were guaranteed to anger him, but the result is that he launched the most serious assault in his ongoing war on the free press and the First Amendment.... This move works out very nicely for Harp; it will almost certainly make Trump more dependent on her. She’s setting up a contrast for the praise-hungry Trump, between the 'nasty' media that says stuff that offends his ego and what she has on offer as a lithe blonde exalting his magnificence. Plus, having had his feelings hurt by the press coverage, he’ll be even more eager for her services as a professional ego-fluffer.The situation is potentially dangerous for the country. As his press ban shows, Trump’s sense of entitlement and demands for adulation are getting worse, making him more prone to lash out at those he feels show insufficient deference.” Thanks to akaWendy for the link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I generally agree with Amanda Marcotte, and I will concede I agree that covering Natalie's influence on Trump -- even if titillating and smirk-inducing -- is necessary. But -- whatever Natalie's motives -- it's way past time Trump started getting regular updates on real news. I understand that he's nuts and growing nuttier, but I think if, for the past decade, he had not been fed a constant stream of false assurances from his aides, if there had been lots of staff with the guts to ground him in reality, things like January 6 might not have happened. He might not still be fantasizing about voter fraud and threatening the security of this year's elections. He might not be starting unwinnable wars. He might not be building monuments to his failed presidency*. What's "dangerous" in the Trump briefing cycle is that no one gives him the bad news: the war he's losing, the military who are overtaxed, the arsenals that are depleted, the gas prices that have skyrocketed, the diesel prices, the food and other consumer goods prices, and who ends up paying his stupid tariffs. For instance. Trump was never smart enough or honorable enough to be a good president. But he might have been a marginally better one if he had any idea WTF was going on.
~~~ See also RAS commentary on the quality of "Trump TV" in today's thread. ~~~
~~~~~~~~~~
Once again, Donald Trump embarrassed humiliated the United States on the world stage: ~~~
~~~ AFP, via Yahoo! News: "... Donald Trump laid out a vision on Tuesday of a militaristic US unbound by international rules in a UN speech contrasting starkly with pleas at the world body for cooperation and restraint. Trump insisted the United States will not join global regulation of AI and urged countries to abandon the International Criminal Court which was set up to prosecute war crimes. He also boasted about US control over Venezuelan oil, following the toppling of the government there by US forces, saying 'to the victor belong the spoils.' His most jarring statement, however, addressed the nearly seven-month war in Iran. Trump said he had a 'big decision' on whether to make a deal or 'annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Zolan Kanno-Youngs & David Sanger of the New York Times: “The podium of the United Nations was an unusual setting for the leader of a global superpower to threaten to 'annihilate the Islamic republic' of Iran or to declare that, in another conflict, “to the victor belong the spoils.' Yet that was exactly what ... [Donald] Trump did on Tuesday, in threatening Iran if it failed to make a deal to end a war that had stretched far longer than Mr. Trump anticipated, and justifying his claims on Venezuelan oil reserves after American forces deposed its leader.... His speech at the annual opening of the General Assembly amounted to a pure American rejection of the concept behind the U.N.’s founding in 1945: to 'save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.' The global body’s charter, written largely by the United States, expressly prohibited members from threatening or using force against a country’s territorial integrity unless acting in self-defense, or with the U.N.’s authorization....
“Later in the speech, he changed course, ticking off the list of conflicts he claimed he personally resolved, boasting that he saved millions of lives by intervening to prevent a war between Pakistan and India. And shortly after Mr. Trump threatened Iran with annihilation, his own aides met for three hours with Iranian officials. It was unclear what, if anything, was accomplished.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ “Bored of Peace.” Heather Cox Richardson: “... it should not be overlooked that [Donald Trump] stood in front of world leaders and rejected the premise of the U.N. Touting his own 'Board of Peace' and continuing his fiction that he has solved multiple wars, he outlined a fantasy worldview of himself as a powerful dictator, a man of action who rejects the diplomacy at the heart of the U.N.... Trump ... embraced the idea that powerful countries will have spheres of influence, dominating their neighbors. This is the worldview advanced by Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, who seeks to have control over the decisions made by the countries around Russia, including Ukraine. In this worldview, as Trump sees it, the United States will control the western hemisphere.” Read on, especially for outgoing United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres' remarks, which boldly counter Trump's. ~~~
~~~ Paul Krugman: “Most reporting on Trump’s speech emphasized either his belligerence — his rejection of global cooperation — or the fact that almost everything he said was a lie. But isn’t the bigger story the fact that the leader of what used to be the world’s most powerful nation — I say 'used to be' because America’s power is collapsing before our eyes — has clearly and undeniably lost his mind?... We should ... recognize that Mad King Donald will still retain a great deal of power even with a Democratic Congress.... And if Democrats win the White House in 2028, they will inherit a badly damaged nation.”
~~~ The New Leader of the Free World. And Since Donald Trump Can't Behave, He Doesn't Get to Play in the Sandbox. Ian Austen of the New York Times: “Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada expanded on his vision for international cooperation on Tuesday, outlining how nations can safeguard their mutual interests following a 'rupture' to the world order by the United States and China. 'This is, in many respects, a time that comes once or twice every century,' Mr. Carney said during a news conference at the United Nations in New York, where he was attending the General Assembly. 'What comes ahead, it’s not wishful multilateralism, which defends only the status quo, nor a cold realpolitik that dismantles the status quo altogether.' He added: 'The alternative that Canada and many others are pursuing, is values-based realism, an approach that’s both principled and pragmatic.'...
“Until he was delayed by air traffic control disruptions on Monday, Mr. Carney had been scheduled to join leaders from the European Union and six other nations to launch an initiative he called 'Partners for Multilateralism.'... 'It is a new forum that looks at universal institutions, practical coalitions and capacities that exist outside of governments in order to build trust and bring people together[,' he said in French].” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ The New York Times live-updated events yesterday at the United Nations. The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Denmark Mollifies a Dangerous, Grasping Imperialist. David Sanger, et al., of the New York Times: “In January..., [Donald] Trump was clear about his need to take over all of Greenland, and to make it American territory. 'That’s what I feel is psychologically needed for success,' he said. 'Ownership gives you things and elements that you can’t get from just signing a document, that you can have a base.' On Tuesday, he signed a document that paves the way to expanding the U.S. military presence on the island, opening new bases. But it explicitly stops short of conveying any territory to the United States. And no one — especially Denmark, which governs the vast but mostly empty space — wanted to emphasize that point, for fear that Mr. Trump might renounce the agreement he had just hailed as 'tremendous for Europe and for the United States.' For Mr. Trump, it was a major retreat.... Whether Mr. Trump has permanently dropped his insistence on owning Greenland is anyone’s guess, the diplomats [who wrote the agreement] concede. But their hope was to give him enough to boast about, even if many of the provisions were implicit in the 1951 agreement and its successors.” The link is a gift link.
Nobody wants to deal with Trump, not even his strongman dictator buddies: ~~~
~~~ Laura Kelly of the Hill: “Belarus’s authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko said Monday that there are no available volumes of fertilizer to send to the U.S. This came after ... [Donald] Trump announced that he was working on a 'massive Deal' to buy potash from Minsk at a steep discount amid the trade war with Canada. 'Even if we wanted to supply [potash] to other, Western markets, we simply do not have those volumes — everything is contracted,' Lukashenko said in remarks published by his office on Monday.... The apparent miscommunication between Trump and Lukashenko over potash comes amid a yearlong charm offensive by the Trump administration with Lukashenko, spearheaded by the president’s special envoy for Belarus, John Coale.” Underlying story linked yesterday. (Also linked yesterday.)
Here's a terrific illustration that accompanies the story next linked. Notice how Trump orders the architect to ditch the simple, elegant Doric capitals for frillier Corinthian capitals. You can bet those planned Corinthian acanthus leaves have a slathering of gold paint in their futures:
~~~ “I Am the Code.” Sarah Blaskey & Jonathan O'Connell of the Washington Post: “In the weeks leading up to his resignation last year, the first architect on the White House ballroom clashed with ... Donald Trump over design features that the architect believed violated building safety code.... James McCrery II withdrew from the project last October after warning repeatedly that Trump was insisting on a preliminary design that did not provide adequate emergency exit routes or fire-containment measures.... Trump brushed off McCrery’s concerns..., and the president countered that no building codes apply to White House construction. 'I am the code,' Trump said.... It is not clear from the records reviewed by The Post whether the safety issues he identified have been resolved in more recent designs by Shalom Baranes Associates, the architecture firm that replaced McCrery’s firm late last year.... The interviews and documents obtained by The Post — including early ballroom designs and images Trump appeared to have marked up with his trademark black-ink Sharpie — also show how deeply involved the president has been in the details of the project.” ~~~
~~~ So Trump doesn't care if the president, top officials and guests are burnt alive in a raging fire, BUT the purpose of the ballroom is to improve national security. Right. ~~~
Courts historically have been deferential to the executive branch in matters of national security, and that is due to the president’s role as commander in chief.... But it’s not a 100 percent Trump card. If the president invokes the national security rationale frivolously, then he could undermine the power for future presidents who need to invoke it legitimately. -- Barbara McQuade, former U.S. attorney ~~~
~~~ Luke Broadwater, et al., of the New York Times: As Donald “Trump tries to barrel through legal and political pushback on fronts ranging from press freedom to his triumphal arch, he is increasingly using a justification he believes will allow him to do what he wants: national security. The president has cited national security as a reason to build a fancy new ballroom on White House grounds and to investigate leaks to journalists that embarrassed his administration. He has invoked national security in stripping union rights from thousands of federal workers and deploying the military to the Mexican border to crack down on migrants. He has cited national security as a reason to pause the construction of wind farms off the East Coast and exempt oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from protections for endangered species of whales....
“Perhaps nowhere was the reasoning more sudden, or curious, than his announcement on Sunday that he was transforming his plans for a 250-foot triumphal arch on a Washington roundabout, which are under legal challenge. What was envisioned as a project to honor America’s 250th anniversary, Mr. Trump said, would now also be a military depot, outfitted with 'large numbers of drones,' snipers and ammunition. It is unclear what the arch, which would lie between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, would protect.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ He Has Accomplices. Brian Bennett, et al., of MS NOW: “As ... Donald Trump fights to rename the Kennedy Center after himself, administration officials are circulating a list of government sites that could have Trump’s name affixed to them in some way.... One landmark that has emerged in the discussions among administration officials has raised eyebrows: Ford’s Theatre, the playhouse where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.... White House officials, advisers and allies pitch ideas such as naming buildings after Trump to get on the president’s good side, a former administration official told MS NOW. The president’s view, the official said: 'Why would I say no? Everybody’s trying to please me.'” 
How About Here?
Scott Nover of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump berated a CNN reporter on Tuesday, days after barring the network from the White House, telling her that she should not be covering him. The terse interaction [tookplace] during Trump’s visit to the United Nations in New York. Kaitlan Collins, the network’s chief White House correspondent who has long been the subject of Trump’s ire, asked the president a question about U.S. public perception of the war in Iran. 'It’s an honor to be here. I’m surprised that CNN is here covering me,' Trump said. Collins responded, 'The United Nations allowed us in, sir.' 'You should not be here covering me,' Trump replied. 'You said you weren’t going to cover me. You shouldn’t be covering me.' Collins then repeated her question twice while Trump ignored her.” ~~~
~~~ Sean James, writing for Mediaite, gives a better picture of how boorishly Trump behaved.
Clean-up on Aisle DJT. Erik Wemple of the New York Times: “White House officials said in a court filing Tuesday that ... [Donald] Trump had determined that CNN, MS NOW and Politico had breached standards of conduct, leading to their expulsion from the White House grounds. The alleged violations, said the filing, include 'trafficking in verifiable falsehoods about national security and other issues, and publishing sensitive or classified information.' 'Access to the White House is a privilege — not a right,' reads the filing, which argues that Mr. Trump’s action against the three news outlets does not violate the First Amendment and aligns with a long history of presidents favoring some journalists over others. The filing, furthermore, claims that the White House’s denial of access is a preliminary matter and that the outlets have until Friday to contest the decision.... The government filing Tuesday night included copies of letters sent earlier in the day to each banned news outlet. In addition to accusing the organizations of failing to meet standards of conduct, the letters identified specific stories that allegedly either spread falsehoods or threatened national security.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Politico's story, by Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein, is here. ~~~
~~~ Here's a copy of the White House's response to the media's suit, via the courts. MB: The stated reasons in the filing for ejecting CNN, MS NOW & Politico are of course not even close to the ones Trump clearly articulated on multiple occasions, including once when he said he had instituted a "ban on the free press." Trump thinks judges and other officials are stupid enough to fall for his "national security" fake excuses. Let us hope they are not.
Leo Moran of the Huffington Post: “White House Communications Director Steven Cheung lashed out at CNN anchor Erin Burnett on Tuesday over her damning description of the administration’s new Trump TV. Burnett compared the White House’s newly launched 24/7 video stream to state television in authoritarian North Korea. The controversial YouTube channel debuted just days after ... Donald Trump barred CNN, Politico and MS NOW from the White House grounds. That prompted the major TV networks to suspend their participation in the White House TV pool. Cheung, in a statement to The Daily Beast, hit back at Burnett, calling her 'a racist and a retard,' the latest in a long line of offensive attacks from the top aide the president reportedly nicknames 'Luca Brasi.'” ~~~
Margot Sanger-Katz, et al., of the New York Times: “The Trump administration has ejected more than 750,000 enrollees from the Affordable Care Act insurance marketplaces, Vice President JD Vance announced on Tuesday, claiming that many were receiving premium subsidies they did not qualify for and that some were not even real people.... He estimated that removing the Obamacare enrollees would save the government $2.2 billion. In recent months, the task force has been involved in withholding billions in Medicaid funding from Minnesota and California, contending that the states have not adequately combated fraud. Governors have criticized the Trump administration’s antifraud work as politically motivated, often targeting states with Democratic leadership.” The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Pardon my skepticism, but I suspect there's something wrong in this miraculous pre-election waste-fraud-and-abuse discovery. For instance, “There is ... evidence that some [health insurance] brokers illegally signed people up for coverage without their knowledge.... During the Biden administration, health officials decertified around 200 brokers after learning they were engaged in such behavior. The Trump administration recertified those brokers last year.” If these brokers were crooks, why would the Trumpocrats recertify them? Just so the brokers could unlawfully sign up new fake enrollees and JayDee could kick the fake enrollees off & boast about it? Everything the Trumpies do is fishy, so I feel pretty sure some intrepid reporters will find out this is all nonsense. And, as we know, the fish rots from the head down.
~~~ Update. Looks as if I'm not the only skeptic: ~~
These efforts are less about ensuring that public dollars are spent for their intended purpose and more about cutting basic needs programs altogether. -- Amy Matsui of the National Women’s Law Center, in a May opinion piece for TruthOut
[This] is nothing more than a bullshit distraction — a political stunt designed to throw even more people off their coverage while pretending to save taxpayers’ money. -- Brad Woodhouse, president of Protect Our Care, in a statement
First Republicans stripped Medicaid from millions. Then they let premiums spike for millions more. Now JD Vance is using claims of ‘fraud’ to take coverage from hundreds of thousands more. --Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, on social media ~~~
~~~ Chris Walker of TruthOut: “Yet, many people may face removal simply because their insurance brokers, who helped them enroll, mistakenly did not place their Social Security numbers on submitted documents when they applied. In response to that action, Vance and [Mehmet] Oz announced that over 500 brokers have been warned they could be blocked from taking part in enrolling future participants. [Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services] also announced a moratorium on new brokers helping people to enroll. 'A blanket moratorium on new agent and broker registrations would punish legitimate professionals instead of targeting the bad actors responsible for fraud,' said Mychal Walker, president of the National Association of Benefits and Insurance Professionals....
“Asked by a reporter whether some eligible individuals could be removed from the ACA rolls, Vance dismissed those concerns, claiming the White House had attempted to reach out to people by mail to prevent that outcome, stating that, 'we send them FedEx letters, we go to their house.' But the flippant attitude of the duo may cause some to question whether they are sincere. At one point, the image of a person alleged to have engaged in fraud was displayed during the presser. 'He’s got a very punchable face,' Oz said.” MB: I wonder if Dr. Oz offers the poor wretches crudités when he “goes to their house.” Here's the Common Dreams report.
Speaking of JayDee, here's a fine A.I. video of his asking voters for "another chance." Notice the touching "family photo" on the wall over JayDee's right shoulder. (Also linked yesterday.)
Matthew Purdy & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “... a year [after Charlie Kirk's murder], it is clear how bright a line of demarcation the period after Mr. Kirk’s death has become in the efforts by ... [Donald] Trump and his allies to target Americans they see as 'the enemy within.' The administration’s nearly exclusive crackdown on left-leaning organizations and activities has ushered in a pitched battle over political dissent and free speech.... Even though there is no provision in American law defining domestic terrorism and the F.B.I. has previously said that antifa is more of an antifascist ideology than an organization, the administration has attached both labels to protesters and some left-leaning groups.... Officials have taken a governmentwide approach to scrutinizing citizens and organizations opposed to Trump policies. Tax agents have examined nonprofit groups. Investigators have looked into the books of labor unions. Prosecutors have brought charges against anti-ICE protesters, asserting that a leftist conspiracy is provoking political violence on the streets. These efforts came together this year in Minnesota.... Federal investigators infiltrated neighborhood watch committees, church meetings and an environmental group in an operation that surveilled hundreds of ordinary people.” The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: While it appears some of the "domestic terrorists" (again, that's a term of art, not of law) have committed violent crimes, most of this effort seems to be directed toward anyone who says anything that Trump disagrees with. It's just more fascistic thuggery masquerading as law enforcement.
Joseph Cox of 404 Media: “A high profile hacking group claims it has breached multiple FBI-related services and stolen data 'on all FBI employees and applicants.' A representative of the group, called ShinyHunters, told 404 Media the data includes FBI agents’ names, home addresses, phone number, and information on their spouse. The data breach could be massively significant and may have all sorts of national security and counterintelligence implications. Criminals from the same ecosystem as ShinyHunters have previously used hacked data like phone records to track, intimidate, and harass the FBI agents investigating them. The highly sensitive data could also be a boon to foreign intelligence agencies who want to better understand how one of the most important law enforcement and intelligence agencies in the U.S. operates. And if the data fell into the hands of more criminals, FBI agents and their spouses could face serious threats to their safety.” MB: I had to sign up to read the story.
Isn't That Conveeenient? David Nakamura & Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: “The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot a Venezuelan man in Austin over the weekend is a recruit who was issued a body camera but was not using it during the incident, according to two former Department of Homeland Security officials briefed on the matter. The officer had previously worked at another federal law enforcement agency and joined ICE during DHS’s hiring spree last year, said the officials.... DHS did not respond to questions about the officer’s background and training, or why he wasn’t using the device while making an arrest.... [Wilber Garcés Pérez] told reporters on Monday by cellphone that he remained in pain and had spent the night sleeping on the floor of the detention center in Pearsall, Texas.... [His attorney] later said on social media that Garcés was taken to another hospital late Monday after complaining of paralysis on his left side.”
Ryan Reilly & Justin Goldman of NBC News: “An overwhelmed U.S. postal worker in Utah threw 300 mail-in ballots into a parking lot dumpster shortly before the state’s June 23 primary election in which both Democrats and Republicans were on the ballot, Justice Department officials said Tuesday. The 34-year-old mail carrier told investigators that he did not have a political agenda and that he tossed other mail when he ditched the ballots, Melissa Holyoak, U.S. attorney for the District of Utah, said. She said roughly 95% of voters do so by mail in the state, and it wasn’t clear yet whether they were able to eventually cast ballots. According to a government memo, Damon Matai Seei told investigators that he wanted to toss out advertisements to “lighten his workload” after feeling overwhelmed. 'He claims he simply made a “poor decision” out of “frustration” and “laziness,’” the memo said. He didn’t intend to toss any ballots, they said. Seei is no longer with the U.S. Postal Service. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a charge of destruction and delay of mail.”
Olivia Diaz of the New York Times: “A Republican senator on Tuesday called for the Senate to investigate whether Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, exploited his access to his father for personal gain, spurred by reports that a Russian oligarch funded a lavish wedding after-party for the younger Mr. Trump. In a three-page letter, Senator John Curtis, Republican of Utah, urged the Judiciary Committee to subpoena Donald Trump Jr., after it was revealed that a Russian businessman with ties to the Kremlin paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for the festivities on an island in the Bahamas this year. Issuing such a subpoena would be exceedingly unlikely by the Republican-led panel, and top Republicans would not say on Tuesday whether they planned to take action. But the request by Mr. Curtis marked a rare instance of a G.O.P. lawmaker daring to challenge the president.... [Donald Trump, Sr. called the oligarch's lavish party for Junior] a wedding gift.” The link is a gift link. Here's Politico's story. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Curtis is incredibly naive if he thinks Republicans will inquire into Junior's ties to the Russian fatcat. But Curtis does know what a wedding gift is:
A toaster is a wedding gift, A private-island party paid for by a Putin-connected oligarch is something else. Republicans nearly wore out the subpoena machine investigating Hunter Biden’s foreign relationships. We should not unplug it now. -- Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah), in a social media post
MEANWHILE, on the Senate Side. During every minute of dialogue, our commander in chief should keep in mind that his guest [Xi Jinping] is a brutal, unelected and oppressive dictator who seeks to dominate his neighbors and whose massive military arsenal is aimed directly at the United States of America. -- Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) ~~~
~~~ Theodoric MeyerWashington Post: “The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee took to the Senate floor Tuesday to make clear that he wished ... Donald Trump was not planning to host China’s Xi Jinping for a summit this week. 'Quite frankly, had the White House asked me for advice, I would’ve suggested the president not invite Xi Jinping to Washington for such a lavish welcome,' said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi). Wicker suggested that Trump inquire during the state dinner on Thursday about 'China’s massive military buildup or about China’s clear support for Iran.'... He also urged Trump to advocate for jailed Hong Kong democracy activist Jimmy Lai and China’s Uyghur ethnic minority, and to stand up against China’s persecution of Christians, Tibetan Buddhists and practitioners of Falun Gong.” Politico's story is here. MB: I think you'll find that Politico, like Mediaite, makes a somewhat stronger case against Trump than does the WashPo. Could we be seeing a pattern here? ~~~
~~~ Ali Bianco, et al., of Politico: “Sen. Jon Husted became the latest battleground Republican this week to call for a quick end to the Iran war, as panic grows over how high gas prices and ... [Donald] Trump’s agenda could imperil the party’s chances in November. 'The war needs to come to an end as quickly as possible so that we can lower gas prices,' the Ohio senator told Politico, in his furthest comments yet on the matter. Coming after Iowa Senate nominee Ashley Hinson, who broke from Trump over the war on Monday, and Michigan Senate nominee Mike Rogers, who followed suit hours later, Husted’s comments are another example of the pressure he and other Republicans are under to address prices at the pump.”
Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times, have taken up the ProPublica story of Trump's FBI quashing an investigation into allegations of corruption against a top political consultant for Susan Collins: “The F.B.I. in 2025 shut down an inquiry into allegations that a political adviser to Senator Susan Collins had participated in a scheme to funnel illegal campaign contributions from a defense contractor seeking lucrative federal contracts, current and former officials said. The bureau began investigating the matter under the Biden administration, after Martin Kao, the chief executive of Navatek, a military contractor in Hawaii, said he had discussed circumventing campaign finance laws with a political adviser to Ms. Collins, Republican of Maine. Mr. Kao is now serving an 87-month prison sentence for wire fraud, money laundering and bank fraud, some of which related to a separate scheme to defraud the government of pandemic aid money. The inquiry, which was earlier reported by ProPublica, was closed under the Trump administration last year because senior bureau officials questioned the veracity of Mr. Kao’s account, which he began offering around the time he pleaded guilty in 2022.... [Collins said of the news reports,] 'It is clearly a political hit job.'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: If you read on, you may conclude that Collins was implicated: “Around the same time [Kao was negotiating with Scott Reed, the head of Collins' superPAC ], Navatek received an $8 million contract for a boat hull research project. Ms. Collins visited the company’s offices in Maine to celebrate the deal, posting a photograph of herself on Facebook holding a model boat and standing next to Mr. Kao.” Just a coincidence? Is it possible Kao was lying about the connection? Sure. But Trump's DOJ was unwilling to follow the money and find out one way or the other. As the NYT reporters write, “In ...[Donald] Trump’s second term, the Justice Department has scuttled the main unit responsible for investigating public corruption, while dropping investigations against Republicans and Trump allies....” More on Collins below.
Kelsey Reichmann & Megan Butler of Courtroom News Service: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to wade into the emergency appeal brought by an Alaska surrogate who demanded to keep a California couple’s critically ill newborn. McKenna West asked the high court to invalidate a California court order giving Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar parental rights over baby Rumi, who has hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a life-threatening congenital heart condition. Justice Elena Kagen declined to intervene without comment, leaving the lower court order in place. West, who called the newborn Gabriel, cited disagreements with Ahmed and Gilkar over Rumi’s medical care as a justification for her custody fight."
Bearly the News. It's National Fat Bear Week. ~~~
~~~ N. Kirkpatrick & Cole Reynolds of the Washington Post: “Human-bear encounters are on the rise this year in at least 15 states. Across the West, Northeast and Southeast, agencies received more bear-related calls than last year. In Colorado, reports have increased by as much as 200 percent, and in Utah, bears in cities have reached a record high.... Typically the fall is when when bear encounters are most common, as bears prepare to survive winter hibernation.... There are about 450,000 black bears in the United States. Most avoid people, only getting close when they are in search of food. But when these opportunistic omnivores succeed in eating human food, they will continue doing so and experts say, it is impossible to reverse the behavior. As more people move into bear country, humans must adapt.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: There are a number of bear-in-the-fridge videos out there, but this lasagne-lover remains my fave: ~~~
~~~~~~~~~~
Florida Gubernatorial Race. Claire Heddles of the Miami Herald:Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds launched an updated campaign website this week stripping away numerous prominent references to his endorsement from Donald Trump as the president’s approval ratings hit new lows. Donalds’ campaign website was previously dominated by references his Trump endorsement.... Trump’s endorsement is now only listed in a rolling banner of conservative endorsements from others including Elon Musk, Sen. Rick Scott, Speaker Mike Johnson, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Charlie Kirk and others, with no outsize prominence on the website’s homepage. Trump’s endorsement and Donalds’ photo with the president is now featured on a separate endorsements landing page instead." An ABC News story is here.
Maine Senate Race. A Vote for Collins Is a Vote for Trump. Michelle Cottle of the New York Times: “These days, Ms. Collins is not delivering for Maine so much as she is delivering up Maine to the Trump agenda. Serving in the Senate is a team sport, now more than ever. Ms. Collins’s chief influence is as one more warm body giving her team the majority, and by extension the team leadership control over the agenda.... In recent years, this often involves merely undoing sweeping damage done by ... [Donald] Trump — getting grants restored to the University of Maine or preserving funding to hire seasonal workers at Acadia National Park. This summer, she won tariff exemptions for Canadian road salt and cement.... Whatever targeted funding she secures to sustain rural hospitals in Maine seems unlikely to make up for the harm inflicted by the Medicaid cuts in Republicans’ big, beautiful bill. And on it goes.... With Mr. Trump running amok, and congressional Republicans loath to stand up to him, Ms. Collins’s presence in the Senate is, on balance, costing her state far more than it is contributing.” The link is a gift link.
~~~~~~~~~~
Marie: I guess I should link these articles. I doubt I'll read them: ~~~
U.K. Alexandra Jacobs reviews Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, by Charles, Earl Spencer. The link is a gift link.
~~~ The Times "Book Review," whoever that is, reports some takeaways from Spencer's book. The link is a gift link.
21 comments:
The GOP is all as pathetic as Fat Hitler
Mike Collins's ads on Jon Ossoff
Texas has to be forced to air condition their prisons in 2026, another hottest year on record.
"A federal judge has ordered Texas to air condition all of the state’s lockups, which the prison agency said could cost $1.5 billion, by the end of 2029. The ruling, released Tuesday, is a win for inmate advocates and their attorneys, who had asked the court to force the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to cool the entire prison system by that time. Just over a third of the agency’s 104 facilities were fully air conditioned as of Sept. 1.
In his order, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman found that conditions in Texas prisons without air conditioning violate the Eighth Amendment — which protects against cruel and unusual punishment — and that TDCJ’s current response to extreme heat is insufficient."
Russia is wasting money on job Republicans always do for free.
"The Russian government has been targeting Americans with covert online disinformation operations seeking to undermine public confidence in November’s midterm elections, using a familiar playbook in an attempt to inject chaos into the voting season, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter."
Once again, the Constitution does not matter to the Republicans and particularly Trump
"“But we’re down 97%. For years, administrations just played games and they’d bring them to a court in Miami or something, and the judge would release them immediately and they’d go back to selling drugs, fentanyl and everything else. But now, we don’t waste our time doing it.” – Trump, speaking at the United Nations about the Pentagon’s extrajudicial “drug boat” strikes"
Deepfakes
"State Rep. Vikki Goodwin, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, has filed a police report accusing Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of violating Texas law after his campaign released two ads featuring AI-generated videos of Goodwin. The videos have since been deleted from Patrick’s X account.
“Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick posted the video with the intent to deceive Texans, injure a candidate, or influence the result of an election,” Goodwin said in the affidavit. Goodwin cited a 2019 Texas law banning the deepfake videos from being published or distributed within 30 days of an election. Goodwin says the posts violate the law because in-person early voting begins in Texas on Oct. 19 and mail-in ballots will be sent out soon."
Amanda Marcotte, for Salon, writes that t****'s "professional ego-fluffer", Natalie Harp, is Trump’s dangerous enabler
"...new wrinkle in the Harp story, though, suggests that she’s not just a human Band-Aid for Trump’s insecurities — she is actively dangerous. It’s unclear why she apparently showed the president clips that were guaranteed to anger him, but the result is that he launched the most serious assault in his ongoing war on the free press and the First Amendment. The episode shows that Harp isn’t just there to flatter and soothe Trump; she is also willing to get him worked up so that his terrible decision-making skills deteriorate even further. "
You would think that a State TV might be one thing that Fat Hitler's team could pull off since so many of them were pulled from television, but of course that gives them too much credit for understanding what all the little people around them were doing to put the shows on the air. I wonder if they are calling Mark Burnett or Murdock for help on how to tv. Maybe Barron can explain computer to them. They have enough MAGAbros across all the platforms that they could have turned to, but no, they are too stupid and lazy to do anything competently.
Tammy Duckworth is tired of fixing the Republicans' messed.
Krugman writes above: "There is a straight line from Koch Brothers money, allied with segregationists and religious fundamentalists, that runs through the Federalist Society and the Roberts Supreme Court, through the MAGA-fied Republican Party, through the crypto-industry and the tech-broligarchy, that leads to Trump."
The straight line he refers to is amplified and widened every step of the way by fox news. It's wildly distorted stories, presented as news, fed a public hungry to hear their biases reinforced and said out loud, not just whispered in dark corners. Legitimate news organizations, seeing the high ratings of the pablum, began slouching to re-capture some of the audience. I can rarely stomach listening to All Things Considered at this point, the "news" environment feels so superficial and distorted. I keep wondering if it is me (always a good question), but then I read something from the Guardian or hear something from BBC or CBC and think, No, news in the US is just awful.
I would argue that another point on that line was the Mitt Romney candidacy for President, where he pushed the limits of outright lying on the campaign trail and received almost no pushback. Steve Benen at the MaddowBlog had a long-running series, Mitt's Mendacity, a daily chronicle of the misleading statements and outright lies he told each day. The rest of the media, for the most part, gobbled it up.
"Russia is wasting money on job Republicans always do for free."
My favorite headline of the day.
And not only for free, they do it better. Putin's hackers are just workaday trolls. They're getting paid. Come to work, punch in, fuck up America, go home, drink vodka, beat the wife and kids.
MAGA trolls do it 24/7. They don't punch a clock. They do it because they are members of a delusional, hate-filled cult. They fuck up American, go home, do it some more, drink bourbon, pass out, do it some more, THEN beat the wife and kids.
Something else about Nanny Natalie...if she were truly concerned about keeping her little baby comforted and soothed, knowing that he only wanted to read treacly encomiums about his personal greatness and superior intellect, manly body, and astounding hair, she would never show baby things that would make him throw his Gerber's pureed Big Mac dinner at the wall. She HAS to know how fragile that ego is, Why show him real world critiques she KNOWS will bring on instant explosive diarrhea?
I read somewhere that this was all Stephen Miller's idea. But he couldn't fire her if she rejected his scheme in order to protect baby, Methinks Nanny Natalie is less Snow White and more Wicked Queen. Maybe she's realizing that she has access to enormous power if only she'd decide to wield it. And if she did decide to go along with Herr Miller's little plot to upset baby, then she's just another snake in the shithole, only this snake, like Cleopatra's asp, has unexcelled access to the obese infant.
What a fucking cast of horrible, horrible human beings.
And while we're on the subject of horrible human beings....Brendan fucking Carr....
Jesus, these people! Where do they come from? It's like that Stephen King novel "The Stand" where all the really scummy, nasty, criminally insane types are drawn to the character Randall Flagg, the avatar of chaos, hatred, and evil in the world, collecting all the little Randall Flaggs to his side in his war to end civilization and drain the world of all goodness and light.
So okay, I know many, many people have dark chapters in their youth, or have done things they regret later on. None of us should be held accountable for (most of) those things, as long as we grown and learn and become decent, well adjusted adults.
But an AA cult that engages in sex trafficking of young women? What the actual fuck?! This isn't like, "Oh, I got drunk when I was a kid and drove into a telephone pole" or "I had a problem with cocaine and hurt may family and friends". Fat Hitler, it seems, attracts the most damaged, most corrupt, most broken-ass weirdos you would ever hope not to meet. And Carr has demonstrated that he is not only comfortable in a cult, he ENJOYS being one of its enforcers.
Fatty loves using the phrase "the worst of the worst". He knows exactly what that means. He sees those people every day.
Nisky Guy,
Quite right about the RomBot. We here at RC were on to this charlatan from the get-go. His presentation as a godly man, well dressed, wealthy beyond measure, with his Wicked Queen wife ("We've given you people enough!") and his vulture capital past allowed him, initially, to evade detection as a rat bastard (we used to call him "The Rat") inveigler. Remember that bullshit about how 47% of voters are stupid moochers who wouldn't vote for a Great Man like him because they were all losers. Yeah, he apologized later, but you KNOW he believed that shit. Like Dubya, he has spent his time out of power trying to pretend he's really a good guy.
Fuck that. They all enjoyed the benefits of having a fascist news organization pushing their lies and a servile, supine legacy media too afraid to call them on it.
It's one thing to go after someone engaged in actual fraud who is trying to scam people out of their money (sort of like what Trump did all the time), but to go after someone's healthcare? To take away their access to doctors, to prescription medicine, to preventive care? This is just pure evil.
Let's say you're a scummy fraudster. Do you really pick joining the ACA as a way to get rich quick??
If that were the case, you KNOW Uday and Qusay and would have had their greedy mitts in some kind of healthcare fraud for years now. Although, we do have a sitting senator who bilked the government out of billions: Rick Scott. Per Art Intel: Federal investigators uncovered widespread, systematic fraud within the company, including overbilling Medicare and Medicaid, inflating patient diagnoses to increase payouts, submitting false cost reports, and paying illegal kickbacks to doctors for patient referrals..."
He was forced to pay $1.7 BILLION in fines and settlements.
But he OWNED the company committing the fraud. Joe and Jane Average Citizen don't have that kind of juice.
But never mind, it looks great to the droolers. "Yeah, we caught 'em. Fuckin' darkies and brown people and dumocrats all tried to scam you, but we caught 'em. Hooray for us!"
It's a true knee-slapper that Shady Vance is always yapping about fraud this and fraud that. He is the living embodiment of fraud, and his boss is the human incarnation of the universal ideal of FRAUD.
But forget all that. Let's step on the little people. Sorry, all you little guys, no healthcare for you.
Fuck-ing-ev-il.
One more thing about this healthcare fraud bullshit.
How would it work? Seriously. Think it through. You go to the doctor and pretend to have some ailment, they prescribe you something and you go home. But you DON'T GET ANY CASH. Money never changes hands. Ever. The only money involved is between the healthcare providers, hospitals, managed care businesses, and insurance companies. The patient never gets a dime. Oh, okay, maybe they get free Tylenol out of it. So whoa....let's throw those fuckers in the slammer! Take away their healthcare and their childrens' healthcare for life. That'll show them.
If you just pull on that little tab that says "This is all a lie" the MAGA bullshit gets instantly flushed down one of the Fatty's golden toilets.
The only way a fraudster could actually benefit from scamming the healthcare industry is to do it like Rick Scott. No average Americans are gonna buy a vacation house in Hawaii because they got a free bottle of Tylenol. But if you go after the Rick Scotts (or the Udays and Qusays), they're gonna lawyer up faster than Fatty and then they're gonna countersue. Regular Americans already on Medicare are lucky they can fill their gas tanks. They ain't gonna be hiring Pierogi Boy Dershowitz.
Marie wrote above, re DiJiT's exclusive sources of info, his bubble of sycophancy: " ... But he might have been a marginally better one if he had any idea WTF was going on. ..."
It is a highly seductive wish to think that you (one) can make a difference working with a person like DiJiT, preventing his worst actions and coaxing him to be his better self. A person who knows he has apparently unchallenged power. During his first term, many good people stayed on and expected that their knowledge, expertise, dedication, patriotism, personal skills, talents, what have you, could help make DiJiT "marginally better". Or even "good enough."
Almost no one in public service had any conception of just how impervious to improvement DiJiT is, and by association how craven are his satraps. If you decided to stay on to help "save" the situation, and you knew what you were doing, you had to accept the combat infantryman's adaptation: expect that you will die and hope your family is spared pain.
It sounds dramatic, but the problem of Tr*mp is that tragic. Good people who don't leave his employ will suffer. Smart and good people do leave. The not so smart and not so good people hang on and hunker down. They are incapable of making anything better. Public service is degraded.
Here's part of the "fraud"
"Dr Oz says the Trump administration will kick more than a million people off health insurance because some of them have "never filed a claim""
You would think that a "doctor" would know that a lot of doctor's visits cost the patient money even if they have insurance. Or that it is INSURANCE in case they get sick or hurt so they don't get completely wiped out by the enormous bills. Yesterday I linked a John Oliver show on United Healthcare that showed a lot of the things wrong with our health system. Just finding a doctor these days that accepts your insurance and has Availability is tough these days. And as the Republicans do everything they can to kill so many hospitals around the country it becomes even harder.
MAGA fest cancelled--no one coming.
Awwww.....Waaaaaahhh!
"Patriot’s Day Freedom Fest is no more.
Eric Deters, the event organizer and 2023 Republican gubernatorial candidate, announced Monday in a since-deleted Facebook video that the Kentucky function would no longer go on due to low ticket sales. Among the speakers and celebrities set to appear at the Saturday event were Kid Rock, Duane 'Dog the Bounty Hunter' Chapman, and Fox News personality Joe Concha.
'When I put together Patriot State Freedom Fest, I put it together with the game plan and the idea that I could pay for it with the VIP sales of $1,000 from these hundred people that I interact with on a regular basis that have money,' Deters said in the deleted video, according to Newsweek and The Cincinnati Enquirer."
Well, he did get a few VIPs to buy his tickets.
Six.
Hang on....hahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaa...
To see a washed up, half-ass, never-was like Kid Rock and some cable TV weirdo bounty hunter. Wow. A lister, for sure.
"Deters, who began the festival in 2022, vowed in his video to 'never ever, ever, ever, ever [do] this event again.' In a follow-up video shared on Facebook, Deters doubled down on his decision to cancel the event, citing “financial obligations” that prevented him from covering the cost himself, 'like I’ve done in the past.'
The former attorney also fired back at Patriot’s Day Freedom Fest being seen as a 'failed event, for lack of support.' He said that didn’t ring true, since 'MAGA supporters always support this event, always turn out.'"
Yeah....until they don't. The dead giveaway for these MAGA events is that they are always labeled Patriot this and Freedom that. But MAGA has nothing to do with patriotism or freedom. It's all about authoritarian control and stepping on people they hate.
So I saw that little tag about this Deters person being a "former lawyer" and thought I'd look into that.
Yup. Another crook. Deters is just another MAGA ambulance chaser who lost his license to practice law.
Figures. But hey, nice try with your big MAGA show!
Twelve Freaking Million Stolen From Minority Healthcare!!!.
"The Department of Health and Human Services informed congressional appropriators earlier this year that it was moving about $12 million from its Office of Minority Health to help cover the ballooning cost of security for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to people familiar with the matter and a document reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The cost of security for Kennedy, a high-profile figure in the Trump administration whose father and uncle were assassinated in the 1960s, grew from roughly $10 million in fiscal year 2025 to $17 million in fiscal year 2026, some of the people familiar with the matter said."
Also WTF is the relevance of bringing up his dad and uncle? They have no barring on what's going on today and are in no way a justification for RFK Jr costing tax payers $27 million in two years for his "security".
RAS,
This year, I had to change my healthcare provider because the largest healthcare facility in my area no longer accepts my previous insurance plan, something about payments not coming in on time. So okay, I find another one. And I decide to go get an eye exam since I haven't had one in years and I'm getting a little cloudiness in one eye. "Sure, we'll get you in. How about February?" Really? "Yep, we only have one doctor and he comes in once a week. You want that date or not?" Shit, I could be blind by then. Guess I'll be looking on Amazon for eye patches.
Best healthcare in the world.
Oh, one kinda funny thing about my new insurance plan. It's with an outfit called Devoted. On my first visit to the hospital for a test for something or other, the Pay Us Lady asked who my insurance company was. I had to think for a moment then came out with "Departed". Not exactly the best name for a health insurance company, but probably more accurate than most.
Akhilleus,
I've seen a few poor-me stories lately of the MAGA stores closing because people have stopped by the cheap overpriced crap. "I used to bring in $25k a week and nows it's down to $1k a week 😭." 🤣
Post a Comment