The Conversation -- August 15, 2025

Marie: Reality Chex still isn't "fixed," so posting comments remains unpossible. I do intend to find an alternate venue, but some personal matters (like I have never had time to file my tax returns this year) have been occupying me. I promise that I'll experiment with some alternatives this weekend. 

Pathetic! Maya Yang of the Guardian: “Donald Trump cold-called Norway’s finance minister last month to ask about a nomination for the Nobel peace prize, Norwegian press reported on Thursday. The Norwegian outlet Dagens Næringsliv, citing unnamed sources, reported: 'Out of the blue, while finance minister Jens Stoltenberg was walking down the street in Oslo, Donald Trump called … He wanted the Nobel prize – and to discuss tariffs.' The outlet added that it was not the first time that Trump had raised the question of a Nobel peace prize nomination to Stoltenberg. In a statement to Reuters, Stoltenberg, the former Nato secretary-general, said the call focused on tariffs and economic cooperation ahead of Trump’s call with Jonas Støre, the Norwegian prime minister.” ~~~

~~~ Speaking of pathetic, the headline on Evan Hurst's report for Wonkette on Trump's remarks at the Trump/Kennedy Center is classic -- and, sadly, mostly true (as opposed to straight parody).

Andrew Higgins & Nataliya Vasilyeva of the New York Times: Russia & Ukraine agree on “one thing. Merely meeting with Mr. Trump is a big win for President Vladimir V. Putin, bringing the Russian leader out of a diplomatic deep freeze and giving him a chance to cajole the American president face to face.... In addition to thawing Russia’s pariah status in the West, the summit has sowed discord within NATO — a perennial Russian goal — and postponed Mr. Trump’s threat of tough new sanctions.... Before Alaska, only two Western leaders — the prime ministers of tiny Slovakia and Hungary — had met with Mr. Putin since he ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and was placed under an international arrest warrant for war crimes in March 2023. Many in Europe have been flabbergasted by Mr. Trump’s decision to hold a summit on Ukraine that excluded Mr. Zelensky, and the continent’s leaders have pressed the president not to strike a deal behind Ukraine’s back.”

More Autocratic Double-Speak from Dear Leader. Meryl Kornfield of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump marked the 90th anniversary of Social Security on Thursday with an Oval Office signing of a proclamation that the safety net was 'more resilient than ever before,' thanks to him. He claimed improvements to the program’s customer service. He also misleadingly declared that he had checked off his campaign promise to eliminate taxes on benefits for seniors. But Social Security is barreling toward insolvency faster than before because of Trump’s tax bill and immigration policies, according to experts. The agency has faced tumult since the U.S. DOGE Service came in with a grand scheme to root out fraud and overhaul the program, causing disruptions and frustrations within the agency. And despite the repetition of ;no tax on Social Security' from Trump and his allies, the law ultimately signed by the president did not eliminate taxes on seniors’ benefits.”

Nikki Ramirez & Asawin Suebsaeng of Rolling Stone, republished by Yahoo! News: “Donald Trump, Republicans in Congress, and the president’s allies across right-wing media have been trying everything to make public backlash to their botched handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation go away, amid reports that Trump himself appears in the government’s files pertaining to the convicted sex offender. The administration’s attempts to bury the story have been complicated by some of Epstein’s victims, and their families, speaking out as the scandal has intensified. Trump hasn’t engaged with them..., [but] in recent weeks, according to two sources familiar with his private remarks, Trump has repeatedly critiqued the string of media appearances by Epstein accusers and their families, arguing that some of them are just trying to make him look bad, or implying that he did something wrong during his time as one of Epstein’s friends and party companions. At times, Trump has said that some of these people speaking out are, in his words, clearly of a 'Democrat' political affiliation, while wondering aloud if some of them are coordinating with prominent liberal attorneys or groups.”  (Also linked yesterday.) 

Jeff Cox of CNBC: "Wholesale prices rose far more than expected in July, providing a potential sign that inflation is still a threat to the U.S. economy, a Bureau of Labor Statistics report Thursday showed. The producer price index, which measures final demand goods and services prices, jumped 0.9% on the month, compared with the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.2% gain. It was the biggest monthly increase since June 2022.” MB: Who ya gonna fire now, Donnie? (Also linked yesterday.) 

Paul Waldman has more on E.J. Antoni, Trump's pick to head up the Bureau of Labor Statistics and “a 'history buff' who for some reason has a giant photo of a Nazi warship on his wall.” Thanks to Ken W. for the link.  (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Here are some images of E.J. doing an interview with his favorite Nazi battleship as a background wall art. Looks as if you can get your own picture of a Nazi battleship, starting at $90.

Before there was KKKaroline, there was KKKudrow anticipating her. Really, ~~~

~~~ Alexa Lisitza of BuzzFeed: "A resurfaced clip of Lisa Kudrow doing a satirical impersonation of a far-right Republican spokesperson failing to debunk claims against the party is going viral thanks to a new tweet insisting she 'nailed' the character.... eople online can't help but feel striking similarities between Kudrow's character and the Trump administration today.... The original tweeter said the clip reminded them of 'literally every Republican.' Others thought the clip reminded them of ... White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt."  (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

Devlin Barrett & Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: “Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday night rescinded Washington policies that restrict the local police from aiding in immigration enforcement as she moved to tighten the Trump administration’s grip on law enforcement in the nation’s capital. The two-page order from Ms. Bondi also declared that Terry Cole, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, who had already been overseeing the federal takeover of the city’s police department, was now the 'emergency police commissioner,' with 'all the powers and duties' invested in the city’s police chief, Pamela A. Smith. The police department, including Chief Smith, must now receive approval from Mr. Cole before issuing any directives, the attorney general declared. The directive seems intended to turn Washington from a sanctuary city into one that aggressively pursues undocumented immigrants, and was the most overt imposition yet by the Justice Department on the city’s police since the 30-day federal takeover. It also appeared to open a new flashpoint in the relationship between the city’s Democratic leadership and the Republican administration. In a legal opinion, the D.C. attorney general, Brian Schwalb, told Mayor Muriel Bowser that Ms. Bondi’s directive removing power from the police chief was 'unlawful.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Meagan Flynn, et al., of the Washington Post: “D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser and the city’s top legal official offered their most forceful pushback yet of ... Donald Trump’s asserted takeover of the D.C. police department after they rejected orders from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday night — setting the table for a dramatic conflict over the city’s limited autonomy.... Bowser (D) and D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb ... called the order unlawful and suggested they will not comply — the first significant sign of resistance from the city’s top officials since Trump exerted control over the police force Monday in an executive order. Bowser said there is nothing in the law that would support ceding 'the District’s personnel authority to a federal official.'” An AP story is here.

Campbell Robertson & Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: “The federal authorities were attempting to clear homeless encampments in northwestern Washington on Thursday night as part of ... [Donald] Trump’s sprawling takeover of the city’s law enforcement apparatus, after city officials and advocates had spent much of the day urging unhoused people to go to shelters or risk arrest. A federal operation that had been expected to start at 6:30 p.m. seemed to get underway only after dark. At around 9 p.m., federal agents from the F.B.I. and the U.S. Secret Service arrived at Washington Circle in the Foggy Bottom area to remove a few tents where homeless people had long stayed, according to Wes Heppler of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. They retreated after a woman presented a city notice saying she had until Monday to leave.”

Tyler Pager & Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: “When ... [Donald] Trump announced Monday that the federal government would take control of Washington’s police department, he described the move as necessary to 'rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor.' But in the more than six months since taking office, Mr. Trump’s actions, and in some cases inaction, have hobbled Washington’s efforts to reduce crime, drawing complaints from city leaders who say he is now trying to solve a problem that he has actually made worse. City officials point to vacancies at the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington and on the Superior Court — staffing controlled by the federal government — as well as budget cuts of more than $1 billion as examples of how Mr. Trump has made it more difficult for law enforcement officials to combat crime.... Even as Mr. Trump has promised Washington would be 'crime free' in the 'coming months,' some of his own officials have complained about a lack of resources. At a news conference on Tuesday, Washington’s new U.S. attorney, Jeanine Pirro, lamented that her office was severely understaffed.”

OMG! A Shocking Development in the Case of the Assault With A Deli Weapon. Joe Heim & Sophia Solano of the Washington Post: “Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday that a Justice Department employee [-- Sean Charles Dunn --] has been fired after he was arrested for allegedly throwing a sandwich at a federal law enforcement officer Sunday evening.... Dunn was an international affairs specialist in the criminal division of the Justice Department, according to a person who spoke on the condition of anonymity.... This is a developing story and will be updated.” MB: Well, yes, I hope so!  (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Politico's report is here.  (Also linked yesterday.) Now let's roll the videotape: ~~~

     ~~~ Update 2. Matt Gregory of WUSA Washington, D.C.: "A judge released 37-year-old Sean Dunn — a former Department of Justice employee — on his own recognizance, despite prosecutors pushing for serious felony assault charges that could carry up to eight years in prison. He first appeared in the D.C. Superior Court on Monday, where a judge released him. But two days later, prosecutors obtained a new arrest warrant — this time in federal court. Dunn’s attorney says he tried to turn himself in, but instead, 20 officers came to his home to arrest him.... His attorney argued no one was injured, calling the felony charge excessive. The judge agreed to release Dunn while he awaits trial. His next court date is Sept. 4."

Jeffrey Toobin of the New York Times: Donald “Trump’s Justice Department recently reached a nadir when two prominent Democrats, New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, and Senator Adam Schiff of California, were placed under criminal investigation for their personal financial dealings. They are the wrong targets chosen for the wrong reasons in a case supervised by the wrong prosecutor.... Among many other insults, Mr. Trump has reposted a call for Ms. James to be 'placed under citizens arrest' for 'blatant election interference and harassment,' and over the years he’s denounced 'Shifty Schiff,' demanding that he be 'questioned at the highest level for Fraud & Treason.' If there were any doubt that these investigations amount to political hit jobs against two of President Trump’s most indefatigable political adversaries, the issue was settled with Attorney General Pam Bondi’s pick to lead the inquiries — Ed Martin, the Justice Department official who was so unqualified and partisan that he couldn’t win confirmation in the Republican Senate to be the United States attorney in Washington.”  (Also linked yesterday.) 

A Very Special Special Government Employee. Brittany Gibson & Marc Caputo of Axios: Corey "Lewandowski, a longtime and controversial Trump adviser, is wielding outsized influence at the Department of Homeland Security as a 'special government employee' whose work is supposed to be temporary. But administration officials tell Axios they believe Lewandowski — a constant presence with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who acts as her de facto chief of staff — has gamed the system by undercounting his work hours to avoid leaving his unpaid job when he should have.... Two sources said he has been seen entering government buildings with other employees to avoid swiping his own badge. That way, he could work without clocking in. They said he doesn't always use his government email or phone number for official business, avoiding digital paper trails on government systems.... Besides his proximity to power, Lewandowski's work at DHS has attracted media attention because of his close relationship with Noem. The two, married to others, have long denied rumors they're romantically involved." (Also linked yesterday.) 

Laurel Rosenhall of the New York Times: California Gov. Gavin “Newsom on Thursday kicked off his campaign for a proposition asking California voters to approve a new congressional map, an extraordinary move meant to help Democrats win more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives to counter Mr. Trump’s request that Texas gerrymander five more seats for Republicans.The governor gathered Democratic lawmakers and union leaders waving 'Defend Democracy' signs in a Los Angeles auditorium for a show of solidarity, marked by the hopeful buzz of a campaign rally. The event was held a day before California lawmakers aimed to make the map public.... The governor has dubbed his measure the Election Rigging Response Act.” An AP story is here. ~~~

~~~ ⭐Laurel Rosenhall, et al., of the New York Times: “More than a dozen Border Patrol agents turned up in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday at a rally and news conference that Gov. Gavin Newsom was holding on congressional redistricting. The governor’s event had nothing to do with immigration, and local elected officials expressed outrage that the federal agents decided to stand there in a brazen show of force outside a museum where Mr. Newsom and other leaders were speaking. As the governor was preparing to speak inside the Japanese American National Museum in the Little Tokyo neighborhood of Los Angeles, the agents assembled outside, many of them masked and armed, and some wearing tactical helmets and carrying rifles. 'This is just completely unacceptable,' Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles told reporters. 'This is a Customs and Border Patrol that has gone amok. This absolutely has to stop. There was no danger here.'... A video shared on social media by Mr. Newsom’s press office shows the agents gathering outside the museum. In the video, Gregory Bovino, a Border Patrol chief who is leading the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Southern California, says, 'We’re here making Los Angeles a safer place, since we don’t have politicians who can do that. We do that ourselves.'” (Also linked yesterday.) The CBS News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Jonathan Lloyd of NBC News 4 Los Angeles: "U.S. Border Patrol Sector Commander Gregory K. Bovino said the agency was conducting roving immigration enforcement patrols and one person was taken into custody. Video agents walking with a man whose hands were restrained behind his back.... Earlier Thursday, a person was struck and killed by a SUV after running from a federal immigration enforcement operation at a Home Depot in Monrovia, according to authorities and witnesses."

     ~~~ Any pretense of deploying Trump's thugs to Gov. Newsom's press conference to "preserve the peace" is absurd. Whoever made the decision to send armed & masked gangsters to intimidate a sitting governor and his guests has effectively declared civil war. Was it some low-level functionary? Was it Noem? Trump? We have a right to know. ~~~

~~~ Heather Cox Richardson reports on Newsom's remarks and offers her observations. For instance, here's something I didn't appreciate when I heard Newsom speak: “Noting that 'this time requires us to act anew, not just think anew,' Newsom nodded to President Abraham Lincoln’s famous call from 1862: 'The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise — with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.'”

David Goodman of the New York Times: “Dozens of Democratic lawmakers were preparing on Thursday to return to Texas early next week, after fleeing the state to temporarily block Republican leaders from adopting a redrawn congressional map. The extreme gerrymander could flip five U.S. House seats in the Republicans’ favor, helping the party maintain control of Congress through the end of President Trump’s second term.” Politico's story is here.

Lori Rozsa of the Washington Post: “Florida will use an old state prison to set up a second migrant detention center with capacity for up to 1,300 detainees, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Thursday as part of his aggressive stance on immigration. Converting the Baker Correctional Institution in north Florida will cost $6 million and take 'two to three weeks,' officials said. The plan is for a 'dormant' part of the prison, which currently has about 400 inmates, to soon hold people arrested in Florida under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.” MB: You've got to give it to Ron: he embraces his dickheadedness.   (Also linked yesterday.) 

Dana Goldstein of the New York Times: “A federal judge dealt a sweeping setback on Thursday to ... [Donald] Trump’s education agenda, declaring that the administration cannot move forward with its plans to cut off federal funding from schools and colleges with diversity and equity programs. The case related to a memo the administration had sent to states in April, asking them to certify that their schools did not practice 'illegal D.E.I.,' which stands for diversity, equity and inclusion. The administration threatened to cut off billions in federal dollars from education institutions that did not comply. In a strongly worded ruling, Judge Stephanie Gallagher of the Federal District Court in Maryland wrote that the administration had not followed proper administrative procedure, and said its plan was unconstitutional, in part because it risked constraining educators’ free speech rights in the classroom.”

Vimal Patel of the New York Times: “A coalition of groups at Harvard urged the university to reject striking a deal with the Trump administration that would relinquish 'the university’s autonomy in unconstitutional or unlawful ways.' The letter, signed by more than 14,000 Harvard alumni, students, faculty and members of the public, comes as the school is at the negotiating table with the Trump administration. The university is trying to restore the billions of dollars in research funds that the Trump administration has frozen and put an end to attacks on several other fronts. 'A settlement with the Trump administration will have a chilling effect on the Harvard community and on all of higher education,' stated the letter, sent by Crimson Courage, a new alumni group that formed to defend academic freedom. It was addressed to Alan M. Garber, the university’s president, and the board that governs the university.”

Brian Niemietz of the (New York) Daily News, republished by Yahoo! News: “Vice President JD Vance was reportedly turned away by a popular [Michelin-rated] British pub after staffers threatened not to show up for work if the restaurant booked his reservation. An employee at The Bull in Charlbury, Oxfordshire, said they were unable to comment on the matter when contacted by The Daily Beast.... Some residents of the Oxfordshire hamlet have become upset by Vance choosing their south-central England region to spend some downtime. Local media outlet the Oxford Clarion posted photos of signs in locals’ lawns protesting the vice president. 'Fascists not welcome here,' read one of those signs, while another simply told Vance to 'go home.' The Oxford Mail reported in late July that former Vice President Kamala Harris had just visited The Bull and at least one other establishment in the area without incident.”

Jeff Horwitz of Reuters: “An internal Meta Platforms document detailing policies on chatbot behavior has permitted the company’s artificial intelligence creations to 'engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual,' generate false medical information and help users argue that Black people are 'dumber than white people.' These and other findings emerge from a Reuters review of the Meta document, which discusses the standards that guide its generative AI assistant, Meta AI, and chatbots available on Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, the company’s social-media platforms.”

Megan Cerullo of CBS News: "Costco will not sell the abortion pill mifepristone at its pharmacy locations, the shopping club told CBS News. The wholesaler said its decision not to sell the prescription medication was based on a 'lack of demand from our members and other patients.... They generally have the drug dispensed by their medical providers,' Costco said in a statement to CBS News. Costco's position on the abortion pill, which was first reported by Bloomberg, was praised by a conservative religious coalition, called the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), an anti-abortion advocacy group that had urged Costco not to sell mifepristone."

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