The Conversation -- July 12, 2025

Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: Donald “Trump and Melania Trump traveled Friday to an area of Texas devastated by last weekend’s extreme flash flooding, which left more than 120 people dead.... After the tour, Mr. and Mrs. Trump held a round table packed with state and local officials.... A local reporter tried asking him about 'several families we’ve heard from' who said warning alerts weren’t sent out soon enough, and that people died as a result. 'Only a bad person would ask a question like that,' Mr. Trump said. 'To be honest with you, I don’t know who you are, but only a very evil person would ask a question like that.' The national media was largely barred from the round table. But two pro-Trump social media influencers, Brian Glenn and Link Lauren, were let in. They heaped praise on Mr. Trump, and one tossed out politically friendly suppositions criticizing Democrats and others who had questioned the administration’s disaster response.” ~~~

     ~~~ Alexandra Hutzler of the AP: Trump's upbeat responses to how local officials have handled the disaster is “a marked contrast to how [he] has reacted to natural disasters the past, including to the California wildfires earlier this year, where he blasted California's Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and other local Democratic officials.... Trump instead has largely focused on his relationship with Republican Gov. Gregg Abbott. 'He's an amazing guy, we've become very, very close politically and personally,' the president said. Some of the hardest-hit areas of central Texas, including Kerr County, are areas of strong Republican support that voted for Trump in the 2024 election. 'I would say they were fully funded within minutes of hearing about this,' Trump said at Friday's roundtable. 'And you know, the state of Texas, No. 1, they do it right, and they've done it right for a long time.'" MB: IOW, don't believe all the stories you've read about repeated local and state screw-ups, federal funding delays, staff shortages, whatever. What a jackass. ~~~

~~~ Maxine Joselow of the New York Times: “Two days after catastrophic floods roared through Central Texas, the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not answer nearly two-thirds of calls to its disaster assistance line, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times. The lack of responsiveness happened because the agency had fired hundreds of contractors at call centers, according to a person briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal matters. The agency laid off the contractors on July 5 after their contracts expired and were not extended, according to the documents and the person briefed on the matter. Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, who has instituted a new requirement that she personally approve expenses over $100,000, did not renew the contracts until Thursday, five days after the contracts expired. FEMA is part of the Department of Homeland Security.” Emphasis added. MB: I know it's a shame, after she assembled all those outfits (mostly on our dime, no doubt), but this might be a good time to fire Kristi. This won't happen, of course, because questioning the Trump administration's performance is “evil.” ~~~

~~~ Hiroko Tabuchi & Mira Rojanasakul of the New York Times: “An analysis of National Weather Service vacancies found that in more than a third of offices overseeing regions that are particularly vulnerable to flash floods, one or more of three senior leadership roles, including chief meteorologist, are unfilled. The weather service’s Houston-Galveston office, which straddles an area that sees frequent hurricanes but is also known as “flash flood alley,” currently has no chief meteorologist, science operations officer or warning-coordination meteorologist, according to staff lists from the weather service. The Austin-San Antonio Office, one office responsible for areas hard hit by the weekend flood that killed more than 120 people, since April has had no permanent warning-coordination meteorologist, a post that would typically oversee the weather service’s contact with local emergency officials and others. The San Angelo office, the other office responsible, has had no chief meteorologist.” ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Joyce Lee, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Texas county where nearly 100 people were killed and more than 160 remain missing had the technology to turn every cellphone in the river valley into a blaring alarm, but local officials did not do so before or during the early-morning hours of July 4 as river levels rose to record heights, inundating campsites and homes, a Washington Post examination found. Kerr County officials, who have come under increasing scrutiny for their actions as the Guadalupe River began to flood, eventually sent text-message alerts that morning to residents who had registered to receive them.... But ... even as a federal meteorologist warned of deteriorating conditions and catastrophic risk, county officials did not activate a more powerful notification tool they had previously used to warn of potential flooding. The National Weather Service sent its own alerts through this system, beginning at 1:14 a.m. on July 4.” ~~~

~~~ Ryan Foley & Christopher Keller of the AP: “Federal regulators repeatedly granted appeals to remove Camp Mystic’s buildings from their 100-year flood map, loosening oversight as the camp operated and expanded in a dangerous flood plain in the years before rushing waters swept away children and counselors, a review by The Associated Press found. The Federal Emergency Management Agency included the prestigious girls’ summer camp in a 'Special Flood Hazard Area' in its National Flood Insurance map for Kerr County in 2011, which means it was required to have flood insurance and faced tighter regulation on any future construction projects.... In response to an appeal, FEMA in 2013 [Obama administration] amended the county’s flood map to remove 15 of the camp’s buildings from the hazard area.... After further appeals, FEMA removed 15 more Camp Mystic structures in 2019 and 2020 [Trump administration] from the designation.... Syracuse University associate professor Sarah Pralle ... said it was 'particularly disturbing' that a camp in charge of the safety of so many young people would receive exemptions from basic flood regulation.”

Lara Jakes, et al., of the New York Times: “NATO countries have devised a novel way to provide critical American weaponry to Ukraine for its fight against Russia, and ... [Donald] Trump suggested for the first time that he’s likely to go along with it. Rather than having the United States continue to give its weapons to Ukraine, officials in NATO countries conceived a plan where the Trump administration could sell them to allies, which would then give them to Ukraine. Not only could that be a financial windfall for the United States, it would also shield Mr. Trump ... from accusations of direct involvement in the war. And according to defense officials and experts in Europe..., it would speed desperately needed Patriot air defenses and ammunition to Ukraine as it withstands some of the heaviest Russian bombardments of the three-year war. On Thursday, Mr. Trump said he intended to adopt that strategy.” 

Colby Smith of the New York Times: “The Federal Reserve took steps on Friday to defend itself against accusations by ... [Donald] Trump and his allies that Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, mismanaged renovations at the central bank’s headquarters and then lied to Congress about those plans. The new line of attack, after Mr. Trump aimed a barrage at the Fed’s reluctance to lower borrowing costs, has raised alarm that the White House is trying to lay the groundwork to fire Mr. Powell for cause. In an update to its website late Friday, the central bank laid out details intended to support Mr. Powell’s statements to lawmakers regarding the project, which kicked off in 2021 and is estimated to be $700 million over budget at around $2.5 billion. The extent of the renovations and their swelling cost have spawned intense criticism from both the White House and a number of leading Republicans, who have taken issue with luxury features in an initial plan, including rooftop garden terraces and marble finishings.”

As President Trump works hard to take back our nation’s economic sovereignty, today’s Monthly Treasury Statement is demonstrating record customs duties – and with no inflation! -- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in a tweet ~~~

~~~ David Lawder of Reuters: “U.S. customs duty collections surged again in June as ... Donald Trump's tariffs gained steam, topping $100 billion for the first time during a fiscal year and helping to produce a surprise $27 billion budget surplus for the month, the Treasury Department reported on Friday. The budget data showed that tariffs are starting to build into a significant revenue contributor for the federal government, with customs duties in June hitting new records, quadrupling to $27.2 billion on a gross basis and $26.6 billion on a net basis after refunds.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie. Wow! That sounds great! Trump was right all along! Oh, wait. Treasury is collecting those taxes from U.S. importers and retailers. And those importers will pass on to us consumers most of the cost of those taxes. AND the taxes -- eventually paid by U.S. consumers -- is regressive; that is, poor people will pay a bigger percentage of their income in the cost of imported goods than will the wealthy. As for Bessent's claim of "no inflation," we will also soon feel the inflation at the store. (My neighbor, who pays attention to such things, says she's already noticed hikes in prices of goods she buys regularly.)

Paul Krugman: “I wrote the other day about Trump’s Brazil tariff, which is, as I said, evil and megalomaniacal. But I forgot to point out that it’s blatantly illegal.... [Trump's] letter [to Brazil's President Lula] is basically a confession that he is imposing a tariff for non-economic reasons. And that’s not legally allowed. Memo to mainstream media: No, Trump isn’t 'testing the limits of his authority' or some other euphemism. He’s breaking the law. Period. And it should be reported that way.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Jack Shafer in a Washington Post op-ed outlines many of the ways Donald Trump has turned "the Resolute Desk into a cashier’s counter" for himself and his family's benefit. Thanks to Patrick for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Casey Michel, in an Atlantic essay, argues that "Americans have never witnessed anything like the corruption that ... Donald Trump and his inner circle have perpetrated in recent months. Its brazenness, volume, and variety defy historical comparison, even in a country with a centuries-long history of grift—including, notably, Trump’s first four years in office.... Virtually every week, the Trump family seems to find a new way to profit from the presidency.... Foreign regimes are beginning to see just how far their money can go in Trump’s America. The highest bidder has never had so much to gain." Thank you to laura h. for this gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) 

Scott MacFarlane of CBS News: "Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official who previously served as ... [Donald] Trump's criminal defense attorney, declined to rule out the possibility of the president running for a third term and did not denounce the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in a questionnaire submitted to a Senate panel considering his nomination for a lifetime appointment as a federal judge. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote next week on whether to advance Bove's nomination to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit. CBS News obtained the 165-page questionnaire that Bove submitted to senators in response to their written questions. In his answers, Bove also wrote he does not recall which Jan. 6 criminal cases he helped supervise when he served in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. In response to the question 'Do you denounce the January 6 insurrection?' Bove wrote: 'The characterization of the events on January 6 is a matter of significant political debate,' and said it would be 'inappropriate to address this question' given ongoing litigation over pardons of Jan. 6 defendants." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Not exactly the wisdom of Solomon, but a nice endorsement of monarchy and a big ole "up yours" to the Senate.

Alan Feuer & Minho Kim of the New York Times: “A frustrated federal judge signaled on Friday that she would issue an order protecting Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the immigrant who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador, from being hastily expelled from the United States again after he was brought back last month to face criminal charges. The suggestion by Judge Paula Xinis, who is handling the original civil case emerging from the wrongful deportation, came during a hearing in Federal District Court in Maryland where she exploded at the Justice Department for having badly damaged the bonds of trust that are normally afforded by the courts to lawyers for the government.... Judge Xinis said some legal safeguard was needed because the administration had already shown in this and other deportation cases that it could not be trusted.... At least three judges in recent months have accused Justice Department lawyers of flouting their orders or of acting in bad faith and have considered opening contempt proceedings to punish them and other Trump officials.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: “A federal judge in California blocked the Trump administration on Friday from making indiscriminate immigration arrests in the Los Angeles area and from denying detainees the right to consult with a lawyer. The two temporary restraining orders issued by the judge represented a sharp rebuke of tactics that federal agents have employed in and around Los Angeles during waves of immigration raids that began last month. In the orders, the judge, Maame E. Frimpong of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, directed agents to stop racial profiling in the course of seeking out immigrants and mandated that the federal government, which has deployed hundreds of agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies in Los Angeles County, ensure detainees have access to legal counsel.... She said that 'roving patrols' without reasonable suspicion violated the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution and that denying access to lawyers violated the Fifth Amendment. The ruling, which remains in place for up to 10 days, came in response to a lawsuit filed last week by immigrant advocacy groups, led by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and the nonprofit Public Counsel. A fuller hearing is expected in the coming weeks....” The AP's report is here.

Laurel Rosenhall of the New York Times: “A federal judge on Friday ordered the Los Angeles Police Department to stop using foam projectiles, tear gas and flash-bang devices against journalists covering protests after reporters and photographers were struck during demonstrations last month. The temporary restraining order by Judge Hernán D. Vera of U.S. District Court also prohibits police officers from blocking journalists from closed areas, obstructing them from gathering information and detaining them for violating curfews or failing to disperse. The case stems from injuries that journalists experienced while covering street demonstrations against the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration enforcement. A lawsuit filed by the Los Angeles Press Club and Status Coup, an investigative reporting site, documented 35 instances in which Los Angeles police officers had used projectiles, tear gas or other forms of force against journalists or blocked them from public areas. The press organizations are likely to succeed in arguing that the journalists’ First Amendment rights were violated and that they would suffer harm in covering future protests in Los Angeles, the judge wrote in granting the temporary order, which lasts 14 days.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: You might have to tell a toddler not to throw toys at his baby sister, but it's pathetic that a court has to order trained officers not to fire projectiles at journalists.

Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: “A Mexican farmworker died on Friday from injuries sustained during a federal immigration raid the day before in an agricultural region north of Los Angeles, according to the United Farm Workers union. The farmworker, Jaime Alanís, fell several stories to the ground from a greenhouse on Thursday, when federal agents raided a state-licensed cannabis farm in Ventura County.... An official familiar with the circumstances of the farmworker’s death said he was from the Mexican state of Michoacán, had been working at the farm for more than a decade and had been trying to flee from agents when he fell. He was in his late 50s.... In a statement, Teresa Romero, president of the U.F.W., said that several farmworkers had been critically injured, and that others, including U.S. citizens, remained unaccounted for after the enforcement actions. She said those citizens who were detained 'were forced to delete photos and videos of the raid from their phones' before being released.... A spokesman for the Ventura County Fire Department said that eight people had been transferred to area hospitals in response to 911 calls on Thursday, and that four other people had been treated at the scene.” ~~~

     ~~~ Josh Haskell of ABC 7 Los Angeles: "Concerned family members are desperate for answers after they say a disabled U.S. veteran and citizen was taken during a federal immigration raid at a cannabis farm in Camarillo. George Retes, 25, works as a security guard at Glass House Farms, where the raid took place Thursday. His sister and wife told Eyewitness News that he was trying to leave the area as tensions escalated between federal agents and protesters. They say they saw AIR7 footage of the scene and were able to see his white vehicle. 'ICE thought he was probably part of the protest, but he wasn't, he was trying to reverse his car,' said his sister, Destinee Majana. 'They broke his window, they pepper-sprayed him, they grabbed him, threw him on the floor. They detained him.... We're just asking to let my brother go. He's a U.S. citizen. He didn't do anything wrong. He's a veteran, disabled citizen. It says it on his car,'..." ~~~

     ~~~ Alex Woodward of the Independent: “... Donald Trump’s administration has defended violent immigration raids targeting cannabis farms in California, where masked federal agents discovered allegedly undocumented minors who are victims of 'exploitation' and 'potentially human trafficking or smuggling,'  according to the Department of Homeland Security. The United Farm Workers union said several workers were critically injured during the raids, while other targeted workers, including a U.S. citizen, 'remain totally unaccounted for.' Agents are accused of chasing one worker who fell 30 feet from the top of a building. He was hospitalized and placed on life support, before dying from his injuries on Friday, according to the union.”

Jazmine Ulloa & Ruth Igielnik of the New York Times: “Six months into the Trump administration’s efforts to carry out the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history, a new poll shows that the American public is once again warming to immigration.... The share of those wanting to see immigration decrease now totaling 30 percent, compared to 55 percent in 2024, according to the new survey, conducted by Gallup.... A record high of adults in the United States — 79 percent — now believes immigration is a 'good thing' for the country. The results are in line with other recent surveys that suggest attitudes on immigration may be shifting as Mr. Trump has intensified efforts to detain and deport people. Illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border, which began dropping last year under President Biden, are now at their lowest level in decades, and major cities like New York are no longer struggling to care for large numbers of migrants. At the same time, people in many communities ... are seeing immigrant relatives, friends and neighbors taken away by federal agents.”

John Hudson & Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: “The State Department began firing more than 1,300 employees via email on Friday as a part of the Trump administration’s plans to downsize government.... The move has come under criticism from current and former diplomats who say the cuts will degrade America’s standing in the world and curb U.S. soft power. The diplomats hit hardest hailed from the offices that Secretary of State Marco Rubio eliminated in his sweeping reorganization of the department, the most far-reaching in decades, including the Office of Global Women’s Issues and the department’s diversity and inclusion programs. But cuts also affected employees working on highly volatile issues, including Syria, a brittle Middle Eastern country emerging from decades of authoritarian rule, and senior officials in charge of chemical weapons issues and multilateral nuclear diplomacy. 'They cut key experts on nuclear testing, nuclear verification and efforts to end the production of weapons-grade fissile material,' said Alex Bell, a former State Department official and current president of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 'These cuts will only serve to increase the nuclear threats facing this nation.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Jake Spring of the Washington Post: “The State Department on Friday fired the remaining staff working in the office responsible for international climate policy, including annual U.N. negotiations related to climate treaties.... Most of the staff in the Office of Global Change had left voluntarily after ... Donald Trump took office and moved rapidly to pull the United States out of international climate talks. Nearly a dozen people who remained on staff were fired Friday, and the office will be shuttered as part of the wider downsizing of the department....”

Opera Buffa, Featuring Bondi & Bongino! Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: “The bitter blame game over the handling of the investigation into the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein erupted in public on Friday between Attorney General Pam Bondi and the senior leadership of the F.B.I., particularly the bureau’s deputy director, Dan Bongino.... [During] an angry face-to-face confrontation at the White House on Wednesday..., an irate Ms. Bondi accused Mr. Bongino of leaking information to the news media in the presence of the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, the White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and one of her deputies, Taylor Budowich. Mr. Bongino denied it.... Mr. Bongino, during another confrontation within the past week, told Ms. Bondi she had overhyped the likelihood that a review of the case ... would reveal a list of Mr. Epstein’s sex-trafficking clients, and possibly raise questions about his 2019 death by hanging.... On Friday, a high-profile Bongino booster — the far-right influencer and conspiracist Laura Loomer — claimed, in two dramatic social media posts, that the bureau’s deputy director had taken Friday off to collect his thoughts, and was 'now seriously thinking about RESIGNING' over Ms. Bondi’s actions in the Epstein case.” ~~~

~~~ Marc Caputo of Axios: "FBI deputy director Dan Bongino took a day off from work Friday after clashing at the White House with Attorney General Pam Bondi over their handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, four sources familiar with the conflict told Axios.... The dispute erupted Wednesday amid the fallout of the administration walking back its claims about Epstein by determining the convicted sex offender didn't have a celebrity "client list," and that he wasn't murdered in his New York City prison cell in 2019.... [During a meeting Wednesday,] 'Pam said her piece. Dan said his piece. It didn't end on friendly terms,' said one person briefed on the heated discussion. Bongino left angry, the source said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Perry Stein & others at the Washington Post have their own take on the melodramatic hijinks. MB: Let's face it: this comedic feud is not what the public expects the top people at DOJ & the FBI to be doing. ~~~

~~~ And now it seems even Kash Patel is thinking of getting the hell out of Dodge if Bondi doesn't get the boot. This is becoming a little too much fun. ~~~

     ~~~ Paul Campos, in LG&$, does not seem to feel Bongino's pain, or Patel's. Or Bondi's. ~~~

     ~~~ As Akhilleus points out at the top of today's Comments, digby has some theories about what's up. Unlike right-wing conspiracy theories, hers are (a) plausible, and (b) not set in stone. MB: If you were wondering, "What's the difference between 'intelligent' and 'stupid'? there's a place to start. Intelligent people seek plausible explanations (even for stupid stuff like why Dan Bongino is so upset), they pose hypotheses, and they adjust their ideas as developments arise. Stupid people come up with crazy theories to explain even fairly unambiguous events, then stick to their crazy theories as others prove them wrong. 

Sharon Otterman & Michael Bender of the New York Times: “Columbia University and the Trump administration on Friday were nearing a deal in the contentious fight over allegations that the school had failed to protect Jewish students from harassment, with Columbia potentially agreeing to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to settle the matter.... The deal, which remains in draft form, would restore at least some of the more than $400 million in federal research funding the administration canceled. In exchange, Columbia would provide compensation to settle allegations of civil rights violations and increase transparency about admissions and foreign gifts, among other concessions.”

Katherine Mangan in ProPublica: “When the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights notified George Mason University on July 1 that it was opening an antisemitism investigation based on a recent complaint, the university’s president, Gregory Washington, said he was 'perplexed.' Compared with other campuses..., George Mason had been relatively quiet over the past year, he said. His administration had taken extensive steps to improve relations with the Jewish community, had enacted strict rules on protests and had communicated all of that to the OCR during a previous antisemitism investigation that remained open. By the next day, though, there were signs that the new investigation was part of a coordinated campaign to oust him.” Read on. Washington's suspicions seem justified. (Also linked yesterday.) 

Ivan Penn of the New York Times: “The Energy Department plans to eliminate hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for major renewable and efficiency projects this year, the latest move by the Trump administration to undo efforts to shift the nation away from fossil fuels. The cuts, which would take money away from projects budgeted for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, focus on solar and wind projects, as well as state and local assistance for low-income families.... Critics argue that the moves are illegal because Congress had previously approved the funding for specific projects.... Ranking Democrats on the Senate and House energy subcommittees called it a 'reckless decision' and demanded the agency immediately reverse its action.”

Jay Willis of Balls & Strikes: Justice Ketanji Brown "Jackson’s focus on the Court’s penchant for warping the law to suit Trump’s interests — sometimes using language so pointed that even the other liberals are reluctant to join her — has been the defining characteristic of her jurisprudence since Trump took office. For as long as she remains stuck in the minority, it might also be the most important part of her job: If she cannot persuade her colleagues that the Constitution does not imbue Donald Trump with an inviolate right to ignore it, she can at least use her platform to show the public that the institution is captured, broken, and not to be taken seriously." Read on. Willis makes a number of excellent points about how Jackson is doing her job. Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) 

Clyde Haberman of the New York Times: “David Gergen, an inside-the-Beltway veteran who helped shape the public images of four presidents, mostly Republicans, and who, after a turn as a magazine editor, trod a well-worn path from political insider to television commentator, died on Thursday in Lexington, Mass. He was 83.” An AP obituary is here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Florida. Gilsela Salomon & Kate Payne of the AP: “At the brand new Everglades immigration detention center that officials have dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz,' people held there say worms turn up in the food. Toilets don’t flush, flooding floors with fecal waste, and mosquitoes and other insects are everywhere. Inside the compound’s large white tents, rows of bunkbeds are surrounded by chain-link cages. Detainees are said to go days without showering or getting prescription medicine, and they are only able to speak by phone to lawyers and loved ones. At times the air conditioners abruptly shut off in the sweltering heat. Days after ... Donald Trump toured it, attorneys, advocates, detainees and their relatives are speaking out about the makeshift facility, which Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration raced to build on an isolated airstrip surrounded by swampland. Detainees began arriving July 2.... Officials have disputed such descriptions.... But authorities have provided few details and have denied media access. A group of Democratic lawmakers sued the DeSantis administration to be allowed in, and officials are holding a site visit by state legislators and members of Congress on Saturday.” ~~~

     ~~~ Jamie Guirola of NBC Miami: “The Archdiocese of Miami is condemning a controversial migrant detention facility in Florida — which state officials have named 'Alligator Alcatraz.'... In a strongly worded statement posted to the archdiocese’s website, Archbishop Thomas Wenski criticized both the conditions at the remote detention site in the Everglades and the rhetoric surrounding it. He wrote: 'It is unbecoming of public officials and corrosive of the common good to speak of the deterrence value of “alligators and pythons” at the Collier-Dade facility.' Wenski’s statement also highlighted humanitarian concerns, noting the isolation of the facility from medical care and the vulnerability of the temporary tent structures to Florida’s harsh summer weather and hurricane threats. He also called for chaplains and ministers to be granted access to serve those in custody.”

Missouri. Government of, by, for the People? Nah. Vivian Ho of the Washington Post: “Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) on Thursday signed legislation repealing a voter-approved law that guaranteed paid sick leave to workers and adjusted the minimum wage to inflation. The law, Proposition A, had been repeatedly challenged by conservative lawmakers and business groups since it passed by a ballot measure in November with almost 58 percent of the vote, with the state Supreme Court upholding it just days before it went into effect in May.... In signing the bill, which repealed Proposition A’s paid sick leave mandate and the annual consumer price index adjustment to the state minimum wage, Kehoe said in a statement that conservative leadership was “protecting the people who make Missouri work ... by cutting taxes, rolling back overreach, and eliminating costly mandates.'”

Texas. Miriam Waldvogel of the Hill: “The Senate GOP’s campaign committee swung at Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) on Thursday after news broke that his wife, Angela Paxton, had filed for divorce. 'What Ken Paxton has put his family through is truly repulsive and disgusting,' National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesperson Joanna Rodriguez said. 'No one should have to endure what Angela Paxton has, and we pray for her as she chooses to stand up for herself and her family during this difficult time.' Ken Paxton is looking to topple Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), with one poll in June showing the incumbent trailing the state attorney general by 22 points. The NRSC endorsed Cornyn in the 2026 race and generally supports incumbents.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Comments

[Akhilleus]

Douchemonster Dan Bongino quitting? Already?

I’d like to say “Yeah! Adios, asshole” except for the fact that he’d be replaced by an even worse MAGA pinhead. But really, at this point, what does it matter? They’re all horrible.

But Digby has an eminently plausible idea as to why this shrieking shirker might be leaving his lofty perch at the top of the newly MAGAfied, gutless FBI.

It’s too much work for this churlish swine.

“If I had to guess, Bongino really hates having to do a real job and probably misses the big money he was making as a MAGA influencer. That’s his golden goose and being on the wrong side of the Epstein Files debacle isn’t good for his financial future.

But I have to say that this Epstein thing is looking more and more like a bridge for some of the MAGA true believers to get off the train. They can’t admit they were wrong, of course. But if they can use a pet conspiracy theory about the deep state to give them an excuse to condemn the MAGA leadership it might start the process of deprogramming the cult. I don’t know that for sure. But this Epstein flap looks like a deeper wound than I first imagined.”

The simple fact is that Fat Hitler must be high on the Epstein List of frequent fuckers and Eva Braun Bondi is going to the mattresses to keep that inconvenient bit of news buried deeper than Jimmy Hoffa. Unfortunately for Eva, conspiracy mongers like Douchemonster Dan made a shitload of shekels shrieking about the Epstein list, and like that producer guy in “The Godfather”, he can’t afford to be made to look “ridicaluss” to the MAGA base.

Schadenfreude should be in high gear at any hint of trouble in MAGAland, but Fatty weasels out of everything. Unless this whole business ends with his name front and center on ol’ Jeffrey’s list of pedophile jagoffs, I’m keeping my schadenfreude in the shade.

Still and all, if Bongino wants to bugger off, I’ll take the W.

[Akhilleus]

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