The Conversation -- July 30, 2025
John Brennan & James Clapper in a New York Times op-ed: “Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, and John Ratcliffe, the Central Intelligence Agency director, have over the past month claimed that senior officials of the Obama administration manufactured politicized intelligence, silenced intelligence professionals and engaged in a broad 'treasonous conspiracy' to undermine the presidency of Donald Trump. That is patently false. In making those allegations, they seek to rewrite history. We want to set the record straight.... Every serious review has substantiated the intelligence community’s fundamental conclusion that the Russians conducted an influence campaign intended to help Mr. Trump win the 2016 election.... The real politicization is the calculated distortion of intelligence by administration officials, notably Mr. Trump’s directors of national intelligence and the C.I.A., positions that should be apolitical.” The link is a gift link.
Peter Eavis of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Wednesday ordered the end of a policy that has allowed billions of dollars of low-value imports to enter the United States without paying tariffs. In May, he eliminated the exemption for inexpensive goods from China, which had been the largest source of such shipments. His executive order signed on Wednesday ends the 'de minimis exemption' for goods from the rest of the world. The policy allowed goods worth under $800 to enter the country without paying duty, and the shipments did not require the sender or recipient to complete detailed customs paperwork. As of Aug. 29, such shipments will be subject to the tariff placed on their country of origin.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Some of my favorite things are items I bought on eBay or elsewhere from Europe, and most of them cost less than $800. So I won't be getting those kinds of things anymore. To hell with Trump. This is just one way he is making my world -- and yours -- smaller. What a petty little tyrant.
Brown U. Pays Protection Money to Trump Gang's Wise Guys. Alan Blinder of the New York Times: “Brown University, besieged by the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against the country’s most elite schools, struck a deal with the government on Wednesday, becoming the third Ivy League university in a month to reach an agreement with the White House. The agreement, a copy of which Brown made public, calls for the university to make $50 million in payments to state work force development programs over a decade and requires Brown to comply with the Trump administration’s vision on matters like transgender athletes and 'merit-based' admissions policies. The university, which is in Providence, R.I., secured a pledge from the government that the deal would not be used 'to dictate Brown’s curriculum or the content of academic speech.' The Trump administration is also required to restore millions of dollars in federal research funding that it had blocked in recent months, and Brown avoided the naming of an independent monitor to oversee the deal.”
Jeremy Roebuck of the Washington Post: “The grand jury transcripts the Justice Department is seeking to make public from its investigation of disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell include testimony from only two witnesses, both of them law enforcement officers, government lawyers said.... While it is not unusual for grand juries to hear from only law enforcement witnesses as they weigh whether to indict a defendant, such testimony is offered to provide a summary of the broader evidence investigators have gathered and does not often provide the type of detailed accounting that typically emerges at trials.” MB: And Trump thought that would satisfy conspiracy theorists?
Jordan Rubin of MSNBC: "The Supreme Court has officially set a date — Sept. 29 — to consider at a private conference whether it will review Ghislaine Maxwell’s challenge to her sex trafficking convictions."
Annie Karni of the New York Times: “A key Senate committee on Wednesday approved legislation that would bar members of Congress, the president and the vice president from trading stocks, after its Republican sponsor changed the bill to ensure that a divestment requirement included in the measure would not apply to ... [Donald] Trump. The legislation, sponsored by Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, attracted an unusual coalition of supporters, winning approval from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee with every other Republican on the panel in opposition and Democrats unanimously in support. Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky and chairman of the committee, tried to chip away at Democratic support by framing the measure as one that would protect a president they despise. He noted that Mr. Hawley’s original proposal would have required the president and the vice president to sell off investments starting in 2027, while the version approved on Wednesday does not apply that mandate until the start of an elected official’s next term — meaning it would never apply to Mr. Trump.”
Virginia. Rylee Kirk, et al., of the New York Times: “A man was charged with attempted murder on Wednesday after he burst into a building where a member of the Danville, Va., City Council was working, doused him with a flammable liquid and set him on fire, the police said. The Danville police said in a statement that the city councilman, J. Lee Vogler, 38, had been airlifted to a regional medical center for treatment and that it was not immediately clear how seriously he had been hurt. The police said they had arrested Shotsie Michael Buck Hayes, 29, of Danville, in connection with the attack.... A preliminary investigation has found the two men know each other 'and the attack stems from a personal matter not related to the victim’s position on Danville City Council or any other political affiliation,' the police said.”
Andrew Ackerman of the Washington Post: “The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday while warning about slowing economic growth, despite ongoing pressure from ... [Donald] Trump to lower rates. The Fed kept short-term rates unchanged at 4.25 to 4.5 percent, faced with uncertainty over a raft of administration policies that could drag on the economy in coming months, including higher tariff rates and tougher enforcement of immigration laws. Fed officials revised their assessment about growth, saying in a statement that it had 'moderated' during the first half of the year, less robust than the 'solid' growth they described at their last meeting in June. Inflation remained 'somewhat elevated,' the Fed said. That combination may give the Fed room to cut rates later this year but not the urgency to act this month. Two Fed governors, Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, dissented from the move, saying they preferred to cut rates immediately. It was the first time in more than 30 years that two sitting governors had dissented from an interest-rate decision.” The CNBC story is here. ~~~
~~~ Ben Casselman of the New York Times: “Economic growth softened in the first half of the year, as tariffs and uncertainty upended business plans and scrambled consumers’ spending decisions. Gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, increased at a 3 percent annual rate in the second quarter, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday. That topped forecasters’ expectations and appeared to represent a strong rebound from the first three months of the year, when output contracted at a 0.5 percent rate. But both those figures were skewed — in opposite directions — by big swings in trade and inventories caused by ... [Donald] Trump’s ever-shifting tariff policies. Taken as a whole, the data from the first six months of the year tell a more consistent story of anemic, though positive, economic growth. Many forecasters expect a further deterioration in the months ahead, as tariffs work their way through supply chains, federal job cuts filter through the economy and stricter immigration policies take a toll on industries that rely on foreign-born workers.” ~~~
~~~ Jeff Cox of CNBC: “The U.S. economy grew at a much stronger-than-expected pace in the second quarter, powered by a turnaround in the trade balance and renewed consumer strength, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Gross domestic product, a sum of goods and services activity across the sprawling U.S. economy, jumped 3% for the April through June period, according to figures adjusted for seasonality and inflation. That topped the Dow Jones estimate for 2.3% and helped reverse a decline of 0.5% for the first quarter that came largely due to a huge drop in imports, which subtract from the total, as well as weak consumer spending amid tariff concerns.”
Brad Reed of Common Dreams: "The effects of ... Donald Trump's tariffs are winding their way through the American economy, and a new piece of analysis claims that corporate America is using them as 'cover' to further jack up prices. Progressive advocacy group Groundwork Collaborative issued a new report on Tuesday that uses corporate executives' own words to show how many firms are taking advantage of the tariff situation by using it as an all-purpose justification for price increases. The report found many of these executives' admissions through quarterly earnings calls in which they discussed plans to increase costs even if their inputs were not being significantly affected by the tariffs." Thanks to RAS for the link.
EU v. Luddite-in-Chief. Paul Krugman: “The optics of the Trump-EU deal were humiliating [to the EU], and optics matter. If you examine the substance, however, it starts to look as if Europe played Trump for a fool. Specifically, a fossil fool. The EU made two sort-of pledges to Trump. First, that it would invest $600 billion in the United States. Second, that it would buy $750 billion worth of U.S. energy, mainly oil and gas, over the next three years. The first promise was empty, while the second was nonsense.... European governments aren’t like China, which can tell companies where to put their money. And the European Commission, which made the trade deal, isn’t even a government — it can negotiate tariffs but otherwise has little power.... The European Commission ... is equally unable to tell the private sector where to buy oil and gas.... [Also, there's no infrastructure to transfer liquefied natural gas.]
In Our Names. Perla Trevizo of ProPublica and others: "Venezuelan men deported by the Trump administration say they endured months of physical and mental abuse inside a Salvadoran prison. Though happy to be home, they say the fact that they were released is proof of how senseless their detentions were.... Throughout the men’s incarceration, the administration used blanket statements and exaggerations that obscured the truth about who they are and why they were targeted.... Now that they’re home, they’ve begun to talk...."
Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: “The U.S. attorney’s office in the District has begun more vigorously scrutinizing the immigration status of criminal defendants in D.C. as the Trump administration tries to meet the president’s goal of deporting 1 million unauthorized immigrants in the first year of his new term, including by targeting major cities, officials said. 'Every defendant’s legal status must be determined as soon as a matter is brought into this office,' Interim U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Monday in an internal memo. Unlike other U.S. attorney’s offices in the country, which handle only federal cases, Pirro’s office also prosecutes more than 7,000 people annually in D.C. Superior Court, including those accused of violating local laws, from misdemeanors to murders.... She said all local cases prosecuted by her office in D.C. Superior Court, as well as all federal cases handled in U.S. District Court, will be examined to 'identify those here illegally.'”
Never Mind. Sachi Mulkey of the New York Times: “The Department of Defense has said it will cancel plans to discontinue a program that makes public satellite data that is crucial for hurricane forecasting and sea ice monitoring. The decision ... is the latest about-face in the agency’s plans for the data. The National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration, which hosts the data, shocked scientists by announcing in June that it would stop providing the information at the end of that month, citing 'significant cybersecurity risk.' A week later, the agency offered a temporary extension, saying that the data would remain available until July 31, which is just before the usual peak of hurricane season. Now, two days before the latest end-of-month deadline, the agency has decided to keep the program running indefinitely. According to a Navy spokesperson who declined to be identified, it will remain available until the sensors stop working or until the program formally ends in September 2026.... 'It’s great news for the forecast community and also, more broadly, the scientific community,' said Michael Lowry, a meteorologist and hurricane specialist in Miami.” MB: Mulkey could not get straight answers for the reasons for the flip-flops.
Michael Gold of the New York Times: “A dozen House Democrats who were barred from visiting immigration detention facilities sued the Trump administration on Wednesday, arguing that a new policy imposed by the Department of Homeland Security to limit lawmakers’ access was an illegal infringement on their ability to conduct congressional oversight.... Under the federal law that funds ICE, the agency cannot prevent members of Congress or their employees from making oversight visits to immigration facilities that 'detain or otherwise house aliens.' Lawmakers are not required to provide 'prior notice of the intent to enter a facility' to conduct oversight. But in the wake of a high-profile clash between a group of Democrats and immigration officers outside a detention center in New Jersey, the Department of Homeland Security imposed new restrictions that require members of Congress and their staff to provide a week’s notice for any visit. The new limits also exempt ICE field offices from the oversight law, even as federal officials have detained immigrants in cramped rooms in some of those facilities for days.”
David Goodman, et al., of the New York Times : “The Republican-dominated Legislature in Texas on Wednesday unveiled an aggressively redrawn map for the state’s U.S. House districts, proposing to carve up five Democratic seats so that Republicans would now be likely to win them in 2026. The redrawn map was condemned by Democrats as a baldly partisan attempt at a rare mid-decade redistricting that has been pushed for months by ... [Donald] Trump and accepted by Gov. Greg Abbott and the Republican leaders of Texas. It fulfilled the president’s central demand: five additional Republican seats in Congress that could help the party keep control of the U.S. House after the midterm elections next year. Mr. Trump is pressing Republican legislatures in Missouri, Indiana and elsewhere to follow Texas’ lead.” The Texas Tribune story is here.
Natasha Korecki of NBC News: "Former Vice President Kamala Harris will not run for California governor, she announced Wednesday, ending months of speculation following her 2024 defeat to Donald Trump in the presidential race.... Harris' decision keeps the race to be California's next governor wide open. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who came up through San Francisco politics alongside Harris, is unable run for re-election due to term limits." The New York Times story is here.
Jack Nicas of the New York Times: “Faced with threats of 50 percent tariffs and demands to end a criminal case, [Brazil's] President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said he wouldn’t take orders from ... [Donald] Trump.... Mr. Trump has called the case [against former President Jair Bolsonaro] a 'witch hunt' and wants it dropped. Mr. Lula said that was not up for negotiation. 'Maybe he doesn’t know that here in Brazil, the judiciary is independent,' he said.... There is perhaps no world leader defying [Mr.] Trump as strongly as Mr. Lula.... Mr. Trump and Mr. Bolsonaro — two politicians with strikingly similar political styles — both lost re-election and then both denied having lost. Their subsequent efforts to undermine the vote culminated in mobs of their supporters storming their nations’ capital buildings, in failed bids to prevent the election winners from assuming the presidency.” ~~~
~~~ Ana Ionova of the New York Times : “The United States applied sanctions on Wednesday on a Brazilian Supreme Court justice accused by the Trump administration of censorship, according to a statement from the U.S. Treasury Department. The justice, Alexandre de Moraes, will face sanctions, such as visa restrictions and asset freezes, under the Global Magnitsky Act, a measure that is usually meant to punish foreigners accused of serious human-rights violations or corruption. Justice Moraes is presiding over the criminal case against former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is accused of orchestrating an attempted coup after losing the 2022 elections.... The Trump administration has accused Justice Moraes of censoring right-wing voices on the internet by ordering the removal of content from social media platforms.”
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The Trump/Epstein Pedo Files: the Cover-up. Chris Hayes puts together Trump's latest strange & failed attempts to bury the story of his relationship with child sex predator Jeffrey Epstein. Quite useful: ~~~
~~~ Marie: A little while back, I made a list of some of the things that supported the right-wing conspiracy theory about an international cabal of child sex traffickers. In my version, the difference was that Donald Trump, not Jeffrey Epstein or "elite Jews," was at the center of the plot. Of course, I thought the theory itself was bonkers, merely a fantasy designed to conform to right-wing prejudices. But now I'm beginning to see that some much-amended version of the theory is true.
First of all, it is not a conspiracy among the very wealthy, and they have not formed a cabal or an organization. Rather, the super-rich have an understanding among themselves that they merit special privileges, and that they are not bound by the societal rules meant to control and repress ordinary people. This is essentially a Marxist view. Are there Jews among this group? Well, yes, of course, but there are people of many ethnicities and religious backgrounds among them. Since what is important about this group of people is their devotion ot secular capitalism, their religion and ethnicity are unimportant. A disdain for ordinary people is central to the elites' understanding, and all sorts of hedonism are perfectly acceptable.
In fact, the desire for pleasure and the display of self-indulgent luxuries is a primary reason some of the group aspired to "belong" to the ultra-wealthy set in the first place. One of these pleasures -- but certainly not the central one -- is having sex with children. Jeffrey Epstein & Ghislaine Maxwell were not central figures in the hierarchy of elites; they were fringe members whose utility was in providing a commodity: girls to be used and abused. Donald Trump was also on the fringe, at least until he became POTUS*, a position that made him much more useful to the ultra-wealthy. Still, he is so stupid and so crass and so loudmouthed that he remains a bit player, a useful idiot who is aware of the game, is part of it but not at the top of it.
Chris Cameron of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said on Tuesday that he had ended his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein because the financier had 'hired away spa attendants at Mar-a-Lago. Asked whether one of the women was Virginia Giuffre, a known victim of Mr. Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring, Mr. Trump said: 'I don’t know. I think she worked at the spa. I think so. I think that was one of the people. He stole her. And by the way, she had no complaints about us, as you know, none whatsoever.' Mr. Trump’s remarks to reporters on Air Force One elaborated on his claim a day earlier that he had blacklisted Mr. Epstein from Mar-a-Lago because he had hired away some of Mr. Trump’s employees. White House aides had previously said that Mr. Trump barred Mr. Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club 'for being a creep.'... Ms. Giuffre was 16 when she was recruited to Mr. Epstein’s sex ring while working as a spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago in 2000, and said that she was groomed and abused by Mr. Epstein and his associates until she broke contact with him in 2002. That same year, Mr. Trump praised Mr. Epstein in an interview with New York Magazine.... There are no known records of Mr. Epstein recruiting others from Mar-a-Lago.” The AP's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Jon Stewart speaks for Trump when he explains why he cut off his relationship with Epstein:
Yes, you all know him as Jeffrey Epstein, the sex trafficker. But I knew his dark side.... I mean, the sex trafficking is okay, but he was also a low-level-employee poacher. And that, I cannot have.
You have to read between the lines of Cameron's report to figure out that Trump is lying again about the reason for his fallout with Epstein: as far as anyone knows, Virginia Giuffre was the only Mar-a-Lago employee Epstein & Maxwell lured away from her job at the resort's spa. That happened in 2000. But several years later, Trump was still palling around with Epstein & publicly praising him. So "employee poaching" was not the reason Trump split with Epstein. The AP reporters do not make reference to Trump's timeline inconsistency. (Chris Hayes does.) Donald Trump is a sloppy liar, but many journalists let him get away with it. ~~~
~~~ Marcy Wheeler assumes there may have been more than one incidenct in which Epstein hired girls who worked at Mar-a-Lago. “... it would pathological to describe the recruitment of sex trafficking victims as simply hiring someone’s help away from them. But it is the case that [Virginia] Giuffre, at least, went from employ at Mar-a-Lago ... to years of financial payment from [Jeffrey] Epstein. Calling that 'employment' is precisely the kind of fiction Trump engages in all the time — to treat the financially-lubricated sex trafficking of women as mere employ.... If Donald Trump learned what happened to Giuffre and warned Epstein never to recruit sex slaves at Mar-a-Lago again, it would mean he was aware of what happened to Giuffre, aware years before law enforcement first started investigating Epstein. It would mean he learned Epstein was trafficking girls, which that New York Magazine quote sure seems to reflect, and rather than do something to make Epstein stop, Trump just told him not to do it at Mar-a-Lago.”
Michael Gold of the New York Times: “Senate Democrats on Wednesday moved to compel the Trump administration to release material connected to the investigation into the accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, invoking a little-known law in a bid to force Republican leaders to confront the growing furor over the case. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, and all seven Democrats on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee sent a letter to the Justice Department requesting that it turn over its files on Mr. Epstein, the disgraced financier who died in federal prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. Under a section of federal law commonly referred to in the Senate as the 'rule of five,' government agencies are required to provide relevant information if any five members of that committee, which is the chamber’s chief oversight panel, request it. That provision — which became law in 1928 ... — effectively offers a way for members of the minority party to compel information from the executive branch.... But it has been infrequently used, and it has not faced significant tests in court, raising questions over whether it can be enforced.”
Perry Stein, et al., of the Washington Post: “Jeffrey Epstein’s imprisoned associate Ghislaine Maxwell would be willing to testify to Congress if lawmakers offer her immunity and provide her with the questions in advance, her lawyer said in a letter obtained by The Washington Post. 'Our initial reaction was that Ms. Maxwell would invoke her Fifth Amendment rights and decline to testify at this time,' her attorney, David Oscar Markus, wrote in the letter to Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky), who chairs the House Oversight Committee. 'However, after further reflection we would like to find a way to cooperate with Congress if a fair and safe path forward can be established.' In addition to immunity and questions beforehand, Maxwell said through Markus that she also wants to delay testifying until after the Supreme Court rules on her appeal of her sex-trafficking conviction.” A Politico story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Video Bondi Released Shows ... Nothing. Dan Ruetenik of CBS News: "In the weeks after Jeffrey Epstein died at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan, in August 2019, then-Attorney General William Barr said his 'personal review' of surveillance footage clearly showed that no one entered the area where Epstein was housed, leading him to agree with the conclusion of the medical examiner that Epstein had died by suicide. It's a claim that's been repeated by other top federal officials, including FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, who said on Fox News' 'Fox and Friends' in May, 'There's video clear as day — he's the only person in there and the only person coming out.' But a CBS News analysis of the video the FBI made public earlier this month reveals that the recording doesn't provide a clear view of the entrance to Epstein's cell block — one of several contradictions between officials' descriptions of the video and the video itself.... The CBS News review found the video does little to provide evidence to support claims that were later made by federal officials. Additionally, CBS News has identified multiple inconsistencies between that report and the video that raise serious questions about the accuracy of witness statements and the thoroughness of the government's investigation." This is a long written report. Here's a video report: ~~~
U.S. Dictator Bypasses Senate & Judiciary to Install Prosecutors. Devlin Barrett & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: “The Trump administration has decided to extend the terms of the interim federal prosecutors in Southern California and Nevada who were serving under temporary appointments that were set by law to expire, a move that sets the stage for new potential conflicts with Congress and the federal judiciary. A similar maneuver in New Jersey to extend the service of the interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba..., [Donald] Trump’s former lawyer, has led to legal gridlock in the federal court there, as some lawyers and judges question whether Ms. Habba is legally authorized to act as the state’s chief federal prosecutor. Now, senior Justice Department officials are taking similar actions in California and Nevada, a move that allows the administration to circumvent the stalled Senate confirmation process for some U.S. attorneys, and the role of local judges in filling any long-running vacancies in those jobs. On Tuesday, the interim U.S. attorney in Nevada, Sigal Chattah, was redesignated as 'acting' U.S. attorney on the Justice Department’s website, a day before her term as 'interim' prosecutor was set to expire. Several hours later, a similar title change was made for Bill Essayli in Los Angeles.” ...
~~~ Jeremy Roebuck of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump’s effort to keep Alina Habba in charge of the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey is facing a legal challenge that could influence his ability to extend terms for some of his other controversial picks to lead prosecutor’s offices across the country. Defendants in a drug and gun case set to go to trial in New Jersey this week are urging a federal court to toss the charges, arguing that Habba, a former Trump defense lawyer, has no legal standing to exercise prosecutorial powers. 'The executive branch has exceeded its lawful authority,' defense lawyer Thomas Mirigliano wrote in a court filing. 'Thus, all subsequent prosecutorial actions taken by Ms. Habba or any assistant U.S. attorneys relying on her purported authority lack constitutional legitimacy.' A judge who briefly considered the matter Monday called that argument 'nonfrivolous' before the issue was transferred to a judge in Pennsylvania who will now rule on the merits of Mirigliano’s filing.” ~~~
~~~ Devlin Barrett of the New York Times : “The Justice Department moved Tuesday to end two high-profile criminal cases in Los Angeles whose handling by the Trump administration had been criticized by veteran prosecutors as alarming. The moves by the leader of U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, Bill Essayli, came on the same day the administration said it would use a legally untested maneuver to ensure that Mr. Essayli remains in charge of the office beyond his interim appointment.... Mr. Essayli filed court papers asking a judge to dismiss pending criminal charges against Andrew Wiederhorn, the founder of Fatburger, who was fighting accusations of wire fraud and other crimes related to the company. While it is ultimately a judge’s decision whether to dismiss charges, a prosecutor’s request to do so makes it nearly impossible for the case to proceed to trial. The move to end the Wiederhorn case comes months after White House officials fired the prosecutor in charge of it, Adam Schleifer, whom the right-wing influencer and close Trump ally Laura Loomer had publicly attacked on social media.... Mr. Essayli also moved on Tuesday to dismiss an unrelated case against a deputy sheriff convicted of abusing his authority in assaulting a woman who recorded his actions on her phone.”
Government by Loomer, Ctd. Christina Jewett of the New York Times : “The Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine and gene therapy official resigned on Tuesday after a public campaign against him led by the right-wing influencer Laura Loomer.... Over the past week, Ms. Loomer had taken to social media to attack the official, Dr. Vinay Prasad, for a series of decisions denying approval of new drugs for rare diseases. She highlighted past statements of support he had made for prominent figures on the political left, including Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont.... As Ms. Loomer’s campaign escalated, the federal health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who oversees the F.D.A., had privately defended Dr. Prasad, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Kennedy’s support, they said, stemmed in part from his role overseeing vaccines. During his brief tenure at the F.D.A. Dr. Prasad had already limited the use of Covid shots and had amped up warnings about a rare cardiac side effect of the inoculations. Dr. Marty Makary, the F.D.A. commissioner, also defended Dr. Prasad in an interview on Saturday with Politico, calling him an 'impeccable scientist.' Yet it wasn’t enough in the face of criticism from Ms. Loomer and lobbying of White House officials by former Senator Rick Santorum.”
Hannah Natanson, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration on Tuesday temporarily halted all funding for science research issued by the National Institutes of Health before releasing the funds later in the day.... The halt stemmed from a footnote in an Office of Management and Budget document, according to an email sent to NIH staff Tuesday afternoon by the NIH’s associate director for budget, Neil Shapiro.... If the money had not later been unfrozen, the move would have affected about $15 billion in federal funds, according to the office of Sen. Patty Murray (Washington), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.”
U.S. Dictator to Install His Own Generals. Greg Jaffe & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times : “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has begun requiring that nominees for four-star-general positions meet with ... [Donald] Trump before their nominations are finalized, in a departure from past practice, said three current and former U.S. officials. The move, though within Mr. Trump’s remit as commander in chief, has raised worries about the possible politicization of the military’s top ranks by a president who has regularly flouted norms intended to insulate the military from partisan disputes.”
Drunk Pete Issues a Signalgate I.G. Report Prebuttal. Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s team on Tuesday denounced the Pentagon’s internal review of his actions in the 'Signalgate' affair, calling the independent inquiry 'clearly a political witch hunt' and asserting without evidence that details of the nonpartisan review were leaked to the news media by 'Biden administration holdovers.' The remarks appeared in a written statement by Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, who also acknowledged for the first time publicly that Hegseth has provided a statement to the Defense Department inspector general’s team that makes clear his belief that 'this entire exercise is a sham, conducted in bad faith and with extreme bias.'... [The statement] appears to be a preemptive strike designed to undermine the review’s legitimacy even before the inspector general’s findings are released publicly.”
Maxine Joselow & Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: “Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said on Tuesday the Trump administration would revoke the scientific determination that underpins the government’s legal authority to combat climate change. Speaking on a conservative podcast called 'Ruthless,' Mr. Zeldin said the E.P.A. planned to rescind the 2009 declaration, known as the 'endangerment finding,' which concluded that planet-warming greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health. The Obama and Biden administrations used that determination to set strict limits on greenhouse gas emissions from cars, power plants and other industrial sources of pollution. 'Repealing it will be the largest deregulatory action in the history of America,' Mr. Zeldin said. He said the finding and the regulations that stemmed from it 'cost Americans a lot of money.'” MB: Something else that “costs Americans a lot of money” -- and their lives and quality of those lives -- are the health consequences of pollutants. Zeldin has the face of an adorable little imp. He's a monstrous ghoul. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The AP's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Chris Cameron, et al., of the New York Times: “The Trump administration has frozen $108 million in federal funds for Duke University’s medical school and health care system, according to two administration officials, after the government accused the university of 'systemic racial discrimination.' Duke University is the latest high-profile school, from Columbia University to Harvard, that the Trump administration has targeted and stripped of a large amount of federal funding, based on vague accusations that the university abets antisemitism or supports diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The move comes amid a wider pressure campaign from the Trump administration to shift the ideological tilt of American higher education. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, and Linda McMahon, the education secretary, sent a letter to Duke administrators on Monday expressing concerns about 'racial preferences in hiring, student admissions, governance, patient care, and other operations' in the university’s health care system.”
More from the Oligarchy. Julia Angwin in a New York Times op-ed: “The Trump Administration ... is trying to stop advertisers and brands from boycotting right-leaning businesses.... Last month, [the Federal Trade Commission] announced that it would approve the merger of two of the biggest ad agencies in the world only if the parties agree to an unusual condition: The merged company cannot refuse to place ads on websites for political reasons.... While the move would theoretically affect platforms of any political persuasion, there’s little doubt that it is a thinly veiled attempt to prop up X.... In 2023, dozens of advertisers suspended their spending after two media watchdog groups, the Center for Countering Digital Hate and Media Matters, revealed how X was profiting from accounts that spread hate and misinformation and that major brands’ ads were appearing near pro-Nazi content. X responded by suing both the watchdog groups, as well as ... [others]. Then in May, the F.T.C. began investigating roughly a dozen advertising and advocacy groups including Media Matters to determine if they were engaged in a conspiracy.... Media Matters ... is considering closing in the face of steep legal fees.... The F.T.C.’s recent efforts essentially bolster X’s legally dubious argument that advertisers don’t have the right to freedom of expression.
⭐ Devlin Barrett of the New York Times : “The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Emil Bove III, a Trump loyalist whose short tenure in the top ranks of the Justice Department prompted whistle-blower complaints and a storm of criticism from agency veterans, to a powerful federal appeals court judgeship. Mr. Bove had spurred outcries at the department by directing or overseeing the firing of dozens of employees and ordering the dismissal of bribery charges against Mayor Eric Adams of New York. According to one whistle-blower who went public, Mr. Bove also told government lawyers that they might ignore court orders in pursuit of ... [Donald] Trump’s immigration policy goals. Mr. Bove has denied being anyone’s enforcer or henchman, but his nomination to a lifetime appointment one rung below the Supreme Court provoked an intense battle in the Senate. His approval to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which encompasses Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, came by a tiny margin, 50 to 49, with all Democrats and two Republicans, Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, opposing him.” The AP report is here. ~~~
~~~ The Perjurer. Perry Stein & Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: “Emil Bove misled lawmakers in his confirmation hearings for a federal judgeship when he denied targeting prosecutors who refused to go along with his dismissal of corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, according to a whistleblower’s documentation of a tense staff meeting. At the virtual meeting in February, Bove warned public corruption lawyers of the need to follow the 'chain of command' in the Adams case, suggesting promotions for lawyers who helped him dismiss the charges and 'consequences' for those who didn’t.... He was asked several times by Democratic lawmakers in a contentious confirmation hearing last month if he ever suggested he would treat prosecutors differently depending on whether they agreed to back the dismissal of the case. His answers each time were 'no' or 'I don’t recall.'”
Hailey Fuchs & Katherine Tully-McManus of Politico: “... Donald Trump is seeking to pressure Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley to ram through more judicial nominees without buy-in from home-state Democratic senators. 'Chuck Grassley, who I got re-elected to the U.S. Senate when he was down, by a lot, in the Great State of Iowa, could solve the “Blue Slip” problem we are having with respect to the appointment of Highly Qualified Judges and U.S. Attorneys, with a mere flick of the pen,' Trump said in a Truth Social post Tuesday. 'Democrats like Schumer, Warner, Kaine, Booker, Schiff, and others, SLEAZEBAGS ALL, have an ironclad stoppage of Great Republican Candidates.' Trump added that Grassley should end the so-called blue slip veto practice 'IMMEDIATELY, and not let the Democrats laugh at him and the Republican Party for being weak and ineffective.'” MB: A real president may certainly criticize senators but he does not call a whole group of the SLEAZEBAGS. Period.
Chris Cameron of the New York Times: “Senate Republicans confirmed Susan Monarez, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a supporter of Covid vaccines, as the permanent leader of the agency, cementing ... [Donald] Trump’s second pick for the job after he withdrew his first nominee just hours before his confirmation hearing earlier this year. Dr. Monarez, an infectious-disease researcher, is the first nonphysician to lead the C.D.C. in more than 50 years. Her confirmation, in a 51-to-47 party-line vote in the Senate.... Her office has ... served as a conduit for directives from the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services. For example, she has worked with the cost-cutting initiative known as the Department of Government Efficiency to plan cuts to the agency....”
Stephen Groves of the AP: “Senate Democrats are imploring ... Donald Trump’s administration to step up its role in addressing suffering and starvation in Gaza, with more than 40 senators signing onto a letter Tuesday urging the resumption of ceasefire talks and sharply criticizing an Israeli-backed American organization that had been created to distribute food aid. In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Republican president’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, the senators said the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, created in February with backing from the Trump administration, has 'failed to address the deepening humanitarian crisis and contributed to an unacceptable and mounting civilian death toll around the organization’s sites.' It marked a mostly united plea from Senate Democrats — who are locked out of power in Washington — for the Trump administration to recalibrate its approach after the collapse of ceasefire talks last week.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Chris Hayes pointed out last night that when the U.N. was running food distribution in Gaza, they had 400 sites. The new Trump/Netanyahu outfit -- the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation -- has four, where soldiers and guards are shooting into crowds & murdering starving Gazans. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) then noted that Trump first response to a question about food aid to Gaza was to complain that nobody was thanking his administration for giving $60 million in aid (the amount was actually $30MM and he also claimed falsely that the U.S. was the only country providing food aid to Gaza). Van Hollen didn't think the Trump administration deserved much in the way of thanks.
Ah, Democrats in Disarray! Annie Karni of the New York Times: A “spectacle [in the Senate] started in the least dramatic way possible: Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, Democrat of Nevada..., asked for unanimous consent to pass a package of policing bills.... It quickly went off the rails when Senator Cory Booker, the progressive New Jersey Democrat, rose to object, accusing Ms. Cortez Masto of being 'complicit' with an authoritarian president. Things got personal and nasty after Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, a longtime rival to Mr. Booker ... and a cosponsor of some of the measures, noted that he failed to attend a key committee meeting where members debated the legislation and voted unanimously to move it to the Senate floor. 'Don’t question my integrity,' Mr. Booker shouted so loudly his voice could be heard outside the Senate chamber. 'Don’t question my motives. I’m standing for Jersey, I’m standing for my police officers, I’m standing for the Constitution and I’m standing for what’s right....' Because the Justice Department was 'weaponizing' public safety grants against states and cities that 'resist the Trump policy agenda,' Mr. Booker said, Democrats should oppose the bills unless they added language to safeguard any law enforcement grants from politicization.” An AP story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: If you read the whole back-and-forth, I think you may agree with Booker. I'm not really a fan of grandstanding, but it seems to me that this is a time for it. Sitting quietly in committee and being "reasonable" is the path to good governance, but only if both sides do so. Republicans, however, behave in a partisan and ruthless manner, so following sensible rules of decorum has gotten Democrats nowhere -- except in the minority.
Zach Montague of the New York Times: “A coalition of Democratic-led states sued the Trump administration on Tuesday over Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood by using Medicaid payments as a cudgel. The new lawsuit, filed in Massachusetts, comes on top of a challenge brought by Planned Parenthood itself. Both lawsuits target a provision in ... [Donald] Trump’s signature policy law that would effectively withhold Medicaid funds from affiliated clinics across the country, a move that the organization contends could shutter a number of locations and leave thousands without access to basic health care. A day ago, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from implementing the president’s policy, finding that the provision, as written by Republican lawmakers, appeared to be an unlawful act of retaliation that violated Planned Parenthood’s freedom of political expression. But during a news conference announcing the lawsuit, Rob Bonta, the California attorney general, said that the legal atmosphere in the United States had grown so unpredictable that a second challenge was prudent.”
Juliet Macur, et al., of the New York Times : “The shooter in Midtown Manhattan on Monday was the latest former football player to choose [to commit suicide by a gunshot to the chest], though only after more carnage. The gunman, Shane Tamura, shot himself in the chest after killing four others. The police said Mr. Tamura, who played high school football in California, carried a note that referred to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E., the degenerative brain disease that has been linked to repeated blows to the head in contact sports. 'Study my brain please,' the note said.... It will take weeks, or possibly months, to determine if the gunman had C.T.E., according to neuropathology experts.... A positive diagnosis would not mean that C.T.E. necessarily caused the gunman to be violent, experts said. Though people with C.T.E. often have problems with thinking, memory and behavior, there are many factors involved when a person decides to commit a heinous act, said Dr. Daniel H. Daneshvar, chief of brain injury rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Whether or not CTE was a contributing factor in Tamura's decision to murder innocent people, CTE is the reason I no longer watch football games. I don't even watch Super Bowl ads because I don't want to do the slightest thing to support the NFL or organizations and corporations that benefit the NFL.
~~~~~~~~~~
10 Comments
Reader Comments (10)
All this time I've thought Melanie came here on an Einstein Visa.
Maybe it was an Epstein Visa, or was she over the age limit.
I think that limit was something like 15 years old.
She may have been older than 15. I couldn't find that info.
@Forrest Morris: According a couple of very non-authoritative-looking bios I just read online, Melanie was an over-the-hill 26 years old when she moved to New York in 1996, and an ancient 28 when she met Donald two years later.
But I think you must be right about her getting an Epstein visa, not an Einstein visa. After all, it doesn't require much genius to be a gold-digger. Good catch!
When she's not taking bathroom sign pics Nancy Mace likes to spend her time watching immigrants arrested by ICE at their court hearing us as they try to legally navigate our serpentine immigration system. Trump is not our only national embarrassment. Half our country supports these lazy venal monsters.
It is just business.
"Analysis Shows Big Corporations Are Using Trump Trade Chaos as 'Cover' to Jack Up Prices
"While Trump's tariffs continue to cause economic upheaval, corporations are exploiting the chaos and working families are left to foot the bill," said one analyst.
Progressive advocacy group Groundwork Collaborative issued a new report on Tuesday that uses corporate executives' own words to show how many firms are taking advantage of the tariff situation by using it as an all-purpose justification for price increases. The report found many of these executives' admissions through quarterly earnings calls in which they discussed plans to increase costs even if their inputs were not being significantly affected by the tariffs."
Forrest,
Known for your humorous observations over the years, I'll have to say "Epstein Visa" is one of your best.
An eminently swipeable bon mot, for sure, or I suppose in the case of anything to do with the Curst Family perhaps a mal mot?
Marie,
I've seen a few of those AI videos of old photographs come to life, but this one, with some of the oldest images in existence is just amazing.
Amazing also is to realize that, in 1839, when the first portrait photo of a human was taken, of that Constant Huet-natural history museum dude, the comb had yet to be invented. Either that or this was the mid 19th C version of bedhead. Comb yer hair, buddy. You look like a stowaway.
Especially loved the picture of Balzac, as full of life as his many characters. Having recently read "Le Père Goriot", I get how Oscar Wilde could be so affected by the death of one of Balzac's characters.
I've seen several come-to-life images of Lincoln, one of him as an older man, laughing, which I loved, given that despite his sad life, he could still tell a good joke (Fat Hitler's idea of a joke is poor immigrants being eaten my alligators).
My son, a budding history buff, has been looking up the oldest surviving participants in various conflicts, last living soldier of the American Revolution, Civil War, WW I, for example, so it's pretty cool to see an image of man who stood next to Alexander Hamilton at the Siege of Yorktown (where Cornwallis surrendered) coming to life, as well as the famous Napoleon Beater, the Duke of Wellington looking like he was getting ready for his CNN interview. "So I said to my good friend Field Marshal Blücher, that morning at Waterloo..."
We are fascinated by images of ourselves as a people, sort of in the same way that babies love looking at pictures of other babies. For people like most of us out here in RC Land, we grew up with a few more pictures than our parents, certainly, but without the pleasures of being able to see and hear our their voices again, or ours as children.
Skimming the voluminous collection of images and videos of our 14 year old, I mentioned to my wife that he will be able to see and hear himself seconds after being born. I'm guessing that by the time I was 14, there were less that a hundred. pictures of taken of me. My son passed that number hours after he was born. And he'll be able to hear his parents, grandparents, and pals as we all were at different stages of his life. An amazing thing when you think of it.
I'm guessing the next stage of AI revivals of old photos may be to include voices, although not the actual voice.
Nonetheless, a magical look back at the way we were almost two hundred years ago. Perhaps a reminder that we may yet outlast the fascist pricks taking over the country and much of the world. The image I most look forward to is a certain fat felon in an orange jumpsuit, and barring that... in a pine box. (Of course one with a bunch of Home Depot gewgaws painted gold appliqued to its sides).
Forgot to mention that the price of "vine ripened" tomatoes has remained at 1.99 per pound. These are smaller fruit, like you have quartered in a salad. Larger Beefsteak tomatoes such as those sliced on your hamburger are a dollar or so more.
So I see where's Drunk Pete is thinking of running for Goobernator of Tennessee.
I guess he's reached the limits of Stoopid at the Pentagon. Not to mention all that inconvenient press attention he gets for the tiniest of mistakes, like giving out top secret info to hackers around the world of impending military operations. Big whoop. Do those Jiminy Crickett reporters know how tough it is to run the largest lethality-type operation in the world when you're half in the bag every day? Fuckers!
DP can go down to the Volunteer State and run that place when he's completely in the bag! No one'll say shit. He can kick back in the Goobernator's mansion and be a little king on a pint of Jack Daniels every hour. He'll be hailed a MAGA he-roe.
Although he won't be able to go on phony training runs with Marines and put videos of himself with his Christian Nationalist Crusader tatoos doing push ups and other wicked important stuff he does to make himself look like a Lethal Lex Luthor.
Oh well. He can always go back to Faux and make shit up every day. You can do that with an alcohol IV permanently shoved up your ass and still make a fortune.
In'it funny how these MAGA morons get a big job and half an hour later realize that they'll have to do actual work for a change. Poor dears.
Dropkick Murphys - First Class Loser
"States that don't vote for me don't get nothin'!"
He throws his fat bulk around everywhere but dishes out gifts only to those who support his fascist ass.
"The Trump administration has cut a $327 million grant for the Allston Multimodal Project, which would straighten the Massachusetts Turnpike, create a new commuter rail station, and provide more space for development and outdoor recreation along the Charles River.
'It’s probably the best public construction project in New England because of benefits to the community for access to the river, protected bike lanes, and a whole new neighborhood,' Tom Ryan, Senior Advisor on Policy, Government and Community Affairs at the transportation non-profit A Better City, told Boston.com."
Of course if some red MAGA state wanted $300 million to build a shooting gallery where MAGAts could visit and shoot at life size effigies of immigrants, black or brown people or hated liberals, that money would be hand delivered by one of Fat Hitler's flunkies. But helping out residents of blue states is not gonna happen under Agolf Hitler.
"The Massachusetts Department of Transportation received confirmation of the termination late on July 18, prompting ire from Gov. Maura Healey.
'Why would any President of the United States oppose a project that will improve transportation for residents and visitors alike, create thousands of construction jobs, support local businesses and create space for new housing? We all benefit from that,' Healey said in a statement."
But taxpayer money that might benefit residents of a state that didn't vote for Fatty get nothin'.