The Conversation -- July 17, 2025
Adam Cancryn of CNN: “A collection of letters gifted to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday in 2003 included a note bearing Donald Trump’s name and an outline of a naked woman, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Thursday. The drawing, depicting a woman’s breasts and a 'Donald' signature in the place of pubic hair, surrounded several lines of typewritten text, according to the newspaper, which reviewed the letter. It concluded with the line: 'Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.' Trump in an interview with the Journal on Tuesday denied that he wrote the letter or drew the picture and threatened to sue the newspaper if it published the story.” At 8:30 pm ET, this is a developing story. MB: Gosh, this letter amplifying the sordid connection between the POTUS* & the Pedophile must be one of the documents in the huge file that Pam Bondi refuses to release. It's but a single page of a massive cover-up. ~~~
~~~ Charlie Warzel of the Atlantic: “In a second term that’s been defined by chaos, unpopular policies, and the dismantling of the federal government, Trump has managed to bounce back from one scandal after another. Except, perhaps, from this one.... At the center [of the sprawling conspiracy story] is a genuine secret, the main thing that keeps the story from fading away: the specter of Epstein’s so-called client list, a document that supposedly contains the names of powerful people whom Epstein provided girls to. This list is the basis for the most sordid and compelling parts of the conspiracy theory: that Epstein not only facilitated the trafficking of these girls to elites, but that he then entrapped and extorted those elites. The Trump administration had teased the release of this list as though it were a blockbuster movie, even though its very existence remains an open question.... The longer the list stays in the dark, the more power it accrues.” Thank you to laura h. for the link.
Nina Agrawal of the New York Times: “The White House said on Thursday that ... [Donald] Trump had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a condition that occurs when veins have trouble moving blood back to the heart. The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, announced the diagnosis while addressing swelling in Mr. Trump’s legs and bruising on his hand in recent weeks. Dr. Sean P. Barbabella, the physician to the president, said in a memo that Mr. Trump had noticed mild swelling in his lower legs and underwent a comprehensive evaluation which revealed the condition. He added that the condition was “benign” and common in people over 70. (Trump is 79.) The risk of chronic venous insufficiency, which is estimated to affect 10 to 35 percent of U.S. adults, increases with age. The condition, which occurs most often in the legs, can cause swelling, as the president experienced.” This is part of a liveblog. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. MB: Well, so much for my suggestion, offered below. But Trump is falling apart.
If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain. Do not let that happen. Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought. Instead of fear, let this moment fuel the fire that already burns at the heart of this place. A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power. Of commitment to seek justice for victims. Of dedication to truth above all else. -- Maurene Comey, memo to colleagues, Thursday, July 17 ~~~
~~~ Erica Orden & Kyle Cheney of Politico: “One day after being fired by the Justice Department, Maurene Comey told her former colleagues that 'fear is the tool of a tyrant,' appearing to take aim at the upper ranks of DOJ and perhaps the president....” ~~~
~~~ Marcy Wheeler: "Maurene Comey was one of the few people who convinced [Epstein & Maxwell's victims that] she would take on very powerful people in search of justice for them. And Pam Bondi fired her, on Donald Trump’s personal authority." Worth reading also for the details from former U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman's book.
NBC News: "A spokesperson for Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley says that [Emil] Bove’s nomination [for appeals court judge] had been reported out of committee to the full Senate, even though Democrats on the committee walked out in protest of the lack of debate and the refusal to hold a vote on whether to hold a hearing with a whistleblower before they voted. But a spokesperson for Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dick Durbin is saying that whether Bove was reported out is an open question and may be up to the Senate parliamentarian because Democrats claim Republicans broke several committee rules in the process of forcing the vote." This is part of a liveblog.
Do check out Patrick's comment in today's thread on Rep. Jim Comer's complaint about a Biden White House official pleading the Fifth before Comer's "investigative" committee.
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Andrew Ackerman of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump signaled to Republican lawmakers on Tuesday that he may soon seek to fire Jerome H. Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve, according to people familiar with the discussion. But on Wednesday Trump denied he was planning to fire the central banker. Trump asked House lawmakers gathered at the White House on Tuesday about how they felt about firing Powell and they expressed approval for the firing, Trump confirmed to reporters on Wednesday. Trump then indicated to the lawmakers that he would likely fire Powell soon, said the people, who were familiar with the discussions but spoke on the condition of anonymity. When asked again Wednesday whether he planned to fire Powell, Trump said that media reports that he’s planning to fire Powell are 'not true.'” A CNBC story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Maggie Haberman & Colby Smith of the New York Times: Donald “Trump showed off a draft of a letter firing the chair of Federal Reserve, Jerome H. Powell, during a meeting with roughly a dozen House Republicans on Tuesday night, polling them as to whether he should do it and indicating that he likely would....” ~~~
~~~ Colby Smith & Tony Romm of the New York Times: “... firing a Fed chair is a legally knotty endeavor and one that has not been tested in modern U.S. history. That’s because, under the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, the chair can be ousted only for 'cause,' which is typically interpreted to mean malfeasance or gross misconduct.... The president and his allies have seized on [Powell's management of the renovation of the Fed's headquarters in Washington, D.C.], which kicked off in 2021, as a potential avenue to fire Mr. Powell over allegations of mismanagement.... Legal experts have quickly assessed that the case the president may be building to remove Mr. Powell for cause is flimsy and likely to face serious obstacles if Mr. Trump follows through with his threats.... Mr. Powell has in the past indicated his intention to serve out his term as chair, which ends in May, suggesting that he would not go willingly.... The case would most likely wind up at the Supreme Court.” MB: And, as we know, the Supremes might better be called “the Supines,” when it comes to ruling on the powers of the king. And do note that replacing Powell with a fpTrump toady is part of Trump's overall project to completely destroy the U.S. economy. ~~~
~~~ Cognitive Impairment. Elderly Man Has No Idea Who Appointed Powell. Megan Lebowitz of NBC News: "'I was surprised he was appointed,' Trump said. 'I was surprised, frankly, that Biden put him in and extended him.' However, Trump himself initially nominated Powell to lead the Fed in 2017. Biden renominated Powell in 2021." ~~~
~~~ Steve Benen of MSNBC: “This incident came one day after ... [Donald Trump] told a detailed story about a conversation he had with his uncle about having taught Ted Kaczynski — better known as 'Unabomber' — while John Trump was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. That conversation couldn’t have happened — in part because John Trump died more than a decade before Kaczynski was caught and identified, and in part because Kaczynski was never a student at MIT.” Benen cites some other incidents in which Trump appeared to be lost. ~~~
~~~ Making up the Unabomber story may have tired Trump out, as he dozed off later during the, uh, energy conference. ~~~
~~~ Trump is falling apart physically, too. ~~~
~~~ Madeline Sherratt of the Independent: Donald “Trump's mysterious hand bruise has reappeared, but this time, it appeared to be caked in even more makeup. A zoomed-in shot [taken Tuesday] of Trump’s hand appeared to be flaking with a layer of makeup – a shade that did not match his skin, plastered over the top. One area of his hand buried beneath the concealer looked like an incision or scar of some kind. The mark on his right hand was first noticed months earlier, in February, during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.” Trump has blamed hand-shaking as the cause of an underlying bruise. An internal medicine doctor speculated that the cause was weakened blood vessels, osteoarthritis, or both.
~~~ Marie: OR, IMO, Trump may be covering up a skin lesion caused by surgical removal of a cancerous growth. Trump spends a lot of time in the sun, and he does not wear a glove on that hand (his right) when he is golfing (at least in photos I've seen). I speak from personal experience that the hands are quite susceptible to skin cancer.
Patrick Svitek of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Wednesday attacked fellow Republicans who have been raising questions about his administration’s handling of the case of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In a social media post, Trump ... [wrote that] Democrats’ 'new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this “bullshit,” hook, line, and sinker.... They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: To me, Trump's most curious attempt at a defense was when he wrote over the weekend, "Why are we giving publicity to Files written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration. ... They created the Epstein Files...." (Trump has since reiterated this theory of the case, at least in part.) So I can't help see the image of Obama, Clinton, Comey and John Brennan sitting around a big round table while each dutifully writes down different imaginary stories about Jeffrey Epstein. As each author finishes a page, he she stuffs it in a file folder (or File folder). Mind you, these File folders are stamped "Top Secret" and are never to be released. That is, the fantastic "reports" are intended for an audience of no one, which is to say they have no political utility whatsoever. But still. It is the heroic Trump who was always going to expose these completely fabricated Obama-Clinton-Comey-Brennan-Biden-Losers-and-Criminals works of fiction. This is a dodgy proposition, inasmuch as Trump's long association with Epstein -- combined with the Democrats' corrupt intent -- means Trump himself is bound to figure into many of these tall tales. Moreover, it seems a bit unlikely Obama, et al., would devote their prose to fingering the "real" villains" the international Jewish pedophile ring of which they are a part. I am sure that somewhere in the Mind of Donald, there is a twisted logic to this theory of the case; I just have not been able to discern it.
Kelly Rissman of the Independent reprises Trump's recent attempts to defend himself, change the subject, etc. She also goes over some of the MAGA blowback.
Oh, Here's an A-mazing, Er, Coincidence. Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: “Maurene Comey, a Manhattan federal prosecutor who worked on the criminal cases against Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, was fired on Wednesday.... The reason for Ms. Comey’s firing was not initially clear. Her dismissal immediately raised questions, given her involvement in cases that have roiled the White House in recent days, as well the fact that her father is the former F.B.I. director James Comey, who was fired by ... [Donald] Trump during his first term.... Ms. Comey was informed of her firing in a letter that cited Article II of the Constitution, which describes the powers of the president....” Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Trump claims that Jim Comey is one of the fabricators of the Epstein case, yet his daughter won the only significant conviction of an Epstein collaborator. Ghislaine Maxwell received a 20-year prison sentence for her part is Epstein's sex-trafficking ops. So were Comey père et fille collaborating? Working at cross-purposes? How this all fits together in the New Trump Conspiracy Theory is beyond me, but maybe somebody will come up with an implausible rationale as befits the occasion.
David Wallace-Wells of the New York Times: After running down the known knowns, Wallace-Wells writes, “... what is missing in the Epstein story isn’t exactly more information — it’s more meaning.... The ... lineage [of the Epstein saga] probably starts with the birther conspiracy, which of course helped jump-start Donald Trump’s later-life political ascent too. It also includes the extended sex-ring universes of Pizzagate and QAnon, into which the Epstein story fits both as a kind of successor narrative and one with enough basis in lurid reality to invite all kinds of more fantastical speculation — about a powerful pedophile cabal, about a vast blackmail-and-influence operation, about foreign intelligence services secretly operating the levers of U.S. imperial power.... Above all the Epstein legend now serves as a new capacious monomyth for an increasingly paranoid and distrustful country.... The Epstein story expresses a flexible, fit-for-all-purposes outrage at the perversity of the wealthy and the impunity of elites....” MB: I've made this a gift link, because -- along with a couple of posts by Steve M., which I linked a few days ago -- Wallace-Wells helps explain the genesis & the raison d'etre of the Epstein conspiracy theory. (Still, it's hard not to empathize with Ken W. who wrote late yesterday that he remains somewhat mystified by “MAGA's penchant for accepting patent absurdity.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: The one thing we know for certain about all this is that, just as Elon Musk claimed, "Trump is in the Epstein files." I think it was Julie K. Brown of the Miami Herald who (a) equated the elusive Epstein "client list" with the phone directory Maxwell created for Epstein, and (b) wrote that the directory contained ten phone numbers for Trump. In addition, there are numerous public records of Trump's ten-year relationship with Epstein. Most important, if there were any chance Trump were not "in the Epstein files," you can bet he would be ordering their release rather than making up stories about how Comey & Obama were making up stories. Do you think Trump is providing cover for Prince Andrew? Or Bill Clinton, ha ha ha? Trump impersonator Alec Baldwin? God, no. Or even Melania? Of course not. As always, it's Me Me Me. He's covering his own fat butt. ~~~
~~~ Update. Drew Magary of the San Francisco Chronicle cheerfully lays out the direct evidence of Trump's participation in Epstein's sex ring.
The Perils of Pamela. Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: “Even after [Pam] Bondi gained Trump's backing..., [her] long-term victory, and perhaps her survival, is anything but assured. Her decision this month to issue a memo affirming that [Jeffrey] Epstein’s jailhouse death in 2019 was a suicide precipitated an intense, unexpected right-wing backlash against Mr. Trump with no precedent, no obvious off-ramp and no mercy shown to an attorney general seen by some Trump die-hards as a symbol of a second term littered with broken promises.... The Epstein saga has exposed the hazards of Ms. Bondi’s focus on courting her mercurial political patron, an inside-game strategy rooted in the assumption, now an open question, that Mr. Trump will maintain the total backing of his political base.... Ms. Bondi’s true original sin — one from which she might never fully recover — was overhyping the 'Epstein files' shortly after taking over in February....”
Giving New Meaning to “The Banality of Evil.” Peter Baker of the New York Times: “Last week, [Donald Trump] denounced a reporter as a 'very evil person' for asking a question he did not like. This week, he declared that Democrats are 'an evil group of people.' 'Evil' is a word getting a lot of airtime in the second Trump term. It is not enough anymore to dislike a journalistic inquiry or disagree with an opposing philosophy. Anyone viewed as critical of the president or insufficiently deferential is wicked. The Trump administration’s efforts to achieve its policy goals are not just an exercise in governance but a holy mission against forces of darkness. The characterization seeds the ground to justify all sorts of actions that would normally be considered extreme or out of bounds.... Mr. Trump has demonstrated willingness to use power against those he considers evil. On a single day two weeks ago, he threatened to arrest two political rivals and deport an estranged ally who had angered him.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Because the totality of the evidence against him is overwhelming, I do think it's fair to denounce Donald Trump as "evil," but I seldom do so. In general, the term "evil" should be used in a religious context, IMO, and it's probably more authentic when coming from an "expert" like a bishop or rabbi. The term has no place in normal political discourse. When Trump uses "evil" to put down a reporter asking a valid question, he is showing the peculiar limitations of his vocabulary, which are well-enough known already.
Marie: There is a funny-sounding clause that pops up in some English translations (including the King James Version) of the Christian Bible: "He opened his mouth to speak." Some Biblical scholars contend that the clause connotes the great importance of what the speaker is about to say, and/or that it implies the person speaks for God. Well, our little Speaker has opened his mouth to speak and he said God annointed Donald Trump: ~~~
~~~ Robyn Pennacchia of Wonkette: “Speaking to the press yesterday, Speaker [Mike] Johnson talked about his (and Trump’s) belief that Trump was more or less appointed President by God. 'Democrats spent years persecuting him on all fronts. Social media platforms removed his ability to communicate with his supporters, armed FBI agents raided his home, Democrat judges and prosecutors bent the law to arrest him, and multiple assassins tried to kill him,' Johnson said, adding, 'God miraculously saved the president's life -- I think it's undeniable -- and he did it for an obvious purpose. His presidency and his life are the fruits of divine providence. He points that out all the time and he's right to do so.' So he’s basically Jesus, now.... The context of this near-Biblical story of 'divine providence' was a defense of Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill — which, much like 'divine right' allowed those kings of old to ignore checks on their power from parliament, more or less allows Trump and other government officials to ignore checks on their power from the judiciary branch.”
Frances Vinall of the Washington Post: “California Gov. Gavin Newsom accused the Trump administration of illegal conduct after it pulled about $4 billion in federal funds from a high-speed rail project to link Los Angeles and San Francisco — the latest public clash between the president and the outspoken Democratic governor, who described the years-long project as soon entering its final stages. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced the funding termination Wednesday, calling the project a 'boondoggle' and stating 'federal dollars are not a blank check.' In a statement, Newsom defended the project and said 'California is putting all options on the table' to fight the move.... Donald Trump, who previously sought to cut federal funding for the high-speed rail project during his first term, said on social media Wednesday that his canceling of the federal funds had 'freed' taxpayers from funding 'California’s disastrously overpriced, “HIGH SPEED TRAIN TO NOWHERE.’” ...Less than a quarter of the project’s total funding appropriations come from the federal government, while the rest comes from the state.”
Coca Cola: “It's the Real Thing.” Maybe. Will Weissert of the AP: “... Donald Trump said Wednesday that Coca-Cola has agreed to use real cane sugar in its flagship soft drink in the U.S. at his suggestion — though the company didn’t confirm such a move. Any switch from high-fructose corn syrup in Coke sold in the United States would put Coca-Cola more in line with its practice in other countries, including Mexico and Australia. But it wouldn’t affect Trump’s drink of choice, Diet Coke, which uses aspartame as a calorie-free beverage.”
Shawn Hubler of the New York Times: “When the California National Guard rolled into Los Angeles to respond to devastating wildfires in January, Southern Californians largely hailed the troops as heroes.... Seven months later, much of that good will is gone. Protesters jeer the troops as they guard federal office buildings. Commuters curse the behemoth convoys clogging freeways.... Interviews with nearly two dozen people — including soldiers and officers as well as officials and civilians who have worked closely with the troops — show that many members of the Guard are questioning the mission.... Several said they had raised objections themselves or knew someone who objected, either because they did not want to be involved in immigration crackdowns or felt the Trump administration had put them on the streets for what they described as a 'fake mission.'”
Luis Ferré-Sadurní of the New York Times: “A coalition of legal groups representing immigrants filed a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration on Wednesday, arguing that the federal government’s campaign to arrest people at immigration courthouses so that they can be swiftly deported is unlawful and violates due process protections. The lawsuit, filed by Democracy Forward and three other legal organizations on behalf of 12 immigrants, aims to stop the arrests at immigration courts, a contentious tactic that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency began using in May to increase deportations nationwide. From New York to California, ICE agents have arrested immigrants appearing for routine proceedings at immigration courts, prompting criticism from Democrats and activists that ICE is unfairly targeting people who are following the rules by showing up to court.”
Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “Lawyers for Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the immigrant who was wrongfully expelled to El Salvador in March, poked holes on Wednesday in some of the evidence supporting the charges that were used to bring him back to face trial in the United States.... Mr. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers are concerned enough that the Trump administration might drop the charges and move at once to re-deport him that they have asked the judge overseeing his original wrongful deportation case to issue a new order protecting him from being hastily removed from the country again.... What happened in court on Wednesday, though, was focused on the narrower question of the government’s evidence against Mr. Abrego Garcia.”
John Eligon & Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “The tiny African kingdom of Eswatini announced on Wednesday that it would repatriate the five migrants who had been deported there by the United States, a day after American officials said the migrants’ home countries had refused to accept them. The migrants came from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Yemen and Cuba, and had been serving time in American prisons for serious offenses, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Their removal was the first so-called third-country deportation from the United States to take place since the Supreme Court ruled this month that the Trump administration could move forward with the practice.”
Lori Rozsa of the Washington Post: “Two weeks after it opened, a temporary migrant detention center in the Everglades is facing expensive logistical challenges: portable toilets routinely back up, sewage needs to be collected and trucked out, and swarms of mosquitoes attack detainees and staff alike. Without permanent structures, electricity or running water, drinking and bathing water has to be brought in several times a day but is still in short supply, and rainwater leaks into the tents that protect detainees’ chain-link cells, according to interviews with three former guards and phone interviews with detainees. Their accounts offer details of conditions inside the $450 million detention center, which has become a symbol for the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement policies and been dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz' by Republicans. Five other states are considering using the site as a model, said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem....”
Wherever there is cash to be had and people to exploit, you will find fraudsters. And the fraudsters just might just wear badges. ~~~
~~~ Rick Rojas of the New York Times: “A federal grand jury has indicted current and former police chiefs in three [Louisiana] communities, another local law enforcement official and a Louisiana businessman whom prosecutors described as the architect of [a scheme to exploit undocumented immigrants]. Prosecutors said that the chiefs would produce false reports documenting armed robberies. Listed as victims were undocumented immigrants, who the prosecutors said had paid a middle man. They were trying to take advantage of the federal U-visa program, which was created in 2000 and is available to undocumented immigrants who are victims of certain violent crimes.... The scheme began in 2015, prosecutors said....”
Conspiracy Theory Dictates NIH Policy. Hannah Natanson, et al., of the Washington Post: “In May..., Donald Trump signed an executive order ... vowing a crackdown on 'dangerous gain-of-function research' on viruses and pathogens that he alleged was occurring in the United States with inadequate oversight.... Soon after, researchers at the National Institutes of Health spent weeks assessing experiments for risk and preparing a report for the White House on what studies to halt.... But after the director of the NIH’s infectious-disease institute signed off on the findings, the politically appointed No. 2 in command at the NIH, Matthew Memoli, overrode career staff.... The administration’s moves are part of a full embrace of the lab leak theory for the origin of the coronavirus.”
Secret Memo Issued to Control Solar & Wind Projects. Josh Siegel & Zack Colman of Politico: “Solar and wind energy projects must now get Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s personal sign-off to receive permits across the hundreds of millions of federal acres under his department’s control, according to an internal memo obtained by Politico. The Interior directive puts wind and solar projects under heightened scrutiny, potentially slowing approvals and construction across vast swaths of some of the most sun- and wind-rich portions of the country. The memo was sent to Interior staff on Wednesday.... 'Let’s be clear: leaking internal documents to the media is cowardly, dishonest, and a blatant violation of professional standards,' Interior said in a response to a request for comment on the memo.”
Tim Balk of the New York Times: “More than 900 former Justice Department lawyers have signed a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee expressing 'deep concern' about the nomination of Emil Bove III, a senior Justice Department official, to serve as a federal appeals judge. In the letter, dated Wednesday, the former department lawyers suggested that Mr. Bove had disgraced the department during his half-year tenure there, and that his confirmation would be 'intolerable.'” The ABC News story is here. MB: This is remarkable. I didn't know there were as many as 900 living former DOJ lawyers. ~~~
~~~ Jeffrey Toobin in a New York Times op-ed: “In his first term, [Donald Trump] served the conservative movement; this time, the movement must serve him. The president has staffed the top leadership of the Justice Department with individuals whose chief qualification appears to be that they represented Mr. Trump as private lawyers.... Just as Mr. Trump has put his onetime advocates at the pinnacle of American law enforcement, the nomination of [Emil] Bove [to a federal appeals court] signals the president’s desire to embed his loyalists in the judicial branch.... The president is grooming Mr. Bove for bigger things — possibly a seat on the Supreme Court.” This link appears to be a gift link; the piece is well-worth reading.
Theodoric Meyer & Marianna Sotomayor of the Washington Post: “The Senate narrowly approved ... Donald Trump’s request to claw back $9 billion in foreign aid and federal funding for public broadcasting early Thursday morning, handing the administration a victory in its ongoing power struggle with Congress over federal spending. The vote was 51-48. Two Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) — voted with Democrats against the bill. One Democrat, Sen. Tina Smith (Minnesota), was admitted to George Washington University Hospital on Wednesday after feeling unwell and did not vote. The bill now returns to the House, which must pass it by Friday under the law that Republicans are using to undo spending that Congress previously approved. The rescissions — as such cuts are called — would be the first passed at a president’s request in decades.” Politico's story is here.
Marie: A few days back I linked to a couple of stories about Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) getting evicted from his D.C. pad for failure to pay his rent. But I did not tell you the half of it. Not hardly! So here's a far better summary: ~~~
~~~ Marcie Jones of Wonkette (July 15): "Is there anything more Trump-era Republican than fake-rich living beyond one’s means? And cheating on your wife, allegedly beating your mistress and lying about your finances and qualifications? Meet Florida Rep. Cory Mills, who is one messy pile of curb furniture! He’s getting evicted from the soon-to-be-divorced-dad pad he was sharing with his sidepiece because he owes his landlord more than $85,000 in unpaid rent, on a penthouse that’s nearly $21,000 a month!... How befitting for an arms-maker with shady finances. (You know, in case you were curious how he got approved for $21K per month on his $174,000 congressional salary.)" Do read on.
The majority is either willfully blind to the implications of its ruling or naïve, but either way the threat to our Constitution’s separation of powers is grave. -- Justice Sonia Sotomayor, dissent in McMahon v. New York ~~~
~~~ The Silence of the Supremes. Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “In clearing the way for ... [Donald] Trump’s efforts to transform American government, the Supreme Court has issued a series of orders that often lacked a fundamental characteristic of most judicial work: an explanation of the court’s rationale. On Monday, for instance, in letting Mr. Trump dismantle the Education Department, the majority’s unsigned order was a single four-sentence paragraph entirely devoted to the procedural mechanics of pausing a lower court’s ruling. What the order did not include was any explanation of why the court had ruled as it did. It was an exercise of power, not reason. The silence was even more striking in the face of a 19-page dissent by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. The court has allowed the administration to fire tens of thousands of government workers, discharge transgender troops, end protections for hundreds of thousands of migrants from war-torn countries and fundamentally shift power from Congress to the president — often with scant or no explanation of how it arrived at those results. In the last 10 weeks alone, the court has granted emergency relief to the Trump administration without explanation seven times....” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Liptak is right when he describes these fake "emergency docket" decisions as exercises in power, not reason. The implicit message, IMO, is a big endorsement of the letters F-U: "We don't need no stinkin' reason."
Farrah Tomazin of the Daily Beast, republished by MSN: “Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts praised Donald Trump at a secret judges meeting held to assuage concerns that the MAGA president could spark a constitutional crisis. Roberts made the comments during high-level talks on March 11 at the Judicial Conference of the United State[s], a 27-member national policymaking body for the federal courts, according to a memorandum obtained by The Federalist, a conservative online publication. Federal Judge James Boasberg — who blocked Trump’s efforts to deport Venezuelan nationals using the Alien Enemies Act — told Roberts that he and his D.C colleagues were concerned 'that the administration would disregard rulings of federal courts leading to a constitutional crisis.'... 'Chief Justice Roberts expressed hope that would not happen and in turn no constitutional crisis would materialize,' the memo noted.... The memo added that Roberts had also noted that 'his interactions with the President have been civil and respectful, such as the President thanking him at the state of the union address for administering the oath.'” MB: I wouldn't characterize those remarks as reaching the level of “praise.”
Justin Jouvenal of the Washington Post: “Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh on Wednesday paused a federal appeals court ruling that bars individuals in some states from filing lawsuits claiming discrimination based on the landmark Voting Rights Act. The administrative stay will allow the Supreme Court more time to consider whether to take up an appeal by Native American tribes in North Dakota who claim the ruling endangers a powerful tool to ensure equitable voting laws. It’s unclear when the high court might issue a decision to hear the case.... A federal judge ruled for the tribes, but a divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit overturned that decision. The panel did not rule on the substance of the tribes’ arguments but instead found that individuals had no right to bring challenges under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which bars racially discriminatory voting laws. The panel found only the Justice Department can bring such lawsuits.”
Santul Nerkar & Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: Donald “Trump’s embattled interim U.S. attorney in Albany, N.Y., is back leading the office under an unusual new title, just days after a panel of judges refused to appoint him to lead the office permanently. According to a letter from the Justice Department’s human resources division, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, John A. Sarcone III has been named 'special attorney to the attorney general.' The appointment, the letter says, gives him the powers of a U.S. attorney, and is 'indefinite.' The move means that Mr. Sarcone is the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, according to a spokesman for the office, as well as its first assistant, occupying two positions at once.... For now, the appointment appears to allow Mr. Sarcone, who has scrapped publicly with journalists and the police, to effectively ignore Monday’s decision by the panel of judges to spurn him.... Sarcone’s appointment as a special attorney appears to be a workaround, one that could potentially allow Mr. Trump to keep his pick in place without approval from Congress or the judiciary.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: One might call it a "workaround," but the appointment has a sort of "I'm my own grandpa" feel to it, inasmuch as Sarcone seems to be his own assistant.
Paul Krugman on the Grok fail: “As far as I can tell, large language models — which we are, misleadingly, calling artificial intelligence — are still, essentially, a souped-up version of autocorrect.... Is AI fundamentally a communist technology?... Apparently the claim is widespread among right-wing tech bros.... In modern Republican rhetoric, anything to the left of MAGA ideology is communist extremism. And here’s the thing: The answers you get from AI generally don’t adhere to the right-wing party line.... Why?... It all goes back to Stephen Colbert’s dictum, almost 20 years ago, that 'reality has a well-known liberal bias.'... Since Republicans have staked out positions on ... issues [like climate change and economics] that run completely counter to informed views, they consider the answers AI gives on such issues left-wing. Hence the Musk/MechaHitler disaster. Musk tried to nudge Grok into being less 'politically correct,' but what Musk considers political correctness is often what the rest of us consider just a reasonable description of reality. The only way to move Grok right was, in effect, to get it to buy into conspiracy theories, many of them, as always, involving a hefty dose of antisemitism.”
Ashleigh Fields of the Hill: “Former first lady Jill Biden’s chief of staff refused to answer questions during closed–door testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday morning. Committee Chair Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) said Anthony Bernal pleaded the Fifth when GOP lawmakers asked him whether former President Biden ever instructed him to lie about his health or 'if any unelected official or family members executed the duties of the president.' 'It’s no surprise that Anthony Bernal is pleading the Fifth Amendment to shield himself from criminal liability,' Comer said in a statement, following months of criticism for the former president’s staffers.... 'The Committee has sought testimony from Mr. Bernal for nearly two years, without any actual evidence of wrongdoing by Mr. Bernal,' Bernal counsel Johnathan Su said in a statement.... 'Most recently, the Committee seeks Mr. Bernal’s testimony based on a purported controversy regarding use of the autopen.... President Biden has already confirmed that he personally made all decisions concerning his grants of clemency.'... [Su said that] any suggestion that using the right is evidence of wrongdoing 'would be highly irresponsible and flatly wrong, particularly from those elected to represent the people and uphold the Constitution.'”
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Europe & a New World Order. Mark Landler & Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: “... when Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany visits London on Thursday, it will add another layer to the portrait of Europe uniting against foreign threats. Britain and Germany are expected to sign an Anglo-German treaty on defense, energy, economic cooperation, and migration, officials from both countries said this week. The defense accord will build on an agreement signed last October, under which the two agreed to cooperate on mutual defense, with joint military exercises and the development of sophisticated weapons. Mr. Merz, a center-right leader who came to power in May, has quickly emerged as a linchpin in Europe’s effort to build a more independent role in its security since the return of ... [Donald] Trump to the White House.... [The treary] is likely to include a pledge by both countries to regard a threat against one as a threat against the other. Such a commitment to mutual defense would echo language adopted by Britain and France, which pledged last week to more closely coordinate their nuclear arsenals in responding to threats against European allies.”
News Lede
New York Times: “Connie Francis, who dominated the pop charts in the late 1950s and early ’60s with sobbing ballads like 'Who’s Sorry Now' and 'Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You,' as well as up-tempo soft-rock tunes like 'Stupid Cupid,' 'Lipstick on Your Collar,' and 'Vacation,' died on Wednesday. She was 87.”
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