The Conversation -- August 1, 2025
Marie: Reality Chex is broken again -- so Squarespace is gaslighting me again. Because this gaslight is remarkably like the last gaslight, I'm think maybe the "technician" who is corresponding with me is an AI-bot. I'm not kidding. At any rate, it takes me hundreds of attempts to access my editing facility. Yesterday I tried for four hours to access an earlier page and never succeeded. So I don't know if I'll be able to do any updates once I close this page.
The POTUS* is not just a tyrant; he is a predictably stupid tyrant: ~~~
⭐ ~~~ Andrew Ackerman of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Friday said he ordered the firing of Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, following the release of a dismal jobs report that showed lackluster employment growth for July but also revealed large downward revisions for hiring in May and June. Trump, who took to social media to announce McEntarfer’s ouster, criticized her as a President Joe Biden appointee overseeing what he called 'faked' or unreliable jobs numbers, promising she would be replaced with someone 'more competent and qualified.' Without evidence, he alleged the jobs numbers had been manipulated for political purposes. The firing came just hours after the BLS reported that the jobs market was far weaker than previously believed. Large cuts to earlier job counts erased 258,000 positions originally reported for May and June, marking the steepest two-month downward revision on record outside the pandemic. July figures were also below expectations, highlighting an economy struggling under new tariffs and tighter labor conditions.” The AP's report is here. MB: When the dictator shoots the messenger, can you trust the accuracy of the next message? Nope.
Steve Benen of MSNBC: “... with roughly two hours before the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics released the latest jobs data, Donald Trump published a rather furious missive to his social media platform, calling his own handpicked Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, 'a stubborn MORON.' The president went on to suggest the Fed’s board “should assume control” of the entire institution unless Powell agrees to 'substantially lower interest rates, NOW.'... It was, to be sure, a rather unhinged tantrum, but it was also a pretty big hint: Trump had seen the job numbers, and he wasn’t pleased. The public soon learned that the job totals were quite awful, and over the first seven months of the year, job growth in the United States slowed to a 16-year low (not including the totals from the pandemic in 2020). The president obviously had reason to be disappointed — he keeps telling people how 'hot' the economy is, and reality keeps getting in the way. [After ordering the firing of the commissioner of labor statistics]..., Trump, without a shred of evidence or shame, proceeded to claim that [Erika] McEntarfer had secretly conspired against him during the 2024 campaign — a bizarre claim, given that the job totals in the months leading up to Election Day really weren’t great — before flubbing basic facts about Labor Department reports that anyone in an Economics 101 course would recognize as absurd.... This ... [is] how despots rule.”
Zachary Leeman of Mediaite: “Bloomberg reported on Friday that ... Donald Trump was among those whose names were redacted from Epstein documents, citing multiple people familiar with the matter. Bloomberg’s Jason Leopold reported that an FBI Freedom of Information Act team conducted a final review of volumes of documents related to late billionaire Jeffrey Epstein. The team was reportedly tasked with redacting the name of Trump, a former friend of Epstein, and other 'prominent public figures.' The final review occurred before the release of a Department of Justice/FBI memo determining Epstein committed suicide and that further disclosure of files was not 'warranted,' setting off a MAGA firestorm.... The names of Trump and other prominent figures were redacted in accordance with FOIA exemptions.”
Ghislaine Goes to Camp. Perry Stein of the Washington Post: “Jeffrey Epstein’s imprisoned associate Ghislaine Maxwell has been moved from a detention facility in Florida to a lower-security prison in Texas, her attorney David Oscar Markus said Friday. Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 on sex trafficking charges, had been serving her 20-year sentence at a low security prison in Tallahassee. She has been transferred to a prison in Bryan, Texas, her attorney said. That facility has a minimum level of security and is known as federal prison camp.”
Paul Krugman: "Presidents do have considerable discretion in tariff-setting, but there are a limited number of allowed reasons for imposing temporary tariffs: To give a U.S. industry a breathing space against an import surge (Section 201[;] To preserve an industry essential to national security (Section 232)[;] Unfair foreign practices (Section 301 and anti-dumping duties)[.] Presidents can also claim additional powers during an economic emergency — but Trump keeps insisting that the U.S. economy is doing great, which presumably means that there is no emergency. Now, just about everything Trump has been doing on trade is illegal, but in the case of Brazil it’s completely blatant.... Do Trump and his advisors really think they can use tariffs to bully a nation of more than 200 million people into dropping its efforts to defend democracy, when it sells 88 percent of its exports to countries other than the United States?"
Bill Kristol has some thoughts on the One Big Hideous Ballroom.
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It's Trumpertantrum Tariff Day!
David Lynch & Rachel Lerman of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Thursday finalized his long-awaited and much-delayed 'reciprocal' tariffs in a move designed to rebalance a global trading system that he argues has been tilted against the world’s largest economy, the White House said. In a pair of executive orders, the president increased tariffs on merchandise from about 70 countries and raised the rate on products made in Canada, one of the United States’ largest trading partners, to a punitive 35 percent. Higher tariff rates were scheduled to kick in Friday, but now won’t take effect for another week to give Customs and Border Protection officials time to prepare. However, the new tariff rate on Canada will still take effect on Friday, the administration clarified late Thursday..” An AP story is here.
Lazaro Garnio, et al., of the New York Times: Donald “Trump unveiled an updated slate of sweeping tariffs on Thursday, targeting imports from dozens of U.S. trading partners, in a major escalation of a potentially damaging global trade war without parallel in modern history.” The article lists and -- in a series of interactive maps, -- tracks Trump's new tariffs in every country.
New York Times: “Hours before ... [Donald] Trump’s long-threatened tariffs on dozens of countries were set to take effect early Friday, the White House took the next step in its plan to remake global trade by releasing new rates for more than five dozen U.S. trade partners. The order set tariff rates, ranging from 10 to 41 percent, for 67 countries, Taiwan and the European Union. In an unexpected move, Mr. Trump said the tariffs will take effect at 12:01 a.m. on Aug. 7. He had established an Aug. 1 deadline months ago.... All countries not issued new tariff rates would be subject to a base line 10 percent rate, the order said. Thursday evening’s announcement served as the latest unpredictable move from the Trump administration as it seeks to follow through on a campaign promise to transform a global trading system long criticized by the president as unfair....
“The order also establishes a 40 percent tariff on anything that Customs and Border Protection determines has been ransshipped' to avoid higher duties on their country of origin. That provision is largely aimed at goods made in China that are shipped to another country and repackaged, or otherwise superficially changed. In a separate tranche of policies, the Trump administration and China this week agreed to work toward a continued cease-fire in their battles over trade.... Another separate order issued Thursday evening increased Canada’s tariff rate to 35 percent from 25 percent starting on Aug. 1. The White House statement said that Canada had 'retaliated' against the United States and 'failed to cooperate' in curbing the trade of fentanyl. The new taxes will not be charged on exports that meet the U.S., Canada, Mexico Free Trade Agreement’s definition of North American products.” At 2:00 am ET, this was the pinned item in Thursday's liveblog on Trumpertantrum tariffs.
Garrett Haake of NBC News: "... Donald Trump touted the expansive new tariffs on imports he imposed on global trading partners Thursday night, telling NBC News in a phone interview that it all was going 'very well, very smooth.'"
Kevin Breuninger & Dan Mangan of CNBC: "A federal appeals court appeared skeptical Thursday of arguments from a Justice Department lawyer defending ... Donald Trump’s global tariff regime. Trump has claimed he has the power to impose a vast array of new tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. His use of that statute — which does not mention the word tariffs — is the first time since it became law in 1977 that it has been invoked by a president to impose tariffs on imports from other countries. Plaintiffs in the case say the IEEPA contains no such tariff-setting authority for a president, and argue that Trump has usurped the power of Congress to set tariffs since he regained the White House in January. The arguments at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit were livestreamed on the court’s Youtube page.... The last court to hear the case, the U.S. Court of International Trade, struck down both Trump’s 'reciprocal' and 'trafficking'-related tariffs in late May. But the Federal Circuit Appeals Court quickly paused that decision, keeping Trump’s tariffs in effect while the legal challenge plays out." (Also linked yesterday.) Politico's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yet another reminder that the Trumpertantrum tariffs are both unconstitutional -- the Constitution give Congress, not presidential* whims, the authority to set tariffs/taxes -- and unlawful -- there are no laws to authorize the president's capricious taxes on U.S. companies and consumers. Note, too, that Trump has never relied on the IEEPA to set the tariffs. The penguins & polar bears living on tiny islands have not created a "national security emergency." Neither is Canada's recognition of a Palestinian state nor Brazil's trial of it's former president a national emergency for the U.S.
I’m good at building things, and we’ll get it built quickly and on time. It’ll be beautiful — top of the line. -- Donald Trump
"Top of the line"? In trying to sell his ballroom plan, Trump uses the language a used-car salesman. And what line? Is there a "line" of ballrooms? I don't think so. As for his being "good at building things," I don't think Trump has built much in decades. Most of "his buildings" are just Trump-branded structures somebody else built. -- Marie ~~~
~~~ Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: “First came the gold décor in the Oval Office. Then ... [Donald] Trump brought his Mar-a-Lago style to the Rose Garden before installing a new flagpole in front of the White House. Now, Mr. Trump is unveiling plans to fulfill a long-held desire to add a state ballroom off the East Wing, a $200 million, 90,000 square-foot project that would be one of the largest renovations to the historic building in decades. The project poses myriad questions about potential conflicts of interest and the feasibility of such an undertaking, which Mr. Trump expects to be completed before he leaves office. White House officials said the president and other donors would pay for the renovations but declined to give details.... According to images released by the White House, the administration is envisioning a ballroom that would appear to resemble one of the rooms in Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s Florida residence and resort. One image showed a ballroom lined with golden chandeliers and golden chairs....” An ABC News report is here. ~~~
~~~ Also, take a look at Forrest M.'s comment below. I do think his math is correct.
Erik Vance of the New York Times: “[Thursday]..., [Donald] Trump signed an executive order to reinstate the Presidential Fitness Test in public schools. The move is part of the administration’s goal to “restore urgency in improving the health of all Americans,” according to a statement released by the White House. The test, which was introduced in 1966, has taken several forms over the years. The most recent version included a one-mile run, modified sit-ups, a 30-foot shuttle run, the sit-and-reach flexibility test and a choice between push-ups and pull-ups.... The Trump administration has yet to announce which exercises will be included in the new test.” MB: I'm pretty sure the exercises will be (1) climbing a flight of stairs while falling only once; (2) pretending to dance while not moving your feet off the floor; (3) driving a golf cart (on the green).
~~~ All of Which Makes a Distraction from This! ~~~
Sarah Fitzpatrick of the Atlantic: “When Donald Trump told reporters yesterday that Jeffrey Epstein 'stole' a young woman named Virginia Roberts Giuffre from Mar-a-Lago, her surviving siblings were shocked — not just because the president had described their late sister as he would an object, but because his comment raised the possibility that Trump might know more about his onetime friend’s behavior than he has previously acknowledged. 'It makes us ask if he was aware of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s criminal actions, especially given his statement two years later that his good friend Jeffrey “likes women on the younger side … no doubt about it,’” Giuffre’s two brothers and her sisters-in-law told The Atlantic in an exclusive statement, their first public response to the president. 'We and the public are asking for answers; survivors deserve this.'” Thank you to laura h. for this gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update. Alan Feuer & Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: “The family of Virginia Giuffre, a woman who accused Jeffrey Epstein of sexually abusing her as a teenager, released a statement on Wednesday night expressing outrage about ... [Donald] Trump’s recent remarks about her, in which he confirmed an account that Mr. Epstein had hired her away from her job in the spa at Mar-a-Lago.... Ms. Giuffre has long maintained that Ghislaine Maxwell, Mr. Epstein’s longtime associate, met her at the club and recruited her to serve as a masseuse for Mr. Epstein, but Mr. Trump’s comments on Air Force One appeared to be the first time he had personally confirmed her story.... Ms. Giuffre’s family criticized the meeting [between Deputy AG Todd Blanche & Ms. Maxwell], warning that Ms. Maxwell has a long history of lying about the case.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ & The family of a key survivor of Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse urged ... Donald Trump on Wednesday not to consider clemency for the late financier's co-conspirator and confidant, Ghislaine Maxwell. The family of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, a sexual abuse advocate who died by suicide in April, made their plea to Trump in a public statement after he told reporters that Epstein, a convicted sex offender, 'stole' Giuffre from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, where she worked as a locker-room attendant at age 16 during the summer of 2000." (Also linked yesterday.)
Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "... Jeffrey Epstein used a meeting [in 1994] with ... Donald Trump to groom one of his 14-year-old victims, The Daily Beast reported on Thursday.... Epstein ... introduced 'Jane' to Trump, with whom he was friends at the time, she said.... [According to the Beast,] 'A 2020 civil suit that Jane would later file against the Epstein estate and its executors would later allege, "Introducing 14-year-old [Jane] to Donald J. Trump, Epstein elbowed Trump playfully asking him, referring to [Jane], ‘This is a good one, right?’ Trump smiled and nodded in agreement. They both chuckled and [Jane} felt uncomfortable, but, at the time, was too young to understand why."'"
Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times is wondering if Donald Trump's popularity will go the way [George W. Bush's] did among "South Park Republicans": "By the time [Dubya's] presidency limped to its end amid economic ruin, he was widely seen as an embarrassment, and he turned many young people against the Republican Party permanently."
Eli Stokols, et al., of Politico: “More than a dozen high ranking officials across the [Trump] administration have been forced to leave their jobs or had their nominations or promotions derailed in the first six months of Trump’s return to Washington. Nearly all of the ousters have come after individuals were targeted by outside allies who convinced the president that they weren’t sufficiently loyal. And in many of those cases, the axe came down after officials found themselves in the crosshairs of right-wing activist Laura Loomer. In an interview with Politico, Loomer said she is now fielding tips from administration officials about colleagues they want exiled amid what she called 'a serious vetting crisis,' predicting there are 'hundreds' more she expects to purge.”
Smithsonian Erases Trump's Impeachments -- for Now. Graham Bowley of the New York Times: “The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History this month removed a label referring to ... [Donald] Trump’s two impeachments, a move museum officials said was part of a review of the institution’s content for bias. The temporary label was added in 2021 to an exhibition about the American presidency. The label also included information about the impeachments of former Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, as well as about former President Richard M. Nixon, who faced possible impeachment before resigning from office.... The removal of the label, which was reported earlier by The Washington Post, came after the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents, which governs the institution, recently committed to reviewing its content under pressure from the Trump administration.... The museum removed the temporary label until a fuller update could be undertaken, the Smithsonian said.... References to Mr. Trump’s two impeachments would be included in the exhibit at the time of the fuller update..., [a spokesperson] said.... 'A future and updated exhibit will include all impeachments,' she said.” A Raw Story report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: It does kinda look like it's going to take at least 1,268 days to get around to updating the permanent label; the spokesperson said it would take a “significant amount of time and funding to update and renew.”
Theodore Schleifer of the New York Times: Donald “Trump’s super PAC is sitting on about $200 million that it can spend against his rivals, giving a term-limited president a never-before-seen amount of power in his party’s finances and future. In the first half of 2025, Mr. Trump’s group, MAGA Inc., collected about $177 million from the likes of Elon Musk, Mr. Trump’s erstwhile ally, the TikTok investor Jeffrey Yass and the Silicon Valley executives Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen, according to a filing on Thursday with the Federal Election Commission. Mr. Trump has been able to capitalize on a thirst from corporate America to get into his good graces. He held a half-dozen fund-raisers for his super PAC this year with tickets costing seven figures a seat. At the dinners, often held at one of Mr. Trump’s properties, executives and lobbyists had the chance to tell the president about their businesses. The super PAC’s exact cash on hand is $196.1 million, according to the filing.”
Joyce Vance: “On Monday, DOJ filed a complaint accusing Judge [Robert] Boasberg [the chief judge of the D.C. Circuit --] of 'making improper public comments about President Trump and his Administration.' CBS News was told by sources that [AG Pam] Bondi directed her chief of staff, Chad Mizelle, to file the complaint with the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Sri Srinivasan.... For one thing, the Judge’s comments weren’t made in public, which is the predicate for DOJ’s entire complaint.... There are more technical flaws in the legal arguments DOJ makes.... But what it adds up to is wholly inadequate to merit further consideration by the court and certainly not something that rises to the level of warranting judicial sanctions. The fault here lies with DOJ and its slippery practices. The Attorney General announced that the Justice Department’s complaint in a Tweet, which is a whole next level of inappropriate.... The presidency, one of the most powerful parties imaginable in any litigation, should not be permitted to use its disagreements with an individual judge to ambush him or to launch an attack on the entire institution.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “A legal watchdog group accused three Justice Department lawyers of professional misconduct on Thursday, saying they had made false statements to a federal judge in a high-profile case challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The accusations by the group, the Legal Accountability Center, were formally filed with the grievance committees of bar associations in Washington and other cities where the lawyers lived or practiced. The move represented a rare attempt to seek professional sanctions against rank-and-file department lawyers who have appeared in court on behalf of the federal government....” (Also linked yesterday.)
Marie: I don't think the following was a mistake. This looks very much like “accidentally on purpose”: ~~~
~~~ Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: “The Justice Department’s internal watchdog lost a crucial account from a whistle-blower detailing wrongdoing by political appointees for more than two months.... The complaint, submitted in early May, accused top Justice Department officials like Emil Bove III of overseeing an effort to mislead judges and skirt or ignore court orders.... That the office received, but did not act upon, a potentially explosive set of allegations two weeks before news of Mr. Bove’s nomination to become a federal appeals court judge has raised serious concerns from current and former department lawyers that the unit responsible for policing not just the department but agencies like the F.B.I. and D.E.A. may have gone largely dormant.... Last Friday, when the whistle-blower group went public about the filing’s existence, the inspector general’s office told lawmakers that it had no such complaint.... The office only found the documents after lawyers for the whistle-blower presented electronic and FedEx delivery receipts for them.... Republicans have cast skepticism on another Justice Department whistle-blower, Erez Reuveni, describing his account as part of a politically timed effort by Democrats to scuttle a Trump nomination. That someone appears to have come forward about Mr. Bove’s conduct well before his nomination was known would undercut those claims. The complaint, according to people familiar with it, outlines a set of allegations that largely tracks with Mr. Reuveni’s account.” The link appears to be a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Barrett provides some evidence that the office has been goofing off since last year. MB: In my mind, the entire slow-down all may be purposeful.
Zach Montague of the New York Times: “A federal judge blocked the Trump administration on Thursday from ending deportation protections for more than 60,000 migrants from Nepal, Honduras and Nicaragua, writing in a withering order that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had perpetuated xenophobic stereotypes and racist conspiracy theories in her drive to suspend their legal status. The administration’s actions have amounted to asking migrants 'to atone for their race, leave because of their names and purify their blood,' Judge Trina L. Thompson of the Northern District of California wrote. 'The court disagrees.'... 'By stereotyping the T.P.S. program and immigrants as invaders that are criminal, and by highlighting the need for migration management, Secretary Noem’s statements perpetuate the discriminatory belief that certain immigrant populations will replace the white population,' she wrote.”
“Not a Good Look.” Pooja Salhotra of the New York Times: “After nearly two months in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, Paola Clouatre, 25, secured her release from a Louisiana detention center this week following an intervention from an unlikely source: [Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.)] who has allied himself with ... [Donald] Trump].... Ms. Clouatre, a Mexican citizen, had been detained by ICE agents on May 27 while she was at a routine appointment in New Orleans related to her application for a green card and permanent resident status.... Ms. Clouatre is married to Adrian Clouatre, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran with whom she has two young children.... Her lawyer, Carey Holliday..., said, 'This is someone who honorably served his country, was honorably discharged, and now the government wants to take his wife away. It’s not a good look.'” (Also linked yesterday.)
Fiction Beats Science in Official Trumpity Energy Report. Maxine Joselow & Brad Plumer of the New York Times: “Sea level rise is not accelerating. More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will be good for plant growth. The computer models used to predict global warming tend to exaggerate future temperature increases. These arguments, routinely made by people who reject the scientific consensus on climate change, were included in an unusual report released by the Energy Department on Tuesday. The report, which is meant to support the Trump administration’s sweeping efforts to roll back climate regulations, contends that the mainstream scientific view on climate change is too dire and overlooks the positive effects of a warming planet. Climate scientists said the 151-page report misrepresented or cherry-picked a large body of research on global warming. Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist at Berkeley Earth and the payments company Stripe, called the document a 'scattershot collection of oft-debunked skeptic claims' that 'are not representative of broader climate science research findings.'” MB: If God didn't want you to choke to death, he would not have let the dinosaurs turn into fossil fuel, nor would he have invented the internal combustion engine. (Also linked yesterday.)
Charlie Savage & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: “The Trump-era special counsel [John Durham] who scoured the Russia investigation for wrongdoing gathered evidence that undermines a theory pushed by some Republicans that Hillary Clinton’s campaign conspired to frame Donald J. Trump for colluding with Moscow in the 2016 election, information declassified on Thursday shows. The information, a 29-page annex to the special counsel’s 2023 report, reveals that a foundational document for that theory was most likely stitched together by Russian spies. The document is a purported email from July 27, 2016, that said Mrs. Clinton had approved a campaign proposal to tie Mr. Trump to Russia to distract from the scandal over her use of a private email server.... [The annex] shows how ... [Mr.] Durham, went to great lengths to try to prove that several of the emails were real, only to ultimately conclude otherwise....
“John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, said in a statement that the materials proved that suspicions of Russian collusion stemmed from 'a coordinated plan to prevent and destroy Donald Trump’s presidency.' And Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, who has a long history of pushing false claims about the Russia investigation, declared on social media that the annex revealed 'evidence that the Clinton campaign plotted to frame President Trump and fabricate the Russia collusion hoax.' In reality, the annex shows the opposite, indicating that a key piece of supposed evidence for the claim that Mrs. Clinton approved a plan to tie Mr. Trump to Russia is not credible....”
~~~ Marie: This is a good demonstration that facts cannot beat right-wing conspiracy theories. They push an unsubstantiated storyline, the storyline gets disproved, they say the proof against it is the proof of it.” ~~~
~~~ If you want to get into the nitty-gritty, Marcy Wheeler is on it. Of course. She's a bit more equivocal than Savage & Goldman, but she still concludes that the "foundational document for that theory was most likely stitched together by Russian spies"; that is, it's a "composite," as Wheeler puts it.
Ian Duncan, et al., of the Washington Post: “An air traffic controller should have alerted the crew of a passenger jet that an Army helicopter was speeding toward their aircraft on Jan. 29, a Federal Aviation Administration official affirmed in testimony Thursday, the agency’s first acknowledgment of a possible error in the Reagan National Airport control tower immediately before the fatal collision. The focus on the lapse emerged on the second day of a National Transportation Safety Board hearing that is delving into the causes of the midair crash, which killed 67 people. The hearing featured testimony about a high number of takeoffs and landings at the airport, combined with heavy helicopter traffic, that led to air traffic controllers “pushing the line” on safety, in the words of a tower manager.”
Yan Zhuang of the New York Times: “Twenty-five people aboard a Delta Air Lines flight were hospitalized on Wednesday evening after the plane, which was flying from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam, experienced strong turbulence that forced it to make an emergency landing in Minnesota. Flight DL56 was diverted to Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport after experiencing 'significant turbulence,' Delta said in a statement. It was carrying 275 passengers and 13 crew members and was met by medical personnel upon landing, the airline said.”
Corrupt Collaborators. GOP Senators Vote to Give Trump Plane That Will Cost Taxpayers $1BB. Aris Folley of the Hill: “Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday rejected what they described as a 'poison pill' amendment that Democrats say is intended to block ... [Donald] Trump from taking the Qatari luxury jet that the Pentagon intends to use as Air Force One with him after his presidency. The committee voted 15-14 against adopting the amendment during consideration of the annual defense funding bill.... During the markup session, [Sen. Chris] Murphy [D-Conn.] cited recent reporting about the potential costs of upgrading the Boeing 747-8, which was previously used by the Qatari royal family. 'This is an extraordinary amount of money to be used on a plane retrofit that will likely only be in service for a short period of time. Well [While??], the administration has essentially refused to brief us on the full cost,' he said. 'Reports are that this number could be easily $1 billion.'”
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh said on Thursday that the Supreme Court should be wary of providing detailed explanations for its rulings on emergency applications like those arising from challenges to the Trump administration’s efforts to transform the federal government. 'There can be a risk, in writing the opinion, of a lock-in effect, of making a snap judgment and putting it in writing, in a written opinion that’s not going to reflect the final view,' he said. The justice made the remarks at the judicial conference of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, held this year in Kansas City, Mo. In a similar appearance last week at the Ninth Circuit’s judicial conference, Justice Elena Kagan, who has often dissented from the court’s emergency rulings in favor of ... [Donald] Trump, made the opposite case, saying the majority should do more to explain its reasoning[:] 'I think that we should hold ourselves, sort of on both sides, to a standard of explaining why we’re doing what we’re doing.'” The link appears to be a gift link. ~~~
~~~ RAS, who linked this story yesterday, appreciates how hard it is to think up phony excuses for conferring upon Trump the divine right of kings: "Supreme Court Justice says court shouldn't justify their decisions because people might think they apply to others than just Trump and Republicans. Writing justifications for illegal shit is tough and people keep pointing out their ridiculous and pathetic rationales." Following RAS, Akhilleus seemed somewhat uncaring about O'Kavanaugh's tribulations. To be clear, the real dilemma facing O'Kavanaugh & his co-conspirators is that if they provided rationales for giving Trump unlimited power, these same justices will look hypocritical and partisan and, well, unjust, when they deny a future (Democratic) president similar extra-Constitutional prerogatives. What O'Kavanaugh did here, unwittingly, was let the cat out of the bag. The secret shadow docket is a means to an end -- and the end is bowing to Trump.
Derek Hawkins of the Washington Post: “In rare public remarks, a panel of U.S. district judges on Thursday offered firsthand accounts of the threats and harassment they said they and other jurists have faced since ... Donald Trump returned to office and started heaping criticism on the nation’s court system. Speaking in a forum organized by the nonpartisan judicial advocacy group Speak Up for Justice, the judges said attacks on the judiciary have reached levels they had not seen in decades-long careers in public service. They called for a coordinated response from officials across government to end the intimidation, saying it was eroding the rule of law and jeopardizing the safety of judges and their families. 'It’s just been stunning to me how much damage has been done to the reputation of our judiciary because some political actors think that they can gain some advantage by attacking the independence of the judiciary,' said Judge John Coughenour, who was targeted with [a] swatting attack.”
Ben Kamisar & Bridget Bowman of NBC News: Elon "Musk made a pair of $5 million donations on June 27 to the main super PACs backing House and Senate Republicans. That made Musk the largest individual donor to both groups in the first six months of 2025, according to new campaign finance reports filed Thursday. He also sent $5 million on the same day to MAGA Inc., Trump's super PAC. The new contributions are further proof of how Musk can make a big splash in politics by putting his signature on just one check. And they raise the question of how much more there might be before the midterm.... Meanwhile, other new campaign finance reports show Musk pumped $45.3 million into his own super PAC in the first six months of this year."
Whiney Baby Dershowitz Really Wanted a Pieróg. Michael Luciano of Mediaite: “Alan Dershowitz said he is suing a Martha’s Vineyard food vendor who refused to serve the former Harvard Law professor pierogi because of his politics. Dershowitz, a former Democrat who represented ... Donald Trump in the first impeachment trial, has frequently lamented his pariah status on Martha’s Vineyard, the posh vacation spot for the wealthy and often liberal. On Wednesday, Dershowitz posted on X and said he is suing the 'bigoted vendor.'” (Also linked yesterday.) Here's more -- and it's kinda fun -- somebody at the market called the cops on Dersh for creating a disturbance -- from Sam Houghton of the Martha's Vineyard Times.
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Texas. David Goodman & Danny Hakim of the New York Times: “The emergency management coordinator of Kerr County, which bore the brunt of the deadly July 4 floods in the Texas Hill Country, testified on Thursday that he was sick and asleep when the floodwaters rose in the middle of the night, eventually killing 108 people in the county. The admission by the official, William B. Thomas IV, came at the start of an extraordinary hearing held by state lawmakers in a packed convention center in city of Kerrville, a short walk from the banks of the Guadalupe River, which surged to record levels in the predawn darkness of July 4.... Mr. Thomas had not spoken publicly since the flood, as questions were raised about his whereabouts and why neither he nor anyone else in the county had issued more warnings about the rapidly worsening situation along the river.... Mr. Thomas said his supervisors were aware that he was off that day.... Mr. Thomas oversees the area’s preparations and response to fires, floods and other natural disasters along with the county’s judge, Rob Kelly, who is the top ranking official in Kerr County.... The judge was away at a second home in Lake Travis, she said, the sheriff didn’t wake up until 4:20 a.m., and the emergency management coordinator was sick.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Molly Hennessy-Fiske of the Washington Post: “Three of the county’s top officials, including Judge Robert Kelly, were grilled by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) and other lawmakers who accused them of failing to react adequately to the historic event — by not, among other crucial steps, immediately setting up a unified command.”
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El Salvador. President-for-Life. Teo Armus of the Washington Post: “Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele could stay in office indefinitely after his allies in the legislature changed the country’s constitution Thursday night to allow a president to serve an unlimited number of terms. Bukele, who dubbed himself 'the world’s coolest dictator,' has in recent months pushed the Central American nation further into autocracy as he has aggressively consolidated power, including through a judicial ruling that allowed him to seek reelection in 2024. Advocates and watchdogs decried Thursday’s vote and subsequent ratification as the loudest alarm yet that he is setting himself up to rule the country far beyond the end of his current term, and said the move reverses one of the few checks left on power in El Salvador.” The AP story is here.
⭐Israel/Palestine, et al. Farnaz Fassihi & Ephrat Livni of the New York Times: “The world’s Arab countries for the first time have joined unanimously in the call for Hamas to lay down its weapons, release all hostages and end its rule of the Gaza Strip, conditions that they said could help the establishment of a Palestinian state. The surprise declaration, endorsed on Tuesday by the 22 member nations of the Arab League, also condemned Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, which set off the devastating war in Gaza. The statement came at a United Nations conference in New York on a two-state solution to end the decades-long conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.... The declaration ... was also signed by all 27 European Union states and 17 other countries. The declaration called for the deployment of 'a temporary international stabilization mission,' invited by the Palestinian Authority, which administers part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and 'under the aegis of the United Nations.'” ~~~
~~~ Gerry Shih of the Washington Post: “Even though Israel — under mounting international pressure — on Saturday announced looser restrictions on food entering Gaza, looting, shootings and bureaucratic impediments continue to plague aid delivery efforts almost daily. And despite Israeli promises that it would create secure corridors for aid deliveries this week, U.N. officials say the operational realities on the ground remain unchanged. The result, according to humanitarian officials, is that conditions for vulnerable residents who live inside Gaza remain dire — with little of the aid being sent in ever reaching those who need it most, while injuries and deaths are rising during attempts by the United Nations to distribute food — because Israeli troops open fire to keep swelling crowds away from the convoys and from Israeli checkpoints. The Gaza Health Ministry has recorded at least at least 209 deaths among people out seeking aid since Saturday, when Israel announced it would allow more food deliveries into the enclave, in part, Israeli officials said, 'to refute the false claim of deliberate starvation in the Gaza Strip.'” ~~~
~~~ Adam Taylor & Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration on Thursday said it will send senior U.S. officials into war-ravaged Gaza to inspect food distribution sites and develop a plan to ensure more aid gets to civilians amid growing international anger over mass starvation there. Special envoy Steve Witkoff and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee will travel inside the Palestinian enclave Friday to hear 'firsthand about this dire situation,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.... Until recent days, Trump has rarely addressed the Gaza situation in terms of a humanitarian crisis or indicated he has pressured Israel to allow more aid to flow.... The shift has come as the U.S. and Israel face increasing international isolation and a widening backlash at home. Some Republican lawmakers have broken with the Trump administration on Gaza, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) calling Israel’s actions a 'genocide' this week.” ~~~
~~~ Katie Glueck & Lisa Lerer of the New York Times: “In recent days, amid mounting scenes of starvation and devastation in Gaza..., the longtime bipartisan consensus in support for Israel is, at least for the moment, in tatters.... Support for Israel’s military action in Gaza has plunged into the single digits among Democrats. Across the country, local Democratic officials are pushing for embargoes on military and financial support of Israel.... On Wednesday night, a majority of the Senate Democratic caucus, including more moderate lawmakers, voted for a resolution calling to block the export of automatic assault rifles for use by the Israel National Police, which is overseen by Itamar Ben-Gvir, perhaps the most extreme right-wing member of the government. A slightly smaller group voted for a measure urging the blocking of the sale of some bombs. The measures failed, but they amounted to an extraordinary rebuke of the Netanyahu government and its handling of the escalating humanitarian disaster in Gaza.”
News Ledes
CNBC: “Nonfarm payroll growth was slower than expected in July and the unemployment rate ticked higher, raising potential trouble signs for the U.S. labor market. Job growth totaled 73,000 for the month, above the June total of 14,000 but below even the meager Dow Jones estimate for a gain of 100,000. June and May totals were revised sharply lower, down by a combined 258,000 from previously announced levels. At the same time, the unemployment rate rose to 4.2%, in line with the forecast.”
New York Times: “Known to many as Mary K..., Dr. Gaillard, who died on May 23 at 86, was the first woman hired by the physics department at the University of California, Berkeley, and later became a senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. But much of her groundbreaking work occurred earlier, during a long stint as an unpaid visiting scientist at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, a laboratory on the Franco-Swiss border.”
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