The Conversation -- August 10, 2025

RAS & Brian Tyler Cohen notice JayDee spends an awful lot of time on vacation. Cohen forgot to mention the four-day trip to India, including a stop at the Taj Mahal. And now they're off to Scotland. They're currently vacationing at a luxurious property in the Cotswolds. The Cotswolds have an extensive system of lovely canals, which of course operate through systems of locks. I hate to think what JayDee will do to wreak havoc upon the water levels throughout.

Marie: I have special schadenfreude schoes which I wear when I do my special schadenfreude dance. Today I'm doing the Lebanese version, which works as a robust line dance: ~~~

~~~ Ramon Vargas of the Guardian: “The owner of a Donald Trump-themed hamburger restaurant chain in Texas is facing deportation after immigration authorities under the command of the president detained him. Roland Mehrez Beainy, 28, entered the US as 'a non-immigrant visitor' from Lebanon in 2019 and was supposed to have left the country by 12 February 2024, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) spokesperson told the Guardian. Citing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Texas’s Fayette County Record newspaper reported that Beainy applied for legal status after purportedly wedding a woman – but the agency maintained there is no proof he ever lived with her during the alleged marriage.... In remarks to the Houston Chronicle, Beainy denied Ice’s charges against him, saying: 'Ninety percent of the shit they’re saying is not true.' He is tentatively scheduled for a hearing in immigration court on 18 November. Trump Burger gained national attention after Beainy opened the original location in Bellville, Texas, in 2020.... Replete with memorabilia paying reverence to Trump as well as politically satirical menu items targeting his enemies, Beainy’s chain expanded to other locations, including Houston.” Thanks to RAS for the lead. ~~~

     ~~~ There a photo of the chain's hamburger bun and fries. They both look quite awful.

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The lead article of today's New York Times, labeled an “analysis,” makes clear that Putin is playing Trump. I'd say it's mighty rare that the paper of record lets on that the POTUS* is one dumb oaf, who along with his envoy Steve Witkoff, has no idea what Putin's game is: ~~~

~~~ Paul Sonne of the New York Times: “For President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia..., after almost losing [control of] Donald Trump..., [the Alaska summit] is an opportunity not just to end the Ukraine war on his terms but to split apart the Western security alliance.” The link is a gift link. ~~~

~~~ Francesca Ebel & Catherine Belton of the Washington Post: “Russian officials and commentators crowed about landing a summit between President Vladimir Putin and ... Donald Trump on Friday in Alaska, the first time the Russian leader has been invited to the United States outside the United Nations since 2007 — and apparently without the Kremlin having made any clear concessions over its war in Ukraine.... Sam Greene, professor in Russian politics at King’s College London, said the venue favored Russia. 'The symbolism of holding the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska is horrendous — as though designed to demonstrate that borders can change, land can be bought and sold,' Greene said. 'Never mind that mainstream Russian discourse maintains a claim that Alaska should be returned to Russia.'” ~~~

~~~ Meanwhile, Europeans are backing Ukraine: ~~~

~~~ Samya Kulab of the AP: “European nations rallied behind Ukraine, saying peace in the war-torn nation can’t be resolved without Kyiv, ahead of a planned meeting between ... Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.... Saturday’s statement, signed by the president of the European Union and leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Finland and the UK, stressed the need for a 'just and lasting peace' for Kyiv, including 'robust and credible' security guarantees.... A White House official ... told The Associated Press that Trump remained open to a trilateral summit with both the Russian and Ukrainian leaders, but for now, he will have a bilateral meeting requested by Putin.... Trump had earlier said he would meet with Putin even if the Russian leader would not meet with [Ukraine President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy.” ~~~

~~~ AND they are trying to explain the stakes of the Trump-Putin meeting to JayDee & Witkoff, evidently in hopes they will try to get through to Trump. Perhaps the Europeans don't fully appreciate how thick the American trio is. ~~~

~~~ Steven Erlanger of the New York Times: “Worried about being sidelined at an upcoming summit meeting between ... [Donald] Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, European and Ukrainian leaders gathered on Saturday outside London with top American officials both to understand Mr. Putin’s position and to ensure that Mr. Trump understands what is at stake.... The Europeans, as they have done regularly, supported Ukraine’s positions, insisting that a cease-fire must precede talks on any territorial changes, that Ukraine will not hand over territory to Russia that Moscow does not occupy and that any deal would have to be accompanied by security guarantees, including from the United States, the European officials said. They also insisted that no deal can be made by Washington and Moscow over the heads of the Ukrainians or the Europeans, who Mr. Trump says must be responsible for the post-settlement security of Ukraine. And they insisted, as they have always done, that NATO will not shut the door to Ukrainian membership, even if that is not practical now.” A related AP story is here. ~~~

~~~ Nick Paton Walsh of CNN: “The conditions around Friday’s summit so wildly favor Moscow, it is obvious why Putin leapt at the chance, after months of fake negotiation, and it is hard to see how a deal emerges from the bilateral that does not eviscerate Ukraine. Kyiv and its European allies have reacted with understandable horror at the early ideas of Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, that Ukraine cede the remainders of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in exchange for a ceasefire. Naturally, the Kremlin head has promoted the idea of taking ground without a fight, and found a willing recipient in the form of Witkoff, who has in the past exhibited a relaxed grasp of Ukrainian sovereignty and the complexity of asking a country, in the fourth year of its invasion, to simply walk out of towns it’s lost thousands of men defending.... [The Alaska meeting] resembles slow defeat for Kyiv.”

Max Boot of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump’s unhealthy obsession with winning the Nobel Peace Prize has driven him to make a series of rash decisions in pursuit of ending the war in Ukraine. The latest example is the scheduling of a premature summit with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in Alaska — an object lesson in how not to do diplomacy.... Eschewing his more realistic recent assessments of Putin’s perfidy, Trump was back to claiming [last week] that 'President Putin I believe wants to see peace.'... This turnaround appears to have been a product of the U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff’s meeting with Putin on Wednesday, where Putin reportedly proposed that Kyiv give up all of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces in eastern Ukraine in return for a ceasefire.... A final end to the war would supposedly be negotiated later. In the real world, the odds of that happening are remote.... Putin is simply trying to achieve at the negotiating table what his troops have not been able to achieve on the ground.

“If Trump was to agree to Putin’s terms, it would be a reprise of the 1938 Munich Agreement in which British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain handed over to Adolf Hitler the Sudetenland — a region of what was then Czechoslovakia that was heavily fortified and defended — without consulting the Czechs. In return, Chamberlain received nothing but empty promises of 'peace for our time.' 'You were given the choice between war and dishonor,'  Winston Churchill said at the time. 'You chose dishonor and you will have war.'” Boot says that the reason there won't be “another Munich” is that the Ukrainians are not having it. 

Jared Bernstein & Ryan Cummings in a New York Times op-ed: “... recently, a telling series of hard economic data rolled in that has rightfully raised alarm bells about slowing growth and increased inflation — a dreaded economic combination known as stagflation. Mr. Trump’s tariffs are now clearly fueling inflation, particularly in goods such as home appliances, cars and food.... Whether it’s historically high tariffs that never quite seem to stabilize, deportations that threaten to seriously disrupt labor supply in sectors like construction and health services, or a reverse-Robin Hood, budget-busting bill that takes money away from those most likely to spend it, Mr. Trump’s policies have pushed economic uncertainty to levels last seen during the onset of the pandemic. This uncertainty has damped investment, hiring and consumption, while the tariffs increase prices. In other words: stagflation.” Unlike today's situation, wherein Trump is causing inflation & stagnation and the Fed is paying attention, the infamous stagflation of the 1970s “was caused ... by 'exogenous shocks,' meaning big, unexpected disruptions originating from events outside the country and exacerbated by the inaction of the Federal Reserve to offset them.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Gosh, it's a shame the Times drove Krugman away, because he's been saying this for quite awhile.

About that Ballroom. Jonathan Edwards of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump is rushing to break ground next month on a giant White House ballroom, but has not yet submitted the project for a review that experts said is required by law and often takes years to complete[.] A security fence and a tennis pavilion — neither of which involved the White House itself — each took at least two years to move through the National Capital Planning Commission, which vets construction of and renovation to the region’s federal buildings.... A review of any exterior construction project at the White House is required by federal law.... Large projects undergo a rigorous, four-step review..., ending with a presentation at a public commission meeting. At each stage, commission staff and commissioners give feedback on details ranging from aesthetics to environmental impacts.... On Tuesday, the American Institute of Architects, citing the organization’s role as 'perpetual guardian of the White House’s architectural integrity,' urged officials to take the project through a more rigorous review process.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Uh, excuse me. What about those giant flagpole and the new Rose Garden parking lot? And now Trump is suddenly going to obey federal law? Ha!

Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: “... Donald Trump’s shocking take on a teenage rape victim has gone viral amid the summer-long uproar over sex criminal-turned-mystery corpse Jeffrey Epstein. Amid the heightened scrutiny of Trump’s past, a flood of unearthed recordings and quotes are being given new life and significance as critics try to paint the president as a longtime sex creep. This week, it was a stunning clip of Trump defending boxer Mike Tyson following his rape conviction during which he repeatedly suggested the victim bore some responsibility for enticing the attack by 'dancing.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I think this is the clip: ~~~

News About All the Best People

(1) Marie: Hmm. Maybe Billy Long -- the short-time IRS Commissioner -- got fired last week not because he was a serial screwer-upper but because he has a streak of decency. ~~~ 

~~~ Jacob Bogage & Kadia Goba of the Washington Post: “The Internal Revenue Service clashed with the White House over using tax data to help locate suspected undocumented immigrants hours before Trump administration officials forced IRS Commissioner Billy Long from his post Friday.... The Department of Homeland Security sent the IRS a list Thursday of 40,000 names of people DHS officials thought were in the country illegally and asked the IRS to use confidential taxpayer data to verify their addresses.... The Treasury Department, the parent agency of the IRS, and DHS agreed to an arrangement in April to facilitate such data sharing — over the objections of the tax service’s privacy lawyers.... On Friday, though, the IRS responded that it was able to verify fewer than 3 percent of the names immigration enforcement officials submitted.... White House officials ... [wanted to know] if any of them had claimed the earned income tax credit.... The IRS declined to provide that information, citing taxpayer privacy rights. Long had previously told agency executives that his agency would not furnish confidential taxpayer information outside of the confines of the IRS’s agreement with DHS.” A derivative Guardian story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ As Scott Lemieux puts it in LG&$: "Complying with the law is a fireable offense in the Trump administration."

(2) Christina Jewett of the New York Times: “Dr. Vinay Prasad, who led the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccines and gene therapy division before resigning under pressure two weeks ago, is returning to the agency, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesman confirmed Saturday. Dr. Prasad left the F.D.A. in late July after being targeted by the right-wing activist Laura Loomer and others who criticized his decisions regarding certain medications and pointed out critical comments he had made about ... [Donald] Trump before joining the administration. A series of editorials published in the weeks leading up to Dr. Prasad’s resignation also appeared to have contributed to the pressure on him. Those editorials found fault with his decisions to deny drug approvals and to demand a pause on a medication linked to several patient deaths.

“Dr. Prasad’s return was an unusual instance of a federal official being allowed to rejoin the administration after being targeted by Ms. Loomer for being insufficiently loyal to the president. His rehiring also suggests that the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the F.D.A. commissioner, Dr. Marty Makary, [retain some clout] ... in the Trump administration.... In a post on X Saturday, Ms. Loomer called Dr. Prasad’s return 'another egregious personnel decision,' describing him as a 'Marxist.' She also pledged to ramp up her campaign against other health officials she deemed 'rabid Trump haters.'” A Politico story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: You should not, of course, consider this a victory of reason over Loomer: “... Mr. Kennedy told an associate he wanted Dr. Prasad at the F.D.A. in part because of his approach to vaccines....” It's more along the lines of "Which lunatic has Trump's ear today?”

(3) It seems Personnel Director Loomer is at it again: ~~~

~~~ Dan Lamothe & Tara Copp of the Washington Post: “Far-right political activist Laura Loomer has opened an extraordinary new line of attack on the Pentagon, sharply criticizing Army Secretary Dan Driscoll for allowing the service to acknowledge the battlefield valor of Medal of Honor recipient Florent Groberg, who suffered catastrophic injuries saving the lives of fellow soldiers targeted by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan.... Groberg, [Loomer] suggested [in a social media post], was undeserving of such recognition because he delivered remarks, as a private citizen, at the 2016 Democratic National Convention and was not 'US born.'... [Defense Secretary Pete] Hegseth’s silence, in particular, is notable.” Groberg is a Republican who told the Post in 2016 that he spoke at the Democratic convention “as a veteran. As an immigrant. As an American.”

Jeff Amy & Alanna Richer of the AP: “A Georgia man who opened fire on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters, shooting dozens of rounds into the sprawling complex and killing a police officer, had blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Saturday. The 30-year-old shooter also tried to get into the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta but was stopped by guards before driving to a pharmacy across the street and opening fire late Friday afternoon, the official said. He was armed with five guns, including at least one long gun, the official said.... The shooting left gaping bullet holes in windows across the CDC campus, where thousands work on critical disease research. Employees huddled under lockdown for hours while investigators gathered evidence. Staff was encouraged to work from home Monday or take leave. At least four CDC buildings were hit, Director Susan Monarez said on X.

“'[HHS Secretary Robert F.] Kennedy [Jr] is directly responsible for the villainization of CDC’s workforce through his continuous lies about science and vaccine safety, which have fueled a climate of hostility and mistrust,' said Fired But Fighting, a group of laid-off employees opposing changes to the CDC by President Donald Trump’s administration. Under Kennedy, CDC has laid off nearly 2,000 employees.... Kennedy has a history as a leader in the anti-vaccine movement, but he reached new prominence by spreading distrust of COVID-19 vaccines. For example, he called it 'criminal medical malpractice' to give COVID-19 vaccines to children.” ~~~

~~~ A Murder Waiting to Happen. Brandy Zadorzny of MSNBC: “A shooting outside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Atlanta headquarters on Friday left a police officer dead and officials and scientists at the nation’s premier public health agency shaken. Many are now demanding answers from their health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long vilified the CDC and contributed to a culture of misinformation that they say makes them targets. Citing a senior law enforcement official, The New York Times reported the shooter, identified as 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White, was fixated on the Covid vaccine, which he blamed for his health problems.... For years, Kennedy attacked the CDC. In videos from anti-vaccine conferences between 2013 and 2019, he likened the agency’s vaccine work to 'fascism' and 'child abuse,' called it a 'cesspool of corruption' and said it was filled with profiteers. At a 2013 conference, when asked about why the CDC had failed to acknowledge the autism epidemic (which he falsely linked to vaccines), Kennedy said it was like the Holocaust.... During the pandemic, Kennedy ... falsely suggested Covid-19 was a 'bioweapon,' and lied about the dangers of Covid vaccines, calling them 'the deadliest vaccine ever made.' 'The hatred RFK and his allies have spent their lives stoking puts a target on the backs of anyone in public health,' said one senior official....” ~~~

~~~ Marie: So Kennedy is perhaps partially responsible for the deaths of one innocent public servant and one disturbed man this week. But these unfortunate individuals are scarcely his only victims this week ~~~  

~~~ Jonathan Cohn in the Bulwark: “On Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the Trump administration was canceling about half a billion dollars of federal contracts with companies and institutions that have been working to develop the next generation of mRNA vaccines.... Kennedy made the announcement in a two-and-a-half minute video and accompanying press release, in which he stated 'we reviewed the science' and 'listened to the experts.' [After trying for days to find out 'what science?' and 'what experts?', HHS linked to] a storage page on an open website where anybody can post data, coding, or other research tools for sharing. And what you’ll find on the website is exactly the sort of stuff you’d expect to find on a site with no gatekeepers.... [IOW, crap.] But you wouldn’t know any of this by listening to Kennedy speak. That’s because he has perfected the art of undermining public confidence in vaccines by leaning on a tiny handful of fringe researchers and then sounding 'sciencey' — throwing around bits of medical jargon — to give the impression he’s an expert himself.” Cohn debunks three of Kennedy's false claims about mRNA vaccines.

Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: “A federal appeals court panel shot down a Trump administration bid to make secret a public database of federal spending that researchers say is crucial to ensure the administration is not flouting Congress’ power of the purse. In an order issued Saturday evening, the three-judge D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals panel voted unanimously to give the administration until Friday to put the data back online. Two of the three appeals judges assigned to the matter also signed onto a forceful opinion declaring that the administration’s bid to conceal the data was an affront to Congress’ authority over government spending, one that threatened the separation of powers and defied centuries of evidence that public disclosure is necessary for the public good.... Judge Karen Henderson, a George H.W. Bush appointee, wrote in support of the decision to deny the Trump administration’s request to keep the data under wraps while litigation over the issue goes forward[:] '... no Congress should be made to wait while the Executive intrudes on its plenary power over appropriations.”

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “If Republicans succeed in pulling off an aggressively partisan gerrymander of congressional districts in Texas, they will owe the Supreme Court a debt of gratitude. In the two decades Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has led the Supreme Court, the justices have reshaped American elections not just by letting state lawmakers like those in Texas draw voting maps warped by politics, but also by gutting the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and amplifying the role of money in politics. Developments in recent weeks signaled that some members of the court think there is more work to be done in removing legal guardrails governing elections. There are now signs that court is considering striking down or severely constraining the remaining pillar of the Voting Rights Act, a towering achievement of the civil rights movement that has protected the rights of minority voters since it was enacted 60 years ago last week. Taken together, the court’s actions in election cases in recent years have shown great tolerance for partisan gamesmanship and great skepticism about federal laws on campaign spending and minority rights. The court’s rulings have been of a piece with its conservative wing’s jurisprudential commitments: giving states leeway in many realms, insisting on an expansive interpretation of the First Amendment and casting a skeptical eye on government racial classifications.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I was thinking earlier this morning that the days when Roberts cared about the "image" of the Court are long gone. Experts used to argue that even though he was moving the Court to the right, he was doing so prudently and undramatically. Then again, there was his decision in Shelby County v. Holder which weakened the Voting Rights Act and Citzens United, which blew up campaign finance restrictions in favor of big spenders. Roberts is nearing 70 years old, he has a fairly reliable right-wing majority on the Court, and he seems to think that, like Trump, he has an Article (in this case III) where he has the right to do whatever he wants. So instead of being an umpire calling balls and strikes, he has the balls to strike out foundational democratic principles & procedures. 

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Texas. Marcie Jones of Wonkette explains what-all is going on in Texas with that GOP plan where they will nab state house Democrats & chain them to their seats so the Democrats can witness their GOp colleagues Trumpimandering their Democratic districts away from them.

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Israel/Palestine, et al. Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times on how Britain, France & Germany tried to end the war in Gaza in what “amounted to a declaration of independence from the Trump administration on a major strategic issue that the Europeans have long tried to approach in tandem.... Officials familiar with the deliberations in all three countries said the flurry of activity was driven by evidence of widespread malnutrition and starvation in Gaza, growing demands from constituents for action and a conclusion that the United States had abandoned its efforts to push for peace or curtail Israeli military action. It is unclear whether the diplomacy will make any difference on the ground.... On Thursday, Mr. Netanyahu effectively rebuffed Europe’s calls for peace when his security cabinet approved an expansion of the war in Gaza.”

The Conversation -- August 9, 2025

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times: “Ever since he escaped what he considered a drab existence in Queens, Trump has bedazzled his life — everything from tweezers to seatbelts to TV remotes were gilt.... Now he has tarted up the Oval; it’s the modern version of worshiping the golden calf and just as profane. Trump’s tacky rococo gold adornments are growing exponentially. He’s piling on more and more garish features — from cherubs to mantelpiece swirls — and sycophants add to the gold rush by bringing offerings to truckle to King Midas. Trump is trying to turn the people’s house into a Saudi palace — 'dictator chic.' It is symbolic of this president: He’s refashioning our democracy as an autocracy.” Thanks to laura h. for this gift link. That “dictator chic” is a style that contributor Patrick once said U.S. staff at Middle East embassies called “Louis Farouk.” And this all reminds me of what Akhilleus wrote earlier this week:

Fatty ... loves him the gaudy, so there's plenty of Rococo flamboyance in his mish-mash concept of decoration. But Rococo, as a style was killed off almost in a flash in the late 18th C. Know what killed it? The French Revolution. So here's Louis de Fatso with his empty-headed, hard-hearted, tone deaf Let Them Eat Cake decorative sensibility, wired into a Neo-Classicism without the classics, the democracy, the humanism, and the enlightenment philosophy, but with plenty of Nazi-authoritarian, goose stepping, white supremacy flair. And we're picking up the tab to keep his gruesome grandiosity fed. All cult and no culture.

Konstantin Toropin of the AP: “The man who oversees the nation’s military reposted a video about a Christian nationalist church that included various pastors saying women should no longer be allowed to vote. The extraordinary repost on X from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, made Thursday night, illustrates his deep and personal connection to a Christian nationalist pastor with extreme views on the role of religion and women. In the post, Hegseth commented on an almost seven-minute-long report by CNN examining Doug Wilson, cofounder of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches.... The report featured a pastor from Wilson’s church advocating the repeal of women’s right to vote from the Constitution, and another pastor saying that in his ideal world, people would vote as households. It also featured a female congregant saying that she submits to her husband. 'All of Christ for All of Life,' Hegseth wrote in his post that accompanied the video.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: To any normal person aware of, for instance, the First Amendment, Hegseth's post is a firing offense. A real president would have Hegseth's "resignation" letter on his desk by now. But we don't have a real president, and we do have a crazy defense secretary nominated by a fake prez & confirmed by useless Senate kiss-ups. This morning laura h. linked to a Bluesky post by Sherrilyn Ifill about the woman-hating, Constitution-hating Heghog, warning, "You should be very concerned." Over on the Bulwark's YouTube channel, Tim Miller is equally aghast. AND this seems to be the CNN video Drunk Pete so enjoyed.

Maria Abi-Habib of the New York Times: “President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico rejected the use of U.S. military forces in her country on Friday, responding to news that ... [Donald] Trump had directed the Pentagon to target drug cartels that the United States considers terrorist organizations. 'The United States is not going to come to Mexico with the military. We cooperate, we collaborate, but there is not going to be an invasion. That is ruled out, absolutely ruled out,' she said, adding that she would read the order. 'It is not part of any agreement, far from it. When it has been brought up, we have always said no.'” Related story linked below.

Trump Unaware Data Collectors & Analysts Are Needed to Collect & AnalyzeData. Sarah Mervosh of the New York Times: Donald “Trump’s new requirement mandating that colleges share more data about their students could help conservatives who have argued that elite universities discriminate against white and Asian students. But ... since taking office in January, the administration has fired nearly everyone who worked at the National Center for Education Statistics, the statistics branch within the Department of Education that would be responsible for the new data collection effort. Of about 100 employees who worked at the National Center for Education Statistics, just four remain.... In his second term, [Mr.] Trump has often taken a paradoxical approach to education, pushing to diminish the federal government’s role, even as he tries to wield its power.”

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The editing function for Reality Chex has not been working properly for about a month, and I often can't get in to edit a page for hours (or on one occasion, ever). To make a long story short, because of this, today's effort is somewhat truncated and future entries will be limited until Squarespace fixes the problem. So far, no luck.

Jess Bidgood of the New York Times: “... it’s not just that Trump wants more power over the federal government. He is also trying to give the federal government more power over society itself. Since Monday, the Trump administration has moved to assert new power over institutions like colleges and banks. He has ordered a surge of law enforcement in Washington, D.C., a city that ostensibly has home rule. He has dialed up pressure on state lawmakers across the country to further shore up his power through redistricting — a goal he is also pursuing with his efforts to redo the census in pursuit of a count that would be more favorable to Republicans. It’s presidential maximalism in action.... [In] a different kind of maximalism..., [the Oval Office] keeps getting shinier as Trump turns the people’s house into his own.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Bidgood is missing half the point. Sure, Trump wants maximalist government, but only to the extent and in those areas that it increase his power & control. He's getting rid of the parts of the government that help ordinary Americans and/or might curb his whims & enthusiasms. He is rapidly working his way toward a purer form of despotism. 

David Lynch & Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump’s freewheeling use of tariffs as a tool of American power may have been more extensive than was publicly known, encompassing an array of national security goals as well as the interests of individual companies, according to internal government documents obtained by The Washington Post.... Administration officials saw trade talks as an opportunity to achieve objectives that went far beyond Trump’s oft-stated goal of reducing the chronic U.S. trade deficit.... National security considerations may help explain why most countries did not retaliate against the U.S. with their own tariffs on American goods, said Phil Luck ... [of] the Center for Strategic and International Studies.... The administration continues to leverage trade talks for broader gains. McCoy Pitt, the senior official in the State Department’s international organization affairs bureau, wrote the secretary of state this month about linking trade talks with hopes of killing a global climate change deal.”

Trump Secretly Advances Military Dictatorship. Helene Cooper, et al., of the New York Times: Donald “Trump has secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American drug cartels that his administration has deemed terrorist organizations, according to people familiar with the matter. The decision to bring the American military into the fight is the most aggressive step so far in the administration’s escalating campaign against the cartels. It signals Mr. Trump’s continued willingness to use military forces to carry out what has primarily been considered a law enforcement responsibility to curb the flow of fentanyl and other illegal drugs. The order provides an official basis for the possibility of direct military operations at sea and on foreign soil against cartels. U.S. military officials have started drawing up options for how the military could go after the groups, the people familiar with the conversations said.... Directing the military to crack down on the illicit trade also raises legal issues, including whether it would count as 'murder' if U.S. forces acting outside of a congressionally authorized armed conflict were to kill civilians — even criminal suspects — who pose no imminent threat.” Thanks to Ken W. for the heads-up. (Also linked yesterday.) 

Top U.S. Crime Org Demands U.C.L.A. Pay $1BB+ in Protection Money. Alan Blinder & Michael Bender of the New York Times: “The Trump administration is seeking more than $1 billion from the University of California, Los Angeles, to restore hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research funding that the government halted, according to a draft of a settlement agreement reviewed by The New York Times. The proposal calls for the university to make a $1 billion payment to the U.S. government and to contribute $172 million to a claims fund that would compensate victims of civil rights violations. If U.C.L.A. accedes to the demand, it would be the largest payout — by far — of any university that has so far reached a deal with the White House. Columbia University agreed to pay $221 million in connection with its settlement with the government, and Brown University pledged to spend $50 million with state work force programs.... The White House’s demands of U.C.L.A. fit into a broad pattern of how the Trump administration has targeted California.” The Guardian's story is here.

Marie: Looks like outright theft is not illegal if the president* (or the commerce secretary) does it: ~~~

~~~ Jennifer Jacobs & Joe Walsh of CBS News: "The federal government told Harvard University on Friday it could take control of the school's patents stemming from federally funded research — the latest in a months-long feud between the Trump administration and the Ivy League college. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is launching an 'immediate comprehensive review' of whether Harvard has complied with federal laws around patents, he said in a letter to Harvard President Alan Garber. The patents in question could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, a senior administration official said, and in his letter, Lutnick threatened to grant third-party licenses to Harvard's patents or take the titles to any patents where Harvard has failed to comply with government title and disclosure requirements. Lutnick ordered the Massachusetts-based school to provide information on all patents that it obtained through federally funded research."

Tyler Pager & David Sanger of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said he would meet with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia next Friday in Alaska, as he tries to secure a deal to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. Mr. Trump announced the meeting Friday shortly after he suggested that a peace deal between the two countries could include 'some swapping of territories,' signaling that the United States may join Russia in trying to compel Ukraine to permanently cede some of its land. 'We’re going to get some back, and we’re going to get some switched,' Mr. Trump said while hosting the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan for a peace summit at the White House. 'There’ll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both, but we’ll be talking about that either later, or tomorrow.'” ~~~

      ~~~ Siobhán O'Grady of the Washington Post: “Ukraine will reject any proposal that involves ceding territory to Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Saturday, hours after ... Donald Trump suggested 'some swapping of territories' to end Russia’s war on Ukraine.” The AP story is here.

Trump Fires IRS Chief. Andrew Duehren, et al., of the New York Times: “Billy Long, the former auctioneer and Republican congressman who was confirmed less than two months ago as head of the Internal Revenue Service, has been abruptly removed from the post by ... [Donald] Trump, the administration disclosed on Friday. Mr. Long, who had little background in tax policy beyond promoting a fraud-riddled tax credit, had clashed at times with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during his brief tenure.... He also made high-profile mistakes.... A gregarious and colorful personality, Mr. Long had tried to cultivate a connection with the depleted and demoralized I.R.S. work force. He visited I.R.S. locations around the country and repeatedly sent emails to all I.R.S. employees allowing them to leave work early on Friday afternoons.... Mr. Bessent will serve as the acting head of the I.R.S.... Mr. Long wrote on social media that he would be nominated to become the next U.S. ambassador to Iceland.” Read on. It's hard to pick the biggest goof-up here: Long, the humorless Bessent or Master-Fucker-Upper Trump. All the best people. ~~~

     ~~~ Fatima Hussein of the AP: Long's “quick exit makes him the shortest-tenured IRS commissioner confirmed by the Senate since the position was created in 1862.”

     ~~~ Steve Benen of MSNBC: "Between January and May, the [IRS] went through five different chiefs in five months." So that would make Long the sixth leader in six months. 

DOJ, on the Trump Retribution Trail. Perry Stein, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Justice Department is intensifying its legal battle against New York Attorney General Letitia James, issuing at least two subpoenas to the state’s chief legal officer in recent days, according to three people.... The investigation into James — who Trump has long characterized as a political enemy — is being run out of the Northern District of New York, which covers Albany, the state capital, according to two of the people familiar with the probe. Attorney General Pam Bondi this week appointed Ed Martin, a former interim U.S. attorney in Washington, to serve as a special prosecutor in a separate mortgage fraud investigation of James. In the Northern District of New York investigations, one of the subpoenas focused on James’s successful civil fraud case against ... Donald Trump and his real estate empire.... A judge ordered in 2024 that Trump and his company pay more than $450 million in fines and interest. A second subpoena suggested that the Justice Department is looking into James’s high-profile litigation against the National Rifle Association....”

Brianna Sacks & Maeve Reston of the Washington Post: “The Department of Homeland Security is holding up more than $100 million in preapproved funds intended to help hurricane-battered North Carolina clean up storm damage and fix infrastructure still in disrepair almost a year after Helene hit the region.... Communities across the region ... still need to be reimbursed for about a hundred projects ranging from debris removal, waste water treatment repairs, roads and bridges, damaged buildings and parks, as well as for emergency protective measures such as paying back volunteer fire departments.... Experts and former FEMA administrators, including W. Craig Fugate, say money for emergency and protective measures such as debris removal should have hit North Carolina by now.... This administration, however, has been taking longer to approve disaster declarations and hazard mitigation grants, according to researcher Sarah Labowitz, who has been tracking the data.

“During a visit to the ransacked town of Swannanoa last October [near the end of the presidential campaign], Trump lambasted FEMA for being too slow, bureaucratic, expensive and ineffective. He repeated similar sentiments during another visit in January, suggesting it might be best to eliminate the agency.... Much of the [current] holdup, however, has to do with the new red tape within DHS.... [DHS Secretary Kristi] Noem wants to review most of the contract requests herself, multiple officials familiar with the process have said. But her schedule is hectic and she travels often.”

Mattathias Schwartz of the New York Times: “A federal appeals panel delivered a major blow on Friday to a district judge’s plan to assess whether Trump administration officials were guilty of criminal contempt for sending flights of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, despite the judge’s verbal order that they turn around and return to the United States. The ruling by the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will make it more difficult for Judge James E. Boasberg to determine the details of who was made aware of his order in March, and why the planes continued on to El Salvador. Judge Boasberg had ruled in April that there was probable cause to believe the administration had committed criminal contempt by ignoring his order. But the administration appealed, and Friday’s ruling reversed Judge Boasberg’s finding of probable cause. The brief order was accompanied by 57 pages of concurrences by Judges Gregory G. Katsas and Neomi Rao, who were in the 2-to-1 majority. It represents a victory for Mr. Trump and a brushback of a judge who had sought to curb Mr. Trump’s second-term agenda, earning his ire.... There are still ways [Judge Boasberg's inquiry] could eventually move forward.” MB: Both Katsas & Rao are Trump appointees. Politico's story is here.

Graham Bowley of the New York Times: “The Smithsonian put up new text on Friday that changed its description of ... [Donald] Trump’s impeachment following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The new text removed previous references to Mr. Trump’s incitement charge being based on 'repeated “false statements” challenging the 2020 election results' and giving a speech that  'encouraged — and foreseeably resulted in — imminent lawless action at the Capitol.' The new label reads: 'On Jan. 13, 2021, Donald Trump became the first president to be impeached twice. The charge was incitement of insurrection based on his challenge of the 2020 election results and on his speech on Jan. 6. Because Trump’s term ended on Jan. 20, he became the first former president tried by the Senate. He was acquitted on Feb. 13, 2021.'... The new labeling that went up on Friday also changed the description of [Mr.] Trump’s first impeachment, in 2019, adding the word 'alleged' to a line that now reads: 'The charges focused on the president’s alleged solicitation of foreign interference in the 2020 presidential election and defiance of Congressional subpoenas.'... The removal of the original text in July came after the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents, which governs the institution, had committed to reviewing its content after pressure from the Trump administration.”

Tim Weiner of the New York Times: “William H. Webster, the only person ever to lead both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency, switching from lawman to spymaster while the bureau was investigating high crimes at the White House and the C.I.A., died on Friday in Warrenton, Va. He was 101.... In Mr. Webster’s nine years in office, with a few notable exceptions, the F.B.I. stopped breaking the law in the name of the law.” MB: For those of you who weren't even born back then or who, like me, weren't paying close attention, this is an interesting, informative obituary. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Texas. Eleanor Klibanoff of the Texas Tribune: Texas “Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday asked the Texas Supreme Court to expel 13 Democrats from the state House, the latest in a flurry of unprecedented actions aiming to resume business at the Capitol and pass new congressional maps to benefit Republicans. Gov. Greg Abbott previously asked the court to expel Houston Rep. Gene Wu, the chair of the Texas House Democrats.... [Paxton] said these 13 [who include Wu], among the dozens who have left the state, 'made incriminating public statements regarding their refusal to return, essentially confirming in their own words the very grounds for this legal action.'... Legal experts say it does not amount to abandoning office if a member intentionally does not show up for work in an effort to stymie the passage of a bill that their constituents oppose. Texas lawmakers have engaged in these “quorum breaks” since the 1870s and none have ever been expelled as a direct result of leaving the chamber.”

     ~~~ Eleanor Klibanoff of the Texas Tribune: “Former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke cannot financially support Texas Democrats who left the state to delay passage of a new congressional map, a Tarrant County judge ruled Friday evening. O’Rourke and his political group, Powered by People, were sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Friday afternoon. Paxton argued that the group was deceptively fundraising for and illegally helping support Texas Democrats as they fanned out to Illinois, Massachusetts and New York to deny the House the headcount needed to pass legislation. Tarrant County District Judge Megan Fahey granted Paxton’s request for a temporary injunction, barring O’Rourke and Powered by People from fundraising for the Democrats or spending money to cover their expenses.... Fahey, a Republican, was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2019 and has twice been reelected to the bench.”

The Conversation -- August 8, 2025

One of Trump's media toadies asks Baby Trump if "the hate-trump business model is going out of business":

Trump Secretly Advances Military Dictatorship. Helene Cooper, et al., of the New York Times: Donald “Trump has secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American drug cartels that his administration has deemed terrorist organizations, according to people familiar with the matter. The decision to bring the American military into the fight is the most aggressive step so far in the administration’s escalating campaign against the cartels. It signals Mr. Trump’s continued willingness to use military forces to carry out what has primarily been considered a law enforcement responsibility to curb the flow of fentanyl and other illegal drugs. The order provides an official basis for the possibility of direct military operations at sea and on foreign soil against cartels. U.S. military officials have started drawing up options for how the military could go after the groups, the people familiar with the conversations said.... Directing the military to crack down on the illicit trade also raises legal issues, including whether it would count as 'murder' if U.S. forces acting outside of a congressionally authorized armed conflict were to kill civilians — even criminal suspects — who pose no imminent threat.” Thanks to Ken W. for the heads-up.

~~~~~~~~~~

Marie: You know how some of us like to kid ourselves that Trump will at least mostly adhere to the Constitution? I don't think we can get away with that anymore: ~~~

~~~ Nicole Markus of Politico: “... Donald Trump on Thursday said he was ordering a 'new and highly accurate CENSUS,' saying it will be based on the 'information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024.... People who are in our country illegally will NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS,' he wrote in the Truth Social post announcing the move. The census is a constitutionally mandated count of every person in the United States every 10 years, which was last conducted in 2020. A full census has never been conducted mid-decade in this manner, nor has one ever excluded noncitizens from the count. Censuses are immensely important in American governance; each count determines how many House seats every state gets through a process called apportionment, and the results of the census help direct billions of dollars in federal, state and local funding. Trump has been trying to include a citizenship question on the census since his first term, though the Supreme Court struck the effort down on procedural grounds in 2019.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Steve Benen of MSNBC: “The language of the U.S. Constitution is unambiguous when it comes to the decennial census: The government is responsible for counting 'all persons' in the United States as part of a process that’s conducted every 'ten years.' There are no asterisks. There is no fine print. The first census was in 1790, and the count has been conducted every 10 years since, including one in 2020. Donald Trump, however, apparently has a new plan in mind that runs counter to our constitutional system.... The president and his party are so desperate to maintain power at all costs, they are exploring every possible avenue to rig the political process so that Republicans can’t lose, even if voters want them to.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Heather Cox Richardson has similar thoughts, steeped in her knowledge of U.S. history.

Control Freak/Authoritarian Begins Takeover of Washington, D.C. Chris Cameron of the New York Times: Donald “Trump has ordered an unspecified number of federal law enforcement agents to be deployed in Washington, D.C., days after threatening a federal takeover of the city and claiming that crime there was 'totally out of control.' Washington’s crime rates — ranging from violent crime to thefts and burglaries — have been falling significantly, but the order follows the president’s effort to paint the nation’s capital as rife with violent crime....  'If D.C. doesn’t get its act together,' Mr. Trump wrote on social media on Tuesday, 'we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City.' The deployment, starting Friday at 12:01 a.m., would include law enforcement officers from a wide swath of agencies across the federal government.” See also related story, linked below, on Jeanine Pirro's effort to harden D.C. anti-crime laws.

Control Freak/Authoritarian Takes Over Grant Funding. Good-bye, Science. John Timmer of Ars Technica: "On Thursday, the Trump administration issued an executive order asserting political control over grant funding, including all federally supported research. The order requires that any announcement of funding opportunities be reviewed by the head of the agency or someone they designate, which means a political appointee will have the ultimate say over what areas of science the US funds. Individual grants will also require clearance from a political appointee and 'must, where applicable, demonstrably advance the President’s policy priorities.' The order also instructs agencies to formalize the ability to cancel previously awarded grants at any time if they're considered to 'no longer advance agency priorities.' Until a system is in place to enforce the new rules, agencies are forbidden from starting new funding programs. In short, the new rules would mean that all federal science research would need to be approved by a political appointee who may have no expertise in the relevant areas, and the research can be canceled at any time if the political winds change. It would mark the end of a system that has enabled US scientific leadership for roughly 70 years." See related story, linked below, about how Energy Secretary Chris Wright is going to "update" those old overly-sciency climate reports.

Jacob Bogage & David Lynch of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump celebrated the start of his long-awaited tariffs Thursday, declaring that money was “flowing into the USA at levels not thought even possible!” — though economists say the cost of the import taxes will probably get passed on to U.S. consumers and businesses. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the federal government could collect $50 billion a month in tariff revenue, which Trump administration officials hope will be a boon to the U.S.'s dismal financial health. U.S. stocks were mixed in late-morning trading Thursday, as investors appeared unbothered by the new taxes.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Paul Krugman on why a delusional Trump is worse than the trade "deals" he thinks he made -- but didn't. "... I don’t think we should feel reassured about Trump’s trade delusions because he’s lost touch with reality across the board.... Trump will be the last person to recognize that there are limits to his ability to bully the world, on trade or anything else." MB: I think the big danger is psychological. When Whiney Baby finds out his "deals" were unenforceable or unworkable chimera, he will feel he's been betrayed. That will cause him to lash out in ways he thinks are most damaging. I don't mean I think he would, you know, nuke Brussels, but he would certainly double or treble the already-ridiculous tariffs & he might do things like abandon NATO.   

Andrew Ackerman of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump announced of social media on Thursday that he would be nominating his economic adviser Stephen Miran to the Federal Reserve board, in his first bid this term to shape the institution that he has aggressively pushed to lower rates. Miran is the chairman of the Council Economic Advisors and Trump said he would serve just through Jan. 31, through the end of the current vacancy.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

      ~~~ Colby Smith & Tony Romm of the New York Times: “Mr. Miran served at the Treasury Department during the first Trump administration..., before joining Hudson Bay Capital Management, a hedge fund, as a senior strategist. Mr. Miran donated to Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign, federal campaign records show. Since returning to the administration, Mr. Miran has overseen work at the White House to produce research about the economic effects of the president’s policies. In that role, he has been unwavering in his support for Mr. Trump’s agenda, at times producing reports that economists have questioned. In particular, Mr. Miran has echoed Mr. Trump in maintaining that high tariffs would not cause consumer prices to rise significantly.” MB: Behind the green eyeshades is a magical thinker.

Stephanie Dhue & Sharon Epperson of CNBC: "... Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to increase the availability of alternative assets in 401(k) plans. The order instructs the Department of Labor to reexamine its guidance to employers and plan administrators on incorporating such assets into retirement plans. Alternative investments are a broad category that includes real estate, cryptocurrencies and private-market assets, among others.... Although an executive order to independent agencies does not change policy, it is a strong signal of Trump’s priorities and support of alternative investments in retirement plans.... Some financial advisors are concerned that 401(k) investors lack the knowledge or experience to incorporate these more sophisticated, and often more costly, investments into their portfolios."

Michael Bender & Anemona Hartocollis of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Thursday ordered his Education Department to collect data on the race, gender, test scores and grade point averages of college applicants in an effort to scrutinize whether universities are giving minorities preference in admissions. The move would provide the government with information that has long been on the wish list of conservative activists in search of evidence that schools have been dodging a 2023 Supreme Court decision that largely barred the consideration of race in college admissions. Admissions data has increasingly become a focus of the Trump administration as part of its effort to shift the ideological balance of academia, which the president views as hostile to conservatives.... Justin Driver, a Yale Law School professor, said the changes were 'another catastrophic blow in the Trump administration’s ongoing assault on American higher education.'”

Here's Just One Bribe Donald Trump Accepted. Kenneth Vogel, et al., of the New York Times: In late February 2025, Oliver Burckhardt “donated $5 million to MAGA Inc., a pro-Trump political committee, that paved the way for him to attend the event.” On March 1, he attended a dinner at Mar-a-Lago, where he got face time with Donald Trump & told Mr. Trump about pricey bandages his company Extremity Care makes. Mr. Burckhardt also gave Mr. Trump “a flier urging the Trump administration to reverse a plan to restrict Medicare reimbursement for the bandages and criticizing former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. for having 'rammed through a policy that would create more suffering and death for diabetic patients on Medicare.' The next morning, Mr. Trump posted the flier on his social media site.... About one month later, the Trump administration announced it would delay until next year the Biden administration plan to limit Medicare’s coverage of the bandages, known as skin substitutes, saying that it was reviewing its policies.... The February donation by Mr. Burckhardt’s company, which was revealed in a report filed late last week with the Federal Election Commission, was among dozens of seven- and eight-figure contributions to MAGA Inc. from donors, many of whom were rewarded with presidential face time to plead for their causes.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Marie: One of the oddest things about the Epstein cover-up is that the cover-uppers don't seem to recognize that Trump's conspiracy-centered-QAnon-loony base is extremely capable of conjuring up conspiracy theories. It's what they do. The answer to why Trump is hiding the Epstein files is the Occam's Razor of conspiracy theories. Why would you hide information about pedofiles? Because the information implicates you. It's effing obvious! Bill Kristol gets it: ~~~

~~~ Bill Kristol of the Bulwark: “It’s worth recalling that after reviewing the files, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel ordered FBI agents to black out every mention of Trump, according to Bloomberg News. Why did they do that? After all, if Trump only pops up occasionally in the files as an innocent bystander, or as a subject of third-party hearsay with no supporting or corroborating evidence, why the need to blackout the mentions? If Trump did nothing 'concerning' while spending time with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein — as Ghislaine Maxwell is reported to have told Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche before being moved to a far nicer federal prison facility — then what’s the problem? Why not just release the files, let Trump debunk whatever unverified suggestions may be in there, and avoid accusations of a coverup? Perhaps because the files tell us more about the Trump-Epstein relationship? Perhaps because they suggest Trump has something to hide? That would be the simplest explanation of Trump’s own behavior over the last several months. That would be the simplest explanation of the behavior of Bondi and Blanche and Patel.... [JD Vance's] dinner was canceled. But the coverup is still on.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

About that "Epstein situation" meeting JayDee planned to hold at his residence? Before the meeting took place, the plan was leaked. So in answer to a reporter's question in the Oval, JayDee said there was no planned meeting and the whole story -- which he attributed to CNN's bad sourcing -- was "fake news." Evidently that was a porkie: ~~~

     ~~~ Kristen Holmes of CNN: “A much-anticipated meeting between Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, Vice President JD Vance and others was moved from Vance’s residence to the White House Wednesday night after intense media coverage, a source familiar with the logistics told CNN. They discussed a number of topics, including the Jeffrey Epstein case and potential next steps, the source said. The meeting was originally planned to take place at Vance’s DC home and was also supposed to include White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, CNN previously reported.”

Lisa Friedman & Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times exonerate JayDee: “Military engineers raised the levels of a river in Ohio so the Secret Service could provide security to Vice President JD Vance during a family boating trip, agency officials said Thursday. Taylor Van Kirk, a spokeswoman for Mr. Vance, said the vice president had not been aware the request had been made to alter the water flow into the Little Miami River on Aug. 2.... The boats used by the Secret Service for security or an emergency evacuation are usually motorized and need deeper waters to operate, [a Secret Service spokesman] said.... During [a scouting mission for the excursion], one of the local public safety boats ran aground, an indication that the water level was too low for that vessel.”

Marie: Right after Kristi Noem's good squad forcibly ejected Sen. Alex Padilla from what was supposed to be a press conference in a federal building, wrestled him to the floor and cuffed him, JayDee Vance referred to the Senator as “José Padilla.” Vance's press person tried to put this off as Vance “misspeaking” and said Vance “must have mixed up two people who have broken the law.” I was certain Vance meant the “José” to be understood as a racial slur. I see Sen. Padilla agrees with me: ~~~

     ~~~ If Usha doesn't get out soon, I'll have to suspect she deserves JayDee.

Adam Goldman, et al., of the New York Times: “The F.B.I. is deepening its purge of employees, forcing out senior agents like a former acting head of the bureau and another whose recent ascent had angered Trump supporters.... Brian Driscoll, who briefly served as the acting director in the early days of the Trump administration, was among those being told to leave by Friday.... Also being ousted this week is the head of the F.B.I.’s Washington field office, Steven J. Jensen.... Mr. Jensen had been a target of conservatives because in overseeing the bureau’s domestic terrorism operations section at the time, he played a key role in responding to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.... Mr. Driscoll ... had become an unlikely champion of the bureau after accidentally being catapulted to the director’s chair on Inauguration Day. He resisted demands to turn over the names of F.B.I. agents who had worked on the investigation into the Capitol attack, fighting off what was seen as a possible purge.... Mr. Jensen’s ouster, in particular, is an embarrassing chapter in Kash Patel’s tenure as director given that he had promoted Mr. Jensen and defended the decision on national television. Other agents being forced out are Walter Giardina and Christopher Meyer, both of whom had worked on cases involving Mr. Trump.... In addition, Spencer Evans, a senior agent who had already been pushed out of his post overseeing a field office in Las Vegas and forced to take a new position in Huntsville, Ala., was dismissed.onavirus vaccine when he worked as deputy assistant director for human resources at F.B.I. headquarters.” (Also linked yesterday.) A CBS News story is here. ~~~

~~~ ⭐ MEANWHILE. Tom Dreisbach of NPR: "Less than five years after urging rioters to 'kill' police at the Capitol, a former Jan. 6 defendant is working as a senior adviser for the Department of Justice, which has been dramatically remade under the second Trump administration. NPR has obtained police bodycam footage from multiple angles of the former defendant and current administration official, Jared Wise, berating officers and calling them 'Nazi' and 'Gestapo.' NPR located the footage, which has not previously been published, in a review of thousands of court exhibits from Jan. 6 criminal cases, obtained through legal action by a coalition of media organizations. The Department of Justice had introduced the footage as an exhibit in Wise's trial. NPR also obtained the transcript of Wise's testimony, in which he acknowledged that he repeatedly yelled 'kill 'em' as officers were being attacked and tried to explain his actions. Wise was not convicted of any crimes related to Jan. 6, due to ... [Donald] Trump's order to end all Capitol riot prosecutions." It's worth reading the full article. (Also linked yesterday.) 

Frances Vinall of the Washington Post: “The United States is offering a $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday, calling the leader 'one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world and a threat to our national security.' The previous Trump administration in 2020 indicted Maduro on narcoterrorism and related charges and announced a $15 million bounty, which later went up to $25 million. It remains unlikely that the U.S. would be able to arrest Maduro while he remains in Venezuela, short of engaging the military, but the reward limits his ability to travel and increases pressure on the authoritarian socialist ruler already isolated from much of the world.” The AP's report is here.

It never should have been taken down by woke lemmings. Unlike the Left, we don’t believe in erasing American history — we honor it. -- Pete Hegseth, announcing DOD would be reinstalling a Confederate statue in Arlington National Cemetery ~~~

Most countries don't celebrate traitors. -- Marie Burns ~~~

Jenny Gathright & Meagan Flynn of the Washington Post: “U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the Trump-appointed prosecutor who handles most of D.C.’s adult crime, intensified her focus on the D.C. Council this week, calling on city lawmakers to amend policies focused on second chances for criminal offenders as the Trump administration accuses the liberal city of being soft on crime. Pirro sent council members a letter Wednesday, asking them to reverse or adjust a set of laws that expand options for people with criminal convictions to have their records sealed, and allow people to seek shorter or reduced sentences for crimes committed while under the age of 25. At a news conference Thursday, Pirro said young people in D.C. are committing too much crime and are being 'coddled.'”

~~~ Racist ... Joe Heim of the Washington Post: “A Confederate memorial removed from Arlington National Cemetery in 2023 will be reinstalled, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday. The sculpture had been removed as part of a congressionally mandated effort to rid military bases and sites of Confederate names and images. The decision is the latest in a series of moves by ... [Donald] Trump’s administration to restore Confederate names and symbols that had been discarded as part of the nation’s racial reconciliation efforts following George Floyd’s murder in 2020.... The 32-foot bronze statue commissioned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy was unveiled at a ceremony presided over by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914, almost 50 years after the Civil War ended.” MB: It's hard to find a more racist organization that the Daughters of the Confederacy or a more racist 20th-century president than Wilson. ~~~

~~~ AND Homophobic. The Cruelty Is the Point. Konstantin Toropin of the AP: “The U.S. Air Force said Thursday it would deny all transgender service members who have served between 15 and 18 years the option to retire early and would instead separate them without retirement benefits. One Air Force sergeant said he was 'betrayed and devastated' by the move. The move means that transgender service members will now be faced with the choice of either taking a lump-sum separation payment offered to junior troops or be removed from the service. An Air Force spokesperson told The Associated Press that 'although service members with 15 to 18 years of honorable service were permitted to apply for an exception to policy, none of the exceptions to policy were approved.' About a dozen service members had been 'prematurely notified' that they would be able to retire before that decision was reversed....” Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

    ~~~ Mare: More evidence that a person has to be a super-jerk to take a job in Trump's administration. Even a weasly person who is askeert trans people will give him cooties & maybe cut his sperm count, has to know that all service members are entitled to the retirement benefits they've earned. 

Leo Shane of Military Times: “Veterans Affairs leaders on Wednesday announced plans to terminate nearly all of its collective bargaining contracts with federal unions, upending employment agreements for hundreds of thousands of department workers. The move affects members of the American Federation of Government Employees, the AFL-CIO (AFGE), the National Association of Government Employees (NAGE), the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), the National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU)....  In a statement, VA Secretary Doug Collins attacked the unions as inefficient and harmful to veterans’ care.... '[The] decision to rip up the negotiated union contract for majority of its workforce is another clear example of retaliation against AFGE members for speaking out against the illegal, anti-worker, and anti-veteran policies of this administration,' [AFGE National President Everett Kelley] said.”

David Fischer of the AP: “A federal judge on Thursday ordered a temporary halt to construction at an immigration detention center — built in the middle of the Florida Everglades and dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz' — as attorneys argue whether it violates environmental laws. The facility can continue to operate and hold detainees for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but workers will be barred from adding any new filling, paving or infrastructure for the next 14 days. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued the ruling during a hearing and said she will issue a written order later Thursday. Environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe have asked Williams to issue a preliminary injunction to halt operations and further construction. The suit claims the project threatens environmentally sensitive wetlands that are home to protected plants and animals and would reverse billions of dollars’ worth of environmental restoration.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Mark Oliver of the Guardian: “The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, is facing growing criticism from scientists who say their 'worst fears' were realized when Wright revealed that the Trump administration would 'update' the US’s premier climate crisis reports. Wright, a former oil and gas executive, told CNN’s Kaitlin Collins earlier this week that the administration was reviewing national climate assessment reports published by past governments. Produced by scientists and peer-reviewed, there have been five national climate assessment (NCA) reports since 2000 and they are considered the gold standard report of global heating and its impacts on human health, agriculture, water supplies and air pollution. 'We’re reviewing them, and we will come out with updated reports on those and with comments on those reports,' said Wright, who is one of the main supporters of the administration’s 'drill, baby, drill' agenda to boost fossil fuels, which are the primary cause of the climate crisis. Wright was speaking days after his agency, the Department of Energy, produced a report claiming concern over the climate crisis was overblown. That energy department report was slammed by scientists for being a 'farce' full of misinformation.”

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: “Under the current Supreme Court’s vision of a rigidly colorblind Constitution — indifferent to either racial inequality or the mechanisms of color caste — the answer is very likely to be yes [to the question of] 'whether [Louisiana’s] intentional creation of a second majority-minority congressional district violates the 14th or 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.' There is also the matter of Chief Justice John Roberts, who has led the court’s effort to curb, limit and undermine the Voting Rights Act. One assumes that having gotten the court to strike down one part of the law in 2013, he is eager to get it to strike down another, considering his decades-long hostility to the law, which has been in his sights since he was a young lawyer in the Reagan administration....

“If by American democracy we mean a pluralistic, multiracial society of political and social equals, then American democracy as we know it began with the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, 60 years ago [Wednesday]. It’s this America that Donald Trump and his movement hope to condemn to the ash heap of history. It’s this America that they’re fighting to destroy with their attacks on immigration, civil rights laws, higher education and the very notion of a pluralistic society of equals.... The Supreme Court’s war on the Voting Rights Act precedes Trump but it is simpatico with his aims.”

David Goodman & Julie Bosman of the New York Times: “Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, said on Thursday that the F.B.I. had agreed to his request to help track down dozens of Democratic Texas state lawmakers who left the state to prevent a vote on a redistricting plan. The activation of federal agents could create a standoff between the Trump administration and state leaders in Illinois, where many of the absent Democrats have taken refuge. But Mr. Cornyn’s statement was also issued with a political backdrop. Locked in a tough Republican primary fight, Mr. Cornyn and his opponent, Texas’ hard-right attorney general, Ken Paxton, have been competing for days to look tough with the runaway Democrats. By Thursday afternoon, it was still not clear whether federal agents actually planned to take action in the case. 'The reality is that all that he has said is that the F.B.I. has been authorized to locate the House Democrats — nothing more,' Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois, a Democrat, told reporters at the Illinois State Fair on Thursday, accusing Mr. Cornyn of 'a lot of grandstanding.'” (Also linked yesterday.) 

“Women Are Going to Die." Jeanna Smialek & Stephanie Nolen of the New York Times: “The Trump administration’s plans to incinerate $9.7 million in birth control pills and other contraceptives stored in a Belgian warehouse have left European governments struggling as they try to prevent the destruction.... The decision to destroy the contraceptives has created alarm in Brussels and France as politicians scramble to figure out if the supplies have physically left the warehouse and how they can prevent their destruction.... 'U.S.A.I.D. was allegedly dismantled to prevent future wastage and to deliver value for money for the American people,' said Sarah Shaw, the associate director of advocacy at MSI Reproductive Choices. 'It’s just egregious that they’re willing to waste $9 million worth of contraceptives that are so desperately needed.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: European governments are not "struggling." They hate us for our cruelty. As they should.

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Israel/Palestine, et al. Adam Rasgon, et al., of the New York Times: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel planned to take control of all of Gaza, bucking the advice of the Israeli military and warnings that expanding operations could endanger the hostages being held there and kill more Palestinian civilians. Mr. Netanyahu made the comments in an interview with Fox News ahead of a security cabinet meeting on Thursday to discuss a proposal to expand military operations in Gaza. They came as talks to achieve a cease-fire and the release of the hostages have hit an impasse, with Israeli and Hamas officials blaming each other for the deadlock. When asked whether Israel would take over all of Gaza, he responded, 'We intend to.' Mr. Netanyahu said the move would 'assure our security,' remove Hamas from power and enable the transfer of the civilian administration of Gaza to another party.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ This story has been updated. New Lede: “The Israeli government early on Friday approved a plan to expand the war by taking control of Gaza City, a pivotal and risky decision that went against the recommendations of the Israeli military. After 10 hours of deliberations, a majority of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet backed his proposal, according to a predawn statement from his office. At a later stage, the military is expected to push into central areas of the enclave where Hamas is believed to be holding Israeli hostages and where Israeli troops have largely refrained from operating before. But the government announcement did not explicitly pledge to do so.... The plan also allows for the provision of humanitarian aid to the civilian population 'outside the combat zones,' it said.” An AP story is here. ~~~

~~~ Courtney Kube, et al., of NBC News: “Commercial satellite images show the Israeli military building up troops and equipment near the border with Gaza that would support a possible new ground invasion of the Palestinian enclave, according to three U.S. officials and a former official who viewed the imagery. The images show troop movements and formations that the four sources recognized as signs of an imminent major ground operation.”