The Conversation -- August 6, 2025
If you want to purchase something made in India, Trump will punish you for what Putin & Modi did. ~~~
~~ Tony Romm of the New York Times: Donald “Trump announced on Wednesday that he would double tariffs on India, to 50 percent, beginning this month as punishment for the country’s continued purchase of Russian oil. Mr. Trump coupled the new, punishing tariff level with a threat to impose similar penalties on other countries that buy Russian energy as he sought to use trade policies to pressure the Kremlin into resolving the war in Ukraine.”
Trump Determined to Wreck 2028 Olympics. Seung Min Kim & Meg Kinnard of the AP: “... Donald Trump on Tuesday established a task force on the 2028 Olympic Games being held in Los Angeles.... Trump will serve as chair of the task force, with Vice President JD Vance as vice chair. Other members include a number of Cabinet secretaries and administration officials, like Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who appeared alongside Trump on Tuesday.... Trump said that 'we’ll do anything necessary to keep the Olympics safe,' adding that could potentially include deploying 'our National Guard or military.'”
Trump Screws Up N.E.H. Naturally. Jennifer Schuessler & Michaela Towfighi of the New York Times: “The National Endowment for the Humanities abruptly canceled virtually all of its existing grants in April, citing a desire to pivot to 'the president’s agenda.' Now it has announced its largest round of grants since, $34.8 million in funding for 97 projects across the country.... The grants include many focused on presidents, statesmen and canonical authors ... that will support the 'expedited completion' of editorial work on papers relating to the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution and the Founding era. The agency said the awards ... were also a response to ... [Donald] Trump’s call for a 'grand celebration' of the 250th anniversary of American independence next July.... At the humanities endowment, the turmoil began in March when the previous chair, a Biden appointee, was forced out. Employees from the Department of Government Efficiency began scrutinizing its programs soon after.
“In April, the agency canceled most of the grants approved during the Biden administration, and moved to terminate more than half its staff of about 180. It also announced it would dedicate millions of dollars to ... Mr. Trump’s planned patriotic sculpture garden. Those moves have prompted an outcry among historians, along with lawsuits. Last week, a federal judge in New York ruled against the administration in a case brought by the Authors Guild, saying that the cancellation of already approved funding for 1,400 research projects violated the First Amendment.... Another lawsuit concerns the termination of the agency’s funding for 56 state and territorial humanities councils, which by law are entitled to a portion of the agency’s funding....”
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Heather Cox Richardson: “Sixty years ago..., on August 6, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act. The need for the law was explained in its full title: 'An Act to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution, and for other purposes.'” ~~~
Déjà vu, But Like Worse, Man. Brian Beutler of Off Message: Today is "a bit like February 2020 all over again, except we’re in the early days of a recession rather than a pandemic, and instead of reluctantly acknowledging its existence, Trump intends to deny reality altogether. Because this time he has more control over what the government says and does.... It’s clear the lesson Trump took from his first-term failures wasn’t that he had to be more competent, empirically minded, and transparent; it’s that he hadn’t established enough control over information to shield himself from the political consequences of unflattering news. This time around he seems intent on ... engaging in more coverups, purging the government of more honest brokers, and flooding the zone with more shit. But that means he’ll make more mistakes, too." (Also linked yesterday.)
Naftali Bendavid of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump is bending the U.S. justice system to his personal purposes in a way that is unprecedented in American history.... Trump’s team has mounted a direct assault on all three pillars of the justice system, attacking judges whose rulings he dislikes, firing prosecutors for doing their jobs and taking revenge on law firms for having clients or partners he considers hostile. The president has also broken one of the chief taboos of an independent justice system by using it to attack his political enemies. He personally ordered an investigation of his predecessor and onetime rival, former president Joe Biden. And now Attorney General Pam Bondi has ordered a grand jury investigation into allegations that Obama administration officials broke the law while investigating Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election — assertions that have been investigated and disproved.... 'The whole effort is to turn the department from being a professional organization into one where you are told that unless you are an echo chamber of what Trump wants you to say, you will get fired,' [said Bruce Fein, who served in the DOJ when Nixon, Ford & Reagan were in office].” The link is a gift link.
~~~ Marie: The article is worth reading on for a reminder of how many ways Trump has turned the DOJ into the Department of Injustice and has tried to intimidate the judiciary. No mention of his success with the Supremes. ~~~
~~~ He's Winnnning. Molly Redden of ProPublica: “Trump's war on Big Law means ... some of the country’s largest law firms have declined to represent clients challenging the Trump administration, more than a dozen attorneys and nonprofit leaders told ProPublica, while others have sought to avoid any clients that Trump might perceive as his enemies. That includes both clients willing to pay the firms’ steep rates, and those who receive free representation. Big Law firms are also refusing to take on legal work involving environmental protections, LGBTQ+ rights and police accountability or to represent elected Democrats and federal workers purged in Trump’s war on the 'deep state.' Advocacy groups say this is beginning to hamper their efforts to challenge the Trump administration.” ~~~
Tell Schumer, who is under tremendous political pressure from within his own party, the Radical Left Lunatics, to GO TO HELL! -- Donald Trump, on social media, recently scuttling negotiations between the Senate's Majority & Minority Leaders ~~~
~~~ AND There's This. Paul Kane of the Washington Post: “Almost six and a half months into his new term..., Donald Trump has yet to host Democratic leaders or convene a meeting with the bipartisan congressional leadership. In fact, Trump has not met privately to discuss his policy agenda with Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) or House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) at all — nor have they held these discussions by phone. That’s incredibly unusual. Bipartisan meetings were pro forma events for recent presidents.... On Monday, rather than asking for a meeting with Trump, Schumer and Jeffries demanded a meeting of the 'Big Four' — the leaders of the four congressional caucuses — to discuss the looming Sept. 30 funding deadline. Such gatherings with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) were commonplace in previous Congresses, yet these four leaders have only met this year at major [ceremonial] events.”
Up on the Rooftop, Ho Ho Ho. Katie Rogers of the New York Times: Donald “Trump was on the roof. As a confused group of reporters assembled below him on Tuesday morning, Mr. Trump strolled around on top of the White House ... to tell his audience that he was 'taking a little walk' in service of his latest home improvement project: a large ballroom. 'It’s just another way to spend my money for the country,' Mr. Trump shouted. He was getting a bird’s-eye view of where the $200 million White House ballroom he has proposed building would go, according to the White House.... What looked like a casual stroll was actually a heavily secured appearance: The area around the building was locked down and Secret Service agents, including members of the agency’s counter-sniper team, accompanied Mr. Trump on his walk.... 'Anything I do is financed by me; in other words, contributed,' Mr. Trump told reporters. 'Just like my salary is contributed. But nobody ever mentions that.'... Mr. Trump’s first-term White House announced that he partially donated his salary to agencies.... But his donations declined over the course of his first term, and he reported no charitable giving in 2020, according to his tax returns.”
Everybody's Picking on Donald. Rob Copeland of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said on Tuesday that he was a victim of discrimination by two of the nation’s largest banks, and suggested that his personal experience was fueling his animus with Wall Street. Mr. Trump, in an interview on CNBC, said that both JPMorgan Chase — the nation’s largest bank — and Bank of America refused to accept more than $1 billion in deposits from the Trump Organization after his first term. He said that he made personal appeals to the chief executives of both banks but was rejected. 'The banks discriminated against me very badly,' Mr. Trump said.... The Trump Organization earlier sued Capital One for closing its accounts in the wake of the Jan 6. attack on the Capitol. The president’s commentary on Tuesday carries significant weight on Wall Street because his administration has been preparing a crackdown, in the form of an executive order and other proposed regulatory changes, on so-called debanking practices. Many right-leaning organizations have claimed that the financial system has locked them out because of their political positions. Bank executives and lobbying groups have broadly pushed back against that assertion, although they have said that beginning with the Obama administration — and during Mr. Trump’s first term — they were required by regulators to apply close scrutiny to certain categories of deposits, including payday lenders and gun-related businesses.” CNBC's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Megan Messerly of Politico: “... Donald Trump on Tuesday said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will not be the next chair of the Federal Reserve. Trump, in an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box, said Bessent told him Monday evening that he does not want the job as central bank head and intends to remain Treasury secretary.... Trump did, however, reiterate that National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett and former Fed board member Kevin Warsh remain on his short list to run the central bank.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Colby Hall of Mediaite: CNBC “anchor Joe Kernen — fairly described as mostly pro-Trump — ... [was] forced to quasi-fact-check the former president’s trademark stream of baseless claims. That included his assertion that the jobs numbers were 'rigged,' which he cited in defense of firing Dr. Erika McEntarfer, and his persistent lie that the 2020 election was stolen.... Kernen begins by correcting some of Trump’s claims, allowing the one about getting the most votes in Texas, before pushing back on the notion that the BLS revised its reports to help Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024.... [Trump pushed right back with his usual false assertions.] Trump dismissed all unfavorable polling — particularly from Fox News — as fake, while claiming some polls showed him with a 70% approval rating.... [He] blast[ed] NBC polling as 'probably the worst of them all.'” More on the interview linked below under Texas.
Trump Is Innocent. He Only Knows What He Reads in the Papers. And Other Whoppers. Katherine Faulders, et al., of ABC News: "During her nine hours speaking with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche last month, Ghislaine Maxwell said nothing during the interview that would be harmful to ... Donald Trump, telling Blanche that Trump had never done anything in her presence that would have caused concern, according to sources familiar with what Maxwell said. The Trump administration, meanwhile, is considering publicly releasing the transcripts from the interview, multiple sources ... told ABC News.... The public release of the transcripts could come as soon as this week.... There is also an audio recording of the interview, the sources said, but it's not clear whether the administration plans to release the audio.... Trump, asked Tuesday whether he approved the prison transfer for Maxwell [from a low security prison to an even lower-security prison 'farm'], said, 'I didn't know about it at all, no. I read about it just like you did. It's not a very uncommon thing[.]' Trump also just said that anything Blanche discussed with Maxwell during his meetings with her would be 'totally above board.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Au contraire. According to multiple news report, it is a "very uncommon thing" which would require a rare waiver of BOP policy for sex offenders. In the meantime, I have every faith in Trump's lawyer that he will release full and complete and true transcripts of the totally candid and honest interview by an accused perjurer looking for a deal. And of course "totally above board." These people have a lower opinion of the intelligence of the public than H.L. Mencken did.
House of Horrors -- and the World's Elite. David Enrich, et al., of the New York Times survey Jeffrey Epstein's Manhattan townhouse: “The townhouse, a stone’s throw from Central Park, was sold to Mr. Epstein in 1998 by Leslie H. Wexner, the billionaire owner of L Brands. Mr. Epstein renovated and redecorated the mansion in an eccentric style. Dozens of framed prosthetic eyeballs lined the entryway. A sculpture of a woman wearing a bridal gown and clutching a rope was suspended in a central atrium. In the ground-floor dining room, Mr. Epstein entertained a rotating cast of celebrities, academics, politicians and businessmen.... Photos show that guests sat in leopard-print chairs around a large rectangular table.... In the massage room were paintings of naked women, a large silver ball and chain, and shelves stocked with lubricant, according to photos reviewed by The Times. Mr. Epstein regularly directed teenage girls — some recruited from middle schools in Queens — to massage him while he was naked. Sometimes he masturbated in front of them, according to court records and interviews with victims. Sometimes he raped or assaulted them.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "One of ... Donald Trump's repeated defenses of his longtime friendship with deceased financier and child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein is that he kicked Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago country club when it became clear he was 'stealing' young girls in Trump's employ.... [But] According to the footnotes of The Grifter's Club, a 2020 book about the goings on at Trump's flagship South Florida resort, '"The authors viewed a membership list showing that Epstein’s account had been closed.' The book reports that the 'membership log shows his account at the club was closed in October 2007."' Not only does that mean Epstein was a member of the club seven years after Trump said he 'stole' Mar-a-Lago worker — and Epstein victim — Virginia Giuffre. It also means he was a member of the club a year after he was indicted on charges related to his sex trafficking operation." (Also linked yesterday.)
Emily Davies, et al., of the Washington Post: “A protégé of Elon Musk and former DOGE staffer was injured in an attempted carjacking early Sunday morning in D.C., a police report said, in an attack that captured the attention of ... Donald Trump and reinspired his threats to take over the nation’s capital. 'If D.C. doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that they’re not going to get away with it anymore,' Trump wrote Tuesday on Truth Social.... Trump called for children as young as 14 to be prosecuted as adults.... Trump’s Truth Social post was accompanied by an image of a young person smeared in blood, sitting shirtless on the ground.... Billionaire Elon Musk ... wrote on X that a DOGE 'team member' was attacked, and Musk called to federalize D.C. A police report identified the victim as Edward Coristine, who is also known by the nickname 'Big Balls.'... D.C. police have arrested a 15-year-old boy and girl from Maryland and charged them with unarmed carjacking, the department said in a news release.” An NBC News story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie's Note to Billionaire Control Freaks: I'm sorry Big Balls got shrunk to Baby Balls in this frightening middle-of-the-night incident, but one pair of shrunken balls is not a reason to deny home rule to 700,000 people.
Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: Donald “Trump has urged and browbeaten supporters to shift their obsession from the Jeffrey Epstein files to the investigation and potential prosecution of Democratic officials he accuses of persecuting him.... The Justice Department under Mr. Trump, reeling from the angry backlash over its handling of the Epstein case, is now taking its most concrete — if still murky — investigative steps against Trump targets, starting with officials he blames for ... the investigation of his 2016 campaign’s connections to Russia. Attorney General Pam Bondi this week authorized prosecutors to investigate the inquiry the president calls the 'Russia hoax' and present a case to a grand jury in South Florida if the evidence warrants it.... Trump appointees are reluctant to present evidence to a grand jury in the District of Columbia.... They believe it would be nearly impossible to find sympathetic jurors in a courthouse overseen by a federal judge, James E. Boasberg, whom the Trump team regards as an enemy.... Still, there are a number of legal and practical hurdles that any such inquiry would have to overcome, chief among them the statute of limitations....”
RFKJ Is Trying to Kill You.
⭐Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: “Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has canceled nearly $500 million of grants and contracts for developing mRNA vaccines, the Department of Health and Human Services announced on Tuesday. It is the latest blow to research on this technology. In May, the Department of Health and Human Services revoked a nearly $600 million contract to the drugmaker Moderna to develop a vaccine against bird flu. The new cancellations dismayed scientists, many of whom regard mRNA shots as the best option for protecting Americans in a pandemic.” ~~~
~~~ Amanda Seitz of the AP: “'I don’t think I’ve seen a more dangerous decision in public health in my 50 years in the business,' said Mike Osterholm, a University of Minnesota expert on infectious diseases and pandemic preparations. He noted mRNA technology offers potential advantages of rapid production, crucial in the event of a new pandemic that requires a new vaccine.... 'It’s certainly saved millions of lives,' [Dr. Paul] Offit [of Children's Hospital in Philadelphia] said of the existing mRNA vaccines.”
~~~ Thanks, Senator/Doctor Bill Cassidy & all your Republican Senator friends for approving this murderous ass as HHS Secretary. And a special thanks to the top murderous ass Donald Trump. ~~~
~~~ Leana Wen of the Washington Post: “Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent takeover of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee was alarming enough. Now the health and human services secretary is reportedly considering something with potentially even greater impact: upending the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the panel of independent experts that guides everything from chronic disease screenings to mental health wellness. Kennedy is planning to fire all 16 scientists and physicians on the task force, unnamed sources ... told the Wall Street Journal and NBC News. If the reports are correct and Kennedy does take action, his legacy won’t just be undermining vaccine policy; it will be the dismantling of the entire framework of evidence-based prevention.... Americans might be surprised to learn that the task force’s recommendations guide virtually every aspect of their annual checkup.”
Tony Romm of the New York Times: “The Trump administration broke the law when it terminated about 1,800 grants and interrupted funding for the National Institutes of Health, a federal watchdog said on Tuesday. It was the fifth time that the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan legislative agency, faulted ... [Donald] Trump and his top aides for rearranging the budget in defiance of Congress. From February to June, investigators estimated, the N.I.H. awarded $8 billion less for research and other grants than it had a year earlier.... Federal law ... prohibits the president from withholding authorized money, a practice known as impoundment.... Top Democratic lawmakers immediately urged the White House to cease interrupting the flow of money at the N.I.H. and other research agencies.... The accountability office has opened 40 similar investigations to determine if the Trump administration has impounded funds, The Times previously reported.... The office has the power to sue to force the release of impounded funds, and recently has retained legal counsel in case it needs to take such rare action.”
Nicole Acevedo of NBC News: “A monthslong probe by the office of Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., compiled hundreds of alleged human rights violations at immigration detention centers, according to a new report about his probe first obtained by NBC News. The report states that Ossoff’s office has 'identified 510 credible reports of human rights abuse' against people in immigration custody. Of these cases, 41 include allegations of physical or sexual abuse, as well as 18 alleged reports of mistreatment of children in custody, both U.S. citizens and noncitizens, and 14 alleged reports of mistreatment of pregnant women.... In response to an NBC News request for comment about the report’s allegations, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an email, 'Any claim that there are subprime conditions at ICE detention centers are false.'” MB: Funny how McLaughlin could make that determination without anyone investigating anything. Why, it's almost as if she doesn't care.
“PLEASE DISREGARD.” Nothing to See Here, Folks. Hamed Aleaziz & Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: “On Tuesday morning, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced in an internal email that it would offer cash bonuses to agents for deporting people quickly, an incentive meant to motivate the staff to speed up President Trump’s mass deportation campaign. Less than four hours later, the agency abruptly canceled what was supposed to be a 30-day pilot program. Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman, said the program had not been authorized by agency leaders, adding that 'no such policy is in effect or has ever been in effect.' The email canceling the program was sent shortly after The New York Times inquired about its existence. But the short-lived effort underscored the mounting pressure on ICE to meet Mr. Trump’s aggressive deportation targets.... 'That is so ungodly unethical,' said Scott Shuchart, a former senior homeland security official. 'You can’t incentivize government agents to short circuit people’s procedural rights. Would you pay a bonus to judges for wrapping up trials faster?'”
Jack Brook & Michael Casey of the AP: “A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from reallocating $4 billion meant to help communities protect against natural disasters. U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns in Boston granted a preliminary injunction sought by 20 Democrat-led states while their lawsuit over the funding moves ahead.... In his ruling, Stearns said he was not convinced Congress had given FEMA any discretion to redirect the funds. The states had also shown that the 'balance of hardship and public interest' was in their favor.”
Ellyn Lapointe of Gizmodo: “The Trump Administration’s budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2026 would take an axe to NASA science. Two satellite missions on the chopping block have provided climate scientists, oil and gas companies, and farmers with critical atmospheric carbon data for years. The Orbiting Carbon Observatories are a pair of instruments that map atmospheric carbon on a global scale. NASA launched the OCO-2 in 2014 and mounted the OCO-3 on the International Space Station in 2019. Trump’s budget proposal threatens both missions, but the standalone OCO-2 would be completely destroyed during its fiery descent through Earth’s atmosphere. Though the budget has yet to pass, NPR reports that NASA scientists working on the OCO missions are already making 'Phase F' plans — essentially laying out options for termination.... Congress has already funded both satellites through the end of fiscal year 2025, NPR reports.... Decommissioning these satellites would mark a significant scientific loss.”
Maxine Joselow of the New York Times: “The Trump administration is preparing to terminate $7 billion in federal grants intended to help low- and moderate-income families install solar panels on their homes, according to two people briefed on the matter. The Environmental Protection Agency is drafting termination letters to the 60 state agencies, nonprofit groups and Native American tribes that received the grants under the 'Solar for All' program.... If finalized, the move would escalate the Trump administration’s efforts to claw back billions of dollars in grants awarded under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s signature climate law. And it would be certain to draw legal challenges from the grant recipients, many of whom have pursued projects in Republican-led states. 'If leaders in the Trump administration move forward with this unlawful attempt to strip critical funding from communities across the United States, we will see them in court,' said Kym Meyer, litigation director at the Southern Environmental Law Center, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization.”
They are trying to get universities to depress Black and brown enrollment. -- Justin Driver of Yale Law ~~~
~~~ Sharon Otterman & Anemona Hartocollis of the New York Times: “As part of the settlements struck with two Ivy League universities in recent weeks, the Trump administration will gain access to the standardized test scores and grade point averages of all applicants, including information about their race, a measure that could profoundly alter competitive college admissions. That aspect of the agreements with Columbia and Brown, which goes well beyond the information typically provided to the government, was largely overlooked amid splashier news that the universities had promised to pay tens of millions of dollars to settle claims of violations of federal anti-discrimination laws, including accusations that they had tolerated antisemitism. The release of such data has been on the wish list of conservatives who are searching for evidence that universities are dodging a 2023 Supreme Court decision barring the consideration of race in college admissions, and will probably be sought in the future from many more of them. But college officials and experts who support using factors beyond test scores worry that the government — or private groups or individuals — will use the data to file new discrimination charges against universities and threaten their federal funding.” The link appears to be a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Read on. Prof. Driver is right. The whole idea behind this part of the settlement agreement is racist. The Trump administration intends to ensure not a single Black or brown kid gets a leg up (you know, the way White kids do all the time). For instance, Pam Bondi wants to make sure that essays accompanying some applications that weigh “lived experiences” don't create a preference for, say, a brown kid who grew up picking vegetables in California fields.
Kadia Goba of the Washington Post: “The Republican-led House issued a subpoena to the Justice Department for files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, potentially setting up a contentious standoff between Congress and the Trump administration over an issue that has sparked major headaches for ... Donald Trump. House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Kentucky) formally issued the subpoena on Tuesday, nearly two weeks after one of the panel’s subcommittees — with some GOP support — voted to compel the Justice Department to release the files. Under House rules, Comer was obligated to issue the subpoenas and no full House vote was required. Along with a demand for the Epstein documents, the chairman also issued subpoenas for several high-profile figures, including Bill and Hillary Clinton and former FBI director and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. In all, Comer issued 11 subpoenas for documents and testimony spanning over two decades and including a slew of former attorneys general under Democratic and Republican administrations.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Herb Scribner & Avery Lotz of Axios: Donald "Trump's former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta was not one of the former government officials subpoenaed Tuesday by the House Oversight Committee over the Jeffrey Epstein probe. The sweetheart plea deal, which Acosta negotiated without consulting Epstein's victims, also shielded his alleged co-conspirators from future prosecution related to his sex crimes.... A Florida judge ruled in February 2019 that prosecutors broke the law in reaching the deal because they did not notify Epstein's victims. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) ordered an investigation into the plea agreement conduct days before Epstein died by suicide. The attorneys were later cleared of any wrongdoing. Acosta has long defended his handling of the Epstein deal. Still, he resigned from his labor secretary position in 2019 after the backlash became a distraction for the Trump administration. In 2020, the Justice Department concluded in a report that Acosta demonstrated 'poor judgment' when he signed off on the deal." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The committee's choice of whom to subpoena is a little odd. They didn't call Acosta, who brokered the get-out-of-jail-quick deal for Epstein, but they did subpoena Hillary Clinton, whose one known connection to Epstein, according to Lawrence O'Donnell, was that Maxwell's nephew had worked on Hillary's presidential campaign.
Annie Karni of the New York Times: “Representative Mike Flood, Republican of Nebraska, was not even 30 seconds into his prepared introduction at a town hall in Lincoln on Monday evening when the booing and the jeering began. Then it didn’t let up for over an hour. 'There’s been a lot of misinformation out there about the bill,' Mr. Flood told a crowd of more than 700 people gathered in a downtown recital hall, referring to President Trump’s sweeping domestic policy legislation that significantly cuts Medicaid, food benefits and other programs. 'You are a liar!' multiple people shouted back. 'Liar! Liar!'... Faced with selling a major piece of legislation that polls show is broadly unpopular and confronted with ruptures in Mr. Trump’s base over his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, [GOP Congressmen] risk being met with angry questions for which they have no easy answers.” (Also linked yesterday.)
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California. Laurel Rosenhall, et al., of the New York Times : “Democrats in California moved this week to counter redistricting efforts by Texas Republicans with discussions of a new political map of their own drawn to help Democrats win as many as five of the state’s Republican U.S. House seats next year. That would functionally offset the five Democratic House seats that Republicans have targeted in Texas. The plan seemed far-fetched a few weeks ago but has been gaining momentum as a redistricting war that began in Texas threatens to spread across the country. California’s Democratic members of Congress and the state Legislature have been briefed in recent days. State lawmakers are planning to vote on the proposal the week of Aug. 18, and Gov. Gavin Newsom said he hopes to put a new map before voters in a special election on Nov. 4.” The link appears to be a gift link.
Florida. “I Have Always Conducted Myself with Integrity.” Aaron Pellish, et al., of Politico: “A woman who said she had been in a relationship with Rep. Cory Mills has accused the Republican member of Congress from Florida of threatening to release nude videos of her after she broke off their relationship, according to a police report. Lindsey Langston, a Florida Republican state committee member and 2024 winner of the Miss United States beauty pageant, told authorities on July 14 that Mills also threatened to harm any of her future romantic partners, according to a report she made to the Columbia County Sheriff’s Department.... Langston said that Mills told her he was separated from his wife at the time they started their relationship. The representative is still married.” Mills says he's a totally upstanding guy who “has always conducted himself with integrity.”
Texas. David Goodman of the New York Times : “Senator John Cornyn of Texas asked the F.B.I. on Tuesday to help locate and arrest dozens of Democratic state lawmakers who left Texas to block the State Legislature from voting on a Republican plan that could help the party keep control of Congress after the 2026 elections.... The senator cited an accusation by Gov. Greg Abbott that the absent Democrats and people who support them may be violating bribery laws over the funding of the walkout.... The potential use of federal agents to round up the Texas lawmakers, who have sought refuge in New York, Illinois and Massachusetts, would be a significant step, and could set up a clash between the governors of those Democratic states and the Trump administration. Hours later, the state attorney general, Ken Paxton, said that if the absent Democrats did not return by Friday he would seek a court order declaring their seats vacant.” (Also linked yesterday.) A related Politico story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: The excuse for the feds arresting Texas legislators seems far-fetched to me. Not showing up for work in the Texas legislature is not a federal offense. Bribery is a federal offense, but Cornyn offers nothing more than second-hand gossip as "evidence." The FBI, at least in the past, would never have arrested & detained a person on the basis of an unfounded rumor from opponents that the person might have committed a non-violent crime. I realize Trump's FBI will do what Trump wants, but multiple false arrests is a far bridge. ~~~
~~~ Besides, It's Totally Fair. Michael Luciano of Mediaite: “Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick (R) argued that his state should move forward with its plan to radically gerrymander congressional districts there because, as a red state, 'We deserve more representation.'” MB: I would say “sociopath” is no longer a controversial adjective one may use to describe your typical Republican elected official. ~~~
~~~ Kira Lerner, et al., of the Guardian: “Asked by a reporter whether the FBI should assist with tracking down state Democratic lawmakers, [Donald Trump] said the agency 'may have to'. 'The governor of Texas is demanding they come back,' Trump said. 'You can’t just sit it out. You have to go back. You have to fight it out. That’s what elections are all about.' Earlier on Tuesday, Trump argued that Republicans were entitled to the five additional seats they could stand to gain if the new map were approved. 'We have an opportunity in Texas to pick up five seats,' Trump said in an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box. 'We have a really good governor, and we have good people in Texas. And I won Texas. I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know, and we are entitled to five more seats.... In Illinois, what’s happened is terrible what they’re doing,' the president added.”*
~~~ Marie: No, not the highest vote in the history of Texas. George W. Bush beat John Kerry by a higher number of votes in 2004, and by a higher margin of votes.
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Israel/Palestine. Shira Rubin, et al., of the Washington Post: “Israel’s plans to launch a full-scale occupation of the Gaza Strip, details of which officials are set to discuss this week..., is bringing fear and uncertainty to Palestinians in Gaza, who are exhausted after nearly two years of Israeli bombardment and gunfire and are now in the grips of a growing starvation crisis. The families of Israeli hostages still in captivity are afraid that expanded military operations in Gaza will put their loved ones at risk. The plan to occupy all of Gaza, which was reported by The Washington Post and other outlets Monday, means that military operations will also take place 'in areas where hostages are being held,' said a person familiar with the prime minister’s decisions....” (Also linked yesterday.)
Russia/Ukraine, et al. Robyn Dixon of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, arrived in Moscow Wednesday in a last-ditch effort to eke out a ceasefire deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin before Trump’s Friday deadline to halt fighting in Ukraine.”
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