The Conversation -- June 25, 2025
Marie: I refuse to withhold my outrage. I refuse to read stories about Trump and his lackeys with resignation or acceptance. I hate the cruelty, the stupidity, the corruption, the carelessness, the indecency, the disrespect and disregard for humankind.
Stephanie Nolen of the New York Times: The United States will withdraw its financial support of Gavi, a global organization that helps purchase vaccines for children in poor countries, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the United States secretary of Health and Human Services, told the group's leaders on Wednesday, accusing them of having 'ignored the science' in immunizing children around the world. Mr. Kennedy made the incendiary remarks in a brief, prerecorded video message sent overnight to a gathering of health ministers and other leaders in Brussels focused on raising funds to support the work of Gavi. It was to be played for the group later on Wednesday.... The United States was the largest donor to Gavi, whose work is estimated to have saved the lives of 17 million children around the world over the past two decades."
Stephanie Nolen of the New York Times: "There is more potential than ever before to end the H.I.V. epidemic scientists and public health experts say. But now, H.I.V. programs across Africa are scrambling to procure drugs that the United States once supplied, replace lost nurses and lab technicians, and restart shuttered programs to prevent new infections.... Already, there are fears that H.I.V. infection rates are rising in the hardest-hit countries, but there is no clear way to measure the damage because data collection was mostly reliant on the terminated U.S. funding. Stocks of prevention drugs once supplied by the U.S. are running out across Africa.
Edward Wong, et al., of the New York Times: "The [Trump] administration is pushing nations around the world ... to take people expelled by the U.S. government who are not citizens of those countries.... American diplomats are reaching out to countries in every corner of the globe, even some shattered by war or known for human rights abuses. U.S. officials have approached Angola, Mongolia and embattled Ukraine. Kosovo has agreed to accept up to 50 people. Costa Rica is holding dozens. The U.S. government paid Rwanda $100,000 to take an Iraqi man and is discussing sending more deportees there. And the administration recently planned to fly citizens of mainly Asian and Latin American countries to war-torn Libya and South Sudan, until a U.S. district court blocked those expulsions.... The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the Trump administration has the right to expel people to countries other than their own, possibly paving the way for the deportation flight to South Sudan and similar moves across the globe. 'Fire up the deportation planes,' Tricia McLaughlin, a Homeland Security Department spokeswoman, wrote on social media.... Mr. Trump ... is ... trying to set up a network of nations that accept people from anywhere in the world and put them in prisons, camps or other facilities. In some cases, the foreign governments could allow the people to apply for asylum or try to send them back to their countries of origin."
Christopher Flavelle, et al., of the New York Times: "The rapid dismantling of [U.S.A.I.D.] remains one of the most consequential outcomes of ... [Donald] Trump's efforts to overhaul the federal government, showing his willingness to tear down institutions in defiance of the courts.... This is the story of [the] two weeks [during which Trump tore down the aid agency].... A New York Times examination found that Trump administration officials came to U.S.A.I.D. with no plan to dismantle the agency, at least not so quickly. Instead, that decision emerged day by day, marked by rash demands, shock and confusion."
Elisabeth Bumiller of the New York Times profiles Usha Vance. MB: Unless she gets out now, which she will not, she's a traitor to human decency.
Aimee Ortiz of the New York Times: "A federal jury on Monday ordered a man who was charged in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol to pay $500,000 to the family of a D.C. police officer who was assaulted during the riot and later killed himself. A lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia claimed that the officer, Jeffrey Smith, of the Metropolitan Police, was hit with a hard object during the clashes, and that he became depressed in the days that followed. He killed himself a little over a week later. The man who was sued, David Walls-Kaufman, a chiropractor, was also charged criminally with parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. In 2023, he pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge and served a two-month jail sentence, but he was pardoned earlier this year by ... [Donald] Trump. Mr. Walls-Kaufman has denied assaulting the officer. Officer Smith was hit in the head with a metal pole during the melee and seemed to slip into a deep depression, his wife, Erin Smith, said in 2021."
Florida. Robyn Pennacchia of Wonkette: "A little over a year ago, Republican Florida Republican Rep. Kat Cammack could have died. Five weeks into an ectopic pregnancy, she was rushed to the emergency room where doctors told her that they could not treat her, for fear of losing their licenses or ending up in prison if they violated Florida's then-new abortion ban. Under normal circumstances they would have given her a dose of Methotrexate to expel the pregnancy and save her life immediately, but they were wary to do so, and for good reason. Cammack, the co-chair of the Pro-Life Caucus, was able to use her connections and status to convince the hospital to treat her, but now claims that the only reason they didn't do it right away was due to 'fearmongering' from abortion rights advocates (like all of us!) scaring them into believing that the law banned treating ectopic pregnancies." MB: Do not think you can win an argument with any of these people even when they have life-threatening, first-hand experience with the effects of their policies (and odd beliefs). They got to where they are via un-reason, and they're sticking with un-reason. And it's your fault.
~~~~~~~~~~
The New York Times liveblogged the Democratic primary election for New York City mayor, which was held Tuesday: "Zohran Mamdani, a little-known state lawmaker whose progressive economic platform electrified younger voters, surged into the lead in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City, putting him on the verge of a stunning upset. Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who had led the race for months, conceded the primary and congratulated Mr. Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, in remarks after 10 p.m. He notably did not promise to continue his campaign in November, despite securing a third-party ballot line. 'Tonight was not our night,' a deflated-looking Mr. Cuomo, 67, told supporters. He added, of Mr. Mamdani: 'Tonight is his night. He deserved it. He won.' Unless one candidate receives more than 50 percent of first-choice votes in the initial count under the city's ranked-choice voting system, counting will continue next week. At a moment when Democrats are searching for an answer to President Trump, Mr. Mamdani ran on an unabashedly progressive agenda, promising to make buses free, freeze the rent on rent-stabilized apartments and raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers. His promise of generational change appears to have resonated with large numbers of voters." This is a update of the liveblog linked yesterday. ~~~
~~~ Marie: May this be the sunset of Clinton Democrats. ~~~
~~~ Alyce McFadden & Dana Rubinstein of the New York Times: "In a soaring speech on a Queens rooftop in the early minutes of Wednesday morning, Zohran Mamdani, the presumptive winner of the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City, promised to lift up New York City's working class and serve as a model for the future of his party. 'A life of dignity should not be reserved for a fortunate few,' Mr. Mamdani said. 'It should be one that city government guarantees for each and every New Yorker.' He promised to use his power to 'stop masked ICE agents from deporting our neighbors,' vowed to make buses 'fast and free' and pledged to freeze the rent on regulated units. The crowd of hundreds of his supporters, many of them young, clutched cocktails and beers in cups that dripped with condensation as they roared their approval in the midnight heat."
Tyler Pager of the New York Times: Donald Trump was meeting with NATO leaders on Wednesday at the alliance's annual summit.... Mr. Trump has demanded that NATO members, meeting in The Hague, raise the share of their economic output that they devote to military spending to 5 percent, up from 2 percent.... But it was unclear whether that would happen after Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, said that his country would put 'no more, no less,' than 2.1 percent of its economic output toward military spending. 'Spain's not agreeing, which is very unfair to the rest of them,' Mr. Trump said on Tuesday as he traveled to the Netherlands. Yet Mr. Trump has maintained that the United States -- which spends about 3.5 percent of its economic output on its military -- does not need to meet the 5 percent goal he has demanded of other countries." This is part of the pinned item in a liveblog. ~~~
~~~ If there is any aspect of the stereotypical Ugly American that Trump doesn't meet, Jeff Bezos and his tacky fiancee Lauren Sánchez, are filling the void. They are to be married this week in Venice. Amy Odell elaborates in a New York Times op-ed. Sorry, Europe! ~~~
~~~ "On Monday, activists from Greenpeace and the Britain-based group Everyone Hates Elon unfurled [this] giant image of a laughing Bezos in St. Mark's Square under the words...." -- Washington Post
Bunker Buster Bomb Bust. Julian Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: "A preliminary classified U.S. report says the American bombing of Iran's nuclear sites sealed off the entrances to two of the facilities but did not collapse their underground buildings.... The early findings conclude that the strikes over the weekend set back Iran's nuclear program by only a few months.... Before the attack, U.S. intelligence agencies had said that if Iran tried to rush to making a bomb, it would take about three months. After the U.S. bombing run and days of attacks by the Israeli Air Force, the report by the Defense Intelligence Agency estimated that the program was delayed less than six months.... The findings suggest that ... [Donald] Trump's statement that Iran's nuclear facilities were obliterated was overstated, at least based on the initial damage assessment. Congress had been set to be briefed on the strike on Tuesday..., but the session was postponed. Senators are now set be briefed on Thursday."(Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Anne Flaherty & Luis Martinez of ABC News: "Sources say the U.S. believes based on early intelligence that significant damage was done but mostly to structures above ground. According to the sources, the enriched uranium was not destroyed and centrifuges are largely intact. The findings are at odds with ... Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insisting that Iran's nuclear program had been 'obliterated.' In his most recent comments Tuesday morning, Trump told reporters, 'I think it's been completely demolished.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'm confused. Generalissimo Bonespurs keeps talking about how the B-52 pilots did such a great job hitting their targets. But the B-52 is not a single-person aircraft. It has, among other members of the crew, a bombardier or radar navigator. Isn't the radar navigator/bombardier is the person most responsible for dropping the bombs; i.e., hitting the targets? This is not to suggest that the bombs could hit their targets if the pilots (with help from her crew) couldn't get the plane in range of the targets. ~~~
~~~ Marco in Denial. Felicia Schwartz of Politico: "Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that Iran is 'much further away from a nuclear weapon' amid new intelligence assessments that a U.S. strike did not destroy three of the country's nuclear sites.... Rubio dismissed the media reports [than Pentagon analysis had found the U.S. strikes on Iran had set back its nuclear program by only a few months] as 'false' and said they did not capture the full picture." ~~~
~~~ Tyler Pager & David Sanger of the New York Times: "... just hours after [Donald Trump] landed [in the Netherlands for the annual NATO meeting], the leak of a new U.S. intelligence report cast doubt on his repeated claim that the American strikes had 'obliterated' Iran's nuclear programs.... Mr. Trump had been eager to celebrate his success at NATO and revel in the fact that he had conducted an attack that none of his predecessors had dared to launch. His view was backed up by Mark Rutte, the secretary general of the alliance, who wrote Mr. Trump a private message thanking him for his 'decisive action' in Iran....
"Mr. Rutte went on to tell Mr. Trump that he was 'flying into another big success in The Hague this evening,' citing the alliance's agreement that each nation would spend 5 percent of its gross domestic product on defense or defense-related spending, though they have a decade to reach the mark. That is a major victory for Mr. Trump, who has pressed for the past decade for Europe to pay for more of its own defense.... By any measure, Mr. Trump's actions in the past 72 hours underscored to those countries, however, how advanced the U.S. military was compared to the other forces that make up NATO."
Adam Liptak & Mattathias Schwartz of the New York Times: "The Trump administration returned to the Supreme Court on Tuesday in the case of eight men it seeks to deport to South Sudan, asking the justices to make clear that an order they issued on Monday was intended to apply to the group. The clarity was apparently needed because the Supreme Court on Monday had issued only a brief order letting the government send migrants to countries with which they have no connection without giving them a chance to argue they would face torture. The court provided no explanation of its reasoning. The Supreme Court's order paused an injunction issued by Judge Brian E. Murphy, of the U.S. District Court in Boston, who had forbidden the deportations of all migrants to third countries unless they were afforded due process. Soon after the Supreme Court ruled, lawyers for the men filed an emergency motion with Judge Murphy asking him to continue blocking the deportations of eight men currently held in Djibouti.
"In a brief order Monday night, the judge denied the motion as unnecessary. He said that he had issued a separate ruling last month, different from the one the Supreme Court had paused, protecting the men in Djibouti from immediate removal. That left the fate of the men unclear, as ... [Donald] Trump and a top aide cried foul. Judge Murphy 'knew absolutely nothing about the situation' and was 'absolutely out of control,' Mr. Trump wrote on social media. Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff..., said, 'Expect fireworks tomorrow when we hold this judge accountable for refusing to obey the Supreme Court.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Hetty Chang & Helen Jeong of NBC 4 Los Angeles: "After a gardener in Santa Ana was pinned down and violently detained Saturday by federal immigration agents, his son, who has served in the U.S. Marine Corps, expressed anger, sadness and a sense of betrayal. A video clip outside a Santa Ana IHOP ... shows Narciso Barranco being punched repeatedly in the head last Saturday.... Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin of the Homeland Security Department claimed that the gardener tried to run away from federal agents through a busy intersection in Santa Ana. '(He) raised the weed whacker again at the agent. The illegal alien refused to comply every step of the way, resisting commands, fighting handcuffs and refusing to identify himself,' McLaughlin said in a statement. But the manager of the IHOP [Guilermo Villarreal] disputed the claim, saying he saw what happened during the arrest. 'He was protecting himself... He's not attacking (anybody). They were beating him so hard.'... The three sons of Narciso Barranco all have served in the U.S. Marine Corps.... '... it doesn't take four or five 200-plus-pound guys to get a 5'7" and 150-pound guy,' Alejandro Barranco, the landscaper's son and a Marine Corps veteran, said." ~~~
~~~ Julia Ainsley & Laura Strickler of NBC News: "After six months of aggressive immigration enforcement and promises to focus on deporting violent criminals, the Trump administration has arrested and detained a small fraction of the undocumented immigrants already known to Immigration and Customs Enforcement as having been convicted of sexual assault and homicide, internal ICE data obtained by NBC News shows.... Last fall, ICE told Congress that 13,099 people convicted of homicide and 15,811 people convicted of sexual assault were on its non-detained docket, meaning it knew who they were but did not have them in custody.... The new data obtained by NBC News shows that from Oct. 1 to May 31, ICE arrested 752 people convicted of homicide and 1,693 people convicted of sexual assault, meaning that at the absolute most, the Trump administration has detained only 6% of the undocumented immigrants known to ICE to have been convicted of homicide and 11% of those known to ICE to have been convicted of sexual assault. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin called the data inaccurate but did not provide raw numbers of arrests by criminal category." ~~~
~~~ Marie: How come the feds deploy four or five burly men to capture an older man doing the thankless job of trimming hedges in a SoCal parking lot -- but nobody to capture most of the notorious murderers and rapists whose whereabouts they know?
Edith Olmstead of the New Republic, republished by Yahoo! News: "White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller owns a massive stake in Palantir, which stands to make millions off of Donald Trump's sweeping immigration crackdown, according to the Project on Government Oversight. Miller's public financial disclosure report said that the ghoulish Homeland Security adviser owns between $100,001 and $250,000 in assets at the defense company.... Last month, the Trump administration tapped Palantir to help build a massive system to allow federal agencies to better share their data with each other, creating a huge database that will serve as a surveillance tool for the state. Palantir has also been angling to get involved with the U.S. Navy's efforts to fast-track warship building.... Given Miller's involvement in Immigration and Customs Enforcement, his financial stake in Palantir should raise significant concerns over potential conflicts of interest."
Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: "A senior Justice Department official, Emil Bove III, told subordinates he was willing to ignore court orders to fulfill the president's aggressive deportation campaign, according to a whistle-blower complaint by a department lawyer who has since been fired. The account by the dismissed lawyer, Erez Reuveni, paints a disturbing portrait of his final three weeks on the front lines of the Trump administration's legal efforts to ship immigrants overseas, often with little notice or recourse. In Mr. Reuveni's telling, Mr. Bove discussed disregarding court orders, adding an expletive for emphasis, and other top law enforcement officials showed themselves ready to stonewall judges or lie to them to get their way. Mr. Reuveni's account, which was obtained by The New York Times, was filed to lawmakers and the Justice Department inspector general on Tuesday, just one day before Mr. Bove is scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a nomination to a federal appeals court....
"Mr. Bove's boss, Todd Blanche, called Mr. Reuveni's description of events 'falsehoods purportedly made by a disgruntled former employee and then leaked to the press in violation of ethical obligations.' Mr. Blanche denounced this article as 'a false hit piece a day before a confirmation hearing,' criticizing The Times for publishing it. 'The claims about Department of Justice leadership are utterly false,' he said in a statement. The filing, however, suggests a copious trail of emails, texts and phone records that would support Mr. Reuveni's version of events." MB: Bove and Blanche, as you recall, worked together as private lawyers to defend Felonious Trump. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The account, submitted by the Government Accountability Project to the DOJ inspector general and others, is here. (Unfortunately, it is a pdf provided by the NYT, so firewalled.)(Also linked yesterday.)
Scott Nover of the Washington Post: "In a hearing Monday to determine the future of Voice of America, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth scolded the government for not complying with his preliminary injunction from April. Lamberth lamented the 'paucity' of information provided by the Trump administration about how it is complying with the statutory obligations for running Voice of America and its parent, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, as ordered in an April injunction. At one point, Lamberth asked the assistant U.S. attorney representing the government, Brenda González Horowitz, why he should not start a contempt trial for violating his injunction. While the federal circuit court for Washington stayed parts of Lamberth's injunction in May that brought staffers back to work, the government did not appeal a requirement of the order that required it to uphold the statutory obligations of the agency." (Also linked yesterday.)
Karoun Demirjian of the New York Times: "Investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board said on Tuesday that a single bolt could have averted a terrifying incident last year when a panel blew off an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 airplane midair. The agency did not determine who removed and failed to replace the four bolts that typically held the door plug -- a panel that fills a gap where an emergency exit would be -- in place, causing it to rip off Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 midflight. But investigators said that the door plug would not have come loose if just one of the lower bolts, called vertical movement arrestor bolts, had been installed. The finding was part of a series of failures highlighted in a public hearing held by N.T.S.B. leaders in Washington to review the findings of their 17-month investigation. The agency determined that the door plug likely detached because Boeing had failed to ensure that workers 'consistently and correctly' followed its process to remove and reinstall parts. '... An accident like this does not happen because of an individual, or even a group of individuals,' said Jennifer Homendy, the N.T.S.B. chairwoman, adding, 'An accident like this only happens when there are multiple system failures.'"
Big Balls Resigns. Chris Cameron & Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: "Edward Coristine, the 19-year-old high-profile operative for the Department of Government Efficiency, resigned yesterday morning, according to a White House official. Mr. Coristine, known by the online pseudonym 'Big Balls,' was a key player on Elon Musk's team that spearheaded a widespread effort to slash the federal bureaucracy. To critics and many government employees, he became a symbol of DOGE's flaws: Its technologists were young and inexperienced but brash, with a dubious background for the outsize positions of power they occupied.... Mr. Coristine had been involved in DOGE activities in the General Services Administration, the U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services and Homeland Security. He was most recently seen working in the Social Security Administration.... He was earlier involved in efforts to slash the State Department's budget, helping to direct plans to close diplomatic offices and fire overseas employees. He later moved on to assist in building a system for the United States to sell special immigration visas, which ... [Donald] Trump has labeled 'gold cards,' for $5 million apiece." An NBC News story is here.
Kate Conger & Kenneth Vogel of the New York Times: "Media Matters, a liberal advocacy organization, sued the Federal Trade Commission on Monday, claiming that the agency was waging a 'campaign of retribution' against the group on behalf of the Trump administration and Elon Musk. The F.T.C. started investigating Media Matters last month over whether the organization had illegally colluded with other advertising advocacy groups to pinch off revenue from X, Mr. Musk's social media company, and other right-leaning sites. Media Matters reported in 2023 that ads on X appeared alongside antisemitic content. Media Matters said in its lawsuit that the Federal Trade Commission had employed 'sweeping governmental powers to attempt to silence and harass an organization for daring to speak the truth.' The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., claimed that the agency was trying to limit the organization's free speech rights, and asked a judge to immediately halt the investigation." (Also linked yesterday.)
Mike Lillis of the Hill: "Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Tuesday asserted that the War Powers Act is unconstitutional, pushing back forcefully against the lawmakers in both parties who are invoking the law in an effort to block ... [Donald] Trump from further military action in Iran. Johnson has already rejected calls to stage a vote on a bipartisan war powers resolution in the wake of Trump's decision to strike three Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend.... On Tuesday, he took that opposition a long step forward, saying the War Powers Act -- a 1973 law designed to limit a president's authority to wage unilateral war -- defies the Founder's designs for the commander in chief. 'Many respected constitutional experts argue that the War Powers Act is itself unconstitutional. I'm persuaded by that argument,' Johnson told reporters in the Capitol. 'They think it's a violation of the Article II powers of the commander in chief. I think that's right.'"
Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: While the House has already approved Donald Trump's Big Bad Bill, "any changes made by the Senate will send it back to the House, where it must win final passage to clear Congress and go to the White House for Mr. Trump's signature. Some conservatives in the House only grudgingly voted for the legislation the first time, arguing that it did not go far enough in cutting spending, including on Medicaid. They agreed to support the package only after securing what they characterized as commitments from their Senate colleagues to enact deeper cuts and fix the measure. Now, those House Republicans regard the bill taking shape in the Senate, which party leaders hope to push through within days, as even worse.... Representative Chip Roy of Texas wrote on social media..., '...The bill in its current Senate form would increase deficits, continue most Green New Scam subsidies, & otherwise fail even a basic smell test ... I would = not vote for it as it is.' Representative Andy Harris of Maryland [chairman of the House Freedom Caucus], who voted 'present' on the = House-passed bill, also said he would not vote for the version the = Senate was putting together." ~~~
~~~ It Isn't Just the Crazies. Nathaniel Weixel of the Hill: "More than a dozen House Republicans warned they won't support the Senate's version of the tax and spending bill because the proposed Medicaid cuts are too steep. Led by Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.), 15 other vulnerable Republicans sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) saying they support the Medicaid reforms in the House version of the legislation, but the Senate Finance Committee proposal went too far."
Michael Gold of the New York Times: "House Democrats on Tuesday chose Representative Robert Garcia of California to lead their party on the Oversight Committee, elevating a less experienced member over an older and more seasoned one to a key post as younger Democrats seek more influence over their party&'s future. Mr. Garcia, 47, a second-term lawmaker, emerged from a field that had initially included three other contenders in an internal contest for a position that will make him among Democrats' most visible foils to Republicans and the Trump administration. His selection suggested a rebuke to the seniority system that Democrats have traditionally used when awarding powerful positions in Congress. The secret ballot vote was 150 to 63, according to members. The top spot on the Oversight Committee, the main investigative panel in the House, became vacant after Representative Gerald E. Connolly of Virginia died last month at 75. The position has seen considerable turnover; Mr. Connolly was the fourth person to hold it in six years, none of them younger than 60 years old."
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California. Gaya Gupta & Tobi Raji of the Washington Post: "A man charged with helping bomb a fertility clinic in Southern California last month has died in federal custody in Los Angeles, prison officials said Tuesday. Daniel Jongyon Park, 32, was found unresponsive at the Metropolitan Detention Center about 7:30 a.m., the Federal Bureau of Prisons said in a statement. Employees 'initiated life-saving measures' and requested emergency medical services, the bureau said. Park was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, prison officials said. They did not release a cause of death. Park's lawyer, Peter Hardin, said the death appeared to be a suicide but is being investigated by the FBI.... Federal prosecutors accused Park of aiding 25-year-old Guy Edward Bartkus in the May 17 attack on the American Reproductive Centers clinic in Palm Springs. Bartkus, who attempted to live-stream the attack, detonated a car bomb, killing him and injuring four others. Authorities described the attack as an act of terrorism." --41--
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Reader Comments (30)
Knee-slapper of the Day
“Mr. Bove’s boss, Todd Blanche, called Mr. Reuveni’s description of events 'falsehoods purportedly made by a disgruntled former employee and then leaked to the press in violation of ethical obligations.'”
Any time one of the sniggering, scheming, slithering, sadistic little elves from Fat Hitler’s Workshop of Evil Shit attacks someone for “ethical violations” you just know that person must have said or done something 100% in the right. How can you spot an ethical violation when ethical anything turns you instantly into a mound of monkey dung?
@Akhilleus: Bove's Senate hearing is today. I seldom watch Congressional hearings, but if I find CSPAN on my cable lineup, I just might dive in and out of this one, especially as my plans for today are to do nothing but hydrate in the heatwave.
Heather Cox offers a new definition of an emergency.
"Inspections will be hard to conduct at the newly approved detention facility deep in the Florida Everglades designed to house up to 5,000 migrants. Members of the state legislature say they were not consulted about the plan. Florida says the new facility will cost about $450 million a year to operate. The federal government will reimburse that money through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)."
We don't have enough natural disasters, so let's create an unnatural one.
And I thought that FEMA was going to be disappeared...
@Ken Winkes: So I gather the idea is to have the alligators eat the members of Congress before they can get to "Alligator Alcatraz" to conduct inspections.
Charlie Warzel and Hana Kiros, in The Atlantic, provide another summary on what a horrible human being elon musk is writing: Elon Musk Is Playing God
"Musk did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this article [documenting the horrors as humanitarian services under USAID collapsed] . Last month, in an interview with Bloomberg, he argued that his critics have been unable to produce any evidence that these cuts at USAID have resulted in any real suffering. “It’s false,” he said....
Musk is wrong, as our reporting shows—and as multiple other reports (and estimates) have also shown. But the issue here is not just that Musk is wrong. It is that his indifference to the suffering of people in Africa exists alongside his belief that he has a central role to play in the future of the human species."
Failed to reach adequate depth
Cammack, the co-chair of the Pro-Life Caucus
"Republican’s Life-Threatening Pregnancy Collided With Florida’s Abortion Politics
Due in August with her first child, Rep. Kat Cammack says doctors last year hesitated to treat her ectopic pregnancy"
Then she blamed Democrats for doctors being afraid to treat her.
She is not the only one who thinks she is the exception.
“The Only Moral Abortion is My Abortion”
How Republicans Protect Children
"Senate Bill 5375, signed into law by Gov. Bob Ferguson last month, adds clergy to the list of mandatory reporters of sexual abuse.
Washington’s new law was targeted by Trump’s justice department last month, and on Monday, DOJ lawyers argued it violates freedom of religion provisions in the First Amendment.
The Governor, a lifelong Catholic said, “It is disappointing, but not surprising, to see the DOJ seek to shield and protect child abusers.”"
"Procedural Tools for Congress to Slow Down MAGA"
"A political theology of grievance
The MAGA worldview isn’t just political—it’s emotional, symbolic, and tribal. If we want to defend democracy, we need to understand what we’re really up against.
At the heart of this worldview lies a potent story: America has been stolen. Not by a foreign enemy, but from within—by liberal elites, immigrants, globalists, and bureaucrats who, in this account, hijacked the nation from its rightful stewards. What’s being “taken” isn’t just institutional power, but a deeper sense of racial, cultural, and gendered entitlement—whiteness as default, masculinity as order, Christianity as moral compass. This is more than nostalgia for a mythic past. It’s a political theology of grievance that explains empty towns, shattered livelihoods, and the loss of social status—and then offers a redeemer."
In case, like me, you have dedicated today to doing nothing more productive than glistening under the heat dome, you might want to waste a few minutes listening to Sam Stein & Tim Miller discussing Marjorie Taylor Greene's hypothesis that "the Jews" assassinated JFK.
Wait…the Jews killed Kennedy? Was that before or after they invented space lasers? I guess they used the space lasers to start forest fires as a cover for killing Kennedy. Well it’s not surprising. After all, Jews sank the Titanic, started the Great Depression, and had something to do with Covid, if I’m not mistaken. Now was all this the work of the Rothschild family or the Marx Brothers? I’m sure one of Margie’s Qanon pats has the answer.
Only the best…
Marie,
If you’re planning on watching ol’ Emil today, be prepared for what’s become the standard Fat Hitler apparatchik’s mode of testification before Congress:
Dissemble, answer questions with more more questions, dissemble some more, add a few “what abouts”, refer to laws that don’t exist, misquote your questioners, plenty of foot dragging, a large helping of “whatchoo gonna do about it” smirks, quote the Bible a lot, even if you’ve never read it, and any questions about the Dear Leader, remind everyone with just a soupçon of shit eating grin, that he has an Article II. If things get hot, give the evil eye to PoT lackeys to come to the rescue and remind everyone of your sterling character, blah, blah, blah, then accuse democrats of being liars and traitors. A little projection can’t hurt.
Wait, wait, wait…they’re gonna build a prison to hold 5,000 innocent people beaten and abducted by masked ICE thugs?
In the Everglades. The Everglades is basically a giant swamp, right? So they’re gonna build Fat Hitler’s brand new gulag…in a swamp.
A bit daft, in’it?
There’s a very good reason why you
don’t build stuff in a swamp .
Morons.
@Marie: Cheer up. Relief is on the way. Our temperature here
in West Michigan dropped about 20 degrees this morning. I had
to wear a shawl while sitting on the porch watching tourists go by
in t-shirts and short shorts.
Right there with you Marie. While the Right's cruelty may be endless, my capacity for outrage is just as bottomless. These cretins make me embarrassed to be of the same species as them. Fuck them all.
I'm waiting patiently for JFK Jr. to advise us as what to do about the
new Covid variant that's supposedly killing people in 3 or 4 states.
If we've had all those past vaccinations, are we still safe, or is this
new one immune to those past vaccinations?
Did dipstick Donald tell him to keep quiet?
So let’s see…this PoT Rep. lady is having problems with her pregnancy because her party, her Dear Leader, and their religious fanatics on the Supreme Court favor draconian medieval approaches to reproductive health which sez no abortion, no how, even if the mother is bleeding out on the table, because Jesus.
But Democrats are to blame.
Got it.
Polio Bob is shouting that actual scientists and experts in the field are “ignoring the science”. Does he mean real science or the kind that relies on seers examining chicken bones to forecast the weather?
Seriously, RFKJ whining about people ignoring the science is a little like Fat Hitler complaining that Roland Barthes’ semiotic close reading of that Balzac short story was all wrong.
Sorry, Bob. Stick to stuff you know, like heroin, brainworms, and roadkill.
Love the Monty Python schtick--huh? What's wrong with building a 12-story building in the swamp, and 11 of those stories are underground, with the real pythons...?
I understand we are all bonkers, driven mad by the cruelty, the rancid, tedious lying of the guy who owns NATO (could not listen to all the self-aggrandizing muck that isssues from his mouth slit) and his tin soldiers who seem as bright as the ones in the skit-- but we must hang on and yell at everyone we can. The MAGAs are beyond help, so we must ridicule them every moment we are able. Also:
Hate abortion? Don't have one. If you need one, nonetheless, don't open your pitiful yap about it all, go get it and go on with your lives. But if that means you are STILL agin abortion, that proves you are a pathetic POS who deserves a huge slap in the face. Don't be surprised if someone gives one to you.
Got gas a bit ago. Last tank was $3.11. Today, $3.39. So the oil jockeys are at it. But wait, I thought everything was "obliterated??" Yep, but the MAGAs won't know that by the end of the day.
Beyond the Hippocratic stricture of doing no harm, which might apply only to physicians, what's the difference between denying life-saving healthcare to anyone, let alone to thousands, and murder?
Ken,
Nothing.
Not just the everglades, AK. Jacksonville FL TV stations and Florida Politics are saying there will be a second, at Camp Blanding in Clay county SW of Jacksonville.
Camp Blanding was a major basic training base during WW2 with a reputation of being really tough. Today it is a training ground for Florida National Guard, Florida State Guard, and active US and foreign military troops.
My little town is six mles from the front gate and has never really recovered from the boom and bust of the war and after.
The infrastructure is in place, so bring on the aluminum sheds and port a pots and we'll be back in the news again.
Bobby Lee,
Think Himmler Miller will insist that Fat Hitler’s non-aryan prisoners be forced to do hard labor, for the glory of Trump, before being sent off to build yurts in Tajikistan, while chained to donkeys, for life?
Master Negotiator. The stupidest, most childish POS.
"Critics called out President Donald Trump after he posted a music video celebrating this weekend’s attack on Iran just hours after he bragged about being nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for arranging a ceasefire in the Middle East.
The video shows B-2 stealth bombers dropping bombs to the tune of “Bomb Iran,” a 1980 parody of the 1960s hit “Barbara Ann.”"
The People standing up and sticking by their community members
So I’m guessing that if Fatty’s fatuous claim about “obliterating” Iran’s nuclear capability turns out to be another in the ever lengthening list of Fat Hitler lies, it will have been Biden’s fault.
Isn’t every stupid thing Trump does Biden’s fault?
Jesus, Joe, haven’t you done enough damage? Cut it out already, willya?
RAS,
That’s why the People are next on the Fat Hitler Gestapo hit list. Bastards! Don’t they recognize a god-king when they smell his evil stink everywhere?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/us/politics/trump-maryland-judges-lawsuit.html
Ignored in the DOJ suit is the understanding that the most common way to run afoul of the law is to break it.
Getting their stories straight.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/25/new-intel-irans-nuclear-facilities-destroyed-00424942