The Conversation -- June 29, 2025
Tillis to Spend More Time with His Family. Deirdre Walsh of NPR: "Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina announced on Sunday that he would not seek reelection next year. Tillis was one of the most high-profile Republicans to say he could not support ... [Donald] Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill,' Republicans' massive tax and spending bill, in its current form. Trump on social media had attacked him as 'a talker and complainer, NOT A DOER!' and threatened to support primary challengers to him next year.... '... the choice is between spending another six years navigating the political theatre and partisan gridlock in Washington or spending that time with the love of my life Susan, our two children, three beautiful grandchildren, and the rest of our extended family back home. It's not a hard choice, and I will not be seeking re-election.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: I don't know who-all the Republicans have on tap to run for Tillis' seat, but generally speaking, it's harder to mount a "green" candidate than an incumbent. So I sure hope Trump's threats to primary Tillis have backfired and a Democrat wins that seat because of Trump's standard-issue vengeance binge.
Murkowski Got Hers. This from yesterday's New York Times liveblog: "When Senate Republicans released the latest version of their sprawling domestic policy package in the wee hours of Saturday morning, it contained a number of new provisions that might have seemed out of place.... But the seemingly random items ... appeared to be aimed at winning the support of a critical Republican holdout whose vote could make or break the measure: Senator Lisa Murkowski.... As G.O.P. leaders scrounged on Saturday for the votes to pass the legislation, they seem to have addressed many of her concerns, insulating Ms. Murkowski's state from some of its most painful cuts while including an assortment of other Alaska-friendly provisions in the bill. The latest version ... would provide a new tax exemption to fishers from villages in western Alaska. There is now an exemption from new work requirements for food assistance. And several provisions have been added that would funnel federal dollars to Alaskan health care providers. There is even a provision that would allow certain Alaskan whaling captains to deduct more of their expenses." ~~~
~~~ Ron Filipkowski on BlueSky: "Lisa Murkowski cuts a last minute deal solely to benefit Alaska, exempting it from some of the more odious parts of the bill to secure her vote and sell out the rest of the US. Yeah this stuff sucks and hurts a lot of people, but I got Alaskans exempted so the hell with you." Thanks to RAS for the link. MB: This kind of horsetrading is hardly unusual. An infamous example was the 2010 "Cornhusker Kickback" in which Democratic Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska demanded a $100MM Medicaid bonus for Nebraska for his vote on the Obamacare bill. That kickback was ultimately cut from the bill, but other special considerations found their way into the final bill.
Marie: I would say the Trump Voter Challenge that RAS found needs a bit of refinement. (For instance, Trump did not grab someone by the pussy on camera, as the challenge claims.) But the idea of developing a simple card like this is a good idea. Pass 'em out at GOP gatherings, even at Trump rallies. The argument is one that, properly framed, simple people can understand. And I've never heard a politician put it this way.
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⭐Natasha Bertrand & Zachary Cohen of CNN, republished by AOL: "The US military did not use bunker-buster bombs on one of Iran's largest nuclear sites last weekend because the site is so deep that the bombs likely would not have been effective, the US' top general told senators during a briefing on Thursday. The comment by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, which was described by three people who heard his remarks and a fourth who was briefed on them, is the first known explanation given for why the US military did not use the Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb against the Isfahan site in central Iran. US officials believe Isfahan's underground structures house nearly 60% of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile, which Iran would need in order to ever produce a nuclear weapon. US B2 bombers dropped over a dozen bunker-buster bombs on Iran's Fordow and Natanz nuclear sites. But Isfahan was only struck by Tomahawk missiles launched from a US submarine." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Trump already had it in for Bertrand, writing Wednesday on his failing social media site that CNN should fire her "like a dog" for breaking the story that the Pentagon's Defense Intel Agency assessment of the U.S. strikes on Iran did not "completely obliterate" Iran's nuclear program as Trump has repeatedly asserted. (BTW, Cohen and another reporter also were part of the team, with Bertrand, who broke the original DIA assessment story. Yet Trump singled out Bertrand & leveled a string of insults against her.) What Bertrand & Cohen are reporting here is that Trump knew -- or should have known -- all along that the U.S. strikes could not have "completely obliterated" Iran's nuclear program because the U.S. attacks did not even try to "completely obliterate" one of the sites where the program is developed and operated. So Bertrand & Cohen just showed that Trump either knowingly lied to the public about -- or is ignorant of -- the mission he approved. Congress, of course, should investigate whether Trump deliberately lied or is too stupid to comprehend the nature and purpose of the military missions he authorizes. ~~~
There's no question that the Iran deal was working. [Donald Trump] tore it up, created a mess and is now saying, 'I'm the savior.' -- Michael Lubell, CCNY ~~~
~~~ William Broad & Ronen Bergman of the New York Times: "Israeli and American strikes appear to have created a major roadblock to Iran's manufacture of atomic bombs, even if its cache of uranium fuel remains untouched, analysts say. That's because attacks on one of the sites, in Isfahan, shattered gear that Iran was preparing to use for the transformation of enriched uranium gas into dense metal.... Some nuclear experts argue that the demolished gear might never have existed but for ... [Donald] Trump's abandoning a restrictive nuclear deal in his first term that President Barack Obama had negotiated.... They note that Iran ramped up work at Isfahan only after Mr. Trump canceled the deal, and that now, in effect, he has been forced to neutralize a danger of his own making.... Asked about the criticisms, [Anna Kelly,] a White House spokeswoman said that Mr. Trump was 'right about everything' related to the conflict in Iran, including his contempt for the 2015 accord." ~~~
~~~ AFP (published in the Guardian): "The UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi says Iran likely will be able to begin to produce enriched uranium 'in a matter of months', despite damage to several nuclear facilities from US and Israeli attacks, CBS News said on Saturday.... Donald Trump insisted Iran's nuclear program had been set back 'decades'." A transcript of CBS News' Margaret Brennan's interview of Grossi is here. ~~~
~~~ Giovanna Faggionato of Politico: "Iran decided to ban the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency from its nuclear facilities and to remove surveillance cameras from them, claiming it discovered Israel's government obtained 'sensitive facility data,' according to media reports Saturday. The vice speaker of the Iranian parliament, Hamid Reza Haji Babaei, announced the decision to bar IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi on Saturday during funerals of top military officials and nuclear scientists killed by recent Israeli strikes, Mehr news agency reported."
An Authoritarian State Runs on Secrecy. Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: "Across ... Donald Trump's administration, a creeping culture of secrecy is overtaking personnel and budget decisions, casual social interactions, and everything in between, according to interviews with more than 40 employees across two dozen agencies.... No one wants to put anything in writing anymore, federal workers said: Meetings are conducted in-person behind closed doors, even on anodyne topics. Workers prefer to talk outdoors, as long as the weather cooperates. And communication among colleagues -- whether work-related or personal -- has increasingly shifted to the encrypted messaging app Signal, with messages set to auto-delete. It's not just career staffers who are clamming up.... Trump's own political appointees are also resistant to writing things down, worried that their agency's deliberations will appear in news coverage and inspire a hunt for leakers, federal workers said....
The overall effect has been to impede honest discussion, slow work, stir confusion and depress morale.... The clandestine deliberations cut against long-standing norms and legal requirements -- especially the Federal Records Act, passed in 1950.... In an interview Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Trump administration views the culture of secrecy pervading the government 'as a good thing' because fewer leaks are emerging from the highest ranks."
Yes, the Supremes are an integral element of the fascist cabal that has taken over the U.S. federal goverment: ~~~
~~~ "I Have an Article 2 Where I Have the Right to Do Whatever I Want." Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court ruling barring judges from swiftly blocking government actions, even when they may be illegal, is yet another way that checks on executive authority have eroded as ... [Donald] Trump pushes to amass more power.... The diminishing of judicial authority as a potential counterweight to exercises of presidential power carries implications far beyond the issue of citizenship [raised in the decision announced Friday]. The Supreme Court is effectively tying the hands of lower-court judges at a time when they are trying to respond to a steady geyser of aggressive executive branch orders and policies. The ability of district courts to swiftly block Trump administration actions from being enforced in the first place has acted as a rare effective check on his second-term presidency.... Mr. Trump, rejecting norms of self-restraint, has pushed to eliminate checks on his authority and stamp out pockets of independence within the government while only rarely encountering resistance from a Supreme Court he reshaped and a Congress controlled by a party in his thrall.
"The decision by the Supreme Court's conservative majority comes as other constraints on Mr. Trump's power have also eroded. The administration has steamrolled internal executive branch checks, including firing inspectors general and sidelining the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, which traditionally set guardrails for proposed policies and executive orders. And Congress, under the control of Mr. Trump's fellow Republicans, has done little to defend its constitutional role against his encroachments. This includes unilaterally dismantling agencies Congress had said shall exist as a matter of law, firing civil servants in defiance of statutory limits and refusing to spend funds that lawmakers had authorized and appropriated."
~~~ Marie: Even the members of the Court blinded by right-wing hackery are theoretically smart enough, and in some cases patently smart enough, to understand the implications of their decision, especially when Justices Sotomayor & Jackson waved those implications in their faces. So we have to assume, I think, that these "justices" want a fascist state and that they have been gunning all along for an autocracy in which an elite clique -- of which they form a part -- aids and abets the dictator in lording it over the rest of us. As Jack M. implied (see yesterday's Comments), "We the people" did not form such a perfect union. Or -- according to this elite clique -- if it once was close to perfect, we wrecked it with post-Civil War amendments. That would be, especially, the 14th Amendment, which -- in the little mind of Trumpolini -- was "a case" that was decided in 1869 (see Heather Cox Richardson, linked next). The 14th Amendment was fully ratified in 1868, and the first significant case establishing birthright citizenship for everyone was decided decades later, in 1898 in U.S. v Wong Kim Ark.
Not surprisingly, Heather Cox Richardson's latest "letter" is a good shortcourse in the history of birthright citizenship in the U.S. "To reporters, [Donald Trump] claimed: 'If you look at the end of the Civil War -- the 1800s, it was a very turbulent time. If you take the end day -- was it 1869? Or whatever. But you take that exact day, that's when the case was filed. And the case ended shortly thereafter. This had to do with the babies of slaves, very obviously.' This is a great example of a politician rooting a current policy in a made-up history. There is nothing in Trump's statement that is true, except perhaps that the 1800s were a turbulent time. Every era is." (Also linked yesterday.)
We Do Have a King! Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "... this is a strange vehicle for the conservative majority to tackle the question of nationwide injunctions. There were ample opportunities under President Biden to do so, and the Biden White House even asked the court to consider the issue. It said no.... It is only now, under ... [Donald] Trump, that the conservatives have had a change of mind. And they've done so in the context of an executive order that exemplifies this president's lawlessness and open contempt for the Constitution.... And here is the Supreme Court blessing a president's exercise of arbitrary power as if the executive were the sovereign lord of the nation and not a mere servant of the Constitution.... My view, like Jackson's, is that it is laying the groundwork for the exercise of arbitrary power, unaccountable save for the next election -- an American-style presidential dictatorship." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Bouie makes a statement, not obviously tongue-in-cheek, that surprises me: "It is hard to know for certain whether the Republican majority understands the legal world it's building and the power it has given to the president." I don't find it hard to know at all. They know what they've done.
Washington Post Editors: "The justices curbed the power of lower court judges to block illegal presidential actions, even as the sitting president tries to do things that are plainly unconstitutional. Now they need to own the consequences of their ruling. More than ever, they must be willing to act with speed and force when the president attempts to violate Americans' rights.... The justices have now reserved to themselves alone the ability to issue nationwide injunctions. This will make it easier for the president and his executive branch officials to violate even black-letter constitutional rights as the country waits for the high court to tell them to stop.... The court based its decision on concerns that federal judges have overstepped their authority when issuing nationwide injunctions. That concern is reasonable.... Congress should have fixed this problem by making it harder for plaintiffs to judge-shop." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Well, ya know, they would act with speed and force, but hey, they have a lo-o-ong summer vacation, which they need on account of all the free yacht excursions and fishing trips and exotic resort-haunting their rich benefactors provide. Then, when they come back in the fall, they're going to be very tired from all the obligatory fabulous vacationing.
Awk-ward! Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: "On the day after the Supreme Court issued a decision that sharply curtailed the power of federal judges to block Trump administration policies, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. spoke before a hotel ballroom filled with them.... But the chief justice was not asked for -- and did not volunteer -- any guidance or thoughts on the role of the federal judges who have been flooded with legal challenges to Trump administration policies. He did urge political leaders to limit heated rhetoric about judges.... The chief justice did not single out or mention ... [Donald] Trump at all, though threats against federal judges have risen drastically since Mr. Trump took office, according to internal data compiled by the U.S. Marshals Service." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I suppose one must give Chief Johnny points for chutzpah; had I stripped some of the most powerful people in the country of their most powerful tool, I would be a bit wary of appearing before them bearing the demeanor of a nice, friendly person.
Trumpolini Fascisti Are Ready for Their Moment. Justin Jouvenal, et al., of the Washington Post: "An emboldened Trump administration plans to aggressively challenge blocks on the president's top priorities, from immigration to education, following a major Supreme Court ruling that limits the power of federal judges to issue nationwide injunctions. Government attorneys will press judges to pare back the dozens of sweeping rulings thwarting the president's agenda 'as soon as possible,' said a White House official.... Priorities for the administration include injunctions related to the Education Department and the U.S. DOGE Service, as well as an order halting the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the official said, detailing efforts to implement plans ... Donald Trump announced Friday." (See more on USAID cuts, linked below.)
Meet Pam Blondie's Star Witness! Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration has agreed to release from prison a three-time felon who drunkenly fired shots in a Texas community and spare him from deportation [for a sixth time] in exchange for his cooperation in the federal prosecution of Kilmar Abrego García, according to a review of court records and official testimony. Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes, 38, has been convicted of smuggling migrants and illegally reentering the United States after having been deported. He also pleaded guilty to 'deadly conduct' in the Texas incident, and is now the government's star witness in its case against Abrego.... Hernandez is among a handful of cooperating witnesses who could help the Trump administration achieve its goal of never letting Abrego walk free in the United States again. In exchange, he has already been released early from federal prison to a halfway house and has been given permission to stay in the U.S. for at least a year." Oh, read on to really get to know Hernandez. The link is a gift link.
José Olivares of the Guardian: "Police in southern California arrested a man suspected of posing as a federal immigration officer this week, the latest in a series of such arrests, as masked, plainclothes immigration agents are deployed nationwide to meet the Trump administration's mass deportation targets.... Experts have warned that federal agents' increased practice of masking while carrying out immigration raids and arrests makes it easier for imposters to pose as federal officers. Around the country, the sight of Ice officers emerging from unmarked cars in plainclothes to make arrests has become increasingly common."
No one has died because of USAID [cuts]." -- Marco Rubio, testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, May 21
No children are dying on my watch. -- Marco Rubio, testimony before another Congressional committee in May
We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper. Could gone to some great parties. Did that instead. -- Elon Musk, boasting on X, February ~~~
The picture of the world's richest man killing the world's poorest children is not a pretty one. -- Bill Gates, to the Financial Times, May ~~~
~~~ Katharine Houreld of the Washington Post: "After more than two years of ferocious civil war, Sudan is home to the world's largest humanitarian crisis, the United Nations says.... Disease and famine are spreading unchecked. More than half the population, some 30 million people, need aid.... For so many families barely hanging on, programs funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) were a lifeline -- providing food to the hungry and medical care for the sick. While the Trump administration's cuts to USAID this year have been felt deeply across the world, their impact in Sudan was especially deadly, according to more than two dozen Washington Post interviews with civilians, clinicians and aid officials.... When U.S.-supported soup kitchens were forced to close, babies starved quietly, their mothers said, while older siblings died begging for food. Funding stoppages meant that critical medical supplies were never delivered, doctors said. The lack of U.S.-funded disease response teams has made it harder to contain cholera outbreaks, which are claiming the lives of those already weakened by hunger. The World Health Organization says an estimated 5 million Sudanese people may lose access to lifesaving health services as a result of the U.S. cuts."
Ashley Ahn of the New York Times: "Elon Musk waded back into the political fray on Saturday, slamming a major domestic policy bill that Senate Republicans are scrambling to pass, just weeks after he ended a feud with ... [Donald] Trump over the legislation.... Mr. Musk ... had been relatively quiet since his blowup with the president this month, but as the Senate convened to discuss the package on Saturday afternoon, he re-entered the debate, calling the bill 'utterly insane and destructive' in a post on X. 'The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country!' he wrote on X. The bill lies at the center of his earlier feud with the president. Mr. Musk had said he believed that the package would significantly add to the national debt and would undermine the savings he claims were found by the Department of Government Efficiency...." An NBC News story is here. ~~~
~~~ GOP Senators Bow to the King. Catie Edmondson, et al., of the New York Times: "The Senate on Saturday narrowly voted to begin debate on the sprawling domestic policy package carrying ... [Donald] Trump's agenda, clearing a key procedural hurdle after Republican leaders cut a series of deals with holdouts in hopes of winning the votes to pass it. The vote to take up the bill was 51 to 49, after party leaders held the vote open for more than three hours in a suspenseful scene while they haggled with holdouts, both on the Senate floor and behind closed doors, to secure their support. Two Republicans, Senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky, voted with Democrats to block consideration of the measure. Even as the vote unfolded on Saturday night, a clutch of hard-right Republicans, including Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Mike Lee of Utah, Rick Scott of Florida and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, were demanding that G.O.P. leaders insert even deeper spending cuts into the bill in exchange for their support. Ultimately, they all voted in favor, with Mr. Johnson switching his vote from 'no' to 'yes' in the final moments. It was still not clear whether G.O.P. leaders had enough support to pass the measure and send it to the House for final approval in time to meet the July 4 deadline Mr. Trump has set. Democrats demanded a line-by-line reading of the bill, a procedural protest that was expected to take more than a dozen hours and likely push any final action in the Senate into Monday at the earliest." ~~~
~~~ Lisa Mascaro, et al., of the AP: "The tally, 51-49, came after a tumultuous night with Vice President JD Vance at the Capitol to break a potential tie." MB: Aw, JayDee had to engage in some serious work-related overtime. I wonder if the Senators gave him a room with a couch so he could nap would have something to do.
~~~ Creative Math. Alyssa Fowers & Hannah Dormido of the Washington Post: "Senate Republicans slapped a price tag on their tax package that is nearly 90 percent lower than the version that recently passed the House. They didn't bring the price down by changing the policies in the One Big Beautiful Bill. Instead, the Senate changed the way they did the math. Senate Republicans are using a new method to estimate the costs of their tax package that ignores the price of continuing any tax policy in effect when the bill is passed. That method of accounting, called the 'current policy' baseline, lets the Senate advertise ... Donald Trump's tax package at one-tenth of its impact on the nation's finances as estimated by Congress's usual way of counting costs. If the costs were estimated in the traditional way, the Senate's proposed tax package would add $4.2 trillion to the national debt, according to preliminary estimates from the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.... If Congress doesn't act, most of Trump's signature 2017 tax cuts will expire this year. Extending those cuts through 2034 accounts for the vast majority of the bill's estimated impact on the national debt. But the Senate's method of cost-counting compares the cost of extending the tax cuts against the government's finances with the cuts in place, not against the government's finances if the cuts expire." ~~~
~~~ Meredith Hill of Politico: "Every major health system in Louisiana is warning Speaker Mike Johnson and the rest of the state's congressional delegation that the Senate GOP's planned Medicaid cuts 'would be historic in their devastation.' The group sent the warning in a letter that also went to Majority Leader Steve Scalise and GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician who has also raised concerns about the cuts." MB: Funny how Senator/Doctor Bill's "concerns" never translate to "no" votes. It appears he's adopted Susan Collins' trademark maneuver. ~~~
~~~ Kids Just Wanna Have Fun. Trump, GOP Congress Say Nope. Terell Wright of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is seeking to cut the only federal after-school programming in the nation. The 21st Century Community Learning Centers, a program created by the federal government, provides roughly $1.3 billion for after-school and summer activities that reach about 1.4 million students nationwide. The White House budget proposal currently under consideration by Congress would eliminate the program and 17 others that serve lower-income and under-resourced K-12 students as part of a $12 billion cut to the Education Department's spending next year." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The article emphasizes that these programs help low-income families because they effectively provide child-care services for working parents. (Of course if the folks don't work, I guess they won't be eligible for Medicaid, so that's another great savings!) But these programs are not merely babysitting facilities. Rather, they not only give kids something to do, but that "something" is required by law, at least in part, to be educational. If Republicans are as concerned about crime as they pretend to be, wouldn't they want to keep kids occupied in programs that enhance skills AND keep the older kids out of criminal mischief? The cost of these programs surely does not nearly equal the costs of policing these soon-to-be-adults & later putting and keeping them in prison. (Then again, private prison operators are a source of GOP campaign contributions, so there's a definite logic here, albeit one with a craven subtext.) ~~~
~~~ Josh Siegel of Politico: Sen. "Mike Lee (R-Utah) withdrew his controversial provision to sell public lands for development Saturday night under fierce opposition from fellow Republicans from western states. Lee decided to back down preemptively while the Senate was taking a procedural vote on their megabill rather than risk the measure failing on the floor. Western Republicans had promised to offer an amendment to strip it out.... In a statement posted to X, Lee blamed 'misinformation' and the 'strict constraints of the budget reconciliation process' for hampering his effort, but in reality he faced stiff opposition from western Republicans from states with large public land holdings."
Miriam Waldvogel of the Hill: Donald "Trump went after Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) in a Saturday night Truth Social post, threatening that he would back a primary challenger running against the North Carolina senator after Tillis came out against the GOP's sprawling 'big, beautiful bill.' 'Numerous people have come forward wanting to run in the Primary against "Senator Thom" Tillis,' Trump wrote. 'I will be meeting with them over the coming weeks, looking for someone who will properly represent the Great People of North Carolina and, so importantly, the United States of America.'"
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Blue States Fight Back. Adam Edelman of NBC News: "Democratic legislators mostly in blue states are attempting to fight back against ... Donald Trump's efforts to withhold funding from their states with bills that aim to give the federal government a taste of its own medicine. The novel and untested approach -- so far introduced in Connecticut, Maryland, New York and Wisconsin -- would essentially allow states to withhold federal payments if lawmakers determine the federal government is delinquent in funding owed to them. Democrats in Washington state said they are in the process of drafting a similar measure. These bills still have a long way to go before becoming law, and legal experts said they would face obstacles. But they mark the latest efforts by Democrats at the state level to counter what they say is a massive overreach by the Trump administration to cease providing federal funding for an array of programs that have helped states pay for health care, food assistance and environmental protections."
Florida. Makiya Seminera of the AP: "A coalition of groups, ranging from environmental activists to Native Americans advocating for their ancestral homelands, converged outside an airstrip in the Florida Everglades Saturday to protest the imminent construction of an immigrant detention center. Hundreds of protesters lined part of U.S. Highway 41 that slices through the marshy Everglades -- also known as Tamiami Trail -- as dump trucks hauling materials lumbered into the airfield. Cars passing by honked in support as protesters waved signs calling for the protection of the expansive preserve that is home to a few Native tribes and several endangered animal species."
Minnesota. Jeff Ernst & Jack Healy of the New York Times: "Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were remembered at their funeral on Saturday as 'extraordinary public servants' who were killed in an inexplicable act of political violence. Their wooden caskets rested side by side inside the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis as hundreds of political colleagues, friends and relatives sat shoulder to shoulder in the pews to say goodbye to the couple, who were assassinated at their suburban Minneapolis home earlier in June. Former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris joined the mourners for the somber Catholic funeral Mass, though neither spoke during the service. Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, his eyes red from crying, delivered the eulogy."
Virginia Congressional Race. Teo Armus, et al., of the Washington Post: "Fairfax County Supervisor James Walkinshaw won the Democratic nomination to replace Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Virginia) in Congress, leveraging an endorsement from the late lawmaker -- who had long enlisted him as a top aide -- to win a crowded race animated by growing frustrations with the party establishment. His victory, announced Saturday night following a party-run primary, capped a breakneck special-election contest in Virginia's 11th Congressional District.... The area's deep-blue bent means that Walkinshaw, a two-term county supervisor representing the Braddock District, is favored to win the Sept. 9. special election over Stewart Whitson, an Army veteran and former FBI official who Republicans picked as their nominee Saturday."
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Hungary. Steve Hendrix & Karoly Szilagyi of the Washington Post: "Tens of thousands of Hungarians, including members of the LGBTQ+ community and their supporters from Brussels and around the world, marched in a Pride parade in Budapest on Saturday, defying efforts to ban the event by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a self-declared 'illiberal' Christian conservative whose Fidesz party adopted draconian legislation in March banning public events that portray or allegedly promote homosexuality. The attempt to prohibit the event appeared to backfire. While there were no official estimates of crowd size, frequent attendees said they had never seen anything like the throngs that filled more than a mile of central Budapest and that it was clearly the largest Pride event in the city's history. Police warned repeatedly in recent days that the event was illegal and prohibited but there were no signs of arrests or fines.... Budapest's liberal mayor, Gergely Karacsony, quickly stepped in with assistance by declaring this weekend's festivities to be an official municipal event, renamed Budapest Pride Freedom, to commemorate the withdrawal of Soviet troops and Hungary's full emergence from behind the Iron Curtain in June 1991." --45--
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Reader Comments (23)
I am reposting two comments made late yesterday, one by RAS & one by Akhilleus.
Destroying America one raid at a time.
"Immigration agents launched a pre-dawn raid today on a Huntington Park home, detonating an explosive to force entry as a woman and her two young children huddled inside."
If Democrats get back in power ICE must be disbanded. And every one of these thugs should lose their 2nd Amendment rights and be banned from all law enforcement for life. And prosecuted where there is evidence of their criminal behavior and excessive force.
There was another incident where a 6-year-old boy with leukemia was detained with his mother and sibling. He has missed a doctor's appointment and one of the officers flashed his gun at the kid terrorizing him and making him wet himself. No conscience, no humanity.
And yes, seeing all the barrage of capitulation and active encouragement of authoritarianism from the Right and others is incredibly disheartening. Trying to find a teaspoon of optimism is difficult these days.
Reading the UVa president's letter of him trying to have in both ways. He would fight, but the collateral would just be too high. Ignoring the fact that most of what has been threatened by FH's administration is what they are doing every where and plan on doing regardless of his bowing down to them. It is just one more in a long line of people in positions of power deciding that fighting back is not worth it. That they aren't the one to stand up. That the privilege they have been living with for so long does not come with any real duties to those beneath them. And by knuckling under once again it emboldens the fascists to take more and demand more and push more. Without the people in positions to pushback doing so it means the slide towards authoritarianism is that much swifter and complete. But I'm glad to know that if he thought it was really important that the UVa president would have stood up.
Marie wrote (correctly):
“Congress, of course, should investigate whether Trump deliberately lied or is too stupid to comprehend the nature and purpose of the military missions he authorizes.”
Quite. BUT! of course, they won’t. Not if the Fat Hitler’s PoT testicle lickers have anything to do with it.
They all know Fatty is stupid, but saying so in public will never happen for hid sycophants and fascist supporters in the neutered, impotent, and insignificant body known as the R controlled Congress.
How much will you bet me that when the next Democratic President (that is, if there actually is a next presidential election, and if there is somehow a fair vote count) starts issuing executive orders rolling back the fascist crap put in place illegally and unconstitutionally by Fat Hitler, the five fascist supremes will realize the error of their ways and decide that some lower court has the right after all to put a stop to any attempt to reintroduce fairness, Justice, and morality into whatever will be left of our political system by then.
After all, the mantra of the Party of Traitors has been and always will be heads we win, tails you lose.
From the Unmitigated Gall Department:
Little Johnny telling everyone to calm down and be nice is like Hitler instructing Germans to just take it easy after he burned down the Reichstag.
Thank you, Johnny, for your words of wisdom, but you know what? I don’t feel like calming down, so fuck you and your nihilistic fascist bullshit rulings. Okay? And I won’t say “No disrespect meant” because thst would be a big fat lie, and you and the dwarfs don’t deserve a Goddam scintilla of respect. Okay? So fuck off with that “take it easy” twaddle.
Fucking twat.
This weekend's sermon from yesterday's local paper:
I called it "Corruption is King." The paper was more forthright:. "Trump is the King of Corruption," its header read.
Trump's war against Diversity, Equity and Inclusion has faded from the spotlight. Other news has overtaken the headlines. The on again off again tariffs and their resultant economic uncertainty. Nationwide demonstrations against ICE’s heavy-handed and selective immigration enforcement. The murder of Minnesota legislators by an anti-abortion crank. A budget bill that will benefit the immensely wealthy, make the poor sicker and put millions of acres of public land (over five million acres in Washington State) up for sale. And, as I write, the “America First” president who said he wants peace has now engaged us in another Middle East war.
It’s hard to keep track, and maybe that’s the point. With so much said, so much mind-changing at the top, with dozens of court cases reversing or pausing presidential edicts, it’s hard to identify a common thread.
But as we approach July 4, 2025, one year shy of the 250th year of America’s brave experiment in democracy, there are at least two. The war against DEI is one, of course. The Trump administration stubbornly refuses to recognize or respect ethnic or gender diversity. In his ideal world of white male dominance, Trump would like to see other colors and genders disappear. Equity is also in the administration’s crosshairs as it labors to pass the most regressive budget this century has ever seen (nytimes.com). It seems Republican leadership despises equity as much as it hates diversity.
Because it’s not in the daily headlines, the other thread may not be so easily seen. It’s the “E” Trump left out of his anti-DEI slogan. The “E for Ethics” is missing. As little as he cares for those who don’t look or think like him, or have a fat wallet, Trump also disdains honesty and morality. Immediately upon assuming office, he fired eighteen Inspectors General and the heads of the Offices of the Special Counsel and of Government Ethics, all charged with seeing that government operated legally and in the public interest (usnews.com).
Mr. Trump has good reason to eliminate ethics from his administration. During his first term when he did not divest himself of his business interests as he had promised to do (usatoday.com), his businesses profited between 1.6 and 2.8 billion dollars, frequently raising concerns about conflicts of interest between his presidential duties and his private businesses (crew.org). Trump 2.0 didn’t even bother to make such a promise, and we’re already seeing the result, one as large as a Qatari jumbo jet that is to be re-fitted at taxpayer expense and after his term in office passed on to his presidential library for his personal use.
Trump’s pardon spree similarly showcases his utter contempt for ethics. In addition to pardoning the convicted January 2021 insurrectionists, he has also pardoned or commuted the sentences of criminals who collectively defrauded individuals and taxpayers of 1.3 billion dollars.
At least one of the promised tariff deals (we’re still waiting for most) directly benefitted Trump’s business. As part of the Vietnam tariff discussions, “Vietnam also authorized the operation of Starlink, the satellite internet service owned by Elon Musk and agreed to expedite approvals for a proposed $1.5 billion Trump resort” (responsiblestatecraft.org).
According to a May 14 report on Trump’s recent trip to the Middle East, his business interests in that region, already significant, expanded with new licensing arrangements, resorts, golf courses and crypto deals galore (apnews.com).
As recently as 2021, Trump called crypto a “scam” and a “disaster waiting to happen” (nbcnews.com) but following the $57 million profit his crypto investments provided him in 2024 (coinspeaker.com) and the crypto industry’s contribution of over $200 million to his 2024 campaign (cnn.com), he’s changed his mind. After expanding his crypto holdings on his Middle East trip, he’s now urging the House to pass the Genius Act, the government’s first effort to regulate crypto. Critics of the bill point out that the act’s failure to address obvious conflict of interest issues raised by Trump’s own crypto investments, like those he just forged with Middle East investors, is a disturbing omission.
Domestically, we have the endless list of gimcracks the president hawks to his supporters. Hats, watches, shirts, meme coins, Trump Bibles, and now a smartphone service. At Fort Bragg, accompanying the president’s recent address to the troops, more Trump merch for sale, again blurring the lines between the president and his businesses (abcnews.com).
Back in February, Trump called himself a “king.” That claim, along with his spate of executive orders and threats directed at his political enemies, prompted the recent massive “No Kings” protests across the nation.
But in one very disturbing sense, Trump is undoubtedly a king. By his grifts, ye shall know him. He is the King of Corruption.
No matter how long you’ve lived in this country, if you fall into the group Himmler Miller considers “Them”, they want you to know he’s coming for you.
“A 64-year-old Iranian woman, who has lived in the US for 47 years, was detained by immigration agents on Sunday morning while gardening outside her home in New Orleans.”
47 years! No criminal record. Not even a parking ticket. Too bad.
Fatty hates him some Iranians now that Iran is making him look bad. Himmler Miller hates them because, well, just because.
“Punishment for civil infractions in this country falls under statutes of limitations typically measured in years, not decades. But not under the mass deportation policy driven by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. Kashanian’s crime (‘poisoning the blood of our country’) in the view of Trump, Miller, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and border czar Tom Homan is as indefinitely unforgivable as murder. Their loathing for people viewed as inferior is beyond cruel. It is pathological.”
Cruelty—vicious and all consuming—is the point.
Monsters.
Immigrants
"Spot on. This is the clearest explanation I’ve seen. It ‘s relatable, and humanizes the issue in a way everyone can understand."
Test test test
The Trump Challenge
McSweeny's
"I Have No Idea Why I’ve Suddenly Started Thinking About the 1917 Russian Revolution
by Cezary Jan Strusiewicz
So there I was, minding my own business, when, for some inexplicable reason, I found myself idly thinking about the fall of the Romanov dynasty. For the life of me, I can’t tell you what led me to reflect on the moment when Nicholas II lost control over a once-burgeoning empire due to widespread unrest that he himself had a hand in shaping. Maybe it’s the weather? Maybe those barometric pressure changes can lead to more than just headaches?
But it’s kind of weird, right? Why would my mind make me recall that the Russian Revolution was largely ignited by a devastating economic crisis, social inequality, and the ruling class being aggressively out of touch with the suffering masses? It just makes no sense for me to be thinking of a bunch ruling-class assholes enriching themselves through, if not illegal, then definitely immoral ways, while everyone else has to buy tacos on payment plans. They didn’t even have tacos in Russia back then. Is my brain broken? Am I having a stroke?"
RAS,
Re: the Trump Challenge
Why would people elect a narcissistic sociopath who has done all those nasty, disgusting things…on camera?
Because most of them love him for it and wish sooooo much that they could do the same.
Buy you could add so much more to that list. And I was just about to do that, but I’m feeling sick at the idea that there are so many complete assholes in the world, and that the worst of the lot is now an untouchable king.
Another Asshole
"Lisa Murkowski cuts a last minute deal solely to benefit Alaska, exempting it from some of the more odious parts of the bill to secure her vote and sell out the rest of the US. Yeah this stuff sucks and hurts a lot of people, but I got Alaskans exempted so the hell with you."
Thanks for writing, reading, being, everybody. It is almost too depressing to think about. I have not even turned on the teevee to see what's happening with the Plug Ugly bill. It won't matter, it covers all the bases for the Party of Treason, and yes, I am so heartened by Dr. Cassidy who has "concerns" like Susan Collins. It's almost like they are just putting things in writing only to say "just asking questions" and stand with the big people and vote for atrocities with their extreme friends...
It seems that little Tommy Tillis is not playing well with the other kids in the sandbox. If they want to make a difference, it would make sense for them to change parties and vote with Democrats. Wouldn't it? But no, some sentiment for the "late" party of family values (yeah--) keeps them immersed in corruption and criminal activity even as they protest that they have "concerns" but oh well...
As I said, thanks, everybody. I believe it is time to at least try not to care about all this and just eat cinnamon toast and go to the pool with a book. (This may last all of one day-- unlike the wretched regime, which is planning to last forever-- Go ahead, wave your flags but mine is staying in the garage, as it represents treason and murder and kidnapping and thievery.)
The lying-in-state family in MN brings me to tears every time. I'm glad the country was represented by a real president and vice president.
@Akhilleus: First, I acknowledge that what I'm about to write may be wrong, perhaps naively pollyannish. That said,
I think the point of the Trump voter challenge is to show people not that Trump is a grotesque boor -- they already know that, and as you say, they seem to admire or envy it -- but that Trump's behavior is so unacceptable that they themselves would not do those things in their real-life situations.
These people might be creepy enough to imagine themselves doing some of those things or to enjoy watching a fictional character do those things in a movie. But would they really tell a Black woman to go back to where she came from or make fun of someone's physical disabilities? Probably not.
Most of these Trump voters probably are not what you would call "naturally empathetic," so they think it's entertaining to watch Trump behave in socially unacceptable ways. But if -- as in the Trump voter challenge -- you help these dimwits place themselves in the scene, they might just get it. They might just realize that Trump is not a person who behaves in ways that are acceptable to them or to the milieu they inhabit. They might see that he is worse than an unacceptable president*; he's an unacceptable person.
These Trump voters need help in seeing what to a reasoning, moral person is obvious. For some of them, something like the Trump voter challenge might work.
RAS,
McSweeny’s? Really? That’s a pretty eclectic reading habit you have there.
My nephew and I wrote a piece for McSweeny’s some years ago back when he was doing stand up comedy and writing humorous fantasy pieces.
My favorite McSweeny’s pieces (such a delightfully weird site) were a series on the history of Viking invasions of Ireland written in a perfect Boston accent. Here’s a bit of that:
“Now turns out Ireland was one’ah the Nahwegians’ favuhritest fuckin’ places ‘round ’cause yah could get there n’ back pretty fast at first, n’ if yah sacked a monastehry yah could make off with some wicked good plundah since the monks hoahrded gold n’ didn’t hahdly evah even put up a fuckin’ fight. So the Nahwegians ahr doin’ this fah awhile, n’ the boats ahr comin’ n’ goin’ n’ goin’ n’ comin’ n’ eventually everyone’s fuckin’ commutin’ between home n’ wohrk n’ so a’course the traffic out on route 128’s just gettin’ totally fuckin’ outtah hand, n’ so that’s when some’ah the guys staht gettin’ tah thinkin’ that they oughtah just fuckin’ stay in Ireland ‘cause, yah know, the fuckin’ commute just ain’t wohrth the fuckin’ bothah anymohr.”
Okay, a little off topic, but for a few minutes I got to think of something other than the daily shit show from Washington.
And hey, Russian Revolution? Not a bad idea. If Fatty had any knowledge of history, he’d recall what happened to the Tsar and his family.
Come to think of it, dictators often suffer pretty nasty endings, either from murder, or ravaged by disease while in exile (what country world take Fatty? Some “shithole?).
Obvious ones that come to mind, Hitler, Mussolini, Ceaușescu, Saddam Hussein, Quaddafi. Others were on the run for a while or, like Stalin, lay in a pool of his own urine for 12 hours because his thuggish henchmen were too afraid they’d be shot for waking him up.
If you’d like a tiny smile, listen to this jaunty little Manhattan Transfer song about dictators who were “Wanted (Dead or Alive).
Now I’m going back to being depressed.
But still thinking about Tsar Nicolas…
@RAS & @Akhilleus: And Stephen Miller as Trump's Rasputin is perfect.
Marie,
Jesus! Don’t say that, that means we couldn’t get rid of him if he were shot, stabbed, poisoned, strangled, and dumped in a river.
It also means he’s probably banging Melanie. Well, I suppose someone has to do it.
I think there’s another comment buried in the Squarespace hell box.
RAS,
My thoughts exactly about Murkowski. The “Fuck you, Charlie, I got mine” MO is still alive and well in PoT circles. But hey, Lisa, if Medicaid being cut off for Alaskans would be so horrible, how come it’s perfectly fine for the rest of us?
These fucking Republicans. Buy ‘em with a six pack and a ticket to a little league game.
Career criminals have more integrity.
@Akhilleus: I checked, and there's nothing else buried in Squarespace hell.
Marie,
Okay. Them sum’bitches lied then. Thanks for checking.
Taco Belle, KKKaroline Fascist Barbie sez secrecy is vital to Fat Hitler’s authoritarian schemes because the more the public knows about their plans to screw Americans, the harder it will be to sell them on his bullshit lies.
Most all modern administrations have kept stuff close to the vest, but this has to be the first time a “press” secretary announced that the slightest form of transparency is entirely anathema to a president who is an employee of voters and taxpayers.
(Btw, don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but tacos have been removed from the menu at Marred a Lardo. Trumplethinskin has commanded it.)
Such a loser weenie.