Thursday, May 21, 2026

“Follow The Money”

This New York Times piece is worth your time. Here’s what is happening, as simply as I can put it.

Back in January, Trump sued the IRS, an agency he controls, demanding $10 billion over the leak of his tax returns a number of years ago.

IRS lawyers did their jobs. They wrote a memo laying out the defenses that could beat the suit, including the fact that Trump filed too late. His own lawyer was in court when the leaker pleaded guilty in October 2023, more than two years before Trump sued.

The Justice Department never showed up to court. Never argued back. Never used the defenses sitting on their desk.

The judge got suspicious and ordered both sides to explain whether they were actually opposing each other or just colluding. The day before that brief was due, Trump dropped the suit.

Same day, his Justice Department announced a $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded “anti-weaponization fund.”

Trump gets a formal apology. The IRS agrees to drop any audits of him and his family, even though a 2024 Times report found a loss in an ongoing audit could cost him over $100 million.

The acting Attorney General, Trump’s former criminal defense attorney, picks the five commissioners who decide who gets paid. Trump can fire any of them. Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are not ruled out.

This is the most corrupt thing I’ve ever seen from an American president.

Where in the hell are my Republican colleagues?
Trump sued the IRS in January, 2026.
According to the New York Times, after Bondi was sworn in as attorney general in February 2025, she immediately placed guardrails around settlements "that largely prohibited payments to groups not involved in an underlying lawsuit." Now those same restrictions are threatening to derail the Trump administration's controversial compensation scheme.

On her first day as attorney general, Bondi signed a directive titled "Reinstating the Prohibitions on Improper Third Party Settlements" that revived a Justice Department policy adopted in 2017 and was later canceled by the Biden administration.

According to the Times' Devlin Barrett, the memo explicitly stated that, except in "limited circumstances," the department should not use settlements "to require payments to nongovernmental, third-party organizations that were neither victims nor parties to the lawsuits."

Yet the new $1.8 billion fund appears structured precisely to circumvent that restriction — designed to steer large sums to third-party claimants, most of whom have not filed suits and may never file suits now that a compensation fund exists.
Bondi’s tenure as AG ended on February 2, 2026.
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Legislation Matters

A nearly $1.8 billion DOJ-controlled fund cannot be created, defined, and distributed in the shadows.

Today, I called on Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to provide immediate transparency on the Department’s newly announced “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”

By June 1, DOJ must answer three basic questions:

Where is the money coming from?

Who is eligible to receive it?

And under what legal authority is DOJ creating a discretionary compensation fund of this scale without explicit congressional authorization, court approval, or judicial oversight?

Taxpayer dollars will not be turned into a discretionary payout fund.

Transparency is not optional. Accountability is not negotiable.
All the rest is persiflage.

(The DOJ said the money is coming from the Judgment Fund. Which puts Treasury in the crosshairs, too.)
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Honestly, Proust Would Balk At It

And Joyce would consider it a crime against “stream of consciousness.”

I do like the bit where he says his accomplishments are “legendary.” They are in the sense they are wholly imaginary; and in the sense that his corruption will set high water marks few will ever achieve again.
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Truth And Consequences

Now’s your chance. Good. Actions speak louder than words. Bubble, bubble, who’s in the bubble? Because this is what people are going to hear: And this: We can also talk about fraud: Or we can talk about Trump’s taxes, and how he now claims to be free from the IRS, for life, along with his children and his company. Which gives them impunity from ever paying taxes, in perpetuity. (At least that’s what the settlement says.)

So, yeah, let’s talk about that, too.
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Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Writing The Rules On Water

Then run for Congress. Or go to Congress to get the funds authorized. Because as an unelected acting attorney general, your opinion about what American taxpayers think don’t mean shit.
REID: The New York Times has reported that Trump could have owed up to $100 million because of ongoing audits. So are you saying this is not an effort to help him avoid financial liability?

BLANCHE: That's the definition of completely made up fake news, and then it becomes real news because they repeat it
DON’T CALL HIM TRUMP’S PERSONAL LAWYER! Can we see these rules? It’s so common people try to get cops to hurt them, just for the easy money.🤑  I really think we need to see those rules. Is this a great country, or what?
Blanche: The fact that the IRS is settling a case and not moving forward with an audit is not unusual. The unsurprising fact that an existing president does not have to go through more and more audits, which has been happening for years and years and years in exchange for settling, shouldn't surprise the American people.

My job is to do the right thing. It's to do the right thing, no matter who is on the other side. And the fact that it was President Trump and his sons and his company played no role in my decision except to do the right thing.
But there wasn’t anyone on the “other side.” Trump filed this suit in January, not four years ago. He wasn’t even represented by private counsel; he was represented by Blanche. That’s why the court ordered briefs, and why DOJ “settled” with this agreement. How could “President Trump” be on the other side of a lawsuit against an agency of the U.S. government? But it’s not a legal settlement; it’s a sham. It vastly exceeds any provable damage claim that could have been made, was probably void for a number of reasons, and has no legal basis whatsoever.
No lawyers from the Justice Department ever appeared in court to respond to the suit or disputed any of Mr. Trump’s claims, which demanded at least $10 billion from the I.R.S. for not doing enough to prevent the leak of his tax information. The Justice Department instead made a highly unusual deal in the case. In exchange for Mr. Trump’s dropping the suit, the Trump administration created the $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund for people who say they were wrongly targeted by the federal government.

The existence of the internal memo, which has not been previously reported, shows that the Trump administration disregarded readily available defenses to a lawsuit filed by the president against an agency he controls. While the Justice Department has said that Mr. Trump will not receive money from the new fund, critics have slammed the arrangement as a corrupt attempt at paying Mr. Trump’s political supporters, including, potentially, those who were convicted and later pardoned for storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Blanche says the DOJ represented the government in this case. Without ever making an appearance in court?

And the assumption we can trust that Trump won’t get any cash, that the accounting will be transparent, that reviews and even audits will not be available, is just adorable!  It’s like the NYT hasn’t paid any attention since January 2025. Yeah; this is what the American taxpayers want. We all want Mike Lindell to get what he deserves.
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YOU DON’T FUCK WITH THE MONEY!

Scott MacFarlane reports that Republican resistance is growing against Trump’s $1.776 billion slush fund.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick says he is working to kill the proposal through both a formal letter to the Justice Department and possible legislation.

Other Republicans, including Don Bacon, David Schweikert, and Mike Rounds, have publicly raised questions about the legality and structure of the fund, while Lindsey Graham suggested the Senate would closely examine it if it reaches the floor.
ICE guns down two people in Minneapolis, and wounds a third. It terrorized people there, runs concentration camps where people die, runs roughshod over the law, and hides its agents from criminal liability. Trump engages in a senseless war he can’t get out of, endangers the world economy, and destroys the American economy. He destroys the East Wing and announces a ballroom out of scale to anything on the White House grounds, changes plans constantly, and behaves as if he owns all of DC. And the Senate Judiciary Committee tries to give him $1 billion for it. He sues the IRS for $10 billion, then “settles” for a billion dollar slush fund.

And that’s where he gets the attention of Congress. Real attention.

It’s an iron-clad rule of organizations large and small. You can get away with a lot. But you don’t fuck with the money.

Even Lindsey Graham knows that rule.
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Bring It To Congress To Decide?

Hmmm…🤔 Why wouldn’t Trump do that? And who could make him do that?

It is a mystery…. 🤔
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“DON’T SAY THE PRESIDENT’S FORMER LAWYER WILL DO SOMETHING—SAY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL WILL DO SOMETHING!”

What’s the difference?
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“It Was Very Well Received”

"In just one day, a conquered — and, consequently, unbridled — Sen. Bill Cassidy joined Democrats to become the 50th yes vote on a war powers resolution, opposed Trump’s ballroom funding in reconciliation and called Trump’s freshly picked Paxton a “felon.” And that was just day three of Cassidy unchained.

"Cassidy is not alone. Trump’s ballroom funding is stalled, the SAVE America Act is mired in the Senate and Majority Leader John Thune is pushing back on his desire to fire the parliamentarian. That’s not to mention the pushback even from the likes of the friendlier senator from Louisiana, John Kennedy, who expressed doubt about the Justice Department’s $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund."
The entire House is up for reelection. It’s like Trump doesn’t even care. Promises made, promises kept.
MacFarlane: There are so many Republicans coming out against this thing. It appears to me that this slush fund is like as popular as poison ivy or a dinner plate full of vegetables. Nobody is claiming ownership of this thing. I have zero statements of support for this fund from any congressional Republicans.
"Coming out against it;” doing something against it = wishing in one hand, or doing something in the other.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick on how to end Trump’s weaponization fund:

Fitzpatrick: We have to figure out the source of the fund. Is it an appropriation from last year? Where did the money come from and what limitations were put around that money? Are there constitutional questions? Are there statutory questions? What falls within Article I authority? These are all the things we’re trying to unpack now.

MacFarlane: Do you think this is something your constituents would want you to fight for?

Fitzpatrick: A hundred percent. Listen, I think constituents across America want the same things for the most part. We’re trying to restore trust in the institution. That’s why I partner with everyone from Tim Burchett to AOC on banning members of Congress from trading stocks.

We’re trying to take steps—ending gerrymandering, for example—to bridge the divide between the public and the institution, and things like this just move us backwards. So that’s why step one is that all of us—journalists, members of Congress—we have to unpack what exactly this is. Right now, we just have some top-line sound bites.

We don’t know what the source of the funding is, what legal authority it’s based on, whether there’s a precedent, and if there isn’t, why not. What falls within the court’s jurisdiction in terms of constitutional review? This is what we’re trying to get our arms around.

But step one is a letter stating our position to the acting attorney general. And my staff is working on legislation. We’ll work with legislative counsel to figure out what our options are, and that’s why we have to get to the source of the funding—to know what our jurisdiction is and how we can respond to it.
That’s what I want to hear about; not Collins-esque “concern.” Collins concerned, or actually concerned? That’s the dividing line.
McGovern: It took us forever to compensate the victims of 9/11, and here you have this $1.8 billion slush fund that doesn’t go through any committees or hearings. All of a sudden, they have the money to compensate convicted felons—people who attacked our democracy and tried to overthrow a free and fair election.

This is the most corrupt administration in our history.
I’ll allow it. There’s another ad. Grampa skipped his nap. They really aren’t very bright.
Q: Do you have a response to people who are critical of your settlement over the IRS case?

TRUMP: It was the most violent thing I've ever seen in politics -- what they did. And yet if I say, 'let's look at this one,' they say, 'Weaponization! Weaponization!' We think anybody involved in that process should partake. You're talking about peanuts.
His egg is cracked and everything has leaked out.
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Trump Can Pay For It…

... out of his slush fund.

That’ll pay for about a day and 3/4ths.

Have you noticed he’s obsessed about the SAVE AMERICA Act and his ballroom, and not really paying attention to the Congressional schedule for a war supplemental?
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QED

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Next Question

NEW: Trump’s revenge tour is increasingly imperiling his midterm agenda on the Hill. “Those so-called victories over the last couple weeks are just a mirage. They are self-owns,” one senior Senate Republican operative told me. “We’re not actually beating Democrats, and we’re not actually advancing legislation. Instead, gas is up 45% due to our actions and the President’s decision to go to war with Iran. He’s focused on the ballroom. He’s announced a $1.8 billion restitution fund with zero details or congressional authority to do so. It just is crazy.”
What will Congress do about it?
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🌮🥚

So:
"James Talarico is polling better than any Democrat in at least 24 years," Enten said. "You have to go all the way back to 2002 to find a Democrat even polling anywhere close to where Talarico is polling right now. Texas Democrats have dreamt about turning it blue. This time the numbers actually support the idea that they may actually be able to do it."
Huh. I guess they do. (And I truly shudder to think what Trump identifies as “Jesus Christ.” Or how Talarico “takes hits at Jesus Christ.” The vegan thing is a lame slap based on Talarico ordering a potato, egg, and cheese breakfast taco once. I like breakfast tacos; but I prefer them without meat.  A lot of people in Texas eat that. I really want to see Paxton pick up these attacks. It would be fun.)
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This Probably Deserves More Attention Than It’s Getting 🇬🇱

 Reuters:

[Landry] is scheduled to ​attend the 'Future Greenland' business conference on May 19-20 and will be accompanied by the U.S. ambassador to Denmark, Kenneth Howery.

The conference organiser, Business ​Greenland, did not invite Landry but said the event ​was open for anyone to sign up.

The U.S. embassy in Copenhagen said ‌earlier ⁠this week that Landry and Howery would "meet with a wide range of Greenlanders to listen and learn with a goal of expanding economic opportunities, building people-to-people ties, and increasing ​understanding between the ​United States ⁠and Greenland".
"Building people to people ties:” The Idiot-in-Chief appoints idiots.
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Pardon Me?

 Joyce Vance:

It’s a pardon on steroids for Trump, Trump’s family, and Trump businesses. The government agrees in this document, signed by Blanche, that it will never prosecute or pursue any civil claims against any of the Trumps, “whether presently known or unknown” that could have been brought as of the date of the settlement agreement. That date is yesterday. The IRS is “forever barred and precluded” from pursuing “examinations” of Trump, “related or affiliated individuals,” and related trusts and businesses. Any proceeding over “tax returns filed before the effective date” of the settlement is now off limits. Any crimes committed before Monday, whether prosecutors were aware of them or not, are off the table. It’s a virtual get-out-of-jail-free card, and also a get-out-of-debt one.
Except…

A presidential pardon is a constitutional instrument that is virtually absolute. This “settlement” might as well be written on toilet paper. 

There are a number of rules and regulations of the DOJ, commonly referred to today as “norms,” which have been trampled and disregarded since Trump took his hand off the Bible for the second time. The DOJ is being directed by people acting as Trump’s private lawyers. Did anyone seriously expect the IRS to investigate Trump or his family and businesses for dodgy tax practices? Not while he’s in office they won’t.

The DOJ is going to protect Trump until January 20, 2029. After that, it’s open season again. This “settlement” isn’t as binding as the regulations that govern the DOJ. Even if the court were to approve it, another court could repeal it. This document is simply a public acknowledgment of corruption. It’s not an irrevocable “Get Out of Jail Free” card. That would be a pardon. This is not a pardon; not in any sense of the word.

If anything, this should guarantee that Todd Blanche is never the appointed AG of the United States. And neither should anyone be who won’t tear up this “settlement.” (AG’s can be impeached. Congress has the whip hand. Time to use it.)

Blanche could strengthen it by submitting it to the trial court for approval and entry into the court record. That, of course, would be interesting….🤔 
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Tuesday, May 19, 2026

It’s Not Over ‘Til It’s Over

If this:
The Department of Justice has issued an order permanently barring the United States from pursuing any tax claims or other legal actions against President Donald Trump, his family, his trusts, and his companies, according to a Justice Department document signed Tuesday by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
...isn’t blessed by the court, it goes away in 2029; sooner, if the next Congress acts. (Congress could override a court order, too; but that’s another matter.)

And it can’t be blessed by the court if DOJ insists it has removed the case from the court’s docket. As I’ve said, that’s why the court set a hearing for tomorrow: because a case with a single party came before it to dismiss the case, pursuant to a settlement. And the court said: “Not so fast.” I still don’t think anything has changed.

We’ll see if the court agrees with me.
I just don’t think the court wants to tacitly bless this.
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They Went And Threatened Me With A Good Time! 🥳

Senate Republicans reacted with dismay to President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s (R) primary campaign against Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), openly expressing their fears it would make it harder and more expensive for Republicans to keep the seat.
Yes, Cornyn beclowned himself; to no avail.
Oh, much more than that:
Multiple media outlets reported the president was initially expected to endorse Cornyn, but Paxton tweeted a Hail Mary that seems to have been effective in delaying an endorsement for his rival, pledging he would drop out if Senate leadership lifts the filibuster to pass the SAVE Act, a bill Trump vehemently supports. Cornyn had already expressed his support for the SAVE Act but soon publicly declared his willingness to ditch the filibuster to get it passed, a position he had not taken before. A week ago, Cornyn introduced a bill to name a federal highway after Trump.
I really do think Trump needs to start sodding over that hole on the east side: 😹
😹😹
🎉🎊🥳🍾 😎
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This Is Gonna Be Fun

Because, of course they did. "Me no Alamo.”
NEW: Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) tells @PabloReports that Congress must have "some say" over the Trump administration’s proposed $1.7 billion fund.

Rounds: "Most certainly, it would appear to me that Congress will have some say because there’s an appropriation of funds someplace along the line."

"We’re not talking a million. We’re talking a billion in this particular case. Even Congress pays attention to that."
So the federal treasury is NOT Trump’s piggy bank? The hell you say!

(This is starting to feel like the Saturday Night Massacre, when even my father turned against Nixon. For context, my mother found my “McGovern” button in my dresser drawer, probably in ‘73. think she’d have been less upset if she’d found a joint and a used condom. She was very concerned about how mad my father would be.  October 1973 wasn’t that long after November, ‘72. But by the Saturday Night Massacre, he was through.)
Warnock: To think that somehow taxpayers might have to pay for the attack on our Capitol—to call it beyond the pale is an understatement.

It’s the reason why we’ve got to do everything we can to show up and vote to take back our democracy from this kleptocratic administration that’s focused on enriching themselves, their families, and their corrupt friends.
Remember when people said Trump couldn’t do more for Putin if he was on the Russian payroll? Yeah, it’s beginning to feel like that. 
Elizabeth Warren: The whole idea that your taxpayer dollars are going to do what? Fund the guys that beat up police officers? Fund the guys that rioted to stop the transfer of power? Fund anybody that Donald Trump wants? This is corruption with capital letters and flashing lights and fireworks going off.
🧨

At this point, it’s all about November:
Another campaign ad written for the Democrats.
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🇬🇱 MAGA

Premier of Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen:

“–I will not attend the official opening of the American consulate”

Jens-Frederik Nielsen told Sermitsiaq that he will not attend the official opening of the new American consulate on Thursday.

He could not say whether other members of ministers might attend, but for his part, the answer is a clear no.

“We have not made a formal political decision, but I will not participate,” he said.

To mark the official opening, the consulate has invited guests to a large reception on Thursday at its new premises in central Nuuk.

According to Sermitsiaq’s information, a significant number of those invited have chosen to decline the invitation.

—Sermitsiaq
How is is NOT done:
When Donald Trump’s special envoy to Greenland, Jeff Landry, arrived in Nuuk on Sunday, he was accompanied by physician Joseph Griffin, who told Danish broadcaster TV2 News that he had traveled to gain insight into Greenland’s healthcare system.

However, Greenland’s Department of Health told Sermitsiaq that it had not been contacted regarding any planned meetings.

“The Department of Health and Persons with Disabilities is not aware of any plans for a meeting,” the department stated.

Greenlandic health minister: “Deeply problematic”

According to Griffin, he is in Nuuk as a volunteer and has no affiliation with the U.S. government.

On Sunday, Greenlandic Health Minister Anna Wangenheim wrote on LinkedIn that she viewed the Americans’ approach as deeply problematic:

“It is deeply problematic when individuals with a political mission to make Greenland part of the United States send a so-called ‘volunteer doctor’ to Nuuk to ‘assess our needs.’”

“Greenlanders are not test subjects in a geopolitical project,” the minister wrote.

— Sermitsiaq
Winning friends and influencing people. Hello, you must be going.
President Trump’s special envoy to Greenland, Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana, came to the island this week on a self-proclaimed good will mission to “make a bunch of friends.” So far, he has not found many.

Within hours of landing on Sunday in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, Mr. Landry was touring the town in a cold drizzle when one Greenlander gave his entourage the finger.

After he offered some MAGA hats to Greenlandic children, several shook their heads.

—NYT
Don’t go away mad. Just go away.
Premier of Greenland, Jens - Frederik Nielsen: “–We have our red lines,” he told DR, Denmark’s public broadcaster. “And no matter how many chocolate cookies we get, we are not going to change them.”

When later asked about it by a New York Times journalist, Mr. Landry said, ‘There’s only one line — and it’s red, white and blue.”

—NYT
Come back when you can’t stay so long.
Jeff Landry responds to the fear and anger in Greenland

Q: What do you think about the fear and anger your visit and the president’s rhetoric have sparked among Greenlanders?

“There was this huge backlash which, honestly, seemed to come more from Europe than from Greenland. Keep in mind that I was invited to a dog sled race.”

“If you want opportunities, you have to keep the door open. But it seems that Europe tries to close the door every single time.”

“I believe this could become a major opportunity for coexistence between Europe, Greenland, and the United States — with the U.S. taking the lead. And that’s not unfamiliar territory, because the United States led the reconstruction of Europe after World War II. It’s not as though Europe alone built the Europe we see today.”

Q: But would that require the United States to somehow bring Greenland into the fold?

“I don’t know. First and foremost, you have to have an open dialogue, and you have to have a conversation.”

“I’m sure the working group is having those kinds of discussions. I’m also sure they will present a possible framework to the president.”

“For me, it’s about making sure we do not miss opportunities that previous presidents clearly missed.”

—KNR (Greenlandic Broadcasting Corporation)
No means “no."
Jeff Landry: What he will tell Donald Trump about his visit

KNR followed up by asking Jeff Landry whether he — like his boss has previously said — believes Greenland is “a badly managed piece of ice” after visiting the country.

“What I can tell you is that what I will take back and report to the president is that we once had an opportunity that previous presidents squandered. Trump is not a failure like they were. He loves to win. He loves making deals.”

“He recognizes that Greenland is extremely important to national security — not only for the United States, but also for the Western Hemisphere, and, of course, for Greenland’s own security.”

—KNR
"Once had an opportunity.” Yes, we did. Truman declined it, almost 80 years ago. Try to keep up.
Jeff Landry responded to a question from KNR about whether he and U.S. President Donald Trump still want to take control of Greenland.

He said:

“The person best suited to answer that question is the President of the United States. But I think, first and foremost, what the President of the United States wants is to ensure that the Western Hemisphere is secure, and that the countries of the Western Hemisphere share in all the opportunities that the United States — the world’s largest economy — has to offer.”

However, he also emphasized that:

“There is no doubt that the President’s interest in creating opportunities for the people of Greenland is at a higher level than anywhere else in the world. The ambassador is here. I am here.”

—KNR
Can Landry answer the constitutional question of who has the power to add Greenland as a state, or even make it a U. S. protectorate? Because it doesn’t sound like he can.
Jeff Landry told KNR in the interview that he is leaving Greenland with a positive impression, although he regrets that successive American administrations have not done more in the region over the years.

“People deserve the opportunity to have a strong relationship with the United States. I do not believe that any other country truly has the ability to lift people from dependence on the state to self-reliance and independence.”

He says he sees a country rich in opportunities and a population that has welcomed him warmly and treated him kindly.

Regarding the opposition to his visit, he said:

“I do not know where the resistance comes from.”

He added:

“I believe that the resistance or concern that has been built up in the country is based on misunderstandings or narratives created by misinformation online or simply poor journalism.”

—KNR
Or Ugly Americanism. Yeah; just like that.

Worst American diplomat of at least this century.
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Liberating People Through Theology

I have a book on my shelves that I’ve had since seminary: Mysterium Liberationis: Fundamental Concepts of Liberation Theology, by Ignacio Ellacuria, S.J., and Jon Sobrino, S.J. It was published in 1993, a fact attested to by the preface by Sobrino, who opens with acknowledging the martyrdom of Ellacuria, Juan Ramon Moreno, Amando Lopez, Segundo Monte’s, Ignacio Martin-Baro, Joaquin Lopez y Lopez, and their cook, Julia Elba, and her daughter, Celina. They were murdered in the residence of Archbishop Romero Center (now Saint, but this was in 1990) atCentral American University Jose Simeon Canas, on November 16, 1989.

That is from the preface to the Spanish edition of 1990. My copy is the English edition, 1993. I mean as a microcosm remembrance of the violence visited upon people in Central America in the late decades of the 20th century, violence condoned by the United States in the name of opposing communism. 

American-trained officers also directed the rape and murder of four American church women in El Salvador early in 1981. The heroic US ambassador who swore that the killers would never get away with their crime, Robert White, was fired days after Ronald Reagan assumed the presidency. Later Secretary of State Alexander Haig suggested that the women might have been killed in “an exchange of fire.” That was a signal to Salvadorans that the United States would help cover up the truth about such killings.

President Reagan steadfastly supported the Salvadoran military despite overwhelming evidence of its crimes. So did Haig and other senior officials in the Reagan administration. It is a parody of justice that their legacy remains honorable while triggermen who did their bidding are demonized.

Writing about one of the former Salvadoran officers now targeted by American justice, two former Reagan administration officials recently asserted, “He was there when the US needed him.” They know. One of them, Edwin Corr, was ambassador to El Salvador at the height of the killing campaign in the mid-1980s. The other, Elliott Abrams, was assistant secretary of state. Their commentary was insightful but did not go far enough.

The Salvadoran justice system has every right to prosecute Salvadoran officers who tortured and murdered during the 1980s. For the United States to feign outrage at their crimes, however, is unfair. Those officers were pawns in a game directed from Washington. True justice would target the people who conceived, blessed, and financed El Salvador’s counterinsurgency campaign. Executioners’ faces are always well hidden, but in this case, they speak English, worked in Washington during the 1980s, and remain respectable cocktail-party guests.

There is, of course, no real prospect that the American masterminds of El Salvador’s killing campaign will be brought to justice in this world. Next best would be for Americans to accept a measure of responsibility as a nation. That might lead us to pause before giving blank checks to regimes we know to be murderous.
Just to say, briefly, that it was in this context that liberation theology was born. If I need to tell you more, I would direct you to Didion’s Salvador. “The preferential option for the poor,” the phrase most associated with liberation theology, and thought to make more Marxism than Xianity, comes out of that context. No one in gov, from the U.S. on down, gave a wet snap for the poor; except that they not become communists. Not in this hemisphere, anyway. Cuba was already too much. And still is. 

The last decades of the last century are still with us, in other words. And liberation theology, supposedly expunged and extirpated by the twin forces of the CIA’s School of the Americas, where the worst monsters of Central America were trained, and Pope John Paul II, with his experience of communism and disgust with it, which led him to despise the economic message of liberation theology. But it persisted, even as it disappeared. It changed the conversation. It’s the conversation we’re all having now.

We are not all liberation theologians. But we are all still grappling with their ideas, whether we embrace them, or reject them, or are somewhere in between. We are having the conversation they started. I think if that as a very Christian kind of paradox. Jesus of Nazareth started a conversation the world is still having. Some ideas are like that; not t everybody likes them, but they can’t be ignored. It’s a peculiarity of the ideas that would improve us, if we let them.

I’m going to do some reading and reflecting. But can’t promise I’ll do the reflecting here; or ever be systematic about it all. I just wanted to mention the new thesis. Like most of my ideas, I’ll probably just let it drift into the background.

One never know, do one?
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Trump’s War…

Israel has entered its highest level of alert since the since the start of the ongoing ceasefire with Iran, as U.S. and Israeli forces have now completed preparations for renewed military action against the Islamic Republic, with combat operations set to potentially resume soon, U.S. officials have told Israel’s Kann News.
... is just going to make him more and more popular. Hmmm... stronger support for Trump in Oklahoma than anywhere in Texas. And down in the Valley? 💀 Republicans in the primary have been running hard on how MAGA they are. This is not good news from Texas, for them. (If Paxton wins next week, this analysis means Talarico can start picking curtains for his office.)
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Stickin’ A Fork In It

NEWS ON THE BALLROOM -- The $1B for USSS is one of the most important things Republicans are dealing with right now.

It is the single provision that is standing in the way of ICE/CBP funding. Trump wants this on his desk by June 1. But that's all been complicated by the $1B for security, including Trump's ballroom.

Forget the House floor right now. it's irrelevant. all the action will begin when the Senate moves the reconciliation bill.

As @LauraEWeiss16 scooped last night, Senate is not only changing the $1B language, but they are also considering lowering the number from $1B.

Senate is engaged in a lot of Trump management right now. They know Trump wants the money but they also know that, in its current form, they cant pass it. The parliamentarian is a side show, for the most part. Because if the language ends up on the floor, it could easily come out during vote-a-rama.

And here's the real kicker: The House is even trickier. Absences and opposition will kill this provision in the House. Johnson has been warned by rank and file. This won't fly.
2/3rds of the Senate is not up for reelection, and even they don’t like this price tag. All of the House faces a very angry electorate, and the Administration is giving them this:
Reporter: The price tag for this doj fund, $1.8 billion, you have people that can't afford groceries. Gas is high. People are making sacrifices in their personal lives to accommodate for this rise in prices. People are telling us that they feel financially worse off. They're very concerned about the uncertainty. How can you justify that amount of taxpayer money for that fund when people are struggling? What do you say to Americans who wonder why this fund is getting all this money and I can't afford basic life amenities?

Vance: Thanks to Donald Trump's leadership and the working families tax cut, we put $40 billion into a rural health care fund
That ballroom is never going to be more than a hole in the ground, and a pile of semi-toxic waste on a DC golf course. It’s all but guaranteed the next Congress will vote to ban construction. 🚧  

I’m just gonna slip back in, and stick this in here.
Is our children learning?
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Election Day For The Primary Runoff Is May 26

Early voting has already started. 

Trump had better hurry and get ICE down here if he wants to be sure the “right people” vote.
I guess we’ll be spared that, now.
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Still Going…. 🙈🙉🐵

"Who, me?”
Reed: You talked to Ghislaine Maxwell. A few days later, she was transferred from a high security prison to a very comfortable—

Blanche: That’s not true. She was not in a high security prison. She was transferred from a low security prison to a low security prison.

Reed: I don't think at the other prison she had her own room. She had access to a private shower. She could have pet therapy. Why did Trump send you down to talk to her.

Blanche: You think President Trump called and asked me to go interview a witness in federal prison?

Reed: Yes, I do. He needed somebody to talk to her and find out what would she say if she was asked about Jeffrey Epstein, and you were the perfect choice. And you went down there and suddenly Shazam, she's out
Maybe if you quit acting like the President’s private attorney…. They had to edit out the fire extinguisher, because his tongue kept bursting into flames.🔥  Some people say $1.776 billion…. Speaking of $1.776 billion:
REED: How many taxpayers' returns were leaked by the IRS in the 2020 breach?

BLANCHE: Excuse me?

REED: 405,427. One of them was Donald Trump, correct?

BLANCHE: Donald Trump and his family.

REED: And Donald Trump was president at the time. So it was his IRS that allowed this breach of privacy
🙈🙉🐵
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“Well, it’s been very well received….”

So, this guy...
VAN HOLLEN: An individual who was pardoned by Trump went on to molest two children, and he tried to buy their silence by saying he would give them funds from your slush fund. Can you commit to not making that person eligible for a payout?

BLANCHE: You're obviously lying in your question

VAN HOLLEN: I am reporting what he said
...but not his victims?  That was reported two weeks ago. Raising the question:  how did Johnson know?

Rest assured, the process will be fair, impartial, and transparent. Said no one, ever.
Van Hollen: Will individuals who assaulted Capitol Hill police officers be eligible for this fund?

Blanche: Anybody in this country is eligible to apply.

Van Hollen: Are there going to be rules that say that if you've assaulted a Capitol Hill police officer or committed a violent crime, you will not be eligible?

Blanche: I'm not one of the commissioners

Van Hollen: You’re appointing the members!
Although it is, already, clear as crystal. And if there aren’t, we’ll pretend there are. We’re the Department of Justice, bitches! But the committee makes the decisions. Right? What could go wrong? The committee will clearly be impartial and will act without fear or favor. Just like the Senate Parliamentarian Trump wants fired. And it just gets better: I don’t know the technical details of what got Trump, et al., into court on the first settlement, but I continue to expect the same circumstances still apply. Which means the judge is acting on the court’s authority to question the validity of this suit (there is no opposing party), and is going to be VERY interested in this testimony. Because I can’t imagine what legal claim Trump donors have to this proposed settlement fund. Well, that explains this question: Regardless, the idea is being very well received: That’s pretty much what’s going on while this has been going on.
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