Friday, July 10, 2026

Ummmm…. 🤨

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Our Man On Their Side

So, the bill becomes law, but with no publicity about it, which is all that matters between now and November. The law won’t have any effect until much later. This is the Biden trap: laws need publicity, not just enactment.

Trump is allowing the law to take effect, but ruining the publicity for it.

Poor Republicans…😿
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Trump Is Going To Have To Cancel ALL The Elections!

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Just For The Schadenfreude

I really want to see Nigel Farage beaten by a comedian with a recycling bin on his head.

And then see that person seated in Parliament.

I’ve lived long enough. I think I’ve earned this.
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Donald Trump Has Absolutely No Legal Authority Over Federal Elections

 Not in the Constitution. Not at law.

The “boyhood pal” in question is Peter Ticktin, an 80-year-old Florida lawyer who first met Trump in the 1950s at the New York Military Academy. Ticktin was in the Oval Office as recently as last week according to Taylor, and has vigorously pushed Trump to declare a national emergency over unsubstantiated claims of foreign election interference in the 2020 election.

“Ticktin insists the proof of the grand conspiracy is coming any day now, once [Venezuelan President] Nicolás Maduro starts talking from federal custody. And some have speculated that the Trump administration is trying to induce the Venezuelan leader to go along with such an admission in exchange for leniency,” Taylor wrote in an analysis published on his Substack Thursday.

“Trump’s pal also claims Democrats are plotting to steal enough seats in November to impeach both Trump and Vance and install Hakeem Jeffries in the Oval Office. I know what you’re thinking, because I thought it too. This man sounds like a quack. Well, yes. He sure seems to be a quack. And that’s actually why I’m taking him seriously.”

Ticktin has already helped draft an executive order “to declare a national emergency based on alleged 2020 foreign election interference,” CNN reported earlier this week. And, with Trump having already attempted to impose limits on mail-in voting, Taylor feared that the president could very well follow through on Ticktin’s calls to place the midterm elections “under federal control” by declaring a national emergency.

“It's our expectation that the president will undertake more illegal and unconstitutional actions to steal the midterms. He will dispute the outcome if his side loses, even if the loss is decisive and beyond dispute,” Taylor wrote.

“And he will – in all likelihood – try to prevent the peaceful transfer of power to the political opposition. After all, he’s done it before. But this time we’re better prepared to fight it. And we need to stand together.”
So trying to challenge, or even stop, the 2026 midterms on the basis of a baseless conspiracy theory about the 2020 election, is a non-starter. Trump went to court over 60 times in 2020 to overturn his election. Even the Sinister Six wouldn’t hear it.  This would be 468 elections in 50 states (unless he only wants to challenge the ones where Republicans lose. That’s a good look, too.). None of that will “cancel” the elections.  (And how does he block the “peaceful transfer of power” in Congress? Send in the National Guard?)

This, however, is real: It’s the danger in front of us right now I’m worried about. 
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Definitions

And then you walk around that way.
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Thursday, July 09, 2026

Yes, I Think The Two Are Related

Because Paxton was almost prescient.
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At Least Harris County Is Doing Its Job

The Harris County Medical Examiner has ruled the manner of death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo a homicide.

Records from the medical examiner’s office shows Araujo died from a “penetrating gunshot wound of the torso.”
DHS, following the example of the President, blames the Democrats for the fact they have to hide evidence:
On Thursday, DHS officials said the officers involved had not yet received their body-worn cameras and blamed government shutdowns they say delayed funding for that equipment.

“The officers involved in the incident in Houston had not been issued body-worn cameras due to back-to-back Democrat shutdowns,” DHS said. “The process of purchasing and issuing body-worn cameras to all of our ICE field offices was interrupted by the Democrats multiple government shutdowns. Body cameras have been deployed to more than half the field offices with the remaining half to receive them in the next 60 days.”
"Democrat shutdowns.” Why be subtle about it?
The department said equipping ICE officers with body cameras has been a priority and cited what it described as a sharp increase in assaults on agents.

“Providing our ICE law enforcement officers with body cameras has been a priority for DHS -- especially as our officers are facing a more than 1,300% increase in assaults against them,” the agency said. “Now thanks to the Secure America Act, ICE has historic funding to provide law enforcement with the resources they need, including body cameras.”
The best evidence now is from witnesses. The best witnesses are in ICE custody. Conveniently.
The absence of body camera footage means investigators will instead rely on witness statements, physical evidence and other available video, if any exists, to reconstruct what happened.
"If any exists," it is in the custody of ICE, too.
Meanwhile, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare has launched a parallel review and is urging anyone who witnessed the shooting to contact investigators.
The county can, but the city won’t. How does that work?
Houston city officials have said they do not have jurisdiction to investigate because the shooting involved federal law enforcement officers rather than local police.

Mayor John Whitmire and several Houston City Council members have called for a transparent federal investigation and the public release of the findings.
Maybe if they say: “Pretty please, with sugar on top”?

Weasels.
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“Religious people with socialist values.”

The day of Pentecost:
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 2:42-47
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.
Acts 4:32-36

They really need to read their Bible more carefully.
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ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

Federal immigration agents who killed a man during a traffic stop in Houston on Tuesday had been searching for a different person, according to a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman.

The targets of the ICE investigation were two people from Guatemala, one of whom the agents believed was in a white van being driven by the man, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, according to two people with knowledge of the matter who were not my permitted to speak about the case.

But the Guatemalan immigrants were not in the van. Mr. Araujo, a Mexican immigrant who had lived in the United States without authorization for 35 years, was on his way to work with three other men.

When agents tried to stop the vehicle, the encounter quickly escalated, and an agent shot Mr. Araujo in the abdomen. He died at a hospital hours later.
“So sorry! Killed the wrong brown guy! But, you know, they all look alike!”
Federal agents had surveilled an address connected to one of the two Guatemalans weeks before and had seen two white vans at the property, the spokeswoman said in a statement. When they returned to the address on Tuesday, she said, “they observed a white van with an individual who resembled the target,” and initiated the traffic stop.

The agents were not wearing body cameras, according to the spokeswoman. Before trying to stop the van, the agents had looked into its owner and learned it was Mr. Araujo, who did not have legal status in the United States, according to the two people familiar with the case.
"We’re already dressed like thugs. Might as well act like it.”
The shooting is part of a growing number of similar violent interactions involving civilians and immigration agents. More than 20 people have been shot at since September, nearly all of them in their cars. Some cases have been fatal. The shooting also comes as the Trump administration has ramped up its deportation campaign.
More than 20 people shot, nearly all of them in cars; some of them fatalities. This is the root of Trump’s antipathy to the 14th amendment: he thinks “persons” is supposed to be a racially and legally limited term. Non-persons deserve what they get at the hands of an unaccountable government.

And I’m still wondering about this:
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“We Are The Melting Pot. It’s Houston.”

What the absolute FUCK! is going on here?
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo called Houston home for 35 years. On Tuesday, an ICE agent shot and killed him. His family learned of his death from a video before anyone bothered to knock on their door.

New York City stands with the Salgado family in demanding a full, independent investigation and real accountability. To the Salgado family and any immigrant family in this city living in fear: we grieve with you and we will continue to stand beside you in the pursuit of justice.

Abolish ICE.
The mayor of NYC has more balls than the mayor of Houston.
Two days after a federal immigration officer shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, Mayor John Whitmire told reporters the city's police department cannot independently investigate the incident.

"This is a time for the federal government to oversee their employees," Whitmire said. "I’m not going to promise something that I can’t carry out. ... This is a federal matter, and we have no access to the evidence. We were not involved. And we do have high expectations for ICE, the FBI and the federal government."
At least the District Attorney has our backs:
Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare told Houston Public Media on Thursday that his office is conducting its own investigation into a federal immigration agent’s fatal shooting of a man in Houston earlier this week.

Speaking on the Hello Houston show, Teare said his office is “running an investigation” into the shooting despite not being invited to participate in an investigation by federal authorities. He acknowledged that his office does “not have the same level of access that we do in almost any other officer-involved shooting,” adding, “I can tell you unequivocally, we don't have everything."

“If a state crime was committed, be it a murder, be it a manslaughter, be it tampering with evidence, we are going to investigate it,” Teare said. “And if someone committed that crime, you don't get to hide behind a badge.”
I have no use for the Mayor. Never have.

At least this outrage is getting the attention it deserves:
Family members and local officials are calling for a full investigation into the shooting death of a man killed by ICE agents in Houston.

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot Tuesday as agents tried to arrest him. Federal officials say he tried to flee and “weaponized his vehicle” toward an officer who opened fire.

@GeoffRBennett discussed more with Colleen DeGuzman of The Texas Tribune.
Hundreds gathered at a Houston vigil on Wednesday evening, calling for justice and for ICE to leave the city.

“I never thought something like this would happen this close to my home,” said Geneva Rajpute, who lives on the street where the shooting occurred. “We are the melting pot. It’s Houston.”
Lock and load.
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo's last words were "me están matando"—they are killing me.

Under Donald Trump, ICE has become a rogue and abusive agency. ICE is killing people in the streets. Targeting Latinos because of the color of their skin, the language they speak, and the jobs they hold. Locking away innocent children. Colluding with the likes of Governor Abbott to target communities. All to fuel the President's mass deportation for profit machine.

I stand with my colleagues in Congress and with the entire nation in demanding justice, including a transparent investigation and the release of all footage and evidence. I am also demanding ICE provide a full accounting of the men who were locked away after the shooting.

Lorenzo's death is a tragedy. His wife has lost her husband. His sons have lost their father. We cannot allow this to happen again.
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was simply on his way to work. Now his family is grieving a loss no family should endure.

We cannot accept a system where going to work can end in tragedy at the hands of ICE. Abolish ICE and give his family the true answers they deserve.
And what the absolute fuck is this all about?
Juan Proaño on the killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo:
The family is demanding the release of Lorenzo’s body. It has been complicated because they removed all of his personal identifying information before they put him in the ambulance. That required the hospital to admit him as a John Doe. They want him home, and they want to plan his funeral.
Mayor John Whitmire shames Houston. QED.
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Tl;dr: Will Rogers

"I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat."

Just saved you the trouble of reading JMM’s not-really-all-that-interesting essay. The crucial issue about the Democratic Party is that it’s the oldest political party in America. It’s been around since Jefferson. The Republican Party dates back to Lincoln, and I’m pretty comfortable saying Trump has smashed it to bits. It’s all MAGA all the time, but nobody thinks MAGA is going to hold together when Trump is gone. Which is only 40 months away (but me no “buts” about a third term. That’s as likely as the courts declaring the 2020 election was “rigged.”)

Post-Trump, whither the GOP? The GOP is a cult now. It won’t survive the death (real or political) of its leader. (Jr. is no Joel Osteen. He’s not even a Richard Roberts.)

And if you look back on the 20th century, the greatest presidents of that century were Democrats. Eisenhower is the exception that proves the rule, in that he warned us of “the military-industrial complex.” And he was right.

Nixon visited China, but he also “weaponized” the government against his enemies (the real scandal of Watergate). Reagan was President when Gorbachev realized the USSR was headed to history’s dustbin. His policy towards Central America was scandalous enough (the “School of the Americas “), but he managed a scandal in DC on top of it, one GHWBush found a way to pardon himself out of. (We REALLY need to amend that pardon power clause.) FDR gave us the New Deal and guided the country through the Great Depression and WWII. Truman gave us the Fair Deal and desegregated the military. JFK set us up for the Civil Rights Act which LBJ passed in memoriam, and then he got the VRA, and Medicare, and the Great Society, establishing the government programs we take for granted (and rely on) today. Which have been damaged by Trump, but not destroyed; and they won’t be.

All this talk of Dems in disarray is just punditry bafflegab. The last organization the Democratic Party had died in LBJ’s administration because of Vietnam. The party literally split over it, and handed the White House back to Nixon by nominating McGovern. It was the true beginning of the primary process, and it’s been a mess ever since. (Although there was the year Pat Buchanan gave a speech at the GOP convention that Molly Ivins memorialized as sounding better in the original German. Buchanan would be denounced by Stephen Miller as a pro-immigration communist. Such is Republican “unity.”) But the post-McGovern mess was inevitable, too. And then the only thing Nixon accomplished was an agreement to end the war, which, like his presidency, ended in ignominy. McGovern wasn’t wrong, but the nation wasn’t ready to face it. Nixon’s “secret plan” turned out to be as much of an embarrassment as the Trump negotiated withdrawal from Afghanistan. One might conclude that GOP Presidents talk tough, but have no idea how to end a war we shouldn’t have started.

LBJ had control over the party, even the Southern Democrats who opposed his civil rights measures. He knew how to get around them. He knew how to keep people inside the big tent. Vietnam did LBJ in with the primary voters, and probably ruined HHH’s chances in the general, too. Nixon pulled the rare trick of winning re-election by the greatest landslide in history (sorry, Trump; you were never even close), and then turning the GOP in Congress against him less than 2 years later.

But the Presidents with scandals IN office (Clinton’s, despite the blue dress, were all prior to his inauguration. The Lewinsky mess was escalated into an impeachable offense by a prosecutor with nothing better to do than find something to prosecute. There’s a reason we shouldn’t let that happen, to anyone.), are Nixon, Reagan, GHW shutting down Iran-Contra before it could bite him; Cheney’s abuses of power under Shrub. Now Trump using the office to finally earn more money than Daddy left him, and selling pardons, to boot. (As I said, that pardon power has to be changed.)

There’s a common thread here, and it’s GOP presidents. Republicans tolerate scandal in their politicians. Democrats don’t, in any politician. Not to the point of being the party of Javert; but the GOP is the party of “Do as I say, not as I do.”

It’s another reason the GOP dies with Trump. That, and Trump is already checked out. He got elected to stay out of jail. His attempts to leave his mark on history (arch, ballroom, Greenland) are all failing. He’s going to withdraw further into his own reality, and ignore the one the rest of us live in. The GOP will crash in ruins around him, and he won’t even notice; or care. Oh, the party name may go on; but I doubt it. It will be too tainted, too connected to MAGA, to last much longer. The hypocrisy is, finally, just too much. Besides, Trump is their tent pole, and he’s already leaning 45 degrees.

The Democrats, in all their glorious disarray, will carry on. It’s the American Way.
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Here. In Houston.

Three unmarked cars surrounded Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s car. He tried to escape the trap. ICE claims he rammed the car, and tried to run down an ICE agent, who shot him. He died later, in the hospital. 

It gets more familiar from there. Witnesses say the van Araujo was driving didn’t have any collision damage. But ICE removed it. No one knows where it is now. Two men were in the van. ICE removed them, too. No one knows where they are either.

The FBI says they are investigating. The FBI also says it’s investigating Araujo’s alleged crime. 

"You [could] find him every evening after work, resting on his porch, listening to music, petting his dog," Salgado said. "I am deeply heartbroken to see that the man who taught me the value of hard work, family values, and education will no longer spend an evening on that porch. … He did not deserve to die. He did not deserve to be reduced to a headline of ‘Mexican man shot and killed by ICE.'"

Araujo had lived in the United States for over 30 years and was working his way through the process of obtaining legal immigration status, according to his family.

"He dedicated his life in the United States to giving his family the American dream," Salgado said. "After nearly 35 years of working to give us the American dream, he made the choice to begin the process of obtaining his American dream through a work permit. We dotted every I, crossed every T, filled every document, attended every appointment." Lorenzo Salgado Araujo's middle son holds a photo of his father who was shot and killed by ICE. July 8, 2026.
Which is probably why ICE went looking for him.
U.S. Rep. Christian Menefee, along with half a dozen other elected state and local leaders, joined Araujo's family on Wednesday.

"I want to be clear, somebody being killed by law enforcement is a big g—— deal," Menefee said. "What other profession has the power to take somebody's life in the middle of a street? ... We are a city of undocumented immigrants. They are our neighbors. They are our family. They are business owners, and they deserve to be treated with humanity and with dignity."

On Tuesday, the FBI said the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security is leading an investigation into the shooting, while the FBI’s Houston office is leading an investigation into the "potential assault on a federal law enforcement officer."
🙄
Salgado said his father helped him and his two brothers afford college, adding that Araujo's hard work inspired them.

"My father was a simple man, a family man," Salgado said. "That's how I want the world to know my father. Not as someone who got shot and killed, but as a family man, a man who understood that good things come to those who put in hard work."
As long as you’re not too brown; in Trump’s America.

Only the worst of the worst, right? In charge, that is.
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JACKPOT!

Finally figured that one out. A very long blink. Trump has been asleep a very long time.
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Wednesday, July 08, 2026

“And In Your Dreams/You May See Yourself/As A Prophet…”

“the words from your lips…” "I just can’t believe you are such…a fool!”—“Son of Orange County,” by Frank Zappa* Somebody explained to Trump he couldn’t afford to stop trading with Spain. They didn’t tell him he had no authority to do that, they just explained that businesses in America would object. The businesses Trump listens to. Because that’s all he would ever listen to. The war is over but we must continue it. 😵‍💫 🫠 Absolutely zero self awareness. But his sympathies are with the accused molester. Inadvertently confirming a story Haberman and Swan tell about interviewing Trump, and all he wanted to do was talk about the maple trees he wanted to plant. But they still elicit the same bullshit answers.

*Trump doesn’t have the authority to do either of these things.


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I Missed This Nugget

This morning our crazy man at the NATO Summit: * Trump apparently has suspended trade with Spain
* Trump has restarted his war with Iran (not that it had really ended)
* Trump has again threatened to takeover Greenland, causing Denmark to say they will activate Article 5
* there is talk of canceling the summit in 2027
* Trump has again threatened to takeover Greenland, causing Denmark to say they will activate Article 5
Denmark will defend Greenland, Mette Frederiksen says after Trump’s threat

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said ahead of the NATO summit that the alliance’s most important message is that NATO remains strong and united in an uncertain time.

Her message on Greenland was equally clear.

“Greenland is not for sale. Denmark is a sovereign state, and we are prepared to defend every part of NATO and the Kingdom of Denmark,” she said firmly.

—TV2
Granted, it would require military action to invoke Article V of the NATO treaty.  Of course, Article V was invoked after 9/11, for the first time, and only, time.

And in that threat to stop trade with Spain:
IOW, it would be like Spain declaring they are going to stop trading with Texas. If Trump decided to stop trade with the EU, I think even this Congress might sit up and take notice. (And no, Trump can’t do that. But just trying to should make Congress sit up and…act like the Article I institution it is. Democrats could demand Congress do something, if only to give voters another reason to vote against the Republicans. It would be a damned good idea to reassure the world market that Trump is full of shit, especially with the price of oil going up again. Won’t be long before voters turn on anyone in Congress who doesn’t show a backbone.)
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So Qatar Force One Wasn’t Ready To Be A Presidential Plane…

I called it couple days ago. On here, plus during a @MSNOWNews hit….so reason finally took hold, Qatar Force One not equipped with appropriate comms/force pro/security package for intl duty…Secret Service and USAF pleas must have won out, over Trump’s vanity project…Turkey a high CI threat environment plus we back to war with Iran. The post below is of course ridiculous fluff… the bridge aircraft just not ready for prime time overseas… though I’m sure it’s very comfy…
… but Trump couldn’t stand to wait any longer, so he got it for July 4th so he could fly to South Dakota and have it buzz D.C.

And then he flew two planes to Turkey. One to England, and then on to Turkey in the other, because he didn’t dare take it into the Middle East. And he’ll have to have both flown back to Andrews.

If you were wondering how he could get it prepared to be a Presidential plane so quickly, well…he couldn’t. But his ego had to be stroked, and the taxpayers had to stroke it.

Another reason to vote Republicans out, so Congress can take this man by the short and curlies, and tell him how the cow ate the cabbage. And, among other things, disabuse him of the idea that this plane is his possession when he leaves the White House again. Because the President is a petulant five year old. And if we can’t remove him from office, we can certainly put him in timeout.
Trump posts he has been reunited with the Qatari-gifted Air Force One: We just landed and met up with our new Air Force One, which was sent earlier to RAF Mildenhall, so we could show the wonderful Servicemembers, as per the entire Base's request. They were very excited, picture enclosed. It was on our way back to the States from Turkey, with virtually no deviation of flightpath.
A) You know Trump didn’t write it (“deviation” and “flightpath” are not in his 3rd grade vocabulary)

B) proves security was a concern, which is why Qatar Force One stayed safely in England.
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Trump Also Made Prices On Swimsuits Go Down In The Summer!

However, Walmart’s own announcement did not mention Trump, the White House, or any government request. Instead, the retailer described the discounts as part of its summer Rollback program, highlighting thousands of temporary savings on items tied to the season, including grilling supplies, produce, beverages, and other summer favorites.

The timing and framing also challenge Trump’s claim of direct credit. Walmart told CBS News that the discounts were already in effect before Trump’s July 6 Truth Social post. The company has announced similar seasonal promotions in previous years, including during the Biden administration.

In 2024, Walmart promoted summer and July Fourth savings events featuring discounted cookout essentials and other seasonal deals. These promotions are sales events designed to provide savings during a specific period, not an announcement that prices have been permanently lowered year-round. While shoppers may benefit from the current Rollbacks, Walmart has not said these prices will remain once the summer promotion ends.
The Lowes near me has lowered prices on “grilling supplies,” because the summer sales season is coming to an end. That stuff on the shelves will be taking up space in September, and the September stuff needs to be out in August. People don’t buy much stuff for grills in September, but they do buy Hallowe’en and Xmas decorations. Gotta make way for those.

Costco is already promoting giant skeletons for your yard for Halloween. But Costco clears seasonal stuff like mad. The Xmas stuff will start showing up in August, alongside the skeletons.

Wal-Mart has been advertising “Rollbacks” on prices for at least 30 years now. And they’re promoting low prices on summer items to get customers in who will think they’re saving so much money, they’ll buy something else. It’s called “loss leaders.” It’s a promotion as common as retail.

It’s also their way of clearing out the summer stuff to make way for the fall stuff. In August.

I’m waiting for Trump to take credit for the tide coming in. Or the price of gas going back up.
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🎶 It’s Money That Matters….🎶

Do ya remember when E. Jean Carroll won her first civil cases sexual assault against Trump? The jury awarded her $5 million, and Trump wanted to appeal. To do that, he had to either pay Carroll and try to get the money back later; or give the court $5 million to put in escrow. He did the latter. 

On June 29 if this year, the court (finally) denied Trump’s application for a writ of certiorari, without comment. Carroll went back to the court and said: time to release my money. Trump said: Oh, no! I’m not done yet! I’m asking the Supremes to rehear my application to hear my appeal. The appeal they aren’t interested in! But it could still happen!

No, it can’t. And today the trial judge ordered the clerk to give Carroll a check for the judgement amount, and the accumulated interest. So Trump appealed.

And I’m telling you this because appeals don’t automatically freeze lower court orders.  As in the judgment at the end of the trial: Trump’s appeal didn’t freeze Carroll’s claim. Putting the money in escrow with the court did that. As Chris points out, unless Trump gets Kaplan (the trial judge) to stay his own order, the clerk has one job: obey the court’s order.

And the Second Circuit is not going to reverse the trial court because Trump thinks there are fairies at the bottom of his garden. Or stop the money from being released. Especially on the basis that there’s a risk that money goes to people Trump doesn’t like.
"Trump’s attorneys also argued that another reason Carroll should not get any money yet is that the agreement includes language requiring Trump to be repaid the money he deposited if the verdict is reversed," said the report.

Specifically, the attorneys noted that Carroll “has repeatedly stated that she intends to give away all funds that she collects from him, and once those funds are distributed to third parties, they likely cannot be recovered.”
I’m embarrassed for the lawyers who wrote that. Because they clearly weren’t, and should be. It’s the last line that makes it art(ificial). My understanding is, the Supremes refused the petition reconsider the application for certiorari, as of July 6.

Either way, unless the Second Circuit on its own motion stayed the order if the lower court, that money is no longer in the court’s escrow.
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$400 Million Later

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Does He Understand The Words Coming Out Of His Mouth?👄

Q: Oil markets are up today around about 7% for WTI and Brent as well. The world is taking you at your word, sir, that the MOU is over, that the ceasefire is over. What happens next, sir? Are we on the cusp of a full scale return to full conflict?

Trump: we're never going to see Iran have a nuclear weapon because that's much more important than the numbers you're talking about. The prices of oil are dropping like a rock. They’ll be up a little bit.
He’s been saying that since February. This, 👇however, is new. New-ish. Trump’s thinking of the racial slur “When you go black, you never go back.”
Reporter: The Iran war seems to be a strategic dead end for you. Why are you apparently unable to end the Iran war?

Trump: The Iran war has been tremendous military success. they want to make a deal, but they don't know how to make a deal. They're dealing with Steve Witkoff. They're dealing with Jared Kushner and JD Vance, and they're dealing with Marco and Scott. They're dealing with great people. I think they're little loco.
We’re gonna be doing this well into 2029.

But the important issues of the day are Mitch McConnell’s condition, and whether Graham Platner should ever have run for the Senate.
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Imagine If Joe Biden Had….

IIRC, it wasn’t in the MOU. What? It rhymes. He’s doing a “weave.” Words mean only what he thinks they mean. War Crimes 'R' Us.
Trump: They asked for a time out. They wanted to go to the funeral of khamenei. And I said, give it to him. And they start shooting missiles. I mean, it was a crazy thing. Now, we did kill him… They were worried we'd kill them during the funeral. I mean, if you can believe it? Did you ever think I'd be doing this for a living? Pete loved this stuff from day one
Has he already forgotten why he wanted the MOU? People love those candies.

Where is Jake Tapper on this?
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I Thought Cuba Was “Next”

Whenever Trump says “us,” you get the sense he has a mouse in his pocket.
The United States already has the ability to maintain military bases and conduct defense operations in Greenland under the 1951 Defense Agreement with the Kingdom of Denmark.

The people of Greenland have chosen to remain part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and that choice must be respected.
Trump isn’t talking about military bases (after all, he wants to pull them out of Europe). He’s talking about letting his buddies exploit Greenland’s natural resources. Whether Greenland likes it, or not. Once he’s bought it, it’s his, right?
Donald Trump has revived plans to buy Greenland, according to officials close to the discussions.

A deal to purchase the territory is now the US president’s preferred option to end a long-running dispute with Denmark.

The new position would represent a collapse in talks between the two countries regarding enhanced security and US access to the island
Greenland is not for sale. That has been made unequivocally clear by the Danish Government, the Government of Greenland, and the people of Greenland.

Greenland has chosen the Kingdom of Denmark. That choice must be respected.

Any decision about Greenland’s future belongs to the people of Greenland—not to any other country. This should be respected by everyone, including President Donald Trump.

Respect for sovereignty, international law, and every nation’s right to determine its own future are fundamental principles that the international community must uphold.
At this point it would be very helpful if Congressional leadership would step up and say: “Ain’t fuckin’ happenin’.” Past time to reign this fool in.
Denmark will defend Greenland, Mette Frederiksen says after Trump’s threat

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said ahead of the NATO summit that the alliance’s most important message is that NATO remains strong and united in an uncertain time.

Her message on Greenland was equally clear.

“Greenland is not for sale. Denmark is a sovereign state, and we are prepared to defend every part of NATO and the Kingdom of Denmark,” she said firmly.

—TV2
Seriously. Long past time.
In Greenland, we do not forget. You have absolutely nothing — nothing — to say about Greenland. Focus on doing your job as Governor of Louisiana. Your state continues to rank among the worst in the United States on education, healthcare, infrastructure, poverty, and so on.

Everything you write about Greenland, is nothing but lies and nonsense.
Does anyone think this makes us look strong?
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Tuesday, July 07, 2026

⛽️ I Should Probably Fill Up My Car

Because we’re not going to see that price again for awhile?
According to @BarakRavid , citing a U.S. official, today’s strikes in Iran, that targeted air defense sites, surface-to-air missiles, coastal surveillance systems, drone launch sites, port facilities, and anti-ship cruise missile installations, were scaled up ‘four or five’ times, in relation to past U.S. responses to Iranian MOU violations.
The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned the U.S. strikes across Southern Iran, saying that it is a violation of the U.S.-Iran MOU, despite Iran first targeting three tankers as they transited the Strait of Hormuz, a violation in and of itself. Per the release, Iran “holds the U.S. government responsible” for their expected response, which will likely be a resumption of Iranian strikes on U.S. bases and infrastructure in neighboring Gulf countries.
Trump can’t pursue a goal for more than five minutes before he loses interest.

Trump never had an agreement with Iran. All he had was acquiescence.

These are not mutually exclusive propositions.
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Any Illegal Voting Activity, And Other Electoral Matters

Meanwhile, every accusation is a confession:
Two weeks before this year’s primary elections, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the creation of a tip line for the public to report people or groups suspected of voter fraud.

“Free and fair elections are a cornerstone of a thriving republic, and with the authority granted to my office by the Legislature, we will stop at nothing to uncover and stop any illegal voting activity,” Paxton said in a February news release announcing the tip line.

The announcement linked to guidance from his office about election laws in Texas, which included a requirement to be a U.S. citizen, a prohibition on collecting mail ballots on behalf of others and a warning that “it is illegal to misrepresent your residence on election records or to establish a residence for the purpose of influencing the outcome of an election.”

“You must register to vote using the address where you reside,” the attorney general’s guidance stated.

Despite his own warnings, Paxton appears to have used an address where he did not live while voting in six elections in the past two years, including in May’s runoff that made him the Republican nominee for U.S. senator, according to records obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune.

State Sen. Angela Paxton said in a 2025 divorce filing that Paxton, whom she accused of adultery, moved out of their Collin County home a year earlier. But Paxton continues to list the home’s address in the northern Dallas suburb on his voter registration. Angela Paxton declined to be interviewed. A source close to the Paxtons said the attorney general has not moved back into the home since leaving.

It is unclear where Paxton has lived for the past two years, but reporting by ProPublica and the Tribune has linked him to a home in neighboring Denton County since February.

Three election lawyers told the news organizations that Paxton may have violated the same Texas laws his office cautioned about in its news release.
“Any illegal voting activity” that isn’t Ken Paxton’s.  And what does the Paxton campaign say about it?
Campaign spokesperson Madison Cercy did not answer the questions from the news organizations. Instead, she issued a statement saying that the attorney general has been “a national leader on election integrity, with a long record of defending Texas elections.” Cercy said that “attempting to insinuate otherwise and tear him down with a baseless, lie-filled tabloid story is not real reporting.”

Asked twice to provide specifics about what they believed was inaccurate, the campaign did not respond.
I’m just suspecting the electorate has had it with corruption and hypocrisy. Trump has pretty much wrung the tolerance for that out, for awhile.
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Trump Is Not Thomas Jefferson…

... and he’s never going to be.
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EOD

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Monday, July 06, 2026

ETTD

THE TRUMP EFFECT: The USA just lost to Belgium in the World Cup Round of 16 by a score of 4-1, right after Trump personally called FIFA to clear star striker Balogun to play.

Sports fans are calling it the Trump curse.

He attended the Super Bowl and predicted a Chiefs win, but the Eagles blew them out.

He was there when the Commanders hosted the Lions and lost at home.

He watched from a suite as Miami fell in the College Football National Championship.

He sat in the owner’s suite when the Knicks snapped their huge playoff streak in NBA Finals Game 3.

And he attended the Ryder Cup where Europe topped the US team.
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Trump Thinks Jefferson Just Wrote A Check For The Louisiana Purchase

According to DR, Denmark’s Public Service Broadcaster, Trump Still Sees Buying Greenland as Best Solution

According to DR, Denmark’s public service broadcaster, a White House official has reiterated President Donald Trump’s ambition to acquire Greenland, saying the administration still considers a U.S. purchase of the territory the best way to strengthen security in the Arctic.

The remarks were made during a U.S. press briefing ahead of Tuesday’s NATO summit, which was attended by DR’s U.S. correspondent, Kim Bildsøe.

“As things stand now, the only solution we have found that could resolve this is for the United States to buy Greenland, but we will continue to explore other options,” the official said.

The official added that Trump wants to address the issue in a way that does not leave it to future presidents.

“When the President sees a problem that can be solved, he wants to solve it. He wants to solve it in a way that does not leave the problem for future presidents,” the official said.

—DR
...and Congress just covered it.
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Affordability Is A Hoax

What matters is whether the US can rig the World Cup.
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Now He’s Undermining American Faith In Sports

If Trump doesn’t like the outcome, it’s rigged. And there’s nothing we can do about this, except be afraid. 😱 
Trump on Balogun: "I saw the play, and I'm a person that loves sports ... that wasn't a foul. That wasn't even an infraction ... this referee, who is a little bit suspect if you check his past. He made a call that nobody could believe ... he's our best player, or one of our best players. And he gave him a red card. I didn't know what that meant ... yes, I asked for a review by FIFA."
He knows the rules of football well enough to know what a foul and an infraction are. But he doesn’t know what a “red card” is. 🤔 Trump wants us to be like France, right down to the lack of A/C at the Great American State Fair. I guess he was going for the rhyme? 🤷‍♂️
The picture got worse at a recent Senate Republican lunch, according to the report.

Conference Chair Tom Cotton (R-AR) presented polling showing independents fleeing the GOP in "significant numbers" and moving toward Democrats. The data was stark enough that attendees left the meeting "visibly shaken."

According to prominent Republican pollster Whit Ayres, "We know that the party in power tends to lose House seats in a midterm election, but the number of seats lost is highly correlated with the president’s popularity. When presidential job approval is above 50 percent, the average loss of House seats for his party is 14. When it’s below 50 percent, the average loss of House seats for his party is 32.”

"But there are very few people at this point who are predicting that the Democrats will not gain seats in the House," Ayres added.

According to the report, a recent Fox News poll of 1,002 registered voters conducted in mid-June showed only 23 percent of voters approve of Trump's handling of gas prices. Just 31 percent approve of his economic management.

Democratic strategist Tad Devine told The Hill he sees a wave election in the making. "It may be a very big change election in that the Republicans are going to lose the House of Representatives and could lose the Senate as well. And I think the Democrats will gain ground not just in those federal races but I think in governors' races, in legislative races."
Can’t imagine why…
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Sunday, July 05, 2026

And Let The People Say: “AMEN!”

I’m not speaking against the Reverend to say the real praise goes to his congregation, who accepts what he’s saying as the word of the Lord.

Because it is. IMHTheologicalO, anyway.

And it needn’t be painful to you if it’s truthful. Niebuhr said you can’t have a Xian nation, because a nation cannot be ethical. Ethics requires some measure of sacrifice, and you cannot require someone else to sacrifice for your ethical decision (here we meet the conundrum of the akedeh, the story of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac. The ethical paradox, the ethical crisis, of that story is something Johannes de Silentio will not let us look away from. A nation cannot ask its citizens, the very citizens it is supposed to protect, to sacrifice their lives for the nation’s ethics. For its survival: yes. But what if, as some Christians once said, it is unethical for white Americans and black Americans to live as equals? That the blacks must sacrifice so this ethic can prevail? That’s, in part, the Reverend’s point. To put a finer point on it, would you consider Omelas ethical? They ask only one person to be the living sacrifice.

And what, as Niebuhr asks, if the ethics of the nation require that the nation itself make the sacrifice? Not just give up something; but give up everything.

Omelas points us to a whole separate ethical question coming from the Hebrew and Xian scriptures about how to treat the poor and the marginalized, and how “Christian” a nation can be that doesn’t follow those teachings (major hint: the prophets blame the Babylonian Exile on Israel’s failure to remember the poor and the widows and orphans.) we prefer the capitalism that requires the greatest good for the greatest number be our ethical standard. (Omelas, in the logical extreme.) But is there anything Christian about utilitarianism? Or Omelas?

Aside from that, there’s the problem of defining an “Christian nation.” “One nation, under God,” but under whose God? Israel had (has) a covenant with God. We do not. Our ability to be Xian is really an individual matter, and has been since the Romantics cemented that Enlightenment idea as the foundation of ourselves as persons. Not only because there are too many faiths (religious and secular; we all trust in something), but because there are too many differences alone just between Xians. Am I to bend the knee to the encyclicals of the Bishop of Rome? Of this Pastor? Or Robert Jeffress or Paula White? Should you bend your knee to me? Who preaches the Xianity of this nation to which I must adhere? Or at least acknowledge? The Constitution says “We, the people of the United States….”And already we’ve got a problem.  Who are “the people of the United States”? Four out of nine Supreme Court Justices say that not all persons born in this country should be included as “the people of this United States,” even though (I don’t think?) they don’t deny those people are all persons.

Although  they seem to think those excluded from “all persons” in the 14th are in a new class of “illegal,” Which may not create stateless persons, but seem to be very close to the old concept of “outlaw:” someone outside the protection of the law, who can be dealt with as anyone sees fit.

(The contemporary example shows up in the “new” “Twilight Zone,” where a man is branded “invisible” for being anti-social. No one is allowed to speak to him or look at him. At one point he’s mugged, but when he calls for an ambulance (because no one else will help him, on pain of being branded “invisible” themselves). When 911 realizes who he is (“invisible”), they refuse him treatment and end the call. For the time he is invisible, he is “outlaw.”)

So who are the people of the United States? And can we claim Christianity for them? “Hang it all, Robert Browning! There can be but one Sordello! But Sordello, and my Sordello?”—Ol’ Ez (Pound; the REAL Ezra). What is the ethics of the four dissenting opinions in Barbara? Can they properly be described as “Christian”? Show your work.

If you ask me if they should be properly described as Christian, my answer is: no. The law should not concern itself with ethical considerations, except as they are considerations of justice (or: why AI can never judge a trial outcome, or a legal appeal). The law has professional ethics, and the ethical concerns for doing justice (a foundational concern of the jurisprudential school known as “judicial realism.”) But I’m concerned with the ethics of Matthew 25 and the Lukan Beatitudes, and rendering to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and giving God what is God’s. With doing justice (and not the legal kind), loving mercy, and walking humbly with my God. With being last of all, and servant of all, in order to be first of all. And how do you ask an entire nation to do any of that?

In other words, I’m concerned with being ethical in a way the world flipping doesn’t understand. And not expecting the world to do so.

So I like what the Reverend’s saying; but I appreciate more, the congregation that supports him in saying it.

Thanks be to God.
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