Thursday, June 18, 2026

Pull The Other One

 And the White House ballroom will be paid for entirely by donations. Except the part that’s paid for by moving Secret Service training funds to cover the project. And the extra money Congress still needs to appropriate.

Or is the $300 billion going to be paid in Trump cryptocurrency?
Vance: What the president is frustrated about is we seem to be on the cusp of a major breakthrough and all of a sudden, there’s a major explosion that goes off in a civilian population center in Beirut. A lot of people who have nothing to do with Hezbollah lose their lives. That is not acceptable
IOW, Hezbollah has a vote. Didn’t think about that either when you attacked Iran, huh? How much do you have to pay Hezbollah now? 🤦‍♂️  $300 billion sound like enough? And why was the Strait closed again? And what is it going to cost to get it opened?
Posted by at No comments:

The U.S. Is Paying Iran To Open The Strait

QED.
Posted by at No comments:

The Emperor Is Nekkid Nor A Jaybird

Posted by at No comments:

Otter To Bibi: “You fucked up! You trusted us!”

Well he trusted Trump, anyway. The fourth is that Israel’s not above reproach, either. They picked their Trump, too. Bibi’s been jonesing for this war since Hillary Clinton was SOS.

Choices have consequences.
Posted by at 1 comment:

Trump’s Ballroom Cost Estimate Just Increased By $1 Billion

All because Macron punked him.
Posted by at No comments:

Fresh Takes

An offer of $300 billion would bring me to the table, too.
Snyder: [Donald Trump] is out of his depth. He does not understand anything about negotiation. He does not understand anything about war. He doesn't understand the politics of war. He doesn't understand how war is politics. He thinks it's like a video game or a movie where you push a button and then the other guy surrenders. But war is fundamentally an intense form of politics. And politics is not what he's good at.
Is Trump in decline? Or was he never really that competent? 

The accepted narrative is that Trump has lost a step approaching 80.  He has lost energy, granted; but has he lost competence? Did he manage affairs any better than this during Covid, when he said it would just “go away,” and then he and Jared clearly didn’t know how to use the government to acquire and provide healthcare equipment in the early stages of overwhelming hospitalizations? He quickly quit attacking it when blaming Covid on China and Fauci didn’t make the pandemic ease. And then he tried to take credit for the vaccines, when the most important individual in that development was Dolly Parton.

Does any of this sound familiar? Like Déjà vu all over again?

Trump has never been good at politics.  The insistence that he’s some kind of feral political genius is just mental laziness. He exposes how lazy and vulnerable our politics is (and I don’t mean to authoritarianism. Trump could barely govern in his first term, and his crude attempts at wielding power have left him where he is now: about to face a Congress so vengeful James Carville expects Trump to quit by Easter). Rather than face the fact that we, the people, are pretty much shit at governing ourselves right now, we tell ourselves fairy tales about how we couldn’t help it, the “feral genius” won, what could we do? 🤷‍♂️

Welp, the Emperor truly has no clothes now….
Posted by at No comments:

Winning Friends And Influencing …

Aren’t they the ones worried about declining birth rates? 

And yes, they voted to ban Sharia law, too.  
Sharia are the lessons of the Prophet Muhammad, interpreted as the framework, or laws, for how Muslims should live their lives which call for fasting, daily prayer, modest dressing and charity.
Nobody understands what they’re doing.
Posted by at No comments:

Wednesday, June 17, 2026

“…at least 300 billion dollars…”

This six-minute stretch from Trump's presser really captures how off the rails he was at the G7. It begins with him talking about "how easy" it would've been to commit genocide in Iran, continues with him downplaying and deflecting about killing Iranian children, and ends with him asserting that "Afghanistan is kissing our ass, you know that?"
It’s almost amusing the Senator thinks Trump wants this “deal” to be enforced. Trump only cares about the price of gas, and then only so long as November.
This is a jaw-dropping, horrific surrender document complete with hundreds of billions in reparations. It is the predictable result of incompetent negotiation and the foolhardy strategic catastrophe of starting the and pursuing this disastrous war. The U.S. will not soon recover from this, the biggest national security blunder in decades.
Unless the Republicans say it, Trump won’t really care. Which is another problem, because Dr. Rice is correct. Feature, not bug. How else was Trump going to get out of this? From the moment he authorized the bombing, this outcome was as inevitable as sunrise.
The Iran peace agreement, as delivered by a senior administration offical today:

1 — The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran and their allies in the current war are signing this MOU to declare the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon, and undertake from now on not to initiate any war or any military operation against each other, and to refrain from the threat or use of force against each other, and ensuring the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon. The final deal will confirm the permanent termination of the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon and other provisions of this paragraph.

2 — The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran undertake to respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and to refrain from interfering in each other’s internal affairs.

3 — The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran commit to negotiating and achieving the final deal in maximum 60 days, extendable with mutual consent.

4 — immediately upon the signing of this MOU, the United States of America will begin the removal of its naval blockade and any disturbances or impediments against the Islamic Republic of Iran, and will fully end the naval blockade within 30 days. During this period, the traffic of vessels will be in proportion to the numbers of pre-war traffic being restored by the Islamic Republic of Iran. The United States of America further undertakes to remove its forces from the proximity of the Islamic Republic of Iran within 30 days after the final deal.

5 — Upon the signing of this MOU, the Islamic Republic of Iran will make arrangements using its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels with no charge, for 60 days only, from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Oman and vice versa. The traffic of commercial vessels will immediately start, and considering the need for removing the technical and military obstacles and demining by the Islamic Republic of Iran will be instated within 30 days. The Islamic Republic of Iran will conduct dialog with the Sultanate of Oman to define the future administration and maritime services in the Strait of Hormuz in discussion with other Persian Gulf littoral states in line with the applicable international law and the sovereign rights of coastal states of the Strait of Hormuz.

6 — The United States of America undertakes with regional partners to develop a definitive, mutually agreed plan with at least USD 300 billion for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The mechanism for the implementation of this plan will be finalized as part of a final deal within 60 days. All required licenses, waivers, and permissions needed for the relevant financial transactions will be granted by the United States of America.

7 — The United States of America undertakes to terminate all types of sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the United Nations Security Council resolutions, IAEA Board of Governors resolutions, all unilateral US sanctions, primary and secondary in an agreed upon schedule as part of the final deal. The Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America acknowledge the critical importance of the sanctions termination issue above mentioned, and expressed their intentions to immediately address these issues in the negotiations in order to achieve mutual agreement on them.

8 — The Islamic Republic of Iran reaffirms that it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons. The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran have agreed to resolve the disposition of stockpile enriched material pursuant to a mechanism that will be mutually agreed upon in accordance with the schedule mentioned in paragraph seven with the minimum methodology to be down blended on site under the supervision of the IAEA. The two parties also agreed to discuss the issue of enrichment and other mutually agreed matters related to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear needs, based on a satisfactory framework being agreed upon in the final deal. The final deal will confirm the provisions of this paragraph and the Islamic Republic of Iran acknowledge the critical importance of the nuclear issues above missions. They express their intention to immediately address these issues in the negotiations in order to achieve mutual agreement on them.

9 — Pending the final deal, the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran agree to maintain the status quo. The Islamic Republic of Iran will maintain the current status quo of its nuclear program, and the United States of America will not impose any new sanctions and will not deploy additional forces in the region.

10 — The United States of America undertakes that immediately upon the signing of this MOU and until the termination of sanctions, US Department of Treasury will issue waivers for the export of Iranian crude oil, petroleum products, and derivatives, and all associated services, including banking transactions, insurances, transportation, etc.

11 — The United States of America undertakes to make fully available for use the frozen or restricted funds and assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran upon the implementation of this MOU. The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran will mutually agree on the procedures related to the release of these funds during negotiations. Such funds, whether obtaining the original account or transfer, shall be made fully usable for payment to any ultimate beneficiary designed by the Central Bank, excuse me, ultimate beneficiary designated by the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The United States of America undertakes to issue all necessary licenses and authorizations accordingly.

12 — The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran agree that an executive mechanism will be established to monitor the successful implementation of this MOU and the future compliance of the final deal.

13 — After signing this MOU, and subject to the beginning of the implementation of paragraphs 1, 4, 5, 10, and 11 of this MOU, and the continuing implementation of these measures, the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran will start negotiations regarding the final deal exclusively on the other paragraphs.

14 — The final deal will be endorsed by a binding UNSC resolution.
“…at least 300 billion dollars.” 💸  Who thinks Iran is going to negotiate that up? 🙋🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️ Doesn’t specify who’s paying that, either. But since the U.S. is a signatory….

Doesn’t sound like this is going to the Senate for ratification, Sen. Blumenthal. I do think they’ll have something to say about that $300 billion, though.

It also tells me Trump hasn’t read it. No pictures, as I said.
Posted by at No comments:

Nanobubblers

JD Vance says Trump meant that money would be invested over the next 300 years.
EXCLUSIVE: MeidasTouch has obtained an internal email revealing the Trump admin has elevated the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool algae crisis to a "regional and national priority" — desperately seeking federal workers for 12-hour scrubbing shifts just weeks after a $14 million renovation that Trump promised would make it "gorgeous."
No waste, fraud and abuse here! They snuck it into the pipes during construction! Wait! No!! Obama did it!
In response, a spokesperson for the Department of the Interior took a swipe at the Obama administration in a statement obtained by The New York Post.

“The nanobubbler technology has successfully destroyed the algae bloom that has plagued every pool reopening since 1922, most infamously, the Obama pool reopening that resulted in massive algae clumps taking over the pool’s surface,” the spokesperson said.

“Now, due to deploying the advanced nanobubbler technology, the algae is dead and being vacuumed up as we speak.”
Sure, that’s what’s happening.
Posted by at No comments:

The Campaign Ad Writers Will Be On Vacation This Year

Posted by at No comments:

Follow The Oil

March 9: "We're now totally independent of the Middle East. We don't need their oil."

April 1: "It doesn't really affect us. We have so much oil. We have tremendous oil and gas, much more than we need."

June 17: If I didn't agree to the MOU, we "would run out of reserves at about 4 weeks...we would really run out, and there'll be a time when you wouldn't be able to get it."
Which is why he said this: As long as the Strait is open, he’s done.
Posted by at No comments:

Our Man On Their Side

And all the Democrats say: “Please don’t throw us in that briar patch!” FISA is dead, because the SAVE Act won’t pass. I’m no expert on Senate rules, but from what I understand, neither FISA nor SAVE can pass under reconciliation.

Do Democrats can re-up FISA in 2027, if need be. Nobody’s voting in November because FISA and SAVE didn’t pass.
Iran started enriching uranium after Trump cancelled the JCPOA in 2018. They haven’t reduced it to pictures for him, yet. And they haven’t figured out how to put his name in it continuously. (The JCPOA was almost 200 pages.)
Reporter: Can you speak to the defense relationship between India and the United States?

Trump: I can tell you this: without having a contract. If they were attacked, we would be there to help them. How is that? If anybody attacks that man, we're going to be there. Now, if there's a new leader, I'm not sure about it
Did he just tear up every agreement with every nation that the U.S. has? Does he mean, like this? 👇 Or this? Really past time to revise our nuclear weapons use and control policy. Except Trump doesn’t need someone to find it. He just says it. Facts are stupid things, anyway.
Posted by at No comments:

🐘😎

The Texas GOP state convention:
On Saturday, outgoing GOP chair Abraham George addressed two Muslim delegates from the stage, whom members tried to expel from the convention because of their ties to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a group the GOP and Gov. Greg Abbott have deemed a terrorist threat.

“I would strongly advise you to leave our caucus,” George said. “There is a Democrat convention happening in a couple weeks. Join them.”

“There’s no place in America for you”

On Saturday, the last day of the convention, Hussein attended a panel from the Judeo-Christian Caucus moderated by Dr. Rick Scarborough, a former Southern Baptist pastor and the president of Recover America, an organization to engage ministers and pastors in politics.

Speakers told the audience that immigrants who don’t believe in Judeo-Christian values will erode those values and create problems for America. Scarborough accused Muslims of lying to win political power.

“You’re going to find Muslims that aren’t being antagonistic or mean, at least not publicly. But I’ll guarantee, if they get power, they’ll cut your head off as believers of Christ,” he said.

Rick Scarborough delivers the morning invocation at the start of the second general session at Republican Party of Texas convention on Friday. Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune State Sen. Bob Hall, an Edgewood Republican, also repeated the accusation that Muslims are “required by Sharia to lie” in order to “stay below the radar of being aggressive.”

Hussein was appalled by what he was hearing. From the back of the room, he objected, declaring that attendees have heard lies about Sharia throughout the convention. He was practicing Sharia at that very moment, he said.

“When they tell you that we’re compelled to lie, they are putting your Texan neighbors in an impossible position where nothing that we can say or do can absolve us from the crimes that they are accusing us of,” Hussein told the crowd. “That is not just, the Bible commands you to be just, and that is not American.”
Ken Paxton:
Attorney General Ken Paxton, speaking Monday at a tele-town hall, said the GOP will have a pre-midterm convention in Dallas this September, bringing President Donald Trump to Texas for a high-profile event ahead of the November election.

The Republican National Committee has publicly discussed plans to host a first-of-its-kind gathering for a midterm election year and explored Dallas as a host site. The convention will gather GOP politicians and candidates months before the November election and place Texas — where Republican Paxton and Democrat James Talarico are locked in a competitive Senate race — at the center of the national conversation.

“I know that we are having the midterm convention in Dallas in September,” Paxton said, according to CNN. “I know that we anticipate [Trump] coming to that and speaking.”

The RNC, which has yet to officially announce the convention or its location, declined Tuesday to address Paxton’s comments. And the Paxton campaign declined to comment further on whether Paxton was referring to the RNC midterm convention and whether Dallas had been confirmed as the location.

The midterm convention will occur once primary season has concluded in all states but before early voting begins, according to a source familiar with the plans, and will be announced by Trump on Truth Social.

RNC representatives toured Dallas’ American Airlines Center in late February, the arena’s general manager told CBS News earlier this year.

Nationally, the GOP has struggled to mobilize the president’s coalition in years when Trump was not on the ballot, and leaders have described the midterm convention as an opportunity to parade the party’s stars onstage before voting begins.

RNC Chair Joe Gruters has referred to the convention as “Trump-a-palooza” — tying the candidates to the president, who was able to turn out legions of low-propensity voters in 2024 en route to the White House, but whose approval rating has since slipped deeply underwater.

Republicans hope to fire up the party’s base and essentially put Trump on the ballot, with the idea to engage lower-propensity voters. Candidates in tough or important races will be highlighted, the source familiar with the convention said, giving them a platform to address a national audience as races heat up.
Be careful what you ask for.
Talarico, a state representative from Austin, and other statewide Democratic candidates will need strong turnout in blue Dallas County and an overperformance in suburbs throughout the Metroplex to flip Texas — and a midterm GOP convention centered around a president with lagging approval ratings could motivate Democrats to turn out as well.
Paxton's campaign, so far, consists of suing Act Blue:
Attorney General Ken Paxton must drop his lawsuit against ActBlue, the political donations platform primarily used by Democratic candidates, a Boston federal judge ruled Thursday in a decision that cited the Texas Republican’s “well-known history of filing retaliatory lawsuits.”

ActBlue sued Paxton in early May, alleging that the series of investigations and litigation he had initiated against the company was politically motivated.

District Judge Richard Gaylore Stearns agreed, alluding to the fact that Paxton resumed an investigation into ActBlue the day after Democratic state Rep. James Talarico announced he had raised $2.5 million within 24 hours of appearing on late night host Stephen Colbert’s show. Paxton and Talarico, at the time vying for their party’s respective U.S. Senate nominations, are now facing off in the November general election.
Which I quote only because it’s so significant that the courts are recognizing prosecutorial abuse. Once that door is forced open, it stays open.

As I was saying, Paxton’s campaign so far consists of suing Act Blue right after Talarico won the Democratic primary; calling him “Talafreako,” 
Which Talarico claimed as his own; and, now, urging Trump to come to Dallas in September. Where Paxton plans to ride Trump’s non-existent coattails?

Future’s so bright…. 😎
Posted by at 1 comment:

“Have I Ever Lied To You?”

So, I believe Trump…
Donald Trump’s handpicked candidate Mike Collins is a notorious bigot, antisemite, and extremist currently under federal investigation for the illegal misuse of tax dollars. Collins, who is only a congressman because his daddy was a congressman, voted to double health insurance premiums for more than a million Georgians, for the Iran War, and for the Trump tariffs.
Collins also says Trump won in 2020…. One more reason to be frankly suspicious of the allegations.
Posted by at No comments:

Same As It Ever Was?

 In conclusion:

In the past, Trump has tried to conjure new circumstances by speaking them aloud and attempting to wish them into existence. His tired garble in France, however, is something different. It suggests that Trump, more than ever, is unable to fathom what’s happening in the world around him and has been reduced to turning all of his previous statements upside down: A regime that was once the epitome of evil is now a reasonable partner; nuclear material that once represented an existential threat to America might now sit in Iran forever; Syria and Iran and Israel and Lebanon will now do things that they would never do, just because he wants them to.

None of this makes any sense, except as desperate rationalizations from a man who cannot face facts and admit defeat. Trump has always had a tenuous relationship with the truth, but evidence is mounting that on the most important questions of war and peace, the president of the United States seems to be losing his grip on reality itself.
Except, a few paragraphs earlier:
Trump has never shown very much concern about the conduct of Israeli military operations anywhere (including the war in Gaza, which he viewed primarily as a public-relations problem). But now that he needs to rein in Jerusalem at Tehran’s behest, he has taken the position that the Israelis are causing too much damage in Lebanon. And in a stunning reminder that alliances for Trump are only expedients, he pivoted to praising al-Sharaa and criticizing Israel, saying that if Israel “can’t do the job without killing everyone else, he’ll do the job.”

This kind of flip-flop illustrates Trump’s view of global politics: States are just a bunch of playing cards that he can rearrange at will, which makes watching him talk about foreign policy this way like watching someone cheating at solitaire. Even now, after many years as president, he is constantly frustrated to find out how little leverage he has when other nations refuse to abandon their own interests and do as he commands.
So is Nichols saying it’s getting worse? Or that Trump is still the same, and that’s the problem?

It’s interesting how hard it is to cope with the fact that Trump has always been this way.
Posted by at No comments:

“It’s A Memorandum Of Understand”

Trump posts a lunatic rant: "The Republicans agreed with Dumocrats to remove very fair, and talented, William Pulte, from serving as Acting DNI in return for getting FISA approved by the Dumocrats. However, the Republicans moved so fast with the hearings of the Great Jay Clayton, current U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, that Pulte would be gone before the Dumocrats would vote on FISA. Now, the Dumocrats are saying they will vote against FISA — So, the Republicans wound up having fulfilled their commitment, but Dumocrats broke the Deal. In addition, the newly nominated U.S. Attorney, Jamie McDonald, must be confirmed and blue slipped. Because of the ridiculous views of Republicans on blue slipping (Dumocrats are often willing to nix it), I may not be able to get the extraordinary Sullivan & Cromwell Partner, Jamie, approved, and I don’t want to take Jay Clayton away from the great job he is doing until Jamie is in place. Therefore, to add a slight bit of intrigue but, for the Good of the Nation, and the People of our Country, I will not approve FISA without THE SAVE AMERICA ACT going along with it. Not complicated, actually, the Republicans fell into a trap. Regarding the approval of our Great Patriot, Jay Clayton, we are cancelling the Senate Hearing RE: DNI today, and will not be going forward until Jamie McDonald is approved to be U.S. Attorney. In the meantime, Bill Pulte will remain as the Acting Director of National Intelligence. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP"
Eating the chess pieces.
Q: It's been reported the MOU includes a $300 billion reconstruction fund funded by Gulf allies.

TRUMP: It's false. You can invest if you want. We're not putting up 10 cents.

Q: Are you asking Gulf countries to--

TRUMP: No I'm not. If they do it, that's fine. Don't forget -- there's never been anybody that's so tough on Iran.
The most important part. Right. (Is Grandpa getting enough sleep?)
Posted by at No comments:

“Nobody Knows What It Is”

The Onion surrenders to reality.
Posted by at No comments:

Trump Wants Out

Not that I’m complaining (that this stupid war is over). But where did this $300 billion bribe come from (as a concept)? And where is it coming from? (If not from the U.S. Treasury, then where? And what are we giving other countries to give Iran so much money?)

And what other completely mindless concessions are in this LOU (lack of understanding)?
Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, June 16, 2026

How Can I Miss A Chance To Post A Bonhoeffer Reference?

Bonhoeffer died in prison, because he was part of a conspiracy to murder Hitler.

Is Rep. Gill comparing Trump to Hitler?
Posted by at No comments:

He’s Not Sleeping!

He’s checking his eyelids for holes! He gets intelligence reports beamed directly to his brain, but he has to close his eyes to read them on the inside of his eyelids. He’s multi-tasking greater than anyone in history ever!

(He also won’t lose any time in the Oval Office after flying home from the dinner because he never goes there in the morning.)
His necktie receives confidential updates he has to read!
Posted by at No comments:

Don’t Trust Until You Verify

Well, actually, it’s now more credible:
News: Secret Service officials are furious that FBI Director Kash Patel prematurely announced on Tuesday morning the details of a sealed and ongoing criminal investigation into a plot to attack the UFC fight event this weekend with drones, according to three people familiar with the incident.

Secret Service and FBI agents had been partnered on the investigation into a group of individuals discussing plans for a drone attack at the White House in the last week, and had discussed unsealing the case and making an announcement later that day. The problem with Patel’s social media announcement, the sources say, was the case had been sealed in court and roughly ten suspects had not yet been arrested and placed in custody at the time Patel made his public social media post.

Secret Service and FBI officials had discussed seeking to make more arrests, unseal the case by late Tuesday afternoon and make a joint public statement, and were surprised by Patel “jumping the gun.”

“We all woke up this morning to see this on Twitter,” said one administration official, who like others, asked to speak confidentially to discuss sensitive matters.

The threat to the UFC event became known to the Secret Service and FBI in the last week when a relative of one of the suspects contacted local police in the Cincinnati area, according to two people briefed on the probe, and reporting that their relative was talking about engaging in some vague plot in DC.

An advanced threat interdiction team at the Secret Service, with the help of the FBI, began seeking a subpoena for an encrypted Signal chat thread and then were able to identify the plot being planned and some of the people discussing using drones and possible snipers to attack the UFC fight event at the White House’s South lawn.

Authorities then arrested one suspect on June 13 and moved immediately to seal the case so the FBI and Secret Service could continue investigating and identifying and arresting additional suspects. The Secret Service also dramatically increased its plans for security around the event as a precaution, and put out an alert to its law enforcement partners to be on the lookout for people with drones in downtown Washington and other identifying information.

Matt Quinn, the Secret Service’s deputy director, called out Patel’s premature announcement in a Tuesday news conference but did not use his name and said the Secret Service made a conscious decision not to reveal the existence of the probe prematurely.

“I’ll tell you a phrase I learned early in my career in the New York field office and that’s `Don’t choke on your own smoke,” he said. “I’ll tell you the Secret Service led that investigation from the beginning. I’ll tell you that case is ongoing. In order to maintain the integrity of the investigation and the security plan, we chose not to leak it.”

He said he was choosing not to discuss extensive details of the case because it remained sealed and ongoing.
Slightly more credible. There is a (granted, thin) difference between stupidity and criminal intent, because you can’t commit a conspiracy negligently. It could be a criminal conspiracy without anyone owning a drone or a rifle (they don’t catch the smart ones). Underline “could be,” because this as ain’t an episode of “Law and Order,” and if venue is in D.C. (most likely) Pirro has been finding new ways to fuck up cases there.

So it’s slightly more credible. Very likely a gang of idiots that don’t know “free speech” ends where conspiracy begins. Unless you’ve got a good lawyer; or bad prosecutors.

I’ll wait until the case goes to a verdict in court; if it does.
Posted by at No comments:

The Death Of Expertise Knowledge Competence Every Damned Thing

Damn those underground pipes! (I have seen news reports credulously repeating that insanely ignorant explanation for the algae in the pool. Journalists are fucking stenographers, and nothing more.  Basic 8th grade science would tell you photosynthesis can’t happen in the dark.) These would be the same people he threatened with nuclear annihilation… ...just a few hours ago. 🤷‍♂️  Don’t trust until you verify. See?
Posted by at No comments:

Vance Thinks This Is A Winning Argument

An imaginary popularity contest among foreign countries, most of which most Americans can’t name or find on a map. And all of which most Americans probably think want to deny Israel’s “right to exist.” If they think of them at all. Like I said: Trump has no idea what’s in that MOU. That hasn’t even been signed yet. So much winning!
Posted by at No comments:

Desperate Times

U.S. President Donald J. Trump spoke on the ongoing Israel-Lebanon situation today at the G7 summit in France. In an interesting twist, President Trump said that he suggested to Israel that they let Syria, now run by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, take care of Lebanese Hezbollah, noting that he thinks they’d do a better job.

Israel has continuously put U.S.-Iran peace negotiations at risk for the entirety of the negotiations process, as their escalation of combat operations in Southern Lebanon was the impetus for a short but high-tempo resumption of widespread reciprocal strikes in the region.
The Master Negotiator strikes again. I’m willing to accept that we don’t know what the fuck the “deal” is with Iran; or if we even have one. But any money “we” spend (or that he has a “right” to spend) is not equivalent to the money Obama returned to Iran.

Trump is only hurting himself here. The price of gas is not going to magically fall next Friday, even if the futures market does. There is the question of supply, and that won’t improve immediately. Which means the GOP’s political fortunes won’t improve soon, either. Voters don’t really care about his “deal” with Iran, but if it falters and the Strait closes again, the details won’t matter. 

Aside from the fact Trump clearly doesn’t know what his negotiators negotiated.
Because he wants to be that President, too. Maybe Congress needs to clarify our nuclear weapons policy. I’d say he was a doddering old man, but I agree with his niece: he’s always been this way. See? Dementia? Or just the same old stupid? I rest my case.
Posted by at No comments:

Monday, June 15, 2026

‘Twixt The Cup And The Lip

Maybe Trump should have waited until everything was finished, to announce it was finished?
Posted by at No comments:

Future’s So Bright… 😎

First-time voters say they’re voting for @JamesTalarico :

“The fact that Talarico doesn't plan on taking any PAC money… He's free to actually be a servant of the people rather than the billionaire.”

“He's not about like the big corporations, and he really cares about people.”

“My school district got sued last year by Paxton. So to know that his first bill is going to be an anti-corruption bill is very important to me.”
Ken Paxton’s former lawyer: My former client is calling you ‘low-T Talarico’ and a vegan

@JamesTalarico : I'm an eighth-generation Texan. My family's been here since it was Mexico. I've been eating BBQ since before Ken Paxton's first indictment.

If the best they have is lying about me being a vegan. I feel pretty good about our chances in November.
BREAKING: Ken Paxton’s own lawyer just endorsed James Talarico:

“I defended Ken Paxton for years in the impeachment trial and in state criminal cases. But in my view, I think Ken has lost sight of his core mission, which is to represent the people of Texas.

And unlike Ken, I believe that you, James, believe in unity over division and that you know how to assemble not only Democrats but Independents and Republicans and we need that right now.

We need unity, we don't need any more division and that's why I'm supporting you.”
This is Nate Paul.

He was under FBI investigation for fraud. His real estate empire was collapsing after 18 properties filed for bankruptcy in a single year.

He wrote Ken Paxton a $25,000 check.

Then Paxton directed his AG’s office to hand Paul confidential investigative files.

They blocked foreclosure sales on his properties.

And they sided with Paul against the charity he was accused of defrauding.

Nate Paul even employed Paxton's mistress at Paxton’s recommendation.

Paxton's own senior staff reported his corruption to the FBI. They were fired.

This is what Ken Paxton does when he’s in a position of power — and it’s why he should be nowhere near the U.S. Senate.
(Paxton’s relationship with Nate Paul was the primary reason Paxton was impeached. And the primary reason the Texas Senate declined to remove Paxton from office. Paul started writing checks….)
The family of a child who was repeatedly raped by a man who Ken Paxton let off with no new jail time is speaking out:

“The fact that Attorney General Ken Paxton allowed this man to get away with molesting and sexually abusing [our] son for three years is completely disqualifying.

Adam Hoffman could have faced life in prison. Instead, Ken Paxton and his office offered him a deal that kept him off the sex-offender registry and included no new jail time.”

 Paxton’s response:

(It will cost Talarico nothing to tell Paxton to get serious.)
Posted by at No comments:

The Older I Get, The More I Think…

...losing your social “filters” doesn’t have as much to do with decaying faculties, but more to do with having lived long enough to not care that much anymore. Which sounds selfish and callous, and much less kind than blaming “dementia”…

…and then Dylan comes along and says it for me, and far better than I could. In short, it’s (or can be) a product of having lived, not a byproduct of having lived too long. 
Posted by at 1 comment:

It Bears Repeating

JFK once invited to dinner 49 Nobel laureates, Robert Frost, William Styron, Ernest Hemingway, James Baldwin, Katherine Anne Porter, John Dos Passos, James Farrell and Lionel and Diana Trilling, and others. His line on the occasion became famous: “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House—with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."

Some of you were alive when that happened.
And have lived to see this: And yes, that "claw” was just a giant, fucking light bar. Still don’t know why they call it a “claw”; still don’t want to know. But the UFC fighter is right: this was bread and circuses: Except the Romans made sure people could get into the arenas to watch blood sports so they wouldn’t mind the oppression of the Roman economy. Trump uses tax money to charge for the event with pay per view as a reward to his rich friends rewarding him. In other words, useless scrip. Trump would take the pennies off his dead mother’s eyes.

And in case you were wondering:
Yeah, he did.
Posted by at No comments:

Dopes Make A Deal

Yup, no bribe here. Nosiree!
In an interview with CBS, Vance described that component of the agreement and argued that Tehran hard-liners would emphasize the benefits of the deal and not what the country will have to give up to secure it.
JUST DON’T CALL IT A BRIBE!

(Anybody else remember the satirical ‘60’s novel (and film) about the tiny fictional European country that declares war on the U.S. so it can sue for peace and lay claim to U.S. funds for reconstruction, à la Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan? Why do I think we’re going to see Lebanon try that next?)
Posted by at 1 comment:

As I Was Sort Of Saying

 NTodd:

Divine Right of White Men1 (Southern Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches):

Baptist and Methodist churches had opposed slaveholding members in the early years of the Republic. These denominations’ rapid expansion in the South, however, meant abandoning this position “in recognition that upwardly mobile members increasingly included slaveholders.” Justification for slavery came with this growth and found its parallels in the biblical subordination of women.

“Southern ministers had written the majority of all published defenses of slavery,” Jemison reminds us. For these ministers, slavery not only had divine sanction, it was a necessary part of Christianity. This was because slavery was defined as akin to a marriage: the “power of slave owners over slaves paralleled the power of husbands over wives and of parents over children.”
I only vaguely know this history, because I was in the Presbyterian church at the time, and it’s how it was explained to me then. “The time”  being the merger of the “northern” Presbyterian church with the “southern” one. (I think the former was the PCUSA, and the latter the PCUS. I think.) The merger led to a rupture, and the creation by some PCUS churches of the “Continuing Presbyterian Church.”  I think the split was over minor points of theology, not racism. I say that because I don’t remember any strong advocacy for bringing black members into the church following the merger, nor any African Americans clamoring to worship with the Frozen Chosen. I also knew some people who left my then church to “continue,” and I don’t think they were that overtly racist. I’m pretty sure they were very conservative in their theology, but hey, that’s church life. You can’t really discuss religion in church, either.

Two points here, then: church follows culture. Even after the merger, it was the rare pastor who ever preached about race in America, or the virtues of Dr. King’s movement. (I know of one who did, in the “other” Presbyterian church in town, (not the one that split off). He was a rare case, indeed.). But also, racism is a defining issue in American culture, and that means in the church, too. 

You can’t begin to understand American Christianity without understanding that.
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)