QOTD: War Costs And Lies

 

Heather Digby Parton writes in Salon.com today that testosterone-obsessed Whiskey Pete Hegseth's math for the Iran war and the eye-popping Pentagon budget don't add up, but will get little push back from the supine and cowardly MAGAt Republicans in Congress.  Her article's coda:

"As usual, Hegseth behaved like a teenage bully during the Senate hearing. He argued with senators, blamed Biden and insisted that America has won the war in Iran while simultaneously requesting many more billions to win it. Since the GOP is attempting to push this supplemental package through using reconciliation, they won’t need Democrats to pass it, so one can probably expect that he’ll get what he wants. The firehose of money flowing to the Pentagon and all the insiders who are making massive bank from it isn’t going to dry up any time soon.  

Hegseth ended the week with a gratuitous gesture to his commander in chief, who spent a good part of his time explaining that the 18 deaths in the Iran war are nothing compared to all the deaths in previous wars. To make Trump feel better, Hegseth removed from the tally four troops who were killed in renewed fighting, bringing the official death toll back down to 14. Military officials told the New York Times that 'one reason behind the change was . . . because their deaths occurred after President Trump declared a cease-fire in the war in April.'

Nonetheless, Trump attended the dignified transfer of the four fallen soldiers’ remains and concocted a story to burnish his war lust. “All of them said very strongly, ‘We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.’”

Sure they did." (our emphasis)

Lying about fallen men and women of our armed forces is on brand for the dishonorable, draft-dodging narcissist felon Malignant Fascist. 

 

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(Paul Duginski, caglecartoons.com)

(Lee Judge, King Features)

(Jeff Stahler, gocomics.com)

(Bill Bramhall, New York Daily News)

(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)

(Harley Schwadron, caglecartoons.com)

(Rob Rogers, Tinyview.com)

(Bill Day, caglecartoons.com)

(Matt Wuerker, Politico)

(Ann Telnaes, anntelnaes.substack.com;  context here)

(Mike Smith, Las Vegas Sun)

(Banx, @banxcartoons)

Making America Sick Again: The "Catastrophic" Response To Cyclospora Outbreak (UPDATED)

 

The Malignant Fascist and his crack team of leech therapy, raw milk, horse antibiotic ingesting, anti-vaccination squirrels led by Bobby "Brainworm" Kennedy, Jr., have earned a new superlative from the MF's former FDA deputy commissioner for their handling of the cyclospora (explosive diarrhea) outbreak in multiple states... "catastrophic":

President Donald Trump’s former top food safety official is calling for an independent review of the federal government’s response to a cyclospora outbreak that has sickened thousands of people this summer.

“This one deserves a lot of questions, and it is starting to approach a catastrophic level in terms of how mismanaged it’s been on multiple fronts,” said Frank Yiannas, who served as the Food and Drug Administration’s deputy commissioner for food policy and response during both Trump and former President Joe Biden’s administration from 2018 to 2023.

He pointed to the outbreak’s magnitude, the widespread consumer confusion and the “lack of strong federal leadership” as well as what he described as uncoordinated messaging from federal authorities.

“My point is not to find fault, but to find facts on how we can further strengthen the system,” Yiannas told POLITICO. “It’s not being critical of any particular agency, but it is being critical of the system. In some respects, I think there’s been some dismantling of the system.”

Yiannas’ call for an independent review of the government’s response adds to pressure facing the FDA since the agency scrambled to do damage control this week after announcing a positive lab test linked a new batch of Taylor Farms lettuce to the outbreak — only to reverse course to say final test results contradicted the initial finding.  [snip]

The false positive test announced July 19 did not change the focus of the FDA’s investigation or the ongoing recall, and the agency says it has strong evidence that implicates certain Taylor Farms lettuce products as a source of the outbreak. But the backtracking fueled online speculation that the FDA’s decision was a politically motivated effort to exonerate Taylor Farms.

Yeah, it helps if you can make a $1 million donation to the super PAC MAGA Inc. after the FDA delayed implementing a food traceability rule.  "Online speculation" said the cowering news organization.  But we digest (because we haven't eaten any tainted produce): 

The company’s messaging added to public confusion when it claimed the FDA had “apologized” for the false positive test — a claim the FDA later denied to reporters.

Yiannas, who has also served as a vice president for food safety at Walmart, also urged the FDA to provide more information about how it made the mistake of releasing a false positive test result, a misstep he said was “extremely rare.”

“They just went too fast and they made a mistake,” he said. “They should share more about how and why it happened and what they’ll do to prevent it in the future.”

Yiannas’ comments come as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced that an outbreak of cyclospora illnesses in four more states have links to some Taylor Farms lettuces. The company is continuing to work with public health authorities as well as farmers and customers “to address the issue,” Taylor Farms said in a statement... (our emphasis)

With the MF's catastrophic mismanagement of the coronavirus epidemic already tumbling down the public's collective memory hole, it's good to remember that it didn't start with him.  Earlier this century, several terms were coined to convey the results of Republican mismanagement due to incompetence and / or excessive obeisance to corporate interests.   You may recall "E. coli conservatives" or "bridge collapse conservatives"?  Or of mine collapses or chemical plants exploding or poisoned water because of lax (or no) inspections under Republican misrule?  When your party's philosophy boils down to "comfort the comfortable, and afflict the afflicted" you don't have much concern for anything except making sure your nest (and PAC) is feathered by the corporate interests and oligarchs whose interests don't extend beyond their bottom line.  That's the Epstein class of venal, sociopathic people the MF has in his cabinet and peppered throughout his regime, making sure America gets sick again.

UPDATE:  Now they want to eliminate a longstanding radiation safety rule.  

Sunday Reflection

 

"That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach." -- English philosopher and author Aldous Huxley (7/26/1894 - 11/22/1963), from his "A Case of Voluntary Ignorance" in Collected Essays (1959). The author of such classics as "Brave New World" and "The Doors of Perception," Huxley also found some success as a screenwriter in Hollywood, with Pride and Prejudice (1940), Madame Curie (1943), and Jane Eyre (1944) to his credit. He used some of his income from his screenwriting to help evacuate Jewish and progressive artists from Europe and Hitler's Germany. 

(photo: Getty Images)

Trump's Latest Voter Suppression Scheme Blocked By Appeals Court

 

Another attempt by the J6 insurrection leader Malignant Fascist to rig elections has been blocked, for now:

A federal appeals court on Saturday declined to allow U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to implement in 23 states his executive order that aims to tighten rules for mail-in voting ahead of November elections that will decide control of Congress.

The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the administration’s request to lift an injunction several Democratic-led states secured on June 25 from a lower-court judge who concluded that key parts of the Republican president’s order were unconstitutional. In asking the court to pause U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani’s ruling while it pursues an appeal, the U.S. Department of Justice had argued that because government agencies had yet to finalize actions and policies to implement Trump’s directive, any lawsuit challenging his order was premature.

The appeals court, in a 2-1 ruling, rejected that argument.

“As the district court reasoned, the (executive order) lays out a clear set of rapidly approaching deadlines by which states must coordinate with federal officials and comply with new voting procedures — all while the states must also ensure that their officials and the public understand the evolving set of rules that would govern the upcoming September and November elections,” the judges wrote. “The Plaintiff States have no practical choice but to respond to the (order) now.” Before Talwani ruled, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., rejected a related effort by Democrats to block Trump’s order on similar grounds. The Justice Department warned that absent a ruling in its favor from the 1st Circuit, it may be forced to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.  [snip]

But Talwani, in siding with a coalition of 23 states and the District of Columbia that was led by California, Massachusetts, Nevada and Washington state, said the president lacked any authority to direct DHS to compile voter eligibility lists for each state to use and that USPS had no statutory authorization to adopt any binding regulations on mail-in voting.

The judge, who was appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama, said Trump also could not attempt through his order “to intimidate local election officials to use the necessarily incomplete confirmed citizenship lists as a resource, lest they face criminal prosecution.”

The "Justice" Department is expected to run to the Republican Supreme Court in order to overturn the Appeals Court's decision, where we're certain his MAGAt lackeys will create some new powers for the MF and the agencies involved that don't exist in statute.  From gerrymandering to purging voter rolls to mail-in ballot restrictions, the objective is for the MF and his party/ cult to choose who votes, because that's the only way they win.

(Cartoon:  R.J. Matson, CQ/ Roll Call)

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(Dave Whamond, caglecartoons.com, Canada)

(Christopher Weyant, caglecartoons.com)

(John Branch, King Features)

(John Deering, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

(David Rowe, Financial Review, Australia;  context here)

(Michael de Adder, The Hill, Ottawa, Canada)

(R.J. Matson, CQ/ Roll Call)

(Jeff Koterba, caglecartoons.com)

(John Cole, The Philadelphia Inquirer)

(R.I.P. Paul Fell)

(Brendan Loper, The New Yorker)

Skeets Of The Day

 

Operation Epic Fail: escalation time,  war crimes --

An extremely significant step in the cycle of war escalation: "Bahrain and Kuwait secretly sent jets to attack sites inside Iran, their first such direct retaliation against Tehran and an indication of the difficult position Arab states find themselves in as the war grinds on."

[image or embed]

— Scott Horton (@robertscotthorton.bsky.social) July 24, 2026 at 10:31 PM

 

Trump refuses to say whether he would be committing a war crime when asked about striking civilian power plants and bridges in Iran.

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1.bsky.social) July 24, 2026 at 5:20 PM

The buffoon Malignant Fascist and his bungling regime on full display -- 

President Grandpa isn't home right now, call back later

[image or embed]

— Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) July 24, 2026 at 7:44 PM

 

The U.S. has broken its own measles record for the second year in a row. And it's only July. Check ABC News' map to identify your risk-level based on your zip code: abcnews.com/Health/new-m...

[image or embed]

— Emily Guskin (@emgusk.bsky.social) July 24, 2026 at 11:13 AM

 

As Trump returns to tariffs, it's worth checking out what we've gotten from the trade war so far.

[image or embed]

— Justin Wolfers (@justinwolfers.bsky.social) July 24, 2026 at 11:11 AM

 

The Trump effect, summarized

[image or embed]

— Scott Horton (@robertscotthorton.bsky.social) July 25, 2026 at 9:28 AM

JUST POSTED: A deep investigation by The NYT of shortcuts taken to get President Trump his Qatari-donated plane in time for POTUS to show it off during 250th anniversary events-compromises that leave the plane more vulnerable to potential threats (Free link) www.nytimes.com/2026/07/25/u...

[image or embed]

— Eric Lipton NYT (@ericlipton.nytimes.com) July 25, 2026 at 6:52 AM

 

White House Stenographers Association dinner wrap up -- 

An absurd event given the time we are in. How out of touch can the WHCA possibly be? Let’s just normalize this autocratic disgusting person by carrying on with tradition while he burns norms, traditions and institutions to the ground. bsky.app/profile/atru...

[image or embed]

— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) July 25, 2026 at 5:21 AM

 

The legacy media sat there while Trump lied about the past elections and "joked" about running again in 2028. They did not boo. They did not walk out. They just sat there and ate their dinner. The journalists in that room will be remembered as the journalists in that room.

— Marc Elias (@marcelias.bsky.social) July 24, 2026 at 10:51 PM

 

Remarkable camera angle of President Trump as he listens to Wall Street Journal reporters receiving an award for their investigation into Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein — which they pursued despite Trump’s threats and lawsuit.

[image or embed]

— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond.bsky.social) July 24, 2026 at 9:14 PM 

In the MF's regime, "diplomacy" is nothing more than corrupt business dealings -- 

 

You can’t be a negotiator to end a war if your main goal is to make business deals

[image or embed]

— Joni Askola (@joniaskola.bsky.social) July 24, 2026 at 3:53 AM

AI and Oracle on hard times. Sad! --

“.. “It’s like driving a Lamborghini to go to the grocery store to pick up milk when that was designed to be raced around a track,” he said in an interview. @wsj.com www.wsj.com/business/chi...

[image or embed]

— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) July 25, 2026 at 8:29 AM

 

Oracle shares, now a 67% drawdown. $ORCL @barchart.com

[image or embed]

— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) July 25, 2026 at 8:30 AM

Who can question the Very Stable Genius' knowledge of foreign countries? --

you just know he sees countries as “good tits and ass / bad tits and ass” and treats them accordingly

[image or embed]

— shauna (@goldengateblond.bsky.social) July 24, 2026 at 4:33 PM

The drooping mouth is the tell --

 

Everyone In Oval Office Meeting Currently In Some Stage Of Stroke

[image or embed]

— The Onion (@theonion.com) July 24, 2026 at 11:00 AM

 

Quotes Of The Day -- Supreme Court Illegitimacy

 

"...[I]t is imperative that we stop according legitimacy to the Court. The Supreme Court is an existential threat to constitutional democracy. This threat cannot be dismissed as ‘merely’ an ideological disagreement about outcome legitimacy (which, I recognize, is a strange thing to write about an institution that is systematically dismantling the foundations of American electoral democracy. But whatever). The Court has also lost any claim to procedural legitimacy. Which is kind of a problem for the branch of government most dependent upon rational-legal authority.* The Court is quite literally lawless. Justices affirm, or even pen, decisions that rely on incommensurable standards of adjudication. They are contemptuous of long-standing precedents, including ones that have guided decades of legislation. Their opinions are riddled with misrepresentations and fabrications.

"The Roberts Court has, in essence, replaced the rule of law with a permanent state of exception — and appointed itself sovereign. Yes, it has often used that power to give legal cover to the Trump administration’s own lawlessness. But that is a symptom of its underlying corruption, not the rot itself.

"Once we recognize the fundamental illegitimacy of the Roberts Court — and the threat it poses to democracy and the rule of law — the obvious response is reform: unpacking, stripping, and all the rest. But that’s not enough. We must treat the Roberts Court’s decisions as ‘null and void.” A Court that cares nothing for precedent loses the right to make precedent. The Court can choose to create a state of legal exception. We can honor their choice. We can treat their dictates as exceptional and, by definition, irrelevant to any Court, or any regime, that governs according to the rule of law." -- Dan Nexon, professor of Government and Foreign Service at Georgetown University, on the illegitimacy of the Republican Supreme Court.  If we're ever to restore the rule of law and common decency in this country, this Court (and the judicial system as a whole) needs to be reformed and restructured.  But we're not alone in thinking we have a foundational problem (see below).

______________________

"... The [U.S. Supreme] Court overrides what Congress passed. It overrides what the people chose. All to serve its own ends. 

"What this Court has done to constitutional rights, democratic institutions, and the rule of law explains why Hawaiʻi’s Constitution takes no instruction from it.  [snip]

"... Rulings run in one direction, time after time. Weakening protections for those with less power. Fortifying those with more. The pattern speaks for itself. A court that systematically dismantles democratic safeguards, steamrolls constitutional liberties, and tramples human dignity does not chart the course for the Hawaiʻi Constitution. 

 

"Our constitutional system was designed for times like these. Federalism is not a formality. It is the architecture. The framers built dual sovereignty into the structure of American government as an independent check against concentrated federal power. A Supreme Court driven by agenda and intent on swiping power that belongs to the people is exactly what that check was built for..."  -- excerpt from Hawai'i Supreme Court opinion in Granillo v. State of Hawai'i, p. 72, p. 77.  The reaming of the Reppublican Supreme Court begins around p. 72, and is worth a look, as it synopsizes most of the major anti-democracy, anti-American rulings of the Court in the past 15 or so years, demonstrating the importance of state courts to exercise their constitutional sovereignty in these illegitimate times.

Trump Son Under Scrutiny For Tate Ties

 

A few days ago, the criminal Tate brothers were taken into custody in Florida on an extradition request by the UK on rape charges.  The brothers, who have been accused on multiple sex trafficking and rapes over the years, are part of the MAGA-aligned toxic "manosphere" movement, which denies women equal rights and subjects them to abuse and worse.  It's bizarre, but not that surprising given his father's character, to learn that Barron Trump was one of their online fans, and now it appears his defense of their behavior may bite him back.  Some excerpts from Salon:

"On Thursday, federal marshals in Miami took the Tates into custody. In addition to the charges they face in the U.K., the brothers remain embroiled in grave human-trafficking and minor-exploitation proceedings in Romania and investigations in Florida about new allegations.

In the days since their arrest, their attorney Joseph McBride — who has also represented Jan. 6 defendants — has insisted the arrest is political persecution, and he has been amplifying supportive commentary online from media figures with close ties to the Trump administration. MAGA influencer and white nationalist Nick Fuentes wrote that it would be a “national humiliation” if Trump agreed to extradite the brothers to Britain over what he called “trumped up ‘Me Too’ charges.” Other far-right influencers reportedly joined in, but to no avail.

Trump’s refusal to intervene in the Tates’ extradition fight is a much-delayed correction. For years, the brothers were treated by the MAGA ecosystem not as alleged traffickers facing serious criminal scrutiny, but as useful avatars of male grievance and anti-feminist rebellion. That bargain is now boomeranging in the direction of a different Trump: Barron."

The article goes on to say that the Malignant Fascist's reversal on the Tate brothers was prompted by Andrew Tate's furious denunciation of the MF's war on Iran, at the behest of Israel according to Tate.  But it turns out that the strange, reclusive youngest son of the MF and icy, calculating Melania, had a close personal relationship with Andrew Tate, along with other MAGA luminaries.  Now, Dems are eager to investigate the ties between these serial rapists and the MF's regime and family.

"What has been less investigated, at least until this week, is how deep the personal relationships ran — specifically, the friendship between Andrew Tate and the president’s 20-year-old son.

According to reporting in the New York Times, Tate spoke with Barron Trump over a Zoom call last year with a mutual friend present, and the two discussed their shared belief that the Romanian case against Tate was an effort to silence him. That claim — the idea that a rape and trafficking prosecution amounts to censorship — the same framing Tate’s MAGA allies have pushed for years. [snip]

Barron Trump was not an unwitting bystander dragged into a media storm. He was an active participant in defending Andrew Tate, using his influence to validate an accused predator because it fit the edgy, anti-establishment aesthetic of the modern manosphere media. Now, as congressional scrutiny looms and the Tate brothers prepare to face trial in a U.S. federal court before being extradited to London, the president’s youngest son is left facing the stark consequences of his MAGA alliances."  (our emphasis)

That the youngest son of an adjudicated rapist, felon and con man would follow the likes of the Tate brothers and come to their defense is not that surprising after all.

(photos: Dead eyes /Andrei Pungovschi/Getty; Chip Somodevilla/Getty)

"It All Started With The Mexicans"

 

 Parable:  What makes a neighborhood?

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(Michael de Adder, caglecartoons.com, Canada)

(Nick Anderson, Tribune Content Agency)

(Adam Zyglis, The Buffalo News)

(Matt Davies, Newsday)

(Dave Granlund, politicalcartoons.com)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

(Christopher Weyant, Boston Globe)

(Bill Bramhall, New York Daily News)

(Steve Sack, stevesack.substack.com)

(Theo Moudakis, Toronto Star, Canada; context here)

(John Deering, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

(Dan Misdea, @airmailweekly)

The Fart Of The Deal: Saudi Nuke Edition

 

Master deal breaker and unfit orange buffoon the Malignant Fascist has apparently scuttled his own nuclear deal with the corrupt Saudi government by adding a requirement that they join the so-called "Abraham accords" and give Bibi "Bomb Bomb" Netanyahu's government full diplomatic recognition.  The Saudis insist that Israel recognize Palestinian statehood first as a condition.  From the Bezos Bugle:

"The nuclear deal — which was fiercely opposed by Israel and others concerned about nuclear proliferation — is 'totally subject' to Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords, Trump said in a social media post, referring to the effort from his first term to normalize relations between Israel and Muslim-majority countries from which it had long been estranged. The Saudis have thus far refused to join the accord.

It was the latest whiplash-inducing policy shift from the White House, which had faced-down considerable political opposition to push forward with the Saudi deal. The Biden administration also discussed a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, but tied any agreement to opening diplomatic relations with Israel, a move that has the potential to reshape dynamics in the Middle East, but which remains distant.

If the Saudis 'don’t join the Abraham Accords, the deal is off,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said a few hours after Trump’s post, responding to questions from reporters.

Asked why that condition had not been included in the deal when it was announced Wednesday, Leavitt said that Trump is 'always the final dealmaker."” (our emphasis)

Translating KKKaroline Leavitt: "our far right hand doesn't know what our other hand is doing, as was pointed out by Bibi in an angry call...."  Whether it's this screwup, launching the war of choice against Iran, imposing tariffs on the world, or so many things this inept and corrupt regime does, it's chaos with a healthy dose of incompetence and cruelty.  It's all out in the open for the world to see the MF as America's lasting shame.

(photo: Smelling trouble. PBS / Frontline)

 

Skeets Of The Day

 

The Epstein-Trump files coverup / scrutiny round-up --

 

www.axios.com/2026/07/21/e...

[image or embed]

— Piyush Mittal (@piyushmittal.bsky.social) July 23, 2026 at 9:34 AM

 

Operation Epic Fail / mis-counting the dead --

 

The Pentagon removed the names of 4 servicemembers who died in Jordan from their official list of Iran war casualties. They explain that this is because "their deaths occurred after President Trump declared a cease-fire in the war in April." Free gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/u...

[image or embed]

— Aric Toler (@aric.bsky.social) July 23, 2026 at 6:17 PM

 

📌Deleting the names of 4 US troops from the war dead is one of the most despicable things the draft-dodging, America-attacking Trump has ever done. It also points to sheer panic in his regime as their unpopular war spirals out of control, threatening to bring down the GOP House and Senate in Nov.

[image or embed]

— D. Earl Stephens (@dearlstephens.bsky.social) July 24, 2026 at 8:36 AM

 

Trump's tariffs --

New: As renewed fighting with Iran sends oil and gas prices soaring once again, President Trump has imposed new global tariffs -- a series of shocks that could push up prices further at a moment when Americans are frustrated by the cost of living www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/b...

[image or embed]

— tony romm (@tonyromm.bsky.social) July 24, 2026 at 7:56 AM

 

Trump's endless health insurance con game --

Ten years later, sweaty and slurring, he's still promising a health care plan he's never delivered on. Instead, Americans got the highest health care costs ever and hospitals laying off staff or shutting down entirely. All thanks to Trump's health care sabotage & Medicaid cuts.

[image or embed]

— Senator Patty Murray (@murray.senate.gov) July 23, 2026 at 8:46 PM

 

New York Effing Times fail:  Trump "grieving"?! 😆😆 --

oh, come on — “Grieving”! As if he felt a thing for the guy except as a tool.

[image or embed]

— Philip Gourevitch (@pgourevitch.bsky.social) July 24, 2026 at 7:29 AM

 

The corrupt Trump Crime Family, Junior edition --

The main investment fund of Donald Trump Jr.'s firm generated returns of roughly 200% as of June 30, a person familiar with its performance tells Maureen Farrell. "People are paying for proximity to power." www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/b...

[image or embed]

— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt.bsky.social) July 23, 2026 at 5:01 PM

 

Justice for a J6er --

Massachusetts has just permanently revoked January 6 insurrectionist Dr. Jacquelyn Starer's right to renew her medical license after Trump pardoned her. Starer was sentenced to prison for punching a police officer after storming the Capitol. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

[image or embed]

— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen.bsky.social) July 24, 2026 at 9:06 AM

 

Republican values, pedophile edition, cont. -- 

It’s always the ones you most expect apple.news/ArxGzYjy2RMG...

[image or embed]

— The Volatile Mermaid (@ohnoshetwitnt.bsky.social) July 23, 2026 at 5:44 PM

 

Defeat this worse-than-useless career pol --

 

Nobody in the U.S. Senate is more responsible for the overturning of Roe v. Wade than Susan Collins. In November, we will defeat her.

[image or embed]

— Troy Jackson (@troyjackson207.bsky.social) July 23, 2026 at 5:53 PM

 

It never gets old --

[image or embed]

— D. Earl Stephens (@dearlstephens.bsky.social) July 23, 2026 at 8:41 PM

 

Can't find the book? (Happy Friday!) --

 

If you can’t find the book you’re looking for, you might be in the…

[image or embed]

— 𝔸𝕞𝕓𝕖𝕣 𝔻𝕒𝕨𝕟 (@amberdawn1116.bsky.social) July 24, 2026 at 8:37 AM

 

 

Weekend Music

 

A couple of weeks back, brother Hackwhacker featured a new song by pioneering Southern California band Social Distortion. Well, we liked that so much that we're going with another song from their long-delayed album, "Born to Kill," titled "Tonight."  Hope you enjoy.

Stenographers Dinner To Be Held Tonight

Tonight, the White House Stenographers Association will host the lying and historically corrupt Malignant Fascist for their annual dinner, which is a self-congratulatory event with corporate media bosses, and celebrities from the entertainment world.  In his year-and-a-half back in the White House, the MF has pursued the press through threats by his FCC, extortion of payments for alleged "bias" (ABC, CBS), and lately subpoenaing reporters for their story about the MF's "Bribe Force One" jet's security inadequacies.  From Tom Jones at journalism watchdog Poynter.50:

"Friday’s dinner won’t be the big, swanky affair the traditional dinner usually is, yet it still has a chance to devolve into a big embarrassment because of one man:

President Donald Trump.

Trump is expected to talk and, given his history, he’s likely to spend his time mocking and criticizing the press instead of offering a few polite jokes and celebrating the importance of the First Amendment and the role of the press in a free democracy. Care to bet that he’ll use phrases such as “fake news” and “lame-stream media” while whining about how mistreated he is?

Trump is not self-aware. He never shows an ounce of self-deprecation. He rarely even shows that he has a sense of humor. And he certainly seems incapable of playfully jabbing the press with a few harmless jokes. He’s more of a sledgehammer speaker, interested not in laughs but in insults." (our emphasis)

Some journalists are objecting to the spectacle of someone like the MF who despises a free press and engages in vindictiveness toward reporters and organizations critical of him. 

"Even before the first dinner back in April, a group of 500 retired and former journalists sent a letter to the WHCA, asking them to stand up to the Trump administration’s attacks on reporters and press freedoms.

Now, in a new letter, the group is renewing its call.

The updated letter says, 'Since that evening, the administration’s attacks on journalists and press freedom have become even more egregious. The President’s Department of Justice has subpoenaed journalists and their phone records. President Trump has threatened to revoke licenses of broadcasters who refuse to acquiesce to his demands.'”  (our emphasis)

Sadly for the First Amendment, the clown show will go on with the stenographers pretending everything is normal and that they don't fear an unstable, vindictive MF going after them and their employers.  They'll take it in the rear end from him with frozen smiles, because to them access is everything.  Everything.