QOTD -- Welcoming Their Hatred

 

"... FORTUNATELY FOR DEMOCRATS, the very rich have been hard at work convincing the public to hate their guts. Where Steve Jobs was once hailed as an innovator providing smartphones to the world, with a personal profile that tended more toward asceticism than conspicuous consumption, the current crop of Silicon Valley billionaires are not only ostentatious in their spending but overtly hostile to employee rights, consumer interests, democratic forms of government, racial egalitarianism, and, at least in the case of Elon Musk, normal life. Through their indifference to the effects of social media on children (and the rest of us), and their huge investments in AI and the data centers required to power it, they’ve become the promoters of the most widely feared 21st-century phenomena. Not since John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Henry Clay Frick have we had such a crop of oligarchs. That the Musks and the Bezoses, the Zuckerbergs and the Brins, the Thiels and the Andreessens have turned themselves into the financial base of Trumpism—both the man and his madness—has likely created a reciprocal downward pull on the approval rating of both Trump and themselves.

"Democrats should be climbing over each other to welcome their hatred." -- Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect, on "Encircling the Royalists," following his review of nearly 100 years of Democratic politics and policies.  As Meyerson notes, at the 1936 Democratic convention, FDR famously said of the "economic royalists" that "They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred!"  The economic royalists -- or Epstein class in today' terms -- like Musk, Bezos, Zuck, Thiel, et al., are deserving of that hate for what, in service to their own greed and lust for power, have done to our country. There's no downside for Democrats in expressing that, and acting upon it.

Today's Primaries

 

There are primaries today in four States:  Maine, South Carolina, Nevada, and North Dakota. Those in Maine and South Carolina will be the most watched by observers:

Four states in all four corners of the country are set to hold elections on Tuesday, June 9, for U.S. House, Senate and governor races, among other local contests. The winners will head into a busy campaign season leading up to the November midterm elections, when Republicans will aim to hold onto to a narrow majority on Capitol Hill.

"These early June primaries can be used as tea-leaves to help predict what will happen in the November midterm election," says Chase Meyer, senior lecturer of political science at the University of South Carolina.  

South Carolina

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is seeking a fifth term. While some senior senators have seen rebuke from the president this election cycle, Graham has received President Donald Trump's endorsement.

But he faces a crowded roster of GOP competitors: Greenville businessman Mark Lynch, Horry County businessman Pat Herrmann, author Thomas Dismukes, Duncan Town Councilmember Calvin Cowen and Columbia content creator Darius Mitchell, reports the Greenville News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Late May polling from The Citadel shows between Graham or Lynch, 46% of Republicans supported Graham and 36% supported Lynch.

If he wins the nomination, Graham is likely to face Democratic frontrunner, Annie Andrews, a pediatrician looking to flip the reliably red seat.

In the Republican primary for South Carolina governor, Trump has endorsed state Lt. Gov. Sam Evette, the first woman to hold the position in the state's history. Evette faces top Republican challenger Rep. Nancy Mace, who pointed to her push to release files pertaining to Jeffrey Epstein as a reason why the president did not back her campaign.

The field to succeed Republican Gov. Henry McMaster, who is term limited, attracted a notable group that includes Mace and Evette, but also state Attorney General Alan Wilson, Rep. Ralph Norman and business executive Ron Reddy. For much of the campaign's final two-month stretch, polls have shown the contenders within striking distance of each other...

Maine 

A Senate race to watch will be Graham Platner's bid for the Democratic nomination in Maine.

Platner, an oyster farmer who will almost assuredly win the bid to face GOP Sen. Susan Collins in November, rallied the support of fellow Northeast Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders before his top competitor, Maine Gov. Janet Mills, suspended her Senate campaign on April 30. The move came as a surprise after some political watchers previously pointed to the Platner vs. Mills race as a possible proxy for the direction of the Democratic Party.

However, Platner's performance in the primary will still be followed as he battles multiple controversies. He faced criticism last year for a tattoo he had of a skull and crossbones that resembled a Nazi symbol, as well as old Reddit posts in which he made controversial comments on topics including sexual assault and race. On May 30, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times reported that Platner's wife, Amy Gertner, notified his campaign of sexual messages he had exchanged with several women before his campaign launched.

The June primary is expected to set up another closely-watched race between Platner and Collins this November. A general election poll released May 27 by the University of New Hampshire showed Platner with a 9-point lead over Collins.

Voting needs to be a habit, so we want to see sustained Democratic turnout in primaries and, of course, general elections.

Kimmel Previews NBA Finals Game in MSG

Last night, before the third game of the NBA finals was played in Madison Square Garden, Jimmy Kimmel previewed the event that disrupted the watch party plans of Knicks fans, confused the Malignant Fascist with an orangutan, and covered the demented fascist's furious, red-faced outburst in Wisconsin over Kristin Welker calling out his lies on the California primary vote. 

The MF was thunderously booed as he appeared on the Jumbotron at the Garden, before he sat down to take a nap / extended blink beside the yawning, loathed Knicks owner James Dolan as the Knicks lost to the Spurs 115 - 111.  #ETTD.

(photo:  Dozing Trump with Dolan / Call To Activism, X)

QOTD: Virtueless Paragons Of False Masculinity

 

John Beske, writing for DailyKos, looks at the traditional definition of masculinity and compares it with the perverted MAGAt version, using the Boy Scout's code from his youth and its 12 positive attributes as guide:

"A boy scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.

These were, it seemed to be, the twelve attributes that a good boy should aspire to in order to become a good man and an upstanding citizen. [snip]

But when I see Trump and pretty much all Republican lawmakers as well as major right wing icons like Steve Bannon, Andrew Tate and Nick Fuentes, I see people who claim to be the paragons of masculinity, yet possess absolutely none of these virtues.

Let’s use Trump as an example: he cannot possibly be trusted to do anything he says he will do, he is loyal to no one, he only helps people who reward him with massive cash or power, no one would ever mistake him as friendly, he is probably the most discourteous person on the planet and likewise the most unkind, he’s only cheerful when he is in the act of hurting somebody, he wastes vast piles of other people’s money to support a ridiculously opulent lifestyle while depriving others enough money to live, he is an absolute coward, he is unkempt, slovenly and by many reports smelly, and he demands reverence to himself while offering it to no one else.

Likewise his Republican and rightwing sycophants and trolls all strive for personal power and wealth above all else, all view other people who don’t look like them as inferior and undeserving. They feel that they are superior to and therefore allowed to steal from and hurt anyone who is not a member of their privileged little clique. Meanwhile, they attach themselves like barnacles to anyone they deem superior and they endure any indignity and humiliation as long as it helps them advance their status in this dark and devious hierarchy."  (our emphasis)

As the Malignant Fascist's birthday approaches with his vulgar, UFC mixed martial arts event on the south lawn of the White House, it's worth noting that he aligns himself with that part of the culture, while being weak and cowardly and hoping that this view of "masculinity" rubs off on him.

 

Skeets Of The Day

 

The Epstein-Trump Files coverup continues as Blanche seeks confirmation --

 

It’s not simply the magnitude of the Epstein debacle that should push it to the top of the reasons to block Blanche’s nomination. The Epstein scandal was the first and remains the hottest flashpoint between Trump and his base and thereby offers the most promise for peeling off support for Blanche.

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— Jen Rubin (@jenrubin.bsky.social) June 8, 2026 at 9:10 AM

 

Nearly two dozen Epstein accusers told Reuters that speaking out sparked threats and relentless harassment, in some cases after Justice Department files exposed their identities. Some now carry weapons and live in constant fear of physical assault from Trump supporters. reut.rs/3QaK4y7

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— Scott Horton (@robertscotthorton.bsky.social) June 8, 2026 at 8:33 AM

 

Operation Epic Epstein Fury / market manipulation day! / who's calling the shots --

I had to double check that this wasn’t fake. Is there a single person in the world (other than Axios) who takes this utter nonsense seriously at this point?

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) June 8, 2026 at 8:02 AM

 

Trump told me this a couple of hours before Bibi struck Iran. He has turned himself into a prisoner of other people's decisions.

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— Edward Luce (@edwardluce.bsky.social) June 7, 2026 at 9:35 PM

 

Toddler Trump's temper tantrum and access media sanewashing --

 

Men are too emotional to be president.

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— Middle Age Riot (@middleageriot.bsky.social) June 7, 2026 at 8:12 PM

 

Media sanewashing in action: "tense interview... ended suddenly." Erm, no. It was a madman screaming at a journalist, saying he won an election he didn't, going red (orange?) in the face, calling the journalist "crooked" and "darling", calling every media outlet "crooked", and then walking out.

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— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan.bsky.social) June 7, 2026 at 4:44 PM

 

Wisconsin farmers hearing about soggy brain Trump's priorities --

Wow Trump struggles to remember the name of the Washington Monument:

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— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) June 5, 2026 at 5:24 PM

 

To arms!  Reality show MAGAt finishes third in LA mayoral election! --

 

Can you imagine being so mired in the nonsense of rightwing BS—and so goddamn stupid—that you call for people to die over [checks notes] reality TV idiot Spencer Pratt coming in third in an LA mayoral election? What D-U-M-[another letter] times we live in.

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— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@mrsbettybowers.bsky.social) June 7, 2026 at 8:21 PM

 

I glanced at Twitter and it's amazing how a bunch of right-wingers have convinced themselves that a know-nothing right-wing douche like Spencer Pratt coming in third in the Los Angeles mayoral contest simply must -- must! -- be fraud. What's their evidence? Fuck you, that's their evidence. Fraud!

— Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) June 7, 2026 at 9:00 PM

 

Republicans: "California is a liberal hellhole!" Also Republicans: "How is it possible that TWO Democrats beat a Republican in the LA mayoral primary?? MUST BE FAKE."

— Toledo ⭐ (@toledo.bsky.social) June 8, 2026 at 6:12 AM

 

Whiskey Pete Hegseth's list of approved "Christians" enrages über MAGAt ---

 

I have been warning for years that right wing extremist will slowly whittle down the list of “Christian” denominations that are acceptable to them. Soon we will be back to the times when the KKK railed against the Catholic Church.

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— Tea Pain (@teapainusa.bsky.social) June 7, 2026 at 9:06 PM

 

Mike Lee absolutely deserves right-wingers telling him that Mormonism is fake and heretical. This is the world he wanted, the world he built.

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— Max Kennerly (@maxkennerly.bsky.social) June 8, 2026 at 8:31 AM

 

Dunk! --

 

Jimmy Kimmel, for the win:

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— The Mouthy Renegade Writer (@mouthyrenegade.bsky.social) June 7, 2026 at 9:15 AM

 

 

Trump's Vulgar UFC Spectacle Sued

 

The deranged and narcissistic Malignant Fascist's tasteless, for-profit UFC fight on the south lawn of the White House is a diversion from his multiple failings.  Now, however, the event is being sued in Federal court with just under a week before it's scheduled to happen.  From the Associated Press:

"A federal lawsuit seeks to halt the upcoming UFC fight card on the White House South Lawn in a mixed martial arts show timed for President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday and part of the celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary.

The filing Saturday by the Public Integrity Project on behalf of two Virginia residents contends the Trump administration’s authorization of the June 14 event was unlawful. The lawsuit says such approval violated National Park Service regulations prohibiting sporting events on federal parklands, Congress did not consent to the towering arch overlooking the event space and no environmental review was conducted before the construction.

'This is fundamentally a private, commercial, corrupt use of our most sacred national monuments for private gain,' said Brendan Ballou, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. 'And that is what is motivating this lawsuit.'” (our emphasis)

With the brutalist, "bread and circuses" spectacle timed to coincide with the fading MF's 80th birthday, it's clear he will demand to be the focus of attention, as he always needs to be. Maybe the fighters will be required to sing "Happy Birthday" to the orange buffoon.  The event, managed by MF ally Dana White, is also being aired on right-wing nepo baby David Ellison's Paramount + network, so the MAGAt circle is complete. 

(photo: view of the construction)

 

Today's Tomorrow Cartoon

 

(click to enlarge)

Today, Space Commander Trump is surrounded by his usual group of sycophants and losers: a submissive JD Vance, economic advisor and smirking yutz Kevin Hassett, thug and hatchet man Bill Pulte, and evil, vampirish white nationalist Steven Miller.  Their commentary and "advice" only reinforces their cult leader's ignorant views and disastrous decisions, as in today's world. 

Please consider supporting Tom's work by going here.

 

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

It’s been more than two months since “No Kings” protests again drew crowds across the U.S. Another event is set to take place in just over a week, but the call to action by organizers is a little different than others before it.

Back in March, millions attended more than 3,000 “No Kings” events held nationwide, marking the third round of rallies since President Trump took office. Rallies last year attracted more than 5 million in June and 7 million in October, according to U.S. organizers. 

The next event is scheduled for June 14. The same day, Trump’s birthday, UFC match-ups are set to be held on the White House’s South Lawn as part of a series of celebrations marking America’s 250th anniversary.

Meanwhile, the Committee for the First Amendment, relaunched last year, will be hosting “Rise Up, Sing Out: A Concert for the First Amendment.”

Being held at The Town Hall in New York City, the 90-minute event is set to be headlined by Bette Midler, Patti Smith, and Jane Fonda. It will “celebrate the freedoms guaranteed by our First Amendment … and the people power that both fuels these rights and is essential to guarantee them.”

The No Kings Coalition, which is partnering with the Committee on the First Amendment, says watch parties are being scheduled across the country to stream the event, giving communities space “to sing along, make art, share food, connect with neighbors, and take meaningful action together.”

While previous No Kings events have resulted in rallies, June 14’s event “will serve as a critical opportunity for No Kings supporters to strategize, connect with local organizers, and prepare for the ongoing fights ahead of the midterm elections.”

“… while the President attempts to distract the country with his UFC cage fight spectacle, the No Kings movement will be gathering in living rooms, community centers, and local businesses for public and private watch parties in key cities and rural communities alike,” a press release reads.

Several watch parties have already been scheduled, including events in and around Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, and San Francisco.  (our emphasis)

Mark your calendars.  Check out the "No Kings" web site for events near you on June 14 and show up.  Please.

The bad:

Iranian officials involved with the peace negotiations between the regime and the United States said on Sunday that the peace deal with President Donald Trump is "no longer feasible" following the latest round of attacks, MS NOW's Inzamam Rashid reported on "The Weekend: Primetime." 

"An Iranian official linked with the talks between the U.S. and Iran has sent me a message this evening — and remember, it's early in the morning out here in the region — and they've said to me that a deal with President Trump is no longer feasible at this stage," Rashid reported.

The report came at a time when Iran had fired missiles into a civilian area of Israel in response to Israel attacking the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. Iran had threatened last week to retaliate for a hypothetical strike against Beirut. 

"This official blamed President Trump for the current situation inside Lebanon and the current escalation, I presume the escalation, meaning what the Iranian response has been given," Rashid continued. "It's been Iran's red line not to attack Beirut all along. So this is a pretty interesting development, because it means that Iran now ... feels that it cannot now have open dialog with President Trump and sign off on a deal which both sides have been working pretty tirelessly."

The war in Iran, which began in late February, has stretched past the 100-day mark. The war has been disastrous for global energy prices, which have shocked the U.S. and European economies.

The shart of the deal by the master charlatan and con artist, always way over his head and sinking fast.  Iran has "all the cards" and is going to bust the MF if it can.

The ugly:

After Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cut nine Navy officers, including all the women, from a promotion list, several female officers say they see the unusual intervention as a sign that their careers now have a ceiling and worry for the future generation of female military leaders.

The Navy had selected 31 sailors to promote from the rank of captain to one-star admiral, but Hegseth recently intervened to strike nine people from the list, including three women and two Black men, according to a defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss information not permitted to be released publicly.

As a result, the Navy is not promoting a single woman to the one-star admiral rank this year even though women make up about one-quarter of all Navy officers and nearly one-third of the sea service’s midgrade ranks, according to military data from 2024.

The Associated Press spoke with eight female Navy officers of varying ranks and time in service after Hegseth’s cuts, which were reported earlier by The New York Times, became public. They spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution from their superiors.

The more junior officers said they saw the development as a sign that their careers would become politicized if they rose too far in the ranks, and some said they felt they now had a limit on how far they could be promoted. Some said it made them feel less valued within the military and wondered whether that wasn’t part of the intent.

The Pentagon has not offered any rationale on why the women, or any of the other six people, were removed from the promotion list.  [snip]

Hegseth has long argued, without offering evidence, that women in the military benefit from preferential treatment and are not suited for combat roles.

“For too long, we’ve promoted too many uniformed leaders for the wrong reasons based on their race, based on gender quotas, based on historic so-called firsts,” Hegseth told hundreds of military leaders in September.

The approach, he asserted, made the Pentagon “less capable and less lethal.”...

For White nationalist DUI hire "Whiskey Pete" to flap his liquored lips about promoting people "for the wrong reasons" is really, really rich.  He's a former Fox "News" couch potato with a drinking problem.  What were his qualifications to become the Secretary of Defense ("War"), other than those liquored lips being affixed to the MF's large ass?   There's gall, then there's unmitigated gall.

Across The Universe, Cont. -- Young Stars

 

(click on image to enlarge)

From NASA/ ESA, June 5, 2026: For this NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month we return to the constellation Orion (the Hunter), a location familiar to Webb. This area of the sky is replete with star-forming clouds that make up a complex hundreds of light-years across. We find ourselves in the giant molecular cloud Orion A, of which the familiar Orion Nebula (also known as M42) is just a part; Webb has taken both close-up and wide-angle looks at M42 before.

The target of these observations, however, requires us to look behind the Orion Nebula. Behind the stars, gas and dust of M42 is a long, massive filament of cold gas and dust called (somewhat confusingly) the Orion Molecular Clouds, which is divided into four parts, OMC-1 through OMC-4. OMC-1 sits immediately behind M42, to the north are OMC-2 and OMC-3, and OMC-4 lies to the south.

This image shows just a small, northern portion of OMC-2, located 1280 light-years from Earth and a little north of the Orion Nebula. Every stage of star formation — from the youngest stellar embryos, to protoplanetary discs, to newly-minted pre-main sequence stars — is contained within just this scene, which stretches 150 light-years across. The intense star-forming activity has produced an impressive display of billowing outflows and sparkling stars atop swirling layers of gas and dark, obscuring clouds.

Molecular clouds such as OMC-2 are vast clumps of gas much more dense than the rest of interstellar space. This density allows complex molecules to form, protected from the radiation given off by other stars, and it means that gravity can cause the cloud to collapse and form stars. The earliest stage of this process is a protostar - a growing star that is being fed gas from the surrounding cloud through a spinning disc of gas. As gas falls onto the protostar, it heats up, powering the glow of the protostar. The immense amount of energy acquired during this process is unleashed in fierce jets of gas from the poles of the star, frequently seen as twin glowing outflows that mark the location of a protostar.

The abundance of protostars forming here in OMC-2 has created many spectacular outflows, large and small. Jets emitted from the young stars form high-speed shockwaves that sweep through the dense material around them; where the shockwaves are impacting the gas, it heats up and glows brightly, creating sharp ridges. Zoom in to observe the fine details in these shockwaves, as well as spot the smaller outflows from younger protostars. See if you can spot the location of hidden protostars, still so deeply obscured by their dusty cradles that they can’t be seen directly, by following outflows! Compare these very young protostars to the most evolved examples: the large, bright stars which have cleared away the clouds that surrounded them and now illuminate OMC-2.

Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) was used to capture this view of OMC-2. The thick gas and dust in and around the Orion Nebula blocks any light coming from OMC-2 at visible wavelengths, and the clouds in OMC-2 itself obscure the protostars that astronomers really want to find. Only in the infrared do we see these protostars begin to shine out from their cocoons of dust. In many places, the cold dust is so dense that it absorbs all or almost all light, creating dark globules. Orange, brown and some of the red colours mark warmer dust that absorbs some light and emits some of its own. The yellow to green gradient is largely emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), while light from stars and protostars scattered by dust grains is seen here primarily as blue and cyan hazes. Gas heated by the outflows creates the detailed, glowing red ridges.

The data was collected in observing programme #5804, which aims to study the star formation in OMC-2 and its immediate neighbour, OMC-3. Since these molecular clouds are so near to Earth, they are excellent laboratories to learn about the earliest stages of stellar evolution. Astronomers will use the data from Webb to investigate how the many outflows affect star formation in the two regions, how the ultraviolet emission from the young stars impacts chemistry in the circumstellar discs which one day will form planets, and how gas and dust accretes onto the tens of protostars in the region.

[Image Description: An area inside a star-forming molecular cloud. The background is covered with layers of gas and dust in blue, green and yellowish colours. Thicker clumps of cold dust, dark brown to black, block out light completely. Stars lie among and atop the clouds, from small orange ones to large white or blue ones. Waves and streams of glowing whitish gas are created by jets from protostars colliding with the surrounding material.]

Credit:  ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, T. Megeath, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb) 
Acknowledgement: M. H. Özsaraç

Trump Storms Out Of Interview

 

The thin-skinned, deranged Malignant Fascist didn't like the questioning about his lies by "Meet the Press" host Kristen Welker today, so he did what any unstable giant toddler would do ...

 

What a stain on the Presidency and our country;  what an embarrassment that someone this infantile and obviously unfit could be President of the United States in the year 2026 (or any other year for that matter).

QOTD -- White Christian Ethnostate

 

"... This administration will never succeed in wrecking our multiracial and multifaith society, no matter how much damage it does to our democratic political system. It is who we are. Our identities cannot be taken away from us. And the attempts at mass disenfranchisement will backfire; a new civil rights movement is already starting.

"In trying to create a homogeneous society and ban talk of diversity, this government is merely drawing attention to what makes the United States special, and the power of our roots, identities, and traditions. These will serve us well in the coming years as we pursue peaceful resistance to restore our democracy." -- Ruth Ben-Ghiat, at her "Lucid" Substack, on "A Holistic Plan for a White Christian Ethnostate."   Ben-Ghiat tracks the project to transform our multi-ethnic/ multi-faith democracy into the fascist MAGAt goal of a White Christian ethnostate by trying to "achieve greater cohesion of government policy around that goal."  She concludes with the paragraphs above, expressing her belief that this will backfire on the MAGAt White Christian nationalists.  We're not as sanguine, though, that "peaceful resistance" will win the day for democracy in America, especially if the MAGAt fascists escalate their reaction to resistance (in, for example, an effort to alter or deny the results of the mid-term elections).  The corrupt SCOTUS' partisan gerrymandering us back to Jim Crow in the South has shown us that there is no law or precedent that they'll recognize in their dash to help their Republican Party install a permanent fascist MAGAt Republican state.

We always say, forewarned is forearmed.

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(Marian Kamensky, caglecartoons.com, Austria)

(Matt Davies, Newsday)

(Sean Delonas, caglecartoons.com)

(Joel Pett, Tribune Content Agency)

(Paul Duginski, caglecartoons.com)

(Malcolm McGookin, caglecartoons.com, Canada)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)

(Harley Schwadron, caglecartoons.com)

(Monte Wolverton, caglecartoons.com)

(Banx, Financial Times, UK)

"The Price Of Corruption" For Working Families

 

This past Wednesday, the American Economic Liberties Project and Groundwork Collaborative released a 10-page report, “The Price of Corruption: How Trump’s Pay-to-Play Administration is Driving Up Costs for Working Families” (pdf), that outlines nine policy areas "that have been warped by Trump's corruption."  It's main purpose is to pinpoint areas for further investigation by Democrats when the new Congress forms in 2027.

The policy areas covered are Health Care, Tariffs, Gas Prices, Energy, Air Travel, Tax Filing, Corporate Misbehavior, Credit Bureaus and Loan Rates, and Digital Assets and Prediction Markets. For a flavor of the contents, here's an excerpt for the last area, Digital Assets and Prediction Markets:

... The Trump family has personally netted at least $1.4 billion from crypto schemes, as this administration pulls away from oversight and enforcement of crypto fraud and prediction market regulations.

● Trump has installed people with crypto conflicts of interest throughout his administration, including by nominating more than 200 appointees who owned crypto assets worth up to $340 million.

 

● Simultaneously, the Department of Justice shut down investigations into crypto companies. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, while serving as deputy and holding at least $485,000 in crypto assets, eliminated the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team.

 

● Additionally, the administration has accelerated the adoption of crypto into critical federal agencies, including when Trumpʼs Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte urged mortgage giant Fannie Mae to accept crypto-backed mortgages for the first time ever.

 

● Trumpʼs crypto company World Liberty Financial (WLF) relies on Binance, a crypto exchange that admitted to anti-money laundering failures, Iran sanctions violations, and failing to report suspicious transactions linked to terrorist groups like Hamas. Binance has reportedly donated software to help launch WLF, and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, who had been convicted for failure to maintain an effective anti-laundering program, was later pardoned by Trump.

 

● Over the past year, Donald Trump Jr. has served as a strategic advisor to Kalshi and a large investor in Polymarket, while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) – the agency overseeing these firms – has acted as their ally, rather than their watchdog. Both firms had actively lobbied Trumpʼs CFTC to block states from regulating prediction markets in the same way they regulate gambling companies...

 

As noted, it's a short, outline-format report, so please give it a read.

The media can't or won't focus on this firehose of corruption, but a Democratic Congress can and must. The American public -- especially working families -- needs to have it made clear which party is fighting for their interests and which Epstein class party is feeding at the public trough.

BONUS:  Similar takes here.

(Image:  Khoa Tran, Vanity Fair/ Getty Images)

Sunday Reflection

 

"I think you always write what you love. Whether it’s your grandmother or gourmet cooking or mountains and rivers. Sunsets kissing the tallest building or chipmunks scattering off to bed. I like the quiet. And I like the sound of the quiet. I’m a mountain girl. I listen and make lists of what I hear." -- poet Nikki Giovanni (6/7/1943 - 12/9/2024), from "Chasing Utopia: A Hybrid", 2013.   Giovanni was one of the best known African-American poets, who also was an educator and an activist on behalf of women of color and a key figure in the 1960s and 1970s  Black Arts Movement. 

She was honored with the Langston Hughes Medal, multiple NAACP Image awards, Parent's Choice Award, American Library Association's Black Caucus Award, and many more.

(photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

 

Helping Ukraine -- Verified Charities

 

Now more than ever, with Ukraine undergoing the heaviest assaults on its territory in years, we Americans need to show the people of Ukraine that we stand with them, not with the Malignant Fascist's role model war criminal Putin.  Via The Philadelphia Inquirer, this is a (partial) list that we publish periodically of verified charities that have been helping the people of Ukraine, although some information may be outdated and some organizations may be inactive at this time.  Please consider giving: 

World Central Kitchen

What they do:  They have served millions of meals and have teams active in hundreds of cities and towns in Ukraine. They have also built a logistics network of delivery vans, trucks, trains, and warehouses throughout the country, delivering millions of pounds of food to families—sometimes in areas completely cut off due to fighting and near the Russian border.

How you can help:  There are many ways to donate to WCK;  see their website.  This is a registered nonprofit, so donations are tax deductible.

🌐 wck.org

Project HOPE

What they do: Founded in 1958, Project HOPE responds to humanitarian emergencies and disasters. Currently, according to the group’s website, the group is aiding those in Ukraine by mobilizing its emergency teams and “sending medical supplies and standing by to provide health screening and care for refugees.”

How you can help: Donate on the group’s website. This group is U.S. registered, so your donation is tax deductible.

🌐 projecthope.org

 

GlobalGiving

What they do: GlobalGiving uses its funding to support local nonprofits working in affected areas. Currently, “GlobalGiving’s local partners in Ukraine are bringing relief to displaced families and people in high-risk areas.” According to the group, your donation will support refugees with food, shelter, and clean water, as well as providing health and psychological support.

How you can help: Donate to the group’s Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund online. This group is U.S. registered, so your donation is tax deductible.

🌐 globalgiving.org

 

UNICEF USA

What they do: Hundreds of thousands of children have been affected by the conflict so far, and the UNICEF emergency response is working to address their needs by preparing health, hygiene, and emergency education supplies, as well as distributing safe water to affected areas, providing children with psychosocial care, and helping kids separated from their families. 

How you can help: Donate on the UNICEF website. UNICEF USA is U.S. registered, so your donation is tax deductible.

🌐 unicefusa.org

 

International Medical Corps

What they do: International Medical Corps helped Ukrainians during conflict in 1999-2000 by delivering medicine and training more than 500 local doctors and medical staff. In 2014, they partnered with the Ukraine Ministry of Health to support mobile health services and train medical professionals on preventing and controlling infections. As the crisis develops, the International Medical Corps has added mental health counseling to the services available for the community.

How you can help: Donate on the group’s website. Donations to this organization are tax deductible.

🌐 give.internationalmedicalcorps.org

 

United Help Ukraine

What they do: United Help Ukraine receives and distributes food donations and medical supplies to people in Ukraine. The group’s current priorities: Aiding Ukrainian soldiers and their families, helping displaced people from Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, and raising awareness of the current situation.

How you can help: Donate via PayPal, or by check payable to United Help Ukraine, Box 83426, Gaithersburg, Md., 20883. This is a registered nonprofit so all donations are tax deductible.

🌐 facebook.com/UnitedHelpUkraine.org

 

Revived Soldiers Ukraine

What they do: This nonprofit provides medical aid for people affected by military conflict. The group buys medication and medical supplies, helps support army hospitals, and works to improve the living standards for soldiers and their families.

How you can help: Donate directly through the group’s website, through PayPal or Patreon, or make it your preferred Amazon nonprofit, which donates 0.5% of the amount of your Amazon purchases to the group. This group is U.S. registered, so your donation is tax deductible.

🌐 rsukraine.org

Sunflower of Peace

What they do: Sunflower for Peace offers medical assistance to Ukrainian orphans, people displaced by war, and people heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. In February 2022, the group started asking for donations to prepare first aid medical tactical backpacks for paramedics and doctors on the front lines. These kinds of backpacks — usually handled by Marines, special military forces, and military groups — are used to save lives in areas without access to hospitals or emergency care.

How you can help: Donate on Facebook. This group is U.S. registered, so your donation is tax deductible.

🌐 facebook.com/sunflowerofpeace

 

The KYIV Independent

What they do: The KYIV Independent is an independent media outlet reporting in English. The organization has been covering the Russia-Ukraine conflict, doing fact checking, and reporting on human rights. Since the group is not affiliated with any government and reports in English, it is becoming an important window into what’s happening in Ukraine right now.

How you can help: Since its creation in 2021, The KYIV Independent runs mainly on donations. Donate through GoFundMe or Patreon.

🌐 kyivindependent.com

The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews

What they do: This group runs an emergency program with $1 million in funding that helps the approximately 300,000 Jewish people in Ukraine. The fellowship has staff and volunteers on the ground in Ukraine, and also funds the country’s Jewish organizations to give Ukrainian Jews the chance to move to Israel. Funds are also used to provide the Ukrainian Jewish community with food, medicine, and heat. This group is U.S. registered, so your donation is tax deductible.

How you can help: Donate online.

🌐 help.ifcj.org

 

Voices of Children

What they do: Voices of Children provides psychological and psychosocial support to children affected by war. Their main focus is on the front lines in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Donations help finance art therapy and mobile psychologists, and help families in need.

How you can help: Donate directly on their website.

🌐 voices.org.ua

 

Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe (CARE)

What they do: Created in 1945 to help people overcome the devastation of WWII, CARE’s works to end poverty, and achieve equity and social justice worldwide. In Ukraine, the group is working on providing girls, women, and elderly people with water, food, and hygiene kits. They currently have a Ukraine Crisis Fund specially focused on continuing their work in the country, and providing psychological support, recovery, and cash assistance.

How you can help: Donate using a credit card or through PayPal on their website.

🌐 care.org

 

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

What they do: The Red Cross’s International Committee provides shelter, food, first-aid training, and humanitarian aid around the world. The group has been supporting people in Ukraine for almost a decade and as the crisis continues, they are adding to their help comfort kits for individuals and families in need.

How you can help: Donate to the ICRC on its website.

🌐 icrc.org

 
American Red Cross

What they do: In Ukraine, the American Red Cross is currently helping U.S. military people and families deployed in the region. So far, they have sent 30 staff members to Europe to help U.S. military members in Ukraine connect with their families back home, and are delivering hygiene items and resources to service members and U.S. State Department staff abroad. They can not help Ukraine with blood directly, because it can’t be sent without special request from the U.S Department of State, the United Nation, or other affected Red Cross networks.

How you can help: Donate on their website. They are U.S. registered, so your donation is tax deductible.

🌐 redcross.org

United Ukrainian American Relief Committee (UUARC)

What they do: Created in 1944, the UUARC was created to help Ukrainians in refugee camps during WWII relocate to the U.S.. They are currently working in coordination with the Ukrainian Embassy to coordinate medical supplies, food, offering shelter, and taking care of injured people and refugee.

How you can help: Donate on their website or send a check to the United Ukrainian American Relief Committee, Inc. 1206 Cottman Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19111. For medical donations call 215-728-1630. They are U.S. registered, so your donation is tax deductible.

🌐 uuarc.org

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)

What they do: The JDC has been helping the Jewish community around the world since 1914; for the last 30 years they have focused on helping Ukraine’s Jewish population. They aid elderly Jewish people, children, and families by providing food, medicine, and utilities. At the moment, JDC is preparing to send psychosocial support to Ukraine as mass displacements increase, as well as delivering food packages, and providing online support.

How you can help: Donate on their website. They are U.S. registered, so your donation is tax deductible.

🌐 jdc.org

 

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If you are at all concerned about giving to these or any other charities, you can verify their authenticity by going to Charity Navigator, which evaluates charitable organizations.  Thank you!  Slava Ukraini!