Hackwhackers

Monday, July 27, 2026

Skeets Of The Day

Operation Epic Fail / failure to launch / #s / remembering the execrable Lindsey Graham --

Trump has fired all of his missiles Feels like quite the metaphor

[image or embed]
— Will Bunch (@willbunch.bsky.social) July 27, 2026 at 10:05 AM

When the new Pentagon data is combined with updated totals for Operation Epic Fury, 18 troops have died and another 624 have been wounded since the US launched its war against Iran on Feb. 28. www.cnn.com/2026/07/26/p...

[image or embed]
— Tim O’Brien (@timobrien.bsky.social) July 27, 2026 at 7:16 AM

“.. He loves blowing stuff up,” Lindsey Graham said admiringly of Trump while celebrating the launch of the Iran war. (h/t @kenvogel.bsky.social)

[image or embed]
— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) July 27, 2026 at 11:28 AM

Tinpot dictator Trump --

Cutting money that provides food and health care but spending $300 million to permanently deploy the military to the streets of the capital in times of peace is tinpot dictator stuff

[image or embed]
— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn.bsky.social) July 27, 2026 at 8:00 AM

The Neanderthal party and ICE --

It's a party of the absolute worst people fulfill the absolute worst neanderthal instincts. Barely evolved past grunting into spoken word.

[image or embed]
— Matt Ortega (@mattortega.com) July 27, 2026 at 10:37 AM

South African fascist Elon Musk's in a ketamine rage --

Elon Musk, owner of X, has called the editor of the Economist "a traitor to the West, plain and simple" after her recent interview with him. He now argues that "anyone who opposes remigration is a traitor" Musk has been socialising violence since Aug25: "fight or die, that's what it comes down to"

[image or embed]
— Sunder Katwala (sundersays) (@sundersays.bsky.social) July 26, 2026 at 4:46 AM

Elon attacks the best human being on the planet

[image or embed]
— Thor Benson (@thorbenson.bsky.social) July 27, 2026 at 10:19 AM

When Elon Musk says "zero" children died in Africa from his DOGE cuts, he really means zero children died who are *worthy of any concern.* It's vile coded signaling to his global fascist audience. From me and @polphilpod.bsky.social, a deep dive into Musk's fascism: newrepublic.com/article/2135...

[image or embed]
— Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) July 27, 2026 at 7:41 AM

Corporate media sanewashing Trump, cont. --

I know it’s early but see if you can find a mention of this crazy on major networks or papers. The neglect is another type of sane-washing.

[image or embed]
— John Robinson (@jrobin.bsky.social) July 27, 2026 at 6:40 AM

Can't Democrats do better than this??--

Cannot get over how electable just drifting away from a constituent who asked you a challenging question makes you.

[image or embed]
— A.R. Moxon (@juliusgoat.bsky.social) July 27, 2026 at 9:06 AM

New Column: In 12 years as Minn party chair, he never lost a statewide race. So how did he become such a disaster in Washington? newrepublic.com/article/2135... via @newrepublic.com

[image or embed]
— Michael Tomasky (@mjtoma.bsky.social) July 27, 2026 at 8:40 AM

... yes, Democrats can --

Ossoff just rocks

[image or embed]
— Jen Rubin (@jenrubin.bsky.social) July 27, 2026 at 12:47 PM

Hitting home --

Good grief, this hits home.

[image or embed]
— Dr. Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele (@drdragases.bsky.social) July 27, 2026 at 1:59 AM

The ignoramus Malignant Fascist's white "Christian" nationalist KKKoup is now targeting the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. The Orwellian, McCarthyite gaslighting and lies have reached fever pitch:

If President Donald Trump gets his way, the first thing visitors to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History will be greeted with are signs warning them that because of “inaccurate information presented in the Museum” they should seek “accurate information” elsewhere. [Ed. -- From the lips of the moron in the White House? From the racist, anti-immigrant, misogynist, homophobic, fascist clowns who form his advisors and base of support?]

The president on Friday ordered the installation of temporary “warning” signs on the museum’s sidewalks, marking a major escalation in his campaign to pressure the Smithsonian Institution to rewrite American history to better align with his administration’s ideology.

The executive order directs Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and several other Cabinet officials to utilize “all available authorities to encourage” the Smithsonian Institution to “correct the issues found” in a scathing White House report released on July 4 that accused the museum of “extreme political activism” and claimed it “cannot be trusted to tell America’s story honestly and in a way that is inspiring, unifying, and worthy of our great republic.”
The sidewalks and walkways outside of the popular museum, which welcomes just shy of two million visitors annually, are federal property controlled by the National Park Service. The signs would “notify visitors that the Museum exhibits should be renovated consistent” with the findings of the July 4 report. They would also “direct visitors to locations and resources for accurate information regarding America’s history.”

Trump also accused the museum of failing to “to appropriately honor the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence during this 250th anniversary year of the founding of our country,” and instructed Burgum to install “temporary exhibits” on Smithsonian walkways to correct “inaccurate information presented in the Museum.”

McCarthyism alert:

The signage order followed a week of congressional testimony by Smithsonian officials in hearings called by House Republicans in response to the White House report. Anthea Hartig, head of the National Museum of American History, was grilled over her patriotism and dedication to country.

Hartig said the White House report “does not fairly characterize the full body of work of this museum.” And under questioning from GOP lawmakers she reaffirmed her allegiance to her country multiple times, at one point answering, “I love this country unconditionally.”

The report, oversight hearings and signage demand compound more than a year of the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against the world’s largest museum, education and research complex. In March 2025, Trump signed an executive order that vowed to strip federal funding from Smithsonian programs that present what he viewed as “improper, divisive, or anti-American” ideology.

The Trump administration has since threatened to withhold federal funding from the Smithsonian Institution unless a number of its museums submit documentation for an expansive content review.

If the question is who loves and is dedicated to our country, Ms. Hartig wins hands down over the cult-over-country crowd that we call the MAGAt Republican party.

As the aforementioned Orwell said, “The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” We are under the sway of a narcissistic baboon who's never cracked a book, along with his vapid white ~~nationalist~~ supremacist subalterns in the Republican party/ cult. They've systematically gone after the rule of law, the system of checks and balances, our institutions of higher learning, news media, our free and fair elections, and now the repository of our common American history. That they seek to remake our republic into a fascist white authoritarian state, cannot be seriously challenged now.

BONUS: Clay Bennett in the Chattanooga Times Free Press today --

(Image: who you gonna believe, this guy or the Smithsonian? via Getty Images)

Today's Tomorrow Cartoon

(click to enlarge)

Putting false words in other peoples' mouths once they're dead -- no matter how absurd -- is one of the sick Malignant Fascist's tools, along with his infamous "sir" fables. With "Creepy Guy" Miller and bell hop Vance around to stoke his evil, the MF has no guardrails to contain his lunacy.

Please consider supporting Tom's work by going here.

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

The good:

A federal judge overseeing Katie Phang's lawsuit against the Trump Justice Department is making one thing abundantly clear: he's not willing to simply accept the government's explanations about its Epstein files redactions at face value.
In a new order issued Saturday, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan directed Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to submit unredacted versions of key Jeffrey Epstein-related emails and documents directly to the court for a private in camera review, along with evidence backing up the Justice Department's claims that its sweeping redactions are legitimate.
Rather than relying on DOJ's assertions, Sullivan is requiring the government to prove them.
The order requires Blanche to submit eight unredacted email chains, identified by specific Bates numbers, as well as documentation supporting the department's claim that the names blacked out in those emails are, in fact, victims whose identities are protected by law.
Sullivan also ordered the Justice Department to produce an unredacted version of another document and provide evidence supporting its claim that the names removed from its "to" and "from" lines belong to law enforcement personnel. A third document must likewise be submitted in unredacted form with documentation supporting DOJ's assertion that the names it concealed are victims.
The deadline for the production is 3:00 p.m. ET on July 30.
The judge is sending a clear message that if the Trump administration wants to keep information hidden from the public, it will have to do more than simply say its redactions are justified... (our emphasis)

We'll see if Blanche finds a way to stonewall, appeal, or otherwise drag or weasel out of the judge's order. "If they have nothing to hide, why are they hiding it," said the little boy.

The bad:

Adm. Daryl Caudle saw an opening to land the Navy’s top job last year, and he seized it.
Before Pete Hegseth had even been sworn in as defense secretary, Admiral Caudle, then the head of a major Navy training command, offered to help Mr. Hegseth prepare for his politically contentious Senate confirmation hearing, according to current and former defense officials.
The outreach was a breach of military ethics, the officials said. Senior military officers are supposed to avoid any hint of partisan bias or political activity.
Nothing came of the offer. But soon after Mr. Hegseth took office, he fired the first woman to lead the Navy: Admiral Caudle’s boss. Days later, a senior officer on Admiral Caudle’s staff contacted Mr. Hegseth’s team in another breach of protocol.
His pitch: Mr. Hegseth should choose Admiral Caudle to be the next chief of naval operations, the current and former officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters.
The officer described Admiral Caudle in terms that matched Mr. Hegseth’s view of the values that military officers should embody. There was “no one more in line” with Mr. Hegseth’s vision for remaking the military, he said, according to an official familiar with the exchange. The officer cast Admiral Caudle as a “warfighter” who wanted to remove “woke barriers” that he claimed were weakening the force, the official said... (our emphasis)

Well, if you didn't know this kind of thing was coming, we're sorry to inform you that the top uniformed ranks at the Pentagon are already being infused with racist MAGAts, the better to carry out the Malignant Fascist's unlawful orders when they're passed down. Another area to thoroughly purge and sanitize when the time presents itself.

The ugly:

As his new tariffs went into effect and gas prices climbed on Saturday, President Donald Trump said he’s not ruling out a full-scale war.

In a phone interview with French journalist Sonia Dridi, Trump said he’s “absolutely” considering resuming full-scale war with Iran if the U.S. doesn’t “get 100% of what we want.”

The president told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday the U.S. is “talking” to Iran, adding that he believes Iran is “getting more and more serious as the days go by” but “that doesn’t mean we get there.” Friday night was the first in 13 consecutive nights that the U.S. did not strike Iran.

The national average gas price rose slightly Saturday to $4.11 a gallon as Trump’s newly imposed tariffs on goods from more than 80 countries threatened to heap further financial strain on Americans ahead of the midterms. The reporter said when she asked Trump whether he would follow through with his threat to levy “substantial” new tariffs on the European Union, which he has accused of “robbing” American tech companies, he declined to comment.

The tariffs, which took effect Friday and have already been challenged in court, could cost American households an extra $1,100 annually, according to an analysis by The Budget Lab at Yale University. That comes at a time when consumers are already shelling out more for necessities, including gas and groceries, as the Iran war drives inflation and energy prices upward.
Gas price averages in the United States surpassed $4 a gallon on July 20 for the first time in more than a month as fighting in the Iran war escalated following the collapse of a temporary ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran, which the White House billed as a significant step toward substantial nuclear negotiations and a permanent peace deal... (our emphasis)

The Very Stable Genius, a.k.a. Moron Metternich, has blundered into a quagmire, with no end in sight and no chance of the situation returning to what it was before his war of choice with Iran. To compound the disaster, the fool continues to put inflation- driving tariffs on foreign goods because of his "kindergarten-level understanding of economics"(and even that may be giving him too much credit). Sic transit gloria, America.

Sunday, July 26, 2026

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)

Saturday, July 25, 2026

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)