Mis-Quote Of The Day

 

"And as our Declaration of Independence tells us," Trump said, "we are all made in the image of one almighty god. And a communist will never say that." -- the Malignant Fascist last night in his "address" that was more about him than the semiquincentennial of our Nation. Then, of course, the Declaration of Independence never said it either.  

What the Declaration of Independence actually says is "All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights..."  But, you would've had to have listened in class or cracked a book in your lifetime, unlike the Malignant Fascist and his white nationalist fascist goons, to know that.  Convenient that the "inalienable rights" part of the Declaration's language was also missing from the MF's mis-quote.

But, as we know, in Trumpworld, history is what you make it, and what you make it is a white Christian nationalist revision of the objective truth to suit your purposes.

A New "Strait of Hormuz"?

 

The Associated Press is reporting that a British military cargo ship came under fire today off the Red Sea coast of Yemen controlled by the Iranian-supported Houthi rebels.  Some have threatened to use the Bab al-Mandab strait as a choke point for ships transiting the Red Sea to and from the Suez Canal.  From the AP's report:

"A cargo ship came under attack Sunday off the coast of Yemen in the Red Sea, the British military said, the latest maritime attack off the conflict-torn Arab country.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center reported the attack off the coastal city of Hodeida, which is under control of the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

The UKMTO said the ship reported being “under attack by unknown armed assailants” 30 nautical miles (55 kilometers) southwest of Hodeida. [snip]

The Houthis have threatened to begin attacking ships again, though they have not been carrying out attacks. A Houthi spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The rebels previously fired drones and missiles at ships that pass by territory they control near the narrow Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea. Their attacks over the course of the Gaza war forced shipping companies to reroute vessels around the southern tip of Africa instead of through the Suez Canal at the northern end of the Red Sea." (our emphasis)

Russian war criminal Putin's little barking dog Dmitry Medvedev noted the Bab al-Mandab strait represents a potential "thermonuclear weapon" for Iran and its Houthi allies.  Remember that this all began with the reckless and violent Malignant Fascist following Netanyahu's cue in attacking Iran in February, triggering a conflict that has yet to be resolved.

(photo: satellite view of the Bab al-Mandab strait / Wikipedia)

 

Pay Up, Trump! (Again)

 

The Malignant Fascist should be able to afford $5.8 million for his sexual abuse (the judge later called it "rape") of E. Jean Carroll, given his $2.2 billion windfall in crypto and other ill- gotten gains last year:

A federal judge rejected President Donald Trump’s request for more time to respond to New York writer E. Jean Carroll’s demand for $5.8 million she won in a civil lawsuit against him.

Carroll asked a federal court in Manhattan on June 30 to order Trump to pay her the money she was awarded when a jury found him liable in 2023 for sexually abusing her and then for defaming her by calling her assault allegations a "con job."

The Supreme Court had denied Trump's request on June 29 to review the jury's decision in the case. Trump asked for more time to respond to Carroll’s request.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in New York denied the request in a one-sentence order July 4. Trump must now reply by July 7.

Trump had argued that his ’former lead counsel in the case, Justin Smith, left because of his confirmation as a judge on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Trump said his new lawyer, Josh Halpern, needs time to learn the case.

Carroll said in her June 30 court filing that the judge should direct nearly $5.8 million from Trump her way at this point, including interest that has been accruing while Trump pursued his appeal. Her lawyers argued in a filing that Trump was being “dilatory” and slow-rolling his defenses.

"But this is the end of the line," the lawyers said.  [snip]

In a separate case, a Manhattan civil jury also awarded Carroll $83.3 million from Trump in 2024 based on the conclusion that Trump defamed her in 2019 when he first denied her allegations. That appeal is still being litigated.

Pay up, you decaying blob of fascist flesh.

(Image:  AFP/ Getty Images)

Hundreds Of Masked Fascist Cowards Prance Around DC

 

They came.  They strutted.  They took the Metro home to their parents' basements:

Hundreds of masked men carrying banners, including the Confederate flag, marched through Washington DC on the Fourth of July, the 250th anniversary of the US’s inception.

The group appeared to be led by Thomas Rousseau, founder of the neo-fascist, white supremacist organization Patriot Front. Members of the group wore white masks and gathered in front of DC’s Union Station. They later marched towards Capitol Hill, WTOP reported.

Members chanted “Life, liberty, victory!” and “Reclaim America!” during the Saturday demonstration, according to video posted on social media.  [snip]

The white supremacist group’s gathering attracted some counter-protesters. In one video, a man with a bullhorn shouted at Patriot Front members: “Every single one of you justifies the fucking right to abortion.” ...

The jackals only show up en masse because they know they'd get their asses kicked otherwise.  Bunch of incel losers.

(Photo:  the march of the barely sentient / Mark Sherman via AP)

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(Chris Britt, Creators.com)

(John Deering, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

(Jimmy Margulies, King Features)

(Paresh Nath, caglecartoons.com, UAE)

(Dennis Goris, @dennisgoris)

(Bob Englehart, caglecartoons.com)

(Michael de Adder, caglecartoons.com, Canada)

(Jeff Koterba, caglecartoons.com)

(Bart van Leeuwen, Oedipoes.com, Netherlands)

(Harley Schwadron, politicalcartoons.com)

(Milt Priggee, caglecartoons.com)

(Adam Douglas Thompson, New Yorker Magazine)

Skeets Of The Day

 

Most. Corrupt. President. Ever. --

Trump has 2.2 billion reasons to celebrate our nation’s birthday. I break down his 900 page 2025 financial disclosure so you don’t have to: open.substack.com/pub/lincolns...

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— Frank Figliuzzi (@frankfigliuzzi.bsky.social) July 4, 2026 at 8:17 AM

 

JUST POSTED: An updated tally is in, and the count of Trump followers turned financial losers is even bigger than first thought. Much bigger. 988,905 buyers of $TRUMP memecoin have lost a total of $3.81 billion. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/04/u...

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— Eric Lipton NYT (@ericlipton.nytimes.com) July 4, 2026 at 6:34 AM

“Trump has always admired Putin and his ability to do whatever he pleases. Russia became his template for the America he wanted to create, a place riddled with corruption from top to bottom where the leader and a tiny band of oligarchs enriched themselves.”

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— Mark Chadbourn (@chadbourn.bsky.social) July 4, 2026 at 6:38 AM

 

The loser Malignant Fascist's state fair flop --

‘I’m Mad at Trump’: Even Trumpers Can’t Stand How Shoddy the Great American State Fair Is talkingpointsmemo.com/the-weekende...

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— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) July 4, 2026 at 8:16 AM

 

Just sayin’.

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— Jon Cooper (@joncooper-us.bsky.social) July 4, 2026 at 9:09 AM

The sick MF's hateful and deeply un-American speech on the eve of the 4th -- 

Yesterday, Trump gave a speech full of hate & paranoia & he hailed “American exceptionalism.” Guess what—before it was politically advantageous to take this position, he dismissed the idea of US exceptionalism & said it was “not a nice term.” I provide receipts: www.motherjones.com/politics/201...

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— David Corn (@davidcorn.bsky.social) July 4, 2026 at 7:55 AM

Murderous South Afrikaner fascist promoting hatred again on his "X" platform --

 

Musk’s amplification of the movie “Citizen Vigilante” legitimizes violence against immigrants.

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— Victor Shammas (@victorshammas.com) July 4, 2026 at 5:07 AM

Polls (Fox!) on Iowa and Georgia Senate races looking good at this point --

 

Fox poll: Iowa registered voters Josh Turek (D) 50% Ashley Hinson (R) 46% "Extremely" motivated to vote Josh Turek (D) 56% Ashley Hinson (R) 41%

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1.bsky.social) July 3, 2026 at 12:30 PM

 

Fox poll: Georgia registered voters Jon Ossoff (D) 56% Mike Collins (R) 43%

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1.bsky.social) July 3, 2026 at 10:41 AM

Things in imperialist Russia that go "boom."  Slava Ukraini! -- 

Residents of St Petersburg enjoying the burning oil terminal in St Petersburg, Russia.

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— Anton Gerashchenko (@antongerashchenko.bsky.social) July 4, 2026 at 2:43 AM

⚡️Ukrainian missile strike on Russia's Belgorod disrupts power, water supply across city, official says.

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— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) July 3, 2026 at 8:37 PM

 

A message from the United Farm Workers on July 4 --

 

On #July4 we celebrate freedom, but it's also a time to reflect on the work still left to do. Throughout US history, not everyone has shared equally in that promise. Farm workers have always helped build this country, feeding our communities. They are part of our nation's story.

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— United Farm Workers (@ufw.bsky.social) July 3, 2026 at 10:00 PM

 

 

Trump's Graft Unparalleled In Western Democracies

There have been a number of stories in recent days of the Malignant Fascist's huge financial windfall in 2025, after the his 927-page financial disclosure form was released.  His crypto haul was $1.4 billion alone, where he got quick profits while investors / suckers lost nearly $4 billion.  Well, the MF has given the U.S. another distinction on its 250th birthday:  its President is now in a league with the corrupt tyrants in Russia and Turkey in terms of accumulating vast wealth while in office:

Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister and billionaire mogul who died in 2023, is often considered to have set the mold for President Trump with his mastery of the news media, gilded taste and, above all, legislative maneuvers that drew accusations of conflicts of interest.

Mr. Berlusconi passed laws that appeared tailor-made to protect and benefit his family’s vast business empire. And his annual earning disclosures showed he had been paid tens of millions of dollars while serving as prime minister.

This week, new financial disclosures suggested that Mr. Trump has broken that mold by making at least $2.2 billion in his first year back in the White House, including about $1.4 billion from his family’s cryptocurrency businesses.

Mr. Trump’s profits are a haul once unimaginable for any leader of a liberal democracy, particularly a sitting American president. No modern Western leader has ever publicly disclosed such big windfalls while in office.

The Trump family’s earnings, experts said, have moved him into an echelon of enrichment more associated with strongmen in Russia and Turkey.

His gains were all the more striking because the United States has long positioned itself as a standard-bearer for financial regulation, anti-graft measures and the rule of law. Yet his cryptocurrency earnings highlight an unusually glaring conflict: As president, Mr. Trump oversees the regulation of an industry that, as a businessman, he also greatly profits from...  (our emphasis)

We'll leave it there so you can read the rest of the article, with all the modern comparisons of self- dealing graft, at your leisure (but please read).   

As he falls back on his latest distraction, the moth-eaten Republican "red scare" tactic, the American people need to be reminded over and over again that the world- class- corrupt MF isn't helping them, he's helping himself -- to billions in graft and shady deals (and he'll get away with paying little or no taxes as he has in the past).  It can't be made clearer, because it's the one thing he's being proudly transparent about.

 

QOTD -- America 250, A Nation Of Immigrants

 

"... There is a term so often used to describe our nation and those who have shaped it: American exceptionalism. American exceptionalism, the conventional wisdom tells us, makes our freedom a little more free, is how we dug the Erie Canal and irrigated the West, is why children in faraway lands grow up dreaming of one day moving here.  

"And yet the irony is that the story of America has so often been written by those who were told by others with power and influence and wealth that they were anything but exceptional. For generation after generation, we have been told that when the world has sent its people to our shores, it has not sent its best. It sent Puritans and Sikhs and Quakers and Muslims and Jewish people who were banished for praying the wrong way, worshipping the wrong Gods, angering the wrong people. It sent peasants and serfs from slums and shtetls who were treated as less because they hardly owned clothes, let alone land. It sent immigrants for whom power was something someone else had. We are told that America is exceptional because we are richer, stronger, more powerful than everyone else.  

"The truth, my friends, is that America is exceptional because here, nothing is fixed into place. The frontier may be closed, we may have walked on the moon, but the work of fulfilling the values first enshrined in the Declaration of Independence — that work endures, my friends, and it belongs to us all. It belongs too to our newest Americans, those standing here with me today, all of whom were recently naturalized. Nearly a decade ago, I too felt what you feel — the joy of no longer being just a New Yorker, but an American too. You each hold a special power. The power to determine what America means..." -- excerpt from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's address yesterday, framing his remarks around his own history as an immigrant, and rebuking the racist, anti- immigrant policies of the Malignant Fascist's white nationalist regime.  He specifically contrasts the MF's hateful view of "American exceptionalism" with that of fulfilling the values of the Declaration of Independence. The full transcript is linked above.  You can see the full speech here.

(Photo:  via AP)

Know Your Hicstory, 'Murica!

 

In vino veritas?

 

Have a safe and Happy Fourth of July #250!

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)

(Jeff Stahler, gocomics.com)

(Gary Markstein, Creators.com)

(Lalo Alcaraz, LA Weekly)

(Tim Campbell, Tribune Content Agency)

(Sean Delonas, cglecartoons.com)

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

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

(Clay Jones, claytoonz.substack.com)

(Matt Davies, Newsday)

(Bill Day, caglecartoons.com)

(Michael de Adder, caglecartoons.com, Canada)

(Teresa Burns Parkhurst, The New Yorker)

Question Of The Day: Where's Garland?

 

Poster zmom at DailyKos wonders where the timid former Attorney General Merrick "The Mouse" Garland is, while his former Department is being hollowed out by the fascist thugs of the Malignant Fascist, and while former Special Counsel Jack Smith fights for the rule of law and people trying to survive the onslaught:

"I watched Jack Smith today on MSNow and he is sticking his neck out there, still fighting, and not just for himself but specifically for all those people at the Justice department who got the rug pulled out from them and were not protected from the new administration. When they worked on the Trump indictment they were told don’t worry we have your back – so much for that.  Jack is fighting for the people who trusted him and followed the law and their ethics... I googled Merrick Garland now/Merrick Garland 2026/Merrick Garland Speeches 2026/Merrick Garland 2026 public appearances – nada except where he is working. He is working for Arnold&Porter Big D.C Law firm...His absence of fighting for his department people who did his bidding and got decapitated, let alone the absence of talking about what’s happening at the macro level, is egregious."

Just like he hid at the Justice Department when the going got tough, after slow- walking the opening of Federal  investigations into the Malignant Fascist's attempted coup on January 6, 2021, and his theft of classified documents, mousy Merrick is hiding behind his prestigious law firm where he's pulling down a partnership compensation. 

When his country called on him to punish the MF's lawbreaking, he put Jack Smith and numerous FBI staff out front to take the heat, and was content for the MF to walk free while he slipped away to his big law firm.  Do you ever wonder why the MF doesn't aim any of his bile or "investigations" at Garland?  That's why.

(picture: Facebook)

 

Skeets Of The Day

 

The Epstein-Trump files coverup / more deflection, bullshit, concealment --

 

JUST IN: Todd Blanche has responded to Judge Sullivan's Order on my preliminary injunction and it's...more deflection, bullshit, and attempts to conceal. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

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— Katie Phang (@katiephang.bsky.social) July 2, 2026 at 8:13 PM

 

Operation Epic Fail / humiliation for America --

 

This is what’s the word oh yes this is humiliating www.wsj.com/world/middle...

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— Bill Grueskin (@bgrueskin.bsky.social) July 2, 2026 at 3:38 PM

 

... while he hawks his cheap watches, rakes in crypto profits, and manipulates the markets --

lol i swear to god this is an actual commercial that just ran on fox news

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— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew.bsky.social) July 2, 2026 at 8:46 PM

 

Trump didn’t rake in billions from crypto because he’s talented. He made that haul because he’s president. A column on Trump, crypto and corruption — and why no one is doing anything about it: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

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— Tim O’Brien (@timobrien.bsky.social) July 2, 2026 at 7:25 AM

 

Stock trades by President. The blatant corruption is just staggering

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— Angry (@angrystaffer.bsky.social) July 1, 2026 at 10:39 PM

 

Turns out Trump’s market manipulation with a series of tariff announcements and pauses that tormented American businesses was done to enrich himself.

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— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) July 3, 2026 at 10:34 AM

 

Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill (for Billionaires)" summed up -- 

That just about sums it up:

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— Katie Bergh (@katiebergh.bsky.social) July 2, 2026 at 1:05 PM

 Don't threaten America with a good time, Fox "News"! --

i just filled all the squares on my don’t threaten me with a good time bingo card

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— shauna (@goldengateblond.bsky.social) July 3, 2026 at 1:02 AM

 

Metaphors for Trump's failed Potemkin village "State Fair" --

The stage is falling apart at the rehearsal for Freedom 250's July 4th celebration.

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— Aaron Parnas (@aaronparnas.bsky.social) July 2, 2026 at 3:53 PM

 

Caulk is visibly oozing from the columns of the false "Arc de Trump" on display at the Great American State Fair

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— FactPost (@factpostnews.bsky.social) July 1, 2026 at 4:19 PM

 

He creates his own reality & expects us to believe it. The FELON's FANTASY: Meanwhile, back on EARTH 1:

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— Mark Hamill (@markhamillofficial.bsky.social) July 2, 2026 at 12:41 PM

Just sayin' (Happy Friday!)  --

 

3 presidents have died on the 4th of july i like those odds

— madison 🫶🏻🧡 (@bigfreakintitty.bsky.social) July 2, 2026 at 5:03 PM

 

Trump: It's not working! Why don't they love the fair? How do I make the crowds cheer? Oracle of DC: If you test your strength against the heat with a very long speech, the nation will celebrate harder than they ever have. They will party in the streets. No one will ever forget the night.

— Keith (@mosheroperandi.bsky.social) July 1, 2026 at 9:18 PM

 

 

Fourth Of July Weekend Music

 

If you're a longtime follower of this blog, you know what's coming!

As has become our custom, here's John Philip Sousa's "The Stars and Stripes Forever," played by The Band of Her Majesty's Grenadier Guards at Blenheim Palace (ancestral home of Winston Churchill, whose mother was an American), to honor the founding of our nation on the Fourth of July, 1776.  After 250 years, our democracy continues to be tested by a tyrant.  We're increasingly hopeful democracy will prevail, but it will only if we fight for it.  As for today and tomorrow, have fun and be safe.

Chasing "Windmills": Our International Embarrassment

 

It's rather widely known that the moronic and vengeful Malignant Fascist is mocked and ridiculed behind his back by other nations' leaders. His foolish, bombastic and often bigoted statements are in stark contrast to those by the leaders of most of our allies.  In an interview with the BBC, former UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's chief of staff Morgan McSweeney recounted the MF's first call to Starmer, which went off the rails when the MF started talking about his hated wind turbine / "windmill" fetish: 

"Trump during that first phone call brought up one of his famous sore spots: wind turbines ― or, as the president calls them, windmills.

'He started saying, ‘Look, Britain’s a beautiful country, but you have too many windmills.’ McSweeney recalled. 'Fine. He was making his point, he’s made that publicly enough times.'

Trump has indeed attacked windmills for years during speeches and rallies.

'He started to say ‘the windmills are killing your birds, the birds are falling by the windmills, foxes are eating those birds,’ McSweeney said.

Trump’s comment made the conversation difficult for those listening in.

'At this point, the officials that were in the room were barely able to contain themselves because it was extremely funny,' he said. 'But this was the first call between the prime minister and the president and everyone wanted to be professional but were struggling to hold it together.'

But then it got even weirder.

'And he went on to say that as the foxes ate so many birds and became lazy, they became fat. And as they became so fat, people no longer knew what kind of a creature they were because they were too fat,' he said. 'They were these fat foxes walking around Scotland eating dead birds.'

McSweeney said Starmer managed to avoid laughing.

'He just absolutely contained himself,' he said. 'No one else in the room did.'”  (our emphasis)

While McSweeney disingenuously says the sociopathic MF was trying to be funny, he's never seen the MF's deranged rallies where he rails against wind energy and other renewables, not to get a laugh but to undermine those technologies.  His sick, decades-long beef against wind energy stems from him losing a legal fight to prevent wind turbines from operating off the coast of his golf resort in Scotland.  He's now used nearly $3 billion in taxpayer funds to kill offshore wind energy projects in the U.S. by buying up offshore leases and projects.

Jack Smith On Trump's Attack On The Rule Of Law

 

ICYMI, former Special Counsel Jack Smith had his first television interview with Nicolle Wallace on MS NOW's "Deadline White House" yesterday.  The man who led the team prosecuting the Malignant Fascist for his effort to overturn the 2020 election and for mishandling classified documents spoke on a number of topics during the 44-plus minute interview, but in this segment, he discusses the MF's unprecedented threat to the rule of law and a weaponized "Justice" Department: