Skeets Of The Day

 

The Epstein-Trump files coverup /  priorities! --

 

"Effectively, DOJ said that Blanche couldn’t be bothered to step away from his day job prosecuting Trump’s adversaries to comply with a law passed via unanimous consent in the Senate."

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— 🗽LOLGOP🗽 (@thefarce.org) June 29, 2026 at 4:55 AM

 

Republican SCOTUS giveth and taketh away --

BREAKING: A rare voting rights win 5-4 — SCOTUS protects mail-in ballot grace periods in 15 states. Ballots postmarked by Election Day can still be counted after arrival. This is good news, folks.

— The Contrarian (@contrariannews.org) June 29, 2026 at 10:08 AM

 

SOME BIG NEWS: SCOTUS has DENIED Convicted Felon Donald Trump's attempts to appeal a $5 million civil judgment entered against him after a 2023 jury found that he sexually abused and defamed my dear friend @ejeancarroll.bsky.social.

— Katie Phang (@katiephang.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 9:59 AM

 

Slaughter is an earthquake: SCOTUS has overturned a 90-year-old precedent that facilitated much of modern governance by granting many agencies meaningful independence from the president. Now SCOTUS crushes that independence ... for seemingly every agency except the Federal Reserve.

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjsdc.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 10:19 AM

 

House Squeaker "New Moses" Johnson runs a "protection program," threatens us with a good time --

Johnson: If we lose the midterms, these Democrats will turn every committee of Congress into an investigative body, and they'll go after the president's family, the cabinet, his donors, friends, half of you in this room will be targeted. I run the protection program. We’ll take care of you.

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— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) June 26, 2026 at 1:05 PM

 

Trump's state fair and Triumphal Arch mock- up mocked --

 

Not sure people appreciate how difficult it is to literally have NO PEOPLE at the National Mall, especially in the summer time.

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— scarylawyerguy.bsky.social (@scarylawyerguy.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 8:37 AM

 

Greatest, hugest, most spectacular fair ever. Only Trump could have done it.

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— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 6:46 AM

 

We had more people at the local Costco grand opening. 😁

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— korbelrenokia (@korbelrenokia.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 6:51 AM

 

1-Donny’s ‘Freedom 250’ sucks & no one is showing up for it. Try not to laugh. open.substack.com/pub/jefftied... 2-Trump's Now Spending His Days Counting Trees In The Park "He wants there to be exactly 47 trees as a tribute to himself?" open.substack.com/pub/politicu...

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— Sue in Rockville 💙🦋💙🦋💙🦋 (@sueinrockville.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 7:17 AM

 

Everyone is talking about Trump’s mock up arch at the Great American State Fair, so I filmed it from top to bottom and front to back for everyone who can’t see it in person.

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— amanda moore 🐢 (@noturtlesoup17.bsky.social) June 28, 2026 at 5:11 PM

 

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— keenoire.bsky.social (@keenoire.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 1:12 AM

 

Long gas lines in Putin's Russia.  Slava Ukraini! --

 

So far.

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— Darth Putin (@darthputinkgb.bsky.social) June 28, 2026 at 11:56 AM

 

Fantastic footage from Russia 🤩🚘⛽️

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— MAKS 26 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) June 27, 2026 at 2:53 AM

 

 

Your Market Manipulation Headline

 

Headline from the Trump regime's stenographers at Axios, quoting an unnamed official of course, published yesterday evening in advance of today's stock market opening:

"U.S. and Iran agree to halt strikes and meet this week, U.S. official says"

As expected, stock futures jumped on the unnamed official's statement.  There is a consistent pattern of manipulation right before the stock market opens each week in order to keep oil prices from spiking and the lying and incompetent Malignant Fascist's poll numbers from dropping further.  That's usually after the MF makes an unhinged threat after markets close for the weekend.  Rinse and repeat.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Iran says the "technical talks" have been cancelled; Al Jazeera has same information, with Iran stating that it controls the Strait of Hormuz.

BONUS: Lebanon's speaker of their parliament says a peace treaty with Israel will not be implemented, outside of an agreement between Iran and the U.S.  So the exchange of attacks between Israel and Hezbollah will resume, and Iran will take notice.

 

Today's Tomorrow Cartoon

 

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The war on algae takes a bizarre twist, with the merging of the Malignant Fascist's diseased DNA with algae in the Reflecting Pool.  A new monster is created.  Horrors!

Please consider supporting Tom's work by going here.

 

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

President Donald Trump has had a hard time distancing himself from the Jeffrey Epstein saga, and a new development in the case might prove to be more of a headache than he wants, according to two legal experts.  

Earlier this month, convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein's assistant, Lesley Groff, testified before Congress about her relationship with the disgraced financier and his crimes. The transcripts of that interview were released late last week, and some of the details Groff shared with investigators raised red flags for attorneys Brian Kabateck and Shant Karnikian, who co-host the "Civil Action" podcast on the Legal AF Network.

For instance, Kabateck pointed out in a new episode on Sunday that Groff testified she began working for Epstein in 2001 and that Epstein and Trump were in contact for at least a decade. That seems to contradict Trump's previous claim that he cut off communications with Epstein in 2004 or 2005, well before Trump became president, Kabateck noted. 

Another issue is that those dates extend beyond Epstein's 2008 felony conviction for soliciting a minor, which is another "problematic" aspect of the timeline, Kabateck said.

Karnickian said the transcript showed that Trump "has something to hide" in the case.

"Early on, we talked about Epstein, and we thought this is a sideshow, and maybe Trump's deliberately putting it out there," Karnikian said. "It's become a big problem for him, and it's clear that he has something to hide here."

Groff's testimony, such as it was, confirmed timelines that contradict what Epstein buddy and pathological lying pedo the Malignant Fascist has claimed.  Thursday is the court-ordered deadline for the "Justice" Department to release more of the Epstein files, which they'll drag out in appeals.  But what a difference it would make with a Democratic Congress investigating and doing everything it could to get ALL the unredacted Epstein files that are being illegally withheld by the MF's toadies at the "Justice" Department.

The bad:

Susie Madrak Has Pancreatic Cancer And Needs Our Help

You think you're going to live forever until something yanks you by the arm and reminds that we're all mere mortal humans. One of those moments for me was when Susie called and said they confirmed she had a cancerous growth in her pancreas.

Being the perennial optimist that I am, I asked the internet about treatments for early stage pancreatic cancer and was told there is a Whipple surgery that can be performed. Unfortunately, Susie's cancer is stage 3 and past the point where they can do that.

So it's chemo, and chemo might arrest the growth of the tumor. Might. It's a pretty scary situation.

Susie has a GoFundMe to help with the costs of fighting this pernicious cancer. It's likely that while she goes through chemo she'll have to take a leave of absence from writing here, which is a major source of income for her.

All of the staff at C&L are rooting for her. If you've enjoyed her writing, please consider supporting her GoFundMe so she can fight this cancer without worrying about having enough money for care, or medication, or even the stupid copays none of us should have.

If you can't donate, please share this post or the GoFundMe link with others who might be able to...

That's an appeal from Karoli Kuns at Crooks & Liars that we're more than happy to pass along.  Please consider giving to Susie Madrak's GoFundMe, and if you're of a mind, ask others to consider making a donation.  Anything and everything helps.  Let's give a great progressive writer a boost, shall we?!

The ugly: 

President Donald Trump’s sons are profiting off of their father’s connections, including in a previously-undisclosed deal over a lucrative metal.

“Their sons were soon doing business with partners in a deal that their fathers were negotiating, continuing a pattern of self-enrichment in the second Trump administration that has few precedents in American history,” wrote The New York Times’ Paul Sonne and Eric Lipton on Sunday. The report covered how Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump availed themselves of a meeting between Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in September to grant a little-known American company called Kaz Resources access to their tungsten mines.

Prior to that meeting, the Trump administration approved preliminary applications for up to $1.6 billion in federal financing for Kaz Resources to break ground on the project in rural Kazakhstan. Dominari Securities, which is partly owned by the Trump sons, agreed to take a 20 percent stake in the tungsten projects.

“Around the same time, Cantor Fitzgerald, an investment company controlled by Mr. Lutnick’s family and overseen by his sons Brandon and Kyle Lutnick, helped one of the lead investors working with Dominari on the Kazakh deal raise $210 million in new capital for a related entity,” Sonne and Lipton wrote. “Such rounds of fund-raising typically net Cantor millions of dollars in fees.”

They added, “The Kazakh deal was ultimately signed on Nov. 6, six days after the investment involving the Trump sons and their partners, which was not publicly disclosed at the time. The arrangement is hardly an outlier. One or both families have financial ties to at least 14 companies that are actively working with the federal government on critical mining deals, including the Kazakhstan project, according to federal filings examined by The New York Times.”... (our emphasis)

The Trump Crime Family, grifting its way through another 4 years, lining their pockets in a money-grab unprecedented in American politics -- and all right out there in the open.  Of course, there's more grifting, influence-peddling, crony enrichment, etc., going on, which the article outlines.  A sickening, shocking spectacle of greed by The.  Most.  Corrupt.  Regime.  Ever. 

Across The Universe, Cont. -- "Starry Chandelier"

 

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From NASA/ ESA, June 26, 2026: The subject of today’s ESA/Hubble Picture of the Month is an ancient inhabitant of our galaxy. This sparkling scene is of a globular cluster: a collection of tens of thousands to millions of stars, all tightly bound together under the influence of gravity. Astronomers know of more than 150 globular clusters in our galaxy, though there may be others yet to be discovered, hidden from view by dust or densely packed fields of stars.

This particular globular cluster is NGC 6723, sometimes called the Chandelier Cluster. Much like its namesake, this cluster sparkles with countless lights — but each ‘lightbulb’ in this chandelier is an individual star 27 000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius (the Archer).

Globular clusters like NGC 6723 contain some of the oldest stars in our galaxy. The ages of these clusters often exceed 10 billion years old, and some are nearly as old as the Universe itself. Globular clusters are thought to be some of the first structures to have formed in our galaxy, coalescing potentially billions of years before the thin disk of stars in which our Sun orbits. The details of how globular clusters formed, however, are not yet certain.

Astronomers initially thought that all stars in a globular cluster formed at the same time in a single flourish of star formation. This would mean that all stars in a globular cluster would be the same age and be made of the same mixture of chemical elements. Now, thanks to observations from telescopes like Hubble, researchers know that these seemingly simple stellar populations have more complex histories than originally thought.

Hubble first observed NGC 6723 as part of an ambitious survey dedicated to demystifying the properties of globular clusters in our Milky Way galaxy. In this observing programme (#10775, PI: Sarajedini), researchers used Hubble to study 65 globular clusters in our galaxy in visible and near-infrared light. These data allowed researchers to study everything from the ages of globular clusters to the process through which massive stars sink to the centre of a star cluster and lower-mass stars drift toward the cluster outskirts. This survey has been immensely scientifically valuable, and these observations have inspired several hundred published research papers.

In a later observing programme (#13297, PI: Piotto), researchers set their sights again on many of these same clusters, including NGC 6723. This time, they used Hubble’s unique sensitivity to ultraviolet light to detect the subtle variations in chemical composition between the stars of globular clusters and determine the age spread among the clusters’ stars. For NGC 6723, researchers found evidence of two closely-spaced periods of star formation, the second occurring within 634 million years of the first. (‘Closely-spaced’ is relative; 634 million years is a blink of an eye for a star cluster that is more than 10 billion years old!)

Thanks to these findings, astronomers are on the path to understanding how and when globular clusters formed — and Hubble observations of celestial chandeliers like NGC 6723 are lighting the way.

[Image Description: A globular cluster. It is made up of many thousands of bright stars, tightly-packed in the centre and more spread out at the corners, but filling the entire view. The stars are coloured either orange or bright blue, with the blue stars mainly concentrated in the centre. Orange stars are located mainly around the edge, and also vary in size from small dots to glowing stars with four points, based on their position in the foreground or background of the cluster.]

Credit:  ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Sarajedini, G. Piotto

 

Dementia Don's Further Descent Into Madness, Cont. -- Be Reasonable!

 

The wildly erratic, incompetent, mentally unstable Dementia Don is back to his weekend failed social media pronouncements, this time threatening his Shart of the Deal partners with annihilation before the ink is even dry on that "ceasefire." 

We weren't sure if it was an authentic "Truth" since it doesn't end with "Thank you for your attention to this matter."  But the fact that he waited until the stock markets were closed before he ordered the strikes and tapped out this communique would indicate it was indeed Sir Liesalot's ham-fisted, mob boss-style "diplomacy" at work.

For someone who says he's holding "all the cards," he sure seems to be getting jerked around a lot.

Today's Cartoons

 

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(Garry Trudeau, gocomics.com)

(Ann Telnaes, anntelnaes.substack.com)

(David Rowe, Financial Review, Australia)

(Bart van Leeuwen, Oedipoes.com, Netherlands)

(Nick Anderson, Tribune Content Agency)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

(Rob Rogers, Tinyview.com)

(Mike Konopacki, The Capital Times, WI)

(Bill Bramhall, New York Daily News)

(Mike Smith, Las Vegas Sun)

(Phil Hands, Wisconsin State Journal)

(Mort Gerberg, @mortgerberg)

Quotes Of The Day

 

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) speaking at a rally in Savannah, GA, yesterday:

 

“The president was so humiliated in Hormuz he threw his toys out the stroller and refused to sign the affordable housing bill. That’s after he gave some felon donor a no bid contract for the reflecting pool and it filled up with algae, which for some reason required the deployment of the National Guard. And then because of his war and tariffs, inflation rose to over 4%. He promised to bring down prices on day one, do you remember that?”

____________________

“Citizens United was the most destructive court decision in modern American history. It’s unleashed a flood of secret money, corporate money, billionaire money on both sides. Donald Trump’s rise is a symptom of this deeper disease. Our task is not just to contain his wickedness, but to cure the rot that gave rise to it.”

____________________

“This is what happens when you send your son in law Jared to cosplay as a diplomat. Despite zero qualifications, Prince Jared was tapped to lead Middle East diplomacy. Now remember Jared’s slush fund already got $2 billion from the Saudi Crown Prince. Even now he’s actively asking Arab princes for billions more. Not for the US, for his own business.”

He also rightfully called his MAGAt Republican opponent Rep. Mike Collins "a bigot and an antisemite under federal investigation for the illegal misuse of tax dollars..."

FFS, Democratic candidates, please take note of how to pound the fascist Republican MAGAt cult, and what we need to do with power, from this guy.  

You can view the entire video of Sen. Ossoff's remarks as well as those of former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Democratic nominee for Georgia Governor, here.

Sunday Reflection: Aiding Venezuela's People

Instead of a piece to reflect on today, we're again asking that you consider supporting recovery and relief efforts for the Venezuelan people who suffered catastrophic earthquakes last week through a charity of your choice. We have a handful listed here to consider:

International Red Cross: Venezuelan Red Cross’ nationwide network of hospitals and clinics remains active and continues to deliver care, and rescue teams are supporting evacuation and search efforts 

International Rescue Committee: Currently on the ground delivering urgent health, nutrition, and livelihood services.

Venezuela Humanitarian Fund (UN Crisis Relief): Partners with dozens of trusted local NGOs to provide life-saving aid and healthcare.

Catholic Relief Services: Working alongside Caritas Venezuela to support nutrition programs, primary health services, and emergency shelter.

Global Empowerment Mission: A disaster relief organization actively mobilizing emergency supplies and personnel.

World Central Kitchen: Mobilizes rapidly to serve hot meals and food assistance to displaced families and first responders.

Thank you!

"A New Monument To Democracy"

 

This is a fairly brief, but quite informative, video on the recently-opened Obama Presidential Center that has some insights provided by the architects who designed the Center, as well as President Obama's vision and intentions in creating this "New Monument to Democracy."

From Architecture Hunter:

... Designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects (TWBTA), the 19-acre campus is anchored by a 225-foot (69-meter) granite-clad tower and complemented by the Forum, the Library, public gardens, gathering spaces, and an expansive landscape designed to serve the city for generations to come.

More than a presidential library, the project was conceived as a democratic campus, a place where architecture, education, culture, and civic engagement come together. Inspired by the belief that meaningful change emerges through collective action, a principle that defined the presidency of President Barack Obama, the Center reimagines what a presidential institution can be: not a monument to the past, but a platform for the future.

In this film, we experience the project through a poetic and cinematic architectural journey, exploring how landscape, materiality, light, and public space come together to create an environment that belongs as much to the people of Chicago as it does to the legacy of the Obama Presidency.

The film also features a rare and extensive interview with President Barack Obama, alongside conversations with the architects of Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, offering unique insight into the ideas, values, and ambitions that shaped the project over more than a decade of development...

 

 

BONUS:  In contrast --

(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)

"Javanka" Starts A Revolt In Albania

 

For almost a month, Albanians have demonstrated against their government's approval of a reckless real estate development project backed by the odious Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump on Albania's Adriatic Sea, which would destroy an ecological area that's one of the last in the Mediterranean region.  Every night, growing numbers of angry Albanians demonstrate against the selling of their natural heritage by the corrupt government of Prime Minister Edi Rama and his colleagues in the government.  From Mei Seva writing in Mother Jones:

"Every day, for nearly a month running, tens of thousands of Albanians have taken to the streets, a peaceful mass movement seeking nothing less than a complete overthrow of the government.

The “Flamingo Revolution,” as local activists have dubbed it, was set off by the luxury resort projects that Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared Kushner, plan to build on nature reserves in Albania. At the beginning of May, a barbed-wire fence was erected in the Vjosa-Narta Protected Landscape in Zvërnec, restricting access to one of the most treasured natural coastlines and one of the Mediterranean’s last untouched coastal ecosystems.

Activists, residents, and members of the Levizja Bashkë political party gathered to protest the fences, and after security guards violently dragged a demonstrator through the property, more protests erupted and the story went global.

The Vjosa-Narta Protected Landscape is home to flamingos, pelicans, migratory birds, and hundreds of protected species. It includes lagoons, wetlands, and habitats of exceptional ecological value. And it is one of many protected nature zones now at dire risk of destruction.

In February 2024, led by Prime Minister Edi Rama of the center-left Socialist Party, Albania’s parliament passed Law 21/2024, which allows the National Territory Council to grant permits for luxury tourist resorts anywhere in the country, even in protected landscapes. Three days later, Kushner went public with plans to create two luxury developments in the region, including a resort on Sazan, a protected nature zone and one of Albania’s only major islands.

Javanka’s vision includes up to 10,000 'units of villas,' priced far beyond what most Albanians can afford, to be built in an area where many locals lack access to 24-7 running water. Albania, which has set a goal of 2030 for admission to the European Union, is obligated to repeal Law 21/2024, which clashes with EU conservation standards, but so far has failed to do so." (our emphasis)

The photographs accompanying the story are powerful, and it's heartbreaking to realize that two selfish, rapacious nepo babies could be gorging on a pristine Adriatic coastline that most Albanians will never get access to again.  The Albanian government is defending their approval of the resort development with the usual "jobs creation and economic stimulus" argument, which the people aren't buying at the expense of their natural heritage.  Hopefully the demonstrations will grow and the government will be replaced by those who have their country's interests -- and not Javanka's -- at heart.

(photo: Marchers in Tirana, Albania, June 2026. Nurphoto / Getty Images)

 

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(Michael de Adder, caglecartoons.com, Canada)

(Monte Wolverton, caglecartoons.com)

(David Horsey, The Seattle Times)

(John Deering, Arkansas Democrat Gazette)

(Brian McFadden, gocomics.com)

(Clay Jones, claytoonz.substack.com)

(Pat Bagley, The Salt Lake Tribune)

(Robert Ariail, Spartanburg Herald-Journal, SC)

(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)

(Bill Day, caglecartoons.com)

(Bill Bramhall, New York Daily News)

(Ingrid Rice, politicalcartoons.com, Canada)

(Kevin Kallaugher, The Economist, UK)

Skeets Of The Day

 

Operation Epic Failure: what ceasefire?, market manipulation, peacetime bombings --

Bahrain said it came under attack from Iranian drones, and a tanker was hit while crossing the Strait of Hormuz, as the latest flare-up in fighting extended into a third day.

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— The Wall Street Journal (@wsj.com) June 27, 2026 at 7:36 AM

 

Pentagon delayed publicly announcing U.S. strikes on Iran until after financial markets had closed. The timing was intended to reduce the immediate impact on financial markets, including oil prices.

— Shipwreck (@shipwreck75.bsky.social) June 26, 2026 at 11:58 PM

 

“Peacetime bombings”

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— Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24.bsky.social) June 27, 2026 at 7:52 AM

The mentally disturbed Malignant Fascist does some serious vote rigging projection --

 

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— Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) June 26, 2026 at 3:38 PM

Bible banger lies about the first words of the First Amendment, as Don Snorleone nods off --

Today I learned that the First Amendment is actually not part of the Constitution.

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— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona.bsky.social) June 26, 2026 at 4:17 PM

 

He has the Trump edited version.

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— davidrlurie (@davidrlurie.com) June 26, 2026 at 4:05 PM

South Afrikaner's SpaceX stock in junk bond territory? -- 

“.. The sell-off means the company’s bonds are trading at levels closer to those of junk-rated borrowers ..” @financialtimes.com $SPCX www.ft.com/content/04f9...

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— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) June 26, 2026 at 5:17 PM

Let's have more Dems like James Talarico -- 

Talarico: Every bar has that guy. He’s loud, he’s obnoxious, he makes all the women in the bar feel uncomfortable. He hears you say your name to the bartender and then adds his drink to your tab when you’re not looking. That’s Paxton. And I don’t know about y’all, but I’m done picking up his tab.

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— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) June 26, 2026 at 11:35 PM

The ignorant MF doesn't understand that passports are for when you go OUT of the country -- 

These geniuses don’t seem to realize passports are for American citizens, when they LEAVE the country 🤦🏼

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— The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) June 26, 2026 at 10:35 PM

 

Kim Jong Un thinks this is a bit much

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) June 26, 2026 at 5:13 PM

More things in fascist Russia that go "boom."  Slava Ukraini!  -- 

⚡️ Ukraine's Flamingo missiles 'successfully struck' key Russian military plant in Volgograd, Zelensky says. "Confirmed strikes were followed by a fire on the plant's premises," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

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— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) June 27, 2026 at 3:55 AM

Loser MF's "Great American State Fair" ain't going so great. Sad! -- 

This isn’t as much fun as a funeral.

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— Hoodlum 🇺🇸 (@nothoodlum.bsky.social) June 27, 2026 at 10:17 AM

Fighting the war on algae -- 

BREAKING: the algae has taken the fight to the White House. #DonaldTrump

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— Paulley Ticks (@tomadelsbach.bsky.social) June 24, 2026 at 4:04 PM

 

QOTD -- Bothsidesing Racism

 

"... Our elite political media is now bothsidesing racism.

"Most of the coverage of Thursday’s Supreme Court decision -– to the extent that it raised the issue of racial animus at all -- consisted of, literally, both sides. Reporters briefly quoted Alito’s opinion, briefly quoted Justice Elana Kagan’s blistering dissent, and left it at that. Jump ball.

"See the Associated Press, the Washington Post, and NBC Nightly News coverage, for instance. The CBS Evening News and ABC World News Tonight whiffed entirely on the racial element.

"That was bad enough.

"What was even worse was the New York Times 'news analysis' headlined 'Justices Clash on Whether Race Played a Role in Trump’s Bid to Deport Haitians.' In it, chief legal affairs correspondent Adam Liptak explicitly treated Trump’s obvious racism as an open question, with two sides.  [snip]

"If you’re going to write about politics and racism, one of the most important stories to tell is that not just Trump, but the entire Republican Party – inspired and liberated by Trump -- is becoming more and more overtly racist. And that includes the Republicans on the high court.

"As I wrote in October, “It’s becoming increasingly clear that white supremacy is one of the core animating principles of the Republicans who control all three branches of government.” -- Dan Froomkin, at his "Critical Read" Substack, on the recent racist Republican SCOTUS's deportation decision in Mullin v. Doe.  

We've been doing this blogging stuff for over two decades, and one thread stands out as much as anything else in our political culture:  the news media will never speak honestly and with clarity about anything that puts the Republican Party in a bad light without trying to create a false comparison with Democrats.  Never.  "Working the refs" only works for Republicans, largely because Democrats aren't effective doing it, or don't do it at all.  But, to look for a moral spine in the broad news media is to go on a fool's errand.  They're corporate, bean-counting, access-driven cowards.

 

Trump Diverts Funds From National Parks

 

If you happen to be planning a trip this summer or beyond to a National Park, you'll notice that the experience leaves a lot to be desired in terms of hours open, facilities repaired and maintained, and the park's general upkeep.  That's due to the criminal narcissist Malignant Fascist's cuts to the National Park Service to pay for his self-aggrandizing vanity projects.  His claims that he was footing the bill for some of the work proved to be another one of his lies.  From Michael Scherer, writing in The Atlantic:

"The pathway that connects the White House residence to the Oval Office has long been paved in Tennessee flagstone. Every president since Harry Truman made the 45-second commute, and made it without complaint, until Donald Trump. The dun rock would not do. Instead, Trump wanted polished African granite, carved in Italy, with a flamed-finish stripe—slightly raised, to prevent slips—running down the middle. As workers tore up the flagstone in March, a reporter asked Trump who was paying for the enhancements. 'Paid for by me,' he replied.

But that wasn’t true. Budget documents from the National Park Service that I obtained show that the walkway replacement cost taxpayers $689,232, and is part of a $1.3 million project that included repairing adjacent stone and masonry and providing new hardware for nearby doors. A year earlier, in a separate 'Rush project at request of POTUS,' the Park Service spent $347,503 to remove and replace the stucco on the colonnade wall, a project that cleared the way for Trump to affix gold frames and plaques mocking some of his predecessors. [snip]

Taxpayer spending on projects in the National Capital Region has increased 92 percent over the past year, according to the budget documents. The windfall draws on revolving maintenance accounts and more than $100 million in fees collected almost entirely from national parks elsewhere. Trump has ordered the refurbishment of fountains, the lining of the Reflecting Pool, and a $1.6 million Fourth of July fireworks display on the National Mall. He has requested billions more from lawmakers, who thus far have refused. 'I’m so proud of Washington, D.C.,' Trump said Wednesday during a meeting in the Oval Office with the secretary-general of NATO. 'It’s become one of the hottest cities in the world.'”

Scherer's article continues to describe the impact of the MF's "projects" on needed repairs at our National Parks, with some 900 National Park projects robbed of their funding due to the MF's destructive narcissism.  It matters nothing to him that American taxpayers are not getting a good experience from their national parks, due to his redirection of funds to his "redecorating" projects to aggrandize himself. 

(photo: National Park Service)