IT’S THURSDAY ALREADY AGAIN?

There are 194 days to the mid-terms.

Saturday night’s “Nerd Prom,” in which the DC Press Corpse’s over-educated, under-intelligent, otherwise-unemployables from the white male upper middle class convince themselves they’re actually important, is going to be interesting when the Guest of Honor they didn’t expect would accept the invitation shows up. “Educated rumor” has it that Trump will launch a “revenge” attack on the White House media when he confronts them in person at the White House Correspondent’s Association dinner, then flee before there can be response. He is expected to target publications he has accused of writing negatively about Maladministration II and his war with Iran, in particular, according to source, accusing them of “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” He has told aides he has no intention of still being in the International Ballroom at the Washington Hilton when the Wall Street Journal is honored with the Katherine Graham award for its scoop about a bawdy letter Trump allegedly wrote for Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday card, for which he sued the Journal in another of his bullshit “defamation” suits. “Mentalist” Oz Pearlman is performing this year, replacing the usual comedian and avoiding a potential Trump roast. The boyz ‘n’ gurlz will wear tiny pins quoting the First Amendment to show their displeasure over their treatment by the Thugocracy.

Trump is giving Iran’s warring factions a short window to unify behind a coherent counter-offer or the ceasefire he extended Tuesday ends, according to three U.S. officials. “Trump is willing to give another three to five days of ceasefire to allow the Iranians to get their shit together. It is not going to be open-ended.” Trump’s negotiators believe a deal to end the war and address what’s left of Iran’s nuclear program is still achievable. But they also worry they may not have anyone in Tehran empowered to say yes. Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is barely communicating. The IRGC generals now in control of the country and Iran’s civilian negotiators are openly at odds over strategy. “We saw that there is an absolute fracture inside Iran between the negotiators and the military, with neither side having access to the supreme leader, who is not responsive,” a U.S. official said. U.S. officials first began to see the divisions after the first round of Islamabad talks, when it became clear IRGC commander Gen. Ahmad Vahidi and his deputies had rejected much of what Iran’s own negotiators had discussed. The split broke into the open last Friday. When Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the IRGC refused to implement it, and began publicly attacking him. Monday evening, the Iranians appeared to have given Pakistani mediators the green light for talks. By Tuesday morning, that signal was gone, replaced by a demand that the U.S. lift its naval blockade. Several U.S. officials and Trump associates drew the same conclusion: Trump thinks the U.S. has achieved everything it can militarily and wants out of the increasingly unpopular war. He won’t resume it until he has exhausted every other option. “It certainly looks like Trump doesn’t want to use military force anymore and has made a decision to end the war,” one U.S. source close to Trump said. If the Pakistani mediators can’t secure Iranian participation within Trump’s window, the military option is back on the table. U.S. officials and Pakistani mediators are waiting for Khamenei to break his silence in the next day or two and give his negotiators a clear directive to return to the table, according to a regional source familiar with the mediation effort and an Israeli source with knowledge of the discussions.

Wednesday night, Trump unleashed an unsubstantiated rant about the election in Virginia being rigged after voters in the state delivered a sharp rebuke to him and Republicans. “A RIGGED ELECTION TOOK PLACE LAST NIGHT IN THE GREAT COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA! All day long Republicans were winning, the Spirit was unbelievable, until the very end when, of course, there was a massive ‘Mail In Ballot Drop!’ Where have I heard that before - And the Democrats eked out another Crooked Victory! Six to five goes to ten to one, and yet the Presidential Election in November was very close to a 50-50 split. In addition to everything else, the language on the Referendum was purposefully unintelligible and deceptive. As everyone knows, I am an extraordinarily brilliant person, and even I had no idea what the hell they were talking about in the Referendum, and neither do they! Let’s see if the Courts will fix this travesty of ‘Justice’.” The ballot measure passed 51.5 percent to 48.5 percent, or by more than 89,000 votes. Early results in the state typically show Republicans and their causes doing better earlier in the night before the full vote is counted. That’s because Republicans are more likely to vote in person on Election Day and in less populous counties. Their votes are quickly totaled and submitted. Meanwhile, Democrats are more likely to vote early in-person, by mail, and largely in more populous counties where it takes longer to count their votes. Trump, “extraordinarily brilliant”??? In what universe?

On Wednesday, Judge Jack Hurley of Tazewell County Circuit Court - the most conservative, rural, Republican judge in the state - blocked Virginia from moving forward with a redistricting effort that passed in a referendum a day earlier, a roadblock in Democrats’ efforts to redraw the state’s congressional maps and tilt as many as four House districts away from the GOP. The order from declares all votes for and against Tuesday’s referendum “ineffective,” and bars state officials from certifying the results or taking any actions to put the new maps passed by state lawmakers into effect. In a brief order, Hurley found that the referendum violated several clauses of the state constitution, arguing it skirted a 90-day public notice requirement and calling the question that was presented to voters “flagrantly misleading.” Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones, a Democrat, said he will immediately appeal the ruling. “Virginia voters have spoken, and an activist judge should not have veto power over the People’s vote,” Jones wrote in a statement on X. “We look forward to defending the outcome of last night’s election in court.” The Republican National Committee, one of several GOP groups that sued over the referendum, called the ruling “a major victory for Virginians.” Legal observers say this is unlikely to survive the expected appeal.

This is one “for the books.” Army specialist Winston T. Hencely filed the lawsuit after he suffered a fractured skull and brain injuries at the 2016 attack on a U.S. base in Afghanistan. An Army investigation determined that military contractor Fluor Corporation was primarily responsible, claiming it had “negligently supervised Ahmad Nayeb, a Taliban operative who carried out the attack.” He had reportedly been hired in a military initiative called “Afghan First,” which required contractors to hire Afghans and help stimulate the local economy and improve the country’s government. The high court ruled to vacate an appeals court’s judgment and said the military contractor can be sued, with Thomas writing an opinion that was joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Thomas wrote: “No provision of the Constitution and no federal statute justifies that preemption of the State’s ordinary authority over tort suits. Nor does any precedent of this Court command such a result.” Alito, who was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, wrote a dissenting opinion. “May a State regulate security arrangements on a military base in an active warzone? May state judges and juries pass judgment on questions that are inextricably tied to military decisions that balance war-related risks against long-term strategic objectives? In my judgment, the answer to these questions must be ‘no,’ and for that reason, this state-law tort case is preempted by the Constitution’s grant of war powers exclusively to the Federal Government.” Margot Cleveland, senior legal correspondent at The Federalist, law clerk and longtime professor, wrote on X: “A Thomas opinion with an Alito dissent. It’s like finding out that your best friends are seeing a marriage counselor.”

I predict this shows where the current Patel lawsuit goes: A federal judge in Texas dismissed FBI Director Kash Patel’s complaint against an MS NOW columnist after he suggested on air that Patel spent more time in nightclubs than at the bureau’s headquarters. In a Tuesday filing, United States District Judge George C. Hanks Jr. said Patel “failed to allege a viable defamation claim against” former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi. “A person of reasonable intelligence and learning would not have taken his statement literally: that Dir. Patel has actually spent more hours physically in a nightclub than he has spent physically in his office building,” Hanks wrote, according to court documents. “By saying that Patel spent ‘far more’ time at nightclubs than his office, Figliuzzi delivered his answer ‘in an exaggerated, provocative and amusing way,’ employing rhetorical hyperbole,” the judge added. Patel sued Figliuzzi last June over the statement, with his lawyers arguing that the columnist “crossed the legal line by fabricating a specific lie about Director Patel.”

They’re ALL grifters: A DHS deputy assistant secretary for counterterrorism has been accused of picking up men on a sugar daddy website. Julia Varvaro, 29, allegedly had a profile on Seeking.com, a site that is often used by young, attractive, female, singles looking for older, wealthier partners to help fund their luxury lifestyles, according to the Daily Mail. The profile, which was under the name “Alessia,” said its owner worked for a government agency and offered “seductive sophistication.” It used the same photo as Varvaro’s Instagram account and described Alessia as “flirty, fun, and fond of sultry spaces,” as well as “drawn to a masculine man who’s attentive, protective, and quietly playful for mutually beneficial experiences.” The profile was revealed by Varvaro’s ex-boyfriend, an older executive and divorced father identified by the Daily Mail as Robert B. The two met on a different dating app, Hinge, and he spent $40,000 on her over the course of three months, including first-class trips to Aruba and Italy. The relationship ended after Robert refused to spend even more on her, according to text messages he shared with the publication. He has since filed a complaint with DHS’s Office of the Inspector General exposing the alleged Seeking.com profile. The complaint warned that Varvaro - whose social media profiles feature photos with Trump and ICE Barbie - was under financial stress, and alleged that her actions “pose a security risk.” Reached for comment by the Daily Mail, Varvaro denied having a profile on Seeking.com and chalked up the allegations to a disgruntled ex. “We were together in an exclusive relationship. We went on vacations. I don’t know what’s the problem with that,” Varvaro told the Daily Mail. In his inspector general complaint, Robert wrote that besides vacations, he had bought Varvaro Cartier jewelry and expensive handbags, despite not wanting a sugar daddy relationship. He alleged that Varvaro told him previous sugar daddies had paid for her college education and bought her $40,000 worth of jewelry. She holds a Ph.D. in Homeland Security (that certainly sounds like a “real” degree) from St. John’s University in New York. A former CIA officer told the Daily Mail that if true, allegations of a sugar daddy relationship and unreported income are “serious issues for DHS security personnel that need to be resolved.” During their first trip together, a long weekend spent in Aruba, Varvaro used her DHS position to have a TSA supervisor meet them at the United check-in counter and whisk them through security at Washington Dulles Airport, Robert said. Eventually, she asked Robert to help pay her rent while she was furloughed, and requested $1,000 shoes, laser cellulite removal, and a credit card in her name so she could stop asking him for permission to shop. “Alessia’s” profile was removed soon after the outlet first contacted Varvaro for comment. She has been placed on “administrative leave.” Surprise surprise, every photo of her shows a “Christian” cross prominently displayed in the MAGA manner. As is well-known, bimbos gotta bimbo, something I was recently reschooled on.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Navy Secretary John Phelan, who at the time of his appointment last year was considered the least-knowledgeable, most unqualified Secretary of the Navy in the history of the position, going back before the DoD was created in 1948. The Pentagon framed it Wednesday as an immediate departure. The ouster of the service’s top civilian caught many off-guard, and adds to the pile of military officials who either abruptly exited or were pushed out of their posts under Trump 2.0. “Phelan didn’t understand he wasn’t the boss. His job is to follow orders given, not follow the orders he thinks should be given,” a person familiar with the situation said. The same person said Phelan and Hegseth did not “get along.” Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said Phelan was “departing the administration, effective immediately,” in a post on X. He did not provide a reason. Navy Undersecretary Hung Cao will take over in an acting capacity. Phelan and President Trump are said to have a good relationship (which must be terrifying to Hogsbreath). The two have texted about rust on warships. Hegseth felt Phelan bypassed the chain of command too much with a direct line to Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach is near Phelan’s mansion. The firing comes amid a naval standoff with Iran and some three weeks after Hegseth removed Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George and two other military leaders. Hegseth also has friction with Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who has been widely praised for an Army transformation initiative and who is a close friend of Vice President JD Vance. “The difference between Phelan and Driscoll is that Driscoll is kicking ass with the transformation initiative. And he’s Vance’s guy. Phelan is none of those things,” said a Pentagon insider. Despite the turmoil, Hegseth remains in Trump’s good graces because he has a solid relationship with the president, Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Those are the four most important relationship he can have, and they’re good,” said a senior administration official. “But you never know around here.” Phelan sat down with a dozen reporters Tuesday afternoon to discuss the future of the Navy and its major investments, including the Golden Fleet and its “Trump”-class battleships and frigate production programs.

Maladministration II is quietly changing its narrative around gas prices as officials realize Trump’s promises are unworkable, Politico reported on Wednesday. “Administration officials facing lawmakers declined to put a timetable when the war in Iran would end and the ensuing rise in energy prices would ease, instead offering vague assurances of their track record in lowering prices. “’I think the conflict will end, and I think gasoline prices will come back to where they were, or perhaps lower,’ Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Senate appropriators.” This assessment is “a marked shift in rhetoric from previous public appeals asking for reassurance on energy price spikes two months after Trump launched the strikes in the Middle East and Iran retaliated by attacking oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, choking off nearly 20 percent of the world’s oil supply and straining the global economy. Trump himself originally said the war, now nearing its second month, would last ‘four to five weeks.’” There is no current path for reopening the Strait of Hormuz to full capacity, even as Maladministration II claims that Iran’s naval fleet has been decimated. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, for his part, has suggested average gas prices could stay above $3 a gallon into next year, which Trump has publicly contradicted. However, Wright is now softening this stance, saying, “I never said gas prices wouldn’t go down until next year. Never, never said such a thing. There was a thing on the news that I said they might not be below $3 a gallon ... I left some uncertainty in there.” Average gas prices are above $4 a gallon, driven in large part by significant increases in Red States where gas is usually cheap. The most recent polls have Trump’s approval rating cratering to the mid to low 30s, with even one in three Republicans disapproving.

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times said on Wednesday that the paper’s leadership warned reporters that there may be more investigations conducted by President Donald Trump’s FBI. Haberman’s comments came hours after the NYT reported that FBI Director Kash Patel had reviewed information the agency had about reporter Elizabeth Williamson after she published a report about the level of FBI security given to the 46-year old Patel’s girlfriend, 20-something “country singer” Alexis Wilkins, and Patel’s use of FBI jets to travel to see Wilkins. “I’m sure that the FBI Director didn’t like it. I’m sure that his partner didn’t like any of the aspects of it,” Haberman told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “The Source.” “I don’t know anyone we cover who likes what we do. There’s a big difference between that and trying to elevate something to the level of a crime.” Haberman then read from a note handed down by NYT Executive Editor Joe Kahn to the outlet’s staff. “We are going to continue doing our work, and there may be more of this, and this is not going to stop us from trying to report and reporting on what’s happening.”

Timothy Snyder, a historian specializing in the history of the Soviet Union, Europe, and the Holocaust, said on The Daily Beast Podcast that Trump’s attempts to emulate fascism in the modern era fall flat because of one fatal flaw: greed. “The fascists weren’t in it for the money, right? And these guys are in it for the money,” Snyder told Daily Beast Executive Editor Hugh Dougherty. “It’s like, they have fascist moments, but they’re distracted by their desire to die incredibly rich. Fascists understood they needed to win wars, right? Whereas these guys don’t. I mean, they like to talk about winning, but they don’t have the wherewithal to think about what it actually means to win a war.” “These guys are failed fascists,” Snyder said. “They want somebody else to do the work of fascism for them - they want to delegate it. Like, they want to do the prancing and the preening part, but they don’t want to do the other part.” “I’m talking about Trump and Vance. First of all, the person who matters in the war story, and the person who is most responsible for the superpower’s suicide, has got to be Trump himself. But then there are the people around him. In terms of this war, Hegseth, obviously. I mean, there’s somebody who seems to be clearly imprisoned in a set of ideas about how the world works, which are demonstrably false. On the practical side, making tons of money for yourself personally is inconsistent with the functioning of the state. And so if you’re putting Steve Witkoff or Jared Kushner or Donald Trump, for that matter, in front of a choice, and the choice is: you would like to have a thriving American civil service, or you would like to have $3 billion, I think it’s pretty clear which those men - there’s a record, let’s say - an empirical record about which they would choose. And so with Trump; sure, he would like to have lots of power, but I think, the people who are naturally around him are chaos makers who tend to see the disruption, to use a word they like, as an opportunity to take lots of money.” If you haven’t lisgtened to Dr. Snyder’s podcast about “superpower suicide,” you really should.

We were made for this time. We are the ones we were waiting for.

“Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the Government, nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty, as we understand it.” - Abraham Lincoln

The current media scene is a stark reminder of the importance of independent journalism. No billionaires. No oligarchs. No corporate media. No dark money PACS. None of us can do it alone. You are not the crazy ones. These are truly the times that try men’s and women’s souls. This is the fight of our lifetimes, and the challenge of our generation. I realize times are getting harder, which is why some readers understandably didn’t renew their subscriptions. There are free subscribers who read TAFM daily according to the site stats. If you folks happen to be in a position to help make up the gap, please consider joining the other paid subscribers here at That’s Another Fine Mess to keep things going. Across Substack, authors like me need your help! It’s only 21 cents a day. I am deeply thankful to those who have done so. Remember, independent media brought down Viktor Orbán - we can bring down Trump, with your support.

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