IT’S THURSDAY ALREADY?
There are 150 days to the mid terms.
Just when you think you have the day’s line-up complete, Dilbert does something spectacularly stupid (even more stupid than making Bill Pulte DNI). That would be his announcement late last night that he is nominating his personal lawyer, the guy who has thoroughly fucked up the TrumpDOJ and destroyed it professionally, who flipped the bird at everyone over the Epstein Files release, and who has managed in only 16 months to get the reputation of Worst Person Ever In A Top DOJ Post. That would be the execrable Todd Blanche, nominated as Attorney General. This close to the mid terms, with four senators who have no fucks to give Dilbert any more, and others who might think a vote for the Worst Attorney General Ever might make their re-election even harder than it is already, these confirmation hearings and the senate vote will be Popcorn Time. Every time you think these fucks can’t be as bad as you know they are, they say “Hold our Diet Cokes!”
Democrats announced late yesterday that they had just secured a huge win, by forcing changes in Republicans’ partisan funding bill to drop the dance hall funding and any funding for the Thug Fund in Justice Department funding. The Senate is going to codify the ban on a weapons-funding fund and ensure that zero dollars can be used for it.
Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted 215-207, with four Republicans - Reps. Fitzpatrick, Davidson, Barrett and Massie - voting with all Democrats to pass a War Powers Resolution regarding Trump’s War. Senate lawmakers advanced a similar resolution last month on a procedural vote. There is a very strong likelihood that the Senate will now proceed to a final vote and also pass the resolution. Trump will undoubtedly veto the legislation, but having the Congress vote for a War Powers Resolution will pull the rug out from under him politically.
Trump took a second hit Wednesday when the House voted 218-204 in a procedural motion that clears the way for a vote on the Ukraine Support Act, authored by Rep. Gregory Meeks, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The bill, first introduced in April 2025, sat in limbo as Republicans - under Trump’s direction - halted efforts to provide additional support for Ukraine, with Trump saying U.S. support for Ukraine was a waste of money and launched a series of failed bids to get Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his war. The bill provides $8 billion in military financing loans to Ukraine, extends the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) through 2027, which allows for the U.S. to send Ukraine weapons directly from Pentagon stockpiles, and additional sanctions against Russia. Ukraine’s supporters view the vote on the Meeks bill as sending a strong signal of U.S. support for Ukraine at a time when Russia is escalating devastating strikes against the country and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly pleaded for Trump to provide Patriot interceptors to guard against ballistic missiles. It also comes when the news shows that Ukraine is holding its own on the battlefield and inflicting severe losses inside Russia with long-range drone strikes.
Maladministration II is looking at a third try to impose Trump Tariffs, in the face of the Supreme Court declaring the ”emergency” tariffs illegal back in February, and with the likelihood that the Court is about to affirm a lower court striking down the second attempt using laws that are only for short-term tariffs and not “on point” for what Trump is trying to do. This third try uses a narrower provision about unfair trade practices. Earlier this year, Maladministration II began investigating whether US trading partners like Mexico, Canada, and the European Union import goods made with forced labor in their own trade. It has now concluded that 59 countries, plus the EU, do so; consequently it wants to impose tariffs between 10 percent and 12.5 percent on those countries. Under the current Maladministration II plan, these tariffs would take effect next month. Some products, such as beef, coffee, and critical minerals, would be exempted from the tariffs. or, obviously, is atrocious; preventing it is a worthwhile goal. There’s no real reason to believe this effort by Maladministration II comes out of genuine conviction; the EU already has new forced labor restrictions set to take effect late next year. The US also isn’t immune to issues with forced-labor imports, despite laws intended to prevent them. This is just the latest tool Maladministration II has landed on to do what Trump has been trying to do since he took office: Impose sweeping tariffs in service of his economically-illiterate concept of the US economy. Even as Trump tries to impose new tariffs, Maladministration II is also fighting to hold onto some of the $166 billion in revenue it earned illegally from his first round of tariffs by making the process of applying for the refunds more onerous and slow; they are additionally trying to claim they cannot obtain the remaining tariff payments for refunds.
Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he’d never seen President Trump fall asleep during meetings. (This despite the fact he sits next to Trump at those meetings) Rubio was asked by Rep. Ted Lieu whether he had ever seen Trump fall asleep during a Cabinet meeting. “That’s false. I’ve never seen him fall asleep. On the contrary, the guy doesn’t sleep, which is a big problem because he calls me at 2 in the morning. He calls me at 5 in the morning. And, you know, I like to sleep a little bit, maybe not 12 hours, but at least 6. So he works. The other day he was at the Oval Office at 12.30 p.m. - 12.30 a.m. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Lieu accused Rubio of lying and then showed a clip of Trump with his eyes closed during a Cabinet meeting. Rubio said questions regarding Trump’s cognitive ability are “absurd.” “He works inhumane hours. I’ve been on foreign trips with the president that he doesn’t sleep in the whole flight. And everyone else is sleeping on the plane. You know, wandering the hallways looking for someone to wake up and talk to. So I don’t know what you’re referring to. But he has an incredible amount of energy. I’m just telling you, you may not like his policies. You may not like his policies. You may not like the decisions he’s made. But I assure you, this is not a president that sleeps or is cognitively impaired in any way, shape, or form.” Welcome to North Korea, Mr. Secretary.
Democrats in Congress have informed Republicans that if they do not “pressure Trump to withdraw his appointment of Pulte,” they’ll withdraw support for a bi-partisan deal to support an extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a law that permits national intelligence agencies to surveil overseas communications without a warrant, including those of Americans. Punchbowl News wrote: “Democrats have leverage here. Republicans can’t pass a FISA reauthorization on their own. With a handful of GOP senators expected to oppose any FISA agreement, Thune would likely need at least a dozen Democrats to support the bill.” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the top Senate Intelligence Committee Democrat, said Pulte’s appointment would “absolutely” make renewing FISA’s Section 702 more difficult. Democrats were already worried about how the Trump administration wields these powerful tools, and their low opinion of Pulte is making things worse. Sen. Chris Murphy said, “The very nature of our collection is now going to be put in the hands of somebody who has a history of seeking out private information for political gain.”
Following the Iowa gubernatorial Republican primary, in which Trump’s endorsed candidate lost to a candidate supported by MAHA and Turning Points Action, Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball has moved the November election - in which GOP candidate Zach Lahn will face Democrat Rob Sand from “leans Republican” to the toss up column. Sabato wrote: “If Iowa is ever going to have a Dem Governor again, it’s this year with Rob Sand.” In the open Senate race, Gold medalist Paralympian Rep. Josh Turek will face off in November against Trump-backed millionaire Rep. Ashley Hinson, whose voting record includes supporting Trump on the vastly unpopular tariffs that have wrecked Iowa’s rural economy, as well as voting against health care in a state with increasing health concerns including the most growth in cancer of any state. The Cook Political Report has shifted the race to “lean Republican,” just a step away from being considered a “toss-up.” “Even though Hinson is a strong candidate who has amassed a formidable war chest, the overall environment in the Hawkeye State is an increasingly favorable one for Democrats,” analyst Jessica Taylor wrote, highlighting Turek’s moderate approach and his past wins in red parts of the state.
MAGAt lawmakers and right-wing commentators erupted yesterday after Dr. Adam Hamawy, a progressive plastic surgeon and Army veteran, won the Democratic primary in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District , zeroing in on his decades-old association with Omar Abdel-Rahman, the “Blind Sheikh” convicted on terrorism and seditious conspiracy charges whose followers carried out the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, while largely ignoring his military record and the endorsements of major progressive figures. Rep. Anna Paulina Lunatic called Hamawy “a national security risk” and claimed he “was a defense witness in the 1993 WTC bombing (allegedly with ties to Al-Qaeda)” erasing the roughly 30 years since those events and Hamawy’s extensive record of military service since that time. Rep. Mike Lawler who earlier Tuesday had condemned a colleague’s anti-gay social media post as “absolutely idiotic,” pivoted sharply to demand that Congress “fully investigate his ties to terrorist organizations” if Hamawy wins in November. The MAGA Meltdown glossed over that Hamawy is an Army National Guard veteran whom Sen. Tammy Duckworth has credited with saving her life after her Blackhawk helicopter was shot down in Iraq in 2004. He also worked as a first responder at Ground Zero following the 9/11 attacks. Hamawy has said on the campaign trail that he disavows Abdel-Rahman’s calls for violence and has characterized the attacks against him as “guilt-by-association attacks on Muslim and Arab candidates.” Hamawy is now the heavy favorite to win the seat in November. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than two-to-one in the 12th District.
The gang that can’t govern continues to fail: With only 38 scheduled legislative days remaining before Election Day, GOP lawmakers are opting to stay home rather than return to Washington for votes that MAGA Mike’s leadership cannot guarantee will succeed. Tuesday was supposed to mark the start of a productive legislative week, with House members returning from the weekend to pass a slate of bipartisan bills. Instead, the chamber sat nearly empty after Republican leaders postponed the scheduled votes. Johnson’s fractured caucus has repeatedly sabotaged his legislative agenda. Senior House Republicans and aides now openly acknowledge it’s preferable to cancel votes entirely than risk the political fallout from public defeats on the House floor.
In another desperate attempt to change the course of public comment (and take the spotlight off his many recent failures) Trump suggested late Wednesday that the UFC arena currently under construction on the White House’s South Lawn could be a permanent addition. “I’m looking at it and maybe we’ll never ever take it down,” Trump said in a video posted on his official TikTok account on Tuesday. He compared the structure to Paris’s Eiffel Tower, which was originally intended to be only a temporary addition to the city for the 1889 World’s Fair. “Well, they never took it down, and you know we’re building something in front of the White House that’s quite attractive to a lot of people,” he continued. Trump’s really flailing - he remembers when crazy-ass shit like this could dominate the news for up to a week. But no more.
Finally, here’s how you take down a TrumpBimbo: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins was repeatedly ordered to stop talking and struggled to answer basic questions about the farm economy Thursday during a tense House Agriculture Committee hearing that devolved into a shouting match. Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN), the committee’s ranking member, came loaded with data — and used every second of her question time to expose what she called Maladministration II’s ignorance of its own record. “Reclaiming my time means you stop talking,” Craig snapped after Rollins repeatedly interrupted her. “That’s what it means in this building.” Craig opened by asking Rollins how many farms the U.S. lost last year. Rollins cited bankruptcy figures. Craig cut her off: the country lost 15,000 farms in 2025 - fourth- and fifth-generation operations wiped out, she said, “because of bad policy on the part of this administration.” When Craig asked about total farmer losses, Rollins pushed back on the math. Craig was unimpressed. “If this administration didn’t have terrible policies, we would not need all that support for family farmers,” she said, “because we would have export markets still left in China.” Craig cited $28 billion in farmer losses, a figure the American Farm Bureau Federation has used to describe net crop returns after support payments for the 2025/26 crop year. Craig then demanded to know the current national average price of farm diesel. Rollins deflected to the Biden administration. Craig fired back. “ Joe Biden is no longer the president of the United States. Mr. Trump is. Your party controls Congress. You own these numbers.” Farm diesel hit $5.41 a gallon in May — up 95% year over year, she noted, across “the entire year in which this administration was in power in the White House, the House, and the Senate.” On fertilizer, Craig asked what share of farmers can’t afford it this planting season. Rollins began breaking down fertilizer categories by region. “Oh, my God!” Craig cut in. “70% is the answer.” A Farm Bureau survey of more than 5,700 farmers confirmed that figure. Rollins shot back: “Those are not the numbers. That’s not correct.” The hearing grew most heated over SNAP. Rollins disputed the program’s official fraud rate, claiming states were self-reporting numbers the administration couldn’t verify. Craig read the USDA’s own data back to her. “USDA’s own data found 1.6%,” Craig said. “I honestly don’t think you understand the difference between error rates and fraud rates.” Rollins accused Craig of grandstanding. “You’re not asking questions for an answer. You’re asking questions to make a political statement.” (Tjhat’s what happens in Congressional hearings, you braindead bimbo)
Craig dismissed the charge and closed with a warning: “When you describe the farm economy as the ‘golden age,’ this administration needs to wake up and start understanding that family farmers are in need.”
We have entered “‘Late Kakistocracy”- the phase of democratic decline where the regime starts running out of people who will work for it, and so those who aren’t qualified for their current positions are promoted to even larger positions for which they are even more unqualified.
Remember, you are not the crazy ones, and we were made for these times. Regardless of what you may feel right now, act as if you believe that and redouble your efforts.
“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
Satchmo
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Years ago (might have only been a year, but these times, every day feels like months) I thought Rubio wasn't too bad for a Republican. He would like to be POTUS, but methinks he is destroying any chance he'd ever have.
"Interesting times" we live in.
If you want to be inspired to keep up the resistance….watch future Iowa Senator Josh Turek’s ad…
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZGwU8hj8wp/