POKING AROUND IN THE HEATWAVE ON DAY 160

“Dictator Approved”

It’s Day 160 of Donald Trump’s incompetent assault on America, which we will defeat in 493 days at the mid terms.

Former Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy says “Democracy is at risk.” So when is the worthless author of the 2000 decision that gave the presidency to G.W.ush, the worthless author who gave the world Citizens United, the worthless author of nearly every Supreme Court decision that put us on this path to the destruction of Democracy, topping it all by retiring early so that Brett Kavanaugh could replace him and start a real “war on democracy” going to commit seppuku to redeem his shame over his worthless life? Yeah, I didn’t think so either.

Norm Eisen, who is involved in the lawsuits regarding the attempt to kill birthright citizenship, has this to say about yesterday’s decision: “This is yet another compromise opinion from them that occupies a middle ground and denies the Trump admin the full extent of their lawless and authoritarian worldview. That is because for all the flaws in the decision, it leaves in place the underlying injunctions of the blatantly unconstitutional EO as to the particular plaintiffs. Moreover, it does nothing to preclude class action and other remedies that will allow full nationwide relief and that will undoubtedly be forthcoming rapidly in courts across the land. So the court leaves a place for nationwide orders using other vehicles. We will continue vigorously working with our partners to make the case that birthright citizenship is of course protected by the Constitution and the Trump admin’s assaults upon it are grossly illegal. If the admin had its way, we would see a chaotic landscape of disparate decisions with regard to millions of people and babies across the country. Of course we can’t have that and the Sup Ct did not countenance it either. We will keep fighting to protect this and the other constitutional rights that make us the USA.”

Paul McLeod with Capitol Forum says this decision cuts both ways: “Basically everything Biden tried to do - ban noncompete agreements, student debt forgiveness, cracking down on payday lenders, etc. - was immediately blocked by nationwide injunctions from the Fifth Circuit. The next Democratic president may have just been unshackled.”

We shall see...

The right-wing Washington Times reported Friday that at a press conference at the NATO Summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday, Trump revealed he gave Iran permission to bomb the U.S.’s Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in retaliation for the American bombing of their nuclear sites. “They said, ‘We’re going to shoot them. Is one o’clock OK?’ I said it’s fine,” Trump said. “And everybody was emptied off the base so they couldn’t get hurt, except for the gunners.” What would have happened if Joe Biden had said he let a foreign adversary fire on an American military installation? As you consider that hypothetical, keep in mind that House Republicans are currently spending their precious oversight time investigating former president Biden’s mental cognition.

Susan Collins has a 14 percent favorable rating in Maine! A new University of New Hampshire poll has her at 8 percent favorability with independent voters. Gov. Janet Mills, on the other hand, is at 51/41 favorable/unfavorable. We should probably find someone to run against Susan.

The Big Bad Bill is going to take a bite out of her posterior: A University of New Hampshire (UNH) poll found that Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" is unpopular among Mainers, only 30 percent of whom support its passage. Fifty-eight percent, on the other hand, say they do not want to see it become law. Among Maine independents—a crucial voting bloc for Collins—72 percent do not want to see it become law, while 21 percent support the bill. Trump is also increasingly unpopular according to the poll. 60% of respondents disapproved of him, while 40% approved of his job performance.

On the issue of fluoride, what has been the response from dentists who may be concerned that some children in lower incomes may not get preventative care? The Wrong RFK Got Shot: “It is an issue. It's a balance. You're gonna see probably slightly more cavities.” I soooo much want to smash him face first into a wall, repeatedly.

The New York Times struck a defiant tone in a Thursday letter in response to a personal lawyer for Trumplethinskin demanding the paper “retract and apologize” or be sued for reporting on the state of Iranian nuclear sites following Trump’s bombings. The assessment was labeled as an initial intelligence finding, but contradicted Trump’s public claims that Iran’s nuclear sites had been totally “obliterated.” Trump’s lawyer called the article “false,” “defamatory,” and “unpatriotic” while demanding it be retracted. David McCraw, the Times’s deputy general counsel, replied to Brito: “No retraction is needed. No apology will be forthcoming. We told the truth to the best of our ability. We will continue to do so.”

President Trump said Friday he was suspending trade talks with Canada and would announce within a week a higher tariff rate on the U.S.’s northern neighbor. In a post on social media, Trump said he was cutting off negotiations with Canada after its government confirmed it would keep in place a digital services tax despite a recent G7 agreement on such levies. “Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately. We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Digital services taxes are taxes on tech companies from countries where their products are used. Canada is requiring the first payment of its tech tax on Monday, which will charge 3 percent of revenues above $14.57 million, or 20 million Canadian dollars.

KarenRN’s Jack.

The ICE War on Common Decency continues: A Honduran mother and her two children — ages 6 and 9 — sued the Trump administration over their arrest at Los Angeles Immigration Court, the first lawsuit challenging the arrests of children under a new ICE directive targeting courthouses. The mother brought her two children to the immigration court on May 29 expecting to continue to make a case for asylum after fleeing Honduras because of threats of violence. But like many other immigrants across the country, they were surprised to see their case quickly dismissed as ICE agents waited for them to step out of the courthouse into the hallway. "There were men waiting for them in civilian clothing. The ICE agents detained the family for many hours, and it was a terrifying time for the two children and their mother," said Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School. "They were crying in fear. One of the agents at one point lifted up his shirt, which displayed the gun that he was carrying. The 6-year-old boy was terrified to see the gun. He urinated on himself and wet all his clothing. No one offered him a change of clothing for many hours." The family was then transported to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, where they have been detained for several weeks. The 6-year-old boy has been diagnosed with leukemia and has missed a medical appointment to be treated for worsening symptoms, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in San Antonio by the Immigrant Rights Clinic and The Texas Civil Rights Project.

Yesterday a bunch idiots got together and fucked with our flu shots. With The Wrong RFK Got Shot leading the way, the new panel of anti-vaxx morons voted against recommending seasonal flu shots with the preservative thimerosal, which has been found to be safe time and time again. Before they voted, the eight ideological allies of The Wrong RFK Got Shot heard from Lyn Redwood, a nurse practitioner who founded the World Mercury Project, the predecessor to Wrong RFK Got Shot’s anti-vaccine advocacy group Children’s Health Defense. Prior to the meeting, her presentation was found to include a reference to a study that appeared to be made up. Across three votes, members voted in favor of restricting thimerosal in seasonal influenza vaccines across all age groups. As the Guardian notes, there is zero evidence this has ever caused any harm. “There is a very big difference between what was shared at the meeting versus what is reality,” said Dr Sean O’Leary, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases. “The science on thimerosal is settled, and the rhetoric being used to suggest otherwise is misleading and harmful.”

Former 2020 election coup conspirator Kenneth Cheesbro is now barred from practicing law in New York, he was found guilty by a state appeals court judge who said Chesebro's criminal conduct - conspiring to commit filing false documents in connection with efforts to negate Trump's 2020 defeat in Georgia to Joe Biden, “undercuts the very notion of our constitutional democracy that he, as an attorney, swore an oath to uphold,” going on to say that Chesebro's "cavalier attitude regarding his actions, particularly in the face of his extensive background in the areas of constitutional and election law, largely aggravates his conduct." He was disbarred, effective immediately, the order says.

As many as 35,000 Ukrainian children are still missing and thought to be held in Russia or Russian-occupied territories, according to an American team of experts, with families saying they are being forced to take desperate and risky measures to try to rescue them. Russia has rejected demands the children be returned, with an official accusing Ukraine of “staging a show on the topic of lost children” during ceasefire talks in Turkey. So far just 1,366 children have been returned or escaped back to Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian organization Bring Kids Back. Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab, which has been investigating the abductions, says: “This is likely the largest child abduction in war since world war two – comparable to the Germanification of Polish children by the Nazis.” He went on to say, “Taking a child from one ethnic or national group and making them part of another ethnic or national group – that’s a war crime.”

Friday, the Office of Civil Rights at HHS announced it is investigating the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League over trans girls playing sports, part of what it says is a “larger initiative to defend women and restore biological truth to the Federal government.” At the same time, the Department of InJustice is pressuring the University of Virginia to fire its president, James Ryan, “over what the department says is the school’s disregard for civil rights law over its diversity practices.” In other words, the Department of InJustice, which historically has enforced civil rights laws protecting against race discrimination, is now strong-arming educational institutions it claims have discriminated against white people. Several hours after this announcement, The president of the University of Virginia James Ryan tendered his resignation to the school’s board in an attempt to end the probe into UVA’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices. Ryan was a champion of DEI, which put him at odds with conservative alumni and board members who thought he was “too woke,” according to the Times.

The Washington Post reported Friday that staffers from DOGE are setting up shop at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives with a “goal of revising or eliminating dozens of rules and gun restrictions by July 4.” DOGE might want to run roughshod over it, but there’s a legal process for amending or ending federal regulations. Fortunately, we can count on litigation over any such efforts, not to mention public outcry.

Yesterday, Trump cult member Kari Lake was called out to her face by Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton, who stated: “You lost … you embarrassed yourself and our state by lying—again and again, for years.” And then he added a cherry on top: “You lost to Gov. Hobbs in 2022. You lost badly to Sen. Gallego in 2024 … Arizona has another election for governor next year… can you do us all a favor and run again?” Boom.

Last year, in the landmark Grants Pass v. Johnson ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court granted cities more authority to clear homeless encampments, allowing local authorities to arrest unhoused people for sleeping in public spaces. A year later, an in-depth report from CalMatters found the ruling has empowered cities across California to ramp up efforts to sweep encampments, or pass more punitive anti-camping rules. In Los Angeles for example, the LAPD made 68% more camping arrests in the second half of 2024 (after the court ruling), compared to the first. But this past March, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Agency found that while 94% of people targeted under the camping ordinance wanted shelter, only 17% were able to secure it. Los Angeles isn’t the only city where citations for camping and other homelessness-related offenses soared after Grants Pass. In San Francisco, arrests and citations increased 500%, and in San Diego and Sacramento, arrests and citations doubled and tripled, respectively.“ Plus ca change,” and all that.

The Trump administration has been quietly meeting with Iranian officials and floating various proposals to lure them back to the negotiating table for nuclear talks, according to a new report.

CNN reported Thursday that U.S. officials, led by special envoy Steve Witkoff, have been in talks with Iran even after President Donald Trump ordered massive strikes on three of its nuclear enrichment sites over the weekend. Four sources told CNN that the Trump administration has discussed the possibility of investing $20 to $30 billion in a civilian non-enrichment nuclear program in Iran, as well as potentially lifting some sanctions so Tehran could access $6 billion sitting in foreign bank accounts. In an adderall-fueld late night rage-a-thon from the Golden Throne, TACO went on Lies Anti-Social to deny the reports, writing, “Who in the Fake News Media is the SleazeBag saying that “President Trump wants to give Iran $30 Billion to build non-military Nuclear facilities.” Never heard of this ridiculous idea. It’s just another HOAX put out by the Fake News in order to demean. These people are SICK!!!" Not content with that, he aimed another at a CNN anchor unconnected to the initial report, in which he wrote, “Where does CNN get its “talent?” Just watched someone named Abby Phillip lecture her audience on Tariffs and the economy (which is doing record business!). She has absolutely no idea what she is talking about, strictly 3rd rate. Fortunately, the audience has long ago left CNN, and it will only get WORSE. LOSERS ALL!!!” And this worthless piece of shit wonders why the glass door he has had his nose pressed against all his life will never be opened by his betters to let the likes of him into civilized society.

War criminal Bibi Netanyahu, who went to war with Iran to distract from his legal jeopardies, got bad news yesterday from an Israeli court that rejected his request to postpone giving testimony in his corruption trial. On Thursday, Netanyahu's lawyer asked the court to excuse the leader from hearings over the next two weeks, saying he needed to concentrate on ‘security issues’ after Israel's 12-day war with Iran.” He has several cases that can send him to prison for a good long time. In the first, he and his wife, Sara, are accused of accepting more than $260,000 worth of luxury goods such as cigars, jewelery and champagne from billionaires in exchange for political favors. In two other cases, Netanyahu is accused of attempting to negotiate more favorable coverage from two Israeli media outlets. He has requested multiple postponements in the trial since it began in May 2020, citing the war in Gaza which started in 2023, later fighting in Lebanon and this month the conflict with Iran.”

USA Today reports: “Members of Congress and advocates say the SSA is providing the public with misleading info about how long it will take to resolve their problems. Over the last several weeks, the agency has stopped making public 34 real-time performance metrics about things like how long they will have to wait to reach a live person on the phone, and how long applications for new senior benefits or social security benefits take to be approved. The metrics have been used for years to show how time-consuming it can be to reach a live person at certain locations or through the national 1-800 number, and as an accountability measure for the agency. USA reporters called Social Security's 1-800 line multiple times over several days and found the wait times to be consistently over an hour. Multiple times they did not reach a live person before the line disconnected with no warning.”

Thousands of protesters gathered across the state of Wyoming yesterday, with more than 500 people outside of the state’s Capitol building. The event was held to counter GOP Sen. Mike Lee’s unhinged plan to sell-off millions of acres of public land. WY Rep. Karlee Provenza called the three Republicans holding federal offices in the state during the rally. Provenza would leave each a voicemail, and then towards the end signal to the crowd who loudly chanted “not for sale!”

In Venice, Italy, activists placed a dummy that looked like Jeff Bezos into the Venice Canal. The life-sized doll was holding on to an Amazon box, and clutching fistfuls of cash. It was one of many protests held against Bezos, as he hosts his obscene $55 million wedding there this weekend.

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