Trump has his people fanning out all over the world meeting with foreign leaders making god-knows-what promises. I’m sure there’s an understanding between him and Vlad over this just as the Iranians released the hostages on the day Reagan was inaugurated. (It was no a coincidence.) Trump doesn’t even have to try to hide his cozy relationship with Putin. Nobody even comments on it anymore. Selling out Americans has been completely normalized.
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The Washington Post did a fact check on this absurd brouhaha about the FBI instructions when they served the warrant on Mar-a-Lago. He points to a particular right wing reporter, Julie Kelly, as the source of the hysteria and laid out the timeline: 1:28 p.m. To her first tweet, Kelly attached another tweet in which she highlighted another document: “Oh my God. Armed FBI agents were preparing to confront Trump and even engage Secret Service if necessary. They were going to go door to door to terrorize MAL guests and even pick the locks. Gestapo.” This page from the filing, titled “contingencies,” laid out procedures in the event the media or Trump unexpectedly arrived at the scene. The document, laden with abbreviations, says that if Trump were to appear, the Miami FBI executive manager and the on-scene coordinator “will be prepared to engage with FPOTUS [former president of the United States] and USSS [Secret Service] Security team.” In this context, “engage” means talk and coordinate.
He is against birth control and been for years Speaker Mike Johnson is one of the most extreme anti-abortion zealots in the US Congress. And he’s just as extreme on contraception: Johnson is known for being among the most anti-abortion lawmakers in Congress, and for railing against the use of “abortion as a form of birth control” before he was in office. But his statements and actions suggest he does not see much difference between abortion as a form of birth control and birth control as a form of birth control. As a lawyer, Johnson worked on multiple cases representing plaintiffs who refused to dispense, counsel, or provide emergency contraception, which they considered to be abortion-inducing drugs.
I’m excited to share some big news: this month I transitioned into a new role as Senior Vice President of Academic Innovation for OU Education Services (OUES). OUES is a new non-profit created to manage and grow online learning at the University of Oklahoma, with the goal of increasing accessibility to higher education. The best […]
I can’t wait for the new movie about Trump and Roy Cohn. Trump has threatened to sue but nobody seems too exercised about that. One of the investors, Dan Snyder owner of the Washington Commanders (formerly the Redskins), has been gnashing his teeth about it, although he doesn’t appear to have any say in the final cut. It’s controversial to say the least. The script is by Gabriel Sherman who writes for Vanity Fair and had hit with the movie about Roger Ailes called The Loudest Voice starring Russell Crow. This one is about Trump and Roy Cohn — Trump is the apprentice in this one. (I wrote a little bit about their relationship just the other day.) Anyway, this sounds really interesting. It stars Jeremy Strong, who played Kendall Roy in Succession, as Cohn. Perfect. Here’s a little bit of the review in The Hollywood Reporter: Beyond the specific portrait of the man identified by his vanity plates as DJT (Sebastian Stan) and the barracuda who took him under his wing, Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), the movie takes a broader view of the corruption of the American soul.
You gotta laugh to keep from crying One of MSNBC’s commentators remarked Tuesday on the “thugocracy” on display at Donald Trump’s criminal trial. A parade of characters has pilgrimaged to Lower Manhattan to display their fealty to Boss Trump. On the day his defense rested, they included Chuck Zito, former convict and former leader of the New York chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang. Trump likes his “heavies.” Rachel Maddow remarked: The Hells Angels leader is a very large man wearing a very flamboyant suit with a big, dyed-black pompadour, and huge, gaudy jewelry on very large hands. And he’s sitting next to Boris Epshteyn, who kind of looks like his body double. And there’s Alan Dershowitz, and there’s other recognizable people. And there’s members of Congress and well-known lawyers. And everybody seems sort of, there is a sort of performative aspect to the way they’re behaving in court. It is very noticeable for those of us who are there observing as journalists. I don’t know if they’re catching the jury’s attention so much.
Just a grift before I go Is it possible that the same affinity for conspiracy theories on the right (yes, the left has its own) accompanies the gullibility that makes conservatives fall for grifts? Charlie Kirk is selling Blackout Coffee, you know, for when “The world is in flames, and Bidenomics is a complete and total disaster,” and the liberal zombie apocalypse comes to turn you gay. There are some brands that cater to lefty sensibilities, writes Ali Breland at The Atlantic. But it’s the expansion of niche products for the conservative paranoid that has caught his attention: The ads reflect the new paradigm of advertising. In previous decades, ads had to appeal to whole segments of the population—and products were made with that in mind. That some readers of Vanity Fair might want a Givenchy handbag, and some readers of Sports Illustrated might want Callaway golf clubs, was as targeted as ads could get. Now the country has fractured into partisan subgroups, and companies have access to reams of analytics that enable them to target ever more precise demographics.
Even the Sopranos weren’t this dumb On the last day of testimony in Trump’s NY hush money case, a dozen or so grasping Trump sycophants dressed in the official elite MAGA uniforms of a red tie and blue suit (the troops wear the red hats) all gathered in the Manhattan court house to show their solidarity with their Dear Leader. The group included the Texas Lieutenant Governor of Texas Dan Patrick who weirdly excoriated “the ruling class” of which he and Donald Trump are very much members. SNL alum Joe Piscopo showed up as did former White House physician and current oddball congressman Ronny Jackson. Donald Trump Jr was there for the first time as well, apparently inspired to attend as a MAGA follower rather than a family member in support of his father. It’s become a daily self-abnegation ritual for those yearning to be on the inside of Trumpworld and that apparently includes his own son. If it weren’t for the boring blue suits and red ties, the daily tableau would be more reminiscent of a criminal gang than a political party.
What Immunity? People were dying by the tens of thousands during this period.
It’s only noon but I’m already drinking. I think I’ll just keep going. Maybe until November: Nearly three in five Americans wrongly believe the US is in an economic recession, and the majority blame the Biden administration, according to a Harris poll conducted exclusively for the Guardian. The survey found persistent pessimism about the economy as election day draws closer. The poll highlighted many misconceptions people have about the economy, including: -55% believe the economy is shrinking, and 56% think the US is experiencing a recession, though the broadest measure of the economy, gross domestic product (GDP), has been growing. -49% believe the S&P 500 stock market index is down for the year, though the index went up about 24% in 2023 and is up more than 12% this year. -49% believe that unemployment is at a 50-year high, though the unemployment rate has been under 4%, a near 50-year low. Many Americans put the blame on Biden for the state of the economy, with 58% of those polled saying the economy is worsening due to mismanagement from the presidential administration.