Monday, August 10, 2026

2 con artists


Alien Musk.  A failure.  Frank Landymore (Futurism) reports:

In terms of demoralizing the federal workforce and demolishing the public sector, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency was a success.

In terms of actually saving money, though — its ostensible raison d’être — it was a dismal failure.

Musk vowed to slash $2 trillion in government “waste and fraud.” Then he lowered that target to $1 trillion, and behind the scenes reportedly promised Trump to save just a tenth of that figure. In the end, DOGE boasted on its website’s “Wall of Receipts” that it had saved around $215 billion — peanuts compared to its original promise.
But the actual amount of spending it slashed may be even lower than that. In a sweeping audit, the Government Accountability Office looked through the $110 billion that DOGE claimed it saved between January and July 2025, and found a trail of staggering incompetency that let loads of supposedly saved money fall through the cracks. That framing, though, could be too generous to Musk and his pimple-faced lackeys. You could also take the view that DOGE, in all likelihood, was deliberately cooking the books.

Per the GAO’s new report, released this month, DOGE claimed it terminated 13,476 contracts, but nearly 2,000 of them weren’t actually terminated. Spending-wise, about $27.4 billion of the purported savings came from these contracts that DOGE botched the terminations of.

The clumsy — or deceptive — bookkeeping didn’t end there. The receipts “includes leases identified for termination before [the group] was established,” the report states, as quoted by The Washington Post. And 108 of 264 of the leases it claimed it nixed “were already in process for termination.”


Musk is a liar.  He lied about DOGE.  DOGE was illegal and wrong and it risked our personal data and yet he has tried to do a victory lap there.  Why?   Because he's  cheap ass con man.  

In news of another con artist, Michael Williams (CNN) reports:

Rep. Max Miller will remain in his race for reelection, despite abuse allegations that have rocked his campaign and prompted growing calls from fellow Republicans for him to drop out.

Miller, who has denied the allegations of abuse from his ex-wife, has consistently maintained that he would remain in the race for Ohio’s 7th District. But now that the deadline for party leaders to replace him on the ballot has passed, his position on the ticket is locked in.


He's locked in as the nominee.  And he's accused of so many awful things.  He should have dropped out.  He didn't.  

This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"


Monday, August 10, 2026.  Chump takes a laid back approach to his ongoing Iran War as it continues to wreck the country's economy, in the early morning hours of Saturday the US Senate voted 50 to 49 to confirm Todd Blanche as Attorney General, US House Rep Madeleine Dean reveals what's redacted in one Epstein e-mail with the subject heading of "Trump," Senator Patty Murray calls out Chump's attack on Head Start and much more.




Ben (MEIDASTOUCH NEWS) notes that Chump is sulking and in hiding.  This as the Iran War he started continues.  AP notes:

An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Iran will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States met its conditions.

“It is up to the U.S. side to stop and make amends for its illegal and destructive actions,” Esmail Baghaei said Monday, noting the American blockade of Iranian ports.

Iran wants the U.S. to lift the blockade, pay compensation for months of war damage, lift economic sanctions and release Iran’s frozen assets. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz — a waterway that normally carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s traded oil supplies — has become the war’s most lasting consequence. The impasse has kept energy prices as a major focus of U.S. politics ahead of November’s midterm elections.


The Chump economy continues to crash and burn as the war drags on.  Sean Williams (THE MOTLEY FOOL) notes: 


Shortly after President Trump green-lit military operations against Iran, the latter shut down the Strait of Hormuz to most commercial vessels. This action effectively halted the flow of approximately 20 million barrels of petroleum liquids, representing a fifth of global demand. It's the largest energy supply disruption in modern history.

Removing a fifth of the world's crude oil supply in the blink of an eye had a notable impact on energy markets. Within a matter of weeks, crude oil prices surged more than 70%, with fuel prices following suit. Gas prices rose at the fastest pace in more than three decades.

For consumers driving gas- and diesel-powered vehicles, the impact of the Iran war on their pocketbooks was impossible to miss. Between February and May, trailing 12-month (TTM) inflation surged from 2.4% to a three-year high of 4.2% -- more than double the Federal Reserve's long-term inflation target of 2%.

[. . .]


While President Trump has insisted that inflation will plunge once the Iran war ends, evidence is mounting that the inflationary effects of this conflict are spilling over into the broader economy. If accurate, this may prove devastating to Wall Street's historic bull market rally.


Oil prices increased over the weekend.  Veronica Majerol (NEW YORK TIMES) reports:

Oil prices rose and stocks were down slightly on Sunday as hopes were dashed for a breakthrough in the standoff over the Strait of Hormuz.

At the end of last week, Iran and Oman indicated that they were near an agreement that would allow oil and other important commercial traffic to resume. But on Saturday, Iran issued a long list of demands that it said would have to be met before ships could move again through the strait, and it was clear that Iran wanted to continue to use the strait as leverage.


Chump continues the Iran War.  It was supposed to be over in days, then it weeks.  We're now 18 days away from six months and there's still no end in sight.  Chump s back in low energy mode where he plans to do little to nothing to end the war.  Tim Lister and Aida Karimi (CNN) report:


The list of demands from Iran can’t have surprised the White House.

Hardliners have been repeating the mantra on a daily basis: the limited agreement in the works with Oman on the Strait of Hormuz is not the same as reopening the vital waterway in the way Washington wants.

For that, they say, “America must correct its behavior.”

Tehran has now spelled out what means, laying out a series of conditions that appear to go beyond the memorandum of understanding which was agreed in June but later suspended amid US strikes on Iran, Iranian retaliation across the Middle East and a resurgence of attacks on shipping.

Maybe getting rid of his family and putting in actual negotiators might be a step that would end the war?  


Early Saturday morning, the Senate voted in a 50 to 49 vote to confirm Todd Blanche as Attorney General.  Last week, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse took to the floor of the Senate to note the many problems with Blanche's nomination.


Senator Sheldon Whitehouse:  Then he [Todd Blanche] goes running down to Tallahassee to interview Epstein' comrade in crime, Ghislaine Maxwell.  Did he use that interview to develop any new information?  To go after people who were culpable in the Epstein files?   No. He used that interview to extract the exculpatory comments from her about Donald Trump. 'Oh, he was a perfect gentleman.'  And the next thing you know, she's rewarded with a transfer to a Club Fed type prison.  What's the excuse for that?  'Oh, she was at risk.  We felt she was in danger.'  Well look, I've been around law enforcement for a long time.  This is the first time I've seen a prisoner allegedly in danger be transferred to a less secure setting to solve the problem of danger.  Right?  You move the prisoner to a more secure setting, not to a les secure setting.  It makes no sense.  [. . .]  Remember that there was a witness who spoke to FBI agents about having been assaulted by Donald Trump when she was about 14 years old -- physically assaulted and sexually assaulted.  She spoke to the FBI at least four times and those four time were recorded in FBI 302s -- a 302 is the FBI's name for the witness statement that the agents write up after an interview.  So four times, this woman has been interviewed about what happened to her as a girl.  Three of those 302s specifically mention Donald Trump. In the disclosure that Todd Blanche made under The Epstein Files law the only one of the four that got disclosed was the one that didn't mention Donald Trump. That ought to be disqualifying right there. Luckily, the very sharp investigators realized through like gaps in date-stamp numbers that documents were missing and that the three 302s have not been disclosed and so Blanche was forced to cough those up. But behind the 302 come the agent notes. And there's still 37 pages of documents related to that that are still suppressed, that are still covered up.  


Despite those issues and many more, Senators Thom Tillis and  John Cornyn tossed aside their concerns and hopped on the bandwagon.  Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins voted "no" along with all 47 who caucus on the Democratic Party side.  So it was 49 against.  And 49 for.  


But the laughable Bill Cassidy caved and voted for Blanche and started to cry on the Senate floor when explaining why he was voting for Blanche.  Sunday on CBS' FACE THE NATION, Cassidy attempted to minimize and pretty up a 68-year old crying in public as he voted:


MARGARET BRENNAN: Good morning, and welcome to 'Face the Nation.' Both the House and the Senate are now gone for the summer, but we begin with one lawmaker who hasn't taken off quite yet for his home state, Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy. Good morning, and thank you for delaying your departure to be here in person. It's good to talk to you.

SENATOR BILL CASSIDY: Good to be with you. Good morning.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So you were skeptical, you made that clear back when we spoke in June of Todd Blanche and confirming him to be Attorney General. You did late Friday confirm him, but you said you're not entirely satisfied. You no doubt will have concern in the future, and I want to play for our viewers what you said. Take a listen.

[START SOUND ON TAPE]

SEN. CASSIDY: I'll be criticized for this vote. What's new? But the people of Louisiana can be assured that I worked hard to understand the issue and to make the right decision.

[END SOUND ON TAPE]

MARGARET BRENNAN: You were emotional there. Your voice cracked. Why? And why do you think you're going to be criticized?

SEN. CASSIDY: Oh, you're going to be criticized. My voice cracked because my wife thinks it's endearing. I think it's embarrassing. But sometimes you're aware of the incredible privilege of representing your state and your nation. Incredible privilege, and as a- as a little boy, I would read history books, and I- and I'd read about these great decisions on the Senate floor, and the fact that I have the ability to participate, and after an intense 48 hours of coming up with a decision that wasn't black or white. You can argue one way or the other, and you can come up with just this side or just that side of approval. Now, the fact that I, Bill Cassidy, was able to do that, I am so privileged. And whenever I just for a second am hit by the gravity of that and the honor of that, I get emotional. And- and and that's just again, my wife finds it endearing. I find it embarrassing.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, it does have a great gravity to a decision like this, and you weighed it very carefully when we spoke back in June. You you were specific in some of your concerns, and I know acting Attorney General Blanche now, who's set for that confirmation had posted documents, including he rescinded the order to create the anti-weaponization fund, and he had an unsigned statement in which he narrowed the terms of the Trump-IRS protections that you had objected to. Now they'll apply just to Trump, Don Jr., Eric and the Trump Organization. Senator Durbin, who's the top Democrat on Judiciary, said these new clarifications-they're unenforceable. Is he correct? 

SEN. CASSIDY: So, a couple things. Again, one more time, if you're looking for a black or white decision here, you're not going to find it. This is a gradation of gray. But what I'm told as regards to the anti-weaponization fund, if you put it in the context of the political environment, the judicial environment, the process you would have to go back through in order to reinstate that effectively is dead. Now, John Cornyn, a former state attorney general in Texas, was comfortable with it. I'm not an attorney.  MARGARET BRENNAN: It took him a while to get there, though--

SEN. CASSIDY: --Took him a while to get there- 

MARGARET BRENNAN: --Basically said we can't take his word for it. 

SEN. CASSIDY: It took him a while to get there, but the fact that John did was important to me to a certain extent. I'm relying on others that are bringing me information, and I have to trust them on that. Not everything, but some of that, and I trust John on that.

MARGARET BRENNAN: And on giving his family protection from IRS probes?

SEN. CASSIDY: That's totally wrong. Totally wrong. And so I will go back. This is not a black or white decision. That is wrong, and no American should be targeted by the law, but no American should be above the law, and that, frankly, almost weighed to vote no.

MARGARET BRENNAN: And you're just hoping it- you had to accept it in the end, I mean--

SEN. CASSIDY: So, let's look at the positive. There's three aspects to the attorney general. The attorney general is supposed to give advice to the president, supposed to run the Department of Justice and is supposed to make sure that the U.S. attorneys nationwide are doing their job. It really weighs strongly in his favor when I speak to my U.S. attorneys in Louisiana, and I spoke specifically to David Courcelle and Kurt Wall, and they said, listen, we have calls once weekly between our office and DOJ, and they give metrics for our prosecutors, and each individual prosecutor is weighed on that metric, and we've had our focus restricted down to fighting violent crime, human and drug trafficking, and going after fraud in programs like Medicare and Medicaid. And if I need extra resources to bring a case home, we do it. And if there's a drug kingpin, we get the resources to go after them, and- and our morale is up, not despite the accountability, because of the accountability. Now, if you want a DOJ which is actually doing its job, you need stable leadership, and you need leadership which is effective, and in that which is making the greatest difference in my life, in your life, in the American people's life. There's a lot of positive things to say about Todd Blanche. 

MARGARET BRENNAN: And you are confident that he will uphold the constitution with the upcoming elections? There are Democrats saying he may not.

SEN. CASSIDY: Well, of course, there's always this existential anxiety.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes. 

SEN. CASSIDY: But I am as confident as you can be about the future you are. I cannot predict the future, and this is not a black or white decision. But I'm confident on that.


Let's look at the positive?  Existential anxiety?  Look, there's your answer, you don't vote for someone when you're filled with existential anxiety.  He's yacking away trying to justify that which cannot be justified.  Yes, there are times when you take a chance and give someone the benefit of the doubt.  That's when they're an unknown.  But when they've tried to pay January 6ers, when they've come up with a pass for Chump and his family with regards to paying national taxes, when they have refused to comply with Congress' Epstein Files law?  They are not an unknown.


They are a known.  You know that they will not follow the law and that they will not represent the American people but instead as though they are Chump's personal attorney.  You know they will degrade the Constitution.  You know that they will continue to degrade the legal system by lying to the courts.  


He is a known and you have to be an idiot -- and a coward -- to vote for him and then offer the slop Cassidy did to try to justify it.  There is no justification for it.  None at all. 


Senator Adam Schiff's office issued the following regarding the vote on Blanche:


Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) issued the following statement after voting against the nomination of Todd Blanche to be U.S. Attorney General:

“As I said his confirmation hearing, the fundamental problem with Todd Blanche isn’t that he’s inexperienced or unintelligent. It’s that he’s never been able to shed his role as criminal defense lawyer for Donald Trump. He cannot and will never do it.

“I voted to oppose his nomination. And he should have been rejected for numerous reasons:

“He has used the Department of Justice to enrich the President of the United States – leveraging the power of the DOJ and IRS to make the president, his family, and his businesses more money and to provide immunity for their actions – that is not the job of an Attorney General.

“Under Blanche, the Justice Department has become an instrument of revenge and reward. We should not confirm an Attorney General who believes the president has a right and a duty to go after his enemies and bring sea shells cases against them.

“His efforts to protect the president and others in the Epstein Files were a scandalous abuse of power in which he covered up and withheld documents to protect Donald Trump and further injured the victims by publishing their names and photos.

“Blanche has sought to compensate cop beaters who attacked the Capitol in support of the president. Even if the anti-weaponization fund doesn’t move forward, Blanche’s Justice Department has been using other funds of the department to pay off criminals and cronies of the president.

“He has also violated his code of ethics, firing career officials involved in cases against Donald Trump – the same cases in which he served as the president’s personal criminal defense attorney.

“A nominee with such a record should never be made Attorney General, not if we ever hope to preserve what is left of the rule of law. Todd Blanche will never do what’s best for the American people. Only what’s best for Donald Trump.”

###


And Senator Alex Padilla's office issued this statement:


WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement following the Senate’s confirmation vote on the nomination of Todd Blanche to be the next U.S. Attorney General:

“Todd Blanche is unfit to serve as Attorney General. As Acting Attorney General, Blanche has shown he is more loyal to Trump than he is to the American people or the Constitution.

“He is the architect of the $1.8 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund for convicted January 6 insurrectionists who stormed our Capitol and assaulted law enforcement officers. He has repeatedly refused to provide transparency around the Epstein files while shielding Donald Trump — who appears in the files thousands of times — and his predatory allies. Blanche has also made clear that, if confirmed, he will roll back abortion access across the nation.

“When forced to choose between the Constitution and Donald Trump, Todd Blanche chooses Donald Trump, including by helping secure immunity for him and his family’s potential tax crimes. America deserves better.

“I strongly oppose Todd Blanche to be our next Attorney General. His confirmation will be a setback for the independence of the Department of Justice, but I will continue to stand up for everyone’s Constitutional rights, demand accountability from the Trump Administration, and fight to uphold the rule of law.”

Padilla has consistently fought to hold Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) accountable. This week, Padilla slammed Todd Blanche during the Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote on Blanche’s nomination, making clear that Blanche is unfit to be U.S. Attorney General. Last month, Padilla questioned Blanche during a Senate Judiciary confirmation hearing, demanding answers about the anti-weaponization fund and allegiance to Trump.

###

On the topic of Ghislaine Maxwell, let's note this from US House Rep Raja Kirshnamoorthi's office:


 Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), a senior member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, joined House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Ranking Member Robert Garcia (D-CA) in sending a letter on Thursday urging Speaker Mike Johnson to immediately bring to the House floor a resolution opposing any presidential pardon, commutation, or other form of executive clemency for convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. The lawmakers note that the Senate unanimously adopted such a resolution last week and argue that the House should do the same without delay. 

In the letter, the lawmakers write:

“The Senate has unanimously passed a resolution opposing a pardon or clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell. The House must, without delay, do the same. There are now multiple resolutions that have been introduced holding that Ghislaine Maxwell—a convicted child sex trafficker and essential partner in lurid crime with Jeffrey Epstein—should not receive a pardon, commutation, or any other form of clemency from the President of the United States. You have not yet provided for any legislative forum or consideration of these resolutions. It is time for action.”

The letter argues that granting executive clemency to Maxwell would undermine confidence in the rule of law and inflict further harm on the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's trafficking network. It also notes that Speaker Johnson has previously stated Maxwell deserved a life sentence because of her "unspeakable crimes" and urges him to act consistently with those public statements. 

 The lawmakers continue:

“We urge you to call such a vote without delay and without asking the permission of President Trump, Attorney General Todd Blanche or anyone else reporting to the White House. This is a matter for the House of Representatives to consider. We urge you to put your own words into action and bring a resolution opposing any form of clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell to the House floor without delay so that the House may reaffirm that child sexual abuse and human trafficking are abominable crimes that should be met with justice, not a pardon.”

The lawmakers' letter is available here.


As the press release notes, the Senate passed a resolution on this issue last week.  Australia's ABC notes:


The US Senate has unanimously struck down the pardon chances of Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

On Thursday, the resolution opposing any future pardon of Maxwell was ushered in by both Republicans and Democrats, drawing yet another symbolic divide between Donald Trump, his party and the president's own Epstein ties.

[. . .]

The resolution was introduced by Nevada Democrat senator Jacky Rosen, who first brought it forward in February.

By voting it in, the Senate agreed "Ghislaine Maxwell should not be granted a Presidential pardon or any form of clemency" for her sexual abuse and co-offending with Epstein.

The politicians agreed that a pardon or clemency would be "inconsistent with the interests of justice and accountability for crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children".

The resolution also denounced any attempt by Mr Trump to usher in "any other form of executive clemency" to Maxwell.


Donald Chump and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein became friends decades ago.  They were friends in the 80s, the 90s, the 00s and some say the 10s.  Despite their very close relationship, over the last two decades there have been efforts to rewrite history.  With that in mind, Alexander Willis (RAW STORY) reports:


After spending hours at the Justice Department headquarters in Washington, D.C., Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) has revealed the contents of a heavily redacted email from the agency’s Jeffrey Epstein-related files, and claimed it exposes clear "lies" by President Donald Trump.

The email in question was sent in October 2009 by Epstein to “Gmax,” a name associated with Ghislaine Maxwell, who’s currently serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking. The subject line of the email reads: “Trump,” and the majority of the email’s text is hidden behind a large black box.

However, the Justice Department (DOJ) has allowed lawmakers to view unredacted files at the DOJ headquarters, and Dean, pen and paper in hand, took the agency up on the offer in an effort to view what was within the Trump-related email.

Dean shared what she had learned with journalist Tara Palmeri, telling her that the email “reveals lies of the president,” particularly regarding his oft-repeated claim to have thrown Epstein “out” of his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.

“Jeffrey Epstein was never expelled from Mar-a-Lago,” Dean told Palmeri, reading from her notes she had taken while reviewing the unredacted email. “No, he was not a member. May have been a guest. He was never asked to leave. [Trump said] ‘I’ve been on a lot of planes, may have been on his plane. No young girls on plane.’”



Why was the e-mail redacted?  This was not what was allowed by Congress.  This was about protecting Chump and Chump's lies.  


Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:

ICYMI: Senator Murray Slam’s Trump’s Latest Attack on Head Start, Calls on Teachers and Parents to Protect the Program

*** WATCH PRESS CONFERENCE HERE, DOWNLOAD HERE***

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a senior member and former chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), held a virtual press conference with Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), and advocates in response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued today by the Department of Health and Human Services that guts Head Start by shredding basic standards that keep kids safe and advance their education. The rule removes most of Head Start’s 133 pages of requirements for math and literacy curriculums, class sizes, medical screenings, home visits and more.

Joining the press call were Joel Ryan, Executive Director of the Washington State Association of Head Start; Dr. Ruth Friedman, former Director of the Office of Child Care at the Administration for Children and Families at HHS; and Lori Pittman, a parent from Washington state a Policy, Advocacy, and Government Relations Advisor for Early Learning K-12, and Postsecondary at Puget Sound Educational Service District (PSESD), and a co-founder of the Washington State Parent Ambassador Program, a statewide initiative supporting parent leadership and advocacy.

“Your child’s safety should not depend on their zip code. That has been the entire point of Head Start since 1965. If they wanted to serve more kids, they could ask Congress for more funding. I’d write that bill this afternoon. Instead, they’re saying they might be able to serve more children by promising each child less. Nobody should pretend this came out of nowhere. President Trump has all but declared war on Head Start,” said Senator Murray. “This rule is not final. There is a public comment period. I want parents to weigh in. I want teachers to weigh in. Because I have seen what happens when enough ordinary people refuse to let something get ripped away from them. And on my end: I will press administration officials when they come before Congress. I will sound the alarm as loudly as I possibly can. I will carry this fight into every negotiation I walk into. And Congress just funded Head Start at an increase, on a bipartisan basis, so let me be clear: Congress funds Head Start to be Head Start. Trump is coming after America’s kids. That is so unacceptable. This isn’t partisan. This is a program red and blue states rely on. Parents, teachers, and communities across America need to speak up and speak out—together we will beat this rule and save Head Start.”

“I know the value of Head Start, it got me to the U.S. Senate,” said Senator Luján, one of only two U.S. Senators who attended Head Start. “Since President Trump took office, he and his administration have made it harder and harder for young children to get an early education. Now, he is moving forward with a proposed rule to gut Head Start and strip basic education, health, and safety standards our kids rely on. That is why I joined Senator Murray and advocates today and will continue to fight to protect Head Start.”

Head Start currently serves over 750,000 kids nationwide, and the program has served more than 40 million children and their families nationwide since its inception in 1965. There are over 17,000 Head Start centers nationwide and these centers are particularly important in serving rural communities with fewer options for care.

Throughout his second term, President Trump has gutted the offices that keep Head Start centers and child care programs across the country running. Since taking office, the Trump administration has fired 40 to 50% of the staff at the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Head Start and Office of Child Care. In April of 2025, Trump continued to hollow out HHS, by shuttering five of the 10 regional offices for both Office of Child Care and Office of Head Start, which served 22 states and five territories. President Trump also illegally impounded funding provided by Congress for Head Start programs across America, in violation of the Impoundment Control Act (ICA). In response, Senator Murray raised alarm bells and she led her colleagues in demanding that the funds get moving.

Notably, a leaked memo indicated that the Trump administration—in keeping with Project 2025—would push to completely eliminate Head Start as a part of its FY26 budget request. Ultimately, strong public outcry and backlash prevented the Trump administration from including the elimination of Head Start in its budget request.

In April, President Trump said “Don’t send any money for day care, because the United States can’t take care of day care… We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of day care… It’s not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things.”

Last year, HHS took steps to attack immigrant children and their families by issuing a notice reinterpreting longstanding guidance under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) to reinterpret Head Start as a federal public benefit subject to immigration restrictions. The guidance, currently tied up in litigation and stalled from being enforced, threw programs and families into chaos, sparking confusion and driving many families to keep their kids at home out of fear of discrimination or immigration enforcement.

HHS has also proposed changes to the Head Start Program that would roll back regulations targeted at increasing salaries for the Head Start workforce—one of the top barriers to recruitment and retention leading to fewer children being served.

In the face of Trump’s calls to cut investments in state early childhood education programs and repeated attacks on the program, Democrats have consistently defended resources for child care and early childhood education. In March of this year, Senator Murray led her colleagues and established a new working group as the latest major push in Democrats’ fight to lower costs and deliver child care for every American family. The Child Care for America working group will bring Democratic members of Congress together to coordinate broad support for landmark child care legislation.

Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered, are below:

“You know, this morning, the Department of Health and Human Services proposed shredding the rule book that has protected kids in Head Start for sixty years—133 pages of standards, gutted. And I want to be really concrete about what is in those pages that they are throwing away.

“It’s duration requirements—meaning, is the program actually open while parents are working? It’s professional development requirements to make sure that our teachers are equipped to keep our kids safe—that’s everything from instruction on our kids social-emotional development, and training to recognize and report child abuse. It is watering down quality standards for families that want home-based and family-care—like safety requirements: are there play areas? Is there space for food prep? Are the bathrooms up to standard?

“It’s class sizes—because there’s a reason Head Start tells providers how many toddlers one adult can supervise. It’s how many kids any one teacher can actually keep safe on a busy day. It’s the medical screenings—for countless families, Head Start is the first place anyone will ever check their child’s hearing, or vision, or teeth. Ignoring these kids’ health today, costs us more tomorrow. It’s eliminating protections that keep a kid with a disability safe from harmful practices like restraint, or seclusion and expulsion—that’s just not something any of us should accept.

“And there is one more piece that really doesn’t make sense: this rule forces English-only instruction. There are American children who have different language needs. Denying children instruction in their first language—that’s backwards, and it doesn’t help anyone. Now, the administration has given this rule a very nice name: Reducing Federal Burden.

“So, let’s look at what they actually list as burdens: background checks for the adults who are alone in a room with your four-year-old; safety standards for the buses that drive your toddler to school; vision and hearing screenings for your kids. That is not red tape. That’s all important stuff to keep our kids safe and healthy! They want to hand all of it to the states—and if you live in a state that never writes those rules, too bad.

“Your child’s safety should not depend on their zip code. That has been the entire point of Head Start since 1965. If they wanted to serve more kids, they could ask Congress for more funding. I would write that bill this afternoon. Instead, they’re saying they might be able to serve more children by promising each child less.

“Nobody should pretend this came out of nowhere. President Trump has all but declared war on Head Start. He illegally impounded Head Start funding that Congress passed into law—in violation of the Impoundment Control Act—and centers couldn’t make payroll until we raised the alarm and forced the money out the door.

“He fired 40 to 50 percent of the staff at the Office of Head Start and the Office of Child Care. He shut down five of the ten regional offices—which served 22 states and five territories—overnight.

“One of those offices was in Seattle. It served every Head Start program in Washington state—15,000 kids. In the Yakima Valley, a provider waiting on funding that never showed up had to lay off 72 employees and shutter a dozen classrooms, that served 400 kids. Now eventually that money came, but only after the layoffs. In Walla Walla, a program that has served kids for decades is warning it may not survive.

“Funding delays and uncertainty continue to persist. And let’s not forget, a leaked memo showed that Trump planned to eliminate Head Start altogether—straight out of Project 2025—until public outcry forced him to back down.

“He rolled back the rule raising pay for our Head Start teachers. His HHS tried to rewrite thirty years of guidance to turn Head Start into an immigration checkpoint—that one is stalled in court, but it already drove scared families to keep their kids home.

“If anyone doubts me, listen to the President’s own words. He said, ‘Don’t send any money for day care, because the United States can’t take care of day care…We’re fighting wars.’

“I taught preschool. I got into politics because politicians decided a preschool program wasn’t worth saving—one of them told me a mom in tennis shoes couldn’t make a difference. So here’s what happens now. This rule is not final. There is a public comment period. So, I want parents to weigh in. I want teachers to weigh in. Because I have seen what happens when enough ordinary people refuse to let something get ripped away from them.

“And on my end: I will press administration officials when they come before Congress. I’ll sound the alarm as loudly as I possibly can, and I will carry this fight into every negotiation I walk into. And Congress just funded Head Start at an increase, on a bipartisan basis, so let me be clear: Congress funds Head Start to be a Head Start.

“Trump is coming after America’s kids. That is unacceptable. This is not partisan. This is a program red and blue states rely on.

“Parents, teachers, and communities across America need to speak up and speak out—together we will beat this rule and save Head Start.”

###


The following sites updated:


on No comments:

Friday, August 7, 2026

Max Miller refuses to end his campaign


Rep. Max Miller (R., Ohio) is under growing pressure to drop his re-election bid amid allegations of domestic abuse, which he denies.

Rep. Chuck Edwards (R., N.C.) just dropped his re-election bid amid his own ethics scandal.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D., Calif.) resigned from Congress a few months ago amid mounting allegations of sexual misconduct, which he also denies.
Rep. Tony Gonzales (R., Texas) resigned from Congress at the same time as Swalwell amid threats of expulsion over an affair he allegedly had with a congressional staffer.

And Graham Platner, the Democratic Senate candidate in Maine, dropped out of the race last month following abuse allegations, which he says aren’t true.

Political scandals, sadly, are nothing new (former Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, is currently in federal prison). But it does seem like they are happening with a heightened frequency lately.

There is a vocal group of lawmakers from both parties that is pushing for congressional leaders to crack down on ethical misbehavior (and, in some cases, illegal behavior). With a bunch of new lawmakers coming into Congress next year and public faith in Capitol Hill in the doldrums, there could be an opportunity to really shake things up.

That is a litany.  And yet Max Miller refuses to step down.  Supposedly donations are off and he's loaned his campaign one million dollars.  Mira Bhakta (The Hill) reports: 

As elections for Ohio’s 7th Congressional District near, Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) is losing traction for his campaign amid allegations of abuse from his ex-wife, as his Democratic opponent pulls ahead in a new poll.

In a new co/efficient polling memo, Brook Park City Council member Democrat Brian Poindexter is now leading Miller by 14 points as opposed to a survey from last week that showed the margin between the candidates at 5 points.
The poll added that because of what voters have seen, read or heard about Miller, 48 percent are less likely to support him, with Republicans 37 percent less likely to support the GOP candidate.

Among Republicans, only 11 percent are more likely to support him, and of all voters, 9 percent are more likely to support him.

The rapid margin change is attributed to a public and ongoing battle between the congressman and his ex-wife Emily Moreno, daughter of Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio). Miller has repeatedly denied allegations from Moreno that he threw scalding hot water at her, pointed a gun at her head and broke their daughter’s collarbone. 


He really should resign.  But, hey, it's an easy Democratic Party pick up in the midterms so it's a win regardless.  Either Miller drops out or he loses the race. 

Representative Max Miller, the increasingly embattled Republican from Ohio who was accused of physically abusing his ex-wife and young daughter, continued to resist pressure on Friday to drop his re-election bid as the deadline for him to withdraw neared.

Mr. Miller planned to loan his campaign $1 million, according to a person familiar with his thinking who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe campaign strategy, effectively rebuffing calls from powerful Republicans in the state to withdraw from the race.

Senator Jon Husted, who faces his own tough re-election battle, broke his silence Thursday by publicly urging Mr. Miller to “step aside as a candidate and resign from Congress.” And on Friday, the head of an Ohio-based conservative group, the Center for Christian Virtue, posted on social media that Mr. Miller had “disqualified himself.”

Ohio state law gives local party leaders until 4 p.m. on Monday to name a new candidate, but the law requires two days of notice to convene a meeting to do so. Mr. Miller would most likely have to end his congressional campaign either by Friday or Saturday, though officials have said there is still some confusion about the deadline.

This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"


Friday, August 7, 2026.  Chump squeals "treasonous leaks" thereby confirming that the leaks are true regarding the decimation of stockpiles of US weapons, his war on immigrants continues, Pete Hegseth continues to fail in his role as Secretary of Defense -- and it's failure in one way after another,  Senator Patty Murray notes that a vote to confirm Todd Blanche as Attorney General is a vote to destroy reproductive rights, and much more. 






On the sixth day of the war with Iran, Donald Trump made a curious comment at a White House event.

“Yesterday, my administration announced decisive action to help keep down the oil prices,” the president declared. Moments later, the Republican went on to say oil prices “have pretty much stabilized.”
It’s never been clear what “decisive” actions the president was referring to. And while a variety of words come to mind when describing oil prices of late, “stabilized” isn’t one of them.

In fact, exactly five months to the day after Trump’s misplaced boast, he delivered remarks in Las Vegas and warned American consumers about the possibility of renewed volatility.

After noting recent improvements in oil prices, the president told his audience, “We may have to send it up again. We may have to — you know what happens when we send it up. But we hope we don’t have to.”

Chump's telling his followers that oil prices might need to increase again?  Does he really not get how many Americans are struggling in the wrecked economy that he created?  




The view from the cliffs must have been exciting
And up to the peaks you were bound
Now you're stranded alone
And the path is unknown
And there is no easy way down

No, it isn't very easy
When you're left on your own
No, it isn't very easy
When each road you take
Is one more mistake
And there's no one to break your fall
And lead you back home

-- "No Easy Way Down," written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, she first recorded the song for her album WRITER




Donald Trump is unpopular. Just 39% of Americans have a favorable view of the president a year and a half into his second term.

Worse yet, Republicans are poised to lose big in the November midterm elections. Trump seems more interested in fighting with Senate leadership than in helping Republicans hold their majorities, and that fight is leaving some in his own party open to moving away from him.
Trump still has a strong grip on the Republican voter base, but the party needs a plan for what happens after he leaves office in 2028. There's no better time to start building it than heading into a likely November beatdown.

 
His popularity has imploded.  It's gone.  It's not coming back.  Nick Hilden notes  more bad news for the Chump:


On Wednesday, the National Review – the preeminent conservative magazine since 1955 — called it: President Donald Trump has done the “impeachable.”

“There is no plausible defense of Trump's TruthSocial scheme,” declared National Review Senior Editor Charles Cooke. “It is flagrantly corrupt. It is impeachable. Congress should intervene. (It won't, I know.)” He posted this assertion over his latest article, entitled “Truth Social’s Early-Access Scheme Is Indefensible.”
As he explains, over the weekend, the Trump Media & Technology Group announced the creation of a “real-time feed on the Truth Social website that will give paying institutions early access to certain high-profile posts for between $60,000 and $100,000 per month.” Cooke doesn’t hold back with his assessment of the scheme, writing, “There is no credible defense of this. The only reason that anyone would want priority access to Truth Social is to gain priority access to President Trump’s pronouncements on that platform. And the only reason that anyone would want priority access to President Trump’s pronouncements on that platform is to act on them for pecuniary gain.”

As Cooke elaborates, “Trump often uses Truth Social as the primary forum for his announcements — announcements that include changes to personnel, the imposition or rescission of tariffs, key foreign policy decisions, and more. These announcements are extremely useful to financial institutions, and, in the age of high-speed trading, the faster those financial institutions can obtain them, the more money those financial institutions can make. Facilitating this access is not a byproduct of Truth Social’s API offering; it is its core — perhaps its sole — purpose. Simply put: President Trump is charging Americans a fee — a fee that, in part, goes into his family’s pockets — for the privilege of receiving news about his official actions earlier than those who do not pay.”
According to Cooke, it is “obvious how unequivocally corrupt this setup is. Technically speaking, the beneficiaries will not gain the information they seek directly from Trump himself, but indirectly, via an API (Application Programming Interface) whose output will be processed by a bunch of semi-autonomous servers and acted upon according to a set of predetermined parameters. But the results will be the same as if Trump had personally picked up the phone.”



There is "no easy way down" for Chump as he continues his descent.  Sarah K. Burris notes:

Voters who elected President Donald Trump are not happy.

John Gannon, a lifelong Republican and Texas businessman, who voted for Trump, told CBS News the president's administration is "destroying families, jobs." His fiancée was detained by ICE. "They are picking up law-abiding citizens," he told the report.
The couple was headed to Las Vegas for a convention when Gannon's fiancée was nabbed by plainclothes federal agents.

"After leaving the United room, eight officers, ICE agents, swarmed Yasmin and detained her. (They) didn't tell us why and wrestled her off into a car," he recalled of fiancée Yasmin Suarez Reyes.

Trump said throughout the 2024 campaign that he was only going to deport the "worst of the worst" and "criminals." The reality has been something different. Top Trump advisor Stephen Miller, at one point, put a quota on ICE to arrest at least 3,000 people daily. Politico reported that the White House then began to backtrack on the demand.

"Go after the criminals. We're all for that. But leave the mom and pops and the kids alone. Man, he's destroying families," Gannon added.


His war on immigrants awoke the nation and led to nation wide protests.  A letter to the editors of THE LOS ANGELES TIMES makes it clear how fake and harmful his round ups are:

Thank you to the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California for exposing the truth about President Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids (“Racial slurs and a Google search for car washes: What court records reveal about L.A. immigration raids,” July 29). The claim that they targeted dangerous criminals was always a sham — and ICE agents’ own texts prove it.
They weren’t methodically tracking known criminals. They were Googling the nearest Home Depots, targeting any Latinos they saw, pulling stunts for social media and behaving like they are above the law.
We’ve seen it firsthand. Last June, I responded to an ICE raid in Huntington Park where then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had an entire camera crew — complete with a hair and makeup team — while families were left terrified.
The Harbor Area Peace Patrol documented ICE agents on Terminal Island swapping license plates and even removing them from their vehicles all together.
These raids have been the most sickening abuse of government power in my lifetime. We are a long way away from accountability — but the ACLU’s work has helped bring the truth to light.
Janice Hahn, San Pedro
This writer is a Los Angeles County supervisor.

On the Los Angeles raids, Ashleigh Fields (THE HILL) notes legal action:


A federal judge held the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in contempt following the agency’s delay in complying with an order to release digital copies of communication on the cellphones of more than 800 immigration agents, according to an order unsealed Tuesday. 

District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, an appointee of former President Biden, ordered DHS to provide imaging from agents’ personal cellphones in January following several immigration raids in Los Angeles last year. 
In the order, plaintiffs alleged the cellphone communications had evidence to support racial profiling allegations against immigration officers.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Public Counsel and other immigration advocacy groups also accused agents of using racial slurs during interactions and argued that access to cellphone data would provide evidence to support their claims. 


Chump's given free reign to crazies like the now gone Gregory Bovino and the still present Stephen Miller to attack and terrorize immigrants (and people mistaken for immigrants).  That was always how it was going to be and that's why some of us noted the importance of supporting Kamala Harris (while others, like Amy Goodman on DEMOCRACY NOW!, did "two [segments] slamming Kamala, two saying Kamala and Chump were the same and one focusing on what Chump did in his first term"  -- see Ava and my "Media: How Amy Goodman harmed immigrants and helped elect Chump").  We knew that it invited racial profiling.  It invited targeting.  And it would target immigrants with no criminal background while also targeting US citizens.   Nicole Charky-Chami (RAW STORY) notes:

An 11-year Army soldier said he felt shocked and betrayed after ICE agents stormed into his wife's green card interview and detained her, Newsweek reported on Thursday.

Staff Sergeant Alexis Jaramillo, 43, described the disbelief after his wife, Maisa Lopes Eliaser, 32, was ripped from his side during what he, his wife, their son and translator thought was an adjustment-of-status appointment on July 8 in Montgomery, Alabama, according to Newsweek.
Lopes Eliaser is a Brazilian national with no criminal record.

"I feel really betrayed," Jaramillo told Newsweek. "I serve this country. And I deserve some security with my family. We were very excited because we knew we were doing the right thing and complying with the government. Then two people came and told me she was going to be detained."
[. . .]
Recent Associated Press reporting shows more than 50 parents and spouses of active-duty service members have been detained since President Donald Trump's second term began in January 2025. At least six have been deported and one self-deported.




Pete Hegseth can't stand up for the troops the way a real Secretary of Defense would do.  Prissy Pete's too busy trying to be one of the boys. In the process, he's failing the troops.  Another example?  Travis Gettys (RAW STORY) notes:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is accused of deliberately obscuring the true human cost of the war with Iran – and potentially depriving benefits from the families of service members killed in the conflict.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) publicly called out the Pentagon for quietly removing recent casualty figures from an internal tracking system and reclassified them under a vaguer category, saying the move was "an ongoing manipulation by the Trump administration to hide the true cost of the war in Iran to the American people," reported MS NOW.
“For the purposes of the VA, for example, when you become a veteran, you get a different pension based on whether or not you are a combat-connected injury, or whether your injury was just in operational service,” Duckworth said, calling the reclassification “a slap in the face to our Gold Star families.”

“We actually have folks who have been killed," she added, "and we have one who is still missing in action, that the Gold Star families now don’t have real answers from the Trump administration as to what has happened to their loved ones."
The Illinois Democrat, an Iraq War veteran and Purple Heart recipient, plans to introduce the Honoring the Sacrifice of Troops in War Act in the Senate on Thursday, legislation aimed at forcing transparency in how the Defense Department tracks and reports casualties from military operations, and restoring all casualty records tied to Iran operations dating back to Feb. 28.

It's a shame that Duckworth has to go through the trouble of introducing legislation for this.  But that's what happens when a preening Pete becomes Secretary of Defense.  All the make up in the world can't hide the psoriasis and all the make up in the world can't make him look like a warrior either.


U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and the entire New Mexico congressional delegation are demanding answers from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after revelations that a Department of Defense GPS jamming exercise contributed to a medical plane crash that killed four crew members and ignited a wildfire that burned nearly 32,000 acres.
In a letter obtained exclusively by MeidasTouch, Heinrich was joined by Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández, Melanie Stansbury, and Gabe Vasquez, all Democrats, in pressing Hegseth for accountability over the Pentagon's role in the May 13 crash in Lincoln County.

Just before midnight that night, a Beechcraft King Air medical transport plane carrying two pilots and two flight nurses took off from Roswell bound for Sierra Blanca Regional Airport in Ruidoso to pick up a patient for transport to Albuquerque. According to the lawmakers, the aircraft's GPS was jammed by a scheduled military test event in the area, causing the routine medical flight to overshoot its landing pattern by 10 miles. At 12:15 a.m. on May 14, the plane slammed into the side of the Capitan Mountains, killing all four crew members instantly and sparking a wildfire that burned for three weeks before crews could contain it.

And yet the Secretary of Defense and the President of the United States stayed silent about it for months and months.  They didn't apologize to families of the four killed, they didn't own up to the American people what had taken place.  And they still haven't.  They seem to think no one will know if they just continue to ignore what took place. 




Hegseth's failures just keep piling up.  In yesterday's snapshot, we noted the conditions on the USS LINCOLN and Bruce Golding (INDEPENDENT) reports:

Morale is plummeting on an American aircraft carrier that's running short of food and other supplies as its exhausted crew wages President Donald Trump's war against Iran, worried family members say.

Sailors and Marines serving on the USS Abraham Lincoln have told relatives about being served a half-cup of rice and two tortillas for a meal, and said the ship's store often lacks soap, deodorant and toothpaste, MS NOW reported Wednesday.
Crew members are also worn out by working long, grueling shifts, with some rarely getting a day off, and described broken toilets, moldy showers without hot water and no laundry service for weeks at a time, relatives said.

“The morale is not good,” said Bonnie York, whose stepson is aboard the Lincoln. “Apparently, the ship’s doctor or therapist said they need to hit port soon or people are going to start, you know, losing their minds.”


On the food issue, Cybele Mayes-Osterman (USA TODAY) reported back on April 16th:

Dan F. was alarmed when his daughter, a Marine aboard the USS Tripoli, a warship deployed to fight the Iran war, sent him a photo of a meal served on the ship. A lunch tray, two-thirds empty, carried one small scoop of shredded meat and a single folded tortilla.

A picture of a mid-April dinner on the USS Abraham Lincoln, shared by a service member with his family, was similarly unappetizing – a small handful of boiled carrots, a dry meat patty and a gray slab of processed meat.

Dan and other military family members worried that their loved ones deployed to the Middle East are going hungry are filling boxes with items they hope could help service members ride out prolonged deployments in the Middle East – homemade fudge, Jolly Ranchers, crossword puzzle books, playing cards, toothpaste, Girl Scout cookies and fresh socks.

But mail delivery to military ZIP codes across the Middle East has been indefinitely suspended as of April, and packages in transit now hang in limbo.
Dan asked to go by his first name only to protect his daughter from retaliation.

Both the Navy and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth denied reports of food problems.

"My team confirmed the logistics stats for the Lincoln & Tripoli," Hegseth said in a post on X. "Both have 30+ days of Class I supplies (food) on board. NavCent monitors this everyday, for every ship. Our sailors deserve -- and receive --  the best."

Well, Pete, doesn't seem like you're ensuring that the troops have the best.  Not if the issue is still being raised over three months later.  In fact, that would appear to indict you as a lying, do-nothing who wants the title of Secretary of Defense but doesn't want to do any actual work that comes with the position.  Robert Gates, Chuck Hagel, Lloyd Austin, Leon Panetta -- even Donald Rumsfeld -- would have been publicly raising hell if they found out that sailors on US carrier didn't have adequate provisions.  Adam Lynch notes MS NOW's Priya Sridhar reporting:

“Deployment was extended for a second time, and they're concerned that this could lead to accidents that could potentially turn deadly,” said Sridhar. And then on top of that, … they're telling me that the sailors and the marines can't take hot showers, that the toilets are nonoperational, that for weeks at a time, there are no access to working laundry facilities, and that they're having to stand in lines to get into the ship's store for 1 to 2 hours. And when they get there, there are no basic hygiene items like toothpaste, deodorant or soap.”

The families’ frustration, added Sridhar, is that they’re hearing about the nation’s winnowing stockpiles of munitions and weapons, which Trump and his defense secretary keep blowing on Iran, and a $67 billion Department of Defense request, and they want their loved ones to be part of the conversation too.


Winnowing stockpiles of munitions and weapons?  Oh, yeah, the reality that has Chump hissing "treason."  Edith Olmsted (THE NEW REPUBLIC) explains:

President Donald Trump is crashing out about a report that he confronted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the U.S. military’s depleted munitions stockpile.

Trump took to Truth Social within the first hour of Thursday to hit back at The Washington Post for reporting that tensions between Hegseth and the president had “boiled over” on the sidelines of a Cabinet meeting at Camp David last week.
“The U.S. has massive amounts of ‘munitions,’ especially of certain types,” Trump wrote. “Additionally, large amounts are being manufactured and shipped to the U.S. as needed. Defense companies are building the largest number of plants and factories in our country’s history.”

“The ‘leakers’ of these treasonous statements are being hunted down. Long term jail sentences will be sought!” Trump wrote. Notably, Trump didn’t deny unloading on Hegseth.

This isn’t the first time the Trump administration has challenged reports that the country’s weapons stockpile is low, and still managed to threaten the leakers with jail time. If the story is false, then why would it be treasonous to tell it?




Steve Benen (MS NOW) addresses Chump's 'treasonous' response:

The first problem with this is that Trump’s efforts to downplay the depleted stockpiles contradict comments he made last week, when the Republican acknowledged the problem he now seems eager to paper over.
The second problem is that Trump’s online statement contradicts itself: The president can argue that the latest reporting is false, or he can argue that the reporting is based on “treasonous leaks.” But to argue both at once doesn’t make sense. As Mother Jones’ David Corn recently summarized in response to a different story, “It’s only a leak if it’s true.”



Using publicly available data, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a national security think tank, estimated that by the end of July, the US had between 759 and 827 Patriot missiles left, down from 2,330 before the conflict began.
It also estimates the US has now used around 60% of terminal high altitude area defense (THAAD) missiles, which are deployed to intercept strikes, Mark Cancian, a retired Marine Corps colonel and senior adviser at CSIS, said on Wednesday.

And Joe DePaolo (MEDIAITE) notes Joe Scarborough's response to the news:

Joe Scarborough was off from Morning Joe on Thursday — but still managed to deliver a hot take that’s sure to get people talking in Washington and beyond.

In a fiery post on X on Thursday, Scarborough sounded off about the blockbuster Washington Post report about President Donald Trump clashing at Camp David with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over what The Post characterized as “extreme munitions shortages that now threaten to limit military options with Iran.”
Scarborough called it an “unforgivable blunder” compounded by Hegseth’s refusal to acknowledge the shortage.

“When Hegseth attacks media questions on this extreme munitions shortage as “fake news,” he makes this unforgivable blunder worse,” Scarborough wrote. “Congress needs to take action. Americans need the truth. Hegseth can’t give it. He needs to go.”



Turning to Chump's former roll dog, the late Jeffrey Epstein, Brett Meiselas (MEIDASTOUCH NEWS) notes:

President Donald Trump's plan to haul Rupert Murdoch into a deposition just hit a wall.

A federal judge on Wednesday granted The Wall Street Journal's request to freeze discovery in Trump's defamation lawsuit over the newspaper's reporting on Jeffrey Epstein, a significant procedural victory that came just hours after lawyers argued over whether the case should be dismissed altogether.
U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles issued the order after hearing oral arguments in Miami federal court on the Journal's motion to dismiss Trump's amended complaint. In a paperless order entered later that day, Gayles stayed, or paused, all discovery pending his decision on whether the lawsuit can proceed.
The decision means Trump cannot force Murdoch, or anyone else connected to the case for that matter, to sit for depositions while the judge decides whether the lawsuit survives. If Gayles ultimately dismisses the case with prejudice, as the Journal has requested, Murdoch may never have to answer Trump's questions under oath.





Stunned may describe Chump's reaction to that Mother Tucker Carlson.  Travis Gettys (RAW STORY) explains:

The former Fox News host invoked the late sex offender – and former Trump pal – Jeffrey Epstein as a symbol of the elite class to which the president belongs and has failed to hold accountable, and Carlson seemingly took a step toward a possible 2028 presidential bid by outlining his "America First" priorities, reported The Daily Beast.
The 57-year-old broadcaster has spent months building a dissident wing within MAGA, teaming with former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, 52, who resigned from Congress earlier this year after a bitter split with Trump over what she called broken campaign promises.

Both accuse Trump, 80, of abandoning "America First" principles by entangling the U.S. in the Iran war, deferring to Israel on foreign policy, and mishandling the release of the Epstein files.



New Mexico’s attorney general sued the Trump Administration’s Department of Justice and acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche this week over the DOJ’s refusal to share un-redacted documents from its files on Jeffrey Epstein. The state is investigating crimes that took place at Epstein’s Zorro Ranch in Stanley, New Mexico (pictured above, located in Santa Fe County). The ranch, which Epstein purchased in 1993, is mentioned more than 10,000 times in the files.

“New Mexico has a duty to protect survivors and investigate crimes committed in our state so that perpetrators can be held accountable,” New Mexico’s Attorney General Raúl Torrez said in a statement. “We asked the Department of Justice to cooperate by providing access to records that may be critical to identifying victims, witnesses, and additional criminal conduct at Zorro Ranch. Their delay is actively hurting our criminal investigation and delaying justice Epstein survivors deserve.”

The lawsuit (which can be read here) was filed in federal court in Washington, DC yesterday, and argues that the DOJ’s refusal to provide the documents “violates the Administrative Procedure Act and unlawfully interferes with New Mexico’s sovereign authority to investigate and prosecute crimes committed within its borders.”



CNN's Jake Tapper was stunned to hear New Mexico's attorney general suggest that a Trump official lied under oath.

During an interview with Tapper on Wednesday, New Mexico AG Raul Torrez discussed the Department of Justice's handling of records related to dead sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein's Zorro Ranch. Torrez filed a lawsuit against the DOJ on Wednesday after it ignored a deadline to hand those records over.
"They've never worked with us," Torrez said. "We asked for this information as a law enforcement agency. It's a very common practice for us to reach out to federal prosecutors and investigators and ask for the kinds of investigative files that are at issue here."

Torrez said that the DOJ directed them to the District of New Mexico, "which was odd," and he "knew full well" that that office "didn't have the whole range of files that we were looking for." Torrez complied nonetheless but was still unable to get unredacted files that he needed to investigate Zorro Ranch.
"The bottom line is they're not cooperating," Torrez said. "They're stonewalling this investigation, and that's why we had to take legal action today."
Tapper pointed out that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who currently heads the DOJ, told Congress under oath that the DOJ would cooperate with the New Mexico Department of Justice and help it get the information that it needed. What Torrez was describing suggested that this wasn't true and that Blanche was refusing to cooperate with the New Mexico AG.

"I'm just stunned because you're suggesting that he lied to Congress when he said that under oath," Tapper said. "Lying to Congress is obviously illegal."





MS NOW notes that the Senate is wrapping up business today before going on their planned recess which starts Saturday.


One of the things that they want to do is confirm Todd Blanche as Attorney General.  And on that, let's note this from Senator Patty Murray's office:

Murray: “Mr. Blanche told us all exactly what he plans to do if Senators confirm him. His goal was to make the Dobbs decision ‘permanent in every single state.’ Every. Single. State.”

Murray: “This isn’t just a confirmation vote anymore—it’s a roll-call vote on which Senators endorse banning abortion in all 50 states from the federal level. I’m voting NO.”

ICYMI: At Hearing with Acting AG Blanche, Senator Murray Blasts Outrageous Creation of $1.8 Billion MAGA Slush Fund, Presses for Apology to Epstein Victims

***WATCH: Senator Murray’s remarks***

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, spoke on the Senate floor ahead of the vote to confirm Todd Blanche as Attorney General. Murray condemned Blanche for his disqualifying track record and outright corruption. Murray also sounded the alarm on Blanche’s recent comments made during a private call where Blanche says he will work to make the Dobbs decision “permanent in every single state.”

Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered, are below:

“M. President, I was never going to come out here and support Todd Blanche for a long list of reasons. I believe he is one of the most corrupt Justice Department officials in our country’s history, for one. He was Trump’s former personal lawyer—and it seems that he never quit!

“The only difference now is that the taxpayers are signing his checks instead of Trump. He was the one who negotiated a $1.8 billion slush fund to pay off violent insurrectionists, and who cut a backroom deal to give the President and his entire corrupt family immunity from IRS investigations.

“Not to forget, Todd Blanche is the guy who botched the Epstein files so badly that survivors had their names and faces exposed, while the names of alleged abusers were hidden. This is a man, who wouldn’t meet with survivors until Senators put him under a tremendous amount of public pressure. And when the meeting eventually got on the books, survivors made it crystal clear that Blanche didn’t listen to them. He was more interested in checking a box than hearing their stories or bringing them justice. 

“All of that is of course absolutely unacceptable and disqualifying. But I come here today to sound the alarm on some of the most disturbing comments I have ever heard from our nation’s top law enforcement official. M. President, I guess Todd Blanche thought no one was listening.

“Because on a private call with anti-abortion activists Mr. Blanche told us all exactly what he plans to do if Senators confirm him.

“His goal was to make the Dobbs decision ‘permanent in every single state.’ Every. Single. State. Not just Texas or Idaho. He wants to ban abortion in Washington state. California. New York. In every state.

“He told them, ‘We will have victory, and victory will be soon, and it will be permanent.’ Victory over what, exactly? Victory over women who just want to make their own health care decisions? Victory over patients in states where abortion is legal?

“Where voters have said, over and over, at the ballot box: keep your hands off our rights.

“Now, a DOJ spokesperson tried to clean up Blanche’s words. Saying he was only focused on restricting access to medication abortion in all 50 states—as if that’s somehow better.

“Well, I’m here to say I believe the tape. I believe Todd Blanche’s own words.

“So let’s be crystal clear about what this vote is. A vote to confirm Todd Blanche is a vote to endorse his fight to ban abortion in all fifty states. Whatever happened to this is states’ decision? So every Republican who votes yes is voting for exactly that—his words, not mine. And any Republican who votes to confirm him will own that. In every state. In every election.

“So, M. President, this isn’t just a confirmation vote anymore—it’s a roll-call vote on which Senators endorse banning abortion in all 50 states from the federal level. I’m voting no.”

###



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