Attribution: DEMOCRATS’ UNITY RIPPED BY INFIGHTING by Paul Duginski
Paul Duginski has spent a half-century in journalism, including 27-1/2 years at the Los Angeles Times, and 13 years at the Sacramento Bee. His cartoons have appeared in the L.A. Times, the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, the San Jose Mercury News, the San Francisco Examiner and the McClatchy Bee newspapers in California, among other places. He was an award-winning graphics journalist at the L.A. Times.
Tom Lehrer – We Will All Go Together When We Go
The Tom Lehrer Wisdom Channel
One year ago last week, a warning from Carville (you know that guy who said “it’s the economy, stupid”)
Democratic Strategist Describes Party As Being ‘In Shambles’ In NYT Op-Ed
Democratic strategist James Carville said party members are also describing it as “constipated, leaderless and confused”
Democratic strategist James Carville said the party is rudderless at the moment, with many members agreeing at the moment. In an op-ed published in the New York Times on Monday, he agreed, saying the “Democratic Party is in shambles.”
He went on to say that Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the party’s mayoral primaries in New York City wasn’t an isolated event, but represented an “undeniable fissure in our political soul.”
After enumerating several issues in which party members can’t agree on, he said Democrats are “steamrolling toward a civilized civil war.” And even though he said it is necessary to have it, “it’s even more necessary to delay it.”
“The only thing that can save us now is an actual savior, because a new party can be delivered only by a person — see Barack Obama in 2008 and Bill Clinton in 1992,” Carville claimed. However, he said, that person won’t arrive until after next year’s midterms.
“Until then, we must run unified in opposition to the Republicans to gain as many House seats as possible in the midterms, because every congressional seat we gain in 2026 means we will be more likely to bring about change in 2028,” Carville said.
He claimed there’s “good news on that front” not due to “tantalizing political scandal surrounding the president right now” but the impact that Donald Trump’s policies will have on the population. He listed his “big, beautiful bill and the impact on Medicare and Medicaid as an example, as well as “endless wars.”
“We’ve never had a simpler, more unifying oppositional message. Soon it will no longer be possible to avoid a brawl between the factions ignited back in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary,” Carville concluded.
The $22,000,000,000 Trump-proposed upgrade to Dulles airport is long overdue. Those people
movers from 1962 are getting a bit long in the tooth. LaGuardia was improved ;
it’s time to renovate Dulles. I used to fly into both airports once in a while. It’s time.
Agreed Dexter, Dulles is in dire need of a makeover — but not at the cost of naming it for him!
It’s the “MIDEAST WAR” Now
Covering the Coverage
Coverage across the media ecosystem reveals a rapid unraveling of the brief operational pause, framing the shift from localized conflict to a broader regional war through drastically different analytical lenses. While mainstream and financial outlets center on market panic and spiking crude prices following the shattering of the fragile truce, security-focused and conservative framing emphasizes swift military retaliation via joint U.S.-Saudi airstrikes in Iraq. Meanwhile, regional state-aligned channels highlight conflicting casualty claims and sovereignty violations.
— Human-directed. AI-generated. Powered by Gemini (Pro).
Talarico leads Paxton by 5 points in new poll — commanding lead among independents and a surprising edge with non-college-educated voters, who have consistently favored Republicans. Paxton’s vote share is the lowest he has received in a public poll since winning the runoff against Cornyn. — Texas Tribune
On Carville’s NYT essay (Trail Mix Free Link): I don’t think it’s helpful to call the rise of Mamdani Democrats a “fissure in our political soul”. Carville is clearly hostile to these challengers, despite calling for unity.
Craig, he’s probably changed his mind on Mamdani by now.
BTW my take on why Mitch isn’t showing up: good excuse not to have to face voting with/against his GOPer colleagues on Dodo bills.
Here’s what putting Stephen Miller in charge of a violent war against Hispanics gets you. This won’t be playing out just in Texas.
PatD, Carville put on a suit and combed his bald head for the New York TImes, but on his podcast he’s been shockingly hostile to Mamdani, calls for him to leave the party. Really unhinged stuff.
Carville lost me a long time ago. Seems about the onliest thing he ever did was help get Clinton elected. And even that was mostly the work of Ross Perot.
Has he accomplished anything lately (besides calling stump a son-of-a-bitch)?
Maybe time for him to shut up and eat his oatmeal.
Might be time for ALL of these elderly butt-wipes to make like horseshit and hit the damn trail.
Except for Bernie.
Carville fell in love with his accent and the tally light on the cameras. He has not been useful for decades. He is one of the center of center political types. But, he is reliable for showing up and yacking away on any talking head tv show.
Here is an issue which divides Democratic voters from “establishment” Democratic politicians.
While most establishment Democratic politicians still blindly support Israel’s genocide of Palestinians and Lebanese, Democratic voters do not.
From The Guardian
The destruction of Gaza following the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023 – and Israeli military action in Lebanon, Iran and elsewhere – have shattered many longstanding paradigms, including the political calculus around US-Israel relations. Aipac has rapidly become the most toxic brand on Capitol Hill. Israel’s standing among American voters has plummeted. Eight in 10 Democrats hold an unfavorable view of Israel, according to recent polling. “You rarely see a shift in public opinion this rapid,” noted Democratic pollster Adam Carlson. “The closest thing I can think of is gay marriage, and that [took] almost a decade. This is happening over the course of two or three years.”
As promised: One Spanakopita recipe
Call your Senator NOW at (202) 224-3121: Demand a NO vote on Todd Blanche Attorney General confirmation. Senate committee votes tomorrow. Call for the Epstein survivors.
RE: James Carville’s advice to Democratic voters…
I don’t trust him. He supports the corrupt establishment Democrats. His call for us to work together until after the mid-terms is dishonest. What he really wants is to keep progressives out of office.
The Clinton political machine is dead. It is irrelevant.
It was the neo-liberal policies of Bill and Hillary Clinton and continued by Obama (whose campaigns all were funded by corporate donors) that drove the working class away from the Democratic party over the last 40 years.
The neo-liberal strategy is: “liberal on social issues but conservative on economics.” That was the strategy of the establishment Democrats. But now they are even abandoning the “liberal on social issues” part of their strategy. They are now calling themselves “centrists.” The mainstream news media keeps using this term, which is deliberately misleading.
What the establishment Democrats really are now is “moderate conservatives.”
Unless the Democratic party becomes liberal on economics and social issues, as it was from 1930s through the 1960s, it will continue to lose elections, and the USA will continue its steady march toward GOP fascism. The progressive Democratic movement has to fight against both the GOP and the corrupt leadership of its own party.
ICE: Trump’s personal paramilitary force.
In his first term, Trump learned that the U.S. military would not cooperate with his his plan to stage a military coup after he lost the election in 2020. And he saw that the Jan 6 rioters were not an organized and armed force. That’s why they failed.
When Trump won in 2024, he decided to build up ICE as paramilitary force. ICE’s primary purpose is NOT to deal with undocumented immigrants. That is a smokescreen.
ICE’s concentration camps were NOT built to house Immigrants: they were built to hold Trump’s political enemies (Democrats).
In 2024 ICE had 10,000 armed officers. Now they have 22,000. Trump has deliberately recruited 12,000 white supremacists to fill the ranks and has repeatedly incited them to be violent.
After the mid-terms, regardless of the results, I expect the number of ICE agents to swell to 100,000 or more. Then Trump will have a private army, like Hitler’s SA or “Brown Shirts.”
Unlike the January 6 rioters, ICE will be organized and heavily armed and will allow Trump to seize total dictatorial control of the government. Democratic politicians and judges will be arrested, the mainstream news media will be silenced, and the military will eventually fall into line.
Hitler did this. Trump can do it also. He’s going to try.
I estimate that his chance of success with a paramilitary coup is at 50%
We are a coin flip away from becoming a 21st century version of Nazi Germany. (Stephen Miller is the fascist brain behind all of this.)
today’s meme…
HA!
The Maine Democrats need to hold onto this U.S. House seat…
From today’s Portland Press Herald.
Former Gov. Paul LePage, the Republican nominee for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District in November, declined to answer a question this week about whether he supports President Donald Trump’s military actions in Iran.
LePage, a 77-year-old Lewiston native whom Trump has endorsed in the race to succeed U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, was asked an Iran-related question as part of a Q&A that the Press Herald conducted with him and State Auditor Matt Dunlap, the Democratic nominee in the 2nd District race.
LePage campaign adviser Brent Littlefield responded by text message Monday on LePage’s behalf to questions related to Trump and healthcare but did not reply to repeated requests to answer whether LePage supports the Trump administration’s actions to date in Iran. The campaign also would not say whether LePage, if elected to Congress, would vote to limit or block Trump’s actions in Iran.
RebelliousRene: I love the Mitch photos. 😁
Also, I used to read those Disney books as a child in the 1950s.
My favorite was “Sleeping Beauty.”
More news from Maine…
From today’s Portland Press Herald
A new law that takes effect Wednesday limits when state and local law enforcement agencies in Maine can work with federal immigration officials.
Police departments and sheriff’s offices will no longer be allowed to contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents for translation services if they encounter someone who doesn’t speak English, or relay personal information to federal officials unless it’s necessary for enforcing criminal laws.
Under the law, law enforcement agencies also can’t hold people for ICE, based solely on civil immigration enforcement. Jails, which are run by county sheriffs, will also be prohibited from notifying ICE about an inmate’s release date or honoring the federal agency’s detainer requests.
Immigrant rights advocates said the new law — in addition to two others that limit ICE arrests in housing, state healthcare facilities and schools — will improve trust in Maine officials and ensure public safety, regardless of immigration status.
𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍 Chat Now🚨
On YouTube🎙️11am (ET) until NOON
Grab a Mic, Cam or Keyboard → https://trailmix.cc/stage
More options at https://trailmix.cc/chat
WATCH here 👇
carville is just echoing everyone else regarding the state of the party, he’s not inaccurate
you DSA’ers overestimate your support cuz you’re in your DSA bubble
Carville’s analysis is usually accurate but his strategies are for electorate that doesn’t exist anymore
or how to break through to Maga types, which is impossible
Whoever named it “Artificial” was bad at branding.
The red-scare tactics still work on older magas and will bring them out of their lazee-boys, walkers, and wheelchairs to get to their ice-patrolled polling places.
The Anthony Fauci hearing is simply desperation by GOP to animate MAGA voters for the midterms. They are horribly desperate as gas prices rise, inflation is rising, stock market sliding and no job creation. This red meat BS is all the GOP has!
One of the first things I noticed when I “got old” was a sudden clear understanding one day of the first line of Chapter 2 in
Vonnegut’s
SLAUGHTERHOUSE 5.
Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time, jumping randomly between his birth, his service in World War II, and his abduction by aliens
It felt kinda like that time I realized the joke of Fred Sanford pulling out that drawer full of eye-glasses..
“…his abduction by aliens.”
That kilts me…..
analysts view it as Rand Paul’s 2028 POTUS candidacy soft-launch
New Bridge in Hamburg
wow what a little shit josh hawley is
Today in the Diner…
Todd Blanche Blocked & Ken Paxton Trails
Todd Blanche faces a Senate roadblock from John Cornyn over DOJ slush funds, while a new Texas poll shows Ken Paxton trailing James Talarico.
We are serving up a massive plate of political absurdity today on the Digital Diner. Acting AG Todd Blanche is suddenly hitting a major confirmation wall. Republican Senators John Cornyn and Tom Tillis are threatening to hold up his nomination, demanding written proof that the DOJ slush fund is abolished and demanding answers on Ghislaine Maxwell getting special prison treatment. It turns out that rubber-stamping the agenda is slightly harder when lawmakers want receipts.
Down in Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton might actually be in trouble. A fresh poll shows Democrat James Talarico leading Paxton by five points, gaining unexpected ground with independent and working-class voters. Meanwhile, up in Washington DC, the National Guard is bizarrely occupying a Dupont Circle 7-Eleven and signing massive contracts for luxury digs at the Patterson Mansion.
Finally, we dive into a wild Department of Justice border search case out of Atlanta involving a Google Pixel phone wipe, and demand Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear force a special election regarding Mitch McConnell. From Sherrod Brown holding the line in Ohio to Trump tanking in the polls, the menu is fully loaded.
Live Chat: https://trailmix.cc/chat
Website: https://trailmix.cc
Alerts: https://trailmix.cc/alerts
00:00 Intro
00:16 James Talarico Leads Ken Paxton
02:07 Michigan Senate Race Worries
09:05 Cornyn and Tillis Block Todd Blanche
17:11 Ghislaine Maxwell Prison Treatment
19:19 Atlanta Google Pixel Border Wipe
26:01 National Guard at Dupont Circle
39:35 Mitch McConnell and Andy Beshear
43:26 Lindsey Graham Funeral Comments
52:33 Sherrod Brown Ohio Senate Race
— Human-directed. AI-generated. Powered by Gemini (Pro).
So Alan Ritchson is my new favorite person. Said it all!
Covid took my child but I don’t care where it started. It is Dodo who failed to contain it. He was too cowed by his followers to listen to his professionals.
Winter, if only I spoke German…
Anon, Hawley certainly is a little shit. I bet he pissed himself on 1/6/21.
🍽️ Watch Today’s Digital Diner
Tommy Tuberville is an ass. I was in Alabama at the time and it was Republicans who made it worse.
https://www.al.com/news/2026/07/tuberville-wants-fauci-to-stand-trial-in-alabama-claims-he-killed-millions-of-people.html
Fee-Fie-Fo-and-Fum on all raw milk guzzlers and anti-vaxxxers.
Hawley didn’t want to scuff his cute loafers on 1/6
Hawley in his put-on gruff and grizzled voice at the shoe store:
“can you show me something in cute Italian loafer”
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3ekn9d37qvo
Oscar-winning songwriter Glen Hansard killed in crash
The 56-year-old, who shot to prominence when he was cast in 1991 musical comedy film The Commitments, was long-time frontman of acclaimed rock band The Frames.
In 2010, he started an annual Christmas Eve busk in Dublin City Centre, which attracted high-profile musicians including Bono, Sinéad O’Connor and Shane McGowan.
*Heard him perform at a charity event. Will see if I have a clip from rehearsal. If you’re not familiar with him…
MICHIGAN SENATE: Abdul El-Sayed has released his 2025 federal tax return, But in their debate Haley said he had not?
According to Bridge Michigan, he still has not filed his 2026 personal financial disclosure. That’s a separate document from a tax return. Is that what Haley Stevens has been pressing him to release.
Pog – That-little-bitch-Josh-Hawley went from pumping his fist in solidarity with MAGAts, to scurrying to safety once they breached the building.
That-little-bitch-Josh-Hawley scurried so that Bug-in-a-human-suit-Ken-Paxton could run.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/josh-hawley-seen-fleeing-trump-mob-riled-newly-released-jan-6-footage-rcna39490
Josh Hawley seen fleeing pro-Trump mob he ‘riled up’ with fist salute in newly released Jan. 6 footage
Video of the Missouri Republican running away from the rioters elicited a burst of laughter in the congressional hearing room.
RIP
So I guess Haley was technically correct in the way she qualified her statement during the debate: “You have not released your full tax returns, $300,000 in other income…”
El-Sayed had only released the first two pages of his 2025 federal tax return on July 15, but had not released the full return and supporting schedules by the July 27 debate. That left more $292,881 in other income detailed in documents he didn’t release.
Elon Musk’s company sues Minnesota over ban on AI nudification technology
Minnesota’s ban is the first of its kind in the U.S.
In a reply Tuesday to a post on the lawsuit on the social media site X, which Musk owns, Gov. Tim Walz wrote: “See you in court, creep.”
Elon Musk’s company xAI sued Minnesota over its ban on AI “nudification” technology earlier this week, just days before the ban is set to go into effect.
Musk’s xAI, which developed the chatbot Grok, argues that Minnesota’s law violates the First Amendment and is “an overbroad, content-based ban on free speech and the tools of visual expression in a clumsy attempt to prohibit ‘nudification.’ ”
Minnesota’s ban — the first of its kind in the U.S. — prohibits AI nudification technology in Minnesota and allows affected parties to sue the platforms that allow nudification for damages, or to sue anyone who advertises that technology.
It’s not the first time Musk has challenged a Minnesota deepfake statute. He also filed suit against Minnesota’s law banning the dissemination of political deepfakes.
The author of the bill in the House, Rep. Jess Hanson, DFL–Burnsville, said in a statement Tuesday it’s “absolutely disgusting” that Musk is fighting the ban “designed to protect children from sexual exploitation.”
“Nudification is simply an indefensible tool of AI,” Hanson said. “As the use of AI continues to grow, so does its potential harms, with nudification features being among the most urgent to address — and that’s exactly why we banned them in Minnesota.”
At the time of the bill’s passage, Hanson said: “Governing bodies around the globe have failed to adequately regulate these evils in a timely manner. We need to ban nudification features because they allow users to create non-consensual, unauthorized, deep fakes of sexually explicit content, including child sexual abuse material.”
Though Minnesota is the first state to outright ban the technology, other bans are being proposed in other states such as Pennsylvania.
And, states like Texas, California, Florida, and Utah have advanced platform-level takedown measures, according multistate.ai, an online site that describes itself as “the leading resource on how state and local governments are regulating artificial intelligence (AI) and related emerging technologies.”
*MuskRat defending creepy Ai that can nudify anyone, children, your ex, anyone. Disgusting.
Just left a message for Rand Paul regarding: I support Dr. Fauci.
@guyfelicella
Damn socialists…
This is exactly how it starts.
First it’s groceries 30% cheaper. Then affordable housing. Then cheaper transit. Then accessible education.
Before you know it, people won’t be struggling enough.
*Mamdani showing everyone it can be better. Scares the crap out of money-grubbing, tax-dodging capitalists.
Grassley about to yank Blanche vote off tomorrow’s committee docket. Talks between Cornyn and White House broke down. Trump refusing to allow signed agreement giving up his slush fund/IRS audit immunity.
BiD, the mob would likely have failed to recognize him and strung him up by his heels.
The problem with the “lockdown was inflicted” pejorative is that the governments of every country on the planet that had the authority instituted some sort of lockdown
Fauci’s recommendations weren’t unique
our “lockdowns” were among the least restrictive
I’d love to be a fly on the wall when the Motion to Dismiss is argued. AP.
When about the only guy you can find to show that Comey “knew” that 86 meant to harm Dumbass is a mobster who doesn’t remember discussing the term with him, that case is built on nothing more than sand.
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/28/openai-rogue-models-hugging-face-breach-01014572
OpenAI’s rogue models roamed the internet for 4 days and staged a second attack
OpenAI admitted last week that two of its most advanced models escaped a closed testing environment and strung together a series of advanced hacking techniques to breach AI developer platform Hugging Face before being discovered.
But in a new analysis published Tuesday, Hugging Face said OpenAI’s two models — one publicly released and a second unreleased — did much more: They carried out 17,600 hacking actions on the internet between July 9 and July 13, during which time the models moved from their first foothold on the open internet to inside Hugging Face’s servers.
While the techniques detailed in Hugging Face’s analysis were not beyond the reach of most skilled hackers, the AI company wrote that the two models were able to reconnoiter and expose holes in the company’s layers of cyber defenses much faster than any human.
Adding to the scope of the situation, the chief tech officer of cloud computing platform Modal Labs, Akshat Bubna, confirmed to POLITICO that OpenAI’s models also compromised a customer account during this time frame.
*What an interesting way to show potential investors the power of their Ai models.
*What an interesting way to start building a cover story for when the government (or whomever is in charge) kills the power grid, takes over the water supply, monkeys with voting machines; blame Ai. (They’ve already started doing two out of three.)
Abdul: Taxes release: only a partial release so far.
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate released a two-page federal tax return Wednesday after weeks of pressure over his personal finances.
What was released:
– **2025 joint return with his wife Sarah Jukaku** showing $686,069 in total income and $675,246 adjusted gross income
– Breakdown: $130,749 in wages, $262,299 in capital gains and $292,881 in additional income
– Federal taxes owed of $134,942 with a $6,122 refund
What was not included:
– The public release did not include the supporting schedules detailing the capital gains or nearly $300,000 in additional income.
His campaign told local media the capital gains came from the sale of a property purchased by Jukaku’s parents in their names and the names of their children, and the additional income came from El-Sayed’s podcast and Jukaku’s medical practice. That’s considerably less detail than during his 2018 campaign for governor, when he released more detailed records including business income, rental properties and foreign-source rental income.
The release also does not replace the personal financial disclosure required of Senate candidates. Tax returns report income and taxes, while personal financial disclosures provide information about assets, liabilities and other financial interests.
He had requested an extension moving the deadline for that disclosure to Aug. 13, nine days after Michigan’s Aug. 4 Democratic primary. His primary opponent Rep. Haley Stevens criticized the release as insufficient, saying “Today he released a single form — still no full tax returns or personal financial disclosure”.
And from CNN. Heheheheh
Poor baby – doesn’t know the difference between official acts and personal acts whil ein office.
https://www.texastribune.org/2026/07/29/texas-data-centers-religion-opposition/
*Cherry-picking Christians are not picking data centers
Religion motivates data center opponents in Texas “A deal with the devil”
Some see the AI facilities as a sign of the apocalypse, others see an opportunity to advocate for environmental stewardship.
“As Christians, do we think that trading 2,100 acres of natural beauty for godless technological complexes is moving us closer to the creation, or further away?”
“Do we think that entering into negotiations with Google, Meta and Amazon are closer to making a covenant with God, or making a deal with the devil?” he asked the council.
Much of the opposition focuses on environmental impact and the large amounts of water and power needed by massive facilities that operate AI applications.
Clayton Tucker, a Democrat running for Texas agriculture commissioner, is a leader in the anti-data center movement. A Catholic, he wonders if data centers are akin to the apple in the Garden of Eden.
“If we take a bite of that apple of knowledge, is that what’s going to kick us out of this blue marble of Eden … that we call Earth?” Tucker said.
Whelp, Turd Blanche, it seems like your evil overlord is more concerned with hiding his taxes for eternity & stealing more taxpayer dollars than having you as his lackey AG.
https://www.texastribune.org/2026/07/22/texas-james-talarico-data-centers-regulation-senate-2026/
James Talarico calls for tighter regulations on data center development
Talarico’s proposals include:
setting minimum federal requirements to protect the grid, environment, jobs and transparency related to new data center development, “preventing a race to the bottom for communities competing to recruit data centers;”
ending “sweetheart tax deals for big tech companies” by repealing the state’s data center sales tax exemption;
ensuring large energy users pay for their own infrastructure and grid interconnection costs;
requiring data centers use closed-loop water systems that reuse a fixed amount of water;
granting local communities the authority to approve and reject data center development in their towns;
releasing government records detailing individual tax break data for data center facilities in Texas.
Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic nominee for governor, unveiled her own plan this week and called on Gov. Greg Abbott to take executive action to pause data center development.
She has attacked Gov. Greg Abbott for campaign contributions he’s accepted from donors with ties to data centers and blamed him for state policies, from Texas’ light regulatory touch to its tax incentives for data centers, that have contributed to the initial buildup of the facilities. Lawmakers expanded the sales tax exemption in 2015, during Abbott’s first term, creating a new tax break category for larger data center projects.
“That’s why there is this mad rush to start a data center in Texas — it is like the gold rush,” Hinojosa said during a virtual news conference Thursday. “Greg Abbott talks a big game about what he will do after the election. The thing is, he has the power to do it today.”
Hinojosa called on Abbott to sign an emergency executive order imposing a moratorium on data centers until the Legislature reconvenes in January, noting the governor could also call a special legislative session on the issue at any point before 2027.
Texas Senate shocker! New polling shows James Talarico leading Ken Paxton as GOP culture wars flop with independent and non-college voters. Watch the breakdown, full chat in today’s Digital Diner:
▶
Please call Rand Paul’s office and leave a message if you support Dr. Fauci:
202-224-3121
https://ballotpedia.org/Clay_Jenkins
Judge Clay Jenkins held a lot of pressers to let us know what was going on during Covid. He was a steady hand in a room full of willfully stupid (bootlickers) to Donny Dumbass.
Hitler’s Playbook – compared to Trump’s playbook
We are currently at step 3.
01. Seize control of a political party (Nazi)(GOP)
02. Attempt a coup, and fail (Beer Hall Putsch)(January 6th)
03. Build a paramilitary force (SA/Storm Troopers 4M) ICE (20K and growing)
04. Wait for a recession to throw the economy into chaos (Great Depression)(Iran war disrupts global oil supply => recession)
05. Use a minor crisis as a pretext to impose martial law (Burning of Reichstag.) (I’m sure Trump will find something to use as a pretext.)
06. Rely on your paramilitary force to physically seize control of the government. (ICE will be the guys with the guns who arrest Schumer, etal.)
07. Arrest your political opponents, have show trials, send them to a “camp.” (Dachau.)
(ICE detention centers)
08. Seize control of news media so the masses are told what you want them to hear. (Joseph Goebbels) (Fox News will be the ONLY source of news, in any medium.)
08. Get into a war with a great power, and lose (Russia … with tanks) (China…with nuclear weapons).
blueINdallas:
I loved that story about the cherry picking Christians. It gives me hope.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/exclusive-iran-chinese-shoulder-launched-030628359.html
Exclusive-Iran to get Chinese shoulder-launched missile systems in weeks, sources say
Iran is expected to receive within weeks a first shipment out of up to 400 Chinese-made shoulder-fired air-defence missile launchers, three sources familiar with the deal told Reuters, as it rebuilds its defences amid war with the United States.
The purchase, valued at $60-70 million, is one of Tehran’s largest-known efforts to strengthen its short-range air defences since the outbreak of its war with the U.S. and Israel, which exposed gaps in Iran’s ability to protect military sites and strategic infrastructure.
The contract covers the purchase of between 300 and 400 man-portable air defence systems (MANPADS), including Chinese-made QW-12 and FN-16 missiles, the sources said.
The deal was signed with Zhongqing Baoshang International Investment, a Hong Kong-based company that the sources said was acting as an intermediary between the Iranian side and the Chinese supplier.
https://abcnews.com/Health/trump-administration-end-medicare-part-subsidy-program-2027/story
*tRUMPco pushing everyone to an “advantage” plan; this is step one. Oz should have his medical license revoked.
Trump administration to end Medicare Part D subsidy program in 2027
Medicare Part D — the government health insurance program’s prescription drug benefit — is used by tens of millions of older or disabled beneficiaries.
That move will likely result in higher prescription costs and increase premiums for about half of recipients, according to an administration official.
Currently the government pays billions of dollars to insurance companies as a subsidy to keep prescription drug insurance at an average of $36 per person per month, according to KFF, a health policy nonprofit.
Ending the subsidies may increase premiums for some by as much as $20 a month, according to KFF.
The move comes as Affordable Care Act subsidies have expired and health care costs remain a top issue for voters ahead of the midterm elections.
Trump administration officials decried the Biden administration for signing the Inflation Reduction Act, which they allege bailed out major insurance companies and resulted in increased premiums for Americans. Trump officials also claim that billions of dollars were funneled to the companies through Biden’s signature legislation
At the time, Biden officials touted the Inflation Reduction Act for allowing the government to negotiate with drug companies about the pricing for some of their most expensive medicines.
We are stabilizing the market so this bailout is no longer needed,” Oz wrote in a post on X. “Premiums will go up by less than $10 for most Medicare recipients, with many even seeing LOWER premiums,” he wrote.
“Every Medicare beneficiary still has access to low-cost plans, and we will continue to lower prescription drug prices for every American patient, from more MFN deals to our policy giving seniors access to GLP-1s for $50 a month,” he added, referring to “most favored nation” deals under which pharmaceutical companies charge U.S. patients the same rate as they charge in other countries.
It’s been a great day in America for our side: Blanche going down, Talarico goes up, and all the Republicans can do is bash an 85 year old man.
https://apnews.com/article/world-cup-fifa-investors-kushner-infantino-uefa-e66dc5d5f9907f9ea5323716b7e49ca2
FIFA President Gianni Infantino set a Sept. 19 deadline on Wednesday for the 211 member federations to accept one-off $20 million offers as part of a project to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors.
The $20 billion FIFA subsidiary was blasted by international soccer organizations. European soccer body UEFA aims to call its 55 member federations to an emergency online meeting, likely on Thursday. The organization said “there is significant and growing opposition to FIFA’s scheme.”
The effort is being bankrolled by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.
The effort marks Infantino’s latest effort to align with those in the orbit of Trump: by creating the FIFA peace prize, letting Trump intervene in a process that led to United States forward Folarin Balogun playing at the World Cup, and now trying to lock in Joshua Kushner’s investment firm to a 12-year ownership deal with the Switzerland-based not-for-profit soccer body.
No statement by a currently serving Trump appointee has a shred of credibility.
*From today’s Talarico campaign email:
“We just got Ken Paxton’s FEC campaign finance report, and we’re up against even more Big Money than I thought.
Ken Paxton is raking in massive money to prop up his campaign. Five different donors gave him $250,000 or more — totaling $1,322,900. That’s Big Money.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ken-paxton-james-talarico-texas-california_n_6a67d945e4b047853044a632
Talarico has also brought up Paxton’s California upbringing while addressing Republican attacks that he somehow doesn’t embody the ethos of Texas, despite his family having deep roots in the state.
“Yeah, I think it’s funny because I’m the eighth-generation Texan in the race,” Talarico said earlier this month on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe.” “As you mentioned, Ken Paxton was born in North Dakota. He was raised in California. And I think California transplants like Ken Paxton can become Texans – that’s what’s great about our state. You know, Texas is a state of mind, as John Steinbeck wrote.”
Despite Paxton making the often-used “Don’t California my Texas” conservative argument to disparage Talarico, his past comments show that he enjoyed growing up there.
“The hardest for me was leaving California because I was a junior in high school, and to move from California to Lawton, Oklahoma, was somewhat of an adjustment,” Paxton said during an appearance on “The Trey Blocker Show” in 2017.
“I like places in California, even though I don’t like to admit that I go to California, but it’s beautiful.” Paxton said in 2025 on the “Swimming with the Sharks” podcast.
Ken Paxton’s many real estate holdings become an issue in Texas Senate race
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s long list of scandals has caused unease among some Senate Republicans.
Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, for example, said in May that Paxton “could reasonably be indicted for a felony.”
Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina added, “To call Paxton ethically challenged is to call Jeffrey Dahmer suffering from an eating disorder.”
ProPublica and The Texas Tribune reported that Paxton appears to have used an address where he did not live “while voting in six elections in the past two years.” (A spokesperson for the Republican called the story “a baseless, lie-filled tabloid story” but offered nothing of substance to challenge its accuracy.)
This might not seem especially notable, were it not for the fact that Paxton, just months earlier, reminded Texans that under state law, “you must register to vote using the address where you reside.”
This dovetailed with related questions about why the state attorney general and his now-estranged wife declared three separate homes as their primary residence in mortgage documents, a practice his party has, in other situations, characterized as an outrageous abuse.
Stepping back, however, the reporting sparked a related question: Just how many homes does Paxton own?
His 2026 opponent, Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, recently sat down with MS NOW’s Jen Psaki and offered an answer: “Since taking office, Ken Paxton has now become a multimillionaire, while our pay has remained stagnant for years, for decades. He now owns 11 homes, while most Texans can’t afford one,” he said.
According to publicly available documents, including financial disclosure filings, the answer is yes. Paxton, either in his personal capacity or through the trust that oversees his assets, owns five homes in Texas, three in Florida, two in Utah and one in Oklahoma. (Those same publicly available materials also point to a lot in Hawaii, although there does not appear to be any structure on the property.)
The Wall Street Journal similarly reported last fall, “The Paxtons now own at least 11 residential properties around the U.S. with an assessed value of $7.5 million.”
To date, Paxton has not made any public effort to contest Talarico’s talking point.
Late News from Maine:
Susan Collins’s political ads have gone negative Saying Jackson is just like Graham Platner (abusive to women), “accused of alleged” mortgage and tax fraud, etc. All bullshit.
I hope Troy Jackson’s ads respond with negativity about Collins. She is vulnerable in many ways that resonate with an angry Maine working class. (And they are VERY angry about price inflation in gasoline and groceries, and rents and house prices among younger people.)
The Cost of Living, why it got so High, should be the Democrats #1 issue in the mid-term elections.
Tillis is telling reporters Blanche vote “canceled”…
blueINdallas:
Ending Medicare part D is going to cost the GOP Millions of votes in 2028.
70 million people are currently on Medicare in the USA.
If half of them lose prescription drug coverage that is 35 million seniors who, as an age cohort vote in very high numbers.
This is suicidal for the GOP. Even though this change wouldn’t take immediate effect, news reports of this alone will definitely affect the midterms.
Correction.
45% of seniors will see increased drug costs .. they won’t lose all coverage. That’s 32 million seniors.
But drug price increases of any kind will infuriate senior voters who are already angry about price inflation in food, gasoline and, for many of them, rent.
Trump and the GOP are going to be met with a furious negative reaction in future polls.
Nash – That’s why Dems need to make sure it’s an issue in the midterms. Let voters know that Repugz did them dirty, and that it’s going to hurt them in 2027. (Honestly, 2028 feels like a pipe dream even though Dumbass will most likely be dead by then.)
Too bad open enrollment for 2027 doesn’t really kick in until after the election.
So, Dumbass wants to line his pockets with our tax dollars, some of which he will use to signal to his minions that they will get the same payout if they do his dirty work. They will not get jack squat because he won’t need them anymore. Also, he’ll probably be dead already. His chronological age may be 80, but his biological age is one-foot-in-the-grave.
In addition to Rant Paul, I called Bernie Moreno and Josh Hawley & told them their little show trial did nothing to help bring down cost of food, gas, healthcare, or do anything to help the people in their state. It was a show trial to appease Donald tRUMP. Shame on them. I stand with Dr. Fauci.
*I’m for sure on a list. LoL
https://www.gadgetreview.com/china-built-the-worlds-largest-fusion-magnet-artificial-sun
*What could go wrong? Could happen in the short term.
*What could go right? Could happen in the long term if it doesn’t go wrong in the short term.
Nash, already there.
NEW THREAD