Step 1: Remove filters in Reflecting Pool because Obama put them in.
Step 2: Give your criminal neighbor who runs "Greenwater Services" a $20 million no-bid contract to paint the pool.
Step 3: Fill the pool with water from the Potomac River, the phosphates from which cause algae blooms.
Step 4: Freshly sealed pool and extreme heat result in a super scum event
Step 5: Direct National Park Service to dump hydrogen peroxide into the pool which causes the paint to peel.
Step 5: Deploy US National Guard to stop people from taking photos of the swamp as a perfect metaphor for the administration.
Step 6: Blame someone else.
This is really stupid, and it’s not getting enough attention.
The Trump administration is pulling a working $368 million ocean monitoring system out of the water, equipment taxpayers already bought, built, and sank into the deep ocean.
And they are doing it right when the oceans are behaving in ways that alarm the scientists who study them.
Record-breaking temperatures.
A system of Atlantic currents that may be lurching toward collapse.
The response?
Yank out the instruments and walk away.
That is not budgeting. That is smashing the gauges while the engine is on fire and calling it efficiency.
For what? The Trump administration dressed it up as a “nimbler approach” and “smart lifecycle management,” which is fancy nonsense for “we shut it off and hoped nobody would ask why.” There is no return-on-investment analysis. They cannot show taxpayers save a dime, because the gear is already paid for and the science it produces protects real money and real lives.
The kicker: the same people killing the monitors want to mine the deep sea for minerals. So they are destroying the only tools that could measure what that mining does. That is not an accident.
That is the point. You cannot see the damage if you break the instruments first.
https://t.co/MzE4AW1QBv
This week, my amendment to ban billionaire-funded super PACs received unanimous support from my Democratic colleagues.
The momentum is growing. It’s time to repeal Citizens United, ban super PACs and move to the public funding of elections NOW.
At 4am, Senate Republicans gave the greenlight for the IRS to drop ALL investigations into Trump and his family.
That means if Trump is evading taxes, we’ll never know.
I have a bill to make this illegal. And I won’t stop fighting to get it done.
Ossoff: Last September, the President of Kazakhstan calls Donald Trump and says he wants to grant tungsten mining rights to an American company. And the very next month, Eric and Don Jr. get a stake in the American company pursuing the mining deal.
Six days later, six days after Prince Eric and Prince Don get their stake, Kazakhstan announces this company will get, “The largest known undeveloped tungsten resource in the world.” A few more weeks go by, and then the U.S. government, run by their father, sets aside 1.6 billion of your tax dollars to fund and finance their mining project. In Kazakhstan.
All this while you pay more for gas, for groceries, for health care, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
This is Nate Paul.
He was under FBI investigation for fraud. His real estate empire was collapsing after 18 properties filed for bankruptcy in a single year.
He wrote Ken Paxton a $25,000 check.
Then Paxton directed his AG’s office to hand Paul confidential investigative files.
They blocked foreclosure sales on his properties.
And they sided with Paul against the charity he was accused of defrauding.
Nate Paul even employed Paxton's mistress at Paxton’s recommendation.
Paxton's own senior staff reported his corruption to the FBI. They were fired.
This is what Ken Paxton does when he’s in a position of power — and it’s why he should be nowhere near the U.S. Senate.
After watching Stephen Colbert take his final bow last night, I made a decision:
I will no longer be watching CBS.
What happened to The Late Show was not just about one comedian or one television program. It was about something much bigger: whether billionaires, corporate executives, and media institutions will stand up for free speech — or bend the knee when Donald Trump comes after voices that challenge him.
Bari Weiss. CBS. The Ellison-controlled corporate leadership. Every powerful institution that believes it can silence criticism, appease Trump, and still keep the trust of the American people needs to hear us clearly:
Enough is enough.
Donald Trump is not a king.
Corporate America does not get to surrender our democracy for access, approval, mergers, or profit.
And the American people do not have to reward cowardice with our money, our ratings, or our silence.
So I am using my voice. I am turning CBS off.
I encourage every American who believes in democracy, free speech, and accountability to do the same. Stop supporting corporations that normalize authoritarianism. Stop giving ratings to institutions that bend when they should stand.
This is how we fight back peacefully: with our voices, our choices, and our power as citizens.
We do not have a king. We have a Constitution. We have a voice. And it is time to use it.
#BoycottCBS #StandWithColbert #NoKings #SpeakTruthToPower #EnoughIsEnough
This New York Times piece is worth your time. Here’s what is happening, as simply as I can put it.
Back in January, Trump sued the IRS, an agency he controls, demanding $10 billion over the leak of his tax returns a number of years ago.
IRS lawyers did their jobs. They wrote a memo laying out the defenses that could beat the suit, including the fact that Trump filed too late. His own lawyer was in court when the leaker pleaded guilty in October 2023, more than two years before Trump sued.
The Justice Department never showed up to court. Never argued back. Never used the defenses sitting on their desk.
The judge got suspicious and ordered both sides to explain whether they were actually opposing each other or just colluding. The day before that brief was due, Trump dropped the suit.
Same day, his Justice Department announced a $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded “anti-weaponization fund.”
Trump gets a formal apology. The IRS agrees to drop any audits of him and his family, even though a 2024 Times report found a loss in an ongoing audit could cost him over $100 million.
The acting Attorney General, Trump’s former criminal defense attorney, picks the five commissioners who decide who gets paid. Trump can fire any of them. Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are not ruled out.
This is the most corrupt thing I’ve ever seen from an American president.
Where in the hell are my Republican colleagues?
https://t.co/La0nlLuz1r
June 1, 1933: The "Fund of German Trade and Industry" is created, a huge slush fund administered by Martin Bormann in the Führer's name. The regime used the funds to compensate SA Stormtroopers who committed street violence, subsize the SS, and enrich Nazi party officials.