Howard Close

Texas Trial Lawyer and Happy Grandfather, married to my high school sweetheart

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

Sen. Jack Reed: "Reuters is reporting that part of the deal is $24 billion in sanctions relief for the Iranians. So this is not a 'we win and you do what we say.' This is, 'how can we open up the straits? What will it cost us?'"

[Ted Lieu @tedlieu]

You caught me! I did it. I created photosynthesis just to mess with MAGA and the reflecting pool.

[MJdowntheshore @MJdowntheshore]

This is more true than ever before.

[Farrukh @implausibleblog]

Pete Hegesth, "Obama begged Iran for a deal, we bombed Iran"

"Document says Iran won't have a nuclear weapon, won't seek one, won't buy one"

Journalist, "The JCPOA (Iran deal) did that too"

Hegseth, "We devastated their military"

Imagine celebrating achieving the thing a previous president achieved without killing the 3,000+ Iranians dead since the US/Israel attacks

Then imagine gloating about a blockade in response to the closing of the strait of Hormuz which has caused global economic turmoil as if that is something to celebrate

It's like a scene from Idiocracy

[Mike Young @micyoung75]

$347 million in soybean losses. $104 million in corn. $607 million total in one year.

North Dakota State University. Peer-reviewed accounting. Indiana was among the hardest-hit states nationally.

Jim Banks hasn't said a word about it. The farmers in Benton and White and Jasper counties are still paying for it.

[Mike Young @micyoung75]

Raskin's response to Trump's expulsion demand is worth quoting in full because it is the sharpest constitutional summary of this week in one paragraph.

"There's a very easy way to not get impeached: Stop committing impeachable offenses. Stop committing high crimes and misdemeanors. Don't go to war and usurp the powers of Congress to declare war. That's up to us. Don't spend money in a way different from how Congress has appropriated money. Don't impose illegal taxes and tariffs on the American people without congressional consent. The president needs a basic constitutional primer."

Trump's 195-word Truth Social post calling for Raskin to be expelled came on the same day he was threatening to seize Kharg Island without congressional authorization, hours after FISA 702 expired because he insisted on a loyalist DNI appointment, and while his acting attorney general - who refused to put his congressional testimony in writing - awaits a Senate confirmation vote.

The expulsion demand has no path. Getting a member expelled requires a two-thirds vote. It has happened three times since the Civil War.

But the demand is not really about Raskin. It's about telling every Democrat in Congress what the cost of oversight will be once Republicans lose the majority. It's the warning shot, issued at volume, three months before the midterms.

Raskin's response is the correct one. He didn't flinch and he named the specific offenses. That's the job.

[Chris D. Jackson @ChrisDJackson]

Biden at 80. Trump at 80.

One rode bikes, worked out daily, passed historic legislation, released yearly physicals, and answered endless questions about his age and health.

The other falls asleep in public, rambles through speeches, looks visibly swollen, and has reportedly taken multiple cognitive tests ordered by doctors.

Guess which one the media treated like a five-alarm health crisis. 🙄

[Ben Meiselas @meiselasb]

The algae always comes back…

[Mike Young @micyoung75]

Michael Ian Black's piece has one observation that cuts through everything else written about the Epstein files this week.

The senior officials who gathered in the Situation Room last July - Vance, Wiles, Blanche, Leavitt, Cheung, Patel - spent hours strategizing about how to protect Trump from the political fallout. They workshopped options. They debated whether to call Tucker Carlson or use DOJ lawyers instead. They reportedly discussed nipples in the White House Situation Room. One official described it as "surreal."

What none of them apparently did: ask whether the allegations against their boss had merit. Not once. Not raised. Not even Bongino, who is Black's unlikely near-hero for the piece - Bongino's objection was to the botched rollout, not to the underlying situation that made a rollout necessary.

The documentable facts now in the record: Trump flew on Epstein's plane at least eight times after claiming he hadn't. Trump denied writing the birthday letter, then the Wall Street Journal obtained it. Epstein's personal secretary testified to Congress this week that she arranged calls between Trump and Epstein shortly before the 2016 inauguration - after Trump claimed he had cut off contact in 2004.

These are not allegations about what happened on Epstein's properties. These are documented lies about a documented relationship. The people in that Situation Room knew the relationship existed. They chose to manage the politics instead of asking the question that the people they serve - the American public - would want answered.

Black closes with the names of Epstein's accusers who went public. That's the right place to close.

[𝕊𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕖_𝔾𝕦𝕣𝕝 @SundaeDivine]

Every conversation I’ve had with my MAGA relatives for the last ten years distilled into three sentences.

[Mike Young @micyoung75]

The expulsion threat has no path. Two-thirds vote required. Happened three times since the Civil War.

The point isn't to expel Raskin. The point is to signal what oversight will cost.

Three months before the midterms. Noted.

[Face The Nation @FaceTheNation]

Asked what he makes of the emerging details on the possible peace deal between the U.S. and Iran, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) says, “if the President can declare victory, so be it,” but he adds, “107 days into Donald Trump's war of choice, can anyone make the case that we, or our allies, are in a better spot than before this war?”

Warner also compared the potential deal unfavorably with the Obama-era deal known as the JCPOA: “And for all his critique of JCPOA, we had international observers, we actually had an alliance there that included the Europeans, and Russia and China were all signatories. Now it is America going alone or going with Israel only, and that does not make us safer.”

[Howard Close @HowardClose1]

When I was a Senior at LSU - we put on a “Gong Show” for the East & West Dorms ( Women & Men’s Dorms in those days.. no co-ed yet…)- we “borrowed” the ceremonial gong from the LSU Orchestra - we had folks do acts, it was hilarious and incredibly fun.

[Danny Deraney @DannyDeraney]

50 years ago today, The Gong Show premiered.

And every show was absolute chaos. 😂😂

[Covie @covie_93]

Greg Abbott is about to ask the US Supreme Court to step in and overturn the Spurs loss.

[LovelyRobyn @JonesJones48712]

@Acyn A trillion dollars later.

[PoliticsGirl @IAmPoliticsGirl]

That was a short game.

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

BRENNAN: But there is a crisis with those weapons stockpiles right now

HEGSETH: No there is not. That is a manufactured story that the media wants to peddle

BRENNAN: You have testified to it in front of Congress

HEGSETH: You don't have to read back to me what I testified

[Howard Close @HowardClose1]

Interesting choice of attire for a speech where he wants to contrast “darkness” with “light”…..

[Scott Braddock @scottbraddock]

Here's the part of his speech where Little Gov @DanPatrick said @jamestalarico is going to hell

[Ted Lieu @tedlieu]

How is it possible that the Spurs are ahead by 29 points earlier in game 4, but then lose later in game 4 to the Knicks?

Just statistically impossible. Baskets at the beginning should be worth more than baskets at the end right? Game must have been rigged.

[Danny Deraney @DannyDeraney]

It's the 40th anniversary of Thornton Melon doing the Triple Lindy and winning the National Championship for Grand Lakes University.

Back to School (1986)