Timothy A. Balch

Academic reference librarian, retired.

[PBS News @NewsHour]

President Donald Trump's approval rating is now the lowest its been in his second term, according to the latest PBS News/NPR/Marist poll.

Thirty-six percent of Americans approve of the job he's doing, the poll found, continuing a downward trend since March 2025, when 45% approved. Sixty-four percent of independents say they either disapprove or strongly disapprove of his performance in office, and 18% of Republicans say the same.

The data suggests Americans are connecting affordability challenges, such as the high price of gas and rising food costs, with Trump's presidency, said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion.

For some, "it's Donald Trump, and that's where the slippage comes in. He can't get away with high prices at the pump and at the supermarket and not get tarnished by that," Miringoff said.

High — but dropping — gas prices may be behind some of that disapproval. Seventy-eight percent of Americans said gas prices had some effect on their household budgets.

For more from the poll: https://t.co/dzbq27ieL4

[Melanie D'Arrigo @DarrigoMelanie]

It was actually the multiple Nazi salutes, constant use of Nazi rhetoric, and vocal support for Germany’s far-Right political party which includes Nazis.

[EU says Elon should not lie abt my blue check @emptywheel]

This doesn't show what they claim it does. Like 50 or so charges already.

Is this going to be another of @DAGToddBlanche spectacular collapses?

[MeidasTouch @MeidasTouch]

An aerial view shows crews dismantling the UFC fighting venue on the South Lawn of the White House.

The grass on the Ellipse has been completely destroyed following the UFC viewing party.

REUTERS/Aaron Schwartz

[Mother Jones @MotherJones]

Several National Park Service employees told @dfriedman33 that they were even threatened with professional reprimands if they refused to don the lapel pins at events celebrating the Declaration of Independence. https://t.co/OrGrNDTkNm

[The New Republic @newrepublic]

This Juneteenth, the Trump administration is allowed to replace the exhibit with its own version of history. https://t.co/1bX7D1FMzA

[Natania Marshall ✞ @NataniaMarshall]

So we arrested Maduro over a warrant, but Netanyahu is wanted in 124 countries and we’ve had him in the White House 6 times?

Make this make sense.

[Democracy Docket @DemocracyDocket]

📬 Trump’s executive order attacking mail-in voting can’t be blocked, as implementation hasn't begun yet, a federal judge ruled last month.

But things have changed, Democrats say in a new filing.

Here’s why they say there’s added urgency for courts to stop the order: https://t.co/pwbb8IagMW

[Paola Poot @PootDibou]

Fact-check of DNI Gabbard's Fauci claims

📄"Dr. Fauci provided millions in US taxpayer dollars to fund dangerous gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab." ❌

Not supported. The documents show approximately $600,000 went to the WIV via EcoHealth Alliance. The documents do not establish the research was gain-of-function.

📄 "Fauci worked with politicized elements within the Intelligence Community to suppress the truth about his actions and hide the virus' lab-leak origins." ❌

Not supported. The documents show Fauci attended a CIA briefing and recommended scientists and papers. They do not show coordination to suppress anything.

📄 "These documents expose Fauci's direct role in influencing and manipulating IC assessments on COVID-19." ❌

Not supported. The documents show Fauci was consulted and offered views. They do not show him manipulating assessments.

📄 "Fauci promoted a fraudulent paper, whose publication he helped prompt, as legitimate information for Intelligence Community consideration." ❌

Not supported. No document in the release shows this.

📄 "According to hundreds of reviewed emails, the IC almost always incorporated his recommendations." ❌

Not supported. No document in the release establishes a pattern of the IC incorporating Fauci's recommendations.

📄 Gabbard claim: Fauci stated "not to my knowledge about COVID" when asked whether he spoke to intelligence agencies about viral research, and this was a false statement contradicted by the released correspondence. ❌

The "not to my knowledge" quote comes from Fauci's January 8–9, 2024 closed-door transcribed interview.

> Majority Counsel: "Do you know if NIAID grants go through any type of national security review as part of the process?"
> Fauci: "National security review?"
> Majority Counsel: "So, like, through the National Security Council or -or anyone in the intelligence community -"
> Fauci: "Not to my knowledge."

This is Fauci answering whether NIAID grant applications are administratively routed through the NSC or IC for review.

📄 Gabbard claim: Fauci "repeatedly dodged" questions about whether he spoke to intelligence agencies about viral research, before falsely denying it. ❌

False - he acknowledged it at the June 3, 2024 public hearing.

> Questioner: "Before, during, or after the COVID-19 pandemic, did you speak to the FBI, CIA, DIA, or any U.S. intelligence agency concerning viral research of any kind?"
> Fauci: "I can't give you specifics of it, but back in the time of the anthrax attacks, we certainly had a number of briefings by agencies that were intelligence agencies, I don't remember who they were, it could've been any of the above that you mentioned, about the possibility that there were bioweapons that had fallen into the hands of bad actors."
[...]
> Fauci: "No, you heard wrong. I said I did have communication. I was briefed by the intelligence community multiple times during the COVID issue."

📄 "Fauci's actions caused immeasurable harm and countless lost lives." ❌

Not supported. No document in the release establishes any causal connection between Fauci's actions and pandemic deaths.

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

None of this is true, just FYI

[David J. Bier @David_J_Bier]

I don't know how much legal relevance it has but it's absolutely painful to watch his attorney walk through the ICE supervisor through all the lies in the ICE agents' statements WITH VIDEO.

[David J. Bier @David_J_Bier]

If you want to see inside the 4th amendment training that ICE agents get, check this supervisory agent's testimony out. They are clearly getting training not on the 4th amendment but on how to evade the 4th amendment.

[Cuckturd @CattardSlim]

This doc actually says the opposite.

It proves what @levparnas said.

That Kash Patel & Devin Nunez were sharing government Intel with Rudy Giuliani on behalf of Trump, & were colluding with Lukashenko to manufacture dirt on Joe & Hunter Biden.

They should be in prison!

[Police The Police 2.0 @PoliceThePolic1]

🚨 San Bernardino homeowner says deputy entered yard without warrant, fatally shot dog

San Bernardino County deputies walked onto the property on May 4. They did not have a search warrant. The only one who paid the price was the family dog.

https://t.co/z6WOBXmw3N

[Mike Young @micyoung75]

You're describing a fifty year old Minnesota practice that the state's own records show was used in under 0.6 percent of all 2024 ballots, with 71 percent of those voters already registered and just updating a name or address. Minnesota also opted out of the federal law you're suing under back when it was first passed, which your own letter to the Secretary of State doesn't get around.

If there's a real fraud problem here, the lawsuit threat doesn't actually show one. It shows a process working at the margins, with discrepancies already routed to local law enforcement after every election.

[MAGAts_Exposed @MAGAts_Exposed]

Doyle Gene Hodge II, an outspoken Trump suuporter and good MAGAt Christian, was arrested in June 2026 following allegations of ongoing child sexual abuse. Hodge is a known community figure who volunteered at several local churches who coerced victims using biblical justifications.

Investigators identified at least five potential victims, with additional individuals coming forward after his arrest. He also allegedly threatened to beat and "kill everyone" if the victims reported the abuse.

[The Hasbara Buster @ibrahimibnyusuf]

We often see this argument that Israel doesn't commit apartheid in the West Bank because the Palestinians there are not Israeli citizens.

But in the US, for example, if a foreigner commits a crime they're prosecuted under the same laws as a citizen. This is not the case in the West Bank, where Palestinians are tried under different rules.

More to the point, South Africa gave "independence" to Bophuthatswana, Ciskei, Transkei and Venda, whose residents ceased to be South African citizens; yet it is widely accepted that South Africa committed apartheid against those populations. The concept that apartheid requires the victim group to be citizens is just one more instance of linguistic contortionism on the part of Zionists.

[Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1]

Trump's family crypto business is expected to soon be allowed to operate like a bank — a decision, made by the Trump administration, that would give U.S. companies a new route to steer money to the president.

"For the first time in history, a president is leaning on a bank regulator to give his private enterprise the implicit backing of the federal government." https://t.co/Kq7ToFVZgi

[Daniel Mayakovski @DaniMayakovski]

"Controlamos entre el 60%-70% de la Franja de Gaza, estamos destruyendo toda su estructura, todo el mundo sabe lo que esto significa. Gaza se quedará en ruinas y los habitantes tendrán que migrar porque alli no habrá nada donde vivir en las próximas décadas".

Bezalel Smotrich, ministro de Finanzas de "Israel", habla orgulloso de la limpieza étnica y la destrucción sistemática que perpetran en Gaza, asegurando que el objetivo es hacerla inhabitable para que los palestinos tengan que huir de allí.

En mundo medio normal, después de que un ministro suelte esta barbaridad, tendría que ser detenido inmediatamente por crímenes de lesa de humanidad.

[Jeffrey Goldberg @JeffreyGoldberg]

"Ben-Gvir, in addition to being an authoritarian racist, is a bona fide criminal. He has been found guilty in Israeli courts of eight offenses, including rioting, obstructing a police officer, incitement to racism, possession of propaganda material for a terrorist organization, and support for a terrorist organization." -- @issacharoff:
https://t.co/nE4VvpSwqa