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Epstein continues to dominate the news, but there have been some other interesting stories

July 20, 2025\

Daily KOS Cartoon: Moments of Clarity by Jen Sorensen Wednesday, July 16, 2025 at 8:30:03a EDT

July 19, 2025

https://youtu.be/rMrXpWhN7ro?si=vpEunxq3h1nFoG-a The Weekend Show discusses the John Lewis protest. I hope you attended. It was very good.

In a new Economist/YouGov poll, Donald Trump’s disapproval has hit a record high of 55%. As former GOP communications director and co-founder & CEO of The Seneca Project warns, just a few-point slip among Republican approval for Trump could be enough to lose key swing seats in the House of Representatives. Meanwhile, 61% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s signature piece of legislation, his so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill.”

https://youtu.be/mJZvxqrHmpo?si=ImuzTycjmPcbiDoB about Stephen Colbert

https://youtu.be/MHuGkSbPg4k?si=ly3rUcT7JW4Nfm_g Watch "Navy Commander SOUNDS ALARM on Trump BLOW to Public Media" on YouTube

https://youtu.be/UfP9bfUqnHU?si=YZe8J14uy9dwZb5P Bryan Tyler Cohen

I am trying to boycott Meidas Touch especially when it's Ben Meiselas. His videos are redundant using the same phrases over and over again, he repeats content constantly, and consistently advertises products. You can tell it is all about the money!

July 16, 2025

https://youtu.be/mJqE3B9jcM8?si=i8i4ur9B2gQ-k-Kz Jon Stewart

https://youtu.be/Xy0qVlWYK9M?si=1KX9opCsFY5EEsUl The Bulwark

https://youtu.be/4_k1Fnvqm7w?si=6R15QY69omqaLYSR Adam Mockler on Joe Rogan

https://youtu.be/KiB3_vXfP4c?si=sMGnJn7pL1l_oOqk Jimmy Fallon

July 14, 2025

https://youtu.be/rLodj9H2bnE?si=KZm0S-_P_G3k9TVH5 Rachel Maddow

https://youtu.be/zqSBtfxmRlw?si=sqou8XLYL-FXxAe7 Lawrence O'Donnel

https://youtu.be/EqbauDOqlV8?si=mmiADxeaheo9LU7x Jack Cocheilla

https://youtu.be/dP76X9eio8s?si=A_KONlQq0kTWYPlm Seth Meyers

July 12, 2025

After filing five new lawsuits in five weeks, I was hoping AU’s attorneys could catch their breath this week. The Trump administration had other plans.

Since he first ran for president back in 2016, Donald Trump has been looking for a way to “get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment” – the federal law that protects the integrity of our elections and nonprofit organizations (including houses of worship) by ensuring they don’t endorse or oppose partisan political candidates for office.

The vast majority of Americans – including faith leaders, evangelical Protestants, and Republicans – support this law because they don’t want houses of worship embroiled in corrosive partisan politics. But Trump and his Christian Nationalist allies see an untapped resource of supporters. Gutting the Johnson Amendment is just another page in their playbook of exploiting religion to boost their own political power.

After years of threats, the Trump administration made its most substantive attack yet against the Johnson Amendment this week. In response to a federal lawsuit filed last year by a few religious organizations seeking to abolish the law, the IRS proposed a radical reinterpretation of the Johnson Amendment: exempting houses of worship and religious organizations from the law, while continuing to apply it against secular nonprofits. So pastors would be able to endorse partisan candidates from the pulpit, but nonreligious nonprofits (like Americans United) still would be barred from electioneering.

The Trump administration’s proposal is a flagrant, self-serving attack on church-state separation that threatens our democracy by favoring houses of worship over other nonprofits and inserting them into partisan politics. That’s why AU’s legal team sprang into action: On Thursday, we filed a motion seeking to intervene in the lawsuit – legal speak for becoming another party in the case in addition to the existing plaintiffs and defendants. That allows us to urge the court to reject this proposal because it would grant favor and privilege to religious organizations and treat them differently than secular nonprofits – an unconstitutional violation of church-state separation.

Thanks to your support, AU has more lawyers and policy experts on staff than ever before. That allows us to act quickly and decisively when church-state separation is threatened. So our team was able to jump into the fray to defend the Johnson Amendment even as we prepare for court hearings and briefs in our existing cases – like those challenging laws in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas that require the display of the Ten Commandments in every classroom, or Oklahoma’s new social studies standards that are infused with Christianity and inaccurate history.

AU was made for moments like this. We’ve been uniting Americans in support of church-state separation for 78 years – just a few years longer than the Johnson Amendment has been a federal law. We’re not going anywhere and in fact, are planting seeds for a better tomorrow even as we bring our full force and talent to defending church-state separation

Rachel K. Laser
President and CEO

July 5, 2025

https://youtu.be/b0q-UoMwc3A?si=VQLsAgwRU2eSvO7j Watch "Lawrence: What you're feeling is the banality of cruelty from Trump and the Republican Party" on YouTube

https://youtu.be/8iklVzBPfPY?si=3nDO4cwHV3UKhalY Trump has DISASTER SATURDAY as HELL BREAKS LOOSE

https://youtu.be/gafZbyKvN4c?si=COM98JwjU5A-yUk6 BREAKING: Texas Officials Blast Trump for Fatal Error Adam Mockler

July 2, 2025

https://youtu.be/-U750-oy5uU?si=mztlRMA7WunET_Hr Morning Joe

https://youtu.be/b0q-UoMwc3A?si=VQLsAgwRU2eSvO7j Watch "Lawrence: What you're feeling is the banality of cruelty from Trump and the Republican Party" on YouTube

Last Week

https://youtu.be/8cHi6Ft9DNk?si=MMNtADHjv7-vgwDk

https://youtu.be/qrgEZuKQ3c8?si=DcMRG3jiSqe3TmEQ

https://youtu.be/C2Rsp8MG5mw?si=dNfZny7Z4AogDOUB

https://youtu.be/Fx5l7sVRLlw?si=-_JF5x9R9iyXEwDA

https://youtu.be/5LGt81OyZlw?si=iNihdyic-cXZ7AWz

It is totally bonkers! You have Trump dropping the "F" bomb to reporters!

Elon is taking a back burner, but DOGE keeps firing people!

RFK Jr. is destroying our health, and he doesn't even know what he is publishing using AI. He has a brain worm and likes dropping bear carcasses in Central Park. His children received vaccinations! We had our 1st measle case in North Carolina!

JD Vance just sucks the orangutan's nuts! Supposedly he is very smart, but it doesn't show. He lets people insult his wife and children for their Indian heritage.

Kristy Noem just enjoys dressing up. If people want to have plastic surgery, good for them, but if you do it just to get Trump to hire you, I have a problem with that. Plus she killed her dog. Maybe you should train it. Maybe you should actually understand what Habeas corpus is before your go before the House. She got schooled!

Speaking of schooled, Linda McMahan is Secretary of Education with the sole tasks of eliminating the Department. Perhaps she should learn what AI is.not A1. Perhaps she should actually learn what the Board of Education does. It ensures the states adhere to the laws, it provides financial assistance for students from loans for college to social services for at risk youth.

Let's talk immigration. Tom Holman is a cruel man and initiated the family separation policy, which is a "stain on the United States" that did not deter migrants or address resourcing issues with the immigration processing system. Just remember the Russian czar was killed in the revolution.

Then there is Kash Patel, former fierce critic of the FBI, is now leading the agency and making drastic changes. He once said he would close FBI headquarters on Day 1 and turn it into a museum of the deep state. He didn't do that; he just fired any agents that were involved in arresting the January 6th rioters!

Speaking of Kash, let's discuss his boss, Pam Bondi. She personally and through her senior management, has sought to compel Department of Justice lawyers to violate their ethical obligations under the guise of 'zealous advocacy' as announced in her memorandum to all. Pam doesn't care about the law if it interferes with Trump's ambitions.

Let's keep going up the chain. Marco Rubio used to have cahoonas. Over the years, Rubio has praised USAID efforts in combating tuberculosis globally, asked for hurricane relief in the Caribbean and supported maternal and child health programs. Suddenly he no longer supports the goals of the organization. .Sad but true that Rubio has completely flipped on his beliefs.

Some other characters in the Trump administration Scott Bessent, another billionaire. Bessent's tenure has been defined by his compliance in dismantling government agencies and his unwillingness to recognize the impact of Trump's tariffs on Americans are. Scott Bessent may be the first gay Senate-confirmed Cabinet member in a Republican administration, but that's probably not what he'll go down in history for as the stock market continues to tumult.

His pal is Treasury Secretary Howard Lutnick. Treasury Secretary Howard Lutnick believes that withholding Social Security checks could help flush out fraudulent claimants. He stated that his 94-year-old mother-in-law wouldn't complain if her Social Security check didn't arrive. Let me know if you could survive without your check? I can't.

Just a couple more. Kari Lake is heading Voice of America. Testifying before the House Foreign Affairs committee, Kari Lake, the two-time Arizona political candidate tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the country's international media agency, had a blistering exchange with an Arizona Democrat over her history of spreading election falsehoods. Lake announced last week that USAGM eliminated 1,400 positions — an 85 percent cut of the personnel from March, when Trump signed an executive order gutting the agency.

Another crazy woman is Majorie Taylor Greene. Yesterday after spending the day beating her gavel and repeating that she was the chair of the committee, she went on to say that the Jews killed JFK when he did not want them to be a nuclear power. Now the Jews were coming for her!

Karoline Leavitt is Trump's mouthpiece. Karoline Leavitt doesn’t just state things; she exudes a sense of absolute certainty, condescension, and glee in her delivery, even when she’s demonstrably wrong. It’s not just about pushing an agenda, she enjoys the conflict, thrives on the fight, and appears psychologically insulated from even considering the possibility that she might be incorrect.

Last and truly least is Pete Hegseth. During Pete Hegseth’s contentious confirmation hearing to become Donald Trump’s defense secretary, Democrats argued that the Fox News morning host lacked the management experience to lead a department with an $850 billion budget. Now past his 100-day mark, Trump is coming to share that view. According to three sources close to the White House, Trump has told people he is frustrated with the chaos swirling around Hegseth and the Pentagon.

In recent weeks, Hegseth dismissed three of his closest advisers, whom he later accused of leaking to the media—all three have denied it—and his chief of staff stepped down. “He fired all the people he trusted,” a prominent Republican who recently spoke with Hegseth told me. Hegseth was also at the center of Signalgate, having shared military attack plans in chats with White House officials and another group that included his wife, brother, and personal lawyer. (While Hegseth’s brother and lawyer have roles in government, they are outside of the circle that would typically be informed on such issues.) A senior White House official told me Trump recently ordered Hegseth to get his act together. Trump was also displeased with his big, birthday parade. It was not enough like a "true" North Korean display of might. Guess his drinking and make up are OK.

The worst member of Trump’s Cabinet: A bracketology

The competition is fierce, but bracketology reveals an answer.

April 2, 2018More than 7 years ago

Summary

President Trump speaks during a March 8 Cabinet meeting at the White House. (AP)

Perspective by Daniel W. Drezner

Close observers in Washington, along with anyone who reads a newspaper, might have noticed a wee bit of churn in President Trump’s Cabinet. With David Shulkin’s resignation firing from the Department of Veterans Affairs, “Trump has had more Cabinet turnover [in 14 months] than 16 of his predecessors had in their first two years,” according to NPR’s Tamara Keith. In the past month alone, Trump has gotten rid of Shulkin, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, National Economic Council head Gary Cohn and national security adviser H.R. McMaster.

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There’s a lot of chatter about how all this disruption lets Trump be Trump, but this overlooks the fact that his Cabinet still exists. Some of Trump’s Cabinet officers have managed to do their jobs well. Others have managed sufficient levels of competence or luck to avoid scandals.

The worst member of Trump’s Cabinet: A bracketology - The Washington Post

The Good Guys

The following Senators and Members of the House are people to watch and listen to. They are not afraid to ask hard questions during hearings, challenge the status quo. They have compassion and will fight. They even go on Fox and Joe Rogan

• Corey Booker

• Bernie Sanders

• Chris Murphy

• Elizabeth Warren

• Amy Klobuchar

• Alex Padilla

• Adam Schiff

• Hakeem Jeffries

• Maxwell Frost

• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

• Jasmine Crockett

• Ro Khanna

  The following are other people to watch:

• Andy Beshear

• Wes Moore

• Gavin Newsom

• JB Pritzker

• Josh Shapiro

• Tim Walz

Dem lawmakers in blue states have a new plan to fight back against Trump

Story by Ailia Zehra 1w •

New! Summarize with Copilot

Let Copilot break it down—see the key takeaways in seconds.

Democratic lawmakers in Connecticut, Maryland, New York, and Wisconsin are unveiling a novel, aggressive response to President Donald Trump’s moves to freeze or withhold federal funding: state-level bills that would allow them to withhold their own payments to Washington, NBC reported Sunday.

The first-of-their-kind proposals would permit states to suspend payments — including payroll tax withholdings and state grants to the federal government — if Trump’s administration is found to be unlawfully delaying or withholding funds owed by the federal government.

These proposals remain far from becoming law, and legal scholars warn they’ll encounter significant challenges.
Dem lawmakers in blue states have a new plan to fight back against Trump

The comedians, actors, and musicians also help me stay sane in these very troubling. Through humor, I laugh at things. Through music, I find peace. Several actors just tell it straight!

Then you have World Leaders. What are they saying and doing?

EXPLAINER

Features|Donald Trump

‘Hey Daddy’: How different world leaders massage Trump’s ego

Does Trump’s personal relationship with world leaders have any bearing on his policies towards their countries?

Netherlands' Prime Minister Dick Schoof and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte cosy up to US President Donald Trump at the North Atlantic Council plenary meeting at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in The Hague on June 25, 2025 [File: Ludovic Marin/Pool via Reuters]

Read the article at ‘Hey Daddy’: How different world leaders massage Trump’s ego | Donald Trump News | Al Jazeera