Mostly Monday Reads: Barrels of Deplorables

“Donald and his Trumplican digital army chime in on the worldwide No Kings protests. The attempted pushback is comical. There’s something about electing a clown…” John Buss, @repeat1968

Good Day, Sky Dancers!

It really takes a lot of fortitude to check the headlines today. I can only imagine the effort it takes to be an actual reporter in this environment.  I don’t know how anyone could forgive themselves for voting or approving these people. So, buckle up, it’s going to be a bumpy ride today.

Greg Sargent at The New Republic has written some stomach-churning stuff on Pete Hegseth today. “Pete Hegseth Just Revealed the Real Roots of His Sadism and Rage. Does God want America to kill as many of our enemies as we can—in as violent a fashion as possible? We have a defense secretary who apparently thinks so. Why do radical right-wing religious movements always think their messiahs and god think murdering people is righteous?

When Pete Hegseth talks to God, he asks the Almighty to help him kill people—as violently and ruthlessly as possible.

In a potential violation of the separation of church and state, Hegseth has ordered monthly prayer meetings at the Pentagon, and in his first such gathering since launching the war against Iran, the defense secretary pleaded for divine assistance in mowing down the Iranian foe.

“Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our nation,” Hegseth intoned to a military audience, reciting a prayer previously given by a military chaplain before the Venezuela raid and applying it to American troops in Iran.

“Give them wisdom in every decision,” Hegseth continued, “endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”

Hegseth’s prayer service attracted only scattered media attention. But it helps explain the real impetus behind a development that deserves far more notice: The appointed leader of the world’s most powerful military regularly speaks about his capacity to rain terror and death on the enemy with an undisguised relish that should unsettle us all.

Hegseth appears to be a devotee of Christian Reconstructionism, a theology preached by influential far-right pastor Douglas Wilson that aims to reshape all earthly endeavors around the dictums of what his disciples claim is God’s law. As scholar-of-religion Julie Ingersoll explains on Sarah Posner’s podcast, Wilson believes that “all authority belongs to God,” rendering the state’s authority wholly subordinate to a “higher category of biblical law.” A Pentagon spokesman has confirmed that Hegseth recently met with Wilson and is his “admirer.”

What does this say about Hegseth’s conduct in the Iran war? A lot, it turns out.

During his prayer extolling “overwhelming violence,” Hegseth expanded on this by reading from Scripture. “I pursued my enemies and overtook them,” Hegseth preached, quoting King David recounting his wars against Israel’s ancient foes and likening them to the Iranian enemy. “Those who hated me I destroyed. They cried to the Lord, but He did not answer them.

Not exactly the stuff I was taught in Sunday School as a kid. Moving right along, how about the absolute things you never wanted to know about Kash Patel, ripped straight from his files by eager Iranian hackers? This bit of information is from Politico, but the actual images of him doing all kinds of weird, narcissistic things are out there. I’m not sure if any of the Trumperz will be dazed by it, but I found it rather gross and vomit-inducing.  Watch it if you dare. “FBI confirms hackers targeted Kash Patel’s personal emails. Iran-linked hacking group Handala posted documents and photos they claimed to have stolen from the FBI director.”

The FBI on Friday confirmed that hackers targeted the personal emails of Director Kash Patel, hours after an Iranian government-linked hacking group posted documents and images online, claiming to have stolen them from Patel.

In a statement, the FBI confirmed the agency was “aware of malicious actors targeting Director Patel’s personal email information, and we have taken all necessary steps to mitigate potential risks associated with this activity.”

“The information in question is historical in nature and involves no government information,” the FBI added. The statement did not include details on who was behind the attack. “The FBI will continue to pursue the actors responsible, support victims, and share actionable intelligence in defense of networks,” it said.

Earlier in the day, Iran-linked hacking group Handala claimed to have hacked Patel’s email and published several pictures of the director, including one showing him brandishing a cigar and another that appears to be his personal resume. Most emails are dated between 2012 and 2014, though there is at least one from 2022, according to files posted by Handala on Telegram and reviewed by POLITICO.

Is it malicious if this guy really did this shit and kept it with some obvious liking of it all?  So, let’s just take a look at the entire set of Republican values here with this bit of news from AXIOS. “GOP weighs health care cuts to pay for Iran war.”  This analysis is by Peter Sullivan.

Republicans are considering reductions in federal health spending to help pay for a budget bill containing as much as $200 billion to fund the Iran war and immigration enforcement.

Why it matters: New efforts to rein in health programs are sure to be controversial and open the GOP up to election-year attacks that they’re cutting health care to pay for an unpopular war.

Driving the news: Top House Republicans are looking at health care offsets addressing fraud in federal programs, as they did during last year’s debate over the budget law that made deep cuts to federal Medicaid spending and imposed first-time work requirements.

• “There’s other items we’re looking at right now, especially in the areas of fraud and waste and abuse that we’re working through with our members,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told Axios.

House Budget Committee chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) is reviving an idea that was considered last year to fund Affordable Care Act payments known as cost-sharing reductions.

• The Congressional Budget Office previously found the move would lower overall benchmark ACA premiums by 11% but result in 300,000 more uninsured people.
• It would cut the subsidy amount that some enrollees receive, thereby increasing out-of-pocket premium costs, while saving the government over $30 billion.

Between the lines: Discussions still are in the early stages, and it’s not clear exactly how the goal of fighting fraud would translate into legislative language.

• The driving force is the need to pay for the war in Iran and fund ICE, the latter of which triggered the partial government shutdown. Democrats oppose both, leaving Republicans ready to use the party-line process known as reconciliation to get around a Senate filibuster.
• Many Republicans want any bill to be fully paid for, which is where potential health care changes come in.

There is some discussion in that article of what “moderates” might do which could be limited, imho, to they cave and/or then decide not to run for office again at best. At least current election polls show they’re on the run.  They’re getting all their benefits and heading for the private sector. This is from The Hill. It’s reported by Sudiksha Kochi. “House Republicans flee Congress in record numbers amid growing dysfunction.”

An unprecedented number of House Republicans are opting to retire or pursue other offices, complicating Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) bid to fend off a potential blue wave in the 2026 midterms and preserve his razor-thin majority.

So far, 36 House Republicans — including the most recent, Rep. Sam Graves (Mo.) — have announced they will leave their seat at the end of their term, pointing to legislative gridlock, family commitments or a wish to make room for the next generation of leaders.

That total exceeds the record set in the 2018 midterm cycle, when 34 House Republicans chose not to run for reelection and Democrats regained control of the lower chamber under President Trump’s first term.

By comparison, 21 House Democrats are not seeking reelection this year.

But the number is only likely to grow in the weeks ahead, as Republicans reassess their roles in Washington amid a Trump 2.0 era and the expectation that the president’s party historically faces losses in a midterm year.

Graves said in a statement Friday that his decision to leave his seat wasn’t an easy one, but the “right one.”

“I believe in making room for the next generation. It’s time to pass the torch and allow a new guard of conservative leaders to step forward and chart a path forward for Missourians,” he said, adding that public service “isn’t easy.”

He joins a roster of Republicans across the ideological spectrum who have also called it quits in Congress, including high-profile conservatives such as Texas Reps. Chip Roy, Jodey Arrington, and Michael McCaul, as well as battle-tested moderates such as Rep. Don Bacon (Neb.), who has repeatedly run for reelection and won in a competitive district.

Meanwhile, the incoherent #FARTUS still can’t explain the Iran War situation. This is from the AP.  Nothing Trump says these days is coherent or grounded in reality. “Trump again threatens widespread destruction in Iran if a deal is not reached ‘shortly’.”

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday threatened widespread destruction of Iran’s energy resources and other vital infrastructure, potentially including desalination plants that supply drinking water, if a deal to end the war is not reached “shortly.”

Iran meanwhile struck a key water and electrical plant in Kuwait, and an oil refinery in Israel came under attack. Israel and the U.S. launched a new wave of strikes on Iran, as the war raged with no end in sight.

Trump’s new threat came in a social media post. Earlier comments to the Financial Times suggested American troops could seize Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub. Trump has repeatedly claimed to be making diplomatic progress— though Tehran denies negotiating directly — while ramping up his threats and sending thousands more U.S. troops to the Middle East.

Trump told the New York Post that the U.S. is negotiating with Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf. The former Revolutionary Guard commander, who has taunted the U.S. on social media, dismissed the talks facilitated by Pakistan as a cover for the latest American troop deployments.

In a social media post, Trump said “great progress is being made” in talks with Iran to end military operations. But he said if a deal is not reached “shortly,” and if the Strait of Hormuz is not immediately reopened, the U.S. would broaden its offensive by “completely obliterating” power plants, oil wells, Kharg Island and possibly even desalination plants.

The strait is a crucial waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped in peacetime.

The laws of armed conflict allow attacks on civilian infrastructure such as energy plants only if the military advantage outweighs the civilian harm, legal scholars say. It’s considered a high bar to clear, and causing excessive suffering to civilians can constitute a war crime.

We might as well flip a coin on the decision that come from the White House. No matter what the toss portends, we all lose.  What would we do without a day that racism comes into play. This is from what’s left of the Washington Post. “Trump officials cite white supremacists in bid to end birthright citizenship. An argument heading to the Supreme Court is built in part on a post-Civil War campaign that scholars say was steeped in anti-Black and anti-Chinese racism.” The link has been gifted.

Alexander Porter Morse, a Confederate officer during the Civil War and a Louisiana attorney, argued for legalized segregation in the landmark 1896 Supreme Court case that established the “separate but equal” doctrine and buttressed Jim Crow laws.

He is again playing a key role in a monumental case to be argued before the justices Wednesday: The Trump administration has tapped Morse as an authority in its push to upend long-settled law that virtually everyone born in the United States is a citizen.

Over a century ago, Morse was among a trio of thinkers who spearheaded a failed effort — steeped in anti-Black and anti-Chinese racism — to erase birthright citizenship. The Trump administration is reviving their arguments to make its case today, some legal scholars say.

The administration is citing arguments “built on a racist foundation,” Justin Sadowsky, an attorney for the Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance (CALDA), wrote in a friend-of-the-court brief.

Lucy Salyer, a University of New Hampshire history professor who has written on Morse and others, said she was struck that the Trump administration had chosen to elevate those figures and their ideas: “If you know the history and the broader context of what they were trying to achieve, it does ring alarm bells.”

The case, which could redefine who is considered an American, centers on the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”

When asked for comment about relying on Morse and his compatriots, the Trump administration pointed to a brief in which it wrote “this Court has repeatedly cited their work in other contexts.” Some legal scholars also argued their stance on birthright citizenship was shared by a number of prominent politicians who did not have racist views.

The Trump administration argues the 14th Amendment does not apply to people in the country illegally or on temporary visas. If the high court agrees, and reverses the long-held interpretation, it could render hundreds of thousands of children born to immigrant parents stateless.

And then, we find out more details about Trump and that 13-year-old girl at the Daily Beast. “Accuser, 13. More information given by the woman has been backed up.”  This story is reported by Cameron Adams.

A new investigation has backed up evidence given by a woman who has accused Donald Trump of sexually abusing her when she was 13, according to a report.

The woman conducted four interviews with the FBI in 2019 in which she detailed alleged abuse by Trump and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Her interviews referencing Trump were initially withheld by the Department of Justice.

A report from South Carolina newspaper The Post and Courier released on Sunday has now corroborated key personal details given by the woman about a third man she claims also sexually assaulted her—named Jimmy Atkins. Those details are not directly related to her accusations against Trump, but suggest that she was truthful about other matters she raised with the FBI.

The White House has called the woman’s claims against Trump “completely baseless,” while the president has always denied any involvement in Epstein’s crimes.

The woman claimed Epstein started abusing her and trafficked her to several men when she was aged between 13 and 15. She had met Epstein after he responded to an advertisement for babysitting that her mother, a real estate agent in South Carolina, had given to her clients.

The Post and Courier report says Atkins moved to Hilton Head, South Carolina, in the mid-’80s and took over Harbour Realty and Rentals. That was where he met the teenage girl who would later claim to the FBI during interviews in 2019 that Atkins and Epstein assaulted her.

The Daily Beast is not disclosing the woman’s identity in accordance with its policy on sexual assault victims.

The Post and Courier scoured records to match the woman’s testimony of Atkins’ affiliation with a college in Ohio, as well as his age, hair color, physical appearance, and his employment in Hilton Head.

Today, I’m hoping that all those No Kings protests really got into what’s left of Orange Caligula’s brain.

What’s on your Reading, Blogging, and Action lists today?

And I’m definitely with Snoopy on this: