Finally Friday Reads: Chaos Times

“We’re on the cusp of discovering how the battle against the Deep State is progressing. Who controls the weather? The day formally known as Flag Day, now recognized as The Birthday All Will Celebrate, is fast approaching. Last year, a rather lame and uninspiring parade left us underwhelmed. This year, really sweaty men will do battle for the pleasure of our Grifter in Chief under the threat of severe weather.” John Buss, @repeat1968

Good Day, Sky Dancers!

Headlines today show that everything Trump touches does, indeed, turn to shit. The Iran War is still hot, but Trump insists there’s peace in the making. Our Nation’s Capitol has turned into a gross example of what it looks like to destroy a planet, a culture, and a democracy. The real death and destruction come into play with the policies thought up by the most hapless group of people ever appointed to lead a department.  Meanwhile, government spending, inflation, and stock markets are providing us with numbers to worry about. The polls show the people hate it all. But, will they turn out to vote the people responsible out of office?

The New Republic has a take on those polls. “Trump Hits Record-Breaking Low in Polls as Aides Leak: He’s ‘Furious.’  As Trump arrives at a negative poll milestone that no other president has reached, a Democratic strategist explains how we’ll know it if his travails start translating into a serious midterm rout.” The analysis is provided by Greg Sargent and his guest, Christina Reynolds, in the podcast linked below.

Donald Trump’s polling just crashed to new lows. He’s hit a net approval on inflation of negative 50 points in numerous surveys, something no other president has done—ever. Trump also is at 80 percent disapproval on gas prices. And this is the first time Democrats have led Republicans on inflation since the 1970s. It’s no accident that this comes as sources around Trump tell CNN that he’s “furious” because the media didn’t make his latest Iran bombing look strong and powerful. These stories are linked: His failure to force Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is causing the very cost spikes that are tanking his approval and his party’s chances in the midterms. We talked to Democratic strategist Christina Reynolds, who has extensive experience in midterms. She explains how Trump’s travails are translating into new pickup opportunities in surprising places, parses a new poll showing Democrats up 10 in the generic House matchup, and explains why 2026 reminds her of Democratic routs in 2006 and 2018. Listen to this episode here. A transcript is here.

An interesting take on this, Trump’s growing unpopularity, is provided by outgoing Senator John Cornyn from Texas.  “After Senate Loss, Cornyn Predicts ‘Miserable’ Final Two Years for Trump. In his first extensive interview since his defeat by a Trump-backed challenger, the Texas Republican said the Senate was in for a “bumpy ride” as he and others flex new political freedom.” The interview is reported today in the New York Times by Carl Hulse.

Senator John Cornyn was not consoled when President Trump professed on social media that the senior Republican from Texas would “remain my friend for a long time to come” after the president had enthusiastically endorsed the man who defeated Mr. Cornyn, ending his Senate career.

“If that’s the way friends treat you, you wonder about his enemies,” Mr. Cornyn said this week in his first extensive interview since his loss two weeks ago to Attorney General Ken Paxton of Texas, an opponent Mr. Cornyn labeled corrupt and unfit for the Senate.

Mr. Cornyn said he had come to terms with his defeat, a stinging loss he attributed in part to public disillusionment with extreme partisan politics that led to low voter turnout. Now the Trump administration might find itself having to come to terms with Mr. Cornyn as he flexes new political freedom, joining a handful of other Senate Republicans not seeking re-election or defeated in primaries at Mr. Trump’s behest who now have added room to maneuver.

“I think it is going to be a pretty bumpy ride for the next seven months,” Mr. Cornyn said during a wide-ranging conversation in his Capitol office as he reflected on the tumultuous Texas election and his nearly quarter-century in Washington.

“It does give some of us a little more freedom, and certainly leverage,” he said, before invoking Mr. Trump’s notoriously heated Oval Office meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine last year. “As the president told President Zelensky when he was in his office a year or so ago — he said, ‘You don’t have any cards.’ Well, we’ve got some cards to play.”

Mr. Cornyn said he is not a “wounded bear” seeking retribution or revenge. He is determined that Republicans hold the Senate because he said he feared they would lose the House in November.

But in the interview, he gave voice in starkly candid terms to a growing sentiment among Senate Republicans that Mr. Trump was hurting his own party with self-serving decisions and his insistence on “slavish” loyalty, ultimately setting himself up for a midterm “disaster” that would pave the way for “the most miserable two years of his life.”

And in the interim, Mr. Cornyn said, he reserves the right to choose “where I’m going to — or going to not — defer” to Mr. Trump.

One of those areas appears to be the special protection from I.R.S. scrutiny that the Justice Department granted Mr. Trump and his family and businesses as part of a settlement of a lawsuit over the leak of his tax data, an exemption Mr. Cornyn said needed to be overturned.

At least most of the Judges on the federal benches have held the line. Michael Kunzelman has this headline for the AP. “Judge extends block on Trump’s $1.8 billion ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’.”

A federal judge agreed on Friday to extend a court-ordered block on the Trump administration’s creation and operation of a $1.8 billion settlement fund for compensating people who claim to be victims of a weaponized government.

Earlier this month, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told Congress that the government is scrapping its plans for the fund in the face of a fierce bipartisan backlash, and government attorneys have argued that lawsuits challenging the fund are now moot. But plaintiffs’ attorneys aren’t satisfied by Blanche’s assurances that the fund won’t move forward.

Neither was U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, who ruled that the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” will remain blocked until further notice from the court.

“The (government’s) mootness argument, in my view, doesn’t go anywhere,” the judge said.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has not publicly and unequivocally endorsed the fund’s cancellation. He has continued to express support for it in remarks to reporters.

Brinkema gave the parties a week to negotiate an agreement for Trump administration officials, including Blanche, to submit a sworn declaration that the administration won’t revive the fund.

Brinkema previously agreed to temporarily block the administration from proceeding with the fund for at least two weeks. Her May 29 order was due to expire on Friday.

Trump’s Republican administration created the fund to resolve his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns.

Plaintiffs who sued to block fund payouts argue that the government can’t legally divert taxpayer money into what they argue is a slush fund for compensating Trump’s allies.

In a separate case on Wednesday, a different judge in Washington, D.C., rejected a government watchdog’s parallel request for a court order temporarily blocking the Trump administration from forging ahead with the fund. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said he accepts Blanche’s representation that the fund is now moot.

This next attempt to twist rulings and laws is simply astounding. I’m not shocked, but wow, how obviously corrupt and butt-hurt can one old man be? This is from Lawyers, Guns, and Money. “Trump trying to “void” his first two impeachments.” Paul Campos has the analysis.

A couple of days ago I was asked to comment on the possibility of impeaching Trump after the midterms. I hadn’t really thought about that at all, and I concluded that it was hard to say whether it’s going to happen, given the fecklessness of Jeffries and Schumer. This new report from the WSJ highlights why this very much should happen, whether or not the Guardians of the Guardrails want it to:

U.S. President Donald ​Trump and ‌his allies have ​discussed pushing ​lawmakers to pass ⁠a ​resolution aimed ​at voiding his first-term impeachments, ​the ​Wall Street Journal reported ‌on ⁠Thursday, citing people familiar ​with ​the ⁠matter. . . . The Journal reported that Trump and his team want lawmakers to ‌pass ⁠a resolution aimed at voiding the impeachments.

White House officials have strongly urged forward progress on this issue, the White House official told reporters. . . . the resolution would allow ​Trump to claim ​a symbolic ⁠victory on a matter that has dogged him since his first term, but would have ​little legal significance since the Constitution provides ​no procedure ⁠for undoing an impeachment.

“Little” here means “none.”

This absurdity illustrates how narcissistic injury is something that somebody like Trump can’t ever escape or overcome, which is all the more reason to injure him in the same way again, not to mention that he deserves to be impeached on the merits for almost countless reasons at this point. As a matter of principle I personally would put the ongoing war crime that is the Iran “excursion” at the top of the list, recognizing of course that as a pragmatic political matter there are far more attractive options for impeachment resolutions. But this very much needs to happen early in 2027.

We all realize that the Constitution and laws are meaningless to Trump, the judges that he’s appointed, and those in his administration. This is one of the most significant acts of social justice you can sign on to.  The strike, as reported by the Guardian, is growing.

Dozens of women detained inside the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility in New Jersey announced their participation in a hunger and labor strike, advocates announced on Thursday.

The women, detained in unit 1 of the contentious privately run facility, also released a new list of demands. They are calling on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to release women under 21, women with medical conditions and mothers. They are also demanding improved conditions inside the facility and for their immigration cases to proceed more quickly.

The Delaney Hall detention facility, run by the private prison company Geo Group, has in recent weeks become a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s efforts to engage in mass deportations. A group of more than 300 men launched a hunger and labor strike last month, leading to demonstrations in support of the strikers and an aggressive police response.

The announcement that detained women in Delaney Hall were engaging in a strike came just one day after Trump signed a $70bn spending bill for immigration enforcement agencies and as immigrants in other detention centers participate in strikes of their own.

On Thursday morning, advocates, religious leaders and family members with detained loved ones gathered in front of the Delaney Hall facility to announce nearly 40 women were signing on to the strike. A series of speakers decried the conditions inside.

“Today, we stand with the women demanding release, safe living conditions, medical care, legal representation, family visitation, safe drinking water and protection from abuse,” said Archange Antoine, a minister with the Clergy Coalition for Liberation. “These are not radical demands – these are demands rooted in basic human rights.”

On 22 May, a group of detained men inside Delaney Hall announced a hunger and labor strike, making a list of demands including meeting with the New Jersey state governor, improved conditions, the release of sick and elderly detainees and for their cases to proceed in immigration court. At the time, a few women inside the facility joined in that effort, advocates told the Guardian.

Soon after the 22 May strike was announced, protesters outside the facility gathered in support of the striking detainees. Lawmakers have also come out in support of the striking detainees and to conduct oversight visits.

ICE officers responded to the protests by deploying pepper spray and using Tasers and batons. But later, amid national attention on the heated protests, New Jersey’s governor and Newark’s mayor deployed the state and local police forces who deployed teargas and arrested dozens in an effort to disperse the protesters.

Carol Leonnig of  MS NOW reports that “FBI raids Ohio voting rights organization. Sources tell MS NOW that agents also fanned out across the state, showing up at staff members’ homes.” Shouldn’t they be working on something real, like the victims and perpetrators listed in the Epstein Files?

FBI agents on Thursday raided the Cleveland offices of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a pro-democracy organization that helps register voters in that state, three people briefed on the search told MS NOW.

Agents also fanned out across the state, showing up at the homes of the group’s leaders and staff members, carrying some subpoenas and seeking information and electronic devices, according to the three people briefed, two of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive ongoing investigation. Members of the group contacted lawyers on Thursday to determine their legal options, the people said.

Prentiss Haney, a board member of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, told MS NOW Thursday night that agents approached people with connections to the group, including some who had performed basic canvassing and volunteer work, and pressed them for information.

Agents were “basically trying to fish for information,” Haney said.

“They had agents all across the state going to civil rights leaders’ and community leaders’ doors intimidating them, coming and demanding that they talk about literally anything they would ask,” Haney said, adding that agents “asked them if they’re committing voter fraud, just on their doors, in front of their houses with their children, and just following them to work and school.”

Some of the people said the agents approached without warrants, according to Haney.

“Just straight-up intimidation tactics,” he said.

Spokespeople for the FBI and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment late Thursday night.

The sources briefed on the search said they are concerned this new effort in Ohio is part of the Trump administration’s efforts to sow doubt and distrust in voting integrity in key swing states ahead of the midterm elections.

Here’s another horrifying action by RFK jr to turn health care into just another way to kill people.  This is from the Guardian and reported by Ed Pilkington. “Autistic children being injected with unapproved stem cell treatments supported by RFK Jr. Desperate US parents paying up to $20,000 a session for a procedure scientists say could be bogus.”

Autistic children as young as 18 months old are being injected with human stem cells derived from umbilical cords in unapproved, unproven and potentially harmful “treatments” that scientists warn are proliferating across the US under the active encouragement of the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr.

Clinics in Florida, Texas and other states are selling what they bill as “regenerative medicine” to families with autistic children who have intensive care needs. Parents who have taken their children through the process talked to the Guardian about their hopes and fears for a therapy that appears to be gaining ground in the US.

The procedure, which can involve the child being sedated with ketamine before receiving intravenous doses of millions of stem cells, costs up to $20,000 each treatment. Families are often advised to return for regular top-ups.

Profoundly stressed parents are being wooed to the clinics with promises that a high-dose infusion of umbilical cord stem cells can lead to dramatic improvements in their children’s ability to speak, socialise, or avoid aggressive or self-harming behaviour. Yet there is no scientific evidence that the procedure works – the most comprehensive clinical trial staged so far, a placebo experiment conducted by Duke University, found insignificant benefits for most of the 180 children tested.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) directly cautions parents that if they are being offered stem cell treatments outside an approved clinical trial, “you are likely being deceived and offered a product illegally”.

Though the Duke trial found minimal safety concerns with properly administered stem cell infusions, authorities continue to highlight the potential risks of under-regulated therapies.

The FDA warned in 2021 that it had received reports of complications following applications of umbilical cord stem cells and other related unapproved products leading to “blindness, tumor formation, infections and more”.

In his 16 months as the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services within the Trump administration, Kennedy has undercut established scientific endeavors. He has fired thousands of federal health officials, dismissed longstanding scientific advisers, defunded $31m in autism-related research and attempted to shrink the recommended list of childhood vaccinations.

At the same time, largely unnoticed, he has given his backing to alternative health providers moving to fill the gap. Kennedy appeared by video link at the first two annual summits held in San Diego by Autism Health, a leading advocate of stem cell infusions for autistic kids.

At the summit last year, he told the audience that “your issue is no longer on the fringe”. At this year’s gathering in April, he promised to “create opportunities that extend across a lifetime” and to work with the stem cell providers “to drive solutions together”.

Those providers included Mike Chan, a Malaysian physician who presented the San Diego summit with a protocol that he practices from his clinic in Bangkok. It involves injecting autistic children in the buttocks with high doses of stem cells extracted from slaughtered sheep and rabbits.

I do not believe that anyone could come up with a Trump appointment that actually knows what they’re doing in the job they’ve been given. It’s pathetic and dangerous. Anyway, there are more headlines out there about the administration and the Iran War that could fill at least one post. This is all I can handle for the day. Have a peaceful weekend.

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