Fake quote, boys. JQA never said it. It was said ABOUT him by an author named John Wingate Thornton in 1860. Call David Barton and get your money back. https://t.co/CVwxLx1fe2
It would be one thing if this were just some rando saying something stupid on social media. This is an official account from the DHS, which has become a veritable propaganda mill. It’s sickening.
Here’s an idea for a reform. Pass a law that says government agencies are not allowed to post anything but information and specific instructions on social media. No “inspirational” messages, boosterism, bullshit PR. Nothing. It will likely inhibit some good stuff, but it’s a price worth paying to ensure that this grotesque misuse of government resources to promote a strictly partisan agenda never happens again.
The bombing has resumed in Iran and there are weather emergencies all over the country. Here’s our president today:
President Donald Trump in recent months has cultivated a side project: counting the number of trees in a public park across the street from the White House.
Under Trump’s plans for Lafayette Square, which he has previously described as “the entrance to the White House,” the public park would feature 47 trees, matching his status as the nation’s 47th president, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail the administration’s plans for the park. The trees would all be maples, a favorite of the president’s.
The park has historically contained several dozen trees, although some have been taken out during renovations. It’s unclear how many additional trees Trump would plant to get to 47 and whether he would remove any existing trees as part of his effort. Officials cautioned that as with Trump’s other building and design projects — which they have acknowledged he has tended to micromanage — nothing is final until the president formally announces it.
Trump personally inspected Lafayette Square’s renovations Sunday morning, a White House official said, part of a citywide tour of the president’s construction projects, including his planned triumphal arch and major changes to the East Potomac Park golf course.
Here’s another “reform” idea. We must make some kind of law or maybe a constitutional amendment or something that prevents some nutcase who finds his way into the White House from destroying our capital city like he’s some kind of low-rent, D-list Caesar.
The UN-sanctioned Board of Peace announced by Donald Trump earlier this year to rule Gaza is planning a sweeping grant of legal immunity for itself, according to a draft of the resolution obtained by the Guardian. The draft language would also let the organization obtain public property in Gaza “free of charge”.
The four-page resolution, labeled “sensitive but unclassified”, extends broad protections to every member of the Board of Peace and its administrative affiliate, the office of the high representative (OHR), as well as to the Palestinian technocrats, international military forces and nonresident contractors lined up to perform work in Gaza. It defines legal processes from which they would have immunity as “any arrest, detention or legal proceedings in the courts or other entities in Gaza”.
It is unclear if the document is attempting to relieve the Board of Peace and its affiliates from prosecution in international courts, in addition to potential claims in Gaza. The Board of Peace’s chair, Donald Trump, would have the right to waive someone’s legal immunity, pending majority support from his peace board, the June 2026 draft resolution states.
The seven-member “executive board” that leads the Board of Peace includes Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner; special envoy Steve Witkoff; the president’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles; and his national security adviser, Marco Rubio. Though countries have pledged billions, most have not yet transferred funds to support its work in Gaza and no major contracts have been issued.
[…]
Six lawyers specializing in US contracting law and international armed conflict reviewed the draft resolution for the Guardian. If the resolution goes into force, they said, it is unclear how Board of Peace officials, soldiers, and contractors would be held accountable if there are shootings or accidents that affect Gaza residents, or even how the group might resolve routine disputes over business or land use there…
“It looks like an attempt to exempt the board, and all of its personnel, from accountability for potential legal violations,” said Emily Schaeffer Omer-Man, an expert in litigating international humanitarian law in Israeli, American and foreign courts.
They just want to be able to kill people with impunity. That’s the new thing. We’re doing it on the high seas in Latin America and Israel is doing it in Gaza and Lebanon right now.
And then there’s this:
The final section of the Board of Peace’s draft resolution, entitled “Premises of the Board of Peace, OHR, and ISF”, says that the group “shall be provided, free of charge, public premises and facilities needed for the accomplishment of the missions in Gaza”.
Legal experts said that this singular phrase could open the door to illegal confiscation of Palestinian property. It’s not clear which group – Israel, Hamas or the Palestinian Authority – would be responsible for “providing” the Board of Peace with facilities, and under what terms.
The Board of Peace plans to build a base for an international military force, as well as logistics hubs to power its operations there, according to contractors involved in the process… “By unilaterally declaring the power to seize Palestinian land, property and buildings for their own use without consent, compensation or redress, the Board of Peace is taking a page out of Israel’s repressive playbook,” said Omar Shakir, executive director at Dawn, a non-profit dedicated to investigating the impacts of US foreign policy in the Middle East. “Far from signaling an end to genocide, apartheid and occupation, this document suggests entrenching some of its ugliest signature characteristics. This risks not only complicity, but direct perpetration of grave abuses.”
That would be a feature not a bug.
[…]
The draft says that the resolution will go into force upon Mladenov’s signature. The Board of Peace did not respond to questions about what additional parties, if any, would sign its sweeping resolution.
“How valuable is this document if they are the only ones signing it?” Shakir said.
It’s just another grift. It’s not worth a thing for anyone but the wealthy conmen running it.
This Reddit post is making the rounds and it makes you feel nostalgic for the country we used to live in — you know, a decade ago:
I worked at Smithsonian, specifically raising money for 250th. What I want people to know is we secured millions of private philanthropy to host a month long Folklife Festival on the mall, “The Festival of Festivals”. Was going to feature well known festivals, think Burning Man, Farm Aid, Grand Ole Oprey etc. as well as smaller local and regional festivals from across the U.S. and territories. Goal was to feature truly the best and most beautiful creative expression in music, dance, arts and craft traditions, food, community etc.
Can’t name names but plan was to have headliners every night for free concerts…. Think the types of names who might be affiliated with the aforementioned large festivals. Stars were willing to perform because was under banner of Smithsonian. It had to all be scrapped bc the administration would not release permits to host on the mall.
The money went elsewhere, but our nation was robbed of what would have been a once in a generation cultural moment.
I’m afraid that represents a different country than the one that lives in Donald Trump’s head. He has to put his brand on everything and this isn’t his brand. The piece of shit that’s happening right now on the mall is his brand. The stench of mediocrity and failure is all over that thing.
I hate to say it but this pathetic 250th anniversary is just too on the nose. This is who we are right now.
I’m reading the book right now, and it’s really something. I’m sure Trump himself was one of the sources, but he’s too addled and inherently stupid to know what he’s saying half the time. I’ll write more about it as I go on.
It tracks closely with what we’ve already seen. He’s incredibly angry and vengeful, but also completely convinced that he is history’s greatest leader based on the fact that he has beaten back every single accusation and managed to evade any consequences for his failures his entire life. I think at this point he may actually be convinced that he is the chosen one. On some level, he knows that he has no clue what he’s doing and is operating on sheer impulse, and yet here he is, the most powerful man in the world. He must be ordained by God. Or maybe he IS god. He has always been right about everything!
And yet, deep down, he knows. And he’s still terrified of making a huge, inalterable mistake. All that means, though, is that he may not be willing to drop a nuclear bomb. Anything else, he chalks up to “it’ll all work out, it always does” and moves on to the next atrocity. Since he doesn’t care at all about anyone but himself, whatever collateral damage results from his impulsive decisions is irrelevant to him.
We are living through a very dramatic period in history. This deeply disturbed individual to become the leader of the most powerful nation on earth, with a following in the tens of millions, is one for the ages.
A similar thing happened a hundred years ago and it turned the whole world upside down. We just have to hope that the old “history repeats itself, first time as tragedy, second time as farce” holds up and our watered-down version doesn’t end up blowing up the world.
Photo by David Shankbone via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.5).
Fascists intent on ending the American experiment have body-snatched the Republican Party. Or else the way dementia removes inhibitions to reveal latent, long-suppressed impulses, they’ve just revealed who they always were. With Donald Trump’s approval ratings in the cellar and algae in his Reflecting Pool, Trump finds a life preserver in the wins by Democratic Socialists in New York last week (Axios):
Why it matters: In a blistering speech to religious conservatives on Friday, Trump warned that “communists” are taking over the Democratic Party and “they want to completely destroy the traditional American way of life.”
Afterward, Faith & Freedom Coalition chairman Ralph Reed, a close ally of the president, told reporters that Trump’s words were intentional and had the makings of a Republican message for the midterms.
And if that mesage falls on ears too young to remember or care about the Red Scare of 60 years ago, no worries. Republicans mean to steal the fall elections anyway.
Massie: "I think it's ironic that we control the House, Senate, Supreme Court, and the White House, and we're yelling 'election fraud'? I mean, we won all the damn elections." pic.twitter.com/dynY1dbEjs
In Minneapolis, activists battle-hardened by Trump’s Operation Metro Surge are taking what they learned and applying those skills to election protection (The Guardian):
“We’ve got to make sure that everybody who wants to vote can vote, and everybody’s vote is counted, and those votes and the will of the majority is respected,” said David Brauer, who helped lead the training for Monarca, a project of social justice groupUnidos MN.
“Basic stuff, but so crucial right now. But that’s just the first step. Once they’re cast, we know we’ll have to defend them.”
The training is designed to get citizens thinking about what Trump and his allies could do to undermine the voting process and election results. The exercises are theoretical, for now, but based on reality: the president has already sought to undermine the results of California’s elections and said they will be investigated, a sign of more to come in the midterms.
Let’s get down to the meat of it:
Defending democracy, aside from voting, is often seen as the work of elections officials who count and confirm vote totals, or of nonprofits that file lawsuits over restrictive voting laws. Officials in some states have worked to put laws in place to try to fend off federal overreach. They’re beefing up election security measures and solidifying processes to inform the public of how elections work, anticipating misinformation coming from the White House, like it did in California’s recent primaries.
But in an era of explicit partisan gerrymandering that diminishes voting power for Black people, and of a president who frequently denies the results of election which don’t go his way, defending democracy requires all hands on deck.
The Freedom 250 does not feature stock cars. It does feature a whole lotta Trump (The Atlantic):
Stretching across a large swath of the National Mall, the fair has dozens of pavilions for 56 states and territories and numerous executive-branch departments, in addition to a Ferris wheel, a rodeo, and other displays from companies and organizations, many of them Trump-aligned. It’s advertised by Freedom 250, the White House–created group behind many semiquincentennial events, as a “world-class exposition and modern-day World’s Fair.”
For a president enamored with the gilded and the grand, the exterior of this fair is surprisingly austere. Trompe l’oeil sheets cover slapdash structures lining both sides of the Mall with an illustration of architecture that is supposed to be beaux arts but is so stripped down that it makes the nearby brutalist buildings look practically baroque. A boxy model of Trump’s proposed triumphal arch in the center of the Mall appears as if it could have been designed in Minecraft and ordered from CVS for same-day pickup.
Almodst makes me want to drive 400 miles to see it and take home a limited-edition Trump passport replica. But not quite.
At its best moments, when the states have space to do their thing, the Great American State Fair feels a little like looking at a brochure inside a strip-mall travel agency: Suddenly, you want to get away to Arizona very badly. But you can’t tell whether it’s because the highly saturated photos are really that persuasive—or whether you’d just rather be anywhere else.
Kelsey Ables’s description makes the whole thing slapdash. Hardly a surprise as Trump efforts go. Perhaps workers are tied up cleaning the algae from the Reflecting Pool.
"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. If all others accepted the lie, if all records told the same tale, the lie passed into history and became truth" Orwell 1984
Forget America 250-I think I’m having a Bicentennial Minute:
Okay, that was only 30 seconds…here’s a Bicentennial Minute:
And that’s the way it was, back in 1976. America celebrated its 200th birthday, a couple of scruffy-looking nerds named Steve founded Apple Computer, the unmanned Viking 1 landed on Mars, a peanut farmer named Jimmy beat incumbent Gerald Ford for the presidency, Rocky was the top-grossing film, Happy Days was the TV ratings winner, and Billboard’s #1 song of the year was:
Of course, there was a lot more going on with music outside of the sales-driven pop charts; arena rock was at its zenith, disco and funk were fighting for the lead in the clubs, and the burgeoning punk scenes in New York and London were threatening to tear it all down.
Hard to believe that was 50 flippin’ years ago. So it goes.
Here are my top 10 album picks of 1976, with an additional 10 appended (to temper the hate mail that I’m going to get anyway).
And just remember kids…it’s only rock ‘n’ roll.
Boston – Boston
I remember the first time I heard Boston’s “More Than a Feeling” wafting from my car radio. Nighttime, miles from nowhere. I was driving my 1976 Subaru DL sedan (paid for in cash with Alaska pipeline loot) from upstate New York to Fairbanks (it’s a long-ass drive). Those fat power chords, soaring lead vocals and precise harmonies shot straight through my Nucleus Accumbens and lit my 20 year-old Amygdala up like a Christmas tree. And that was just the first single from a debut that turned out to be pretty, pretty good overall.
Choice cuts: “More Than a Feeling”, “Foreplay/Long Time”, “Hitch a Ride”, “Smokin’”.
Frampton Comes Alive! – Peter Frampton
I’m convinced that there was a law on the books in the late 70s that required every record collector to own a copy, regardless of whether or not they actually were an avid Peter Frampton fan. Personally, I’ve never begrudged the success of this 2-LP set (8x Platinum sales in the U.S.), because I happen to think he is one of the guitar greats, and have been a fan since his Humble Pie days. Granted, some cuts have been run into the ground by classic rock radio, but Frampton Comes Alive! remains one of the best live albums of all time.
Choice cuts: “Show Me the Way”, “It’s a Plain Shame”, “All I Want to Be (Is by Your Side)”, “Wind of Change”, “Shine On”, “Do You Feel Like We Do”.
Private Eyes – Tommy Bolin
Although his recorded legacy spans less than a decade, guitarist-songwriter Tommy Bolin’s place in the rock pantheon is assured. Between 1968 and his untimely death at 25 in 1976, he co-founded the Colorado-based hard rock band Zephyr, played sessions on seminal jazz-fusion albums by Billy Cobham (Spectrum) and Alphonse Mouzon (Mind Transplant), and was a full-fledged member of The James Gang (Bang, Miami) and Deep Purple (Come Taste the Band).
Private Eyes was Bolin’s followup to his excellent first solo album Teaser (released the previous year). A strong set of songs, showcasing Bolin’s eclectic guitar chops (incorporating samba, reggae, country, jazz, fusion and hard rock) and his distinctive vocal phrasing. Sadly, just 3 months after Private Eyes was released Bolin died of a drug overdose, following a concert where he opened forJeff Beck (Beck once credited Bolin’s playing on Billy Cobham’s Spectrum album as the inspiration for his own foray into fusion). Gone too soon.
Choice cuts: “Sweet Burgundy”, “Post Toastee”, “Shake the Devil”, “Gypsy Soul”, “You Told Me That You Loved Me”.
Quantum Jump – Quantum Jump
This genre-defying debut didn’t make a huge splash, but is chock full of memorable tunes. Fronted by vocalist-keyboardist Rupert Hine (who composed the bulk of the music with lyricist David MacIver), it’s a unique fusion of funk, jazz, rock and prog, with tight arrangements and top-flight production. MacIver’s playful and enigmatic lyrics recall Steely Dan. Hine (who died in 2020) went on to release a number of solo albums; he also composed TV and movie soundtracks and became an in-demand studio producer (Tina Turner, Rush, Howard Jones, Suzanne Vega, Thompson Twins, et.al.).
Choice cuts: “The Lone Ranger”, “No American Starship”, “Over Rio”, “Alta Loma Road”.
Shake Some Action – The Flamin’ Groovies
While they started out as a proto-punk garage band, this San Francisco outfit made a profound transformation after they traveled across the pond to Wales in 1972 to work with producer Dave Edmunds (two songs from those 1972 sessions ended up on Shake Some Action, the remainder of which wasn’t recorded until 1976, with additional production by Greg Shaw). The result was an album power pop aficionados consider the gold standard. Nary a weak cut.
Choice cuts: “Shake Some Action”, “Yes, It’s True”, “You Tore Me Down”, “Please Please Girl”, “I’ll Cry Alone”.
Smile – Laura Nyro
One of the great American songwriters, Laura Nyro remains underappreciated as a recording artist. Granted, to the public at large her most well-known compositions will always be associated with the artists who made them hits (e.g. “Wedding Bell Blues”, “Save the Country”, and “Stoned Soul Picnic” by the Fifth Dimension, “And When I Die” by Blood, Sweat, & Tears, “Eli’s Coming” by Three Dog Night, “Stoney End”, “Flim-Flam Man”, and “Time and Love” by Barbara Streisand), but she has been cited as an inspiration by the likes of Carole King, Todd Rundgren, Joni Mitchell, and Elton John.
Smile marked a second wind of sorts for Nyro, who had taken a 4-year breather from the music business. Many of the songs have a relaxed, warm jazzy-pop vibe, some are more textural, with quiet interludes that incorporate traditional Asian instrumentation (reminiscent of Jade Warrior). Nyro’s vocals are heavenly throughout.
Choice Cuts: “Children of the Junks”, “Money”, “Midnite Blue”, “Stormy Love”, “Smile (With Mars at the End)”.
The Ramones – The Ramones
“Hey ho, let’s go!” …and we’re off to the races. Recorded in a week, The Ramones’ debut crams 14 songs into 29 minutes, which was indicative of the brief yet brain-rattling sets the band had been performing in New York clubs like CBGB and Max’s Kansas City (get in and get out before the audience knows what hit ’em). Not unlike AC/DC, the band came steamrolling out of the gate with their formula, ignored trends and held fast until the rest of the world caught up with them. The album only sold around 6,000 units in its first year of release (!) but eventually reached gold status in 2014. However, the influence of this album cannot be overstated. Two words: Punk rock.
Choice cuts: “Blitzkrieg Bop”, “Beat on the Brat”, “Judy is a Punk”, “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”, “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue”, “Let’s Dance”.
The Runaways – The Runaways
This may be tough to fathom now, but the idea of an all-female rock band, who actually played their own instruments and wrote their own songs, was still considered a “novelty” in the mid-70s. In 1975, a music industry hustler and self-proclaimed idol-maker named Kim Fowley had an epiphany. If he could assemble an all-female rock band with the ability to capture the appeal of The Beatles by way of the sexy tomboy ethos of glam-punk queen Suzi Quatro, he could conquer the charts and make a bazillion dollars.
Ladies and gentlemen…the fabulous Runaways.
Depending on which camp is doing the talking in any tell-all book you may read or documentary you might watch, it was either due to, or in spite of, Fowley’s dubious manipulations that Cherie Currie (lead singer), Joan Jett (guitar and vocals), Sandy West (drums), Lita Ford (lead guitar) and bass player Jackie Fox (and her eventual replacement Vicki Blue) did make quite a name for themselves, and high-kicked a breach in rock ’n’ roll’s glass ceiling with those platform boots, empowering a generation of young women to plug in and crank it to “11”. Their 1976 debut album has held up quite well.
Choice cuts: “Cherry Bomb”, “You Drive Me Wild”, “Rock and Roll”, “American Nights”.
Year of the Cat – Al Stewart
Fun fact: The wispy-voiced troubadour who sang about “strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre” once took guitar lessons from King Crimson founder Robert Fripp. OK, they were teenagers at the time, and were destined to go off in very different musical directions…but that happened. Stewart toyed with different genres early in his career, eventually settling on the London folk club scene in the mid-60s as a solo artist.
By the time he released The Year of the Cat (his seventh album) he had developed a more sophisticated hybrid of folk, soft rock, and light orchestral prog. While I wouldn’t call it a “concept album”, every song tells a story (it’s very cinematic, like an omnibus of character studies). Beautifully produced and arranged by Alan Parsons.
Choice cuts: “Lord Grenville”, “On the Border”, “Broadway Hotel”, “One Stage Before”, “Year of the Cat”.
Third World – Third World
While they wouldn’t fully find their voice until their outstanding 1977 followup 96 Degrees in the Shade, this is still a strong debut from this innovative reggae outfit, who seamlessly incorporated hard funk, sweet soul, smooth jazz and world beat into their sound (recalling similar cross-genre bands like War and Osibisa). I had the pleasure of catching them in 1980 at The Old Waldorf in San Francisco; it was one of the best live shows I’ve ever attended.
Choice cuts: “Satta Massagana”, “Slavery Days”, “Brand New Beggar”, “Got to Get Along”, “Sun Won’t Shine”
Ossoff: "The president was so humiliated in Hormuz he threw his toys out the stroller and refused to sign the affordable housing bill. That's after he gave some felon donor a no bid contract for the reflecting pool and it filled up with algae, which for some reason required the… pic.twitter.com/cAcX5TP2ii
Ossoff: “The president was so humiliated in Hormuz he threw his toys out the stroller and refused to sign the affordable housing bill. That’s after he gave some felon donor a no bid contract for the reflecting pool and it filled up with algae, which for some reason required the deployment of the National Guard. And then because of his war and tariffs, inflation rose to over 4%. He promised to bring down prices on day one, do you remember that?”
Ossoff is on fire. You can shoot that directly into my veins:
There’s more:
Ossoff: "Citizens United was the most destructive court decision in modern American history. It's unleashed a flood of secret money, corporate money, billionaire money on both sides. Donald Trump's rise is a symptom of this deeper disease. Our task is not just to contain his… pic.twitter.com/fv00FMIcp5
Ossoff: “Citizens United was the most destructive court decision in modern American history. It’s unleashed a flood of secret money, corporate money, billionaire money on both sides. Donald Trump’s rise is a symptom of this deeper disease. Our task is not just to contain his wickedness, but to cure the rot that gave rise to it.”
Ossoff: "Illegal tariffs, failed war, healthcare cuts, and unmatched corruption. 34% approval and a presidential legacy cemented in disgrace." pic.twitter.com/KujFcEcyrN
Ossoff: "This is what happens when you send your son in law Jared to cosplay as a diplomat. Despite zero qualifications, Prince Jared was tapped to lead Middle East diplomacy. Now remember Jared's slush fund already got $2 billion from the Saudi Crown Prince. Even now he's… pic.twitter.com/e8GC0hySm4
Ossoff: “This is what happens when you send your son in law Jared to cosplay as a diplomat. Despite zero qualifications, Prince Jared was tapped to lead Middle East diplomacy. Now remember Jared’s slush fund already got $2 billion from the Saudi Crown Prince. Even now he’s actively asking Arab princes for billions more. Not for the US, for his own business.”
after detailing the Trump family's corruption, Ossoff says "if you're involved in any of this, next year you'll be raising your right hand and swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth, and so help you God before Congress." pic.twitter.com/9EfI0FuAa4
Ossoff: "Last week, when they gathered in Atlanta to remove Black elected officials from office not by defeating them at the polls, but by manipulating maps to dilute minority power, they saw you mobilize, Savannah, and they backed down in fear of your power. A wave is building… pic.twitter.com/nldHdqkJsZ
Ossoff: “Last week, when they gathered in Atlanta to remove Black elected officials from office not by defeating them at the polls, but by manipulating maps to dilute minority power, they saw you mobilize, Savannah, and they backed down in fear of your power. A wave is building … let’s make sure they hear it down at Mar-a-Lago, that Georgia will bow to no king!”
This is real. Trump has his fucking nasty picture on the new passports and his stupid richter scale psycho signature too. But it also actually says, “Welcome, but be good.”
Who is that for? Does he think that US passports are held by visitors to America? Or is he welcoming Americans to their own country and telling them to be good?
Or is he just brain-dead and has no idea what he’s saying, and nobody can tell this naked Emperor to put on some clothes? Seriously, didn’t anyone at the State Department think to question this “welcome, but be good” bullshit? Could no one mention that it literally makes no sense?
It gets more and more hallucinatory every single day.
