It looks like another frivolous Trump lawsuit -- this one vs the WSJ and Rupert Murdoch over the Epstein birthday-card story -- is going down in flames. I've lost track how many of these never get to the discovery, much less the trial, phase. www.theguardian.com/media/2026/a...
Judge signals Trump’s defamation lawsuit against Wall Street Journal may be dismissed again
Obama-appointed judge seemed unmoved by Trump attorneys’ arguments in case also naming Murdoch
theguardian.com
3/ It’s just there. It doesn’t require maintenance any more than Long Island sound does. Maybe I’m not understanding these numbers. But again these aren’t token fees or a point of principle. The windfall almost beggars belief.
2/ value of **all crude oil produced in the entire world**. Again, that is an almost unimaginable sum. And this is purely protection money. This isn’t like the Panama Canal or suez, man made passages that require upkeep & maintenance that someone has to pay for. Yes, it’s small but it’s the ocean!
Perhaps I’m not understanding how this works. But these are unimaginable sums. Let’s say Iran wants a 5% fee, the low end of the demand Trump is accepting. Approx. 20% of global oil production goes through the strait. So 5%, 20% … this means Iran takes a 1% cut off the top of the export …
Bill Grueskin@bgrueskin.bsky.social · 14h agoReuters: Iran wants fees of 5%-7% of the price of cargo from ships using the strait; Oman wants 3%. "Making fees voluntary, at least nominally, could be a way out of the impasse, although an implied threat of Iranian attacks could mean shippers would be unlikely to risk transit without paying."
Wow, some ace bureaucrats just did some high level bureaucrating. Nice work! I will be grateful to get this injected into me.
Kathleen Bachynski@bachynski.bsky.social · 2h agoThis is a great day for public health. “In a move that seemed out of reach just six months ago, the Food and Drug Administration approved Moderna’s influenza vaccine for older adults on Wednesday, the first licensed flu shot made using messenger RNA technology.” @jackiantonovich.bsky.social
Trump suddenly furious that he’s surrounded by idiots. Who let this happen?
Tyler King@tyleraking.com · 5h ago“trump’s frustration over the Iran war boiled over at Camp David last week, where he demanded answers from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on why he had apparently been misled on extreme munitions shortages that now threaten to limit military options with Iran.” wapo.st/4hQVTF0
NEW: Republicans tried to get Missourians to effectively kill direct democracy and ballot initiatives. Last night, Missourians literally laughed in their face — rejecting the measure by a massive 80% to 20%. Here’s what to know:
Missourians Reject Measure That Threatened to Kill Citizen-Led Ballot Initiatives - Bolts
Missourians on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted against a measure to restrict direct democracy, while state officials are trying to block even more citizen-led reforms from the November ballot.
boltsmag.org
Against all odds, with an HHS that has defunded mRNA research programs, the FDA just approved the first mRNA flu vaccine
Also hilarious how hard almost every other news outlet is working to avoid any mention of bigotry, which is what this is all about. 😂
Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News@froomkin.bsky.social · 2h agoThis article is a horrifying and hilarious look into a Republican electorate full of bigots and idiots. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/u...
"Trump Wants To Steal the Midterms – But the Dems Actually Have A Plan To Fight Back" Democrats, election officials, and activist groups talk with Zeteo about how they’re planning to defend the midterms from ICE agents, GOP ballot seizures, and more. Part 3 of Zeteo's 'Start the Steal' series:
Trump Wants To Steal the Midterms – But the Dems Actually Have A Plan To Fight Back
'Start the Steal,' Part 3: Democrats, election officials, and activist groups talk with Zeteo about how they’re planning to defend the midterms from ICE agents at the polls, ballot seizures, and more.
zeteo.com
Susan Collins announcing she'll vote against a controversial nominee is basically the moment it becomes clear that nominee will be confirmed. It means Thune has enough votes to confirm, and thus, Collins gets a pass to look independent.
As I’ve said before: The GOP’s long term goal is to delegitimize and dismantle the United States government in order to reimpose segregation, patriarchy, and privatization on the states they control. They are at war with America.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 16h agoRick Scott on spending: "Government is the problem. It's not the Iran war." (Who is waging the Iran war?)
The media's takeaway from an El-Sayed win is the same as it would have been from a Stevens win, and the same as it will be if El-Sayed wins the general, or if he loses it: everyone, no matter who they are, needs to take several steps to the right.
Hard to put into words (I might) my anger at this Washington Post Editorial Board piece, which I share in its brief totality here.
Carly Goodman@carlygoodman.bsky.social · 3h agoWho is the audience for this lie, from CIS, from the WP ed board shamefully parroting it? Is somebody out there meant to believe it? Or is it doing something else
El-Sayed, Lawrence and McKinney all won progressive campaigns in Michigan last night by talking about climate and clean energy like it was a kitchen-table issue — because skyrocketing energy bills and endless wildfire smoke matter to people.
Donald Trump is racing to stop the BBC from getting his financial records. After the network demanded access to his records to determine whether he actually suffered the billions in damages he claims, Trump’s lawyers are now trying to block that evidence from being turned over.
Imagine a fellow draft dodger like Bill Clinton, posting an image of him in uniform, wearing more medals than Patton or MacArthur. Fox News would’ve spontaneously combusted
Helen Kennedy@helenkennedy.com · 10h agoThis guy never served. He faked an injury to avoid the draft. None of his children have served. He called those who did serve their country "suckers and losers." He skipped the centenary memorial for servicemen who died in WWI because it was drizzling. This is more than usually repellent.
This couple came legally. They applied for asylum before their visas expired, wanting to do it all by the books. After six months, they applied for work permits to stay afloat, passing background checks. They worked legally and paid taxes while government delay dragged on. Then ICE came for them.
Laura Rodríguez Presa@lauranrodriguez.bsky.social · 9h agoThe couple’s arrest outside Midway Airport aligns with what immigration attorneys across the country have observed in recent months: an increase in ICE arrests at airports of people traveling domestically with expired visas but pending immigration cases. www.chicagotribune.com/2026/08/05/c...
A 60 Minutes probe into Epstein's banking, with Wyden already interviewed, vanished right after Sharyn Alfonsi got pushed out under Bari Weiss. Wyden released a sweeping Senate report alleging several of the largest banks of having “been willing to turn a blind eye” to Epstein’s financial activity.
60 Minutes Epstein Banking Story Didn’t Air After Sharyn Alfonsi Exit, Dem Senator Claims
Wyden revealed he was interviewed for the show in a Senate report alleging the country's largest banks turned “a blind eye” to Epstein's financial activity
mediaite.com
On the one hand, there have been near-weekly stories abt munitions shortages since weeks b4 war started, so Trump is lying that he wasn't warned. On the other hand, Whiskey Pete refuses to answer Congress abt it in hearings Trump watches, so he earned this. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Three-byline alert: 🚨 “.. The Defense Department’s second in command hastily gathered top military and defense acquisition officials for a meeting Friday night to discuss ways to quickly address a shortfall of U.S. weaponry — after he got an angry phone call ..” www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat...
Is it good when the secretary of defense is so fixated on making sure everyone is white and has tv ready abs that he forgets about munitions bsky.app/profile/carl...
Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 5h agoOof. @washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Sanders: The irony is that the proper criticism of communism is that the Soviet Union was an authoritarian society. And then you’ve got the most authoritarian president in the history of this country. So I suppose when he says, “I’d be a great communist,” yeah, I think there’s some truth to that
ICE has now spent over $2.2 BILLION on purchasing 4 private prisons from CoreCivic, with the company banking half a billion dollars on the most recent sale. Of course, ICE will not actually operate these facilities; CoreCivic keeps the contracts to run these places for the foreseeable future.
Wow! @menendez.house.gov says that the EXACT scenario I flagged two months ago, where ICE "releases" someone having a medical emergency solely so their death won't be recorded as occurring while in custody, happened last month at the infamous Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, NJ.
Matt Shuham@mattshuham.bsky.social · yesterdayDays before the death of Edwin Jeovanny Lopez Cornejo, ICE officials did not report the death of another man who’d been detained at Delaney Hall — because they had technically “released” him in the middle of a medical emergency, Rep. Rob Menendez (D-NJ) alleged. www.huffpost.com/entry/delane...
El-Sayed: "Once a government agency like ICE is told it has impunity to do the worst things and violate the highest law of the land, which is the Constitution itself, I don't think you can reform or retrain. I think we need to start from scratch ... I think we need to abolish it."
A paramilitary group plotted to overthrow the Constitution then conducted a violent attack on America. They were convicted in court of seditious conspiracy, and jailed. Then the leader they aimed to illegally install got power and let them out, their records wiped clean. The Jan. 6 attackers won.
Judge Pained as He Grants Dismissal of Jan. 6 Charges Against Oath Keepers
The judge, Amit P. Mehta, blasted the administration’s request for a dismissal in the case, saying it bestowed “unearned grace” on the Oath Keepers defendants “by wiping their records clean.”
nytimes.com
There may well be active duty troops in the Middle East right now who have family members locked in ICE jails. Congress authorized Military Parole-in-Place specifically to avoid this situation. But the Trump admin has shown little care to families caught in this situation.
AILA@aila.org · 16h ago"President Donald Trump’s administration has detained dozens of parents and spouses of active-duty U.S. troops as it rolls back immigration protections for military families to pursue its mass deportation agenda." https://bit.ly/4br4M4m
