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Benjamin Franklin famously proclaimed, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Well, at least we still have death. For a few days, it seemed like there was a small chance that a couple of GOP holdouts would prevent America from having to suffer the Justice Department-corrupting Todd Blanche as Attorney General, but as one highly-regarded political analyst explained, “It’s worth noting that the GOP holdouts almost always fold, and the worst-case scenario almost always wins out.” And so it went. The writing was on the wall, as surely as the seashells were arranged on the beach. And here we are with a headline that it wouldn’t take a predictive market to predict: Republican Holdouts Say They Now Support Blanche Nomination. In exchange for the support, Blanche posted two documents, one saying the anti-weaponization fund is dead and another that limits the scope of the IRS protections given to Trump and his family. Neither proclamation qualifies as Todd’s gift to the world. As the NYT (Gift Article) explains: “Even in its new form, Mr. Blanche’s order for the I.R.S. to abandon any audits of Mr. Trump’s previous tax returns is an unprecedented and potentially illegal benefit to a sitting president, worth potentially tens of millions of dollars in lower taxes and avoided penalties.” And you can expect a newly-empowered Blanche to bring back some form of the weaponization fund and re-expand the IRS deal for the Trumps. And the GOP members who backed the Blanche confirmation will feign disbelief. Ben Franklin isn’t around, so you’ll have to take my word for it: During this era, these are the most certain things of all.
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Intrude Awakening
We need to talk about the invasion into Ceuta. Not the one made up of migrants. The one made up of far right politicians looking to capitalize on the events of last week. Far-Right Leaders Descend on Ceuta, Angering Residents. One has to wonder what the connection is between the far right movement (from Europe to the US) and the events in the Spanish territory that seemed to fit so perfectly into their narrative. As Anne Applebaum explains in The Atlantic (Gift Article): We’ve seen this before. “So closely did this incident resemble the ‘invasion’ that MAGA and its European friends have long said is under way that it was hard not to suspect that it had been orchestrated ... Surprised by the unprecedented numbers and perhaps fearing hundreds would drown—in the end, at least 70 people died in the water, including some children—the Spanish police let them land on the beach. This is when the photographs and videos began to circulate. Among those promoting them were senior members of the Trump administration, and senior leaders of the European far right ... It remains unclear who created the viral posts that encouraged the would-be migrants to believe that they could get to Europe from Ceuta. But those who want to weaken the Spanish government, boost the European far right, and create turmoil inside the EU lost little time in promoting the photographs as soon as they arrived.”
+ Even if we’ve seen this kind of messaging before, it’s being received more enthusiastically and by more people than it has in decades. NYT (Gift Article): Europe’s Far Right, Once Marginal, Now Sets Tone on Spain Migrant Crisis.
3
B Best
Phillips Payson O’Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews, in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Why Is the U.S. Running So Low on Weapons? “The munitions shortfall doesn’t just affect the current war. It also sends a worrisome message to allies around the world: The United States has been caught off guard by the latest evolution of warfare and lacks the armaments-production capacity to adapt quickly. Suddenly, relying on American military technology looks far less reliable as a security strategy than it did before President Trump went to war with Iran. And in the long run, governments that counted on the United States to equip their military are going to need a Plan B.”
+ Our allies need a Plan B. Our enemy already found one. “Iran’s leadership believes it has found the world’s Achilles’ heel. With the help of regional militia allies, Tehran spent the past week underscoring its ability to threaten several of the world’s most critical energy facilities and waterways.” For Iran, Trump’s Reversal on Escalation Shows Who Has the Upper Hand.
+ Iran says it is in talks with Oman but not the US after Trump says negotiations to resume.
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Tossed Salad
“Larry Cox and his two sons run Coastline Family Farms, which supplies leafy greens to some of the country’s biggest restaurant chains and grocery stores. But this week, in the region known as America’s Salad Bowl, around 300,000 pounds of his romaine hearts were chopped and plowed back into the soil.” No produce grown in the US has been linked to cyclospora, but from farms to restaurants, the salad days have been tossed. WSJ (Gift Article): California Lettuce Growers Skip Harvest, Plow Their Crops Back Into the Ground.
+ And things could get worse. Michigan reports 2 deaths in cyclosporiasis outbreak.
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Extra, Extra
Our Own Worst Enemy? “For the moment, China’s rulers have avoided overtly antagonizing America, because they believe that, even in decline, it remains uniquely dangerous. After Trump’s interventions in Venezuela and Iran, and his threats to Canada and Greenland, the Beijing Daily, a Communist Party mouthpiece, wrote that the U.S. was ‘dragging the world back to a dark age of plunder and division through superior military might.’ But that bluster obscures a colder calculation: Chinese leaders believe that Trump’s struggle to dominate the world is actually aiding China.” Evan Osnos in The New Yorker: The Future, Made in China.
+ A Flock of Shit: “Bakely, 50, began to feel like she was constantly being watched. She says she installed three cameras around her home and on her patio, to see if he was staking out her cul-de-sac. She bought a hidden-camera detector and nervously waved it down every wall. Three times, in desperation, she says she drove her Kia to a mechanic’s shop, asking them to scan for trackers on her car.” How rogue officers turned a nationwide camera network into a tool for stalking. Plus, A Texas deputy searched 83,000 flock cameras to track down a woman who had an abortion. And, Flock cameras are getting mobbed.
+ Shallow End of the Gene Pool: “President Donald Trump on Saturday sharply criticized U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s assessment that damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was the result of shoddy construction and not the work of vandals, as he claims.” Pirro told the truth. Her days are numbered.
+ Snapped: “Even before the most drastic changes take effect, more than 4 million people are estimated to have already lost the critical food aid between last July and April — many of whom are children.” NPR: Over 4 million people are no longer receiving food aid amid sweeping changes to SNAP. Meanwhile, on the other end of the food chain... Trump Media’s paid data feed giving Wall Street faster access to Trump’s posts is now live.
+ Dear Gianni Letter: “FIFA is not moving forward with a controversial plan to allow private investors to purchase a stake in the World Cup, according to a statement from FIFA president Gianni Infantino.” (The blood is in the water in one of the world’s most cutthroat organizations. Seems highly likely that Infantino loses his job along with this debate.)
+ Screen Shots: “A powerful one-two punch from ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ and ‘The Odyssey’