There are plenty of things I’ve never understood about the people who’ve chosen loyalty to Donald Trump over the United States of America. I don’t have the space to list every single reason he never should’ve been allowed to run again in 2020, let alone 2024, but let's remain in the present for now. Trump is so far gone at this point, both physically and mentally, that anyone with eyes can see it for themselves. And yet, there’s an entire political party keeping its head in the sand rather than admit to what we’ve all been subjected to for the last 11 years.I truly cannot comprehend how anyone is still proudly broadcasting their support for an obviously sundowning convicted felon adjudicated rapist who has vandalized Washington, D.C. to make America look as weak as possible on the global stage on our 250th birthday. The last week alone has provided multiple examples of why any remaining Trump loyalists need to somehow recover their pre-2015 memories and remind themselves of what the American president is supposed to represent. Friday’s shambolic appearance at the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner was just the latest example of what a global embarrassment Trump is, as well as how far the “legacy media” has fallen. When he wasn’t dozing off on the dais or doing a weird thing with his mouth that many people were saying is Adderall and/or cocaine related, Trump delivered another rambling speech that relied on his usual litany of bullying, bragging, and bull.A room full of journalists and other members of the media sat there and took more of his verbal abuse and lies instead of walking out on him. No one stood up and yelled “LIAR!”No one defended CNN’s Kaitlan Collins when Trump once again attacked her for not smiling, because he’s disgusting.It seemed that only Lone Wolf Blitzer was capable of telling the truth about Trump while standing right in front of him.We certainly can’t expect Jake Tapper to report on Donny Dementia’s deterioration, especially not after he begged Trump for another interview after chatting with him on CNN about Lindsey Graham’s death.Remember Lindsey Graham? Yeah, I also thought it was weird that Mitch McConnell didn’t issue a statement about his death.Anyway, the Republican Party of old would be reeling right now upon learning that their leader finally paid the woman he sexually abused and defamed the $5.6 million he’s owed her for the last three years, with interest. But their silence is their compliance, standing with an adjudicated rapist whose name appears in the Epstein Files at least 38,000 times, rather than incur his wrath in a social media post.This is how far our alleged leadership has fallen. They spend their time trying to out-bully each other on Twitter to please their molting MAGA masochist, lest he reveal whatever blackmail he has on all of them. We can blame Ronald Reagan for a lot of things when it comes to the present-day GOP. Still, I think it’s safe to say he wouldn’t have tolerated the thrice-married, philandering, five-time draft-dodging Epstein bestie Donald Trump as a candidate, let alone stood for him falling asleep behind the Resolute Desk. America is a joke on the global stage as the world watches this addled toddler fall and fail. Yet, no one stands up to the Cowardly Lyin’ fraud who bankrupted his own casinos in Atlantic City while laundering money for the Russian mob.It’s EXHAUSTING to be a thinking, caring person in a media landscape that avoids accountability out of fear of retaliation. Ooh, what’s he going to do, block you on Twitter, Peter Doocy? Even though that’s a violation of a citizen’s First Amendment rights?Oh wait, Trump doesn’t care about upholding the Constitution. Which I’ve known all along, but more specifically, since August 28, 2015, the day Trump blocked me on Twitter. Yea verily, the ultimate Twitter Badge of Honor. When Trump was first sued by the Knight-Columbia Institute in 2017 over multiple First Amendment violations on social media, it applied to anyone he blocked after he was inaugurated. But then they also decided that he should be forced to unblock anyone who’d been blocked when he was just a candidate and was still blocked. Including lil’ ol me, Dear Reader. I can’t say for sure how any of it went down, of course. But I like to imagine him sitting behind the then-empty Resolute Desk and being given a list of Twitter accounts to unblock, then begrudgingly unblocking them. “Fine,” he grumbles, going down the list, until he reaches my account. “Oh no, not that one!” Trump harrumphs, “She’s MEAN!”I’m blocked to this day, and I’m also blocked on his Instagram. That’s how petty this “POTUS*” actually is.I’m all of five feet tall, and I weigh maybe a buck five or six. If you passed me on the street, you’d clock me as a petite woman with a head of silver hair, and therefore not a threat. I like to say I’m reactive, because I don’t wake up every day wondering who I can piss off.
President Donald Trump fumed at Senate Republicans on Tuesday over their continued blockage of his legislative agenda. Trump has repeatedly called for Senate Republicans to pass his SAVE Act, which would overhaul the way U.S. elections are conducted, before their August recess. However, Republicans have shot down those calls, arguing that there are not 60 votes to pass the bill and that they are unwilling to eliminate the filibuster to do so. Trump claimed in a post on Truth Social that Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) has a scheme up his sleeve to pass part of the bill before the recess, which he called a "critical first step." He then fumed at Republicans to "get it done!""Senator Ron Johnson is working hard with Senate Republican Leadership to adopt a Budget Resolution before the August recess," Trump wrote. "This is the first step towards getting as much of THE SAVE AMERICA ACT as possible in a Budget Bill, funding our Troops, and helping our Farmers." "I am calling on the Senate to get this critical first step done before the August recess," he added. "This Resolution can be adopted at a simple Majority threshold. GET IT DONE!"
Bill Pulte, the acting director of national intelligence, said he has terminated nearly a third of the officials in his office, but others doubt the figures are accurate.
The entire system is bloated and needs to be eliminated. However, I will just note for the record; no one ever talked about the staffing level at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence until Director Tulsi Gabbard was appointed to head the agency and for the first time in history utilized the legislatively […]
The post Acting DNI Bill Pulte Notes an Additional 30 Percent Staff Reduction appeared first on The Last Refuge.
President Donald Trump’s subpoenas of The New York Times has been widely criticized for potentially violating the First Amendment, to the point where the prosecutors trying to force out the publication’s sources on weaknesses with Trump’s Qatari-gifted jet have been threatened with losing their Bar license. Now a recent report reveals a judge presiding over that case has humiliated a prosecutor trying to win it.“The Times swiftly moved to quash the subpoenas, arguing that they were issued in a bad faith effort to harass and intimidate the journalists,” reported Lawfare's Anna Bower on Tuesday. “What’s more, the newspaper contended that the government hadn't come close to meeting the standard set out in New York Times v. Gonzales, the Second Circuit precedent establishing that prosecutors seeking a reporter's confidential sources must show, among other things, that the information can't be obtained by other means.”Bower added, “The Justice Department, in response, didn't ask the court to deny the motion outright. Instead, it asked the court to hold the subpoenas in abeyance for two weeks while it pursued additional investigative steps—steps that, the government suggested, might bear on the scope of the subpoenas and on whether the Gonzales factors could ultimately be satisfied.”She then discussed Judge Arun Subramanian, who blasted the government for failing to rise to the Gonzales standards. “Given that the government has asked to hold the subpoenas in abeyance while it pursues further investigative steps, is the government willing to just withdraw them?” Bowers asked U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Sean Buckley. But Buckley said the government believes the ‘appropriate measure’ is to hold the subpoenas in abeyance while it takes unspecified additional investigative steps. In other words: the government wants to put enforcement of the subpoenas on pause rather than withdraw them entirely.Subramanian then reportedly interjected, “[Let me] stop you right there. So the answer to my question is 'no'?” After some back and forth with Buckley, the government conceded it could not rise to that standard.Subramanian then quoted from the Justice Department’s own filing, that to overcome the qualified reporter’s privilege recognized in Gonzales, the government must show that the information it wants is not obtainable from other sources. "You agree, right?" the judge asked aloud. But Buckley had to acknowledge that Subramanian was correct, adding that he believed the steps have now been achieved even though they had not when the subpoenas were first issued.“It’s the kind of admission that tends to end an argument before it starts, and Subramanian treats it that way,” Bowers reported. “‘Seems like you've got two options,’ he says to Buckley. ‘Either we can quash the subpoenas or you could withdraw the subpoenas.’”The judge was similarly dismissive of the rest of the government's position because of its failure on that key question.“Asked if he has anything to add, Buckley allows himself one small act of defiance: the government disputes any suggestion of bad faith, he says.And that's where Buckley left it, Bowers reported.
