As Ava and C.I. point out in "Media: The programs we deserve, the programs we don't," there are two outstanding TV shows to be streaming right now: PEACOCK's POKER FACE and AMAZON PRIME's MURDERBOT. I just caught the first two episodes of MURDERBOT tonight and it is something you have to catch. I also didn't realize until their media report that season two of POKER FACE had started.
I want to catch Julianne Moore's new NETFLIX series SIRENS. It starts on Thursday or Friday. At the end of May, PRIME's got an Elizabeth Banks series called THE BETTER SISTERS that looks good.
THE CHARLII E PUTH SHOW?
I never heard of that. It was a 2024 show. I was watching THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW on ROKU LIVE TV -- TCBS channel -- and right after a funny Eunice sketch (Mama and Eunice drop in on Ellen -- Betty White -- who just wants them to leave before her friends arrive for an invited evening -- and they had a commercial for it. It's apparently available on ROKU. It looked like it might be funny so I'll probably try to check that out.
But, of course, this holiday weekend belongs to Tom Cruise and MISSION IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING.
I saw a commercial for it Monday night and that's when I realized this was going to be Memorial Day Weekend. They always need a big movie for that weekend.
If I were off Friday (I was supposed to be but that got changed), I'd see it Thursday night at a late showing. Instead, I'll go see it Friday. Hopefully around one or two (I was supposed to be off but since I'm going in, I've already been told they'll let me go early as soon as they can).
I'm excited to see it. Supposedly this will be the last installment but we'll see on that.
My favorite is still the first one -- Brian De Palma is an artist and that was a perfect action film. It was also helped with a strong team that got killed in the first third of the movie. Emilio Estevez's death was a shocker but then you knew everyone on the team was probably going to die except for Ethan (Tom Cruise).
And those set pieces Brian came up with like Ethan dangling in the vault or the huge fish tank exploding or the whole showdown on the outside of the moving train. And you had such a great cast including Emilio, Ving Rhames and Vanessa Redgrave.
Tuesday, May 20, 2025. Rachel Maddow identifies a democracy's
superpower, Chump's insanity, the hateful attacks on trans military
members, and much more.
We'll open with this from Senator Cory Booker's office:
May 19, 2025
Newark, N.J. – This evening, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) issued the following statement:
“These charges are clearly unfounded. Representative McIver was
exercising her legally protected authority as a member of Congress to
conduct oversight of a detention center that receives millions of
taxpayer dollars. Federal officials unnecessarily escalated what should
have been a run-of-the-mill inspection of the facility. In fact,
Representative McIver’s actions were so unremarkable that she was
invited back inside to finish her tour that day, after these events took
place.
“Pursuing this case against Representative McIver will divert
considerable resources away from serious matters of public safety. The
Department of Justice should drop these charges immediately.”
Last night on MSNBC, Rachel Maddow noted the superpower that a democracy has: The will of the people.
We use that super power because we love our country and I think most Americans love this country. But I also
think we'd all agree that there are times that pop up when it is hard to
be proud of the actions some foolish American politician is taking. Nikki McCann Ramirez (ROLLING STONE) reports:
El
Salvador's National Civil Police have arrested Ruth Eleonora López, a
renowned human rights and anti-corruption attorney who has become one of
the nation's most prominent critics of President Nayib Bukele's
regime.
According to representatives from
Cristosal, the human rights group where López serves as Chief Legal
Officer for Anti-Corruption; members of López's family; and reports in
Salvadoran media, López was taken from her home late Sunday night. In
the time since her arrest, she has reportedly been refused access to her
attorneys, and has not been able to contact members of her family. The
arrest also came on the heels of a particularly tumultuous week for the
Bukele government, which is facing growing public backlash amid a spate
of repressive actions against civil society and Salvadorans alike.
On
Monday, Amnesty International and a coalition of U.S. and international
human rights groups condemned the arrest, and called on Salvadoran
authorities to immediately release Ruth López," and "guarantee her
physical safety and due process rights.
"We
also urge U.S. policymakers and the diplomatic community at large to
urge President Bukele to cease all attacks against human rights
defenders," the group wrote.
This is who Donald Chump dragged America into bed with because he relates to the country's despotic leader Nayib Bukele. Human Rights Watch notes:
Since
taking office, the administration of President Nayib Bukele has
launched an assault on democratic institutions, including by summarily
replacing the attorney general and all the judges in the Supreme Court’s
constitutional chamber.
In March 2022, pro-Bukele lawmakers
adopted a state of emergency, suspending a range of constitutional
rights in response to a peak in gang violence. Security forces arrested
tens of thousands of people, including hundreds of children, and
committed widespread human rights violations, including arbitrary
arrests, enforced disappearances, and torture and other ill-treatment of
detainees.
Dozens have died in prison. At the same time,
authorities report a significant decrease in gang violence, including a
drop in homicides. Severe restrictions on access to abortion, harassment
and arbitrary criminal proceedings against journalists and civil
society organizations, and poor accountability for human rights
violations remain serious concerns.
That's
not someone America should be in bed with and we certainly shouldn't be
kidnapping people in the US and sending them -- as part of some slave
trade -- to El Salvador.
But that's what Chump's 'accomplished.' And we're all a little sadder and a little worse for it.
In
a Truth Social post [Mon]day, Trump shared screenshots of news articles
from media outlets highlighting coverage of his recent Middle East
trip. Each post prominently features the article titles, publishers Fox
News, Washington Examiner, CBS News, and NewsNation, and writers Anders
Hagstrom, Haisten Willis, Kaia Hubbard, Kellie Meyer, and Anna Kutz,
giving an appearance of transparency and broad media acknowledgment of
his diplomacy.
However, a closer
examination reveals a pattern of selective omission. Trump’s posts
systematically cut away significant portions of the articles that
contain criticisms and concerns about his trip, effectively sanitizing
the narrative presented to his audience.
This
propaganda technique makes it appear that the pieces from these outlets
are only glowing and positive. MeidasTouch uncovered several omissions
when comparing the original articles to Trump's screenshots.
Key
omissions include detailed reporting on human rights abuses in Saudi
Arabia, including references to the CIA’s conclusion that Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an
issue that has long clouded U.S.-Saudi relations. Trump also leaves out
scrutiny of his family’s business dealings in Saudi Arabia, such as
plans for Trump-branded real estate developments in Jeddah and Riyadh.
And
that's the only way America will not be embarrassed by Chump when it comes
to human rights is if the entire topic is just edited out.
That's
what happens when you put an unethical criminal into the White House.
Human rights no longer matter. They make a mockery out of human rights,
they make a mockery of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Wiccans,
et al. Anyone whose faith maintains respect for human rights is spat on
by con artists like Donald Chump. The Politics of Destruction are
never about lifting people up, it's about greed and hatred only.
Someone should have told Chump long ago: To get back is to go back.
That's where he lives: In the past, nursing his grudges and seeking
retribution. The pettiest of all takes no pride in our country and
doesn't believe in human rights or, for that matter, in humanity.
But
waive a $400 million plane his way and watch him leap to his feet and
slap on his whore's make up as he runs out the door. struggling to step
into his crotchless panties without ripping them.
For
years, Donald Trump has mused about grand plans of soldiers marching
and tanks rumbling down the streets of Washington, D.C., as aircraft
whizzed overhead.
When Army officials and local
politicians warned in 2018 of a $92 million price tag and the risk of
extensive damage to roads, Trump decided to scrap his previous attempt
for a grand parade of armed forces.
But earlier this month, details emerged about another enormous military spectacle in the works, which is set for the capital.
The
president had ordered an elaborately choreographed military parade to
celebrate the Army’s 250th anniversary on June 14th with the cost of the
day’s festivities estimated to be a more modest $45 million, according
to Reuters.
It also happens to be his 79th birthday.
Up
to 7,500 soldiers could be expected to march in a parade that runs from
Arlington, Virginia, across the Potomac River and into D.C.
He wants the military to honor him.
That's the same military he refused to honor his whole life.
Chump
became an adult as the US was at war with Vietnam. Some men protested
the war. Some men enlisted in the war. And some were too chickn to
protest and too chicken to serve. That would be the Donald Chumps. He
invented bone spurs as an excuse to avoid service.
He weighs what now, 340 pounds? And he can stand up to take a golf swing.
Guess
those bone spurs were some sort of allergic reaction to the Vietnam War
itself and, when US troops were brought back home, Donald's bone spurs
just dissolved.
He didn't honor the military as a young adult.
He didn't honor it when he made fun of disabled veterans.
And
he doesn't honor it now as he attacks those who made the choice to
serve -- they weren't drafted -- but he wants to kick them out.
Earlier
this month, the Supreme Court refused to rule on the issue of
transgender troops; however, as they wait to possibly rule at some point
in the future (or not), they're allowing Chump to purge transgender
members of the US military. Alex Bollinger (LGBTQ NATION) explains, "Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled that the administration
could start forcing transgender people out of the military, while
several legal challenges to the trans military ban are being heard by
lower courts." Back on May 6th, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America issued the following:
SCOTUS Failed Transgender Troops and America
Washington,
D.C. — Today, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) released
the following statement on the Supreme Court’s decision to allow the
Executive Order issued by the Trump Administration that bans transgender
military service to proceed.
“Today’s ruling
by the Supreme Court doesn’t just fail transgender Americans who’ve
volunteered to serve their country, but a nation that depends on
volunteers to serve in the ranks of its military and fight its wars,”
said IAVA CEO and Iraq War veteran, Allison Jaslow. “The just thing to
do would have been to allow the actions by the Trump Administration to
be litigated in the courts, while also allowing committed Americans to
still serve their country as they’ve been allowed to for nearly a
decade. Instead, the brave Americans who’ve been senselessly targeted by
their Commander-in-Chief for the sake of scoring political points got
dealt another blow by the Court, and U.S. military readiness will suffer
as a result.”
IAVA stands in support of our
nation’s transgender troops and veterans–and in support of equality
always. As the leading post-9/11 generation veterans advocacy
organization, IAVA is proud of its record of standing – often alone – on
the right side of equality issues. After getting input on the policy
change from our membership, IAVA supported the 2016 announcement by DoD
to allow transgender troops to serve openly without threat of discharge.
We also opposed the 2017 action by the previous Trump Administration to
ban transgender Americans from serving in the military, and supported a
reversal of the ban by the Biden Administration.
Iraq
and Afghanistan Veterans of America is the leading voice of the
Post-9/11 generation of American veterans. We represent over 425,000
members, and our best-in-class, non-partisan advocacy on behalf of the
post-9/11 generation of veterans has chalked up big wins for our
community – and America – for 20 years and counting.
###
There's nothing honorable about Donald Chump and there's nothing honorable about his treatment of those serving.
Grasp that. Republicans want to strip trans
vets of their security clearances. That's the same group of Republicans
who repeatedly look the other way as make up queen Pete Hegseth
publishes one top secret item after another on unsecured chats using
Signal.
This is not a one time security slip
for Pete. It's happened over and over. And yet the GOP in the House
continues to look the other way and leave the country at risk; however,
they're more than happy to attack every transgender person that's ever
served. It's not about actions, it's not about reality, it's about
hate. That's what motiavted the House GOP.
Commander Emily Shilling served nearly 20 years in the U.S. Navy as a combat aviator with over 60 missions. Fighter pilots are very hard for the military to find, nonetheless. Shilling will be removed from service by Donald Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. So will many others, like former Navy SEAL Kristin Beck,
who served 20 years in Naval Special Warfare, including with SEAL Team
Six. She earned the Bronze Star with Combat “V,” the Defense Meritorious
Service Medal, and the Purple Heart.
Shilling
and Beck are heroes the military will never get back, and the absence
of service members like them will make America less ready, endanger
troops, and hurt recruiting efforts.
Yet, these folks aren’t good enough to serve for Trump, who just banned transgender service
members for the second time. His first effort was reversed by Joe
Biden; this time, the Supreme Court allowed the ban to take effect as
the matter winds its way through the courts. A Trump ally, Rep. Barry
Moore (R-Ala.) has introduced legislation to codify Trump’s executive
order and ensure no Democratic president can undo the damage he has caused.
Hegseth’s service could never compare to that of Shilling or Beck, even though Hegseth likes to pretend to be a Navy SEAL as
he sycophantically follows them around the country during special
events. Trump never served a day in his life. That is why it is odd to
me and to many others that they are so adamant about preventing
transgender troops — and likely, before his term ends, gay Americans —
from serving in the armed forces.
Trump’s disdain and disrespect for veterans will go down in history as reprehensible, as will Moore’s, who voted against
the bipartisan PACT Act, which expanded health care and benefits to
millions of veterans, and numerous other bipartisan veterans’
legislation.
Transgender
Americans have served with honor — from the decks of aircraft carriers
to combat zones around the globe. They fly missions, lead teams, and
complete the same rigorous training as everyone else in the military.
Now, Trump and Hegseth are reportedly planning to
direct military commanders to identify troops who are transgender or
have gender dysphoria, so they can undergo medical checks and then be
purged.
This
policy is an ethical failure and will be a logistical one, too.
Removing thousands of trained service members during a recruiting crisis
makes us weaker, not stronger. Forcing out skilled troops, pilots,
linguists, mechanics, medics, because they sought medically necessary
care or live authentically doesn’t protect national security. It
undermines it.
That
is not about readiness. That is about hate. If Trump cared about
military readiness, he would invest in veterans’ programs and bolster
rewards for service — not dismantle the Department of Veterans Affairs,
as Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency have done.
Hate will be the death of Chump and his stooges. Speaking of . . .
I had an e-mail about the ridiculous Jerry Jones. I don't
follow football, sorry. And the only thing I'd say about Jerry Jones is
that someday his investments will be looked at -- as will those of his
attorneys like BP. I can't imagine how it's going to look when their
efforts to 'help' young people are examined. A certain treatment center
for adolescents, for example. Where a young adult male was regularly
given 'weekend passes' not to be with his family but so that his pimp
could take him out to turn tricks and then said patient would be told he
couldn't discuss the weekend -- be told by his main counselor --
discuss the weekend activities with anyone. "Secrets keep us sick"?
Isn't that the motto for recovery? Or a female tech initials MW who
slept on the premises with a male patient and skated away when all the
details came out because KE was her supervisor . . . and her relative.
And they fooled the licensing agency by redoing the charts. They also
had this thing where they'd force patients to go to a Christian church
service by bringing donuts but only allowing those who went to the
Christian service to have donuts. I think that passes for Republican
compassion; however, I don't believe Jewish people, Muslims or many
others would see that as anything but attempting to force religious
conversion on kids in a treatment center -- many of whom were court
ordered. Do we want to talk about the staff member that slept with
everyone -- patient and staff -- and managed to hold onto the job by
claiming they were a sex addict when they were caught? How about the
attempted teen suicide that was hidden from the child's family? I could
go on and on and on. But, like I said, I don't know a thing about
football. Scandals? I usually know several scandals on anyone in the
news.
If Jerry Jones comes up
again in e-mails and I have to respond, we'll move closer to his inner
circle of disgust. And, by the way, I do a spot-on imitation -- vocally
-- of his closest attorney. I can actually fool his office staff over
the phone because I can do that impersonation so well. Can -- and on a
dare from another of Jerry's lawyers -- have done.
We'll wind down with this from Senator Tammy Duckworth's office:
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today, combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy
Duckworth (D-IL) slammed Congressional Republicans for continuing to
enable Donald Trump’s harmful cuts to VA services and its workforce,
undermining the VA’s ability to keep up with new demand for care and
benefits for our nation’s Veterans under the bipartisan PACT Act.
During her remarks at a forum today, Duckworth called out Republicans
for defending Trump slashing our VA while failing to exercise their own
oversight and accountability for the proven deterioration of PACT Act implementation since Donald Trump returned to office. Duckworth’s remarks can be found on the Senator’s YouTube.
“The PACT Act was a historic, overwhelmingly bipartisan
victory that changed millions of Veterans’ lives,” said Senator
Duckworth. “But just like other critical services for our Veterans,
Donald Trump has taken a sledgehammer to PACT Act
care and benefits as well as the dedicated workforce that provides
these services for our nation’s heroes. Meanwhile, instead of holding
Trump accountable for the damage done to Veterans as these cuts continue
to delay services and care, Republicans are wasting time pointing
fingers and placing blame on literally anyone else except Donald Trump.
If Republicans really cared about our Veterans, they’d grow a spine and
condemn these cuts immediately.”
Duckworth has been a fierce leader and advocate for Veterans and the
VA staff who serve them in the wake of the disastrous Trump-Musk
layoffs. Recently, Duckworth slammed
a senior official from the VA after he failed to publicly commit to
rehiring VCL workers who were wrongfully fired in Trump-Musk layoffs.
After the first VA purge laid off workers with the VCL—including several
Veterans—Duckworth successfully pushed the Trump Administration to
reinstate these devoted public servants that work to support our
Veterans in their darkest moments.
Additionally, Duckworth and U.S. Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ) are leading the push for the Protect Veteran Jobs Act,
legislation that would reinstate the thousands of Veterans who were
fired in the Trump-Musk layoffs. Duckworth and Kim subsequently introduced their legislation as an amendment to Republicans’ slush fund continuing resolution. Republicans shamefully blocked it from passing.
The
good news? There were three films in the top ten that have made over
$100 million -- A MINECRAFT MOVIE, SINNERS, THUNDERBOLTS. The bad news?
How
about WARNER BROS leaving money on the table. Last week, they put A
MINECRAFT MOVIE out on streaming. It's the fourth biggest film of the
weekend and the biggest film of the year so far ($416 million
domestically). Instead of building on that, they put it out on
streaming. It could have been the number one film of the year at the
box office. If it's not? That's on a dumb studio that put it on video
while it was still in the top four.
THUNDERBOLTS
saw another huge drop off. If there had been a good film released last
Friday, it might have dropped off even more. In it's third weekend, it
reached $155 million.
I'm not reading that THUNDERBOLTS is a bomb. I'm not reading that people aren't seeing it.
But I did read that over and over every day about CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD when it was in the top ten.
For
the record, CAPTAIN AMERICA did better than THUNDERBOLTS is doing.
$163,547,486. That was the domestic total for CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE
NEW WORLD after its third weekend.
That's
eight million more than THUNDERBOLTS. Is there a reason that DEADLINE,
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, et al aren't calling THUNDERBOLTS a bomb?
They
attacked CABNW every day harming its box office potential. But they're
silent about THUNDERBOLTS. What's the difference between the two
films?
With
the success of X-Men ’97's first season in 2024, the billion-dollar
blockbuster Deadpool and Wolverine, and refreshingly original Agatha All
Along, Disney and Marvel Studios personified less is more last year.
Now, they are continuing the hot streak with a highly anticipated
rollout of content for 2025. This includes the recent release of
long-awaited series Daredevil: Born Again in March, and the
critically-acclaimed blockbuster Thunderbolts* this month.
Yes,
it's clear that Marvel has had a great start to the summer of 2025 and
that trend of positivity appears to be continuing as we head towards the
release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps. One other piece of good
news is that '90s legend and the Scream franchise's "Final Girl" Neve
Campbell has been cast as the voice of Polaris in the second season of
X-Men ’97. Fans couldn't be more excited for her to take on the role as
the Critics' Choice Award winner will premiere season 2 in 2026.
Monday, May 19, 2025. Chump and Bessent can't stop lying about
tariffs, Donnie Trump Jr. mocks Joe Biden's cancer so let's all remember
this when Chump's health takes a turn, Chump continues his attack on
education, he continues funneling money to Musk this despite the news
that Musk is doing business with terrorists and much, much more.
As we were noting on Friday, Walmart's announcement was huge news:
President Donald Trump's tariffs may affect your daily grocery trips.
Walmart says
it must raise prices due to tariff costs after posting solid first
quarter sales, the Associated Press reported. In the quarter one
earnings call Thursday, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said that even at reduced levels, higher tariffs will result in higher prices.
I
half-watched a report on this last night. I wasn't impressed with the
report which basically just stated what the above does and then moved
on.
Maybe they assumed everyone gets how important the above is? I don't think everyone does.
Walmart
isn't just a minor store that a few states have. It is global. But
let's just focus on the US aspect because it's all over the United
States with an estimated 95% of Americans shopping there at least twice a
year. Let's note DEMANDSTAGE's stats:
Walmart Statistics 2025: Top Highlights
Walmart attracts 255 million customer visits each week.
Walmart has 10,660 stores globally.
The U.S. has 4,606 Walmart stores and 600 Sam’s Club locations.
Walmart operates 5,454 stores internationally.
Walmart’s revenue reached $500.4 billion in the first three quarters of fiscal year 2025.
Walmart employs around 2.1 million people worldwide.
How Many Customers Does Walmart Have?
Walmart sees 255 million customer visits each week across its global network.
This is a notable increase from 2023, when 240 million customers
visited weekly, reflecting a rise of 15 million visits between January
2023 and January 2024.
The following table displays the number of weekly customer visits to Walmart stores worldwide over the years.
Here are some additional statistics about Walmart Customers:
Nearly 19 out of 20 Americans visit Walmart at least twice a year.
The average Walmart shopper makes 67 trips annually, including visits to Sam’s Club.
On average, Walmart shoppers spend $54 on 13 items per trip.
The typical Walmart customer is a white baby boomer with an annual income of less than $80,000.
Walmart earns over $1.56 billion daily by serving millions of customers.
Every second customer worldwide spends an average of $15,288 at Walmart.
Does that impress upon you how many people this is going to impact?
That
was Friday morning and we went into more of it and noted how various
outlets had treated it Thursday night as a brief headline if they noted
it at all. It was big news and it remains big news.
President Trump ripped into Walmart, saying on social media Saturday
that the retail giant should "eat the tariffs" instead of blaming the
duties on imported goods imposed by his administration for its increased
prices.
Walmart on Thursday warned that everything from bananas to children's car seats could increase in price despite the softer tariffs on China.
"We
can control what we can control," Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said on the
company's first quarter earnings call Thursday. "Even at the reduced
levels, the higher tariffs will result in higher prices," he added.
The price hikes are expected to go into effect later this month.
As
Mr. Trump has jacked up import taxes, he has tried to assure a
skeptical public that foreign producers would pay for those taxes and
that retailers and automakers would absorb the additional expenses.
It's
wonderful to have you on after a long foreign trip. Thank you for being
here. Let's start right there with Moody's downgrading the nation's
credit rating. And they do cite the debt. I want to read you a little
bit of what Moody's says. It says, quote, "If the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs
Act is extended, which is our base case, it will add around $4 trillion
to the deficit over the next decade." Several Republicans, Mr.
Secretary, are citing similar concerns. Does the president's tax bill
need to do more to address the nation's debt and deficit?
SEC. SCOTT BESSENT:
Well, Kristen, first – first of all, I – I think that Moody's is a lagging indicator.
And
we edit there. I don't like liars and he's lying. Please note, he's
had this habit all of his life, when he starts a lie, he stammers. He
starts repeating the same word. It's his tell. I-I? He's lying.
Back to the transcript.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Fair
enough. But under President Trump's first administration he added $8
trillion to the nation's debt in his first term. So there's plenty of
blame to go around. Let me –
SEC. SCOTT BESSENT:
No,
no, no, no, no.
His repeated "no"s inform that he's lying. We're not posting his lies.
KRISTEN WELKER:
It
did include the – the tax cuts as well. But let me ask you about
Walmart, this big news from Walmart. It says it will start raising
prices on its consumers, Mr. Secretary, as early as this month due to
the tariffs. Now, President Trump out with a very stern warning on
social media saying Walmart, quote, "should eat the tariffs," adding the
company made far more than expected last year. Is the president asking
American companies to be less profitable?
SEC. SCOTT BESSENT:
I
– I was on the phone with Doug McMillon, the CEO of Walmart
Lying.
KRISTEN WELKER:
Well,
you know, in my conversation with former Vice President Mike Pence, he
says he sees tariffs as a tax. How far, Mr. Secretary, is the president,
is the administration willing to go to prevent CEOs from increasing
prices?
SEC. SCOTT BESSENT:
Well,
I – I think what we are hearing here
Again, he's lying and we don't have the time.
KRISTEN WELKER:
But
the Federal Reserve has said that tariffs are inflationary. Just to be
very clear, you said you called Walmart. Is that what CEOs can expect,
that you, that the president, that other members of the administration
will apply pressure to try to prevent them from passing on these prices
to CEOs?
SEC. SCOTT BESSENT:
I – I didn't apply any pressure.
Scott's a liar and he lied to try to stop the bleeding.
The US retail giant Walmart will “eat some of the tariffs” in line with Donald Trump’s
demands, the president’s treasury secretary Scott Bessent insisted on
Sunday, claiming he received the assurance in a personal phone call with
the company’s chief executive, Doug McMillon.
A spokesperson for Walmart
said the company would not comment on conversations between its
executives and administration officials. However, a source familiar with
the conversation said the phone call between Bessent and McMillon was
arranged many days prior to Trump’s post – and that the company’s
position had not changed.
Walmart said this week it had no alternative to raising prices for consumers
beginning later this month because it could not absorb the cost of the
president’s tariffs on international trade, which have caused turmoil in
international markets.
Again, this was a huge
story the moment that it broke and it's a real shame that so many
outlets were sleeping on the job Thursday evening and Thursday night and
didn't see it for the big story -- more than a mere headline -- that it
was. Other retail outlets will follow suit. We covered it all on
Friday.
After President Donald Trumpannounced last month that the United States would impose a baseline 10-percent tariff on much of the world—with far higher rates for a set of other countries—economists warned that consumers would feel the impacts on a variety of products, including groceries, coffee, and cars.
But the Trump administration has tried a whole range of tactics to
gaslight Americans into believing that would not happen—including claiming
that the tariffs are, in the words of White House Press Secretary
Karoline Leavitt, “a tax cut for the American people” and that they will
help improve domestic manufacturing. After reports suggested
that Amazon planned to list the costs that tariffs were adding to
products on its retail website, the White House called it a “hostile and
political act”—and Amazon seemed to quickly reverse course. (Since
Trump’s initial rounds of tariffs were announced, the exact details of
them have shifted repeatedly—and much of the increase has been paused. Last week, the US and China agreed to temporarily lower the high tariffs both countries had placed on the other; on Friday, Trump said the US would soon begin informing countries of their new tariff rates.)
On Thursday, Walmart became the latest company caught in Trump’s crosshairs after its CEO, Doug McMillon, admitted that the president’s tariffs would cause the retail giant to raise prices. On an earnings call, McMillon said “the higher tariffs will result in higher prices.”
“We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible, but given
the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this
week, we aren’t able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of
narrow retail margins,” McMillon said on the call.
[. . .]
Contrary to the Trump administration’s claims, tariffs do raise
taxes on consumers. And unlike Jeff Bezos, Walmart’s CEO is apparently
willing to admit that. But in doing so, he unleashed Trump’s wrath—and
made clear that, as my colleague Pema Levy previously wrote, “With tariffs, Trump is poised to trade a strong economy for one run on loyalty and retribution.”
Presidential sidekick Elon Musk has thus far been spared from the
greatest risk to his interstellar empire: the continuity of hawkish
antitrust enforcement between the Biden and Trump administrations.
That’s good news for his company SpaceX and its subsidiary Starlink,
which are in a plum position to dominate not only commercial space
transportation, but space itself. By most accounts, Musk will soon
depart government for the friendlier confines of his own private city
after pulling out random wires from the federal motherboard. But if
everything goes according to plan, the richest man on Earth will soon
earn an even darker and stupider moniker: viceroy of low-Earth orbit.
Meanwhile, SpaceX has raked in billions of dollars in government
contracts sending satellites and astronauts into space, while also
collecting millions from private entities using SpaceX rockets to
further their own space enterprises. President Trump’s proposed budget
for the next fiscal year would shower further billions on SpaceX for a back-to-the-future missile defense system and manned flights to Mars and the moon.
The federal government’s reliance on SpaceX started well before the
Trump administration, and for good reason. SpaceX rockets have proved
efficient, reusable, and cost-effective. SpaceX enjoyed $3.8 billion in federal contracts in 2024,
the last year of the Biden administration. But critics, including those
inside the Department of Defense, have sounded the alarm on the
increasing dominance of a single company.
“Heaven forbid we have a mishap with a Falcon 9 launch,” Col. Richard
Kniseley, an officer in the Space Force’s Commercial Space Office, told The New York Times
last year. “That means it is grounded, right? And that means we could
be without launch.” Kniseley’s concern is just one among many related to
SpaceX dominating the full range of space services.
Hal Singer, a professor of economics at the University of Utah, has even
more concerns. Singer’s tally of anti-competitive SpaceX actions
includes corporate predation, barrier-to-entry protectionism,
exclusionary contracting, and more. Meanwhile, two competitors of
note—Jim Cantrell of Phantom Space and Peter Beck of Rocket Lab—have
both publicly disclosed actions that SpaceX has taken to undercut their
growth.
And, of course, there's the terrorism aspect. What? You haven't hear about that?
Who's paying for a blue checkmark on X-formerly-Twitter these days? According to a new report by the big tech accountability nonprofit Tech Transparency Project (TTP), the answer is: a bunch of terrorists.
The
TTP investigation found that more than 200 X users including
individuals who appear to be affiliated with Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas,
the Houthis, and Syrian and Iraqi militia groups — all deemed foreign
terrorist organizations (FTOs) by the US government — are paying for
subscriptions to Elon Musk's X.
Put
simply, Musk is doing business with actual terrorists, highlighting
major flaws in his social media company's content moderation practices.
These
paid subscriptions are granting apparent terrorists blue verification
badges, which can offer the accounts an added air of legitimacy. Most
importantly, though, the subscriptions are granting the users access to
premium X features and perks like content monetization tools, the
ability to publish longer posts and videos, and greater platform reach —
which the TTP says allows for terrorism-linked users to more
effectively distribute and monetize propaganda, as well as promote their
fundraising efforts.
[. . .]
Put
simply, Musk is doing business with actual terrorists, highlighting
major flaws in his social media company's content moderation practices.
These
paid subscriptions are granting apparent terrorists blue verification
badges, which can offer the accounts an added air of legitimacy. Most
importantly, though, the subscriptions are granting the users access to
premium X features and perks like content monetization tools, the
ability to publish longer posts and videos, and greater platform reach —
which the TTP says allows for terrorism-linked users to more
effectively distribute and monetize propaganda, as well as promote their
fundraising efforts.
In a functioning government,
Monday morning would begin with the announcement that the US government
was cancelling all government contracts with Musk and his businesses and
that Musk was banned from the White House.
Leave it to Chump, the intelligence failure, to be bringing a terrorist supporter into the White House.
In the latest in an ever-growing line of errors that have plagued the Trump administration’s immigration
crackdown, ICE officers have now admitted a software error may have
resulted in a man being deported to Mexico, despite fear of persecution.
The revelation emerged as the result of a class-action lawsuit filed by a Guatemalan man who was deported to Mexico in March despite fears he would face persecution there on the basis of his sexuality.
Initially, the administration argued that the man himself had told them he wasn’t afraid to be sent to Mexico, but in a Friday court filing, they conceded that this argument was based on inaccurate information.
Retracting
their previous assertions, ICE officials have now said they have no
record of the man telling anyone that he was unafraid of being sent to
Mexico. They attributed the error to software known as the “ENFORCE
alien removal module,” which tracks deportations and allows ICE
employees to add comments.
The deportations shouldn't be taking place at all but they definitely do need court supervision -- as does Chump. Martha McHardy (NEWSWEEK) notes:
O.C.G.'s
case is part of a broader legal challenge to the administration's use
of so-called "third-country" deportations, a policy that allows
immigrants to be sent to countries other than their own if their native
governments refuse to accept them or if they fear persecution at home.
Murphy has blocked such deportations without prior notice, ruling that
individuals must be given a meaningful opportunity to contest their
transfer and raise claims of torture or persecution.
O.C.G.,
who fled Guatemala in April 2024, said he faced persecution at home and
endured rape and captivity in Mexico for being gay. In February, an
immigration judge granted him protection from deportation to Guatemala.
But ICE deported him to Mexico soon after — without notice and allegedly
in violation of due process.
Judge
Murphy cited O.C.G.'s case in his ruling halting third-country
deportations without notice. Although he expressed skepticism about the
government's claim regarding O.C.G.'s supposed statement to ICE, the
disputed nature of the evidence led him to hold off on ordering the
man's return. It is unclear if the administration's new admission will
alter that stance.
What he's doing is awful and inhumane. What he wants to do is even worse: Racially profiling newborn infants. At USA TODAY, Louie Villalobos explains how Chump would follow up if allowed to strip citizenship from some of those born in this country:
How
do you think Trump and his Republican enablers expect to enforce the
removal of birthright citizenship from the U.S. Constitution? I'm not
talking about the legal procedure. I'm not naive enough to see how this
administration works and expect Republicans to care about procedure or
even, honestly, the Constitution.
I'm talking about actually making sure that babies born in America to undocumented immigrants aren't given citizenship.
You know what? I'll just let Justice Brett Kavanaugh ask the questions.
This is a short transcript of Kavanaugh asking U.S. Solicitor General
D. John Sauer how the Trump administration expects to know which babies
are citizens if the executive order were to go into effect.
Kavanaugh: "What do hospitals do with a newborn? What do states do with a newborn?"
Sauer: "I don't think they do anything different. What the executive order says
in section 2 is that federal officials do not accept documents that
have the wrong designation of citizenship from people who are subject to
the executive order."
Kavanaugh: "How are they going to know that?"
Sauer: "The states can continue to ... The federal officials will have to figure that out."
Kavanaugh: "How?"
Sauer: "So, uh, you could imagine a number of ways that the federal officials could..."
Kavanaugh: "Such as?"
Sauer:
"Such as, they could require a showing of, you know, documentation
showing legal presence in the country. For a temporary visitor, for
example, they could see whether they're on a B-1 visa, which would
exclude the kind of birthright citizenship in that context."
Kavanaugh: "For all the newborns? Is that how it's going to work?"
Sauer: "Again, we don't know because the agencies were never given the opportunity to formulate the guidance."
In
case you don't see it or hear it, the "how" is very loud in that
exchange. Since the Trump administration couldn't answer that question,
Justice Kavanaugh, I will. Real quick, though: they won't do it for all
the newborns.
No, not for all. What they'll do is racially profile newborn.
There are about forty other stories we could cover but we don't have the room or time. We will note that Troy Matthews (MTN) reports:
Donald Trump Jr. mocked the cancer diagnosis of former President Joe
Biden in a post on X Sunday evening, then pinned the post to the top of
his feed.
"What I want to know is how did Dr. Jill Biden miss
stage five metastatic cancer," Jr. said, alluding to Jill Biden's
doctorate in education, a favorite target of MAGA, "or is this yet
another coverup???"
Jr. was responding to a post that suggested
Biden was sick with cancer while he was President, and the American
public was not informed.
Chump is rotting from the
inside out and I hope the entire country remembers that Chump Junior
gave permission to mock politicians having health scares. Now that the
policy is known, let's all abide by it.
We'll wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:
Top Democratic appropriators call out delays in notification of federal education funding
Washington, D.C. — Today, Senator Patty Murray
(D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Congresswoman
Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations
Committee and the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and
Related Agencies Subcommittee, and Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ranking
Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and
Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, sent a letter
to Secretary Linda McMahon calling out the Department’s failure to
provide public K-12 schools across the nation the timely notice they
usually receive about federal funding they count on—and urging McMahon
to put an end to the harmful delays.
“We write to express our concern about the delay in providing
states and school districts with information about expected formula
funding required to be provided to them under the fiscal year 2025
appropriations law and request you re-focus the Department of Education
on fulfilling its statutory obligations in a clear, certain and timely
manner,” write the lawmakers. “We believe you need to
immediately change course and work in partnership with states and school
districts to help them effectively use federal funds to implement the
purposes and requirements of federal law to improve educational
opportunities for all students.”
The lawmakers note that, under enacted appropriations laws, “the
Department must allocate formula-grant funding for multiple programs
authorized by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act. The largest of these, the Title I-A
grant program, will provide $18.4 billion by formula to more than 80
percent of the nation’s school districts, and is already factored into
budgets for the coming school year that is only a few months away.”
But despite this requirement to get federal K-12 funding out the
door, it has taken the Department more than three times as long as the
last administration to provide preliminary allocations to states and
school districts after passage of fiscal year 2025 appropriations: “Yet,
it took until May 13, 2025—more than 50 days after enactment of the
2025 appropriations law—for the Department to provide preliminary
allocations of the amounts states and their school districts should
expect to receive under the Title I-A formula grant programs for the
2025-2026 school year. This inexcusable delay is in sharp contrast with
actions by the Biden administration. After President Biden signed the
2024 appropriations law on March 23, 2024, the Department provided
preliminary allocations under the Title I-A program on April 8, 2024,
just over two weeks after the appropriations law was signed. The
Trump-McMahon Department took more than three times as much time to
accomplish this basic task. We were told your Department’s work would be
efficient, particularly after the reduction in force in which you
reduced half of the Department’s workforce, but that does not appear to
be the case here.”
“The delayed allocation,” the lawmakers write, “gives
states less time to identify these [school support and improvement]
amounts and make decisions about how best to allocate funds as allowed
by federal law, which are required to be used for evidence-based
interventions designed to help improve student outcomes in the lowest
performing public schools in the state and lowest performing subgroups
in public schools in the state.”
The lawmakers conclude by calling on Secretary McMahon to put an end
to these delays and ensure K-12 schools have the certainty and support
they need in the coming school year: “We implore the Department
to reverse course, stop creating chaos, provide states and school
districts with information about the resources Congress provided in the
2025 appropriations law and begin to support states and their school
districts in the effective implementation of federal law. The
Department’s actions to date have only imposed legally dubious policy
reversals, funding cancellations, terminations and reductions, and
funding directives that do nothing to support students and educators in
improving student learning and outcomes.”
Full text of the letter is available HERE and below:
The Honorable Linda McMahon Secretary U.S. Department of Education 400 Maryland Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20202
Dear Secretary McMahon:
We write to express our concern about the delay in providing states
and school districts with information about expected formula funding
required to be provided to them under the fiscal year 2025
appropriations law and request you re-focus the Department of Education
(“Department”) on fulfilling its statutory obligations in a clear,
certain and timely manner. States and school districts are best able to
plan to most effectively use federal funds with advance knowledge of
expected funding, as Congress intends by providing funds on a
forward-funded basis. We have seen and heard numerous remarks from you
and President Trump about returning education to the states. However,
actions to date tell a very different story about the Department’s
intentions. We believe you need to immediately change course and work
in partnership with states and school districts to help them effectively
use federal funds to implement the purposes and requirements of federal
law to improve educational opportunities for all students, particularly
students from low-income families, students with disabilities, English
learners, students experiencing homelessness and other historically
underserved students our federal laws specifically require states to
support.
Congress passed the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and
Extensions Act, 2025, which President Trump signed on March 15, 2025.
This law includes appropriations to the Department under the terms and
conditions of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024. Under
those terms, the Department must allocate formula-grant funding for
multiple programs authorized by the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The largest of
these, the Title I-A grant program, will provide $18.4 billion by
formula to more than 80 percent of the nation’s school districts, and is
already factored into budgets for the coming school year that is only a
few months away. Public school budgets also already factor in billions
in funding for longstanding federal formula grants, including English
Language Acquisition Grants, Student Support and Academic Enrichment
Grants, and more. Yet, it took until May 13, 2025–more than 50 days
after enactment of the 2025 appropriations law–for the Department to
provide preliminary allocations of the amounts states and their school
districts should expect to receive under the Title I-A formula grant
programs for the 2025-2026 school year.
This inexcusable delay is in sharp contrast with actions by the Biden
administration. After President Biden signed the 2024 appropriations
law on March 23, 2024, the Department provided preliminary allocations
under the Title I-A program on April 8, 2024, just over two weeks after
the appropriations law was signed. The Trump-McMahon Department took
more than three times as much time to accomplish this basic task.. We
were told your Department’s work would be efficient, particularly after
the reduction in force in which you reduced half of the Department’s
workforce,[1] but that does not appear to be the case here.
As you know, Title I-A is the largest federal program that provides
supplemental funds to more than 80 percent of the nation’s school
districts for more than half of all public schools. It also contains
critical funding to identify and support the lowest performing public
schools in each state and consistently underperforming subgroups of
students in public schools in each state, and support students
experiencing homelessness. States are required to set-aside a portion of
a state’s allocation of Title I-A funds for its school support and
improvement work without reducing any school district’s allocation. The
delayed allocation gives states less time to identify these amounts and
make decisions about how best to allocate funds as allowed by federal
law, which are required to be used for evidence-based interventions
designed to help improve student outcomes in the lowest performing
public schools in the state and lowest performing subgroups in public
schools in the state. In addition, school districts are required to
reserve sufficient funds to provide services to students experiencing
homelessness in Title I and non-Title I schools. The Department’s
delayed notification could also make it more difficult for school
districts to best serve students experiencing homelessness as required
by law.
Unfortunately, the Department’s delays also extend to the Rural
Education Achievement Program (REAP) and other programs. REAP supports
more than 6,000 rural school districts and was created to address the
unique challenges faced by rural schools, including a lower tax base and
capacity challenges in seeking competitive funding. Unfortunately, the
Department made the application for the Small, Rural Schools
Assistance (SRSA) program—one of two REAP grant programs—available on May 14th,
with applications due 30 days later on June 13, 2025. By contrast,
last year under the Biden administration, the Department released the FY
2024 application for SRSA on March 19, 2024 and provided a 60-day
application window. The delayed application and shortened application
window under your leadership demonstrate a lack of concern for the
challenges rural schools face; or perhaps the Department’s workforce
reductions have limited its ability to fulfill its statutory obligations
in a timely way.
Unfortunately, we must also note the Department has been busy
discontinuing funds for hundreds of grantees of school-based mental
health programs we have supported through appropriations directives to
the Department and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.[2]
The Department abruptly decided to discontinue expected federal support
for more than 200 grants for mental health services in schools after
what it claimed, without evidence, was an individualized review of the
grants.[3] This
alleged review led the Department to the conclusion that continuing the
grants was not in the “best interest of the Federal Government” and
that some of the grants “undermine the well-being of the students these
programs are intended to help”.[4]
There’s bitter irony in the Department’s decision only days later to
issue updated guidance encouraging states to undertake more work under
the unsafe school option provision of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act [5] after
discontinuing funds supported on a bipartisan basis for the important
federal support it provides for mental health services that can help
students feel safe in school and protect them from acts of school
violence.[6]
We implore the Department to reverse course, stop creating chaos,
provide states and school districts with information about the resources
Congress provided in the 2025 appropriations law and begin to support
states and their school districts in the effective implementation of
federal law. The Department’s actions to date have only imposed legally
dubious policy reversals,[7][8][9] funding cancellations, terminations and reductions,[10][11][12] and funding directives[13][14] that do nothing to support students and educators in improving student learning and outcomes.
In addition, Congress and American taxpayers continue to see an utter
lack of transparency from you and this administration. We’ve written
numerous letters[15][16][17][18] that
have yet to receive adequate or any response. You also failed to meet
legal requirements to provide an operating plan at the level of detail
required by section 1113 and in adherence to section 1101 of the
Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025, despite
having more than 45 days to do so. This must change immediately.
Thank you for your attention to this critical matter. We look forward
to seeing actions from the Department that align to the timely and
effective implementation of the requirements of federal law. We also
look forward to responses to our letters and your testimony before
committees later this year.
