SATURDAY, JULY 12, 2025
...at a famous person's press conference: It's too hot here today, but mainly too humid, for a sensible person to function.
Plus, the errands that arose! All of a sudden, NAME WITHHELD's key would no longer work!
That said, we want to continue to establish the historical record. Reminding you of the human tragedy that lies at the heart of all such conditions, we want to memorialize the latest thing President Trump has said.
He said it yesterday, down in Texas, during a press event after viewing some of the devastation from the recent floods. The Q-and-A went like this:
REPORTER (7/11/25): ...here with CBS News Texas. Several families we’ve heard from are obviously upset because they say that those warnings, those alerts, didn’t go out in time, and they also say that people could have been saved. What do you say to those families?
TRUMP: Well, I think everyone did an incredible job under the circumstances. This was, I guess Kristi [Noem] said, a one-in-500, one-in-a thousand years [event]. And I just have admiration for the job that everybody did. There’s just admiration. The, uh—
Only a bad person would ask a question like that, to be honest with you. I don’t know who you are, but only a very evil person would ask a question like that.
The president stressed the word "evil." To watch the fuller exchange, you can move ahead to the 29th minute on the C-Span videotape.
Last week, President Trump named CNN as "the enemy" again because the network published an accurate report about an early damage assessment after the attack on Iran. In a very dangerous bit of behavior, he continued to heap abuse on one reporter in particular.
Yesterday, he was asked a fairly obvious question, though one which was possibly less than flattering. He quickly said that "only a very evil person" could have asked such a thing.
We've been asking, for quite some time, if something might be wrong in some way with this sitting president. The American press corps has agreed that manifestations of this type can only be discussed in the most simplistic ways possible.
Nothing to look at! Keep moving along! As they normalize and disappear these unusual behaviors, that is our press corps in action.
Humidity willing, we'll resume full services on Monday morning We'll be describing our search with regard to Medicaid coverage, and we'll be starting anew from there.
Steven Pinker is innocent.
ReplyDeletePiker poked his pinky in little girls stinky.
DeleteYou are a liar.
DeleteYou can not not handle the truth.
DeleteThe truth is Pinker is innocent.
DeleteWhy should anyone care about Pinker any more than the other rich and powerful men who are being shielded by Trump's refusal to be transparent about the Epstein files?
DeleteYou decide who you care about. Pinker is innocent and doesn't need to be shielded from any Epstein files.
DeleteThen why are you working overtime on this @5:39? The more defensive someone is, generally the more they have to hide. There is evidence against Pinker that suggests he is not wholly innocent as you claim. Why shouldn't the public know the truth about someone who has been so much in the public as a "public intellectual" (as Somerby puts it), disclaiming on the nature of rape and women's experience of sex and getting it all wrong!
DeleteThe public should know the truth: he's innocent. You can disagree with him scientifically and politically, but he's still innocent.
Delete"The more defensive someone is, generally the more they have to hide."
DeleteReally? Okay, you're an idiot. Now don't be too 'defensive' about what I just said or people will know it's true.
From AI: "Liars often react to accusations with defensiveness, avoidance, or attempts to deflect blame. They may become overly emotional, deny the accusations vehemently, or try to change the subject to avoid directly addressing the claim. Other common reactions include excessive explanations, blaming others, or attempting to undermine the accuser's credibility. "
DeleteYou’re the puppet.
Delete
DeletePinker sent polling data to Russians. And that's treason.
Manafort did that, not Pinker. Does Pinker know you are using his name in vain?
Delete"The president stressed the word "evil." "
ReplyDeleteHe's right. Idiot-Democrat media exploiting grieving families is evil; what other word would you use?
Good, decent.
Delete"Several families we’ve heard from are obviously upset because they say" So the grieving families of dead children are evil. Got. It. Cult. Weirdos.
DeleteThe humidity is probably too high in TX too, and that's why the nominal head of FEMA is not doing his job.
ReplyDeleteNobody cares what Medicaid numbers Somerby wants to pin down so that he can claim no one knows the truth about anything. Is there any acceptable amount of cuts to Medicaid that won't be perceived as unjust given that Trump is giving billionaires another tax cut in the face of an economy that he has made way less predictable?
ReplyDeleteThere are a bunch of MAGA Trump supporters who are disappointed and confused by his behavior and claiming that this is not what they voted for. We know that is a concern for Republican party leaders because they are blatantly trying to gerrymander TX congressional districts ahead of the midterms. Biden could probably win in the current political environment.
ReplyDeleteDisagree. Biden did his best to destroy America. Trump on the other hand has had the best first six months of any presidency EVER!
DeleteTrump voters are getting what they voted for. Surveys show Trump voters overwhelmingly support his action as Pres. They should,. He has fulfilled many of his campaign promises, such as various tax and spending cuts. And he tried very hard to fulfill others, such as peace in Ukraine and Gaza.
Delete"Surveys show Trump voters overwhelmingly support his action as Pres."
DeleteSurveys also show Trump is under water on every major issue with the broader public--not just those who voted for him.
People who didn't vote for Trump are still citizens. So far.
Trump is just better. And it's impressive given he went through that horrible trial in New York that was brought against him for political purposes only to win the presidency.
DeleteDoes it count as a peace negotiation if Trump withholds weapons and satellite data and damages Ukraine's ability to hold off Russia until it has no choice but to surrender?
DeleteTrump won the presidency the same way he wins those club championships held at his golf courses.
DeleteMost people agree it's preferable to have Trump over having Kamala Harris stumble and slur her way across the world stage as our president.
DeleteI don't know anyone who thinks this. Trump is doing the stumbling and slurring these days. The attempt to portray Harris as a drinker didn't catch on anywhere except on the right. It is kind of sad to see trolls still trying to put that one across when the election was over such a long time ago and Harris isn't a target any more.
Delete"Most people agree..."
DeleteEvidence. Got any?
"Kamala Harris stumble and slur"
DeleteYeah, on the deep fake videos you get fed all day.
"Trump voters are getting what they voted for."
DeleteNot everything. I haven't heard him mention the size of Arnold Palmer's schlong once.
Here is some evidence the slurs didn't work well, and an analysis of the use of such personal attacks by Republicans:
Delete"The attacks do not seem to be working as well as Trump may have hoped, because Harris is surging ahead in many of the polls. And her running-mate Tim Walz went viral after mocking the Republican attacks by describing Trump and Vance as "weird people."
https://www.newsweek.com/kamala-harris-drinking-problem-alcoholic-allegations-trump-1940978
I don't understand why trolls are still posting this stuff about a person who is not running for anything in a time that is not an election period.
Is this about distracting from Kristi Noem's vicious streak? Or is it to focus on Harris instead of Epstein?
Pinker lauds everything that Trump is now destroying.
DeleteWe're definitely dodged a bullet when voters rejected Harris.
DeleteNot many people feel that way about it.
DeleteTrump’s outright contempt for chumps, like David in Cal, is easily the best thing about him.
DeleteTrump could rape a 12-year-old girl in the middle of 5th Avenue in broad daylight, and he wouldn't lose Davidi in Cal's support.
DeleteHaving Kamala Harris as president. would be like having Jasmine Crockett as president, not experienced enough.
DeleteHarris could have made 90 deals in 90 days.
DeleteNo amount of experience is ever enough to get men to admit that a woman is qualified for higher office.
DeleteTrump has threatened to take away Rosie O'Donnell's citizenship.
ReplyDeleteInsanity.
If he can do that to her, he can do it to any of us.
DeleteTrump’s hilarious.
DeleteLast week he said Rosie should be the CEO of Citibank.
"Trump has threatened to take away Rosie O'Donnell's citizenship."
DeleteAnd who can blame him? TDS-suffering retards are so repulsive, deporting them is an urgent necessity. Think of the children!
Republicans voted for Trump to be afraid of strong women.
DeleteAnd you fell for it?
DeleteMakes sense. O'Donnell is a Democrat, so she's probably violent, and would spend most of her time slapping the shit out of Tump.
DeleteDHS tried to intimidate Puerto Ricans in Chicago this weekend, ahead of a community festival. Puerto Ricans are citizens but it is unclear whether DHS knows that, organizers said:
ReplyDelete"It was utterly confounding to Chicagoans this week when it appeared that Homeland Security agents were skulking outside the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture ahead of its annual Barrio Arts Fest this weekend. The museum is in a neighborhood, Humboldt Park, that is half Latino and predominantly Puerto Rican.
DHS denies that its agents’ visit had anything to do with the upcoming events, but that doesn’t pass the smell test: Museum staffers told ABC 7 Chicago that they heard agents talking about the festival...
“There’s footage of them looking around, asking how to come in and out, and occupying the parking lot,” said Federico A. de Jesús, a former Obama administration official who is now a consultant. He spoke with The Bulwark after a Wednesday press conference at the museum that featured more than a dozen local, state, and federal officials, including Rep. Delia Ramirez, state senator Omar Aquino, and Cook County Commissioner Jessica Vazquez."
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/why-were-trump-dhs-ice-agents-casing-puerto-rican-museum-chicago-la-taco
Why Were Trump’s Agents Casing a Puerto Rican Museum in Chicago?
Plus: The lessons of L.A. Taco.
Adrian Carrasquillo
Jul 12
I believe that Trump is withholding the Epstein files so that he can engage in another round of blackmail with the men listed. Trump keeps talking about how their lives could be ruined by disclosure of the files (as he noted to Bill O'Reilly). That is the equivalent of "nice life you have going for yourself. It would be a shame if anything happened to damage your reputation. As Trump keeps saying, they would be ruined.
ReplyDeleteIf he releases those files, he loses his leverage.
DeleteThere are no files.
DeleteEpstein committed suicide.
Republicans are fascists.
Sorry, if those truths hurt your feelings.
Get over it.
How can there be no files? Pam Bondi said she had them on her desk.
DeleteThere were files. There are no files.
DeleteThere were flies, not files. Simple mispronouncing. Like saying "axed" instead of "asked".
DeleteYes, there were flies on her desk to review.
DeleteNo one listens to Pam Bondi. She's a full-time member of America's Nazi Party.
DeleteMaybe Somerby started using the term "kulturklatch" on Friday because Robert Reich has a new substack and podcast called The Coffee Klatch?
ReplyDeleteWe Should Stop Calling Him Our "President" | The Coffee Klatch for July 12, 2025
With Heather Lofthouse, Michael Lahanas-Calderón, and yours truly, Robert Reich
Maybe this was just Somerby's snide way of undercutting a respected Democrat who spends a lot of time discussing Trump's many failings, the state of our democracy, and things we can do to resist tyranny.
I was wonder why and how he came up with that discordant term, echoing Hitler and Germany and white supremacist bro culture. It may just have been his spiteful way of dissing Trump's opposition without actually having to do any actual research or address anyone else's points. Just some weird name calling.
Coffee Klatch is, of course, a very familiar term, especially in New York society. I recall Mike Meyers' dialect jokes about coffee ladies.
""Kulturkampf", meaning "culture struggle," describes the historical conflict in 19th century Germany between the government, led by Otto von Bismarck, and the Roman Catholic Church." I have no idea whether today's Hitler afficionados are reviving such terms to refer to current cultural struggles in American society, but I do know it isn't part of academia (except historically). So it is weird when Somerby grabs this term out of thin air like this.
Somerby never explains himself, so don't hold your breath expecting he will make his intended meaning clear.
"that discordant term, echoing Hitler and Germany and white supremacist bro culture."
DeletePeople hear echoes of what they want to hear. I read the entire post and not Hitler nor Germany nor white supremacist bro culture ever crossed my mind.
So, did you not recognize the German spelling of German words?
DeleteI read that entire post and all I could think of was German potato pancakes.
DeleteI listened to a guy explain the border “crisis”, and all I could think of was cupcakes and ice cream.
DeleteThe Biden administration admitted to losing track of 200,000+ unaccompanied kids, many of whom we know are being trafficked. The Trump administration is committed to finding as many of those kids as possible. They just found about 10 at that marijuana farm in California.
DeleteMao's squeals are a national treasure.
DeleteMaybe Somerby should investigate how many migrant children are unaccounted for? Newsmax says there were 600,000 and "tens of thousands" are unaccounted for. Some other reports are claiming they are all missing (after being released from DHS custody). In some reports, the situation is only that they no longer have addresses for the sponsors, not that the kids themselves went anywhere wrong. Meanwhile, Trump fired all of the Inspector Generals, so who is brining this charge? And how can anyone know whether the kids are being "trafficked" if no one knows where they are?
DeleteThis strikes me as an opportunistic attack to divert attention from Epstein, based on the use of normal procedures. If the Biden Administration said it didn't know where the kids are now, when it is no longer their job to know, how is that Biden's fault? And recall that these kids have been getting older all this time, so many are no longer children, having arrived (unaccompanied) when they were in their late teens.
But look over there -- a squirrel! Rich and powerful men had sex with children who WERE being trafficked, but if you care so much about children, what about the kids Biden let into the country? What about those kids? Huh, huh!
Now Trump is saying that Hillary created the Epstein files. How dumb are the MAGAs if they believe Trump's assertion that this is just another Russia hoax?
ReplyDeleteTalk about your open ended questions, "How dumb are the MAGAs?" I just don't have enough time to answer.
DeleteThe MAGAs should have known better than to go sniffing around after Epstein was offed on Trump's watch. Now Trump's in "there's nothing there" mode, having duplicitously promised the Jeffrey Epstein Files release for so long. Poor Pam Bondi is just following Trump's orders here, which puts the MAGA FBI in the peculiar position of calling her out for being such a subservient tool to Trump. Patel and Bongino have opted to engage in a war with Trump's proxy here. Both of them must at this point know that if push comes to shove they will be gone for not understanding their proper roles.
DeleteMichael Jackson died for our sins.
ReplyDeleteEpstein died for Trump’s.
I heard Epstein died for Pinker's sins.
DeletePinker is innocent.
DeleteNext you'll be claiming that Epstein was innocent.
DeleteNo one is innocent.
DeleteEpstein gave polling data to Russians. That's why he committed suicide.
DeleteHas anyone else noticed that for the second time in the past 10 years we don't have a real First Lady? There seems to be this immigrant ex-porn star who barely speaks English who occasionally will accompany King Orange Chickenshit. And the liberal media pretends this is normal.
ReplyDeleteRepublicans voted for bigotry, not for a better economy.
ReplyDeleteDemocrats now losing the white vote. There isn't one demographic that is showing increased support for them except college educated white women (MSNBC wine moms)
ReplyDelete_______________
A new poll by the Democratic super PAC Unite the Country shows Democrats are facing deep credibility and enthusiasm problems after their 2024 losses. Voters across battleground areas view the party as “out of touch,” “woke,” and “weak,” with approval ratings below 35% among white men, Hispanic men, and working-class voters. Only 35% of Democrats are optimistic about the party’s future, down sharply from 57% last year, and donors have pulled back funding.
Strategists warn that simply emphasizing democracy or soft immigration stances no longer resonates with the broader electorate. Instead, Democrats must refocus on clear, common-sense economic issues—health care, schools, housing—and rebuild trust by elevating fresh leaders outside the Washington establishment. Voters want candidates they see as authentic and willing to fight for ordinary people.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5395563-democrats-losing-support-white-voters/amp/
Democrats could learn a thing or two from the GOP's use of identity politics.
DeleteDemocratic politicians need to 1. Stop lying about everything 2. Try to pretend to care about voters at least a occasionally.
DeleteRural living isn't compatible with Capitalism.
ReplyDeleteOnce they get you to believe Epstein had a list, getting you to believe there is a "border crisis" is kid's play.
ReplyDelete