Because misinformation is bad no matter who is spreading it, I note there’s a meme (as in a viral idea, not a picture with words on it) going around, that the reason Trump is going hard after Harvard is because his son Barron was somehow an unsuccessful applicant.
I’ve seen zero evidence this is true, and I doubt very much it is true. Everything I know about the family suggests Harvard is the last place Barron would apply. I’m sure his clingy mommy was thrilled he chose NYU, which is not a safety school for many people. Anyway, even if he had applied and been turned down, no one would know about it. I think the Harvard admissions office doesn’t comment on who gets in and who doesn’t, and I’d think even leaking that information would be a firing offense.
Facts matter.
Well, here we are, Wednesday. A short week, and already full of horrors. So let’s go bloggage-heavy today.
First, a decent Tom Friedman column about Israel, with a gift link:
I just spent a week in Israel and, while it may not look as if much has changed — the grinding Gaza war continues to grind — I felt something new there for the first time since Oct. 7, 2023. It is premature to call it a broad-based antiwar movement, which can happen only when all the Israeli hostages are returned. But I did see signals flashing that more Israelis, from the left to the center and to even parts of the right, are concluding that continuing this war is a disaster for Israel: morally, diplomatically or strategically.
You can say what you will about the Mustache of Justice, which I think was one of the names lefties bestowed upon Friedman during his world-is-flat era of interviewing Middle East cab drivers, but in general, I think he knows his shit about Israel, and if you’ve had your eyes averted in horror for a while, it’s a good catch-up.
Second, a truly fascinating story out of Hamtramck, the Detroit suburb. (I guess you’d call it that, although it’s completely surrounded by the city and is nowhere near an outer border.) Close observers of the news might remember that the mayor was nominated by Trump to be ambassador to Kuwait, as payment for being MAGA and likely tipping his city’s immigrant population in that direction. Hamtramck has gone from a Polish enclave to an immigrant melting pot-slash-hipster enclave to a culturally conservative, mostly Muslim melting pot, most of Yemeni and Bangladeshi descent. That aspect of the community is the subject of a long reporting project currently running in the Freep. Not to be a homer, but I found this story from The Detroit News far more interesting, and illustrative of the growing divide there, than a thousands-of-words chin-scratcher. It’s a report on last night’s city council meeting, in which the all-Muslim body voted to suspend the non-Muslim city manager, who himself had suspended the Muslim police chief, and hoo-boy these are some details:
During Tuesday’s regularly scheduled council meeting, (City Manager Max) Garbarino defended his decision to put the popular police chief — the city’s first of Yemeni descent — on suspension.
“When a police officer in any state, any county, any city across the whole nation is suspected of this, they are put on administrative leave. This is how this works,” he said.
Garbarino told The Detroit News he put the chief on paid suspension after receiving information from a Hamtramck police officer that Altaheri [the police chief] worked with an associate of President Donald Trump to bribe the president between $1 million to $5 million to pardon a federal prisoner who was convicted of financial crimes, among other allegations.
Oh really? The mayor and ambassador designate hasn’t taken the job yet, and presided over the meeting last night, huh. Also, my former editor watched the whole thing on YouTube and said the three-hour meeting was nuts, including several statements by residents in Arabic that were not translated.
Can I see the hands of those who believe Trump is incapable of bartering cash for pardons? Yeah, I didn’t think so.
An earlier Freep story on this mess, plus others, if you want a deeper dive.
As I said earlier, the week is already full of horrors. Croaky announced the government will no longer recommend Covid boosters for children, pregnant women or anyone other than we Elders. While I’m glad I can still get one, Kate, who works all winter in crowded clubs and bars, will have to either get a doctor’s note or pay out of pocket. This motherfucker. He’s another one I’ll ululate over when he checks out.
OK, time to get to work.
susan said on May 28, 2025 at 12:12 pm
You’ll need to ululate over all the despicable, cowardly Republicans —in this case, in the Senate — who confirmed this leather-faced frog. They should all go pining for the fjords and join the bleedin’ choir invisible.
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Jeff Borden said on May 28, 2025 at 12:46 pm
I note with grim amusement the pardons of poor, horribly treated white people whose only mistakes were $30 million in bank and tax fraud, $1 million stolen from employees Social Security payments and selling sheriff’s badges for $50,000 apiece.
If this administration were anymore racist, they’d be putting Nathan Bedford Forrest on the $5 bill.
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alex said on May 28, 2025 at 12:49 pm
We were waiting in the car dealership lounge this morning while they programmed my phone to sync with our new car and Fox was blaring about Biden and the autopen and what a horrible scandal it is and how the corrupt Biden administration needs to be held accountable for all sorts of criminal activity. And I couldn’t believe the rapt attention it was receiving from other patrons.
But I’m not going to let it dampen my spirits today. I’ve got a new car to go play with and we’re going out for a nice lunch to celebrate.
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David C said on May 28, 2025 at 12:59 pm
I have a hard time believing Trump cares enough about Barron to get revenge on his behalf.
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Jakash said on May 28, 2025 at 1:17 pm
No news article about Bobby Leatherman’s policy change should omit references to the following.
Statement by the president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists:
“…despite the change in recommendations from HHS, the science has not changed. It is very clear that COVID-19 infection during pregnancy can be catastrophic and lead to major disability, and it can cause devastating consequences for families. The COVID-19 vaccine is safe during pregnancy, and vaccination can protect our patients and their infants after birth.”
https://www.acog.org/news/news-releases/2025/05/acog-statement-on-hhs-recommendations-regarding-the-covid-vaccine-during-pregnancy?
Hmmm… what’s the advice for pregnant women in a country where top officials are not appointed on the basis of being clueless, conspiracy-theory-addled sycophants?
“It’s strongly recommended that you get vaccinated against COVID-19 to protect you and your baby.”
https://www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/keeping-well/pregnancy-and-covid-19/
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Mark P said on May 28, 2025 at 2:05 pm
I wonder how long our American Cultural Revolution will last after Trump dies. The original cultural revolution lasted two years after Mao died.
I have a blueprint for a military coup, if anyone is interested.
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Brandon said on May 28, 2025 at 3:58 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_enclaves_and_exclaves#Enclaves_that_are_not_exclaves
“Highland Park and Hamtramck border each other, but the two together are completely surrounded by Detroit.”
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Dexter Friend said on May 28, 2025 at 6:34 pm
Trump is about to pardon the would-be kidnappers of Governor Gretchen.
Of course he is, what took him so long?
I heard the Governor and the orange fuck met at Selfridge AFB recently to talk. Must have been a tad frosty in that hangar.
What next?
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Deborah said on May 28, 2025 at 9:04 pm
Paul Krugman seems a little breathless about this latest takedown of Trump by the courts. I hope it has teeth. https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/is-there-a-dignified-legal-way-preferably?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fff55e277-fb3c-4058-9429-5a339be19433_1264x440.png&open=false
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Brandon said on May 28, 2025 at 10:42 pm
I just saw this headline.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/28/donald-trump-commutes-chicago-gang-leader-sentence
He still has a state sentence to serve out, though.
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Dexter Friend said on May 29, 2025 at 7:08 am
It had been so long since Larry Hoover was in the news I had to refresh my memory. This darling of the underside of hip-hop world is about to have his federal charges pardoned and he will apparently be returned to Statesville to serve out 100+ years on state murder charges. Kanya YeYe West, well done. Trump will listen to great Americans such as you, fighting for the downtrodden ultra-gang kings.
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Pam H said on May 29, 2025 at 12:15 pm
Here’s another one.
Elizabeth Fago, a Florida resident, paid $1 million to attend a Trump fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago. Three weeks after the fundraiser, her son, Paul Walczak, received a full and unconditional pardon from President Trump.
Walczak, a healthcare executive, had been convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay $4.4 million in restitution. The pardon spared him from serving his sentence and paying the restitution.
Apparently, he collected $7.5M in taxes from his employees but failed to send the money on to the government. Among other crimes and misdeeds. So the son not only received his pardon, but a nice cash bonus.
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Scout said on May 29, 2025 at 12:22 pm
What terrifies me the most about the blatant corruption, the ‘because, fuck you’ attitude by this regime is that they don’t seem one bit concerned about future elections. Now why would that be, do you think?
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Jason T. said on May 29, 2025 at 3:07 pm
Scout @ 13: To me, it’s very clear what’s coming from what Republicans did in North Carolina — they simply refused to seat a Democratic Supreme Court justice because they didn’t like the fact that she won the election.
We’re going to have elections, but they’re going to reject the results if they don’t like them.
If Republicans win? It was a fair election.
If Democrats win? It was fraud.
Last time I checked, 28 state legislatures out of 50 are controlled by Republicans. Pretty bad luck for democratic self-rule!
We’re close to a tipping point where they’ll just start nullifying results they don’t like, and I have no faith in the U.S. Supreme Court to raise any objections but the most measured ones.
… the self-same U.S. Supreme Court which has already ruled that the President can’t be convicted of a crime committed while in office as long as he declares it an “official act.”
We’re deep in the shit now.
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