Hackwhackers

Most.  Corrupt.  President.  Ever:

President Donald Trump earned more than $635 million from a licensing agreement with a cryptocurrency group specializing in "meme" coins bearing his name last year, an amount that pushed his total crypto holdings past $1 billion, according to a lengthy financial disclosure form he released Tuesday.

The figures from 2025 — the first year of Trump's second term — were disclosed to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics in a 927-page document. By comparison, President Barack Obama's final disclosure form was eight pages, while President Joe Biden's was 11. Vice President JD Vance's form for last year is 17 pages.

Trump's meme-coin earnings came on top of more than $236 million worth from additional crypto token sales, and an additional sale of equity worth more than $65 million associated with Trump family crypto venture World Liberty Financial. There's also more than $290 million classified as income from cryptocurrency wallets associated with World Liberty.

The $635 million was earned from a group called "Celebration Coins." No digital footprint could be found for the group, and a representative for the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.  [snip]

Unlike past presidents, Trump did not divest his assets or place them in a blind trust before taking office. The Trump Organization has said the assets are managed by third-party financial institutions, with trades executed through automated technology.

"What strikes me as remarkable is how many pies Trump has his fingers in," said Douglas Brinkley, a history professor at Rice University. "There is no precedent to compare it with. No president in the 20th or 21st century has had something that's vaguely comparable."

Trump has faced bipartisan criticism for alleged conflicts of interest, assertions the White House has vigorously denied.

Trump's total crypto earnings totaled some $1.4 billion during his first year back in office, when he began making liberalized cryptocurrency regulations a cornerstone of his presidency.

Wait, there's more.  And it relates to everyone's favorite thug organization:

The disclosure also lists Trump's investment accounts as buying and selling shares of the GEO Group, a private prison company and one of the largest contractors with ICE.

Starting just 10 days after his inauguration, the disclosure shows Trump's investment accounts made purchases of the prison company. As the number of immigrant detainees swelled from 35,000 to almost 70,000, the purchases increased with the total ranging from $143,000 to $445,000. The last purchase was listed in late November. The stock that was sold ranges from $67,000 to $180,000.  (our emphasis)

Note to MAGAts and low-information voters:  he's not draining the swamp, he is the swamp;  he's not helping you, he's helping himself.  Those gins made by the Trump Crime Family were at the expense of losses by investors.  Imagine the cataclysmic outrage had Obama and Biden enriched themselves at this scale while in office, pursuing their financial interests and not the public's interests.

(Image: Chelsea Stahl / NBC News; Getty Images; Reuters)

'...[T]he idea that the U.S. now has a far left that is equally dangerous and radical as the far right is entirely wrong, no matter how many powerful people and institutions hint or claim otherwise. America’s extreme right wing is by far the country’s big problem, and it’s hard to address that problem when powerful elites insist that the trouble is with 'both sides.'

"Why is this analogy so far-fetched? First of all and most importantly, the political left in America believes in and practices democracy. Until leftists collectively try to use judicial and then violent means to overturn an election that they clearly lost, as MAGA Republicans did in 2020, I don’t want to hear any bullshit false equivalences between leftists and MAGA conservatives. Conducting free and fair elections and respecting their results is fundamental to democracy. MAGA’s leader, Donald Trump, refused to accept the 2020 results, as did dozens of Republican members of Congress and state officials. To this day, Republicans tiptoe around the issue to the point where they can’t even give a straightforward answer to the question, 'Did Joe Biden win the 2020 election?'  [snip]

"The centrists annoyed by the left aren’t stupid. They are conflating the socialist left with the MAGA right as a rhetorical tool. The media, traditional Democrats, and swing voters will reject Mamdani and his ilk if they are convinced that socialists will be as destructive to the U.S. as Trumpists. But this misleading centrist rhetoric has real consequences. What the U.S. desperately needs is socialists, traditional liberals, independents, and pro-democracy conservatives to disagree with one another during Democratic primaries but then join together to defeat the MAGA right in general elections. That unity can’t happen if anytime centrist Democrats lose a primary they act as if a socialist candidate winning is as dangerous as a MAGA candidate winning. It’s not. I plead to those on the center left to stop calling people extreme unless they are trying to end democracy in America."  (our emphasis) -- Perry Bacon, The New Republic, exploding the rhetorical nonsense that too many "centrist" Democrats, as well as the usual media et al. suspects, peddle after a leftist wins an election.  There's existential danger to our country and its democracy, and it's not coming from the left.

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(Rick McKee, caglecartoons.com)

(Robert Ariail, Spartanburg Herald-Journal, SC)

(Nick Anderson, Raw Story)

(Jeff Danziger, The Rutland Herald, VT)

(Matt Wuerker, Politico)

(David Horsey, The Seattle Times)

(Steve Brodner, stevebrodner.substack.com;  context here)

(Ann Telnaes, anntelnaes.substack.com)

(Matt Davies, Newsday)

(Jack Ohman, Tribune Content Agency;  context here)

(Paul Duginski, caglecartoons.com)

(Christopher Weyant, Boston Globe)

(Peter Steiner, @plsteiner)

Operation Epic Failure: the imaginary meeting, Hormuz nuz --

Iran war live: Tehran denies Trump’s claims of meeting in Doha https://aje.news/e20hsv

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— Al Jazeera English (@aljazeera.com) June 29, 2026 at 8:30 PM

It’s put-up-or-shut-up time for Iran and the Revolutionary Guard. They’re treating Hormuz as the spoil of a successful defensive war. But ships transited without registering with Iran by hugging Oman. And the US fired in defense of it. The IRGC couldn’t let that slide. So the conflict continues.

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— Nicholas Grossman (@nicholasgrossman.bsky.social) June 30, 2026 at 9:00 AM

The endless lawlessness and corruption of the Malignant Fascist and his regime -- 

BREAKING: A federal judge just ordered the Trump admin to permanently abandon its efforts to suspend funding for a $16 billion rail tunnel under the Hudson River — describing those attempts as "flagrantly" illegal.

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— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 9:30 PM

White House officials secretly awarded a no-bid contract worth up to $500m for the construction of the East Wing ballroom in an unusual arrangement that sidestepped typical contracting procedures designed to control costs, according to a copy of the agreement www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

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— John Hudson (@johnphudson.bsky.social) June 30, 2026 at 8:18 AM

There’s a story like this approximately every other day now. www.cnbc.com/2026/06/29/t...

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— Radley Balko (@radleybalko.bsky.social) June 30, 2026 at 8:30 AM

James Talarico in a close race with degenerate MAGAt Ken Paxton. Get Talarico needed funding --

Whoa. New NYT poll has dead heat in Texas Senate race. Talarico +27 among independents. This will push Dem groups to spend big there, now that it's clearly in play.

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— Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) June 30, 2026 at 6:40 AM

Speaking of opinion, the Israeli people have some -- 

“some 92 percent of Israelis believe that Iran won the war,” recent polls conducted in Israel show…Another poll, by Israel’s Channel 12, shows that just 13 percent of Israelis now trust the once-popular Trump to safeguard Israeli interests.” open.substack.com/pub/spytalk/...

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— John Sipher (@johnsipher.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 9:32 PM

The genocidal campaign of sociopathic fascist Elon Musk is claiming lives --

One study found Musk’s closing of the U.S. Agency for International Development could cause the deaths of millions of children.

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— Forbes (@forbes.com) June 29, 2026 at 12:40 PM

The Not-So-Great American State Flop Fair. Find an empty field to get the vibe --

Wanted to get the vibe of going to Trump’s state fair but didn’t want to drive all the way to DC, so I just went and stood in an empty field.

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— Hoarse Whisperer (@therealhoarse.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 3:53 PM

Do it, Britain, do it -- 

Suddenly, Britain is indicating that it might put the kibosh on Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. www.reuters.com/business/med...

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— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona.bsky.social) June 30, 2026 at 9:13 AM

Sen. Susan "I'm Concerned" Collins can't hide her election year hypocrisy -- 

VOLUNTEER: Senator Collins, I just really wanted to thank you for standing with Trump when it really counts. SUSAN COLLINS: Thank you. CROWD MEMBER: Stay strong

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— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 4:55 PM

The Malignant Fascist's 1930s Nazi Germany aesthetic keeps surfacing -- 

Really showing the aesthetic vision of White House chief decorator Lenny Riefenstahl

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— Paul Waldman (@paulwaldman.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 11:03 PM

First, the White House doesn't date back to July 4, 1776, idiot. It opened on November 1, 1800. Second, the tackiest man in the United States and its president should *not* be the same person. Third, nice inspiration, fascist.

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— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@mrsbettybowers.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 9:24 PM

Always lying, always cheating.  The arrangement that the Malignant Fascist made to secretly use taxpayer money in a sweetheart no-bid deal to construct his golden ballroom/ bunker is out in the open now:

Donald Trump used a secret backroom arrangement to ensure the deal to build his tacky East Wing ballroom went to his preferred contractor.

Officials steered the $500 million agreement with Clark Construction through the Executive Residence, an arm of the Executive Office of the President that ordinarily buys furniture and art, covers entertainment, and handles repairs at the mansion, according to The Washington Post ($$).

That office sits outside federal rules that require agencies to seek competing offers and to lay out spending publicly. Structuring the deal this way allowed Trump to dodge scrutiny of the arrangement and avoid exposing it to competition.

Avoiding competition allowed the administration to sidestep a process that has historically worked to keep prices down for a job of this scale, the Post reported. “I would certainly expect them to compete a project of this size and complexity,” Anthony Costa, a former General Services Administration official who handled federal real estate work across four administrations, told the Post.

Trump, 80, got personally involved in the haggling, records show. On March 4—days after launching his war with Iran—he talked down what a Clark subsidiary would charge for concrete, trimming $2.3 million from an opening figure above $47 million.

The price tag has more than tripled since the ballroom was unveiled in July, with taxpayers expected to foot roughly half of it. The company internally valued the work at $200 million in July 2025, a figure that has since ballooned to $600 million.  

Trump insisted donors would cover the bill. He told The New York Times in January that Clark had offered to do the work for free. “They said: ‘Sir, we’ll do it for nothing. This is the greatest honor’,” he said. *

The Virginia firm, the largest builder in the D.C. region, stands to profit handsomely. A March estimate put its haul at $65 million across overhead, profit, and on-site staffing.

Clark also flagged plans to pass demolition, excavation, and other tasks to 11 or more subcontractors without competition, two of them in-house subsidiaries...

A major blow to the bigoted and unhinged Malignant Fascist from the Supreme Court. Associated Press reports:

 "The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a broad conception of birthright citizenship, rejecting President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring that children born to people who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens.

The justices relied on a long-settled understanding of the 14th Amendment, adopted after the Civil War, and more recent federal laws in ruling that anyone born in the country, with very limited exceptions, is a citizen.

The Republican president’s restrictions had been blocked by several lower courts and had not taken effect anywhere in the U.S.

During arguments in April, both conservative and liberal justices questioned the order’s legality in a momentous case that was magnified by Trump’s unprecedented attendance in the courtroom.

The case framed another test of Trump’s assertions of executive power that defy long-standing precedent for a court with a conservative majority and a robust view of presidential power that has largely ruled in his favor. In the notable exceptions when the court has not, Trump has responded with starkly personal criticisms of the justices."

Other sources report it was a 6 - 3 decision with Chief Justice John Roberts writing the majority opinion, while Justices Gorsuch, Alito and Thomas dissented. 

Attacking birthright citizenship was a major initiative of the lawless MF, who signed an unlawful Executive Order trying to limit citizenship his first days in office.

BONUS:  At the same time, the Republican SCOTUS dealt blows to campaign finance rules and transgender rights.

One picture's worth a hundred attendees:

If you watch the MF's propaganda outlet Fox "News", you may not realize how bad the "Great American State Fair" is. The past few days have not changed that fact that it has major issues. Sparse crowds, many wearing Trump cult regalia, mill around uninspired state exhibits, a number of which aren't even staffed. Coupled with outrageous food prices and power outages, it's a real dud. And wait until this week progresses, when brutal temperatures (100 +) and the humidity Washington summers are known for kick in. A sweaty, lame mess, just like the deranged MF himself.

(photo: Tierney L. Cross via Getty Images) 

"Don Snoreleone" shouldn't be talking about "a big yawn," but his tone-deaf characterization of the popular housing bill is on brand:

President Trump referred to a bipartisan housing bill as a “yawn” on Monday, arguing that the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act is more important. 

“It’s so unimportant compared to the SAVE America Act,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “When I look at the bill, it’s a bill. When I look at the SAVE America Act [ed.: a.k.a., Save My Ass Act], it’s about saving America.” 

“It’s a yawn,” he continued. “To me, compared to the SAVE America Act, just about everything is a big yawn.”

He conceded, however, the bill is “probably not going to happen because we have four Republican senators, maybe five, that just won’t vote for it. It’s crazy.”

Trump sent shockwaves through Washington last week when he canceled the signing of the bipartisan housing legislation known as the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which passed both chambers with overwhelming majorities, saying he would not sign until the SAVE America Act is passed through Congress.

The housing bill would block large investors from buying up single-family homes and create pilot programs to expand access to small-dollar mortgages (less than $100,000) in addition to improving fairness within the appraisal industry. 

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said he would send the legislation to Trump on Monday; however, Trump told reporters he did not know whether he would sign it. The bill does not need to be signed by Trump to become law. According to the Constitution, a bill can become law automatically if a president does not take action for 10 days. 

Trump’s sights have been set on passing the SAVE America Act, which would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections and present a photo ID to cast a ballot...

Yes, why help people get affordable housing when you can rig elections, keep people from voting, and keep his worthless, decomposing ass and his cult members' asses in office?  Besides, affordability is a "hoax" to him.  Meanwhile, he continues to trash the People's House and send taxpayers the bill.

We hope you know what to do, Democrats.

(Image: the housing bill must bore him / via Reddit)

"Fox News recently published stunning poll results for the Senate race in solidly-Republican Ohio: Democrat Sherrod Brown led GOP incumbent Jon Husted, 53% to 45%.

"In an era of metronomic partisan polarization, that eight-point Democratic margin in Ohio almost defies belief. But an intra-Republican fracture explains it: Only 4% of those aligned with Donald Trump’s MAGA movement backed Brown, but 31% of 'non-MAGA' Republicans crossed party lines to support the Democratic candidate. 

"That snapshot reflects an emerging 2026 picture that does not resemble a familiar face-off between evenly-matched Republican and Democratic two parties. Instead, the midterm elections increasingly pit the MAGA minority against the American majority of everyone else.

“'This phenomenon is part of what underlies the Democrats’ overwhelming success in 30-plus special elections'” during Trump 2.0, says Geoff Garin, a top Democratic pollster. And it fuels the party’s growing optimism about capturing not just the House but also the Senate by winning states like Ohio that present-day Democrats routinely lose..." --  John Harwood, at "Zeteo" ($$), on "In the 2026 Midterms, It's MAGA Against the Rest of America." Even if Ohio is an outlier (we don't think it is), the gathering panic on the part of the MAGAt Republicans in trying to seize the election operations in state after state would strongly suggest they, too, know something's going sideways for them.  Couldn't happen to a worse bunch of sociopathic fascists.

The Epstein-Trump files coverup /  priorities! --

"Effectively, DOJ said that Blanche couldn’t be bothered to step away from his day job prosecuting Trump’s adversaries to comply with a law passed via unanimous consent in the Senate."

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— 🗽LOLGOP🗽 (@thefarce.org) June 29, 2026 at 4:55 AM

Republican SCOTUS giveth and taketh away --

BREAKING: A rare voting rights win 5-4 — SCOTUS protects mail-in ballot grace periods in 15 states. Ballots postmarked by Election Day can still be counted after arrival. This is good news, folks.

— The Contrarian (@contrariannews.org) June 29, 2026 at 10:08 AM

SOME BIG NEWS: SCOTUS has DENIED Convicted Felon Donald Trump's attempts to appeal a $5 million civil judgment entered against him after a 2023 jury found that he sexually abused and defamed my dear friend @ejeancarroll.bsky.social.

— Katie Phang (@katiephang.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 9:59 AM

Slaughter is an earthquake: SCOTUS has overturned a 90-year-old precedent that facilitated much of modern governance by granting many agencies meaningful independence from the president. Now SCOTUS crushes that independence ... for seemingly every agency except the Federal Reserve.

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjsdc.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 10:19 AM

House Squeaker "New Moses" Johnson runs a "protection program," threatens us with a good time --

Johnson: If we lose the midterms, these Democrats will turn every committee of Congress into an investigative body, and they'll go after the president's family, the cabinet, his donors, friends, half of you in this room will be targeted. I run the protection program. We’ll take care of you.

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— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) June 26, 2026 at 1:05 PM

Trump's state fair and Triumphal Arch mock- up mocked --

Not sure people appreciate how difficult it is to literally have NO PEOPLE at the National Mall, especially in the summer time.

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— scarylawyerguy.bsky.social (@scarylawyerguy.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 8:37 AM

Greatest, hugest, most spectacular fair ever. Only Trump could have done it.

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— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 6:46 AM

We had more people at the local Costco grand opening. 😁

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— korbelrenokia (@korbelrenokia.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 6:51 AM

1-Donny’s ‘Freedom 250’ sucks & no one is showing up for it. Try not to laugh. open.substack.com/pub/jefftied... 2-Trump's Now Spending His Days Counting Trees In The Park "He wants there to be exactly 47 trees as a tribute to himself?" open.substack.com/pub/politicu...

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— Sue in Rockville 💙🦋💙🦋💙🦋 (@sueinrockville.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 7:17 AM

Everyone is talking about Trump’s mock up arch at the Great American State Fair, so I filmed it from top to bottom and front to back for everyone who can’t see it in person.

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— amanda moore 🐢 (@noturtlesoup17.bsky.social) June 28, 2026 at 5:11 PM

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— keenoire.bsky.social (@keenoire.bsky.social) June 29, 2026 at 1:12 AM

Long gas lines in Putin's Russia.  Slava Ukraini! --

So far.

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— Darth Putin (@darthputinkgb.bsky.social) June 28, 2026 at 11:56 AM

Fantastic footage from Russia 🤩🚘⛽️

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— MAKS 26 👀🇺🇦 (@maks23.bsky.social) June 27, 2026 at 2:53 AM

Headline from the Trump regime's stenographers at Axios, quoting an unnamed official of course, published yesterday evening in advance of today's stock market opening:

"U.S. and Iran agree to halt strikes and meet this week, U.S. official says"

As expected, stock futures jumped on the unnamed official's statement.  There is a consistent pattern of manipulation right before the stock market opens each week in order to keep oil prices from spiking and the lying and incompetent Malignant Fascist's poll numbers from dropping further.  That's usually after the MF makes an unhinged threat after markets close for the weekend.  Rinse and repeat.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Iran says the "technical talks" have been cancelled; Al Jazeera has same information, with Iran stating that it controls the Strait of Hormuz.

BONUS: Lebanon's speaker of their parliament says a peace treaty with Israel will not be implemented, outside of an agreement between Iran and the U.S.  So the exchange of attacks between Israel and Hezbollah will resume, and Iran will take notice.

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The war on algae takes a bizarre twist, with the merging of the Malignant Fascist's diseased DNA with algae in the Reflecting Pool.  A new monster is created.  Horrors!

Please consider supporting Tom's work by going here.

The good:

President Donald Trump has had a hard time distancing himself from the Jeffrey Epstein saga, and a new development in the case might prove to be more of a headache than he wants, according to two legal experts.  

Earlier this month, convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein's assistant, Lesley Groff, testified before Congress about her relationship with the disgraced financier and his crimes. The transcripts of that interview were released late last week, and some of the details Groff shared with investigators raised red flags for attorneys Brian Kabateck and Shant Karnikian, who co-host the "Civil Action" podcast on the Legal AF Network.

For instance, Kabateck pointed out in a new episode on Sunday that Groff testified she began working for Epstein in 2001 and that Epstein and Trump were in contact for at least a decade. That seems to contradict Trump's previous claim that he cut off communications with Epstein in 2004 or 2005, well before Trump became president, Kabateck noted. 

Another issue is that those dates extend beyond Epstein's 2008 felony conviction for soliciting a minor, which is another "problematic" aspect of the timeline, Kabateck said.

Karnickian said the transcript showed that Trump "has something to hide" in the case.

"Early on, we talked about Epstein, and we thought this is a sideshow, and maybe Trump's deliberately putting it out there," Karnikian said. "It's become a big problem for him, and it's clear that he has something to hide here."

Groff's testimony, such as it was, confirmed timelines that contradict what Epstein buddy and pathological lying pedo the Malignant Fascist has claimed.  Thursday is the court-ordered deadline for the "Justice" Department to release more of the Epstein files, which they'll drag out in appeals.  But what a difference it would make with a Democratic Congress investigating and doing everything it could to get ALL the unredacted Epstein files that are being illegally withheld by the MF's toadies at the "Justice" Department.

The bad:

Susie Madrak Has Pancreatic Cancer And Needs Our Help

You think you're going to live forever until something yanks you by the arm and reminds that we're all mere mortal humans. One of those moments for me was when Susie called and said they confirmed she had a cancerous growth in her pancreas.

Being the perennial optimist that I am, I asked the internet about treatments for early stage pancreatic cancer and was told there is a Whipple surgery that can be performed. Unfortunately, Susie's cancer is stage 3 and past the point where they can do that.

So it's chemo, and chemo might arrest the growth of the tumor. Might. It's a pretty scary situation.

Susie has a GoFundMe to help with the costs of fighting this pernicious cancer. It's likely that while she goes through chemo she'll have to take a leave of absence from writing here, which is a major source of income for her.

All of the staff at C&L are rooting for her. If you've enjoyed her writing, please consider supporting her GoFundMe so she can fight this cancer without worrying about having enough money for care, or medication, or even the stupid copays none of us should have.

If you can't donate, please share this post or the GoFundMe link with others who might be able to...

That's an appeal from Karoli Kuns at Crooks & Liars that we're more than happy to pass along.  Please consider giving to Susie Madrak's GoFundMe, and if you're of a mind, ask others to consider making a donation.  Anything and everything helps.  Let's give a great progressive writer a boost, shall we?!

The ugly: 

President Donald Trump’s sons are profiting off of their father’s connections, including in a previously-undisclosed deal over a lucrative metal.

“Their sons were soon doing business with partners in a deal that their fathers were negotiating, continuing a pattern of self-enrichment in the second Trump administration that has few precedents in American history,” wrote The New York Times’ Paul Sonne and Eric Lipton on Sunday. The report covered how Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump availed themselves of a meeting between Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in September to grant a little-known American company called Kaz Resources access to their tungsten mines.

Prior to that meeting, the Trump administration approved preliminary applications for up to $1.6 billion in federal financing for Kaz Resources to break ground on the project in rural Kazakhstan. Dominari Securities, which is partly owned by the Trump sons, agreed to take a 20 percent stake in the tungsten projects.

“Around the same time, Cantor Fitzgerald, an investment company controlled by Mr. Lutnick’s family and overseen by his sons Brandon and Kyle Lutnick, helped one of the lead investors working with Dominari on the Kazakh deal raise $210 million in new capital for a related entity,” Sonne and Lipton wrote. “Such rounds of fund-raising typically net Cantor millions of dollars in fees.”

They added, “The Kazakh deal was ultimately signed on Nov. 6, six days after the investment involving the Trump sons and their partners, which was not publicly disclosed at the time. The arrangement is hardly an outlier. One or both families have financial ties to at least 14 companies that are actively working with the federal government on critical mining deals, including the Kazakhstan project, according to federal filings examined by The New York Times.”... (our emphasis)

The Trump Crime Family, grifting its way through another 4 years, lining their pockets in a money-grab unprecedented in American politics -- and all right out there in the open.  Of course, there's more grifting, influence-peddling, crony enrichment, etc., going on, which the article outlines.  A sickening, shocking spectacle of greed by The.  Most.  Corrupt.  Regime.  Ever. 

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From NASA/ ESA, June 26, 2026: The subject of today’s ESA/Hubble Picture of the Month is an ancient inhabitant of our galaxy. This sparkling scene is of a globular cluster: a collection of tens of thousands to millions of stars, all tightly bound together under the influence of gravity. Astronomers know of more than 150 globular clusters in our galaxy, though there may be others yet to be discovered, hidden from view by dust or densely packed fields of stars.

This particular globular cluster is NGC 6723, sometimes called the Chandelier Cluster. Much like its namesake, this cluster sparkles with countless lights — but each ‘lightbulb’ in this chandelier is an individual star 27 000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius (the Archer).

Globular clusters like NGC 6723 contain some of the oldest stars in our galaxy. The ages of these clusters often exceed 10 billion years old, and some are nearly as old as the Universe itself. Globular clusters are thought to be some of the first structures to have formed in our galaxy, coalescing potentially billions of years before the thin disk of stars in which our Sun orbits. The details of how globular clusters formed, however, are not yet certain.

Astronomers initially thought that all stars in a globular cluster formed at the same time in a single flourish of star formation. This would mean that all stars in a globular cluster would be the same age and be made of the same mixture of chemical elements. Now, thanks to observations from telescopes like Hubble, researchers know that these seemingly simple stellar populations have more complex histories than originally thought.

Hubble first observed NGC 6723 as part of an ambitious survey dedicated to demystifying the properties of globular clusters in our Milky Way galaxy. In this observing programme (#10775, PI: Sarajedini), researchers used Hubble to study 65 globular clusters in our galaxy in visible and near-infrared light. These data allowed researchers to study everything from the ages of globular clusters to the process through which massive stars sink to the centre of a star cluster and lower-mass stars drift toward the cluster outskirts. This survey has been immensely scientifically valuable, and these observations have inspired several hundred published research papers.

In a later observing programme (#13297, PI: Piotto), researchers set their sights again on many of these same clusters, including NGC 6723. This time, they used Hubble’s unique sensitivity to ultraviolet light to detect the subtle variations in chemical composition between the stars of globular clusters and determine the age spread among the clusters’ stars. For NGC 6723, researchers found evidence of two closely-spaced periods of star formation, the second occurring within 634 million years of the first. (‘Closely-spaced’ is relative; 634 million years is a blink of an eye for a star cluster that is more than 10 billion years old!)

Thanks to these findings, astronomers are on the path to understanding how and when globular clusters formed — and Hubble observations of celestial chandeliers like NGC 6723 are lighting the way.

[Image Description: A globular cluster. It is made up of many thousands of bright stars, tightly-packed in the centre and more spread out at the corners, but filling the entire view. The stars are coloured either orange or bright blue, with the blue stars mainly concentrated in the centre. Orange stars are located mainly around the edge, and also vary in size from small dots to glowing stars with four points, based on their position in the foreground or background of the cluster.]

Credit:  ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Sarajedini, G. Piotto

The wildly erratic, incompetent, mentally unstable Dementia Don is back to his weekend failed social media pronouncements, this time threatening his Shart of the Deal partners with annihilation before the ink is even dry on that "ceasefire." 

We weren't sure if it was an authentic "Truth" since it doesn't end with "Thank you for your attention to this matter."  But the fact that he waited until the stock markets were closed before he ordered the strikes and tapped out this communique would indicate it was indeed Sir Liesalot's ham-fisted, mob boss-style "diplomacy" at work.

For someone who says he's holding "all the cards," he sure seems to be getting jerked around a lot.