Tomorrow USA

Yep, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Trump Algae Pond is being drained again.

Crews are again draining the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as President Donald Trump’s problem-plagued effort to revamp the waterway pushes well past his initial goal of having it ready by July 4 to mark the nation’s 250th birthday. The president at first suggested his renovations would last a century. But, within weeks of the project originally reaching completion last month, the water was beset by an algae bloom and pieces of the new coating appeared to be peeling off the bottom. Trump has blamed the peeling on vandals, though critics allege it’s from shoddy repair work.

Trump never psychologically became an adult. Like some 3-year-old, he fails to take responsibility for his actions. The disasters he created at the pool are the fault of nonexistent antifa terrorists; that's like a 3-year-old blaming the monster under the bed for a broken toy.

Since the beginning of the Trump era, Republicans have talked a lot less about personal responsibility because their leader is alien to the concept.

^^^ Google Translate gives this Russian translation for "Giddy-up!" as Но-о! (in the Cyrillic alphabet, Н = Latin alphabet N)

Vladimir Putin was a card carrying member of the Communist Party of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. This 2016 article excerpt is from Radio France International.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday revealed he has kept his USSR Communist Party membership card, and still has a soft spot for socialist ideals. "I didn't throw out my party card, I didn't burn it," said Putin, a former KGB agent in East Germany, at a meeting with supporters, quoted by Interfax news agency. "My card is lying round somewhere." [ ... ] "I wasn't a party member through necessity. I can't say I was totally an ideological Communist but I did really treasure it (the card)," said Putin, pointing out that he served for nearly 20 years in the "armed wing of the party". Putin -- who has revived some Soviet traditions and state controls over his years ruling Russia -- said that he still "really likes" the ideals of communism, even if they were not implemented properly by Soviet leaders.

Trump loves communist dictators and often acts like one. This is from an article at The Atlantic by Jonathan Chait.

In 1990, Trump told Playboy that the Chinese Communist Party “almost blew it” before showing “the power of strength” by crushing demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, thus avoiding the fate of the Soviet regimes that fell the same year. He has praised Communist dictators—not in the vein of, say, congratulating Cuba for its education policy, but specifically for crushing all opposition. “He’s a brilliant guy,” Trump gushed of China’s leader, Xi Jinping, in 2024. “He controls 1.4 billion people with an iron fist. I mean, he’s a brilliant guy, whether you like it or not.” Trump once claimed that he and Kim Jong Un “fell in love,” explaining: “He’s the head of a country. And, I mean, he is the strong head. Don’t let anyone think anything different. He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same.”

Trump would probably enjoy communism a lot more than democracy.

Trump’s denunciations of communism have an undercurrent of admiration. “Communism is very easy to sell. It destroys everything, but it is very easy,” he mused recently. “I’ll be honest—I think I’d be the greatest Communist in history. I’d give free rent: Ladies and gentlemen, from now on, you don’t have to pay any rent. From now on, anybody who wants a house, just pick the house you want. Everybody gets free food. Everything is free from this point forward. Everyone’s gonna vote for me.” Trump accurately captured communism’s main allure—its promise to create a paradise on Earth. But he also described his own political style. He has at times claimed his health-care plan will give people fantastic coverage at lower cost, that he will bring American manufacturing jobs back by the millions, and that he will personally roll back inflation, among other tantalizing promises. Trump once said, “I will give you everything,” a pledge that would have struck even Lenin as a bit messianic. Unlike the Communists, however, Trump has not bothered to even attempt measures like universal health insurance. He has skipped straight ahead to the coup attempts, show trials, military parades, kitschy personality cult, and endless harangues filled with absurd claims about economic progress.

We have a bit more clarity on the process of replacing Lindsey Graham both as a sitting US senator and as a candidate in the 2026 midterm election.

From WYFF.

According to South Carolina law, Gov. Henry McMaster will appoint a temporary replacement to fill Graham's seat until Jan. 3 of next year. Unlike some states, South Carolina does not generally require the governor to appoint someone from the same political party as the senator who left office. That gives the governor broad discretion in choosing a temporary replacement. In June, Graham defeated multiple primary challengers to secure his party's nomination as he vied for a potential fifth term. Now, a special primary must be held by Aug. 11, according to state election laws, to find a replacement nominee. The South Carolina Board of Elections Director Conway Belangia told WYFF News 4 that the filing period for that special election would likely be July 21-28. That nominee will face Democratic Dr. Annie Andrews in November.

Annie Andrews remains the Democratic candidate. For a Democrat, Dr. Andrews had been polling relatively well – though still the underdog.

If Republicans pick a terrible candidate (we're looking at you, Nancy Mace) AND if it's a big wave year for Dems, Annie Andrews does have a chance. South Carolina did have a Democratic US senator as recently as 2005. So it's not science fiction.

While people have been wondering about the mortality of Mitch McConnell, Senate GOP colleague Lindsey Graham beat him to the punch.

US senator Lindsey Graham, a key ally of Donald Trump, has died from a sudden illness, his office said in the early hours of Sunday. He had just turned 71. Graham’s death will send shockwaves through Washington and the Republican party. He has served in the Senate since 2003, representing South Carolina.

Keep in mind that South Carolina has a Republican governor named Henry McMaster. McMaster, 79, will appoint a replacement to serve out the remainder of Graham's term which ends soon after New Year's Day.

A more politically messy matter for South Carolina Republicans is replacing Graham on the midterm election ballot. McMaster's old boss Nikki Haley is the first SC Republican who I thought of. Though McMaster himself ran for US Senate (and lost) back in 1986.

^^^ And that doesn't seem to include the especially idiotic Arc de Trump.

Capitol Hill Republicans and bureaucrats who rubber stamp such projects are just as guilty as Trump for making American taxpayers pay for such useless and tacky trash. They need to be made to pay out of their own pockets for the restoration of DC.

Trump never tells the truth. After promising to "drain the swamp" he effectively turns a Washington landmark into a new algae-filled swamp.

New York City will be implementing a "click to cancel" rule effective in October. Junk fees and nuisance fees are also being targeted.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a first-of-its-kind rule to protect New Yorkers from subscription traps and junk fees. The so-called "Click to Cancel" rule will require businesses to make it as easy for you to cancel your subscription as it was to sign up. He made the announcement alongside New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) Commissioner Samuel A.A. Levine and other officials on Friday. "I think many of us have come to feel this is inevitable," Levine said. "The feeling like we're navigating a minefield when we're shopping is simply the price of modern convenience." The rules, which go into effect in October, will protect residents from being trapped in never ending subscriptions, like at gyms and hotels, and by hidden junk fees.

It's astonishing how much money is being sucked out of consumers by such practices.

The Click-to-Cancel Rule alone is estimated to save New Yorkers up to $162.5 million per year. "For years, companies have built their business model around making it harder for working people to hold onto their money," Mayor Mamdani said. "Whether it's hidden fees that suddenly appear at checkout or subscriptions that take one click to sign up for and a dozen steps to cancel, the result is the same: working people pay more while corporations profit. That ends now. If you can sign up with one click, you can cancel with one click."

This is a first of its kind law. Other jurisdictions should consider adopting similar rules.

I'm not exactly sure whether this covers only people who live in NYC or anybody who tries to cancel when in the city. If it's the latter, there could be a small spurt in "cancellation tourism" where people commute from nearby areas to cancel subscriptions or conduct business with companies notorious for junk fees.

BTW, there had been something similar in place by the Biden administration but it bit the dust under Trump.

Donald Trump loves AI slop. Just look at his posts at his failing Truth Social platform. So maybe we shouldn't be surprised that the logo at the airport he named after himself is AI slop.

Donald Trump is now the first president to have an airport named after him while still in office. And what better way to commemorate this high honor than with lazy AI slop? Until a few days ago, the Palm Beach International Airport in South Florida was still called the Palm Beach International Airport. Now it’s the President Donald J. Trump International Airport, after a law that his pal and governor of Florida Ron DeSantis signed back in March took effect. Its old logo looked like a riff on Disney’s. Its new one, first revealed by Eric Trump in May, is clearly meant to be a transmogrified Great Seal, rendered — of course — in Trump’s favorite color: gold. Look past its gaudiness, though, and you’ll notice some things that’re a little off in the finer details. The talons are horribly deformed and shaped differently from each other. The entire legs are uneven, too, and the base of them are represented as a strange conglomeration of blobs, which are also inconsistent. In fact, the whole thing is slightly asymmetrical. The wings have an uneven number of feathers. The two olive branches — another error in itself, because the eagle is supposed to be clutching a bundle of arrows in its right-side talon — have differing numbers of leaves. And the shield only has eleven stripes, as opposed to the thirteen that the actual Great Seal is supposed to feature.

We go from a story about AI slop to quick look at one on AI sloppiness.

A Meta AI data center under construction in Wyoming is apparently spewing a rare pathogen into waste water.

Wyoming Officials Trace Rare Bacteria Back to Zuckerberg’s $800 Million ‘Project Cosmo’

Mitch McConnell has not been seen in weeks. There are rumors about him being brain dead or worse.

So there's speculation about what might happen to his Senate seat if he dies or resigns.

McConnell is a lame duck. He's not running for re-election. So his term ends in early January.

Kentucky has a Democratic governor named Andy Beshear. Noting McConnell's age, the GOP Kentucky legislature took away the governor's right to appoint an interim successor. The result is a mess which could result in McConnell's old seat remaining vacant for months.

WCPO talked with Shauna Reilly, a professor of political science at Northern Kentucky University, about what would happen if McConnell couldn't complete his final term. She pointed to the Kentucky Legislature's successful 2024 effort to strip Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear's ability to appoint an interim senator to fill McConnell's seat. "It says the governor has to call a special election," Reilly said. Beshear would have 30 days to call an election, and prospective candidates would then have 49 days to consider running and file. "In the meantime, it will remain vacant," Reilly said.

If Gov. Beshear waits until the 30th day, that would mean 79 days until the vacancy is even on its way to being filled. As of July 10th, there are just 177 days left in ol' Mitch's term.

Reilly said the timing of the seat becoming vacant could become problematic, given that timeline, around August 3 and later, because the special election could conflict with the already scheduled November midterm elections. She said that if that happens, it could create a question for courts to resolve. Another question for the courts would arise if Beshear decides to challenge the 2024 law in court. "This would be the first time we're testing the law, if you will, so I think there are some pieces that are a little less clear in the law," Reilly said.

Yep, Andy Beshear could drag this out in court. So that would narrow the US Senate makeup indefinitely to 52 Republicans – 47 Democrats. And with the Senate YOLO Republicans who have been alienated by Trump, that could put some Republican bills or Trump nominations in danger.

Of course Kentucky will elect a replacement for lame duck Mitch in the midterms. That will almost certainly be a Republican.

The Iran war is the most glaring public example of Trump having strayed from reality.

If Donald Trump ever had any control over the war he started with Iran, he’s lost it. The Iranians are now setting the terms of this conflict and are routinely humiliating the American president. The “cease-fire” Trump declared last month—a move probably meant to both soothe international markets and avert legislative action from the United States Congress—never really existed, because neither side ever ceased firing.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) seems to exist only in the minds of Trump and his administration minions.

The MOU was practically an instrument of American capitulation that the Iranians could have drafted themselves, but Trump wanted to get out of the war, and so he signed it—appropriately enough, at Versailles. The Iranians have made clear that they don’t care about the MOU or, for that matter, what Trump thinks or wants. They are willing to inflict more damage on the Gulf States, and they’re willing to accept damage in return. These are signs of a state directing a war rather than reacting to one. Iran is measuring costs and risks. It is pursuing the achievable goals of regime survival, control of the strait, and preservation of its nuclear program. The Trump administration, for its part, bumbled into this war without a strategy. Instead, it relied on bad assumptions, outdated information, and the president’s gut feelings. I

When Trump has a "gut feeling" he should take Pepcid or TUMS instead of starting another war.

Speaking of ailments, Trump's dementia was on full display at the NATO summit in Ankara.

Even by his usual standards, Trump has been incoherent in Ankara, Turkey, where he’s attending a NATO summit. Over the course of 24 hours, he has renewed his demands for the United States to own Greenland; confused Iran with Japan; and confused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also noted that his videos are popular on “Tic Tac.” He meant “TikTok.” Little wonder, then, that he seems unable to give sensible answers to questions about the renewed hostilities.

Republicans know Trump is nuts but refuse to do anything about it – but that's another story.

Tom Nichols, who wrote the linked article, taught at the US Naval War College for years. He describes how Trump's actions make absolutely no military sense.

One good guideline, however, is to avoid threatening your enemy and then immediately announcing that you really have no stomach for a fight. Strong leaders keep their own counsel and let their actions speak for them; weak leaders make threats and then broadcast how much they don’t want to carry them out.

Today is the last day you can visit Trump's "Great American State Fair".

At least it's less crowded than the Fyre Festival.

These crowd control barriers probably got a lot of use. 😜

Visit your own state's REAL state fair. At least half of them have schedules which include some portion of August; though Florida's is held during the winter. If your own state's is already past or at an inconvenient time, visit one in a neighboring state. Even the most boring one is likely to be better than the Trump fair. Because agriculture is usually a considerable part of these fairs, food is often plentiful.

State Fairs by State 2026

Nigel Farage, leader of the far right Reform UK party, is resigning his seat in Parliament because he failed to declare donations to his 2024 campaign. But he is eligible to run again in the resultant by-election in his constituency of Clacton – presuming he does make all his campaign donations known.

The other major parties have said that they won't contest the Clacton by-election because they consider his resignation a stunt to gain publicity.

However there is an eccentric independent who calls himself Count Binface who will go up against Farage.

Count Binface had been looking forward to a relaxing journey back to his home planet of Sigma IX when Nigel Farage dropped a political bombshell on Tuesday. Instead, Britain’s hottest new political property said he was left with no choice but to perform a swift intergalactic handbrake turn when news broke that Farage had resigned as MP for Clacton, triggering the possibility of a byelection in the English coastal constituency he has represented since 2024. Farage, the leader of the rightwing populist Reform UK party, has been accused of using the poll to shake off a deepening scandal over financial gifts he has received. But the plan appears to have backfired after his main rivals announced they would boycott the byelection. The Clacton byelection is now likely to be a two-man race between the Reform leader and Binface.

Count Binface styles himself as an extraterrestrial noble who wears a garbage can over his head.

“I didn’t know old Farage was going to self detonate … did I?” said Binface, a veteran of British elections, where the parody candidate is something of a mainstay.The 5,900-year-old leader of the Recyclons is the creation of Jon Harvey, a comedian from Lewisham in south-east London, who has run against former prime ministers including Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson, as well as Theresa May in his previous incarnation as Lord Buckethead.

In his career as a perennial hobby candidate, the Count generally accrues vote percentages in the low single digits. If he's Farage's only opponent, his percentage in the Clacton by-election will likely skyrocket. If supporters of non-contesting parties turn out in large numbers and vote for him, he could theoretically win.

He said that he had been inundated over the past 48 hours with emails and messages from Binface activists offering to knock on doors and deliver leaflets on his behalf in what could yet emerge as an electoral shock on a par with when Hartlepool United’s mascot, H’Angus the Monkey, was elected as mayor of the northern English town. [ ... ] In a sign that he is at least treating the campaign with some seriousness, the count has launched a Ko-Fi donation page, asking people to donate.

Clacton is a seaside constituency in Essex – in case you happen to know voters in the area. 🙂

At the Makerfield by-election last month, Count Binface (real name: Jonathan David Harvey) is seen with winner Andy Burnham and with animal rights candidate Rob Pownall.

During the authoritarian Orbán régime, Hungarian public media became a mouthpiece for rightwing and pro-Putin propaganda. Three months after Orbán's trouncing defeat by Péter Magyar, Hungary's public broadcaster is apologizing for over a decade of virulent disinformation.

The disinformation that public service media in Hungary broadcast during the 16 years of Viktor Orban's rule was one of a kind in the EU. No other public service media in the EU published lies, hate and propaganda on this scale in recent decades. Some content was reminiscent of the fascist, antisemitic propaganda of the period between the two world wars; other content was similar to the output of Russian state media. To give but a few examples: Criminal Arab and African migrants who rape defenseless Hungarian girls; a US billionaire with Jewish Hungarian roots who is destroying Hungary's Christian identity; the EU's indoctrination of children with "LGBTQ propaganda;" a Ukrainian mafia state that wants to sacrifice Hungary's younger generation in the war and rob millions of Hungarian pensioners.

Another way of putting it, it was like a Hungarian version of Fox News at its worst.

At 4 p.m. on Tuesday, the news channel M1 broadcast a black screen with the following message: "Public media should not lie. We are sorry for doing it for so long. Public media will now be reformed so they will be independent and trustworthy. Our news service is currently suspended. Stay tuned!" All news bulletins and political programs broadcast by Hungary's public television and radio channels were replaced by the same apology/announcement. Only the website of the news agency MTI, which is also part of the public media holding MTVA, went on posting political news.

Here is the message on the black screen which Hungarians saw for several hours. The English translation is highlighted in an above paragraph.

Just under four hours after the black screen appeared, M1 began broadcasting again at exactly 7:56 p.m. The choice of time (19:56 CET) was no coincidence. It was a nod to the anti-Communist, anti-Soviet revolution of 1956 that was brutally crushed by Soviet troops. [ ... ] The radical overhaul of Hungary's public service media system was one of Peter Magyar's central campaign promises in the runup to the election on April 12. Even after his Tisza party's historic landslide victory, hardly a day passed without Magyar attacking the public service broadcasters, calling them a "factory of lies." And for good reason, too: The story of how his predecessor, Viktor Orban, reshaped Hungary's public-service media — and indeed most of the country's privately owned media, too — and got them to toe the government line, is one of the darkest chapters of his rule.

— Jen Psaki on MS NOW.

Donald Trump is apparently the only elected official who is defending Graham Platner any more. Platner suspended his campaign for US Senate from Maine in the wake of new sexual assault allegations. So along comes Trump who tries to throw cold water on those allegations.

Wednesday was not a great day for Trump and allegations of sex abuse.

Democrats are targeting the annoyance economy and unnecessary fees as part of their economic program if they win the 2028 election. Some are calling this Project 2029. It's basically a collection of economic and economic-adjacent policies which can be implemented fairly quickly.

Imagine no more annoying robocalls. No more spam texts. No more hidden fees. No more jumping through hoops to cancel subscriptions or file an insurance claim. A group of Democratic policy veterans believes that daily annoyances like these have become a real economic problem. They even have a name for it: "the annoyance economy." Taking it on is one plank in a broader governing agenda they're assembling for a future Democratic president. They're calling it "Project 2029." [ ... ] Project 2029 is still in its early stages. They'll be releasing proposals on a rolling basis over the next year or so. Much of what they've previewed so far is what you'd probably expect from Democrats in today's economy: ideas to lower child care costs, make health care and housing more affordable, reduce energy bills, protect kids online. But the Project 2029 proposal that immediately caught our attention was the one to take on the annoyance economy. The annoyance economy is a catch-all term referring to a slew of frustrating business practices that waste our time and money. Think hidden fees that appear only at checkout. Jumping through hoops to cancel a subscription. Mind-numbing insurance paperwork to get your health insurer to pay a claim. Waiting on hold for an hour. Robocalls. Spam texts. Feckless AI phone agents who make you miss even the rudest human support agents. [ ... ] They propose. for example, creating a standardized claims system to make it easier for Americans to file insurance claims online. They also want to end the widespread use of "prior authorization" — when insurance companies require patients to receive company approval before getting certain tests, prescriptions, and procedures.

This is a lot more than just getting rid of robocalls. The simplification of insurance claims will remove an unnecessary burden when you're already not very well. Bureaucracy needs to be slashed for homebuyers as well.

This is a WIP and is still being put together.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) wants Russia to participate in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. As we know from FIFA trying to placate Donald Trump, international sporting organizations have gotten as corrupt as fuck.

Russia could compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics after the International Olympic Committee provisionally lifted on Tuesday the suspension imposed in October 2023. Russian athletes were banned from participating in official Olympic team competitions in February 2022, and the Russian Olympic Committee was suspended the following October. “The International Olympic Committee Executive Board has provisionally lifted the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee,” said the IOC in a statement. According to the sports governing body, the decision followed confirmation that the ROC “no longer includes as its members any regional sports organisations in territories falling under the jurisdiction” of Ukraine’s Olympic Committee and had pledged not to conduct activities there.

Of course the IOC had no problem holding the Olympics in Nazi Germany in 1936. And Juan Antonio Samaranch who headed the IOC from 1980 to 2001 served in the government of the fascist Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. So Putin is no big deal for them.

Crypto is crap and it's a useful tool for scammers. Why else would you think Trump has become so fond of it?

Everybody in the Trump crime family seems to have their own meme coin. They have made $3.1 billion while MAGA dupes have lost $7 billion on Trump crypto.

As head of his own cult, Trump knows his cult members are suckers for whatever he does. He doesn't give a shit about them personally but he does covet their wealth.

Trump and his family make money off of meme coins even if the price collapses. As Dan Alexander explained to Erin Brunett, the Trumps make money just by people trading their meme coins.

^^^ In the long run, history holds all the cards.

Here are words of wisdom from a real Nobel Peace Prize winner...