Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain . [Updated 08.03.25]

Do you presume to criticize the great Oz!

Yes, in fact we do presume to criticize the great Oz. He’s a fraud (convicted on 34 felony counts in New York … fined and restricted self-dealing in non-for-profit activities in New York … found liable for sexual abuse and defamation against E. Jean Carrol). His flying monkeys are running — or attempting to run — amok over the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the rule of law, and the economy.

Here’s the chain of custody of a lie we heard last week: 

[?] > Russian intelligence services > [?] / Donald Trump > Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard > the usual suspects in media and punditry.

The question marks [?] are black boxes that churn out and fling dezinformatsiya against the wall hoping some of it sticks. 

Here’s political historian Heather Cox Richardson on the topic:

Just to be clear: The director of national intelligence for the United States of America is making allegations against a former U.S. presidential candidate [That’s Hillary Clinton] based on material from Russia’s intelligence services.

This seems to be another unforced error, reminding Americans of another story the administration would prefer they forget, since opponents of Gabbard’s nomination for her post noted that she has a long history of repeating Russian propaganda. 

While Trump seems determined to reach back to the rhetoric that got him elected in 2016, it’s hard to see that as a powerful distraction from the Epstein story, since Americans have now had eight years to contemplate the many times Trump has deferred to Russian president Vladimir Putin and weakened Ukraine’s ability to fight back against Russia’s incursions. And claims about the health of a losing presidential candidate from nine years ago seem pretty weak sauce, especially since today she [Hillary Clinton] seems far more stable than Trump. 

Heather Cox Richardson . 07.23.25

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-23-2025

The man behind the curtain has no business getting away with any of this. The little girl, her little dog, and their friends—Head, Heart, and Courage—are pulling back the curtain on this very bad wizard.

Additional Sources

1. https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/trump-was-told-he-is-epstein-files-wall-street-journal-reports-2025
2. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/07/24/trump-bondi-espstein-files/85353677007/ 
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNTDOcUiieY
4. https://www.axios.com/2025/07/23/trump-epstein-files-doj-bondi
5. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyq921zqqzo
6. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ghislaine-maxwell-house-oversight-committee-subpoena-jeffrey-epstein/
7. https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025.07.23
8. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-oversight-committee-subpoena-doj-epstein-files-rcna220387
9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihk_2e1M2Iw
10. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/obama-pushes-back-trumps-outrageous-bizarre-treason-claim-rcna220393
11. https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5414362-obama-office-trumps-bizarre-claims-weak-attempt-at-distraction/
12. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-accuses-obama-treason-escalating-attacks-over-2016-russia-probe-2025
13. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2l01ek0y7
14. https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/press-releases-2025/4086-pr-1525
15. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gabbard-releases-russia-documents-concerns-intelligence-sources/
16. https://www.bennet.senate.gov/2025/07/23/bennet-blasts-gabbards-dangerous-release-of-partisan-house-intelligence-report/
17. https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/24/politics/trump-epstein-files-pivot-timeline

He does his part in the fight for truth

Someone I can’t vouch for,

Claims someone I don’t care for,

Said something I won’t stand for,

So I’m gonna put that right here in quotes so you can do your own research.

OK?

Notice [seriously]

Notice: 

Compassion does not align with this administration’s priorities. 

Thank you for you attention to this matter. 

Source

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/07/usaid-emergency-food-incinerate-trump/683532/

Take Trump literally ... seriously

 

When a clown tells you he doesn't want your support anymore, believe him. 

Source

https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-blasts-his-supporters-for-buying-into-what-he-now-calls-the-epstein-hoax/

Donald Trump the Unifier

In bed with who now?

Tucker Carlson doesn't like the performative bombing of Iran; I don't either!

Laura Loomer is unhappy about Trump taking a luxury plane from Qatar; me too!

Ben Shapiro objects to the Trump tariffs; so do I!

Joe Rogan doesn't get why Trump is targeting migrant workers who haven't even been accused of crimes; same!

Elon Musk is outraged about the massive debt increase under Trump's big fugly budget reconciliation; 100%!

Strange bedfellows. 

Donald Trump is kicking the shite out of working people ... both poor and middle class — and people too young, too old, or too sick to work — all over the world. This week, the American people are paying $130 grand to literally set fire to 1.1 million pounds of emergency high-nutrition biscuits that Trump decided to burn instead of giving them to keep children alive, because compassion does not align with administration priorities. (That $130 grand is on top of the $800 grand spent to manufacture and deliver the biscuits to warehouses in regions where they were, until January, scheduled to be distributed.) 

We can certainly do better. We have done better. We may, if we choose, start making our way back to doing better.

There are matters that put us in bed with people we might not mention in polite company. Maybe we should mention them. Maybe we should acknowledge that disagreeing about nine things doesn't mean we are morally bound to disagree about the tenth thing as well, when that tenth thing is meant to save people's lives, or at least not destroy them needlessly. There's no universally-held principle that says we have to make things worse for someone else if we possibly can.

If we decide to rethink all that, we should maybe let our members of Congress know, so they have a chance to return to their constitutional duties before the 2026 midterms. Here's a shortcut: Members of Congress https://www.congress.gov/members

Sources

https://www.wired.com/story/jeffrey-epstein-list-maga-angry-trump/

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/?back=1

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/10/texas-kerr-county-commissioners-flooding-warning/

ICE + The Eye of the Beholder

"People need to understand, ICE officers and Border Patrol, they don't need probable cause to walk up to somebody, briefly detain them, and question them. They just need the totality of the circumstances. They just get through the observations, get articulable facts, based on their location, their occupation, their physical appearance, their actions ... like, a uniformed border police walks up to them at, for instance, a Home Depot, and they've got all these articulable facts, plus the person walks away or runs away — you know, agents are trained — what they need to detain somebody temporarily and question them is not probable cause, it's reasonable suspicion — we're trained on that ... every agent, every six months, gets Fourth Amendment training, over and over again — these officers are really good at what they do...." — Tom Homan . Border Czar of the United States . on Fox News . July 11 2025

It's not racial profiling if it's based on articulable facts like location, occupation, physical appearance, and action.

Our highly trained ICE agents are highly trained to assess some or all of these articulables all or some of the time.

Everything has to start somewhere ... our agents know if they don't start nothing there won't be nothing. We training ICE agents to recognize a threshold of reasonable suspicion using the QuikThreat® Estimator.

Some agents don't need the QuickThreat® card. They come to the job already able to eyeball the situation on the ground and move rapidly forward to walk up to somebody, briefly detain them, and question them. This saves precious time in the field.

But natural talent is not enough, so we train agents in the art and science of situational awareness:

Location

Am I in the U.S.? Am I at a Home Depot ... 7-11... taco stand ... restaurant ... warehouse ... store ... food processing plant ... school ... medical facility ... farm ... on a public street or sidewalk ... in a park ... a parking lot ... a private yard ... outside an apartment building or other residence ... or anywhere else?

If yes, proceed.

Occupation

[Important: Does the suspect appear to *not* be a U.S. Senator ... Secretary of State ... Florida Governor ... Supreme Court Justice ... or other elected or appointed official? This may be important later if it turns out anyone on the scene is in possession of a video recording device.]

*Do* they appear to be a butcher ... a baker ... a candlestick maker ... a teacher ... a preacher ... a carnival screecher ... a planter ... a cantor ... a Brooklyn Santa ... or anything else....

If yes, proceed.

Appearance

Is the suspect wearing dungarees ... trousers ... shorts ... pants of any kind ... a tee shirt ... tank top ... collared shirt buttoned to the top, buttoned only at the top, or unbuttoned ... a skirt ... blouse ... dress ... or anything else....

Do they look old ... young ... female ... male ... or anything else....

Do they look like they've been lurking ... working ... shirking... or walking, driving, sitting, standing, or waiting while brown....

Are they still brown?

If yes, proceed.

Actions

Are they, right now, standing ... sitting ... squatting ... leaning ... cleaning ... talking ... walking ... jogging ... running ... sunning....

Do they make eye contact ... look away ... show you their back ... show you to your table ... give you the side-eye ... the stink-eye ... or the hairy eyeball....

Do they look nervous when you approach, at all....

If yes, proceed.

When in Doubt

Unless you're plainly incompetent or egregiously and knowingly break the law, you're pretty much protected by Qualified Immunity....

If you don't know what that means, don't worry about it ... proceed.

Sources

https://www.latintimes.com/border-czar-declares-physical-appearance-enough-ice-detain-question-they-dont-need-586609

https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/legal-digest/legal-digest-qualified-immunity-how-it-protects-law-enforcement-officers

My fevered brain

Der Kommissar’s in town…

 “I don’t work for [Mayor of Los Angeles] Karen Bass. Better get used to us now, cause this is going to be normal very soon. We will go anywhere, anytime we want in Los Angeles.”

US Border Patrol Chief, Gregory Bovino . to Bill Melugin on Fox News Channel. July 07, 2025

We don’t have to guess how this plays out if if we don’t resist it. These are copycat crimes against democracy.

winners . losers . snoozers

Hey, so, your members of congress knew this ... or should have known it ... or certainty could have known it before they voted on the big fugly budget bill in the summer of 2025.

It hurts Americans in the 40 million households who can least afford to be hurt. 

It doesn't help that much in the 79 million households it helps.* 

But it sure is expensive, so....

Since you know they know, maybe send an email or letter (I hear congressional staff really like letters) so they know you know, too... 

... and that you won't forget what the 51 in the Senate and the 218 in the House did — and what they failed to do...

... and who is paying the price for that...

... and who is benefiting from it...

... and whether or not you think their vote was a worthwhile expression of your American values.

A chart about the change to annual household income . Click to enlarge chart and graphs.

Here's the same information as a graph.

*Here's that information in percentages of net gains and losses per year by household income groups. 

Lately, it seems necessary to state the obvious: Losing $1,600 means a whole more to a household making $0 - $39k a year than gaining $12,000 means to a household with income $217k - $517k.

Facing the loss of $133 a month, a low income family of four may have to choose between nutrition, prescription drugs, a trip to the dentist, and keeping the lights on. 

With an extra $1000 a month, a high income family of four could lease a Tesla, or pop for a week at the White Lotus.

Not the same.

July 4th is No King(s) Day [Literally]

"On this No Kings Day, remember that America is a tapestry of from-ness that Kings failed to stamp out."

Marcy Wheeler . emptywheel . July 04 2025

A Declaration of Independence

Thanks to Heather Cox Richardson

 

The Big Fugly + Access to Healthcare

 

g

Here’s a state-by-state list of the approximate number of neighbors who will lose healthcare coverage under the big fugly bill Republican leaders are trying to force through the House of Representatives. 

These neighbors have access to healthcare coverage now; if Congress turns its back on them, they won’t.

Here’s hoping a half-dozen Republicans will have a John McCain moment and sink this travesty against the spirit of the Union. A couple of hundred would be more like it….

sources

https://www.kff.org/affordable-care-act/issue-brief/how-will-the-2025-reconciliation-bill-affect-the-uninsured-rate-in-each-state-allocating-cbos-estimates-of-coverage-loss/

https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/wyden-neal-pallone-release-latest-cbo-estimates-showing-16-million-people-will-become-uninsured-from-republican-health-agenda

clown with a hand grenade

On July 01, 2025, President Donald J. Trump visited the new detention facility on an abandoned airstrip in the Florida Everglades that's designed to hold 5,000 undocumented immigrants at a cost $450 million a year (which will be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA!). 

Trump told reporters there: “Biden wanted me in here…. It didn’t work out that way, but he wanted me in here, that son of a bitch.”

Actually, Mr. President (and I think Joe Biden would agree), we wanted you on television, where you could grow old and saggy playing the fool while doing no great harm. Instead, there's a clown with a hand grenade at the Sunday School picnic attended by masked elves in stab vests and baseball caps.

It's a feckin' nightmare ... they just took that kid's wheelchair ... they removed the guest of honor for public decency and obstructing the performance of political theater ... Look at that! That elf is wearing a badge that says WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' BADGES ... (Wait: I've seen this film before!) 

The Florida attorney general who came up with the immigrants in cages in tents plan, gave it the oh-so-clever name “Alligator Alcatraz.” ... They believe their cages in tents will be inescapable ... I believe they haven't read Carl Hiaasen.

Someone cleverer than Florida's attorney general said "Alligator Alcatraz" is the wrong reference because prisoners at Alcatraz got due process ... they're calling it  "Alligator Auschwitz." 

The political historian Heather Cox Richardson reminds us July 01, 2025 is exactly a year since a split decision at the Supreme Court overthrew what she called "the central premise of American democracy: that no one is about the law." And what are we supposed to do about that?

I know what *I'm* doing. 

I'm 72-and-51/52-seconds old, but they played a long game to lull us into this nightmare, and now I'm playing one back ... the old guy who plants and waters a tree as if I'll live to sit in its shade. And maybe I will ... maybe it's one of those trees that grows really fast ... or maybe I'm one of those folks whose consolation is getting to shuffle off the stage really slow.

Doesn't matter. If I need to hand off the watering can, there will be someone ready to take the handoff. I know this because I have friends everywhere, if you know what I mean.

Sources

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-1-2025

https://newsroom.ap.org/editorial-photos-videos/detail?itemid=86faa2e803d74589b3de055232af183c

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/where-things-stand/lots-of-insane-ideas-flying-around-at-alligator-alcatraz

https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/florida-attorney-general-proposes-alligator-alcatraz-as-immigration-detention-site-in-everglades/

July 01, 2025 . 51-50 in the U.S. Senate

[July 01, 2025]

51-50 in the U.S. Senate… 

I got your death panel right here.

one big fugly bill passed by one vote (and what now?)

Today — July 01, 2025 — 50 U.S. Senators and the sitting Vice President just knowingly passed a bill that will reduce the income for 80% of U.S. households in order to increase the income for the wealthiest 20% of U.S. households. 

There’s more. 

They knowingly passed a bill that is highly likely — because of decreased revenues to the U.S. Treasury — to decrease Medicare benefits by 4% (not Medicaid; *Medicare* ... the impact on Medicaid is even worse), and increase out-of-pocket Medicare costs across the board.

There’s more. 

They knowingly passed a bill that will increase the federal deficit by $2.3, up to $4.5 Trillion with no plan to replace those funds and at a borrowing cost of an addition $440 Billion.

The Senate bill now goes to the U.S. House Of Representatives to iron out differences in the two versions.

Action.

Today — July 01, 2025 — you/we have a final opportunity to contact our Representatives in the U.S. House to tell them to stop this madness. 

Find your Member of Congress in the House Directory: house.gov/representatives.

The Capitol Switchboard will connect you to your Congressperson’s office: (202) 224-3121

Sources

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2025/jun/how-medicaid-snap-cutbacks- one-big-beautiful-bill-trigger-job-losses-states

https://taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/house-tax-cuts-would-benefit-most-tilt-highest-income-households https://apnews.com/article/trump-tax-bill-hurts-poor-helps-rich-cbo-f3d9d46ca3e829d6b850dca30b91a2b6

https://americansfortaxfairness.org/atf-letter-opposing-bbb-senate/

https://www.epi.org/publication/cutting-medicaid-for-low-taxes-on-the-rich-is-terrible-for-american-families/

https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/202506/61387Distributional-Effects.pdf

https://budgetlab.yale.edu/research/distributional-effects-selected-provisions-house-and-senate-reconciliation-bills

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/30/trump-bill-helps-wealthy-hurts-low-earners-yale-report.html

https://www.rwjf.org/en/insights/our-research/2025/04/work-requirements-threaten-health-and-increas e-costs.html

https://www.kff.org/tracking-the-medicare-provisions-in-the-2025-budget-bill/

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-current-republican-tax-bill-could-cut-500-billion-from-medicare-this-bill-just-gets-more-and-more-cruel-0af411b1

https://www.kiplinger.com/retirement/medicare/tax-reconciliation-bill-could-trigger-billions-in-medicar e-cuts

https://www.kff.org/quick-take/house-reconciliation-bill-could-trigger-500-billion-in-mandatory-medic are-cuts/

https://www.crfb.org/blogs/senate-reconciliation-bill-could-add-over-4-trillion-debt

https://gbpi.org/the-house-passed-reconciliation-bill-would-significantly-increase-national-debt-primarily-benefitting-top-earners-while-cutting-health-care-and-food-assistance/

https://taxfoundation.org/blog/big-beautiful-bill-impact-deficit-economy/

https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2025/5/23/house-reconciliation-bill-budget-economic-and-distributional-effects-may-222025

https://budgetlab.yale.edu/research/distributional-effects-selected-provisions-house-and-senate-reconciliation-bills

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/new-cbo-estimates-show-2025-reconciliation-bill-would-have-impacts-similar-in-magnitude-to-2017-aca-repeal-bills/