Friends in White Evangelical churches who believe the government has been intruding in domains of caring —for widows, orphans, and other economically marginalized people — that churches should be looking after: Can you share your formula for deciding how many of your neighbors’ medical bills your congregation is prepared to cover if they lose health insurance under the Republican budget plan?
You can find June 2025 projections for your state here:
The odds that you or I or any American knows someone who currently depends on or has depended on Medicaid-funded healthcare is about 70%.
I keep waiting for Donald Trump to say the violence between Israel and Iran would never have happened if he'd been president (and how, in a third term, he would stop it in a single day).
[Update] Here on earth, Mr. Trump hasn't, and says he won't call Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in the wake of the assassination of a Minnesota political figure and her spouse, and the attempted assassination of another. "Why would I call him?" the president asked reporters on Air Force One. "I could call and say, ‘Hi, how you doing?’ The guy doesn’t have a clue. He’s a mess. So I could be nice and call, but why waste time?"
Speaking of messes, last night, Heather Cox Richardson noted the president's performance yesterday in Canada, at the G7 conference.
Trump drew criticism of his own incompetence today at the meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) in Kananaskis, Alberta, in Canada. The G7 is a forum of democracies with advanced economies that includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as the European Union. During today’s meetings, Trump seemed to think the United Kingdom and the European Union were the same thing.
Trump also parroted Russian talking points, telling reporters: “The G7 used to be the G8. Barack Obama and a person named Trudeau didn't want to have Russia in, and I would say that that was a mistake, because I think you wouldn't have a war right now if you had Russia in, and you wouldn’t have a war right now if Trump were president four years ago.”
In fact, the members of the G7 kicked Russia out of the forum after Russian president Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in 2014. And former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau didn’t take office until 2015.
On Friday, journalist Dean Blundell reported that Washington insiders and observers from abroad had noticed how rarely Trump appears in public and how often he falls asleep when he does, prompting speculation that he is not physically able to do the work of the presidency. Blundell suggested Trump’s team would look for a way to get the president out of the G7 early to avoid exposure.
After today’s meetings, at which it appears the U.S. was delaying a joint statement in which G7 members called for an end to the conflict between Israel and Iran, Trump posted on social media: “Iran should have signed the ‘deal’ I told them to sign,” although it was Trump who pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the “Iran nuclear deal” that limited Iran’s nuclear program. He continued: “What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply stated, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!”
More than 9 million people live in Tehran, with more than 16 million in the metropolitan area.
Then Trump’s team announced the situation in the Middle East required the president to leave the G7 a day early.
On the 149th day of the president's second term in office, it looks like Americans have fucked around and are finding out.
If only there were no one to hurt but us.
Sources
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-16-2025
Our slice of the ‘No Kings’ rally on Seattle’s Capitol Hill . June 14, 2025 at about 12:30p.
Until we say otherwise, this, apparently, is who we are…
(Now with federalized National Guard Troops on American streets without consent from the legally established authority.)
*This* is why we have a written constitution and codes.
[√] QwikThreat® Estimator Card (laminated)
[√] Mask
[√] Stab Vest
[√] Zip Ties
[√] Federalized National Guard Troops
[√] Mask
[√] Stab Vest
[√] Zip Ties
[√] QwikThreat® Estimator Card (laminated)
The U.S. Marshals Service has protected the federal judicial process as the enforcement arm of the federal courts since 1789.
28 USC 566 . Powers and duties(a) It is the primary role and mission of the United States Marshals Service to provide for the security and to obey, execute, and enforce all orders of the United States District Courts, the United States Courts of Appeals
The U.S. Marshals Service is housed in the Department of Justice.
Now, Federal Judges are considering chartering a security force, separate from the U.S. Marshal Service, because they are not confident that the sitting President and Attorney General of the United States won't renege on the lawful obligation of U.S. Marshals to protect them.
On May 25, 2025, retired federal judge J. Michael Luttig wrote:
The Wall Street Journal had a piece last night that the Judicial Conference of the United States — the policy making body for the federal judiciary — is discussing whether the Judiciary should have its own armed security force rather than rely on the U.S. Marshals for federal judges' protection.
The Marshal's Service has historically provided security protection for federal judges. But the Marshal's Service is housed in the Department of Justice and reports to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Donald Trump, both of whom have been viciously attacking the Federal Judiciary and even individual judges who have ruled against Trump and his Administration over the past four months, in escalation of the President's war on the Federal Judiciary, America's system of justice, and the Rule of Law. Pam Bondi recently said on national television that judges are "deranged" and think they are above the law.
It is an extraordinary and unprecedented development in American history that the Nation's Federal Judiciary would have to consider having its own security force because federal judges cannot trust the U.S. Marshal's Service under this President and his Attorney General. They cannot trust this president and this Attorney General to ensure their protection.
In discussing this extraordinary development with Ali Velshi this morning, I had to admit that, given the continuing unprecedented and vicious personal attacks and threats on the federal courts and federal judges by the President, Vice President Vance, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Donald Trump's Cabinet and senior White House advisors, I would never rely upon the U.S. Marshal's Service for my protection, were I still a sitting federal judge. How could anyone?
— Judge J. Michael Luttig . https://bsky.app/profile/judgeluttig.bsky.social . May 25, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Sources
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=%28title%3A28+section%3A566+edition%3Aprelim%29
https://www.usmarshals.gov/what-we-do/judicial-security/fact-sheet
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/trump-judges-security-marshals-6e080ac6?st=dLrMuE&reflink=article_copyURL_share
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/25/federal-judges-armed-security-doj-trump-attacks
https://www.msnbc.com/ali-velshi/watch/judge-luttig-trump-s-war-the-judiciary-could-see-catastrophic-end-240285765661
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/05/law-america-trump-constitution/682793/
Like France giving us the Statue of Liberty, is how the Secretary of the Treasury explained it to CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union".
Cutting through the fog of Donald Trump's trade war with China, American Enterprise Institute economist Michael Strain told Washington Post reporters: “When I step back from the euphoria over easing tariffs with China, what I see is the tariff rate is five times as high as when Trump took office. And we seem to have gotten nothing out of it at all.”
The American Enterprise Institute is by no means a liberal think thank.
And the president's actions on the global economy are by no means a conservative economic strategy.
Is this what you voted for?
If not, tell your representative in Congress to stop the madness of unregulated executive branch tariffs and replace the big beautiful budget bill, that is by no means beautiful, with something that does not punch a $5 trillion hole in the US economy with giveaways to the wealthiest Americans — and crushing clawbacks from US states and the poorest Americans.
Sources
https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/federal/trump-tariffs-trade-war/
https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2025/4/10/economic-effects-of-president-trumps-tariff s
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/04/25/trump-tariffs-poll-approval/
https://www.gmfus.org/news/trump-tariffs-their-impact-and-us-public-opinion
https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3922
https://www.aei.org/policy-areas/economics/
https://www.monitoringinfluence.org/org/american-enterprise-institute-2/
