Author: A.T.

Heather Cox Richardson

PRIDE

It’s June.  Chris Gallant, running to flip NY-1 blue, here tells that part of his story (90 seconds).

OSSOFF

Such a contrast with Mike Johnson (140 seconds).

PULTE

Charlie Sykes:

On Tuesday we learned that the Pentagon has hired a convicted January 6 rioter for a sensitive counterterrorism job. . . .

That story was overshadowed by Trump’s appointment of MAGA-loyalist Bill Pulte as acting Director of National Intelligence. But the two stories are related, because, as Derek Thompson wrote, they are an indication that we have entered “Late-stage Kakistocracy” — the “phase of democratic decline where the regime starts running out of people who will work for it, and so the folks who aren’t qualified for their current positions are promoted to even larger positions for which they are even more unqualified.”

Under the law that established the DNI, appointees are required to have “extensive national security expertise.” Pulte, who heads up the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has none. He has no background in either intelligence or law enforcement. . . .

[But] Pulte has the one qualification that Trump is now demanding: As he scrapes the bottom of his barrel, the president is looking for appointees ready and willing to abuse the powers of government to punish his enemies. In Pulte — as in Todd Blanche and Ken Paxton — he has found the whole package. Pulte proved his willingness to use his position to help Trump target NY AG Letitia James, Senator Adam Schiff and others. Nothing has come of the cases, but it was the malice that counted. Now he gets to use the resources of the nation’s intelligence community to pursue that agenda.

HCR

I could listen to historian Heather Cox Richardson all day — and will, if and when my application is approved.

(I’ve applied for 4 extra hours in every 28-hour day that no one else gets but me.)

But I did find 50 minutes Tuesday to listen to this one.

If you do, I think you may find yourself subscribing to her channel, as more than a million of us have.

EPSTEIN

Any news?

 

Items That Have Caught My Eye

So PRKR had its oral argument yesterday, and the stock — which had jumped 50% Friday in anticipation, from 20 cents to 30 cents — fell 50% in disappointment, from 30 cents to 15 cents.  As I understand it, nothing conclusively bad happened; just nothing conclusively good.  I still hope it may be $1.50 in a couple of years, but it was a lot more fun Friday than yesterday.

LEAVING MAGA

The billboards are multiplying.  Join the fun by chipping in.

WE NEED TO TAX BILLIONAIRES

A 47-page book.

Billionaires often pay a lower income tax rate than nurses, teachers and almost everyone else – sometimes close to zero. This isn’t tax evasion, it’s the system.

WE NEED TO REORGANIZE TOWARD UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME

There’s no stopping A.I. or robots.  That could greatly improve our lives if we learn to share the benefits.  But getting from here to there is likely to be extremely difficult, with lots of economic hardship and possible financial collapse along the way.  See Andrew Yang’s latest.

R.I.P. “60 MINUTES”

Dan Rather reports.

A FEW WORDS FROM 2015

The Iran Deal Trump Destroyed

 

PRKR Hopes

Long-time readers know that, where at first I wrote mostly about “Money and Other Subjects,” this page might now more accurately be titled “Let’s Save Democracy (and An Occasional Stock Tip).”

Plus, I’m only supposed to write five times a week (and technically only on days the stock market is open).  But as the stakes have grown ever higher, I sometimes post on Saturday and Sunday, too.

I should pay you overtime to read those, but the truth is that until BOREF hits (now 27 years and counting), I don’t have another dime to spare, so you’ll just have to suck it up for God and country.

This past Saturday was The Worst of the Worst.

Sunday was The Emperor and the Gladiators.  (Cage matches on the White House lawn?  Who is he — Caligula?)

Today:

PRKR

This longtime speculation — purchased only with money we could truly afford to lose — jumped 50% Friday, from 20 cents to 30 cents, in anticipation of today’s oral arguments in its long-running patent infringement case against Qualcomm.

ParkerVision hopes to be granted a jury trial, and, eventually, an award greater than the $173 million awarded in 2013 (not least given what will by then be close to 15 years’ continued infringement plus interest).  The judge who later vacated that 2013 jury award, the company believes, erred.

The stock could be $1.50 in a couple of years or zero.

I have high hopes.

We shall see.

BONUS

Trump’s name may come off the Kennedy Center. He could still destroy it.

The Trump takeover of the center was an early indicator of the president’s careless ambition, his contempt for precedent, decorum, symbols and nonpartisan institutions. His angry messages since the court ruling prove without a doubt what has been obvious all along: He never cared for the center, for the arts or culture. It was all about him, his name, his brand.

See also: Everything Trump Touches Dies: A Republican Strategist Gets Real About the Worst President Ever.

Have a great week.

 

The Emperor And The Gladiators

THE EMPEROR AND THE GLADIATORS

What better birthday present for Trump to give himself than cage matches on the White House lawn celebrating raw manhood, violence, combat, domination, submission, bloodlust . . .

. . . all the things that make white Christian nationalism (“I’d like to punch him in the face”) something Jesus might have had a hard time embracing but that would have excited Caligula.*

“Two Corinthians” notwithstanding, the brand of Christianity practiced by James Talarico and Oral Roberts grad Adam Hamilton — running for the senate from Texas and Kansas, respectively — seems more genuinely Christian than that practiced by Trump and the leaders of MAGA.

*”Caligula’s reign is historically associated with extreme indulgence in gladiatorial games, both as a form of entertainment and as a demonstration of power.” — Copilot

PUTIN MAY NOT BE WINNING

A white nationalist kleptocrat ruler like our own, Putin is winning:  He’s got Trump destroying American democracy and the post-war world order, while abandoning Ukraine.

But he could be losing, too: America is poised to save its democracy November 3; and the Ukrainians seem to be pulling off the impossible.

All this as Fear and distrust grip Russian society:

While 36.2% of respondents in October 2025 said Russia was moving in the right direction, this figure plummeted to just 10.5% in May of this year.

TALARICO ON VOUCHERS

YouTube followed that 1-minute Talarico clip I linked to above with this one (11 minutes).  Those who would paint him as “a radical lunatic” might watch and come to a different conclusion.

FOILING FASCISTS

With regard to Friday‘s item on Hitler in Los Angeles:

Bridget S.: “I’m helping on a documentary on Leon Lewis, one of the Hollywood lawyers who organized a Nazi spy ring. It’s such incredible history: Traitors in Tinseltown.”

OUR CONCAVE PLANET – II

With regard to Friday’s must-see 45-second clip:

Peter S.: “Flat Earth idiocy is huge. Join Flat Earth Facebook group just to see how insane they are.”

> It has more than 100,000 members.

EPSTEIN

Any news?

 

The Worst Of The Worst

WHAT KIND OF NATION ARE WE?

If you want your baby to have clean water at the Dilley, Texas, internment camp, you have to buy it from the private company charging taxpayers $180 per night per bed.

But don’t click that link, click this one.  You may conclude that “the worst of the worst” are not in the detention camps but in the White House.

INSIDER TRADING

Martha Stewart went to jail for a single trade.  Senator Murphy makes the case (3 minutes) that Trump has done something far worse.

HARVARD

Inspired by Harvard’s 375th Commencement Thursday, Peggy Noonan wrote this beautiful essay.

Have a great weekend!

 

45 Must-See Seconds

SHE’S DONE HER RESEARCH

The Earth is not flat (45 seconds) — it’s concave.

She may be wrong about Trump and the planet’s shape, but she seems harmless and friendly enough.

Not so . . .

“CHUD THE BUILDER”

The Right’s Worst New Star Just Shot Someone

[His} gimmick is that he films himself walking around calling black people the n-word or accusing them of “chimping out”—a racial slur comparing black people to monkeys. When the people he’s accosting get understandably mad, he encourages them to attack him so he’ll have an excuse to defend himself with mace or a gun.

Whatever shape he thinks the Earth is, he’s clearly awful and dangerous.

But he’s just one guy.

Not so . . .

A WIDE AND ENDURING CONSTELLATION OF WHITE SUPREMACIST GROUPS

As described by Steven J. Ross in this important interview with Rachel Maddow.

Ross is the author of:

> Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America

No American city was more important to the Nazis than Los Angeles, home to Hollywood, the greatest propaganda machine in the world. The Nazis plotted to kill the city’s Jews and to sabotage the nation’s military installations: Plans existed for murdering twenty-four prominent Hollywood figures, such as Al Jolson, Charlie Chaplin, and Louis B. Mayer; for driving through Boyle Heights and machine-gunning as many Jews as possible; and for blowing up defense installations and seizing munitions from National Guard armories along the Pacific Coast.

And his latest:

> The Secret War Against Hate: American Resistance to Antisemitism and White Supremacy

Americans today like to believe that the end of World War II brought a new era of tolerance in the United States. But antisemitism and racism went up—not down—after the war’s end. Violence broke out in cities across the country, and the number of organized hate groups more than doubled from 1940 to 1946. . . .

. . . and are much more numerous than just the Klan, the Proud Boys, and the Oath Keepers — listen to the interview.

 

Oh, My!

KANSAS!

Yesterday I wrote:

So we have a real shot at flipping Senate seats in Ohio, Maine, Alaska, North Carolina, Iowa, Texas, and maybe even Florida and Mississippi and Nebraska.  Imagine if the number of Republicans in the U.S. Senate shrank from 53 to 44!  I’m not saying it’s going to happen — but it could.

But wait!  I forgot Kansas!  Adam Hamilton, our likely nominee, trailed the incumbent 54-46 in a January poll.  But watch his launch video, imagine a big blue wave, and tell me that he doesn’t have a real shot.  Maybe it’s the Frank Capra in me, but I just pitched in a little to his campaign.

So I’d like to amend the above:

Imagine if the number of Republicans in the U.S. Senate shrank from 53 to 43!  I’m not saying it’s going to happen — but it could.

RNGE

First suggested here at around 15 cents in January, 2024, RNGE has recently traded above 45 cents.

I’m not buying more here — I own a lot — but I’m not selling any, either.

Here’s the top line of what I know:

  1. It remains a speculative microcap to be owned only with money you can truly afford to lose.
  2. It’s in the business of reclaiming and repurposing old coal mine sites, which is good for everybody and potentially quite profitable.
  3. I have a lot of confidence in the CEO.

I don’t expect anything dramatic to happen any time soon but believe the next few years could be quite rewarding.  

EPSTEIN

Any news?

Every day that goes by without compliance, the Trump administration is violating Public Law 119‑38, formally titled the Epstein Files Transparency Act, passed by the House 427-1 and the Senate by unanimous consent.

Why is MAGA okay with that?

OH, MY!

Ronan Farrow reports on competing AI worlds . . . 3 minutes not to be missed.

 

The Battle For American Identity

TEXAS REPUBLICANS CHOOSE PAXTON  

Charlie Sykes:

For Trump, Ken Paxton Is the Whole Package

It’s hard to name a political figure more publicly and egregiously corrupt than Paxton. Which is precisely why Trump endorsed him.

For Donald Trump, Ken Paxton is the whole package. In Paxton, Trump has found an accomplice nearly as corrupt as he is himself; and who comes close to matching Trump’s own dishonesty, immorality, and anti-democratic impulses. Indeed, Paxton is a layer-cake of scandal, including felony indictments for securities fraud, allegations of bribery and abuse of office, whistleblower retaliation, and extramarital affairs.

Don’t take my word for it. Paxton’s fellow Republicans found his conduct so repugnant they impeached him and temporarily removed him from office. (Much like his political godfather, Paxton was acquitted in the senate.) His own staff reported him to the FBI, and resigned en masse accusing him of bribery, abuse of office, and misuse of state resources to benefit a fat-cat donor.1 His wife divorced him “on biblical grounds”, accusing Paxton of committing adultery, based on “recent discoveries.”

Any or all of this would be disqualifying for any politician not named Trump. But Paxton endeared himself to the president by his zealousness in launching bogus lawsuits challenging the 2020 election and leading the effort to overturn the outcome.

In the end, this was the qualification that mattered to Trump:

Ken Paxton would be willing to break the law for Trump; John Cornyn might not.

Ken Paxton would provide cover for any act of corruption Trump might commit; John Cornyn might not.

And most important: If needed, Ken Paxton would join any Trump coup attempt; John Cornyn might not.

In other words, Trump was looking for a henchman, not a statesman. And he found the whole package in Paxton.

It’s good news for James Talarico, who now has an even better chance of representing Texas in the United States Senate.  Texas Democrats and Independents will vote for him, as some of the Republicans who voted for Cornyn in the primary just might, too — or at least stay home.

So we have a real shot at flipping Senate seats in Ohio, Maine, Alaska, North Carolina, Iowa, Texas, and maybe even Florida and Mississippi and Nebraska.  Imagine if the number of Republicans in the U.S. Senate shrank from 53 to 44!  I’m not saying it’s going to happen — but it could.

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15 SPEECHES

If you have time, this interview with Obama speechwriter Ben Rhodes is just terrific.  It’s about his new book, All We Say — The Battle for American Identity: A History in 15 Speeches.