-First, THANK YOU to the three new subscribers and two who paid for a subscription as a tip last week! It is deeply appreciated, will be rewarded with some Subscriber-Only Content (possibly debate-related this week? Who can say?!) - and, for those of you who still want to, you still can. So please do!
-OK, on to the Update!
-It was a surprisingly busy day yesterday for Convicted Felon Ex-President Trump (R-apist), as he went to not one but TWO 'campaign events' as the first scheduled debate of the 2024 election approaches on Thursday (assuming he shows up for it). The events - an evangelical conference in DC and a 'rally' at a less-than-half-full 10,000 seat arena in Philadelphia (the site was at full capacity for a speech by President Biden earlier in the year) - were looking to have Trump recapture the live mojo his most recent appearances simply have not been able to.
-On that score, they failed - but of course there were moments that did happen that continue to point to a continued degradation of that old Trump, ah, "magic," I guess? To wit ...
-At the DC speech, for example, Trump decided he needed to find a different way to express his victimhood, so he went on this vamp (TRIGGER WARNING for the visual): "I have wounds all over my body. If I took this shirt off, you'd see a beautiful, beautiful person but you'd see wounds all over me. I've taken a lot of wounds. More than any president ever!" Reagan, Kennedy, McKinley, Garfield and Lincoln could not be reached for comment.
-Trump also went on to confuse Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi (which he claimed was deliberate), continued to rant about batteries and sharks (Trump clearly believes any battery in water will electrocute you and that boats that are seaworthy do not have batteries - ALL boats have batteries and, of course, are waterproof) (that we even have to CLARIFY THIS ...), and apparently was trying to talk about wanting to answer a critic by saying this: "And my stupid people when I wanted to refute it, they said, sir, don't dignify it with a refuttal. Refutal or refuttal. What the hell would that be? Refuttal. Watch, they'll say he didn't know refuttal or refutal but they don't know either."
-After THAT, on to Philly - "One of the most egregious places anywhere in the world!" according to Trump - where at the maybe-40% full venue, amid yet another rant about lather and soap and water pressure and washing machines that was so tired even Fox cut away from it, he did repeat an idea that first came to him as part of the earlier speech: Trump claims he proposed to UFC owner and promoter and Trump supporter Dana White that illegal immigrants should be trained to fight each other and to create a "Migrant League of Fighters" whose battles would all be put on pay-per-view. With that, Trump signed versions of his "Trump Sneakers" to a group of uniformed officers on the tarmac in Philadelphia (both actions are normally not permitted for anyone in uniform).
-President Biden, on the other hand, spent the day and the weekend preparing for the aforementioned debate, scheduled for Thursday if Trump appears at it. With reports that Trump is unsurprisingly likely to simply attack Biden for everything from Biden's non-existent dementia to being Hunter Biden's father, it is generally expected Trump's driving down of expectations of Biden gives Biden a decently-small hurdle to jump to win 'the appearance game,' presuming Biden does not have a verbal gaffe or tic that will undoubtedly be jumped on by Trump and much of the regular news media to feed the BIDEN B OLD story they have constructed (yes, Biden IS old - that's not what that refers to and you know it!).
-On that expectation game, one angle Team Trump is already playing is the amazing game of BIDEN B DRUGGED! Jumping on a MAGA trope first started after the State of The Union address, the notion that Biden will be on drugs is already being spread - from accused pill mill in the White House Rep. Ronnie Jackson to known date-rape-drug-feeder Trump aide Jason Miller to Trump himself - there is a not-unsubstantially-low chance that Trump may demand Biden take a drug and/or cognitive test to undermine any advantage Biden will get over Trump IF Trump does wind up in Atlanta on Thursday evening.
-We. Shall. See.
-One person that did not qualify for the debate is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. - and it appears his 'independent' party campaign may be floundering. His polling (which by most accounts is cutting more into Trump support than Biden support) is beginning to backtrack from peaks earlier in the spring, efforts to get him on the ballot in all 50 states are stalling despite the campaign claiming otherwise (one of the requirements to be on a debate stage is to be on enough ballots to win the 270 electoral votes needed to become President; currently Kennedy is at 100 electoral votes if that), and there are even rumblings of money problems within the campaign despite the wealth of both him and his "Vice Presidential" candidate, Nicole Shanahan. Given issues with pseudo-progressive candidates like Jill Stein and Cornel West, the specter of independent parties may be diminishing, but in a race that polling (such as it is) indicates a very tight race, this is to be monitored.
-In addition to ballot access, money is also always an issue for campaigns - and despite the Trump campaign claiming it raised over $120M in the month of May, there is a sign that the claim may not be so (take a breath if you need to at the thought of Trump being dishonest). That sign is from the Trump SuperPAC that is funding all the attorneys he has to hire in order to handle all the criminal (and likely campaign) cases currently on the docket, as there are reports that that SuperPAC is low on funds. Trump was estimated to have already spent over $100M on lawyers going into the spring, which does not count the 34 convictions in New York or the various appeals he must continue to file to prevent any cases from going to trial - and there are other reports that ... you'll NEVER guess ... Trump needs MORE attorneys and is hiring! Combined with whatever money is being spent by the 'campaign' is not being spent on rally venues or campaign infrastructure (aside from attorneys apparently gearing up more for what they may try to do AFTER Election Day than before), it is yet another angle to keep an eye on.
-The news in Israel and Ukraine is steady, which is not pleasant on either literal front. Regarding Israel ... attacks in Gaza and massive protests in country against Benjamin Netanyahu continue, along with a possible rift between Bibi and the Israeli military over how the war is being conducted and the possibility of elections being called, perhaps by or around September - and controversy within the Democratic Party over Netanyahu's upcoming speech to Congress and whether to boycott it or not.
-And in Ukraine, former Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley is now calling the Ukraine invasion of Russia "a standoff" that should prompt a negotiated settlement, though that is clearly not going to happen with Vladimir Putin (or to be fair, Volodymyr Zelenskyy) in charge, with the former continuing to attack civilians and infrastructure (prompting a warning from a Ukrainian paper that if the Ukrainian power grid is not repaired in the next 120 days the country is looking at a winter with four hours of power a day as a probability) and the latter looking to take Crimea and deny Putin one of his central fig leafs for invading the country. The fighting continues, with the next big development likely to be the appearance of F-15 and other NATO fighter jets being flown by Ukrainian pilots to strike Russian military targets around the front and within Russian territory.
-SLAVA UKRAINI!
-In sportsball news, baseball history was made yesterday when the Colorado Rockies beat the Washingto Nationals 8-7 on ... a walk-off pitch clock violation. Ever since 2023, pitchers have 15 seconds to throw the ball to the batter, and not doing so will result in a ball being called for the batter. With the bases loaded, the Nationals' Kyle Finnegan ran the clock out, resulting in a ball being called and allowing Ryan McMahon to get the forced-in RBI that won the game. For context, that was the ninth pitch clock violation of the season for McMahon - but, your name will be forever ensconced in Cooperstown, NY ... so, yay?
-In closing, there may be some stunning good medical news coming out of Africa, where a long-term trial of the Gilead-created drug lenacapavir is showing it is working to prevent HIV from infecting African women. We're talking zero new infections for those on the twice-a-year injection - a result one of the doctors monitoring the trial calls "surreal." Trials are currently taking place in different continents to see whether the same results hold among men and transgender people, and the study must be subject to peer review, but if the results hold it would be one of the most important developments since the emergence of AIDS and HIV in the 1980s. Fingers crossed, everyone who still believes in vaccines!
-On this date in 1845, Texas voted to be annexed into the United States. On this date in 1961, the Antarctic Treaty was signed to prohibit commercial exploitation of that continent. On this date in 2016, British voters who appear to have been deceived by Russian propaganda and the lies of human newt Nigel Farange, voted to leave the European Union in the so-called "Brexit" vote. And on this date in 2023, the Wagner Group began what turned out to be a ill-prepared and failed attempt to take over a number of cities in Russia in protest of the use and abuse of Wagner Group mercenaries in the Ukraine War, particularly for then-Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who wound up on the wrong end of a plane crash weeks later.
-Debuts on this date: the typewriter (1868), the International Olympic Committee (1894), the G.I. Bill (1944), "My Sharona" (1979), the Tim Burton BATMAN (1989), THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS (2001).
-Happy Birthday to Edouard Michelin, Alfred Kinsey, Jean Anouilh, David Oglivy, Alan Turing, Irene Worth, Bob Fosse, June Carter Cash, Alan Vega, Stuart Sutcliffe, Wilma Rudolph, James Levine, Bryan Brown, Dave Butz, Glenn Danzig, Randy Jackson, Frances McDormand, Joss Whedon, Chico DeBarge, Selma Blair, Zinedine Zidane, Jason Mraz, and LaDanian Tomlinson.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Chuck Taylor, Dr. Jonas Salk, Betty Shabazz, Maureen O'Sullivan, Maynard Jackson, Aaron Spelling, Rod Beck, Ed McMahon, Peter Falk, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Dick Van Patten, Frederic Forrest, and Sheldon Harnick.
-Feed the Worms: Evil Horrible Backstabbing Murderer-Enabling (ALLEGEDLY) (eyeroll) Scumbag NFL Owner Art Modell and Ethical, Intellectual, Legal and Civil Rights embarrassment Clarence Thomas entered Earth on this date.
-The Number One Nonfiction Book in America on this date ... in 2024, THE WAR ON WARRIORS by some Fox News choad ... in 2014, ONE NATION by Ben Carson with Candy Carson (groan) ... in 2004, PLAN OF ATTACK by Bob Woodward ... in 1994, THE AGENDA by Bob Woodward (busy dude) ... in 1984, MAYOR by Edward I. Koch with William Rauch ... and in 1974, TIMES TO REMEMBER by Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy (narrowing missing yet another Woodward book one or two of you may have heard of).