Dear Everybody:
The big news today is that the Iran War is once again escalating, and I’ll get to that, but I HAVE to start with this:
–Trump has suddenly become a brunette.
–An AP photographer spotted him coming off a plane yesterday with brown hair. No explanation. No previous announcement by the White House.
–(Note: Men of a certain age have been known to dye their hair before–see Rudy Giuliani’s melting hair dye and any TV sitcom–but this is different. Trump’s golden mane has been part of his image forever and he’s known to avoid wind and rain like the plague for fear of disarranging his elaborately coiffed and overcombed hairdo. Trump always travels with a “patch kit” which has swatches of hair that can be glued on as needed. So any change in his hair is newsworthy–last week he was suddenly sporting a very obvious gold toupee. But a change in color is a complete change in his identity and is really newsworthy.
–Trump biographer Michael Wolff: “His hair is a major enterprise and has been for years.”
–Aaron Rupar: “”What in the world is going on with Trump’s hair?”
–Bluesky commenter: “Dear Leader is now a brunette!”
–Iskall: “Oh, hilarious! Shocked into laughter this AM!”
–Sundae Gurl: “Trying to look younger for Natalie, Trump told the barber, ‘Give me something that says I still get carded.’”
–Ultimate Secret: “So many women, these beautiful women, come up to me and say, ‘Sir, you look just like Elvis now.’”
–Gavin Galensky: “Surely this is the ultimate statement of senile male childishness.”
–likmain: “Could also be part of his disguise for after the midterms. I am convinced he is going to resign and escape to a country that won’t extradite.”
–Laura Bassett: “I didn’t understand how bad his personality crisis was till I saw this.”
In Iran war news:
–The war in Iran escalated this weekend as the United States struck three Iranian crude oil carriers, destroying one and permanently disabling two, and Iran retaliated by hitting three US tankers.
–Energy Secretary Chris Wright: “There may not be a deal with Iran after all. There may not be a nuclear agreement. it may be simply destroy their capabilities to do it. An agreement may await the next administration in Iran. We simply don’t know that.”
–Nicholas Grossman: “Regime change! Okay, no regime change. Unconditional surrender! Okay, no surrender. Nuclear deal! Okay, no nuclear deal, but we control Hormuz. Okay, we don’t control Hormuz, but we’re squeezing them economically into concessions! Okay, no concessions. But maybe a future President can get something, I don’t know.”
–Energy Secretary Chris Wright still thinks things are going great: “Thank God for President Donald Trump’s courage to take this on!”
In gas and oil prices news:
–Oil touched $97 dollars per barrel as diesel prices surged to their highest level this year.
–Diesel is now at $5.85 a gallon. It has risen almost 56% since Trump started the Iran war. Increasing diesel prices will cause increasing grocery and shipping prices.
–The average price of gas rose to $4.14 a gallon. Jet fuel and heating oil prices are also up, and there are indications that a cold winter could drive diesel to over $6 to $7 a gallon and gas to $5 a gallon.
–The reason for the rising prices is a combination of increasing US-Iran tensions, a diesel price spike, and a sharp inventory drop as the Strategic Reserves hit a new low level.
–On Meet the Press this morning, Dana Bash asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright: “Gas prices Labor Day weekend are the highest on record. Isn’t it possible gas prices could go up even more?” Wright: “I don’t want to have an opinion on that.” Bash: “As the energy secretary, shouldn’t you have an opinion?” Wright: “If I had to guess, they are more likely to go down than up.”
–T-Fish: “The incompetence is staggering.”
The Trump administration’s response is (as usual) lying and/or gaslighting :
–Fox and Friends weekend host Charlie Hurt gave Trump credit for record high diesel prices: “Uhh, they’d be a lot higher if it wasn’t for the efforts of the administration.”
–Fox News: “Realistically, when can Americans expect to see gas prices start to move down? Are we talking a matter of weeks, or months?” Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett: “It’s a very short-term thing.”
–Kate: “It’s been a short term thing since March.”
–This morning Meet the Press did a montage of what Trump’s lackeys had all said earlier this summer. When Chris Wright was asked if gas would be under $3 dollars by the busy summer season, he said, “There’s a very good chance that’ll be true.”
–Scott Bessent: “We can get back to $3 dollars, maybe by Labor Day.”
–Kevin Hassett on May 26: “Oil prices may fall quickly.”
–Now Commerce Secretary Scott Bessent is blaming it on us, calling struggling Americans “malcontents” who don’t want to work.
–He also blamed Biden for the high cost of living and Ukraine for the high oil prices.
–Energy Secretary Chris Wright: “The world has been in this crazy view that demand for oil is going to peak by the end of the decade. Nonsense…we need massively more growth in global oil products, natural gas products, and coal in the coming decades.”
–Trump said Americans should be willing to pay “a tiny little bit more” for gasoline to keep Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
–Trump also said that we are getting millions of gallons of oil from Venezuela, but that oil will not be available to bring prices down for at least five years since the infrastructure for refining it doesn’t even exist at this point.
–Trump is holding secret meetings at the White House with oil execs to manipulate gas prices at the pump as the midterms approach.
–Great cartoon by Stahler: MAGA guy filling up car: “How does Trump do it? My car used to hold $30 of gas…Now it holds $80.”
–Great cartoon from Laugh About It: Woman filling up car: “Which is crazier? That Google Maps displays the name Lake America to Americans only while it shows Lake Ontario to the world? Or that I just paid $7.90 a gallon?”
In the Canadian trade war news:
–Trump claims his trade war with Canada will help affordability.
–Trump: “I would say of all countries, Canada is the worst to deal with on trade.”
–Best sign, on a Canadian nightclub marquee: “Can’t handle a pool, but wants our lake?”
–Trump is demanding mapmakers change Lake Ontario to Lake America.
–The Borowitz Report: “Washington: “An eighty-year-old man with severe dementia has started calling common objects different names, a leading expert in cognitive decline said on Thursday. The expert noted that the confused man had mistaken the names of major bodies of water and a prominent performing arts center in his city of residence…”
In voting news:
–Today’s news is all good. First of all, a federal judge extended the block on Trump’s executive order seeking to limit mail voting in the midterms.
–Then, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled two to one that the Trump administration may not implement a new system of states to bulk-search DHS and Social Security data to verify voter citizenship.
` –Republicans are having to spend money defending Senate seats in states they didn’t expect to be competitive.
In Reason #2645 for hating JD Vance:
–JD Vance has a new plan to transfer funds from working parents to stay-at-home moms. He is moving to transfer funds intended to provide federal child care subsidies to working parents to ONLY kinship caregivers like stay-at-home moms, grandmothers, or a close family member.
–The program provides $9000 a year to working families to help them pay for child care.
–Shalonabena: “The idea is to encourage the wimminfolk to stay at home, put on the dresses, and bake the casseroles, you know, the fun and easy life of being a tradwife.”
In Trump Destroying Washington, DC news–Arch Edition:
–There’s good news in regard to Trump’s arch. A new coalition of public, private, and nonprofit-sector organizations representing 5 million Americans sent an open letter to call on Congress to reject his efforts “underway to dismantle one of America’s most successful bipartisan, consequential, and good government laws,” the Historic Preservation Act, and stop the building of the arch.
–Judge Chutkan ordered the Trump administration to provide 48 hours’ notice before doing any work on President Trump’s proposed arch.
–Judge Chutkan is also considering a motion for a temporary restraining order against beginning construction on the arch.
–JJCornflower: “Nice. We all know his tactic is to execute his plans before there is any time for someone to stop it or for a court to act on a suit. Hopefully this helps.”
–EZTempo: “She’s learned that Donald is not to be trusted on even the basics of adhering to the law. Good for the judge!”
–Bill Kristol: “The Arch will do damage to the historical and cultural landscape. But that is the goal. The scale of this arch is intended to smother and minimize everything around it. It is intended to dominate your attention and imagination and direct it to Trump.”
–Trump has admitted that the reason he’s frantically building all this stuff and putting his name on it is because “Nobody will do it once I’m gone. When I leave here , no one will.”
–Senior White House official: “Getting it built this term matters because it is something Democrats would have a hard time taking it away.”
–Trump says it can’t be demolished because the “columns are nuclear concrete and you could take a jackhammer to them for two days without leaving a mark.”
In other news:
–Texas governor Greg Abbott refused to act on Minnesota’s extradition request for an ICE agent involved in a shooting. He sat on it for three weeks until the extradition request expired and the ICE agent walked free.
–Former Kentucky governor Matt Bevin was arrested for contempt of court and sentenced to jail for 60 days. He refused to show up for hearings in a case involving child support.
–RFK, Jr. posted an AI photo of him feeding JD Vance kimchi while a steak lies between them. Meanwhile, Marco Rubio lurks in the background eating a Pop Tart. Angele: “Absolutely bizarre. These are the so-called leaders of America. We are doomed.”
In good news:
–The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Idaho violated the First Amendment by enforcing a process-first policy that resulted in a blackout of information on new court pleadings when they are received. The ruling stops the state’s withholding access to information from the courts. —Minnesota passed a law against Elon Musk’s “nudifying” app which made it possible to take any woman’s photo online and take their clothes off. Musk sued Minnesota, and a federal judge ruled against Musk.
–A DC Court upheld Biden air quality standards.
Best T-shirt of the day: a shirt with elements in all the colors of the rainbow, from red to indigo: fluorine, uranium, carbon, potassium, titanium, rubidium, uranium, magnesium, platinum.
–Get it? The symbol for fluorine is F, uranium U, carbon C, potassium K, titanium Ti, rubidium Rb, uranium U, magnesium Mg, platinum Pt. Or, in other words, FUCK TRUMP.
–sunnygrapefruit: “OMG love it! says the science teacher.”
–jamesdavis: “Periodically, I think a person can figure it out.” (Get it? Periodically?)
–pueblonative: “Best way to confuse them since spreading the rumor Soros was putting dihydrogen monoxide in the drinking water to turn conservative politicians gay.”
Best button of the day: “We are all on the decoy plane.”
Best comment of the day, from Quinn O’Flynn: “When Trump faced a fake assassination attempt, he defiantly raised his fist and yelled, ‘Fight, fight, fight!’ When he faced an actual assassination attempt, he hid on a catering cart and left everyone else to die.”
Keep calm and carry on,
Connie Willis
