Dear Everybody:
Today’s been one of those days. I thought the story was going to be the spiking oil and gas news, and then this afternoon the Fed raised interest rates, which is a BIG deal, so I moved that to first place, and THEN forklifts showed up at the Kennedy Center. But before I get to any of them, you need to know that today is National Voter Registration Day:
–Everybody needs to check to make sure they’re registered, even if they voted in the last election and haven’t changed their address in years.
–You can check to make sure you’re registered at voter.org or by contacting the Secretary of State of your state, or you can do it here:
–Whatever the news, that’s the most important thing you can do today.
In Kennedy Center news:
–Yesterday a federal judge ruled Trump’s name can’t appear on the Kennedy Center AT ALL, saying, “Alone means alone.”
–The judge also broadly blocked the Kennedy Center from inscribing Trump’s name anywhere on the premises, saying, “Defendants cannot install memorial for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing.”
–Trump lashed out at the judge. He also lashed out at the board members.
–Trump went to the meeting of the board held after the ruling and, according to witnesses, threw a tantrum, screaming at Representative Beatty (the only Democratic member of the board he wasn’t able to get rid of, and incidentally a black woman, his favorite target) and insulting her and calling her names.
–Representative Beatty: “He threw a tantrum. It was like an immature child. I wouldn’t even want to put this on a child–shouting, calling names.” He said she was “ignorant” and “never built anything in her life.”
–She wasn’t having any of it. She accused him of driving the Kennedy Center deep into debt.
–Trump’s hand-picked Kennedy Center board then announced that the Center is “facing financial collapse” and they may have to close it as early as today. They said they no longer have enough money to meet the payroll and pay for routine maintenance. (Note: This isn’t the first time Trump has bankrupted something. Remember all those casinos of his?)
–Trump has offered to raise the money to keep the Kennedy Center open, but only if his name is on the building. His board is claiming that adding Trump’s name to the building is the only thing that will save it. He is currently withholding repair funds unless they let him put his name on it.
–Trump: “The Kennedy Center is in a virtual state of collapse, and has been for many years…unfortunately the Building is destined to doom. Isn’t that too bad?” (Translation: “Nice little performing arts center you got there. Be a shame if anything happened to it.”)
–The board then voted to close the venue, citing “hazardous conditions and urgent renovation needs.” There is a court order blocking the shutdown.
THEN, late this afternoon:
` –Kyle Cheney reported: “JUST IN: Attorneys for Rep. Joyce Beatty asked for an emergency hearing after a staffer was denied access to the Kennedy Center and told it was closed to the public.” –Beatty’s lawyers wrote, “It seems Defendants may be violating the clear and unambiguous order of the Court.” The judge had blocked the board from closing the Center until it approves a shutdown that follows his opinion and he lifts that freeze. The board closed it anyway.
–Rep Beatty’s lawyers want a “high-level decision maker at the Center be required to attend.”
–Daniel Freed: “Very interested to see how this develops. Closing prematurely without authorization should now be subject to challenge, and possibly backfire on the administration.”
–Trump announced the immediate closure on Truth Social, writing that “the closing will take place immediately. However, the Renovation and Reconstruction cannot begin until such time as the DC Circuit rules on the Board’s approved name.” (Note: The judge already did. She said, “No, you can’t have your name on the building.”)
–The judge ordered Trump and the Kennedy Center’s board to respond by Thursday morning to the motion. The judge signed the order less than two hours after Rep Beatty filed the motion.
–When Rep Beatty went to the building, she found they had put black metal gates all around the building and blocked off all staircases leading to the building, traffic cones filled the car drop-off, and the gap under the scaffolding had been blocked off, too.
–nccaniac: “Guess they are starting to put up fencing in the area…If you live in the DC area, there need to be a ‘watch party’ of all persons–24 hours a day–to keep an eye on what is going on at the Kennedy Center–including loading docks–protests–whatever it takes to save the building.”
–And then Raw Story reported that forklifts were seen striking the building while workers quickly moved to encircle it with fencing. A lawyer for Beatty said, “I saw the forklift run into and hit the pillars on the building several times.”
–Guards refused to answer any questions or say what was going on.
–LIVEMGO: “I think the concern is that it gets demolished which is probably what he is thinking. Just a hunch.”
–The Independent reported: “The venue’s abrupt closure and installation of orange barricades have drawn fears that the president is not merely closing the building for planned renovations, but potentially demolishing it altogether, AN IDEA FIRST FLOATED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE IN COURT FILINGS THIS SUMMER (caps mine).
–Paul A.: “He will destroy something that you own because he can’t put his name on it.”
–Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and niece of John F. Kennedy: “The court said you can’t put your name on it. Then all of a sudden it’s bankrupt. But all of a sudden, if his name is on it, it’s got $256 million in the bank. So this is not an issue of bankruptcy. This is hostage-taking by the President of the United States.”
–MHeido: “Seems it’s high time for the courts to appoint an independent overseer to monitor what is going on at the Kennedy Center. Trump could have a wrecking ball swinging by Monday.”
–ewf658: “By the time the courts figure it out, the Kennedy Center will be a pile of rubble.”
–Note: (Trump’s Supreme Court in fact seemed to argue that gee, the damage is already torn down and there’s nothing we can do.)
–Stay tuned…
In Fed news:
–The Fed raised interest rates this afternoon a quarter-point in defiance of Trump. The increase lifts the Fed’s key rate to about 3.9%. They also flagged further increases in borrowing costs in coming months.
–Trump promised to lower prices and interest rates on his watch.
–Trump appointed Kevin Warsh to the Fed specifically so they wouldn’t raise rates and would instead cut them, assuming he could control him (Warsh is mentioned in the Epstein files), but Warsh raised them anyway. He said, “The plain fact is that inflation is too high and has been for too long.”
–MuellerSheWrote: “Trump’s handpicked Fed Chair just raised interest rates on him, stating inflation is just too high. Meltdown in 3…2…”
–And here it is. Trump reacted furiously to the rate hike. He claimed “rates should be 1% or less because we are the Best Credit in the World–BY FAR. Our Country is booming with new investment. We are carrying almost every country in the World, and that cannot go on any longer. LOWER THE INTEREST RATES FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND FAST!”
–In response to the news, the Dow is down 631 points for the day.
The other big news was what’s happening to oil and gas prices:
–Oil and diesel prices are spiking. Brent crude is at $105 a barrel. The national average for regular gasoline climbed to $4.37 a gallon and diesel reached an all time record of $6.31 a gallon.
–The New York Times’s headline was, “Saudi Pipeline Attack Risks ‘Disastrous’ Loss of Oil as Fighting Escalates.”
–Analyst Patrick DeHorn: “Buckle up. Gas and diesel look set for a spike over the next 48 hours.”
–Gulf Oil’s chief energy adviser Tom Kloza says gas prices are about to go through the roof. He says every single state will top $6.00 a gallon today or Thursday and that there will be huge increases in Great Lakes and Rocky Mountain states in particular.
–The CEO of Chevron says that a worldwide gas crisis has arrived.
–Costco is rationing the amount of motor oil people can buy, limiting to a certain number of cans per purchase and a certain number of purchases per week. (Can you say toilet paper, people?)
–Gavin McCrackenP: “Costco put a purchase limit on motor oil. Things are about to get so fucking bad.”
–Meanwhile, Trump and his lackeys continue to live in La La Land, telling everyone prices are coming down any minute now.
–Interior Secretary Doug Burgum: “With the Venezuela deal, it will allow us to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve perhaps as low as $30 to $40 a barrel.” (None of the Venezuelan oil will be available for at least five years.)
–Thomas Massie was asked about Trump saying America is in a golden age. “You need to buy gold diesel now, so maybe this is the golden age.”
In Kash Patel hearing news:
–Bestiality wasn’t the only crazy thing Kash Patel said at the Senate hearing yesterday. He refused to answer questions, tried to introduce “If I’m rubber, you’re glue” type oppo research like Pam Bondi, gathered up his papers and prepared to leave while Democratic senators were asking him questions, and at one point screamed, “Conclude this hearing!”
–Patel on chugging beer with the Olympic hockey team: “I go where I want to go…”
–When senators tried to ask him about sending security teams and SWAT teams to protect his girlfriend, he shouted, “Stop attacking my loved ones!”
–Patel bragged about having fired all the FBI agents who worked on the classified documents case against Trump.
–He said the FBI was sending “monitors” to the polls. Dem Senator Welch: “I thought you weren’t sending people to the polls?” Patel: “When did you hear that? It’s just another lie.” Welch: “So you are sending FBI agents to the polls?” Patel: “We have election crisis coordinators manned at all 56 field officers. Election integrity is of primary importance. The FBI will not shy away from that effort.”
–He got especially upset when Senator Cory Booker nailed him: “We don’t have an FBI Director. We have a lackey. He’s not even a good lackey, he’s an incompetent lackey. He’s like an 18-year-old who wants to join a fraternity that he can never be a member of, doing keg stands and chugging with friends. He’s an embarrassment. He’s a dunce. He won’t answer questions. This is a mockery and a sham. What’s bad is not just that we have a rogue FBI agent, what’s bad is we have Republican senators who are enabling him.”
–Chairman Grassley responded to Booker’s speech by shouting, “ARE YOU READY TO SHUT UP?” (thus proving Booker’s point.)
In Kash Patel/bestiality news:
–People are having lots of fun discussing Patel’s bestiality comments: “He really screwed the pooch, in my opinion.” And “Was Kash just horsing around?” and the very old, “The FBI, where men are men and sheep are nervous.”
–MuellerSheWrote: “The only explanation here is that Kash did bestiality and is trying to justify it.”
–Jamelle: “If anything, the goat fucked me.”
–Jason Concepcion: “A horse is a horse of course, of course unless you’ve been forced by a horse of course. If so, of course you can become the Bureau’s Mr. Fed.”
–Nikki McCann Ramirez: “I’m sorry, but is there a large contingent of victims of bestiality trying to get into the FBI that I was not aware of?”
–Best Meme: “Sheep Against MAGA 2026–Stop Kash Patel. It’s Baaad.”
–Ross A. Isaacs: “Is there an epidemic of people forcing other people to have sex with animals that we know nothing about?! Maybe we should get the FBI on that!”
–kryspee: “Someone should start making a list of things Republican men will have sex with: women, men, little girls, little boys, animals, couches. Is anything safe?”
–(Note: Last time Patel appeared before the Senate, Dem Senator Van Hollen asked if he would take an alcoholism test. He said he would take one if Van Hollen did. Van Hollen did, and posted the results. Patel has still not taken one.)
In Where’s Mitch? news:
–Mitch: Mitch McConnell returned to the Senate on Monday for the first time in three months and the footage did more damage than the silence did.”
–And it just got worse. Today the Tennessee Holler reported that “a confused, clearly not-there McConnell votes ‘AYE’ after almost voting NO with Dems but getting “corrected by his handlers.”
–MuellerSheWrote: “He’s not got any idea of what he’s even voting on. He has to be told how to vote. He’s incapacitated. He’s incapable of representing the people of Kentucky who are currently being taxed without representation.”
–Raven Onthill: “Looks like he had a stroke, doesn’t it?”
In historical news:
–European nations sent their gold reserves to the United States to keep them safe from Hitler.
In other news:
–GOP Rep Thomas Massie has introduced articles of impeachment against Hegseth, citing the Iran war and Hegseth’s conduct in office, including Iran, the boat strikes, and the suppression of free speech against Democrats who told soldiers they had an obligation to refuse to follow illegal orders.
–Trump’s DOJ filed an appeal for Trump to steal his slush fund money after AG Todd Blanche said it was dead.”
–There’s been another death from measles, this one an 18-year-old who died from neurological complications–encephalomyelitis–caused by measles.
In good news:
–A federal judge blocked Trump from requiring civil service job applicants to profess loyalty to the president.
–A banner reading, “Ellison is Trump’s Bitch” was flown over Paramount Studios in protest of the takeover of Warner Brothers.
–Actress Sally Fields gave a barnburner of a speech when she accepted an Emmy Award. She blessed “Canada, our neighbors, our friends,” and talked about the vital importance of the arts, saying, “We can’t let those voices be silenced. Or compromised. Or merged.”
Best satire of the day, from the Borowitz Report: “Lashing out at what he called ‘woke, far-left lunatic AI haters’ on Tuesday, Donald J. Trump told reporters that ‘AI is much less likely to destroy humanity than I am.’”
Best comment of the day, from noofsh: “Today is the first day I felt in my bones that we have entered a new phase of this Trump nightmare. I think we are in the crumbling phase. The crap house of cards he built is collapsing. And he cannot bullshit his way out anymore because his credibility is shot with everyone except a core base of cultists.”
Keep calm and carry on,
Connie Willis
