A recent book release claims a cover-up of President Biden’s cognitive decline Read on Substack
Iโd like to see someone write a book about how two capable, intelligent women (one a former vice president) running for president are defeated by an aging, narcissistic, wannabe autocrat with clear signs of dementia. Thatโs what Iโd like to read.
Blanche last appeared here when he sanctioned the American Bar Association because its lawyers have failed to show suitable obedience to Glorious Leader.
But Trump claimed Monday that a genocide was taking place in South Africa.ย โFarmers are being killed,โ the president said. โThey happen to be White.
But White farmers are being brutally killed and their land is being confiscated in South Africa.โ
Trump has imported a new Mickey Mouse from South Africa.
The scarcity of the Presidentโs Daily Briefings comes as he pursues high-stakes diplomacy with Americaโs friends and foes.
The low number of briefings this time around is troubling to many in and around the intelligence community, who were already concerned about Trumpโs act-first-evaluate-after approach to governing. | Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Since President Donald Trump was sworn into office in January, he has sat for just 12 presentations from intelligence officials of the Presidentโs Daily Brief.
Thatโs a significant drop compared with Trumpโs first term in office, according to a POLITICO analysis of his public schedule.
In much of his first term, Trump met with intel officials twice a week for the briefing, which provides the intelligence communityโs summary of the most pressing national security challenges facing the nation.
The low number of briefings this time around is troubling to many in and around the intelligence community, who were already concerned about Trumpโs act-first-evaluate-after approach to governing.
โItโs sadly clear that President Trump doesnโt value the expertise of and dangerous work performed by our intelligence professionals each and every day, and unfortunately, it leaves the American people increasingly vulnerable to threats we ought to see coming,โ Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement to POLITICO.
The sporadic pace of briefings comes as Trump has been working to broker an end to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine and to jump-start nuclear talks with Iran โ all while navigating increasing potential threats from adversaries such as Russia and China.
Each president is different in the manner and pace at which they receive their briefings, and Trump is not entirely out of step with some of his predecessors.
But with Trump, there is added concern as he is knownย not to read the accompanying briefing document, referred to as โthe book,โ that is put together by intelligence analysts in a highly labor-intensive process. This document is delivered in hard copy or on a tablet device to the president and his key advisers five days a week.
The briefings from senior intelligence officials are often a chance for the president to hear detailed assessments on global crises and to receive updates on highly classified covert operations overseas โ along with blunt facts about the state of the world, regardless of policy implications or the presidentโs own views.
Trump received just two in-person PDB briefings per month in January, February and March, before settling into a more regular rhythm of once per week in April and May, according to the presidentโs daily scheduleย maintained by Faceba.se, a website that collates the presidentโs statements as well as his public calendar.
PDB presentations are typically tailored toward informing the president as he conducts high-stakes diplomacy, detailing what a foreign government may be thinking and what its intentions are, former intelligence officials said.
โThe point of having an $80 billion intelligence service is to inform the president to avert a strategic surprise,โ said a former CIA analyst who, like others in this story, was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters.
Trumpโs top national security aides and Cabinet officials receive similar intelligence briefings and can ensure that critical information reaches the presidentโs ears.
Senior administration officials said Trump gets the information he needs through frequent communication with his intelligence chiefs.
โThe president is constantly apprised of classified briefings and is regularly in touch with his national security team,โ said Davis Ingle, a White House spokesperson. โThe entire intelligence community actively informs President Trump in real time about critical national security developments.โ
Ingle declined to comment on why Trump has received fewer daily PDB presentations compared to his first term..
Former intelligence officials argued that the PDB sessions are an opportunity for the president to hear from career intelligence officials who are skilled in imparting information regardless of whether it complements or contradicts the presidentโs foreign policy strategies.
They questioned whether other top advisers or Cabinet officials would be able โ or willing โ to relay these stark realities to the president.
And the circle of officials receiving the PDB may also be smaller than in Trumpโs first term. CNN reported last month that the Trump administrationย has tightly restricted the numberย of people who have access to the intelligence report.
Trumpโs first term in office was marked by a high turnover in his national security team, a trend that looks set to continue. Last week, Trump ousted his national security adviser Mike Waltz, whoย had long been on thin iceย with other administration officials.
โThe advantage of an IC briefer is its somebody who is trained to tell the hard truths to the president,โ said Larry Pfeiffer, who served as chief of staff to CIA Director Michael Hayden.
โThey are going to be more inclined to provide him with more nuanced information โ information thatโs not been parsed through a policy perspective,โ Pfeiffer said.
Presidents vary in how often they have received in-person briefings. George W. Bush saw briefers from the intelligence community almost every day and preferred hearing directly from analysts, while Obama was a studious reader of the PDB book itself.
Obama received in-person briefings 44 percent of the days he was in office during his first term,ย according to a 2012 analysisย by the conservative research group the Government Accountability Institute, which would equate to multiple briefings a week. He was attacked by the conservative media andย former Vice President Dick Cheneyย for not attending more.
Biden received one to two briefings a week, according to a former U.S. intelligence official familiar with the matter and a former Biden White House official.
But Biden was known to regularly read the PDB briefing book, the former intelligence official said. A former official who served in Bidenโs National Security Council said that the president would use the delivery of the book as an opportunity to gather his top national security aides and Cabinet officials to discuss its contents and foreign policy implications.
At the time, intelligence officials found Trump to be more responsive to graphics, maps and a more storified approach to recounting the intelligence, according to interviews with his briefers published in โGetting To Know The President,โ a history of intelligence briefings of candidates and presidents-elect, authored by John Helgerson, a former senior CIA official.
Trump had aย fraught relationship with the intelligence communityย during his first term. But the cadence of briefings almost three months into his second term represents a stark drop when compared to his first four years in office, and offers insight into how Trump might prioritize these briefings throughout the next four years.
In the first five weeks following his inauguration in 2017, Trump received an average of 2.5 briefings a week before settling into an average of two briefings a week in the latter half of his presidency, according toย a detailed historical account publishedย by the CIAโs own in-house academic research center.
Trumpโs briefings during his first term were substantive, the former U.S. intelligence official said, noting that the president listened and was interactive during the presentations.
And during Trumpโs first term, Vice President Mike Pence was an โassiduous, six-day-a-week reader,โ of the PDB, Helgerson noted in his book.
A second former senior U.S intelligence official stressed that there are other avenues for Trumpโs spy chiefs to get information to him, beyond his daily briefing, including standalone memos and articles based on the latest intelligence findings.
โItโs not the be all and end all,โ they said, speaking of the PDB. The person also noted, as the White House did, that the presidentโs top advisers can also serve as a conduit for relaying information to the president.
A person familiar with how Trump takes his PDB briefings said that the president has received standalone briefings on global flashpoints on an ongoing basis separate from the PDB and that it would be incorrect to imply he wasnโt fully briefed. They were granted anonymity to discuss how Trump receives his intelligence.
โHeโs calling people all day. If he wants an update on some of these things, heโll call Ratcliffe, Rubio, Witkoff, Waltz, kind of in an ad-hoc fashion throughout the day, receiving this stuff,โ said the person, who spoke before Waltz was removed from his position as national security adviser last week.
Asked for comment about the presidentโs briefing schedule, National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said โPresident Trump has multiple high-level, national security briefings every day. While the scope can range from a comprehensive presentation of global intelligence, to meeting with senior national security officials on an issue of immediate importance, the daily engagement of President Trump is prolific.โ
Former intelligence officials argue that the in-person presentations from experienced briefers offer a further opportunity for the president to receive important context on the intelligence delivered, ask questions and relay any requests for additional information back to the intelligence agencies.
That feedback gives the countryโs spy agencies an opportunity to learn more about the presidentโs needs and interests. โWe learn too,โ said a third former senior U.S. intelligence official.
Ten years after the far-right Law and Justice Party was elected to power in Poland, and two years after their defeat in national elections, a last vestige of the partyโs state-sanctioned anti-LGBTQ+ policies has finally been eliminated.
On Thursday, a council in the southeastern Polish town of ลaลcut officially abolished the countryโs last remaining โLGBT-freeโ resolution.
Gay, lesbian and bisexual people are twice as likely as their straight peers to attempt suicide or have thoughts of taking their own life, new figures have revealed.
Data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday (9 April) revealed that not only is suicidal ideation higher among LGB+ people, but also that the risk of intentional self-harm is almost three times as high.
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Trump administration opens a โsnitch lineโ to report trans kids getting health care
The new portal launch coincides with an investigation into a major children’s hospital.
In twin actions this week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) continued its efforts to end gender-affirming care for trans youth with the new whistleblower portal and the launch ofย an investigationย ofย โa major pediatric teaching hospitalโย over the alleged firing of a nurse because she sought a religious exemption to avoid administering puberty blockers and hormones to minor patients.
That order has been blocked by multiple federal judges with temporary restraining orders, but the Trump administration continues to invoke it in its crackdown on doctors and hospitals.
The Trump administration continues to characterize evidence-based trans healthcare as โmutilationโ, despite every major medical association, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and the Endocrine Society, supporting the practice.
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Corporations are scaling back Pride support to avoid right-wing backlash
Fortune 1000 companies fear backlash amid Trump’s executive orders on DEI and transgender Americans.
A new survey of Fortune 1000 companies reveals that corporations are dramatically scaling back their public expressions of support for the LGBTQ+ community. Itโs a trend LGBTQ+ organizations across the country haveย already reportedย in the lead-up to Pride celebrations this year.
Nearly two-fifths of corporations plan on reducing engagement for Pride Month this June, according to a survey of corporate executives by Gravity Research.
Among 49 Fortune 1000 executives surveyed, those who said they were scaling back financial and public support cited pressure from conservative activists and the president, whose executive orders have guttedย diversity, equity, and inclusionย initiatives andย targeted the transgender community,ย Forbesย reports.
Among 49 Fortune 1000 executives surveyed, those who said they were scaling back financial and public support cited pressure from conservative activists and the president, whose executive orders have guttedย diversity, equity, and inclusionย initiatives andย targeted the transgender community,ย Forbesย reports.
Hungary passes constitutional amendment banning Pride as protesters hold โGray Prideโ protest
Supporters of the law said that it would protect children from knowing that LGBTQ+ people exist
Tens of thousands of Hungarians filled the countryโs capital Saturday to protest a constitutional amendment that would allow the government to ban public events by LGBTQ+ communities, including Pride celebrations.
The Assembly Act declares that a childโs rights to moral, physical, and spiritual development supplant any right other than the right to life, including peaceful assembly.
Like Russia, its ally in a politically motivated campaign against the โdegenerate West,โ Hungary has institutedย โgay propagandaโ lawsย prohibiting the โdepiction or promotionโ of homosexuality to minors.
Itโs โa clear messageโ for transgender and intersex people, Dรถbrentey said: โIt is definitely and purely and strictly about humiliating people and excluding them, not just from the national community, but even from the community of human beings.โ
Librarians in UK increasingly asked to remove books, as influence of US pressure groups spreads
Anecdotal evidence suggests a rise in requests to take books off shelves, particularly LGBTQ+ titles
Requests to remove books from library shelves are on the rise in the UK, as the influence of pressure groups behind book bans in the US crosses the Atlantic, according to those working in the sector.
Most of the UK challenges appear to come from individuals or small groups, unlike in the US, where 72% of demands to censor books last year were brought forward by organised groups, according to the American Library Associationย earlier this week.
However, evidence suggests that the work of US action groups is reaching UK libraries too. Alison Hicks, an associate professor in library and information studies at UCL, interviewed 10 UK-based school librarians who had experienced book challenges. One โspoke of finding propaganda from one of these groups left on her deskโ, while another โwas directly targeted by one of these groupsโ. Respondents โalso spoke of being trolled by US pressure groups on social media, for example when responding to free book giveawaysโ.
The types of books targeted may also differ. โAlmost all the UK attacks reported in my study centred on LGBTQ+ materials, while US attacks appear to target material related to race, ethnicity and social justice as well as LGBTQ+ issues,โ said Hicks.
This supports the findings of anย Index on Censorship surveyย last year, in which 28 of 53 librarians polled reported that they had been asked to remove books from library shelves, many of which were LGBTQ+ titles. In more than half of those cases, books were taken off shelves.
Tennessee county sued for banning books without even reading them
They’re accused of just using an anti-LGBTQ+ organization’s book ban list to deny students access to tomes like Toni Morrison’s “Beloved.”
The plaintiffs in this case are three families, who wish to remain anonymous, of two freshmen and a senior who will attend a Rutherford County school next year. Joining in on the lawsuit is PEN America, a nonprofit freedom of expression advocacy group for writers. Thirty-two writers in the organization have seen 53 of their books included in the ban.
More than 145 books have been removed from school libraries in the district. The Board of Education began banning material in early 2024 through informal requests by school board members initially, without any public discussion or input from members of the board, according to the ACLUโs lawsuit.
Concerningly, the lawsuit claims that the board had indicated that, rather than reading any of the material they were suppressing, they relied on a rating system created by individuals with ties to the far-right group Moms for Liberty. Through this system, books are classified as inappropriate material if they include LGBTQ+ characters, racial, social, or religious commentary, profanity, and written depictions of nudity.
Trump DOJ Ordered ICE to Invade Homes Without Search Warrant
The Justice Department quietly authorized immigration agents to seize power in arresting people under the Alien Enemies Actโno warrant required.
The Justice Department quietly invoked the Alien Enemies act last month to give Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents the power to conduct warrantless searches of peopleโs homes as long as they suspect them to be an โalien enemy.โย USA Todayย obtainedย the memo that contained this order on Friday.
In the memo, the Justice Department defined an โalien enemyโ as anyone who is 14 years of age or older, not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, a citizen of Venezuela, and โa member of the hostile enemy Tren de Aragua,โ per the Alien Enemy Validation Guide, a document that has already been slammed by immigration experts.
The broad definition has already resulted in the apprehension and deportation of more than 200 men to El Salvador who just happened to have tattoos, like gay makeup artist Andry Josรฉ Hernรกndez Romero.
This type of order will likely lead to more indiscriminate arrests and wanton racial profiling. The memo, which is from March 14, is another massive departure from the U.S. immigration norms.
White House Confirms Trump Is Exploring Ways To โDeportโ U.S. Citizens
The administration could try removing American citizens if it identifies a pathway it can claim to be legal.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that Presidentย Donald Trumpย is exploring legal pathways to โdeportโ U.S. citizens to El Salvador, where the administration has already arranged to house deported immigrants in a prison known for its human rights abuses.ย (Watch the video, above.)
Trumpย told reportersย aboard Air Force One on Sunday that he โlove[s]โ the idea of removing U.S. citizens, adding that it would be an โhonorโ to send them to El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele โ an eagerย partnerย in Trumpโs schemes.
โI look forward to watching the sick terrorist thugs get 20 year jail sentences for what they are doing to Elon Musk and Tesla,โ Trump wrote. โPerhaps they could serve them in the prisons of El Salvador, which have become so recently famous for such lovely conditions!โ
Shocking report reveals HIV deaths will explode due to Trumpโs foreign aid cuts
Nearly 500,000 children could die from AIDS by 2030 without PEPFAR funding.
Nearly half a million children could die from AIDS-related causes by 2030 without restoration of PEPFAR programs cut by the Trump administration,ย a new studyย published in theย Lancetย reveals.
The new health policy analysis estimates that one million children could become infected with HIV and nearly half a million could die from AIDS by 2030. Additionally, 2.8 million children could experience orphanhood in sub-Saharan Africa (because their parents died from preventable HIV-related illnesses) if the PEPFAR funding isnโt restored.
A study releasedย by UNAIDS in March showed an uptick in new HIV infections has already started as local HIV prevention programs funded by PEPFAR have been thrown into chaos.
Men who have sex with men, girls, and young women between the ages of 15 and 24 not pregnant or breastfeeding, and sex workers and people who inject drugs โcan notโ be offered PrEP during the pause or โuntil further notice,โ Trump administration officials wrote.
Well, the preview looks different from the post; the link embedded as usual on the post, but on the preview, there is simply the title as a hyperlink. Either way, go there and prepare to be amazed and amused!
She was not actually just there for bacon and sex. Once they were showered and she had slipped into a shirt he had loaned her (Her clothes were a hopeless cause. “It would fit you like a dress,”–It did.) she took on the look of someone with very bad business to conduct. She sat on the side of the bed and watched him get dressed as if waiting for him to be sufficiently attired to also discuss business.
He found himself wanting to dress very slowly.
“What happens to Madeline Dupree?”
Oh. That. “There’s a….let’s call it a retreat, isolated. Secure. Away from other people. She won’t be able to leave, but she has to….”
She winced. “Why does it sound like a farm upstate with plenty of room to run around?”
He was shocked at first and then reconsidered what he was saying. “Maybe. We’re humane. We know how to deal with a rogue were.”
“How secure is secure?”
“She won’t escape.”
She motioned him to sit by her on the edge of the bed, “I need you to understand she has killed before she got here. And when I talked to her, I got the sense that this was not a were problem. Not entirely. ” (snip-this is a great piece, go read it!)
and Scottie posts from Meidas Touch. Here’s a snippet, with more on Adam Parkhomenko’s Substack, which can be read for free.
How MeidasTouch is Fixing a 2024 Dem Problemโ And Why Legacy Media Isnโt (sic) Cheering by Adam Parkhomenko
A few months ago, Joe Rogan and his podcast audience numbers were thought to be untouchable. Read on Substack
Itโs not all bad news.
Media evolution is the story of one industry disruption after another. Printing press. Radio. Network TV. Local TV. Cable TV. The internet. Websites. Blogs. YouTube. Podcasts. Social media. Substack (hey, thatโs us!)
The turnover at which todayโs shiny media delivery object becomes yesterdayโs news is accelerating โ a thrilling development for some, but a daunting one for many more and, of course, democracy. Players who think ahead, understand tech, know their audience and potential audience, make bold decisions and keep revenue flowing are best positioned to compete as the media industry continues to adapt.
Nimble media players who blend compelling and breaking content with regular programming, eye-catching graphic design, quick-yet-professional video editing, a mix of humor and real-talk, low overhead, strategic advertising and round-the-clock revenue generation while breaking corporate and editorial bottlenecks will emerge at the forefront of the media race. Call it doing everything, everywhere, all at once. Succeeding in todayโs media landscape takes a special touch.
You might even call it aโฆ MeidasTouch.
The Meiselas brothers, co-founders of The MeidasTouch Network. (Photo credit: Variety)
Yes, Roganโs Big Audience Boosted Trumpโs Prospects
There is no question that Joe Rogan dominated the podcast space in the 2024 campaign. And there is no question that Donald Trumpโs prospects of returning to the Oval Office while under four indictments and pending sentencing for 34 felony convictions was boosted by Roganโs support of Trump and well-timed show appearances by Trump campaign principals.
Donald Trumpโs two hour, 58 minute and 50-second appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE) on October 25, just 11 days before Election Day, has 58 million views on YouTube. Some views were after Election Day, of course, but you get the ideaโฆ a lot of people saw it.
JD Vanceโs three hour, 17 minute and 21-second interview on JRE on October 31, five days before Election Day, has 20 million views on YouTube. Thatโs far more people than should ever suffer the misery of watching JD Vance.
Notably, the Trump campaign dispatched Elon Musk for his own two hour, 38 minute and 40-second appearance on JRE the day before the election. Muskโs interview has 20 million views on YouTube.
Trumpโs full interview was the second most-watched JRE YouTube video of all time, bested only by a 2019 interview with Bob Lazar and Jeremy Corbell. The UFO confab has nearly 64 million views. (snip-MORE)
Scottie's Playtime 