Y’know, sometimes I put up stuff that I just know will generate conversation. Take yesterday’s Open Thread and Legislative Targets pieces, for example. Granted, I didn’t write anything about Israel’s ongoing killing of kids waiting in line for food, so Puck’s absence was not unexpected. But still, I was certain that some interesting conversation would ensue. Whatsamatter?? Are youse all down in Dewey binge-drinking Orange Crushes (say ‘hi’ to Speaker Pete for me)? Or…have I finally lost our audience?
I can’t go on. I must go on.
This Texas Flood Cover-Up Isn’t Working. ICE Barbie:
Two days after catastrophic floods roared through Central Texas, the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not answer nearly two-thirds of calls to its disaster assistance line, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times.
The lack of responsiveness happened because the agency had fired hundreds of contractors at call centers, according to a person briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal matters.
The agency laid off the contractors on July 5 after their contracts expired and were not extended, according to the documents and the person briefed on the matter. Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, who has instituted a new requirement that she personally approve expenses over $100,000, did not renew the contracts until Thursday, five days after the contracts expired. FEMA is part of the Department of Homeland Security.
Oh, and those Kerr County officials?:
Kerr County officials, who have come under increasing scrutiny for their actionsas the Guadalupe River began to flood, eventually sent text-message alerts that morning to residents who had registered to receivethem, according to screenshots of the texts. But The Post’sreview of emergency notifications that night found that even as a federal meteorologist warnedof deteriorating conditions and catastrophic risk, county officials did not activate a more powerful notification tool they had previously used to warn of potential flooding. The National Weather Service sent its own alerts through this system, beginning at 1:14 a.m. on July 4.
For those claiming that ‘now is not the time’ to place blame, yes it is.
Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino has told people he is considering resigning amid a major clash between the FBI and Justice Department over the continued fallout from the release of the Jeffrey Epstein memo, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
This comes after a heated confrontation with Attorney General Pam Bondi over the handling of the case earlier this week.
The infighting over the case came to a head during a Wednesday meeting, which included Bongino, Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, the sources said. Bongino and Patel were confronted about whether they were behind a story that said the FBI wanted more information released but was ultimately stymied by the Department of Justice, they said.
Bongino denied leaking that notion to NewsNation, which published the story, a source familiar with the matter told CNN, though he did not sign on to a statement defending the review included in that article.
The episode comes as many of President Donald Trump’s close advisers, both inside and outside of the White House, have grown increasingly frustrated with Bondi’s handling of the so-called Epstein files, following days of intense criticism from some of the president’s most devoted supporters.
Don’t think there’s any way Trump can/will fire Biondi. She almost certainly knows too much. Although…Dems should keep the story alive. Here’s why:
It’s a wild thing to ponder, but it took until this week for Democrats to realize that the bugbear of “the Epstein files” wasn’t just dumb right-wing nonsense, but something tons of people (even people who aren’t particularly committed to Donald Trump) actually care about.
Do many of them take genuine interest in getting an answer to that question: Are Trump’s minions covering it up, or did they just exploit the sexual abuse of children to help get their guy elected?
Or do they mostly think the whole issue is sordid and beneath them…
To square their objectives, Democrats will have to stop wishing away distractions from their best issues, and start asking whether and how those issues slot into existing online fixations.
The whole article is more thoughtful than this snippet. But, in a blatant attempt to lure readers back, I’ve opted for the salacious.
President Donald Trump’s Jeffrey Epstein problem isn’t going away.
Influential voices on the far right, including some of the president’s biggest MAGA allies, are incensed at his administration for refusing to release more information about the 2019 death of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein in prison.
“It’s not just about a pedophile ring and all that, it’s about who governs us, right?” right-wing pundit and former Trump aide Steve Bannon said Friday. “For this to go away, you’re gonna lose 10% of the MAGA movement. If we lose 10% of the MAGA movement right now, we’re going to lose 40 seats in 2026, we’re going to lose the presidency.”
“They’ve disheartened the hardest-core populists,” he added.
I hate to see the hard-core populists disheartened. Don’t you?
Hospitals are particularly at risk due to fuel shortages, the UN said Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
Puck’s correct, though–if only these starving infants would stop supporting Hamas, all their problems would disappear. Although, I guess dying is a more efficient way for their problems to disappear.
What do you want to talk about?