Attorney General Todd Blanche wasted no time. The day after his swearing-in, his Justice Department filed a brief backing Trump's private lawyers in their effort to overturn a federal judge's sanctions order — an order that had put Trump's IRS settlement in serious jeopardy...

Yet another leak in the Trump boat has publicly exposed just how much Donald Trump's Kennedy Center fiasco is costing.

Axios has recently obtained a whopping 180-plus pages of internal blueprints that reveal the swelling price tag of President Trump's renovation and remaking of the world-renowned performing arts venue. Congress originally approved $257 million for the project, yet internal documents reveal that costs are on track to balloon to more than double, clocking in around $560 million so far.

Delta Consulting Group put together a two-slide construction assessment that they presented to the board of trustees, chaired by Trump himself. According to their assessment, the iconic venue's "state of disrepair is significant and escalating," resulting in the group presenting the board with two different options for repair.

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On Tuesday, the White House asked the DOJ to find another way to prosecute Olympic canoeist David Hearn for supposedly vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting pool after charges were dropped against him by Jeanine Pirro as reported by the WSJ. Trump was furious at his ...

JD and Usha Vance may actually be the most insufferable couple to have ever graced the face of this earth -- and apparently, their old law school friends are trying to figure out just what in the hell happened to those two. Usha Vance is the first-generation American daugh...

Fox and Friends came up with laughable opposition research against Michigan Democratic nominee El-Sayed by flipping out because he likes Ted Lasso. The country is suffering under Trump's economy, the Iran war, energy costs, and rent costs. ICE agents murder US citizens and ...

Someone tell Emily Campagno that being a Muslim doesn't make someone born and bred in Michigan "anti-American."

If you look at Michigan candidate for US Senate Abdul El-Sayed's actual resume, it's impressive:

El-Sayed is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Oriel College, Oxford, attending them on a full-tuition scholarship and a Rhodes Scholarship, respectively. He received his Doctor of Medicine from Columbia University. El-Sayed was an assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia University from 2014 to 2015. He was the executive director of the Detroit Health Department and Health Officer for the City of Detroit from 2015 to 2017. His publications in public health include three books and several academic journal articles.

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I don't know who is in charge of Donnie's screentime, but seriously... Take the phone away. Now. In a truly bizarre and deeply unhinged post on his failing Truth Social echo chamber, Donald Trump heaped his praises on Allah as he boasted that the United States now has "tot...

Projection. It's all these people have. During yet another of their endless segments on Fox not "news" this Wednesday, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller went on an unhinged rant on Will Cain's show when asked about some comments by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cort...

I reported a couple of weeks ago on how Wisconsin's Democratic gubernatorial primary was turning into a three-ring circus. Lt Governor Sara Rodriguez's campaign had imploded with all sorts of campaign finance issues. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley resurrected his...

Crooked Timber - how Hegsethian heroes destroyed themselves: a Bronze Age collapse;

Pharyngula - what did I live on from ages 0 to 30?

The Dworkin Report - 4 years inside Epstein’s bank records;

The Mahablog - a healthcare rant;

The Rude Pundit - America fucked crazy and now has to deal with the mess.

Send tips, requests, and suggestions to mbru@crooksandliars.com (with ‘for MBRU' in the subject line). Steve in Manhattan is on Bluesky.

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One can only imagine how utterly Donald Trump and Whiskey Pete Hegseth have failed the sailors and Marines aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln so as to cause multiple troops to throw themselves overboard in a desperate effort to end their horrific deployment. But that is how ...

This is unreal.

I thought he was going to be blown off the staircase.

Can you imagine if Biden had looked like this? What would the media say?

Open thread.

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Tuesday's Michelle Goldberg column is about a proud Republican asshole named Brandon Herrera, who's running for a House seat with the support of prayerful invertebrate Mike Johnson: Because this is a family newspaper, I cannot quote the piquant term that Brandon Herrera, a ...

President Donald Trump funneled nearly $1 billion for a White House overhaul through a little-known maintenance account, including $70 million with no identified source, confidential records show. The Washington Post, reviewing confidential contracts and planning documents,...

Donald Trump sneaked off Air Force One in Turkey by hiding in a catering truck, then flying off in a different, less conspicuous plane. Late night hosts are already joking about the obese Trump fleeing in a catering truck. But he put a slew of others in mortal danger. As Th...

WH Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai claimed the media were crybabies for being upset Trump used them as a decoy to elude an improbable assassination attempt when he switched planes without the press corps being aware. Maybe Jeff Bezos will make a move about Trump's daring...

Jimmy Kimmel Live guest host Anthony Anderson had a suggestion for what they should have used instead of a catering truck to escape a potential assassination attempt last month, where he used the press and some of his cabinet as bait as he slithered away on Air Force C-32A.

ANDERSON: Just when you think you've heard every dumb thing there is to know about this President, he always finds a way to surprise you.

Apparently, after the NATO summit last month, Trump hid inside a catering cart to sneak out of Turkey due to security threats. And let's give it up. Let's give it up to the Secret Service. Do you know how hard it is to sneak a pig out of Turkey?

They even caught the presidential switcheroo on video.

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Speaking to reporters, Donald J. Trump rattled off a list of lies in under one minute. The lies told by the President are easily debunkable, but this is who Trump is. Trump declared the country is thriving, pointing to a "record" stock market and claiming his administratio...

It hasn't even been two weeks since Jeanine Pirro effectively spit directly in Donald Trump's eyeball by dropping the federal vandalism charges he was championing against former Olympian David Hearn for picking up a chunk of paint out of his ridiculous Lincoln Memorial Refl...

It’s easy to laugh at this latest childishness from President Cry Baby. But there’s nothing funny about how much power he and his lickspittles are willing to exert to satisfy his petty whims. As we have previously reported, Donald Trump threw a temper tantrum after Trump DO...

Special Envoy for Peace and private investor Jared Kushner -- otherwise known as the guy no one voted for who couldn't pass a security clearance check if his life depended on it -- has jetset his way around the globe at the exact moment everything he's touched has gone to H...

Ronna McDaniel has not lost any of her right-wing propaganda chops. On Tuesday she proved that by making five false claims about El-Sayed's campaign and platform in under sixty seconds. Republicans are freaking out over Trump's poll numbers and their chances in the 2026 mi...

Trans Secretary Sean Duffy is boasting that he solved the staffing shortage of air traffic controllers that he caused by firing thousands of workers a year and a half ago. There are a couple of things that need to be pointed out. The first thing is that Duffy is bragging a...

MyPillow guy Mike Lindell took his loss to Rep. Lisa Demuth, the speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, about as well as you'd expect. Lindell, a Trump-backed election denier, claimed there were irregularities. Irregularities in a Republican primary, you guys. L...

A horrifyingly chilling new video is spreading like wildfire on social media after a woman captured footage of a masked gang of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents approaching her car, with one agent pulling a gun on her, shoving it towards the window. The horrific ...

And she looked so lifelike, too. Almost human. Source: The Independent As President Donald Trump signed an executive order upending the federal guidance for childhood vaccines, social media was more focused on a woman standing behind him during the announcement repeatedly ...

Darwinfish² - sunsetting ...

emptywheel - from Flying Bribery Palace to failed leak investigation to catering truck;

God’s Spies - a record El Niño is nearly upon us;

Mock Paper Scissors - meanwhile, in Ohio ...

No More Mr. Nice Blog - your modern GOP: of cum trophies and prayerful invertebrates.

Send tips, requests, and suggestions to mbru@crooksandliars.com (with ‘for MBRU' in the subject line). Steve in Manhattan is on Bluesky.

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During Ken Paxton’s telephone town hall, an intrepid caller confronted him on his Christian hypocrisy. “Hi, Paxton, it’s nice to meet you,” a woman began, in a sweet voice. “I’m just wondering: Why did you cheat on your wife?” There was a long pause. Finally, Paxton replied...

I had no idea Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly made their prison homes on the Rock.

Britannica:

On this day in 1934, Alcatraz welcomed its first civilian prisoners, a group of 14 from the federal penitentiary on McNeil Island, Washington. The move was part of the government’s efforts to combat the upswing in crime that had come with Prohibition, and Alcatraz was well fortified.

The idiot in the White House wants to reopen the prison.

US President Donald Trump is seeking $152m (£115m) to reopen the infamous Alcatraz prison as part of his proposed budget for the 2027 fiscal year. Located near San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, the site, also known as The Rock, was once regarded as one of America's most notorious prisons, but has served as a tourist attraction in recent years.

That will never happen.

Open thread.

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As also mentioned in this loony story, F-16s scrambled to intercept civilian aircraft that entered the temporary restricted airspace over the area. Source: TWZ or most golfers, the biggest hazards are ponds and sand traps. President Donald Trump, the target of frequent att...