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Debt Rattle May 27 2026

May 272026
 
 May 27, 2026  Posted by at 9:58 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , ,  3 Responses »


Andy Warhol Mick Jagger 1975


• Iranian Enriched Uranium Stockpile To Be ‘Destroyed’ – Trump (RT)
• It’s a Time for Choosing II: Do You Trust Trump With Iran — or Not (Pinsker)
• Ted Cruz Is Right to Demand Guardrails on DOJ’s Weaponization Fund (Manney)
• Dan Goldman Fights to Keep the Rage — and His Career — Alive (Turley)
• Here’s Why Many Western Leaders’ Approval Ratings Are Tanking (Amar)
• Mamdani Plans to Begin Seizing and Redistributing Private Property (Bolt)
• Mamdani Did the Right Thing on Crime (Stephen Green)
• Paxton Crushes Cornyn In Stunning Texas Senate Upset (ZH)
• Key Biden DOJ Official Raised Red Flags About FBI’s Mar-a-Lago Raid (JTN)
• Joe Biden Sues DOJ To Stop Release Of Audio Recordings (JTN)
• Pam Bondi Battlies Thyroid Cancer, Trump Gives Her Advisory Role on AI (CTH)
• Heads Exploded When Vox Published This Global Warming Report (Stephen Green)

 


 

 


 


For the first time in what seems to be a long time, the focus on Iran wanes a bit among news- and opinion makers. They will be back.

• Iranian Enriched Uranium Stockpile To Be ‘Destroyed’ – Trump (RT)

US President Donald Trump has outlined his preferred options for disposing of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile as negotiators meet for high-stakes talks in Qatar. The US has demanded that Iran completely dismantle its nuclear program, while Tehran insists that uranium enrichment is its sovereign right. Iranian officials have denied seeking to develop nuclear weapons. “The Enriched Uranium (Nuclear Dust!) will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed or, preferably, in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, destroyed in place or at another acceptable location, with the Atomic Energy Commission, or its equivalent, witnessing this process and event,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday evening.


On Sunday, CBS News, citing a senior US official, reported that Iran had agreed “in principle” to dispose of its enriched uranium. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, however, said on Monday that the negotiations were focused on ending the armed conflict with the US. “At this stage, we are not discussing nuclear issues,” he said. The sides are expected to discuss reopening the Strait of Hormuz and potentially unfreezing Iranian assets. According to media reports, the two sides are close to extending the truce announced on April 8 by another 60 days.

Axios and Al Arabiya reported that the draft agreement to be discussed in Doha includes a commitment to negotiate the fate of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile over a 60-day period. Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on Friday that Iran would “not compromise on its rights” as a sovereign nation. Iranian officials said ahead of the talks that the US needed to rebuild trust after launching airstrikes on Iran in late February, shortly after a round of Omani-mediated negotiations.

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We’re losing patience with war. That does not appear to be the smartest move.

• It’s a Time for Choosing II: Do You Trust Trump With Iran — or Not (Pinsker)

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) proudly supports term limits for Supreme Court justices. “The public’s trust in the Supreme Court has plummeted,” he announced in a press release. “Extreme conservatives on the Court have stripped away Americans’ fundamental rights. Term limits and a binding code of ethics will rebalance the Court and rebuild confidence in our institutions.” Not just Supreme Court justices: In 2017, Khanna also introduced legislation to limit congressional terms to 12 years. “Enacting term limits will give more voices the opportunity to serve in Congress and bring fresh ideas and new energy to Capitol Hill,” he said. “Being a member of Congress needn’t be a lifetime gig, but instead more people should have the chance to work in public service.”


Oh, by the way, in 2026, Khanna will be running for reelection in Congress yet again — the ninth time(!) he’s run since 2004. (His reelection campaign will be exceptionally well funded, too: Out of all the congressmen in D.C., so far he’s raised the fourth most money.) And on his official website, the very first priority that Khanna listed is: “Banning PAC and lobbyist money.” So yeah, clearly not all politicians deserve to be trusted! In fact, a cynic might argue that no politician should be trusted — that the nature of this profession is incompatible with trust. And maybe that’s fair: Eventually, every politician will break your heart. (At least, it sure seems that way.)

But I’m not a cynic. I’m a stone cold, unrepentant, dyed-in-the-wool realist. Instead of arguing with reality, I prefer to work within it. And the reality is, if you adopt the philosophy of “Don’t trust anyone,” the cost is too high: You throw out the baby with the bath water. Yes, you avoid being stabbed in the back, but you lose a lot of good stuff, too. So trust your spouse. Trust your kids. Trust your friends and family. Trust your faith. Trust your country. Life is lonely and miserable if you can’t trust anyone! Just don’t trust blindly — and reserve your trust for the people who’ve proven they deserve it.

Which brings us to President Donald Trump and this on-again, off-again, still-being-negotiated conclusion to the war in Iran. We’ve gone from demanding unconditional surrender to shuffling U.S. diplomats in and out of Pakistan, patiently waiting for the Iranians to capitulate. Is Trump’s strategy wise? Or would it be smarter to amp up the attacks? Only time will tell. But in the short term, it’s created a colossal PR headache for the White House, because the status quo is a political loser: Nobody’s happy with it!

The hawks hate the optics of the Iranian mullahs sitting in the perceptual driver’s seat — thumbing their nose at Uncle Sam, spurning peace deals, and mocking American might. (There’s also a growing fear that the president will cut bait and bail, deciding the juice ain’t worth the squeeze.) But President Trump is unconcerned with the hawks, because they’re in the minority. They might whine and moan, but at least they’re invested in an American victory. That, at a minimum, puts them on Trump’s side.

Not so with the doves. Statistically, they’re the much bigger group. They don’t want America to succeed, because victory validates the decision to attack: It’ll mean Trump was right and they were wrong. So, until victory is 100% undeniable, they’re going to wage a PR war to position it as a horrible, terrible, expensive catastrophe. (With the help of the mainstream media, of course.) Unfortunately, the current status quo is the perfect environment for such a PR campaign to prosper.

For some doves, their motives are purely partisan: Politics is a zero-sum game, and when Trump wins, they lose. (And besides, if Trump is “literally Hitler,” then by definition, everything he does is evil anyway. No point being on Hitler’s side.) Sadly, that’s most of today’s Democrats. Even if we discovered an entire arsenal of nuclear bombs being actively constructed in Tehran — alongside ballistic missiles capable of reaching American soil — the Dems still wouldn’t have supported the Iran War, because their constituents hate Donald Trump more than they hate anything else on this planet. Including nuclear annihilation and the “Death to America” mullahs.

There’s a slightly different calculus at work within the anti-war segments of the GOP. One splinter group hates those war-obsessed “neocons” (especially the ones with Jewish-sounding names) and wants them discredited ASAP. Others hate Israel more than any other country on the planet — including Iran — and simply won’t support a U.S. war when Israel is an ally. nFortunately, the Groyper-aligned right — with self-appointed spokesmen like Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Thomas Massie, Candace Owens, and Nick Fuentes — represent a teeny-tiny sliver of the overall GOP. They’re the modern version of trans kids: We hear about ‘em all the time, but their actual numbers are minuscule.

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There’s never been anything like it. But it’s needed. Ask Liz Cheney. Who should be in jail for it.

• Ted Cruz Is Right to Demand Guardrails on DOJ’s Weaponization Fund (Manney)

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has the right instinct on the Department of Justice’s new $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund. The idea behind the fund deserves a fair hearing; Americans who were targeted by abusive federal power should have some path toward relief, especially after years of lectures from the same political class pretending government weaponization only exists when Democrats campaign on it. Still, a good idea turns rotten fast once Washington gets control of the checkbook.


President Donald Trump’s administration created the fund as part of a settlement connected to Trump’s lawsuit over the leak of his tax records. The agreement gives Trump and his family a formal apology but no monetary payout. The fund would compensate Americans claiming abuse, with a five-member commission expected to handle claims. On paper, relief for real victims sounds defensible. In practice, however, loose language and weak oversight make almost any large federal fund look like an invitation to mischief.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the fund before senators and argued the process would help people hurt by politicized investigations or prosecutions. Blanche also didn’t rule out potential claims from people tied to Jan. 6 cases, including applicants who may argue the government unfairly treated them. Cruz and other Republicans had reason to press him hard: a program built to correct abuse can’t become a fog bank where eligibility rules appear after the money starts moving.

Cruz described the closed-door Republican meeting with Blanche as close to a revolt, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) acknowledged members had real questions about how the fund would work. From CBS News. “Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said a two-hour meeting Thursday with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche about the Justice Department’s new “anti-weaponization fund” was “one of the roughest meetings I’ve seen in my entire time in the Senate.” “There were fireworks at an epic level,” Cruz said Friday on his podcast. “Fiery does not begin to cut it.”

Blanche was dispatched to the Capitol to try and convince skeptical Republican lawmakers to drop their opposition to the nearly $1.8 billion fund to pay people who claim they were politically persecuted. The announcement of the fund — part of a settlement to resolve President Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS — came as senators prepared to vote on a reconciliation package to fund border security and immigration enforcement through the end of Mr. Trump’s term. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) also questioned the need for the fund, while Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) separately demanded answers from DOJ about the money, eligibility, oversight, and taxpayer protection.

None of those concerns undermine the fight against weaponized government; they strengthen it by forcing the administration to build a process the public and Congress understand. The White House and DOJ should welcome strict guardrails instead of treating them like betrayal. Setting a strong and legal foundation now becomes critical.

Define who qualifies
Require sworn documentation
Bar payouts for violent conduct
Publish regular reports without exposing private victims
Create an appeals process
Keep commissioners independent from campaign politics
Protect whistleblowers
Build audit trails before the first dollar leaves Treasury.

A fund created to remedy political abuse should never rely on political discretion as its operating system. As if on cue, Democrats already call the fund corrupt, and their outrage has a familiar theatrical quality. From the Independent. Democrats have also sharply condemned the proposal. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., wrote in a letter to Blanche on Wednesday that “the notion of the federal government doling out compensation to rioters” is “absurd and offensive.”

On Thursday, Reps. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., introduced bipartisan legislation that would prohibit federal funds from being used for the program. Many of them showed far less curiosity when federal power ran against conservatives, pro-life activists, parents at school board meetings, Trump associates, and others who believed the system hand-picked sides. Their hypocrisy doesn’t erase the need for discipline. A Republican administration shouldn’t answer double standards by creating a new system critics can attack fairly as sloppy, secretive, or self-serving.

[..] Cruz’s warning gives the administration a chance to fix the weak spots before enemies define the entire effort. Trump ran against government weaponization for good reason: millions of Americans believe federal agencies lost neutrality and punished disfavored targets. A fund for victims serves justice only if it avoids favoritism, vague standards, and backroom handling. Cruz isn’t trying to kill the mission; he’s trying to keep it from turning swampy before the ink dries.

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“He has made himself known to the establishment as someone willing to enthusiastically do those things that repel others..”

• Dan Goldman Fights to Keep the Rage — and His Career — Alive (Turley)

Rep. Dan Goldman (D., N.Y.) is fast becoming the Marie Antoinette of New York politics. As Democratic socialists rage against the privileged elite and promise sweeping welfare programs, Goldman is doubling down on promises of more impeachments and investigations. The ultimate establishment candidate is floundering. He is reportedly over 20 points behind his Mamdini-endorsed opponent, housing advocate and former Comptroller Brad Lander. It appears that the “let-them-eat impeachments” is not resonating with his constituents.


While Goldman is trying to fight off the challenge from the left with some pocket-book pitches, he is sticking to the narrative that got him elected a few years ago. In an “age of rage,” Goldman has excelled, pushing unstepped on, unadulterated rage. Since his entry into politics, he has run on what was viewed as the sure winner in New York politics: obsessive, unending attacks on Trump. Goldman made sure that no one was more enraged at all things Trump, all the time. In this campaign, Goldman has returned to the same theme of promising new investigations and impeachments.

Goldman claimed recently on MSNOW that he will lead any impeachment of Trump. (“Jamie Raskin and I will be leading investigations into Trump’s corruption and all cabinet officials”). Even as his polls showed him trailing Lander, he was promising this week that he had yet another basis to impeach Trump over his $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” a settlement fund that is expected to go to people investigated and prosecuted over the Jan. 6th riot. Some of us have criticized the creation of the fund as irregular and lacking congressional consultation. That is not to say that Trump is not right about the violation over the leaking of his taxes or the abuses that occurred after January 6th.

In an interview with CBS News, Justice Department official Michael Sherwin declared that they wanted to send a message with the harsh treatment of defendants “to ensure that there was shock and awe.” The result was excessive measures against some who were simply present at the protest or did not engage in any violence. Despite my objections to how the fund was created, it is neither illegal nor impeachable in my view. These settlement funds have long been left to the discretion of the Justice Department and past Administrations have made generous settlements with politically aligned groups. However, the race in the 10th District may answer a more important question than another impeachment frenzy in Congress.

The question is whether Goldman and other candidates can secure another term on rage alone. We will soon know whether Goldman’s “let them eat impeachments” pitch can override the bread-and-butter policies of Lander or Mamdani. It is not that anger has lost its cache, but the subject has changed as socialism sweeps over the Democratic Party, particularly in New York. In this “eat-the-rich” environment, Goldman is hardly a natural fit in modern Democratic politics. He is no “one percenter,” mind you. He is the guy the one percenter looks on as privileged and entitled. As emphasized by Lander in his campaign, Goldman inherited his vast wealth as heir to the Levi Strauss family and is worth more than $200 million.

He reportedly has at least three luxury homes in Atlantic Beach on Long Island, Manhattan, and Water Mill in the Hamptons. He seems to be the perfect example of the super-wealthy denounced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez when she insisted that “you just can’t earn” a billion dollars. In Goldman’s case, he was born into such wealth. Goldman is not the antagonist, but the embodiment, of the socialist scourge. To be fair to Goldman, he hasn’t focused on being an average Joe with shared life experiences. He has made himself known to the establishment as someone willing to enthusiastically do those things that repel others.

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“The difference between ideology and citizens’ lived experience is becoming explosive ..”

By Tarik Cyril Amar, a historian from Germany working at Koç University, Istanbul, on Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe, the history of World War II, the cultural Cold War, and the politics of memory

• Here’s Why Many Western Leaders’ Approval Ratings Are Tanking (Amar)

Every political and social order comes in two flavors: What its small elite and the minority exploiting it to the full want everyone to believe, and the reality that most of its members actually live in. The two never match, but this mismatch need not be a big problem. However, if the difference becomes too great and too obvious for too long, no order can continue unchanged.None of the above is news. Keen observers have long understood that things get shaky when a majority loses their belief in – or at least passive acceptance of – the prevalent ideology (in the original meaning of the term, namely, as the elite’s imaginative story about reality, keeping the non-elites compliant).


In such a situation, things will change, but it is hard to predict how, exactly. An acute ideology-reality mismatch can lead to rebellion and, if the latter succeeds, revolution. Yet it can also make the elites ramp up their indoctrination or become more punitive, adding more direct compulsion to keep those below in line. There is always also the option of going to war with enemies abroad – real or, much more likely, invented – to distract from disunity at home. Finally, all of the above can happen in a messy sequence, or even at the same time.

Despite differences and tensions, the West does constitute some form of political and social order. In its elites’ ideology, as spread by their compliant mainstream media, it is a fairy-tale realm of political and economic freedom, combining representative democracy with free markets, the rule of law, individualism, and superior “values” to make the best of all possible worlds. In reality, obviously, it’s a dark zone of capitalist oligarchy with increasingly authoritarian tendencies. Not the Hobbits’ cozy Shire; rather Sauron’s domain under construction.

Markets, for one thing, are not “free,” but routinely and crassly gamed by insiders. Currently for instance, both the beginning of the criminal Israeli-US war against Iran and deliberately timed, repeated rumors about peace have facilitated manipulative trades worth billions of dollars. The September 11, 2001 attacks can be considered the evil Big Bang of our current iteration of mass manipulation, authoritarian power grabs in the name of “emergency” response, permanent warfare, and lying so intense it is sometimes hard to remember there is a truth. As the rebellious US ex-MAGA conservative Tucker Carlson has just reminded us, 9/11 was also accompanied – and preceded – by trading, for which the description “highly suspicious” is an understatement.

Democratic political representation and freedom of thought and speech are, at best, if not outright deceptions, then myths. That is, a messy hodgepodge of scraps of reality and large doses of invention. The rare scraps of reality are now diminishing ever further. Concerning freedom, Britain under the widely hated Starmer regime, for instance, is a Zionist police state. It goes further than smearing and suppressing any action on behalf of the victims of Israel’s crimes, including genocide, as ”antisemitism”; it also condemns any statements of public solidarity with the victims. There is no rule of law worthy of the name: perfectly legitimate speech is prohibited as “terrorist,” the police harass political dissidents as well as the courts and their procedures.

These themselves are unreliable (ask Julian Assange), and are brazenly bent out of shape to produce unfair trials and punitive sentences. Regarding representation, take Germany, for instance: It now has a breathtakingly, historically unpopular government that is only even in place because the last election saw widespread and statistically bizarre miscounts which together acted – very un-randomly – to conveniently eliminate a whole new-left party (the BSW), and thus its voters, from parliament.

The German new right (AfD) and its voters, meanwhile, are openly threatened with unconstitutional punishment if they dare succeed too much: vote too much AfD and your kid’s high school diploma will be treated like dirt. Yes, that crude; that really is the current level of shamelessness among Germany’s self-radicalizing Centrists.

Even the most conformist inhabitants of the West, moreover, cannot close their eyes anymore to the empirical fact that conspiracies are all too real and exert great, heinous influence by vicious means. You cannot have both your masses soundly believing in the myth of fair popular representation and an Epstein scandal; it is proof of the massive over-representation of a very particular set of interests, and even foreign states, through networks of subversion and blackmail. The system may survive at first, but its base will be undermined by mass frustration and cynicism.

Today, the states of the West, in short, has much in common, and most of it is terrible. That is why we are observing one big trend across it now: In the words of the Wall Street Journal – not usually known for subversive dissidence – “Europeans are fed up and taking it out on their leaders.” Polls show massive discontent across NATO-EU Europe. And not only polls but real elections, too: Britain’s Starmer regime has just received a horrific drubbing in local elections that may well mark the impending end of the UK’s dysfunctional and unfair two-party system.

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All your base are belong to us.

• Mamdani Plans to Begin Seizing and Redistributing Private Property (Bolt)

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani kicked off his plan to “fix” the city’s affordability crisis with his official housing policy agenda, titled “Block by Block,” under which one of the first priorities is to allow the government to seize property from owners deemed “negligent” and redistribute it to so-called “responsible stewards,” a category that includes anyone from land trusts, nonprofits, or even tenants themselves.


“Through our new citywide campaign, Fix the City, we will focus on the worst landlords in New York City,” Mamdani announced. “When necessary, we will take aggressive legal action to remove negligent owners and property managers. And for buildings that have suffered chronic neglect, we will work to transfer ownership to responsible stewards. Stewards that include community land trusts, non-profits, or even the tenants themselves.”

In other words, despite Mamdani’s claims that this time his own version of socialism will be different, it appears to be heading down the same familiar path, one that students of history expected upon Mamdani’s victory. Government redistribution of private property, however, is not the only pillar of Mamdani’s “Block by Block” agenda. He has also vowed to fast-track the construction of low-income and government-subsidized housing, while promising to impose price controls on those units that would limit rent to just a quarter of a tenant’s income.

Mamdani ended his “Block by Block” agenda announcement with a unifying, though ironic, speech, praising the city for what it is known for: its iconic skyscrapers, bridges, and museums. Yet those achievements were made possible not because of politicians like Mamdani, but in spite of them, driven largely by private industry and capitalists. Today, Mamdani’s own agenda still depends on the very economic forces he blasts daily, relying on private wealth to help fund his socialist policy vision.

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“.. and the Left’s Reaction Is Priceless ..”

• Mamdani Did the Right Thing on Crime (Stephen Green)

What do you call it when a mayor does the right thing concerning policing, resulting in tangible results for his city’s most vulnerable? Well, this is New York City, and the mayor is an avowed socialist, so you have to call it “mounting frustration” from so-called reform advocates and the people who voted for him. And you people wonder why I drink. Anyway, there’s a fascinating — and perhaps unintentionally hilarious — report by Elizabeth Kim in today’s Gothamist describing a “surge of police officers into neighborhoods of color with high crime,” and the resulting hissy fit thrown by the city’s professional lefties.


There’s even been a “spike in subway arrests and summonses,” among other dreaded “broken windows”-style policing leading to “Courts so backlogged that officials had to temporarily reopen an emergency overnight shift.” Harry Anderson, call your office. Kim also mentioned that “at least three people… died in NYPD custody after being arrested for low-level offenses,” but since she didn’t go into any details, I’m forced to assume that these were George Floyd-type incidents where drug abusers expired due to drug abuse, not police action.

After the huge St.-George-Floyd/BLM/COVID crime spike, New Yorkers enjoyed an almost unparalleled reduction in crime — particularly murder, shootings, robberies, and so-called “lifestyle” offenses like turnstile jumping. And the last thing Mamdani supporters can tolerate is more of the Giuliani-era broken-windows policing that helped create it. That Gothamist report lamented the “mounting frustration among some criminal justice reform advocates and people who voted for Mamdani could come to a head this summer as NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch plans to ‘flood the zone’ this summer with up to 3,800 officers in high-crime areas, including public housing complexes and subway stations.”

“Tisch has repeatedly said the city is not using broken windows policing,” according to Kim, but those “flood the zone” tactics say otherwise. Likewise, Mamdani spokesman Sam Raskin “disputed the notion that Mamdani campaigned on a promise to reduce policing of low-level offenses,” according to the paper. And all I can say is: Good for him then. I suspect that New Yorkers will suffer enough under the Mamdani administration without having to deal with a return to Bill de Blasio-era policing methods. Or it could be, as the Gothamist hinted, that Mamdani is flooding the zone due to “the global spotlight for the World Cup,” coming in June.

In the meantime, however, enjoy not getting shot at. This might be my favorite line from the entire Gothamist report: “Criminal justice advocates like [Justice Committee deputy director Yul-san] Liem argue that crackdowns on low-level offenses lead to a revolving door of arrests by failing to address the root causes like mental illness, homelessness and substance abuse.” Don’t you worry, gentle reader, the Justice Committee has a plan to address those root causes that involves paying themselves lots of other people’s money to help the mentally ill and/or drug addicted to continue pooping in the streets.

Seriously, take a look at the group’s Staff page and tell me which one of these preferred-pronouns social champions has ever actually gotten anything done in the real world. Liem, for their part, is listed as a “she/her they/them” who is “making art as part of New York City’s social and racial justice movements.” So with apologies to Stanley Kubrick, “You can’t produce results here, gentlemen — this is the public sector!”

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All you need to do is take a picture with Trump.

• Paxton Crushes Cornyn In Stunning Texas Senate Upset (ZH)

In a brutal repudiation of the GOP old guard, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton crushed four-term incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican Senate runoff Tuesday night, winning by a commanding margin of roughly 63% to 37%. The victory marks one of the biggest primary upsets in modern Texas political history. Cornyn, a powerful Senate insider and former Majority Whip, was unceremoniously dumped by his own party’s voters after more than two decades in Washington. Paxton, the hard-charging conservative known for his fierce battles with the Biden administration and loyalty to Donald Trump, declared victory and wasted no time thanking the base.


“Texas has spoken loud and clear,” Paxton said in his victory speech. “We’re done with business as usual.” The race turned decisively after Trump endorsed Paxton just days before early voting ended. That seal of approval from the former president mobilized the MAGA base and proved once again that Trump remains the undisputed kingmaker in Republican primaries. Cornyn led the initial March 3 primary with about 42% of the vote, but failed to clear 50%, forcing a runoff against Paxton, who took 41%. The contest quickly turned into a bloodbath, with both sides dumping tens of millions into attack ads.

Paxton hammered Cornyn as out-of-touch with Texas values and too cozy with the Washington establishment. Cornyn fired back, portraying Paxton as ethically compromised and a liability heading into the general election. But in the end, Texas Republicans chose the fighter over the dealmaker. The Paxton-Cornyn showdown wasn’t the only fireworks in Texas Tuesday night. In the race to replace Paxton as Attorney General, conservative state Sen. Mayes Middleton defeated U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, setting up a strong favorite to hold the powerful post in November.

Democrats also saw some action, with state Rep. James Talarico emerging as their Senate nominee. He’ll now face the daunting task of trying to flip deep-red Texas in November against the polarizing Paxton. Paxton’s win is the latest sign that the Republican Party continues its sharp rightward shift. Traditional, institutional conservatives like Cornyn are increasingly being shown the door in favor of Trump-aligned warriors willing to fight the culture wars and challenge the status quo.

For national Republicans, the result is a double-edged sword. While the seat remains heavily favored to stay red in November, Paxton’s baggage and combative style could force the party to spend serious cash defending what should have been a safe hold. Democrats are already licking their chops, viewing Paxton as far more beatable than the polished Cornyn. But in a state that hasn’t elected a statewide Democrat in nearly 30 years, their path to victory remains steep.

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Who will Blanche nail for this?

• Key Biden DOJ Official Raised Red Flags About FBI’s Mar-a-Lago Raid (JTN)

A recently disclosed email shows that top Garland associates raised the issue of declassification before the morning raid. Although the memo requested that lawyers check whether Trump had the authority to declassify documents, Garland personally approved the August 2022 raid, which included searching Melania Trump’s underwear drawers. top Biden Justice Department official and key ally of then-Attorney General Merrick Garland raised legal “concerns” about the FBI’s raid on Mar-Lago, warning that then-former President Donald Trump may have actually declassified the records seized by agents, a newly-unearthed email obtained by Just the News shows.


Patty Stemler, a decades-long DOJ veteran who was reportedly picked by Garland in 2022 to help consult on Trump-related cases, sent an email just two days after the bureau’s Aug. 8, 2022 raid of Trump’s Florida resort home, where Stemler said she had “a few concerns.” Stemler sent the email to Sophia Brill, a future Biden White House lawyer and then an attorney inside DOJ’s National Security Division, which played a central role in this anti-Trump inquiry.The memo was recently discovered by the Justice Department as part of its investigation into the weaponization of federal law enforcement.

“I didn’t know about this search in advance, but I have been worrying about it ever since and worrying more now,” Stemler wrote to Brill on Aug. 10, 2022. “Doesn’t Trump maintain that he had the authority to declassify documents while he was still President? “Has anyone in NSD or OLC [Office of Legal Counsel] looked at that? I know we have procedures for declassifying, but is the President as Commander in Chief bound by those procedures? We also have procedures for granting pardons, but the President doesn’t have to follow them,” she added. Garland has said he “personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant” for the FBI’s unprecedented raid of Mar-a-Lago back in early August 2022.

Her warnings are now the second showing federal law enforcement’s unease with the unprecedented raid on Mar-a-Lago. Previously, FBI Director Kash Patel provided Congress evidence that agents did not believe they had not met the legal standard of probable cause required for the raid but proceeded anyway. Trump’s office told Just the News in mid-August 2022 that the materials with classified markings which the FBI seized from his Mar-a-Lago estate had actually been declassified under a “standing order” while he was president that allowed him to take sensitive materials to the White House residence at night to continue his work.

“The very fact that these documents were present at Mar-a-Lago means they couldn’t have been classified,” the former president’s office stated at the time. “As we can all relate to, everyone ends up having to bring home their work from time to time. American presidents are no different. President Trump, in order to prepare for work the next day, often took documents, including classified documents from the Oval Office to the residence.

Trump’s office added back in August 2022: “He had a standing order that documents removed from the Oval Office and taken into the residence were deemed to be declassified. The power to classify and declassify documents rests solely with the President of the United States. The idea that some paper-pushing bureaucrat, with classification authority delegated BY THE PRESIDENT, needs to approve of declassification is absurd.” Stemler appeared to be concerned with exactly that scenario, her email states. “I don’t know if we intend to charge anyone with respect to the classified documents seized yesterday, but if we disclose that we found X classified documents before we seek an indictment, will that trench on any fair trial rights or violate the ethical obligations of a prosecutor?” she wrote.

“I seem to recall that a prosecutor has some leeway to inform the public that we have arrested the serial killer and seized from his home evidence that ties him to the murders for the purpose of reassuring the public that they are now safe. But aren’t there ethical limits on what a prosecutor can say otherwise? I think this came up when Ashcroft was AG — post 9/11. Liza Collery drafted something to get him out of trouble. Let me see if I can find that.”

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No idea how Joe is doing, but I doubt it’s him who’s suing anyone.

• Joe Biden Sues DOJ To Stop Release Of Audio Recordings (JTN)

Former President Joe Biden sued the Justice Department Tuesday to block the release of recordings and transcripts from interviews he gave to a ghostwriter for his 2017 memoir, which were included in a special counsel probe regarding his handling of classified materials after he served as vice president. The lawsuit comes ahead of the department’s planned June 15 release of the materials to the House Judiciary Committee and the conservative Heritage Foundation, which requested the information under the Freedom of Information Act, per Reuters.


The Heritage Foundation requested the material after they were used in then-Special Counsel Robert Hur’s 2023 investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents, for which Hur ultimately declined to bring charges Hur determined Biden’s memory lapses would make it hard to prove he acted willfully.

The lawsuit, which is related to private conversations the former president had with his biographer in 2016 and 2017, asks the Washington, D.C., court to declare the committee’s request pretextual and invalid, and permanently bar the release of the records. The recordings were part of Biden’s 2017 memoir in which he detailed his decision to pursue the presidency while his eldest son Beau fought brain cancer.

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Prayers for a full recovery.

• Pam Bondi Battlies Thyroid Cancer, Trump Gives Her Advisory Role on AI (CTH)

Apparently, former Attorney General Pam Bondi has been battling thyroid cancer since her departure from Main Justice. Axios is reporting today that President Trump has appointed Bondi to an advisory committee role on artificial intelligence. [Axios via MSM] – “President Trump has appointed former Attorney General Pam Bondi to an advisory committee focused on AI policy, Axios has learned. Driving the news: Bondi, whom Trump ousted as AG last month, will be on the Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).


The panel is chaired by former White House AI adviser David Sacks and White House science adviser Michael Kratsios. It also includes more than a dozen tech executives, including Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. What we’re hearing: Bondi will be charged with facilitating coordination between the government and the tech titans on the panel.What they’re saying: “Pam has been an enormously valuable asset to the president’s team, and I’m thrilled for her and for all of us that she’s going to remain involved in confronting some of the most important issues the administration faces,” Vice President JD Vance said in a statement.

Bondi will also serve in a newly established advisory role on national infrastructure. Between the lines: Bondi was diagnosed with thyroid cancer shortly after departing the Justice Department, according to a source. She underwent treatment and is recovering.That is terrible news. Prayers for a full recovery.

Heavenly Father, we come before You with prayer. We pray for the power of Your Holy Spirit to bring healing and restoration to the body of Pam Bondi. We beg Your divine touch to remain upon her, bringing her comfort, strength and healing to both her physical and spiritual life. Lord of mercy, we pray that You will grant Mrs. Bondi a peace in recovery that surpasses understanding. May Your loving presence surround her and those she loves, removing fear, anxiety or doubt.

We ask that You extend a powerful embrace upon her, as we accept that You are with her in every step of this healing process. Father who guides all that is known, it is You alone who controls very cell, tissue, and organ in our body. Through You miraculous healing and wholeness is possible. May Your power flow through her, restoring her health and vitality. In Jesus name we pray. ~ Amen

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And we throw in the graph once more as well. You been had! It’s not terribly warm at all.

Now stop it!

• Heads Exploded When Vox Published This Global Warming Report (Stephen Green)

“Climate change’s worst-case scenario is officially canceled,” young adult infotainment site Vox finally admitted this weekend, causing progressive heads to explode, from the writing staff to its readership. “You’ve probably never heard of the term ‘RCP 8.5’ — the highest-emission scenario used by climate scientists to project the planet’s future,” Vox’s Bryan Walsh reported. “But if you’ve read about climate change, you’ve seen the numbers and nightmarish outcomes it produced: 4°C of warming by 2100, sometimes 5°C, sea level rising multiple feet, parts of the planet too hot for humans.” Scary stuff, right? Wrong.


Even though “those numbers shaped a decade and a half of climate journalism,” Walsh continued, he “didn’t always know — and didn’t always communicate — that the scenario behind the most apocalyptic, attention-getting findings was largely an attempt to imagine how bad things could get, not a true forecast.” Let’s pause here a moment to contemplate what Walsh just admitted.Walsh: Now says he was ignorant about climate change numbers, despite being an expert for Time magazine. Ignorant, except when he “didn’t always communicate” what he did know. Which was that climate change “findings” were imaginary. Scare tactics, if you will. Now Walsh says, “The world that RCP 8.5 assumed will never arrive.” Mea culpa, much?

No, not nearly enough. “RCP 8.5 was as much a climate journalism story as it was a climate science one,” Walsh now says, in the exact same paragraph that ends with “In 2017, the writer David Wallace-Wells published ‘The Uninhabitable Earth’ in New York magazine. It was probably the most widely read piece of climate journalism of the last decade, and it was built almost entirely on RCP 8.5 projections.” Translation: The Climate Scare was a narrative first, science second. If that. Of course, it’s been weeks since Longtime Sharp VodkaPundit readers learned what Vox finally admitted, thanks to this item from May 5: It’s Official: The Climate Scam Was a Scam All Along.

From that column: “The new IPCC framework [that ditches 8.5] actually dates back to 2021, but is only now becoming “news” because a bunch of slow-moving pieces have finally lined up. That’s just how science works. But Pielke’s analysis is a week old, and the only way I learned about it was thanks to a Toby Young post on X — he’s editor-in-chief of the UK’s Daily Sceptic — that PJ Media’s own Charlie Martin found. Why, it’s almost as though the mainstream media doesn’t want to cover stories like this one. So kudos, I guess, to Vox for finally coming clean, even if it took a full three weeks after VodkaPundit readers got the news, and a month after Roger Pielke’s excellent analysis went live.

But Vox still has to Vox. So instead of asking how or why basically the entire news industry peddled a narrative instead of science — while vacillating as Walsh did between ignorance or “not always communicating” the truth, Vox readers got more political twaddle about President Donald Trump in the penultimate paragraph. “The entire point of climate scenarios like RCP 8.5 was that there was no one certain future for climate change,” Walsh concluded, “only multiple possible futures.” Then why did writers like Walsh and publications like Vox assure readers that the end of the world was nigh, right up until they couldn’t get away with it any longer?

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