The Common Ills

Sunday, August 16, 2026

"He lost the war on Day 1" — Paul Krugman Exposes Iran War Failure

Trump sees WRITING ON THE WALL, Advisors Admit they White House on the verge of COLLAPSE

Saturday, August 15, 2026

Chump's been begging for impeachment since the day he was sworn in for his second term

Chump has put the economy in the toilet, the American people are struggling with basic bills, he's started the Iran War and that's costing billions and costing lives. And what's he focused on? Glenn Thrush (NEW YORK TIMES) reports:

The U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago has spent the past year investigating a Democratic fund-raising firm once co-owned by the daughter of the judge in President Trump’s hush-money trial in New York, according to court filings and people familiar with the inquiry.

Last August, the U.S. attorney, Andrew S. Boutros of the Northern District of Illinois, directed Authentic Campaigns Inc. to turn over a broad range of internal communications with clients. They included former Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, and the Democratic National Committee, according to a grand jury subpoena reviewed by The New York Times.

Loren Merchan, the daughter of Juan Merchan, a supreme court judge in Manhattan, was the firm’s vice president until late 2024 and was also on the list. The Merchan family has been a frequent target of Mr. Trump and his allies, who have made unsubstantiated claims that the judge was out to get him and that his daughter profited from accusations aired at the trial.

The trial ended with Mr. Trump’s conviction in 2024, in the midst of his campaign for a second term, on 34 felony counts stemming from his efforts to keep a porn star from publicizing her story of a liaison with him.

Are you getting why the country is in the toilet right now? Chump can't see forward because he's so busy looking back. And he's illegally using -- abusing -- the government to get them to go after the people who held him accountable.

He was held accountable because he broke the law. That's the reality. He's a convict. That's the reality.

And nothing he's going to do or any revenge he's going to try to work will change that.

But in the meantime, instead of focusing on delivering for the American people, he's working his revenge scheme and abusing the government.

If he wants to appeal his convictions, if he wants to relitigate, he needs to do that as a private citizen. He is not allowed to, as president, abuse the government and the processs. Some people thought he was joking when he said he'd do one day of vengance if re-elected. But what's he's done instead is 565 days -- and counting -- of vengeance.

And he's been allowed to do this, these illegal actions have been ignored and/or condoned by Republicans in Congress. This is outrageous. This is an abuse of office. This is the sort of thing that, in a functioning government, leads to impeachment.

Service members on the USS LINCOLN do not have needed supplies, do not have needed food, have been on board for nine months and counting but Chump's busy trying to even the score instead of taking his punishment and learning from it.

And everyone in the administration tries to curry Nutso's favor by lying. Mataeo Smith (IRISH STAR) reports of our Secretary of Homeland Security

Markwayne Mullin stuttered on the air as he falsely claimed that President Donald Trump's approval rating is "through the roof," spouting a blatant lie he doesn't seem to believe himself.

The Secretary of Homeland Security, who was ridiculed by the president a few weeks ago after he tried to dial back ICE vehicle stops in the wake of a fatal shooting in Maine, sat before millions of viewers on Fox News on Friday and said Trump's approval rating was "through the roof," despite countless surveys reporting otherwise. Mullin stuttered along the way as he appeared to force his lips to utter the lie.

While his administration lives ina bubble, out in the real world, people notice what's going on. Will Weissert (AP) observes:

"The buck stops here" is one of the most recognizable maxims in American political lore. Yet for President Donald Trump, accountability rarely seems to land at his desk.

When confronted with anxieties over economic stagnation and persistent inflation, he points toward his predecessor, Joe Biden, claiming he inherited the issue. He maintains this stance even though the Democrat departed office more than 18 months ago and despite Trump's earlier pledges of a rapid recovery.

Regarding the troubled renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the Republican president attributes the setbacks to criminal vandalism. However, a prosecutor appointed by his own administration concluded that poor construction quality was responsible for the defects.

As for the deepening conflict in Iran—which has driven up crude prices, depressed his popularity, and unsettled international markets—Trump frames it as necessary corrective action. He asserts he is rectifying decades of hesitation by previous commanders-in-chief who missed half a century of opportunities to contain Tehran's nuclear capabilities.

Chump and Hegseth are responsible for the problems on the USS LINCOLN and neither wants to own their mistakes. Instead, their latest statements make things much worse. Marco Margaritoff (HUFFINGTON POST) reports:

Retired Maj. General Randy Manner on Friday accused President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth of “spewing lies” about the reportedly deplorable conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and its extended deployment in the Middle East.

Manner joined CNN following reports that U.S. military service members have tried to jump off the aircraft carrier amid an extended stay due to the Iran war.

Hegseth had claimed that the reports “misrepresented” the situation, and Trump had called the deployment “not nearly long enough.”

“I will tell you unequivocally that [in] all my 36 years of service, if any Navy chief or non-commissioned officer, or officer, or admiral, or general had ever said those kind of words, they would have been relieved within minutes, and I mean that literally,” Manner said about Trump.

He said, “It is totally inappropriate that the commander in chief of our military show continued disdain and disrespect for our military members and for their family. This is unacceptable, whether it’s talking about Gold Star mothers and fathers or … those young men and women.”

Dan Gooding (NEWSWEEK) notes:

The father of a 20-year-old sailor aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln has condemned President Donald Trump’s war with Iran as a “forever war” and offered to take his son’s place as the aircraft carrier’s deployment stretches beyond 265 days.

Jefferson Kelly, of Cincinnati, Ohio, told Newsweek that his son had joined the Navy enthusiastically, hoping to serve his country and become an engineer, but after the Lincoln was sent to the Middle East, Kelly said the deployment became the realization of a fear he had carried since Trump’s return to the White House.
“I had a feeling that there’s going to be a forever war,” Kelly said. “If there’s going to be any issue, any kind of major engagement or war, they send the aircraft carriers… And that’s exactly what happened.”
Newsweek also spoke with the wife of a higher-ranking officer on board the vessel, who detailed how spouses had been trying to send care packages to the crew after reports of supplies running low and food deteriorating in the spring.

“Well, the care package took 2.5 months to get there. So that was concerning,” Ashley Rogers said. “Now the most recent communications, even with my husband, who snaps into military mode, he just does his job, even he sounds so just defeated, and he has a really hard time getting his guys to cooperate and do their jobs.”

In other news of Chump's misadventure with Iran, Jasmine Fernández (INDEPENDENT) reports:

America’s emergency oil stockpile has dropped to its lowest level in 40 years, with experts warning that ongoing withdrawals for the war with Iran could permanently damage the underground caverns holding the crude.

The warnings arrive as American drivers face unprecedented gas prices for late summer. Today’s AAA National Average for a gallon of regular gasoline sits at $4.07, marking the highest levels on record for mid-August.

Concerns over the physical limits of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve center on the unique geology of its storage network. The crude is held within 60 salt caverns thousands of feet below ground at four sites across Texas and Louisiana.

Meanwhile more evidence piles up for impeachment of Chump. Reis Thebault (NEW YORK TIMES) reports:

As President Trump fumed late last year over Colorado’s imprisonment of Tina Peters, a convicted election denier, a White House special assistant organized an urgent “brainstorm call.”

The goal, outlined in an email sent to officials at five federal agencies, was to “prioritize Colorado for the purposes of ensuring grants and federal support are in line with administration priorities,” the assistant, Emily Underwood, wrote on Dec. 15.

“Please come prepared to discuss immediate actions that your department or agency can take with respect to Colorado,” Ms. Underwood added.

The next day, the Department of Transportation and the Department of Energy, whose representatives were invited to the brainstorm, announced they were canceling hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants for Colorado projects.

State officials say the email, which was revealed in a federal court hearing on Tuesday, is the clearest evidence yet that the Trump administration marshaled government resources to retaliate against Colorado over its use of mail-in ballots and its conviction of Ms. Peters, a county clerk who was found guilty in a plot to tamper with voting machines after the 2020 election.

[. . .]

In the Tuesday court hearing, Judge [R. Brooke] Jackson ordered the federal government to turn over additional communication from the White House, a step the administration’s lawyers had opposed.

“The executive office of the president and the president himself are elected to serve all the people and all the states, not just the states that voted for one side or the other, not just the states that line up perfectly with priorities, but all the people,” Judge Jackson said. “In fact, there’s an oath that’s taken to that effect.”

He's been begging for impeachment since he was sworn in for his second term. Republicans in Congress clearly don't care about democracy or the government. They only care about covering for Chump.

Let's wind down with this from Senator Alex Padilla's office:

Despite claims that President Trump’s “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is “dead,” the DOJ continues to funnel taxpayer money from DOJ’s Judgment Fund to political allies

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff (both D-Calif.), along with every Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, are demanding answers from Attorney General Todd Blanche on the Trump Administration’s continued abuse of taxpayer funds to reward President Trump’s political allies through settlement agreements despite repeatedly assuring Congress, federal courts, and the American people that the Justice Department (DOJ) no longer intended to pay out settlements through any slush fund.

“The strong public and political backlash to the illegal Anti-Weaponization Fund was animated by a repulsion to the concept that the President’s political allies – including January 6 insurrectionists who beat U.S. Capitol and D.C. police officers – would benefit financially from their crimes. Yet, the Department is quietly creating that reality. We are deeply concerned by this Administration’s continued efforts to use taxpayer resources – including the Judgment Fund – to reward its allies, while claiming to disavow any payouts through the Anti-Weaponization Fund,” the Senators wrote.

During Todd Blanche’s confirmation hearing last month, and in several questions for the record following his testimony, Blanche assured Congress in writing that the Anti-Weaponization Fund “is dead.” However, Blanche still refused to confirm in a sworn statement under penalty of perjury – as ordered by a federal court – that the President’s slush fund “will not proceed in any manner, or under any name.” Recent reporting indicates DOJ officials are actively exploring alternative avenues for compensating January 6th defendants and other allies of President Trump, including through the settlement of Federal Torts Claims Act (FTCA) claims using the Judgment Fund.

In their probe, the lawmakers are demanding DOJ provide answers on a range of questions including if the Department has issued guidance of whether individuals who were eligible to receive Anti-Weaponization Fund payments are eligible to receive compensation through DOJ’s Judgment Fund. They’re also seeking copies of communications between Blanche, DOJ, and any individuals seeking to receive payments though alternative mechanisms (including those convicted on counts relating to the January 6 insurrection).

In addition to Padilla and Schiff, the letter is signed by Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).

Padilla has consistently fought to hold the DOJ accountable. Padilla and his colleagues have repeatedly pushed the Trump DOJ to publicly reject efforts by January 6 rioters to receive payouts as these insurrectionists file claims for millions of dollars in taxpayer money. On the fifth anniversary of the insurrection, Padilla and Whitehouse introduced a pair of bills to prevent January 6 rioters from receiving refunds or cash rewards from the federal government that they are aggressively seeking from Trump’s DOJ. Last month, Padilla joined Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and all Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats in demanding that the DOJ Acting Inspector General launch an immediate, thorough, and quick investigation into President Trump’s creation of the nearly $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”

The full text of the letter can be found here and below.

Dear Attorney General Blanche:

We write to express profound and continued alarm regarding the apparent systemic abuse of Department of Justice (DOJ) resources through settlement agreements to reward President Trump’s political allies. Despite your assurances that President Trump’s “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is “dead,” the Justice Department continues to funnel taxpayer money from DOJ’s Judgment Fund to political allies of the President who might otherwise have filed claims with the Anti-Weaponization Fund.

Over the last several months, you have repeatedly assured Congress, federal courts, and the American public that the Justice Department no longer intends to pay out settlements through the slush fund created as part of the settlement you signed on May 18, 2026, in the Trump v. IRS case. On June 2, 2026, you told the House Appropriations Committee “we are not moving forward with the fund, period.” When asked again at that hearing if the fund was “not moving forward, ever” you responded “correct.”

On July 15, 2026, during your confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, you confirmed under oath to Senator John Cornyn, “the Weaponization Fund is dead. It’s not moving forward.” In response to several questions for the record following your testimony, you assured Congress in writing that the Anti-Weaponization Fund “is dead” twenty-six times. Furthermore, the Justice Department has repeatedly insisted in federal court filings that the Anti- Weaponization Fund “is not moving forward.” Despite all of these statements, recent reporting indicates DOJ officials are actively exploring alternative avenues for compensating January 6th defendants and other allies of President Trump, including through the settlement of Federal Torts Claims Act (FTCA) claims using the Judgment Fund.

The documents you released on August 2, 2026, do little to assuage these concerns, as they provide no guarantee DOJ will not simply revive the Anti-Weaponization Fund, which President Trump has repeatedly threatened to do. Furthermore, these documents make no assurance you will not use other mechanisms, including quietly settling administrative claims brought against the government, to compensate President Trump’s political allies, effectively accomplishing the goals of the Anti-Weaponization Fund. To this end, you refused to confirm in a sworn statement under penalty of perjury – as ordered by a federal court –that the President’s slush fund “will not proceed in any manner, or under any name.” Finally, the documents also beg the question of how DOJ would defend against a lawsuit by President Trump to enforce the initial settlement agreement, which by its plain terms “may be modified only with the written agreement of the Parties.”

In fact, these documents create a clear avenue through which DOJ can use the FTCA and the Judgment Fund to benefit individuals with ties to President Trump and his political allies. This is consistent with the way that DOJ has misused federal resources for this purpose since the start of this administration:

In April 2025, DOJ argued January 6th insurrectionists pardoned by President Trump should be reimbursed for the restitution they paid the Architect of the Capitol related to damage they caused in the Capitol. A Government Accountability Office report found January 6th insurrectionists cost taxpayers over $2.7 billion in damage to the Capitol and increased security measures, among other expenses.
In June 2025, pro-Trump legal activist group Judicial Watch announced that your Department entered a $4.9 million settlement agreement with the estate of Ashli Babbitt. Babbitt was shot and killed inside the Capitol by U.S. Capitol Police after she, alongside a mob of rioters, attempted to breach a barricaded door on January 6, 2021. A DOJ investigation cleared the officer involved of criminal wrongdoing in 2021.
In March 2026, DOJ entered a $1.25 million settlement with Michael Flynn, former National Security Advisor to President Trump.18 Flynn previously pled guilty to lying to the FBI about conversations he had with a senior Russian diplomat during an investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 election.
In April 2026, DOJ reached an over $1 million settlement with Mark Houck, who allegedly assaulted a 72-year-old volunteer escort at a reproductive services clinic. DOJ chose to settle with Houck even after a federal judge dismissed with prejudice his lawsuit against the government.
In April 2026, DOJ agreed to pay former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page $1.25million to settle allegations that FBI and DOJ officials abused their authority when investigating Page’s travel to Russia surrounding the 2020 election.
In July 2026, DOJ entered a “seven figur[e]” settlement with Paul Vaughn, an individual convicted of violating the FACE Act after physically blocking the entrance to a reproductive services clinic for three hours. Vaughn was pardoned by President Trump on January 23, 2025.
Attorneys for other individuals involved in the January 6th insurrection have reported plans to file hundreds of Judgment Fund claims, regardless of the status of the Anti- Weaponization Fund. One attorney, who reported filing over 400 claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act for clients involved in the January 6th insurrection, described filing claims against the “existing judgment fund” as a “real possibility.”

When your Department announced the creation of the Anti-Weaponization Fund, it attempted to ground the Fund in precedent by comparing it to the Keepseagle settlement. The Keepseagle settlement benefited Native American farmers who had experienced discrimination at the hands of the Department of Agriculture; it was supported by years of litigation, judicial oversight, a defined class of claimants, and negotiated settlement terms. The Anti-Weaponization Fund has no certified class of claimants, no meaningful definition for qualification, and no judicial oversight — the Attorney General would control both the criteria and the payouts. Any attempt to claim Keepseagle as precedent for the Anti-Weaponization Fund or the use of the Judgment Fund as a slush fund for President Trump’s political allies is ludicrous.

The strong public and political backlash to the illegal Anti-Weaponization Fund was animated by a repulsion to the concept that the President’s political allies – including January 6 insurrectionists who beat U.S. Capitol and D.C. police officers – would benefit financially from their crimes. Yet, the Department is quietly creating that reality. We are deeply concerned by this Administration’s continued efforts to use taxpayer resources – including the Judgment Fund – to reward its allies, while claiming to disavow any payouts through the Anti-Weaponization Fund. To provide transparency to the American people and fulfill the Senate’s legislative and oversight responsibilities regarding DOJ operations, we request responses to the following questions by August 21, 2026:

Are individuals who may have been eligible to receive Anti-Weaponization Fund payments eligible to receive compensation through DOJ’s Judgment Fund, including – but not limited to – parties to the Trump v. IRS case?
Have you or any DOJ employees engaged in conversations with individuals who may have been eligible to receive Anti-Weaponization Fund payments regarding alternative mechanisms through which DOJ could compensate them, including through the Judgment Fund?
- If so, please provide records of all communications and the names of the individuals involved in those communications.
Have you or any DOJ employees ever communicated with White House officials, including the President, regarding any specific Judgment Fund award?
- If so, please provide records of all communications and the names of the individuals involved in those communications.
Has DOJ issued any guidance regarding payments through the Judgment Fund since January 20, 2025?
- If so, please provide copies of that guidance, any underlying legal justification, and whether the White House was consulted on such guidance, including records of all communications involving such consultation.
Have you or any DOJ employees ever communicated with the White House about the use of the Judgment Fund to benefit President Trump, his family, his friends, or any entities or businesses affiliated with the President or his family?
- If so, please provide records of all communications and the names of the individuals involved in those communications.
Has DOJ approved or engaged in discussions regarding any Judgment Fund awards, Federal Tort Claims Act settlements, or other forms of compensation for individuals who were charged with, convicted of, or pardoned for actions related to the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol?
- If so, please provide a complete list of all such claims or settlements, including the status of each claim, the monetary amounts requested or awarded, the legal basis for each settlement, and all records of communications between DOJ officials, defense counsel, or White House staff concerning these claims.
Provide a list of all payments made under the Judgment Fund since January 20, 2025.
What authorities permit DOJ to unilaterally modify the settlement agreement it entered with President Trump, despite the text of the agreement clearly requiring written consent of both parties to modify the agreement?
- During your confirmation hearing, you testified that President Trump has not provided written approval to modify the settlement agreement. Has President Trump provided such written consent? If so, please provide a copy of such communications and a copy of any related communications.
- If President Trump has not provided such approval, please provide DOJ’s legal justification for modifying the agreement.
During your confirmation hearing, you acknowledged that “if President Trump’s counsel sought to enforce [the agreement], they potentially could.” How do you reconcile your sworn testimony that the Anti-Weaponization Fund is not moving forward with other sworn statements acknowledging that President Trump may sue to enforce the settlement agreement?