in the 1970s, the Mexican and US governments tried to destroy marijuana fields by spraying them with paraquat. Some thought they were trying to poison pot smokers. This is why the worst insult the Dude can think of in the Big Lebowski is "you... human paraquat!" www.dmlawfirm.com/blog/2021/ap...

Thirty-six physicians, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Henry David Abraham, say Trump shows signs of cognitive decline serious enough to question his fitness for office. Meanwhile, the White House says he's in excellent health.

The White House released another glowing health assessment for Trump. The reaction online was immediate: people zeroed in on bruises, ankle swelling, rashes, and gaps they think the report leaves unexplained. 👀

ICE said a Venezuelan immigrant attacked an agent with a shovel. Then video surfaced. Now the agent who made those claims has been arrested and charged. This story gets stranger the deeper you go. 👀

The promise was cheaper energy. Instead, this piece argues that fossil fuel dependence is making inflation worse. Higher fuel costs ripple through food, electricity, insurance, and household budgets while renewable energy projects face new barriers.

A few Senate Republicans who no longer need MAGA voters may finally start voting like they have opinions of their own. The bigger story: non-MAGA Republicans appear less motivated, and that could matter more than any Senate rebellion.

One theme keeps showing up: people who spent years building a political brand around strength seem awfully surprised when voters, judges, artists, and reality push back. Jeff Tiedrich's latest roundup covers a week of MAGA own-goals and public embarrassments.

Anthropic's co-founder ended up sharing a Vatican stage with Pope Leo XIV. The article digs into why some see dialogue, others see branding, and why critics are using the phrase "Vatican-washing." 👀

Vermont just became the first state to ban paraquat, a herbicide linked to Parkinson’s disease and banned in more than 70 countries. The question now is how many other states follow.

A strange twist: Many free-trade advocates now spend more time talking about industrial policy, supply-chain resilience, and national security than tariffs. This discussion explores how that happened and where it leads.

The prosecutor who brought the case claiming James Comey threatened Trump with a photo of seashells has stepped aside. The case is still moving forward, but its credibility keeps looking shakier.

A federal judge had to remind Trump administration lawyers how court word limits work after they used nearly all 12,000 allowed words in their opening brief, then asked for thousands more. Not exactly a confidence-building moment.

“This is a cover-up.” That's Rep. Melanie Stansbury after questioning former Attorney General Pam Bondi about the handling of Epstein-related records. The accusation isn't about what was released. It's about what still hasn't been.

Brian McFadden via Daily Kos

A lot of modern politics comes down to this question: Who gets to make the rules? Trump says mail voting needs tighter controls. Opponents say the Constitution leaves election administration to states, not the White House.

Kevin D. Williamson isn't criticizing Trump from a distance. He's comparing Trump's White House UFC spectacle to the dysfunction he grew up around and arguing that America has started treating public embarrassment as political culture. buff.ly/jdDdt04

First James Talarico was accused of being "low T." Then transgender. Then vegan. Now Sen. Mike Lee has entered the chat with an accusation involving Moloch and child sacrifice. Politics remains a normal profession. 🙃

"Everything checked out perfectly." That's how Trump described his latest physical after a visit to Walter Reed. The White House backed that up with a memo declaring him in excellent health. The public debate clearly isn't over.

From Daily Kos

The Ark Encounter sold Kentucky officials on huge attendance forecasts and decades of growth. Instead, attendance never got close to the projections used to justify the financing. The numbers tell a very different story than the sales pitch.

A lawsuit that began as a challenge to a Biden-era rule has become something much bigger. The fight now centers on legal protections that help disabled people avoid unnecessary institutionalization. Two states have already backed away. 👀

Erik Loomis's critique of Hakeem Jeffries isn't that he's ineffective. It's that he's built for normal politics in a moment that feels anything but normal. The argument: consensus-building may not be enough when your opponent is Trump.

Kellyanne Conway tried to revive the old Biden age attack, but the line landed differently in 2026. The awkward part: Joe Biden is retired with family. Trump is the one holding the nuclear codes.

The White House is now using UFO jokes and "alien" imagery to sell Trump's deportation agenda. Critics say it's more than a meme. It's a way to make mass detention and deportation feel normal while reports of abuses keep piling up.

Exxon says oil inventories are heading toward record lows and prices could spike fast. If Brent crude hits $150-$160 a barrel, drivers won't be the only ones paying more. Food, shipping, and home heating costs tend to follow.

John Cornyn spent years backing Trump, then lost his primary after Trump backed Ken Paxton instead. His post about betrayal has people asking whether he's finally learning how loyalty works in MAGA politics. buff.ly/7BhUXaj%E2%8...

A federal judge ruled that Trump couldn't rename the Kennedy Center after himself because only Congress has that power. The decision landed on John F. Kennedy's birthday, and the Kennedy family treated it like a gift. buff.ly/UTCt27T%E2%8...

Five World Cup matches could be played in heat that player advocates consider unsafe. The debate isn't about who wins. It's whether FIFA's heat rules still match the climate we're living in. ⚽🌡️

“There is no guarantee that those records will ever be made accessible to the public.” That's former National Archives litigation director Jason R. Baron on Trump's library plans. The fight isn't over a building. It's over who owns the historical record.

"There has never been a President of the United States who has been treated so unfairly by the Courts as I..." Donald Trump wrote that while reacting to a judge's Kennedy Center ruling. The claim is doing a lot of work.

Steve M.'s argument is pretty simple: the strange, conspiratorial, and openly extremist behavior showing up across Republican politics isn't an outlier anymore. He says it's become the party's brand.

“Donald has never built anything.” That's Mary Trump's core argument. She traces decades of failed businesses, licensing deals, and inherited wealth that she says sit behind the Trump brand's carefully crafted image. buff.ly/3Bv3GBg

Most people rarely carry a $100 bill anymore. Yet the U.S. prints huge numbers of them, and economists argue much of that demand comes from the underground economy. Now imagine adding a Trump-themed $250 bill to the mix.

Colorado Republicans may be about to nominate a gubernatorial candidate who says he killed a man at age 7, performs exorcisms by phone, and has made other extraordinary claims that remain unproven.

Barbara McQuade's new book looks at the overlap between MAGA politics and mafia-style corruption through the eyes of a former federal prosecutor. The focus isn't only what went wrong. It's what citizens can do next.

"The threat is not the stranger. The threat is the husband. The boyfriend. The colleague. The family member. The friend. The man she trusted." Qasim Rashid uses homicide and assault data to challenge one of the most common assumptions about women's safety.

One of the biggest figures in Knicks history got asked about Trump attending the NBA Finals. Bill Bradley's answer was shorter, sharper, and more revealing than you'd expect. 🏀

Kellyanne Conway says aging leaders in decline shouldn't be trusted with the presidency. The awkward part? Critics heard the argument and thought she was describing Trump as much as Joe Biden.

Six years after the 2020 election, Trump's FBI is interviewing Wisconsin election officials and seeking election records tied to long-debunked fraud claims. The biggest concern isn't relitigating 2020. It's what access to those ballots could mean now.

Susan Collins' response to an Iraq War veteran is raising a bigger question: what responsibility do politicians bear after voting to send troops into war? This story looks at that debate through Collins' reelection fight in Maine.

For years, conservatives argued "cancel culture" was out of control. Now artists are declining Trump events and many of the same people are demanding boycotts and blacklists. The Freedom 250 fallout keeps getting stranger.

Food insecurity in the US is now back to levels seen during the worst months of the COVID pandemic, according to new research from the New York Fed. Even with low unemployment, more people are skipping meals, using food banks, and expecting their finances to get worse.

“Cocaine remains highly available, highly prevalent, and relatively inexpensive.” That's Carl Latkin of Johns Hopkins University, looking at the results of Trump's anti-drug bombing campaign. The promised disruption never showed up.

Ezra Klein recently floated a theory that Trump may care more about maintaining control of the Republican Party than maximizing GOP midterm wins. This post argues for a different explanation and explores what each theory could mean for future elections.

From Clay Jones at Daily Kos 14444444444444444444

A lot of Democrats keep asking who's "electable." Wisconsin state Rep. Francesca Hong is making a different argument: give people something to believe in, organize around, and fight for. The buzz around her seems to be about more than policy.

A strange day in Trump news: questions about an Iran ceasefire, a judge ordering Trump's name removed from the Kennedy Center, and a federal court freezing his $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund." The courts are still very much part of the story.

One of the stranger habits in politics is declaring winners before the contest is over. George Will argues Donald Trump looked at Ukraine, saw defeat, and missed how much staying power Volodymyr Zelensky still had.

Louisiana Republicans are one vote away from a congressional map that removes a majority-Black district and likely adds a GOP seat in Congress. Supporters call it partisan strategy. Critics say race and party can't be separated that neatly in Louisiana.

“Since its inception, this fund has been on a collision course with the United States Constitution.” That’s the argument from plaintiffs challenging Trump’s $1.8 billion fund. A federal judge has now temporarily blocked it while the case moves forward.