Today in Politics, Bulletin 425. 7/24/26 Ron Filipkowski Jul 24 ∙ … NYT: “On Wed, the Pentagon reported on its casualties website that a total of 18 American service members had been killed during the war in Iran. By Thursday, DOD had lowered that number, reporting that 14 American troops had been killed in the war.” … “3 military officials said that one reason behind the change was that the Trump admin decided to remove 4 service members killed this past weekend from the list - 3 in Jordan and one in northern Iraq - because their deaths occurred after Trump declared a cease-fire in the war in April.” … Retired Lt. Gen Ben Hodges: “The admin seems to have a real hard time being honest about what is going on - not just about casualties, but about the whole war in general. It shows an unwillingness or inability to aggressively learn from mistakes.” … Fox war correspondent Trey Yingst and others continue to report on signs that Trump may be planning a ground invasion: “13 straight nights of US strikes against Iran. A large military buildup continues with additional assets arriving in the region each day.” … Conservative talk-show host Ben Shapiro urged Trump to wage total war on Iran on his show: “No one in America wants American casualties. We do understand that war does come along with casualties - we’re willing to undergo those casualties in pursuit of an end and for a victory.” … Shapiro never served in the military. … Trump took questions today from the press in the Oval Office: Pete Doocy: Where do you stand on LeBron versus Michael Jordan as the best ever? Trump: Michael Jordan's a friend of mine, play golf with him. He's a really good guy. and I think LeBron is maybe he's a racist but maybe he doesn't like Trump. I only like people who like me. I would say Michael Jordan all the way.” On explosive diarrhea: “We're going to put a major tariff on Mexico, because of the lettuce, and we're going to put a big tariff on Canada because of the smoke, all right? Which would you rather have, lettuce or the smoke?” On Venezuela: “For a long time, I've known their country, and I own the Miss Universe pageant and Ms. Venezuela always did very well in that pageant so I know something about the country.” “If I wasn't elected, Israel would, in my opinion, not be around anymore.” Q: “At what point, do you think Iran is going to cry uncle and come to the table? Trump: Maybe they will cry uncle, or maybe they will just give up or go into a cave and hide.” Q: “Do you think it's appropriate to subpoena family members of journalists to find out info? Trump: I don't know what's appropriate and what's not. Barack Obama did it all the time. You know that but when Obama does it, it's okay. When I do it, it's not.” “We have not approved anything having to do with windmills. They are horrible. They are unsightly. They ruin housing values of people. If you look at a windmill or hear a windmill because they are noisy. They kill all the birds.” Q - “You said today Russia and China are not helping Iran. Earlier this week, Hegseth said they are enabling. Trump: President XI said he'll not partake, and President Putin said the same thing. I trust them. I don’t think the would want to have me disappointed.” … They both have to be laughing hysterically. … WaPo: “In 2006, while working on an extensive renovation of the Eisenhower Executive Office Bldg, architect and structural engineer Stephen Kelley noticed what, in the stone mason’s trade, are known as ‘dutchmen.’ These are little repairs made by the careful patching of new and matching stone into a larger piece, a painstaking process that was likely done some 140 years ago, after the building’s granite was shipped from a quarry in Maine to the building site just west of the WH.” … “It was obviously done while the building was being constructed, and they were done really well, said Kelley, who has worked on the preservation of ancient Roman ruins in Lebanon, thousand-year-old churches in Turkey, and early 20th century skyscrapers in Chicago. “It is a building that was constructed for the ages.” … “Kelley is one of more than two dozen experts in preservation, materials and heritage arguing in district court against the Trump admin’s plan to paint the massive EEOB white, to match the nearby WH. It is unnecessary, costly and it could damage the stone, they say, leading to a ‘taxpayers’ nightmare,’ as the building would have to be regularly repainted, keeping it potentially under scaffolding in perpetuity.” … “Two problems are at issue: potentially irreversible harm to the building, and Trump’s attempt to effectively remove from historic and environmental review any project he wants to expedite by transferring it to the WH Office of Admin, a part of the executive branch beyond the reach of those reviews.” … “Ordinarily, the GSA would have to follow the law and solicit input from experts and the public, but Trump’s lawyers have written a Trojan Horse into this case, claiming the GSA has ceded those responsibilities and requirements to the WH, to which the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act do not apply.” … Meidas reporter Scott Macfarlane: “The tarp is STILL covering the restored Kennedy Center name as the legal fight heads back to court next week. Meanwhile, Rep. Robert Garcia says if Dems win the House majority, Trump's growing list of taxpayer-funded vanity projects—from the Kennedy Center to the Reflecting Pool and beyond—will face Oversight Committee investigations. Garcia accused the admin of steering contracts to Trump allies while bypassing normal public processes.” … Punchbowl: “Congressional Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill included $170 million for efforts to counter the national security threats posed by China’s illegal fishing operations worldwide. But the Trump admin didn’t spend the money on that. Instead, DHS diverted the vast majority of that funding to security measures for FIFA World Cup matches, America250 celebrations and other major sporting events.” … “Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-TX) secured the $170 million as part of the OBBB for ‘maritime domain awareness’ technology that helps track the Chinese vessels. Cruz told us he has ‘sought to provide resources for those programs, but unfortunately the bulk of the funding has not gone where it needed to go.’ But Cruz didn’t say where the money went.” … “The funding diversion occurred under then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. $155 million of the $170 million funding pot was spent on counter-drone technology for events like World Cup matches and America250 tributes, including sensors that monitor and track drones in their vicinity. The rest was used for Coast Guard communications technology and a Merchant Marine credentialing system.” … NYT: “A few short weeks ago, the US economy seemed to be catching a summer break. The war with Iran appeared to be waning. Energy markets had started to calm. Prices at the gas pump had fallen, and across the economy, inflation had begun to cool. It amounted to a welcome respite for American families and businesses, which had weathered more than a year of shocks that began with Trump’s global trade war.” … “But the reprieve did not last. A widening military conflict with Iran entered a dangerous new phase this week, spooking energy markets and sending global oil prices to $100 a barrel. The anxiety spilled into gas prices, which topped $4 a gallon in much of the country. And the tumult coincided with the return of Trump’s trade brinkmanship, as the WH formalized a slate of new tariffs on dozens of countries on Friday.” … “The duties apply to some of the largest US trade partners, including the members of the EU, and they are expected to be the first of more to come. Tariffs are taxes that apply to imported goods, so again the president’s actions threatened to raise costs for some American companies and consumers.” … Politico: “Voters’ anxieties about fuel prices could give Democrats a boost ahead of the midterms, further strengthening the Democratic voting base and putting strains on the MAGA coalition as the increasingly unpopular war in Iran drags on. A plurality of Americans — 46% — say the change in gas prices will impact how they plan to vote come Nov.” … “Of the 46% of Americans who said gas prices will have an impact on their vote, just under 40% said they are considering voting for a different party than they normally would, including 49% of MAGA Republicans and 57% of non-MAGA Republicans.” … Veteran Democratic strategist Jesse Ferguson: “Three quarters of the country is confronting higher gas prices and feeling it. That leaves them very vulnerable to the economic pain and very vulnerable to the economic argument the Democrats are going to make.” … Right-wing talk show host Jesse Kelly: “Someone is going to make a fortune writing a book on the parallels between ‘15 Days to slow the spread’ and Trump’s decision to go drop bombs on Iran. Just catastrophic unforced errors when things were going fairly well. Boggles the mind.” … NewsNation host Blake Burman to Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins after she tried to blame Biden for high energy prices: “Your admin has been in office for 18 months now, and obviously this is a war under this current president.” … CNN pollster Harry Enten: “2 in 3 Americans blame Republicans for higher gas prices - it is quite unlikely they’ll be able to escape the blame at the ballot box.” … Enten on the incredible 67 point swing in the polls against Israel among Americans over the past year: “We’re not just talking about the Democratic base anymore. The general electorate has turned against Israel. This is not just a left issue. It’s an American issue. The trend line is unbelievable.” … AgWeb: “Earlier this week, Brooke Rollins told the Senate Appropriations Committee supplemental farmer aid is meant to be a springboard, not a new floor for govt support. The admin is requesting $11.1 billion in additional supplemental agricultural assistance, including: $10 billion in temporary economic assistance for 2026 row crop and specialty crop producers. $1.1 billion for producers hit by catastrophic freeze losses this past winter … If approved, that money would come on top of the $44.3 billion in govt payments USDA’s Economic Research Service has estimated for farmers this year. Combined, that would total $55.4 billion. If spread evenly across 153.8 million US taxpayers, that total would equal roughly $360 per taxpayer.” … Trump threatened the EU with new tariffs: “The EU is at it again and, as usual, taking direct aim at GREAT American Companies! After having fined Apple, for no reason at all, 15 Billion Dollars, Meta, 3 Billion Dollars, Amazon 2.5 Billion Dollars, and many others, we have just been informed that Google, a truly advanced and amazing group, has been fined yet another 1 Billion Dollars, without explanation. This brings the Google total to over 18 Billion Dollars! Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that we will immediately initiate a 301 Investigation into the practice of “ROBBING” American Companies and, in turn, the American Taxpayer. The EU will pay a very big price for this illegal and highly unethical conduct, which I have consistently warned them about. The penalties will be entirely reversed and, we anticipate, a substantial TARIFF to be placed on them at the earliest possible moment. Stay tuned!” This was a long week with some monster Bulletins so I am looking forward to my day off tomorrow. Our small town in Maine is having their annual fair so we are going to that and then heading down some back roads to visit some small museums, family farms and antique shops. I will be back with the next Bulletin on Sunday night recapping the weekend. If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here. Thank you to everyone who reads, shares and subscribes. Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. … WaPo: “As JD Vance prepares to make a decision about his 2028 plans, the VP is facing a barrage of online attacks from within his party, criticism his allies say appears to be part of a coordinated attempt to poison the well for him politically. His detractors have adopted the ‘Never Vance’ slogan and flooded social media, especially over the past week, with attacks including claims that Vance is ‘unfit’ to be VP due to his efforts to negotiate a peace deal with Iran. They have asserted that Vance is making policy decisions not supported by Trump.” … “The sustained public hostility from Vance’s own side of the aisle is unlike that faced by other VPs in decades, both in intensity and in the early timing - two years before the party will choose its next presidential nominee. The unusual nature is a product of the central role that social media plays in today’s political discourse, as well as the high stakes as Republicans prepare to select a new standard-bearer after Trump.” … AP: “Criticized by a federal judge for sloppy legal work, the govt grudgingly withdrew subpoenas that would have compelled 3 NYT reporters to testify about their sources for articles about Trump’s Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet. The govt’s turnabout in the face of vigorous legal opposition and a stern reprimand from a judge marked the latest instance of DOJ making aggressive moves to compel journalists to identify their sources before a grand jury - only to later retreat.” … “The admin recently withdrew similar subpoenas that sought to compel testimony from journalists for WaPo and WSJ related to separate national security coverage.” … Judge Subramanian: “Subpoenas are the last step, not the first step, but the last step. When you see something like this, if this were a civil proceeding, what I would normally do is ask the parties to show causes why sanctions should not be issued.” … DOJ lashed out at Subramanian in a statement: “The court threatened our attorneys with sanctions unless subpoenas were withdrawn, and blocked us from presenting the meticulous process of this investigation. The grand jury has a right to hear testimony from all material witnesses in a fed criminal investigation. This judge’s conduct overrides clear longstanding principles and common sense - blocking the grand jury from receiving core evidence in a national security investigation.” … “Make no mistake, this investigation remains ongoing, and we will pursue justice against those threatening national security by leaking classified information, a serious federal crime.” … Trump posted: “President Xi, at our recent meeting in Beijing, China, told me that he would not, under any circumstances, give or sell Weapons to Iran - And that statement included Chinese Companies. Considering our relationship, I take him at his word and, besides, l am doing him very big favors, also. Likewise, President Putin, despite the horrible War going on in Ukraine told me that he would not sell Weapons to Iran. He understands that I do not sell Weapons to Ukraine, but to NATO Countries. They pay full price, and how those Weapons are distributed, I have no idea. Therefore, two major Countries that people speak of often in terms of Iran are, in my opinion, not participating. If they did, it would be very bad for them - Certainly not in their best interests.” … CNN’s chief national security analyst Jim Sciutto: “US Intel has found the opposite: that, in fact, Russia and China are supplying Iran with targeting information and other support. A remarkable post after Iran penetrated US defenses in Jordan killing 3 US servicemembers.” … Rep. James Comer (R-KY) on Fox: "Republicans don't want to cut social programs for people who are truly entitled to receive those social programs." … He means white people from Kentucky. … Alleged sex trafficker and rapist Andrew Tate: “I am being held in SHU, the highest level of security which exists. No commissary. No visits. No contact with the outside world. My neighbor is a cannibal who screams throughout the night. This is punitive housing for people who murder their cellmates. The worst possible conditions the US gov provides to terrorists and psychopaths. I am an innocent until proven guilty extradition detainee. I’m wanted by a foreign state. I am an American citizen. WHY AM I HERE?” … So tragic. Poor guy. Inmates do have limited access to the internet though. … NBC 10 (Boston): “Years after punching a police officer during the attack at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a Massachusetts doctor has lost her right to renew her medical license. Dr. Jacquelyn Starer pleaded guilty in 2024 to two felony counts of civil disorder and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers, as well as misdemeanor offenses.” … “The MA Board of Registration in Medicine said it had revoked her right to renew her license ‘after finding that she was among a crowd which stormed and breached the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and that she struck a Metropolitan Police Officer with her closed fist.” … “Starer pled guilty to misd counts of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.” … Trump’s pardon didn’t cover everything. … ABC: “The number of confirmed measles cases in the US so far this year has hit 2,318, surpassing the total reported for all last year, according to data updated Friday from the CDC. Last year saw the highest number of measles cases in more than 30 years.” … NOTUS: “Speaker Mike Johnson was at his wit’s end. For months, he had been dealing with one rebellion after another, and now members were about to tank a bipartisan veterans bill. The House was scheduled to quickly approve the bill that Thurs morning and head out for the weekend.” … “Trying to salvage another priority for his party, Johnson brought a handful of members, including those threatening to block the bill, into his ‘ceremonial room’ across from the House chamber. Reps. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), who opposed the bill, and Zach Nunn (R-IA), who supported it, started yelling at each other. Luna then pointed her anger toward Johnson. Fed up, the speaker snapped and replied, ‘I’m sick of this shit’.” … “Johnson left the room and did what he’s been forced to do repeatedly this Congress: pull the bill because a few Republicans wouldn’t agree to vote for it. Republicans have shut down the House floor, tanked rules, cursed at one another on the floor and gotten in each other’s faces - and those are just the fights that have happened in public. In private, members have grown increasingly incensed at the state of the House. And the episode between Luna and Johnson encapsulated that.” … Punchbowl: Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) was already at risk of losing the GOP primary in his newly redrawn House seat. Now the attack ads have arrived. Ogles faces a stiff challenge from Charlie Hatcher, a dairy farmer and the state’s longtime Ag commissioner. The incumbent has posted paltry fundraising and is running in a newly redrawn district, leaving him particularly vulnerable.” … “Much of Ogles’ peril comes from the Invest in Tomorrow Coalition PAC, a group backed by clean-energy investors that expects to spend $1 million ahead of the Aug. 6 primary. The group already aired an ad touting Hatcher and began going negative on Ogles on Friday. The 30-second spot accuses Ogles of inflating his resume, plus lying about being an economist and in law enforcement.” … TN Republicans are growing convinced Ogles could lose his primary. Former TN GOP Gov. Bill Haslam just endorsed against him. Ogles has spent basically nothing on ads, though the Freedom Caucus Fund is airing spots on his behalf, touting his endorsement from Trump.” … “Democrats are closely watching this race. The DCCC has backed Columbia Mayor Chaz Molder. The district leans heavily Republican after the redraw, but national Democrats believe Ogles is weak enough that Molder could prevail. So Democrats want Ogles as the nominee and are perturbed by the clean-energy spending.” … CNN: “On Wed afternoon, officials gathered at the downtown Washington headquarters of the Energy Dept for an event more than two decades in the making: the signing of a civilian nuclear agreement between the US and Saudi Arabia. Two sets of American and Saudi flags were placed on stage and on the table where Energy Secretary Chris Wright was seated. A large screen beamed in his Saudi counterpart from Riyadh.” … “But as quickly as it was announced, it seemed to fall apart. Thurs morning, Trump said in a social media post that the deal was subject to a new condition: Saudi Arabia would have to join the Abraham Accords. Trump also denied that the agreement would allow uranium enrichment. The president, according to a source, was already angry over the unveiling of the deal, which Wright had not told Trump he would be announcing.” … “Trump’s frustration was then exacerbated after a flurry of criticism from experts and conservative media outlets. This included skeptical coverage on his preferred channel, Fox, and on the editorial page of the WSJ that questioned why the deal was made absent a normalization agreement - something both outlets pointedly noted Joe Biden had been seeking.” … As confusion took over, WH officials pointed the finger at their colleagues at the Energy Dept, according to one source, who said the WH had asked the Energy Dept not to roll the agreement out on Wed. But Wright, who WH officials have complained in the past got over his skis, went ahead anyway, including in an interview on Fox Business.” … Graham Platner’s campaign consultant Morris Katz on Ezra Klein's podcast: "In hindsight, knowing what we know now, the Reddit posts ... should have been enough. The tattoo should have been enough. The initial NYT story on troubling behavior should have been enough. I was wrong." … Whenever anyone suggested to Katz some of those things might be a problem he trash-talked them and said they didn’t know what they were talking about. … The DNC voted to add 2 states to their early window time frame for the 2028 presidential primary. VA and NM were added to SC, NH, NV, and MI. In a big win for the Black Caucus, SC was chosen again as the state to go first in a close vote where NV came in second. … According to State Dept data, the following 10 states have the fewest percentage of people who have a passport: WV, MS, AL, AR, KY, LA, OK, TN, IN, OH. … These are the 10 states with the highest percentage of people who own a passport: NJ, NY, MA, CA, CT, HI, MD, AK, CO, NH. … Makes me think of the Mark Twain quote that Rick Steves always signs off his travel shows with: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” Invite your friends and earn rewards If you enjoy Meidas+, share it with your friends and earn rewards when they subscribe.