The Biggest Loser

lousubcap

Here's what I have found from The Hill earlier tonight:

All eyes on the Trump-Putin Alaska summit

President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin took the stage after an hours-long meeting, which will set the tone for future peace talks about Russia’s war in Ukraine.

© AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

The two world leaders met for about three hours alongside senior Russian and U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff, and two Russian aides - shifting from a previously planned one-on-one summit between Trump and Putin. Afterward, they took to podiums in front of a blue backdrop that read “Pursuing Peace,” speaking to reporters in a highly anticipated joint appearance. Putin began speaking first, in Russian, telling the audience that negotiations were held in a “respectful, constructive and mutually respectful atmosphere," and that he agrees that the security of Ukraine should be ensured. “I agree with Trump that the security of Ukraine must be secured, and of course, we are ready to work on that,” he said, adding that he hopes that the agreement reached between Washington and Moscow "will help us bring closer that goal and will pave the path towards peace in Ukraine.” Putin also proposed Moscow as the next location for any future meeting with Trump. “That’s an interesting one, I’ll get a little heat on that one,” Trump replied. “But I could see it possibly happening.” When it was his turn to speak, Trump spent a portion of his time lamenting that he has “always had a fantastic relationship" with Putin, but that it was impeded by investigations during his first term into Russia's interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. “We had many, many tough meetings, good meetings. We were interfered with by the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. I’ve made it a little bit tougher to deal with, but he understood it,” Trump said. He also offered little as to whether anything was agreed to or not in the talks, noting that “there’s no deal until there’s a deal." “I will say that I believe we had a very productive meeting. There were many, many points that we agreed on, most of them, I would say, a couple of big ones that we haven’t quite gotten there. We’ve made some headway. So, there’s no deal until there’s a deal,” the president said. Ahead of the meeting, Trump said that he has a “good idea” of what Ukraine would like to see from the summit. “It’s not for me to negotiate for Ukraine, but I think I have a pretty good idea what they’d like to see, and what’s good and what’s not good,” the president said during his interview with Fox News’ “Special Report” with host Bret Baier. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was excluded from the talks, said Russia has no intention to end the war soon. “The war continues, and it is precisely because there is neither an order nor even a signal that Moscow is preparing to end this war. On the day of negotiations, they are killing as well. That speaks volumes,” he said in a video posted to X. Read the full report at TheHill.com.

JohnInCarolina

The Art of the Kneel

JohnInCarolina

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-says-putin-agrees-with-him-us-should-not-have-mail-in-voting-2025-08-16/

You can’t make this sh!t up.

Botch

Damn.  

lousubcap

And the latest from Politico: (CHEETO got played as all non sycophants need to acknowledge, but won't)

President Donald Trump’s historic summit in Alaska yesterday with Russian President Vladimir Putin yielded no agreement to end Russia’s war on Ukraine — but Trump announced in an early-morning update that he now seeks a full peace deal rather than a ceasefire as the next move.

It’s a move, WaPo’s David Stern and Ellen Francis write, that amounts to a “dramatic reversal that aligns him with” Putin’s wishes.

Trump will also host Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday at the White House, he said in his Truth Social post. He said he had spoken by phone post-summit with the Ukrainian president and European leaders, including NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

“It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up,” the president posted.

“If all works out,” he added, a meeting between him, Putin and Zelenskyy could come next.

A trilateral summit is backed by European leaders, Gabriel Gavin and Camille Gijs report for POLITICO, with many European capitals “voicing their approval” in the immediate aftermath of the meeting.

And it’s certainly preferred by Zelenskyy, who wants a seat at the table and posted on social media this morning: “In my conversation with President Trump, I said that sanctions should be strengthened if there is no trilateral meeting or if Russia tries to evade an honest end to the war.”

Despite the morning posturing, Kyiv avoided a worst-case scenario that some Ukraine backers had feared: Trump and Putin declaring that they’d reached a deal to end the conflict and pressuring Zelenskyy to sign off, POLITICO’s Eli Stokols reports.

Trump had greeted Putin on U.S. soil for the first time in a decade in Anchorage with a literal red carpet, military flyover salute and ride in the presidential limo.

But that warm welcome was eclipsed by a chilly post-summit news conference where Putin commandeered the spotlight by speaking first and a dour Trump conceded they had no breakthroughs.

“There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” the president said. Neither leader took questions from the press."

Buckwoody Egger

we’re just over a year out from this little gem. 
https://www.newsweek.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-applauds-russia-protecting-christianity-1888145

JohnInCarolina

lousubcap

From Politico on the fall-out from the Friday meet and greet:

"THE ALASKA SNOW JOB: In a somewhat counterintuitive way, Trump’s stated goal of peace may actually weaken his and Europe’s negotiating position with Russia, Fiona Hill tells Playbook. Trump has “absolutely made it 100 percent, 1,000 percent clear that that’s what he wants at whatever cost, and that’s a real problem, because Putin knows that this is Trump's goal,” Hill says. “And he can basically blame other people for being the obstacle to this, which is what he did in the press conference” after the Alaska meeting.

Over the weekend, we spoke with Hill — the noted Putin expert, former deputy assistant to the president and senior director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council — to digest the latest and fast-moving diplomacy.

Her assessment of the Trump-Putin summit was bleak.

“Trump has completely ceded narrative control to Putin,” she told us. “What Ukraine is just basically getting as a concession is for the Russians to stop fighting. And this is Putin's way all the way through the 25 years of his presidency, which is: ‘I'm going to beat you up and my concession is that I stopped beating you up.’”

Putin’s endgame: “It’s clear that Putin intends to take as much territory by force and kill as many Ukrainian forces and civilians as he can so that Ukraine is in an even weaker position when the time eventually comes to sit down,” Hill says. “Then Putin might decide to ‘bank’ his territorial gains, and bog the Europeans and U.S. down in peacemaking/keeping operations in support of … Ukraine, while he applies other forms of pressure to undermine Zelenskyy and Ukraine. Imagine the chaos he can sow in an enforced Ukrainian election as part of a peace deal. He will diminish Ukraine one way or another.”"

lousubcap

Monday TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION

"The Trump administration’s extensive reductions in force at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can proceed, an appeals court ruled on Friday in a 2-1 decision. The majority held that the claims of employees who were laid off “must proceed through the specialized-review scheme established in the Civil Service Reform Act.” Laurel Wamsley reports for NPR.

A federal judge on Friday denied the Trump administration’s request to terminate the Flores Settlement Agreement, a policy meant to protect immigrant children in federal custody. The judge ruled that “there is nothing new ... regarding the facts or the law” since the government’s latest attempt to depart from the agreement that would justify its termination. Valerie Gonzalez reports for AP News."

JohnInCarolina

lousubcap

Tuesday TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION

"Twenty Democratic states and the District of Columbia yesterday filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s decision to withhold grant money to “sanctuary” states over their refusal to cooperate with federal officials implementing Trump’s immigration policies. The lawsuit argues that the administration’s threat to withhold more than $1 billion in crime victim grants from “sanctuary” states would improperly block the disbursals of funds appropriated by Congress. Hannah Rabinowitz reports for CNN."

JohnInCarolina

lousubcap

Wednesday TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION (Slow day in the courts)

"An appeals court yesterday ruled that the U.S. National Labor Relations Board's structure, which shields the Board’s administrative judges and its five members from being removed at will by the president, is likely unlawful. Holding that the protections from removal likely prevent the president from exercising his constitutional prerogative to control the executive branch, the court temporarily blocked the Board from pursuing cases against SpaceX, Energy Transfer, and Aunt Bertha, the plaintiffs in the case. Daniel Wiessner reports for Reuters."

StillH2OEgger

JohnInCarolina said:

And yet he's renaming all the military bases after confederate generals again. Can't wait to start celebrating all those virtues of slavery again.

lousubcap

Today's quote:
“There’s the dawning reality that … the U.S. is not fully committed to anything,” a NATO diplomat said.

lousubcap

Thursday TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION

"In a two-page order, a federal appeals court yesterday unanimously granted the Justice Department’s request for an emergency order allowing it to proceed with the termination of Temporary Protected Status for citizens of Nicaragua, Honduras, and Nepal while litigation on the action continues. A lower court judge previously ruled that the Trump administration’s directive to terminate the status was driven by racism. Josh Gerstein reports for POLITICO.

A federal judge yesterday rejected the Trump administration’s effort to unseal grand jury materials related to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking charges, ruling that there is “clear precedent and sound purpose” in keeping grand jury records sealed and that the grand jury transcript “pales in comparison to the Epstein investigation information and materials” held by DOJ. Ella Lee reports for the Hill."

JohnInCarolina

Botch

His Dukakis Moment™.  

lousubcap

All for the press.  Perhaps CHEETO will participate in an apprehension (staged).  

lousubcap

Friday TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court yesterday allowed the Trump administration, for now, to halt almost $800 million in National Institute for Health grants for the study of health issues in minority, gay, and transgender communities. The court’s majority ruled that the grantees should have sought to have the funding reinstated in a different court, and lifted a lower court order directing the NIH to restore the grants while litigation over the funding termination proceeds. Chief Justice John Roberts and the court’s liberals dissented from the majority opinion. Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the majority.  Josh Gerstein reports for POLITICO; Justin Jouvenal and Derek Hawkins report for the Washington Post; John Fritze reports for CNN.

Trump’s former personal attorney Alina Habba is “not lawfully holding the office of United States Attorney,” a federal judge ruled yesterday, stating that she has been holding the post without legal authority since July. The judge wrote that Habba must be disqualified from participating in the cases handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Jersey as the office’s leader, and her actions in New Jersey for the past seven weeks “may be declared void.” The Trump administration last month tried to use a loophole to keep Habba in place as the top N.J. federal prosecutor after district judges refused to admit her into the post. Ry Rivard and Matt Friedman report for POLITICO.

A federal judge yesterday ordered Florida to clear out parts of the “Alligator Alcatraz” immigrant detention facility within the next 60 days and forbade officials from moving any more migrants there, ruling that the state failed to carry out a mandatory environmental impact assessment. Florida has appealed the ruling. Lori Rozsa reports for the Washington Post; Kimberly Leonard, Kyle Cheney, and Josh Gerstein report for POLITICO.

The State Department unlawfully withheld visas from seven dozen people selected for entry to the United States under the so-called “diversity visas” program while implementing Trump’s June travel ban, a federal judge ruled yesterday. The judge found that the individuals won the visa lottery in May 2024, a year before Trump’s imposition of the ban. The ruling could have broader implications for the approximately 29,000 others in a similar situation. Zach Montague reports for the New York Times.

Mario Guevara, an Atlanta-based reporter detained by ICE while reporting on a June “No Kings Day” rally, has sued Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi for his immediate release, the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia said yesterday. Guevara, who is a Salvadoran national, contends he is the only journalist in the country currently jailed as a result of reporting. Gregory Svirnovskiy reports for POLITICO."

JohnInCarolina

Blows my mind that the same people who lost their minds over Obama wearing a tan suit seemingly have no problem with Trump, who looks like a total goof here wearing a giant red hat that reads he was right about everything.  Seriously… wtf?

DoubleEgger

Anyone with class knows that you don’t wear a hat inside. 

GrateEggspectations

JohnInCarolina

Just two weeks apart.

lousubcap

From our good friends at AI:
"Being transactional means approaching relationships and activities with a focus on receiving something in return, treating interactions as a give-and-take where a specific contribution is expected to yield a specific outcome or benefit. A transactional approach to life involves expecting a "payback" for one's actions and can lead to relationships or situations feeling like a constant negotiation rather than a genuine connection or experience. "
Definitely fits CHEETO and has been acknowledged across the world for years.  
Edit: Being transactional means deny, deflect, delay and never acknowledge the facts if they don't meet your objective.  "Alternative facts" for the win!

GrateEggspectations

JohnInCarolina said:

Blows my mind that the same people who lost their minds over Obama wearing a tan suit seemingly have no problem with Trump, who looks like a total goof here wearing a giant red hat that reads he was right about everything.  Seriously… wtf?

This is a nation’s dumpster fire. 

JohnInCarolina

lousubcap

Monday TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION

"A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked several parts of the Trump administration’s new health insurance exchange enrollment and eligibility rules, days before they were due to take effect. The judge ruled that the order is in the public interest as the blocked rules were likely contrary to federal law and eliminating coverage “for an estimated 1.8 million people will drive up costs for the insured and lead to a significant decrease in the quality of care for the newly uninsured,” as well as strain city-run healthcare budgets. Devan Cole and Tami Luhby report for CNN.

In a Friday order, a federal judge extended the scope of an order blocking the Trump administration from denying funding to dozens of “sanctuary” cities that limit local law enforcement participation in immigration enforcement. Zach Montague reports for the New York Times."

lousubcap

Tuesday TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION

"Senior Advisor for the U.S. Agency for Global Media Kari Lake is “on the face of it, on the verge of contempt” for seemingly disobeying a court order to restore programming at Voice of America, a federal judge said yesterday. The judge ordered Lake and two other Trump officials to undergo depositions, adding that “if it comes to that, then we’ll go through a contempt trial.” Minho Kim reports for the New York Times.

A federal judge yesterday declined to block the Trump administration from halting Medicaid funding for one of Maine’s largest abortion providers, holding that do so would override “the will of the people as expressed by Congress” and it would be “a special kind of judicial hubris to declare that the public interest has been undermined by the public.” Zach Montague reports for the New York Times.

The Trump administration is seeking to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Enrique Tarrio and other Proud Boys leaders in connection with their Jan. 6 prosecutions, according to yesterday's court filing in which the DOJ argued that there is no evidence that the evidence used in the prosecutions was fabricated or knowingly false. POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney reports."

lousubcap

Wednesday TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION

"A federal judge yesterday dismissed the Justice Department’s lawsuit against all 15 federal district judges in Maryland, ruling that “a lawsuit by the executive branch of government against the judicial branch for the exercise of judicial power” is not the proper way to challenge a judge’s decision and that allowing the government’s legal challenge to continue would ensnare “an entire judicial body … and its principal officers in novel and potentially calamitous litigation.” The Trump administration brought the challenge in a bid to void a standing order issued by Maryland’s Chief Judge George Russell that imposes a temporary stay of two business days for deportations challenged by the deportees in court. The DOJ said that it would appeal the decision. Lawrence Hurley reports for NBC News; Salvador Rizzo reports for the Washington Post.

Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan cannot invoke judicial immunity to seek dismissal of federal charges filed against her by federal prosecutors, a federal judge ruled yesterday. Prosecutors charged Dugan with knowingly concealing a person sought for immigration arrest and obstructing DHS deportation proceedings. The judge held that “there is no basis for granting immunity simply because some of the allegations in the indictment describe conduct that could be considered 'part of a judge’s job’.” Ely Brown and James Hill report for ABC News.

The Justice Department yesterday filed an emergency appeal asking the Supreme Court to allow the Trump administration to withhold billions of dollars in congressionally appropriated foreign aid funds before the end of fiscal year next month. Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney report for POLITICO.

The nonpartisan Democracy Defenders Fund group yesterday filed a lawsuit challenging the DOJ’s refusal to respond to the group’s Freedom of Information Act requests asking for documents from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation that mention Trump or his Mar-a-Lago estate. Josephine Walker reports for Axios."