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marmar
marmar's Journal
marmar's Journal
May 20, 2026
Trump sued his own government for $10 billion. Then settled — with himself — for $1.8 billion, to be paid out to January 6th rioters. People he already pardoned. Several of whom have since been rearrested for assault and child pornography.
There is no statute authorizing this fund. It violates the Constitution. It is, without exaggeration, the most brazen act of corruption in American presidential history. Meanwhile, the same administration cut funding for medical research and disease tracking.
It is ironic that, at this moment, Vice President JD Vance is on a fraud tour. The call is coming from inside the house.
Jamelle Bouie: The Call is Coming from inside the house, JD Vance
Trump sued his own government for $10 billion. Then settled — with himself — for $1.8 billion, to be paid out to January 6th rioters. People he already pardoned. Several of whom have since been rearrested for assault and child pornography.
There is no statute authorizing this fund. It violates the Constitution. It is, without exaggeration, the most brazen act of corruption in American presidential history. Meanwhile, the same administration cut funding for medical research and disease tracking.
It is ironic that, at this moment, Vice President JD Vance is on a fraud tour. The call is coming from inside the house.
May 19, 2026
BOCA RATON, Fla. — A Florida man said his teen daughters were falsely accused of leaving a mess in a Lyft, leading to a $75 damage fee based on an AI-altered image.
The father received a fraud alert from his bank for the damage fee and was sent a photo showing spilled fries and a drink in the back seat as proof.
His daughters insisted they didn’t have food in the car and pointed out the Google Gemini logo in the corner of the image, indicating it had been altered by artificial intelligence.
"If you're not paying attention to this and you know, you're getting charged $75, I mean, you know, it can really add up. So, you've really got to pay attention," said Bert Gor, the father.
When the family highlighted the logo to a Lyft representative, the company acknowledged the image was AI-generated, apologized and blocked the driver from the app. ..................(more)
https://www.wesh.com/article/florida-lyft-driver-ai-to-fake-damage/71348584
Lyft driver accused of using AI to fake damage
BOCA RATON, Fla. — A Florida man said his teen daughters were falsely accused of leaving a mess in a Lyft, leading to a $75 damage fee based on an AI-altered image.
The father received a fraud alert from his bank for the damage fee and was sent a photo showing spilled fries and a drink in the back seat as proof.
His daughters insisted they didn’t have food in the car and pointed out the Google Gemini logo in the corner of the image, indicating it had been altered by artificial intelligence.
"If you're not paying attention to this and you know, you're getting charged $75, I mean, you know, it can really add up. So, you've really got to pay attention," said Bert Gor, the father.
When the family highlighted the logo to a Lyft representative, the company acknowledged the image was AI-generated, apologized and blocked the driver from the app. ..................(more)
https://www.wesh.com/article/florida-lyft-driver-ai-to-fake-damage/71348584
May 19, 2026
May 18, 2026 #VotingRights #Selma #CivilRights
This Saturday, The Contrarian team hit the front lines in Alabama for the massive All Roads Lead to the South civil rights rally. So, join us for today’s Coffee with Contrarians episode to hear from Norm Eisen, April Ryan, and Juan Proaño as they discuss the democratic energy at the march.
Following the Supreme Court's devastating Callais decision, April & Norm expose how Alabama is intentionally letting historic sites die to erase the legacy of Bloody Sunday.
But the movement is fighting back. Juan Proaño breaks down the historic alliance forming between Black and Latino voters, while Norm issues a chilling warning to all Americans: the GOP's racist map-hacking in the South is just the beginning, and if we don't stand up to the current administration now, your rights are next.
This episode of Coffee with Contrarians was recorded on Monday, May 18th, 2026.
We Marched In Selma For Voting Rights. The GOP Should Be Terrified.
May 18, 2026 #VotingRights #Selma #CivilRights
This Saturday, The Contrarian team hit the front lines in Alabama for the massive All Roads Lead to the South civil rights rally. So, join us for today’s Coffee with Contrarians episode to hear from Norm Eisen, April Ryan, and Juan Proaño as they discuss the democratic energy at the march.
Following the Supreme Court's devastating Callais decision, April & Norm expose how Alabama is intentionally letting historic sites die to erase the legacy of Bloody Sunday.
But the movement is fighting back. Juan Proaño breaks down the historic alliance forming between Black and Latino voters, while Norm issues a chilling warning to all Americans: the GOP's racist map-hacking in the South is just the beginning, and if we don't stand up to the current administration now, your rights are next.
This episode of Coffee with Contrarians was recorded on Monday, May 18th, 2026.
May 19, 2026
May 19, 2026 #politics #lincolnsquare #democracy
Stuart Stevens argues the Republican Party can no longer be treated like a normal American governing party.
From Trump’s anti-immigrant extremism to JD Vance defending the indefensible, Stevens says the GOP has become a movement that advances by becoming more extreme.
Lincoln Square: Stuart Stevens: The Republican Party Is an Extremist Movement Now
May 19, 2026 #politics #lincolnsquare #democracy
Stuart Stevens argues the Republican Party can no longer be treated like a normal American governing party.
From Trump’s anti-immigrant extremism to JD Vance defending the indefensible, Stevens says the GOP has become a movement that advances by becoming more extreme.
May 19, 2026
May 19, 2026 The Intersection with Michael Popok
With Trump new poll numbers showing Voters want a Democrat to be their House rep over a Republican by 11 points, Democrats, especially members of the Black Caucus, work to ride the momentum of Voter anger against Trump, to flip key seats in the South from red to blue, and then return the favor at the State Legislatures as well. Popok is joined again by State Futures Founder Gaby Goldstein and Rep. Justin Pearson who tells the Legal AF audience that he is confident that he can turn a Tennessee seat from Red to Blue as Tennessee gets greedy and creates 3 competitive seats for the Dems!
Legal AF: Trump SCREWED as POLL COLLAPSE Sets FIRE to CONGRESS MAPS Redrawing Plan?!?!
May 19, 2026 The Intersection with Michael Popok
With Trump new poll numbers showing Voters want a Democrat to be their House rep over a Republican by 11 points, Democrats, especially members of the Black Caucus, work to ride the momentum of Voter anger against Trump, to flip key seats in the South from red to blue, and then return the favor at the State Legislatures as well. Popok is joined again by State Futures Founder Gaby Goldstein and Rep. Justin Pearson who tells the Legal AF audience that he is confident that he can turn a Tennessee seat from Red to Blue as Tennessee gets greedy and creates 3 competitive seats for the Dems!
May 19, 2026
May 18, 2026
Trump just paid $1.8 billion in REPARATIONS to himself and his allies. And now that he’s set the precedent, it’s time to pay Black people too.
Trump's $1.8 Billion Slush Fund: Reparations for White People
May 18, 2026
Trump just paid $1.8 billion in REPARATIONS to himself and his allies. And now that he’s set the precedent, it’s time to pay Black people too.
May 19, 2026
May 19, 2026 The Intersection with Michael Popok
Popok reports on Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty using her state power to indict an ICE officer sent intolied about it to a federal judge! This is the same County Attorney who's team is investigating and may prosecute Renee Good and Alex Pretti's federal killers as well.
Legal AF: Trump ICE GOON INDICTED in Minnesota!!!
May 19, 2026 The Intersection with Michael Popok
Popok reports on Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty using her state power to indict an ICE officer sent intolied about it to a federal judge! This is the same County Attorney who's team is investigating and may prosecute Renee Good and Alex Pretti's federal killers as well.
May 19, 2026
You can cancel Colbert. But you can’t cancel satire
While the late-night host's departure is a real loss, his brand of political commentary will survive
By Sophia A. McClennen
Contributing Writer
Published May 19, 2026 6:50AM (EDT)
(Salon) If you’ve watched the final episodes of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” you won’t have missed the sense that something monumental is ending. When Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver and Seth Meyers appeared on the show, Colbert’s fellow late-night hosts joked — half-seriously — about who might be cancelled next. The consensus, of course, was that it would likely be Kimmel.
In a separate appearance, former “Late Show” host David Letterman expressed open frustration with CBS, suggesting the network failed to recognize the value of what it had. Letterman also jokingly expressed concern for Fallon and Kimmel, asking if they would be “all right” after Colbert’s departure. Colbert responded humorously about a ‘captive breeding program’ for the Jimmys.
....(snip)....
What is ending here is not satire, but a particular and powerful institutional form of it. Late-night comedy has a long history of offering Americans valuable political critique wrapped in ironic and entertaining wit. The broad audience reach and the nightly airing of these shows have ensured that the jokes create a broad interpretive community that translates comedic barbs into collective consciousness. For decades, America has woken up after watching late-night ready to discuss the jokes they saw and the critique behind it, and I’d argue that no show has had the same ability to influence our national political conversation as intensely as “The Late Show.”
Want proof? When a sitting president is hell-bent on getting you off the air, you can be confident that your satire has been making a difference.
....(snip)....
What we are not witnessing, however, is the end of satire itself. In fact, history suggests otherwise. Satirists can be censored, silenced, imprisoned, attacked and cancelled. Those assaults remind us not only of the power of satire, but also of how its targets can find the slice of comedians’ jokes threatening. The irony, of course, is that when satire comes under attack by those in power, it tends to come back even stronger. ........................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2026/05/19/you-can-cancel-colbert-but-you-cant-cancel-satire/
You can cancel Colbert. But you can't cancel satire
You can cancel Colbert. But you can’t cancel satire
While the late-night host's departure is a real loss, his brand of political commentary will survive
By Sophia A. McClennen
Contributing Writer
Published May 19, 2026 6:50AM (EDT)
(Salon) If you’ve watched the final episodes of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” you won’t have missed the sense that something monumental is ending. When Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver and Seth Meyers appeared on the show, Colbert’s fellow late-night hosts joked — half-seriously — about who might be cancelled next. The consensus, of course, was that it would likely be Kimmel.
In a separate appearance, former “Late Show” host David Letterman expressed open frustration with CBS, suggesting the network failed to recognize the value of what it had. Letterman also jokingly expressed concern for Fallon and Kimmel, asking if they would be “all right” after Colbert’s departure. Colbert responded humorously about a ‘captive breeding program’ for the Jimmys.
....(snip)....
What is ending here is not satire, but a particular and powerful institutional form of it. Late-night comedy has a long history of offering Americans valuable political critique wrapped in ironic and entertaining wit. The broad audience reach and the nightly airing of these shows have ensured that the jokes create a broad interpretive community that translates comedic barbs into collective consciousness. For decades, America has woken up after watching late-night ready to discuss the jokes they saw and the critique behind it, and I’d argue that no show has had the same ability to influence our national political conversation as intensely as “The Late Show.”
Want proof? When a sitting president is hell-bent on getting you off the air, you can be confident that your satire has been making a difference.
....(snip)....
What we are not witnessing, however, is the end of satire itself. In fact, history suggests otherwise. Satirists can be censored, silenced, imprisoned, attacked and cancelled. Those assaults remind us not only of the power of satire, but also of how its targets can find the slice of comedians’ jokes threatening. The irony, of course, is that when satire comes under attack by those in power, it tends to come back even stronger. ........................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2026/05/19/you-can-cancel-colbert-but-you-cant-cancel-satire/
May 19, 2026
Deepak Chopra, Jeffrey Epstein and those “cute girls” emails
New Age guru exchanged hundreds of messages with Epstein, including some he’d probably like to take back
By Nicole Karlis
Senior Writer
Published May 19, 2026 6:45AM (EDT)
(Salon) In July 2016, best-selling author and wellness guru Deepak Chopra contacted Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy financier and convicted sex offender, to thank him for his hospitality. By email, Chopra wrote that he was glad that philanthropist Barnaby Marsh had introduced them in person. Chopra added that he was “grateful” for what he saw as the beginning of a friendship.
Within a few weeks, this new friendship deepened. They exchanged gossipy emails about Epstein’s friendship with Donald Trump and Marla Maples, Trump’s second wife. Epstein recounted a story about losing a $10,000 bet to Trump and about a friend of Maples who was rumored to have used high-heeled shoes as sex toys.
....(snip)....
Amid the 3.5 million Epstein files so far released by the Department of Justice, Chopra’s name appears more than 3,300 times. (Since duplicate messages frequently recur in different places in the Epstein files, the actual number of messages between Chopra and Epstein is somewhat less than that.) What the numerous emails and texts between the two men suggest is an intimate and affectionate relationship that went beyond a business or financial connection.
While they came from very different backgrounds and professional trajectories — Epstein from the world of high finance and Chopra from New Age philosophy, spirituality and medicine — the two seemed to enjoy discussing the nature of consciousness and other abstruse topics. They shared an unexplained inside joke, referring multiple times in their correspondence to the “tiger.” Their exchanges suggest that Chopra visited Epstein’s homes in New York and Palm Beach — locations where some of Epstein’s accused or apparent criminal acts took place. There is no evidence that Chopra was aware of Epstein’s criminal abuses. But on at least five occasions, as documented in the FBI files, Chopra mentioned Epstein’s “girls,” an apparent reference to young women who frequently accompanied Epstein. How Chopra perceived or understood these women’s relationship to Epstein is not clear. ...................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2026/05/19/deepak-chopra-jeffrey-epstein-and-those-cute-girls-emails/
Deepak Chopra, Jeffrey Epstein and those "cute girls" emails
Deepak Chopra, Jeffrey Epstein and those “cute girls” emails
New Age guru exchanged hundreds of messages with Epstein, including some he’d probably like to take back
By Nicole Karlis
Senior Writer
Published May 19, 2026 6:45AM (EDT)
(Salon) In July 2016, best-selling author and wellness guru Deepak Chopra contacted Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy financier and convicted sex offender, to thank him for his hospitality. By email, Chopra wrote that he was glad that philanthropist Barnaby Marsh had introduced them in person. Chopra added that he was “grateful” for what he saw as the beginning of a friendship.
Within a few weeks, this new friendship deepened. They exchanged gossipy emails about Epstein’s friendship with Donald Trump and Marla Maples, Trump’s second wife. Epstein recounted a story about losing a $10,000 bet to Trump and about a friend of Maples who was rumored to have used high-heeled shoes as sex toys.
....(snip)....
Amid the 3.5 million Epstein files so far released by the Department of Justice, Chopra’s name appears more than 3,300 times. (Since duplicate messages frequently recur in different places in the Epstein files, the actual number of messages between Chopra and Epstein is somewhat less than that.) What the numerous emails and texts between the two men suggest is an intimate and affectionate relationship that went beyond a business or financial connection.
While they came from very different backgrounds and professional trajectories — Epstein from the world of high finance and Chopra from New Age philosophy, spirituality and medicine — the two seemed to enjoy discussing the nature of consciousness and other abstruse topics. They shared an unexplained inside joke, referring multiple times in their correspondence to the “tiger.” Their exchanges suggest that Chopra visited Epstein’s homes in New York and Palm Beach — locations where some of Epstein’s accused or apparent criminal acts took place. There is no evidence that Chopra was aware of Epstein’s criminal abuses. But on at least five occasions, as documented in the FBI files, Chopra mentioned Epstein’s “girls,” an apparent reference to young women who frequently accompanied Epstein. How Chopra perceived or understood these women’s relationship to Epstein is not clear. ...................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2026/05/19/deepak-chopra-jeffrey-epstein-and-those-cute-girls-emails/
May 19, 2026
(Guardian) The Trump administration has announced a plan to kill Biden-era drinking water limits on four Pfas “forever chemicals”, and to delay the implementation of standards for two other compounds.
The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing two separate rules to delay and rescind the limits. The rules must go through an approval process that can take several years, and almost certainly will be challenged in court.
The Trump administration’s plan comes just two years after the US Environmental Protection Agency set legally enforceable drinking water limits for six of the most dangerous Pfas compounds that have been studied. The chemicals include some of the most toxic substances, and are linked to a range of cancers and other serious health problems.
The new Trump plan aims to undo or delay those limits, which public health advocates say would put the nation’s health at risk. Pfas are ubiquitous in the environment and estimated to be contaminating drinking water for more than 200 million people across the US. ......................(more)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/18/trump-administration-epa-pfas-water
Trump officials plan to repeal limits on 'forever chemicals' in drinking water
(Guardian) The Trump administration has announced a plan to kill Biden-era drinking water limits on four Pfas “forever chemicals”, and to delay the implementation of standards for two other compounds.
The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing two separate rules to delay and rescind the limits. The rules must go through an approval process that can take several years, and almost certainly will be challenged in court.
The Trump administration’s plan comes just two years after the US Environmental Protection Agency set legally enforceable drinking water limits for six of the most dangerous Pfas compounds that have been studied. The chemicals include some of the most toxic substances, and are linked to a range of cancers and other serious health problems.
The new Trump plan aims to undo or delay those limits, which public health advocates say would put the nation’s health at risk. Pfas are ubiquitous in the environment and estimated to be contaminating drinking water for more than 200 million people across the US. ......................(more)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/18/trump-administration-epa-pfas-water
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