Thursday 6 August 2026

They are trying to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress this morning. And, the government evidently is telling people that if they join the military, their families won’t be deported. First of all I don’t even think this is true. Second, this is not the best way to recruit quality soldiers. Good God. Every morning, I say this: “Good God.”

Alva Edison is home from the vet minus one tooth. Mike said he sat in his lap on the staircase this morning, but he’s still very skitzy. Poor Eddy, life is just so perplexing for him. We hope we are going to be able to get him to eat something today.

Since Eddie can’t go outside, nobody can go outside and they are all very unhappy about the change in their morning routine. Sam has been with me in the bedroom almost all morning, watching the squirrels and the birds at the feeder. Earlier he was wild because he couldn’t go outside, literally bouncing off the walls and the chairs.

ARTICLE: Volz, Duston (8/5/26) “Hacks on U.S. water supply follow years of warnings and neglect.” New York Times

LIFE AND NEWS NOTES FROM AN OVEREDUCATED CHILDLESS (PER J. F…ING D. VANCE) CAT LADY BEAVERING AWAY IN ONE OF THE SUB-BASEMENTS OF THE MINISTRY OF SNARK

· (Note: Donald Trump blamed the hacking of the water system in Minnesota on the governor rather than foreign hackers.)

· The Biden administration proposed creating stronger cyber security guidelines to safeguard the nation’s water supply. “Many municipalities lacked even basic protections, and the computers that monitor and adjust water quality…were easy-to-find targets for a would-be intruder.”

· Republican-led states and industry groups sued to block the enforcement and the EPA rescinded he order.

· In 2023 a few weeks after the efforts were blocked, a small town in Pennsylvania disclosed that “a hacking group tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps briefly took control of equipment used to adjust water pressure.”

· Last week at least seven states reported incidents which, in some cases, degraded water operations.

ARTICLE: Jimison, Robert (8/5/26) “Why congress wants a closer U.S.-Israel defense partnership. New York Times.

· In the annual defense policy bill, there is a proposal which lays the groundwork for “melding U.S. and Israeli defense and intelligence capabilities in profound ways that some critics find alarming.”

· As lawmakers are becoming increasingly more hostile to sending money to Israel, this shift undertakes a “far more integrated defense and technology partnership built around legally mandated defense industrial cooperation between the two nations.”

· Critics argue that this effectively allows Israel’s military to become intertwined with the Pentagon.

· The proposal gives control of sensitive U.S. defense matters to a foreign nation.

· Chris Van Hollen called the proposal “jaw-dropping.” The government can always choose to enter into a joint production agreement, but this mandates it.

· Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a Republican, has called the provision “a betrayal of American sovereignty.”

ARTICLE: Goldmacher, Shane (8/6/26) “Moderate democrats prepare for ‘war’ against an ascendent left.” The New York Times.

· A centrist Democratic group, Third Way, is planning a $15 million effort to discredit democratic socialism. (Note: Great, just great. Why when it’s us, it’s time to work together, but when it’s them that’s losing, we are organizing efforts to “discredit.”) Jonathan Cowan, president of Third Way called it a “war.”

ARTICLE: Entous, Adam (8/5/26) “CIA sets up secret Cuba task force as Trump pressures Havana.” The New York Times.

· The task force aimed is aimed at “creating fissures among the Cuban political elite.” (Note: Quote from article.) It is intended to “allow the agency to quickly direct more financial, human and technical resources at Cuba,” according to the NYT.

· This is part of a more concerted campaign to pressure the Cuban government to make changes demanded by Trump.

· The task force is, according to the Times, “adding case officers who recruit and manage spies, intelligence analysts, officers who conduct cyberoperations and officers who specialize in…influence operations.”

· The CIA organized another secret task force in 1960 which orchestrated the Bay of Pigs.

· “Cuba has long been the target of the CIA’s efforts at espionage, subversion and destabilization, including terrorism,” said deputy foreign minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio. “And yet the state Department has the audacity to call Cuba a threat for exercising its right to legitimate self-defense.”

· This may represent a “protracted covert campaign” according to the Times.

· “The intelligence will help the US military update its options for potential military action against Cuba if Mr. Trump opts to go that route.”

TRUMP: ADMINISTRATION

ARTICLE: Khardori, Ankush (7/31/26) “There are so many reasons to reject Tod Blanche. Here’s another one.” The New York Times.

· Blanche has targeted Trump’s political enemies, and over seen an exodus of some of the most experienced of the Justice Department’s lawyers, and to top that, he is “also embarrassingly bad at lawyering.”

· The Justice Department’s credibility and legitimacy is draining with the courts and with the public. Lawyers with the Justice Department have had to correct factual misrepresentations apologize for failing to meet deadlines and retract their own legal positions.

· Jeanine Pirro released a “juvenile video” taunting a man they accused of assault for throwing a sandwich at a federal agent. They failed to convict the man.

· They have filed court documents filled with Trumpian flourishes, arbitrary capitalizations and references to “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” One lawyer was found to have been improperly appointed. One judge criticized the government for a “disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps.”

· In another case, prosecutors were forced to drop charges when the judge learned that they manipulated the grand jury process.

· The Times called them “basic factual legal and professional errors; sloppy and unprofessional legal filings; the public taunting of criminal defendants” have all damaged the department’s reputation.

· Grand juries are refusing to return indictments, a once unthinkable problem. The phrase “indict a ham sandwich” comes to mind.

· “Mr. Blanche and other senior Justice Department officials have proved willing to cut legal and ethnical corners to please the White House.””

· “Mr. Blanche is no star. He’s not even a very good lawyer.”

ARTICLE: Cohn, Nate (8/5/26) “El-Sayed got a big win for the left. Can it win like this nationally?” The New York Times.

· In this article in the New York Times, the author points out that the victory was “narrow.” But, if you look at the amount of money invested by the center Democratic-establishment crew, it is impressive indeed.

· Ed-Sayed won in areas where there were more young voters, well-educated liberals and Muslim voters. Ms. Stevens, however, son a “coalition of majority black areas, high-income voters, Jewish voters, older voters and rural white working-class areas.”

· Sayed failed to win in working-class Black areas and most white working-class rural parts of Michigan where “progressives ague that a populist economic message can resonate.”

· The narrowness of the coalition is supposed to be a worry.

·