June 2025 - Pensito

Trump Says He Gave US Enemy Permission to Bomb US Military Base
This is not a drill

June 30, 2025 Pensito Editors

TPM: The right-wing Washington Times reported that at a press conference at the NATO Summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday, Trump revealed that he had given Iran permission to bomb the U.S.’s Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in retaliation for the American bombing of their nuclear sites.

“They said, ‘We’re going to shoot them. Is one o’clock OK?’ I said it’s fine,” Trump said. “And everybody was emptied off the base so they couldn’t get hurt, except for the gunners.”

CBO: Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Would Add $3.3 Trillion to Deficit

June 29, 2025 Buck Banks

$3.3 trillion

The CBO estimates that the Republican reconciliation bill that the Senate is considering will increase the deficit by nearly $3.3 trillion between 2025 to 2034, Bloomberg reports.Punchbowl News says Senate Republicans and the White House reject the CBO estimate as inaccurate. The White House estimates it will cut the deficit by $4.9 trillion over the next decade.

Senate Enters the ‘Foothills of Jackassery’

June 28, 2025 Buck Banks

“We’ve cussed it. We’ve discussed it. But we’re gradually going from thoughtful, rational deliberation into the foothills of jackassery. I mean, we’re talking about the same thing over and over and over.”

— Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), quoted by Politico, on the Republican megabill.

Of Warriors and Worriers

June 26, 2025 Buck Banks

Trump said he and Marco and Pete all “feel like warriors,”
As if a failed air raid on Iran turned them into praetorians.
He wants to change from “Defense” to “War,”
And we can only wonder what we’re in for,
As, like most Americans, we become fearful, chronic worriers.

Worst Job Ever

June 23, 2025 Buck Banks

This Israel-Iran-U.S.-Qatar situation is really a downer.
Iran matched bombs dropped with missiles in the encounter.
As rockets, bombs and lies get lobbed,
You’ve got to figure the world’s worst job
Is being a professional Iranian bomb counter.

Cato Institute: 65% of ICE Detainees Have No Criminal Records

June 23, 2025 Buck Banks

93%

Cato Institute: As of June 14, ICE had booked into detention 204,297 individuals (since October 1, 2024, the start of fiscal year 2025). Of those book-ins, 65 percent, or 133,687 individuals, had no criminal convictions. Moreover, more than 93 percent of ICE book-ins were never convicted of any violent offenses. About nine in ten had no convictions for violent or property offenses. Most convictions (53 percent) fell into three main categories: immigration, traffic, or nonviolent vice crimes.

Trump’s Toddler Thinking

June 23, 2025July 11, 2025 Buck Banks

“Nobody came to my birthday parade — poor, pitiful me.
“Then Bibi got all the Iran glory from my friends on Fox TV.
“You wouldn’t like it if it happened to you,
“But what’s a gonna-be dictator to do?
“I wanted all the attention, so I started World War III.”

“It is dangerous to me that politicians are being rewarded for spewing absolute bullshit when it comes to vaccines. What they’re doing is incredibly dangerous for public health. I think we have a responsibility to not reward them politically and to stand up against what they are pushing out there.”

Month: June 2025

Trump Says He Gave US Enemy Permission to Bomb US Military Base
This is not a drill

This is not a drill

CBO: Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Would Add $3.3 Trillion to Deficit

$3.3 trillion

Senate Enters the ‘Foothills of Jackassery’

“We’ve cussed it. We’ve discussed it. But we’re gradually going from thoughtful, rational deliberation into the foothills of jackassery. I mean, we’re talking about the same thing over and over and over.”

— Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), quoted by Politico, on the Republican megabill.

Of Warriors and Worriers

Worst Job Ever

Cato Institute: 65% of ICE Detainees Have No Criminal Records

93%

Trump’s Toddler Thinking

L’il ‘Marquito’ Rubio’s Lament

Missing Middle East Memories

Shapiro: Let’s Not Reward Congressional Bullsh*t on Vaccines

— Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), quoted by Rolling Stone.

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“If we don’t stop them or if we didn’t stop them or if we didn’t start, you would have had a nuclear war and they would have taken out many countries because you know what? They’re sick people. They’re angry, they’re sick.”

— President Trump, speaking to reporters about his decision to attack Iran.

“We understand some will reflexively oppose this, people don’t love the idea of war. But people like winners. They are drawn to it. If we do this quickly, I think it will be seen as what it is: successful.”

— A Trump adviser, quoted by NBC News, dismissing the anger of the president’s America First base over attacking Iran.

— David Frum

Numerati

still 44% to 53%

Morning Consult: “Trump approval (44% to 53%) and his foreign policy approval (43% to 52%) are unchanged from pre-strike baselines. The strikes have not moved his numbers immediately.” The country is split: “41% of registered voters say strikes necessary vs. 42% who prefer diplomacy.”

42,695

A federal judge has found that the Internal Revenue Service violated federal law “approximately 42,695 times” when it shared confidential taxpayer addresses with immigration enforcement officials last summer, the Washington Post reports.

61%

A new Reuters-Ipsos poll finds 61% of Americans agreed that President Trump has “become erratic with age.” Just 45% say Trump is “mentally sharp and able to deal with challenges.”

14 points

Democrats hold a 14-point advantage when it comes to voter enthusiasm heading into the midterm elections, according to a new WaPo-ABC News-Ipsos poll. It’s the largest advantage Democrats have had ahead of the midterms since 2006.

27.8 million

Donald Trump’s longest-ever State of the Union address drew 27.8 million viewers across seven broadcast and cable outlets, preliminary Nielsen data showed, a 12% audience drop from Trump’s speech last year, the Hollywood Reporter reports.