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There’s been a lot of discussion this past week about the meaning of integrity. You didn’t hear the word used directly; it was alluded to indirectly — in wondering whether Lindsey Graham was an immoral opportunist or clever pragmatist; in suspecting Todd Blanche of being more loyal to Trump than to the nation; in distrusting Erica Schwartz, Trump’s latest pick to lead the CDC, when she said she’ll never compromise on the science; in doubting that Jay Clayton, his pick for director of national intelligence, will tell Trump anything he doesn’t want to hear. The word integrity is rooted in the Latin word integer , meaning “whole” or “complete” — living by your principles, choosing honesty over opportunism, making ethical choices that may be inconvenient or unpopular, maintaining your moral compass. Graham’s public record of denouncing Trump on the Senate floor after January 6, 2021, and then becoming Trump’s most loyal Senate apologist revealed someone who traded honesty for influence — ...
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The stark difference between 2020 and 2026

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Last week, Donald Trump essentially told us exactly what he will do this November. When reports start coming in that the Democrats are winning this fall, he will send in the troops. He’ll point back to last night‘s speech and tell the nation: “I told you so. I warned you. They rigged the election for the Democrats and now I have to stop it.” He’ll mobilize ICE and the National Guard’s “Rapid Reaction Force” that he’s assembled over the past six months to seize ballot boxes and crush the inevitable “insurrection” — protests in the streets against his seizing ballot boxes — by “left-wing communist radical domestic terrorists.” He’ll declare a state of emergency, invoke his NSPM-7 , and blame it on a foreign country and/or “Antifa.” He’ll declare protesting a crime, and tear gas will fill our streets. This is easy for me to imagine: I was there in 1967 when Lyndon Johnson did nearly the same thing, although for an entirely different purpose, and I’ve worked in several countries where thi...
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DC insiders torch Trump official's new scandal as 'how to lose a presidential election'

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A top official for President Donald Trump has found himself embroiled in an embarrassing new scandal about their abuse of tax-funded privileges, with the D.C. insiders at Pod Save America exposing how the situation is the perfect example of "how to lose a presidential election." Last week, MS NOW reported that Secret Service members were becoming "fed up" with the trips demanded of them by Vice President JD Vance , which some agents considered "inappropriate" and an "unprecedented use of government resources." This growing issue was typified by a recent request to use Marine Two, the vice president's military helicopter, as a means to take his son to a golf lesson in Washington, D.C. "But the Secret Service staff’s complaints about a planned chopper ride for an elementary school student reflects a building morale problem inside the team of agents assigned to shield Vance and his young family, according to the two people and another pe...
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Science hints at Trump and MAGA’s insidious threat to truth – and it is ugly

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PsyPost reports that casual disregard for reality poses a "uniquely potent threat" to public knowledge and belief. People are more likely to believe false information when it comes from someone who ignores the truth altogether rather than a liar “who actively tries to deceive.” This is because repeating statements made by someone who is completely indifferent to facts “heavily increases how truthful those statements feel” to an audience. Additionally, casual Trump-style disregard for reality appears to pose a deadly threat to community knowledge. According to researchers, the divide sits between a simple “liar,” — someone who knows the truth and intentionally tries to mislead an audience — and a “bulls——er,” who “communicates with little to no regard for the truth, evidence, or established facts.” A statement made by a “bulls——er” might happen to be true, or it might be false, but the defining characteristic is the speaker’s absolute indifference to reality. Because they ...
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Canadian PM ignites MAGA fury with science lesson

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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney incited a MAGA meltdown after pointing out that the United States shared responsibility for the climate change currently dumping wildfire smoke all over the upper U.S. Nearly 900 wildfires were burning without control in the north, as of Friday, in the wake of an abnormally dry and hot summer. This led to air quality alerts throughout the northeast and the Midwest, with Chicago and Detroit having the worst air of any major cities in the world — and more US cities due for pollution further east over the next few days. But Republicans, who are loathe to admit that climate change is real and regularly jumps borders, prefer to blame whatever nation is currently suffering out-of-control fires, whether they are blue US states or neighboring ally nations. However, Carney, while speaking of the disaster to Canadian citizens, pointed out in French that “We need a contribution from the Americans in the fight against climate change ... climate change is ever...
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Outrage: Blanche demands Epstein victims 'do the legwork' for prosecution

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Epstein survivor Jess Michaels says Trump’s nominated attorney general Todd Blanche is still utterly committed to representing President Donald Trump over justice for victims of convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. “The short answer is [‘m] disappointed,” Michaels told MS NOW anchor Nicole Wallace on Friday, while describing a meeting with the acting attorney general at the Department of Justice. “This seems par for the course. The way we were treated yesterday was no different than any other time. We were hoping it would be something different, and it was not.” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) demanded Blanche meet with victims earlier this week as Blanche seeks Senate confirmation as the permanent U.S. attorney general. But Michaels said Blanche delivered the very minimum in the meeting, and even told victims that they were back on square one in terms of prosecuting Epstein’s cohorts involved with his sex-trafficking network. “He was patronizing. It felt very much like the attempt to...
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MAGA turning on the 'mediocre' former journalist driving Trump’s inane revelations

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President Donald Trump’s policies and public relations approach are in large part shaped by a journalist who has long had a reputation for being unreliable. “Solomon’s decades-old reputation for letting down his audience is starting to reach conservatives,” wrote The Bulwark’s Will Sommer on Thursday , referring to right-wing influencer John Solomon. “Popular conspiracy theory blog Conservative Treehouse has grown skeptical of Solomon’s promises, even adding a bolded warning label of sorts to a preview of Trump’s Thursday speech so readers wouldn’t get too excited.” Sommer quoted a popular conspiracy theory blog, Conservative Treehouse, which warned readers about Solomon by saying “caution should be noted as newly appointed Special Government Employee John Solomon is responsible for the content.” Similarly an anchor from MyPillow founder and right-wing conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell’s channel, Emerald Robinson, expressed skepticism about Solomon’s record. “LOL why would anybody trus...
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