MAHA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!
Pesticide companies got the White House to protect them from Kennedy instead of protecting kids
Sept. 10: Pesticide lobbyists got the White House to water down Kennedy’s signature health plan with polluted water … Trump tried desperately to save Hamas from Israel … Biden’s job numbers worse than thought, but still better than Trump’s … Trump’s job creation thwarted by Trump’s immigration fixation …
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It’s easy to forget, and painful to remember, that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., was once a dashing environmental crusader, racking up major wins against corporate fuckfaces ruining our environment and poisoning us. (This was before it was widely understood that Kennedy was a Kennedy with the ladies1.)
Somewhere along the way, the left’s anti-vaxx um, mindworm wrapped itself around Kennedy’s prefrontal cortex and yet another Kennedy tragically lost an important piece of his brain. The fragile, slender hope that Kennedy’s anti-corporate fervor remained was one of the very few reasons to believe something positive might emerge from Pres. Donald Trump’s second try at presidenting; that Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda might lead to significant victories against the shitbirds who get rich poisoning us.
Then, on Tuesday, Kennedy, now secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), rolled out his long-awaited/feared Make America Healthy Again plan and — just like Kennedy sold out to Trump for a spot in the cabinet and just like Kennedy sold out the GOP senators he lied to about vaccines — Kennedy sold out whatever supporters still believe in him and in an Easter Bunny of unprocessed, non-GMO meat that delivers organic, free-range eggs colored with all-natural dyes.
Pesticide companies cheered the new report. A former Kennedy campaign aide called it “a major missed opportunity.”
That aide, David Murphy, told Politico that Kennedy’s report is “a clear sign that Big Ag, [herbicide maker] Bayer, and the pesticide industry are firmly embedded in the White House and intentionally short-circuiting Trump’s campaign promise to the millions of MAHA voters who helped him return to power.”
One unnamed but well-paid food lobbyist confirmed it, telling Politico, “The message we’ve gotten from the White House is, ‘Don’t worry, we’re not letting the crazy people run rampant over the food sector.’”
Sure enough, Kennedy’s new report, according to Politico, “goes relatively easy on the vaccine, pesticide and food manufacturers whom Kennedy has made abundantly clear he believes are responsible for a crisis in children’s health.”
No unexpected new regulations. Calls for studies and investigations rather than reform. No restrictions on chemicals. In fact, Kennedy’s report calls for quicker reviews of potentially harmful chemicals, meaning less time to find the harmfulness.
How come? Trump! And money! Statum deepus, Newsfuckers!
Politico says “the biggest takeaway” of the report is that Trump doesn’t want Kennedy to alienate “traditional GOP allies.” Newsfuckers, that is absolutely not the biggest takeaway.
The biggest takeaway — waayy down in Politico’s report — is what actually happened.
It’s not just that Trump fears alienating the overwhelming number of pro-vaccine, science-understanding Americans. He also wants big corporations happy.
The White House has had Kennedy’s report for a month. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Environmental Secretary Lee Zeldin got to weigh in, Politico said, calling them “tight with farmers and chemical interests.”
After Kennedy in May blamed ultra-processed food and exposure to chemicals, among other things, for children’s poor health, “agriculture groups” that Politico does not name got dozens of meetings with the White House and administration officials to argue in defense of Roundup and other chemicals. Here’s Politico:
“After dozens of meetings at the White House with MAHA Commission leaders, agriculture groups secured a private promise that the White House wouldn’t allow Kennedy to restrict the chemical or pesticides farmers use to protect their crops…
“They worried in particular that Kennedy would take aim at Roundup, the brand name for glyphosate, which is the most commonly used herbicide in the world.”
Kennedy last week announced that he was throwing kids under the bus he was metaphorically driving to Chappaquiddick. At his Senate hearing, Kennedy told farm-state Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) that he had met with “over 140 farm interests … to make sure that the MAHA agenda is consistent with their agenda.”
In other words, Trump just fucked more kids than Jeffrey Epstein ever dreamed of. To protect unnamed interests thanks to dozens of closed-door meetings. Release The MAHA Files™!
Trump Betrays Israel, Tries to Save Hamas Leaders
Pres. Donald Trump took a break on Tuesday from battling antisemitism to help out Hamas by warning them about an Israeli strike, criticizing Israel, and saying he feels “very badly” about Israel’s attack on Hamas.
At least, that’s how it would’ve read if Trump were a Democrat and did what he did yesterday.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon told the White House that Israel had launched an attack on Hamas targets in Doha, Qatar. Hamas leaders were there to discuss a Trump peace deal with the Qataris, allies of the U.S. and mediators in the talks.
In other words, Israel was attempting to literally blow up Trump’s best shot at a Nobel Peace Prize. By attacking the capital city of a U.S. ally.
“I view Qatar as a strong Ally and friend of the U.S., and feel very badly about the location of the attack,” Trump said, although he didn’t indicate where Israel should have blown up the Hamas leaders negotiating his peace deal.
It was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who launched the strike, not him, Trump posted in a message to the Nobel committee. Israel’s attack, Trump said antisemitically, “does not advance Israel or America’s goals.”
Tuesday night, Trump told reporters, “I was very unhappy about it [Israel defending itself], very unhappy about every aspect.” Trump’s statement represented a rare flash of personal bravery, as Trump’s blatant antisemitism puts him at risk of being kidnapped by masked federal goons.
Earlier Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt read a statement saying that Trump’s envoy, real-estate developer Steve Witkoff — who now has almost one (1) year of diplomatic experience — called Qatar to warn them about the attack so that, um, presumably, they could alert Hamas in time for Trump to save precious Hamas lives and thwart the Israeli attack.
This pissed off Qatar, even though communicating without pissing off allies is Leavitt’s one (1) job, because, they said, no, they weren’t warned.
Turns out that Leavitt was full of shit just this one (1) time. By the time the Pentagon called the White House and the White House called Witkoff and Witkoff called Qatar, Trump’s excellent rapid-response system somehow wasn’t rapid enough. “Unfortunately,” Trump wrote, the warning came “too late” to save precious Hamas lives, he probably meant.
Economy Betrays Trump
Far fewer jobs were created than previously thought last year under the Biden administration, according to new government estimates. Which means Pres. Donald Trump might have won even biggerly last year, if people had known.
Unfortunately for Trump, those same estimates said job growth under him so far has also been slower than thought.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Tuesday released new numbers showing that a year’s worth of jobs reports ending in March 2025 incorrectly included 911,000 more new jobs than really existed. Trump, of course, claims the numbers have been rigged against him by a corrupt BLS.
But as the Wall Street Journal editorial board, somewhere to the right of Visigoths, points out, the numbers are off because fewer small businesses respond to BLS surveys. Can’t imagine where small businesses got the idea not to trust the government!
And as the WSJ warns, Trump’s real problem is the current numbers:
“The BLS establishment survey showed that an average of 27,000 jobs were created over the last four months. The number of Americans not in the labor force has increased by 1.2 million since April…”
And Trump’s not helping, given how his crusade against immigrants and apparent immigrants and people who look like apparent immigrants is already stifling employment…
Trump’s Hun-Like Attack on Hyundai Freezing Factory Construction
Y’know how Pres. Donald Trump loves to tout all that alleged-but-not-really international investment in U.S. manufacturing? Well, his immigration stormtroopers are doing their best to stop that because Trump’s right hand doesn’t know what his left ass is doing.
Quoting unnamed sources, the Korea Economic Daily reports that work has been halted at 22 Korean-affiliated factories in the U.S. since last week’s raid on workers building a Hyundai factory in Georgia.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) rounded up 475 workers, most of them South Korean, at the Georgia plant last week. And now a lawyer for some of those workers tells the AP that the workers were here legally — none of them for more than 75 days — to build the factory where Americans were going to work. (h/t)
The factory was supposed to be completed this year, but today those workers are flying home, back across the border of this country bordering on insanity. Here’s the Korea Economic Daily on the result:
“The incident has thrown Korea’s flagship investment projects in the US into disarray.
”Sources said at least 22 other factory sites involving Korean business groups, in autos, shipbuilding, steel and electrical equipment, have been nearly halted.”
It’s fairly standard for companies in other countries to deploy existing workers to set up factories here that will, in theory, then hire Americans. Korea Economic Daily didn’t give an estimate of how many Americans will go without jobs as a result because it’s not the Insane Country Economic Suicide Daily.
But here’s a hint:
“There are growing concerns in the business community that major Korean investment projects in the US could be affected, including the MASGA, or Make American Shipbuilding Great Again, program, a joint US-Korea shipbuilding project; Hyundai Steel Co.’s construction of a US steel mill; and the expansion of local factories by power equipment manufacturers HD Hyundai Electric Co., Hyosung Heavy Industries Co. and LS Electric Co.”
Of course, if Trump the job-creator can’t count on help from Trump the job-destroyer, he does have one last ray of hope. That lies with the Federal Reserve next week cutting interest rates to make borrowing money cheaper. Which is why he’s been trying to fire a Democratic member of the Fed.
Oops…
Trump Gets Cook-Blocked by Judge
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Federal Reserve to let board member Lisa Cook keep her keycard oh and also vote at next week’s Fed board meeting, when they’ll decide what to do about interest rates.
Pres. Donald Trump had tried to fire her after his non-independent Justice Department ginned up an indictment against Cook for some mortgage paperwork shit that she may or may not have done and that tons of these people do without getting indicted.
The problem, Judge Jia Cobb said, is that Cook’s paperwork bullshit preceded her term on the Fed board. Meaning, it’s irrelevant to her position on the Fed and because of that can’t be the cause for firing her for cause, as Trump is claiming, ‘cause he’s an idiot. So, Cobb said, let her cook.
The Fed is still expected to cut interest rates next week. But since there’s no indication that the economy is being held back by a stifled desire to borrow money, there’s little reason to think a rate cut will do anything for the economy close to what Trump and most of the country need.
Three Quickies
Pres. Donald Trump’s Wall Street boosters are starting to see the truth that much poorer, and therefore smarter, progressives have been warning for
monthsyears: The Trump economy is stinky poopee. Hedge-funder Ken Griffin, a massive bankroller of Trump and the GOP who’s stupid enough to have billions of dollars, warned Monday that Trump’s attacks on the Fed risk jacking up interest rates and inflation. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said Tuesday that, “I think the [Trump] economy is [Trump] weakening.” Recession-weakening? “I don’t know,” Dimon said. Well, maybe ask a progressive economist next time.Might wanna stock up on non-perishable (y’know, ultra-processed!) Halloween candy now, Newsfuckers. Price hikes that Hershey announced in July are about to ripple into stores. For instance, Hershey candy prices as of Sept. 17 will increase by 26%, the Sheetz convenience-store chain said Tuesday. So you can kiss your Hershey’s Kiss™ money goodbye. And one of Hershey’s signature candy bars will now be known as Lower PayDay. Trick or Trump! (h/t)
Rochester, NY, was named as one of the so-called sanctuary cities to be targeted by the Trump administration, and on Tuesday Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided a work site and captured one (1) roofer who was said by his employer to be here legally. But then, after hours, ICE left because the other roofers stayed on the roof. Meanwhile, protesters gathered and shamed the shit out of ICE and also knifed the air out of ICE’s tires. Eventually, ICE fled, rolling away on tires as metaphorically deflated and limp as Trump’s presidenthood. (h/t)
TCB
THIS BRAVE, NEW, SUBSCRIBER-WORLD Thanks for all the support from you Newsfuckers yesterday. In case anyone missed it, a well-intentioned Newsfucker had advised me it might be “tone deaf” to discuss sending my son off to college while asking for financial support of TFN. It was a good-faith effort to help me be aware of how my TFN pitches might sound to people already struggling economically.
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RESOURCES
Go get ‘em, kids! Remember, if even Politico buries Kennedy’s sellout, MAGA won’t know about it unless we tell them…
TFN creator and writer Jonathan Larsen co-created Up w/ Chris Hayes and wrote for Countdown with Keith Olbermann at MSNBC, helped launch CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360° and Air America Radio, and has also worked at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Young Turks.
TFN’s anachronistic use of “the ladies” is intended ironically. TFN thanks the women for their understanding.
DT keeps accusing others of the mortgage paperwork felonies that he is actually guilty of. “See Mom? Everyone else is doing it!” What a child.
Someday, if we’re lucky and something resembling our country survives this, we’re going to have to clean up this fucking mess.
E pluribus fuckem!