David Cay Johnston
@davidcayjohnston
Rochester Institute of Technology professor of practice: law, criminal justice, journalism & political science; Pulitzer Prize for NYTimes tax reporting; 4 NYT best sellers; DCReport.org co-founder; 8 grown children; AKA Mr. Jennifer Leonard since 1982.
The White House is NOT disputing this story in The New York Times or a nearly identical one in The Washington Post, both showing that Trump has radically reduced the stature of the American presidency and that has no idea what he's doing in his gratuitous, deadly, and super expensive war with Iran.
Yet another woman accuses Trump of rape. Beatrice Keul, a Swiss former beauty queen and banking executive, is making the news in Europe. Why not here?
More hateful ignorance and bigotry from the No. 2 elected official in Indiana, who evidently slept through junior high civics. H/t the Friendly Atheist newsletter:
NYC mayor Mamdani enjoys much stronger support among American Jews than Netanyahu. Mamdani is at 44% favorable, 39% unfavorable compared to 32/59 for Netanyahu.
Today's best hed, from @bostonglobe.com, perfectly captures hypocrisy:
Claims like this show why I often call him Delusional Donald:
Trump's Medicaid cuts save nothing; they just shift costs to local governments, as seen in this SJMercury page-one piece today. The county deficit is $ 414 per person. That's $1,656 this year for the iconic family of four. With massive layoffs in Silicon Valley, it will only go higher.
Trump & Co., who constantly disrespect the New Testament message of kindness, love and sacrifice, claim mass-going Joe Biden is anti-Christian and in particular anti-Catholic, NYTimes reports. This is the latest, and most bizarre, attempt to get us to forget about Trump's Epstein files cover-up.
Excellent news just broke on health equality for women who lack resources versus women in better economic circumstances (paywall):
White House snowflake alert: below is the Agence France Press photo that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pressured AFP into withdrawing.
News you can't make up, awful and antisemitism categories, has just reported by the NYTimes:
Ali Velshi scheduled me on MS Now for the 10 AM hour today.
The president of Young Republicans of Anchorage has been arrested on suspicion of child sex rape. Looks like a dozen victims. Craig Scott Valdez, 36, is also chief of staff for a key Republican state lawmaker.
Below is the kind of bigoted behavior by the Israeli government, that fuels Muslim anger and encourages the stupidity of antisemitism, which is much too prevalent already. The news report is from a liberal Israeli newspaper that I check out daily.
Headline writer at Slate didn't think this through. After the ellipsis below the words are (drum roll) "getting married."
Criminalizing reproductive health care takes an ominous new turn (paywall) as California doctors are pursued by prosecutors in Southern States where maternal death rates are rising fast because of post-Dobbs laws written by ignorant legislators.
Read the headlines below and thinking about what they mean may make your head spin:
We live in a dictatorship that is rapidly consolidating its unaccountable power. The posts below by Trump and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr are the very definition of First Amendment violations and authoritarian government.
Sunrise on Council Rock Avenue in Rochester, captured just now by my wife Jennifer Leonard:
Remember 2 weeks ago when Trump said he'd send a hospital ship to Greenland? Well, the USNS Mercy spent the last few days transiting the Panama Canal to the Pacific. Never mind that Nuuk's harbor is too shallow for the converted oil tanker, Trump just made up yet another story.