<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?><rss xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" version="2.0">
<channel>
 <title>Latest articles from Crooks and Liars</title>
 <link>https://crooksandliars.com</link>
 <description>The latest articles from Crooks and Liars</description>
 <language>en-us</language>
<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit><itunes:subtitle>The latest articles from Crooks and Liars</itunes:subtitle><item>
    <title>Ted Cruz: Republican Senators ''ScreamigEvery Single One Of Them Should Go To JailEvery Single One Of Them Should Go To Jail' At Acting AG Todd Blanche</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/nancy-mace-defames-splc-every-single-one</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/primary_image/26/05/fox-hunt-mace-052426.png" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;After the Southern Poverty Law Center gets the &lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/04/doj-accuses-southern-poverty-law-center"&gt;DOJ's sham fraud indictment&lt;/a&gt; tossed out of court, they should sue every one of these liars for defamation. As we've &lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/04/trump-southern-law-funded-no-kings-and"&gt;already discussed here&lt;/a&gt;, Republicans &lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/04/scumbag-jim-jordan-ties-incident-whcd"&gt;hate them&lt;/a&gt; because they expose the &lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/rep-crockett-blasts-away-white-supremacy"&gt;white supremacists&lt;/a&gt; and neo-Nazis that make up so much of their base, so now they're trying to destroy them by pretending they're sponsoring hatred rather than going undercover to expose it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Rep. Nancy Mace made an appearance on Fox's &lt;em&gt;Saturday in America with Kayleigh McEnany&lt;/em&gt; this weekend and was asked by guest host Jonathan Hunt what she thought of the accusations against the SPLC, and Mace spewed lots of lies and venom and demanded that the people running the organization be tossed in prison.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote class="transcript"&gt;&lt;p&gt;
HUNT: Explain to me — what do you believe is the single most egregious act carried out by the SPLC, among many accusations?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/nancy-mace-defames-splc-every-single-one" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/294">Fox News</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/77632">Jonathan Hunt</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/84835">Nancy Mace</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/310">racism</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/99937">Saturday in America</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/tags/southern-poverty-law-center">Southern Poverty Law Center</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/tags/splc">SPLC</category>
 <pubDate>Sun, 24 May 2026 17:09:39 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Heather</dc:creator>
</item>
<item>
    <title>Surprise! Trump Slush Fund Set Up For Maximum Secrecy</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/surprise-trump-slush-fund-set-maximum</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/primary_image/26/05/trump_for_052326.png" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/05/23/trumps-18-billion-fund-secrecyoutrage-lots-questions/"&gt;The Washington Post&lt;/a&gt; did a deep dive into the Trump Slush Fund set up by his acting attorney general puppet, Todd Blanche. The paper summed up its review by saying that the distribution of the nearly $2 billion will be &lt;strong&gt;“largely shielded from public scrutiny, outside of any evident oversight, and answerable only to Trump and his appointees.”&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“Decisions made by the administration’s handpicked panel members will be irreversible, with no appeal process, and not subject to any judicial oversight,” The Post found. “Claims submitted to the fund can be audited, the document states, but only by the Justice Department or a contractor ‘designated by the Attorney General.’” &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;On top of all that, there is almost no information about the selection process of the five-person commission in charge of awarding the funds nor how claims will be decided. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In other words, $1.8 billion of taxpayer money will all be distributed according to Felon Donald Trump’s whims. Any commissioner can be ousted by Trump “without cause,” Blanche’s Slush Fund agreement says.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Also, while the Blanche/Trump Slush Fund says there must be a “confidential written report” every quarter reporting who got what, “There is no requirement listed that these details be made public,” &lt;a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/05/23/trumps-18-billion-fund-secrecyoutrage-lots-questions/"&gt;The Post&lt;/a&gt; found.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/surprise-trump-slush-fund-set-maximum" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/95754">Todd Blanche</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/79635">Trump Corruption</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/95448">Trump is unfit</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/102147">Trump slush fund</category>
 <pubDate>Sun, 24 May 2026 15:35:04 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>NewsHound Ellen</dc:creator>
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<item>
    <title>Ted Cruz: Republican Senators ''ScreamigEvery Single One Of Them Should Go To JailEvery Single One Of Them Should Go To Jail At Acting AG Todd Blanche</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/ted-cruz-republican-senators-screaming</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/primary_image/26/05/cnn_05-22-2026_22.01.56.png" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Looks like a few of them may have finally found their spines &lt;a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/ted-cruz-senators-screaming-todd-blanche-trump-anti-weaponization-fund-rcna346599"&gt;when it comes to this 1776 Trump slush fund&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;Screaming, yelling and accusations of self-dealing.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That’s how Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Friday described a closed-door meeting with Senate Republicans and &lt;a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department" target="_blank"&gt;acting Attorney General Todd Blanche&lt;/a&gt; on the Trump administration’s &lt;a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-voluntarily-drops-10-billion-lawsuit-irs-leaked-tax-records-rcna345193" target="_blank"&gt;$1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund&lt;/a&gt; that’s drawn bipartisan opposition.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;On his podcast “Verdict with Ted Cruz,” the Texas senator described the  meeting as “one of the roughest meetings I’ve seen in my entire time in  the Senate.”&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“Fiery does not  begin to cut it,” Cruz said. “My guess is there’re probably 45 senators  in the room, at least half of them were blasting the attorney general,  and they were pissed.”&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Senate Republicans met with Blanche on Thursday to discuss the fund, which ultimately derailed a vote on a Republican bill to fund  Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, &lt;a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republicans-cancel-votes-fight-trumps-anti-weaponization-fund-rcna346113" target="_blank"&gt;NBC News previously reported&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/ted-cruz-republican-senators-screaming" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/539">CNN</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/11836">Donald Trump</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/71852">GOP Senators</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/78948">Jessica Dean</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/36356">Ted Cruz</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/95754">Todd Blanche</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/102147">Trump slush fund</category>
 <pubDate>Sun, 24 May 2026 15:08:43 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Heather</dc:creator>
</item>
<item>
    <title>Mike’s Blog Roundup</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/mike-s-blog-roundup-hold-sunday</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/embeds/2026/05/70408.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://eb-misfit.blogspot.com/2026/05/trump-steals-money-from-kids.html"&gt;Earthbound Misfit&lt;/a&gt; - Trump steals money from kids!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://wendy664.substack.com/p/ice-is-quietly-rolling-out-a-55-billion"&gt;Glass Empires&lt;/a&gt; - ICE quietly rolling out a $55 billion crematorium network;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-22-2026"&gt;Letters from an American&lt;/a&gt; - a May 22, 1964 graduation speech;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://martinlongman.substack.com/p/yes-ken-martin-should-be-fired"&gt;Martin Longman&lt;/a&gt; - yes! Ken Martin should be fired;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/05/23/no-ken-molecular-biology-does-not-support-biblical-dogma/"&gt;Pharyngula&lt;/a&gt; - no Ken Ham: molecular biology does not support biblical dogma.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Send tips, requests, and suggestions to &lt;a href="mailto:mbru@crooksandliars.com"&gt;mbru@crooksandliars.com&lt;/a&gt; (with ‘for MBRU' in the subject line). &lt;em&gt;Steve in Manhattan&lt;/em&gt; is &lt;a href="https://bsky.app/profile/steve-in-manhattan.bsky.social"&gt;on Bluesky&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/mike-s-blog-roundup-hold-sunday" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/16331">mikes blog round up</category>
 <pubDate>Sun, 24 May 2026 13:32:01 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Steve in Manhattan</dc:creator>
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<item>
    <title>'Donald Trump' To Be Sacrificed For Eid</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/donald-trump-be-sacrificed-eid</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/primary_image/26/05/1536x864_cmsv2_89e72c0d-f353-50dd-b519-30f4390c1ced-9766827-ezgif.com-webp-to-jpg-converter.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;I don't know anything about Muslim traditions, but I'd imagine this animal was chosen because it's rare, and the sacrifice is even more valuable as a result.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If only we could do the same with its namesake. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Source: &lt;a href="https://www.gbnews.com/news/world/donald-trump-buffalo-muslim-worshippers-bangladesh-sacrifice-eid"&gt;GB News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;Muslim worshippers in Bangladesh are set to sacrifice a rare albino buffalo nicknamed "Donald Trump" as part of the Islamic Eid al-Adha celebrations.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The 1,500lb beast has become an internet sensation in the South Asian country due to its flowing golden hair - with many drawing parallels to the US President.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Since going viral across social media, there has been a stream of visitors to the farm where he lives near the country's capital of Dhaka hoping to get a glimpse of the animal.&lt;br /&gt;
...&lt;br /&gt;
But Donald Trump is set to be slaughtered within weeks as the Muslim country prepares for the festival of Eid al-Adha.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;An estimated 12 million livestock will be ritualistically killed in Bangladesh in celebration of the Islamic holiday.
&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;div class="embedfield embedfield-embed-html  embed-provider-twitter"&gt;
&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;&#127463;&#127465; Donald Trump lookalike buffalo draws crowds in Bangladesh&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;Crowds in Bangladesh are flocking to snap photographs with an unlikely social media star — an albino buffalo with flowing blond hair nicknamed &amp;quot;Donald Trump&amp;quot;. &lt;a href="https://t.co/NJiSnxQQlQ"&gt;pic.twitter.com/NJiSnxQQlQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/donald-trump-be-sacrificed-eid" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/20324">Bangladesh</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/tags/buffalo">Buffalo</category>
 <pubDate>Sun, 24 May 2026 12:26:33 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Ed Scarce</dc:creator>
</item>
<item>
    <title>MAGA Influencer Perp Walked For Contempt Of Court</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/maga-influencer-gets-perp-walked-contempt</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/primary_image/26/05/screenshot_2026-05-23_065557.png" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;MAGA influencer and overall asshole Jack Lang went to Tennessee to &lt;a href="https://www.rawstory.com/jake-lang-jailed-contempt/"&gt;show amoral support&lt;/a&gt; for fellow white supremacist Dalton Eatherly, who is charged with shooting a disabled Black veteran.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The presiding judge, the Honorable H. Reid Poland III, had ordered that Lang leave the courtroom. As the bailiff was escorting Lang out, Lang said, "Two-tiered justice." Poland heard it and ordered Lang to be taken intken into custody. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As the bailiff was cuffing the shocked Lang, Poland told him, "Told you, sir, you did not have a speaking role today. You decided that you wanted one for whatever reason. I don't know why, but take him to custody."  I could watch Lang getting perp walked all day long.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to Lang's girlfriend, Lang was given the maximum sentence for contempt, which is ten days in prison.  &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I hope Lang enjoys his Memorial Day bologna sandwich.  It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/maga-influencer-gets-perp-walked-contempt" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/102224">Jack Lang</category>
 <pubDate>Sun, 24 May 2026 12:26:07 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Chris capper Liebenthal</dc:creator>
</item>
<item>
    <title>Memorial Day 2026</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/memorial-day-2026</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/primary_image/26/05/memorial_day_2026_copy.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Happy holiday weekend to those who celebrate. Since I left for my short weekend on Thursday night, there's been all sorts of shenanigans in Washington, D.C., including &lt;a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/gunshots-reported-near-white-house-rcna346671"&gt;a shooting&lt;/a&gt;, yet another &lt;a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/05/23/world/us-iran-war-trump"&gt;Lucy announcement about the Iranian football&lt;/a&gt;, and a feckless fool who missed his &lt;a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/21/politics/donald-trump-jr-bettina-anderson-wedding"&gt;son's destination wedding&lt;/a&gt; in the Bahamas. I wonder if he chose not to go there because of Bahama's &lt;a href="https://laws.bahamas.gov.bs/cms/images/LEGISLATION/PRINCIPAL/1991/1991-0009/1991-0009.pdf"&gt;strict rules about sex offenders&lt;/a&gt; entering their country.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I guess he's saving the invasion of Cuba for next week.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;What's on your mind this morning? Let me know in the comments.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;- Karoli&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/memorial-day-2026" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/44030">Arlington National Cemetery</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/59980">Iran war</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/23103">Iranian Oil</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/tags/memorial-day">Memorial Day</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/26820">Political Cartoon</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/26545">Strait of Hormuz</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/102209">Tomb of the Unknown Soldier</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/460">veterans</category>
 <pubDate>Sun, 24 May 2026 12:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Ratt</dc:creator>
<enclosure length="518137" type="application/pdf" url="https://laws.bahamas.gov.bs/cms/images/LEGISLATION/PRINCIPAL/1991/1991-0009/1991-0009.pdf"/><itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit><itunes:subtitle>Happy holiday weekend to those who celebrate. Since I left for my short weekend on Thursday night, there's been all sorts of shenanigans in Washington, D.C., including a shooting, yet another Lucy announcement about the Iranian football, and a feckless fool who missed his son's destination wedding in the Bahamas. I wonder if he chose not to go there because of Bahama's strict rules about sex offenders entering their country. I guess he's saving the invasion of Cuba for next week. What's on your mind this morning? Let me know in the comments. - Karoli read more</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary>Happy holiday weekend to those who celebrate. Since I left for my short weekend on Thursday night, there's been all sorts of shenanigans in Washington, D.C., including a shooting, yet another Lucy announcement about the Iranian football, and a feckless fool who missed his son's destination wedding in the Bahamas. I wonder if he chose not to go there because of Bahama's strict rules about sex offenders entering their country. I guess he's saving the invasion of Cuba for next week. What's on your mind this morning? Let me know in the comments. - Karoli read more</itunes:summary><itunes:keywords>Arlington National Cemetery, Iran war, Iranian Oil, Memorial Day, Political Cartoon, Strait of Hormuz, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, veterans</itunes:keywords></item>
<item>
    <title>C&amp;L's Late Nite Music Club: The Black Crowes ' She Talks To Angels'</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/cls-late-nite-music-club-black-crowes-she</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/embeds/2026/05/70406.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Are you a Black Crowes fan? &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Crowes"&gt;WIKI: &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/cls-late-nite-music-club-black-crowes-she" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/50252">C&amp;L's Late Nite Music Club</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/22236">The Black Crowes</category>
 <pubDate>Sun, 24 May 2026 03:00:01 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>John Amato</dc:creator>
</item>
<item>
    <title>Colbert Sticks It To CBS During Final Show: 'I Hope This Doesn't Cost CBS Any Money!'</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/colbert-sticks-it-cbs-during-final-show-i</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/primary_image/26/05/cbs-colbert-peanuts-052126.png" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stephen Colbert got a final dig in with his now &lt;a href="https://people.com/stephen-colbert-takes-cbs-swipe-final-late-show-episode-11981996"&gt;former network during his show's finale&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://people.com/tag/stephen-colbert/" data-component="link" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="internalLink" data-ordinal="1"&gt;Stephen Colbert&lt;/a&gt;'s final episode of &lt;a href="https://people.com/stephen-colbert-show-silly-whimsical-moments-11981709" data-component="link" data-source="inlineLink" data-type="internalLink" data-ordinal="2"&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Late Show&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; included a slew of surprises — and one swipe at CBS. [...]&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;During the segment, in which he pokes fun at news headlines, Colbert explained that the owner of the music of a &lt;em&gt;Charlie Brown Christmas &lt;/em&gt;and other Peanuts television specials has filed four lawsuits "against those illegally using the famous song 'Linus and Lucy.'"    &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"Now Peanuts is a powerful brand and corporation in and of itself,  anyone illegally using that music is going to have to pay through the  nose, Lewis," he said, speaking to his band leader, Louis Cato.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; Suddenly, the Great Big Joy Machine band started playing the iconic song from the cartoon. "Excuse me, Lewis, is the band, is the band right now playing the same Peanuts music that I just said people are being sued for, for using without permission? Is that what you're doing?"&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Cato replied, "Yeah, yeah."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As the band kept playing, Colbert quipped, "Oh no, I hope this doesn't cost CBS any money." &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/colbert-sticks-it-cbs-during-final-show-i" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/385">CBS</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/tags/copyright-laws">copyright laws</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/tags/peanuts">Peanuts</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/288">Stephen Colbert</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/62750">The Late Show with Stephen Colbert</category>
 <pubDate>Sat, 23 May 2026 21:32:13 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Heather</dc:creator>
</item>
<item>
    <title>Coming Soon: The Trump-Epstein Bookmobile!</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/coming-soon-trump-epstein-bookmobile</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/primary_image/26/05/trump_melania_epstein_maxwell_for_052226.png" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;The folks who set up the “Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room” in New York are taking the very damning files and exhibits on the road this summer.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;One of the organizers of the tour is Miles Taylor, the former Trump DHS official, &lt;a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epstein-files-new-york-exhibit-to-go-on-national-tour/"&gt;The Daily Beast&lt;/a&gt; reports. Taylor told TDB that visitors to the New York exhibit, which highlights Trump’s long, close friendship with Epstein, have been “completely blown away” by it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“Now we’re TAKING THE FILES NATIONWIDE… to honor survivors… hold Trump accountable… and keep the dark truth in the light,” &lt;a href="https://www.defiance.org/bookmobile"&gt;the website&lt;/a&gt;, for the Trump-Epstein bookmobile says. “The mobile reading room will feature curated volumes of the partially redacted files, a timeline of the Trump-Epstein relationship, and a tribute to the more than 1,000 victims and survivors.”&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It looks like the plan is already popular. “Organizers expect celebrities to drive the bus at times, and said they have received outreach from lawmakers and congressional candidates who want to make the tour part of their campaigns,” The Daily Beast reported.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Dates and locations of the Trump-Epstein bookmobile are to be determined. But the organizers are hoping to start after July 4th and keep going until the midterm elections, according to &lt;a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epstein-files-new-york-exhibit-to-go-on-national-tour/"&gt;The Daily Beast&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/coming-soon-trump-epstein-bookmobile" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/98653">2026 Elections</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/102222">Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/11836">Donald Trump</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/96502">Epstein files</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/77625">Jeffrey Epstein</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/83300">Miles Taylor</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/100722">Election 2026</category>
 <pubDate>Sat, 23 May 2026 21:31:52 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>NewsHound Ellen</dc:creator>
</item>
<item>
    <title>Pay To Vape: Big Tobacco's Brazen Trump PAC Bet</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/pay-vape-big-tobaccos-brazen-trump-pac-bet</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/primary_image/26/05/sierra-alpha-juliet-7fofd92sxak-unsplash_0.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;It was already &lt;a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-big-tobacco-vaping" target="_blank"&gt;known&lt;/a&gt; that President &lt;a href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/donald-trump"&gt;Donald Trump&lt;/a&gt; pressured top health officials to allow flavored vapes to hit the market after being leaned on by Big Tobacco executives earlier this month.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But The &lt;a href="https://www.commondreams.org/tag/new-york-times" target="_self"&gt;New York Times&lt;/a&gt; has &lt;a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/20/us/politics/donation-big-tobacco-vaping.html?unlocked_article_code=1.kFA.hbVQ.Tezpj9lnIlR2&amp;amp;smid=url-share" target="_blank"&gt;revealed&lt;/a&gt; that the decision came just over a week after a massive super political action committee (PAC) donation from one of the cigarette companies looking to have the regulations lifted.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Kenneth Vogel and Christina Jewett &lt;a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/20/us/politics/donation-big-tobacco-vaping.html?unlocked_article_code=1.kFA.hbVQ.Tezpj9lnIlR2&amp;amp;smid=url-share" target="_blank"&gt;reported&lt;/a&gt; for the Times that on April 30, a subsidiary of the tobacco company Reynolds Americans—which owns Camel and Lucky Strike cigarettes—donated $5 million to the Trump-backed super PAC MAGA Inc., according to a financial report filed on Wednesday. It brought the total amount donated to the PAC up to $8 million.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/pay-vape-big-tobaccos-brazen-trump-pac-bet" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/38359">Big Tobacco</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/102203">flavored vape</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/44393">pay to play</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/102204">trump superpac</category>
 <pubDate>Sat, 23 May 2026 21:31:23 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Stephen Prager</dc:creator>
</item>
<item>
    <title>Democrats' 2024 Campaign Autopsy Finally Arrives DOA</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/democrats-2024-campaign-autopsy-finally</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/primary_image/26/05/gettyimages-2244201007.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Democratic National Committee &lt;a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/21/politics/dnc-autopsy-takeaways-vis"&gt;released&lt;/a&gt; its long-delayed autopsy of the 2024 election Thursday, but the incomplete and error-riddled document raises more questions about party Chair Ken Martin’s leadership than it answers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Compiled in the aftermath of Vice President Kamala Harris’ failed presidential campaign, the document was supposed to be a summary of interviews with major stakeholders and operatives, giving insight on what went wrong.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But last December, Martin &lt;a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/12/18/democrats-2024-harris-trump-autopsy/"&gt;said&lt;/a&gt; that the report—which he described at the time as a “comprehensive review”—would not be released, claiming that it would be a “distraction from the core mission.”&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;He also doubled down on his stance in &lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MR30qXH4uso?feature=share"&gt;an April interview&lt;/a&gt; on “Pod Save America.” &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“We’re keeping our focus on the lessons that can actually help us win,” Martin told the hosts.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But on Thursday, Martin said that obfuscation had been a mistake.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“For full transparency, I am releasing the report as we received it, in its entirety, unedited and unabridged. It does not meet my standards, and it won’t meet your standards, but I am doing this because people need to be able to trust the Democratic Party and trust our word,” he &lt;a href="https://bsky.app/profile/kenmartin.bsky.social/post/3mmeln3lj5a2d"&gt;wrote in a statement&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/democrats-2024-campaign-autopsy-finally" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/102205">DNC autopsy</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/98970">Ken Martin</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/92109">Election 2024</category>
 <pubDate>Sat, 23 May 2026 21:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Oliver Willis</dc:creator>
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<item>
    <title>Meet John Fetterman's Latest Mentor</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/meet-john-fettermans-latest-mentor</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/primary_image/26/05/gettyimages-2275699438.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/john-fetterman-israel-palestine-david-safier-aipac.html" target="_blank"&gt;A &lt;em&gt;New York&lt;/em&gt; magazine story&lt;/a&gt; published this morning tells us about David "Dovi" Safier, a Long Island-born resident of East Jersusalem who has become a near-constant companion to Senator John Fetterman, despite the fact that he has no official position that would explain his close access to the senator.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;Safier, a writer of Jewish history and fundraiser for Orthodox causes, has no public background in government or counseling politicians on Capitol Hill. He is not an official staffer or paid outside adviser. A few years ago, he “just kind of appeared” in the senator’s orbit, one former Fetterman staffer remembers. And then, suddenly, he seemed to be everywhere. Staffers would walk into Fetterman’s office, only to find Safier sitting in the room. When the senator went to Israel in 2025, Safier joined him on the trip; when Fetterman filmed &lt;em&gt;Real Time With Bill Maher&lt;/em&gt;, Safier met up with him in Los Angeles. The two are constantly texting and talking, according to multiple former Fetterman staffers, and Safier has unofficially operated as a top campaign fundraiser and senior adviser. He has even set up and attended sensitive meetings with foreign officials; in some cases, he is the only person staffing those meetings, I’ve been told.
&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Fetterman, of course, is now the Democratic senator who is most uncompromisingly pro-Israel.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/meet-john-fettermans-latest-mentor" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/90637">Dave McCormick</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/102207">Dovi Safier</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/62901">John Fetterman</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/95670">Sen Katie Britt</category>
 <pubDate>Sat, 23 May 2026 19:30:01 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Steve M.</dc:creator>
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<item>
    <title>'Our Majority Is Melting Down': GOP Senators Bail Out After Slush Fund Meeting</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/our-majority-melting-down-gop-senators</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/primary_image/26/05/gettyimages-2277161504.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Senate Majority Leader John Thune sent his chamber home early for Memorial Day weekend, &lt;a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/05/21/congress/house-ponders-reconciliation-delay-00931986"&gt;refusing&lt;/a&gt; to put what Republicans deemed a must-pass immigration funding bill up for a vote amid GOP infighting.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;At issue is an internal battle over President Donald Trump’s &lt;a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/5/18/800040939/courts/trumps-insurrectionist-slush-fund-is-worse-than-you-think/"&gt;slush fund&lt;/a&gt;, which hands out nearly &lt;a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/5/15/800039281/courts/taxpayers-reparations-insurrectionists/"&gt;$1.8 billion&lt;/a&gt; to Jan. 6 insurrectionists and other traitors who &lt;a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/5/21/800042410/justice/cops-attacked-by-jan-6-rioters-sue-trump-over-reparations-scheme/"&gt;claim to be victims&lt;/a&gt; of former President Joe Biden’s Justice Department.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“The Senate will go home until June, leaving the reconciliation bill unfinished,” Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman &lt;a href="https://x.com/JakeSherman/status/2057514728553926994"&gt;wrote on X&lt;/a&gt;. “Thune just told senators in the room. All because of the DOJ weaponization fund. House is expected to follow suit soon.”&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to multiple reports, Thune’s decision came after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche spent more than an hour meeting with GOP senators during a closed-door lunch, in which he was grilled by Republicans who were irate over Trump’s corrupt slush fund.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/our-majority-melting-down-gop-senators" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/37747">GOP in disarray</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/18460">GOP Senate</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/tags/john-thune">John Thune</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/102206">Trump Sedition Fund</category>
 <pubDate>Sat, 23 May 2026 16:02:24 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Emily Singer</dc:creator>
</item>
<item>
    <title>Judge Dismisses Criminal Case Against Kilmar Abrego Garcia</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/judge-dismisses-criminal-case-against</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/primary_image/26/05/kilmar_abrego_garcia_-_alex_wong_getty.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;FINALLY! The judge overseeing Kilmar Abrego Garcia's criminal case officially&lt;a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx21r04wg8qo"&gt; threw it out&lt;/a&gt; because it was what we all knew it was - vindictive prosecution.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;On Friday afternoon, the judge overseeing the case issued a blistering ruling, positively dragging the prosecutors and the DOJ over this case. The case was clearly retribution for Abrego Garcia's winning his deportation case to El Salvador. The DOJ and Trump were so butthurt at the embarrassment, they decided to create a fake "immigrant smuggling" case out of whole cloth, tying it to a random traffic stop from 2022.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The judge, in the ruling, said: “The evidence before this Court sadly reflects an abuse of prosecuting power." Additionally, Judge Crenshaw said there was "significant proof, including statements from now-acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, indicating that the investigation into a 2022 traffic stop of Abrego in Tennessee was reopened last year in response to a federal judge in Maryland ruling that Abrego’s deportation was illegal and authorities needed to facilitate his return to the U.S."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Trump's administration slow-walked Abrego's return to America, only doing it *after* the DOJ had secured another indictment of him related to this random 2022 traffic stop, making up charges alleging that he was "part of a conspiracy to transport undocumented immigrants from Texas to Maryland."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/judge-dismisses-criminal-case-against" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/102089">Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/100128">Biden DOJ</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/tags/court">Court</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/98485">Kilmar Abrego Garcia</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/67909">MAGA</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/101101">Todd Blanche cover-up</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/102221">Vindictive prosecution</category>
 <pubDate>Sat, 23 May 2026 16:02:03 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Red Painter</dc:creator>
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<item>
    <title>Half Of America's Voting Machines Targeted For Ban By Trump Administration</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/half-americas-voting-machines-targeted-ban</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/primary_image/26/05/53066689692_d67dfa8e2a_k_0.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Last year, Trump's top election security adviser explored the possibility of banning voting machines used in more than half of all U.S. states. Kurt Olsen, a White House lawyer charged with substantiating long-discredited claims of election fraud, spearheaded a push to remove Dominion Voting Systems equipment from American elections,&lt;em&gt; Reuters&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/trump-officials-tried-ban-half-us-voting-machines-citing-conspiracy-theories-2026-05-22/"&gt;reports&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This effort was part of broader discussions among officials about ways the federal government could wrest control of elections from individual states — a goal Trump himself has publicly advocated.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Olsen's preferred alternative was a nationwide move to hand-counted paper ballots, something Trump has repeatedly called for. However, many election security experts argue that this approach would be less reliable and more error-prone than the current setup, which relies on machines that produce verifiable paper records and is used by nearly every jurisdiction in the country.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The scheme advanced far enough that Commerce Department officials began looking into potential legal justifications for it in September. Ultimately, though, it fell apart — Olsen and his allies were unable to produce the evidence needed to support such a sweeping action.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/half-americas-voting-machines-targeted-ban" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/11836">Donald Trump</category>
 <pubDate>Sat, 23 May 2026 11:22:36 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Conover Kennard</dc:creator>
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<item>
    <title>Trump’s Greenland Fever: Back And Weirder Than Ever</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/trump-still-obsessing-greenland</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/mediaposters/2026/05/59110.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gov. Jeff Landry tried to characterize his visit to Greenland as very positive, with much support from native Greenlanders, but in reality, he was castigated by locals and Greenland's leader.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/trumps-envoy-gets-chilly-reception-on-first-trip-to-greenland-012eb759"&gt;The Wall Street Journal&lt;/a&gt; reported that the Louisiana governor and his entourage were greeted with shouts, "Colonizers, go home-- We don’t want you here.” &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to the WSJ, Landry got a "chilly reception from many locals and Greenland’s leaders, who accused him of turning up uninvited in an attempt to circumvent official  diplomatic channels."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Landry joined Fox News this morning and first praised Dear Leader, before lying about the visit. After fantasizing about Greenland's rich natural resources, Landry said, "The president is the only president in in in the last 30 or 40 years to actually care about Doing something and putting Greenland on the map."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Greenland is already on the map, idiot. They aren't media hounds desperate to be in the media on an hourly basis. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote class="transcript"&gt;&lt;p&gt;
HURT: Do you get any sense that there are political leaders either in northern Europe or in NATO or in? Greenland who are maybe warming to the idea of what President Trump is talking about.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;LANDRY: I don't know.  That's a great question, really and truly. I think that the most pressure that we felt from a cashback didn't come from Greenlanders, but basically came from the Danes, which is simply disturbing and disappointing.
&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/trump-still-obsessing-greenland" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/95984">Gov. Jeff Landry</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/35127">greenland</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/100966">Trump Greenland</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/98722">Trump obsession</category>
 <pubDate>Sat, 23 May 2026 11:21:51 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>John Amato</dc:creator>
</item>
<item>
    <title>Mike’s Blog Roundup</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/mike-s-blog-roundup-hold-saturday</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/embeds/2026/05/70377.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://annieasksyou.com/2026/05/15/we-have-unfinished-business-all-roads-lead-to-the-south-day-of-action-in-alabama-this-saturday/"&gt;Annie Asks You&lt;/a&gt; - the unfinished business in Alabama;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://crazyeddiethemotie.blogspot.com/2026/05/last-week-tonight-asks-ayn-rand-how-is.html"&gt;Crazy Eddie’s Motie News&lt;/a&gt; - how is Ayn Rand still a thing?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://driftglass.blogspot.com/2026/05/killing-steel-man.html"&gt;d r i f t g l a s s&lt;/a&gt; - kill the Steel Man!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.editorialboard.com/take-comfort-knowing-trump-is-the-loneliest-man-in-america/"&gt;The Editorial Board&lt;/a&gt; - Trump is the loneliest man in America and hates Stephen Colbert’s joy;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.mahablog.com/2026/05/21/trumps-primary-successes-may-be-paving-a-road-to-failure/"&gt;The Mahablog&lt;/a&gt; - Trump’s primary success may pave the road to failure.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Send tips, requests, and suggestions to &lt;a href="mailto:mbru@crooksandliars.com"&gt;mbru@crooksandliars.com&lt;/a&gt; (with ‘for MBRU' in the subject line). &lt;em&gt;Steve in Manhattan&lt;/em&gt; &lt;a href="https://bsky.app/profile/steve-in-manhattan.bsky.social"&gt;is on Bluesky for his sins&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/mike-s-blog-roundup-hold-saturday" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/16331">mikes blog round up</category>
 <pubDate>Sat, 23 May 2026 11:13:01 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Steve in Manhattan</dc:creator>
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<item>
    <title>Trump's Primary Bloodbath Is *Eating The GOP Alive*</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/trumps-primary-bloodbath-eating-gop-alive</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/embeds/2026/05/70409.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;On &lt;em&gt;Amped Up&lt;/em&gt; David Shuster and I discussed FBI Director Kash Patel’s grotesque snorkeling over the USS Arizona war grave, then really went into&lt;a href="https://www.blueamp.co/p/trumps-primary-bloodbath-is-eating"&gt; Trump’s primary meddling that beat Rep. Massie and may elevate Ken Paxton over John Cornyn next&lt;/a&gt;. The latter a welcome development&lt;a href="https://www.blueamp.co/p/trumps-primary-bloodbath-is-eating?r=j0lyx"&gt; after forehead-slapping moves by a few major Dems last week&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.blueamp.co/p/trumps-primary-bloodbath-is-eating"&gt;Here's the thing: Trump is NOT stronger because his candidate beat Massie&lt;/a&gt;. Massie got nearly 46% while having the most money spent against him in the history of primary elections. An incumbent President in his own party bashed him non-stop to millions of his social media followers after returning from his&lt;a href="https://www.blueamp.co/p/trumps-is-on-his-knees-before-chinaand?r=j0lyx"&gt; kissing Xi's arse tour.&lt;/a&gt; And after all that, Trump's guy won by less than 10%.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And it was in a GOP primary with fewer votes because Trump's alienated so many who stayed home, or have switched parties or become independents. So Trump got slightly more than half the vote of the most bats*t MAGAs still in a party he's destroyed. &lt;a href="https://www.blueamp.co/p/trumps-primary-bloodbath-is-eating?r=j0lyx"&gt;That's what a 31% approval rating does for you&lt;/a&gt; (PS: Massie isn't sane on most issues, he's right on Epstein and Iran).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/trumps-primary-bloodbath-eating-gop-alive" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/99189">Amped Up w/ Cliff Schecter</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/99146">Attack on Iran</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/100051">BAM</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/92989">Blue Amp Media</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/285">David Shuster</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/102167">Ed Gallrein</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/96502">Epstein files</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/23717">gop primaries</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/1197">John Cornyn</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/61808">Ken Paxton</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/74843">Texas Senate race</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/70767">Thomas Massie</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/90848">Trump endorsements</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/102223">Trump is weak</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/78801">Xi</category>
 <pubDate>Sat, 23 May 2026 11:12:36 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Cliff Schecter</dc:creator>
</item>
<item>
    <title>Friday Nite Funnies: Iliza Shlesinger: Toxic Mindset </title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/friday-nite-funnies-iliza-shlesinger-toxic</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/embeds/2026/05/70392.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here's another very funny lady.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I saw her on a Netflix special and laughed much of the time. I didn't know she was the 2008 winner of &lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC" title="NBC"&gt;NBC&lt;/a&gt;'s &lt;i&gt;&lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Comic_Standing_(season_6)" title="Last Comic Standing (season 6)"&gt;Last Comic Standing.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Open thread.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/friday-nite-funnies-iliza-shlesinger-toxic" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/29310">comedian</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/101558">Friday Funnies</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/31384">Late Night Open Thread</category>
 <pubDate>Sat, 23 May 2026 01:22:57 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>John Amato</dc:creator>
</item>
<item>
    <title>Elon Musk's White Supremacist Attack On Director Christopher Nolan</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/elon-musks-white-supremacist-attack</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/embeds/2026/05/70404.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;Elon Musk's attack on Christopher Nolan's upcoming movie "&lt;a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33764258/"&gt;The Odyssey&lt;/a&gt;," turned to a darker level when he described the Academy Award-winning director as an "anti-white racist" earlier today.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div class="embedfield embedfield-embed-html  embed-provider-twitter"&gt;
&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;Chris Nolan is an anti-White racist&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/2057741134609166390?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;May 22, 2026&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Musk, like many White supremacists and Christian nationalists, constantly focus on the culture wars memes they are good at producing and then running wild on social media for clicks.  &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This new war began when Musk went on a racist tear after Nolan cast Lupita Nyong'o to be Helen of Troy. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c242d9472dqo"&gt;BBC writes&lt;/a&gt;,&lt;em&gt; "Musk said director Nolan has "grossly insulted the Greek people", and replied "true" to a meme of a man supposedly dancing on Homer's grave . The  X owner wrote: "I agree that she [Nyong'o] is beautiful, but casting a  Black woman to play a White woman in a foundational work of European  literature is no more right than casting a White man to play Shaka  Zulu!" Shaka Zulu was a famed leader of the Zulu nation." &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The phrase "anti-white racism" is a fictional characterization designed by White supremacists and nationalists to continually denigrate black and brown people of all nationalities.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/elon-musks-white-supremacist-attack" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/102220">Christopher Nolan</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/47678">Elon Musk</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/102219">The Odyssey</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/tags/white-supremacist">white supremacist</category>
 <pubDate>Fri, 22 May 2026 22:47:41 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>John Amato</dc:creator>
</item>
<item>
    <title>Fox Host Serves Up Heaping Pile Of Whataboutism To Justify Trump Slush Fund</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/fox-host-serves-heaping-helping</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/primary_image/26/05/fox-the-five-052126.png" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Five&lt;/em&gt; cohost Joey Jones defended &lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/102147"&gt;Trump's $1.776 billion slush fund&lt;/a&gt; by pretending this is just what politicians do before launching into a screed demonizing "illegal" immigrants.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They can't defend the indefensible, so this is the sort of nonsense they spew instead. Here's the back and forth between Jones and Jessica Tarlov during a discussion about the &lt;a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/21/us/minnesota-social-service-programs-fraud-charges"&gt;sentence of Feeding Our Future founder Aimee Bock&lt;/a&gt;, who was found guilty of fraud in Minnesota, where the rest of the wingnuts on the panel were trying to pretend Democrats are the ones that don't care about fraud.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote class="transcript"&gt;&lt;p&gt;
TARLOV: I'm a big fan of rooting out fraud — I think it should happen. I did notice that Aimee Bock is not Somalian, and I was assured that it was the Somalis who were committing all the fraud.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;GUTFELD: Those are her people — they worked with her.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;TARLOV: I understand. I'm just noting how this was framed.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;GUTFELD: All you see is color.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;TARLOV: When you make blanket statements—&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;JONES: How do you know she's not Somalian?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;TARLOV: Joey, don't push me on this.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/fox-host-serves-heaping-helping" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/12259">false equivalencies</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/294">Fox News</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/tags/fraud">Fraud</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/60065">Jessica Tarlov</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/82813">Joey Jones</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/22669">The Five</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/102147">Trump slush fund</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/73141">whataboutism</category>
 <pubDate>Fri, 22 May 2026 21:57:18 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Heather</dc:creator>
</item>
<item>
    <title>GOP State Treasurer Steers Contract To Allies In Christian Finance</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/tset-investment-consultant-partnered-russ</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/primary_image/26/05/screenshot_2026-05-19_at_10.24.59_pm.png" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;by Lauren Windsor, Oklahoma Watch &lt;br /&gt;May 19, 2026&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div class="wp-block-custom-everlit-iframe-embed"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Oklahoma Treasurer Todd Russ has used the state investment pools he oversees against corporations engaging in climate change and diversity initiatives, purportedly to refocus their attention away from politics and on their fiduciary duty of maximizing shareholder profits.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But Russ, who is also a minister, &lt;a href="https://1792exchange.com/press-releases/1792-exchange-announces-inaugural-guardian-award-recipient-oklahoma-state-treasurer-todd-russ/"&gt;steered&lt;/a&gt; a contract managing $2 billion in taxpayer money to a Christian investment firm that partnered with his close allies during the bid process. Russ directed the firm to conduct so-called &lt;a href="https://oklahomawatch.org/2025/09/19/oklahoma-treasurer-pushes-values-test-for-tobacco-endowment-managers/"&gt;Oklahoma values&lt;/a&gt; tests of portfolio managers, indicating his own conservative religious politics are fair investment criteria.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Despite delivering record returns, NEPC, the longtime investment consultant for the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust, was fired last year in favor of Innovest Portfolio Solutions, a firm founded by devout Catholics that serves many Catholic dioceses and religious organizations. Russ chairs TSET’s Board of Investors, which published the request-for-proposals last year. But the bid process may not have been very competitive; Innovest had been a client of Russ advisor Jerry Bowyer, who is himself an Episcopal deacon.  &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/tset-investment-consultant-partnered-russ" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/81106">Christian Nationalism</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/102188">Innovest Portfolio Solutions</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/12835">Oklahoma</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/59318">Todd Russ</category>
 <pubDate>Fri, 22 May 2026 20:48:22 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Lauren Windsor</dc:creator>
</item>
<item>
    <title>Has Mike Johnson Dumped Trump?</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/has-mike-johnson-dumped-trump</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/primary_image/26/05/gettyimages-2267835557.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;House Speaker &lt;a href="https://www.rawstory.com/tag/mike-johnson"&gt;Mike Johnson&lt;/a&gt; (R-LA) skipped a &lt;a href="https://www.rawstory.com/tag/white-house"&gt;White House&lt;/a&gt; meeting Thursday — and sources say it wasn't an accident.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Two aides familiar with the cancellation told reporter &lt;a href="https://x.com/PabloReports/status/2057555404075201021" target="_blank"&gt;Pablo Manríquez&lt;/a&gt; that Johnson flatly refused to attend, marking what may be the first time the Speaker has said no to Donald &lt;a href="https://www.rawstory.com/trump-news/"&gt;Trump&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That's no small thing. Since taking the gavel in 2023, Johnson has been one of Trump's most reliable allies on Capitol Hill — shepherding the president's agenda through a razor-thin majority with near-total loyalty. A CQ Roll Call vote study found House Republicans backed Trump's position on 95 percent of votes in 2025, the highest presidential support rate ever recorded. Johnson, who sets the floor schedule, was the engine behind that number.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A former White House official once summed up the dynamic bluntly: "Loyalty is always going to be chief among the things that Trump cares about, and Johnson has never wavered on that."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Until now, apparently.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Observers inside Washington took notice. The Independent's DC Bureau Chief &lt;a href="https://x.com/EricMGarcia/status/2057559044143870269" target="_blank"&gt;Eric Michael Garcia&lt;/a&gt; framed the significance quickly: "John Thune being fed up with Trump is one thing. Mike Johnson is a whole other kettle of fish."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/has-mike-johnson-dumped-trump" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/11836">Donald Trump</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/94679">House Speaker Mike Johnson</category>
 <pubDate>Fri, 22 May 2026 20:08:35 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>David Edwards</dc:creator>
</item>
<item>
    <title>Rep. Pat Ryan Calls Out 'These Chicken Hawk Motherf*ckers'</title>
    <link>https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/rep-pat-ryan-calls-out-chicken-hawk</link>
    <description>&lt;div class="node-media"&gt;&lt;img src="https://crooksandliars.com/files/primary_image/26/05/dycbpptnwnamkep-.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;House Republicans' decision to abruptly yank a floor vote to halt the Iran war did not sit well with Pat Ryan. Speaking on the steps of the Capitol, he lambasted them, calling them 'chicken hawks,' which, for a vet, is as insulting as it gets.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;REP. PAT RYAN (D-NY): "These chickenhawk motherfuckers are gonna send us home for Memorial Day weekend, where I'm gonna honour my fellow veterans that I served 27 months in combat with, and they are gonna not even give an up or down vote on continuing this war almost three months in, while Americans are paying almost $5 a gallon at the pump. It is fucking pathetic."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"They use this procedural bullshit argument, and every American should just be absolutely outraged about this. It's a disgrace. It is a disgrace."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And it's not the first time Ryan has used such colorful language to describe them. Just after the war started, Ryan had this to say about then Senator MarkWayne Mullin:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div class="embedfield embedfield-embed-html  embed-provider-twitter"&gt;
&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;Hey &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/SenMullin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;@SenMullin&lt;/a&gt;, what the actual fuck are you talking about?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Did I miss the part of your bio where you served in combat (or served in uniform at all??).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Call of Duty doesn’t count. &lt;a href="https://t.co/7iDHvjPwJl"&gt;https://t.co/7iDHvjPwJl&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;mdash; Pat Ryan &#127482;&#127480; (@PatRyanUC) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/PatRyanUC/status/2028606541813666279?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;March 2, 2026&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://crooksandliars.com/2026/05/rep-pat-ryan-calls-out-chicken-hawk" target="_blank"&gt;read more&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
     <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/102218">Rep. Pat Ryan</category>
 <category domain="https://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/101363">Trump Iran war</category>
 <pubDate>Fri, 22 May 2026 19:04:39 +0000</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>Ed Scarce</dc:creator>
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