Justice from SCOTUS / Putin’s Pal Pays for Don Jr.’s Wedding / A Maga Partner tied to Murder in South America / Israel’s Ethnic Cleansing of the West Bank
Score One Big One For Keeping The Republic
New York Times
Charles: Fifty days before the midterm elections, seven out of nine Supreme Court Justices rejected Donald Trump’s blatant attempt to use the Post Office to steal the midterm elections. Brett Kavanaugh joined the majority even though he thought there was “at least a fair prospect” that new mail ballot rules issued by the Postal Service fell within its purview. But he conceded any changes so close to the midterms “would be arbitrary and capricious.”
Six other Justices actually said the government “is unlikely to succeed on the merits of its challenge.” Coming from a conservative majority which has done more to decimate American democracy than any other group of Supreme Court Justices in American history, this is a remarkable victory for sanity and the rule of law.
Only the fiercest wackos–Thomas and Alto-dissented from the single paragraph decision.
Despite this great victory, the Trump administration will continue to do anything it can to fuck up the election process, including threats of criminal prosecution against local election officials who are fighting to uphold the law, which forbids Federal interference in elections. But the Supreme Court’s ruling removed the most dangerous Sword of Damocles, which had been dangling over the electoral process since Trump issued his outrageous executive order 14399 last March.
The ACLU represented voting rights organizations in the case, and it celebrated the decision. “The president does not run our elections, the Postal Service does not get to decide whose ballot counts, and voters — not the White House — will decide November’s elections,” said Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project.
Even some Republican election officials cheered the ruling Ricky Hatch, the Republican clerk in Weber County, Utah, said he felt “relief.” Utah almost exclusively votes by mail, and Mr. Hatch had been preparing a contingency plan to abandon mail voting if the Supreme Court allowed the Postal Service to restrict the practice.
Trump Jr’s Lavish Three-Day Private Island Wedding Feast Was Funded by the Kremlin
ProPublica
Scott: Russia!, Russia!, Russia! is the refrain that Trump returns to all questions about his financial and social ties to the Kremlin, which he refers to as the “Russia hoax.” But the Russia hoax is not a hoax, and the accusations raised were never refuted. Quite to the contrary. Going back to the beginning, Trump Jr and his brother Eric were key players in Trump’s unexplained Russia ties, with Eric explaining to a writer for Golf magazine that the money for the expansion of Trump’s golf course business came from “out of Russia” (which appears to be true, as NBC News discovered that the money all came from Deutsche Bank-managed accounts for Russian oligarchs in Latvia and Cyprus) while Trump Jr told a conference “in terms of high-end product influx into the US, Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets.”
Now ProPublica reports that a Russian oligarch who lives in Putin’s shadow picked up the tab for Trump Jr’s lavish three-day wedding feast on a private island. Why is this significant? The oligarch in question is Umer Kremlëv (his original name was Lutfulloyev, but he adopted a new name, which literally means “of or belonging to the Kremlin”. Nomen est omen, as the Romans said.) Kremlëv is a Putin-made man who notoriously does nothing without an okay from his master. And as head of the FSB, Putin honed a new technique for Russian spy craft, which was to manage the finance of influence operations through the supposed private dealings of oligarchs and mobsters.
Does this mean that Putin gave Trump Jr a wonderful wedding gift? Yes, that’s exactly what it means. And that fact explains much about the current relations between Trump, his family, and the Kremlin… to which they always seem so inexplicably indebted.
Vladimir Putin with his close friend and counselor Umar Kremlëv, who hosted Trump Jr’s wedding.
On May 24, Donald Trump Jr. was celebrating in the Bahamas, as scantily clad dancers in stilettos and sailor caps performed for him and his guests. It was the last night of his wedding, a lavish, three-day party held across a pair of ultra-exclusive private islands. A five-tier funfetti cake had been airlifted in from Florida, and helicopters and seaplanes descended on the islands before guests settled into their oceanfront villas. That night on the beach, Trump Jr. lifted his bride into the air while fireworks launched from a barge over the sea.
“It was everything we dreamed of and more,” his wife later wrote on Instagram.
That dream was heavily funded by a secret benefactor: Umar Kremlev, a Russian oligarch close to President Vladimir Putin.
Kremlev footed the bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars of wedding expenses, according to records reviewed by ProPublica and interviews with three people familiar with the event. The oligarch paid to rent out one of the private islands, where a reception was held and where guests slept. He also covered other big-ticket items, like the fireworks show, and his team helped plan the event. Kremlev is the head of the International Boxing Association, a scandal-plagued sports group that has been financed by the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom. The wedding payments came from an IBA-affiliated entity in Dubai that the boxing association uses for financial transactions.
The guest list numbered around 50. It included Trump Jr.’s brother-in-law Jared Kushner, Eric Trump — and Kremlev, an imposing man with a shaved head who speaks limited English. The oligarch was part of a large group whose presence puzzled other attendees. They sometimes stood off by themselves, speaking Russian.
“It was really small, like, just really close friends,” Trump Jr. later said on his podcast. “Tried to keep it really tight. And it was just awesome.”
Kremlev’s previously unreported relationship with Trump Jr. represents an extraordinary development: a member of Putin’s circle financially supporting the president’s son and gaining intimate access to the Trump family. For a decade, Putin’s government, regarded as a chief adversary of the U.S., has been accused of efforts to influence American elections. Attempts by Russia to make inroads with the Trumps before the 2016 election exploded into controversy that dogged much of the president’s first term.
Trump Jr insisted that the wedding party was an “intimate gathering of family and friends.” But many of those interviewed said the party was filled with mysterious Russians
“What are they doing here?” one person recalled thinking. At least one of the Russian guests had been with Kremlev on his China trip: Alexander Lagutin, a businessperson who has served in senior roles at a Russian defense contractor and a state-backed energy company. Kremlev’s right hand at the IBA, Elena Sobol, attended the wedding too.
Criminal Probe Looks into Trump’s Latin America Project Headed By Brad Parscale and Attempted Murderer-for-Hire Fernando Cerimedo
Agencia EFE
Viento Sur
Brad Parscale’s partner Fernando Cerimedo (center), charged by the Bolivian Prosecutor’s Office with murder-for-hire and corruption, is being taken to a preliminary hearing in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, on Aug. 20, 2026. Photo: EFE/Juan Carlos Torrejon
Scott: Latin America is being swept with a huge new political scandal which in scope and staying power looks set to equal or exceed the Odebrecht bribery scandals from 2001-16. At its center this one focuses on Trump’s senior campaign advisor Brad Parscale and his senior partner, Argentine political consultant and Javier Milei intimate counselor Fernando Cerimedo, whose political consulting operation—heavily funded from murky sources—has been the driving force behind efforts to elect pro-Trump and pro-Milei right-wing populists all across Meso- and South America. American corporate media, generally allergic to anything critical of Trump, have been particularly unwilling to touch on or report out this story, which has led the leading Spanish language press service, Agencia EFE, to compile and publish an English-language summary of major reporting on the matter out of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Peru.
The tale, which is ready for major feature film treatment, starts with Cerimedo hiring a contract killer to liquidate his love interest, a Bolivian lawyer and political consultant in her own right, who had suddenly gotten too chatty about potentially compromising things. The plan went awry and prosecutors launched a probe that immediately turned up details of the expansive Trump-connected political influence operation.
Over the weekend, press reports out of Chile suggest that prosecutors had uncovered that the Trump South political operations had launched illegal social media bots to influence recent elections in Chile, leading the country’s conservative-dominated parliament to open an investigation.
The arrest and investigation into Argentine political consultant Fernando Cerimedo for the attempted femicide of his ex-partner, Bolivian lawyer and political operative Nadia Beller, have raised questions about his ties to right-wing election campaigns and governments in several Latin American countries.
Cerimedo remains in pretrial detention in Bolivia, where he also faces other charges related to alleged illicit enrichment and family and domestic violence.
Argentine presidential campaign
Cerimedo was part of President Javier Milei’s communications strategy during the 2023 presidential campaign.
Last week, Argentine presidential spokesperson Adrián Ravier stated Milei has had no relationship with Cerimedo since 2023, but acknowledged he held meetings at the Casa Rosada during the first half of 2024.
Access logs show at least 13 visits, several authorized by officials close to the president and some to the General Secretariat of the Presidency, headed by the president’s sister, Karina Milei.
Ravier assured that those meetings were not with Milei and noted that they ended with Cerimedo’s departure from the government.
Close ties to Bolivian presidency
In Bolivia, where judicial investigations against the consultant are concentrated, questions have also arisen regarding his relationship with the government of President Rodrigo Paz.
Last week, the president acknowledged that Cerimedo collaborated on his campaign for the 2025 presidential runoff and at the start of his administration, but asserted that Cerimedo was never authorized to represent the government or his family and that there was no contract or direct working relationship.
Cerimedo admitted to being friends with Paz and maintained that his work was “collaborative,” without having been a government official or having had any influence over the government or its ministers.
However, opposition figures such as former President Evo Morales (2006–2019) and Vice President Edmand Lara have claimed that he was the president’s personal advisor.
On Tuesday, Lara filed a criminal complaint against First Lady María Elena Urquidi and Cerimedo for influence peddling and abuse of influence, based on an unverified audio recording in which the two allegedly discuss possible changes in government officials.
The authenticity of the recording was questioned by Beller, who claimed that the voices do not belong to Cerimedo or Urquidi.
Parliamentary investigation in Chile
The Chilean Congress approved the formation of an investigative commission to clarify possible connections between Cerimedo and President José Antonio Kast’s inner circle regarding the use of bots in political campaigns.
The commission will have sixty days to prepare a report on the awareness, detection, and use of bots or other digital manipulation tools since 2020.
The allegations against Kast’s inner circle and his teams regarding the use of bots are not new. In 2025, during the presidential campaign, a group of lawmakers filed a complaint regarding alleged coordinated disinformation networks.
Cerimedo’s arrest also coincided with the discovery of a “mini bot farm” during raids on properties occupied by the consultant in Bolivia.
Questions in Peru
In Peru, the fallout from the case led President Keiko Fujimori to publicly deny any connection to the Argentine consultant. Fujimori stated that she has never had a personal or professional relationship with Cerimedo, and asserted that she never communicated with him.
She also denied knowing the consultant, adding she was unaware of the reason for his presence in Lima.
The statement came after it was revealed that Cerimedo traveled to Lima on July 27 and remained in the capital until July 28, the day Fujimori was sworn in as president.
The newspaper La República also reported statements by Beller, who claimed that Cerimedo held meetings with a woman on Fujimori’s campaign team and that the connection with that circle had begun in 2025.
