Around the Corn
Indiana GOP Leadership Continues to Show Their Ass
Mike Braun continues to prove himself a toothless, empty blue shirt who can’t keep his red-pilled minions under control. Part of the reason for his toothlessness could be the lack of time he spends in the Governor’s office. FAA reports of his helicopter trips to and from Jasper show that he’s putting in a good 3 or 4 days a week at the Capital.
Last Week, we briefly touched on this one: State Supreme Court won't dismiss latest disciplinary complaint against Attorney General Todd Rokita
Not to be outdone, Diego Morales takes the wheel of the MAGA clown car, going on a 15-minute rant during a routine Motor Vehicle Advisory Board meeting, repeating the phrase “fake news” a dozen times
“Don’t pay attention to the fake news,” Morales said. “It is time for someone like me to share what we have done.”
“I’m not going to let the fake news, the fake IndyStar, the fake WIBC, to define me,” Morales said. “They are fake news, and they deserve to be called out.”
Never one to give up the spotlight for too long, Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith also found himself under the microscope this week… Twice:
Unexpected terminations: Beckwith replaces OCRA staff with congregants, friends and allies
As Micah Beckwith took office in January, the Republican lieutenant governor and his aides quickly remade a small state agency he oversees – removing long-time employees at the Office of Community and Rural Affairs to make room for political allies.
The turnover was possible because while the governor oversees most of the executive branch, state law places the lieutenant governor in charge of OCRA and the Department of Agriculture.
He has tapped Republican delegates who backed his bid for lieutenant governor at last year’s state party convention, followers of the church where he is a pastor, a radio personality who interviewed and endorsed him and more.
Indiana LG’s office closures, staff instructions suggest contrast with return-to-office order
Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith’s statehouse office has been repeatedly closed during public business hours in recent weeks — at times with no signage posted and no staff inside — even as Gov. Mike Braun has ordered a broad return to in-person work for state employees.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle visited the lieutenant governor’s office six times between late June and mid-July and found it dark or locked on four occasions. Three of the closures — June 20, June 27 and July 11 — fell on Fridays.
The Kind of “Results” You Get From Such “Leaders”
Hoosiers hit with historically high electric bill increases, consumer watchdog study shows
Citizens Action Coalition collected and analyzed 20 years of data from five of the state’s monopoly utilities — NIPSCO, CenterPoint, Duke Energy Indiana, AES Indiana and I&M — and found residents were hit this year with the highest year-over-year price increase since at least 2005.
The group’s key findings show a statewide average energy bill increase of more than $28 per month — a 17.5% jump.
Indiana’s college-going rate drops again, dipping to 51.7%
Fewer than 52% of Indiana high school graduates from the Class of 2023 went directly to college, according to the latest data quietly released by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.
That’s the state’s lowest rate in recent history and a continued decline from its previous plateau.
Just 51.7% of 2023 graduates, about 39,000 students, enrolled in college within a year of finishing high school, data showed. That’s down from a steady 53% between 2020 and 2022, and far below the state’s peak of 65% a decade ago.
Crossroads - Indiana News Intersects National News: USDA chooses Indianapolis as location of one of 5 regional hubs
As part of the USDA’s reorganization, the department announced a phased plan to relocate its agency headquarters and its staff from the Washington D.C. area to five hub locations, including:
Indianapolis
Salt Lake City
Fort Collins, Colorado
Raleigh, North Carolina
Kansas City, Missouri
The release said that the department’s reorganization consists of four main pillars, including:
Ensure the size of USDA’s workforce aligns with available financial resources and agricultural priorities
Bring USDA closer to its customers
Eliminate management layers and bureaucracy
Consolidate redundant support functions.
Officials said this is the first phase in a multi-month process. Leadership said they will notify offices with more information on relocation to one of the regional hubs. The release stressed that all “critical functions of the department will continue uninterrupted.”
Don’t Look Away – This is Still Happening: More details emerge about Camp Atterbury's use for ICE detainees
On Monday, Rep. André Carson (D-Indiana) said he’s learned Camp Atterbury is preparing to house 1,000 people.
“I stand firmly in my conviction that Camp Atterbury is for military training operations unless there are exigent or emergency or national security concerns,” Carson said in a Zoom interview. “And as a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee, I’m always concerned with issues of national security. So some of the questions we need answers to must be answered. We cannot allow this Hoosier facility to be turned into another Alligator Alcatraz.”
US / World News
“Trump’s main tactic was never to bury his offenses, but to flaunt them. He covered his big crimes with smaller crimes, and covered his smaller crimes with scandals, and in the process attempted to destroy the very notion of truth. His presidency exposed the weakness and complicity of institutions and proved that trusting the official line was a sucker’s bet.” - Sarah Kendzior, PhD (MA - IU 2006), September 2022
Again - Don’t Look Away: Gaza Famine
The entire 2.1 million population of Gaza is facing prolonged food shortages, with nearly half a million people in a catastrophic situation of hunger, acute malnutrition, starvation, illness and death. This is one of the world’s worst hunger crises, unfolding in real time.
The latest food security analysis was released today by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) partnership, of which WHO is a member.
“We do not need to wait for a declaration of famine in Gaza to know that people are already starving, sick and dying, while food and medicines are minutes away across the border,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Today’s report shows that without immediate access to food and essential supplies, the situation will continue to deteriorate, causing more deaths and descent into famine.”
Famine has not yet been declared, but people are starving now. Three quarters of Gaza’s population are at “Emergency” or “Catastrophic” food deprivation, the worst two levels of IPC's five level scale of food insecurity and nutritional deprivation.
Epstein Distractions - Trump: “Look Over There!”
Every Day, a new attempted distraction
Gabbard Accuses Obama of “Treasonous Conspiracy”
US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has released a previously classified report which she says points to a "treasonous conspiracy" to undermine the results of the 2016 presidential election.
The report Gabbard declassified was prepared by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee and is dated 18 September 2020.
The declassified report says the CIA "did not adhere to the tenets" of analytic standards and used "one scant, unclear, and unverifiable fragment of a sentence from one of the substandard reports" to conclude that Russia's Vladimir Putin wanted Trump to win.
There is little evidence in the document, however, that challenges the prevailing view in US intelligence that Russia sought to influence the vote in favour of Trump.
Among the key authors of the report was Kash Patel, who is now Trump's FBI director.
The US intelligence community published an assessment in January 2017 concluding that Russia had sought to damage Hillary Clinton's campaign and boost Trump in the vote three months earlier.
US officials found this effort had included Russian bot farms on social media and hacking of Democratic emails, but they ultimately concluded the impact was probably limited and did not actually change the election result.
A 2020 bipartisan report by the Senate intelligence committee also found that Russia had tried to help Trump's 2016 campaign.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was a senator at the time, was among the Republicans who co-signed that report.
Meanwhile:
Bondi briefed Trump that his name was in Epstein files
The Wall Street Journal first reported that Bondi informed Trump in May about his name appearing in the documents.
The revelations about the meeting contradict Trump’s more recent denials that he was told he was in the files.
Pressed last week on whether Bondi had told him he was named in the documents, he said, “No, no. She’s given us just a very quick briefing.”
Judge denies release of Jeffrey Epstein transcripts in Florida
President Trump had called for the release of grand jury testimony related to Epstein, who was accused of sexually trafficking children, in response to pressure from lawmakers and some supporters to show more transparency with the case.
U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg of Florida said in her ruling that 11th Circuit law does not permit her to grant the government's request and that her "hands are tied."
Rosenberg also said the government's request to unseal the grand jury transcripts does not fall under the limited exceptions allowed under the law.
Trump Dispatches Blanche to Meet Maxwell
The first meeting between Maxwell and [Deputy Attorney General Todd] Blanche on Thursday lasted six hours.
It is almost unheard of for a convicted sex trafficker to meet with such a high-ranking Justice Department official, especially one who used to be the president's top criminal defense attorney.
The second meeting between Maxwell and Blanche lasted for about three hours.
Ghislaine Maxwell, who sources told ABC News initiated the meetings with the Department of Justice, answered questions for about nine hours over two days after being granted a limited form of immunity, the sources said.
In Melania’s book she tells that the first time she had sex with Trump (OH BARF) it was on Epstein’s plane. Was it the first time she met the Donald as well? (OH BARF)
Brief Recap:
Paramount paid $16 million to resolve a lawsuit filed by Trump as a private individual against CBS and 60 Minutes. Skydance CEO David Ellison promised to eliminate all U.S.-based DEI programs at Paramount and to create a new ombudsman to field complaints of ideological bias in news coverage. Skydance has not denied Trump's assertions the network will run $20 million worth of public service announcements consistent with his ideological beliefs.
Stewart Rips Company on Daily Show
"Shows that say something, shows that take a stand, shows that are unafraid — this is not a 'We speak truth to power.' We don't," Stewart said. "We speak opinions to television cameras. But we try. We f------ try, every night.
"And if you believe, as corporations or as networks, you can make yourself so innocuous that you can serve a gruel so flavorless that you will never again be on the boy king's radar — a.) why will anyone watch you? And you are f------- wrong."
The profanity-laced segment, which aired uncensored, culminated in Stewart’s leading a church choir encouraging institutions to “sack the f--- up” or “go f--- yourself.”
South Park Skewers Trump in Season Premier
Presented – in terms of voice, behaviour and animation style – identically to Saddam Hussein in the South Park movie, the show’s Trump brashly parrots the phrase “Relax, guy” to anyone who takes issue with him, and is regularly seen in bed with Satan. He also keeps suing everybody, and removing his trousers to show off his tiny penis. In total, we see Trump’s penis five times throughout the episode.
the programme’s creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, have just signed a $1.5bn contract with Paramount
In Memoriam
actor and artist who rose to fame as a child as Theodore Huxtable on “The Cosby Show,” died Sunday in a drowning accident in Costa Rica, according to local police.
the gloomy, demon-invoking lead singer of the pioneering band Black Sabbath who became the throaty, growling voice — and drug-and-alcohol ravaged id — of heavy metal, died Tuesday, just weeks after his farewell show. He was 76.
Hulk Hogan
the mustachioed, headscarf-wearing, bicep-busting icon of professional wrestling who turned the sport into a massive business and stretched his influence into TV, pop culture and conservative politics during a long and scandal-plagued second act, died Thursday in Florida at age 71.
perhaps the biggest star in WWE’s long history. He was the main draw for the first WrestleMania in 1985 and was a fixture for years, facing everyone from Andre The Giant and Randy Savage to The Rock and even WWE co-founder Vince McMahon.
But outside the the ring, Hogan also found trouble. WWE in 2015 cut ties with him for three years, even removing him from its Hall of Fame, after it was reported that he was recorded using racial slurs about Blacks. He apologized and said his words were “unacceptable.”
Hulk Hogan’s successful lawsuit against Gawker set a path for the assault on media that Trump uses today. Gawker, a news/entertainment site founded in 2002, published stories about alleged sexual misconduct long before the #MeToo movement, and published Jeffrey Epstein’s little black book …in 2015.” (NY Times, Opinion 07/26/2025). It also outed Peter Thiel. Hogan shopped for a favorable legal venue, sued individual journalists, and used state law to put Gawker out of business.
One Big Thing - The Slashed Social Safety Net
Recap Saturday’s Families First Events
From Merrillville to Mitchell, everyday Hoosiers are united by our shared beliefs that all of us deserve to get the care we need when we need it without fear of bankruptcy, that no child should go to school hungry, and that our elected officials should represent our communities. Saturday’s events also mark the 35th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and we want to recognize that anyone can become a person with a disability at any time. For Hoosiers with disabilities, Medicaid is an essential lifeline providing healthcare coverage for 44% of Hoosier adults with disabilities and 66% of nursing home residents.
Federal cuts to essential healthcare and food programs will make Hoosiers sicker and poorer by:
Ripping healthcare away from an estimated 267,996 Hoosiers, including children, seniors, and people with disabilities, by gutting Medicaid. Healthcare coverage losses could be even higher if the state decides to “roll back eligibility” in response to the cuts. Nearly 2 million Hoosiers rely on Indiana’s Medicaid programs for their healthcare.
Driving up healthcare costs for all Hoosiers and resulting in the shuttering of as many as 16 rural hospitals.
Cutting food stamps (SNAP) for an estimated 128,000 people, forcing millions of working families to make impossible choices between groceries and rent.
Eliminating free and reduced-price school lunches, taking food off the trays of children who rely on it to learn and grow. Nearly half of all Hoosier kids qualify for free or reduced lunches.
Cuts to Medicaid are not on enough people’s radar; in addition to the 12-16 hospitals in Indiana identified at-risk for closure, >60% of nursing home residents are covered by Medicaid, nearly all substance abuse programs are covered by Medicaid, and Medicaid waivers provide essential life-sustaining care for homebound individuals.
The shuttering of Emergency Rooms in rural areas is likely on the horizon. That squeezes the pipeline of uninsured people, which some administrators consider an appropriate cost-saving measure.
Not enough people know these facts.
When the Big BS Bill struggled for passage, Indiana’s congressional delegation could have banded together and demanded protection for Hoosiers like Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski. Congressional abdication of its power and responsibility, as in this case, and the clawbacks of previously approved funding are prime examples.
From today’s Indiana Capital Chronicle:
Low-income Hoosiers are about to get a whole lot hungrier.
At least, that’s the concern of state advocates and national researchers focused on combating food insecurity after Congress cut funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, earlier this month.
Harvard associate professor of public health, Cindy Leung, “I don’t think there is much out there if you don’t have SNAP. SNAP is irreplaceable. SNAP is the only nutrition assistance program that is under (the U.S. Department of Agriculture) that targets all Americans,” Leung said. “… SNAP has been the main line of defense against poverty and hunger for decades.”
Indiana has 588,184 SNAP beneficiaries across 281,112 households, as of April 2025.
(Kiwanis in Austin, IN, made up the difference in their summer meals program because Indiana did not accept the SUN Bucks funding. Community groups across the state made these efforts, which are likely unsustainable.)
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