The Senate Approved $15.25 Billion in Disaster Relief, Thank God

This week, like most weeks, has been both very short and interminably long.

• Well, it looks like President Donald Trump sidestepped his own party and cut a deal with Democrats in Congress to secure $15.25 billion in disaster relief funding while also raising the the federal borrowing limit and keeping the lights on in the goddamn government through December 8. FEMA will get $7.4 billion from the House, which will be exceedingly helpful since three hurricanes in the Atlantic either already have or are about to wreak havoc. [Washington Post]
  
• In case you were waiting with breathless anticipation for President Trump’s insightful and thoughtful comments on Hurricane Irma, the wait is over: He is “very concerned” and also said this sentence which is...yeah: ““The people of Florida, like the people of Texas, Louisiana, you’re seeing how the people of our country have reacted under this tremendous pressure and these horrible things that we call hurricanes.” I wonder how he’ll react if his beloved Mar-a-Lago is reduced to a pile of rubble and gold leaf! [Politico]
• Apropros of not much other than the fact that Donald Trump really does appear to be a raging narcissist, the person who literally helped revise the DSM-IV says that Trump is decidedly not. [Stat News]
• It’s unclear as to whether or not the florid and potentially eczematous Stephen Bannon is a narcissist or not, but it is really clear that he’s a freaking idiot, as he is flapping his jaw saying that the Catholic church (?) “needs illegal aliens” to fill its seats and make money. [Washington Post]
  
• Hey, ya know, that Russia investigation is still chugging along, even as the world around us crumbles to the ravages of climate change. Here is a fun update: Donald Trump, Jr., the president’s “good boy,” told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he met with those Russian lawyers last year to express his openness to receiving information about the “fitness, character or qualifications” of Hillary Clinton. Okay! [The Guardian]
• FBI director Christopher Wray said that he has t “not detected any whiff of interference”from the White House into the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Nice to hear, thanks for sharing. [Reuters]
• Some fear that Hillary Clinton’s book tour, which starts on September 12, will open the fresh wounds of the 2016 election. They’re probably right. [Politico]

Here are some tweets the president was allowed to publish:

This has been Barf Bag.