The Conversation -- May 16, 2025
If you've been too busy to keep up with Trump's various grifts or can't keep up because there are so many, here's Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) who took to the Senate floor to run down Trump's Top Ten Grifts over the last 100+ days. A dandy public service announcement:
Mark Sherman of the AP: “The Supreme Court on Friday rejected the Trump administration’s appeal to quickly resume deportations of Venezuelans under an 18th century wartime law. Over two dissenting votes, the justices acted on an emergency appeal from lawyers for Venezuelan men who have been accused of being gang members, a designation that the administration says makes them eligible for rapid removal from the United States under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The high court had already called a temporary halt to the deportations from a north Texas detention facility in a middle-of-the-night order issued last month. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented.”
Zach Schonfeld of the Hill: “The federal judge overseeing the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man mistakenly deported to El Salvador, blasted the Trump administration Friday for not giving her enough material to decide whether it can invoke the state secrets privilege. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said a declaration submitted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which seeks to avoid handing over certain documents by citing national security concerns, was 'insufficient' and the government needed to show its work as to why the privilege applies.... All sides agreed that some progress has been made, but the proceeding turned fiery at times as Xinis sparred with Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Guynn, who at one point compared the discovery battle to 'hand-to-hand combat.'”
Emily Brooks, et al., of the Hill: “Fiscal hawks on the House Budget Committee on Friday sunk a key vote on advancing the 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' that encompasses ... [Donald] Trump’s legislative agenda, marking a stunning setback for the legislation. The 16-21 vote throws up a hurdle for leaders hoping to send the bill to the Senate by Memorial Day....” Update: The Washington Post story is here. ~~~
~~~ As I Was Saying ... Tony Romm of the New York Times: “The Republican tax plan may offer only modest gains to everyday workers, according to a wide range of tax experts, and some taxpayers may actually be left in worse financial shape if the bill becomes law. The latest assessment arrived Friday from the Penn Wharton Budget Model, a nonpartisan scorekeeper closely watched on Capitol Hill. Economists found that many Americans who make less than $51,000 a year would see their after-tax income fall as a result of the Republican proposal beginning in 2026.... By contrast, the top 0.1 percent, including those with incomes over $4.3 million, would gain on average more than $389,000 in after-tax income in 2026, the data show.”
Dana Milbank of the Washington Post runs down some of Trump's and his administration's and Congressional Republicans' atrocities of the week. Milbank starts with Trump's racism: “It’s hard to see this refugee policy, and the exception for Afrikaners, as anything but an assertion of white supremacy.” He notes that Christopher Landau, the State Department official who welcomed the Afrikaners, bowed to the eugenics movement, a concession made more horrifying by the fact that Landau's father & grandparents were Jews who fled Austrian Nazis. As for Trump, he “abandoned any pretense of conveying the American values of freedom and democracy on his trip to the Middle East, supplanting them with the Trumpian values of greed and transactional relationships.” This is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ There could be one positive outcome from Trump's Grift and Graft Excursion to Arab states: ~~~
~~~ Luke Broadwater & Erika Solomon of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said on Friday that 'a lot of people are starving' in the Gaza Strip under an Israeli blockade preventing aid deliveries, adding that the U.S. wanted to help alleviate the suffering. 'We’re going to handle a couple of situations that you have here,' Mr. Trump said, speaking in the United Arab Emirates on the last leg of his visit to three Persian Gulf nations this week. 'We’re looking at Gaza, and we got to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving. A lot of people. There’s a lot of bad things going on.'... Mr. Trump emerged from his trip to the Middle East with a more sympathetic tone on Gaza — a notable shift given his longstanding close relationship with the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu.... Boarding Air Force One on Friday, Mr. Trump told reporters that the United States must take action on the Gaza crisis.... On top of the total siege it has imposed on Gaza for more than two months, Israel has escalated its military campaign in recent days. Strikes on Friday killed more than 100 people, according to Gaza’s health ministry, a day after Israeli bombardment forced the closure of one of the enclave’s major hospitals.”
Cat Zakrzewski, et al., of the Washington Post: “The White House this week labeled ... Donald Trump 'the dealmaker in chief, claiming he has secured more than $2 trillion in investment agreements during his tour through oil-rich Middle Eastern monarchies. As Air Force One touched down in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, the White House released daily lists of the dozens of deals that it said Trump had secured during his visits. But at least half a dozen of the contracts were announced before Trump even took office in January.... In Doha, the administration announced $8.5 billion in projects involving the Texas energy company McDermott.... But the company previously announced contracts for [the Qatar] initiative during Joe Biden’s presidency, in 2023 and 2024. When Trump was in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, the White House announced $200 billion in 'new' commercial deals with the UAE. Much of the corporate funding came from a cloud computing deal between Amazon and UAE state-owned telecommunications company e& ... [which] Amazon ... announced that contract in October, and the company had only committed about $1 billion over six years.... The math behind the White House’s claim that Trump secured 'trillions' on this trip is fuzzy even including the contracts that predate his presidency.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: This kind of lie annoys me because there's no way the MAGA minions will ever know his boasts are big fat lies. He constantly tells them Biden was a terrible president, but he takes credit for Biden's accomplishments.
Jordyn Holman of the New York Times: “ Every couple of years, Paula Kerger, the long-serving chief executive of PBS, faces pushback from Congress. It often comes from Republicans who argue that public broadcasters like PBS and NPR are biased and not deserving of taxpayers’ money.... But this year, she said, feels 'very different.' In January, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission ordered an investigation into the public media networks’ sponsor messages. In March, Ms. Kerger faced hostile lawmakers on a House subcommittee led by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who called the hearing 'Anti-American Airwaves.' Then, this month..., [Donald] Trump signed an executive order seeking to end all federal funding for PBS and NPR, which the White House called 'woke propaganda.' Soon after, Mr. Trump terminated a grant that PBS used to finance children’s educational programs.”
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Marie: I knew before Donald Trump won the 2016 election that he was a shallow jerk -- or, as Graydon Carter had put it, "a short-fingered vulgarian." But, I thought, everybody in a high-profile position wants to do a good job if only because he doesn't want to be humiliated. So maybe, I reasoned back then, Trump will be only moderately awful. Well, I sure was wrong about that. During his first term, he proved to be the worst U.S. president in history. Now, in his second term, he's much worse. Why is that? Doesn't he want to be the best president ever and win the Nobel Peace Prize and get his orange face chiseled into Mount Rushmore? Well, yes, yes, he does, I've finally realized. The problem is that he is so grotesquely ignorant and understands so little about this country that he imagines he is doing what it takes to be the best president ever. He thinks all of his authoritarian power-grabbing and money-grubbing and intimidation and cruelty and chest-thumping are the markers of great leadership. ~~~
Here's somebody who does get it: Springsteen in Manchester, England: ~~~
~~~ Michael Levenson of the New York Times: “Bruce Springsteen opened his 'Land of Hope and Dreams' tour in Manchester, England, on Wednesday with a forceful denunciation of ... [Donald] Trump, accusing him and his administration of trampling on civil rights and workers, abandoning allies and siding with dictators. Even for an avowed liberal like Mr. Springsteen, it was a notably piercing broadside at a time when some artists have seemed to avoid directly confronting Mr. Trump as they did in 2017, after he took office the first time.” ~~~
~~~ Here's the transcript of Springsteen's remarks, via his Website.
Sheik to Dump on Trump the Chump. Jeremy Bogaisky of Forbes: "The royal family of Qatar, owner of one of the largest private jet fleets in the world, has been quietly getting rid of some of its biggest planes. It may have found the perfect taker for one of its Boeing 747 jumbo jets in ... Donald Trump, who has been frustrated with the multi-year delays in replacing Air Force One. While many have speculated that the Qataris have offered Trump the luxurious plane to curry favor with the famously transactional president, there may be a simpler rationale: they just don’t want it anymore. The royals have failed to sell the plane, which was put on the market in 2020, according to an archived listing. Giving it away could save Qatar’s rulers a big chunk of change on maintenance and storage costs, aviation experts told Forbes. Making Trump happy would be an added bonus."
Waste & Abuse. Olivia George of the Washington Post: “A massive military parade and festivities planned in Washington next month will cost an estimated $25 million to $45 million and will involve dozens of warplanes, hundreds of Army vehicles and thousands of soldiers from across the country sleeping in downtown government office buildings, an Army spokesperson said Thursday. The parade, to commemorate the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary, will be held June 14, the same day as ... Donald Trump’s 79th birthday.... The parade’s overlap with Trump’s birthday has stirred ire among some civilians and veterans, especially at a time when his overhaul of the federal government includes slashing the Department of Veterans Affairs.... The president has long mused about soldiers marching and tanks rolling down the streets of the capital and aircraft roaring overhead but backed off the idea in 2018 amid pushback from the Army and D.C. officials over exorbitant costs and the damage tanks might cause to roads.”
Ann D'Innocenzio of the AP: “Walmart, which became the nation’s largest retailer by making low prices a priority..., [is] warning customers that prices will rise for goods ranging from bananas to car seats.... Given the magnitude of [Trump's tariffs]..., the highest since the 1930s, higher prices are unavoidable, and they will hurt Walmart customers already buffeted by inflation over the past three years.... Those higher prices began to appear on Walmart shelves in late April and accelerated this month, Walmart executives said Thursday. However, a larger sting will start to be felt in June and July when the back-to-school shopping season goes into high gear.”
Minho Kim & Tim Balk of the New York Times: “The Trump administration on Thursday fired nearly 600 employees at Voice of America, a federally funded news network that provides independent reporting to countries with limited press freedoms. The layoffs targeted contractors, most of them journalists but also some administrative employees, and amounted to over a third of Voice of America’s staff. They signaled that the Trump administration planned to continue its efforts to dismantle the broadcaster despite a court ruling last month that ordered the federal government to maintain robust news programming at the network, which ... [Donald] Trump has called 'the voice of radical America.' In another sign of the Trump administration’s hostility toward the broadcaster, the federal building in Washington that houses the media organization was put up for sale on Thursday.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Donald Trump so despises the truth -- AND immigrants of color, of course -- so much that he is hanging his authoritarian hat on open defiance of court orders protecting them.
Adam Goldman, et al., of the New York Times: “The F.B.I. is disbanding a squad that handles investigations into members of Congress and fraud by federal employees..., a move that comes as the Trump administration seeks to eliminate or marginalize units responsible for public corruption cases. The squad’s members are likely to be reassigned, potentially asked to do immigration work, and its work is expected to be merged with one of the other corruption units in the bureau’s Washington field office, according to a person familiar with the changes. The special agent in charge of criminal matters at the field office — who was recently responsible for investigating the Biden administration’s green energy grants — was also pushed out of his job.... The moves, some of the most drastic to date by the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, could reduce the bureau’s capacity to fulfill one of its core missions: leading major investigations into public corruption cases that have included, among many others, the two federal prosecutions of Mr. Trump led by the special counsel Jack Smith.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
Oh, Lordy, somebody go online and find Kristi a National Guard outfit: ~~~
~~~ Hamed Aleaziz & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: “The Department of Homeland Security has requested more than 20,000 National Guard members to help with the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, according to two U.S. officials with knowledge of the plans. The request to the Defense Department came after ... [Donald] Trump asked the Department of Homeland Security last week to increase its ranks by pulling in 20,000 officers from state or federal agencies. Lawyers at the Pentagon were reviewing the request with 'interior immigration enforcement,' according to a Defense Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations. It was unclear what role state National Guard members would play and whether they would be involved in rounding up people for deportation, the official said. It was not immediately clear if the states would also have to approve the plan. National Guard troops have generally played a supporting role to domestic authorities in enforcing immigration issues at the border, including logistics, security and other assistance. But the Defense Department official said that if the request were approved, it would be the first time National Guard troops were used to help enforce an immigration crackdown in the United States.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: So here is a Daily Mail story, and as Daily Mail stories often go, it's so bizarre you may not believe it. But Carl Gibson of AlterNet writes that the Daily Beast corroborated it: ~~~
~~~ Shawn Cohen of the Daily Mail: "She's been called 'ICE Barbie' for treating her Cabinet position like a TV production, but now Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is pushing for an actual reality show pitting immigrants against each other 'for the honor of fast-tracking their way to U.S. citizenship'. It may sound like a joke, but the idea is for real and is outlined in a 35-page program pitch put together in coordination with the DHS secretary, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal. Noem is even offering up officials from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to tally votes for the made-for-TV contest. The pitch comes from Rob Worsoff, a writer and producer known for Duck Dynasty, the A&E reality show about a Louisiana family and its hunting empire, and Bravo's Millionaire Matchmaker. The proposed series is called The American, named after the train that contestants would ride around the country, competing in regionally specific 'cultural' contests such as rolling logs in Wisconsin. It would lead to a grand finale with the winner getting sworn in on the steps of the U.S. Capitol." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Okay, bizarre AND wildly offensive. You remember how as the Roman Empire fell apart, it (at least apocryphally) staged popular events in which Christians were thrown to the lions and slaves fought each other to the death? That's what this is: poor people desperate to gain access to the U.S. fighting each other in a public spectacle. Like Trump, Noem has no idea what her job is and, in any event, lacks the character to do that job. ~~~
~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "It’s getting so I can’t even blame the low-information focus groups who just refuse to believe Republicans are doing what they’re doing, because at times I can barely believe it myself." ~~~
~~~ Then There's This. Joseph Gedeon of the Guardian: “The restaurant Kid Rock’s was among several others in Nashville owned by ... Donald Trump supporter Steve Smith where undocumented kitchen staff were asked to go home to avoid rumored immigration raids this weekend. The restaurant – whose full name is Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse, and is licensed by the rightwing musician Kid Rock, who has also become one of the US president’s highest-profile supporters – reportedly found itself struggling to serve post-concert crowds on Saturday night after the order from managers instructing employees without legal status to leave, according to the Nashville Scene.... Like Kid Rock, Smith has cultivated a reputation as a vocal conservative, fighting Covid-19 restrictions and backing Trump with campaign donations. Yet the episode appeared to suggest that his establishments – including The Diner and Honky Tonk Central – are partly dependent on the undocumented labor the president has vowed to expel from the US.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Go ahead, you mean person who doesn't care about the trials and tribulations of small business owners who are the backbone of the U.S. economy, etc., etc.: laugh your head off. My own head is, well, off.
~~~ A Frivolous “Investigation.” Chris Cameron of the New York Times: “The Trump administration is investigating James Comey, the former F.B.I. director who was fired by ... [Donald] Trump in his first term, for a social media post that officials claim amounted to a call for Mr. Trump’s assassination, members of the president’s cabinet said on Thursday evening. The Instagram post, which Mr. Comey later took down and said was not meant as a call for violence, showed seashells on a beach forming the numbers '86 47,' a phrase used by critics of the president online, at protests and on signs and clothing. 'Eighty-six,' according to Merriam-Webster, is an old slang term meaning to dismiss or remove, and Mr. Trump is the 47th president. The phrase has not previously been described by officials in the current administration as threatening to Mr. Trump, but soon after Mr. Comey made the post on Thursday, Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, asserted that the former F.B.I. director had 'called for the assassination' of Mr. Trump and that 'D.H.S. and Secret Service is investigating this threat and will respond appropriately.' Other high-level Trump administration officials soon chimed in to denounce Mr. Comey’s post, which he had already removed and replaced with a new message that he 'didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence.' Kash Patel, the current F.B.I. director, announced that his agency would 'support the investigation' by the Secret Service, and Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, appeared on Fox News hours later and said that Mr. Comey should be jailed.” The NBC News story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'm just a'wonderin' when Kristi, et al., are going to “investigate” Trump and others for malicious remarks and social media content encouraging violence. As Cameron reports, “After President Joseph R. Biden Jr. took office, clothing and signs with '86 46,' referring to Mr. Biden, soon began to appear and continue to be sold online. During the 2024 campaign, Mr. Trump posted a video featuring an image of Mr. Biden hogtied on the back of a truck, imagery that had spread among Mr. Trump’s followers. Mr. Trump had frequently featured violent imagery on his social media accounts during the campaign.”
~~~ BTW, according to Merriam Webster, the term “86” comes from the restaurant industry: “Eighty-six is slang meaning 'to throw out,' 'to get rid of,' or 'to refuse service to.' It comes from 1930s soda-counter slang meaning that an item was sold out.” That is, it does not mean “assassinate.” I have used the term myself in the past, never with violence in mind; I might say, for instance, “I think I'll 86 my original travel plan for this summer.” The whole “investigation” is another way Trump Grievance Syndrome is wasting you taxpayer dollars.
Robert Jimison of the New York Times: “The Senate on Thursday rejected a resolution written by Democrats that would have required that the Trump administration tell Congress what steps it has taken to comply with court orders involving U.S. deportees imprisoned in El Salvador and to report on the country’s human rights record. The measure failed on a party-line vote of 45-50. Republicans were unanimously opposed. Supporters said the resolution was intended to determine if U.S. security assistance had gone to support the detention of U.S. residents in a country that might be violating human rights. It would have amounted to a strong rebuke of President Trump and a challenge to his aggressive deportation drive, which Democrats see as an unlawful overreach.”
Jack Healy, et al., of the New York Times: “A federal judge this week dismissed charges against nearly 100 migrants detained under a Trump administration effort to arrest undocumented migrants for trespassing on a newly declared 'national defense' zone along New Mexico’s border with Mexico. The order from a federal magistrate judge, Gregory B. Wormuth, added to the confusion and legal turmoil that have gripped New Mexico in the month since ... [Donald] Trump declared a ribbon of land along the 180-mile length of the state’s southern border to be an Army base. Around 400 migrants had been charged with willfully violating security regulations — misdemeanor charges that can carry up to a year in jail. The arrests, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was praising just last Friday, had swamped local jails and every day brought dozens of shackled migrants into a federal courtroom to face the novel charges.... Judge Wormuth, a former federal prosecutor, said the federal government had failed to show that the migrants actually knew they were unlawfully entering a restricted military area. He has dismissed charges against 98 migrants so far as he works through the docket.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Luke Barr of ABC News: "The acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency told staff members on Thursday that he believes ... Donald Trump is a bold man with a bold vision for the agency -- but that FEMA doesn't yet have a full plan to tackle hurricane season. 'I would say we're about 80 or 85% there,' Acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson told staff on a conference call.... The conference call came after an internal document prepared for Richardson ... indicated the agency was ill-prepared for the upcoming hurricane season, which starts on June 1. 'As FEMA transforms to a smaller footprint, the intent for this hurricane season is not well understood, thus FEMA is not ready,' according to the document, which was obtained by ABC News.... In the conference call, Richardson said he and staff sat down for 'about 90 minutes' and started to come up with a plan for this year's disaster season." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Wow! These guys can come up with a plan in an hour-and-a-half that mostly covers this year's hurricanes? Impressive. What's the plan: send out a memo telling states & municipalities they're on their own and God bless?
DOGE Project Is a Cruel Waste of Time. Natalie Alms of NextGov/FCW: “After installing anti-fraud checks for benefit claims made over the phone early last month, the Social Security Administration is considering walking back the policy after finding only two cases that had a high probability of being fraudulent. The anti-fraud tool set up last month after weeks of changes to the agency’s telephone policies has slowed retirement claim processing by 25% and led to a 'degradation of public service,' according to an internal May document obtained by Nextgov/FCW that examined potentially cutting the anti-fraud tool for phone claims. Under the new policy, the agency found that only two benefit claims out of over 110,000 had a high probability of being fraudulent — and they aren’t guaranteed to be so. Less than 1% of claims were flagged as even potentially fraudulent at all.” MB: IOW, the only waste-fraud-and-abuse here is that committed by DOGE against citizens who should be receiving SSA benefits.
Brits Ask State to Protect Them from SpaceX Launches. Heather Vogell of ProPublica: "British officials told the U.S. they are concerned about the safety of SpaceX’s plans to fly its next Starship rocket over British territories in the Caribbean, where debris fell earlier this year after two of the company’s rockets exploded.... The worries from the U.K. government, detailed in a letter to a top American diplomat on Wednesday, follow the Federal Aviation Administration’s decision last week to grant SpaceX’s request for a fivefold increase in the number of Starship launches allowed this year, from five to 25. Growing the number of launches of the most powerful rocket ever built is a priority for SpaceX head Elon Musk.... After [an] explosion in January, residents of the Turks and Caicos reported finding pieces of the rocket on beaches and roads. A car was also damaged in the Starship 7 accident.... The British letter to a U.S. State Department official, Ambassador Lisa Kenna, asks the U.S. to consider changing the launch site or trajectory of Starship 9." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh, and this: as earlier news suggested, Elon now owns the FAA.
Marie: I have a feeling this was all Elon's doing. It certainly isn't an unintentionally-created programming glitch: ~~~
~~~ Matthew Gault of 404 Media: “For a few hours on Wednesday, X’s Grok AI wouldn’t stop talking about about white genocide.... [When the X accounts asked Grok questions unrelated in any way to South African politics], it answered the question, then monologued about white farmers being attacked in South Africa.... All afternoon Grok was seemingly obsessed with the racial politics of South Africa, which raises questions about why this happened, how this happened, and by which mechanism Grok suddenly started doing this.... [Elon] Musk is from South Africa and has accused a 'major political party' in the country of 'actively promoting white genocide.'”
Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: “Justice Department official Ed Martin, whose nomination to serve as U.S. attorney in D.C. stalled in the Senate, is under investigation by an ethics office that handles attorney discipline in Washington, he said in an office-wide goodbye email Wednesday. On his last day as interim U.S. attorney before heading to the Justice Department, Martin alerted his office’s roughly 350 attorneys and 400 staff members to the matter while claiming his confidentiality had been violated. Martin alleged that the legal ethics office, called the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, had inappropriately notified a unit of his U.S. attorney’s office of the probe.... Democratic lawmakers and groups have accused Martin of abusing his power, seeking the suspension of his law license or other penalties. In complaints lodged with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel’s chief, Hamilton P. 'Phil' Fox, they alleged that Martin has used the threat of prosecution to intimidate and chill the speech of perceived adversaries such as lawmakers, protesters, journalists, medical journals and others he said opposed the agendas of ... Donald Trump or billionaire adviser Elon Musk, even in instances when they did not commit a crime but acted simply unethically.'” (Also linked yesterday.)
Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “has been firing hundreds, if not thousands, of scientists and researchers doing critical work at various agencies under HHS. It’s not even as if he’s been doing this in secret; it’s been widely reported for months.” Yet Kennedy insisted in Senate testimony this week that he has not fired “any working scientists.” After Kennedy repeated lied to Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), she told the HuffPost, “I think that RFK Jr. clearly believes that the more he tells a lie, the more it becomes the truth.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Since it's Kennedy's sworn (I guess) testimony that no scientists have been fired, it seems to me that every scientist with a pink slip should demand her job back since the firing was obviously an "administrative error" and not an intentional "reduction in force" approved by the head of HHS.
"Lots of Billions." Joe Walsh of CBS News: "The Federal Aviation Administration has resorted to buying replacement parts on eBay and making new parts with 3D printers, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told lawmakers Thursday — as the air safety system draws scrutiny for decades-old technology and persistent staffing problems. 'We do try to buy replacement parts on eBay for this really old equipment,' Duffy told members of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee Thursday. 'Sometimes, we can't even buy it on eBay, so we're trying to use 3D printing to craft replacement parts for the system that we use.' Duffy appeared at the Senate hearing as the Trump administration pushes for a sweeping overhaul of the country's air traffic control system over the next three years, calling for the replacement of hundreds of radars, over a dozen new control towers and a new telecommunications system. The plan could cost 'lots of billions,' Duffy said last week, likely requiring Congress to appropriate additional funds for the FAA." ~~~
~~~ Josh Funk of the AP: “Air traffic controllers in Denver lost communications with planes for 90 seconds earlier this week and had to scramble to use backup frequencies in the latest Federal Aviation Administration equipment failure. The outage at a control center that directs planes flying at high altitude between airports all over the country on Monday afternoon affected communications, not radar, the FAA’s head of air traffic control, Frank McIntosh, said during a House hearing Thursday. This communications failure follows two high-profile outages of radar and communications in the past 2 1/2 weeks at a facility in Philadelphia that directs planes in and out of the Newark, New Jersey, airport.... McIntosh said both the primary and main backup frequencies went down, so the controllers had to turn to an emergency frequency to communicate.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: BTW, if you've been bought into Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's claim that the shortage of air traffic controllers is all Biden's fault (i.e., the "four years that came before"), then take a look at this chart. While the number of air-traffic controllers did drop precipitously from a high in 2012, it continued to drop during Trump's first term. The only period of increase on the chart (which runs from 2011 to through 2023) is during Biden's administration. Update: See yesterday's comments for a brief discussion of controller staffing. As NiskyGuy pointed out, it's not as simple as I make it out to be. (Also linked yesterday.)
Maggie Astor of the New York Times: “Fearing the loss of federal funding, the nation’s largest anti-sexual-violence organization has barred its crisis hotline staff from pointing people to resources that might violate ... [Donald] Trump’s executive orders to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. The organization, RAINN (the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network) has removed more than two dozen resources for L.G.B.T.Q. people, immigrants and other marginalized groups from its list of permissible referrals, according to documents obtained by The New York Times. The employees who answer phone calls, and the volunteers who answer online and text chats, are instructed not to deviate from that list, a policy that predates the Trump administration. For more than three months, they have been prohibited from suggesting specialized mental health hotlines for gay and transgender people, referring immigrants to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, directing students to a group that educates them about sex-based discrimination, recommending books about male-on-male or female-on-female sexual violence, and more.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: This makes me sick. In order to save some lives, they are risking others. Apparently some people just aren't as worthy as others. Really, giving in to Trump's bigotry should not be the selected alternative, even if it is the most expedient.
Maya Miller & Carl Hulse of the New York Times: Donald Trump's “surprise firing of the head of the Library of Congress and efforts to install Trump loyalists at the iconic institution have stirred bipartisan pushback on Capitol Hill.... Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota and the majority leader..., suggested that the White House had overstepped its authority and that both Congress and the president play roles in deciding who leads the library.... [Dr. Carla] Hayden[, whom Trump fired]..., was nominated by President Barack Obama in 2016 and confirmed for a 10-year term by the Republican-controlled Senate.... She was highly regarded by lawmakers. Opponents of the president’s staff changes argue that his attempted takeover at the library breaches the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches. They are particularly concerned that it could imperil the integrity and independence of the Congressional Research Service, the premier nonpartisan research arm of the library that is little known to the public but revered by lawmakers.”
Speaker Suggests Even Crueler Bill to Placate Warring GOP Reps. Scott Wong, et al., of NBC News: "Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is exploring ways to placate two rival factions who have emerged as the biggest roadblocks in the House to a massive bill for ... Donald Trump’s agenda: blue-state Republicans who want larger tax breaks for their constituents and conservatives who want Medicaid cuts to kick in sooner. Johnson suggested to reporters Wednesday that provisions for a higher state and local tax (SALT) deduction and to enforce new Medicaid work requirements sooner could be incorporated into the final package as he stares down a self-imposed Memorial Day weekend deadline for passage." ~~~
~~~ MB: Here again, the choice is to dump on poorer people who can't afford health care in favor of people who at least have enough income to itemize deductions. (Oh, wait, that's good for me. Then great work, Mike. Suffer the ailing children, as Jesus said!) AND of course, there's no discussion of raising taxes on the super-wealthy. No, the poor have to pay for those SALT deductions.
Ann Marimow of the Washington Post: “The Supreme Court appeared divided Thursday about whether to scale back nationwide orders that have blocked ... Donald Trump’s ban on birthright citizenship, in a case with implications for judicial power and what it means to be an American.... But the case before the justices is more of a referendum on the use of nationwide injunctions that have frustrated many of Trump’s efforts to dramatically shrink the size of the government workforce, halt federal spending and end diversity programs. Presidents from both parties, members of Congress and Supreme Court justices from across the ideological spectrum have raised concerns about the power of a single judge to temporarily block a president’s agenda nationwide.... Judges in lawsuits joined by 22 states and D.C. have issued nationwide orders blocking Trump’s birthright citizenship executive action, which civil rights groups, Democratic-led states and most legal scholars say is at odds with the nation’s history, the Constitution and past court rulings that enshrined birthright citizenship.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Josh Gerstein & Hassan Kanu of Politico: “... Donald Trump’s executive order purporting to end birthright citizenship found no traction Thursday at the Supreme Court, but the justices sounded inclined to rein in a legal remedy judges have used to halt many of Trump’s early policy moves, from restricting immigration to cutting federal spending to ending anti-diversity initiatives. Three district judges have deployed that tool — known as a nationwide injunction — to block Trump from implementing his birthright citizenship order. None of the justices spoke up in defense of the order’s legality during more than two hours of oral arguments, and several suggested that the order is almost surely unconstitutional.
“At the same time, the conservative justices seemed intent on devising a way to prevent, or at least limit, district judges from issuing nationwide injunctions against federal policies. Instead, those justices said, judges should focus on granting remedies that apply to the particular individuals or groups who sued, or to a clearly defined class of similarly situated people.... The court’s liberal justices highlighted what they said were practical problems to limiting nationwide injunctions. Without them, the executive branch might be able to enforce a policy that one court has declared illegal against some people — or in some jurisdictions — but not others.”
Justin Jouvenal of the Washington Post: “The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday that the totality of circumstances must be considered when determining whether a police shooting is justified — not just the split seconds before an officer opens fire — in a case involving the fatal shooting of a Black man from Texas. The broader standard is likely to make it easier for victims to prove allegations of excessive force in court. The high court revived a lawsuit by the mother of Ashtian Barnes, 24, who alleged that Roberto Felix Jr., a law enforcement officer in Harris County, Texas, used excessive force when he opened fire on Barnes during a stop for suspected toll violations in the Houston area.”
Naftali Bendavid, et al., of the Washington Post: “A growing number of Democrats are publicly second-guessing their party’s handling of the last election, acknowledging that President Joe Biden’s delayed withdrawal was damaging and in some cases conceding they were too quick to dismiss questions about his age and mental acuity.... Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California), an outspoken supporter of Biden before he ended his reelection campaign last summer, acknowledged in a statement to The Washington Post on Wednesday that he had been mistaken in backing the former president’s reelection. 'In my few interactions at public events, I found him coherent and proud of his record, but it is now painfully obvious he should not have run,' Khanna said. 'We should have had an open primary. We must acknowledge this truth to regain trust with the American people.'” ~~~
~~~ Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: “For many people, Republicans especially, the Democratic Party’s ongoing insistence that [President] Biden was basically fine looks like a fraud committed against the electorate. In 'Original Sin,' Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s explosive new book about Biden’s deterioration, they call the widespread refusal to admit how bad he had become a 'cover-up.'... The 'original sin' that party leaders now need to grapple with is their tendency toward groupthink, inertia and an extreme and wildly counterproductive risk aversion.... Some sort of reckoning is due for the disastrous missteps that paved the way for Trump’s return. It’s better for Democrats to rip off the Band-Aid now than to let the issue fester until the next election, and to try to glean some bitter lessons from their collective failure. Party officials burned a lot of credibility defending Biden’s cognitive fitness.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I do feel Biden's protectors committed fraud against us, and I don't forgive them. It's a shame Biden wasn't more self-aware, but maybe that's a guy thing. I know for certain that if there was a groundswell for me to run for some elected office I would decline because it's obvious to me that my faculties are in decline. I hold Biden's family -- particularly Jill Biden -- responsible for not doing everything in their persuasive power to discourage Joe from running. I consider their behavior selfish, deceptive, unpatriotic and cruel to Joe. It was elder abuse. For all of the tsk-tsking about Hunter's misusing his proximity to Joe Biden, so did everybody who encouraged him to run for re-election.
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New York. Sharon Otterman of the New York Times: “New York University is withholding the diploma of a graduation speaker who delivered an unapproved speech on Wednesday that referred to what he called 'the atrocities currently happening in Palestine.' The move by N.Y.U. to discipline the student speaker, Logan Rozos, is the latest flashpoint between free speech principles and discipline for pro-Palestinian advocacy on American college campuses. It comes as universities across the country brace this commencement season for pro-Palestinian speeches and displays from students and for the anger that pro-Israel voices often express in response. John Beckman, an N.Y.U. spokesman, said in a statement Wednesday that the university 'strongly denounces' Mr. Rozos’ decision to express “his personal and one-sided political views.' The student 'lied about the speech he was going to deliver and violated the commitment he made to comply with our rules,' Mr. Beckman said....” ~~~
~~~ Marie: The parts of Rozos' speech published in the article are not, IMO, antisemitic. If there is any place in the U.S. where a person should not "play by the rules" and should exercise his free-speech rights, it's at a university event. I have a degree from NYU. I'm with the kid.
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Ukraine. Paul Sonne of the New York Times: “Ukrainian and Russian negotiators were poised to meet on Friday for the first direct peace talks between their nations since the beginning of the war, after days of confusion and theatrics. The negotiations are not expected, even by foreign leaders like ... [Donald] Trump who called for them, to yield significant results. But the meeting itself is a win for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who refused to agree to a battlefield cease-fire that Ukraine and almost all of its Western backers had sought as a precondition for talks. Last weekend, Mr. Putin proposed direct talks with Ukraine and announced that he would send a delegation to Istanbul for negotiations on Thursday. Mr. Trump chimed in that he supported the idea. Mr. Zelensky said he would himself go to the talks and called on Mr. Putin to also be there. A Russian delegation arrived in Istanbul for the talks but Mr. Putin did not show up. Mr. Zelensky traveled to Ankara, Turkey, and met with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but he did not go to Istanbul.” ~~~
~~~ Isobel Koshiw & Anastacia Galouchka of the Washington Post: “Russia has struck 25 hotels near Ukraine’s front lines from the beginning of the war in 2022 through March in what appears to be a campaign to discourage journalism in the area, according to a report by the media rights group Reporters Without Borders and a Ukrainian organization, Truth Hounds.The attacks on hotels were initially sporadic but have escalated over the past year, indicating a 'shift from isolated events to a sustained threat' for media personnel working on the front lines, the report states. It found that 24 journalists had been injured and one killed in hotel strikes since the war began.”
Vatican. Look Out, Leo! Henry Gomez & Megan Lebowitz of NBC News: "Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will attend Pope Leo XIV’s inaugural mass in Vatican City on Sunday, the White House announced Thursday.... Vance, who is Catholic, met briefly with Pope Francis before his death last month." (Also linked yesterday.)
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