Wednesday
Jan292025
January 29, 2025
Like General MacArthur, Marie shall return. In the meantime, traitors never sleep, so have at it! ~~~
~~~ Marie's Update: And I have returned, computers at the ready! Fortunately, nothing happened while I way away -- except Trump & Vought illegally shut down the federal government, then maybe rescinded the shutdown order (but don't count on it because they really don't know what they're doing). P.S. Many thanks to Akhilleus for keeping you-all in the loop and providing a place for you to keep everyone up-to-date on the latest hoo-hah.
New York Times live updates on whatever Trump thinks he's doing are here:
Zolan Kanno-Youngs, et al.: “The White House rescinded a directive on Wednesday that froze trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans after the order sparked mass confusion and legal challenges that accused the Trump administration of violating the law. The order, which was sent out on Monday night, was an attempt to purge the government of what ... [Donald] Trump has called a 'woke' ideology. A federal judge in the District of Columbia temporarily blocked it on Tuesday afternoon, but the lack of clarity sent schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others scrambling to understand if they had lost their financial support from the government.”
Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Erica Green: “... Trump signed a bill on Wednesday to require the detention of migrants who enter the country without authorization and are arrested or charged with certain crimes, the first legislation of his new presidency and an early victory in his effort to deliver a sweeping crackdown on immigration. The new Republican-controlled Congress passed the legislation last week with some breakaway Democratic support, a sign of how the politics of immigration have moved to the right.”
Peter Baker: “Did the U.S. government send $50 million in condoms to Gaza, as Trump just claimed at the White House? Not according to media reports that point to this 2024 report showing that USAID sent $60.8 million in contraceptives worldwide, but none to Gaza. The vast majority went to Africa; only $45,681 worth of contraceptives went to the Middle East as a whole, all of them to Jordan.” MB: Trump also said Hamas used the condoms to make bombs. ~~~
~~~ Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump threw the nation into chaos once again on Monday night with his order declaring a 'pause' of indefinite length on $3 trillion in federal grants and loans. Among the government programs facing an immediate cutoff: Meals on Wheels, Head Start, school lunches, child-care help, student loans, disaster relief, crime-fighting assistance and Medicaid, which provides health care to 82 million Americans.The day after Trump’s bombshell, and just four hours before the funding was set to cease, Karoline Leavitt, the 27-year-old White House press secretary, strode onto the podium to give her first briefing. It quickly became apparent that she had no clue about the crisis her boss had created.... In just eight days on the job, Trump has taken a wrecking ball to the federal government, and he and his aides apparently couldn’t be bothered to give any thought to the damage and chaos that would ensue.... It’s not just the spending freeze. It’s the willy-nilly, and probably illegal, firing of federal employees, the federal hiring freeze, the moratorium on foreign aid, the threats and bullying unleashed on allies, and the moves to muzzle government agencies to eliminate accountability.... As the scene in the briefing room illustrated on Tuesday, reality is already beginning to catch up with Trump.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: As usual with Milbank's columns, you'll likely want to read on. This is supposed to be a gift link from laura h., and I think it is. But I had to "create an account to redeem [my] free article.'" The link is very long, but don't ditch the extension because I suspect that therein lies the freebie. ~~~
~~~ Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: “For now, the freeze is, well, frozen. But however this ends, it should be emphasized that Trump has done more than spark a fiscal and political crisis; he has sent us headlong into another constitutional crisis. The president of the United States has no legal authority to place a blanket hold on congressional appropriations.... To upset this balance of power — to give the president, in effect, the power of the purse — is to unravel the constitutional system in its entirety.... [The president] is a servant of the Constitution, bound by its demands.... Trump ... sees no distinction between him and the office.... The freeze, then, is Trump’s attempt to make [his] fanciful claim [that Article II gives him the right to do whatever he wants] ... a reality.... He wants to make the Constitution a grant of absolute and unchecked authority. He wants to remake the government in his image. He wants to be king.”
Nick Miroff & Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump said he will order the construction of a mass detention camp that can hold 30,000 deportees at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, outlining plans Wednesday for the largest U.S. facility of its kind. Speaking at the White House before signing the Laken Riley Act, a bill that is expected to expand the number of immigrant detainees held in U.S. custody for minor property crimes, Trump said the massive camp would 'detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people' and be 'a tough place to get out of.'... As Trump rushes to try to deport 'millions' of migrants, one obstacle U.S. authorities face is that some countries block or limit U.S. deportation flights. Trump said he would overcome their opposition.” The New York Times story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Maybe you think it's great we're sending these hardened criminals to Guantanamo, but there's this: the other day I watched an NBC reporter (I think it was Jacob Soboroff) interview one of the Guatemalan deportees whom Trump had sent back to her home country. This woman did indeed have a criminal record: several years ago, while babysitting a grandchild, she discovered she needed some items at the local grocery store, so she put the small child in her car without a child carrier and took the child to the store. Yes, since child carriers are now required by law, this woman broke the law and possibly risked the child's safety (my children did not have child carriers of the quality now required by law). But am I afraid of this woman? Is she the "worst criminal"? Is she "threatening" me? I don't think so.
Alayna Treene & Piper Blackburn of CNN: “Federal workers who don’t want to return to the office are being offered buyouts, according to a memo posted to the US Office of Personnel Management’s website Tuesday night.... Workers who accept the buyout will need to resign by February 6 and would receive severance paid through September 30.... The National Treasury Employees Union sent a message to workers Tuesday saying the buyout offer was a scare tactic and urging them not to resign.... The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal workers union, argued Tuesday that the buyouts were part of larger plan to get rid of civil servants.” ~~~
~~~ ⭐Update: According to Judd Legum, whose writings I've followed for more than a decade, this is not a "buyout" at all, even though it's been widely reported as such. Legum writes, "The deal is if you agree to resign in September you can continue working remotely until then. There is no buyout or severance." A buyout, according to Merriam & Webster (whose work is being recognized more and more) is "a financial incentive offered to an employee in exchange for an early retirement or voluntary resignation." But Legum, who I would peg as a reliable source, says the only "benefit" associated with this "offer" is that the employee will be allowed to continue to work from home if s/he promises to quit by September. Obviously, for many people that is a sort of financial incentive as they can avoid the costs of driving to work as well as other ordinary expenses associated with on-site work: childcare, meals out, maintaining/purchasing work-appropriate clothing, etc. But it is not a "buyout" in the commonly-understood sense of the word because the employee who agrees to the terms of this agreement does get a dime more in her paycheck. Thanks to RAS for the link.
Dan Diamond, et al., of the Washington Post: During his confirmation hearing Wednesday, “Democrats blistered [Robert F.] Kennedy [Jr.] with questions that he struggled to answer, such as whether he stood by his most controversial claims appearing on podcasts and in books and interviews, and how he would oversee the Department of Health and Human Services if confirmed as its secretary. They pushed him to defend his shifting stance on abortion and whether he would simply rubber-stamp ... Donald Trump’s agenda, or if he would use his perch to continue raising doubts about vaccines — often quoting Kennedy’s own words back at him.... A Washington Post review identified dozens of times in recent years in which Kennedy disparaged vaccines, such as his claims that vaccines 'poisoned an entire generation of American children.'... Republicans countered that Kennedy had reassured them of his qualifications and tried to keep the focus on America’s high rate of chronic disease, which Kennedy has vowed to bring down. Several praised him as a would-be reformer.... If confirmed, the longtime anti-vaccine activist would oversee the nation’s vaccine supply. The avowed critic of agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration would be empowered to remake them.” ~~~
~~~ Adam NaGourney & Rebecca O'Brien of the New York Times: “For decades, Caroline Kennedy kept silent.... That has meant that Ms. Kennedy has said little as her cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spread false health information during a pandemic, challenged a Democrat for president, endorsed Donald J. Trump for the White House and then lobbied for a place in his cabinet. She was largely silent as he used his family’s name — and the likeness and memory of her father — to advance his campaign while, in the view of many of the Kennedys, defying what the family has stood for across generations.... But ... on the eve of his Senate confirmation hearing, Ms. Kennedy described Mr. Kennedy as not just unqualified to run the Department of Health and Human Services, the position that President Trump has nominated him to fill, but also a 'predator' and a hypocrite.” MB: You will want to hear Ms. Kennedy's message, though perhaps not on a full stomach. ~~~
Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “Federal prosecutors moved on Wednesday to drop their last remaining efforts to prosecute ... [Donald] Trump’s two co-defendants in the classified documents case brought by the former special counsel Jack Smith. In a single-page filing, prosecutors asked a federal appeals court in Atlanta to dismiss an appeal that had been filed before Mr. Trump took office seeking to reinstate criminal charges against the two men, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira. If the appeals court agrees to drop the government’s challenge, it would be the formal end of the case in which Mr. Trump was accused of illegally holding onto classified materials after he left office in 2021. He was also charged with conspiring with Mr. Nauta and Mr. De Oliveira to obstruct the government’s repeated efforts to retrieve them.... In their filing on Wednesday, prosecutors gave no explanation for why they had decided now to dismiss the appeal against Mr. Nauta and Mr. De Oliveira. But it was widely expected that Mr. Trump or the Justice Department would take some sort of action to have the case against the men dropped. Mr. Nauta, in particular, remains close to Mr. Trump and still serves as one of his top personal aides in the White House.” ~~~
~~~ MB: Bear in mind that this is not the real DOJ. It's the Trump DOJ. Or DOI (Department of Injustice), for those who wish to be a bit more accurate in their description. And if they're un-prosecuting, then they're not really prosecutors, are they? There are a number of reasons to drop charges against indicted people, but "Trump Crony" ought not to be one of them. ~~~
~~~ Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: “Senior Justice Department officials under ... [Donald] Trump have held discussions with federal prosecutors in Manhattan about the possibility of dropping their corruption case against Mayor Eric Adams of New York, according to five people with knowledge of the matter. The officials have also spoken to Mr. Adams’s defense team since Mr. Trump took office, the people said. The defense team is led by Alex Spiro, who is also the personal lawyer for Elon Musk.... Mr. Adams was indicted in September on charges including bribery, fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign contributions after an investigation that began in 2021. He has pleaded not guilty ... and contended that he is being prosecuted because he criticized the Biden administration.” Thanks to Ken W. for the link.
Tracey Tully & Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: “Robert Menendez, New Jersey’s disgraced former senator who was once one of the most powerful Democrats in Washington, was sentenced on Wednesday to 11 years in prison after being convicted of being at the center of an audacious and yearslong international bribery scheme. The courtroom in Lower Manhattan was packed but silent as the judge imposed one of the longest sentences ever issued for a federal official in the United States.... Mr. Menendez, a skilled orator known for holding forth on the Senate floor, wept intermittently as he addressed the court before the sentence was announced. He has said that he planned to appeal the jury’s guilty verdict, but told Judge [Fedeal District Judge Sidney] Stein that he stood before him a 'chastened man' who had suffered the ignominy of a guilty verdict and the resignation of his Senate seat.... Two of Mr. Menendez’s co-defendants — the businessmen Wael Hana and Fred Daibes — were also sentenced on Wednesday. Mr. Daibes received a seven-year prison sentence and a fine of $1.75 million. Mr. Hana was sentenced to slightly more than eight years in prison and fined $1.3 million.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Bob Menendez is a crook, and that is a shameful betrayal of the public trust. But he's not as big a crook as Donald Trump, IMO.
~~~~~~~~~~
Syria. Christina Goldbaum of the New York Times: “The rebel coalition that seized control of Syria last month appointed its leader, Ahmed al-Shara, as president of the country to preside over a transitional period, Syrian state media reported on Wednesday. A spokesman for the coalition, Col. Hassan Abdel Ghani, also declared that the Constitution had been nullified and the legislature and army formed under the country’s deposed dictator, Bashar al-Assad, were dissolved, according to Syria’s state news agency, SANA. The declarations amounted to the country’s first official steps toward establishing a new government after the rebel coalition, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or H.T.S., swept into the capital, Damascus, last month in a lightning offensive that toppled Mr. al-Assad. Mr. al-Shara, who led that coalition, has since been serving as the country’s de facto leader.”
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Florida legislators convened for a special session on immigration called by governor DeSantis and quickly adjourned. They then reconvened for a special session called by the legislature and passed a bill that isn't what DeSantis wanted.
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/718178-florida-senate-passes-joe-gruters-immigration-bill-over-ron-desantis-objections/
So Polio Bob had some ‘splainin’ to do at his confirmation hearing today. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) questioned him about his habit of raking in millions by suing drug companies, a habit that could bring him a pile of payout dough should he continue while being in a position to directly influence the outcome.
She wanted Polio Bob to commit to not doing any such thing if confirmed. To be clear, she doesn’t have a problem with him suing drug manufacturers, only with making money for himself while doing so. Polio Bob was outraged!
“You’re making me look like a shill!
Well, Bobby, if it quacks like a duck, etc. etc. etc.
And like every single Fat Hitler shill, er, appointee so far, he refused to answer the question.
Didn’t hear what his response was to his plan of using Samoan kids as guinea pigs in some weird-ass vaccine experiment he cooked up a few years back.
Still and all, a worm eaten brain is probably no worse than a MAGA warped brain, but do we really need another abnormal brain running things?
ICE Cookbook
Absence of Empathy
Lack of Empathy
"Oklahoma’s top education official said he would support immigration enforcement raids in schools to assist with the White House’s promise of mass deportations. This week, President Donald Trump threw out a federal policy that had been in place since 2011 that discouraged U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from making arrests in “protected areas” like schools, medical centers and places of worship.
Oklahoma schools Superintendent Ryan Walters said in a TV interview that he would help the Trump administration in “any way they see fit” to carry out immigration enforcement, including ICE raids in schools. “For years the liberal media has been vilifying Republicans for separating illegal immigrant children from their parents,” Walters said. “Now they want us to explain why we’d let ICE agents into schools. The answer is simple: we want to ensure that deported parents are reconnected with their children and keep families together.”
Walters has proposed a rule at the state Education Department, which he leads, that would require schools to ask for students’ proof of citizenship or legal immigration status during enrollment."
Balancing Budgets
"It's pretty easy to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, actually
If Elon Musk wants to cut $2t from the US federal budget, there's a pretty straightforward way to get there – just eliminate all the beltway bandits who overcharge Uncle Sucker for everything from pharmaceuticals to roadworks to (of course) rockets, and then make the rich pay their taxes."
RAS: you always find the best stuff-- the absence of empathy is one clue that one is a sociopath or a psychopath, isn't it? I am reminded that many psychiatrists wrote a letter during Evil Term #1, trying to diagnose what had been elected. I assume that they probably feel the same, only amped up. If he is regarded as a lunatic, or a dementia patient, can we agree he is a "psycho?" I do not respect him as a human, so I feel I can describe him baldly during More Evil Term #2.
Listening to Bobby K this morning was interesting. Talk about a mental patient...He spent a lot of time denying the off-the-wall things he has said. Of course they "ran out of time" because the Dems were just getting started with "questions." I heard Caroline K's letter last night. It made my blood run cold. This is a loon, and I saw not a trace of that "charismatic" way about him, and listening to GQP idiots describe him as just the person to "reform" HHS was enraging. I don't think any of them have a clue what that agency does-- Plague Bob himself did not seem to know the difference between Medicare and Medicaid. Plus there is a big ole slice of paranoia: Lyme disease is an engineering job? Does he not know what a deer tick is?
Oh yeah. Only the "best people."
We all saw the jokes that were Fatty Press Secretaries during the first Trump Debacle. We had Sean (Dancing Man) Spicer who had to maintain the clearly incorrect claim that Fatty’s inauguration crowd was the bestest and biggestest ever. Later we got Sarah Liarbee Sanders who eventually just quit having press conferences altogether.
Now we have another Trump blonde bimbo, this Karoline Leavitt person, who at 27 has decades of experience! No, really. Her actual experience, such as it is, was serving as Sanders’ assistant ( so she was, what, 21,22?) which means she did nothing. No press conferences, no work. Oh, after that she was spokesperson for a Fatty super PAC called MAGA, inc. Sounds more like Murder Incorporated. I’m sure that was a master class in mendacity right there.
So anyway, this Karoline Leavitt, right out of the box announces that media types who reported truthfully about Fat Hitler will be punished.
Then she (hang on…giggle, giggle) sez she will be telling THE TRUTH!! Every day!
Hahahahahahahaha!!! Wow. Her first lie!
And we’re off!
Dana Milbank, in yesterday's Washington Post on The Wrecking Ball
In just eight days on the job, Trump has taken a wrecking ball to the federal government, and he and his aides apparently couldn’t be bothered to give any thought to the damage and chaos that would ensue. It’s not just the spending freeze. It’s the willy-nilly, and probably illegal, firing of federal employees, the federal hiring freeze, the moratorium on foreign aid, the threats and bullying unleashed on allies, and the moves to muzzle government agencies to eliminate accountability.
It feels as if the Psycho's nominees have been given a phrase of the day that must be uttered a certain number of times to prove that they are one of the true believers. Today it was Kennedy with his “every abortion is a tragedy” phrase repeated again and again. During booze hound Hegseth's hearing he repeated "anonymous sources" to most of the accusations against him, which were many. It is as if this is a game to these pychopaths.
Paul Waldman today.
https://paulwaldman.substack.com/p/how-trumps-lawbreaking-strategy-is?utm_source=post-email-
The plan.
Even the Fat F can run faster than the wheels of justice can turn. And those upholders of law 'n order count on it.
Laugh and Sing
RAS,
It IS a game to these Fatty hacks, a cynical, smirking game. A prick like Hegseth knows that his fascist sponsor will threaten and club PoT lemmings into submission and if it comes down to it, the couch fucker will weigh in. It’s all about power and thuggery.
Uh oh, Musk and X are in trouble, jk, not that kind of anti-Semitism.
"U.S. President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Wednesday to combat antisemitism and pledge to deport non-citizen college students and others who took part in pro-Palestinian protests, a White House official said.
A fact sheet on the order promises "immediate action" by the Justice Department to prosecute "terroristic threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews" and marshal all federal resources to combat what it called "the explosion of antisemitism on our campuses and streets" since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
"To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you," Trump said in the fact sheet.
"I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before," the president said, echoing a 2024 campaign promise."
"Free speech" advocate says speaking incorrectly will be punished by his administration. I'm sure they are working on ways to shut up the rest of us critics also. Trump seems to have an anti-democratic bingo card and is working his way to marking out them all as quickly as possible.
Bob Menendez goes to prison. Trump goes to the golf course. “Justice” in Trump’s Amerika. (Not suggesting in any way that a sleazebag like Menendez should get off, he shouldn’t. But neither should Fat Hitler.)
Akhilleus,
And this.
ttps://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/29/us/politics/justice-department-trump-charges-eric-adams.html
Why not?
Ken,
Quite. But Adams is a SOFTy, Sycophant to Felonious Trumpy. It’s another example of the transactional presidency.
Judd Legum
"The deal is if you agree to resign in September you can continue working remotely until then. There is no buyout or severance."
Keep lying and answer no questions. But…but…the condoms!!
This is the Trump mantra now and it extends to every MAGAt in Congress, not just appallingly unqualified hacks like Hegseth, Kennedy, and Gabbard.
This morning I heard a Fat Hitler apparatchik, Pete Stauber, (Nazi-MN) who showed up on NPR for what I guess was supposed to be an interview to answer questions about FH unconstitutionally freezing federal monies. Instead, Stauber bulldozed the interviewer with lies and disinformation, talking over her and never answering a single question.
Asked about Fatty’s unconstitutional freeze, Stauber yapped that the federal deficit is over $36 trillion!!! and it’s all Biden’s fault and the economy will collapse unless Trump, who is a true steward of taxpayer monies (how lightning bolts don’t incinerate these fuckers I’ll never know) takes action NOW!!!!
Of course he never mentioned that in the last go round, Fat Hitler added $8 trillion to the National debt all on his own.
But it’s all because Biden is sending condoms to Gaza (another lie).
The interviewer finally gave up.
A big win for the traitors and liars. Keep lying, don’t answer any questions, and steamroll the questioners.
This is how they do it.
Too bad at least one of those condoms wasn’t in Fred Trump’s possession all those years ago.
This is the way it works.
The Pretender has no policy ideas other than those he believes will work for anyone but himself. He is an intellectual vacuum who demands absolute loyalty, not to the country which he cares nothing for, but to him.
The Right "thinkers," all lackeys for Big Money, know he knows nothing. They also know his penchant for nastiness and corruption, neither hidden from view, so they provide policy that will simultaneously satisfy their various agendas, as well as the Pretender's mean streak and broken psyche.
Project 2025 and its authors, who have always been willing to swear fealty to anyone they can use, are available the fill both the empty space between the Pretender's ears and to fulfill his desire to be acknowledged as the master of all.
Hence the substance of the executive orders. The flurry of them makes the Pretender feel he's running the show.
A perfect puppet...
The connection of the total lack of empathy on the part of Fat Hitler and his MAGAt horde (except for rapists, thugs, drunken misogynists, and traitors, that is) to evil reminded me of a routine Lewis Black did years ago about Glenn Beck having Nazi Tourette’s. I’m pretty sure you all remember it (I can’t find it anywhere online now).
At one point, Black runs a clip of Obama talking about empathy, then cuts to one of Beck attacking it as the fast road to Nazi terror. The rejoinder went something along the lines of “In one paragraph, Glenn Beck ties one of the most positive words in the English language to Hitler”, something like that.
Wingers have distrusted empathy for years, at least empathy directed toward those they hate. So it’s no wonder that here we are in a moment at which empathy is considered the enemy of Trumpism.
And Trumpism’s essential lack of empathy equals…
Evil.
Not a long walk, is it?
Along with the lies count this time we need someone to keep track of how much in bribes FH has been raking in already.
WSJ
"Meta to Pay $25 Million to Settle 2021 Trump Lawsuit
President had sued social-media company after his accounts were suspended following Jan. 6 riot
Of that, $22 million will go toward a fund for Trump’s presidential library, with the rest going to legal fees and the other plaintiffs who signed on to the case. Meta won’t admit wrongdoing, the people said. Trump signed the settlement agreement Wednesday in the Oval Office."
NBC News
"Plane crashes into Potomac River after collision with helicopter near Reagan National Airport
A regional jet collided in midair with a helicopter while on approach to Reagan Washington National Airport around 9 p.m., the FAA said Wednesday evening in a preliminary update."
There are real world consequences when government programs are stopped and started and people are unsure what and when they are frozen or not with no thought whatsoever. Whether this tragedy was directly Trump's fault or not this is the kind of thing that will happen when incompetents are put in charge of important posts. This will happen more often as nonpartisan experts and people with institutional knowledge are run out of the government. Trump's disdain of expertise and his surrounding himself with sycophants puts the whole world in danger. We have taken for granted the work done behind the scenes to allow us live every day without unnecessary worries about going out and living our lives. Now that luxury of knowing that are people out there looking out for our wellbeing who truly have our best interests at heart is no more. Incompetence breeds incompetence. Truly scary times we live in.