The Conversation -- February 12, 2025
On the Anniversary of the Birth of President Abraham Lincoln, A Penny for Your Thoughts. ~~~
The Secret Career of Emil Bove. Ken Dilanian & Ryan Reilly of NBC News: As the Trump-appointed acting attorney general, Emil Bove “has been leading an effort to identify everyone who worked on Jan. 6 cases and remedy what Trump called 'a grave national injustice by rooting out 'those who acted with corrupt or partisan intent' when they investigated Trump and Capitol rioters.... Bove has been the face of the effort to demand that the FBI hand over the names of every bureau employee who worked on Jan. 6 cases.... [But i]n the months after the Jan. 6 attacks, [Bove was] a hard-charging federal prosecutor in Manhattan eagerly [overseeing] efforts to find and arrest Capitol rioters in the New York area, his former colleagues say, and even proposed to the Justice Department that his office should play a central role in the investigation.... Over the ... months [following the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol], he worked closely with FBI agents as they hunted down suspects in the New York area....” Then he became one of Donald Trump's defense attorneys.
Marie: For those relieved to learn that Trump said yesterday that he would abide by court decisions, I point you to this absurd moment right out of Sinclair Lewis' It Can't Happen Here and many a dystopian work of fiction. ~~~
~~~ Travis Andrews, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Kennedy Center board of trustees voted Wednesday afternoon to install ... Donald Trump as chairman of the board, cementing the plan Trump announced Friday to overhaul the storied arts institution with him at its helm. It also voted to terminate Deborah Rutter as president and made former acting director of national intelligence Richard Grenell interim president, according to multiple people with knowledge of the meeting.... Trump attended the virtual board meeting. 'It is a Great Honor to be Chairman of The Kennedy Center, especially with this amazing Board of Trustees,' Trump wrote on Truth Social after the vote. 'We will make The Kennedy Center a very special and exciting place!' Soon the center’s website was updated with several new presidentially appointed trustees including White House personnel office director Sergio Gor, chief of staff Susie Wiles and Usha Vance.” ~~~
~~~ William Saletan (linked below) presents a convincing case that Trump believes his own lies and hype, but can even he be so delusional to think it's a great honor to be voted into a position for which he is laughably unqualified by "amazing" lackies whom he has just appointed to the board?
Charlie Savage of the New York Times: “Eight former inspectors general who were summarily fired by ... Donald J. Trump last month filed a lawsuit on Wednesday asking a judge to declare their removals illegal and order the government to reinstate them.... The lawsuit asserts that the plaintiffs remain the lawful inspectors general of their agencies because Mr. Trump’s dismissals broke the law. It asks for an injunction requiring the executive branch to allow them to return to work and awarding them back pay. Four days after Mr. Trump returned to office last month, the White House notified as many as 17 inspectors general in tersely worded emails that they were being terminated because of 'changing priorities.' Those were all in direct conflict with statutory restrictions on firing such officials in the Inspector General Act of 1978 and strengthened by lawmakers in the bipartisan Securing Inspectors General Act of 2022.”
Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said on Wednesday that he had a 'lengthy and highly productive phone call' with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, characterizing it as the beginning of a negotiation to end the war in Ukraine.... 'We discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects,' Mr. Trump wrote in a social media post.... He said he planned to inform President Volodymr Zelensky of Ukraine that both countries planned to 'have our respective teams start negotiations immediately.'” This is part of the same liveblog linked next.
Team of Numskulls. Julian Barnes & Robert Jimison of the New York Times: “The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Tulsi Gabbard to be the next director of national intelligence in a 52 to 48 vote that demonstrated ... [Donald] Trump’s political control over Republican lawmakers. Ms. Gabbard had one of the most contentious confirmation hearings of all of the president’s nominees. A number of Republican senators joined Democrats in asking tough questions about her previous support of Edward Snowden, a former government contractor who released reams of classified data, and her skepticism about warrantless wiretaps of overseas communications. Her defense of Bashar al-Assad, the former Syrian dictator, and her sympathy toward President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia also gave some Republican lawmakers pause. But in the end only one Republican was willing to oppose her. Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the former majority leader, voted against her.” From a liveblog. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Mitch reminds me of the evil character in a standard-issue morality play who on his deathbed sees his life pass before him and asks, "Lord, what have I done?"
Team of Sociopaths. Julia Metraux of Mother Jones: “Last Friday, [the National Institutes of Health] announced that it would cap grants for 'indirect' research costs — such as building-related and equipment expenses — at 15 percent, from a current average of around 30 percent.... The [NIH] ... came under attack by Project 2025 well before its architect, Russell Vought, was confirmed to Donald Trump’s second-term cabinet as head of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought’s pet project — the playbook for the Trump presidency — asserts that 'funding for scientific research should not be controlled by a small group of highly paid and unaccountable insiders.'... But some of those so-called insiders — that is, the NIH — funded research that helped scientists better understand cystic fibrosis, which led to Vertex Pharmaceuticals developing a cutting-edge treatment that Vought’s daughter Porter benefited from.... But Vought appears to be shutting that door firmly behind him, helping to mount a dizzying range of attacks on lifesaving medical research at (and beyond) NIH.”
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Marie: Sorry, Squarespace has been giving me a lot of trouble today, and I've lost a lot of stuff I linked earlier. I'll try to recover some of it.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: Donald “Trump insisted Tuesday that the United States has the authority to 'take' Gaza and that other countries in the region will absorb the Palestinians who currently live there, speaking as he sat beside Jordan’s king in the Oval Office.... The remarks — made at an impromptu gaggle with reporters called in abruptly at the start of the bilateral meeting between the two leaders — represented a new form of pressure on King Abdullah II, who sought to praise Mr. Trump as a force for peace in the region while avoiding comment on a barely formed proposal that the president has repeatedly floated in the past week.... Rather than push back on Mr. Trump’s proposal, King Abdullah said the two nations should consult with other Arab nations, including Egypt.... King Abdullah now faces the difficult task of trying to protect the more than $1.5 billion in foreign aid Jordan receives from the United States while also trying to get Mr. Trump to back off his demands for the mass removal of Palestinians.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ This story has been updated with a new lede: “King Abdullah II of Jordan on Tuesday rebuffed ... [Donald] Trump’s proposal for his country to absorb Palestinians living in Gaza, saying that he remained opposed to a plan Mr. Trump has laid out to clear the territory so the United States can seize control of it. During a 'constructive' meeting with the U.S. president at the White House, King Abdullah said, he 'reiterated Jordan’s steadfast position against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.' 'This is the unified Arab position,' he stated in a post on social media after the meeting. 'Rebuilding Gaza without displacing the Palestinians and addressing the dire humanitarian situation should be the priority for all.'” (Also linked yesterday.)
Dan Diamond & Emily Davies of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that requires federal agencies to work with the U.S. DOGE Service to cut their existing workforce and limit future hiring — the most explicit statement yet by the president that he supports 'large-scale' cuts to the federal workforce. The executive order gives billionaire Elon Musk’s DOGE, tasked with finding government inefficiencies, even more power than it has amassed in the first three weeks of the new administration. The order installs a 'DOGE Team Lead' at each agency and gives that person oversight over hiring decisions.... The directive instructs agency heads, after the hiring freeze expires, to recruit no more than one employee for every four who depart from the federal government, with exemptions for personnel and functions 'related to public safety, immigration enforcement, or law enforcement.' And it orders agency heads to 'promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force, consistent with applicable law.'” The Guardian's report is here. ~~~
~~~ ⭐Josh Marshall of TPM: This executive order "puts Musk functionally in control of the U.S. government." Marshall lays out how all the agency heads, directly and indirectly, report to Musk. He’s already very clearly operating here as an independent actor whose actions the President blesses after he’s found out what’s happened. This is a parallel overlaying of authority over the entire structure of the U.S. government." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I checked out Article II of the Constitution, and unless I missed something, there's nothing in there about "And the President shall have the power to turn over the administration, legislation and adjudication of the entire federal government to a private Citizen, whether or not that person be a natural born Citizen of the United States, and whether or not he be in a position to personally profit from such control of the United States government."
Stacy Cowley & Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Tuesday named two nominees to lead top financial regulators: Jonathan McKernan for director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Jonathan Gould as the comptroller of the currency. The consumer bureau has been in turmoil for days after Russell Vought, installed Friday by Mr. Trump as the agency’s acting director, ordered a halt to all of its operations. The leaders of the bureau’s highest-profile divisions, its supervision and enforcement offices, resigned Tuesday in protest.... News of Mr. McKernan’s appointment came on the same evening that the consumer bureau fired many probationary employees.... The firings at the bureau on Tuesday came despite an internal notice issued to agency leaders last month by Seth Frotman, then the bureau’s general counsel, citing legal grounds for retaining the probationary workers, many of whom are lawyers.... The employees learned of the firings after 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday over email.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: And as with everything Trump, there were screw-ups. “The heading 'MEMORANDUM FOR [EmployeeFirstName] [EmployeeLastName], [JobTitle], [Division]' appeared on many notices,” Cowley & Goldstein report. Trump can't even get “You're Fired!” right. ~~~
~~~ ⭐Speaking of “You're Fired!” David Nakamura, et al., of the Washington Post: “The White House fired the independent inspector general for the U.S. Agency for International Development on Tuesday evening, a day after his office issued a blistering report assessing the impact of the Trump administration’s efforts to significantly curtail the agency’s mission. Paul K. Martin, appointed by President Joe Biden in December 2023, was informed of his dismissal through a two-sentence email from Trent Morse, deputy director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, according to a copy of the note viewed by The Washington Post. Martin oversaw a staff of 275 with a dozen offices located abroad.... The termination of Martin follows his office’s publication of a widely read report warning that more than $489 million in food assistance was at risk of spoilage or potential diversion after the Trump administration implemented its aid freeze and stop-work order.” Politico's story is here. ~~~
~~~ "Girl Cooties." Amanda Marcotte of Salon: "Musk and his allies have a clever way to sell the [anti-CFPB] agenda to the MAGA base: Tell them that the CFPB has girl cooties.... While the CFPB was technically created by a 2010 bill written by two men, Sen. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn, it's the brainchild of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. She came up with the idea while still a law professor at Harvard. Because it's so strongly associated with a woman, the tech billionaire class has leaned hard into portraying the agency's anti-fraud work as if it's your mom telling you to clean your room. Unfortunately, this bet has paid off, as the MAGA base would rather let robber barons drain their entire bank accounts rather than accept that a woman might know what she's talking about.” Marcotte cites instances where the girl-cooties attacks have worked. ~~~
~~~ Liz Dye in Public Notice: “The agency is despised by everyone from payday lenders, to credit card companies, to the goons at Project 2025. And Elon Musk, who would like to turn Ex-Twitter into a banking app which would be regulated by CFPB, is no fan either. Trump seems rather confused about CFPB’s remit. On Monday, he suggested that 'people all over the midwest' had come up and spontaneously shared stories of their lives being destroyed by an agency which can only regulate banks worth more than $10 billion. But he does know that it’s the pet project of [Sen. Elizabeth] Warren — 'a nasty woman, despite her phony beer commercial' — and so 'we had to get rid of it.'”
Elon Lied About Them; Trumpies Fired Them. Luis Ferré-Sadurní of the New York Times: “The Trump administration said on Tuesday that it had fired four employees from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, including the agency’s chief financial officer, over their roles in disbursing federal funds to house migrants in New York City hotels. The firings capped a startling chain of events that began on Monday with an early-morning social media post by Elon Musk who claimed, misleadingly, that FEMA had recently sent $59 million meant for disaster relief to New York City to pay for 'high end hotels' for migrants, and who called the expenditure unlawful. New York City officials raced to clarify that the federal money had been properly allocated by FEMA under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. last year, adding that it was not a disaster relief grant and had not been spent on luxury hotels. Nonetheless, just two hours after Mr. Musk’s post, FEMA’s acting director, Cameron Hamilton, announced that the payments in question 'have all been suspended' — even though most of the money had already been disbursed — and that 'personnel will be held accountable.'... Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security..., [called the fired personnel] 'deep-state activists to undermine the will and safety of the American people.'...” ~~~
~~~ Marie: "Misleadingly"??? Really? Musk flat-out lied. In fact, he lied more than once in a single tweet.
~~~ Ben Johansen of Politico: “The White House blocked an Associated Press reporter from attending ... Donald Trump’s executive order signing Tuesday afternoon, the news organization said, after it continued to refer to the 'Gulf of Mexico' instead of adjusting to reflect the administration’s stance that the body of water should now be called the 'Gulf of America.' Earlier on Tuesday, the White House warned the AP — known for its stylebook that many newsrooms follow — that if it did not change its guidance on the body of water, its on-call reporter would be blocked from attending the event, the wire service said.... AP executive editor Julie Pace said in a statement[,] 'Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The full AP statement is here.
Yes, Trump Really Is Crazy. Will Saletan of the Bulwark: "It’s time to face what the Canadians have faced: Trump isn’t kidding. When he insists that the 2020 election was stolen, that USAID is a complete fraud, that the United States can subsist on tariffs, that Canada and Greenland should surrender to American sovereignty, and that Arab states will help him empty and gentrify Gaza, he’s not saying things he knows are false or preposterous. He really believes this lunacy. He’s deranged." Thanks to laura h. for the link.
“Corruption Week.” Jonathan Chait of the Atlantic: “... bribery is basically legal now, as long as you support, or are, Donald Trump.Consider the Trump administration’s actions [on Monday] alone: The president officially pardoned Rod Blagojevich, the former Illinois governor who served eight years in prison for corruption, and his Department of Justice suspended its prosecution of New York Mayor Eric Adams for allegedly soliciting bribes from Turkey, despite extremely compelling evidence. (Adams has denied the allegations.) Trump fired the director of the Office of Government Ethics, the chief official making sure government employees comply with ethics requirements, including those concerning conflicts of interest. And he directed the Justice Department to cease enforcing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prevents American businesses from bribing foreign officials.... Today [Tuesday], the administration told The New York Times that Elon Musk’s financial disclosures would not be made public, allowing the shadow president to direct vast swaths of government policy with enormous stakes for his personal fortune without the public knowing the precise areas of overlap.... Trump genuinely believes in corruption as a normal and acceptable way to do business.” Thanks to laura h. for this gift link. ~~~
~~~ Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: “Trump administration officials have also ordered the shutdown of an initiative to seize assets owned by foreign kleptocrats, dialed back scrutiny of foreign influence efforts aimed at the United States and replaced the top career Justice Department official handling corruption cases.... In pressing the Southern District of New York to drop charges against [Mayor Eric] Adams, who was accused of corruption on behalf of Turkey, the acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove III, suggested that the request was rooted in politics. Both the directive and its tone startled many current and former Justice Department officials. 'The U.S. attorney community is in shock at the language of the memo, the political nature of the scores being settled,' said Tim Purdon, a former U.S. attorney for North Dakota. 'It’s unfathomable.'”
Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: “The billionaire Elon Musk said in an extraordinary Oval Office appearance on Tuesday that he was providing maximum transparency in his government cost-cutting initiative, but offered no evidence for his sweeping claims that the federal bureaucracy had been corrupted by cheats and officials who had approved money for 'fraudsters.'... Mr. Musk stood next to the Resolute Desk and asserted that his work was in the interest of the public and democracy. President Trump sat behind the desk, chiming in with approval as he let the world’s richest man expound for roughly 30 minutes on the rationale for the drastic overhaul of the federal bureaucracy.... 'So all of our actions are maximally transparent,' [Mr. Musk claimed].... In reality, Mr. Musk’s team is operating in deep secrecy: surprising federal employees by descending upon agencies and gaining access to sensitive data systems....
“Mr. Musk’s appearance came at what was billed a presidential signing of new executive orders related to his cost-cutting initiative. The text of the executive order, which was made public after the event ended, ordered agency heads to pursue 'large-scale' work force reductions and gave Mr. Musk’s team an expanded role in overseeing any subsequent hiring at certain agencies.” (See full WashPo story re: the executive order linked above.) The AP's report is here. ~~~
Thanks to RAS for the link.
~~~ Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: “Dressed all in black, with a dark MAGA hat on his head and his young son fidgeting by his side or on his shoulders, Mr. Musk, seeming quite jolly about finding himself at the very pinnacle of power, sought on Tuesday to justify pushing tens of thousands of federal employees out the door by casting them as a collection of unelected and unaccountable managers of a wasteful and corrupt bureaucracy. Workers overseeing contracts were mysteriously getting rich, he asserted without any backing details or evidence. Social Security was paying benefits to 150-year-olds. Taxpayers were being gouged.... He told tales of a 'racket' being perpetrated by an army of bureaucrats, some 'corrupt,' others merely 'incompetent.'
“The world’s richest man waved off any suggestion that he stands to benefit from the dismantling of the regulatory agencies leading investigations and lawsuits against his companies. His mandate to audit the Pentagon’s spending is not a conflict of interest even though he has billions of dollars in military contracts, he maintained, because he always provides the best value to the government, and anyway, those contracts are not with him but with his companies.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: With his excuses for skirting conflict-of-interest rules, Musk is either (a) showing us how ignorant he is, or (b) showing us how ignorant he thinks we are.
Michael Stratford & Kyle Cheney of Politico: “Treasury Department officials said Tuesday that the agency last week 'mistakenly' and 'briefly' gave a member of Elon Musk’s team the power to alter a sensitive federal payments database, prompting an internal forensic investigation that remains ongoing. The disclosure, made in a series of court filings, undercuts the Trump administration’s repeated public claims that the DOGE team’s access to the federal payments system was limited to a 'read-only' basis. Senior Treasury officials wrote in sworn declarations that Marko Elez, a 25-year-old former SpaceX and X engineer, was erroneously granted 'read/write' privileges to a secure payments system on Feb. 5. Elez resigned from the Treasury Department a day later, after The Wall Street Journal surfaced racist social media posts, and Treasury officials said he has not been reinstated to his previous role.... The affidavits make clear that the DOGE team initially came into the system with plans to block foreign aid payments — following an executive order by ... Donald Trump — and to automate some of its functions.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Alan Raul, a top Reagan & Bush I administrations lawyer, in a Washington Post op-ed, writes that Elon Musk's DOGE is unconstitutional. “... Congress has not authorized this radical overhaul [Trump and Musk are overseeing], and the protocols of the Constitution do not permit statutorily mandated agencies and programs to be transformed — or reorganized out of existence — without congressional authorization.... The DOGE process, if that is what it is, mocks two basic tenets of our government: that we are nation of laws, not men and that it is Congress which controls spending and passes legislation.... Congress must step in to enact this radical transformation — or the Supreme Court must stop it.”
Charlie Savage of the New York Times: “The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday accused Kash Patel..., [Donald] Trump’s nominee for F.B.I. director, of improperly directing a wave of firings at the bureau without having been confirmed as its leader. In a letter to the Justice Department’s inspector general [Michael Horowitz], the senator, Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, cited 'highly credible information from multiple sources' that suggested Mr. Patel had been personally involved in covertly orchestrating a purge of career officials at the F.B.I.... The accusation comes as the committee prepares to vote Thursday on whether to send Mr. Patel’s nomination to the Senate floor. Mr. Durbin said that if the allegations were true, then the acting No. 2 at the Justice Department, Emil Bove, fired career civil servants 'solely at the behest of a private citizen,' and also that Mr. Patel 'may have perjured himself' at his confirmation hearing last month.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Here's a copy of Durbin's letter to Horowitz via the Daily Kos. (Also linked yesterday.)
Hi-Ho, the Derry-O, The Swindler Takes a Walk. Hurubie Meko & Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: “Stephen K. Bannon ... pleaded guilty on Tuesday in Manhattan criminal court to a single count of defrauding donors who sought to help build a wall at the southern border. Mr. Bannon’s plea deal stipulates that he will be given a three-year conditional discharge, meaning he will receive no prison time if he does not reoffend. He had faced five felony counts, including money laundering and conspiracy charges, and faced a maximum sentence of five to 15 years on the most serious charge. In the courtroom Tuesday, Mr. Bannon sat among his three lawyers and answered “Yes, your honor” as the judge, April A. Newbauer, asked him detailed questions about his understanding of the deal and the rights he was surrendering, including his right to appeal. Mr. Bannon’s trial had been scheduled to begin in March.” Thanks to Akhilleus for the heads-up. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Michael Sisak of the AP: “Asked how he was feeling as he left the courtroom, Bannon said, 'Like a million bucks.' Bannon spoke to reporters afterward and called on U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to begin an immediate criminal investigation into New York Attorney General Leticia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.... Bannon had ... recently hired a new team of attack dog lawyers who sought to portray the case to jurors as a selective and malicious prosecution.... The district attorney’s office said Bannon is barred from fundraising for or serving as 'an officer, director, or in any other fiduciary position' for any charitable organization with assets in New York state, under the plea agreement. He’s also barred from using, selling or possessing any data gathered from donors to the border wall scheme.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yeah, I'll bet Bannon feels like a million bucks. He was charged with pocketing more than a million bucks in the scheme.
Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: “A Russian imprisoned in the United States will be freed 'in the coming days' in exchange for the release this week of the American schoolteacher Marc Fogel, the Kremlin said on Wednesday. Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, told reporters that Russia would not identify the prisoner until after the release.”
Sherrilyn Ifill, in a Substack essay, gives us some ideas about what we can do to save out democracy from the Trump/Musk presidency* & their Congressional collaborators. No, really. Thanks to RAS for the link. (If you take a look at Ifill's career, you'll see she knows whereof she speaks.) ~~~
~~~ For Instance: Kids Protest Stinky Pete. Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: “Dozens of American students at a U.S. military installation in Germany walked out of their middle school on Tuesday as part of protests aimed at an official visit by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, underscoring the scope of disillusionment with the Trump administration’s crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.... Separately, a small group of adults dressed in civilian clothing — likely parents — gathered outside at Stuttgart and protested within view and earshot of Hegseth’s delegation, booing and chanting “DEI!... The protests were in response to President Donald Trump’s string of executive orders targeting diversity efforts throughout the U.S. government, directives Hegseth has carried out enthusiastically. Since he took over the Pentagon, Black History Month celebrations and other similar events have been banned and access to select books in Defense Department schools attended by the children of U.S. service members have been restricted.”
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Reader Comments (21)
Too Much Work
"Google’s popular online and mobile calendars no longer include reference to the first day of Black History Month or Women’s History month, among other holidays and events.
On Google Calendar, the company has removed other events as well. It previously had Nov. 1 as the first day of Indigenous Peoples Month and June 1 as the start of LGBTQ+ Pride month."
Why Care?
You cannot find a Republican who hasn't tried to destroy something that they personally benefited from.
Mother Jones
"Project 2025 Is Gutting Medical Funding That Helped Russell Vought’s Own Kid
Its architect’s daughter has cystic fibrosis—and benefits from a “miracle drug” backed by an agency he’s attacking."
I'll forgo the links for now, these are easy to find everywhere...
Soooo....
TweedleMusk visits the Ovaltine Office in the Bleak House with his co-crime boss TweedleTrump.
Logic ensues as they answer a reporter's question about how logical it is that TweedleMusk promises to be transparent but then has his financial DISCLOSURE kept SECRET...
Here's the transcript*:
"I know what you're thinking about" said
TweedleTrump "but it isn't so, nohow"
"Contrariwise" said TweedleMusk, ‘if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic."
The reporter, who had asked about transparency was confused.
"I was wondering", the reporter said very politely, "How can you claim transparency then hide everything and do all your work destroying the federal government in secret? Would you tell me, please?"
But the little men only looked at each other and grinned.
The reporter pointed her finger at TweedleTrump, and said "First Boy!"
"Nohow!" TweedleTrump cried out briskly, and shut his mouth up again with a snap.
"Next Boy!" said the reporter, passing on to TweedleMusk, though she felt quite certain he would only shout out 'Contrariwise!’ and so he did.
"You’ve been wrong!" cried TweedleTrump. "The first thing in a visit is to say 'How d’ye do?' and shake hands!’ And here the two fat boys gave each other a hug, and then they held out the two hands that were free, to shake hands with her.
The reporter did not like shaking hands with either of them, for they were both nasty, weird, and sweaty, so she put on rubber gloves, gritted her teeth and took hold of both hands at once: the next moment they were dancing round in a ring. This was pretty fucking weird (she remembered afterwards), and she was not even surprised to hear music playing: it seemed to come from the under the Resolute Desk at which TweedleTrump was sitting.
But the two dancers were fat, and very soon out of breath. "Four times round is enough for one dance," TweedleTrump panted out, and they left off dancing as suddenly as they had begun: the music stopped at the same moment.
The intrepid reporter tried once more. "It seems impossible to claim transparency then hide everything."
"Why", smirked TweedleMusk, "Sometimes I've said six impossible things before breakfast!" Not to be outdone, TweedleTrump gushed "Me too! Sometimes eight! I own Gaza, Canada, Greenland, Panama, change the names of oceans and mountains, and still have time for a Diet Coke" he chortled.
TweedleMusk, miffed, spit out "I own rocket ships!" "Which I pay for!" muttered TweedleTrump.
Then they let go of hands, and said "Interview over! How's that for transparency?" and scooted out of the room, laughing maniacally.
Film at 11.
Unfortunately, the actual meeting was no more illuminating than this.
*Apologies to Lewis Carroll
Nature
"After Trump killed a report on nature, researchers push ahead with release
Major report was designed to answer the public's biggest questions on nature.
The first-ever National Nature Assessment—which was based on significant public feedback and strove to reveal how nature loss influences climate change and impacts humanity—may still see the light of day after the Trump administration abruptly ended the ambitious project.
Researchers involved told The New York Times that the nature report was "too important to die" and that an "amazingly broad consensus" remains among its mostly volunteer authors, so the expansive report must be completed and released to the public."
Not My Valentine
"For a $50 to $75 donation, staff at an Oregon sanctuary will write your ex’s name on a “bloody heart” to be fed to one of their resident wildcats.
The news release says it all: “We’ve all wanted to watch a ravenous beast devour an ex’s heart, right?”
Of course, interested donors need not limit themselves to ex-lovers. Ian Ford, the sanctuary’s associate executive director, has gotten requests to write the names of friends, spouses, children and co-workers on the hearts."
I wonder how many Trumps and Musks they get this year?
@Akhilleus: I think that's Still Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum. I watched "Deadline White House" for a while yesterday, and Nicolle Wallace played a few minutes of the press thing before putting it on mute as Musk rattled on. She went on with her show but the scene in the Oval took up at least half the screen (tho on mute). It looked even stupider than your comic scenario, and reports this morning suggest the whole exhibition was god-awful.
"I can't be corrupt because I always give the government the best deals"??? What? "We don't live in a democracy because nobody elected the bureaucrats." Huh? "Of course I'm the most transparent government take-over artist of all time; I libel bureaucrats and critics on X all the time." I give up.
Then Tweedle Dee wraps up the whole thing by turning the federal government over to Tweedle Dum in an executive order released AFTER the press thing, so the press couldn't scream, "Why are turning the government over to an unelected, foreign-born, Nazi-loving, super-rich guy?" "Is it because you don't think a convicted felon should be running the country?" "Or are you just too old and tired to do your job?"
Looks more and more that the fraudsters are busily redefining fraud.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musk-cuts-based-more-political-ideology-than-real-cost-savings-so-far-2025-02-12/
And what's this about "conservative values?"
Sure seems like helping anyone but wealthy crooks is not one of them.
"You're sitting in my daddy's chair"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/02/12/tulsi-gabbard-senate-confirmation/?
At least now we'll know what Putin is really thinking.
Tulsi will tell us in word and deed.
Call it transparency.
AP News
"Kremlin says unidentified Russian freed in US in exchange for Moscow’s release of Marc Fogel"
I wonder what all Russia is getting for this exchange. Gabbard and Patel probably already enough of a win along with the destruction of the American dream by Trump and Musk. The dealmaker at work.
Damn them all to hell, slashing funding for the NIH. My daughter, who should be riding horses and teaching at a university, has instead been homebound with us for the last year with long covid and ME/CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome). At this point, her condition is compounded by severe depression. As she sees the progress of the last 16 years and the good that we as a country can do being trashed by the people with power in Washington (I can't call them leaders), she retreats with her cat and stupid TV. It is heartbreaking.
As I wrote to a relative recently, life is difficult in this country if you are not a straight white male with no empathy.
So far, 2025 feels like having open heart surgery with any
anesthetic. Thank vintners for wine.
It sounds so quaint in this digital telecommunications age, but I find myself wondering if Gabbard has the Kremlin on speed dial yet.
Seems a bit odd that we're engaged in dividing up Ukraine, since we weren't either one of the combatants and certainly weren't one of the victors.
At least FDR, Churchill, and Uncle Joe won the last European war before they carved up Europe.
Putin
must be beside himself that he has what amounts to KGB officers running the US, and he didn’t have to expend a tenth of a ruble to make it happen. All he needed was a fat democracy-America hating tyrant wannabe who would happily lick his ass crack if he told him he was a good boy. So we have a foreign born unelected billionaire filleting out government and foreign dictators looking for their chance to screw America because the president* will happily give them a shot as long as they promise him some cash.
The numbest of skulls is now the head of the Kennedy Center.
This is the guy who didn't know the literary roots of "The Enemy of the People" or what the title Ibsen's play meant.
Hard to argue that this might be the nadir (so far) of how successfully America has been dumbed down.
Corruption
"The 11 federal agencies so far targeted for firings or dismantling by Elon Musk have more than 30 ongoing investigations into his companies."
Marie wrote: “Mitch reminds me of the evil character in a standard-issue morality play who on his deathbed sees his life pass before him and asks, ‘Lord, what have I done?’”
And in my rewrite of that morality play, the lord says “Well, let’s see, Mitch, your history of hyper-partisan ratfucking and scurrilous gaming of the system has caused a lot of heartache, chaos, criminality, death, and destruction, not to mention a crapload of former believers convincing themselves that I couldn’t possibly exist if I allowed a piece of shit like Donald Trump to win at every turn, which extra pisses me off because no one was in a better position to stop that asshole than you. Instead, you not only protected him, you made sure that he put other assholes on the Supreme Court who are sticking it to millions of my children. This is all your fault. I hear they call you the Turtle. I hope that shell is thick, because where you’re going, you’ll need it. If I remember correctly, turtles become soup at around 400 degrees.
You’ll get there in about 30 seconds. Bye now.”
MoonPieTown
President MuskRat helps himself to a $400 million contract.
The guy rifling through government contracts and making unilateral decisions on what to cut decides that $400 million from taxpayers for “armored Teslas” is not wasteful, and by the way, that $400 mill is better off in his pocket.
No conflict there, right?
‘Member when it was important to not even have the appearance of a conflict. Now Musk and his buttboy, Fat Hitler, just say “Fuck it. Gimme the money.”
And leave us not forget what a piece of shit those “bulletproof” Tesla trucks are. Yeah, bulletproof if you’re talking about Nerf guns.
What are we gonna do with $400 million worth of stupid looking shitboxes? The military gonna use them? Oh, I get it. We drive those things into battle and the enemy falls down helpless with laughter.
That’s worth $400 mill, right?