The Conversation -- February 14, 2025
Borowitz Report: “Melania Trump has determined that the Valentine’s Day card she received on Friday could not possibly be from her husband because her name was spelled correctly, the First Lady has confirmed. 'If it spelled “Melanie,” “Melanin,” or “Malala,” then I’d know it from him,' she said.” Read on. It's a short post. And Happy Valentine's Day. ~~~
~~~ In today's Comments, Akhilleus speculates that Melanie did get a card from Donald, and it was addressed to "mELONia."
JayDee to Europeans: You-All Aren't Nice Enough to Nazis. Jim Tankersley, et al., of the New York Times: “Vice President JD Vance told European leaders on Friday that their biggest security threat ... was what he called 'the enemy within' — their own suppression of abortion protests and other forms of free speech and the sidelining of parties considered extremist. The address stunned and silenced hundreds of attendees at the Munich Security Conference, a forum where top-level politicians, diplomats and analysts had gathered expecting to hear the Trump administration’s plans for ending the war in Ukraine and Europe’s defense against a rising Russian threat in the future. Instead, the vice president offered what may be a preview of a new kind of trans-Atlantic relationship under Mr. Trump — one not built on postwar bonds of stability between allied governments, but rather on ties with once-fringe political parties that share a common approach to migration, identity and internet speech. Mr. Vance singled out his German hosts, who will elect a new chancellor next weekend, and told them to drop their objections to working with a party that has often reveled in banned Nazi slogans and has been shunned from government as a result.” Politico's report is here.
One Pissed-off Prosecutor. Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: “Hagan Scotten, the lead prosecutor on the federal corruption case against Mayor Eric Adams of New York City, resigned after Justice Department officials ordered the dismissal of charges he had helped bring, suggesting that only a 'fool' or a 'coward' would obey. In an undated, scathing resignation letter, Mr. Scotten wrote that any federal prosecutor 'would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials.' He added: 'If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me.' Mr. Scotten was responding to a Justice Department official’s directive this week to dismiss the bribery, fraud and other charges against Mr. Adams so the mayor could help with President Trump’s immigration crackdown.”
Marie: When I first scanned the following post, I thought it was Borowitz-style satire. But no. It's the real thing: ~~~
~~~ Doktor Zoom of Wonkette: “In an act of revisionist history Joseph Stalin might admire, the National Park Service disappeared all references to transgender and queer people from its main page for the Stonewall National Monument in New York City yesterday. President Barack Obama signed a proclamation creating the monument in 2016, to mark the site of the June 28, 1969, riot/uprising at the Stonewall Inn, a gay dive bar where the patrons reacted to yet another police raid by fighting back instead of going quietly, sparking the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.... The first change people noticed was simply the removal of “transgender,” along with the abbreviation being changed to 'LGBQ+' — literally trans erasure. But even as outrage over that change was spreading on social media, more and more parts of the page went away. Within an hour, the page had been altered further, disappearing 'queer' and the 'Q+' as well, so that now the page is about the LGB rights movement.” Also, check out the differences between the then and now pictures that top the Park Service's page; Doktor Zoom asks, “Who knew all those 'spot six differences' puzzles would prepare us so well for the second Trump administration?”
Paul Krugman posts on "Lies, Damned Lies & Trumpflation." Krugman runs down about a half-dozen ways the Trump/Musk presidency is screwing up the economy. Then, in a non-musical coda, he adds: "In yesterday’s post I noted that the whole condoms-for-Hamas thing came from DOGE staffers who confused Gaza province in Mozambique with the Gaza Strip. Well, as one commenter pointed out, the thing about 150-year-old Social Security beneficiaries [MB: whom Musk claimed were fraudsters getting Social Security checks] may be another comical error. Apparently in COBOL — obsolete in the business world but still used in government — a missing date of birth is registered as 1875. Commenters on X and Threads say the same. So the only 'fraud' here is the pretense that Musk’s child programmers have any idea what they’re doing."
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Maggie Haberman & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: “Hours after ... [Donald] Trump paved the way for upending the United States’ trade relationship with India with broad 'reciprocal' tariffs, he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented a united front during a news conference on Thursday at the White House. Mr. Modi became the latest head of state to seek to placate an increasingly power-flexing Mr. Trump by trying to accommodate his demands — even as Mr. Trump’s promised tariffs hung over the White House meeting.... The warm greetings also extended to Elon Musk...: The two had a meeting and photo op. Mr. Musk ... owns a number of companies, including Starlink, a high-speed internet service, that have sought to make an entry in India. All the flattery concealed a number of tensions between the two nations, including on two of Mr. Trump’s signature issues, trade and immigration.... [After his meeting with Mr. Musk,] Mr. Modi shared photos on Mr. Musk’s social media site, X, that underscored Mr. Musk’s power within the Trump administration: The billionaire sat in front of an American flag next to the prime minister and the Indian flag, the kind of pose usually struck by a head of state and that Mr. Trump himself has assumed in recent weeks. Mr. Musk was accompanied by Shivon Zilis, who is a longtime adviser and the mother to some of his children, as well as three of his children, who appeared to exchange gifts with Mr. Modi.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Between Modi's meeting with Musk and with Trump, a reporter Trump about the Musk/Modi meeting. It appeared to me from viewing a video of the Q&A that Trump tried to save face but didn't know anything about President* Musk's beating him to greeting Modi. I wonder if Musk has something on Trump more powerful than the quarter of a billion bucks Musk spent on Trump's campaign. Trump must be seething as Musk upstages him almost on a daily basis.
David Lynch, et al., of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Thursday continued his relentless remaking of U.S. trade relations, announcing a new policy of taxing foreign goods at the same rate that other nations apply to American products that could start in the coming weeks or months. The president billed his new 'reciprocal' tariff policy — cemented in an executive order — as a straightforward response to unfair behavior by U.S. trading partners, who in some cases apply higher tariffs to specific American goods than the United States applies to the same products from those countries.... Administering a new regime of different taxes for each country could prove a bureaucratic nightmare and increase costs for Americans, trade analysts said. 'Reciprocity may sound appealing. But remember who pays tariffs: It’s the American importer and the burden eventually falls on the consumer,' said Erica York ... [of] the Tax Foundation. 'It’s like shooting yourselves in the foot because someone else is shooting themselves in the foot.'” (Also linked yesterday.)
Javier Hernández & Robin Pogrebin of the New York Times: Donald “Trump’s takeover of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington has prompted an outcry in the cultural community, with several artists resigning their posts or canceling engagements at the center.... In addition to [Trump's firing the center's longtime president Deborah] Rutter, several other longtime staff members were fired on Wednesday, including top officials overseeing public relations and governance. Here’s a look at the stars who have resigned from the Kennedy Center or canceled shows in the wake of Mr. Trump’s takeover: Issa Rae..., Renée Fleming..., Ben Folds ... and Shonda Rhimes.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Travis Andrews, et al., of the Washington Post: “The fallout from ... Donald Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center’s board and purge of its leadership continued Thursday, as the center’s staff worried about the storied arts institution and shows began to disappear from its lineup.” A Guardian story is here.
Marie: I'm not endorsing the conclusions here, but I do present this link for your consideration. It would be indeed be great if a four-year-old (so kind of a Trump peer) told Donald, "I want you to shut your fucking mouth up." Thanks to RAS for the link. The Daily Mail -- not exactly your most reliable source -- kinda/sorta backs up the claim, while leaving plenty of wiggle room by reporting only that "the Internet" sez. (Also linked yesterday.)
Madeleine Ngo, et al., of the New York Times: “Layoffs cascaded through the federal government on Thursday after its human resources division advised agencies to terminate most of an estimated 200,000 workers on probation, a sharp escalation in the Trump administration’s drive to overhaul and shrink the federal work force. Among the largest layoffs reported on Thursday was one announced by the Department of Veterans Affairs, which dismissed more than 1,000 employees, including probationary workers who had worked at the agency for less than two years.” ~~~
~~~ Hannah Natanson & Emily Davies of the Washington Post: “Agencies appeared to move quickly on Thursday to carry out the directive.... Thousands of workers were laid off in messages delivered through prerecorded videos and on group calls. Some were ordered to leave the building within 30 minutes. Others were told they would be formally fired by emails, which never arrived.... The directive accelerates the effort to shrink the federal government, a priority of Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service celebrated by ... Donald Trump, who has derided the bureaucracy as bloated and corrupt. The sweeping firings started Wednesday, just before the Trump administration decided to close its deferred resignation program.... Probationary employees, dozens who said they had never received negative feedback about their work, received emails citing their performance to assert they 'have not demonstrated that your further employment at the Agency would be in the public interest,' according to the correspondences reviewed by The Post.... Cutting government personnel by one-fourth would reduce federal spending by about 1 percent.” ~~~
~~~ In today's Comments, pathmann is wondering if Trump was standing in front of a full-length mirror when he called government bloated and corrupt.
Say, you know those "highly-trained professional" coders Musk is sending around to every department of the U.S. government? Well, ~~~
~~~ Jess Weatherbed of the Verge: “The DOGE website created to document how Elon Musk’s team is eviscerating the US federal government is wide open for anyone to edit. This is the same DOGE organization that has gained unprecedented access to sensitive US financial systems with data on millions of Americans. Two web development experts reported the security flaw to 404Media after discovering that doge.gov is pulling from a database that third parties can access and update, pushing unauthorized entries to the live website. At least two database entries have been added by one of the coders to say 'this is a joke of a .gov site' and 'THESE ‘EXPERTS’ LEFT THEIR DATABASE OPEN -roro.' Both pages are still visible hours after 404Media published its report. While doge.gov displays a banner describing itself as 'an official website of the United States government,' the developers say it 'feels like it was completely slapped together” and doesn’t appear to be running on government servers.' The discovery establishes a poor track record for the White House’s website administration practices — on Wednesday, the newly created waste.gov site was hidden and locked down after it was found to be mostly displaying an unedited WordPress template.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I've already argued that these "highly-trained professional" coders have no idea of how to identify and assess "waste, fraud & abuse." Now, it turns out they're such crappy coders they don't know they have to beta-test their Websites. Again and again. Because bugs can show up anywhere. Offering unfettered access is a pretty big bug. I'd call it a Giant Weta.
⭐Look, Look, Emil! Some People Have Professional Principles & Personal Integrity. William Rashbaum, et al., of the New York Times: “Manhattan’s U.S. attorney on Thursday resigned rather than obey an order from a top Justice Department official to drop the corruption case against New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams. Then, when Justice Department officials transferred the case to the public integrity section in Washington, which oversees corruption prosecutions, the two men who led that unit also resigned, according to five people with knowledge of the matter. Several hours later, three other lawyers in the unit also resigned, according to people familiar with the developments. The serial resignations represent the most high-profile public opposition so far to ... [Donald] Trump’s tightening control over the Justice Department. They were a stunning repudiation of the administration’s attempt to force the dismissal of the charges against Mr. Adams.
“The departures of the U.S. attorney, Danielle R. Sassoon, and the officials who oversaw the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, Kevin O. Driscoll and John Keller, came in rapid succession on Thursday. Days earlier, the acting No. 2 official at the Justice Department, Emil Bove III, had ordered Manhattan prosecutors to drop the case against Mr. Adams. The agency’s justification for dropping the case was explicitly political; Mr. Bove had argued that the investigation would prevent Mr. Adams from fully cooperating with Mr. Trump’s immigration crackdown. Mr. Bove made a point of saying that Washington officials had not evaluated the strength of the evidence or the legal theory behind the case.” The AP's report is here. (The NYT & AP reports are updates of stories linked yesterday.) A CBS News story is here.
~~~ You can read what the Times reporters rightly call "a remarkable letter” from Sassoon to Attorney General Pam Bondi on a Document Cloud here. (It's a slow-loader.) "Ms. Sassoon,” they wrote, "... made a startling accusation in her letter. She wrote that the mayor’s lawyers had 'repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist with the Department’s enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed.” The New York Times has an annotated version here. ~~~
~~~ ⭐In Footnote No. 1 of her letter, Sassoon wrote, "I attended a meeting on January 31, 2025, with Mr. Bove, Adams's counsel, and members of my office. Adam's attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that Adams would be in a position to assist with the Department's enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed. Mr. Bove admonished a member of my team who took notes during that meeting and directed the collection of those notes at the meeting's conclusion." MB: This really is extraordinary. One of the reasons Sassoon said she could not comply with Bove's order was that her office was ready to bring new obstruction-of-justice charges against Adams. And here is Adams offering what could be an illegal (or what Sassoon calls "improper") quid pro quo, and Bove, the acting assistant AG, is obstructing justice by attempting to cover it up. So, once again, life imitates art. Thanks to Akhilleus for the link to the video: ~~~
~~~ Corruption, Inc. Michael Schmidt, et al., of the New York Times: In a series of exchanges, Emil Bove, the acting No. 2 DOJ official, “seemed to guide [New York City Mayor Eric Adams'] criminal defense lawyers [] toward a rationale for dropping charges against a high-profile client — represents an extraordinary shattering of norms for an agency charged with enforcing the laws of the United States. It also sends a message that, under the Trump administration, the Justice Department will make prosecutorial decisions based not on the merits of a case but on purely political concerns, longtime prosecutors and defense lawyers said. Prompted by Mr. Bove, the mayor’s lawyers refined their approach until they landed on a highly unorthodox argument, records and interviews show — one that was ultimately reflected in Mr. Bove’s memo to prosecutors on Monday. That memo stated that the criminal case had 'unduly restricted Mayor Adams’s ability' to address illegal immigration and violent crime. It also pointedly said that the decision had nothing to do with the evidence or the law.” ~~~
~~~ Chris Geidner, the Law Dork: “Accepting the resignation of [Danielle] Sassoon, a former clerk to then-Justice Antonin Scalia, [Emil] Bove told her, 'You lost sight of the oath that you took when you started at the Department of Justice by suggesting that you retain discretion to interpret the Constitution in a manner inconsistent with the policies of a democratically elected President and a Senate-confirmed Attorney General.'... He went on to write like a madman, announcing that all of 'the AUSAs principally responsible for this case” were being put on administrative leave and would be placed under investigation.'...” ~~~
~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "Within my lifetime, remarkably enough, this kind of thing was enough to get a president to resign; now it’s just a garden variety afternoon." ~~~
~~~ Marie: BTW, as of late afternoon Thursday, the DOJ still had not dropped the case against Adams. So they still haven't delivered the quid. But remember that the quid did not completely dismiss the case; rather, it dismissed it without prejudice, meaning DOJ could bring it again. That is, Trump's DOJ would hold the case over Adams' head. Nevertheless,
~~~ Pardon My Latin. Now Cometh the Quo! Luis Ferré-Sadurní of the New York Times: “Mayor Eric Adams of New York City announced on Thursday that he would issue an executive order to allow federal immigration authorities into the Rikers Island jail complex, a significant shift in the city’s sanctuary policies. The mayor said that he would move to allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents into the jail to assist in criminal investigations, 'in particular those focused on violent criminals and gangs.' The move followed a meeting earlier Thursday between Mr. Adams, a Democrat, and ... [Donald] Trump’s border czar, Thomas Homan, in Lower Manhattan. The meeting was seen as an early test of the mayor’s relationship with the Trump administration, and of the degree to which Mr. Adams might owe some fealty after the Justice Department ordered federal prosecutors to drop the corruption charges against the mayor.” ~~~
~~~ Jim Forkin & Dan Mangan of CNBC: “... Donald Trump on Thursday denied instructing the Department of Justice to order the dismissal of the criminal prosecution of New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Trump’s denial came as Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor and five senior DOJ officials in Washington, D.C., resigned over an order by a top DOJ official to toss out the case against Adams. 'I didn’t,' Trump said at the White House when asked by a reporter if he requested the dismissal. 'I know nothing about it. I did not,' Trump added.” MB: This may be true. I heard Trump on tape saying of the prosecutor that “he or she was fired.” It seems Ole Man Trump can't keep up -- or he's faking it.
Whoops! Paul McLeary of Politico: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday pulled back some of the peace deal concessions he demanded of Ukraine a day earlier, including no NATO membership for the embattled country or a return to its pre-war borders. 'Everything is on the table' when it comes to negotiations to end the Ukraine war, Hegseth said during a press conference wrapping up two days of NATO meetings in Brussels.... Hegseth said definitively on Wednesday that the U.S. would not accept NATO membership for Ukraine or provide peacekeeping troops, and warned the country would not return to its pre-2014 borders.... The Wednesday turn of events caused a firestorm of criticism from European allies attending the NATO defense ministers meeting, who one by one made a rare public show of disunity.... In a press conference 24 hours later, Hegseth bristled at questions concerning the possibility that the U.S. was giving away leverage to Putin.” MB: In fairness to Hegseth, he might have been drunk on Wednesday. Or at least hung-over. Or maybe he's just doing what Trump told him to do, the way he used to do a few weeks back when he was a Fox personality. ~~~
~~~ digby: “Reporter Josh Rogin had a good analysis on CNN of Trump’s 'deal making yesterday...[:] 'The problem is that that creates a series of events that‘s now going to unfold that could have drastic and negative consequences for both Ukraine and the U.S., not to mention Europe.... The risk of doing it this way, which is sort of the bass ackwards way of negotiating, where you give the concessions first and then you start the negotiations, and then you try to convince the Ukrainians to give up their territory, which they‘re not going to do. So it‘s kind of a mess, actually.'” ~~~
BREAKING: France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain & UK sign a joint statement vowing to protect Ukraine’s sovereignty & demanding a role in the peace talks. This is leadership. It’s also unprecedented. A western alliance is having to form against a new, twin & united threat: Trump & Putin.
— News Eye (@newseye.bsky.social) Feb 12, 2025 at 5:29 PM
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Anticipatory Obedience. Jenna Smialek & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: “Harriet Tubman posters, origami paper cranes and rainbows have been disappearing from the halls of the American schools at NATO headquarters in Belgium, a response to the Trump administration’s rollbacks of diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Teachers were worried that they would be seen as signs of Black, Japanese and gay culture — and thus run afoul of the new rules from Washington. But the rush to comply with the administration’s directives intensified this week, after educators learned that the wife of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth planned to visit their campus on Thursday, according to four people involved in the preparations for her visit, who all asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution, including job loss.... She ultimately trimmed down that schedule, visiting just the elementary school and a nearby Canadian school.... [BUT] A few dozen older students and parents gathered in a courtyard in the middle of the Mons campus on Thursday ... in a demonstration of unhappiness with the recent measures.... [AND] At a Defense Department middle school in Stuttgart, Germany, students walked out in protest when the Hegseths visited earlier in the week....”
From a Washington Post liveblog: “A Republican-led House panel, after a lengthy debate, advanced a budget plan late Thursday that reflects several of ... Donald Trump’s priorities, including an extension of his 2017 tax cuts and more funding for border security. The resolution, which also includes deep spending cuts, is at odds with a 'two-track' approach that the Republican-led Senate is taking.” ~~~
~~~ Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: “Republican politicians plan to take food and health care away from the poor to subsidize tax cuts for the rich. That might sound like a stale, Scroogy stereotype. But it’s not an exaggeration: It’s laid out, in black and white, in GOP budget plans released this week.... Depending on exact assumptions, Trump’s overall tax agenda would cost between $5 trillion and $11 trillion over a decade, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates. Republican lawmakers seem inclined to give him most of what he wants.... They claim they’ll do it through a combination of fake math, nonbinding promises and shanking the poor.”
Lena Sun of the Washington Post: “A scientific report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published Thursday shows some veterinarians who provide care for cattle were unknowingly infected with the H5N1 avian influenza virus last year. The report is the latest evidence that the outbreak in dairy herds is spreading undetected in cows, and the spillover into people at highest risk of exposure is going unnoticed.... The report is one of three about bird flu that were scheduled to be published three weeks ago in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). But the scientific publication was abruptly suspended when the Trump administration instructed federal health agencies to pause all external communications on Jan. 21.”
If this were a secret ballot, this man wouldn’t get 20 votes. -- Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) ~~~
~~~ The Incredible Lightness of Being a Republican. Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: “Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the vaccine skeptic and former presidential candidate who fled his family’s party and threw his 'medical freedom' movement behind ... [Donald] Trump, was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday as the nation’s next health secretary. He is expected to be sworn in at the White House by President Trump on Thursday afternoon.... He was confirmed [52-48] by a Republican Senate, without a single Democratic vote.... Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, a polio survivor and the former Republican leader, voted no, the lone Republican to oppose Mr. Kennedy. Mr. McConnell issued a searing statement explaining his vote.” NPR's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: “A federal judge on Thursday extended for seven days his temporary restraining order on the Trump administration’s move to place about 2,100 employees from the U.S. Agency for International Development on paid leave, while the judge ponders entering a preliminary injunction against the move.... U.S. District Judge Carl J.Nichols ... had set his original restraining order to expire Friday at 11:59 p.m. He extended all of the deadlines in the order by one week, while he drafts an opinion on whether to enjoin the spending shutdowns entirely.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Michael Crowley of the New York Times: “A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Thursday night to unfreeze foreign aid spending ... [Donald] Trump halted during his first week in office, the latest of several legal roadblocks to Mr. Trump’s aggressive first-month agenda. The ruling by Judge Amir H. Ali of the Federal District Court in Washington found that Mr. Trump’s executive order imposing a blanket freeze on U.S. foreign aid spending was based on dubious logic. He said it was also probably causing irreparable harm to aid groups, which face devastating financial shortfalls and, in some cases, shutdown. In response, Judge Ali, a Biden appointee, issued a temporary injunction saying that the Trump administration could not freeze foreign aid spending that predates Mr. Trump’s inauguration, nor could it fire or suspend workers associated with those spending projects. The ruling reverses a decision that had thrown into turmoil programs that provide shelter for millions of people and fight hunger and illness around the globe. Other court decisions have also blocked the administration from carrying out its plan to virtually dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development....” Politico's report is here.
Jenna Portnoy & Salvador Rizzo of the Washington Post: “A federal judge on Thursday blocked executive orders signed by ... Donald Trump that target transgender people and their health care, giving temporary relief to LGBTQ individuals and their families, who braced for legal battles to continue. U.S. District Judge Brendan A. Hurson granted a temporary restraining order after a hearing in federal court in Baltimore. The government is expected to appeal the decision, which legal experts said could ultimately go to the Supreme Court. 'This is a population with an extremely higher rate for suicide, poverty, unemployment, drug addiction,' Hurson said during the hearing. Abruptly stopping their health treatments, he said, would be 'horribly dangerous for anyone, for any care, but particularly for this extremely vulnerable population.'” (Also linked yesterday.)
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Louisiana. Anticipatory Obedience? Tim Balk of the New York Times: “Louisiana’s top health official said in an internal memo to the state’s Health Department on Thursday that it would no longer use media campaigns or health fairs to promote vaccination against preventable illnesses. The official, Dr. Ralph L. Abraham, Louisiana’s surgeon general, wrote in the memo that the state would 'encourage each patient to discuss the risks and benefits of vaccination with their provider' but would 'no longer promote mass vaccination.' The letter came on a day when the U.S. Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has raised questions about vaccines, as the new U.S. health secretary. But it was not clear if the memo had come in response to the change in federal leadership.... A spokeswoman for the Louisiana Department of Health did not immediately respond on Thursday night to questions about the scope of the directive and how it might affect the distribution of vaccines. The Health Department in New Orleans, Louisiana’s largest city, quickly said that it would not follow the state’s lead.”
Texas/New York. Pam Belluck & Mary Gahan of the New York Times: “In a case that could have major implications for abortion access in the United States, a Texas judge on Thursday ordered a New York doctor to stop prescribing and sending abortion pills to patients in Texas and to pay a penalty of more than $100,000 for providing the medication to one woman. The case is widely expected to reach the Supreme Court and become a pivotal test in the escalating battle between states that ban abortion and states that support abortion rights. It essentially pits Texas, which has a near-total abortion ban, against New York, which has a 'telemedicine abortion shield law' intended to protect abortion providers who send medications to patients in other states.”
21 Comments
Reader Comments (21)
Hmmm…looks like any artist of note is canceling appearances at the newly Nazified Kennedy Center. Oh well, I’m sure Fat Hitler can get really great artists like Kid Rock, or maybe Ted Nugent to come play their latest hits…from 1975? Oh wait, he can get Clint Eastwood to reprise his famous “Talking to an Empty Chair” routine. Surely noted arts maven Dan Scavino knows some golf caddies who can do passable karaoke. Maybe Jon Voight will do a reading from “Mein Kampf”. Got your tickets now, kids!
Polio Bob is soon to be in charge of Health in the US.
Wonderful. Medicine in the Middle Ages was a pip.
Years ago I spent some time in the bad ol’ Soviet Union. The most frequent word of advice I heard, from multiple sources was “Don’t get sick over there. You start feeling bad, jump on a plane and come home. You get cancer, they’ll be treating you with leeches.”
I guess now travelers to the US will be told “Whatever you do, don’t get sick over there…”
Was Trump standing in front of a full-length mirror when he called government agencies bloated and corrupt?
NAFD Approved
Andrew Weissman last night said that there is a New York statute that prevents ICE from going into Rikers to arrest people. So, what Adams is proposing with letting the government agents run around NYC jails is illegal. He is openly proposing more crimes to add to his ledger.
"Park Service Axes “T” From Stonewall Monument Site"
CFPB
"CFPB Put $19.7B Back in Americans’ Pockets – Now Trump And His Corrupt Billionaire Cabinet Want to Shut It Down
In response to the Trump administration attempting to close down the CFPB, DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement:
“The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has put billions of dollars back into the pockets of families who were cheated by financial predators. Let’s be honest: the only reason a person in power would shut down America’s consumer watchdog is because that person is corrupt – and they want to do corrupt things – and they don’t like when anybody stops them from being corrupt. Trump and Musk are billionaire scam artists. They’re removing all the pesky obstacles and barriers that could get in the way of their fat cat friends making money by defrauding hard-working Americans.”
The CFPB has a long, successful track record of holding banks and corporations accountable for fraud, scams, and discrimination while putting money back in the pockets of working families, veterans, and students."
"Making sense of Trump's first three weeks"
Prof Christina Pagel
"So this is how liberty dies..."
Trump’s first 3 weeks have been a relentless flood of actions. It's incredibly hard to keep up.
I’ve gone through 69 actions & mapped out the pattern - showing how they fall within 5 broad domains consistent with authoritarian states"
Pathmann,
It would have to be a very wiiiide mirror. Or maybe he has a special mirror that makes him look thin and in shape, not so fat and stupid. The thing about narcissism is not just how it gives one a perception of personal superiority, but how it completely shuts our reality. So, in fact, this bloated and corrupt monster doesn’t need a magic mirror to see himself as svelte, handsome, highly moral and righteous. He just needs the right sort disordered mentality.
Lucky us. A delusional crackpot. And he’s just getting started.
RAS,
Re: Trump’s visceral hatred of protection for consumers against con men, fraudsters, liars, and scheming pickpockets like himself.
I suppose if a shit stain had consciousness it would hate bleach too.
Marie,
I’m guessing the lovey-dovey card Melanie got was addressed to mELONia.
Marie,
Re: Fat Hitler disappearing all mention of Stonewall, gay rights, etc.
This crap smacks of nothing less than surly, petulant little juvenile delinquents who break into the school, cover the walls with obscene graffiti, set fire to certain classrooms, and defecate on the principal’s desk (sounds like the J6 “patriots”, right?).
Who does it harm by allowing that site to honor the memory of Americans who had had enough of bullshit and beatings and just couldn’t take it anymore? Who? Fearful little twerps, that’s who. Just like that little prick Pete (‘nother round) Hegseth changing that military base back to Fort Bragg. “Tee-hee, tee-hee! Take that you liberal goody two-shoes! See what I did? Tee-hee. But ohhh…it’s not THAT Bragg, it’s a different one! So there!”
What are you, Petey, six years old?
Like colicky infants banging their high chair trays. Waaaaah! We want our way in everything!!!
Change your own diapers then, you little shits.
@Akhilleus. Yes. I don't think I appreciated quite how awful these Trump "DEI" edicts were till I saw that concrete example. It isn't just that Trump wants to punish people for not being straight, white Christian men or good-looking, young, sexy and available women who know their place. It isn't only that the rest of us are not equals. We're just NOT. We never were. Stonewall didn't happen. The hundreds of thousands of civil rights events didn't happen. Men should always have been allowed to rape women at Bergdorf's.
These are the very people who had stollen the 2020 election from Trump. Shaye and Ruby had no right to count our votes. And it's true: as I recall, Trump did win "by a lot" if poll workers only counted the votes of straight, white Christian men.
Trump has not been able to get rid of us or his other "enemies," real and imagined, by calling us names.
So now he figures he can erase us all with executive orders. And it's working. I can just see a group of National Parks Service supervisors sitting around a table seriously discussing whether or not to take the "T" out of "LGBTQ+" or to take about the "Q" also. And what about that "+"? What does that mean? Somebody check the Internet. Does Trump's order say anything about "+"? They're not pushing back. They're not snickering. They're just doing their jobs.
I have long wondered what it would be like to live in a totalitarian country where so much of the truth is suppressed. How do you maintain your sanity when there's no solid foundation of information? I don't know yet what that's like, but I'm beginning to get an inkling. Right now, we're about evenly divided, I guess, between people in touch with the facts and people who aren't, but that balance may gradually move to strongly favor those who attach themselves to the totalitarian propaganda. Soon I will be like that lonely old guy sitting in the beer garden in that scene from "Cabaret" scratching my head and wondering how all the people around me can be so blind.
Salon
"Musk took all their power, so Republicans remake Congress into a ministry of disinformation
Do taxpayers need to pay 218 full-time GOP representatives whose only job is making up hysterical lies?
A couple weeks into Elon Musk's rampage through the federal bureaucracy, we finally have an answer to whether congressional Republicans mind that he's usurped their main source of authority, the power of the purse: No, they do not care. If anything, accepting Musk's self-appointed role frees up their time from troublesome decision-making tasks, allowing them more time to go on TV and make excuses for letting a private citizen conduct what looks very much like a coup. Still, while lying to cable news hosts is a pleasurable way for congressional Republicans to spend their time, it hardly amounts to a full-time job."
Finally!
Gerrit De Vynck and Trisha Thadani, of The Washington Post on Tesla employees and investors are concerned that Musk is damaging the company
"Across the company, there is growing frustration over Musk, who some employees feel has become increasingly disengaged from Tesla because of his role in the Trump administration, two Tesla employees said.
There is also rising concern inside Tesla that Musk’s close relationship with Trump, a divisive figure, has tarnished its brand with some consumers, said the employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their jobs.
...
Confidence in Tesla has also slipped among investors: Tesla shares are down 12 percent over the past month."
Marie,
Looks like Fatty left in the B from the LGBTQ+ grouping. Could this be because he is the poster B for man crushes? He’s been sidling up to Putin for years checking to see if he’s on the dictator’s dance card, and more recently he’s been canoodling with the apartheid asshole hoping he can hang with the kool kids in the billionaires’ bassinet.
He goes on long tangents about the size of Arnold Palmer’s weiner, he sends love letters to Kim Jong Un, and he has never gotten over trying to prove that he does not have a tiny dick, so stop saying that!
In fact, now that we’re on that subject, the MAGA male’s obsession with testosterone, testicle tanning, their inordinate fear of straight women, gay males and their absolute terror at dealing with trans anyone has to raise the question of whether it’s their supreme lack of confidence in their own masculinity or whether they’re just complete weenies.
I’m guessing it’s both.
But Trump is just one more man crush away from leading a gay pride parade. Great! Maybe then we can have the Stonewall page back.
Hi-- Just testing. Nothing I write these days makes it to the column. Either I am being audited or Squarespace doesn't like "lefties."
I did go to the national parks Stonewall page and they provided a comment space, so I "yelled" at them. They should be ashamed, but kowtowing seems to be more popular than shame.
Someone stated at least a week ago that the Muskratmobile should withdraw all payroll to Congress. I would recommend that, although I would amend it to nonpayment of salaries to R pigs and "moderate Dems through winger Dems"-- as near as I can tell, none of them have done a lick of work in the last three weeks. Of course, they are used to that kind of schedule, just they expect to be paid for doing nothing useful for the present crisis.
The Polio Man Cometh
So even prior to Polio Bob turning back the clock on medical advances (the clock? Shit, he’s taking us back generations) the good little goose steppers in Louisiana step up with anticipatory obedience doing the Both Sides Ballet, making sure citizens know the DANGERS of those horrible vaccines.
Here’s what’s gonna happen.
‘Member when abortion was still legal? In red states, if a woman came in for the procedure, she first had to watch propaganda videos about what a terrible person she was and listen to how she’d be going to hell, then had to talk to a “counselor” (not a doctor, mind you, or someone with a teensy bit of medical training, but some Bible banger who’d get right in her face), then she’d have to wait a week to “think it over”, and finally…oops…the clinic was closed for Christmas vacation, in September.
Pretty soon anyone wanting a vaccine will have to go through a similar gauntlet, and have to wait to “think it over”, after which, if they’re still alive, Polio Bob has outlawed that vaccine.
Jeanne, the trick is to copy whatever comment you write. You may have to try to post it three or four or five times. Marie has been talking to the Squarespace slimeballs but I’m guessing they’ve all been replaced by Muskovite pod people.
Always Be Selling
"Jeep Owners Furious Over Ads That Appear Everytime Their Car Stops
Digital advertising now permeates nearly every aspect of daily life, and the automotive industry has now become the latest frontier. Stellantis, the parent company of Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler, and Ram, has recently introduced full-screen pop-up advertisements on its vehicles’ infotainment systems."
Flaunting Criminality
"Trump mugshot has been hung outside the Oval Office: photo"