The Conversation -- February 22, 2025
We don’t have kings in America – and I don’t intend to bend the knee to one. I am not speaking up in service to my ambitions — but in deference to my obligations. If you think I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this: It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic. All I’m saying is when the five-alarm fire starts to burn, every good person better be ready to man a post with a bucket of water if you want to stop it from raging out of control. -- Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, State of the State Address, February 19
Friday Night Massacre. Eric Schmitt, et al., of the New York Times: “President Trump fired the country’s senior military officer as part of an extraordinary Friday night purge at the Pentagon that injected politics into the selection of the nation’s top military leaders. Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., a four-star fighter pilot known as C.Q. who became only the second African American to hold the chairman’s job, is to be replaced by a little-known retired three-star Air Force general, Dan Caine, who endeared himself to the president when they met in Iraq six years ago. In all, six Pentagon officials were fired, including Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead the Navy; Gen. James Slife, the vice chief of the Air Force; and the top lawyers for the Army, Navy and Air Force. The decision to fire General Brown, which Mr. Trump announced in a message on Truth Social, reflects the president’s insistence that the military’s leadership is too mired in diversity issues, has lost sight of its role as a combat force to defend the country and is out of step with his 'America First' movement.
“Joint Chiefs chairmen traditionally remain in place as administrations change, regardless of the president’s political party.... By statute, anyone picked to be the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is supposed to have served as a combatant commander, as the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff or as the top uniformed officer of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps or Space Force.” Gen. Caine does not meet that requirement. MB: But he's endearing! Also, White. And male. The AP story is here. ~~~
~~~ Helene Cooper & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: “In ... [Donald] Trump’s telling, Dan Caine, the retired Air Force lieutenant general whom he wants to be his next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made an impression on him when the two men first met in 2018. The general told the president that the Islamic State was not so tough and could be defeated in a week, not two years as senior advisers predicted, Mr. Trump recounted in 2019. And at a Conservative Political Action Conference meeting last year, Mr. Trump said that General Caine put on a Make America Great Again hat while meeting with him in Iraq. (General Caine has told aides he has never put on a MAGA hat.)... Mr. Trump’s recounting of the time he met General Caine has changed over time.” ~~~
~~~ Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) in a Washington Post op-ed: “The implications for our national security cannot be overstated. A clear message is being sent to military leaders: Failure to demonstrate personal and political loyalty to Trump could result in retribution, even after decades of honorable service. In particular, firing the military’s most senior legal advisers is an unprecedented and explicit move to install officers who will yield to the president’s interpretation of the law, with the expectation they will be little more than yes men on the most consequential questions of military law.... Trump is entitled to a staff of civilians who are politically loyal to him. For the safety of all Americans, however, his military officers must remain free to give their best military advice without fear of reprisal.” ~~~
~~~ Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: “The Pentagon said Friday that it will fire about 5,400 civilian employees beginning next week in an 'initial' purge of its workforce, as ... Donald Trump’s hastily issued orders to shake up the Defense Department faced new scrutiny and officials scrambled to understand whether such actions could imperil national security. The announcement followed a day of uncertainty, as administration officials paused a plan to begin firings now while evaluating requests to retain thousands of other employees deemed essential. A senior Pentagon official, Darin Selnick, said in a statement late Friday that the Trump administration intends to cull its workforce by between 5 and 8 percent. With more than 900,000 civilian employees in the Defense Department, tens of thousands of people could be forced out eventually....
“Coinciding with the civilian-worker purge, U.S. defense officials, acting on orders from Hegseth, have undertaken a sprawling effort to compile options for slashing about 8 percent from each armed service’s budget for each of the next five years.... After news of Hegseth’s directive alarmed lawmakers and defense officials, the former Fox News personality sought to blame the news media for causing confusion about the administration’s efforts and portrayed his plan as a 'reorienting' of the Pentagon budget away from 'woke, Biden-era nonlethal programs' to 'instead spend that money on President Trump’s America First, peace-through-strength priorities for our national budget.'” Politico's story is here. ~~~
Marie: Thanks, Pete, for reminding us of the Tyranny of the Woke. But consider a different point-of-view about those "woke" DEI programs: This totally incompetent, stupid and confused White guy who is president* hired this totally incompetent, unqualified, drunken White guy (that would be you, Pete). Right away you nitwit White guys fired the Black chairman of the joint chiefs and the female Navy chief, both of whom had decades of pertinent, on-the-job experience. As Calvin recently explained to Hobbes, "DEI initiatives were not put in place to ensure lower-qualified minorities could get hired instead of more highly-qualified white people. It was put in place to ensure lower-qualified white people were not hired instead of more highly-qualified minorities." What a shame American voters didn't figure that out before they put you and Commander Trumplegeezer in charge.
“We Are the Federal Law” = “L'etat C'est Moi.” Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: “... Friday afternoon..., somebody defied ... [Donald] Trump. Right to his face. He was about an hour into a [White House] meeting with a bipartisan group of governors when he suddenly remembered that the leaders of Maine had been resisting an executive order he signed banning transgender athletes from women’s sports. 'Is Maine here?” he wondered aloud. 'The governor of Maine?' 'Yeah,' Gov. Janet Mills [D] answered.... 'I’m here.' Referring to the executive order, Mr. Trump asked, 'Are you not going to comply with that?' 'I’m complying with the state and federal laws,' she said, rather pointedly. Mr. Trump replied that 'we are the federal law' and said that 'you better do it' or else he would withhold funding from her state. [He repeated the threat.] 'See you in court,' she shot back. 'Good,' he said, sounding surly. 'I’ll see you in court. I look forward to that. That should be a real easy one.' He paused and then added, 'and enjoy your life after governor, because I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics.'... Shortly after Ms. Mills’s exchange with the president, the U.S. Department of Education sent a letter to the state’s education commissioner, Pender Makin, notifying her that it was initiating a 'directed investigation' of Maine’s Education Department.” ~~~
~~~ The Huffington Post's story, which is here, reminds readers that Mills is term-limited and cannot run for governor again, though she might run for other elective office. ~~~
~~~ Jonathan Chait of the Atlantic: “... Donald Trump refuses, or is simply unable, to grasp any distinction between the law and his own whims.... What is important about this exchange [between Trump & Gov. Mills] is not whose interpretation of Title IX ... has a better chance to win five votes on the Supreme Court. It is that Trump is treating the law as coterminous with his own desires.... [And] Trump cannot simply cut Maine off financially because the state chooses to challenge a federal policy. Distinctions like this, however, seem totally lost on the president, who sees himself as national king — note his use of the royal we — and every other American, including each of the 50 states, as one of his quavering subjects. Trump has grown ever more brazen about his belief that his activities are by definition legal, and activities he opposes by definition criminal.... He has progressed from demonstrating his disregard for the law to stating it as a doctrine.” Thank you to laura h. for this gift link.
Never Mind? Michael Shear of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Friday appeared to back off his demand that some two million Palestinians be permanently relocated from the Gaza Strip to nearby countries in the Middle East so the United States could take over the territory and develop it into 'the Riviera of the Middle East.'... He repeatedly waved aside objections to the idea, including flat-out rejections from the leaders of Egypt and Jordan.... But in a telephone interview with a Fox News host [Brian Kilmeade] on Friday, Mr. Trump seemed to concede that ... the refusal by Egypt and Jordan to accept displaced Gazans would make the idea unworkable.... 'I’ll tell you, the way to do it is my plan.... But I’m not forcing it. I’m just going to sit back and recommend it.' The comments were a striking reversal for one of the most brazen foreign policy proposals ever made by a sitting president.”
Benjamin Mueller of the New York Times: “The Trump administration has blocked key parts of the federal government’s apparatus for funding biomedical research, effectively halting progress on much of the country’s future work on illnesses like cancer and addiction despite a federal judge’s order to release grant money. The blockage, outlined in internal government memos, stems from an order forbidding health officials from giving public notice of upcoming grant review meetings. Those notices are an obscure but necessary cog in the grant-making machinery that delivers some $47 billion annually to research on Alzheimer’s, heart disease and other ailments. The procedural holdup, which emails from N.I.H. officials described as indefinite, has had far-reaching consequences. Scores of grant review panels were canceled this week, creating a gap in funding from the National Institutes of Health. Together with other lapses and proposed changes in N.I.H. funding early in the Trump administration, the delays have deepened what scientists are calling a crisis in American biomedical research.... The breakdown in the grant review process seemed to reflect a broader Trump administration strategy of exploiting loopholes to effectively keep much of the president’s blanket spending freezes in place, despite judicial orders to keep taxpayer dollars flowing.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: If I understand this correctly (and I may not!), this is the kind of stunt a smart-aleck kid would play to get around some parental control. Here, (1) Trump orders the NIH & other agencies to halt research grants. (2) A federal judge tells Trump he can't do that & orders Trump to continue making research grants. (3) So Trump says, okay, go ahead with the grants. (4) But Trump orders NIH to stop announcing grant review meetings, which are a prerequisite to releasing the grants. (5) Thus, Trump achieves his initial goal: to halt all research grants.
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court, in its first decision on ... [Donald] Trump’s use of executive power in his second term, ruled on Friday that he cannot, for now, remove a government lawyer who leads the watchdog agency that protects whistle-blowers. But the court’s brief, unsigned order indicated that it may soon return to the issue, noting that a trial judge’s temporary restraining order shielding the lawyer, Hampton Dellinger, is set to expire next week. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson said that they would have rejected the Trump administration’s request for Supreme Court intervention outright. Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, joined by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., filed a dissent. The majority, Justice Gorsuch wrote, presumably acted as it did because temporary restraining orders like the one in place in the case generally cannot be appealed.... Justice Gorsuch wrote that there were powerful reasons to 'look behind the label' and treat the temporary restraining order in Mr. Dellinger’s case as a preliminary injunction, which can be appealed.” NPR's report is here.
Julian Mark of the Washington Post: “A federal judge in Maryland temporarily blocked key portions of ... Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the federal government and corporate America. U.S. District Judge Adam B. Abelson granted a preliminary injunction on Friday that bars portions of Trump’s orders to cancel federal contracts with DEI components and require government contractors to certify that they do not engage in DEI practices that violate antidiscrimination laws. The order also prohibits enforcement against publicly traded companies and large universities with comparable policies. In reference to enforcement against companies and universities, Abelson noted that the plaintiffs were 'likely' to succeed on their claim that such actions would violate constitutionally protected free speech.” Politico's story is here. The AP report is here.
Katie Robertson of the New York Times: “The Associated Press sued top White House officials on Friday, accusing them of violating the First and Fifth Amendments by denying A.P. reporters access to press events in retaliation for references to the Gulf of Mexico in its articles. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It named as defendants Taylor Budowich, the White House deputy chief of staff; Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary; and Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff. In the complaint, The A.P. said that the White House had ordered it to use certain words in its reporting and that it was suing 'to vindicate its rights to the editorial independence guaranteed by the United States Constitution and to prevent the executive branch from coercing journalists to report the news using only government-approved language.'... According to the lawsuit, Ms. Leavitt informed The A.P.’s chief White House correspondent, Zeke Miller, on Feb. 11 that at Mr. Trump’s direction, The A.P. would be barred from certain areas of the White House as a member of the press pool unless the organization used the Gulf of America term.” Both Budowich & Wiles informed the AP, in so many words, its reporters would remain blackballed until the AP went with Trump's new name for the Gulf of Mexico. ~~~
~~~ The AP's story is here. It includes a facsimile of the complaint to the court. ~~~
~~~ Marie: As usual, Trump is either lying about the AP ban, or he so out of it he genuinely has no idea what he ordered a few days ago. On Tuesday, Feb. 18, the AP reported that Trump verified the ban that day: “'We’re going to keep them [the AP] out until such time as they agree that it’s the Gulf of America,' Trump said, speaking to reporters who witnessed the signing of an executive order at Mar-a-Lago.... 'We’re very proud of this country, and we want it to be the Gulf of America.'” Here's video of Trump's remarks (this is a ridiculously long link, but I'm not sure where I can cut it off). BUT THEN. Brian Kilmeade asked Trump in an interview Friday about the AP ban: "Do you worry about the precedent of banning something like the Associated Press, even though you might have legitimate concerns about their reporting: Trump seemed to know nothing about it: "I don't care if they come or not. It doesn't matter to me. The fake news. They're all fake. Or most of them. So if they don't come in, that doesn't matter to me," he said. (See this video, at 13:20 for the text of the exchange between Trump & Kilmeade.)
Aatish Bhatia, et al., of the New York Times: “Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency say they have saved the federal government $55 billion through staff reductions, lease cancellations and a long list of terminated contracts published online this week as a 'wall of receipts.'... [Donald] Trump has been celebrating the published savings, even musing about a proposal to mail checks to all Americans to reimburse them with a 'DOGE dividend.' But the math that could back up those checks is marred with accounting errors, incorrect assumptions, outdated data and other mistakes, according to a New York Times analysis of all the contracts listed. While the DOGE team has surely cut some number of billions of dollars, its slapdash accounting adds to a pattern of recklessness by the group, which has recently gained access to sensitive government payment systems. Some contracts the group claims credit for were double- or triple-counted. Another initially contained an error that inflated the totals by billions of dollars. In at least one instance, the group claimed an entire contract had been canceled when only part of the work had been halted. In others, contracts the group said it had closed were actually ended under the Biden administration.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I, among many others, have repeatedly criticized New York Times reporters, analysts & editors for failing to call a liar a liar. Ever. Even when the headline and lede should have been "Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire." But the article above, its underlying data compiled and explained by the paper's serious bean counters and reporters, is a scathing indictment of Fool No. 1, Fool No. 2 and All the Little Fools who are merrily destroying the federal government. Maybe the reporters who are askeert to lose their inside lines to Trump tattlers won't write frank reports, but the numbers Bhatia and his colleagues have collated don't lie, and these reporters are not afraid to tell it like it is. ~~~
~~~ Marcy Wheeler weighs in on the question of the moment: incompetence or design? Or, as she put it, is it "simply a reflection of the ignorance of the DOGE boys Musk has infiltrated into government, the shoddiness of the AI tools they’re using, or simply a disinterest in giving a fuck, because once Elon claims this website says something, the right wing will follow along like sheep."? After checking out some of the reporting, she concludes, "It’s not that the DOGE boys are not accountants, though they are not. It’s that their function is something other than the EO [executive order] authorizing their work says it is, and the DOGE receipts page exists solely to sustain the fraud that they’re still pursuing waste, fraud, and abuse." Thanks to RAS for the link. This is a damning report.
It's Worse Than You Know. Andrew Egger of the Bulwark: "Media reports have treated the firings [at the National Nuclear Security Administration] as a deeply unwise DOGE hatchet job that was, thankfully, quickly reversed.... [But] the episode represents the clearest illustration to date of the potential real-world repercussions of Elon Musk’s slash-and-burn project.... One of the officials who was locked out of his work accounts was Acting Chief of Defense Nuclear Safety James Todd, a senior executive official and the top authority for all nuclear-safety matters in the agency.... At the agency’s Los Alamos field office alone, there was the site’s emergency preparedness manager, who is responsible for maintaining plans to minimize the effects of a nuclear accident on site and in surrounding areas. There was the radiation protection manager, responsible for minimizing radiation exposure to on-site workers. There was the security manager, the fire protection engineer, and two facility representatives, who are the office’s day-to-day eyes and ears on site manufacturing facilities.... Some senior staff have already taken Musk’s resignation offer; others are now contemplating moving up their retirements. Thanks to the hiring freeze, when they go, they can’t be replaced, and they’re taking a lifetime of intensely specialized knowledge out the door." Thanks to laura h. for the link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: A disastrous outcome would have been predicted by anyone with a little work experience and the teeniest bit of common sense. But Musk and Trump are so high on their own supply that it doesn't occur to them that the expertise of anyone other than they themselves has value. It doesn't occur to the kids who are doing the firing, because (a) they're too inexperienced to know better, (b) they're too careless, and (c) "first, do no harm" is definitely not in their remit.
Marianne LeVine & Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration has removed the top official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement one month into his tenure, as White House officials have become increasingly frustrated that the agency isn’t arresting immigrants fast enough to satisfy the president’s deportation goals. Caleb Vitello, a veteran ICE official who was installed as acting director when ... Donald Trump took office, will be reassigned to a senior role overseeing daily enforcement operations, according to Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin. She did not say who would replace him.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: For several reasons, some explained in the report, the number of arrests isn't going to increase much. Scapegoating Caleb and whoever gets the ax next and next and next won't increase the number of supposedly hardened immigrant criminals ICE can locate. Eventually, Trump may have to switch to other acts of cruelty to satisfy his malicious proclivities.
Of Course They Did. Doha Madani & Daniella Silva of NBC News (Feb. 20): "The Trump administration on Thursday canceled an extension of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians, the latest move by the president targeting the form of immigration relief for people coming from countries facing political upheaval and natural disasters. In June, amid the island's violent domestic turmoil, the Biden administration announced the temporary immigration protection was extended for Haitians until February 2026. The Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday that it was vacating the extension and the protections would end on Aug. 3. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described the decision by the former administration as an attempt to 'tie the hands' of ... Donald Trump. 'President Trump and I are returning TPS to its original status: temporary,' Noem said in the statement."
Ha Ha. Nadra Nittle of the 19th News: As part of its effort to comply with Donald Trump's order to root out books seeming to promote diversity, equality and inclusion, the Department of Defense's Education Activity division has placed on compliance review the book Hillbilly Elegy, the memoir that made famous our favorite hillbilly and current vice president JayDee. “The pending review appears to be a case of 'soft censorship, which occurs when officials temporarily pull books for evaluation, require parental permission for students to read, relocate materials to certain parts of libraries or impose other restrictions short of a ban.” MB: For our next lesson, we're going to study “Irony in American Literature.” Thanks to RAS for the link.
Kash Is on the Job! Jeremy Roebuck, et al., of the Washington Post: “FBI managers were told Friday that up to 1,500 staff and agents would be transferred out of the bureau’s Washington headquarters to satellite offices across the country.... The information came hours before Kash Patel, the bureau’s newly confirmed director, took his oath of office. In a message Patel sent to all of the FBI’s more than 30,000 employees Friday morning, he hinted that such staffing changes could be coming.... The more specific plan to relocate hundreds of staff and agents was outlined to top managers in a separate meeting after Patel’s message went out.... Patel, before his nomination, had vowed to shutter the building and turn it into a /museum to the Deep State.' He made similar recommendations at his confirmation hearing and in appearances on conservative TV news shows.... Patel accused news reporters covering [his swearing-in] ceremony of having written 'fake, malicious, slanderous and defamatory' stories about him during his confirmation.” ~~~
~~~ An AP story is here. According to the AP story, Trump said of Patel Friday, “agents love this guy.” Marie: But I wonder. I saw on the teevee that Patel -- in a manner consistent with his bizarre conspiracy theories, I guess -- ordered staff to hide all his movements in the FBI building and to cordon off his office. I don't think you do that if you figure everybody loves you.
Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: “A federal judge on Friday delayed a ruling on the Justice Department’s request to drop the corruption case against Mayor Eric Adams of New York City, instead appointing an outside lawyer to present independent arguments on the motion, which was otherwise unopposed. The lawyer, Paul D. Clement, is a political conservative who was the U.S. solicitor general during President George W. Bush’s administration. The judge, Dale E. Ho of Federal District Court in Manhattan, also called for additional briefs from the parties and said he would hold an oral argument on March 14 if he felt it was necessary. Judge Ho noted in his order on Friday that, with a top Justice Department official and the mayor’s lawyers agreeing the case should end, he needed to hear other arguments.”
What we have is a U.S. attorney in D.C. who is undermining the prosecutorial independence of the Justice Department. -- Richard Painter, chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration
Just because you have no case, that doesn’t mean you can’t make someone’s life miserable by opening a grand jury investigation if you’re willing to act in bad faith. -- Randall Eliason, a former D.C. federal prosecutor ~~~
~~~ Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: “In the two years before he became D.C.’s top federal prosecutor, interim U.S. attorney Ed Martin publicly discussed investigating high-profile Justice Department officials who played a role in bringing charges against ... Donald Trump and his allies.... The conversations on Martin’s ... podcast and related radio show often revolved around Trump’s desire for 'retribution' against current or former department prosecutors. After one month in office, Martin appears to be following through, taking actions that have alarmed lawyers inside and outside his office who say he’s leveraging the power of the Justice Department against political opponents and intimidating career prosecutors seen as insufficiently loyal to Trump. He fired prosecutors who investigated Trump as a part of special counsel Jack Smith’s team and those who worked on the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot cases. He ordered the head of the criminal division in his office to freeze the assets of a $20 billion Biden climate change program without sufficient evidence of a crime, she claimed in her resignation letter. And he’s attempting to probe two Democratic lawmakers over critical remarks they directed at conservative Supreme Court justices and billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk.” ~~~
~~~ It seems that Democrats and others who don't kowtow to Trump must abide harassment from Trump, Trump officials and Trump's violent fans, but Republicans cower and fall into line under the threats of "retribution" or worse. ~~~
~~~ David Badash of AlterNet speculates that Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) was the deciding vote to confirm Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary because Tillis was afraid that if he voted against Hegseth, as he was inclined to do, someone who had made some of the "credible death threats" against him would try to kill him. Badash goes on to offer some evidence of the way fear of actual harm appears to influence Republican decisions. MB: Badash does not mention Trump's second impeachment when Mitt Romney heard from a congressman & from senators that they were afraid to impeach or convict Trump out of fear for their personal safety, what with the January 6 marauders still out and about. Thanks to RAS for the link.
It turns out far-right extremists are very sensitive. ~~~
~~~ Justine McDaniel & Patrick Marley of the Washington Post: “Stephen K. Bannon ... made a gesture with his right arm that resembled a Nazi salute while speaking before the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday night, prompting a far-right French leader to pull out of a scheduled appearance at the conference Friday in protest. Jordan Bardella, a leader of France’s far-right National Rally party, canceled a speech he was set to give at CPAC, citing the gesture as the reason in a statement, Politico reported. In his statement, Bardella said a CPAC speaker had 'allowed himself, as a provocation, to make a gesture referring to Nazi ideology.' He continued, 'Therefore, I have taken the immediate decision to cancel my scheduled speaking engagement at the event this afternoon.'... Bannon told The Post that the gesture was a “wave” and said no when asked by reporters at CPAC whether it was a Nazi salute.... 'Of course it’s a Nazi salute,' [Deborah Dwork of CCNY's center for Holocaust studies] said. 'That’s the message that Trump’s circle has been sending for some time.'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Musk, Bannon, et al., absolutely love trolling the media and others with their Nazi salutes.
Hannah Knowles of the Washington Post: “Town halls this week for congressional Republicans from Georgia to Wisconsin to Oregon grew testy as voters showed up to vent, outraged at the firing of workers and the Department of Government Efficiency’s access to sensitive data. Protesters showed up around the country at lawmakers’ offices. The backlash extends far beyond federal workers in the Beltway, reaching purple districts that will decide control of Congress in 2026 and swing states like Georgia that helped return Trump to the White House.... Activist groups helped organize demonstrations outside dealerships for Musk’s electric car company, Tesla.... New Washington Post-Ipsos polling suggests some of Trump and Musk’s moves are unpopular beyond the Democratic base.” Here's a related NBC News story.
Owen Hayes, et al., of NBC News: “Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader granted clemency by ... Donald Trump last month, was arrested outside the U.S. Capitol on Friday and charged with assaulting a female protester. Tarrio was handcuffed, searched and put in a police van by U.S. Capitol Police after he appeared on Capitol Hill with several other members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers for a 'press conference.' The police said he was charged with assault. Capitol Police said in a statement that the incident happened around 2:30 p.m. ET when 'our officers witnessed a woman (a counter protester) put a cell phone close to a man’s face' while they were both walking. 'Then the officers witnessed the man strike the woman’s phone and arm,' the statement said.” MB: I think this case goes to Ed Martin, Trump's man at the D.C. U.S. attorney's office, so I expect charges to be dropped right soon.
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California. Jesus Jimenez, et al., of the New York Times: “Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles abruptly removed the city’s fire chief on Friday, seeking to end the increasing acrimony between the two officials in the weeks since a wildfire devastated the city’s Pacific Palisades neighborhood. Ms. Bass said in a statement that she had removed Kristin Crowley, the chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department, effective immediately. The announcement came after Ms. Bass said publicly that she herself made a mistake in leaving the country and traveling to Ghana days before the fires broke out. For weeks, she has privately told friends that she never would have left had she been fully briefed on the scope of the threat. The mayor pinned the blame for that lack of warning on Ms. Crowley, an assertion the chief has disputed. In the hours before Ms. Bass left on her trip, the chief pointed out, there had been numerous warnings from weather forecasters about dangerously high winds and dry weather conditions. The announcement capped weeks of tension. Veteran fire officials in the region had claimed that the response helmed by Chief Crowley was significantly less aggressive and experienced than the department had mounted in past situations of high fire risk. Chief Crowley maintained that the department had been underfunded, which the mayor and city budget officials denied.”
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Israel, et al. Loveday Morris & Victoria Bisset of the Washington Post: “Two of the six Israeli hostages expected to be released on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees were handed over to the Red Cross in Gaza, in what is expected to be the largest swap under a ceasefire agreement that began last month.... Around 600 Palestinian prisoners are expected to be released in return.” ~~~
~~~ The story has been updated. New Lede: “Five Israeli hostages were released in Gaza on Saturday, with one further hostage expected to be freed in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in what is set to be the largest swap under a ceasefire agreement that began last month.”
Marie: This infuriates me. ~~~
~~~ Ukraine, et al. Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration and the Ukrainian government were nearing a deal Friday to hand Ukrainian mineral resources over to the United States in exchange for continued security assistance, a person familiar with the negotiations said, potentially easing ... Donald Trump’s days of attacks against the embattled country and its leadership. Both Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that they were making progress in their discussions after the Ukrainian leader last week initially declined a demand from the Trump administration that he hand over half of Ukraine’s mineral resources to the United States. The request shocked the Ukrainians, officials said, because the potential value of the resources far exceeded that of U.S. assistance. The progress being made toward a deal underscored the way in which Trump has quickly reshaped Washington’s role in the world by shifting U.S. power toward winning deals from other nations rather than acting to uphold alliances or pushing back on efforts to redraw boundaries by force.” ~~~
~~~ Oh, never mind. It's worse than I thought. ~~~
~~~ ⭐It's Not Negotiating. It's Not Even Bullying. It's Straight-up Extortion. Daniel Hampton of the Raw Story: “American negotiators reportedly threatened to revoke Ukraine's access to Elon Musk's vital Starlink satellite internet network if they refuse to give the U.S. access to critical minerals, according to a report. Three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday that Ukraine's access to the network of satellites was raised during talks between officials between the two nations after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy rejected a proposal from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Starlink access was raised again Thursday, according to the report, and Ukraine was threatened that's its access could be imminently shut off. 'Ukraine runs on Starlink. They consider it their North Star,' a source told Reuters. 'Losing Starlink ... would be a massive blow.'”
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Reader Comments (14)
Last night a contributor wrote of an Atlantic post by Jonathan Chait: "You helped this [MB: "this" being the Musk/Trump disaster] along with your rancid writing and almost sympathizing with the Orange Convict and his Idiot Horde." That analysis, IMO, is not remotely true. The gist of Chait's post is that "... Donald Trump refuses, or is simply unable, to grasp any distinction between the law and his own whims." He goes on to provide examples to make his point. There's no hint of sympathy anywhere in the post toward Trump and the Trumpettes that I can see.
Read Chait's post yourself (gift link from laura h.) and make up your own mind. We're not all correct all the time.
I'm seeing some msm articles filtering in about remorse over DJT from the little people. Big deal. No one with a working brain should have been surprised. And yet, he keeps finding ways to go lower even lower. Pah!
The American experiment: just weak sauce after all.
Have been attending a weekly get together of older (admit it, Ken, old), mostly progressive folks who drink coffee together, tell stories and lament the state of the world.
Two regulars are prone to latch onto details, sometimes even factual, that lend them cover to defend or most often ignore the greater outrages perpetrated by the right in what I would think is plain sight.
Money misspent here. Arms supplied to Ukraine that end up in Poland. The failure of EV truck manufacturer Rivian's governments subsidies to keep the company afloat. The rare negative reactions to Covid vaccines. Any little failure will do to justify the Right's wrecking ball.
For them a single detail or two are convincing. An instance of fraud means everything's fraudulent. One bad apple spoils the barrel. A rotting tree wrecks the forest.
I don't get it--or them.
They are stuck in an either/or universe. All good or all bad.
That the universe operates statistically is apparently a great disappointment to them.
@gonzo: I think maybe it's not The American Experiment, but a series of experiments, the results of which are never entirely conclusive. We keep trying, and we never get it right, or at least the majority or a near-majority of us never gets it right.
@Ken Winkes: Don't let those guys get away with it. I know -- and I've done it myself too many times -- that it's easiest to just let stupid remarks slide. But you can stand up to them. You don't have to do it every time, and you can often do it with pleasant bromides: "Aw, Pops, that's the exception that proves the rule." Other times, you can dazzle them with facts: say, the rough number of lives the Covid vaccine is credited with savings.
But challenge them, Ken.
Now that Marie reminded me that the Tarrio case would go to Ed Martin in DC I'm expecting the charges dropped and the woman he pushed to be investigated herself for causing one of FH's lackies an inconvenience.
Salon
"Republicans shouldn't be surprised Trump blames Ukraine — his sexual assault views predicted this
Trump's claim that Zelenskyy "started it" echoes his long history of excusing violence against women
By Amanda Marcotte
Authoritarianism and sexual assault have this in common: They are modes for weak and cowardly people to feel powerful. What's striking about Trump's many excuses for sexual violence is not just that he thinks it's okay, but that he whines so much about victims who fight back. He's a feeble man who seeks shortcuts to feeling powerful, without showing an ounce of real courage ever in his life. He only picks on those who can't fight back. It's not enough to be able to be physically stronger, because there's still a threat that they will, as Carroll did, fend him off long enough to escape. No, he needs his targets to be wholly cowed, which is why he was bragging on "Access Hollywood" that other women had to "let you do it" because he's "a star.""
Jacob Weindling
"What Elon and Trump’s Economic Crash Could Look Like
we are watching a bull who runs on ketamine rampage his way through a fine China shop our largest investors are threatening to pull investments from, and all we can do is hope that he won’t do what he wants to do."
I hope Ukraine just strings Trump along on his minerals deal. Tell him it is going to take a few years to drill, baby, drill down to the minerals. Oops those weren't the ones you wanted. Darn, we are going to have to start all over with another mine.
Spy Games
"Prominent DOGE Staffer Is Grandson Of Turncoat KGB Spy
Edward “Big Balls” Coristine happens to be the descendant of Valery Martynov, a KGB agent who spied for the US."
Tom Nichols, in The Atlantic, also writes about the Friday-Night Massacre
Nichols recounts a 'sir' story in writing about Brown's replacement:
"Instead of tapping another serving four-star, Trump has reached out to a retired three-star Air Force officer named Dan Caine, whom Trump tonight said was unjustly passed over for his fourth star by 'Sleepy Joe Biden' despite being 'highly qualified and respected.'
Trump apparently met Caine on a trip to Iraq in 2018. The president later recalled that first meeting during remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2019. He claimed that Caine—call sign 'Razin' Caine—was insistent that ISIS could be defeated in a week if America committed enough force to the effort. Trump said that Caine then donned a MAGA cap, and said: 'I love you, sir. I think you’re great, sir. I’ll kill for you, sir.' Trump added that he told Caine he was not allowed to do that, but they did it.'"
Ooops- the sir story is included in the NY Times piece on Dan Caine (so i dont think the Nichols story adds much to the other related stories).
Akhilleus -
you wrote in comments last night that the stupid prick musk thinks puerile names like "hairy balls" will fluster liberals.
It does fluster me...it flusters me that someone so juvenile (and unoriginal!) could have such an impact on the lives of the 340+ million US residents (and every single person around the world). It flusters me because it takes me back 30, 40, 50 years when the white guy inevitably was the one at the head of the table and sometimes occassionally acted the role of the stupid prick the rest of us couldn't push back on for fear of reprisal.
Laura,
I have to give you that one. My comment was more a response to his idea that using such a stupid name would “make the libs cry”, the most dearly held goal of so many MAGAts (just imagine that one of the great highlights of your life is inflicting pain on another person).
Your rejoinder widens the scope considerably, and rightly, reacting to how such a small minded little shit could have such immense power over the entire country, and by extension, the world. I can only say look at the small minded little shit who handed him the reins so he could waddle around the golf course three times a week. And widening that out even further, we see millions of small minded little shits who put that fat loser in such a position of power.
Jesus.
Yeah. Flustered, for sure.
The person/comment mentioned above was me, saying why I won't listen to/read Chait anymore. The below google page lists a whole lot of articles by him, some of which I read along the way, some I did not. I won't breach firewalls to read him. Anyhow, perhaps I was remiss in not noting that I am so tired of everyone dumping on the traditional Democratic party ways and communications, and generally counting on people to stay focused on Democratic positions in American political life. Harris's campaign was running well, and seemed popular until the election pinpointed the liars/morons who voted for Fatso-- witness the disbelief in Democratic plans and track record for the economy based on how much eggs were costing. Chait is gleeful about Democratic party failures or what Dems felt were important reasons to vote D, which turned out to be not strong enough or not phrased correctly or not talked about on "enemy" media outlets. He says he is a liberal but maybe he writes to make a living and the current media focus is to blame the whole election on Democratic weakness. Sorry. Much blame to go around, to media giants, the Supine Court, Mitch, congress cult members, and so forth. I did not mean this specific piece was trumpety-trump-trump-- I meant I don't trust his writing/centrist balderdash anymore. Personally. Sorry if I mislead you guys.
https://www.google.com/search?q=jonathan+chait+democrats&oq=Jonathan+Chait&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgEEAAYgAQyDQgAEAAY4wIYsQMYgAQyCggBEC4YsQMYgAQyBwgCEAAYgAQyBwgDEAAYgAQyBwgEEAAYgAQyBwgFEAAYgAQyBwgGEAAYgAQyBwgHEAAYgAQyBwgIEAAYgAQyBwgJEAAYgATSAQoxNTMxN2owajE1qAIIsAIB8QUQJ3ZbF8nPWg&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Or just Google Chait Democrats.