The Conversation -- March 11, 2025
Somebody Pulled Trump Off the Ledge Here. Matthew Lee of the AP: “The Trump administration said Tuesday that it would immediately lift its suspension of military aid to Ukraine and its intelligence sharing with Kyiv, a week after imposing the measures to push Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to enter talks to end the war with invading Russian forces. Ukraine also said it was open to a 30-day cease-fire in the war with Russia, subject to Kremlin agreement. The announcements emerged as senior officials from Ukraine and the United States opened talks in Saudi Arabia focused on ending Moscow’s three-year war against Kyiv and hours after Russia shot down over 300 Ukrainian drones. It was Ukraine’s biggest attack since the Kremlin ordered the full-scale invasion of its neighbor. Donald Trump‘s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is expected to travel later this week to Moscow, where he could meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin....” ~~~
~~~ Alas, He Found Another Ledge: ~~~
~~~ Another Trump Tariff Tantrum. David Lynch of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump said Tuesday that he had ordered a doubling of the tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum, setting off a new wave of selling on Wall Street. Trump’s actions were in response to Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s imposition of a new tax on electricity supplied to three U.S. states. But Ford’s action was, itself, a response to Trump’s earlier announcement of tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum, which is scheduled to take effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.” NPR's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Here's a press release from Rep. Richie Neal (D-Mass.), ranking member of the House Ways & Means Committee, dated March 6: “Representative Gregory W. Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, today introduced Resolutions to terminate President Trump’s unlawful use of 'emergency' authorities to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico. The Resolutions end the Administration’s abuse of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which it has used to justify tariffs based on a fabricated national emergency. They are cosponsored by Representatives Richard Neal, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee; Joaquin Castro, Ranking Member of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee; Rick Larsen, Ranking Member of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee; Suzan DelBene; and Greg Stanton. 'The Administration's 25% tariffs on two of our closest allies and largest trading partners are nothing more than a tax on American families — driving up prices, killing jobs, and threatening our economy. This isn’t what Americans voted for. Trump has already broken his promise to lower costs, and these tariffs will only make it worse. My resolutions will end this sham emergency and protect American consumers,' said Ranking Member Gregory W. Meeks.” MB: Congress should retake its Constitutionally-mandated power to control tariffs. But it won't, will it?
Aamer Madhani & Zeke Miller of the AP: “U.S. officials have not determined who was behind an apparent cyberattack on the social media site X that limited access to the platform for thousands of users.... The comments came after Elon Musk ... claimed in an appearance on Fox Business Network’s 'Kudlow' show that the cyberattackers had 'IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area' without going into detail on what that might mean. Cybersecurity experts quickly pointed out, however, that this doesn’t necessarily mean that the attack originated in Ukraine.” Related stories linked below.
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Jeff Stein, et al., of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump’s senior advisers downplayed fresh economic turbulence Monday, as the administration’s escalating trade war deepened a sell-off on Wall Street and renewed fears about the stability of the U.S. economy.... The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 890 points, or 2.1 percent, while the S&P 500 fell 2.7 percent and the Nasdaq composite index plummeted 4 percent.... Investors have been unsettled by Trump’s willingness to impose tariffs that go even beyond his sweeping campaign promises, with hundreds of billions in new import duties already levied and trillions more about to take effect April 2. The federal government could shut down this weekend, too, if Congress doesn’t extend federal funding — a possibility Trump acknowledged to reporters Sunday night.” The AP's story is here. ~~~
We will begin a new era of soaring incomes.... Skyrocketing wealth. Millions and millions of new jobs and a booming middle class. We are going to boom like we’ve never boomed before. -- Donald Trump, October 2024 rally ~~~
~~~ Tyler Pager of the New York Times: “As a presidential candidate, Donald J. Trump promised an economic 'boom like no other.' But eight weeks into his presidency, Mr. Trump is refusing to rule out a recession — a striking change in tone and message for a man who rode widespread economic dissatisfaction to the White House by promising to 'make America affordable again.' [MAAA?? ] His comments come as the stock market is tumbling — the S&P 500 fell 2.7 percent Monday after falling 3.1 percent last week — and business leaders are spooked about the uncertainty over his tariffs.... The economy Mr. Trump inherited was by many standards in solid shape, with low unemployment, moderate growth and an inflation rate that, while still higher than what the Federal Reserve wants, had declined substantially.” ~~~
Trip Mickle & Ana Swanson of the New York Times: “As ... [Donald] Trump addressed Congress last week, he veered off script to attack ... the CHIPS Act, a bipartisan law aimed at making the United States less reliant on Asia for semiconductors.... Halfway through Mr. Trump’s remarks, he called the law a 'horrible, horrible thing.... You should get rid of the CHIP Act, he told Speaker Mike Johnson.... Mr. Trump is threatening to upend years of work.... U.S. lawmakers began pushing to rebuild domestic chip production after the pandemic created a global chip shortage that forced some U.S. auto factories to shutter, resulting in the CHIPS Act. But the Trump administration has already taken steps to whittle away at the program.” Read on, especially the part about Michael Grimes, a top Commerce Department official. MB: Surely the No. 1 reason Trump wants to kill CHIPS is that Joe Biden signed it into law. Here in another instance in which Trump's vengeful nature is a threat not only to individuals but also to national security.
This seems like one of the biggest threats, if not the biggest threats to First Amendment freedoms in 50 years.... It’s a direct attempt to punish speech because of the viewpoint it espouses. -- Brian Hauss of the ACLU ~~~
Jake Offenhartz & Philip Marcelo of the AP: “... Donald Trump warned Monday that the arrest and possible deportation of a Palestinian activist who helped lead protests at Columbia University will be the first 'of many to come' as his administration cracks down on campus demonstrations against Israel and the war in Gaza. Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful U.S. resident who was a graduate student at Columbia until December, was detained Saturday by federal immigration agents in New York and flown to an immigration jail in Louisiana.... But a federal judge in New York City ordered Monday that Khalil not be deported while the court considered a legal challenge brought by his lawyers. A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.... Typically, the government has to meet a higher bar to expel a person who has permanent residency in the U.S., like showing someone has been convicted of a serious crime.... Khalil, 30, had not been charged with any crime related to his activism, but Trump has argued that protesters forfeited their rights to remain in the country by protests he claimed support Hamas.... The U.S. has designated Hamas as a terrorist organization.” ~~~
~~~ Amanda Friedman of Politico on the order by Judge Jesse Furman of the Southern District of New York, which temporarily halts Mahmoud Khalil's deportation. The Trump administration’s legal argument for Khalil’s detainment and possible deportation is unclear.” ~~~
~~~ Trump Ignores First Amendment. Again. Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: “On Saturday, immigration agents showed at the apartment building of Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of last year’s pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, and told him his student visa had been revoked and that he was being detained. Khalil is married to an American, and his lawyer, speaking to the agents by phone, informed them that he had a green card, but they said that had been revoked as well.... Khalil, who grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, hasn’t been charged with any crime. A dossier on him compiled by Canary Mission, a right-wing group that tracks anti-Zionist campus activists, includes no examples of threatening or violent speech.... In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump made it clear that Khalil was snatched because of his activism.... 'We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it.'” Related AP & NYT news reports linked yesterday. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yes, Trump's brownshirts will do his bidding. None of us is safe. ~~~
~~~ Michael Bender of the New York Times: “The Trump administration warned 60 universities on Monday that they could face penalties from pending investigations into antisemitism on college campuses, a threat sharpened in recent days by its cancellation of funding to Columbia University and the arrest of a protest leader there.... [Mr.] Trump seized on accusations of antisemitism as a cudgel against Democrats during his presidential campaign and has continued to prioritize the issue from the White House.... Last week, Mr. Trump threatened to strip funding from schools that allow 'illegal protests, but did not elaborate on what he meant by that phrase.”
David Ingram of NBC News: "... Elon Musk said Monday that he plans to double the size of his staff in the Department of Government Efficiency, which he noted is already working inside nearly every federal agency. Musk's comments about DOGE came in an interview on Fox Business as his budget-cutting team has faced growing pushback not only from the courts and congressional Democrats but also from members of ... Donald Trump's Cabinet. Musk said that DOGE has about 100 staff members and that he planned to increase it to about 200. 'We're trying to act broadly across all departments, so it's not just one department at a time,' he told Larry Kudlow, a Fox Business host who worked in the first Trump administration. Kudlow asked whether DOGE was in all federal departments. Musk responded, 'Pretty much, yeah.'" ~~~
~~~ Chris Megerian of the AP: “Elon Musk pushed debunked theories about Social Security on Monday while describing federal benefit programs as rife with fraud, suggesting they will be a primary target in his crusade to reduce government spending. The billionaire entrepreneur ... suggested that $500 billion to $700 billion in waste needed to be cut. 'Most of the federal spending is entitlements,' Musk told the Fox Business Network. 'That’s the big one to eliminate.'... Musk’s estimate for the level of fraud in entitlements far outpaces figures from watchdogs like Social Security’s inspector general, who previously said there was $71.8 billion in improper payments from fiscal years 2015 through 2022. That’s less than 1% of benefits paid out during that time period. Musk also said there were '20 million people who are definitely dead marked as alive in the Social Security database.' However, the leader of the agency has rejected claims about widespread payments to dead people.... The interview was conducted in the White House complex by Larry Kudlow....” ~~~
~~~ Mariana Alfaro, et al., of the Washington Post: “... Elon Musk on Monday called Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) — a decorated Navy pilot and former NASA astronaut — a traitor in a post on X after the senator visited Ukraine and expressed his support for the country in its war with Russia. The incident underscores the hostile attitude of the Trump administration toward perceived adversaries and its striking turnabout of policy toward Russia and away from Ukraine. 'You are a traitor,' Musk wrote in response to Kelly’s posts. Kelly replied: 'Traitor? Elon, if you don’t understand that defending freedom is a basic tenet of what makes America great and keeps us safe, maybe you should leave it to those of us who do.' Kelly ... also told reporters at the Capitol later Monday that Musk is 'not a serious guy'... 'He’s slashed and burned the federal government to make room for a giant tax cut for billionaires like himself,' Kelly said.... 'I’ve sworn an oath to this country, flown in combat, I served in the Navy for 25 years. It appears to me the oath that Elon Musk stands by is the oath of billionaires, to make their lives easier, not the American people, not veterans.'” An NBC News story is here.
Andrew Duehren of the New York Times: “Firing probationary employees ... was just the beginning of ... [Donald] Trump’s far-reaching agenda for the I.R.S. The administration is preparing budget cuts and further layoffs that could ultimately force the I.R.S. to shed as much as half of its 100,000-person work force — a drastic reduction that could mean many Americans face less scrutiny, and receive less help, on their taxes. At the same time, Mr. Trump is asserting more political control over an agency that has historically been insulated from changes in leadership at the White House.... The presence of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency is growing at the I.R.S., where [Elon] Musk’s allies are preparing to cancel scores of contracts with outside technology vendors.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Little Marco Vows to Reward Russia for Invading Ukraine. Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: “Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that Ukraine would have to make concessions over land that Russia had taken since 2014 as part of any agreement to end the war.... 'I think both sides need to come to an understanding that there’s no military solution to this situation,' Mr. Rubio said. 'The Russians can’t conquer all of Ukraine, and obviously it’ll be very difficult for Ukraine in any reasonable time period to sort of force the Russians back all the way to where they were in 2014.'” Might makes right. We in the U.S. are so over respecting national sovereignty & promoting democracy. (Also linked yesterday.)
At DOJ, If You Do Your Job, You Will Lose It. Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: “The Justice Department’s pardon attorney was dismissed a day after she refused to recommend that the actor Mel Gibson, a prominent supporter of ... [Donald] Trump’s, should have his gun rights restored, according to the attorney and others familiar with the situation. Elizabeth G. Oyer, the former pardon attorney, described the sequence of events as an alarming departure from longstanding practice, one that put public safety and the department’s integrity at risk. Mr. Gibson had lost his gun rights as a result of a 2011 domestic violence misdemeanor conviction. 'This is dangerous. This isn’t political — this is a safety issue,' Ms. Oyer said in an interview with The New York Times....” Read on. Trump personal lawyers Todd Blanche & Emil Bove, both now top DOJ officials, are involved. An NBC News story is here.
Teddy Rosenbluth of the New York Times: “In a sweeping interview, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary, outlined a strategy for containing the measles outbreak in West Texas that strayed far from mainstream science, relying heavily on fringe theories about prevention and treatments. He issued a muffled call for vaccinations in the affected community, but said the choice was a personal one. He suggested that measles vaccine injuries were more common than known, contrary to extensive research. He asserted that natural immunity to measles, gained through infection, somehow also protected against cancer and heart disease, a claim not supported by research. He cheered on questionable treatments like cod liver oil, and said that local doctors had achieved 'almost miraculous and instantaneous' recoveries with steroids or antibiotics.... The interview, which lasted 35 minutes, was posted online by Fox News last week, just before the President Trump’s address to Congress. Segments had been posted earlier, but the full version received little attention.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: There are four (well, three, if you don't count Rand Paul) medical doctors in the Senate: John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.) & Roger Marshall (R-Kansas). They all voted to confirm RFKJ as HHS secretary.
Carolyn Johnson & Joel Achenbach of the Washington Post: “The National Institutes of Health will cancel or cut back dozens of grants for research on why some people are reluctant to be vaccinated and how to increase acceptance of vaccines, according to an internal email.... The email, titled 'required terminations — 3/10/25,' shows that on Monday morning, the agency 'received a new list … of awards that need to be terminated, today. It has been determined they do not align with NIH funding priorities related to vaccine hesitancy and/or uptake.'... It is unclear if [HHS Secretary Robert] Kennedy [Jr.] had a role, directly or indirectly, in the move to cancel these grants.” MB: Looks as if somebody thought expert research that fingered the boss was bad form.
Marcia Brown of Politico: “The Agriculture Department has axed two programs that gave schools and food banks money to buy food from local farms and ranchers, halting more than $1 billion in federal spending.... [A] spokesperson [for th department said]: 'These programs, created under the former Administration via Executive authority, no longer effectuate the goals of the agency.'” MB: Right. If kids are hungry, they should grow their own damned food in their back yards, alongside those new home chicken-raising ops the Ag Department recommends.
Dino Grandoni & Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: “The Interior Department has suspended a legal opinion that held companies liable for accidentally killing ducks, cranes, pelicans, owls and hundreds of other bird species. In a memorandum dated Feb. 28 but posted online in recent days, Interior’s acting chief lawyer suspended every legal opinion issued by the Biden administration, including one that subjected companies to penalties for accidentally killing birds through activities such as oil and gas drilling, wind energy production, mining, or construction. The move modifies the government’s interpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which prohibits unauthorized 'take' of hundreds of bird species — regulatory-speak for hunting, killing, capturing, selling or otherwise hurting the animals.... The move delivers a win to the oil and gas industry, which has argued that the government has unfairly punished companies that never intended to harm birds.” ~~~
~~~ Update: See how RAS flips the bird at Trump in today's Comments.
Annie Gowen of the Washington Post: “A U.S. district judge ruled Monday that the Trump administration must pay nearly $2 billion in foreign assistance owed to its humanitarian partners around the world, saying the administration likely violated separation of powers by 'unlawfully impounding' the congressionally appropriated money. U.S. District Judge Amir H. Ali in a ruling blocked the Trump administration from withholding payment of foreign aid funds authorized by Congress, which has caused delays in lifesaving food and medicine in impoverished areas around the world. More broadly, Ali ruled that the Trump administration is likely violating the constitutional separation of powers by withholding funds and usurping Congress’s authority to dictate whether the funds should be spent in the first place. The defendants, he noted, 'offer an unbridled view of Executive power that the Supreme Court has consistently rejected — a view that flouts multiple statutes whose constitutionality is not in question.'”
Zach Montague & Minho Kim of the New York Times: “A federal judge found on Monday that Elon Musk’s government-cutting unit is likely subject to public disclosure laws and must promptly turn over documents to a group that had sued for access to its internal emails. In his order, Judge Christopher R. Cooper of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia wrote that the Department of Government Efficiency Mr. Musk leads had all the hallmarks of an agency that would typically be subject to laws like the Freedom of Information Act. He said Mr. Musk’s team appeared to be exercising 'substantial authority over vast swathes of the federal government,' much greater than other federal agencies that are subject to the law. Judge Cooper required both Mr. Musk’s team and the Office of Management and Budget to turn over email correspondence between their offices that the group suing had requested.... The lawsuit, brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW..., had argued that the group’s internal records were of extreme interest to the public as Mr. Musk and his associates have planned cuts and layoffs largely in secret while laying waste to vast sections of the federal government.” ~~~
~~~ Politico's report, by Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney is here. Judge Cooper's order is here.
Megalomania Is Hard. Kate Conger & Christine Hauser of the New York Times: “On Monday, users of X reported widespread outages. The same day, Tesla’s stock fell more than 15 percent amid concerns that include declining electric vehicle sales and politically driven protests against the manufacturer. And last week, a SpaceX rocket exploded in Florida during launch, showering some places with debris. Mr. Musk on Monday quickly blamed the X issues on a cyberattack stemming from Ukraine, without providing evidence. He posted on X that Democratic donors were responsible for seeding protests against Tesla, again without evidence. In response to the SpaceX explosion, he said on X: 'Rockets are hard.' Questions about Mr. Musk’s continuing oversight of his companies are coming to a head as he spends more time in Washington....”
The Untimely Death of a Serious Person. Marian Drum on Kevin Drum's blog: "With a heavy heart, I have to tell you that after a long battle with cancer my husband Kevin Drum passed away on Friday, March 7, 2025.... In lieu of flowers, please donate to the charity or political cause of your choice. A Facebook page, 'In Memory of Kevin Drum', has been created as a place for friends and family to share memories of Kevin. I encourage you to post your thoughts and memories there."
Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Ruth Doesn't Work Here Anymore. David Folkenflik of NPR: "A top political columnist for The Washington Post resigned Monday, accusing Post Chief Executive and Publisher Will Lewis of killing her column that criticized owner Jeff Bezos' drive to overhaul the opinion pages to focus on his libertarian priorities. Post columnist and Associate Editor Ruth Marcus, who has worked at the paper for four decades, says she can no longer stay there. 'Jeff's announcement that the opinion section will henceforth not publish views that deviate from the pillars of individual liberties and free markets threatens to break the trust of readers that columnists are writing what they believe, not what the owner has deemed acceptable,' Marcus wrote in a resignation letter obtained by NPR.... 'Will's decision to not … run the column that I wrote respectfully dissenting from Jeff's edict — something that I have not experienced in almost two decades of column-writing — underscores that the traditional freedom of columnists to select the topics they wish to address and say what they think has been dangerously eroded,' she wrote."
So here's a short reading assignment:
(1) Akhilleus' comment at the top of yesterday's thread.
(2) An essay by political scientist Don Moynihan: "... we live in a foreign country now. Our idea of America — the one you grew up with if you were born here, or that drew you to this country if you were an immigrant — and the reality of America today, well, these are different places. We might get back there. But first we have to map the distance between that America and where we are now." Moynihan then runs down bullet points of "where we are now," each point chilling. Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Marie: Aaargh! I clicked on Bezos Amazon Prime last night, and the first recommendation for me that came up was reruns of "The Apprentice."
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Texas. Jo Yurcaba of NBC News: “A Texas state bill could charge transgender people with 'gender identity fraud,' making it illegal to identify as trans on official documents and potentially leading to jail time. The bill, which was filed last week by Republican state Rep. Tom Oliverson, would make it a state jail felony if a person 'knowingly makes a false or misleading verbal or written statement' by identifying their sex assigned at birth incorrectly to a governmental entity or to their employer.... So far, the bill has no other co-sponsors, making it unlikely to pass, the Houston Chronicle reported. However, the bill is among the first of its kind nationally and is an example of how legislation targeting trans people has become more clear in its intent and more extreme in recent years, particularly in Texas.”
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Philippines. Sui-Lee Wee Camille Elemia of the New York Times: “Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines, was arrested on Tuesday in Manila, after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant accusing him of crimes against humanity in his war on drugs in which, human rights groups say, tens of thousands of Filipinos were summarily executed. He was taken into custody at Manila’s main airport after returning from a trip to Hong Kong, according to the Philippine government. Mr. Duterte’s lawyer, Salvador Panelo, said the arrest was unlawful, partly because the Philippines withdrew from the court while Mr. Duterte was in office. In the I.C.C. warrant, a three-judge panel wrote that, based on evidence presented by the court’s prosecutor, it believed that killings ordered by Mr. Duterte as mayor of the city of Davao and later as president were 'both widespread and systematic.'”
19 Comments
Reader Comments (19)
Where to start? So many horrors every freakin’ day.
We’ll just jump right in with the crocodiles and the piranhas.
So, getting fired for doing your job at the Justice Department is bad enough, but it’s worse than that. Much worse. If your job, whether at Main Justice or in a private law firm, results in an outcome or investigation involving one of the king’s many, many illegal and/or treasonous acts, he will put you out of business.
The message to lawyers is “Don’t even think of looking at Fat Hitler’s crimes. They will come for you. Only legal outcomes acceptable to him will be tolerated. This is page 2 of the Totalitarian Despot’s Handbook. Rule of Law is right out.
Over here we have that sniveling toady fuck, Little Marco, demanding that Ukraine prove it is “serious about peace”. Meaning, they must show this evil piece of shit—who has never been within three thousand miles of a battlefield—how many pounds of flesh they are willing to give to Putin, who, by the way, doesn’t have to prove, or give up anything,
Fatty promised he would “fix” grocery prices, end Putin’s war against Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza all in 24 hours. So far, all he’s done is weaken a strong economy with stoopid on again off again chaos tariffs, (egg prices have skyrocketed), he donned a Russian general’s uniform and significantly weakened Ukrainian defenses to appease his boyfriend in the Kremlin, and released a psychotic fantasy video of himself as the god king of Gaza. 24 hours were up months ago, Fatty. Where’s the beef?
The South African Chainsaw Massacre Man is having a sad cuz no one wants his crappy cars. Tesla stocks are in the crapper. But never fear, Fat Hitler sez he’s gonna buy one of those shitboxes. Yeah. That’ll fix everything. Plus, you just know, if he actually does follow through on his promise (always a crap shoot), he’ll be using taxpayer money to do it, as if the SACM doesn’t have enough of our money already.
Many more horrors to come.
So I saw this clip of Polio Bob trying to downplay the deadly measles outbreak in Texas saying the only kids hospitalized in that county are there for quarantine purposes only. Have you ever seen a situation where 20 people are hospitalized just so they can be quarantined? Ridiculous! You can quarantine kids by keeping them home. Hospitals, correct me if I’m wrong—especially a small hospital in rural Texas—can’t afford to hand out beds to people who simply need to be separated from other people.
Such a fucking liar.
I mentioned this to my best friend, a cardiologist. Here’s his reply:
“And yes, Kennedy is lying about the hospitalizations. 100% false. He is such a piece of shit. And on that general front, article in our paper has people from Baylor College of Medicine / Texas Children’s Medical Center pointing out that the NIH cuts will decimate their ability to research and treat children’s cancer. And others then pointed out that the 13-year old kid with brain cancer that Trump used for his own selfish purposes (made him into an honorary Secret Service agent during his address to Congress) - he got his cure at…that same institution.
WH Press Secretary responds, ‘How dare you demean this Saintly act by our King and Savior! ‘“
By the way, Polio Bob was one of our classmates in college. I knew him only slightly. I thought he was a whack job way back then, but chalked it up to his crazy family history. Come to find out, from another classmate, that he was selling (and using) drugs out of his dorm room.
Since then, he’s only gotten worse. Ask the worm. But Fat Hitler is thrilled to have this nut putting children’s lives in danger, to own the libs.
Everything is about revenge. Revenge, power, and money.
But zero responsibility.
With all the cuts at the IRS, I'm undecided about even filing income
taxes this year. It would probably take years to catch up with me
and by then I'll be so old they probably won't even bother, because
all the jails will be full.
Seeing my doctor write on some forms yesterday, I got to thinking
about all the undecipherable writing must doctors do.
I think when that trump doctor wrote 'bone spurs', whoever transposed
that to trump's records read it as 'brain farts'.
Every time he opens his mouth his brain farts and something stinky
comes out.
Elon sees dead people.
"Musk is blaming "Herbert Sandler," among others, for secretly financing the protests and Tesla dealerships over the last few weeks.
Sandler died in 2019."
"U.S. National Parks when they collectively bring in over $55B a year yet cost over $3.5B"
National Parks and the terrible businessman.
"the Department of the Interior’s National Park Service released a new report that finds visitor spending in communities near national parks in 2023 resulted in a record high $55.6 billion benefit to the nation’s economy and supported 415,400 jobs."
From Earthseed
"Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought"
For a decade now Fat Hitler has told us how important he thinks protecting the birds is. Every speech about green energy includes his lies about all the thousands of birds flying into wind turbines. Now we see that his administration has turned it's back on the birds and will not hold their murderers to account.
Akhilleus,
Maybe FH will just take that monstrosity that some influencer tried to give him during the campaign that had a picture of the aftermath of the assassination attempt on the cyber truck. He couldn't accept it at the time because it would be illegal and he didn't yet own the justice department.
RAS,
Yeah, dead people are screwing with poor Elon. And thousands of 200 year old people are collecting Social Security, sez Fat Hitler. But both these guys are okay to run the country. Some hack said he thought Biden was a little confused at times and the entire fascist media empire were calling for him to be dragged out of the White House. But these two jabronis don’t know which way is up, give ‘em the nuclear codes and go on Fox rattling on at length about how wonderful they are.
Marie,
I happened to click through Amazon Prime last night looking for something in particular (of course they didn’t have it, Prime used to come close to Netflix in offerings, but now, what you get for your money are a bunch of thirty year old movies and a chance to “rent or buy” anything newer).
And of course I did happen to see the gigantic screen touting all the episodes of Fatty’s shitty show. At first I thought it was a graphic advertising the new film with Sebastian Stan playing fat boy as a younger asshole in training, and I thought I might take a look. But no. It was the original embarrassing shitshow featuring von Fuckstick himself.
Could Bozo be any more flagrantly obsequious?
Soooo…more evidence that this bullshit about the Party of Traitors being all about family values…is just that: bullshit.
Right. Oh, you mean the party that’s getting ready to end free school lunches for those no good mooching poor kids?
Yeah. That party.
In this case it’s all about former governor of Kentucky, Matt Bevin, known for shady business deals and pardoning a murderer who had been serving a 42 year sentence for killing a man during a drug deal, AFTER the killer’s daddy bought Bevin off with a big campaign contribution and arranging a lucrative fund raiser for him.
So this guy, Bevin, and his witch of a wife, needed a big splashy something or other as a campaign come on. So they adopted kids from Ethiopia.
Now, one of those kids has filed a protective order against his adoptive “parents” after years of neglect, abuse, beatings, and abandonment. This kid, once they didn’t need him anymore, was shipped out of state, and finally out of the country to abusive facilities for “difficult” children.
This is horrific.
The Party of Fat Hitler.
Real Science
"Elon Musk is a proven danger to good science, but the Royal Society won’t say it. That’s why I resigned
Kit Yates
Fellows of the Royal Society met yesterday to discuss, as they put it, “Fellows’ behaviour”. In light of the resignation of two fellows and an open letter signed by nearly 3,500 scientists, many, including me, expected the discussion to be focused on the behaviour of one particular fellow: Elon Musk.
So I was more than disappointed to read the statement released by the Royal Society after the meeting, which made no mention at all of Musk. The statement did recognise “the need to stand up for science and for scientists around the world in the face of the growing challenges science faces”, but without clear action to address Musk’s position, these words ring hollow."
Republican Inheritance
Not all Canadians are nice
Dutch Pubic Television explains the Trump-Vance problem with helping a guy who doesn’t wear a suit or say thank you.
Educational.
Molly Reynolds
""Vote for the bill so that the president can refuse to spend the money you just voted for" is whole other level of saying the quiet part out loud."
Vance tells House Republicans that Trump will decide what spending they pass will actually get spent. Just pretend to do their job and then abdicate all their powers to the deranged loser.
You Can Trust Us...
"USAID employees told to burn or shred classified documents
An organization representing foreign service workers said it was "alarmed" by the directive because there could be documents "relevant to ongoing litigation."
The U.S. Agency for International Development is instructing its staff in Washington to shred and burn documents, according to an email obtained by NBC News. The move comes as President Donald Trump’s administration faces legal challenges over its attempt to shut down the federal agency.
The document destruction was set to take place Tuesday, according to an email from Erica Carr, the agency’s acting executive secretary. It is unclear how many people received the email, which thanked workers for their “assistance in clearing our classified safes and personnel documents.”
Little Marco
"Marco Rubio Personally Signed Off to Detain Mahmoud Khalil on 'Foreign Policy Grounds,' Sources Confirm
The government is staking its entire case to deport Khalil on whether Rubio “personally” thinks the Columbia student protest negotiator would “compromise” US foreign policy.
The authority, a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), reads: “An alien whose presence or activities in the United States the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States is deportable.”
A State Department source, who spoke to Zeteo on the condition of anonymity, said that not only is the government using this justification to pursue Khalil, but that there are in fact “multiple targets”"
Dementia Don has become fixated on Canada.