The Conversation -- March 2, 2025
Nicholas Riccardi of the AP: “During his first six weeks in office..., Donald Trump has embarked on a dizzying teardown of the federal government and attacks on long-standing institutions in an attempt to increase his own authority. He has pardoned those who attacked the U.S. Capitol to overturn his 2020 election loss, placed loyalists atop the FBI and military, and purged the Department of Justice, which dropped investigations against Trump allies. He declared control over independent agencies such as the Federal Election Commission, punished media outlets for coverage he dislikes and his allies suggested he could defy court orders. Those who monitor democracy across the globe had warned that a second Trump term could endanger America’s 240-year experiment with democracy. His opening weeks in office have done nothing to dispel those concerns. 'Trump is using the classic elected authoritarian playbook,” said Brendan Nyhan of Dartmouth College, who joined more than 800 other political scientists in signing a letter warning that Trump is undermining the rule of law and the basic constitutional principle of checks and balances. 'It’s almost embarrassing how crude it is.'”
Luke Broadwater del New York Times: Donald «Trump firmó una orden que designa el inglés como lengua oficial de los Estados Unidos, informó el sábado la Casa Blanca. La orden no requería ningún cambio en los programas federales y parecía ser en gran medida simbólica. Pero el pronunciamiento supuso la mayor victoria hasta la fecha para el movimiento English-only del país, vinculado desde hace tiempo a los esfuerzos por restringir la educación bilingüe y la inmigración a Estados Unidos. Más de 30 estados ya han designado el inglés como lengua oficial .... La orden ejecutiva anula un mandato de la era Clinton que obligaba a las agencias y a los beneficiarios de fondos federales a proporcionar asistencia lingüística a las personas que no hablan inglés, pero permite a las agencias mantener las políticas actuales y proporcionar documentos y servicios en otros idiomas.... Los informes de la orden prevista el viernes fueron rápidamente vitoreados por aquellos alineados con las políticas antiinmigración del Sr. Trump.»
Okay, in case your Spanish (or this DeepL program) sucks, here's the story en Inglés. (I immediately found one mistake in the DeepL Spanish, so it may have many): ~~~
~~~ Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: Donald “Trump signed an order designating English as the official language of the United States, the White House said on Saturday. The order did not require any changes to federal programs and appeared to be largely symbolic. But the pronouncement was the biggest victory yet for the country’s English-only movement, which has long been tied to efforts to restrict bilingual education and immigration to the United States. More than 30 states have already designated English as their official language.... The executive order rescinds a Clinton-era mandate that required agencies and recipients of federal funding to provide language assistance to non-English speakers, but allows agencies to keep current policies and provide documents and services in other languages.... Reports of the planned order on Friday were quickly cheered by those aligned with Mr. Trump’s anti-immigration policies.”
Marcy Wheeler lays out "five ways Trump is sabotaging the United States." Thanks to RAS for the link.
"Go Ski in Russia." Common Dreams: "Over a thousand Vermonters lined both sides of Route 100 in Waitsfield, Vermont, Saturday morning protesting Vice President JD Vance, who was visiting nearby Sugarbush Resort this weekend with his family.... Protesters shouted obscenities and waved signs as the Vance motorcade rolled past. 'Vance is a traitor. Go Ski in Russia,' one sign read." MB: Thank you, Vermont. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Nevertheless, He Persisted Fled. Coral Marcos of the Guardian: “While Vance, who admitted Friday he has never been to Ukraine, fled to an undisclosed location to evade protesters, some commentators noted that Zelenskyy, who stayed in Ukraine during Russia’s invasion, was returning to a Kyiv still under attack.... The aggressive meeting led to protests in cities and towns across the US, including New York, Los Angeles and Boston, where hundreds gathered to express their support for Ukraine and Zelenskyy. Videos posted on social networks showed hundreds of demonstrators gathered in New York’s Times Square, many carrying the blue-and-yellow flag of Ukraine on their backs. In Los Angeles county, a pro-Ukraine crowd rallied in front of a SpaceX’s facility, and protesters in Boston held an 'emergency rally' for 'fair peace' for Ukraine at Boston Common.” See also NYT & AP stories linked below on more U.S. protests against Presidents* Trump & Musk.
Evan Halper, et al., of the Washington Post: “Elon Musk is trying again on his demand that every federal worker justify their employment weekly. And again, the hastily executed initiative is sowing confusion and resistance throughout the workforce, with many agency heads openly defying it. A second round of emails instructing more than 2 million workers to reply with bullet points listing five things they accomplished over the week ... came a week after the billionaire ... warned those who did not respond to an identical order last weekend that it would be taken as a resignation.... 'The President has made it clear that this is mandatory for the executive branch,' Musk wrote on X on Saturday morning.... Even so, guidance telling workers to ignore the emails came from across the chain of command — from managers, supervisors or other department leaders who did not wait for instructions from agency heads.... The State Department ... sent a brief note early Saturday telling staff to do nothing with the email.... Employees at the [Energy D]epartment said their Trump-appointed leadership appears to be growing exhausted by the haphazard DOGE directives, as the confusion they are creating diverts workers’ attention and agency resources away from the task of implementing the president’s far-reaching orders to gut climate programs, cut clean energy subsidies and enable more fossil fuel production.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yes, yes, what's left of the Energy Department's staff must get back to its important work of destroying Earth. ~~~
~~~ Evan Halper & Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: “Amid the tumult of mass firings, the Trump administration’s dismissal of workers who maintain America’s nuclear weapons delivered perhaps the greatest shock. These are people with highly sensitive jobs, the Energy Department would later acknowledge, who should have never been fired. Almost all the workers were rehired in an embarrassing about-face, a prominent example of how the administration has had to reverse dismissals in multiple instances where its scattershot approach caused deeper damage to agencies than anticipated. The employees of the National Nuclear Security Administration are stewards of a sprawling government system that keeps 5,000 nuclear warheads secure and ready. They make sure radiation doesn’t leak, weapons don’t mistakenly detonate and plutonium doesn’t get into the wrong hands.
“Yet late the night before Valentine’s Day, the Trump administration perfunctorily fired 17 percent of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s workforce, over the strenuous objections of senior nuclear officials.... The novice cost-cutters installed at the Energy Department, several nuclear workers interviewed said, appeared to lack a basic understanding of the work of the NNSA, an arm of the department that is a key pillar of the national defense.... The administration’s cost-cutting blitz, rushed and lacking transparency, has forced it into other reversals after the practical or political implications of certain firings became clear.”
Rubio Is Killing People to Please Trump, and He Knows It. Anna Barry-Jester & Brett Murphy of ProPublica: “After the Trump administration moved to freeze nearly $60 billion in foreign aid in January, officials like Secretary of State Marco Rubio repeatedly assured Americans that lifesaving operations would continue. 'We don’t want to see anybody die,' he told reporters in early February.... In late January, Rubio and one of his top aides, Peter Marocco, said ... dozens of [programs] could continue, granting them temporary waivers while the officials conducted what they have called a 'targeted, case-by-case review' of all foreign aid programs managed by the State Department and USAID. That review, they said, would take three months. Four weeks later, on Wednesday, Rubio and Marocco completely ended nearly 10,000 aid programs in one fell swoop — including those they had granted waivers just days earlier — saying the programs did not align with Trump’s agenda. The move consigns untold numbers of the world’s poorest children, refugees and other vulnerable people to death.... The U.S. has also refused to pay almost $2 billion that the government owes aid organizations for work they’ve already completed.”
David Fahrenthold, et al., of the New York Times: “Even after Mr. Musk’s group deleted several large erroneous claims from its [so-called 'wall of receipts'] last week, The New York Times found that it had added new mistakes — claiming credit for 'canceling' contracts that had actually ended under previous presidents, [including George W. Bush, 20 years ago]. 'These are not savings,' said Lisa Shea Mundt, whose firm, The Pulse of GovCon, tracks federal spending. 'The money’s been spent. Period. Point blank.' These mistakes do not mean DOGE has not made cuts to the federal government. It has, deeply, by pushing widespread layoffs of employees and cancellations of active contracts, and by helping instigate the demise of the U.S. Agency for International Development. But the repeated errors have raised questions about the quality and veracity of the information that the Musk team is putting out.... The mistakes also seem to call into question the team members’ competence — whether they understand the government well enough to cut it while avoiding catastrophe....
“Mr. Musk’s group has said that it has saved taxpayers $65 billion, by cutting contracts, leases, federal employees and other items in the federal budget. But it has itemized only two of those categories: cancellations of contracts and leases. When adding up DOGE’s claimed savings for each item, those categories collectively account for about $10 billion, less than one-sixth of the total. When DOGE first published its list of canceled contracts, there were about 1,100 examples. The five largest were wrong.”
Raphael Satter of Reuters: “The Trump administration has pulled the plug on a team of tech-savvy civil servants that helped to build the Internal Revenue Service’s free tax-filing service and revamp websites across government, a spokesperson for the General Service Administration said on Saturday. GSA’s Director of Technology Transformation Services Thomas Shedd notified employees of a digital service team known as 18F that their jobs had been terminated as they had been identified as 'non-critical.' Roughly 90 18F employees were immediately locked out of their devices.... Billionaire Elon Musk ... earlier this month responded to a post on X that called 18F a 'far-left government-wide computer office' by saying the group has been 'deleted.'” Thanks to Ken W. for the link. As he wrote last night, “Of course they did.” Politico's story is here. ~~~
~~~ ⭐A Letter from 18F to the American People: "For over 11 years, 18F has been proudly serving you to make government technology work better. We are non-partisan civil servants. 18F has worked on hundreds of projects, all designed to make government technology not just efficient but effective, and to save money for American taxpayers. However, all employees at 18F – a group that the Trump Administration GSA Technology Transformation Services Director called 'the gold standard' of civic tech – were terminated today at midnight ET.... Before today’s RIF, DOGE members and GSA political appointees demanded and took access to IT systems that hold sensitive information. They ignored security precautions.... We came to the government to fix things. And we’re not done with this work yet. More to come."
Social Security keeps 18 million seniors out of poverty every year. Trump and Musk are lying about it for one reason: so they can cut, privatize & dismantle it. We must EXPAND Social Security benefits, not cut them. And I am introducing a bill to just that. -- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), on X ~~~
~~~ Marco Margaritoff of the Huffington Post: “Elon Musk is calling Social Security a 'Ponzi scheme,' prompting suspicion that the world’s richest man is merely hoping to privatize a social safety net that has existed since the 1930s — and has kept millions of elderly, poor and disabled Americans from destitution. The billionaire argued Friday on 'The Joe Rogan Experience' podcast that the United States government is 'one big pyramid scheme' before blasting Social Security as 'the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.'... Musk ... added that 'people are living way longer than expected' and thus the government’s obligation to pay the debt 'will be much worse in the future.' The Social Security Administration has said it could face a shortage of funds by 2035. But many Democrats have argued that the program’s funds should simply be shored up by eliminating the cap on Social Security taxes for high earners, meaning that people who make a lot of money would pay proportionately more into the program. Elsewhere during his podcast appearance, Musk shared debunked claims about Social Security.”
Zach Montague of the New York Times: “A federal judge in Washington on Saturday blocked ... [Donald] Trump from ousting the leader of a federal watchdog agency, saying that the effort to remove the official without due cause had violated the law. In an order on Saturday evening, Judge Amy Berman Jackson granted a permanent injunction against the government, allowing Hampton Dellinger to remain the head of the Office of Special Counsel, which protects federal whistle-blowers. The order required the Trump administration to recognize Mr. Dellinger’s authority in that position, barring it from taking any action to 'treat him in any way as if he has been removed' or otherwise interfere with his work. The administration immediately moved to challenge the ruling, starting an appeals process that appeared likely to end at the Supreme Court.” Politico's report is here.
Isabelle Taft, et al., of the New York Times: “Thousands of people gathered on Saturday at national parks from California to Maine to protest the Trump administration’s firing of at least 1,000 National Park Service employees last month. A group called Resistance Rangers — consisting of about 700 off-duty rangers, including some who were fired from the National Park Service — tried to organize protests at each of the country’s 433 national park sites on Saturday to stand up against what they see as threats to public lands, including the job cuts. By the afternoon, there were protests at at least 145 sites....”
Rodrique Ngowi & Jonathan Cooper of the AP: “Demonstrators gathered outside Tesla stores across the U.S. Saturday to protest the automaker’s billionaire CEO, Elon Musk, and his push to slash government spending on behalf of ... Donald Trump. The demonstrations are part of a growing backlash in North America and Europe to Musk’s disruptive role in Washington. Critics of Trump and Musk hope to discourage and stigmatize purchases of Tesla, the electric car company that is the world’s most valuable automaker.”
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New York. Nicholas Fandos & Emma Fitzsimmons of the New York Times: “Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Saturday that he would run for mayor of New York City, upending the race to unseat Eric Adams and setting up an audacious comeback attempt three years after he resigned in disgrace.With near-universal name recognition, deep-pocketed supporters and a decade as governor, Mr. Cuomo is expected to quickly assume front-runner status for the June Democratic primary, albeit with hefty baggage. In a 17-minute video announcing his run, Mr. Cuomo, 67, attempted to reintroduce himself to New Yorkers on his preferred terms: as a tested manager, law-and-order moderate and forceful leader capable of rescuing a city that he said 'feels threatening, out of control, and in crisis.' He blamed 'failed Democratic leadership' but did not explicitly mention Mr. Adams, and said he would try to work with ... [Donald] Trump where he could.... Mr. Cuomo has spent years and millions of taxpayer dollars for legal fees fighting to clear his name after 11 sexual harassment accusations prompted his resignation in August 2021. To win, he will have to convince New Yorkers that he is innocent — or at least to look beyond his transgressions and a field of newer talent.”
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Israel, et al. Eve Sampson & Isabel Kershner of the New York Times: “Israel announced on Sunday morning that it was halting the entry of all goods and humanitarian assistance into Gaza immediately, hours after proposing a temporary extension of the now-expired cease-fire with Hamas. The drastic step to block aid appeared to be aimed at pressuring Hamas into accepting the new framework — and to make the Israeli government’s negotiating position clear. Under Israel’s proposal for an extension, which it attributed to the U.S. envoy to the region, Steve Witkoff, half of the remaining hostages held in Gaza would be released to Israel on the first day of the agreement. If, at the end of the temporary extension — stretching until the end of Passover on April 20 — a permanent truce had been reached, the rest of the hostages would then be returned.” ~~~
~~~ Here are the Washington Post's live briefings for Sunday.
Ukraine, et al. Mark Landler & Stephen Castle of the New York Times: “European leaders scrambled on Sunday to salvage Ukraine’s relationship with the United States, after a bitter rupture last week between President Volodymyr Zelensky and ... [Donald] Trump. They pledged to assemble a European 'coalition of the willing' to develop a plan for ending Ukraine’s war with Russia, which they hope could win the backing of a skeptical Mr. Trump. Gathering in London at the invitation of Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, the leaders vowed to bolster support for Ukraine. But they also expressed hope that Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Trump could repair their breach, underscoring Europe’s reluctance to cast off a trans-Atlantic alliance that has kept the peace for 80 years. 'We have to bridge this,' Mr. Starmer said on Sunday to the BBC before the leaders began arriving at Lancaster House, near Buckingham Palace. 'We have to find a way where we can all work together.'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I do realize that diplomats often have to baby tyrants, but I think Europeans would do well to try a different tack with our tyrant. At best, say it's a shame he doesn't want to play in their playpen anymore; that they love the U.S. and they love Americans, but that Putin's puppets Don & JayDee are just out of step with American/Western ideals. Sad! Update: Now, the following works for me: ~~~
~~~ Norway. Alex Evans of the Daily Express: “A petrol giant in Norway has announced a ban on fuel sales to all US forces following Donald Trump's treatment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, it has been reported. Norwegian firm Haltbakk Bunkers announced it will stop providing fuel to all American forces in Norway as it declared 'No fuel to Americans!'. The firm posted on social media to declare its support for Zelensky as it dealt a hammer blow to US President Trump following the heated spat televised from the Oval Office. It said: 'We have today been witnesses to the biggest s***how ever presented “live on tv” by the current American president and his vice president. Huge credit to the president of Ukraine restraining himself and for keeping calm even though USA put on a backstabbing tv show. It made us sick....'” ~~~
~~~ Mark Santora & Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: “In one jaw-dropping meeting, the once unthinkable fear that Ukraine would be forced to engage in a long war against a stronger opponent without U.S. support appeared to move exponentially closer to reality.... An immediate result was that Ukrainians, including opposition politicians, were generally supportive of Mr. Zelensky on Saturday for not bending to Mr. Trump despite tremendous pressure.... Mr. Zelensky signaled on Saturday that he had not completely given up hope of repairing the relationship with Mr. Trump. Posting on social media, he went out of his way to thank the United States, perhaps trying to address Mr. Trump’s complaint on Friday that he was ungrateful.... At the same time, Mr. Zelensky began laying the groundwork for moving ahead with the European countries that have stood by Kyiv’s side. Ukraine announced plans on Saturday for a joint weapons venture with France that would be financed by the interest earned from frozen Russian assets. Later in the day, Mr. Zelensky met with Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, who has been a supporter of the Ukrainian president in the face of Mr. Trump’s harsh rebukes.... The real affront that prompted the spectacle, many Ukrainians and analysts believe, is that Mr. Zelensky pushed back against some of Mr. Trump’s terms.”
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Reader Comments (10)
Wow! JayDee gets a vacation after a month or so on the "job"???
Looks like DOGErs aren't doing their job, whatever it is.
They should be telling government employees that vacations are
earned after a year on the job, sometimes longer.
He must have learned that watching Trump do those million dollar
weekend golf outings that we're paying for.
Moron Are Governing America
ProPublica
"They Worked to Prevent Death. The Trump Administration Fired Them.
Public health teams are being gutted, imperiling efforts to safeguard organ donation and prevent maternal and infant death. Many workers expressed fear at what would happen to the work they left behind."
The Marsh Family protest in song, Puppets on a Kremlin String?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=pvT3aQjLxdE
American Conversations: Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Heather Cox Richardson, January 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv-eLBelHI0
Matteo Wong, in The Atlantic, on Elon's 'deletion' of 18F.
'It Feels Like It’s Chaotic on Purpose’
"The team was tailor-made for government efficiency and technology—something the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency and its allies might, in theory, uplift. But as Trump and his surrogates continue to centralize power over government operations, it makes sense that DOGE would want to reign in, or simply bulldoze, 18F. Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla engineer who is now the acting director of Technology Transformation Services, an IT division of GSA that houses 18F, lauded the team as a 'gold standard' for improving federal technology at a team all-hands last month. But in the same meeting, Shedd also described TTS as a failing start-up. ([Wong] obtained a recording of the meeting.) That was the day that Musk, DOGE’s leader, reshared a post on X describing 18F as a 'far left government wide computer office' and wrote that 18F 'has been deleted.'
"
Comic relief with some politics at the Oscars - anyone?
I can’t ignore this day of solemn observance of awarding Oscars and acknowledging the roles of cinema in the world.
Because you can't keep politics out of the movies - or is it the other way around? So, I adapted a Bruce Willis movie line from the 80s to taunt anyone in MAGA-verse whining about trump/musk’s lies that are now inflicting massive job terminations, soaring egg and gas prices, and demolishing government benefits.
We “Diehard” Never Trumpers now say to you:
"Yippee Ki-Yay, MAGA Sucker!"
Other possible material for Conan...
They’re renaming RFK Jr’s Department of Health and Human Services,
“The Axis Of Measles.”
Social misfit and father of the Nerd Reich, So-CEO-Path Elon Musk was recently seen disrespecting the Oval Office by not wearing a suit.
[Show meme of Musk on screen]
Meanwhile, the most popular meme on social media shows both Zelensky and Churchill Not wearing a suit at the Oval Office while their countries are at war!
[Showing this meme on screen]
Thanks to Marjorie Taylor Green’s boyfriend Brian Glenn for calling this to our attention! (LOL!), Hey - my comedy writing team can’t even make up this kind of stuff!
:)
In a NYT article this afternoon about Rubio saying on Sunday shows that Zelensky is obstructing DiJiT's effort to bring peace to Ukraine, there's this quote about Marco: "(Rubio) added that Mr. Trump would be considered for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts if he were a Democrat."
Brown nosing. It's what Marco has to do now to survive. DiJiT chose well, a weathervane who has no fortune so is dependent on Grace&Favor.
I am more ashamed every day ... and I'm not even with these a-holes.
Aside from RC, I typically scroll through the Headline and US news links posted on the Google News site. Suddenly I’m seeing prominent links to sites I’ve never seen before: official MAGA government-like sites, the Bleak House, Dod, Drunk Pete’s Pentagon site, dog murderer Kristi Noem’s Department of Nazi Homeland Insecurity, Polio Bob’s HHS measles spreading site, and Little Marco’s Department of Killing People We Used to Help site.
I check Google news several times every day, and have done so for years. When we had a real President, Biden, I rarely, if ever, saw links to these sites. Now, all of a sudden, Google has been pushing Fat Hitler propaganda every day.
Yet another huge business kowtowing to the fat traitor and his dangerous, lying thugs.
The Moon
"A private lunar lander carrying a drill, vacuum and other experiments for NASA touched down on the moon Sunday, the latest in a string of companies looking to kickstart business on Earth’s celestial neighbor ahead of astronaut missions."