The Conversation -- March 4, 2025
The Washington Post's live updates of Trump's speech before the joint session are here. The New York Times' live updates, which are a good way to "watch" without watching, are here. (There is video, but you can mute it.)
This Is Bound to Be a Dud. Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: “Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan will deliver the Democratic Party’s response to ... Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening — giving the freshman senator from a swing state an opportunity to speak to Americans nationwide as her party wrestles with how to push back against the administration’s efforts to shrink the federal government.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: The Democrats needed someone like Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.) or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) who know how to attack Trump. Instead, they picked Slotkin, a moderate to deliver some pablum. She is among the Democratic senators who voted to confirm the most Trump Cabinet nominees (the only one who voted for more is that goofball Fetterman). I hope I'm wrong (and I could be!), but if not for Little Marco's "thirsty" response of 2013, this could be the worst oppo response ever.
Lily Kuo, et al., of the Washington Post: “As ... Donald Trump’s new tariffs on the nation’s three top trading partners took effect Tuesday, China, Mexico and Canada announced that they would retaliate with levies of their own, unleashing a potentially devastating trade war.... During a Tuesday news conference, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decried the 'American trade war,' warning that 'it is going to hurt all of us.'... While Trudeau said finding a resolution to the trade fight would be his top priority, he added that Canada will impose tariffs on roughly $107 billion worth of U.S. products. About $21 billion worth of those goods would be hit immediately, he said, with the rest taking effect in 21 days. Trump, responding in a social media post, said U.S. tariffs 'will immediately increase by a like amount' to any reciprocal tariff from Canada.” The AP's report is here.
Your government has chosen to do this to you. -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, responding to the U.S.'s imposition of tariffs on Canada ~~~
~~~ You can watch the full speech here.
Trump Team Plan to Manipulate Economic Data. Ben Casselman & Colby Smith of the New York Times: “Comments from a member of President Trump’s cabinet over the weekend have renewed concerns that the new administration could seek to interfere with federal statistics — especially if they start to show that the economy is slipping into a recession. In an interview on Fox News on Sunday, Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, suggested that he planned to change the way the government reports data on gross domestic product in order to remove the impact of government spending.... [G.D.P.] tallies consumer spending, private-sector investment, net exports, and government investment and spending to arrive at a broad measure of all goods and services produced in a country.... Mr. Lutnick made his comments days after similar ones by Elon Musk.... Excluding the government’s contribution entirely makes little sense, economists said.... 'It’s very concerning,' [Nancy Potok, former U.S. chief statistician,] said. 'It puts the U.S. in the company of countries that are notorious for fudging the numbers to support failed economic policies.'” Here's why they're fixin' to fudge the numbers: ~~~
~~~ Abha Bhattarai of the Washington Post: “On Monday, an economic growth model from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta forecast a steep decline for the first three months of this year — a 2.8 percent contraction in economic growth, after nearly three years of solid growth. That same Fed model began flashing negative forecasts on Friday for first-quarter gross domestic product, which sums up goods and services produced in the United States.... 'You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,' [Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick] said. 'They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: The NYT reporters explain why Lutnick's convenient new methodology (i.e., removing government spending from G.D.P. calculations) doesn't make sense: It “would imply that teachers at private schools contributed to the national economy but that teachers at public schools did not, for example. And it would mean that government investment in infrastructure, health care, disaster relief and national defense all held no economic value.”
Mackenzie Wilkes of Politico: “Education Secretary Linda McMahon swiftly laid out a 'final mission' for the Education Department in a message to staff Monday after being quickly confirmed and sworn in. McMahon’s plan would execute President Donald Trump’s desire to 'send education back to the states' amid an expected executive order from Trump that would direct the department to offload what programs it can to other agencies and assess what laws are needed to close the department altogether.”
Mark Santora of the New York Times: “President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Tuesday offered a course of action that he said could end the war, while trying to assure the Trump administration that his government was dedicated to peace.... The Ukrainian leader said he was ready to release Russian prisoners of war, stop long-range drone and missile strikes aimed at Russian targets, and declare a truce at sea immediately — moves that he said would help establish a pathway to peace. Only, however, 'if Russia will do the same,' he added.... In his post, Mr. Zelensky offered effusive praise for American support, noting specifically 'the moment when things changed when President Trump provided Ukraine with Javelins.'”
JayDee Can't Stop Insulting Europeans. Mark Landler of the New York Times: “Vice President JD Vance has sparked a storm of criticism in Britain after declaring that an American economic deal in Ukraine was a 'better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.' Britain, which along with France has pledged troops to a peacekeeping force in Ukraine, fought with the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan, while French troops fought in Afghanistan. No other countries have said they would send troops to Ukraine.... 'Vance Shame,' said the headline on the home page of The Sun, the leading right-wing tabloid published by Rupert Murdoch.... 'JD Vance is wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong,' said Nigel Farage, the leader of the anti-immigrant party, Reform U.K., and a longtime ally of President Trump. 'We stood by America all through those 20 years putting in exactly the same contribution.'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: That ignorant punk's air of superiority is reflexive-punch-in-the-face infuriating.
Mr. Vance later insisted that his comments, in an interview on Monday night with the Fox News host Sean Hannity, did not refer to Britain or France, though he did not name any alternative countries.
Lena Sun & Fenit Nirappil of the Washington Post: “Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s focus on vitamin A use to combat a growing measles outbreak in Texas is raising concerns among public health experts, who fear he is sending the wrong message about preventing the highly contagious disease and distracting from the critical importance of vaccination. Kennedy, who in his years as an anti-vaccine activist criticized measles shots and boosted vitamin A as a treatment, is now using his government position to tout the vitamin’s accepted benefits. The Department of Health and Human Services has directed the nation’s top public health agency to add similar language to its guidance for caring for measles patients.... His op-ed does not mention vitamin A’s risks.... Sue Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said in a statement Monday. 'Taking too much vitamin A can cause serious health problems, including liver damage.'... Vitamin A is considered supportive care and typically used in countries where children are malnourished and have vitamin A deficiency. Vitamin A deficiency in the United States affects less than 1 percent of the population....” It is not a substitute for measles vaccinations, as anti-vaxxers claim.
Walz Is Back! Lauren Irwin of the Hill: “Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) offered to host town halls in districts where Republicans are now refusing to hold them.... 'If you congressman refuses to meet, I’ll come host an event in their district to help local Democrats beat ‘em.' National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) advised House Republicans to avoid in-person town halls with constituents and instead to host phone or livestreamed events.” Here's a Politico item on Hudson's advice to fellow House Republicans.
Some of you will recall Joni Ernst back in 2014 when she ran these ads to introduce her Senate candidacy. The ProPublic report linked below kinda suggests it was not Washington's big spenders who were doing the squealing, Joni. Just sayin'. ~~~
~~~ Robert Faturechi of ProPublica: “Earlier this year, the Air Force revealed that the general who oversaw its lobbying before Congress had inappropriate romantic relationships with five women, including three who worked on Capitol Hill. Maj. Gen. Christopher Finerty’s colleagues told investigators the relationships were 'highly inappropriate' as they could give the Air Force undue influence in Congress.... The Air Force inspector general’s report redacted the names of the women who worked on the Hill. But one of the women whose relationship with Finerty was scrutinized by the inspector general was Sen. Joni Ernst, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation. The Iowa Republican and combat veteran is one of the most influential voices on the Hill about the military, and she sits on the Senate’s Armed Services Committee, which oversees the Pentagon and plays a crucial role in setting its annual budget. Three other sources told ProPublica that around 2019 Ernst had a previous romantic relationship with a legislative affairs official for a different branch of the military, the Navy.”
Abbie VanSickle & Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court sided with San Francisco on Tuesday in a challenge to water quality regulations issued by the Environmental Protection Agency in a ruling that could have sweeping implications for the agency’s ability to limit offshore pollution.The 5-to-4 decision dealt another blow to the agency, which has recently sustained several losses before the court over its efforts to protect the environment.... The dispute fundamentally focused on human waste and how San Francisco disposes of it. The question before the court was whether the Clean Water Act of 1972 allowed the E.P.A. to impose prohibitions on wastewater released into the Pacific Ocean and to penalize the city for violating them. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., writing for the majority, said the E.P.A. was entitled to impose specific requirements to prevent pollution but not to make polluters responsible whenever water quality generally falls below the agency’s standards.... Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett M. Kavanaugh joined the majority opinion, and Justice Neil M. Gorsuch joined most of it. Justice Amy Coney Barrett dissented, joined by the court’s three-member liberal wing — Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Brian Beutler urges Americans to boycott Donald Trump's address tonight to a joint session of Congress, even though, "Faced with calls from ... angry constituents to boycott Trump’s joint address to Congress this week, Democratic leaders have instead encouraged members to ignore the activists and show up to be berated and lied to by an aspiring dictator." ~~~
~~~ digby agrees: "Trump is neither normal nor a statesman. Don’t behave as if he is! Sadly, most Democrats in Congress have two speeds. If you don’t like this one, you’ll really dislike their other one.... Contrary to Beltway commentary, Congress and the courts aren’t the last guardrails. Mass public protest is, with all the risk that entails with an autocrat in the White House who’d like to see protesters shot.... If Trump on Tuesday were to openly declare that the U.S. is now aligned with Putin’s Russia against NATO and Ukraine, which of you Democrats wants to be in his audience giving assent by your presence?" ~~~
~~~ Marie: I need no convincing. Only the reason I won't be watching is that I'm not a masochist.
⭐Trump Punishes Ukrainian Soldiers for His Own, Vance's Bad Behavior. John Hudson, from the Washington Post's live updates of something: “... Donald Trump has decided to pause all future deliveries of U.S. military assistance to Ukraine in an extraordinary move aimed at pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the negotiating table with Russia as Ukraine fends off a military invasion from the Kremlin, said two U.S. officials familiar with the matter.” (Also linked yesterday.) The full Washington Post story is here. ~~~
~~~ Erica Green, et al. of the New York Times: “The most immediate beneficiary of the move is President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. If the suspension is lengthy, he can use the time to press for further territorial gains. And he may well decide to hold back from any negotiations at all, figuring that any prolonged dispute between Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky will only strengthen his position.... [The cut-off] forces Mr. Zelensky to agree to a cease-fire on terms Mr. Trump dictates, or condemns the country to larger battlefield losses.... The suspension also puts the United States in direct opposition to its major NATO allies.” The AP report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Why, I remember when the House impeached Trump for something very similar to this. ~~~
~~~ Update: Here's Heather Cox Richardson on this & other illegal/unconstitutional/unconscionable/stupid stunts Trump has pulled over the past day or so.
~~~ Marion Solletty of Politico: “French Prime Minister François Bayrou on Monday declared the alliance with the U.S. is seriously wounded and called ... Donald Trump’s attitude toward Ukraine 'an indecency.' 'On Friday evening, a staggering scene unfolded, marked by brutality and a desire to humiliate, the aim of which was to threaten Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into surrendering to the demands of his aggressor,' Bayrou said in a speech to the National Assembly....” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Seb Starcevic of Politico: “Germany’s likely next chancellor said Monday that the bitter clash between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and ... Donald Trump in the Oval Office last week was a 'deliberate escalation' by the latter.... The angry quarrel was a pre-planned ambush by the Americans, claimed Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany’s conservatives.... 'What we have just seen in Washington has a certain continuity with a number of events in the last few weeks, including the appearance of the American delegation in Munich at the security conference,' he added. The German politician seemed to be referring to Vance’s fiery speech at the Munich Security Conference last month, in which he called on Europe to 'step up' and manage its own defense instead of relying on American security guarantees.”
~~~ Andrew Higgins of the New York Times: “Lech Walesa, the leader of Poland’s Solidarity movement, which helped end Moscow’s grip on Eastern Europe at the end of the Cold War, joined with former Polish political prisoners on Monday to send an impassioned letter to ... [Donald] Trump voicing 'horror and disgust' at his scolding of President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine last week, saying it reminded them of their encounters with bullying Communist-era officials. They wrote in Polish that they were 'terrified by the fact that the atmosphere in the Oval Office during this conversation reminded us of the one we remember well from interrogations by the Security Service and from courtrooms in Communist courts.' 'Prosecutors and judges, commissioned by the all-powerful communist political police, also explained to us that they held all the cards and we had none,' the letter said, a reference to ... [Mr.] Trump’s Oval Office rebuke to Mr. Zelensky that 'you don’t have the cards.'... The letter — signed by Mr. Walesa ... and more than 30 prominent former Polish political detainees — was posted on Mr. Walesa’s Facebook page, along with a sometimes imprecise English translation and an old photograph of him meeting with a grinning, tuxedo-clad Mr. Trump.” ~~~
~~~ Patricia Cohen of the New York Times: “President Trump’s rancorous threat to abandon Ukraine is stoking support for a long-debated proposal to use billions of dollars in frozen Russian assets to buy weapons for Ukraine and finance its reconstruction. The money — roughly $300 billion owned by Russia’s central bank — was frozen by the United States, the European Union, Britain and others after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The aim was to punish President Vladimir V. Putin for his unprovoked attack and to cut off funds he could use to wage war. As the war grinds on into its fourth year, a growing number of officials in Europe and elsewhere have been calling for the money to be released to directly compensate Ukraine.... TThe bulk of the funds — about $250 billion — are in financial institutions in the European Union, Canada, Britain, Australia, Japan and Singapore, according to an analysis by Mr. Zelikow. That means a bloc of nations could move to use them even if the United States did not go along with the plan,' [said Philip D. Zelikow of the Hoover Institution].” ~~~
~~~ Siobhan O'Grady & Serhii Korolchuk of the Washington Post: Ukrainians mock Trump & Co. for whining about President Zelensky's attire. (Also linked yesterday.)
Colin Ahern & Mark Montgomery in a Washington Post op-ed: “On the heels of the stunning Oval Office meeting between ... Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky comes the news of a shocking — and shockingly misguided — reversal of long-standing U.S. national security policy regarding Russian cyber operations. In an alleged bid to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table, the Trump administration has reportedly ordered both the Defense Department’s Cyber Command and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to stand down from monitoring and countering Russian cyberthreats. Having spent more than five decades combined defending America’s national interest and digital infrastructure, we unequivocally maintain that this policy shift is a strategic error that will make the United States less secure in cyberspace while doing little to bring about peace in Europe.... We are unilaterally surrendering a critical domain of national power while apparently receiving nothing in return.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: The writers take the attitude that Trump is simply misguided & has no idea that giving up something of great value for nothing in return is not an artful path to a deal. I don't know what Trump's motivations are, but I am convinced that his intention is to capitulate to Russia and, more generally, to pull the foundations of the U.S. out from under the building. I believe he is a traitor to the United States.
David Lynch, et al., of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump said tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada would go into effect Tuesday, ending a month-long delay that saw both U.S. neighbors scramble unsuccessfully to head off the punishing trade action and sending stock prices into a swift decline. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down around 1.5 percent Monday, as investors digested Trump’s comments. The broader S&P 500 index fell nearly 2 percent. Both market measures are now in the red since Trump’s election win. Imposing tariffs on everything Americans buy from Mexico and Canada is an extraordinary political gamble by a president who was returned to power by voters angered over years of high inflation. The new import taxes are likely to raise the market prices of Mexican tequila, beer and avocados, along with Canadian crude oil and lumber, testing consumer patience with Trump’s approach.” CNBC's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump's threatened tariffs on Mexico and Canada are poised to massively jack up prices for new cars in the United States, Bloomberg reports. In fact, Bloomberg writes that the tariffs 'risk driving up US car prices by as much as $12,000, further squeezing consumers and wreaking havoc across the intricate web of automotive supply lines spanning the continent.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging developments. Like this one: “Canada imposed 25 percent tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods at 12:01 a.m. Eastern but did not specify which products would be affected. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada said in a statement that the tariffs would extend to $125 billion of American goods in 21 days.... President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico was expected to address the tariffs at a news conference early on Tuesday. With nationalism strengthening as a result of the dispute, the Mexican leader has seen her approval ratings rise.” ~~~
~~~ Sarah Fortinsky of the Hill: “Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Monday he is prepared to cut off electricity exports to the U.S. if ... [Donald] Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on Canadian goods go through. 'If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do everything — including cut off their energy with a smile on my face,' Ford told reporters at a mining convention in downtown Toronto, the Toronto Sun reported.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Lily Kuo of the Washington Post: “China imposed tariffs of up to 15 percent on a raft of U.S. farm products on Tuesday and blacklisted more than 20 U.S. companies, marking a major escalation in a brewing trade war between the world’s two largest economies. The move targets some of the United States’ top exports to China, including soybeans, meat and grains. It was retaliation for ... Donald Trump’s announcement that he would increase tariffs on Chinese products by an additional 10 percentage points from Tuesday, bringing the total tax on some Chinese products to 45 percent. Trump said he did not expect Beijing to 'retaliate too much,' but only hours later, China’s State Council, the equivalent of its cabinet, announced a 15 percent tax on U.S. goods including chicken, wheat and corn. Other American products — including soybeans, sorghum, beef, pork, seafood, dairy products and fruits and vegetables — will be subject to a 10 percent levy.” ~~~
~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: “Congratulations again to the single-issue 'muh burger too expensive' voters who were apparently critical to Trump winning, and even bigger congratulations to the business interests who figured that Trump winning again would just mean some tax cuts and a few trans girls kicked off of high school field hockey teams.... Well, at least your kids are much more likely to get previously eradicated diseases!”
More great Trump ideas, via Akhilleus by way of Jimmy Kimmel: (Akhilleus shared some more Trumpy ideas in yesterday's Comments): ~~~
~~~ Say, here's an idea neither Kimmel nor Akhilleus thought of: ~~~
~~~ Oliver Milman of the Guardian: “Donald Trump has ordered that swathes of America’s forests be felled for timber, evading rules to protect endangered species while doing so and raising the prospect of chainsaws razing some of the most ecologically important trees in the US. The president, in an executive order, has demanded an expansion in tree cutting across 280m acres (113m hectares) of national forests and other public lands, claiming that 'heavy-handed federal policies' have made America reliant on foreign imports of timber. 'It is vital that we reverse these policies and increase domestic timber production to protect our national and economic security,' the order adds. Trump has instructed the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to increase logging targets and for officials to circumvent the US’s Endangered Species Act by using unspecified emergency powers to ignore protections placed upon vulnerable creatures’ habitats.”
David Fahrenthold, et al., of the New York Times: “Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has deleted hundreds more claims from its mistake-plagued 'wall of receipts,' erasing $4 billion in additional savings that the group said it had made for U.S. taxpayers. Late Sunday night, the group erased or altered more than 1,000 contracts it had claimed to cancel, representing more than 40 percent of all the contracts listed on its site last week. The deleted items included five of the seven largest savings that it had claimed credit for just last week. At the same time, the group added about 1,000 additional canceled contracts, worth smaller total savings. It was the second time in a week that DOGE had deleted some of its greatest claims of success.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Ailia Zehra of the Hill: “Martin O’Malley, the former commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA), said Monday the recent cuts made by tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) at the agency could result in the 'collapse' of the Social Security system 'within the next 30 to 90 days.' O’Malley, a Democrat who also served as Maryland governor from 2007-15, told CNBC the recent DOGE initiatives may jeopardize monthly benefit payments for over 72.5 million Americans.”
Adam Goldman, et al., of the New York Times: “The top agent at the F.B.I.’s New York field office said in an email Monday that he had been forced out of his job, following clashes with Justice Department officials over Trump administration directives. The veteran agent, James E. Dennehy, was told Friday to retire from his role leading the F.B.I.’s largest field office, delivering another blow to the senior ranks of the bureau. Mr. Dennehy, who had been running the office since September, had angered Trump administration officials by supporting bureau leaders who resisted turning over the names of those who investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Mr. Dennehy had also angered Attorney General Pam Bondi by what she claimed was the New York office’s failure to turn over all the investigative files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the financier charged with sex trafficking who killed himself in prison. Ms. Bondi provided no evidence to back up her assertion.” The NBC News report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “The Justice Department said on Monday that it would review the conviction of the former clerk of Mesa County, Colo., who was found guilty of state charges last summer of tampering with voting machines under her control in a failed attempt to prove that they had been used to rig the 2020 election against ... [Donald] Trump. The decision was the latest example of the Justice Department under Mr. Trump’s control seeking to use its powers to support those who have acted on his behalf and to go after those who have criticized or opposed him. It also played into the president’s effort to rewrite the history of his efforts to overturn the results of the election. Three weeks ago, the former clerk, Tina Peters, who was sentenced to nine years in prison on the state election tampering charges, filed a long-shot motion in Federal District Court in Denver effectively challenging the guilty verdict she received in August at the end of a trial in Grand Junction. But, in a surprise move, Yaakov M. Roth, the acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil division, filed a court brief known as a statement of interest on Monday, declaring that 'reasonable concerns have been raised about various aspects of Ms. Peters’s case.'”
Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: “The Trump administration plans to drop a federal lawsuit against a chemical manufacturer accused of releasing high levels of a likely carcinogen from its Louisiana plant, according to two people familiar with the plans. The government filed the lawsuit during the Biden administration after regulators determined that chloroprene emissions from the Denka Performance Elastomer plant were contributing to health concerns in an area with the highest cancer risk of any place in the United States. The 2023 lawsuit was among several enforcement actions taken by the Environmental Protection Agency on behalf of poor and minority communities that have disproportionately borne the brunt of toxic pollution.”
Spencer Hsu, et al., of the Washington Post: “Interim U.S. attorney Ed Martin on Monday directed his office to prosecute more firearms cases in federal court, launching a bid to crack down on gun violence in Washington, D.C., that revived a strategy from ... Donald Trump’s first term.... [Martin's move comes] as violent crime falls, homicides tick up and Trump threatens to 'take over' capital.”
Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: “Ed Martin, the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, has been quietly pushing to present evidence against Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, to a federal grand jury over comments he made about Supreme Court justices in 2020, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Justice Department officials have thus far rebuffed the unusual request by Mr. Martin, a partisan ally of ... [Donald] Trump with no previous prosecutorial experience, one of those people said. Mr. Martin has made clear his hopes of investigating whether the remarks made five years ago by Mr. Schumer amounted to threats against Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Justice Neil M. Gorsuch. Bringing such a case is highly unusual and winning a conviction would be difficult, according to current and former prosecutors. Last month, Mr. Martin signaled his intention to take an aggressive approach, writing Mr. Schumer a letter demanding 'information and clarification' of remarks he made at a rally on March 4, 2020. 'You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price!' Mr. Schumer said at the rally, addressing his remarks to Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch. Mr. Schumer’s staff retracted his statement and the senator apologized a day later, taking to the floor of the Senate to say, 'I should not have used the words I used.'”
Adam Cancryn of Politico: “The top spokesperson at the Health and Human Services Department has abruptly quit after clashing with Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his close aides over their management of the agency amid a growing measles outbreak.... Thomas Corry announced on Monday that he had resigned 'effective immediately,' just two weeks after joining the department as its assistant secretary for public affairs.... [Over and above his disagreements with Kennedy & Kenndy's chief of staff about the management of HHS,] Corry had also grown uneasy with Kennedy’s muted response to the intensifying outbreak of measles in Texas....” (Also linked yesterday.)
Michael Bender of the New York Times: “The Senate voted along party lines on Monday to confirm Linda McMahon as the nation’s next education secretary, putting the former pro-wrestling executive in charge of an agency that the Trump administration wants to eliminate.... Among the first 20 Trump nominations confirmed by the Senate, Ms. McMahon is the sixth whom Democrats unanimously opposed.... A wealthy Republican donor who served in the first Trump administration, Ms. McMahon has little experience in education. That lack of firsthand knowledge has been framed as an asset by a White House looking to abolish the department she now leads and as a glaring deficiency by her critics.... Ms. McMahon, 76, told lawmakers during her confirmation process that she 'wholeheartedly' agreed with ... [Donald] Trump’s 'mission' to eliminate the Education Department. During her hearing last month, she argued that most Americans did, too.... Nearly two-thirds of Americans said last week that they opposed eliminating the agency, according to the NPR/PBS News/Marist poll.”
Annie Karni of the New York Times: Senate “Democrats on Monday blocked a Republican-written bill aimed at barring transgender women and girls from school sports teams designated for female students, thwarting consideration in the Senate of the G.O.P.’s latest move to use transgender people as leverage at the dawn of ... [Donald] Trump’s second term.”
~~~~~~~~~~
27 Comments
Reader Comments (27)
Every morning as I carry my coffee to the sunroom to check the
news, I say to myself "Self, the news can't possibly be worse today
than it has been every day since he became our dictator" but, low and
behold, things do get worse every day.
Maybe I should start learning Russian to keep my mind off events of
the day.
Just watched Lankford try to justify Trump. Turned off the tv. No I will not watch the speech tonight. I'm sick and tired of all the lies and I'm sick and tired of all the gentle ways media has of not right out loud that he's lying. He's misstated this or that, or whatever euphemism is popular that day.
The only reason for tonight’s Bund rally is so Fat Hitler can waddle into the chamber to the sieg heiling applause of his SS troops in Congress.
I’ve completely given up on Congressional Democrats except for a handful (Crockett, AOC, eg).
If I have to hear one.more.fucking.time that “We can’t address ÀLL of Trump’s horrible acts” I’ll…well shit, it doesn’t matter what I’ll do, they won’t care. How about going after that fat traitor for just ONE horrible thing! And I’ve about had it with James Carville telling everyone to calm down cuz it’ll all be over in a month. Hey, Jim: “It’s the TREASON, stupid!”
Fatty feels the need for some good ol’ MAGA adulation for just himself and not him and his boss, the South African Chainsaw Massacre Man.
And, of course, the TV commentators will intone in their best on-air talent voices about how this or that statement was interesting in that blah blah blah blah blah BULLSHIT!
It will be a toilet bowl swirly of self-serving lies. But NO ONE WILL FUCKING SAY THAT!!!
I’m hearing “Ohhhh…the PRESIDENT will appear before Congress tonight to explain to the American people something, something. And then we expect him to lay out his plans for the next four years, boolah, boolah, blah blah and the mome raths outgrabe.”
No! No! No! This is not normal! Nothing about this vivisection of the federal government is remotely, in any possible universe, normal. Why are we pretending it is??!?!?
Explain nothing. He can’t because he doesn’t know what the South African Chainsaw Massacre Man and his pimply faced Hitler Youth are doing and he DOESN’T CARE!
He’s there for the applause! That’s it.
His plan for the next four years? You’ve been in a coma for the last six weeks, is that it?
His plan? Kill democracy, end America, take revenge on everyone he hates, fill his pockets, help Putin, play golf.
That’s it!
So I ain’t watchin’. Fuck ‘em all.
Marie says Trump is a traitor to America.
One hundred percent correct. But he’s a lot worse. He’s a murderer. A vicious, fiendish, evil child who will let Ukrainians die because the ambush he planned for the embattled, decent, and noble President of that beleaguered land didn’t go the way he and his couch humping homunculus had planned. “Tee-her, tee-hee! We’ll short sheet his bed. Won’t it be fun?”
But Zelensky didn’t go along with their schoolyard bully boy tactics. He is a serious man who was there to hash out issues of great moment for his country and frankly, the western democracies, among which Trump’s Amerika no longer numbers.
Fat Hitler and the hillbilly homunculus were there to light their farts.
But now that he looks a fool for his whiny, titty baby outbursts, he’s taking his ball and going home. Fucking evil child that he is.
And here’s how you can tell that neither Fat Hitler nor his congressional testicle cozies understand the first thing about what Ukraine is going through. To them, it’s just a game. Fatty sez “You don’t have the cards, nyah, nyah!” like they’re playing Old Maid. Tommy Potatohead sez “Dear leader and Putin will decide how to carve up Ukraine. Zelensky isn’t even in the game.”
It’s NOT A FUCKING GAME!!
It’s people’s lives. It’s a country’s sovereign right to exist! It’s western civilization.
But not to these jabronis. It’s all a big game. “Ha-ha! I win. You lose!”
No. We lose. The American people. People all around the world who value honesty, decency, freedom, the right to exist without some authoritarian prick bombing the shit out of their schools, their hospitals, their homes.
But Trump is all for those horrible things. He proves it every day.
Saw the Muskrat spouting the old complaint that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme....another obvious prelude to privatizing the closest thing American have to a public retirement plan, which btw it is not and was never intended to be...
Social Security is a public social insurance plan, and since there is no one at the top enriching themselves by buying yachts with other people's money, it has nothing in common with fraud.
Social Security is instead much like a private insurance plan--with two big differences. First, it can't increase premium rates at will to insure its profitability. Congress has to do it and it's far more reluctant to do so than state insurance regulators who live under the threat that if they deny extortionate rate increases, the insurance companies will just pull out of their state.
The second difference is that SS is restricted to investing its surplus in
government bonds, which at best just keeps up with inflation. It, unlike private insurance, is not designed to make a profit.
But since the rule of thumb I'm applying to understanding Pretender 2.0 seems to apply perfectly here as well, I'll apply it: Everything this administration has done or hopes to do is wrong (illegal, mean, nasty or stupid).
These nitwits don't understand Social Security, likely because they don't want to. The way it's designed and the way it's run, there's no profit for the fat cats in it.
So they've set out to wreck it.
The only reason I could see for congressional Democrats to attend tonight's event is for them to choose the first appropriate point to walk out. There will doubtless be many moments worth the statement.
On the YouTubes, the various "news" outlets are promoting their coverage. ABC is using the glaring, under-lit tough guy portrait, CBS has a waving image with a flag in the background. All looking "patriotic", all showing themselves to be part of the propaganda machine.
Yeah, a walkout would be a good choice if they showed up in the first place. Coordinating a sea of yellow and blue outfits to show solidarity with Ukraine would be another possibility. And standing up and turning their backs on Fat Hitler for his liefest would be another. I just hope they actually do something to protest this farce. The Democrats need some spectacle to get the media to pay a little attention to them and steal some of Fatty's spotlight. Zelensky masks and bulletproof vests would also be acceptable.
The current situation in this country is similar to a book I'm reading,
"One Hundred and Sixty Minutes".
It's about the maiden voyage of the unsinkable Titanic.
After the ship starts to list, half of the passengers (Democrats) are
hurriedly getting dressed and going on deck to look for life boats.
The other half (Republicans) are still lounging around in their
pajamas, saying to themselves "This ship is unsinkable".
And we all know how that turned out.
NOAA
"The Trump administration has informed NOAA that two pivotal centers for weather forecasting will soon have their leases canceled, sources told Axios.
Why it matters: One of the buildings is the nerve center for generating national weather forecasts.
It was designed to integrate multiple forecasting centers in one building to improve operating efficiency. It houses telecommunications equipment to send weather data and forecasts across the U.S. and abroad."
My wife just quipped. It's all part of the plan.
If there will be no national forecasts or weather reports, there will be no reported weather-associated predictions or disasters....and therefore no need for FEMA.
Simple, really.
And there's always the Sharpie...
Ken,
But there is a sort of profit for the wealthy in social security. It’s a little trick that the vast majority of us are not eligible for: the social security cap. Rich people don’t pay a penny into social security over $170,000. That’s about what Musk makes before breakfast every day. That’s if he pays anything at all in the first place.
That may not be a traditional profit, but it does ensure that the contribution of the wealthy is minuscule.
As for social security being a Ponzi Scheme, that’s another lie.
A Ponzi Scheme is intentional fraud, a scam that only pays out to a few investors, and then only long enough for the crook who started the fraud to make his money, then he closes up shop and disappears with the rest, leaving most investors broke and getting nothing in return.
Social Security has paid out to every eligible American exactly what they say they are due, and has never missed a payment in over 80 years. How is that a Ponzi Scheme?
And the complaint about Social Security running out of money can be easily fixed by lifting the cap that allows the wealthy, like Trump and Musk, to pay only a tiny fraction of what the average American pays.
Think that will happen?
Not while Musk runs the government, that’s for sure.
Candlelight Dinner
"People Are Paying Millions to Dine With Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago
Business leaders are paying as much as $5,000,000 to meet one-on-one with the president at his Florida compound, sources tell WIRED, while others are paying $1,000,000 apiece to dine with him in a group setting.
“You are invited to a candlelight dinner featuring special guest President Donald J. Trump,” the invitation reads, under a “MAGA INC.” header. MAGA Inc, or Make America Great Again Inc, is a super PAC that supported Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. “Additional details provided upon RSVP. RSVPs will be accommodated on a first come, first serve basis. Space is very limited. $1,000,000 per person.”"
Two quick thoughts:
Marie mentions that Trump is a traitor, giving away all the cards to get to the table: I was listening to Susan Glasser on a podcast with Charlie Sykes (never trumpers) and she made an important insight from her time living/working/writing on Russia that I agree with: I think the behind-the-scenes "negociations" with the Russians are hitting cold, brick walls.
Lavrov: You know Donny, we'd love you to get a Noble peace prize, but we're gonna need X, Y, and Z before we can sit down at the table" (proceeds to give away X, Y, and Z)
"You know Donny, you'll look great with the Noble around your neck, but we're also gonna need A, B, and C" (proceeds to give away A, B, and C...). (rinse and repeat)
In other words, Trump has already oversold his position, declaring how *eaasy* a deal would be, and so the Russians are playing him like a fiddle, racking up favors to get them to the table where they won't be sitting at for any foreseeable future. Why would they?
This leaves Dementia Donny fully exposed, flapping/yapping in the wind, and taking his anger out on others like Zelensky because he can't insult his handlers, even though they're the true cause of his enduring embarrassment on the world stage. Expect a lot more capitulation and a lot more Russian intransigence.
Thought n°2: Where o' where is Leonard Leo? Just when investigative journalists started exposing his nefarious rightwing dark money groups, since the election he has gone underground. He's a traditional Catholic, but buys heavily into the Dominionist "7 mountains" theory of power centers that must be captured. I see the Kennedy Center takeover as a Leo op (or at least he would've wholly supported it), but journalists need to go back to digging under the truly rotten roots instead of transcribing Don's Reality Show.
While we're talking about DiJiT's current Russki treason, let's remember that it has been going on a long time. Here's a blast from the past (2016):
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russian-ambassador-told-moscow-that-kushner-wanted-secret-communications-channel-with-kremlin/2017/05/26/520a14b4-422d-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a_story.html
The opening paras cover most of the story:
"Jared Kushner and Russia’s ambassador to Washington discussed the possibility of setting up a secret and secure communications channel between Trump’s transition team and the Kremlin, using Russian diplomatic facilities in an apparent move to shield their pre-inauguration discussions from monitoring, according to U.S. officials briefed on intelligence reports.
Ambassador Sergey Kislyak reported to his superiors in Moscow that Kushner, son-in-law and confidant to then-President-elect Trump, made the proposal during a meeting on Dec. 1 or 2 at Trump Tower, according to intercepts of Russian communications that were reviewed by U.S. officials. Kislyak said Kushner suggested using Russian diplomatic facilities in the United States for the communications.
The meeting also was attended by Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser. ..."
Responsibility and Transparency
The traitor higher ups are ordering their rank (and I do mean rank) and file congressional layabouts to run and hide! and stay away from public town hall meetings where hoi polloi crowds are voicing their outrage at the Musk/Trump evisceration currently in progress. So…do even less work than they do now.
Farcical frauds like Bobo are whining that protesters are surrounding her house. I guess the first amendment only works when it’s theocratic Christian nationalists harassing women going into Planned Parenthood clinics or when heavily armed PoT thugs show up at polling places to intimidate non-traitor voters.
As always happens, the schemes hatched up above drip down to the traitors at the local level, like blood dripping down the walls of an abattoir.
In Kentucky, there’s a bill coming up for a vote in the PoT controlled legislature that will kill any requirements for public notices in in local papers.
The idea, if you wanna call it that, is if there are public hearings, meetings, job openings, etc. that, by law, require public notification, this new bill sez local pols will stick something on their own website.
Right.
From the Lexington Herald Leader:
“HB 368 seeks to have entities including county and city governments place public notices on their own websites, yet many have only one employee, if any, and can’t even keep their current websites updated. I found one city website in my area that hadn’t been updated with meetings or ordinances since 2020. Two others had very little information, none of the council members were current and the monthly meeting time listed was listed wrong.”
Yeah. And like that.
Look, I worked for almost 15 years in the public sector, dealing with local governments. I can guarantee that a pretty big percentage of elected officials would love nothing better than to hold a public hearing where no one shows up. And that was in a very, very blue state. You could probably triple that percentage in a MAGA state like Kentucky.
These fuckers love to do their dirty work in the dark and to give the public the back of their hand whenever possible.
In Bowling Green, Kentucky, citizens have been protesting at the offices of Li’l Randy. Now normally, this little weasel would attend the opening of an envelope if it got him some publicity. Has he shown his snide little face now? Not on your life.
It’s run and hide from the consequences of your actions. Responsibility and transparency are for Democrats only.
A drunk runs the Pentagon, a dog killer, Homeland Insecurity, Worm Brain is running amok with public health while kids die, two crackpots who have never investigated as much as a missing sock are running the FBI, and now a wrestling lady, who previously hid sexual abuse in her business, has been hired to destroy education in this country. Fat Hitler always says he loves the uneducated. Great. We’re about to have millions more of that kind.
AK: it is refreshing to hear someone as outraged about everything and everyone in the media as I am. Thank you. The "normalizing" of this corrupt piece of s*** is the triggering part...I just want to shoot out of cannons the newspaper and tv headquarters into the next century.
I was so sure about Mueller and his damned report, that when it hit and had been edited by Traitor Barr, I was completely undone. Now it seems quaint to have worried that...Vomitus Dump was a Russian asset. This is so much more than that so-called pee tape and Burisma and Hunter's laptop and all the rest. I have decided that the cult and the voters are all hideous and stupid directly because of ignorance/undereducation and belief in the Gods of Fox; the supreme court and the administration and congress are all willing participants in this traitorous pretending to luv them some Russian murderers. Or maybe it is not pretending-- Maybe they have all signed on to this insane about-face in international relations because they are under threat or payment for services rendered. I just watched a television story about sovereign citizens-- it appears that there are more than we thought. I plan to write and call "our" senators and representatives and ask why they are all agreeing to join up with traitors. I plan to ask them what THEIR PLAN is, and when they "plan" to refute Big Lie #2, that is that Ukraine started the war when they were "peacefully" invaded by the Russkies (twice), and that Zelenskyy accelerated that disgusting display in the Oval on 2/28/25. Both the prez and the vice prez are vile rodents and should be treated accordingly.
Akhilleus and All,
Thought you might enjoy (or re-enjoy) this one, produced here in the Seattle area more than a decade ago.
And we haven't scrapped the cap, have we? Been treated like the federal minimum wage...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZQlbtlErLo
Letter to Vlad
ProPublica
"Ethical Concerns Surround Sen. Joni Ernst’s Relationships With Top Military Officials Who Lobbied Her Committee"
Lobbying ethics is much overlooked by our pathetic media.
Jeanne,
The dirty (not so) secret is that PoT pols hate democracy almost as much as their Dear Leader.
“Democratic lawmakers are discussing a litany of options to protest at President Trump's speech to Congress on Tuesday, including through outright disruption, a half dozen House Democrats told Axios.”
Oh…please let this be true. MSM ball suckers will reprimand them for a “breach of protocol” or some other bullshit spread by the Vichy collaborators in the media, but so what?
Go right at this tub of rooski lard.
@Akhilleus: But following that story, is this one, also from Axios: "House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is cracking down on plans among his members to try to disrupt or draw attention away from President Trump's speech to Congress on Tuesday evening."
For some reason, the "leadership" still seems to think the Marquess of Queensbury rules apply even when playing a WWE cheater.
Unlike some others here, I'm of two minds (a timid way of saying of no mind at all) about how the Dems should react to the Pretender's offensive nonsense tonight. The Dems are damned no matter what they do. I'd be tempted to just stay away. Or maybe attend, close their eyes and feign napping.
And this:
Waldman does it again. A fine interview and comment piece on :Silicon Valley's psychosis.
https://substack.com/home/post/p-158391688
Two by-the-ways....The Rob Reich herein is not Robert Reich, the former Labor Secretary. I think he's at Berkeley, not Stanford.
And, tho' I haven't finished it, for those with nothing else to do, Malcolm Harris' "Palo Alto" provides more than most would want to know about the wedding of technology and the military (and so much more; it's a long read) at Stanford.
I believe Harris is a Marxist, which makes him even more fun.
Democrats are sending out a newbie, Elissa whatshername, to rebut Fat Hitler’s many lies?
Great idea. We need the Hulk but we’re getting Kermit the Frog.
Classic. Was this another Hakeem Jeffries brainstorm?
Fuck me, why don’t we just lie down and play dead? Oh…we’re already doing that?
Okay, cuz I couldn’t tell what the hell we were doing.
Marie,
….ARGGGHHHHH!!!!
Jesus fucking Christ! We have to play nice? While this Nazi fuck is tasing us?!?!?!?
Fuck him. Democrats of good conscience should do what they think is right. And we need new leaders, not graduates of the Merrick Garland School for the Perpetually Petrified.
Hell’s bells!
Steve M. thinks we need take a page from the Traitors and cover all our bases.
"A MIXED DEMOCRATIC RESPONSE TO TRUMP'S SPEECH COULD BE FINE, ACTUALLY"