;)
The Conversation -- November 13, 2024
Matt Viser & Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: “President Joe Biden and ... Donald Trump met face-to-face on Wednesday morning in the Oval Office, an extraordinary moment for two men who have repeatedly expressed public disdain for one another as they go through one of the most unusual transfers of power in American history.... For Biden, the meeting meant welcoming and legitimizing a man he has condemned as an authoritarian and an existential threat to American democracy.”
Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: “... Donald J. Trump addressed jubilant House Republicans on Wednesday morning, delivering triumphant remarks centered around his own electoral victory and drawing laughter when he hinted that they could pave the way for him to serve a third term in office.... 'I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say, “He’s so good we’ve got to figure something else out.’” (The Constitution limits presidents to two terms, though Mr. Trump has mused before about circumventing that restriction.)” MB: Trump is not “drawing my laughter.” If he isn't comatose in January 2029, he will not voluntarily leave the White House.
Liz Goodwin, et al., of the Washington Post: “Senate Republicans chose Sen. John Thune of South Dakota to be their new leader, rejecting an outside pressure campaign from Donald Trump’s allies to break with the establishment in the secret-ballot election, according to two people familiar with the vote. Thune, a close ally of retiring leader Mitch McConnell (Kentucky), has been critical of Trump in the past but has worked to repair that relationship in recent months. He reassured senators in a closed-door meeting that he would work hand in glove with the new administration and would not butt heads with Trump even on issues such as continuing U.S. aid for Ukraine, which Trump opposes, senators said.... Trump himself avoided weighing in on the race directly so far, despite his allies going all in on Scott.” The NBC News story is here.
Rhian Lubin of the Independent: “Melania Trump is likely to spend most of her time away from the White House as first lady – but she is still 'a constant voice' in her husband’s ear. nstead, Melania will spend most of her time between New York City, where 18-year-old Barron is studying at NYU, and Palm Beach, Florida, sources familiar with her plans told CNN.... On Wednesday she snubbed tea with Jill Biden while the president-elect and President Joe Biden met in the Oval Office to discuss the transition schedule.” (The CNN story is firewalled.) MB: So I guess this means she'll be farming out the Christmas-decorating chores. What a shame.
Guardian: “We wanted to let readers know that we will no longer post on any official Guardian editorial accounts on the social media site X.... We think that the benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives and that resources could be better used promoting our journalism elsewhere. This is something we have been considering for a while given the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism. The US presidential election campaign served only to underline what we have considered for a long time: that X is a toxic media platform and that its owner, Elon Musk, has been able to use its influence to shape political discourse. X users will still be able to share our articles, and the nature of live news reporting means we will still occasionally embed content from X within our article pages.
Devlin Barrett & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: “Jack Smith, the special counsel who pursued two federal prosecutions of Donald J. Trump, plans to finish his work and resign along with other members of his team before Mr. Trump takes office in January, people familiar with his plans said. Mr. Smith’s goal, they said, is to not leave any significant part of his work for others to complete and to get ahead of the president-elect’s promise to fire him within 'two seconds' of being sworn in.... Department regulations call for him to file a report summarizing his investigation and decisions — a document that may stand as the final accounting from a prosecutor who filed extensive charges against a former president but never got his cases to trial.” An NBC News story is here.
Adam Goldman & Seamus Hughes of the New York Times: “A C.I.A. official has been charged with disclosing classified documents that appeared to show Israel’s plans to retaliate against Iran for a missile attack earlier this year, according to court documents and people familiar with the matter. The official, Asif W. Rahman, was indicted last week in federal court in Virginia with two counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information. He was arrested by the F.B.I. on Tuesday in Cambodia and brought to federal court in Guam to face charges.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Everything Bad You Thought Could Happen Is Beginning to Happen.
All the Best People:
The Nazification of the U.S. Is Underway. Michael Shear & Eric Lipton of the New York Times: “Mr. Trump said on Tuesday that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead what he called the Department of Government Efficiency. It will ... driv[e] 'drastic change' throughout the government with major cuts and new efficiencies in bloated agencies.... The statement left unanswered all kinds of major questions about an initiative that is uncertain in seriousness but potentially vast in scope.... The statement by Mr. Trump also did not address how Mr. Musk in particular would handle this task, without creating conflicts of interest, given that SpaceX has secured more than $10 billion worth of federal contracts over the last decade.... Ccompanies Mr. Musk created ... have ... been targeted recently in at least 20 different investigations or lawsuits by federal agencies. That means Mr. Musk will somehow be watching over agencies that police his companies.” The Huffington Post's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: The Times reporters note that the "Department of Government Efficiency" -- i.e., "DOGE" -- "appeared to be a play on ... one of Mr. Musk’s many investments: the cryptocurrency Dogecoin...." Okay, fine. But it's such a Nazi thing that the whole enterprise would be farcical if it weren't something that is likely to happen until the principals give up on it. Also, the Times writers themselves are just plain quaint in their expressed concern about the ethics of it all. Ha! The idea that Trump and his "government efficiency" czars would have any ethical standards (or feel a need to comply with legal ones) is preposterous. These people are going to do what they want and everybody will do his best to hide under Miss Trumpy's Supreme-stitched immunity skirt. ~~~
~~~ Update. Colleen Long & Jill Colvin of the AP explain more about this little venture: “... Donald Trump on Tuesday said Elon Musk and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a new 'Department of Government Efficiency' — which is not, despite the name, a government agency.... Trump said in a statement that Musk and Ramaswamy will work from outside the government to offer the White House 'advice and guidance' and will partner with the Office of Management and Budget.... Federal employees are generally required to disclose their assets and entanglements to ward off any potential conflicts of interest, and to divest significant holdings relating to their work. Because Musk and Ramaswamy would not be formal federal workers, they would not face those requirements or ethical limitations.”
It's Creepy Celebrity Apprentice Time at the Pentagon. Helene Cooper & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: “... Donald J. Trump on Tuesday chose Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to be his next defense secretary, elevating a television ally to run the Pentagon and lead 1.3 million active-duty troops. The choice of Mr. Hegseth was outside the norm of the traditional defense secretary. But he was a dedicated supporter of Mr. Trump during his first term, defending his interactions with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, embracing his 'America First' agenda of trying to withdraw U.S. troops from abroad and energetically taking up the cause of combat veterans accused of war crimes.... Mr. Hegseth is a co-host of 'Fox & Friends.' He joined the network as a contributor in 2014 and has been the host of Fox’s New Year’s coverage for years.” Marie: We're into “Dr. Strangelove” territory here. ~~~
~~~ Lolita Baldor & Tara Copp of the AP: “... Donald Trump stunned the Pentagon and the broader defense world by nominating Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as his defense secretary, tapping someone largely inexperienced and untested on the global stage to take over the world’s largest and most powerful military. The news was met with bewilderment and wide-eyed worry among many in Washington.... Hegseth’s choice could bring sweeping changes to the military, as he has made it clear on his show and in interviews that, like Trump, he is stridently opposed to 'woke' programs that promote equity and inclusion. He’s also questioned the role of women in combat and advocated pardoning service members charged with war crimes.” ~~~
~~~ Joe Gould, et al., of Politico: “... even grading on [a] curve, [national security officials and defense analysts] say the announcement of ... Pete Hegseth caught them totally off-guard.... 'Who the fuck is this guy?' said a defense industry lobbyist.... Hegseth’s selection drew immediate backlash from veterans group leaders who opposed him when he was floated for Veterans Affairs secretary during Trump’s first term. He is a former executive director for Vets for Freedom and former CEO of Concerned Veterans for America — a group advocating for outsourcing of health care for veterans that was funded by the Koch brothers. 'Hegseth is undoubtedly the least qualified nominee for SecDef in American history. And the most overtly political. Brace yourself, America,' Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Independent Veterans of America, said in a post on X Tuesday night.... 'Wow. Trump picking Pete Hegseth is the most hilariously predictably stupid thing,' former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a frequent Trump critic, posted on social media.”
~~~ Paul Campos in LG&$: “I mean I guess it could have been Vince McMahon or Ted Nugent.” ~~~
~~~ Missy Ryan, et al., of the Washington Post: “Hegseth’s nomination suggests a coming battle over social and personnel issues within the armed forces, historically one of the nation’s most diverse institutions.... Throughout his campaign, Trump made a distinction between fighting generals and 'woke' generals, vowing to fire the latter. Asked in a podcast interview ... published last week what he would do, Hegseth ... [said,] 'First of all, you’ve got to fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs,' ... referring to Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. 'Any general, any admiral, whatever,' who was involved in diversity, equity and inclusion programs or 'woke s---' has 'got to go,' Hegseth said.... The breakneck speed of the Hegseth nomination also underscores the value Trump places on TV personalities who have used their platform to promote his agenda.” ~~~
~~~ Ellen Mitchell of the Hill: “The transition team for ... Trump is working on an executive order that would speed up the firing of top military brass if signed, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. The draft executive order would set up a 'warrior board' of retired generals and noncommissioned officers given power to review three- and four-star officers and to recommend anyone 'lacking in requisite leadership qualities,' according to the document, reviewed by the Journal. If signed by Trump once he takes office, it could allow the quick removal of generals and admirals and purge the ranks of those the future commander-in-chief takes issue with for whatever reason.” See also Akhilleus' commentary at the top of today's thread.
Joby Warrick & Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: “John Ratcliffe, a fierce Donald Trump loyalist and a director of national intelligence during the first Trump term, was named Tuesday as the president-elect’s choice to head the CIA. Trump’s choice of Ratcliffe puts the former Texas congressman and noted China hawk in line to head an agency that he helped oversee in the final months of the Trump White House, at times drawing criticism from Democrats who accused him of using intelligence to gain political advantage.... Ratcliffe’s eight-month term as director of national intelligence was beset by controversy over his decision to declassify unvetted Russian intelligence documents that purported to show Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton approving a scheme to create a scandal falsely tying Trump to Moscow.” ~~~
~~~ Dan De Luce & Zoe Richards of NBC News: “Ratcliffe, who was the U.S. representative for Texas’ 4th District from 2015 to 2020, was a controversial pick for director of national intelligence in Trump’s first term — so much so that the first attempt to install him, in 2019, failed. Ratcliffe had been a federal prosecutor in Texas, and he boasted on his website about having 'put terrorists in prison.' NBC News and other news organizations found no evidence that he had ever prosecuted a terrorism case. He also misrepresented his involvement in the U.S. v. Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing case, NBC News previously reported. In the wake of those stories, Trump announced that Ratcliffe had removed himself from consideration.... As director of national intelligence, Ratcliffe appeared to go out of his way to help Trump politically, but he was said to have balked after the election when Trump and his aides were seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election.”
Katherine Doyle of NBC News: “... Donald Trump said he intends to nominate former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to be the U.S. ambassador to Israel.... During his 2016 presidential run, Huckabee staked out an arch-conservative position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, rejecting the notion of an 'occupied' West Bank. Instead, he referred to the area using the biblical term 'Judea and Samaria.'... Top Israeli officials celebrated the news later Tuesday.... In a separate statement Tuesday, Trump announced he would appoint businessman Steve Witkoff ... to be his special envoy to the Middle East. Witkoff, who spoke at the Republican National Convention in July, is a longtime friend and political donor of Trump's.” ~~~
~~~ Adriana Licon of the AP: “Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee..., Donald Trump’s pick to be ambassador to Israel, has long rejected a Palestinian state in territory previously seized by Israel and has repeatedly signaled his staunch support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Huckabee, a former TV host and Baptist preacher, frequently visits Israel and once said he wanted to buy a holiday home there. He has maintained throughout the years that the West Bank belongs to Israel, and recently said 'the title deed was given by God to Abraham and to his heirs.'... His argument for a so-called 'one-state solution' contradicts longstanding official U.S. support for the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state.... Here are some things Huckabee has said over the years about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Okay, all you Arab-Americans who voted for Trump because Gaza, are you happy now? Maybe you're waiting for the Muslim ban???
What I Said. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: “... Donald J. Trump’s demand that Senate Republicans surrender their role in vetting his nominees poses an early test of whether his second term will be more radical than his first. Over the weekend, Mr. Trump insisted on social media that Republicans select a new Senate majority leader willing to call recesses during which he could unilaterally appoint personnel, a process that would allow him to sidestep the confirmation process. His allies immediately applauded the idea, intensifying pressure on G.O.P. lawmakers to acquiesce. The demand to weaken checks and balances and take for himself some of the legislative branch’s usual power underscored Mr. Trump’s authoritarian impulses. While there is no obvious legal obstacle to Mr. Trump’s request, it would be an extraordinary violation of constitutional norms. There is no historical precedent for a deliberate and wholesale abandonment by the Senate of its function of deciding whether to confirm or reject the president’s choices to bestow with government power.” Emphasis added.
Julia Ainsley, et al., of NBC News: “The incoming Trump administration is considering locations and talking to private prison companies about drastically expanding immigrant detention centers that would hold immigrants before they are deported as part of President-elect Donald Trump's promised mass deportation plan, two sources familiar with the planning told NBC News. The goal is to double the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention beds — 41,000 are now allocated by Congress — to hold vast numbers of migrants for short periods of time while they await deportation after their arrests inside the U.S., the sources said. The plan would also include restarting the policy of detaining parents with their children, known as family detention, which immigration advocates have criticized and the Biden administration stopped in 2021, the sources said.” See also Akhilleus's comment on this in today's thread.
Kyle Cheney & Betsy Swan of Politico: “The judge overseeing the criminal case in Arizona against some of Donald Trump’s top allies recused himself from the case on Tuesday after defense lawyers accused him of anti-Trump bias. The allegations against Judge Bruce Cohen stemmed from a revelation that he had implored white male colleagues to speak out against attacks on Kamala Harris’ race and gender. Cohen also invoked resistance to the Nazis to describe the current political moment.... One of the defendants [Jake Hoffman] — represented by a lawyer who also worked on the Trump campaign — said the comments warranted Cohen’s removal from the case.... In the court document announcing his decision, Cohen defended his comments. But he conceded they could create concerns about his fairness.”
digby: “Our mediaecosystem is in deep, deep trouble and regardless of the macro political influences, we are going to be under threat of this fascist movement.... In fact, I think Trump isn’t even a political figure at all. He’s a celebrity cult leader. And the right wing media is what makes him accessible to the fan base.... Trump and MAGA are creatures of the rightwing media ecosystem not the other way around. It’s not that there’s some super talented 'messaging' team that understands exactly how to reach all those Trump voters with what they want to hear. Their right wing media (and their audiences) are telling them what they want to hear.... Terrifyingly, they are just getting started. They are hoovering up newspapers everywhere with their eyes on the last of our papers of record. They want total dominance and they have the money to buy it. Just look at what Musk has done with twitter.” Digby cites Michael Tomasky of the New Republic, who backs up her theory. ~~~
~~~ Callie Holtermann of the New York Times: “Bluesky, [a social media platform] which began in 2019 as a project by the Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, is among several challengers that have each experienced bursts of momentum since [Elon] Musk’s acquisition of Twitter in 2022 and subsequent rebranding of it.... It now has 14.7 million users, the company said.... The accounts created on Bluesky this week, many of which are left-leaning, shared cat videos alongside their hopes that the platform might offer a reprieve from the misinformation and hateful speech that have swirled on X since Mr. Musk’s takeover. That is still far fewer than Threads, Meta’s competitor to X, which this month reported that it had reached 275 million monthly active users.”
Maya Schwayder & Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: “Jack Teixeira, a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of sharing classified government records online, was sentenced on Tuesday to 15 years in prison for one of the most damaging national security leaks in history.... The sentencing brings to an end a case that raised questions over how easily a relatively low-level member of the guard had obtained a top-secret clearance that gave him access to some of the country’s most sensitive secrets.” The AP report is here.
Rick Rojas of the New York Times: “A federal judge in Louisiana blocked a state law on Tuesday that would have required the display of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom.... The decision was a setback for supporters of the measure, but not an unexpected one: Proponents have braced themselves for pushback and, in many ways, have invited a lengthy legal fight, as part of a larger effort by conservative Christian groups to amplify public expressions of faith. John W. deGravelles, a U.S. District Court judge appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama, found that the law, which was scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, was unconstitutional. He forbade the state from enforcing it.... Attorney General Liz Murrill of Louisiana, a Republican, said in a statement that she ... would immediately appeal [the decision]. Supporters of the bill expect a friendlier reception from the appeals court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which is considered to be one of the nation’s most conservative courts.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: You know this case will end up in the Supreme Court. Sam Alito must have had an anticipatory orgasm just reading the opinion. "Oh God, oh God oh God, bring it on!"
~~~~~~~~~~
New York. Karen Matthews of the AP: “Former U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm, a New York Republican who resigned from Congress following a tax fraud conviction, is paralyzed from the chest down after being thrown from a horse during a polo tournament, according to friends who are raising funds to pay for the ex-lawmaker’s medical care. Grimm, 54, suffered the devastating injury in September and is now being treated at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in New Jersey, where the late actor Christopher Reeve was treated after a similar equestrian accident in 1995, according to Vincent Ignizio, a friend of Grimm’s who is a former New York City Council member.”
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Reader Comments (29)
My Generals
Fat Hitler is getting ready to purge any military leader not ready to pledge loyalty to Trump. To hell with the Constitution. Fealty to the Glorious Leader is all that matters now.
“The draft executive order, which was first reported on by The Wall Street Journal, makes it easy to quickly remove military officials “lacking in requisite leadership qualities” but leaves open the question of what those requisite qualities are. The executive order draws on General George C. Marshall’s 1940 creation of a ‘plucking board’ led by retired general officers to “remove from line promotion any officer for reasons deemed good and sufficient.” But that plucking board was to uplift young officers with high potential, not to cull anyone not perfectly aligned with MAGA.
It’s not yet clear if Trump will sign the executive order, but Trump has held vitriol toward certain military leaders for some time now. He has vowed to weaponize them against the ‘enemy within’ to fire anyone involved in the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and to create a task force to weed out ‘woke generals.’
‘This looks like an administration getting ready to purge anyone who will not be a yes man,’ former Army lawyer Eric Carpenter told The Wall Street Journal. ‘If you are looking to fire officers who might say no because of the law or their ethics, you set up a system with completely arbitrary standards, so you can fire anyone you want.’”
The Trump Revenge Squad is in full control. Maybe someone finally got through to him about how certain generals not “sufficiently loyal” to the first Hitler tried to kill him. He’s not taking any chances.
Paranoia, hatred, and narcissism should not be the qualities that determine military readiness.
Readiness for what, you might ask?
Yeah. Stay tuned. We ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Remember that promise to have the military go after his perceived enemies?
MAGA capitalists
The for-profit prison industry is ready to heil Trump:
As the government and law enforcement brace for the sweeping ramifications of President-elect Donald Trump's pledge to deport you what could be millions of undocumented immigrants from the United States, another stakeholder appears poised to cash in on the complex logistics that would be required: the powerful private prison industry.
On corporate earnings calls since Election Day, executives at the country's top private prison firms have embraced Trump's immigration agenda as a potential windfall if the federal government requires contractors to construct new detention facilities and provide additional support services for the unprecedented effort.
Geo Group founder George Zoley, whose company is the country's largest private prison operator, told investors last week that Trump's deportation plans represent a ‘potential sea change’ for the industry.”
Not just for the “Lock ‘em Up” industry. Concentration camps are coming.
@Akhilleus: Yes, yes, but the one guilty pleasure we have -- at least until each of us ends up in one of those concentration camps -- is to say, again and again, "I told you so!"
And then, and then, if we wait a bit, some of those same doofusses who wouldn't listen will end up bunked right next to us in the camps, and we can resume our "I told you so!" mantra, right to their slack-jawed faces (if perhaps in a whisper, to avoid getting smacked by a skin-headed guard).
Hegseth as Sec Def makes perfect sense to me. It's clear to t**** that actual knowledge and experience is not required to be *president, so anyone can do one of those lesser jobs.
It's going to be awful.
Even in a complicated world, once in a while things are so darn simple.
If your only qualification is fealty to an ignorant, mean, greedy, racist conman , you've pretty much proved you have no place in government.
Unless it's a government of ignorant, mean, greedy, racist conmen.
So some Fox flunky is now in charge national defense??? (We are now in the age of multiple question marks for the foreseeable future…)
Probably the most common reaction among brass in the Pentagon (an actual response) is “Who the fuck is this guy?”
In 1964, the director John Frankenheimer released a gripping and truly frightening film about a plot to take over the government. “Seven Days in May” lays out a plot by right-wing generals to remove the President, grab power, and declare martial law. It’s a great film, the story of which I used to think could never happen here (funny how that line rings so hollow every day now). But in our case, the reverse is true. The president* IS taking over the military.
But watch the trailer linked above. Jesus! Screaming mobs at a rally in Madison Square Garden, members of Congress with “a secret”, a plot to kidnap an elected official, all the stuff we’ve been seeing actually played out.
The screenplay, by the great Rod Serling, has a “whew” ending which relies on the good sense of the American electorate to never put such crazy bastards in power.
Yeah, right.
Guess we’re all in the Twight Zone now. And it’s getting darker every day.
More might be learned today about that quaint Advise and Consent thing in the Senate:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/13/senate-republican-leadership-trump/
Are there any spines left in the R caucus? We shall see.
But hey, at least we have Kristi Noem to protect the homeland from pet dogs.
After the inauguration of this demented, fascist piece of shit, I’m wondering if AG will go after him like he went after Joe Biden, with breathless stories about a flubbed word or a missed step.
Will Both Sides still be the order of the day? It’ll be pretty hard to come up with a “Yeah, but Democrats do it too!” when the Trump concentration camps open for business.
You just know that Heritage mustache twirlers, white supremacists, and theocratic maniacs are all out there now thinking “OH yes! We own the White House, Congress, the courts, now the military! We can do whatever we want and no one can stop us! Bwah-ha-ha!”
Hegseth - pure Norwegian descent; married three times; cheated on spouse 2 and had daughter with spouse 3 while still married to 2; "wrote" diatribe books published by (? Press); looks good on TV, gets Fox time.
Why, he's like the son DiJiT never had !
One more thing about Kristi Noem. It’s perfectly fine to shoot dogs if you’re a well connected, card carrying MAGA traitor. But if you’re a dark skinned immigrant, we spread lies about you eating dogs and call you a terrorist.
@Akhilleus: Thanks for the reminder about "Seven Days in May." I don't think I ever saw the film, but I was aware of the story plot.
Now, in a land dominated by right-wing media and their "liberal elite" copycats, the people themselves have chosen the conspirators. And rather than a tale in which the conspirators meet in dark alleys and Watergatesque parking garages, the conspiracies take place out in the open. Trump barks out orders on his fake-Twitter site and the toadies acquiesce on "Press the Meat." As Trump might say, "We've never seen anything like it." I would respond: "But Germany has."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advise_and_Consent
Remembered this one from my teens, back in the day when I was eating up such anti-communist classics as Hoover's "Masters of Deceit."
And when the Senate might have been engaged in fighting a largely imaginary enemy, but was at least seriously engaged in something beyond maintaining their own power to do nothing.
Marie,
Quite. As our old friend Molly Ivins once put it, Trump’s marching orders “probably sounded better in the original German”.
Can't wait to see Eric nominated for Secretary of Education.
He'll be dumbing it down to his level.
Maybe he'll bring Betsy back in to help privatize everything to do
with education.
Hopefully the Democrats can goad the Republicans in the House and Senate to fight each other to stop some of the Republicans' worst policies. We need to use the fact that they are attention seeking garbage people with oversized egos against them.
The Cliff
Tom Tomorrow.
Welp. Here we go again.
The Atlantic highlighted a long essay by Jonathan Haidt originally published in the May 2022 issue Its not just a phase
"The story of Babel is the best metaphor I have found for what happened to America in the 2010s, and for the fractured country we now inhabit. Something went terribly wrong, very suddenly. We are disoriented, unable to speak the same language or recognize the same truth. We are cut off from one another and from the past.
....
This new game [social media] encouraged dishonesty and mob dynamics: Users were guided not just by their true preferences but by their past experiences of reward and punishment, and their prediction of how others would react to each new action. "
Ken Klippenstein has Trump's dossier on Rubio. A lot of typical Republican talking out of both sides of their mouth.
"It May Not Be Safe to Remain Friends With MAGA
Trump voters have told you they will hurt you. It’s reasonable to believe them.
I haven’t seen a lot of discussion of another important reason why you might want to stop talking to Trump voters though. It’s not just because they enabled a Trump presidency which will cause a great deal of harm to a great many people. It’s because once you’ve established that you’re willing to choose the fascist state over your loved ones, your loved ones can no longer trust you. If you’ve betrayed them once, there’s a reasonable fear that you will betray them again, in ways that may be more directly catastrophic.
Fascism is designed to empower favored groups to police, harass, abuse, and intimidate disfavored groups. People who vote for that are voting to police, harass, abuse, and intimidate disafavored groups. If you are in a disfavored group (which includes opponents of Trump!), then you have a target on you. And the whole point of fascism is to give supporters broad power to fire at that target.
MAGA whiners act as if they’re victims because those close to them have cut them out of their lives. But MAGA true believers, or even MAGA casual believers, voted to give themselves the power to abuse, terrorize, and destroy those they disagree with, or those who annoy them. Maybe they don’t plan to use that power. Maybe they would not throw their loved ones in prison, or in a camp, or in a ditch, at the first opportunity. But, again, they voted to give themselves that power. How can you be sure they won’t use it?"
A loss for the loser:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/13/senate-republican-leadership-trump/?
Soooo…the honorable and intrepid Jack Smith is resigning. The Supreme Crooks blessed a fat traitor with kingly immunity. He will not be held accountable for any of his many crimes. He could have been prosecuted years ago which very likely would mean he wouldn’t now be Nazifying the nation in his own grifting, nasty image.
Somewhere in official Washington, there’s a man, a humble man, a man scared of his own shadow, a man who was given a job which he was constitutionally unsuited for. He’s wrapping up his final bits of important business (probably a couple of parking tickets), cleaning out his office, heading home. As he turns off the lights and shuts the door, he takes a last look back and with a satisfied sigh says “My work here is done.”
Thank you, Merrick Garland.
Continuing on with my effort to avoid political discussions as if they were a ticket of admission to a Marred a Lardo party for a certain fat Nazi, this morning I zeroed in on a Smithsonian podcast (their Sidedoor program, neat stuff).
This one involved an investigation of the biggest Cryptocurrency heist thus far, one worth billions.
I suggest this to RC denizens for three reasons: if you like great detective work, tracking down weirdo bad guys, this one is for you. Secondly, it’s a very nice explanation of the crypto world, bitcoin, block chains, and other recondite digital ephemera. I have never been keenly up on how all this works beyond a very fuzzy impression. Thirdly, it gives you an idea of why chiseling grifters like the idiot Trump brothers are now so interested in klepto, er, I mean crypto. The possibility of scuzzy scams is huge.
Anyway, it’s a half hour well spent and involves no mention of a certain Orange Monster.
How crazy can you get?
Here are two more answers:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/13/trump-administration-transition/?
Melanie’s snub of First Lady Jill Biden’s invitation to the traditional ceremonial tea is par for the course for this classless grifting chiseler.
“Einstein Visa” recipient Melanie has proven herself to be what she’s always been, a cheap soft core porn climber and con artist. She’s pissed because she thinks the Bidens ordered the FBI to rummage through her underwear drawer looking for stolen documents? Well boo-fucking-hoo.
Gangster molls should expect that their criminal partners will be investigated by the cops, and Joe Biden (never mind Jill) had nothing to do with it, but I guess when you’re glued to Faux liars like new Pentagon boss Pete Hegseth, of course your thinking is as corrupt as you are.
Melanie should consider herself lucky that she weaseled her way into the country as a talentless immigrant and just go back to grifting. Another oafish, vulgar Trump boor.
Pick a criminal to protect a criminal
"Trump announces he will nominate Rep. Matt Gaetz to be attorney general
Gaetz, 42, would take the helm of a department that as recently as last year was investigating him for possible sex trafficking offenses. Ultimately, prosecutors recommended against bringing charges against him after a long-running probe."
Matt Gaetz….Attorney General???!?! A child molester?
Jesus fucking Christ.
Although I avoided MSNBC all day, daughter clued me in about Gaetz--I pretty much shrieked... I seriously never considered that piece of oily trash as qualified for even the Dumpie Cabinet...much less that. Our last AG possessed dignity, the few times he crawled out of his hole and saw his shadow, and had already been insulted by not being put on the then-Supreme Court by Barack Obama. That was all managed by horrible tortoise man, and he is another that should just drop dead already...Anyhow, no, I thought Gaetz was even too disgusting for the management, but NO!!!! He is just who they want. He's sly, oily and convinced of his own wonderfulness in spades. And he is a sexual predator, just like Trumpie-doo-doo! Just the guy to punish everyone in sight that doesn't kiss the feet of Junior Hitler. Joy just called all this a cartoon, and I had just gotten through typing that to a friend. This country now WILL be a laughingstock, with all these below the basement appointments. Except, of course, other countries have some of these same leanings.
We are no longer leaning. We are in full fascist mode. Pete of Foxytime will help out, as will most everyone just appointed. Tulsi???
Any thoughts of respect for these monsters are deep-sixed. The last slimy monster to check in with full qualifications as one is a snotty ex-model who hates her husband (along with our hatred for them,) disses her successor and predecessor and the country. I don't really care for her-- do you? No, I don't think that is strong enough as a descriptor. She is a big fat ZERO. No class. No humanity. No redeemable value.