The Conversation -- April 2, 2025

⭐John Hudson of the Washington Post: “Members of ... Donald Trump’s National Security Council, including White House national security adviser Michael Waltz, have conducted government business over personal Gmail accounts, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post and interviews with three U.S. officials.... A senior Waltz aide used the commercial email service for highly technical conversations with colleagues at other government agencies involving sensitive military positions and powerful weapons systems relating to an ongoing conflict.... Waltz has had less sensitive, but potentially exploitable information sent to his Gmail, such as his schedule and other work documents.... Waltz has also created and hosted other Signal chats with Cabinet members on sensitive topics, including on Somalia and Russia’s war in Ukraine, said a senior administration official. The existence of those groups was first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday.... Most concerning, however, is the use of personal email, which is widely acknowledged to be susceptible to hacking, spearfishing and other types of digital compromise.” (Also linked yesterday.)  ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I just emailed Mike from my new account FileTopSecretDocsHere@gmail.com

Jonathan Last of the Bulwark contrasts Kilmar Abrego Garcia -- a decent family man the U.S. says it's "accidentally deported" to a horrible Salvadoran prison -- with Elon Musk -- "an effete parasite" whom Trump's administration has granted "permission to pillage the government itself." As Kyle Cheney of Politico reported in a story linked yesterday, the Trump administration now says it has no way to correct their ghastly mistake. As an exasperated Last puts it, "America cannot possibly importune the government of El Salvador for the return of this man because we have no authority over them and El Salvador is a close ally we cannot afford to annoy. These motherfuckers are making this argument at the same time as they are dispatching the vice president to stand on foreign soil and threaten a formal treaty ally with territorial annexation. They are doing this while telling Ukraine to submit to Russia because morality and law are immaterial and the only thing that matters is strength—if you don’t hold 'the cards' then you do what the more powerful country tells you to do. Well tell me, counselors, what cards does El Salvador hold that it can’t be made to do what America demands?" Thanks to laura h. for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) 

Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: “Lawyers for Venezuelan migrants accused of being members of a violent street gang asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to continue a temporary block on ... [Donald] Trump’s use of a wartime powers law to send hundreds of people to a prison in El Salvador. The Trump administration has asked the justices to intervene and lift a block on the deportations imposed by a lower court. But a brief filed on behalf of the immigrants by the American Civil Liberties Union and Democracy Forward said that block is now 'the only thing' preventing the Trump administration from sending immigrants 'to a prison in El Salvador, perhaps never to be seen again, without any kind of procedural protection, much less judicial review.' The government has already sent more than 130 Venezuelan men from the United States to El Salvador, according to the court filing, where the migrants 'have been confined, incommunicado, in one of most brutal prisons in the world, where torture and other human rights abuses are rampant.'”

Yan Zhuang of the New York Times: “Óscar Arias Sánchez, the Nobel laureate and former Costa Rican president, said on Tuesday that the United States had revoked his visa to enter the country, with no reason given. A vocal critic of ,,, [Donald] Trump, Mr. Arias appears to be the most high profile in a string of individuals who have had their visas canceled or been denied entry as the Trump administration bars people who it says have 'hostile attitudes' toward the United States.... In February, he wrote on Facebook that Mr. Trump behaved like 'a Roman emperor, telling the rest of the world what to do.'... Mr. Arias, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for brokering a plan to end the civil wars in Central America, said he had received a short email from the U.S. government informing him that his visa had been revoked. At a news conference in San José, the capital of Costa Rica, he said that the email, which he received Tuesday morning, cited Section 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows the secretary of state and consular officials to revoke visas at their discretion.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Of course the State Department revoked Arias' visa. Even before he spoke out against the Emperor Trumpvus, he had two strikes against him: he has brownish skin AND he won an award Trump covets and will never get. Uh, unless the U.S. invades Norway and replaces all the members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Admittedly, a possibility.

Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: “Federal agencies have accelerated their efforts to cut thousands of jobs, offering buyouts and eliminating entire offices as the Trump administration’s deadline to downsize approaches. At least six federal agencies have in recent days extended a 'deferred resignation' offer that was originally pitched to government workers in January as a one-time opportunity that would allow employees to resign but continue to be paid for a period of time. The latest offer was sent to employees at the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Housing and Urban Development and Transportation, as well as the General Services Administration, according to emails received by workers at those agencies reviewed by The New York Times.” MB: IOW, the heads of these agencies are really askeert of Trump.

⭐Wisconsin. Adam Edelman of NBC News: "Susan Crawford has won a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, NBC News projects, allowing liberals to maintain their narrow majority on the battleground state’s highest court — and defying Elon Musk after he spent millions of dollars to oppose her. Crawford, a Dane County circuit judge who was backed by Democrats, secured a 10-year term on the court over Brad Schimel, a Waukesha County circuit judge and a former Republican attorney general. As the first major battleground state election of ... Donald Trump’s second term, the technically nonpartisan contest drew national attention and became the most expensive state Supreme Court race in U.S. history." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Reid Epstein of the New York Times: “With turnout extraordinarily high for a spring election in an off year, Judge Susan Crawford handily beat Judge Brad Schimel, who ran on his loyalty to ... [Donald] Trump and was aided by [Elon] Musk.... Mr. Musk not only poured money into the race but also campaigned personally in the state, even donning a cheesehead. But his starring role seemed to inflame Democratic anger against him even more than it helped Judge Schimel. The barrage of spending in the race may nearly double the previous record for a single judicial election. With about 95 percent of the vote counted on Tuesday evening, Judge Crawford held a lead of roughly 9 points.... Her win showed that, at least in one instance, Mr. Musk’s seemingly endless reserves of political cash had energized more Democrats than Republicans.” ~~~

     ~~~ Reid Epstein, et al., of the New York Times: “Elon Musk’s money can buy him love from Republicans, but not, it turns out, a Wisconsin Supreme Court election. A campaign awash in more than $25 million in spending by the world’s richest man and groups tied to him ended up much like the other elections of the first months of ... [Donald] Trump’s second term: with a surge of energy from Democratic Wisconsin voters that overwhelmed whatever turnout Republicans could manage in response. On the same night that Judge Susan Crawford, the liberal candidate, was delivering a thumping to Judge Brad Schimel, the Trump-backed conservative, Democrats saw a silver lining in losses in two special congressional elections in Florida. In both races, they were able to cut sharply into the much wider Republican victory margins from November.” 

In all, the night’s results demonstrated what Democratic officials have been saying in recent weeks: that their voters are fired up to fight back against a Trump administration set on tearing down large chunks of the federal government.

Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: “Two Trump-backed Republicans won special congressional elections in Florida on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, shoring up their party’s slim majority in the House at a crucial moment for ... [Donald] Trump’s domestic agenda. Jimmy Patronis, the state’s chief financial officer, won the race to replace Matt Gaetz in the First Congressional District, on the western end of the Panhandle. With most of the vote counted late Tuesday, Mr. Patronis had won 57 percent. And State Senator Randy Fine captured the Sixth District seat that had been held by Michael Waltz, now Mr. Trump’s national security adviser. That district is rooted in Daytona Beach and parts of the northeast coast. Mr. Fine had 56.7 percent of the vote as of 9 p.m.” 

⭐ Tim Balk, et al., of the New York Times: “Senator Cory Booker, his voice still booming after more than a day spent on the Senate floor railing against the Trump administration, on Tuesday night surpassed Strom Thurmond for the longest Senate speech on record, in an act of astonishing stamina that he framed as a call to action. Mr. Booker, a New Jersey Democrat and one-time presidential candidate, began his speech at 7 p.m. on Monday, vowing to speak as long as he was 'physically able.' In a show of physical and oratorical endurance, he lasted past sunset on Tuesday, assailing President Trump’s cuts to government agencies and crackdown on immigration. He ended his speech at 8:05 p.m., 46 minutes after eclipsing Mr. Thurmond’s 24-hour 18-minute filibuster of a civil rights bill in 1957, by quoting John Lewis, the civil rights hero and congressman. Mr. Booker said of Lewis: 'He said for us to go out and cause some good trouble, necessary trouble, to redeem the soul of our nation. I want you to redeem the dream. Let’s be bold in America.'

“Earlier, cheers broke out in the chamber when Mr. Booker passed Mr. Thurmond. For a moment, Mr. Booker addressed the man he had eclipsed. 'To hate him is wrong, and maybe my ego got too caught up that if I stood here, maybe, maybe, just maybe, I could break this record of the man who tried to stop the rights upon which I stand.... I’m not here though because of his speech. I’m here despite his speech. I’m here because as powerful as he was, the people were more powerful.'” (This is an update of a story linked multiple times yesterday.)

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The Conversation -- April 1, 2025

⭐Wisconsin. Adam Edelman of NBC News: "Susan Crawford has won a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, NBC News projects, allowing liberals to maintain their narrow majority on the battleground state’s highest court — and defying Elon Musk after he spent millions of dollars to oppose her. Crawford, a Dane County circuit judge who was backed by Democrats, secured a 10-year term on the court over Brad Schimel, a Waukesha County circuit judge and a former Republican attorney general. As the first major battleground state election of ... Donald Trump’s second term, the technically nonpartisan contest drew national attention and became the most expensive state Supreme Court race in U.S. history."

⭐John Hudson of the Washington Post: “Members of ... Donald Trump’s National Security Council, including White House national security adviser Michael Waltz, have conducted government business over personal Gmail accounts, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post and interviews with three U.S. officials.... A senior Waltz aide used the commercial email service for highly technical conversations with colleagues at other government agencies involving sensitive military positions and powerful weapons systems relating to an ongoing conflict.... Waltz has had less sensitive, but potentially exploitable information sent to his Gmail, such as his schedule and other work documents.... Waltz has also created and hosted other Signal chats with Cabinet members on sensitive topics, including on Somalia and Russia’s war in Ukraine, said a senior administration official. The existence of those groups was first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday.... Most concerning, however, is the use of personal email, which is widely acknowledged to be susceptible to hacking, spearfishing and other types of digital compromise.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I just emailed Mike from my new account FileTopSecretDocsHere@gmail.com

Jonathan Last of the Bulwark contrasts Kilmar Abrego Garcia -- a decent family man the U.S. says it's "accidentally deported" to a horrible Salvadoran prison -- with Elon Musk -- "an effete parasite" whom Trump's administration has granted "permission to pillage the government itself." As Kyle Cheney of Politico reported in a story linked this morning, the Trump administration now says it has no way to correct their ghastly mistake. As an exasperated Last puts it, "America cannot possibly importune the government of El Salvador for the return of this man because we have no authority over them and El Salvador is a close ally we cannot afford to annoy. These motherfuckers are making this argument at the same time as they are dispatching the vice president to stand on foreign soil and threaten a formal treaty ally with territorial annexation. They are doing this while telling Ukraine to submit to Russia because morality and law are immaterial and the only thing that matters is strength—if you don’t hold 'the cards' then you do what the more powerful country tells you to do. Well tell me, counselors, what cards does El Salvador hold that it can’t be made to do what America demands?" Thanks to laura h. for the link.

Marie: I heard on MSNBC that Cory Booker is still at it at a little before 4:00 pm ET. What phenomenal stamina! ~~~

    ~~~ Mike Ives, et al., of the New York Times: “Senator Cory Booker, visibly tired but still upright at a lectern on the Senate floor, was continuing a marathon speech criticizing the Trump administration on Tuesday, a show of physical and oratorical stamina that he hoped would put a spotlight on what he called a “crisis” facing the United States under ... [Donald] Trump. Mr. Booker, Democrat of New Jersey, began speaking at 7 p.m. on Monday and was still going 21 hours later, laying into the Trump administration’s cuts to government services and its crackdown on immigrants.” This is an update of a story linked earlier. ~~~

     ⭐~~~ The story has been updated again, with Tim Balk now the lead reporter: “Senator Cory Booker, his voice still booming after more than a day spent on the Senate floor railing against the Trump administration, on Tuesday night surpassed Strom Thurmond for the longest Senate speech on record, in an act of astonishing stamina that he framed as a call to action. Mr. Booker, a New Jersey Democrat and one-time presidential candidate, began his speech at 7 p.m. on Monday, vowing to speak as long as he was 'physically able.' In a show of physical and oratorical endurance, he lasted past sunset on Tuesday, assailing President Trump’s cuts to government agencies and crackdown on immigration. He ended his speech at 8:05 p.m., 46 minutes after eclipsing Mr. Thurmond’s 24-hour 18-minute filibuster of a civil rights bill in 1957, by quoting John Lewis, the civil rights hero and congressman. Mr. Booker said of Lewis: 'He said for us to go out and cause some good trouble, necessary trouble, to redeem the soul of our nation. I want you to redeem the dream. Let’s be bold in America.'

“Earlier, cheers broke out in the chamber when Mr. Booker passed Mr. Thurmond. For a moment, Mr. Booker addressed the man he had eclipsed. 'To hate him is wrong, and maybe my ego got too caught up that if I stood here, maybe, maybe, just maybe, I could break this record of the man who tried to stop the rights upon which I stand.... I’m not here though because of his speech. I’m here despite his speech. I’m here because as powerful as he was, the people were more powerful.'”

Today is election day for a seat on the Wisconsin state supreme court, a race that has prompted Elon Musk to give $25 million and wear a cheesehead hat to oppose the liberal candidate. It is also election day to replace former Reps. Matt Gaetz & Mike Waltz in two bright-red Florida districts. Update: The Republicans are projected to have won in both Florida races, though by significantly smaller margins than Gaetz & Waltz won last year.

~~~~~~~~~~

Tyler Pager of the New York Times: Donald Trump's suggestions he would continue as president* after his second term ends “serve a distinct political purpose. They redirect attention from other controversies.... And they freeze the field of potential successors who may steal the spotlight from a lame duck....” ~~~

~~~ Steve M. hypothesizes how this would work. MB: I think Steve gets everything right.

     ~~~ Thanks to Akhilleus for the lead. See his link to an Instagram version is in the Comments below; it includes some appropriate artwork.

Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: “Lord, liberate us from ... Donald Trump’s 'Liberation Day,' as Trump has christened this coming Wednesday. Trump has already 'liberated' his country from the inconvenience of due process or expectations of civil rights. But his freedom crusade escalates this week, when he shall also 'liberate' America from affordable cars, a stable economy and its closest allies.... The auto tariffs alone could be catastrophic. They will raise prices for consumers, to the tune of 13.5 percent (an average of $6,400 for each new car), the Yale Budget Lab estimates.... Prices for used vehicles will likely rise, too. So will auto insurance since it will cost more to repair or replace cars damaged in accidents. There’s some evidence that auto loans could also get costlier.... Trump and his economic advisers crow that his tariff agenda will bring in eye-popping amounts of revenue — upward of $6 trillion over the next decade, claims White House aide Peter Navarro.... This would represent the largest tax hike on Americans since World War II. It would also be a regressive tax since lower-income households disproportionately bear tariff costs.” This is a gift link.

Brad Reed of the Raw Story: “The Telegraph, one of the most conservative newspapers in the United Kingdom, has published a scathing editorial from columnist Matthew Lynn that accuses ... Donald Trump of leveling 'the biggest tax rise in global history.'... '... much of the increased cost [from tariffs] will be passed onto consumers in the form of higher prices,' he writes. 'Either they will be forced to pay more for imported goods, or prices may rise in general because U.S. companies have less of an incentive to improve productivity thanks to the protections afforded by that tariff wall. And if tariffs do raise $600 billion annually, that is no small sum of money, even for an enormous economy like the United States.... Even if we assume that Elon Musk manages to cut $1 trillion or more out of the budget, the tariffs would have to be at least five or six times larger than anything yet proposed to cover Washington’s annual expenditure.... They would need to be at least 100 percent and possibly more simply to replace the federal incomes tax. Tariffs at that rate would be off-the-scale, and would do huge damage to the global trading system. At risk of stating the obvious, if trade collapses to zero because of tariffs, then tariff revenue would also be zero.'” The Telegraph column is firewalled.

Marie: I think the cycle of Trump's responses to news that proves he's an ignorant putz goes something like this: (1) I don't know anything about it. (2) They say/I've heard .... (3) It's a hoax invented by liberal radical enemies of the people a/k/a the mainstream media. (4) It's old news. Nobody talks about that anymore. You may identify a few more steps in there. Sometimes he combines steps: Here he is on his wrecking the economy: he says of stagflation, "I haven't heard that term in years (Step 4). I don't know anything about it (Step 1)."  

Danielle Kaye & Joe Rennison of the New York Times: “The S&P 500 ended March with its steepest monthly decline in more than two years, driven by uncertainty about the scope of ... [Donald] Trump’s tariffs, which investors fear could accelerate inflation, slow consumer spending and stall the U.S. economy.... The decline in March caps off the S&P 500’s worst quarter at the start of a president’s term since President Barack Obama took over in 2009 during the financial crisis. The benchmark is now down 8.7 percent from its mid-February peak, a downturn that is near a 10 percent 'correction,' denting the values of portfolios and retirement funds across both Wall Street and Main Street. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite index, which has already slipped into a correction, ended the month down 8.2 percent.”

Conan O'Brien accepted the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor shortly after Donald Trump appropriated the center. In his acceptance speech, O'Brien celebrated Twain and Twain's America, while contrasting all that with you-know-who and the fake conception of the nation he is trying to foist on us. Masterful:

Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: “Federal workers have been returning to offices in stages since ... [Donald] Trump issued an order to do so right after being sworn in. He has described the requirement as a way to ensure that workers are actually doing their jobs while believing that it could have the added benefit of leading more government employees to quit.... For those who have gone back, the process has been marred by a lack of planning and coordination by the administration, leading to confusion, plummeting morale and more inefficiency.... For some..., returning to the office has meant an expansion of their duties to include cleaning toilets and taking out the trash. For others, it has been commuting to a federal building only to continue doing their work through videoconferencing. Some showed up at the office just to be sent home. Others showed up early and had nowhere to sit.... And spending freezes have meant a shortage of toilet paper in some buildings....

“The in-person work mandate is just one piece of the massive and disruptive overhaul of the federal work force being driven by ... Elon Musk.... Despite the name of the group Mr. Musk leads, the Department of Government Efficiency, federal employees say there is hardly anything efficient about how the Trump administration is going about the cuts. It has pushed a massive change in schedules with a return-to-office mandate while simultaneously encouraging federal workers to retire or firing them only to be forced to rehire them. The requirements have brought disarray to the workday....”

Brady Dale of Axios: "The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said Friday that banks no longer need to get its prior approval before engaging in crypto-related activities, like holding digital currency assets or partnering with companies in the industry.... After publishing a general caution against banks participating in the industry just two years ago, the FDIC is the latest Trump administration regulator to change its tune entirely amid the president's warm embrace of crypto.... Under the prior regime, banks that asked for such permissions never quite seemed to get it.... [A] joint warning to banks in January 2023 from the Fed, the FDIC and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency followed the crash of the terra stablecoin and the fall of FTX.... The OCC was the first of those regulators to revise their guidance, telling banks it supervises earlier this month that they no longer need permission to engage in certain common cryptocurrency-related activities. The Fed as of Friday had not issued any update...." Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

~~~ What a Coincidence! David Yaffe-Bellany of the New York Times: “Two of ... [Donald] Trump’s sons announced on Monday that they were investing in a new Bitcoin mining venture, an expansion of the family’s business interests in the crypto industry. Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. said they would join forces with the Bitcoin mining company Hut 8 to create a firm called American Bitcoin. Bitcoin mining is a lucrative branch of the crypto industry, in which large companies run energy-guzzling machines that help process Bitcoin transactions.”

Coral Davenport of the New York Times: “Members of Elon Musk’s cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency gained access over the weekend to a payroll system that processes salaries for about 276,000 federal employees across dozens of agencies, according to two people familiar with the matter. The move overruled objections from senior IT staff who feared it could compromise highly sensitive government personnel information, including by making it more vulnerable to terrorist cyberattacks.... By accessing the system, which is housed at the Interior Department, the DOGE workers now have visibility into sensitive employee information, such as Social Security numbers, and the ability to more easily hire and fire workers.... The DOGE workers had tried for about two weeks to obtain administrative access to the program.... The dispute came to a head on Saturday, as the DOGE workers obtained the access and then placed two of the IT officials who had resisted them on administrative leave and under investigation....” The ArsTechnica story is here.

Grand Theft Real Estate. Brian Barrett of Wired:  “The DOGE-affiliated acting president of the United States Institute of Peace, a Congressionally funded, independent think tank, has moved to transfer the agency’s $500 million headquarters building to the General Services Administration free of charge, according to court documents revealed in a recently filed lawsuit.... To state this plainly: DOGE forced out the directors and staff of a nonexecutive agency, installed one of its own GSA staffers as president, and that person is now attempting to hand the institute’s $500 million headquarters over to the agency he came from, at zero cost.” MB: Wired stories are firewalled, but Wired allows a few freebies. This is one of them.

Devlin Barrett, et al., of the New York Times: “The Trump administration on Sunday sent a fourth plane carrying deportees to El Salvador, claiming it was acting under a different authority than the obscure wartime law that it cited previously.... Administration officials said all 17 men, whom they described as gang members, had been deported under regular U.S. immigration law and had final orders of removal. But the administration described the action in similar military terms as the earlier transfers, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Joe Kasper, the Pentagon’s chief of staff, both calling the deportations 'counterterrorism' operations.... El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, said in a social media post that the two countries had conducted a 'joint military operation' and claimed that all the migrants 'are confirmed murderers and high-profile offenders.'... On Monday..., [Donald] Trump reposted Mr. Bukele’s announcement on his social media platform..., thanking El Salvador 'for taking the criminals' and blaming former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. for allowing them to enter the United States.” An AP story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The NYT article leaves us in the dark about how “joint miltary operation” worked (and the AP article doesn't mention it). Does this mean that the Salvadoran military was operating in the U.S. to help round up these alleged “murderers and rapists”? If so, that's even creepier than having masked U.S. officials grab a woman off a Massachusetts sidewalk and bundle her off to Louisiana. (For an explanation of the term “sidewalk,” see the video currently at the top story under Infotainment.) ~~~

~~~ Say, what if the Gestapo ICE officials do make a mistake and send innocent people to a Salvadoran jail? What if they even admit they've made a mistake? Too bad, nothing they can do about it. ~~~

~~~ Kyle Cheney of Politico: “The Trump administration acknowledged late Monday that it had inadvertently deported [Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran,] to El Salvador last month despite a court’s determination that he had a legitimate fear of persecution in his home country. 'This removal was an error,' a top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official wrote in a statement to a federal judge.... The Trump administration now says there’s nothing it can do to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to U.S. custody. The Justice Department is urging a federal judge to reject a petition by Abrego Garcia’s attorneys to seek his return to United States custody, saying the Trump administration has no power to force El Salvador to facilitate that demand — and that the courts have no authority to issue such an order.” MB: Gosh, looks as if Trump and Musk aren't all-powerful, after all. They're just weanies any two-bit dictator can bring to heel.

Praveena Somasundaram of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration will begin to withhold some federal funding from Planned Parenthood starting Tuesday, a move that will curtail access to services including cancer screenings and affordable birth control, the organization said. Planned Parenthood said Monday that nine of its affiliates had received notice from the administration that it would withhold funding from Title X, the nationwide family-planning program. Since 1970, Title X has provided federal funding to health centers for family planning aid and reproductive health care, including birth control and other nonabortion services — including about $286 million in the 2024 fiscal year.... The loss of funding signaled by the administration Monday would mean 'cancers go undetected, access to birth control is severely reduced, and the nation’s STI crisis worsens,' said Alexis McGill Johnson, president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. 'President Trump and Elon Musk are pushing their dangerous political agenda, stripping health care access from people nationwide, and not giving a second thought to the devastation they will cause,' Johnson said in a statement Monday.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: You name it, if it's a program that helps ordinary people, the Trump/Musk administration will cut it in order to fund tax cuts for the rich.

Jazmine Ulloa of the New York Times: “Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants will be allowed to remain in the United States without risk of deportation after a federal judge in San Francisco on Monday delayed Trump administration actions rolling back a program known as Temporary Protected Status. Judge Edward M. Chen found that decisions in February by the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, terminating the initiative for nearly 350,000 people in early April would inflict irreparable harm on families, cost U.S. businesses and industries billions in economic activity and hurt the health and safety of communities across the country. The judge prevented the actions from taking effect as soon as this week while a lawsuit challenging the moves plays out in his court. The Temporary Protected Status program, passed by Congress and signed into law by President George H.W. Bush, allows migrants from nations that have experienced national disasters, armed conflicts or other extraordinary instability to live and work legally in the United States.” The AP story is here.

Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: “A small museum dedicated to the nation’s environmental history is now history, too. On Monday, Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said he had shuttered the museum, which was inside the agency’s headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. In a statement, Mr. Zeldin said the move would save taxpayers about $600,000 annually.... He also noted that it included exhibits about environmental issues faced by poor and minority communities, issues the Trump administration has said should not receive special attention. He called those displays a 'political agenda' of the Biden administration.... Created in 2016, the museum originally occupied a corner of the Ronald Reagan International Trade Building. In May, a $4 million expanded National Environmental Museum and Education Center opened inside E.P.A. headquarters.” The AP story is here. Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

Amudalat Ajasa of the Washington Post: “Many people who live near heavy industry are routinely exposed to dozens of different pollutants, which can result in a multitude of health problems.... Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have developed a new method for measuring the cumulative effects on human health of multiple toxic air pollutants. Their findings were published last week in Environmental Health Perspectives.” MB: I suppose this is one reason Trump/Musk decided to cut $800K in federal grants to Johns Hopkins school of public health and other medical research departments.

Rebecca Tan of the Washington Post: “Many of the U.S. programs that would have provided lifesaving materials [after the devastating Myanmar earthquake], including fuel for ambulances and medical kits, were shuttered weeks ago. U.S. planes and helicopters in nearby Thailand, which have been used before for disaster relief, never made it off the ground.... America’s response to the catastrophic earthquake has been crippled by the Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development, according to eight current and former USAID employees who worked on Myanmar, as well as former State Department officials and leaders of international aid agencies. Three days after the disaster, American teams have yet to be deployed to the quake zone — a marked contrast with other similar catastrophes, when U.S. personnel were on the ground within hours. ”

Alan Blinder, et al., of the New York Times: “The Trump administration said on Monday that it was reviewing roughly $9 billion in federal grants and contracts awarded to Harvard, claiming that the university had allowed antisemitism to run unchecked on its campus.... In an email message to the Harvard community Monday evening, Alan Garber, Harvard’s president, noted that 'we are not perfect' and said that Harvard would work with the federal government 'to ensure that they have a full account of the work we have done and the actions we will take going forward to combat antisemitism.... If this funding is stopped, it will halt life-saving research and imperil important scientific research and innovation.'...” An AP story is here.

Salvador Rizzo of the Washington Post: “A federal judge on Monday barred the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence from firing intelligence officers who had been assigned to diversity, equity and inclusion roles that were scrapped by the Trump administration, saying they should have the chance to seek reassignment to open positions. U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga issued a preliminary injunction that prohibits the two intelligence agencies from firing 19 employees who filed a lawsuit anonymously challenging the move. Trenga’s ruling came hours before the CIA was scheduled to issue termination notices to dozens of officers who had worked for its now-shuttered diversity and inclusion office unless they retired or resigned. It was unclear whether the judge’s order would extend to another 40 or so intelligence officers slated for termination who did not join the lawsuit. Trenga said he would issue a written order later.”

Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: “Nearly every arm of the Democratic Party united in filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday night, arguing that a recent executive order signed by the president seeking to require documentary proof of citizenship and other voting reforms is unconstitutional. The 70-page lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in Washington, D.C., accuses the president of vastly overstepping his authority to 'upturn the electoral playing field in his favor and against his political rivals.' It lists ... [Donald] Trump and multiple members of his administration as defendants.” Politico's story is here.

I rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able.... I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our nation is in crisis. -- Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), beginning his all-night speech in the Senate chamber ~~~

~~~ Mike Ives of the New York Times: “Senator Cory Booker spoke in an all-night session on the Senate floor early Tuesday, in an effort to seize the national spotlight and criticize the Trump administration’s policies on health care, Social Security, education and much else. Mr. Booker, Democrat of New Jersey, began speaking on Monday evening and said he planned to continue for as long as he was 'physically able.' He was still going as of 5 a.m. Eastern time.... Before his speech, Mr. Booker said on social media that he was heading to the Senate floor because Mr. Trump and Elon Musk had shown what he called 'a complete disregard for the rule of law, the Constitution, and the needs of the American people.'”

Lisa Kashinsky of Politico: “Republicans could be poised to deal a symbolic blow to ... Donald Trump’s trade policy, with several GOP senators indicating they planned to join Democrats in a Tuesday vote to block blanket tariffs on Canada. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Monday that she plans to back the resolution led by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) that would terminate the national emergency Trump declared last month, citing fentanyl trafficking and illegal immigration. Trump has used that declaration to justify 25 percent across-the-board tariffs on America’s northern neighbor and leading trade partner — duties that Trump has threatened to start levying later this week.... Collins is poised to join GOP Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who is a co-sponsor of Kaine’s resolution and a strong opponent of tariffs, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.... Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa — one of many farm-state Republicans who has raised particular concerns about the Canadian tariffs — also said he was undecided on the Kaine resolution.... However, it’s likely the resolution never comes up in the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson moved earlier this month to block the ability of tariff critics to force a floor vote on ending the kind of national emergencies Trump is citing to levy the tariffs.”

David Goodman of the New York Times: “Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic House leader, on Monday accused Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas of deliberately delaying a special election in a solidly Democratic district in Houston in order to cushion the House Republicans’ slim majority. Mr. Jeffries said in an interview that Mr. Abbott had been 'feverishly working to deny representation to the people of Houston' and to help Republicans in the House pass a budget favored by ... [Donald] Trump that is expected to include cuts to Medicaid and other services.... The Texas governor had until the end of last week to call a special election in time for the vote in Mr. Turner’s 18th Congressional District to be held on May 3, the next regularly scheduled Election Day in the state. Instead, Mr. Abbott, a Republican, did not act, and has not said when he will call the election to replace [Rep. Sylvester] Turner [D], who died on March 5 after two months in office. By doing so, Mr. Abbott has helped House Republicans.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, please. Why does the Times have to finger Jeffries as a partisan accuser? Of course Abbott delayed the special election to help House Republicans. Abbott doesn't deny it. Jeffries' pointing out the obvious is not the story; Abbott's refusal to call an election should be the lede.

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Alabama. Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: “Alabama cannot prosecute doctors and reproductive health organizations for helping patients travel out of the state to obtain abortions, a federal judge ruled on Monday. Alabama has one of the strictest abortion bans in the country, and in 2022 its attorney general, Steve Marshall, a Republican, raised the possibility of charging doctors with criminal conspiracy for recommending abortion care out of state. Multiple clinics and doctors challenged Mr. Marshall’s comments in court, accusing him of threatening their First Amendment rights, as well as the constitutional right to travel. The Justice Department under the Biden administration had also weighed in with support for the clinics, arguing that 'threatened criminal prosecutions violate a bedrock principle of American constitutional law.' On Monday, the judge, Myron H. Thompson of the Middle District of Alabama, in Montgomery, ruled that Mr. Marshall would be violating both the First Amendment and the right to travel if he sought prosecution.”

Indiana. You violated the law, you are not entitled to due process. -- Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Indiana), at a town hall last Friday (thanks to RAS for the lead)

Spartz is an immigrant to this country. That being her view of the "rule of law," I don't know what she likes about the U.S. -- Marie Burns

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Israel's Wars. Lorenzo Tondo of the Guardian: “Fifteen Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers, including at least one United Nations employee, were killed by Israeli forces 'one by one' and buried in a mass grave eight days ago in southern Gaza, the UN has said. According to the UN humanitarian affairs office (Ocha), the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) and civil defence workers were on a mission to rescue colleagues who had been shot at earlier in the day, when their clearly marked vehicles came under heavy Israeli fire in Rafah city’s Tel al-Sultan district. A Red Crescent official in Gaza said that there was evidence of at least one person being detained and killed, as the body of one of the dead had been found with his hands tied. The shootings happened on 23 March, one day into the renewed Israeli offensive in the area close to the Egyptian border. Another Red Crescent worker on the mission is reported missing.” MB: And the Trump administration is deporting students for protesting such murders.

The Conversation -- March 31, 2025

Brianna Tucker of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Sunday declined to rule out seeking a third presidential term — an unconstitutional act explicitly barred under the 22nd Amendment — saying that 'there are methods which you could do it.' In a phone interview with NBC News’s Kristen Welker, Trump suggested that multiple plans have begun to circulate for him to run for a third term. He pointed to unspecified polling as an indicator of his popularity and claimed he had the 'highest poll numbers of any Republican for the last 100 years.' 'A lot of people want me to do it,' Trump said. 'But we have — my thinking is, we have a long way to go. I’m focused on the current.'... 'I’m not joking,' Trump said. 'But, I’m not — it is far too early to think about it.' Pressed again by Welker on the toll of the presidency..., Trump, who would be 82 years old in 2028, said, 'Well, I like working.' Trump reiterated his sentiments about his popularity and the prospect of a third term when speaking to reporters Sunday evening aboard Air Force One. 'We have almost four years to go and that’s a long time but despite that, so many people are saying “You’ve got to run again.” They love the job we’re doing,' Trump told reporters. Despite the assertion, several recent polls have found that Americans are unhappy with many of the executive actions and the cost-cutting Trump has directed in his second term.” The NBC News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: He's "focused on the current"? Does that mean he's finally taken an interest in climate change? Or is he merely thinking of taking up sailing? If Trump is planning a third term, he obviously has abandoned the Constitution. ~~~

     ~~~ Marcy Wheeler: “I think it a colossal waste of time that the punditocracy spent much of Sunday talking about Kristen Welker’s 'report' that Trump says he wants a third term. You don’t say? Rather than spending the day discussing Trump’s Executive Order presuming to dictate to states how they — with the involvement of DOGE!! — must start suppressing the vote over the next months, we talked about something that might happen in 2028. Rather than spending the day talking about how Trump is already using federal funding and immigration law to silence speech protected by the First Amendment, we discussed what gimmick Trump might use in the future to evade the 22nd Amendment. Almost no one even tried to use Trump’s comments about a third term as a way to explain the end goal of assaults on civil society, speech, and voting — to connect the actions Trump took in the last week to what he says he’ll do in 2028....” Wheeler goes on to knock Welker & NBC News AND to suggest how journalists -- instead of allowing Trump to use them, as Welker does -- use Trump's own words “for example..., as a way to raise the stakes for his daily assault on democracy.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Truth is that we already know that. I view Trump's musings about a third term -- reveries he has been indulging since his first term -- as just one more potential assault on the Constitution and our flimsy democracy in general. Wheeler's proposed lesson is an important one to deliver to low-information voters (and to deliver again and again because lo-info folks have very short attention spans -- see Krugman, linked below), but we need no convincing. In fact, the main reason I link many of the opinion pieces I do link is to say -- "look, look, here's somebody who gets it."

Cleve Wootson of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump said Sunday he was 'angry' at Russian President Vladimir Putin and added that the White House would consider more tariffs on Russian oil if he believed Putin was stalling on a peace agreement with Ukraine. 'You could say that I was very angry, pissed off, when Putin said yesterday that — you know, when Putin started getting into [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky’s credibility, because that’s not going in the right location, you understand?' Trump said during a phone interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker on Sunday morning. Trump said he would consider putting secondary tariffs on Russian oil — or penalties on other countries that buy oil from Russia — if he and Putin couldn’t come to terms 'on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine' and 'if I think it was Russia’s fault.' ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: IF Putin is stalling??? Even the WashPo's most-right-wing, Trump-butt-kissing columnist Marc Thiessen acknowledges that Putin is stalling.

Tariff Time. Doom. Jeff Cox of CNBC: “... Goldman Sachs expects aggressive duties from the White House to raise inflation and unemployment and drag economic growth to a near-standstill. The investment bank now expects that tariff rates will jump 15 percentage points, its previous 'risk-case' scenario that now appears more likely when Trump announces reciprocal tariffs on Wednesday. However, Goldman did note that product and country exclusions eventually will pull that increase down to 9 percentage points. When the new trade moves are enacted, the Goldman economic team led by head of global investment research Jan Hatzius sees a broad, negative impact on the economy. In a note published on Sunday, the firm said 'we continue to believe the risk from April 2 tariffs is greater than many market participants have previously assumed.'”

Tariff Time. And Gloom. Paul Krugman: “... businesspeople, especially small business owners, always [seem] to believe that they will do better under Republicans, even though history shows that business does better under Democrats. Small business owners supported Trump in the last election.... And now they’re getting a rude awakening.... Under Trump..., policy ... will ... change with his perception of personal advantage, his temper tantrums, his whims and his malignant narcisissim.... MAGA will be very bad for business. Most immediately, it seems as if Trump doesn’t care that his tariffs will raise business costs in addition to raising prices for consumers. We’ll get a better sense of how much costs will rise after 'Liberation Day,' the big announcement of new tariffs planned for Wednesday.... The increase has already begun.... Thanks to tariffs already in effect the U.S. economy is already getting unscrewed.... You see, steep tariffs on steel and aluminum were the opening salvo in Trump’s trade war, and they are being applied not just to the metals themselves but to anything made from the metals, including screws, nuts and bolts. And foreign producers are not absorbing the tariffs; they are sharply raising prices.... In a world where many of the goods we import are productive inputs like screws — or auto parts — tariffs directly raise the cost of manufacturing in the United States. Yet Trump’s threats against automakers suggests that he thinks he can control inflation through intimidation.”

Damien Cave of the New York Times: “The F-35, a fifth-generation fighter, was developed in partnership with eight countries, making it a model of international cooperation. When ... [Donald] Trump introduced its successor, the F-47 [last week], he ... said the version sold to allies would be deliberately downgraded ... 'because someday, maybe they’re not our allies.' For many countries wedded to the United States, his remark confirmed a related conclusion: that America can no longer be trusted. Even nations not yet directly affected can see where things are heading, as Mr. Trump threatens allies’ economies, their defense partnerships and even their sovereignty. For now, they are negotiating to minimize the pain from blow after blow, including a broad round of tariffs expected in April. But at the same time, they are pulling back. Preparing for intimidation to be a lasting feature of U.S. relations, they are trying to go their own way.”

You know, they love me in the Netherlands. -- Donald Trump, reacting to the role of the Dutch in the global slave trade, on a visit to the National Museum of African American History in 2017

There's the key to Trump's soul. Six words, in context, tell you all you need to know. -- Marie Burns

What is written in that order sounds almost Orwellian in the way Trump thinks he can mandate a mythic conception of American history that’s almost Disney-esque with only happy endings, only heroic figures, no attention at all to the complexity of American history and the struggles to have a more perfect union.... It’s like the barbarian sack of Rome in the level of ignorance and ill-will and anti-intellectualism. -- Historian Raymond Arsenault, on Trump's order to control Smithsonian programs 

It’s what the Nazis did. It’s what Spain did. It’s what Mussolini tried. This is like the Soviets: they revised the Soviet encyclopedia every year to update the official history. -- David Blight, President of the Organization of American Historians ~~~

~~~ David Smith of the Guardian: “In an executive order entitled [titled!] 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History', [Donald Trump] directed the removal of 'improper, divisive or anti-American ideology' from its storied [Smithsonian Institution] museums. The move was met with dismay from historians who saw it as an attempt to whitewash the past and suppress discussions of systemic racism and social justice. With Trump having also taken over the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, there are fears that, in authoritarian fashion, he is aiming to control the future by controlling the past.... [Trump's order] is in line with his administration’s efforts to do away with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes in government, universities and corporations. The Smithsonian shut its diversity office soon after the president signed a January executive order banning DEI programmes at organisations that receive federal money.”

“The Great Grovel.” John Harris & Staff of Politico: “One after another, a parade of the wealthiest and most elite institutions in American life since last November have found themselves confronted by unprecedented demands from ... Donald Trump and his team of retribution-seekers. One after another, these establishment pillars have met these demands with the same response: capitulation and compliance.... Two themes are consistent. The first is an effort — far more organized and disciplined than any precedent from Trump’s first term — to bring institutions who have earned the president’s ire to heel. The second theme is even more surprising: The swiftness with which supposedly powerful and supposedly independent institutions have responded — with something akin to the trembling acquiescence of a child surrendering his lunch money to a big kid.... Cumulatively, the cases represent an astonishing new chapter in the history of the American establishment: The Great Grovel.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: While Harris is a both-sider extraordinaire, he strikes me as being quite conservative, so I suppose it's nice that he notices that Trump has so easily overpowered the supposed masters of the universe. Perhaps Harris doesn't consider billionaire techies to be part of an institution, because he really doesn't mention the Great Tech Capitulation -- Musk, Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, Sam Altman, etc. (Harris does mention Jeff Bezos, but mostly in connection with his media ownership.)

He who saves his Country violates no Law. -- Norwegian Neo-Nazi anti-immigrant Anders Breivik, from the manifesto he published before he massacred 77 people 

He who saves his Country does not violate any Law. -- Donald Trump, 2015 ~~~

~~~ Christopher Mathias in an MSNBC opinion piece: “It barely triggers a 24-hour news cycle anymore when the vice president and his boss..., Donald Trump, use the same language as fascist mass murderers. I’ve witnessed this process of normalization over the last eight years as a reporter covering the far right, seeing neo-Nazi talking points, especially around immigration, enter the mainstream discourse with horrifying, accelerating speed.... The extreme actions and rhetoric being taken by the administration are not dissimilar from those deployed in the early stages of some of the worst regimes of the 20th century.... Trump, Vance and the GOP, of course, have spent years demonizing immigrants, the rhetoric reaching a fever pitch during the 2024 election, with Trump saying immigrants were 'poisoning the blood of the country' — a phrasing that bore an unnerving resemblance to wording in Adolf Hitler’s 'Mein Kampf' — and with Vance spreading the vicious lie that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were stealing and eating their neighbors’ pets.... The last couple of weeks have offered a preview of some of the horrors to come.”

Яacists Я Us. Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “Almost immediately after taking office, ... [Donald] Trump began shutting down refugee resettlement programs, slashing billions of dollars in funding and making it all but impossible for people from scores of countries to seek haven in the United States. With one exception. The Trump administration has thrown open the doors to white Afrikaners from South Africa, establishing a program called 'Mission South Africa' to help them come to the United States as refugees.... The administration’s focus on white Afrikaners comes as it effectively bans the entry of other refugees — including about 20,000 people from countries like Afghanistan, Congo and Syria who were ready to travel to the United States before Mr. Trump took office.” Oh, read on. This is a gift link. Besides, maybe it's a reciprocal things; after all, as we now know, the Dutch love Trump. Especially the slaver Dutch, I reckon.

Patrick Marley of the Washington Post: “Elon Musk ... handed out $1 million checks to two Wisconsin voters Sunday as he tries to help conservatives take control of the swing state’s top court in an election this week. For the evening, Musk put a spotlight on what has become the most expensive court race in U.S. history — in part because Musk and groups affiliated with him have pumped about $20 million into it. Musk stepped onto the stage wearing a foam cheesehead popularized at Green Bay Packers games, and he spoke about an hour after the state Supreme Court declined to accept a lawsuit challenging his payments to registered voters.” The AP report is here.

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France. Aurelien Breeden & Roger Cohen of the Washington Post: “Marine Le Pen, the French far-right leader, was found guilty of embezzlement by a criminal court in Paris on Monday and immediately barred from running for public office for five years, jeopardizing her plans to compete in France’s 2027 presidential election. The verdict was a major blow to the perennial presidential ambitions of Ms. Le Pen, an anti-immigrant, nationalist politician who has already mounted three failed bids. Looking grim and murmuring 'incredible,' she walked briskly out of the courtroom before the judges had completed reading her sentence.” MB: Ah, I'll bet this is what she said: ~~~