The Conversation -- February 28, 2025

Marie: I have to leave as the news is just breaking, but it sounds as if JayDee picked a fight with President Zelensky in the Oval Office, and a shouting match among JayDee, Trump & Zelensky ensued. ~~~

~~~ Michael Birnbaum & Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump ripped into Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office on Friday, in a remarkable encounter that could determine a generation of war and peace in Europe but that at times felt more like a barroom brawl with furious demands from Trump and Vice President JD Vance for respect and gratitude from the wartime Ukrainian leader. The heated back and forth -- with Trump, Zelensky and Vance at times shouting over each other -- was a striking breach of Oval Office comity, where even tough encounters have typically happened with calm voices and diplomatic language.... Zelensky pushed back against Trump, urging him to offer security guarantees, emphasizing Putin's aggression, and, as things grew heated, chided Vance for speaking about Ukraine without having visited the country. Zelensky left shortly after 1:40 p.m., with a planned press conference canceled and Trump writing on social media: 'He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he's ready for Peace.' Also cut short were plans for Trump and Zelensky to finalize an agreement granting the U.S. limited access to Ukraine's mineral rights." ~~~

     ~~~ Peter Baker & other correspondents kept calling the spectacle "astonishing" and saying that nothing like this has ever happened in the Oval. ~~~

     ~~~ Pundits are wondering if JayDee & the Fat Bastard set up Zelensky, and they may be right. They certainly ambushed him. But I think Trumpty Dumpty & Amourus Couch just don't know how to behave in public, they have no idea (and don't care) what diplomacy is, and they absolutely cannot handle the truth. Of greater importance, this looks like one of the opening salvos (albeit not the first) in a global political realignment, where the U.S. joins non-democratic countries in opposition to nominally democrat nations. Given all that, I think Zelensky is well-rid of these two Putin puppets. I've never understood why Trump would be the guy to broker a peace agreement between Ukraine & Russia. This is a job for diplomats, not for Vlad's ignorant slut. In the meantime, I'm with Jeanne: dumping Trump & his holier-than-thou sidekick into an active volcano seems like a good idea: ~~~

~~~ Marie: Robert Farley of LG&$ also speaks for me when he writes, "I don't know if I've ever been this ashamed of a US President."

~~~ David Frum of the Atlantic: "... Trump and Vance have revealed to Americans and to America's allies their alignment with Russia, and their animosity toward Ukraine in general and its president in particular. The truth is ugly, but it's necessary to face it.... The national-security system of the West is led by two men who cannot be trusted to defend America's allies -- and who deeply sympathize with the world's most aggressive dictator.... We're witnessing the self-sabotage of the United States. 'America First' always meant America alone, a predatory America whose role in the world is no longer based on democratic belief.... The American people need to reckon with the mess Trump and Vance are making of this country's once-good name -- and the services they are performing for dictators and aggressors.... The pro-Trump party exposed its face to the world in the Oval Office today. Nobody who saw that face will ever forget the grotesque sight." Thanks to laura h. for this gift link.

David Folkenflik of NPR: "More than 75,000 digital subscribers to The Washington Post have cancelled since its owner, billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, announced on Wednesday that he would radically overhaul the paper's opinion pages to reflect libertarian priorities and to exclude opposing points of view." MB: I doubt Bezos cares much; his goal is to please Trump, et al., in order to increase the bottom line of his other, lucrative enterprises. ~~~

     ~~~ There Are No Coincidences in Washington. Jaden Amos of Axios: Donald "Trump said in an interview with The Spectator that he had dinner Wednesday night with Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos.... The dinner between Trump and Bezos happened the night Bezos announced changes to the Washington Post opinion section."

Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "... Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order making English the official language of the United States, three White House officials told CNBC on Friday. The order would establish a national language for the first time in U.S. history. Trump's order would also rescind former President Bill Clinton's August 2000 directive requiring agencies and other recipients of federal funds to provide services for those with limited English proficiency, according to a fact sheet shared with CNBC." MB: This is embarrassing, especially in a country where so many native-born Americans speak only English (that includes me). We are such undereducated rubes, and now Trump plans to remind us of it.

Julian Mark, et al., of the Washington Post: "Agencies across the federal government are dismantling offices that enforce civil rights and antidiscrimination laws under a Trump administration push to shrink the workforce, weakening the government's ability to deliver on legal obligations to protect workers' rights. [For instance,] the Social Security Administration this week announced it was closing its Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity, where about 150 people worked investigating civil rights complaints, preventing harassment and ensuring accommodations for people with disabilities.... Leaders at the Labor Department are planning to cut by 90 percent the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.... The moves signal the Trump administration's intent to deliver on U.S. DOGE Service plans for workforce cuts laid out in a series of documents obtained by The Post, which initially contemplated eliminating the civil rights functions altogether in violation of federal law. The in-agency equal opportunity offices are mandated by statute to ensure employees receive equal opportunity...."

Peter Navarro Is Still Crazy. Connor Stringer of the Telegraph, republished by Yahoo! News: "A top White House official has threatened to redraw the Canadian border amid Donald Trump's ambition to turn the country in America's '51st state'. Peter Navarro ... is pushing US negotiators to discuss reworking the border with their Canadian counterparts, The Telegraph can reveal. 'Navarro recommended revising the Canada-US border, which is just crazy and dangerous,' a source close to negotiations told The Telegraph. Canada has now instructed its delegates to withdraw from negotiations with the US until Jameson Greer and Howard Lutnick, two incoming members of Mr Trump's cabinet, are confirmed by the senate. Mr Greer and Mr Lutnick are viewed by Ottawa as being less extreme." Thanks to RAS for the link.

Lauren Irwin of the Hill: "Joshua Stueve, a top spokesperson for the Department of Justice (DOJ), has resigned, citing a 'toxic work environment' in his letter to leadership. 'Simply put, I cannot continue to serve in such a hostile and toxic work environment, one where leadership at the highest levels makes clear we are not welcomed or valued, much less trusted to do our jobs,' wrote Stueve, who is not a political appointee and has served in administrations run by both parties."

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Chandelis Duster of NPR: "An organization is calling for a national boycott in the form of an 'economic blackout' on Friday, urging Americans not to shop for 24 hours. This movement, spearheaded by The People's Union USA, a grassroots group, follows the rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at several companies, including Target. The boycott coincides with protests against ... Donald Trump's plans to reduce the government workforce and mass firings at federal agencies." Thanks to RAS for the reminder. MB: I am going out today and had planned to make some small purchases, and now I won't.

Mark Landler of the New York Times: "The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, presented ... [Donald] Trump with a royal invitation and scored several political wins. But his top goal -- a security guarantee for Ukraine -- remained elusive.... With Mr. Trump on the brink of an epochal split with Britain and the rest of Europe over how to deal with Russia's war on Ukraine, Mr. Starmer apparently calculated that a little royal stardust might bridge the gap -- or at least paper it over.... Mr. Trump gave Mr. Starmer little comfort on his biggest ask: that the United States provide a security 'backstop' for British and European troops that could keep the peace after a potential Trump-brokered settlement between Ukraine and Russia.... Mr. Trump insisted Mr. Putin would 'keep his word' if a peace deal was reached.... But he won Mr. Trump's endorsement of a deal relinquishing British sovereignty over a string of strategically important islands [the Chagos islands] in the Indian Ocean. And he got a welcome sign that Britain might wriggle out of American tariffs." ~~~

~~~ Victor Goury-Laffont of Politico: "Former French President François Hollande said the United States government under ... Donald Trump is 'no longer an ally.' '[Trump] is no longer an ally, he is consorting with our adversaries,' Hollande, current President Emmanuel Macron's predecessor, said in a blunt interview with Le Monde published Friday. 'Even if the American people remain our friends, the Trump administration itself is no longer our ally.'"

NYT Says Stupid Trump Tricks Are Straining the Economy. Alan Rappaport of the New York Times: "The United States economy is starting to show signs of strain as ... [Donald] Trump's abrupt moves to shrink federal spending, lay off government workers and impose tariffs on America's largest trading partners rattle businesses and reverberate across states and cities. Funding freezes and firings of federal workers combined with the prospect of costly trade wars are souring consumer sentiment, raising inflation expectations and stalling business investment plans, according to recent economic surveys. Local economies are also bracing for a sudden withdrawal of fiscal support, forcing officials to contemplate tax increases or municipal bond offerings to stabilize their budgets. While Mr. Trump has acknowledged that his policies could bring some initial pain, the early warning signs suggest that his blunt approach could come with more ominous risks to the economy." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Nevertheless, He Persists. Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "Tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico would go into effect on March 4 'as scheduled...,' [Donald] Trump said on Thursday morning, claiming that those countries were still not doing enough to stop the flow of drugs into the United States. China will also face an additional 10 percent tariff next week, on top of the 10 percent he imposed earlier this month, the president wrote in a post on Truth Social. 'Drugs are still pouring into our Country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels,' he said. 'A large percentage of these Drugs, much of them in the form of Fentanyl, are made in, and supplied by, China.' He added that the levies were necessary until the flow of drugs 'stops, or is seriously limited.'... The post Thursday appeared to be an attempt by Mr. Trump to clarify his plans, after his remarks at the White House on Wednesday sowed confusion about whether the tariffs had been delayed." MB: Because Trump doesn't know WTF he's doing. This is an item in a liveblog. Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Everything Trump Does Is Wrong. Annabelle Timset of the Washington Post: "Openly transgender service members will be disqualified from serving in the U.S. military and will soon be removed from the ranks, according to a Pentagon memo that marks a significant shift from previous Defense Department policy that prohibited discrimination based on gender identity. The memo was made public Wednesday as part of a lawsuit filed by LGBTQ+ rights groups against an executive order signed last month by ... Donald Trump, which stated that the 'medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals with gender dysphoria' were 'inconsistent' with the high standards expected of U.S. troops. An earlier memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had said that people with a history of gender dysphoria would no longer be able to join the military, but that they would be 'treated with dignity and respect.' The new memo goes a step further in stating that current service members will be removed if they have gender dysphoria or a history of it." (Also linked yesterday.)

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "Five former defense secretaries on Thursday denounced ... Donald Trump's firing last week of the Joint Chiefs chairman and several other senior military officials, urging Congress to hold hearings and declaring they have concluded the officers were 'fired for purely partisan reasons.' The extraordinary public appeal was signed by Lloyd Austin, Jim Mattis, Chuck Hagel, Leon Panetta and William Perry -- who served in Republican and Democratic administrations dating back to the 1990s -- after Trump's Friday night firings caused an uproar on Capitol Hill and among many military veterans.... 'The President offered no justification for his actions, even though he had nominated these officers for previous positions and the Senate had approved them,' the letter says. 'These officers' exemplary operational and combat experience, as well as the coming dismissals of the Judge Advocates General of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, make clear that none of this was about warfighting.'" The AP report is here.

Ha Ha. Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "A hot mic caught ... Donald Trump telling a Fox News host to praise his first cabinet meeting as the press filed out -- a moment that was cut off in the official White House feed.... TRUMP [to Lawrence Jones of Fox]: 'Lawrence, say we did a great job, please. Okay? Say it was unbelievable!'" MB: Oh, and that bit that didn't make it into the White House feed: it came from the AP -- you know, the news outlet Trump banned from some availabilities. Thanks to Akhilleus & RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

Zach Montague of the New York Times: "A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Thursday to retract directives that prompted the firing of thousands of federal workers, saying that those directives were 'illegal' and suggesting that the layoffs be stopped. The ruling, by Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California, stopped short of ordering a halt in the firings and added to the confusion for federal employees, who have been rattled by the mass firings in recent days. But Judge Alsup found that the government's human resources division had exceeded its authority when it issued a pair of memos outlining steps to fire an estimated 200,000 probationary workers. That division, the Office of Personnel Management, is meant to guide agencies but not order them to take action, he said. But government agencies responded to the O.P.M. memos with sweeping firings, a first step in the drastic overhaul of the federal bureaucracy ... [Donald] Trump promised to carry out alongside Elon Musk.... The judge's decision was limited to the agencies and offices that employ workers represented by a coalition of unions that had brought the lawsuit." The Guardian's report is here. Politico's report is here.

Federica Coco of the Washington Post: "Unemployment claims in Washington, D.C., jumped to 2,046 for the week ending Feb. 22, a 20 percent increase from the previous week as ... Donald Trump and Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service rolled out federal layoffs and buyouts. Since Trump assumed office, some 8,730 workers in the city have filed for unemployment insurance. It is unknown how many are federal workers." (Also linked yesterday.)

This loss of talent at NOAA is going to set the agency back years and compromise the integrity of missions that directly support human health and safety, economic prosperity and national security.... This is not a move toward efficiency; it's a move toward putting Americans in danger every day. -- NOAA Policy Analyst, on mass firings at the agency ~~~

~~~ Christopher Flavelle, et al., of the New York Times: "The Trump administration has begun firing employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, one of the world's premier centers for climate science. The firings are expected to cost more than 800 people their jobs, out of a total of about 13,000 staff members, according to two people familiar with the situation who declined to be identified for fear of retribution. The notifications went out on Thursday afternoon. A policy analyst at the National Ocean Service, a NOAA agency office near Washington, described a scramble as supervisors frantically tried to help probationary employees download relevant documents like pay slips and performance reviews before they lost access to computers." ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Dance of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration on Thursday informed hundreds of probationary employees responsible for producing critical weather forecasts, maintaining radar systems, gathering data from satellites and monitoring key commercial fisheries that they were fired.... The terminations come days before a potential severe weather outbreak in the southeastern U.S. -- and just months ahead of the next Atlantic hurricane season.... In many cases, fired employees had years of tenure working with the agencies, but they were on probationary status because they had been working as contractors and had only recently become federal employees." The CBS News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ James Fallows explains that the U.S. has a viable aircraft-making industry only because it has so many other successful factors working together. Just one of those factors he lists is "a precise and reliable weather forecasting system, since bad weather is aviation's worst enemy." Of course weather forecasting is by no means all NOAA does, but the point is that many different systems work together to make the aviation industry possible here. Marie: Of all people -- Musk, who owns Starlink & SpaceX, should know that. Yet he's willing to tear it all down so he can avoid dealing with regulators -- who -- as Fallows points out -- are one of the many integral parts of what makes aircraft manufacturing work. Thanks to RAS for the link.

⭐Stephanie Nolen of the New York Times: "Starting Wednesday afternoon, a wave of emails went out from the State Department in Washington around the world, landing in inboxes for refugee camps, tuberculosis clinics, polio vaccination projects and thousands of other organizations that received crucial funding for lifesaving work. 'This award is being terminated for convenience and the interest of the U.S. government,' they began. The terse notes ended funding for some 5,800 projects that had been financed by the United States Agency for International Development, indicating that a tumultuous period when the Trump administration said it was freezing projects for ostensible review was over, and that any faint hope American assistance might continue had ended. Many were projects that had received a waiver from the freeze because the State Department previously identified its work as essential and lifesaving.... The projects terminated include H.I.V. treatment programs that had served millions of people, the main malaria control programs in the worst-affected African countries and global efforts to wipe out polio." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Why doesn't Marco Rubio have the guts to stand up for these programs? Is his huge fancy office & limo service so enticing that it's worth killing one child, let alone tens of thousands? Trump & Musk have no sense of decency, but how is it that a whole Cabinet full of -- ha ha ha -- public servants won't en masse tell Trump & Musk to lay off? ~~~

~~~ Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times suggest that a few Cabinet secretaries are "uncomfortable" about the Trump/Musk chainsaw massacre, but they haven't the guts to stand up and say so: "Cabinet secretaries at major agencies found themselves struggling to figure out how to respond to a directive [ordering each employee to list five things she had accomplished] from the president's most powerful adviser without compromising their own staff.... [FBI Director Kash] Patel was the first to push back publicly.... At his first cabinet meeting [on Wednesday], Mr. Trump responded to a reporter's question ... by asking, 'Is anyone unhappy with Elon?' After a few awkward moments, Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, started clapping loudly. The rest of the cabinet members followed soon after with their own applause for Mr. Musk. It was a collective endorsement under pressure and with Mr. Trump right there watching. Some of the secretaries looked uncomfortable as Mr. Musk lectured them about his activities at the president's invitation." ~~~

~~~ Liz Goodwin of the Washington Post: "A handful of Republican senators have joined their Democratic colleagues in expressing alarm over the Trump administration's foreign aid freeze and gutting of USAID, writing to Marco Rubio that they believe the State Department is not operating in accordance with the law by neglecting to notify and consult with Congress during the process according to correspondence obtained by The Washington Post. The senators have also asked Rubio to defend the freeze in a hearing on Capitol Hill in the coming weeks.... GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham (South Carolina), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine), the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, wrote to Rubio earlier this month with their Democratic colleagues that although they supported the secretary of state's right to review federal programs and eliminate waste and abuse, they were 'concerned' that Rubio and the State Department had not notified and consulted with Congress as it gutted USAID and canceled foreign aid programs, which they noted is required by law." ~~~

~~~ Lisa Rein & John Hudson of the Washington Post: "The watchdog for the U.S. Agency for International Development has yet to release two critical reports on the consequences of President Donald Trump's funding freeze on crucial services in Africa and the Middle East, amid fears of retaliation from the White House, according to interviews and documents obtained by The Washington Post. One of the unreleased reports says the cutbacks threaten the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, jeopardizing more than $300 million in humanitarian aid for the devastated Palestinian enclave.... And an unpublished global audit found security dangers, risks of widespread looting and disease, and tens of millions of dollars in new costs brought about by the withdrawal of foreign aid and mass relocation of USAID staff, according to documents and interviews. Conditions are particularly dire across southern Africa, South Sudan and Senegal, where initial findings by auditors in the field predict heightened hunger and desperation caused by the ongoing dismantling of USAID, documents show." ~~~

~~~ Ellen Knickmeyer, et al., of the AP: "The Trump administration said it is eliminating more than 90% of the U.S. Agency for International Development's foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall U.S. assistance around the world, putting numbers on its plans to eliminate the majority of U.S. development and humanitarian help abroad. The cuts detailed by the administration would leave few surviving USAID projects for advocates to try to save in what are ongoing court battles with the administration. The Trump administration outlined its plans in both an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press and filings in one of those federal lawsuits Wednesday.... Wednesday's disclosures also give an idea of the scale of the administration's retreat from U.S. aid and development assistance overseas, and from decades of U.S. policy that foreign aid helps U.S. interests by stabilizing other countries and economies and building alliances....

"Widely successful USAID programs credited with containing outbreaks of Ebola and other threats and saving more than 20 million lives in Africa through HIV and AIDS treatment are among those still cut off from agency funds, USAID officials and officials with partner organizations say. Meanwhile, formal notifications of program cancellations are rolling out." (Also linked yesterday.)

     ~~~ Sam Stein of the Bulwark: "On Thursday morning, foreign aid officials woke up to see the details of [Marco Rubio's] cuts [to USAID program]. The reaction was justified shock. Programs that the administration had suggested it believed were worth continuing were now being terminated. That includes efforts to combat the AIDS epidemic -- such as George W. Bush's famed PEPFAR program -- that have been a source of bipartisan pride for decades.... It wasn't lost on those inside the agency that news of the terminations was leaked to the Free Beacon, the conservative outlet that has become a clearinghouse for critical reporting on USAID functions." (Also linked yesterday.)

Marcia Brown of Politico: "The Trump administration touted a nearly $1 billion plan Wednesday to combat the spread of avian flu and mitigate skyrocketing egg prices as the outbreak rips through poultry flocks across the United States. But the measures come as the Agriculture Department is struggling to rehire key employees working on the virus outbreak who were fired as part of the administration's sweeping purge of government workers. Roughly a quarter of employees in a critical office testing for the disease were cut, as well as scientists and inspectors." (Also linked yesterday.)

Aaron Weiner of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is giving federal agencies until mid-April to suggest relocations of bureaus and offices out of the D.C. region, a move that would have widespread impacts on the local economy. In a guidance issued Wednesday to the heads of all executive departments and agencies, the directors of the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management laid out steps for compliance with ... Donald Trump's order to eliminate 'waste, bloat and insularity' in the government. Part of that is a directive to submit 'any proposed relocations of agency bureaus and offices from Washington, D.C. and the National Capital Region to less-costly parts of the country' by April 14." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I propose moving the White House and all executive offices to Guam. (Sorry, Guam.) It's "where America's day begins" and the weather is pretty nice, so Trump & the Trumpettes should be fine in tents. (Hope they do okay in the typhoons.) Guess they'll have to get used to the "biodiversity." (Don't worry, Donald; it's not what you think!) But the beach-front real estate development potential is phee-nominal!

Jonathan Swan, et al., of the New York Times on "how Elon Musk executed his takeover of the federal bureaucracy[:] The operation was driven with a frenetic focus by the billionaire, who channeled his resentment of regulatory oversight into a drastic overhaul of government agencies.... Without ceding control of his companies, the richest man in the world has embedded his engineers and aides inside the government's critical digital infrastructure. Already, his Department of Government Efficiency ... has inserted itself into more than 20 agencies.... Mr. Musk's strategy has been twofold. His team grabbed control of the government's human resources agency, the Office of Personnel Management, commandeering email systems to pressure civil servants to quit so he could cull the work force. And it burrowed into computer systems across the bureaucracy, tracing how money was flowing so the administration could choke it off."

Understanding Elon. William Shoki in a New York Times op-ed: "He is a white South African, part of a demographic that for centuries sat atop a racial hierarchy maintained by violent colonial rule. That history matters.... He is in fact a distinctly ideological figure, one whose worldview is inseparable from rearing in apartheid South Africa.... [For instance,] in response to a bill passed in January that allows in specific circumstances the expropriation of land without compensation, Mr. Musk used his platform to suggest that white South Africans are uniquely persecuted.... In effect, his politics reprise apartheid's economic principles on a global scale: maintaining zones of privilege under the guise of 'free enterprise' while resisting any moves toward redistribution as threats."

Marie: About that Essential Minerals Shakedown where Ukraine must fork over its valuable minerals in exchange for, well, nothing from the U.S. It's been irritating the hell out of me and maybe for no good reason: ~~~

     ~~~ digby: It turns out those essential minerals may not be so valuable, after all. "Trump will claim that he just made a thousand trillion dollar deal that will make America rich and end the war and bring peace on earth or whatever. But in reality, it looks like it's much less than meets the eye. If it guaranteed continued support for Ukraine, it would definitely be worth it. But as it stands it's just another fluff job to make Dear Leader feel like a winner. But since Trump's almost completely drive by a seething desire for revenge against people he believes have wronged him (and Zelensky is one of them) maybe it makes sense for Zelensky to pretend like he's been forced to grovel and capitulate to Trumps demands in order to at least keep him from making things worse." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. MB: I really, really hope digby is right. (Also linked yesterday.)

More News from the Kleptocracy. Rebecca Crosby & Judd Legum of Popular Information: "In March 2023, the SEC Justin] Sun and three of his companies, accusing him of marketing unregistered securities and 'fraudulently manipulating the secondary market' for a crypto token. The SEC accused Sun of wash trading, which involves buying and selling a token quickly to fraudulently manufacture artificial interest. Sun was also charged with paying celebrities ... for endorsing his crypto 'without disclosing their compensation,' which violates federal law.... In December..., Sun purchased $30 million in crypto tokens from World Liberty Financial (WLF), a new venture backed by ... Donald Trump and his family. Sun's purchase resulted in a cash windfall for Trump. On Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Sun sent a joint letter to a federal judge, asking for a stay of Sun's case. Today, the judge <granted the SEC's request.... Now, the SEC seems poised to negotiate a favorable settlement with Sun or drop the case entirely."

Big Shock. Pam Bondi Is a Phony. Matthew Goldstein & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "For days, Attorney General Pam Bondi had talked about releasing the 'Epstein files,' supposedly secret documents the federal government has on some of the powerful men who were in the orbit of the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. But the roughly 200 pages of documents that Ms. Bondi released on Thursday contained little new information pointing to wrongdoing by anyone other than Mr. Epstein, a registered sex offender who died in jail. The document dump largely consisted of flight logs for Mr. Epstein's planes -- long ago made public -- and contact information for hundreds of associates, along with brief descriptions of items found at his residences. The release was billed as a gesture ushering in a new era of transparency at the Justice Department. But the hyped first release of documents (which Ms. Bondi teased as 'breaking news' in a Fox News appearance on Wednesday night) appeared to be mostly political theater." The AP's story is here.

Spencer Hsu, et al., of the Washington Post: "FBI agents this week questioned Environmental Protection Agency employees regarding a Biden administration grant program for climate and clean-energy projects, escalating a criminal probe that already caused one veteran prosecutor to resign.... The move came after the Justice Department in recent weeks took unusual steps to advance the investigation, having a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney submit a warrant request when career prosecutors were unwilling and seeking prosecutors in other offices who would agree to participate in the case.... The Trump-appointed EPA administrator has alleged publicly that the money was awarded with little oversight and said the agency would try to claw back the money from Citibank, which was tasked with disbursing the funds." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The scandal here is not that the prosecutor was forced to resign in disgrace or something; rather, the scandal is the investigation itself: "... a senior career prosecutor in the U.S. attorney's office in D.C. resigned rather than carry out the administration's demand to freeze the funds over possible wire fraud.... Interim U.S. attorney Ed Martin then personally submitted a seizure warrant application without any other prosecutors in his office that was rejected by a U.S. magistrate judge in D.C., who found that the request and accompanying FBI agent affidavit failed to establish a reasonable belief that a crime occurred.... Meanwhile, acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove's office approached at least one other U.S. attorney's office in the southeastern United States to launch a grand jury investigation and seek a court-ordered bank freeze, but prosecutors in the office again refused the warrant request.... At least three groups that had been awarded money said their accounts have been frozen, and the bank won't tell them why."

DOE Establishes Snitch Line. Russell Payne of Salon: "The Department of Education is teaming up with the far-right activist group Moms for Liberty, launching a portal Thursday where parents can submit tips to the department to investigate as part of the crusade to end diversity and inclusion efforts in schools. In a press release, the department announced it was launching the portal so that anyone can 'submit reports of discrimination based on race or sex in publicly-funded K-12 schools,' which the department would then use as a guide 'to identify potential areas for investigation.'" The idea here is to create a clearing-house where parents -- or whoever -- can accuse teachers of promoting diversity & then the feds can "investigate" (harass) these miscreants.

Andrew Duehren of the New York Times: "... the economic agenda Republicans are now putting together on Capitol Hill would by and large help rich Americans, all while teeing up cuts to programs that provide health care and food to the poor.... Democrats ... are hammering Republicans for planning to take from the poor to give to the rich.... 'They're cutting taxes in a regressive manner and cutting spending, which is also regressive,' said Kyle Pomerleau, who studies tax policy at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank." (Also linked yesterday.)

Amanda Marcotte of Salon: "For ambitious women who wanted to climb the ranks of Republican politics, anti-feminism has long been the steadiest of ladders. The propaganda value of their gender outweighed their party's larger hostility to women in leadership. But now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned and Donald Trump is back in the White House, many on the right feel they no longer need to hide the naked sexism fueling their movement.... There has been growing support in Christian nationalist circles 'for the repeal of the 19th Amendment and support a "household vote" system in which men vote on behalf of their families.' Hegseth's former sister-in-law reports she heard him echo similar sentiments.... House Republicans passed a bill (which stalled in the Senate) this session to require citizens to have a passport or birth certificate matching their name to vote. This would be a back-door ban on voting for any woman who took her husband's last name and doesn't have a passport, an estimated 69 million women.... Similarly, there's been a slowly rising volume on the right of talk about banning no-fault divorce...." Read on. Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

Christine Hauser of the New York Times: "The singer and songwriter Katy Perry and the broadcast journalist and show host Gayle King will be among the all-female crew on the next mission of New Shepard, the space tourism rocket that is operated by Jeff Bezos' private company, Blue Origin." MB: Perry and especially King, who plays a journalist on teevee, should be ashamed of themselves.

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Iowa. Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "Iowa lawmakers overwhelmingly passed a bill on Thursday that would end state civil rights protections for transgender people. Advocates for L.G.B.T.Q. rights said that Iowa would become the first state to remove such broad and explicit protections for trans people if the Republican-backed measure was signed into law. The bill, which now goes to the desk of the Republican governor, passed 18 years after the state, then led by Democrats, enshrined those discrimination protections into Iowa code. The debate this week in Des Moines, where protesters and Democrats tried without success this week to persuade Republican lawmakers to reconsider, reflected how much the discourse over transgender issues has shifted in the country, and how much Iowa has changed." An AP story is here.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Boris Spassky, the world chess champion whose career was overshadowed by his loss to Bobby Fischer in the 'Match of the Century' in 1972, died on Thursday in Moscow. He was 88."

New York Times: "The actor Gene Hackman was found dead in a mud room in his New Mexico home and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, was found dead on the floor of a bathroom on Wednesday, according to a search warrant affidavit. An open prescription bottle and scattered pills were discovered near her body on a counter in the bathroom. A dead German shepherd was found between 10 and 15 feet away from Ms. Arakawa in a closet of the bathroom, the affidavit said. There were no obvious signs of a gas leak in the home, it said, and the Fire Department did not find signs of a carbon monoxide leak. The maintenance workers who found them said they had not been in contact with the couple for two weeks. The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office said in a statement on Thursday afternoon that 'there were no apparent signs of foul play.'... The causes of their deaths had not been determined."

The Conversation -- February 27, 2025

Here's Lawrence O'Donnell Thursday night on that lying Cabinet meeting:

NYT Says Stupid Trump Tricks Are Straining the Economy. Alan Rappaport of the New York Times: "The United States economy is starting to show signs of strain as ... [Donald] Trump's abrupt moves to shrink federal spending, lay off government workers and impose tariffs on America's largest trading partners rattle businesses and reverberate across states and cities. Funding freezes and firings of federal workers combined with the prospect of costly trade wars are souring consumer sentiment, raising inflation expectations and stalling business investment plans, according to recent economic surveys. Local economies are also bracing for a sudden withdrawal of fiscal support, forcing officials to contemplate tax increases or municipal bond offerings to stabilize their budgets. While Mr. Trump has acknowledged that his policies could bring some initial pain, the early warning signs suggest that his blunt approach could come with more ominous risks to the economy." ~~~

~~~ Nevertheless, He Persists. Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "Tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico would go into effect on March 4 'as scheduled...,' [Donald] Trump said on Thursday morning, claiming that those countries were still not doing enough to stop the flow of drugs into the United States. China will also face an additional 10 percent tariff next week, on top of the 10 percent he imposed earlier this month, the president wrote in a post on Truth Social. 'Drugs are still pouring into our Country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels,' he said. 'A large percentage of these Drugs, much of them in the form of Fentanyl, are made in, and supplied by, China.' He added that the levies were necessary until the flow of drugs 'stops, or is seriously limited.'... The post Thursday appeared to be an attempt by Mr. Trump to clarify his plans, after his remarks at the White House on Wednesday sowed confusion about whether the tariffs had been delayed." MB: Because Trump doesn't know WTF he's doing. This is an item in a liveblog. Politico's story is here.

Ha Ha. Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "A hot mic caught ... Donald Trump telling a Fox News host to praise his first cabinet meeting as the press filed out -- a moment that was cut off in the official White House feed.... TRUMP [to Lawrence Jones of Fox]: 'Lawrence, say we did a great job, please. Okay? Say it was unbelievable!'" MB: Oh, and that bit that didn't make it into the White House feed: it came from the AP -- you know, the news outlet Trump banned from some availabilities. Thanks to Akhilleus & RAS for the link.

Federica Coco of the Washington Post: "Unemployment claims in Washington, D.C., jumped to 2,046 for the week ending Feb. 22, a 20 percent increase from the previous week as ... Donald Trump and Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service rolled out federal layoffs and buyouts. Since Trump assumed office, some 8,730 workers in the city have filed for unemployment insurance. It is unknown how many are federal workers."

Ellen Knickmeyer, et al., of the AP: "The Trump administration said it is eliminating more than 90% of the U.S. Agency for International Development's foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall U.S. assistance around the world, putting numbers on its plans to eliminate the majority of U.S. development and humanitarian help abroad. The cuts detailed by the administration would leave few surviving USAID projects for advocates to try to save in what are ongoing court battles with th administration. The Trump administration outlined its plans in both an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press and filings in one of those federal lawsuits Wednesday.... Wednesday's disclosures also give an idea of the scale of the administration's retreat from U.S. aid and development assistance overseas, and from decades of U.S. policy that foreign aid helps U.S. interests by stabilizing other countries and economies and building alliances....

"Widely successful USAID programs credited with containing outbreaks of Ebola and other threats and saving more than 20 million lives in Africa through HIV and AIDS treatment are among those still cut off from agency funds, USAID officials and officials with partner organizations say. Meanwhile, formal notifications of program cancellations are rolling out."

     ~~~ Sam Stein of the Bulwark: "On Thursday morning, foreign aid officials woke up to see the details of [Marco Rubio's] cuts [to USAID program]. The reaction was justified shock. Programs that the administration had suggested it believed were worth continuing were now being terminated. That includes efforts to combat the AIDS epidemic -- such as George W. Bush's famed PEPFAR program -- that have been a source of bipartisan pride for decades.... It wasn't lost on those inside the agency that news of the terminations was leaked to the Free Beacon, the conservative outlet that has become a clearinghouse for critical reporting on USAID functions."

Marcia Brown of Politico: "The Trump administration touted a nearly $1 billion plan Wednesday to combat the spread of avian flu and mitigate skyrocketing egg prices as the outbreak rips through poultry flocks across the United States. But the measures come as the Agriculture Department is struggling to rehire key employees working on the virus outbreak who were fired as part of the administration's sweeping purge of government workers. Roughly a quarter of employees in a critical office testing for the disease were cut, as well as scientists and inspectors."

Aaron Weiner of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is giving federal agencies until mid-April to suggest relocations of bureaus and offices out of the D.C. region, a move that would have widespread impacts on the local economy. In a guidance issued Wednesday to the heads of all executive departments and agencies, the directors of the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management laid out steps for compliance with ... Donald Trump's order to eliminate 'waste, bloat and insularity' in the government. Part of that is a directive to submit 'any proposed relocations of agency bureaus and offices from Washington, D.C. and the National Capital Region to less-costly parts of the country' by April 14." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I propose moving the White House and all executive offices to Guam. (Sorry, Guam.) It's "where America's day begins" and the weather is pretty nice, so Trump & the Trumpettes should be fine in tents. (Hope they do okay in the typhoons.) Guess they'll have to get used to the "biodiversity." (Don't worry, Donald; it's not what you think!) But the beach-front real estate development potential is phee-nominal!

Everything Trump Does Is Wrong. Annabelle Timset of the Washington Post: "Openly transgender service members will be disqualified from serving in the U.S. military and will soon be removed from the ranks, according to a Pentagon memo that marks a significant shift from previous Defense Department policy that prohibited discrimination based on gender identity. The memo was made public Wednesday as part of a lawsuit filed by LGBTQ+ rights groups against an executive order signed last month by ... Donald Trump, which stated that the 'medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals with gender dysphoria' were 'inconsistent' with the high standards expected of U.S. troops. An earlier memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had said that people with a history of gender dysphoria would no longer be able to join the military, but that they would be 'treated with dignity and respect.' The new memo goes a step further in stating that current service members will be removed if they have gender dysphoria or a history of it."

Andrew Duehren of the New York Times: "... the economic agenda Republicans are now putting together on Capitol Hill would by and large help rich Americans, all while teeing up cuts to programs that provide health care and food to the poor.... Democrats ... are hammering Republicans for planning to take from the poor to give to the rich.... 'They're cutting taxes in a regressive manner and cutting spending, which is also regressive,' said Kyle Pomerleau, who studies tax policy at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank."

Marie: About that Essential Minerals Shakedown where Ukraine must fork over its valuable minerals in exchange for, well, nothing from the U.S. It's been irritating the hell out of me and maybe for no good reason: ~~~

     ~~~ digby: It turns out those essential minerals may not be so valuable, after all. "Trump will claim that he just made a thousand trillion dollar deal that will make America rich and end the war and bring peace on earth or whatever. But in reality, it looks like it's much less than meets the eye. If it guaranteed continued support for Ukraine, it would definitely be worth it. But as it stands it's just another fluff job to make Dear Leader feel like a winner. But since Trump's almost completely drive by a seething desire for revenge against people he believes have wronged him (and Zelensky is one of them) maybe it makes sense for Zelensky to pretend like he's been forced to grovel and capitulate to Trumps demands in order to at least keep him from making things worse." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. MB: I really, really hope digby is right.

Amanda Marcotte of Salon: "For ambitious women who wanted to climb the ranks of Republican politics, anti-feminism has long been the steadiest of ladders. The propaganda value of their gender outweighed their party's larger hostility to women in leadership. But now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned and Donald Trump is back in the White House, many on the right feel they no longer need to hide the naked sexism fueling their movement.... There has been growing support in Christian nationalist circles 'for the repeal of the 19th Amendment and support a "household vote" system in which men vote on behalf of their families.' Hegseth's former sister-in-law reports she heard him echo similar sentiments.... House Republicans passed a bill (which stalled in the Senate) this session to require citizens to have a passport or birth certificate matching their name to vote. This would be a back-door ban on voting for any woman who took her husband's last name and doesn't have a passport, an estimated 69 million women.... Similarly, there's been a slowly rising volume on the right of talk about banning no-fault divorce...." Read on. Thanks to RAS for the link.

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Chris Cameron of the New York Times: "The Trump administration moved forward on Wednesday with plans for more mass firings across the government, hours after ... [Donald] Trump reiterated his support for Elon Musk and his effort to shrink the federal bureaucracy.... Russell T. Vought, the head of the White House budget office, and Charles Ezell, the acting head of the Office of Personnel Management, circulated a memo to government leaders calling for agencies to prepare plans for additional 'large-scale reductions' in the federal work force in March and April. Denigrating the federal bureaucracy as 'bloated' and 'corrupt,' the seven-page memo called for agencies to be drastically cut -- in some instances to the fullest extent allowed by the law. One line in the memo said agencies 'should focus on the maximum elimination of functions that are not statutorily mandated.' The memo said that plans for the next stage of the cuts should be submitted by March 13. Plans for 'phase 2' of the cuts should be submitted by April 14....

"Late on Wednesday, Mr. Trump signed an executive order that further empowered DOGE, or the Department of Government Efficiency, to scrutinize and withhold payments by agencies.... The order also appeared to enact a freeze on all government credit cards used by employees -- with exceptions for disaster relief and 'other critical services' -- for the next 30 days." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Doesn't "bloated and corrupt" better describe Donald Trump? ~~~

~~~ President* Musk Holds His First Cabinet Meeting. Alex Gangitano of the Hill: Elon "Musk ... was dominant at the opening of the Cabinet meeting, offering a number of sharp comments toward the federal workforce while standing and taking questions from the press.... Musk ... defended his email demanding all federal workers report their accomplishments to his office, calling it a 'pulse check' and saying anyone with a heartbeat and neurons could complete it.... 'There are fictional individuals collecting paychecks,' Musk said of the government, though he did not offer specific evidence that people are fraudulently getting paychecks.... 'Is anyone unhappy with Elon? If you are, we'll throw them out of here,' Trump asked the room [of actual Cabinet secretaries] at one point...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ In the Court of the Deranged, a Black-Capped Man Is King. Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: "About 12 minutes into the first meeting of his new cabinet..., [Donald] Trump addressed the elephant in the room.... The elephant was standing 10 feet away, dressed all in black, hovering over the head of the table at which the president and the members of his cabinet sat.... The president tried to pretend all was well, but he seemed to understand on Wednesday that there was trouble in his court. 'ALL CABINET MEMBERS ARE EXTREMELY HAPPY WITH ELON,' he posted a few hours before the meeting. 'The Media will see that at the Cabinet Meeting this morning!!!' The cabinet members stared expectantly at Mr. Musk as he stood up a few minutes into the meeting and began to hold forth.... Mr. Musk spent much of the rest of the meeting standing over the table at which the cabinet sat. He spoke far more than anyone else, other than Mr. Trump.

"Mr. Musk explained to the cabinet members that he had sent that demand to their employees only after clearing it with the president.... This was a reversal of the way things usually work in Washington -- it used to be that underlings would take the fall even if the boss was to blame. Now the underling was publicly pointing the finger at the boss to mollify the other underlings he had trampled over, while the boss nodded along."

     ~~~ Where's Amy? Marie: Wait, wait! I read that the White House has confirmed that a woman named Amy Gleason was in charge of DOGE. Why wasn't she the person lording it over the Trump Cabinet? ~~~

Dan Diamond & John Hudson of the Washington Post: "Elon Musk on Wednesday acknowledged that the U.S. DOGE Service 'accidentally canceled' efforts by the U.S. Agency for International Development to prevent the spread of Ebola -- but the billionaire entrepreneur insisted that the initiative was quickly restored. 'We will make mistakes. We won't be perfect. But when we make a mistake we'll fix it very quickly,' Musk said at a meeting of ... Donald Trump's Cabinet officials.... 'So we restored the Ebola prevention immediately. And there was no interruption.' Yet current and former USAID officials said that ... USAID's Ebola prevention efforts have been largely halted since Musk and his DOGE allies moved last month to gut the global-assistance agency and freeze its outgoing payments, they said. The teams and contractors that would be deployed to fight an Ebola outbreak have been dismantled, they added. While the Trump administration issued a waiver to allow USAID to respond to an Ebola outbreak in Uganda last month, partner organizations were not promptly paid for their work, and USAID's own efforts were sharply curtailed compared to past efforts to fight Ebola outbreaks." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Rachel Maddow said last night on-air that Musk treated the "accidental cancellation" as a joke; he chuckled when he falsely congratulated his team and himself for restoring aid with no interruption of service. ~~~

~~~ Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: "During his cabinet meeting on Wednesday..., [Donald] Trump casually mentioned that Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, intended to fire 65 percent of employees, an incision so deep that officials said it would hobble the E.P.A. Mr. Trump said Mr. Zeldin 'thinks he's going to be cutting 65 or so percent of the people from environmental. And we're going to speed up the process, too, at the same time.' Within minutes, managers at the agency said they received a White House memo telling them to prepare for mass layoffs. The memo, which was sent to leaders of multiple agencies, said that the federal government 'is costly, inefficient, and deeply in debt.' It did not mention the 65 percent goal, but laid out steps for the E.P.A. to prepare for what is known as a reduction in force, which would result in eliminating jobs. Hours later, an E.P.A. official said Mr. Trump was referring to overall agency budget cuts and not a 65 percent reduction in personnel." MB: Because Donald is a figurehead and doesn't know what's really going on. ~~~

~~~ Unvaccinated Child Dies in Measles Outbreak. RFKJ Says "Meh." Devi Shastri & Amanda Seitz of the AP: "A child who wasn't vaccinated died in a measles outbreak in rural West Texas, state officials said Wednesday, the first U.S. death from the highly contagious respiratory disease since 2015. The school-aged child had been hospitalized and died Tuesday night amid the widespread outbreak, Texas' largest in nearly 30 years. Since it began last month, a rash of 124 cases has erupted across nine counties.... Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation's top health official and a vaccine critic, said Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is 'watching' cases, though he did not provide specifics on how the federal agency is assisting. He dismissed Texas' outbreak as 'not unusual' during a Wednesday meeting of ... Donald Trump's Cabinet members." MB: A "rash" of cases? Really? (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: No, RFKJ is wrong. This outbreak is unusual, and the death of a child (in the Cabinet meeting, he said two children, so maybe he knows something we don't) from measles is the first U.S. death from measles in a decade, according to ABC News. Dismissing this outbreak as "not unusual" is horrifying. Not only that, RFKJ claimed that the people hospitalized were in placed hospitals only so they could be "quarantined." No, they're in hospital because they have severe respiratory difficulties caused by measles; they can't breathe, you lying POS.

~~~ Lena Sun & Rachel Roubein of the Washington Post: "Trump officials have canceled a federal vaccine advisory committee meeting expected to be held next month that was intended to help select the makeup of next winter's influenza vaccine. This is the second federal vaccine advisory panel that has been postponed or canceled since Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist, was sworn in as health and human services secretary." The NBC News story is here.

No More Birds, No More Bees. No More Bushes, No More Trees. Marie: I thought Akhilleus was kidding when he wrote in yesterday's Comments "that a biodiversity conference in Hawaii was canceled because Fat Hitler's Agriculture Secretary thinks biodiversity is DEI." But no. He found that Secretary Brooke Rollins has proudly posted a press release announcing the Department has cancelled a "frivolous Biden-era contract" for $11K for a conference room rental for a USDA biodiversity meeting in Hawaii. It's quite impressive that in only a month, the Trump administration has figured out how to end life on earth. In addition, Karl Schneider of the Indy Star reports that "The USDA revoked a federal tree-planting grant to Keep Indianapolis Beautiful in a move the nonprofit's CEO said may be the result of anti-DEI initiatives coming from the Trump Administration.... The use of the words 'biodiversity' and 'equity' may have been the reason the grant was revoked, [Jeremy] Kranowitz [-- president of Keep Indianapolis Beautiful --] hypothesized." They. Are. Nitwits. (Also linked yesterday.)

Supposed DOGE "Savings" Are So Much Bull. Jane Timm of NBC News: "DOGE's 'wall of savings' and list of canceled contracts include many eye-popping 'receipts.'... There's just one problem: Many of the so-called receipts aren't receipts at all. They're negotiated agreements with known government contractors, who might provide future services.... The agreements are known as blanket purchase agreements (BPAs), working more like a catalog of things the government might buy than a placed order. But listed alongside actual orders for goods and services on DOGE's 'wall of savings,' they create a wildly exaggerated and false impression of government spending. The wall of savings includes more than 60 listed 'contracts' that are clearly labeled as BPAs on the DOGE site, while many others are identified as BPAs in federal records -- often easily spotted because of their high, round numbers. NBC News counted more than $1 billion value in DOGE's list of canceled contracts from BPAs."

FAA Joins Team Corruption. Ian Duncan, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Federal Aviation Administration is close to canceling a $2.4 billion contract to overhaul a communications system that serves as the backbone of the nation’s air traffic control system and awarding the work to Elon Musk's Starlink.... The move to cancel a major contract in favor of a venture led by Musk ... would represent a significant test of protections against conflicts of interest in government projects. It would be an especially extraordinary step for the typically cautious FAA, whose systems are vital to the safety of millions of air travelers every day. The existing contract was awarded to Verizon in 2023, with the aim of upgrading a platform that different air traffic control facilities and FAA offices use to communicate with one another. Musk has personally taken aim at Verizon on his social media platform X in recent days, saying on Monday: 'The Verizon system is not working and so is putting air travelers at serious risk.'... A team of employees from SpaceX, Starlink's parent company, has been working inside the FAA in recent days, charged by the Trump administration with helping modernize the agency's aging technology."

Erich Wagner & Natalie Alms of Government Executive: "Most of the Social Security Administration's regional commissioners have decided to retire at the end of this week, following mysterious meetings with agency leaders about plans to slash its workforce. At least five of the eight regional commissioners whose offices oversee and support the agency's frontline offices across the country are leaving.... The Social Security Administration had largely been spared by the Trump administration's early efforts to cut staff across government, receiving exemptions for frontline workers from the 'deferred-resignation' program, Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, and the purge of workers who had been recently hired or promoted. But that apparently changed this week, triggering the wave of retirement announcements."

VA Chief Doesn't Know What He's Doing. Tara Copp & Carla Johnson of the AP: "The Department of Veterans Affairs has temporarily suspended billions of dollars in planned contract cuts following concerns that the move would hurt critical veterans' health services, lawmakers and veterans service organizations said Wednesday. The pause affects hundreds of VA contracts that Secretary Doug Collins a day earlier described as simply consulting deals, whose cancellation would save $2 billion as the Trump administration works to slash costs across the federal government. 'No more paying consultants to do things like make Power Point slides and write meeting minutes!' Collins posted to X Tuesday, in a post that was then lauded by Elon Musk.... The Associated Press has obtained the full list of 875 affected contracts, which shows the cuts would affect everything from cancer care to the ability to assess toxic exposure. The list ... generat[ed] significant concern not just among Democrats but also Republican lawmakers. The VA said in a statement to the AP that its review of the contracts 'is ongoing and not final.'" The Washington Post's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I get that incompetence is part of the plan. Unfortunately, that's the part of the plan these dimwits are most successful at carrying out.

Sabrina Rodriguez & Sammy Westfall of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump posted to his Truth Social account late Tuesday an apparently AI-generated video that takes viewers on a dreamlike journey through an alternate-reality version of the Gaza Strip, remade according to his proposal for the United States to 'own' the territory.... 'No more tunnels, no more fear. Trump Gaza is finally here,' a voice sings to an electronic dance beat. 'Trump Gaza, shining bright. Golden future, a brand-new life.'... It features AI-generated shots of a massive gold statue of Trump towering over a traffic circle, a toddler holding a large gold balloon of Trump's head and bazaar-like gift shops lined with Trump figurines. In several scenes, dollar bills fall from the sky, including over a suit-clad Musk dancing on the beach.... On Wednesday morning, critics of the president took to social media to slam his posting of the video, with many describing it as callous and disturbing.... Even on his own platform, Truth Social, some viewers found the video strange or distasteful." Thanks to RAS for the heads-up. MB: I thought about posting the video here. But, no, it's too offensive. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Akhilleus had some thoughts about the video in yesterday's Comments.

Evan Hurst reports on how JayDee defines masculinity. Whatever your own thoughts may be, I doubt they're the same as JayDee's. Thanks to RAS for the link. Not that there's anything wrong with enjoying a beer with the boys and yukking it up over some trash talk about the ladies.

DOJ Nominees Testify Trump Can Ignore Court Orders. Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: "Lawyers for ... [Donald] Trump in line to take top jobs at the Justice Department sparred with Democrats on Wednesday over whether the administration could simply ignore some court orders -- an early skirmish in a larger fight over the White House's efforts to claim more sweeping presidential powers. The debate, before the Senate Judiciary Committee, unfolded as three nominees testified during a confirmation hearing to join the upper ranks of the Justice Department. Two of the nominees, Harmeet K. Dhillon and D. John Sauer, have long worked as personal lawyers for Mr. Trump. The third, Aaron Reitz, selected to lead the Office of Legal Policy, was questioned about an old social media post in which he suggested that Mr. Trump follow the example set by President Andrew Jackson, who ignored a Supreme Court order in 1832. 'There is no hard and fast rule about whether, in every instance a public official is bound by a court decision,' he said Wednesday.... Democrats have raised concerns that the Trump administration might ignore not just lower court decisions, but also appellate decisions or Supreme Court rulings.... Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, said some Supreme Court decisions were wrong and should have been fought more vigorously by government officials." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Sauer was the attorney who argued before the Supreme Court that the president* should be immune from prosecution for ordering a Navy SEAL team to assassinate his political opponent.

⭐The Chief Justice Enabler. Zach Montague, et al., of the New York Times: "Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on Wednesday night handed the Trump administration a victory for now in saying that the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department did not need to immediately pay for more than $1.5 billion in already completed aid work. A federal judge had set a midnight deadline for the agencies to release funds for the foreign aid work, which was withheld in the wake of the president's Day 1 directive to gut U.S. spending overseas.... Chief Justice Roberts issued an 'administrative stay,' an interim measure meant to preserve the status quo while the justices consider the matter in a more deliberate fashion. The chief justice ordered the challengers to file a response to the application on Friday, and the court is likely to act not long after." The CBS News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Roberts is likely one of those undeserving federal bureaucrats who wastes our hard-earned money by receiving free copies of newspapers -- like Washington, D.C.'s Bezos Post -- AND Roberts is not stupid. So he knows he is killing people, including children. But, hey, let's go with an "administrative stay." Now, if anything sounds like the "deep state," that's it.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday over an employment discrimination suit filed by a straight woman who twice lost positions to gay workers. The case comes two years after the Supreme Court struck down race-conscious admissions programs in higher education and amid the Trump administration's fierce efforts to root out programs that promote diversity. While some conservative groups have hoped the case will yield a major statement on efforts to diversify the workplace, it seemed likely to produce a modest decision saying merely that a key civil rights law applied equally to all employees.... The court seemed likely to issue a brief and perhaps unanimous decision in favor of the woman, Marlean A. Ames." (Also linked yesterday.)

Peter Baker seems very exercised these days and is being exceptionally prolific: ~~~

~~~ Peter Baker of the New York Times: "The decision by President Trump's team to handpick which news organizations can participate in the White House press pool that questions him in the Oval Office or travels with him on Air Force One is a step in a direction that no modern American president of either party has ever taken. The White House said it was a privilege, not a right, to have such access, and that it wanted to open space for 'new media' outlets, including those that just so happen to support Mr. Trump. But after the White House's decision to bar the venerable Associated Press as punishment for its coverage, the message is clear: Any journalist can be expelled from the pool at any time for any reason." Baker likens Trump's move to the time 15 years ago when President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia pushed journalist Yelena Tregubova out of the Kremlin press pool. "The rest of the press pool got the message and eventually became what the Kremlin wanted it to be: a collection of compliant reporters who knew to toe the line or else they would pay a price.... One day, a bomb exploded outside Tregubova's apartment.... In the years since, independent journalists have been fired, arrested, poisoned or even killed.... Yevgenia Albats, a leading Russian journalist who had to flee her country under threat of arrest after the 2022 invasion [of Ukraine], said the developments in Washington over the past five weeks resemble the early days of Mr. Putin's reign." ~~~

~~~ Ben Johansen of Politico: "Reversing decades of precedent, the White House Correspondents' Association announced Wednesday that it would no longer coordinate shared coverage of ... Donald Trump in an escalating dispute over press access to official events. The association, which represents more than 60 news organizations that regularly cover the president, said it would no longer manage the rotating cast of reporters who attend White House events or compile the shared accounts of news.... 'This board will not assist any attempt by this administration or any other in taking over independent press coverage of the White House,' WHCA President Eugene Daniels, a Politico journalist, said in a statement to association members. 'Each of your organizations will have to decide whether or not you will take part in these new, government-appointed pools.' Their decision came after the White House, angered over coverage of the administration, has excluded certain organizations from news events in what the correspondents association see as retribution that undermines freedom of the press under the First Amendment and exceeds familiar tensions between presidents and the media." ~~~

Bezos argues for personal liberties. But his news organization now will forbid views other than his own in its opinion section.... There is no doubt in my mind that he is doing this out of fear of the consequences for his other business interests. -- Marty Baron, former WashPo executive editor, in a statement

This is what Oligarch ownership of the media looks like.... The second-richest guy in the world, Bezos, owns The Washington Post. He has now declared that the editorial page of that paper is going Trump right-wing. Surprise, Mr. Musk agrees. We must support independent media. -- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), on X ~~~

~~~ Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. This Is Not Mrs. Graham's Washington Post. Benjamin Mullin of the New York Times: "Jeff Bezos, the owner of The Washington Post, announced a major shift to the newspaper's opinion section on Wednesday, saying it would now advocate 'personal liberties and free markets' and not publish opposing viewpoints on those topics. Mr. Bezos said the section's editor, David Shipley, was leaving the paper in response to the change. 'I am of America and for America, and proud to be so,' Mr. Bezos said. 'Our country did not get here by being typical. And a big part of America's success has been freedom in the economic realm and everywhere else. Freedom is ethical -- it minimizes coercion -- and practical; it drives creativity, invention and prosperity.' In his note, Mr. Bezos said that he had asked Mr. Shipley whether he wanted to stay at The Post, and that Mr. Shipley had declined. 'I suggested to him that if the answer wasn't "hell yes," then it had to be "no,"' Mr. Bezos wrote." The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Washington Post Staff: "Bezos said that The Post no longer needs to offer a 'broad-based opinion section' because of a diversity of opinions available online.... Post publisher and CEO William Lewis told staffers in an email Wednesday that the change was not about 'siding with any political party.'" MB: Looks as if Jennifer Rubin, a Post columnist who left the paper a couple of weeks ago, saw the Bezos scrawl on the wall. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I suppose we can't be sure that this is what Bezos actually believes (it probably is) or just another gesture of "anticipatory obedience." But the effect is the same. ~~~

     ~~~ Margaret Sullivan in the Guardian: "Especially in light of the billionaire's other blatant efforts to cozy up to Donald Trump, Bezos's move is ... like a death knell for the once-great news organization he bought in 2013.... Bezos no longer wants to own an independent news organization. He wants a megaphone and a political tool that will benefit his own commercial interests. It's appalling. And, if you care about the role of the press in America's democracy, it's tragic.... Bezos is sacrificing the Post's reputation and any hope for its financial stability on the altar of personal gain.... I foresee a mass subscriber defection from an outlet already deep in red ink; that must be something businessman Bezos is willing to live with.... It's all about getting on board with Trump...." ~~~

     ~~~ Robert Reich: Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk & Mark Zuckerberg "were in the first row at Trump's inauguration. They, and other billionaires, have now exposed themselves for what they are. They are the oligarchy. They continue to siphon off the wealth of the nation. They are supporting a tyrant who is promising them tax cuts and regulatory rollbacks that will make them even richer, and destroying democracy so they won't have to worry about 'parasites' (as Musk calls people who depend on government assistance) demanding anything more from them.... When [billionaires] talk of 'personal liberties and free markets' they mean their own liberties to become even richer and more powerful, as the rest of America slides into worse economic insecurity and fear." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Jared Sexton: "Presently, the oligarchical class is carrying out a bold-faced takeover of the federal government, deleting the social safety net as if it is an unused icon on a desktop, solidifying complete control over our economy and culture, and working hand-in-hand with despotic regimes around the world in order to quell resistance and gain complete dominion over the resources necessary to sustain themselves and continue their personal pursuits. As climate change worsens and the consequences come into sight, and as the Neoliberal order fractures and evolves into authoritarianism, they fully recognize it is time to pounce and take what they believe is rightfully theirs.... Both parties laid this foundation. The rank and file in Washington, D.C. and in corporate America fed this thing until it grew into this form.... We are witnessing the moment they have chosen to assert what they believe is their right to take control." Thanks to laura h. for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Sexton's essay is very much worth reading. He doesn't offer an antidote, but I have one. It's quite simple, and Congress enshrined it in our Constitution more than a hundred years ago. It's the income tax. Of course more than one type of tax would be required to rein in the oligharchs. But the real problem is both simple and obvious: they have too much money. What if the maximum any American could take home was $500,000 a year? That's plenty of incentive -- along with social incentives like fame and admiration -- for these titans to be inspired to do what innovative work they may do. It's also -- in today's dollars -- more than enough to live on very comfortably. It is not enough to buy corrupt politicians and take over the federal government (or as Musk, for instance, is trying to do in Wisconsin, to take over state governance as well). What the corrupt Congress is doing right now -- lowering taxes on the oligarchs at the expense of the needy -- is precisely the opposite of what the country needs to survive them.

Marie: It appears that the Bezos Post opinion page has not been activated just yet. ~~~

~~~ Lee Hockstader of the Washington Post: During an Oval Office meeting Monday, "Trump, indulging his passion for fairy tales, said Europeans were just lending aid to Kyiv and would 'get their money back.' That's when [French President Emmanuel] Macron cut him off, placing a hand gently on Trump's forearm. 'No,' said the French president, who had already deployed ample flattery for 'dear Donald.' 'In fact, to be frank, we paid 60 percent of the total effort, and it was through -- like the U.S. -- loans, guarantees, grants.' Macron ignored Trump's yeah-sure-pal smirk and pressed his point: Europe, whose total aid to Ukraine exceeds Washington's, has 'provided real money, to be clear.' And it would not be joining Trump in gouging Kyiv with demands for payback.... As for Trump's demand that Kyiv sign over future proceeds from state-owned mineral rights as recompense for past U.S. aid -- half a trillion dollars was his original demand -- Europeans are appalled. 'It's mafia stuff,' an ambassador told me.... Europe's sense of panic is mounting."

~~~~~~~~~~

Ohio. Daniel Wu of the Washington Post: "In early February, a truck of neo-Nazis ... -- some carrying rifles -- hurled racist slurs and waved flags with red swastikas on a highway overpass leading into [Lincoln Heights, Ohio, a majority-Black town]. Two weeks later, on Sunday, another agitator struck, spreading racist pamphlets from the Ku Klux Klan across Lincoln Heights.... The town originated as a self-governing Black community -- the oldest north of the Mason-Dixon Line, it proclaims on its website -- that lacked public services.... Residents say they are ... suspicious of police officers whom county officials criticized for not cracking down on the neo-Nazi march.... Many of the town's residents are adamant that taking up arms is the only solution, even as some have questioned whether they want their neighbors taking advantage of Ohio's open-carry law to begin an armed watch program.... Residents took up arms shortly after the neo-Nazis left, and community leaders formed the Lincoln Heights Safety and Watch Program to organize them, according to ... the group's spokesman."

~~~~~~~~~~

Austria. Jim Tankersley & Christopher Schuetze of the New York Times: "Three mainstream political parties in Austria said on Thursday that they had reached an agreement to form a new government that excludes the far right, ending five months of roller coaster negotiations after an election last fall. The coalition is set to announce ministerial posts on Friday, but the new chancellor is likely to be Christian Stocker, the head of the People's Party, the biggest coalition partner. The new government is set to include left- and right-of-center parties but not the far-right Freedom Party, which finished first in the September vote."

Israel, et al. Aaron Boxerman, et al., of the New York Times: "Hamas turned over what it said were the remains of four Israeli hostages early on Thursday, according to the Israeli military, and Israel began releasing Palestinian prisoners, in the latest such exchange during the initial stage of a fragile cease-fire. Hamas's military wing on Wednesday afternoon named the four Israelis as Ohad Yahalomi, Itzhak Elgarat, Shlomo Mansour and Tsachi Idan. They ranged in age from 85 to 49 when they were abducted, and their remains were to be swapped for a group of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. Unlike previous handovers, this time, Hamas carried out the transfer without staged displays, which Israel had condemned as 'humiliating ceremonies.' Around the same time on Thursday, a white bus and two cars bearing the emblem of the International Committee of the Red Cross were shown live on Palestinian television departing from Ofer Prison in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to the city of Ramallah in the same territory. Dozens of prisoners stepped off the bus. Hundreds more were expected to be released once Israel identified the bodies turned over."

News Ledes

CNBC: "Initial filings for unemployment benefits hit their highest level of the year last week in another potential signs of weakness in the labor market. Jobless claims for the week ended Feb. 22 totaled a seasonally adjusted 242,000, up 22,000 from the previous week's revised level and higher than the Dow Jones estimate for 225,000, according to a Labor Department report Thursday. The level of claims matched the highest since early October 2024 and comes amid questions over broader economic growth and worrying signs in recent consumer sentiment surveys."

CNBC: "High mortgage rates and elevated home prices combined to crush home sales in January. Pending sales, which are based on signed contracts for existing homes, dropped 4.6% from December to the lowest level since the National Association of Realtors began tracking this metric in 2001. Sales were down 5.2% from January 2024. These sales are an indicator of future closings."

New York Times: "Gene Hackman, who never fit the mold of a Hollywood movie star, but who became one all the same, playing seemingly ordinary characters with deceptive subtlety, intensity and often charm in some of the most noted films of the 1970s and '80s, has died, the authorities in New Mexico said on Thursday. He was 95. Mr. Hackman and his wife were found dead on Wednesday afternoon at a home in Santa Fe., N.M., where they had been living, according to a statement from the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department. Sheriff's deputies found the bodies of Mr. Hackman; his wife, Betsy Arakawa, 64; and a dog, according to the statement, which said that foul play was not suspected." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. New York Times: "An investigation was underway on Thursday after the prolific actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead along with their dog at a house in New Mexico, the local authorities said. The bodies of Mr. Hackman, 95, and Ms. Arakawa, 64, were found by sheriff's deputies in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Santa Fe on Wednesday afternoon, the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. The couple had lived in the Santa Fe area for years. Sheriff Adan Mendoza of Santa Fe County said in a phone interview that an associate of Mr. Hackman and his family had placed an emergency call on Wednesday afternoon after discovering the bodies of the actor and his wife."

New York Times: "Michelle Trachtenberg, a touchstone of millennial youth culture who grew up onscreen, rising to fame as a troubled teenager on the supernatural 1990s series 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and as a conniving young socialite on 'Gossip Girl,' was found dead on Wednesday in Manhattan. She was 39. The New York Police Department said in a statement that officers, responding to a 911 call just after 8 a.m. on Wednesday, found Ms. Trachtenberg unconscious and unresponsive in a Manhattan apartment. She was pronounced dead by emergency medical workers, who had also responded."

The Conversation -- February 26, 2025

Sabrina Rodriguez & Sammy Westfall of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump posted to his Truth Social account late Tuesday an apparently AI-generated video that takes viewers on a dreamlike journey through an alternate-reality version of the Gaza Strip, remade according to his proposal for the United States to 'own' the territory.... 'No more tunnels, no more fear. Trump Gaza is finally here,' a voice sings to an electronic dance beat. 'Trump Gaza, shining bright. Golden future, a brand-new life.'... It features AI-generated shots of a massive gold statue of Trump towering over a traffic circle, a toddler holding a large gold balloon of Trump's head and bazaar-like gift shops lined with Trump figurines. In several scenes, dollar bills fall from the sky, including over a suit-clad Musk dancing on the beach.... On Wednesday morning, critics of the president took to social media to slam his posting of the video, with many describing it as callous and disturbing.... Even on his own platform, Truth Social, some viewers found the video strange or distasteful." Thanks to RAS for the heads-up. MB: I thought about posting the video here. But, no, it's too offensive. ~~~

     ~~~ Akhilleus has some thoughts about the video in today's Comments.

President* Musk Holds His First Cabinet Meeting. Alex Gangitano of the Hill: Elon "Musk ... was dominant at the opening of the Cabinet meeting, offering a number of sharp comments toward the federal workforce while standing and taking questions from the press.... Musk ... defended his email demanding all federal workers report their accomplishments to his office, calling it a 'pulse check' and saying anyone with a heartbeat and neurons could complete it.... 'There are fictional individuals collecting paychecks,' Musk said of the government, though he did not offer specific evidence that people are fraudulently getting paychecks.... 'Is anyone unhappy with Elon? If you are, we'll throw them out of here,' Trump asked the room [of actual Cabinet secretaries] at one point...."

No More Birds, No More Bees. No More Bushes, No More Trees. Marie: I thought Akhilleus was kidding when he claimed in today's Comments "that a biodiversity conference in Hawaii was canceled because Fat Hitler's Agriculture Secretary thinks biodiversity is DEI." But no. He found that Secretary Brooke Rollins has proudly posted a press release announcing the Department has cancelled a "frivolous Biden-era contract" for $11K for a conference room rental for a USDA biodiversity meeting in Hawaii. It's quite impressive that in only a month, the Trump administration has figured out how to end life on earth. In addition, Karl Schneider of the Indy Star reports that "The USDA revoked a federal tree-planting grant to Keep Indianapolis Beautiful in a move the nonprofit's CEO said may be the result of anti-DEI initiatives coming from the Trump Administration.... The use of the words 'biodiversity' and 'equity' may have been the reason the grant was revoked, [Jeremy] Kranowitz [-- president of Keep Indianapolis Beautiful --] hypothesized." They. Are. Nitwits.

DOJ Nominees Testify Trump Can Ignore Court Orders. Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: "Lawyers for ... [Donald] Trump in line to take top jobs at the Justice Department sparred with Democrats on Wednesday over whether the administration could simply ignore some court orders -- an early skirmish in a larger fight over the White House's efforts to claim more sweeping presidential powers. The debate, before the Senate Judiciary Committee, unfolded as three nominees testified during a confirmation hearing to join the upper ranks of the Justice Department. Two of the nominees, Harmeet K. Dhillon and D. John Sauer, have long worked as personal lawyers for Mr. Trump. The third, Aaron Reitz, selected to lead the Office of Legal Policy, was questioned about an old social media post in which he suggested that Mr. Trump follow the example set by President Andrew Jackson, who ignored a Supreme Court order in 1832. 'There is no hard and fast rule about whether, in every instance a public official is bound by a court decision,' he said Wednesday.... Democrats have raised concerns that the Trump administration might ignore not just lower court decisions, but also appellate decisions or Supreme Court rulings.... Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, said some Supreme Court decisions were wrong and should have been fought more vigorously by government officials." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Sauer was the attorney who argued before the Supreme Court that the president* should be immune from prosecution for ordering a Navy SEAL team to assassinate his political opponent.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday over an employment discrimination suit filed by a straight woman who twice lost positions to gay workers. The case comes two years after the Supreme Court struck down race-conscious admissions programs in higher education and amid the Trump administration's fierce efforts to root out programs that promote diversity. While some conservative groups have hoped the case will yield a major statement on efforts to diversify the workplace, it seemed likely to produce a modest decision saying merely that a key civil rights law applied equally to all employees.... The court seemed likely to issue a brief and perhaps unanimous decision in favor of the woman, Marlean A. Ames."

Bezos argues for personal liberties. But his news organization now will forbid views other than his own in its opinion section.... There is no doubt in my mind that he is doing this out of fear of the consequences for his other business interests. -- Marty Baron, former WashPo executive editor, in a statement

This is what Oligarch ownership of the media looks like.... The second-richest guy in the world, Bezos, owns The Washington Post. He has now declared that the editorial page of that paper is going Trump right-wing. Surprise, Mr. Musk agrees. We must support independent media. -- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), on X ~~~

~~~ This Is Not Mrs. Graham's Washington Post. Benjamin Mullin of the New York Times: "Jeff Bezos, the owner of The Washington Post, announced a major shift to the newspaper's opinion section on Wednesday, saying it would now advocate 'personal liberties and free markets' and not publish opposing viewpoints on those topics. Mr. Bezos said the section's editor, David Shipley, was leaving the paper in response to the change. 'I am of America and for America, and proud to be so,' Mr. Bezos said. 'Our country did not get here by being typical. And a big part of America's success has been freedom in the economic realm and everywhere else. Freedom is ethical -- it minimizes coercion -- and practical; it drives creativity, invention and prosperity.' In his note, Mr. Bezos said that he had asked Mr. Shipley whether he wanted to stay at The Post, and that Mr. Shipley had declined. 'I suggested to him that if the answer wasn't "hell yes," then it had to be "no,"' Mr. Bezos wrote." The AP's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Washington Post Staff: "Bezos said that The Post no longer needs to offer a 'broad-based opinion section' because of a diversity of opinions available online.... Post publisher and CEO William Lewis told staffers in an email Wednesday that the change was not about 'siding with any political party.'" MB: Looks as if Jennifer Rubin, a Post columnist who left the paper a couple of weeks ago, saw the Bezos scrawl on the wall. ~~~

     ~~~ Robert Reich: Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk & Mark Zuckerberg "were in the first row at Trump's inauguration. They, and other billionaires, have now exposed themselves for what they are. They are the oligarchy. They continue to siphon off the wealth of the nation. They are supporting a tyrant who is promising them tax cuts and regulatory rollbacks that will make them even richer, and destroying democracy so they won't have to worry about 'parasites' (as Musk calls people who depend on government assistance) demanding anything more from them.... When [billionaires] talk of 'personal liberties and free markets' they mean their own liberties to become even richer and more powerful, as the rest of America slides into worse economic insecurity and fear."

Unvaccinated Child Dies from Measles. RFKJ Says "Meh." Devi Shastri & Amanda Seitz of the AP: "A child who wasn't vaccinated died in a measles outbreak in rural West Texas, state officials said Wednesday, the first U.S. death from the highly contagious respiratory disease since 2015. The school-aged child had been hospitalized and died Tuesday night amid the widespread outbreak, Texas' largest in nearly 30 years. Since it began last month, a rash of 124 cases has erupted across nine counties.... Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation's top health official and a vaccine critic, said Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is 'watching' cases, though he did not provide specifics on how the federal agency is assisting. He dismissed Texas' outbreak as 'not unusual' during a Wednesday meeting of ... Donald Trump's Cabinet members." MB: A "rash" of cases? Really?

~~~~~~~~~~

Catie Edmondson, et al., of the New York Times: "The House on Tuesday narrowly passed a Republican budget resolution that calls for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and a $2 trillion reduction in federal spending over a decade, clearing the way for major elements of ... [Donald] Trump's domestic agenda. The nearly party-line vote of 217 to 215 teed up a bitter fight within the G.O.P. over which federal programs to slash to partially finance a huge tax cut that would provide its biggest benefits to rich Americans. It came after a head-spinning hour in which Republican leaders tried to put down a revolt among conservatives who wanted deeper spending cuts, failed to do so, canceled the budget vote and then reversed course minutes later and summoned lawmakers to call the roll. The chaotic scene underscored the unwieldy path House Republicans have ahead of them as they try to push through Mr. Trump's domestic policy agenda through Congress over the objections of Democrats. Approval of the budget plan was a crucial first step for Republicans to smooth the way through Congress for an enormous fiscal package using a process called reconciliation, which allows such bills to steer clear of a filibuster and pass the Senate on a simple-majority vote." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Here's one humorous note: One "of the holdouts, Representative Victoria Spartz of Indiana..., said she received a 'personal commitment' from Mr. Trump to 'save health care and make it better.'" That's right; Spartz changed her vote on a promise from Trump that he would make healthcare programs better. That's the same promise he's failed to even come close to fulfilling on for the decade he was trying to tank Obamacare. Did he tell her he had a concept of a plan?

~~~ Margot Sanger-Katz & Alicia Parlapiano of the New York Times: "What can House Republicans cut instead of Medicaid? Not much." To pass the bill through reconciiiation, which avoids a Senate filibuster, they must find $880 billion in cuts over the next ten years, and these cuts must come from programs the House Energy and Commerce Committee oversees. "If the budget resolution is going to become public policy, it will require legislation that cuts health programs. Almost a trillion dollars is a lot of money, even in federal budget terms, and health care is where the money is." ~~~

     ~~~ Oh, Dear. Jared Gans of the Hill: A "poll from Hart Research conducted for the nonprofit Families Over Billionaires, which advocates in opposition to tax cuts for the wealthy, found 71 percent of voters who backed Trump said cutting Medicaid would be unacceptable. Voters overall were even more opposed to it, with 82 percent saying so. Six in 10 Trump voters also said cutting food and nutrition programs would be unacceptable." MB: This is not because Trump voters have suddenly become bleeding hearts dedicated to helping poor people. Rather, it's because many of them are poor people who need assistance programs like Medicaid & food stamps (SNAP).

Marianne LeVine of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will replace a controversial visa program for foreign investors with a new initiative to sell $5 million 'gold cards' to wealthy individuals looking for a path to U.S. citizenship. 'They'll be wealthy and they'll be successful,' Trump said in the Oval Office. 'And they'll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people.'... The president shared few details on requirements, aside from the $5 million payment, but said those who buy the gold cards will be given green-card privileges and 'a route to citizenship.'... He said Tuesday that the gold cards will help bring in 'very high-level people' and claimed that companies such as Apple could buy the cards Immigration experts expressed skepticism that the Trump administration could enact the change without Congress, though the president insisted he could do so unilaterally because he was 'not doing citizenship.'... Muzaffar Chishti ... [of] the Migration Policy Institute, said that only Congress can end the EB-5 visa program for investors that Trump and [Commerce Secretary Howard] Lutnick want to replace." The AP's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Some of you expressed shock yesterday at this Oligarchs Invitational, but it's new only in that Trump & Lutnick ballooned the price of admission. Congress created the EB-5 visa program in 1990, and the current minimum investment to qualify is $800K. As to these "very high-level people" paying a lot of taxes, the whole idea of the budget proposal the House passed last night was to lower taxes for "very high-level people." So that's bull. Plus, it's pathetic that Trump thinks "rich" and "very high-level" are the same thing.

Palling Around with Despots. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "In a move that redrew the international order, Mr. Trump this week had the United States vote against a U.N. General Assembly resolution condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine on the third anniversary of the war. Among the countries that Mr. Trump joined in siding with Russia? North Korea, Belarus and Sudan. [And, as RAS pointed out, Iran.] Those he stood against? Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Japan and most of the rest of the world. It would be hard to think of a starker demonstration of how radically Mr. Trump is recalibrating America's place in the world.... He is positioning the United States in the camp of the globe's chief rogue states in opposition to the countries that have been America's best friends.... If the United States is going to align itself with international outcasts..., it could force Europe, Canada and Asian allies like Japan and South Korea to go their own way and look elsewhere for alliances. At the same time, Mr. Trump's deference to Moscow has allowed Russia out of the diplomatic isolation chamber that Washington and the West sought to construct in the three years since its full-fledged invasion of Ukraine."

Petty, Vindictive Little Swine. Perry Stein & Jeremy Roebuck of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump is targeting the elite Washington law firm that is representing former special counsel Jack Smith, issuing a directive that would strip some of its lawyers of their security clearances and examine the firm's government contracts. The order signed Tuesday afternoon called for suspending the security clearance of any attorney at Covington & Burling who the Trump administration concludes was involved in representing Smith while he was special counsel. It also directs federal agencies to limit their interactions with Covington & Burling and assess government contracts with the firm to align 'funding decisions with the interests of the citizens of the United States.' The firm has been providing pro bono personal legal services to Smith.... Legal experts said the action is unlikely to have widespread implications for Covington & Burling, because the firm's revenue does not come from government contracts and relatively few attorneys have cases that regularly require security clearances.

"As he signed the directive, Trump suggested that he should send the pen to Smith, before tossing it to one of the reporters in the audience. When asked if he was targeting the law firm, Trump replied: 'I was targeted. ... Don't talk to me about targeting.'" Politico's report is here.

Jeff Stein, et al., of the Washington Post: "Over the last several days, more than a dozen federal agencies, primarily led by Trump-appointed Cabinet secretaries, told employees that they did not need to comply with a Musk directive to email a list of what they had done in the past week. The rebuke was the most striking display yet of internal dissatisfaction with DOGE's moves across the federal government.... But Musk has fought back, publicly condemning those who resisted and calling for federal employees to face a second order to explain their work accomplishments. His DOGE team, meanwhile, escalated its multipronged assault on the bureaucracy, preparing for a new round of even more sweeping layoffs and moving to cancel additional grants and other forms of federal spending.... Musk's surrogates, for instance, have in recent days directed the Department of Veterans Affairs to cut more than 800 existing federal contracts.... DOGE helped implement at least a partial freeze on government credit cards, ceasing the work of employees who need to bill expenses."

Ask Amy. Name of Mystery Woman Revealed. Here's some news. After attorneys for the White House were unable to answer federal judges' simple questions about who headed up DOGE, the White House finally found somebody willing to pretend she's in charge of DOGE: "The White House confirmed Tuesday that Amy Gleason, who used to work for the firm founded by DOGE adviser Brad Smith, will be the U.S. DOGE Service administrator. (Musk himself is officially a 'special government employee' who's advising the White House and DOGE's effort, the administration has said.)" ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Here's a full WashPo story on Gleason's new job: "Gleason's appointment is unlikely to change any perception that Musk is in charge of DOGE, but it answers a key question as to its organizational structure." The AP's story is here. ~~~

~~~ Luckily, it won't matter who's in charge, because DOGE is planning to have AI fire federal workers. It will be this fabulously efficient automated system where nobody is responsible for those pink slips. Think of the boon this is to supervisors who have a smidgen of empathy left and feel bad about destroying the lives of people who have dedicated themselves to public service. It's a great concept! Genius! as Trump would say: ~~~

     ~~~ David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Employees connected to Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are reportedly updating government software that would automate the firing of federal workers.... Wired revealed that DOGE had obtained access to a Department of Defense software program called AutoRIF -- which is shorthand for Automated Reduction in Force. The software was designed to create lists of employees eligible to be fired.... 'With new software and the use of AI, some government employees fear that large-scale terminations could roll out even more quickly,' Wired reported." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The system could automatically send the pink slips in cardboard boxes that the fired employees then could use to load up the decades' worth of tchotchkes & family photos they had cluttered their space with. Perhaps there would still have to be some human contact in order to collect the employees' badges and key cards or whatever, though maybe these could be sent to HR through a pneumatic tube or something. Oh, be sure to deduct the cost of the cardboard boxes from their final paychecks.

Well, maybe not fraud, but I'll give ya waste and abuse ~~~

     ~~~ Julian Barnes of the New York Times: "Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, said on Tuesday that more than 100 intelligence officers from 15 agencies had been fired for having sexually explicit discussions on a government chat tool. The chat program was administered by the National Security Agency and intended for discussions of sensitive security matters. But a group of employees used it for discussions that contained sexual themes, intelligence officials said this week. The chats also include explicit discussion of gender transition surgeryofficials said. Transcripts of the chat were first disclosed Monday by Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist who writes for City Journal."

Emily Davies & Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: "Veterans Affairs Secretary Douglas A. Collins took to social media on Tuesday to tout sweeping cuts to contracts that he said would save the department nearly $2 billion without touching core services. But the 875 contracts on the chopping block help cover medical services, fund cancer programs, recruit doctors and provide burial services to veterans, according to internal VA documents.... Sen. Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, said in a statement Tuesday...[,] 'This is just another reckless cost-cutting decision that will harm veterans and tax payers for years to come.'" MB: Traditionally, most politicians did not boast about stiffing ailing or dying veterans, but this is MAGA and I suppose those veterans are suckers and losers.

In the Dark of Night, DOGE Deletes Its Fake Receipts. David Fahrenthold, et al., of the New York Times: "Last week, Elon Musk's government cost-slashing initiative ... posted an online 'wall of receipts,' celebrating how much it had saved by canceling federal contracts. Now the organization ... has deleted all of the five biggest 'savings' on that original list, after The New York Times and other media outlets pointed out they were riddled with errors. The last of the original top five disappeared from the site in the early hours of Tuesday, even as the group claimed in its latest update that its savings to date had increased to $65 billion. The website offered no explanation for why it removed some items or how it arrived at the higher total.... The 'wall of receipts' is the only public ledger the organization has produced to document its work. The scale of that ledger's errors -- and the misunderstandings and poor quality control that seemed to underlie them -- has raised questions about the effort's broader work, which has led to mass firings and cutbacks across the federal government." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Ryan Foley of the AP: "Nearly 40% of the federal contracts that ... Donald Trump's administration claims to have canceled as part of its signature cost-cutting program aren't expected to save the government any money, the administration's own data shows. The Department of Government Efficiency ... published an updated list Monday of nearly 2,300 contracts that agencies terminated in recent weeks across the federal government. Data published on DOGE's 'Wall of Receipts' shows that more than one-third of the contract cancellations, 794 in all, are expected to yield no savings. That's usually because the total value of the contracts has already been fully obligated, which means the government has a legal requirement to spend the fund for the goods or services it purchased and in many cases has already done so." (Also linked yesterday.)

Desmond Butler, et al., of the Washington Post: "Over the years, [Elon] Musk and his businesses have received at least $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies and tax credits, often at critical moments, a Washington Post analysis has found, helping seed the growth that has made him the world's richest person.... The total amount is probably larger: This analysis includes only publicly available contracts, omitting classified defense and intelligence work for the federal government. SpaceX has been developing spy satellites for ... the Pentagon's spy satellite division.... The Wall Street Journal reported that contract was worth $1.8 billion.... The Post found nearly a dozen other local grants, reimbursements and tax credits where the specific amount of money is not public. An additional 52 ongoing contracts with seven government agencies ... are on track to potentially pay Musk's companies an additional $11.8 billion over the next few years.... DOGE ... has sought to cut staff, slash budgets or cut contracts at all seven of the agencies where Musk's companies have ongoing contracts."

Brian Slodysko & Byron Tau of the AP: "More than 20 civil service employees resigned Tuesday from ... Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, saying they were refusing to use their technical expertise to 'dismantle critical public services.' 'We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations,' the 21 staffers wrote in a joint resignation letter.... 'However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments.' The employees also warned that many of those enlisted by Musk to help him slash the size of the federal government under ... Donald Trump's administration were political ideologues who did not have the necessary skills or experience for the task ahead of them. The mass resignation of engineers, data scientists, designers and product managers is a temporary setback for Musk and the Republican president's tech-driven purge of the federal workforce. It comes amid a flurry of court challenges that have sought to stall, stop or unwind their efforts to fire or coerce thousands of government workers out of jobs." (Also linked yesterday.)

Rachel Roubein & Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "After several thousand probationary workers across the nation's health department were fired in what some dubbed a 'Valentine's Day massacre,' the government ha quietly asked some to return to their jobs regulating the nation's food supply, providing help for 9/11 responders and reviewing medical devices.... Patient advocacy groups had decried the firings, saying that they would erode the country's standing as a global health leader, and well-funded lobbying groups rushed to save some government slots that were in part funded by the private sector, not taxpayer dollars. The rehirings are also the latest wrinkle in the chaotic rollout of ... Donald Trump's effort to shrink and weaken the federal government via billionaire Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service." (Also linked yesterday.)

Zach Montague of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Tuesday directed the Trump administration to unfreeze foreign aid funding within two days after indications that it was failing to comply with a previous court order to keep money flowing to aid groups around the world. The State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development must release the funds and pay a number of bills by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, Judge Amir H. Ali of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia ruled. Judge Ali had ordered the Trump administration on Feb. 13 to keep disbursing the funds pending the outcome of a lawsuit brought by two health organizations affected by ... [Donald] Trump's executive order to pause most foreign aid for 90 days." (Also linked yesterday.)

David Nakamura & Teo Armus of the Washington Post: "A federal judge in Seattle on Tuesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration's sweeping ban on refugee admissions, saying the presidential executive order represented an improper nullification of congressional authority. U.S. District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead's granting of apreliminary injunction effectively requires the administration to restart the refugee-admissions program that ... Donald Trump shut down last month as part of a series of actions aimed at tightening immigration controls. The judge's order will remain in place while the case is adjudicated." The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Silvia Foster-Frau & Vanessa Herrero of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration flew nearly 180 migrants from the United States to Guantánamo and deported all of them to Venezuela on Thursday. The Post spoke with three men who were detained in the U.S. military prison that has been used to house suspected terrorists since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. All had crossed the border illegally, and although Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem called the migrants transported to Cuba the 'worst of the worst,' The Post could find no other criminal record for those interviewed. [Diuvar] Uzcátegui, José Daniel Simancas and Franyer Montes said they were denied calls to lawyers or loved ones after repeated pleas. They said they were subjected to humiliating and invasive strip searches. They described prolonged periods in isolation, with only two one-hour opportunities to go outside over two weeks.... The migrants' conditions in Guantánamo 'were horrific, and are far more restrictive, more severe and more abusive than what we would see in a typical immigration detention facility in the United States,' said Eunice Cho ... [of] the ACLU National Prison Project."

Fifth Amendment? Never Heard of It. Ariana Figueroa of the Daily Montanan, republished by the Raw Story: "Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem late Tuesday announced a campaign to compel people in the United States without legal authority to register with the U.S. government and then self-deport.... Noem said in a press release that if a person without legal status fails to register online, that person will be subject to a fine, imprisonment or both.... Registering would require submitting fingerprint information and other personal information. Adults and children 14 and older would be required to register."

⭐They're Really Trying to Kill Us. Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: "Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has privately urged the White House to strike down a scientific finding underpinning much of the federal government's push to combat climate change.... The 2009 'endangerment finding' cleared the way for regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act by concluding that the planet-warming gases pose a threat to public health and welfare. Both the Obama and Biden administrations used that determination to set strict limits on emissions from cars and power plants. By repealing the endangerment finding, the Trump administration would be taking one of its most consequential steps yet to derail federal climate efforts. In recent days, the administration has also blocked work that is central to international climate research and barred federal scientists and diplomats from attending a major climate event in China." ~~~

~~~ All the Best People. Hiroko Tabuchi of the New York Times: "Formaldehyde, the chemical of choice for undertakers and embalmers..., can also cause cancer and severe respiratory problems. So, in 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency began a new effort to regulate it. The chemicals industry fought back with an intensity that astonished even seasoned agency officials. Its campaign was led by Lynn Dekleva, then a lobbyist at the American Chemistry Council, an industry group that spends millions of dollars on government lobbying. Dr. Dekleva is now at the E.P.A. in a crucial job: She runs an office that has the authority to approve new chemicals for use. Earlier she spent 32 years at Dupont, the chemical maker, before joining the E.P.A. in the first Trump administration. Her most recent employer, the chemicals lobbying group, has made reversing the Environmental Protection Agency's course on formaldehyde a priority and is pushing to abolish a program under which the agency assess[es] the risks of chemicals to human health." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So this is one of many Trumpity policies designed to kill people, but the upside is that those who die because of Dekleva's regulatory rollback will be pre-embalmed.

Naftali Bendavid & Maeve Reston of the Washington Post: "Rowdy crowds are showing up at lawmakers&r' town hall meetings to protest ... Donald Trump's actions. Some people are launching into chants like 'No king!' or shouting down Republican House members. Sen. Bernie Sanders is drawing overflow crowds of his own as he seeks to mobilize voters against Trump's budget cuts. At the same time, a coalition of Democratic state attorneys general is methodically filing lawsuits against Trump's orders, and in six out of seven cases, it has been successful in persuading judges to halt them. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic Governors Association and liberal groups are seeing a surge in fundraising. And Democratic members of Congress are seizing on a budget clash as an opportunity to coalesce against the president's plans. Little by little, after an initial phase of stunned confusion, the broader resistance to Trump is beginning to wake up." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: My own Congressional delegation (100% Democratic) is a waste of space. I called them all last week, and when I complained my rep was doing nothing to fight Trump, she sent me a fucking fundraising letter asked me to send her money to fight Trump. What? She can't afford a bus ticket to anti-Trump rally? I wrote her a scathing response and dared her staff to put it in front of her face. She'll be hearing from me again. ~~~

~~~ What to do?? What to do? How about putting your hands over your ears and saying "La La La La" very loudly. Or here's what GOP leadership is suggesting: ~~~

     ~~~ Melanie Zanona, et al., of NBC News: "House Republicans are becoming weary and wary of in-person town hall meetings after a number of lawmakers have faced hometown crowds angry about the Trump administration's push to slash government programs and staffing. Party leaders suggest that if lawmakers feel the need to hold such events, they do tele-town halls or at least vet attendees to avoid scenes that become viral clips, according to GOP sources. A GOP aide said House Republican leaders are urging lawmakers to stop engaging in them altogether."

The iPhone Really Is a Smartphone. Tripp Mickle & Eli Tan of the New York Times: "While using Apple's automatic dictation feature to send messages on Tuesday, some iPhone users reported seeing ... the word 'racist' temporarily appearing as 'Trump,' before quickly correcting itself. The message blip, which was replicated several times by The New York Times, provoked controversy after appearing in a viral TikTok post, raising questions about Apple's artificial intelligence capabilities. An Apple spokeswoman blamed the issue on phonetic overlap between the two words, and said the company was working on a fix." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Say what? There is absolutely no "phonetic overlap" between the words "racist" and "Trump." (Although I'll admit that when I hear someone say "Musk," I imagine I heard "Nazi.")

Marie: Two days ago, I was wondering when White House correspondents would hold Trump's feet to the fire. Yesterday I got the answer: Never. Ever. Not no way.~~~

~~~ Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "The Trump administration said on Tuesday that it would start handpicking which media outlets were allowed to participate in the presidential press pool, the small, rotating group of reporters who relay the president's day-to-day activities to the public. The change breaks decades of precedent. It allows the White House to assert more control over which journalists can witness his activities up-close and ask him questions. The White House Correspondents' Association, a 111-year-old group representing journalists who cover the administration, has long determined on its own which reporters would participate in the daily pool.... Tuesday's announcement was the latest in a string of aggressive efforts by the Trump administration to erode the access and influence of major news organizations that cover the White House." Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Justin Baragona of the Independent: "Hours after MSNBC boss Rebecca Kutler officially announced that Joy Reid's show was ending and the longtime host was leaving the network amid a programming overhaul, Reid devoted her final broadcast to instructing her viewers on the ways to resist throughout Donald Trump's presidency, warning them that fascism is 'already here.' The progressive firebrand was also joined by some of her fellow MSNBC hosts, who paid tribute to their departing colleague and likened her cancellation as 'losing a limb,' while Reid lauded network star Rachel Maddow as their 'fearless leader.' Reid's sudden cancellation has sparked backlash among liberals, with some claiming that 'racism' or an attempt to curry favor with Trump factored into the network's decision. Meanwhile, Reid has said she is 'not sorry' for her unapologetically progressive commentary on her show, 'whether it was the Black Lives Matter issues' or going 'hard for immigrants who've done nothing but come to this country like my parents did and try to make a life and defended them.' MAGA pundits and Trump, meanwhile, have relished in the outspoken host's departure."

Rachel Maddow rips the suits at MSNBC for cancelling Joy Reid's & Alex Wagner's shows. (Maddow doesn't name names, but it's apparently that the new president of MSNBC, Rebecca Kutler, is responsible for axing Reid & Wagner.): ~~~

~~~ Anna Betts of the Guardian: "MSNBC has told the majority of the employees who produce Rachel Maddow and Joy Reid's prime-time evening news shows they are being let go as part of the network's programming overhaul with the option to apply for new roles, according to two people directly familiar with the matter.... The Maddow team was let go because of a quirk of how they worked on both Maddow's show and Alex Wagner's show.... On Monday night, Maddow appeared to criticize MSNBC for the recent programming shake-ups and the treatment of its staff during a monologue on her show.... The anchor also called Reid's firing a 'bad mistake' during the monologue, and stated that she did not want to lose Reid as a colleague at MSNBC." MB: "Appeared to criticize"? Nah, she raked management over the coals. And back again. ~~~

~~~ Marcie Jones of Wonkette: "Way back last November, MSNBC (and also CNBC) became no longer affiliated with NBC in any way. The channels' overlord, Comcast, spun them off into a new company called SpinCo, headed by a guy named Mark Lazarus, who said he wanted to make the channel more appealing to Republicans while keeping its appeal to progressives.... Seems pretty obvious that Joe Buildthewall is not going to start watching MSNBC no matter what, even if the hosts were replaced with topless fire-jugglers. Also probably-not-coincidentally, the week of November 18 when the SpinCo spinoff was announced happened to be the very same week Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough crawled down to Mar-a-Lago to try to find "common ground" with the guy they used to freely call fascist, unmoored, mentally unstable, liar, and an insurrectionist, and who had tweet-called them 'low I.Q. Crazy Mika' with a 'bleeding facelift,' and 'Psycho Joe,' respectively. If you were wondering what the backstory was with their 180. The appropriately-named Lazarus would also like to attract younger viewers, because the average viewer of MSNBC is 70.... And now MSNBC is replacing the only two primetime weekday shows on the network solely hosted by women of color.... [Also,] Jonathan Capehart, Katie Phang, and Ayman Mohyeldin are all losing their weekend shows...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Since they're trying to dump us aged viewers, I guess it doesn't matter what an 80-year-old thinks of their star-studded evening lineup, but the only MSNBC shows I ever watch on purpose are Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow & Ayman Mohyeldin. I occasionally watch Lawrence O'Donnell's first segment, because he covers important stuff, IMO, but I am annoyed with his constant airs designed to remind me that he's better than I am.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted a new trial to Richard Glossip, a death row inmate in Oklahoma whose challenge to his conviction led to an extraordinary concession from the state's attorney general. State lawmakers from both political parties, along with celebrities like Kim Kardashian, had called for clemency or a new trial. Most crucially, Attorney General Gentner Drummond of Oklahoma, a Republican, had asked the justices to throw out Mr. Glossip's 2004 conviction and order a retrial. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing for the majority, said prosecutors had failed to correct false testimony from their star witness, violating Mr. Glossip's due process rights.... Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Elena Kagan, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson joined the majority opinion in the case...." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The decision & dissents are here, via the Court. (Also linked yesterday.)

~~~~~~~~~~

Canada. Ian Austen of the New York Times: Since Donald Trump revealed his plans to cripple Canada with tariffs and has called for the U.S. to annex Canada, Canadians have found a new penchant for flying the nation's maple-leaf flag."

Ukraine, et al. Trump Extorts the Victims. Constant Méheut & Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "Ukraine has agreed to a deal to turn over the revenue from some of its mineral resources to the United States, a Ukrainian official said on Tuesday, after an intense pressure campaign from ... [Donald] Trump that included insults and threats. The White House did not confirm that an agreement had been struck. The final terms of the deal were unknown, and it was not immediately clear what, if anything, Ukraine would receive in return." (Also linked yesterday.)