The Conversation -- March 8, 2025
Marie: Have you wondered if your worries that Trump would establish a fascist state were overblown and melodramatic? They were not: ~~~
~~~ Perry Stein & Salvador Rizzo of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department has removed top national security officials as part of a widespread purge of senior career leaders across the law enforcement agency.... The transferring of at least three national security officials amounts to a complete gutting of leadership in the highly sensitive National Security Division, which is charged with working with the FBI and other intelligence agencies to protect the nation from threats. It is unclear if the national security officials were provided a reason for their removals. They were technically not fired, with at least some of them being transferred to other parts of the Justice Department in less desirable positions.... The removals -- which come after a multiple ousters of senior Justice officials on Friday -- reflect the Trump administration's effort to push out experienced career officials from nonpartisan roles at the Justice Department, likely paving the way for ... Donald Trump and his allies to install people in these traditionally nonpartisan positions who align ideologically with the president.... The national security officials had decades of experience across multiple Republican and Democratic administrations...." ~~~
~~~ Marie: This suggests to me that Trump is planning to threaten national security in a manner that would cause these officials to try to hinder his efforts. Trump can't carry out his corrupt and treasonous plans without the assistance of a fascistic infrastructure.
One Way or Another, They're Gonna Find Ya. Jeff Stein & Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: "The Department of Health and Human Services has granted associates of the U.S. DOGE Service access to a sensitive child support database with troves of income data, overriding the objections of career employees.... The government database -- created to help enforce child support payments and overseen by the Administration for Children and Families, or ACF -- contains substantial amounts of personal income data linked to nearly all U.S. workers.... An HHS official confirmed that DOGE received access to the system, saying that DOGE's agents sought 'read-only access' to the system and were required 'to take all necessary trainings' before being granted permission to use it.... The Internal Revenue Service's career staff has resisted DOGE's request for access to taxpayer records, which are protected by federal law, but the child support database could provide another way for DOGE to obtain similar information."
Kevin Freking of the AP: "House Republicans unveiled a spending bill Saturday that would keep federal agencies funded through Sept. 30, pushing ahead with a go-it-alone strategy that seems certain to spark a major confrontation with Democrats over the contours of government spending. The 99-page bill would provide a slight boost to defense programs while trimming nondefense programs below 2024 budget year levels. That approach is likely to be a nonstarter for most Democrats who have long insisted that defense and nondefense spending move in the same direction. Congress must act by midnight Friday to avoid a partial government shutdown. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is teeing up the bill for a vote on Tuesday despite the lack of buy-in from Democrats, essentially daring them to vote against it and risk a shutdown. He also is betting that Republicans can muscle the legislation through the House largely by themselves."
Pranshu Verma & Trisha Thadani of the Washington Post: "Since ... Donald Trump's inauguration, more than a dozen violent or destructive acts have been directed at Tesla facilities, according to court documents, surveillance photographs, police records and local media reports.... The incidents come as Elon Musk has rocketed to prominence as Trump's best-known backer and as a conservative provocateur in his own right. The ire directed at the tech billionaire online has increasingly spilled into real life, with vandalism directed at Tesla storefronts, charging stations and vehicles.... The destruction adds to the woes of a carmaker already in turmoil. Its stock has fallen by more than 35 percent since Trump's inauguration, and last year, the company suffered its first annual sales drop in more than a decade." The report outlines several incidents. ~~~
~~~ Trump properties are getting a share, too. In today's Comments, RAS linked to images of the defacement of the entrance sign to a Trump gulf club in Virginia and to the Trump club in Turnberry, Scotland.
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From the Washington Post's live updates of something Trumpy comes a surprise: "... Donald Trump said Friday that he is considering imposing 'large scale' sanctions on Russia to pressure the country into a ceasefire and peace deal with Ukraine. Trump's warning in a social media post followed Russia's first major missile attack against Ukraine since the Trump administration paused intelligence-sharing with the embattled country. The post marked a shift in rhetoric for Trump, who has been more sympathetic in recent weeks to Russia as he seeks to end the war." MB: Yes, and it's probably just that: rhetoric. (Also linked yesterday.)~~~
~~~⭐Update. Ali Bianco & Robbie Gramer of Politico: "Donald Trump said he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin wants peace, speaking positively about the Russian leader Friday just hours after issuing a threat of sanctions and tariffs.... After signaling earlier Friday that Russia could see economic consequences for bombing Ukraine, Trump said Putin is 'doing what anybody else would do.' 'I believe him,' Trump said Friday when asked by reporters in the Oval Office if he believed Putin still wanted peace. 'I think we're doing very well with Russia, and right now they're bombing the hell out of Ukraine. I'm finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine.'" MB: One might conclude that after Trump's early-morning threats, Putin got word to him to back the hell off. And Trump complied. See also stories linked under "Ukraine, et al." below. ~~~
~~~ The Collaborator. Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "The relationship between Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin has for years been scrutinized by American government inquiries, assessments by foreign intelligence services and news media investigations. Taken together, they have unearthed evidence to support an array of theories addressing Mr. Trump's affinity for a Russian strongman who has spent a career trying to undermine American interests.... But based solely on Mr. Trump's public actions during his first six weeks back in office, the simple fact is that he has made few decisions on national security or foreign policy that have not been cheered by the Kremlin, making his stance toward Mr. Putin more consequential than ever.... Mr. Putin has spent years trying to shape Mr. Trump's thinking on Ukraine, and there is now little daylight between both men's public statements about the war."
Erica Green of the New York Times: "Since storming back into office, Mr. Trump has used a dizzying rhetorical tactic of shifting positions like quicksand, muddying his messages and contradicting himself, sometimes in the same day. The inconsistencies have presented the American public with dueling narratives at every turn, allowing people to pick and choose what they want to believe about the president's intentions. Mr. Trump has long dealt in distortions and lies, including in his first term. But as he executes a much more aggressive agenda at home and abroad, his contradictions have become more brazen and more pronounced." ~~~
~~~ Marie: An embarrassment of riches. Green cites numerous examples, but she doesn't even mention the one cited above, where in the same day Trump threatened to sanction Russia for its recent attack on Ukraine, then backed Russia for its recent attack on Ukraine.
Matina Stevis-Gridneff of the New York Times: "After ... [Donald] Trump imposed tariffs on Canada on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an extraordinary statement.... 'The excuse that he's giving for these tariffs today of fentanyl is completely bogus, completely unjustified, completely false,' Mr. Trudeau told the news media in Ottawa. 'What he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that'll make it easier to annex us,' he added. This is the story of how Mr. Trudeau went from thinking Mr. Trump was joking when he referred to him as 'governor' and Canada as 'the 51st state' in early December to publicly stating that Canada's closest ally and neighbor was implementing a strategy of crushing the country in order to take it over." Read on. In one February phone call, Trump "told Mr. Trudeau that he did not believe that the [1908] treaty that demarcates the border between the two countries was valid and that he wants to revise the boundary. He offered no further explanation.... Mr. Trump also mentioned revisiting the sharing of lakes and rivers between the two nations, which is regulated by a number of treaties...." ~~~
~~~ Marie: BTW, Trump has not been studying up on U.S./Canada treaties executed over the past century-plus. He is getting advice from his wingnut crew (Peter Navarro?? Howard Lutnick??) and feeding it into the phone.
Marie: Guess who retweeted the "We Are Canadian" ad embedded yesterday: the science explainer who can say this. Definitely not the science explainer who says this: "You know what uranium is, right? This thing called nuclear weapons like lots of things are done with uranium including some bad things." This guy. Not this guy. (Also linked yesterday.)
Danielle Douglas-Gabriel of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump issued an executive order Friday directing his education secretary to revise eligibility requirements for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. The program forgives a portion of the education debt held by people who work in the government and certain nonprofit jobs for a decade. Trump wants to exclude organizations that he says support 'illegal immigration, human smuggling, child trafficking, pervasive damage to public property and disruption of the public order.'... The order takes aim at nonprofit organizations that it says support gender-transition care for minors, engage in public protests ... or fund groups that are designated as foreign terrorist organizations. As it stands, nonprofit employees are eligible for student loan forgiveness if they focus on areas that serve the public good, such as education, public health or public interest law. According to the Education Department, there are more than 2 million people with eligible employment.... Trump's order runs counter to [Education Secretary Linda] McMahon's pledge to Congress during her confirmation hearing, where she said that she would uphold the loan forgiveness program."
Susan Svrluga, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration said Friday it was cutting off about $400 million in federal contracts and grants to Columbia University, saying the school has failed to protect Jewish students from antisemitism on campus. The administration took action just four days after announcing that several federal agencies were investigating Columbia. The school has been in the spotlight since last academic year when pro-Palestinian protesters erected tents on lawns at the center of the university's Morningside Heights campus in Manhattan, and refused to take them down, in protest of the Israel-Gaza war.... Cutting off funding is rare, and when it happens, it typically follows a lengthy investigation and judicial review." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Countries run by petty dictators, like outs, do not take action based on "lengthy investigations and judicial reviews."
Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "The Trump administration has eased security requirements for some of the Boeing staff working on building new Air Force One jets, as part of an effort pushed by ... [Donald] Trump and Elon Musk to hasten the delayed project. The change means that certain mechanics and others working on less sensitive parts of the planes or their components will not be required to get a special high-level security clearance, a process that has slowed Boeing's ability to hire required staff for the job. Those working on the Air Force One project will still be required to get security clearance, but some will no longer need to have the so-called Yankee White clearance, which applies to White House staff members whooften come in close contact with the president." (Also linked yesterday.)
Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman of the New York Times go inside Thursday's hastily-called Cabinet meeting, where not all was well. Musk must got into it with Marco Rubio, who said Musk was not truthful. Musk also battled with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy whom Musk said was lying. Musk "aggressively defended himself,reminding the cabinet secretaries that he had built multiple billion-dollar companies from the ground up and knew something about hiring good people." (Also linked yesterday.) A Politico story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Musk's defense is that he is guy who got rich by investing in big companies that hire people. See Paul Krugman, linked yesterday, on this. Dr. Burns' diagnosis: Musk is just screaming that he is suffering from a type of Dunning-Kruger syndrome sometimes called "ultracrepidarianism": giving advice and opinions on matters outside one's own field of knowledge. Second opinions welcomed. But he definitely needs help. I'd recommend complete rest in an isolated location with no means of communicating with the outside world.
~~~ As for Musk's "knowing something about hiring people," in the last few weeks, he's amply proved he's bad at it. His little team of Muskovites running roughshod over the federal government have proved again and again they're comically (and dangerously!) incompetent -- unless their only instruction was destruction. In the linked article, Swan & Haberman write that Musk told Duffy that "air traffic controllers need to be 'geniuses.'" No, they don't. Obviously, they must be smart, but "genius" is not part of the array of traits an air traffic controller needs. Rather, she must be able to problem-solve quickly, make decisions at warp speed, communicate effectively & do all this in extremely high-stress, life-and-death situations. "Nerves of steel" are far more important than a super-high IQ.
~~~ Never Mind. Gosh, it turns out there was nothing to see here, after all. AFP: "... asked by reporters on Friday about the reported dispute..., [Trump] dismissed it, declaring: 'No clash. I was there.' He went on to insist of Musk and Rubio 'they're both doing a fantastic job ... they both get along fantastically well.'"
About Those Transgender Mice. Kiona Smith in Forbes: "During his State of the Union address on March 4, Donald Trump alleged that the Biden administration had spent $8 million 'for making mice transgender.' It turns out that the bizarre line from Trump's speech was actually about the use of transgenic mice to study the safety of hormone treatments often given to transgender people (and that, not the use of mice, is what the administration objects to). Transgenic mice are mice with modified DNA, which biomedical researchers use to study how genes impact disease and health, or how human diseases and organs might respond to medications.... All six grants [in that $8 million citation] actually focused on the safety of various hormone treatments, not on whether it was possible to make mice transgender.... The total amount of these grants was listed as $8,290,053 -- about a millionth of a percent of total federal spending in fiscal year 2024...." MB: Other than making a mistake in her lede (Trump's speech before the joint session was not a SOTU address), Smith's report seems to be the most accurate of several I've read on the Great Transgender Mice Scandal. ~~~
~~~ About Al Green's Cane. Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) suggested that the Black lawmaker who yelled at ... Donald Trump during a joint address to Congress is a 'pimp.'... In a speech to Congress in 2022, Boebert repeatedly interrupted Biden by shouting from her seat. Appearing on the far-right Real America's Voice News, Boebert said her behavior was different from Green's.... 'And they just got that one image and acted like we [she and MTG] completely disrupted the State of the Union. But Al Green was given multiple opportunities to stand down, to sit down, to behave, to show decorum. And he did not.' She added, '[F]or him to go and shake his pimp cane at President Trump was absolutely abhorrent.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: I noticed how nice Green's cane was, and I'm thinking of getting one like it. For Miss Boebert's edification, Green's cane has a "Derby handle," named for Edward Smith-Stanley, the 13th Earl of Derby, a 19th-century politician & statesman who developed the handle style as it was comfortable & looked elegant. But Lord Derby is best-known for initiating sweepstakes for three-year-old horses. They're now known as derbies -- as in the Derby Stakes at Epson Downs & the Kentucky Derby. Have a mint julip & STFU, Lauren.
Trump Further Weakens U.S. Edward Wong & Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "Senior State Department officials have drawn up plans to close a dozen consulates overseas by this summer and are considering shutting down many more missions, in what could be a blow to the U.S. government's efforts to build partnerships and gather intelligence, American officials say. The department also plans to lay off many local citizens who work for its hundreds of missions. Those workers make up two-thirds of the agency's work force, and in many countries they form the foundation of U.S. diplomats'; knowledge of their environments. The shrinking is part of both President Trump's larger slashing of the federal government and his 'America First' foreign policy, in which the United States ends or curtails once-important ways of exercising global influence, including through democracy, human rights and aid work. The moves come at a time when China, the main rival of America, has overtaken the United States in number of global diplomatic posts....
"Any broad shutdowns of missions, especially entire embassies, would hinder the work of large parts of the federal government and potentially compromise U.S. national security. Embassies house officers from the military, intelligence, law enforcement, health, commerce, trade, treasury and other agencies, all of whom monitor developments in the host nation and work with local officials to counter everything from terrorism to infectious disease to collapsing currencies." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "The Trump administration's pause on foreign aid has hobbled programs that prevent and snuff out outbreaks around the world, scientists say, leaving people everywhere more vulnerable to dangerous pathogens.... Outbreaks that begin overseas can travel quickly.... In interviews, more than 30 current and former officials of the United States Agency for International Development, members of health organizations and experts in infectious diseases described a world made more perilous than it was just a few weeks ago.... The timing is dire: The Democratic Republic of Congo is experiencing the deadliest mpox outbreak in history, with cases exploding in a dozen other African countries. The United States is home to a worsening bird flu crisis. Multiple hemorrhagic fever viruses are smoldering: Ebola in Uganda, Marburg in Tanzania, and Lassa in Nigeria and Sierra Leone."
More Politically-Motivated Firings at DOJ. Devlin Barrett & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: "The Trump administration on Friday forced out a handful of senior Justice Department officials, further thinning the ranks of career officials who help guide the agency.... The ouster of lawyers managing the Justice Department's pardon work, bankruptcy litigation and other legal issues marks the latest move by the new administration to remove or reassign senior officials with many years of experience. The official overseeing the Office of Professional Responsibility, which handles internal ethics investigations, was also removed from that role, though he was placed on administrative leave.... Sidelining the head of the Office of Professional Responsibility was particularly alarming to a number of current and former officials because there are a host of legal ethics challenges being raised about senior department officials, including Emil Bove, a former defense lawyer for Mr. Trump who now works for ... the newly confirmed deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, [another] former criminal defense lawyer for Mr. Trump." ~~~
~~~ Aaron Katersky & Katherine Faulders of ABC News: "The Justice Department on Friday put three federal prosecutors in Manhattan on leave.... Two of the prosecutors -- Andrew Rohrbach and Celia Cohen -- worked on the prosecution of New York City Mayor Eric Adams.... The third individual placed on leave -- a member of the office's civil division -- posted about Elon Musk and Ed Martin, a leader of the Stop the Steal movement and ... Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., the sources said." ~~~
~~~ Ryan Reilly & Tom Winter of NBC News: "Two federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York who worked on the case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams were placed on leave Friday and escorted out of the building by federal law enforcement officials.... Andrew Rohrbach and Celia Cohen were the prosecutors placed on administrative leave on Friday. The departures came a day after Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche was sworn in following confirmation by the Senate this week. Law enforcement sources said that Rohrbach and Cohen were given letters signed by Blanche." MB: IOW, a former Trump personal lawyer has federal prosecutors muscled out of their offices because they had brought criminal charges against someone Trump now happens to find useful. We must stop pretending we live in a country guided by laws and rights. That's over, at least for the foreseeable future.
Rebecca Santana & Michael Sisak of the AP: "The Department of Homeland Security said Friday that it is ending the collective bargaining agreement with the tens of thousands of frontline employees at the Transportation Security Administration, marking a major effort to dismantle union protections under the Trump administration. The TSA union called it on 'unprovoked attack' and vowed to fight it. The department criticized the union whose staffers are responsible for keeping weapons off airplanes and protecting air travel. Officials said that poor performers were being allowed to stay on the job and that the agreement was hindering the ability of the organization 'to safeguard our transportation systems and keep Americans safe.'..."
Alexander Tin of CBS News: "Federal health agencies oppose the use of bird flu vaccines in poultry right now, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said.... The Trump administration has been considering poultry vaccination as it seeks to combat the outbreak that is fueling a record surge in egg prices.... 'There's no indication that those vaccines actually provide sterilizing immunity and all three of my health agencies, NIH, CDC, and FDA, the acting heads of those agencies have all recommended against the use of the bird flu vaccine,' Kennedy said in an interview on Fox News.... Vaccines are rarely able to offer ... protection that completely stops infections and spread..., though the USDA said last month it would step up investments in 'potential new generation vaccines' with better protection. Kennedy's remarks mark a sharp turn from the Biden administration, multiple former officials said. Biden officials from the health and agriculture departments had wrestled extensively with calls to roll out vaccines for animals as outbreaks mounted on farms nationwide. It was concerns from agriculture officials, not human health officials, that ultimately blocked plans to roll out vaccines [during Biden's administration].... Daniel Perez, chair in poultry medicine at the University of Georgia..., warned that another idea floated by Trump administration officials could pose a far greater risk [than vaccinating chickens]: relying on immunity from poultry surviving bird flu infections." ~~~
~~~ But not to worry! Trump & the Trumpettes solve all problems! Earlier this week ~~~
~~~ Ed Mazza of the Huffington Post (republished in Yahoo! News March 4): "'People are sort of looking around thinking, "Wow, well maybe I can get a chicken in my backyard," and it's awesome,' Rollins told Fox & Friends Weekend host Rachel Campos-Duffy. The agriculture secretary, who was sworn in last month to the position in ... Donald Trump's cabinet, added she has her own backyard chickens.... 'We also want to make it easier for families to raise backyard chickens,' she wrote [in a WSJ op-ed] as she explained her five-part plan to reduce egg prices.... OSU Extension livestock specialist Dana Zook told USA Today that eggs would need to cost $10 a dozen for three years before a backyard coop with eight hens would pay off." AND as one BlueSky butterfly Mazza cites wrote, "Nothing halts avian influenza quicker than the unchecked, unlicensed, unregulated backyard chickens" MB PS: Keeping it all in the family. If that "Duffy" in the "Campos-Duffy" sounds familiar to you, yes, Rachel there is the wife of Trump's Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
Huh. Amudalat Ajasa of the Washington Post: "Less than a month after placing the entire staff of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights on administrative leave, the Environmental Protection Agency has reinstated dozens of employees in offices across the country.... The about-face comes after a number of high-profile staffing reversals across the government.... The reversal came, according to one of the employees, because their role involved tasks that are required by law."
A president who touts an image of himself as a 'king' or a 'dictator,' perhaps as his vision of effective leadership, fundamentally misapprehends the role under Article II of the U.S. Constitution. -- Judge Beryl Howell, in a ruling rebuking Donald Trump for firing a member of the NLRB ~~~
~~~ Chris Cameron & Rebecca O'Brien of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Thursday reinstated Gwynne Wilcox, a Democratic member of the National Labor Relations Board, declaring that ... [Donald] Trump's attempt to fire her was unlawful. The ruling, which the Trump administration immediately moved to appeal, was a rebuke of Mr. Trump's expansive view of executive power and his efforts to establish presidential control over agencies designed by Congress to be independent from the White House. Judge Beryl A. Howell, appointed to the Federal District Court in Washington by President Barack Obama, excoriated Mr. Trump's vision of unchecked authority in her 36-page ruling...." (Also linked yesterday.)
Katie Mettler of the Washington Post: "Twenty Democratic attorneys general have sued the Trump administration in federal court and filed for a temporary restraining order against nearly two dozen federal agencies, arguing that the mass layoffs of thousands of federal probationary employees in recent weeks were conducted illegally [and posed hardships on the states]. The lawsuit and restraining order request, filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland on Thursday and Friday, call for a federal judge to halt the planned layoffs of federal probationary workers and reinstate those who have already been fired.... The parallel legal actions are among the latest in dozens of federal complaints from attorneys generals and private groups across the country aiming to claw back or reverse the White House's executive actions since ... [Donald] Trump took office Jan. 20." The AP report is here.
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Maine. Joe Lawlor the the Portland Press Herald: "The Social Security Administration reversed course Friday, rescinding a directive that required Maine parents of newborns to register their children at Social Security offices instead of filling out a form at the hospital. The mandate was widely panned as being cumbersome, unfair and inefficient, and would have caused some parents to have to drive hours for an appointment to get a Social Security number for their child. The directive also would have terminated electronic filing of death records at funeral homes. Acting Social Security Administration Commissioner Lee Dudek issued a public apology letter Friday, less than one day after the change was first reported by the Press Herald and Lewiston Sun Journal.... The federal agency ... did not provide any explanation [as to why earlier this week] ... it had canceled the contracts allowing new parents to fill out a form at a hospital and also register deaths electronically.... Maine was the only state affected by the change, fueling suspicions that it was part of a retaliation campaign. The whiplash of the program being ended and then reinstated comes on the heels of a public fight between ... Donald Trump and Maine Gov. Janet Mills." Thanks to RAS for the link to the original story (which has since been updated) & to rlp for the lead to this Press Herald follow-up.
South Carolina. Eduardo Medina of the New York Times: "The state of South Carolina executed a convicted murderer by firing squad on Friday night in the first such execution in the United States since 2010. The inmate, Brad Sigmon, 67, was declared dead at 6:08 p.m. after a firing squad shot three bullets at the target placed over his heart, the State Department of Corrections said."
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Ukraine, et al. Simon Shuster of Time: "The U.S. decision to suspend the flow of military intelligence to Ukraine this week has aided the Russian advance along a critical part of the front, weakening the negotiating position of President Volodymyr Zelensky and killing many Ukrainian soldiers in recent days, according to five senior Western and Ukrainian officials and military officers familiar with the situation. 'As a result of this pause, there are hundreds of dead Ukrainians,' one of the officers told TIME in an interview on Friday in Kyiv.... The Ukrainians have lost the ability to detect the approach of Russian bombers and other warplanes as they take off inside Russia. As a result, Ukraine has less time to warn civilians and military personnel about the risk of an approaching airstrike or missile.... The loss of U.S. intelligence has also hurt the ability of Ukrainian forces to launch long- and intermediate-range strikes against Russian targets.... Adding to the Ukrainian sense of abandonment, the group of Western 'partners' who helped receive and process satellite intelligence at the military headquarters in Kyiv have departed...."
Siobhan O'Grady & Kostiantyn Khudov of the Washington Post: "... the Ukrainian president is scrambling to restore ties with Washington as the White House ramps up pressure for a quick end to the war with Russia.... Since the Oval Office blowup [a week ago Friday], Trump has postponed signing a mineral deal with Kyiv, paused military support to its armed forces and further limited intelligence-sharing with its government -- moves that only help Russia on the battlefield. His entourage, meanwhile, has used the opening to start conversations with Zelensky's domestic political rivals, a move that could undermine his leadership as they raise the controversial question of holding wartime elections, which under martial law would violate the country's constitution. Put together, the heated argument and its aftermath have fueled widespread anger in Ukraine toward Washington...."
Kim Barker of the New York Times: "Russian strikes killed 20 people in the war-torn eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk on Friday night, a sign that Moscow is stepping up bombardments of cities critical for Ukrainian logistics and support and taking advantage of Washington's decision to pause military aid and intelligence sharing with Kyiv.... On Friday, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War posted a chart showing that Russia had intensified drone and missile strikes on Ukraine after Mr. Trump's inauguration.... On Friday, Mr. Trump was asked by reporters in the Oval Office whether President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia was capitalizing on the void left by the United States' dropping its aid to Ukraine. 'I actually think he's doing what anyone else would do,' Mr. Trump said." MB: I take that as a "yes."
News Lede
New York Times: "Officials said [actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa] died of natural causes, he of heart disease and she of a rare viral infection. But it was Ms. Arakawa -- the caregiver, lover, protector -- who died first, perhaps on Feb. 11, leaving Mr. Hackman, 95 years old with advanced Alzheimer's, alone in the house for days. He is believed to have died a week later, on Feb. 18. Their decomposing bodies were not discovered for yet another eight days, when a maintenance worker called a security guard to the house after no one came to the door.... Ms. Arakawa died of hantarivus, which is contracted through exposure to excrement from rodents, often the deer mouse in New Mexico."
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Reader Comments (17)
Fatty sez he has an easier time working with Russia than with Ukraine (okay, he said “dealing with”, but he’s not in any way possible dealing with Russia, he’s working with them).
Not hard to figure out why. One is a totalitarian dictatorship run by a vicious murderer who hates America, the other is a democracy, a longtime American ally. Which paradigm most appeals to a dim, weak minded, authoritarian loving traitor who despises democracy and is in the process of dismantling America?
That was an easy one, right?
Marie has recently pointed out that the smarmy, smirking, self satisfied face of couch molesting Shady Vance is one that needs a good punching out.
Well, surprise, surprise. She’s in good company. And there’s even a word describing that very need:
“Backpfeifengesicht is the German word for a face that is worthy of being slapped. Even so, how has this not been internationalised? Or at the very least Americanised, where its dictionary definition would presumably be adorned by a picture of the face of US vice-president JD Vance – already faultlessly playing the role of worst American at your hotel. You can immediately picture him at breakfast, can’t you? Every single other guest on the terrace with their shoulders up round their ears, just thinking: ‘Where is he now? How unbearable is he being NOW?’ Next, imagine breakfast lasting four years.”
I’d suggest that this sofa assaulting weasel is far worse than an obnoxious hotel guest, more like the sycophantic running dog lackey of a fat bully boy who terrorizes kids on the playground (but runs like a yelping jackal from the big kids who give it back to both of them).
Nonetheless, a smirking face in need of a good belt.
Perfect.
This week's sermon:
Making America Great?
Now that considerations of diversity, equity, and inclusion in federal hiring practices have been wiped away with the stroke of a presidential pen and federal employment will be based on an applicant’s obvious merit, are we making America great again?
The many ways merit has been defined, applied, and rewarded over the years suggests it won’t be that easy. Examined closely, merit has its own twists, turns, and complications.
Rejecting aristocracy, the nation’s Founders envisioned a nation where people (then mostly white males) might succeed based on their talents and accomplishments instead of the station in life to which they were born. That belief in individual merit, not inherited privilege, was the core principle of America’s experiment in democracy.
So how has that experiment worked out?
The results have been mixed. Even today belonging to the same racial, social, religious, or political group as an employer often passes for merit. In government and out, who you know often matters as much or more than what you know. And as Trump’s recent cabinet appointments attest, sometimes loyalty to the boss is enough to merit the job (nytimes.com).
If we were all Boy or Girl Scouts, measuring merit would be a lot simpler. To earn merit badges, Scouts must demonstrate competency in a chosen activity. For a Scout, demonstrated knowledge or skill is the measure of merit. Just learn what you need to know, show it, and you get the badge.
But competence has never been all that merit means. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, while merit means “excellence” when describing ability or achievement, it also means “deserving of praise or approval" in the sense of “virtue,” a word that implies some kind of moral distinction.
And there’s the rub. When we hire based on merit, aren’t we looking beyond the candidate’s skillset? Aren’t we also assessing the applicant’s character? Don’t we seek honesty and reliability as well? In hiring, as in most places in our lives, the moral dimension is always present, whether we notice, acknowledge it, or not.
When we measure human merit, what happens when we divorce considerations of character and virtue from our assessment? The last seventy years suggest an answer.
Beginning in the 1960’s, merit came to be defined more one-dimensionally by test scores and academic achievement. When they loosed the National Merit Test (the Scholastic Aptitude Test’s precursor) on America’s high school juniors in 1955, the test’s developers likely didn’t foresee they were opening a path to the rise of an aristocracy of academic merit. After all, what could be better than an objective test to determine human worth?
While the validity and fairness of tests like the SAT have been questioned (forbes.com), there is little doubt the economic and social effects of the meritocratic horserace that such tests assess have been serious and widespread. College graduates’ earnings now average three times more than those without college degrees. Income and education are closely allied (statista.com).
Many cars pridefully sport license plate holders and decals identifying their drivers’ college alma maters, and competition for coveted entry to elite universities has spawned a muti-billion-dollar college application counseling and test preparation industry, unaffordable to most (forbes.com). At the same time, social mobility has stalled. The middle class has shrunk, and more Americans are treading economic water (weforum.org). Like other aristocracies, the aristocracy of academic merit now perpetuates itself across generations.
Along with income, the education-fostered social and cultural divisions that inform our politics have widened, and our voting patterns reflect those rifts (statista.com). The way we’re sorted ourselves by academic merit also influences where we choose to live. College graduates gravitate to places where they find work in technological and financial centers like New York, San Francisco, and Seattle, further dividing Americans’ urban and rural lives and cultures.
Finally, there are the feelings that winners and losers experience. Winners take pride in their victory but often ignore the part luck and circumstance might have played in their success. Losers often feel disappointment, depression, and even shame. Those twin faces of pride and shame explain much of the resentment and anger our politics display. Or to locate those feelings on a moral plane, by sorting ourselves into camps separated by education level, we’ve numbed our feelings for others. Compassion and empathy across social and economic divisions are increasingly rare (scientificamerican.com).
Could it be that merit determined solely by test scores, education, and income is a very mixed blessing?
If we truly care to make America great (or at least better), our ideas about merit very much merit a closer look.
The word of the day is: agnorant
Definition: People who are extremely ignorant, yet are
simultaneously extremely arrogant.
Example: People who think they know more about science than
scientists.
More kudos for private enterprise (or this morning's cheap shot):
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/science/intuitive-machines-moon-lander-dead.html
Particularly like the story about the mission that missed the Moon.
Keeping hope
More “Hold my beer” from Bobo the Nasty Harpy
Did Bobo really use the word “abhorrent”? Wow. A polysyllabic word. And an SAT word too. I used to think she was a complete imbecile. I guess I’ll have to revise that to partial imbecile. Nah. Better make that almost complete imbecile.
So here we have a scofflaw loudmouth liar who had to change districts to get re-elected because she was about to get her ass booted out of Congress, where she’s been doing nothing for five years, calling a hard working, highly respected member of the House for 20 years, a pimp. Gee, was that because he’s black? Let’s add “racist” to her meager list of accomplishments.
One thing she is good at is grabbing things, like attention, and crotches. Attention for things like getting arrested after refusing to show up in court for a reckless driving ticket. She’s also known for telling others who call her on her embarrassing displays of public drunkenness and mayhem that she is a VIP with friends at Fox who will blah, blah, blah, something.
It’s become de rigueur in the Age of Fat Hitler, for MAGAts to do their unlevel best to emulate his childish insults, and here, I’m guessing Bobo wanted to go one better than the other MAGAts who simply jeered Al Green, by calling him a pimp.
Okay. I’m back to complete imbecile.
This is what passes as a VIP in MAGA world.
"Officials said that poor performers were being allowed to stay on the job"
Come on, now that is a bad thing? That is the Tr*** administration's freaking motto. It starts at the top.
FH: Water go down.
The Funding was cut off by Trump
Texas Creeps
"New Texas bill that would make being trans a felony sparks fury: ‘There’s no fraud in being trans’
An anti-transgender House Bill put forward on Wednesday (5 March) requests that the southern state amend its criminal law on identity theft to include so-called “gender identity fraud.”
If passed, a person could be charged with a felony for “identifying the person’s biological sex as the opposite of the biological sex assigned to the person at birth,” effectively making the existence of trans and non-binary people illegal."
Old school DEI
Frances Perkins
"Perkins is famous for being the first woman cabinet member, as well as from her policy accomplishments. She was heavily involved with many issues associated with the social safety net including, the creation of Social Security, unemployment insurance in the United States, the federal minimum wage, and federal laws regulating child labor."
Forrest,
I’m guessing those agnorant people could now be called agnoramuses?
Interesting...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/03/08/elon-musk-tesla-protest-violence-vandalism/?
Vandals at home
And
Vandals abroad
March 8th 2025
🌸¡International Women’s Day!🌸
@Marie: Two more scary points,
"Trump administration: Article II makes Article I unconstitutional
The Trump White House has taken its attempt to seize direct control over the entire executive branch to a new level and laid out a startling legal rationale for the move in a previously unreported email obtained by TPM. If successful, Trump would be making a dramatic end run around the Senate’s advice and consent power for certain appointed positions."
Insurrection Act
"Is Trump preparing to invoke the Insurrection Act? Signs are pointing that way
A joint Department of Defense and Homeland Security report will soon recommend whether or not to invoke the Insurrection Act over illegal migration
By Brett Wagner
The clock is ticking down on a crucial but little-noticed part of President Donald Trump’s first round of executive orders — the one tasking the secretaries of the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security to submit a joint report, within 90 days, recommending “whether to invoke the Insurrection Act.”"