The Conversation -- March 6, 2025

Dasha Burns & Kyle Cheney of Politico: “... Donald Trump convened his Cabinet in person on Thursday to deliver a message: You’re in charge of your departments, not Elon Musk. According to two administration officials, Trump told top members of his administration that Musk was empowered to make recommendations to the departments but not to issue unilateral decisions on staffing and policy. Musk was also in the room. The meeting followed a series of mass firings and threats to government workers from the billionaire Tesla founder, who helms the Department of Government Efficiency, that created broad uncertainty across the federal government and its workforce. DOGE’s actions have faced ferocious resistance in court and criticism from Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans. The president’s message represents the first significant move to narrow Musk’s mandate.... The timing of the meeting was influenced by recent comments from Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), who said on CNN Tuesday that Cabinet secretaries should retain the full power to hire and fire.... The official said Trump has been flooded with similar concerns from other lawmakers and Cabinet secretaries.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Wait a minute. So all it takes to get the Cowardly Liar to back off some monumentally stupid -- and, BTW, unconstitutional -- edict is to get on the teevee and object? Could it be that all those cowering GOP politicians are a little bit too askeert of Trump. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Well, I misread that. Kyle Cheney was on Chris Hayes' show Thursday night, and the two agreed that this was a CYA move to convince the courts that Elon really had no power. As the report notes, Trump later told reporters, “If they [i.e., the Cabinet members] can cut, it’s better. And if they don’t cut, then Elon will do the cutting.” That completely contradicts the premise that the the department heads are in charge.

Cowardly Liar Retreats Again. Mary Beth Sheridan, et al., of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Thursday postponed for one more month imposing tariffs on Mexican products that comply with the North American free-trade treaty — the latest swerve in the roller-coaster relations between the United States and its top trading partners. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she persuaded Trump to push off the penalties in a phone call Thursday morning. Trump had initially threatened to impose tariffs on all Mexican and Canadian goods in early February, citing what he called the countries’ failure to stem illegal migration and fentanyl trafficking, but he delayed them for a month as the countries scrambled to strengthen border security. They took effect Tuesday. Trump said Thursday on his Truth Social platform that he suspended the tariffs on Mexico until April 2 'as an accommodation, and out of respect for, President Sheinbaum. Our relationship has been a very good one, and we are working hard, together, on the Border, both in terms of stopping Illegal Aliens from entering the United States and, likewise, stopping Fentanyl.'

“He made the announcement a day after granting a narrower exemption to carmakers.... At a morning news conference, Sheinbaum noted that she had sent 10,000 national guard troops to the U.S. border after Trump threatened tariffs in early February. She also transferred 29 high-level drug operatives to the United States, a dramatic move that legal scholars said violated Mexican law.”

Maya Miller of the New York Times: “The House on Thursday officially rebuked Representative Al Green of Texas, the Democrat who Republicans ejected from the chamber on Tuesday night for standing and heckling ... [Donald] Trump during his address to a joint session of Congress. A resolution of censure passed 224 to 198, with 10 Democrats joining Republicans in support of the punishment. Mr. Green and Representative Shomari Figures, a first-term Democrat from Alabama, both voted 'present.' But when Mr. Green stepped into the well of the House to receive his official scolding for a 'breach of proper conduct,' the floor devolved into a scene of chaos. The Texas Democrat led a crowd of his colleagues in singing the gospel anthem 'We Shall Overcome' as Speaker Mike Johnson raised his voice and finished reading out the censure....

“The Democrats who voted to censure Mr. Green were: Representatives Ami Bera of California, Ed Case of Hawaii, Jim Costa of California, Laura Gillen of New York, Jim Himes of Connecticut, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, Jared Moskowitz of Florida, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington and Tom Suozzi of New York. The progressive activist group Indivisible called the defections 'cowardly and unacceptable' and condemned Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, for not holding his caucus together against the censure.”

Zach Montague of the New York Times: “A federal judge on Thursday extended an order that prevented the Trump administration from freezing billions in congressionally approved funds to 22 states and the District of Columbia. The judge found that the administration had overstepped in trying to stop the agencies from using money appropriated by Congress. The ruling, which builds on the judge’s temporary order instructing the government to keep dispersing the funds, sets up a broader clash between Democratic states over the Trump administration’s efforts to align spending with the president’s agenda. In an opinion handed down on Thursday morning, Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of the Federal District Court for the District of Rhode Island, said the case amounted to executive overreach. 'Here, the executive put itself above Congress,' he wrote. 'It imposed a categorical mandate on the spending of congressionally appropriated and obligated funds without regard to Congress’s authority to control spending.'”

Joe Hernandez of NPR: "The Trump administration's recent attacks on its northern neighbor have been met with confusion, frustration and anger by many Canadians, some of whom are now abandoning their trips south and boycotting travel to the U.S. in protest. Tourism industry leaders say that could pose a major threat to the U.S. travel sector, which relies heavily on Canadian visitors. According to the U.S. Travel Association, Canadians are the largest group of foreign visitors to the U.S. annually and accounted for $20.5 billion in spending last year alone." Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: How stupid is Trump? He owns or has licensing agreements with quite a few hotels & "resorts" around the world, so he's in the tourist business. A number of these facilities lost business during his first presidency* because he made people sick. So why didn't it occur to him that imposing tariffs would hurt the U.S. tourist industry?

RAS linked this story in yesterday's Comments, and I forgot to link it on the page. It's kinda perfect: ~~~

~~~ EJ Montini of the Arizona Republic: “According to the AI chatbot called Grok, which was developed by Elon Musk’s company xAI, there is a '75-85% likelihood' that the person who delivered the State of the Union address on Tuesday night is a 'Putin-compromised' Russian asset. In describing Grok, by the way, Musk said it is amaximally truth-seeking AI, even if that truth is sometimes at odds with what is politically-correct.'... “Weighing [evidence from the 1990s & 2000s], the financial ties (decades-long, opaque, and substantial), intelligence suggesting Russian intent, and Trump’s unwavering refusal to criticize Putin despite attacking allies tilt the scale.'... Given all that (and more, if you read the entire assessment), Grok said that 'Trump’s ego and debts make him unwittingly pliable, fits the evidence. Adjusting for uncertainty and alternative explanations (e.g., ideological alignment or naivety), I estimate a 75-85% likelihood Trump is a Putin-compromised asset, leaning toward the higher end due to the consistency of his behavior and the depth of historical ties.'” ~~~

     ~~~ This possibility has occurred to Sen. Jeff Merkeley (D-Oregon), too. Anthony Robinson of the Yorkshire (England) Bylines: "The US Senate Intelligence Committee recently [March 3??] questioned Trump’s nominees as Nato representatives and asked outright if ... Trump was a Russian asset. If not, Senator Jeff Merkley (Democrat, Oregon) wanted to know what a Russian asset embedded as POTUS would do, other than what Trump is already doing. They struggled to answer, as this YouTube video shows [the video of a confirmation hearing is embedded].... Nobody seems to believe [Trump is] a Russian agent, but he is certainly an asset, although Trump has always denied it. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that the famously incurious and narcissistic 47th president of the USA is too stupid to realise he is being used by the Kremlin.”

Paul Krugman: “... last month hackers looted Ethereum coins worth $1.5 billion from Bybit, a Dubai-based crypto exchange — apparently the most money anyone has ever stolen in a single caper. The FBI believes that the North Korean regime was behind the hack. Most of the coins have already been laundered into Bitcoin, and will eventually be turned into real money that will be used to sustain Kim Jong Un’s brutal dictatorship.... Small investors continue to lose large sums in crypto scams, like 'rug-pulls.' And the biggest rug-pull yet is underway: Donald Trump’s plan for a 'strategic crypto reserve.'... A a 'strategic crypto reserve' ... would consist of nothing but a hackable string of ones and zeroes on servers.... [Scammers have] hacked into the Trump Administration, inducing the president and those around him to announce a plan to use US tax revenue to buy huge amounts of cryptocurrencies with no discernible strategic value.... If the crypto strategic reserve does happen, the price of crypto will skyrocket. Then, if history is any guide, insiders will sell out.... It’s more obvious every day that we now have government of, by and for crooks.”

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David Lynch & Aaron Gregg of the Washington Post: “Less than 48 hours after slapping tariffs on all goods from Canada and Mexico..., Donald Trump agreed to a one-month reprieve for automobile imports that qualify for duty-free treatment under the North American trade agreement negotiated during his first term. The president’s decision followed a phone conversation with executives from the Big Three automakers — General Motors, Ford and Stellantis — who sought relief from the new import taxes. Each of the automakers over the past several decades has developed complex supply chains that cross North American borders multiple times before delivering a finished product. Along with disrupting those supply lines, Trump’s tariffs would have increased the cost of the typical new car by more than $10,000, industry groups said. Ford CEO Jim Farley warned last month that the president’s tariffs 'would blow a hole in the U.S. industry' and give Asian and European producers a distinct competitive advantage.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~Marie: That's odd, because just the previous evening, during remarks before Congress, Trump said that U.S. auto companies were so delighted & s-o-o-o excited by his economic measures, including tariffs. Lawrence O'Donnell said Trump backed down because he's a coward. ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE, in Canada. Tavleen Tarrant & Colin Sheely of NBC News: "As the Trump administration’s tariffs on Canada and Mexico went into effect Tuesday, Canadians discovered empty shelves where U.S. liquor products were once stocked. Canadian social media users posted photos and videos of stores across the country seemingly pulling U.S.-made liquor from their inventories."

Stephen Groves of the AP: “The Department of Veterans Affairs is planning an 'aggressive' reorganization that includes cutting 80,000 jobs from the sprawling agency that provides health care for retired military members, according to an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press. The VA’s chief of staff, Christopher Syrek, told top level officials at the agency that it had an objective to cut enough employees to return to 2019 staffing levels of just under 400,000. That would require terminating tens of thousands of employees after the VA expanded during the Biden administration, as well as to cover veterans impacted by burn pits under the 2022 PACT Act. The memo instructs top-level staff to prepare for an agency-wide reorganization in August to 'resize and tailor the workforce to the mission and revised structure.' It also calls for agency officials to work with the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency to 'move out aggressively, while taking a pragmatic and disciplined approach' to the Trump administration’s goals.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Ben Finley & Stephen Groves of the AP: “More than 9 million veterans get physical and mental health care from the VA.... The VA manages a $350 billion-plus budget and oversees nearly 200 medical centers and hospitals. Veterans have shown up at town hall-style meetings with Republican lawmakers to voice their anger, and groups like the Veterans of Foreign Wars are mobilizing against cuts.”

Laura Meckler of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump is set to issue an executive order as soon as Thursday directing his newly confirmed education secretary to work to close the department she now leads, two people familiar with the situation said. A draft of the executive order that circulated on Wednesday recognizes that the president does not have the power to shutter the Education Department. It would take an act of Congress and 60 'yes' votes in the Senate, which is unlikely given that Republicans hold only 53 seats. Rather, the draft calls on Education Secretary Linda McMahon to 'take all necessary steps' to facilitate the closure of the department 'to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.'”

That guy (Elon) who recently said that Social Security was “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time”? He is running the Social Security Administration, albeit by proxy, since he has delegated a group of ignorant boys to do the dirty work. ~~~

~~~ Lisa Rein, et al., of the Washington Post: “The newly installed caretaker at the Social Security Administration acknowledged this week that Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service is calling the shots as the agency races to slash thousands of jobs and shrink its budget, telling a group of advocates, 'Things are currently operating in a way I have never seen in government before.' In a meeting Tuesday with his senior staff and about 50 legal-aid attorneys and other advocates for the disabled and elderly, acting SSA commissioner Leland Dudek referred to the tech billionaire’s cost-cutting team as 'outsiders who are unfamiliar with nuances of SSA programs,' according to detailed notes from a participant in the meeting.... 'DOGE people are learning and they will make mistakes, but we have to let them see what is going on at SSA,' Dudek told the group.... 'I am relying on longtime career people to inform my work, but I am receiving decisions that are made without my input. I have to effectuate those decisions.'”

Josh Gerstein of Politico: “Thousands of fired workers at the Department of Agriculture must get their jobs back for at least the next month and a half, the chair of a federal civil service board ruled Wednesday. The ruling said the recent dismissals of more than 5,600 probationary employees may have violated federal laws and procedures for carrying out layoffs. The decision from Cathy Harris, the chair of the Merit Systems Protection Board, is a blow to the Trump administration’s effort to drastically and quickly shrink the federal bureaucracy. Though it applies only to the USDA, it could lay the groundwork for further rulings reinstating tens of thousands of other probationary workers whom the Trump administration has fired en masse across the government. But it’s far from a final resolution of the legality of the mass terminations. The administration may have further options to place the reinstated workers on administrative leave or fire them again as part of a formal 'reduction in force.'” (Also linked yesterday.)

Brianna Tucker & Emily Davies of the Washington Post: “Several employees of the U.S. DOGE Service ... were blocked from entering a small U.S. aid agency focused on African economic development Wednesday afternoon. The standoff, which lasted about an hour at the U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) headquarters in downtown Washington, is one of the latest acts of resistance from federal employees as DOGE subordinates attempt to access data systems and federal grants. Around 11:30 a.m., several DOGE subordinates and Pete Marocco — director of the State Department’s Office of Foreign Assistance and acting deputy administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development — arrived at the USADF building and attempted to gain entry to fire employees.... [After a security guard at the main desk said his boss told him to let the DOGE boys enter, they went upsairs but could not gain entry to USADF offices. An] official said employees remained at their desks and continued to work while the DOGE staffers wandered the halls. The DOGE officials left around 12:30 p.m. but threatened to return Thursday, this time with the U.S. Marshals on their side.”

Never Mind. Jill Colvin, et al., of the AP: “The Trump administration on Tuesday published a list of more than 440 federal properties it had identified to potentially offload, including the FBI headquarters and the main Department of Justice building, after deeming them 'not core to government operations.' Hours later, however, the administration issued a revised list with only 320 entries that excluded every previously listed building in Washington, D.C. And by Wednesday morning, the list was gone entirely. 'Non-core property list (Coming soon)' read the web page where the list had previously been posted. The General Services Administration, which published the lists, did not respond to repeated questions about the changes or why the properties that had been listed had been removed.”

Thank you again. I won't forget it. -- Donald Trump to John Roberts ~~~

~~~ Open Mic Night. Paul Blumenthal of the Huffington Post: “As ... Donald Trump made his way out of Congress following his first speech to the body since retaking office..., he stopped to shake hands with the four Supreme Court justices in attendance. While shaking the hand of Chief Justice John Roberts, he said, 'Thank you again, I won’t forget it,' then slapped the chief on the back. Roberts is the author of the decision in Trump v. United States, which in July 2024 ... granted presidents absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts, and, in doing so, postponed Trump’s prosecution for trying to overturn the 2020 election long enough for him to win the election, putting him in the Oval Office and thus beyond the reach of prosecutors. Roberts gave Trump a get-out-of-jail-free card, and Trump is grateful. Trump’s appreciation is now Roberts’ legacy. It reveals what the court under his leadership has become: an arm of the Republican Party undermining democratic institutions and raising the president — really, this president — to the level of a monarch.... All of Trump’s unlawful actions since taking office must be seen through the lens of Roberts’ decision in Trump v. U.S.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: "Thank you again" suggests to me that the open mic moment was not the first time Don & John had discussed Trump v. U.S. ~~~

     ~~~ Oh, shame on me. There's a perfectly innocent explanation for Trump's expression of gratitude. Trump wrote Wednesday on his failing social media site, "Like most people, I don’t watch Fake News CNN or MSDNC, but I understand they are going 'crazy' asking what is it that I was thanking Justice Roberts for? They never called my office to ask, of course, but if they had I would have told these sleazebag 'journalists' that I thanked him for SWEARING ME IN ON INAUGURATION DAY, AND DOING A REALLY GOOD JOB IN SO DOING!" Right.

Justin Jouvenal, et al., of the Washington Post: “A sharply divided Supreme Court on Wednesday denied the Trump administration’s request to block a lower court order on foreign aid funding, clearing the way for the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to restart nearly $2 billion in payments for work already done. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s three liberal justices in the 5-4 order, which was the high court’s first significant move on lawsuits related to ... Donald Trump’s initiatives in his second term. The majority did not explain the reasoning for its decision but directed the lower court to clarify what obligations the government must fulfill to global health groups for work already completed with consideration of the 'feasibility of any compliance timelines.'... The majority’s decision drew a vigorous dissent from four conservative justices who said a District Court judge in D.C. probably lacks the power to compel the federal government to make such payments.” Thanks to Ken W. for the link. NPR's report, by Nina Totenberg, is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Derek Hawkins of the Washington Post: “A federal appeals court on Wednesday allowed ... Donald Trump to temporarily remove the head of an independent watchdog agency while the judges decide whether the president has the authority to fire him without cause. A lower court had blocked the president from firing Hampton Dellinger, head of the Office of Special Counsel. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit paused that ruling, saying the government had met the “stringent requirements” for securing a stay during the appeal. The brief order had no noted dissents from the panel of three judges, who were appointed by presidents from both parties. It said a full opinion would be forthcoming. Key filings in the case are due in early April.”

Anna Merlan of Mother Jones: “... Twenty-six-year-old Kingsley Wilson..., the Pentagon’s deputy press secretary ... is the daughter of Steve Cortes, a longtime Trump advisor and right-wing commentator.... Wilson is also a Trump 2020 campaign alum, and ... ran digital media and communications for the Center for Renewing America, a pro-Trump think tank founded by Project 2025 architect Russell Vought. She’s also an overt internet troll with a long history of bigoted, xenophobic, and deliberately provocative shitposting.... Wilson ... [has reeled] off ... endless tweets excoriating immigrants and trans people, advocating for what she called 'zero immigration and mass deportations,' and bemoaning the 'death of the West,' a term popularized by Pat Buchanan and often used by nativist, isolationist, and white nationalist groups.... At least twice, Wilson also repeated long-debunked lies online about the lynching death of Leo Frank, a Jewish man who was kidnapped from a Georgia prison and murdered in 1915, claiming he was guilty of the murder for which most modern historians agree he was wrongly convicted.” And so forth. ~~~

     ~~~ Jack Detsch & Joe Gould of Politico: “The backlash over a top Pentagon aide who has touted antisemitic views, white supremacist conspiracy theories and Kremlin-like statements on social media grew wider on Wednesday in a sign of increasing frustration among Republicans about the Trump administration’s seemingly unvetted appointees. Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson’s posts — which include comparing the murders of Israeli babies during the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks to abortion and spreading the far-right “great replacement theory” — have angered lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.”

Liz Goodwin, et al., of the Washington Post: Elon “Musk told a group of Republican senators in a closed-door lunch that he wanted to set up a direct line for them when they have questions, allowing them to get a near-instant response to their concerns, senators said.... Hours later, Musk told members of the House Oversight DOGE Subcommittee that he would set up a similar line of communication for them to reach his team.... The meeting was the first sign that, after weeks of burrowing into federal agencies and attempting to lay off hundreds of thousands of federal workers, Musk recognizes he needs Congress’s cooperation to make a lasting impact on U.S. spending.... But it remains unclear if Republicans are willing to vote to support Musk. Some lawmakers are worried about the political price they could pay for DOGE....” Here's Politico's story. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So after about six weeks of chain-saw governance, Musk suddenly notices half of Congress (the GOP half)?

Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: “Republicans in Congress cannot reach their goal of cutting at least $1.5 trillion in spending over the next 10 years for ... Donald Trump’s 'big, beautiful bill' on taxes and immigration unless they cut Medicaid or Medicare benefits, lawmakers’ nonpartisan bookkeeper reported Wednesday.... The Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday that reducing costs [by the $880 billion required in the initial budget bill] won’t be possible without cuts to Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program.... Even if the [House Energy C]ommittee eliminated every program besides those safety net benefits, it would be able to save a maximum of $135 billion.... House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) has insisted that the measure will not cut safety net benefits and that Congress can find savings simply by rooting out waste and fraud in the programs and adding new eligibility provisions, such as work requirements.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The CBO is not saying anything different from what Mikey and the Little Rascals would have learned by reading any reputable publication that covered the budget bill. So was Mikey lying or is he illiterate or is he innumerate? Or what? What's the scheme, Mikey?

Ted Oberg, et al., of NBC: News: “Hayden Haynes, the chief of staff to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and one of the most powerful aides on Capitol Hill, was arrested after ... Donald Trump's joint address to Congress on suspicion of drunken driving after his car struck a Capitol vehicle, two law enforcement sources told NBC News. Johnson's office also confirmed the incident.” MB: Yeah, well, Haynes was probably the designated driver in Pete Hegseth's party.

Jasper Scherer of the Texas Tribune: “U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner, a former Houston mayor, state legislator and institution in Houston Democratic politics, died Tuesday evening. He was 70. Turner's death comes two months into his first term representing Texas’ 18th Congressional District, the seat long occupied by his political ally, former U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who also died in office last year amid a battle with pancreatic cancer.... Before joining Congress, Turner served as Houston mayor from 2016 to 2024. He served for nearly 27 years in the Texas House. Gov. Greg Abbott can call a special election to fill Turner's congressional seat for the rest of his term. State law does not specify a deadline to call a special election, but if it is called the election is required to happen within two months of the announcement.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Holly Otterbein, et al., of Politico: “Voters still have a sour view of Democrats six weeks after ... Donald Trump and Republicans swept into Washington with control of all branches of the federal government, according to a new poll. A plurality of voters — 40 percent — said the Democratic Party doesn’t have any strategy whatsoever for responding to Trump, according to the survey by the liberal firm Blueprint that was shared first with Politico. Another 24 percent said Democrats have a game plan, but it’s a bad one.... On Capitol Hill, top Democrats put on a brave face Wednesday in the wake of their widely criticized reaction to Trump’s speech. But across the party, the damage was still reverberating, as elected officials and strategists scrambled to clean up their response. It was an effort mired in finger-pointing and with little agreement over how Democrats should oppose Trump. The strategy for countering the president’s speech — or lack thereof — laid bare how divided Democrats still are on how to counter Trump’s steamrolling of Washington, and how ineffective their efforts to blunt him remain.”

Reid Epstein & Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: “ActBlue, the online fund-raising organization that powers Democratic candidates, has plunged into turmoil, with at least seven senior officials resigning late last month and a remaining lawyer suggesting he faced internal retaliation. The departures from ActBlue, which helps raise money for Democrats running for office at all levels of government, come as the group is under investigation by congressional Republicans. They have advanced legislation that some Democrats warn could be used to debilitate what is the party’s leading fund-raising operation.... What prompted so many longtime ActBlue officials to leave is not clear.... In recent weeks, congressional Republicans have demanded answers from ActBlue about its security and fraud-prevention measures, as well as how the group prevents certain foreign donors from illegally contributing to candidates.”

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Israel, et al. Adam Rasgon, et al., of the New York Times: “U.S. and Hamas officials have had talks in Qatar about hostages held in the Gaza Strip, according to two Israeli officials, a Western official and a diplomat briefed on the matter, breaking with a longstanding American policy of refusing to directly engage groups that it has designated as terrorists.... [Donald] Trump’s nominee to be special envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, participated in the talks this week with Hamas officials, the diplomat said.” ~~~

~~~ Matthew Bigg of the New York Times: “In a blistering social media post on Wednesday, Mr. Trump addressed Hamas militants and built on a statement he made in his address to Congress the night before, when he said his administration was 'bringing back our hostages from Gaza,' without providing details. 'Release all of the Hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you,' he posted on Truth Social on Wednesday.... 'I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job, not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say,' Mr. Trump wrote. 'This is your last warning,' he went on, adding that if the group continued to hold hostages, 'you are DEAD!'” MB: These childish, bullying rage-tweets are so embarrassing to the country.

⭐Ukraine, et al. Warren Strobel, et al., of the Washington Post: “The United States has paused major portions of its intelligence-sharing with Ukraine, squeezing the flow of vital information that Kyiv has used to repel invading Russian forces and strike back at select targets inside Russia, according to U.S. and Ukrainian officials. The rupture in intelligence-sharing includes a halt in targeting data that U.S. spy agencies supply to Kyiv so it can launch American-provided weapons and Ukrainian-made long-range drones at Russian targets, Ukrainian officials said. Some Ukrainian missile operators say they are no longer receiving information needed to hit targets inside Russia.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I cannot adequately express how much I despise the murderous traitors running our country (and Western democracy) into the ground, so I won't try. ~~~

~~~ Ted Hesson & Kristina Cooke of Reuters: “... Donald Trump's administration is planning to revoke temporary legal status for some 240,000 Ukrainians who fled the conflict with Russia, a senior Trump official and three sources familiar with the matter said, potentially putting them on a fast-track to deportation. The move, expected as soon as April, would be a stunning reversal of the welcome Ukrainians received under President Joe Biden's administration. The planned rollback of protections for Ukrainians was underway before Trump publicly feuded with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week. It is part of a broader Trump administration effort to strip legal status from more than 1.8 million migrants allowed to enter the U.S. under temporary humanitarian parole programs launched under the Biden administration, the sources said.”

The Conversation -- March 5, 2025

David Lynch & Aaron Gregg of the Washington Post: “Less than 48 hours after slapping tariffs on all goods from Canada and Mexico..., Donald Trump agreed to a one-month reprieve for automobile imports that qualify for duty-free treatment under the North American trade agreement negotiated during his first term. The president’s decision followed a phone conversation with executives from the Big Three automakers — General Motors, Ford and Stellantis — who sought relief from the new import taxes. Each of the automakers over the past several decades has developed complex supply chains that cross North American borders multiple times before delivering a finished product. Along with disrupting those supply lines, Trump’s tariffs would have increased the cost of the typical new car by more than $10,000, industry groups said. Ford CEO Jim Farley warned last month that the president’s tariffs 'would blow a hole in the U.S. industry' and give Asian and European producers a distinct competitive advantage.” ~~~

     ~~~Marie: That's odd, because just last night during remarks before Congress, Trump said that U.S. auto companies were so delighted & s-o-o-o excited by his economic measures, including tariffs.

Josh Gerstein of Politico: “Thousands of fired workers at the Department of Agriculture must get their jobs back for at least the next month and a half, the chair of a federal civil service board ruled Wednesday. The ruling said the recent dismissals of more than 5,600 probationary employees may have violated federal laws and procedures for carrying out layoffs. The decision from Cathy Harris, the chair of the Merit Systems Protection Board, is a blow to the Trump administration’s effort to drastically and quickly shrink the federal bureaucracy. Though it applies only to the USDA, it could lay the groundwork for further rulings reinstating tens of thousands of other probationary workers whom the Trump administration has fired en masse across the government. But it’s far from a final resolution of the legality of the mass terminations. The administration may have further options to place the reinstated workers on administrative leave or fire them again as part of a formal 'reduction in force.'”

Rachel Maddow did some off-the-cuff fact-checks of Trump's Congressional address: ~~~

⭐Warren Strobel, et al., of the Washington Post: “The United States has paused major portions of its intelligence-sharing with Ukraine, squeezing the flow of vital information that Kyiv has used to repel invading Russian forces and strike back at select targets inside Russia, according to U.S. and Ukrainian officials. The rupture in intelligence-sharing includes a halt in targeting data that U.S. spy agencies supply to Kyiv so it can launch American-provided weapons and Ukrainian-made long-range drones at Russian targets, Ukrainian officials said. Some Ukrainian missile operators say they are no longer receiving information needed to hit targets inside Russia.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I cannot adequately express how much I despise the murderous traitors running our country (and Western democracy) into the ground, so I won't try.

Stephen Groves of the AP: “The Department of Veterans Affairs is planning an 'aggressive' reorganization that includes cutting 80,000 jobs from the sprawling agency that provides health care for retired military members, according to an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press. The VA’s chief of staff, Christopher Syrek, told top level officials at the agency that it had an objective to cut enough employees to return to 2019 staffing levels of just under 400,000. That would require terminating tens of thousands of employees after the VA expanded during the Biden administration, as well as to cover veterans impacted by burn pits under the 2022 PACT Act. The memo instructs top-level staff to prepare for an agency-wide reorganization in August to 'resize and tailor the workforce to the mission and revised structure.' It also calls for agency officials to work with the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency to 'move out aggressively, while taking a pragmatic and disciplined approach' to the Trump administration’s goals.”

Jasper Scherer of the Texas Tribune: “U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner, a former Houston mayor, state legislator and institution in Houston Democratic politics, died Tuesday evening. He was 70. Turner's death comes two months into his first term representing Texas’ 18th Congressional District, the seat long occupied by his political ally, former U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who also died in office last year amid a battle with pancreatic cancer.... Before joining Congress, Turner served as Houston mayor from 2016 to 2024. He served for nearly 27 years in the Texas House. Gov. Greg Abbott can call a special election to fill Turner's congressional seat for the rest of his term. State law does not specify a deadline to call a special election, but if it is called the election is required to happen within two months of the announcement.”

Justin Jouvenal, et al., of the Washington Post: “A sharply divided Supreme Court on Wednesday denied the Trump administration’s request to block a lower court order on foreign aid funding, clearing the way for the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to restart nearly $2 billion in payments for work already done. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s three liberal justices in the 5-4 order, which was the high court’s first significant move on lawsuits related to ... Donald Trump’s initiatives in his second term. The majority did not explain the reasoning for its decision but directed the lower court to clarify what obligations the government must fulfill to global health groups for work already completed with consideration of the 'feasibility of any compliance timelines.'... The majority’s decision drew a vigorous dissent from four conservative justices who said a District Court judge in D.C. probably lacks the power to compel the federal government to make such payments.” Thanks to Ken W. for the link. NPR's report, by Nina Totenberg, is here.

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Michael Shear & Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: Donald Trump's speech before a joint session of Congress ran 100 minutes “— the longest presidential address to Congress in modern history.... Together, the president’s remarks underscored the chaotic, whiplash nature of the opening weeks of Mr. Trump’s second term. Much of the lengthy speech was filled with grievances about his treatment by Democrats and exaggerations about his accomplishments.... From the first moments of his address, Mr. Trump faced heckling from Democrats as he declared that 'America is back.' Democrats barely applauded, while Republicans enthusiastically cheered.... Throughout, he appeared to obsess over his political rivals. At one point, he motioned to Democrats, saying the system of justice in the country had been taken over by 'radical left lunatics.' In response, progressive members of the party held up panels that said 'False' and 'That’s a lie.'... He addressed his opponents in the audience with contempt, gloating about his election victory, mocked them for his ability to evade prosecutions and called Mr. Biden the worst president in American history....

“A number of Democrats staged a small protest, standing up and turning their backs toward Trump with T-shirts that said 'resist' on the back. Instead of risking being removed by the sergeant-at-arms, the group quietly walked off the House floor. Other Democrats chose to walk out of the speech, including Representative Maxwell Frost, Democrat of Florida, who wore a shirt that said 'No Kings Live Here.'” Read on.

I was saved by God to make America great again. -- Donald Trump, invoking the divine right of kings in his address to joint session of Congress

He is the very model of a modern major lunatic. -- Marie ~~~

~~~ Matt Viser of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Tuesday night addressed a divided nation in a speech marked by acrimony, as a Texas Democrat was escorted from the chamber within the first few moments and as Trump taunted Democrats in the room — outlining a message of defiant optimism for those who support him and gloomy despair for those who don’t. His speech ... arrived hours after the stock market tumbled as a result of his newly imposed tariffs, but Trump doubled down on his plans for reciprocal tariffs and made clear that he was unrestrained by any rising Democratic resistance, signs of economic trouble or falsehoods as he made a number of claims unsupported by the facts.... His speech in several instances had the feel of a reality show, with guests in the room receiving life-altering news.”

And I think we’re going to get it — one way or the other, we’re going to get it. -- Donald Trump, on acquiring Greenland, in his address to joint session of Congress

... we gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back. -- Donald Trump, on seizing the Panama Canal, in his address to joint session of Congress ~~~

~~~ Niha Masih of the Washington Post: “In ... Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, he reiterated that the United States should acquire Greenland and retake control of the Panama Canal, doubling down on his expansionist foreign policy vision.... Earlier Tuesday, CK Hutchinson, a Hong Kong-based company, announced it would sell its stake in two Panama Canal ports to a U.S.-led consortium, apparently in response to threats from Trump. Trump mentioned the development and said the Panama Canal was built at a 'tremendous cost' to the United States.”

Here's a transcript of Trump's speech by the AP.

Maya Miller of the New York Times: Donald “Trump got barely two minutes into his speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night before Representative Al Green, Democrat of Texas, stood to protest, disrupting the proceedings in a display that ultimately got him thrown out of the House chamber. As Mr. Trump extolled his own accomplishments during his first weeks in office and boasted about his electoral success in November, Mr. Green, 77, rose from his seat, shook his cane and began to shout. 'You have no mandate to cut Medicaid!' yelled Mr. Green.... Almost instantly, he was drowned out by chants from angry Republican colleagues: 'U.S.A.! U.S.A.!' they shouted and clapped, which gave way to shouts of 'Sit down!' Twice, Speaker Mike Johnson interrupted the president’s address, tapped his gavel and warned Mr. Green that if he did not sit down, he would be removed from the chamber....

Behind Mr. Trump, Vice President JD Vance made a gesture with his thumb indicating 'throw him out,' as members jeered. Soon, Mr. Johnson read from a sheet of paper in front of him, making it official. 'Finding that members continue to engage in willful and concerted disruption of proper decorum, the chair now directs the Sergeant-at-arms to restore order,' Mr. Johnson said, prompting raucous applause from Republicans. 'Remove this gentleman from the chamber!' he declared, banging his gavel.” The Sergeant at Arms escorted Rep. Green from the chamber. Politico's report is here.

Binyamin Appelbaum & Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times chose Green's protest as the "best moment" of the event. ~~~

~~~ David Firestone of the New York Times: “The cost of Trump’s disastrous first month back in office could be seen in the furious response of Democrats on the House floor. Many of them booed and catcalled throughout the opening moments of the speech, particularly when the president defied arithmetic by claiming he had a significant mandate because of his big lead in the popular vote. (He did not break 50 percent, and he beat Kamala Harris by less than 1.5 percentage points.) Some Democrats waved signs saying 'Musk steals,' 'No king' and 'Save Medicaid.' Others wore pink as a protest color. And Representative Al Green of Texas shouted at the rostrum and refused the order of Speaker Mike Johnson to sit down. Finally both Green and Johnson got the spectacle they hoped for when the speaker had Green thrown out of the chamber. It was a first in the modern era, as so many other aspects of this term have been.... But it’s hard to blame those who couldn’t stop themselves from shouting at the barrage of misinformation, particularly for those who remember what happened in that same room in 2021, when members had to cower from the violence inflicted by the president’s supporters. Decorum has become a thing of the past.” ~~~

The first month of our presidency is the most successful in the history of our nation — and what makes it even more impressive is that you know who No. 2 is? George Washington. -- Donald Trump, boasting in his address to joint session of Congress ~~~

~~~ Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: “... over the course of the last five days, [Donald Trump] has set the United States back 100 years. Trump on Monday implemented the largest tariff increase since 1930, abruptly reversing an era of liberalized trade that has prevailed since the end of the Second World War. He launched this trade war just three days after dealing an equally severe blow to the postwar security order that has maintained prosperity and freedom for 80 years. Trump’s ambush of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, followed by the cessation of U.S. military aid to the outgunned ally, has left allies reeling and Moscow exulting.... There is no easy fix for Trump’s smashing of the security and trade arrangements that have kept us safe and free for generations.”

From the Peepul Я Dum File. Anthony Salvanto, et al., of CBS News: "A large majority of speech watchers approved of what they heard from ... [Donald] Trump's joint address to Congress Tuesday night. The viewership was heavily Republican — historically a president's party draws more of their own partisans. This was no exception, and they liked what they heard. This CBS News/YouGov survey interviewed a nationally representative sample of speech watchers immediately following the president's address to Congress."

The Washington Post's live updates of Trump's speech before the joint session are here. The New York Times' live updates, which are a good way to "watch" without watching, are here. (There is video, but you can mute it.) (Also linked yesterday.) Also, Washington Post columnists followed the speech in real time."

Marie: Here's the headline for an item by Irie Sentner of Politico: “If the unthinkable happens tonight, Doug Collins is the designated survivor.” That should be, “If the unthinkable happens tonight, the designated survivor is unthinkable.” He's a real goober.

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump said during his address Tuesday to a joint session of Congress that U.S. authorities have recovered and detained a senior Islamic State official responsible for a bombing during the evacuation of Afghanistan in 2021 that killed 13 U.S. troops and about 170 Afghans.... He thanked the government of Pakistan for 'helping arrest this monster.'... A White House official ... identified the individual as Mohammad Sharifullah and said he was a planner with the Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K), the extremist group’s branch in Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

Annie Karni of the New York Times: “Senator Elissa Slotkin, a first-term Democrat from Michigan, delivered a simple message as her party’s official response to ... [Donald] Trump’s combative and lengthy address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night: Mr. Trump, she said, was 'going to make you pay in every part of your life.'... Ms. Slotkin struck a calm and upbeat tone in her brief remarks.... Twice during her speech, she named previous Republican presidents approvingly while criticizing Mr. Trump. 'I’m thankful it was Reagan and not Trump in the office in the 1980s,' she said, noting that Mr. Trump was 'cozying up to dictators like Vladimir Putin.'... Ms. Slotkin avoided any notable missteps, opting for a straightforward delivery and a simple message calibrated to be broadly appealing.” MB: As I predicted yesterday, a dud.

     ~~~ Marie: The Democrats needed someone like Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.) or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) who know how to attack Trump. Instead, they picked Slotkin, a moderate to deliver some pablum. She is among the Democratic senators who voted to confirm the most Trump Cabinet nominees (the only one who voted for more is that goofball Fetterman). ~~~

     ~~~ ⭐Tom Nichols of the Atlantic: “In her response to Trump’s address, Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin failed to capture the hallucinatory nature of our national politics.... [Her speech] was so normal, in fact, that it was exactly the wrong speech to give.... Slotkin — like so many in her party lately—failed to convey any sense of real urgency or alarm. Her speech could have been given in Trump’s first term, perhaps in 2017 or 2018, but we are no longer in that moment. The president’s address was so extreme, so full of bizarre claims and ideas, exaggerations and distortions and lies, that it should have called his fitness to serve into question.... Her [laudable] admonition to her fellow citizens not to fool themselves about the fragility of democracy, while admirable, was strangely detached from a specific attack on the source of that menace.... Her response, and the behavior of the Democrats in general, showed that they still fear being a full-throated opposition party....” Thanks to laura h. for this gift link.

Lily Kuo, et al., of the Washington Post: “As ... Donald Trump’s new tariffs on the nation’s three top trading partners took effect Tuesday, China, Mexico and Canada announced that they would retaliate with levies of their own, unleashing a potentially devastating trade war.... During a Tuesday news conference, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decried the 'American trade war,' warning that 'it is going to hurt all of us.'... While Trudeau said finding a resolution to the trade fight would be his top priority, he added that Canada will impose tariffs on roughly $107 billion worth of U.S. products. About $21 billion worth of those goods would be hit immediately, he said, with the rest taking effect in 21 days. Trump, responding in a social media post, said U.S. tariffs 'will immediately increase by a like amount' to any reciprocal tariff from Canada.” The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Your government has chosen to do this to you. -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, responding to the U.S.'s imposition of tariffs on Canada ~~~

     ~~~ You can watch the full speech here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Paul Krugman: “The newspapers [Tuesday] morning all contain analysis pieces trying to explain why Trump is imposing 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico. You can see the writers struggling, because this is a profoundly self-destructive move — it will impose huge, possibly devastating costs on U.S. manufacturing, while significantly raising the cost of living — without any visible justification. Yet the conventions of mainstream journalism make it hard to say directly that the president’s actions are just vindictive and senseless.... It seems clear to me that Trump hates [Canadians] for their decency.... Canada is a pretty decent place, as nations go. And Trump, whom nobody would describe as a decent person, dislikes and maybe even fears people who are. I mean, look at the people Trump has chosen to play prominent roles in his administration. I guess if you search hard enough you can find officials without a sex scandal, a financial scandal, a history of anti-semitism or racism, or a record of substance abuse in a senior position.... It really looks as if being vile is a fundamental job qualification.” Along the way, Krugman debunks some of Trump's excuses for imposing tariffs on our closest trading partners. Thanks to RAS for the link.

It’s just a wrecking ball in getting rid of things. -- Denise Maes, former GSA regional administrator during Biden administration ~~~

~~~ Madeleine Ngo, et al., of the New York Times: “The Trump administration said on Tuesday that it could sell hundreds of federal properties around the country, including offices for the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. Officials at the General Services Administration, an agency that manages the federal government’s real estate portfolio, originally said they had identified more than 440 properties that they could 'dispose of' in an effort to ensure that 'taxpayers no longer pay for empty and underutilized federal office space.' By Tuesday evening, however, the list of buildings deemed 'not core to government operations' had been trimmed to 320 properties, removing a number of high-profile buildings, many of them in Washington, D.C.

“The original list had included the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice building and the J. Edgar Hoover Building, the F.B.I. headquarters. The administration had also identified the headquarters for the Department of Health and Human Services, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Energy Department, the Labor Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and even the General Services Administration. Large office buildings used by the Agriculture Department and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission were included. The revised list no longer includes those buildings.” ~~~

Gutting NOAA puts Americans in danger. Trump and DOGE aren’t ‘trimming the fat,’ they are hobbling the services that all of us rely on every day to stay safe, to do business, and to live our lives peacefully. -- Former NOAA employee ~~~

~~~ Andrew Freedman of Axios: "The Trump administration has informed NOAA that two pivotal centers for weather forecasting will soon have their leases canceled, sources told Axios.... One of the buildings is the nerve center for generating national weather forecasts. It was designed to integrate multiple forecasting centers in one building to improve operating efficiency. It houses telecommunications equipment to send weather data and forecasts across the U.S. and abroad." Thanks to RAS for the link.

Andrew Duehren of the New York Times: “The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to shed as much as 50 percent of its staff, according to four people familiar with the matter, a significant cut that could jeopardize the agency’s ability to complete its basic mission of collecting taxes.... Mr. Musk’s cost-cutting effort, the Department of Government Efficiency, has taken a keen interest in the I.R.S. in recent weeks, with two of its representatives, Gavin Kliger and Sam Corcos, working from its Washington headquarters, according to people familiar with the matter. They have pushed for access to agency databases, including, most recently, one that has information about the agency’s contractors." ~~~

... if you’re interested in the deficit and curbing it, why would you cut back on the revenue side?... When you hamstring the IRS, it’s just a tax cut for tax cheats. -- John Koskinen, former IRS commissioner ~~~

     ~~~ Andy Kroll of ProPublica: “Unlike with other federal agencies, cutting the IRS means the government collects less money and finds fewer tax abuses. Economic studies have shown that for every dollar spent by the IRS, the agency returns between $5 and $12.... A 2024 report by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office found that the IRS found savings of $13,000 for every additional hour spent auditing the tax returns of very wealthy taxpayers.... Within the IRS, the LB&I [Large Business & International] division has the highest return on investment, and the widespread cuts there put in stark relief the human and financial cost of the Trump administration’s approach to slashing government functions in the name of saving money and combating waste and fraud.... LB&I was hit especially hard by the most recent wave of firings.... Current and former IRS employees said the firings and the administration’s deferred resignation offer led to situations that have wiped out decades of experience and institutional knowledge that can’t easily be replaced.”

Huh. Kristin Brown & Melissa Quinn of CBS News: "The Office of Personnel Management issued revised guidance to federal agencies Tuesday regarding the firing of probationary workers amid ... [Donald] Trump's efforts to shrink the size of the government, informing department leaders that they do not have to take any 'specific performance-based actions' regarding those employees. The revised memo from Charles Ezell, the acting director of OPM, comes after a federal judge ruled last week that the Trump administration's mass firings of probationary workers, who generally have been in their jobs for less than one year, were likely illegal. U.S. District Judge William Alsup found that 'OPM did not have the authority to direct the firing of employees, probationary or otherwise, in any other federal agency.' The latest guidance from OPM revises a Jan. 20 memo from Ezell that required agencies to identify all employees still in their probationary periods and send a report to the agency listing all those workers.... The revised memo includes a new paragraph that states that 'by this memorandum, OPM is not directing agencies to take any specific performance-based actions regarding probationary employees. Agencies have ultimate decision-making authority over, and responsibility for, such personnel actions.'" ~~~

     ~~~ For another perspective on this somewhat enigmatic revision, see the report by Jennifer Bendery & Dave Jamieson of the Huffington Post. They see the new memo as a CYA effort to rewrite history, and they note that the new “guidance doesn’t say anything about federal agencies being encouraged to rehire all the people who were fired.... [On the other hand,] Everett Kelley of the American Federation of Government Employees, which brought the lawsuit in Alsup’s court, said..., 'OPM’s revision of its Jan. 20 memo is a clear admission that it unlawfully directed federal agencies to carry out mass terminations of probationary employees — which aligns with Judge Alsup’s recent decision in our lawsuit challenging these illegal firings.... Every agency should immediately rescind these unlawful terminations and reinstate everyone who was illegally fired.'”

Mackenzie Wilkes of Politico: “Education Secretary Linda McMahon swiftly laid out a 'final mission' for the Education Department in a message to staff Monday after being quickly confirmed and sworn in. McMahon’s plan would execute President Donald Trump’s desire to 'send education back to the states' amid an expected executive order from Trump that would direct the department to offload what programs it can to other agencies and assess what laws are needed to close the department altogether.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Lena Sun & Fenit Nirappil of the Washington Post: “Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s focus on vitamin A use to combat a growing measles outbreak in Texas is raising concerns among public health experts, who fear he is sending the wrong message about preventing the highly contagious disease and distracting from the critical importance of vaccination. Kennedy, who in his years as an anti-vaccine activist criticized measles shots and boosted vitamin A as a treatment, is now using his government position to tout the vitamin’s accepted benefits. The Department of Health and Human Services has directed the nation’s top public health agency to add similar language to its guidance for caring for measles patients.... His op-ed does not mention vitamin A’s risks.... Sue Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said in a statement Monday. 'Taking too much vitamin A can cause serious health problems, including liver damage.'... Vitamin A is considered supportive care and typically used in countries where children are malnourished and have vitamin A deficiency. Vitamin A deficiency in the United States affects less than 1 percent of the population....” It is not a substitute for measles vaccinations, as anti-vaxxers claim. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

Teddy Rosenbluth of the New York Times: “As a measles outbreak expands in West Texas, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary, on Tuesday cheered several unconventional treatments, including cod liver oil, but again did not urge Americans to get vaccinated. In a prerecorded interview that aired on Fox News, Mr. Kennedy said that the federal government was shipping doses of vitamin A to Gaines County, the epicenter of the outbreak, and helping to arrange ambulance rides. H.H.S. officials previously said they were shipping doses of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine to Texas, but Mr. Kennedy did not discuss vaccination.... Cod liver oil is 'by no means' an evidence-based treatment, said Dr. Sean O’Leary, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases. Dr. O’Leary added that he had never heard of a physician using the supplement against measles.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Next up: publicity shots of JFKJ in his shirt sleeves, crating up bottles of Daffy's True Elixir to ship to West Texas.

Chico Harland & Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: “The State Department on Tuesday halted efforts to monitor air quality levels around the world, ending a program that had provided data about a major global health risk. The program had used air quality sensors at more than 80 U.S. embassies and consulates — mostly in countries where such data was otherwise limited or unreliable. The move follows other actions by the Trump administration to curtail environmental monitoring and climate-related science.... The data had been published on AirNow.gov, a website maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as on a mobile app called ZephAir. As of Tuesday evening, an AirNow webpage on data from U.S. embassies and consulates displayed an error message. 'Sorry, But This Web Page Does Not Exist,' the message read. ZephAir, however, continued to display data from sensors around the world that was current as of 6 p.m. Eastern time. It was not immediately clear when the app’s data would cease to be updated. Also unclear was whether billionaire Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service had played a role in the decision.”

Trump Team Plan to Manipulate Economic Data. Ben Casselman & Colby Smith of the New York Times: “Comments from a member of President Trump’s cabinet over the weekend have renewed concerns that the new administration could seek to interfere with federal statistics — especially if they start to show that the economy is slipping into a recession. In an interview on Fox News on Sunday, Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, suggested that he planned to change the way the government reports data on gross domestic product in order to remove the impact of government spending.... [G.D.P.] tallies consumer spending, private-sector investment, net exports, and government investment and spending to arrive at a broad measure of all goods and services produced in a country.... Mr. Lutnick made his comments days after similar ones by Elon Musk.... Excluding the government’s contribution entirely makes little sense, economists said.... 'It’s very concerning,' [Nancy Potok, former U.S. chief statistician,] said. 'It puts the U.S. in the company of countries that are notorious for fudging the numbers to support failed economic policies.'” Here's why they're fixin' to fudge the numbers: (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Abha Bhattarai of the Washington Post: “On Monday, an economic growth model from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta forecast a steep decline for the first three months of this year — a 2.8 percent contraction in economic growth, after nearly three years of solid growth. That same Fed model began flashing negative forecasts on Friday for first-quarter gross domestic product, which sums up goods and services produced in the United States.... 'You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,' [Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick] said. 'They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The NYT reporters explain why Lutnick's convenient new methodology (i.e., removing government spending from G.D.P. calculations) doesn't make sense: It “would imply that teachers at private schools contributed to the national economy but that teachers at public schools did not, for example. And it would mean that government investment in infrastructure, health care, disaster relief and national defense all held no economic value.”

Rick Hasen of Election Law Blog republishes lots of a Wired story: “Guests are paying millions of dollars to dine and meet with ... Donald Trump at special events held at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Business leaders can secure a one-on-one meeting with the president at Mar-a-Lago for $5 million, according to sources with direct knowledge of the meetings. At a so-called candlelight dinner held as recently as this past Saturday, prospective Mar-a-Lago guests were asked to spend $1 million to reserve a seat, according to an invitation obtained by WIRED. 'You are invited to a candlelight dinner featuring special guest President Donald J. Trump,' the invitation reads, under a 'MAGA INC.' header. MAGA Inc., or Make America Great Again Inc., is a super PAC that supported Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.... It’s unclear where the money is going and what it will be used for, but one source with direct knowledge of the dinners said 'it’s all going to the library,' as in the presidential library that will ostensibly be built once Trump leaves office....” Thanks to RAS for the original link to the Wired story, which is firewalled. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: You might wonder, what with everybody giving all these millions to the Trump lie-berry (ABC alone is giving $15MM and Meta chipped in another $22MM), how could they possibly spend all that money? Well, Mike Johnson may have helped explain the high cost of a Trump repository of great American literature, when he praised Trump's speech yesterday, even before the joint session: "I would like to frame it in gilded gold...." That's not just gold. That's gilded gold. Gold-on-gold. On parchment?

Walz Is Back! Lauren Irwin of the Hill: “Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) offered to host town halls in districts where Republicans are now refusing to hold them.... 'If you congressman refuses to meet, I’ll come host an event in their district to help local Democrats beat ‘em.' National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) advised House Republicans to avoid in-person town halls with constituents and instead to host phone or livestreamed events.” Here's a Politico item on Hudson's advice to fellow House Republicans. (Also linked yesterday.)

Some of you will recall Joni Ernst back in 2014 when she ran these ads to introduce her Senate candidacy. The ProPublic report linked below kinda suggests it was not Washington's big spenders who were doing the squealing, Joni. Just sayin'. ~~~

~~~ Robert Faturechi of ProPublica: “Earlier this year, the Air Force revealed that the general who oversaw its lobbying before Congress had inappropriate romantic relationships with five women, including three who worked on Capitol Hill. Maj. Gen. Christopher Finerty’s colleagues told investigators the relationships were 'highly inappropriate' as they could give the Air Force undue influence in Congress.... The Air Force inspector general’s report redacted the names of the women who worked on the Hill. But one of the women whose relationship with Finerty was scrutinized by the inspector general was Sen. Joni Ernst, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation. The Iowa Republican and combat veteran is one of the most influential voices on the Hill about the military, and she sits on the Senate’s Armed Services Committee, which oversees the Pentagon and plays a crucial role in setting its annual budget. Three other sources told ProPublica that around 2019 Ernst had a previous romantic relationship with a legislative affairs official for a different branch of the military, the Navy.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ "Just Asking." Evan Hurst of Wonkette: "There is no honest person or American patriot who believes Pete Hegseth AKA Secretary Shitfaced is qualified or fit to run the Pentagon.... [One holdout against Hegseth's confirmation was] Joni Ernst, a powerful woman on the Senate Armed Services Committee, a military veteran who back in a previous life allegedly cared about fighting against sexual assault in the military. She caved early under severe MAGA threats.... It sounds like in certain military circles, [Joni's kanoodling with officers whose jobs were to lobby Congess for the Pentagon] was an open secret. [Ernst has not denied them, either.] Were there threats that if Ernst didn’t come to MAGA Jesus and vote for Secretary Shitfaced ... then maybe some of these secrets might spill out, and not in the pages of ProPublica? We are just asking. Did we mention that the IG report with these [redacted] allegations about [Maj. Gen. Christopher] Finerty [and his 'highly inappropriate' relationships with unnamed women on the Hill] arrived in Congress in January, right in the middle of the Hegseth confirmation fight? And that Ernst caved on Hegseth in mid-January? ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Hurst also mentions Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) who was a "no" vote  on Hegseth, too -- until he wasn't. Hurst links to evidence that Trump bullied Tillis into his "yes" vote by threatening to primary him, and/or Tillis knuckled under lest a credible death threat be realized. A U.S. senator has many duties. Some of them are sort of optional: like constituent services. Or town halls. However, confirming or rejecting Cabinet secretarys and certain other high officials whom the president* nominates? That is a requirement. It's a Constitutional requirement laid out in Article II, Section 2, Clause 2, commonly known as the "Advice and Consent" clause. If a senator cannot fulfill that Constitutionally-mandated function, as Tillis apparently cannot -- for whatever reason -- then that senator should resign.

Abbie VanSickle & Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court sided with San Francisco on Tuesday in a challenge to water quality regulations issued by the Environmental Protection Agency in a ruling that could have sweeping implications for the agency’s ability to limit offshore pollution.The 5-to-4 decision dealt another blow to the agency, which has recently sustained several losses before the court over its efforts to protect the environment.... The dispute fundamentally focused on human waste and how San Francisco disposes of it. The question before the court was whether the Clean Water Act of 1972 allowed the E.P.A. to impose prohibitions on wastewater released into the Pacific Ocean and to penalize the city for violating them. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., writing for the majority, said the E.P.A. was entitled to impose specific requirements to prevent pollution but not to make polluters responsible whenever water quality generally falls below the agency’s standards.... Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett M. Kavanaugh joined the majority opinion, and Justice Neil M. Gorsuch joined most of it. Justice Amy Coney Barrett dissented, joined by the court’s three-member liberal wing — Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Precapitulation. Maegan Flynn of the Washington Post: “D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) signaled Tuesday that the city would paint a new mural at Black Lives Matter Plaza outside the White House after a Republican lawmaker introduced a bill threatening millions of dollars in transportation funding if Bowser did not agree to erase and rename it. Bowser’s announcement about what she referred to as the 'evolution of the plaza' represents a remarkable retreat from her defiant posture toward ... Donald Trump during his first term that led her to order the creation of Black Lives Matter Plaza. Bowser drew Trump’s ire in 2020 when she ordered the slogan be painted in large yellow letters on 16th Street during historic racial justice protests outside the White House. Bowser’s move became a national symbol of resistance against Trump, who reacted by calling the mayor 'incompetent,' and Republicans have taken aim at the plaza ever since.”

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. TechDirt Stakes Its Claim. Mike Masnick, founder & CEO of TechDirt: “While political reporters are still doing their view-from-nowhere 'Democrats say this, Republicans say that' dance, tech and legal journalists have been watching an unfortunately recognizable plan unfold.... It’s a playbook we watched Musk perfect at Twitter, and now we’re seeing it deployed on a national scale.... What’s happening in the US right now is some sort of weird hybrid of the kind of power grabs we’ve seen in the tech industry, combined with a more traditional collapse of democratic institutions. The destruction is far more systematic and dangerous than many seem to realize.... If you do not recognize that mass destruction of fundamental concepts of democracy and the US Constitution happening right now, you are either willfully ignorant or just plain stupid.... When the fundamental structures that enable innovation, protect civil liberties, and foster open dialogue are under attack, every other tech policy story becomes secondary.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Florida. Frances Vinall of the Washington Post: “Andrew and Tristan Tate, two brothers charged with human trafficking in Romania, are under criminal investigation in Florida, state Attorney General James Uthmeier said Tuesday. The online influencers landed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Thursday after they were permitted to leave Romania despite the fact that they are awaiting trial there. Andrew Tate, a self-described misogynist and former professional kickboxer, gained notoriety by advocating male supremacy and control over women, along with self-help-style messaging that attracted an audience of millions. His online platforms, which promise to teach men and boys how to become wealthy, have been accused of being pyramid schemes — an allegation he denies. He and his younger brother, Tristan, dual U.S. and British nationals, were arrested in 2022 on suspicion of trafficking women to Romania. They have denied the charges. The two are also wanted in Britain.” ~~~

I know nothing about that. -- Donald Trump, when asked about the Tates at the White House on Thursday ~~~

     ~~~ Last week, the BBC (as well as numerous other media outlets) reported that the brothers had been freed from travel restrictions, "after several high-level White House officials took an interest in their case. It's unclear what, if any, role Donald Trump's administration may have played in their release, but one of Trump's top envoys [-- Richard Grenell  --] is said to have raised the case with Romania's Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu at a security conference in Munich earlier this month.... One of Tate's lawyers [-- Paul Ingrassia --] now works as White House liaison to the US justice department.... [Donald] Trump Jr once called Tate's detention in Romania 'absolute insanity'. [Elon] Musk reinstated Andrew Tate's account, which had been banned on X, and suggested, perhaps in jest, that Tate would make a good UK prime minister."

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Israel/Palestine, et al. Vivian Yee & Ismaeel Naar of the New York Times: “Arab countries countered ... [Donald] Trump’s proposal to expel Palestinians from Gaza and transform it into a beachfront destination with their own vision on Tuesday, endorsing a plan to keep the population there, rebuild the territory and turn it into part of a future Palestinian state, without Hamas in government. The contours of the counterproposal emerged from an emergency summit in Cairo, where Arab countries approved an Egyptian plan to spend $53 billion to rebuild Gaza but not, as Mr. Trump has suggested, moving Palestinians out of the enclave. Leaders across the Middle East have come under significant pressure to come up with a workable blueprint for reconstructing, securing and governing Gaza at a time when the Israel-Hamas cease-fire is teetering and Israel, buoyed by Mr. Trump’s backing, increasingly appears to hold the upper hand in negotiations.”

Ukraine, et al. Mark Santora of the New York Times: “President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Tuesday offered a course of action that he said could end the war, while trying to assure the Trump administration that his government was dedicated to peace.... The Ukrainian leader said he was ready to release Russian prisoners of war, stop long-range drone and missile strikes aimed at Russian targets, and declare a truce at sea immediately — moves that he said would help establish a pathway to peace. Only, however, 'if Russia will do the same,' he added.... In his post, Mr. Zelensky offered effusive praise for American support, noting specifically 'the moment when things changed when President Trump provided Ukraine with Javelins.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ JayDee Can't Stop Insulting Europeans. Mark Landler of the New York Times: “Vice President JD Vance has sparked a storm of criticism in Britain after declaring that an American economic deal in Ukraine was a 'better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.' Britain, which along with France has pledged troops to a peacekeeping force in Ukraine, fought with the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan, while French troops fought in Afghanistan. No other countries have said they would send troops to Ukraine.... 'Vance Shame,' said the headline on the home page of The Sun, the leading right-wing tabloid published by Rupert Murdoch.... 'JD Vance is wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong,' said Nigel Farage, the leader of the anti-immigrant party, Reform U.K., and a longtime ally of President Trump. 'We stood by America all through those 20 years putting in exactly the same contribution.' Mr. Vance later insisted that his comments, in an interview on Monday night with the Fox News host Sean Hannity, did not refer to Britain or France, though he did not name any alternative countries.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: That ignorant punk's air of superiority is reflexive-punch-in-the-face infuriating.

The Conversation -- March 4, 2025

The Washington Post's live updates of Trump's speech before the joint session are here. The New York Times' live updates, which are a good way to "watch" without watching, are here. (There is video, but you can mute it.)

This Is Bound to Be a Dud. Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: “Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan will deliver the Democratic Party’s response to ... Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening — giving the freshman senator from a swing state an opportunity to speak to Americans nationwide as her party wrestles with how to push back against the administration’s efforts to shrink the federal government.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The Democrats needed someone like Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.) or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) who know how to attack Trump. Instead, they picked Slotkin, a moderate to deliver some pablum. She is among the Democratic senators who voted to confirm the most Trump Cabinet nominees (the only one who voted for more is that goofball Fetterman). I hope I'm wrong (and I could be!), but if not for Little Marco's "thirsty" response of 2013, this could be the worst oppo response ever.

Lily Kuo, et al., of the Washington Post: “As ... Donald Trump’s new tariffs on the nation’s three top trading partners took effect Tuesday, China, Mexico and Canada announced that they would retaliate with levies of their own, unleashing a potentially devastating trade war.... During a Tuesday news conference, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decried the 'American trade war,' warning that 'it is going to hurt all of us.'... While Trudeau said finding a resolution to the trade fight would be his top priority, he added that Canada will impose tariffs on roughly $107 billion worth of U.S. products. About $21 billion worth of those goods would be hit immediately, he said, with the rest taking effect in 21 days. Trump, responding in a social media post, said U.S. tariffs 'will immediately increase by a like amount' to any reciprocal tariff from Canada.” The AP's report is here.

Your government has chosen to do this to you. -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, responding to the U.S.'s imposition of tariffs on Canada ~~~

     ~~~ You can watch the full speech here.

Trump Team Plan to Manipulate Economic Data. Ben Casselman & Colby Smith of the New York Times: “Comments from a member of President Trump’s cabinet over the weekend have renewed concerns that the new administration could seek to interfere with federal statistics — especially if they start to show that the economy is slipping into a recession. In an interview on Fox News on Sunday, Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, suggested that he planned to change the way the government reports data on gross domestic product in order to remove the impact of government spending.... [G.D.P.] tallies consumer spending, private-sector investment, net exports, and government investment and spending to arrive at a broad measure of all goods and services produced in a country.... Mr. Lutnick made his comments days after similar ones by Elon Musk.... Excluding the government’s contribution entirely makes little sense, economists said.... 'It’s very concerning,' [Nancy Potok, former U.S. chief statistician,] said. 'It puts the U.S. in the company of countries that are notorious for fudging the numbers to support failed economic policies.'” Here's why they're fixin' to fudge the numbers: ~~~

     ~~~ Abha Bhattarai of the Washington Post: “On Monday, an economic growth model from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta forecast a steep decline for the first three months of this year — a 2.8 percent contraction in economic growth, after nearly three years of solid growth. That same Fed model began flashing negative forecasts on Friday for first-quarter gross domestic product, which sums up goods and services produced in the United States.... 'You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,' [Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick] said. 'They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The NYT reporters explain why Lutnick's convenient new methodology (i.e., removing government spending from G.D.P. calculations) doesn't make sense: It “would imply that teachers at private schools contributed to the national economy but that teachers at public schools did not, for example. And it would mean that government investment in infrastructure, health care, disaster relief and national defense all held no economic value.”

Mackenzie Wilkes of Politico: “Education Secretary Linda McMahon swiftly laid out a 'final mission' for the Education Department in a message to staff Monday after being quickly confirmed and sworn in. McMahon’s plan would execute President Donald Trump’s desire to 'send education back to the states' amid an expected executive order from Trump that would direct the department to offload what programs it can to other agencies and assess what laws are needed to close the department altogether.”

Mark Santora of the New York Times: “President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Tuesday offered a course of action that he said could end the war, while trying to assure the Trump administration that his government was dedicated to peace.... The Ukrainian leader said he was ready to release Russian prisoners of war, stop long-range drone and missile strikes aimed at Russian targets, and declare a truce at sea immediately — moves that he said would help establish a pathway to peace. Only, however, 'if Russia will do the same,' he added.... In his post, Mr. Zelensky offered effusive praise for American support, noting specifically 'the moment when things changed when President Trump provided Ukraine with Javelins.'”

JayDee Can't Stop Insulting Europeans. Mark Landler of the New York Times: “Vice President JD Vance has sparked a storm of criticism in Britain after declaring that an American economic deal in Ukraine was a 'better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.' Britain, which along with France has pledged troops to a peacekeeping force in Ukraine, fought with the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan, while French troops fought in Afghanistan. No other countries have said they would send troops to Ukraine.... 'Vance Shame,' said the headline on the home page of The Sun, the leading right-wing tabloid published by Rupert Murdoch.... 'JD Vance is wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong,' said Nigel Farage, the leader of the anti-immigrant party, Reform U.K., and a longtime ally of President Trump. 'We stood by America all through those 20 years putting in exactly the same contribution.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: That ignorant punk's air of superiority is reflexive-punch-in-the-face infuriating.

Mr. Vance later insisted that his comments, in an interview on Monday night with the Fox News host Sean Hannity, did not refer to Britain or France, though he did not name any alternative countries.

Lena Sun & Fenit Nirappil of the Washington Post: “Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s focus on vitamin A use to combat a growing measles outbreak in Texas is raising concerns among public health experts, who fear he is sending the wrong message about preventing the highly contagious disease and distracting from the critical importance of vaccination. Kennedy, who in his years as an anti-vaccine activist criticized measles shots and boosted vitamin A as a treatment, is now using his government position to tout the vitamin’s accepted benefits. The Department of Health and Human Services has directed the nation’s top public health agency to add similar language to its guidance for caring for measles patients.... His op-ed does not mention vitamin A’s risks.... Sue Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said in a statement Monday. 'Taking too much vitamin A can cause serious health problems, including liver damage.'... Vitamin A is considered supportive care and typically used in countries where children are malnourished and have vitamin A deficiency. Vitamin A deficiency in the United States affects less than 1 percent of the population....” It is not a substitute for measles vaccinations, as anti-vaxxers claim.

Walz Is Back! Lauren Irwin of the Hill: “Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) offered to host town halls in districts where Republicans are now refusing to hold them.... 'If you congressman refuses to meet, I’ll come host an event in their district to help local Democrats beat ‘em.' National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) advised House Republicans to avoid in-person town halls with constituents and instead to host phone or livestreamed events.” Here's a Politico item on Hudson's advice to fellow House Republicans.

Some of you will recall Joni Ernst back in 2014 when she ran these ads to introduce her Senate candidacy. The ProPublic report linked below kinda suggests it was not Washington's big spenders who were doing the squealing, Joni. Just sayin'. ~~~

~~~ Robert Faturechi of ProPublica: “Earlier this year, the Air Force revealed that the general who oversaw its lobbying before Congress had inappropriate romantic relationships with five women, including three who worked on Capitol Hill. Maj. Gen. Christopher Finerty’s colleagues told investigators the relationships were 'highly inappropriate' as they could give the Air Force undue influence in Congress.... The Air Force inspector general’s report redacted the names of the women who worked on the Hill. But one of the women whose relationship with Finerty was scrutinized by the inspector general was Sen. Joni Ernst, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation. The Iowa Republican and combat veteran is one of the most influential voices on the Hill about the military, and she sits on the Senate’s Armed Services Committee, which oversees the Pentagon and plays a crucial role in setting its annual budget. Three other sources told ProPublica that around 2019 Ernst had a previous romantic relationship with a legislative affairs official for a different branch of the military, the Navy.”

Abbie VanSickle & Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court sided with San Francisco on Tuesday in a challenge to water quality regulations issued by the Environmental Protection Agency in a ruling that could have sweeping implications for the agency’s ability to limit offshore pollution.The 5-to-4 decision dealt another blow to the agency, which has recently sustained several losses before the court over its efforts to protect the environment.... The dispute fundamentally focused on human waste and how San Francisco disposes of it. The question before the court was whether the Clean Water Act of 1972 allowed the E.P.A. to impose prohibitions on wastewater released into the Pacific Ocean and to penalize the city for violating them. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., writing for the majority, said the E.P.A. was entitled to impose specific requirements to prevent pollution but not to make polluters responsible whenever water quality generally falls below the agency’s standards.... Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett M. Kavanaugh joined the majority opinion, and Justice Neil M. Gorsuch joined most of it. Justice Amy Coney Barrett dissented, joined by the court’s three-member liberal wing — Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.”

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Brian Beutler urges Americans to boycott Donald Trump's address tonight to a joint session of Congress, even though, "Faced with calls from ... angry constituents to boycott Trump’s joint address to Congress this week, Democratic leaders have instead encouraged members to ignore the activists and show up to be berated and lied to by an aspiring dictator." ~~~

     ~~~ digby agrees: "Trump is neither normal nor a statesman. Don’t behave as if he is! Sadly, most Democrats in Congress have two speeds. If you don’t like this one, you’ll really dislike their other one.... Contrary to Beltway commentary, Congress and the courts aren’t the last guardrails. Mass public protest is, with all the risk that entails with an autocrat in the White House who’d like to see protesters shot.... If Trump on Tuesday were to openly declare that the U.S. is now aligned with Putin’s Russia against NATO and Ukraine, which of you Democrats wants to be in his audience giving assent by your presence?" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I need no convincing. Only the reason I won't be watching is that I'm not a masochist.

⭐Trump Punishes Ukrainian Soldiers for His Own, Vance's Bad Behavior. John Hudson, from the Washington Post's live updates of something: “... Donald Trump has decided to pause all future deliveries of U.S. military assistance to Ukraine in an extraordinary move aimed at pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the negotiating table with Russia as Ukraine fends off a military invasion from the Kremlin, said two U.S. officials familiar with the matter.” (Also linked yesterday.) The full Washington Post story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Erica Green, et al. of the New York Times: “The most immediate beneficiary of the move is President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. If the suspension is lengthy, he can use the time to press for further territorial gains. And he may well decide to hold back from any negotiations at all, figuring that any prolonged dispute between Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky will only strengthen his position.... [The cut-off] forces Mr. Zelensky to agree to a cease-fire on terms Mr. Trump dictates, or condemns the country to larger battlefield losses.... The suspension also puts the United States in direct opposition to its major NATO allies.” The AP report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Why, I remember when the House impeached Trump for something very similar to this. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Here's Heather Cox Richardson on this & other illegal/unconstitutional/unconscionable/stupid stunts Trump has pulled over the past day or so.

~~~ Marion Solletty of Politico: “French Prime Minister François Bayrou on Monday declared the alliance with the U.S. is seriously wounded and called ... Donald Trump’s attitude toward Ukraine 'an indecency.' 'On Friday evening, a staggering scene unfolded, marked by brutality and a desire to humiliate, the aim of which was to threaten Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into surrendering to the demands of his aggressor,' Bayrou said in a speech to the National Assembly....” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Seb Starcevic of Politico: “Germany’s likely next chancellor said Monday that the bitter clash between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and ... Donald Trump in the Oval Office last week was a 'deliberate escalation' by the latter.... The angry quarrel was a pre-planned ambush by the Americans, claimed Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany’s conservatives.... 'What we have just seen in Washington has a certain continuity with a number of events in the last few weeks, including the appearance of the American delegation in Munich at the security conference,' he added. The German politician seemed to be referring to Vance’s fiery speech at the Munich Security Conference last month, in which he called on Europe to 'step up' and manage its own defense instead of relying on American security guarantees.”

~~~ Andrew Higgins of the New York Times: “Lech Walesa, the leader of Poland’s Solidarity movement, which helped end Moscow’s grip on Eastern Europe at the end of the Cold War, joined with former Polish political prisoners on Monday to send an impassioned letter to ... [Donald] Trump voicing 'horror and disgust' at his scolding of President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine last week, saying it reminded them of their encounters with bullying Communist-era officials. They wrote in Polish that they were 'terrified by the fact that the atmosphere in the Oval Office during this conversation reminded us of the one we remember well from interrogations by the Security Service and from courtrooms in Communist courts.' 'Prosecutors and judges, commissioned by the all-powerful communist political police, also explained to us that they held all the cards and we had none,' the letter said, a reference to ... [Mr.] Trump’s Oval Office rebuke to Mr. Zelensky that 'you don’t have the cards.'... The letter — signed by Mr. Walesa ... and more than 30 prominent former Polish political detainees — was posted on Mr. Walesa’s Facebook page, along with a sometimes imprecise English translation and an old photograph of him meeting with a grinning, tuxedo-clad Mr. Trump.” ~~~

~~~ Patricia Cohen of the New York Times: “President Trump’s rancorous threat to abandon Ukraine is stoking support for a long-debated proposal to use billions of dollars in frozen Russian assets to buy weapons for Ukraine and finance its reconstruction. The money — roughly $300 billion owned by Russia’s central bank — was frozen by the United States, the European Union, Britain and others after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The aim was to punish President Vladimir V. Putin for his unprovoked attack and to cut off funds he could use to wage war. As the war grinds on into its fourth year, a growing number of officials in Europe and elsewhere have been calling for the money to be released to directly compensate Ukraine.... TThe bulk of the funds — about $250 billion — are in financial institutions in the European Union, Canada, Britain, Australia, Japan and Singapore, according to an analysis by Mr. Zelikow. That means a bloc of nations could move to use them even if the United States did not go along with the plan,' [said Philip D. Zelikow of the Hoover Institution].” ~~~

~~~ Siobhan O'Grady & Serhii Korolchuk of the Washington Post: Ukrainians mock Trump & Co. for whining about President Zelensky's attire. (Also linked yesterday.)

Colin Ahern & Mark Montgomery in a Washington Post op-ed: “On the heels of the stunning Oval Office meeting between ... Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky comes the news of a shocking — and shockingly misguided — reversal of long-standing U.S. national security policy regarding Russian cyber operations. In an alleged bid to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table, the Trump administration has reportedly ordered both the Defense Department’s Cyber Command and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to stand down from monitoring and countering Russian cyberthreats. Having spent more than five decades combined defending America’s national interest and digital infrastructure, we unequivocally maintain that this policy shift is a strategic error that will make the United States less secure in cyberspace while doing little to bring about peace in Europe.... We are unilaterally surrendering a critical domain of national power while apparently receiving nothing in return.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The writers take the attitude that Trump is simply misguided & has no idea that giving up something of great value for nothing in return is not an artful path to a deal. I don't know what Trump's motivations are, but I am convinced that his intention is to capitulate to Russia and, more generally, to pull the foundations of the U.S. out from under the building. I believe he is a traitor to the United States.

David Lynch, et al., of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump said tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada would go into effect Tuesday, ending a month-long delay that saw both U.S. neighbors scramble unsuccessfully to head off the punishing trade action and sending stock prices into a swift decline. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down around 1.5 percent Monday, as investors digested Trump’s comments. The broader S&P 500 index fell nearly 2 percent. Both market measures are now in the red since Trump’s election win. Imposing tariffs on everything Americans buy from Mexico and Canada is an extraordinary political gamble by a president who was returned to power by voters angered over years of high inflation. The new import taxes are likely to raise the market prices of Mexican tequila, beer and avocados, along with Canadian crude oil and lumber, testing consumer patience with Trump’s approach.” CNBC's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump's threatened tariffs on Mexico and Canada are poised to massively jack up prices for new cars in the United States, Bloomberg reports. In fact, Bloomberg writes that the tariffs 'risk driving up US car prices by as much as $12,000, further squeezing consumers and wreaking havoc across the intricate web of automotive supply lines spanning the continent.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging developments. Like this one: “Canada imposed 25 percent tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods at 12:01 a.m. Eastern but did not specify which products would be affected. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada said in a statement that the tariffs would extend to $125 billion of American goods in 21 days.... President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico was expected to address the tariffs at a news conference early on Tuesday. With nationalism strengthening as a result of the dispute, the Mexican leader has seen her approval ratings rise.” ~~~

~~~ Sarah Fortinsky of the Hill: “Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Monday he is prepared to cut off electricity exports to the U.S. if ... [Donald] Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on Canadian goods go through. 'If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do everything — including cut off their energy with a smile on my face,' Ford told reporters at a mining convention in downtown Toronto, the Toronto Sun reported.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Lily Kuo of the Washington Post: “China imposed tariffs of up to 15 percent on a raft of U.S. farm products on Tuesday and blacklisted more than 20 U.S. companies, marking a major escalation in a brewing trade war between the world’s two largest economies. The move targets some of the United States’ top exports to China, including soybeans, meat and grains. It was retaliation for ... Donald Trump’s announcement that he would increase tariffs on Chinese products by an additional 10 percentage points from Tuesday, bringing the total tax on some Chinese products to 45 percent. Trump said he did not expect Beijing to 'retaliate too much,' but only hours later, China’s State Council, the equivalent of its cabinet, announced a 15 percent tax on U.S. goods including chicken, wheat and corn. Other American products — including soybeans, sorghum, beef, pork, seafood, dairy products and fruits and vegetables — will be subject to a 10 percent levy.” ~~~

~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: “Congratulations again to the single-issue 'muh burger too expensive' voters who were apparently critical to Trump winning, and even bigger congratulations to the business interests who figured that Trump winning again would just mean some tax cuts and a few trans girls kicked off of high school field hockey teams.... Well, at least your kids are much more likely to get previously eradicated diseases!”

More great Trump ideas, via Akhilleus by way of Jimmy Kimmel: (Akhilleus shared some more Trumpy ideas in yesterday's Comments): ~~~

     ~~~ Say, here's an idea neither Kimmel nor Akhilleus thought of: ~~~

     ~~~ Oliver Milman of the Guardian: “Donald Trump has ordered that swathes of America’s forests be felled for timber, evading rules to protect endangered species while doing so and raising the prospect of chainsaws razing some of the most ecologically important trees in the US. The president, in an executive order, has demanded an expansion in tree cutting across 280m acres (113m hectares) of national forests and other public lands, claiming that 'heavy-handed federal policies' have made America reliant on foreign imports of timber. 'It is vital that we reverse these policies and increase domestic timber production to protect our national and economic security,' the order adds. Trump has instructed the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to increase logging targets and for officials to circumvent the US’s Endangered Species Act by using unspecified emergency powers to ignore protections placed upon vulnerable creatures’ habitats.”

David Fahrenthold, et al., of the New York Times: “Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has deleted hundreds more claims from its mistake-plagued 'wall of receipts,' erasing $4 billion in additional savings that the group said it had made for U.S. taxpayers. Late Sunday night, the group erased or altered more than 1,000 contracts it had claimed to cancel, representing more than 40 percent of all the contracts listed on its site last week. The deleted items included five of the seven largest savings that it had claimed credit for just last week. At the same time, the group added about 1,000 additional canceled contracts, worth smaller total savings. It was the second time in a week that DOGE had deleted some of its greatest claims of success.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Ailia Zehra of the Hill: “Martin O’Malley, the former commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA), said Monday the recent cuts made by tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) at the agency could result in the 'collapse' of the Social Security system 'within the next 30 to 90 days.' O’Malley, a Democrat who also served as Maryland governor from 2007-15, told CNBC the recent DOGE initiatives may jeopardize monthly benefit payments for over 72.5 million Americans.”

Adam Goldman, et al., of the New York Times: “The top agent at the F.B.I.’s New York field office said in an email Monday that he had been forced out of his job, following clashes with Justice Department officials over Trump administration directives. The veteran agent, James E. Dennehy, was told Friday to retire from his role leading the F.B.I.’s largest field office, delivering another blow to the senior ranks of the bureau. Mr. Dennehy, who had been running the office since September, had angered Trump administration officials by supporting bureau leaders who resisted turning over the names of those who investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Mr. Dennehy had also angered Attorney General Pam Bondi by what she claimed was the New York office’s failure to turn over all the investigative files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the financier charged with sex trafficking who killed himself in prison. Ms. Bondi provided no evidence to back up her assertion.” The NBC News report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “The Justice Department said on Monday that it would review the conviction of the former clerk of Mesa County, Colo., who was found guilty of state charges last summer of tampering with voting machines under her control in a failed attempt to prove that they had been used to rig the 2020 election against ... [Donald] Trump. The decision was the latest example of the Justice Department under Mr. Trump’s control seeking to use its powers to support those who have acted on his behalf and to go after those who have criticized or opposed him. It also played into the president’s effort to rewrite the history of his efforts to overturn the results of the election. Three weeks ago, the former clerk, Tina Peters, who was sentenced to nine years in prison on the state election tampering charges, filed a long-shot motion in Federal District Court in Denver effectively challenging the guilty verdict she received in August at the end of a trial in Grand Junction. But, in a surprise move, Yaakov M. Roth, the acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil division, filed a court brief known as a statement of interest on Monday, declaring that 'reasonable concerns have been raised about various aspects of Ms. Peters’s case.'”

Lisa Friedman of the New York Times: “The Trump administration plans to drop a federal lawsuit against a chemical manufacturer accused of releasing high levels of a likely carcinogen from its Louisiana plant, according to two people familiar with the plans. The government filed the lawsuit during the Biden administration after regulators determined that chloroprene emissions from the Denka Performance Elastomer plant were contributing to health concerns in an area with the highest cancer risk of any place in the United States. The 2023 lawsuit was among several enforcement actions taken by the Environmental Protection Agency on behalf of poor and minority communities that have disproportionately borne the brunt of toxic pollution.”

Spencer Hsu, et al., of the Washington Post: “Interim U.S. attorney Ed Martin on Monday directed his office to prosecute more firearms cases in federal court, launching a bid to crack down on gun violence in Washington, D.C., that revived a strategy from ... Donald Trump’s first term.... [Martin's move comes] as violent crime falls, homicides tick up and Trump threatens to 'take over' capital.”

Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: “Ed Martin, the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, has been quietly pushing to present evidence against Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, to a federal grand jury over comments he made about Supreme Court justices in 2020, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Justice Department officials have thus far rebuffed the unusual request by Mr. Martin, a partisan ally of ... [Donald] Trump with no previous prosecutorial experience, one of those people said. Mr. Martin has made clear his hopes of investigating whether the remarks made five years ago by Mr. Schumer amounted to threats against Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Justice Neil M. Gorsuch. Bringing such a case is highly unusual and winning a conviction would be difficult, according to current and former prosecutors. Last month, Mr. Martin signaled his intention to take an aggressive approach, writing Mr. Schumer a letter demanding 'information and clarification' of remarks he made at a rally on March 4, 2020. 'You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price!' Mr. Schumer said at the rally, addressing his remarks to Justices Kavanaugh and Gorsuch. Mr. Schumer’s staff retracted his statement and the senator apologized a day later, taking to the floor of the Senate to say, 'I should not have used the words I used.'”

Adam Cancryn of Politico: “The top spokesperson at the Health and Human Services Department has abruptly quit after clashing with Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his close aides over their management of the agency amid a growing measles outbreak.... Thomas Corry announced on Monday that he had resigned 'effective immediately,' just two weeks after joining the department as its assistant secretary for public affairs.... [Over and above his disagreements with Kennedy & Kenndy's chief of staff about the management of HHS,] Corry had also grown uneasy with Kennedy’s muted response to the intensifying outbreak of measles in Texas....” (Also linked yesterday.)

Michael Bender of the New York Times: “The Senate voted along party lines on Monday to confirm Linda McMahon as the nation’s next education secretary, putting the former pro-wrestling executive in charge of an agency that the Trump administration wants to eliminate.... Among the first 20 Trump nominations confirmed by the Senate, Ms. McMahon is the sixth whom Democrats unanimously opposed.... A wealthy Republican donor who served in the first Trump administration, Ms. McMahon has little experience in education. That lack of firsthand knowledge has been framed as an asset by a White House looking to abolish the department she now leads and as a glaring deficiency by her critics.... Ms. McMahon, 76, told lawmakers during her confirmation process that she 'wholeheartedly' agreed with ... [Donald] Trump’s 'mission' to eliminate the Education Department. During her hearing last month, she argued that most Americans did, too.... Nearly two-thirds of Americans said last week that they opposed eliminating the agency, according to the NPR/PBS News/Marist poll.”

Annie Karni of the New York Times: Senate “Democrats on Monday blocked a Republican-written bill aimed at barring transgender women and girls from school sports teams designated for female students, thwarting consideration in the Senate of the G.O.P.’s latest move to use transgender people as leverage at the dawn of ... [Donald] Trump’s second term.”

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