The Conversation -- March 16, 2025

⭐Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times: “As the world’s richest men slash American aid for the world’s poorest children, they insist that all is well. 'No one has died as a result of a brief pause to do a sanity check on foreign aid funding,' Elon Musk said. 'No one.' That is not true. In South Sudan..., the efforts by Musk and ... [Donald] Trump are already leading children to die.... I find it odious when the world’s richest man cackles about America shoving programs for needy children 'into the wood chipper.'... We worked with experts at the Center for Global Development who tried to calculate how many lives are at risk if American humanitarian assistance is frozen or slashed. While these estimates are inexact and depend on how much aid continues, they suggest that a cataclysm may be beginning around the developing world:

An estimated 1,650,000 people could die within a year without American foreign aid for H.I.V. prevention and treatment.... An estimated 500,000 people could die within a year without American funding for vaccines.... An estimated 550,000 people could die within a year without American funding for food aid.... An estimated 290,000 people could die within a year without American funding for malaria prevention.... An estimated 310,000 people could die within a year without U.S. funding for tuberculosis prevention.” Thanks to RAS for the lead. ~~~

     ~~~ Amanda Marcotte writes on BlueSky: "Killing children is by design, I'm afraid. 'Pro-natalists' like Musk claim they aren't racist, but their pressure to have children is solely focused on white women, while they back policies that literally kill of[f] non-white children. He's a eugenicist." Also thanks to RAS.

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Maria Sacchetti, et al., of the Washington Post: “A federal judge barred ... Donald Trump on Saturday from using a wartime powers act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members without a hearing, ordering the administration to turn around any planes that had already taken off after the Alien Enemies Act quietly went into effect. Trump signed a proclamation Friday to deploy the Alien Enemies Act of 1789 for the first time since World War II to swiftly remove Venezuelans allegedly involved in the transnational gang known as Tren de Aragua.... The White House kept the proclamation under wraps until after advocates for immigrants sued Saturday, fearing he was already sweeping immigrants out of the country. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed immigration officials had 'arrested nearly 300 Tren de Aragua terrorists' over the weekend and sent them to El Salvador. The country’s president, Nayib Bukele, said that 238 members of the transnational Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and 23 members of the Salvadoran MS-13 gang had already arrived in El Salvador and were in his custody, with a social media post responding to the judge’s ruling that said 'Oopsie, too late,' followed by a laughing emoji. A White House official celebrated his post with a meme, saying, 'Boom!'” The AP's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Secretly signing executive orders? Secretly deporting nearly 300 people without even a fake show of due process? I don't know how all this will shake out, what with our Trump-compliant courts and courtiers, but at this point, Trump is not only defying the law, he also is laughing about it. This is a middle finger to the rule of law & to the Constitution he is sworn to uphold.   

Joseph Fried   of the New York Times: “Nita M. Lowey, who represented a congressional district based in Westchester County for 32 years, ardently supporting liberal causes and playing a key role in shaping legislation to advance them, died on Saturday at her home in Harrison, N.Y. She was 87.”

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Marie: Squarespace is up to its old tricks, so be sure to save your comments before you submit them. I'm having to post the same links three and four times each.

Eric Schmitt & Jonathan Swan of the New York Times: “The United States carried out large-scale military strikes on Saturday against dozens of targets in Yemen controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia..., [Donald] Trump announced. It was the opening salvo in what senior American officials said was a new offensive against the militants and a strong message to Iran, as Mr. Trump seeks a nuclear deal with its government. Air and naval strikes ordered by Mr. Trump hit radars, air defenses, and missile and drone systems in an effort to open international shipping lanes in the Red Sea that the Houthis have disrupted for months with their own attacks. At least one senior Houthi commander was targeted. The Biden administration conducted several strikes against the Houthis but largely failed to restore stability to the region.... U.S. officials said that airstrikes against the Houthis’ arsenal, much of which is buried deep underground, could last for several weeks, intensifying in scope and scale depending on the militants’ reaction. U.S. intelligence agencies have struggled in the past to identify and locate the Houthi weapons systems, which the rebels produce in subterranean factories and smuggle in from Iran.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Akhilleus believes he has detected some serious wagging of the dog here. Sounds right to me. This looks like Grenada all over again, likely with more killing.

Tobi Raji, et al., of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump has invoked a centuries-old wartime law to declare that a Venezuelan gang has 'invaded' the United States, clearing the way for the 'immediate apprehension, detention, and removal' of anyone the government says falls into that category. Trump issued the proclamation hours after a federal judge in D.C. preemptively blocked the president from deploying the Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport five Venezuelan men on Saturday. Civil rights lawyers say the migrants are at risk of being removed without a court hearing. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington granted the temporary restraining order to bar the Trump administration from using the law to deport several men the administration alleges have ties to the Venezuela-based gang Tren de Aragua. The American Civil Liberties Union says the men do not have any ties to the criminal group. The ACLU and Democracy Forward sued the administration Saturday in anticipation of Trump’s plan to invoke the law, claiming that the five migrants face an 'imminent risk' of deportation.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Here's an update: “As he issued his ruling, the judge said he heard that 'flights are actively departing' and ordered the Trump administration to immediately halt the removals and return to the United States any flights that are in the air.” BTW, if you watched the Maddow video embedded yesterday, you know that the Alien Enemies Act is the same law under which Japanese-Americans were interned during WWII. The U.S. has since issued a formal apology and paid reparations to internees. The 1798 act has been used just three times, each during wars: "the War of 1812, World War I and World War II." We are not at war with Venezuela now. And, no, shooting at Yemeni pirates in the Red Sea does not constitute war.

     ~~~ The AP's report is here. Politico's story on Judge Boasberg's order is here. ~~~

~~~ Teo Armus, et al., of the Washington Post: ICE detained a Venezuelan couple who migrated to the U.S. and settled in Washington, D.C., with their three children, even though the family enjoyed protected status. “With two of their children looking on, screaming and crying, the Border Patrol arrested the couple in D.C., removing them from their home in handcuffs on a misdemeanor charge of illegally crossing the border more than two years ago.... The family was apart for three days. By Thursday evening, the couple was back in their home with an order to appear in an El Paso federal court in 30 days to answer for the illegal border crossing. The arrests, weeks before temporary protected status is set to expire for several hundred thousand Venezuelans, immediately raised alarms among immigrant advocates.... Advocacy groups say they are investigating whether the government is violating a 2023 court settlement that prohibits separating children from their parents based on illegal border crossings, the same minor crime the first Trump administration used in 2018 to justify separating families at the southern border.... It was unclear Friday why this couple was targeted....” (Also linked yesterday.)

Tom Mooney of the Providence (R.I.) Journal: “A federal court order that would have halted the immediate deportation of a Rhode Island doctor was issued Friday evening while the doctor’s departing plane sat on the tarmac at Boston Logan International Airport, said a family friend and colleague. But the plane ultimately took off, carrying Dr. Rasha Alawieh out of the country for reasons still unclear to her family, her lawyer and Brown Medicine colleagues.... 'They did not do anything to stop the plane,' said [her colleague Dr. Basma] Merhi, who was learning details of the event through information relayed by Alawieh family members. 'So, clearly, they wanted to deport her regardless of if there was a judge’s order or not. She didn’t do anything wrong.' Alawieh had been studying and working in the U.S. for the last six years and had been in Rhode Island, working for Brown Medicine in the Division of Kidney Disease & Hypertension, since last July.” Thanks to RAS for the link.

Right-wing New York Times columnist David French more-or-less gets it: “Columbia University is now the epicenter of the American culture war. The Trump administration is targeting a former Columbia student — and the university itself — as a test case for its new authoritarian regime.... When federal immigration officials showed up at [the] apartment building [of former Columbia grad student Mahmoud Khalil] last weekend and whisked him away to a facility in Louisiana to begin deportation proceedings, they brought the malice and incompetence of the Trump administration into stark relief.... According to the Department of Homeland Security’s Notice to Appear that was provided to Khalil, 'The secretary of state has determined that your presence or activities in the United States would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.'... Khalil was detained because of his protest activity and not because he’d provided illegal support for terrorists.... The arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil are a direct attack on free speech.... Our Constitution has survived previous waves of government repression. There is no guarantee it will survive another.” French outlines some of the Trump administration attacks on Columbia. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: French writes that “The sad irony of our unconstitutional moment is that the perspectives of foreign students can be particularly valuable when foreign affairs dominate American discourse.” But the more alarming irony, IMO, is that the person responsible for trying to deport Khalil for his speech is the same person who instigated a violent insurrection against the United States in an attempt to overturn a presidential election. Why, he is even a person who himself has had “serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.” Just look at what happened to the very Secretary of State who supposedly made the determination that Khalil presented a threat. Little Marco is today a pathetic shadow of the foreign policy hawk once known as Senator Marco Rubio. And that abrupt diminution of Marco, of course, is the “serious adverse foreign policy consequences” of working for Donald Trump.

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “... when ... [Donald] Trump appeared in the gilded [Great Hall of the Justice Department] on Friday afternoon, he ... delivered a grievance-filled attack on the very people who have worked in the building and others like them. As he singled out some targets of his rage, he appeared to offer his own vision of justice in America, one defined by personal vengeance rather than by institutional principles. 'These are people that are bad people, really bad people,' Mr. Trump said. 'They tried to turn America into a corrupt communist and third-world country, but in the end, the thugs failed and the truth won.'... In offering his litany of complaints, Mr. Trump provided no proof that ... any of the people he named had committed crimes or even ethical violations. Their sole offense appeared to have been trying to hold him accountable for his behavior.” ~~~

~~~ Among those “enemies” Trump identified were elections lawyer Marc Elias, who led the legal battle against Trump's 2020 false claims of election fraud; Mark Pomerantz, an SDNY prosecutor who worked on but never brought charges in a criminal case against Trump; Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who prosecuted Trump; special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two major federal cases against Trump; former FBI Director James Comey, who refused to pledge his loyalty to Trump & opened an investigation into Trump's ties to Russian election interference; attorney Norm Eisen who oversaw the first impeachment of Trump. MB: All totally consistent, of course, on Trump's "L'État, c'est moi" tude. (Also linked yesterday.)

Maxine Joselow & Emily Davies of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump plans to eliminate two massive national monuments in California established by former president Joe Biden, the White House confirmed Saturday. Less than a week before leaving office, Biden signed proclamations establishing the 624,000-acre Chuckwalla National Monument in Southern California and the 224,000-acre Sáttítla Highlands National Monument in northern California. Native American tribes that consider these landscapes sacred had urged Biden to put them off-limits to drilling, mining, clean-energy development and other industrial activity. The plan to repeal the proclamations ... underscores how Trump has sought to dismantle Biden’s sweeping environmental legacy.” MB: Oh, it isn't that. In this case, Trump seeks to dishonor Native Americans, Joe Biden and California's “liberal lunatics,” while opening up sites to his avaricious miner buddies. So this is at least a four-fer.

I am deeply saddened that for the first time in 83 years, the storied Voice of America is being silenced.... [The Voice of America has played an important role] in the fight for freedom and democracy around the world. -- VOA Director Michael Abramowitz, in a post on LinkedIn ~~~

~~~ Nathan Layne & James Oliphant of Reuters: “More than 1,300 Voice of America employees were placed on leave on Saturday and funding for two U.S. news services that broadcast to authoritarian regimes was terminated, one day after ... Donald Trump ordered the gutting of the government-funded media outlet's parent and six other federal agencies. Michael Abramowitz, Voice of America's director, said nearly his entire staff of 1,300 journalists, producers and assistants had been put on administrative leave, crippling a media broadcaster that operates in almost 50 languages.... Founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda, VOA now reaches 360 million people a week. As a group, USAGM [U.S. Agency for Global Media] employs roughly 3,500 workers with an $886-million budget in 2024, according to its latest report to Congress.... Kari Lake, the former news anchor and Trump loyalist nominated to be director of VOA, issued a statement describing USAGM as 'a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer' and said it was 'not salvageable.'... [Elon Musk wrote on X,] 'While winding down this global government propaganda agency, it has temporarily been renamed the Department of Propaganda Everywhere (DOPE).'...” NPR's story, by David Folkenflik, is here.

Javier Hernández of the New York Times: “When ... [Donald] Trump was criticized by some of the artists who were recognized at the annual Kennedy Center Honors program during his first term, he responded by boycotting the show, breaking with decades of precedent. Now, as he leads a sweeping takeover of the Kennedy Center in his second term, Mr. Trump is seeking changes that will allow him greater sway in the selection of honorees.... Mr. Trump, who is now the chairman of the Kennedy Center, is scheduled to speak at a meeting of its board on Monday afternoon, when proposed changes to the honors advisory committee will be on the agenda.... He replaced all the Biden appointees on the center’s once-bipartisan board, was elected chairman and installed a loyalist, Richard Grenell, as its president.” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Reversal of Discrimination??? Tim Balk of the New York Times: “Materials on the Arlington National Cemetery website highlighting the graves of Black and female service members have vanished as the Trump administration purges government websites of references to diversity and inclusion.... [BUT] The cemetery, which is operated by the Army, said in a statement on Friday that it remained committed to 'sharing the stories of military service and sacrifice to the nation with transparency and professionalism' and that it was working to restore links to the content.... The restoration of any removed material would be carried out in line with ... [Donald] Trump’s executive orders, the cemetery said.... Representative Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, cast the website changes as part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to erase the accomplishments of women and people of color.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I don't see how it's possible to both (1) honor women and people of color, and (2) erase their accomplishments. Part of the Trump/Musk administration's deep-state attrition plan must be to make many federal employees crazy.

Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: “The annual Gridiron Club dinner in Washington on Saturday featured jokes about ... [Donald] Trump, the breakdown of the global order, Russia, Democrats’ uncertain future and, of course, Elon Musk.... [Mr. Trump] and top members of his administration skipped the dinner, which is one of those old-fashioned Washington rituals.... Margaret Brennan of CBS shouted out members of the diplomatic corps from Britain, France, Australia and the European Union. 'You know,' she said, 'all of America’s enemies.' Then she introduced the Ukrainian ambassador — there was no joke told — and the many journalists in the room stood up to clap.” MB: The reason Trump doesn't usually attend is that at these sorts of events, speakers are supposed to tell self-depricating jokes. Definitely not Trump's shtick.

Teddy Rosenbluth of the New York Times: “Struggling to contain a raging measles epidemic in West Texas, public health officials increasingly worry that residents are relying on unproven remedies endorsed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, and postponing doctor visits until the illness has worsened. Hospitals and officials sounded an alarm this week, issuing a notice explaining which measles symptoms warranted immediate medical attention and stressing the importance of timely treatment.... Some seriously ill children had been given alternative remedies like cod liver oil, [Katherine Wells, the public health director for Lubbock, said.]. 'If they’re so, so sick and have low oxygen levels, they should have been in the hospital a day or two earlier,' she said.”

Jessica Piper of Politco: “The liberal organizing group Indivisible said Saturday it was calling for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to step down from his leadership role, the latest fallout after he backed a GOP bill to keep the government open. The group’s call is the latest sign of just how much Schumer’s decision to vote for a Republican bill Friday has angered a Democratic grassroots itching for a fight with ... Donald Trump.”

Clay Risen of the New York Times (March 14): “Kevin Drum, who gave up his day job in software marketing to write online about politics, policy and his cats, quickly becoming a key figure in the vanguard of center-left bloggers during the genre’s heyday in the early 2000s, died on March 7. He was 66.... Mr. Drum, who lived in Irvine, Calif., had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2014 and had recently developed pneumonia. He blogged about those personal challenges openly and with the same insight that he brought to issues like health care policy and urban planning.”

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Oklahoma Schools to Teach the "Big Lie" (As If It Were True). Frances Vinall of the Washington Post: “Teachers in Oklahoma would be instructed to have high school students 'identify discrepancies in 2020 elections results' under new academic standards for social studies approved by the state education board last month. The standards, which were obtained by the Oklahoma journalism not-for-profit NonDoc and published in full on Wednesday, must be approved by the Oklahoma legislature. They stipulate that students should review information relating to the election, including 'the sudden halting of ballot-counting in select cities in key battleground states, the security risks of mail-in balloting, sudden batch dumps, an unforeseen record number of voters, and the unprecedented contradiction of “bellwether county” trends.'... Oklahoma’s top education official, Superintendent Ryan Walters, is a Trump ally whose national profile has been raised by his push to distribute Trump-endorsed Bibles in classrooms [and other crazy winger stuff]....” MB: Of course I would instruct the kids to find and report evidence that the Big Lie was a failed attempted to overturn a free & fair election.

News Lede

New York Times: “The storms that killed at least 21 people across Arkansas, Mississippi and Missouri on Friday and Saturday continued to pummel a vast section of the South, leveling homes, taking down power lines and turning communities into debris fields. Before the intense and long-lasting tornadoes arrived, forecasters said that their level of threat was typically experienced only once or twice in a lifetime. The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported 12 fatalities in the southern and eastern counties of the state as of Saturday evening. In Arkansas, three people were killed in Independence County, and 32 others were injured across the state, according to the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management. Six people died in Southern Mississippi and 29 others were injured across the state, Gov. Tate Reeves said on social media.”

The Conversation -- March 15, 2025

Eric Schmitt & Jonathan Swan of the New York Times: “The United States carried out large-scale military strikes on Saturday against dozens of targets in Yemen controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia..., [Donald] Trump announced. It was the opening salvo in what senior American officials said was a new offensive against the militants and a strong message to Iran, as Mr. Trump seeks a nuclear deal with its government. Air and naval strikes ordered by Mr. Trump hit radars, air defenses, and missile and drone systems in an effort to open international shipping lanes in the Red Sea that the Houthis have disrupted for months with their own attacks. At least one senior Houthi commander was targeted. The Biden administration conducted several strikes against the Houthis but largely failed to restore stability to the region.... U.S. officials said that airstrikes against the Houthis’ arsenal, much of which is buried deep underground, could last for several weeks, intensifying in scope and scale depending on the militants’ reaction. U.S. intelligence agencies have struggled in the past to identify and locate the Houthi weapons systems, which the rebels produce in subterranean factories and smuggle in from Iran.”

Tobi Raji, et al., of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump has invoked a centuries-old wartime law to declare that a Venezuelan gang has 'invaded' the United States, clearing the way for the 'immediate apprehension, detention, and removal' of anyone the government says falls into that category. Trump issued the proclamation hours after a federal judge in D.C. preemptively blocked the president from deploying the Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport five Venezuelan men on Saturday. Civil rights lawyers say the migrants are at risk of being removed without a court hearing. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington granted the temporary restraining order to bar the Trump administration from using the law to deport several men the administration alleges have ties to the Venezuela-based gang Tren de Aragua. The American Civil Liberties Union says the men do not have any ties to the criminal group. The ACLU and Democracy Forward sued the administration Saturday in anticipation of Trump’s plan to invoke the law, claiming that the five migrants face an 'imminent risk' of deportation.” ~~~

     ~~~ Here's an update: “As he issued his ruling, the judge said he heard that 'flights are actively departing' and ordered the Trump administration to immediately halt the removals and return to the United States any flights that are in the air.” BTW, if you watched the Maddow video linked below, you know that the Alien Enemies Act is the same law under which Japanese-Americans were interned during WWII. The U.S. has since issued a formal apology and paid reparations to internees. The 1798 act has been used just three times, each during wars: "the War of 1812, World War I and World War II." We are not in a war with Venezuela now.

Teo Armus, et al., of the Washington Post: ICE detained a Venezuelan couple who migrated to the U.S. and settled in Washington, D.C., with their three children, even though the family enjoyed protected status. “With two of their children looking on, screaming and crying, the Border Patrol arrested the couple in D.C., removing them from their home in handcuffs on a misdemeanor charge of illegally crossing the border more than two years ago.... The family was apart for three days. By Thursday evening, the couple was back in their home with an order to appear in an El Paso federal court in 30 days to answer for the illegal border crossing. The arrests, weeks before temporary protected status is set to expire for several hundred thousand Venezuelans, immediately raised alarms among immigrant advocates.... Advocacy groups say they are investigating whether the government is violating a 2023 court settlement that prohibits separating children from their parents based on illegal border crossings, the same minor crime the first Trump administration used in 2018 to justify separating families at the southern border.... It was unclear Friday why this couple was targeted....”

Right-wing New York Times columnist David French more-or-less gets it: “Columbia University is now the epicenter of the American culture war. The Trump administration is targeting a former Columbia student — and the university itself — as a test case for its new authoritarian regime.... When federal immigration officials showed up at [the] apartment building [of former Columbia grad student Mahmoud Khalil] last weekend and whisked him away to a facility in Louisiana to begin deportation proceedings, they brought the malice and incompetence of the Trump administration into stark relief.... According to the Department of Homeland Security’s Notice to Appear that was provided to Khalil, 'The secretary of state has determined that your presence or activities in the United States would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.'... Khalil was detained because of his protest activity and not because he’d provided illegal support for terrorists.... The arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil are a direct attack on free speech.... Our Constitution has survived previous waves of government repression. There is no guarantee it will survive another.” French outlines some of the Trump administration attacks on Columbia. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: French writes that “The sad irony of our unconstitutional moment is that the perspectives of foreign students can be particularly valuable when foreign affairs dominate American discourse.” But the more alarming irony, IMO, is that the person responsible for trying to deport Khalil for his speech is the same person who instigated a violent insurrection against the United States in an attempt to overturn a presidential election. Why, he is even a person who himself has had “serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.” Just look at what happened to the very Secretary of State who supposedly made the determination that Khalil presented a threat. Little Marco is today a pathetic shadow of the foreign policy hawk once known as Senator Marco Rubio. And that abrupt diminution of Marco, of course, is the “serious adverse foreign policy consequences” of working for Donald Trump.

Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “... when ... [Donald] Trump appeared in the gilded [Great Hall of the Justice Department] on Friday afternoon, he ... delivered a grievance-filled attack on the very people who have worked in the building and others like them. As he singled out some targets of his rage, he appeared to offer his own vision of justice in America, one defined by personal vengeance rather than by institutional principles. 'These are people that are bad people, really bad people,' Mr. Trump said. 'They tried to turn America into a corrupt communist and third-world country, but in the end, the thugs failed and the truth won.'... In offering his litany of complaints, Mr. Trump provided no proof that ... any of the people he named had committed crimes or even ethical violations. Their sole offense appeared to have been trying to hold him accountable for his behavior.” ~~~

~~~ Among those “enemies” Trump identified were elections lawyer Marc Elias, who led the legal battle against Trump's 2020 false claims of election fraud; Mark Pomerantz, an SDNY prosecutor who worked on but never brought charges in a criminal case against Trump; Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who prosecuted Trump; special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two major federal cases against Trump; former FBI Director James Comey, who refused to pledge his loyalty to Trump & opened an investigation into Trump's ties to Russian election interference; attorney Norm Eisen who oversaw the first impeachment of Trump. MB: All totally consistent, of course, on Trump's "L'État, c'est moi" tude.

Javier Hernández of the New York Times: “When ... [Donald] Trump was criticized by some of the artists who were recognized at the annual Kennedy Center Honors program during his first term, he responded by boycotting the show, breaking with decades of precedent. Now, as he leads a sweeping takeover of the Kennedy Center in his second term, Mr. Trump is seeking changes that will allow him greater sway in the selection of honorees.... Mr. Trump, who is now the chairman of the Kennedy Center, is scheduled to speak at a meeting of its board on Monday afternoon, when proposed changes to the honors advisory committee will be on the agenda.... He replaced all the Biden appointees on the center’s once-bipartisan board, was elected chairman and installed a loyalist, Richard Grenell, as its president.”

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Liz Goodwin, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Senate on Friday averted a federal government shutdown full of political and practical unknowns. But the decision to back the GOP funding bill has left a party still reeling from Donald Trump’s 2024 win even more rudderless and divided. House Democrats are taking shots at Senate Democrats. A fired-up base feels enraged and is flooding senators’ phone lines. And Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) has emerged as the lightning rod absorbing the party’s anger, with some of his key allies standing silently by while he’s attacked.... Schumer ... defended his decision to vote for the GOP funding bill as the best way to fight Trump’s sweeping plan for downsizing the government, saying a shutdown would be 'DOGE on steroids.'... In a stunning rebuke, Schumer’s former leadership counterpart, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California), publicly urged Senate Democrats to vote against their leader on Friday.” The AP's story is here. NPR's story is here.~~~

     ~~~ Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: “Top House Democrats on Friday threw Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) under the bus after he announced he would help House Republicans pass their extreme spending bill to avert a government shutdown. Incredibly, Schumer’s longtime House counterpart, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), publicly lashed him for setting up 'a false choice' between the GOP’s bill and a shutdown, emphasizing that Democrats have long been pushing for another option: passing a short-term bill to simply keep the government funded at its current levels in order to buy more time for lawmakers to hash out a longer-term, bipartisan spending package.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Just how many buses can roll over Chuck? Chuck himself had already lain down in front of the MAGA bus in a display of anticipatory obedience. Erik Loomis, in LG&$, publishes Pelosi's full statement as well as Trump's full post in praise of Chuck's capitulation (related Politico story on Trump linked below). ~~~

~~~ ⭐ Catie Edmondson & Carl Hulse of the New York Times: “The Senate on Friday cleared a critical hurdle to avert a government shutdown at midnight, after Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, and nine other members of his caucus joined Republicans in voting to advance a stopgap spending bill, effectively thwarting a filibuster by their own party. The vote to move forward with the G.O.P.-written stopgap spending measure, which would fund the government through Sept. 30, was 62 to 38. It came just hours before a midnight deadline to avoid a lapse in funding, and set the stage for a final vote on the spending measure later on Friday.... Democrats joining Mr. Schumer in voting to move it forward were Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Gary Peters of Michigan, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, both of New Hampshire. Senator Angus King, the Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, also voted yes.” MB: In fairness to me, I called Shaheen's & Hassan's office, identified myself and told them to vote against cloture. Well, I told their voicemails, because neither senator's office was accepting calls. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Paul Campos in LG&$ explains Chuck's rationale even better than Chuck does, although Campos, it would seem, is not into it: "One thing that simply doesn’t work is to run for election on the we’re in an existential battle to save democracy from the fascist hordes platform, lose, bombard all your supports with twelve zillion texts and emails about how Donald Trump is on the verge of establishing a dictatorship so you had better rush us ten dollars now to pass the No Kings Act (how stupid do they think we are? Don’t answer that), and then, after all that, simply unconditionally surrender to the aforementioned hordes and aspiring dictator, on the basis of the inspiring claim that it’s the savvy thing to do.... The old men have gotten us into this fix, and politics, like physics, apparently advances one funeral at a time." MB: Can't figure out why he heads this post with a huge photo of a beautiful young woman. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Joseph Gedeon & Chris Stein of the Guardian: “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is condemning Chuck Schumer ... for caving to Republican demands on a government funding bill, saying the move has created a 'deep sense of outrage and betrayal' among Democrats. Speaking to reporters in Leesburg, Virginia, where House Democrats were gathered for their annual policy retreat, Ocasio-Cortez said she was mobilizing Democratic supporters to push Schumer to oppose what she characterized as an 'acquiesce' to the GOP bill.... The rift has reportedly sparked such anger among House Democrats that some are encouraging Ocasio-Cortez to challenge Schumer in a primary election, according to CNN. When asked about these suggestions, she declined to comment.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: “The eruption of anger about Mr. Schumer’s seeming surrender thrust into public view a generational divide that has emerged as one of the Democratic Party’s deepest and most consequential rifts. Younger Democrats are chafing at and increasingly complaining about what they see as the feebleness of the old guard’s efforts to push back against President Trump. They are second-guessing how the party’s leaders — like Mr. Schumer, who brandishes his flip phone as a point of pride — are communicating their message in the TikTok era, as Republicans dominate the digital town square. And they are demanding that the party develop a bolder policy agenda that can answer the desperation of tens of millions of people who are struggling financially at a time when belief in the American dream is dimming. In other words, the younger generation is done with deference.” MB: Guess that makes me a virtual toddler. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Marie: I can tell you this with some certainty: if Donald Trump is applauding you, you're doing something terribly, terribly wrong: ~~~

     ~~~ Katherine Tully-McManus of Politico: “... Donald Trump on Friday congratulated Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for 'doing the right thing' by backing the Republican-led bill to avert a government shutdown, a choice that's put the New York Democrat at odds with many in his party. 'A non pass would be a Country destroyer, approval will lead us to new heights,' wrote the president Friday morning on Truth Social. 'Again, really good and smart move by Senator Schumer,' wrote the president on Truth Social.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ BUT. Matt Yglesias, who is an original, generally-liberal commentator, says Chuck did the right thing. MB: I still strongly disagree, but I won't deny Matt is smarter than I am. (Also linked yesterday.)

Mitch Smith of the New York Times: “Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, last year’s Democratic nominee for vice president, took another step back onto the national political stage on Friday when he hosted a town hall in front of a friendly audience in Des Moines, the latest in a series of appearances outside his home state. During roughly an hour on the stage of a high school auditorium, Mr. Walz expressed sadness over Democrats’ struggles with rural and working-class voters, blasted ... [Donald] Trump’s cuts to the federal government and told the crowd that Democrats needed to rethink how they campaigned and governed. “Millions of people stayed home because they didn’t think there was any difference between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris and myself on the ticket,' Mr. Walz said at the event, which was organized by the Iowa Democratic Party. 'We need to acknowledge that. I think one of the reasons is that when Democrats have been in power, we’ve been timid about passing things that make a difference.'... When the moderator [of the town hall] asked what the audience wanted Democratic leaders to know, several people offered phrases like 'fight' or 'fight back.'”

Felon No. 1 Openly Corrupts DOJ. Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: Donald “Trump’s triumphal entry into Justice Department headquarters on Friday darkened into an acid recitation of grievances against his enemies, as he demonstrated his power over a department that had tried and failed to hold him to account. The event, held in the Great Hall of the Justice Department, was billed as a major policy address to reposition the department from the purported political 'weaponization' of the Biden era to a renewed focus on crime, punishment and fighting drugs. But in an hourlong speech, Mr. Trump veered from his prepared remarks to lash out at lawyers and former prosecutors by name in a venue dedicated to the impartial administration of justice. He also accused the department’s previous leadership of trying to destroy him and declared former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. the head of a 'crime' family. 'Scum,' Mr. Trump called his adversaries.... His message was unmistakable: The president intends to bend the vast powers of federal law enforcement to his will — in the pursuit of an anti-crime agenda and, perhaps, vengeance.... He also suggested he was preparing new executive actions to personally target the 'violent vicious lawyers' who had prosecuted him or opposed his policies in court.... 'The [documents] case against me was bullshit,' Mr. Trump said, standing in the building where the charges were approved.” ~~~

     ~~~ Felon No. 1 Holds Political Rally in DOJ Great Hall. Perry Stein, et al., of the Washington Post: “Trump spent much of his hour at the microphone laying out personal complaints about how 'a corrupt group of hacks and radicals' wrongly prosecuted him during the Biden administration.... [When Trump called the documents case against him 'bullshit,'] the crowd, which included elected officials, political appointees, allies and law enforcement officials[, applauded]. Trump denounced the judges who oversaw his three other cases, including the state trial in New York where he was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment.... It is rare for a president to visit the Justice Department — which has kept safeguards between the White House and the law enforcement agency in the post-Watergate era to ensure that politics don’t interfere with law enforcement investigations.... But Trump has obliterated those norms.... The Village People’s 'YMCA' blared as he walked off the stage.” ~~~

     ~~~ Irie Sentner & Josh Gerstein of Politico: “Trump charged the DOJ with spying on his campaign, raiding his home, persecuting his 'family, staff and supporters,' launching 'one hoax and disinformation campaign after the other' and breaking the law 'on a colossal scale,' making clear the glee he has taken in undermining the department’s typical independence and wielding it to achieve the White House’s objectives.... Attorney General Pam Bondi introduced Trump by pledging that she and others at the department are fully engaged in his mission. 'We will never stop fighting for him and for our country,' she said.” ~~~

Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and no country can succeed -- and no republic can survive.... And that is why our press was protected by the First Amendment-- the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution -- not primarily to amuse and entertain... -- but to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold, educate and sometimes even anger public opinion. -- President John Kennedy, April 1961

... I believe that CNN and MSDNC [sic], who literally write 97 .6 percent bad about me, are political arms of the Democrat Party. And in my opinion, they’re really corrupt and they’re illegal. What they do is illegal. It makes no difference how big a victory I had. I can have the biggest victory in history. -- Donald Trump, speech at DOJ, Friday ~~~

~~~ Alex Griffing of Mediaite: “Condemnation of Trump’s remarks was swift.... 'Calling news outlets that hold the president accountable “illegal” is what dictators say to attack the free press and suppress freedom of speech. Trump’s remarks at the DOJ aren’t just partisan — they’re a direct attack on democracy. We can’t let him turn the DOJ into his personal weapon,' wrote Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA).” Griffing cites numerous other reactions to Trump's remarks attacking the First Amendment. ~~~ 

~~~ Jeff Toobin of the New York Times: “Robert Jackson is best remembered as perhaps the finest prose stylist ever to serve on the Supreme Court.... At the Justice Department, where he served briefly as attorney general, Jackson is still venerated for a speech he gave there on April 1, 1940.... Jackson’s remarks remain a touchstone for the ethical obligations of the officials who have, he said, 'more control over life, liberty and reputation than any other person in America.' Jackson delivered his speech in the same room at the Justice Department where on Friday ... [Donald] Trump offered a very different sense of the obligations of those who wield such power. The theme of the Jackson speech was restraint.... To that end, he (and in those days, it was always he) 'should have, as nearly as possible, a detached and impartial view of all groups in his community.' Trump’s speech was about as far from 'neutral and impartial' as it could be.... Jackson warned in his speech against just this politicized, personalized approach to law enforcement.... It remains to be seen whether Trump’s appointees in the Justice Department will use their enormous power against the president’s political adversaries.”

Devlin Barrett & Tyler Pager of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Friday opened a third attack against a private law firm, restricting the business activities of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison just days after a federal judge ruled such measures appeared to violate the Constitution. The president signed an executive order to suspend security clearances held by people at the firm, pending a review of whether such clearances are consistent with the national interest. The order also seeks to sharply limit Paul, Weiss employees from entering government buildings, getting government jobs or receiving any money from federal contracts. The move widened an assault by Mr. Trump on some of nation’s most prominent law firms. Legal experts have warned the aggressive campaign sets a dangerous precedent that threatens not just the ability of lawyers to do their jobs, but also the ability of private citizens to obtain lawyers to represent them. The order said it was intended to end 'government sponsorship of harmful activity' at Paul, Weiss and specifically punish one of its former lawyers, Mark F. Pomerantz. Mr. Trump mentioned Mr. Pomerantz by name in an angry speech Friday at the Justice Department.... Mr. Pomerantz had tried to build a criminal case against Mr. Trump several years ago when he worked at the Manhattan district attorney’s office. The White House announcement called Mr. Pomerantz 'an unethical lawyer' who tried to 'manufacture a prosecution against President Trump.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'm not sure how much work Pomerantz does for Paul, Weiss. His U. Penn bio says he is "of counsel" there, which has various meanings, but in general means he is not a full-time partner or associate. So it looks as if the only way a law firm can assure itself that Donald Trump won't put it out of business is to never hire anyone who at some time in the future might irritate Trump. 

Charlie Savage & Ken Bensinger of the New York Times: “The Trump administration is considering targeting the citizens of as many as 43 countries as part of a new ban on travel to the United States that would be broader than the restrictions imposed during President Trump’s first term.... A draft list of recommendations developed by diplomatic and security officials suggests a 'red' list of 11 countries whose citizens would be flatly barred from entering the United States. They are Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen..., officials said.... The officials ... cautioned that the list had been developed by the State Department several weeks ago, and that changes were likely by the time it reached the White House.” The article includes the current, three-tiered list.

Tyler Pager of the New York Times: Donald “Trump signed an executive order on Friday seeking to dismantle seven additional federal agencies, including the one that oversees Voice of America and other government-funded media outlets around the world. Mr. Trump directed the heads of the agencies, largely obscure entities that address issues like labor mediation and homelessness prevention, to eliminate all functions that are not statutorily mandated. The leaders should also 'reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law,' the order said. Like many of the president’s moves in his wide-ranging effort to shrink the government, the order appears to test the bounds of his authority. Voice of America’s parent, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, for example, is congressionally chartered as an independent agency, and Congress passed a law in 2020 intended to limit the power of the agency’s presidentially appointed chief executive.”

Trump is signaling to white people everywhere that he will use his power to protect and advance their interests, no matter the facts. -- Khalil Gibran Muhammad of Princeton University ~~~

~~~ John Eligon of the New York Times: “To hear ... [Donald] Trump and some of his closest supporters tell it, South Africa is a terrible place for white people. They face discrimination, are sidelined from jobs and live under the constant threat of violence or having their land stolen by a corrupt, Black-led government that has left the country in disarray. The data tell a different story. Although white people make up 7 percent of the country’s population, they own at least half of South Africa’s land. Police statistics do not show that they are any more vulnerable to violent crime than other people. And white South Africans are far better off than Black people on virtually every marker of the economic scale. Yet Mr. Trump and his allies have pushed their own narrative of South Africa to press an argument at home: If the United States doesn’t clamp down on attempts to promote diversity, America will become a hotbed of dysfunction and anti-white discrimination....

“Mr. Trump has built his political identity in part as a protector of white America. He has fought to save symbols of the Confederacy in the South, blasted racial sensitivity training as 'un-American propaganda' and publicly defended white supremacists. Cutting off aid to most of Africa while championing Afrikaners — the white ethnic minority in South Africa that led the apartheid government — appears to be the latest illustration of Mr. Trump’s commitment to white interests.” ~~~

~~~ Edward Wong & John Eligon of the New York Times: Donald “Trump’s administration has officially expelled South Africa’s ambassador to the United States, a spokesman for the South African president said on Saturday, calling the decision 'regrettable.' The ambassador, Ebrahim Rasool, received an expulsion letter from the State Department, said Vincent Magwenya, the spokesman for President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa. The move comes during a low point in the relationship between the two countries, with Mr. Trump having accused Mr. Ramaphosa’s government of discriminating against South Africa’s white minority and siding with one of America’s enemies, Iran.... [Friday, Secretary of State Marco] Rubio wrote on social media that South Africa’s ambassador was a 'race-baiting politician who hates America' and Mr. Trump. He added, 'We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA.' That designation requires South Africa to end Mr. Rasool’s role as ambassador. Mr. Rubio made his comments above a repost of an article from Breitbart, a right-leaning news site, about remarks Mr. Rasool made on Friday via video link to an institute in Johannesburg. The article quoted Mr. Rasool as saying Mr. Trump was leading a 'supremacist' movement against 'the incumbency, those who are in power,' in South Africa.”

Missy Ryan of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration has withdrawn its nominee to be the United States’ official envoy for hostage affairs.... White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said [Friday] that Adam Boehler, who has been serving as Trump’s envoy on an interim basis, would work on hostage negotiations for ... Donald Trump as a 'special government employee' rather than seeking [Senate] confirmation.... A senior White House official ... said that Boehler elected to work in a non-confirmed capacity so he would not be required to divest from his health-care investment firm.... But he has faced criticism from within Israel and among Republicans on Capitol Hill for his more recent talks with Hamas.... The talks earlier this month in the Qatari capital Doha not only defied a norm prohibiting direct talks with terrorist groups..., but they took place without prior notification to the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli officials have said.... Jewish Insider reported Thursday that Boehler had been removed from negotiations with Hamas after running into opposition from Republican lawmakers.”

Erasing History. Tobi Raji & Michael Ruane of the Washington Post: “Arlington National Cemetery has scrubbed information about prominent Black, Hispanic and female service members and topics such as the Civil War from its website, part of a broader effort across the Defense Department to remove all references to diversity, equity and inclusion from its online presence. A cemetery spokesperson confirmed Friday that it removed internal links directing users to webpages listing the dozens of 'Notable Graves' of Black, Hispanic and female veterans and their spouses.... The biographies of notable Black, Hispanic and female veterans and their spouses are still accessible through other internal links [via online searches].... The cemetery has completely removed educational materials on the Civil War and Medal of Honor recipients, among other topics.... Donald Trump signed executive orders on his first day in office banning DEI in federal programs and contracts. Since then, directives from Pentagon leaders have ordered the removal of all news and feature articles, photos and videos that they say 'promote' DEI.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Only people who are extremely twisted and at least mildly deranged would attempt to scrub all references to history that either make White men look bad (by acknowledging the Civil War) or recognize the patriotic sacrifices of women and minorities.

Musk Supports Claim that Workers, Not Dictators, Committed Genocide. Kate Conger of the New York Times: “Early on Friday, Elon Musk shared a post written by an X user about the actions of three 20th century dictators — then quickly deleted it after it sparked a backlash. The post falsely claimed that Joseph Stalin, the communist leader of the Soviet Union until 1953; Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi party in Germany; and Mao Zedong, the founder of the People’s Republic of China, didn’t cause the deaths of millions of people under their watch. Instead, the post said, their public sector workers did. Mr. Musk shared the post without any other comment. He removed it soon after users on X criticized the post, saying it was antisemitic and dismissive of genocide.... Mr. Musk in recent weeks has battled with public sector workers in Washington as part of his work with his cost-cutting initiative.... 'America’s public service workers — our nurses, teachers, firefighters, librarians — chose making our communities safe, healthy and strong over getting rich. They are not, as the world’s richest man implies, genocidal murderers,' Lee Saunders, the president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said in a statement.”

Isabel van Brugen of the Daily Beast, republished by MSN: “Elon Musk threw a tantrum after his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was dealt a series of legal setbacks, immediately calling for the impeachment of federal judges. 'Without judicial reform, which means at least the absolute worst judges get impeached, we don’t have real democracy in America,' Musk said on X. He reacted after federal agencies were ordered on Thursday to immediately reinstate tens of thousands of federal workers with probationary status who had been laid off by DOGE as part of its sweeping government cost-cutting efforts, dealing a blow to Musk, as he seeks to eventually reduce the deficit by $1 trillion.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The Despicable Oligarch’s Gross Effluent here is perfectly consistent with the attitude and policy of an administration that is firing (among others!) all the people who even might be more loyal to the Constitution than to King Donald. The purpose of federal officials is to back what the Trumplodytes want, and those who don't, must go.

Tim Balk of the New York Times: “Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who took his position during the first Trump presidency and moved to shrink the agency’s ranks during the Biden administration, said he had signed an agreement with [Elon] Musk’s group on Wednesday. Mr. DeJoy, a Republican megadonor, wrote in the letter that Mr. Musk’s initiative was 'an effort aligned' with his efforts. He said that the Postal Service’s work force had shrunk by 30,000 since the 2021 fiscal year, and that the agency planned to complete a 'further reduction of another 10,000 people in the next 30 days' through a previously established voluntary-retirement program. Last week, Mr. Musk said at a tech conference organized by the bank Morgan Stanley that the Postal Service should be privatized, declaring, 'We should privatize anything that can reasonably be privatized.'... The agreement described by Mr. DeJoy on Thursday was comparatively less disruptive, but it drew a stern rebuke from Representative Gerald E. Connolly of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, which oversees the Postal Service.” The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Troy Closson of the New York Times: “A second person who took part in pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University has been arrested by U.S. immigration agents, after overstaying a student visa, federal officials said on Friday, the latest turn in the crisis engulfing the Ivy League institution. The person, identified by the authorities as Leqaa Kordia, is Palestinian and from the West Bank. She was arrested in Newark on Thursday, officials said. Her student visa was terminated in January 2022, and she was arrested by the New York City police last April for her role in a campus demonstration, the Homeland Security Department said in a statement. The agency also released a video on Friday that it said showed a Columbia student, identified as Ranjani Srinivasan, preparing to enter Canada after her student visa was revoked. The announcements, by Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, reflected an escalation of the Trump administration’s focus on Columbia....”

Collin Binkley of the AP: “More than 50 universities are being investigated for alleged racial discrimination as part of ... Donald Trump’s campaign to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs that his officials say exclude white and Asian American students. The Education Department announced the new investigations Friday, one month after issuing a memo warning America’s schools and colleges that they could lose federal money over 'race-based preferences' in admissions, scholarships or any aspect of student life.... Most of the new inquiries are focused on colleges’ partnerships with the PhD Project, a nonprofit that helps students from underrepresented groups get degrees in business with the goal of diversifying the business world.... Six other colleges are being investigated for awarding 'impermissible race-based scholarships,' the department said, and another is accused of running a program that segregates students on the basis of race.” (Also linked yesterday.)~~~

~~~ Profs. Ryan Enos & Steven Levitsky in a Harvard Crimson op-ed: "Like many autocrats before him, Donald Trump has launched what could be a devastating attack on universities. Over the last week, the Trump administration has cancelled $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia University and $800 million in grants to Johns Hopkins University. Both schools were on a list of 10 universities (including Harvard) that the Department of Justice announced it was investigating over politicized allegations of antisemitism. The Department of Education subsequently launched a similar investigation into 60 universities. And last week, the administration arrested a former student seemingly not for a crime but for his political speech on campus.... So far, America’s leading universities have remained virtually silent in the face of this authoritarian assault on institutions of higher education.... As the Columbia case suggests, [silence is] not working. Columbia’s leadership made repeated concessions to right-wing critics, only to be the first to come under attack.... We cannot remain silent in the face of authoritarian attacks on our peers, even if they have not yet come for us." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

Alan Blinder of the New York Times: “The University of Minnesota, which ... [Donald] Trump’s Justice Department is scrutinizing for its handling of antisemitism on campus, largely barred itself on Friday from issuing official statements about 'matters of public concern or public interest.'... Friday’s vote by the board of regents ... fit into the scramble by universities to undercut accusations that they have supported, or downplayed, antisemitic behavior or political activity.... Under Minnesota’s new policy, statements from the university — including ones from divisions like colleges and departments — about public issues will be forbidden unless the president determines the subject has 'an actual or potential impact on the mission and operations of the university.' The university senate, which includes students, faculty members and other workers, opposed the plan, and in early January, a university task force had urged a narrower approach. Critics have questioned whether the policy violates the First Amendment and argued that it grants excessive power to Minnesota’s president.” ~~~

~~~ Nevertheless, this is not surprising: ~~~

     ~~~ Alex Griffing of Mediaite: “Leo Terrell, former Fox News contributor who now heads the Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, shared a wild post by white nationalist Patrick Casey this week declaring ... Donald Trump can 'revoke someone’s Jew card.'... Terrell, who is Black, reposted Casey’s reaction to Trump blasting Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in the Oval Office this week — saying he isn’t 'Jewish anymore.'... RawStory’s Jordan Green noted on Friday that Terrell also shared a post on Wednesday from the 'Hodgetwins, who regularly fawn over Hitler on their podcast.'” ~~~

~~~ Anna Betts of the Guardian: “A far-right group that claimed credit for the arrest of a Palestinian activist and permanent US resident [Mahmoud Khalil] who the Trump administration is seeking to deport claims it has submitted 'thousands of names' for similar treatment. Betar US is one of a number of rightwing, pro-Israel groups that are supporting the administration’s efforts to deport international students involved in university pro-Palestinian protests, an effort that escalated this week with the arrest of ... Khalil..., who recently completed his graduate studies at Columbia University.... Betar, which has been labelled an extremist group by the Anti-Defamation League..., said on Monday that it had 'been working on deportations and will continue to do so', and warned that the effort would extend beyond immigrants. 'Expect naturalized citizens to start being picked up within the month,' the group’s post on X read. (It is very difficult to revoke US citizenship, though Trump has indicated an intention to try.)”

Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court on Friday afternoon requested responses from states and groups that have challenged the constitutionality of the president’s order ending birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants and foreign residents. The move is a signal that the justices will consider a request by the Trump administration asking the court to lift a nationwide pause on the policy as the underlying court challenges proceed.... The issue before the justices is the legality of a tool called a nationwide injunction, which enables a federal judge to temporarily freeze a policy across the country, rather than limiting a pause to the parties involved. In its applications to the court, the Trump administration pushed back on nationwide injunctions. The tool has been used during Democratic and Republican administrations, and a debate over such injunctions has simmered for years....

“The court had the option of rejecting the application out of hand but instead ordered responses to be submitted by the afternoon of April 4.... Even if the justices reject the Trump administration’s request to allow the policy to go into effect in parts of the country, the justices may ultimately consider the core of the case — whether the Constitution guarantees birthright citizenship — after litigation has proceeded through the lower courts.”

Josh Gerstein of Politico: “A federal appeals court has given ... Donald Trump’s administration the go-ahead to enforce a pair of controversial executive orders that seek to root out diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at federal agencies and government contractors. The three-member appeals panel — including two judges appointed by Democratic presidents — lifted a lower court’s injunction that had put the policy on hold last month. The ruling Friday from the panel of the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th Circuit Court of Appeals is not a final decision on the legality of Trump’s anti-DEI policy. It merely allows the government to administer the policy while litigation continues. In separate opinions explaining their votes, the three judges suggested the Trump administration should be allowed to demonstrate that it will abide by anti-discrimination laws and respect First Amendment rights as it implements the executive orders, which Trump issued on the first two days of his new term.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I didn't realize there was an injunction to lift. It seems as if every other day, including today (see Arlington Cemetery story linked above), I link to a story of some egregious effort on the part of some federal department or entity to erase all references to non-White, non-male Americans.

Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: “A federal judge has denied the Justice Department’s attempt to apply ... Donald Trump’s blanket pardon for members of the Jan. 6 mob at the Capitol to one defendant’s conviction for possessing illegal guns hundreds of miles away, at his Kentucky home. In a ruling Thursday night, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee, became the first judge to reject outright the Justice Department’s recently adopted position.... Reversing its initial stance..., the department is now arguing that Trump’s pardon extends to crimes with no connection to the attack on the Capitol other than the fact that law enforcement agents uncovered evidence of them during the Jan. 6 investigation. Friedrich said DOJ’s position 'contradicts' the 'clear and unambiguous' language of Trump’s Day 1 executive order granting pardons to about 1,500 people convicted of participating in the riot.... [The government's position] 'would “defy rationality,”’ Friedrich wrote.... Trump could clarify or expand his Jan. 6 pardon directive at any time, but he has not done so....” (Also linked yesterday.)

Stephen Groves & Leah Askarinam of the AP: “Democratic Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, a champion of environmental protections and progressive ideals who took on principled but often futile causes during a two-decade career in Congress, died Thursday. Grijalva, who was 77, had risen to chair the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee during his 12 terms representing southern Arizona, a powerful perch he used to shape the nation’s environmental policies. He was known for reliably going to bat for immigrants and Native American tribes, and for the bolo tie he wore at home in Tucson and in the Capitol in Washington. Grijalva died of complications from cancer treatment, his office said in a statement. The treatments had sidelined him from Congress in recent months.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Robert McFadden of the New York Times: “Alan K. Simpson, a plain-spoken former Republican senator from Wyoming who championed immigration reforms and conservative candidates for the Supreme Court while fighting running battles with women’s groups, environmentalists and the press, died on Friday in Cody, Wyo. He was 93.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ The video below is for Akhilleus. It's the reason I seldom speak ill of the dead while the body is still warm (metaphorically speaking). Here is how I imagine this particular person's family wishes to remember him in the days after his death, whether or not he be, all things considered, a "rotten prick." Anyhow, thanks, Rachel:

Kenneth Chang of the New York Times: “Four astronauts launched on Friday en route to the International Space Station. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 7:03 p.m. Eastern time from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This is a routine rotation of crew on the space station, but it is garnering extra attention because it will allow the return to Earth of Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, two NASA astronauts whose brief scheduled visit to the space station last June was unexpectedly stretched to more than nine months. The stay of Ms. Williams and Mr. Wilmore in orbit was extended at least two more days when the first attempt at launching this mission on Wednesday was called off with less than 45 minutes left in the countdown.”

~~~~~~~~~~

John Hudson of the Washington Post: “Top diplomats from the Group of Seven industrialized democracies[, meeting in La Malbaie, Canada,] set aside a growing list of disagreements with ... Donald Trump over his tariffs and brash territorial claims and agreed to a joint statement on shared priorities, including pressuring Russia into a ceasefire, ending the war in Gaza and curbing China’s military buildup.... But the atmosphere at [U.S. Secretary of State Marco] Rubio’s first appearance at a G-7 ministerial was anything but convivial. [Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie] Joly criticized what she interpreted as a blithe attitude that visiting diplomats took to Trump’s rhetoric about annexation. 'Many of my colleagues coming here thought that this issue was still a joke, and that this had to be taken in a humorous way. But I said to them: “This is not a joke,”’ Joly said.” Rubio skipped the social meetings, where ministers went snowshoeing and roasted marshmellows. Meanwhile, in Washington, Trump “reiterated his support for making Canada the 51st U.S. state and suggesting America’s northern neighbor would lose badly in a trade war.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Little Marco begged off the friendship-building activities on account of being so tired from his trip to Saudi Arabia. Now, I'll admit that growing up in the Miami area as he and I did, one does not get much practice in snowshoeing skills, but I'm going to guess that his greatest worry was that the snowshoe bindings would not fit over his high-heeled Cuban boots.

Canada, Portugal. Murraey Brewster of CBC News: "Canada is actively looking at potential alternatives to the U.S.-built F-35 stealth fighter and will hold conversations with rival aircraft makers, Defence Minister Bill Blair said late Friday, just hours after being reappointed to the post as part of Prime Minister Mark Carney's new cabinet. The remarks came one day after Portugal signalled it was planning to ditch its acquisition of the high-tech warplane. The re-examination in this country is taking place amid the bruising political fight with the Trump administration over tariffs and threats from the American president to annex Canada by economic force. There has been a groundswell of support among Canadians to kill the $19-billion purchase and find aircraft other than those manufactured and maintained in the United States."

France. Lee Hockstader of the Washington Post: “... Washington is now increasingly regarded by its closest allies as a source of treachery, menace and malice. That view of Donald Trump’s America was brutally encapsulated last week by a centrist French senator named Claude Malhuret, who noted that until now, 'never in history has a U.S. president capitulated to the enemy.' In a speech at the French Senate assessing Trump’s alignment with the Kremlin, turn against Ukraine and the implications for Europe, he said: 'We were at war with a dictator. Now we are fighting a dictator backed by a traitor.' Read a transcript of Malhuret’s speech, an instant social media sensation, and you’ll see he’s no knee-jerk anti-American. Quite the contrary: the 75-year-old senator, a former head of Doctors Without Borders, retains a touching, even sentimental, faith in our fundamental decency, values and systemic strengths.... Right now, Trump, with important assists from Vice President JD Vance and Elon Musk, has mounted an attack as devastating to our reputational well-being as the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were to our physical security.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Germany. Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: “Friedrich Merz, the likely next chancellor of Germany, announced on Friday that he had secured the votes to allow for extensive new government spending, including for defense, clearing the way for a stunning turnabout in German strategic and fiscal policy before he even takes office. The deal should now allow Mr. Merz to pass a raft of measures in Parliament next week that he has billed as a response to ... [Donald] Trump’s moves to pull back American security guarantees for Europe. It includes what party leaders called crucial investments in German competitiveness and its efforts to reduce fossil fuel emissions to fight global warming. And it breathed new life into a coalition of center-left and center-right parties that have long governed Germany but have wilted in a new era of populism in recent years, losing votes to the far left and the far right. The measures would lift Germany’s hallowed limits on government borrowing as they apply to military spending. It would exempt all spending on defense above 1 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product from those limits, and it would define 'defense' broadly to include intelligence spending, information security and more.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So, as Trump turns the U.S. into a cesspool of corruption, incompetence & reactionary policies, he appears to have liberated Germany.

Ukraine/Russia, et al. Anton Troianovski & Maria Varenikova of the New York Times: “President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Friday insisted that Ukraine order some of its forces to surrender to Russia, a striking demand made hours after ... [Donald] Trump said the United States had 'very good and productive' discussions with Mr. Putin about a potential cease-fire. Mr. Putin’s televised comments came shortly after Mr. Trump, on social media, said he had urged the Russian leader to spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers struggling to hold on to a patch of land in the Kursk region of Russia. 'I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared,' Mr. Trump wrote. Both presidents claimed on Friday that Ukrainian forces were surrounded in Kursk.... Independent analysts have challenged those claims, and Ukraine’s military on Friday again rejected them.”

The Conversation -- March 14, 2025

⭐ Catie Edmondson & Carl Hulse of the New York Times: “The Senate on Friday cleared a critical hurdle to avert a government shutdown at midnight, after Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, and nine other members of his caucus joined Republicans in voting to advance a stopgap spending bill, effectively thwarting a filibuster by their own party. The vote to move forward with the G.O.P.-written stopgap spending measure, which would fund the government through Sept. 30, was 62 to 38. It came just hours before a midnight deadline to avoid a lapse in funding, and set the stage for a final vote on the spending measure later on Friday.... Democrats joining Mr. Schumer in voting to move it forward were Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Gary Peters of Michigan, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, both of New Hampshire. Senator Angus King, the Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, also voted yes.” MB: In fairness to me, I called Shaheen's & Hassan's office, identified myself and told them to vote against cloture. Well, I told their voicemails, because neither senator's office was accepting calls.

We have met the resistance, and he is ... Chuck Schumer positioning himself in front of the wheels of the MAGA bus. Meep meep! ~~~

~~~ Paul Campos in LG&$ explains Chuck's rationale even better than Chuck does, although Campos, it would seem, is not into it: "One thing that simply doesn’t work is to run for election on the we’re in an existential battle to save democracy from the fascist hordes platform, lose, bombard all your supports with twelve zillion texts and emails about how Donald Trump is on the verge of establishing a dictatorship so you had better rush us ten dollars now to pass the No Kings Act (how stupid do they think we are? Don’t answer that), and then, after all that, simply unconditionally surrender to the aforementioned hordes and aspiring dictator, on the basis of the inspiring claim that it’s the savvy thing to do.... The old men have gotten us into this fix, and politics, like physics, apparently advances one funeral at a time." MB: Can't figure out why he heads this post with a huge photo of a beautiful young woman. ~~~

~~~ Joseph Gedeon & Chris Stein of the Guardian: “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is condemning Chuck Schumer ... for caving to Republican demands on a government funding bill, saying the move has created a 'deep sense of outrage and betrayal' among Democrats. Speaking to reporters in Leesburg, Virginia, where House Democrats were gathered for their annual policy retreat, Ocasio-Cortez said she was mobilizing Democratic supporters to push Schumer to oppose what she characterized as an 'acquiesce' to the GOP bill.... The rift has reportedly sparked such anger among House Democrats that some are encouraging Ocasio-Cortez to challenge Schumer in a primary election, according to CNN. When asked about these suggestions, she declined to comment.” ~~~

~~~ Shane Goldmacher of the New York Times: “The eruption of anger about Mr. Schumer’s seeming surrender thrust into public view a generational divide that has emerged as one of the Democratic Party’s deepest and most consequential rifts. Younger Democrats are chafing at and increasingly complaining about what they see as the feebleness of the old guard’s efforts to push back against President Trump. They are second-guessing how the party’s leaders — like Mr. Schumer, who brandishes his flip phone as a point of pride — are communicating their message in the TikTok era, as Republicans dominate the digital town square. And they are demanding that the party develop a bolder policy agenda that can answer the desperation of tens of millions of people who are struggling financially at a time when belief in the American dream is dimming. In other words, the younger generation is done with deference.” MB: Guess that makes me a virtual toddler. ~~~

~~~ Marie: I can tell you this with some certainty: if Donald Trump is applauding you, you're doing something terribly, terribly wrong: ~~~

     ~~~ Katherine Tully-McManus of Politico: “... Donald Trump on Friday congratulated Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for 'doing the right thing' by backing the Republican-led bill to avert a government shutdown, a choice that's put the New York Democrat at odds with many in his party. 'A non pass would be a Country destroyer, approval will lead us to new heights,' wrote the president Friday morning on Truth Social. 'Again, really good and smart move by Senator Schumer,' wrote the president on Truth Social.” ~~~

~~~ BUT. Matt Yglesias, who is an original, generally-liberal commentator, says Chuck did the right thing. MB: I still strongly disagree, but I won't deny Matt is smarter than I am.

Isabel van Brugen of the Daily Beast, republished by MSN: “Elon Musk threw a tantrum after his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was dealt a series of legal setbacks, immediately calling for the impeachment of federal judges. 'Without judicial reform, which means at least the absolute worst judges get impeached, we don’t have real democracy in America,' Musk said on X. He reacted after federal agencies were ordered on Thursday to immediately reinstate tens of thousands of federal workers with probationary status who had been laid off by DOGE as part of its sweeping government cost-cutting efforts, dealing a blow to Musk, as he seeks to eventually reduce the deficit by $1 trillion.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The Despicable Oligarch’s Gross Effluent here is perfectly consistent with the attitude and policy of an administration that is firing (among others!) all the people who even might be more loyal to the Constitution than to King Donald. The purpose of federal officials is to back what the Trumplodytes want, and those who don't, must go.

Tim Balk of the New York Times: “Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who took his position during the first Trump presidency and moved to shrink the agency’s ranks during the Biden administration, said he had signed an agreement with [Elon] Musk’s group on Wednesday. Mr. DeJoy, a Republican megadonor, wrote in the letter that Mr. Musk’s initiative was 'an effort aligned' with his efforts. He said that the Postal Service’s work force had shrunk by 30,000 since the 2021 fiscal year, and that the agency planned to complete a 'further reduction of another 10,000 people in the next 30 days' through a previously established voluntary-retirement program. Last week, Mr. Musk said at a tech conference organized by the bank Morgan Stanley that the Postal Service should be privatized, declaring, 'We should privatize anything that can reasonably be privatized.'... The agreement described by Mr. DeJoy on Thursday was comparatively less disruptive, but it drew a stern rebuke from Representative Gerald E. Connolly of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, which oversees the Postal Service.” The AP's report is here.

Collin Binkley of the AP: “More than 50 universities are being investigated for alleged racial discrimination as part of ... Donald Trump’s campaign to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs that his officials say exclude white and Asian American students. The Education Department announced the new investigations Friday, one month after issuing a memo warning America’s schools and colleges that they could lose federal money over 'race-based preferences' in admissions, scholarships or any aspect of student life.... Most of the new inquiries are focused on colleges’ partnerships with the PhD Project, a nonprofit that helps students from underrepresented groups get degrees in business with the goal of diversifying the business world.... Six other colleges are being investigated for awarding 'impermissible race-based scholarships,' the department said, and another is accused of running a program that segregates students on the basis of race.” ~~~

~~~ Profs. Ryan Enos & Steven Levitsky in a Harvard Crimson op-ed: "Like many autocrats before him, Donald Trump has launched what could be a devastating attack on universities. Over the last week, the Trump administration has cancelled $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia University and $800 million in grants to Johns Hopkins University. Both schools were on a list of 10 universities (including Harvard) that the Department of Justice announced it was investigating over politicized allegations of antisemitism. The Department of Education subsequently launched a similar investigation into 60 universities. And last week, the administration arrested a former student seemingly not for a crime but for his political speech on campus.... So far, America’s leading universities have remained virtually silent in the face of this authoritarian assault on institutions of higher education.... As the Columbia case suggests, [silence is] not working. Columbia’s leadership made repeated concessions to right-wing critics, only to be the first to come under attack.... We cannot remain silent in the face of authoritarian attacks on our peers, even if they have not yet come for us."

Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: “A federal judge has denied the Justice Department’s attempt to apply ... Donald Trump’s blanket pardon for members of the Jan. 6 mob at the Capitol to one defendant’s conviction for possessing illegal guns hundreds of miles away, at his Kentucky home. In a ruling Thursday night, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee, became the first judge to reject outright the Justice Department’s recently adopted position.... Reversing its initial stance..., the department is now arguing that Trump’s pardon extends to crimes with no connection to the attack on the Capitol other than the fact that law enforcement agents uncovered evidence of them during the Jan. 6 investigation. Friedrich said DOJ’s position 'contradicts' the 'clear and unambiguous' language of Trump’s Day 1 executive order granting pardons to about 1,500 people convicted of participating in the riot.... [The government's position] 'would “defy rationality,”’ Friedrich wrote.... Trump could clarify or expand his Jan. 6 pardon directive at any time, but he has not done so....”

Lee Hockstader of the Washington Post: “... Washington is now increasingly regarded by its closest allies as a source of treachery, menace and malice. That view of Donald Trump’s America was brutally encapsulated last week by a centrist French senator named Claude Malhuret, who noted that until now, 'never in history has a U.S. president capitulated to the enemy.' In a speech at the French Senate assessing Trump’s alignment with the Kremlin, turn against Ukraine and the implications for Europe, he said: 'We were at war with a dictator. Now we are fighting a dictator backed by a traitor.' Read a transcript of Malhuret’s speech, an instant social media sensation, and you’ll see he’s no knee-jerk anti-American. Quite the contrary: the 75-year-old senator, a former head of Doctors Without Borders, retains a touching, even sentimental, faith in our fundamental decency, values and systemic strengths.... Right now, Trump, with important assists from Vice President JD Vance and Elon Musk, has mounted an attack as devastating to our reputational well-being as the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were to our physical security.”

Germany. Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: “Friedrich Merz, the likely next chancellor of Germany, announced on Friday that he had secured the votes to allow for extensive new government spending, including for defense, clearing the way for a stunning turnabout in German strategic and fiscal policy before he even takes office. The deal should now allow Mr. Merz to pass a raft of measures in Parliament next week that he has billed as a response to ... [Donald] Trump’s moves to pull back American security guarantees for Europe. It includes what party leaders called crucial investments in German competitiveness and its efforts to reduce fossil fuel emissions to fight global warming. And it breathed new life into a coalition of center-left and center-right parties that have long governed Germany but have wilted in a new era of populism in recent years, losing votes to the far left and the far right. The measures would lift Germany’s hallowed limits on government borrowing as they apply to military spending. It would exempt all spending on defense above 1 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product from those limits, and it would define 'defense' broadly to include intelligence spending, information security and more.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So, as Trump turns the U.S. into a cesspool of corruption, incompetence & reactionary policies, he appears to have liberated Germany.

Stephen Groves & Leah Askarinam of the AP: “Democratic Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, a champion of environmental protections and progressive ideals who took on principled but often futile causes during a two-decade career in Congress, died Thursday. Grijalva, who was 77, had risen to chair the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee during his 12 terms representing southern Arizona, a powerful perch he used to shape the nation’s environmental policies. He was known for reliably going to bat for immigrants and Native American tribes, and for the bolo tie he wore at home in Tucson and in the Capitol in Washington. Grijalva died of complications from cancer treatment, his office said in a statement. The treatments had sidelined him from Congress in recent months.”

Robert McFadden of the New York Times: “Alan K. Simpson, a plain-spoken former Republican senator from Wyoming who championed immigration reforms and conservative candidates for the Supreme Court while fighting running battles with women’s groups, environmentalists and the press, died on Friday in Cody, Wyo. He was 93.”

~~~~~~~~~~

⭐Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: “A federal judge on Thursday ordered federal agencies to rehire tens of thousands of probationary employees who were fired amid ... Donald Trump’s turbulent effort to drastically shrink the federal bureaucracy. U.S. District Judge William Alsup described the mass firings as a 'sham' strategy by the government’s central human resources office to sidestep legal requirements for reducing the federal workforce. Alsup, a San Francisco-based appointee of President Bill Clinton, ordered the Defense, Treasury, Energy, Interior, Agriculture and Veterans Affairs departments to 'immediately' offer all fired probationary employees their jobs back. The Office of Personnel Management, the judge said, had made an 'unlawful' decision to terminate them. The order is one of the most far-reaching rejections of the Trump administration’s effort to slash the bureaucracy and is almost certain to be appealed. Alsup also lashed out at the Justice Department over its handling of the case, saying he believes that Trump administration lawyers were hiding the facts about who directed the mass firings. 'You will not bring the people in here to be cross-examined. You’re afraid to do so because you know cross examination would reveal the truth,' the judge said to a DOJ attorney during a hearing Thursday.” The Washington Post's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Rachel Maddow reads from the transcript of the hearing. It's quite entertaining: ~~~

~~~ ⭐Then This Happened Last Night. Andrea Hsu of NPR: "A federal judge in Maryland has ordered the Trump administration to temporarily reinstate thousands of federal employees terminated in recent weeks, after finding federal agencies acted unlawfully in carrying out the mass firings. U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar, an Obama appointee, issued a 14-day stay in a case brought by 20 Democratic attorneys general representing the District of Columbia, Maryland, and 18 other states.... He ordered 18 federal agencies to reinstate probationary workers fired through what he called 'illegal RIFs' by Monday at 1 p.m. Eastern daylight time, for a period of 14 days. During that time, he said, the court would likely consider longer relief. Bredar's order covers probationary employees nationwide, not just those in states named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit." ~~~

~~~ And there's this. ~~~

We’re not subject to the Department of Government Efficiency. We audit them. They don’t audit us. -- Gene Dodaro, Comptroller of the Government Accountability Office ~~~

~~~ Joe Davidson of the Washington Post: “As comptroller general of the United States, [Gene] Dodaro leads the Government Accountability Office, a role he’s had for 17 years. He’s worked for the agency since 1973 — when another president, Richard M. Nixon, like the current one, sought to bust bounds of presidential power. The GAO, a nonpartisan congressional organization with broad authority to review federal programs and spending across the government, helps Washington save money and increase efficiency. Efficiency is not what Dodaro sees in the Trump administration’s aggressive purge of the federal workforce, as he said in an interview Tuesday and during a recent House Oversight Committee hearing. Elon Musk’s DOGE ... also will get GAO scrutiny.”

Heather Cox Richardson: “Trump’s 25% tariffs on all aluminum and steel imported into the U.S. went into effect today, prompting retaliatory tariffs from the European Union and Canada. The E.U. announced tariffs on about $28 billion worth of products, including beef and whiskey, mostly produced by Republican-dominated states.... In 2025 the Republicans in charge of the United States of America are not the conservatives they call themselves.... They are abruptly dismantling a government that has kept the United States relatively prosperous, secure, and healthy for the past 80 years. In its place, they are trying to impose a government based in the idea that a few men should rule. The Trump administration’s ... swing away from Europe and toward Russia, antagonizing allies and partners while fawning over authoritarians like Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, is also a radical stand.... The wholesale destruction of the U.S.A.’s advanced medical research, especially cancer research ... is also radical.... In place of the system that has created relative stability for almost a century, Republicans under ... Donald Trump and his sidekick billionaire Elon Musk are imposing a government that is based in the idea that a government that works to make people safe, prosperous, and healthy is simply ripping off wealthy people.” (Also linked yesterday.)

~~~ Leading to Another Tariff TrumperTantrum. Jaclyn Diaz of NPR: "In an escalation of the ongoing trade war with Europe..., [Donald] Trump is now threatening a 200% tariff on European alcohol in response to the European Union's retaliation against U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs.... Posting on his Truth Social account, Trump called the EU 'the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Here's the E.U. being hostile and abusive (via Heather Richardson): We deeply regret this measure [to impose tariffs on the U.S]. Tariffs are taxes. They are bad for business, and even worse for consumers. These tariffs are disrupting supply chains. They bring uncertainty for the economy. -- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen ~~~

~~~ And of Course This Happened. Lisa Han & Pia Singh of CNBC: "Stocks fell on Thursday, with equities unable to shake a three-week market rout under the weight of new tariff threats from ... Donald Trump. The S&P 500 dropped 1.39% to settle at 5,521.52. The index ended the day in correction, 10.1% off its record close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average  fell 537.36 points, or 1.3%, marking its fourth day of declines and closing at 40,813.57. The Nasdaq Composite  shed 1.96% with shares like Tesla  and Apple lower." (Also linked yesterday.)

We’re spending $200 billion a year to subsidize Canada. — Donald Trump, during remarks with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, March 13

... a trade deficit is not a subsidy. Even if one includes various buckets of military spending, we can’t figure out how Trump calculated this figure. The White House offered some suggestions, but the math still does not add up.... Trump has a point that the [defense] burden is somewhat unequal, but his numbers make little sense. -- Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post 

“The Peasants Are Struggling? Then Let Them Drive Teslas!” Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: “It’s no small feat to tank the $29 trillion U.S. economy in just seven weeks, but Donald Trump appears to be on the cusp of pulling it off. Plunging stock markets have lost some $4 trillion, Americans’ retirement accounts are shriveling, the president’s trade war is set to raise prices on everything from cars to avocados, and recession alarms are blinking red. But this week, Trump took action to ease the fears of jittery Americans. He told them to buy Teslas....  Trump ... promised to label those who vandalize Tesla sales lots as 'domestic terrorists' (he previously said people were 'illegally' boycotting Tesla and later said the protesters are 'paid agitators') and threatened: 'We’re going to catch you, and you’re going to go through hell.'... It was a grotesque sight: Trump using the awesome powers of the presidency to make the world’s richest man even richer — and to threaten government action against those who stand in his way.... Trump is running an ad hoc presidency. There are no rules. The law is strictly optional. And Trump, unbound by both, administers one shock to the system after another. There is no predictability to his actions.” The link is a gift link. P.S. If you didn't see the Tesla ad embedded in yesterday's Conversation, scroll on down. It's quite good, though it might not make you decide to buy a Tessler.

Jeff Stein, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration on Thursday removed the Internal Revenue Service’s top lawyer and rolled out plans to downsize nearly 20 percent of the agency’s staff as billionaire Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service seeks access to sensitive taxpayer records, according to five people.... William Paul, a career official named to the position in January, will be replaced by Andrew De Mello, who was nominated to be the Education Department’s inspector general during Trump’s first term, three of the people said.... Also, DOGE officials instructed the acting IRS commissioner to eliminate 18,141 jobs across the agency by May 15, according to records obtained by The Washington Post. The tax compliance department would have the largest job cuts (8,260) followed by taxpayer services (3,247) and information technology, the records show. Those moves are only an initial phase of job cuts.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Collin Binkley & Jocelyn Gecker of the AP: “An hours-long outage Wednesday on StudentAid.gov, the federal website for student loans and financial aid, underscored the risks in rapidly gutting the Department of Education, as ... Donald Trump aims to dismantle the agency. Hundreds of users reported FAFSA outages to Downdetector starting midday Wednesday, saying they were having trouble completing the form, which is required for financial aid at colleges nationwide.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Stephanie Saul of the New York Times: “Johns Hopkins University, one of the country’s leading centers of scientific research, said on Thursday that it would eliminate more than 2,000 workers in the United States and abroad because of the Trump administration’s steep cuts, primarily to international aid programs. The layoffs, the most in the university’s history, will involve 247 domestic workers for the university, which is based in Baltimore, and an affiliated center. Another 1,975 positions will be cut in 44 countries. They affect the university’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, its medical school and an affiliated nonprofit, Jhpiego. Nearly half the school’s total revenue last year came from federally funded research, including $365 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development. In all, the university will lose $800 million in funding over several years from U.S.A.I.D., which the Trump administration is in the process of dismantling.... In ordering cutbacks in the agency, which amount to a 90 percent reduction in its operations....

“The administration has also sought to reduce the amount of money that the National Institutes of Health sends to university for research, cuts that have been blocked for now in the courts. If they go into effect, those cuts would reduce federal payments to Johns Hopkins by more than $100 million a year, according to an analysis of university figures. The university, which receives about $1 billion a year in N.I.H. funding and is currently running 600 clinical trials, is one of the plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging those cuts.”

Katherine Rosman of the New York Times: “The Trump administration on Thursday demanded that Columbia University make dramatic changes in student discipline and admissions before it would discuss lifting the cancellation of $400 million in government grants and contracts.... The Trump administration’s move to cut Columbia’s grants and contracts represented an extraordinary escalation of the government’s targeting of the university.... On social media, Jameel Jaffer, director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia, described the government’s letter as essentially saying, 'We’ll destroy Columbia unless you destroy it first.' Hours earlier, the school announced a range of disciplinary actions against students who occupied a campus building last spring, including expulsions and suspensions.” ~~~

~~~ Victoria Bisset of the Washington Post: “Columbia University suspended and expelled some students involved in the occupation of a campus building in New York during last year’s pro-Palestinian campus protests, as controversy grows over the separate arrest of a graduate student by immigration authorities. Columbia’s Judicial Board issued punishments — including multiyear suspensions, temporary degree revocations and expulsions — over the takeover of the campus’s Hamilton Hall last April, according to a university statement released Thursday, which did not state the number of students affected.” The AP story is here. ~~~

~~~ Minyvonne Burke & Matt Lavietes of NBC News: "Nearly 100 protesters were arrested Thursday after a sit-in at Trump Tower in New York City to demand the release of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist detained over the weekend by federal immigration agents. The organization Jewish Voice for Peace livestreamed the sit-in, showing hundreds of demonstrators packed into the building's lobby. Some held signs that read 'Fight Nazis not students,' 'Free Mahmoud free Palestine' and 'You can't deport a movement.' Many people could be heard chanting 'Free Mahmoud.'" The New York Times story is here.

Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: “Lawyers for ... [Donald] Trump asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to lift a nationwide pause imposed on the president’s order ending birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants. The move represents the first time the legal wrangling over the president’s order to end birthright citizenship has reached the Supreme Court. If the Trump administration succeeds, the policy could go into effect in some parts of the country.” (Also linked yesterday.)

My, My. And Bye-Bye. Apoorva Mandavilli & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: “The White House has withdrawn the nomination of its pick to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Dave Weldon, a Republican former congressman who was to have appeared at a Senate confirmation hearing Thursday morning. Reached by phone, Dr. Weldon, who learned of the decision last night, said he had been told by a White House official that 'they didn’t have the votes to confirm' his nomination.... [HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr.,] has cited Dr. Weldon’s criticisms of the C.D.C. along with his own. Mr. Kennedy is 'very upset' at the decision to withdraw Dr. Weldon for consideration as C.D.C. director, Dr. Weldon said. 'I’m going to get on an airplane at 11 o’clock and I’m going to go home and I’m going to see patients on Monday,' he said. 'I’ll make much more money staying in my medical practice.'” MB: Or not. If your pals Trump, Musk and the GOP Congress succeed in kneecapping Medicare & Medicaid. Politico's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Speaking of Quacks. Eoin Higgins, in a New York Times op-ed on how “quack” doctor Mehmet Oz came to be nominated to head “the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Senate hearings are to begin Friday. If confirmed, his appointment would be yet another signal to a new wave of charismatic health personalities that science and evidence are negotiable in the service of ambition.” ~~~

     ~~~ Dani Blum & Nigra Agrawal of the New York Times: “Much of Dr. Oz’s advice is rooted in strong science and conventional wisdom: Eat well, move more, prioritize sleep. But he has also frequently pushed products and hacks that have little to no scientific evidence showing that they stave off disease, drawing scrutiny from members of Congress and from researchers. In some cases, he has had financial ties to the products he has promoted.” The reporters asked experts about some of Oz's claims.

A Huge Trump Real Estate Development Flop. Silvia Foster-Frau, et al., of the Washington Post: “When ... Donald Trump directed the U.S. government to begin using the Guantánamo Bay Naval Station as a detention center for migrants in late January, he said it would 'double our capacity immediately' to hold people being removed from the country as part of a massive deportation campaign. But nearly two months later, the operation has struggled to scale up. On Wednesday, a Defense Department official confirmed there were no migrants being held in Guantánamo.... A series of logistical, legal and financial hurdles have cast doubt on whether the president’s goal of housing 30,000 people there can be carried out. In all, about 300 migrants total have been detained there. The U.S. government currently has the capacity to hold 180 migrants in Guantánamo.... In recent years, the suspected terrorists held at Guantánamo’s military detention facility have cost the United States $16,540 a day per prisoner, not including the legal fees associated with their cases.... Government budget and Guantánamo experts say they expect the cost of detaining migrants there to be about the same as the prisoners’ cost without the legal fees.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: So that's a monthly single-occupancy room-and-board rate of $496,200. Absolutely brilliant. Still wondering why the Trump Org went bankrupt so many times? Answer: the guy is the stupidest real estate developer of all time.

Courtney Kube, et al., of NBC News: “The White House has directed the U.S. military to draw up options to increase the American troop presence in Panama to achieve ... Donald Trump’s goal of 'reclaiming' the Panama Canal, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the planning. In his joint address to Congress last week, Trump said that 'to further enhance our national security, my administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal.' Since then, administration officials have not said what 'reclaiming' means. U.S. Southern Command is developing potential plans from partnering more closely with Panamanian security forces to the less likely option of U.S. troops’ seizing the Panama Canal by force, the officials said. Whether military force is used, the officials added, depends on how much Panamanian security forces agree to partner with the United States.... The officials cautioned that a U.S. invasion of Panama is unlikely and would come under serious consideration only if a larger American military presence in Panama does not achieve Trump’s goal of reclaiming the waterway....”

How Much Dough Would a Chump Upchuck if a Chump Would Purchase Trump? Apparently giving Trump a million dollars is not enough. Even featuring reruns of "The Apprentice" on your very popular app Amazon Prime isn't enough. ~~~

     ~~~ Annie Palmer of CNBC: “The Federal Trade Commission said it will meet the deadlines for its Amazon Prime deceptive practices case, hours after requesting a delay due to resource constraints. An attorney for the federal agency made the about face Wednesday afternoon, saying he 'was wrong.'... FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson ... told CNBC: ... 'I have made it clear since Day One that we will commit the resources necessary for this case.... The Trump-Vance FTC will never back down from taking on Big Tech.'... The FTC sued Amazon in June 2023, alleging that the online retailer was deceiving millions of customers into signing up for its Prime program and sabotaging their attempts to cancel it.” Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

⭐From the “I Just Knew It!” File. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: “Senate Democrats say privately that they will not allow the government to shut down Saturday, despite growing pressure from activists and liberal lawmakers who want them to kill a GOP-crafted six-month stopgap spending bill. Senate Democratic sources say Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) is giving plenty of room to centrists in his caucus to vote for the House-passed continuing resolution (CR) if doing so is the only way to avoid a government shutdown at week’s end.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Then This. Carl Hulse & Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: “Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, broke with his party on Thursday and lined up enough Democrats to advance a Republican-written bill to keep federal funding flowing past a midnight Friday deadline, arguing that Democrats could not allow a government shutdown that many of them have demanded. During a private luncheon with Democrats, Mr. Schumer stunned many of his colleagues by announcing that he planned to vote to allow the G.O.P. bill to move forward, and indicated that he had enough votes to help Republicans break any filibuster by his own party against the measure, according to attendees and people familiar with the discussion. It was a turnabout from just a day earlier, when Mr. Schumer proclaimed that Democrats were 'unified' against the legislation, and a remarkable move at a time when many of the party’s members in both chambers and progressive activists have been agitating vocally for senators to block it in defiance of ... [Donald] Trump.” The AP's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Here Chris Hayes of MSNBC respectfully argues with Schumer. Schumer's self-defense couldn't be more lame if he were sitting in the witness box waving around a smoking gun. ~~~

     ~~~ Here's Schumer's self-defense, as expressed in a New York Times op-ed. MB: I'm not going to read it, even if you tell me it's super-convincing. ~~~

     ~~~ Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) explains why he's a "hard no" on bringing up the continuing CR. ~~~

     ~~~ Andrew Solender of Axios: "House Democrats erupted into apoplexy Thursday night after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he would support Republicans' stopgap government funding measure.... A senior House Democrat said 'people are furious' and that some rank-and-file members have floated the idea of angrily marching onto the Senate floor in protest. Others are talking openly about supporting primary challenges to senators who vote for the GOP spending bill.... Several members — including moderates — have begun voicing support for a primary challenge to Schumer, floating Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) as possible candidates, three House Democrats said." Here's a story along the same lines by Barbara Sprunt of NPR.

     ~~~ See Josh Marshall on the "Kabuki Cave," also linked yesterday. He was right. ~~~

~~~ Carl Hulse & Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: “G.O.P. lawmakers are ... enthusiastically turning [their constitutional powers] over to the White House ... by embracing a stopgap spending bill that gives the administration wide discretion over how federal dollars are distributed, in effect handing off the legislative branch’s spending authority to ... [Donald] Trump. But that is just one example of how Congress, under unified Republican control, is proactively relinquishing some of its fundamental and critical authority on oversight, economic issues and more. As they cleared the way for passing the spending measure on Tuesday, House Republicans leaders also quietly surrendered their chamber’s ability to undo Mr. Trump’s tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China in an effort to shield their members from having to take a politically tough vote.... Republicans have also stood by, many of them cheering, as the administration has upended federal departments and programs funded by Congress and fired thousands of workers with no notice to or consultation with the lawmakers charged with overseeing federal agencies.” MB: This is what Chuck Schumer is endorsing. ~~~

     ~~~ Why are Congressional Republicans okay with ceding the power of the purse to Trump? Here's a partial explanation: ~~~

     ~~~ Don Moynihan on Substack: "Republicans in Congress ... are being told that appropriations will be selectively ignored, and they will be protected. DOGE is accepting requests from Republican officials to reverse cuts in their jurisdictions. It is a form of spoils system in reverse: your pet projects will be spared from elimination. [But, as CNN has reported,] '... Even in cases where they are advocating for the same thing, Republicans are able to leverage entry points into Trump administration in ways that Democrats simply can’t, leaving them in the dark on many of the recent reversals the administration has agreed to....'... Senator Chris Murphy [D-Conn.] said: '... The whole point of the spending freeze is to force every entity that receives federal funding to pledge their political loyalty to Donald Trump in order to get money. It’s a fundamental corruption from beginning to end.'... In short: Trump and Musk are engaged in a broad-based downsizing of government, using that downsizing to selectively target their enemies, while expanding their political power by trading exceptions to the downsizing." Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

Kelsey Ables & Michael Brodeur of the Washington Post: “When Vice President JD Vance took his seat Thursday night at the Kennedy Center in Washington, he was met with a chorus of boos from the packed concert hall. Vance and the second lady, Usha Vance, were attending a performance by the National Symphony Orchestra, which was already seated onstage when the crowd spotted the pair and erupted into loud boos and shouts for more than 30 seconds. The vice president waved and appeared to smile.”

Joe Kukura of SF News: "The Highway Patrol’s investigation into a November Cybertruck crash in Piedmont where three college kids died is finding two very Tesla problems: the vehicle immediately caught fire, and its doors would not open. A November Tesla Cybertruck crash in Piedmont killed three college sophomores when the vehicle hit a cement wall and burst into flames, but another motorist was able to pull a fourth rider out of the car, and that rider survived. We later learned the other motorist was Piedmont High grad Matt Riordan, who’d been attending a party that night with the crash victims. And we also learned the three victims had alcohol and cocaine in their systems, while the 19-year-old Cybertruck driver who died also had meth in his system.... [But] the deaths appear to be more the result of the vehicle fire, as opposed to drugs, or injuries the victims sustained in the crash. And troublingly, that testimony also showed the Cybertruck’s doors could not be opened in the aftermath of the crash, preventing Riordan from pulling the other three victims from the flaming wreckage." (Also linked yesterday.) 

~~~~~~~~~~

O Canada. Ian Austen of the New York Times: “... as [Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau, 53, prepares to officially resign on Friday, his fortunes have taken a remarkable turn thanks to a prolonged campaign of aggression against Canada by ... [Donald] Trump. Through tariffs that could lead to economic devastation and repeated verbal attacks on Canada’s sovereignty, Mr. Trump has ignited a wave of patriotism, and Mr. Trudeau’s defiance and oratorical skills have helped rally the nation.... It was Mr. Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs against Canadian exports, his claims that Canada would be better off if it became the 51st state, his belittling references to Mr. Trudeau as 'governor,' that drastically changed the political landscape.... [Mr. Trudeau] will now hand the reins over to Mark Carney, a former leader of two major central banks, who was elected by members of Mr. Trudeau’s Liberal Party on Sunday to succeed the departing prime minister. Mr. Carney will be formally sworn in as Canada’s next leader on Friday.... The Liberals have essentially erased the lead long enjoyed by Conservatives and surveys show that Canadians say they believe Mr. Carney would be better able to stand up to Mr. Trump than the Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre.”

Ukraine/Russia., et al. Anton Troinovski of the New York Times: “President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Thursday did not rule out a U.S. and Ukrainian proposal for a monthlong cease-fire, but he set down numerous conditions that would most likely delay any truce — or could make one impossible to achieve. Mr. Putin’s comments during a news conference highlighted the balance he was trying to strike, exuding confidence in Russia’s position on the battlefield while seeking to continue talks with the United States and avoid upsetting ... [Donald] Trump. The U.S. president, having antagonized the country’s allies and realigned American foreign policy in Russia’s favor, has emerged as a key geopolitical partner for Mr. Putin. In sharp remarks later in the day, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said the Russian leader set so many conditions 'that nothing will work out at all or that it will not work out for as long as possible.'Mr. Putin’s comments came before he was to meet with Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s Middle East envoy, to discuss the cease-fire proposal that Ukraine had already agreed to.” MB: Notice we are now at a point in history where the cautious New York Times casually says that the POTUS* “has emerged as a key geopolitical partner for” the Russian leader. ~~~

     ~~~ Mary Ilyushina & Sammy Westfall of the Washington Post: “Here is what Russia has said about the conditions it would need to reach a peace deal.... Russia controls about one-fifth of Ukraine. It wants to keep that and then some. The Kremlin has ruled out ceding any of the land it has seized.... Ukraine membership in NATO ... is a nonstarter for Putin.... Russia demanded the return of six diplomatic compounds that it said had been seized illegally by the United States.... Publicly, the Kremlin maintains that all sanctions are illegal and must be lifted. Privately, however, Moscow, would welcome any relief from U.S. sanctions, as it would undermine Western unity....”