The Conversation -- February 15, 2025
Marie: We are living in a surreal new environment and watching a terrifying clown show.
Saint Valentine's Day Massacre. Jill Colvin, et al., of the AP: “Workers across the country responded with anger and confusion Friday as they grappled with the Trump administration's aggressive effort to shrink the size of the federal workforce by ordering agencies to lay off probationary employees who have yet to qualify for civil service protections. While much of the administration’s attention was focused on disrupting bureaucracy in Washington, the broad-based effort to slash the government workforce was impacting a far wider swath of workers. As layoff notices were sent out agency by agency, federal employees from Michigan to Florida were left reeling from being told that their services were no longer needed. In a sign of how chaotic the firings have been, some who received layoff notices had already accepted the administration’s deferred resignation offer, under which they were supposed to be paid until Sept. 30 if they agreed to quit, raising questions about whether others who signed the deal would nonetheless be fired. On Friday evening, the Office of Personnel Management ... acknowledged that some employees may have received termination notices in error and said the buyouts agreements would be honored.” ~~~
~~~ Liz Crampton, et al., of Politico: “Trump’s directive to slash thousands of jobs across agencies is leaving gaping holes in the government.... At the U.S. Forest Service, where some 3,400 workers are slated to be cut, wildfire prevention will be curtailed as the West grapples with a destructive fire season that has destroyed millions of acres in California. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wasn’t spared: Almost half of the agency’s 2,800 probationary employees were cut while about 400 employees appeared to have taken the 'buy-out' offer, meaning the agency responsible for protecting Americans from disease outbreaks and other health hazards will lose about a tenth of its workforce.” ~~~
Indiscriminate workforce cuts aren’t efficient and won’t fix the federal budget.... Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) ~~~
~~~ Madeleine Ngo & Brad Plumer of the New York Times: “The Trump administration accelerated plans for widespread work force cuts across the government on Friday, as employees at multiple federal agencies learned they would be losing their jobs. Agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Agriculture Department were the latest to be hit with layoffs as ... [Donald] Trump and a team led by the billionaire Elon Musk ramped up an initiative to cut government spending and overhaul government. The administration has recently focused its efforts on an estimated 200,000 probationary workers, who do not receive the same protections as many other federal employees.... Some of the biggest cuts were made at the Energy Department ... [Where a]round 1,000 federal workers at the agency, all probationary employees, were told they were losing their jobs....” MB: Yes, yes, please get rid of all those bright young nuclear engineers and technicians as well as the kids who oversee the national power grid. ~~~
~~~ Update. Geoff Broomfiel of NPR: "... National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) ... officials were given hours to fire hundreds of employees, and workers were shut out of email as termination notices arrived. The terminations were part of a broader group of dismissals at the Department of Energy, where reportedly more than a thousand federal workers were terminated. It was all a result of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative to slash the federal workforce and what Musk and President Trump characterize as excessive government spending. The NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within the Department of Energy that oversees the U.S. stockpile of thousands of nuclear weapons. Despite having the words 'National' and 'Security' in its title, it was not getting an exemption for national security, managers at the agency were told last Friday.... Managers were given just 200 characters to explain why the jobs these workers did mattered.... In the final days leading up to the firings, managers drew up lists of essential workers and pleaded to keep them. In the end, it didn't matter. On Thursday, officials were told that the vast majority of the exemptions they had asked for were denied by the Trump administration.... But what followed was even more confusing.... Employees reached by NPR on Friday were unsure whether they still worked at the agency." ~~~
~~~ Update 2. Whoops! Mary Papenfuss of the Independent: “The National Nuclear Safety Administration was struggling Friday to rehire some of the nation’s top nuclear specialists after they were fired by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency in an apparent massive mistake, according to reports that triggered security fears. Sources told CNN that DOGE staffers apparently did not realize that the agency oversees America’s nuclear weapons stockpile when the employees were fired Thursday. The terminations were quickly rescinded Friday, CNN reported. The workers were fired because 'no one” had 'taken any time to understand what we do and the importance of our work to the nation’s national security,' one source told CNN.” MB: Wait, wait! No less an expert than Trump's Secretary of the Treasury has told us these DOGE boyz were “highly-trained professionals.” How could they make a “massive mistake”? ~~~
~~~ Hannah Natanson, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration’s move to fire thousands of federal employees could have a swift and severe impact on public services, staffers warned Friday, making it harder for veterans to get mental health care and hampering electric service to some rural residents as a beleaguered workforce struggles to cover for lost colleagues. The full impact of the terminations will not be fully known for weeks or months, and some job losses may be reversed or challenged by law. At least one agency, the Department of Energy, paused some cuts to assess their effect on nuclear defense programs, according to three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Still, workers said basic functions at many agencies are slowing almost immediately and could break down as critical colleagues are shown the door.... The widespread firings imperiled services across the country, from farm towns to city centers.” MB: Remember, “imperiled service” here is a feature, not a bug. The best way to turn the public against the bureaucracy is to make sure the bureaucracy cannot function. ~~~
~~~ Case in Point. Jeff Stein, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration is expected to begin laying off thousands of employees at the Internal Revenue Service, six people briefed on the matter said, as billionaire Elon Musk’s team begins to target tax collections.... The layoffs are likely targeting tax collection, several of the people briefed on the matter said. Indeed, associates of Musk’s team are beginning to meet with high-ranking IRS officials about what could prove dramatic changes to the tax agency.... Republicans have long aimed to shrink the tax agency and were particularly incensed by the Biden administration’s push to hire thousands of new IRS agents to increase tax enforcement and collections.... The tax agency grew by about 10 percent last year.... 'Stripping the IRS of resources is a windfall for those who like to game the system, and those are the most sophisticated and richest taxpayers...,' said Steve Rosenthal [of] the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Here's a quiz question I bet you'll ace. Last year, the Biden administration beefed up the tax collection and enforcement divisions of the IRS. The number of IRS agents increased by about 10 percent. Now, not all of those new agents were in the collection and enforcement end of the agency, but the implication is that a lot of them were. Now, the minimum probation period is a year. So who's getting laid off first? ~~~
~~~ The Right Hand Doesn't Know What the Right Hand Is Doing. Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: “The National Park Service plans to fire roughly 1,000 probationary employees who have worked at the agency less than one year, according to three people familiar with the matter, while reinstating around 5,000 seasonal job offers that were rescinded last month due to ... Donald Trump’s federal hiring freeze. The two moves underscore the confusing — and at times contradictory — nature of the new administration’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce.” ~~~
~~~ ⭐“So What?” Natalie Allison & Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: “Federal and nonprofit employees across Washington are reeling, some preparing to be jobless as ... Donald Trump takes an ax to their agencies. Government aid workers abroad have had to foot the bill to relocate their families back home, their programs and livelihoods suddenly cut short. Food is at risk of spoiling as it sits waiting to be distributed in relief projects that may not continue. The Trump administration’s response has roughly amounted to so what? 'I campaigned on this,' Trump said from behind the Resolute Desk this week, defending the ruthlessness with which his White House is moving to cut the federal workforce and spending programs that have existed for decades.... A White House official dismissed concerns about the cuts as a 'media narrative.'... 'They get the one starving kid in Sudan that isn’t going to have a USAID bottle, and they make everything DOGE has done about the starving kid in Sudan,' [the White House official said.]”
Chris Cameron of the New York Times: “A federal judge declined on Friday to block the access of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency to records systems containing personal information at the Health and Human Services Department, the Labor Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a setback for unions and nonprofits trying to fight Elon Musk’s effort to cut and reshape government. In an 11-page ruling, Judge John D. Bates of the Federal District Court in Washington wrote that he had grave concerns about the privacy issues raised by the case, particularly because the data in question 'includes information on all Americans who rely on Medicare and Medicaid, as well as countless consumers.' But, he added, the case made by the plaintiffs — led by the A.F.L.-C.I.O., an umbrella group of unions that represent many federal workers — did not meet the high legal bar necessary for him to immediately block the initiative’s access while the case proceeded. 'The record indicates,' Judge Bates wrote, that members of Mr. Musk’s team are federal employees 'who have a need for the record in the performance of their duties.'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Judge, I wonder if your “grave concern”TM-Susan Collins, would have been graver had you taken into account that the boys to whom you gave access to my Social Security number and medical history and my financial history are these same guys, according to the Verge: “The DOGE website created to document how Elon Musk’s team is eviscerating the US federal government is wide open for anyone to edit. This is the same DOGE organization that has gained unprecedented access to sensitive US financial systems with data on millions of Americans.” And they're doing it all in secret. They could use by Social Security number to steal my identity, they could decide I don't need those medications my doctor has prescribed, they could decide the IRS must audit me (again). ~~~
~~~ Update. Step Right Up, Folks. Get Your Classified Data Here. It's a DOGE Special for One and All. Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: “Elon Musk’s team at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency has posted classified information about the size and staff of a U.S. intelligence agency on its new website, raising bigger concerns about where Musk’s programmers got this information and what they are doing with it. DOGE ... launched its website on Wednesday night with a feature allowing users to 'trace your tax dollars through the bureaucracy.' People can navigate through all federal agencies and offices for details about their head counts, budgets and average ages of employees. The website states in tiny print at the bottom that its database excludes information from U.S. intelligence agencies. But an easy search shows that DOGE’s database provides details on the National Reconnaissance Office, the federal agency that designs, builds and maintains U.S. intelligence satellites. Not only are NRO’s budgets and head counts classified, but the prospect of Musk’s tech team meddling in sensitive personnel information is setting off alarms for some in the intelligence community.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Musk is a professional spy's nightmare. Who needs spies when, in no time, Elon and his Junior Scouts will post all the secret stuff online.
JayDee to Europeans: You-All Are Not Nice Enough to Nazis. Jim Tankersley, et al., of the New York Times: “Vice President JD Vance told European leaders on Friday that their biggest security threat ... was what he called 'the enemy within' — their own suppression of abortion protests and other forms of free speech and the sidelining of parties considered extremist. The address stunned and silenced hundreds of attendees at the Munich Security Conference, a forum where top-level politicians, diplomats and analysts had gathered expecting to hear the Trump administration’s plans for ending the war in Ukraine and Europe’s defense against a rising Russian threat in the future. Instead, the vice president offered what may be a preview of a new kind of trans-Atlantic relationship under Mr. Trump — one not built on postwar bonds of stability between allied governments, but rather on ties with once-fringe political parties that share a common approach to migration, identity and internet speech. Mr. Vance singled out his German hosts, who will elect a new chancellor next weekend, and told them to drop their objections to working with a party that has often reveled in banned Nazi slogans and has been shunned from government as a result.” Politico's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Chancellor Scholz Smacks Down Nazi-Adjacent JayDee. Jim Tankersley of the New York Times: “Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany on Saturday accused Vice President JD Vance of unacceptably interfering in his country’s imminent elections on behalf of a party that has played down the atrocities committed by the Nazis 80 years ago. A day after Mr. Vance stunned the Munich Security Conference by telling German leaders to drop their so-called firewall and allow the hard-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, to enter their federal government, Mr. Scholz accused Mr. Vance of effectively violating a commitment to never again allow Germany to be led by fascists who could repeat the horrors of the Holocaust. 'A commitment to “never again” is not reconcilable with support for the AfD,' Mr. Scholz said at the conference on Saturday morning, in an address opening the gathering’s second day. Mr. Scholz said the AfD had trivialized Nazi atrocities like the concentration camp at Dachau, which Mr. Vance visited on Friday. He said Germany 'would not accept' directives from outsiders about how to run its democracy — and certainly not to work with such a party.” ~~~
~~~ Irie Sentner of Politico: “JD Vance met Friday with the leader of the far-right German political party being boosted by Elon Musk, according to a person familiar with the meeting granted anonymity to discuss the vice president’s schedule.... Vance met with the leaders of all four major German political parties, the person said — including Alice Weidel, the leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AFD.” MB: I suppose it's appropriate that JayDee met Weidel in Munich, the site of Adolf Hitler's infamous coup attempt of 1923, known as the Beer Hall Putsch. Hitler's putsch failed, and he was captured and jailed, but the attempted coup was what first brought him to the attention of the nation.
A Special Ops with Ominous Overtones. Andrew Higgins & Tomas Dapkus of the New York Times: “The senior American diplomat slipped quietly into Belarus, a police state run by a strongman reviled for decades in the West, traveling by car across the border for meetings with President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko and the head of his KGB security apparatus. It was Mr. Lukashenko’s first meeting with a senior State Department official in five years, and the start of what could be a highly consequential thawing of frozen relations between the United States and Russia’s closest ally. The below-the-radar American visit to Minsk, the Belarusian capital, on Wednesday came just a day after ... [Donald] Trump had a long telephone call with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.... After talks with Mr. Lukashenko, Christopher W. Smith, a deputy assistant secretary of state, and two other American officials drove to a village near the border with Lithuania. There, courtesy of the Belarusian KGB, three people who had been jailed — an American and two Belarusian political prisoners — were waiting to be picked up.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: The Times reporters present the meeting as a good thing -- one which "rais[es] hopes of loosening [Lukashenko's] repression and his embrace of Moscow. Of course it is a very good thing that Lukashenko released some political prisoners and may release more. But I see this mini-thaw as a possible opening move toward expanding Trump's Dictators Club.
Benjamin Weiser, et al., of the New York Times: “The first act of a drama that has shaken the Department of Justice ended Friday when a top official signed a formal request to drop corruption charges against New York’s mayor after Manhattan’s acting U.S. attorney refused to and resigned. The official, Emil Bove III, had originally ordered Manhattan federal prosecutors who brought the case against Mayor Eric Adams to seek its dismissal. But the leader of the Manhattan office, Danielle R. Sassoon, resigned rather than obey, and she was followed out the door by at least six other prosecutors in New York and Washington. Mr. Bove, whose order specified that the decision to dismiss the case had nothing do with its legal strengths, was ultimately compelled to sign the motion himself, along with two other Washington prosecutors, Edward Sullivan and Antoinette T. Bacon.... Now attention will turn to Dale E. Ho, the judge who is overseeing the case in Manhattan federal court.... Under the law, judges may question a prosecutor’s decision to seek a dismissal of charges, but they almost always grant such requests.” ~~~
~~~ Devlin Barrett, et al., of the New York Times: “About two dozen lawyers in the Justice Department’s public integrity section conferred on Friday morning to wrestle with a demand from a Trump political appointee [Emil Bove] that many of them viewed as improper: One of them needed to sign the official request to dismiss corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams.... By Friday afternoon, a veteran prosecutor in the section, Ed Sullivan, agreed to submit the request in Manhattan federal court to shield his colleagues from being fired, or resigning en masse.... Mr. Bove, speaking on a video call, demanded that the court motions be signed within an hour..., leaving participants with the impression that they might face disciplinary action if no one complied.... The filing landed in the court docket Friday evening, bearing the name of Mr. Sullivan and that of a criminal division supervisor as well as the signature of Mr. Bove.... Those close to the public integrity section prosecutors described Mr. Sullivan’s decision to put his name on the document as heroic....” ~~~
I want to be crystal clear with New Yorkers: I never offered - nor did anyone offer on my behalf - any trade of my authority as your mayor for an end to my case. Never. -- Mayor Eric Adams, in a statement Friday ~~~
~~~ “Up His Butt.” Rich Schapiro & Tom Winter of NBC News: “On the same day the Justice Department was hit with a wave of resignations over an order to drop corruption charges against Eric Adams, the New York City mayor met with ... Donald Trump's border czar in a closed-door meeting. The mayor, who is under intense pressure from the Trump administration as his criminal case hangs in the balance, agreed in the meeting Thursday to allow federal immigration officials to operate at the city's Rikers Island jail. 'I came to New York City and I wasn't going to leave with nothing,' Tom Homan, Trump's border czar, said Friday morning in a joint interview with Adams on 'Fox and Friends.'... 'If he doesn’t come through,' Homan said, 'I'll be back in New York City and we won't be sitting on the couch. I'll be in his office, up his butt saying, “Where the hell is the agreement we came to?”'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I guess we need to give Adams props for lying with the same casual aplomb Trump does. And speaking of the Lyin' King ~~~
~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill: On Friday, “Trump was asked about the controversy that has surrounded the Adams case. 'I don’t know about it,' Trump said in the Oval Office. 'Obviously, I’m not involved in that, but I would say this. If they had a problem — and these are mostly people from the previous administration, you understand. So they weren’t going to be there anyway. They were all going to be gone or dismissed … because what you do is you come in and you put new people in.... But I know nothing about the individual case. I know that they didn’t feel it was much of the case. They also felt that it was unfair with the election.'... [Danielle] Sassoon had clerked for former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and had been appointed to her position by Trump’s team.” ~~~
~~~Marie: PLUS. Most of the other prosecutors and DOJ officials who quit rather than sign on to the quid pro quo were career civil servants. Hagan Scotten (see next story) clerked for John Roberts & Brett Kavanaugh, so probably not a “radical left-wing lunatic.” Not only did Sassoon argue that the case against Adams was solid, she revealed that the SDNY was bringing additional charges against him, as recommended by a grand jury. So lie-la-lie-lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie. ~~~
~~~ One Pissed-off Prosecutor. Jonah Bromwich, et al., of the New York Times: “Hagan Scotten, the lead prosecutor on the federal corruption case against Mayor Eric Adams of New York City, resigned after Justice Department officials ordered the dismissal of charges he had helped bring, suggesting that only a 'fool' or a 'coward' would obey. In an undated, scathing resignation letter, Mr. Scotten wrote that any federal prosecutor 'would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials.' He added: 'If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me.' Mr. Scotten was responding to a Justice Department official’s directive this week to dismiss the bribery, fraud and other charges against Mr. Adams so the mayor could help with President Trump’s immigration crackdown.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update. The NBC News story is here. It includes the text of Scotten's Dear Emil letter. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “Speaking to U.S. attorneys in 1940, Attorney General Robert H. Jackson reflected on the enormous scope of prosecutorial power and the crucial importance of shielding it from politics. 'The prosecutor has more control over life, liberty and reputation than any other person in America,' Mr. Jackson, who would go on to be a Supreme Court justice of rare distinction, wrote in a text that is taught to law students and circulated to young lawyers. Sharply differing interpretations of the classic 85-year-old speech, 'The Federal Prosecutor,' figured prominently in an extraordinary exchange of letters on Thursday that led to the resignation of Danielle R. Sassoon after she refused to carry out the Trump administration’s command to drop the corruption prosecution of New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams. The two views reflect a schism in conservative legal thought over how prosecutors ... should balance their duty to obey orders from superiors with their obligation to follow their best understanding of the law. One view emphasizes caution, deliberation, and independent and decentralized judgment, while the other values top-down vigor in the service of policy goals that can seem transactional if not unprincipled.” This is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ The text of Jackson's speech is here.
Jeremy Barr & Laura Wagner of the Washington Post: “A White House official said Friday that the Associated Press will be prevented from having reporters attend events in the Oval Office or fly with the president on Air Force One, a prohibition that could severely limit the news organization’s ability to cover the administration. It was the latest escalation in a clash between the White House and the AP, which since Tuesday has been prevented from covering official administration events because of a decision to continue using the name Gulf of Mexico, rather than Gulf of America. White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich said AP reporters will retain their press passes but will have their access limited.” ~~~
~~~ And in today's Comments, we also learn the sad news that the White House also has barred Akhilleus from AF1 for a similar but nonetheless shocking indiscretion. ~~~
~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "The next step should be obvious: every actual news outlet should boycott’s Trump’s alt-right improvs (or the sessions where he sundowns while a dork who does more speed than Bob Dylan in 1965 rambles almost as incoherently) until the AP’s access is restored. Trump needs the press a lot more than it needs him — he wants these events to be covered — and the downside is non-existent[.]... Needless to say, I think the route chosen is much more likely to be the collaboraiton/total capitulation we’ve already seen from big tech."
Paul Krugman posts on "Lies, Damned Lies & Trumpflation." Krugman runs down about a half-dozen ways the Trump/Musk presidency is screwing up the economy. Then, in a non-musical coda, he adds: "In yesterday’s post I noted that the whole condoms-for-Hamas thing came from DOGE staffers who confused Gaza province in Mozambique with the Gaza Strip. Well, as one commenter pointed out, the thing about 150-year-old Social Security beneficiaries [MB: whom Musk claimed were fraudsters getting Social Security checks] may be another comical error. Apparently in COBOL — obsolete in the business world but still used in government — a missing date of birth is registered as 1875. Commenters on X and Threads say the same. So the only 'fraud' here is the pretense that Musk’s child programmers have any idea what they’re doing." (Also linked yesterday.) Then there's this: ~~~
~~~ Gerrit De Vynck & Trisha Thadani of the Washington Post: “Some employees and investors in electric automaker Tesla Motors have begun speaking out over fears that CEO Elon Musk’s alliance with ... Donald Trump is harming the company and its long-standing goal of building a more sustainable future.... [At a] recent staff meeting, senior managers indicated that the company would be better off if Musk resigned.... Tesla shares are down 12 percent over the past month. New registrations of Tesla vehicles in Germany dropped nearly 60 percent in January from the previous month.... Musk appeared at a rally for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party last month.... Twenty-four protests are planned for Saturday at Tesla showrooms and offices across the country, according to a webpage set up by activist group ACRE to help coordinate the gatherings.” Thanks to laura h. for the link.
Marie: When I first scanned the following post, I thought it was an Andy Borowitz-style satire. But no. It's the real thing: ~~~
~~~ Doktor Zoom of Wonkette: “In an act of revisionist history Joseph Stalin might admire, the National Park Service disappeared all references to transgender and queer people from its main page for the Stonewall National Monument in New York City yesterday. President Barack Obama signed a proclamation creating the monument in 2016, to mark the site of the June 28, 1969, riot/uprising at the Stonewall Inn, a gay dive bar where the patrons reacted to yet another police raid by fighting back instead of going quietly, sparking the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.... The first change people noticed was simply the removal of “transgender,” along with the abbreviation being changed to 'LGBQ+' — literally trans erasure. But even as outrage over that change was spreading on social media, more and more parts of the page went away. Within an hour, the page had been altered further, disappearing 'queer' and the 'Q+' as well, so that now the page is about the LGB rights movement.” Also, check out the differences between the then and now pictures that top the Park Service's page; Doktor Zoom asks, “Who knew all those 'spot six differences' puzzles would prepare us so well for the second Trump administration?” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update: A Washington Post story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Turns out the Stonewall headline wasn't the only one that I took to be satirical -- until I realized it was not: ~~~
~~~ “Seeking a Mar-a-Lago Vibe, Trump Considers Paving Over ... Rose Garden.” Jonathan Swan & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: Donald Trump “has told associates that he wants to rip up the grass in the Rose Garden, one of the White House’s most iconic and meticulously maintained spots, and replace it with a hard surface to resemble a patio like the one he has at Mar-a-Lago. Designers have drafted options for how to remake the surface of the Rose Garden, which sits just outside the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room.... Mr. Trump has other plans for the West Wing. He wants to hang a grand chandelier from the ceiling of the Oval Office, the people briefed on the matter said. He has already covered almost every free inch of the walls and mantle space in the Oval Office with portraits of presidents, among other images; one frame just outside the office includes the New York Post front page photo of Mr. Trump’s mug shot when he was processed after being indicted in Fulton County, Ga.” ~~~
~~~ According to the Haberman & Swan, Trump has also been discussing putting a $100 million ballroom in the White House. Someplace. Marie: How, exactly, does all this fit into this fake costs-savings scheme Trump & Musk have been pretending is their goal.
A Wake for the Woke. Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: “For the many people in liberal Washington scandalized by Mr. Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center, Thursday night was like a cross between a wake and last call. Drag performers protested outside in the cold, as students from George Washington University marched around shouting about Mr. Trump. Inside, some well-heeled patrons of the ballet were literally clutching their pearls as they contemplated the future of the institution. At the other end of the foyer, copies of a children’s book called 'Do the Work! An Antiracist Activity Book' were being sold ahead of [comic Kamau] Bell’s stand-up routine. (He co-wrote the book.)”
Waste, Fraud and Abuse. Adeel Hassan of the New York Times: “Over a 16-month period beginning in June 2022, the Justice Department said Friday..., Candies Goode-McCoy, [a Las Vegas, Nevada, woman,] filed more than 1,200 returns in order to fraudulently claim Covid-19 tax credits of nearly $100 million.... Ms. Goode-McCoy, 34, who pleaded guilty under a plea agreement on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas to charges of conspiracy to defraud the government, managed to get the I.R.S. to pay out about $33 million, prosecutors said. She took $1.3 million of that herself, they said, and received an additional $800,000 from those for whom she prepared the false returns.... According to prosecutors, the businesses for which Ms. Goode-McCoy prepared taxes were not eligible to receive the refundable credits in the amounts claimed.... Ms. Goode-McCoy, who could face as much as 10 years in prison when she is sentenced in February 2026, used the money to gamble at casinos, take vacations and buy luxury cars, prosecutors said. She also purchased designer clothing from Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci and Louis Vuitton, court documents show....
“The refunds that Ms. Goode-McCoy sought were based on the Employee Retention Credit and the Sick and Family Leave Credit programs, court documents showed....The Small Business Administration’s inspector general has estimated that more than $200 billion — or at least 17 percent of the pandemic loans that the agency distributed — was awarded to 'potentially fraudulent actors.'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Where's Elon? Did I mention that the Employee Retention Credit and the Sick and Family Leave Credits are part of the CARES Act that Donald Trump signed into law in 2020? Oh, and did I mention that last month Trump fired the Small Business Administration's inspector general? After his firing, the SBA's IG Mike “Ware highlighted the nonpartisan nature of IGs while detailing functions of the position. 'IGs across the Federal government work every day on behalf of American taxpayers to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in the programs and operations of their agencies,' he said.” Every reporter, at even the stupidest rag published, should be required to write Trump, Musk or whoever is lying when they claim they are aiming to reduce government waste, fraud and abuse.
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Louisiana. Good-bye, First Amendment; Adieu, Academic Freedom. Angie Hernandez of the Washington Post: “Tenured professor Ken Levy was placed on leave by Louisiana State University Jan. 17, three days after he made comments about Trump and Gov. Jeff Landry (R) during a lecture, according to court documents.... Levy [said], 'then f--- the governor,' [in regard to one matter,] according to lecture transcripts published by the Advocate.... In another portion of the lecture, Levy expressed concern about the Trump administration’s impact on the judicial branch, noting he 'couldn’t believe that f---er won,' according to the transcripts.After one student complained to Landry’s office, Levy was placed on leave pending an internal investigation, according to his lawsuit.... Levy, who has become a target of social media attacks by Landry, was reinstated Tuesday by a district judge while an investigation continued — but two days later, the First Circuit Court of Appeal issued a stay of that decision, placing Levy back under suspension.... Levy has taught at LSU’s law school for 16 years and received tenure in 2015.”
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Israel/Palestine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Saturday are here: “Hamas freed three thin and pale Israeli hostages from captivity in Gaza on Saturday, prolonging a fragile cease-fire with Israel that seemed on the brink of collapse earlier this week. Israel said it had released 369 Palestinian prisoners in exchange, concluding the sixth such swap under the cease-fire deal. The Palestinian captors forced the Israelis to mount a stage in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis and give speeches in Hebrew against a backdrop of portraits of Hamas leaders. At least one of the hostages was visibly gaunt, and another appeared frail. Rifle-toting militants affiliated with Hamas and another group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, stood nearby. Some carried Israeli weapons, part of the carefully choreographed theatrics that have also been on display in past releases.... The three male civilians released were captured from a rural village at the start of the war in October 2023. They are Sasha Troufanov, 29; Iair Horn, 46; and Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, one of the few American citizens still held in Gaza.” ~~~
Aaron Boxerman: “Netanyahu’s office attributed the release in part to ... [Donald] Trump’s ultimatum to Hamas to free hostages by this weekend.” MB: Say what? Trump first demanded that Hamas release all of its hostages before he was inaugurated or there would be “HELL TO PAY.” Then “Trump said [this past] Monday that if all of the hostages being held in Gaza aren't returned by midday Saturday, he would see the ceasefire as void and 'let hell break out'.” Hamas released three hostages. I hope all hell does not break out, but these look like empty threats to me. Shouldn't Trump be doing more to get his Gaza Riviera project going? ~~~
~~~ A Washington Post story is here.
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