The Conversation -- February 21, 2025
If you live in a blue state, you'll never get a letter again. ~~~
~~~ The Royal Mail. Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump is preparing to dissolve the leadership of the U.S. Postal Service and absorb the independent mail agency into his administration, potentially throwing the 250-year-old mail provider and trillions of dollars of e-commerce transactions into turmoil. Trump is expected to issue an executive order as soon as this week to fire the members of the Postal Service’s governing board and place the agency under the control of the Commerce Department and Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to six people familiar with the plans, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals. The board is planning to fight Trump’s order, three of those people told The Washington Post. In an emergency meeting Thursday, the board retained outside counsel and gave instructions to sue the White House if the president were to remove members of the board or attempt to alter the agency’s independent status.... Trump’s order to place the Commerce Department in charge of the Postalf Service would probably violate federal law, according to postal experts.... After this story was published, a White House spokesperson said no such executive order was planned.” Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~
~~~ According to the WashPo report linked above, “Americans consistently rank the Postal Service among their most-beloved government agencies, second only to the National Park Service.” So let's see how things are going at the Trump/Musk Park Service: ~~~
~~~ Maxine Joselow & Andrea Sachs of the Washington Post (Feb. 19): “... Donald Trump’s purge of federal employees is not only upending the lives of National Park Service workers, but also threatening to harm the visitor experience at national parks across the country. The problems are expected to escalate during the summer season, when more than 100 million Americans and international tourists typically visit the 63 national parks in the United States.... As part of a directive to fire most trial and probationary staff across the federal government, the Park Service on Friday terminated roughly 1,000 probationary employees....” Fer instance, Musk/Trump fired Yosemite's only locksmith three weeks before his probationary period was up. “Yosemite, which is roughly the size of Rhode Island, has hundreds of locked buildings and gates. Sometimes visitors get locked inside vault toilets or restrooms.” As the Brits say, so yeah. ~~~
~~~ The Petty Petit King. Heather Knight of the New York Times: This week Donald Trump “ordered the federal government to 'eliminate to the maximum extent' the functions of the Presidio Trust, one of [former Speaker Nancy] Pelosi’s proudest San Francisco accomplishments as a Democratic stalwart in Congress. The trust oversees the Presidio, a former military outpost in the city’s northwest corner that is known for its lush grounds, scenic hiking trails and eclectic collection of businesses in repurposed army buildings, all with stunning views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Residents consider it a city treasure, and tourists flock there for the bayside beaches and parks.... The president issued an executive order late Wednesday titled 'Commencing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy' that listed four 'unnecessary' entities, with the Presidio Trust at the top of the list. The groups have two weeks to show that they are using no federal money other than the funds required by statute to be spent.”
Off with Their Heads. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: “The Trump administration told Congress on Thursday that it believed ... [Donald] Trump had the constitutional power to summarily fire administrative law judges at will, despite a statute that protects such officials from being removed without a cause like misconduct. The move was the latest step in the administration’s unfolding assault on the basic structure of the federal government and on Congress’ power to insulate various types of executive branch officials in sensitive positions from political interference from the White House. The Trump administration disclosed its approach in a letter from Sarah M. Harris, the acting solicitor general.... Ms. Harris’s letter to Congress also brought to wider attention that the Justice Department had said it would no longer defend the constitutionality of the law protecting administrative law judges in a little-noticed Feb. 11 filing in an appeals court case.”
Apparently one type of climate-change denial is to deny and ignore the effects of climate change, even when they slap you upside the head AND rip your guts out: ~~~
~~~ Christopher Flavelle of the New York Times: “The Trump administration plans to all but eliminate the office that oversees America’s recovery from the largest disasters, raising questions about how the United States will rebuild from hurricanes, wildfires and other calamities made worse by climate change. The Office of Community Planning and Development, part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, pays to rebuild homes and other recovery efforts after the country’s worst disasters.... The administration plans to cut the staff in that office by 84 percent, according to a document obtained by The New York Times. The number of workers would be cut to 150, from 936 when Mr. Trump took office last month.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Jessica Glenza of the Guardian: “Academics and scientists who work with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said the Trump administration’s orders have severely disrupted work – delaying projects and casting the future of research funding and jobs into doubt as chaos in the agency reigns. An array of orders seeks to fundamentally reshape the NIH, the world’s largest public funder of biomedical and behavioral research, in the Trump administration’s image. The agency’s work is the wellspring of scientific advancement in the US, and helped make the country a dominant force in health and science.... ' and Elon Musk are taking a sledgehammer to the greatest biomedical infrastructure in the world to extend tax cuts,' [President of the American Association of University Professors Todd] Wolfson said. NIH-funded basic or applied research has also contributed to 386 of the 387 drugs the Food and Drug Administration approved between 2000 and 2019, and more than 100 Nobel prizes have been awarded to scientists based on NIH-funded work. NIH grants often fund basic research conducted at universities and colleges across the country, touching every state and nearly every congressional district.”
Corbin Hiar of Politico: “The National Science Foundation went beyond the staff cuts demanded by the Trump administration in a move that set off a frenzied backlash at the science funding agency. NSF fired about 10 percent of its staff at the end of Tuesday, removing 168 people who included most of the agency’s probationary employees and all of its experts, a class of contract workers who are specialists in niche scientific fields. The agency didn’t have to fire its experts but decided to in the interest of fairness, a top NSF official told staffers in an emotionally charged hybrid meeting Tuesday morning at its Alexandria, Virginia, headquarters.... To avoid having the stain of a firing on their resumes, staffers were told they could resign. But then they would not be eligible for unemployment payments. The announcement prompted outrage, confusion and concern from people at the meeting, resulting in a string of scathing all-staff emails from impacted workers.”
Salvador Rizzo of the Washington Post: “A federal judge on Thursday declined to issue a temporary restraining order pausing ... Donald Trump’s moves to fire thousands of employees who are on probationary status or deemed nonessential, clearing a roadblock for the new administration as it attempts sweeping changes to downsize the federal government. U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, ruled against the National Treasury Employees Union and four other labor organizations that requested a temporary halt to the mass firings. More than half a million federal workers could lose their jobs through the Trump administration’s firings and a separate program of deferred resignations, or buyouts, the unions said in legal filings.... Cooper ruled that the unions must file their legal challenge with the Federal Labor Relations Authority, a panel of presidential appointees that hears labor disputes. Any decision from that board may be challenged in federal appellate court, the judge said.”fg
Trump Flouts Judges' Orders. Justin Jouvenal, et al., of the Washington Post: “Federal judges have blocked ... Donald Trump’s attempts to freeze trillions in federal grants and loans, halt billions in foreign assistance and dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development. But in each case, the administration has said it still has legal authority to do at least some of those things, prompting judges and those challenging Trump’s actions to accuse him of failing to comply. Legal experts said the administration’s aggressive maneuvers have approached the red line of openly flouting court orders, as Trump and his top aides and advisers assert vast presidential powers. The most dramatic example came Wednesday. Plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration’s 90-day pause on foreign aid asked a judge to hold the administration in civil contempt for violating his temporary restraining order blocking the freeze. A day earlier, attorneys for the government said agencies could keep a hold on much of the funds despite Judge Amir Ali’s order, based on statutes and regulations that exist separately from Trump’s executive directive. The government said Ali’s order was 'silent' on those other powers and vowed to continue suspension of aid unless the judge clarified his ruling.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update. Daniel Barnes & The Trump administration has not fully complied with a court order pausing the freezing of foreign assistance grants and contracts, a federal judge ruled Thursday. U.S. District Judge Amir Ali last week ordered the administration to allow the disbursement of U.S. foreign assistance after hearing claims from federal contractors challenging an executive order signed by President Donald Trump pausing nearly all foreign assistance.... '... to the extent Defendants have continued the blanket suspension, they are ordered to immediately cease it.' The judge stopped short of holding the administration in contempt." ~~~
~~~ Stephanie Nolen of the New York Times: “Funds for vital health programs around the world remain frozen and their work has not been able to resume, despite a federal judge’s order that temporarily halted the Trump administration’s dismantling of the government’s main foreign aid agency.... A State Department spokesperson said on Tuesday that the office of Secretary of State Marco Rubio had issued more than 180 waivers permitting lifesaving activities to resume, and that more were being approved each day. The department did not reply to a request to provide a list of the 180 projects. But even programs with waivers are still frozen, according to people in more than 40 U.S.A.I.D.-funded groups, because the payments system that U.S.A.I.D. used to disburse funds to the organizations has not operated for weeks.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Adriana Licon of the AP: “Billionaire Elon Musk appeared at a conservative gathering [CPAC (or as Akhilleus would have it, (Congress of Pricks, Assholes, and Convicts)] outside Washington waving a chainsaw in the air, showing openness to auditing the Federal Reserve and accusing Democrats of 'treason.'... Before his appearance, he met with Argentine President Javier Milei, who has been frequently praised by Musk and popularized the power tool while campaigning in 2023 and proposing slashing public spending. After Musk appeared onstage..., he said Milei had a gift for him. The Argentine leader then walked onstage with the red chainsaw and passed it to Musk. The chainsaw was engraved with Milei’s slogan, 'Viva la libertad, carajo,' which is Spanish for 'Long live liberty, damn it.'” ~~~
~~~ Daniel Hampton of the Raw Story: "Donald Trump's ally Steve Bannon took the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference ... [and] told attendees ... the future of MAGA is Donald J. Trump!... We want Trump in '28!...'" See also Trump's remarks about a third term; story linked below. ~~~
~~~ AND Then. Ross Lincoln of the Wrap, republished by Yahoo! News: "If once is a mistake and twice is a coincidence, then on Thursday Republicans got this much closer to a pattern when, at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), former Donald Trump adviser and convicted felon Steve Bannon made a gesture that is identical to a Nazi salute.... Of course the gesture was also identical to one made by billionaire Elon Musk, twice, at Donald Trump’s inauguration." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh, here's something I forgot, but Akhilleus reminds us at the top of today's Comments: ~~~
~~~ Neil Vigdor of the New York Times: “... as the Conservative Political Action Conference got underway outside Washington on Thursday, the group’s influential chairman, Matt Schlapp, was embroiled in another scandal involving allegations of sexual assault against him. The convention comes a week after new accusations emerged in an article by the journalist Yashar Ali that Mr. Schlapp, a confidant of Mr. Trump, had groped a man at a bar in Virginia a few days earlier during a gathering of conservatives. Several people have accused Mr. Schlapp of sexual assault in the past, allegations that he has denied and his allies have dismissed as an 'attempt at character assassination.' Mr. Schlapp has not been charged with any crimes related to the accusations. The details of the latest episode were also documented in a report by the Rappahannock County Sheriff’s Office that was obtained by The New York Times. A previous accuser received a $480,000 settlement after dropping his lawsuit against Mr. Schlapp, 57, who opened Thursday’s session with his usual conservative bombast.” The Daily Beast story, republished by Yahoo! News, is here.
While Musk Cuts, DOGE Booms. Avi Asher-Schapiro, et al., of ProPublica: “While Elon Musk and his underlings demand budget cuts and layoffs across the federal government, funding for their agency — the Department of Government Efficiency — has soared to nearly $40 million.... Most of DOGE’s money, records show, has come in the form of payments from other federal agencies made possible by a nearly century-old law called the Economy Act. To steer those funds to the new department, the Trump administration has treated DOGE as if it were a federal agency.... DOGE has also behaved as if it has agency-level authority. The use of the Economy Act would seem to subject DOGE to the same open-records laws that cover most federal agencies.... However, DOGE has refused to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests, saying it operates with executive privileges. Musk has also flip-flopped about whether DOGE’s staff members are paid. Initially he said they were not, but earlier this week he said some of them were.... The top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., told ProPublica she didn’t believe DOGE had the legal authority for the actions it’s taken. She called it a 'made-up federal department' that’s wasting taxpayer dollars.” ~~~
~~~ Deputy Dogies. Nicole Sganga of CBS News: "Members of Elon Musk's private security detail have been deputized by the U.S. Marshals Service, granting them certain rights and protections of federal law enforcement agents, four sources familiar with the move confirmed to CBS News Thursday. The move comes after several people within Musk's orbit relayed a heightened concern about safety for the tech billionaire, including several death threats in recent weeks.... The U.S. Marshals Service routinely deputizes police.... However, the move to deputize private security officers, who are not sworn law enforcement officials, is considered unorthodox, raising eyebrows among officials familiar with the move."
The G7 -- in fact, the U.N. -- should condemn the U.S. for palling around with dictators. ~~~
~~~ Steven Erlanger, et al., of the New York Times: “The United States is opposing calling Russia the aggressor in the war with Ukraine in a Group of 7 statement being drafted to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, four senior officials from countries involved said on Thursday. The American objections to the statement come after ... [Donald] Trump earlier this week blamed Ukraine for starting the war, which in fact began with Russia’s attack on Ukraine. One senior official from a Group of 7 country said that Canada had circulated the first draft of the statement to the other six member countries. That version, the official said, used language that retained the pro-Ukraine tone the group of allies adopted after the full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022. The U.S. side went through that first draft this week and removed all references that could be interpreted as being pro-Ukraine, the official said. The result, the official added, was a neutral draft statement that made no references to Russia as the aggressor in the conflict, nor to Ukraine as the victim of the invasion.”
Hamed Aleaziz, et al., of the New York Times: “The Trump administration on Thursday transferred all of the Venezuelan migrants it had brought to the U.S. military base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, suddenly emptying a detention operation that it had just as abruptly started this month. Two passenger planes operated by Global X, a charter aircraft company, flew to the naval base on Thursday morning and shuttled most of the migrants to an airfield in Honduras. They were to then be put aboard a Venezuelan plane for repatriation. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Homeland Security Department, said 177 migrants had been transferred to Venezuelan custody, and one had been brought back to an immigration facility in the United States. In a declaration filed in court earlier on Thursday, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official had said 178 Venezuelans were at the base. It was unclear whether the administration intended to send additional migrants to the base.” ~~~
~~~ Morgan Lee & Regina Cano of the AP: “The government of President Nicolás Maduro said it had 'requested the repatriation of a group' of Venezuelans 'who were unjustly taken' to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.... Thursday’s court filing by U.S. Justice Department attorneys provides the most thorough official accounting to date about who is being held at the isolated Guantanamo Bay military complex and why — noting that detainees as of Wednesday were Venezuelans with final orders of deportation. More immigrant transfer flights arrived at Guantanamo Bay on Thursday in planes departing from Texas and Louisiana, said Thomas Cartwright of Witness at the Border.... Relatives of the new Guantanamo detainees and advocacy groups have accused the U.S. government of holding immigrants without access to counsel or any means of vindicating their rights, amid unsubstantiated or disputed accusations of criminal ties.... Attorney Lee Gelernt of the ACLU — among the plaintiffs challenging detention practices at Guantanamo — said Thursday’s deportations were conducted with a troubling lack of transparency.”
~~~ Marie: It's "unclear" because these people do not know what they're doing.
Not Surprisingly, Trump Is Unpopular in Los Angeles. Timothy Karoff of SFGate: “On Thursday morning, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stopped by LA’s Union Station to give a news conference on California’s high-speed rail project. Duffy tore into the project, arguing that it was wasteful and unaccountable, and he announced an upcoming 'compliance review' for the $4 billion in federal funds dedicated to the rail system.... But the most striking part of the conference may have been the LA crowd’s vocal protests. Beneath the sound of Duffy’s voice, video of the conference sounds like a hostile sports match, with near-constant waves of boos and chants. 'Build the rail! Build the rail!' protesters chanted at one point; at another, 'We pay taxes, we want trains!'” ~~~
~~~ Okay, Trump Is Unpopular in Many Places. Rachel Maddow does polls. No new president's polls have ever been as low as Trump's are one month into his presidency*:
~~~ Marie: So why is the Trump/Musk presidency doing all this unpopular stuff? Maddow has two theories, one of which I've posited, the second of which I have not. First, Maddow says that doing whatever he wants, the laws be damned, is Trump's way of ending our constitutional democracy. That's it. He doesn't have to obey established law because Trump is the law. Second, Maddow says that the reason Trump is doing so much stuff that doesn't poll well is that public opinion doesn't matter. You don't have to please the public if you're not going to hold any more elections. Maddow's theory makes sense to me. Politics is a whole different game if you never have to answer to voters. The game is less politics and more Mafia dynamic: you know, destroy your political opponents by various means and strike fear in your ostensible allies. Sound familiar? ~~~
~~~ Now This. Justine McDaniel of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Thursday again raised the prospect of serving for an unconstitutional third term, asking a crowd at a White House [Black History] event whether he should run again and receiving audience chants of 'Four more years!'... Trump basked in the attention, laughing and waving a hand at the audience.... The suggestion followed a stretch of days in which Trump referred to himself as a king and quoted a dictator in suggesting that he was immune from following laws — all while his administration has continued pushing the bounds of presidential power. Trump’s escalating rhetoric stoked further alarm among critics who say he is governing with an authoritarian playbook and fear he could attempt to seize power undemocratically, as he attempted to do after losing the 2020 election.” The Hill's report is here.
Lena Sun & Fenit Nirappil of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration has directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to indefinitely postpone a public meeting of its vaccine advisory panel, a key forum for the nation’s discussion of information about vaccine safety and effectiveness. The decision came Thursday from officials at the Department of Health and Human Services, CDC’s parent agency, led by anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who has long criticized the panel and the CDC.... News about the postponed meeting drew swift reaction. More than 50 medical experts and organizations sent a letter to Kennedy, [Sen. Bill] Cassidy [R-La.] and the CDC’s acting director, Susan Monarez, to preserve the panel’s meeting and agenda. The meeting holds 'tremendous weight and relevance,' said the letter, which included signatories from the American Medical Association, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease.” During Kennedy's confirmation hearing, Cassidy said he had received assurances from Kennedy that he would not disrupt or replace the current vaccine approval systems.” ~~~
~~~ Adam Cancryn, et al., of Politico: “HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is preparing to remove members of the outside committees that advise the federal government on vaccine approvals and other key public health decisions, according to two people familiar with the planning. Kennedy plans to replace members who he perceives to have conflicts of interest, as part of a widespread effort to minimize what he’s criticized as undue industry influence over the nation’s health agencies, said one of the people, who were granted anonymity to speak freely. Kennedy has long argued that drugmakers have too much sway over the approval of their products. The effort is likely to target the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which plays a key role in setting vaccine policy. Kennedy and his top aides are also scrutinizing a host of other outside panels, including those that advise the Food and Drug Administration.” MB: Why, it's as if Kennedy lied to Cassidy so Cassidy would vote to confirm him. And Cassidy did. ~~~
~~~ Helene Branswell of STAT News: “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was ordered to shelve promotions it developed for a variety of vaccines, including a 'Wild to Mild' advertising campaign urging people to get vaccinated against flu, two sources familiar with the decision told STAT. The Department of Health and Human Services’ assistant secretary for public affairs informed the CDC that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wanted advertisements that promote the idea of 'informed consent' in vaccine decision-making instead. Informed consent is the principle that people should be notified of all the risks, as well as benefits, of any medical intervention they receive or any drug they are prescribed. It is a cornerstone of health care delivery. Shifting the framing of advertising for vaccines that the CDC has long recommended — like flu shots — to put more focus on the possible risks of vaccines could undermine people’s willingness to get vaccinated, or to have their children immunized.”
Kyle Cheney of Politico: “The Justice Department now says that ... Donald Trump’s clemency for Jan. 6 rioters covers unrelated crimes that were discovered during FBI searches stemming from the attack on the Capitol. Federal prosecutors revealed the new legal position this week in court papers seeking to drop gun charges against two former Jan. 6 defendants. The guns in question were found at the two men’s homes during the Jan. 6 investigation, but the alleged gun crimes themselves were not connected to the riot. Nonetheless, prosecutors moved to dismiss the gun cases by invoking Trump’s Day 1 executive order granting mass clemency to Jan. 6 defendants.... The expansive reading of Trump’s clemency order marks the latest push by the new administration to absolve Jan. 6 defendants, whom Trump and his supporters have described as political prisoners and victims of persecution.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: So I guess if the FBI was searching my home for evidence related to January 6 and they found a few decomposed bodies in the basement, I would be absolved from murdering those people. Darn, the best get-out-of-jail card ever, and so few took advantage of it.
Tom Jackman & Elizabeth Dwokin of the Washington Post: “The first nationwide database tracking misconduct by federal police officers has been shut down by ... Donald Trump, the Justice Department confirmed, deleting a resource that experts said improved public safety by helping to prevent bad officers from jumping to new agencies and starting over with clean records. The database was first proposed by Trump in 2020 in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd. But it wasn’t created until two years later when an executive order from President Joe Biden launched the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database. Trump issued an order last month revoking Biden’s orders, and the database. The national database encompassed nearly 150,000 federal officers and agents, from the FBI and IRS down to the Railroad Retirement Board. And though it launched only in December 2023, by the end of last year all 90 executive branch agencies with law enforcement officers had provided thousands of disciplinary records dating to 2017, a report issued by the Justice Department in December said.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Makes perfect sense. In the new upside-down Trumpworld in which we live the only good cop is a bad cop.
Scott MacFarlane of CBS News: "Ed Martin, the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, revealed he has opened inquiries into public statements of Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the U.S. Senate, according to an internal memo to federal prosecutors in Washington. The inquiry will also review a public statement made by Rep. Robert Garcia, a second-term House Democrat from California, Garcia told CBS News. The U.S. attorney's memo, which was obtained by CBS News, alleges the public statements of Democratic legislators could constitute a threat to Supreme Court justices and the newly hired employees of the Trump administration's new Department of Government Efficiency...."
Are We Feeling Sorry for These Republicans Yet? No?? Meredith Hill of Politico: “A growing number of congressional Republicans are desperately trying to back-channel with White House officials as ... Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency ramps up its slash-and-burn firings of federal workers. GOP lawmakers unleashed a frantic flurry of calls and texts after federal agencies undertook the latest firings this past weekend, with Republicans particularly worried about cuts affecting public safety and health roles.... For the most part, Republican members are publicly cheering the administration’s push to slash the federal government.... But privately, many are feeling helpless to counter the meat-ax approach that has been embraced so far....” ~~~
~~~ Syedah Asghar & Zoe Richards of NBC News: “Rep. Rich McCormick faced an angry crowd Thursday during a town hall in his Georgia district, where many constituents lashed out at the Republican lawmaker over his support for massive federal layoffs and budget cuts by the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency. In video of the event taken by Greg Bluestein, a reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and an NBC News contributor, attendees clashed with McCormick, bashing both President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk who is helping lead DOGE's efforts to drastically reduce government spending.”
“Vote-a-Rama.” Robert Jimison of the New York Times: “The Senate was on track to pass Republicans’ budget plan on a straight party-line vote sometime early Friday morning. But first, it was time for a well-worn parliamentary ritual: the hourslong marathon of votes on proposals that will never become law (and were never intended to) known as a 'vote-a-rama.' In a chamber where the average age is 65, the all-nighter brought senators to the floor for a binge of procedural motions and floor speeches delivered to a mostly empty chamber.... For Democrats, who do not have enough votes to block Republicans’ budget, the vote-a-rama was a way to slow its roll, challenge G.O.P. priorities and, when possible, force Republicans into uncomfortable votes intended to create a damaging record to attack them on during next year’s midterm elections. The rules of the Senate allow members to propose an unlimited number of budget amendments, meaning voting can continue until Democrats lose steam and allow the debate to come to a close.” ~~~
~~~ Update. Sahil Kapur, et al., of NBC News: “The Republican-controlled Senate on Friday morning adopted a $340 billion budget blueprint designed to boost funding for ... Donald Trump's immigration enforcement efforts, energy production and the military. The mostly partly-line vote came just before 5 a.m. ET following an all-night 'vote-a-rama,' in which senators cast votes on 33 amendments over the course of a 10-hour span. The final vote was 52-48, with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., as the lone Republican to join all 47 Democrats in voting against the budget resolution.”
Mark Berman & Jeremy Roebuck of the Washington Post: “The Senate on Thursday narrowly voted to confirm Kash Patel as the FBI’s ninth director, installing a close ally of ... Donald Trump and a staunch critic of the bureau to lead the country’s premier law enforcement agency. Patel was approved 51-49, a remarkably tight margin for a position that historically has seen nominees win overwhelming bipartisan support. Each of the last three FBI directors garnered the votes of at least 92 senators.... Republicans Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) voted against Patel.” (Also linked yesterday.) The Guardian's report is here.
Ta Ta. Maegan Vazquez & Mariana Alfaro of the Washington Post: “Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former Senate Republican leader, will not seek reelection next year, he announced in a Senate floor speech on Thursday. McConnell, who is celebrating his 83rd birthday Thursday, is the longest-serving Senate party leader in history.” the AP report is here. MB: That's a shame, because nobody has done as much as Mitch has to prep the nation for an end to democracy than has Mitch. Sure he did it, for the most part (but not entirely!), with more grace and finesse than has King Blunderbuss, But absent Mitch, there might be no king.
~~~~~~~~~~
New York. Benjamin Oreskes, et al., of the New York Times: “Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York announced on Thursday that she would not exercise her authority to remove Mayor Eric Adams from office for now, but would seek to impose strict new guardrails on his administration of New York City. While Ms. Hochul’s actions, if enacted by state and city legislators, would fall far short of the removal some have demanded, they would curtail Mr. Adams’s independence as he battles accusations that he entered a corrupt agreement with the Trump administration to drop federal bribery charges against him.... The governor ... laid out a suite of new oversight measures designed to empower other state and city officials to keep careful watch over Mr. Adams’s team at City Hall and potentially challenge Mr. Trump if the mayor would not.” An AP story is here.
Wisconsin. Theodore Schleifer & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: Elon “Musk, the country’s largest donor during the 2024 election, is returning to campaigns by funding a new effort to help elect Brad Schimel, the conservative candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. It is Mr. Musk’s first public political spending after Election Day. America PAC spent $1 million on canvassing operations in the state, according to a new campaign finance filing that became public Thursday.... A nonprofit organization that has historically been backed by Mr. Musk, Building America’s Future, this week began a $1.6 million-and-counting television campaign to bolster Judge Schimel, a former state attorney general who is now a judge in Waukesha County. But that group has other major donors and is not as directly tied to Mr. Musk as is America PAC, which is funded almost entirely by the billionaire. Wisconsin Supreme Court elections are officially nonpartisan, but Judge Schimel has been endorsed by the Republican Party of Wisconsin....”
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Reader Comments (21)
Things at CPAC (Congress of Pricks, Assholes, and Convicts) are going pretty much as could be expected at a MAGA shit show.
The director guy, the Chair, Matt Schlapp, has a new charge of sexually assaulting another man. Jesus, Matt, that’s what rent boys are for. Get a room. Family values win again!
Steve (Three Shirt ex-con) Bannon showed up to give the Nazi salute (a regular thing now in MAGA world) and announce that the Fat Hitler Artsy Place (formerly the Kennedy Center) will feature the J6 “Choir”, not to be confused with the Vienna Boys Choir or the Tallis Scholars (they don’t typically show up in camo, wearing MAGA hats, and packing heat, with release letters from the warden). Wow. Git yer tickets while they last! What’ll they sing? “I fought the law and the law lost”? Yeah, didn’t think it was gonna be the Bach B minor.
Then, not to be missed (unless you weren’t insane, in which case I guess you wouldn’t be at CPAC), here comes Adolf MuskRat, drugged up and swinging a chainsaw around on stage like he was Leatherface from “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. He also sat for an interview thingie In which he was unable to muster a single intelligible sentence. But sure. Let’s give this kook control of the whole country.
More fresh hell from the MAGA traitors, crooks, and fucking weirdos.
How tariffs work:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DFm4t1SiDI6/
@Forrest Morris: Accurate, funny and too disgusting to republish here!
Our future?
https://fuf.se/en/magasin/korrar/unga-och-hogutbildade-lamnar-ungern-till-foljd-av-orbans-politik/
Matt Schlapp was only trying to fulfill the B in LGBTQ before
Trump has it removed. He can't be G since he has five children,
and he can't be L since he's not a woman and in his case, T would
stand for Troubled. and Q, he makes me Queasy.
This is the moron who is currently running our government.
I finally agree with the Republicans that we need work requirements. Before Musk needs to take and pass a drug test in order to be allowed anywhere near the government.
In the Morning Shots page of the Bulwark, William Kristol, Andrew Egger, and Benjamin Parker describe the Dumbest Cut Yet and other relevant topics
Doge Fraud
"DOGE’s “receipts” page appears to be cover, something to show to credulous Republicans to convince them this effort is in pursuit of something good, a hunt for waste, fraud, and abuse. But hidden within a claim to be pursuing technological modernization which got broadened to incorporate an apparently false claim to be hunting fraud is an effort to cut programs appropriated by Congress at scale.
That’s why DOGE’s receipts page is so shoddy. It’s not that the DOGE boys are not accountants, though they are not. It’s that their function is something other than the EO authorizing their work says it is, and the DOGE receipts page exists solely to sustain the fraud that they’re still pursuing waste, fraud, and abuse."
Republican governance vs Democratic governance
Death Threats
"“In private,” Vanity Fair‘s Gabriel Sherman reports, “Republicans talk about their fear that Trump might incite his MAGA followers to commit political violence against them if they don’t rubber-stamp his actions.”
“They’re scared shitless about death threats and Gestapo-like stuff,” a former Trump official told Sherman."
Will they spend as much effort on going after these death threats as they spend on investigating Democrats for being mean to Republicans? I think we all know the answer. The death threats are a feature and a part of their strategy to get Fat Hitler's random brain farts made into reality no matter what petty laws get in his way. And going after Democrats for things they say will cause others to self censor in the face of blatant criminality and incompetence.
Book Bans
"Vice President JD Vance’s memoir became a political lightning rod that propelled him to office, but now “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis” has been caught up in a censorship controversy sparked by the White House.
The 2016 bestseller, adapted for film by Netflix four years later, is one of over a dozen books reportedly pulled from the shelves of Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) school libraries. The DoDEA runs 161 schools across the globe for children from active-duty U.S. military families and DoD civilian families."
The World vs Trump
"The anthem singer who performed the Canadian anthem prior to the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game Thursday night changed a lyric in “O Canada” as a response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated remarks about making the country the 51st state.
Publicist Adam Gonshor in an email to The Associated Press confirmed Chantal Kreviazuk changed the lyric from “in all of us command” to “that only us command” and confirmed Trump’s 51st state comments were the reason why. During Canada’s 3-2 overtime victory, Kreviazuk told the AP she did it “because I believe in democracy, and a sovereign nation should not have to be defending itself against tyranny and fascism.”"
Re: last night’s championship hockey game. I never go out of my way to root against the US, but it was a great game, a hard fought, incredibly tense, but clean game, and if a Canada win prevents that fat fuck from gloating, I’m okay with that.
The singer wasn’t the only one in the Boston Gahden who took issue with Fat Hitler’s dictator land grab attempts. The announcers pointed out that a fair number of Boston-US fans in the stands sang along with the Canadian national anthem (if you’re a hockey fan, you’ve heard it hundreds of times over the years, so it’s not like trying to sing along with the national anthem of Botswana). Despite what Fatty and Fox would have you believe, most Americans are not pro-tyrant.
In fact, even the NY Post, no organ of liberal sensitivities, came out with a front page picture of Fat Hitler’s boyfriend, Vlad the Impaler, and a headline pointing out that THIS IS A DICTATOR, in response to Fatty’s screeching lies about Ukraine starting the war with poor, innocent Russia.
MAGAts may believe that they will be writing the future fantasy history books, but responsible (ie, actual) historians will not let this horrid, perhaps final chapter of American history paint these treasonous thugs as heroes of democracy.
Several links today provide an illuminating look at the state of the nation under stoopid fascism (Laura’s Bulwark story about Adolf MuskRat’s chainsaw approach to circular firing squad dismissals of vital federal employees), the near future (RAS’s graphic showing the dismal ignorance, poverty, and third world healthcare promised by Fat Hitler’s MAGA policies), and the not so distant future (Ken’s link to a story about the brain drain currently going on in Hungary as smart people with a moral core and an antipathy to totalitarian states depart Viktor Orban’s fascist dung heap).
The future belongs to morons and moral midgets.
With the final cabinet confirmations it won't be long they all are summoned for the obligatory group photograph. Which of the following ledes would be most appropriate?
President* summons cabinet to White House. or
President* gets his shit together.
And speaking of illuminating links…I’m not sure how Marie does this every day…just scrolling down the list of fresh horrors makes me ill. I’d be reaching for the Jameson’s halfway through creating this daily first draft of history. Many thanks for this litany of licentious, lard-brained, treasonous goings on. Christ. Don’t know how you do it.
Bobby Lee,
And don’t forget the obligatory obsequious mewlings about the stupendous amazingness of their monstrous leader. Who will come up with the most sycophantic simpering boot licks?
My money’s on Little Marco. Hegseth will be half in the bag, RFK will be dreaming of all those future polio cases, Bondi? Hmmm…she’s in the running for sycophancy. Patel will be prepping his torture chambers…can’t wait.
Ali Breland, writes, in The Atlantic on the co-presidents trolling and the coalition of the crass
"Last week, between posting photos of himself and slashing the federal bureaucracy, Elon Musk found the time to make some penis jokes. The world’s richest man briefly changed his display name on X to 'Harry Bōlz'....
His jokes, terrible as they are, are indicative of a new sensibility taking hold on the right—one that Musk himself, in his rightward shift, has played a role in shaping. Trolling in its various forms (posting about balls, trying to offend, making political opponents squirm) has gone from an occasionally used tool to a unifying touchstone of an entire political faction. Call it a coalition of the crass....
No one is hurt because of a joke about balls, but such jokes are still a middle finger to Musk’s intended audience of liberals and government workers. The point is to laugh in their faces as he dismantles the things that they care about, in an attempt to break them. It is not enough to beat your adversaries. They must be humiliated."
Good Grief!!! What a CULT!!!!!!!!!! Jonathan Chait, in The Atlantic, quotes "Paula White, the newly appointed White House faith adviser ...[as stating] 'To say no to President Trump would be saying no to God.'
The Governor Who Stood up to Trump
"The Trump administration is enmeshed in a long and rapidly growing list of legal challenges to the novel powers it has claimed for itself. But to try to understand the situation in terms of the individual cases, and the legal questions they implicate, is to miss the forest for the trees. The larger picture is that Donald Trump refuses, or is simply unable, to grasp any distinction between the law and his own whims."
Just read the Chait: Thanks a lot, Chait. You helped this along with your rancid writing and almost sympathizing with the Orange Convict and his Idiot Horde.
I don't care what he has to say, as respect is nil for Chait. He could have helped with his "sensitive" writing, yet he has heretofore not gone down that path. Too bad, Atlantic. I just choke on Chait. But thanks to Laura for her generosity.
Laura,
This stupid prick might think that a puerile name like “hairy balls” will fluster the liberals he hates so much. I have news for “hairy”, the only people impressed with his alter(ed) ego are MAGA morons with room temperature IQs. Those of us with working brains couldn’t possibly be humiliated by his juvenile jerk-off stunts. The only humiliation here is that of a so-called master of the universe behaving with crass, imbecilic oafishness.
Hairy balls from South Africa? How about Dick Hurtz from Holden? Way too much of that going on. I guess that’s what passes for efficiency in the Fat Hitler Reich.