The Conversation -- February 3, 2025
So the Curtain Closes on Act III of “La Tariffa Termina.” Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Monday delayed his planned tariffs on Canada and Mexico for 30 days after winning concessions from both countries to stem the flow of drugs and migrants into the United States, postponing, at least temporarily, a painful and potentially destabilizing trade war. Tariffs of 10 percent are still set to go into effect on China on Tuesday morning. Mr. Trump said on Monday that he was likely to talk with President Xi Jinping of China within the next 24 hours about a variety of contentious issues, and warned that the 10 percent tariff he has planned to impose was just an 'opening salvo.'” Oh, the Fat Guy sang; it's over. There are no curtain calls, but as the audience files out in relieved exhaustion, a stage hand raises & lowers the gold-fringed maroon velvet curtains again and again as Donno takes bow after bow. Alas, Primo Donno has promised a sequel, “La Tariffa Ritorna,” another entry in the emerging genre of improvisational opera buffa.
Vaughn Hillyard, et al., of NBC News: "Employees of the United States Agency for International Development based out of the nation's capital were ordered overnight not to come into the office Monday and to work from home. 'At the direction of Agency leadership, the USAID headquarters at the Ronald Reagan building in Washington, D.C. will be closed to Agency personnel on Monday, February 3, 2025,'" said an email sent to staff overnight, according to a copy obtained by NBC News. The message said agency personnel who normally work at USAID's headquarters 'will work remotely tomorrow' except for people who perform essential on-site and building maintenance duties.... The e-mail provided no reason for the work-from-home directive, but it comes after tech billionaire Elon Musk ... said in the early hours Monday that he and the president were in the process of shutting down USAID." ~~~
~~~ Ellen Knickmeyer, et al., of the AP: “Democrats have delivered a strong rebuke against the Trump administration’s attempt to gut an agency that provides crucial aid overseas to fund education and fight starvation and disease, calling it illegal, vowing a court fight and lambasting billionaire Elon Musk for wielding so much power in Washington. Staffers of the U.S. Agency for International Development were instructed to stay out of the agency’s Washington headquarters, and officers blocked the lawmakers from entering the lobby Monday.... The fast-moving developments come after thousands of USAID employees already have been laid off and programs shut down in the two weeks since Trump became president. And they show the extraordinary power of Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency in the Trump administration. Musk announced closing of the agency early Monday, as Trump’s secretary of state, Marco Rubio, was out of the country on a trip to Central America.... Rubio told reporters in San Salvador that he was now the acting administrator of USAID but had delegated his authorities to someone else. The change means that USAID is no longer an independent government agency as it had been for decades — although its new status will likely be challenged in court — and will be run out of the State Department.”
The New York Times' live updates of the Fat Primo Donno's opera buffa “La Tariffa Termina” are here: “President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico struck a deal with the Trump administration to delay stiff tariffs, which were set to take effect on Tuesday, for a month as the two countries reached a series of agreements on border security. Ms. Sheinbaum agreed to deploy 10,000 additional troops, who ... [Donald] Trump said would be designated to stop the flow of migrants and illegal drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border. In return, Mexico will get at least a temporary reprieve from the blanket 25 percent tariffs Mr. Trump announced on Saturday, as well as help from the U.S. government to stanch the movement of guns back over the border, Ms. Sheinbaum said on Monday. The agreement, two days after Mr. Trump also announced tariffs of 25 percent against Canada and 10 percent against China, came amid fears that the measures would disrupt the global economy, roiling stock markets around the world.... Mr. Trump said on Monday that he’d also spoken with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, whose country has already announced retaliatory levies of 25 percent on U.S. goods, and that they would talk again in the afternoon. China, for its part, vowed to file a case against the United States at the World Trade Organization and take 'corresponding countermeasures to firmly safeguard its rights and interests.'”
Absent the GOP's very successful voter suppression efforts, Kamala Harris would have won the 2024 presidential election, writes Greg Palast, an investigative journalist who looks as if he stepped out of a 1930s film noir. Thanks to RAS for the link.
Marie: Apparently it takes a Black female reporter -- Erica Green -- at the New York Times to ever-so-politely notice that the POTUS* is a flaming racist & misogynist. “President Trump has promised a 'colorblind and merit-based' society, while also equating diversity with incompetence.... Mr. Trump has aligned himself with those who are brandishing the term D.E.I. as a catchall for discrimination against white people, and using it as a pejorative to attack nonwhite and female leaders as unqualified for their positions.” ~~~
~~~ If Superman knew this in the 1050s, whazzamatta with Donald Trump? Thanks to RAS for the link: ~~~
~~~~~~~~~~
Hamed Aleaziz & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: “The Trump administration has ended Temporary Protected Status, or T.P.S., for more than 300,000 Venezuelans in the United States, leaving the population vulnerable to potential deportation in the coming months, according to government documents obtained by The New York Times. The move..., [Mr.] Trump’s first to remove such protections in his second term, signals that he plans to continue a crackdown on the program that began in his first administration, when he sought to terminate the status for migrants from Sudan, El Salvador and Haiti, among others. He was stymied by federal courts that took issue with the way he undid the protections.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Samantha Schmidt, et al., of the Washington Post: “The government of Nicolás Maduro will take in Venezuelans who are deported by the United States..., Donald Trump said Saturday, potentially clearing the way for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the South American country to be sent back to the authoritarian socialist regime that many fled.... Human rights advocates and Venezuelan opposition politicians have warned against repatriating the citizens of a country that under Maduro has been an economically failing, politically repressive pariah state.” ~~~
~~~ Damned if They're Caught and Damned if They're Not. Marie: Sorry to say, but those same hapless Venezuelan nationals are currently residing in “an economically failing, politically repressive pariah state” and an “authoritarian ... regime.”
Trump Threatens More Tariffs. Philip Wen, et al., of the Guardian: “Donald Trump has threatened to widen the scope of his trade tariffs, repeating his warning that the European Union – and potentially the UK – will face levies, even as he conceded that Americans could bear some of the economic brunt of a nascent global trade war. It comes as Trump’s tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, announced on Saturday, sparked retaliation from all three countries. Mexico and Canada have vowed levies of their own while China and Canada are seeking legal challenges. Trump said on Sunday night that new tariffs on the EU would 'definitely happen', repeating previous complaints about the large US trade deficit with the bloc and his desire for Europe to import more American cars and agricultural products.... Trump appeared to take a softer line on the UK, citing a good relationship with the prime minister, Keir Starmer, while saying tariffs still 'might happen'.” ~~~
~~~ Zia Weise of Politico: “The European Union is warning ... Donald Trump the bloc will retaliate if he imposes tariffs on EU goods.... France’s Industry Minister Marc Ferracci ... demand[ed] a 'biting' response from Brussels, which manages trade relations on behalf of the EU's 27 member countries.... Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament’s international trade committee, described Trump’s tariffs as violating international law. The EU now has to prepare 'to defend our economic interests 1:1,' he added, while calling on Brussels to 'stabilize and quickly expand' trade relations with other countries.... Meanwhile, former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt called the U.S. tariffs a 'blatant attack on its own people and a gift to billionaires, all while tearing apart his closest allies.' He added: 'The EU must not bow to his bullying tactics.'” ~~~
~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill: “Trump hit back at critics [of his tariffs] and argued the decision was necessary because of 'major' trade deficits with [Mexico, Canada & China]. 'The “Tariff Lobby,” headed by the Globalist, and always wrong, Wall Street Journal, is working hard to justify Countries like Canada, Mexico, China, and too many others to name, continue the decades long RIPOFF OF AMERICA, both with regard to TRADE, CRIME, AND POISONOUS DRUGS that are allowed to so freely flow into AMERICA,' Trump posted from his Mar-a-Lago estate.... 'This will be the Golden Age of America!' Trump continued. 'Will there be some pain? Yes, maybe (and maybe not!). But we will make America great again, and it will all be worth the price that must be paid. We are a country that is now being run with common sense — and hte results will be spectacular!!!'” The Washington Post's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: What Trump means by "common sense" is ignoring facts and/or expert analysis. ~~~
~~~ Here's Some Pain. Pia Singh of CNBC: "Stock futures tumbled early Monday to kick off a new trading month, as investors weighed new U.S. tariffs on goods from key trade partners and their potential impact on the economy and corporate profits. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 546 points, or 1.22%. S&P 500 futures dropped 1.4%, while Nasdaq-100 futures lost 1.7%." Here's some more: ~~~
~~~ Vive Le Canada! Marie: I wonder if Kamala Harris had spoken like this, some of the lazy Democrats would not have stayed home and many an ignorant Trump voter would have pulled the lever for Harris & Walz. Thanks again to Julie in Massachusetts for the link: ~~~
~~~ Laya Neelakandan of CNBC: “Ontario will pull all American alcohol from its government-run liquor shelves beginning Tuesday in response to ... Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on Canadian imports. Outlets of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario will also take U.S. products out of its catalog so other retailers can’t order or restock those items, according to a Sunday statement by Premier Doug Ford.... The move follows other similar Canadian premiers’ announcements of retaliation to the tariffs, including Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston directing the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation to remove all American alcohol from their shelves on Tuesday and British Columbia Premier David Eby directing the BC Liquor Distribution Branch to 'immediately stop buying American liquor from “red states” and remove the top-selling “red-state” brands from the shelves.'”
~~~ Des Beiler of the Washington Post: “Canadian sports fans are booing the U.S. national anthem after Trump tariffs. The boos were heard at NHL and NBA games in Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver.” MB: Loudmouthed sports fans might not be the most refined experts on international relations. On the other hand, most are probably more refined than the bully/buffoon in the White House. And if they're booing our national anthem, they're booing not just the rider; they're booing the horse he rode in on, too. ~~~
~~~ Brian Mann of NPR: Donald "Trump says illegal street fentanyl is one of the main justifications for sweeping trade tariffs he plans to impose against Canada, China and Mexico on Tuesday.... On Inauguration Day, Trump said foreign drug cartels are 'killing 250,000 [or] 300,000 American people per year.' On Friday, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said tariffs are warranted because fentanyl has 'killed tens of millions of Americans.' These claims are false.... During the most severe period of the opioid crisis, in 2022 and 2023, total overdose deaths — including fentanyl, methamphetamines, heroin, cocaine and all other drugs — peaked at around 114,000 fatalities per year.... State and federal data also shows [show!] the crisis was improving at an unprecedented pace before these tariffs were announced.... [Canada has played almost no role] in the U.S. fentanyl supply."
Three Decades After South African Apartheid Ended, Trump Moves to Revive It. Idrees Ali & Daphne Psaledakis of Reuters: “... Donald Trump said [in a social media post] on Sunday, without citing evidence, that ... "South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY.... The United States won't stand for it, we will act. Also, I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!' he said. The United States obligated nearly $440 million in assistance to South Africa in 2023, the most recent U.S. government data showed. Last month South African President Cryil Ramaphosa signed into law a bill that would make it easier for the state to expropriate land in the public interest. The law aims to address racial disparities in land ownership that persist three decades after apartheid's demise in 1994." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The "certain classes of people" who concern Trump are white landowners. Maybe Trump's concern stems from pure racism, or maybe it derives from Jared's survey of South African beachfront property, or maybe it comes from Co-president* (and former South African) Elon's whispers in Trump's ear. Or something else. Whatever the impetus for Trump's interference in South African land laws, it ain't altruistic.
A Trump Appointee Joins the Resistance. Edward Wong, et al., of the New York Times: “The two top security officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development were put on administrative leave on Saturday night after refusing to give representatives of Elon Musk access to internal systems, according to three U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter. And the agency’s chief of staff, Matt Hopson, a Trump administration political appointee who had started his job days ago, has resigned, two of the officials said. The employees working for Mr. Musk’s task force who clashed with John Voorhees, U.S.A.I.D.’s director of security, and his deputy were seeking to enter a secure area of the agency’s offices to get at classified material, two U.S. officials with knowledge of the incident said.... 'USAID is a criminal organization,' Mr. Musk wrote on Sunday in a social media post that many aid workers saw as confirmation the agency would soon be absorbed into the State Department and that some viewed as a potential threat to their personal safety. 'Time for it to die.'” An AP story, which does not mention Hopson, is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Do remember that the only place the NTSB will update Americans on air safety is on the site owned by this cruel, lying anti-American oligarch. (Story linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Who Are These Jerks, Anyway? Erik Loomis in LG&$ cites a firewalled Wired story by Vittoria Elliott: “Elon Musk’s takeover of federal government infrastructure is ongoing, and at the center of things is a coterie of engineers who are barely out of — and in at least one case, purportedly still in — college. Most have connections to Musk, and at least two have connections to Musk’s longtime associate Peter Thiel, a cofounder and chair of the analytics firm and government contractor Palantir who has long expressed opposition to democracy.... Wired has identified six young men — all apparently between the ages of 19 and 24 ... — who have little to no government experience and are now playing critical roles in Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project, tasked by executive order with 'modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.' The engineers all hold nebulous job titles within DOGE, and at least one appears to be working as a volunteer. The engineers are Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update. Speaking of Jerks.... John Hudson, et al., of the Washington Post: “Since ... Donald Trump took office two weeks ago, the [USAID] has been under siege and whipsawed by aid freezes, personnel purges and confusion. [Elon] Musk ... said on X early Monday that he is in the process closing the agency with Trump’s blessing.... Over the weekend, Musk repeatedly denigrated USAID without offering evidence that those working there were corrupt. On X, he called the long-standing government agency 'evil' and a 'viper’s nest of radical-left marxists who hate America.'...
“A group of about eight DOGE officials entered the USAID building Saturday and demanded access to every door and floor, despite only a few of them having security clearance, according to a Senate Democratic staff member.... When USAID personnel attempted to block access to some areas, DOGE officials threatened to call federal marshals, the aide said. The DOGE officials were eventually given access to 'secure spaces' including the security office. The Senate staffer also said top officials from USAID’s office and the bulk of the staff in USAID’s Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs were put on leave later Saturday. Some of them were not notified but had their access to agency terminals suspended.”
Kipp Jones of Mediaite: “Sunday afternoon, [Elon] Musk – presumably after reviewing Treasury Department records – accused federal employees of 'breaking the law every hour of every day by approving payments that are fraudulent or do not match the funding laws passed by Congress.'” MB: There is no reason whatever to take Musk's word for it. The most generous interpretation is that the Musk's Kidz Klub members are misreading the data; otherwise, he's lying for some nefarious purpose. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: On Saturday, I wrote, in part: This Friday-night heist is far more dangerous than the tariffs Trump just imposed. (1) Most voters probably will not even hear about this, or if they do, it won't register as nearly as important as the tariffs. If people ever get up-in-arms about this, it won't be till they miss their first Social Security check or can't get their EBT cards (food stamps). The tariffs are monumentally stupid, but Trump can legally impose them. Giving non-government employees access to the nation's checkbook, with an eye toward tearing it up, is illegal and unconstitutional. This is a revolutionary act, a piece of the (so far) bloodless coup in which Trump's buddies are taking over another branch of government. ~~~
[~~~ Krugman (and a few others, incluiding, uh, Canada) think Trump's tariffs are probably illegal, too, but at least Trump is an elected official, unlike the boys in Musk's Teenaged Raiders of the Lost Treasury.] ~~~
~~~ Media critic Margaret Sullivan agrees with me. Both the WashPo & the NYT broke alarming stories revealing details of Musk's Invasion of the Treasury. She writes, “The scholar Norman Ornstein had this to say: 'We are in the middle of a fast moving putsch, a right wing authoritarian coup, a five alarm fire, and our media are treating it as if it were a little backyard bonfire.'... Yet, when I looked for that story on major news sites late Sunday morning, it was not being shouted from the rooftops.... Overall, the mainstream media is having as much trouble covering Trump’s firehose of chaos as it did covering his campaign.” MB: If the media were oblivious, Democrats were even worse. Sen. Ron Wyden was yelling appropriately, but nearly everyone else, including the new chair of the party, were AWOL.
Pemy Levy of Mother Jones: “The power that comes with controlling US government payments is vast. How Musk and Trump might try to leverage that against political or legal opponents — say, against states that file lawsuits they don’t like — is sobering to consider. So far, the GOP-controlled Congress seems willing to let them do whatever they want.” Levy notes that the little Muskovites may not have the power to stop Treasury payments yet, but she asserts, with evidence, that they could get it soon. (Also linked yesterday.)
Adam Goldman, et al., of the New York Times: “The top agent at the F.B.I.’s New York field office vowed in a defiant email to his staff to 'dig in' after the Trump administration targeted officials involved in the investigations into the Jan. 6 attack — and praised the bureau’s interim leaders for defending its independence. 'Today, we find ourselves in the middle of a battle of our own, as good people are being walked out of the F.B.I. and others are being targeted because they did their jobs in accordance with the law and F.B.I. policy,' wrote James E. Dennehy, a veteran and highly respected agent who has run the largest and arguably the most important field office in the bureau since September.... He ... suggested he had no intention of stepping down.... [A] sense of dread was stoked by a remarkable questionnaire sent to bureau employees, asking them to describe what, if any, role they had in investigating and prosecuting Jan. 6 rioters. The form requires the employees to say if they collected evidence, provided support services, interviewed witnesses, executed search warrants or testified at trial — basic activities of F.B.I. employees during the normal and lawful course of their duties. They have until 3 p.m. Monday to complete the forms.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Ethan Singer of the New York Times: “More than 8,000 web pages across more than a dozen U.S. government websites have been taken down since Friday afternoon, a New York Times analysis has found, as federal agencies rush to heed ... [Donald] Trump’s orders targeting diversity initiatives and 'gender ideology.' The purges have removed information about vaccines, veterans’ care, hate crimes and scientific research, among many other topics. Doctors, researchers and other professionals often rely on such government data and advisories. Some government agencies appear to have removed entire sections of their website.... Among the pages that have been taken down: More than 3,000 pages from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including a thousand research articles filed under preventing chronic disease, S.T.D. treatment guidelines, information about Alzheimer’s warning signs, overdose prevention training and vaccine guidelines for pregnant people.... More than 3,000 pages from the Census Bureau.... More than 1,000 pages from the Office of Justice Programs, including a feature on teenage dating violence....” (Also linked yesterday.)
Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post: “With his criticism of U.S. Catholic bishops for supporting immigrants, Vice President JD Vance has reignited years of GOP attacks on the Catholic Church as both sides navigate an issue that has divided the nation and the faithful. Catholic leaders expressed dismay after Vance, who is Catholic, questioned whether the church’s substantial, decades-long work with migrants is driven by a desire for money.... John Carr, who for two decades led the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ office on social justice efforts, said Vance’s criticisms 'showed an unprecedented lack of respect for the work of the Catholic community, lack of restraint in promoting false and outrageous claims that the Church does this for the money and promotes human trafficking, and a lack of knowledge of Catholic teaching and ministry with refugees.... It seemed like an effort to intimidate...'” MB: So, you say Vance is a disrespectful, ignorant, lying bully and conspiracy theorist. Now tell us something we don't know.
A Rude Guest. John Hudson of the Washington Post: “Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Panama’s president Sunday that the status quo at the Panama Canal is 'unacceptable' and, absent 'immediate changes,' would require the United States to take unspecified measures. Rubio’s confrontational language, detailed in a State Department summary of the meeting, did not specify whether the United States would consider military action, but said the presence of two Hong Kong-based companies and other Chinese firms around the canal 'is a threat.' Rubio’s demands came despite Panama’s status as a supportive partner to the United States, especially on migration enforcement, a key priority of the Trump administration. On that matter, Rubio thanked [President José Raúl] Mulino ;for his support of a joint repatriation program, which has reduced illegal migration,' according to the summary.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Rubio is slated to travel to El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica & the Dominican Republic next. I think the leaders of those countries should tell him not to come as they have other engagements.
That Sound You Hear Is the Mad Brutalist Sculptor Donaldo & His Apprentices Chipping Away at the First Amendment. Annabelle Timset of the Washington Post: “CBS News plans to provide the Federal Communications Commission with the transcript of a '60 Minutes' interview with Kamala Harris that is at the heart of a lawsuit against the network filed by ... Donald Trump — the latest development in a battle that critics say is being used to target press freedom.... CBS News said in a statement Friday that it will comply with a demand from the FCC to hand over the transcript and camera feeds from Harris’s '60 Minutes' interview, which was released in October.... The FCC’s demand is based on a complaint from the conservative Center for American Rights that was dismissed on Jan. 16. After Trump was inaugurated, Brendan Carr, whom Trump appointed to lead the FCC, reopened the case.”
Marie: Hair-on-fire seems to be the style du jour, and I'm in very good company: ~~~
~~~ ⭐Historian Timothy Snyder, in a Substack essay, describes “the coup that is going on now: ... The oligarchs have no plan to govern. They will take what they can, and disable the rest. The destruction is the point. They don’t want to control the existing order. They want disorder in which their relative power will grow.... Trump’s tariffs (which are also likely illegal) are there to make us poor. Trump’s attacks on America’s closest friends, countries such as Canada and Denmark, are there to make enemies of countries where constitutionalism works and people are prosperous.... Deportations are a spectacle to turn Americans against one another, to make us afraid.... They also create busy-work for law enforcement, locating the 'criminals' in workplaces across the country, as the crime of the century takes place at the very center of power.” Read on. Many thanks to Julie in Massachusetts for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)
News Lede
New York Times: “Marion Wiesel, who translated many books written by her husband, Elie Wiesel, including the final edition of his magnum opus, 'Night,' and who encouraged him to pursue a wide-ranging public career, helping him become the most renowned interpreter of the Holocaust, died on Sunday at her home in Greenwich, Conn. She was 94.”
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Emperor Musk lost a ton of money mangling and mismanaging Twitter, but the best return on investment he will ever get is buying Fat Hitler. For a mere $250 million, the evil Muskrat now owns the United States Federal Government and boy, is he having the time of his life.
Firing thousands of workers, invading federal offices with his Hitler Youth Muskovites and taking over, shutting down payments to federal contractors until he—an unelected one-time illegal immigrant—rifles through their contracts and files seeing where he might be able to screw with companies he doesn’t particularly like, none of which is vaguely legal. Federal contractor payments are the business of Congress and…but oops. I forgot. Musk owns Congress now too. Because Fat Hitler is too busy shoring his flabby ass to the rest of the world, and besides, the PoT controlled Congress doesn’t give a shit anyway. Craven cowardice will do that.
Best of all, the Muskrat now personally controls what the NTSB can say to the public regarding their investigations into crashes he may have helped cause by firing the FAA director who had the temerity to fine the Emperor for Space X violations along with Hitler’s wiping out an aviation safety committee.
How nice for them both.
And no one can stop him because he has Fat Hitler on a short leash.
Will he put some pimply faced high school kid in charge of NTSB communications? Maybe in between games on his Xbox, the kid will have time to rewrite investigation findings so DEI really is to blame.
So great. We now have our own Pravda. Xitter has become the official “news” organ of the Musk/Trump authoritarian-fascist state. Can we get a sieg heil for that?
Buyout, Schmuyout
Part of the ongoing effort to destroy the federal government is Fat Hitler’s so-called “buyout” offer/demand/scam.
There is no buyout because that fat fuck has no legal authority to make the offer.
Senator Tim Kaine (Real American-VA) offers this advice:
“‘The president has no authority to make that offer…There's no budget line item to pay people who are not showing up for work.’
Is the Trump administration's 'buyout' offer even a legitimate offer?
While many have referred to the offer as a ‘buyout’ - and there is a process for the government to offer buyouts - experts on the federal workforce argue that this deferred resignation offer shouldn't be called a buyout, because the Trump administration doesn't have the authority in law to make buyout offers.
That's partly because the government is currently operating under a continuing resolution that funds operations at 2024 levels through March 14.
‘The old saying is that when something seems too good to be true, it probably isn't,’ Jacqueline Simon, policy director at the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 800,000 workers, told MarketWatch.
‘Government funding expires in March, so they have absolutely no ability to promise full pay and benefits to anybody right now until the end of the fiscal year,’ she added. ‘Even if they had appropriations, it would be a violation of [federal law.] They can't just decide to spend money in ways that Congress didn't intend, and Congress clearly didn't intend to pay salaries and benefits for federal workers who aren't performing any duties.’”
Another old saying: if it’s an offer from Trump, it’s a lie.
Another giveaway is the one week do or die deadline. No legitimate buyout offer has such a short decision window. This is such an obvious scam, but Fat Hitler has pumped so much fear and anxiety into the nation a lot of people might be bamboozled. Exactly what he’s hoping for.
There is just no low point for these people. Calling this prick the worst snake in the shithole is an insult to snakes.
But he is pretty good at propaganda. Pretty much every MSM news outlet still refers to this con as a “buyout”. This is a buyout like Elon Musk is a decent guy.
It’s helpful to understand that, in addition to these ridiculous and dangerous tariffs serving as Fatty’s failed attempt to prove that he does too have a big dick, they also provide cover for all the other bullshit he and Emperor Muskrat are trying to pull.
They also distract from the creeping toxic sludge that is Project 2025, AND all of this noise draws attention from the fact that some of the most unqualified, scary-ass cabinet candidates are coming up for votes. The truly insane thing is that I’m reading that Polio Bob’s candidacy, which should be an automatic “Get the fuck outta here, are you nuts? No fucking way” hard NO, is a toss up.
Jesus Christ.
And not for nothin’, but the USAID was created and authorized by an act of Congress. How is it that this unelected, formerly illegal immigrant billionaire douchebag with delusions of Napoleonic grandeur gets to shut it down by sending in his nose picking Hitler Youth storm troopers?
And that’s another thing. If you actually did have the authority to close an operation of the federal government, you do it the right way. You let everyone know ahead of time what’s happening to allow both those employees and those in other countries we’ve promised to aid to make other arrangements and plan for what’s next. You don’t show up like fucking Darth Vader, kick in the doors and threaten to bring in federal marshalls to arrest everybody. That’s pure unadulterated, grade A 100% asshole.
Which just happens to be Elon Musk’s middle name. This is shock and awe bullshit, directed at honest, hard working Americans just doing their job.
Fuckers.
@Akhilleus: The character actor Dennis Farina played an "old-school" cop on "Law & Order," and the character was not much interested in waiting around to obtain search warrants and what-not. So when he wanted some information or access to some files and a secretary or nurse or desk clerk put up a little resistance to cops sifting through their files or whatever, the Farina character would say, "Oh it's okay. We're authorized."
This technique seems to work pretty well on a lot of federal employees, like those at the CDC who wiped all their Webpages and those at the Education Department who went quietly. But when you get federal employees who have some familiarity with secrecy laws, like the security personnel at USAID & Treasury, and the top agent at the FBI's field office in New York, they're not letting Musk's pipsqueaks roll over them. We'll see what happens, as Trump likes to say.
Superman thinks FH is unamerican.
Comedian Josh Johnson on Trump.
Jennifer Walter has some suggestions on dealing with the deluge coming from our current government.
Anyone see a thread (make that a rope or cable of) white supremacy connecting the attacks on DEI, USAID, Hispanic immigrants, Trump's defense of the South African minority, etc...?
I'd think such an explanation would be too simple to be accurate, but racist arguments and those who mount them always are very simple.
RAS,
And not only that. When can we expect that "E Pluribus Unum" thing to be eliminated from our coinage?
It's not only a slap in the face of the uneducated. It's also DEI to its core.
The next administration will Need to purge all of the agencies of every Trump enabler whenever they get power back. It will lead to more chaos, but is necessary to restore a semblance of order. Though it will be that much harder to recruit people back after the shit show that Trump and Musk are doing right now. They will also need to put real guardrails in place that have real consequences. Fixing all that the Right breaks in four years is going to be a monumental task. And as we have learned the hard way the public will recognize very little of the effort. With them and the media complaining about how things used to be so much better and amplifying every single Democratic misstep. Hopefully a few more people will remember the hurt of FH's years thus time without a pandemic as an excuse for all his failures this time.
Also Fuck every single on of the millions of voters who sat at home and couldn't bring themselves to vote for a Black woman who would have made their lives better and more prosperous and allowed them to keep their rights that are supposedly important to them and their American identities.
South Park knew to Blame Canada before FH.
An interesting read about voter suppression and it's effect on the 2024 election. I'm not sure I followed all the numbers and leaps, but voter suppression is done because it makes a difference.
"Here are key numbers:
4,776,706 voters were wrongly purged from voter rolls according to US Elections Assistance Commission data.
By August of 2024, for the first time since 1946, self-proclaimed “vigilante” voter-fraud hunters challenged the rights of 317,886 voters. The NAACP of Georgia estimates that by Election Day, the challenges exceeded 200,000 in Georgia alone.
No less than 2,121,000 mail-in ballots were disqualified for minor clerical errors (e.g. postage due).
At least 585,000 ballots cast in-precinct were also disqualified.
1,216,000 “provisional” ballots were rejected, not counted.
3.24 million new registrations were rejected or not entered on the rolls in time to vote."
Those on again off again tariffs sure ought to provide a reliable revenue stream.
Presume the House R's have that figured in their budget plans.
Hello? Hello? (Is this thing on?). Democrats? And no, God is not on his throne, you idiot. (That's in the House-- thanks for your voices, House Dems.). I am sure there is plenty of push-back from the Senate, both Repugs and Dems... (crickets.)
Well, we will tune in to USPravda and hear comforting lies, and that is how our lives will be. We won't see filled grocery shelves, and hey, I won't buy the new washer/dryer and I would hope the cars on the lots now already will honor the sticker prices...No? You mean trade-ins will be much lower? Not sure why my trade-in will be a victim, since it is made in sunny Ohio, home of JD, that lizardly nothing.
At least I don't have a paycheck to lose...What's that? Social Security and Medicare advantage? Why no, Obese Orange Crackpot and his elected fools always said that those things we paid into are "entitlements" and so, I assume we are still "entitled" to them...what? Those offices are closed, along with Treasury? Huh?
Guess I will go take a shower and then go have a drink down the street.
Marie,
Funnily enough, Dennis Farina, who brought such an easy authority to his roles as various crooks and cops, spent 18 years on the Chicago police force, rising to the rank of detective. It’s not at all unlikely that he said to the “Law and Order” writers, “Don’t worry about a workaround for a warrant. Lemme show you how we do it in Chicago.”.
I remember when “Law and Order” first appeared, I took it as a sign that network television was getting in line with the Reagan-Bush “Fuck the criminals, cheer the cops” approach to the Justice system.
L&O creator Dick Wolf had such success with his NYC based show that he started a trio of shows set in Chicago. The “Chicago PD” entry features a sometimes dirty cop, Sgt. Voight, who occasionally resorts to torturing suspects to get information. Again, not so funnily enough, this character mirrored actual Chicago cops who were found guilty of such tactics a few years ago. But it’s okay on TV, Sgt. Voight only tortures “bad guys”, so it’s all jake. Besides, that constitutional protection stuff is for weenies. Real men say “Fuck the law”! Just like Trump and his J6 thugs, and now his billionaire Hitler loving thug.
Unfortunately for us, there’s no happy ending just an hour away.
@Jeanne:
Heard some advice on the radio last night. It said to have inner peace
that we should always finish things we start, and we all could use
more calm in our lives.
I looked through my house to find things that I'd started and hadn't
finished, so I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of Whiskey, a
bodle of Baileys, a butle of wum, the mainder of Valiumun scriptuns
an a box a chocletz.
Yu haf no idr how feckin fablus I feel rite now. Sned this to all
who need inner piss.
An telum u luvum and two al bee happee whilst in the instalation.
Just a reminder of who’s to blame for the current evil abroad in the land, for Fat Hitler, Emperor Muskrat, the ongoing bulldozing of the Federal government, the garroting of democracy, and worst of all, the Nazification of the Justice system: Mitch (Gravedigger of Democracy) McConnell, may he rot in hell sooner than later.
But the Evil Turtle, specifically his plan to hamstring the Obama administration, might come in handy after all.
The tactics he used to attack a legitimate President could be used now by Democrats to go after the crime boss now inhabiting Bleak House. That is, if Democrats can ever figure things out, stop navel gazing and flogging themselves for not trying hard enough to get the MAGAts to like them, get off the fucking dime and start fighting back.
https://digbysblog.net/2025/02/03/how-mitch-did-it/
Forrest,
Thanks for the laugh.
They're in short supply these days.K
I was just reading a statement by Ontario provincial prime Minister who announced that effective Tuesday until tariffs end U.S. firms are barred from government contract in Ontario. He stated this amounts to 30 Billion dollars annually. In addition they are ripping up their contract with Starlink."Ontario won't do business with people who are intent of destroying our economy". He closed with: "Canada didn't start this fight with the United States, but you can believe we're ready to win it".
Three strikes, yer OUT!
So regarding Democrats’ propensity for resistance to the Orange Monster Express now barreling through the Federal government along with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Musk, Leonard Leo, Russell Vought, and Horseman emeritus Mitch McConnell, with several apocalyptic assholes lining up for that number four spot, Polio Bob, eg)…
I’m reading that Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are urging caution…we can’t go postal here…have to be strategic. Really? Caution? A bombs are falling and you’re suggesting we concentrate on just a few? Nuclear winter is coming, dude! Be strategic??!?! Hakeem Jeffries says “We can’t swing at every strike.”
Memo to Hakeem. Brother, didn’t you play baseball as a kid? You only get three strikes. You let ‘em all go by looking for the perfect pitch to swing at, you gonna be OUT!
As a pitcher, I LOVED guys who took the first pitch. I’d lay that sucker right in there. Now instead of three chances to get a hit, you only have two. You see a big fat pitch coming across the plate, you swing at it!
Plus, as a pitcher, Trump is no Tom Seaver. He’s like the drunk guy on a Sunday morning softball team. He throws big fat pizza pitches up there, impossible to miss. He’s not fancy, he’s not technically cagey. He’s a drunken douche who throws water balloons you could hit with a pool cue.
Strategic? This is exactly what Fat Hitler is hoping for.
Fuck’s sake. We need Jasmine and AOC to get out there and kick some traitor ass.
Can’t swing at every strike…Jesus.
Politics Girl. Her hair isn't on fire, but her words are.
https://youtu.be/2B6gS_WyXKo?si=bv4C8umN9nL_shn6
What Trump is writing his orders with.
Thanks, Forrest!! I am waiting for my bartender to get back from walking and feeding two obnoxious beagle sisters she is caring for while their owners are on a cruise. As soon as she does, I look forward to her signature margarita, cuz she went to the booze store to stock up in case Mexico, you know...deprived us justifiably of tequila...Seems there is a reprive, if temporarily. She also says there are recommendations to buy a gun, but we are not doing that.
Charlie Warzel, in The Atlantic, on The ‘Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly’ of the United States Government
"Musk and his Silicon Valley acolytes are acting on a long-held fantasy of approaching the federal government like a software company and running it like a venture-backed tech start-up during the days of zero-percent interest rates...
When I asked them to describe Musk’s managerial strategy, they borrowed a term of art from SpaceX’s own rocket mishaps: 'This is a rapid unscheduled disassembly of government services.'