The Conversation -- May 8, 2025
Steven Nelson & Diana Glebova of the New York Post: “Newly elected Pope Leo XIV spent years amplifying criticism of ... [Donald] Trump’s policies on social media — with the Catholic Church’s first American leader taking particular aim at the Republican’s hard-line immigration stance. Leo XIV, until Thursday known as Robert Francis Prevost, 69, shared or retweeted the opinions of colleagues using his verified account @drprevost on X.... His final X post before being elected by the Conclave in the Sistine Chapel was a retweet of a message from Philadelphia-based Catholic commentator Rocco Palmo, who on April 14 slammed Trump’s partnership with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele on deportation of illegal migrants. 'As Trump & Bukele use Oval to [laugh emoji] Feds’ illicit deportation of a US resident … once an undoc-ed Salvadorean himself, now-DC [auxiliary bishop] Evelio [Menjivar] asks, “Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?”' the tweet reads.... Prevost was also an active participant in US political discussion during Trump’s first term — in 2017 retweeting a post from Palmo that said, 'Calling refugee bans “a dark hour of US history,” [Chicago Archbishop] Blase [Cupich] says “the world is watching as we abandon our commitment to American values”’.” AND more. ~~~
~~~ Kevin Manahan of NJ.com: “... Catholic cardinals elected a new pope who has spent the past year condemning [JD] Vance and Donald Trump’s cruelty toward immigrants and poor.... Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, used his social media to ask Vance and Trump questions about decency. In April 2025, he retweeted a post highlighting Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjívar’s condemnation of the deportation of a U.S. resident. 'Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?' the man who would become the first American pope asked. In February, he shared an essay that criticized Vance and Trump’s support of deportations and the United States’ treatment of migrants. That same month, he shared an article — 'JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others' — refuting Vance’s interpretation of Christian teachings to justify MAGA’s policies.... Provost also shared an article from Cardinal Dolan of New York in 2015 titled, 'Why Donald Trump’s anti-migrant rhetoric is so problematic.' Democratic pollster Matt McDermott tweeted: 'The new Pope‘s Twitter suggests he is pro gun reform, supports climate action, backed Black Lives Matter, strongly opposed to MAGA immigration policies — and clearly has no patience for JD Vance.'”
⭐ Smoke signal says the conclave of cardinals has elected a new pope. ~~~
~~~ Update: The new pope is an American. Robert Francis Cardinal Prevost, who was born in Chicago and is an Augustinian who has spent most of his career as a missionary in South America. He will be Pope Leo XIV. ~~~ Here are the AP's updates. The New York Times live updates are here.
Natalie Allison, et al., of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Thursday announced a new trade pact with the United Kingdom, the first of dozens of agreements he is seeking with countries around the world. Joined by Peter Mandelson, the newly installed British ambassador in Washington, Trump said the U.K. had agreed to increase market access for U.S. exporters, including domestic chemicals, machinery, and other industrial products. The U.K. also agreed to 'fast-track' American goods, Trump said. Trump also said 'both countries will become stronger with steel,' but the details of what that consisted of remained unclear.... 'It is an agreement in concept. There’s a lot of details to be worked out,' Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Fox Business. Critics have expressed skepticism of the significance of the 'deals' the White House is attempting to negotiate in strikingly little time.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: BTW, the U.S. has a trade surplus with the U.K., so it is not one of the countries Trump has been whining were "ripping us off" by selling more to Americans than U.S. businesses sold to them. So this first deal to negotiate a deal does not solve the "problem" Trump claimed was the reason for the tariffs that are punishing American consumers. If you're unsure about what to think about this "deal," please see RAS's commentary, below, on the "Big Announcement." ~~~
~~~ Paul Krugman: “Reportedly [the Trump 'deal'] will mainly be a 'framework' for an actual deal that may or may not happen sometime in the future. This is the tariff equivalent of 'concepts of a plan' for health care. In other words, this will be smoke and mirrors, an attempt to persuade the gullible that Trump’s tariffs are actually working.... We can be sure of one thing: It won’t lead to any significant opening of the British market to U.S. goods. Why? Because that market was already wide open before Trump stomped in. The most important thing to understand about Trump’s trade war is that it’s an attempt to solve a problem that only exists in his imagination. He keeps insisting that other countries are engaged in unfair trade, but the reality is that most of our important trading partners impose very low tariffs on U.S. products[.]...
As economists have repeated ad nauseam, [the U.S. trade] deficit doesn’t reflect unfair foreign trade policies. It is, instead, the flip side of large flows of capital into the United States, which historically reflected the fact that the U.S. was perceived as an attractive place to invest. Even if Trump manages to score some actual deals, as opposed to concepts of deals, they won’t change that logic. If his strategy does manage to reduce the trade deficit, it will do so only by destroying America’s attractiveness to foreign investors, which may be an achievable goal.”
Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: “... Donald Trump raged at Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell after he defied the president’s demands to lower interest rates and blew off his relentless pressure campaign.... Thursday morning, Trump wrote [on his social media site,] “'“Too Late” Jerome Powell is a FOOL, who doesn’t have a clue. Other than that, I like him very much! Oil and Energy way down, almost all costs (groceries and “eggs”) down, virtually NO INFLATION, Tariff Money Pouring Into the U.S. — THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF “TOO LATE!” ENJOY!'” MB: Yo, Donald. The reason the Fed didn't lower rates is that your whimsical tariffs have upset the U.S. and world economy. Maybe you should listen to what Powell himself said: that “uncertainty about the economic outlook has increased further” and “risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen.'” That's on you, Fathead. You're the FOOL. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Krugman (linked above) had the same reaction I had: “Actually, I’m baffled by the quotation marks around 'eggs.'” And, Krugman writes of “Trump’s evident disconnect from reality. Prices are, in fact, going up, with a notable upturn in the inflation expected by businesses[.]”
The Dog Ate Kash's Homework. Colby Hall of Mediaite: “During a Senate hearing to review the FBI’s FY2026 budget request, Director Kash Patel was forced to admit that, despite the law requiring it, he had no such request ready to review. This surprising development came during an awkward back-and-forth with Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the ranking Democrat and Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which oversees and approves budget requests. Senator Murray reminded the FBI Director that the budget request was legally required “last week,” and after the director responded, she surprisedly added, 'And your answer is you just understand you’re not going to follow the law?' 'I am following the law, and I’m working with my interagency partners to do this and get you the budget that you are required to have,' Patel explained. Then the discussion went from bad to worse, culminating in Senator Murray calling Patel’s preparation for the budget hearing, without a budget, 'insufficient and deeply disturbing.'... His apparent lack of preparation for this fundamental hearing will give no solace to critics convinced he was not prepared for the task at hand.”
Dan Mangan of CNBC: “... Donald Trump said Thursday that he will pull his controversial nomination of Ed Martin to be the top federal prosecutor for the District of Columbia. Trump’s move came as Martin, who had drawn criticism for his advocacy of Jan. 6 Capitol riot defendants, faced the strong likelihood of the Senate not confirming him. Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, on Tuesday said he would not support Martin’s nomination, dealing what appeared to be a final blow to his chance of winning confirmation. Tillis cited Martin’s support for Capitol riot defendants. 'I have to be straight. I was disappointed,' the president said.... Trump also said, 'We have somebody else that will be announcing over the next two days who’s gonna be great.'” At 12:15 pm ET, this was a breaking story.
Trump's Crypto-Grift. Drew Harwell & Jeremy Merrill of the Washington Post: “At least 67,000 new or small-time crypto investors ... have bet on Trump’s meme coin, pouring $15 million into the volatile venture endorsed by Trump and benefiting his personal wealth, a Washington Post analysis found. But virtually all of them bought near the coin’s peak, just before the inauguration, and 80 percent of them have seen the value of their holdings nosedive, The Post’s analysis shows.... The president’s team ... has made millions in trading fees from transactions for the meme coin, even when its value goes down.”
Roger Cohen of the New York Times: “... the tumultuous start to Mr. Trump’s second presidency has seen a great unraveling of a trans-Atlantic bond that brought peace and prosperity of unusual scale and duration, by historical standards. He has taken a wrecking ball to the postwar order; what new dispensation will emerge from the havoc is unclear.... Mr. Trump['s] public humiliation of Volodymyr Zelensky ... seemed to mark a breaking point for Europe, where many leaders saw it as a moral abdication.... Europe ... has seen enough to become determined to throw off what Vice President JD Vance called its 'vassal' status, one in a cascade of insults aimed at NATO allies. One such ally, Mr. Trump says, should cede Greenland to him, and another should welcome absorption into the United States.... Writing in the French daily Le Figaro, [French President Emmanuel Macron and new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz] said they 'will never accept an imposed peace and will continue to support Ukraine against Russian aggression.'... But Europe is scarcely united, whatever the resolve in Paris and Berlin. The nationalist, anti-immigrant, anti-climate-science, anti-transgender wave that swept Mr. Trump into office last year is also potent across a continent where it has empowered Viktor Orban in Hungary and Giorgia Meloni in Italy, among others.”
David Wallace-Wells of the New York Times: “Today the Gates Foundation celebrates its 25th anniversary by announcing its plans to close up shop. Established in 2000..., the foundation quickly became one of the most consequential philanthropies the world has ever seen, utterly reshaping the landscape of global public health, pouring more than $100 billion into causes starved for resources and helping save tens of millions of lives.... The foundation will close its doors, permanently, on Dec. 31, 2045, at least several decades before originally intended. In the meantime, it will be spending down its endowment, as well as almost all of Gates’s remaining personal fortune.... Donald Trump is the face of [U.S.] cuts [to humanitarian aid], but the cruelty of his administration is not the only story. After leaping upward in the 2000s, global giving for health grew very slowly through the 2010s.... Over two days in late April, I spoke with [Bill] Gates about the state and legacy of his philanthropic endeavor, its achievements and disappointments thus far and what lies ahead.” MB: I think this is a gift link.
Isaac Schorr of Mediaite: “Microsoft founder Bill Gates didn’t mince words in his evaluation of Elon Musk’s role in government, fuming that 'the world’s richest man' was 'killing the world’s poorest children.' Speaking with the The Financial Times, Gates expressed his disgust with Musk’s role in shuttering the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).... Gates ... told the Times that he’d 'love for him [Musk] to go in and meet the children that have now been infected with HIV because he cut' American aid that had been going to a hospital in Mozambique. Gates’s comments came concurrently with an announcement that his own charitable endeavor, the Gates Foundation, would spend an estimated $200 billion over the next 20 years before closing its doors in 2045.”
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Colby Smith of the New York Times: “The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday for a third meeting in a row, as officials pointed to heightened uncertainty about how significantly ... [Donald] Trump’s tariffs will raise inflation and slow growth. The unanimous decision to stand pat will keep interest rates at 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent, where they have been since December after a series of cuts in the second half of 2024.... In a statement on Wednesday, the Fed acknowledged that the labor market was still 'solid.' But policymakers also noted that 'uncertainty about the economic outlook has increased further' and 'risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen.'” (Also linked yesterday.)
Ana Swanson, et al., of the New York Times: Donald “Trump is expected to announce on Thursday that the United States will strike a 'comprehensive' trade agreement with Britain.... 'The agreement with the United Kingdom is a full and comprehensive one that will cement the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom for many years to come,' [Mr. Trump] wrote [on his social media platform Thursday morning]. 'Because of our long time history and allegiance together, it is a great honor to have the United Kingdom as our FIRST announcement. Many other deals, which are in serious stages of negotiation, to follow!'... He has left a 10 percent global tariff in place, including on Britain. Unlike other countries, Britain was not subjected to higher 'reciprocal' tariffs, because it buys more from the United States than it sells to it. Britain is also subject to a 25 percent tariff that Mr. Trump has placed on foreign steel, aluminum and automobiles, levies that British officials have been pushing their U.S. counterparts to lift.... Timothy C. Brightbill, an international trade attorney..., said the announcement would probably be 'just an agreement to start the negotiations, identifying a framework of issues to be discussed in the coming months.'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: That is, whatever Trump "announces" today will not be one of those 90-deals-in-90-days-with-90-countries agreements Trump & Howard Lutnick promised. It will likely be, after nearly a month without producing a single "deal," an agreement to try to reach an agreement.
Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: “The upcoming meeting in Switzerland between U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and his Chinese counterpart was requested by the Trump administration, Chinese officials said Wednesday. China will be entering the talks 'firmly' opposed to U.S. tariff hikes, and willing to participate only in a dialogue 'based on equality, respect and mutual benefit,' Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian wrote on X.”
Abha Bhattarai & Federica Cocco of the Washington Post: “Tariffs on Chinese goods are making it more expensive to raise children in the United States, driving up prices and threatening shortages of critical baby gear at a time when household budgets are already under strain. Virtually every car seat, stroller, bassinet and changing table sold in the U.S. is made in China, making the children’s products industry among the most vulnerable to fast-rising costs and shortages.... The baby sector has largely stayed in China — partly due to long-standing ties with factories that meet the United States’ stringent safety requirements. More than 70 percent of the baby gear purchased by Americans is manufactured by U.S. companies in China.... 'Baby products are not only critical, they’re required by law in many cases, like car seats,' said Lisa Trofe, executive director of the JPMA, which is expecting overall markups of about 30 percent.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh my dears, we raise chickens; we rear children. ~~~
~~~ Groundwork Collaborative: “From car seats to sippy cups, Trump’s tariffs are making it even more expensive to raise a child. With imports accounting for roughly 90% of durable baby and children’s products in the U.S., new parents are already paying hundreds of dollars more for essentials like strollers and car seats. In response..., [Mr.] Trump recently referred to the rising costs of items like strollers as 'peanuts.'... To put it in Trump’s words, prices are rising for 'the thing that you carry the babies around in.' UPPAbaby’s popular Vista stroller just increased from $900 to $1,200. Or, for a cheaper option, Bombi’s flagship stroller now costs $225 instead of $199.” MB: I'm not familiar with the Groundwork Collaborative, but the reporting seems to be accurate and in line with other reports I've read or seen. Also, too, my comment on raising & rearing applies here. (Also linked yesterday.)
River Davis of the New York Times: “A year ago..., American consumers were snapping up Toyota Motor’s hybrids, and a weak yen inflated the value of the company’s earnings. That May, Toyota reported the highest annual profit ever recorded by a Japanese firm. On Thursday, Toyota ... project[ed] that its operating profit would decline by about one-fifth for the fiscal year ending in March. It cited headwinds from a stronger yen and predicted a $1.3 billion hit from ... [Donald] Trump’s tariffs in April and May alone. The company estimated the effect of the auto tariffs, which started in April, only for those two months. Beyond that, their impact is 'very difficult to forecast,' Toyota’s chief executive, Koji Sato, said in a briefing on Thursday. 'The current environment surrounding the auto industry, including trade relations, is in extreme flux,' he said.”
Now here's an unusual front-page headline for the newspaper of record: ~~~
~~~ “Where Is Melania?” Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: “Melania Trump vanishes from view for weeks at a time, holing up in Trump Tower in Manhattan or in Florida, where she can lie low at Mar-a-Lago.... Two people with knowledge of Mrs. Trump’s schedule said she had spent fewer than 14 days at the White House since her husband was inaugurated 108 days ago. Others say even that is a generous estimate.... She has hired staff to work for her in the East Wing, but she rarely goes into the office.... Mrs. Trump is expected to reappear in the capital on Thursday to unveil a postage stamp honoring Barbara Bush, the former first lady, and to attend a ceremony for military mothers.... Mrs. Trump ... know[s] how to make money from [public] exposure. In January, Mrs. Trump launched her own cryptocurrency token.... And then there is the deal she struck with Amazon, reported to have been about $40 million, for a documentary offering a 'behind the scenes' look at her life as first lady.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Marie: Here we have Trump pulling one terrible nominee only to replace her with a more terrible nominee: ~~~
~~~ Joseph Choi of the Hill: Donald “Trump has pulled his nomination of Janette Nesheiwat to be U.S. surgeon general and has instead chosen chronic disease entrepreneur Casey Means, a physician with close ties to the 'Make American Healthy Again,' or MAHA, movement, as his new pick to fill the role. Nesheiwat’s credentials came into question last month when CBS News reported that records showed she had graduated from the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine, and not the University of Arkansas School of Medicine, as had been said when her nomination was announced. The physician and former Fox News contributor also got on the wrong side of influential Trump supporters including MAGA influencer Laura Loomer.” (Also linked yesterday.) The Washington Post's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Benjamin Mueller & Christina Jewett of the New York Times: review some views of Dr. Casey Means. who “rose to prominence last year after she and her brother, Calley Means, a White House health adviser and former food industry lobbyist, appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show.” Despite being a real doctor, she shares many of RFKJ's views on vaccines. ~~~
~~~ Andrew Feinberg of the Independent: “... Donald Trump has selected a conspiracy theorist and self-styled Make America Healthy Again 'wellness influencer' who is not currently licensed to practice medicine to be the nation’s next Surgeon General. Trump made the new pick after withdrawing his initial choice days before she was scheduled to go before the U.S. Senate for a confirmation hearing. In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump said he was choosing Dr. Casey Means, a practitioner of so-called 'functional medicine' who is a close ally of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, citing her 'impeccable “MAHA” credentials.'... [Janette] Nesheiwat, a former Fox News contributor who is also the sister-in-law of former Trump White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, had been selected to be one of the country’s top public health officials largely on the strength of her record as a television personality. But as her confirmation hearing approached, Nesheiwat had become a magnet for controversy after self-styled 'investigative journalist' and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer pushed for Trump to pull her nomination over her ties to Waltz and her support for vaccination against COVID-19 rendered her 'unfit' for the job.”
Joe Heim & Herb Scribner of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump named five new members to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council on Monday night, including a former 'Real Housewives of New Jersey' television star whose stepson was charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The appointments, and eight others Trump made last week, will replace members he fired April 29, all of whom had been named by President Joe Biden. The abrupt ouster and replacement of Biden appointees before their terms expired — a prerogative that no previous president had exercised regarding the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum — has sparked concerns from some supporters of the museum. In a post on his Truth Social site Monday, Trump announced the appointments of Siggy Flicker, Tila Falic, Jackie Zeckman, Rabbi Nate Segal and Lee Lipton. And he reappointed Jonathan Burkan, a New York financial executive and honorary chairman of the Israel Heritage Foundation, whom he first named to the museum’s board in 2019....
“Flicker’s stepson, Tyler Campanella, was arrested in April 2024 and charged with five misdemeanors in connection with the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. In its indictment, the FBI references an Instagram post on Flicker’s account showing a photo of Campanella inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and the caption, 'I love patriots so much. Stay safe Tyler. We love you.' It also included the hashtag StopTheSteal, according to the indictment.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Here's another instance of the Trump administration just wantonly lying to you. (What are the chances the White House will update that particular disinformation Webpage or will restore NIH funding in its proposed budget?) ~~~
~~~ Bats! Carl Zimmer of the New York Times: “In a study published on Wednesday, a team of researchers compared the evolutionary story of SARS [in the early 2000s] with that of Covid 17 years later. The researchers analyzed the genomes of the two coronaviruses that caused the pandemics, along with 248 related coronaviruses in bats and other mammals. Jonathan Pekar, an evolutionary virologist at the University of Edinburgh and an author of the new study, said that the histories of the two coronaviruses followed parallel paths. 'In my mind, they are extraordinarily similar,' he said. In both cases, Dr. Pekar and his colleagues argue, a coronavirus jumped from bats to wild mammals in southwestern China. In a short period of time, wildlife traders took the infected animals hundreds of miles to city markets, and the virus wreaked havoc in humans....
“The study lands at a fraught political moment. Last month the White House created a web page called 'Lab Leak: The True Origin of Covid 19,' asserting that the pandemic had been caused not by a market spillover but by an accident in a lab in Wuhan, China. On Friday, in its proposed budget, the White House described the lab leak as 'confirmed' and justified an $18 billion cut to the National Institutes of Health in part on what it described as the agency’s 'inability to prove that its grants to the Wuhan Institute of Virology were not complicit in such a possible leak.'” (Also linked yesterday.)
~~~ The report of the study is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Andrew Jeong & Victoria Craw of the Washington Post: “Former president Joe Biden has given his first sit-down interview since he left office, telling the BBC that the idea of ceding Ukrainian territory to Russia as part of a ceasefire deal amounts to 'modern-day appeasement' and describing the Oval Office blow-up between ... Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as 'beneath America.' The 30-minute interview, which aired on the 'Political Thinking' podcast with Nick Robinson on Wednesday morning, comes as allied nations prepared to mark the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day on Thursday. It took place at the Hotel Du Pont in Wilmington, Delaware, where Biden launched his Senate campaign more than 50 years ago.... Biden said the fraying of the NATO military alliance was a 'grave concern' and the collapse of it would 'change the modern history of the world' by emboldening nations like Russia and China.... Biden criticized the Trump administration for the way it treats allies, referencing Trump’s decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America as well as his comments about Panama, Greenland and Canada.”
The Oligarchy Is Now Official. Jeff Stein & Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: “A series of internal government messages obtained by The Post reveal how U.S. embassies and the State Department have pushed nations to clear hurdles for U.S. satellite companies, often mentioning [Elon Musk's] Starlink by name. The documents do not show that the Trump team has explicitly demanded favors for Starlink in exchange for lower tariffs. But they do indicate that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has increasingly instructed officials to push for regulatory approvals for Musk’s satellite firm at a moment when the White House is calling for wide-ranging talks on trade. In India, government officials have sped through approvals of Starlink with the understanding that doing so could help them cement trade deals with the administration.... An internal State Department memo ... states: 'As the government of Lesotho negotiates a trade deal with the United States, it hopes that licensing Starlink demonstrates goodwill and intent to welcome U.S. businesses.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: I wonder if Little Marco -- whose main source of income is (and long has been) a regular government salary -- thought his fancy new job would have him negotiating sales contracts for the world's richest man.
It's Easy to Fool Elon. Will Oremus of the Washington Post: “... a fake news video [posted by a failing Russian disinformation site] making false claims about the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), hit the jackpot when Elon Musk reposted it on X.”
Christiaan Triebert, et al., of the New York Times: “Some of the passwords that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used to register for websites were exposed in cyberattacks on those sites and are available on the internet, raising new questions about his use of personal devices to communicate military information. Mr. Hegseth did not appear to use those passwords for sensitive accounts, like banking. But at least one password appears to have been used multiple times for different personal email accounts maintained by Mr. Hegseth.... It is not clear whether he has updated the compromised passwords....” (Also linked yesterday.)
Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: “A federal judge on Wednesday homed in on Trump’s recent claim in a TV interview that he could, with a phone call, persuade El Salvador to return an illegally deported Salvadoran man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, to the United States. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said during a court hearing that Trump’s claim appears to undercut the administration’s legal position that it has no authority to return Abrego Garcia or hundreds of other immigrants the U.S. sent there in recent weeks, despite growing questions about the legality of the operation.... 'That goes to the president’s belief about the influence that he has,' [Justice Department attorney Abhishek] Kambli said. But influence, the DOJ attorney added, doesn’t equate to legal control.... The judge is now asking for an 'expedited' fact-finding inquiry so that he can decide whether to advance the case further. He is asking for statements under oath from administration officials about the U.S. government’s legal arrangement with El Salvador so that he can rule on whether the government does in fact retain custody of the prisoners it has sent overseas.... Boasberg is weighing whether he still has authority to preside over ongoing litigation related to the El Salvador deportations.”
Joanna Slater of the Washington Post: “A Tufts graduate student who has spent the past six weeks in a detention center in Louisiana for writing an opinion article in a student newspaper must be returned to Vermont for future hearings in her case, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish citizen, was grabbed by masked federal agents outside her home in Massachusetts in late March. The agents drove her to Vermont and then flew her to Louisiana. Ozturk’s lawyer was not informed of her location until almost 24 hours after she disappeared. On Wednesday, a panel of judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ordered Ozturk returned to Vermont by May 14, denying the government’s bid to appeal the lower-court ruling that had initiated the transfer.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Maria Sacchetti, et al., of the Washington Post: “Lawyers representing a number of immigrants asked a federal judge on Wednesday to 'urgently' block the Trump administration from deporting a group of people to Libya, Saudi Arabia or any other country where they are not citizens until the U.S. government gives them a chance to contest the removals. The lawyers asked Judge Brian E. Murphy in Boston to rule quickly after reports that federal immigration officers were preparing to expel people from Vietnam, Laos and the Philippines to Libya, a troubled North African nation 'notorious for its human rights violations, especially with respect to migrant residents,' their emergency motions says. The Justice Department had not responded to their questions about the removals, the court filing notes.... The filing followed a frantic 24 hours during which lawyers for the potential deportees scrambled to confirm media reports indicating that the migrants were being readied for removal to Libya. In response to those reports, Libya’s rival governments said earlier Wednesday that they would reject any deportations from the United States.” (Also linked yesterday.) Politico's report is here.
Tracey Tully & Luis Ferré-Sadurní of the New York Times: “The mayor of Newark led a predawn protest outside an immigrant detention facility on Tuesday, trying to keep the jailhouse from becoming a critical part of the Trump administration’s ability to enact mass deportations. The mayor, Ras J. Baraka, has been trying to stop the facility, which is expected to hold up to 1,000 migrants a day, from operating. For weeks, Newark officials had been arguing in federal court that the detention center’s owner, GEO Group, was in violation of city laws because it had failed to obtain required permits or a valid certificate of occupancy. Then, Mr. Baraka said, city officials learned that GEO Group, one of America’s largest private prison companies, had begun housing detainees — a development that set off a tense, hourslong standoff on Tuesday. As immigrant rights activists held signs and chanted and the mayor waited in a misty rain, a GEO Group worker used a chain to lock the facility’s front gate. At around 9 a.m., Newark fire officials issued the prison company three citations for code violations. Mr. Baraka, a Democrat running for governor of New Jersey, vowed to return each day until city officials were allowed inside to reinspect the facility.”
Kate Kelly of the New York Times: “The nation’s air traffic control system has been plagued by years of dysfunction. The controller ranks were depleted by retirements and a cessation in training during the pandemic. Since then, recruiting and certifying new controllers has been difficult. Existing controllers have been fatigued and even sickened by intense stress and long hours, The New York Times has reported. Some have avoided seeking medical attention because doing so could jeopardize the health care clearances they need to do the work. Turnover is frequent, especially amid illnesses, family turmoil or safety scares. The outage and its aftereffects at Newark [in late April] have prompted public outrage. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who oversees the F.A.A., has called for 'a brand-new air traffic control system.' Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, has said the F.A.A. 'is really a mess.' Scott Kirby, the chief executive of United Airlines, which is Newark’s biggest user, said the airport 'cannot handle the number of planes that are scheduled to operate there' and blamed controllers who 'walked off the job.'”
Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: “After weeks of confusion about his plans for autism research, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Wednesday that his department would build a 'real-world platform' that would allow researchers to hunt for causes of the disorder by examining insurance claims, electronic medical records and wearable devices like smart watches. The department will draw the records from Medicare and Medicaid, which together cover around 40 percent of Americans. The National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will partner on the project, Mr. Kennedy said. But it was unclear whether the announcement would assuage researchers, advocates and parents, who reacted with alarm last month when Mr. Kennedy and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the director of the National Institutes of Health, floated — and then walked back — the idea of an autism registry for research. Many feared privacy violations.... The health department said it would take steps to ensure the privacy of medical data.... Some experts were skeptical.” The AP's report is here.
Annie Waldman of ProPublica: "For more than two months, the Trump administration has been subject to a federal court order stopping it from cutting funding related to gender identity and the provision of gender-affirming care in response to ... Donald Trump’s executive orders. Lawyers for the federal government have repeatedly claimed in court filings that the administration has been complying with the order. But new whistleblower records submitted in a lawsuit led by the Washington state attorney general appear to contradict the claim.... The lawsuit offers an unprecedented view into the termination of more than 600 grants at the NIH over the past two months. Many of the canceled grants appear to have focused on subjects that the administration claims are unscientific or that the agency should no longer focus on under new priorities, such as gender identity, vaccine hesitancy and diversity, equity and inclusion. Grants related to research in China have also been cut, and climate change projects are under scrutiny."
Ben Leonard of Politico: “Congress’ nonpartisan scorekeeper projects that millions of Americans would lose health coverage under options currently being considered by Republicans to help pay for ... Donald Trump’s 'big, beautiful bill.' The new Congressional Budget Office estimates were requested by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the top Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, respectively. The options weighed by the CBO reflect policies Democrats say Republicans would pursue — not necessarily the exact options they might enact, even if similar.... The CBO estimates that a controversial policy that would reduce the federal share of payments in the joint-state federal program in states that have expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act would lead to 5.5 million people losing coverage. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday night that Republicans were no longer considering such a move. But the scorekeeper also estimated that capping federal spending in states that have expanded Medicaid — which Johnson didn’t entirely rule out Tuesday — would lead to 3.3 million people being booted off their coverage.” This post is an item in a series of live updates. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: So, among many other bad outcomes, Trump's tax breaks for the rich would cost millions of Americans access to affordable health insurance.
He Has His Article III. Abbie VanSickle of the New York Times: “Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. defended the independence of the judiciary and denounced any attempt to impeach judges over disagreements with their rulings during rare public remarks on Wednesday evening. 'Impeachment is not how you register disagreement with a decision,' the chief justice told a crowd of about 600 people, mainly lawyers and judges, gathered in Buffalo, his hometown. The remarks were his first since issuing a similar, though also unusual, written statement in March in response to threats by ... [Donald] Trump and his allies to impeach federal judges who have issued decisions against administration policies. The chief justice did not mention the president directly in his comments on Wednesday..., which he gave in response to a direct question during an event to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York.... Chief Justice Roberts spoke during an hourlong conversation with U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo, a longtime friend, who at one point asked the chief justice to expound on his views on judicial independence. 'It’s central,' Chief Justice Roberts responded. He added that the job of the judiciary was 'to obviously decide cases but in the course of that to check the excesses of Congress or the executive, and that does require a degree of independence.'” The NBC News story is here.
~~~~~~~~~~
New York. Gregory Svirnovskiy of Politico: “Over 100 demonstrators crowded a Columbia University library reading room Wednesday, prompting school administrators to call on the New York Police Department to quell the [pro-Palestinian] protest. The NYPD told Politico that 'multiple' arrests had been made, but did not give a specific number.” The New York Times report is here.
⭐North Carolina. Eduardo Medina of the New York Times: “A six-month battle over a North Carolina Supreme Court seat ended on Wednesday when the Republican challenger, who had embarked on an extraordinary effort to throw out thousands of votes, conceded the race. The challenger, Judge Jefferson Griffin, said in a statement that he would not appeal a federal court ruling issued on Monday that ordered the state elections board to certify the victory of the Democratic incumbent, Justice Allison Riggs.... The results of the race are the last in the nation to be certified from the 2024 election.... The case tested the boundaries of post-election litigation, and drew criticism from democracy watchdog groups, liberals and even some conservatives across the state, who worried about setting a dangerous precedent.” The NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Tennessee. Ben Stanley & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: “Three former police officers were acquitted on Wednesday of all the state charges against them, including second-degree murder, in the death of Tyre Nichols, a Black man whose brutal beating in 2023 stunned the nation. It was the second trial for the three men, Demetrius Haley, Tadarrius Bean and Justin Smith. They were accused of fatally beating Mr. Nichols, a FedEx employee who had been driving home from work when he was stopped by officers more than two years ago. The three were convicted of witness tampering in a separate federal trial last fall, but acquitted of a more serious charge of violating Mr. Nichols’s civil rights by causing his death. Federal jurors also found Mr. Haley guilty of violating Mr. Nichols’s civil rights by causing bodily injury. Two other former officers involved in the beating — Desmond Mills Jr. and Emmitt Martin III — took guilty pleas in the earlier federal case; Mr. Mills also pleaded guilty in state court. It remains unclear how the state case against Mr. Martin, who has been described as the most violent officer in the beating, will be handled.”
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Vatican Smoke Signal. Anthony Faiola & Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post: “Black smoke billowing in the rafters of the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday evening signaled an inconclusive first vote to pick the next pontiff, pushing the next ballots until Thursday after a day of Latin chants echoing off sacred marble halls and a high procession of cardinals, the next pope surely among them.” (Also linked yesterday.)
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Reader Comments (28)
Every time I hear about Starlink being promoted for government and military communication, all I can think of is the opening episode of the2004 reboot of Battlestar Galactica where the protagonist fleet is almost entirely immobilized by the new, fancy communication system that is secretly (but obviously) controlled by the antagonists. Our DVDs are in a box somewhere, but now I'm curious to go back and see what they called that com system.
Test. Squarespace is being squirrelly again.
NiskyGuy,
Yeah, I don’t remember either, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was called Starlink. I also wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Musk is a Cylon, albeit a defective one.
Okay, this will be a two-fer because I don’t have much to say about either topic.
First. Melanie. Where is she?
Two words.
Who cares? (It could have been “who fucking cares”, but that would be three words; one too many for this Christmas hating mannequin.)
But don’t fret, Melanie watchers. Like a crocodile, she’ll resurface when there’s something grifty-snacky in the swamp.
Hokay…now this Casey Means person. Let’s see…”license to practice medicine…INACTIVE”…hmmm…sounds appropriately Trumpy. But now what in the hell is a chronic disease entrepreneur? Is she hawking new and MAGA improved versions of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer?
I’m sure she’ll be wonderful. Laura Loomer likes her.
That’s….woof…never mind.
That’s it.
Fatty’s new game of Where to Dump the Migrants is getting interesting. So…Libya, yes? No! Sez Libya. War lords there say no one from the Fat Hitler Reich has even spoken to them, but had they done so, the answer would be “Tell yer story walkin’, pal.”
But here’s my favorite: Ukraine!
Pssst…Bozo the Don…you do know there’s a war going on there, right? You think they might be a tad preoccupied? Not much spare time or money to build you a gulag.
There’s daft and then there’s Daffy Donald.
As the potential for escalation of the conflict between India and Pakistan grows by the hour, Fatty sez he can step in and fix things.
He really believes he can do anything. That is, if he feels like it, and if there’s something in it for little Donald.
This is the sort of hostility that would have triggered a quick response from a real American administration, especially considering the long history of animosity between the two nations, the tinder box location, and the fact that nuclear weapons are in the mix.
But not this regime. Trump’s announcement that he can serve as a mediator is part brag, part performance. There’s no big story in world headlines that he will allow to overshadow his personal wonderfulness. As with the Pope’s funeral, it doesn’t matter what’s going on, this fat load will try to elbow his way to the front of the line.
But such mediation requires a diplomatic temperament, it requires smarts, circumspection, intimate knowledge of the underlying issues, an appreciation for history, a judicious intelligence, and an ability to navigate through the tensions to bring about a successful negotiated resolution.
Fatty has none of these qualities or abilities. First. knowledge, history, and judiciousness are words that never go with the name “Trump”.
Circumspection? Take a peek at his reaction to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s declaration that Canada was not for sale. His response is a juvenile smirk.
Then look at the excellent job he’s doing with Russia and Ukraine. Putin gives him the finger while he tries to bludgeon Zelensky and weasel a side deal for himself.
Had this idiot been at Potsdam, we’d probably be a Russian satellite state after he handed off all US leverage for the rights to a chain of cheap hotels in the Soviet bloc.
We lose power and international clout and influence by the hour as the Fat Hitler clown car rolls on. Even with flat tires.
Test
Poor Johhnie Roberts. He’s having a sad because MAGA thugs are threatening to kill judges who rule against the Dear Leader’s illegal and unconstitutional diktats, and Fat Hitler himself is demanding the ouster of these judges.
Gee, Johnnie. Maybe Fatty wouldn’t be such a monarchical menace if you hadn’t handed him a crown and told him he was above the law.
You can’t give a little brat a BB gun and tell him not to shoot your windows out.
Funny how that works.
The Republican rubber hitting the road, ala Waldman:
https://paulwaldman.substack.com/p/the-republican-assault-on-medicaid?
Corruptocurrency
So the Big Announcement today was that the US has the concepts of a plan for a trade deal with Britain, but not an actual plan in place to sign and brag about. So, basically it was a photo op for Fat Hitler to once again pretend he is presidencing and most of the media is playing along as if the demented moron accomplished something today. Once again FH lies about doing something and the media just quotes his bullshit with little pushback or informing the public on the reality of what is actually happening, or not happening in this case. FH gets the headlines he wants and the rest of us get nothing except continued higher prices.
The Big Announcement feels exactly like what FH tried to get Zelensky to do in his impeachable offense, announce an investigation into Biden. Something like "You don't have to do an actual investigation, just announce it" and the news media will do the rest.
Good news, good news.
The good news:
White smoke!
More good news:
It’s not Trump.
Although from a smokestack in another part of Rome, red smoke was seen, meaning the pontiff for satan has been chosen to lead his horde in his hell here on earth. Odds are THAT is Trump.
Even odds that Trump will either claim to have influenced the choice of pope, or it will be P&M that the vote was rigged against him.
So unfair!
@Bobby Lee: Tough choice! Either way, we call all be 100 percent sure that somehow or other, the choice of a new pope is all about Trump.
100% Fatty will take credit for the election of an American pope.
“I told them I wanted an American pope and they obeyed my wishes. The Catholics love me!”
Yeah, it will be all about Trump. Look for some invented bit of bigly bullshit designed to grab the headlines away from the new pope.
With years of experience in Peru, one of the poorest countries in South America, I’m guessing the new pope won’t be seeing eye to eye with Fat Hitler’s plans of shooting migrants in the leg, dumping them into gulags, putting babies in cages, or moats filled with snakes and crocodiles.
So…election rigged against Trump might be a thing.
The brief bio material on Leo says he is not big on gilt, so maybe DiJiT will not claim him. Raymond Cardinal Burke is more DiJiT's style -- all dress-up for all occasions and swings that censer like a hooker strolling 7th Avenue swings a purse.
Speaking of which ... the names of cardinals in news this week put "cardinal" as an honorific before their names, whereas the normal usage used to be first name cardinal last name (e.g. Raymond Cardinal Burke). Did that change?
Ken,
I read the Walkman piece you linked. A good one. I certainly hope he’s right about healthcare. It’s completely abominable that the media are not jumping on this with both feet and screaming about how name changes and Opioid Office bling, and BIG deal announcements are all cover for this sort of truly evil business of taking away healthcare from millions so Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos can get another huge tax break.
Waldmsn also has this great line:
“The Medicaid cuts are just one part of a gigantic budget bill that will emerge from the congressional abattoir dripping with the viscera of critical programs gutted or cancelled outright.”
“…dripping with the viscera of critical programs gutted…” is great writing. In fact it’s downright, well, visceral.
Thanks for the link-a-ma-jig.
Jared Sexton on substack shares some interesting thoughts on Artificial Intelligence and American Decline
"AI is, perhaps, the most quintessential late-American Empire invention imaginable. It barely works, yet presents its information as an expert. It gobbles up others’ knowledge and achievements and refuses to give credit. And, to this point, it exists almost solely to nurture a sense of entitlement while creating destructive cycles that remain just below the surface but inescapable in their ramifications.....it is telling that, as America declines and becomes more and more embroiled in authoritarian ideology, that the emerging tool of choice minimizes active and engaged participation in learning and growing and developing a personal sense of curiosity and critical thinking.
On Krugman:
Wonderful essay as always.
But tariffs were never about tariffs per se for the Pretender. Three reasons. First, he never understood them or the part they might play in trade, as his own words--to the degree they can be deciphered--have demonstrated repeatedly. Secondly, he does understand they are a cudgel and cudgeling is his favorite thing Thirdly, he does understand they are a revenue source and his big, beautiful budget with its beautiful tax cuts needs more revenue.
And someone told him (tho' he lied about that, too, until recently) that revenue will be paid by the American consumer and since it's not a tax, they're so dumb they'll never notice. He does love the uneducated.
Laura,
To your point about AI infiltration, a team of researchers in Zurich recently conducted an experiment on Reddit to see if AI bots could change people’s minds about a wide variety of topics. They were wildly successful, despite the ethical problem of using Reddit readers as test subjects without their consent (even though consent would have given the game away).
Trying again.
More the Pretender's Department of Government Inefficiency doesn't want to know:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/climate/noaa-billion-dollar-disasters.html
Catholics in the news.
Good timing I thought:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/us/church-confession-law-child-abuse.html
BTW, the way my middle name is also Francis, and today I had a fledgling robin perch on my head.
Weird.
Ken,
You didn’t by any chance live in Assisi in a former life, did you?
Akhilleus,
Not to my knowledge. But it occurred to me my parents might (finally) have been proud...
The Atlantic
"The Atlantic wins the ASME 2025 Best Cover Award for our October 2024 issue.
Inspired by the visual language of old Ray Bradbury and Stephen King paperbacks, Justin Metz created this illustration"
RAS,
Wow. What a great cover. Absolutely deserving of that award.
The references to Stephen King and Ray Bradbury makes me think of Randall Flagg from King’s “The Stand” and Mr. Dark from Bradbury’s “Something Wicked This Way Comes”.
Fat Hitler embodies both. The image of an evil carnival barker descending on the nation’s capital, bringing darkness, wickedness, and evil in his wide wake.
Scary, but accurate. And we’re only at the start of this terrifying novel.