The Conversation -- June 10, 2025
Citizens Disunited. Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: “In response to often sharp questioning from House Democrats on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended the Pentagon’s deployment of nearly 5,000 active-duty Marines and National Guard members to help the police in Los Angeles quell sporadic unrest. Mr. Hegseth, a former National Guardsman, also suggested in testimony before the House Appropriations Committee that the use of the Guard, part-time citizen soldiers, for homeland defense would expand under ... [Donald] Trump. 'I think we’re entering another phase, especially under President Trump with his focus on the homeland, where the National Guard and Reserves become a critical component of how we secure that homeland,' Mr. Hegseth told lawmakers.... The secretary had several testy exchanges with Democrats on the committee, who challenged him on the efficacy and cost of the deployments. At one point, he ignored direct questions from Representative Betty McCollum of Minnesota, the top Democrat on the committee’s defense panel, about the cost to deploy troops to Los Angeles. Instead, Mr. Hegseth used his time to attack Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles and the Biden administration.... When he was questioned again on the mission’s projected costs, Mr. Hegseth deferred to the Pentagon’s acting comptroller, Bryn Woollacott MacDonnell, who said that Marine and National Guard deployments — estimated to last 60 days — would cost about $134 million, mainly for travel, housing and food.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Bear in mind that these National Guard troops are residents of the states in which Trump is requiring them to confront other residents. Trump is pitting neighbor against neighbor. And these neighbors, for the most part, are all carrying out their civic duty: the Guard by following order and the demonstrators by standing up for civil rights and human rights. ~~~
~~~ Steven Myers of the New York Times: “Misleading photographs, videos and text have spread widely on social media as protests against immigrant raids have unfolded in Los Angeles, rehashing old conspiracy theories and expressing support for ... [Donald] Trump’s actions. The flood of falsehoods online appeared intended to stoke outrage toward immigrants and political leaders, principally Democrats. They also added to the confusion over what exactly was happening on the streets, which was portrayed in digital and social media through starkly divergent ideological lenses.... There were numerous scenes of protesters throwing rocks or other objects at law enforcement officers and setting cars ablaze, including a number of self-driving Waymo taxis. At the same time, false images spread to revive old conspiracies that the protests were a planned provocation, not a spontaneous response to the immigration raids.... Darren L. Linvill, a researcher at Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub, said conservatives online were 'building up the riots in a performative way' to help bolster Mr. Trump’s claims that Los Angeles had been taken over by 'violent, insurrectionist mobs.'... Many posts created the false impression that the entire city was engulfed in violence, when the clashes were limited to only a small part.” ~~~
~~~ On that note, scroll down this post by digby to check out the maps David Dayen of the American Prospect posted on BlueSky to see just where these "massive" protests were taking place. Los Angeles County covers more than 4,000 square miles. Not only that, as Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out last night, downtown Los Angeles -- where most of the protests have taken place (that tiny area on Dayen's map) -- is nothing like a typical American city's downtown. It is a place that many life-long Angelinos have never been. MB: Back when I lived in L.A., I did have to go downtown a few times. Usually, it's quiet during the daytime and practically deserted at night.
Here is a disturbing report RAS found about DHS agents showing up at two Los Angeles-area elementary schools to interrogate students. Schools administrators stopped them. DHS later claimed the agents were doing wellness checks: ~~~
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Via Tom Sullivan of Hullabaloo: ~~~
No Kings Day, June 14th
The Resistance Lab
Choose Democracy
Indivisible: A Guide to Democracy on the Brink
You Have Power
Chop Wood, Carry Water
Thirty lonely but beautiful actions
Attending a Protest Surveillance Self-Defense
~~~ AND here's an assist from Nick Sousanis, courtesy of laura h.
Marie: Trump is running the country as if he were the tinpot military dictator of a banana republic. Earlier this year, he invoked the wartime Alien Enemies Act to deport immigrants. Now he has called up the National Guard and "sent in the Marines" to police demonstrations in Los Angeles under an executive order that could apply to any demonstrations anywhere in the U.S. He has not ruled out invoking the wartime Insurrection Act. He has ordered the Army to stage a parade to celebrate its 250th anniversary his birthday. He has threatened to use military force to conquer Greenland, heretofore a U.S. ally, because of a national security emergency. He has imposed global tariffs based again on a pretense of a national security emergency. And he has claimed that a few pounds of fentanyl smuggled in from Canada justified emergency sanctions against our largest trading partner. ~~~
That Was Then. This Is Now. Aaron Blake, now of CNN: “In September 2020..., Donald Trump suggested he was hamstrung to crack down on at-times-violent racial justice demonstrations in cities like Portland, Oregon. 'Look, we have laws. We have to go by the laws,' Trump said at an ABC News town hall, adding: 'We can’t call in the National Guard unless we’re requested by a governor.' Trump noted there was one way he could do that – by invoking the Insurrection Act – but added that 'there’s no reason to ever do that, even in a Portland case.'... [Since then,] Trump seems to have developed a very broad sense of what constitutes an insurrection and plenty of reasons to potentially do what he said 'there’s no reason to ever do.'... The question from here is why Trump hasn’t ... invok[ed] the Insurrection Act. He and [Stephen] Miller have now invoked that specific word multiple times in reference to the situation in Los Angeles, and the deployment of a Marine battalion suggests this is very much on the table.” ~~~
~~~ That Was Us. This Is Them. Luke Broadwater & Erika Solomon of the New York Times: “When violent protests originate from the right — such as those in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, or at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — ... [Donald] Trump has chosen to downplay the violence or suggest the protesters have a noble cause and have been treated unfairly.... Mr. Trump has described the Capitol riot as a 'day of love,' and immediately on his return to office pardoned those convicted of crimes.... But when protests originate from what he views as the political left, Mr. Trump often expresses an open desire for law enforcement and the military to harshly crack down on them. Over the weekend, Mr. Trump ordered ... troops be deployed on the streets of downtown Los Angeles to quell protests against his administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.... Even though the demonstrations have been largely contained to specific areas and mostly peaceful, Mr. Trump claimed on social media that the protesters were 'insurrectionist mobs' and that Los Angeles had been 'invaded and occupied by Illegal Aliens and Criminals.'” Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~
~~~ Naftali Bendavid of the Washington Post: “Trump declares an emergency or crisis where many others do not see one, enabling him to take sweeping actions, rally supporters and fight on political terrain he finds favorable.... He has declared eight separate emergencies since taking office, far more than other recent presidents, according to Elizabeth Goitein ... [of] the Brennan Center for Justice.... By many measures, the emergencies were hard to discern. But Trump’s ability to pronounce them via executive order enabled him to instantly deploy the resulting authority.... The stream of emergency declarations has contributed to a sense cultivated by Trump that the country is facing perpetual crisis, under threat from foreign nations and domestic enemies. Trump appears to thrive in this atmosphere, adopting the role of fighter and savior. If he had not federalized the National Guard, Trump said Monday on Truth Social, 'Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated.'”
David Sanger, et al., of the New York Times: “The Pentagon significantly escalated the federal response to the immigration enforcement protests in Los Angeles on Monday, mobilizing a battalion of 700 Marines and doubling the number of California National Guard troops in what officials described as a limited mission to protect federal property and agents, even as ... [Donald] Trump described the situation as 'very well under control.' Earlier Monday, Mr. Trump labeled the demonstrators 'insurrectionists,' but he stopped short of saying he would invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act, which would allow him to call up the military to intervene directly in putting down the protests. In an announcement, the Pentagon did not make clear why it would need an additional 2,000 National Guard troops. But more worrying to state and city officials, legal experts and Democrats in Congress was the use of active-duty Marines. By tradition and law, American military troops are supposed to be used inside the United States only in the rarest and most extreme situations.” ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates of Trump's War on California are here. The Post's live updates yesterday were here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Gregory Svirnovskiy of Politico: “At least nine people are facing federal charges for their involvement in protests against immigration enforcement in Los Angeles, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Monday. Demonstrators face charges for attacking police with Molotov cocktails, looting and spitting on law enforcement, Bondi said in a TV interview.... She said in an interview on Fox News. 'If California won’t protect their law enforcement, we will protect the LAPD and the sheriff’s office out there.... 'As President Trump said, you spit. we hit. Get ready. If you spit on a federal law enforcement officer, we are going to charge you with a crime federally. You are looking at up to five years maximum in prison.' Those charged already include David Huerta, president of the Service Employees International Union California, who was injured and arrested while protesting the arrest of workers in downtown Los Angeles. He was released Monday from federal custody on a $50,000 bond. The Trump administration’s decisive treatment of demonstrators — and the president’s focus on punishing those who assault police officers — stands in contrast to his sweeping pardons for roughly 1,500 people who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021....” ~~~
~~~ Jacob Rosen of CBS News: "David Huerta, the president of the California division of the Service Employees International Union, is set to appear in court for an initial appearance on one felony charge of conspiracy to impede an officer after he was arrested Friday during protests over ICE raids.... According to a Homeland Security Investigation officer's sworn affidavit, Huerta sat down in front of a vehicular gate to a staging ground for ICE operations that were ongoing nearby.... According to the union, Huerta was injured during the arrest and was hospitalized as a result.... [Gov. Gavin] Newsom and other Democratic leaders denounced the arrest, with Newsom writing in a statement that Huerta is a 'respected leader, a patriot, and an advocate for working people.' A large protest was held by SEIU officials Monday in Washington, D.C. in support of Huerta's release." ~~~
~~~ Patrick Svitek of the Washington Post: “California sued the Trump administration Monday over its deployment of 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles, a move with little precedent that has dramatically increased tensions between the federal government and America’s largest Democratic-led state. The lawsuit argues that Trump overstepped his authority when he called up by the National Guard in defiance of California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), invoking a law that allows the president to do so under threat from a foreign 'invasion' or 'rebellion' against the U.S. government. 'Let me be clear: There is no invasion. There is no rebellion,' California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) said in a statement. 'The President is trying to manufacture chaos and crisis on the ground for his own political ends.' The lawsuit contends that Trump’s move illegally infringed upon Newsom’s role as commander in chief of the California National Guard.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Satyam Singh of India Today: “California Governor Gavin Newsom accused ... Donald Trump of treating US National Guard troops with 'disrespect' after images emerged of soldiers sleeping on the floor in cramped conditions following their deployment to Los Angeles amid ongoing protests. Newsom claimed that the Trump administration dispatched more than 2,000 troops to the city 'without fuel, food, water or a place to sleep,' escalating a fierce standoff between the Democratic governor and the President.... 'This isn’t about public safety. It’s about stroking a dangerous President’s ego. This is Reckless. Pointless. And Disrespectful to our troops[,' Newsom wrote]. The governor also released two photos showing National Guard members lying shoulder to shoulder on the ground, apparently inside a government building.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: One player in the standoff between Newsom & the Trump administration is Tom Homan. I'm confused now about what his job is, not least because he has been taking fashion advice from Kristi Noem. Heather Cox Richardson writes, “As Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo notes, Homan and [Stephen] Miller are the public face of border enforcement and anti-immigrant policies. But Homan is not part of ICE. He is a White House advisor, working in a civilian capacity. And yet, as Marshall records, he has taken to showing up before the cameras 'in either faux military uniforms or, in most cases, civilian garb clearly meant to appear like military-style fatigues along with a ever-changing run of camo or olive drab baseball caps.'... On Saturday, Homan threatened to arrest anyone who obstructed immigration enforcement, refusing to exempt L.A. mayor [Karen] Bass or California governor Gavin Newsom.... As he arrived back at the White House [Monday] morning after spending the weekend at Camp David, Trump told reporters: 'I would do it if I were Tom. I think it’s great….' Homan does not have the authority to arrest anyone.” ~~~
~~~ BUT according to Mike Ives of the NYT (Nov. 11, 2024), Homan would be Trump's “border czar,” and Trump wrote in a post that “... Tom Homan will be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin.” Now, admittedly, Trump wasn't president* in November 2024, so maybe he didn't follow through on his written remark. But the remark seems to imply that Trump would in effect be “deputizing” Homan, and he would therefore have the president*'s authority to arrest and deport people.
~~~ Arelis Hernández & Marianne LeVine of the Washington Post: “As protests over workplace raids in California’s largest city continued Monday..., advocates and relatives of those detained were scrambling to find any information about them. Mexico’s foreign minister said four immigrants detained in the raid had already been removed from the United States, a speed that some advocates said was unusual.... DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News on Monday that those picked up in the raids represent the 'worst of the worst.' But immigrant advocacy groups say they have collected information indicating that more than 200 people were detained and that many do not have any criminal record. Eva Bitran ... [of] the ACLU of Southern California, said..., 'The people who have been arrested are our neighbors and community members and the workers that make the city of Los Angeles run.... We know there were arrests at car washes, at Home Depot — really the places where immigrants are just trying to go about their lives and go about their jobs.'” ~~~
~~~ Reis Thebault & Molly Hennessy-Fiske of the Washington Post: “In a city that has increasingly found itself in the crosshairs of the federal government, the turmoil can feel personal. Local leaders accuse the Trump administration of ginning up a crisis for political gain, and Angelenos from across this vast metropolis denounce what they consider an attack on the very fabric of the city.... California and Los Angeles have long been among Trump’s favorite targets, and he has gleefully portrayed them both as Democratic-dominated hellscapes. His administration is weighing the cancellation of California’s federal funding, an unprecedented move that would decimate the state’s budget. But the weekend’s back-and-forth represented a major escalation in the tense relationship.... L.A. Mayor Karen Bass — a Democrat who had personally appealed to White House officials, asking them not to send in the National Guard — said Trump’s actions were 'intentional to sow chaos in our city.' The allegations that L.A. had descended into widespread lawlessness were 'just not true,' the mayor said.” ~~~
~~~ Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: “In a post-reality environment, it turns out, the president didn’t need to wait for a crisis to launch an authoritarian crackdown. Instead, he can simply invent one.... The idea that Trump needed to put soldiers on the streets of the city because riots were spinning out of control is pure fantasy. 'Today, demonstrations across the city of Los Angeles remained peaceful, and we commend all those who exercised their First Amendment rights responsibly,' said a statement issued by the Los Angeles Police Department on Saturday evening. That was the same day Trump overrode Gov. Gavin Newsom and federalized California’s National Guard ... based on ludicrous falsehoods about a foreign invasion.... For this administration, protests needn’t be violent to be considered an illegitimate uprising.... If you saw all this in any other country — soldiers sent to crush dissent, union leaders arrested, opposition politicians threatened — it would be clear that autocracy had arrived. The question, now, is whether Americans who hate tyranny can be roused to respond.” ~~~
~~~ Our Own Cultural Revolution. Jim Fallows on Substack points out the similarities between Trump's actions and Mao's disastrous, repressive Cultural Revolution. Fallows' Substack essay is subscriber-firewalled, but Akhilleus has linked to a post by digby which outlines some of Fallows' main points: "... it is all too easy to imagine that most of what Mao and the Red Guards did to China, Trump and Doge and Miller and Noem and Bondi can be doing to the United States." ~~~
~~~ Paul Krugman: “... the events unfolding in Los Angeles as you read this and, I fear, the events likely to unfold across much of America soon, quite possibly this weekend, suggest that the motivations of Trump and his cronies go deeper than mere (mere!) sadism. They want to use false claims of chaos to justify a power grab that, if successful, would mark the end of the American experiment.... What [Trump's raid on Los Angeles] looks like is an attempt to create confrontations that can be used to impose something that, for practical purposes, amounts to martial law.... This is all about finding excuses to use force against Trump’s critics and opponents and justify an anti-democratic power grab.”
Arelis Hernández of the Washington Post: “Life on Martha’s Vineyard and ... Nantucket has been disrupted since officers arrested dozens of immigrants late last month, igniting fear among undocumented workers who form the backbone of the workforce here just as the busy summer season gets underway.... Masked immigration officers wearing bulletproof vests arrived on Coast Guard boats right after the Memorial Day weekend and detained several dozen people on both islands. Federal authorities described the arrests as part of a massive sting across Massachusetts that resulted in nearly 1,500 arrests. On the islands, about 40 people were detained, including an alleged MS-13 gang member and someone described as a “child sex offender,” according to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Boston. Most had no criminal record and were stopped on their way to work, community members said....
“Residents staged a protest at the ferry docks where agents were loading shackled migrants onto boats. One man followed the officers with a camera and heckled them. 'It’s bullying,' said Charlie Giordano, a longtime resident and small business owner who recorded the video. 'I don’t know how many are illegal or legal, I don’t give a s---. But I do care about how they’re treated.'” (Also linked yesterday.)
Trump's Birthday Party Causes Huge Disruption. Michael Brice-Saddler, et al., of the Washington Post: “Security officials said they plan to close numerous D.C. streets, some for up to four days, and deploy thousands of police officers and federal agents for the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday celebration as the city braces for throngs of onlookers expected to attend a huge military parade and festival along the National Mall.... The road closures ... will be unusually extensive.... The [event] will feature dozens of aircraft, hundreds of Army vehicles and thousands of soldiers from around the nation. Reagan National Airport is expected to halt takeoffs and landings for several hours Saturday to accommodate military flyovers, with aviation officials forecasting disruptions for more than 100 flights and thousands of passengers. Waterways around the District will also be closed as part of the security plan.... Matt McCool, special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s Washington field office, said at a Monday news conference that officials anticipate Saturday’s events will bring 'hundreds of thousands' of people to the District, prompting a robust security response organized in recent weeks by local and federal law enforcement agencies.” MB: Wait a minute. A special agent named “Matt McCool”? Is that real? Maybe he used to be Abdul Hassan or Juan Sanchez and Trump insisted on giving him a “more American name.”
⭐Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: “Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. health secretary, on Monday fired all 17 members of the advisory committee on immunization to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, saying that the move would restore the public’s trust in vaccines. About two-thirds of the panel had been appointed in the last year of the Biden administration, Mr. Kennedy pointed out in announcing his decision in an opinion column for The Wall Street Journal. The C.D.C.’s vaccine advisers wield enormous influence. They carefully review data on vaccines, debate the evidence and vote on who should get the shots and when. Insurance companies and government programs like Medicaid are required to cover the vaccines recommended by the panel.... This is the latest in a series of moves that Mr. Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic, has made to dismantle decades of policy standards for immunizations. An advisory panel more closely aligned with Mr. Kennedy’s views has the potential to significantly alter — or even drop — the recommendations for immunizations to Americans, including childhood vaccinations.
“The decision directly contradicts a promise Mr. Kennedy made to Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, during his confirmation hearings, when he said he would not alter the panel, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. 'Of course, now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion,' Senator Cassidy wrote on X. Public health experts reacted strongly to Mr. Kennedy’s announcement, calling it an extreme and reckless decision.” The AP's report is here. The STAT News story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: What this could mean for the millions of Americans who are covered by some kind of health insurance -- be it private or government-backed (Medicaid/Medicare) -- is that we will have to pay out-of-pocket for life-saving vaccinations. And what this could mean for all of us is that millions of people who would have received vaccinations will not do so, making all sorts of pandemics and near-pandemics much more likely. If Go-Along Cassidy had any guts, he would get together a coalition of senators and march to the White House to demand Kennedy be fired and a sane, qualified person be nominated to replace him. BTW, Kennedy is not a "vaccine skeptic" as Mandevilli asserts; he's a dangerous crackpot vaccine denier.
Brave People Who Are Working for Us. Carolyn Johnson of the Washington Post: “More than 90 staffers at the National Institutes of Health signed their names to a letter of dissent to Director Jay Bhattacharya in a rare sign of open resistance by career government employees. The letter warns that Trump administration policies such as terminating peer-reviewed grants, interrupting global collaborations and firing essential staff are wasting public resources, undermining the NIH’s mission and harming the health of people in the United States and beyond. 'The life-and-death nature of our work demands that changes be thoughtful and vetted. We are compelled to speak up when our leadership prioritizes political momentum over human safety and faithful stewardship of public resources,' the letter says. 'Many of us have raised these concerns to NIH leadership, yet they remain unaddressed, and we are pressured to implement harmful measures.'” (Also linked yesterday.)
Robin Pogrebin, et al., of the New York Times: “In a challenge to ... [Donald] Trump, the Smithsonian said on Monday that it retained the power over personnel decisions, a statement that came in the wake of the president’s announcement that he was firing Kim Sajet, the director of the National Portrait Gallery. 'All personnel decisions are made by and subject to the direction of the secretary, with oversight by the board,' said a statement from the Smithsonian, which oversees that museum and 20 others, as well as libraries, research centers and the National Zoo. 'Lonnie G. Bunch, the secretary, has the support of the Board of Regents in his authority and management of the Smithsonian.' The statement came hours after the Board of Regents, including Vice President JD Vance, discussed the president’s announcement at a quarterly meeting. When Mr. Trump said 10 days ago that he had fired Ms. Sajet, he called her 'a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI, which is totally inappropriate for her position.'... In a recent executive order, Mr. Trump called on Mr. Vance to overhaul the Smithsonian with the help of Congress.”
Marco Rubio Is Meaner Than a Junkyard Dog. Sarah Ewall-Wice of the Daily Beast, republished by Yahoo! News: "Bill Gates is making an eleventh-hour push for the U.S. to rethink its sweeping foreign aid cuts as the Trump administration moves to win congressional approval for its DOGE savings. The billionaire philanthropist managed to pull off a visit to the White House under the radar on Friday, where he made the case with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to a report from Tara Palmeri’s The Red Letter. Gates reportedly put the pressure on Rubio to reverse the DOGE cuts to foreign aid.... Included in the roughly $9.4 billion DOGE cuts package that the House is scheduled to vote on this week are $8.3 billion cuts in foreign aid, including money for the U.S. Agency for International Development, which DOGE took a hatchet to earlier this year.... Tthe State Department said that Rubio’s position on cuts to foreign aid has not changed.”
Warren Strobel & Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: “Senior Democratic lawmakers accused Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Monday of violating the law with personnel moves they said threaten independent oversight of the 18 intelligence agencies she oversees. In a letter, they provided new details of a standoff between Gabbard and her congressionally mandated inspector general. The Washington Post reported last week that Gabbard had installed a top adviser, reporting to her, in the Intelligence Community Inspector General’s office, a highly unusual move that former U.S. officials said could undermine its integrity. Gabbard also has fired the acting general counsel in the inspector general’s office. 'We request that you immediately cease your illegal interference into the ICIG’s operations,' the lawmakers wrote Gabbard.... 'The ICIG must remain independent of political influence, and we will continue to oppose any attempt to interfere with its work, or silence its conclusions.' The letter was signed by Sen. Mark R. Warner (Virginia) and Rep. Jim Himes (Connecticut), the top Democrats on the Senate and House intelligence committees; and Sen. Chris Coons (Delaware) and Rep. Betty McCollum (Minnesota), ranking Democrats on the chambers’ defense appropriations subcommittees.”
Hailey Fuchs of Politico: “Rep. Mark Green said Monday he plans to resign from Congress after four terms to accept a private-sector job offer. The Tennessee Republican and Homeland Security Committee [chair] said his retirement would begin after the House votes again on the GOP’s domestic-policy megabill now under consideration in the Senate.... Green announced last year he would retire but then reentered the race. Shortly before the election, his wife went public with allegations of an extramarital affair, which Politico corroborated. Green did not disclose the identity of his future employer. Under House rules, members are required to disclose negotiations with a future private employer to the Ethics Committee, and are required to recuse themselves from matters where their future employment would pose a conflict of interest.”
Roni Rabin of the New York Times: “Firearm deaths of children and teenagers rose significantly in states that enacted more permissive gun laws after the Supreme Court in 2010 limited local governments’ ability to restrict gun ownership, a new study has found. In states that maintained stricter laws, firearm deaths were stable after the ruling, the researchers reported, and in some, they even declined. Guns are the leading cause of death in the United States for people ages 1 through 17, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency room doctor at Massachusetts General Brigham Hospital in Boston, who was the study’s lead author, said he was dismayed to find that most of the children’s deaths were homicides and suicides. 'It’s surprising how few of these are accidents,' Dr. Faust said.” MB: Say, let's hear reactions to these findings from the legislative captives of the gun lobby (99 percent of whom likely describe themseves as “pro-life”). (Also linked yesterday.)
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Canada. Carney Says U.S. Hegemony Is Over, Ups NATO Spending. Ian Austen of the New York Times: “Declaring that Canada is too dependent on the United States for its defense, Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday committed to having his country meet NATO’s spending target this year, seven years ahead of schedule.... [Donald] Trump and leaders of other allied nations have long criticized Canada for consistently falling well short of NATO’s goal of a military budget equal to 2 percent of each member’s gross domestic product. Canada’s previous government, under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, planned to raise Canada’s spending, which is at 1.37 percent, to meet the military alliance’s target by 2032. Mr. Carney, speaking in Toronto, said that new geopolitical threats, advances in technology and the fraying of Canada’s alliance with the United States demanded an accelerated spending schedule. 'We stood shoulder to shoulder with the Americans throughout the Cold War and in the decades that followed, as the United States played a dominant role on the world stage,' he said. 'Today, that dominance is a thing of the past.'”
Lizzie Johnson, et al., of the Washington Post: “A massive overnight drone and missile attack on Ukraine damaged a maternity hospital in the southern port city of Odessa and left buildings in the nation’s capital smoking and smoldering Tuesday morning. It is the second large-scale drone attack in two days and follows another major aerial attack on Friday, which the Russians at the time said was retaliation for an ambitious Ukrainian drone strike on distant airfields on June 1. The renewed pounding of Ukrainian cities comes as the U.S.-sponsored peace process is faltering. Ukrainian officials said Russia attacked with 315 drones — including 250 self-detonating Iranian-made Shaheds — two North Korean KN-23 ballistic missiles and five Iskander cruise missiles, killing two people and injuring 15.” ~~~
“resident Volodymyr Zelensky rejected ... Donald Trump’s comparison of Russia’s war against Ukraine to 'children fighting in a park' during his interview with ABC News published on June 6. 'We are not kids with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin at the playground in the park,' Zelensky said, as quoted by the TV network. 'He is a murderer who came to this park to kill the kids.' The U.S. president, who has repeatedly claimed he alone can bring an end to the war, said on June 5 that it might be best not to intervene in Russia’s war against Ukraine for now. 'Sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy,' Trump said at a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House. 'They hate each other, and they’re fighting in a park, and you try and pull them apart. They don’t want to be pulled. Sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart.'”
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Chairman Trump’s Cultural Revolution
Marie’s pal James Fallows calls attention to the startling comparison of the existential atrocities going on right here, right now to the generational damage wreaked upon China during Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Like all of you, I’ve read something of that disastrous period in Chinese history, but I was not nearly familiar enough with the particulars to hear the alarm bells going off for people like Fallows (who lived there for some time) whose much deeper familiarity prompts their very real concern for the future of the United States under this evil cadre of MAGA maniacs.
To wit:
“…I wish Americans would start reading, thinking, and talking even more about the disaster of China’s Cultural Revolution. Because it is all too easy to imagine that most of what Mao and the Red Guards did to China, Trump and Doge and Miller and Noem and Bondi can be doing to the United States…
– First, it is a revolution which mobilizes people about culture…
– This purging is the result of an irrepressible desire for revenge…
– The victims are at the same time intellectuals and officials, although bureaucrats appear as the main target…The destruction of the administration is based on a lawless terror implemented by radicals protected at the highest level (Red Guards in China, members of DOGE in the US), putting into jeopardy entire branches of the administration.
– This ‘revolution’ is quick and bewildering, leaving everyone overwhelmed.
– The great leader is trying to reform the ideology of the entire people by destroying nefarious ideas (‘woke’, ‘LGBT+‘ in the US, ‘revisionist’, ‘counterrevolutionary’ in Mao’s China).
– This ideological reform relies on the imposition of a ‘correct’ vocabulary by coercive means (thus the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as Gulf of America as decreed by Trump.)…
– An essential method for controlling the minds of the people is the cult of personality of the great leader…
– Finally, an important similarity is the ideal of a ‘purified’ society that is free of dangerous outsiders.”
There’s more.
And it’s not good.
Then there’s this…in 1990, Trump, in an interview in “Playboy” (how he must have loved that!) congratulated the Chinese for kicking the shit out of the students at Tiananmen Square, saying that it showed “strength”.
It’s often said that Trump is a poor person’s idea of a rich person.
I’m thinking that violence perpetrated by a dictator is a coward’s idea of strength. Vide Los Angeles.
Test
@Akhilleus: I think you're quite right about Trump's/a coward's idea of strength.
I was also think this morning that I haven't properly appreciated Trump's idea of a crisis. For most people a crisis is an event or series of events that poses some imminent danger. But for Trump a crisis seems to be (1) "something I don't like," or (2) "something I can pretend poses a danger."
It doesn't have to pose a real danger or threat of danger to anyone; it may be a mere inconvenience to Trump or simply an opportunity for a distraction from some other catastrophe he has caused. Trump's "crisis," however, does have to be the sort of thing that people can imagine is or could become dangerous. It has to be something that could make some people fearful, or at least anxious or annoyed. So a Trump "crisis" could be rising egg prices (even if they're falling) or liberal-ish protests (even if they're peaceful). It could be criminal immigrants (even if they're law-abiding) or "woke" demands (even if they simply ensure or favor equal opportunity).
No idea what will post-- I think I sent one yesterday or the day before that never printed. It was not important, but this is such an annoying feature of the people at Squarespace-- is that the name of it?
The liars on winger tv are again being loud and proud and lying like professionals, which they ARE professional liars. The morons out there, even ones who voted for Dems are sure that the Mexican flags being photographed are current, and triggered Gym the Gargoyle to make a statement about Murican flags. From what I understand, the photos are from 2020. And of course, the shirt-sleeved idiot wouldn't know truth if it hit him. But that network does the job of fooling the general public very well. It is pathetic.
Do we have conscientious objectors anymore? Or have all the people with consciences been run out of are many armed forces?
Another way to fiddle while Rome burns, or occupy yourself counting angels on the head of a pin.
Hard to maintain much respect for The Law when it produces drivel like this.
Or maybe it’s not The Law. It’s the idiots.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/opinion/originalism-supreme-court-conservative.html
My oomment:
Seeking answers to most contemporary problems and challenges in a document written 250 years ago makes no more sense that divining bird entrails , consulting runes or casting dice
. No modern weaponry in the Founders' day. No atomic energy. No computers. Heck, only an inkling of electricity, and oh, yeah, no unitary executive, and not even a White House. Who would claim the Court’s presidential immunity decision was originalist. tho it sure was original.
Alito just makes stuff up. See Dodd.
The conservatives, originalists or not, always decide in favor or corporations—tho there’s no mention of them in the Constitution-- over people.
Republicans in the pocket of Big Business isn't very original either.
Reframe
"Winning the Middle
A.R. Moxon
What makes for a purity test? What makes for a big tent? Unpacking the apparently pragmatic demand that we Speak Low about fascists to beat fascism.
For a lot of people the greatest atrocity is failing to be polite to others like them. So, if you want to understand who somebody thinks is most like them, look for those to whom they are least comfortable being impolite to, even about atrocities, and what atrocities they'd like to stay silent about.
Nothing punctures a polite conspiracy of silence like a truth spoken publicly.
"Win the middle" pragmatic types very rarely name those pesky points of disagreement that divide us, I've noticed, or define who us is. They are so committed to ignoring those pesky points of difference that they even ignore what exactly they are.
And let's name the rarely-mentioned "progressive purity test" that we're supposed to pragmatically abandon in the name of solidarity: The demand of this purity test is that we not not compromise on universal human dignity and equality under the law.
We don't need a party that validates someone's choice to support the mass deportation of their friend, or a party that validates the popular belief that the failure of conservative white people to do the right thing is actually the fault of everyone else for not flattering them well enough."
Current Affairs
Trump Tariffs
BBB
"The reconciliation bill has given Republicans a way to target abortion access in states that legally protect it: threatening their federal health care funding.
House Republicans added a last-minute provision to their reconciliation bill via a manager’s amendment that would block certain Affordable Care Act funds from going to state health plans that cover abortion services. There are currently 13 states — California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington state — with laws in the books that require insurers to cover abortion."
Fucking Monsters
"Federal agents in plain clothes and unmarked cars tried to snatch 1st graders from LA elementary schools—told staff they had “parental consent.”
They lied. When pressed, they HID THEIR IDS. DHS admits they sent them. This wasn’t a welfare check. It was a test run for a police state."
There is no limit to the depravity people working for the Trump administration is capable of. Worst of the worst.
Rachel Maddow on the pushback
RAS,
To be a conscientious objector, you need two things, a conscience, and something you strongly object to.
In the Trump Reich, consciences are verboten. And even if actions one is ordered to take one might repulsive, illegal, or even evil, it takes a pretty strong constitution to stand up and say “no”. This is what fraudulent hacks like Drunk Pete and his fascist boss count on.
Re CO status:
There's no draft.
Need some graphics for your No Kings Day protest?
Comics author Nick Sousanis encourages downloading his pdfs on Due Process from his blog here:
Due Process
At 0830 tomorrow {11 June) the Consumer Price Index for May 2025 will be released. With the chaos in government and the work by DOGE can we accept the inflation numbers with any confidence?
$134m
"After persistent questioning about the cost of sending National Guard members and Marines to Los Angeles, Hegseth turned to his acting comptroller, Bryn Woollacott MacDonnell, who said it would cost $134 million."
BobbyLee,
No.
100%. No.
They either don’t know how to figure things or they simply lie to achieve the outcome expected by the Dear Leader and the MAGA/Fox horde.
Trusting these people to give us a straight answer is like trusting that the mystery meat at the Jeffrey Dahmer Diner really is chicken.
And by the way, what happened to Posse Comitatus?
Looks like the LAPD have no problem shooting reporters. Why are the Marines involved?
Compliance
"Donald Trump orders national network to fire journalist for criticizing him; network complies
ABC News is cutting ties with the correspondent Terry Moran after he wrote derisive comments on social media that attacked President Trump and Stephen Miller, the deputy White House chief of staff, referring to both men with the term “world-class hater.”
The network said on Tuesday that it had decided not to renew Mr. Moran’s contract. He had worked at ABC News for 28 years.
a network spokesman said in a statement. “At ABC News, we hold all of our reporters to the highest standards of objectivity, fairness and professionalism, and we remain committed to delivering straightforward, trusted journalism.”"
That objective, trusted journalism of a company that takes orders from the administration they are purportedly meant to cover and supposedly hold to account wrongdoing. Also their objectivity is bullshit, just because they don't acknowledge their biases and conflicts does not mean they cease to exist. ABC News like so many show that they will only protect truth and truth tellers as long as it does not cost them or their parent company anything of value. Even a future, expected or veiled threat is enough for them to throw virtually anyone under the bus.
Moran just told the truth. If Miller is a lover, not a hater, he's a lover in the same vein as Jan 6 was a lovefest.