The Conversation -- May 3, 2025
Independent: “... Donald Trump has posted an AI-generated image of himself in papal regalia, just 11 days after Pope Francis’ death. The image, posted on Truth Social, shows ... Trump dressed in white wearing a papal hat ... with a large crucifix hanging around his neck. It comes after the president joked that he’d like to be the pontiff when asked who he would like to succeed Pope Francis. He said to reporters on the White House lawn: 'I’d like to be Pope. That would be my number one choice.'” Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'm not a very religious person, but I find this image disrectful to Francis's memory, to his admirers, and to Roman Catholics who revered him as the holiest of men. The Hitler image, on the other hand, seems quite appropriate. ~~~
~~~ Amanda Taub of the New York Times: “First developed by a German lawyer named Ernst Fraenkel in the 1930s, the dual-state theory posits that authoritarianism can take hold in small pockets, even while the broader legal system appears to function more or less normally.... 'You can have a world in which there’s the ordinary law that most people benefit from,' said Aziz Huq, a law professor at the University of Chicago who recently wrote about the dual-state theory for The Atlantic. 'But running alongside that is this kind of legal abyss in which people fall, and never get out of.'... Today, scholars say, the Trump administration appears to be claiming the right to create its own legal abyss.... Some of the most vulnerable targets have already been swallowed up. And if left unchecked, the legal abyss can grow ever wider.” This is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: You have to admit that the “dual state theory” fits well into Trump's general world view; that is, that he is not subject to rules that apply to everybody else; similarly, he can defame us, deprive us of property or human rights or whatever, but if we so much as criticize his actions, we may be guilty of (and punishable for) treason. There exists in his mind a double standard in which he, and he alone, is above the law. His cronies may enjoy the benefit of that double standard, too, but their privilege is transitory and conditional; he can and will grant or rescind it on a whim.
Australia. Victoria Kim & Yan Zhuang of the New York Times: “Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia has won a second term, completing a stunning turnaround for his governing center-left Labor Party that trailed in the polls for months as a festering cost-of-living crisis weighed on voters. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the country’s public broadcaster, called the election for Mr. Albanese just a half-hour after the last polls closed on Saturday. It was a resounding defeat of the conservative opposition led by Peter Dutton. He began the campaign riding dissatisfaction with the status quo, but was hamstrung by a string of missteps and an association with some of President Trump’s messaging and policies. Mr. Dutton, the leader of the Liberal Party, also lost his parliamentary seat in the conservative stronghold of Queensland, which he had held since 2001. His loss echoed the ouster of Canada’s conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, whose defeat was seen as a rejection of his embrace of Mr. Trump.” Thanks to Ken W. for the link. As Ken writes, it looks like Trump has elected yet another liberalish world leader who -- were it not for Trumpleblunders -- likely would have lost his election.
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Jeff Stein & Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: “The White House released a partial budget proposal Friday calling for $163 billion in cuts to federal spending in the next fiscal year, pushing reductions to health care, education and many other government programs while boosting spending on defense and homeland security. The White House’s 2026 fiscal budget plan would codify for next year many of the spending cuts already unilaterally implemented this year by ... Donald Trump or billionaire Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service. The administration has struggled to convince Republicans in Congress to enshrine even a small portion of those cuts into law, and the courts have also ordered the White House to resume much of the spending, leaving the fate of the changes unclear for now.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: Donald “Trump’s budget drew harsh criticism on Friday from a trio of powerful Republican senators, who rejected what they said were woefully inadequate resources for the military, and suggested they would ignore his plan and ensure that Congress provided far more money for their priorities. In separate statements, the senior Republicans — Senators Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee; Susan Collins of Maine, the chairwoman of the appropriations committee; and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the chairman of the appropriations subcommittee on defense — expressed their disdain for Mr. Trump’s proposal.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Eric Lipton of the New York Times: “Elon Musk and SpaceX are big winners in Donald J. Trump’s 2026 spending plan. [Mr.] Trump is delivering on Mr. Musk’s wish list at both NASA and the Pentagon to reorient federal spending on space in a way likely to drive billions of dollars in new business to Mr. Musk’s space technology company, if Congress signs off on the budget plan. At the Pentagon, Mr. Trump is calling for a massive jump in spending, an extraordinary 13 percent increase, almost entirely through allocations in a Congressional budget reconciliation plan under consideration. The jump would happen while many other federal agencies would be slashed, in part to supercharge federal spending in two areas where SpaceX is positioned to profit: a vast missile defense system and space missions to Mars and the moon.” MB: Oh, please, couldn't we get a huge fleet of Cybertrucks, too? (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: “Two of ... [Donald] Trump’s favorite targets — the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — will have their funding cut nearly in half under Mr. Trump’s proposed budget, which also wipes out a $4.1 billion program that helps low-income Americans pay their heating and cooling bills. The budget blueprint, released Friday, advances, in hard numbers and biting words, Mr. Trump’s assault on the nation’s universities and scientific research enterprise. It calls the N.I.H., the world’s premier biomedical research agency, 'too big and unfocused,' and proposes to cut its funding to $27 billion from roughly $48 billion.... 'NIH has broken the trust of the American people with wasteful spending, misleading information, risky research, and the promotion of dangerous ideologies that undermine public health,' the budget document declares. It goes on to effectively accuse the institutes of funding research that led to the coronavirus pandemic, and says the N.I.H. has 'also promoted radical gender ideology to the detriment of America’s youth.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Attack of the Giant Philistine. Michael Paulson of the New York Times: Donald “Trump proposed eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities in the budget he released Friday, taking aim once again at two agencies that he had tried and failed to get rid of during his first term. The endowments, along with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, were among the entities listed in a section titled 'small agency eliminations' in his budget blueprint for the next fiscal year.... Since Mr. Trump returned to office this year, his administration has taken aim at the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, canceling most of their existing grants and laying off a large portion of their staffs.”
Jack Ewing of the New York Times: “The United States imposed 25 percent tariffs on imported auto parts on Saturday that could sharply raise prices for new and used vehicles as well as for repairs and insurance. The latest tariffs, which President Trump ordered in March as part of his plan to promote domestic manufacturing, come after the 25 percent levies on imported cars that took effect in early April. This second round of duties on imported parts will have a broader impact because even cars made in the United States often have engines, transmissions, batteries or other components produced in other countries. The administration said on Tuesday that the tariffs were intended 'to protect national security by incentivizing domestic automobile production and reducing American reliance on imports of foreign automobiles and their parts.'”
Daisuke Wakabayashi & Mike Isaac of the New York Times: “The expansion of the loophole for tariff-free shipments of goods nearly a decade ago gave rise to Temu, Shein and other low-cost online retailers offering items straight from Chinese factories at unfathomable discounts. It also unleashed something else — a cascade of billions of dollars of digital advertising that provided a windfall for Meta, Alphabet and other technology industry giants. Temu and Shein, jockeying for the attention of American shoppers, blanketed seemingly every inch of the internet with their ads. In the last two years, only Amazon spent more on online advertising in the United States than Shein or Temu. Now, the advertising bonanza might be coming to an end after the demise of the shipping loophole that spurred it.... 'They’ve already pulled back their advertising pretty heavily,' [an e-commerce analyst] said.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yesterday we learned that Tim Apple had told analysts that Trump tariffs would cost Apple $900MM. Now this. So giving Trump a million dollars -- as Apple, Google & Meta did -- is just not enough of a bribe. They shoulda known. BTW, Congress could stop all this NOW. But most Congressional Republicans won't budge. They'd rather you had to pay more for a new car and for the insurance you already have on your old cars than risk the wrath of their Lord & Master.
Andrew Duehren, et al., of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said on Friday that Harvard would lose its tax-exempt status, repeating his intent to enlist the Internal Revenue Service in his feud with the wealthy research university and upend the school’s finances. 'We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!' Mr. Trump wrote on social media. It was not immediately clear if the I.R.S. was in fact moving forward with revoking Harvard’s tax-exempt status, a change that could typically occur only after a lengthy process.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The story has been updated. New Lede: “Harvard University signaled Friday that it would resist ... [Donald] Trump’s renewed threat to revoke the school’s tax-exempt status, a move for which it said there was 'no legal basis' as the president escalated his bitter dispute with the nation’s oldest university.”
No American president has ever before issued executive orders like the one at issue.... In purpose and effect, this action draws from a playbook as old as Shakespeare, who penned the phrase: ‘The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.’ -- Judge Beryl Howell, introduction to opinion
Right. Shakespeare put those words in the mouth of one Dick the Butcher, an ignorant, nasty character who was suggesting an expedient way for a rebel pretender to the throne to deal with the problems of governance. As Howell, writes, the rebel leader "promptly assumes the tactic as part of his plan to assume power...." We are back to the Late Middle Ages now. -- Marie
Zach Montague of the New York Times: “A federal judge ruled on Friday that an executive order ... [Donald] Trump signed in March targeting the law firm Perkins Coie was unconstitutional and directed the government not to enforce its terms, which had threatened to upend the firm’s business. The ruling was the first time a court had stepped in to permanently bar Mr. Trump from trying to punish a law firm he opposes politically. Skipping a trial and moving directly to a final ruling, Judge Beryl A. Howell of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia wrote that attempts to bring the firm to heel under the threat of retaliation amounted to unlawful coercion, and imperiled its lawyers’ ability to freely practice law.” Politico's report is here. ~~~
~~~ You can read Judge Howell's memorandum opinion here, via the court. The link to her order is here.
Another Loss for Donald Trump's Rolling Spite Program. Sam Levin of the Guardian & Agencies: “The Trump administration has agreed not to freeze funds to Maine schools, a win for a state that was targeted by the president over its support of transgender rights. In a settlement disclosed on Friday, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said it would halt all efforts to withhold funds for a child nutrition program in Maine. The USDA had suspended those dollars after Maine officials said the state would not comply with Donald Trump’s demands that trans girls be barred from participating in girls’ sports. In February, when the president directly threatened to revoke funding from the state at a White House meeting with governors, Janet Mills, Maine’s Democratic governor, had responded, 'We’ll see you in court,' in a widely shared exchange.”
Chutzpah is lying to dodge the draft and then asking the Army to celebrate your damn birthday. -- Mrs. Betty Bowers on Bluesky (thanks to laura h. for the link) ~~~
~~~ Olivia George & Alex Horton of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump’s long-held hopes of soldiers marching and armored vehicles rolling down the streets of the nation’s capital are moving closer to reality, as the White House confirmed Friday that he intends to host a military parade this summer to commemorate the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday. The parade is scheduled for June 14, the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army and, coincidentally, Trump’s 79th birthday.... The parade will accompany a fireworks display and a day-long festival on the National Mall with military demonstrations, musical performances and a fitness competition, [an Army spokesperson] said.” MB: Those fireworks, BTW, are made in China, so they will cost us taxpayers 245 percent of what they would have cost before Birthday Boy slapped those tariffs on them.
Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: “As the grave consequences of the administration’s policies become apparent, Trump and his lieutenants have retreated to a fantasyland.... As the situation worsens around him, [Trump's] lies seem all the more absurd. He maintained this week that 'gasoline’s down' in price (it’s flat) and that 'tourism is way up' (it’s way down) that 'eggs are down 87 percent' (he seems to make up a new percentage with each telling) and 'groceries are down' (they’re up) and that DOGE has 'found hundreds of billions of dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse' (even Musk’s own dubious and double-counted figures don’t say that).” (Also linked yesterday.)
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to let members of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have access to sensitive records of the Social Security Administration. The administration has filed a barrage of such applications in recent weeks, including one in an immigration case on Thursday. Several of them await decisions from the justices, who are also set to hear arguments on May 15 on the scope of permissible injunctions in challenges to President Trump’s efforts to do away with birthright citizenship. Mr. Trump and his allies have complained bitterly about lower court judges who have blocked his initiatives, including by issuing injunctions that apply nationwide.” The AP story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: A couple of days ago, we learned from Julia Angwin in a New York Times op-ed that “DOGE is assembling a sprawling domestic surveillance system for the Trump administration — the likes of which we have never seen in the United States.” So allowing them to get their grubby paws on Social Security data obviously is a really bad idea. (I suspect they already have it and have walked it out of the building.)
Worse Than We Thought. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: “Attorney General Pam Bondi has rolled back a constraint on leak inquiries that the Justice Department imposed more than a decade ago, making it easier for investigators to get around a legal bar on search warrants to seize news gathering records. The safeguard was imposed in 2013 after the revelation that the F.B.I. had portrayed a Fox News reporter as a criminal to bypass restrictions on seizing reporters’ emails. The change was part of a revised regulation Ms. Bondi issued this week involving leak inquiries. Most of the discussion has focused on how investigators can once again use court orders, subpoenas and search warrants to go after reporters’ information, ending a flat ban on those tactics imposed in 2021 by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. Essentially, Ms. Bondi returned to the standard in place before Mr. Garland’s intervention. But a close reading shows that in doing so, she also deleted a key section of the earlier regulation that had emerged from the Fox News incident. The section had limited the ability of investigators to sidestep a 1980 law that generally bars search warrants for newsroom records.”
Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: “The U.S. Justice Department has reached an agreement to settle the wrongful death case brought by the family of Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot by police in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, lawyers for both sides told a federal judge Friday.... No final deal has been signed and terms have not been disclosed, said Robert Sticht, a lawyer for the conservative group Judicial Watch, which is representing Babbitt’s family.... Babbitt’s family filed suit in June 2024, saying she had been 'ambushed' by police, and the case had been set for trial in July 2026 before the Justice Department changed course after ... [Donald] Trump returned to office. The settlement would come as Trump has cast Babbitt as a martyr, and sought to rewrite the history of the assault on the Capitol as a heroic act of collective patriotism, not a violent effort to overturn an election.” The CBS News story is here. MB: That is, the payoff is yet another cost of the Trump presidency*.
Rubio Takes Side of Nazi-like German Party. Jennifer Hansler of CNN: “A remarkable exchange played out on X on Friday as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused the government of key ally Germany of 'tyranny in disguise' for designating the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) as an extremist entity. In a post Friday afternoon, the top US diplomat slammed the classification made by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, which allows it to increase surveillance of the political party. Vice President JD Vance later echoed the rebuke of the move in his own post on the social media platform. 'Germany just gave its spy agency new powers to surveil the opposition,' Rubio wrote on his official State Department X account. 'That’s not democracy — it’s tyranny in disguise.'... In a direct reply on X more than three hours later, the German Foreign Office pushed back. 'This is democracy. This decision is the result of a thorough & independent investigation to protect our Constitution & the rule of law,' the account posted. 'It is independent courts that will have the final say.... We have learnt from our history that rightwing extremism needs to be stopped,' the foreign office wrote.... [Leaders of] the far-right party .. have engaged in anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, and xenophobic rhetoric, including calling for the mass expulsion of immigrants.”
Julian Barnes & Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: “The C.I.A. plans to cut more than 1,000 staff positions through attrition over the next few years as the Trump administration shrinks the federal government, according to officials briefed on the plans. The agency does not plan any more mass firings. About 80 recently hired employees were let go in March. The C.I.A. is also firing officers who had worked on diversity issues, although a judge has temporarily halted that effort. For the next rounds of reduction, the agency plans, for now, to use normal attrition, including retirements and resignations.” ~~~
~~~ Julian Barnes of the New York Times: “The C.I.A. fired its top doctor after she was targeted by far-right activists who have worked to oust government officials they see as disloyal, according to a lawsuit filed Friday evening. Late last year, the C.I.A. recruited the doctor, Terry Adirim, to take a top medical job as the director of the agency’s Center for Global Health Services. Within days, Ivan Raiklin, a far-right provocateur, accused her of being the 'architect' of the Pentagon’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate. Dr. Adirim, 61, had served in a top medical role in the Defense Department in 2021 when Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III mandated that all service members receive a Covid vaccination. Mr. Raiklin, who has called himself ... [Donald] Trump’s 'secretary of retribution,' is a former Green Beret who became an intense critic of the Covid vaccine. He published a 'Deep State Target List' of 350 individuals he accused of treason. According to the suit, Mr. Raiklin also singled out Dr. Adirim for criticism.”
Camille Baker of the New York Times: “Five former National Weather Service directors have taken the unusual step of signing onto an open letter warning that cuts to the organization by the Trump administration may soon endanger lives. 'N.W.S. staff will have an impossible task to continue its current level of services,' they write in the letter, dated Friday. 'Our worst nightmare is that weather forecast offices will be so understaffed that there will be needless loss of life.' Hundreds of Weather Service employees, or about 10 percent of the agency’s total staff, have been terminated or accepted buyout offers since ... [Donald] Trump began his second term, according to the letter.”
Brennan Leach, et al., of NBC News: “Some Senate Republicans are raising concerns about an exclusive dinner and White House tour ... Donald Trump is offering top investors in his $TRUMP meme token. 'This is my president that we’re talking about, but I am willing to say that this gives me pause,' said Sen. Cynthia Lummis, of Wyoming, who has been spearheading a legislative push on cryptocurrency regulation in the Senate.... While using untraceable crypto currency to pay for access to the president raised questions for some senators, there are no laws barring Trump and the organization from proceeding as planned*.... Trump’s move generated intense criticism from Senate Democrats. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, and Adam Schiff, of California, requested an ethics probe into the dinner.” ~~~
~~~ *Marie: These meme coins are not "crypto currency." More important: It is not true that this particular Trump grift is legal. U.S.. law states that government property cannot be used for personal profit. (And here.) The White House is, of course, government property. This isn't just about an ethics violation; it's about breaking existing law, IMO.
Annie Karni of the New York Times: “Adam Jentleson, the former chief of staff to Senator John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, was so alarmed with his ex-boss’s erratic behavior last year that he wrote a lengthy letter to his doctor warning that the senator was spiraling out of control and that his mental health issues could cost him his life.... Mr. Fetterman’s behavior, according to former aides who are still connected to his diminishing circle, is still at times a cause of concern. Other former members of his staff, speaking on the condition of anonymity, report that their colleagues sometimes were frightened to be in the senator’s presence, if he was in an amped-up mood. They have also long been warned never to get in a car if Mr. Fetterman is behind the wheel because of his dangerous driving habits. His volatile and concerning behavior, which aides noticed last year was taking a turn for the worse, has only increased since the election, people who have spent time with him said. That has coincided with a period when his politics have become more conservative.... Mr. Fetterman said in a statement that 'my ACTUAL doctors and my family affirmed that I’m very well.'”
Josh Kovensky of TPM: “In a little-noticed lawsuit filed last week, the America First Legal Foundation sued Chief Justice John Roberts and the head of the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts. The case ostensibly proceeds as a FOIA lawsuit, with the Trump-aligned group seeking access to judiciary records. But, in doing so, it asks the courts to cede massive power to the White House: the bodies that make court policy and manage the judiciary’s day-to-day operations should be considered independent agencies of the executive branch, the suit argues, giving the President, under the conservative legal movement’s theories, the power to appoint and dismiss people in key roles. Multiple legal scholars and attorneys TPM spoke with reacted to the suit with a mixture of dismay, disdain and laughter. Though the core legal claim is invalid, they said, the suit seems to be a part of the fight that the administration launched and has continued to escalate against the courts.... Stephen Miller, the longtime Trump aide, founded the America First Legal Foundation in April 2021, describing it as the 'long-awaited answer to the ACLU.'”
Jessica Glenza of the Guardian: “The US supreme court justice Ketanji Brown Jackson condemned the Trump administration’s attacks on the judiciary in a cutting speech at a judicial conference on Thursday evening. Without mentioning Donald Trump by name, Jackson spoke of 'the elephant in the room' and rhetoric from the White House 'designed to intimidate the judiciary'. ' Across the nation, judges are facing increased threats of not only physical violence, but also professional retaliation just for doing our jobs,' said Jackson, according to the New York Times. 'And the attacks are not random. They seem designed to intimidate those of us who serve in this critical capacity.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Josh Gerstein of Politico: “Jackson’s unusually pointed comments received a standing ovation from the judges and lawyers in attendance. Her 18-minute fulmination is the strongest public statement by any member of the Supreme Court since the Trump administration began denouncing judges who have blocked Trump’s policies....” (Also linked yesterday.)
Christine Chung of the New York Times: “... disruptions [at Newark Airport over the past week], which stretched into Friday with delays averaging over two hours, have highlighted ongoing air traffic control staffing issues. The troubles prompted United Airlines, Newark’s largest carrier, to cut nearly three dozen round-trip flights per day at the hub beginning this weekend, the carrier’s chief executive, Scott Kirby, announced on Friday.”
Mark Walker of the New York Times: “Federal transportation safety officials were investigating on Friday after two commercial flights aborted landings because an Army helicopter had entered the airspace around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, where helicopter traffic has been restricted since a fatal collision in January.”
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18 Comments
Reader Comments (18)
There was a comment in yesterday's thread suggesting that the Smithsonian would remove the Woolworth's lunch counter -- made famous during the Greensboro, N.C., sit-ins -- from its National Museum of American History.
That may -- or may not -- have been the plan, but according to this fact-check by WFMY Greensboro, the removal is not going to happen.
It would indeed be a travesty if the Trump crew were allowed to desecrate the memorial to this famous and influential protest.
@Marie: Yeah, it is hard to tell what is misreported these days versus an idea that was floated but not followed through on or whether it was planned, but they were waiting to see if anyone noticed or leaked it. They are breaking so much and doing so many unconscionable actions it is hard to keep up. Just as they, or some of them at least, have intended.
Ironies abound:
Here we have the Pretender suggesting that the wealthy taking advantage of the poor is unfair.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/02/us/politics/trump-college-athlete-payments.html
Maybe if the athletes were paid in crypto, all would be OK.
Looks like the Pretender elected another (former?) ally's national leader.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/02/world/asia/australia-prime-minister-election.html
Germany said "We have learnt from our history that rightwing extremism needs to be stopped." And left unsaid is that they are looking at JD and Little Marco and Fat Hitler and seeing what rightwing political parties have been setting up for decades to do to their democracies if given the chance. And they see how reckless, stupid, and destructive the proNazi parties can be in their lust for power. Not even living in the most prosperous country and allowed to accumulate insane amounts of wealth and power was enough for our American losers to be satisfied with. Not even being virtually above most of the law could they be content. And the broken, pathetic losers who lucked out to into power, money and influence are so narcissistic and brain dead that they would destroy for everyone what took centuries to build up just because none of that involved themselves. Germany is looking at the current example of what happens when the cult/party of purity implements it's white men only agenda on the country and the ripple effect on the world. It is as dumb as censoring the plane that dropped atomic bombs in World War II because it has the word Gay in the name. And it is as dangerous as arresting legal foreign students over op-eds condemning war crimes on children. And it can easily lead to starving kids, AIDS treatments stopped, nonsensical trade wars, and medical advancements halted. We are right now a beacon around the world...beware what you could become if you are not vigilant.
The Great Redo
"A Blog Post From The Glorious Future
Denny Carter
A message from after the Great Redo
One of the last things my grandma told me before she died was that things changed when people kinda realized that they didn’t have to live in the Bad Times if they didn’t want to. People's imaginations had been stunted for a long time, she said. "We forgot how to dream," she told me a week or two before she passed. The bad guys weren’t so tough. They folded and ran away. Remember that, grandma said, if the Redo starts falling apart. She said it happened before with the first Redo after World War II, and it could happen again. I don’t know about that. I think we’re fine."
The Religious Right
"President Donald Trump has posted an AI-generated image of himself in papal regalia – just 11 days after Pope Francis’ death. The image, posted on Truth Social, shows President Trump dressed in white wearing a papal hat, known as a mitre, with a large crucifix hanging around his neck.
It comes after the president joked that he’d like to be the pontiff when asked who he would like to succeed Pope Francis. He said to reporters on the White House lawn: “I’d like to be Pope. That would be my number one choice.”"
Monopoly Money
"An international trucking logistics firm is buying as much as $20 million worth of President Donald Trump’s crypto coins to influence the administration’s trade policy — the precise sort of quid-pro-quo arrangement that corruption experts warned Trump was encouraging when he unveiled his venture.
Freight Technologies Inc. CEO Javier Selgas said in a Wednesday news release that buying Trump coin would be “an effective way to advocate for fair, balanced and free trade between Mexico and the U.S.”"
MAGA Businesses
"Website For MAGA-Friendly Businesses Backfires As People Use It For Boycotts
Social media posts about PublicSquare have gone viral as Trump critics use it to find companies not to support – the opposite of what the site was set up for."
Trump's spelling is really, really bad.
He said he wants to be Pope.
He meant to write Poop. Like, I want to be a 325 pound pile of poop.
You've reached your goal!
Marie linked Judge Howell's order concerning DiJiT's Executive Order punishing Perkins Coie, and if you have not read it I recommend you do. I re-link here for your ease and pleasure.
I am not a kon-ass -your of summary judgments but it seems to me this one is the Platonic ideal of how to write one. More graphically, I got the imagine of Howell in the ring with gloves on, serially taking on DiJiT, Bondi, Vought and lower-card palookas. Paragraph after paragraph she lands solid hits to each opponent's vulnerable parts, and they can't lay a glove on her in return. DOWN goes DiJiT!! DOWN goes Bondi! Vought jumps from the ring!!
I felt like rising out of my seat and cheering, as she put them away with clear imperative sentences. Whattagal!
@Patrick: Well, somehow the court did a number -- truly -- on us inasmuch as it changed the number (by one digit) of the original memorandum -- wherein Howell waxes eloquent -- so that it now links to the order -- where she is more prosaic. So NOW (as opposed to heretofore),
The link to the memorandum (which is what I originally linked) is now
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.278290/gov.uscourts.dcd.278290.185.0.pdf
The link to the order is
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.278290/gov.uscourts.dcd.278290.184.0.pdf
I have corrected my links to the memorandum and added the order in the body of today's page. But I didn't correct yours, which more than likely was to the memorandum when you posted it -- but now is to the order.
I hope that's clear!
It's interesting, BTW, how neatly Howell's opinion fits into Ernst Fraenkel's dual-state theory of a functioning authoritarian state (see NYT article by Amanda Taub, linked near the top of the page).
Prosecute
Wish this were true.
A convicted felon and rapist might have been considered papal material back in the 15th century, with enough money and
the right political connections, but he still had to be Catholic.
Once again, we must wonder what sort of disrespectful boor would pull such a stunt. Who even thinks of something like this unless he looked at the entire religion (and frankly, all religions) as a joke? And what vainglorious, vulgar mutt would picture themself as pope? Even as a joke, it’s the kind of thing that would have seriously damaged, if not ended, the career of a serious politician. But this dolt is serious only about his narcissism and greed.
But were this the 15th century and a licentious lout like this fat prick were to buy his way into the Vatican, you could be sure he’d be opening up gambling dens and brothels, with his name inscribed in huge signs above each.
Hey, isn’t Shady Vance supposed to be Catholic now? I’m guessing he’d be one of those right-wing Tridentine Catholics who see the Mass in English as an outrage. He might even be one of those Opus Dei nuts. So what does he think of his master’s latest insult to a billion Catholics?
What’s that, Shady? No biggie?
Oh, right. This is another one of those spineless sycophants whose principles and beliefs change depending on how they might benefit him personally.
Maybe he can dress up as Pius XII.
Hitler’s pope.
As Pope Trumps first order of business would be to establish a new order, "The Knights of Baalzebub" with the directive "Do well for yourself".
@RAS: The originator of the Trump-china phone-calls story seems to be Dash McIntyre, a self-described political satirist. He did make me laugh out loud. And yeah, I too wish it were true. It is, after all, plausible! And can't you see how stark-raving mad Trump would be when he heard those soaring Obama speeches?
Hahahaha…
That Chinese phone call joke is great!
I really needed a laugh today.
Obama speeches! 😹