The Conversation -- May 4, 2025
Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump took to Truth Social in the wee hours of Saturday morning to lash out at the legal system. On Thursday, Trump-nominated U.S. District Judge Fernandez Rodriguez permanently blocked the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security from transferring or removing Venezuelans held under the Alien Enemies Act in the Southern District of Texas.... Early Saturday, Trump wrote, 'Can it be so that Judges aren’t allowing the USA to Deport Criminals, including Murderers, out of our Country and back to where they came from? If this is so, our Country, as we know it, is finished! Americans will have to get used to a very different, crime filled, LIFE.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Looking forward to "LIFE" in a country where everyone, including "Criminals," among them "Murderers," are afforded due process. Could someone please show Donald Trump what to capitalize and how to punctuate? I will never get used to a "crime filled comma LIFE."
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. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: After ripping Trump over his ascension to the papal throne, Akhilleus got to wondering about convert JayDee's response to Trump's insult to Pope Francis and to Catholics everywhere: "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." (See yesterday's Comments thread.) ~~~
~~~ Let's See What JayDee Really Said. Katherine Long of Politico: “Vice President JD Vance defended ... Donald Trump after he posted an AI image of himself as pope on Truth Social, dismissing the post as a joke. 'As a general rule, I’m fine with people telling jokes and not fine with people starting stupid wars that kill thousands of my countrymen,' Vance wrote in a post on X on Saturday responding to a question from Bill Kristol, editor-at-large at The Bulwark, on whether or not Vance was 'fine with this disrespect and mocking of the holy father.'... The official X account for the New York State Catholic Conference criticized Trump’s post, which was also reposted by the White House X account. 'There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President. We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter. Do not mock us,' they wrote.” MB: Why, it's almost as if Akhilleus can devine the future! ~~~
~~~ 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. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ 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.
Katherine Long & Ben Johansen of Politico: “The future of Voice of America remains in flux after a federal appellate court Saturday paused a ruling reversing the dismantling of the embattled news outlet — a day after journalists were told they would soon return to work. A Justice Department email sent to attorneys representing VOA employees on Friday said the agency would begin a 'phased return' to office and resume programming next week. But by Saturday afternoon, a divided D.C. Circuit Court panel issued a stay of a lower court order that would have restored the outlet. VOA was set to begin its return after being off the air for almost two months, after the Trump administration halted programming in a March 14 executive order targeting a number of federal agencies and offices including the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the parent agency of the government-funded media outlet. Now, plans for the outlet are immediately unclear....” ~~~
~~~ Michael Savage of the Guardian: “As Donald Trump’s executive order in March led to the shuttering of Voice of America (VOA)..., he quickly attracted support from figures not used to aligning themselves with any US administration. In Moscow, Margarita Simonyan, the hardline editor-in-chief of the state broadcaster RT described it as an 'awesome decision'. The Global Times, an English-language Chinese state media publication, crowed that the broadcasters had been discarded by the White House 'like a dirty rag'... Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, whose regime has been accused of repressing political opposition, described Trump’s move as 'very promising'... As the world mark[ed] Press Freedoms Day on May 3, observers are now warning that in countries where free media is weak, America’s withdrawal from this geopolitical balancing act will have far-reaching effects.... At the same time, there are signs that media freedom elsewhere is eroding, with arrests and deportations of journalists in Turkey, including the BBC’s correspondent Mark Lowen, and dire warnings over threats to press freedom in Serbia.”
Bondi Defies Court Order. Erica Orden of Politico: “The Justice Department failed to publicly disclose documents in the now-dismissed corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams by a Friday deadline, in apparent defiance of a court order. The documents in question could shed light on the evidence and legal arguments prosecutors presented to a judge in order to obtain a search warrant in the investigation of the mayor, who is running for reelection. That material may be particularly revelatory because the public likely won’t see any other evidence related to the case, now that it has been dismissed.... The documents in question are potentially valuable to media outlets, which sought their unsealing, and to voters. And they are also in demand by the New York City Campaign Finance Board, which also asked [U.S. District Judge Dale] Ho to make them public.”
Isabelle Taft of the New York Times: “The Trump administration sued Colorado and Denver on Friday, accusing the state, city and their leaders of impeding federal immigration actions, the latest salvo in the White House’s fight to compel local governments to help carry out deportations. The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Colorado and includes Gov. Jared Polis and Mayor Mike Johnston of Denver as defendants, specifically challenges state and city laws that restrict or prohibit cooperation with federal agencies. One state law prohibits officers from holding someone solely on the basis of a civil immigration detainer, a request that a detainee not be released. Other state laws prevent state and local officials from sharing information with federal immigration authorities and stop local jails from working with the federal government to house people detained for civil immigration violations. The lawsuit also challenges a Denver measure that bans the use of city resources to assist with immigration enforcement, and a 2017 executive order from the mayor that aimed to 'establish Denver as a safe and welcoming city for all.'”
Maya Miller of the New York Times: “... Republicans in Congress have embarked on a spree of deregulation, using an obscure law to quietly but steadily chip away at Biden-era rules they say are hurting businesses and consumers. In recent weeks, the G.O.P. has pushed through a flurry of legislation to cancel regulations on matters large and small, from oversight of firms that emit toxic pollutants to energy efficiency requirements for walk-in freezers and water heaters. To do so, they are employing a little-known 1996 law, the Congressional Review Act, that allows lawmakers to reverse recently adopted federal regulations with a simple majority vote in both chambers. It is a strategy they used in 2017 during Mr. Trump’s first term and are leaning on again as they work to find ways to steer around Democratic opposition and make the most of their governing trifecta of the House, the Senate and the White House.”
Michael de la Merced of the New York Times: “Warren E. Buffett has been at the forefront of American capitalism for decades as the chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate he built into a $1.1 trillion colossus. By the end of the year, he is preparing to give up that role. Mr. Buffett said at Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting on Saturday that he plans to ask the company’s board to approve making Gregory Abel, his heir apparent, the chief executive by the end of the year.... He will remain chairman of Berkshire — turning that role over to his son Howard Buffett upon his death — and remains the company’s single biggest shareholder, with a roughly 14 percent stake that is worth about $164 billion.... Earlier [Saturday], he criticized Trump’s trade policies.... 'Trade should not be a weapon,' Mr. Buffett said.... 'I don’t think it’s right and I don’t think it’s wise.'”
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Texas. Hank Sanders of the New York Times: “A South Texas community, mostly made up of SpaceX employees, voted 212 to 6 in favor of establishing a new city called Starbase.... The community, known to locals as Boca Chica, covers about 1.5 square miles on a spit of land that brushes up against the Mexican border. SpaceX broke ground in the area in 2014, and it has since become the company’s central hub and launch site, as well as home to hundreds of its employees.”
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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. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Zoya Sheftalovich of Politico: “Here are five takeaways from [Anthony] Albanese’s triumphant return from the polling doldrums.... [1.] [Conservative Peter] Dutton’s embrace of MAGA policies backfired spectacularly.... [2.] Australia is facing a cost-of-living crisis, with rising inflation, unaffordable housing and persistently high interest rates squeezing households. Albanese focused his campaign on these voter concerns, and policies he said would address them. Dutton, meanwhile, chiefly fought a culture war.... [3.] Amid rising support in the polls for far-right parties including the Trumpet of Patriots and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, Dutton sought to undercut their appeal by taking on some of their policies and aping their language.... [4.] Seeking to defend his signature policy against ferocious attacks from the Labor Party and the Greens, Dutton made a crucial gaffe in the final leaders’ debate of the campaign. He said he would be on board with a nuclear power plant in his electorate of Dickson.... [5.] Ultimately, Albanese ran a mostly positive campaign built around the promise he’d make voters’ lives better and stand up for fairness and kindness.”
Israel. Aaron Boxerman & Natan Odenheimer of the New York Times: “Israel will mobilize thousands of reserve soldiers to bolster its campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the military announced on Saturday night, as the country appeared poised to expand its offensive in the Palestinian enclave. The call-up suggested the Israeli government was preparing to shift tactics in an attempt to force Hamas to agree to its terms for an end to the war.” ~~~
~~~ Associated Press: “Malnutrition and hunger are becoming increasingly prevalent in the Gaza Strip as Israel’s total blockade enters its third month. A shortage of food and supplies has driven the territory toward starvation, according to aid agencies. Supplies to treat and prevent malnutrition are depleted and quickly running out as documented cases of malnutrition rise.” Photographs tell the story here, and they are excruciating to view. MB: Remember that Donald Trump & Marco Rubio have sought to deport legal residents for protesting -- as is their Constitutional right to do -- the atrocities Israel has visited on Gaza.
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Big D wouldn't be pope very long. From the moment of his investiture he would be "eat up" knowing there was still a higher level. If The Father and Son ever left at the same time they'd likely return and find the locks changed and golden idols on every corner.
When will those holy cards of Pope Saint Don be available?
The bi-weekly sermon: Freud Lives.
The paper did not print the cartoon coda that RAS sent our way, but did use one that slammed RFK's medical nonsense and the credulous adults who make his idiocy possible.
I mentally dedicated the whole thing to Dr. Marvin Schwalb as I wrote it. Dr. Schwalb had the Pretender absolutely right from the git-go.
Since his death in 1939, Sigmund Freud has had a rough go. Modern psychologists have pooh-pooed his ideas as unscientific. Because Freud’s id, ego and superego can’t be physically located, many have said they don’t exist. Still, even in our enlightened 21st century, regardless of the words Freud used, it’s hard to ignore his insights into the way children’s feelings about their parents affect their development.
Freud shone a spotlight on the often-complicated relationships between parents and their children by retelling the story of Oedipus, a man who liked his mother too much and didn’t like his dad enough. Per the ancient Greek story, Oedipus killed his father and married his mother, acts so disturbing that Freud memorably named the competition that often emerges between father and son the Oedipus Complex. In Freudian terms, Daddy is the superego who tells his kids what to do, frequently breeding resentment in the process. When children mature and tire of that arrangement, they leave home, seeking a life away from parental control.
I talked with someone the other day whose vacation was partially ruined by the behavior of children in a family that his family traveled with. Old enough to (as my own father would have said) “know better,” those kids fought with one another, thoughtlessly damaged things, shouted incessantly, and ignored their parents’ occasional attempts to intervene. In other words, noisy egos on two legs with no effective superego to keep them under control.
When I read the news, it’s hard not to think of those children—and of Freud. On an individual level, achieving adulthood depends on developing a healthy superego, on the constraints we’ve learned to apply to our ego’s demands. On a social level, the same is true. Civilization itself needs a functioning superego, which is why societies develop norms that discourage destructive behavior and enact laws and regulations that prohibit such behavior outright.
Looked at that way, we’ve fashioned many institutions, ranging from the United Nations and the World Court, which were founded following the last century’s Second World War to nudge the behavior of nations in a more peaceful and productive direction, to our own recently created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which was designed to protect consumers from corporate predators. Over time, we’ve very sensibly created institutions, regulations and laws, superegos if you will, to protect us from our own worst impulses.
But not all people like those protections. Some think might really should make right. Some think their desires should always predominate. Some believe others exist to be victimized. Some just don’t like anyone telling them what to do.
The flurry of mass firings that accompanied the executive orders Trump issued in his first one hundred days are Oedipal at their core. If you don’t like Daddy telling you what to do, get rid of Daddy. In Trump’s first month in office, seventeen inspectors general, whose job it is to police their agencies to ensure compliance with the law, were terminated (apnews.com). In February, Trump fired the head of the Department of Government Ethics (cnn.com). The Office of Legal Counsel, whose job it is to advise the White House on the legality of its actions, including its executive orders, has been completely sidelined (nytimes.com). And the CFPB’s staff has been deliberately reduced to such an extent it cannot protect consumers (politico.com).
The Trump administration is making it very hard on all the Daddys it can. The biggest government Daddy of them all, the Internal Revenue Service, is slated to lose one third of its work force, significantly limiting its effectiveness and likely costing the government over $100 billion in lost revenue (yahoo.com). When science tells this administration something it doesn’t want to hear, it cuts its funding, eliminates staff, and scrubs websites of offending facts (nytimes.com). Severe cuts to the National Weather Service will hamper its ability to predict extreme weather events, many linked to climate change (nbcnews.com), and the administration has downplayed the world-wide carbon dioxide spike in 2024 that government research revealed (scientificamerican.com).
When asked about his reported death, Mark Twain said that rumors of his death had been greatly exaggerated.
The Trump administration is proving the same could be said about Freud. He’s alive and well in the White House.
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Steven Beschloss, on substack, summarizes last week's sickening cabinet meeting and other recent news in Did You Ever Imagine Living in a Country Like North Korea or the USSR?
"Wednesday’s repellant obedience was no aberration, a simple tribute to the governing style of North Korea’s rulers. Trump is now determined to hold a multimillion-dollar military parade in Washington, D.C. on June 14, his 79th birthday—this while firing tens of thousands of federal workers, demanding massive cuts in the federal budget (to education, science, housing assistance, environmental protection and much more) and telling parents they should buy their children fewer dolls (because of his idiotic tariffs).
He says this parade, which he wanted so badly in his first term, is meant to celebrate the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army. But I wouldn’t believe it, not with his pattern of hostility toward veterans and soldiers who sacrificed their lives. An Army spokesperson said the military spectacle will likely include 150 vehicles, 50 helicopters, seven bands and 6,600 soldiers. You can almost see a waving Leonid Brezhnev, his thick eyebrows twitching, as he watches tanks, missiles and other glorious military hardware rumble through Moscow’s Red Square.
....
Trump may be able to surround himself with sniveling sycophants who’ll go along with this charade, but we should see it for what is: A rejection of the American democratic project and part of a larger enterprise to dismantle our government, end the separation of powers, quash dissent, remove the unwanted and hasten rule by dictator. He and his regime need to be opposed at every turn."
"If a tree falls in the woods and everyone sees Donald Trump cut it down, is it still Biden's fault?"
Kentucky Derby winner turns down White House visit...