The Conversation -- May 7, 2025
Ben Leonard of Politico: “Congress’ nonpartisan scorekeeper projects that millions of Americans would lose health coverage under options currently being considered by Republicans to help pay for ... Donald Trump’s 'big, beautiful bill.' The new Congressional Budget Office estimates were requested by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the top Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, respectively. The options weighed by the CBO reflect policies Democrats say Republicans would pursue — not necessarily the exact options they might enact, even if similar.... The CBO estimates that a controversial policy that would reduce the federal share of payments in the joint-state federal program in states that have expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act would lead to 5.5 million people losing coverage. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday night that Republicans were no longer considering such a move. But the scorekeeper also estimated that capping federal spending in states that have expanded Medicaid — which Johnson didn’t entirely rule out Tuesday — would lead to 3.3 million people being booted off their coverage.” This post is an item in a series of live updates. ~~~
~~~ Marie: So, among many other bad outcomes, Trump's tax breaks for the rich would cost millions of Americans access to affordable health insurance.
Colby Smith of the New York Times: “The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday for a third meeting in a row, as officials pointed to heightened uncertainty about how significantly ... [Donald] Trump’s tariffs will raise inflation and slow growth. The unanimous decision to stand pat will keep interest rates at 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent, where they have been since December after a series of cuts in the second half of 2024.... In a statement on Wednesday, the Fed acknowledged that the labor market was still 'solid.' But policymakers also noted that 'uncertainty about the economic outlook has increased further' and 'risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen.'”
Abha Bhattarai & Federica Cocco of the Washington Post: “Tariffs on Chinese goods are making it more expensive to raise children in the United States, driving up prices and threatening shortages of critical baby gear at a time when household budgets are already under strain. Virtually every car seat, stroller, bassinet and changing table sold in the U.S. is made in China, making the children’s products industry among the most vulnerable to fast-rising costs and shortages.... The baby sector has largely stayed in China — partly due to long-standing ties with factories that meet the United States’ stringent safety requirements. More than 70 percent of the baby gear purchased by Americans is manufactured by U.S. companies in China.... 'Baby products are not only critical, they’re required by law in many cases, like car seats,' said Lisa Trofe, executive director of the JPMA, which is expecting overall markups of about 30 percent.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Oh my dears, we raise chickens; we rear children. ~~~
~~~ Groundwork Collaborative: “From car seats to sippy cups, Trump’s tariffs are making it even more expensive to raise a child. With imports accounting for roughly 90% of durable baby and children’s products in the U.S., new parents are already paying hundreds of dollars more for essentials like strollers and car seats. In response..., [Mr.] Trump recently referred to the rising costs of items like strollers as 'peanuts.'... To put it in Trump’s words, prices are rising for 'the thing that you carry the babies around in.' UPPAbaby’s popular Vista stroller just increased from $900 to $1,200. Or, for a cheaper option, Bombi’s flagship stroller now costs $225 instead of $199.” MB: I'm not familiar with the Groundwork Collaborative, but the reporting seems to be accurate and in line with other reports I've read or seen. Also, too, my comment on raising & rearing applies here.
Now here's an unusual front-page headline for the newspaper of record: ~~~
~~~ “Where Is Melania?” Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: “Melania Trump vanishes from view for weeks at a time, holing up in Trump Tower in Manhattan or in Florida, where she can lie low at Mar-a-Lago.... Two people with knowledge of Mrs. Trump’s schedule said she had spent fewer than 14 days at the White House since her husband was inaugurated 108 days ago. Others say even that is a generous estimate.... She has hired staff to work for her in the East Wing, but she rarely goes into the office.... Mrs. Trump is expected to reappear in the capital on Thursday to unveil a postage stamp honoring Barbara Bush, the former first lady, and to attend a ceremony for military mothers.... Mrs. Trump ... know[s] how to make money from [public] exposure. In January, Mrs. Trump launched her own cryptocurrency token.... And then there is the deal she struck with Amazon, reported to have been about $40 million, for a documentary offering a 'behind the scenes' look at her life as first lady.”
The Oligarchy Is Now Official. Jeff Stein & Hannah Natanson of the Washington Post: “A series of internal government messages obtained by The Post reveal how U.S. embassies and the State Department have pushed nations to clear hurdles for U.S. satellite companies, often mentioning [Elon Musk's] Starlink by name. The documents do not show that the Trump team has explicitly demanded favors for Starlink in exchange for lower tariffs. But they do indicate that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has increasingly instructed officials to push for regulatory approvals for Musk’s satellite firm at a moment when the White House is calling for wide-ranging talks on trade. In India, government officials have sped through approvals of Starlink with the understanding that doing so could help them cement trade deals with the administration.... An internal State Department memo ... states: 'As the government of Lesotho negotiates a trade deal with the United States, it hopes that licensing Starlink demonstrates goodwill and intent to welcome U.S. businesses.'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I wonder if Little Marco -- whose main source of income is (and long has been) a regular government salary -- thought his fancy new job would have him negotiating sales contracts for the world's richest man.
Marie: Here we have Trump pulling one terrible nominee only to replace her with another terrible nominee: ~~~
~~~ Joseph Choi of the Hill: Donald “Trump has pulled his nomination of Janette Nesheiwat to be U.S. surgeon general and has instead chosen chronic disease entrepreneur Casey Means, a physician with close ties to the 'Make American Healthy Again,' or MAHA, movement, as his new pick to fill the role. Nesheiwat’s credentials came into question last month when CBS News reported that records showed she had graduated from the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine, and not the University of Arkansas School of Medicine, as had been said when her nomination was announced. The physician and former Fox News contributor also got on the wrong side of influential Trump supporters including MAGA influencer Laura Loomer.”
Joe Heim & Herb Scribner of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump named five new members to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council on Monday night, including a former 'Real Housewives of New Jersey' television star whose stepson was charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The appointments, and eight others Trump made last week, will replace members he fired April 29, all of whom had been named by President Joe Biden. The abrupt ouster and replacement of Biden appointees before their terms expired — a prerogative that no previous president had exercised regarding the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum — has sparked concerns from some supporters of the museum. In a post on his Truth Social site Monday, Trump announced the appointments of Siggy Flicker, Tila Falic, Jackie Zeckman, Rabbi Nate Segal and Lee Lipton. And he reappointed Jonathan Burkan, a New York financial executive and honorary chairman of the Israel Heritage Foundation, whom he first named to the museum’s board in 2019....
“Flicker’s stepson, Tyler Campanella, was arrested in April 2024 and charged with five misdemeanors in connection with the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. In its indictment, the FBI references an Instagram post on Flicker’s account showing a photo of Campanella inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and the caption, 'I love patriots so much. Stay safe Tyler. We love you.' It also included the hashtag StopTheSteal, according to the indictment.”
Christiaan Triebert, et al., of the New York Times: “Some of the passwords that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used to register for websites were exposed in cyberattacks on those sites and are available on the internet, raising new questions about his use of personal devices to communicate military information. Mr. Hegseth did not appear to use those passwords for sensitive accounts, like banking. But at least one password appears to have been used multiple times for different personal email accounts maintained by Mr. Hegseth.... It is not clear whether he has updated the compromised passwords....”
Joanna Slater of the Washington Post: “A Tufts graduate student who has spent the past six weeks in a detention center in Louisiana for writing an opinion article in a student newspaper must be returned to Vermont for future hearings in her case, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish citizen, was grabbed by masked federal agents outside her home in Massachusetts in late March. The agents drove her to Vermont and then flew her to Louisiana. Ozturk’s lawyer was not informed of her location until almost 24 hours after she disappeared. On Wednesday, a panel of judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ordered Ozturk returned to Vermont by May 14, denying the government’s bid to appeal the lower-court ruling that had initiated the transfer.”
Maria Sacchetti, et al., of the Washington Post: “Lawyers representing a number of immigrants asked a federal judge on Wednesday to 'urgently' block the Trump administration from deporting a group of people to Libya, Saudi Arabia or any other country where they are not citizens until the U.S. government gives them a chance to contest the removals. The lawyers asked Judge Brian E. Murphy in Boston to rule quickly after reports that federal immigration officers were preparing to expel people from Vietnam, Laos and the Philippines to Libya, a troubled North African nation 'notorious for its human rights violations, especially with respect to migrant residents,' their emergency motions says. The Justice Department had not responded to their questions about the removals, the court filing notes.... The filing followed a frantic 24 hours during which lawyers for the potential deportees scrambled to confirm media reports indicating that the migrants were being readied for removal to Libya. In response to those reports, Libya’s rival governments said earlier Wednesday that they would reject any deportations from the United States.”
Here's another instance of your federal government just wantonly lying to you. (What are the chances the White House will update that particular disinformation Webpage or will restore NIH funding in its proposed budget?) ~~~
~~~ Bats! Carl Zimmer of the New York Times: “In a study published on Wednesday, a team of researchers compared the evolutionary story of SARS [in the early 2000s] with that of Covid 17 years later. The researchers analyzed the genomes of the two coronaviruses that caused the pandemics, along with 248 related coronaviruses in bats and other mammals. Jonathan Pekar, an evolutionary virologist at the University of Edinburgh and an author of the new study, said that the histories of the two coronaviruses followed parallel paths. 'In my mind, they are extraordinarily similar,' he said. In both cases, Dr. Pekar and his colleagues argue, a coronavirus jumped from bats to wild mammals in southwestern China. In a short period of time, wildlife traders took the infected animals hundreds of miles to city markets, and the virus wreaked havoc in humans....
“The study lands at a fraught political moment. Last month the White House created a web page called 'Lab Leak: The True Origin of Covid 19,' asserting that the pandemic had been caused not by a market spillover but by an accident in a lab in Wuhan, China. On Friday, in its proposed budget, the White House described the lab leak as 'confirmed' and justified an $18 billion cut to the National Institutes of Health in part on what it described as the agency’s 'inability to prove that its grants to the Wuhan Institute of Virology were not complicit in such a possible leak.'”
~~~ The report of the study is here.
⭐North Carolina. Eduardo Medina of the New York Times: “A six-month battle over a North Carolina Supreme Court seat ended on Wednesday when the Republican challenger, who had embarked on an extraordinary effort to throw out thousands of votes, conceded the race. The challenger, Judge Jefferson Griffin, said in a statement that he would not appeal a federal court ruling issued on Monday that ordered the state elections board to certify the victory of the Democratic incumbent, Justice Allison Riggs.... The results of the race are the last in the nation to be certified from the 2024 election.... The case tested the boundaries of post-election litigation, and drew criticism from democracy watchdog groups, liberals and even some conservatives across the state, who worried about setting a dangerous precedent.” The NBC News story is here.
Vatican Smoke Signal. Anthony Faiola & Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post: “Black smoke billowing in the rafters of the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday evening signaled an inconclusive first vote to pick the next pontiff, pushing the next ballots until Thursday after a day of Latin chants echoing off sacred marble halls and a high procession of cardinals, the next pope surely among them.”
Adam Harrington of CBS News Chicago: "U.S. Homeland Security Kristi Noem will be in Springfield Wednesday, where she will hold a news conference in front of the Governor's Mansion, and Gov. JB Pritzker's office announced her impending arrival with scathing mockery the night before.... 'Despite the Trump Administration being in office for more than 100 days and falsely accusing Illinois of not following federal and state law, Secretary Noem and her team does not communicate with the State of Illinois and has not asked for support or coordination to enforce immigration laws,' Pritzker's office said. For Noem's arrival in Springfield Wednesday morning, Pritzker's office advised reporters, 'Secretary Noem has often been spotted on television cosplaying law enforcement officers, so media are invited to capture her latest costume upon arrival.'... Before concluding its announcement..., [Pritzker's office wrote,] 'We would urge all pet owners in the region to make sure all of your beloved animals are under watchful protection while the Secretary is in the region.'" Thanks to RAS for the lead.
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Eli Stokols of Politico: “Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told ... Donald Trump that 'Canada is not for sale' Tuesday during an Oval Office meeting where both leaders tried to downplay the rising tensions between the neighbors. Trump agreed 'it takes two to tango' but persisted with a soft sales pitch, repeating the phrase 'never say never' as he touted benefits to Canada if it were to join the U.S. as a 51st state — such as potential tax cuts for Canadian citizens.... The public portion of their remarks did not reveal specifics of what shape a [trade] pact might take — and the impasse over Trump’s tariffs remained obvious.... As reporters’ questions about tariffs cut through the warm platitudes, Trump prefaced his explanation of his trade war by saying that his comments were meant to be 'very friendly' and said that this meeting was not going to wind up like his Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in February that devolved into an acrimonious back and forth. But when asked if there was anything Carney could say to him to convince him to lift tariffs on Canadian automobiles, steel and aluminum, Trump responded flatly: 'No.'” (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I do want to say that the press availability gave us another look at what an embarrassing, ignorant boob the POTUS* is. Trump kept making ignorant, false statements about macroeconomic matters in front of the Canadian PM, who is a professional economist (make that Doctor Carney), a former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, and an investment banker. As a fer-instance of Trump's stupid, at one point he answered a reporter's question by saying, “We don't do much business with Canada.” Minutes later, Carney said (correctly) that Canada was “the largest client of the United States.” Daniel Dale, CNN's fact-checker also noted (republished by Yahoo! News), “Trump also repeated his frequent claim that the US is 'subsidizing Canada to the tune of maybe $200 billion per year.' Trump has previously made clear that he is speaking about the US trade deficit with Canada, but that is not even close to $200 billion. Official US statistics show the 2024 deficit with Canada in goods and services trade was about $36 billion.”
Rolling Stone has published a firewalled story on how Trump, during his meeting with Canadian PM Mark Carney, boasted "about his gold-plated office while telling Americans to cut expenses." Then there's this: ~~~
~~~ Katherine Donlevy of the New York Post (May 3): "This is a first look inside the ritzy $400 million plane ... [Donald] Trump is working to renovate after giving up hope that Boeing could hand over a revamped Air Force One while he’s still in office. The commander in chief will be traveling in style — as the Boeing 747 once owned by the Qatari government is decked out with winding staircases, plush carpeting, leather couches and more, stunning photos show. The interior of the plane ... boasts gold-colored walls and gold furnishings, reminiscent of the president’s opulent home in Trump Tower.... It will be defense contractor L3Harris’ job to make the necessary modifications to the jet as early as the fall, the Wall Street Journal reported. The plane will serve as an interim jet while Trump waits on Boeing to complete work on the existing, but aging, presidential fleet." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Donlevy doesn't bother to tell us who's paying for the purchase and refurbishment of this golden hand-me-down, but I'm betting that the payor is the U.S. taxpayer, and I wouldn't be surprised if Trump takes some kind of commission for the transaction. Apparently Elon Musk entered into some discussions with Boeing about the delays in Boeing's rehab jobs. That reminds me to thank Elon for cutting Meals on Wheels and school lunch programs while he was helping Donald get a more pimped-out plane.
The Elusive Art of the Deal. Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: “Ever since ... [Donald] Trump announced he was slapping hefty tariffs on countries across the globe, he has been predicting they would force trading partners to sign major deals beneficial to the United States. But on Tuesday, with the Canadian prime minister sitting beside him in the Oval Office and no new trade deal between the two countries achieved, Mr. Trump had a different message for the public: 'We don’t have to sign deals..... Everyone says “When, when, when are you going to sign deals?’” Mr. Trump said, at one point motioning toward Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary. 'We don’t have to sign deals. We could sign 25 deals right now, Howard, if we wanted to. We don’t have to sign deals. They have to sign deals with us. They want our market. We don’t want a piece of their market. We don’t care about their market.' Within days of the April 2 announcement of the widespread tariffs, White House officials said around 70 countries were already calling to strike deals. Mr. Trump’s trade adviser predicted there would be 90 deals in 90 days. But more than a month later, no such deals have materialized....
“Then Mr. Trump seemed to change the very definition of a deal from a two-sided agreement into a one-sided demand. In the next two weeks, the president said, he would sit down with his top aides and make unilateral 'deals' that the administration would announce without the participation of other countries.... On Capitol Hill..., [Treasury Secretary Scott] Bessent told a House committee he was negotiating with 17 major trading partners, but not with China, the largest economy in the world after the United States.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: IOW, the fake author of The Art of the Deal doesn't even know what a deal is. The dictionary definition is "an agreement entered into by two or more parties for their mutual benefit." But Trump thinks a "deal" is an instance in which he rips off somebody. This, of course, is not surprising. Trump thinks every transaction must have a winner and a loser. So ripping off contractors and other small businesses from whom his company obtained goods and services was SOP for Trump, the real estate mogul. Now, as POTUS*, he imagines he can impose similar schemes on weaker countries. I would guess that in some cases, he will succeed. (I mean, penguins may not be good negotiators.) But press reports suggest that other countries are working on and cooperating with one another in ways that simply bypass trade with the U.S. Failed businessman, failed president*.
Marie: The reason Trump gave for imposing tariffs on all our trading partners -- including the unsuspecting penguins of Heard & McDonald Islands -- was that the U.S. had huge trade deficits with everybody else. This was neither a valid reason nor was it true across the board, but that was stated reason: "We're going to punish them all for our trade deficits. So how's that going? ~~~
~~~ Wyatte Grantham-Philips of the AP: “The U.S. trade deficit soared to a record $140.5 billion in March as consumers and businesses alike tried to get ahead of ... Donald Trump’s latest and most sweeping tariffs — with federal data showing an enormous stockpiling of pharmaceutical products. The deficit — which measures the gap between the value of goods and services the U.S. sells abroad against what it buys — has roughly doubled over the last year. In March 2024, Commerce Department records show, that gap was just under $68.6 billion. According to federal data released on Tuesday, U.S. exports for goods and services totaled about $278.5 billion in March, while imports climbed to nearly $419 billion. That’s up $500 million and $17.8 billion, respectively, from February trade. Consumer goods led the imports surge — increasing by $22.5 billion in March. And pharma products in particular climbed $20.9 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis noted, signaling that drugmakers sought to get ahead of Trump’s threats to slap tariffs on the sector.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Ana Swanson of the New York Times: “... the 10 percent tariff that Mr. Trump put in place on most U.S. imports one month ago ... would have been unthinkable a few years ago. But it no longer seems like such a big deal, compared with the truly large tariffs that Mr. Trump has already imposed or threatened elsewhere.... The speed with which investors have come to accept Mr. Trump’s tariffs reflects an increasing embrace of tariffs as a policy tool. It also shows a decreasing tolerance in America for the predatory trade practices of countries like China, which has dominated global industries and systematically put rival manufacturers around the world out of business. But it also indicates something about Mr. Trump and his negotiating style. By threatening gigantic tariffs in early April and then walking them back, the president seems to have increased the acceptance, at least in some circles, of the significant tariffs that remain in place.” The link appears to be a gift link.
Karl Russell & Ana Swanson of the New York Times: “The share of U.S. imports from China in the first quarter of the year fell to its lowest point in over 20 years, as the high tariffs President Trump has put on Chinese goods clamped down on trade.... Because it takes many weeks for products to move from Chinese factories onto cargo ships across the ocean and into American stores, U.S. consumers are, in many cases, just beginning to see the effect of higher prices from the tariffs. But as the summer goes on, those effects are likely to compound.... While some companies appear to have slowed or halted their imports because of current tariffs, others are still rushing to import more products ahead of new tariffs taking effect.” ~~~
~~~ Nick Watt, et al., of CNN: “Ships now pulling into US harbors from China are the first to be subject to the massive tariffs that America is imposing on most Chinese imports. That means, in a matter of weeks, consumers will face higher prices and shortages of certain items. Imports from China have fallen dramatically since Trump imposed steep tariffs – particularly since last month, when the tit-for-tat trade war sent the tariff on most Chinese goods up to 145%.... The drop-off in imports from China on the boats now coming into port is more than 50%, Seroka said. Many importers have canceled previous orders because US businesses aren’t interested in paying the steep tariff, which can more than double the price of Chinese goods. The Port of LA had expected 80 ships to arrive in May, but 20% of those have been canceled, [director of the Port of Los Angeles Gene] Seroka said. Customers have already canceled 13 sailings for June.”
Josh Marcus of the Independent: “U.S. intelligence agencies were told last week to step up their spying efforts related to Greenland and the contingent that supports the self-governing Danish island’s independence. Last week, agencies including the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, and National Security Agency received a 'collection emphasis message' about Greenland-related intelligence from officials under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, The Wall Street Journal reports.... The intelligence gathering reportedly will focus in part on identifying individuals in Greenland and Denmark who support the Trump administration’s interest in taking over the island.... 'The Wall Street Journal should be ashamed of aiding deep-state actors who seek to undermine the president by politicizing and leaking classified information,' Gabbard told the paper in response to its reporting. 'They are breaking the law and undermining our nation’s security and democracy.'” ~~~
~~~ The Wall Street Journal article is here. The link looks like a gift link, and it worked for me.
Bigmouth Sez. Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Vivian Neerim of the New York Times: “The United States and Houthis in Yemen reached a deal to halt American airstrikes against the group after the Iranian-backed militants agreed to cease attacks against American vessels in the Red Sea..., [Donald] Trump and Omani mediators said Tuesday. Mr. Trump broke the news of the truce during an unrelated Oval Office meeting with Canada’s prime minister, surprising even his own Pentagon officials. 'They just don’t want to fight,' Mr. Trump said. 'And we will honor that and we will stop the bombings. They have capitulated, but more importantly, we will take their word. They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore.' But despite his claim of success, it remained unclear whether the United States had achieved its objective of stopping the Houthis from impeding international shipping after a costly seven-week bombing campaign. The Houthis themselves stopped short of declaring a full cease-fire, saying that they would continue to fight Israel. And Houthi officials and supporters swiftly portrayed the deal as a major victory for the militia and a failure for Mr. Trump, spreading a social media hashtag that read 'Yemen defeats America.'...
“The White House declined to elaborate on Mr. Trump’s remarks or respond to inquiries about what the administration would do if the Houthis continued strikes against Israeli vessels. Mr. Trump, who is prone to make offhand remarks that can upend foreign policy, appeared to catch his own Defense Department off guard. Three Pentagon officials said Tuesday afternoon that the military had yet to receive word from the White House to end its offensive operations against the Houthis. The officials were scrambling to figure out how Mr. Trump’s announcement had changed military policy.”
Clyde McGrady of the New York Times: “Efforts to take the focus off the nation’s racial past in compliance with ... [Donald] Trump’s wishes face resistance from those determined to preserve it.... The White House executive order argued that the country’s cultural institutions are trying to 'rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.' The same order specifically targeted the Smithsonian Institution, claiming that it had 'come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology,” with “narratives that portray American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.' Then on Friday, the president’s budget singled out the government’s 400 Years of African American History Commission for elimination, 'to enhance accountability, reduce waste, and reduce unnecessary governmental entities.' But ... historical sites dedicated to Black history, and the visitors still thronging them, will have their say.... No doubt, the threat still remains, especially as the White House and Congress scour the federal budget for spending cuts.”
James Downie, who is now MSNBC's opinion editor, writes that Donald Trump can't figure out how to lie about cuts to Medicaid that are built into his budget proposal & the GOP "big, beautiful budget bill" as part of the plan to extend tax cuts for the rich.
Matthew Lee of the AP: “... Donald Trump plans to announce while on his trip to Saudi Arabia next week that the United States will now refer to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf or the Gulf of Arabia, according to two U.S. officials. Arab nations have pushed for a change to the geographic name of the body of water off the southern coast of Iran, while Iran has maintained its historic ties to the gulf. The two U.S. officials spoke with The Associated Press on Tuesday on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter. The White House and National Security Council did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. The Persian Gulf has been widely known by that name since the 16th century, although usage of 'Gulf of Arabia' and 'Arabian Gulf' is dominant in many countries in the Middle East.... The U.S. military for years has unilaterally referred to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf in statements and images it releases.” MB: Whatever. Trump probably can't find the Persian Gulf on a map.
MacKenzie Sigalos of CNBC: "About 764,000 wallets that purchased ... Donald Trump’s $TRUMP meme coin have lost money on the investment, according to fresh data shared with CNBC by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. Most of the wallets that lost money held smaller amounts of the token.... Chainalysis said that while around 2 million wallets have bought into the token, 58 wallets made more than $10 million apiece, totaling roughly $1.1 billion in gains.... Lawmakers are now formally investigating whether the $TRUMP meme coin — and a related crypto venture called World Liberty Financial, which sends 75% of revenue to the Trump family — constitute a direct conflict of interest for the president.... Only 20% of the token’s total supply is currently in circulation. The remaining 80% — reportedly controlled by the Trump Organization and affiliated entities — is locked under a three-year vesting schedule. Public disclosures say insiders have agreed not to sell their allocations for another few months. Even with their tokens under vesting restrictions, insiders are earning substantial revenue."
Eric Schmitt, et al., of the New York Times: “The Trump administration is planning to transport a group of immigrants to Libya on a U.S. military plane, according to U.S. officials, another sharp escalation in a deportation program that has sparked widespread legal challenges and intense political debate. The nationalities of the migrants were not immediately clear, but a flight to Libya carrying the deportees could leave as soon as Wednesday, according to the officials.... The decision to send deportees to Libya was striking. The country is racked with conflict, and human rights groups have called conditions in its network of migrant detention centers 'horrific' and 'deplorable.'... The State Department warns against traveling to Libya 'due to crime, terrorism, unexploded land mines, civil unrest, kidnapping and armed conflict.'...
“A United Nations-recognized government in Tripoli rules western Libya, and another in Benghazi, led by the warlord Khalifa Haftar, controls the east. The United States has formal relations only with the Tripoli government. But Mr. Haftar’s son, Saddam, was in Washington last week, and met with several Trump administration officials. Mr. Trump had friendly dealings in his first term with Mr. Haftar, who controls most of Libya’s lucrative oil fields.” MB: That figures. A CBS News story is here.
Marie: Okay, so we're dumping people who came to the U.S. for "freedom" into "horrific" and "deplorable" detention centers in a country we warn is rife with "crime, terrorism, unexploded land mines, civil unrest, kidnapping and armed conflict." So why not deport other people to a country where a hot war is raging? ~~~
~~~ Adam Taylor, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration earlier this year urged the Ukrainian government to accept an unspecified number of U.S. deportees who are citizens of other countries, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post, an extraordinary request of a nation at war and dependent on American military and financial support for its survival.... Ukraine has not accepted any third-party nationals from the United States, and there is no indication that Kyiv seriously considered the American proposal. Two Ukrainian officials familiar with the matter ... said the topic never reached the government’s highest level.... Dated January to May, [documents the Post reviewed] show that since taking office [Trump's] administration has worked aggressively, and often out of public view, to increase the number of nations that will accept third-country nationals from the U.S., routinely dangling incentives or leveraging the prospect of improved relations with Washington in pursuing its objectives.”
Shayna Jacobs & Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: “A federal judge on Tuesday barred the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan immigrants without a hearing, saying the White House has failed to prove the existence of an 'invasion' or another conflict that would justify invoking the centuries-old law. U.S. District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein’s ruling halts the removal of immigrants being detained in his court’s jurisdiction in New York. The judge said such rulings are all that stops the administration from sending more Venezuelan immigrants to the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador 'where they would endure abuse and inhumane treatment with no recourse to bring them back.' Hellerstein is among several judges who have determined that the administration’s use of the act for the expulsion of migrants is based on an illegal interpretation of the law and that ... Donald Trump overstepped his authority.”
Jeremy Roebuck of the Washington Post: “A federal judge in Maryland refused Tuesday to lift her order requiring the Trump administration to facilitate the return of a Venezuelan man whom officials deported to El Salvador nearly two months ago in violation of a legal settlement. U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher rejected government arguments that retrieving the man — a 20-year-old identified in court papers only as 'Cristian' — was pointless because a Department of Homeland Security agency determined last week that he would not qualify for asylum anyway.... The Venezuelan man’s asylum claim was pending when he was deported in March to a notorious prison in El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act, along with 137 other Venezuelans whom the Trump administration accused of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang....
“'Cristian is currently in the custody of a foreign sovereign,' Justice Department lawyer Richard Ingebretsen wrote in a court filing Monday. The U.S. government 'lack[s] the power to direct his return.'... The judge agreed to stay her order for Cristian’s return for 48 hours to allow the government a chance to appeal. Should they decline to do so or should their appeal fail, she added, she would impose deadlines for the government to show it was taking steps to comply with her ruling.”
Jessica Sidman of the Washingtonian: “Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are targeting DC restaurants today [Tuesday] in what is shaping up to be one of the city’s most high-profile examples yet of ... Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Millie’s in Spring Valley, Pupatella in Dupont Circle, Chef Geoff’s in Northwest, Chang Chang downtown, and Ghostburger in Shaw are among the businesses that immigration officials have visited seeking I-9 forms verifying employment eligibility. There are unconfirmed reports of agents at several other DC restaurants as well.
“At Millie’s, which caters to an affluent upper Northwest crowd, eight or nine agents — some in plain clothes, others with uniforms and guns — swarmed the restaurant just as it was opening for lunch. 'They all came in all of the public entrances at the same time,' says owner Bo Blair. The general manager met the agents, who provided a “notice of inspection” and asked to question employees. The manager said they couldn’t, and they did not push back. They asked for I-9 forms, which the restaurant keeps securely at its corporate office, not at the restaurant.” ~~~
Hannah Natanson, et al., of the Washington Post: “The U.S. DOGE Service is racing to build a single centralized database with vast troves of personal information about millions of U.S. citizens and residents, a campaign that often violates or disregards core privacy and security protections meant to keep such information safe, government workers say. The team overseen by Elon Musk is collecting data from across the government, sometimes at the urging of low-level aides.... The intensifying effort to unify systems into one central hub aims to advance multiple Trump administration priorities, including finding and deporting undocumented immigrants and rooting out fraud in government payments. And it follows a March executive order to eliminate 'information silos' as DOGE tries to streamline operations and cut spending.... DOGE has also sometimes removed protections around sensitive information — on Social Security numbers, birth dates, employment history, disability records, medical documentation and more.”
Lori Aratani & Ian Duncan of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration Tuesday abruptly removed Alvin Brown from his role as vice chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, a move that comes at a time when the independent agency is involved in several high-profile investigations, including of the fatal collision between two aircraft near Reagan National Airport that killed 67 people.... The reason for his removal is unclear.... Safety experts said the removal of a sitting NTSB board member was highly unusual. 'This is the first time in modern history that the White House has removed a board member,' said Jeff Guzzetti, an aviation safety consultant and former Federal Aviation Administration and NTSB investigator. He said that in most instances, board members are allowed to continue serving even after their term is expired until a replacement is named.”
Lori Aratani of the Washington Post: “The Federal Aviation Administration halted the work of an outside panel of experts scrutinizing its management of air traffic control, a previously unreported move made just weeks after a fatal airliner crash near Washington raised questions about the agency’s abilities to keep the skies safe. The panel had been tasked late last year by then-FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker to study ways to reduce conflicts of interest in the FAA’s oversight of air traffic control organization. The United States is unusual among modern Western countries in that the same agency that employs and manages air traffic controllers is also responsible for evaluating its own performance. Jeff Guzzetti, a former investigator for the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board, said there have long been questions about the arrangement, and some experts have suggested a better alternative would be for an outside company or a separate office at the Transportation Department to conduct oversight....
“The Jan. 29 midair collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people appeared to underscore the importance of such a review. In February, the independent panel’s work was put on hold.... Then a March 10 letter ... advised members to 'stop all work immediately and to make no further commitments.'... Sen. Maria Cantwell (Washington), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said delaying such safety work is a mistake....” (Also linked yesterday.)
Lisa Friedman & Rebecca Elliott of the New York Times: “The Environmental Protection Agency plans to eliminate Energy Star, the popular energy efficiency certification for dishwashers, refrigerators, dryers and other home appliances.... E.P.A. managers announced during a staff meeting on Monday that divisions that oversee climate change and energy efficiency would be eliminated as part of an agency reorganization. That includes the E.P.A.’s climate change office as well as the division that oversees Energy Star. 'The Energy Star program and all the other climate work, outside of what’s required by statute, is being de-prioritized and eliminated,' Paul Gunning, the director of the E.P.A. Office of Atmospheric Protection, told employees during the meeting, according to the recording obtained by The New York Times. Mr. Gunning’s office itself is also slated for elimination. For the past 33 years, Energy Star has been known for its recognizable blue label, which shows that an appliance has met energy efficiency standards set by the federal government. It has been credited with changing the way Americans shop by encouraging manufacturers to make products that use less power, as well as with reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: This is another example of what I mean by cuts in the federal government not saving us any money. I'm sure I don't pay more than a nickel a year (and probably less than that) for the Energy Star program, but it has saved me quite a bit on my power bills by steering me toward purchasing the most energy-efficient appliances. That is, the "savings" here will end up costing me the next time I have to buy an appliance.
The apparent choice of a postmaster general that comes directly from service on the board of directors of FedEx, one of the Postal Service’s primary competitors, presents a clear conflict of interest.... This is an unmistakable push to hand business over to private shippers. Letter carriers and the over 300 million people we serve every day recognize this attempt at a hostile takeover of a beloved American institution for what it is, privatization-by-proxy. -- Brian Renfroe, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, in a statement ~~~
~~~Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump and the U.S. Postal Service’s governing board are expected to name FedEx board member and former Waste Management CEO David Steiner as the nation’s next postmaster general, according to two people familiar with the decision, helping solidify the White House’s control over the historically independent mail service. Steiner replaces Louis DeJoy, whom Trump forced out of the role in March amid the mail chief’s clashes with billionaire Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service and congressional dissatisfaction with the agency’s performance and finances, The Washington Post has reported.... [FedEx] had long competed and collaborated with the Postal Service on shipping products, sending the mail agency some parcels it deemed too expensive to deliver on its own while attempting to best the agency’s postage prices. But that contract expired in 2024....
“Just before his second inauguration, Trump floated privatizing the agency, dissolving its bipartisan board of governors, merging it with the Commerce Department and replacing DeJoy. Any of those actions would have been unprecedented shows of presidential power over the mail system in the service’s modern history.”
Gregory Svirnovskiy of Politico: “... Donald Trump on Tuesday tapped Andrew Giuliani — the son of Rudy Giuliani ... — to serve as executive director of his 2026 FIFA World Cup task force.... Trump was in his first term as president when the U.S. won the right to host next year’s iconic soccer tournament in a shared bid with Mexico and Canada. Prior to the vote, the president suggested removing support for countries lobbying against the North American proposal.”
Dana Milbank of the Washington Post: “Doug Collins, the man ... Donald Trump put in charge of slashing the Department of Veterans Affairs, controls the fate of some 9 million veterans who receive health care from VA and 6 million who rely on VA for disability benefits. Yet when he came before the Senate to testify on Tuesday, it quickly became apparent that Collins, a former congressman from Georgia, lacks even a tenuous grasp on what he is doing.... The Trump administration has thrown VA into absolute chaos.... And ... Collins has announced a goal of eliminating 15 percent of VA staff — some 83,000 jobs — without any word about how he intends to go about it.... In the secretary’s account, VA is merely 'phasing out nonessential roles like interior designers.' VA has 83,000 interior designers? What the Trump administration is doing to Veterans Affairs is, in short, a microcosm of what it has been doing to the overall federal government: sabotage without purpose. Or perhaps sabotage is the purpose — a deliberate effort to incapacitate and discredit the government.... Not for the first time, I found myself wondering: As Trump and his appointees try to vandalize the U.S. government, could the Republic be saved by their incompetence?” This is a gift link.
Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: “A Navy fighter jet failed to land on an aircraft carrier and plummeted into the Red Sea on Tuesday, marking the fourth major mishap involving the vessel and the third loss of a fighter jet deployed with it since the warship left home last year. The F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet, worth about $67 million, went overboard after an unsuccessful attempt to slow it down upon landing on the USS Harry S. Truman, the Navy said in a statement.... The Truman also was involved in a collision in the Mediterranean Sea in February, prompting the service to fire its commanding officer, Navy Capt. Dave Snowden.... While the incidents have not killed any service members, they have raised questions about the strain placed on the aircraft carrier’s crew and its ability to carry out a grueling deployment in which troops have clashed for months with Houthi militants in Yemen.... Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has twice extended the aircraft carrier’s deployment.... Since March, the carrier has been on the front lines of a full-scale assault that President Donald Trump ordered against the [Houthis].”
Voice of America MAGA. David Folkenflik of NPR: "... Kari Lake ... [wants] Voice of America to look and sound a lot like the far-right One America News Network: on Tuesday night she announced that she had struck a deal to serve up the pro-Trump outlet's news reports for Voice of America's foreign audiences, at no taxpayer cost.... The reaction from agency and network veterans was swift and indignant.... 'Kari Lake providing One America News Network to our global audiences makes a mockery of the agency's history of independent non-partisan journalism,' former U.S. Agency for Global Media Chief Financial Officer Grant Turner tells NPR.... Since March..., the Voice of America has been stilled, on the order of Trump and Lake. Her announcement called the parent agency [--U.S.A.G.M. --] 'a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer.'"
Benjamin Mullin of the New York Times: “The White House effort to cut funding for NPR and PBS is beginning to take effect. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which backs NPR and PBS, said in a statement on Tuesday that the Department of Education had terminated a federal grant program that funded shows for children. The abrupt cancellation of the grant program, called Ready To Learn, resulted in a loss of $23 million that would have gone to children’s educational shows and games. The first installment of the terminated grant was awarded by the first Trump administration in 2020.... The Ready To Learn grant, which is administered by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and allocated to PBS and local stations, has historically funded well-known children’s programs, including 'Sesame Street,' 'Reading Rainbow' and 'Clifford the Big Red Dog.' The five-year grant was set to expire at the end of September. In a statement, Madi Biedermann, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education, said that the Ready To Learn grants were funding 'racial justice educational programming.'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Well, yes. We certainly don't want to be teaching kids about racial justice, do we? In fact, we don't want to be teaching kids anything. They should be doing creative things, like drawing pictures -- oh, wait: tariffs. No pencils!
Ryan Reilly, et al., of NBC News: “Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he wouldn't support Ed Martin..., Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, likely blocking the path to confirmation for the 'Stop the Steal' organizer who had closely aligned himself with Jan. 6 defendants. 'I’ve indicated to the White House I wouldn’t support his nomination,' Tillis said Tuesday after meeting with Martin on Monday night. Tillis is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is overseeing Martin's nomination. The panel has 12 Republicans and 10 Democrats, meaning if all other members aside from Tillis voted along party lines, the vote on Martin would end in a tie and his nomination would not be reported favorably to the full Senate.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Alexander Bolton of the Hill: “Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said Ed Martin..., [Donald] Trump’s controversial pick to serve as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, will 'probably' stay stuck in the Senate Judiciary Committee given the opposition from Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). Thune indicated that he doesn’t see a path for getting Martin to the Senate floor if Tillis, a member of the Judiciary panel, remains opposed to the nominee.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the Trump administration may start enforcing a ban on transgender troops serving in the military that had been blocked by lower courts. The ruling was brief, unsigned and gave no reasons, which is typical when the justices act on emergency applications. It will remain in place while challenges to the ban move forward. The court’s three liberal members — Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — noted dissents but provided no reasoning. The case concerns an executive order issued on the first day of ... [Donald] Trump’s second term. It revoked an order from President Joseph R. Biden Jr. that had let transgender service members serve openly.” Politico's report is here. The brief order, via the Supreme Court, is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
~~~~~~~~~~
India-Pakistan. Salman Masood, et al., of the New York Times: “India said early Wednesday that it had conducted strikes on Pakistan, two weeks after 26 civilians were killed in a terrorist attack in Indian-administered Kashmir. The Indian government said its forces had struck nine sites in Pakistan and on Pakistan’s side of the disputed Kashmir region. Pakistani military officials said that more than 20 people had been killed and dozens injured after six places were hit in the Pakistani side of Kashmir and in Punjab Province. At least two aircraft were reported to have gone down in India and the Indian-controlled side of Kashmir. But Pakistan’s claims to have shot down Indian aircraft, including some of its newest fighter jets, were still unconfirmed. While India in recent years has struck Pakistan-administered Kashmir and areas close to it during periods of rising tensions, the attack on Wednesday on Punjab, in Pakistani territory outside the contested region, represented an escalation in the conflict between the two nuclear-armed countries.” ~~~
~~~ The AP has live updates here.
Poland. Steven Erlanger of the New York Times: Donald “Trump has threatened to abandon the longtime U.S. commitment to European security and is implementing tariffs that imperil the global economy. Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, wants NATO troops out of Poland and has threatened further aggression beyond the war in Ukraine, Poland’s neighbor to the east. Poland has responded forcefully. It is taking more of a leadership role in the European Union, increasing its already significant military spending and organizing a Swiss-style program of training ordinary citizens in civil defense. It is also cautioning countries in the rest of Europe that they, too, must pay more for their own security because the United States under Mr. Trump is no longer willing to foot so much of the bill.”
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Digby has some of Carney's very long stupid day in Washington.
Advisory for Norm visit to Springfield
Welcoming
"JD Vance Jokes About Deporting Tourists Attending 2026 World Cup
The vice president warned people attending the five-week tournament next year not to overstay their welcome, or there would be consequences.
“We’ll have visitors from close to 100 countries. We want them to come, we want them to celebrate, we want them to watch the game,” Vance said. “But when the time is up, they’ll have to go home, otherwise they’ll have to talk to [Homeland Security] Secretary Noem.”"
A few passing thoughts on the historic debacle and our astonishingly rapid descent into the maelstrom.
As Marie points out, the meeting between a six year old ignorant little tyrant and the distinguished and highly accomplished PM of Canada added greatly to the fat boy’s Litany of Stupid,
His regular habit of inventing the saddest, most transparent idiocies appears even worse when practiced in the presence of an actual smart person (Mark Carney) whose economic pedigree is unimpeachable, unlike Fat Hitler whose math skills level out at about the third grade.
“We save a trillion dollars by not trading with China!” he sez. I must correct my earlier assessment. Make that second grade.
A trillion dollars? Yes, I know, accuracy is not his strong suit, but then again, neither is logic.
Which brings us to what not trading with China actually looks like.
This morning on NPR, the Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles reports that cargo volume is down 35% over the same week last year, and within three or four weeks, stores across the nation will have run through their inventory. Shelves will start looking empty. But more immediate impacts are felt all around US ports as trucking and shipping companies normally kept busy delivering goods coming off ships from China are losing business. No cargo, no business, no jobs, no paycheck, no money.
Is this what he means by a trillion dollars?
Okay, on to the CIA investigating Greenland. Okay, hang on here. What the actual fuck? We’re sending teams of spooks to see what they can do about undermining Greenland? Somewhere, that rat bastard patron Saint of overthrowing foreign governments he didn’t like, Allen Dulles, is grinning broadly. Dulles, who schemed out the overthrow of governments in Guatemala and Iran (that one worked out beautifully, no?) and planned assassinations of other foreign heads of state, is sitting in his sulfur bath in hell thinking that he might have found a successor. Fatty’s spooks are probably too incompetent to overthrow Greenland and Denmark, but their work will, I’m sure, really increase the love of MAGA style foreign “diplomacy”.
Then we have Ed Martin. What can I say? Here’s a guy with absolutely no prosecutorial experience being shoved down our throats by Fat Hitler and his goons. And because there’s no such thing as conflict of interest in MAGA land, here we have spectacle of Martin, acting on behalf of the Justice Department, tossing out the prosecution of a J6 client HE REPRESENTS!
And if, as it appears, this MAGA monster is too much even for PoT apparatchiks like Thom Tillis, I wouldn’t be popping the champagne just yet to see that maybe there is a line some of them won’t cross for Fatty. It’s as if they’re saying, after supporting lunatics like Drunk Pete and the Wrestling Lady, “Okay, that nice Ted Bundy is fine with us, but we draw the line at Jeffrey Dahmer.”
The protagonist in Poe’s story about the descent into the maelstrom survived with his limbs weakened and his hair turned from jet black to pure white in just a few hours. We’ll be lucky to survive our descent into this whirlpool of ignorance and corruption with similar outcomes,
Too much winning.
Still Helping
"Pope Francis’s final gift to the children of Gaza: His popemobile
The vehicle, which Francis used during a 2014 visit to the West Bank, will be turned into a health clinic on wheels designed to treat Palestinian children."
Another birthday week celebration?
Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer, in The Atlantic, on Trump’s Kennedy Center Debut: Les Mis and Six-Figure Checks
"T****, a prolific political fundraiser, is raising money for the center, which, like much of the rest of the city’s institutions, he hopes to remake in his image....A letter sent to Kennedy Center board members announcing the June 11 pre-show fundraiser, which we obtained, urges each member to contribute $100,000....A separate draft invitation for other donors, which we also obtained, lists two levels of sponsorship for the event: a gold level for $2 million and a silver level for $100,000. Donors at both levels are offered a photo opportunity with Trump and admission to a VIP reception. The invite notes that Trump 'is not directly soliciting donations' and will appear only as a 'special guest and friend' of the center."
RAS,
I’m guessing Bibi won’t allow the Pope’s gift to take effect. Likely he’ll announce that the Pope was in cahoots with Hamas and the popemobile is probably some kind of cat bomb, besides, those Palestinian brats won’t need healthcare. Pretty soon they’ll all be dead from starvation. That’s the plan, anyway.
But you can’t say that out loud. Fat Hitler, a lifelong antiSemite, will call you antiSemitic and order his goons to break down your door and lead you away in shackles.
Laura,
I’m sure longtime supporters of the Kennedy Center (it’s not the Trump Center yet?) are just dying to fork over $100k to help this semiliterate, boorish philistine turn the center into a MAGA sideshow, not to mention how much they’d love to get their picture taken with the Orange Monster.
I’m guessing he’ll get help from bootlicking oligarchs, tech bros, and corporate supplicants. Art, schmart.
Speaking of renaming…
Fat Hitler sez he’s going to rename the Persian Gulf.
Gulf of America is already taken. Gulf of Trump was considered. But he figures he’ll throw a sop to murdering Saudi leader MBS and call it the Gulf of Arabia.
The god-king has spoken!
He’s thinking it will scare Iran into taking whatever deal he’s offering.
Such a great deal maker!
What’s next? Planet Trump? Why not rename the Milky Way? The Trumpy Way! Let all those aliens on the other side of the galaxy know.
Someone told me that all of those Jan-sixers who still think Trump
won, are suffering from Electile Dysfunction.
Missed this…
A few weeks ago was the 52nd anniversary of John McCain’s release from a North Vietnamese prison where he was tortured for five years, March 13, 1973.
What was self-styled Super Patriot Donald Trump, the would-be dictator who surrounds himself with patriotic imagery and hugs the flag he dishonors every hour of every day, who savagely dismisses Americans who serve in the armed forces as suckers and losers, and who made fun of this same John McCain, saying he liked heroes who weren’t captured, doing around that same time in March of ‘73?
Being sued by the US government for denying access to his KKK daddy’s apartments to black renters.
And now he’s demanding those same troops he dishonors, throw him a yuuuge North Korea-Soviet style totalitarian dictator parade to celebrate his glorious birthday.
Dante, make that two new rings of hell.
Forrest, my friend, you know whereof you speak.
And those anti-democratic J6 thugs ain’t the only ones.
Fat Hitler is hard at work trying to weaponize the Federal Elections Commission.
Per the Brennan Center for Justice:
“Since [last] Thursday, the bipartisan Federal Election Commission hasn’t been able do its job. That’s because the independent agency, which oversees money in campaigns for federal office, no longer has the minimum four required members to do most business.
The loss of quorum is due to the resignation of a Republican appointee, coupled with President Trump’s unprecedented move in February to fire a Democratic appointee. Such a shortfall has only happened three other times in the FEC’s 50-year history, including twice during Trump’s first term.
Ordinarily, the big question would be how fast the president and Congress will move to restore a full complement of commissioners so the agency can function. That is still important. But in light of the firing and the president’s other steps to exert control over the FEC and other independent agencies, there is now a much bigger issue: Will the FEC be able to continue as an independent watchdog at all? Because even worse than a dormant FEC is one that could be weaponized against the president’s opponents.”
He wasn’t kidding when he said his fascist supporters wouldn’t have to vote again. Taking over the FEC is just one more step on the road to permanently rigged elections.
First he sends people to that gulag in Venezuela, now he’s working to send them to Rwanda and Libya, and maybe Alcatraz. How about Gaza? Or the Heard and McDonald Islands. Make a deal with those penguins. It’d be a long swim back.. Maybe he can get French Guiana to reopen the penal colony on Devil’s Island. There are movies about that place, right? Hey, Turkish prisons looked pretty nasty in that 70’s movie. Talk to Erdoğan. He’s kind of a dictatory guy, right?
Just imagine if these idiots spent as much time working on actual problems as they do plotting out new horrible places to send their supposed enemies.
Efficiency, Musk and Trump style!
Hey! Aren’t we all glad that Musk, Trump, and Big Balls fired hundreds of FAA safety personnel ?
News out of Newark Airport says that on April 28, 2025, all the screens of air traffic controllers went blank. Nada. Dead. For about minute and a half.
90 seconds might not sound like a long time, but when you’re trying to track thousands of flights, hundreds headed your way, it’s scary AF.
The FAA is down 3,000 employees. But Musk and Trump need their huge tax cut. Soooo…
Now they’re blaming Biden. Of course. But the FAA is understaffed and underfunded. That’s not Biden’s fault.
Will Fatty fix it?
I ain’t flying anywhere anytime soon.
Maybe Big Balls will log in to help. Hopefully he’s not playing Grand Theft Auto at the same time.
Expect a LOT more of this crap.