Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: “CBS News on Friday abruptly altered its rules for editing interviews on the long-running political show 'Face the Nation,' days after Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, accused the network of deceptively editing her appearance on the program. 'Face the Nation' will now air only interviews that are conducted live, or prerecorded with no cuts or edits, according to a CBS News spokeswoman. A statement attributed the change 'to audience feedback over the past week.' 'This extra measure means the television audience will see the full, unedited interview on CBS, and we will continue our practice of posting full transcripts and the unedited video online,' the network added.” MB: Could they bow any lower?
Corrupt President* Allegedly! to Nominate Allegedly! Corrupt Mayor to Be Ambassador to Corrupt Nation. Dana Rubenstein, et al., of the New York Times: “Close advisers have been crafting a plan for ... [Donald] Trump to nominate Mayor Eric Adams to be ambassador to Saudi Arabia, in an effort to end the mayor’s long-shot campaign for re-election in New York City.... Steve Witkoff, a billionaire real estate investor and adviser to Mr. Trump, has actively pursued the matter in recent days, meeting personally with Mr. Adams earlier this week in Florida and speaking with other people close to him.... Mr. Trump has indicated to several associates that he believes former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, 67, is best positioned to win a one-on-one race against [Zohran] Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, despite losing to him in June’s Democratic primary.” ~~~
~~~ That was early afternoon Friday. Later that same day ~~~
~~~ Jeff Coltin, et al., of Politico: “Mayor Eric Adams defiantly announced he’s staying in the mayoral race Friday afternoon, despite intense pressure by ... Donald Trump and others to consolidate opposition to Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani. '... Andrew Cuomo is a snake and a liar. I am in this race. And I’m the only one who can beat Mamdani,' Adams said, blaming the former governor and mayoral race opponent for trying to get him out of the contest.” MB: Of course, maybe Hizzoner is just angling for a better gig.
The dictators of the world have got nothing to fear from this hearing. -- Jamie Raskin ~~~
~~~ Marie: The reactions to Baby Raskin's remarks are pretty fab.
~~~ ⭐David Sanger of the New York Times: Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth “say they want to return to the era when America won wars. They largely ignore the greatest accomplishment of the past 80 years: avoiding superpower conflict.... At a moment when deterrence is more critical than ever — in cyberspace, outer space and a world where Russia and China are celebrating an uneasy partnership to challenge American pre-eminence — Mr. Trump argues that the answer is to go back to the good old days.... Certainly in recent months Mr. Trump has shown less interest in building deterrence than he has in investing in new weaponry.... This change in name, assuming Congress is willing to rewrite the Truman-era laws, plays right into the narrative that Russia and China propagate about the United States. In their telling, all of America’s talk about being a peace-loving, law-abiding international player is thin cover for a country that truly just wants to strike at any target it regards as a threat.”
Jeff Cox of CNBC: "Job creation sputtered in August, adding to recent signs of labor market weakening and likely keeping the Federal Reserve on track for a widely anticipated interest rate cut later this month. Nonfarm payrolls increased by just 22,000 for the month, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.3%, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report Friday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for payrolls to rise by 75,000. The report showed a marked slowdown from the July increase of 79,000, which was revised up by 6,000. Revisions also showed a net loss of 13,000 in June after the prior estimate was lowered by 27,000." Ken W. is wondering in today's Comments what BLS statisticians Trump will fire today.
The Trump Chronicles. Another Failure. Dave Philipps & Matthew Cole of the New York Times: In 2019, a team of Navy SEALs landed in the dead of night on a North Korean shore. Their top-secret mission “was to plant an electronic device that would let the United States intercept the communications of ... Kim Jong-un, amid high-level nuclear talks with ... [Donald] Trump.... [The operation] was so risky that it required the president’s direct approval. [Just as the SEAL team landed,] a North Korean boat appeared out of the dark. Flashlights from the bow swept over the water. Fearing that they had been spotted, the SEALs opened fire. Within seconds, everyone on the North Korean boat was dead. The SEALs retreated into the sea without planting the listening device. The 2019 operation has never been publicly acknowledged, or even hinted at, by the United States or North Korea. The details remain classified and are being reported here for the first time. The Trump administration did not notify key members of Congress who oversee intelligence operations, before or after the mission. The lack of notification may have violated the law.” The link appears to be a gift link. If you prefer action stories to dry political theorizing, this one's for you.
~~~~~~~~~~
As Department of War, we won everything. We won everything... We’re going to have to go back to that. -- Donald Trump, in remarks last month ~~~
~~~ An Embarrassing, Warmongering Rebrand. Erica Green of the New York Times: Donald “Trump will sign an executive order on Friday renaming the Department of Defense as the Department of War, the White House said, fulfilling the president’s pledge to realign the mission of the armed forces by reverting to a name used for over 150 years until shortly after World War II. The measure, which has been expected for some time, underscores Mr. Trump’s efforts to reshape the military to align with his goals of projecting a more aggressive image by showcasing war-fighting capabilities. As Mr. Trump has sought to show strength, rather than the 'wokeness' that he and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth claim clouded the military’s morale and mission under former President Biden, he has often referred back to the country’s dominant role in global conflicts and complained that it has not been celebrated enough.” MB: I don't Think the belligerent rebranding will boost your Nobel Peace Prize odds, Donnie. ~~~
~~~ Can He Do That? Andrew Jeong of the Washington Post: “... such a move will likely require an act of Congress, because the Defense Department was created through that governing body.” Jeong looks at how President Truman and Congress renamed the old War Department to the Department of Defense. ~~~
~~~ Paul McLeary, et al., of Politico: “... Donald Trump will sign an executive order Friday to change the Department of Defense’s name to the Department of War, part of a broader effort to present a more aggressive, victorious military to the world. A senior administration official confirmed the change, which would likely require an act of Congress. But the White House is looking for other alternatives that would avoid a vote.... It would likely cost billions of dollars to change the names of hundreds of Pentagon agencies, their stationary, emblems, plaques and other signage at the Defense Department, along with bases around the world. The expense could put a serious dent into the administration’s efforts to slash Pentagon spending and waste.”
~~~ Marie: So maybe not good for Donnie's Peace Prize prospects, but it sure fits in with his boasting about murdering eleven Venezuelans. ~~~
It’s difficult to imagine how any lawyers inside the Pentagon could have arrived at a conclusion that this was legal rather than the very definition of murder under international law rules that the Defense Department has long accepted. -- Ryan Goodman of New York University Law ~~~
~~~ Charlie Savage & Adam Goldman of the New York Times: “By ordering the U.S. military to summarily kill a group of people aboard what he said was a drug-smuggling boat..., [Donald] Trump used the military in a way that had no clear legal precedent or basis, according to specialists in the laws of war and executive power. Mr. Trump is claiming the power to shift maritime counterdrug efforts from law enforcement rules to wartime rules.... Because killing people is so extreme — and doing it without due process risks killing the wrong people by mistake — the question of which rules apply is not simply a matter of policy choice. Domestic and international law both set standards constraining when presidents and nations can lawfully use wartime force.... The trafficking of an illegal consumer product is not a capital offense, and Congress has not authorized armed conflict against cartels.” ~~~
~~~ Rubio Beckons Partners in Crime. Edward Wong of the New York Times: “Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that the Trump administration wants to help partner governments conduct violent strikes against criminal groups, following the playbook the U.S. military used this week to carry out a lethal attack on a boat in the Caribbean. 'Those governments will help us find these people and blow them up,' he said at a news conference in Ecuador. 'They might do it themselves, and we’ll help them do it.' Mr. Rubio made his comments to reporters in the presidential palace in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, alongside Gabriela Sommerfeld, the nation’s foreign minister.... Beyond crime groups and violence, Mr. Rubio and his team came to Ecuador planning to discuss deporting immigrants from the United States to Ecuador, including ones who are not citizens of the country.”
Tyler Pager & Graham Bowley of the New York Times: Donald “Trump is exploring ways to take federal control of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, according to two White House officials, amid criticism from some Sept. 11 victims’ families over the site’s finances and leadership. The officials ... said the discussions have been preliminary and exploratory.... As a candidate last year, Mr. Trump pledg[ed] to designate the site of the Sept. 11 attacks a national monument. During a rally last September in Uniondale, N.Y., he said he wanted to ensure the 'hallowed ground and the memory of those who perished there will be preserved for all time, preserved forever.'”
An Early Birthday Present from Donnie to Vlad. Noah Robertson of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration intends to halt longtime security assistance programs for Europe, including an initiative to fortify the continent’s eastern flank against a potential attack by Russia, as it endeavors to recast Washington’s role within NATO, according to six people familiar with the matter. The decision would impact hundreds of millions of dollars worth of military aid relied upon by some of the alliance’s most vulnerable members. It has alarmed U.S. allies struggling to comprehend the administration’s policy toward Europe and its chief adversary in the Kremlin after ... Donald Trump, eager for a deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, rescued its mercurial leader, Vladimir Putin, from diplomatic isolation. U.S. lawmakers, meanwhile, are confused by the move.... A Senate aide said that the Defense Department has not provided lawmakers with a briefing on the issue, despite requests to do so.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Richard Luscombe of the Guardian: “The world during Donald Trump’s second presidency has entered a period of danger with 'certain similarities to the 30s', according to Mitch McConnell, the veteran Republican former Senate leader. McConnell made the comments primarily in reference to tariffs and foreign affairs, in a wide-ranging interview with the Lexington Herald-Leader published on Wednesday as he prepares to enter his final year in office. Calling it 'the most dangerous period since before world war two', McConnell was openly critical of the Trump administration’s fixation with trade tariffs, which he likened to the isolationist policies of the US in the 1930s that historians say hastened a global depression that paved the path to conflict. But ... McConnell – ... [who] announced his upcoming retirement – did not discuss the Trump administration’s own moves towards authoritarianism. He also glossed over his own responsibility for handing Trump so much power.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced a withering barrage of questioning from a Senate committee on his vaccine policy and his record as ... [Donald] Trump’s health secretary, responding at times with clear disdain for the senators, public health data and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which he oversees. Appearing before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday, Mr. Kennedy blamed the C.D.C. for the number of American deaths during the Covid-19 pandemic, and said he did not trust the data that showed vaccines saved millions of lives in the United States and elsewhere during the pandemic. Mr. Kennedy also falsely asserted that there were no cuts to Medicaid in ... [Mr.] Trump’s domestic policy bill, and rejected bipartisan criticism that his actions were making it harder for people to obtain vaccines. Mr. Kennedy ... spoke in a tone rarely used by a Senate witness — angry at times, dismissive at others — and repeatedly accused senators who belong to his family’s party of lying, telling them they were 'making stuff up' and 'talking gibberish.' Some Republicans, including two doctors — Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and John Barrasso of Wyoming — also put Mr. Kennedy on the spot. Mr. Cassidy, who voted to confirm Mr. Kennedy on the condition he wouldn’t disrupt access to vaccines, said..., 'We’re denying people vaccine,' Mr. Cassidy.... Mr. Kennedy responded: 'You’re wrong.'” At 2:20 pm ET, this is the pinned item in a liveblog. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Well, thanks RFKJ. Now I know how to appear as a witness before a Congressional committee. Put my fists over my ears, sing "la la la la la," which I occasionally interrupt by shouting, "You're lying," or some other insult. ~~~
~~~ A related New York Times story, which highlights questioning from GOP senators, is here. ~~~
~~~ Chris Hayes of MSNBC gives you a taste of the hearing: ~~~
~~~ Heather Cox Richardson also offers her take on the hearing. ~~~
~~~ Susan Monarez in a Wall Street Journal op-ed: “Reporters have focused on the Aug. 25 meeting where my boss, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., pressured me to resign [from my position as CDC director] or face termination.... One of the troubling directives from that meeting more than a week ago: I was told to preapprove the recommendations of a vaccine advisory panel newly filled with people who have publicly expressed antivaccine rhetoric.... Those seeking to undermine vaccines use a familiar playbook: discredit research, weaken advisory committees, and use manipulated outcomes to unravel protections that generations of families have relied on to keep deadly diseases at bay. Once trusted experts are removed and advisory bodies are stacked, the results are predetermined. That isn’t reform. It is sabotage.” MB: Evidently the link is a gift link, because I got access to the op-ed. If you can't read it, I was able to get at the essence of Monarez' essay here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Andrew Ackerman of the Washington Post: “Federal Reserve nominee Stephen Miran, a senior White House economic adviser, told Senate lawmakers Thursday that he does not plan to resign from the Trump administration if confirmed to the Federal Reserve’s board of governors — an unusual arrangement likely to raise concerns about the central bank’s independence. Testifying in the Senate on Thursday, Miran said he plans to take an unpaid leave instead of stepping down from the White House because he would only be filling a short-term slot on the seven-member Fed board. He said repeatedly he was citing the advice of an attorney.... Miran told lawmakers that he could remain independent.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Independent? Sen. Elizabeth Warren tests that. And as the former professor says, Miran failed: ~~~
How to look tough? Rename the Defense Department. How to deny climate science? Blow up satellites that monitor climate change. ~~~
~~~ Seriously Wasting Your Taxpayer Dollars. Sachi Mulkey of the New York Times: “Starting back in the Bush administration, the United States has spent more than $800 million launching powerful climate-monitoring satellite technology into space. The satellites, known as the Orbiting Carbon Observatory missions..., are in 'perfect health,' according to a government report issued in January. Now, however, the Trump administration wants to scrap them as a money-saving measure. It’s like buying a car 'and then running it into a tree after a few years, just to save the price of tank of gas,' said David Crisp, a former scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory who led the missions to launch the satellites.... 'They cost a vast amount to build,' he said. But, once in orbit, 'they cost a fraction of that a year to operate.'”
Paul Krugman: "America is now ruled by people who hate progress of all kinds, economic and social as well as scientific. They refuse to acknowledge the progress we’ve made on multiple fronts and are doing their best to reverse it.... Why can’t the right accept progress when it happens, and try to build on it? Some of it is special-interest politics, notably fossil fuel interests trying to stop the rise of alternative energy. But a lot of it, I believe, is visceral.... MAGA types see renewable energy as woke and insufficiently masculine: real men burn stuff. Relatedly, Trump and MAGA ... can’t accept the idea that America prospered, not by using its power to dominate other nations, but by making and adhering to international agreements that kept world markets open.”
Caught on Tape. Jason Lalljee of Axios: "The acting deputy chief of a Justice Department unit said on hidden camera that the government will 'redact every Republican' from an Epstein client list. He later admitted he was basing his comments on media reports.... The O'Keefe Media Group, a far-right media organization, secretly recorded Joseph Schnitt's comments and published them on Thursday. In a statement addressed to the DOJ's acting director, Schnitt said he had no idea he was being recorded on video and that he met the O'Keefe reporter — who he said was pretending to be an au pair — on the dating app Hinge. Schnitt said: 'The comments I made were my own personal comments on what l've learned in the media and not from anything I've done at or learned via work.' James O'Keefe, the founder of O'Keefe Media Group, is also behind the far-right Veritas Project, which is known for recording undercover videos of Democrats."
Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: “The Justice Department has opened a fraud investigation into a Federal Reserve governor, Lisa Cook, elevating claims ... [Donald] Trump has promoted in trying to oust her, according to people familiar with the situation. The move, which centers on whether she falsified a mortgage application, was instigated by Ed Martin, a hyperpartisan Trump loyalist with little prosecutorial experience. He has said that it is legitimate for federal officials to publicly air criminal investigations into people targeted by the president, even if an investigation does not result in a conviction or even an indictment.... Federal prosecutors have begun issuing subpoenas, one of the people ... said.” The link looks like a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Ann Marimow of the New York Times: “The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to clear the way for the removal of a Democrat the president fired from the Federal Trade Commission, as he continues to try to seize control of the federal bureaucracy. Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter was reinstated this week to her role at the consumer protection and antitrust enforcement agency after a divided appeals court found she was fired 'without cause.'”
Jeremy Roebuck of the Washington Post: “FBI agents seized computers, phones and reams of documents — including some in folders labeled 'Trump I-IV' and “statements and reflections to allied strikes” — in the search of the home and office of former national security adviser John Bolton, according to court papers unsealed Thursday. Search warrant records released by a federal magistrate judge in Maryland confirmed prosecutors are seeking to build a case against Bolton for alleged unauthorized removal of classified documents and violations of the Espionage Act.... The most serious of those crimes carries potential punishment of up to a decade in prison.... The records do not say whether agents found any items bearing classification stamps or other markings indicating that they were improperly in Bolton’s possession.” MB: Gosh, that sounds just like what Trump did when he collected all those boxes of classified documents from the White House & sent them to a Mar-a-Lardo bathroom.
Chris Cameron of the New York Times: “A federal judge in Washington has blocked ... [Donald] Trump’s latest move to freeze foreign aid that had been approved by Congress, ruling that the administration had violated the Constitutional separation of powers. Last week, the White House told Congress that it intended to cancel $4.9 billion that lawmakers had appropriated for foreign aid programs, invoking a little-known and legally untested power to cut spending without their approval. The move, known as a 'pocket rescission,' is essentially a last-minute attempt to claw back money at the end of the fiscal year, which is Sept. 30.... On Wednesday, Judge Amir H. Ali of Federal District Court in Washington, a Biden appointee, said he was deeply skeptical of the administration’s arguments that it had the power to not spend money appropriated by law. Judge Ali wrote that the government had changed its stated rationale for canceling foreign aid several times over months of court battles, and did so again in arguments for this case.” Politico has a brief report here.
Olivia George & Kadia Goba of the Washington Post: “Leaders in the House and Senate are not planning to hold votes to extend ... Donald Trump’s temporary control of D.C. police before it expires next week.... The news arrives on the heels of D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) ordering indefinite coordination between local and federal law enforcement officials and projecting confidence in the city’s ability to handle public safety without federal intervention. In allowing the Trump administration’s grip on the department to come to an end, Congress closes one chapter in the ongoing tussle between local and federal officials vying for control over public safety in the capital. But for now, it appears unlikely fewer federal agents or camouflage-clad troops will patrol city streets.... The congressional decision offers a win for Bowser and her approach with the president, praised by some as strategically collegial and criticized by others as out of touch with the anger and concern in communities across the city.” ~~~
~~~ Campbell Robertson of the New York Times: “The District of Columbia sued the Trump administration in federal court on Thursday, challenging the president’s deployment of National Guard troops in the city. Thousands of Guard members from the city and seven states were mobilized last month as part of a sweeping federal intervention that has also brought hundreds of federal law enforcement agents to the city’s streets.... 'No American city should have the US military — particularly out-of-state military who are not accountable to the residents and untrained in local law enforcement — policing its streets,' Brian Schwalb, D.C.’s attorney general, said in a statement.... The suit argues that the deployment of the local guard for public safety reasons, and without the mayor’s consent, violated Washington’s autonomy under the 52-year-old Home Rule Act.” The NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figure out what Bowser's strategy is here. ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE, Emily Davies & Natalie Allison of the Washington Post report that the guy who seems to be running the D.C. occupation is Stephen Miller.
Judge Rebukes U.S. Attorney Boxwine. Salvador Rizzo of the Washington Post: “A federal magistrate judge overseeing a torrent of cases during ... Donald Trump’s policing surge in D.C. condemned administration officials at a hearing Thursday, saying they were trampling people’s rights by overcharging them with felonies and then moving slowly to dismiss the weakest cases while the defendants languished in jail. The blistering remarks by Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui, a former D.C. federal prosecutor, were another sign that Trump’s efforts to crack down on crime in the nation’s capital are meeting extraordinary resistance in the city’s federal courthouse. Grand jurors have declined to issue indictments on at least seven occasions since the surge began last month, and Faruqui said federal judges would continue to push back on 'implausible, illegal, immoral' prosecutions. Faruqui said the Trump administration’s zeal to reduce crime in the nation’s capital had touched off a 'constitutional crisis.'”
Bruce Ritchie of Politico: “A federal appeals panel in Atlanta on Thursday blocked a judge’s ruling requiring state and federal agencies to shut down the Alligator Alcatraz immigrant detention center. The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals judges, in the split decision, said Florida and federal officials will suffer irreparable harm absent a stay and that dismantling the facility 'will come at a significant cost' to the state.... In response to the ruling, [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis posted on X that the 'mission will continue' at Alligator Alcatraz.”
Anemona Hartocollis, et al., of the New York Times: “The president of Northwestern University, Michael H. Schill, announced Thursday that he would resign, ending a difficult tenure that included attacks on the school from Republicans in Congress and cuts in funding by the Trump administration that forced the university to lay off hundreds of employees. Northwestern became a target of Trump administration officials this year after months of intense scrutiny from Republican lawmakers. Mr. Schill faced withering questions during a Congressional hearing last year, when Republicans accused the university of not doing enough to address antisemitism during campus protests over the war in Gaza. They have argued that the school was still not aggressive enough in protecting Jewish students from harassment.” ~~~
~~~ The Forward's story is here. Schill "is Jewish and the descendant of Holocaust survivors...."
~~~~~~~~~~~
21 comments:
What now?
He wants to take control of the 9/11 museum in downtown Manhattan? Because of course he does. His first act will be to commission a statue of himself digging through the rubble at Ground Zero, something he claimed to have done even though he never set foot anywhere near there. He was too busy gloating over the fact that with the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, his building was now the tallest. Seriously, who thinks like that? And that was a quarter century ago. He has ALWAYS been a self-glorifying asshole. We were all around that day. Was your first thought, upon learning first of the planes hitting the buildings and then the total collapse, geez, how can I make this work for me? Of course not. But it was his first thought. Not the dead, not the attack on the United States. Not the devastation. His first thought was "This could be good for me."
In addition to claiming to have been personally involved at Ground Zero (a completely debunked lie, no one ever saw him there, and had he been, he would have elbowed his way past everyone to get in front of the cameras) he lied about having "hundreds of my people" down there. At the time, the Trump Organization numbered about a dozen people, not hundreds. He also claimed to have donated $10,000 of his own money to a 9/11 recovery fund. Also a lie. No record exists of a check from Fatty.
And now he wants control of the 9/11 museum.
With so many serious problems we have in this country, this is what he cares about: controlling what gets taught at Columbia and Harvard, who they hire, what sort of displays the Smithsonian puts forward and outlawing the true history of slavery, art galleries, the Kennedy Center (soon to be renamed as the Trump Center), inserting himself in state electoral politics, sending ICE thugs out to terrorize citizens and non-citizens alike, decorating the Oval Office as if it were a cheesy circus tent, switching out portraits in the White House so no one can see pictures of Biden or Obama, but they see Fatty's puss everywhere they look, bulldozing the Rose Garden, blowing shit up, taking over Greenland, getting on his knees to a murderous dictator, screwing with longstanding allies, letting children die both here and abroad, changing names of places and things....no actual work to make life better for millions of Americans. Everything in service to the Wonders of Trump.
This is all way beyond disgusting.
And anyway, thinking of Greenland, whatever happened to that idea? And his demand that Canada become a US state? He's like a little kid in a toy store....I want this! No, look at that. Wow, c'mere, see this cool thing? A week or so ago, there was a bit of a kerfuffle in Greenland concerning some bit of skullduggery surrounding Denmark's control that territory, something about covert influence operations supposedly designed by the White House to screw with the Danes.
I dunno. That sounds way too sophisticated for Trump. That's the sort of thing Putin would do. Fatty is too stupid for something like that. He's more the "Let's knock shit over and see how they like it" kinda guy.
He may, at some point, remember that the shiny Greenland object he once coveted was still out there, but his attention wanders like a drunk who leaves a party and forgets where he parked the car.
Underhanded covert influencing schemes might be a Himmler Miller thing, but he's too wrapped up in his racial cleansing dream to worry about Greenland.
But who knows? Now that we have. a WAR DEPARTMENT, MOTHERFUCKERS! (I think that's going to be the official name) he might decide a few nuclear subs parked off the coast of Greenland, surfacing now and then to try to scare the populace, might be just the thing the fragile ego of a cowardly bone spurs little boy needs to feel manly.
Pay no attention to RFKJ. Covid is real. A member of our hiking group tested positive
yesterday for it.
It took me an hour this morning to finally get an appointment for covid and flu vaccinations
at a pharmacy about 20 miles away. All locals were booked for the foreseeable future.
"Pocketa-Pocketa-Queep-Pocketa-Queep." @Akhilleus: Thank you for the reminder of Trump's 9/11 heroics. He's our Walter Mitty president*.
Still, I cannot help but think of his takeovers of all the stuff you mention is not intended to be a temporary, 3-1/2-year thing. Why go to all that trouble to "own" everything when you're term-limited? IMO, every time Trump plans a new occupation of a new thing, he's thinking, "And I will own it forever."
Just when you think one or two of the traitors might not be complete satan spawn, they show their true colors. So here we have Nancy Mace in tears after listening to survivors of Epstein-Trump rape and abuse, bur oops! "Trump is not guilty of anything!". Yeah, of course.
Then we have Thomas Massie, who's giving Bible Mike fits over his discharge petition to get the actual Epstein files released (not the Eva Braun Bondi version). Sounds good, right? Nope. "Trump has been totally EXONERATED!!!" WHEEEEE!
Fuck me.
Exonerated by Ghislaine Maxwell? Noted liar, who has everything to gain by saying Trump was a complete gentleman and never boinked 12 year old girls with his buddy Jeffrey, so stop saying that? That Ghislaine Maxwell?
So on one side we have a couple dozen women who have come forward with reports of being assaulted over the years by Donald Trump, AND a court trial in which he was found guilty of sexual assault (actually rape).
But no....Ghislaine Maxwell is the one they'll believe.
\
Conclusions from the RFKJ sideshow yesterday.
He's not only a dangerously stupid lunatic, he's a pugnacious, insulting creep.
A sterling choice for a cabinet secretary, Donald. Way to go!
Skimmed Our Miss Brooks this AM, intrigued by his promise to explain whey he is not a liberal....
Turned out to be a typical David piece in which he uses lotsa words to talk around a subject without ever getting to its nub. David is not a liberal because: Culture! He claims liberals' shortcomings lie in their failure to acknowledge the importance of culture, that they believe that social problems can be solved by money alone.
Aside from not knowing any liberal who would discount the critical importance of cultural values, David did prompt me to wonder why he restricted his examination of culture's critical importance to only the conservative values he likes.
How about today's conservative values as exhibited by Republicans? Greed, willful ignorance, dishonesty , corruption, among them. A White House of scoundrels on testosterone highs?
Examine those, David, and tell me again why you are not a liberal.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/09/05/business/jobs-report-august-economy
More Dept. of Labor heads to roll?
Picking up on Marie's observation about the DoD rebranding, just wondering what it says about Fat Hitler's repeated claims of stopping so many wars (So Many!) when he turns around and says "We're all about WAR!" Norway, are you listening?
And speaking of the rebranding, I read somewhere that it will cost us (the taxpayers) billions to change the name. My first thought was that this sounds a tad overwrought. But think about it. It's not just all the stationery, it's the signage on everything from name tags to every sign on every military base everywhere in the world that now has "Department of Defense" on it somewhere. That's a crapload of signage, not to mention emblems on uniforms, email addresses, and any digital information requiring official name changes.
Switching out all the signage at a single military base could cost tens of millions. Here's an example. In 2023, when Fatty and Drunk Pete changed base names back to reflect their love of Confederate traitors who killed hundred of thousands of Americans (they weren't part of America then), it cost almost $40 million. And that was just the signage around those bases.
The U.S. has approximately 750 military bases and locations in over 80 foreign countries. Within the United States, the number is also in the hundreds (15 in California alone) with the Department of Defense managing over 4,790 sites around the world. Every single license plate on military vehicles will need to be changed.
Then think of all the boilerplate documents used by other agencies in the government who regularly correspond with the DoD.
It adds up.
Why? So a drunk and a coward can feel tough.
Tom Nichols, for The Atlantic, suggests the name of The Department of Cringe
"Donald Trump is a showman who likes flashy spectacles and heated controversies. He has chosen Cabinet nominees for their shock value, attacked famous American universities, mobilized the Justice Department against his political enemies, and sent troops into American cities, fully aware of how much these theatrics would enrage his opponents.
But even in a term marked by political performance art, Trump’s plan to rename the Department of Defense as the Department of War might be a new high—or low. An executive order making the change is expected tomorrow, Fox News reported.
....
Everything from official seals to uniform patches and medals might have to be replaced—and for what? Because a president who never served a day in uniform and a macho-obsessed former Army major think that using words like war will provide the sense of purpose and gravity they both lack?"
Ken,
Our Miss Brooks, as usual, misses not just the boat, but the entire ocean it floats on.
How many eons the traitors (and I'm sorry, Brooks says he's not down with the worst of Trumpism, but he supports, and has helped build, the tent poles of the current right-wing, so he's just as much a traitor as they are) going to flog the notion of tax and spend. liberals? And not for nothin', but it ain't us doing the spending these days, it's Brooks' party throwing the shekels around like rapture is on its way.
So, Our Miss Brooks has his panties in a knot because liberals want to "throw money" at problems? Hey, I have an idea....let's throw money at billionaires! That solves all our problems, right?
No, Dave, we don't think "throwing money" around will solve everything, but we do believe that the dire economic inequality YOUR party has fostered for generations is both debilitating and dangerous. I seriously doubt David Brooks has ever set foot in an inner city school with paint peeling off the walls, bathrooms unusable, and classrooms that haven't been updated since the 60's. It's all very nice of him to sit in his beautiful Georgetown townhouse, in his walnut paneled library, smoking his pipe by the fire with his first edition, leather bound copy of the complete works of Edmund Burke on his coffee table, dispensing with the ills of the world so cavalierly.
As for liberal distaste for culture? What is he talking about? It's right-wingers who tend toward brutal philistine approaches to culture, not liberals.
Brooks is back to his usual "Hippies are to blame for everything" mantra. He's still pissed because he never got laid in college and never hung with the cool kids, never got high, never waited in line for "Sgt. Pepper", never even wore bell bottoms. All those pot smokin' hippies having out of wedlock sex without permission are to blame for everything!
Harumph.
Get a new dead horse to beat, Miss Brooks, yours is skeletal by now. And stop bothering people with your "I'm not a liberal" blather. We. Don't. Care.
Apologies, Akhilleus, for poking your Brooks bear,
Hope you didn't read the whole Brooks piece. I only skimmed it. I hate smart folks using words to lie, even if it's only to themselves. Thought to inflict the suffering on myself alone.
But thanks for the "throwing money at billionaires" line. I might use it somewhere down the road..
Brian Barrett for Wired, covers the Thursday night white House dinner (either no paywall, or I haven't used my four up yet)
"One by one, Trump asked the executives how much they were investing in the United States. One by one, they obliged, praising Trump’s leadership along the way. The president has run this play previously with his cabinet members, powerful people tripping over themselves in the race toward Trump’s good graces. But there was an eeriness to seeing that same dynamic among Big Tech’s braintrust, like passing a camera around to take turns wishing a distant, unloved uncle a very happy Thanksgiving."
I liked Rebecca Solnit's comment with link on BlueSky "You and I are richer than Gates, Zuckerberg, etc. because we can afford not to polish the boots of the authoritarian clown." - so i linked to that instead of Wired. All the President's suck-ups
Yippee Ki Yay
Like malevolent Children of the Corn in cowboy hats, the Fat Hitler faux tough guys, blowing up boats, claiming the right to kill anyone they choose, going to other countries to get them involved in extra-judicial unfunny business, seek to turn us into a rogue nation.
Demonstrating that, to them, rule of law doesn't matter and is of no consequence (except where they seek to use the courts to their own benefit) the Fatty fascists check another box on the Are you an Authoritarian State test.
Rule of law, observance of judicial processes might not be the most expeditious, and it's certainly not foolproof, crooks walk every day with zero accountability (look at Trump), but the alternative is chaos. It's the Ox-Bow Incident on a national scale. "They look guilty. Hang 'em!"
And like Children of the Corn, they serve an evil master. In this case, one with a glowing orange caste.
National Headlines
It should be, but it isn't.
Here's what our so-called president* said about black kids in Baltimore:
“These are hard-core criminals, They’re not going to be good in 10 years, in five years, in 20 years, in two years they’re going to be criminals. They were born to be criminals.”
They were BORN to be CRIMINALS. I suppose, given the outcome, you could have said that about Donald Trump, but no one is BORN to be anything. What he's talking about is the exact same language Hitler used to justify the Holocaust. This is the worst sort of determinist thinking. He's calling people criminals from birth (and he means black people, not white residents of Baltimore) birth. And it follows that if that's so, there's no need for rule of law, for judicial processes, all that's required, as he also said is "To get rid of the criminals". How that happens is anyone's guess. Shoot them on sight, like that boat off Venezuela?
This should be a national headline. But it's not. I only came across it by accident.
The media is completely failing us.
link text">Born to be criminals
These links aren't working properly....
try this one
WSJ
"Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to announce that pregnant women’s use of an over-the-counter pain medication is potentially linked to autism in a report that also will suggest a medicine derived from folate can be used to treat symptoms of the developmental disorder in some people, people familiar with the matter said.
The report, expected this month from the HHS, is likely to suggest as among the potential causes of autism low levels of folate, an important vitamin, and Tylenol taken during pregnancy, people familiar with the matter said."
He did say he would blame something in just six months. Who needs actual research?
Thinking Trumpland may be sorry to get what they think they wished for.
CBS airing lunacy and lies unedited?
@Akhilleus
Mentioned The Ox-Bow Incident just the other day. The novel used to be taught in high schools. Wonder if it still is.
Ken,
Probably not in red states. Too woke. Why? Because the Mexican guy they lynch is innocent and the real villain is a former Confederate officer. Not gonna fly in Trump's Amerika.
RAS,
Does everything cause autism in WormBrain's thinking?
Can't wait for the studies that show unpasteurized milk and roadkill bear meat are the actual causes of autism.
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