⭐Keith Schneider of the New York Times: “Jane Goodall, one of the world’s most revered conservationists, who earned scientific stature and global celebrity by chronicling the distinctive behavior of wild chimpanzees in East Africa — primates that made and used tools, ate meat, held rain dances and engaged in organized warfare — died on Wednesday in Los Angeles. She was 91.”
Matthew Haag of the New York Times: “The Trump administration announced on Wednesday that it would withhold $18 billion in federal funds previously awarded to New York City for two of the largest infrastructure projects in the country. The two projects — the expansion of the Second Avenue subway line and new commuter train tunnels under the Hudson River — are aimed at improving travel for millions of travelers and daily commuters and are both underway. In fact, construction has already begun on the tunnels, a $16 billion project known as Gateway that sits at the center of the busy Northeast Corridor. In a statement, Sean Duffy, the transportation secretary, said, 'The department is focusing on these projects because they are arguably the largest infrastructure initiatives in the Western Hemisphere.' Mr. Duffy said that funds for the two projects would not be distributed while the Transportation Department reviewed what it described as New York State’s 'discriminatory, unconstitutional contracting processes.' The review was in response to ... [Donald] Trump’s executive orders earlier this year targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs, Mr. Duffy said....”
Chris Cameron of the New York Times: “A federal judge in Rhode Island on Tuesday blocked a Trump administration effort to freeze hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency preparedness funds to blue states that have opposed his mass deportation campaign. It was the second time in a week that a federal judge had blocked the Trump administration’s effort to withhold disaster preparedness funds. Last Wednesday, a judge in the Federal District Court in Rhode Island ruled in favor of a coalition of 20 states and the District of Columbia, most led by Democrats, that had sued for the release of billions of dollars in federal grants.... Days [later]..., the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which provides funding for disaster preparedness, informed 11 of those states and the District of Columbia that they would receive less than half of an expected $460 million in counterterrorism funds.... New York and Illinois, states that Mr. Trump has repeatedly targeted over policy disagreements, had their grants cut by 79 percent and 69 percent, totaling over $100 million.... [The states] quoted Kristi Noem, the head of the Department of Homeland Security, who has argued that states that do not comply with Mr. Trump’s policies 'should not receive a single dollar of the department’s money.'”
Ann Marimow of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to allow ... [Donald] Trump to immediately remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve Board, saying it would instead review the administration’s efforts to oust her and reshape the central bank at oral arguments in January. Top former Fed and Treasury officials and Ms. Cook’s legal team had warned the Supreme Court that permitting Mr. Trump to fire her while litigation over her status was underway would spur economic turmoil and undermine public confidence in the Fed.... Every living former Fed chair — Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke and Janet L. Yellen — joined former Treasury secretaries nominated by presidents of both parties to tell the justices in a court filing that Ms. Cook should be allowed to stay on the job while her case was being reviewed to ensure 'stability of the system that governs monetary policy in this country.'... In its two-sentence, unsigned order on Wednesday, the court deferred ruling on Ms. Cook’s status until after it heard arguments in the matter in January.”
Alex Horton, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Pentagon plans to impose strict nondisclosure agreements and random polygraph testing for scores of people in its headquarters, including many top officials..., escalating Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s war on leakers and internal dissent. All military service members, civilian employees and contract workers within the office of the defense secretary and the Joint Staff, estimated to be more than 5,000 personnel, would be required to sign a nondisclosure agreement that 'prohibits the release of non-public information without approval or through a defined process.'... The efforts are part of a wider strategy by the Trump administration and the Pentagon to ferret out officials deemed insufficiently loyal or who provide information to reporters.”
Helene Cooper & others at the New York Times review the Fat Man & Little Boy show, with a little help from some experts: “'I couldn’t be prouder of our highest-ranking leaders for maintaining an apolitical face under immense pressure,' said retired Army Maj. General Paul D. Eaton, who served in the Iraq war. He added, 'Pete Hegseth spent millions to fly in all of our generals and admirals to rant about facial hair and brag about how many pull-ups he can do, and have Donald Trump sleepwalk through a list of partisan gripes.' Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking Democrat of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the gathering 'an expensive, dangerous dereliction of leadership' by the Trump administration.” ~~~
~~~ Nancy Youssef & Missy Ryan of the Atlantic concentrate on Pete Hegseth's remarks, which they -- and Drunk Pete himself -- characterize as a rehash of a grievance book he wrote last year about how the military wasn't living up to his push-up and shaving standards. Thank you to akaWendy for this gift link.
RAS linked a version of this video of ICE agents chasing a Chicagoan who taunted them by yelling, "I am not a U.S. citizen." The ensuing chase does kind of suggest Drunk Pete should encourage fellow Cabinet member & Barbie gal Kristi Noem to get her troops in shape. On the other hand, I suppose their boss would just order the ICE agents to shoot the guy on the bike as part of a "training exercise":
~~~~~~~~~~
Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: “The government shut down on Wednesday morning at 12:01 a.m., amid a bitter spending deadlock between ... [Donald] Trump and Democrats in Congress that will disrupt federal services and leave many federal workers furloughed. It was the first federal shutdown since 2019, when parts of the government were shuttered for 35 days in a standoff between congressional Democrats and Mr. Trump over the president’s demand to fund a wall at the southern border. This time, the dispute is over Democrats’ demand that the president agree to extend expiring health care subsidies and restore Medicaid cuts enacted over the summer as part of Mr. Trump’s marquee tax cut and domestic policy law. The shutdown became all but inevitable on Tuesday night after Senate Democrats voted just hours before a midnight deadline to block Republicans’ plan to keep federal funding flowing....
“On a 55-to-45 vote, the G.O.P. plan, which would extend funding through Nov. 21, fell short of the 60 needed for passage. Republicans also blocked Democrats’ plan, which would extend funding through the end of October and add more than $1 trillion in health care spending, in a 47-to-53 vote. Shortly afterward, Russell T. Vought, the White House budget director, directed agencies in a memo to 'execute their plans for an orderly shutdown.'” An AP story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marisa Kabas of the Handbasket: "As the federal government teeters on the brink of a shutdown, workers across many agencies received identical emails late Tuesday afternoon blaming Democrats for the possibility. The ... message was mandated by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) via an intra-agency email to leadership and reinforced on a subsequent call.... During any other period of recent American history, this email would have been deemed a flagrant violation of the Hatch Act.... Also on Tuesday the Department of Housing and Urban Development displayed a banner message on its official website with language similar to the email. It reads, 'The Radical Left are going to shut down the government and inflict massive pain on the American people unless they get their $1.5 trillion wish list of demands. The Trump administration wants to keep the government open for the American people.'” An NPR story is here. ~~~
~~~ Confessions of a Future POTUS*. Wherein Donald Trump admits the shitdown (not a typo) is all his fault. Thanks to Akhilleus for the link: ~~~
Heather Cox Richardson, in her daily newletter, covers the shitdown AND the shitshow that Fat Man & Little Boy put on for the nation's top brass (and for the public: ~~~
I told Pete, we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military. -- Donald Trump, to flag officers, yesterday ~~~
~~~ Dan Lamothe, et al., of the Washington Post: “Hundreds of the U.S. military’s top leaders absorbed highly partisan addresses from ... Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday, with each harshly criticizing their predecessors and touting their agendas in a summit that was extraordinary in nature but ultimately broke little new ground. The event was organized by Hegseth’s team at the Pentagon, with generals and admirals in command across the globe and their top enlisted advisers — some traveling thousands of miles — ordered last week to Marine Corps Base Quantico.... Gen. Dan Caine, Trump’s hand-selected chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told attendees in his opening comments that the event was an 'unprecedented opportunity and honor' for the senior officers to hear directly from their civilian leadership. Trump ... [made] meandering remarks that stretched about an hour and 10 minutes....
“Trump was introduced by Hegseth, who had planned the event without the president involved.... During his remarks, Hegseth, a former Fox News personality who served as an officer in the National Guard at times, lectured the men and women — each with decades more military experience — seated silently before him.... The assembled military brass sat through the presentations mostly silent, in keeping with the military’s nonpartisan tradition.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Tom Nichols of the Atlantic, republished by Yahoo! News: “Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s convocation of hundreds of generals and admirals today turned out to be, in the main, a nothingburger. Hegseth strutted and paced and lectured and hectored, warning the officers that he was tired of seeing fat people in the halls of the Pentagon and promising to take the men who have medical or religious exemptions from shaving — read: mostly Black men — and kick them out of the military. He assured them that the 'woke' Department of Defense was now a robust and manly Department of War.... All in all, an utterly embarrassing address....
“[Then] the president talked at length, and his comments should have confirmed to even the most sympathetic observer that he is, as the kids say, not okay.... Trump seemed quieter and more confused than usual.... As comical as many of Trump’s comments were, the president’s nakedly partisan appeal to U.S. military officers was a violation of every standard of American civil-military relations, and exactly what George Washington feared could happen with an unscrupulous commander in chief.” ~~~
~~~ Two conservatives at the Bulwark, Jonathan Last & Bill Kristol, discuss the event. They were quite horrified. They run a clip, too, of an example of Trump's disjointed rambling. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Last's article on Trump's speech is worth reading: “If you were expecting Triumph of the Will..., what you got instead was fat, disoriented Elvis stumbling through his set.... I promise you that the flag officers in attendance were more alarmed than amused.... The most consequential parts of the commander-in-chief’s speech were the sections in which he attempted to prepare flag officers for increased deployment of the military in American cities.... He said that 'quell[ing] civil disturbances' is 'going to be a big thing for the people in this room.'... I cannot recall another instance of a commander-in-chief repeatedly denigrating his predecessors to the military, by name, in public.... Most alarmingly, he said that Biden was an illegitimate president, the product of a fraudulent election.... The obvious inference: Only Trump is the legitimate commander-in-chief.... On the surface, Trump’s speech was ridiculous. Slump-shouldered and low-energy, Trump wandered and slurred.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Here is what Trump said that most alarmed me. ~~~
~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill: Donald “Trump told a gathering of military leaders Tuesday they should use American cities as 'training grounds' and described a federal crackdown on crime in major cities as necessary due to 'a war from within.'... He signaled the leaders in the room could be tasked with aiding in federal interventions in Democratic-led cities such as Chicago and New York City. 'They’re very unsafe places, and we’re going to straighten them out one by one,' Trump said. 'And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room. That’s a war, too. It’s a war from within.... I told [Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth], we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military — National Guard, but our military, because we’re going into Chicago very soon,' Trump added. 'That’s a big city with an incompetent governor.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: That is the POTUS* looking into the faces of all of the nation's top brass and telling them their troops should use Americans as cannon fodder. When prior presidents addressed the military, it was to remind them of their importance of protecting not only the people but also the fragile democracy in which we live. This president* says gun 'em down -- oh, and to hell with democracy: ~~~
~~~Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a decorated veteran military officer, noted on the teevee Tuesday afternoon that Trump and the GOP Congress also had slashed aid to local police forces. So the plan, as I see it, is to take policing away from local control and turn it over to the military, under Trump's thumb. The Posse Comtatus Act be damned, the Supremes will most likely rubber-stamp Trump's plans. And who do you suppose, then, will be in charge of policing elections? Deciding who can vote and where? So much for democracy. ~~~
~~~ Ah, here's what Sen. Duckworth was talking about: ~~~
~~~ Grace Ashford & Stefanos Chen of the New York Times: “For months, the Trump administration has vowed to claw back federal funding to states and cities that it views as hostile to its immigration and anti-diversity priorities. In New York, that pledge has apparently been carried out with gusto. State officials recently learned that New York would lose $100 million from the Department of Homeland Security for counterterrorism programs. The cut comes on top of an earlier funding reduction, announced in August, of $87 million. New York, along with 10 other states and the District of Columbia, sued on Monday to block the Homeland Security cuts. And on Tuesday, a federal judge in Rhode Island granted the states a temporary reprieve, essentially freezing the funds while the case plays out in court. If the cuts are carried out in New York, they would reduce the federal contribution to the counterterrorism programs to just $30 million — an 86 percent reduction from what the state received under the Biden administration.” ~~~
~~~ BTW, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), another decorated veteran military officer, also said Tuesday afternoon that the only other places you see a Dear Leader gathering together all of his top military people to deliver to them a propaganda speech are dictatorships like Russia and China. We have arrived. ~~~
~~~ Lawrence O'Donnell says we have no POTUS*:
Pipsqueak Lectures the Generals. Greg Jaffe of the New York Times: “Senior officers, summoned from around the world, are entrusted to manage complex military operations. [From the Secretary of Defense, t]hey got a lecture on fitness and grooming standards.... Much of his address focused on the kinds of issues he would have dealt with as a young platoon leader in the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq or as a company commander in the [Army National] Guard. 'No more beards, long hair, superficial, individual expression,' he told the brass. 'We’re going to cut our hair, shave, shave our beards and adhere to standards.'... 'Frankly, it’s tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops,' he said. 'Likewise, it’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon.' He maintained, without presenting any evidence, that standards had been lowered across the force over the last decade to meet arbitrary racial and gender quotas.” ~~~
~~~ Sarah Fortinsky of the Hill: “California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) knocked ... [Donald] Trump’s weight Tuesday after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared he no longer wanted to see 'fat generals' in the military. 'I guess the Commander in Chief needs to go!' Newsom said in a post on the social platform X, responding to a clip of Hegseth’s speech at Quantico, Va. The post included an unflattering photo of the president from a campaign stop last October at McDonald’s. A subsequent post from the governor’s press office account took another jab at the president’s weight, this time including an AI-generated photo of Trump holding two McDonald’s Big Mac cheeseburgers as drones deliver bags of fast food to the president, who is uncharacteristically wearing a gray t-shirt. 'IT’S COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE TO SEE A FAT COMMANDER IN CHIEF IN THE HALLS OF THE WHITE HOUSE!' the post read.” ~~~
~~~ Macho, Macho Man. Adriana Licon & Thomas Beaumont of the AP: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in an address Tuesday to the military’s top leaders waded back into a topic that nearly derailed his confirmation early this year and helped elevate his voice as a Fox News commentator — the fitness of women to serve in combat. Hegseth told hundreds of military commanders at a hastily called gathering in Virginia that there would be new directives to ensure that the requirement for every position in combat 'returns to the highest male standard.' He said that 'if that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it,' while stressing that the military will continue to welcome women into its ranks. 'I don’t want my son serving alongside troops who are out of shape, or in combat units with females who can’t meet the same combat arms physical standards as men,' he said. 'This job is life and death. Standards must be met.'... Several prominent women who are combat veterans pushed back on Hegseth’s remarks to emphasize that women who serve in combat roles already are subjected to the same standards as men.” ~~~
~~~ Hegseth Seeks to Return Military to a Time When Sexual Assault Was Just Fine. Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: “'What were the military standards in 1990? And if they have changed, tell me why. Was it a necessary change based on the evolving landscape of combat, or was the change due to a softening, weakening, or gender-based pursuit of other priorities?' Hegseth said. '1990 seems to be as good a place to start as any.' That was a striking point in history for Hegseth to have chosen.... The early 1990s also saw the U.S. Navy rocked by one of the biggest scandals in its history — one that exposed a dark underside of military culture. In 1991, the annual convention of the Tailhook Association, a prestigious organization of naval and Marine Corps aviators, became a drunken three-day bacchanal, in which 83 women and 7 men were assaulted, according to a Defense Department investigation.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: A woman accused Hegseth himself of sexual assault in 2017; Hegseth settled with his accuser. So you can see why he wants to get back to the good ole days when a man had a god-given right to sexually assault women. ~~~
~~~ Tara Copp & Noah Robertson of the Washington Post: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he will overhaul the military channels that allow troops and defense personnel to file whistleblower complaints, report toxic leadership or point out discrimination based on race, gender, sexuality or religion. The changes are being implemented at the same time that Hegseth is loosening rules on how senior officers can treat enlisted personnel without having it impact their careers — including a review of what constitutes bullying or hazing — in moves the secretary said would 'empower leaders to enforce standards without fear of retribution or second-guessing.'... Hegseth is currently awaiting a final report from the Pentagon’s inspector general on his own misuse of the commercial app Signal to share classified information.... Some former defense officials and congressional Democrats criticized the new effort, saying it would roll back decades of work to limit harassment and abuse within the armed forces.” ~~~
~~~ Jack Detsch & Leo Shane of Politico: “Numerous defense officials — who watched senior brass scramble to Washington and then sit through a partisan speech from ... Donald Trump and a return to old-school military standards by [Defense Secretary Pete] Hegseth — were left wondering why the event had occurred at all. 'More like a press conference than briefing the generals,' said one defense official.... 'Could have been an email.'” ~~~
~~~ Sarah Burris of the Raw Story: "Longtime Pentagon reporter Helene Cooper said that she can't find any military officials who attended the meeting in Virginia with ... Donald Trump and Secretary Pete Hegseth and liked what they heard. 'I have yet to find a single military official who was in the audience today who thought that this was a good presentation,' she told MSNBC on Tuesday afternoon.... The other thing she noted is that she's gotten 'so many emails from women in the military' who are seeing this as a message 'that they are not welcome.'"
Dan Diamond & Paige Cunningham of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that pharmaceutical giant Pfizer would sell its drugs to a government program at discounted rates, acceding to his long-running push to lower U.S. drug prices, and he pledged that similar deals with other companies would soon follow. Pfizer agreed to bring the price of its drugs sold to Medicaid, the government safety-net program that provides health coverage to about 70 million Americans, in line with the lower rates paid by other developed countries. Pfizer also announced a $70 billion investment in research and development, and domestic manufacturing as part of the deal. Administration officials at a news conference in the Oval Office also teased a new website dubbed 'TrumpRx,' which they said would expedite direct-to-consumer sales of medications at discounted rates.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: "TrumpRx" sounds like a Website where you can get bottles of Dietary Bleach "guaranteed to cure Covid," Junior's Extract of Brain Worm, and Dr. Oz's Cure-All Vitamin Z. Plus "Coming Soon! MED BEDS! You'll never need to see a doctor again! IMMORTALITY Guaranteed! Discount for Pre-orders. $10,000 down payment."
Marcia Brown of Politico: “The White House is canceling millions of dollars that dozens of universities use to research food production, despite budget chief Russ Vought’s promise to leave that money untouched. Using a controversial loophole to cancel federal cash at the end of the fiscal year — which comes to a close at midnight Tuesday — ... Donald Trump has targeted $4 billion in federal spending on international aid and development. That includes $72 million for USAID’s Feed the Future Innovation labs, which is popular with Republicans.
Staffing Troubles:
(1) Tony Romm, et al., of the New York Times: “The White House has withdrawn the nomination of E.J. Antoni, a conservative economist, to serve as the leader of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.... Mr. Trump tapped Mr. Antoni in August, shortly after ousting Erika McEntarfer, the previous B.L.S. commissioner, over unsubstantiated claims that the bureau had 'rigged' data.... Mr. Antoni ... had no prior experience working in the government, having spent most of his career as a highly partisan economic analyst and commentator.... Economists and other experts from across the political spectrum ... decried Mr. Antoni’s lack of management experience and his history of distorting economic statistics to support his political arguments.” Politico's story is here.
(2) Meredith Hill & Declan Harty of Politico: “The White House withdrew Brian Quintenz’s nomination to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission late Tuesday.... A small but powerful agency, the CFTC oversees a broad swath of financial markets including those tied to the cryptocurrency industry. In July, crypto billionaires Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss pressed ... Donald Trump to reconsider his selection of Quintenz to lead the Wall Street regulator.... In addition, the traditional gaming industry opposed Quintenz for his ties to Kalshi, an up-and-coming prediction market firm whose entry into sports betting has riled up the industry.”
(3) Danny Hakim of the New York Times: “A federal judge on Tuesday disqualified Nevada’s top federal prosecutor from handling cases, a rebuke to the Trump administration’s attempts to circumvent federal appointment procedures put in place by Congress. Judge David G. Campbell of the Federal District Court in Arizona, who was temporarily assigned to handle the case in Nevada, said that the prosecutor, Sigal Chattah, was 'not validly serving as acting U.S. attorney' and that her involvement in cases 'would be unlawful.' Challenges to her appointment had been brought in four different cases. The judge disqualified her from supervising the cases or 'any attorneys in the handling of these cases.'... Ms. Chattah is a Republican activist and a supporter of ... [Donald] Trump who was previously a lawyer for the state Republican Party.”
Ana Ley & Wesley Parnell of the New York Times: “A video journalist was injured on Tuesday during a tumultuous scene involving federal agents at a Manhattan immigration courthouse less than a week after another officer was captured on video shoving a woman in a confrontation. A hallway on the 12th floor at 26 Federal Plaza, the site of immigration courtrooms, descended into chaos as two women got into an elevator followed by masked agents and a journalist, Dean Moses of amNY. The brief melee, captured on video, began to unfold when one of the agents cursed at Mr. Moses and shoved him out of the elevator and back toward a scrum of about a dozen journalists and camera crews crowded behind him. Eyewitnesses said that another agent then pushed a second journalist, Olga Fedorova, who was in the hallway outside the elevator, onto the floor.... Ms. Fedorova said that [a] third journalist [Vural Elibol] was already on the floor when she hit the ground. She said he appeared to be badly hurt. It was not clear how he ended up on the floor.... The scene unfolded so swiftly that it was difficult to ascertain the exact sequence of events.” The Gothamist's report is here. ~~~
Madeleine Ngo of the New York Times: “The Trump administration said Tuesday it uncovered more than 270 cases of suspected immigration fraud during a recent enforcement operation in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, pledging to mount similar investigations in cities across the country. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said that it conducted more than 900 site visits and in-person interviews. In 42 cases, individuals were referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement or issued notices to appear in court. Joseph B. Edlow, the director of U.S.C.I.S., said at a news conference in Minneapolis Tuesday that the operation was the 'first of many,' although he declined to say which cities would be targeted next.”
Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: “Washington agreed to allow South Korean workers traveling on short-term business visas or on a visa waiver program to build factories in the United States, the South Korean government said Wednesday. The agreement was reached in Washington on Tuesday when officials from both countries negotiated how to resolve visa problems in the wake of a massive immigration raid on an electric vehicle battery factory under construction in Ellabell, Ga. A total of 317 South Koreans were arrested and placed in handcuffs and chains during the Sept. 4 raid, outraging a key U.S. ally.”
The Constitution, our civil laws, regulations, mores, customs, practices, courtesies — all of it; the President simply ignores it all when he takes it into his head to act. -- Judge William Young, decision for the plaintiffs, issued Tuesday ~~~
~~~ Zach Montague of the New York Times: “A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled on Tuesday that the Trump administration had used the threat of deportation to systematically silence noncitizens in academia who protested in support of Palestinians, violating the First Amendment as part of a broader strategy to stamp out campus activism. The remarkable ruling was a hard-fought win for a coalition of academic and civil rights organizations that had sued to block future deportations of foreign students.... Describing the question before him as 'perhaps the most important ever to fall within the jurisdiction of this district court,' Judge William G. Young, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, released a scathing rebuke of ... [Donald] Trump, whose administration he said had worked outside the law to curtail First Amendment protections for noncitizens.... Judge Young did not immediately block the government from attempting further deportations. Sticking to his usual process, he wrote that he would weigh in on a way to respond to the government’s policy against student demonstrators after another hearing at a later date.” ~~~
~~~ Politico's report is here. Mother Jones' report is here.
Arelis Hernández of the Washington Post: “A second immigrant has died after being shot in an attack at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Dallas, his family said. Miguel Ángel García, 31, died early Tuesday after being removed from life support, according to the League of United Latin American Citizens, a civil rights organization supporting the family. He had been in critical condition since a gunman opened fire at ICE’s field office last week in an attack that federal investigators said was intended to target immigration officers. All of those shot were detainees in a transport van. García — an undocumented immigrant whose wife is expecting their fifth child — was shot several times, his family said. Norlan Guzman Fuentes, 37, of El Salvador was also shot and killed. A third man, from Venezuela, was injured.” The Texas Tribune story is here.
Judge to Jeanine Pirro's Team: Get Out! Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “In the past month or so, federal prosecutors in Washington have been repeatedly embarrassed as nearly a dozen grand juries have rejected their efforts to secure indictments against people caught up in ... [Donald] Trump’s plan to use federal troops and agents to crack down on local crime. As unusual as all of this has been, there was a new and even more unusual twist to their setbacks this week: On Monday, a magistrate judge pre-emptively refused to accept an indictment after learning that prosecutors had performed what he described as an 'end run' around the normal course of justice. After failing to secure an indictment from a federal grand jury, prosecutors took the federal charges to a local grand jury, which returned an indictment. In a scathing order filed in Federal District Court in Washington, the magistrate judge, Zia M. Faruqui, told prosecutors that he had never heard of such of thing, saying that what appeared to be an example of grand jury forum shopping had broken 'decades-long norms and the rule of law.'”
Emily Brooks & Mike Lillis of the Hill: “Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Republican leaders refused requests from Democrats to swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) on Tuesday, saying she will be sworn in when the House returns to regular session. The move deprives a petition of the last signature it needs to force a vote on a bill to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein, a push that Republican leaders and ... [Donald] Trump oppose.... A spokesperson for the Speaker’s office, though, indicated that Grijalva will be sworn in when the House returns to regular session — currently scheduled for Oct. 7.”
John Koblin of the New York Times on the night Jimmy Kimmel & Stephen Colbert appeared on each other's shows. “The pair criticized the president directly on Tuesday, with Mr. Kimmel saying, 'I hope we don’t ever have another president like this again.' But much of their time together was spent discussing how they have gotten through the recent turmoil.” ~~~
Someone who says ‘I’m against abortion but says I am in favor of the death penalty’ is not really pro-life. Someone who says that ‘I’m against abortion, but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s pro-life. -- Pope Leo XIV ~~~
~~~ Shia Kapos of Politico: “Pope Leo XIV made a direct foray into U.S. politics Tuesday, offering measured support for the Chicago Archdiocese’s plan to honor Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who supports abortion rights, with a 'lifetime achievement award' for his work on immigration policy. The pope’s comments to reporters come as anti-abortion advocates are condemning Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich and the archdiocese’s immigration ministry for planning to give Durbin the award at a Nov. 3 event. After the pope’s comments emerged Tuesday, Cupich issued a statement saying Durbin had 'decided not to receive an award at our Keep Hope Alive celebration....'” The AP's report is here.
Marie: This is pretty much what the MSM are saying about the Michigan shooter: ~~~
~~~ Tim Arango, et al., of the New York Times: “The former Marine accused of killing four people in a fiery attack on a Michigan church held a deep grudge against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to two lifelong friends and other people who knew him. The animosity, the friends said, stemmed from a breakup with a religious girlfriend over a decade ago and led the man to rant about the church at his best friend’s wedding, refer to it as the Antichrist and, just days before the attack, spew invective against Mormons to a canvassing politician.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ BUT, as Akhilleus pointed out in yesterday's thread: ~~~
~~~ Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: “The gunman who killed at least four worshippers, wounded eight and was shot to death by police on Sunday at a Mormon church in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, had a sign emblazoned with the last name of Donald Trump outside his house, public records show. The president responded to the church shooting on Sunday by saying 'there is still a lot to learn' about the deceased suspect, identified as 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford. 'This appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America,' Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. Trump’s comments were notably calm and measured compared with his remarks following the killing of the rightwing activist Charlie Kirk....” (Also linked yesterday.)
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Florida. Lori Rozsa of the Washington Post: “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and his cabinet on Tuesday voted to donate a prime piece of land in downtown Miami — next to the iconic Freedom Tower — for the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library. The vote came after a surprise move by the DeSantis administration to take over the vacant lot from Miami Dade College. The plan drew immediate backlash from many in Miami’s Cuban American community, who say the tower, known as the 'Ellis Island of the South,' represents the opposite of Trump’s mass deportation campaign and tough immigration policies.” This is an update of a story linked yesterday.
23 comments:
Fatty explains who is responsible for a government shit down…
https://youtu.be/mbmNrht9QFE?si=ps131-l0oHp4Zxxq
Should have been “shut down”, but “shit down” works just as well in this case.
As has bern pointed out here before,
you're-missing-every-big-story dept
"The Mainstream Media Is Catastrophically Failing To Meet The Moment
The smoking gun quote came from Trump’s phone interview with NBC’s Yamiche Alcindor:
“I spoke to the governor, she was very nice,” Trump said. “But I said, ‘Well wait a minute, am I watching things on television that are different from what’s happening? My people tell me different.’ They are literally attacking and there are fires all over the place…it looks like terrible.”
This is an absolutely nuclear quote.
But note that we linked to the local KGW affiliate report on it and not NBC’s.
And that’s because NBC didn’t even mention the quote at all in its own coverage. As Dan Froomkin highlighted in his article about all this, NBC ran two stories by Alcindor (with Alexandra Marquez) about her interview with Trump, neither of which mentioned that bombshell of a quote.
Instead, it was only because NBC apparently sent the full transcript to affiliates that Evan Watson at KGW picked it up and ran a story about it."
Fat Man and Little Boy
Privacy for me, but not for thee
"Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has blocked an effort to pass legislation that would have extended data privacy protections for federal lawmakers and public officials to everyone in the United States.
On Monday night, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) asked the U.S. Senate for unanimous consent from fellow senators to pass his legislation, S.2850, or Protecting Americans from Doxing and Political Violence Act.
Wyden’s bill, if passed, would have taken bipartisan-passed provisions designed to protect government officials, lawmakers, and their families from having their personal information sold or traded by data brokers, and extend them to every American and person living in the United States."
How do I look? Where's my hall of mirrors. I look so....LETHAL!
One doesn't have to look very far to take note of the overriding obsession of both Fat Hitler and Whiny War Guy, Drunk Pete, with looks. One of the first things ol' Whiskey Breath did as Whiny War Guy was to build his very own makeup studio in the Pentagon. He loves posting videos of himself working out with Marines or doing bench presses in a gym. I can only imagine how much money taxpayers are laying out for his suits and regular cosmetic needs. At his Pep Rally yesterday, he ranted about "fat generals" and women he thinks can't measure up to Manly Men Like Him.
Then on comes Fat Hitler and almost the first thing out of his mouth, after whining about not getting any applause (and BEGGING for it--talk about embarrassing) was to look around and exclaim how great they all looked, "like out of central casting", which is his first and foremost condition for hiring anyone, especially women: Do they look great? Like out of central casting?
It's all performative bullshit.
And oh, by the way, if Drunk Pete is so concerned about generals and admirals being overweight, what about the round mount of orange blubber that waddled onstage to tell "his generals' to get ready to shoot American citizens? Fatty is to overweight as Eric Trump is to stoopid. Both are extreme examples. But isn't the president the Commander in Chief? Shouldn't he have to pass Whiskey Breath's physical tests?
No? Why not? Oh...because he doesn't actually go into combat himself? Well guess what? Most generals are in the same boat, oh, except most are probably not cowardly morons.
If your role is administrative or working in some capacity at the Pentagon devising battle plans, various military strategic operations, or serving in advisory roles, you're probably not going out in the field carrying a pack and running through obstacle courses. Would it be nice if these people were all in shape? Sure. Just like it'd be great if all older Americans were in good shape. But many, for various reasons, are not. That doesn't mean they don't know anything. Firing a general or admiral who might have 30 or 40 years of combat and leadership experience because they can't outpress Drunk Pete in the gym is the absolute height of stupidity. Hey, General so and so can't run a five minute mile. He's fired! But wait, they guy has an encyclopedic knowledge of military operations and has contacts all over the planet, but we're gonna fire this guy cause he can't drop and give us fifty? Yup. Gotta look like he's "out of central casting".
Again, I can just imagine inner circles in Moscow and Beijing hoisting the champagne imagining that some military genius in the Pentagon that has been a thorn in their side for 20 year will soon be fired by a drunken pipsqueak because he can't run an obstacle course.
The stupidity rains down.
How about we also include some intellectual tests, hmmm? Maybe see if Drunk Pete is smart enough to plot a serious military offensive. This fucking idiot isn't even smart enough to keep top secret plans from being spread around the world.
Oh, but he looks the part.
Great.
For that matter, how 'bout we give Fat Hitler a real cognition test, and not the man, woman, camera, TV test.
Neither of these dimwits could pass a serious intelligence test.
RAS's link (above) makes the point we all know very well about the absurd incompetence and laziness of national media. A story right under the nose of the NBC reporter goes unacknowledged until some local reporter picks up on it.
Which brings me back to the destruction of Public Broadcasting. Especially hard hit are the local public media operations. My local public broadcasting radio station, operating out of a local university, has been decimated by the depletion of funding from the federal government, funding taken away because fascists don't like real reporting about their connivances and anti-democratic schemes. This local station has lost most of its reporting staff, which is regularly acknowledged as the best in the state, and now has had to end its nightly broadcasts of the BBC World Service, which provides an invaluable look at what's happening around the globe, due to lack of funds.
But the big hit is to local news gathering. In many parts of the country, public broadcasting is the only source of local radio news, other stations typically using national services. Such a reduction in local coverage is especially useful to groups and politicians who hate that such coverage can often provide the public with a closer look into what's going on locally.
Last night, David Folkenflik, on All Things Considered, reported on the devastation the cuts to public broadcasting have wrought to local media in South Dakota. It's stunning.
"FOLKENFLIK: South Dakota Public Broadcasting just announced big layoffs and the cancellation of some local shows.
HASKETT: So yeah, I'm very upset that we're defunding a very important news source, a very trustworthy news source, because it doesn't fit into one political party's agenda.
FOLKENFLIK: In fact, many folks who told me they agree with the cuts volunteered what they appreciated about South Dakota Public Broadcasting. They cited programming they cannot get elsewhere, the gavel-to-gavel coverage of the state legislature, news affecting farmers and the state's Native American tribes. Oh, and high school athletics.'
South Dakota Public Broadcasting has also lost several long-running public interest programs that cover people, events, and issues not addressed by any other local news operations, largely because most of those other operations use pre-packaged, five minute news clips from a giant conglomerate thousands of miles away and have no interest in or ability to cover local events.
But the shuttering of news operations has always been the delight of right-wing groups, especially if the operation isn't spewing MAGA propaganda, 24/7.
So all of that is pretty horrible. What's worse is a well funded news operation like NBC that refuses to cover huge stories right in front of them for fear of angering certain viewers.
Quick! Close the door!
"Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Republican leaders refused requests from Democrats to swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.) on Tuesday, saying she will be sworn in when the House returns to regular session.
The move deprives a petition of the last signature it needs to force a vote on a bill to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein, a push that Republican leaders and President Trump oppose."
Oh, gee....look at that. No Epstein Files...again.
Oh well. Maybe it's cuz Bible Mike called a quick halt to House operations and had the Traitors skedaddle out of town. Funny how those things work, right?
TrumpRx
ICE Recruitment Poster
Nancy A. Youssef & Missy Ryan, for The Atlantic, on the shitshow Hundreds of Generals Try to Keep a Straight Face
"As it turns out, what Hegseth delivered at Marine Corps Base Quantico could very well have been a copy of his 2024 book, The War on Warriors, which offers an exhaustive rebuke of the military he left in 2021 with the National Guard rank of major....
All of the pathologies diagnosed in his book—diversity initiatives, facial hair, accommodations for women, systems to hold “toxic” commanders accountable—were struck down on the spot, ending what Hegseth depicted as a long journey through the wilderness for what should rightfully be known as the War Department. “Foolish and reckless political leaders set the wrong compass heading, and we lost our way. We became the ‘Woke Department,’” Hegseth told an auditorium packed with senior brass. “Not anymore.”
“No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses. No more climate-change worship. No more division, distraction, or gender delusions. No more debris. As I’ve said before and will say again, we are done with that shit,” Hegseth told the officers."
How many of those whistleblower tips have Hegseth's name in the headline? He seems awfully obsessed with protecting the assaulters and outing the brave people exposing bad behavior.
Have to wonder what those American cities will be training grounds for...
Certainly nothing in Europe or any action that would annoy Putin. Maybe more provocations of Venezuela? A joint "peacekeeping" force with Israel in Gaza?
More likely, other American cities.
All these clean-shaven, well-toned warriors with no other place to go...
It's hard to get up in the morning, turn on the boob tube (yes, it did have tubes and boobs watched it all day, which is still true, especially for Faux MAGA robots--)and be soooo disappointed that the one obit we are looking for is not there. Why, why oh lord of fat lunatics everywhere? But of course, it merely means the "legacy media" types don't have to even look for a story-- they are there for their choosing. I guess all the editors were fired? Else how else is it that stories like the fact that Morons R Us presidunce is watching footage that isn't even around anymore, and can't seem to get the right footage from their reporters? All the editors are maybe all working for the Christian bible classes couched as news? Yep, surely a shitshow of magnificent proportions...
Wendy,
Only in a Trump/MAGA administration would an incompetent clown like Hegseth be put in charge of the entire US military, a clown with a huge chip on his shoulder, grievances that the military was not the one envisioned in his head: All white, no women, looking good, ready to kill, kill, kill. In any other administration, a dangerous, misogynist and racist like Drunk Pete, would be persona non grata. But not in TrumpWorld. In TrumpWorld, this clown, who "looks the part" is handed control of an organization he hates because it doesn't conform to his juvenile and borderline criminal fantasies of video game soldiers. Oh...all white video game soldiers.
JD Knapp, for The Wrap reports that Jane Fonda Relaunches Dad Henry’s Committee for the First Amendment
"
“This committee was initially created during the McCarthy Era, a dark time when the federal government repressed and persecuted American citizens for their political beliefs. They targeted elected officials, government employees, academics, and artists. They were blacklisted, harassed, silenced and even imprisoned,” their Wednesday letter begins. “The McCarthy Era ended when Americans from across the political spectrum finally came together and stood up for the principles in the Constitution against the forces of repression.”
"
RAS wrote: "He [Hegseth] seems awfully obsessed with protecting the assaulters and outing the brave people exposing bad behavior."
And very much in the same way ICE has been transformed, almost overnight, into a band of out of control thugs, kidnappers, and gangsters, Drunk Pete is looking to turn the military into something like marauding Visigoths, all working off the medieval code "Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius", translated as "Kill them, for the lord knows those that are his", and more recently, "Kill 'em all and let god sort 'em out."
Just like the undisciplined, racist soldiers who massacred women and children trying to get away at Wounded Knee. To Drunk Pete, that is the essence of his "Warrior Ethos". Fuck it! Kill 'em all. The horrific events at Wounded Knee (recounted here with a link to a Heather Cox Richardson post a few days ago) are called a massacre for good reason. An inept, fearful, and undisciplined Army officer (clearly no fan of DEI, or of common sense, for that matter) created the conditions that allowed equally inept, fearful, and undisciplined soldiers to begin firing on unarmed Lakotas.
To Drunk Pete, that was LETHALITY at its finest.
It's true that armed forces are trained to fight, and to kill. But their leaders need also to have enough sense to be able to determine the difference between an accident (a weapon going off in a struggle) and an open assault. The ability to recognize such a distinction not only saves lives, but may gain much needed good will in areas in which trigger happy warriors on both sides can turn a mistake into a massacre. These are the sorts of ROE (rules of engagement) Hegseth hates so much. He's not at all down with deciding when and whom to shoot. Shoot 'em all. I'll bet he's cool with torturing prisoners and extrajudicial executions out in the field as well. Hey, you can do it in video games, right?
But ol' Whiskey Breath believes such pansy-ass thinking is for wusses. He's all for killing everyone, except maybe for the boss who can't protect top secret military plans because he uses off the shelf technology that any decent high school computer nerd could hack.
As I mentioned earlier. It's one thing to have WARRIOR ETHOS....ARRRGGGHHHH! It's another to have a functioning brain. And oh, by the way. Rules of Engagement are there for a reason, they're laid out in a little document called the Geneva Conventions. Dickhead.
One more thing about the over the top aggression and Manly Man bullshit exhibited constantly by both Drunk Pete and Fat Hitler.
It's been my experience that guys who act like that are typically the biggest cowards, fearful that the tiniest expression of decency or kindness will mark them as pussies, so to make sure no one sees the fear that lives in their hearts (of not being seen as Manly Men), they go way overboard with unnecessary and usually drastically counterproductive violence.
They also are the first to run when challenged.
Akhilleus - even Paul Krugman is calling out his Hegseth’s speech as "vile. It was also stupid", noting that
Bulging Biceps Don’t Win Modern Wars
"How do you achieve lethality, according to Hegseth? By telling the military that it’s OK to engage in hazing, sexual abuse and bigotry — he didn’t say that explicitly, but that was his clear message. Also, war crimes are no big deal. And members of the military, including the top brass, must shave their beards, lose weight and do pullups.
Hegseth’s speech was morally vile. It was also, however, profoundly stupid. Hegseth seems to have gotten his ideas about what an effective military looks like by watching the movie 300."
Kill the Cartoonists too.
As both soft and hard censorship warps the public discourse in favor of a fat authoritarian and further and further away from open and free expression of dissent in favor of democracy and the Constitution, political cartoonists are being led to the chopping block in order to curry favor with Fat Hitler and his fascist regime.
"At a time of widespread corruption, official mendacity and general dirty dealings, it would behoove publishers and artists to aim as many satirical barbs as they can at the powerful. Yet the record of the first year of the new presidential administration shows that publishers are, for a variety of reasons, encouraging their artists to approach the president on bended knee."
And media outlets that aren't firing political cartoonists are ending publication of such expressions of free speech so as not to anger the Fat Fascist and the MAGA mob, eternally on the lookout for dissenting voices.
"Smaller newspapers have decided they can do without the controversy brought about by running political cartoons. In January, Pennsylvania’s Latrobe Bulletin (1/16/25) ran a syndicated cartoon by Lee Judge showing an upside down American flag flying above the White House, with the caption 'The Proper Way to Fly a Flag on Trump’s Inauguration Day.' The US flag flown upside down is considered a universal sign of distress, one that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s house flew in apparent solidarity with January 6 rioters (New York Times, 5/16/24)."
You see, in Trump's Amerika, dissent is only allowed for the MAGAts.
Trump And Dementia
"Google appears to have blocked AI search results for the query “does trump show signs of dementia” as well as other questions about his mental acuity, even though it will show AI results for similar searches about other presidents. When making the search about President Trump, AI Overviews will display a message that says, “An AI Overview is not available for this search.”"
Two weeks ago, knowing little about Jane Goodall beyond her basic biograghy but, on a lark to escape the news, I went to hear her speak and emerged a fan.
Surprised to learn she had been travelling something like 300 days a years for speaking engagements and to raise money and awareness for her organizations, and has been speaking to sell out audiences for years, and has a fan base, maybe not as large as Taylor Swift's but certainly as devoted.
After her lecture, she disclosed that dogs are her favorite companions and shared a picture of 90th birthday party. 90 dog salute
As the event ended, she also showed this touching 2 minute clip of a chimpanzee getting released from captivity to New Island Sanctuary
Wendy: thank you so much for posting both the story of the 90-dog salute, and the wonderful and touching video of the release of the chimpanzee, who gave Dr. Goodall a huge hug as she went into the forest. I must admit, I was not that aware of her growing up, partially because my parents had no television until I was out of the house (eccentric stepfather was plugged in to short-wave radio and languages, though--)and by then, fully immersed in music. But the glimpses of her since were all so lovely. I am very sad that something brought her down so soon after her birthday salute. She looked so ready to go on with her tour in that photo. Maybe she will team up with Robert Redford and terrific things will happen to our earth from on high...what a magnificent life.
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