~~~⭐Demolition Don Tears Down the East Wing. Jonathan Edwards & Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: “Demolition crews on Monday began tearing down part of the White House to build ... Donald Trump’s long-desired ballroom despite his pledge that construction of the $250 million addition wouldn’t 'interfere' with the existing building. Construction teams were demolishing a portion of the East Wing, with a backhoe ripping through the structure, according to a photo shared with The Washington Post and two people who witnessed the activity.... 'It won’t interfere with the current building. It won’t be. It’ll be near it but not touching it — and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of,' Trump said during an executive order signing in July. 'It’s my favorite. It’s my favorite place. I love it.'... Officials declined to provide an explanation for Trump’s earlier comments that the new construction would not interfere with the existing building.” Thanks to akaWendy for the lead. ~~~
~~~ Marie: This shocks me as much as firing federal workers who gave years of their lives to public service or Trump's goons shooting noxious (probably harmful & potentially dangerous) projectiles at a minister praying. At least when Trump razed the Bonwit Teller building & destroyed its historic friezes, he got building permits (okay, he lied in representing he would preserve the friezes). Now, he's just doing it, despite laws that require a lengthy, deliberative process. BTW, the East Wing is where Melanie's offices are located. I guess she doesn't need them anymore.
Awk-ward! Jacob Wendler of Politico: “... Donald Trump sparred with Australian Ambassador to the U.S. Kevin Rudd on Monday during a crowded press conference with the Australian prime minister, the latest clash in a relationship that has long been sour between the two officials. After an Australian reporter asked Trump if he had any concerns with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s administration, including Rudd’s past comments about him, Trump said 'I don’t know anything about him,' apparently not realizing that Rudd was in the room. Trump then asked whether Rudd was still working for the Australian government, to which Rudd replied that the comments were made 'before I took this position, Mr. President.' 'I don’t like you either, and I probably never will,' Trump said to Rudd in the Oval Office during a bilateral meeting with Albanese.” Read on.
Jeremy Roebuck, et al., of the Washington Post: “Former FBI director James B. Comey asked a federal judge on Monday to dismiss the criminal case against him, calling it a vindictive prosecution driven by ... Donald Trump’s long history of personal animosity toward him. In court filings, Comey’s attorneys, led by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the former U.S. attorney for Chicago, and Jessica Carmichael, accused the president of personally instigating the case against the former FBI director. When several prosecutors refused to proceed, the attorneys wrote, Trump installed a loyalist in a key position to ensure that charges would be filed.... They asked U.S. District Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning the charges could not be refiled.” Politico's report, by Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney, is here.
All the Best People, Ctd. Daniel Lippman of Politico: “Paul Ingrassia..., Donald Trump’s embattled nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel, told a group of fellow Republicans in a text chain the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be 'tossed into the seventh circle of hell' and said he has 'a Nazi streak,' according to a text chat viewed by Politico. Ingrassia, who has a Senate confirmation hearing scheduled Thursday, made the remarks in a chain with a half-dozen Republican operatives and influencers, according to the chat.... Using an Italian slur for Black people, Ingrassia wrote ...: 'No moulignon holidays … From kwanza [sic] to mlk jr day to black history month to Juneteenth,' then added: 'Every single one needs to be eviscerated.'”
Mattathias Schwartz of the New York Times: “The Trump administration can move forward with deploying National Guard troops to Portland, Ore., under a ruling Monday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The 36-page ruling lifted a temporary block on the deployment of Oregon and California National Guard soldiers by Judge Karin J. Immergut of the Federal District Court for the District of Oregon. It was not immediately clear whether the order, also allowed the president to use National Guard soldiers from Texas or other states, as he has suggested he might do. The ruling came from two members of the three-judge panel, Judge Ryan D. Nelson and Judge Bridget S. Bade, both appointees of ... [Donald] Trump. Judge Susan P. Graber, a Clinton appointee, dissented....
“The memo came a day after a social-media post by Mr. Trump stating that he would send 'all necessary troops' to protect war-ravaged Portland from 'domestic terrorists.' Such incendiary descriptions do not reflect the reality in Portland, Judge Immergut had written, and have been at odds with law enforcement agencies’ own assessments of protest activity.... The state of Oregon and city of Portland, which filed the lawsuit, could ask for an 11-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit to review the decision or appeal directly to the Supreme Court.” Politico's report is here.
Mattathias Schwartz of the New York Times: “Federal officials appeared before a judge on Monday to answer questions about whether the government violated a court order by using tear gas against protesters and residents in a crackdown on illegal immigration in the Chicago area. The hearing before Judge Sara L. Ellis of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois appears to be the first face-to-face courtroom exchange between a federal judge and a Homeland Security official about the crowd control tactics used in ... [Donald] Trump’s Chicago immigration crackdown.... The judge questioned [Kyle C. Harvick..., deputy incident commander of the Trump administration’s Chicago-area deportation operation,] about two recent incidents when tear gas was used against protesters. Mr. Harvick said he was not present at either incident, but that it was his understanding that agents on the scene had given warnings and had legitimate concerns about their own safety. Protesters who were present have disputed those claims in court filings.”
Hannah Green of the Guardian: “US Customs and Border Protection implemented a rule this week that will require airlines to disregard 'X' sex markers on passports and input an 'M' or 'F' marker instead, sending those people with an 'X' marker into panic. 'X' markers became available to US passport holders in 2022, in an effort to allow people with gender identities other than male and female to obtain more accurate travel documents. Now, the new CBP rule has many people on social media and beyond worried that they will no longer be allowed to fly internationally.” Thanks to RAS for the link. ~~~
~~~ Update. Johnny Diaz of the New York Times: “The new rule amounts to a data-collection change and does not affect passengers’ ability to fly.” MB: The only point to this change is to humiliate, embarrass or distress travelers who naturally identify as “X.” It's administrative cruelty for cruelty's sake. IOW, it's sick.
Miles Taylor: "Donald Trump made his views on the First Amendment clearer than ever this past week in the most vulgar side-by-side I think I’ve ever seen in American politics. Within days of the New York Times revealing a White House plan to offer U.S. refugee protection to Europeans who are vocal anti-immigrant protesters, Trump posted an AI-generated video of himself piloting a fighter jet and dropping human excrement on peaceful American protesters at NO KINGS rallies. In plain English, he embraced free speech for neo-Nazis who agree with him but feces for Americans who oppose him." Thanks to akaWendy for the link. MB: The sanctuary Trump plans to offer White people include not just Europeans but people of European heritage, like White South Africans. But Taylor's point is well-taken.
Jenny Gross of the New York Times: “An outage involving Amazon Web Services, the cloud service provider that supports much of the internet, took many websites and apps offline for over two hours on Monday, in the latest disruption that showed the fragility of global technology infrastructure. The outage, which affected websites and apps for some major banks, gaming sites and entertainment services, started shortly after 3 a.m. Eastern. Amazon said in an update at 5:27 a.m. that most websites and apps relying on its services were working normally again, and that it continued 'to work through a backlog of queued requests.' By Monday afternoon Eastern time, however, reports of spotty services persisted on several sites.”
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Matthew Choi & Dan Merica of the Washington Post: “More than 7 million people are estimated to have participated in last weekend’s No Kings protests in more than 2,600 locations around the country. The protests were some of the biggest mass demonstrations in American history and spoke to the sharp polarization of politics under ... Donald Trump. The crowds ... could be seen as a stark warning for Trump about the weakening support for his agenda.... Republicans in Congress denounced the protesters as an un-American, fringe faction that is forcing Democrats to take extremists positions at odds with what a majority of Americans want.... But the idea that the protests were made up solely of only far-left Americans is hard to reconcile with the sheer scale of the demonstrations.... And the protests were overwhelmingly peaceful. Aside from scattered clashes with police after formal organized events concluded, there were no reports of widespread violence or vandalism.”
You know how Trump is obsessed with crowd size? (Thanks to RAS for this visual.)~~~
How is it that some seven million "Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens & violent criminals" can hold gigantic "Hate America" protests all around the country and other parts of the world, yet the only dangerous, life-threatening incident that occurred was caused by a party for JayDee & Drunk Pete? ~~~
~~~ John Ismay, et al., of the New York Times: “A 155-millimeter shell fired during a live-fire demonstration for the 250th anniversary of the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton on Saturday prematurely detonated, dropping fragments of the shell on a California Highway Patrol vehicle and motorcycle that were part of Vice President JD Vance’s protective detail, according to a patrol report. No officers were hurt in the mishap, which dropped shrapnel onto the vehicles parked on a ramp to a major freeway that had been ordered closed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The governor had objected to the plan to fire over the freeway, Interstate 5, and ordered a 17-mile stretch closed — against the guidance of military officials, who had said it was safe for it to remain open.... The closure [Gov. Newsom] ordered on Saturday caused significant backups on the portion of the interstate, which is used by approximately 80,000 people daily.... The exercise ... was terminated after the round prematurely exploded....
“The decision to fire live artillery shells from the oceanfront training area was described as unusual by an active-duty Marine artillery officer and a former Marine artillery noncommissioned officer.... Those Marines said the only howitzer training they had previously observed at Camp Pendleton had taken place at approved artillery ranges on the main side of base, east of the interstate.... A highway patrol official based in the area also described it as Tony Coronado, the highway patrol’s border division chief..., [called the shooting ] an 'unusual and concerning situation.'” Thanks to RAS for the link. A Task & Purpose story is here.
~~~ Marie: Had Newsom not closed the highway to traffic, the odds that someone would be hit by shrapnel obviously would have increased.
Sarah Fortinsky of the Hill: Donald “Trump on Sunday called this weekend’s 'No Kings' demonstrations against him a 'joke' and rejected suggestions that he is acting like a monarch. 'I’m not a king. I work my ass off to make our country great. That’s all it is...,' Trump told reporters on Air Force One while flying back to Washington, D.C. from Florida.... 'I looked at the people — they’re not representative of this country. And I looked at all the brand new signs…. I guess it was paid for by [George] Soros and other radical left lunatics,' Trump continued. 'It looks like it was. We’re checking it out.'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Trump is unable to see the hypocrisy in claiming to be "working his ass off" while returning from a three-day holiday weekend (which cost millions in taxpayer dollars), during which he held a million-dollar-a-plate dinner, according to the AP, and played golf for the third weekend since the government shut down (a calamity he should have worked to prevent but has pretty much ignored). ~~~
~~~ State of Denial. Stephen Collinson of CNN: “The president ... called Saturday’s mass protests a 'joke' and described them as 'very small, very ineffective.' The people who took part were 'whacked out,' Trump said. 'When you look at those people, those are not representative of the people of our country,' he told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday.” See Krugman, linked below, on this.
Andrea Cavallier of the Independent: “The FBI is investigating what appears to be a hunting stand with direct line of sight to the area where ... Donald Trump exits Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport. The discovery was made by Secret Service agents last week during advance security sweeps ahead of the president’s arrival in Florida for the weekend, spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement to The Independent.... A law enforcement source told Fox News the stand appeared to have been set up 'months ago.'” A CBS News story is here. ~~~
Marie: If you want to know what the POTUS* thinks of us, here's a Short AI video he posted. Thanks to RAS for the link. As RAS says, "Sometimes he does get it right." akaWendy calls Trump's fantasy "appalling." There is something terribly wrong with him. ~~~
~~~ This was apparently too much for the Gray Lady, so upon arising from her fainting couch she assigned the aptly-surnamed Jenny Gross to cover the atrocity: ~~~
~~~ Jenny Gross of the New York Times: Donald “Trump has posted a fake video on social media that showed him wearing a crown and flying a jet labeled 'King Trump' that dumps brown liquid on protesters.... The White House on Saturday also posted on social media an A.I.-generated image of Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance wearing crowns. 'Have a good night, everyone,' the post said, with the crown emoji.” MB: It sure would have been nice if Gross had solicited some reactions from prominent Republicans, like, say, JayDee. I really want to hear their labored excuses for dumping shit on half the country. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Oh, I guess that won't be happening: ~~~
~~~ Julianne McShane of Mother Jones: “On Bluesky, [JD] Vance posted an AI video of Trump wearing a king’s crown and pulling out a sword as Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) bows down to him, set to the song 'Hail to the King.' The Department of Transportation, very bizarrely, posted illustrations of [Chuck] Schumer and [Hakeem] Jeffries dressed as Disney princesses, alongside the caption, 'No Kings!!'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: What an unprecedented embarrassment to this country these petty tyrants are. Won't some reporter at least ask meekly, "Mr. President*, isn't is rather unseemly for the President* of the United States to highlight video of himself dropping shit on Americans? And as a follow-up, how does such a hateful display fit into your qualifications for the Nobel Peace Prize?"
Heather Cox Richardson points out that the videos Trump & his minions are posting are further attempts to delegitimize Democrats as they abandon political discourse altogether: "Administration imagery doesn’t simply insult opposition leaders; it undermines the idea of politics by suggesting that Democrats are un-American.... Republican congressional leaders are refusing even to talk with Democrats to reopen the government, let alone to negotiate with them. They are trying to force Democrats simply to do as they say, despite the fact that 78% of Americans, including 59% of Republicans, support the Democrats’ demand for an extension of the tax credit that lowers the cost of healthcare premiums on the Affordable Care Act markets." ~~~
~~~ Paul Krugman: I have a theory about the deeper purpose of the MAGA attacks on No Kings Day 2. America, I’d argue, is currently operating in a strange condition -- what I would call a 'bubble autocracy.' Donald Trump has not yet consolidated anything like absolute political power. But parts of our society — the Republican Party and a number of supposedly independent institutions like, say, CBS — are in effect living inside a bubble in which they operate as if he has. Within that bubble, a cult of personality around Trump has been built, a cult of personality worthy of Kim Jong Un. And to show their fealty to Dear Leader, Republicans must engage in bizarre rhetoric.”
Chris Megerian, et al., of the AP: “The United States will slash assistance to Colombia because its leader, Gustavo Petro, “does nothing to stop” drug production, ... Donald Trump said Sunday, escalating the friction between Washington and one of its closest allies in Latin America. In a social media post, Trump referred to Petro as 'an illegal drug leader' who is “low rated and very unpopular.” The Republican president warned that Petro 'better close up' drug operations 'or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.' Hours later, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the latest U.S. strike on a vessel that was allegedly carrying 'substantial amounts of narcotics.' He said the vessel was associated with a Colombian rebel group — the National Liberation Army, or ELN — that has been in conflict with Petro’s government. He did not provide any evidence for his assertions, but he shared a brief video clip of a boat engulfed in flames after an explosion on Friday.... [On social media, Petro] suggested that Trump was being deceived by his advisers, described himself as 'the main enemy' of drugs in his country and said Trump was being 'rude and ignorant toward Colombia.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Carol Rosenberg, et al., of the New York Times: “The U.S. military has killed three men and destroyed another boat it suspected of running drugs in the Caribbean Sea, this one alleged to have been affiliated with a Colombian insurgency group, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Sunday. It was the seventh boat known to have been attacked since early September as part of the Trump administration’s use of the military to kill people suspected of smuggling drugs as if they were enemy soldiers in a war, rather than arresting them as criminals. The latest strike took place on Friday, and Mr. Hegseth said in a social media post on Sunday that it had targeted a vessel associated with the National Liberation Army, a Colombian rebel group known as the E.L.N. So far, the Trump administration has acknowledged killing 32 people in the strikes, whose legality has been widely disputed by outside legal specialists.” The CBS News report is here. ~~~
~~~ Ana Faguy & Kathryn Armstrong of BBC News: Donald Trump's social media "comments come after [Colombian President Gustavo] Petro accused the US of committing 'murder' when it carried out a military strike on a boat in Colombian territorial waters in September. The move is the latest in a string of escalating tensions between the US and countries in Latin America, as the US military continues to strike ships in the Caribbean Sea it alleges carry drugs.... Petro has said the US violated his country's sovereignty killing a Colombian fisherman with its September attack. Posting on social media, he said: 'The Colombian boat was adrift and had its distress signal up due to an engine failure,' when it was struck. He added: 'We await explanations from the US government.... Fisherman Alejandro Carranza had no ties to the drug trade and his daily activity was fishing...." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here. ~~~
~~~ Wherein the Washington Post raises the possibility/likelihood that all of these murders at sea are really a cover story for Trump's (Rubio's?) plan to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro ~~~
When I saw [an internal document on the strikes], I immediately thought, ‘This isn’t about terrorists. This is about Venezuela and regime change.’ But there was no information about what it was really about. -- Senior U.S. National Security Official ~~~
~~~ Terrence McCoy, et al., of the Washington Post: “Claiming the power to summarily kill traffickers as though they’re enemy troops, Trump has authorized the U.S. military to strike at least six speedboats the administration has deemed suspicious, killing dozens of people since the beginning of September. At least half of the strikes and 21 of the killings, locals say, have transpired in the waters between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago — nations so close that on clear days they’re within eyesight of each other. But records and interviews with 20 people familiar with the route or the strikes, including current and former U.S. and international officials, contradict the administration’s claims. The passage, they said, is not ordinarily used to traffic synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, present in 69 percent of drug overdose deaths last year. Nor are the drugs typically headed for the United States.... The fentanyl seized in the United States ... is typically manufactured in Mexico using precursors from China and smuggled in through the land border, most often by U.S. citizens.The military strikes ... [have] brought U.S. forces into striking distance of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.” The story goes on to detail how Colombian & Venezuelan-produced drugs are trafficked. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Trump seems to have forgotten how inept the U.S. is at overthrowing governments in other countries by violent means (Vietnam, Afghanistan) and how he himself failed to overthrow our own incoming government by violent means (January 6).
Reuters: "... Donald Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to accept Russia's terms for ending the war between Russia and Ukraine in a White House meeting on Friday, warning that President Vladimir Putin threatened to 'destroy' Ukraine if it didn't comply, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. During the meeting, Trump insisted Zelenskiy surrender the entire eastern Donbas region to Russia, repeatedly echoing talking points the Russian president had made in their call a day earlier, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter. Ukraine ultimately managed to swing Trump back to endorsing a freeze of the current front lines, the FT said. Trump said after the meeting that the two sides should stop the war at the battle line; Zelenskiy said that was an important point." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Joe Stanley-Smith & Veronika Melkozerova of Politico report on the meeting in somewhat different, but not better, terms: “'Then [U.S. special envoy Steve] Witkoff entered the conversation, and said that the Russians aim to take the entire Donbas [region in eastern Ukraine] … And there was a feeling in the room that the Americans were testing the Ukrainians and what they [would] agree on,' [a] person said. 'Zelenskyy did not agree that Ukraine has to give up land that Russia did not manage to occupy.... Trump ended the meeting, saying: “OK, let’s try to end this on the current line,'” the person ... said.” Read on.
Girl Reporters Are So Ignorant. David Gilmour of Mediaite: “... Donald Trump scolded a reporter aboard Air Force One on Sunday night after she asked why struggling U.S. farmers should back his administration’s new beef import plan for Argentina, which follows the president’s $20 billion bailout for the country. During the press gaggle, the reporter began: 'What do you have to say to U.S. farmers who feel that the deal is benefiting Argentina more than it is them as they are –' Trump cut in and snapped: 'Look, Argentina is fighting for its life, young lady. You don’t know anything about it.'... The exchange came after the president confirmed plans to buy beef from Argentina, which he argued would curb soaring U.S. meat prices that have risen nearly 14 percent over the past year, worsened by drought, disease, and depleted cattle herds. Critics have protested the move as a one designed to merely help prop up Trump’s ally, Argentine President Javier Milei.... The U.S. Cattlemen’s Association warned against the beef import plan Friday....”
Hayes Brown in an MSNBC opinion piece: “More than any other president before him, Donald Trump has sought to put the 'petty' in 'petty tyrant.'... Trump’s pettiness extends beyond using the criminal justice system to target individuals. He’s also been using the ongoing federal government shutdown as an excuse to torment Democrats as a group.... Trump is seldom right, factually or morally, in his quest for vengeance.... He has never waited to go on the offense against his perceived enemies. And, unfortunately for the country, he has always lumped everyone who disagrees with him into that enemies camp.... He is openly willing to use all the might imbued within the presidency for the smallest of reasons, transforming any critic into a target.”
Andy Kroll of ProPublica profiles Shadow President/Grim Reaper Russell Vought, the Director of the Office of Management & Budget.
Andrew Roth of the Guardian: “For a man with no formal role in the White House, Jared Kushner last week literally took centre-stage as Donald Trump’s emissary to the Middle East [whenhe spoke in Tel Aviv's "Hostage Square"].... But the soft-spoken heir to his father’s real estate empire has quietly become a key conduit for Trump’s outreach to the Middle East, leveraging his Rolodex of leaders in the region and positioning himself to win a lucrative windfall if the goal of redeveloping Gaza ever comes to fruition.... 'Of course there’s an enormous conflict of interest here,” said Matt Duss ... [of] the Center for International Policy, who described the influence-peddling in the administration as open corruption. But, he added: 'Part of what’s bizarre is that the Trump organisation is so deeply leveraged in the Middle East that the corruption could sustain the ceasefire. Because they all stand to make so much money there is an interest and an incentive to kind of stop the war.'”
~~~ Here is a written report by Scott Pelley & others.
Prosecutors Implicate Comey's Attorney in Comey's Alleged Crimes. Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: “Federal prosecutors signaled Sunday that they may seek to boot Patrick Fitzgerald, James Comey’s lead defense attorney, because of Fitzgerald’s alleged involvement in disclosures to the media shortly after ... Donald Trump fired Comey as FBI director in 2017. In a submission Sunday evening, prosecutors suggested to U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff that Fitzgerald, Comey’s lawyer and close friend, could have an insurmountable conflict of interest as a result of the disclosures.... The prosecutors asked the judge to quickly approve a proposal for a 'filter team' of lawyers to sift through evidence in Comey’s criminal case that could clarify Fitzgerald’s role in the eight-year-old disclosures — without breaching Comey’s attorney-client privilege. Prosecutors proposed the 'filter team' to the court last week, but in the new filing they said the request has particular urgency because Fitzgerald played a role in Comey’s release of information that officials later deemed classified.”
Marie: Recently, I have seen a number of articles that together make the point that the following NYT article does. I intended to put together the articles, but this NYT story kind of does the job for me: ~~~
~~~ Ben Casselman & Colby Smith of the New York Times: “The divide between rich and poor is hardly new.... But it has become more pronounced in recent months. Wealthier Americans, buoyed by a stock market that keeps setting records, have continued to spend freely. Lower-income households — stung by persistent inflation and navigating a labor market that is losing momentum — are pulling back. The top 10 percent of U.S. households now account for nearly half of all spending, Moody’s Analytics recently estimated, the highest share since the late 1980s. Consumer sentiment has climbed among high earners but steadily fallen for other groups. 'This isn’t just an inequality story — it’s a macroeconomic story,' said Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive policy group. 'As the wealthy continue to consume, that’s masking more and more insecurity and instability in the economy under the hood.'” (Also linked yesterday.)
Jacob Wendler of Politico: “A trove of bigoted messages between members of the Young Republicans is deepening a sharp rift among state groups across the country, further fracturing an organization that has been beset with internal discord and infighting for years. Young Republicans chapters across the country were divided on how to respond to the texts — with some groups staying silent and others immediately denouncing the Telegram group chat revealed by Politico that contained racist, homophobic and antisemitic epithets.... 'These are the meanest people I have ever met in my life,' [one] person said of their Young Republicans colleagues. 'I love this organization so much, and it meant so much to me in my early- and mid-20s, and it is just different. These kids are not the same. I think they’ve grown up in politics only seeing how Trump treats people and they think that’s how you treat people.'”
Marie: There are numerous stories about what George Santos has been saying since Trump granted him clemency because he "ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!" Here's a New York Times story; here's an NBC News story; here's a Guardian story. I am completely uninterested in what Santos or whatever he calls himself now has to say about anything, so I did not read them and won't try to summarize his thoughts & lies of the day.
From the pinned item on a New York Times business liveblog: “Amazon Web Services said on Monday that it was experiencing issues with its cloud service operations as hundreds of websites and apps, including those for popular gaming and entertainment services, reported outages and interruptions to service. Amazon’s engineers were working on limiting the impact of the issue and identifying the cause, the company said in a statement. It added that 28 of its services, including those in the “US-EAST-1” region, were having issues. The website DownDetector, which tracks internet outages, reported issues with dozens of major sites including Amazon, Venmo, Hulu, McDonald’s, Coinbase and others. Companies, including Coinbase, a cryptocurrency platform, said the problem was with Amazon Web Services.” An AP story is here.
Meeri Kim of the Washington Post: “The number of people [in the world??] living with Parkinson’s has more than doubled in the past 25 years to 8.5 million, and is predicted to hit 25.2 million by 2050.... But ongoing research on Parkinson’s is revealing several risk factors related to our lifestyles and environment, some of which are actionable. For example, moderate to vigorous exercise may reduce one’s risk, according to a 2018 meta-analysis, and some studies have shown that healthy diets focused on whole, unprocessed foods might help. Last year, a study found that higher levels of exposure to air pollution were associated with an increased risk of Parkinson’s.” Habits that could reduce risk include: drink more coffee & tea; be careful about dry-cleaning; avoid pesticides & use a water filter. The link is a gift link.
Simar Bajaj of the New York Times: “Food allergies in children dropped sharply in the years after new guidelines encouraged parents to introduce infants to peanuts, a study has found. For decades, as food allergy rates climbed, experts recommended that parents avoid exposing their infants to common allergens. But a landmark trial in 2015 found that feeding peanuts to babies could cut their chances of developing an allergy by over 80 percent. In 2017, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases formally recommended the early-introduction approach and issued national guidelines. The new study, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, found that food allergy rates in children under 3 fell after those guidelines were put into place — dropping to 0.93 percent between 2017 and 2020, from 1.46 percent between 2012 and 2015. That’s a 36 percent reduction in all food allergies, driven largely by a 43 percent drop in peanut allergies.”
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France. Aurelien Breeden, et al., of the New York Times: “Thieves made off with jewelry of 'incalculable' value in a brazen daylight robbery on Sunday at the Louvre Museum in Paris, according to France’s interior minister. The heist unfolded around 9:30 a.m. Laurent Nuñez, the interior minister, told France Inter radio that the thieves had used a lift mechanism on a truck — typically used to move furniture into Parisian apartments through the windows — to break into the Galerie d’Apollon, a second-floor wing of the museum. The Apollon Gallery’s gilded hall holds the royal collection of gems and the crown diamonds.... The thieves broke into two display cases and snatched jewels before fleeing on motor scooters with their loot — all within just seven minutes, according to Mr. Nuñez. He did not specify what exactly had been stolen, but said the jewelry had 'patrimonial' and 'historical' value that made it 'priceless.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update. Catherine Porter & Aurelien Breeden of the New York Times: Sunday morning “two burglars..., their faces concealed..., [rode to a second-story balcony of the Louvre Museum on] a monte-meubles], a truck-mounted electric ladder that is a common sight on the streets of Paris, where it is used to ferry bulky furniture through the windows of apartments. Once there, they used grinders to break a window, setting off the security alarms, and burst inside the gilded Galerie d’Apollon..., where a prized collection of royal jewels and crown diamonds is held.... There they smashed two cases, sounding more alarms, and snatched eight precious objects, including a royal sapphire necklace, a royal emerald necklace and its matching earrings, and a diadem worn by Empress Eugénie, the wife of Napoleon III, France’s 19th-century ruler. The burglars went back down the ladder to a road shouldering the Seine and made their getaway with two waiting members of their team on motor scooters. In all, it took no more than seven minutes.”
Israel/Palestine, et al. Isabel Kershner of the New York Times: “Israel on Sunday launched its heaviest wave of attacks on Gaza since a fragile cease-fire took hold a week ago and said it was temporarily suspending humanitarian aid to the territory after accusing Hamas of firing on its forces and violating the truce. The aid was halted because of the intensity of the Israeli strikes, and was expected to resume once the bombing was over, according to an Israeli official.... Israeli officials had initially said that humanitarian aid would be suspended until further notice, but later appeared to step back from that decision. Israel said two of its soldiers were killed on Sunday when Palestinian militants attacked forces who were operating in an area where the Israeli military is allowed to be under the cease-fire agreement. The deaths prompted a strong response. Gaza’s health ministry initially reported 14 Palestinian deaths across the territory on Sunday.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ A more recent AP story is here.
The Netherlands. NL Times (Oct. 18): "The Dutch intelligence services AIVD and MIVD have reduced the amount of information they share with their American counterparts, citing political developments in the United States under ... Donald Trump and growing concerns over the politicization of intelligence and 'respect for human rights.' In a joint interview with de Volkskrant, AIVD Director-General Erik Akerboom and MIVD Director Peter Reesink confirmed that the agencies have become more selective in their cooperation with the CIA and NSA. 'That we sometimes no longer tell certain things, that’s true,' Reesink said. Akerboom added, 'Sometimes you have to think case by case: can I still share this information or not?' While both officials stressed that relations with U.S. intelligence agencies remain 'excellent,' they emphasized that the Netherlands has become 'more critical.' According to the two directors, the Netherlands is increasingly focusing on European cooperation.”
32 comments:
“…the only dangerous incident that occurred was caused by a party for JayDee & Drunk Pete?” And they weren’t detained, tased, zip tied, arrested, and driven off in an unmarked van to be deported to Uzbekistanstan.
How fair is that? Where’s Cosplay Kristi and her goons when actual criminals are wreaking havoc on “real ‘Mericans”?
So Hitler sez he's been working his fat ass off? Funny, it still looks like a grounded zeppelin in crappy blue pants specially made by Omar the Tent Maker.
But in a way, his properties have been working overtime making this fat grifter a bundle. Over and above the enormous payoffs, bribes, and scams he's got working in the hundred million and billion dollar categories, are the flood of groups, businesses and individuals lining up to enrich the Trump Crime Family at his many golf clubs, restaurants, hotels, etc. Open Secret is maintaining a list, at least the ones that are available from the Federal Election Commission, but who knows how many secret payoffs he gets. But here's the interesting thing. The list includes 3,225 payments, some moderate, some huge that he's been raking in. Page after page of the grifting, every penny of which should be illegal. Now Fatty, and EightBall and Stoopid Eric would probably whine that their businesses have always made a ton of money.
Not true.
Check out graph on the first page. From 2008 through 2014, the money flowing into his shithole properties is almost negligible. Then in 2016, it zooms up to almost $14 million, and that's money made from being president*.
"By keeping his assets in a family-managed trust, which he can revoke at any time, Trump and his family are in the unique position to profit directly from his public service. Special interests in Washington have caught on. Those seeking to curry favor with Trump are not only donating to his reelection campaign but holding fundraisers and galas at his resorts, private clubs and hotels – the proceeds of which benefit him and his family."
I guess this is what he means by working his ass off.
Akhilleus: Kristi was deciding which jet to use at the time of their party. Someone who
needs two jets definitely has a split personality. Or maybe she was busy having more
couches installed on her jets in case JayDee is on board.
So in that dick wagging shelling exercise in California meant as yet another sad, flop of a counter-programming scam to the No Kings protests, it seems JD Vance's security detail almost bit the dust with shrapnel hitting one of his cars.
I guess that makes the second VP Fatty tried to kill.
He even sucks at that.
Westcoastman,
I understand one private jet is for the Gnome, the other for her costumes, bandoliers, ammo belts, and other cool looking military gear, ten thousand dollar watches, bling, and sunglasses. Never know when she'll be called upon to strike a Bond villain pose in front of caged prisoners in some foreign gulag. Gotta be ready at all times to look badass.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you. (Thanks to Joseph Heller)
So during our No Kings festivities, I noticed quite a few MAGA hatted douchewads with video cameras scanning the marchers. I, somewhat jokingly, reported that they might have been doing this to make note of who is not goosestepping along with Fatty's brownshirts. I wasn't crazy.
According to Reuters: "People who take part in Saturday's mass 'No Kings' protest against President Donald Trump's administration may be targeted for federal government surveillance with a range of technology that could include facial recognition and phone hacking, civil libertarians said....
'Given Trump's open hostility to even minor dissent, such surveillance now poses an existential threat to what remains of American democracy and only underscores the need for mass protest.'
One federal law enforcement agency, the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has been implementing Trump's immigration crackdown and has amassed a digital surveillance arsenal, according to various news outlets.
That includes facial recognition and phone hacking tools, as well as cell site simulators, which can allow for granular surveillance of protesters’ mobile phones. Multiple federal agencies have deployed social media monitoring, according to the Brennan Center."
And the Brennan Center is not home to nutjob conspiracy theorists. Fatty is spending our tax dollars to spy on us and keep records of Americans who don't bow before him.
I hope they got my good side.
It's begun.
Bari Weiss, right-wing media influencer and newly crowned queen of CBS News is hard at work Foxifying 60 Minutes. Upbraiding 60 Minutes staffers with an accusation of bias, she's on the warpath to "right" the ship.
Oh joy.
If you rely on Social Security Disability Insurance, watch out. Fatty's coming for you.
"Despite repeatedly promising not to cut Social Security, the Trump Administration is reportedly preparing a proposed rule that could reduce the share of applicants who qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) by up to 20 percent, according to an Urban Institute report that cites writing by a former Trump Administration official and interviews with former staff at the Social Security Administration (SSA). This would be the largest cut in SSDI history."
The poor dear, he must really need that money for that new Qatar air force base he's building for the supporters of terrorist operations. I mean, hey, they did give him that cool plane, right? And he's gotta update that sucker. Someone has to pay for his luxury lifestyle. So Uncle Bob can forget about that new wheelchair.
Guardian
"US Customs and Border Protection implemented a rule this week that will require airlines to disregard “X” sex markers on passports and input an “M” or “F” marker instead, sending those people with an “X” marker into panic.
“It’s a little bit too soon to say how this is going to practically work out,” said Andy Izenson, senior legal director at the Chosen Family Law Center. While the courts have continued to prevent the Trump administration from outright banning a third gender marker, this week’s rule can still serve to make the lives of trans and non-binary people more difficult, Izenson says.
“I would suggest the intent is to ensure that any individual person who’s acting under color of law or as an agent of the state has as much leeway to act out their personal bigotry as they want, without any concern about consequences,” Izenson said."
A little good news with the bad
University of Indiana shut down their student paper right before a critical article and rich alumni coming to town. Rival university Purdue student paper heard about it and printed the paper for them and stocked the kiosks with the UI student papers in time for homecoming. Standing up to the fascists.
Amanda Marcotte, for Salon, on how Mike Johnson exploits the shutdown to hide the Epstein files
"[Johnson] knows that if Trump turns against him, he would likely lose the speakership. Hiding the Epstein files appears to be Johnson’s first priority, even above reopening the government so federal employees can be paid.
All this, and especially Trump’s reelection in 2024, should remove all doubt that there is a backlash to the #MeToo movement, which peaked in 2017 and 2018 amid a sea of sexual abuses being publicly outed. For years, there has been a wave of whiny “manosphere” influencers and right-wing pundits telling men that they are the real victims — that feminism has gone “too far” and masculinity is under attack. This anti-feminist reaction has been wrapped in a misleading moral justification regarding “innocence.” Women, we’re told, got so revenge-minded about sexual abuse that they went overboard, sweeping up blameless men in the cancel culture dragnet."
It is no surprise that other countries no longer trust the US with their intelligence. It is not only Fat Hitler who is liable to blab not secret info to Russia, like he did in his first term. Patel and Gabbard and the rest of FH's appointments are so idiotic and so compromised that any information of any sensitivity has to be assumed to be leaked to the worst possible actors. And other countries have seen how they have fired and shut down so much of our own protections. And now you have articles about Rubio tearing up confidential informant deals to send them to corrupt regimes like El Salvador. I wonder which ones of those people ratted out their dealings with the young dictator there before being sent back? Not to mention the rumors of Kushner handing over intelligence of dissent to his buddy Bonesaw during the first term right before he was given $2 billion playing around money. Whether it is intelligence sharing or confidential informants we are no longer a country you can trust with your secrets. Fat Hitler has shown time and again that he is open for business with the worst of world leaders. We still don't know what all was in the boxes in his bathroom and closets. Or who he showed that information too.
The total tastelessness of the Jet King video dumping a load on protestors was not unexpected or shocking. . But I did like the implied admission that he knows what he's full of...
Very tired of stories about the poor, poor innocent men who just have been "abused" by women. I would imagine these stories are simply catnip for congressmen, many of whom are hidden but real pervs.
That video is disgusting. As is the subject of it, as well as the couch-abuser, who isn't able to get away from that fact, or the fact that his wife and kids are brown, and he is still hateful to people of color. The rallies and marches were peaceful and enlightening. There are LOTS of us. Now, everyone must vote. I can't wait until Dumpster is gone, and either aboveground and hauling his fat a** around his golf courses, or soon-to-be "retired" and in jail or "resting." I don't know what to say about his gang that tells him what to do and say. None of this is new, and the comments in the NYT say as much, but it is certainly a country on fire, set by the allies of Fat Hitler.
Hooray for Purdue U and black marks for U of Indiana. I won't dignify their abbreviation as U of I, since IL uses that. Maybe Indiana is IU, cowardly rats that they are.
Private jets for the puppy-killer? Well, one is for her, and is part of her costumery, and the other is for her "bestie" Lewandowski, with whom she is a companion and whatever else they do. No one will suspect a thing if he has separate transportation...
Miles Taylor, in substack Treason, observes Trump’s imaginary, fighter-jet feces attack is the clearest distillation of his view of free speech
"Donald Trump made his views on the First Amendment clearer than ever this past week in the most vulgar side-by-side I think I’ve ever seen in American politics.
Within days of the New York Times revealing a White House plan to offer U.S. refugee protection to Europeans who are vocal anti-immigrant protesters, Trump posted an AI-generated video of himself piloting a fighter jet and dropping human excrement on peaceful American protesters at NO KINGS rallies.
In plain English, he embraced free speech for neo-Nazis who agree with him but feces for Americans who oppose him."
Here’s something I just don’t get. Maybe you guys can suggest an answer or at least a plausible theory that might explain this situation.
So, Amanda Marcotte, in the link Wendy posted above, makes the point that job number one for weasel excrement, Bible Mike, is to make sure those Epstein files never see the light of day, which in turn seems to clearly indicate Fat Hitler’s paralyzing fear of what’s in there.
So here’s my question, why doesn’t he just task his servile lackeys at Injustice and the Federated Buttheads Inc. to just edit out every data point indicating his former pastime of raping young girls? Yes, we all know about phone calls and flight logs with his greasy (but very small) fingerprints on them, but there’s gotta be a whole lot more. Michael Wollf has reported that he has seen photographs of Trump with semi-naked, topless girls in Epstein’s possession. Fatty could easily consign these to that Marred a Lardo fire pit in the former Rose Garden. There must be more, but could it be that there’s so much in there that would make getting rid of all of it an impossible task?
He’s supposedly omnipotent inside his bubble. He’s currently murdering people for fun (actual murder!) and breaking every law he encounters.
Why doesn’t he just order Eva Braun Bondi to burn the whole thing? As soon as one more Democrat gets sworn in, that shit is coming out.
Any ideas?
DiJiT tolf The Hill "... 'I looked at the people — they’re not representative of this country."
Well, he's right, there. Most of us don't wear inflatable chicken costumes.
But if he could read, he would have seen that the thoughts on those signs are representative.
What a pendejo
as seen on Bluesky - Kenny Loggins slams t**** for use of Danger Zone video
I can't get sound on the "fighter-jet feces attack", but maybe the fighter jet imagery comes from Loggin's video? or there is or was sound?
"Hockey Team Apologizes Over Pro-ICE Message Seen On Arena Jumbotron During Hispanic Heritage Night
during the first intermission of the Sharks’ game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Los Tiburones Night, read, “SJ SHARKS FANS LOVE ICE!! GET’EM BOYZ!”"
I don't think it's a stretch to assume, almost categorically, that regular visitors to this site are readers. Well, kids, it's looking more and more like our cohort of fanatics of the (long form) written word as devoured in novels, non-fiction works, history, science, philosophy, biography, not to mention poetry, are a dying breed.
I came across this heart rending analysis of the rise and fall of reading, by the Times cultural writer James Marriott, "The Dawn of the Post-Literate Society" and thought I'd pass it along, if for no other reason than first, misery loves company, and second, the way he neatly encapsulates a primary reason for the fall of critical thinking and the rise of online "influencers". If you're concerned that someone like Alex Jones is taking the place of well read and thoughtful public intellectuals like Paul Krugman, Martha Nussbaum, or going back further, Richard Hofstadter, John Dewey, all the way back to Publius (Alex Jones our current Publius? Jeeeeesus), then you might want to read this. It's a bit long but worth the time.
Marriott points out that as literacy rates grew, in the 18th century, reading was considered something of a craze:
"People alive at the time understood that something momentous was going on. Suddenly it seemed that everyone was reading everywhere: men, women, children, the rich, the poor. Reading began to be described as a “fever”, an “epidemic”, a “craze”, a “madness”. As the historian Tim Blanning writes, “conservatives were appalled and progressives were delighted, that it was a habit that knew no social boundaries.”
This transformation is sometimes known as the 'reading revolution'. It was an unprecedented democratisation of information; the greatest transfer of knowledge into the hands of ordinary men and women in history."
Not no more. With the advent of the smartphone (funny name for a piece of technology that's making us stupider), students, especially, forgot how to read.
"Because ubiquitous mobile internet has destroyed these students’ attention spans and restricted the growth of their vocabularies, the rich and detailed knowledge stored in books is becoming inaccessible to many of them. A study of English literature students at American universities found that they were unable to understand the first paragraph of Charles Dickens’s novel Bleak House — a book that was once regularly read by children"
That last bit stopped me cold. I had just read "Bleak House" a few years ago, and couldn't for the life of me remember what was so hard about that first paragraph. In fact, it's such a well written intro to the darkening of life in England at the time, that it's hard not to keep reading. Google it, read it, and weep.
Cont....
"
Part the second...
The book publishing industry is in full crisis mode. This fact has eluded we who prowl up and down the aisles of bookstores, new and used (at least it did me). As a kid, I remember seeing all those Reader's Digest condensed books and wondering "Gee, why not just read the whole thing?", the thoughts of a ferocious reader who had plenty of time to spend with books. The summer of 1961 edition, however, included
The Winter of Our Discontent – John Steinbeck
The Agony and the Ecstasy – Irving Stone
The Making of the President, 1960 – Theodore H. White
"A Lodging for the Emperor" (Japanese Inn) – Oliver Statler
Goodbye, Mr. Chips – James Hilton
Yow. So even if you didn't have time to read all of those books, at least you were reading something.
But that was then...And the problem of the current demise of literacy really has diminished the ability to think clearly, for millions of people. I point to pop culture as an example. Just think of recent films with non-linear timelines, such as Denis Villeneuve's "Arrival" (a great movie, if you haven't seen it) and Christopher Nolan's "Memento". I'm stunned when I read reviews of films like this and even paid reviewers complain that the story is too hard to follow because of the non-linear narrative. What?
But clearly, the post-literate world, the vanishing ability of the public to see through the screeching emotional scams of quickie online Instagram and Tik Tok bullshit is a godsend to demagogues like Fat Hitler.
"As power, wealth and knowledge concentrate at the top of society, an angry, divided and uninformed public lacks a way understand or analyse or criticise or change what is going on. Instead more and more people are impressed by the kinds of highly emotional charismatic and mystical appeals that were the foundation of power in the age before widespread literacy.
Just as the advent of print dealt the final death blow to the decaying world of feudalism, so the screen is destroying the world of liberal democracy."
Yup. As James Thurber used to say, "You could look it up". Only not in a book.
"... just edit out every data point ? ..."
Why not? DiJiT's main problem here is that there were years when the material in the Epstein files and in the items in Epstein's house/offices/vaults were not under the control of "loyal" agents. So it is almost impossible to be sure that there are no copies and no materials yet undiscovered.
Epstein being who Epstein was, he probably ensured that there was plenty of damaging material positioned with "in case of my demise" tripwires. Until that stuff is located and destroyed, custodians of the DOJ material risk conviction of evidence tampering if they blank out material. Only a fool would risk it.
I am sure that Bondi is reviewing her list of potential fools as we cogitate.
Akhilleus,
A friend sent this my way this AM.
https://www.ndsmcobserver.com/article/2025/10/ai-proof-the-core-curriculum
Apropos of your remark above.
Just wish some of the Notre Dame law school grads took the concluding admonition about humanity more seriously.
Patrick,
Good point. In fact, now that I think of it, Michael Wolff mentioned something along those lines when he saw that Epstein kept a pile of pretty incriminating photos in a safe in his NY mansion. Could have been an insurance policy for rainy days, and there's no telling if there are any copies of those pictures floating around (maybe some in the possession of Maxwell's family), and maybe that's in part why Fatty has not ruled out a pardon for her. It could also be why she got transferred.
as seen on Bluesky There goes the East Wing
Ken,
When I was teaching as an adjunct, I forbade students from using internet sites as the primary source for papers. It was pretty easy to tell when a kid who could barely manage noun-verb-adjective-the end, would all of a sudden sound like a history post doc candidate, and it was equally easy to find the Wikipedia source. I was, however, a bit taken aback when, after I instructed them to do to the library and do their own research, two different kids came up to me and told me they had no idea how to use the library.
I have read about software that is supposed to suss out AI help with papers. The problem really is much deeper than just cutting and pasting or letting Uncle AI write your paper. It's that so many students, even at the college level, have no idea how to begin doing a simple research paper. Just imagine them trying to decide whether a PoT line of bullshit is a lie or not.
@akaWendy: 404 Media has the video with audio here, in a post where Samantha Cole mocks the MSM for refusing to call shit shit.
Lauren Aratani of the Guardian writes, "The video includes a snippet from Kenny Loggins’s song Danger Zone, notably used in the Tom Cruise classic Top Gun. On Monday, Loggins wrote in a statement that he didn’t authorize the use of his song for Trump’s video. 'Nobody asked for my permission, which I would have denied, and I request that my recording on the video is removed immediately,' he said. 'I can’t imagine why anybody would want their music used or associated with something created with the sole purpose of dividing us.'”
Clap harder
The dissent from the Oregon case
"We have come to expect a dose of political theater in the political branches, drama designed to rally the base or to rile or intimidate political opponents. We also may expect there a measure of bending—sometimes breaking—the truth. By design of the Founders, the judicial branch stands apart. We rule on facts, not on supposition or conjecture, and certainly not on fabrication or propaganda. I urge my colleagues on this court to act swiftly to vacate the majority’s order before the illegal deployment of troops under false pretenses can occur. Above all, I ask those who are watching this case unfold to retain faith in our judicial system for just a little longer."
Wendy,
The East Wing is home to the First Lady and her staff. I guess since Melanie is only there to promote her bullshit and grift, grift, grift, there's no real loss, at least as far as occupancy goes.
The real outrage is that a fat fascist is destroying part of a national monument, the People's House, in order to line his own pockets and put his Stamp of Stoopid on the White House. Were i
Sorry...fast fingers on this new laptop...
Were I the next president, I would order the restoration of the Rose Garden and the destruction of Fat Hitler's gaudy billionaire saloon. Supposedly it's being paid for with money from ball lickers and wealthy, fearful sycophants, even more of a reason to demolish the place. The idea that this felon and rapist has a free hand to debauch and defame our nation's most sacred sites in order to put his criminal stamp on it is outrageous and every single PoT traitor in Congress who lets this happen without a word is equally to blame. Were Biden or Obama to change out a bathroom door, the Fox fuckers would be having a collective cow, but Fat Hitler takes a wrecking ball to the East Wing and it's radio silence.
Marie -
Thanks - Hope Kenny Loggins finds some legal remedy.
Sony Music apparently owns the copyright for (Don't Fear) The Reaper so t**** probably won't get any pushback for that one.
Akhilleus- not that t****'s promises mean anything, but wasn't there some sort of promise not to alter the East Wing when adding the ballroom - to avoid the approvals process? Another day, another outrage. It's the Bonwitt Teller story once again.
May the two Roosevelts haunt the ballroom with the destruction of the East Wing.
@Akhilleus: good point about the kids who don't know how to do research. I'm a bit hazy on this, but my vague recollection is that in both junior high school and high school, part of our English class curricula were lessons on how to use the library for research projects.
But this must have been a problem in Wisconsin secondary schools, because a required freshman course at UW Madison was Dumbo English. I do remember clearly that a big part of that course was a requirement to write a research paper, pretty much on any subject we wanted, but following Dumbo English guidance and incorporating what we learned about how to do that in said Dumbo English course. We had to seek out like six different kinds of sources and reference them properly.
Something that has annoyed me lately is the liberal use (i.e., degradation) of the term "research." I facetiously call it "research" when I check out something with Google's Art Intel, but regular people seem to think looking up something on Wikipedia is really "research." Even commercial ads have child- or elderly actors talking about how they "researched" some product -- which one can only assume would have been as thorough & with sources as reliable as RFKJ would employ in a medical "research" project.
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