Riley Beggin & Theodoric Meyer of the Washington Post: “The Senate blocked a bill Thursday to pay federal employees who have been required to keep working during the shutdown. The bill, which failed to advance by a 54-45 along mostly partisan lines, was a political test for senators as the shutdown entered its fourth week. Only three Democrats voted with Republicans to advance the measure put forward by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin).... Democrats argued that Johnson’s bill gave White House budget director Russell Vought too much leeway to determine which workers would get paid and which would not because the administration decides which employees are furloughed or working. Many said they would prefer two alternative proposals from Sens. Gary Peters (D-Michigan) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland.)” Politico's story is here.
Rick Maese & Jeremy Roebuck of the Washington Post: “Long-simmering gambling fears erupted into scandal Thursday morning as FBI agents arrested at least two high-profile NBA figures, including Hall of Fame guard and Portland Trail Blazers Coach Chauncey Billups, who authorities said was involved in a mob-run rigged poker scheme and also supplied information to sports bettors about his team. Billups was arrested in Portland, Oregon, just hours after his Trail Blazers team lost its season-opening game Wednesday night. He was charged with money laundering and wire fraud conspiracy for his alleged participation in rigged poker games that also involved members of Mafia crime families, also called La Cosa Nostra. Agents also arrested Miami Heat player Terry Rozier, a former first-round draft pick, in Orlando. Authorities allege he participated in a sports betting operation that involved sharing information with bettors that wasn’t publicly available. He was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. In all, 35 people were charged in connection with two cases, officials said.” The AP report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: According to the WashPo, "... FBI Director Kash Patel said parallel investigations ... involved fraud that is 'mind-boggling' — 'tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery across a multiyear investigation.'...” That funny because Kash's mind did not seem to get boggled by the tens of millions of dollars in fraud Donald Trump has copped to just this week.
⭐And to Think that She Called Them “Deplorables.” John Ganz on Substack: “... ICE is a central part of the Trump regime’s overall organization of the mob. They are drawn from what Marx called the 'scum, offal, refuse of all classes,' Engels called 'the depraved elements of all classes,' and what Arendt identified as 'declassés of all classes.' In fact, a great deal of Trump’s political apparatus is drawn from those ranks. Arendt summed up the lives of mob leaders as characterized by 'failure in professional and social life, perversion and disaster in private life.' Semi or even open criminality and the adoption of mob attitudes and behaviors are practically job requirements for service in the [Trump] administration.... The corruption is the point.... MAGA is more of a kleptocratic demimonde or criminal racket than a political movement.... A career in MAGA is a pay-off system, a welfare state for the unemployable.” The link is a gift link from digby. Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Ganz touches on Senate Republicans (and specifically John Thune) when he writes, "A contradiction within the Republican Party is between the mob elements and relatively respectable bourgeois conservatives who are still uneasy with the overt presence of these disreputable characters." But he doesn't mention those other VIP Republicans: Johnny & The Supines. That's odd, because Ganz cites Marx's essay on Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte's 'independent executive authority.' And that, IMO, is another way of saying, "unitary executive theory," a theory of governance which lately has become a fave of the confederate Supremes. This has been particularly evident in their ruling in Trump v. U.S. (2024) -- in which they decided that the president* is immune from criminal liability for all 'official acts,' or anything he might do using the power of his office -- and in recent rulings allowing the president* to fire officials without Congressional approval, even when the law requires him to obtain that approval (or at least to notify Congress of his intentions).
Grapefruit Ladies. Thanks very much to Akhilleus for the link. Ah, sometimes we must go afar for inspiration.
RAS got hold of a brand-new $20 bill. I'm sure if we turned it over, we'd find Scott Bessent's signature:
~~~~~~~~~~
Marie: I'm not sure the most pessimistic observer predicted Donald Trump could do so much so bad so fast.
⭐Demolition Man. Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: “As roaring machinery tore down one side of the White House..., [Donald] Trump acknowledged on Wednesday that he was having the entire East Wing demolished to make way for his 90,000-square-foot ballroom, a striking expansion of a project that is remaking the profile of one of the nation’s most iconic buildings. Mr. Trump was unsentimental as news of the demolition spread. 'It was never thought of as being much,' he said of the East Wing, which was home to the first lady’s office and spaces used for ceremonial purposes. 'It was a very small building.' The process of tearing down the East Wing was expected to be completed as soon as this weekend, two senior administration officials said, as Mr. Trump moved rapidly to carry out a passion project that he said was necessary to host state dinners and other events.
“But the previously unannounced decision to demolish the East Wing was at odds with Mr. Trump’s previous statements about the project, and underscored his intention to blast through the sensibilities of many in Washington to continue putting a lasting imprint on the White House. The president also said on Wednesday that the ballroom would cost $300 million, $100 million more than initially estimated.... When Mr. Trump first announced his plans for the ballroom, he pledged that the East Wing wouldn’t be touched by the construction. 'It’ll be views of the Washington Monument. It won’t interfere with the current building. It’ll be near it but not touching it,' the president said. 'And pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of.'” This is an update of a story linked yesterday. An NBC News story is here. The Guardian's story is here.
If the West Wing is the mind of the nation, then the East Wing is the heart. -- First Lady Betty Ford ~~~
~~~ Ashley Ahn of the New York Times: “The East Wing of the White House, which will be torn down by this weekend to make way for ... [Donald] Trump’s new ballroom, has been a formal entryway, the site of social functions and a base for the first lady since Eleanor Roosevelt’s time. The two-story wing, whose demolition has provoked outrage and alarmed historians and architects, was built under President Theodore Roosevelt in 1902, when it was called the East Terrace, and then rebuilt during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency to conceal a new underground emergency bunker. It also housed additional White House staff and offices and provided an entrance for guests during events.... It was unclear whether the ballroom construction would affect the bunker....
By the 1930s, Eleanor Roosevelt began employing more staff members as the first lady became a more public figure, using the East Wing for official functions and news conferences. As media attention on the first lady exploded during the Kennedy era, Jacqueline Kennedy expanded her East Wing operations to include a press secretary and other staff. An office formally dedicated to the first lady was planned under Betty Ford and opened under Rosalynn Carter in 1977, according to the White House Historical Association.” ~~~
This is Trump’s presidency in a single photo.... Illegal, destructive, and not helping you. -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on X, above a picture showing roof tiles and windowpanes falling from the facade of the East Wing ~~~
Jess Bidgood of the New York Times: “Images of the demolition, which began on Monday as a precursor to the construction of a $200 million ballroom, have rocketed around the globe, swiftly becoming political fodder and a perfect Rorschach test for a deeply polarizing presidency.... The project has left historians and architects deeply alarmed. The National Trust for Historic Preservation on Wednesday urged officials to pause until it could go through the 'legally required public review process.' Last week, Trump seemed to suggest to donors that 'no approvals' were required for the project....
After my colleague Devlin Barrett reported that Trump is demanding the Justice Department pay him $230 million to compensate him for the federal investigations into him — a situation with no parallel in American history in which the officials reviewing Trump’s claims are his own allies — Trump said ..., 'If I get money from our country, I’ll do something nice with it, like give it to charity or give it to the White House while we restore the White House.... As you know the ballroom is under construction.' The source of such compensation would typically be taxpayer dollars.” ~~~
~~~ Hayes Brown of MSNBC: “The scale, speed and lack of transparency we’re seeing from ... Donald Trump’s determination to build a 90,000-square foot ballroom makes it by far the most absurd — and potentially unethical — 'renovation' project any president has undertaken.... Given his past as a real estate developer, his obsession with size and grandeur and his questionable taste in internal decor, Trump’s vision for a White House ballroom comes as little surprise.... The lack of funding visibility raises concerns that the whole thing could be yet another way for Trump to demand tribute in exchange for access to his beneficence.... It’s unclear how long this supposed improvement will take, given Trump’s history of project management and reported unwillingness to pay contractors. But there’s nothing at this point that can stop the bulldozers’ carnage or undo the damage that’s already been done. ”
~~~ Marie: When Donald Trump said the East wing “was never thought of as being much,” he used the passive voice, of course, but what he meant was “I never thought of its as being much.” Although the East Wing contained offices that performed other functions, for decades it has been known primarily for housing the offices of the first ladies. When Trump ripped out the grassy heart of the Rose Garden, he was destroying a garden first built by First Lady Ellen Wilson in 1913, then redesigned by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy's friend Bunny Mellon in 1962 (and completed after John Kennedy's death). In 2020, Melania Trump ripped out a lot of the plantings. There's a theme here: Trump doesn't “think much” of buildings and landscaping associated with women. Because he doesn't think much of women. Destruction of the East Wing is an insult to all Americans, but it's a particular affront to women.
Here's the Rose Garden as Ellen Wilson commissioned it: ~~~
~~~ Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley said on the teevee that Trump's new Rose "Garden" reminded him of the outdoor dining areas at Panera Bread restaurants: ~~~
~~~ Josh Marshall of TPM: “There were the visuals: Donald Trump literally bulldozing about a third of the White House complex.... Then I saw the news reports that Trump is demanding that his toadies at the Justice Department cut him a check for $230 million.... I’ve already seen the first advance troops of normalization trying to tame it, with the New York Times saying it raises potential 'conflicts of interest.'... The real story here is that Trump has been operating as king or dictator for going on a year. There’s no accountability for anything. No limits, no penalties. So the demands keep spiraling.... As the country dips into ever deeper levels of corruption and impulse control despotism, the opposition has to mine it for everything it’s worth.” The link is a gift link from Heather Cox Richardson.
Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: Donald “Trump announced on Wednesday that he was imposing significant new sanctions on Russia for the first time in his second term, underscoring a new degree of frustration with President Vladimir V. Putin after a plan for the two leaders to meet in Budapest fell apart. The new sanctions were announced just as the president sat down in the Oval Office with NATO’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, who had flown to Washington on behalf of a coalition of European leaders desperate to keep Mr. Trump on the side of Ukraine. The sanctions targeted Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil. 'Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate cease-fire,' Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an announcement that described the oil companies as twin engines of 'the Kremlin’s war machine.'” ~~~
~~~ Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: “European Union officials on Thursday approved a fresh, far-reaching package of sanctions against Russia, banning Russian liquefied natural gas imports while also targeting the country’s banks and cryptocurrency exchanges and placing travel limits on its diplomats. The new package was proposed in September, and the official sign-off comes at a moment when the United States is also getting tougher on Russia.... 'This is a clear signal from both sides of the Atlantic that we will keep up collective pressure on the aggressor,' Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, wrote on social media.” An AP story is here.
Daniel Dale of CNN looks at a number of lies Donald Trump has told recently about the Insurrection Act. "The law – more precisely described as a collection of related laws from the 18th and 19th centuries – grants presidents sweeping authority to deploy both active-duty and National Guard troops to states, if certain vague conditions are met, and to have them perform the domestic law enforcement from which the military is normally prohibited." (Also linked yesterday.)
Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times assesses Trump foreign aid policy: “So the United States is cutting off the kind of foreign aid that keeps children alive for 12 cents a day, but it’s willing to invest far larger sums in a dubious effort to prop up a distant economy — while effectively subsidizing tycoons who made bad investments.... [AND] ... the administration is considering a radical overhaul to prioritize English speakers, white South Africans and far-right Europeans as refugees. The cap for refugee admissions would be lowered by 94 percent, and those entering would be mostly white South Africans and Europeans.” The link appears to be a gift link.
Heather Cox Richardson summarizes a number of stories in yesterday's "letter." Important to read: the comments she cites by Atlantic writer Tom Nichols and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).
Renata Brito & Matthew Lee of the AP: “U.S. Vice President JD Vance criticized on Thursday a vote in Israel’s parliament the previous day about the annexation of the occupied West Bank, saying it amounted to an 'insult' and went against the Trump administration policies. Hard-liners in the Israeli parliament had narrowly passed a symbolic preliminary vote in support of annexing the West Bank — an apparent attempt to embarrass Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while Vance was still in the country. The bill, which required only a simple majority of lawmakers present in the house on Wednesday, passed with a 25-24 vote. But it was unlikely to pass multiple rounds of voting to become law or win a majority in the 120-seat parliament. Netanyahu, who is opposed to it, also has tools to delay or defeat it.”
Konstantin Toropin of the AP: “The U.S. military launched its eighth strike against an alleged drug-carrying vessel, killing two people in the waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday, marking an expansion of the Trump administration’s campaign against drug trafficking in South America. The attack Tuesday night was a departure from the seven previous U.S. strikes that had targeted vessels in the Caribbean. Hegseth said on social media that the latest strike killed two people, bringing the death toll to at least 34 from attacks that began last month.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Eric Schmitt & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: “The Trump administration expanded its campaign of summarily killing people aboard boats suspected of smuggling drugs to a new geographic theater, attacking a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean for the first time, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday.” MB: Schmitt & Savage don't make much effort to hide their contempt for Trump & Hegseth, do they? (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ This story has been updated. Here's the new lede: “For the second time in two days, the Trump administration launched deadly strikes on a vessel suspected of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific, expanding its campaign beyond the Caribbean Sea, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said late Wednesday. The strikes this week were the eighth and ninth known boat attacks that U.S. Special Operations forces have conducted since the operation began in early September, and brought the officially acknowledged death toll to 37. Mr. Hegseth did not provide geographic details beyond saying that the attacks had taken place in the eastern Pacific, in international waters. All of the previous seven attacks took place in the Caribbean. A U.S. official ... said the first strike in the eastern Pacific was off the coast of Colombia.”
On Being Kash Patel. Robyn Pennacchia of Wonkette: “On Monday, Patel — who is Hindu — tweeted 'Happy Diwali - celebrating the Festival of Lights around the world, as good triumphs over evil,' along with an illustrated 'Happy Diwali' card depicting the Ganges river filled with lit candles. An innocuous post for those of us who are not insecure raging bigots. I don’t know what good triumphing over evil looks like to Kash Patel, but I would argue that it looks nothing like his mentions did after he posted that. Patel received nearly 3,000 responses, the vast majority of which informed him that it was illegal to be Hindu in the United States, that he should go back to India, and/or that he was a devil worshiper. Nice people!... [Here Pennacchia gives us numerous sample responses.] Given that Kash Patel is so deeply opposed to 'DEI' that he had a guy fired over a tiny Pride flag, he can surely understand their deep frustration with the fact that someone who is not like them is allowed to celebrate things that they don’t celebrate.... As for Patel and [Vivek] Ramaswamy, odds are that they will just ignore all of this and continue to try to belong to a club that clearly does not want them as members.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: I always wonder what is wrong with people who don't understand that they don't belong, that they can never belong, and that the club they cannot join deserves every bit of the dripping contempt & mockery Pennacchia dishes out. And sadly, so does everybody who is a member and everybody who wishes he were. When I was quite young, I heard Carl Sandburg say on the teevee that "exclusive" was the ugliest word in the English language. I took that to heart.
⭐Free & Fair Elections? Not if Trump Can Help It. Alexandra Berzon & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: In August, Donald Trump appointed Heather Honey, a 2020 election conspiracy theorist, “as deputy assistant secretary for election integrity.... The ascent of Ms. Honey reflects how Mr. Trump and his allies ... remain consumed with the belief that the 2020 election was stolen — and how the president is using the powers of the government to upend an electoral system that he insists helped Joseph R. Biden Jr. take the White House. In the past few months, Mr. Trump has elevated multiple proponents of his fraud claims into high-level administration jobs. Now, as government insiders, these activists could wield their newfound power to discredit future results or rekindle old claims to argue for a federal intrusion into locally administered voting systems. On a call with right-wing activists in March, before her appointment to the Homeland Security Department, Ms. Honey suggested that the new administration could declare a 'national emergency' and justify dictating new rules to state and local governments.... The Trump administration has taken other aggressive steps to assert more sway over elections.” The link is a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Michael Bender & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: “The University of Virginia, facing immense pressure from the White House, struck a deal with the Trump administration on Wednesday that removed, at least temporarily, the threat of a federal investigation. The Justice Department announced the deal. It was the first time a public university had cut a far-reaching agreement with the Trump administration, which is carrying out an extraordinary campaign to shift the ideological tilt of the higher education system. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that an agreement to end the monthslong standoff was imminent. The deal was expected to be less costly than those signed by some private, Ivy League colleges, in large part because James E. Ryan had resigned as president of the university in June. The administration viewed Mr. Ryan as an obstacle in its bid to root out policies focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Kim Bellware, et al., of the Washington Post: “The most visible [Chicago-area] clashes between protesters and [immigration] agents have occurred at a suburban ICE processing facility and in the streets while officers conduct arrests. One woman, a U.S. citizen, was shot by an agent after allegedly ramming a Border Patrol car she had been following. She was charged with the assault and attempted murder of a federal employee, but her attorney disputes the government’s account, saying body-camera footage shows agents swerving into her. But there is also a quieter effort that has taken root in daily life, mobilized through churches, parent-teacher groups, dog rescues and cycling clubs.... [A mixed martial arts] gym, pet shelters and volunteer grocery patrols are part of the community effort to thwart a federal crackdown on undocumented immigrants.... Participants honk their car horns to warn of ICE agents approaching, shoot video on their phones when arrests unfold, trade descriptions of federal law enforcement vehicles in group chats and organize safe walks to school.... A food delivery network ... supplies about 50 families with weekly groceries from the Greater Chicago Food Depository.... Federal officials have framed the efforts as the work of 'domestic terrorists' and a threat to law enforcement.” Read on. The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yeah, there's nothing more terroristic than people bringing food to others and making sure their children get to school safely. Once upon a time, when I was a girl, the leader of this country urged us to be generous: "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." And now it's come to this: our leaders assert that acts of kindness & generosity constitute terrorism.
Camilla Montoya-Galvez of CBS News: "The Trump administration has made preparations to expand its nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration in the San Francisco area with a team of Border Patrol agents, two U.S. officials ... told CBS News on Wednesday. The officials ... said Border Patrol's operations in the Northern California area could start as early as later this week, but that the timing could shift. One of the U.S. officials said the Border Patrol agents would stage at the U.S. Coast Guard base in Alameda, roughly 15 miles from San Francisco. That plan was reported earlier Wednesday by The San Francisco Chronicle."
Carl Hulse of the New York Times: “By almost any measure, Congress is failing. And flailing.... As the Trump administration shifts billions of dollars around to take care of its priorities during the shutdown with scant input from lawmakers, ignoring Congress’s clear constitutional supremacy over the power of the purse, Republicans in control have done nothing to push back. Nor have they made any move to exercise oversight of ... [Donald] Trump’s legally questionable military moves off the coast of South America, his imposition and threats of tariffs, or anything else that has challenged the authority of their beleaguered institution.... In many instances, [GOP leaders] have willingly ceded their prerogatives and cheered on the president.... Democrats have been largely steamrolled by Mr. Trump and his Republican allies all year. They have relied on the courts to hold the line against illegal actions by the White House, a hope that has met with mixed success.”
Mary Jalonick of the AP: “Led by Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, Democrats seized the Senate floor on Wednesday to protest ... Donald Trump’s presidency amid the government shutdown and push for Republicans to negotiate with them on expiring health subsidies. Merkley spoke for more than 22 hours — from 6:21 p.m. Tuesday to 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday — pausing for lengthy questions from other Democratic senators. His speech was one of the longest in Senate history, just short of a similar speech in April by Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey. Booker, who was also protesting Trump, broke the record with a speech that lasted longer than 25 hours, surpassing a 1957 speech by Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina filibustering the advance of the Civil Rights Act. Authoritarianism is not around the corner, Merkley said as he wrapped up his speech around 5 p.m., 'it is here right now.'” This is an update of a report linked yesterday. (Also linked yesterday.)
You have to listen to most of Bible Mike's whole spiel here, past the "I don't know anything about this," past the "We denounce all violence," past the "You all know most of the violence comes from the left," way down to the part where he blames the No Kings rallies for the assassination threat against Hakeem Jeffries. Bible Mike should end every presser with the Lord's Prayer, or at least with the part that says, "And forgive us our trespasses," because that nasty little piece of work trespasses against us every time he opens his mouth: ~~~
~~~ For more on the assassination threat by one of the insurrectionists Trump pardoned, see the story linked yesterday.
Ian Shapira of the Washington Post: “The Anglican Church in North America — forged from the headline-grabbing conservative revolt against the Episcopal Church’s first openly gay bishop — is now confronting allegations by clergy and parishioners against two of its top leaders: One is accused of sexual misconduct, while the other allegedly abused his power by allowing men with troubling histories into the church. The denomination’s senior-most official, Archbishop Stephen Wood, 62, has been accused by a former children’s ministry director of putting his hand against the back of her head and trying to kiss her in his office in April 2024.... The woman, who gave an interview to The Post, also accused Wood of giving her thousands of dollars in unexpected payments from church coffers before the alleged advance.
“Wood, a married father of four sons, remains the rector of St. Andrew’s Church in the Charleston, South Carolina, area, and a bishop overseeing a diocese of more than 40 churches across the South.... [The accusations against Wood] is unfolding amid a protracted ecclesiastical trial against another leader, Stewart Ruch III, an Anglican bishop who oversees a diocese of 18 churches in the Midwest. Parishioners and clergy have accused Ruch, 58, of allowing men with histories of violence or sexual misconduct to worship or hold staff or leadership roles in his diocese.” MB: Odd, innit it, how so often the holier-than-thous who take offense at "the gays" are so often the very people who actually practice sexually-offensive behavior?
~~~~~~~~~~
Illinois. John O'Connor of the AP: “The Illinois sheriff’s deputy who killed Sonya Massey in her Springfield home last year eschewed his training and the principles of policing when he shot the Black woman who had called 911 for help, a prosecutor said Wednesday in Sean Grayson’s murder trial. Grayson, who is white, faces three counts of first-degree murder for shooting the 36-year-old single mother on July 6, 2024, during a confrontation over her handling of a pot of hot water she removed from her stove.” (Also linked yesterday.)
New York City Mayoral Race. Anthony Izabuirre & Jill Colvin of the AP: “Zohran Mamdani was attacked over his thin resume, Republican Curtis Sliwa strove to prove his seriousness as a candidate and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo was pressed on the sexual harassment allegations that drove him from office in a contentious final debate in New York City’s mayoral race. While Mamdani, the frontrunner, began by accusing his rivals of being consumed by fighting — suggesting he would try to focus instead on his vision for New Yorkers — the state assemblymember joined them in mud as he tried to create viral social media moments, included inviting one of Cuomo’s accusers to appear in the audience.”
Maine Senate Race. Jenny Gross of the New York Times: “Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Maine, said on Wednesday that he had covered up a tattoo that he got years ago that resembled a Nazi symbol. Mr. Platner, who is running for the seat held by Senator Susan Collins since 1997, said in a video podcast interview that was broadcast on Tuesday that he got the tattoo, a skull-and-crossbones image that is widely recognized as a Nazi symbol, while drunk 18 years ago and was unaware of its extremist association. Mr. Platner, a Marine veteran and oyster farmer, has also come under scrutiny for a series of posts he made years ago on Reddit that played down sexual assault in the military and criticized the police and white Americans living in rural areas.... 'I am not a secret Nazi,' Mr. Platner said on [a] podcast [hosted by former Obama aides].” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Gross quotes a couple of "experts" who claim it's difficult to believe young Platner didn't know he was getting a Nazi tattoo. I suppose I've lived a sheltered life, but I've had 80 years to discover the Nazi skull-and-crossbones, and I still had no idea what it was supposed to look like (as opposed to, say, the skull-and-crossbones on a bottle of poison). So I checked the Googles, and it turns out there is more than one style of Nazi skull-and-crossbones, although it seems there is one in particular that some Nazis wore on their caps. I've watched dozens of films featuring Nazis in uniform, and if any of those actors was sporting a skull-and-crossbones on his cap, I didn't notice it. Sometimes maybe the experts know too much.
~~~~~~~~~~
Vatican/U.K. Motoko Rich & Elisabetta Povoledo of the New York Times: “Nearly five centuries after King Henry VIII of England broke with the Catholic Church so he could divorce and marry again (and again and again), another divorced and remarried English king prayed with [Pope Leo XIV] on Thursday in an ecumenical service at the Sistine Chapel.... It was the first time in hundreds of years that a pontiff and a British monarch, the nominal head of the Church of England, have publicly prayed together. The gathering was a sign of markedly improved relations between the Anglican and Catholic denominations as well as the eagerness of King Charles III to be viewed as an ecumenical leader. Queen Elizabeth II, the king’s mother, met with several popes over her seven-decade reign but never publicly prayed with any of them. King Charles and Queen Camilla met with Pope Francis in April, shortly before Francis’ death, but there was no prayer service. The Most Rev. Stephen Cottrell, the archbishop of York, led the prayers under frescoes by Michelangelo and accompanied by both Anglican and Catholic choirs.” The AP's story is here. ~~~
19 comments:
Looks like Melanie is losing her office after all that important work (shopping?)
she has done, but I really don't care, do you?
More l'etat c'est moi bullshit
So Fatty sez he's the one who will decide if the government pays him his latest grifty, grabby graft.
"'It’s interesting, ’cause I’m the one that makes the decision, right?' Trump said at the White House, responding to questions about administrative claims he filed seeking roughly $230m related to the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago and the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The New York Times had reported the claims on Tuesday.
Trump’s comment lays out a circular situation: Trump as president would in effect decide whether Trump as claimant receives taxpayer money for investigations into Trump as defendant.
'I’m suing myself,' Trump said last week..." with a big fat smirk, no doubt.
First, no...he's not suing himself. He's suing the Justice Department. Despite his insistence that he IS the government, "l'etat", he is not. AND he is not the one who decides, at least technically, and in a world where justice and rule of law and ethical standards apply. In a suit, a judge will decide, unless both parties can come to some sort of agreement, but then, again technically, it would be up to the Justice Department to make an offer.
But in the Fat Hitler Reich, for all intents and purposes both illegal and unconstitutional, where justice, rule of law, and ethical standards are anathema, he will be the one deciding to award himself a quarter billion dollars of our money. FOR BEING INVESTIGATED AS A CRIMINAL!
Those guys who hit the Louvre and made off with a bunch of jewelry got away with about $100 million of Napoleonic bling. They had to plan it carefully and execute the robbery with precision and daring. Fatso just says "Ahh... I want a quarter billion dollars. Fuck it, I'll just take it."
"L'etat c'est moi, et je suis un criminel."
Excellent comment on Digby's Hullaballo site this morning, in a link to a blogpost by author and essayist John Ganz (his book "When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists and the Origins of Trumpism" is highly recommended).
Ganz makes the argument that Fat Hitler's Reich is filled with incompetent schmucks. This is of course something we have been saying for some time, here at RC World, but Ganz sharpens that observation to a fine point, noting that Fatty's ICE goons don't look anything like real feds or cops (well, some cops), and in fact, look more like thuggish Proud Boys.
"That makes sense, since DHS is using white nationalist propaganda in their hiring drive. Proud Boys in Ohio publicly brag about being 'high on the hog' because of the new hiring spree. Many of the videos portray them not just as menacing thugs, but also as incompetents, clearly unprofessional, out of shape, and sometimes unable to make arrests. Commentator Adam Johnson had a sharp tweet about it: 'There are many ways of looking at ICE’s recent terror campaign, but probably the most salient is a bunch of people who can’t get real jobs harassing and kidnapping people with real jobs.'"
Yes, Fatty's Reich is full of the dregs, asshole losers who couldn't get a job anywhere else.
"Another way to put this is that ICE is a central part of the Trump regime’s overall organization of the mob. They are drawn from what Marx called the 'scum, offal, refuse of all classes,' Engels called 'the depraved elements of all classes,' and what Arendt identified as 'declassés of all classes.”
' In fact, a great deal of Trump’s political apparatus is drawn from those ranks. Arendt summed up the lives of mob leaders as characterized by 'failure in professional and social life, perversion and disaster in private life.' Semi or even open criminality and the adoption of mob attitudes and behaviors are practically job requirements for service in the administration."
Just recall what Drunk Pete's own mother--his MOTHER--had to say about what a complete asshole he is:
"'As a woman and your mother I feel I must speak out,' she wrote shortly after his contentious second divorce. 'You are an abuser of women — that is the ugly truth and I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego.'
She continued, 'You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.'"
Then think of the rogues gallery of losers, grifters, and halfwits that make up his inner circle, including his own family.
The dregs. And that's being kind.
So it looks like money is no object for Fat Hitler's whims, criminal pals, and loser foreign leaders, just not for you.
Little things matter...
This is great...
Westcoastman,
Melanie must have some kind of office somewhere, or maybe she's just filing "STFU about me and Epstein" lawsuits from a beach chair somewhere.
So here she is issuing a a SLAPP suit for a BILLION DOLLARS! (they just get more and more grandiose about what their hurt feelings are worth) against journalist Michael Wolff for saying....some true things, apparently.
"SLAPP cases — strategic lawsuits against public participation — are designed to silence speech and intimidate recipients with the threat of defending expensive lawsuits."
But Wolff is firing back at Ms. I Hate Fucking Christmas.
"Wolff is asking the New York Supreme Court to issue a declaratory judgement that he hasn't defamed Trump, along with compensation under the state's Anti-Slapp Law."
Even better is the the possibility of getting the Fat Hitlers under oath!
"'To be perfectly honest, I'd like nothing better than to get Donald Trump and Melania Trump under oath in front of a court reporter and actually find out all of the details of their relationship with Epstein,' Wolfsaid in an Instagram video Wednesday."
Fat chance of that, I'm guessing, but the thought is a nice one. Put those greedy fuckers back on their heels for once.
Ready class? All together now: Epstein, Epstein, Epstein Epstein, Epstein, Epstein Epstein, Epstein, Epstein Epstein, Epstein, Epstein Epstein, Epstein, Epstein Epstein, Epstein, Epstein....
Any and every way you look at the East Wing or Ballroom choice being made it's bad. It' stands as a clearly visible representation of what the Right is doing to the entire country.
The East Wing. The woman's place. Who needs 'em? They're not much. Women do nothing important. It's not like it's the West Wing where men discuss great matters of state until late in the night.
What we need is a ballroom where we can stage events in our own honor and dance away the rest of the night, after those great matters have been discussed, solved and put to bed.
In addition to the colossal waste of money, thought the values revealed here are hard to miss, but I'l bet the guy who told me yesterday that he still supported the Pretender will miss them.
Another Pretender monstrosity, this one with clear physical presence and dimensions, born in a lie.
The new $20
"Cuomo Posts And Deletes Racist Anti-Mamdani Ad
New York City mayoral hopeful Andrew Cuomo has been widely labeled as racist after his official X account posted – and then deleted – an AI-generated ad depicting “criminals for Zohran Mamdani.” Not even 20 minutes into the second mayoral debate, Cuomo’s official account, @andrewcuomo, tweeted the video.
[...]It goes on to show a Black man in a keffiyeh shoplifting, a man abusing a woman, a sex trafficker, a drug dealer, and others, all showing their support for Mamdani.
Reaction to the video, which was re-uploaded by journalist Prem Thakker, was fast and negative. Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa, associate Professor of Film and Media Studies at Seattle University, wrote on Bluesky: “This is next level fascist AI slop. It’s also such a weird ‘greatest hits’ of scary stereotypes from NYC history.”"
Cuomo is running the Trump campaign for mayor.
Migrants
"What Happened to the Migrants the U.S. Dumped in Panama? Nearly 300 people were sent to a country they’d never lived in. The journey didn’t end there."
By Tanvi Misra
For the dog lovers, a minute of funnies from Jake Lambert from Threads that has nothing to with WDC: If Dogs Went to School
Wendy,
I showed your Dog School clip to Rocket. He thought "Howl Pacino" was pretty funny. He also prefers balls, but sticks and squeaky toys are not beneath his notice, although they occupied his attention significantly more when he was little. He wanted to suggest bringing a dead squirrel to play with but I had to remind him "Not in the house. Leave that gross thing on the porch." He's a great snake catcher as well, but he knows enough not to bring whatever is left after his not so gentle "Hey! A snake!" anywhere near the porch.
Steve M. at nomoremisterniceblog asks "Is Donald Trump a woman?"
A new book written by ABC house Republican flak, but recently the object of ire on the part of Fat Hitler, Jonathan Karl, appears to demonstrate in the clearest terms what a small-brained, easily manipulated idiot runs the country.
The book describes the "gladitorial" rodeo that surrounded Fatty's cabinet picks.
Karl writes that the billionaire financier [Howard Lutnick, who apparently ran the rodeo] “'had a conference table installed in the Tea Room, as well as several large television screens that he used for presentations to Trump about potential nominees.'
He continues: 'One monitor would display bullet points – no more than five – describing a candidate’s qualifications, while a second screen would be loaded up with video clips of his or her recent TV appearances. A third monitor would feature a large photograph of the candidate – a headshot – so that Trump could visualize whether he or she looked the part; whether they were, in Trump’s mind, out of ‘central casting.'"
Also included is the behind the scenes decision making that went into selecting puppy killer Kosplay Kristi. There wasn't a lot of deep thinking. "I did it for Corey [Lewandowski]" It was nothing more than a favor to an old loyalist. And that's who now runs the show.
Another story demonstrates the vital importance of being the last person to talk to this famously mercurial and easily manipulated dummy. Hearing that Susie Wiles was about to be named Chief of Staff, two other wannabes raced to Marred-a-Lardo to change his mind only to arrive too late.
It's funny, but it's also astounding that such a wooly headed moron has the nuclear codes.
Crypto Bros
"Trump Pardons Founder of the Crypto Exchange Binance
Changpeng Zhao, the richest man in crypto, had admitted to money-laundering violations that allowed terrorists and other criminals to move money on Binance.
The pardon was the latest example of how high-profile business partners of Mr. Trump and his family have benefited from his rollback of the wide-ranging crypto crackdown orchestrated by President Joseph R. Biden Jr. To seek the pardon, Mr. Zhao hired lawyers and lobbyists with ties to the Trump administration, while Binance struck a business deal with World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s crypto start-up."
Money Talks
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10/23/us/trump-news
Per the lead, the Pretender now assesses the danger of cities' lawlessness and insurrection by what his friends tell him.
Kinda liked the latest presidential pardon too. By their pardons, ye shall know them.
And....am guessing the black basketballers won't get pardoned if convicted....have to save the pardons for those who send some of their ill-gotten gains the Pretender's way.
Marie wrote: “That’s funny because Kash's mind did not seem to get boggled by the tens of millions of dollars in fraud Donald Trump has copped to just this week.”
This, in regards to a gambling and potential money laundering scandal in the NBA worth millions.
It’s significant that on the same day Fat Hitler pardoned crypto crook Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty to money laundering and payed a $4.8 BILLION!!! penalty for his crimes, he has his bobble-head former podcaster, current FBI head out to announce all out war on a business involving predominantly black players, many of whom have protested his attacks on African-Americans.
So, it’s not only okay, but SANCTIONED, if you’re a crook in the business Fatty and his Crime Family are making billions, but definitely not okay if you’re a black guy in a league full of black guys who don’t sieg heil whenever they see your fat puss.
Got it.
Rebecca Solnit in Meditations in an Emergency writes about the Enshittification Administration
"In 2022, the tech critic and privacy advocate Cory Doctorow coined the term enshittification to describe what's happened on the Internet to a lot of the most widely used platforms: Google, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Spotify. He writes: "First, platforms are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die." That could serve as a model for Trumpism too. Trump promised vengeance and cookies to his base, promised he could deliver whatever the hell Make America Great Again meant, even while he failed to deliver much besides corruption and destruction.
He got a lot of business leaders on board with the usual Republican incentives of tax cuts and deregulation. Now the USA is a platform he's downgrading as he, yes, per Doctorow claws back all the value for himself – quite literally with his utterly corrupt side deals....
Final-stage enshittification because the most powerful and wealthy country in the world is in crucial respects being run for the benefit of one man....."
Mike Johnson is too "busy" to know what is going on in the US or government.
Post a Comment