Marie: The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Pete Hegseth asked Adm. Alvin Holsey, the four-star head of U.S. military operations in the Caribbean, "after months of discord." IOW, it was a forced retirement. I don't have access to this subscriber-firewalled page, but I expect we'll get a summary report soon.
~~~ Glenn Thrush & Christopher Cameron of the New York Times: “House Judiciary Committee Republicans on Wednesday subpoenaed Jack Smith, the special counsel who prosecuted ... [Donald] Trump, for a closed-door interview this month, but lawmakers were swiftly blindsided by Mr. Trump’s fiery demand that Mr. Smith face a public grilling. 'I’d rather see him testify publicly,' Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House after attacking Mr. Smith as a 'thug' and 'a sick man.' In doing so, Mr. Trump, who has called for Mr. Smith’s imprisonment, upended the best-laid plans of Republican lawmakers to confront Mr. Smith and deny the disciplined former special counsel a televised platform to present his rationale for charging the president for trying to overturn the 2020 election and retain classified documents.... Mr. Trump’s rejection of [Rep. Jim Jordan's (R) secretive] approach places him on the same side as the man he detests as much any other person he has targeted for retribution.”
Lisa Friedman, et al., of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Wednesday threw the weight of the federal government behind vehicles that burn gasoline rather than electric cars, gutting one of the country’s most significant efforts to address climate change and thrusting the automobile industry into greater uncertainty. Flanked by executives from major automakers in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump said the Transportation Department would significantly weaken fuel efficiency requirements for tens of millions of new cars and light trucks. The administration claimed the changes would save Americans $109 billion over five years and shave $1,000 off the average cost of a new car. The Biden administration’s stricter efficiency standards were designed to get more Americans to go electric. But Mr. Trump said they 'forced automakers to build cars using expensive technologies that drove up costs, drove up prices, and made the car much worse. This is a green new scam, and people were paying too much for a car that didn’t work as well.'
“Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gases in the United States, and Mr. Biden had adopted a carrot-and-stick approach to reducing these emissions. He offered tax credits to encourage motorists to buy electric cars while requiring that automakers meet stringent fuel efficiency standards to pressure them to sell more nonpolluting models. Mr. Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress got rid of the tax credits earlier this year. They also eliminated fines for automakers who violate the fuel efficiency standards. And now the standards themselves will be watered down.”
Jeff Cox of CNBC: "The U.S. labor market slowdown intensified in November as private companies cut 32,000 workers, with small businesses hit the hardest, payrolls processing firm ADP reported Wednesday. With worries intensifying over the domestic jobs picture, ADP indicated the issues were worse than anticipated. The payrolls decline marked a sharp step down from October, which saw an upwardly revised gain of 47,000 positions, and was well below the Dow Jones consensus estimate from economists for an increase of 40,000. Larger businesses, entailing companies with 50 or more employees, actually reported a net gain of 90,000 workers. However, establishments with fewer than 50 workers saw a decline of 120,000, including a drop of 74,000 among firms with 20 to 49 employees. The total loss was the biggest drop since March 2023."
Lisa Mascaro & Ben Finley of the AP: “The Pentagon’s watchdog found that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put U.S. personnel and their mission at risk when he used the Signal messaging app to convey sensitive information about a military strike against Houthi militants in Yemen, two people familiar with the findings said Wednesday. Hegseth, however, has the ability to declassify material and the report did not find he did so improperly, according to one of the people familiar with the report’s findings....In at least two separate Signal chats, Hegseth provided the exact timings of warplane launches and when bombs would drop — before the men and women carrying out those attacks on behalf of the United States were airborne.”
~~~ Michael Gold of the New York Times: “House Democrats on Wednesday released photographs and videos of the disgraced billionaire Jeffrey Epstein’s home on the private Caribbean island where his accusers have said that he trafficked underage girls for sex. Mr. Epstein, who was also accused of shuttling dozens of girls between his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Fla., owned two private islands in the U.S. Virgin Islands, both off the coast of St. Thomas. One of the islands, Little St. James, was where Mr. Epstein lived for the better part of two decades and was at the center of allegations that it had been a place where he sexually abused teenage girls. The release of the cache of 10 photos and four videos of Mr. Epstein’s secluded home appeared to be the latest bid by Democrats to intensify pressure on the Justice Department to make public all of its investigative files on the convicted sex offender’s case following enactment last month of a law requiring it.” Politico's story is here. ~~~
~~~ You can watch the video here. ~~~
~~~ Sahil Kapur of NBC News: “Five members of Congress from both parties and both chambers are asking Attorney General Pam Bondi for a briefing and status update by the end of the week on the legally mandated release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.... The signatories are Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; and Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., as well as the law’s lead authors, Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif. They expressed in the letter a 'shared interest in supporting the Department of Justice’s efforts to carry out the provisions of this critical new law.'”
Trump, like the Roberts Court, want to make bribery and corruption no longer a crime. Just more projection from the sluggish Don. -- RAS, in today's Comments ~~~
~~~ Gregory Svirnovskiy of Politico: “... Donald Trump pardoned Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), the president announced in a Truth Social post on Wednesday, blaming former President Joe Biden for weaponizing the Justice Department against his opponents. 'Sleepy Joe went after the Congressman, and even the Congressman’s wonderful wife, Imelda, simply for speaking the TRUTH,' Trump wrote. 'It is unAmerican and, as I previously stated, the Radical Left Democrats are a complete and total threat to Democracy.' Cuellar and his wife were charged in 2024 with accepting $600,000 in bribes from foreign entities. The moderate Democrat — who has long been a battleground target for Republicans — was nonetheless reelected to his South Texas seat in November. Trump’s pardon of Cuellar comes just a day after national Republicans got their top recruit to challenge him in a seat made redder thanks to Texas’ mid-decade redistricting. Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina, a former Democrat who switched parties last year, announced his campaign for the 28th District as a Republican on Tuesday after months of speculation. Cuellar told a small group of Democrats Wednesday he is not planning to switch parties after Trump pardoned him....” The Texas Tribune report is here.
Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: “When ... [Donald] Trump pardoned the former leader of Honduras this week, he erased the crowning achievement of years of work by one of his own former criminal defense lawyers and top Justice Department officials, Emil Bove III.... From 2015 to when he left the job [as a prosecutor in Manhattan] in 2021, Mr. Bove helped lead the investigation that identified Honduras as a key conduit for cocaine shipments into the United States. The inquiry revealed the violence that had cleared a pathway for the drugs through Honduras, as the country’s officials mowed down anyone who sought to thwart them. And it ultimately led to the conviction in 2024 of President Juan Orlando Hernández, who prosecutors said had been at the center of the conspiracy.... Mr. Bove, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, was one of the authors of a memo laying out the evidence against Mr. Hernández, the road map prosecutors used to navigate the case.”
Update. Here's the full transcript of the PBS New Hour segment (mentioned by Heather Cox Richardson in the essay linked below) about the four strikes on the fishing boat the Navy hit September 2, courtesy of RAS. As RAS puts it, "First strike, second for the survivors, and three and four to sink the wreckage and get rid of any evidence." MB: Sounds right to me. The number of times Pete has changed his story, the fact that he appeared to read part of the story he told during the Cabinet meeting, Trump's usual "I know nothing about it," and the drip-drip-drip of additional and often conflicting information tells you that something really bad happened here and the gang that can't shoot straight is desperately trying to cover it all up. But some people are talking. And in this fairly interesting discussion between Nicolle Wallace & Rachel Maddow, Maddow tells us why she thinks that is (at the end of the discussion):
~~~~~~~~~~
Tennessee Congressional Race. Shane Goldmacher & Emily Cochrane of the New York Times: “Matt Van Epps, a Republican former state official and Army veteran, won a special election for the House on Tuesday in Tennessee, holding off a surprisingly stiff Democratic challenge in an overwhelmingly Republican district that drew a flood of national attention and money. Mr. Van Epps’s victory over Aftyn Behn, a Democratic state representative from Nashville, was called by The Associated Press. With 95 percent of votes counted on Tuesday night, he was leading by nearly nine percentage points.... But the relatively tight margin in such a deep-red district nonetheless represents a warning shot about the [Republican] party’s vulnerabilities heading into the 2026 midterm elections. Mr. Trump carried the seat by 22 percentage points a little over a year ago. The Seventh Congressional District, which stretches from Kentucky to Alabama and includes part of downtown Nashville, had been drawn by G.O.P. state lawmakers specifically to elect a Republican.” Politico's story is here. The AP's report is here.
I didn’t know about the second strike. I didn’t know anything about the people. I wasn’t involved, and I knew they took out a boat, but I would say this, they had a strike. -- Donald Trump, Cabinet meeting, Tuesday ~~~
~~~ The Buck Stops ... Someplace Else. Adam Cancryn of CNN: “... Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday sought to distance themselves from the decision to launch a follow-up strike on a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean, insisting they weren’t aware of what the military had done after the first strike didn’t kill everyone on board.... Trump added that he was relying on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to keep him apprised of the situation, and that Hegseth was 'satisfied' with the September attack.... The defense secretary did not learn about the second strike, he added, until hours later.... Hegseth — who initially derided the reports of a follow-up strike as 'fake' before the administration officially acknowledged that it occurred — lashed out again Tuesday at reporting of the decision-making, calling scrutiny of the second strike 'really irresponsible.'... Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee told CNN’s Dana Bash, 'I’m very suspicious that they’ve never shared that tape with us and that they are consciously trying to cover up what took place.'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: This entire murder-for-oil campaign is an outrageous disaster; the cowardice of these two clowns is classic. So Trump blames Pete, and Pete blames the operation commander ~~~
I watched that first strike live. I didn’t stick around for the hour and two hours, whatever, where all the sensitive site exploitation digitally occurs, so I moved on to my next meeting. -- Pete Hegseth, Cabinet meeting, Tuesday
~~~ Exit, Tap-Dancing, Stage Right. Helene Cooper of the New York Times: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday that he had not noticed survivors in the water during U.S. military strikes that killed 11 people in the Caribbean in September. His remarks, at a cabinet meeting at the White House in which he cited the 'fog of war,' were the latest from Trump administration officials meant to address questions about whether the U.S. military committed a war crime when it launched a second strike on a boat on Sept. 2, killing two survivors of the initial attack who were clinging to the burning wreckage. Mr. Hegseth had said that he watched the operation live on video before he 'moved on' to his next meeting. But following news reports about the second U.S. strike, Mr. Hegseth said he 'didn’t stick around' to see it. The defense secretary said Adm. Frank M. Bradley, the commander of the operation, 'made the right call,' in ordering the second strike. 'He sunk the boat, sunk the boat and eliminated the threat, and it was the right call.'...” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: This is of course the same Pete Hegseth who went on the Fox “News” teevee September 3 to boast, “I watched it live.” However, since he claimed Tuesday that he knew about the second strike “hours” after it occurred, he knew about it when he appeared on Fox. But now that he's been caught orchestrating a classic war crime, Pete says he had hurried away to another meeting and just plain missed Part 2 of the “double tap.” As Akhilleus wrote in Tuesday's Comments, “He preaches tough guy ethos, but when it comes to standing up for what he truly believes in (war crimes, illegal murder, lethality) he runs and hides.”
Heather Cox Richardson: “Shortly after the [Cabinet] meeting, PBS NewsHour journalist Nick Schifrin reported that a U.S. official told him '[t]he US military struck the boat on September 2_four_times: twice to kill the 11 people who were on board, and twice more to sink the boat.'” Read her take on Dozey Don.
Ishaan Tharoor of the Washington Post: “For weeks, the Trump administration has demonstrated its zeal in taking on supposed 'narcoterrorists' in the Western hemisphere.... On Tuesday..., Donald Trump held a Cabinet meeting on potential U.S. plans for Venezuela, during which Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth hailed Trump for “taking the gloves off” and declared that 'we’ve only just begun' sending drug traffickers to 'the bottom of the ocean.'... On Monday, former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández walked free from U.S. Penitentiary Hazelton in West Virginia after receiving a full and unconditional pardon from Trump over the weekend. Hernández ... was sentenced by a U.S. judge in New York last year to 45 years in prison for trafficking drugs to the United States — including the facilitation of at least 400 tons of cocaine into the country.... Set against Trump’s posturing over the threat of supposed drug boats in the Caribbean Sea, Hernández’s release triggered an immediate backlash.... 'It just shows that the entire counter-drug effort of Donald Trump is a charade — it’s based on lies, it’s based on hypocrisy,' Mike Vigil, the former Drug Enforcement Administration chief of international operations, told the Guardian.”
George Will of the Washington Post: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seems to be a war criminal. Without a war. An interesting achievement.... The killing of the survivors by this moral slum of an administration should nauseate Americans. A nation incapable of shame is dangerous, not least to itself. As the recent 'peace plan' for Ukraine demonstrated. Marco Rubio, who is secretary of state and Trump’s national security adviser, seemed to be neither when the president released his 28-point plan for Ukraine’s dismemberment. The plan was cobbled together by Trump administration and Russian officials, with no Ukrainians participating. It reads like a wish-list letter from Vladimir Putin to Santa Claus[.]”
The Cowardly, Lyin' Pete Hegseth. Paul Waldman: "Hegseth is quite clearly a genuine and proud sadist, which is why it’s a little strange to see him scurrying around trying to avoid responsibility for an incident in which the military sent a missile at a boat allegedly carrying drugs, then when it was clear that some of the people on the boat somehow survived that strike and were clinging to the wreckage, sent a second missile to kill them. This is who Hegseth has always been; in fact, he would not be a part of this administration were it not for his public and private advocacy on behalf of a collection of war criminals, which cemented his relationship with Donald Trump.... This is a government that is not only full of sadists, but has elevated sadism to a place of honor in politics and policy. If you’re one of Trump’s underlings and you aren’t publicly expressing glee at the prospect of punishing and abusing those with less power, then you won’t really fit in. " Do read on. Thanks to Ken W. for the link.
Marie: You remember how Cadet Bonespurs said that six Democratic members of Congress were TRAITORS who displayed “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” for reminding the military that they must not obey unlawful orders? And how Drunk Pete said the Navy would be "investigating" Sen. Mark Kelly with an eye toward court-martialing him? Well, gosh, is Bonespurs going to string up Pete when he sees this video? ~~~
~~~ Sean James of Mediaite: “Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made similar comments about troops not following 'unlawful orders' that he has ripped six Democratic lawmakers for recently making, according to a CNN report on Tuesday. Reporter Andrew Kaczynski unearthed a 2016 clip of Hegseth, when he was a Fox News contributor, where he 'plainly stated there are costs for illegal actions,' as Kaczynski put it, adding it’s the same 'message he now condemns Democrats for spreading.'... [Citing Hedgset:] 'I do think there have to be consequences for abject war crimes. If you’re doing something that is just completely unlawful and ruthless, then there is a consequence for that. That’s why the military said it won’t follow unlawful orders from their commander-in-chief. There’s a standard, there’s an ethos. There’s a belief that we are above what so many things that our enemies or others would do.'” The CNN story is subscriber-firewalled. MB: Gosh, I'd sure hate to see TRAITOR Pete court-martialed and HANGED for SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: Donald “Trump unleashed a xenophobic tirade against Somali immigrants on Tuesday, calling them 'garbage' he does not want in the United States in an outburst that captured the raw nativism that has animated his approach to immigration. Even for Mr. Trump — who has a long history of insulting Black people, particularly those from African countries — his outburst was shocking in its unapologetic bigotry. And it comes as he started a new ICE operation targeting Somalis in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region.... 'When they come from hell and they complain and do nothing but bitch, we don’t want them in our country. Let them go back to where they came from and fix it,' Mr. Trump added as Vice President JD Vance banged the table in encouragement. He said Somalia 'stinks and we don’t want them in our country.' He described Representative Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota, who came to the United States from Somalia as a refugee and became a citizen 25 years ago, as 'garbage.' 'We could go one way or the other, and we’re going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country,' Mr. Trump said. 'She’s garbage. Her friends are garbage. These aren’t people who work. These aren’t people who say, “Let’s go, come on, let’s make this place great.”’” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Maybe the best NYT lede ever in a story about Donald Trump. ~~~
~~~ Mike Balsamo & Steve Karnowski of the AP: “Federal authorities are preparing a targeted immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota that would primarily focus on Somali immigrants living unlawfully in the U.S., according to a person familiar with the planning. The move comes as ... Donald Trump again on Tuesday escalated rhetoric about Minnesota’s sizable Somali community, saying he did not want immigrants from the east African country in the U.S. because 'they contribute nothing.... I don’t want them in our country,” he said. “Their country is no good for a reason.'... An estimated 260,000 people of Somalian descent were living in the U.S. in 2024, according to the Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey. The largest population is in the Minneapolis area, home to about 84,000 residents, most of whom are American citizens.” ~~~
~~~ When he wasn't making racist remarks or deflecting responsibility for war crimes, Trump was dozing: ~~~
~~~ Natalie Allison, et al., of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump closed his eyes for extended periods as Cabinet officials went around the room Tuesday providing updates on their work, at times seeming to nod off.... A Washington Post analysis of multiple video feeds of the meeting Tuesday showed that during nine separate instances, Trump’s eyes were closed for extended periods or he appeared to struggle to keep them open, amounting cumulatively to nearly six minutes. The episode was similar to an Oval Office event on Nov. 6 when the president spent nearly 20 minutes battling to keep his eyes open. Trump’s apparent drowsiness during the 2-hour, 17-minute gathering with his Cabinet followed pronouncements in recent days by the 79-year-old president, his advisers and his doctor that he is in excellent health and full of stamina — an assertion the president repeated early in Tuesday’s meeting. 'Right now, I think I’m sharper than I was 25 years ago,' Trump said, criticizing a recent New York Times article that said the president was facing the realities of aging. He later resurrected a frequent insult, 'Sleepy Joe,' to mock former president Joe Biden, the first octogenarian to serve as president....”
Yunior Rivas of Democracy Docket: “... Donald Trump falsely claimed Tuesday that all pardons and commutations signed by former President Joe Biden are now 'invalid' because they were allegedly authorized using the autopen. Trump’s declaration — posted on his Truth Social account — asserts that Biden’s clemency actions cannot stand because they were supposedly signed with the autopen, a mechanical signing device used by nearly every modern president from both political parties. 'Any and all Documents, Proclamations, Executive Orders, Memorandums, or Contracts, signed by Order of the now infamous and unauthorized “AUTOPEN,” within the Administration of Joseph R. Biden Jr., are hereby null, void, and of no further force or effect,' Trump posted. 'Anyone receiving “Pardons,” “Commutations,” or any other Legal Document so signed, please be advised that said Document has been fully and completely terminated, and is of no Legal effect.'... Trump offered no evidence nor any legal rationale for voiding the constitutional finality of clemency decisions.”
Annals of “Journalism,” Ctd. Erik Wemple of the New York Times (another refugee from the WashPo): The Pentagon is conducting an orientation program for its new “journalists.” “Most of them are media figures newly credentialed to work as journalists within the sprawling complex, agreeing to strict new rules that nearly all traditional correspondents have refused to sign. The result has been a press corps full of people who are outspoken cheerleaders for the administration.... They include Laura Loomer, the influential pro-Trump activist; LindellTV, an upstart digital news site known for promoting election conspiracy theories; and Gateway Pundit, a site that has also often spread conspiracy theories.... The journalists who refused to sign onto the new rules work at news organizations such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Fox News, national TV networks and wire services. They, as well as many media lawyers, have argued that the new rules conflict with the First Amendment.” Oh, and James O'Keefe & Matt Gaetz. Really. ~~~
~~~ Scott Nover & Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: “The Pentagon’s press secretary excoriated the mainstream press, and particularly The Washington Post, at a news briefing Tuesday for the Pentagon’s newly credentialed media representatives, the first such event since Defense Department press restrictions spurred a mass exodus of established news organizations in October. The 'legacy media chose to self-deport' from the Pentagon, Kingsley Wilson, the press secretary, said in her 30-minute briefing for the now largely right-wing press corps. She also criticized lawmakers who counseled military personnel to disobey any illegal orders.... When one person asked if [Sen. Mark] Kelly, a former naval officer, could be court-martialed, she said that 'all options are on the table at this moment in time.'... It was the first on-camera Pentagon press briefing since July 2 and the first Wilson has run since she joined the administration in January.”
Sam Stein & Andrew Egger of the Bulwark: "Trump Holds North Korea–Style Cabinet Meeting, But with Naps." Watch the video at least up to the place where Drunk Pete excoriates the press for sitting around in their air-conditioned offices. Oh, the video craps out after about 4 minutes because it's supposed to be subscriber-firewalled. But you can watch the whole podcast on the YouTubes. ~~~
~~~ Gary Legum of Wonkette, BTW, has an excellent summary of events (re: the admiral-throwing contest) immediately leading up to yesterday's Cabinet meeting. I 'm hoping for a sequel. ~~~
~~~ AND, speaking of Drunk Pete's major screw-ups: ~~~
~~~ Noah Robertson & Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: “The Pentagon’s inspector general is set to release in the coming days a redacted report scrutinizing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the commercial messaging app Signal to share sensitive U.S. military plans, according to four congressional aides familiar with the matter. The full, classified document has been shared already with the House and Senate Armed Services committees, as well as Hegseth’s office.... The incident became a major political crisis for the administration after Trump’s national security adviser at the time, Mike Waltz, inadvertently added the editor of the Atlantic magazine, Jeffrey Goldberg, to a Signal group chat as he and Hegseth, and other senior officials deliberated bombing Houthi militants in Yemen. Waltz was eventually removed from his White House post. He now serves as U.N. ambassador.”
In case you were thinking Paul Waldman (linked above) was wrong about the sadistic nature of Trump & his top mobsters, there's this: ~~~
~~~ Paul Krugman: "In June [Trump] announced his intention to dismantle FEMA and force the states to assume responsibility for disaster relief. While Trump publicly backed down after an intense public backlash, in practice he is gutting FEMA nonetheless. He is drastically scaling back federal emergency aid, even for communities in which the need for federal assistance is overwhelming.... I believe that it is a knee-jerk dominance display on Trump’s part. Whenever someone comes to him in need, whether its Volodomyr Zelensky, helpless African children dependent on USAID, or rural Michiganers, his cruelty is activated. And he likes surrounding himself with those of the same ilk: Stephen Miller, Pete Hegseth, and Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, who impeded and slow-walked the emergency response to deadly Texas flooding back in July. But ... there’s also an ideological component.... The libertarian tech broligarchy is opposed to the very impulse to care about other people. 'The fundamental weakness of Western civilization,' declared Elon Musk last March, 'is empathy.'” More on selfish Elon linked below. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I was wondering this morning if sadism wasn't just a symptom of narcissism.
Minho Kim of the New York Times: “The Trump administration last week told lawmakers that it would further shrink the broadcasting capacity of Voice of America despite a judge’s order to maintain robust news operations at the federally funded news group, which provides independent reporting to countries with limited press freedoms. Kari Lake, a Trump ally who leads the broadcaster’s parent agency, wrote in a Nov. 25 notice to Congress reviewed by The New York Times that the administration intended to close its six overseas news bureaus and four overseas marketing offices, including in Jakarta, Indonesia; Islamabad, Pakistan; Nairobi, Kenya; and Prague, Czech Republic.... The expected closures appear to contradict [Judge Royce C. Lamberth’s] order from April, which required Trump officials to resume operations at V.O.A. so that it would 'fulfill its statutory mandate' to serve 'as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news.'”
Paul Sonne & Valerie Hopkins of the New York Times: “President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia held talks for nearly five hours late Tuesday with Steve Witkoff..., [Donald] Trump’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, negotiating with the two U.S. emissaries as Washington pushed for an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine. The negotiators discussed the substance of U.S. peace proposals but did not delve into the wording of any provisions, reach any specific compromises or agree to a new summit between Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump, the Kremlin’s top foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, told journalists after the marathon talks concluded.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Christopher Sherman & Mike Catalini of the AP: “Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández, sentenced last year to 45 years in prison for his role in a drug trafficking operation that moved hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States, was released from prison following a pardon from ... Donald Trump, officials confirmed Tuesday. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons inmate website showed that Hernández was released from U.S. Penitentiary, Hazelton in West Virginia on Monday, and a spokesperson for the bureau on Tuesday confirmed his release.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
I have never seen such open corruption in any modern government anywhere. -- Steven Levitsky, author of How Democracies Die ~~~
If you’re just an average citizen, you can’t even get in the line. I told my guy he’d probably be better off if he broke into the Capitol or made a major donation to Trump’s inauguration. -- Lawyer for an ordinary ex-con who meets DOJ criteria for a pardon but won't get one ~~~
~~~ Don Moynihan: Juan Orlando Hernández, the former President of Honduras, was tried and convicted of exactly the accusations that Trump is using to drum up a pretext for war against Venezuela. Hernández was convicted of receiving millions from violent drug gangs for facilitating the flow of 400 tonnes of cocaine into America, while corrupting state institutions.... Trump is also invading Democratic cities with military or paramilitary forces. His justifications for their presence is to improve public safety and enable his immigration sweeps.... But if Trump was interested in law and order, why does he keep pardoning criminals?... [Moynihan lays out a number of ways Trump has abused the pardon power.] He is pardoning politicians who have been convicted of corruption, even as he is using the justice system to target political opponents.... One analysis by Democratic House Judiciary staffers found that Trump’s pardons eliminated $1.3 billion in restitution and fines.... Trump is using pardons in the same way he has used other parts of the government, such as peace deals or tariffs: not as a demonstration of reasoned mercy, but as an opportunity to extract benefits for himself, his family or supporters.” Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Mariana Alfaro & Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration plans to block Democratic-controlled states from accessing billions of dollars they need to run their food stamp programs unless governors turn over benefits rolls to federal officials, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Tuesday. In May, Rollins ordered states to submit information on enrollees of SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, so administration officials could verify the eligibility of the more than 42 million monthly participants. It’s unclear if Rollins has the authority to demand that data, and the request could violate recipients’ privacy rights. The program is funded largely by the federal government and administered by states. The federal government pays for benefits and for 50 percent of administrative costs, and states pay the other half. As of Tuesday, 29 states and territories had provided that data, Rollins said at a White House Cabinet meeting. Democratic-controlled states ... have refused.” MB: So, people, you a choice between eating and enjoying your Fourth Amendment rights.
Alabama. Chris Hippensteel of the New York Times: “The University of Alabama on Monday suspended two student magazines — one appealing to women, another to Black students — saying they ran afoul of guidance from the Justice Department on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. University officials told staff members at the publications — a women’s lifestyle magazine called Alice and Nineteen Fifty-Six, which encompasses Black culture and student life — that because of shifting federal policy on D.E.I. programs, the university could no longer support them. One official attributed the decision in part to a July memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi, in which she included recommendations on how institutions receiving federal funding could avoid what the Trump administration deemed unlawful D.E.I. practices.”
Trouble in the House. Hailey Fuchs & Meredith Hill of Politico: “Rep. Elise Stefanik is taking aim directly at Speaker Mike Johnson over signals a provision she has championed won’t be included in the annual defense policy bill the House wants to pass next week — marking a notable and unusual split inside the House GOP leadership team. Stefanik, a New York Republican who serves as a member of Johnson’s leadership team, said in a social media post Tuesday morning she would help tank the National Defense Authorization Act if it doesn’t incorporate her provision that would require the FBI to notify Congress when it opens investigations into candidates running for federal office.... Asked about whether he thwarted the provision’s inclusion in the NDAA, Johnson said Stefanik’s retelling of events is 'false.' He said he supported the provision and that there could still be a path for its passage in some other legislative vehicle.... Stefanik quickly responded in another post on X, 'Just more lies from the Speaker.'...”
Nicholas Kulish of the New York Times: “Michael and Susan Dell announced on Tuesday that they would deposit $250 in individual investment accounts for 25 million children, an amount totaling $6.25 billion. It is one of the largest philanthropic gifts ever to go directly to Americans. The money expands the number of children who will receive seed money for the investment accounts, known as 'Trump accounts.' The federal government will give $1,000 to babies born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028. The Dells’ gift extends to children up to 10 years old, though it limits eligibility to those who live in a ZIP code where the median household income is below $150,000.” The AP report is here. MB: Whatever these savings accounts are, they are not “Trump accounts.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Ken W., in yesterday's Comments: "Nice of Mr. and Mrs. Dell, I guess, and I'll praise them for their generosity (the immense tax breaks they will receive aside). But to me, it's another glaring sign that the economy is badly out of whack. Why would one person have that much money to give to so many that have so little? " MB: That is, for better or for worse, the entity that should be deciding how to distribute that $6.2 billion is called "Congress." Mr. & Mrs. Dell should have deposited all of their billions (except the first one) into the U.S. Treasury in the form of assessed taxes. ~~~
~~~ And Here's the Proof of That. Theodore Schleifer & David Fahrenthold of the New York Times: “Elon Musk’s charitable foundation grew larger than ever in 2024. But, for the fourth year in a row, the huge charity failed to give away the minimum amount required by law — and the donations it did make went largely to charities closely tied to Mr. Musk himself.... The foundation is now one of the largest in the country, with more than $14 billion in assets. But unlike some other billionaires who have dedicated their nonprofits to broader social or political causes, Mr. Musk in recent years used his nonprofit in ways that narrowly track the interests of his for-profit businesses.... The Musk Foundation gave away $474 million in 2024, more than it has in any prior year. But more than three-quarters of that, $370 million, went to a nonprofit in Texas led by Mr. Musk’s top aide. That nonprofit appears to provide a benefit to Mr. Musk’s business empire: It operates an elementary school in a rural area where many of his employees live, near a cluster of Mr. Musk’s companies.”
~~~~~~~~~~
New Jersey. Jersey City Mayoral Election. Ry Rivard of Politico: “James Solomon, a 41-year-old city councilmember elected with the support of anti-machine progressives, will be the next mayor of New Jersey’s second largest city. Shortly after polls closed, Solomon was leading with 69 percent of the vote, according to The Associated Press, which called the race. Solomon won Tuesday’s runoff to lead Jersey City, besting disgraced former Gov. Jim McGreevey. Both men are Democrats but from different parts of the party.
23 comments:
First Projectionist
Fatty sez Somalis do nothing but complain and bitch. Then he follows that up by complaining and bitching about Ilhan Omar, claiming that her friends are "garbage".
Hmmm....sounds like a fat man who is constantly complaining and bitching, a fat man whose friends are liars, traitors, murderers, insurrectionists, cowards, braggarts, cheaters, grifters, con artists, racists, and unrepentant misogynists, the dregs of the dregs. Sound like garbage to you?
GOP couples therapy. Irreconcilable differences.
Remember "trickle down"? That whopper of an economic canard? Well, it didn't work economically, but it sure works ideologically.
As Paul Waldman puts it (see article linked above), Fat Hitler's inner circle is chock full of snarling, sadistic curs. You want in, you better love inflicting pain and suffering, all the better if it's unnecessary pain and suffering, inflicted for the pure joy of hurting someone.
One would think a view that evil, that unrepentantly ghastly would be hard to inject into someone essentially decent and humane.
And you'd be correct. What honorable, principled person would enjoy inducing pain in another human being, especially someone who had done nothing to deserve it?
Here's Megyn Kelly, former Fox host who now has her own talk show on Sirius XM and some whoop de do on YouTube, reflecting thoughtfully on the murderous attacks going on in the Caribbean:
"I really do kind of not only wanna see them killed in the water, whether they're on the boat or in the water, but I'd really like to see them suffer. I would like Trump and Hegseth to make it last a long time so they lose a limb and bleed out."
Didja get that? Killing these people, innocent or not, isn't good enough for ol' Megs. She wants them to suffer, bleed out, lose a limb or suffer some other horrific torture BEFORE dying.
Who thinks like this?
The other day Patrick made the connection between what Drunk Pete and the Fat Fascist are doing down there to the Malmedy Massacre, a war crime committed by Nazi officers and soldiers on American servicemen during the Battle of the Bulge. Americans who had been surrounded, surrendered and were butchered, over 300 of them. I had read about this massacre before in various histories of the Bulge, but I didn't know much of what happened afterwards. When American troops came across the bodies of their fellow soldiers and realized what had happened, there was a lot of anger. When the officers and men who committed this atrocity were captured, it seems that many of them were beaten pretty severely, while in captivity. Not saying this is right (although it caused some major problems with prosecuting the case), but one can understand the kind of anger triggered by this event.
Nothing of the sort is going on in the Caribbean. We don't even know who these people are or what they're actually doing. And to kill men hanging on to wreckage, trying to survive? The Japanese were rightly excoriated for doing exactly this sort of thing to sailors floating around a sunken ship during WWII. Strafing survivors, hoping to kill them, is a vicious war crime, but that's exactly what Drunk Pete ordered.
And thinking about how decent people could enjoy this sort of thing, and wish for even more suffering, I considered the (in)famous Milgram Experiment conducted at Yale in the 1960s, during which test subjects were ordered to increase electric shocks to people strapped into a chair. it was an experiment to see how far a sense of obedience would go to making subjects inflict more pain to already screaming "victims". It was all a set up, but it did demonstrate that regular, decent people could be forced to do horrible things.
The Kelly and Drunk Pete thing is very different. No one is ordering them to inflict pain. Kelly, on her own, decided that these people, innocent or guilty, needed to die in agony.
This is the trickle down from Trump the sadist and his sadistic entourage. Another way of making America grate again.
Horrific is the word.
Still can't get over Drunk Pete, trying a different tack to avoid responsibility for the Murders in the Caribbean, floating the idea that he was enveloped in the "fog of war", and was consumed by the chaos on the battlefield.
What fog? Fog of two or three extra martinis is more like it.
This preening prick was sitting in an air conditioned control room somewhere watching this all play out on a monitor, surrounded by generals and other Pentagon brass. He wasn't spurring his horse across a battlefield covered with bodies, cannon fire in all directions, conflicting orders coming and going, enemy combatants charging him, he was sipping his drink, calmly ordering an extra missile to "kill them all".
Not just a liar, but a cowardly liar.
What's next? He ate too many Zagnut bars and during a sugar high, said something he didn't mean?
In any other administration, this dickhead would be long gone. Actually, in any competent administration, he'd never be given so much as a job getting coffee. But we're in Lame Duck Land now. Fatty only cares about how much loot he can stuff in his pockets and how many "enemies" he can screw before his time runs out. He doesn't have to answer to voters, he's never running again, so who cares if Pete kills a few innocent fishermen?
Fog, my ass.
Fog of war, "The uncertainty in situational awareness experienced by participants in military operations."
Can you get for of war sitting in your office thousands of miles away watching a screen in complete safety and under no stress whatsoever? Pete's only stress that day was if he would make his next meeting on time. We already knew Hegseth was a coward. He wouldn't be working for Fat Hitler otherwise. And the loud fake bravado coupled with the incessant whining is a huge giveaway. So instead of stepping up and owning his actions and orders he hides behind his subordinates while sending out a fake message of support. "I stand by the guy who actually pushed the button and gave the order I had nothing to do with." Everyone paying attention saw that he was just setting up his fall guy. Welcome to MAGA admiral Bradley. How much do you have saved up for your pardon?
Just as MTG is leaving the government admits they can control the weather.
Kristi Noem: "Sir, you made it through hurricane season without a hurricane. You kept the hurricanes away. We appreciate that."
12 Hour Days
Must be why he slept through so much of his sycophantsy cabinet meeting.
"White House suddenly drops ‘Oval Office logs’ claiming to show Trump’s 12-hour days after reports about president’s ‘fatigue’"
Only corrupted courts can review our corruption. Haha, lawyered.
"The redistricting bill (HB 1032), filed by state Rep. Ben Smaltz (R), would allow Indiana lawmakers to redraw the state’s congressional lines mid-decade, as seen earlier this year in states like Texas. But tucked into the bill is language that says a “temporary restraining order may not be sought or issued” in challenges to the map, and that “the supreme court has mandatory and exclusive jurisdiction” over any appeals."
Rachel Maddow talks to Colbert about Fat Hitler threatening our Five Eyes intelligence sharing because we our so obviously committing evil war crimes that they don't want to be liable for.
There were actually four strikes. First strike, second for the survivors, and three and four to sink the wreckage and get rid of any evidence.
When Trump hears bribery and corruption he thinks of himself.
"President Donald Trump pardoned Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife in a federal bribery and conspiracy case on Wednesday, citing what he called a “weaponized” justice system.
Trump, who has argued that his own legal troubles were a partisan witch hunt, said on social media without presenting evidence that Cuellar and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, were prosecuted because the congressman had been critical of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.
Federal authorities had charged Cuellar and his wife with accepting thousands of dollars in exchange for the congressman advancing the interests of an Azerbaijan-controlled energy company and a bank in Mexico. Cuellar is accused of agreeing to influence legislation favorable to Azerbaijan and deliver a pro-Azerbaijan speech on the floor of the U.S. House."
Trump, like the Roberts Court, want to make bribery and corruption no longer a crime. Just more projection from the sluggish Don.
Will DiJiT
(a) preemptively pardon Admiral Bradley or
(b) wait to pardon him until after he's convicted or charged? Or will he just
(c) ensure that neither Bondi nor Hedseth allow charges to be brought? Or
(d) just do nothing and wait for the Congress to string it all out to nothing?
Odds are (d) for my money. I think a preemptive pardon could well draw attention to the constitutionality of that, and to keep his minions in line DiJiT needs them to be sure that he can deliver get out of jail cards on demand just before he leaves. He probably has them printed and signed and locked up already, to allay their worst-case willies.
New moniker for Sleepy Donald on the internets: 'The Nodfather'
Hang on....Kosplay Kristi is redefining sycophancy. Attributing Fatty with the power to stop hurricanes?
She either
A. is too stupid to realize Dozey Don can't even manage to stay awake through an entire meeting where his butt lickers are slathering him with unearned adoration, or
B. knows better but doesn't care that normal people will think she's dimmer than Stoopid Eric.
On the other hand, maybe Fat Hitler himself believes that he staved off natural disasters through human sacrifice, which is a secondary reason for the Murders in the Caribbean. Then again, maybe he did it with his Sharpie.
Presto Change-O!
Step right up, folks and watch a stupid fat man take a burgeoning American industry and kill it overnight!
One supposed reason for Fatty's temper tantrum tariffs is that he claims to want to resurrect American manufacturing industries, such as furniture making. But even a semi-bright high school kid understands that industries that have outsourced their work for a generation or more can't reboot overnight, if at all. Still, Fatty persists in the idea that businesses can be brought back to life with a wave of his magic tariff wand.
But oops! If you're wanting to regenerate furniture making in this country, those builders will need natural resources such as, oh, I dunno....wood?
Take it away Kentucky lumber industry guys!
"Trade tariffs implemented by President Donald Trump have hurt Kentucky’s wood-products industry in serious ways, including White’s business. Production at his mill is down 20 percent this year. Multiple employees have taken voluntary layoffs. Others have retired, and White has decided not to replace them. For more than 100 years, White’s family has been ingrained in Rowan County’s timber industry. More than 50 years ago, his father split from his grandfather and started his own business, Harold White Lumber, which White runs today. But now, the future of his multi-generational legacy in uncertain. Perceived trade imbalances and disagreements over China’s use — some would say theft — of intellectual property from U.S. companies, among other things, led Trump to implement 25 percent tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of Chinese goods. China, in return, levied heavy tariffs on American products, including hardwoods. . Rather than pay the extra costs, many Chinese customers opted to buy their wood elsewhere: largely from Russia, Europe and tropical countries."
Oops! Presto-Change-O, no wood, no furniture building industry. Cuz if furniture makers have to import their wood from Canada or Russia, or somewhere else, they're gonna have to pay Fatty's tariffs. And this is just in Kentucky. Lumber industries across the nation must be suffering as well. Great job, Fatty!
Is there no one in this administration with a fifth grade education, or a basic understanding of the law of cause and effect? You remember in the film "All the President's Men" when Deep Throat tells Bob Woodward "These are not very bright guys" referring to Nixon's band of rat fuckers. He'd have to change that to "These people are complete morons" if talking about the Fat Hitler Reich.
According to a MS NOW reporter Henry Cuellar added that his pardon wasn't autopenned, a dig at Joe Biden, because he is a corrupt piece of shit. Cuellar who "didn't have direct contact" with Fat Hitler must not have watched the televised nap time with FH yesterday before making his snide remark. Apparently it was his daughters who wrote to the fat bastard to ask him for a pardon for the parents.
Geez, I used to think Henry Cuellar was a pretty good guy. It’s one thing to be involved in illegal activity, I’m sure the temptation to pad the pockets is part of the deal with members of Congress, but to take a swipe at Joe Biden after being rescued by the most corrupt politics gangster in American history?
Schmuck.
Firewalls for Frauds and Felons
When we were kids, one of our favorite games to play was “War”. If you had a toy gun, great, bring it, if not, a good looking stick would suffice. I had a branch that looked (if you squinted real hard) like a Winchester 73. I called it my Winchester Seventy Tree. Anyway, the goal of this game was to bang-bang the shit out of each other. The real fun came not from shooting, but from being shot. There was a hill behind a school in our neighborhood that was perfect for falling down, grabbing your chest, going “Arhhhgh!” and rolling down to the bottom, dead. I was a great dier. It was a blast. Of course, I was 12. The problem now is that we have a SecDef who is still 12, only his favorite thing is the “Bang! You’re dead!” part. And unfortunately, those he bang-bangs don’t get up again.
He’s a fucking war criminal. BUT in Trump World, there are protections for criminals of all kinds, redundant firewalls protecting them from due process.
Here’s why. Whenever you read about Democrats demanding that the DOJ investigate some jaw dropping criminality perpetrated by the Fat Hitler Reich or some other MAGA monkey swinging from the treason tree, you just know it will all come down to Eva Braun Bondi. Is she REALLY going to initiate an actual, swear to god investigation of some MAGA perfidy?
And were that to happen, an occurrence on a par with ET returning to pay his phone bill, would it be a serious investigation, or would it be another bit of kabuki hippity hop?
And THEN, were that to happen, an event on a par with ET paying his phone bill then hanging around to do the remake where his pals return to nuke the planet, the whole Megillah would be sent to Little Johnny and and the Dwatfs, where democracy and rule of law go to die, and that’s the end of everything.
The frauds, fakers, and felons have redundant escape systems. Multiple firewalls.
We truly are no longer a nation of laws.
Hakeem Jeffries
"Jeffries claims the charges against Cueller were "very thin" and says Trump's pardon was "exactly the right outcome""
Supporting and excusing corruption and bribery AND praising Donald Trump's corrupt use of his pardon power! Jefferies has many times shown that he is not up for the fight against fascism and authoritarianism, but openly supporting the fascist leader of the opposition party that is running roughshod over the rule of law in this land and basic human rights everywhere is completely disqualifying. Jeffries should be primaried and immediately forced from his leadership role. He does not work for the people or represent our interests. He is a corrupt (protecting the corupt is enabling corruption) sellout that will help the Republicans gain a stranglehold on our government. We need representatives who have principles and will stand up for the People instead of making common cause with the narcoleptic sociopath in the Oval Office to protect a corrupt insider from the bare minimum of consequences.
Kudos to the Democrats for keeping the Epstein, Epstein, Epstein spigot open. Something that gets shunted off to the back of our National junk drawer, is the character issue.
Remember when the Traitors were all about “Character Matters”, when Bill Clinton was “not having sex with that woman”?
Character still maters despite the fact that NOW, they don’t want it to mater any more than they consider an overdue book at the library a big deal (many of them never read or set foot in a library, so…)
But it does. And Fat Hitler is a nasty, disgusting, pussy grabbing. dirty dog rapist. His debauched character makes the drunk guy on the Red Line exposing himself to high school girls look like Oskar Schindler.
Hammering on Epstein, Epstein, Epstein drags the character issue back onto the stage whether the MAGAts want it or not.
Keep it up.
RAS,
Hear, hear. I have never thought Jeffries was a bad guy, but like Schumer, he is far and away unsuited for the fight we are in. Going to the mattresses for Cuellar might make him think it’s a good idea, bit it’s proof that he is picking the wrong fight at the wrong time.
I’m all for a new generation of Democrats who can see clearly the fight we’re in and how to fight it.
Hank Cinq said ir best:
“…if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:
God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more, methinks, would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian:’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember’d.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember’d;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.”
Crispin Crispian is upon us. Let those who have no stomach for the fight get the fuck out!
What is the world coming to when the "least racist person" spews such awful racist screeds about so many people. And somehow the man whom "nobody has more respect for women than I do" once again finds himself attacking another woman, a woman of color no less, again. Where oh where is this mythical least racist, woman respecting man that was going to fix all our problems single handedly?
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