The Big Grifter. New York Times Editors: Donald “Trump has never been a man to ask what he can do for his country. In his second term, as in his first, he is instead testing the limits of what his country can do for him. He has poured his energy and creativity into the exploitation of the presidency — into finding out just how much money people, corporations and other nations are willing to put into his pockets in hopes of bending the power of the government to the service of their interests. A review by the editorial board relying on analyses from news organizations shows that Mr. Trump has used the office of the presidency to make at least $1.4 billion. We know this number to be an underestimate because some of his profits remain hidden from public view. And they continue to grow....” The link appears to be gift link.
It's Intimidation Time. Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: “Federal prosecutors issued subpoenas on Tuesday to at least five Democratic officials in Minnesota, ramping up the Justice Department’s investigation into their response to the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown in the state, according to two people familiar with the matter. The subpoenas sought documents from Gov. Tim Walz, Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis and Mayor Kaohly Her of St. Paul related to their policies on immigration enforcement efforts in the state. Two Minnesota prosecutors, Keith Ellison, the state attorney general, and Mary Moriarty, the Hennepin County attorney, were also sent similar subpoenas. The subpoenas ... represent a significant expansion of the inquiry into Minnesota leaders that was disclosed late Friday. The investigation was initially said to have focused on Mr. Frey and Mr. Walz.... But it now appears that prosecutors will also scrutinize other public officials, including Mr. Ellison and Ms. Moriarty, who could open their own inquiries into the fatal shooting in Minneapolis this month of a 37-year-old woman, Renee Good, by a federal immigration agent.” The link appears to be a gift link. The Guardian's story is here.
Peter Baker of the New York Times: “Never in the past century has America gone forth to seize other countries’ land and subjugate its citizens against their will. Since the days of World War I, America was the country that resisted conquest, standing up to Hitler’s Germany, Tojo’s Japan, Stalin’s Soviet Union, Kim Il-sung’s North Korea and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq when they seized foreign terrain. Now Mr. Trump aspires to put America into the category of conquerors. Coercing a loyal ally into giving up territory over its adamant objections would have been seen not long ago as preposterous, even mad.... But it is a measure of how much Mr. Trump has changed the definition of normal that his appetite for seizing land that does not belong to him is debated as a serious proposition rather than dismissed out of hand as a brazen violation of U.S. treaty obligations and international law.... Mr. Trump has rebuffed efforts at diplomacy.”
As the World Turns, Trump Heckles. Michael Shear & Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: “Early on Tuesday morning, as Europe’s leaders continued to wring their hands over the president’s latest threats to Greenland, Mr. Trump posted an apparently A.I.-generated meme that showed him hoisting an American flag while standing on the island. 'Greenland. U.S. Territory. Est. 2026,' the meme read. Mr. Trump had not even arrived in Switzerland yet. But as he prepared to speak there on Wednesday, he continued to heap dismissive scorn on the leaders he was about to greet. When reporters told Mr. Trump that President Emmanuel Macron of France was not going to join the American-led 'Board of Peace' overseeing Gaza, Mr. Trump waved aside Mr. Macron’s opinions as irrelevant, saying he would be 'out of office in a few months.' 'I’ll put a 200 percent tariff on his wines and Champagnes, and he’ll join, but he doesn’t have to join,' the president said, flexing the power of the American market and underscoring France’s vulnerability to his whims.... Mr. Trump’s heckling has troubled European leaders, many of whom are hoping to communicate with him on the sidelines of the Davos meetings.” ~~~
~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging "Trump news." Trump took over the Brady Briefing Room about 45 minutes ago (it's 2:40 pm ET), and he's rambling on, repeating many of his favorite lies.
Paul Waldman: "The president of the United States has lost his mind. That is not hyperbole. I (and many others) have often referred to things Donald Trump has done or said as insane, deranged, mad, or unhinged. He has always been ignorant and petty and vindictive and cruel and bigoted. But this is different. Something has broken in his brain.... This is not just a national emergency, it is a global emergency.... He wants to seize Greenland against the will of not only the people who live there but the American people as well — because he’s obsessing about not getting the Nobel Peace Prize, and because it looks really big on the misleading map he saw, and because he wants to destroy NATO, and because he is desperate to show how big and powerful he is.... [Greenlanders don't want it; Danes don't want it; Americans don't want it.] Meanwhile, our European allies have said they stand with Greenland and Denmark, so Trump is punishing them with tariffs on their goods — which of course means he’s raising taxes on Americans to stick it to Europe." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Of course the Greenland/Nobel Peace Prize episode is in-sane. And it is hardly the only sign that Trump "has lost his mind." But here's a thought I keep in the back of my mind: what if Trump is "crazy like a fox"? What if the Greenland catastrophe is part of a plan? A plan not devised by Trump because he's very stupid. But an international conspiracy nonetheless? To wit: ~~~
~~~Here are Jim Acosta (a liberal reporter) and Stuart Stevens (a conservative political operative) agreeing that Trump is a Russian asset.
John Tasker of CBC (Canada) News: "Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered a frank assessment of how he views the world in a provocative speech in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, where he said the longstanding U.S.-led, rules-based international order is over and middle powers like Canada must pivot to avoid falling prey to further 'coercion' from powerful actors. Without invoking ... Donald Trump by name, Carney referenced 'American hegemony' and said 'great powers' are using economic integration as 'weapons.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Carney is a banker, so he knows how to speak to the bankers at Davos. In this speech, he rips off the band-aid. You don't need to be a banker to understand him. His delivery is calm, but what he says is eye-opening. No need to demand, "Tell us what you really think, Mark." (The first minute or so of his speech is in French with translation, but then he switches to English.) ~~~
Carney wasn't always a banker. For one thing, he was the back-up goalie on Harvard's hockey team. Here he is, decades later, as Prime Minister, on the ice with the Oilers:
Trump didn't celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, but RAS found someone whose birthday he was willing to celebrate: ~~~
~~~ Joe Heim of the Washington Post: “A massive replica of a birthday note and crude drawing signed with the typed name Donald J. Trump and a 'Donald' signature that was part of a 2003 book of birthday wishes for the deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was placed on the National Mall early Monday morning, the latest installation of artwork critical of the president by a group that identifies itself as 'The Secret Handshake.'”
Marie: Gosh, I remember when people who raised alarms about DOGE access to massive amounts of U.S. data were called crazy and even judges dismissed their concerns. Well, how about this? ~~~
~~~⭐Kyle Cheney of Politico: “Two members of Elon Musk’s DOGE team working at the Social Security Administration were secretly in touch with an advocacy group seeking to 'overturn election results in certain states,' and one signed an agreement that may have involved using Social Security data to match state voter rolls, the Justice Department revealed in newly disclosed court papers. Elizabeth Shapiro, a top Justice Department official, said SSA referred both DOGE employees for potential violations of the Hatch Act, which bars government employees from using their official positions for political purposes. Shapiro’s previously unreported disclosure, dated Friday, came as part of a list of 'corrections' to testimony by top SSA officials during last year’s legal battles over DOGE’s access to Social Security data.... Shapiro said the case of the two DOGE team members appeared to undermine a previous assertion by SSA that DOGE’s work was intended to 'detect fraud, waste and abuse' in Social Security and modernize the agency’s technology.”
Third-Runner-up in Beauty Pageant Stands Her Ground. Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: “The monthslong standoff between the Trump administration and the federal court in eastern Virginia escalated sharply on Tuesday, when a judge issued a scathing order criticizing ... [Donald] Trump’s handpicked prosecutor for what he called a 'charade' of claiming to be the U.S. attorney. The pointed criticism came as judges in the Eastern District of Virginia also publicly appealed for applicants to seek the job of U.S. attorney to succeed Mr. Trump’s pick, Lindsey Halligan. For weeks, judges have pressed Ms. Halligan to explain why she continues to identify herself in court filings as the U.S. attorney, despite a ruling in November that she had been unlawfully appointed to the job. In his order, Judge David J. Novak, a Trump appointee, also warned Ms. Halligan that continuing to file court papers in which she is listed as the U.S. attorney would be 'a false statement made in direct defiance of valid court orders.' '... this charade of Ms. Halligan masquerading as the United States attorney for this district in direct defiance of binding court orders must come to an end,' Judge Novak wrote. The judge also criticized Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche over a recent court filing defending Ms. Halligan’s actions.”
westcoastman noticed the "Trophy Drop Off Centre" at the White House, and found pix of some of the great trophies Trump got. I wonder if I put a drop-off box in front of my house, I'd get some trophies, too. After all, just like Trump, I haven't earned any.
~~~~~~~~~~
Today ends the first year of the worst presidential* administration of our lives. And begins the next. No institution -- not the members of Trump's own administration, not the Congress, not the Supreme Court -- is willing to stop him from exercising upon us all the objectives of a madman.
“Beyond Precedent, Parody and Reality….” Jeffrey Gettleman of the New York Times: “In a text message over the weekend..., [Donald] Trump told Jonas Gahr Store, Norway’s prime minister, that since being denied the Nobel Peace Prize, he no longer felt obliged to 'think purely of Peace.' Mr. Store had contacted Mr. Trump to discuss global security, signing his message 'Alex and Jonas,' a reference to the Finnish president, Alexander Stubb. The Norwegian prime minister’s office provided the full exchange to The New York Times. Read it below[.]” MB: As Anne Applebaum writes (linked below), “The text [of Trump's letter to Store] was forwarded by the White House National Security Council to ambassadors in Washington, and was clearly intended to be widely shared.” ~~~
~~~ This Independent story also has the full text of Trump's and Store's texts to each other. ~~~
~~~ Willa Robbins of Mediaite publishes some reactions to Trump's admission that not getting the Nobel Peace Prize was directly linked to his belligerent streak, including his demand to acquire Greenland. Here's a bit more from Alex Griffing of Mediaite. The Washington Post did, BTW, publish a story & put it at the top of its online page. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America. Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a “right of ownership” anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only a boat that landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. I have done more for NATO than any person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT ~~~
~~~ Anne Applebaum of the Atlantic: “Trump's letter to Norway should be the last straw.... One could observe many things about this document. One is the childish grammar, including the strange capitalizations.... Another is the loose grasp of history. Donald Trump did not end eight wars. Greenland has been Danish territory for centuries.... There are many 'written documents' establishing Danish sovereignty in Greenland, including some signed by the United States. In his second term, Trump has done nothing for NATO — an organization that the U.S. created and theoretically leads, and that has only ever been used in defense of American interests. If the European members of NATO have begun spending more on their own defense (budgets to which the U.S. never contributed), that’s because of the threat they feel from Russia....
“Donald Trump now genuinely lives in a different reality, one in which neither grammar nor history nor the normal rules of human interaction now affect him. Also, he really is maniacally, unhealthily obsessive about the Nobel Prize.... The people around Trump could find ways to stop him, as some did in his first term, but they seem too corrupt or too power-hungry to try. That leaves Republicans in Congress as the last barrier.... Years of careful diplomacy, billions of dollars in trade, are now at risk because senators and representatives who know better have refused to use the powers they have to block him. Now is the time.” Thank you to akaWendy for this gift link.
~~~ Tom Nichols of the Atlantic: “During my years as a military educator..., we never considered ... how to betray and attack our own allies. We did not ask what to do if the president becomes a threatening megalomaniac who tells one of our oldest friends, Norway, that because the Nobel Committee in Oslo refuses to give him a trophy, he no longer feels 'an obligation to think purely of Peace' and can instead turn his mind toward planning to wage war against NATO.... Donald Trump’s threatening message to the Norwegian prime minister should, in any responsible democracy, force the rest of the U.S. political system to act to control him.... And yet neither Congress nor the sycophants in the White House seem willing to stop him....
“America’s armed forces are conditioned to obey the orders of civilian authorities, and rightly so. But [Trump's orders] will be orders that force U.S. military minds to step into a horrifying mirror universe where the United States is the aggressor against NATO, a coalition that includes countries that have been our friends for centuries.... Americans, and their elected representatives, must take this burden away from the armed forces—now.” Thank you to akaWendy for this gift link.
Michelle Boorstein & Anthony Faiola of the Washington Post: “Echoing concerns of Pope Leo XIV over a new era of unilateralism and warfare, the three highest-ranking U.S. Catholic archbishops on Monday said 'the moral foundation for America’s actions in the world' has been thrown into question by a resurgence in the use or threat of military force, including in Venezuela and Greenland. The archbishops, Cardinals Blase Cupich of Chicago, Robert McElroy of D.C. and Joseph Tobin of Newark, in a statement released Monday, amplified comments by Leo, the first U.S.-born pontiff, who earlier this month lamented the demise of multilateralism.” Update: the link has been changed to a gift link. Also, here's what appears to be a gift link to the New York Times story.
Heather Cox Richardson: “This week, Trump has launched a direct assault on the international order that has stabilized the world since 1945. He is trying to form his own 'Board of Peace,' apparently to replace the United Nations. A draft charter for that institution gives Trump the presidency, the right to choose his successor, veto power over any actions, and control of the $1 billion fee permanent members are required to pay.... The Kremlin says Putin, whose war on Ukraine has now lasted almost four years and who has been shunned from international organizations..., has received an invitation to that Board of Peace. So has Putin’s closest ally, President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus.... Also invited are Hungary’s prime minister and Putin ally Viktor Orbán as well as Javier Milei[, the right-wing president of Argentina]. And now Trump is announcing to our allies that he has the right to seize another country. ”
Allison Quinn of the Daily Beast, republished by Yahoo! News: “... Donald Trump wants to hijack the world’s foremost economic meeting with a special 'ceremony' paying homage to his $1 billion peacekeeping grift. Sources cited by Bloomberg on Monday described widespread confusion behind the scenes as Trump embarked on a last-minute push for a signing ceremony at the World Economic Forum in Davos to thrust his newly unveiled 'Board of Peace' front and center.... While the Kremlin and Lukashenko appear to have been buoyed by Trump’s overture for them to rejoin the global stage, other world leaders were baffled by the board’s steep price tag. European officials are already scrambling to change the terms of the board, according to Bloomberg.... As of Monday afternoon, a handful of world leaders had already signaled they have no intention to join, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.”
Cat Zakrzewski & Emily Davies of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump’s demands to take over Greenland are transforming this week’s annual gathering of the global elite into an emergency diplomatic summit, as European leaders prepared to use the president’s arrival here Wednesday to de-escalate the spiraling crisis. In a flurry of posts on social media overnight, Trump provided an insight into his frame of mind ahead of the meetings — reiterating his desire for Greenland, criticizing Britain for handing over sovereignty of an island colony in the Indian Ocean [-- the Chagos Islands --] and sharing what appeared to be private messages from European officials.... 'The UK giving away extremely important land is an act of GREAT STUPIDITY, and is another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired,' Trump wrote, adding that 'China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness.'...
“Trump and his allies have already transformed the scene in Davos. USA House, celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding, has occupied storefronts on the town’s main promenade.... The main USA House venue is a 19th-century church with a sanctuary lit with red and blue lights, where Cabinet secretaries and ambassadors will speak all week to an audience sipping coffee from cups emblazoned with the American flag and an eagle.” MB: So desecrating a church with garish lights and chest-thumping speeches by Marco Rubio -- very classy. ~~~
“... Donald Trump compressed a week’s worth of diplomatic taunting into a single overnight burst of social media activity on Tuesday, calling NATO’s secretary general, announcing a Greenland summit, leaking private messages, mocking Canada’s sovereignty, and attacking the U.K. over a key U.S. military base.”
the terror being inflicted upon a U.S. city and state by our federal government."(Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie Cardona of Reuters, published by Yahoo! News: "A Minnesota man told Reuters on Monday he felt fear, shame and desperation a day after ICE officers broke down his door with guns drawn, handcuffed him and dragged him into the snow wearing shorts and Crocs. ChongLy Thao, 56, a naturalized U.S. citizen who goes by the name Scott, was returned home later on Sunday without explanation or apology, he said.... Pictures of the incident showing Thao barely clothed and covered in a blanket taken by a Reuters photographer and bystanders spread on social media.... officers denied him the chance to put on more clothes, he said.... The highest temperature in Saint Paul on Sunday was 14 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 10 degrees Celsius)." ~~~
~~~ Here's Marisa Kabas' Handbasket report on the incident. This is a good example of why you have to kind of watch it when advocates "report." For instance, Kabas, who is 38 years old, repeatedly refers to Thao as "elderly." According to the Reuters report, he is 56. "Elderly" usually refers to people 65 or older. Kabas also pooh-poohs the DHS excuse for Thao's detainment. This would be fair because we know DHS lies with alactrity. But according to Cardona's report, there is an element of truth to the DHS claims that they were looking for two convicted sex offenders. (Why the agents couldn't figure out Thao was not one the sex offenders is quite another matter.) I'm not suggesting the federal agents didn't abuse this U.S. citizen. I think they did. But I am saying that Kabas exaggerates reality. ~~~
~~~ Okay, here's a story where we know DHS is lying: ~~~
~~~ Morgan Wolfe of KARE Minneapolis: “A combat-wounded Army veteran says federal immigration agents detained him for about eight hours after he watched an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrest from a public sidewalk in south Minneapolis. William Vermie said the encounter happened Jan. 13 ... not far from where Renee Good was shot and killed.... Vermie, who served in Iraq and was awarded a Purple Heart, said he was standing on a sidewalk observing agents arresting two people when he says officers began pushing bystanders back. 'They were bringing out those two young boys … then the ICE agents were moving down the sidewalk, shoving people and telling them to get off the sidewalk,' Vermie said. 'They shoved me when I didn’t move out of the way fast enough.' Vermie said he was handcuffed within moments. In a video he provided, he is seen on the ground as multiple agents restrain him.... Agents later drove him to the Whipple Building, a federal facility in Minneapolis. Vermie said that once inside, he repeatedly asked to make a phone call but never received one during the time he was held.”
~~~ A lawyer Vermie's family retained went to the Whipple Building but was not allowed to see Vermie because Vermie -- who had no way to know the lawyer's name since he had not been permitted to speak to his family -- did not request the lawyer by name. Here's the general response from DHS: "Any claim that there are subprime conditions at ICE facilities are FALSE. All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers." MB: I believe the lawyer. P.S. Vermie is as white as the new-fallen Minnesota snow.
~~~ “A top Department of Justice official said on Monday she had put independent journalist Don Lemon 'on notice' after he filmed a crowd of protesters interrupting a Sunday church service in Minnesota. 'A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest! It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws! Nor does the First Amendment protect your pseudo journalisfjonm of disrupting a prayer service,' Harmeet Dhillon, the DOJ’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, posted to X. 'You are on notice!' Lemon, a veteran news anchor who was fired from CNN in 2023 after several on-air controversies, traveled to Minneapolis over the weekend, where he filmed a nearly seven-hour episode of his YouTube show documenting the city’s ongoing protests against the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement.... Lemon said, 'I want to make it clear … I have no affiliation with that organization.'” ~~~
“... Donald Trump slammed anti-ICE protesters that disrupted a Minnesota church service on Sunday as 'lunatics' on Tuesday and amplified calls for the imprisonment of Don Lemon, who livestreamed the demonstration inside the church. In a post of his own, Trump described the protest as a 'Church Raid' and labeled participants “agitators and insurrectionists” who should be “thrown in jail, or thrown out of the Country” while calling for investigations into Minnesota governor Tim Walz (D) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), accusing them — without evidence — of corruption.”
Laura Strickler & Daniel Arkin of NBC News: “A third undocumented immigrant detained at a sprawling tent camp in the Texas desert has died, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Sunday, in the third such death in 44 days. Camp East Montana on Fort Bliss, an Army base in El Paso, is one of the largest ICE detention centers in the country, with 2,903 detainees as of Jan. 8, according to ICE data.... ICE identified the detainee as Victor Manuel Diaz, 36, from Nicaragua, who first encountered ICE officers in Minneapolis.... Contract security staff members found him 'unconscious and unresponsive' in his room [Wednesday afternoon], the agency said in a news release. 'He died of a presumed suicide; however, the official cause of his death remains under investigation,' ICE said in the release. ICE did not immediately respond to an email asking why it presumes Diaz died by suicide.”
Mitch Smith of the New York Times: “The Justice Department asked a federal judge on Monday to allow a surge of immigration agents in Minnesota to continue despite a lawsuit filed by state and local officials claiming that the deployment is unconstitutional. Lawyers for the state and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul say in the suit that the operation violates Minnesota’s sovereignty under the 10th Amendment.... But the Trump administration said on Monday that the state and local governments’ position was an 'absurdity' that 'would render the supremacy of federal law an afterthought to local preferences.'... The plaintiffs filed the suit last week. Judge Kate M. Menendez made no rulings in a hearing on Wednesday; the state had pressed her to immediately block the deployment of some 3,000 federal agents to Minnesota.”
Mitch Smith of the New York Times: “Lawyers for the Trump administration said on Monday that they were appealing a judge’s injunction that imposed limits on immigration agents’ interactions with protesters in Minnesota.... Justice Department lawyers said they would challenge those limits at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. The lawsuit that led to the injunction claimed that federal law enforcement officers had repeatedly violated the rights of protesters who observed or recorded immigration enforcement actions or voiced opposition to those actions.”
TKO Goes to Trump. Zach Montague of the New York Times: “A federal judge in Washington declined on Monday to immediately block the Department of Homeland Security from requiring lawmakers to provide seven days’ notice before they try to visit and inspect immigration detention facilities. Without finding that the policy itself was legal, Judge Jia M. Cobb of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia wrote that the group of lawmakers who sued to halt it would need to revise their lawsuit in a way that directly addressed the Trump administration’s latest rationale. Judge Cobb had blocked an essentially identical policy by the agency in December, citing a provision of the appropriations law that funds the department and requires facilities to be open to congressional oversight. The Department of Homeland Security had reinitiated the policy earlier this month, claiming that funds set aside in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act ... were enough to fund the detention facilities rather than the appropriations legislation cited by Judge Cobb, allowing them to skirt the requirement.... Judge Cobb ... stressed that the decision on Monday hinged on technical changes the Trump administration had made to put the policy back in place.” The AP report is here.
Better Never Than Late. Francesca Regalado of the New York Times: Donald “Trump proclaimed Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday evening, after he was criticized by civil rights activists for breaking from tradition by failing to recognize Dr. King’s legacy or attending commemorations of the holiday. In the past, presidents issued statements about Dr. King even before the federal holiday.... Presidents usually attend parades and commemorative services held in his honor.... Mr. Trump’s M.L.K. Day proclamation was not shared by the White House or the president on their social media accounts, which have posted throughout the day about immigration enforcement actions and the college football championship in Miami, which Mr. Trump was attending on Monday night.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I have no problem with Trump's forgetting about Dr. King. Trump is opposed to every single thing King stood and died for. Trump's proclamation yesterday was a hypocritical afterthought forced by criticism.
Perry Stein of the Washington Post: “The Justice Department is considering loosening a slate of gun regulations as it seeks to bolster support from ardent Second Amendment advocates.... Some of the changes are expected to ease restrictions on the private sale of guns and loosening regulations around shipping firearms. Other changes to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives regulations under consideration would change the types of firearms that can be imported and make licensing fees refundable. Officials are also expected to change the form required to purchase guns to have applicants list their biological sex at birth. The current form asks applicants to list their sex.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I think this may be part of the planning for an anticipated revolution. Sure, the administration has the military, but they would like some trustworthy J-6-type militia to take up the slack, civil-war style. ~~~
~~~ AP: “A New Hampshire Episcopal bishop ... [has warned] his clergy to finalize their wills and get their affairs in order to prepare for a 'new era of martyrdom.' Bishop Rob Hirschfeld of the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire made his comments earlier this month at a vigil honoring Renee Good, who was fatally shot on Jan. 7 behind the wheel of her vehicle by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.... Hirschfeld’s speech cited several historical clergy members who had risked their lives to protect others, including mentioning [White] New Hampshire seminary student Jonathan Daniels, who was shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy in Alabama while shielding a young Black civil rights activist in 1965. 'I have told the clergy of the Episcopal diocese of New Hampshire that we may be entering into that same witness,' Hirschfeld said. 'And I’ve asked them to get their affairs in order, to make sure they have their wills written, because it may be that now is no longer the time for statements, but for us with our bodies, to stand between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable.'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Hirschfeld is "Bishop Rob" to me, and he is a genuinely pleasant man. Although he is bishop of the diocese, he is technically a parishioner in my local church. I think I've heard some of his sermons, but it wasn't till Rachel Maddow mentioned him last night that I had any idea what a truly fine person he is. For Bishop Rob, "bishop" is not just a job. Look around you. There are heroes in your midst.
“... Donald Trump has been channeling public anger over health care costs in recent weeks, pillorying 'money sucking' insurers and alleging that 'BIG, BAD Insurance Companies' have been 'ripping off the public for years.' Following in his tracks, a Congressional committee scheduled a meeting Thursday to hear testimony from five health insurance executives who will also make easy targets of populist outrage: Their individual compensation packages reach as high as $23 million. But as politicians target health insurers, even some of the sector’s harshest critics warn that rising premiums stem from deeper problems in the health system. Insurance costs reflect the rising prices charged by hospitals, drugmakers and physicians. Bringing U.S. health care costs under control will require more than attacking insurers, they said.”
Ann Marimow of the New York Times: “The Supreme Court’s review this week of ... [Donald] Trump’s attempt to fire a member of the Federal Reserve [-- Gov. Lisa Cook --] was always going to pose a key test of how much leeway the justices would give the president to remake and control the central bank. Then the Justice Department issued subpoenas this month as part of a criminal investigation into the Fed chair, Jerome H. Powell. Legal experts said that development threatened to complicate the Trump administration’s case, making a potentially difficult-to-win case even more challenging.... Ms. Cook, who has not been charged with wrongdoing, denies the allegations [that she engaged in mortgage fraud], which relate to loan documents she signed before joining the Fed. Analysts say the Powell subpoenas could bolster the sense that the Trump administration ginned up a pretext to oust Ms. Cook as a way to force the central bank to lower borrowing costs.... Mr. Powell will attend Wednesday’s arguments, along with Ms. Cook, according to a person familiar with the matter.”
Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, said Friday that prosecutors in both the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the New York Attorney General’s Office 'pressured and coerced' him into delivering testimony tailored to securing convictions against Trump. Cohen, who was a key prosecution witness in two New York cases against Trump, accused New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of pursuing evidence aimed at Trump, saying prosecutors were uninterested in testimony that didn’t fit their narrative. 'I felt pressured and coerced to only provide information and testimony that would satisfy the government’s desire to build the cases against and secure a judgment and convictions against President Trump,' Cohen wrote in a post on Substack. Cohen ... said he was writing as a federal appeals court considers the president's request to move his hush money case to federal court for further review." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Sean James of Mediaite (January 17): “Progressive media company MeidasTouch Network announced it was cutting ties with Michael Cohen on Saturday, hours after he claimed prosecutors 'pressured' him to mold his testimony to bolster a political witch hunt against ... Donald Trump.” (Also linked yesterday.)
24 comments:
Fatty often brags that he is the best, the first, the only blah, blah, blah in history.
Well, he shares the distinction, if you wanna call it that, of being one of only two people in history who have been handed a Nobel Prize awarded to someone else, an award they most definitely did not deserve.
The other?
Joseph Goebbels.
How is that for history rhyming? A couple of despicable Nazi fucks.
“Norwegian author Knut Hamsun, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1920, reportedly gave his medal to Nazi Germany's Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels during World War II.
Hamsun, who met with Adolf Hitler and Goebbels in 1943, was a Nazi sympathiser who supported the German occupation of Norway. Historical accounts indicate he gave his Nobel medal to Goebbels as a symbolic gesture of support.”
Hamsun’s reputation was destroyed after the war. Machado’s may not be as tarnished, but she clearly gave her medal away for nothing.
https://www.euronews.com/2026/01/16/can-a-nobel-prize-be-gifted-or-sold-some-have-done-it-in-the-past
Speaking of Nazis…
https://x.com/jurgen_nauditt/status/2012899032893440273?s=20
Here’s ICE pig Greg Bovino in the latest wardrobe selection for Gestapo officers. All he’s missing are the swastikas on the armbands and the skull pins on his collars.
They really aren’t even trying to hide it anymore.
Photos of new 'Trophy Drop Off Centre' outside the White House:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DTn86ggjVwN/
From the Cake and Eat it Too Department
Intellectually and morally unable to do anything about healthcare in America, besides making it exponentially worse by loosing a halfwit conspiracy theorist on the nation, Fat Hitler has decided to pick more easy targets for his deep well of vindictive spite (he always needs enemies to "bravely battle"), today going after the insurance industry.
And as I am loathe to defend these blood suckers (literal blood suckers in the case of health insurance companies), it bears pointing out that the kind of rhetoric Fatty is using against these people, "ripping off Americans for years" and "BIG BAD" is exactly the sort of incentive for people like Luigi Mangione to physically attack insurance executives.
Fatty is promoting the sort of violence that he will then excoriate (demanding the death penalty for Mangione and calling him a "leftist assassin"). He has zero control of his most vicious instincts but when prompting others to act on his violent and irresponsible attacks, will turn his ire on those same people (again, always needing enemies).
It's almost numberless the ways this fool endangers Americans. If he's not killing them with his puerile and preposterous policies, he's going after them for responding to those policies. He gets his cake and devours it too.
Fatty's obsession with grabbing Greenland, like he's playing the board game Risk, has been a thing for years. I forgot all about this, but I was reminded this morning that at one point he wanted to trade Puerto Rico for Greenland. Seriously! This is how fucking demented this moron is.
"Miles Taylor, a former Department of Homeland Security chief of staff who was recently featured in a political ad from Republican Voters Against Trump, told MSNBC on Wednesday that President Donald Trump asked him and other officials whether the U.S. could swap Greenland for Puerto Rico because, in Trump's words, 'Puerto Rico was dirty and the people were poor.'
The exchange happened in August 2018 before DHS officials went on a disaster recovery trip to Puerto Rico, which had been devastated by hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, Taylor said.
'I did not take it as a joke,' Taylor said. "The president expressed deep animus towards the Puerto Rican people behind the scenes. These are people who are recovering from the worst disaster we've seen in our lifetimes, and he is their president. He should be standing by them, not trying to sell them off to a foreign country.'"
Let's leave aside the fact that Puerto Ricans are American citizens whom this idiot was eager to "sell".
Yeah, yeah, Blight House flaks decry this report, but lemme ask you something. Does this, or does this not sound exactly like something the Orange Monster would think up? It's not as if we got a report saying Barack Obama once wanted to have his face painted on the nose cone of a rocket going to the moon so he could claim it for himself. That sounds completely nuts, something so far out of character that it would be impossible to believe. But this Puerto Rico for Greenland swap idea, as whacko as it sounds, lands perfectly within the realm of cuckoo shit fat boy would suggest.
He's been a dangerous loon for a long time.
Fatty is heading for Davos to demand kowtows from world leaders for his brilliance and to bully everyone into handing him Greenland.
The term once used to describe the self-aggrandized billionaires, CEOs, global elites, and stateless grifters attending this swanky affair was "Davos Man". I guess now it'll have to be changed to Davos Maniac.
Marie's comment on her friend Bishop Rob and his reminder that it's time to put things in order in case Fat Hitler and his goons come calling with weapons drawn reminded me of the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer who stood up to the first Hitler early on and paid for it with his life.
Per Wikipedia:
"Apart from his theological writings, Bonhoeffer was known for his staunch resistance to the Nazi dictatorship, including vocal opposition to Nazi euthanasia program and genocidal persecution of Jews. He was arrested in April 1943 by the Gestapo and imprisoned at Tegel Prison for a year and a half. Later, he was transferred to Flossenbürg concentration camp.
Bonhoeffer was accused of being associated with the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler and was tried along with other accused plotters, including former members of the Abwehr (the German Military Intelligence Office). He was hanged on 9 April 1945 during the collapse of the Nazi regime."
Interestingly, especially on this day after (some) Americans honored Martin Luther King, Jr., Bonhoeffer came to his interest in social justice while visiting America in 1930.
"During his time there, he met Frank Fisher, a black seminarian who introduced him to the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, where Bonhoeffer taught Sunday school and formed a lifelong love for the African-American church. He heard Adam Clayton Powell Sr. preach the 'Gospel of Social Justice' and became sensitive to the social injustices experienced by racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S., as well as the ineptitude of churches when it came to bringing about integration. He was captivated by the sermons he witnessed in Negro churches."
I'm sure this is a chapter Fatty's censors would excise were there any mention of Bonhoeffer at the Smithsonian, but then again, as a theologian who worked to thwart fascism and the Nazis, Fat Hitler would never allow ANY mention of this guy.
The Wikipedia entry offered an interesting way to describe both Hitlers:
"Bonhoeffer's promising academic and ecclesiastical career was derailed by the Nazi ascent to power on 30 January 1933. He was a determined opponent of the regime from its first days. Two days after Hitler was installed as chancellor, Bonhoeffer delivered a radio address in which he attacked Hitler and warned Germany against slipping into an idolatrous cult of the Führer (leader), who he argued might well turn out to be verführer ('misleader', 'seducer'). His broadcast was abruptly cut off, though it is unclear whether the newly elected Nazi regime was responsible."
I rather like "verführer". Think I'll swipe it.
In any event, it often falls to people like Bonhoeffer (and Bishop Rob) to stand up to fascist pigs.
Westcoastman,
Hahahahaha....I saw this last night. Pretty funny. I love the shot of the Wizard of Oz scarecrow presenting Fatty with a brain. He needs it. Also liked the comment about how Trump was the kind of kid who expected presents at someone else's birthday party. Although I doubt he'd win Best in Show at the American Kennel Club proceedings. He's a dog but not a purebred. More of a mangy mutt.
Snopes sez FAKE!
Occasionally when I read something that sounds legit, even if I hope it's true (something stupid Fatty or some other MAGA idiot said or did, eg) I check the Snopes site to see what they have to say. I have to admit to a bit of a letdown if it turns out to be a fake, but it's better to know than to run on with something completely fraudulent and look like an idiot later.
And so here is Snopes taking a look at a much discussed and widely distributed image "proving" that Renee Good's car was poised to run down the poor ICE asshole who subsequently murdered her.
FAKE. The supposedly damning image was an AI product.
Liz Plank
"America Has Become a Torture Chamber for Smart People
Every morning for the last twelve months, I wake up, open the news, and feel like I’m walking into a pop quiz I did not consent to. It’s not a test of my facts, values, it’s a test of my ability to stay smart in a world that feels like it’s becoming increasingly dumb. Reading the news used to make me feel smart, now it makes me feel like it’s actively shaving off brain cells."
CNN
"Recruiter pitches joining the military to Minneapolis high school students to protect their families from ICE"
First off, this is disgusting. Second off, it is bullshit. We have seen tons of stories of military families and spouses that have been taken by this cruel administration. Being in the regime is no protection. It only matters how valuable you are to them at this moment. The rest is immaterial and any past actions are quickly forgotten.
New York Times
"President Trump has never been a man to ask what he can do for his country. In his second term, as in his first, he is instead testing the limits of what his country can do for him.
A review by the editorial board relying on analyses from news organizations shows that Mr. Trump has used the office of the presidency to make at least $1.4 billion. We know this number to be an underestimate because some of his profits remain hidden from public view. And they continue to grow."
That seems really low. Also kind of sad considering all the grifting and schemes he has run this last year.
Peace President
"Canadian Military Models Hypothetical Invasion By US
The Canadian Armed Forces have modelled a hypothetical U.S. military invasion of Canada and the country’s potential response, which includes tactics similar to those employed against Russia and later U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, two senior government officials say.
It is believed to be the first time in a century that the Canadian Armed Forces have created a model of an American assault on this country, a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and a partner with the U.S. in continental air defence."
Waldman today:
https://paulwaldman.substack.com/p/the-president-of-the-united-states
Two things Waldman leaves out: The Pretender would far rather bully the weak. Denmark is small. NATO is conflicted, occupied with its obligations to Ukraine with the near certainty of no US support, and feels it's also under threat from Putin.
And the Pretender is doing exactly what Putin would like to see him do. Tear NATO further apart.
So, demented? Yes, but still a Putin puppet.
A birthday Fat Hitler is willing to celebrate.
"Trump’s Birthday Card To Epstein Appears On Natl Mall"
Flobots - The Revival
Deporting Witnesses
"DHS seeking to deport two men who said fellow ICE detainee was killed
The two men’s accounts of the Jan. 3 death of Geraldo Lunas Campos at a Texas detention camp differ from the Department of Homeland Security’s account of the incident."
"Following Renee Good’s killing, her son’s Minneapolis charter school receives right-wing attacks
The small Minneapolis charter school where Renee Good sent her 6-year-old son has switched to online learning out of safety concerns after receiving multiple phone and email threats, the school told Sahan Journal. The school said it had reported some of these threats to local law enforcement.
The threats to Southside Family Charter School came after New York Post articles describing the school’s social justice focus and a series of social media posts from right-wing commentators."
Monsters
I should send Donald and Melony my ribbons and medals from
the rose shows I competed in when living in Grand Rapids.
After all, they paved over the rose garden so they should have
some medals for that.
Let me put this in words you might understand
"A member of the European Parliament told Donald Trump to “f**k off” in a blistering speech opposing his plan to annex Greenland. Danish MEP Anders Vistisen, stood up in the European Parliament today and made himself extremely clear.
He began his speech by saying: “Let me put this in words you might understand: Mr President…f*** off.” He was almost immediately interrupted by the chair and told that his language was not Parliamentary, and was against the rules."
The idea that Fatty's Greenland obsession points to his position as a Russian asset is interesting. But Trump is too unstable to be a documented asset, ie, someone who signed on the dotted line.
He's an asset because he's an asshole. I seriously doubt he gets direct orders from Putin as in "Do this, do that, say this, say that...". Putin, as an old KGB officer with years (decades?) of experience running agents in the field, clearly recognizes the danger in directly recruiting an idiot like Trump.
He might be liable to give the whole thing up in a moment of pique or in an instant when his Diet Coke button doesn't work. No. Trump is a much better sort of asset. He's a self-recruiting asset. He just naturally does things that hurt the United States and NATO allies. Couldn't possibly get better than that, right? And to top it off, Putin doesn't have to pay him a cent, doesn't have to lift a finger to support his puppet. He gets all this chaos and destructive animus for free. Just sit back, make an occasional phone call to keep Fatty engaged and feeling like he's a hugely consequential member of the Dictators Club and he'll do it all on his own. He's an idiot, but an idiot whose narcissism, vanity, vindictiveness, and built-in hatred of Europe and NATO allies makes him the perfect useful idiot for someone like Putin.
European leaders need to understand that kowtowing to this fat asshole is the last thing they should do. They need to stand together and tell him to fuck off, just like that Danish politician did. Let him try to invade Greenland. I can't say for sure, but I'm hoping that orders to start bombing Greenland would be met by a backlash (at long last) in both the Pentagon (althought not from Drunk Pete) and Congress.
At least one would hope so. At the very least, Americans who are on the fence about him might finally realize that he's a dangerous moron. And even in that event, Putin will have benefitted. Fat Hitler is the best asset Russia or the Soviet Union have ever had.
Hey, have youse guys received your subpoenas yet? I'm expecting mine any day now. Fatty and his DoJ bobbleheads are off the chain, sending subpoenas to everyone and anyone who doesn't goose step along with him and his ICE goons. I'm wondering...does the Injustice Department do any actual work these day? I mean, do they investigate organized crime, actual fraud, sex trafficking (that hasn't been supported by the Fat Fascist), white collar crime, or any color collar crime? Are they solely in the business of sending out subpoenas to Fat Hitler's enemies? Here again, it's not like Fatty and his MAGA horde are in direct cahoots with people like Grover Norquist and his "drown the gov'ment in a bathtub" attack dogs. They just naturally do that sort of thing. Department after department, agency after agency has had sand poured in their gears, sugar in their gas tanks, and salted through and through with drooling imbeciles like Big Balls and the other Teenage Mutant Ninja Nazis the South African Chainsaw Monster brought on board to tear apart the federal government. '
They are just natural agents of chaos and destruction. Pure poisonous pathogens and burgeoning cancer cells. All they know is destruction and death.
So I'm expecting my subpoena any day now. I'm thinking I'll just bin it. After all, with so many investimagations going on at once, they won't get to me until Fatty's fifth term in office.
Northern Lights
Interesting in Minnesota, where the illegal immigrant population is about 2% is the place where Fat Hitler, the Gnome, and the Couch Fucker have decided must be ground zero for their scorched earth ICE attacks even though a state like Texas has an illegal immigrant population of between 10 and 15%. Wonder why that is....Oh, wait. Minnesotans didn't vote for the Orange Monster and Minnesota was where Black Lives Matter took off after the murder of George Floyd. Okay, got it. So there's no legitimate reason, it's just vindictiveness and racism.
Post a Comment