From the AP's live updates: “The Federal Aviation Administration reopened the airspace around El Paso International Airport in Texas on Wednesday morning, just hours after it announced a 10-day closure that would have grounded all flights to and from the airport. The FAA said in a social media post that it has lifted the temporary closure of the airspace over El Paso, saying there was no threat to commercial aviation and that all flights will resume. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a post on X that the FAA and the Defense Department 'acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion. The threat has been neutralized and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region.' He said normal flights are resuming.” Thanks to RAS for the lead. ~~~
~~~ Uh, looks as if Patrick (see Wednesday's Comments) was right. That "cartel drone incursion" appears to be pretty much a convenient cover story. ~~~
~~~ Jennifer Jacobs, et al., of CBS News: "The unexpected but brief airspace closure
in the Texas border city of El Paso stemmed from disagreements between
the Federal Aviation Administration and Pentagon officials over
drone-related tests, multiple sources ... told CBS
News. The Pentagon had undertaken extensive planning on the use
of military technology near Fort Bliss, a military base that abuts the
El Paso International Airport, to practice taking down drones.... FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford on Tuesday night decided to close the airspace — without alerting White House, Pentagon or Homeland Security officials.... Bedford
told officials the airspace restrictions would be in place to ensure
safety until issues with the War Department could be resolved.... Earlier this week, the anti-drone technology was launched near the
southern border to shoot down what appeared to be foreign drones. The
flying material turned out to be a party balloon, sources said. One
balloon was shot down, several sources said. The Mexican cartels have been running drones on the border lately, the
sources said, but it was unclear how many were hit by the military ... this week. One official
said at least one cartel drone was successfully disabled. ~~~
Dangerous children's party
balloon shot down near El Paso!
 |
| From the Fort Bliss forensic files. |
~~~ Marie: Oh, I see Barry Weiss's "News" department is calling the Defense Department the "War Department."
The New York Times is liveblogging a House hearing featuring Pam Bondi. MB: I turned on the teevee when Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) was speaking but left the room to wash my hair. When I turned off the water, I could hear a woman speaking, but I knew it wasn't Bondi because she didn't sound like a banshee. When I got back to the room with the teevee, I discovered that even my teevee couldn't stand Bondi and had switched itself to a PBS cooking show. Sure enough, when I turned back to MSNOW, Bondi was shrieking her head off. Shortly thereafter, the teevee quit on me again. ~~~
Glenn Thrush: “Bondi has accused the Democrats of 'theatrics.' But the attorney general has been, by far, the loudest voice in the hearing room. She has insulted several Democrats and has been repeatedly, if gently, blocked by Jim Jordan, a Republican and the chairman of the judiciary committee, from shouting over her questioners.”
Glenn Thrush: “... Pam Bondi refused to apologize to survivors of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein who were seated in the House Judiciary Committee room on Wednesday — and instead demanded that Democrats apologize to ... [Donald] Trump. Ms. Bondi, imitating Mr. Trump’s tactic of going on the attack when facing tough questions, offered few answers, no admissions of fault and many expressions of fealty and admiration for a president who has exercised direct control over her department’s actions. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the panel, delivered a salvo of disgust in his opening statement: ... 'You’re siding with the perpetrators, and you’re ignoring the victims,' he said. 'That will be your legacy, unless you act quickly to change course. You’re running a massive Epstein cover-up right out of the Department of Justice.'
“An uncomfortable and dramatic moment came when Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Washington Democrat, made an emotional appeal for Ms. Bondi to say she was sorry for the slapdash and sluggish release of the Epstein-related documents, which inadvertently included the disclosure of victims’ names that were supposed to be redacted. Ms. Bondi appeared momentarily at a loss for words. Then something clicked and she began an attack at higher volume than any other voice in the room, accusing Ms. Jayapal of dragging the hearing into 'into the gutter.'”
Total Boxwine Fail. Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "None of the D.C. grand jurors who heard the Trump administration’s pitch on why they should indict Democratic lawmakers over a video urging members of the military and intelligence communities to uphold their oaths believed the Justice Department had met the low threshold of probable cause, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.... In 2016, the Justice Department investigated more than 151,000 suspects, but grand juries returned just six “no bills,” per DOJ statistics. The vast majority of assistant U.S. attorneys will go their entire careers without being rejected by a grand jury like this. As NBC News previously reported, the lawyers who attempted to bring the case are political appointees, not career prosecutors." ~~~
~~~ Evan Hurst of Wonkette takes a victory lap over Judge Boxwine's loss in the grand jury, AND he schools New York Times reporters on what is "remarkable."
Dominick Mastrangelo of the Hill: “Gallup will no longer track presidential approval ratings after more than eight decades doing so, the public opinion polling agency confirmed to The Hill on Wednesday. The company said starting this year it would stop publishing approval and favorability ratings of individual political figures, saying in a statement it 'reflects an evolution in how Gallup focuses its public research and thought leadership.'... [Donald] Trump has seen his rating by the agency slip in recent months, peaking at 47 percent last February and dipping to less than 37 percent in its last poll taken in December.... When asked by The Hill if Gallup had received any feedback from the White House or anyone in the current administration before making the decision, the spokesperson said, 'this is a strategic shift solely based on Gallup’s research goals and priorities.'” ~~~
~~~ "I totally believe Gallup," she declared whilst nursing the wounds she suffered from her fall off the turnip truck.
“A federal judge Tuesday shut down the Justice Department’s efforts to obtain personal voter information from elections officials in Michigan, the third time a court has tossed a lawsuit by the Trump administration in its efforts to obtain voter registration lists from the states.... In a 23-page order, [District Judge Hala] Jarbou said federal voting laws cited by the Justice Department do not require the state to turn over the voter information. The Justice Department cited the Help America Vote Act, the National Voter Registration Act and the Civil Rights Act in its lawsuit. Jarbou, a Trump appointee, wrote: '... the Court concludes that (1) HAVA does not require the disclosure of any records, (2) the NVRA does not require the disclosure of voter registration lists..., and (3) the CRA does not require the disclosure of voter registration lists....'”
“By brazenly jacking Venezuela for its oil and threatening to acquire Greenland against its will, the U.S. is acting as the ancient Greeks, the ancient Persians and the Germanic tribes conducted themselves: brutishly, without shame or apology. And the abdication of Christian values is already shaping the conduct of our government toward its citizens, as in Minneapolis, where immigration agents have killed two protesters. The Trump administration appears unconstrained not only by the limits imposed by the Constitution but by the standards of an average American’s conscience.”
~~~~~~~~~~
As We Suspected. Tyler Pager & Matina Stevis-Gridneff of the New York Times: “The billionaire owner of a bridge connecting Michigan with Canada met Howard Lutnick, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, on Monday hours before ... [Donald] Trump lambasted a competing span, in the latest flashpoint in the deteriorating relationship between the United States and Canada. Matthew Moroun is a Detroit-based trucking magnate whose family has operated the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, for decades. He met on Monday with Mr. Lutnick in Washington, according to two officials briefed on the meeting who requested anonymity to discuss a private conversation. After that meeting Mr. Lutnick spoke with Mr. Trump by phone about the matter, the officials said. Shortly afterward, Mr. Trump threatened to block the planned opening of a new bridge between Detroit and Windsor, which would take away toll revenue from Mr. Moroun’s crossing, if Canadian officials did not address a long list of grievances. The Moroun family has for decades mounted legal challenges to block or delay the competing project, known as Gordie Howe International Bridge. One of the challenges reached the Canadian Supreme Court, while the family has also lobbied extensively against it.” The link has been changed to one that appears to be a gift link.
Phil McKenna of Inside Climate News: "... Donald Trump plans to announce an executive order on Wednesday directing the U.S. Department of Defense to buy electricity from coal-fired power plants. The order, first reported by The Wall Street Journal and confirmed by a White House official, comes as the administration plans to repeal the endangerment finding, a landmark climate ruling that determined greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health.... Environmental and security advocates blasted the order." MB: One would think that even a twisted narcissist like Trump would care about the health of his own grandchildren -- you know, keeping his legacy alive and all. But no.
Evan Bush of NBC News: “The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday plans to repeal the legal framework that underpins its power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. 'President Trump will be joined by Administrator Lee Zeldin to formalize the rescission of the 2009 Obama-era endangerment finding,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a briefing on Tuesday. 'This will be the largest deregulatory action in American history, and it will save the American people $1.3 trillion in crushing regulations.' Known as the endangerment finding, the EPA’s 2009 decision says that greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane are heating the Earth and that warming threatens public health and welfare. It therefore functions, under the Clean Air Act, as the lynchpin for rules that set emissions standards for cars and trucks and require fossil fuel companies to report their emissions, among others. The move is expected to upend most U.S. policies aimed at reducing climate pollution — if the repeal can withstand court challenges from environmental groups, which had already been preparing to sue.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Leavitt is pregnant, for Pete's sake. A normal person would care about the health of her unborn child.
Karen Zraick of the New York Times: “In a new attack on the science of climate change, a federal agency has stripped a chapter on global warming from a manual written to help judges understand important scientific questions they may face in their courtrooms. The chapter was deleted after a group of Republican state attorneys general complained about it to the Federal Judicial Center, a government agency that provides resources to judges. In recent years, judges in the United States have had to contend with a widening array of cases related to climate change, putting jurists in the position of having to understand the complexities of the science and research behind its causes and effects.”
A Snub for a Snub. Joey Cappelletti, et al., of the AP: “An annual meeting of the nation’s governors that has long served as a rare bipartisan gathering is unraveling after ... Donald Trump excluded Democratic governors from White House events. The National Governors Association said it will no longer hold a formal meeting with Trump when governors are scheduled to convene in Washington later this month, after the White House planned to invite only Republican governors. On Tuesday, 18 Democratic governors also announced they would boycott a traditional dinner at the White House. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican who chairs the NGA, told fellow governors in a letter on Monday that the White House intended to limit invitations to the association’s annual business meeting, scheduled for Feb. 20, to Republican governors only. 'Because NGA’s mission is to represent all 55 governors, the Association is no longer serving as the facilitator for that event, and it is no longer included in our official program,' Stitt wrote in the letter....”
Devlin Barrett, et al., of the New York Times: “An F.B.I. search warrant affidavit unsealed on Tuesday shows that a criminal investigation into 2020 election results in Fulton County, Ga., was set off by a leading election denier in the Trump administration and relied heavily on claims about ballots that have been widely debunked. The unsealing of the affidavit in Fulton County is likely to raise more questions about the Trump administration’s use of the F.B.I. and Justice Department to revive old, largely disproved claims about the 2020 election in the state.... 'The FBI criminal investigation originated from a referral sent by Kurt Olsen, Presidentially appointed Director of Election Security and Integrity,' the affidavit said. Mr. Olsen played a central role in Mr. Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election, including speaking to the president multiple times on Jan. 6, 2021. He has continued to push false claims about elections, and was recently appointed to a key role in the Trump administration. The affidavit for the search in Georgia, where F.B.I. agents seized ballots and other materials from an election center late last month, draws a clearer connection between the White House and the movement of Trump-supporting election activists....” The link appears to be a gift link. Thanks to RAS for the lead. ~~~
~~~ AND There's This Guy ~~~
~~~ Doug Clark of ProPublica: "A conservative researcher whose theories have often been rejected by Georgia election overseers and who once pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of voyeurism is emerging as a central figure in the investigation that culminated in the FBI’s shocking seizure of 2020 election records from Fulton County, Georgia, in late January. The researcher, Kevin Moncla, has tried repeatedly to prove that the 2020 vote in Fulton County was tainted by fraud. Although many of his claims have been discredited or debunked, they’ve continued to be cited by ... Donald Trump and those connected to Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who helped Trump try to overturn the 2020 election and publicly pressed his administration to reinvestigate it." Thanks to RAS for the lead.~~~
~~~ In an update, Clark wrote, "On Tuesday, the affidavit underlying the warrant for the FBI’s raid to seize 2020 election materials in Fulton County, Georgia, was unsealed. It cited many of the allegations highlighted in conservative researcher Kevin Moncla’s report.... The affidavit said the investigation originated from a referral from a White House lawyer, Kurt Olsen, who has been charged by ... Donald Trump with reinvestigating the 2020 election and who has tried to help him overturn its results." ~~~
~~~ Here's more context from Ashley Cleaves & Matt Cohen of Democracy Docket. MB: This whole cottage industry of election-denying nuts depends upon the Crazy Old Man in the White House who (a) can't admit he's a loser and (b) wants to dispel confidence in future elections results. ~~~
~~~ Yunior Rivas of Democracy Docket: "The unsealing of the FBI’s search warrant affidavit for its raid of a Fulton County, Georgia, election facility prompted swift condemnation from voting rights advocates, election experts and former federal officials, who say the document relies on debunked conspiracy theories and fails to establish probable cause. The affidavit, released Tuesday after a court order, laid out the government’s justification for seizing ballots and other election materials from Fulton County’s election operations center — records from the certified 2020 presidential election that have already been reviewed through multiple audits, recounts and investigations. But legal experts said the affidavit revealed more about the weakness of the government’s case than its strength.le audits, recounts and investigations." MB: The judge who signed off on this warrant must have drunk a gallon of "Dr. Don's Excellent Kool-Aid" before she read the affidavits. ~~~
~~~ Dan De Luce of NBC News: “... Donald Trump has instructed the CIA and other spy agencies to provide intelligence about the 2020 election to a former campaign lawyer who led efforts to try to overturn that year’s election.... he administration last year hired Kurt Olsen, who more than five years ago took part in the 'Stop the Steal' campaign that promoted baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, to investigate the 2020 election. 'The president has asked Mr. Olsen to look at intelligence related to the 2020 election and the agency is ensuring that he has the access necessary to do his work,' a CIA official said in an emailed statement.”
⭐Honorable Citizens Stand Up to Crooked President*. Again. Alan Feuer, et al., of the New York Times: “Federal prosecutors in Washington sought and failed on Tuesday to secure an indictment against six Democratic lawmakers who posted a video this fall that enraged ... [Donald] Trump by reminding active-duty members of the military and intelligence community that they were obligated to refuse illegal orders.... It was remarkable that the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington — led by Jeanine Pirro, a longtime ally of Mr. Trump’s — authorized prosecutors to go into a grand jury and ask for an indictment of the six members of Congress, all of whom had served in the military or the nation’s spy agencies. But it was even more remarkable that a group of ordinary citizens sitting on the grand jury in Federal District Court in Washington rejected the effort.... The move to charge the lawmakers — among them, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona and Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan — was, by any measure, an extraordinary attempt by prosecutors to politicize the criminal justice system....” (A subscriber-firewalled URL was linked yesterday.) Update: the link has been changed to a gift link via Cheryl Rofer of LG&$. An NBC News story is here.
Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: “After it became known that Jeffrey Epstein was under investigation in the 2000s, one of the first calls the Palm Beach police received was from Donald J. Trump, the local police chief at the time told the F.B.I. more than a decade later.... Speaker Mike Johnson last year described Mr. Trump as an 'informant' against Mr. Epstein. Mr. Johnson later clarified his remarks, saying he was not sure he used the right word.... Mr. Trump has said that he 'didn’t know' why Mr. Epstein was recruiting employees from Mar-a-Lago, but claimed that he threw him out of the club amid a dispute over stealing spa workers. But other documents in the Epstein files appear to undercut that account, according to Representative Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland, who reviewed unredacted portions of the documents this week. 'Epstein’s lawyers synopsized and quoted Trump as saying that Jeffrey Epstein was not a member of his club at Mar-a-Lago, but he was a guest at Mar-a-Lago and he had never been asked to leave,' Mr. Raskin said.” Broadwater is picking up on a story by Julie K. Brown of the Miami Herald, linked here yesterday.
Hailey Fuchs of Politico: “Rep. Ro Khanna [D-Calif.] took to the House floor Tuesday and read aloud the names of six 'wealthy, powerful men' whose names were originally redacted in the Jeffrey Epstein files It comes after Khanna (D-Calif.) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) emerged from reviewing unredacted materials related to the late convicted sex offender and demanded that the Justice Department reveal these individuals’ identities to the public if their redactions did not fall under the terms established by Congress.... It’s not immediately clear who some of the individuals are, but Khanna identified Leslie Wexner as the billionaire former owner of Victoria’s Secret and other retail companies, and Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem as the chief executive officer of DP World. Representatives for Wexner and bin Sulayem did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Other names include Salvatore Nuara, Zurab Mikeladze, Leonic Leonov, and Nicola Caputo, who could not be reached for comment.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Here's video of Ro Khanna's speech before the House. It's pretty good. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Joseph Gedeon of the Guardian tries to identify the six men Khanna named, but he doesn't have a lot of success. ~~~
~~~ Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "The Justice Department has released the names of three people the FBI once called co-conspirators of Jeffrey Epstein after lawmakers complained that the names had been improperly withheld. The Justice Department unredacted parts of an Aug. 15, 2019, FBI internal document from the bureau's Criminal Investigative Division — which included a reference to billionaire Les Wexner as a co-conspirator — and reposted it after Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., complained that the department had violated the Epstein Files Transparency Act by redacting the names.... The newly released version of the 2019 document shows eight people are listed as co-conspirators, including four whose names are not redacted: Wexner, the former CEO of Victoria’s Secret; Lesley Groff, Epstein's longtime secretary; the late modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel; and Ghislaine Maxwell, the only person who was charged in connection with Epstein.”
What Jamie Saw. Andrew Solender of Axios: "Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told Axios in an interview Tuesday that when he searched ... [Donald] Trump's name in the unredacted Epstein files the previous day, it came up 'more than a million times.'... 'To me, this whole rollout of saying that members can come from nine to five to sit at those four computers, is just part of the coverup,' Raskin asserted."
Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: “Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told members of Congress on Tuesday that he and his family had lunch with Jeffrey Epstein on his Caribbean island, but he denied any suggestion that he had a meaningful relationship with the convicted sex offender. The confirmation of the visit by Lutnick follows growing calls in Washington for his resignation from ... Donald Trump’s Cabinet. Lutnick, a former chairman of the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald who was once Epstein’s neighbor, told the New York Post last year that he and his wife, Allison, decided to distance themselves from Epstein around 2005.” (Also linked yesterday.)
~~~ Daniel Desrochers & Brendan Bordelan of Politico: “In the hearing, Lutnick also faced pointed questions from Democratic Sens. Chris Coons (Del.) and Jeff Merkley (Ore.) over his ties to Epstein.... 'You said casually, “Oh I looked at my name and how it appeared in them, as does everyone,’” said Coons. 'No. Everyone isn’t worried about their names being in the Epstein files.'... Merkley laid out eight instances where DOJ documents suggest Lutnick interacted with Epstein after 2005, when the Commerce secretary had previously claimed he cut off contact with Epstein.... Lutnick has faced bipartisan calls to resign after he appeared in a recent batch of files linked to Epstein.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Ashleigh Fields of the Hill: “Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said Monday she now understands 'what the big deal is' after reviewing unredacted files tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 'I’ve not been one of the members who has glommed on to this as an issue,' Lummis said in an interview with journalist Pablo Manríquez. 'I’ve sort of intentionally deferred to others to find out about it. But 9-year-old victims … wow.... “And the members of Congress that have been pushing this were not wrong....'”
U.S. Government Is Largest Supplier of Mexican Cartel Ammo. Emiliano Vega of the New York Times: “About half of the high-powered .50-caliber cartridges that the Mexican authorities have seized from cartels since 2012 were traced to an ammunition factory outside Kansas City, Mo., that is owned by the United States government, Mexico’s defense secretary said on Tuesday. The factory, the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant, is the largest manufacturer of rifle rounds used by the American military. Mexico’s defense secretary, Gen. Ricardo Trevilla Trejo, said about 137,000 .50-caliber rounds had been seized since 2012. Of those, he added, 47 percent came from Lake City and were sold in gun shops in the southern United States.... General Trevilla Trejo also said that since October 2024, when Claudia Sheinbaum took office as president, the Mexican authorities had seized 18,000 firearms, of which nearly 80 percent came from the United States. ”
Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: “An immigration judge has found there were no grounds to deport a Turkish graduate student whose arrest by masked agents last year was an early salvo in the Trump Administration’s crackdown on migrants. The decision by the judge, Roopal Patel, came last month and was disclosed in federal court by lawyers for the student, Rumeysa Ozturk, this week. It effectively means that the government has no legal justification to deport Ms. Ozturk, a graduate student at Tufts University. Judge Roopal, who as an immigration judge is a Justice Department employee, blocked any further proceedings against Ms. Ozturk, but the government can appeal the decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: But, gosh, what fun it was to terrify a young woman by having masked thugs grab her and abduct her off the sidewalk in broad daylight, then continue to torment her with a series of cruel actions and threats.
Ernesto Londoño of the New York Times: “Facing charges over his presence at a church protest challenging the immigration crackdown in Minnesota, [independent journalist Don] Lemon has hired as one of his defense lawyers a veteran criminal litigator who, until just weeks ago, was helping lead the prosecutor’s office that has charged Mr. Lemon with felonies. Joseph H. Thompson, a former senior federal prosecutor who resigned from the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota in mid-January over the Justice Department’s handling of the immigration operation, has joined Mr. Lemon’s defense team, according to a court filing. Mr. Thompson’s appointment is the latest plot twist in a high-profile case that has been anomalous from the start. By representing the most prominent of nine defendants charged in the church protest case, Mr. Thompson will face off against a department that employed him for nearly 17 years. Mr. Thompson will work alongside Mr. Lemon’s lead defense lawyer, Abbe Lowell.” An AP report is here.
Mattathias Schwartz of the New York Times: “Shortly after a Border Patrol agent shot a 30-year-old Chicago woman five times, Gregory Bovino, who was leading the federal government’s immigration raids across the city, reached out to offer his congratulations. 'In light of your excellent service in Chicago, you have much yet left to do!!' he wrote to the agent. The email is part of a trove of evidence relating to the Oct. 4 shooting of Marimar Martinez, a teacher’s assistant and U.S. citizen, that was released by federal prosecutors on Tuesday night. The material was assembled when the government was pursuing a now-defunct criminal case against Ms. Martinez.... Prosecutors dropped the charges after lawyers for Ms. Martinez, who survived the shooting, raised concerns about the preservation of evidence....
“Coming after a string of shootings by federal agents..., the materials offer a moment-by-moment window into the violence that has accompanied ... [Donald] Trump’s attempt to forcibly overhaul immigration enforcement in U.S. cities. The email from Mr. Bovino is among a series of text messages sent by Charles Exum, the agent who shot Ms. Martinez, and other federal agents.... The newly released texts show Mr. Exum’s messages quickly became filled with backslapping and boasts after the shooting. In one text, a colleague called him 'a legend among agents.'... Mr. Exum appears to claim that Mr. Bovino passed along kudos from the highest levels of the executive branch. 'Are they supportive?' asked another member of the group text thread. 'Big time,' Mr. Exum responded. 'Everyone has been including Chief Bovino, Chief Banks, Sec Noem and El Jefe himself … according to Bovino.'” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Read Exum's claims and contrast them with what the videos show. There is no question that Exum should be prosecuted for attempted murder and that any agents on the scene who did not speak up should be prosecuted as accessories after the fact. They're all criminals. And that includes those "big time" "supportive" jackasses, including "El Jefe himself." I hope Martinez gets a huge settlement, courtesy of us.
Samantha Michaels of Mother Jones: "In the early afternoon [of a Sunday in October 2025], about 200 officers from a range of federal, state, and local agencies descended on [a] racetrack [in the predominantly-Latino town of Wilder, Idaho].... They pointed their guns and screamed at terrified families, according to a lawsuit the ACLU filed on Tuesday; some officers shattered windows and dragged people out of their vehicles.... The authorities ... had a search warrant and criminal warrants to arrest five people, including the track owner, whom they accused of facilitating illegal gambling. But the sweep was much broader. The officers rounded up the entire crowd, some 400 people, zip-tying most adults and many teenagers and forcing just about everyone onto the track, where, according to the suit, they sorted people by perceived immigration status, typically based on skin color. They arrested 105 people for immigration violations.... Witnesses cited in the legal filing accuse the officers of myriad abuses — shooting rubber bullets at teens, throwing flash-bang grenades into vehicles with people inside, pushing children and old people, and preventing people from using the bathroom...." The ACLU lawsuit attempts to get around difficulties in suing federal agents for violating individuals' Constitutional rights.
John Yoon of the New York Times: “The Federal Aviation Administration late Tuesday halted all flights to and from El Paso International Airport in Texas for 10 days, citing unspecified 'special security reasons.' The restriction is effective from 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday to Feb. 20 for the airspace over El Paso and the neighboring community Santa Teresa, N.M., the F.A.A. notices said. They did not detail the security reasons that prompted them. El Paso International Airport issued a travel advisory on social media saying that all flights to and from the airport had been grounded, including commercial, cargo and general aviation. It told travelers to contact their airlines for the latest status of their flights. The airport said in a statement that the restriction had been issued 'on short notice' and that it was waiting for additional guidance from the F.A.A.” At 4:30 am ET, this was a developing story. An AP report is here.
“The vaccine maker Moderna said on Tuesday that the Food and Drug Administration had notified the company that the agency would not review its mRNA flu vaccine, the latest sign of federal health policy that has become hostile to vaccine development. Dr. Vinay Prasad, the agency’s top vaccine regulator, rejected the company’s application for approval over a concern that Moderna’s clinical trial had compared its experimental vaccine against a product the agency did not consider the best on the market. People in the comparison group received Fluarix Quadrivalent, a flu vaccine sold by GSK. Moderna had spent years and hundreds of millions of dollars testing its flu vaccine, enrolling 41,000 people and aimed at a market of adults ages 50 and older....
“Dr. Stephen Hoge, the company’s president..., said the F.D.A. had earlier indicated support for the company’s study plan.... This latest move by the F.D.A. reflects expansion of a new policy under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has repeatedly criticized the mRNA technology used most successfully against Covid and made by both Moderna and Pfizer. Recognized with a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2023, the technology instructs the body to produce a fragment of a virus that then sets off the body’s immune response.” Update: the link has been changed to one that may be a gift link. An AP story is here.
Time Does Not Stand Still, After All. Robert Jimison of the New York Times: “The House on Tuesday rejected a Republican effort to change the chamber’s rules and delay for months any vote on canceling ... [Donald] Trump’s tariffs, as G.O.P. defectors rebuked party leaders who have tried for a year to avoid weighing in on levies that are unpopular with many voters. The defeat cleared the way for Democrats to immediately force a vote on terminating the emergency Mr. Trump declared more than a year ago that imposed tariffs on several nations and kicked off his global trade war. It came after Republicans had sought for the third time this congressional term to use a procedural trick to bend the rules of time, turning months into a single day in the interest of avoiding a tariff vote, and effectively nullifying their chamber’s statutory authority to have a say on the matter.... The Republican opponents who broke ranks and joined all Democrats in voting against the measure were Representatives Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Don Bacon of Nebraska and Kevin Kiley of California.”
Ty Oneil & John Seewer of the AP: “Authorities investigating the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie released the first surveillance images Tuesday showing a masked person with what looked like a handgun holster on her porch the night she went missing more than a week ago. Video released by the FBI shows the person wearing a backpack, long sleeves and pants walking up to the door at the home [outside Tucson, Arizona,] of the mother of 'Today' show host Savannah Guthrie. The footage shows the person trying to cover a doorbell camera near the front door with their gloved hand before putting plants to block the camera’s view.... In the videos, the person appeared to be wearing the holster attached to their front waist area. Another video shows the person purposefully tilting their head down while nearing the front archway. [FBI Director Kash] Patel said the videos were pulled from 'residual data located in backend systems' after investigators spent days trying to find lost, corrupted or inaccessible images....” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ From the pinned item in a New York Times liveblog: “A man who was detained during a traffic stop by investigators looking into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie has been released after questioning....& Outside a home in Rio Rico, a woman said the man was her son-in-law and that investigators had broken down her door and were searching the house. She said her son-in-law had been delivering food when he was stopped by the police. She insisted that the masked figure in a newly released surveillance video was not him.”
~~~~~~~~~~
New Jersey Congressional Race. Tracey Tully of the New York Times: “Tom Malinowski, a former member of Congress, conceded on Tuesday to his main opponent, Analilia Mejia, in the Democratic primary to replace Gov. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey in the House. The Associated Press has not officially declared a winner in the race. But Mr. Malinowski, who was battered by negative advertising from a pro-Israel group, congratulated Ms. Mejia for a 'hard-won victory' four days after polls closed on Thursday.... Mr. Malinowski said in a statement ... that he planned to support her in a special election in April against the Republican nominee, Joe Hathaway.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Virginia Congressional Maps. Gregory Schneider of the Washington Post: “Virginia Democrats gave speedy approval Tuesday to legislation setting out proposed political maps that could give them a 10-1 advantage in the state’s congressional districts during elections this fall, setting the stage to send the matter to Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) to sign or veto as soon as later this week. The maps are part of a complicated, multistep process that still faces a legal challenge and would have to be approved by state voters before going into effect. Democrats put the maps into a budget bill — which they rushed through the parliamentary process — that also contains provisions affecting taxes and pay for state employees. Democrats say the extraordinary redistricting effort is necessary to counter the push by ... Donald Trump to get Republican states to create new red-leaning districts to help the GOP keep its slim majority in the House of Representatives during this year’s midterm elections.”
Virginia Congressional Race. Annie Karni of the New York Times: “The former top deputy to Jack Smith, the special prosecutor who twice indicted Donald J. Trump, is expected to announce on Wednesday that he is running for Congress in Virginia, pitching himself as the only Democrat who actually prosecuted the president. J.P. Cooney, a veteran of the public corruption division of the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, was fired in January 2025, after Mr. Trump purged all prosecutors associated with Mr. Smith. In an interview ahead of his announcement, Mr. Cooney said he decided to enter the political arena because he wanted to push back against what he described as the democracy-threatening lawlessness of the Trump administration.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
Canada. From the pinned item in a New York Times liveblog: “A shooter killed nine people and injured 25 on Tuesday at a high school and a residence in Tumbler Ridge, a remote community in British Columbia, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said. A person believed to be the shooter was also found dead in the school from what appeared to be a self-inflicted injury, said Superintendent Ken Floyd, North District commander of the British Columbia Royal Canadian Mounted Police.”
29 comments:
Hussein Ibish, for The Atlantic, writes that (unsurprisingly), T****’s Gaza Plans Are Profoundly Unserious
"President Trump has extravagant plans for the Gaza Strip. The only problem is that they bear no connection to the grim realities on the ground—nor is there much prospect that the two will align in the foreseeable future.
....
[The master plan] promises industrial parks, educational centers, residential zones, and beach resorts, likely inspired by cities such as Dubai and Singapore. But those cities evolved through decades of careful urban planning. Gaza is, at the moment, a rubbled wasteland. Approximately 80 percent of all structures have been badly damaged or destroyed, and Gazans have nowhere to live except in squalid tents or the ruins of former homes."
Randy Rainbow's Apocalyptic Valentine>
Oliver Kornetzke sums up capitalism as A Death Cult
"Recently at the World Economic Forum, Lindsey Hooper, CEO of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, stood up in front of the billionaire parasite Epstein-class and pitched what might be the most deranged shit yet: that water, soil, and oxygen, yeah, the air we fucking breathe, should be classified as “assets.” Not shared, not sacred, not basic human rights, but commodities. Something to be tracked, owned, traded, and sold like fucking oil futures.
And that right there is the tell. That’s the whole disease in one sentence. Capitalism doesn’t stop at housing. It doesn’t stop at medicine. It doesn’t stop at education. It doesn’t stop at your labor. It doesn’t stop at your body. It doesn’t stop until the literal conditions for life itself are turned into a spreadsheet line item with a price tag attached."
Wendy,
Whoo! Thanks for that Randy Rainbow. Great as always. I'm sure the Blight House nursemaids, Diet Coke fetchers, lechers and truth stretchers work hard to make sure the First Napper never sees stuff like this. One more busted gasket (to go along with the maybe stroke he's already had) and we might have a sofa abuser in the Opioid Office.
Randy's music selections are always excellent but this one is superb. A nice reminder of one of the genius pairings of American pop music, Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Bacharach was notable for his unusual (for pop music, anyway) chord changes and Hal David's lyrics were always killer. My favorite HD rhyme? This one from "I'll never fall in love again":
What do you get when you kiss a guy?
You get enough germs to catch pneumonia
After you do, he'll never phone ya
Phone ya and pneumonia. Great stuff. Anyway, I needed that this morning.
Every time I hear someone talk about reforming ICE, I can feel my head preparing for ignition and liftoff. There simply is no way to reform this monstrosity. Thus, pleased was I to hear an interview on NPR this morning with Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois (D, natch) who is in full agreement that complete interment of ICE is the only way to go now.
First, there's no way you're going to "reform" the "agents", most of whom would be doing time themselves were it not for the ICE letters on their ragtag soldier of fortune, Rambo get ups. I'm not going to offer a percentage, but just for shits N grins, how about 75%? If you have three quarters of your personnel made up violent, law-breaking, Qanon, Proud Boy, white supremacy, Call of Duty gameboy assholes, you ain't gonna send them back to school and turn them into professional law enforcement types. Ain't no way.
Now we get to the real problem. The big cheeses. The Gnome, for one. She has to go. And the farther away, the better. And I'm sure Bovino is not the only sieg heiling, goose stepping, SS-Gestapo wannabe in the ranks of the supervisors and obergruppenführers. Hiring practices have ensured that top to bottom, this agency is chock full of rat bastard sumbitch gunslinging scumbags.
The whole thing has to go.
Will it? HA! Of course not. But that's what should happen. There's no fixing a culture that applauds and condones the murder of innocent Americans who are simply exercising their rights as citizens.
Fuck 'em all.
So here we have BrainWorm Polio Bob criticizing mRNA research? I will hand over my first born if this jamoke can explain the first thing about mRNA biotechnology.
Then we have Fat Hitler's FDA basically massively fucking over Moderna, which created a new mRNA flu vaccine. They did a study of 50,000 patients and you know all this is done by people who know the drill. But since it has come from above that their quacks don’t like the use of the Nobel Prize-winning mRNA technology, the FDA says, “Oh, you used the wrong standard vaccine to compare it to in controls! Too bad! Goalposts moved! See ya!”
Apparently some big private equity or venture capital firm put $750 million into backing this.
So maybe destroy a company that helped save us from Covid.
And I keep reading how guys like Thomas Friedman or today Steven Rattner go to China where they are backing every new technology, clean energy, dirty energy, and are just killing it, making years of progress in as many months, even as we slip back into the 19th century.
Meanwhile Trump is destroying tech industry after tech industry, destroying cutting edge science research, destroying all the renewable energy products that we need to provide electricity for AI and crypto etc. Plus biotech like this. Are the Chinese pulling the rug out from under their innovative industries? Hell no. They have already taken the lead in too many tech areas to count. Pretty soon, we'll find out that Fatty doesn't trust grocery scanners cuz maybe they're too woke and next thing you know, check out people at Publix will be using an abacus.
Fucking insane.
Every time t**** does something to show he thinks he is only *president of those who voted for him by not inviting Democratic governors or shutting off funding to "certain populations", and the yahoos in red states cheer him on, I yearn for someone to point out that Blue states, for the most part, fund red states. Do they really want Democrats to behave the same way? I grew up with I'm OK, You're OK, but I'm not really feeling that right now.
Fucking insane is right! - like this:
As seen on Threads, a clip of an interview of Irish citizen Seamus Culleton.
A modern day concentration camp
"Culleton has been in ICE detention since September, despite having a valid work permit and his own business in the US."
Longer story in The Guardian, In our name, funded with our tax dollars
"After being held in ICE facilities near Boston and in Buffalo, New York, he was flown to a facility in El Paso, Texas, where he is sharing a cell with more than 70 men. Culleton said the detention centre was cold, damp and squalid, and there were fights over insufficient food – “like a concentration camp, absolute hell”, he told the Irish Times, which first reported the story on Monday."
"Don't Panic" - not the fun Hitchhikers' version.
The fact that these insane capitalists want to enact the plot from Spall Balls and steal all our air is nuts. Though they already have their bumbling Lord Helmet who for the right percentage would gladly try to help them.
Take this for what it's worth.
"The Federal Aviation Administration has lifted the closure on the airspace in El Paso, and all flights will resume as normal after the FAA had grounded all flights to and from El Paso on Tuesday night.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed the airspace closure was due to a drone breach.
According to CNN, Mexican cartel drones breached US airspace, an administration official told CNN, which triggered a temporary airspace closure over El Paso.
The airspace closure was prompted by a US military operation related to drug cartels, according to two sources briefed on the matter."
"... According to CNN, Mexican cartel drones breached US airspace, an administration official told CNN, which triggered a temporary airspace closure over El Paso. ... "
Really?
Maybe. But some of us remember the Gulf of Tonkin BS, justifying nine years of US boots in Viet Nam. Expect claims that "cartel drones over El Paso" will be floated as justification for Hellfire shoots on cartel locations.
The difference today is that the US public has no built-in confidence in the honesty or capability of the White House, Pentagon or congress. There is no support for another Pancho Villa chase in Mexico.
Making the US Poorer
"Trump’s Attack on Consumer Watchdog Costing Americans Billions
New report reveals Donald Trump’s attempt to shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau cost families up to $19 billion in one year alone."
More bad math:
A measly 1.3 trillions in savings to ruin the Earth?
How about these numbers?
https://www.chicagobooth.edu/review/price-corporate-americas-carbon-emissions-87-trillion#:~:text=The%20US%20government%20began%20tracking,up%20into%20industry%2Dlevel%20forecasts.
"They're Coming for Our Daughters
The conservative plan to shrink girls’ futures
Jessica Valenti
A few weeks ago, the Heritage Foundation—the powerhouse organization behind Project 2025—released a 250-year roadmap to “save America.” Written by authors with close ties to the Trump administration, the document is a how-to guide for subjugating girls and young women: a detailed plan to push them out of college, funnel them into early marriage and motherhood, and then trap them there.
According to Heritage, the future of the country relies on more straight married couples having more children. To make that happen, the group says, the government has to address multiple factors that “conspire” to drive down birth rates:
“These include the proliferation of birth control, more prospects for women to receive higher education and work outside the home…”
In other words, pretty much every major advancement for women’s rights and freedom is a problem. And whether it’s eradicating “cheap and ubiquitous” access to contraception or appointing family court judges hostile to divorce, Heritage has the answer."
Heritage doesn't have all the answers.
They failed to recommend polygamy, to boost the birthrate.
And such prodigious activity expected of the males would require females of extraordinary pulchritude and athleticism.
Dr. Stangelove worked it out over 60 years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBan2JkWbhs
RAS,
Well, I guess the Heritage misogynists and population planners are probably correct in pushing for more and more babies.
Infant mortality in the 19th century, where we're headed now, was horrific. 30% died before age one. 50% were dead by age five. The two biggest factors were infectious diseases and unclean environmental conditions, both of which are being replicated at a rate that should have us at 1820 mortality conditions in a jiffy.
Fatty is rolling back environmental regulations for clean air and water to help polluting industries' bottom lines. Polio Bob is making sure that the basic childhood diseases that were completely conquered by the middle of the 20th century make a hideous return to American households. The reason is a little unclear. Mental deficiency and basic idiocy are likely culprits, or maybe that worm in his head had babies.
Given that it's expected that American families will lose half their kids by age five, we're gonna have to reproduce like bunnies, or like poor people did in centuries past. How often have you read a bio of some famous person say from the 18th century where you find out that he or she was the only surviving sibling out of a family of eight? We're going back to that.
So...MAGA women and girls, forget about careers or education and all that. Get busy pushing out babies. And you won't have to worry about how you're gonna afford putting seven kids through college. Most of 'em will be dead long before first grade.
Making America Grate Again.
Panicans Unite!
So...what's a Panican? Neologist Don has invented a new word. You know how he's always taking credit for coming up with brand new words and phrases that no one has ever used before? Like "groceries" and "prime the pump" and "fake news", and "affordability"? Well he can take full credit for this word, which is apparently a pejorative, as is his wont.
First, check out RAS's link above, the one that says "Don't panic". There you will see some Blight House edict that tells the MAGA faithful not to be a Panican. I looked it up. It's apparently a Fatty portmanteau linking "panic" and "Republican". Clever, right? Whoo! Must be a big IQ.
Anyway, the definition is odd. Fatty's definition of Panican is someone who is weak and stupid. And correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that the current definition of "Republican"? But...I digress.
So here's Fat Hitler warning the Panicans not to worry cuz he's WINNING! WINNING BIGLY! Winning like there's no tomorrow. But, um...if there's so much winning, and it's so nuts and so never beforely type winning....why the warning? Why is it necessary to tell the passengers on the Titanic not to worry about a thing? Is it because they hear the iceberg carving its initials in the side of the ship? "ICEBERG WAS HERE" is not the most reassuring thing to see on the hull of the only thing keeping you afloat.
I guess he wants to make sure they understand that all is well.
Patrick,
Hey, funny you mention "Dr. Strangelove". I watched it with my 15 year old the other night. I had to explain some of the sixties references he wouldn't have gotten, like the one about fluoridation ("How's that for your basic postwar Commie plot?"), and the various references to "gaps" ("Mr. President! We'll have a mineshaft gap!).
He was quick, however, to pick up on the fact that Darth Vader was part of Major Kong's crew.
Oh yeah, about polygamy. That's already a pretty big thing on the right, in'it? I mean look at Trump...four kids by three different women. Musk, 50 kids by 50 different women (and probably more who didn't have kids). Polio Bob has a list of women he's been canoodling with, giving them ratings on how hot or kinky they were. Wasn't Newt Gingrich badgering his cancer stricken wife for a divorce because he was already having an affair with a secretary? Another Family Values guy married three times. Polygamy seems to be the thing with the moral pygmies.
Walking Rocket this morning, I realized that he's a lot like Fat Hitler. He pees on bushes, trees, posts, mailboxes, and telephone poles (and once on a Trump sign!) all as a show of dominance and to announce to other dogs "I was here, so take that!"
Fatty does the exact same thing by slapping his name on anything he wants. Go to Wikipedia and check out the list of stuff he has named for himself (and things sycophants have named for him). It's astonishing. Trump Towers alone....27! (although many are projects that failed or were never started). 35 other buildings (again some of which have had his name removed or were projects he couldn't get off the ground).
But this new round, the takeover and now imminent destruction of the Kennedy Center, the demolished East Wing, the planned Saloon and Bordello in its place, the Arc de Fatty, his attempted renaming of Dulles and Penn Station, are all bigger sprays of pee which, like the dog he is, he hopes will demonstrate his dominance to other dogs. It must be getting harder for him to lift that leg and spray, given his obvious physical infirmities of late. Maybe KKKaroline helps him pick that limb up. Looks like she gets more than a little overspray, maybe explaining her constant state of hostility and ignorant contempt.
Oh, and one other thing, this one about Penn Station. Have you guys been in Penn Station anytime in the last, say twenty years? You know how many businesses under the Trump name have folded ignominiously? A shitload. Well, Penn Station is already a shithole, and has been for a long time. Yeah, it's a necessary transportation hub, but man, is it awful. I guess it's been pre-Trumped, ready for its new Nom de Perdant.
Piss on that, you fat fuck.
Staggered polygamy is definitely celebrated on the Right, as long as you are white.
"Point of no return: a hellish ‘hothouse Earth’ getting closer, scientists say
Continued global heating could set irreversible course by triggering climate tipping points, but most people unaware
Continued global heating could trigger climate tipping points, leading to a cascade of further tipping points and feedback loops, they said. This would lock the world into a new and hellish “hothouse Earth” climate far worse than the 2-3C temperature rise the world is on track to reach."
But let's mandate more coal power by the government. What could go wrong.
I know Black people, so I can't be racist...
"President Donald Trump has embarked on a bizarre posting spree touting his friendship with Black celebrities following his racist video of Barack and Michelle Obama.
The president took to social media on Wednesday morning to post a series of clips showing him with everyone from ear-biting boxer Mike Tyson, convicted felon Diddy and accused child molester Michael Jackson.
One post, sarcastically titled “A Timeline of Trump’s bigotry,” featured a TikTok video with various images, from the president kissing Black babies and hugging Oprah Winfrey, to shaking Will Smith’s hand and hanging out with Snoop Dogg."
Early morning scanning problems
Very early this morning, I was skimming the Google news feeds and I came across a story about how Fat Hitler's imbecilic administration was now going to rescind the scientifically determined acknowledgment that greenhouse gas played a role in global warming.
Okay, so that was bad enough. But then I read (or thought I did) that the announcement was being made by Led Zeppelin. I thought "Wow. I wonder if they accompanied this announcement with 'The Immigrant Song'". After a blurry double take, I saw that it was actually Lee Zeldin who was saying stupid things, which didn't require me to rethink my opinion of Led Zeppelin for gassing millions of people, raising the world's temperature and putting coastal cities under water in a few years.
So...okay.
Akhilleus,
Isn't Kashmir one of the eighteen wars Dumpy ended on his way to the prestigious FIFA Prize?
Digby has some of the lowlights from the Bondi hearing.
Update!
I heard a report that a request was made to Boxwine Pirro for comment on the spanking she got from the grand jury who told her to come back when she graduated law school after she demanded they indict Democrats for reading the actual LAW on a video reminding military personnel that they are obliged to not obey illegal orders from shitheads like Drunk Pete.
The reporter said they had received no response but decided to leave out the part about how it's not easy to respond when you've polished off three boxes of cheap wine and are currently under the desk with little cartoon birdies circling your head.
Guess the Pretender didn't like the answers:
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5733236-gallup-stops-presidential-approval-ratings-polls/
RAS,
I think when Fatty heard about Kashmir he thought it referred to an overcoat or sweater so he didn’t bother trying to stop any conflicts there. He was too tuckered out anyway from all the other deadly conflicts he’s been taking care of, like stopping Himmler Miller from having ICE come and arrest Susie Wiles.
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