Just in at 8:55 pm ET from a New York Times liveblog of the Virginia redistricting vote. Nick Corasaniti: “Virginia voters approved a plan on Tuesday to gerrymander the state’s congressional map to significantly favor Democrats, according to The Associated Press. The new map could eliminate four of the state’s five Republican-held seats for the 2026 midterm elections, giving Democrats a significant boost in their quest to regain control of the House. The victory by Democrats in Virginia brings the national redistricting war roughly to a draw, effectively blunting the advantage Republicans built last year when they redrew maps for a partisan edge in Texas and other states. Beyond the red-versus-blue calculations, the vote is likely to further buoy Democrats as they seek to capitalize on President Trump’s low approval ratings and the unpopular war with Iran.”
Sammy Westfall, et al., of the Washington Post: “A U.S. delegation was expected to depart Tuesday for a second round of face-to-face peace talks with Iran in the Pakistani capital but was delayed for 'additional policy meetings' involving Vice President JD Vance, a White House official said Tuesday. The fate of the two-week ceasefire in the war remains unclear. Iran has yet to confirm its attendance at the Islamabad talks, instead warning that it is prepared 'to unveil new cards on the battlefield.' The ceasefire is set to expire Wednesday.... Donald Trump accused Iran of violating the ceasefire 'numerous times' in a post on Truth Social early Tuesday. In a separate interview with CNBC, he said the United States is 'going to end up with a great deal' from the negotiations. 'I think they have no choice. We’ve taken out their navy, we’ve taken out their air force, we’ve taken out their leaders,' Trump said.” ~~~
~~~ Update. From the pinned item (at 2:15 pm ET) on the New York Times' liveblog of Iran war developments (the liveblog also was linked earlier today): “Vice President JD Vance’s trip to Pakistan for a second round of negotiations with Iran has been put on hold after Tehran failed to respond to American positions, a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the situation said Tuesday. Iran, for its part, said it had not yet decided whether to resume talks with the United States. With the two-week truce set to expire Wednesday in Iran, it was unclear what steps, if any, Iran or the United States would take next. Talks could resume at a moment’s notice though ... [Donald] Trump has suggested that he did not want to extend the truce without a longer-term agreement. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, said Iran had not decided whether to even go to Pakistan. He blamed it on 'contradictory messages, inconsistent behavior and unacceptable actions by the American side,' according to the nation’s state broadcaster, IRIB.” ~~~
~~~ Update 2: From the NYT pinned item (at 5:00 pm ET): Donald “Trump said he was extending a cease-fire with Iran on Tuesday, just hours before it was set to expire.... The president made the announcement on Truth Social. He said he had received a request from Pakistan ... to hold off any attacks. Mr. Trump said a cease-fire would stay in effect until Iran’s 'leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal.'... Mr. Trump’s announcement was a marked departure from his comments earlier in the day, when he told CNBC that if Iran did not agree to U.S. demands, 'I expect to be bombing.' He also said the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz would continue. Iran, for its part, had earlier called for the United States to lift its naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, called the blockade 'an act of war.'”
Kevin Freking & Steven Groves of the AP: “Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is resigning from Congress rather than be formally disciplined by the House as part of an ethics investigation into her use of campaign funds. Explaining her decision in an extended social media statement Tuesday, the Florida Democrat decried the internal investigation process as unfair. She said the House Committee denied her and her new attorney adequate time to prepare a defense.... Members of the House Ethics Committee on Tuesday had been set to weigh what punishment to recommend after they found she committed 25 violations of House rules and ethical standards, including breaking campaign finance laws. Republicans had already called for the expulsion of Cherfilus-McCormick, who was in her third term and was running for reelection in a southeastern Florida district. She is also facing federal criminal charges accusing her of stealing $5 million in coronavirus disaster relief funds and using the money to buy items such as a 3-carat yellow diamond ring.” Related Axios story linked below.
Thomas Edsall of the New York Times: “The damage ... [Donald] Trump has inflicted on the United States and the world is so enormous and wide-ranging that it is hard to grasp. It runs the gamut from public and private institutions to core democratic customs and traditions, from the legal system to universities, from innocent targets of fraud to those duped into believing vaccines do more harm than good.... Michael Bailey, a political scientist at Georgetown..., [said] he would rank Trump 'as easily the worst president in U.S. history. The corruption and damage to long-term U.S. institutions and reputation are far beyond anything we’ve seen before,' including Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan and Rutherford Hayes. As for being consequential, Bailey continued, Trump has been 'highly consequential in an overwhelmingly negative way. He will leave a lasting negative legacy.'” Read this column if you want to make yourself sick all over again. It's a short catalog of a long list of Trump's abuses. The link appears to be a gift link.
Niraj Chokshi & Lauren Hirsch of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said on Tuesday that he was opposed to a merger of United Airlines and American Airlines, but that he welcomed other airline deals and was open to the government helping at least one struggling carrier. Mr. Trump said that he did not 'mind mergers' and would welcome a deal that might rescue Spirit Airlines from bankruptcy. He also suggested that the federal government could provide assistance to keep Spirit in business. 'Spirit’s in trouble and I’d love somebody to buy Spirit,' he said in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday. 'It’s 14,000 jobs and maybe the federal government should help that one out.' Spirit is in its second bankruptcy in two years. It has been hurt by fierce competition, rising costs, a failed attempt to sell itself to JetBlue Airways and problems with some of its jet engines. The rise in the cost of jet fuel stemming from the war in Iran has recently added to Spirit’s difficulties.”
Jeremy Roebuck of the Washington Post: “The Southern Poverty Law Center, a storied organization founded to promote racial justice in the South, said it is facing a Justice Department investigation including possible criminal charges over its past use of paid informants to infiltrate extremist groups. The civil rights organization revealed the probe in a video message from its CEO, Bryan Fair, who said prosecutors appeared to be preparing legal action against some of its employees.... While the catalyst for the investigation is unclear, such a probe follows conservative-driven congressional inquiries into the SPLC and demands that the Trump administration investigate funding for groups supporting the left. More broadly, the department, under ... Donald Trump, has launched probes of several people and organizations viewed as politically unfriendly to the president.” An AP story is here.
The Freedumb to Make Everybody Sick. Amy Wang & Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: “The military will no longer require U.S. troops to receive the annual flu vaccine, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday, rolling back what he described as an 'overly broad' mandate that had been in place for seven decades.... Hegseth said that under a new policy, soldiers would be able to take the vaccine if they believed it was in their best interest, billing it as an effort to 'restore freedom and strength to our joint force.'... The move alarmed some public health experts, who warned that it would weaken the military’s readiness. 'The Pentagon seems to be redefining vaccination from a force-protection tool into a selective convenience,” said Chris Meekins, a former official in ... Donald Trump’s administration who focused on public health readiness.... 'The risk here isn’t some dramatic overnight military health crisis. It’s death by a thousand cuts: more flu cases, more missed duty days, more hospitalization costs and more preventable readiness losses.'” The AP's story is here.
The New York Times is liveblogging a Senate confirmation hearing for Kevin Warsh, Trump's nominee for Fed Chair. From the pinned item: “Kevin M. Warsh..., Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Reserve, asserted at a confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday that he would not do the president’s bidding on interest rate decisions, pledging to be 'strictly independent' if confirmed for one of the world’s most powerful economic positions. In sometimes testy exchanges, Mr. Warsh, 56, sought to dispel doubts around his credibility, saying Mr. Trump had 'never asked me to predetermine, commit, fix, decide on any interest rate decision in any of our discussions, nor would I ever agree to do so.' Democrats also sought clarity on his roughly $100 million in assets that he has agreed to divest if he is confirmed. Mr. Warsh said that confidentiality agreements had prevented him from providing specific details, and said his investments will be 'as plain vanilla as possible' and 'sitting in something like cash.'” You can watch the hearing on the front page of the NYT.
Maria Abi-Habib, et al., of the New York Times: “Two American officials killed in a car crash early Sunday in northern Mexico while returning from a countercartel operation were officers of the Central Intelligence Agency, according to people familiar with the episode, raising questions about the agency’s role in Mexico’s war against drug cartels. The two C.I.A. officers, along with two Mexican officials, were killed when their vehicle crashed while returning from an operation led by Mexico’s armed forces to dismantle clandestine methamphetamine labs in the mountains, said the authorities in the state of Chihuahua, where the accident occurred.... Mexico’s national security law forbids foreign agents, including U.S. military and law enforcement officials, from operating in the country without authorization from the government.... The Mexican government has consistently rejected pressure from the White House to deploy U.S. forces to Mexico to fight drug groups in an active role, saying that American boots on the ground would violate the country’s sovereignty.”
Is There a Criminal in the House? Yes, at Least Two (Allegedly) ~~~
(1) Andrew Solender of Axios: "Many House Democrats are read!y to vote to expel Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) from Congress as soon as the House Ethics Committee meets to decide her fate on Tuesday.... Republicans are expected to force an expulsion vote, but they will need roughly 80 Democratic votes to remove Cherfilus-McCormick. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has carefully avoided saying how he might advise his members to vote, even if the committee reaches a bipartisan decision that she should be expelled.... Cherfilus-McCormick, who is accused of laundering $5 million in COVID relief funds and funneling it to her campaign, has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty in her criminal trial."
(2) Raquel Uribe of NBC News: “Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., introduced a resolution Monday to expel Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., from Congress over accusations that include sexual misconduct. Mills is being investigated by the House Ethics Committee in connection with allegations of 'sexual misconduct and/or dating violence' and campaign finance violations. He has denied any wrongdoing. While some Democrats have called for his expulsion, Mace went further by announcing Monday evening that she had filed a measure that would remove him from office. 'The swamp has protected Cory Mills for far too long and we are done letting it slide,' Mace said in a statement.... Mace offered a resolution to censure Mills in November. The House voted to refer the matter to the Ethics Committee.”
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At 3:00 am ET, the front page of the New York Times' Website is full of stories about murders. This tabloid twist to the Times is rare.
The New York Times' liveblog of developments in the Iran war is here. From the pinned item at 3:15 am ET: “Vice President JD Vance was expected to leave for Pakistan on Tuesday, ahead of the scheduled end of the two-week U.S.-Iran cease-fire, as Iranian officials said that the country’s top negotiator would attend peace talks with the United States if Mr. Vance were there.... In the Strait of Hormuz, a tense calm prevailed on Monday, a day after the U.S. Navy seized and boarded an Iranian cargo ship in the nearby Arabian Sea. The United States and Iran remained at an impasse over marine traffic through the strait, a strategic waterway for moving oil and gas. The U.S. Navy said it had so far turned back 27 ships as part of its blockade of Iranian ports.”
Ben Geman of Axios: Donald " Trump said Monday he'll use a Cold War-era national security law [-- the Defense Production Act --] to try and bolster domestic production of motor fuels and electricity.... The series of presidential memos Trump signed are needed for the Energy Department to use funding secured in last year's GOP budget law, a White House official said.... The memos address petroleum production and refining, coal-fired power, natural gas pipelines and processing, and more."
Everything Go Boom! Aamer Madhani, et al., of the AP: “... Donald Trump offered mixed messages on Monday about the path ahead for the U.S. war against Iran, declaring that he was in no rush to end the conflict while also expressing confidence that further negotiations with Tehran will soon take place in Pakistan. With the 14-day ceasefire to expire Wednesday, Trump whipsawed in telephone interviews and social media posts between measured optimism that a deal could soon be reached and warning that 'lots of bombs' will 'start going off' if there’s no agreement before the ceasefire deadline. Trump indicated that he still expects to dispatch his negotiating team, led by Vice President JD Vance, to Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad for a second round of talks, even as Iran insisted it would not take part until Trump dialed back his demands. Iran’s chief negotiator and parliament speaker, Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf, accused the United States of wanting Iran to surrender and added that on the contrary, Iran has been preparing 'to reveal new cards on the battlefield.'” MB: I favor plain language over jargon, but Trump's simple-minded, childish everything-go-boom/lots-of-bombs descriptions of Iran war developments are starting to get to me. ~~~
~~~ Trump Is So Out of It. Natalie Allison, et al., of the Washington Post: “Even as United Nations Ambassador Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright were [on Sunday morning talk shows] confirming [JD] Vance’s participation [in peace negotiations in Pakistan]..., Trump was telling the networks the opposite. Vance wouldn’t be traveling to Pakistan because of security concerns, the president told journalists from ABC and MS NOW in separate phone calls Sunday morning.... The contradictory remarks highlighted a continuing challenge for the administration: On information as basic as who would attend high-stakes peace talks, as well as on broader questions of whether Iran has agreed to terms for a deal, Trump’s oscillating claims have led to confusion and required clean-up by his staff.... Trump [also] has offered shifting accounts of the status of talks with Iran and of the Strait of Hormuz that have been contradicted by the Iranians and sometimes himself. He has contradicted himself, as well his energy secretary, about prospects for lower gasoline prices. And he has offered conflicting accounts on one of the key issues in the conflict — the fate of Iran’s highly enriched uranium.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Daniel Dale of CNN: “... a pattern that has accelerated over the past week – of this president being incorrect about even the most basic of matters related to the Iran war.” Dale runs down a number of lies and misstatements Trump has made about developments. ~~~
~~~ Marie: There are a couple of reasons this isn't surprising. (1) Trump does not have the mental capacity to keep track of what is going on in what is, admittedly, a fast-moving series of developments. (2) He isn't smart enough to understand some basic aspects of the dispute; that's why he's making announcements about "nuclear dust." (3) Trump can't handle the stress of things going badly: over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported that when Iran shot down a U.S. fighter jet, Trump “'screamed at aides for hours' and was then 'kept out of the [Situation R]oom' while his team was given minute-by-minute updates, according to a report.” That is, aides don't tell Trump what's going on, or they paint inaccurate, simplified or rosy pictures of what's happening, AND he can't necessarily remember even these. If you watched Sen. Jon Ossoff's recitation (embedded yesterday) of Trump's "status reports" on the Iran war, then you know the war "ended" about a dozen times. And we won! ~~~
~~~ Marcy Wheeler dissects the Wall Street Journal article on Trump's erratic behavior in a post titled, "The Person Playacting as President May Be Getting Addicted to Snuff Films." Near the end of the post, she also looks at how the fake president* spends most of his time -- which is not doing presidenty things, although perhaps one could argue that watching snuff videos of murders he has sanctioned is "presidential."
So Much Losing.
Tony Romm & Ana Swanson of the New York Times: “The Trump administration on Monday is set to take its first steps toward returning more than $166 billion collected from tariffs that were struck down in February. Just over a year after imposing many of the duties, the government is expected to begin accepting requests for refunds, surrendering its prized source of revenue — plus interest. For some U.S. businesses, the highly anticipated refunds could be substantial, offering critical if belated financial relief. Tariffs are taxes on imports, so the president’s trade policies have served as a great burden for companies that rely on foreign goods.... By Monday morning, those companies can begin to submit documentation to the government to recover what they paid in illegal tariffs. In a sign of the demand, more than 3,000 businesses, including FedEx and Costco, have already sued the Trump administration in a bid to secure their refunds, with some cases filed even before the Supreme Court’s ruling.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: “... coursing through the discussions among the thousands of participants ... at Turkey’s showcase diplomatic conference in the Mediterranean resort town of Antalya over the weekend..., were questions about how to respond when the United States disregards its allies and the global order it long professed to represent.... Dozens of heads of state and other senior officials from Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia [discussed how] the foreign policy chaos of ... [Donald] Trump’s second term, the vast disruptions caused by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, has put new urgency behind the idea that Turkey and other so-called middle powers should count less on global heavyweights and instead partner with their neighbors to manage their own regions. The desire for such cooperation surfaced repeatedly at the conference, the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, which concluded on Sunday. (Also linked yesterday.)
Jim Morris of the AP: “Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a video address released Sunday that Canada’s strong economic ties to the United States were once a strength but are now a weakness that must be corrected....'The world is more dangerous and divided,' Carney said. 'The U.S. has fundamentally changed its approach to trade, raising its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression.'... Carney said he plans to give Canadians regular updates on his government’s efforts to diversify away from the U.S.” Thanks to RAS for the lead. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
Marie: It occurred to me -- not for the first time -- as I read Mark Carney's remarks that Trump doesn't know how to lose. This is a fairly strange thing, because we already know that Trump is one of the world's biggest losers. Do you know of anyone else who has had six bankruptcies? He lost millions and millions of dollars he inherited. At one point he and his companies had been involved in something like 3,500 lawsuits, and Donald Trump had to have lost a large percentage of those; otherwise, you too could attend Trump "University." He lost almost every suit in his attempt to overturn the 2020 election. Even in more personal matters, he was a tremendous flop. We know that at least two dozen women say they rejected him when he sexually assaulted them; for every one of those women, there have to be at least 20 others who didn't report his gross advances but nonetheless told him to get lost.
Most people would try a different tack after just a few of those losses. But Trump only got worse. He amplified his bad behavior. He went from insulting a war hero -- John McCain -- to insulting the Pope. He doesn't seem to realize that those women who rejected him moved on to real relationships, that the companies who won lawsuits against him found other business opportunities, that every sane person knows Joe Biden won the 2020 election and crucially, now, that the countries he has dissed, belittled, used and abused will find other ways to succeed without the U.S. (Also linked yesterday.)
Heather Cox Richardson also remarks on Trump's numerous failures. But maybe it doesn't matter all that much to him. After all, she notes, “... Nick Marsh of the BBC explained the fact pattern behind the general suspicion that someone is engaging in insider trading over Trump’s war announcements. After matching the president’s market-moving statements to the trade volume on a number of financial markets, Marsh found 'a consistent pattern of spikes just hours, or sometimes minutes, before a social media post or media interview was made public.' Marsh notes a similar spike over Trump’s announcement of his 'Liberation Day' tariffs of last April.” Somebody's winning.
The High Cost of Crazy. Amit Seru in a New York Times op-ed: “Mr. Trump’s constant policy swings are offsetting whatever benefits his business-friendly instincts might bring. There is some irony that a president who was elected in part because of his perceived business acumen is instead intensifying one of the most corrosive forces in the economy: the creeping of political dysfunction into capitalism itself.... A growing number of economists and executives describe this as a period of heightened hesitation, when businesses are delaying and canceling investments and hiring because they cannot predict the rules under which those decisions will play out.... There are already signs that Mr. Trump’s overreaching is seeding a backlash from the left that may further feed the cycle.... The risk is not a single shift, but repeated swings in different directions. This is how political dysfunction is seeping into American capitalism: not through one sweeping reform, but through a steady erosion of stability.”
Megan Janetsky & Maria Verza of the AP: “Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday she would demand explanations over what U.S. and Mexican officials were doing in northern Chihuahua when they died in an accident over the weekend, noting that any joint collaborations between the local government and the U.S. without federal permission would be a violation of Mexican law. The crash, following an operation to destroy a clandestine drug lab in a rural area, has reignited a debate over the extent of U.S. involvement in Mexican security operations. Speculation was only fueled by Sheinbaum, local officials and the U.S. Embassy appearing to contradict each other and at times themselves, and offering sparse details about the U.S. officials who died. 'It was not an operation that the security cabinet was aware of,' Sheinbaum told journalists. 'We were not informed; it was a decision by the Chihuahua government.'”
This Is Alarming. Ken Klippenstein: “The Department of Homeland Security is developing specialized smart glasses that will allow federal agents on American streets to automatically identify 'illegal aliens' from a distance, budget documents reveal. These new ICE Glasses, building on available glasses that allow video recording and heads-up data display, will be able to pulse vast federal holdings of biometric data — from facial recognition to walking gait — to identify people in real-time. A ... [DHS attorney told me the glasses project '... might be portrayed as seeking to identify illegal aliens on the streets, but the reality is that a push in this direction affects all Americans, particularly protestors.' The official also says that the technologies and algorithms behind the smart glasses are as applicable to general government surveillance as they are to the current immigration war. Commercial smart glasses are already facing major hurdles regarding privacy, ethics, and data security — and ICE Glasses will only deepen those concerns.”
Katie Robertson of the New York Times: “The F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, sued The Atlantic on Monday, accusing it of defamation over an article that claimed his excessive drinking and unexplained absences were putting his job in jeopardy. The article ... was published on Friday and detailed Mr. Patel’s behavior in his role leading the Federal Bureau of Investigation, citing more than two dozen anonymous sources. The author, Sarah Fitzpatrick, wrote that Mr. Patel’s conduct had 'often alarmed officials at the F.B.I. and the Department of Justice.' The article said he 'has also earned a reputation for acting impulsively during high-stakes investigations.' Mr. Patel denied the claims in a statement to The Atlantic, which the article included....
“The suit seeks $250 million in damages. [MB: seems reasonable!]... Mr. Patel, as a public figure, must meet a higher standard than an ordinary citizen to prove his case. He must show not only that there were falsehoods in the article but also “actual malice” — a legal standard that means that the defendants published defamatory material either while knowing it was false or with reckless disregard as to its truth.” MB: The suit, IMO, is a bluff. Patel is a lawyer, so he knows that dozens of witnesses against him may be called to testify under oath in depositions. And if he has any self-awareness at all, he knows those witnesses -- who will no longer be anonymous as they were in the Atlantic report -- will testify at length that they witnessed him in various states of drunkenness & incapacity. Some will bring receipts -- in a few cases, real receipts -- like bar tabs. This case is not going to get as far as the first depo. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Politico's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Joyce Vance analyzes Patel's complaint. She adds: "... the image that provides a backdrop for this case is the one of Patel, chugging a beer in the U.S. Men’s Hockey Team’s locker room after their Olympic victory. This is an FBI director who, regardless of the outcome of this litigation, has left the public with that impression of him with his own behavior. It’s impossible to imagine a Robert Mueller, in his starched white shirts, of even one of his successors like Louis Freeh, Jim Comey, or Chris Wray, in a similar predicament. That kind of behavior would have been unimaginable in their day for someone whose primary concern was preserving the integrity of the organization they led and its ability to serve the American people.” ~~~
~~~ Marcy Wheeler is wondering, in a post titled, "In Lawsuit Not Mentioning the Olympics, Kash Patel Swears He’s Not a Drunk," "What is Kash doing at the FBI that would generate $250 million in value for himself?"
Lauren Gurley & Meryl Kornfield of the Washington Post: “Lori Chavez-DeRemer..., Donald Trump’s labor secretary, is leaving her position amid professional misconduct allegations, becoming the third Cabinet member to depart during Trump’s second term. White House communications director Steven Cheung posted on X on Monday that Chavez-DeRemer would leave the Cabinet to take a position in the private sector, though he did not say where she was going. Cheung said the deputy labor secretary, Keith Sonderling, would become the acting head of the agency. The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor: “Lori Chavez-DeRemer ... [is] alleged to have been drinking during the workday from a 'stash' of alcohol in her office, arranging official trips for herself that were extended vacations, taking subordinates to an Oregon strip club while on one such trip, showing no interest in the work of the department, and having an affair with a member of her security team. Sources have described Chavez-DeRemer as the 'boss from hell,' saying she demanded staffers run personal errands for her or perform other menial tasks unrelated to their government jobs.... And I hold Trump responsible because he appointed her.... Like so much else Trump has done, he’s turned what was once a great department into a fucking mess.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Gosh, do you suppose it's just happenstance that from his Cabinet of Horribles Trump has tossed three secretaries -- and they're all women? Update: Paul Campos in LG&$ is wondering, "What exactly does a white guy have to do to get fired around here?"
Last week, Lawrence O'Donnell brought of RFKJ's "effortless" racism -- and his perjury about it -- and I did not highlight it. Well, O'Donnell raised the matter again, and I won't let it go this time: ~~~
Marie: Garrett Graff lists “five Trump scandals you've probably missed.” We caught four out of the five here at Reality Chex. The one I missed: “The Washington Examiner reported earlier this month that Michael Banks, the chief of the Border Patrol, 'was known among colleagues for taking regular trips abroad to engage in sex with prostitutes, according to six current and former Border Patrol employees…. Banks “bragged” to colleagues while in his previous management role at Border Patrol about paying for sex with prostitutes while traveling in Colombia and Thailand over the course of a decade. Banks’ behavior was said to have been investigated by Customs and Border Protection officials twice, including last year, but the investigation ended abruptly while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was in office, leading to more questions.'” Here's my excuse: Graff notes that after the initial report in the right-wing Examiner, follow-up has been “all but crickets” about the Banks story.
Last week, RAS linked a report by Devin Dwyer of ABC News with this lede: "Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Wednesday delivered a televised broadside against progressivism, a political philosophy he described as an existential threat to America and the principles that founded it 250 years ago." This week, Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times has commented upon Thomas' remarks. It is worth hearing him out, but if you don't have time, listen to the part beginning at about 8:40 minutes in, where he compares Thomas' opining with that of Justice Sotomayor: ~~~
Annals of “Journalism,” Ctd. Mark Jacob of Stop the Presses: No one can watch videos of masked federal agents executing people in the streets and think this is normal. No one can miss an entire ethnic group being smeared as 'garbage' and 'low-IQ.' No one can ignore the illegal war with Iran, the attempted takeover of elections or the outrageous pardons for rich people who put money in the Trump family’s pockets. Journalists – even lazy journalists – can’t miss this authoritarian rot. It’s not cluelessness anymore. It’s cowardice and complicity. And it’s inexcusable.... It’s obvious that Republicans are trying to end democracy and establish a dictatorship. News media that don’t tell you that are failing you." Read the whole post.
Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Benjamin Mullin & Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: “When Infowars, the website founded by the right-wing conspiracist Alex Jones, came up for sale two years ago, an unlikely suitor stepped up. The Onion, a satirical news outlet, planned to convert the site into a parody of itself. That sale was scuttled by a bankruptcy court. Now, The Onion has re-emerged with a new plan: licensing the website from Gregory Milligan, the court-appointed manager of the site. On Monday, Mr. Milligan asked Maya Guerra Gamble, a judge in Texas’ Travis County District Court overseeing the disposition of Infowars, to approve that licensing agreement in a court filing. Under the terms, The Onion’s parent company, Global Tetrahedron, would pay $81,000 a month to license Infowars.com and its associated intellectual property — such as its name — for an initial six months, with an option to renew for another six months. The licensing deal has been agreed to by The Onion and the court-appointed administrator. But it is not effective until Judge Guerra Gamble approves it, and Mr. Jones could appeal any ruling.” The link appears to be a gift link. Politico's report is here.
Tim Apple Steps Down. Kalley Huang & Tripp Mickle of the New York Times: “Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said on Monday that he would step down after nearly 15 years running an operation that rode the wild popularity of the iPhone to become one of the most influential and valuable companies in the world. Mr. Cook, 65, will move into a new role as Apple’s executive chairman in September and be succeeded in the company’s corner office by John Ternus, the 50-year-old head of Apple’s hardware engineering. The resignation of Mr. Cook will end one of the most successful management runs in the history of American business. During his tenure, Apple’s annual profit quadrupled to more than $110 billion, while its value ballooned more than tenfold to $4 trillion.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: The ever-gracious USA President* weighed in with the usual complimentary valedictory remarks for his friend Tim Apple, bestower upon Trump of the one and only 24-karat "Golden Apple" prize: ~~~
~~~ Tom Durante of Mediaite. “Donald Trump mused about the time Apple boss Tim Cook called him to 'kiss my ass' in a lengthy social media post on Tuesday, the day after it was announced that Cook was stepping down as head of the tech giant.” MB: Read the whole post, which includes Trump's full remarks. It turns out that Tim would not have been nearly so successful if not for Trump because -- only Trump could fix Tim's problems.
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Pennsylvania. Kimberlee Kruesi & Marc Levy of the AP: “A Pennsylvania court on Monday said that the state’s constitution guarantees a right to abortion while striking down a decades-long law banning the use of state Medicaid funds to cover abortion costs. The ruling by a divided seven-judge panel of the appellate-level Commonwealth Court is a major victory for Planned Parenthood and abortion clinic operators who first sued Pennsylvania over its Medicaid funding restrictions in 2019. While the case initially centered over state Medicaid limitations, the stakes significantly expanded after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 ended nearly a half-century of federal abortion protections by overturning Roe v. Wade. The court’s finding on Monday marks the first time that the right to an abortion is protected by the Pennsylvania constitution, joining a handful of states where reproductive rights advocates have found success in protecting abortion access by pointing to state constitutions.”
Virginia. Gregory Schneider of the Washington Post: “Virginians head to the polls [today] to vote on a redistricting referendum that could add as many as four Democratic seats to the House of Representatives, capping a high-stakes and costly effort by the party to counter ... Donald Trump’s push to add Republican seats in other states. Early voting began March 6 and drew a large turnout for an out-of-season Virginia election, with total numbers nearly matching the early vote ahead of last fall’s gubernatorial race. Nearly 1.37 million early ballots had been cast as of Saturday, according to incomplete state figures, compared with about 1.5 million early votes in the 2025 election.”
27 comments:
On Amit Seru:
If not sane washing, white washing. I found it hard to understand how anyone could write about the Pretender's business practices without mentioning corruption.
My comment:
None are so blind?
Willfully or not, in his list of the tariff gyrations, the author doesn't mention one of their most critical factors: the way Trump deploys tariffs to benefit himself and his own family businesses.
The self-interest at capitalism's core invites corruption, and now that we have such an obviously corrupt capitalist in the White House that factor would seem worthy of mention.
But then the author is a Hoover Fellow, associated with an institution that exists to white-wash capitalism, it's no real surprise.
Keep your fingers off.
The Mirror, British tabloid, but...
"Trump 'blocked from accessing nuclear codes' by head of US military
US President Donald Trump is alleged to have received push-back from a senior military person in a meeting at the White House during an attempt to access his country's nuclear codes"
Brainstorming Foreign Policy
By Cheryl Rofer
Fight the Power
"Donald Trump has agreed to be the guest of honor when the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) holds its annual dinner April 25.
Some journalists, apparently grasping the fact that the dinner will make them look like toadies, will wear “pocket squares and pins with the words of the First Amendment, in a subversive gesture supporting press freedom,” according to the Status newsletter. The merch, sold by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, will feature a hand-drawn design by CNN’s Jake Tapper."
The WHCA invited a man who has attacked, threatened, blackmailed, and destroyed much of the press and the First Amendment. They hired a mentalist because they were too afraid to have someone who might speak truth to power, a rare event. But they are standing up with Pocket Squares? A useless gesture that no one beyond themselves will even know is just the kind of "pushback" that this feckless press would champion. It is also the kind of worthless gesture that has helped FH into power. The fact that so many Americans know so little of what this man and the GOP have done to them is a spectacular failure of their life's work. But pocket squares with a few catch phrases that they haven't believed in for decades will demonstrate once again how, like Melania, "I don't care, do you?"
"The Bet Howard Lutnick’s Sons Made Against Trump’s Tariffs Just Paid Off
The US government opened a $166 billion tariff refund portal on Monday — and questions are back over whether Cantor Fitzgerald, the investment bank run by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s sons, positioned itself months ago to collect a significant portion of it.
Cantor — now run by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s sons Brandon and Kyle — was documented by Wired offering to buy the rights to potential government refunds from companies that paid IEEPA tariffs, fronting immediate cash in exchange for the full payout if courts ruled the levies illegal."
Veterans Against Fascism
"Veterans and military family members protesting Trump’s war in Iran were arrested inside the Capitol on Monday, bringing one of the country’s most symbolically powerful anti-war constituencies directly into the legislative complex as public skepticism over the conflict continues to deepen."
@Ken Winkes: Right you are. I do find it remarkable that a right-leaning academic finds fault with Trump in a way that speaks to Trump's personal behavior, not only to his policies. This is a Hoover "scholar" arguing that Trump's complete lack of personal discipline -- which translates to abrupt, middle-of-the-night policy revisions -- is causing so much uncertainty among corporate "deciders" that Trump is devastating the economy.
There's another thing about Trumpian instability that Seru doesn't mention at all, and it seems to be because he doesn't appreciate it. I'm talking about how Trump & Elon ripped up the bureaucracy. Seru seems to deplore the bureaucracy and its regulatory function -- he complains that Biden "pushed regulators to take a tougher stance on large technology companies and mergers and introduced new expectations on climate, D.E.I., and corporate behavior."
There are two things going on here, & Seru doesn't get either one of them:
(1) the bureaucracy -- which generally stays in place from one administration to the next -- establishes continuity in U.S. business practices. Sure, laws can change and so can interpretations of laws, but for the most part the gigantic bureaucracy hums along with only relatively minor disruptions.
(2) regulations provide across-the-board stability. All businesses are required to obey more-or-less the same safety regulations, for instance. So everybody has to buy a "Slippery When Wet" sign, not just those businesses whose executives care about workers or customers falling & hurting themselves. When Trump removes or doesn't enforce existing regs, he's not helping business, as Seru implies; rather, Trump is destabilizing the status quo; some business will continue to incur regulatory costs for any number of reasons, while others will welcome the "freedom" to let people slip and fall.
@Marie
@Marie
What those bidness people like Seru don't get is capitalism's entire absence of conscience, such an obvious deficiency one would think it would be impossible to miss, unless the missing is willful.
Capitalism is institutionalized selfishness. By its very nature taps our worst anti-social instincts. In small, closely-connected communities its anti-social behaviors are held in check by peer pressure, but on a large scale, where vast enterprise is isolated from the general population and where business is unchecked by government regulation ( representative of the peoples' conscience), it is freed to destroy both the planet and the social fabric in the name of individual profit.
And that's what it's doing.
@RAS: The Mirror's source was Larry Johnson, a former CIA officer with a long history of dispensing disinformation: according to Wikipedia, he claimed Michelle Obama dissed "whitey" from the pulpit of Jeremiah Wright's church; that Barack Obama had ordered Donald Trump's 2016 campaign to be wiretapped; & that Russia didn't interfere in the 2016 election. According to his Wikipage, he's a hit on pro-Kremlin Russian media.
So I'm betting the story about Trump reaching for the nuclear codes & Gen. Caine saying no is not true. At least I hope it's not true.
Drunk Pete sez no more flu shots? So, what, are flu shots too woke now for manly man lethal killing machine Petey?
You see, this is why history (and common sense) are important and why both have been outlawed in Fat Hitler's world.
The world flu pandemic of 1918 began....where? In an ARMY BARRACKS!! at Camp Ruston (part of Fort Riley) in Kansas.
From Google AI:
"First Case: Camp cook Albert Gitchell is often cited as the first recorded case, reporting to the Camp Funston hospital on March 4, 1918, with severe flu symptoms.
Rapid Spread: Within weeks of the first case, thousands of soldiers at Camp Funston were ill, and the virus quickly spread to other U.S. military bases and Europe, driven by troop movements in World War I."
This is gonna be Drunk Pete's Petri dish. Take a bunch of unvaccinated people. Stick 'em in close contact for months at a time. Then put them on a troop ship heading off to the next place Fat Hitler wants to invade.
In short order, troop strength is diminished 10%, then 25%, then 50% because they've all got the flu. I guess history is too woke now as well. You know what else is woke? People who aren't dead or in a hospital room.
The whole idea of troop strength is tossed out the window if you don't take incredibly easy steps to protect them from incapacitation by some virus. It's one thing to get shot in combat, that's bad, but at least the guy was out in the field, not in a hospital bed. Has there ever been an administration so beset by unforced errors due to rank stupidity?
I guess Drunk Pete isn't worried about getting sick. Being permanently pickled, he figures no virus would survive for very long in a blood stream 50% alcohol.
Speaking of alkys, what is it with Fatty? I thought he was a tee-totalin' mofo. Why is he surrounded by slobbering drunks? Drunk Pete, Fifth-a-Day Kash, Lori (Bottle in Desk) Chavez-DeRemer, Boxwine Pirro, not to mention Needle Arm Bobby, and all the other losers. It’s a fucking rogues gallery of creeps, grifters, liars, crackpots, dipso douchebags, and maniacs.
Who else thinks it's a kneeslapping roar that snowflake Alex Jones is having a big crybaby sad that his beloved spreader of lies and conspiracy bullshit, "InfoWars" will shortly be run by The Onion? Poor little Alex, he's screaming "They want to pretend they're ME!" Um....not to break it to you like this Al, but NO ONE wants to pretend to be you. You are a fucking idiot. Not unless they're some braindead maggot. And don't miss his charge that The Onion is spreading "misinformation"! Hahahahahahaha....'nuff said. Fuck him and his horse.
Oh...hang on....members of the media who are protesting the WHCA dinner appearance of Freedom of Speech enemy number one, Fat Hitler, will be wearing "Jake Tapper autographed pocket squares"?
No way! That oughta show 'em. Boy, will Trump ever be sorry he came to this dinner with reporters wearing....POCKET SQUARES!
And people wonder why the Fifth Estate is such a haven for supine, ball-less both-sides, mealy mouth, sane washing supplicants.
Hmmm....So the Crime Lord is unhappy with a certain merger between United and American Airlines. BUT, his lordship might be amenable to something that would "save" Spirit airlines.
Gotta be something in it for him, right? He never does a thing without a payoff or money in his own pocket.
Anytime I read about Fatty inserting himself into a deal that's none of his business, I just know there's a catch somewhere. He's getting rich on it or there's some other transaction afoot.
He's a fat sneaky shit, but not as sneaky as he thinks he is.
You better not!
The Orange Monster is snipping that he will personally be offended by companies that seek tariff reimbursement , so they better not.
Companies that don't will be the beneficiaries of a grateful crook.
"President Donald Trump on Tuesday told CNBC that he will gratefully 'remember' U.S. companies that do not seek refunds for the tariffs he unilaterally imposed, which the Supreme Court later ruled were illegal.
Trump’s comment on 'Squawk Box' came a day after U.S. Customs and Border Protection opened a portal for importers to seek more than $160 billion in potential refunds for the so-called IEEPA tariffs.
He was asked about a number of large companies, among them Apple and Amazon that have not filed requests for refunds for the tariffs they paid, potentially because they are worried about 'offending' Trump.
Asked if he would find it offensive for them to seek a refund, Trump said, 'Brilliant if they don’t do that.'"
So what we have here is a slimeball president* who instituted illegal and unconstitutional tariffs that cost Americans and American companies billions and who is now saying they better not request the reimbursements they are legally due because it will be piss him off, but if they don't, they may get some consideration from him in the future.
Could the corruption be any more obvious? He does it out in the open now and JUST DOESN'T CARE, because no one will do anything about it anyway, so just go ahead and toss off more threats. In his warped mind, he sees companies who decline to get the money he owes them because they must agree with the Crime Boss that he was right in the first place.
Corrupt, corrupt, corrupt. And it's never going to end until his fat ass is out of office farting in some golf cart somewhere.
Something I forgot to include in the quotes from that piece about Fatty threatening businesses who ask for a reimbursement....at one point, he says to the CNBC interviewer--something he says a lot,which never ceases to get either a chuckle or something thrown across the room--"You know, I'll be honest with you..."
Really? You will? WHEN? I'll mark my calendar. Boy, I wouldn't want to miss that. That would be like a combination solar-lunar total eclipse with a sighting of six new comets, five new planets, and Melanie wearing "I really do care" on one of her $3,000 designer jackets, and Bigfoot showing up in a pickup driven by Elvis.
Thank ya, boys
A phrase I used to hear from Lawrence Welk on the TV, while sitting in my grandmother's living room after the band performed one of their squeaky clean numbers.
But now, as a little humorous break from all the Trumpy Madness, here's Lawrence Welk introducing a couple of singers doing the Brewer and Shipley song "One toke over the line", which he obviously thought was some kind of spiritual. Hahahahaha....maybe he was a few tokes over the line himself that night.
Thanks ya, boys....don't Bogart that J, now where's my roach clip?
Thank ya, boys
Thought I included the link....
DiJiT must really be grateful to China, for not filing for tariff reimbursements .... oh, wait ... it's because they didn't pay the tariffs ... you did.
Emily Litella sends regards.
"That's our job" yelled Republicans
"The Department of Justice on Tuesday announced a bombshell 11-count fraud indictment accusing the Southern Poverty Law Center of secretly funding white supremacist and other hate groups that the civil rights group claimed to be battling.
The group’s interim CEO, Bryan Fair, in a statement responding to Blanche’s press conference, said, “We are outraged by the false allegations levied against SPLC – an organization that for 55 years has stood as a beacon of hope fighting white supremacy and various forms of injustice to create a multi-racial democracy where we can all live and thrive."
"Helping" the voters by restricting their votes.
"Republican attorneys general from a dozen states moved to help the White House defend President Donald Trump’s executive order on mail-in voting Tuesday.
That lawsuit has been combined with two others from voting rights groups that also seek to block the order. While the Democratic plaintiffs argue that the executive order would unduly restrict mail voting access and insert federal agencies into election administration — a role the Constitution explicitly reserves for states and Congress — the Republican attorneys general argue it would actually help them."
In his book on morality, "Beyond Good and Evil", Nietzsche posited that there is no universality when it comes to good and evil, that every age needs to make those distinctions. What worked in the Middle Ages may not work in the Enlightenment. Had Nietzsche ever known Donald Trump, he would know he had come face to face with evil, the kind that would be considered evil in any age from cave men to starships.
He is now planning on sending Afghans who risked their lives helping US service members in Afghanistan to the Democratic Republic of Congo. And no, this isn't a joke:
"After halting a U.S. resettlement program for Afghans who helped the American war effort, President Trump is in talks to send as many as 1,100 of them to the Democratic Republic of Congo, an aid worker briefed on the plan said Tuesday.
The group includes interpreters for the U.S. military, former members of the Afghan Special Operations forces and family members of American service members. More than 400 children are among them.
The Afghans have been living in limbo in Qatar for over a year. They were taken there after being evacuated by the United States for their own safety because they supported American forces during the war against the Taliban that began in 2001."
Oh, but wait. Mr. Scratch is giving these people a choice. Go to the DRC where they are in the middle of an enormous humanitarian crisis, or....he'll send them back to Afghanistan and let the Taliban slice them up and rape their wives and daughters...before killing them.
This truly is beyond evil. Freddy only thought he knew evil. He never met Trump. "Thanks for helping us out. Now go to hell." Literally.
Sorry. I am so beyond frustrated and outraged by this fucking monster, I forgot the link for that last comment.
And if that weren't enough....now taxpayers are going to have to BAIL OUT THE UAE!!!@#$%^&???
Are you fucking kidding me??
"President Trump said on Tuesday that the United States was considering offering financial support to the United Arab Emirates, an oil-rich ally that has been contending with economic fallout from the war in Iran.
The war has damaged oil and gas infrastructure throughout the Middle East, dealing a blow to economies that rely on the Strait of Hormuz to transport crude around the world. The Emirates is an unlikely recipient of economic support, and the fact that it has inquired about assistance demonstrates the cascading effects of the conflict.
“It’s been a good ally of ours, and you know, these are unusual times,” Mr. Trump said on CNBC on Tuesday.
Mr. Trump added that the Emirates had been hit hard by Iranian retaliation and that it had pledged to make substantial investments in the United States."
We have no money here for healthcare or daycare or basic needs, gas is sky high, beef prices have doubled since Fatty took over, he sent $20 billion to bail out his buddy in Argentina, we're spending $3-4 billion a day on his stupid war, tax breaks up the wazoo for himself and his billionaire buddies, now he wants $1.5 TRILLION for the Pentagon for MORE WARS, gigantic architectural monstrosities in his honor to deface the Capitol, his throne room/ballroom/bordello, killing funding for science, education, the environment, and USAID programs that will ensure the deaths of millions but we have to send BILLIONS to help the richest country in the world???????
You see that last sentence in the quote?
"the Emirates...had pledged to make substantial investments in the United States."
What that means is substantial investments in the Trump Crime Family.
I don't have the words anymore.
Akhilleus,
The Pretender is right. These are unusual times.
Sent this to the Times when I read of the potential U A.E. bailout:
Why not?
We gave Rightist Argentina 20 billion.
We've paid off Mike Flynn for his treasonous trouble.
We've pardoned the Jan 6 rioters.
We're considering paying Trump millions for his hurt feelings over his released tax returns.
And this is only a very partial list.
Why not send taxpayer money to the U. A. E.? It won't hurt anyone. It'll just be added to our burgeoning debt, adding no more than just another decimal place to the 40 trillion we're already in the hole.
And forgot to add this: If they're broke, how can they invest more in the U. S., or as you put it, in the Trump Crime Family?
Ken,
Given the eye popping profligacy of Fatty’s return to the White House and the rate at which he grabs billions from taxpayers for this, billions for that, $250 million because Americans got to see his disgraceful tax returns, tens of billions to countries he likes, tens of billions grabbed back from whatever he hates, he has, according to Forbes, added a trillion dollars to the debt in just the last five months and will chalk up another trillion by November. We’re over $38 trillion now, double what it was when he waddled into office the first time and announced that with his economic genius, he would reduce the national debt to zero in eight years. Hmmm…double…that’s not exactly zero, is it? I’m sure someone is keeping track of just how many billions have gone into his own pockets and those of his idiot spawn.
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