Yo, Todd! No Public Hangings? No Guillotine? No Heads on Pikes? Devlin Barrett & Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: “The Trump administration said on Friday that it would allow firing squads and readopt lethal injection as part of a broader push to revive the death penalty. In an accompanying report, Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, said that decisions by President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to pull back on capital punishment 'inflicted untold damage on victims of crime, and, ultimately, to the rule of law itself.' The Justice Department, he said, had reauthorized the use of pentobarbital to execute federal inmates and would also permit additional methods of execution, like the use of firing squads. The 48-page report added that the Bureau of Prisons should follow the example of states that had expanded their execution protocols amid fights over the legality and availability of lethal injection drugs.”
U.S. Attorney Boxwine Ends Fake Probe of Fed Chair. Salvador Rizzo & Andrew Ackerman of the Washington Post: “The Justice Department has dropped a criminal investigation into the Federal Reserve after months of probing the independent central bank’s $2.5 billion building renovations and failing to turn up evidence of a crime. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the top federal prosecutor in D.C., said in a social media post Friday that she had closed the probe, though she added that it could resume later if the Fed’s inspector general finds evidence of wrongdoing in its own review of the construction project’s cost overruns.... A bipartisan group of lawmakers and a federal judge in D.C. had criticized the criminal investigation into Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell as an abuse of power by the Justice Department, which has pursued ... Donald Trump’s perceived foes with often shaky allegations of criminal conduct since last year.” ~~~
~~~ Christopher Rugaber, et al., of the AP: “The move could lead to a swift confirmation vote by the Senate for [Kevin] Warsh, a former top Fed official whom ... Donald Trump ... nominated in January to replace Powell. Powell’s term as chair ends May 15. Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, had said he would oppose Warsh until the investigation was resolved, effectively blocking his confirmation.”
Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post: “A federal appeals court ruled Friday that ... Donald Trump’s declaration of an 'invasion' at the U.S.-Mexico border was illegal, effectively clearing the way to reopen the United States to migrants seeking asylum. It was not clear when asylum processing would resume, and the Trump administration is likely to appeal the decision.... Trump issued the proclamation ... on the first day of his second term, barring entry to asylum seekers for public safety, health and economic reasons 'until I issue a finding that the invasion at the southern border has ceased.'”
Trevor Aaronson of the Intercept: "FBI Director Kash Patel was twice arrested in incidents involving alcohol, once for public intoxication and once for public urination after leaving a bar, he admitted in a 2005 letter about disclosures on his Florida Bar application." The article includes a facsimile of the letter.
~~~~~~~~~~
Ruth Igielnik of the New York Times: “Disapproval of ... [Donald] Trump has climbed to the highest level of his second term, according to The New York Times polling average, which found that 58 percent of Americans disapprove of the president’s job performance while only 39 percent approve. That is the highest disapproval rating Mr. Trump has faced since the end of his first term, in the aftermath of his re-election campaign loss and the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.... And some of Mr. Trump’s former allies in the conservative media, including Tucker Carlson, have turned against him in recent days. A Marquette University Law School poll taken last week found Mr. Trump’s approval rating has dipped to 28 percent among political independents, down from 39 percent when he took office. Among Republicans the president has also lost some ground, though the vast majority of the party — 80 percent — still approve of his job performance.” (Also linked yesterday.) Update: the link has been changed to one that appears to be a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Josh Boak, et al., of the AP (April 21): “... Donald Trump’s approval rating on the economy has slumped over the past month [link fixed] as the Iran war drives prices higher, according to a new AP-NORC poll, with even Republicans showing less faith in his leadership.... Only 33% of U.S. adults approve of Trump’s overall job performance, down slightly from 38% last month.”
Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: “... MAHA leaders warn that many of those who embrace the cause are dispirited and disillusioned — and that when the November elections come around, some may just stay home. Six of the movement’s most prominent leaders, who together have millions of social media followers, said in separate interviews that the mostly white, mostly female voters ... are so disappointed with the president that Republicans risk losing them. But they said Democrats would need to work hard to win their votes.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: I've got some news for these MAHA enthusiasts. It's great that Kennedy is promoting healthful nutrition and a healthy "lifestyle." What isn't great is that the basis for his dietary priorities is the long-debunked "terrain theory" (he calls it "miasma theory," which is something else). Check out the following column, which explains Kennedy's confusion and foolishness on this: ~~~
~~~ Beth Mole of Ars Technica: "In a Congressional hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) directly confronted anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on his rejection of germ theory — the unquestionable scientific idea that specific pathogenic microbes cause specific diseases. After Kennedy defended his fringe view, Senator Bill Cassidy fact-checked and debunked Kennedy’s denialist arguments in real time. The exchanges mark a rare instance in which Kennedy’s dismissal of germ theory has been raised in such a high-profile public setting, in this case, a hearing of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Kennedy, who has no background in science, medicine, or public health, is well known as an ardent anti-vaccine activist and peddler of conspiracy theories. But his startling rejection of a cornerstone theory in biomedical science has mostly been underreported." ~~~
Marie: The guy is the following video does not look like someone with whom I would share many thoughts about politics. But if you are wondering how we landed in our current predicament, I've believed for a long time that his particular view on this matter is fundamentally right. The man's name is Paul Lance, and he used to be a Republican. You need not listen to his whole rant to get the gist of his theory:
~~~ See also the Washington Post analysis of Elon Musk's tweets, linked below. As you may recall, Elon played a big part in Trump's 2024 campaign,
The New York Times liveblog of developments in the Iran war is here. From the pinned item at 5:00 am ET: “There were no reports of major clashes between the Israeli military and the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah in Lebanon early Friday, a day after ... [Donald] Trump announced a three-week extension of the cease-fire there. Mr. Trump made the announcement after hosting a meeting at the White House between Israeli and Lebanese diplomats. Hezbollah, which did not have representatives at the talks, did not immediately comment on the announcement. Neither did Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel or President Joseph Aoun of Lebanon.... A durable peace would hinge on Lebanon’s ability to rein in Hezbollah, which exerts de facto control over large areas of the country’s south. Stopping the fighting in Lebanon is considered crucial to advancing any peace agreement between Iran and the United States and Israel.”
Mohamad El Chamaa, et al., of the Washington Post: “Hezbollah reacted with contempt to ... Donald Trump’s announcement of a three-week extension of the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, calling the truce 'meaningless.' The Iran-backed militant group is still a powerful force in Lebanon, and concerns over the government’s ability to bring it under control have raised questions about the ceasefire’s long-term fate. Any Israeli operations in Lebanon give Hezbollah the right 'to respond proportionately,' Ali Fayyad, a member of the Hezbollah faction in Lebanon’s parliament, said in a statement carried by Hezbollah’s TV station Al Manar, adding that any deal that does not include an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory affirms the Lebanese people’s 'right to resist the occupation.'... The Israel Defense Forces said it carried out strikes in Kherbet Selem and Touline in southern Lebanon on Friday, but there were no indications that Hezbollah had fired back.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: According to Art Intel, Israel currently occupies a "buffer zone" that covers about six percent of Lebanon's land. But I've heard much larger percentages on the teevee. In any event, it appears Hezbollah has a built-in excuse to ignore the ceasefire.
Tara Copp of the Washington Post: “A third U.S. aircraft carrier and the warships escorting it arrived in waters near Iran on Thursday, officials said, significantly amplifying the military force at ... Donald Trump’s disposal as he pressures the government in Tehran to surrender its nuclear program, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and agree to end a weeks-long war that has destabilized much of the region. The arrival of the USS George H.W. Bush strike group, carrying thousands of additional American personnel and dozens of advanced fighter jets, was announced by U.S. Central Command....”
Low on Our Own Supply. Eric Schmitt & Jonathan Swan of the New York Times: “Since the Iran war began in late February, the United States has burned through around 1,100 of its long-range stealth cruise missiles built for a war with China, close to the total number remaining in the U.S. stockpile. The military has fired off more than 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles, roughly 10 times the number it currently buys each year. The Pentagon used more than 1,200 Patriot interceptor missiles in the war, at more than $4 million a pop, and more than 1,000 Precision Strike and ATACMS ground-based missiles, leaving inventories worrisomely low, according to internal Defense Department estimates and congressional officials. The Iran war has significantly drained much of the U.S. military’s global supply of munitions, and forced the Pentagon to rush bombs, missiles and other hardware to the Middle East from commands in Asia and Europe. The drawdowns have left these regional commands less ready to confront potential adversaries like Russia and China, and it has forced the United States to find ways to scale up production to address the depletions....”
That's the bad news. The good news is that maybe Trump & his white nationalist friends will get their wish for more U.S.-born babies: ~~~
of the New York Times: “The world’s largest condom maker is raising prices of its products by up to 30 percent, warning that shortages of raw materials and chemicals because of the Iran war could disrupt production. The Malaysian condom company, Karex, which produces about five billion condoms a year, blamed a surge in raw material prices, global shipping disruptions and higher freight costs for the price increases. The de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz has led to a surge in the price of oil and gas, disrupting supply chains and driving up costs for a wide range of materials that companies like Karex depends on, including nitrile and synthetic rubber, packaging materials, silicone oil and aluminum foil.”
Luke Broadwater & David Sanger of the New York Times: “In recent weeks..., [Donald] Trump has been talking about a substance he says is key to ending the United States’ war against Iran: 'nuclear dust.'... The phrase 'nuclear dust' seemed designed to diminish the importance of what Mr. Trump is actually talking about — Iran’s stockpile of near-bomb-grade uranium, which is stored in canisters about the size of large scuba tanks. The material is not, in fact, 'dust.' It is typically a gas when stored inside the canisters, though it becomes a solid at room temperature. It is a volatile and highly toxic substance if it comes into contact with moisture and, if mishandled, can trigger a nuclear reaction.... Mr. Trump is referring chiefly to the uranium Iran has enriched to 60 percent, near the 90 percent purity normally used to make a bomb. There is no use for fuel enriched to that level for, say, producing nuclear power.... Mr. Trump’s phrase oversimplifies the complex tasks of enriching uranium, to say nothing of negotiating an end to the war. It’s also a phrase nuclear experts say they’ve never heard before.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: If some or all of this explanation is news to you, I promise it's news to Trump, too. One difference: you'll understand what the reporters wrote; Trump just doesn't have the capacity to get it. And notice how the reporters pretend that Trump is so clever that he invented the term to "diminish the importance" of the enriched uranium the Iranians have manufactured. The reporters' pretense is beyond sanewashing. It is a gross disservice to readers. In case you think they're right to give the POTUS* the benefit of the doubt, here was his explanation to a crowd in Arizona last week. It's pretty astounding: ~~~
The U.S.A. will get all nuclear dust. You know what the nuclear dust is? That was that white powdery substance created by our B-2 bombers.
Menelaos Hadjicostis & Lorne Cook of the AP: “Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Friday refused to be drawn into a dispute with the United States over reports that the Pentagon is weighing whether to punish members of NATO that fail to support American operations in the Iran war. Among those in the firing line is Spain, which has refused to allow U.S. forces involved in the war to use bases on its territory or airspace. Spain says that U.S.-Israeli actions in the Iran war contravenes international law. France and the U.K. also refuse to give U.S. forces free rein to use their territory for the bombing campaign. The Pentagon is reported to be mulling whether to suspend Spain from NATO, according to an unidentified U.S. official referring to a U.S. Defense Department email, and quoted by the Reuters news agency.”
~~~ Mark Cancian, whom the Times cites as an expert, explains why "this ship will never sail." MB: Cancian's analysis is easy to understand, but it is not something that a person who bases his decisions on 70 year-old teevee shows -- shows he watched on a big TV with a little black-and-white screen -- can comprehend. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Heather Cox Richardson covers Phelan's firing and that of Stars & Stripes ombudsman Jacqueline Smith. ~~~
~~~ AND, based on some of the reporting Richardson cites, Evan Hurst of Wonkette zeroes in on the real reason Hegseth fired Phelan. (Hurst sounds like he's kidding, but he might be right.)
Welcome Back, Vlad. Adam Taylor of the Washington Post: “The United States intends to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Group of 20 leaders’ summit scheduled for December at ... Donald Trump’s Doral golf resort in Miami, though the invitation has not yet been sent, administration officials said Thursday. In a statement, the State Department said that ... Donald Trump 'has been clear that Russia is welcome to attend all G-20 meetings as the United States focuses on delivering a successful and productive summit.'” MB: I hope all the pro-democracy leaders stay home. (Also linked yesterday.)
A photo is worth a thousand words … -- Martina Navratilova ~~~
~~~ Marie: If you can't figure out what's wrong with this picture, check out Akhilleus' post in yesterday' Comments. Also, several news outlets have stories about it: the Independent's story is here; the Guardian's report is here. ~~~
~~~ When he isn't showing off his misogyny, he gets back to overt racism. ~~~
~~~ Amy Qin of the New York Times: Donald “Trump provoked a broad backlash this week when he posted a transcript from a right-wing podcast in which the host referred to China and India as 'hellhole' places and said recent immigrants from those countries had not 'integrated' into America as 'European Americans' had. The transcript, which Mr. Trump posted on his Truth Social account on Wednesday night, came from a recent episode of 'The Savage Nation,' hosted by Michael Savage, a popular conservative talk radio host. Mr. Trump also posted the original video clip of Mr. Savage’s podcast. The president did not add any commentary to his posts....In a rare public rebuke of the White House, the Indian government took to X to criticize the comments, calling them 'obviously uninformed, inappropriate and in poor taste' without explicitly naming Mr. Trump. Asian American advocacy groups and some Democratic lawmakers faulted Mr. Trump for amplifying xenophobic rhetoric....”
In Praise of Stupid. Will Weissert of the AP: “... Donald Trump, who helped push the term 'fake news' into the mainstream, now seems to have a new favorite subject: fake math. During a Thursday event announcing a deal with drugmaker Regeneron to lower the cost of its pharmaceutical products, Trump defended his past claims that prices on prescription medications had been cut by well over 100% — something that is mathematically impossible without manufacturers dropping prices to zero and then presumably paying consumers to use their product.”
~~~ Marie: I linked a NYT story yesterday about RFKJ backing up Trump's impossible math, but it wasn't until last night that I saw video of Kennedy's repeating his fake arithmetic at the Oval Office event Weissert reports on. As Kennedy "explained" his crazy math, there sat Trump in his big fat chair, nodding his approval of something most 7th-graders figure out. ~~~
Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: “Next up on ... [Donald] Trump’s renovation tour of Washington, D.C.: the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, which he called 'filthy' and 'dirty' and in need of a major upgrade. Mr. Trump said on Thursday that the project was already underway to renovate the reflecting pool, which is more than 2,000 feet long and has been the site of many historic events, including Martin Luther King Jr.’s 'I Have a Dream' speech. The president said he would be using a contractor he knows from his years in real estate.... Speaking during an event in the Oval Office about health care, Mr. Trump detoured into one of his favorite topics: construction.” The AP's report is here. MB: How can you possibly expect this overworked fellow to prosecute a war when he has so many other jobs to do? I mean, he had to call the pool guy! And because he did, he saved us millions!
Patrick figured out you're paying for Trump's ballroom, after all. See yesterday's Comments. And of course those actual taxpayer costs don't account for the price of the quo in the secret quid pro quo deals that will be made as part of the "generous" donors' recompense.
Santul Nerkar & Kenneth P. Vogel of the New York Times: “A conservative lawyer and lobbyist has been indicted on extortion and stalking charges that appear connected to a client who was pardoned by ... Donald J. Trump. Josh Nass, who was arrested by F.B.I. agents in Manhattan last month, faces charges of extortion and cyberstalking in a six-count indictment unsealed on Thursday in Federal District Court in Brooklyn. Mr. Nass, according to federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York, hired a man to violently extract $500,000 from a client. The client had already paid $100,000, prosecutors said. But Mr. Nass was owed more, and told the man he had hired to assault the client’s son or force him 'into a car with masked men,' according to prosecutors. The client has not been named in court papers. But filings and previous reporting from The New York Times suggest it is Joseph Schwartz, who hired Mr. Nass to help win clemency after he was convicted of fraud and tax crimes related to the collapse of a nursing-home empire. Mr. Schwartz reported to prison in August, was pardoned by Mr. Trump in November and attended the White House Hanukkah party in December. Disclosure filings indicate that Mr. Nass began lobbying for Mr. Schwartz the day before he was pardoned.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Everybody in this story, except maybe the prosecutors, who are not named, is a criminal: Trump, Schwartz, Nass (allegedly!)
Everybody's a Critic! Torrie Herrington of NOTUS: “... Donald Trump confirmed Thursday that the White House is considering a bailout package for the budget carrier Spirit Airlines that could include a loan of up to $500 million and an equity stake in the company for the U.S. government.... 'I think we just buy it. And when the price of oil goes down, we’ll sell it for a profit,' Trump said in the Oval Office. But as reports of the talks circulated, a number of prominent conservatives joined Democrats in pushing back on the idea and warned that it might prove to be a poor deal for U.S. taxpayers.... [Even] Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said [apparently before Trump made his announcement]..., 'If no one else wants to buy them, why would we buy them?' Republican Sen. Ted Cruz posted on X that it was 'an absolutely TERRIBLE idea.'... Republican Sen. Tom Cotton also spoke out against the president, saying that the deal would be 'not the best use of taxpayer dollars.'” ~~~
~~~ Marcy Wheeler: "Trump has created a jet fuel crisis.... [So] this is about hiding the damage Trump’s stupid invasion has done to America’s normal way of life. Trump wants to use taxpayer dollars to hide from taxpayers what a catastrophic economic disaster Trump caused with his incompetence.... And if Trump does this, the need will just snowball, at least to JetBlue and Frontier.... And all that’s the damage Trump has done to the US economy, a petrostate with its own jet fuel capacity. Analysts are only beginning to think through what it will do to other economies, especially less wealthy Asian ones, but even Europe, if this continues to June."
Remember when Republican politicians and right-wing media scolds went ballistic over Hunter Biden's using the Biden name to score a bit of unearned cash? Well, IOKIYAR. Maria Bartiromo actually congratulated Eric Trump yesterday when she invited him on the teevee to brag about using his family name to win a multi-million-dollar Pentagon contract. The Trump Family: they're crooks and they're proud of it. ~~~
~~~ Trump Family Graft & Grift, LLC Press Release. Brad Reed of Common Dreams: "Critics reacted with disgust after Eric Trump went on Fox Business on Thursday morning to boast about Foundation Future Industries, a company where he serves as chief strategy adviser, scoring a multimillion-dollar deal from the US Department of Defense. For the segment, Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo invited on both Eric Trump and Sankaet Pathak, co-founder and CEO of Foundation Future, a robotics firm that earlier this year won a $24 million Pentagon contract that will see its robots deployed in Ukraine, where they will be used to inspect and transport weapons.... Eric Trump and his brother, Donald Trump Jr., for months have been investing in companies with the goal of scoring lucrative Pentagon deals. The Wall Street Journal reported in March that the Trump brothers invested in a Florida-based drone company called Powerus that “is vying to meet fresh demand from the Pentagon” for drones that started when the Trump administration banned foreign-made drones and drone components from the US in December. And in 2025, at least two companies backed by Trump Jr. received contracts collectively worth hundreds of millions of dollars from the DOD." ~~~
~~~ Innit funny how the Trump boys get away with overt corruption worth hundreds of millions of dollars to them, but little guys get criminally charged for their relatively small-time grifts? ~~~
~~~ Benjamin Weiser & Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: “A U.S. Army special forces soldier who helped capture Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela has been charged with using classified information to bet on the mission on Polymarket, a prediction marketplace, federal authorities said on Thursday. The soldier, Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke, who was stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, made more than $400,000 by betting on different outcomes related to Venezuela after learning of the operation, federal prosecutors and the F.B.I. said. An indictment filed in Manhattan federal court says Sergeant Van Dyke, 38, was involved in the 'planning and execution' of the seizure of Mr. Maduro and was making bets up to Jan. 2, the day before the seizure of the Venezuelan leader and his wife, Cilia Flores, from a Caracas compound. The sergeant bet on events related to Mr. Maduro and Venezuela 13 times in all, including “bets on the timing and outcome” of the operation to remove Mr. Maduro, according to the indictment and Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.” An ABC News story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: As far as I know (and correct me if I'm wrong, please), Eric's corruption did not make the front page of the New York Times; it did not make the Times at all. Van Dyke's story did. In fact, even his indictment was linked separately on the front page. The NYT is normalizing the kleptocracy.
Here Corruption, There Corruption, Everywhere Corruption. Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: “The White House quickly embraced a new records-preservation policy after the Justice Department deemed a presidential records law unconstitutional, dismissing decades-old requirements in favor of discretionary guidelines. The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel issued its opinion April 1, declaring that the law, known as the Presidential Records Act, exceeded Congress’s powers. Within days, staffers at the Executive Office of the President received an email from the White House counsel instructing them to follow a new records-preservation policy in line with the OLC opinion and attend a training.
“The OLC is a unit of the Justice Department that provides legal advice to the executive branch, and its opinion sparked immediate concerns about how the day-to-day records of presidential activity would be preserved. The PRA says records from a presidency belong to the public rather than to the president, and it requires the White House to preserve all official materials. Ultimately, it is up to the courts to determine whether the law is constitutional, but in the meantime, the Trump administration has seized on the OLC opinion to set its own recordkeeping policy. Experts say that the new White House memo weakens safeguards by making previously mandatory preservation rules discretionary, and that there will be clear differences between how staffers are now asked to preserve records compared with previous presidencies, including in ... Donald Trump’s first term....
“American Oversight, a nonprofit focused on enforcing access to government records, has filed a lawsuit alongside the American Historical Association, arguing that the OLC opinion effectively encourages the president to violate the PRA, an existing federal statute that is fully in force.”
Glenn Thrush, et al., of the New York Times: “Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, is doing what he can, as quickly as he can, to shed the 'acting' label. Mr. Blanche ... has long been a target of pro-Trump influencers who accuse him of slow-walking the prosecutions of ... [Donald] Trump’s enemies. But now Mr. Blanche is striving to silence critics on the right with a conspicuous salvo of actions to demonstrate progress on the president’s priorities, among them payback against Mr. Trump’s adversaries.... Beyond [former CIA Director John] Brennan..., Mr. Blanche has also given the green light to inquiries into Cassidy Hutchinson...; the Democratic fund-raising organization ActBlue...; and the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights nonprofit in Alabama that was indicted this week over a discontinued program that paid informants to infiltrate white supremacist and extremist groups.
“Moreover, prosecutors plan to revive a botched attempt to bring charges against James B. Comey ... after a federal judge threw out charges last year that Mr. Comey had lied to Congress.... And they are soon expected to subpoena bodyguards who protected Fani Willis, the state prosecutor who brought criminal charges against Mr. Trump in Georgia.... Still, few tasks are as central to mollifying a demanding president as fast-tracking an indictment of Mr. Brennan, despite the fact that multiple inquiries have already shown no evidence of wrongdoing.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can see what one thing has to do with the other, but somewhere in Trump's twisted mind, he thinks the SPLC is responsible for the "misperception" that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election: ~~~
~~~ Chris Bradford of the New York Post: "... [Donald] Trump on Friday called for the 2020 election to be 'permanently wiped from the books' if the Southern Poverty Law Center is convicted of making fraudulent payments totaling $3 million to members of white supremacist groups that the organization claims to fight." MB: He's a crazy old man, and he thinks everybody he doesn't like not only is conspiring against him but is doing so effectively.
Marie: Praise Be. I was afraid we were going to go a day without a Trump administration sex scandal. But no. Bennito Kelty of the Raw Story has the details.
Ernesto Londoño & Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “The Justice Department has identified 384 foreign-born Americans whose citizenship it wants to revoke, part of a push to increase the pace of denaturalizations by assigning the cases to prosecutors in dozens of U.S. attorney’s offices across the country. Senior Justice Department officials in Washington told colleagues during a meeting last week that civil litigators in 39 regional offices would soon be assigned to file denaturalization cases against the individuals.... Under federal law, the government may ask a court to strip the citizenship of people who obtained it fraudulently — for instance, by entering into a sham marriage or by withholding information about their past that would have made them ineligible. Some who commit crimes may also be denaturalized. The government must present evidence to a federal judge through a civil or criminal proceeding, making the process challenging and time-consuming.” The link appears to be a gift link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Jose Olivares of the Guardian: “The Trump administration is reportedly pushing the justice department to pursue hundreds of denaturalization cases, in which Americans born outside of the US are stripped of their citizenship.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Jeremy Roebuck & Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: “The Justice Department’s chief watchdog said Thursday that his office is launching an audit of the department’s compliance with the law compelling the release of millions of pages of investigative material tied to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The internal probe, announced by Deputy Inspector General William M. Blier, follows months of complaints from victims who say their personal information was included in publicly released documents and from lawmakers who have questioned decisions to redact the names of members of Epstein’s influential circle from some of the files. The review will focus on how the Justice Department identified the more than 3 million documents it has made public since late last year, the guidelines used to determine what information to redact or hold back, and how officials have addressed concerns raised over the disclosures in the months since.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration on Thursday announced that it was loosening restrictions on marijuana to boost medical research, days after ... Donald Trump appeared to express frustration with the pace of easing federal restrictions on illegal drugs. The Justice Department said that it was immediately reclassifying marijuana products that had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as lower-risk drugs and establishing a new registration process for state medical marijuana licenses. Acting attorney general Todd Blanche also said that the administration would hold a new hearing to 'fully reschedule marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act.” MB: Barron must have invested in a weed farm.
Liam Scott & Scott Nover of the Washington Post: “Three months after the Pentagon decried the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes as 'woke' and announced it would be overhauled, Defense Department official Sean Parnell fired the publication’s ombudsman, a role charged by Congress with safeguarding the paper’s editorial independence. In a Thursday message to Stars and Stripes staff..., the paper’s ombudsman said the Defense Department fired her without giving a reason. However, Jacqueline Smith said she believed she was fired for speaking out against the decision to overhaul Stars and Stripes, announced by Parnell in January, a decision she said threatened the storied paper’s long-held independence. Parnell is also the chief Pentagon spokesman.... Stars and Stripes staffers are Defense Department employees but have for decades operated without Pentagon interference in editorial decisions.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: It may be against the law to fire to ombudsman for doing her job, but, hey, we're tough guys and we break things -- including the law. ~~~
~~~ ⭐Jacqueline Smith, in a defiant act of telling truth to power, announces her firing in a Stars & Stripes column. Good for her!
Michael Gold & Megan Mineiro of the New York Times: “The Senate early Thursday morning adopted a Republican budget blueprint that would pave the way for a $70 billion increase for immigration enforcement and the eventual reopening of the Department of Homeland Security. Republicans pushed through the plan on a nearly party-line vote of 50 to 48. It came after an overnight marathon of rapid-fire votes, known as a vote-a-rama, in which the G.O.P. beat back a series of Democratic proposals aimed at addressing the high cost of health care, housing, food and energy. The debate put the two parties’ dueling messages on vivid display.... Republicans, who are using the budget plan to lay the groundwork to eventually push through a filibuster-proof bill providing a multiyear funding stream for ... [Donald] Trump’s immigration crackdown, used the all-night session to highlight their hard-line stance on border security.... Democrats tried and failed to add a series of changes aimed at addressing cost-of-living issues....” Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Faiz Siddiqui & Jeremy Merrill of the Washington Post: “... in recent months [Elon Musk has] been increasingly vocal about ... rallying White people to stand up for their race.... A Washington Post analysis found that Musk has recently significantly increased his rate of online posts about race and his concerns about perceived threats to Whiteness or what he views as calls for a 'genocide' against White people. Over the past seven months, 6 percent of Musk’s posts on X, a total of about 850, have been about race, nearly triple the rate for the previous two years. More than half of those posts have used the word “white.” The billionaire has posted on X about race nearly daily.... 'As far as I can tell, Musk at this point agrees with standard talking points of white supremacy,' said Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, citing Musk’s claim that White people are a 'dying minority.' 'You just don’t get more white supremacist than the stuff Musk is signing onto or pushing,' Beirich said.”
Anthony Tommasini of the “Michael Tilson Thomas, the American conductor, composer and pianist whose 25-year tenure as music director of the San Francisco Symphony became a model of collegial music-making, artistic adventurousness and community engagement, died on Wednesday at his home in San Francisco. He was 81.” (Also linked yesterday.)
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Florida Redictricting. Marc Caputo of Axios: "Florida bans lawmakers from intentionally creating congressional seats to give their party an advantage. But Gov. Ron DeSantis quietly has launched a three-tiered power play to evade the ban — and create more GOP-friendly seats — in November." Caputo lays out Boots' diabolical plan, which hinges on the meaning of "intent" and of course on Ron's crass disregard for the "intent" of a portion of the state constitution -- which he has sworn to uphold.
15 comments:
Bunch of the crazy from the Killing Healthcare Secretary including,
"US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that China’s growing role in drug development and biotech is a threat to the United States.
“They’re stealing our (intellectual property), they’re stealing our researchers, they’re stealing our best scientists,” Kennedy said on Wednesday at the Senate Finance Committee.
“It’s a crisis,” Kennedy said. “They’re threatening our biosecurity and our public health and our dominance in the area.”"
He attacks and demonizes and defunds health science across the board and then has gall to claim CHINA is the one threatening our scientific dominance. Even in this cabinet of morons Kennedy holds his own on stupidity and malice.
Conflicts
"The Trump family’s conflicts of interest are of no interest to Fox News
Trump and his family members appear to have adopted influence-dealing on a dramatically larger scale than the Biden family was ever [wrongly] accused of."
Afraid of Ideas
"Texas Tech Issues Ban On Students Writing On LGBTQ+ Topics
The ban applies to theses and dissertations, and is expected to begin going into effect on a rolling basis.
The implications are profound—and at times border on absurd. In core and lower-level courses, there are no exceptions at all. A history professor course could not allocate instructional time to the Stonewall riots or the gay rights movement. If a U.S. history textbook includes a chapter on the AIDS crisis, the professor must skip it. An English professor assigning Oscar Wilde cannot lead a discussion of the trial and imprisonment that defined his later work and legacy. [...]
A professor teaching Shakespeare's Twelfth Night or As You Like It could not discuss the cross-dressing that is central to the plot, nor the long theatrical tradition of male actors performing female roles—because analyzing gender performance in Shakespeare would constitute allocating "instructional time" to gender identity themes. A political science class could not examine the Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges as anything other than a passing reference."
Until the Gratuity Clears
"JetBlue has been hit with a federal class action accusing the airline of surreptitiously collecting consumer data to bolster a “dynamic surveillance pricing” scheme that makes flying costlier for passengers. In a 45-page complaint, filed Wednesday in the Eastern District of New York, plaintiff Andrew Phillips claims JetBlue has “blatantly invaded or allowed for the invasion” of consumers’ privacy by using trackers on its website.
Travelers have often theorized that airlines and other transit companies use their personal data to hike rates, with countless online anecdotes speculating that prices tend to increase upon subsequent searches for the same tickets."
“only President Trump could saves the lives of these eight beautiful Iranian women.”
"President urges Iran to start peace negotiations by releasing [8] non-existent, AI-generated women some rando posted about on X"
"the next day, out of the clear blue, Donny proudly proclaimed that he had saved the lives of these eight imaginary women."
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/24/opinion/conspiracy-theory-tucker-antisemitism.html#commentsContainer
Good piece by Goldberg, but it made me think how much nicer things would be for all of us if pundits had no need to write about the Tuckers and the Pretenders of the world.
@RAS: The story of Trump "saving" eight beautiful women -- who are actually eight AI-generated women -- would be the best story of the year -- if it were true.
According to Akhtar Makoii of the Telegraph, republished by Yahoo! News, "The Telegraph has identified the women, all of whom were arrested during protests that swept Iran in December and January. They are not AI models created by an Israeli student whose post on X was amplified by Mr Trump on social media, as some have suggested....
"The Telegraph understands only one of them was facing execution.... Bita Hemati and Mohammad Reza Majidi-Asl, her husband, were sentenced to death by Tehran’s revolutionary court on charges of 'operational action for a hostile US government'. Ms Hemati was the only one of the eight facing a confirmed death sentence....
"Iran’s judiciary insists the story is not as simple as Mr Trump makes out. In fact, it says he was 'misled once again by fake news'. 'The women who were claimed to be on the verge of execution, some of them have been released, while others face charges that, if convictions are upheld, would at most result in imprisonment,' it said....
"The cases, it is understood, remain in Iran’s judicial system, subject to the same processes and political pressures that have long governed the Islamic Republic’s treatment of dissent."
Sorry to spoil the Stupid Trump Story of the Year. Don't worry. There will be another one. And it will be real.
@Ken Winkes: I know what you mean. As best I can recall, I have not been to the grocery store since late February, and I am really craving some fresh vegies & fruit. I had planned to go this morning (I always go early in the morning to beat the germ-infested fellow shoppers (sorry, Bobby Junior, germs are real even if you can't see them). So, comme d'habitude, I got up way before the crack of dawn so I could make it to the stores when they open. Alas, I didn't finish writing about the stupid quasi-human tricks till at least 10 am.
So I'll be living at least one more day on odds and ends from the pantry and/or the freezer.
I blame Trump for that.
Marie: Thanks for the catch. I went back and quickly scrolled through the comments and only found one at the end that referenced your correction. It's so much effort to keep up with what is real and what is not these days. Kudos to you for all the hard work.
Firing squads? How about drawing and quartering. Fox could cover executions live with play by play and color announcers. I'm sure Jesse Watters, who once flattened a woman's tires in an attempt to get her to have sex with him (while he was married to someone else) would be thrilled to provide minute by minute commentary to the excruciating pain inflicted on another human being in order to allow Fat Hitler to feel manly and in charge. And don't miss that this is being done because "rule of law", blah, blah, blah. The most criminal, evil, rancid, law breaking administration in history wants to execute prisoners because "rule of law". The hypocrisy and dementia deepen by the hour.
Here's what I wish. I am recalling a Tower of Shadows graphic story from the late 60's by the great Jim Steranko. A greedy couple murder a rich uncle only to find that he had opened a portal through time. They believe with his money they will live like a king and queen. As they open the door, they find they have become a real king and queen, King Louis and Marie Antoinette, in 18th Century France, and awaiting them....the guillotine.
A bit garish? Okay. But too quick for my money.
as seen on threads, Jimmy Kimmel hosts the White House Correspondents Dinner WHCD
How does this work?
Fat Hitler's personal law firm, formerly the Justice Department, Todd Blanche, LLP, has issued an OPINION that a law passed by Congress, the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional so now no one in the Turd Reich has to follow that law?
It's an OPINION! The OLC gives its opinion on how a government agency should proceed, but it doesn't have the power to countermand LAWS! The OLC is not the Supreme Court and it's not Congress. And an opinion is just that.
How is everyone okay with this? This whole thing is far beyond fucked up.
More on the PRA....and don't forget, we're talking here about a lawless, lawbreaking criminal muenster mind (ie, cheese brain) who in the past has torn up documents he didn't want anyone to see and flushed them down the toilet. So now HE is the one who decides what historians and the public get to see when they start digging into this morass of fuckwad liars and crooks? And no one says boo?
Akhilleus,
Obviously they are trying to hide or destroy the evidence of all the crimes they are committing in office. I guess they are not as confident in their absolute immunity or the pardons that are sitting in a desk drawer waiting to be signed on their way out.
RAS,
Very likely. Also, Fatty is probably making sure that historians trying to document his reign as the worst ever will have fewer first hand sources from which to work. Only MAGA historians need apply.
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