Dan Diamond & Jonathan Edwards of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration has appealed a federal judge’s order to halt the construction of ... Donald Trump’s White House ballroom, arguing in an emergency motion that pausing the $400 million project would raise national security risks. The motion, which was filed Friday night in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, argues that U.S. District Judge Richard Leon’s 'shocking, unprecedented, and improper injunction' to stop construction would imperil Trump, his family and White House staff. The administration asked for Leon’s order to be stayed pending appeal and said it would seek emergency relief from the Supreme Court if necessary.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: This is of course an "emergency" of Trump's own making. Reportedly, there had been a bunker below the East Wing since 1942. Without obtaining any permissions to rebuild or remodel that bunker, Trump demolished it, along with the entire East Wing & the colonnade leading to it.
Sean James of Mediaite: “... Donald Trump on Saturday afternoon posted a video of several missiles striking Tehran in a barrage he said .terminated. Iran’s top military leaders. The clip — posted to the president’s Truth Social platform — showed half a dozen big explosions that lit up the pitch black Tehran night, followed by a few smaller explosions. A woman could be heard yelling after one of the strikes, and the faint sound of fighter jets whirring could also be heard in the 67 second clip. 'Many of Iran’s Military Leaders, who have led them poorly and unwisely, are terminated, along with much else, with this massive strike in Tehran!,' Trump captioned the video.”
How Trump Handles a Crisis.
Wednesday. They have no antiaircraft equipment. Their radar is 100 percent annihilated. We are unstoppable as a military force. -- Donald Trump, speaking of Iran in a speech to the nation, Wednesday
Friday. Farrah Tomazin of the Daily Beast, republished by Yahoo! News: “'With a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE. IT WOULD BE A “GUSHER” FOR THE WORLD???' [Donald] Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday morning.... Hours later, he followed up with ...: 'KEEP THE OIL, ANYONE?' The post came amid news that Iran had shot down an Air Force F-15E fighter jet over the country.... As Iran placed a bounty on the crew, a dramatic search and rescue mission ensued, resulting in one crew member being rescued by American forces. But as the race to find the second airman continued, America’s Commander in Chief was notably silent. [He released a number of other social media posts on various topics: complaining about CROOKED DEMOCRATS; congratulating himself for creating a 'soaring' U.S. economy; wishing everyone a 'happy' Good Friday (MB: it's the most solemn day on the Christian calendar).”
Spending Too Much Time with Drunk Pete, on Holy Saturday Trump Declares Holy War. Ryan Mancini of the Hill: Donald “Trump on Saturday warned Iran that 'time is running out' before the U.S. rains 'all hell' down on the Middle East country. 'Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. 'Time is running out – 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them. Glory be to GOD!'” MB That nitwit would-be king means “rain down.” Still, this post has to be more about violence than peace talks because ~~~
Hard for Trump to get out of a war that is making so much money for Putin. -- Timothy Snyder, on BlueSky (thanks to RAS for the link)
It's surprising, but heartening, to see a scholar more cynical than I. -- Marie ~~~
~~~ AND This. Drones Я Us. Bernard Condon of the AP: “A drone maker backed by ... Donald Trump’s two oldest sons is trying to sell to Gulf countries while they are under attack by Iran and dependent on the U.S. military led by their father. The sales drive by Florida-based Powerus – which announced a deal last month to bring aboard Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. – positions the company to potentially benefit from a war that their father began. 'These countries are under enormous pressure to buy from the sons of the president so he will do what they want,' said Richard Painter, a former chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush. 'This is going to be the first family of a president to make a lot of money off war — a war he didn’t get the consent of Congress for.' Powerus co-founder Brett Velicovich told The Associated Press that the company is making sales pitches that include drone demonstrations in several Gulf countries to show how its defensive drone interceptors could help them ward off Iranian attacks.” Thanks to RAS for the lead.
Update. Paul Krugman: "That ['Glory be to GOD!' post] sounds almost as if Pete Hegseth wrote [it].... The misspellings and all do look like Trump in his own hand, but it feels like this is the influence of our religious fanatic Secretary of War, or as people in the Pentagon apparently call him the Secretary of War Crimes. This is really bad.... It’s clear that Trump ... is aware of how completely he screwed things up, that he’s aware that he has basically led America into an epic strategic defeat. I don’t think he cares about that from the point of view of America, but he is realizing what this has done to him — ... and certainly to the extent that he cares about his legacy, it’s not going to be his wonderful ballroom. It’s going to be that he’s the man who single-handedly led America to one of its greatest defeats ever. But now what?... It sounds like he’s unable to accept it and that he is going to try and do something truly awful in an attempt to somehow redeem himself and the situation.... If we had a functioning democracy, this would be 25th Amendment time.... Anyway, I’m scared. I wonder very much what the next few days will bring because this is looking like basically a president who is losing it and unfortunately losing it in a way that can really make the world a much worse place very fast." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Krugman is right. In the movies, this is where the guy who has fucked up everything puts the gun in his mouth & pulls the trigger. But this is real life, and the guy who has fucked up everything is a raving mad narcissist who can never admit to himself that he has fucked up everything. So he is going to blow up something that is not his own head.
~~~~~~~~~~
Heather Cox Richardson reminds us that today is the anniversary of the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty, signed by 12 countries on April 4, 1949. "This defensive security alliance has been a key institution for world stability since World War II." MB: Gosh, I don't think Trump has issued a commemorative NATO coin with his face on one side and a dove on the other.
The New York Times is liveblogging developments in the Iran war. From the pinned item at 3:45 am ET: “The U.S. military’s search for an American airman who bailed out of a fighter jet over Iran entered its second day on Saturday after the first shoot-down of a U.S. warplane by Iranian forces in five weeks of war, officials said. A second crew member was rescued. Iran’s military was also looking for the missing American from the destroyed plane, an F-15E Strike Eagle, three Iranian officials said.... The officials said the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps had closed off an area in southwestern Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, where it believed the airman had gone down. On Friday, a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter was hit by ground fire during the rescue efforts but escaped safely, U.S. and Israeli officials said.
“Another U.S. military jet, an A-10 Warthog attack plane, also crashed near the Strait of Hormuz around the same time as the F-15, and the pilot was safely rescued, two U.S. officials said. They did not say what caused the plane to go down; the Iranian military said its air defenses had hit an A-10. U.S. officials did not specify in which country the aircraft had crashed. The loss of the jets and the rescue efforts have presented military and diplomatic challenges for the United States that would be compounded if the missing American were taken prisoner. Just days ago, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Iran’s air defenses were so degraded that the United States was flying B-52s over the country, lumbering bombers considered highly vulnerable to antiaircraft systems.” ~~~
~~~ The AP's live updates are here. ~~~
~~~ Tara Copp & Alex Horton of the Washington Post: “Two U.S. military aircraft were shot down in separate incidents Friday while conducting combat operations against Iran, setting off a frantic search-and-rescue effort that remains ongoing for one missing crew member, U.S. officials said. The F-15E fighter jet and the A-10 attack plane both were hit by incoming fire, U.S. officials said. One of two crew members aboard the F-15, which crashed inside Iran, was rescued, though their condition was not immediately clear, the officials said. The A-10 pilot navigated the damaged plane to Kuwaiti airspace before ejecting and was subsequently rescued, they added. Two U.S. search-and-rescue helicopters also were hit by Iranian fire that injured U.S. personnel on board, though both aircraft have safely returned to their base, the officials said. The developments ... belied earlier assertions by the Trump administration that U.S. forces had obtained air superiority over Iran and raised immediate questions about how much of the country’s arsenal remained after a month of targeted strikes on the regime’s weapons facilities.”
Julian Barnes & Eric Schmitt of the “Iranian operatives have been digging out underground missile bunkers and silos struck by American and Israeli bombs, returning them to operation hours after an attack, according to U.S. intelligence reports. Iran has also retained a significant amount of its missiles and mobile launchers, the reports say. The Pentagon and White House this week claimed to have made substantial progress against Iran.... But American intelligence agencies have cast doubt on how close the United States is to destroying Iran’s missile capability, a key goal in the war.... Iran retains the ability to use its remaining arsenal of ballistic missiles and missile launchers to attack Israel and other countries in the region, according to American officials.... Marco Rubio, the secretary of state and national security adviser, has outlined the 'severe diminishing' of Iran’s missile launch capability as one of the key war aims. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has spoken repeatedly about the damage the U.S. and Israeli attacks have done to Iran, and the declining numbers of Iranian missile strikes.”
Cate Cadell & Lyric Li of the Washington Post: “As the war in Iran erupted five weeks ago, social media sleuths across Western and Chinese platforms flagged a wave of viral posts detailing equipment at U.S. bases, the movements of American carrier groups and granular breakdowns of how military aircraft were assembling for strikes on Tehran. The intelligence came from a fast growing new market: Chinese firms — some with links to the People’s Liberation Army — marrying artificial intelligence with open-source data to market information they claim can 'expose' the movements of U.S. forces. Beijing has sought to distance itself from any direct involvement in the Iran war, but the firms — many of which have emerged in the past five years as part of the government’s push to harness private AI for military use — are capitalizing on the conflict.”
Winning the Battles, Losing the War. Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group, in a New York Times op-ed: “... the central question in this war was never whether Iran could be hurt. It was whether pain would translate into submission. So far, it has not. The notion of having achieved regime change is belied by the replacement of one Khamenei with another. Most of the senior political echelon remains intact, while power has gravitated toward more hard-line military figures. Weakening Iran’s military capacity has not stopped Tehran from being able to muster regular drone and missile salvos at Israel and Persian Gulf allies.... If Iran cannot prevail in a conventional military exchange, it can still prolong the conflict, widen its costs, disrupt the global economy and make the exercise of American and Israeli power more expensive than its architects anticipated.... It has shown that a degraded military and a severely damaged state do not need a weapon of mass destruction to hold its adversaries hostage.... A regime built to endure, its leadership infused with a culture of martyrdom and resistance and bereft of mercy, can continue to repress and remain in power.... What [Mr. Trump] did not admit to [in his speech Wednesday night] is that as commander in chief, he still managed to lose command of events.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: The main reason Trump doesn't know what he's doing is that he can't understand people who don't see the world as he does. Remember how Herman Melville's Ishmael chose Afghanistan as one of the "providential" headlines in his novel Moby Dick? -- "BLOODY BATTLE IN AFFGHANISTAN". Well, Iran is right next-door to Afghanistan, and as a nation nearly as old as civilization itself, it too has every reason to be extraordinarily tenacious. A little blip like Trump or even Netanyahu (the first Biblical "anointed" messiah is the Persian King Cyrus the Great who released the Jews from their Babylonian captivity) will not deter the ayatollahs. ~~~
~~~ Also, Trump doesn't know what he's doing partly because his aides are sure he can't handle the truth. ~~~
~~~ Susie Weils Freaks Out. Ellie Houghtaling of the New Republic, republished by Yahoo! News: "Three weeks into the [Iran] conflict—in mid-March—White House chief of staff Susie Wiles forced a meeting of Donald Trump’s most trusted advisers to deliver the bad news. Privately, Wiles had urged the president’s inner circle to stop feeding him a rose-tinted interpretation of the conflict, fearing that Trump was largely unaware of the domestic fallout of the war..., Time magazine reported Thursday. Up until that point, Trump had been spoon-fed daily video compilations of various battlefield successes.... Trump was under the impression that stripping nuclear capabilities from Iran could be one of his greatest legacies.... In the meantime, attacks on Iran’s oil and gas reserves—and the country’s decision to seal off the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy transit point — have drastically ramped up the cost of gas around the globe. The combination has struck fear in the Republican Party....”
Yes, Budgets Can Be Immoral: ~~~
~~~ Trump Wants Us to Spend Our Money on Wars, Not People. Riley Beggin of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump on Friday officially requested $1.5 trillion in spending for the Pentagon next fiscal year, which would be the largest defense budget in U.S. history. Trump also outlined some $73 billion in cuts to nondefense federal spending, including cuts to health research, K-12 and higher education, renewable energy and climate grants, a low-income housing energy program, and community development block grants. The cuts to nondefense spending represent a 10 percent reduction from the current fiscal year.” (Also linked yesterday.) The AP report is here. ~~~
~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: “MAGA is America First!, assuming you define 'America' as 'defense contractors.'” ~~~
~~~ Budget Is Another of Trump's Racist Attacks. Luke Broadwater & Michael Bender of the New York Times: Donald “Trump used his proposed budget for next year to continue his aggressive targeting of federal programs aimed at promoting diversity, helping Black and Hispanic students, and boosting minority-owned businesses, all initiatives the president derides as 'woke.' In section after section of his budget request, Mr. Trump sought to cut programs he connects to diversity, equity and inclusion programs, which he argues discriminate against white people. The proposed cuts, which are tiny compared with the $1.5 trillion budget he suggested for the military, reflect the president’s focus on stamping out federal initiatives created to support disadvantaged groups. 'President Trump is committed to eliminating radical gender and racial ideologies that poison the minds of Americans,' a budget document from the White House said.” ~~~
~~~ Science is for Scissies. Max Kozlov, et al., of Nature: “or the second year in a row..., Donald Trump has proposed significant cuts to the budgets of major US science agencies... The White House’s plan for federal spending next year also includes a ban on using federal funds for subscriptions and publishing fees for some academic journals.... Some of the steepest cuts would be made to the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): the budgets of both would fall more than 50% in 2027 compared to their current levels.... The budget for the US National Institutes of Health would drop 13%. A budget document says that the proposal would maintain funding for research on quantum information and artificial intelligence 'to ensure the United States remains on the cutting edge' in those arenas. The administration plans to increase applied research funding on those topics at the defence and energy departments.... But basic quantum and AI research funding at NSF, for example, would be cut by 37% and 32%, respectively.” ~~~
~~~ Sophie Brams of the Hill: Donald “Trump is seeking $152 million from Congress as part of his push to reopen Alcatraz prison near San Francisco to house violent federal criminals. The request, included in the White House’s proposed budget for fiscal 2027, calls on Congress to allocate funding to the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to cover the first year of project costs associated with rebuilding Alcatraz as a 'state-of-the-art secure prison facility.'” MB: Of course this is yet another stupid idea. The island prison, Brams writes, “was closed in March 1963 because it became too expensive to operate, according to the BOP website.” It's still too expensive to operate. On the other hand, in the interest of full disclosure, if Trump were imprisoned there, I'd gladly help pay for it. ~~~
~~~ Fiona Bork of the Hill: Donald “Trump wants to cut funding to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and require privatization of security operations at small airports. The White House’s 2027 budget proposal ... proposes cutting $52 million from the agency’s funding, which officials created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.... The budget also suggests having small airports enroll in the Screening Partnership Program under which TSA pays for private screeners to work at airports.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: You know how Trump claimed he was hitting up rich donors for his marvelous renovations to/destruction of the White House? Well, yeah, I'm sure that colossal corrupt scheme is ongoing. BUT also too ~~~
~~~ Ben Johansen of Politico: “... Donald Trump plans to spend more than $377 million renovating the White House executive residence in fiscal 2026 — and is estimating another $174 million on top of it for the next year, according to the White House’s fiscal 2027 budget request. The budget document, which proposes slashing domestic programs to help fund a $1.5 trillion bump to defense spending, estimates spending $377 million in fiscal 2026 under an account for repairs and renovations to the executive residence. That’s a mammoth 866 percent increase over the $39 million estimated to have been spent in fiscal 2025 on sprucing up the area of the White House where the president lives.... When asked for details..., [a White House] spokesperson said [the bulk of the $377MM] includes the private donations being used to fund Trump’s new ballroom and that funding is ... not subject to the annual congressional appropriations cycle.” MB: I don't quite understand how this funding works -- I just assume it's scammy. For one thing, the current White House position on the funding "buckets" seems to contradict a previous statement the White House made in a legal filing. Anyway, deep cuts to education; 866 percent increase in fixing up Trump's residence. Man of the people. ~~~
~~~ Dan Diamond of the Washington Post: “The White House on Friday proposed a $10 billion fund intended to help beautify Washington, the latest effort by ... Donald Trump to remake a city he long criticized for being dirty and unworthy of serving as the nation’s capital. The planned Presidential Capital Stewardship Program would be overseen by the National Park Service. It would help coordinate and fund construction and beautification projects in and around Washington, such as renovating parks and infrastructure that show signs of decay. The proposal could partially address a long-standing complaint from local officials and groups that the federal government has neglected to invest in public spaces and infrastructure it oversees in Washington. Some advocates and lawmakers, however, expressed concern that the proposed fund could also give Trump a way to claim congressional authorization for his more controversial ideas for new monuments and other changes.” MB: Yeah, I'd say the skeptics have it right.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: Donald “Trump on Friday signed a directive calling on his administration to pay all Department of Homeland Security employees, an effort to circumvent congressional gridlock and end the record-long shutdown of an agency tasked with protecting the country. In the presidential memorandum, Mr. Trump directed top officials to 'provide each and every employee of D.H.S. with the compensation and benefits' that they would have received if not for the shutdown. He noted that tens of thousands of employees at the Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency had gone without pay for nearly two months. The Friday order came after House Republicans refused to clear a Senate plan that would have restored funding to the agency.... The president signed a similar memo last week ordering the department to pay Transportation Security Administration officials after about 60,000 employees from the agency had to report for work without pay for weeks.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Trump's order may be unlawful, but for once I agree with him: these employees should be paid, and Congress should not get away with going on vacation while Coast Guard seamen go unpaid.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs, et al., of the New York Times: “After reclaiming the White House last year..., [Donald] Trump largely steered clear of the internal drama and high-profile firings that had marked his first term, intent on building a circle of loyalists to carry out his agenda. That period of stability may be ending. Mr. Trump’s abrupt ousters of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last month and Attorney General Pam Bondi this week have cast a cloud of uncertainty over the president’s cabinet.... Republicans are staring down the prospect of significant losses in the upcoming November midterm elections, potentially jeopardizing the GOP hold on the Senate [from whom Mr. Trump must obtain consent to appoint cabinet members].... The president has been contemplating more changes to his cabinet and has been quizzing allies about the performance of specific individuals....” Among those who could get the ax, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. An NBC News story -- which reads the same Times tea leaves -- is here.
Marie: As you read the next story, bear in mind that Pam Bondi "said her transition out of the job would take place over the next month," according the WashPo story linked yesterday. That means, in my mind, that she is likely to be in & out of the building for as much as a month: ~~~
~~~ So. Ken Dilanian & Carol Leonnig of MS NOW: "Within hours of the news that ... Donald Trump had fired Pam Bondi as attorney general, images began circulating of her framed portrait, unceremoniously removed from its place of honor near the president and vice president on the walls of Justice Department offices. One photo obtained by MS NOW showed Bondi’s portrait in a trash bin. Current and former DOJ officials said it’s a reflection of how deeply unpopular Bondi was with career officials and agents, thousands of whom left the department rather than follow her orders. Dozens more were forced out. Many of those officials remain angry about an episode at the beginning of her term, when Bondi entered a secure area of the DOJ offices of the national security division and saw that President Joe Biden’s portrait was still on the wall, along with former Attorney General Merrick Garland. Bondi demoted a respected career veteran over the pictures still hanging in the offices after Trump’s inauguration. In interviews, Bondi recounted how she took the photos down herself. She cited the episode as evidence that career DOJ employees were more loyal to Democrats than Republicans." Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: “The Pentagon has invited more than 3,500 employees to attend a Good Friday service at its in-house chapel. Except it’s only for Protestants, not Catholics. 'Just a friendly reminder: There will be a Protestant Service (No Catholic Mass) for Good Friday today at the Pentagon Chapel,' reads a Friday email sent by Air Force leadership, a copy of which was shared by an employee. 'I guess so the Catholics know their kind ain’t welcome,' said this employee, who requested anonymity to speak about internal communications. 'It’s so ridiculous.' A Pentagon spokesperson confirmed it is not hosting another, separate religious service for Catholic employees.” Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Wait a minute. The Trump administration is pretending it's concerned about informal discrimination against Jews at universities and businesses -- at the same time it is conducting official, formal discrimination against Roman Catholics at a federal facility, and during Holy Week??? This is astounding. In general, I don't think it's necessary to hold any religious services at the Pentagon because in the U.S., service members and employees can find their own houses of religion in the surrounding communities. But a nondenominational chapel should be open to all staff, particularly in a time of war, so that any of them may individually have a quiet moment during their work days. The majority of the Supreme Court justices are Roman Catholic (Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Sotomayor, Kavanaugh & Barrett). Somebody might want to ask them about Drunk Pete's attitude toward Catholics. ~~~
~~~ Update: In yesterday's comments, Patrick & Akhilleus wrote that Roman Catholics don't hold mass on Good Friday. When I was a little girl and attended an Episcopalian "high" church, we were required to show up at church sometime between noon and 3 pm on Good Friday to pray silently, (so no mass, as I recall). I would be surprised if there weren't a similar Roman Catholic tradition because just about everything from my church mimicked Catholic traditions. According to Art Intel (borrowing in part from the USCCB), "
There is not a full mass on Good Friday, but Catholics can take communion (the hosts are consecrated on Holy Thursday). There are lots of "official" Catholic prayers specific to Good Friday; and my recollection is that you're also supposed to make up your own, too, during the three-hour observance. That is to say that, especially in this time of ecumenicism, a nondenominational service could be devised to accommodate all people who wish to observe Good Friday in a place of worship; it need not be, as the Pentagon memo advises, "a Protestant Service."
Today in Teleporting News. Top Trump Administration Official of the Day. Richard Fausset of the New York Times: Despite a claim by Gregg Phillips, a top official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, “that he once teleported to a Waffle House in Rome[, Georgia]..., among roughly two dozen workers and regulars interviewed this week at Rome’s three Waffle House locations, none said they were aware of anyone traveling to the 24-hour restaurants by paranormal means, despite their reputation as powerful magnets for the sort of idiosyncratic characters who tend to surf the psychic fringes of the American South.
“In December, Mr. Phillips, 65, a former top health official in Texas, was appointed to head FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery. The office, with more than 1,000 employees and a budget of nearly $300 million, is central to FEMA’s job of responding to disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes and fires. Mr. Phillips was known, at the time, as a proponent of election fraud conspiracy theories, some of which were amplified by Mr. Trump. Things got stickier for Mr. Phillips last month, when an investigative report by CNN detailed how, on podcasts and social media, he had propagated other conspiracy theories, used violent rhetoric in discussing former President Joseph R. Biden, and recounted how, on two occasions, he had somehow found himself being moved, by forces beyond his control, dozens of miles from two different starting points in Georgia.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Jazmine Ulloa & Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “Months before the immigration arrest this week of a Wisconsin mosque leader, Secretary of State Marco Rubio found him to be a threat to the U.S. foreign policy interest of combating antisemitism.... It appears to be the latest case in which the administration has sought to deport someone who was active in pro-Palestinian causes.... Homeland Security Department officials have described the mosque leader, Salah Sarsour, 53, as a national security threat with ties to terrorist groups and said he had been convicted of crimes by Israel before he was granted entry to the United States in 1993. The agency also said he had lied on his green card application.... But Mr. Sarsour's lawyer ... said the government had not provided his client with a reason it had opened an investigation into his immigration application years after approving his lawful residency. He also said the government had not produced any evidence or information to back up its terrorism allegations.... 'This is nothing but an attempt to silence pro-Palestinian voices[,' he said]. The arrest of Mr. Sarsour, the president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, drew immediate condemnation from mosque leaders and national Muslim advocacy groups, who saw it as part of a broader, politically motivated campaign to stifle pro-Palestinian voices in the United States.”
Annie Karni of the New York Times: “In the year since the Justice Department charged her with assaulting immigration agents outside an ICE detention facility in Newark, Representative LaMonica McIver, Democrat of New Jersey, has tried to present an unflappable face.... But the reality is that the case against her by the Trump administration — a test of executive power pitted against a first-term member of Congress who faces the possibility of a 17-year prison sentence — has made it very difficult for Ms. McIver, 39, to carry out her responsibilities. Her life has been consumed by a case, now playing out in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit... Its outcome could carry major legal implications. Ms. McIver ... has refused to consider a plea deal. Instead, she is seeking to have the case against her thrown out, arguing that the Constitution’s 'speech-or-debate clause,' which protects members of Congress from legal liability when they are conducting legislative business, protects her from prosecution.”
Lydia DePillis of the New York Times: “The labor market put in a strong showing in March, as wintry weather receded, strikes concluded and businesses started looking beyond the huge changes of President Trump’s first year in office. The Labor Department reported on Friday that employers had added 178,000 jobs last month, substantially more than economists had expected, bringing the average over the past three volatile months to a healthy 68,000 positions. The unemployment rate dropped to 4.3 percent, leveling off after a gradual rise, as the work force contracted slightly. The numbers were collected before the energy price shock caused by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran tightened its grip on the global economy, however. Forecasters have estimated that persistently higher oil prices will slow job creation and raise unemployment in a year when they had expected the economy to regain some vigor.”
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Cuba. Andrea Rodriguez of the AP (April 2): “The Cuban government said Thursday it would release 2,010 prisoners in a move that comes while the Trump administration puts extreme pressure on the island’s government with a suffocating oil blockade. The announcement said the pardons were a 'humanitarian gesture' in connection with Holy Week and didn’t mention mounting pressures with the U.S. The government said the prisoners affected are foreigners and Cubans, including women, the elderly and young people. It didn’t say when they were being released or under what conditions, nor did it mention the crimes they were accused of committing. Authorities also provided no details on whether any of those pardoned were protesters convicted and sentenced for terrorism, contempt or public disorder.”
20 comments:
To the Moon, Alice....and everyone else.
As the war of a fat narcissist persists, as his lies and those of his "lethal warfighter-pray to Jesus to kill" Secretary of offensiveness expose their ignorance and hubris, as humans starve while a wealthy president seeks even more money to support his own grandiosity, it might be useful to take a moment to consider what humans are truly capable of when not consumed by a need to dominate and kill other humans.
Artemis II, is rocketing through the void towards a heavenly body other than Earth. I'm sure all of us out here old enough to recall that first moon landing remember the awe, the beauty, the momentary connectedness of the entire population of the planet as two human beings set foot on that satellite, the first time in its four and a half billion years that lifeforms knocked on its door. We sat there, speechless. mouths open, staring at those grainy black and white images on little television screens at the amazing spectacle taking place a quarter million miles away. For a brief moment in time, we were all together, reminded of the great things we as a species can do if we put our minds to it, and the fragility of humankind in the great void of space.
Astronauts, astrophysicists, rocket engineers, all hardcore scientists and military personnel, those engaged in the hard mathematics of survival in a place inimical to life have, to a person, transformed, along with hundreds of millions of us here on planet Earth into poets when confronted with such spectacles. Observations from space take the form of awestruck expressions of the fragility of the planet, the lack of political borders, the necessity of all of us to work together to protect our blue ball of life moving through the vast darkness of space. I have always loved how former hard ass test pilots and butt-kicking alpha dogs suddenly become John Keats looking back at their--at our--home. It's a true marvel, a miracle.
But not all of us.
I was curious to hear what that fat man consumed by his own greatness had to say about humanity's first voyage into the deep heavens in over half a century. Would he too be transformed by that cognitive shift called the Overview Effect, affected by the transcendence of it all, to recognize the beauty and the supreme power of imagination, science, will, and the ability of humans to come together to do something wonderful,
The answer.....No, Of course not. It is, after all, Donald Trump. His response? Braggadocio. "We DOMINATE! NO one ever went SO FAR, Never in history. USA! Me, me, me, me, me, me!
If he wasn't such a repulsive, mean spirited little man, I'd almost feel sorry for someone unable to take even a moment to appreciate something outside himself. He's the guy who sees the Grand Canyon and wonders where the nearest McDonald's is because he's hungry, and what's the big deal. It's just a hole in the ground. No...he's worse. He wonders (after having a flunky find out where the nearest McDonald's is) if there isn't some way he could make money off the place.
So it's back to blowing shit up and declaring himself a god.
Meanwhile, a small vessel named after the goddess of the hunt hurtles towards the moon, insensitive to the debauchery and delusions of that little fat man.
Excelsior, Artemis!
Artemis and your comment, Akhilleus, put me in mind of this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family_of_Man
That was then. Might turn into an essay down the road.
The White House renovation request sounds like they are trying to double dip. If the money was coming from their private donations then why are they also putting it in their budget request? Probably to pocket any money they get from the government by switching it with the less traceable private funds.
Timothy Snyder
"Hard for Trump to get out of a war that is making so much money for Putin."
"Trump admin moves Title X family planning program away from contraception, towards conception
the Department of Health and Human Services quietly posted new guidance for clinics around the country that provide birth control and other sexual health services to millions of low-income people. Several changes could take effect when the clinics reapply for funding in January 2027.
The nearly 70-page document included no mention of contraception other than an assertion that it is overprescribed, has negative side effects, and is part of a broader “overreliance on pharmaceutical and surgical treatments.”"
Business plan: 1. Start a war in Middle East 2. Sell them defenses 3. Make money
"A drone maker backed by Trump’s two oldest sons is trying to sell to Gulf countries while they are under attack by Iran and dependent on the U.S. military led by their father. The sales drive by Florida-based Powerus – which announced a deal last month to bring aboard Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. – positions the company to potentially benefit from a war that their father began.
“These countries are under enormous pressure to buy from the sons of the president so he will do what they want,” said Richard Painter, a former chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush."
Josh Tyrangiel, for The Atlantic, categorizes the names in the Epsteim files, creating The Epstein Spectrum
Given that the "the files run to nearly 3.5 million pages", Tyrangiel finds it useful to "read these exchanges as individual acts rather than a monolith", and place them in categories such as:
"Fundraising Maniacs
Intellectuals and other prominent people who treated Epstein as a Medici-style patron of science or ideas. Many appeared oblivious to the implications of accepting support or vacation invitations from a convicted sex offender.
Embarrassing Social Enthusiasm
Status seekers who, with varying degrees of intensity, corresponded or spent time with Epstein or Maxwell. Even if they reached out for ostensibly respectable reasons (a few didn’t), the flattering tone in many of these emails reveals a delight at being in Epstein’s orbit.
Creepy Intellectuals
Brilliant men at prestigious institutions who used their intellect to justify Epstein’s actions, engaged in a nerd’s awkward fantasy of locker-room talk, sought advice from him, or were otherwise revealed as skeevy horndogs.
Somewhat to Very Gross
Prominent figures who were friendly with Epstein. Some asked him to connect them with women; some rushed to help him despite his treatment of girls and women; some allegedly harassed or preyed on women themselves."
Homeland Security's Easter message.
"Trust in God’s plan."
From the people who do not believe or follow any of the teachings of Christ. They hate their neighbors, starve the hungry and make people sick, in body and soul. They are truly antichrist.
I wonder if Iran has been paying attention to Drunk Pete’s screeds about lethality and warfighters who aren’t woke and don’t care about rules of engagement or the pansy-ass Geneva Conventions. His boys are there to KILL! Gut the enemy! Chop their heads off! No mercy.
In that case, that downed pilot is toast if Iranians find him first.
Bag O Cash Homan’s idea of sending out a picture of Jesus on the cross is his way of letting US citizens who aren’t Christian that they might live here but they’re not real ‘mericans. Jesus didn’t die for THEIR sins. Btw, how long has it been since rabid right-wing Christians stopped referring to Jews as Christ killers? Using religious symbolism is a sure fire shibboleth for white supremacists, Christian nationalists, and authoritarian scumbags.
How much cash was in that bag, Tom? $50K? Must have bought a lot of crusader memorabilia.
Just wondering, if the Iranians find that downed pilot first and don't go all Drunk Pete on him, how Fatty and Petey will handle their very own Francis Gary Powers situation. Maybe they can say that F-15 was a weather plane that went off course. More than likely, Drunk Pete would attack the guy for not killing himself before being captured, and, of course, praising Jesus while doing so.
@Akhilleus: Right you are. That downed airman is the practical reason the leaders of a country at war abide by the Geneva Conventions and stick to reasoned, humanitarian language even in the heat of hostilities. A person would have to be beyond stupid not to know that. The way Drunk Pete has purposely and wantonly endangered this airman as well as any other future combatants is impeachment-worthy incompetence, IMO.
Trump should be demanding that Pete STFU. Instead, Trump has adopted Pete's Holy War language. This isn't merely a war of whim. It's a war waged by and for very stupid men. And those stupid men make all of us complicit.
@RAS: That's a government account. A government entity sending out Jesus pictures with Jesus messages violates the First Amendment. It makes me sick.
Yikes! Iran releases photo of downed F-15. Interestingly, the plane contained a rather surprise cargo.
Drunk Pete's penchant for firing generals, according to some, stems from his feeling that the US Army treated him badly and hurt his poor fee-fees. It also appears that he fears he might be booted from his exalted and entirely unearned perch atop the military. He is, it's no surprise, a scaredy cat and cowardly bully boy, firing those connected to a general he fears is waiting in the wings to replace his drunken ass.
"Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s 'paranoia' about Army Secretary Dan Driscoll taking his job fueled the firing of the Army’s top general, current and former administration officials tell The Post — as a top contender emerges to replace Driscoll if he’s canned next.
Hegseth on Thursday demanded the resignation of Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George — Driscoll’s top aide — in the middle of the Iran war for reasons that were not publicly stated.
'This is all driven by the insecurity and paranoia that Pete has developed since Signalgate. Unfortunately, it is stoked by some of his closest aides who should be trying to calm the waters,' an official said, referring to Hegseth’s March 2025 group chat with national security officials that inadvertently included a reporter."
So, in the middle of a war in which thousands have been killed, including American service members, a war that has spread like wildfire across the Middle East, a war that has rocked world economies and shattered alliances, the top guy in the Pentagon is more worried about how he looks to the Orange Monster, gutting commands in order to try to save his job rather than working to develop some kind of strategy that makes sense.
Another preening loser. All the best people.
Akhilleus,
No reasons for Petey to be scared. He has his god on his side. And that god, as we all know, is lethal.
Ken,
Yeah, but is he a drunk too?
So today's Met Opera broadcast was a replay of a 1968 production of "La Giaconda". Real ass kicking Grand Opera, with a selfless heroine and a truly nasty villain. In looking up what some fans consider the best/worst operatic villains, I came across this quote:
"On the surface, the motivations of opera’s most nefarious characters seem as different as the stories that birthed them.... Yet whether they seek lust, revenge, or riches, all of these villains are, at their core, on a quest for power. When that desire for power manifests as domination over others, tragedy is never far behind."
Hmmm...remind you of anyone? Unfortunately, the tragedy in this case is our own. He, as usual, skates away to grift and lie again another day.
As seen on Bluesky, a quirky, 2+ minute video AI on T****'s library in the year 2030
t**** legacy
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