Slouching Toward Autocracy. New York Times Editors: Donald “Trump’s war with Iran is the most significant military action in American history that a president has undertaken without any form of congressional authorization.... Over the past two and half months, Mr. Trump has ordered thousands of strikes against another country and killed its leader. The war has roiled global energy markets and drained American munitions stockpiles. Yet despite its scope and stakes, the president continues to show disdain for members of Congress who ask questions about the war and has not even provided a coherent rationale for it. Congressional Republicans deserve significant responsibility for the situation.” The editors raised one factor on their “autocracy scale.”
Megan Mineiro of the New York Times: “The Senate on Wednesday blocked Democrats’ seventh attempt to halt the war in Iran, as Republicans banded together almost unanimously to beat back the first such effort since ... [Donald] Trump blew past a 60-day deadline to seek congressional authorization to continue the fighting. But another Republican who had opposed earlier attempts defected from the party line on Wednesday, in a sign of growing cracks in the G.O.P.’s patience with the conflict and the president’s handling of it. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska for the first time joined Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky in voting with Democrats to advance the measure. The effort failed on a vote of 50 to 49, with Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania again joining Republicans in opposition.”
Colby Smith of the New York Times: “The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Kevin M. Warsh to become the next chair of the Federal Reserve, marking the start of a new era for an institution that ... [Donald] Trump has repeatedly attacked for not lowering interest rates as aggressively as he would like. Mr. Warsh, whom Mr. Trump nominated for the top job at the central bank, was approved on a 54-45 vote. He will replace Jerome H. Powell, whose term as chair ends May 15. All but one Democrat in the upper chamber voted against Mr. Warsh, reflecting lingering concerns about his willingness to uphold the longstanding political independence of the central bank. Mr. Trump has taken direct aim at that autonomy since returning to the White House last year.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: If you would like to know who that one Democrat is, Smith won't tell you (at least in this initial report), but I will tell you it's John Fetterman. Of course.
~~~ Marie: If you still are wondering what to think about Fetterman, maybe this clip RAS linked earlier Wednesday will help. Referring to Fetterman & Bill Maher, RAS wrote, "What misogynistic assholes.... The fact that they can't tell the difference between uttering unvarnished truths versus a bigoted old man losing his filter tells you all you need to know about the intelligence of these two losers." I'll endorse that.
Dan Diamond & Aaron Schaffer of the Washington Post: “A group of Miami residents sued ... Donald Trump, Florida officials and trustees of Miami Dade College on Tuesday over Trump’s planned presidential library, claiming that the college’s decision to hand over a coveted parcel of land for the project constitutes an illegal benefit for the president. The litigants — who include a current Miami Dade College student — allege that the land transfer violates the Constitution’s domestic emoluments clause, which bars states from attempting to influence a president by giving him gifts. They argue that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and his handpicked board of trustees at the state-operated college were wrong to give a nearly three-acre parcel in downtown Miami to Trump’s library foundation last year in exchange for $10. The county’s property appraiser had said the land was worth more than $67 million.... The lawsuit also cites Trump’s public comments in March that he expects to use his future library, which is being run by a nonprofit foundation, as a hotel. The land 'is no longer available to serve MDC’s student community and Downtown Miami,' the litigants write, calling for the transfer to be nullified. 'Instead, the land will house a Trump hotel that brings riches to the President.'”
⭐Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: “The immediate consequence of the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais is that Republican-led states in the South can destroy their majority-minority districts and, in turn, deprive their Black residents of federal representation by politicians of their choosing. Within days of the ruling, in fact, lawmakers in Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama rushed to do just that, practically gloating over the opportunity to purge Democrats — most of them Black — from their congressional delegations.... To watch this whole spectacle is to put the lie to the idea — seen in the court’s opinion as well as among the court’s apologists — that the South has changed so much since 1965 that a strong Voting Rights Act is no longer necessary.... The main consequence, however, might be to undermine American democracy altogether and push this nation’s politics to an even more dangerous place of high partisan tension and ideological Balkanization.... The effect of [the redistricting] arms race is a House that looks something like the Electoral College.... A system in which political parties can rewrite the rules to keep themselves in power indefinitely ... is not a democracy in any meaningful sense.” The link is a gift link.
Marie: I don't know how to evaluate this: a MAGA guy -- we'll call him "Rich Wanker," which seems like a good name for a GOP VIP -- quits for a good reason, but he is completely oblivious to what a terrible president* Trump is. ~~~
~~~ Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: “The chief spokesman for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. resigned on Wednesday in protest over the administration’s push to allow major tobacco companies to begin selling flavored vapes that appeal to children. His departure came one day after the head of the Food and Drug Administration quit for the same reason. In a letter to Mr. Trump, obtained by The New York Times, the spokesman, Rich Danker, did not blame the president, whom he said had 'twice restored our prosperity and national security against all odds.' But he warned that authorizing flavored e-cigarettes would draw more children into vaping and increase their risk for a number of health issues, from addiction to cancer.”
South Carolina. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: “South Carolina’s top court on Wednesday undid the murder convictions against Alex Murdaugh, the lawyer a jury had found guilty of murdering his wife and one of his sons in a trial that captivated the country. In a unanimous opinion, the State Supreme Court said that “shocking jury interference” by a court clerk who oversaw jurors during the 2023 trial meant that Mr. Murdaugh’s convictions and life sentence must be overturned. Mr. Murdaugh, 57, will remain in prison because he is also serving decades-long prison sentences after pleading guilty to stealing millions of dollars from his law firm and his former clients. While he has admitted to embezzlement, he has long maintained — including during testimony at his trial — that he did not kill his wife, Maggie, 52, and their younger son, Paul, 22. The South Carolina attorney general's office, which prosecuted the case, will retry Mr. Murdaugh for the killings.”
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Marie: There's a lot more going on, but I have to go out for a while this morning. I'll catch up in the late morning. Update: I'm back. I will cleverly mark any new links as "NEW."
⭐So Much Winning. Adam Entous, et al., of the New York Times: “The Trump administration’s public portrayal of a shattered Iranian military is sharply at odds with what U.S. intelligence agencies are telling policymakers behind closed doors, according to classified assessments from early this month that show Iran has regained access to most of its missile sites, launchers and underground facilities. Most alarming to some senior officials is evidence that Iran has restored operational access to 30 of the 33 missile sites it maintains along the Strait of Hormuz, which could threaten American warships and oil tankers transiting the narrow waterway.... The findings undercut months of public assurances from ... [Donald] Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who have told Americans that the Iranian military was 'decimated' and 'no longer' a threat.”
NEW. This Is Not the Onion. This Is the Hegseth. Mosheh Gains, et al., of NBC News: “The U.S. military is considering officially renaming the war with Iran 'Operation Sledgehammer' if the current ceasefire collapses and ... Donald Trump decides to re-start major combat operations, according to two U.S. officials. The discussions about possibly replacing 'Operation Epic Fury' with 'Operation Sledgehammer' underscore how seriously the administration is considering resuming the war started on Feb. 28, and could allow Trump to argue that it restarts the 60-day clock that requires congressional authorization for war.... Any new military combat operations against Iran would be conducted under a new name and operation, a White House official familiar with the discussions said, and from the administration’s point of view this would effectively restart the clock with Congress.”
Noah Robertson of the Washington Post: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced intense scrutiny from members of Congress on Tuesday over the Trump administration’s handling of the Iran war, as lawmakers from both parties pressed him to clarify the Pentagon’s plan to cover the conflict’s rising costs and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. His testimony alongside Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, marks the senior Pentagon officials’ last scheduled appearance before Congress to defend the administration’s record $1.45 trillion defense budget proposal. They spoke first with the House panel on defense spending before meeting with Senate appropriators.... Hegseth and Caine encountered rare public criticism from some Republicans, who alongside many Democrats, expressed frustration with the administration’s delay in assessing the costs of the conflict and lack of strategy for ending the war.
'No wonder this damn thing is going nowhere,' Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) said, objecting to Pakistan’s involvement in a faltering process to negotiate a permanent peace deal between Washington and Tehran.... [MB: Pakistan is reportedly allowing Iran to park its military aircraft in Pakistan to shield them from U.S. airstrikes.] Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), the Republican chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, aired similar concerns about the administration’s plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has closed the strait to most commercial shipping since the start of the war in late February. 'It seems to me that there’s been a different plan, almost daily, with dealing with this problem,' she said..... The administration ... [has] asserted that the hostilities had 'terminated,' in a letter sent to Capitol Hill. 'It doesn’t appear that hostilities have ended,' said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)....”
I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all. -- Donald Trump, to reporters Tuesday ~~~
~~~ He Really Doesn't Care -- “Not Even a Little Bit.” Erica Green, et al., of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said on Tuesday that he does not think about the economic hardship Americans feel as a result of his war in Iran, and it did not factor into his negotiations to end it. Speaking to reporters at the White House before departing on a trip to China for most of the week, Mr. Trump said Iran’s nuclear program was the only thing motivating him to make a deal as the two countries remain deadlocked.... Mr. Trump was asked whether Americans’ financial situation was motivating him to make a deal. He replied bluntly, 'Not even a little bit.... The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran — they can’t have a nuclear weapon,' he said.... It was a stunning admission even for Mr. Trump, who has spent weeks downplaying the economic toll the war has taken on the country. ” ~~~
~~~ Paige Skinner of the Huffington Post: “... Donald Trump insulted two female reporters on Tuesday, calling one a 'dumb person' after she asked about the controversial White House ballroom project, and another a 'stupid person' after she asked about inflation. Speaking outside the White House, Trump responded to a reporter’s comment about the cost of the ballroom doubling, making the perplexing statement that it’s 'on budget, under budget' and also 'ahead of schedule.' 'I doubled the size of it, you dumb person,' Trump told her. 'Double the size. You are not a smart person.' Another female reporter asked Trump about rising inflation and whether his policies were working. 'They’re working incredibly,' Trump said. 'If you go back to just before the war, for the last three months, inflation was at 1.7%. Now, we had a choice. Let these lunatics have a nuclear weapon — if you want to do that, then you’re a stupid person.... And you happen to be. I mean, I know you very well,' he continued, directly addressing the reporter. 'Anybody that wants them to have a nuclear weapon is a stupid person.'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: The reporter who asked about the ballroom was MS NOW's Akayla Gardner. She is a woman of color. I don't know the identity of the other reporter whom Trump insulted. ~~~
~~~ NEW. Here's the story Akayla Gardner (& Soorin Kim) developed from her questioning of the Fatted Boor: “The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation, which Trump said last month would cost roughly $2 million, has ballooned to $13 million.... The cost of Trump’s planned White House ballroom addition was estimated at $200 million when Trump announced it last summer. Trump said it would be paid for solely through private donations. The cost has since soared to $400 million, with Republicans in Congress weighing a request for an additional $220 million in taxpayer funding for security upgrades for the new construction within a broader $1 billion funding request for security upgrades across the White House complex. The increases rival, in percentage terms, the cost overruns Trump has cited in calling for investigations into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro recently dropped her federal criminal inquiry into Powell after a district judge said prosecutors had produced 'essentially zero evidence' in the case.”
NEW. John Ismay of the New York Times: “A national missile defense system like ... [Donald] Trump’s proposed 'Golden Dome' could cost taxpayers $1.2 trillion over 20 years, according to a government report issued on Tuesday. To protect the continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii would require four separate layers of defensive assets, the analysis said, including several thousand satellites as well as a half-dozen radar and missile sites to engage intercontinental ballistic missiles and 35 new regional sites to defend against hypersonic missiles and cruise missiles. Even if the system is built, the report concluded, an adversary like Russia or China that has a large arsenal of nuclear weapons could overwhelm it and some missiles would hit their targets. The estimate was provided by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office using an executive order issued by Mr. Trump in January 2025 as a blueprint.... [Mr. Trump] estimated that the project would cost $175 billion.” The AP story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Trump's proposed "Golden Dome" is of course a knockoff of Israel's "Iron Dome." Art Intel says Israel's land mass is about .21 percent of the U.S. land mass (including Alaska & Hawaii). That's not 21 percent; that's POINT21 percent -- about one-fifth of one percent. Obviously then, the costs are, well, out of this world -- and they would be far from fail-safe. Trump just wants (1) everything Bibi has and (2) something else he can call "golden."
David Fahrenthold & Maxine Joselow of the New York Times: “Interior Department staff members have raised concerns about the quality and speed of the repair work that a contractor is performing on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington.... The staff members said that bubbles and small holes had appeared in one of the layers meant to waterproof the iconic pool. And uneven application of the tinted waterproofing left the pool mottled in varying shades of blue, the documents indicate. The documents say both issues were being addressed, but they raise the possibility that the work may not be finished by the government’s deadline of May 22. That would be an ironic turn of events, given that federal bidding laws were skirted because the government had argued there was an urgent need — to have it ready for the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations....
“Last month, the Interior Department hired a Virginia firm, Atlantic Industrial Coatings, to repair, resurface and paint the pool.... [Donald] Trump said publicly that he had recommended the firm because of good work it did on the swimming pools at one of his golf clubs. However, Mr. Trump ... [wrote on Truth Social] early Tuesday..., 'I didn’t give out the contract, “Interior” did, to a contractor I did not know, and have never used before,' Mr. Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Trump's about-face came shortly after Fahrenthold & Luke Broadwater reported in the NYT that although Trump had claimed his pool contractor was charging $1.8MM for the resurfacing & repairs, "the actual cost is now more than seven times that ...[:] $13.1 million." Trump lies about everything. It appears he even lies about his lies. ~~~
~~~ NEW. Update: Here's the Hill's story on Trump's changing "my" contractor/"Interior's" contractor stories.
Meredith Hill of Politico: “House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington [R] said in an interview Tuesday he would 'reserve judgment' on the White House’s request for Republicans to include $1 billion in security funding in their party-line package until he saw legislative text, but cautioned he wanted to see an 'itemized' list of what the money would be used for.” ~~~
~~~ Riley Rogerson of Politico: “A key moderate Republican lawmaker said Tuesday he would not support a White House security funding request that could pour as much as $220 million into ... Donald Trump’s controversial ballroom project. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) dismissed the prospect that the House would approve $1 billion in new Secret Service spending as part of a pending party-line bill that otherwise funds immigration enforcement agencies.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Just a reminder that the East Wing already contained an underground secure site. Trump tore it up. Sure, the original structure might have needed some upgrades, but every taxpayer dollar that goes to new security features for a new bunker or the ballroom or whatever is a reward to Trump for destroying the East Wing.
A few gifts from His Nibs (all part of our continuing series, "Everything Trump Does Is Wrong"):
(1) Lydia DePillis of the New York Times: “Consumer prices in the United States rose at the fastest rate since May 2023 last month, as sharp increases in energy costs caused by war in the Middle East made life more expensive for American consumers. The Consumer Price Index rose 3.8 percent in April from a year earlier, the Labor Department reported on Tuesday, up from a 2.4 percent annual increase before the conflict started in February and a 3.3 percent increase in March. The increase was driven largely by energy prices, up 3.8 percent just since the previous month and nearly 18 percent from a year earlier.” (Also linked yesterday.)
(2) Peter Eavis of the New York Times: “Just over a year ago, Mr. Trump imposed high tariffs on steel to try to stifle imports of the metal and bolster domestic production. But imports of the kind of steel used to make [ordinary 'tin'] cans surged in 2025, and American can makers say they will remain heavily dependent on foreign supplies — now made more expensive by the tariffs — for a long time.... Unlike some of Mr. Trump’s other tariffs, which have been overturned by courts, the steel levies have strong legal standing, according to scholars, which means they are unlikely to go away anytime soon. They were imposed under a national security provision called Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act — and, at 50 percent, are higher than many of Mr. Trump’s other import taxes. A can makes up about a third of the wholesale price of canned fruits or vegetables. And as Mr. Trump’s tariffs pushed up the cost of tin plate, canned food prices have risen, burdening households that rely on [canned] staples....” (Also linked yesterday.)
(3) New York Times: “Oil prices edged higher and global stock markets cooled on Tuesday after the Consumer Price Index showed that U.S. inflation in April rose at the fastest rate since May 2023, as sharp increases in energy costs caused by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran made life more expensive for consumers.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Marie: I'm glad to see the WashPo decided to report this. Early in the day yesterday I couldn't find any major media outlets that bothered to highlight Trump's insane tweetorama: ~~~
~~~ Amy Wang of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump shared a Truth Social post late Monday night that called for the arrest of Barack Obama, accusing the former president of treason, without evidence. The post was part of a flurry of late-night activity on Trump’s social media page in which the president shared several posts that railed against his political opponents. The lengthy post, originally published by another Truth Social user, touched on a claim Trump has promoted for years: that the Obama administration spied on Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.... The post was one of more than four dozen items Trump shared or reposted on Truth Social between 10 p.m. Monday and about 8 a.m. Tuesday.... The frenzy of activity included more than a dozen posts that relitigated the 2020 presidential election, which Trump has continued to falsely claim was stolen. About a dozen posts attacked Obama by name, including one that called Trump’s predecessor in his first term the 'most DEMONIC FORCE in American politics in decades.'”
This Is Unconscionable. Andrew Duehren & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “The Justice Department is holding internal discussions about settling ... [Donald] Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service in the coming days, according to three people familiar with the deliberations, a move that could involve the government directly providing taxpayer funds or another public benefit to the president. Whether to settle the suit and on what terms remains up in the air. One of the settlement options the Justice Department and White House officials are reviewing is the possibility of the I.R.S. dropping any audits of Mr. Trump, his family members or businesses, according to two of the people.” The link appears to be a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "Settling the suit to preempt a judge throwing the case out for the lack of a controversy (which is obviously true) would be the most corrupt act in the history of the American presidency by a margin that’s hard to fathom, and I wish I thought it would get as much coverage as Hunter Biden’s art sales."
Hamed Aleaziz & Tyler Pager of the New York Times: “The Trump administration on Tuesday said that David Venturella, a former career Immigration and Customs Enforcement official who worked at a private prison company before rejoining the agency last year, would serve as ICE’s acting leader.... ICE has long operated with directors who serve only in an 'acting' capacity, and has been without a Senate-confirmed director since an Obama-administration official retired in January 2017. Mr. Venturella’s selection is in line with a push by Markwayne Mullin, the homeland security secretary, to keep D.H.S. under the radar and out of headlines. Mr. Venturella was known to prefer quieter operations than the volatile ones conducted by D.H.S. officials in major cities over the past year.... [Mr. Venturella's] appointment will likely prompt criticism from those skeptical of the influence of private prison companies on ICE, which relies on them to detain undocumented immigrants. In March, The New York Times reported that Mr. Venturella called ICE officials in Miami to make sure that officers there picked up the ex-wife of a Trump ally embroiled in a custody battle with the woman.” NEW. Politico's story is here.
James Wagner & Hogla of the New York Times: “The Dominican Republic said on Tuesday it had agreed to take third-country deportees from the United States, as the Caribbean nation sought to strengthen its ties with the Trump administration and join other Latin American countries that had struck such deals. The move was an about-face for the country’s president, Luis Abinader, who said last year that the Dominican Republic would not accept deportees from other countries — 'only Dominicans, who we have the duty and the right to do so.'”
Julian Barnes & Maria Abi-Habib of the New York Times: “The C.I.A. provided intelligence and planning support for a recent operation against a cartel operative inside Mexico, but was not on the ground when Mexican authorities killed the man, according to a former official and others briefed on the operation. On Tuesday, CNN reported that the C.I.A. had been involved in the assassination of Francisco Beltran, a midlevel cartel operative, in March.... The operative was killed when an explosive ripped through his car on the outskirts of Mexico City, which was widely reported at the time. But CNN’s report said the incident 'was a targeted assassination, facilitated by C.I.A. operations officers.' The report also said that the C.I.A. has participated in multiple 'deadly attacks' on Mexican cartel members since last year, with the agency’s level of involvement varying. The former official and others briefed on the operation said the C.I.A. provided intelligence on the cartel operative’s location and was involved in the planning of the assassination.... But C.I.A. officers were not present on the site of the attack and were not advising the Mexicans in person when the operation was carried out, the former official and those briefed said.”
Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: “Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, offered a series of angry, insult-laden denials to Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday in response to questions about his conduct, including whether he drank to excess, forced subordinates to take polygraph exams and made false statements to Congress. The remarks, delivered at a hearing ostensibly about the coming budget for the F.B.I. and other law enforcement agencies, veered from sedate exchanges about operational matters to ugly personal confrontations, particularly between Mr. Patel and Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland. 'You are a disgrace, Mr. Director,' the senator declared toward the end of the hearing.... [In response to a question by Sen. Van Hollen about reports of Mr. Patel's excessive drinking, Mr. Patel said,] 'The only person that was slinging margaritas in El Salvador on the taxpayer dollar with a convicted gang-banging rapist was you,' Mr. Patel charged. Photographs from the meeting taken by the Salvadoran government show what appear to be mixed drinks on the table where Mr. Van Hollen and [Kilmar] Abrego Garcia met. Mr. Van Hollen has long said that government officials placed the drinks there to make Mr. Abrego Garcia’s life as a prisoner look less punishing. Mr. Patel’s accusation also mischaracterized Mr. Abrego Garcia, who has never been convicted of a sex crime or of being part of a gang.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: This has to be good news for Abrego Garcia, who can add Patel's testimony to body of evidence that he can't get a fair hearing in the U.S. More generally speaking, Patel's behavior was atrocious. To accuse a senator of "slinging drinks" when there's no evidence he did so is just shocking. And that wasn't all. ~~~
According to NBC News, Patel “yelled” at Van Hollen, “The only person that ran up a $7,000 bar tab in Washington, D.C., at the Lobby Bar was you. The only individual in this room that has been drinking on the taxpayer dime during the day is you.” BUT Art Intel sez, “Van Hollen’s office clarified that the expense was actually a $7,128 catering charge for a campaign-funded holiday reception held at the Lobby Bar in December 2025 for 50+ members of their team, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings.... Van Hollen stated that the event was funded by his campaign funds, not taxpayer dollars.” A normal president would fire Patel immediately for making false charges against a senator during a Congressional hearing.
Marie: Like Trump, Patel is a congenital liar. He swore under oath during his confirmation hearings that the FBI under his watch would not engage in retributive projects. Specifically, he testified, "There will be no retributive actions taken by the FBI." Nothing could have been further from the truth. Instead he almost immediately punished/fired agents & officials because they had been assigned to work on investigations of Trump. And he kept at it. Now this: ~~~
~~~ NEW. Patel's “Payback Squad.” Jose Pagliary of NOTUS: "The FBI now has a team of special agents that’s being internally referred to as the 'payback squad' specifically put together to handle politically sensitive cases.... The team is understood to be made up of agents who are willing to pursue political targets set by the Trump administration, with one current government official noting that investigators are tasked with building cases similar to the recent criminal prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey.... [The] effort ... began roughly a year ago.... [The unit is probably one known as] the Director’s Advisory Team, a group that was created early last year as a 'special investigative' unit tasked with 'getting to the bottom of some abuses of power that happened' during the previous three presidential administrations.... Tthe Director’s Advisory Team is currently building a criminal case that seeks to charge former top government officials with a “grand conspiracy” against ... Donald Trump. That particular investigation aims to indict former CIA Director John Brennan in the coming weeks....”
Jeremy Roebuck & Perry Stein of the Washington Post: “The Justice Department has paid millions of dollars to settle claims from FBI agents suspended over misconduct allegations, a prominent House Democrat said in a letter Tuesday, raising concern over what he described as the Trump administration’s pattern of rewarding allies with large cash payouts. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) highlighted several of those deals in a missive to acting attorney general Todd Blanche demanding further details on the payments, including settlements with an agent who was disciplined after refusing to investigate a white nationalist group and another who was accused of being present in a restricted area during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.... 'These checks are just political handouts and payoffs,' wrote Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. He added later, 'The DOJ and FBI have already paid out several million dollars of taxpayer money to disgraced agents and employees who violated their professional and legal duties to the government.'”
Katie Mettler & Jeremy Roebuck of the Washington Post: “Federal prosecutors announced criminal charges Tuesday against a Singapore-based global shipping company and subsidiaries, accusing them of safety violations that led to the massive container ship crash that caused the 2024 collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge. An indictment filed in federal court in Baltimore accused entities of Synergy Marine Group of failing to maintain proper systems aboard its ship, the Dali, and others in its fleet. Those lapses left the Dali unable to recover from a blackout of its systems and unable to veer away as it crashed into the bridge in the early hours of March 26, 2024. The disaster left six men dead, prompted the closure of one of the East Coast’s busiest ports for months and dealt more than $5 billion of economic loss to Baltimore and Maryland.
“The indictment, returned under seal last month, also alleges the company and the Dali’s technical supervisor, Radhakrishnan Karthik Nair, falsified safety inspection records and lied to investigators with the FBI and National Transportation Safety Board after the crash. The companies and Nair face charges including counts of conspiracy; misconduct or neglect of ship officers resulting in death; violations of the Clean Water Act and Ports and Waterways Safety Act; and obstruction of an agency proceeding.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Christian Jewett of the New York Times: “Dr. Marty Makary, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, resigned on Tuesday after weeks of pressure and rumors that ... [Donald] Trump was planning to fire him. Dr. Makary ultimately left over concerns about the administration’s decision to authorize fruit-flavored e-cigarettes, an action he opposed, according to four people familiar with the matter. Dr. Makary told those close to him that he could not in good conscience approve flavored vapes, given their appeal to young people, and would not do something he did not believe in.... Dr. Makary came to the F.D.A. as a reformer, instituting so many new initiatives that he became known — and sometimes mocked — for his white board on wheels, festooned with Post-it notes lining up announcements that he promoted on frequent television appearances. But his efforts at times put him at odds with the powerful food, tobacco and pharmaceutical industries....
“As the criticism grew, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also urged Dr. Makary to step down, according to two people familiar with the matter. Dr. Makary also drew criticism from public health leaders who viewed him as pandering to anti-vaccine activists with the release of an unsupported memo claiming that there were deaths related to Covid vaccines. Criticism flared again when he allowed the renewed use of unproven peptides, or injectable compounds with uncertain effects, a policy favored by Mr. Kennedy.” An AP story is here. ~~~
~~~ David Lim & Lauren Gardner of Politico: “Kyle Diamantas, who previously worked as the top food official at the agency, will lead the FDA in an acting capacity, [an] administration official said.” NBC News later reported that Trump had announced Diamantas's appointment on his failed social media platform.
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NEW. Michigan. The Doctor Is ... Fake. Adam Wren & Daniel Lippman of Politico: “Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed for years has publicly said he’s a physician — but there’s overwhelming evidence that he’s had no experience as a licensed medical doctor.... According to a review of Michigan and New York state medical records, he’s never been granted a medical license in those states [though he claimed to have practiced there].... He attended the University of Michigan Medical School and ended up receiving his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He has a doctorate in public health from Oxford University and worked as an assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia for a year before moving to Detroit to be executive director and health officer of the Detroit Health Department. 'He has earned the right to be called “doctor” twice over,' El-Sayed spokesperson Roxie Richner said in a statement. Richner didn’t respond to questions about his use of the word 'physician.'”
Nebraska Races. Kellen Browning of the New York Times: “... in Nebraska, rather than back a doomed Democratic bid for Senate, party leaders ... endors[ed] Dan Osborn, an independent candidate who stands a better chance of defeating Senator Pete Ricketts, the Republican incumbent, in November. Mr. Osborn also ran for Senate as an independent in 2024, when he put up a competitive showing but fell short. When William Forbes — a Democrat accused of being a Republican 'plant' who could split the general-election vote and hinder Mr. Osborn — entered the primary, the state Democratic Party quickly threw its support behind an alternative option. It backed Cindy Burbank, who promised to drop out of the general election and consolidate support for Mr. Osborn. She easily won the primary on Tuesday night, and soon afterward recommitted to her pledge.” The Democratic primary race to fill the seat of Don Bacon, a moderate Republican, was too close to call. “The winner will face Brinker Harding, a Republican city councilman.... Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican who is expected to win re-election, will look ahead to his matchup with Lynne Walz, a former state legislator who won the Democratic primary on Tuesday.” ~~~
~~~ NEW. Politico's story on the U.S. Senate race is here.
South Carolina Redistricting. Patrick Marley of the Washington Post: “Republicans in South Carolina’s legislature on Tuesday rejected a plan aimed at flipping the state’s lone Democratic-held House seat, which has long been occupied by one of the country’s most senior and influential Black leaders. The rejection was a victory — at least for now — for Rep. James E. Clyburn, the Democrat whose seat was at risk, and a setback for ... Donald Trump. The president has persuaded Republicans in other states to redraw their congressional maps to boost the party’s chances of hanging on to its slim House majority. South Carolina Republicans decided not to redraw their map after a GOP leader warned it could backfire. Republicans now hold six of the state’s seven congressional seats, but state Senate Majority Leader A. Shane Massey argued that a new map would spread out Republicans’ core voters so much that they would wind up with five. In a lengthy floor speech, Massey told his colleagues they shouldn’t get too greedy.” Politico's story is here.
NEW. Tennessee State House. Li Cohen of WSMV News Nashville: “All members of the House Democratic Caucus have been removed from their committees and subcommittees, according to a letter obtained by WSMV. The letter, signed by House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R) and addressed to Leader Camper, states that 'members of the Democratic Caucus will receive individual letters removing them from all standing committees and subcommittees of the House, except where membership is required.' Sexton’s letter states that the committee removals are 'due to actions taken' by the members during last week’s special session over redistricting across Tennessee. Those actions, Sexton said, 'aimed at disrupting the democratic and legislative processes and creating disorder on the House Floor.'”
NEW. Texas Senate Race. Jesse Bedayn of the AP: “Former President Barack Obama met with U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico Tuesday in Texas, putting his support behind a campaign that Democrats see as a shot, if a long one, for the party to win statewide in the reliably conservative state. Obama lunched with Talarico and Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, the nominee running to unseat Texas’ Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, at a taco shop in Austin. The visit was meant to give the candidates a boost from one of the more liked figures in the Democratic Party.” MB: “More liked”? How about “most beloved”?
20 comments:
Heftier Sum
"President Donald Trump’s plan to put weapons in space — pitched as a “Golden Dome for America” missile defense program — is estimated to cost $1.2 trillion over a 20-year period, according to a new analysis from the Congressional Budget Office, a far heftier sum than the initial $175 billion price tag he gave last year.
The futuristic system was ordered by Trump in an executive order during his first week in office. He said then that he expected the system to be “fully operational before the end of my term,” which wraps up in January 2029."
It is all Republicans
"A Greensboro mother is calling out Republican U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx over a letter she said her son received from the congresswoman after a school assignment. Emily Mango said her 10-year-old son was assigned to write a persuasive essay and send it to a changemaker. Her son decided to write to Foxx, urging the government to consider giving drivers a rebate for electric vehicle purchases. Mango said the topic was her son’s choice.
In her letter, Foxx cited numerous articles from news organizations and criticized the boy’s teacher, writing, “Please ask your teacher to explain propaganda to you. My guess is that your teachers will not give you a good educational experience and help you learn to think as they are too interested in indoctrinating you.”"
To a ten year old child. Also Foxx admits that she knows that all the corporate welfare she has voted for is taking money out of hardworking constituents' pockets.
Some losers who will get a kick out of those exchanges with the female reporters
"Bill Maher gushes over how “refreshing” Donald Trump’s “honesty” is with reporters and John Fetterman responds: “The ultimate: quiet piggy. Hahaha, yeah!”"
The piggy line that Fetterman has been slapping his knee over was Six Months ago. What misogynistic assholes. Fetterman is better than Dr Oz, but being barely better than a MAGA snake oil salesman is a very low bar. And the fact that they can't tell the difference between uttering unvarnished truths versus a bigoted old man losing his filter tells you all you need to know about the intelligence of these two losers.
Here is why Fat Hitler felt so at home in the GOP
That time Fat Hitler evicted a 74 year old stroke victim.
"Tennessee House Democrats say they’ve been removed from committees
Rep Jones: I just got an official letter from Speaker Cameron Sexton stripping me of all my committee assignments for protesting their white supremacist agenda.
Just as my white Republican colleagues chose racial retaliation against Tennessee’s Black voters, the Speaker of the House is now choosing retaliation against a Black lawmaker for standing up against their Jim Crow racial gerrymander. "
Bari Weiss allowed Netanyahu to choose his interviewer on 60 Minutes, he chose a former Fox New guy who wasn't a correspondent on the show.
RAS,
Fetterman is a disgusting asshole, and I've had it with Bill Maher and his "iconoclastic" bullshit. He wants to be different? He is. A different kind of asshole. The other day he whined that we really need a ballroom. Fuck off. He loves being seen as a "smart" (sort of) liberal. He's neither. And he's not very funny either.
As the guy on the old Laugh-In show used to say, "Veddy Interesting".
It seems that in order for the Chinese to let Little Marco enter the country with his waddling diaper-filling boss, they had to give him a new name since "Marco Rubio" was declared persona non grata in the past. Back then (BT, before Trump), when Little Marco still had some semblance of a backbone, he was very big on attacking China for all manner of issues, predictably its communism, as well as a raft of human rights abuses. So the Chinese government dropped the PNG designation on him.
Fast forward to the present. He is still named "Marco Rubio", but now his backbone is made of jello and he has his face permanently wedged up the orange butt crack, his former problems with China a thing of the past since Fatty considers human rights abuses about as important as the rule of law. And now that the Chinese have seen what a wilting weed Rubio is, they're letting him come into the country, but with a new name, which I think translates as "Feckless Fuckwad".
Welcome of Beijing, FF!
Akhilleus,
Maher isn't even a Democrat. He is a libertarian, he just has a Few progressive views. I think he was more of a media invention than anything because of his show and New York City. He is like the NYT, he wants to be seen with the liberals to show he is socially cool while wanting a lot of the conservative economic bs because they are selfish and not really all that bright. His comedy came of age in the 80s, and like most his fellow comedians of his day he evolved very little since then.
Krugman this morning:
Nails it again.
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-apotheosis-of-willful-ignorance
Jonathan Chait, in The Atlantic, on propaganda Big Brother Is ReTruthing You
"The model of an authoritarian leader that the 20th century instilled in the Western imagination is a master of lies. Big Brother commands a machinery of propaganda that bombards his subjects with relentless projections of strength, combined with savaging of enemies real or imagined.
Donald Trump resembles this archetype in many ways, both superficially (the obsession with building new monuments to his greatness or renaming existing structures after him) and substantively (pressuring media and business into capitulating, turning the power ministries into organs of vengeance). But he differs in one key aspect: The president is a recipient and victim of propaganda as much as he is an originator of it."
I believe one reason the oval office occupier is calling for President Obama's arrest is to pre-load republican talking points for the future:
""Why is it OK to call for t****'s arrest during the Kelly administration when you said it was wrong to call for Obama's arrest in 2026?"
Answer, of course, is that t**** has broken the law and violated the Constitution almost constantly while in office.
The Obama arrest stuff is also probably tied to the idiocy of the RW loons who called it treason when Obama was seen with Canadian PM Carney last week at some think tank gala in Toronto.
In yet another example of everything T**** does is wrong ....., Tom Nichols, in The Atlantic, reports that The Trump Counterterrorism Strategy Is a Dangerous Joke
"Last week, the Trump administration released the official 2026 United States Counterterrorism Strategy. The document is a mess, replete with typos, hyperbolic assertions, and an obsession with former President Joe Biden. The bigger problem, however, is that it’s not an actual strategy. It’s more a long set of notes for a campaign speech, a repackaging of President Trump’s various preoccupations and prejudices that frames everything the administration doesn’t like as “terrorism” and any actions it has already taken as “counterterrorism.”
As the security expert and Atlantic contributor Juliette Kayyem told me, such reports used to be serious documents meant to “guide our intelligence and law-enforcement agencies,” as well as inform “the citizenry, including state and local leaders.” This report, unfortunately, is anything but serious, and good luck to anyone trying to make sense of it. "
RAS,
Ahh, yes. I had forgotten that Maher claims the mantle of libertarian, a very hip stance back then for those too cool to be Democrats and not quite cruel enough to be Republicans. "Oh, no....I'm a libertarian! Taxation is coercive! And governments will always be evil. People need to fend for themselves."
I think I've pointed out, some time ago, that the godfather of modern libertarianism, Robert Nozick, in the end rejected his earlier views espoused in "Anarchy, State, and Utopia". I remember reading this book years ago. Plenty of WTFs as you read on. It's quite an interesting argument, that personal property is sacrosanct and that a government should only exist to make sure contracts (between rich people) are fair and adhered to. But my takeaway was that this was a total fantasy world. Nozick would make statements like "One can acquire an absolute right to a disproportionate share of the world" (think the Tech Bros, the Trump Crime Family, Bezos, etc), but he would always have to tack on a caveat like "As long as this acquisition doesn’t make like horrible for other people." To which your immediate thought was "Oh, so we're not talking about actual human beings here, right? We're talking fantasy creatures who will buy up land and goods and influence but never be mean to anyone." Okay. Smoke another, Bob.
My sense after reading AS&U was that this sort of libertarian utopia only requires everyone to own their own castle, but to have a couple of Sherman tanks ready in case someone else goes off the reservation and wants all your shit. But yeah, government is always the bad guy.
This is the sort of thinking libertarians STILL cling to, a fantasy world that has almost no connection to the world we live in. So sure, Bill Maher can cheer for Fatty's ballroom and claim that he exhibits "refreshing honesty", because in Nozick's libertarian utopia, each person is his or her own emperor of their own universe. I guess, even the homeless guy sleeping under a bridge because one of the other libertarian emperors took away his home and his job. I guess he's a lucky ducky because it doesn't take him long to count up all his shit, whereas Jeff Bezos....well, that poor guy...
To his credit, Nozick ended up rejecting this bullshit. He realized that such a society had no space for collective social action and cooperative communities, and that if shit went south, it would result in (lemme see if I remember this correctly) "catastrophic moral horrors" or something like that. Hey! Catastrophic moral horror....this is what Fat Hitler and the MAGA crew have been hawking!
Anyway, just imagine if we all lived in our own castles, keeping track of all the crap we acquired and only needed the state to make sure we weren't getting screwed in a bad contractual arrangement. Would we have gone to the moon? Would we have a national highway system? There'd be no public education, no medicare, no social security, no libraries (other things the Party of Traitors and the Dear Leader are aiming to kill).
But this is the libertarian goal as well, or if not the stated goal, a very real consequence of such a political philosophy. And if you're gonna adopt such an ideology, you cannot simply say "Well, we'll only go so far with this. We're not looking for anything bad to happen." Then along comes Elon Musk and Donald Trump. What now?
So fuck Bill Maher and his cool kid libertarian bullshit.
Just wondering how long it will take for Fatty to completely sell out Taiwan so's he can come home with a little something nice from Xi, whereupon he'll strut around and brag about what a yuuuuuge success he had in China, and what great deals he made.
So....it's treason for Obama to meet with any world leaders? How about what Fatty was going while he was out of office?
According to Google AI, Fatty was pretty busy meeting with....
Viktor Orbán: Hungarian Prime Minister, met multiple times, including March 2024 at Mar-a-Lago.
Andrzej Duda: Polish President, met in New York in April 2024 to discuss Ukraine.
Javier Milei: Argentina's President, met post-election in November 2024 at Mar-a-Lago.
Justin Trudeau: Canadian Prime Minister, had a three-hour dinner meeting at Mar-a-Lago following tariff threats.
David Cameron: Former UK Prime Minister (then Foreign Secretary), met at Mar-a-Lago.
Taro Aso: Former Japanese Prime Minister.
Mohammed bin Salman: Saudi Crown Prince, reported phone call in March 2024 arranged by Sen. Lindsey Graham
So, treason?
And now folks, time for "The Trump Crime Family's Excellent Adventure in China!" Part 234
In this chapter, we see Fatty's obesity being trundled around China, followed by Stoopid Eric who is looking to turn a profit by cozying up to Communist businesses there. What a surprise!
"...a company linked to him and the US president’s family explores a deal with a Chinese chipmaker that American lawmakers have warned is connected to the ruling Communist Party.”
Hey, Communism is only bad when you can use it as a cudgel against Democrats looking for fair taxation of billionaires. If the Trump Crime Family can make a bundle off Red China companies , so what?
And why is Stoopid even there? He's not a member of the Turd Reich's administration. Why is he there is not to scarf up a few business deals for himself? Just a few weeks ago, the White House PROMISED that Stoopid was not going to be filling his pockets on the trip to China, but Oops! Looks like they lied. Again. And again, and again, and again, and....
So never mind about the national interest. The biggest concern, first and foremost for these crooks, is themselves and their money. That's it.
10,000
"Ten thousand losses. That’s the Trump administration’s track record in court as federal judges grapple with the way ICE agents have swept through major U.S. cities and detained thousands of people in support of President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation agenda.
More than 10,000 times, judges have said those detentions, typically carried out with no opportunity for detainees to plead their case, were illegal. That’s roughly 90 percent of all cases"
What The Hell
"Secretary of State Marco Rubio posed in a tracksuit aboard Air Force One Tuesday – the same outfit worn by deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro when he was captured in January. Rubio had arrived at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to board President Donald Trump’s flight to China wearing a suit, only to make the unusual costume change after take-off.
“Secretary Rubio rocking the Nike Tech ‘Venezuela’ on Air Force One!” posted White House Communications Director Steven Cheung on X, alluding to Maduro.
Cheung’s photograph was subsequently picked up by the official White House account on the same platform – which had already reposted a map of Venezuela marked out as the 51st state taken from Trump’s Truth Social page –"
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