Once again, Donald Trump embarrassed humiliated the United States on the world stage: ~~~
AFP, via Yahoo! News: "... Donald Trump laid out a vision on Tuesday of a militaristic US unbound by international rules in a UN speech contrasting starkly with pleas at the world body for cooperation and restraint. Trump insisted the United States will not join global regulation of AI and urged countries to abandon the International Criminal Court which was set up to prosecute war crimes. He also boasted about US control over Venezuelan oil, following the toppling of the government there by US forces, saying 'to the victor belong the spoils.' His most jarring statement, however, addressed the nearly seven-month war in Iran. Trump said he had a 'big decision' on whether to make a deal or 'annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly.'"
Margot Sanger-Katz, et al., of the New York Times: “The Trump administration has ejected more than 750,000 enrollees from the Affordable Care Act insurance marketplaces, Vice President JD Vance announced on Tuesday, claiming that many were receiving premium subsidies they did not qualify for and that some were not even real people.... He estimated that removing the Obamacare enrollees would save the government $2.2 billion. In recent months, the task force has been involved in withholding billions in Medicaid funding from Minnesota and California, contending that the states have not adequately combated fraud. Governors have criticized the Trump administration’s antifraud work as politically motivated, often targeting states with Democratic leadership.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Pardon my skepticism, but I suspect there's something wrong in this miraculous pre-election waste-fraud-and-abuse discovery. For instance, “There is ... evidence that some [health insurance] brokers illegally signed people up for coverage without their knowledge.... During the Biden administration, health officials decertified around 200 brokers after learning they were engaged in such behavior. The Trump administration recertified those brokers last year.” If these brokers were crooks, why would the Trumpocrats recertify them? Just so the brokers could unlawfully sign up new fake enrollees and JayDee could kick the fake enrollees off & boast about it? Everything the Trumpies do is fishy, so I feel pretty sure some intrepid reporters will find out this is all nonsense. And, as we know, the fish rots from the head down.
Speaking of JayDee, here's a fine A.I. video of his asking voters for "another chance." Notice the touching "family photo" on the wall over JayDee's right shoulder.
Matthew Purdy & Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “... a year [after Charlie Kirk's murder], it is clear how bright a line of demarcation the period after Mr. Kirk’s death has become in the efforts by ... [Donald] Trump and his allies to target Americans they see as 'the enemy within.' The administration’s nearly exclusive crackdown on left-leaning organizations and activities has ushered in a pitched battle over political dissent and free speech.... Even though there is no provision in American law defining domestic terrorism and the F.B.I. has previously said that antifa is more of an antifascist ideology than an organization, the administration has attached both labels to protesters and some left-leaning groups.... Officials have taken a governmentwide approach to scrutinizing citizens and organizations opposed to Trump policies. Tax agents have examined nonprofit groups. Investigators have looked into the books of labor unions. Prosecutors have brought charges against anti-ICE protesters, asserting that a leftist conspiracy is provoking political violence on the streets. These efforts came together this year in Minnesota.... Federal investigators infiltrated neighborhood watch committees, church meetings and an environmental group in an operation that surveilled hundreds of ordinary people.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: While it appears some of the "domestic terrorists" (again, that's a term of art, not of law) have committed violent crimes, most of this effort seems to be directed toward anyone who says anything that Trump disagrees with. It's just more fascistic thuggery masquerading as law enforcement.
The New York Times is live-updating events at the United Nations. The link is a gift link.
Nobody wants to deal with Trump, not even his strongman dictator buddies: ~~~
~~~ Laura Kelly of the Hill: “Belarus’s authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko said Monday that there are no available volumes of fertilizer to send to the U.S. This came after ... [Donald] Trump announced that he was working on a 'massive Deal' to buy potash from Minsk at a steep discount amid the trade war with Canada. 'Even if we wanted to supply [potash] to other, Western markets, we simply do not have those volumes — everything is contracted,' Lukashenko said in remarks published by his office on Monday.... The apparent miscommunication between Trump and Lukashenko over potash comes amid a yearlong charm offensive by the Trump administration with Lukashenko, spearheaded by the president’s special envoy for Belarus, John Coale.” Related story linked below.
Jon Stewart suggests that Donald Trump might get better press coverage if he tried presidenting better: ~~~
~~~~~~~~~~
Here's the scariest story you may read for a while: ~~~
~~~ Robert Kaplan, in a New York Times op-ed titled, “America Is Blundering Toward War with China”: “The most important element in preventing a great war is policy discipline. Boring but true, this leads to steady, predictable signaling. America should not want to confuse China, just as China should not want to confuse us. World War I was in part caused by a misreading of intentions. Mr. Trump, by his vacillation — including using military aid to Taiwan as a bargaining chip with China and toying with the abandonment of Asia to a Chinese sphere of influence — irresponsibly encourages the kind of confusion that can lead to war.... No geopolitical conflict in the world today has the capacity, if miscalculated, of bringing ruin upon us all like the one between the United States and China. China tore through our domestic politics three-quarters of a century ago. It could be worse this time.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: That is, our lives may depend upon Donald Trump showing some discipline.
 |
| Lonely Vaughn Hillyard of MS NOW reports from the street somewhere outside the White House grounds. |
~~~ The New York Times liveblogged developments in Trump's latest suppression of a free press. The link is a gift link. From the pinned item at 10:45 am ET: “Major television networks agreed to suspend their pooled coverage of the president on Monday as CNN, MS NOW and Politico said that they would soon file a legal challenge against ... [Donald] Trump’s order barring them from the White House grounds.... They will file a separate motion seeking an emergency order that would remain in effect while the litigation unfolds.... The White House press pool is a small group of correspondents, TV journalists and photographers who are the eyes and ears of the broader White House press corps for coverage of the president. Four other networks that shared the responsibility for providing television coverage of presidential events with CNN — ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC — said on Monday that they would suspend those efforts, which entail distributing footage that is carried by news organizations worldwide.” Thanks to Akhilleus of the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ From a later pinned item: “The []banned outlets have asked the court to restore their access to the White House as quickly as possible and sought an emergency order that would remain in effect while the litigation unfolds. The federal judge assigned to the case, Timothy J. Kelly, handled a similar fight in 2018: He ordered the White House to reinstate the press pass of the CNN reporter Jim Acosta.” MB: Kelly is a Trump appointee.
Peter Baker: “For the first time in my 30 years of covering the White House, the president will not have a network TV camera covering his everyday official actions and travels.” The post is accompanied by a video short in which Baker looks downright shocked at what's transpired.
Erik Wemple: “CNN, MS NOW and Politico have now filed their lawsuit against the Trump administration....”
Michael Grynbaum: “The major TV networks did not bring cameras to Trump’s ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new helipad on the South Lawn. Watching the White House’s official YouTube stream, it was impossible to hear any of the president’s remarks. The audio is completely garbled.”~~~
Peter Baker of the New York Times: “For ... [Donald] Trump, this is the tree-falls-in-the-forest moment of his administration. If the most television-addicted president in history suddenly finds the cameras missing, is he really still president?... Indeed, his first taste of life without the major television networks that are now boycotting the White House press pool in protest of his ban on select news outlets was a sour one. He was left almost literally shouting into the wind on Monday as he cut the ribbon on his new helipad on the South Lawn of the White House, recorded only by a second-tier news broadcaster that could not capture his voice over the roar of Marine One. There was Mr. Trump moving his mouth, and no one could hear him. Yet ... by the end of the day, there he was live on CNN after all — not filmed by the White House television pool, which refused to follow him, but by other cameras that met him when he arrived in New York.... He had to rely on Mayor Zohran Mamdani to get on air ... as a guest at Gracie Mansion in the heart of liberal America. But he crowed that he could still force his way onto the screen.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Listen! Here's how the amateurs do it! Turns out nobody gave Trump a mike. Really. ~~~
~~~ Josephine Walker of Axios: Donald "Trump was inaudible during a press conference Monday after the TV pool suspended coverage, with White House-provided video carrying no usable audio of his remarks.... It's a remarkable and immediate ramification of Trump's attempt to limit pool access.... The decision to pull pooled TV coverage is a rare display of unified pushback from fiercely competitive networks against the administration's attempt to dictate what the public sees and how.... C-SPAN said it would not show Trump's White House helipad ribbon-cutting 'because it relies on the TV pool and had no feed.[']"
~~~ Later That Same Day. One guy knows how to answer an awkward question; one guy does not: ~~~
~~~ Marie: The question now is, who will blink first? The networks who are depriving themselves of clips of Trump saying stupid stuff or the narcissistic Newshog-in-Chief? ~~~
~~~ Is Natalie Harp Running Trump's Domestic Policy? Rhian Lubin of the Independent: “... Donald Trump’s decision to ban news outlets from the White House reportedly came hours after he was shown unflattering and critical clips by Natalie Harp, one of his closest aides known for putting news reports about his administration in front of him.... [Trump] did not point to any specific reports that triggered the ban, but it came hours after Harp — dubbed the 'human printer' — showed Trump the clips of MSNOW anchors criticizing his administration, according to The Wall Street Journal. An unfavorable Politico graphic was among the content that angered Trump, according to CNN.... The revelation about Harp’s reported role in the media ban is the latest in a series of reports regarding her influence with Trump. Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff and the architect of Trump’s anti-immigration agenda, has reportedly put content he wants the president to see in front of Harp.” ~~~
~~~ Heather Cox Richardson: “On Sunday afternoon, Trump posted an image of three full black trash bags, labeled 'CNN,' 'MSNBC,' and 'Politico,' outside the White House.... Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whose deep unpopularity means he is likely eager to curry favor with Trump, promptly posted that the Defense Department fully supported Trump’s decision. He claimed that the same outlets, which recently have reported that Russia has been helping Iran target U.S. troops and that the Defense Department has not fully accounted for deaths of servicemembers or destruction of U.S. military bases, 'endangered our troops with false stories, leaks, and trafficked in fiction and lies about the President, our Warriors, and their mission.'... [Monday?? Trump] ranted..., 'Virtually every story about me, or anything having to do with me, is negative, wrong and, in many cases, DANGEROUS for our Country! No matter how GREAT my Achievements, they trivialize and demean.... I have an obligation to fight for the Success and Safety of our Country. FAKE NEWS IS A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY, and I will do whatever is necessary to make sure that the U.S.A. thrives.'” ~~~
~~~ Earlier today (below), I suggested the U.S. was turning into a replica of old Soviet bloc countries. Maybe it's worse than that: ~~~
~~~ Now We Can Watch "Trump TV"! David Gilmour of Mediaite: “The White House’s new round-the-clock Trump TV video channel was barely on air before critics branded the venture a North Korea-style 'state media,' as its launch collided with an escalating fight between the president and major news organizations he banned on Friday. 'TRUMP TV: The Essentials Station' went live Monday as a 24/7 stream on the White House’s YouTube channel and app. The administration says the service will carry some 'greatest hits' including presidential speeches, announcements and old highlights. The White House’s own site describes it as a constantly updated feed of the administration’s 'biggest moments.'” Andrew Egger of the Bulwark was brutally honest: “The sad thing is this *aspires to be* state-run TV but isn't even that really. It's just a goofy loop of old video clips. State-run cable access show” ~~~
~~~ Here's the Independent's story, by Brendan Rascius.
 |
| An artist's rendering of the Arc that was. |
~~~ Dan Diamond, et al., of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump’s push to convert his planned triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery into a military complex has complicated a required federal review process and raised new legal and safety concerns. Trump unveiled his new national security rationale Sunday in a post to Truth Social, saying that the 250-foot arch project — which he has framed for nearly a year as a tourist attraction — will now house drones, snipers and ammunition. The president said he was making the change at the request of the U.S. military. Critics of the plan saw echoes of Trump’s shifting security case for the White House ballroom, which the administration has used to defend that project in court. But while presidents have historically had some leeway to revamp the White House grounds, the arch would stand on federal parkland more than a mile away, where Congress has set stricter rules for construction....
“Rep. Jared Huffman (D-California), the top Democrat on a House committee that oversees federal parkland[, said,] 'This is cartoonishly illegal, but he’s obviously trying to find a way to do it anyway. Aviation experts warned Monday that using drones at the planned arch site — Memorial Circle, a roundabout near Reagan National Airport — could pose risks in the airport’s crowded airspace.... Other military and safety experts have questioned the implications of storing ammunition in the middle of a heavily used traffic circle.... Until Sunday, the Trump administration had largely portrayed the arch as a prominent tourist attraction. Architectural plans posted by the National Park Service last month include a 'ticket booth,' a 'family restroom' and other features atypical of any active military complex.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: In his post Sunday, Trump wrote, "At the strong request of the United States Military, and for National Security purposes...." Uh, just who made that "strong request"? This is another porkie, and one of considerable consequence.
Marie: When Trump destroyed relations with our neighbor Canada, Canada turned to friends in Europe. Trump turned to friends in Belarus and Russia. Don your babushkas, ladies. We are all Soviets now. (And you laughed when I suggested Trump was a Russian sleeper.) ~~~
~~~ Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: “The United States is seeking to broker a deal to purchase fertilizer from Belarus and rely less on Canada, the U.S. ally with which the White House has repeatedly tangled..., Donald Trump said Monday. 'The United States is working on a massive Deal with respect to the purchase of Potash from Belarus,' Trump posted on social media, referring to a type of fertilizer for which Canada dominates the market. 'The pricing would be for substantially less than we are currently paying to Canada, very good news for our Farmers and Ranchers,' he wrote.... The European Union has banned potash exports from landlocked Belarus since 2022.... So any increase in U.S. imports of Belarusian potash would need to pass through Russian ports.... Allies of Ukraine have tried to minimize trade with Russia and Belarus since the 2022 full-scale invasion, which the Kremlin launched from Belarusian territory.”
Patrick de Haan, the Gas Buddy Guy, on BlueSky: "my live fuel clock showing Americans now have spent $70 billion more on filling up with gasoline since March 1 (vs same period a yr ago) and $44 billion more on diesel (same dates) for a total of ~$114.2 billion spent over this time." Thanks to RAS for the link. Where or not you drive a diesel-powered vehicle, you're paying those Trump-elevated diesel prices each time you buy something. Yes, it's hard on the carriers, who have to pay at the pump, but in most cases, they eventually are able to pass those charges on to consumers. (Also linked yesterday.)
Marie: Yesterday, I mentioned how remarkably incompetent Pete Hegseth was and how dangerous that was to Americans and others. I understated the case: ~~~
~~~ David Gilmour of Mediaite: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing ridicule online from pundits across the political spectrum after inviting influencers Jake Paul and Logan Paul into the Pentagon to deliver a motivational address to service members. The brothers visited the Pentagon on September 17, meeting Hegseth, touring the building and addressing uniformed personnel from the Pentagon press briefing room. In a Department of Defense video released after the event, the brothers, longtime allies with ... Donald Trump, are shown laughing and posing with Hegseth before clips of their remarks to personnel.” MB: A video of this nonsense went out under the handle “Department of War” with the caption: “Last Thursday, we welcomed Logan and Jake Paul to the Pentagon to meet with our warriors.” Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. See also his commentary yesterday. (Also linked yesterday.)
Christina Morales, et al., of the New York Times: “The man shot by an immigration agent in Austin, Texas, over the weekend said Monday that he was bleeding and in pain and that a bullet remained lodged in his back. The man, Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, an immigrant from Venezuela, said that he only felt one gunshot enter his body when a federal immigration officer shot him on Sunday afternoon. He added that the bullet, which was lodged near his spine, was not removed at the hospital where he was taken because a doctor said that agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement were in a hurry to transport him. 'I am not doing well because of the gunshot wound I received,' Mr. Garces Perez said in Spanish on a speakerphone at a news conference on Monday. 'I have not received the necessary medical attention.'...
“The agents pulled Mr. Garces Perez over at about 12:45 p.m. on Sunday while he was making DoorDash deliveries. They told him that they were ICE agents and that he was going to be arrested. Mr. Garces Perez fled in his car after that, the two people familiar with the shooting said. A short chase ensued before ICE agents encountered Mr. Garces Perez again, they said. The shooting occurred after that. Mr. Garces Perez was shot in the back and taken to a hospital and later released into ICE custody.” The link is a gift link. Read on for Garces Perez' account. It would be unbelievable if we didn't already know how ICE thugs operate. The Texas Tribune story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I don't think it shows up in the segment embedded above, but in another segment last night, Maddow ran video that showed the hole in Garces Perez' back; it was near the center of his back just below his neck. It looked to me like a shot to kill. You can just see it, at about one minute in, in this short ABC News video.
ICE Agents (Allegedly!) Rough up a U.S. Citizen While Detaining Him. Matthew Eadie of Evanston Now: “Federal agents briefly detained and released a U.S. citizen on Sunday morning in Evanston on Howard Street east of Dodge Avenue, Evanston police chief Schenita Stewart confirmed Sunday. The man reported injuries to his head, neck and teeth, police said, and witnesses 'told officers that individuals they believed were U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had attempted to take him into custody.' In a post on social media, Mayor Daniel Biss said federal agents 'briefly detained and then released' the man, who he said was a U.S. citizen. He was transported by ambulance and treated for 'minor injuries' at St. Francis Hospital.” Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Marie: This cannot possibly pass Constitutional muster. Everybody residing within the United States has Constitutional protections: ~~~
~~~ Maria Sacchetti & Liam Bowman of the Washington Post: “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is erasing immigrants with final deportation orders from a searchable online database, leaving families and attorneys in the dark as they try to find out where someone has been taken. The new policy also bars immigration officers from sharing information about a detainee’s location with their attorneys or relatives by phone, according to two former Homeland Security officials briefed on the change. Immigration officials did not issue a public announcement about the new policy, which took effect Sept. 15. 'It’s deeply troubling,' said Greg Chen, ... of ... the American Immigration Lawyers Association, which warned members about the policy last week. He said he feared the policy is a new tool to rush deportations and to 'steamroll' immigrants’ rights.... Attorneys say they cannot file federal lawsuits challenging a detainee’s arrest if they do not know where they are.”
The Criminals We Elect. William Turton, et al., of ProPublica: "In 2024, the FBI sought to launch a sweeping pay-to-play investigation examining interactions between Sen. Susan Collins and a top donor, records and emails show.... The donor, an ex-defense contractor, told agents his company won millions in federal contracts by bankrolling campaigns of powerful politicians.... After Donald Trump returned to office, the investigation died, a casualty of his purge of the FBI. Its closure shut a potential window into how Washington works." Read the story. Collins is (allegedly!) implicated, big time: "Government contractors are banned from making political contributions. More consequentially, for the company to offer donations to Collins in exchange for an official action, or for Collins to accept, would constitute criminal bribery." And Collins (and others in both parties) did come through for the company in question: Navatek, a Hawaiian defense contractor.
It is not only Amazon that delivers packages in drone: ~~~
Alex Horton, et al., of the Washington Post: “The rapidly accelerating use of drones among Latin American drug cartels will significantly complicate the Trump administration’s campaign to halt the flow of illicit narcotics into the United States and eliminate the criminal networks that produce and traffic them, according to a U.S. official familiar with an internal government assessment and others with knowledge of the matter. Of chief concern, these people said, is the continued exploitation of individuals with recent battlefield experience in the Russia-Ukraine war, a conflict that has featured near-continuous evolution in drone tactics and technology. The government assessment ... warns, too, that counternarcotics authorities in the U.S. and Mexico are dangerously unprepared for the challenges this shift will pose.”
Benjamin Mullin, et al., of the New York Times: “Paramount reached an agreement on Monday to resolve an antitrust lawsuit delaying its $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, according to four people familiar with the negotiations, eliminating the last significant barrier to the creation of an entertainment and media colossus. A group of states, led by California’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, a Democrat, sued Paramount in July, arguing that an acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery would concentrate too much power over cable TV and blockbuster films under one company. After weeks of on-again-off-again negotiations, Paramount and the states agreed to a number of concessions to complete the deal, according to the people.... The entertainment giant has agreed to establish a board of journalists to ensure the editorial independence of CNN and CBS News and committed to distributing 30 movies in theaters every year. The company also pledged to spend an additional $1.5 billion on film production over the next five years. A completion of the blockbuster deal would create one of the largest entertainment companies in the world. It would pair Paramount’s movie studio with Warner Bros.... The combined company would also own two major streaming services, Paramount+ and HBO Max, and control both CNN and CBS News.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I think we can now feel assured that our costs of teevee-viewing will rise.
Tom Durante of Mediaite: “Former Fox News producer Jennifer Eckhart, who accused disgraced ex-host Ed Henry of rape, has been found dead in Florida, TMZ reported on Monday. TMZ reported 'a heavy police presence' outside her home in Hope Sound over the weekend. Local authorities told the outlet that it appears she died by suicide. Eckhart filed a lawsuit against Henry and Fox News in June 2020 — two weeks after she was fired — alleging that he raped her, urged her to be a “sex slave,” and performed “sadistic acts” on her in 2017 while bound with handcuffs. Henry, once the co-host of America’s Newsroom, was fired after Fox News performed an internal investigation.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
New York House Race. Grace Ashford of the New York Times: “Representative Mike Lawler’s battle to hold onto his seat in a critical swing district in New York received an unexpected boost on Monday when the Republican landed an endorsement from across party lines. Representative Jared Golden, Democrat of Maine, endorsed Mr. Lawler in an opinion piece for The Journal News, praising his record of bipartisanship. The endorsement is a welcome shot in the arm for Mr. Lawler, whose district is in New York’s lower Hudson Valley. With Republicans approval ratings cratering nationwide Mr. Lawler has been fighting for his political life in an increasingly bruising and expensive race against the Democrat candidate, Cait Conley. Mr. Golden and Mr. Lawler are members of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus in Washington. They are also among a small group of lawmakers who represent swing districts where voters split their tickets in the 2024 presidential election, favoring one party for the presidential election and the other for the congressional contest.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Washington House Race. Andrew Solender of Axios: "Rep. Jared Golden's decision to endorse one of House Republicans' most vulnerable incumbents is going down like a lead balloon among his fellow House Democrats.... The anger won't have much impact on Golden (D-Maine), who is retiring, but it could blow back on his closest ally, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.).... 'He is leaving,' said a senior House Democrat. 'Marie is a bigger problem.'" (MB: You know, "Marie is a bigger problem" is a remark I've heard before.)
Texas Senate Race. Sorry, Ken. Bayliss Wagner & Theodore Schleifer of the New York Times: “Former President George W. Bush and Senator John Cornyn, two top Texas Republicans, are rallying conservative donors behind the party’s Senate candidates — except for the one running in their own state, Ken Paxton. Mr. Cornyn is hosting a fund-raiser on Monday evening in Dallas for six Republican nominees in battleground states, according to an invitation to the event that was obtained by The New York Times. Mr. Bush, listed on the invite as a 'special guest,' is attending the event, his spokesman confirmed.” The link is a gift link.
30 comments:
Ballots are already being sent out
"Missouri issues overseas ballots as appeals court mulls changing state’s congressional map yet again
As a federal appeals court mulls whether a GOP-gerrymandered map drafted in 2025 should be used in Missouri for November, hundreds of ballots have already been sent out to military and overseas voters based on a congressional map that’s been in place since 2022."
Massive Deal Already Dead
"Belarus’s authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko said Monday that there are no available volumes of fertilizer to send to the U.S. This came after President Trump announced that he was working on a “massive Deal” to buy potash from Minsk at a steep discount amid the trade war with Canada.
“Even if we wanted to supply [potash] to other, Western markets, we simply do not have those volumes — everything is contracted,” Lukashenko said in remarks published by his office on Monday."
Another Minor Half Billion Dollar Fine
"Google has been fined 403 million euros ($463 million) for breaching the European Union’s strict privacy rules because it mishandled users’ location data, the bloc’s data privacy watchdog said Monday."
Only MAGA Science
"The White House has begun drafting a new executive order that could further cement President Trump’s ability to control billions of dollars in scientific grants and expand the administration’s pressure campaign against elite universities.
Discussed at a highly contentious meeting at the White House on Friday, the order aims to create a new external committee with the power to veto awards in the National Institutes of Health’s vast research portfolio that do not conform to Mr. Trump’s political agenda, according to people with knowledge of the effort."
"At a sprawling waterfront Miami mansion, a group of wealthy Cuban-Americans has spent months hatching detailed plans for a country that doesn’t yet exist.
As the island sinks deeper into crisis, wealthy and politically connected exiles are racing to plot its future from Miami, where the Trump administration is turning for ideas, political support and private capital to rebuild the country if the regime falls.
In living rooms, hotel conference centers, law offices and private clubs across the city, they are gaming out who could lead Cuba’s nine million people. The effort has drawn billionaires and Trump-linked power-brokers, the scions of Cuban-American dynasties built on sugar, and immigrants who amassed fortunes over decades in the U.S."
Thom Hartmann blames it all on Ayn Rand, writing Did Ayn Rand Plant the Ideological Seed That Trumpism Is Harvesting Today?
"Their [the new Libertarian Party that sprang to life in the 1940s] principal argument was that if everybody acted separately and independently, in all cases with maximum selfishness, such behavior would actually benefit society. There would be no government needed beyond an army, a police force, and a court system to defend the rights of property owners. It was a bizarre twisting of Adam Smith’s reference to the “invisible hand” that regulated trade among nations.
....
Back in 2015, Donald Trump told USA Today’s Kirsten Powers that his favorite book was Ayn Rand’s raped-girl-decides-she-likes-it novel, “The Fountainhead.”
“It relates to business, beauty, life and inner emotions,” he told Powers. “That book relates to … everything.”
"
A confederacy of grifters. Maybe better? Our confederacy of grifters:
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/will-crypto-crash-the-blue-wave
RAS.
The younger Trump almost had it right about Rand: What he meant was, "That book relates to....ME."
Robert Kaplan's Times op-ed about a possible war with China makes some excellent points and one big mistake.
First, his comparison of the present with the miscommunications and misunderstandings that led to WWI is useful in several ways. For instance, he points to Germany's misreading of Great Britain's apparent hesitation in full throated defense of the continental powers, especially France as giving them the green light for massive aggression, thinking the Brits would stay home. This misreading was one of the primary triggers in the famous July Crisis that led to all out war. Following the assassination of a little tinpot archduke in Serbia, the next few weeks offered textbook examples of crappy assumptions and terrible misreadings of intentions. Another huge one being the troop movements in Russia. After the assassination, European powers began piling on Serbia demanding this and that. Tsar Nicholas, thinking he should maybe do something to help Serbia put a few troops on the border, but largely as a defense against the Prussian nut jobs running things in Germany. A week later he said, "Well, maybe a few more thousand troops and we'll be good". Germany sees this and says to itself "Ach du lieber! Es is krieg!" And there you have it.
But what Kaplan is getting at, I think, is the outcome of WWI. Just think of the massive geopolitical upheavals of that conflict. Four empires bit the dust: the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Russian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire, empires that had stood for centuries, some of them, gone in four years. The stupidity that followed set the stage for Hitler and the Holocaust, so consequences for bad decisions can be catastrophic. And not for nothin', but try asking any one of the MAGA bootlickers now in Congress about what happened in WWI. You think Senator Potato Head or Ron Johnson could give you a rundown of the July Crisis or what happened in Vienna after the war? Fuck no. How about Fat Hitler? Or Drunk Pete? You think they have a handle on the geopolitical fallout of WWI or what caused it?
So history matters. George Santayana was right about the consequences of not knowing history. We are led by bumpkins and morons who couldn't even name single one of those empires that fell in aftermath of that war.
But here's what Kaplan gets wrong. He is positing the possibility of a war between the US and China. Um, excuse me, but we are getting our asses kicked by clerics in the desert wearing dresses who are using thousand dollar drones to take out our military bases in the Middle East. We're gonna go to war with China? Seriously? The People's Liberation Army has over 2 million active-duty personnel, almost twice the size of the American forces. AND they are not led by a moron who sits in front of his makeup mirror for hours a day making sure his foundation looks just right before going out to polygraph his general staff to see who might not be loyal.
Xi sees the chaos here. He knows Fatty will never step up to help Taiwan. Taiwan is toast. Maybe not today, but soon. And we won't lift a finger to stop it.
But Kaplan makes another good point. He reviews the State Department purges of skilled and experienced China hands in the wake of The Who Lost China witch hunt. Depriving later administrations of smart people led directly to our involvement in Vietnam. But what's been going on under Fatty and No Tab Pete, makes those purges look like we just let a few guys go who were gonna retire anyway. Right now we have complete morons in charge and between Fatty, Drunk Pete, the Musk Ox, Polio Bob, and Marco Rubio, have hollowed out the government of any smart, knowledgeable, and experienced types who aren't reliable Nazis.
We don't need a war with China to be fucked.
Oops, I said Vienna when I meant Paris. The peace conference there in 1919 set the stage for WWII. One thing Kaplan has said elsewhere (and I don't always agree with Kaplan, but I have found a couple of his books informative) is a comment about passion. Passion, he says, is the antithesis of analysis, meaning you can't be thinking clearly about geopolitics (or much else) if you're hog wild about something. Passion is great in romance and art and cheering on your kid's little league team (except for those fist fights between parents behind the backstop), but it's not very useful when you're plotting the direction of the world for the next 100 years. The passionate hatred of Germany (completely understandable) on the part of France and Britain (but mostly coming from Clemenceau) after WWI, plunged Germany into financial ruin and gave us the first Hitler. Also, chopping up the Middle East (for oil) put us in the position we're in right now, over a hundred years later.
But my favorite missed opportunity (which I think I've mentioned before) during those Paris meetings of the Big Three (Wilson, Clemenceau, and Lloyd George) recounted in Margaret MacMillan's book "Paris 1919", involves a busboy working at the Ritz in Paris. This guy had been working there after leaving his home in Vietnam. He wrote a letter to President Wilson asking for some relief for his homeland from French oppression. He never got a response, but he gave his own response forty five years later. The busboy was Ho Chi Minh.
Passion, however misdirected, or more accurately hatred (the worst kind of passion) is Fat Hitler's most potent weapon, and pretty much the only thing he has. He uses it every day. Tariffs! Media bans! War! My BALLROOM! The reflecting pool! Deport those murderers!
So....not very high on analysis. Or anything useful.
I see that the newly MAGAfied Paramount-Warner or whatever the hell it's called, run by Fatty pals, the Ellisons, is "promising" that they won't go all CBS-Bari Weiss on CNN. Yeah. I'll bet. What's that? They're gonna set up a committee thingy to "preserve independence"? My ass. Such bullshit. It'll be Breibart on the Air in no time. Oh, and I see where they're promising to release 30 movies a year? So what? And I can see it now. "Trump the Magnificent. Part One". "Hitler Was Okay", "Trad Wives 2" and "Steppinfetchit: the Remake". Yeah, I'm sure we'll be seeing great cinematic masterpieces. And there's some kind of promise not to fire all the writers for five years. But pretty soon we'll be seeing "Written by ChatGPT". Another abomination.
My trusty sources have smuggled out a video of those Fatty power-brokers' plots for carving up Cuba.
Jesus Christ, more Ayn Rand flapdoodle? When will it end? Magical thinking is no less unrealistic coming from a charlatan who has fans among the libertarian magical thinkers.
As for Fatty having read "The Fountainhead"? Hang on....hahahahahahahahahaha....a 750 page doorstop full of absolute Randian rubbish? Fatty can barely read a flash card with a single word on it. I'm guessing maybe he saw the movie.
I can see the appeal though. Howard Roark, Rand's hero manqué is an architect, a builder who blows up blocks of buildings he doesn't like. Just like Fatty! He does what he wants and gets away with it. He rapes a woman and--she likes it! Rand, bristling at the characterization, said it wasn't "real" rape because the woman just wanted to be sexually assaulted. Rand called it rape by engraved invitation. I'm sure Trump sees all of his many sexual assaults and rapes in exactly that light, "They wanted me. It wasn't rape. Those bitches asked for it".
In Ayn Rand's vision, Adam Smith's Invisible Hand is jerking off invisible dicks.
And Rand, proponent of the tough, manly man, go it alone master of the universe was herself a freeloading moocher of the first water. More jerking off.
Marie, yeah...I also wondered who it was that made that "strong request" of Fatty to turn the Arc de Rump into the Alamo. I'm thinking maybe General Bullmoose?
As he used to say, what's good for General Bullmoose is good for the USA. That being the case, General Bullmoose is likely the latest version of John Baron, Fatty's lying alter ego.
Just imagine having to make up a fake name and call the newspapers to brag about yourself in hopes of getting a few lines of ink. I'm sure he thought it was pretty slick, sidestepping the actual diagnosis of it being pretty sick. And sad, since almost all reporters and editors called by "Baron" importuning them to praise the wonderfulness of that godly Donald Trump guy knew all along that it was Trump on the other end of that phone.
The TuKKKer Problem
TuKKKums sez "I am NOT obsessed with Jews!!
But in a single podcast of his, Jews, or Israel, or Jewishness are mentioned 281 times!
Jews? I'm not obsessed with Jews, Jews, Jews, Jews, Jews.
But hey, that Hitler. Whadaguy, amirite?
These fucking people.
Ugly Ads
"The lie dominating Musk's 2026 political ads
Musk is blanketing the internet with digital ads falsely accusing Democratic Senate candidates of supporting “taxpayer-funded sex changes for kids.”"
I saw one of these or a similar one for the neighboring state race. They are ridiculous horror movie-esk ads that are so over the top. I'd hope that no one would fall for this stupid lazy stuff, but I unfortunately know how stupid most Americans are these days.
You shouldn't be here
"Trump snaps at Kaitlan Collins on his way into the UN: "I'm surprised that CNN is here covering me. You shouldn't be here! You should not be here covering me. You said you weren't going to cover me. You shouldn't be covering me.""
The CBS morning guy knows who his boss is.
No Healthcare For You
"The Trump administration has ejected more than 750,000 enrollees from the Affordable Care Act insurance marketplaces, Vice President JD Vance announced on Tuesday, claiming that many were receiving premium subsidies they did not qualify for and that some were not even real people.
“We’re actually making sure that the people receiving Obamacare subsidies are actually entitled to receive them,” Mr. Vance said at a news conference. He estimated that removing the Obamacare enrollees would save the government $2.2 billion."
RAS,
The Musk ads are another example of how the MAGA right uses misplaced passion to whip up hatred, cloud judgment, and remove any trace of logic and critical thinking. But that is the goal of this sort of propaganda. It's the same thing the Hitler did to the Jews, the same thing Fat Hitler is doing to immigrants, the same thing the Party of Traitors pulls out any time their lies don't work. Short circuiting the brain and going for the emotional jugular is a commonplace with those whose positions are without merit. Ads of this sort are the video equivalent of a devious manipulative monster hopping around on a stage with a chainsaw.
And there is very real danger here, danger that people could be hurt, or worse. It's the same thing as spreading tales in the Deep South, not all that long ago, that a black man had attacked a white woman. Logic and facts go out the window. Next thing you know, it's strange fruit time. This is the exact same trick, just updated with slick horror and monster movie imagery.
The real monsters are the authors of this evil shit.
...Also, those Demoncrats all approve of abortions after birth... How does that work, exactly? Up UNTIL birth was good enough for idiots before, and that would be called "birth..." or "stillbirth..." but after? I just dunno how that happens. But I am sure they, the Demoncrats in blue states, do it...
Also , remember, "the schools are providing those sex changes" during study hall... Hope they are then okay to run out after school and play on the wrong teams... s/
And yeah, as fantasmagorical as that is, there are millions of MAGAts that will believe this crap. Maybe instead of getting their sex changes in the cloakroom, they should have been learning...SOMETHING...ANYTHIING...
"...whether to make a deal or 'annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly.'"
25th amendment before AF1 touches down at Andrews. Now.
Unfortunately the 25th would need to be amended itself so that the bar for disqualifying a Republican president only needed one or two from his party to pass or it will continue to be as useless of an amendment as it is today. The cult cannot come to terms with the reality of an unfit Trump despite a few politicians understanding how toxic Trump has become and distancing themselves. But standing up to the insanity and irresponsibility of Trump would set a standard that few of the crazy and ambitious Republicans would actually be able to pass today. They have also seen how quickly those who do not toe the line are cast aside. So they look out for themselves as Trump burns the world around us all.
Nisky Guy,
Hang on a second. Not saying the 25th Amendment isn't absolutely, positively, indisputably immediately necessary, but do we really want the oleaginous Couch Fucker in the White House? This will make Peter Thiel the shadow president and give the Hillbilly Allergy a leg up on the 2028 presidential election. As painful as it might be to run out the next two years with Bilious Blubber Boy in charge, I don't think my constitution could stand seeing that smug puss every night on TV. Even seeing his picture in an online news article is like digital ipecac.
We are, to our great misfortune, stuck with the obese infant.
Um....WHAT? Chapter 1,023
Please to be helping to make this latest assault on logic make sense, my prefrontal cortex is planning a putsch.
So here we have billions in taxpayer dollars wasted on a stoopid, stoopid, stoopid war of ego ($43 billion so far). In retaliation, the Iranians have lambasted neighboring oil fields and refineries, further damaging the world's energy supplies.
But NOW, Fatty is taking $5 billion MORE from taxpayers to...guess what?
Help rebuild the oil fields and refineries blown up because of the war he began with the initial $40+ billion in taxpayer simoleons.
So, to sum up, he spends billions to start a war, a war he loses. Then he spends more billions helping other countries who suffered from retribution for being American allies.
"The US is discussing a $10bn joint investment fund with Arab states to repair energy and other infrastructure damaged during the Iran war, while also building new pipelines and other facilities, to help the region circumvent the Strait of Hormuz.
Washington would commit $5bn to the initiative, known as the Partnership for Allied Construction & Trust, while regional states would be expected to fund a similar amount in a new holding company, according to a draft presentation seen by the FT.
The initiative is intended to neuter Iran’s ability to disrupt the region’s energy exports by attacking shipping in the strait, the waterway through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas passed before the war."
Don't miss that bit about how this next multi-billion dollar scheme is designed to "neuter Iran's ability" to do bad shit. So let's see.....we couldn't accomplish that with Drunk Pete's 11th century crusade, but now we're gonna....what...I mean what? How will this ensure anything but more expenditures of taxpayer billions?
Shit on a shingle. Might have to rethink that 25th Amendment idea.
No NONONONONONONO....can't go there. But JESUS! MAKE IT STOP!
Oh, and don't miss the word "trust" in there. I know what it means in this context, but anyone who knows Fatty should recognize that "Trust" and "Trump" are like matter and antimatter. And forget about that old saw about not trusting as far as you could throw him. Hercules would have trouble trying lift that walking vat of blubber. More like can't trust him half as far as you can smell his leaky Depends.
Prefrontal cortex still planning that putsch. I might let it.
Nice time....
The decision by media outlets not to point a camera at the Orange Monster has residual benefits as well. Listening to NPR this afternoon, I heard the host throw to a package on Fat Hitler's embarrassing (and humiliating) appearance. at the UN today. As the reporter moved toward whatever cuckoo codswallop Fatty had spewed from the ever-flapping pie hole, I girded myself for the sound of that awful, squealing, grating, self-pitying-congratulatory voice.
But then....nothing. Holy nick O time rescue, Batman, no SOT from Fat Hitler.
Then I realized that NPR must have decided against allowing that lying piece of shit's muttering and rantings to ruin my day.
Sometimes the arc of the universe does bend toward justice, or at least toward a reprieve from listening to that whiny bitch bleating.
Thanks, NPR (something I don't say very often).
Akhilleus,
Some of Trump's "friends" will be getting contracts to build this new pipeline for sure. It will be overpriced, but I doubt all of that $5 billion will make it over there. Leaky pipes tend to loose money on the way over, some of it will probably find it's way into Trump's pockets. The second pipeline after they screw up this one will cost twice as much to do it again. They've gotten good at double dipping. There is always a way to make a buck no matter how badly they screw up on the Right. Especially when they are in charge of the government and have the blank check machine, ie taxpayer dollars.
Really?
Today at the UN, the war mongering, speed boat murdering Cadet Bone Spurs labeled himself a Man of Peace.
Yeah. Really.
And in the next breath, promised to annihilate Iran.
Very peaceful.
AI is in the news lately for the possibility that left unchecked and in the hands of the unrestrained, unregulated tech bros, could end human life on earth.
Pretty serious stuff, right?
Never fear, Fatty has the answer.
Name change! Instead of calling it Artificial Intelligence, we'll call it Supreme Intelligence, or Great Intelligence, or Wicked Awesome Intelligence. Finally, he settles on Super intelligence.
See? How hard was that?
He sees everything as a branding problem. Classic con man stuff.
But as usual, Fatty thinks that just renaming stuff with whatever he comes up with takes care of everything, except when his new naming convention doesn't even exist at this time. But it takes a super unintelligence to get to that point.
Here's why terms matter.
"The name change might sound mostly cosmetic. But there’s one big problem: “superintelligence” already means something in AI. And it definitely isn't ChatGPT.
Superintelligence is something considerably more specific. AI researchers generally separate machine intelligence into a few broad categories.
Artificial narrow intelligence (ANI) describes AI designed to perform particular tasks. That includes much of the technology available today, from image recognition systems to large language models and generative AI assistants.
Artificial general intelligence (AGI) generally refers to a hypothetical AI capable of matching human-level intellectual abilities across a broad range of tasks, rather than being limited to particular areas.
Artificial superintelligence (ASI). This is the theoretical step beyond AGI: a system whose abilities exceed those of humans across essentially every intellectual domain. Nobody has demonstrated that technology yet."
And this matters because his Genius Idea makes a mess out of an already complicated area.
"Things might get confusing really quickly. Just imagine seeing a government report describing the risks of “super intelligence.” Is it talking about ChatGPT and Gemini as they exist today? More autonomous AI agents capable of taking actions on someone's behalf? Or a hypothetical future system more intelligent than any human?"
Of course it's not big deal for an AI system to be smarter than Fatty. Hell, a Magic 8 Ball is smarter than that mouth breathing kniuckledragger.
Here's the link for that last post: Super Unintelligence
Lead By The Unqualified
"A high profile hacking group claims it has breached multiple FBI-related services and stolen data “on all FBI employees and applicants.” A representative of the group, called ShinyHunters, told 404 Media the data includes FBI agents’ names, home addresses, phone number, and information on their spouse.
The data breach could be massively significant and may have all sorts of national security and counterintelligence implications."
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